The Best Way to Appreciate Your Job is to Imagine Yourself Without One

I've spent the last year nanny-ing for various families on the side of my job at the school last year, and basically decided that I would just pick up more work and do that all summer because that's what I LOVE (babies, toddlers, children, you name it... unless you name "adults"... not as much.).  This has been the most fulfilling thing I've ever done, and all I had to do to be fulfilled was play and laugh all day long!  Honestly, how difficult could that be with a cute little guy like this:

Do you see what I mean?!  Best part of my whole life!!

Since becoming married though, it has been brought to my attention that I don't work consistently enough, which can be a bit scary when there are consistently enough bills that come.  Every month.  Like clock work.  Lame.

Chris and I talked about it, and decided that it was time to get a consistent job- part time or full.  Just consistent. So I've continued to temporarily watch America's cutest kiddo while looking around.  (Goodbye fantastic work.  So long great little guy.  Ta-ta happiness.)

I continued to look around, but only working a few days a week (depending on the week) allowed me much free time (where I would clean the house and cook great meals with perfect hair, a cute apron, and my most comfortable pumps), and in said "free time", I managed to fit in a tan session here and there, which is my second favorite part of the day because of Gary-Michael.  Gary-Michael is amazing.  (He's the very stereotypical "gay", so you can only imagine how loud and perfect for me he is!  The gay friend that every girl wants.)  He's the manager of my salon, and he is my favorite person outside of my family because he's so great!

We got to chit chatting away one day, and he said, "What do you do now that you aren't working at the school anymore?" which was followed by, "Why don't you come work for me?"  The heavens opened and choirs of angels were singing!

Training started, and I was off to the races. 

The first week of training was 8-5 Monday through Friday in Denver, so I had a 2 1/2 hour commute both ways (thank you, traffic) and I was miserable in the drive.  My daily company, however, was fantastic!  We weren't all going to be in the same district, but we had fun through the week we had together.  There were only five of us, so we basically spent all day goofing around.

So week one came and went, and week two of "in-store training" began.  Luckily, Gary-Michael is my district's trainer, so I had no awkward introductions, and Charley (Charlene) is in my district, so... PARTY!

Charley and I are both fast learners, so we have lots of time to mess around, and Gary-Michael is right there in the action with us.  I was cleaning one of the VersaSpas (spray tan), but didn't want to ruin my shoes, so Charley suggested I put on the shoe covers, which we discovered double as excellent floor skates; they have a smooth glide followed by an abrupt halt- you can imagine our joy!  And we work until 11 at night, so we were already pretty slap-happy.  

Charley (left) and Me (right)

I love love LOVE this job.  Love it.  

Also, check out our cute washer and dryer.  We love them.  More specifically, I love them.  (The closet situation is still working itself out...) 

Best. Birthmonth. Ever. (Thus far...)

Turns out, I'm a pretty fortunate gal.  Who'da thunk?  This has been a darn tootin' good birthmonth, and I'm only half way to my birthDAY.  I have so much to be grateful for, and believe-you-me:  I am.  I have this whole list:

1. Chris and I got our new callings in our new wards.  Chris is a Sunday School teacher for the 15-16 year olds, and I'm in nursery.  Chris is a great teacher.  Chris is great with kids.  Chris is just great.  At everything.  So what?  I was not called to play piano, and I was not called to lead music for anything.  I'm in NURSERY!  Snacks, toys, bubbles, singing time, coloring, KIDS!  Best.  Calling.  Ever.  I know a lot of people say they think this is a great calling (saying nursery is a curse is a thing of the past), but this is literally a dream come true for me.  I can't even explain how excited I am to spend my Sundays with the cutest stinkin' kids in America!  (I can say this because my kids aren't in America yet.)  I may have cried.  Maybe.

2.  Chris and I have a cute little home.  We have heat.  We have A/C.  We have electricity AND indoor plumbing (we're so spoiled).  We have America's tiniest dishwasher, and we LOVE it.  We have a built in table, so that saved us some money and hassle.  We have a large, handicapped bathroom.  There isn't a lot of counter space, but I can literally set up camp on the floor- it's like having a second bedroom (so Chris had better think twice about ticking me off!).  We have about -8 inches of storage space, which may seem like a hassle, but really, it was a blessing; I had to sort through, and throw away a lot of my "treasures" (aka, trash).

What'd I tell you?  Cute, huh?

Our cute kitchen.

America's tiniest dish washer

3.  Sunday dinner last night was a success.  I cooked.  And nobody got hurt.  And it tasted approximately delicious.  Baked chicken breasts with honey mustard, seasoning salt, and parsley leaves, sauteed zucchini,  and tomatoes that were sliced and warmed.  Simple, yet delicious.  Yeah.  I know that doesn't sound impressive to you cookers of the world.  But it is.  I took a poll. 

4.  Chris and I have been married for a month without even talking about divorce.  Three cheers for marriages that last for eternity!  (Do that in your head.  This is not a place for that kind of giddiness.) Also, if Chris ever so much as thought about divorce... well, he knows where the bathroom floor is.  Also, that was a joke.  Kind of.  Also, we've already been married for a month!  What.  Just.  Happened?!

5.  I asked for a puppy and didn't get one.  This means to me that my hubs is better at money than my brain is.  Looking at my track record (... I accidentally sent a live fish down the garbage disposal while I was cleaning his bowl... not a proud moment in my life...), spending hundreds of dollars on a dog probably isn't the best idea.  Also, there's no knowing when I'll be preggo-my-eggo (*wink, wink*), so Chris made a wise decision in holding off for the time being.  (I may or may not ever admit that again.  You probably just witnessed history.)

Aren't I so lucky?  And this birthmonth isn't even over yet!  I haven't even hit the halfway point.  Aren't blessings the best?!

Also, this is my husband.  All the time.  Always.  Thank you Paul.  Thank you DCUO.  Thank you Chuck Norris for growing a nasty-nast beard.  Thank you. (But isn't he cute anyways?!)

"People Who Snore Always Fall Asleep First"

Woah!  Chris is rubbing off on me.  I don't sleep-in (unless you count as a teenager because, "Back in my day..." we woke up at the crack of dawn (I'm talking 5:00 am) for daily scripture study and seminary.  Or, as my case often was, relocated sleep locations early in the morning.), but TWICE this week, I woke up and went back to sleep, only to wake up hours later.  Once when Chris got home from work; we had scripture study, and I fell back asleep rather than getting up and ready as I have been doing.  Again this morning, when my brain told me to get out of bed (and stop being worthless), my body just wouldn't move... until 9 stinkin' o' clock!  What is going on here?!

Well, I'm pretty sure I've figured it out.  No, I'm not burnt out from playing the role of wife.  No, it's not that I'm eating unhealthily, or I'm just lazy as all get out (although...).  It because our bedroom is dark.  Constantly dark.  Often dark.


See, it's like this: Chris works night = sleeps during the day = needs dark to sleep in = blackout-curtains.  Those.  Puppies.  Work.  Let me just show you how well they work:

      This is early afternoon with the lights on.

    This is 30 seconds later with the lights off.

Can you understand how that would be so confusing to one's brain?!  It always looks like I should be asleep.  And it always looks like Chris should be awake/ at work, yet we have those black out curtains (hidden behind the pretty ones) so he can sleep?  Who agrees with me when I point out that this makes no sense?  (Yes, my bed is always made.  I actually did not just make it to take that picture.  Fact.).  

This is my solution: don't fight it.  If my body is telling me I need sleep, then I need sleep, right?  That's how it works for children, and I basically have the emotions of a child... soooo... clearly my logic has some potential. 

There are some major advantages to these curtains.  For example, they keep our room nice and cool with these OUT OF CONTROL temperatures.  (Hey, Texans:  I don't even wanna hear it.  YOU chose to live in Texas, so the triple digits are part of the package.  ;-)  ...)  


Chris and I had a long (but fun) day; we had lunch with Grandmama and Pa (his mom's parents), went to JCPenny's with them, went to Bed Bath & Beyond, and we went to see STUPID, CRAZY, LOVE (like eight years later.  We Fail.)  For those of you who haven't seen it:  It.  was.  Wonderful.  Throw in the towel already and just stinkin' watch it.  All this was done... while I was wearing boots... with heals.  It was nice to finally get home and kick off my shoes, but by the end of everything, we were both drawing near the end of our ropes (not openly grumpy with each other, but getting there).


We got home and snuggled on our cool bed in our cool room.  Chris looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I'm so grumpy."  To which I replied, "I'm sorry you're so grumpy, too."  ;-)  I think he's rubbing off on me.

Gosh, I love this guy.  :-)  ------------>








Note:  As strong and brave as he may be in my eyes, I'm not sure he'd actually be able to hold that boulder up without the body builder (not pictured) to his right.

Home is Whenever I'm with You

After about 57,128,671,903,005,275,111** trips to Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, and Target, Chris and I are almost situated in our new home!  (And by "almost", I mean, "Poor Chris will be hanging pictures and rearranging furniture for the next six months, and even then I won't be happy, but for now, we're too  exhausted to care more than we have.")  Who has two thumbs, and is so thrilled to have a home to share with her best friend?  This girl.

I go through many different phases: super clean, and super apathetic.  Like I said: many.  Luckily for my new hubby and our new home which has already had a few unexpected visitors, I'm currently going through the super clean mode.  There are never dishes left in the sink for more than ten minutes, the bed is made promptly each morning (and then again about four more times during the day following nights that Chris has worked because he has to sleep in that perfectly made bed of ours), trash is taken out often, and laundry is washed, dried, and put away.  Get this: I even cook meals and have started a nifty little food storage for that dreadful, but most likely inevitable, day when we are struggling to meet ends (whenever that may be).  Can I please just add that if this were the 50's, I would be the perfect wife.  (However, this is not the 50's, so the one thing keeping me from perfection is... well... basically my entire personality.)


Tonight has been one of the very few nights Chris has been home since we've moved in, and to reward me for being a woman of the 50's (and just because he's a great guy overall), he made a DELICIOUS meal for dinner.  I can not share the ingredients because then you'll all know exactly how to make it, and I'm pretty sure Chris keeps his recipe locked up in the same place as the one for Bush's Bean, but it was very, very tasty.  Also, it was a nice break from the stuff I throw together for myself when I'm home alone.


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Side Note: On Chris's first day of school, I made his a scrumptious breakfast consisting of many things, but I'd like to focus on the Bacon portion.  I was able to try out a lot of fun wedding gifts, including the tongs that Chris is holding (there's your ONE hint as to what he made).  The very tongs I used to flip the bacon.  The tongs that I thought would only be good for cooking bacon because they only opened 1/4 of an inch.  Just tonight, I learned that those tongs OPEN.  Full.  Blown.  Open.  And they only hardly opened because there's a hidden lock.  As for the perfect 50's wife... We'll just chalk this up to the "Der der der" part of my personality that very deceptive Oxo, which didn't even exist in the 50's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO_(brand)  <-- accurate source).


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I can not count... the amount of people who warned me that the hardest part of marriage is the first bit because it's such a huge adjustment to life.  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but thus far, marriage has be golden.  Granted, we've only been married for a few weeks, but if we can get through the move-in that we've had, I think we could probably handle having QUINTUPLETS on the first go-round (knock on wood... for Chris's sake.)  I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that  1)Thus far, I'm a 50's wife.  2) Chris is gone or asleep 80% of the time.  (Which really is a sad panda because I get so lonely!)  3) Chris is a giver... and I'm a taker.  Good pair.


Oh, yeah!  Also, we love each other.



(To those of you who were wondering about what the heck "Allipher" is supposed to mean:  That would be our celebrity name; the best mix between Allison and Christopher.  It's also Chris's nickname for me when I call him by his full name and he's responding.)





** Could possibly be an exaggeration, but it sure didn't feel like it... so it probably isn't.