10 Months

Goodbye Oxford!

Our athletic club is closing. Yes, I am very, very sad. We got emails on Thursday that Sunday would be their last day. I am especially bummed since Alex and I just had signed up for Summer Boot Camp! Darn! 
Last night Alex and I spent the evening going around to some different places to see what we like and where to join next. Alex lifts weights and I swim, so it needs a nice pool (Oxfords is hands-down the best pool in Vancouver) and a really good weight room. Here is what we found....

• Green Meadows Golf Course- Pros: CLOSE to home, All old people members, open late, we can GOLF, maybe 5 people were there working out at prime time, restaurant and bar to go to after working out, computer generated workout machines, TWO pools, an outside pool, TANNING!  Cons: Nearly TRIPLE the price of Oxford, $100 a month vs. $38 at Oxford, $50 initiation fee, older building.
• Lake Shore Athletic Club- Pros: Big, Two pools, only $66 a month, HUGE weight room, NO initiation fee. Cons: Far from home and no tanning.
• LA Fitness- Pros: Lots of Aqua classes, big weight room, only $48 a month. Cons: BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, no tanning and feels like a Meat Market! YUCK!
• Firstenburg- Pros: Price was $51 a month, no contract and no initiation fee. Cons: Busy, Lots of KIDS, no tanning, the pool was aimed at kids more than lap swimmers, far from home.

That is what we have looked at so far. We are going to look at Marshall Center (I think). I have NO interest in 24 Hour Fitness or Bally's. We love the personal feel of an athletic club and the idea of supporting a local business.

Oxford we will miss you.......... 

Refrigerator Update

Last week I blogged about MY BROKEN REFRIGERATOR. 


Well..........

We ended up going a total of 8 days without a fridge!!! LG finally came through on their word and sent someone out to fix it. I am thankful that it was all taken care of free of charge. Also, it reminded me that we hadn't renewed our home warranty! Our wonderful realtor gave us a home warranty as a gift when we closed on our house last March. It's SO wonderful; if anything ever goes wrong with your house it's a $60 fee and they are there and they fix it and foot the bill! We used to last year for the furnace, AC unit and the broken water heater. We paid $180 out of pocket for the trip charges and they fixed it all. It saved us over $1,500! Anyway, we have renewed it now and IF *knock on wood* something goes wrong we are covered! Yeah!! Needless to say we lost all of our food, had to buy a mini-fridge and had to eat out for a week. (Okay, the eating out thing was not THAT bad!) I am just glad it's taken care of!

And so it is....

.....that I will be teaching 4th grade this summer!

I am really excited (and super honored) to be able to teach among the elite teachers in the district. This is going to be a really great summer. As you all may know 4th grade is not totally my comfort level. I really prefer kindergarten-second grade, but this should be a blast! I will get 2 weeks off when the school year is out and then I'll start summer school. I'll be working Monday-Thursday from 9am-2pm. After summer school is over I will have about a month off until the 2010-11 school year begins!! I really, really LOVE my job. Will I ever get rich being a teacher? Nope. But I love what I do and I can't ask for anything more. ♥

A New Life...

Alex started his new position at his new store today! With the new position comes new work hours. Some (not all) of those new hours include DAY SHIFTS! I woke up this morning and Alex was already at work. It felt so strange to wake up and be alone. I was able to sleep in, shower, get ready, and take care of the boys this morning at my own pace. It was so low key and different - I liked it! I made the bed and opened all the windows. I went grocery shopping and did a few errands around town and I was home by 1 pm today. Then I cleaned and cleaned and deep cleaned around the house and did a few projects at the same time. I baked today and made a yummy dinner. Alex was home by 6:30 pm and we were able to have dinner together. It felt so good to get done what I needed to get done and know that at 6:30 when he got home everything was done and we could just relax. For our entire marriage we have lived separate lives (that sounds bad and really sad - and it is.) I was the early bird who was up at the crack of dawn, then worked all day and then early to bed. Alex was able to sleep in each day and hang out around the house until going to work at 2 pm. He worked until midnight or 1 am and then would go to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Finally, we can begin to get on the same schedule and live like normal people again. I am most looking forward to dinner together and the chance to make evening plans and see friends and family again. I am excited to not have the feeling of missing him all the time. I won't have to anymore because he'll be home with ME!    

Swagbucks!

Have you signed up with SWAGBUCKS yet? Basically, it's a search engine just like Google or Yahoo where you can look up anything! Throughout the day you gain FREE Swagbuck points. As you start to accumulate more points then you can redeem them for special offer Gift Cards.

Gift Cards at Swagbucks is the most appealing to me. Once you've gained enough Swagbucks you can redeem them.

Here are a few:
$25 Resturants.com e-Gift Card for 400 SB (Swagbucks)
$5 Amazon e-Gift Card 450 SB
$25 Amazon e-Gift Card 3150 SB
$10 Barnes & Nobles e-Gift Card 1250 SB
$10 Starbucks Gift Card 1300 SB 
$15 iTunes e-Gift Card 1850 SB

I have already earned over 800 SB in just a month! I just use it as my search engine now rather than using Yahoo or Google! And it's FUN too! 

Fred Meyer Red Tag Store: Have you been there??

Have you ever been or do you have a Fred Meyer Red Tag Store? I didn't know there was one across the street from the Fred's on 82nd & Foster in Portland. Basically, the store takes all the clearance items from different Fred Meyer's and the Red Tag Store sells items for an EXTRA 60% off the LOWEST clearance or sale price. The only draw back is that once you buy the item, it's "All Sales Final." So you can't take it back. The store reminds me of Ross, because it has a little bit of everything. We were able to use our employee discount as well, which made it all an even bigger steal.

Here's what I got:

Regularly Priced at $29.99 and I paid ONLY $6.33

Regularly Priced at $29.99 and I paid ONLY $6.33

The two platters match a few pieces of the same line that I got for wedding gifts a while back. I already had a smaller platter, a big bowl and a tray for appetizers and dipping sauces. Now my set is a little more complete!

Now a few months ago I came out of the bathroom after a shower to find this...

(Sorry crappy iPhone quality)

Yep! You got it- Ryder ate the comforter! :o(

We've just been using an old comforter since because after having him destroy a few hundred dollar one I really didn't want to invest the money in a new one. Oh plus I am still hoping we can upgrade to a KING size bedroom set SOOOOON!

Anyway, today I found a new comforter....

Regularly Priced at $190.99 and I paid ONLY $18.01

Isn't this great?!? It's not my ideal bedroom set, but hey for $18.01 I can definitely live with it! Plus I already had the matching white pillow that I picked up on clearance at Freddy's almost 2 years ago! :o)

I love a deal! It was a good day!! 

LG you SUCK!

Our refrigerator BROKE!

Alex opened the fridge today before work only to find it was not working. We have now had the refrigerator for 14 months. The warranty ended at 12 months. Greattttttttttttttttttt.

We called Best Buy... NO LUCK. They wouldn't help us, so we called LG and they are actually willing to help us!  I had to fax them our original receipts from Best Buy and they have those now. So now.... we wait 24-48 hours for them to process the claim and THEN schedule for somebody to come out and fix it. Luckily, they are fixing it free of charge. But..... for now we have no refrigerator! Boo!

We moved everything from the inside freezer to the freezer in the garage. CHECK!

Next, we filled the refrigerator with dry ice. Nottttt cheap! Hopefully they can come in the next 3 or 4 days and fix it because it is not fun to not have a fridge! 

LG you suck because your refrigerator broke....

LG I will say you rock if you come fix this problem quickkkkkkk!

Time will tell!   

Looking for a...

HOUSEKEEPER!

That's right I am looking for a housekeeper!!

I have now interviewed a handful of people and private companies and have just not found the right match for us.

I am not looking for a "light housekeeper." I am looking for someone to come every other week or so and scrub and deep clean bathrooms, hardwood floors, clean baseboards, clean the appliances (stainless steel is a  PAIN to keep clean)  dust throughly (ceiling fans, pictures on walls etc.) wash windows, get cobb webs down, clean the vents and blah, blah, blah.

My house is always clean. I just am tired of spending evenings and days off doing all the yucky time consuming stuff.

With Alex's new job we've decided it is time for this. This will be the first time since we have been married that he will be home most evenings and I am ready to cherish and enjoy that time together.

Both of us work a lot. Maybe a little too much. Our lives are our jobs and for now that is okay! But when we are home we'd like to enjoy our time. 

Anywayyyyyyyyyyyy I am having a little trouble locating someone that can do the work I am looking for, but not charging an arm and a leg to do it. So if you know someone help a girl out and give me a name and number!

  

Promoted!

Alex got a promotion! 

He is one happy guy and I am one proud wife!

He starts at his new store on May 23rd!

Life is a changin' for sure! 

I'm SO excited for what is in store for us. 

Poor Jonathan

This is Jonathan...

Jonathan has been my baby since I was 2 years old... That's 23 years! While I went away to college and moved to Vancouver Jonathan resided with my sister in Tacoma. On Mother's Day I brought Jonathan home to Vancouver! I got home late last night and put him with a pile of stuff that I brought home from Tacoma. Today after work I was upstairs changing clothes to head to the gym and I came down stairs to find...

Ryder cowering after hearing my screams as I realized that he took Jonathan from a pile upstairs and dragged him down stairs and.........

Chewed off his FINGERS!!!

In 23 years, Jonathan has remained perfectly intact and in less than 24 hours at my house he is now missing fingers. Needless to say I am sad. Really sad.

So what does any good doggy mommy do???

Why goes to the Good Will and buys him new toys, right? Spoil him when he is bad. Yeahhhhh I know! Obviously he needed something new to chew.... Sigh.

It's a sad day. Poor Jonathan. 

{By the way I paid under $10 for ALL those toys! GO ME!}

All Trimmed Up For Summer!

Lists!

Three names I go by:
1. Kristina
2. Princess
3. Honey

Three jobs I have had:
1. Florist (2002-2008) 6 YEARS!
2. Daycare/Pre-School Teacher
3. Teacher (2008- Present)

Three places I have lived:
1. Tacoma, WA
2. Ellensburg, WA
3. Vancouver, WA

Three favorite drinks:
1. Venti Non-Fat Extra Caramel, Carmel Macchiato
2. Water
3. Sprite

Three TV shows I watch:
1. American Idol
2. E! Reality... All of it!
3. Tori and Dean... 90210.... Melrose.
      ( I <3 TV!)

Three places I have been:
1. Florida
2. Hawaii
3. Las Vegas

Three places I would like to visit:
1. Maui
2. Fiji
3. New York

Three favorite old TV shows:
1. Old School Nickelodeon
2. 90210 (Old)
3. Punky Brewster.... DITTO!

Three favorite dishes:
1. Southern Comfort Food... Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Mac n Cheese... Mmmm
2. Cheesecake!
3. Oriental Fast Bowl (Downtown Vancouver)

Three makeup products I cannot live without:
1. Mascara
2. Powder
3. Lip Gloss
   (All MARY KAY of course!)

Three things I'm looking forward to:
1. Getting a Teaching Contract!!!
2. Dallas this Fall!
3. Babies, Babies and lots of Babies!

Skinny Tuesday

Lately I've been thinking about the images that motivate me to get healthier. Sure, I can look at images of celebrities, other women for motivation and say, "I want to look like her!"

But honestly, that doesn't really drive me. I know deep down that no matter what I'm not going to look like Heidi Klum. And that's okay.

At the end of the day, I am going to look like me. But I want it to be the best version of me. The version of me where I felt most carefree, happy, and youthful.

I came across this pictures a few weeks ago. It was taken on July 2006, just 5 months after Alex and I began dating. It's not the picture of me at my fittest. Or my thinnest. Or even with the best hair (I remember I was NOT too happy with these highlights- haha!)

But I felt good, and alive, and carefree. I want to get back to this place with my health. I did not workout and I didn't really care what I ate I was just thin and happy and living life.

I want to wear this white skirt again (I still have them and I try them on each summer since then to see if I can pull it off, but I can't!)

So, this week, this picture is what is motivating me to stay on plan.

What images do you use to motivate you?

Do you ever......

have one of those FABULOUS SUPER PRODUCTIVE days that make you feel SOOOOO good!!
Well I did today!!! I slept in until 10am and still had time to clean the entire house!! When I say the entire house I mean laundry, dishes, change sheets, vacuuming, dusting, ironing, cleaning the boys' room, the garage, cleaning out kitchen cupboards and the refrigerator. Then I went to Costco with Suzanne my wonderful mother in law and spent a ton like I always do. Next, I went to Fred Meyer and bought a big beautiful hanging basket and allllll new plants to spiffy up my flower beds out front!! I even found some summer clothes and some REALLY cute sandles! Oh and I found Mother's Day gifts too!! It was one of the those shopping  trips where I just had MEGA coupons and employee discount, of course, and my bill went from over $200 to under $80!!! :) The weather today was even awesome- too bad I couldn't squeeze my yard work in too! Today was just a day where everything worked out! Tomorrow I hope the weather holds, so I can work outside! Yipee!! 

I thought I would share...

To those who are married, .. Not married .. and soon to be married, I hope you will be touched with this story... 

MARRIAGE 

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn't know how to ope...n my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce.. I raised the topic calmly. She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Dew. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her! With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Dew so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now. The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Dew. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again. In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage. This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that everyday for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning.. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request. I told Dew about my wife's divorce conditions.. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.. My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office. On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time.. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her. On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Dew about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger. She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mum out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office.... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I do not want the divorce anymore. She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead.. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other any more. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart. That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead. The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage! If you don't share this, nothing will happen to you. If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

I'm always a work in progress....

"May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion."

~Thomas Jefferson 

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, I know this is suppose to be WORDLESS WEDNESDAY, buttttttt

this is my whole entire world right here and I just don't know what I would be without them! 

Yay's and Nay's

I've had several people say "My life is boring...please blog."

So to that I say..... "Wow, Sister, get a life" {it was someone who is like a sister who said that, so I'm at liberty to say this.}

A few things I've been loving lately and a few things I've been not-so-loving lately...
Nay #1 

Work has been CRAZY busy and it is making me sooooo tired all the time. I am booked every single day and sometimes two separate job in one day. I am needless to say, burnt out!
Yay #1

With all the busy days at work come a large paycheck! :)

Nay #2

Alex's work hours. Yes, I understand that this is nothing new, but the 2pm-12am (often 1-2am) just kills me. I work 8am-3pm, so we completely by pass ALL THE TIME. He is usually working weekends as well, so it just plain SUCKS!

Yay #2
Alex was OFF- Yes OFF Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday last week! He got to take some time off with 'birthday pay' because it's his birthday month. Of course he planned this time off to be the same weekend as the NFL Draft. It is HIS favorite three days a year when he gets to watch the draft and although it's not my FAVORITE three days it's pretty fun to watch. It's my third year watching the whole thing side-by-side with him. He is usually on-line 'researching' or texting and Facebooking friends during most of it while I am just sitting there. Haha.

Nay #3

I still do not have a deck in my backyard. We had that crazy estimate of $5,000 so we decided to do it ourselves but it hasn't started yet.....The next nice weathered weekend I am going to start it! I have 'How to build a deck' bookmarked on diynetwork.com! I want to really be able to ENJOY our backyard this summer. It shall get done!

Yay #3

I became a member of NW Nutrition on Fourth Plain! I now have a weightloss/wellness coach to keep my butt accountable. I joined on April 16. I went in on April 23rd, one Friday later and had already lost 1.6 pounds (I know that's not that much) and 2.5 inches! I am more concerned with inches, so in just 7 days I am happy with the results. They offer a bunch of meal replacement shakes and supplements, but I am not doing that. I am just making it to the gym 4-6 days a week to swim and cutting back portion sizes! I am going to weigh in every Friday at 4pm, so I am pretty excited!

Yay #4

There are ONLY 41 days of school left! Enough said.

Nay #5

My 4 month old laptop had a virus. The super expensive antivirus program that Best Buy nearly shoved down our throat when we bought the computer completely failed me. We took it in to get fixed and we were first quoted $300-400 to fix a $479  nearly new computer! Then they came down to $130. It was suppose to by there for 5-7 days and after 24 hours they said it was done and I called to go pick it up only to find that they did not even start it and just lied. Right away I just told them that I did not want them to touch it and I was taking it home. Ugh... We had a number of a guy that Alex's dad used to fix his computer, so we called. This guy comes to your house to fix your computer, so we called him. He came the next day and got rid of the virus, did stuff to speed it up, downloaded a better antivirus and introduced me to Google Chrome as web browser instead of Firefox and did this all in one hour and for ONLY $45!!!  

Yay #5

We are going to DALLAS this fall for a Dallas Cowboys game! :) It's looking like it will be the October 25th game which is a MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL game! Does it get any better!?!

Please Help!

CLICK HERE

Our Friends Jon and Lindsay Mathes are currently in the process of adopting a baby girl from Ethopia!!! Exciting, right?? As you know adoption is VERY expensive and they can use all the support they can get! They are accepting donations as little as $1 that donation will also enter you into a drawing to win an ipod! Of course, you can make donations in any amount you wish. Click on the link above to be directed to their website where you can read about their journey and make donations. Also, you can keep on reading while you are there and see what wonderful people they are and you'll see they will make amazing parents and truly deserve this! Thank you everyone for your support! And they thank you too! :)