It's be awhile....

Life has been a roller coaster lately. And I haven't recorded ANY of it!

We spent an amazing weekend in the middle of November in Bakersfield having an early Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and two of the cousins and their families. I love my Bakersfield family, adore them more than I can put in to words. I actually tear up every time we drive away from that house, with my aunt and uncle waving us off. That family has been a real life saver for me, I'm so grateful that they have opened their hearts and home to me ever since I was a child and they will always be home to me. 

Real Thanksgiving was in one word, difficult. It was neat because I ended up making everything but the turkey and pumpkin pie. It was a very hard two days for me, so much so we ended up leaving earlier than we had meant to. My mother's health is getting worse, without going into detail that's really all there is to say about it. I'm ashamed to say though that I had a very hard time dealing with it on that trip, I usually am able to keep it together but I struggled a lot this time around. I was struggling with it so badly that Saturday after we did all our chores and errands Dj kidnapped me and took me to Morro Bay.

The weather was gorgeous, we walked around without sweatshirts until we left, after dark. He bought me fish and chips and a giant cinnamon roll. We walked around and window shopped, I held his hand tightly, he kept telling me he loved me, I kept breathing in the ocean air. It was definitely healing for me. And boy does that kid know how to make me laugh!

Work has been terrible! Completely awful! I got a nice raise in September but it still doesn't make working there any less stressful or pleasant. I'm grateful for one thing though, it's made me realize that I do not want to work in the Medical field for the rest of my life. So Healthcare Administration degree? Nope, you've been tossed to the side pal, I'm moving on and I'm not looking back. So I declared my major at BYU-I (which I start for reals in January btw) as Web Design. Yeah, something I don't really know anything about. Which freaks me out! But what's life without excitement right? So I hate my job but a lot of great coworkers make it bearable.

Dj is currently in the midst of finals week. And, drum roll....interviews! He's like a nervous Nelly because he's realizing that he won't be in school for much longer and he's worried about choosing the wrong place to work. It's pretty exciting because after today he'll officially be half way through his senior year. And to top it off, the Waldron's will have TWO college graduates come June, Dj's mom went back to school a few years ago and graduates a month or so before Dj! That's awesome in my opinion! My mother in law is truly a great example of not giving up on your education, raising three children and still sticking it out and going back to school. So when I'm in the mood to hate school I can look at my husband and my mother in law and know that it actually is possible to survive and that it will be worth it in the end.

December brings lots of excitement, this weekend we're going to my parent's again. My mom is having two major surgeries on her back near Christmas time so this will be the last weekend we'll be able to spend time with them for awhile. I was going to stress myself out trying to go up to Stanford and spend a weekend there with her but my dad didn't think that was a good idea.
Next weekend we're meeting the in laws in Vegas! Yes, Las Vegas, and we'll be spending a few days there with them and seeing a Jeff Dunham show. It should be really fun. I'm excited to spend some time with his parents, just the four of us, and have a fun weekend not thinking about work or school. The weekend after that, right before Christmas, I get to help set up a wedding of two beloved coworkers, I'm making cookies for it too which will be tons of fun for me. And then, Christmas just the two of us, maybe some friends for dinner if there are any left in town, but it should be nice and quiet and relaxing.

Despite the stresses and the negative things life is great, I love it, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm truly the happiest I've ever been. I'm so blessed!

Saturday...

...was one of those days where people say things that kind of just leave you speechless.
First one, I asked the woman I clean for for some advice on surviving school. Mainly about Dj being a senior and all the perks that come with senior projects and stuff. She basically shut me down right away and tells me that I don't have kids so I have it easy, and to get over it, she's paid her dues, now it's time to pay mine.
It was truly astounding. Here we are, both of us each working/doing school 50+ hours per week, along with church callings, work for the landlords, our own housework, ect. And when I ask for her advice about being apart so much that's all she has to say. When she said it to me I was half way in between crying and telling her off but I bit my tongue and held my tears back and just nodded at her. She's a fun lady sometimes but the difficulty of her life has made her less compassionate towards others and it really is hard for me to deal with sometimes.

And the other one. I was at an all woman's broadcast for my church and I was standing in line for dinner when a lady from the ward I grew up in comes up to me to say hello. The first thing she says after we greet each other with a hug is "What?! No babies yet?!" As she looks me up and down in a nosy way. I laughed and said nope and she says "Well are you even trying?!" I smiled at her, mortified that she would say such a thing so loudly and in such a rude tone and simply told her that everyone seemed to be asking me that these days. I'm grateful for Janelle and her gorgeous boy Benson for saving me from the woman and distracting me enough so that my feelings weren't hurt as much as they would have been, the woman's tone was just so condescending. I don't know if she heard what the woman said but Janelle has always been so kind to me that I'm grateful that I know her and that she came up to me at that moment.

I guess I'm just surprised at what people think they can get away with saying to one another. There's things you can ask your close friends but there are things you don't ask or say to people who rent from you, or haven't seen you or talked to you in a few years. I'm grateful for the friends that I do have who treat me well and say kind things to me, if it weren't for them life wouldn't be as pleasant and happy as it is.

This last week I have had a lot of time to ponder life and my immortality. Yesterday was my friend Sharla's memorial service. I can honestly say that I went into it a little worried. She was only 30, she left behind 5 young children and a grieving husband. It had the potential to be difficult and heartbreaking.
And it was, it was both of those things, but it was gorgeous and light hearted as well. I laughed, cried, reminisced, and held Dj close. Through all of this experience, upon hearing of her death and getting through the days that followed I believe the reason I cried was for Michael, her children, and the idea of being without Dj.
I've decided that Mormon memorials are the greatest kind to go to. I've been to a Catholic funeral before as well as non denominational Christian one and they were the most depressing things..
I've also decided that I hope if something like this is to ever happen to my family that Dj and I have a child. Though imagining trying to get along in the world as a single parent doesn't sound ideal I feel that having a little piece of my best friend, my love, would help the grieving process.

I was able to talk to a coworker about death this week as I confided in her about Sharla's death. I told her that it was okay to be sad, heartbroken that she's gone, that it seems like such a long time before we're able to see her again. But they're the lucky ones. She's up there, spending time with all her friends and family who have ever passed away. She's not subject to physical pain. She's in God's presence. And she will be able to watch over her children in a way she never could before.

Life truly is made better by having faith and a testimony of Heavenly Father and the next life.
This is a quote that was shared yesterday, both Sharla Prior and Winnie the Pooh said it best:

"If there ever is a tomorrow we're not together...There is something that you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we are apart...I'll always be with you."

I love my husband, my best friend. I love my life with him. I love that I have eternity to share with him and that no matter what happens in our life, in the end, he's mine forever and we never have to be apart for longer than a few moments.

Eternal Perspective

This week was supposed to be the end to what I've been coining as 'hell week' at work. Please don't be offended by the name, it really was the worst seven days of my 11 months so far at this job. For about two months I was training with the authorizations and eligibility guys to take over his job for seven of the longest, torturous work days of my life. So on top of my daily duties I needed to take on all of his. I survived. Barely, but I did it and I am now the official back up. Luckily for me Donny, the auth guy, didn't get lost on his road trip to Idaho and back and came back to work.

Thursday was my first day of doing only my work again and it glorious.
It came to an abrupt end though, as we came home from work and learned to our utter heartbreak that a good friend had passed away that morning in her sleep. She was one of those people who just loved life and adored her husband and children. Even with five kids I remember her talking about how much she was in love with her husband and her life. Nothing got her down. She loves Disneyland, her best friend Leah, taking photos, and kissing her husband. She's thirty years old and she has five kids under the age of 5 with twin boys who aren't yet a year.
There is nothing that makes me cling to Dj harder than the thought of spending the rest of my life on earth without him. There is nothing that makes me more grateful for my eternal marriage than coming face to face with the idea of eternity in the wake of someone's death. This will be our second funeral in the past few months and I am heartbroken for Mike and Delany, Natalie, Kherrington, Daxton, and Parker. I know Heavenly Father will help them through it, I know that there are purposes in all that He does, it's having the eternal perspective that is difficult.

With all the things that I've had to experience in life, all the trials, heartbreaks, and mountains I have had to climb I've always come out on top. It's been painful, uncomfortable, miserable, and downright impossible at times but I look back and know that I am blessed.
Death, poverty, and the depravities of men will come our way. Terrible things that we never imagined could happen to us will indeed happen to us. They'll push us down, beat us until there is nothing left and our light is almost gone. The real decision for us comes in whether we choose to stand again. We can't let our wounds fester and infect us, we must let them scar over and heal. Life is hard. Good people experience bad things. But we are loved and cared for by someone more intelligent and more powerful than us and despite the things that he doesn't protect us from He loves us and wants the best for us.
So this weekend, I think of all my heartbreaks, all my triumphs, and all my blessings. I will hold onto Dj a little tighter, love him a little more, and look for the silver linings in the dark rain clouds that may come our way.



Love you Sharla and Mike and all your lovely kiddos, there will always be a special place in my heart for your family because of the kindness you've always shown to me.

Zucchinni

I don't have a garden.
When I moved to the country, my every intention was to plant some veggies and enjoy the heck out of them. The road to no where is paved with good intentions though and my little plot of land is now growing weeds and looking very wild and unyielding. Luckily, Kerry, my friend and now neighbor has a garden and she graciously blessed me with a huge zucchini. I realized though, while I was shredding that bad boy that I was in way over my head and I couldn't possibly make that much zucchini bread.

Short story, I made waaaaay too much zucchini bread with a recipe I'd never tried and now I'm stuck bitterly eating zucchini bread that isn't very good.
Another short story, I still have a large tupperware full of shredded zucchini.
So my real purpose in writing this is to share a recipe that cut my huge tupperware in half.
The idea for this came from her: http://www.inerikaskitchen.com/2010/01/mexican-chilaquiles-breakfast-casserole.html

Such an easy one, I'll give it to you the way I did it.
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 16 oz bottle of green sauce (I use Herdez brand green salsa as green sauce, it's my ultimate favorite, I could practically drink it out of the bottle--yeah I know, don't judge.)
1 handful of fresh cilantro
2 generous handfuls of shredded zucchini (now I have huge man-sized hands so use your own discretion, I could have added more probably)
2 handfuls of tortilla chips,  roughly crushed up
some green onion and tomato
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (I boil my chicken with cumin, garlic, and onions)
1 handful of cheese
Mix the whole thing together, throw it in a 9x13 and top with cheese (and more cilantro, I have a weird love of cilantro too)
I baked mine for 25 minutes at 400 degrees, I could have probably baked it a little longer but I was happy with it the way it was.

And here's my casserole straight out of the oven. You can't tell but the cheese was bubbling like crazy and I was trying not to drool on both the iPod and dinner.

We topped it with some fresh guacamole, tomato, and sour cream and had some fresh, sweet watermelon with it.

Best things about this recipe:
1. The thing that drew me to this recipe was it was a 'leftover' recipe, my favorite kind. I had zucchini I needed to use. The green onion, tomato, and cilantro, were all headed out so I needed to use them too. And my chips were starting to turn too and I hate to see some good corn chips thrown out.  If you have some leftover beef from tacos, rotisserie chicken, rice, any veggie you can think of that needs to be used, just toss it in the bowl!
2. It was easy. The hardest part of this was boiling my chicken breast and shredding it. I literally mixed it with my hands like a savage and then poured it into a dish. Simple as that. And it's easy to change, want to go vegetarian for the night? Skip the meat.
3. It was tasty (but I'm slightly biased, I love any and all things 'Mexican' flavored)! I'm blessed to have a husband that will eat anything but when he stands up to take his plate to the sink and exclaims "What? There's more?! Oh my gosh..." and then helps himself to another portion? I'm sold on the recipe, added to the Waldron cookbook faster than a speeding bullet. As I write this at 5:30 in the morning I'm looking forward to the lunchtime leftovers we'll be having today.

It's been forever since I've posted anything on this blog and I really wanted to share this recipe. Hope it helps someone use up the copious amount of zucchini they may have. Enjoy!

Mondays

First off, Avengers. If you like action movies. If you like comedies. See it.
And I have to admit, this one was actually the first 3D movie I actually really liked in 3D. We had movie tickets I'd won at my work Christmas party that we never used because they were for the Arroyo Grande theater but Friday night we paid a few extra bucks for 3D, grabbed some In N Out, and sat down for some enjoyment. If was a really fun date night, we even stayed up pretty late afterwards talking about it because we thought it was so cool.
We've been pretty busy lately but life has been pretty good. Dj's little brother has been doing idiot things and causing stress on the family but besides that, we're living life pretty well. We're getting into the groove of living outside of town and being in charge of doing house and yard work for our landlords. It's tough, not going to lie. I don't usually have the energy to do my own house work or even make dinner sometimes. It's good for us though because we're learning good skills.
Excited for this week, Friday is only a 6 hour shift for me and then shortly after we're headed to Fresno/Madera, to visit the Moses!!! and then see another Moses family created on Saturday. I'm excited for a mini vacation and to hang out with some good friends. It'll be a nice break from school and work.
It's hard to believe it but in exactly a month Dj will be doing finals week and be done until Fall. I'm excited for him to be on summer break so we can start planning some fun stuff. My goal this summer is to go camping at least once and go the beach at least 5 times. We're like thirty minutes from a beach, we shouldn't let the summer pass without going often! Oh and have a bonfire at Port San Luis, that's one of my summer goals too. We're trying to decide on an actual vacation for the two of us to go on during the summer, we're thinking Disneyland for a couple days, but still undecided because Disneyland = $$$$. We're planning a Bakersfield trip in June, a long weekend to spend with the cousins and my aunt and uncle, who I miss terribly. I've been looking forward to this for months, I'm always missing them and I always want to see them.

Time's flying by so quickly and I want to enjoy every minute of it. I can't believe I'm going to be 24 in a couple weeks and that Dj and I will be starting our third year of marriage. It's exciting and unbelievable and I'm trying my best to not let the stresses of life dim the brightness. Life is busy but life is good.

Happy Easter!!

It's been forever since I've posted anything at all, sorry about that, just to reassure you, us Waldrons are still kickin'.

Since we've talked last we've moved from our tiny Studio to a spacious 2 bedroom out in the country. And we love it! So it kind of sucks not being able to just go into town whenever we want but besides that it's been a great thing. Take this view for example:

That's the view from out front window.  The landlords have two cats that hang out nearby too so it's almost like we have pets. They also have 5 chickens and a rooster (who crows all day long, not just in the morning). We get to do yard/house work to supplement our rent too so that helps us get some fresh air and it's helping us learn good habits for the future when we hopefully have a yard too. There's even a spot for us to garden in AND a wood burning stove!! I swear, after being in that dinky apartment for nearly 2 years I feel as if I'm living like a Queen with all the space and the 'luxuries' we're experiencing. For example: the Kitchenaid I got at Christmas time can actually sit on the counter in our new kitchen, I don't actually have to move it from the table to the counter every time I want to use it. It's great!

I'm also officially on my Spring Break! I finished my first semester back at school and got a 97.4 grade! Please forgive me for bragging, but I worked my butt off for that grade and I sacrificed a lot of sleep, cleaning, and time with my husband for it, I'm proud of it so I want to share it with everyone!

And since I love food I'm going to talk about that now. We invited Brad and Shanyn over to share Easter with us, since neither of us have family nearby, and I think it's going to be a good time. I've got a roast in the crock pot but the thing I'm most excited about is dessert! We were given a ton of lemons a few weeks back so every time I make a dessert I try and incorporate lemons into it. A few weeks ago I made lemon cheesecake squares, then I made some banana bread and put some lemon juice in it. For tonight I made this:

So I had some strawberries leftover so I thought I'd do an artsy picture, that's what this is kind of. But I have to say, it's one of the prettiest cakes I've ever made I think. It's a strawberry lemon yogurt cake with a lemon glaze (which is great for dipping any fruit in btw (1cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice)). I have yet to taste it but the batter tasted pretty good so I'm assuming it won't be too bad. And if it is? I have some chocolate which we will melt and dip the strawberries in.
I just hope I can wait until Brad and Shanyn come to have a slice because it is doing it's best to entice me.

Food!

So I posted something on Facebook about making homemade bread that I really liked and Kayde said I should post it on my blog so here it is!

Now it's easier if you have a stand mixer because you don't have to knead it by hand but there isn't a ton of kneading time anyways so it'd be a fun bread to make that you don't have to spend an hour kneading.

1.5 c warm water
1 tbsp dry yeast (it's about one and a half packets)
2 tbsp sugar
a good squirt of honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
3 c flour

1. Turn on oven to 375. Stir together warm water, yeast, sugar, and honey. Stir well and then let sit for about 8-10 minutes until kind of creamy.
2. Add oil, salt, and 1.5 c flour. After it's mixed add rest of flour. Knead in bowl for 8 minutes (of turn out on floured surface and do it the old fashioned way for 10 minutes)
3. Lightly oil large bowl, put in dough, turning to coat with oil (I cheat and use the spray). Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap (don't throw it out, you can use it again later) and let rise for 45-60 minutes in warm area (I turn the oven on while I'm making it and leave the bowl on the stove and then put it in the middle to help it rise)
4. Deflate dough (I spray my hands with oil and use my hands, it's super easy) and knead for 5 minutes.
5. Either divide into rolls or leave in a large loaf and place on a baking sheet. Cover with your plastic and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes (depending on your loaf or rolls, just let it get nice and golden)

Here's a bad phone picture I took of the first time I made it, I just did 4 small rounds of dough, kind of like the size of bread bowls. The only thing I need to work on is figuring out how to get the crust a little more crispy, it's very soft and it would be nice if the crust had a little more substance to it.

We were also given a copious amount of lemons by the Applins and I decided to make lemon bars with them. Like full on homemade lemon bars. They weren't traditional, I made them to have a cheesecake like layer on the top so you have a layer of yummy shortbread, a layer of lemon, and then a layer of cheesecakeyness. It was harder than it should have been, I didn't let the cream cheese soften enough and it didn't spread well. I need to play with the times because I cooked it too long but it still tastes good so here's a picture of that. I think a few more tries at this recipe and I'll have it perfected. That's kind of what I get when I pull different ideas from different recipes and mix them together, it's not perfect but it sure tastes amazing. I loved the crust, I will definitely use that in another way sometime.

Lately

Valentine's day is way past but I thought I'd share what we did. My husband sent roses to my work and they even came with a pretty vase. Side note on that: they died like two days later and they're guaranteed for 7 full days. So I told Dj to just call and get the money back, he spent too much money on them anyways, but the little stinker just got them replaced so they showed up a work again yesterday and they look much more perky and beautiful than the last ones, I meant to get a picture but I forgot. So after work that day we went out to Shin's for sushi and then got some frozen yogurt. I was actually sick, I had woken up that morning with the beginnings of a cold so I barely ate anything and I saved my froyo for later, I couldn't even muster up the energy to spend time with Dj, I went straight to bed when we got home. I bought Dj an electric razor and some heart shaped balloons, he really likes the razor, he's wanted one for a long time. He hasn't officially given me my gift yet but it's a pedicure/manicure. So next time I have the time on a Saturday or something I'll get to go in and get one for the first time! I'm excited but I just need to find a good place to go. I really want to do it this Saturday since I'm finally feeling alive again but it's our stake Temple day so we'll be gone all day.

Oh and an announcement! Dj and I are moving! We're moving to a downstairs apartment that one of the members has under their house, it's just outside of SLO at the bottom of the grade. I'm really excited about it, we've been in this studio for a long time and though I'll miss it terribly I'll enjoy having more space and living in the country again. It's a 2 bedroom (we're skipping the 1 bedroom part of marriage I guess) and it's got a wood burning stove, and the kitchen? It's beautiful! It's full sized and despite not have a dishwasher it's perfect! I can actually have my Kitchenaid out on the counter and not have to move it from the table to the kitchen every time I want to use it like I do now. So after having a tiny kitchen with no counter space for nearly 2 years I'm going to have more counter space than we'll know what to do with. The place is pretty basic and simple, the 2nd bedroom is tiny (I think a queen mattress could fit in it pushed up against the wall with a walkway beside it) and we'll probably just use it for storage. And the blessing is that it's cheaper than the place we're at now, the way the couple who owns it does it, is they ask for about 30 hours of work a month, 20 in the yard, 10 in the house, in exchange for a discount on the rent. I'm excited and I'm hoping that the month goes quickly so we can move in. We're waiting for Dj's spring break so that he can have more time to do stuff. We're putting in our 30 day notice tomorrow! Though last night as I laid in bed, our sliding glass door was open and the frogs were singing so loudly and crickets were chirping and I really hope that we hear frogs and crickets out at our new place too, I'll miss that at night. It's a good thing though and we feel really good about it.

Life is Crazy

I'm in week 6 of my first quarter back at school. When next week rolls around I'll be half way done! I can't believe I've survived this long. Dj and I did some math the other day and realized between work and school we're both pulling 50-60 hours a week. Totally lame! It's so hard some days that I just want to cry. The other day we grabbed dollar tacos at Taco Tuesday, chatted as we ate, and then came home and didn't really interact until he tucked me in for bed. (And I know what you're thinking, your husband tucks you in?!?! Yes! He comes and lays next to me, we talk for a few minutes and then hug and kiss and then he continues on with his homework or whatever while I go to sleep).
It's hard too because lately we've been so busy that stuff like dishes and vacuuming have become obsolete. So last night, even though I had homework, all he had was reading so we both took a chore and did it. They're only half done but at least we have some clean, wrinkled, clothes and at least some clean dishes to eat off of.
My energy has really been tested lately and I'm grateful that Heavenly Father has been giving me the little push I need to finish all my school work. I wish I had energy left to straighten the house and all that too but I our goal is try and do a little bit of something everyday and to not take the chaos out on each other because right now, it's unavoidable.
I'm proud to say that after 6 and a half weeks of class I still have a 98% though I kind of hate seeing my grade change every single time I turn something in. I have to remind myself that this is the easy part and that it's only going to get harder when I start doing classes that will go towards my major. I'm glad I have people supporting me and rooting for my success. Especially Dj, he's my biggest cheerleader and I try and be his.

Institute Class

This past Thursday I had my usual Book of Mormon Institute class. Brother Abbott told us a story of this couple who won a helicopter ride. They left their large number of children at home (I think it was 8 or something like that) and went for an amazing ride. The heartbreaking part is that the helicopter went down during the flight and it killed them both. Their youngest child was just 10 months old. Brother Abbott had one of the middle children in as an institute student a few years back and she told him how she was still getting to know her mother even though she was gone. Her mother had been a faithful journal keeper and this girl was able to read from the journals she kept and still have her mother and father right there with her.
This story really made me think. It made me think about how I wished my own mother had kept journals when she was younger because I would be able to read them and actually get to know the woman my mother used to be before disease ravaged her mind.
Talking to dj about it on the way home made me want to start being better at doing my own journal writing because I know someday I won't be there for my children and I would want them to know who I was. Know some of the things we did when we were still young marrieds who didn't have kids.
I'm trying to decide the best way to do this to. I was thinking, well I have this blog, that's a journal right? But then I thought that maybe some of the blog entries would work but there would be things that I'd want to write that I don't want everyone on the planet being able to access.
So this is what I've come up with. I'm thinking, since my handwriting lacks certain qualities, I'm going to try typing things up and just saving them in word documents. And then when there are enough I'll print them out and put them in a book, along with photos, kind of like scrap booking, but simpler. So then we'll have a binder of journal entries that talk about trips we've taken, hard ships we're going through and will have our testimonies in there. I know I won't be perfect at it but I hope that I can at least succeed in one thing every week or 2 that sums up what's been going on in life.
Because someday, if something happens to me, I want my children to be able to say that they know me even though I may not be there with them.

Fact of the Day

When dj laughs too hard he gets the hiccups.

It's one of the funniest things ever. And I think it will now be a weekly goal to make him laugh so hard he gets the hiccups.


Yes. I know that I am evil :)

School

So I'm a college student again and I've just about finished my 2nd week of school. All I'm waiting for to finish is for my husband to wake up so I can do the 'teach a friend' assignment. I think I'm going to have to do that every week and I don't know if I like it. I hope they let it be the same person every week....he's the only friend I talk to every week.

Anyways it's been going well, last week I was very bitter and I wanted to quit because we had two days to finish 6 assignments that involved lots of reading and writing. This week though I tried very hard to do my assignments throughout the week so today all I had to do was add a finishing paragraph to one last assignment and then this teach a friend thing. I think I can do it. It's a little too early to tell right now but I think I can manage working full time and doing school part time too, this week I even did some of my reading and writing on my lunch breaks which actually helped a lot! The part I'm worried about most is trying to keep my house clean!!! I don't know if I have the energy to make sure the floors stay vacuumed and the kitchen stays clean on top of all that. It isn't like Dj can do a whole lot more to help either though because he's just as busy as I am. I'm looking forward to the day where I don't have to work full time and go to school too. I think I'll enjoy just doing school again like the old days. I'm sure by the time that comes there will probably be a baby thrown in there somewhere so I won't be 'just' doing school but it'll be wonderful to not have to choose between work and schoolwork.

2012

Christmas and New Year's have come and gone. Welcome 2012. We've had a great year and I'm excited to see where '12 brings us. Along with going back to school and trying to survive with a car payment dj and I have been talking our future and we're trying to pray and figure out what to do on that front. He wants to apply for a doctorate program at a number of schools around the country so when he graduates Poly who knows where we'll be headed. A concept that is both exciting and scary for me.
Concerning New Year's resolutions I want to try and be a little more active in my weekly life. I'm not going to go crazy and say an hour everyday because I know I'm NOT going to do that. So I'm hoping for 3 days out of every week where I do something for at least a half hour that demands my body be active. It's not much but I know that I need to start slow or else I'll never do it.
Christmas was fun, I got a kitchen aid mixer, a movie, a cd, a hair straightener, and a couple odds and ends gifts. Dj got a few movies, a game, a new power supply for the computer, and a couple of his own odds and ends, very fun and chill and better than I expected.
I'm all paid up for school and all I need to do is get a notebook for it. I'm getting pretty excited actually, even though this first year is going to be slow it feels like a really good thing for me to do and dj is pretty excited and proud of my for choosing to do this. The only thing I'm nervous about is whether or not his laptop will be able to hold me through the full year because you're supposed to bring a laptop with you every week (not a requirement but strongly encouraged). We'll see how it does this week. Dj starts school tomorrow with early morning classes so I'm curious how he'll do with that, the hard thing is going to be deciding who gets the car each day. Juggling one car is definitely do-able, the hardest part is that one of us has to give up our time, either me walking/riding bike, or him taking the bus. We'll see how it goes but I'm excited to see how the first week of school treats us.