#TBT

I don't know why people don't like hash tags. "#" That is a hash tag. You use them on websites like twitter or instagram. Its almost like on a blog when you label what your post is about. So that way if you want to look up pictures or posts or whatever about for instance, #tbt (Throw Back Thursday, a popular trend of people posting old fun pictures of themselves) then you can. See? Everyone on the same page now?

For the record, #ithinkhashtagsarefun.  Moving on.

Here is my throwback Thursday photo:

I think this is when I was a senior in high school, at a YW's high adventure thing. I've always been a tree hugger. Its actually illegal for you not to be when you live in Oregon. Its in the contract you sign when you move there. #oregonianpride

I have also always liked holey jeans, hoodies, and tan skin. 

So last night I killed a spider. Well, at least, I PRAY that its dead. I was getting ready for bed and had turned all the lights off in the house, when I realized that I was starving. I wondered why I was so hungry, and then it dawned on me that I hadn't eaten dinner yet. (It was 10:45pm.) This is not typical behavior for me. I am one of those "hangry" people. Hungry and angry = hangry. I don't forget to eat. It was Wednesday, which are the craziest days for us around here with work, getting ready for mutual, eating dinner before mutual, and then attending mutual. So I didn't get to eat.

As soon as I realized my missed meal, I decided I would rather eat than sleep. So I turned all the lights back on and was walking back to the kitchen when I saw a big nasty spider. I haven't seen too many inside my house here in PA. (Oregon has the WORST spiders, besides Utah who has the WORST poisonous spiders.) But this spider was big and thick and blackish and had to die. Deric was headache-y in bed, dying. So I couldn't get him to kill it for me, so I unfortunately had to do something. So I got the vacuum and got as close as I dared, and held onto the hose sucker at the very furthest point from the sucking end. (The spider end.) And I quietly screamed as I sucked that sucker up. And then I was afraid to put the hose back. What if he could crawl back out?

And then I got even more scared because it seems like whenever you kill one spider, all their other spider friends come to avenge their death or something. I wonder. You know how there is a silent whistle that only dogs can hear? I wonder if there is like a silent death scream that spiders have to warn their friends before they get squished, or sucked up, or flushed. ??? Interesting. That must be it.

In other news, I have jumped on the mismatched sock bandwagon. I have a friend that wears cute, colorful socks that never match. I thought it was really cute. And then some of my young women (its so weird to say "my young women", I'm 27!) wear their socks mismatched too! So I jumped into the fun. I like socks anyway, but this has made them even more fun! #ilovesocks

#embracethehashtag #makesnosenseonblogger

No Internet

I'm at a friends house using her internet.
Deric and I have been without interent for 4 days now.
No internet makes finding a house to live in rather difficult. (And a lot more stressful.)

It snowed today, BLAH. But on the upside, I really think spring is finally here. The forecast says so anyway.

I am looking forward to the end of May because by then we will be moved in somewhere, Deric will be done with school, and we will be on the Oregon coast, pretending its as warm as the California coast. (After you go numb, it gets really fun.)

I thought I had more to update about.
I don't.

But being without the internet really stinks. I would have made a terrible pioneer. No internet, and I hate dresses. Terrible.



Well, incase we don't get the internet back any time soon, HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY DERIC!!! (On Thursday!)

Thoughts for the Day

We started packing last Saturday and have been steadily packing a box here or there ever since. I packed all of our books first, they are heavy. Whoever comes to help us load up the moving truck in a month (only 30 days, AHHH!) better be super strong. I also packed up all of our picture frames. It feels so weird without them, it makes my house feel kind of hollow. Weird. I wrote a note on the picture frame box demanding that it be a "TWO PERSON BOX, do NOT break". I would cry so hard if my frames broke. I love them. (And they are expensive!)

My thoughts and prayers are with our family in Utah. Deric's Grandpa Jones passed away last week. Its been something we knew would happen soon, but its still hard and sad. I didn't know G. Jones well, but he was always very kind and sweet, and a little bit sassy too. =) Deric and I don't have anymore grandpas. Well, I technically have a step-grandpa, but I like to call him "my Jack". He is awesome.

Bladen is all boy. He doesn't have many friends to play with at all. (One of the reasons why we are eager to move, hopefully more playmates for Bladen!) But when he does play with the one little girl that is here, it is just much more obvious to me that he is just a little boy. He likes all the regular things, cars, trains, airplanes, tunnels (he is obsessed with tunnels right now), and all of that. But he is much more intense with everything, if that makes sense. He isn't soft and gentle when he plays, he plays with VIGOR! I think that's a good way to describe it. Sometimes people make me feel bad about Bladen. He doesn't know how to share yet and he is emotional. (He is my son after all.) But he is a wonderful, perfectly normal little 2 year old boy.

Deric and I went through our box of cd's that we are still lugging around. I have a bunch that I haven't imported onto my iTunes yet. That's what I'm doing now.  Frank Sinatra, Pure Disco, and Disney's Greatest Hits Volume 3, YES! I love all of my music choices.

I have really enjoyed Instagram and facebook when people put on "throwback thursday" pictures. I like seeing everyone's older photos of themselves, I think I want to start doing this.

I don't know what year this was, but it was taken in Cedar City Utah, in my Grandma's backyard. It might have been around Easter or in the summer or something. I cried a lot. I still cry a lot. My sister on the other hand, didn't and does not cry much. (At least in comparison with me.)

It is March 28th, and it snowed again last night. It is supposed to snow for the next week still. I want nice weather! PA is so much more enjoyable when there is green everywhere and there are flowers blooming. RAIN! I would take rain! NO MORE SNOW. I'm getting close to tantrum throwing, fyi PA.

It feels like a chick flick kind of day. I'm currently watching The Notebook, but I wish I had Pearl Harbor. I love that movie. I'm not a huge chick flick kind of girl, but when I'm in the mood to watch them, I love them. But not too often.

Side note: Ryan Gosling is a babe.

Sold!

Well its happened. We finally got a bite.

Its hard to feel like its official until all papers have been signed and keys are turned over. And of course it will feel more real when we are moved out and have to say goodbye to our home of the last 3+ years. I don't think anything will happen to fall through, but its just one of those things that you don't know and are relieved when all papers and such have been signed. Then we can say we "sold" our house. So in the mean time, we are in the process and our house should be officially "sold" at the end of April. 

Which brings me to my next point. THE END OF APRIL?!

Holy cow, how on earth am I supposed to find a decent, affordable, SAFE place to live within a month?! We are looking for something that is closer to Deric's work in Jamestown, NY. So we are looking at Erie, PA (45 mins away) all the way up to Jamestown and surrounding areas itself. And let me say, there isn't a whole lot. There are plenty of places that are in scuzzy places in Erie, but we just aren't willing to risk being shot or something in the next year. So naturally, I am stressed and ever scowering (my spell correct tells me that "scowering" isn't a word. I say it is), the internet for new listings. Stressed is what I am.

But I am also happy and excited and sad. haha. Its wonderful and GOOD that we sold our house, but the thing is that we really love this house. We just can't live here forever and need the freedom to be able to move when we want/need to for a job. I will write more about how much I love my house another day when I can be more emotional and give more time to it. I have too much to do.

Here is my to do list as of today:

-FIND A PLACE TO LIVE
-Pack everything (there are SO many additional bullets to this one)
-All the while entertain a 2 year old
-And all the other regular things I have to do (Church callings, cooking and cleaning, etc.)

Yesterday I took care of all of my canned stuff. I did a ton of pickles a couple of summers back, and they turned out terrible. Mostly because they were beyond mushy and uneatable. Deric thinks the brine tasted bad too. I also had some peaches go very very bad. (I don't know how, I've done them before and they turned out great!) So I pitched all of that hard work and cleaned jars all day. Its something little, but I got it done. I can check a small thing off my list of a million things to do.


I will write another time about leaving our house, ward, area, friends and all that. Not today. Not today. There is NO time to be sentimental. But yay for selling our house and taking the next stressful step. I'm thankful.

Deric's Job

When my parents came in February, we decided that we needed to make the 1.5 hour trek to Jamestown, NY to see where Deric works. I hadn't seen it yet either, so I was very excited to put an image to the stories I was hearing.

Deric works at the James Town Community College, the JCC.

The building he is in and shares space with the other art people is called the "Artworks."

Where do I start? The school is a decent community college size, but it isn't too big. Its tucked into a neighborhood in a city with a cute little downtown area. The school itself looks like it is a mix between old buildings that are being preserved, and some new and modern buildings for their growing nursing program. (I think???)

The building that Deric is in and shares with the rest of the art department used to be an old gymnasium. There is a general "work" area or lobby to the stairs that lead to the drawing and painting classes, and then there are some glass doors that lead into the ceramic studio. (You can tell that it used to be a big gym because the gym floor is still there and it still echos the same way gyms do.)

This is the view of his classroom when you walk in the doors from outside.

Deric said that the wheel in the center of those green tables is where he does his demonstrations on how to make 6" cylinders, mugs, and bowls. You can also see in the background the carts for finished work, and the "reject shelf". (Things that aren't good enough to make the firing.) Behind my dad is a water trough sink thing and storage off to the right behind some weird curtains. That door on the left leads outside.

Here is a better view of the demonstration area.

This is one of the kilns in the kiln room that is behind the green tables. Deric seemed pretty excited about the kilns. His first firing went great! He's had to repair and fix some things, but he is a pro and hasn't had any problems so far.

The rusted mesh metal part is the door that you push closed. The inside of the kiln is the white part. You build shelves and stack the pottery so they aren't touching. Then you heat it up to like a million degrees for a whole day. My knowledge on kiln firing is extensive and spot on I'd say.

Whoa, I just noticed the smoke marks on the door back behind Deric. That is the kiln room. The previous teacher must have gotten a little firing happy or something. I don't think there should have been smoke coming out of that door, that is what chimneys are for. ? But again, I'm no expert. 

Here is another view of this corner of the classroom. What a handsome art teacher he is.

I didn't get a picture of the back wall because it was just storage and a door to the glazing room. I don't have a picture of the glazing room either because its pretty boring. It had a bunch of premixed glazes in buckets and barrels. There are some tables and storage areas of the ingredients to mix into glaze. Nothing out of the norm.

But you can see in this next picture a little bit of the back wall where that door is. It leads to a couple of offices and a "back way" to get to the painting and drawing areas above. Deric said no one really goes that way. Then you see the table there which I think is for wedging clay, and a giant storage rack for the students stuff. (Junk.) Just off the the right of the storage rack is a door that leads to the "lobby" of the Artworks. And behind where I am standing and taking the picture and to the right is Deric's office. ( Deric has an office!)

Here is a better view of that wedging table. And my man.

And duh duh duh da da da DAAAAA! Deric's office! This is the view from the door. He has work benches/desks with cool lights hanging above. On the opposite wall that you can't see are some storage shelves and a mini fridge. Its awesome he has an office, but there really isn't anything too exciting in his office.

Here is the back of his office. I think I should get him a big Star Wars poster or something.

I did find something rather alarming on Deric's door though. I had no idea that he was a closet democrat supporter. None of our conversations from the last election make any sense now... Hmm....

While we were there Deric had something to do so we wandered around the building for a bit. I really liked this picture that we took.

I'm so proud of Deric. This is just the first step (or rather millionth) in many many more steps I'm sure. But we are on our way! Every place we go I'm going to get a picture like this. I just love my nerdy/hip/fun/geeky/academic teachery husband. 

How I Feel On 3/8/2013 11:38AM

Right now I feel tired.

I feel frustrated with my son who needs more attention than I am currently giving him.

I feel sore from falling down the stairs twice yesterday. (Who does that?)

I feel a little under the weather anyway.

I feel relieved that my house is clean for the showing of my house this afternoon, and then again tomorrow for the open house. (We had a showing last week and one on Tuesday.)

I feel excitement and hopeful that all this sudden interest in people wanting to come see my house is a good thing, hopefully leading to someone purchasing SOON.

I feel relieved at the kindness that several friends have shown me lately.

I feel thankful for my husband who works really hard at his jobs. Its not an easy situation (or dealing with easy people either. I was there, I know), and I'm thankful he continues to try hard and do a good job.

I feel lighthearted and happy when my son says something to me in his cute little voice, and now the addition and discovery of his crazy tongue. (It is out and flipping and around all the time.)

I feel not very excited for Saturday. Too much to do that I don't really want to do. Suck it up Heidi.

Mostly, I feel sore and tired.

My Husband Ruined My Life

I know that is a very harsh title and statement to make, but the fact of the matter is, its a little bit true.

I hate spiders. I hate typing the word spider. I hate when I am scrolling along on Pinterest looking at all the fun things I can cook and make, and then someone has posted a terrible picture of  a spider with a description of how to keep them out of your house. I can't handle it. I scroll down super quick to avoid having to look at it anymore, contemplate if I should "unfollow" the person who "pinned it", and then get kind of sad that I won't get to look at all the pins around the spider pin. Ridiculous? NO! I think its entirely realistic and sensible.

Continuing on... I hate all spiders. I hate that they are small (oh my gosh, thank heaven they are small though. No wonder why Ron hates spiders!!!) and that if you happen take your eye off of it for one little second, it disappears! And then the rest of your day (life) is ruined, because you can't uncurl your toes and you can't get rid of that horrible anxious choking feeling in your stomach. (How can a stomach "choke?" I don't know, it seemed an accurate description to me of what it feels like.) Suddenly everything is a spider. That paint splotch in the corner of your room that you've looked at a hundred times before, thank heaven its still a splotch. That piece of lint on the floor by the bed. An embellishment on my husband's pants that were in the dirty clothes hamper. (Seriously, I've done this one twice in the last day. I almost threw them away.) Everything is a spider and everything is ruined until you know where that little B is.

And then the horrible thoughts come into your head, making it much much worse.

"Where did it go?" "What if it jumped on me?" "Is it in my hair?" "What if I leave the room and when I come back its on the door frame above me and then it jumps on me?" (I look really stupid walking into rooms sometimes, trying to peek above the door like a loon.) "What if its in my pillow and crawls on me at night?" "I canNOT go to sleep now until that sucker is found." "Where is my husband?" "He won't kill it unless I KNOW where it is." "I don't want to find it, but I NEED to find it." Terrible.



ANYWAY.


So here's the part where my husband ruined my life. (And probably yours now too for reading this.)


Deric came home from work and was telling me all about his day teaching ceramics. I enjoy hearing about his day anyway, but its been really fun lately because its very fulfilling listening to him talk about living little bits of his dream. He tells me about the things that he has learned, or about how some of his students just don't care or whatever his current tale may be. Deric finished telling me about his day, I finished telling him about my day (Bladen is still sickish, cries a lot because he's not feeling 100%, we watched a ton of movies, and then I cooked dinner). Then at the end of our meal he pipes up excitedly that something interesting happened to him at work today. He seems so eager and happy, I just know its going to be something good because he wants to share his joy with me....

"So you know how I like to push the button 3 times on a drinking fountain to make sure its clean?" "Yes" (Ya big weirdo.) "I just like it to be clean, so I always push it 3 times. So at work I went to go get a drink at the fountain and I pushed the button to clean it out. What do you think popped out of it?" "I don't know." (In my mind I'm thinking "lint" or something wholesome and harmless.) "A spider came shooting out!"

Seriously, my jaw hit the floor and my brain exploded a little bit. All I could think was "sick sick sick sick sick, nothing is safe anymore, sick sick sick, nothing!."

Deric continues on, twisting the knife, pulling the plug to my nice warm and comfortable world, and says that the spider (calling it a "he"), "He must have just crawled in there to make his little home, and I just shot him out. Good thing I always check 3 times."

I am not being dramatic. OK, I'm probably not being dramatic enough. Drinking fountains are ruined, unsafe, tainted. Yes, I know that spiders are everywhere and crawl on/touch everything (ah!), but I live a wonderful life of ignorance. If I don't know about it, or don't see it, I'm good to go.

Life is ruined.
I can at least be thankful for something though....

Seriously.