Saturday, August 22, 2009

Log Cabins

Okay, so my boyfriend does not live in a log cabin. But a lot of it is wood and it's absolutely amazing. I have not slept so well in the past 18 months as I did in this place last night. I even slept through a major thunderstorm where we lost power not once once, but twice. It's certainly the first time in the past 18 months that I've slept through the night without medication.

We decided that because I live two hours away from my client site and Josh is only an hour away it would be good to spend yesterday and today with him and his dad. So yesterday after work I drove up and then we went grocery shopping to make dinner. We decided to try something new: black beans, yams, and tomatoes in a tortilla. It turned out pretty well (especially when we added venison and onions to it today - yum!) and I'll probably make it again with some modifications. We also made chocolate chip cookies today, and oh my goodness they were delicious.

And then we watched The Hunt for Red October. It was pretty awesome. We also watched Clear and Present Danger. So it was kind of like a Tom Clancy movie weekend. I think I need to read his books. I really like the movies based on his novels.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Josh and another couple to carpool to church together and then have lunch. And then we're going to a movie with another friend. I think this is the beginning of a tradition to lunch together for free (we pack lunch so we can either eat at someone's house or we picnic) after church. I love the idea of having time with friends after church. It's really quite awesome to be able to have that kind of time together with everyone.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Car Adventures

I'm all settled into my new home now. I still need to take some boxes back to storage though - that's a project for Sunday since the storage facility is near church. I've been running around a lot though, so I haven't spent a whole lot of time at the house yet. I'm assuming that will happen starting next week, since this weekend is likely going to be busy.

So I'm working about two hours from home right now thanks to a last minute client need. I managed to lock my keys in the car yesterday. And then because of a few complications, I ended up waiting 3 hours for AAA to come unlock my car. And then the 2 hour drive home. Last night was not the most fun night, but I still managed to get to bed at a decent hour.

Things have been really busy lately, and perhaps it's time to realize that things will not really slow down. I can, however, avoid stress from it. And I can say no when things are really too busy. So perhaps this next four months is supposed to teach me this too. How to find peace even when things are insane.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Almost finished in this apartment

I am moving out of my apartment and into a lovely townhouse about 30 minutes away (to be closer to work and friends while not going too far from my wonderful church). I'm hoping to get everything moved on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, depending on when the owner of the house is okay with it.

Until about a week and a half ago, I had been planning to live with my friend Amber in an apartment of our choosing. But last minute, Amber had to back out and I had to scramble to find another place to live that wouldn't break the bank. I have been so blessed. I asked my pastor to pray that I would find a place, and suddenly I had offers all over the place. I settled on living with a friend of a friend who has a house near my office. I'll have my own bedroom and bathroom, and I'll get to learn what it's like to live with multiple animals (two dogs and two cats). I'm really looking forward to this.

I have finally gotten around to starting the packing process. On Friday, I had the whole place to myself, so I pulled apart all the little places Katie and I had been using to store random junk in the living and dining rooms. My cookware collection was living on the dining room floor because I had nowhere else to put it! So I moved all of that into the kitchen to wash before packing. And then I attacked everything in the living and dining rooms. I even rearranged the furniture to make it easier for me to move everything out. It took me 5 hours to go through everything, but I had 4 bags of trash (junk that had piled up that I couldn't give to goodwill). It looks so much nicer in here now.

I also packed up all my movies and gaming systems (and games) to prevent myself from getting distracted and playing games when I should be packing. And I have 5 boxes of books packed. It's progress. This week after work, my awesome friend Laura and I will be cleaning and packing my room. I intend to live out of a suitcase for about a week so that I can box up everything else this week. I still haven't chosen my clothing to keep available, but almost everything that's clothing is going into plastic bags until I can wash it all (and not pay $3.25 per wash/dry!). So one of my first projects when I move is laundry, and while I'm waiting for that to happen, I'll be unpacking.

At least I'm taking vacation next week to make it easier to deal with the move. I'm really hopeful that I will have a chance to rest most of the time. I haven't had a real vacation when I haven't been sick (or gotten sick over vacation, which was the case for Christmas 2007 since I was hospitalized right at the end of vacation) since February 2007! It's been way way too long. I'm attempting to fix that as of next week. I'm already planning to take off Christmas to New Years this year and take at least 3 full weeks of vacation next year (not in a row).

Meal Plan Monday (er... tuesday)

Things have been so busy I didn't get a chance to post this yet.

Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: crab cakes, rice, and veggies
Wednesday: steak stir-fry
Thursday: rice and beans
Friday-Monday: leftovers

I'm finding that 3 meals is more than enough for each week as long as I get fruit and a couple small snacks. That way, I spend very very little on food and am eating more variety than I did before doing this.

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