Saturday, July 30, 2011

Making Changes.

I work in the trucking business. While I don't drive trucks for a living, I do have to drive them around our parking lot. Because of this, I have to be DOT certified - I need a medical license that's annually renewed.

When I got my job in April, the first thing I needed was a medical license. My necessary physical was minimal, but it still came up abnormal. I was referred to a standard practitioner. I figured it was no big deal, and treated it as an annoyance. But it turns out, I'm at a huge risk for heart disease.

I always have known it's something I'm going to have to worry about in the future. My grandma's heart stopped beating when she was 60, and my mom has already had blood clot issues at 44. But I didn't know it was going to be an issue now. I'm freaking 23 (or maybe I'm just ignoring my adulthood?). In any case, it's a wake up call for me.

Nothing is currently wrong with me. I was given the all-clear health-wise, but I now know that I need to change things. According to my doctor, I don't need to make any life-altering, hell-bent changes. I just need to change little things. I'm cutting out little things and switching them for healthier choices (eating wheat bread and getting rid of my daily bagels). I'm using sodium-free and low-sodium items whenever I can, and I'm trying to add veggies and more fruits into my cooking. I'm making more things from scratch - it makes me see how much is going into it, and keeps it healthier. I don't drink pop as it is, but now I'm watching the juices and other things I drink.

It's a really scary thing.

But at least now I know that I have the power to stop it. I can start changing my life now, and help prevent this from becoming a serious problem in the future. I want to have a longer future than my family has a history for.

But don't worry - for now, I'm perfectly fine :) This is just a kick in the pants.

Friday, July 22, 2011

We're not gonna be homeless!!

We have a house people! (to rent, not buy, sadly). We get the keys the night of July 31st, and I can't be more excited. It's a little tiny (in house terms, it's still bigger than our apartment) two bed, one bath bungalow, but it has a basement, a back yard, and a patio. And a driveway! And hardwoods.

The only added expenses (aside from an additional $200/month on our rent) that we're going to have to pay is trash, and we'll need to buy a lawnmower. We already have things like a snow shovel, so that's not a problem. I'm not posting a picture just yet though, because the owners are putting siding on it sometime in the next month. It'll be bothersome that we'll already be living there, but we're at work and school all day anyway, so no issue there. Plus, it'll mean the house is more efficient! Not to mention, we'll be above ground, so we'll have windows and won't need to use lights as much.

I'm really excited. I'll have a yard to do more outdoorsy crafts (like spray painting), and a ton more storage to buy in bulk more and do things like make my own laundry detergent (so I don't have to keep buying hundreds of little bottles of allergy free ALL - ugh). They're even leaving a spare table there, so I'll have a craft space! Plus, Sean's dad is getting a new desk, so we're acquiring the old, gorgeous, huge corner desk (Sean's sibs aren't big on hand-me-downs). I'll probably move down to the basement space while Sean takes over the office space. He's going to have an office at school, but 2L is supposed to be the most intense year - I'm glad we won't have to worry about our living space. It'll be great to really make this place our home for the next two years.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Tiddly Bits.

To be honest, not much is going on lately. Really, it feels like the calm before the storm. But, I feel like it's my blogger duty to let you all in the minor things that are happening.

-It's finals week for Sean. Thankfully he's only in 2 classes for the summer term, but considering they're two 16-week courses crammed into 8 weeks, I'm not sure how much better it is. In any case, he's currently printing off a 44 page outline for his intellectual property final. I should buy stock in paper.

-We think we've found a place to live next year. I really really don't want to jinx it, because it's the perfect place if all goes according to plan. Please, T&Ps. And fingers crossed.

-It's miserably hot here. Like, 105 degrees today (not including humidity). I'd much rather it be hot than raining, but it's still incredibly taxing when you're in and out all day at your job (hence why I don't like the rain!). It makes it so much more exhausting going from hot to cold constantly, and I'm tired all.the.time. It sounds like a storm is brewing outside though, so hopefully it'll cool down a bit. Just out of the excessive heat warning range.

-I finally bought some wine glasses! I snagged 6 at Gordman's for only $8, and I couldn't pass it up. I love wine, and it's nice to not have to drink it out of tumblers ;) Plus, it's much more classy for the holidays.

-I've discovered Pinterest. It's actually quite handy. Instead of bookmarking all of my crafty inspiration, I can pin it to the site. I like being able to have the visual image of my ideas, as well as being able to directly link up to the original page. Love it. If you need an invite, just let me know!

-I'm trying to establish a network within Google+. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it yet though. I majored business communications, with an emphasis in social media uses, so I feel compelled to learn the advantages of it. I'm really digging the conference video chat feature, especially for business meetings, family communications, and even online courses. The circle feature has advantages that other users can't see the circles you've put them in, and that you can share things with only certain circles. A friend of mine has likened it to a 3rd sock (you don't quite know what to do with it). We'll see how it develops.

All and all, things are going decently well. I'm really starting to fit in at my new job and take a roll (I ran the office for the past 2 weeks on my own!). Our little packing nightmare will being soon, but we'll tackle it like everything else. Life, it goes well.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

30 Days.

30 days from now, I will be stepping on to a boat off the coast of Spain.

Spain, people! Eeeek! (can you SEE my excitement?)

It's got me totally freaked out though. I've never traveled overseas, so I'm worried about getting everything in order. I work the day before we leave, and the day after we get back - it's gonna be a crazy, exhausting time. We're leaving from St. Louis, so we have to worry about getting all of our stuff (and our cat, whom mama is watching) out there. I need to find a way to pack both nice dresses for cruise dinner, and cool, lightweight (but concealing) clothes for when we go ashore. Nice heels and casual shoes.

But there's more that I need to do. Like....

1. Find an apartment (this is a big one!). As of September first, we're homeless. We've had a terrible time finding a place to live. It feels like no one is renting. It's really frustrating and disappointing, but we'll get through it. We've got a couple more places to look at this week, and we're really hoping one of them works out. We'll need to move right after we get back from our trip, which makes the whole thing even more stressful.

2. Buy a new camera. I'm leaning towards the Fuji, because it's everything I actually want. The only thing that seems to hold anyone back is the brand name. And since I'm not really a believer in brand name loyalty, I keep leaning farther, mostly due to this post.

3. Pack. I'm not sure how that's gonna happen, but it's got to happen. It'll probably involve lots of googling.

Okay, really it's just the apartment fiasco that's got me stressed. No one will show places until 30 days before, and then they mysteriously get gobbled up before the opening of day 30. UMKC homes, I'm talking about you. We had a perfect place picked out, but we waited 12 hours after we were shown the place, and someone had already rented it out. Erg.

Sean's finals are also next week, which are stressful also. I think he's done with summer term classes. He's reading 250+ pages for each subject a week, because they're trying to teach him all of the material covered in a regular term, but in eight weeks instead of sixteen. He's really stressed trying to get everything down for his finals next week, so I'm just trying to let him stress and accomplish things. I'm trying my hardest to not stress about him stressing, but it's also hard keeping everything up without his help. Ah well.

Here's to not stressing, and St. James Red Velvet wine being on sale :)