Husband Says...

It's completely against my rules, but we keep a small tv in our bedroom. I allow this because husband has an xbox that he loves to play sometimes (especially when he has a new game) and takes over the tv. With a small apartment the only place to keep the extra tv is the bedroom so i don't have to watch it on the big tv hour on top of hour on top of hour watching video games (and not getting to play too even!). One of the things i'm looking for in a house when we buy is a room we can make an office/husbands play room where he can keep the small tv and xbox so we don't have to have it in our bedroom. But right now, this is how it is and i'll let it be what it is for sanity sake.
So this apartment he have has an entire side wall of the bedroom with floor to ceiling sliding mirrored closet doors. Lucky me, this wall of mirrors is on my side of the bed so when i wake up i get to wake up to my own scary face staring back at me in the morning....needless to say it has taken a little getting used to.
Any way, yesterday husband and i were both in a little bit of a grumpy mood for some reason, i can honestly say i don't know why though. Its rare, but it happens. I went into the bedroom to break my own rule and watch tv in bed while husband watched tv and played on the laptop in the living room. After a while he came back to check on me to make sure i wasn't asleep. I wasn't. I was watching reruns of America's Funniest Videos. I admit, this is a guilty pastime of mine. I swear, one day i'm going to win on that show. So yeah, we watch it some evenings when nothing else is on, and tonight was the $100k show of all the past few weeks past winners. When husband came in, he was facing the wall of mirrors watching the tv off them for the last few minutes while they do recaps, and they showed a clip we had seen earlier this week. John looked at me and said:
"That looks backwards."
I looked at him with the most puzzled look i could have on my face and told him yes it was backwards to him.
"Is that the same clip or do you think they just mirrored it?
I shook my head and smiled at him and said "No, i think YOU mirrored it".
He looked at the wall of mirrors, puzzled look in place, still not understanding what i was saying until i point at the tv (the real one on the wall behind him).
He, hung his head in shame and laughed a little. He said that it hadn't even occurred to him that he was looking at it different, then he ran out of the room so i would stop laughing at him.

Magnet Crafting

I said in an earlier post that i would finish blogging this one. Now i have.
I did a little crafting before we moved :]] terrible timing, but it was an evening project so it didn't effect anything.
In my last lesson to my Laural class back in P.A. before we moved i was teaching my class and had brought some magnets i had made last year to use for my lesson and the girls thought they were really cute. They are really cute (in my opinion), and i wished i had more of them. i had fun making them, so i decided i was going to make more for something to do for fun. My car needed some fixing, so i had some free time alone at home, and it was heat wave week there so anything that didn't involve a lot of energy to cause a sweat was great. I got over to walmart because i needed to get needles for my sewing machine and found all the materials i needed for the magnets:

-Pack of Magnets

-Large Clear Glass Stones (these are usually found close to where they have the glass vases around the craft department)

-Bottle of Mod Podge
-Small Paint Brush

-Magazine (any one you don't mind cutting up)
-Super Glue or Glue Gun
-Scissors

The first time i did this project with my friend Rachel, we found better stones at JoAnn fabrics. They were flatter, clearer, and larger. But i made do with what i had because i thought they were clear enough.

First thing you do is go through your magazine to look for pictures. Patterns, flowers, small pictures, jewelry, or even letters to do someones initials if you want. They don't have to be huge pictures, some of the best magnets i made were the smallest patterns from a scarf or a little design on an ad.

This was the toes on a pair of shoes.

I found a stone i wanted to use and used it like a magnifying glass, finessing it and moving it around over the clipping until i found the right spot so i knew what area i wanted to cut out for sure.

Cut out the areas to match the stone you're going to use for the magnet.
Coat the back of the stone and the front of the picture with a layer of the Mod Podge and smooth the picture down across the back of the stone (mod podge sides together). After its all flat and in place, coat another layer of mod podge across the back of the picture to seal it to the rock and set off to the side to dry.
The Mod Podge is white but will dry clear, so you can tell it is dry when the picture doesn't look cloudy through the stone. I gave it about 15 minutes to dry, which ends up being pretty easy to wait through because you'll be Mod Podging more stones. After its dry and not sticky on the back, take a magnet and superglue it to the back of the stone (the side with the picture on it).

This is what i ended up with :]]






I made a ton of them. Sorry they're not all clear in the pictures though.
They're great for gifts, or you can keep all of them like me and never be short of super cute refrigerator magnets.

When I Was Little...

When i was younger, my mom had things on the walls that i can still remember and i have no idea where they went or when they disappeared from our walls. But over the years and after all the moves they didn't all make it back up onto our walls at every home. Maybe there wasn't enough room on the walls, or they were outgrown and weren't cool any more, i don't know. I'll have to ask my mom about that. I don't think i ever really thought about it until now. But when I was growing up (in the 80's), cross stitch and needle point things were kind of a trend. Pillows and things for the walls and that stuff. You can occasionally still find then at the DI or Goodwill stores if you look long enough, and sometimes, if you're lucky, in the Relief Society and/or Young Womens rooms at church in the older buildings. I know i saw several this last Sunday in my new wards' RS room. It happens. I remember learning how to do cross stitch when i was little. I had my own little hoop and patterns and all that stuff that went along with it. And i know i started on a rainbow that i never finished, and its possible i still have it in one of my storage bins of things i kept from my childhood along with my Barbies.... i can't confirm or deny this at the moment though. So yeah, its not something you expect to see with the current decorating trends in homes, maybe in back rooms of Grandma's house, so i was surprised to find this one in the home of the friends John and i stayed with when we moved here:


It was in the laundry room, not out in the open though. The reason this one really stood out to me was because my mom had the exact same one in our home when i was little. I had always thought someone had made it for her, or even she had made it maybe, but its the exact same to a T, the frame and colors and everything about it. The lady that owns this one is my mom's age, so its not weird that she has it, and i'm sure she got it around the same time my mom had. The weird part in all of this is that i wanted to steal it from her wall and put it in my own home. I love it. It caught me off guard to come face to face with it again, but when i read it again it actually brought tears to my eyes. I know i don't have any kids yet, i think its just the nostalgia of it being from my childhood, but i want one. So, if you ever see one, or know where i can get one (i know i'm asking for miracles here), tell me.

Stop Quacking like a Duck

Ok, so we went to our new ward for the 1st time today. Everyone was really nice, and there were people there that really reminded me of some of my favorite people, so that made it feel even better. We may only be in the ward for a few months until we find a house, but we'll enjoy it for however long as we're here.
The lessons we had were really good today. It was a "things i needed to hear" kind of day. In Sunday school they were talking about marriage. One of the things i usually try to remind myself A LOT is that you get what you expect. If you expect things to be crappy then that's exactly what you'll get. It was something i tried to tell the Young Women in my class back in P.A. as often as possible. And that's what they were saying about marriage, you get out of it what you expect or put into it. The story the teacher shared, it didn't exactly relate it to marriage, but the teacher did. I really enjoyed the story is my point, so i figured i would share it with you all and maybe you'll get something from it too. You can relate it to whatever you want to. Marriage, work, relationships with friends and family, projects, kids....whatever. So yeah, the story:


Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing he noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey . He handed Harvey a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’ Harvey said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’ Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’ Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’
Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’As they were pulling away, Wally handed Harvey another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
‘Tell me, Wally,’ an amazed Harvey asked the driver, ‘have you always served customers like this?’
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called ‘You’ll See It When You Believe It’. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’
‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.
‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. Harvey says “I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting. “
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and start soaring like an eagle. How about us?
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary of doing well, for at the proper time we will reap the deserved harvest, if we do not give up!
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

Faster Then We Thought

We're all moved in! Some how it all worked out that our stuff arrived in town on the exact day that we were able to move into our new apartment. It all just fell together some how like magic. We must be doing something right for that to happen i think.
It was just about 8 this morning and i was rolling over to look at the clock to see if it wasn't a stupid early hour to be getting out of bed so i could start packing up and get the day going. We still had to get a cashiers check and go over to sign the lease before we could move what little we had with us all in and we were looking forward to a week of sleeping on an air mattress. Then husbands evil annoying phone started ringing. The thing is loud enough to wake the dead. He got up and answered it though, and it was them. The Movers. Our stuff just got into town this morning. "Oh," he said, "we were going to be moving into our apartment this morning". So she asked him to hold for a minute, then gets back on the line to say they could have the stuff there in an hour (!!!????). Forget showers and breakfast, we had to get everything we planned for the day done in a hour so they would have a place to put it. And dang it, we don't get to sleep on an air mattress tonight like we planned....but i think we'll live.
But, some how it all went down without any problems. They brought the BIG truck for some reason (i wish i had taken a picture now that i think of it), and couldn't get it into the complex, but our place is an end unit right next to the road so that worked perfect. They took about 2 hours to bring it all in and set up everything (the bed, my mirror, the dining room table), and then they were done.
We don't have a ton of stuff, a lot of kitchen things more then anything (i wonder why that is? ;), so all the extra stuff fit with room to spare in the back bedroom. I'll get pictures before i start unpacking it all.
i hope to have internet by the end of the week, so then i'll post pictures. Soon...
Now to go unpack...

MOVING :( a review of the experience

Goodbye Port Angeles.
Moving week has finally come....
Last week on Wednesday we got a call from the moving company asking if they could send over the packers a day earlier then we were planning, so we couldn't finish going through everything that we wanted to pack or keep out like i wanted....or do laundry when i wanted either. But we made it all work some how. The packers came thursday morning and packed EVERYTHING they could get their hands on (including the mattresses) while i pulled out the things we wanted left out. John only wanted a few things: his uniforms, a few sets of G's, his tooth brush and razor, the clothes he was wearing.....and of coarse his xbox, games and the small tv. The mind of a man is fascinating to me. If only it was all the simple, but this is more then a day trip and we don't know when we'll be getting our things again. So I packed a few extra things for him (like more clothes). I was going to say no to the tv and games, but i know him well enough to know that if he doesn't have something to entertain him then he'll expect me to give him all my attention ALL the time, so i think i made a good decision there.
Friday the movers came and took it all away. We had spent the night on the air mattress and still hadn't packed our stuff we were keeping with us, but i had managed to keep it all out of the way for them to move the rest of it all out. I kept an electric skillet unpacked and made some amazing scrambled eggs for brunch, then when they were all done we went out and kind of had a little date. We had a late lunch and went to see the new G.I. Joe movie, which john said was even better then he expected (in case you're wondering if you should see it yourself).
Saturday was a super fun day :] On friday before the movers left and we realized we had the rest of the day to do things, i said we should go out to Forks and check out all the sites, but John said "Well, that's what i was thinking we could go spend the day on Saturday doing". (!!!???!!!) He had come up with that idea already and hadn't told me?? What a good husband. It would have been a shame to have lived there for a year and not gone over there before we left. I'm not a die hard Twilight fan, but i've read the books and seeing the sights isn't something a lot of people get to do, so why not? We had fun too :] I think husband had more fun watching me have fun, but it was great still. It's an hour and a half drive from P.A. so we had to entertain each other a little, but that was fun too. We played Name That Disney Movie by listening to the first 5 seconds of each Disney song on my CDs, then had sing along time. The trip was a success if you don't count me spilling my lunch down the front of my shirt in the car, and i'm glad we got to go. We took pictures, i just haven't had the time to go through them and post them, but i'm thinking it will be done in a soon to follow post....
Sunday was our last day in our ward at church. I did really good not crying i think. i only cried in sacrament meeting cuz the speakers were really good. I said my goodbyes to the Young Women the sunday before, but i got one last hug from them before we left. While we were saying goodbye to a few of the other people in the ward we managed to get invited to dinner at some members house. "Mina" helped with the young women getting ready for camp and i got to know her a little from that, but i still didn't know her and her husband very well, but they invited us to dinner anyway and i'm glad we went. Her daughter and her friends joined us and we got to know them a lot better, and now i'm feeling a little gypped that it was at the end of our time there that it happened. I always liked her, but talking with her more i think i had misunderstood her before....but oh well. i'll try to learn from that and get to know more people in CA.
Monday was cleaning day. John was sweet and went to the Laundry Mat to do the laundry we couldn't do before they packed up our washer and dryer, while i cleaned the house. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. He came home while i was cleaning the kitchen and helped clean out the fridge with me. I felt terrible throwing away so much food. I had been getting creative with what we had so i wouldn't have to, but in the end there was things we couldn't pack and didn't use so we had to throw it out. Mostly condiments though. i had 3 things of mustard of all things, and never enough ketchup....i wonder what that says of my cooking? After the cleaning was done, and i must say it was cleaner then when we moved in, i did the packing. When i was done packing a bag or a box of what was left in the house, husband would load it into one of the cars. It was a long day.
We had planned to drive the whole way from Port Angeles to Sacramento in one trip all day on tuesday, but monday night when john when to pick up some dinner he also picked up one of those random magazines with travel coupons in them that you see in the little racks in lobby's of places and found a coupon for a place in Oregon where we had originally planned to go for our honeymoon a year ago. Plus, i think he knew i was going to have a hard time traveling so far in one day with my "condition" (i have a small case of vertigo when i'm driving which makes me feel like i'm sliding off the road some times. I'm trying to overcome it, but it's frustrating). So, we decided to stop and have some fun before getting to Cali. Tuesday morning, after turning in our keys and getting gas, we were off for Oregon. Its a long drive to do by yourself since we were both driving separate vehicles, so i listened to my Moulin Rouge soundtrack a few time to keep my mind from stressing over the drive. It helped a lot until we got to Portland. Most of the drive, especially through the highways was beautiful. Western Washington and Oregon is amazing scenery, i wanted to stop and take pictures the whole time.
We stayed in Florance for 2 nights. It was a short stay, but it was fun. The rain followed us down the coast though, and ruined our plans to go sandboarding. We were both really excited to go do that too, but oh well. We have an excuse to go back another time i guess. We walked down the beach in the rain though, and went bowling and ate great food and still had a lot of fun while we were there. We left on Thursday to get back on the road and finish the trip. At one point the temp was 99 degrees in northern cali during the drive. We pulled into Sacramento around 7, and we've been staying with some friends since.
Friday, John had to check in on base with his CO, but it ended up being "Morale Day", and everyone except for about 2 people had gone rafting. My questions to that are, do wives get to go too, and if so, when are they going again?? So, he was only at the base for about 10 minutes and was told to check in on Monday. We went to help with our friends take care of another friends lawn and garden (kind of as a service project) that night, and then they took us out to dinner. I went to In-N-Out burger for my first time, and while we were sitting outside eating, a helicopter buzzed over us, and about 2 or 3 blocks down it proceeded to make a tight circle over an area for about 20 minutes with the spot light and everything. I couldn't see what was going on down on the ground because of the line of trees in the way, but it was interesting enough with just seeing the helicopter.
Saturday was the day we set aside to find our own place to live. As much as we love our friends we're staying with, i don't think i want to stay here for however long it takes to find and get into our own house. There's just something about having your own place. I'm constantly stressing about making sure our room is clean least they come in and see our shoes out. Plus, you don't feel guilty for coming and going as you please, even though they say not to worry about it. And i always feel guilty eating their food. They say to do it, they have their own kids that are our age that come and go like we are, so to them its like having their own kids in the house, but i still feel bad even if they've become like family. So, we wrote down a few places to check out, i called around to a few, and then we set out to go look at an apartment. The 1st place we went was ok. The apartment manager guy that showed us around told showed us how they paint an "accent wall" for you, the 1st one free and any more after that for $50, like it was a selling point...there were 5 colors to choose from. Maybe that is a selling point for some people, i don't know. It was just across the street from the church building though, and it was really clean, but something about it didn't feel right, so we left and decided to check out another place we were told about. This 2nd place was a lot better. It was still just as clean (super clean!), but something about it was easier. It was brighter and i felt better there. They don't paint an "accent wall", but i think i'm ok with that. It turned out to be less expensive too, so that was nice. The only thing is is that its on the 2nd floor, so that's going to suck when we move out, but oh well, that's what the elders quorum is for i guess ;) John and I both liked it and felt good about it, so we got the paperwork and were approved that afternoon (we look really good on paper). I think we took a whole 3 hours to do the apartment searching process. After it was all done, we went swimming in the pool and just hung out. We're not in the ward we wanted to be in, but there is usually a reason you end up where you do, so we'll be in the ward we're supposed to be in for now.
Sunday was Stake Conf., so we went to that and were introduced to our new bishop, and today john went to officially check in at the base with his CO. I made some cookies while everyone was gone for the day :) Husband has the next week off for "house searching and moving", so tomorrow we move into the apartment with our 2 car loads of what we kept with us to survive, and we'll wait for our furniture to find us in the next week or two. We have some time to see some sites and explore and play for a while, after we get all set up tomorrow, so we'll see what fun stories i post soon. And i'll also be house shopping and job searching soon. The house searching will be the hardest part i think.
i do plan to post a bunch of pictures soon, i just have to find the cord for the camera to get them all off of it. I know it's somewhere...

Hello Sacramento

Husband Says the Darndest Things

I'm due for a blog, i know. I'm sorry. Really REALLY sorry. Not working, i'm not spending as much time online as i used to, and having Husband home (who loves to have all my attention when he's not being entertained my something else) keeps me busy. And then the moving. Heck. We had Husbands sister and brother-in-law come visit for a day the other week, which was lots of fun. They gave me a great excuse to cook yummy food (Salmon, garlic red potatoes, salad, and chocolate eclair cake...yum!), and we got to do a little site seeing around downtown to show them the town. I had been looking for an excuse to check the Dazzled By Twilight store they opened the other month.

But yeah, my 2nd installment of Husband Says:

Yesterday i was sick, we've been sick with colds for days and yesterday was pretty bad for me, so i wasn't much in the mood for cooking. I only ate a bowl of cereal all day so Husband said he would go out and get me any food i wanted. Subway was my choice :) $5 foot long is the way to go any day for me. I would LOVE to do the Subway diet... ;) So he went out to picked up our dinner for us. When he got home he handed me the bag with the sandwiches and went into the kitchen to grab something to drink. I ended up opening the wrong one, that looked kind of yummy i might add. When i asked him what it was he got for himself he said:

"The new one. Tungsten Chicken."
....What?
"You know, the new one. The Tungsten Chicken. Tungsten."
....Tuscan Chicken?
"...............yeah."

He makes me laugh. He's so funny some times. I love him. He really does say the funniest things without realizing he's even funny. He can't say "Irresistible". He says it "In"resistible. I've corrected him so many times about it he's confused and has to say it both ways to cover all his bases. We laugh about it every time.

So there it is. A blog from me to you. We're in the middle of moving now. We're packing up and closing down cleaning and getting ready this week. The movers are coming on friday, and we're heading south on tuesday. I did a little crafting last week that i started blogging about, i just haven't finished typing it. I'll try to finish it some time this week if i can cuz it's super cute. i also need to figure out how to fit in new cell phone shopping in there some how.

Wish us luck! :]]We'll try to keep updated whenever we have Internet