Summertime Goals

I would say sorry for not blogging more, but 1) I think I might be one of two people who read this, and 2) this summer has been so nice and laid back I haven't really felt the impetus to blog! Anyways...

The dog days of summer are in full swing here in Texas. This means plenty of time in doors, and plenty of jumps in the electric and water bills :-P. But other than the heat and money being tight, it's been a wonderful 3 1/2 weeks since school got out. I can't believe it's already July! I had several goals for this summer, and I feel like I'm just starting to make some progress on them.

My first goal was to learn to cook more than just spaghetti. And I succeeded! Before my husband and I married, my mom's side of the family (mostly women) compiled a cookbook for me of all of their favorite recipes, and my mother-in-law did the same for some of the primary recipes from my in-laws. So, I used one of my grandmother's recipes and made a really good meatloaf! How good?, you may ask. Well, good enough that my hubby was happy to eat it for dinner, and then again for lunch AND dinner the next day! I count that as a complete success! I also made a greenbean casserole that came from his mom's recipe book, and it turned out yummy as well! As for dessert, I made a strawberry layer cake, which required making my own cornstarch/sugar gelatin to mix with strawberry jello for the second layer! I even got creative and decorated it like the American flag (it was for the 4th)! So now, my goal in the coming weeks (once I get paid and can afford to go by foodstuffs just for cooking elaborate meals again) is to try a few more of the recipes out of the cookbooks!

My second goal was to get the gardens in order. My man and I have made a great start on that! I've decided to wait until the spring to plant anything new, BUT we have successfully remulched approximately half of the gardens in the backyard so far! It took nine whole bags of mulch and a lot of backbreaking weeding. Now, we've just got the rest of the back, and then the front to go! We're using a red cedar mulch that looks amazing, even when dried out, smells wonderful, and helps keep the bug population down.

A third goal was to find an exterminator. We ended up going with OnDuty, because they had already installed the in-wall bug system while this house was constructed, and they were the most bang for our buck. I was a bit skeptical about the effectiveness of the in-wall system, but since they've come out, the only bugs I've seen in the house are DEAD bugs! YAY!!! And the spray they used outside was highly effective as well. The only really sad part is that they put poison sheets in the garage and one of our hoppy toads from the garden found his way inside and onto a sheet. He died. I cried...he was a very cute hoppy toad. Hubby was going to bury him for me, but he was stuck tight to the poison sheet, so his grave went from garden to trash can. I'm glad there are no more (or at least fewer) bugs, but I'm still sad about the hoppy toad.

A fourth goal had three parts: 1) get back into a workout routine, 2) eat healthier, and 3) lose weight. The first part has met with partial success, since there was a hiatus of about a week. The second part I feel has been achieved, but there's always room for improvement! The third part I have seen some success in...to the tune of about 5 lbs! Which, granted, I had been hoping for more, but this time, since I'm making a lifestyle change and not just doing a quick diet, I'm ok with slow progress. It makes me hope that I'm adjusting my lifestyle and metabolism enough that whatever weight I lose will actually stay off instead of yo-yoing.

The fifth goal was to paint the garage. HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that hasn't happened, and probably won't this summer. 1) Paint is freaking EXPENSIVE and 2) it is freaking HOT in that garage right now! So, maybe, that will be a project for next spring or (maybe) next summer.

Another goal that has been ongoing is the accumulation of furniture for the downstairs of our home. It has almost been achieved!!! We have the couch, coffee and end tables, a kitchen table, and a dining room table! The china cabinet will come next week! So all that leaves for downstairs is the entertainment center! And a new gun safe! And the way we're doing it--saving up the money and THEN purchasing the items--means we will have fully outfitted the main living areas in our house within a year of moving in WITHOU accumulating any more debt or adding an extra bill to our monthly budget (financing). WHOOP! As far as the upstairs goes, my talented husband is working on building the rest of the bookshelves this fall, and then wants to build a Dixie Chicken domino/card/game table for the upstairs game room. We want to get sky chairs and a stand hammock for the library (it totally makes sense if you could see the theme we're developing in there!!!), and I need to finish assembling the furniture/decorating the guest bedroom. So the end is in sight! Or at least it is, as long as we're not talking about decorating the rest of the house lol. I'm gonna try my hand at interior decorating according to our tastes and see how it goes! But that will wait probably til next summer.

Apart from goals, this summer has had a lot of fun times too! There was our 1 year anniversary (not technically summer, but I still count it!), the new grill from my parents as an anniversary gift and all the meals with family and friends cooked upon it, the visits to and from friends who live further away, exciting news (one of my best friends is engaged!!!!), lots of movies watched, video games played, books read, and lots of wonderfully long and alternately active and lazy weekend days with my husband! It truly has been a great summer. I can feel the stirrings of teacherness in me, and I think I'll be ready for school when it starts and even for the professional development at the end of this month and the beginning of next, but for now I intend to continue to enjoy this wondeful, relaxing summer!

And right now, that's absolutely all I'm thinking. ;-)

Furniture!

But I'll get to that later. I'd like to first add on to yesterday's brevity. I'm pretty proud of myself for my productivity level yesterday! After gardening, it's true I did come in and shower and lounge around for a bit. But THEN I cleaned the kitchen! And changed out the laundry! Then the hubby came home, and I cooked dinner. Hubby got dessert, and then I cleaned the kitchen again :-P. I finished up the laundry--empty washer and dryer yay! Of course, NOT empty hamper, but I'll work on that later. After THAT I went to the garage and painted the trim for the bookshelf the hubby has built and put in the library. Now he can finish it! Then I played moving man--well, woman anyway lol. Hubby and I moved all the furniture from the living room downstairs to the gameroom upstairs! I was very happy to find I could really help! We took the coffee table up first, then the futon inner-spring mattress and the futon, then the recliner and then the end tables!

And the hubby thought he would need to call one of his best friends. Psssh. :-P

I'm happy that the coffee table and end tables are still in good repair--and going to a good home! The Aggie who was our "little fish" last school year is now going into her junior year and moving into her own apartment! So our furniture is returning to College Station! We're also going to get her to take our old chest of drawers (also in fairly good condition) if she needs/wants it! Which will mean room in the gameroom for whenever we get around to outfitting it, and mean a start to the cleaning out of the "crap room" that I will TRY to complete this summer (though if I don't it's no big thing--we won't need it for another 4 years, when it will become the nursery ;-) ).

Anyway, on to the title! As can be concluded by previous statements, the living room is now empty except for the TV, entertainment center, speakers and DVD tower. Why did we do all of this you may ask (assuming anyone actually reads this)? OUR NEW LIVING ROOM FURNITURE IS COMING TODAY BETWEEN NOW (4PM) AND 8 PM TONIGHT!!!

Can you tell I'm excited?!? :-D

The couch is a sectional, with a queen sleeper and power recliner and is a pretty "cactus" green. The end tables and coffee table are wood with slate inlays. They are preeeetty! On that note, I'm going to clean up a bit more...and see what the hell the dogs are barking at upstairs! Oh wait, here they come.

Anyways, I was just thinking!

Sail on, sail on sailor

Gotta love that Jimmy Buffett! His songs always bring to mind being out on the open water, traveling from place to place, taking life as it comes at you and refusing to play it too safe. I really need to pull out my Far Side of the World CD, and listen to said song, and find the Southern Cross song on the other CD. Hearing Buffett always brings back wonderful lake and beach memories from college...after all, the sailing club required at least some Buffett music! And of course there was Great Big Sea, and the Corsairs, and several others. Ah the good old days lol. Though some were less good than others--but then, thats where jerry-rigging came in. I swear, we could fix just about any minor (and some major) problems on those sailboats with a spare ring or shackle, duck tape, and (of course!) rum. Or beer. Or whisky. Lol, and don't forget the requisite bad language...after all, we were sailors damn it!

Well, those days are past, but the hubby and I are going to get to embark upon some newer sailing adventures ourselves! We bought a boat!!!!! She's a '73 Chrysler 22. And before you give me that look, let me point out that Chrysler made some damn fine boats before the government forced them to do away with that part of their operation in order to save the car portion. Anyway, the individual who designed this particular hull designed/built tanks...so she's a pretty sturdy vessel, to say the least! Her name is Sophia (yes, boats have names). I find it interesting that her name means wisdom--I'm definitely interpreting that as a plea for wisdom, instead of a claim. ;-) She's fairly beamy, but we definitely don't need a super-fast boat. Just one that we can get out on and fish, or go for a weekend sailing trip, and other such adventures.

Husband and friend are moving her from the slip she was in to the slip we're renting for (get this) $75 a month! A steal, I tell you, a steal!!! And it's in a beautiful and beautifully quiet marina (unlike the original one which had more hustle and bustle than we enjoy). So, we're going to get to spend some time cleaning her up--a good deck scrub, fresh deck paint, a new main sail cover and canopy, washing the seat cushions, figuring out how to hook up a music player of some sort, and many other fun little mini-projects. I'm so excited!!! I can't WAIT to get on the water again!

And my new cousin comes in about a week and a half! Yay baby Joseph Max!!!

Also exciting, our living room set comes in at the end of this month, and we should be able to order our dining set by the end of June!!! Then we'll save up for the entertainment center (that'll take about a month) and then the downstairs of our house will be fully furnished!!! THEN I can start putting the furniture money back into savings, and hopefully rathole enough that when we want to have a kid (we're talking years here folks lol) the financial part won't be quite as difficult. And we'll be able to finish up some other small projects around the house--the bookshelves and chairs for the library, the various items for the gameroom, replacing some of the lesser-liked curtains, etc.

And in the beginning of May, we're flying to Wisconsin for our friends' wedding! Hubby's standing as a groomsman, so I get to see him all decked out in a tux again *swoon*. Lol. And on Saturday I'm going out with the bride-to-be and a group of her friends (one of whom is also one of my friends) for a bachelorette celebration involving drinks, appetizers, and who knows what other kinds of fun!

AND THEN SUMMER!!!! I sure do feel blessed lol. Anyway, I was just thinking about all the wonderful events coming up in our immediate future.

An Eventful Holiday

Last week was busy/wonderful all at once! Christmas came and went, with the usual giving and getting of gifts, and spending some fun time with family. It was hubby's and my first Christmas together as a married couple, which was fun...though not completely different from last Christmas, when we were engaged and living together. We did get no less than THREE first Christmas ornaments...we chuckled over that. They're all pretty, and will go on the tree next year. Christmas Eve was at my Nannie and Papa's, Christmas morning at my parents', and Christmas afternoon/evening with the hubby's Papa and Mimi's. It's so nice to have so much family!!!

Friday, I went to the hospital. That sucked. I apparently had a kidney stone, which I passed while I was sitting in the second waiting room. I've never hurt like that before, and with the RA, I sure do know pain. So I spent all day in the ER, and missed the first walk-through of the house. Fortunately, mom and dad were already heading down initially to see the house, but mom ended up switching with the hubby when he and dad had to go to the walk-through. That's ok though...I sent hubby with reminders of all the stuff I noticed previously that needed to be fixed...not that there was much. I went home with plenty of antibiotics (yeah, also have a UTI which means I can't take my RA shots until THAT goes away...grr...) and some hydrocodone (of which I only needed one). So that was my exciting Friday.

This weekend was nice and relaxing. Saturday, the hubby made me take it easy, and brought me plenty of juice, made me toast and eggs, and oatmeal, and basically just took amazing care of me :-). Sunday we went over to dad-in-law's house and hubby and he worked on hubby's truck. I sat with my fuzzy nephew (he's a chihuahua) on the couch and read. That night we went and got dinner with hubby's Papa, Mimi, sister and her boyfriend, cousins, mama and her boyfriend. It was great to see everyone!

Today, we got the amazing news that we close on the house TOMORROW!!! I spent today setting up the electricity for the house, and the gas. Hubby set up the cable, the water, and the garbage. All of it will be "turned on" (i.e. transferred into our names since everything but the cable is already on at the house) by January 2nd at the latest! Tomorrow, we have our last walk-through at noon, and then at three we meet with our AWESOME realtor to sign the papers...for an hour. But that's ok...after that hour, we'll have our VERY OWN HOME!!! We are both soo pumped! Dad's talking about renting a U-Haul and moving us in one load toward the end of this week...which means we've got a crap load of packing to do. But that's moving for you. We still need to submit out 30 days notice to the apartments...but we'll do that tomorrow once the papers are all signed and all parties are locked in ;-).

For now though we have friends coming over to eat pizza, and with Wii it up, or (it two others can come) get going on a game of Diplomacy (which I've never played) and watch a movie. Should be a fun night!!!

First Day of Christmas Break!

Well, technically Saturday was the first day, but I'm counting today because I would normally be at work...an hour and 15 minutes from the end of the school day to be precise. It's been a great Christmas Break so far!

Friday, my best friend came in, and she, the hubby and I went and had dinner with my parents and little brother and little brother #2. Then we headed back to our place to chat and drink a bit lol. Saturday, hubby went and got us all kolaches (he's so sweet!). After breakfast she had to leave, but then, we had to pack, so all and all the day kicked off to a busy start. After we had done some laundry and packed, hubby and I headed to one family Christmas up in the hill country. Yay 5 hour drives lol. It was completely worth it. My cousins, with one exception, are all in high school now. They make me feel old! But my age issues aside, it's really interesting to watch the people they are becoming. They're all really good kids, so that's not a problem, but it's still interesting to see them develop their own ideas and opinions about life. Makes me remember when I started coalescing all of my vague ideals and notions into more clearly defined viewpoints on how I saw the world. Of course, that process never ends. Still, it's interesting to see the "kids" embarking on that process.

Yesterday, we headed back home (can we say, turn around trip?) and cleaned house before getting dinner with one of our couple friends. Then they came over and we Wii'd it for a couple of hours: Brawl rocks!

Today, we got up and talked to one of the lenders we're dealing with. Then, we went to the house to meet the inspector. It was SO COLD outside! But, the inspection went wonderfully! The inspector said he was impressed with how "clean" the house was (read, free of problems). Most of the stuff he wrote down was minor in nature, or easily fixed. We met the construction boss today too, and explained to him what we wanted in regards to repainting some of the rooms. He said it shouldn't be a problem and that he was going to try to get the painters in today! So, now, we just have to finish hacking through the whole loan process, schedule our initial walkthrough with our broker, and the final walkthrough once the builder has fixed whatever we find wrong. Then we close on the 30th! I'm actually hoping we'll have everything in place to close by the 29th...that way on the actual day of closing, we just sign the paperwork. AND GET THE KEYS!!!

Anyways, I was just thinking how good life is right now, and how blessed I am in family, friends, my job, and future! Of course, everything's not perfect but I wouldn't want it to be. Perfection is boring.

So, here's to the upcoming holidays (and finishing shopping for them), and to the upcoming new year! May we all be blessed, and even when things don't go our way, may we all remember that happiness is as much a state of mind as a state of circumstance!

Only Half a Day to Go!

And then it's Christmas Break! That's right: two whole weeks without my kids! I'm so HAPPY! Not that I don't love (most of) my students, but they have been as itchy and hyper as monkeys on sugar! They're more than ready for an extended break, and I can't say I disagree! Of course, I am a bit sad...I'm losing some really good kids to families moving, home schooling, and school transfers/dropping out. That's tough. I hope their lives end up being fulfilling and happy, whichever path they have to walk.

But still, I can't believe I've been a teacher for a full semester! It's gone by so quickly! Before I know it, it will be summer, and I'll have taught a full academic year! Of course, I need to buckle down and get my alternative certification paperwork done so that I'll get certified on time...but there's still plenty of time for that.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to the break. Tonight we're going to dinner with some friends, and then I'll only have the kids til 11:30 tomorrow. Since today was the final long day, we had Christmas parties...so tomorrow we basically do nothing but finishing watching A Christmas Story. Then, the faculty has a Chili cookoff/mandatory meeting. THEN I get to see my best friend!!! Hubby and I are gonna take her to see the HOUSE! and then we're gonna spend the evening hanging out. THEN Saturday morning, its up early for a long drive for a family Christmas, then back the next day for dinner with some other friends. Next week, we're going through some key HOUSE! closing procedures plus Christmas! I'm thinking that maybe the second week of the break will be more of a true break than the first lol.

I can't wait to close on our house though...for it to truly and officially be ours (and the bank's lol).

We Have a HOUSE!!!

And it's a beautiful house!!! It's located only a little bit farther south from where we are right now! It was originally a model home, and they finished building it in 2007, but it's never been lived in! Here's the specs:

approx. 2,200 sq ft
2 stories
4 bdrms, 2.5 baths
a gameroom, living room, kitchen (with an island!), formal dining, and breakfast room AND the utility room is inside!
2 car garage, with an extension
upgraded paint, carpet, tile, there's a sprinkler system

Because it's a model home, they're going to paint over all the random designs in the bedrooms, AND it's already FULLY landscaped!
(...with a magnolia tree in the back yard...sigh...I love magnolia trees...there was one at my grandparents' house growing up and we climbed it all the time...)

All in all, it a wonderful home, basically ideal for us in every way! Granted, there's more room in it than we technically need right at this moment, but it's a house we can grow in to, and still have plenty of space! More, it's a house we can be in for the next 15-20 years +.

We're currently planning on turning one bedroom into a library, one into a guest room, and then the third upstairs room will be a multipurpose/storage room until we have a baby, in around 4-5 years lol. For now, we're give the apartment complex notice for the end of January, giving us a month after our close date (which, by the way, is December 30th...yikes!) to move. But February 1, we'll be in the new place!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!