le tired...

I need to post about our new addition....but he keeps me busy...and tired...so tired....and covered in pee... but here he is, Atticus Stark (still trying to figure out a full register-able name).

He's cute. We love him. Ebba might hate him...a little.

two turntables and a microphone?

How about one turntable?

Hookay, so my grandmother has this really cook record player console.  I've always loved it.  Loved the sound coming out of it. Loved the process of using it.  Loved the time spent around it with family.

By the time I was old enough to actually realize how much I appreciated the record player, both my older brother and sister had already laid claim to it.  So being that I have no chance on inheriting it, I've been looking into record players myself.

I started of course with Craig's List.  I soon realized that most record players on Craig's List would need restoration or be waaaaaay out of our price range.  But, I wanted something that looked old/retro/vintage/antique (just pick one).

I then went to trusty Amazon and only found those big clunky wooden looking things that are replicas of something that may have been old.  But to me, they're too gimmicky/fake looking.  Like this one.

Found here. Not my style at all.

I kept googling "record player," "phonograph," and "turntable," but nothing came up that I liked the look of.  I kept thinking, " I've seen a really cool one somewhere, where was that????"  Remembering that it was some kind of store like Anthropologie or something.  Then I remembered, Urban Outfitters.

So quickly I went to the UO website and started looking.  Sure enough.  There it was.  Perfect color and everything.

LOVE!

I love just about everything about this record player.  Color, style, simplicity. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

But then I started wondering about it.  All the reviews are great.  But it doesn't have a am/fm radio.  So it's got my hung up.  Should I go with something like this?

Found here.

This guy has some pretty decent ratings and all the bells and whistles, while still being affordable.  But it's missing the style.

Sigh, what to do, what to do?

mini breakdown?

So I'm having a little breakdown here.  I'll be 30 soon (end of October, that's soon enough) and I don't have a job.  But I don't want a damn job, I want a fucking career.  Sure, I'm certified to teach three and a half subjects, but I'm just not sure it's for me.  God knows the money isn't great (although any money would be great right now) and the hours are meh and the stress is AWFUL!  But I'd rather be doing that and gaining experience rather than job hunting and only finding things  like DSW Sales Associate, Whole Foods Cashier, or whatever office assistant job that comes up.  I hate the idea of all of this.  I want a career.  One that I don't' hate. One that pays decently so I can get Sallie Whoreface Mae of my back.

I thought that this was the whole point of going to school and taking out all those stupid loans, to have a successful career and not have to struggle like so many people who don't even go to any form of higher education.

Guess I was wrong.

Yay!

So when we were making the drive from natchez, MS to Broomfield, CO, I started feeling this tickle in my throat.  You know, the one you get right before your lungs betray you and you get bronchitis?   Yeah, that was what was happening.  Directly on arrive I had full blown bronchitis.  The hacking, coughing, snotting, choking, and even a little barfing as a result of all the hacking.  It was not fun.  On top of that, was the adjusting to the altitude.  Also, not fun.

I'll flat out say it, I'm fat.  So straight off, I already have things against me while adjusting to the altitude.  In Mississippi, I had been walking just about every day with a fellow teacher.  We walked about 4 miles a day.  Not bad in the sweltering Mississippi heat.  But then the walking slowed down as the busyness of the end of the school year picked up.  

The last couple of weeks, hell even month, I may have walked once...or twice, since I'm trying to be positive.  Then there was a buffer time in Natchez while I was packing up everything there and reorganizing things to be loading onto the moving-trailer.  Then of course the drive here, which now, looking back on it, wasn't sooooo bad.  I mean, there were miles and mies of nothing at some points of the drive, not something I want to do again any time soon.

Upon arrive and a week or so after, we were still trying to figure our apartment out.  Get all the necessities out of the way, get over bronchitis, and do the general I-just-moved-to-a-new-state-what-the-fuck-? stuff.  Now, almost five weeks since our arrive in on fire sunny Colorado, we're pretty much settled in.  We did the Craig's List/Furniture Search (you can read about that in the last post) and feel pretty good about the way the apartment is looking.

So now for the big Yay! that is the title of this post.  Finally, FINALLY, after settling in and getting over bronchitis, I almost feel like me again.  So much so, that I begged Ed to go for a walk with me after he got off work....and it felt GOOD.  

We didn't walk for long and we took Ebba with us, which meant a couple stops to potty.  But I had fun and want to make it a routine.  The biggest YAY of this whole post, I CAN BREATHE AND WALK AT THE SMAE TIME!  Not a big yay for many people and some people may even roll their eyes.  But it was a small accomplishment for me.  So Yay!

p.s. These posts always end up longer than I imagine when I start writing them.  I imagined this one to be like, four lines...

DOGGENS!!!!!!!

Ok, so Ed and I have been toying with the idea of getting a puppy for MONTHS.  We have some concerns of course.  Our main concern is Ebba.  She's seven years old and kind of a bitch (not in the dog way).  We never really socialized Ebba with other dogs and she's not a fan of children.  We kinda feel bad for Ebba.  She lived with us in Illinois for the first two years we had her and then the poor little doggens had a pretty unstable life, back and forth between Florida for a year and Mississippi.  I think it was a little better for her when I lived in Vicksburg and could visit her every weekend.

Nooooowwwwww, we've moved her to Colorado.  She seems to be extremely happy to have her little family back together, although she does seem a little bored.  She LOVES sitting on the balcony and watching all the other dogs in the apartment neighborhood go by, like she's ruling over her domain.

We're just super worried that she won't like a new doggens running around, disrupting her peace and quiet, and turning her new little word upside down.

Even with all of the concerns, we've decided to move ahead.  We debated breeds for a couple months, lab, golden, husky, lab, husky, malamute, lab, husky.  Searching for breeders with pups at the right timing and somewhat fitting our budget helped decide what kind of doggens we were going to add to our home.

We were seriously considering a lab, but it didn't look like it was going to work out, so we started researching Huskies a little more.  That's when I found Elizabeth with Progressive K9 Training and Kennels.  I started emailing her, trying to ask all the right questions (like are there any available???) to see if it was even possible for us to get a puppy.

After emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, and after Ed talked with her on the phone, we decided to pull the trigger. We picked out a puppy!  and sent in the deposit.  There were so many little puppies to choose from.  Of course, we were looking for male and it turns out the options were wide open.  We narrowed it down to three.

The breeder had these guys named (in order) Offbeat, Nisbit, and Nero.  It took a lot of consideration and emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, asking her questions about their personalities.  We eventually decided on Nisbit.  Here are the pictures we've gotten of him since we made the decision.

Annnnnnd yes, he is peeing in that last photo.  That's our puppy!

The next order os business is picking out a name.  Ebba's full name is Mighty Miss Ebba Jean Lucille.  Mighty Miss - for the Mississippi River, Ebba - something German, Jean - my best friend's middle name, Lucille - a reference to a Waylon Jenning's song, "Lucille, you won't do your daddy's will," because she's stubborn.

So we're trying to come up with something just as meaningful as Ebba's full name.  So far we have Atticus Stark.  Atticus for the lawyer in one of our favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird. Stark is both a German word meaning big/strong and a literary reference to a series of Ed's favorite books, Game of Thrones.

Even though Atticus Stark seems kind of final, we don't feel like the name is complete, so we're still working on it.  Suggestions?

Can't wait to meet the little guy at the end of the month!

On settling in….

So we are FINALLY getting settled in.  It’s starting to feel a lot more like we actually live here.  This past week Ed’s family came to visit.  So in order to prepare for them, we had to get a lot done.  Also, we were finally able to get some more furniture to help with storage and décor.  All but one piece of our “new” furniture was bought from Craig’s List.  The other piece was bought from a store I found via Craig’s List.

Here’s what we got:

A small dresser for Ed’s closet ($30)

Two accent chairs for the living room ($30, yes! for both!) 

China Cabinet ($50)

And the amazing antique dresser that we splurged on ($150)

Day Bed and brand new mattress ($200)

Even though our guest room and guest closet are acting as a storage unit right now because we still need bookshelves and to unpack a crap ton of boxes, we are definitely feeling more settled in.  So here’s what it looked like before Ed’s family arrived:

The view from the front door.

When you walk through the door, you have the washer/dryer immediately to your right and you can see some of the dining table, all of the kitchen, and into the living room and bedroom.

The Dining "Room"

When Ed's family came, they brought out other two chairs for the table...and you can see the china cabinet in the background of the dining area.  We plan to paint if some cool color and put some kind of design in the back of it.  It also has a light in it...hehe...kind of corny but cool.

The Kitchen

Just the standard apartment kitchen.  We think it's really nice.  But there's not much to do to it.  We did add two chairs to the island.  It's not actually meant to sit at, we don't' think, but we like to sit there.

The Photo Wall

Right between the kitchen and dining area, Ed and I made a photo wall.  Of course we have to change the pictures around and at some art.  We've actually added some cookbooks to the top of it already (one more unpacked box! YAY!)  And that is our awesome antique dresser.  We put the knobs back on it and cleaned it up a bit.  We still don't know yet if we want to paint or stain it, but we LOVE it!

The Living Room

So it's looking a little bare and cramped right now.  That's our new IKEA couch.  and you can see Ebba's bed on the right.  On the left if little big brother's bed (can't wait to get him!).  You can see one of our new chairs.  And even though that coffee table is not our style at all (if you look around, you can tell we don't really have ONE style) IT WAS FREE!.  I was thinking of maybe changing the legs on, painting it, and possibly adding some cool design on top.  I still can't believe that the two chairs were only 30$ for both!  We plan on recovering them in a funky fabric and painting them.

This is the rest of the living area.  We need to acquire/hang art, hang curtains, and just really figure it out a little more.  That sliding glass for leads to the patio.

The Master Bedroom

So the door next to the picture wall obviously heads into the master bedroom.  Not much to see here. Still need to hang some art and decorate a little, but it's pretty much set.

The Master Bath

Off the master bedroom, down a little hallway past the TWO walk in closets, is the master bath.  We added a little extra storage which has been really helpful....and behind that shower curtain is a ginormous tub (soaking tub?) that even Ed can enjoy!

Back through the living room and off the dining are is a little hallway that had a guest bath and a linen closet and leads to the guest bedroom.

So it kinda looks like crap.  We prepared it for Grammy and Karen to sleep in there while they were here.  We also bought a trundle to go under the daybed for extra comfort for guests.  It's not ideal for couples, but for having such a small space, we needed a space saving option, so it works for us.  notice that they also gave us the bedding for the daybed that they had.  We washed it and it's all good.  

Since Ed's family left, he has rearranged the room, moving his bike in with the indoor trainer and his weights.  So it's kind of man-ed up in there.

While Ed's family was here we did add a couple lamps.  They were on sale at Lowe's and since they aren't perfect for what I want (they are a nice style, wrong colors), I plan on spiffying them up a bit too. So if you're reading this post correctly, I have a lot of projects to do!

For those of you not keeping up on Facebook, you'll notice I mentioned little big brother.  I'll post on him later!

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.

On some other 2012 words: change, learn, prepare

From the list of words for 2012, come the words change, learn, and prepare.

I’ve already begun to make some changes.  This weekend I am leaving Clinton and moving to Vicksburg.  This comes with some happy and some sad.  Happy that I no longer have to commute and will have a full two more hours in my day.  Sad that I’m leaving behind the wonderful Boyd/Boyte family who took me in and let me stay with them for almost half a year, even though the original plan was 1-3 months.  So a big “thank you” to them!  I’m sure there will be many more changes this year, but that’s one to start with.

My other word for this post, learn, will also be featured more than just this once, I’m sure, because there are millions of opportunities to learn.  Currently, I am using much of my free time to teach myself and learn more about photography (all aspects of it).  I buy books, read them, use them as workbooks, play with my camera as I read them, etc.  I feel like this could be a never-ending process, but I also feel like I’m learning so much.

I’m also learning so much about teaching, being a teacher, school administration, and the world of education in general.  It’s one of those learning situations where you’re not sure if it’s helping you or hurting you.  What I mean by this is, the more I earn about the education system, the more I’m not sure if I want to be in it for the rest of my working life (or at least not in public/high school).  Part of working at a high school is really making me want to go back and get my PhD.  However, I think about the current job market and there are so many people out there (believe it or not) with German PhDs that I don’t think I’ll ever get a job.  Maybe I should consider another area…maybe international studies? Administration? Anything else?  But what I have learned is that I’m not sure this is the job oath for me.  And I guess it’s good that I’m learning this now, so that I have the option of changing my path before I get stuck in it.

Which brings us to the word prepare.  By learning all I can about every aspect of photography, I feel like I’m preparing myself for the eventual launch of the website that I’ve been working on for too long now.  The more I learn and work towards that goal, the more confidence I have in my photography and self as a photographer.  I feel that there are a few more things that I need to learn/master and put into place before I feel most comfortable, but I’m well on the road to where I need to be.  Even if it is slow and at my own pace, I feel that it’s moving along.

As I mentioned before, these words will have many definitions, and throughout the year these will change again and again.  Maybe I’ll fumble and have to reroute, but here she goes for now!