A Big Fat Life Update

Since I’ve been slacking I wanted to at least get something up so I figured I’d do a little all-round update! As I said yesterday, I’ve been busy. I’ve finally got my head above water at work after being at the conference all last week only to be drowning again shortly as I’ll be heading to Biloxi, MS in the near future! Although it still stinks because it’s work, it is a little exciting to go somewhere I’ve never been – out West! Although MS is definitely not considered out West, it’s at least West from here!
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My mornings start early and my nights end late. My dogs (still weird that that’s a plural now!) are completely wired until about 10 then they poop out. Then Moose wakes up a few times a night to pee. And then I am ultimately up by 6:30. Granted most people start their day around that time but I live 2 minutes from work so I usually get up at 7:25 to be there by 8. So it’s been an adjustment for me for sure! But, it’s worth it. Remi plays his heart out with her every evening and it makes me smile because I know he is finally having some fun. I bet he misses all those evenings that he got to lay around in “peace” while I blogged or caught up on DVR. Now he has a rambunctious little 15 lb. black blob of fur hanging off his lip, biting his tail, stealing his toys, and keeping him busy

First picture taken at 6 weeks. We borrowed her for the day to take her to our vet for her shots then we took her back to her “birth” family for the remaining two weeks!

First weekend home, 8 weeks.

I guess she shares my love for shoes. Good girl!

Little piggy

What a good sharer!

“Um excuse me baby dog. I know that bone was bought for you but ‘round these parts everything is mine. So we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Hand it over”.

Moose with her moose. I was SO excited to find this at Petsmart!
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House Hunting is going. I tell you what, finding a house is stressful. We are being much pickier this time around and it’s dragging. The biggest thing we are looking for is a yard. Will we end up with that? Let’s hope. We of course are dazzled by the newer homes and would love to end up with a new/ish home in town with a yard, but unless you’ve got the $ to back it up, good luck with that. So many compromises it seems! We’ve looked at brand new, we’ve looked at not so new, and we’ve looked at downright old. There’s a house we’ve driven to look at several times and have seen it with our realtor that’s still nagging in the back of our minds. Problem is, it needs some lovin’. Everything needs painting from base boards to ceiling. The kitchen needs updating. But it’s got an okay sized yard, and has TONS of potential. Lots of room and a huge master bedroom. It’s two stories which I don’t think I really have an opinion about either way. It’s at a great price point relative to our budget but the thing we are struggling with is I want to move in and update right away, but I’m not sure that would be able to happen. It seems to get complicated if you want to roll a renovation loan into a mortgage. That’s the thing stopping us. I don’t want to sound snooty, but I really don’t want to live in an old outdated house if I don’t have to. The point is, we both work hard and can be in an updated house so it’s not very appealing to me to take on an old one to renovate over time. I’m far too impatient for it. I want to decorate now. Not wait five years until it gets to the “we’re happy with it now” point. I look almost daily and we’ve looked at probably 5-10 houses and are getting antsy. I fell in love with a house last weekend and would have signed right then. David however is keeping me grounded because we both agreed to not let us get caught up in “something shiny and new” and not see it for what it really is. Yes, I could kiss the wide plank bamboo floors and the master suite was to die for, but take away the shininess and it’s still a house that fell under our “we don’t want one like this” file. It was just too small for the plans we have and I know a year from now we would be kicking ourselves. So, we aren’t stressing, we know the right house will fall in our lap and we will continue to patiently wait and search for it. I can’t wait to be in a home again. My home. Where I can paint
My original lease expiration date of July 15^th has been worked out with my landlord who is letting me rent month to month and I can just give him notice when I’ll be moving out. He is SUCH a great landlord! I’ll actually miss him! I kind of got excited a few weeks ago because he asked if he could take pictures of my place to use as the listing photos when it does go back up for rent because he said I’ve made it look like a “model home”. Why thank you! Of course this is relatively speaking since my place is not shiny and new but I’ve made do! I told him I didn’t mind taking the pictures for him since that’s what I do for fun so the last time the house was really clean I got some shots rounded up for him. So that’s kind of fun!

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I don’t think I mentioned it, but I quit Sweat Therapy. That was long lived, huh? Insert sad face here. Bottom line was, I just couldn’t afford it. The month of May alone I was going to be gone for two of the four weeks and would still be paying the same amount so I just had to cancel. And now I’m back to doing nothing. I still have not had a soda since January of this year, but I am allowing myself more and more to have Sweet Tea here and there. I can’t help it, it’s in my blood! I was hoping to be Smokin’ Hot by this year’s Memorial Day Beach trip, but it ain’t gonna happen. I can say I’ve been inspired lately though because two of my favorite blog ladies have recently had some great weight loss success stories. It makes me want to do better! Check out Caroline here and Brandi here. I am so motivated while I’m reading their stories, but then come 8, 9 or 10:00 I’m sniffing around the kitchen for something yummy. I always tell myself, “I’ll start eating healthy tomorrow”. What a crock. It doesn’t work if you tell yourself that every day. My friend Brittney is trying to get me to do the Couch to 5K program. I bought the app forever ago but have yet to start it. I hate to say it, but gosh dang it where do I find the time? There are just not enough hours in the day. Maybe I should just stop sleeping altogether. Then I could really get some stuff done! What in the world am I going to do once I have kids? I’m tired just thinking about it.

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I keep getting asked, “Have y’all set a date?” regarding David and I’s recent engagement. And the answer is no. And the other answer is, not sure if we will! At least, not sure if we will anytime soon. I want to get a house, I want to get settled in, and I don’t want to rush. Then we can focus on getting re-married. And to be honest with you, this may change, but for right now I’m kind of thinking it’ll be a “Hey, what do you have going on Saturday? Nothing! Oh, okay, well let’s get married!” Low-key, inexpensive, and focused on us. We’ve had the frills and formalities, so for our second wedding (to each other for those new readers) I just want it to be simple, sweet, and memorable. Just like I hope the rest of our lives are! Cheesy, I know.

September 19, 2009

Update!: Our wedding pictures were done by the fabulous Brett Svenson of Svenson Images! Check him out!

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You know what’s annoying? Bills. Good gosh I feel like I just paid something and then the next thing I know I get another one. You know what I wish? That I could just pay one big fat bill each month and it could go to whatever it needs to. The magic bill fairies would distribute it accordingly. I hate, HATE paying bills. I hate the act of sitting down and paying them. I hate watching my account go down. I know I could get setup on automated withdrawal but I like to have control of when my money gets spent. Speaking of, do you know how long it’s been since I went to Old Navy or Target on an aimless shopping spree? Months, months I tell you. I am trying really hard to save more money each month but I feel like the months when I used to spend spend spend without a care in the world, I had more money than I do now, when I’m actually watching what I spend. My account better watch it or I’ll go back to my old ways. Yeah, consider that fair warning checking account!
Oops, I forgot. I did go to Target recently. It’s all David’s fault. And I told him I couldn’t go because I would spend money. It’s a disease. I heard it’s called Targetitis. (Pronounced target-eye-tis). I have it. In fact I contracted it a few years ago and there’s no cure. Except for buying something from that red-ridden store. So we wandered aimlessly on a Saturday night and I stocked up on a few goodies I couldn’t live without. Or could I? Thank God I’ll never have to find out because they came home with me. Whew.

Fun colored round tray.

I didn’t exactly need it. But I couldn’t leave it at the store. Does it matter that I have absolutely no where to put it? Nah.

Striped tray. I first saw this in blog land here and loved it. I was so glad to stumble across it!
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Alright, I’m sure your eyeballs are bleeding now but I hope you’re satisfied with some of my dishing. Kimbo, my ex-soon-to-be-again-sister-in-law and I always get a demanding threat friendly reminder from her when I haven’t blogged. So this should hold you over for a day or two dear!