Bloggity-Doo-Dah

I just realized that I missed my blog birthday. . . Its been a year and a handful of days since I began this e-journal business last January ;)
I think I am gonna go celebrate with an icecream cone over a 24 episode in my snuggly bed :)

Cheers ya'll!

I write these things before I forget

The week has yet to be over, but I am SO ready to be over with it. I am feeling ashamed to admit this as I feel a burst of sunlight on my back, on this lovely morning -oh-so-close to Friday.
Its been a long week of an unusual sort.

Sunday - began with worship, fellowship with brethren. Ran to the store to get something 'gourmet-ish' for lunch, ended up rushed due to a call from the realtor on a house he thought we'd like. We saw the house and, after about an hour of looking at every nook and cranny, decided that we would put our name down for it.

Monday - thoughts of doubt about the house, running late out the door to work. Calls back and forth from us to the realtor, the lender, the realtor again, the lender, etc. Haven's car needs work.

Tuesday - Got up earlier this time, left my ipod at the gym - realized it once I got home. Picked it up later. Dropped off money down on house at the realtor office. Felt a peace about the house, mentally arranged our furniture in it, tried to envision seating guests in the cozy living room, tried to ignore the vanilla colored cabinetry and grey countertops, pictured myself in the master bath garden tub, went to work, rushed home just in time to kiss hubby goodbye. Raced over to BSF, managed to leave my keys in the ignition (thankfully, car was turned off), called hubby to see if he could help me after the meeting, late for ushering, misplaced my BSF lesson - tried to contentedly listen to the other ladies share, got caught in the pouring rain waiting for hubby to resure me. I had told him the wrong street - meanwhile, a sweet lady offered me shelter in her lexus. H arrived - sensed frustration in his voice. Got back home. Realized I had left my cell in the car. Wondered if anything else would go wrong. Haven and I talked about the house, looked at the financing options. We didn't feel peace about it. We talked through how small it was. We talked about looking some more. We resolved to keep looking. Went to bed at peace.

Wednesday - Haven told our realtor what we were thinking. I got my hair hilighted and cut at a new salon that I have been eyeing for a couple of months. The appointment took 2 hours - I liked my hairstylist. Was running late for work again. Didn't really eat lunch. Got excited about the new listings our realtor sent us. Had a night to myself since it was men's meeting night. Grabbed some food and skinny cow icecream cones - got stuck in traffic - ripped open a box and savored a cone (this was a great 'calmer' in heavy traffic). Watched "When Harry Met Sally" over a smart one's pizza. Looked at houses online with H.

Thursday - Yes, today. Today the future looks bright - we'll be looking again this weekend at homes. We still have a finger on this deal, but God may be leading us out of it and into another one.

And I did say that I am ready for the week to be over. We are kinda tired, we are kinda worried about money, about timing, about the cars, etc.

But God is good, and He has given us another day to trust that He will lead us and provide. May He always be our Manna ~

Meal Planning Query

As H and I are looking into buying the biggest thing we have ever bought, we have been thinking through our budget and would like to make some cuts and snippets here and there to make more room for our master savings (which will soon be deflated, pretty much, umm - completely).

In hopes of bringing the grocery bill down, I am seeking to start shopping for longer-term, and making this a way of life from now on. Its easier to start now as two, before two becomes three, three becomes four, four . . . (you get it ;) I love to cook, but I get frustrated when I am not thinking ahead with how I shop. I am a big fan of hearty and healthy meals & we are trying to stick to whole grains, fruits, veggies, lean meats, (chocolate, icecream, wine and beer ;)

So, I am eager for feedback - frugal shoppers and meal planners, reveal thyselves, I am ALL ears.


p.s. - I browsed Barne's and Noble's cookbook rack to see if there were any books on this - I only seemed to find one that looked remotely interesting, Cheap, Fast, Good, by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross
Has anyone read this? What were your thoughts on it?

I ordered Sheri Ingram's Menu Planning Made Easy off Crystal's Site, and I am looking forward to getting that.

I also did a google search last night on frugal meal planning and got completely overwhelmed.

Of all things, great and small

The ice has all melted, and the ground is only slightly damp. The cold snap is still lingering, to my delight however. :) There's just something about this wintery weather . . . it puts a spring in my step, and I am compelled to take many walks in it. The air is fresher, frostier & more magical.
Okay, before I turn into the season fairy . . .

Exciting happenings in my family - I have a new sister-in-law (we'll ditch the -in-law part and just stick with 'sister'). My brother Chad got married this past Saturday to a lovely Montana Miss :) Congratulations Chad and Nicole!

You all know about the cutest nephew - he is just a month old now!

& my Uncle is tying the knot this weekend in San Francisco. Wish we could be there :(

And many other things are in the works :)

We looked at a house yesterday that we are considering buying. Things seem to be running very smoothly for everything to go through too. Right now, we are still praying and thinking about it, but this could be 'it'. I will post more on it as the week unfolds. I know, you're thinking, NO DETAILS??? I don't want to jump the gun though, so just NOT YET ;)

High Hopes

Yes - to post pictures of the "ice blast of 2007" (at least, here on our end). That is, if blogger decides to stop being a fussy baby about it. . .

This is a frosty picture looking across at the apartment pool area -



Icicles hanging outside the apartment



Haven is so cold, he just can't handle it ;)


Trust me, you don't really need a convertible in this weather. . .

Beautiful, frozen tree branches

Icicles, Icicles, and more Icicles!






Too cold for the mailman . . .



But Ginger's cozy (we're pet-sitting my parent's dog right now :)



And so are we :)

Snuggly

I am sipping hot cocoa in my flannel jammie pants and huge hoodie. All the beautiful ice (which I will post pictures of tomorrow, promise) is melting slowly, drip by drip. The temp is creeping up the 30's line - we may even get lucky at 40 tomorrow.

After about 20 hours (+) without power, its such a relief to be able to sit under a well-lit dining room and have my computer humming again. Our power decided to die as we were watching What's Up Doc last night. . . Sigh - at least we had already dinnered and cleaned up.

Thank goodness for family close-by - We 'camped' at my parents' house last night - they had power, heat, cable tv, and a warm guest bed ready for us. After a good nights' sleep, some lounging, delicious split pea soup and a magnifique back rub from mom, we decided to try to venture back to our place.
We found it dark and cold, no change. It was a little depressing, but we snuggled under the covers for an hour and a half to conserve body heat. We went out to get some dinner at a sub place, and watched snippets on CNN about global warming - ummm. . . (I could write a page about how silly I think that is, especially right now.)
So, power came back on within the hour. I happily loaded the dishwasher and finished tidying the house for tomorrow. Maybe it will resume to some kind of normalcy in the morning.

Its been sort of an adventurous kind of week - we are in good spirits though.

Over & Out. ;)

Ice is Funny

I am sure you have all heard, and many are experiencing this "ice storm" here in good ol' S.A.

As we all freak out that Walmart and HEB are out of firelogs, and that we have no sort of scraper to chunk off ice from our frozen windshields so we use metal spatulas and vacuum cleaner attachments, I have to laugh. I laugh at the car in front of me, barely going 5 mph, and the car behind me trying to pass me to get in front of the snail. I laugh at how empty all the shelves are in the stores, and at the people pushing around huge, overflowing carts of food and bottled water. I am sorry, I just laugh. Its funny, mostly because this rarely happens here.

Everything seems to go into crisis mode when the weather throws us one. And while people try to come up for the reason behind it, I think that its just a great excuse to get off work early and watch 24 episodes with my spouse. ;)

Well, anyway.
Everyone, please be safe and careful. Stay warm and snuggly.

Nest Update

Well, after a great deal of consideration and prayer, we feel like God has a different plan in store for us for a house. As much as we really liked this place that I mentioned a couple posts ago, it would be a little bit of a strain on us, and we feel like we would not be able to do it justice. By saying this, I mean that if we did go ahead and buy it, we would want a list of upgrades that would help it to sell later. . . this factor, and a few other things have been on our minds lately, and we have decided to let it go and trust that God will lead us.
Though I am emotional about letting it go, I feel such a peace about it. The picture of Christ holding us in His Hand seems to fit this situation especially.

Our next step? Back to 'Square One', in a sense. This time, we are going to find a good realtor to help us. The good news is that this is such an exciting time of our lives, and we are pretty sure about what area we would like to live in now. :)
As always, thank you for praying!

A wistful post about things that don't really go that well together, but we wish that they did . . .

Sigh -

To-die-for-chocolate chip cookies VS my resolutions to be a healthier eater. . .

Date Night

Well, still being in that "newlywed" stage (hmm. . . how long can we draw that out? :) we go out for dates several times a week. Or maybe they are not really 'dates' persay, but maybe we just love eachother a lot and everything feels like a 'date'. Well anyway. . .
I love that we always find something new to do; I call them our little "adventures".
One of our favorite spots is Costco - and on Friday night, it is less busy than the weekends, that is for sure.
We both got home a little later tonight (I had to give my very dirty car some TLC and took it to the vacuum place). We headed off to the wonderful world of COSTCO and munched on a full meal, quite delicious, only ticketing $8.40 total.
While H pushed around a huge cart, I pointed at *this* and *that*, picked up a few things for the cart, ooooed and awwed at things and finally we were back at the front checkstands with our stuff. It was so fun to stroll and not be in "grab n' throw' mode (how shopping is usually accomplished).

We then went for a sweet treat from our siblings at Davinci's Gellato. While eating gellato from tiny spoons, we walked around the new shopping area going up. Being in the StoneOak area, all the architecture is very 'italian fresco' looking - very pretty, very ornate, screaming EXPENSIVE (judging by the new stores that are going in, Veronica's Day Spa, Diamond store, etc. etc.).

Needless to say, we had a nice little romantic date. And now, after I clean up this messy house which, due to its messiness, I am ashamed to say is mine, we are going to finish watching a movie we fell asleep to last night.

Happy Friday all.

Nest

It feels so nice to finally be able to sit down and write a good post. I feel like everything in between now and back then was the fluffy stuff.

Presently, Haven and I are looking at buying a home. I think that we are feeling everything from over-the-top excited to darn-scared-stupid about it. In the past two weekends, we have been to a handful of developments, sifting carefully through each model, while the agents sift carefully through us. These past two months, we have stepped in homes that we can’t afford but are nice to look at, homes that are too small for us, too big for us, too fancy for us, too fixer upper for us. But we did find a place that makes a lot of sense to us, pleases our eyes, and fits into our budget.
We are looking in a new development, and right now, the house isn’t even built – just a foundation, securely set upon a slightly rising plot. The lot on which it sits has a nice big oak tree (great bonus for these hot summers we suffer here), and, we cannot forget that it faces south, so that the sun won’t burn us down. For our children-to-come, there will be a park down the road, for our dog-to-be, the backyard is big enough to throw around a ball. For Haven, there is a big garage for tools, and a spacious loft for the television. For me, a pantry that you could live in, and a garden tub and a window in the master bathroom :) For both of us, the floorplan is perfect.
We have spent a couple of visits with an agent from the development – looking at models, talking about our options, and getting to know what we are getting into. . . sigh. Haven’s ear should have a phone attachment from all the calls he’s received and made regarding financing. I enjoy the Home Design center – where we are being introduced to different options for flooring and extras.

Its kind of overwhelming. We should know pretty soon if we can actually do this. For what its worth, I am hoping. For what I am sure of, God knows all the plans that He has for us, and He will plant us where He knows we’ll be best.

Thank you for your prayers for us :)

This headache of mine . . .

Its 12:30 - I've already lunched and diet coked. This morning, I exercised, showered & coffeed. . . this headache could only be due to one thing, I am absolutely sure of it. I need chocolate.

Speaking of this delightful thing, hubby introduced me to a wonderful new 'stick 'o chocolate' variety that Hersheys is making. I am a goober for their rich dark chocolate flavor. The great thing is that these are perfectly portioned sticks, and only at 60 calories each, there is NO guilt. :)

A bit battle-worn and perhaps a tad feeblish

I'm tired.
This morning, it was all I could do to just sit up. I could have slept until noon (my dream day - lounging in pajamas and watching Doris Day movies while licking cookie dough off a wooden spoon. . . Sigh)

Dreams.

While my mouth is agape at this, I quickly come back to earth. Right now, I am investing all my tired energy into working fulltime, covering for my office manager as she is taking a well-deserved Florida vacation. I am trying to get over a nasty little cold too. And be cheerful - yeah.

Cheerful? I am not very good at that right now. I guess that even as much as I love the duties and position that God has given me as a wife and employee, I still find it in my heart that I am struggling to keep a right attitude of thankfulness. Mornings like these past ones were full of wishes that the world of duties would just go away. I wanted to escape.
But being depended upon is a blessing in disguise. From giving of myself, comes great joy and fufillment. The giving may be painful, unpleasant, and perhaps undesirable at times, but this is the life that God has fashioned for His children. To give.

Don't Mess With Me, I got Attitude

I enjoy my job. Each day is filled with pleasant duties such as filing, sorting, copying, faxing, and various telephone conversations. I have a great manager, and we pass the quiet and bland moments with chattering about this and that, relating the latest news and all else under the sun.
In all my expectations of being an admin for a small engineering firm, I never thought that some tasks could be warfare. . .

Let me explain. I am growing into some foreign shoes as my employer's protector, warding off unimportant calls, sneaky salesmen and today's experience of your textbook scam artist. I am not a brave person, so this is an amusing and sometimes frustrating experience at times. Sometimes I feel victorious, conquering the sapsuckers, other times, I am defeated by their quick words and sharp comebacks. But Today, Today, TODAY, I was a winner.

Scam artist (who I shall leave as anonymous) called yesterday and tried to sell me into the gimmick - he was a talker smoother than honey butter, but this guy's soul was vinegar. He began personally addressing me, offering a poison apple - and promising to send a fax today, and a deal, and this, and that, if I would only just do this and that, blah, blah, oh thankyou very much and I shall call you again soon - he hung up and I waited. Today he called again, and this time, I was prepared. I had loaded my tongue with arrows and shot him down. Now, to the punch of this - when I told him that we were not interested in receiving the said product from them, he asked me if I did the purchasing. Well technically, I don't. My manager has the credit card but I am the scout. For me, it didn't really matter if I did the purchasing or not - bottom line: we were not interested, end of story. He kept pushing, saying, 'Well, Amy, not to be rude or anything, (his voice becoming tense) but shouldn't you be handing the phone to your office manager? No, I said, as I poked my head over to her cubicle and she gave me a grin. I again told him we both did ordering, but it didn't matter - We were not interested. He replied, "Well, it sounds like you have an attitude problem." I was stunned. This was the biggest idiot scammer yet. "Whatever. I told you we weren't interested so that's that and I hope you have a good day, goodbye." And I slammed the phone down.

I love getting in the last word.

Friday Favorites

Because I just so adore color, I am arranging my weekly favorites in a spectrum. I only had time for eleven. . . ;)

1. Ruby Red, Red Rubies
2. Black, White & Yellow
3. Red, White, and Blue
4. Orange
5. Green
6. Shades of Blue
7. My Favorite Yellow People
8. Purple Fanatics
9. Chocolate is a color. . .
10.Poor little Black Bear
11. Finale

Rain

Simple.

Gentle moisture patter. A bit of freeze, a slight wind - makes Winter Rain. Drumming on my panes, rum pa pum pum. Splatter on the patio concrete, quick slaps. Breathe in deeply, filling your lungs with freshly washed air. Soak your mind in it. Methodical, Winter Rain.

My Goodness . . .

2007. Happy New Year!

Tuesday. Back to work, back to the routine. Stow the rich food. Get out the running shoes. Pack up Christmas. Throw out the dry branches, the faded tree.

I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Year's.
We did. Here are some random snaps from Seattle - scenery, and a few from the Museum of Flight. Every time I look at these, I miss the northwest. . . :(


Duckery

This tree looks full of cotton

A lone gull. A lone Bridge.


Quiet Charm


Chilly River Reflections
Sunset over Seattle

Purple Mountains

Museum of Flight:

Little Red Christmas plane


This was a scream - 'plane-mobile' for fast get-aways ;)


The better to smell you with, m'dear - This is the nose of a Concorde. . . it tips downward in landing, apparently.



We're famous. didn't you know? ;)