Thursday, January 29, 2015

marriages need Jesus

We have several people we know right now going through absolutely the lowest lows of marriage, and our hearts are breaking for them. It feels really helpless to just sit there and watch people singlehandedly destroying their life and their spouse and family. I know God is the only one that can bring true change and redemption of these marriages. Oh how I hope these people will open their eyes to Him. We have been praying and I sent one friend some Bible verses that really helped me when I felt alone, scared, and so unsure about the future.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2
When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. Psalm 142:3a
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27a
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. Psalm 116:1-2
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

the handy hubby edition

Doug and I have a to-do list for the house with a couple 'big' projects. We are planning one bigger project per month and then smaller ones as we can. This last weekend he did these:
Installed an under cabinet towel holder, saving counter space. I liked this model, it has some racheting technique so that only one square comes at a time instead of the thing endlessly unspooling. Cool.
Got rid of the old ugly rusty gold light fixture in the laundry room. This was extremely frustrating for Doug. He gets up there and finds insulation that looks like it was possibly burnt by the wires, none of our wires were the right color they were supposed to be, and there was an extra one, or something he couldn't tell which one was supposed to be the ground. And two of the wires had to be wired together otherwise the lights in our bedroom and bathroom wouldn't work. Crazy! He was googling for hours trying to figure out what to do. It's working though and we haven't burnt the house down yet, so that's good! This house had been flipped before Doug got it, and we can tell they McGyver'd many a thing in the house.
Doug also added this slide chain, which alternately makes me feel safer and also like I live in a dangerous neighborhood (which I don't!) Our door window is high and the person outside is on a lower step so the window is useless to see who is out there. I thought the slide chain would be good to see who is out there and then decide to open the door or not. And if things go wrong I can always beat someone senseless with the metal bat Doug keeps by the door.
Doug also surprised me with a recreation of one of our first dates.
The living room tent under the stars.
And just like last year we got delicious pizza and laid in the tent in front of a 'roaring fire' and he asked me questions.
This year's date also included a s'mores upgrade
Another addition was a small annoying cat throwing her body at the side of the tent trying to get the tent strings, but anyway, it was a very nice date!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

life with Doug

Doug is such a funny guy. He has been blessed with a talent to make up stupid funny stuff on the spot and he keeps me laughing all the time.
We were in the car the other day coming home from neighborhood group and I was saying I wanted more meal ideas from him and just saying I was having a hard time making stuff he liked, and then making enough f it so he wouldn't be hungry but also have some leftovers for lunch. Anyway, Taylor Swift's Blank Space song was on and Doug instantly started singing something like this:
Pizza, burgers, tacos... I could eat them all day long
Pasta, cheese, chips, more and more is it so wrong?
Oh my gosh, it's so tasty-
can I have seconds, or will Anne yell at me?
I could eat forever-
a chicken roasted over flames.
I will eat till it's over-
a full stomach's worth the pain.
I have a long list of favorites,
long as a train,
cause I've got a blank space in my stomach...
give me some food!
Something like that anyway, it was clearly NOT his first time hearing that song :)
And then last night we went to see American Sniper (we really liked it!, very moving) and later we're laying in bed and he's asking me if I ever wanted to move to Texas. By the way, I love Texas, so yes I would. And one of us said we'd have to fake an accent so that we'd fit in better and they wouldn't make fun of us Northerners/Yanks.
So then he starts describing to me his process for marrying the girl of his dreams in a really loud redneck voice, it was hilarious (let me attempt to type his accent)
So whatcha do is ya find a pretty gal an you date 'er best friend. Just so she can see wut a good guy ya 'er. Then ya let about a decade go by, an ya both age like a fiiine wyne. Ya get a job an buy a house so she don't think yur a loser. Then ya bump into 'er at a party an ask 'er to take yer blood all casual-like. And the next thing ya know yer murried an laying in bed with yer brown-eyed bustee brunette looking at the stars.
I was laughing so hard.
I'm so lucky to be married to such a great guy who makes life so fun.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

the housewife edition - pressure cooker 101

Writing 'the housewife edition' reminds me that I have yet to post one last honeymoon edition, whoops! Anyway, I received a pressure cooker back in 2010 and I never used it. I had heard nightmares of explosions, even to Liz's own sister, and I've been afraid. So it's been sitting in the cabinet... until yesterday.
I had decided I wanted to start cooking my own dried beans and then keeping them in the freezer. I use a lot of beans and at $0.80/can they are still a cheap protein, but could be cheaper and less cans since there is no recycling in our neighborhood, plus eliminate that whatever bad stuff is in the can linings. So I asked Liz for a lesson and she agreed.
our cookers side-by-side.
So now my first explosion is under my belt...
It started when we noticed the top of my pot never started rattling (indicating pressure was reached) so we kept waiting and waiting. And when I went over to inspect it I noticed the overpressure valve was cockeyed and letting out too much steam, so I went to push it flush, but instead it pushed through in to the pot and then 250* steaming hot bean water came shooting out of that hole like Old Faithful. So I'm standing there yelling "Help! Help!" (another reason I don't want to work in the ER) to Liz, and then running for my camera, while trusty Liz turns off burners and threw something over the hole so it would stop geyesering out stuff. But we were too late.
it was all over the floor
and all over Liz's new cookbook
And later we noticed even in little cabinet crevices and on the ceiling. But, perfectly cooked beans!
So, now I feel a bit more bolstered to try again and to make sure that little valve is flush first next time.
In other housewife news, I made a better-than-last-attempt chicken biriyani last night for dinner
Doug approved.
I'm guessing my days of this
are limited. I had 3 interviews last week and I felt like 2 of them went really well. My old lawyer boss said they called for a reference and he said he gave the 'highest reference possible', that was nice. So hopefully I'll be a working RN soon!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

cooking lesson

Another busy week, and this is from the girl who doesn't have a job right now! But this week I did go on 2 interviews, and I have one more scheduled for next week. I'm hoping I get the first one, but we'll see, maybe God will open a different door.
So after a week of watching season 5 of Alias (which I thought I hadn't ever seen) it was starting to look familiar... and maybe I did see it after all. But since most of my watchings were while I was also exercising or crafting, I guess that's ok.
I tried to officially change my name, what a pain. So I have my new SSA card, but when I went to Sec of State they said they needed a certified marriage license copy, so another hoop to jump through. Geez, there is absolutely no incentive to changing your name whatsoever.
Doug's parents bought a bunch of furniture a couple months ago and the store sent them a $40 gift card. We were in the market for a floor lamp so we all went to see what we could find. Turns out all their floor lamps were like $200+ so we were starting to leave until the sales guy directed us to a 90% off table, score! We got 2 big down-filled couch pillows, 2 candlesticks, a Christmas decoration, and 2 little Christmas decoration birds. Yay!
That same night I had seen a thing in the newspaper for a cooking class demo at the library so Doug and I went.
This chef was talking about healthy cooking and did a demo of a stirfry with tofu.
be gone hated mushroom!!!
But otherwise quite tasty and I feel a bit more inspired to cook again.
Also this week I hung out with Jill, we made that biriyani and now I feel more confident to try it again on my own. And I went up to my parents to work on a crafting project, halfway done! This morning we went to breakfast with Mark and Liz and I have been really busy around the house while Doug had to go in for some OT. Doug and I have also been doing little projects around the house that have been bugging me, like hanging up pictures, hanging up the ironing board, nails to hang the broom on, stupid little things, but make life easier and less cluttery. AND one of my goals from years ago (goal to make some food people request) finally came true, I heard Liz say "my cookies aren't as good as Anne's" Yes! Muah ha ha, the tables have turned! ;) ....on one batch of cookies specifically, but I'll take it!
And I finally made something delicious from my 'on the verge of being deleted blog girl' this spicy acorn squash was super good. I wasn't sure if you were supposed to eat the skin? But I had washed mine good and as long as it was a thin slice it seemed edible. So good! Need more squash!

Monday, January 12, 2015

housewifeing

This weekend flew by pretty quickly. Doug had to go into the office for some OT this weekend so I went with him. I sat in a desk nearby watching movies while he worked. The engineer he works under stopped by to check his work and he brought us lunch. It was a nice gesture, but pretty much the worst wendy's burger I have ever had (and I like wendy's burgers!) I think the problem was when Doug asked what I wanted and I said a jr. cheeseburger, no mayonnaise. And I got a cheeseburger with only mayonnaise on it. Haha. Oh well.
Later I made this cranberry sauce I love with the last of the season's cranberries. I wish they were in stock year round!
Saturday night we went to my old work's Christmas party. It was so nice of them to include me and fun to see everyone. Except getting ready for the party was not fun. I felt like I had nothing good to wear, I have lots of dress clothes, but not much cold-weather-nice clothes. And ended up in a dress that somehow got shorter as the night went on feeling like a shorter-fatter-Pretty-Woman wanna be in my dress. Part of that is my black boots are not real leather, under pants they are great, but other times I feel like they just look cheap. I have instated a 'no more fake leather boots' ban on myself ever since a pair of old boots just started peeling away, and have been replacing my cheap crap with more quality pieces as I see it on sale, just haven't found good black dress ones to replace these cheap fakes yet. And then trying to find jewelry also was not fun as I pull out tangled masses of necklaces half of which I don't even like!
So this morning I went through my closet and got rid of a bunch of stuff. And then the same thing with my jewelry box. I read some article a couple years ago that when you're shopping you should ask yourself if it makes you feel like a '10' and if not- don't buy it. Now, sometimes I feel like you need a couple '8s' because I don't need to look like a 10 while I'm just sitting at home or cleaning or whatever, but as I look at my discard pile, none of them were 10s. (Or a couple shirts I did love, just got shorter over the years :( ) and a lot of it was stuff I haven't worn in a long time, because I just don't like how it looks on! So I think that is some pretty good clothes shopping wisdom. I did tell Doug though that I would like to set aside some $ to go and buy a couple classic pieces so that I will have something to go to for that cold-weather-but dressy occasion.
This weekend I also spent some time scrubbing spots off my cabinets, and learned I can't even scrub too hard because the paint was scrubbing off! And Doug and I worked on interview prep questions.
We shopped at Lowes for a little kitchen microwave update project, and some water shut-off project he is going to do. They have the best workers there. The guy in the plumbing section was a retired plumber! And so Doug got to brainstorm and talk with this guy for free. Nice.
I think that was the end of my productivity for the day because I started in on season 5 of Alias while Doug put a new belt on my car. Yay! No more embarrassing squeaks!
Sunday, church (which was awesome), and free tacos. More Alias for me while Doug worked on stuff. My parents came over for a visit. Sometimes I don't like being the oldest child. Earlier in the week my mom sent me an email.. "if we die this weekend, mail the check on the counter..." Geez. They are doing some future nursing home insurance plan which is super expensive and they could (and hopefully will!) just live on healthy for the next 15+ years in the meantime wasting their money. I guess that's what insurance is all about though, a calculated risk. Anyway, I was asking mom why they want to do that and she said she doesn't think any of us would let them live with us!?! Which is crazy, and I reminded her today that Doug and I both said we would be willing to take care of our parents as long as we are able. So anyway. Heavy stuff.
Then for some reason Doug and I watched another scary/thriller movie right before bed. Prisoners with Jackman and Gyllenhall, really good, but better to watch during the daytime! We did not like how Christians were portrayed in the movie, but hopefully people can tell the difference between a real Christian and some crazy fanatic-gone-wrong "Christian".
This little kitty was laying with her head propped right on my foot

Thursday, January 8, 2015

booooored

I was enjoying my job hunting and housewifeing, but I am now zooming ahead towards boredom.
I have applied for every job I am eligible for in my top 3 hospitals, and even a couple outside my favorites. I've spent the past couple days crawling around on the floor with a knife scraping off old bits of sticky stuff and paint spots from the wood floors, and scrubbing baseboards. And it's been so cold all I want to do is stay inside and bake. I was thinking about catching up on season 6 of Alias that I never saw at all. And if the library weren't such a cold drive away I might go pick it up. And of course I should get season 5 to jog my memory. It has been about 10+ years!
I've been working on a project for a new baby coming soon until my sewing machine kept jamming. So frustrating! The manual wasn't very helpful except to should me how to open up this spot and clean lint out.
So I did that and got out a huge ball of lint
oh man... my life is so boring I am blogging about lint!!.......
Anyway, I was excited because I thought that fixed it, but nope. So now I have to do some googling or get ready to shell out some $ at a sewing machine repair shop... wherever that is.
I did this little thing on facebook the other day where you check off the states you've been to
I can't even remember, but I think I have been to a couple more of those East ones. But that upper NW corner is looking pretty lonely! Would love to make it out to Montana someday, Glacier State Park, yes please! And might as well go see Forks, (WA) town of Twilight fame :)
September has been completely unphased by the single digit weather and goes out for hours. Then I'm calling her, imagining her frozen solid somewhere, but then she just strolls in hours later with her fur not even cold. She is such a wild thing in the mornings, jumping on everything, and eyeing my ponytail while I'm exercising- ready to attack. I just can't keep her cooped up inside. And then at night she's more snuggly
a little too snuggly, ow my neck!! She's been growing, and she's just normal cat sized now, and she's almost 10 months (full size?), but am I bad if I say I miss her little-abandoned-kitty-malnourished weight? She was so teeny and cute. I have fears of her turning into Doug's parent's obese cat. But so far she's just normal cat weight. September's 2015 goals: stay appropriately sized!

Monday, January 5, 2015

2015

Happy New Year!
A new year, time for some new ideas and goals. And time to reflect back on 2014. What a big year it was for me! It's so neat to be able to look back and see all that God did.
My goals for 2014 were:
- graduate nursing school - YES!!
- pass N-CLEX - YES!!
- get full-time nursing job - nope, not yet
- take an awesome trip this summer - YES!! Florida, Colorado, and Hawaii!
- read an investing book - nope
- make healthy relationship decisions - YES!! married the nicest guy I've ever met!
For 2015 I don't have very many concrete goals in mind actually right now, but Doug and I do have ideas and plans for this year.
This is what I've got:
- get a full-time nursing job
- start a RN -> BSN program by the end of the year
- read that dang investing book! (and learn more about savings/retirement)
- we'd like to do a bathroom remodel, maybe attempt part of it ourselves?
- pick a church, Doug and I are doing a half-and-half scenario, and neither of us want to do that forever
- I keep thinking about group exercise certifications, and I saw a program for group exercise for senior citizens, and I've been thinking about this. I really do like that population and believe in fitness. I'm not sure the class times will work with whatever work schedule I get.. but I'm thinking about this
- another big trip for 2015! Ideally I'd like to do one US trip (and/or family visit) and one passport stamp a year, but we'll see. Doug only has 2 weeks vacation time all year, and I'll probably not get much more.
We'll see what else God has for 2015, I'm excited for it!