Shiny sink!

My sink is shiny! I washed, dried, and put away dishes after all three meals today. It was so nice having a clean kitchen. I also hung a picture of my brother and I, hammered a couple nails to hang keys right inside our front door, threw away some junk that had been sitting on the counter for months, and ran two loads of laundry.

I sold my wedding dress this afternoon. I didn’t really want to, but we need the money. Also, it was just hanging in our spare bedroom closet taking up valuable space. I have wedding photos so I decided it was time to let go. The additional money will also help.

Hubby and I walked over to Walgreen’s this morning and picked up our free Redbox rental. We watched Tales of Despereaux. It felt like an attempt to analyze social class differences. Hubby and I discussed many aspects of the movie, but it fell short. Too bad. It’s hard to find quality, clean movies these days.

On the way back from Walgreen’s, we stopped by Fry’s and picked up some more bananas and strawberries. The bananas aren’t ripe but I’m looking forward to strawberries tomorrow!

Job updates

Things are starting to look up around here. Hopefully everything turns out!

Hubby’s two hour contract job went really well. He had “homework” to do after they were finished at the client. Hubby had to email the boss some recommendations for the client and it seems the boss was happy with the suggestions. He’s called here a couple times today asking Jeff questions. It also sounds like the boss will be setting Jeff up with an email account, so that is definitely promising. Now we just wait until the boss calls/emails with the next contract assignment.

As for me… I have a three day temp job starting tomorrow morning. Several weeks ago, I responded to a Craigslist ad about a temp job assembling folders for a presentation. It won’t be the most stimulating assignment, but it’s a paycheck. I will be working all day tomorrow and Monday, with a possible day on Tuesday if the project is not yet complete. The best part? The company needed two people so I volunteered a church friend of mine who really needs some exra money this month. Now I’ll have someome to talk to all day!

In preparation for working tomorrow, I cleaned today so the house would be ready for Sabbath. I cleaned the kitchen, caught up on all the dishes, vacuumed the apartment, and scrubbed down the bathroom. I’m very content.

Preparation day

Today has truly felt like Preparation day. I baked two loaves of bread (one for us and one for lunch at the pastor’s house tomorrow). Then I made two jars of homemade spaghetti sauce, also for tomorrow. I wasn’t too impressed with the sauce, but I’ll reserve judgment until I eat in on spaghetti noodles. It just didn’t have that much flavor, even though I spiced it and let it simmer for 3 hours.

Our church clothes are pressed and hanging in the bedroom. We have clean sheets and clean towels. The entire apartment has been vacuumed and the kitchen is spotless! My hubby was incredibly nice today and washed, dried, and put away all the dishes while I completed other housework. I love my hubby!

In the middle of all that, I completed a rush assignment for my contract job. Whew!

Happy Sabbath, all! I hope your day of rest and time spent with the Lord goes well.

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13, NLT).

Are titles necessary? :)

I had grandiose plans of posting pictures and links to our new favorite pizza crust! We already found a favorite sauce recipe but couldn’t find a good pizza crust. Well, that post will probably be written Sunday or Monday.

Instead, I spent a good deal of time today working around the apartment. I’m proud of myself, in a humble way of course! I made pizza, washed dishes after each meal, vacuumed the entire apartment, swept the kitchen and bathroom floors, emptied the cat boxes, cleaned the vacuum filter, and washed/folded/put away two loads of laundry.

Whew! I’m happy and tired. Now I just need to keep it up. I have ideas for implementing a housework schedule, but that is also going to be a separate post. For now, I’m going to watch Master and Commander with my hubby.

Love to all, and have a happy Sabbath!

Laundry mountain no more!

I’m so relieved. I finally caught up on all the laundry. This is the first time in several weeks ALL the laundry has been washed, ironed or folded, and put away. I also vacuumed the bedroom, hallway, and living room. All the dishes are washed, dried, and put away. The bed is made. The living room is picked up and I emptied the kitty boxes.

I clean when I’m stressed.

Today has been a fairly productive day. I’ve completed three loads of laundry and have one more in the dryer. I’ve applied for a couple freelance jobs. I caught up on all the dishes and put away most of the stuff that was on the table. And now I have bread dough rising!

I’m probably about half done getting the apartment back into pre-vacation shape. I still need to scrub both bathrooms, sweep the kitchen, and finish picking up our computer and living room areas. I can’t wait to have the apartment looking nice again. It was really clean and tidy before I left for Wyoming.

The diet/fitness goals are going as well as they can, considering it’s only the 6th of January. I’ve exercised every day except Sabbath (my one day off). I’ve also entered all of my food into nutridiary so I can analyze my calories. So far so good! I hope the scale will be friendly on Sunday and reflect some of the positive changes made this week.

What did I just get myself into?

I am now completely overwhelmed! My grandpa’s 84th birthday is next week. My dad called today and I was bummed out about how I couldn’t go. Now, since he is being oh so kind to pay for my ticket, I fly out on Sunday.

I have a layover in Denver for about an hour and then I fly up to Casper. I fly back on Wednesday morning. Then, my hubby and I fly out again on Friday to spend a week in Michigan with his parents and sister. Oy!

Thankfully, I have much to praise God for! First, I get to see two of my grandmothers, my grandfather, my dad, two uncles, and four cousins on the first trip. Second, I get to spend an entire week with my father, mother, and sister in love! Third, I spent the last two days cleaning the house, so it will be very clean for hubby when I’m gone. Fourth, my mother was kind enough to move our Christmas celebration from Sunday to tomorrow night so that I get to spend time with her and her boyfriend before we leave. Fifth, ALL the laundry is done. All I have to do is iron the rest of hubby’s work shirts and then I can pack. Sixth, United Airlines was having a really good sale and we got a fantastic deal on my ticket!

I’m just nervous about all the traveling, especially doing part of it by myself. I always stress over layovers because I’m afraid that I’ll miss the second flight. Thankfully, our trip to MI is nonstop. I much prefer to travel with my husband, and this is the longest we’ve been apart. Ever. I’m going to miss him a ton. At least Cingular has coverage in Wyoming, so I can still talk to him everyday.

Well, I’m off to finish ironing hubby’s shirts and then maybe do something about my disaster of a desk before sundown. I probably won’t be posting again until Thursday of next week and then I’ll be gone for another week. Maybe I should have waited until January to start a new blog!

Have a great Christmas!

Printer Issues

My hubby is a minimalist when it comes to his desk. I’m not, which is why my desk tends to overflow onto his. I decided to surprise my husband and clean off his desk. I stacked all his certification study books, removed all of MY junk (part of the reason the piles on my desk are now ready to fall), and dusted.

Once in a blue moon, the urge hits to create folders and labels for filing. In my kitty pictures below, I tried to crop out the background as much as possible. If you could see my desk, you’d be appalled by the huge piles of papers and books randomly stacked. Now that my piles are threatening to fall over, it’s time to file and purge.

Now if I can just get my printer to work!