Computers ARE a necessity

So we had a few issues with our laptop and it didn't take long at all for me to realize that having a computer is most definitely a necessity in my life. We got it "somewhat" fixed. It is a temporary fix, but it definitely will do for now. I suppose we are now forced to upgrade to a new laptop. This one has been so great to me though......

It's been a while....

So it has been a bit since I have posted, which may or may not matter since I am not sure if anyone even reads this. LOL. I like doing it however, so here we go.
We have moved into our house. I actually need to take pictures of it furnished and decorated, but I am waiting to get curtains. Curtains really change the way a room can look, but I just haven't found any decent ones at a decent price; however, truth be told...I haven't looked much because I have been so crazy busy. I am pretty much back to work full time and we just finished unpacking everything (- a few boxes in the office). I am surely suprised my leg is holding up, but it is! We are having a housewarming party on the 19th, so we have to get the yard ready for that. I am now deciding what kind of food to serve. We have decided on a BBQ, but I am not sure what else. Music is another issue. We don't really have a great stereo, but friends is all that matters!
Well, I think that is all for now. I'll write more soon!

Confidence vs. Meanness

Does confidence come with meanness? Are they essentially one in the same? Why does it seem that people who are self confident are also rude, selfish and for lack of a more sophisticated term - mean? Even my ownself, who is described by others as sweet and too kind find that as I gain confidence at times, I loose my never-ending kindness. So my question is to be confident - does it come with other less negative qualities?

SETTLING IN

Well, we finished moving everything in Sunday night. What a chore! My goodness....if I don't have to move again for 5 years, it will be too soon!!! I love our new place. We are only about 3/4 unpacked and it already feels like home. Brian loves the neighborhood. It is such a tightnit little group. I am so far enjoying it thoroughly.
I need to finish unpacking all of the odds and ends, but I have NO motivation!!! I am so tired. Between moving and work, I just want to lay on the couch and not move! LOL We don't have TV until tomorrow, so of course Brian is occupying himself in the garage. Well, that is all for now, but we are planning to have a housewarming party in April. Details to follow.

No pain no gain is garbage.....

To an extent, I believe the saying no pain means no gain (like with exercising), but when you are talking about an issue like pushing through the pain on my injured foot....I feel the opposite is true. I pushed through what I could of my foot pain today, trying to get stuff packed and moved and now I am in absolutely horrible pain. I really hope with a night's rest I will be ok; otherwise, it is bad news bears tomorrow. We have a full day of moving tomorrow. And I have a full work week ahead of me. It also doesn't help that it has suddenly gotten cold again, which makes my the joint in my ankle feel like it is going to crack. Ok, well, enough of my complaining session.....off to finish dinner.

GETTING A MOVE ON.....

Well, it is Saturday morning. My company has left and we are about 1/3 of the way into moving our stuff over to the new house. We have odds and ends packed and ready to go, but we have a long way to go. It is amazing....no matter how much you try to prepare for moving, you are never ready. We will be moving most of the smaller stuff today. Tomorrow will be all of the furniture and hopefully, we will be spending our first night in the new house tomorrow.

SICKNESS MESSES EVERYTHING UP

I have been getting sick the past two days, which basically means every part of my body hurts and I barely have enough energy to shower. It really sucks because not only do I normal life to live, but I have visitors and I am supposed to be getting ready to move. Grrrrrrr.

New Look

My friend Becky created my new look for my page and I love it!!! I think it is funny that she picked that picture because even though you can't see a lot of my face, it is a picture that makes me happy. LOL. Anyway, isn't she so creative? You have to check out her blog and see all of her fun stuff. Look under my link for "Becky and Tessa's blog". THANK YOU

VISITORS

My sister and her boyfriend, Adam, are here from FL for a whole week! There is so much to see here, but unfortunately not everything is cheap. I hope they have fun while they are here and we can find enough stuff to entertain them with the little money we have. It is nice to have visitors, but all my visitors come at strange times, etiher while I am moving or have no money or am living in corporate housing, etc. LOL Oh well - it is always fun!

Do you know about Love?

So a very good question was posed to me today - "How do you know when you really love someone?" I am sure it is something we have all thought about at some point in time, and I think the answer is probably based on what point of your own life you are in. By that I mean if you have kids, you base it on unconditional love; if you are in a good relationship or a bad, you base it on that; if you are speaking to family, you base it on the obvious - you just do.
But then I thought is that really a sufficient answer? The most frequent answer people give is you just "know". Well if someone is asking you "how do you know" then they apparently it is not that easy for them. And I would say it is not fair to give them that answer. Some people might not know; there are times I thought I knew and in hindsight, I didn't.
So is that the answer? Do you only know in hindsight how much you loved someone? Do you not know til they are gone or you have something better? Now remember this can apply to not only relationships but also family, friends. There are different kinds of love so I suppose the answer would vary depending on their frame of reference. Is it possible then that no one really knows? How can you clearly define that when so much goes into the answer - e.g. emotions, other parts of life like work and money, the object of your "love" and their behavior.
So, my question is - what is your answer on this? If someone asked you that, what would you say? Thoughts thoughts?! Comments please......

Since when did friendship become a job?

I have always thought of friendship as one of life's greatest things. Next to God and (most) family, there is nothing better than a great friend. But as I was talking to one of my friend's today {we were discussing an issue she has with a different friend} and reviewing things going on in my own life, I realized a few things.
People think that you have to qualify in some sort of way to be their friend and that you have to keep up certain standards to stay there. Now if we were talking qualities like "kindness, humor, etc.," I might agree, but since when you have to make enough money or have a certain job to be someone's friend? Since when you have to do what they say or not be yourself to be someone's friend? Doesn't classifing people from your frienship get left at the playground in kindergarten? No it doesn't and it is sad........ in fact, if we raise our children right, it shouldn't even happen then. I see it though, well into middle school, high school AND as a last result, you would hope it got left prior to entering the real world. But no, grown adults act childish even in their later friendships.
I think this applies to relationships as well too. If people had a common respect for others. If people treated their friends or lovers with the respect that they would give a stranger, life would be a lot better. How is it that you will hold the door open for a stanger at the bank, but yell at your wife to hurry up as the door closes in front of her? How is it that you don't even expect the bank to loan you money, but you don't give a friend what you owe them?
I don't know if you all are seeing my point here, but if you are reading this....I challenge you to treat each person in your life with a little extra respect....I have a feeling you will see that in a short time, it will go a long way.

Front of the new house

Here are the much overdue pictures of the front of the house.

Of all the pictures, who could forget to take these? LOL

Everyone must adore the flower bed outside the front window. I can't wait to fill it up with tulips.

Brian's plan for the third photo is to relocate that first bush and put a porch swing out there....cute!

More on the inside of the new house

Well, we finished painting a majority of the inside of the house. We made it through all of the "main" living areas of the house and the hallway. All we have left now is the baseboards (yuck!) and the bedroom. I decided that the baseboards are the worst. Not only do they have to be double taped because of the carpet in the house (its only draw back) but there are so many....lol.








This color is regatta bay that we put in the front room/dining room. We finished off the hallway with Bavarian Cream, but I don't have pictures of that yet. Soon Soon to come.

More on the new house.....the inside.

More pictures of the house....

Here is the before of the kitchen/living room. They are essentially the same room architecture wise, so we gave them
the same color and theme. It is
called Spiceberry. It ended up being a tad redder than I wanted out of the dark brown, but I ended up loving it!!!! It even looks good with the white, but it will actually be trimmed in Bavarian Cream. I'd really love your honest comments.

OUR NEW HOUSE

The corner view of the backyard















The other corner view of the backyard
















Facing the back of the house.
This is the view of the kitchen window.












Other view of back of house. Sliding glass doors go to Master bedroom.












Hi. So we picked a new house to rent. There are some great things about it...most of all being that the owner is looking for long term renters (no moving every year - yeah!). AND she is allowing us to treat the house as our own, but still paying on the cost of improvements. We are really excited about it. I just pray that the location works for us in the long term. We had originally wanted to move "down the hill" or closer to the main cities, but we ended up not doing so.





The neighborhood is small and really quiet. We have a fairly large or decent sized front yard and backyard - it is all fenced in which is not only pretty but great for my Della! I am putting up pictures so you can see. There is lots of yard work to do and we are painting the inside (woo hoo). For those of you that know me know that I do not like white walls, so I am mega excited.

Update on Life - Staying in California

I figured if I was going to start this, I might as well give you an update on where my/our life is. We have almost hit the one year date in California. Our families aren't too happy that we have decided to stay, but for us....we knew pretty much the minute we moved here that we were going to stay. All in all, we love it here. For those of you that are on MySpace, you have seen the great adventures we have had and will hopefully continue since we have been here.

Yes, life has been a bit rough lately. Most of you know I had a terrible accident Sept. 29th, 2007 that I am still recovering from. Friday before last, Brian lost his job. Construction is really slow right now, but I believe we would encounter that everywhere, not just here. So obviously, finances have gotten tough, but I know God has a plan. I just wish I knew what it was. HaHa.

Our lease is up in this house and we found a great little house that I think we will both enjoy more. They were looking for long term renters, which means we can treat the house like our own . I am busy picking out paint right now. I will hopefully have pictures soon!

I think that is all for now.
Oh, for this and for future posts....comments and questions are always welcome!!!!