98% of the way there...

so close and yet so far... closing tomorrow. painting friday. moving saturday...

baby!

my little nephew was born yesterday at between 10-11 am. Mom and baby are doing fine. 8 lbs 2 oz. Caleb Aaron!

I'm excited to see and meet my newest little one! :)

we ditched the table today, the chairs for our table have been purchased and are in transit. ah.. packing, how i long to finish you.

and so the packing commences... we close May 28th, my contract is up May 31, and we move in the weekend of June 6-8, with the wedding of one of my friends (and cousin!), Kara, on the 7.

Busy next few weeks preparing to have more 'major life changes.' I think they called it 'eustress' in 11th grade health class.

Congratulations to my friends who graduated this past weekend!

Congratulations to Lou, on the birth of her son, Gabriel.

Congratulations to Rachel, on the birth of her daughter, Micaela.

Congratulations to Danielle, on the birth of her daughter, Isabel.

Soon, I will be an aunt again... any day baby #3, Chuckers, will be born. Pray he has no food allergies and that the delivery will go well. Poor C. and S. will have some major adjustments coming - especially S.

Fjord is stalking around the apartment - I think he enjoys having boxes and piles of laundry out to hide/jump/play/sleep in.

mmm also made this delicious orange chicken recipe - I'll try to post it soon, but I'm off to do some pack/sorting before bed.

- M

Home Sweet Home

We bought a house!

That being said, it is contingent on a few things, but for the most part, we are homeowners. We close on June 30, and couldn't be more excited.

Our home is 2.5 miles from Spencer's work, so for most of the year, he will commute by biking. We were a little disappointed after our first house hunting excursion because we found a beautiful house - but it was the very first house we looked at. We said that we really liked it, but continued on and saw about 20 more houses in the same day. We went back to the realtor's office, and were seriously considering putting in an offer, but the house was bought literally 5 minutes before we called.

After that little bit, we were a bit nervous that we wouldn't be able to find a house in our price range with the things we wanted. We found one that we were going to make an offer on, but the website for doing comparable listings was down. (total God intervention). After sleeping on it for 24 hours, we were feeling very uncomfortable with moving forward, so we decided not to make an offer. As soon as we decided that, it was as if a huge weight was yanked off our shoulders. (that house is still on the market... and had been for 200+ days when we were considering buying it, nice but 'half-assed' updated).

We then came to 'the house' - cute little one story near the first home we had liked. We walked through it and decided we wanted to make an offer. We saw a few more houses before deciding to go back to the office and put together a deal. Our realtor called the seller's realtor to see if there was action on the house - there were 2 other couples thinking about putting in offers. We prayed that if it was God's will for us to be in the house that we would get it and at a price we could afford. After enlisting the parents as prayer partners, we sent off the offer. To complicate matters, our realtor was going to be at his son's play tonight, so everything (offer vs. counter offer etc.) would have to be done by text.

I was worried about the hassle of all of that considering there would most likely be a bidding war among the three potential buyers - a sellers dream. We made the offer at 4:30 and heard from our realtor around 5:15 - they had countered by moving the selling date back to May 31 - thus ensuring 2 months of rent in our apartment w/o living in it, and an extra $3,000 on the house. Our realtor thought that was a decent counter offer, but wasn't satisfied with the closer closing date - we could do it, but why waste 1 month rent? He countered by keeping the extra $3,000 added on to the price of the house, but keep the closing at June 30. The seller accepted and at 5:30 we got the call saying that it had been accepted. So much for a headache! Everything was solved long before our realtor would have been doing everything by text, and none of the other potential buyers hopped in!

Unless something major happens, we will be moving in during the month of July! We are so excited that God has led us to this home and are looking forward to meeting our neighbors. We hope that we will be a light for him on our block. God has been so good and blessed us with so much.

Pictures found HERE

I'll actually try to link the pictures in when I have more time, but it is bedtime for me (especially since I am recovering from an unknown illness... swine flu? PANIC! no... probably not)

Let's try this Again...

So I am now job hunting due to the necessity of my contract ending in May. Initially I was told that my contract would be renewed, no changes, no problem. So Spencer and I proceeded to continue on the mortgage application (more on houses later). About 3 weeks later, I found out that I would have to take a $100 pay cut per week if I wanted to stay on. Well, financially I couldn't do that, so I was honest and said I couldn't do that. Basically I was told that I needed to find another job. So I applied to work through a nannying agency. Found out yesterday that I got an interview with the agency (after having my application less than 24 hours!) so things were looking up. Then, today my boss informed me that they were turning down one daycare option, and that they hadn't heard from the other option they wanted. So now I feel slightly guilted into staying with my current family because I don't want to leave them in the lurch. However, I also have this new opportunity (assuming my personal interview goes well) to get matched with families that pay 50-100% more than what I make now. If i get one of those jobs, all our school loans and car payment would be paid off in 1.5 years. That seems amazing to me. I'm torn because I know that it is better for my little baby if I stay with him since the first 2 years is when he establishes trust. But, I would potentially be with a new family until we decide to start a family some years from now (I'm looking at an infant job). Also, I think that the mom is a little jealous that her son is so close to me - but I spend substantially more time with him than she does. Yesterday when she got home from work, Baby couldn't have cared less. He waved "bye bye" to her.

Opinions are welcome as are prayers.

Now onto the house!

We are going house hunting with a fantastic realtor in two weeks. We were told not to even look at houses or anything due to the stress buying a house can induce. However, I have to research EVERYTHING and every little aspect of everything, so I of course had to look at houses. We found one that was absolutely PERFECT - beautiful kitchen, 1.5 mi. from S. work, 4 bed, 2 bath, attached garage (2 spots) and rehabbed inside and out. Not to mention across the street from a small lake, and .5 acres of land in the back. Our realtor tried to schedule a showing for today, but the house had sold after being on the market for less than 3 days. As I said, it was perfect. So now, we leave things up to the realtor and up to God.

I'll try to post more updates on our lives...

American idol round 2

Allison Iraheta #5: Alone

Definitely will make it through. If she doesn't this will be a travesty. She has a phenomenal voice that is so powerful, yet very controlled. She was amazing and Heart isn't easy to sing. 

Adam Lambert #12: Satisfaction

Also will make it through - range is great, although I would agree that his performance was a little "manic." Stones songs/performances often seem manic though, as do musical theatre boys. A performer's performer. 

Third slot will be a toss up... 

Megan Corkrey #7: Girl Put Your Records On

Good song choice, but seems extremely awkward and camera conscious. Pretty, but that can only get you so far.

 and

Jesse Langseth #9: Bette Davis' Eyes

 have the 'bluesy' (to mimic Randy) voices... both single moms. I wish I could say I liked Jesse, seeing as she is from MN, but I couldn't understand half the things she sang other than "Bette Davis' eyes." Interesting voice but needs to work on her pronunciation.

Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle #4: Song?????

freaking hilarious, not a terrible singer, but shouldn't go on. Hopes he gets a job doing comedy somewhere. 

Mishavonna Henson #11: Drops of Jupiter

she has a very good voice, but is a little restrained and "forgettable." I really like her voice and I like the fact that she actually took the time between AI seasons 7 and 8 to work on her vocals - it goes to show she really wants this. I hope she makes it through, but it will be tough. Maybe in the WC round. 

Kris Allen #6: Man in the Mirror

I was surprised he chose a MJ song to sing, but surprisingly he did very well. I would agree that this is the most personality he has had. He's likeable and sang well. 

Matt Breitzke #8: If You Could Only See

Talk about a likeable guy. Both Breitzke and Michael Sarver (who got through last round) are just teddy bears. The problem I have with Matt is that this song sounded almost exactly like the Tonic version - impressive that he could do that, but last I checked, Tonic wasn't really in the market... ;) Also, I worry that he sounds a little too much like David Cook (winner AI 7) to win this year. 

I think the third slot will go to either Kris Allen, Mishavonna Henson, or Megan Corkrey. Personally, I'll be cheering for Mishavonna to go through. I think she has the best voice of the three and is the most 'marketable.'

As for the others... the performances were too heinous (Jasmine, Jeanine, and especially Matt Giraud... I was practically crying for Chris Martin.) or boring (Kai Kalama). 

**edit** 

My husband is telling me I'm a nerd for:

a) voting 

and

b) writing a blog

and 

c) making that blog have an AI post

and yes, we are feeling better

Skiing and Sickness

Considering my energy level is terribly low and the fact that I haven't updated in a long long time...

This past weekend (Th-Su) Spencer and I went to Colorado for some skiing in the mountains. It was a wonderful birthday present his parents gave us. While I did enjoy myself thoroughly, I must admit that skiing is a lot more work than people give it credit. It is not simply heading down a hill, letting gravity do the work for you, nor is it a matter of merely surviving the mountain. In the first part, if gravity is supposed to do the work, things don't go well. I speak from experience as I cracked my helmet going down the Mary Jane trail. Whiplash in the neck + broken helmet + overwhelming fear of death or disablement = a very terrible first day skiing. 

Friday things went better - I stuck to green runs and after skiing, I got a new helmet. (I noticed mine was broken in the morning so I wore Spencer's and he wore mine because, as he pointed out, "I'm not going to fall on a green run")

Saturday I got slightly more adventurous - took a few blue runs for fun in addition to the lovely greens. I hit a tree two times on Saturday. First hit was due to a slight miscommunication/misinterpretation: Spencer said, "Follow me" and I took it a little too literally. He meant to *generally* follow him... aka don't follow me in the trees. I took it literally and by the time I realized the grove of trees he went through was unfriendly, it was too late and my head (protected by a lovely new helmet that didn't crack) and a large tree branch collided. The second hit occurred as we were trying to take a picture on the top of the mountain. Trying to balance on skis while on the edge of the start of a trail is not very easy. I tried to regain my balance and stop skiing backwards, but it didn't work. My skis found some soft powder that had been clustered underneath a pine and I fell backwards underneath the tree. The guy who was trying to take our picture was laughing so hard. Spencer started laughing, and then I started laughing. 2 trees in one day... 

Sunday we skied some, I conquered my fear of Jane trail by forcing myself to go down it again. I didn't fall at all going down, but it was far from a fun experience. After skiing half a day, we loaded up the car and drove back to Denver. I slept the whole way. The flight back was pretty uneventful - mild turbulence. 

While Spencer and I waited for our bags, his dad (who had taken the trip with us) went to get his car. The car wouldn't start, (who knew it had been below zero while we were enjoying warm temperatures in CO?), he cut his hand, and then picked us up. We picked up the Mazda from the body shop (had some cosmetic repairs... don't ever ask me to back into a 1 car garage while there is another car parked close in the driveway and the garage is made of brick...) and got home around 11:15. Bedtime came after midnight, and work started Monday. 

Monday at work I felt very tired and sore. Got home from work and felt even more ill. Turns out I picked up a bug while on 'vacation' - most likely from the recirculated airplane air. Last night I was feverish, achey and slept in until after 1 today. Spencer called me to let me know he wasn't feeling well either and was coming home from work. 

We are now a very pathetic couple, both sick and lying in bed... hopefully tomorrow will be better for both of us.