We decided on the house with blue carpet, for lack of better options. The one other good option is out because I dared to ask if we would be allowed to strip the wallpaper in the kitchen if we painted the area after (and 2 different wallpapers in the same room that definitely did not match!)... the owner informed me that when we buy our own home we can do whatever we want, but that's not how it works with rentals, that she doesn't want all that change. A simple, "No, I'd rather you didn't," would have sufficed! We were then informed that that house was not right for us. Thank you so much lady for deciding that on my behalf. Anyways... the landlord called and told us that someone else is interested in the blue carpet house, so we had to make a decision and decided to take it. It is much newer and has 3 bedrooms, an attached 2 car garage, and a nice big yard.
So we had to figure out move in/out days... and we knew that we needed to get this all done with by the end of May, but totally forgot that we would be gone for a long weekend to Seattle in the middle of all of that! So we had to work it out to be moved (not unpacked by any means, but moved) before then. That means, next Wednesday we start moving and have one week from then to get out and in and cleaned and painted, yikes! Then we leave Thursday evening for Sacramento to fly out on Friday morning. How crazy can things get? When we get back we'll have less than 2 weeks of school left, and I will most likely be subbing in preschool up until we leave for Seattle on the 14th. Apparently our summer project will be unpacking?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Moving... again!!!
We were informed on Thursday that the owner of the house that we are renting has put it up for sale. And we are not in a position to put a down-payment on a house, and don't want to commit to that with not knowing how long we'll be here... so that means we are house hunting again. The house, of course, could go for a long time without selling, but we are going to be gone a lot this summer, and will only have 30 days notice once it is bought, so we really need to get this whole ordeal done and over with by the beginning of June, ugh. We have found a few good looking options, but have yet to hear back from the landlords if/when we can view them. A lot more options than there were last time we were looking at least. And IF I get this 4th grade job (on that note, I should be finding out about the job this week!), we CAN afford a little higher rent, although we would rather keep it lower and be saving more.
The property management company that we got this house through has one other rental that is $150 more a month, but newer, bigger (1500 sq ft?), 3 bed 2 bath, attached 2 car garage, good sized yard with a shed.... it is really pretty nice... except for this: pale blue carpet in the entire house! Ugh, how do paint any color on the walls when it has to go next to pale blue carpet? It's a decorating nightmare... we will see how it goes.
The property management company that we got this house through has one other rental that is $150 more a month, but newer, bigger (1500 sq ft?), 3 bed 2 bath, attached 2 car garage, good sized yard with a shed.... it is really pretty nice... except for this: pale blue carpet in the entire house! Ugh, how do paint any color on the walls when it has to go next to pale blue carpet? It's a decorating nightmare... we will see how it goes.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Grand Canyon!!
Today is my last day of freedom... however it has been an amazing week off, so I suppose I shouldn't complain... time off does really make it hard to go back... but I know that I will also enjoy it once I get past tomorrow morning.
We left early Saturday morning last week for an 11 hour drive to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (a new state to add to my list of ones I've been to!). When we booked our campsite several months ago, we looked at the average weather for early April and it was said highs in the mid 60s and lows in the mid 30s. However, they of course had unseasonably cold weather while we were there. Definitely the coldest camping I've ever done! We had highs in the mid 40s to mid 50s, and lows in the 20s, and even 18 one night! The day times really weren't too bad because we were walking or hiking and moving around, and it was sunny most of the time. One day had 20 mph winds, 50 mph gusts, and snow/hail/sleet in the evening though.... that was my least favorite by far. The nights wouldn't have been too bad either, but you couldn't collect firewood, and we didn't have any to bring, so we had to buy it and those bundles are not cheap to have a big fire every night (not to mention little fires for cooking too). We ended up going to the evening ranger programs a few nights to stay warm... they were actually very interesting though :).
Now that we've covered how cold it was, onto the fun! Matt and I really do both enjoy camping, and we got a new tent with a lot more space, which made camping even better. Sunday was our first real day there, and we decided it was Easter, so we oughta take it a little easy. We walked along the rim, took the shuttle buses to the view points, took lots of pictures, and got all the touristy stuff out of the way. This was the first time I'd been to the Grand Canyon and it was absolutely breath taking! You really can't describe it well enough. Even when you're there, your eyes can hardly adjust, they just can't quite soak in the depth and distance all over the place. Let's put it this way, we saw a California Condor, which is this huge bird with like an 8 foot wingspan, but we didn't even know it until later because it looked like the size of a raven to us, our eyes couldn't interpret how far away it was.
Each of the next 3 days we did a day hike down into the canyon, each hike was about 1.5 miles in with 1,000 ft elevation change, so 3 miles round trip. I am sure you can imagine that any hike below the rim is 99% down hill, and then 99% uphill... complete with A LOT of steps! It is definitely very different hiking down, and then having to hike back up. It is very hard to judge your energy and know when you need to turn around because the hardest part is yet to come. I think I still prefer mountain hiking where the reverse it true! All the trails are mostly right along a cliff, and two of the trails had a bit of ice and snow on them yet, so you had to go pretty slow at times. And one of the trails was super windy... not exactly the most ideal when you feel like you're going to get blown off the edge! We hiked the Bright Angel trail, which is the most popular (and blocked the intense wind!), the South Kaibab trail, which was the super windy one (good thing we didn't do that one on the 50 mph wind day!), and the Hermit trail, which was very rocky and didn't have as good of views, but hardly had any people.
You could definitely tell it was spring break week! Sunday on the rim was packed, the 2 more popular trails were pretty busy (even on the super windy day when not as many people were out), there were lines for all of the shuttle bus stops, the hotels were packed, and even the campground was pretty full, despite the wintery weather.
We made a few goals while we were there. We want to return next year, or in the next couple of years, to backpack all the way down to the bottom of the canyon (8-9 miles with 6,000 ft elevation change) and camp, then hike back up the next day. Even though it was cold, spring break it the best time to go there because it's way less busy than the summer, and much cooler... the bottom of the canyon temps are only at around 80 (65-70 when we were there, however) in April, as opposed to 130 in July! And we made a goal that we want to visit every single National Park in our lifetimes... there are only like 55, and we've already been to at least half a dozen... we'll see how this goes!
Here are the pics on facebook.
We left early Saturday morning last week for an 11 hour drive to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (a new state to add to my list of ones I've been to!). When we booked our campsite several months ago, we looked at the average weather for early April and it was said highs in the mid 60s and lows in the mid 30s. However, they of course had unseasonably cold weather while we were there. Definitely the coldest camping I've ever done! We had highs in the mid 40s to mid 50s, and lows in the 20s, and even 18 one night! The day times really weren't too bad because we were walking or hiking and moving around, and it was sunny most of the time. One day had 20 mph winds, 50 mph gusts, and snow/hail/sleet in the evening though.... that was my least favorite by far. The nights wouldn't have been too bad either, but you couldn't collect firewood, and we didn't have any to bring, so we had to buy it and those bundles are not cheap to have a big fire every night (not to mention little fires for cooking too). We ended up going to the evening ranger programs a few nights to stay warm... they were actually very interesting though :).
Now that we've covered how cold it was, onto the fun! Matt and I really do both enjoy camping, and we got a new tent with a lot more space, which made camping even better. Sunday was our first real day there, and we decided it was Easter, so we oughta take it a little easy. We walked along the rim, took the shuttle buses to the view points, took lots of pictures, and got all the touristy stuff out of the way. This was the first time I'd been to the Grand Canyon and it was absolutely breath taking! You really can't describe it well enough. Even when you're there, your eyes can hardly adjust, they just can't quite soak in the depth and distance all over the place. Let's put it this way, we saw a California Condor, which is this huge bird with like an 8 foot wingspan, but we didn't even know it until later because it looked like the size of a raven to us, our eyes couldn't interpret how far away it was.
Each of the next 3 days we did a day hike down into the canyon, each hike was about 1.5 miles in with 1,000 ft elevation change, so 3 miles round trip. I am sure you can imagine that any hike below the rim is 99% down hill, and then 99% uphill... complete with A LOT of steps! It is definitely very different hiking down, and then having to hike back up. It is very hard to judge your energy and know when you need to turn around because the hardest part is yet to come. I think I still prefer mountain hiking where the reverse it true! All the trails are mostly right along a cliff, and two of the trails had a bit of ice and snow on them yet, so you had to go pretty slow at times. And one of the trails was super windy... not exactly the most ideal when you feel like you're going to get blown off the edge! We hiked the Bright Angel trail, which is the most popular (and blocked the intense wind!), the South Kaibab trail, which was the super windy one (good thing we didn't do that one on the 50 mph wind day!), and the Hermit trail, which was very rocky and didn't have as good of views, but hardly had any people.
You could definitely tell it was spring break week! Sunday on the rim was packed, the 2 more popular trails were pretty busy (even on the super windy day when not as many people were out), there were lines for all of the shuttle bus stops, the hotels were packed, and even the campground was pretty full, despite the wintery weather.
We made a few goals while we were there. We want to return next year, or in the next couple of years, to backpack all the way down to the bottom of the canyon (8-9 miles with 6,000 ft elevation change) and camp, then hike back up the next day. Even though it was cold, spring break it the best time to go there because it's way less busy than the summer, and much cooler... the bottom of the canyon temps are only at around 80 (65-70 when we were there, however) in April, as opposed to 130 in July! And we made a goal that we want to visit every single National Park in our lifetimes... there are only like 55, and we've already been to at least half a dozen... we'll see how this goes!
Here are the pics on facebook.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tales of the Subsitute...
Last week I ended up subbing for Jr High Bible (which includes one math) all week. I wasn't too thrilled, because our jr highers have been nothing but trouble lately, and it was a lot of work, but gave me some good things to think about and point out to them. In all 3 Bible classes I had them watch some Ray Vanderlaan videos that were about the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. If you don't know what videos I am talking about, it's kind of like a little mini-sermon, but he is in Israel, showing you places and giving you history and extra information as you go. Not the most exciting thing for jr highers to watch, but very interesting, only about 30 minutes long each day, and they had questions that I gave them which we discussed afterwords. It was very handy to show them videos, because then I could keep working on getting thank you letters and receipts/invoices out from the auction!
The 8th graders have 8th grade-itis and are slacking off, talking in class all the time, not paying attention, etc... That's understandable and all, but I have a hard time just letting that slide and not trying to get them back on track. Especially when they are being rude, disrespectful, and just plain mean. The not listening, constant interrupting, and disrespect to me while I am talking is frustrating enough, but what really got to me was how mean they were being to each other! I ended up giving them lectures on their behavior 2 days in a row... this is how they went...
Now, let me preface this with something... I know I am in a Christian school, and firmly believe that I ought to use that as a method of motivating good behavior... however, particularly with jr highers, I feel like I can only pull that card every so often. They tune out enough of what we say already, if I shove WWJD in their faces every day, they aren't going to keep listening. But they pushed too much and it connected with what we had been discussing from the videos, so I used it with full force!
Lecture #1: Shape up in class! I laid into them about their behavior, like talking to each other during class, talking out of turn, making unnecessary comments and noises, not paying attention, all that kind of stuff... We had just been talking about how when Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, that He asked God if there was any way that He could get out of his pending crucifixion. He didn't want to die, He didn't want to go through all of that pain, He didn't want to go to hell and be separated from God! He asked if He could possibly get out of it... BUT said he would do His Father's will if that's what had to be done. He expressed his desire to God, but committed to obeying Him no matter what. Even when hanging on the cross, He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!" So I brought that back to the kids... you don't always get to do what YOU want to do! Even Jesus, who was God, did not get to do what He wanted to do... but he did what needed to be done and obeyed. I told them that they have the same command, to obey God and those God has put in charge of them. They have the same command to do what needs to be done, whether that is dying for Him, or watching a movie they don't particularly want to watch, shutting up when it's not their turn to talk, or doing homework that they don't want to do. Life is all about choices; start making some better ones.
Lecture #2: The very next day they were already back at it. Now is when their mean spirits and attitudes toward each other really started to get to me. Every time I told them to be quite, someone would say, "Yah, so and so, be quiet!" We were looking at different proverbs and they for some reason thought it was appropriate to point classmates out for each moral that was being taught, saying they needed to do that one. I told them that I was sick of listening to how they speak to and treat one another. That I was not in a Christian classroom right now. That they are at a Christian school for a reason, and that reason is not to sit in class and have your classmates pick on you and point out your every fault (and tell you that you have ones that you don't even have). That they should not have to sit there and be made small by the words of their peers, and then have those peers laugh because they think they are so funny and so cool. I am not sitting in a Christian classroom when I see kids finding delight in bullying someone else with their words. I said that I was very disappointed, and that I bet they would be really embarrassed to have their real Bible teacher hear how they've been acting. This FINALLY shut them up. The silence that took over as they thought about this was refreshing. The next day, they really did shape up.
The next day they also got a lecture from another teacher. I know I only had one week to try to make an impact on their behaviors and attitudes, but I hope the jr high teachers keep it up. I give them props for doing that every day. One week was plenty enough for me for a while.
On a lighter note, I subbed in 3rd grade Monday and it was a blast! It was really good for me to see how much better that class is when they are in their own classroom and a structured environment, rather than in library where they can be rather rambunctious. Keep praying that I will get to teach those wonderful kids when they move up to 4th grade next year!
More subbing on the horizon too... our preschool teacher is having surgery, and I will be subbing for her for a couple of weeks after spring break. Busy, busy!
The 8th graders have 8th grade-itis and are slacking off, talking in class all the time, not paying attention, etc... That's understandable and all, but I have a hard time just letting that slide and not trying to get them back on track. Especially when they are being rude, disrespectful, and just plain mean. The not listening, constant interrupting, and disrespect to me while I am talking is frustrating enough, but what really got to me was how mean they were being to each other! I ended up giving them lectures on their behavior 2 days in a row... this is how they went...
Now, let me preface this with something... I know I am in a Christian school, and firmly believe that I ought to use that as a method of motivating good behavior... however, particularly with jr highers, I feel like I can only pull that card every so often. They tune out enough of what we say already, if I shove WWJD in their faces every day, they aren't going to keep listening. But they pushed too much and it connected with what we had been discussing from the videos, so I used it with full force!
Lecture #1: Shape up in class! I laid into them about their behavior, like talking to each other during class, talking out of turn, making unnecessary comments and noises, not paying attention, all that kind of stuff... We had just been talking about how when Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, that He asked God if there was any way that He could get out of his pending crucifixion. He didn't want to die, He didn't want to go through all of that pain, He didn't want to go to hell and be separated from God! He asked if He could possibly get out of it... BUT said he would do His Father's will if that's what had to be done. He expressed his desire to God, but committed to obeying Him no matter what. Even when hanging on the cross, He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!" So I brought that back to the kids... you don't always get to do what YOU want to do! Even Jesus, who was God, did not get to do what He wanted to do... but he did what needed to be done and obeyed. I told them that they have the same command, to obey God and those God has put in charge of them. They have the same command to do what needs to be done, whether that is dying for Him, or watching a movie they don't particularly want to watch, shutting up when it's not their turn to talk, or doing homework that they don't want to do. Life is all about choices; start making some better ones.
Lecture #2: The very next day they were already back at it. Now is when their mean spirits and attitudes toward each other really started to get to me. Every time I told them to be quite, someone would say, "Yah, so and so, be quiet!" We were looking at different proverbs and they for some reason thought it was appropriate to point classmates out for each moral that was being taught, saying they needed to do that one. I told them that I was sick of listening to how they speak to and treat one another. That I was not in a Christian classroom right now. That they are at a Christian school for a reason, and that reason is not to sit in class and have your classmates pick on you and point out your every fault (and tell you that you have ones that you don't even have). That they should not have to sit there and be made small by the words of their peers, and then have those peers laugh because they think they are so funny and so cool. I am not sitting in a Christian classroom when I see kids finding delight in bullying someone else with their words. I said that I was very disappointed, and that I bet they would be really embarrassed to have their real Bible teacher hear how they've been acting. This FINALLY shut them up. The silence that took over as they thought about this was refreshing. The next day, they really did shape up.
The next day they also got a lecture from another teacher. I know I only had one week to try to make an impact on their behaviors and attitudes, but I hope the jr high teachers keep it up. I give them props for doing that every day. One week was plenty enough for me for a while.
On a lighter note, I subbed in 3rd grade Monday and it was a blast! It was really good for me to see how much better that class is when they are in their own classroom and a structured environment, rather than in library where they can be rather rambunctious. Keep praying that I will get to teach those wonderful kids when they move up to 4th grade next year!
More subbing on the horizon too... our preschool teacher is having surgery, and I will be subbing for her for a couple of weeks after spring break. Busy, busy!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Warm Weather!
We have had an amazingly warm and sunny week! It's been in the 70s and sunny every day so far! This weather is the best... it's warm enough to sit in the sun and feel the heat on your skin, but not too hot to break a sweat. The time change has been fabulous as well, I have so much more energy at night when it's light out longer. Nearly every day since Sunday I have sat out in the yard to read for a few min at least... one of the most relaxing and enjoyable things for me :).
It has been great to be able to play with Samson in the yard and tire him out, which turns him into a prefect sleepy puppy at night. We have been working on getting him to stay outside longer too; I am determined to make him more of an outside dog! He also wants to be where we are, so he loves playing in the yard, but as soon as we go in, he wants to also, then whines or barks at the door. We will see if my determination pays off.
Not much else has gone on aside from enjoying the sun and day light. I am going to get as much as I can before it drops back down to the low 60s next week :-P. THIS is why I moved to Cali :).
It has been great to be able to play with Samson in the yard and tire him out, which turns him into a prefect sleepy puppy at night. We have been working on getting him to stay outside longer too; I am determined to make him more of an outside dog! He also wants to be where we are, so he loves playing in the yard, but as soon as we go in, he wants to also, then whines or barks at the door. We will see if my determination pays off.
Not much else has gone on aside from enjoying the sun and day light. I am going to get as much as I can before it drops back down to the low 60s next week :-P. THIS is why I moved to Cali :).
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Stress Relief... Sort of...
It was a big relief to have the auction be over! I worked a lot of hours last week! So, Sunday I forced myself to relax and didn't get started on anything on my long list of to do's that has accumulated from putting it on the back burner for 2 weeks. It was hard, but worth it. It was a beautiful sunny day, but I was still too exhausted to go out and do anything. I ended up sitting in the sun and reading, fabulous.
This week is not quite back to "normal," some things to wrap up from the auction, tons of work that piled up in the library, and my interview for the 4th grade position is on Friday at 8:15 am. It is much less stressful, but still pretty busy.
In other news, our good friends Zach and Sarah had a beautiful baby boy last week! He was in the nicu for a few days because he was born with the umbilical chord around his neck and he stopped breathing, but they are all home and doing well now. We can't wait to meet little Brandon when we visit them in June!
Warm weather is in our forecast, I can't wait to get some sun and low 70s next week! I also just realized that spring break is just over 3 weeks away! I need to start planning our trip out more. And start praying that it will be warm and that we won't freeze while camping! Grand Canyon, here we come!
Some bad news, my Grandpa's girlfriend, Jane, passed away. They found out around Christmas that she had a large brain tumor. She had been going through treatment for it that had very unpleasant side effects. She went into a coma last week, but only lasted a day or so after that. Please pray for peace and comfort for my grandpa. My grandma died just over 5 years ago, and I can't imagine how hard that would be to lose your significant other twice in that time span.
This week is not quite back to "normal," some things to wrap up from the auction, tons of work that piled up in the library, and my interview for the 4th grade position is on Friday at 8:15 am. It is much less stressful, but still pretty busy.
In other news, our good friends Zach and Sarah had a beautiful baby boy last week! He was in the nicu for a few days because he was born with the umbilical chord around his neck and he stopped breathing, but they are all home and doing well now. We can't wait to meet little Brandon when we visit them in June!
Warm weather is in our forecast, I can't wait to get some sun and low 70s next week! I also just realized that spring break is just over 3 weeks away! I need to start planning our trip out more. And start praying that it will be warm and that we won't freeze while camping! Grand Canyon, here we come!
Some bad news, my Grandpa's girlfriend, Jane, passed away. They found out around Christmas that she had a large brain tumor. She had been going through treatment for it that had very unpleasant side effects. She went into a coma last week, but only lasted a day or so after that. Please pray for peace and comfort for my grandpa. My grandma died just over 5 years ago, and I can't imagine how hard that would be to lose your significant other twice in that time span.
Happy Days!
The auction is over!! I really have never been to an auction or event like this, but it was so well done and fun and adorable! Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy much of it, because I was working, answering questions, and solving problems :-P. I gotta give it to the decorations committee, because they did a wonderful job. All of the MCS staff who helped out dressed up in 50s attire too.
...and an ice cream sundae glass with candy
They had people bring their awesome old cars to
park out front to get your picture taken in front of.
The tables had old fashioned candy all over them,
with a record in the middle (with our auction logo on it)...
park out front to get your picture taken in front of.
The tables had old fashioned candy all over them,with a record in the middle (with our auction logo on it)...
...and an ice cream sundae glass with candy making up the ice cream on top of that.
They had guitar cut outs and records hanging from the ceilings by all the silent auction tables.
Someone donated this mini-chopper motorcycle for
the live auction, which worked perfectly as a decoration!
My JunebugCrochet basket in the silent auction.
My friend Katie and I.
So it was a lot of fun for those who came. I was busy registering people, entering new people in, fixing problems, and entering winning bids in. I had a small break and got to peak in on the live auction until those winning bids started coming back to us. At least the caterers brought us some dinner! We were done checking people out by 9:30 or 10, and then we were out of there around 11 (apparently last year they were there until 2 am... thank goodness for organization!).
My JunebugCrochet basket in the silent auction.
My friend Katie and I.
So it was a lot of fun for those who came. I was busy registering people, entering new people in, fixing problems, and entering winning bids in. I had a small break and got to peak in on the live auction until those winning bids started coming back to us. At least the caterers brought us some dinner! We were done checking people out by 9:30 or 10, and then we were out of there around 11 (apparently last year they were there until 2 am... thank goodness for organization!).
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