Budgeting

Still doing Dave Ramsey...
working on staying on a Budget.
Most months we do pretty good. but I have trouble staying on my grocery and restaurant budget.

This month we had Matt and Judy come visit for 2 weeks. We had way too much fun and we spent our grocery, restaurant, and entertainment budgets about 7 days before the month ended.

We have been a little creative this week:

So Brian and I really want to see Inception.
Sunday we got in the car planning to go see it.

Brian: what envelope are we taking this out of?
Me: The clothing budget???
Brian: Should we really do that if we are sticking to budget?
Me: ..... silence .....
Brian: .... silence .....
We went grocery shopping instead and spent the rest of the grocery money.

Story 2:
So we have been enjoying zucchini from the garden and eating food we have had in the freezer forever.
Tuesday night we were dragging our feet making dinner.

Brian: lets just order Pizza
Me: where are we going to get the money for that?
we got up and made tuna noodles, fried Zucchini
Brian declared it the best dinner have had in the while... amazing what you can find in the cupboard.

3rd story:
We want to have Sushi for dinner tomorrow. We bought all the ingredients prior to running out of money except for smoked salmon. (we used it all up during last week's sushi party)
Brian is at a work event and got a free gift today: a wooden bowl and smoked salmon.

so here is for staying on a budget.

Oh yeah- going to Disneyland in 48 hours... can't wait. got an envelope for that too.

Rainy Seattle

Brian and I went to Seattle a few weeks ago-

This is us in my Sister's Kitchen- can you tell she likes cows?

It was my sisters 22nd Birthday! This is the awesome vegan, gluten free cake she made. She is quite the cook.

I got to go to Pike's place and buy flowers with my sister and her boyfriend Adam. aww... aren't they cute??



The next day we got to go see my brother off- He is heading back to Alaska to be a deckhand on a crabbing boat. His ship is in the background... crazy big!
We also got eat dinner with my mom--- but a las no pics of her in this blog...

Shantel and I scored some deals at Goodwill... What do you think of this shirt... I said the aim of it was to cover the least amount possible- yes the string is the entire back of the shirt.... but then she said then what are the sleeves for?

Anyways... had a great time. Brian was in a conference and I got to bum around and shop and see the family...

Also went to caveman and got to see my college roomie Chalaina and my former MA Laura- who just got into DO school in Maine!!!!!

It was a nice time- the best part was that we stayed at the Marriot for 40 bucks a night... sweet... I love name your own price on priceline.

Stuff and Things!

An update...

no we are not pregnant. Everyone else I know is. Congratulations to you all! So excited for you.

For now we are just enjoying living life-

rather than blogging we have been-

Getting our yard in shape! It looks great and it's only the end of February!

Planning to plant a Garden this year.

Watching the Olympics.

Hanging out with good friends!

Working hard at our respective jobs- I have been busy with cold season and one of our other providers is taking a Sabbatical. I get to see all his patients and all of mine- I've been full most days which is nice- job security. Yesterday I diagnosed several cases of pneumonia. And my COPD patient with pneumonia who's O2 saturation was 83% the other day- went up to 93% after a few days of prednisone and antibiotics. I tried to give him some oxygen... but he didn't want any. Fun FUN!
Oh and last week I had a small bowel obstruction... I was hoping it was just really bad constipation and after running it by my supervising doc (what do you think about these dilated loops of small bowel on my plain films??) and deciding to give Miralax... I saw first hand how Miralax really worsen's small bowel obstructions. Into surgery she went.
Everything for the most part is going pretty well at work.

I have been doing biggest loser at work. I joined the gym and go 4-5 days per week. I also joined a walking group 3 days a week. And I have been eating 1200 calories/day. My clothes are starting to fit better- but I am determined to win the cash price at the end. I have been feeling like I cannot stick to a diet or exercise plan in the past few years so I am excited to have stuck to something for 4 weeks... we will see how the 8 more weeks go. I think the competitive spirit helps a lot.

We also just started a Dave Ramsey- Financial Peace class. Follow the baby steps and we may just end up ahead in the end. Good concepts. I highly recommend him!

Thus- since we started this class- we are not going to Europe just yet. I can't get a new car till I have cash for it... that may be a little while. But learning how to save money rather than spend it... priceless :)

Ah! life is so good! God is good!

Oh the joys of another week gone by!

Oh I love life but this has been a long week.

I learned this week that I really can only work 4 days a week or else life just doesn't go so well. I think I've spent most of it ignoring my to do list, feeling overwhelmed, and just doing what needs to be done.

I worked M, Th, Fri this week and every day was crazy busy- filled with interesting diagnoses and fun patients. I loved it but needed a few moments to catch my breath. Just today alone was shingles, MRSA abscess (that I drained- oh I love pus), fibula fracture, 2 patients with chest pain, COPD with acute exacerbation, and then to top it off appendicitis. I haven't had a hot appendix in a while. I felt her belly and said get over the the hospital and get yourself a CT and come back afterwards. Well she never made it back- I called the surgeon while she sat in Radiology and had her walk over to surgery from here. She should do well. Oh and a few more patients besides these ones they just didn't have hot super cool diagnoses. so whine whine. I haven't charted on a single one.
I have decided it is Sabbath and charting can wait until Sunday!

The reason I am cranky is because Tues and Wed I had to get up early and drive to Portland for ACLS. Long two days. but now I can attempt to bring you back to life if you die. charging! Clear! All dead people deserve epi. It made me itch to work in an ER of something or be a paramedic where I actually used some of these skills.

So whine whine, the house is a mess and we got a Tree on Sunday but haven't had the time to decorate it. The tree is super cool through. 9 feet tall. We tromped around the tree farm in the mud and I kept saying I wanted to get the biggest tree we could find since we have such high ceilings. We got a beautiful one. We didn't realize the tree farm would come pick up our tree for us after we cut it down. We cut it down and hauled it 200 feet or so. That thing was heavy. Then we get to the front and they were like oh we could have gotten that... hmm...
I am looking forward to decorating the inside of the house this weekend.









Our Christmas lights on our new house! That sign in the upper window is Joy.









This is some of our moving party a
few months ago- in our new Kitchen!















This is our awesome Bathroom. I am loving the size- two sinks plus vanity space. To the right is a nice big bathtub and shower.
Toilet and multiple cupboards are behind me.










So anyways... there is something wrong with our camera... i am not sure what is up with the grainy lines. But happy Days--- God is good!

goals and dreams and such

P.S.- I don't think I posted on here...
you seen the side bar with the dreams and goals and such

Planning on crossing one off :)
Got tickets to New York for New Years. My mom and great friend Judy and I are going.

6 days!! we are all set and have a straight flight PDX to Newark, NJ.

The big topic of discussion is Times Square- we have learned that you get there early- we are going to try and go around Noon- and stand in little sections for hours...
the catch is it says very clearly that you cannot get out to go to the bathroom and there are no bathrooms- now I figure up until about 4 PM we should be able to at least go to the bathroom but that big 8 hours stretch until midnight.... not quite sure.
Then I watched Grey's Anatomy the other day where they were wearing Depends in Surgery... hmm...
Anyways- in the least we are all set and planning on being in Times Square on New Years.
with or without the depends is to be determined...

the holidays are here!!!

ooh I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mostly the anticipation of everything.

I have been prepping Brian for a month about putting up lights. We got up this AM and put lights up all over the place. I am so excited. Poor guy at one point it was pouring down rain and Brian was standing on the roof hanging lights from the gutter. they look awesome though. I am just waiting for it to get dark so we can really see it! The funny thing was even though it was raining and one week before Thanksgiving- there were 2 other neighbors on our street hanging lights too. We will have a fun street!

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I have probably half of our Christmas present bought. whoo hoo!!

So I am sure I could blog about many things but I won't go on and on. Brian and I are loving our
new house, working hard, loving our church plant. Excited about what God is doing.
Trying to get pregnant- the longer it takes the louder I am about things. When we first started trying a year or so ago I didn't want to talk about it with anyone. now I tell everyone- people at work, my patients mid physical exam, and of course the great listening ears of friends and family. 2nd round of clomid right now... we should know if it works just before Christmas. I keep thinking that would be a nice Christmas present :)

We are getting ready to go up north to visit my side of the family for Thanksgiving! Brian keeps saying we are going to Canada... well almost but not quite. Just a few more days.

Lots of love and joy!

Quick note

SO! First football Sunday. My fantasy team is AWESOME this year. great day. great day.

We have moved in to our house! I will have to post more pictures but that would mean taking them. If you know me at all... I take a picture about every 6 months. I am so in love with this house. I know it is a just a house but it is a great one.

I took a bath in my bathtub a few nights ago. I could have swam in it. I forgot I was filling it and ended up shutting it off after realizing it had run out of hot water and had been running cold into my tub. Probably took the whole water heater to fill. Well I was bummer but decided to wait 15 minutes and see if I would have hot water again. 15 minutes later- scalding hot water. My next rhyme will be an ode to natural gas!

We have been settling in and having lots of fun with friends and family in the process. It seems there have been BBQ's, football games, dinners, birthdays- but you know... we can unpack later.

Cooked in the kitchen for the first time last night. very enjoyable even for someone who does not like cooking....

now to find those elusive items packed in boxes... :)