On being stuck in a rut…

with no where to go and no way to fix it...

Hookay, so we had to get a rid of a lot of things for this move.  We don’t have a lot of furniture per se, but things still needed to be gotten rid of so that we could do the more economical thing and pull a U-Haul trailer behind the Xterra.   So things like my patio furniture, outdoor lanterns, storage containers (?), and some small pieces of furniture as well as other items, were discarded/given away/etc. 

So upon arrival to the wonderful (slight sarcasm) city of Broomfield, CO, we didn’t have much in the way of making a home.  We DO have just about everything needed for the kitchen though.  However, minus the broken wedding dishes, we still have kitchen stuff sitting all over the counters.  Why? Because we have about 20-30% less cabinet space than in our previous apartment.  So I was thinking, I’d get a china cabinet from Craig’s List and DIY redo it.  Maybe paint it a funky color with a bold pattern in the inside. 

That’s all wonderful…if we had some cash flow.  See we both spent all our dough moving out here to the land of altitude and dryness.  Both of our last paychecks went to moving, leaving us virtually nothing once we got here.  So even though the whole china cabinet idea would only cost about 150-200$, there’s no cash.  So what doesn’t fit in the cabinets sit on the counters, for now.

It’s kind of that way in every room. We have a crap ton of books.  But no book shelf.  So we can’t unpack.

Some of the china is in the TV console/buffet for protection (did I mention the destruction of our wedding china?).  So the items that usually go in there are either still packed up or displaced.

We also do not have a guest bed yet.  Nor do we have the filing cabinets that were in our precious guest bedroom that we used to store our, duh, files.  Those were gotten rid of as well…  So that stuff is still sitting in boxes. 

It seems like there is a lot we need in order to make this place (or any place) feel like home.  I need yarn/craft storage.  Or hell, I guess I could just get of all that too.  Seems to be the trend around here. 

Not all has been bad.  We did manage to buy a couch from Ikea.  

Ektorp

Not the best couch in the world, but hey, we have a place to sit.  We got it in white 1) because we didn't like any of the other colors and 2) because we figured once we decided on a design scheme, we could dye it.  We had bought an ottoman, which made sitting on the couch more enjoyable, but we took it back because after only a few short days of using it, it was showing signs of wear.

So we’re kind of in this circle of “can’t really do much until we get a _____.”  For example, I can’t unpack the books until I get a bookshelf.  I guess I could just stack them in corners in the guest bedroom…

So I sit here.  Seemingly bored.  But I have TONS to do.  I just can’t do it yet.  I keep finding awesome ideas on Pinterest, but I can’t do those either for lack of funds. I also still can’t breath.  Between bronchitis and the change in altitude… I feel like I’m dying all the time.

I have been applying for teaching jobs.  I’ve also started applying for part time jobs for the summer. 

One little thing that makes me happy and that makes this place feel more like a home than just some blah apartment, I made Ed let me use 25$ of our food budget to buy fresh flowers.  I bought peonies.  They are amazingly beautiful.  However, in the middle of next week, when we run out of food, I’ll just have to look at my peonies (which will probably be wilting by then) and be happy.  They smell really good too!

So soon, as in a week from this Friday, we’ll be able to start putting things together in here a LITTLE bit more.  Just in time for Ed’s family to visit (I’m thinking of putting Ed’s mom to work helping me to DIY some side tables and maybe more, we’ll see).

We made a list, broken down room by room, of the things we (mostly me) want in order to make this apartment a home.  So here goes:

Master Bath 

-wire shelves 

My Closet

hanging sweater     

Ed’s Closet

drawers  

Master Bedroom

curtains

lamp

side table  

chair

under bed boxes

Dining Room/ Kitchen

china cabinet

knife block

Living Room

shelves/media storage

two accent/armchairs

side tables (want to DIY)

curtains

ottoman

lamps

rug

Entry-ish Way

small half circle table

lamp

Guest Bath

Little basket for guest supplies

Guest Bedroom

bed and mattress

curtains

and I'm sure there's more

Balcony

patio furniture

plants

grill

General

ironing board

art/frames

tupperware

storage boxes

The crossed out items are ones that we have just purchased.  I don’t expect to make this all just appear one day.  I kind of want to take it slow and actually have things look nice and like they belong….to make it a home and not just a place to live.  Now only if we can get out of this rut.

Broomfield is actually not that bad...I mean, we do have wonderful views of the mountains:   

new !

I did want to add another update for those of you who did not know.  Although, I'm pretty sure you all know and it hits another one of those words for 2012, NEW!

Ed got a NEW job in Colorado at the University of Boulder.  So we moved to a NEW state that we have never lived in before and only visited once.  I am looking for a NEW job here.  We have a NEW apartment that's pretty nice and we bought a NEW couch from IKEA, because we're cheap like that.  Ed will also be teaching a class in the fall, which will be a NEW experience for him.

Dealing with the altitude is not exactly a new experience since we visited in may and got a taste of it.  Although, dealing with the altitude sickness and bronchitis at the same time is in fact a NEW experience for me.

annnnnd now that our little family (me, Ed, and Ebba) is reunited, we plan on making a NEW addition to the family!   At some point this year we would like to welcome a new fur-baby!  I've been going back and forth on breeds from lab to husky...to lab to husky...and then I found the Alaskan Malamute and right now, I'm stuck on them.  I even contacted a breeder in the general area.  Ed first said maybe in August, but we shall see...

Is this pup adorable or what!?

From the Breeder I found in CO

a not so cute update

Well it’s been a long time since my last post.  I was either too tired to write or too afraid that someone would find what I wrote and I would get fired.  Ranting about your job does not give one positive recognition in the workplace.  Speaking of positive, I need to check off some more of the words from my words from 2012 and give some new updates.

Hope, Believe, Persevere, Inspire, Growth, Joy, Cherish, and Positive.

Those are the words from my list of 2012 words that I’m going to write about. Some of them are going to be very short in description…and probably sarcastic.

So as the 2011-2012 school year continued (after my last post), I hoped that it would go by more easily than the first half of the school year.  I ended up moving to Vicksburg and living with a fellow teacher.  The commute was sooo much better (this is one of the positive points) however, as many of you know, that didn’t end well either.  I’m not going to post about that here out of respect for my roommate.  She was a great roommate and if you really want to know, I’ll point you to some newspaper articles or tell you.  But I’m not posting about it for the interwebs to find. 

I also hoped that he school year would end more quickly.  It did not, but it did eventually end.

I believed that I would make it through to the end of the school year without killing someone…and look! I’m not in jail! Success!  Although, on the last day of school, storming down the hall with a writing utensil in my hand, I walked into a fellow teacher’s classroom, blinded by furry, and said in a very loud voice, “I’m about to stab a bitch with a pencil!”  Lucky for her, it was a pen in my hand.

So yeah, throughout the trials and tribulations of the school year, I did persevere.  Hopefully, and I believe I did, I inspired a few students to do better and make more of themselves and get the fuck out of that town.  We shall see.

Growth.  I have definitely grown, both professionally and personally.  I learned that Ed and I can handle a lot.  Although difficult and painful, we managed to survive the past 10 months apart (more perseverance!).

I have also grown as a teacher.  I have learned some boundaries, some new methods, and I now know more about what I should and should not do as a teacher. I also realize now how to handle certain non-teaching related, yet school related, situations.  All of which I will not discuss.

Joy.  I was overflowing with joy when the school year finally ended.  On a more positive note, I did really enjoy teaching a few of my students.  Some of them were really great and I will actually remember them, probably forever.  And along with joy, I will cherish good memories that I made with them during my first year teaching in a normal school situation, although that school was anything but normal.

So to stay on a positive note, even though this year was pretty awful, it was a learning experience.  I do believe that I learned a lot and that this experience has better prepared me for future endeavors.

Much more has happened this year, both positive and negative, and even some mixed reviews in there as well, most of it very personal.  This was basically just a gloss over and I will eventually spill everything…….maybe.