Hunting

My boss today told me not to "fall in love with wood." He said you shouldn't fall in love with a house until it's for sure yours.

But who couldn't fall in love with such an adorable house??
(Especially one that is so decently priced, in a superb location, and already remodeled. Plus, it has a big kitchen!)

Kurt and I are on the hunt for a house of our very own. We're done with renting and ready to have some property (and a puppy) of our own. We've gone house hunting (or rather, I have gone) six or seven times. We've explored areas and visited potential wards. This week we're getting pre-approved so that way if we find a house we love (like above, which I will see on Thursday) we can pounce on it as quickly as possible.
Never before have I been so keenly aware of how much money it takes to survive in this time, and how little we have. Granted, Kurt and I make a good living. We are not poor. We feel poor because most goes into savings. And we're still in the poor student mind set (which, for the record, I hope we never get out of). I feel guilty spending $30 on new gym shoes because I still feel like we can't afford them!
(On a side note, I originally wrote that I feel quilty. On second thought, I don't feel like making blankets.)

And for those who are curious, I've been contacting Shiba breeders in the area. One breeder who is three hours away in Nebraska has two litters due at the end of this month and one due in April. So I hope that in June I will be able to finally get my little inu (provided we have a house by then. Oh please, oh please!!)

I love Kurt.

Last night Kurt went grocery shopping with me. (This shows how crummy I've been feeling. I usually do my weekly grocery shopping on Monday afternoons after work.) As we perused the aisles of our local, magical Safeway, we came upon the kitchen ware section. Our Safeway is seriously sweet--they have a huge organic section with grind your own variety nut butters--and the stuff they carry for kitchen and dinner ware is really good stuff. I immediately fell in love with the black and white Bia dinner collection; specifically, the serving bowl that I thought would make the perfect center piece for our table (my kitchen colors are black and lime/grass green). After drooling over the bowl, I set it down and continued on my way. Kurt, following behind me, picked up the bowl.
"You want it?" he said.
"Yeah, it's perfect and I love the toile-ish pattern. But it's ok," I said. 'It's ok' is my way of passing up on everything I want, basically.
"You should get it," he insisted.
I tried to be good and say no, but he was so insistent that I eventually gave in. Kurt does this a lot. When he sees something I love but pass on, he insists I get it. Every time I've looked at my table today and seen the beautiful bowl, I'm reminded of how much Kurt loves and how well he knows me.

Adventures in Health

I've had a bit of a rough week, health wise.

It started on Friday night at my Zumba class. I started off feeling great--except for a light tickle in my throat that told me something was coming on--but by the time I'd been dancing for 60 minutes, I felt like complete trash. Sunday morning saw me home sick from church. Then Monday I left work early. It started out as a cold. I'm pretty sure the cold ran its course out by last night, however the sudden chills and fever that suddenly took over my body told me something else was up. When I woke up in the middle of the night with a mucus-like substance draining from my left eye, I knew that this was no mere cold I was dealing with. And indeed, in the morning when the sinuses on the left side of my head were painful to the point that if I touched my eye, eyebrow, or cheek bone, I'd groan in pain, I knew that I'd gotten a sinus infection. Sinus infections aren't that bad--I used to get them 4 times a year (that's why they fixed my nose!)--but I knew that a sinus infection gone too long unchecked will turn into bronchitis and there was no way I was risking that kind of infection with asthma. I went to the doc today and got some antibiotics so I can nip this in the bud. (Good thing I went, too, because he said he heard the beginnings of bronchitis in my lungs.)

As if this wasn't bad enough, Tuesday morning I woke up planning to go back to work. I wasn't feeling great, but was willing to suck it up and do my duty. Until I noticed the itch. On my shoulders. And my leg. And my stomach. A full body inspection showed that I had hives all over my neck, creeping onto my face, on my shoulders, back, stomach, and right leg. I've been dealing with hives for about a year now, with increasing severity since Thanksgiving, but never in more than two places at a time. I was absolutely miserable. Not to mention my grotesque appearance. Naturally, I took the day off again. Up to this point I was thinking I was allergic to strawberries. However, I haven't eaten strawberries in over 2 week. Now I knew it wasn't strawberries. After a long while, I finally concluded that it must be Bounce dryer sheets! Which then made me realize I had to wash ALL of my sheets, towels, and clothes that I put in the dryer. Did I mention I had just finished laundry? So I spent all day Tuesday (and continue the arduous task today) doing laundry and resisting the urge to scratch my plethora of hives. Yesterday I saw an allergist. She asked me all sorts of questions, gave me some antihistamines and told me to come back in 3 weeks for skin and allergy testing. Oh, and I have to get blood work done next week. Because with 90% of hives cases, they can't figure out what the cause is. And in that 10% there is a myriad of causes. From regular allergies to thyroid problems, from UTIs to anemia. Basically, it's going to be a long journey to discover the cause of my hives.

This afternoon was the first I'd felt good in almost a week. I took a hot, hot bath this morning with a hot, hot washcloth over my face to loosen up the congestion in my sinuses (and you wouldn't believe how well that simple and relaxing technique worked!). My nose was still runny, but sneezing was gone. And my hives weren't nearly as itchy today. I felt like I'd emerged from this sick haze. It's like I'd forgotten what it was like to feel well. While I was sick (and it wasn't very long or that bad, really) I knew I'd be better and soon, but it's like I was just caught up in the immediateness of my crummy health (and I experienced this same phenomenon the first day of feeling well after my wisdom teeth removal).

I love how good I was feeling today--and I'm not even totally well again either. But it's such a relief to be almost well. It is so true that we could not appreciate the good without the bad. I don't mind getting sick (as long as it's not too often, lol); if I never got sick I wouldn't relish the feeling of good health. I'm grateful that the Lord loves us enough to give us what we need, even if it's not what we always want.

Hellooooooo, March!

In March I want to focus on my projects. There's lots of them. While I don't expect to finish many of them, I'd like to finish at least a few and make progress on all.

My Projects
-Working through my editing text book
-My mom's and my children's books stories
-My other writing (YA series idea, writing blog, others)
-Kurt's scarf
-Kurt's Valentine's Day present from last year... sad, I know
-The honeymoon scrapbook kit Kurt's mom gave me last year
-Grad school research
-A 6 month "lesson plan" for Activity Days
-Turning my blog posts '07 through '08 into a book
-Editing Papa's Blog
-Archive our receipts. We keep all our receipts and I want to get them into ziploc bags in a shoebox
-Decide whether I'm going to teach Zumba or not!

February is OVER!

February flew by in a blur of pain, nausea, and fatigue.
First off, I got my wisdom teeth out. It started out well enough, until the third day when I woke up in way more pain than I'd experienced thus far. I went into the Doc's and he gave the ominous verdict:
"You have dry sockets."
NOOOOO!!!
I had seriously been terrified of getting dry sockets. All I'd heard were horror stories! Well, they were true. Dry sockets SUCK. They are incredibly painful. A week after my wisdom teeth were removed, I was ready to write my Doc the following letter:
"Dear Doc,
I would like my wisdom teeth back, please. Life has been nothing but pain since they were removed and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with their absence. So, could you please re-assemble and replace my teeth?
Thanks,
Kristina"
I never did though, probably because of the pain meds they gave me. I have learned something: I don't do well on pain meds. I stumble around a lot and I'm on the verge of being sick at any moment. On the 10th day after my surgery, after losing everything I'd eaten that day in 5 horrific minutes, I threw away my pain meds. "Time to tough it on my own!" I thought bravely. Then I wisened up. "Well, time to tough it out with ibuprofen!"

The apartment got very messy during that whole ordeal and when I finally got through it all, I still didn't have the energy to clean. Why? I couldn't figure it out. But suddenly I started doing math. I was expecting a visitor. Wait, I had been expecting this "visitor" for 9 days! I was exhausted. I was still naueous and no longer on pain meds. Wait a sec...
I rushed to the closest store, made a purchase, and ran home. And then, I confess, I took a pregnancy test.



It was negative.

This was a relief and a heartbreak. A relief because Kurt and I take multiple precautions against it and so obviously it's not in our 9 month plans. A relief because we have another wonderful summer (and winter too, probably) to spend together having fun. A relief because I don't have to quit my job in 9 months. But a heartbreak because I was really baby hungry that day. And I still am. Oh, and like everyone I know is pregnant right now. Currently, Kurt and I aren't planning on taking that dive for another year. That's another year of growing, together and individually, working, focusing on my hobbies, and other stuff that's harder to do with a little one in tow. Sometimes it makes me sad--I'll be 25, possibly 26 before I have a kid at that rate--but when I think of how fast February flew by, I'm not worried.

Flight of the Pancakes

So, I left out what Kurt and I got each other for Valentine's Day because Kurt hadn't gotten me anything yet. (My present to him was some cheap flip flops he can take to places like the gym and, of course, a steak dinner. We had a spending limit.) See, he takes public transportation to work and then he gets home so late and it's really hard for him to get out to the store without me. Well, this morning, he got up at 7 and told me he was going to work. I kissed him goodbye and promptly fell back asleep. Suddenly, at 8:15, I was awakened again by him handing some roses to me. He hadn't gone to work after all! After giving me the flowers, he ran into the kitchen and returned with a tray full of pancakes from the best breakfast joint in Denver, Toast.

They do this thing called the flight of pancakes where you get a short stack of 4 different types of pancakes. He got me the bananas foster, strawberry walnut, and two stacks of the lemon blueberry pancakes. They were absolutely delicious! Also, there was a sweet card ("To my lovely love whom I love to love"), a fancy organic chocolate bar (mmm!), and a mini can of coke! It was seriously such a huge, nice, wonderful surprise!

(The roses are in a jar because I can't find our vase and I had to improvise. :D )

Happy Valentine's Day! Or something like that...

So, on actual Valentine's Day Kurt and I looked at apartment complexes with his friend Akshay (they want to buy one together) and then that night we ran errands. I felt awful all day. My sockets were throbbing, my stomach was churning. Good thing we'd postponed Valentine's Day festivities.

Now, I don't think you need to go all out on Val's Day. I don't understand getting elaborate gifts like jewelry. But I do love celebrating it--just another excuse to eat well and be romantic. Kurt and I aren't naturally prone to romance, so it's really fun to have a reason. :D

For Valentine's Day, which we celebrated last night, I made my first attempt at steak. And I have to say, it turned out quite well!

First off, I curled my hair:

(the only pic I took that night, thanks to a dead battery immediately after this shot)

Then I ran to Cheesecake Factory for some to-go slices of heaven. Kurt loves cheesecake, so I thought this would be a fun dessert. I got the lemon raspberry cheesecake and the coconut chocolate cream one. Oh my. Heaven. (Of course, I didn't eat it then.)

Then I ran home and laid down a blanket in the living room with votives in red heart shaped holders. I made strawberry, pear, and spinach salad and garlic mashed potatoes. Then I fried the steaks on the stove top. I slipped into a little black dress (well, not that little, since I can wear it with garments, lol), turned the lights off, lit the candles, took my hair out of the rollers, and turned on some romantic music. Kurt got there right as I put the second steak in the pan and chaos broke out for a minute as the room filled with smoke, but despite that both steaks were delicious, tender, and juicy! We had sparkling blueberry pomegranate lemonade from Sunflower Market (highly recommended) and while we were dressed nicely and drinking from champagne flutes, we ended up eating the mashed potatoes and salad straight from their serving bowls. Because, that's who we are. Dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself! And then Kurt surprised me with some slow dancing. Good job, honey! Way to up the romance.

So that was our fun, cozy Valentine's celebrating in. Yay. :)

CPA!

Kurt passed his fourth and FINAL section of the CPA!

He is one of something like only 10 percent of testers who pass all four sections their first time.

I am so proud of my smart husband!!

Yay!

Sweet Thang

Dear Kurt,

thank you for asking me to marry you two years ago.
Life has never been the same since.
(In the best way, of course.)
I love you more than anything,
even chocolate, sunshine, and puppies.

Love,
your happy wife

Grateful for Grandparents

Grandma and Papa Cooper

Grandma and Grandpa Hatch


What is it about grandparents that is so lovely? I'd like to say that grandparents are God's gifts to children. And if they can but see, hear and feel what these people have to give, they can mature at a fast rate. ~Bill Cosby

A grandfather is someone with silver in his hair and gold in his heart. ~Author Unknown


A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher, and a little bit best friend. ~Author Unknown

February Goals

Well, it's February 9th and I'm just now posting my goals for the month. I blame it on the wisdom teeth removal.
This month I'm going to focus on a schedule. Normally, I don't do well with schedules, so to start off I'll make it kind of a loose out line.
Wake up at 6:15 am
Between waking up and leaving for work at 7:45, do scripture study, pray, get ready, and eat breakfast.
Work 8 to 4.
Mondays after work, do grocery shopping.
Mondays go to the gym 6:30 to 7:30.
Tuesdays, go to gym 4 to 5 (unless I have a lot of prep for Activity Days, which are on the second and third Tuesdays of the month).
Wednesdays, to to gym 5:30 to 6:30.
Thursdays, go to gym 4 to 5.
Fridays, go to gym 4 to 5.
Saturdays go to the gym in the morning sometime (preferably by 9).
Make sure I don't skimp out on my gym sessions! (I've been actually better about getting my cardio done lately than weights. This is pretty crazy for me!)
Cook dinner probably twice a week while Kurt's in busy season.
Write every night from 8 to 9. No exceptions!
Work on my various other projects after 9: Kurt's scarf, read, work on editing, etc.
Do laundry on Thursdays.
Clean bathroom and do floors (vacuum, sweep, etc.) on Saturdays.
Do house hunting online and working on making my blog into a book before 9. No computer after 9 (I think it will help me sleep better).

So, yeah, a very loose schedule. It's hard when you work your schedule around gym classes that are at different times and a calling that is only every other week. But it'll be good. I really need to get on the ball with writing and editing. And Kurt's scarf. Oi.
In other news, I'm planning on applying to be a fitness class instructor at 24 Hour Fitness in March. My asthma has been doing amazingly lately (thanks to my expensive Symbicort) and I feel very positive about my ability to teach! Wish me luck!

Going Under

The knife, that is.
As we speak, I'm either already in, just going in, or being prepped for surgery.
And thanks to amazing Blogger, I can still post!

Anyhow, wish me luck. Next time you see me, I'll be four teeth lighter.
Sweet!
Because losing weight is still losing weight.
(Just kidding.)

I told you my mom makes cute purses.

Because you care

New haircut!
Thoughts? Comments?
(It's a little shorter than I intended, but I still like it. Dang it that your hair is longer when it's wet! It throws me off every time!)

Another recipe?

Sure, why not!
These are the best brownies I've ever had. Don't be daunted by melting the shortening on the stove top--they are super easy. I didn't add the nuts. Instead, I added about 3/4 of a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips. Oh my. If you like them really cakey, cook them the full 30 minutes. If you'd like them a bit fudgey, cook 29 minutes. Really fudgey? Try 28 minutes (though I haven't). I actually always prefer cakey brownies over fudgey, but Kurt prefers fudgey, so I cooked them 29 minutes last time... seriously amazing. I'll never go back! I highly suggest adding chocolate chips and cooking at 29 minutes!

Perfect Chocolate Brownies Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease a 9x13" pan.

3. Melt shortening in a large saucepan over low heat, then stir in cocoa.

4. Remove from heat.

5. Mix in sugar and vanilla then mix in eggs one at a time.

6. Stir in remaining ingredients then stir in nuts.

7. Bake for 30 minutes.

8. Cool completely, before cutting into 2x2" squares.

9. I have read all the great reviews and learned from them, thank you all. Now I line my pan with buttered alumunin foil or parchment paper. This works very well. (Kristina's note: I haven't tried this yet... but it sounds like a good idea.)
   

Link!