Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Down to the Wire

Apparently it is the next to last week of summer classes! I thought there were at least three more weeks. So this week I have been spending my time after work at school trying to finish all of my assignments. I have accomplished a lot! I stayed at least two hours the last two nights and now I only have 2 assignments left! I am getting off work a little early so that I won't be there until midnight finishing up! I may swing by the Social Security office if I have time. This name change process is ridiculous! Every time I think I'm almost finished changing my name at all of the billion places that are necessary, one more creeps up and jumps on the list!

There's a small update on Matthew's job interview! There have been a lot of changes since his interview, and at one point there was the slight moment of the complete lack of hope when they said they would no longer be hiring due to changes in the structure of current employees. But now the hope is back after some more changes in current employees and they're still hiring! A decision is supposed to be reached by tomorrow. So Matthew should find out tomorrow or Friday what the verdict is! We are trying to not get our hopes up (as they've already been dashed once since last Wednesday) but are praying diligently for whatever the outcome may be!

And our wedding pictures have finally arrived in the mail! There are 6 discs total! However, my computer is rarely used because it's mean and refuses to do what I need it to do.. like turn on and do computer things. And Matthew's computer has decided that the cd drive won't work, which after some searching we found that it isn't even installed on his computer anymore. So I will be searching for a computer to use for a few hours so that I can look at all of the pictures! I will post some up here.. maybe.. if they're good.. and I like them.. which I know I will!

PS: Matthew's off on Sunday!!! I am super excited!

Friday, July 23, 2010

ABC's of Me!

I found this over at http://adayinthelifesonya.blogspot.com/ so I thought I would give it a go!

A - My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: Probably 68 since Matthew is home and prefers it to be freezing.

B - My BEDROOM theme is: Sophisticated Comfort! There are soothing green walls. The furniture is all a deep chocolate brown. The bed is a king and the mattress is super thick and comfy! I could sleep for days in here!

C - The CAR in the driveway is: My black Jeep Grand Cherokee and Matthew's red Explorer.

D - My DESK looks: My desk is super organized and neat, because I never use it. It looks good though!

E - The EXACT time I wake up daily is: I aim for 6:45, but 7:34 tends to be the pattern lately.

F - The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: I shampoo my hair first then wash my face then condition my hair. It's a process!

G - My GARAGE is filled with: I don't have a garage, but I have a shed! It's full of Matthew's guy stuff.. tools, yard things, etc.

H - My HOUSE is: Mine! I can do with it however I please! And I love that!

I - If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: Three baskets of unfolded (yet clean) clothes, a dog cage, two fans, and that big comfy bed that probably wasn't made up!

J - My favorite JUICE is: Sometimes I like juice, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I crave orange juice, but mostly I hate it. Sometimes I get on a V8 Splash thing, but not in a while.

K - The best part of my KITCHEN is: All of the countertops and cabinets! It's so big and has so much workable space!

L - The LAST person who visited my home was: My parents came over Wednesday to help me clean that big kitchen.

M - The last piece of MAIL for me was: There were a couple bills and a free sample of shampoo on Wednesday!

N - My NEIGHBORS think I'm: Mean. I'm always hanging my head out the front door yelling at these kids (rather teenagers, or soon to be at least) about riding their bikes and scooters through my yard, or walking through my yard period. I knowwwww.. one day I'll have children of my own. But I promise they'll be respectful!

O - If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: Lots of bottled water, Diet Coke, milk, deli turkey, string cheese, a couple pudding cups, and leftover spaghetti.

P - My last house PARTY was: I haven't had one yet. We're trying to make the house look good first! I am hosting a bridal shower in October for my sister though!

Q - A QUICK meal I like to fix is: Spaghetti!

R - My favorite ROOM of the house is: My favorite room is my bedroom for its coziness, the living room for its style and it's being the most put together of them all, the extra bedroom for being so cute and girly, and the patio because I have somewhere to sit outside now!

S - The SHAMPOO brand I use is: I change depending on what I find cheapest with my coupons! Right now I have been using Pantene and Aveeno (shampoo goes faster than conditioner in this house!). But my favorite is Suave, the cheap Suave.

T - My largest TELEVISION is: I'm not even sure. Technically I own a 36" flatscreen (still the big box style though), but it is still at my parents' house due to its weight and the fact that it's upstairs and no one will volunteer to move it. But I have been promised an identical one from my uncle when he gets a new flat tv. We'll see about that though!

U - UNDER my bed you will find: Clear shoe boxes that are empty. All the things you have to do to keep a dog out from under the bed!

V - The last time I VACUUMED was: I have no idea. I usually let Matthew take care of that! I really hate cleaning.

W - Looking out my WINDOW I see: Those annoying children coming towards my house! But if I look out the back, I see Matthew's garden!

X - I wish I had X-TRA: Time, and then money.

Y - My YARD is: Super huge! It's nearly 3/4 of an acre, one of the bigger lots in the neighborhood.

Z - ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: I get in the bed usually around 9 or 10 to watch my favorite tv shows! They're just better when you're cuddled up in bed instead of sitting on the couch! But I don't go to sleep until 11 or 12. That's why I'm always tired!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Oh Yeahhhh!

The kitchen is so clean! I can't even believe how it looks! I will post some pictures this evening. I am impressed with myself! My mom and I cleaned from 6 until 8:45. My dad came over when he get off work to help out some with the heavy lifting. Yes, there was heavy lifting going on in my kitchen! We had boxes of laminate flooring and tons of boxes for the trash. We organized the tupperware, handwashed all the things that were left, organized the holiday platters and all the bakeware and serving dishes, organized all the pots and pans, and the list goes on. The new hutch I purchased was wiped down inside and out. It was outfitted with shelf liner and stocked full of the new china! And the kitchen table (yes, I found it under all that stuff) is glowing with the new placemats and cloth napkins (yes, cloth)! Matthew has made a promise that he will put up the new light fixture and touch up the paint on the hutch on Friday when he's off. Hopefully he will also feel like working on the floor!

And in the middle of all this hard work, Matthew got back from his interview more excited than I have ever seen him! Well that is apart from our wedding day, or that's what I'm telling myself anyway. The pay is better than expected. The hours are incredible. And the commute is not so bad. There were six people interviewed total, so maybe there's that chance! Matthew is just so excited and impatient about hearing back! They told him he would get a call by the end of next week to let him know if he did or did not get the job. So please pray with us until then!

Of course, while Matthew was not helping clean because he was "tired", his sweet baby Cinnamon decided to show him what tired really was. My dad had taken some trash out and left the back door open. And when one door doesn't shut and it stays open, well Cinnamon runs through it! And boy did she run! Matthew and my dad both walked to catch her. Bad idea when the dog is running at the speed of a NASCAR race! Thirty minutes passed by and they were still trying to catch her. She was running circles around them! I walked outside to hear, "Morgan! Get a hotdog out of the refrigerator!" So I did. Cinnamon ran to me in about two seconds. I was then instructed to not give the hotdog to her. How hard was that? They couldn't have done that thirty minutes ago? Men. After a brief punishment, Cinnamon was back inside practically laughing in our faces, or rather the faces of Matthew and my dad. I'm still laughing about it. I wasn't laughing about the fact that my favorite child Cinnamon could have been hit by a car. But I knew she was smarter than that. She just wanted to show Matthew how tired he really could be! And she did a darn good job! I also heard that Matthew fell into two ditches and lost his shoe four times. I so wish I could have seen that!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Step Two.. The Kitchen!

I am going to finish the kitchen today! And by finish, I mean that all the gifts will absolutely be cleaned and put in their places. My mom is coming over after I get off work to help me out! No matter how much I work on getting that kitchen done, it never looks like I do anything. That will all change tonight! We are going to organize all the cabinets as well which is what I am most looking forward to! I can never find anything I'm looking for. Every time Matthew uses something, he puts it in a different place than where he found it! Maybe I will put some pictures up once it's looking like a kitchen again and not a storage shed!

On another note, Matthew has a job interview once he gets off work today! The hours are not amazing, but it is something we have both prayed about and talked about. The pay is way better than his current job, not that money is the most important thing. It will also require a commute, a small one, but still that is wear and tear on his car. There will be a lot of sacrifice on spending time together, which we all know is something I've been struggling with. But maybe this is my sign that I will be forced to be more independent.

The last year has not been a bed full of roses. Before Matthew's current job, he was unemployed for 6 months. He actually lost his job about two weeks after we purchased our home. I just cried because I was so scared we would lose it. The day his unemployment ran out, he got his first paycheck from his job. And that 6 months that he wasn't working.. well I still thank God every day because I know that it is only by His grace that we didn't struggle with paying bills. In fact, I stress every week about paying bills and worrying if we have enough. And I think back to when Matthew was only getting 1/4 of that. I am more and more amazed each time I think about it! Right now, we can hardly save anything because we are paying down so much and this job would allow us the chance to save up for a family. We are not ready for a family now.. not mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. But if we can start on the financial, I think my mind and emotions will jump on board!

I am trying not to get my hopes up until there is a definite yes. But if someone would just be willing to take a chance on him and teach him the job, I know that he could do it! We all know that you don't have to know something before you do it. I have found that after a while, the job will turn into a habit and you can become good at anything as long as someone takes a chance on you! I know taking risks has gotten this country and its businesses in a hot mess over the years, but perhaps that was only because they were risks not worth taking. America after all was formed out of a giant risk. Back to what I was saying, so if someone would just take a risk and give Matthew a chance! That is all.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Attempting To Be a Good Housewife...

I decided that this weekend I would work on becoming a good wife and maybe start getting the house organized. There are still gifts to be unpacked and put away, old things to be boxed up for a future yard sale (when I hit the time jackpot), thank you cards to be written, and junk mail to be thrown away. Quite a list, huh? We have been working every weekend on this!

So yesterday when Matthew was off, we didn't do anything around the house. We did go shopping though! There was an extra 20% off registry purchases at Belk's, so we with our tons of gift cards, decided it was time to use them while there was a sale! I got.. we got another set of sheets, a down comforter, and a KITCHENAID MIXER!!!! Can you figure out who was in charge of these purchases? Definitely not Matthew! I haven't pulled it out of the box yet, but I am most certainly searching for recipes so that I can get in there and use it today!

We also went to Tuesday Morning, where I got a file box that is super cute! And we went couponing at CVS, Walgreen's, and Rite Aid. You can read about that over here http://dealforreal.wordpress.com/. I used the folders I bought yesterday and added some glam to them with all of my scrapbooking goodies! I labeled them for each of the places we have bills for each month. This is my attempt at organization! And the cute folders that came with the cute file box will be used for other things like taxes, insurance, school, and other miscellaneous things. Soon, you won't even be able to recognize my house because it will be cleaner and more organized than ever!






Wednesday, July 14, 2010

One Month Anniversary (a couple days late)

Matthew and I have been married for a month! Can you believe it? I feel like time has flown by. And as all men go, I had to remind Matthew that it had been a month. I hope he remembers the one year anniversary!

We had a nice weekend, if only it had been a day or two longer! I slept in on Saturday while Matthew cut the grass. Then we decided to go swimming for a little while. That's when we found out that my uncle had been in a bad wreck that totaled his brand new car. I just remember crying! At the time, they weren't sure if he had a stroke or what had happened. They took him to the hospital a little further away, and a lot better than the one close by. He came home Monday afternoon! He had no scratches or bruises from the accident. And after running all kinds of tests, they could find nothing wrong with him. They did find an infection in his arm due to scratches from a friend's dog. And all they could come up with was that a blood clot had formed and traveled to his brain where it broke apart causing him to black out and lose control of the car. I think he was more upset about the car, but he felt very lucky to have come out with no problems! After many tears, we managed to go to the pool for about an hour before heading back home and going out to eat with Matthew's parents.

We went to church Sunday morning and then to eat at Matthew's grandparents'. As we are still on our diet, I think Matthew found it quite difficult to choose the right foods and the right portions from his grandpa's country cooking. After one, much smaller than usual, plate, Matthew said his stomach was hurting from eating too much and he gave up on eating anything more. I was in shock! I couldn't believe that Matthew was full! It was definitely a first! The rest of the afternoon was spent washing loads of sheets and towels, running the dishwasher several times, and putting more gifts away. The house is starting to look like a house again and not a storage room! Only a few more things left to go! We went to eat dinner with my parents Sunday night, and dinner was quite disappointing. It just didn't hit the spot!

On our one month anniversary day, we did all the fun things of adult life. I cooked dinner, then we grocery shopped! I know that sounds so boring, but couponing makes it so much more fun! We ended up with so much good stuff. I of course went over my weekly budget by $5.50. But that's okay! We needed toilet paper really bad! And it wasn't until after all of this that Matthew finally realized (after I told him of course) that it was our one month anniversary.

So here we are on our one week point of our diet. And the results are in! I have lost 4 lbs. and Matthew has lost 6 lbs. Not bad! Matthew has fought some of the times. He did sneak an oatmeal creme pie, which he claims he gave half to Cinnamon. I'm not entirely sure about the truth on that one! He did eat more at dinner a couple times than he should have. But I may have done the same a time or two. The important thing is, we have lowered our calorie intake, our portion sizes, and have begun making healthier choices for meals and snacks. I think we are on the right track! Only 61 more lbs. to go for me and 54 left for Matthew! I told you the man would lose it faster!

Friday, July 9, 2010

I Can Almost Taste It...

The weekend, that is. It's coming in less than three hours! I have so many ideas for what to do this weekend. There's swimming, finishing the patio, grilling, cleaning, and sleeping. So much excitement! And the best part..Matthew is off the entire weekend! I don't have to hang out alone!

This is something I have really been struggling with. I know that it may sound selfish to want to spend every spare minute with Matthew, but he really is my best friend. And I want to be around him as much as I possibly can. He's goofy and silly and cute and funny! We always have a good time. But when he is working and I am home, I just want to sit there and wait for him to come home.

We have a dog, Cinnamon Raisin, who also is completely in love with Matthew. It really is so cute to see! She will lay on the couch or the floor all day. She won't even play at all. And then she will run to the door when she hears him come home. Her whole body will shake until he comes inside. That's when she jumps up and puts her two front legs around his waist and gives him a hug. Cinnamon just loves her daddy!



I'm starting to feel like I am the same way. I don't want to do anything all day until Matthew is there. I don't know why I'm having a hard time with this. Since I was in the 6th grade, I have gone home after school and taken care of myself. When I turned 16, I was always on the go between school, basketball practice, soccer practice, community service, etc. I never felt dependent on anyone or anything. When I was 17, I drove to Atlanta for my spring break. I lived alone in another town at the age of 19. I bought my own home at the age of 21. I am used to surviving on my own. But there is something about having another person to take care of you and to spend time with you. It just makes you feel good.

I do need to be a little more independent though, I suppose. Maybe that will be a goal for the rest of this year. To be both dependent and independent.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

DDDDDDDDIET!

Yep, you heard me! A diet. Difficult. Boring. Expensive. Nasty. Exhausting. Exercise. Healthy. Produce. Home-cooked. All of these words, and more, describe my thoughts when I think of a diet. But Matthew and I have both decided that we need to lose weight. At this point, it is more for health purposes than anything. But it's also for self-confidence, self-esteem, and the fact that I can no longer fit into any of my clothes and refuse to buy any more of the size I currently wear. Matthew was not forced to do this diet. He was strongly encouraged perhaps!

We have chosen to do the Body by Vi diet. I know a couple of people who have been doing the diet for a couple of months and have been successful. So we both thought it was worth a shot. Body by Vi is a meal replacement program. You decide if you want to replace one meal or two meals a day. We have chosen to do two, breakfast and lunch. It sets you up with an account when you first order, kind of like a personal website that has meal suggestions, daily calories allowed, and how many servings of fruits, vegetables, etc. you should have each day. You can choose recipes they suggest or input your own. The database isn't as big as the one I have used on Weight Watchers before, but you can find similar items if you can't find the exact one. It will be close enough.

I will admit, yesterday we did slip up and go to Dairy Queen after dinner and get a small blizzard. The first day was tough. Cutting back to 1,300 calories!!! I'm not sure how many I consumed before. But let's just say that McDonald's was a regular stop. I can only imagine how many calories I was going through each day. Now Matthew gets closer to 2,000. Men. They always get the best diet! And I'm sure he will lose weight way faster than I could ever dream of. He does weight quite a bit more than I do, so I won't hold this against him. I would be happy to see him drop some pounds and get healthier!

So far, the shakes have been good. Today has not been nearly as bad as yesterday. I think that we have to allow some time for our minds to jump on board with this whole diet thing. Matthew has a problem with portion sizes. I also have this problem, but I have dieted before and know the correct sizes. I just choose not to follow them most of the time. I eat for flavor. I crave certain foods. Mostly Mexican. And today I enjoyed it for lunch. I reviewed my calories for the day and figured that if I skip my two snacks for the day, I could have Mexican for lunch. And I did. It's 4 p.m. and I am not hungry yet! This is good. I haven't had one snacky-snack today. Usually I've had at least a snacky-snack or two and maybe a fun size candy bar.

We have both set a goal for how much weight we want to lose. I plan to lose 65 pounds and go down 4 sizes in clothing, and Matthew is set on 60 pounds. There really isn't a timeline for the diet other than we hope to have our goals accomplished before Christmas. I'm not sure how fast the weight will start to come off. This is the second day afterall. But we will keep everyone updated!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

It's Hump Day! And I'm Ready for Friday!

I was so happy to see this past weekend! I don't even remember Friday night. That means it was probably a lazy night of me changing into my pj's as soon as I got home! Love that feeling!

Saturday, we slept in, which was super nice! Matthew had to be at work at 2:30, so he went and picked up Bojangles for a late breakfast. I can taste that cheddar-bo right now! While Matthew was away, I cleaned and unpacked and cleaned some more. Remember, I was trying my best to stay motivated! I didn't even shower until 7 p.m. because I knew I would get all sweaty cleaning up. (On a side note, I've always thought that was ironic that you get dirty when you're cleaning.) I unpacked all of our new china and crystal. I ran the dishwasher at least twice and unloaded it both times. I washed two loads of towels. Of course those were left for Matthew to fold. I can't do everything! And I also made a pasta salad for July 4th! After all of that work, it still looked like I hadn't done anything! There were a lot of empty boxes and bags though that proved I had worked hard! I also don't remember Saturday night. I can't tell you what we did for dinner or after dinner. Was I even awake for dinner?

Matthew worked all day on Sunday. I decided to go ahead and get up when he left so I could get ready and go to church. Shocker! I know. I told you, we really like this new church. So I'm making an effort! I sat with my cousin, also named Matthew, and then we went to El Tapatio after for lunch. I had already done more in this half a day than I have done most weekend days in my whole life. After lunch, I went home and did all of my homework. And then I napped. It was July 4th! So after my nap, I went over to my parents to walk down to Englewood to eat and watch the fireworks. Matthew came out after he got off work. We had a lot of fun with everyone that came out to join us! I even got a sno cone! You just don't even know how long I have been wanting a sno cone..years! I love them! What flavor you ask? Tiger's Blood and Blue Raspberry. YUM!!! So good! Yes, it was a large. And no, I did not eat the whole thing. But I wanted to!

Monday was such a long day. I am thankful for legal holidays and for being off work on such holidays! But I just did not feel well at all. I was fine when I woke up. I even watched a movie, 28 Days Later. But after eating one hotdog for lunch, I felt so sick I could barely stand. I was dizzy and nauseous and my head was throbbing. And that is what headache medicine is for! I slept for the next 3 hours when I woke up sweating to death. Then I fell right back asleep. I may or may not have eaten a couple of brownies in between. I slept until 7, and the only reason I got up then was because Matthew was getting off at 7:30. So I jumped up and showered and got dressed. We went and ate..hot dogs..at Matthew's grandparents. Not the food I was craving, that's for sure! I did manage to eat one hotdog, a spoonful of beans, and a spoonful of potato salad. And I was done! Food was so not appealing!

The last two days have been spent at work, and the same goes for today! I am ready for another weekend! Things are looking up though, as Matthew was off yesterday and managed to clean the living room and kitchen as well as fold the towels and the other baskets of clothes. He even finally finished putting down our new patio!!! There are a few more final touches to be done and then we have to put the patio furniture together! But then, we can sit outside and enjoy ourselves! Can't wait!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Married Life!

So you are probably wondering how married life is so far! It has been two and a half weeks since we got married! And I feel like time has been flying by. I honestly feel like we have been married for months now! The last year of planning a wedding went by so slowly compared to the last few days!

We have both been back at work since we got back from the honeymoon. It has been somewhat of a hard adjustment, especially since this week Matthew is having to work eight days straight. His schedule is just like it was before the wedding, it varied from week to week. He would work most weekends, go in late in the day, get off late, go in early, get off early. Every week was different from the last. So I'm not sure what I was expecting. I guess I was just hoping that maybe they would decide to give him more of a regular schedule. But no! I have been trying to schedule myself around his schedule. I try to go to my class when he is working late and try to go straight home on days that he gets off early. And I don't think I've prepared myself for this weekend! Matthew was off last weekend, which was really nice! But this weekend, I will be all alone! And of course I am off on Monday and Matthew will be working. Hopefully, I can make myself be productive instead of sleeping the whole weekend!

We have made several purchases for the house together. Matthew has been working on putting a patio down right off the deck! I am so excited for this project to be done and to set the patio furniture up! Of course, I will have to bathe in bug spray before I can go out there, but it will be worth it! We also purchased a hutch for the kitchen so we could put all of our china somewhere safe and of course somewhere cute! And of course we are working our way through the gifts, putting them in their places, returning multiples, etc. I am also trying to go ahead and empty the old things out of the cabinets and get them ready for a yard sale sometime later this year. The dishwasher has been working overtime! We can't seem to get it done fast enough! Hopefully after the patio is done, Matthew will finally finish the flooring project started a couple months ago, and then we can get the kitchen painted! I have convinced myself that if the kitchen is painted, I will be more motivated to actually put all of the gifts away and clean out the cabinets! We'll see how that goes! But I will just be glad to have it painted! At least it will look better!


Things have been great though! Our goals for the month of July are to really limit our spending, save more, and stick to our budget! I have always been a saver. Matthew has always been a spender. But we are both used to relying on our families for support and extra help. Now, it all depends on us! So we really want to start off on the right foot! We haven't sat down and discussed exactly how much we hope to save for the remainder of the year or anything like that yet. But we have thrown around some ideas of how much we think we can set aside each month. Hopefully we will be on the same page! Or at least talk our way into being on the same page!

Also, on a side note! Matthew and I have found a church that we really like! We have only been a couple Sundays, since Matthew is usually working. But Matthew has put in a request to no longer be scheduled on Sundays! I hope they will accept his request so that we can go on a regular basis and not every once in a while! The preaching is great, their is a choir, they sing out of the hymnal (as well as other songs), and it is a small church! We are both excited to have found a church where we feel comfortable and feel that we are getting something out of church and not going just to be going!