New Car

Sorry I didn't t take the time to write out something quick. Steven and I made a last minute trip to my parents about this time to go see my new baby Niece. She is super cute and it's exciting to see a little baby! It was also nice being able to use our new car that we had bought the Friday before that. We got a 2012 Nissan Versa with 41,500 miles on it. GREAT gas mileage and so far has been a great deal for us.

Thankfully I'm still doing well since the car accident. I've had no problems or complications. I've also continued job hunting and have had some more bites. Hoping sometime soon I'll be a Nanny watching over some small children. I'm ever hopeful and feel I will thrive even more being able to care for just a few children versus managing 14+ children in a childcare setting.

Anyways, enjoy your week!

<3

A Busy 3 Weeks

I don't know if I'll be able to get every juicy detail typed out in the 50 minutes I have left on this Library computer, but let me just say it's been a busy 3 weeks.

So first thing that happened was June 17th, Steven and I continued our car search. We had done some searching on the 15th before I got my hair done, but I wasn't too thrilled about the car. So as soon as I got off of work I picked Steven up and zipped off to Everett to check this other car Steven saw online. Both of us were less than impressed with it. But since we had more time, we looked around and found one that suited our needs. It drove well and they were giving us a discounted price. Long story short, by Tuesday morning we had a new car. It's a Kia Rondo 2007. It had just under 72000 miles on it and we were super happy to show it off. It was kinda funny too because I was the one who gets to drive it most, so now on the weekends Steven has been doing more than his share of driving us around.

The nice thing about getting the car on the 18th was we had the Dirty Dash on the 22nd. It was a hot day, but we needn't fear for we had AC! But enough about the car. The Dirty Dash was pretty much the same as last year. The obstacles were slightly rearranged and had a few more fun stuff added (like a bubble tunnel). And instead of it being just me this year, I had my sister Emily, Steven and some of his friends join me. We played around with some team names like Free Hugs, but decided to go with Uruk-Hai. They are the orcs the Sarumon from Lord of the Rings raised up to make an army. Orcs are born from mud. And we decorated our faces with a white hand print (or 2). Unfortunately the white paint sweated off as soon as the running began :( Fortunately, it all came off in time for my interview that night.

So another round of getting muddy. It took us 2 hours! to get through. I was literally pushing those who carpooled with me and Steven and get rinsed off, changed and in the car since I had an interview at 6pm and it was just after 2:30pm. Another long story short, I made it home in time to clean up and be presentable for an interview as well as get stuck in traffic and still make the interview a few minutes early. The people were very nice. I had mentioned Steven was driving me to the interview since we hoped he'd be able to run an errand depending on how long the interview was to last. Upon showing up they insisted he come in. This was a Nanny position I was interviewing for and found out they both work for Microsoft. Steven ended up chatting with the dad a litle later while I, the mom and the baby continued to interact with each other. I felt the interview went very well and had high hopes to hearing back almost immediately.

Well, I did hear back, and for over the past week and a half it sounded very promising. But the move then happened on the 29th which put a small hic cup in the communication. We no longer reside off of 208th any more. Instead we are pretty much at the top of Lake Washington now and love our new area. It's so pretty up here and look forward tot he next year in our new home. However the commute will be long until I get a job closer to home. If only I knew how much longer it would become, maybe I would have taken a different route home that day...

So in case that didn't hint at it, I was in a car accident on the 1st. I was re-ended and thankfully have not sustained any injury from it. I honestly haven't a clue why I was hit because I was going with the flow of traffic, didn't break before or after the hit considering how I was propelled forward from the impact and still didn't hit any car in front of me. I had been traveling in the lane for 5-10 minutes anyways. At least the guy who hit me was honest. As much as I wish we didn't have to report it (sounds like this would be his 3rd strike) we had to and thankfully we did because we've heard rumors that the car may be totaled. All I can say is pray for John O'Brien that mercy will be showed upon him or that he'll find another way to provide for his family. With how the insurance company has been handling this, John has continued to be honest and I would wish him blessings for that.

My compute went from 45 minutes one way to 2-2 1/2 hours one way. about an hour of bus time and 30-70 minutes walking time. I have a great respect for the pioneers who walked for months straight 4+miles a day. My legs were soar and aching and sleep has been too short and that's only with 3.5 miles walked and a soft comfy bed at night to sleep in.

Back to the job interveiw. Despite the long week, Wednesday I recieved an email from them stating basically that they want me and that they'd like to chat one more time on the phone. Pretty much the ball was in my court to say yes or no. We decided to chat friday once I was off work. Lucky me, I got off at 10:30. So an horu later I got to chat with the mother who regretfully informed me of some not so good news. They have relatives moving in who want to help them watch their child. Understandable that'll save them money. She also feels bad to deliver that news and understands that going from full time to part time is probably not what I'm looking forward, though if I were willing to work part time that she'd be thrilled to have me since she says I seemed very professional. She also offered to put a recommendation in at the Parent board in Microsoft which I said yes to. So though I don't have a new job quite yet, I have some more networking and hopefully by August or September I'll have a full time Nanny job with one or 2 children.

That's what's been going on these past 3 weeks. Steven and I are happy and well. Like I mentioned before, I would appreciate for those of you who would, keep John O'Brien in your prayers.

<3

Happy Father's Day

A quick shout out to all the Dad's and soon to be Dad's. You're the best and I know I wouldn't have been quite the same without my Dad.

Steven and I actually celebrate Father's last week with my Dad while at the same time celebrating my Nephew's birthday. It's crazy to think that boy is 5 now, but I suppose growing up is inevitable.

Though it was a wonderful Sunday enjoying family and food, unfortunately bad news came in Monday morning. Apparently our cat Mormon (more my parent's cat since he stayed behind with them) was found dead in a neighbor's yard. Police claim it was a hit and run to which some carnivores came upon him and did some work to him too... but from what the grape vine says, it sounds more intentional. How often does one find half a cat (or animal for that matter) from a car accident? And what animal would would have made off with only some of his body? Yeah, gruesome and disturbing to think about. We all hope it was an accident despite what was seen. At least he's in a better place right?

Also that same day another friends place thankfully was not burnt down. But it was a shock to the system when the bishop called to see if I had heard from him. I hadn't heard from this friend and was sickened by the thought that it could have been his unit that caught fire. Like I said, thankfully it wasn't his unit. So we're praying for the family's affected by the fire and it sounded like no one was hurt.

Friday and Saturday was almost non stop. As soon as I got off work I went and played a little mini golf with Jessica and Keith (her friend) before zipping over to another friend's place to eat dinner. We enjoyed some bbq burgers and played phase 10 well into the night. We didn't finish since Steven and I had building cleaning duties in the morning.

Saturday after cleaning the church building, Steven and I went and test drove a car. We think the car will due if the other cars we look at tomorrow night prove worse, but it's not high on my list as a must have. The fact that it is probably worlds younger than our current car now is it's only huge positive. I wish we had more time to check out some of the other cars inthe lot that we didn't see online, but I had a hair appointment to make. Yes the hair is still short, in fact probably a little shorter. I love it and I has it just in time for the Dirty Dash next week.

We then had our usual game night that night with my sister and other friends. It was very crowded with all the boxes Steven and I have. Speaking of which, 2 more weeks now! But you may not hear from me for 3 weeks due to the internet ending this Thursday. We hope to have it up by the 1st, but we'll see what happens. I hope my absence won't be terribly long, but that is what is happening and not me being lazy this time.

<3

Our New Place Is...

What a fast week. I feel i was just telling you last week about our fruitless search for a new place to live... oh wait, it was! Wow! Well good news, the very next day we went and checked out a place for FHE. It's a duplex, so we will have neighbors next door, but it is a lovely place. I would post the video here... but I would rather not have just any person see it since this is a public page. We have a decent back yard that needs work done (weeding, watering, removal of cut grass clumps) and we hope to start a garden somewhat soon. The rooms are decent size. We have 1 and a half baths as well as a hole in the garage door that will prove purrfect for keeping Apollo's litter box in the garage. The neighborhood looks very nice too. It's kinda in the woods, but we're just on the edge of it with beautiful homes on the other side of us.

We can happily settle into the new place on the 29th of this month. Here's hoping this week was just a taste of what the rest of the month will be like- fast! I'm excited and look forward to making new friends and finding a new job in the area. I'm still employed, but the commute will literally kill our car if I don't find one shortly after moving that's closer to our new address.

Now don't get me wrong. Steven and I will miss our area. It may not be as pretty as the new place, but we did make friends here and I know our ward will feel our absence. I really love the Des Moines ward and I think that's what has held Steven and I back for some time was that we have been useful (let alone young and active), yet he also needs to be closer to his work. I've also been wanting to look into being a nanny with all the experience I have and being closure to Kirkland, Redmond, etc. will provide many opportunities for me to find that kind of job.

Anyways... I suppose you'd like to know exactly where we're going. We'll be moving to Bothell at the end of the month. I promise for those who live somewhat near by and are interested in seeing the new place, I'll be trying to set up a house warming party for a simple, pot luck and games kind of party. In the mean time, here's hoping for a quick 3 weeks!

<3

A New Adventure

It seems so long ago that Memorial weekend had happened. One would think a four day week at work would have felt so short, but it it didn't. Everyone at work seemed to be drained as though we hadn't had an extra day to rest up. Who knows, maybe we're all getting sick.

Anyways, the big news for the week is Steven and I will be moving by the end of the month. Either we'll be moving back in with my parents for a short period or if we're blessed, we'll have found another place. Either way, we are gonna move more north and hopefully much closer to his work.

For quite sometime we knew we would be moving, we just weren't sure when. Our lease was up back in October, but despite our efforts to see what the apartment wanted for us to do, we just kept paying month to month the same amount since no one ever got back to us. Well, Friday night as I get home I see we have a letter on our door from management. They explain to us that they see our lease is up and would love for us to sign a new lease in which we would be expected to pay and extra 40$ on our rent or and extra 90$ if we went month to month. I laughed to myself because it was the push we needed.

We also have another family we hope to move in with. They too had a similar situation in which they've been there for over two years and after their one year, no one ever got around to them to make them renew their contract. They too received a letter, like us, Friday about renewing their lease with additional payment.

Yesterday we went and looked at 3 houses in Renton. The first one I had a really good feeling about, but upon arriving, the feeling was trickling away fast. The first reason was due to the house space already being shared with a family who lived upstairs. Grant it, they have their own entrance, but still it took my excitement down a notch. Then we got to see the floor plan. Holy cow! There is some serious remodeling that needs to be done. The kitchen was divided into two sections, the smaller looking like it once was a laundry room. The Living room is about half the size of our current one and the three bedroom and one bath are all strung together side by side. The only way to get the the third room is by walking through the first room, the second room, and the bathroom... yeah... it's safe to say that we are not going to pursue that home.

The second one we saw we began to fall in love with upon looking through the windows and walking the park path behind the home. The neighbor even introduced himself to us. However when we were finally able to get a hold of the owner they informed us that the house has already been rented out :( Darn.

The last one had a similar situation. Couldn't get a hold of the owner, was in a decent looking neighborhood, and part of it was shared with another tenant. We probably won't pursue that one either (especially since the owners still haven't returned our call).

It was kind of a let down day of searching, but I keep reminding myself that this was just one day. We have the rest of the month (in which all Saturdays are not obligatory house hunting days). This is gonna be a long summer, but an adventure none the least!

If anyone had boxes they can spare us or keep their eyes open at work for any, that would be most helpful! We could use a lot!

Belated Mother's Day

Talk about a busy week! Last week was Mother's Day and I spent the day with my mother, hence why I found no time to write. I got to garden with her some and then brushed the horse down and shaved the cat! The cat didn't  appreciate the grooming and scratched my hand up kinda good, but nothing I was unable to heal from. Once all the grooming was done, we ate dinner (which complements go out to my dad for such a great meal) and then played Yahtzee! It was a nice way to spend Mother's Day.

Then Wednesday I got to go see Luna Lovegood! Well I suppose her real name is Evanna Lynch, but I feel she was such a spitting image of the Harry Potter character that she'll forever be remembered as Luna Lovegood to me. She was giving a little seminar at Western Washington University, so I took a half day so Jessica and I could get there early (it was Jess who found out about it and thankfully got me a ticket!). Upon going up I realized I had none of my Harry Potter books that have Luna in it. So we swung by Barnes and Nobles and the only hard back book for Harry Potter they had was The Goblet of Fire. Knowing I definitely did not have that book for my collection, I bought it and got it signed later that night by Luna.

The seminar itself was quite brief, but I wish I had a really good memory and was about to recite ever wonderful detail she spoke. It was a self image speech she gave and lessons she learn from the character Luna Lovegood. The part that stood out the most was her childhood dream (and kinda is now) to be a Cat. Yep, a Cat. Why a Cat you ask? Because think about it, a cat doesn't really have a care in the world. They get to preen themselves for hours on end, lazily going about the day eating when they want, resting when they want, and whatever carefree things they do. As she grew up it became more apparent as to why she felt that she wanted to be a Cat when she grew up.  Ultimately it was a safe place. There are no pressures of life (such as failing) when you're a cat. No need to worry about succeeding in school or work. No worries of what makes you special because there's someone there who already loves you unconditionally. Everyone is looking for love and desires to be loved. Yet it is our fears that tend to hold us back and make us feel unworthy of love because we don't want to be rejected of fail in our attempts. Of course I am not quoting her word for word, but this was the gist of some of the things she said and I felt this could have heard this from a General Conference with some of the symbolism she gave.

It was a long Wednesday, but well worth the drive and wait to see Luna. Once home (at 1am) sleep was almost impossible what with my poor choice to have a dr. pepper right before bed and the cat vomiting all over me and Steven. Yay... thankfully I was in agood mood and had energy enough to enjoy my work day.

Then it was Saturday and I got to go enjoy breakfast/lunch (someone might say it was brunch?) with Amilyn and her new fellow (Christopher Reeves! Though he's not the 'real' superman actor, he's still quite awesome). he whipped up some eggs and a breakfast salad while Amilyn (the vegetarian  cooked us BACON! I brought strawberries for our consumption.

Soon Amilyn was off to work and I off to hang with my mom to enjoy our belated Mother's Day outing. I got a great deal from Group-On and was able to get a mani-pedi with a foot massaeg for 35 dollars for the both of us! It was very delightful to get pampered. I wish I could afford it more, but I always seem to rather spend that money else where... but boy I love deals like that ever so often.

After having girly time with my mother, Steven and I went and saw Iron Man 3. That was very enjoyable! I figured we would be calling it good since it was almost 11pm, but for whatever reason, Steven really wanted to see Star Trek as well... so we saw the 11:15 showing of it. I was falling asleep off and on, but for what I saw, that was equally good as Iron Man, though a bit loud for my taste. And it was bout 2:30 in the morning when Steven and I FINALLY crawled into bed. Morning definitely came too quickly, but I knew I would manage. It was more Steven I was gonna poke fun at if he turned out to be grumpy or whine about being tired.

A very eventful week full of awesomeness. I hope everyone is doing well and had a great mother's day!

Sickness Everywhere!

Upon coming back from my 4 day weekend, I came to my classroom only to have one of my babies get sent home with a fever. Poor guy. With that, was told how one of my babies was sent home while I was gone due to a fever as well and another was sick with the flu over the weekend. Oh joy! Well, it was quite a simple week, Friday being the 'busy' day with all four babies back and somewhat healthier.

That night I also got to go to the temple for Women's Conference. While there it was becoming apparent I wasn't feeling too hot, but I didn't feel sick. By the time I got home I was still just feeling uncomfortable and tired and went to bed around 11pm. By morning I felt like a bag of sand. Just ache and exhausted. Steven noted that I felt hot and sure enough I had a 100.1 temp. A fun fact for me is I tend to run cool (97.7 on average). So if 98.6 is the norm, then 100.1 could almost be translated to 101.1 for me. Anyways, I relaxed all day, fore going the second session of Women's Conference at the Stake Center.

By mid day I was nearing 101 but thankfully didn't get any higher. By then Steven had returned with an AC for us. Our apartment gets quite hot in the summer and seeing that it's May and we already have had 2 80 degree days, I'm dreading what August will have in store for us.

Well Steven set the AC up in our room which cooled the room down enough to actually send chills through me (finally the room was too cool for the fever). By about 8pm with the fever staying in the 100.? range, I finally took some Ibuprofin since the head ache was picking up pressure. By 9pm the fever broke and I suddenly had energy (probably due to all the resting that day).

As for today, I'm still with out fever, though I wonder if I'm still sick because my temp has gone up a point from this morning. Whether I am or not, I'm trying to take it slow and here's hoping this won't interfere with work tomorrow or the rest of the week.