Monday, January 10, 2011

Cross your fingers pweeeeeeese!!!

I just found another nanny position that is perfect! I mean, seriously, it matches the hours I'm working now perfectly so I could actually nanny for both families! I have emailed them already and am hoping to get a call ASAP! Please pray, dance, cross your fingers... Whatever it is you do, please do this for me! We soooo need this! Honestly, it's incredible that something that coordinates that perfectly with my other job was posted right before I randomly thought to check craigslist. This is perfect!! UGH! I sooooo need this!!!!

Moving on... Kevin and his friend, Ryan, are watching the BCS bowl (Auburn vs. Oregon) on our bangin' 50" TV with surround sound.(For the record, I'm going for Auburn) It is so nice to have a guest! I love Kevin, but I'm naturally a social butterfly, so I need more people around! We went to our new ward on Sunday and it was... weird... I don't know. It was just strange... HaHa! TOO funny! I just got a phone call that the bishop wants to meet with me tomorrow. Here comes a calling :) Guess I'm stuck in this strange ward! It's not at all a bad ward, it was simply a bit of a culture shock being surrounded by young people that are all going through exactly what I'm going through! I'm pretty sure if I just give it a chance and take advantage of the shared experiences, I will make tons of friends and get loads of advice!

Ugh, don't hate me, but I really just want to snuggle up on the couch with my hubby and watch the game! I'll blog later!

Oh the weather outside is... always frightful.

It is so cold! The high for today is 14 and the low is -2. I love this town and I love our apartment, and I adore my husband, but couldn't he choose a warmer Mormon town to go to school!?

Besides the cold, things are going pretty well here! K finally feels all the way better and I still feel a little cruddy, but MUCH better than I was! Turns out, it was probably a bug, since we didn't eat anything that could've poisoned us... Lovely.

I am not having much luck finding a job in Rexburg. One day, Kevin and I literally went door to door asking to speak to managers to see if anybody was hiring. So far, nothing. I do have my part-time position working as a nanny in Rigby (about 15 minutes away), but that's only like 18 hours a week and at $9 an hour, it definitely isn't enough to pay bills. The rent is paid for 4 months, and the car payment is pretty much taken care of, but we need regular income for utilities, cell phones, gas, food.... Kevin has a job at McDonald's, but they haven't called to schedule him, yet, so we're both kind of on the edge right now. I mean, we're fine, don't feel bad for us, or send in the troops, but do pray that we'll find me a job! I was supposed to be working at a big Mexican restaurant about 30 minutes away, but they have been out of touch, so I'm starting to get pretty nervous. Please pray that that will pull through!!!

On a much brighter note, I am enjoying my job as a nanny. I watch 3 little ones: Bradley, age 4. Brooklyn, age 3. Bridger, age 4months. They are lovely kids and I pretty much have it made! I get there at 8:30am and leave at 2:30pm. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I eat breakfast and lunch there, and Brad goes to school for 2 of those hours and then they all nap for an hour! It's easy, the kids are fantastic, the mother is super friendly, it's close-by, and the money is good. The disadvantage is that it's only 18 hours/week and whenever there's no school, I don't work, because the mom can be home. It's not a very steady source of income, but it's income, right?

Well, I have to go get ready for work. I'm only working a few hours today because the dad took off work, so I'll be back later and I may do a few flashback posts before the big BCS Bowl tonight :)

Friday, January 7, 2011

Flashback #1

Kevin and I are still not feeling completely better, but if he's allowed to play Xbox, then I'm allowed to blog!

I know I absolutely will not do any of these events justice by trying to go back and blog in hindsight, but they do need to be recorded... So, last time I blogged, I was a big frazzled mess. Between trying to get everything packed and cleaned and planned, I was a complete disaster! After I blogged, I packed and cleaned and just overall panicked. I remember sitting on the floor of my room at about 10pm crying because I had no idea how everything was going to get done, and Kevin's phone was dead and I hadn't talked to him since like 3pm. It was awful! I was stressed and tired, and all I wanted was to talk to my fiancee and his phone was dead. Finally, at about 1am, he called and said his phone had died and he had just gotten home. I considered fussing at him for it, but decided I didn't have the energy and I'd go bridezilla on him in the morning... That didn't go as planned... At about 7:45am, I get a phone call:
K: Good morning! Are you still sleeping?!?
G: grunt
K: What are you gonna do? Sleep until I get there?
--At this point, I started having suspicions that something was up. I had thought that maybe the Irwins would surprise me by bringing him home early, but I had expected him on Friday and since he didn't come, I decided I shouldn't get my hopes up.--
G: Uh-huh,
K: Well then, get up!
G: Huh?
K: Come downstairs. I'm here.
G: Noyou'renooot...
K: Yes, I am. Come downstairs.
G: You are not downstairs! What are you doing?
K: Watching TV.
G: What are you watching?
K: The news.
--Listen for the sounds of TV, sure enough, the news are on.... NO WAY!--
G: Oh my gosh!!! --put a headband on, just in case!--


G: AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

He came home early! Took a red-eye just to surprise me! I was so excited! Unfortunately, his mom AKA productivity Nazi insisted we continue working and packing, so we went to the storage unit and got things done. I don't know how anything would've gotten done without her cracking the whip! Thanks, Regina :)

The rest of the weekend was spent in complete bliss with him home, tons of snow, and Michael and Tara there visiting as well! Although church got cancelled because of the snow, we still had a great family fun-filled weekend! Okay, K's done playing now, so I'm gonna go snuggle a bit before going to clean the temple tonight! What a cool service project, right!? Talk to you soon :)

At laaaasssttt...!

Ok, ok, I'm back! Sorry it's been so long, but can you blame me!? My sweet lover boy came home from ID, then temple wedding, then reception, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, then packing, packing, packing, then driving, driving, driving, then unpacking, unpacking, unpacking. In a word: MADNeSS! BUT, now I'm back and better than ever! I am Mrs. Irwin now and finally moved into our new apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. I'm debating whether I should go back in time and fill you in on the wedding and reception and the trip, or if I should just pick up here... Comments? For now, I will start here and then maybe have some flashbacks later!

Right now, I am sitting in our brand new bedroom, barely coherent as I have been in and out of it with food poisoning for the past 24 hours. It was either Taco Bell or my homemade waffles.... I vote Taco Bell for sure. It's strange though, because I got sick 13 hours after eating it and Kevin didn't get sick until like 24 hours after eating it... Which leads me to think it may have been waffles... Strangely, I'm pretty glad Kevin also got sick, since we were worried that it was morning sickness and we are SO not ready yet. I know the original plan was to get married the 22nd and be pregnant the 23rd, but we've done some thinking and decided we better get on our feet first. So, when I suddenly started throwing up uncontrollably for no reason, the panic set in. A few hours later, Kevin also started feeling sick, though, so we are a bit more at ease. Anyway, on the 9th our fears will (hopefully) be placated. I decided I better update everyone on what is going on here!

Today is the warmest day since we got here! It is a whole 19 degrees outside, which is a big step up from the 8 or 9 it's been every day. Apparently, they got more snow here recently than normal. Must be my official welcome! So far, though, I've driven in the snow almost daily, and although I've fishtailed a bit, no major fumbles! I am pretty excited to be here. I still wake up every morning and look out the bedroom window at the beautiful Rexburg temple up on the hill directly in front of my window. What an incredible blessing to have a constant reminder of our beautiful marriage covenants and the wonderful source of strength that our faith and beliefs bring us right out our bedroom window!

So far, our whole house is almost completely furnished! The living room is definitely my favorite room right now. We have our black and grey contemporary rug with a black faux leather futon, black and silver end tables, and a black and glass and chrome entertainment center with my 50" flat screen! We also got way cool black and white curtains and cool silver flower wall deco thingies! We have a couple of frames up with our white and asian family's pictures in them ;) Guess we should put real pictures in those, huh? Oh yeah, did I mention we have surround sound, too!? Eventually, we plan on buying some pillows and lamps and stuff, but we refuse to spend any more money until both of our jobs are stable and paying out.

The kitchen is lovely! Thank you for all of the marvelous wedding gifts! It's amazing to be able to open our cabinets and see all sorts of beautiful (and practical) homemaking tools! We've already used the sandwich maker, quesadilla maker, waffle maker, and the blender! Not to mention the mixing bowls, cookie sheets, cooling racks, glasses, plates! So much stuff and it's so nice to be off to such a wonderful wedded start! The kitchen itself has beautiful tile floor and tons of cabinet and counter top space! For the record, with all the stuff we got and I insisted HAD to come to Idaho, we still have plenty of space and the apartment is not at all cluttered ;) We did our first big grocery trip and spent under $200 which I think is good since we had to buy trashcans and a broom and detergent and stuff. Alot of that stuff won't need to be replenished regularly, so I'm confident that we'll be able to afford regular grocery trips.

Yesterday, while I was on the edge of death, our dining room set was delivered! It's a beautiful espresso brown table with 4 matching cushioned chairs! We found it on Craigslist (which is where we've been getting most of our stuff) for $160 including the delivery fee! It was nice to wake up to a new dining room!!! We don't really have anything decorating the dining room yet except a clock on the wall, but I plan on doing a deconstructed collage of the Rexburg temple in black and white in the 10 frame set the Daytons got us as a wedding gift! I just need to get up the hill to the temple and take the pictures! We also need some place mats and a centerpiece for the table, but again, we need to get some money flowing in before we get those things!

The bedroom is pretty bare right now and actually kind of depressing. We have my beautiful cherry wood 4 post bed with a lovely white comforter with turquoise and brown flowers on it and... that's it! We need some nightstands and a dresser, but that will come with time! I do have some frames that I plan on hanging up in here, but I need to put something in them. Pretty sure I'm going to put "The Living Christ" and "The Family: A Proclamation To the World" in them :)! Other than that, the room is pretty depressing, but it is a work in progress!

The bathroom is probably the most complete room in the house. We have everything we could possibly need in there. From coordinating towels, shower curtain ,and a bath rug to a brand new shower head and matching toothbrush holder and soap pump! It's a really bright and cute room! Of course, being the decorator that I am , there are tons of things I could add to the room, but nothing necessary!

The apartment itself is in the 3rd floor of Stonebrook Apartments! We have a covered parking space (so helpful in snowy Idaho) and covered stairwell to the apartments! Kevin has space downstairs to keep his bike and the clubhouse has a 24-hour gym, hot tub, and a theater room, pool table, kitchen, and ping pong table! The complex is really nice and the people we've met so far are, too! Everyone in our stairwell has a wreath and a  welcome mat (and of course we do too!)

Okay, I think I've way out done myself! I need to lay down and possibly try to eat something! I will have pictures up as soon as I have enough energy to walk around! Hope to hear some feedback on whether you want the flashback posts or not :)

Friday, December 17, 2010

Snow, HALT!

No. More. Snow! You are ruining EVERYTHiNG! Doctor's appointment for birth control, cancelled. Cleaning out storage, cancelled. Packing storage, cancelled. Making trees, cancelled. Cleaning out car, cance... Well, I guess I CoUlD do that (if I wanted to...) and if Kevin's flight tomorrow gets cancelled or delayed due to snow, I am going to throw a fit!!

So, what have I been doing all day yesterday and today if not what I was supposed to be doing!? Well, I cleaned and finished packing my bathroom, and started to declutter my bedroom. Today, I am going to finish decluttering my bedroom, pack my bedroom, clean out my car, and make bows for the wedding! Sounds busy, I better get started! More later...

P.S. Feel free to come help :)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Behind already :/

How on Earth am I behind already, you ask? Hmm... Let's see... Of all of the things I was supposed to do today, I finished.... NONE! Ugh! My dad was behind schedule and therefore, I couldn't do anything I was supposed to do today! Instead, I did get other things done! I packed my room and only left out what I'll be using for the next couple of weeks, I packed my bathroom, I finished my laundry, I cleaned my room, and we did finish our Temple Prep classes yesterday! I also went to Target and exchanged a couple of things, bought our thank you cards and pretty clothes for our honeymoon ;) So, all in all, although I am going out of order, I AM getting things done!

Today was a weird day. In case you've missed it, I am crazy about to-do lists and schedules. Today, the worst case scenario actually happened. My dad missed our appointment to clean out the storage unit, so I went and it turns out I can't move anything because it's all packed in there so tight. I need a couple of big, strong men to move some heavy furniture around. Then, I was going to decorate Waverly, but my dad was having dinner with the missionaries at the same time that we were supposed to be decorating... I do love him dearly, but he needs a personal assistant to keep him straight. So now, it looks like we've rescheduled for Thursday morning! So, after waiting a while in the cold, I drove home. When I got home, Regina helped me clean/pack my room and bathroom and fold/hang my laundry! It's so nice to have help and company on such boring tasks :) After we finished, we waited on Dad Irwin to finish installing a thermostat and we left for Target! Yesterday, I got a gift in the mail from Bro. and Sis. Gruber, and when I opened it (a 17-piece Pyrex set!), I noticed one of the bowls was cracked, so I took it to Target to exchange it and went ahead and bought some other stuff I needed (see? PRO-duuuuuuuh-ctive!) Then, we went to dinner at Chic-Fil-A and caught the next ferry back!

On the way there, my best friend, Catherine, called with bad news... She can't make it to D.C. for the wedding :'(! I'm super bummed out because she is my absolute best friend in the whole wide world! It's hard to imagine my wedding day without her by my side, and although I can think of alternate solutions to get her to D.C. without  invalidating her perfectly good reasons, I will let her make her move. At least I will have my mom and grandma with me on that special day!

That special day... hmmm... I can't believe this is really happening to me! In just 8 days, I will be going to the temple to be sealed for time and eternity to the love of my life, Kevin Andrew Irwin! It is so surreal that this is really happening! I have always dreamed of getting married and living happily ever after and here it is!!! I have very little to get done on wedding stuff besides taking care of myself! Mostly, now, I just have to worry  about packing! I am so excited, and barely nervous!

Well, now that I've blogged my little heart out, I'm going to go write to Jeff (Kevin's missionary baby brother), and then hit the sack!

Adios :)!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It's snowing!! LOTS! I woke up this morning, and just like any other morning, checked my text messages and emails, and hopped on Facebook (don't judge me!). I started seeing people's status updates about snow... Hmm..? Seeing as I have several friends all over the country, I started analyzing their geographical locations around the map... It wasn't until I got down to my neighbor that I thought to look outside, and sho'nuff, it is white as can be outside! I love it! I guess I better get used to it, huh?

So, it works out that I don't want to leave the house now, because today is a stay at home day according to my weekly task-list! I have so much to get done this week! Last night, Kevin and I figured out exactly what we were taking to ID and what we were leaving behind in the storage unit! I plan on posting a separate blog to list the things we are getting rid of, but I'll go ahead and list them. If you'll come haul it, it's yours for FREE! A queen sized box spring and mattress, mismatched dishes, a couple of pots and pans, a baker's rack, and mismatched glasses. I will be going that way in the next couple of days and everything is getting donated to the DAV, so speak now! WE have pretty much figured out how much stuff we're going to take out there, so now I just have to go sort the storage unit... in the cold... Sounds like fun, right?

As far as the house goes, I could probably have it packed in a couple of days, like today and tomorrow, but I have NO motivation! Being home alone is nice for blogging and watching movies, but not for packing and cleaning! I have had a fairly productive day already, though. I have a load of dishes in the dishwasher and a load of clothes in the washer! At the risk of boring you all to death, I am going to post my task-list on here in hopes that I'll stay on-track since I'll be held accountable by you guys!:

MON 12/13:
-do ALL laundry
-pack bedroom
-pack bedroom
-finish Temple Prep classes

TUE 12/14:
-Move piano
-Get rid of storage stuff
-Decorate Waverly restaurant

WED 12/15:
-Pack and organize storage
-Temple Rec. Interview @ Stake Center

THU 12/16:
-Finish packing home
-Doctor @325pm
-Buy: thank you cards, Christmas lights, and pretty clothes for the honeymoon :)

FRI 12/17:
-Finish creating winter wonderland trees
-Catch up on unfinished tasks
-Pay car off!

SAT 12/18:
-CLEAN!!!

...and, oh yeah... KEViN COMES HOME!!! I am so excited to have my snuffleupagus back home with me! I have missed him sooooo much! He has now been gone over 3 months and I miss him terribly! I can't wait 5 more days! We get married next week, and after a really hectic week following the wedding, hit the road for IDAHO! Woooo-Hooo!

Guess I should get started on my daily to-do, so I don't get screamed at by my blog-followers! Ta-ta for now!