My First Video Blog!

A Really Round-About Way To Tell You I'm Back

Our internet, cable, and phone are all hooked up.

Our living room is a mess again because the guy had to move all our stuff to set up the cable/internet/cable.

Art put some hot sauce outside our bedroom windows last night so the cat wouldn't come and yowl RIGHT beneath our bedroom window. We heard it a little bit last night, but it wasn't close. And we finally slept.

I'm getting a bus pass tomorrow.

Did I ever tell you that I don't like dishwashers? I don't trust them (the machine, not the people). You have to rinse them before you put them in, otherwise they might not end up completely clean. Some dishes can't be put in the dishwasher. Since I'm rinsing some, and fully washing others, I might as well wash them all. It doesn't take that long.

So we have a dishwasher. And I LOVE it. Because after I'm done washing the dishes, I put them in the dishwasher to air dry. And that way, we don't take up more counter space. :D

I also don't like mops. I think they just push dirt around. And I'm not willing to spend money on replacing cloths on a Swiffer. So I wash them on my hands and knees, with paper towels and some cleaner. Art thinks it's a waste of paper towels. I think it's a clean floor. :)

I finally have a key to our house too! Mari and Art made me one today. There were only three keys, because it's a three-bedroom house. Which means they've had to keep it unlocked for me when I come home, and they're gone. But no more.

And I have a teaser for you: I'm pretty much for-sure taking a trip. I didn't think I was going to, but it seems I've got a sweet after-summer vacation to look forward to. But we still have to finalize some things, so I don't want to get all excited about it just to find out that it's not possible. Crossing my fingers...

One of the girls in my department has heard of CrossFit and the Zone/Paleo diet, and she's obsessed with it, and very badly wants to work out at Art's gym. I love having someone at work that I can talk with about workouts and healthy recipes, and all that nerdy stuff. Usually, when people hear about it, they think I'm crazy. It's hard not to make it sound like a cult, because those who know it LOVE it. It's addicting, and it really does change your life.

Of course, I feel a bit like a hypocrite, because I can tell you practically all there is to know about CrossFit, and how great it is, but I don't actually work out. YET. I'm quite anxious to get my own membership, or go on Art's. But Joe is on Art's. So maybe it'll happen after Joe gets his own. Which might be a few months.

But at least I eat healthy. So I'm not a hypocrite about that. I walk the walk. We've been SO bad with our diet this summer. I don't remember when we fell off the wagon, but boy, we fell way off, and stayed off for almost two straight months. But now we're back.

Wow, this blog ended up being a lot longer than I thought. So anyway, just wanted to update you, and let you know that we have internet, which means I can get back to blogging. Yay!

City Life

So apparently I can read other blogs, but I can't comment on them. Here is what I wanted to say:

Elleah - I love the new pictures of Kiera! (As if I would ever not love them.) Her hair is getting so long! Also, I had a dream about you last night that you had a boy, and you named him John. Also, Kiera was like, 3 years old, and speaking in full sentences. So my dream wasn't that accurate. But I'm still convinced you're having a boy.

Ruth: Your post about Jerusalem was beautiful. I got a little choked up. "My savior walked these streets!" That would be just the most incredible experience.

Callie: I am not shocked at all that you love country music. I am very glad. Because I love it too, for the EXACT same reasons. You took the words right out of my mouth.

Moving on.

So we have been here in our new place just over a week. Do I love it yet? Honestly, no. I really loved our other place. It was basically perfect, except for the fact that it wasn't in Bellingham. Which is why we are here in Bellingham.

I will tell you what I DO like about this new place though: I already mentioned the fact that it's in a city, which means it's close to everything. And I can take a bus to and from work. Very convenient. About the house iteself (duplex, actually): it has a huge garage, which is good, because we can't fit everything from two households in the house. So a lot of it is going in the garage. But there's still enough room to set it up for working out.

And even though we are 4 people in a 3 bedroom house, Art and I get our own bathroom, and it's a bigger bathroom than our old one. More counter space, more under-the-sink space, and it isn't crowded when both of us are in there (our old bathroom was seriously tiny).

And, of course, there's the saving money part. I definitely like that. I do miss the ocean, but we are close to 2 lakes, and we've been to one of them already.

Now I'll tell you what I don't like about the place: the fact that it's in a city means it's not that quiet. Our immediate neighbors don't make a lot of noise, at least not at night, which I am VERY thankful for. But there are still others in the area who have no sense of "people are actually asleep at 1 AM, maybe I shouldn't scream and shout and play my music insanely loud." Weeknights, weekends, it's all the same to those people. I'm hoping this will change when school starts again.

And then there are the dogs. Our neighbors dog is pretty annoying during the day, but at night, it's someone else's dog who decides that night time is the right time to start up a lenthy, uninterrupted monologue. Which makes me wonder about their owners. I mean, if I had a dog, and I knew it was outside, making a racket, I would take it INSIDE. Because it's MY dog, and even if it keeps me up, it's my responsibility to make sure it doesn't bother the whole neighborhood.

Apparentley, other people don't feel this way. They're lucky that I don't know who they are, because I would find myself quite tempted to give them a piece of my mind. And maybe a piece of my fist too. I'm kidding. About the first part.

So yeah. It's going to take a while to get used to the night time noises. But that's pretty much the only truly negative thing. Oh, and there's this cat somewhere that sounds like it's being tortured, and again, only at night. Every night I pray that it dies. Because the sounds coming from that cat give me the heebie-jeebies.

So that's how it's going so far. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as unpacking goes. If I can manage to tear myself away from this computer, I think I can finally tackle our bedroom. It's just barely liveable.

The kitchen has been done for a while, since I unpacked it first. Yes, I did it all, by myself, because I'm a bit of a control freak that way. I wanted to make sure that we weren't trying to put too much stuff in there that we didn't need (because it's a tiny kitchen). Also, I wanted the whole layout to make sense. Pots and pans go in the Lazy Susan beside the stove, because that makes sense. Stuff like that.

The living room is almost finished. We get our internet and cable hooked up next week (yes, right now we're technically stealing our neighbors internet. It's only temporary). Our bathroom is done. And the other bedrooms are up to other peoples. Those are their private spaces. If they never unpack them, I do not care. As long as the mess doesn't spill out into the living room.

Today I've got the place all to myself, for basically the entire day. Which means I can get a lot done. So I should get to work. Here I go.