Disaster Areas

The Pod arrived on Monday, and it is pretty much packed. Aside from a refrigerator, a mattress, a dresser, a few odds and ends boxes, and some end tables we're good to go. As you can see, Faith has been about as big a help packing as John is.

John worked with a few guys last night to load things up--how do people move without family and friends, really? My only complaint is that they took the couches--and I really wanted to watch the new episode of "House" on the DVR. Sigh....guess I'll either sit on the floor to watch it, or just wait until this weekend. But it's the first new episode in weeks, so it's hard to wait!

The last picture was taken on our way home from Ada last night. The most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen--it was a full arch (so big I couldn't get it in one picture) and bright and colorful. There were even two other faint rainbows on either side of it. I thought I looked like a dork with the window rolled down taking pictures, but there were several others doing it as well! Beautiful.

Over the Hill

Last night John and I went out to dinner to celebrate my friend Tara's new job. We were all sitting around Bahama Breeze, chatting into the wee hours of the early evening.

Some of the topics we discussed:
-third trimester pregnancy woes
-college savings plans
-investing in oil companies
-30th birthday parties
-health plan benefits
-prescription medication
-diets

These are my college friends, so we have seen each other through things like midterms, 4 a.m. pizza, roadtrips, wedding planning, study groups, and ordering water at restaurants to save money rather than because it's healthier.

Next stop: nursing home.

Bad Photography

Ok...I just got the camera yesterday. I will work on learning how to make the pictures brighter and more focused. Give me a bit....sorry they're such bad pictures!

TGIF...A Day in the Life at the Office

Welcome to my office--come on in! As you can see, we are an office of colorful, creative people...let me introduce you.

Christopher and Katie are usually the first people you'll see when you arrive. They work with movie studios and sometimes movie stars and are often doing very important things. We only get to see them at birthday celebrations, because everyone comes out for cake.

The next office you'll see is Jana. She's been here almost as long as I have. We're tenured, because we've been here more than 3 years! Jana just had a birthday yesterday, and she's struggling with the number. But it's not as old as John will be in September!!!

Also--Jana will soon be my new neighbor, as she lives in the same neighborhood we're moving into.

Next you'll run across Jeanna. Jeanna is taking a half day vacation today, which is why she can smile so brightly. The rest of us are not speaking to her.

Keli is the newest addition to the team, and I am SO thankful she's here. She wouldn't smile for the camera because she said her hair looks like crap. But it doesn't....

And here's my little corner of the world. It's a mess, but the view of downtown is nice today.

So....there you go. Here's where I spend most of my time during the week, and the people I spend it with. Lisa, Cherri, and Michelle are all gone today, otherwise I'd have their smiling faces as well!

Oh yeah....thanks, Dad, for the camera! I can now post more pictures to the blog!

All the Australian Yummies...Throw another shrimp on the barbie

Well, I think Julia liked her present. Oh well if she didn't because I liked it. I bought tickets to the Keith Urban concert this summer. Just me and Julia and delicious Keith.

Which led to a really strange discussion with John last night about the list of guys I think are "delicious"....but that's a whole other subject.

Anyway, July 2nd will be a great day for me (and Julia). I bet he puts on a great concert. I hope he won't be in another stay at rehab during that time...

Hate/Love Relationship

Things I hate:
1) The girl on the Quiznos commercial who says "and that's what real women need" and then gives that horrible screeching laugh
2) The sounds of people drinking. It's that gulp sound that send shivers down my spine
3) Wasted time on conference calls

Things I love:
1) Driving to Walgreens with "Oops...I did it Again" on the radio (ok, my CD) to pick up a pint of Ben and Jerry's
2) Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream (thanks, Honey, for discovering that for me!)
3) Eating half the Ben and Jerry's pint in one sitting while watching the series finale of "Sex and the City"....the one where Carrie gets Big

Hey--I deserve a little ice cream and a guilty-pleasure TV shows after ALL THE PACKING.
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Also, Happy 21st Birthday to my little sister, Julia. It was yesterday. Man, I got her a GREAT present. A present that benefits more than just her. I'll tell you all about it after I give it to her tonight!

Passed Inspection

So, inspections went great! Only one thing to fix on our house, only one thing on the new house and both were under $10 to fix. Now...all we have to do is sign the papers and get the keys.

It was so great to meet the people that are moving out of our new house. They talked our ear off, and are leaving us with a whole "packet" of info...warranties, paint colors, neighborhood names and phone numbers, pizza delivery numbers, alarm codes...she's thought of everything. Then, while we were there one of the neighbors came over and we met her and she is wonderful. Looks like we're going to have a great neighbors!

I took lots of pictures of the new house...but I'm not going to post anything until we get our stuff in there. Otherwise...it's just weird. But trust me...it's beautiful!

Packed and Ready

It has been a whirlwind of boxes and packing tape lately. I'm proud to say I have most of the house packed up. The usual culprits left to be packed (a few dishes, a few key pots, blankets, lamps, and of course the garage that John hasn't touched) but we're getting there!

Our home inspection is today. Pretty sure everything will go well, as our current house and the future house are both less than 5 years old! Makes moving much easier.

Anyway, things are looking up. Much easier than I imagined. I'm ready to head back to work, after having several days off. I was already scheduled to be off work, as originally we were supposed to be in Colorado.

Well, I guess I'll sign off for now. There's a really great early episode of "Full House" on TV right now, and it's almost time to head over for the inspection. And I promise...only 9 days until we move and then maybe I'll start talking about something else!

March Madness

By the way....last night I was TOTALLY in the lead for March Madness brackets. Thanks a lot, Duke and Notre Dame--my Sweet Sixteen is totally screwed.

March Madness, St. Patrick's Day, and Saturday--it's what DUI lawyers call the perfect storm!

Yeah, I stole that joke...

Playing Dress Up

I have really good news, everyone.

I am skinnier now than I was in high school.

It's true. Guess how I know? I still have my PROM dresses! I know, it's pathetic. But I still have them and tonight when I was packing (yes! packing! two rooms--DONE!) I came across them and I tried all three of them on. They were all very loose...which means I've actually lost weight since high school. How is that even possible?

Oh, wait, I know...I shifted the weight from my abdomen area to my BUTT and thighs. Ha!

Guess what else? I took my wedding dress out of the bag and tried it on, too. My best friend was over, and she missed my wedding so I felt like I needed to show her how beautiful it was. And, oh, it was beautiful. I asked, but John told me I couldn't sleep in it. I think I completely embarrassed him, but what's new? Too bad I had to put it up. It was loudly whispering "wear me, wear me, don't put me back in the bag".

Have you ever seen that episode of "Friends" where the girls wear wedding dresses around the house? They do the dishes, eat snacks, and visit with each other--all in white. Every once in a while, I think girls need to do that. Our friend Eric asked me how old I was, because he didn't think 25-year-olds played dress up. But...we do. Ok, I do. Stop laughing at me, you know you ALL wish you could wear your wedding dress again. I won't be 26 for another month and I haven't signed my giant mortgage yet so I feel that warrants a little juvenile behavior.

Anyway, I did pack up the office and the guest room. Yes, I'm packing all the easy rooms first. Because I don't even want to think about the kitchen. We officially have 13 days until moving day. And 12 days until closing.

I'm not stressing out, I'm not stressing out, I'm not stressing out.

Welcome Home!

Well...if it all goes as planned, this will be our new house! We looked at it several weeks ago, and then visited it again on Monday night. And it is perfect. Even better than the house we "lost" over the weekend. Plus...it has a 3-car garage. So, John is giddy. That was on the wishlist, but not a sticking point.

The best part--the current owners are ready to head to Texas, so they agreed to close at the end of the month. So we will not be homeless or crashing any of your houses. We'll just move right on in to our new home!

I keep holding my breath and getting butterflies, because I really love this house and think this will be it. For a long time. 3 bedrooms and a study mean plenty of room for a growing family (someday, not now, don't worry, no announcement). It's got a big backyard, a spacious kitchen, and two sinks in the master bathroom. How can you ask for anything more than that?

I think we're going to feel at home here. There are so many families and kids running around the neighborhood. Very friendly. Everything just feels right...

So, I will begin my packing adventure this weekend. We could not have picked a more inopportune time to move, really. It's going to be a CRAZY couple of weeks with how busy work is for both of us. But, we'll get it figured out. I just may not get unpacked and set up until May!!

So....here's the house. Keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer everything continues to fall into place.

Homeless

Well, it's official: we sold our house!!!

We are overwhelmed and so thankful. We were just commenting this weekend that TWO houses on our street went up for sale, making the total number of houses for sale in our neighborhood close to 30. We were not only competing with houses for sale by existing owners, but also with brand new houses sitting empty and waiting for new owners and houses being built. It's been a long road (we put it up for sale the week of Thanksgiving), but we just needed a little sunshine and warm weather. And a lot of luck...

Of course, we haven't closed so we still have inspections and appraisals and such to get through. So keep your fingers crossed that all works out. The house is only a year and a half old, so there shouldn't be any problems!

Oh wait....I forgot to mention that we have to be out of here by the end of March. YIKES! That's less than three weeks! We can totally pack and get out of here in that time (we have a lot of stuff but not THAT much) but we have to do this other little thing of finding a place to go. We were ready to make an offer on a house tonight that I've been keeping my eye on for 6 weeks...and, of course, it sold LAST NIGHT. I am really bummed...but we'll find something.

I'm just worried now about where we're going to go between the time we move out and the time we can find and close on another house. We've had a couple of people say "feel free to stay with us", but you know how that is. We'd rather just find a house!

It's a good problem to have, especially after three ice storms and four months on the market.

So, that is our weekend in a nutshell. I will try to keep everyone updated during our frenzied search....but forgive me if the blog doesn't stay too updated. I'll be too busy packing boxes!

Sorry--we've been busy saving money

Ah...your daily cell phone camera image to enjoy. Come on....it's been a long time since we've posted a picture of our baby!

Well, we got an awesome phone call yesterday from our insurance agent. I guess I should back up....Monday night's Financial Peace University class was about understanding insurance, and making sure you're getting the most out of your policies, saving money, etc. Not the most exciting topic....but lots of good information.

Well, John, being the insurance guy he is gave our insurance company a call the next day to go over everything and see if there were any discounts to be found or changes we could make to save a few extra bucks. I think after going over everything he found about $15 a month we could save. Hey--it's savings.

Well, then they called him back yesterday. Apparently, they reran some numbers, put in a few different scenarios, looked at our driving records, considered our long-standing patronage etc. And we now have a BETTER insurance policy with our same low deductibles, and they are saving us a CRAZY amount of money a month. Yes, insuring two new cars and with John's beautiful record from his early driving years we were spending a lot of money on insurance. But we are now going to be practically a car payment richer each month. Ok, more than half a car payment richer. It's that much we're saving

A lot contributed to it. Mostly I'd turned 25, neither of us have current tickets on our record, we are accident-free (knock on wood), we're long-standing customers. But we'd never questioned our payments before and never examined everything. We are now paying about 1/3 what we'd been paying all because of a phone call!

So, call your insurance agent and see what you can do. It's worth it, I promise!

In other news we are cooking a lot at home. It's been so nice to not eat out. And since we were spending the evening at home last night cooking, I decided to clean out our closet. WOW....doesn't seem like I got rid of that much stuff, but the closet looks great, we have tons of new hangers, it's organized, all my shoes fit on the shoe shelf, and I got rid of a lot of purses. And since I was going to be giving those away, I went through and cleaned them out (removed trash and mints and chapstick, etc.). I ended up finding a $5 Wal-Mart card, a $20 Kohl's card, about $120 in spa gift certificates, and a $1 bill. Not to mention the new found organization my mind has gained. It was a productive evening.

We're spending the weekend resting up. I have to work A LOT next week in the evenings, and then Friday we're off to Colorado on our snowmobiling adventure!

Baby's First Book Club

I cannot wait to get a new digital camera. This camera phone isn't going to cut it for much longer!

Today I attended the baby shower of my friend Brooke. But it wasn't just any baby shower--it was a book shower. To fill the new baby's bookshelves with all the imagination and power and new worlds that books open up. From ABC's to "Where the Wild Things Are", Brooke got lots of great books for her new baby. Of course, it would be helpful to know what she's having and what the names are (so I know if I need to get Angelina Ballerina books or Ira Sleeps Over) but that is their secret for another 6 weeks....I can't wait to meet that baby!

It was all very appropriate, since Brooke is the one that started our book club. I kept telling her that today was baby's first book club...

I didn't get any pictures with Brooke, even though it was her shower. But I did get to see baby Riley and her mom, Laura. I love all these babies! Look at how beautiful she is...

TGIF

So, John and I are going snowmobiling in Colorado. Found a cheaper place. Robin will be joining us, too...should be quite an experience!

Anybody not skiing during spring break that might have some skit pants or boots I could borrow to stay warm? I'll take good care of them, I promise. Leave me a comment or e-mail me if you wouldn't mind!

It's been a weird week...on Wednesday I finally broke down and had some steroid injections in my knees. My joints have been more out of whack than normal lately, and these shots were directly into the joints and are supposed to relieve pain and stiffness for up to three months. I have to tell you....I feel worse than I did before. Apparently, removing pain from those joints have magnified pain in several others. I'm giving it through the weekend before I call back and say "help me!". In the meantime, forgive any snappy attitudes I might have. I'm tired and irritable and in pain!

I was late to bookclub last night. I felt so terrible. I could have sworn it was at 7:00, and I even remember thinking "7:00 is kind of late...they should have done it at 6:30". Sure enough, it was at 6:00. I was half an hour late, and I hope I didn't let Courtney down! But, I hadn't even read the book which is totally against my book club philosophy. But, the group convinced me it's a book I should read. And I HAVE to read the next one, since I'm picking it!

Red Robin tonight...yeah!!!

Are you supposed to stop, drop, and roll for an engine fire?

We got the best news last night in the mail. Turns out the love of my transportation life, my 2006 Nissan Altima has been recalled. Apparently is has a tendency to drain oil too fast and start engine fires. I can't tell you what a blessing this news was.

Huh? What? Why is that a blessing? Because to compensate for the danger I've been in for the last year, they are offering all sorts of perks! First, we take it in to be inspected on Monday. They will replace the part, and if the engine is damaged in a certain category, we get a brand new engine! And then, they will do an oil and fluid change for free.

And the best part: whether we keep this engine or get a new one--they have extended our warranty! We currently were on the standard 36 month, 30,000 mile warranty. But now we automatically have an 84 month, 100,000 mile warranty!!!

So, as you can see, I like to look at things from the bright side. And I'm not worried about the fires at this point. We're already scheduled to go in on Monday, and if it catches on fire this weekend we'll not only get a free new car but we could have a nice lawsuit on our hands. Just kidding....and, boy, are we glad we didn't purchase that extended warranty. Sometimes being frugal can pay off, who knew?