Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Graduation Plans

Today I filled out and faxed the information to attend my graduation in December. It was a tough decision whether or not to go--seeing as it is in Iowa--but Phil and I decided it would be worth it considering it took me forever to finish my bachelor's degree. I will officially be done in January and am having serious senioritis. All school work is daunting and even going online to look at the work seems like a chore. I am so ready to be done with school and can't wait for January to get here. I am currently undecided about a master's degree, but will think of that after a much needed break from school.

Does anyone know what the weather is like in Iowa in December? Please tell me it doesn't snow...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Weight Watchers Anyone?

I've been reading a lot of blogs recently and have noticed that one of my favorite blogs to read mentions that she is doing Weight Watchers with her husband and it is working for them! I've been struggling with weight loss and especially over the past few weeks my nutrition has really been aweful. Phil and I even had a talk about it to try to get me back on track. We decided that I needed a plan to work with instead of blindly going in there. We considered a couple of things:

--A supplement aka Alli. After reading the many reviews (good and bad) we decided that the oily discharge and general leakage problem from the rear end is NOT ok in any circumstance. Other supplements have high levels of caffeine and I am caffeine sensitive...it puts me to sleep--literally.

--After shooting down the supplement idea, I thought of Weight Watchers because I have been reading about the success over at this blog and thought it would be a great idea to try. You get your points allowance and get to do a lifestyle change without counting calories!

After making the decision last night, calling Weight Watchers to talk to them about the program, we headed out to BJ's to get a Momentum Cookbook to get an idea of recipes that are allowed. We also purchased a starter kit online today that should be here in a few days to get the ball rolling! I am excited to try this out and see what can happen as a result of it.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Recent Craftiness

When I was younger people would constantly tell me how creative I was. I loved to do arts and crafts and would always find something to create. Over time that has really fallen by the wayside. Even as a nanny there are many times where crafts would be great to do, but I'm at a loss of what to do. Getting this sewing machine has been a great thing for me. All I want to do every night is some kind of new project. I don't know much about sewing except for how to thread a bobbin, thread the needle, straight stitch, and now zig zag, but I've been able to do an apron, pin cusion, and small tote with it! I seriously only have been taught how to hem and turn inside-out, but with some creative thinking things have come out better than expected! Here's the tote bag I made out of the same material from the apron because I have tons of extra:




Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Apron Project

Last night I attempted my apron project. After work I went to my local JoAnn's Fabrics store to get some fabric and thread for the project. Earlier in the day I looked up patterns online, but didn't find anything that really struck my fancy. After a lot of thinking the decision was made to make a short apron, one that goes around your waist as opposed to a full apron. Here's the end result:


phil was a great sport letting me use him as a model...i think he looks kinda cute in it too ;)




Overall, I think it came out great for my first "by myself" project considering I know nothing about sewing. I literally thought about how it could work, did a lot of hemming and straight-stitching and this is how it came out! I thought about pockets, but when they were pinned on I didn't think they looked right with the apron so I am still undecided about those. Maybe I'll do a reverse one with the brown and white polka dot fabric for the main part and the blue swirl fabric for pockets and ties. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

He Got It!!!

I am sitting here with so much excitment right now. A couple of hours ago Phil was given a firm offer for a new job! I am incredibly proud of him and his hard work and effort in pursuing a career and it has finally paid off!!! He starts the second week in October and has to travel down towards D.C., but it's a great job and we are really looking forward to this new change.

I may or may not be super excited that he gets to wear business casual clothes to include a button up shirt and slacks every work day!!! Is it just me or do guys look so amazingly cute in dress clothes? Also, ironing seriously makes me happy and kind of relaxes me.

Thank you Jesus for this amazing man and opportunity that you have given him!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Sewing project


 This is my new sewing machine! It is a Singer 717 from 1971. I was lucky enough to get it from a friend for free! It is in great condition and sews perfectly. When Amanda first brought it over the bobbin threader was broken and she didn't know how to fix it. Determined to make it work, I took it over to Phil's parents and had them look at it. Dad said it was the bobbin winder tire most likely and a new one should be able to be picked up from Jomax to replace it. So, this morning I headed out to Jomax, picked up a new tire, brought it home, and tried it out and guess what...it works!!! This will make things much easier than going over to Phil's house to use his mom's machine to thread bobbins and it only cost $3 to fix! My first project is placemats for my table. I started on them yesterday with Phil's mom and will hopefully have them done this week and will post pictures.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Could this be the answer?

This weekend was filled with friends, fun, laughter, and a family reunion on Phil's side. It was great to be able to get together with friends, have dinner, and play games. It just makes things a little better when you have that kind of support.

The reunion for his grandpa's side of the family was about an hour away in Pennsylvania so we got a lot of talking time. After the reunion we decided to head over to Hagerstown, MD to go shopping while we were close before we headed home. It's always nice to be able to spend some extra quality time with him doing things that are spontaneous and have such a great time.

On the way home, we started talking about a number of things. One thing, in particular, being what do I want to do with my life? Growing up, teaching was always the number one thought. In fact, this coming January I will have earned my degree in Social Studies and Education. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure that is the road I want to take in life.

For years it was certain that teaching was the way to go, but recently, not so much. Since looking into other graduate programs, I may have found one that would be something that is right up my alley....Human Resources. I love working with people, figuring out things, and coming up with solutions to problems. And, since it is not teaching, there would be no parents to worry about, faculty drama, or students taking things out of context with my "not so political correctness" at times.

I have yet to discuss, in more detail, the program with Phil, but it might be what I end up doing. It will take three years to complete, but the good news is that the classes are on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings for three hours so I totally wouldn't have to worry about too much school on top of a full-time job!

As for now, it is definitely in my thoughts and prayers....hopefully I can figure it all out before the deadline to apply in December.

Friday, September 11, 2009

*Crossing my fingers*

Life has been super duper stressful lately. I don't want to jinx it, but it's not like people actually read my blog. Phil has been offered a tentative job offer. He has been working on his background check and security clearance all week and was finally able to send it in today. It is a super exciting time and we are both praying fervently that things go well and a firm offer is presented next week.

Because of all the work that has to be done and the attention to detail quality time has been scarce this week. We are usually the couple that spends almost all of our time outside of work together running errands or just hanging out. It's weird to not have that, but it's part of growing up. I am definitely looking forward to growing in our relationship through the start of his career and am praying that all goes well and smoothly with the offer to remain.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

To Teach or not to Teach

I've been feeling very apathetic towards school lately. School used to be something that wasn't too bad, afterall, it would help in becoming a teacher when finished right? Unfortunately, if teaching is what I want to do, a master's degree is necessary to get certification. Let's set the record straight, a master's degree would be wonderful, really it would, but the program that is the best in the area is very hands on. This sounds great doesn't it? There's a catch...to complete the program, you must do one full day in the classroom for the first two semesters. The third semester is a 15 day internship and the last semester is a 9 week full-time internship (aka "student teaching"). I would be all on board for all of this, but it is all UNPAID. Just the thought of rearranging my schedule to take the classes, do the internships, schooling at night, and maintain my relationship, finances, and apartment seems a little overwhelming.

This has led me to think that maybe I do not want to teach afterall. Human relations or public administration both seem like good options for a master's degree, but it won't give the flexibility of teaching when I have a family to take care of. This really puts me into a predicament. I have no idea what to do with my life or what I want to do with it for that matter. Right now Phil and I are not married and that is a factor into what decision will be made. If he gets this job he's up for and we can get married and manage to do all of that, then teaching might be a good option.

Either way, I have until December 15th to make the decision to enter the program in the spring or not. Until then, there is a lot of thinking to do...

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Last Year's Birthday

Phil's birthday is coming up at the end of this month. I've been super busy planning and scheming for the perfect party for him. Last year was awesome! I threw him a surprise party with his friends, had a singing balloon, pinata, decorated the house, and made him a cake which the candles burned out way to fast and there was wax all over his cake. He said it was by far his favorite birthday ever!

Since last year was so great, I'm even more determined to make this year so much better! We decided on a cook-out and since Phil loves all things weather related so what we are doing is having a weather-themed party which is hard because stores don't generally carry weather themed party accessories. Despite all of this, it's going to work out. I am making weather bingo cards, a tornado pinata, and another surprise that I will post pictures up in a few weeks once it's done. I can't have him read this and ruin the surprise ;)

Here's a couple more pics from last year...see the enthusiasm?
                             

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Gym Hiatus Over

After a 3 week hiatus from the gym and eating healthy all together I have resumed my regiment. I had last friday off so off to the gym I went for my "fitness evaluation"...you know, the one where they tell me I need to lose about 60 or so pounds to be "healthy" and do a work out with me that makes me so sore afterwards....ya. So we worked out and talked about personal training options. Honestly, there has always been something intriguing about personal training, but it has always been too expensive. After talking with them for a loooong time I decided it might be worth a try. Basically, my trainer would work out with me once a month and set up a workout schedule with specific workouts to do for every day I will be going to the gym so I know exactly what to do and there are no excuses. Also, they help you with nutrition even if you only meet with them once a month!

I thought that definitely this could be a good thing and that it would be great to see if the program is do-able for me. i have serious motivation issues when it comes to the gym...don't judge me. When they signed me up they had a year contract written up...WHAT??? I signed up anyways so that I wouldn't feel embarrassed, made an appointment, and went to tell Phil what I had done. Phil agreed that a month-to-month contract would be better or to be able to try it out for a few months first to see how I do with the program. We went back to the gym yesterday and talked to them to try to get the contract changed.

At first she said that the contract was already signed and their programs are one year long. Luckily, I had read the fine print that gave me until today to cancel the contract. As we talked to her for 10-15 minutes to explain how we think it would be best to try it out on a shorter term and sign up if it is what we were looking for she kept explaining that it is a year long program and it will take that long to reach my goals...nice try. We then said that we can cancel and are considering it because we didn't want a one year commitment...that's why we paid off our memberships in full!

It took a while, but she finally offered us a 6 month contract. Phil was still a little hesitant and we got it down to 3! * persistence people, persistence* Now, I will have a plan, trainer, and no real excuses *other than laziness* not to have this work out. Positive thoughts, laziness aside, I can do this :)