House Hunting

We are considering buying a house while we are here. We would save quite a bit of money if we did, so we're thinking about it.

I was curious one day and decided to look at houses on the internet. We want to stay within our ward boundaries (preferably) so I started ruling out anything that was outside of our ward. I kept finding houses outside of our ward boundaries (we're in the first ward, and I found a TON in the second ward). Then I looked up the two boundaries and I found out why...

[caption id="attachment_373" align="aligncenter" width="898"] our ward boundaries are TINY! And we are literally surrounded by the second ward![/caption]

We'll see if we can find anything within our ward.

Craftyness

So what have I been working on for the last two and a half weeks you ask? I'll show you... well, let me explain first. My visiting teaching companion (Heidi) emailed me around November 25 and told me she needed some help with a sewing project. She asked if I could help her, I told her I would be more than willing to help. Usually when someone asks that kind of question, they are referring to me showing them a technique or something of the sort.

Well... she had something else in mind. As we started to talk about it, she got this guilty smile on her face that made me a bit worried. She's a photographer, so once we get into her apartment, she starts off by saying she wants to trade services. I told her I'm all for that... Then she tells me how much she charges for a photo session ($75-100) and says that she has a project that she thinks is worth that much. UH-OH! Now the wheels are turning in my head... she wants me to fix something that has already been started...

She tells me about how her younger sister started a T-shirt quilt over the summer and got overwhelmed with it, and Heidi told her sister she would finish it for her. But Heidi has two kids under the age of 2... so she doesn't have time to finish it. (I'm thinking, "ok... I can sew straight lines... I can do this") Then she tells me that her sister doesn't really know how to sew, and she didn't give her very good instructions on how to sew a T-shirt quilt, so it's not very well done. (I'm thinking "ok... can you show me what "not well done" looks like?") And then on top of that she asks me to finish it before Christmas! (I had projects of my own that I wanted to start and finish before Christmas. I still don't have a nursing cover for myself... and I want to make a carseat cover... and I was toying around with making a few things for my nieces and nephews... so much for any of those projects being done before Christmas...) She pulls it out and I immediately get overwhelmed... Now I'll show you the before and after pictures. Oh! and she tells me that she doesn't want me to undo any of her sisters original stitching, so any holes need to be patched up...

[caption id="attachment_367" align="aligncenter" width="640"] this is the first side she showed me... I was quite overwhelmed. Actually, I got overwhelmed every time I looked at it...[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Then I find out there's a second side i have to fix! notice the holes? and how uneven the sides are... ug! Oh and did I mention that the two sides aren't the same size either? It just kept getting better and better :)[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="640"] This is most certainly not perfect... actually I debated even putting it up, it's that bad. But I never claimed to be a quilter...[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_365" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Second Side. Oh! I'm so happy that it's over. And now I get free newborn shots of my baby :)[/caption]

Pregnancy Funnies... Again

Week 24: Brother Mumford (in our ward) was talking to us. He said “now, my wife told me that you are expecting? I could be mistaken though.” I told him I was, and he congratulated me. Then he asked when I was due. I told him the 22 of February, and he looked shocked… then you could see him counting how many months that was from now and then said “that’s soon!” We agreed, and I could see him trying to look at my belly without being rude. … Yes, I’m still small and hardly showing :)

Week 28: I have a pregnancy calendar that talks about different things that go on each week. Jonathan started reading it last night (I only put it up this week). On week 29 it says that baby will shed it’s lanugo. He asked what that was and I wasn’t sure but I told him that I thought it was fine hair that is all over baby’s body. He made some sort of comment that our baby is hairy and then rubbed my belly and said “night night fuzzy monster!”

Week 29: As I got up from kneeling down for family prayer I felt the awesome sensation of sciatic nerve pain shooting down my right leg. I have felt this sensation before, but this was by far the most intense I had ever had it. I started shaking my leg in hopes that it would go away… my leg shaking made Jonathan a bit nervous. I think he thought it wasn’t voluntary… anyway, I was telling him about what it felt like and he turned to me and said “Baby, you are getting on mommy’s nerves!”

I’m so glad that we continue to find the humor in life. It makes it so much more enjoyable.

Oops

I had a series of events happen this last week that are blog worthy.

On Thursday I was getting ready for a cookie exchange, and since I don't trust my cookie making ability (because my mom and older sister are AWESOME at making cookies, so I never had to make any) I decided to make popcorn balls. I made some candy popcorn balls, but then wanted to be awesome and make a second type. So I whipped out my trusty caramel popcorn recipe. Seriously, it's the best caramel EVER! I love it! I was in a hurry and for some reason it didn't thicken like it should have. It could have been that I didn't cook it long enough, or I may have messed up the measurements... I'm not sure, but it was more like syrup.

Dang. Well, it still tasted really good, and I didn't want to throw it away, so I thought I would just combine it with some other home made syrup that I had sitting in the fridge. Why did I do that? Because it would be horrible to get another Tupperware dirty... so I poured it in with my old stuff and planned to make waffles on Saturday. Problem fixed... or so I thought.

Saturday morning rolled around and I was super excited to have my caramel syrup on my waffles! We made waffles, and I poured a healthy portion of syrup on top! I took my first bite... mmm it was so good! Then my second bite, and I thought... why am I getting a hit of salty flavor?  I take my third bite, and there was no questioning it. I look at Jonathan and he mentions that the flavor is off somewhere... Then it hit me. I didn't have any extra syrup sitting in the fridge, but I did have some yummy Asian sauce (soy sauce based) sitting in the fridge. ... yay... go me! I ruined a perfectly ruined batch of caramel sauce even more than I thought possible....

Good thing syrup is super fast to make.

Thoughts about physical contact

I went to a grad student party with Jonathan on Saturday. I had a lot of fun, just getting out and seeing the people that he works with. On our way out we saw a friend who we have had over a couple times. Her name is Mikaela and when she saw that we were leaving she stopped me and we chatted for a few minutes. When she stopped me, she gave me a hug and asked how I was doing. Throughout the conversation she kept touching my shoulder, just as a friendly gesture.
As we left, I thought about that a lot. For some reason, that physical contact meant a lot to me. The fact that she hugged me made me feel really good. As I thought about it, I realized that I'm a very physical person, I react a lot to physical touch, even if it's just someone putting a hand on my shoulder while we talk. I used to be a very huggy person... I would hug everyone. For some reason, I don't do that anymore. I have decided that I need to get back to doing that. If I can feel so loved by such a simple gesture, then I need to share that love with others. I feel that love for other people, I just don't show it... so I have decided that I'm going to get back into the habit of being a touchy person.

That's all :)