Possum Post And Tag

This is the baby possum that came to eat Luna's cat food. Cute isn't it? It'll be a big ugly fellow when it grows up though.

Furthermore, Kathleen tagged her entire blog roll for a survey. Here goes:

Question 1:
What are the 5 things on your To Do List?
1. Write my talk for church on Sunday.
2. Call Christina, Jenny, Dawn, and Tricia
3. Make a pearl commercial for work.
4. Write a review on a website for which I write.
5. Stop being annoyed with my husband.

Question 2:
Name 5 Snacks You Love
1. Frozen Yogurt
2. Nachos
3. Chocolate, especially if it has nuts
4. Nuts or trailmix (yeah, I'm a squirrel)
5. Popcorn

Question 3:
Name 5 Things You Would Do if you Suddenly Became a Millionaire
1. Buy a house
2. Move most of my 18 cats out here to be with me... or start over and adopt a bunch of kitties
3. Start my retirement fund
4. Go to San Diego Zoo with my hubby (our dream vacation)
5. Take a trip back to Niagara Falls with my hubby... which he owes me anyway since the last trip there got ruined by his mother leaving an angry phone message and we ended up fighting most of the weekend, thank goodness we weren't fighting yet when we were at the falls.

Question 4:
Name 5 Places You Have Lived
1. Fort Eustis, VA
2. Gloucester, VA
3. Kingwood, TX
4. I pretty much lived with Joshua's family in Newport News every weekend for about 6 months. You know, until they decided they hated me :-/
5. Catsitting in Williamsburg

Question 5:
Name 5 Jobs You Have Had
1. Jewelry Designer
2. Writer
3. Foot Model
4. Pet Sitter
5. Market Research Panelist

Question 6:
5 Things People Don't Know About Me
1. I'm a closet musician. I sing, play guitar and piano (plus a little trumpet, flute, and drums), and I write songs. Even my husband barely knows this about me.
2. I hate having dirty feet but I love sandals, flip flops, or going barefoot. Ironic, I know.
3. I didn't plan on becoming a writer. I just needed the money and I was disabled with a terrible illness so I had to find something I could do from home on a flexible schedule.
4. I have a guilty pleasure of reading celebrity gossip.
5. I suffer from a mild form of social anxiety. No one would guess it because I hide it well.

I now tag Christina, Jenny, Amanda, Caitlin, Torri, and Becca.

Simple Gratitude

My Mom has a car known as “The Whale.” Visiting Virginia included a couple of trips in the whale which reminded me how grateful I am for auto air conditioning. My Mom’s poor beat up hunk of junk had air conditioning the first year of her owning it, but it failed soon after. To fix it is costly, hence why the whale no longer has air conditioning. I’m just grateful living in Texas that my husband’s car (technically our family car, but it was just his first) has functioning and effective air conditioning.

Survey Update

If you're single, why?
Nah... I'm married :-)

When was the last time you talked to your number 1?
Last night

Have you ever kissed anyone whose name started with a J?
EVERY SINGLE DAY :-D

Do you prefer warm or cold weather?
Warm... good thing considering I live in Texas!

What did you last eat?
A chocolate cream puff... mmm, yum!


Why is the last reason you cried?
Um... I don't remember.

What was the worst mistake of your life?
Hard to say because at those times it's not like I knew I was making a mistake. Like Cassie said, they were just lessons to be learned.

What time did you go to sleep last night?
11ish

What/who woke you up today?
My alarm clock

Are you excited for the future?
Yes and no. I'm excited for more of what I have right now. I'm in no hurry to change things. I'm finally married and I'm happy it being just him and I enjoying our newlywed life. If I could make time slow down so I could savor these days longer I would!!!

What is a common thing that happens to you on the weekends?
Happens to me? Um... I get kissed a lot :-)

When was the last time you talked to one of your best friends?
I live with my best friend, my husband, whom I talked with just a few minutes ago.

Have you done anything you regret in 2008 so far?
Not really. I'm sure I've made some mistakes here and there but none of it was significant enough to remember or more importantly was resolved to the point there is no need to remember the incident.

Do you think you can last in a relationship for 6 months without cheating?
Considering I've been married for 7 months and Joshua and I dated for a year and a half before that, then yes, I'm very capable of being faithful.

Who was the last person to make you laugh?
My husband is a riot and he's been particularly funny today :-)

Anything annoying you right now?
No not really... I'd like the stove fixed though.

Is there any emotion you're trying to avoid right now?
I'm trying to not miss my cats much.

Have you done anything embarrassing lately?
I was eating with my husband and burped. He bust up laughing! I never burp!

Things you did today?
Slept, ran errands with my hubby, caught up on e-mails, the usual back from a trip kind of stuff.

Last time you showered?
Last night

Do you own a polo shirt?
One or two

Are you excited for winter?
Oh yes! Winter in Texas is a great since it's in the 70's most of the time!

Have you ever been called Princess/Prince?
My name Sarah means Princess.

Do you wear makeup every day?
Most days, but not much makeup.

How old do you look?
I look about 16 to 18, maybe 20. I don't look my 23 years.

Are you waiting for something?
My stove to get fixed.

Does anyone hate you?
Yes. They're good at pretending they don't but I know they do!

Are you happy with your life?
Oh yes!

How many children do you want?
I don't want any children right now. That'll come later.

Favorite place to eat?
Cheesecake Factory

Did you have a dream last night?
Yes. I dreamt I got an eviction notice because Joshua and I were too noisy at night. HAHAHA!!!!

Kitchen Explosion

Last night the stove blew up. No joke. I went to make dinner, turned the knob to the large burner, and out shot sparks and a flame from the back of the stove behind the knob. Fortunately the curcuit braker shut the power off immediately which stopped the flame. Even more fortunately, I am fine and completely unharmed, just a little shooken up.

The power only went off in our apartment. Joshua called the apartment answering service, but they didn't pick up. So he called the power company which ran him through a list of options until they mentioned "report an outage or emergency," which he clicked, then it asked him for account information, then it took him to billing. So he called again. Another run around. He got fed up and called the police (we were concerned about this being a fire hazzard and I was afraid to get anywhere near the stove). So he looked up a non-emergency phone number for the police. "We're sorry. This number is no longer in service." Okay... he tried another non-emergency police number for the Humble - Kingwood - Atascocita area. He talked to someone and then they said, "Oh, we don't service Kingwood. You have to call Houston police." Thanks phone book. So he called the Houston police. He explained the situation so they transferred him to a specific department, who transfered him to another department, which told him to call a certain number. He called that number and got an automated list of options, none of which applied. Finally it said, "If you are calling with any other question please call back during our regular business hours." This process took about an hour. Needless to say my husband was pretty ticked off. He then tried the apartment complex number one more time but this time the answering service picked up. They called the manager who called the repair man.

The repair man (and his son who translates for him) showed up. He unplugged the stove then tried the curcuit breaker box in the closet. But the whole power was out so he went outside to the main curcuit breaker. Trouble is it was mismarked. So he had to turn the power on and off for 4 different apartments in order to determine which one was ours. He got the power up and running and told us he'd be back at 10am to take a look at the stove.

We then left the apartment to go to Wendy's for dinner. It was late so we sat in the parking lot. There's a clowder of wild cats there so we fed them french fries from the window. It helped me to calm down from the scare.

The 2 repair men came at 10am as promised. They plugged in the stove and turned the switch and sure enough they recreated the event with a flame and sparks across the kitchen floor (the stove had been pulled away from the wall). The response was, "Yeah! That's a bad stove."

The repair men replaced the electrical outlet just in case the problem was bigger than the stove. Then they investigated the stove further. It was definitely just that burner. So he took it apart and discovered that somewhere along the way the burner must have been pulled out of place which tugged the wires loose. This exposed the 2 bare wires to each other which then soldered together until they eventually blew up. The repair man took it apart and redid the wiring. He then put it a new switch. Though the switch doesn't quie match up with the stove. It says "Warm" but it's actually off. Then they put everything back and left, problem solved.

A short while later Joshua informed me there was a problem with the stove. He said, "The burner is on but the stove says it's off." I went to look at it. "Weren't you listening when the repair man explained the new switch? Warm means off. Off means HOT. Could you just not touch the stove?" Haha. That's when Joshua decided it'd be best to just unplug the stove while we're gone on our trip.

After Joshua got home from work we were both working on tidying up and packing. I was on the phone with Christina while folding laundry when the apartment suddenly went dark. Joshua had unplugged the stove but when he did so sparks and a flame shot out from the plug!!!!! Blessedly he's fine, but clearly our stove problem (more like electrical problem) is NOT FIXED!!! Joshua called the apartment complex answering service, who called the manager, who called the repair man, who showed up and turned the power back on for us. We told him what happened and he offered to come over in the morning but we told him that we're leaving and we'd prefer to take care of this when we get back. So the repair men will be back on Wednesday and the stove is completely unplugged. Let's just hope the apartment stays safe while we're gone!

12 Minutes to Romance

I love a good pizza! Who doesn’t? It’s such a versatile and commonly loved food that it’s sure to please. There’s this Ristorante Contest where you can win pizza for a year! This promotion is in celebration of the launch (ie, grand opening) of the website Ristorante.ca. Trouble is the contest is only available to those that reside in Canada. Counts me out of the running. However, this brand new website has great features available to everyone. My favorite section is 12 Minutes to Romance (not that Joshua and I need any help being romantic, but new ideas are always useful). There’s even a monthly newsletter that sends out these great tips right to your inbox. Count me in!

Writing Jobs

To give you an idea of how competitive the writing field is check out this link to Elance.com. As you can see there are multiple responders to every job posted and they often choose whomever will work the cheapest, and a lot of desperate writers will work way below making a living. Another post I was looking at clearly said they wanted people that will work for less than $10 an hour. Might as well be working at Wal-Mart instead of doing an intellectually demanding job. No offense to those that work at Wal-Mart, just that a lot of people that are writers went to college to get an English degree (and/or have worked their tails off gaining writing creditials through writing and marketing themselves) to then find themselves earning the wage of a high school worker.

Writers are Competitive!

In the last 24 hours I have gotten two e-mails asking me, "You're a writer. I want to work from home writing too. Can you send me information?" What the heck?! Like I need more competition?!!!! Seriously, I became a writer with NO help from anyone else! And guess what, if you want to be a work from home internet content writer you had better be sure as heck good at online research, so if you can't find writing jobs by your own research don't expect to be able to cut it as a writer! (Sorry if either of you are reading this, but it's the truth.)

With my 6 years of professional writing experience even I am struggling to find work. There has been a severe influx of "work from home" workers in general as gas prices rise and people have discovered that there are legitimate work from home jobs. Anytime I apply for a job I am competing with the WHOLE nation, not just a couple dozen of applicants a local in office position would receive (writing or any other job). When work can be done from anywhere you're looking at thousands of resumes being sent to each and every job from across the entire country. Now THAT is competition! Even worse is that the web has turned from credible and useful content to keyword stuffing fluff, which those jobs are being outsourced to India where people can buy a week's worth of groceries for $20, so of course the pay is lower. Companies love to get their content for $1 an article. So overall there are now fewer writing positions to go around, especially those that pay a relatively decent amount. Not to mention, a lot of companies have expanding to a global presence, meaning I'm competing with the whole world, or at least the parts that have internet access.

So instead of finding job offers in my inbox I have people begging to steal MY JOB away from me! Great, just great.

Technical vs. Content Writing

You know what, the longer I work online the more I realize I don’t know about computers. Seriously, like what is KVM switch? I’m sure it’s useful, I’m sure it provides a solution, but I have a lot to learn about technical products. You can see why I’m not a technical writer. I’m a content writer, which is a totally different job. People at church think I’m a technical writer because Joshua makes the common mistake of referring to my work as “technical writing” which I guess isn’t completely wrong, I do write information, but it's incorrect since it's not "technical" information. At least my husband makes me sound very professional to our peers :-) That's definitely a good thing!

Billboards

I’m still getting used to seeing billboards here in Texas. We don’t have them in Kingwood, but as soon as you leave our lovely neighborhood there’s a barrage of billboards. I’m from Virginia where there’s a handful of billboards in Gloucester and not even many outside of Gloucester along the interstate 64. Houston is a large city so advertising can be found on every corner. I enjoy the diamond ring billboards with romantic images along side the description of “monogamy.” Though you will find advertisements for everything from pizza, to radio stations, to mesothelioma cases, to every business imaginable.

Visiting Teaching Misadventure and the Brilliant Child

Yesterday I went visiting teaching with my lovely companion Andrea and her darling 4 children. We visited our sister Chris at her pool with her daughters. However, getting there was an interesting trip. We’ve been there quite a few times, yet this time there was a lot of construction being done in the neighborhood, which threw off our sense of direction. We approached a house that sure looked like Chris’ home, but as we knocked and rang the door bell and waited (imagine 2 women and 4 kids in their swim suits with their pool toys all on the front step) we thought it was unusual that no one was answering the door. I decided to peer when I noticed, “Um, Andrea. I don’t think this is Chris’ house.” We laughed and all climbed back in the car. Little Rob who is only 3 said, “It’s next door.” Andrea and I told him he was close, but we’ll find it. We probably just went down one street too soon. So we drove up and down the street until we found a sign, sure enough it was the right road. Then we looked at the house numbers tracking the direction the numbers would change. One of Andrea’s daughters spoke up, “Rob said it was the house next door.” As we’re looking at the numbers we trace the direction and find the right house… next door to the one we mistaken approached! Little Rob was right! I tell you, I wish I had a memory like that kid! Too bad adding memory isn’t as simple as a computer.

The Sabbath

The Sabbath day is a wonderful departure from the cares and worries of the week. Being Mormon, we believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy which means not working, nor participating in work activities (work e-mails, phone calls, etc.), nor causing others to work (shopping, getting fuel, eating out, etc.). Instead the day is to be devoted to going to church, serving within church callings (the jobs held within our church, which are unpaid), personal gospel study, journaling (hey, blogging counts), family time, and visiting with friends. It's a day to focus on spiritual and personal matter that often get neglected during the week. What a delightful commandment! Being self employed I have a constant nagging feeling that "I should be working" or "I should be cleaning" or cooking, etc. Whatever it may be, I always feel this drive to be productive on financial or chore/errand level. It is nice to have the commandment to focus on my spiritual self.

Texas Energy Costs and Cleaning

I good cleaning tool is a must in any household. With beige carpeting I find myself having to clean this rug often! Especially babysitting a black cat! And not to leave out my husband and his falling apart black shoes that leave marks across the carpet. Oy! Sometimes I cheat clean and just gather the crumbs and lint with a piece of tape, lol! It’s a quick fix that saves me the effort of a full clean. Not to mention it takes no electricity. Even better is if I use some free labels I got in the mail so it didn’t cost me anything that way either, haha.

Considering Energy Star efficient appliances including vacuums is a must for a home run on a budget. The Dirt Devil AccuCharge uses 70% less energy which has earned it the honor of being the first cordless vacuum to receive the Energy Star rating. That is sure to save money on electricity costs, which is a big concern down here in Texas during these summer months when electricity is going to the air conditioner constantly. Anything to save money on that scary bill is a huge help. But I guess then I won’t have an excuse to not vacuum then!

Kusku!

That's my husband teasing Kusku with turkey today. She LOVES turkey! She meows and (as seen here) will get on her hind legs to reach for turkey. Don't worry, Joshua did give her turkey. He just made the fat cat work for it a little.

We have quite a history with Kusku. When Tony was still living here, there was a Sunday evening that Tony recruited Joshua and I to help him retrieve Kusku from atop the car port. Not kidding, that fat cat found herself on the covered parking. Apparently a dog came through the area and Tony saw his cat run faster than he's ever seen. Then he saw a dog run by. As he hunted down Kusku's location, he discovered that she climbed a tree and jumped onto the car port. It wasn't until she was up there that the reality of geting back down proved a challenge beyond her ability.

Joshua was brilliant. There was a staircase across from the car port. He suggested, "If we had a plank then we could place it across and she could walk to us." Then Tony exclaimed, "I have a plank!" and like a cartoon character pulling a prop from his back pocket, Tony zipped to his apartment and galantly returned with a large mahogany plank. It fit perfectly across. The next challenge was getting Kusku to "walk the plank." I suggest, "Turkey! She'll come for turkey, but the package I have is frozen." Then Joshua had the solution again, "What if you run it under hot water?" I responded, "Wait, we have a defrost button on our microwave! I'll be back." I defrosted the turkey and returned with the tempting kitty treat in hand. Now I am an expert turkey tosser. I effectively tossed the turkey onto the plank, past my reach so this was all by throwing the turkey, created a path of turkey pieces. Kusku loves her turkey and ate it piece by piece, walking the plank without her recognition, all the way to Tony where he grabbed her and took her home. We successfully made Kusku "Walk the Plank."

We've loved having Kusku here these past couple of weeks. Sadly for us but happily for him, Tony will be taking her back tomorrow. We'll miss you Kusku!

There's something so elegant about a black and white cat sitting on a black chair.

My Garden

My garden has grown! I have compact cucumbers, blackberries, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, baby watermelons, catnip, and blueberries (though the blueberries are far from producing fruit). So you see I've made very good use of my lovely patio!

You also see my money saving tricks. Why spend $40 on a huge planter when a rubbermaid tote costs $3.88. Simple drill in some drain holes, fill with dirt, and plant.

Same with the buckets (they only had lime green in stock, so the color wasn't intentional just cheap), 2 for a 3 dollars, simple drilling of drainage holes (which yes, I did myself, not Joshua), fill with dirt and plant.

The other planters were from the store 99 Cents Only. The white container came with my strawberry plants. The blue container you see a glimpse of I found at the garbage bin, yet it was perfectly fine. And the big planter my blackberry bush is planted within was a nice one from Walmart that my husband gifted to me as my "Easter Basket."

Teaching Kitten to Hunt

While the kitten was in our care, Joshua attempted to teach her how to hunt. A small gecko managed to sneak into our apartment from our patio. Joshua took the opportunity to show the kitten the skills necessary to hunt like a true cat. Trouble is, she wasn't all that interested. However, between the two of them the gecko's tail got knocked off... but that was about it. Joshua then put the gecko back out on the patio.

Fat Mirror

We returned my mirror tonight. I have been living without a full length mirror for 7 months now. As a female it is essential to have a full length mirror to make sure your outfits are flattering to your figure. Guys don't usually understand this concept as their clothes are all pretty standard, whereas us women have a huge variety of styles, shapes, fits, sizes, and even size types that can flatter or cause the dreaded "fat" look... and yes I know, I'm not fat, but regardless there are some clothes that look better than others and some combinations of clothes that work better than others and I need a full length mirror to determine so. Anyway, last week Joshua and I bought a full length mirror from Walmart that came with "over the door" hardware so we wouldn't have to install anything directly the door in our apartment. The hardware was great... the mirror was a nightmare. Joshua put it together, hung it up, and at first I admired it until a second later when I realized how wide I looked. Then I noticed that it even made Joshua look wide! Well, wider, I don't think he could ever look "wide." So it was clearly the mirror. It was warped in the center causing a slight bend that created this widening effect. We took it back and got a full refund. Too bad it didn't work out, I liked the idea of an over the door hanging mirror, but not if the mirror was unflattering! Talk about instant low self esteem!

Cleaning Up the Snow Fight

Joshua and I had a “snow” fight after Christmas of packing peanuts. It was a ton of fun, but the clean up was a nightmare! I procrastinated the job for quite some time reveling in the Christmas spirit of faux snow surrounding the tree and covering the floor of our apartment… or perhaps that was my excuse. Truth is we didn’t even take down our Christmas tree until the day before Valentine’s Day. I finally gave in and spent several hours sweeping and vacuuming packing peanuts with my Dirt Devil vacuum.

Being broke I find myself avoiding vacuuming just out of concern for the electricity bill. That’s why it is so important to find an Energy Star vacuum like this Dirt Devil model. No one wants to find their electricity bill higher just from keeping their home clean! The AccuCharge Stick Vac and Hand Vac are the first to receive the Energy Star rating in the cordless / rechargable department. I would love to have one of those! Not to mention the light weight design is easier on my back, the worst part of cleaning is the strain it puts on my lower back! Though the time consumption is also a burden. Anything to make it easier!

Important Dates

I failed to blog about some important dates! June 6th marked 2 years since Joshua and I kissed for the first time. That's right. Our first kiss was on 6-6-06! He was a perfect gentleman waiting 2 and a half weeks (it was at least 4 outing dates... which was really 5 or 6 dates but at the time he only would count it as a date if we went somewhere, whereas I figured any event where him and I were alone just the two of us was a date). Maybe that seems quick, but we had been going on "group dates" for a couple of months prior to that and had been friends for a year! So yes, he waited the appropriate amount of time... and I so wanted him to kiss me!

June 7th marked 7 months of marriage! It's crazy how quickly the time is flying by! But yes, we're still so in love. We went to the bank together today and as we entered the building all 3 tellers and the bank rover greeted us with joyful hellos (they all know us there), they were all smiling, and the one lady spoke up, "They're so in love." Then asked us, "How long have you two been married?" I responded, "7th months!" and Joshua added, "And we not killing each other!" The one lady reacted with, "Sure doesn't look like you two are killing each other." Joshua replied, "Only killing each other with kindness." Then he nuzzled me as I held him closer. Yes, I know we're disgusting, but you know you love to watch ;-)

Preparation Woes

A week from now Joshua and I will be in Virginia to attend the anniversary party of his parents (it’s a surprise so DO NOT spill the beans) and I am feeling very self-conscious. My in-laws hate me, and as stupid as it sounds, I want to look my best. I’ve been trying on outfits and trying to find something that makes me definitely look thin so they can’t start rumors about me being pregnant (which I’m NOT). I have a cold sore but I’ve been using medicine to get it to heal quickly and I think it should be gone by next weekend. I don’t want there to be gossip about me being sick and then lectures that Joshua and I need to move back to Virginia (no joke, anytime his mother hears either of us have a cold she insists we need to move back to Virginia). Unfortunately, my skin is broken out and it does make me feel less confident. I need to find a good acne treatment. I’m concerned that they’ll come up with some ridiculous explanation as to why my skin is this way and connect with a lecture of why we need to move back there and how we’re failing in Texas. Yeah… you understand the stress I’m facing. I shouldn’t even care but I can’t help but make effort to at least diminish the likelihood of rumors. That way they’d have to try even harder to stir up contention, which they will, but at least by then it’d be a heightened level of idiocy and easier to stand up to.

I have amazingly wonderful friends :-)

You know, I have the best of friends. Regularly I get e-mails, little messages and fun stuff on facebook and myspace, phone calls, photos, and overall good outreach from my friends even though we're all so far apart now. I was feeling blue today but I logged into facebook and found wall posts, flair buttons, growing flowers, and e-mails from my friends which made me feel a lot better to know that I mean something to them. Then I logged into myspace and found photo comments and messages there too! Plus I got a sweet comment on my blog today :-) And this evening I had a marvelous conversation on the phone with a dear friend who blessed me with inspiration and encouragment. Yes, indeed, I have the best of friends.

Newlyweds: The Example

Apparently, Joshua and I have quite the audience at church. And to think, we weren't even aware. He has been doing classroom observances as part of his teacher certification program. Sister Moss from our church, who is a middle school science teacher, was kind enough to set it up for Joshua to sit in on classes at her school to fulfill his requirement. One day Joshua got a chance to hang out with Sister Moss and another teacher at the school and chat about marriage. The other teacher has a boyfriend whom she wants to marry but her boyfriend is dragging his feet. That's when the topic of Joshua being a newlywed came up. Sister Moss explained how we are.

"Him and his wife are so close! Most couples walk hand in hand, but those two walk with their arms around each other waist to waist. They are so close you can't fit a nano-atom between them! They look like they are ready to take on the whole world, together, as one." She exclaimed. (Which is true, but I had no idea that our body language was conveying that very message. We've been through so much but we've banded together "us against the world.")

Sister Moss went on to explain how you can count on us like clock work to be all over each other. HAHA! She has a daughter who is not at all a romantic with little interest in relationships. She was talking on the phone with her one day and telling her about the newlyweds in the church that walk with their arms around each other and are always cuddling. So a few weeks later when her daughter was visiting church, Sister Moss watched for Joshua and I. As him and I walked into class she pointed us out to her daughter and said, "You watch." And sure enough him and I were all over each other exactly as she described. Then she gave her daughter the thumbs up as her daughter was thoroughly disgusted. Sister Moss was using us as an example how two people can be married and yet so in love and truly bonded together as one.

Who knew we were being watched so carefully? Sister Moss told Joshua that we're a great example to the older couples reminding them of that newlywed love. I've also heard that we're an excellent example to the youth as well. When I was dropping a folder off at Young Women's one of the leaders told me, "My daughter just loves to watch you and your husband. She says, 'They're so in love.'" So not only are we reminding the older ones what they used to have but showing the younger ones what they can have. Aww... it's nice to be so in love... and if God uses us as a tool to inspire others, then that's great too!

Love Grows

Remember that wonderful blackberry bush that my husband got me for Easter? (See: http://www.supposedmarriedbliss.com/2008/03/best-easter-basket-ever.html ) It has grown and produced its first 5 blackberries! Two of which were ripe the other night.

Joshua and I enjoying the first blackberries from our very own blackberry bush.

And kissing...

Dream Job

My dream job is to be a personal shopper. I love shopping and hunting for exactly the right item (and at the right price). So often at Christmas, I would help my Mom choose presents for family and friends, I’d help Dad buy for Mom, and whomever else needed my help. Well, Kristen Becker of Kir Devries has my dream job. She runs a personal shopping service and website. If only I could do the same. *sigh*

More Cat Adventures

We are babysitting Kusku!

Remember our neighbor Tony? http://www.supposedmarriedbliss.com/2008/04/depature-of-best-neighbor-ever.html Well, Austin proved too expensive so he is back in Houston! He won't be our across the sidewalk neighbor again, but at least he'll be in the same city. He came back for some job interviews and has been staying with a friend. Tony did get a job (YAY!) and will be staying in Houston!

So while Tony is getting everything settled, we've got his chubalicious cat :-) We've had her a week so far and she's a million times easier than the kitten! We've been joking that if the kitten was a sign that we're not ready for a baby, maybe Kusku is telling us we should just adopt fat, lazy, already potty trained kids, lol! Anyway, we love having Kusku here. She won't be here much longer though. Tony is getting settled in quickly an misses his cantankerous fat cat so he'll be retrieving her this week.

Last night, Kusku, Joshua, and I all watched a movie together in bed. Joshua just had to capture the moment on camera. We love that big, lazy cat!

P.S. Don't we have the coolest bedspread?

Rescued Kitten

We all knew it was inevitable... I was destined to bring home a kitten. On Friday, May 16th, I found a little brown tabby girl kitten in the apartment complex parking lot. As I was taking out the trash, I noticed this kitten sitting in an empty parking spot. I tossed the trash and hurried back to where I found her. She scurried under a car so I went back to my apartment, got some turkey lunch meat, and took it out to the kitten. I managed to coax her out from the car to get the turkey, and when she least expected it I grabbed her and took her home.

As I was trying to catch her I noticed something odd about this kitten, and it proved even more true once I got her home. She would hold her head to the side at all times. Even worse, she could only walk in a circle, never a straight line. She would just circle around and around slowly making her way towards the general direction of her destination. She'd also fall over easily, but it never deterred her for long. She was this spunky little kitty.

I found her when Joshua was at school subbing. I knew he wouldn't be overly happy about me finding a kitten, but at the same time I knew he'd find her cute and would expect no less from his wife. She was so skinny and clearly unfit to make it on her own outside. When I first got her home I fed her lots of cat food then she napped in my lap at the computer. When Joshua arrived and opened the door, I turned around and said, "Honey, don't be mad." Then showed him the kitten. Then I made a smart move by handing him the kitten... and you see below how that went ;-)
So we kept her temporarily. I knew we couldn't afford to keep her. She needed vet care. Ideally she needed to be an inside kitty with her handicaps, which is tight quarters in a one bedroom apartment. We kept her inside where she mostly lived in the bathroom, but with plenty of visits out to play. We loved her lots, but truth is she was a LOT to handle! Cleaning up after her and her incessant crying made us extremely aware that we are not ready for a baby!
After almost a week and a half later, and after a plethora of online posts, I found her a home. This nice lady named Monika came by with her sons to pick up the kitten. Joshua and I said our goodbyes and were relieved to see how the kitten was completely at ease with her new owner (she didn't like the boys so well, but loved Monika). I have since gotten e-mails from Monika who is taking wondering care of the kitten and of course took her to the vet. Turned out the kitten had a severe ear infection and a hole in her eardrum. The vet prescribed some ear drops and within a few days the kitten was, as Monika put it, "100% better. Must be some wonder drug."

And to top it off, Monika named the kitten Miss Sarah, after me :-)

Joshua and I Were in Cahoots Last Sunday

His best friend Mike from Maryland was in Texas. Sadly, his Grandmother had passed away and his family all made the trip on down for the funeral and to take care of things. He called both Joshua and I to let us know the news and that he would only be 3 hours away from us. Of course he was hoping we could visit him, but sadly our finances and busy schedules forced us to decline the invite.

Saturday night Joshua felt inspired that we MUST visit Mike and his family. I agreed... but then I discussed the practical side of it with Joshua. What time to leave? How are we going to fit in church, our fast, turn in our tithing, take care of my calling as food storage specialist, and this trip all in one Sunday? Also, how are we going to pay for a tank of gas? The solutions were found:

-Start our fast that night and end as usual, eating either before hitting the road or on it.

-Go to church early and ask Kami to pass around binders and then retrieve the binders Monday. Also, turn in tithing before church starts.

-Stay Sacrament being passed and leave immediately after.

-Go home, change, eat, get ready, and hit the road around 2pm.

It was all settled except how to pay for the gas. We had no extra money at all and a tank of gas is about $50! That's a lot of money!

But then Joshua got this mischievous look on his face and suggested, "What if we didn't pay for it?"

I asked, "That'd be fine, but how?"

He responded, "Remember how my parents gave me their gas credit card when I moved out? What if we charged the gas to their account?"

Now normally I would've been totally against this. Anytime his parents "give" anything it is held over our heads and used as ammunition for guilt trips. There are ALWAYS strings attached so nothing is ever a true gift. Hence why we don't use that gas credit card... but Joshua did make a good point that if WE didn't pay for the gas, then we could afford it. Plus Mike was going through a hard time, and quite frankly my husband had been going through a hard time for different reasons, so some best guy friend time sounded like exactly what they both needed. So I said yes to pulling one over on his parents... just this time.

So at 12:18 am we broke the Sabbath and went to the gas station. Joshua filled up the tank and charged a whopping $38 to his parent's account (he already had a quarter tank in the car, hence why it wasn't $50). Then he called up Mike and told him the good news. Turned out he and his family were visiting his brother Lee, who lives in Nacagdocious which is only 2 and a half hours from Kingwood. Joshua got directions and we returned home to pack some road food and then get some sleep.

We arrived at church a little early, turned in our tithing, I got Kami to take care of my binders, we stayed through Sacrament being passed, then we bolted out of church, stopped by home to gather a few things, and we hit the road for our trip up north to Nacadocious.

It was fun to see more of Texas! With gas prices so high we've had to limit our road trips so we haven't strayed from Houston. The trip reminded us a lot of our road trips to the Washington D.C. Temple. We had a beautiful blue sky with white puffy clouds and miles of road surrounded by trees (so some parts of Texas look a lot more like Virginia than I ever anticipated).

We made it to Nacadocious and found Lee's home. We were greeted by an ecstatic Mike and quickly introduced to the family, Mike's mom and dad, then his brother Lee, sister-in-law Jen, nephew Levi (age 2) and neice Sydney (age 4). Immediately I was recruited by Sydney to be her new best friend. She saw me in a skirt and had to make me twirl in circles with her, then she ran off and put on her own skirt, more twirling, then she wisked me away to her room to play "My Little Ponies." Mike's mom made a couple of attempts to "rescue" me back to the adults, but Sydney kept stealing me back. Eventually we all went outside to sit back, chat, and watch the kids play. It was fun to sit with the women chatting about marriage, life, etc. while the men were standing in the driveway talking about Star Wars (haha). I had a moment where I looked over at my husband and then back to Jen and her mom and thought to myself, "Wow, I really am a married woman!"

Joshua did join me on the swing at one point as then men joined us women to find amusement from the kid's antics. There were water fights, then some screaming and crying, and other events. All typical kid stuff and we just found it all cute. Once we were all too hot (it is Texas) we went inside and took it easy watching America's Funniest Home Videos and then Extreme Home Makeover. Joshua and I being broke newlyweds actually loved the chance to just sit back in the air conditioning and watch tv!

Later we all went out to dinner to Clear Springs Restuarant which is in an old train station built in 1820. It's the oldest building in Texas. (And yes, I know we broke the Sabbath yet again by going out to eat, but they invited us so it would've been rude not to attend. Plus, Mike's dad paid for our dinner! Sweet! Free food!)

We had so much fun with Mike's family. Jen is a hoot! She is who she is and accepts everyone else for who they are. She's the most down to earth, comfortable with herself, easy going person I've ever met. And her children are so cute! Smart too! She's amazing with them. And Mike's parents are great, nicest people ever. I didn't get to know Lee all that well, but he seemed like a cool guy. Joshua already knew Mike's parents rather well but didn't know his brother and his family. We made new friends here in Texas out of this trip. Always nice to make new friends :-)

So Much to Catch Up On

There's been so many blog worthy events taking place that I don't know where to begin. And it doesn't help that I'm such a perfectionist that I procrastinate writing about it since I feel like each entry won't be as good as I want it to be so I put it off until I feel like I can give it the effort it deserves... which never happens. It's time to make an intentionally half hearted effort in a attempt to outsmart my perfectionism by tricking myself into purposefully not making these entries perfect... yet, I'm sure I'll agonize over them anyway and spend way too much time on this... but here goes.

Score!

I love a good sale. Who doesn’t? No matter what it is that I’m needing (or wanting) from electronics to clothes, it’s always better on sale. Recently Joshua and I were running errands and he humored me by joining me at Kohl’s and giving me the time to sift through the clearance racks. I did find a single treasure, a t-shirt with a glittery tree and moon screen print for a mere $2. Score!

Appetite

Some people find themselves in need of losing weight and turn to diet pills. Then there are those like my husband who has been in need of gaining weight. And fortunately he has actually gained weight since our wedding (proof that marriage is healthy for him). The stress of breaking into the real world and making it on his own (plus the stress of his family and realizing the truth of who they are and dealing with their negativity) caused him to lose a lot of weight the year prior to our wedding. Stress would cause him to lose his appetite. But now, despite the huge amount of stress he is enduring at this time, he’s handling it fabulously and his appetite has remained healthy.

Dueling Wedding Receptions

Clearly, Wedding Invitations have been on my mind a lot lately. With so many upcoming events it seems inevitable for my mind to venture this route. Joshua and I are attending the surprise 50th Anniversary party of his parents in two weeks. Those invitations have been sent and yes, they’re exactly like wedding invitations. When Joshua saw them he was glad our invitations strayed from the traditional and looked nothing like theirs. Quite frankly the whole party is being treated like a second wedding reception, which is great for them (and I hope to have such a grand party when Joshua and I celebrate 50 years of marriage - which is 49 years, 5 months, and 1 day away), but it’s weird for me so fresh from dealing with them trying to ruin our wedding reception (Joshua’s dad even boycotted the event) for us to now be participating in theirs.

On a MUCH happier note, my little brother’s wedding is at the end of July and I’m so excited for him and Caitlin. They are perfect for each other and I can’t wait to celebrate their union as husband and wife. Caitlin went all out with the invitations sending save the date cards nearly a year in advance then making her own invitations and RSVP cards complete with monograms she designed herself. The invitations really set the mood for the wedding and reception as fun and elegant.

I’m still very pleased with the invitations Joshua and I sent out. We loved our photo postcards. However, we debated thoroughly about the wording of the invitation. It wasn’t until today that I ran across a website that really would’ve helped back then. They have a whole list of pre-written invitation scripts, even ones that do not include the parents (which is what we had to aim for considering the circumstances). 1st-class-wedding-invitations.com also has this zoom feature where you cannot only read the words closely, but you can see the fine details of the invitation online. I’ve never seen any other site with this feature! But more so, I’m impressed by the many invitation wording options. So if you’re preparing a wedding invitation a look through their list would help immensely. Like they say, hind sight is 20/20, but I'm glad the wording on our invitation sufficed.

http://www.1st-class-wedding-invitations.com/product-detail.aspx?i=9453&t=S

Go, Go Power Rangers... in Kingwood?!

I just found out that Jason David Frank (formerly on the Power Rangers as the green ranger, then the white ranger, and apparently eventually the red ranger long after I stopped watching) runs a karate studio here in Kingwood! My husband and I are total dorks (which is no surprise to anyone) but we're both starstruck by this fact since we both watched Power Rangers as kids.

Joshua was at work at Chick Fila last night when he noticed a kid with a Power Rangers shirt. He made a joke to the kid and his mom about, "I used to watch Power Rangers... until 2 months ago." Then the mom chimed in, "Did you know that the white ranger, who was the green ranger, and I think the red ranger, Jason Frank runs a karate studio here in Kingwood? It's called Rising Sun Karate." He was surprised and excited by this information. Today he told me about it and me being the dork that I am was also impressed by the idea that the white ranger teaches karate in our town. So we looked it up online and sure enough, he does! http://www.risingsunkarate.com/ Furthermore, I found a review that points out that Jason himself teaches most of the lessons. http://www.insiderpages.com/b/12382915094

E-Commerce Security

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Off to the Temple

Well, we're off to the temple. Today marks exactly 7 months since we became endowed members of our church and began our participation in temple ordinances. I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

Necessary Expense

Car insurance is an absolutely necessity. However, it can be pricey. Fortunately for me, my husband and I share one car and there fore our car insurance expense is not increased. But there will come a time when we will need to compare car insurance costs and make an informed decision whether to stay with our current insurance company. But from Virginia Beach to sacramento car insurance is an essential need of motorists.

Mmm... Muffins

I love the smell of raspberry muffins cooking in the oven . 2 more minutes and they'll be ready to eat! Right now my husband is taking a quick nap as I finish things up online so we can go to the temple this evening :-) And perhaps he'll have some muffins too when he gets up.