Busy Bee (s)!!

Phew! Lately I feel like we have not even had a chance to breathe.. What does Steve look like again?!.. and the sad part is that for the next week and a half it's only going to get worse. We wrapped up a garage sale this past weekend, ended up getting rid of a lot of stuff (crap as I like to call it) and made a bit of extra money.. all in all I'd say it was worth the hard work and heat. We still have a few things left that I busily have been posting to craigslist to try and get rid of, and thankfully Steve's mom is having a garage sale in a few weeks so she is willing to put the rest of our stuff (crap) in her sale and attempt to get the last bits GONE! What a sigh of relief!!I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to walk out in to the garage and see the floor in areas that I was beginning to wonder if there even was a floor! Now let's get these last bits gone and get that garage organized!!

Steve's dad is coming to visit at the end of next week and I have been busily trying to get the spare room and office organized and cleaned, mainly so he has a place to sleep, but more importantly so he doesn't think I am a complete slob. My idea of cleaning some days is to just make piles and for some reason those piles just keep getting shuffled around and around.. hmm.. I think I need to figure out a better method.

August means only one thing in this house-- Clark County Fair-- Steve works A LOT of shifts and is gone A LOT and I tend to miss him A LOT.. it makes for a very long week or so and when it's over, every year I feel the same sense of relief. Like I said, I'm beginning to wonder if I even remember what he looks like. Most of the shifts he works allows him to come crawl into bed at some ungodly hour of the morning and then get up to work his day job a few short hours later. Like I said.. busy busy.

After the wedding, Steve and I invested in some canning tools. Since we've been so busy with the garage sale I haven't even had time to think about WHAT I want to can, let alone HOW to do it.. That is close to the top of my to-do list.

I have been searching craigslist for a sewing machine for probably months now, and I finally found one!! I bought it for $25 and the lady said it had never been used. I am dying to make some pillow covers, curtains, and aprons. (Do you get the sense that people are going to be getting homemade Christmas gifts this year?!) Steve also found a whole box of tiles in the attic.. YES!! I was planning on taking a trip to Home Depot to get some in order to make us some new coasters, but now I have a ton of them at my disposal!! I can't wait!! (again, do you sense homemade Chirstmas gifts this year?!) Now I just need to tackle my to-do list so I can have some fun, work before play..

It's official! Most of my things are changed over to Sabrina Thornton!! Who knew this would be so exciting and such hard work!! Lots of sitting on hold, lots of sitting in lines and lots of driving around. Thankfully though I think I am close to the end of this whole ordeal. and I just love pulling out a card from my wallet or getting something in the mail that says SABRINA THORNTON!! Makes me smile.

Remember that To-Do list I mentioned earlier?? ......... Until next time!

Cheers!

Exterior Re-Do

Steve and I have been working VERY hard this summer, as you already know... But I am happy to say that things are finally coming to a wrap. Our latest adventure, not quite one of our immediate choosing, was the exterior of the house. We came to the unfortunate conclusion that parts of our siding were beginning to rot away, and others aspects where just stupidly done by the previous home-owners. Thus meaning, their "quick-fix" equaled our "money, time, energy- drainer." Such is life right...?!

Take a peak at some before and after pictures of the exterior of our home...

Before

After

Looks like a completely different place doesn't it?! We now happily have a red door too!! Supposedly, a red entrance door brings good luck into the home.. hopefully we'll soon find that to be true! Landscaping is still a work in progress (as it probably always will be with the ground we have to work with). But overall Steve and I are very pleased with the outcome!

We've also painted our living room/hallway, changed it up from the boring plain ol' white... Pictures still need to be hung and then I will reveal that room to you. Stay tuned!

Paint, Organization, Books and More

As summer begins to come to an end.. according to school schedules, not ours.. We realize that we've accomplished quite a bit this season.

Our latest project, as in last Monday, was to paint the exterior of the house. We had some great help on hand and got it all done, in a long day's work. Trim still needs to be painted and a splash of color added to the front door, but all in all, it looks like a new place! **Pictures to come.

The living room and kitchen are complete, now comes the organization. Things need to find their place back in the rooms.. if only they could find their own way while we are sleeping at night.. wouldn't that be nice?!

I have recently started back to WSU to take some classes towards a reading endorsement. It's going to be challenging, but worth it! Graduate school... who would've thought?!

Fair Time!

When the Clark County Fair rolls around, Steve and I are lucky if we'll even recognize each other at the end of the week. Steve pulls a lot of shifts out at the fairgrounds, as well as maintaining his regular work days at Gaynor's.. I don't know how he does it, but I sure respect him for it. We make an effort to spend any down time available during the week with each other, one of which always includes having some fun (non-work) time at the fair.

This year we got a old time western photo taken! It was so exciting, and we love it and can't wait to find the perfect place for it up on our wall. (Hopefully we can get it scanned so I can put it on here someday).

We enjoyed some yummy fried fair food, and even shared a funnel cake (it was my first time and Steve insisted I had to try one-- it was pretty yummy!)

Then we watched the Wild Wild West show. What a fun, cheesy time! We loved it!

We got to see a group of baby pigs.. one was trying to escape.. I think he secretly wanted to come home with us..

And a new-born calf, just a few days old! His name was Shermanator.

We even saw this sign..

It's like she was there in spirit with us!

Tonight is one of those rare, bit of free time, nights. We are officially putting the rest of the cabinets together! Painting in the kitchen is complete and we can't wait to see everything put together!

District 6 Open House

The first weekend in June was the District 6 Open House. Naturally, Steve was there so Izzy and I went to visit daddy and take in the sights. 

 Izzy helped watch traffic and scoped out the yummy treats that kiddos kept walking by with.

I ask for a smile, and this is what I usually get. Gotta love him. ♥

We were in a prime location to watch all of the kids ride by on the old fire engine. Izzy was very intrigued by all the sounds, and I think if she had her way, she'd hitch a ride up there too!

One of my favorite parts was watching the Life Flight Helicopter land. It was pretty loud and stirred up a lot of dust and garbage, but was neat to see it so close up!

We also got to watch a demonstration by the K9 units. Izzy wanted to play, and I kept thinking to myself, why would you want to do something so wrong that these doggies end up chasing you?!

 This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. Izzy and Steve, intently watching the K9 demo together. ♥ It was a very fun day (& great weather might I add!). We all had a great time, Steve and I enjoyed watching how well Izzy did around all the people. Izzy even got a few treats of her own, including a hot dog and an unflavored snow-cone. Yummy!

Life in Limbo...Somewhat

Since it is the 1st official day of July, I've decided to turn over a new leaf in life.. and that is to write more often. I've heard that as a "blogger" I will often be saying things such as "sorry I haven't written" or "I promise to write more" but today begins the first round of that for this so called "blogger."

Update:
1. It's officially summer, no school, no more college, no homework... supposed to be a relaxing and wonderful time right?! NOT! I have found that I have no idea what to do with myself. I have found that it's easy to fall into a funk once school is out and there is officially nothing that "has to be done right now." And that funk is one that I fell into. I am thankful that after talking to a few friends however that I am not the only one, as well as finding out that seasoned teachers go through the same exact thing. I think it is just a feeling of worthlessness.. you go from having 24 needy students who depend on you for the majority of a day, 7 days a week, to no one needing you at all. (considering the fact that I don't have children of my own or a pet) I am proud to say though, that after figuring out why it was that I was feeling so... BLAH!, I have begun to come out of it. I still don't quite know what to do with all my time, but I am slowly figuring it out.

2. I've joined a gym. Something I haven't been able to do for years because of the high demands of school. And I must say, that it is very nice. I don't "work-out" on my own (i.e running treadmills or lifting weights with the big guys) but I do go to classes and have met some really nice instructors as well as some nice people that take the classes as well. It is more my style to take a class, and I have found that I am feeling much better about myself.

3. I've laid out by the pool a few times already this summer. (working out has helped the comfort level in that area as well) I met a nice lady who just moved into the complex a few months ago. Ironically both times that I have been down by the pool, she has been there with her daughter as well. Sadly, as I write this, I realize that I don't even know her name.. so that is a must the next time I see her. Oops! She is very nice to talk to and I have learned a lot from her already in two visits. **more to come about "pool lady story" later.

4. Sleep has been non-existent in my life lately. I go to bed at night, read like normal, and then shut the light off and toss and turn for about 2 hours (which is so unlike me- usually I hit the pillow and can't even read for 10 min and my eyes are shut). But then the downfall to this is that in the morning (once I am finally asleep and feeling good) I don't want to get up. So I've been forcing myself to get up- no matter how tired I feel or how comfy my bed feels, but then another downfall occurs... NAPS! I have found that I have either actually taken a nap or really really wanted to nap on a daily basis. The only days that I haven't napped (which are very few) are those where I am with someone (such as having coffee with Kara during the afternoon) or where I have errands to do--which is well, basically never. My naps are out of pure boredom and lack of motivation. And you would think that by working out (sometimes twice a day) that I would be a tuckered out little girl by the time night rolls around. I have got to get to the bottom of this, ASAP!

5. I'm moving in August. I am very excited, there is something about unpacking and putting things into their new places, reorganizing things and redecorating that makes me feel at ease. I have figured that if I start packing slowly now, that come August I wont feel so rushed to get everything ready to go. I have boxes that are ready to be packed up, now I just need to decide where to start and basically what I wouldn't need for another 2 months.

6. As I have said before, I need something to take care of. (As if myself at times isn't enough). I have decided to seriously start looking for a dog-- meaning doing some research into breeders, and how much it will end up costing me so that way a few months down the road I can seriously consider getting one. Either that or I am going to take back my cat from my moms house. Either way, I'm going to have to pay a pet fee for living in an apartment-- which stinks. I don't really understand why it costs so much, I mean I do, but I don't... But I'm willing to consider making the sacrifice.


So as you can see my summer is off to an EXCELLENT start (sense my sarcasm?), But honestly I know things could be a lot worse, however this whole 'transition into adulthood' phase is really screwin' with me. I am tired of the ups and downs, and well just plain tired apparently-even though I have no real excuse to be. But I have decided that I am going to throw myself into a few projects, or simply just try to relax and enjoy my summer of unemployment. My friends are great, and it helps to know that I am not the only one that is going through this awkward phase, it helps to break up the week by having coffee dates with them and sitting poolside (to happen this week). Nothing beats the company of my surrogate sisters. I have found that I am longing for the summers when my mom was off from work as well, although I know she has her own life, I do wish we'd have more time to just hang and do girl stuff together. We've been walking together a few days a week and that is nice, however it is somewhat "work" not leisure-girl time, so I don't think that counts. :)

Well, I'm off to start another Wednesday.. This one includes reading my book (that I have been slacking on reading and is due back to the library soon), getting a hair-cut (SUPER EXCITED-- one of the small joys in life that gets me every time), walking with mom (by the lake today-interested to see how things have changed- haven't been over that way in quite sometime), then back home for who knows what... dinner and more reading? A glass of wine? Online BINGO? (oh yes, that is another update:: I've become addicted to playing online BINGO...and I'm not proud, but can't seem to stop)

It felt good to write today, and as my mom has noticed, I've been seriously slacking on writing. So I fully intend to write more often, even if it is just a quick story or snip-it of what happened or is happening in the life of this gal. Until next time...