gettin' things done

We finally got productive around here and got a few things done that have been on the to-do lists for a long time now!  We cleaned out and organized the downstairs closets, have a pile of stuff and clothes ready to donate, put up shelves above our bed (now we just need to get together what we want on them), bought frames and added photos of Bubs to our living room gallery, and glued and framed our adoption fundraiser puzzle.  It feels good to get into a rhythm where we can catch up on some long-awaited projects!

So great to see all the names again of who helped bring Ephraim home!

new mom ramblings

Life is busy!  We've always been pretty busy people, but it takes on a whole new level when you are caring for a little one.  I recently went back to work, and while I was able to go down to 36 hours instead of the full 40, it is a huge adjustment to get used to.  So far, I've made it through a week and a half, but I'm already learning that I'm going to have to rearrange some of my always present to-do's.  I miss Bubs terribly, but you do what you have to do for your family, and we couldn't have a better arrangement for his care.  Our parents all take turns throughout the week and with Colin's split shift, he's home during the middle of every day.  It's comforting to know that he's being loved on by his fam, and is usually exhausted from playing all day by the time I get home.

Working full-time, coming home to enjoy an hour and a half of Ephraim time before he goes to bed, then eating dinner and spending a little time with hubby before an early bedtime for us to start the routine all over again is exhausting!  I understand even more why people say it's so important to plan time for your marriage after little ones, because we barely have time to catch up before falling into bed.  Bubs went down to one feed every night for a little bit but has decided once more that he's just too hungry to do that and now still eats twice a night.  We've decided to alternate nights so that every other night at least one of us is getting sleep, and while I don't mind snuggling him at night while he eats, I can't say they're my favorite feeds!  He's a quickly growing boy though, and no mama's going to keep her babe from eating!

Sometimes I think how different life was just a few short months ago, but I wouldn't go back for anything.  While our world changed in the matter of 24 hours, I can't act unprepared as we had been waiting for a year and a half.  And honestly, the adjustment has been pretty easy.  Time goes by so fast, and we are just trying to savor each little baby moment, because we know how quickly it will pass.  I mean, can you believe we have a three month old already?!

what's been happening lately...

We've had a lot going on lately.  In March we dog sat at a family friends' house again, dog sat our friends' dog at our place, celebrated our niece's 1st birthday, and had a lot of family and friend time.  We had some nice quiet evenings and weekends at home with no plans which were great to relax.  Now we are entering into a crazy busy April with activities almost every night and weekend.  And unfortunately, I've started it out with the stomach bug.  I can't remember the last time I had a stomach bug, but man oh man I forgot how awful they are.  I'm on day 2, able to keep food down, and trying to re-hydrate because my muscles are killing me from dehydration.  I passed out yesterday when in the worst throws of it, so I'm glad to say that now I'm on the up and up!

We also received a call from our agency on Tuesday notifying us that we were not chosen for our most recent profiling opportunity.  We had received a call in early March about a case and have been waiting, somewhat patiently, to hear if we were picked or not.  We had decided after our last failed matches to keep all future calls quiet until we heard one way or another, because it's just too much back and forth to keep everyone informed and then say that it didn't work out.  This was the first call that we were not chosen for, since our earlier calls we were either matched or never heard back from (our very first one we were one of the families that the birthmom had narrowed it down to but we were pulled from the case when we were matched).  This is quite typical, to receive multiple calls and not be chosen, but I think it's especially hard for me because our process has been a little backwards.  Most people experience more of the wait in the beginning, with a few calls here and there where they aren't chosen, and then later get matched.  We had so many calls right away and were matched so quickly, that it's hard to get used to this, especially after losing both our matches.  But alas, we continue on and hope that spring brings a lot more calls because it's been slow and spotty (again, probably my perception after our quick start). 

I decorated the house for Easter Tuesday night.  It's so cheery and colorful, which lifts my mood. :)

I am so looking forward to our upcoming little getaway for our anniversary.  Col's planned the whole thing and it's a surprise.  All I know is that it's drive-able and out of state (which he accidentally let slip when we were talking about what to do if we were matched with this last referral).  He sent me a PowerPoint with his voice speaking the words with clues on what to pack.  I have felt the need to get away for a while now and am looking forward to a refreshing time with him!

That's all for now!  I'm so glad the sun is shining today and the weather is starting to warm up.  This has been the longest winter ever, and I need some warm weather!

beyond frugal

Who else but my hubby can score a universal remote (batteries included - right before we were about to go buy one), two Adirondack chairs, an outdoor end table, and seven plastic outdoor chairs from the side of the road for free on our own street?

Growing up in the country, I remember when I first encountered the concept of, "Just put it out on the curb and someone will take it."  I thought it was so strange, but it's legit.  Even though we've only left one thing out before, we've been lucky at our new house to find needed items, which is super helpful being new home owners.  I'll admit, it was hilarious watching Col one night take a few trips back and forth trucking the chairs and table over from across the street, and another time after walking by the remote three times on a walk with Mendon, he ran over once more to grab it (and leave the TV behind), but I'm not complaining.  Thanks new neighbors!

box spring adventure

Today we went to get a box spring for the bedroom that we are going to use as a guest room.  Thankfully, my sister-in-law drove us in her van.  No thanks to the employee at the store, but with the help of an older gentleman observing us, the three of us were able to get it to perfectly fit, despite high winds, as long as all the seats were down.  This was how Col got to ride back home :) Now I'm super excited to get the guest room set up!

 

new use for Peeps

I came across this hilarious Peep Show when reading the email newsletter from my former part-time job, Writers & Books.  And I was lucky enough to work with these people!  Love it! :)

Friday ramblings

The sunshine today is making me a little wacky.  I feel like it should be a lot warmer out, but I'll take the good mood that always comes when the sun decides to visit Rochester.

The dog that we are watching from Col's work went home today [ four days early ].
Mendon was so sad when Col came home from work without him.
I'm sure he's ecstatically happy to be back home and getting some rest after being at daycare all day and playing with her in the mornings and evenings.
This means that we get time with just our pooch for the first time since we adopted her!
Here's to seeing what living with one dog is like compared to having two, three, and even four at once.

Not gonna lie though, I'm looking forward to my three days living at our friends' house while I baby/house-sit for them while they are away.  I know for a fact that their little one sleeps longer, better, and more often than our puppy.
I love you Mendon, but this girl isn't used to waking up so early and is looking forward to some catch up sleep.  Even despite daylight savings.

[ the two days off of work aren't too bad either ;) ]

Hooray to Friday and the weekend, a long one [ for me ] at that!

P.S. I'm anxiously and happily awaiting news on two very special babies.  Our niece is due very, very soon and baby E not long after!
P.S.S. Right now, Dairy Queen is having a promotion: buy any Blizzard get the second for .99 cents! [ we already partook last night ]
P.S.S.S. We paid off another one of my student loans last week.  Only ONE more to go!!

Sunday morning wind and ice-capades

This morning as we pulled into church, one of the parking lot attendants/security guys stopped us and warned us that the entire parking lot was black ice.  We thanked him and slowly found a parking spot, where we then braced ourselves for the frigid cold and wind and climbed out of the car.  We carefully did the small "step-step-steps" of ice walking, until a huge gust of wind snatched our offering envelope out of Col's Bible and whipped it up in the air and away.

I exclaimed how, "We can't even run after it!," because of the ice, so we headed in the direction that it had blown as quickly as one possibly can on sheets of black ice, which really isn't that quick at all.  I couldn't help but burst out laughing as I pictured the two of us, trying to stand upright on the ice and chase down our offering.  Not only that, but the envelope was white and the wind so strong and constant, that we lost sight of it. 

During this time, I also noticed a gentleman in his car who looked ready to park but then pulled towards us as if to help but was probably thinking, "What the heck are these two doing?!" because I'm not sure he saw the whole thing happen.  He ultimately decided to just stay where he was and park.  Col asked where it went, and thankfully we spotted it stuck in the snowbank.  He grabbed it before it could fly away again, and we made our way carefully back toward church and inside, laughing the whole time.

Sometimes, something like this would stress me out (hey, money blowing away is never good).  I'm so thankful that today I didn't even think about that and instead saw how hilarious we looked.  There's nothing like a good laugh to start off the day! 

happy, warm, good happenings

Phew!  We've been "bu-sy, bu-sy, bu-sy" (name that movie!!) with house stuff.  Update on that to come very soon :)

In the meantime, how awesome was today?

• 70 degree temps.  Yes, on November 11th!
• volunteering in the bookstore at church
• watching my niece hold the church doors open for everyone who went through
• shopping with my mother- and sister-in-laws and treating myself to my first pair of leggings
• walk to a neighbor's moving sale: we scored a Land's End jacket and brand new deck of Phase 10 for $1.25
• sitting on our porch drinking smoothies
• Yolickity's ice cream
• the Amazing Race

Other good things sprinkled in over the last two weeks:

• dinner and Gilmores with roomie
• movies 10 and lunch with friends
• watching Col play volleyball again at a friend's birthday party
• worship and celebrating with friends becoming members at church
• late night McFlurry's with friends
• lunch at Red Robin (yum!) with Esh's
• work girls' night

So who else is hoping for a winter full of 60-70 degree days?! :)

did he really just tell me that?

I had my regular dental cleaning this morning.  I'm a freak and actually don't mind going to the dentist because I love the super clean feeling that I leave with and I've never had any dental problems. 

Today took away a little of that dentist joy because I left with my FIRST EVER cavity, and not only one, but TWO.  How did this happen, people?!  I've never had a filling, cap, surgery, procedure, chip, hole, anything.

(other than braces, but that doesn't count in this scenario because that wasn't the dentist, it was the orthodontist)

I don't think anyone understands how much I enjoyed always getting to say that I had never had a cavity.  When I exclaimed my dismay, the dentist thought I was worried about the actual pain of filling them, when in fact I was in shock at having to say goodbye to my dental work-free mouth.

Goodbye happy, healthy, no-cavity mouth, it was nice knowing you while it lasted!

yes!

I was browsing through past posts on my pastor's blog when I came across this one.  I often get frustrated by the negativity that people have about Rochester, especially because there is so much to do for a smaller city.  Rich in culture, the arts, festivals, tons of restaurants, a zoo, the beach, museums, parks, theatre, music, sports, the list goes on and on!  Col and I love taking walks and exploring new neighborhoods, restaurants, coffee shops, and activities.  Not to mention that all of the suburbs of Rochester hold their own unique activities/experiences.  I love living here and am glad to see that our choice in remaining here in the Rochester area to raise our future family is a good one :)

Follow this link to see what I'm talking about.  Obviously the whole post doesn't apply to me, but you can enjoy my pastor's humor too.

This is what happens when...

...the dryer breaks.  Which of course you don't discover until after you've already done one load of laundry and started a second in the washer.

Did I mention this only documents the first time this has happened in the past two weeks?  Thank goodness for in-laws who live close by!

what are the chances...

...that the same cab driver who hit me would walk into my workplace this afternoon to pick up a patient?

And that's where I wondered what lesson I was missing from that experience.

The day of extreme emotions...

What a day!  Here are the stops on the emotional roller coaster that I rode today:

Exhaustion: It started off with rolling out of bed at 5:40am to give my dear friend Beka a ride to work as her car was being less than cooperative.  Let me tell you, it was the best drive down Monroe Ave that I've ever had - no traffic!  And it was good to help out a friend who would tolerate my I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-only-got-four-in-a-half-hours-of-sleep status.  Getting up early was well worth the future Bruster's ice cream that I was promised as commission :) [plus I kind of cheated and went back to bed for an hour after I got home before going to work]

Tentative relief: Work was decent.  A miracle in and of itself on a Friday.  I didn't get out until 6:30pm, but my stress level was tolerable as opposed to the usual I-feel-like-I-am-getting-an-ulcer-every-day.

Elation: Today Col dropped off the last and largest payment for grad school...EVER!  We have officially fully paid for his entire grad school with NO DEBT!  Shout out to Financial Peace for helping us make it happen!  I could go on forever about how awesome of an accomplishment this is for us and how happy we are that we did it.  And how pumped I am to now be using that money that we've been saving every month to dump on my undergrad loans, but not to bore you because this all turned into...

Anger/disbelief/shock: I was rear-ended at a red light by a taxi.  And when I turned down the next side street to pull over and talk to him he proceeded to not follow me, honk long and loud, and keep on his merry way to which I then decided to see if he stopped somewhere else.  As I was driving my gas light came on but I kept going, saw him at a gas station a ways from where he had hit me, turned around, he pulled out in front of me with another long and loud honk and in a stupid act that my mom said comes from my strong sense of right and wrong which occasionally limits my ability to see anything else, I followed him (it did flash across my mind that I could get shot down, alas to no avail), waving my arms for him to pull over, all the way to the house of the lady who he was transporting, to which I pulled over, got out and confronted him, and his reply was that HE NEVER HIT ME.  I'm sorry buddy, but my car when sitting braking at a red light does not move forward, make loud thumping noises, and cause the seat belt to lock into place all on its own.  And unfortunately because it's a case of he said/she said and the damage on my bumper is minimal and not worth doing anything with insurance about, this dishonest man gets away with it all.  U.G.H.  And by the way, next time you drive someone home, don't take the long way.

And so after all that, I finally did get to run my errand, get gas before running out, make it home in one piece, have a lengthy phone chat with my mom, and am now enjoying Gilmore Girls and blogging.  All in a day friends, all in a day.

On a happier note, we had a visitor on our porch today when I got home from work :)

Fashion statement

Embarrassment is good for us every once in a while, right? Let's talk about this scenario with a little equation:

blue fleece snowflake pajama pants

+ sock monkey slippers

+ grey waffle knit top

+ tan fleece pullover

+ frizzy, windblown, rained-on hair

+ 9pm Sunday night

+ landlord knocking on our door with cute, young couple looking to rent upstairs apartment in June

= welcome to the neighborhood!...?

Eek. Not one of my finer moments. Hopefully, our new upstairs tenants don't think I always look that disheveled (believe me, it might not sound that bad, but if you saw the clothing pieces together in one outfit...and let's not even get started on what my hair is capable of when not properly groomed [ask my high school friends or college roommate about the times I've blow-dried and brushed out my hair for them]). Gotta love how when I apologized for my outfit my landlord said, "It's ok, this was impromptu." As if also apologizing for my unruly appearance (and hoping it would not cause him to lose out on some future renters).

I'm the girl who usually matches even her pajamas. Go figure the one day I seemed to give myself freedom from my OCD-ness, I would be making an important first impression. I should have never walked over to the door without question after Col called, "Babe, come here for a minute!"

t-minus 7 days

In 7 days, we will be enjoying the heat, sun, and fun of DISNEY WORLD! After an appointment with my mother- and sister-in-laws, look what else is ready for Florida:

apologies

Well folks, as you can see my fear of not having the time to write consistently has come true. I apologize for the lack of posting, but time has gotten away from me and I obviously haven't made much of a habit yet of my new hobby here.

The good, the bad, the happy, the sad:

-we took an overnight trip with some wonderful friends to Toronto thanks to a Living Social deal

-work has been kicking my butt these past few weeks. 'nuff said.

-sadly, a full-time teaching job for next year that Colin interviewed for didn't pan out

-the weather in Rochester has been unprecedentedly warm and we've gladly ushered in Spring/Summer with multiple game nights outside with lots of fabulous people

-I finally saw The Help with two of the best and we made a whole theme night out of it. I made a chocolate pie and we ate fried chicken, sweet potato fries, and sweet tea. Yum!

-I attended a wonderful brunch potluck baby shower and enjoyed time with great small group friends and lots of breakfast food

-we got to babysit our adorable niece and I loved every minute of the outdoor time, princess dresses, running around, and imaginary play. She's the best :)

-Col and I attended an Amerks game compliments of a ticket pack that he got for Christmas from my rents. Sadly, they lost. Hopefully next week when we go again we'll win!

So, even on the tight get-Col-through-these-last-two-semesters-of-grad-school/subbing/me-working-two-jobs budget, we've still been busy and done lots of fun free things - our fave!

Enjoying the St. Patrick's Day parade

And P.S. I can't believe March is almost over! That means two weeks until our Leathersich family vacation (woohoo!) AND it's almost our 1 year wedding anni! :)

happiness

Yesterday was one of those awesome, soul-refreshing days. All I needed was:

-lunch outside in the sunshine with Col
-a wonderful “coffee” date after work with a best friend
-game night with our fabulous small group
-laughing-so-uncontrollably-I’m-crying with my hubby
-warm weather

Simple pleasures, my friends. The little things really do keep me going :)

P.S. I need to start taking more pictures, in general and to spice up the blog. Any suggestions on how to get myself into the habit?

random ramblings

I apologize for the lack of posting lately...my shortage of time was the one factor that I didn't think of when starting up this blog :) I'm working on content though, I promise!

To update on Saturday's donation: everything went GREAT! After hearing from multiple people that drinking water is key, I drowned myself for the 24 hours leading up to my appointment. Friday night I thought I'd had enough when I said to Col, "I think I drank too much water, my stomach hurts." However, that's probably not possible, huh? Kudos to everyone who offered the advice (and to my small group for praying for me...yes, I was nervous enough to make it one of my prayer requests), because I gave like a champ and was done super fast! Also, not once did I feel woozy or in need of taking that blood back. The only minor snag? When she was doing my intake I told her the wrong social security number. Chalk it up to nerves; I swear I wasn't trying to commit identity theft.

The other day I booked an overnight trip to Toronto through a Living Social deal that we bought a few months ago. After waiting on hold and shamefully being that person who keeps calling back instead of waiting over 10 minutes (oops. We had a Superbowl party to get to!), I was helped by a very cheery Canadian who just loved the fact that our zip code contains only numbers. She said it was "so cool" and "very smart" of us. My friend received the same sentiment when she called to book their night (we're traveling together). The hotel desk clerk couldn't get over the fact that she was calling from the U.S. and lived in New York, but not New York City. Our poor state always gets forgotten because of that little tail wisp.

My hubby and I started our exercise routine this week! It's true, we hardly ever exercise (or should I say...never), but we are obsessed with Just Dance for Wii. And, bonus, they have a "just sweat" program where it logs our "sweats!" We dance a few intense songs and we're good to go for the day. Right now we are on the program that is equivalent to walking 30 minutes a day, but we've already doubled the number of "sweats" for that. I LOVE working out without even knowing it, having so much fun dancing around our living room like crazies together.

Lastly, Col has decided to keep our heat incredibly low for the past few days. Granted, we are newlyweds on a tight budget, but winter is not over! Thankfully I was able to inch it up a few degrees when I got home last night :) Always in that process of compromise!