Making a Home

We finally got our new coffee table and chair delivered. I love them!  Other random pics of the house to follow...

(Attention whore sold separately)

One of my favorite purchases thus far: My tree/wood cup and saucer on the right

Awesome antique flip-down clock I got at Nell Hill's

Kitchen

Deck

I'll post more pics another time. But here's a little video of a water thief I found:

Hard To Take a Breath

Ok, so obviously I'm not very good at updating a blog.

I know people always use the excuse, "I've been so busy lately," but in this case, it's actually true. In fact, not only does it feel like I can never slow down, but lately it's been hard to find the time to just stop and take a breath.

Is this growing up? Becoming an adult? Is it just a crazy time in my life, or does it really never slow down? And this is without kids even!

Without delving into the subject too much, I'm considering a career change and possibly going back to school - for the least amount of time necessary, mind you. I've contemplated radiology (was told there are no jobs out there), nursing school (would take me 3 years and I don't think I'm cut out for it), medical or surgical assistant (was told I might as well be a nurse, there would be more options), and I'm currently thinking about dental hygienist. It would take 2 years, but I'd start out making double what I do now.

Any suggestions? Advice? What are some good professions?

Wish I was here right now:

Productive Weekend

I am exhausted after a busy weekend, but before I settle in to watch the NCAA championship (read as "pass out on the couch") I wanted to write an update.

Friday: After a long day of work, I came home to cook Ryan a delicious dinner for his birthday: homemade fettuccine alfredo and rice krispie treats (he doesn't like cake much - and yes I put candles in the rice krispie treats;) I had awoken him in the morning with his gift: a tool box with a couple tools and his favorite candy inside. So all that was left to do was relax on the couch watching our favorite shows. It was a good night:)

Saturday: We started Saturday with some house cleaning, then headed to Village Inn for a hugely full-filling brunch. You know I love my breakfast food! Next, we ventured to Home Depot and purchased a lawn mower, rake, hose, and gardening supplies including tomatoes and green beans for our garden! After some outside time enjoying the weather, while Ryan assembled the mower and I planted my tomato seeds, we called it quits for the day and watched the final four games.

Sunday: Ryan got up early to mow the yard (we found out just how bumpy and patchy it is:( and I did a few loads of laundry. Then we made the trek out to Nebraska Furniture Mart where we got a cool chair and coffee table for the living room, and good ole' Wal-mart where we got a surprisingly nice TV stand and entry-way table. After taking a break to assemble the entry-way table (looks great!), we went down to the AMC theater for dinner and a movie at Fork and Screen. We saw Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal. It was getting pretty good reviews and for good reason. I, myself, would not have gotten too excited about it, but it was better than I expected. The whole concept was very interesting and kept me guessing. Though toward the end of the movie I thought we were going to have to take cover from a tornado for a second...apparently a hail storm went through KC. Don't think we got any up where we live, no damage to be seen, thank goodness.

Well, that was our lovely new-homeowner-weekend. Now I'm struggling with allergies and hoping it doesn't turn into something else as strep is going around the center. Bleh. Tomorrow morning, Ryan is off to Georgia with his dad to watch one of the Master's practices. Lucky dog. He gets back sometime on Thursday, and I will be eagerly awaiting his arrival, probably bored out of my mind. :)

Bills, Bills, Bills

Well, it's official.

I, as a homeowner, have made my first mortgage payment!!

We're even paying a little extra each month to save thousands on interest in the end. Sigh...feels good.

(You know what also feels good? The thin mint cookies I just ate. Thanks to my awesome niece, Claire! ;)

Moving on...

The other night I watched the Academy Award nominated documentary "The Lottery" by Madeleine Sackler. It follows the story of four families in Harlem, NY who enter a lottery to win their child a once-in-a-lifetime education in one of their charter schools. Hundreds of thousands of families enter every year. Only a couple hundred get in. It gives astonishing statistics about the levels and standards of education in the New York public school system, (such as "58% of black 4th graders are functionally illiterate" and "about 50% of students in low-income communities will not graduate high school by the time they are 18") as well as opinions from those against the charter schools. "Why would anyone be against a better education for children" you might ask? I asked the same thing. It seems to be mainly Union workers who feel the most threatened. Understandable. I mean why wouldn't they be upset at the possibility of someone taking away their "right" to do a half-a**ed job at something that influences millions of children and will affect this country for decades to come. ("The achievement gap between low-income students and their higher-income peers cost the US about $500 billion per year.")  The film also shows some parents of public school children who don't appreciate the charter schools shedding light on how horrible their educational system is. Seeing reactions like these saddens me. However, other parents stating that we should learn from these charter schools so we can implement what works into the public schools gave me hope. And it gives me hope to see all the people working so hard to better the lives of these children that are the future.

I'd also like to point out that they discussed how the backgrounds of the children in the program weren't a deciding factor in their success. It didn't matter if they were a poor black child growing up in a single parent household struggling every day. It showed that if you give young children the right opportunities and teach them the necessary skills, they are capable of extraordinary things.

It was a great documentary and a wonderful way of helping others to be aware of this issue and the realities of our schools.

On that note, I'd like to thank my writing partner tonight:

She had many ideas for the blog tonight... Most were veto-ed immediately.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!

Now before you get excited, let me start by saying I don't expect too many people to read this blog. That is not why I started it. Honestly, I started it because I needed a hobby of sorts to fill my time. I also thought it could be somewhat therapeutic, like a journal. Sure, it would be exciting to see a comment here and there. But hey, I've been good at talking to myself for years!

That being said, if you're still reading, thanks! (You must be bored.) But never fear, you have several random posts about my life to look forward to.

And I should warn you, I have OCD tendencies. And those tendencies love to make LISTS! My brain needs to compartmentalize everything or I begin to feel overwhelmed. So here we go, my first blog list:

Current Interests:

• Eating healthy, especially fresh fruits and veggies
• Exercising - P90x and running (I am still struggling to get into a routine with this, but I'm working on it)
• Reading - fiction, non-fiction, blogs, whatever
• Music - melodies and lyrics that invoke strong emotions
• Two of my faves right now:  Adele and Mumford & Sons
• Gardening - now that Ryan and I have a house (that already has 2 garden boxes in the backyard!) we look forward to growing some of our own vegetables
• Minimalism - getting back to the basics, spending less and having less makes for a richer life. After moving 8 times in the last 9 years it has been a huge weight off of us to donate a lot of our "stuff" and get rid of the "consumer America" mindset.
• Learning - now that I've been done with school for a few years, it's nice my interest in learning has sprung up...sigh... I'm finally regretting sleeping through history class (sorry mom and dad...I still got an A though...good test taker) but I love watching American Pickers and Pawn Stars. I know, these obviously don't make up for high school history classes, but I learn tons of new things each episode. I highly recommend either if you've never seen them! They make me giddy:) The Discovery Channel is also wonderful.
• Lately, I've also been wanting to educate myself about things going on in other parts of the world. I plan on watching some documentaries and will post reviews afterward.

So these are some of the things I will probably be blogging about in the posts to come. Thrilling, huh?! Hold on to your seats, people! Get ready to be inspired!