Come on March 20th!

I heard from the seller the other day that she plans on having everything out of the house by late afternoon on March 20th. So that means we'll get the keys that day! WOOHOO! Now I can finally get excited about moving.

Now we just need to:

Get a lease together for the condo - really just figure out how this whole renting thing works
Move everything out of the condo
Go back and clean the condo
Have the carpets cleaned in the condo
Think about the first project we want to tackle in the house

I'm leaving this Sunday for Ottawa for work and won't be back until really late on the 12th so hopefully Jim packs everything up while I'm gone, lol. A girl can hope right?

It's been 11 days

So one of my New Year's goals was to quit smoking...again. Well it's been 11 days since I've had a cigarette. The other night when I went to the Metallica concert, I didn't even think about it. Not even when the guy sitting in front of me lit one up. The ultimate test I think is at bowling and last Thursday it didn't even cross my mind, so I'm thinking I should be good tonight too. If I get the urge, I just remind myself how stupid, expensive and unhealthy it is. It's just SUCH a STUPID habit!!



That's pretty much the only goal I've worked on. I switch to an 8-hour/day schedule next week as opposed to the 9-hour/day schedule I'm on right now so I plan on starting working out next week. And like I said, hopefully that will lead to better night's sleep which will allow me to get up for work earlier. As far as helping more around the house, I have been trying to keep the clutter to a minimum in the living room / eating area. That's really what makes things look untidy, stupid clutter. I'm not saying we live in a pigsty, but magazines build up, random pieces of mail, coats get thrown on a chair instead of being hung up...you know...the usual.

Thumbs down on New Year's resolutions

I hate New Year's resolutions. I never make them because I know I'll never stick to them. I don't know very many people that have stuck to their resolutions either. Like earlier this year I didn't tell anyone that I wanted to quit smoking but I just did it...for about 6 months. I know, why did I start up again?? Who knows. But I didn't want to make some big deal about it being my resolution because if I failed (and I did) I didn't want people all up in my face about it being my resolution and shame on me for not sticking to it. So no resolutions for me, but I am going to set a few goals that I'd like to reach.

1. Quit smoking...again. I'm going to party it up NYE, but then I'm going to try and be a good girl again. I know I can do it. I've done it in the past. There's just certain things that make me want to smoke. Like being with certain people, or hanging out at the bar. It's such a STUPID habit too!

2. Exercise more. Once again, at the beginning of this year I was pretty good about exercising at least 2-3 times a week. I'd like to do that again. With quitting smoking and exercising I realized how much more energy I had and how much better I was sleeping.

3. Try running again. Jim and I both started the C25K program back in September, but then I screwed up my ankle. He continued on for a few more weeks, but then he stopped too.

4. Get up earlier for work. See, right now I work 8-5:30. But sometimes I don't get in until almost 9 so I have to stay until almost 6:30 some nights. Then if I want to work out after work, that means I'm not getting home until like 8:30-ish. So if I start working out and quit smoking, then I'll be sleeping better and hopefully will be able to get my ass out of bed earlier. Then I can go in around 7:00 a.m. and work until 4:30 p.m. which lets me work out earlier and get home earlier. See, I have a plan :o)

5. Help out more around the house. I realize this sounds kind of stupid, since I'm the woman and that's my job (HA!) but Jim really does almost all of the cleaning and laundry. He doesn't complain (he actually likes cleaning), but I know I should be doing more. I don't think I show him enough how much I appreciate him and everything he does. I was thinking about maybe having a cleaning schedule or something. More for me to follow than him...lol.

6. Save money. Jim told me recently that we need to buy new tires for our truck, and I'm still waiting to get my new camera, but after that it's going to be save, save, save!

7. Experiment with different recipes. I already have a food blog, and I'm not the greatest cook in the world, but I'd like to start branching out and trying new things. I'd really like to try some gluten-free baking since a friend of mine found out this year that she has Celiac Disease. And just a note...Jim used to do most of the cooking too, so I've gotten better with at least helping out there.

Well that's about all I can think of for now. I'll just make another post if I feel like adding to it.

It was a good Christmas

When I was little, we used to have a big family Christmas get-together on Christmas Eve. It just so happened to be my Grandma's birthday as well, so it worked out great. Well Grandma passed away, people moved away and the family just sort of drifted apart.

So for the past few years, we've sort of started a new tradition. We still celebrate Christmas Eve at my parents house, but it's just immediate family. We do a mostly seafood dinner with mussels, shrimp, cod/perch, and this year my dad made stuffed grapeleaves and mom made a cheeseball. Then there's the plate of pickles, olives, hot peppers, etc. We play a little euchre, drink a little wine and/or beer and just hang out.

Me and my sis

The siblings

Me and my boy

Then at 11:00 p.m. we go to church (where we got married) with Jim's parents. My sister and brother joined us this year which was nice. It's a lot of singing, which I'm still not quite used to (I grew up Catholic, so there wasn't much singing involved), but it's a nice way to end the night.

Christmas Day we normally go to Jim's Grandma's house for breakfast, but this year it was at Jim's parents house. We do gifts over there, and then head back to my parents house for gifts and dinner. My parents and Jim's parents only live a street over from each other, so the driving isn't an issue.

I was just excited that I FINALLY got the food processor I've been wanting for like 2 years! Now I can make hummus and salsa and who knows what else.

Jim also got me some cleaning products for the new car. He preempted me opening the gift with a, "you're probably going to hate it, but I think it's cool" comment, so I was already a little worried about what it was going to be. But, I did say I was going to be good and take care of this car better, so I guess he's just helping me with that. Hopefully I don't end up with wax in my eye or carpet cleaner in my hair...we all know how my cleaning escapades go.

The vacuum ate my dingleberries!

I swear, I'm cleaning challenged. After my day yesterday Jim said to me that he didn't realize cleaning was a contact sport. LOL.

See, Jim is the one that does most (ok, all) of the cleaning in our house. Every now and then he'll give me a few tasks to complete, but in all reality, he actually likes it! I know, that's just sick and wrong, but I don't complain.

Well yesterday I didn't have to work and the house was a complete mess so I figured I clean everything. So I started with laundry. I did like three loads. After the third load was done in the washer, I opened it up only to find that the clothes were still sopping wet and not stuck to the side of the machine. Our washing machine has stopped spinning apparently. So I wrung out some of the water and threw them in the dryer.

Next task was vacuuming. I was using the hose part of the vacuum to clean all the nooks and crannies, fine, no big deal. Well I stand up, lift the vacuum up over my feet to move and it feel this tugging on my slipper. I look down and notice missing dingleberries on my right foot. Jim bought me new slippers for Christmas and thought the cats would have fun with the dingleberries...apparently he was wrong and the vacuum had a go at them before the cats did.

See the one slipper sans dingleberries??

Fantastic. And they got all wrapped up in the vacuum so they're all black and greasy now.

So then I moved upstairs to the bathroom and did some more vacuuming. Once again, using the hose attachment, I was doing my thing, when all of a sudden, the attachment popped off and I bashed myself in the lip with the hose. Yeah that felt real good. I'm surprised I didn't get a bloody lip...that sonofabitch hurt pretty bad.

So that was my day. The cleaning got finished, but not without a few casualties along the way. I think I'll leave the cleaning to Jim :o)