Book Review: Marley and Me

Okay -- I tried, I really tried! However, I think it's time to admit to myself that reading 50 books this year is not going to happen. That's not to say I'm going to stop trying, but I'm only halfway there and there's only 15.5 weeks to go in the year. One way or the other though, I've really improved my reading habits and had a great time jumping from book to book -- always reading something which was one of my other goals when I started this process. I don't necessarily feel like I've failed, I'm just not as great as I hoped I could be yet, which is okay. Maybe I'll try this again in a year that we don't adopt a baby, write a thesis, graduate, and move to another state. That being said, I'm still going strong and I think I can at least make it to 35 books and if I up my game a bit maybe even to 40. I'll keep you posted! Onto the review...

Marley and Me by John Grogan

It's no secret, now, that I'm feeling a bit homesick for Colorado -- especially now that just two blocks from our condo has been evacuated due to flash flooding. It's crazy! My heart is very much there with all of our friends (who are really more like family) that are trying to stay safe amid all the rain, power outages, flooded streets, and lost lives.

So I drowned my homesick sorrows into this book, and I could not have made a better choice. Of course it doesn't hurt my fondness for the book that the dog is a Labrador Retriever and I had a black version of that same dog as a kid. Smokey was his name and we were like two peas in a pod. He was big and ridiculous as was Marley, so I just ate up all the little anecdotes and how Marley was weaved seamlessly into the Grogan family. The language John used was so comfortable and accessible that I felt as if our memories of our dogs were sitting in a room together exchanging stories.

Because of the movie that was made, most people already love the story of Marley, and I must say that after reading the book I love the movie even more -- which is a sign of a great movie! I cried during pretty much the same parts while reading as I did watching the movie, but there was more purpose behind the tears because I knew more and was more connected to the storyline.

I normally go on and on about books I really love, but there's not much else to say. I really connected with the writing style, the story, the dog, the family...mostly I just think this book was the right book at the right time. It warmed my heart and helped me remember the person I desperately want to become when I have frequently, as of recent, found myself a bit cold, disconnected, and lost. It's quite possible at another time in my life I would not love this read this much, but tonight I'm giving it a hearty and well-deserved

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

And as a final sidenote, the subtitle "Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog," is perfect! The book really is about how this family grew and came to be over 13 years and how Marley helped to shape that family. It's perfect and I hope to have a connection with a dog like I had with Smokey, and Marley had with the Grogan's, very soon! It's been 11-years since my overgrown puppy died and it's time to rekindle that flame...now only to convince Nick!

I'm looking for my next read, so suggestions (preferably quick reads) are welcome! Happy reading!

PS I found out that some of the ladies I attend church with in New Mexico have a book club and I just am so excited build my connections here when I attend next month! Yay for nerdy extroverts!!

Happiness in Every Footstep

I just went into Blogger to edit the post I started Monday. Wanna know what I saw?

Seven.

Seven unfinished posts, and assuming Alexa wakes up before this gets posted (which is almost a guaranteed certainty), this is the eighth post I've started and not posted since August 12th. Let me tell you why.

Ya know what's hard? Moving. Ya know what's harder? Moving and then your kids getting sick. Ya know what's even harder? Moving with sick kiddos and PMSing. Ya know what's even harder than that?? Moving with sick kiddos, catching what they got, PMSing, and NOT KNOWING you're PMSing! (So I go around crying and laughing like a maniac...)

Thank you Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Honestly, it's been a little bit of a tough move for me. Everyone else seems to be handling it well, but I've been really missing my Colorado friends and life there. Everythin is just a little different here, like they want to put green chillies on everything and there are no descent radio stations.

So, I have 7 unfinished posts because I wanted to share my excitement about our new life in New Mexico, but I'm not there yet, and I didn't want to bum everyone out.

Don't get me wrong -- the people here are great, I love my family, our rental house/landlords are great (and no one lives above us). In fact I have told a number of people that I'm just not going to be bummed anymore. Done. I quit being sad.

It's apparently not that easy sometimes. Which is a bummer.

Which doesn't help me feel better at all. It's a tough cycle.

I've been avoiding the word "depressed" (the d-word) because then I just feel defeated by my own emotions. Which is frustrating! Especially when my life is so good! Really, I'm so blessed!

It was when I was talking to my sister Cindy that I said the d-word too many times and tried correcting myself...again...that she put her foot down and said "Rachel, you've gone through a lot! It's okay to feel depressed! You'll get out of it, it's just hard right now!"

Cindy's right. I like her. Someone else who is also right is Dieter F. Uchtdorf, an apostle of God.

There will always be things to complain about -- things that don't seem to go quite right. You can spend your days feeling sad, alone, misunderstood, or unwanted. (How did he know I feel all those things?) But that isn't the journey you had hoped for, and it's not the journey Heavenly Father sent you to take. Remember, you are truly a daughter of God! With this in mind, I invite you to walk confidently and joyfully. Yes, the road has bumps and detours and even some hazards. But don't focus on them. Look for the happiness your Father in Heaven has prepared for you in every step of your journey. Happiness is the destination, but it's also the path.

So that's my plan. Turning off sadness is tough -- trickier than I thought -- but I don't have to focus on those things that aren't just right. Of course things will get better, they always do. In the meantime, I'm going to accentuate the positives! Starting with my adorable kids!

I'll post more often, I promise! And I'll be posting pics of our new place as soon as the tile situation in the dining room is taken care of.

***Update: Alexa didn't wake up. She likes to keep me on my toes.***

Remember When...

It's so crazy that such a vital phase of our life is nearly over. I mean, Colorado has given us so much! A Ph.D., two Master's Degree's, 3 jobs, three residences, our first home, countless friends, innumerable memories, and of course, our two beautiful children and their birth-families.

And now we are 21 days away from leaving it all behind us for a new adventure in New Mexico.

So, come and reminisce with Nick and I as we share some, perhaps, lesser known memories.

Remember when...

We moved to Colorado and didn't have a couch so we walked around AFW (aka The Mecca) and sat in these little beauties for a couple weeks until our couches were delivered (and we had a landline)?

We took that hike up the flatirons but only got halfway before your pants ripped in a very inconvenient place and then I had to hike down in front of you so other hikers wouldn't see...anything?

Someone spray painted this lovely message on the garages outside our window (and when this was our view)?

Our rice cooker lid shattered and it looked happy about it?

We played racquetball all the time and you gave me a black eye (and when I had acne so bad I looked like I had chicken pox)?

I took random, "useless" pictures of you...a lot?

We were totally captivated with the Colorado sky (and still are)?

 We went to those Valentine's Dances for grown ups?

We went to like 5 Rockies games in one summer while I was in grad school and we thought a dude with crazy earrings in was worth a picture (and now it's not even worth a second glance)?

We had two cars and they both broke down the same week we moved?

I somehow convinced you to use your finger to desecrate one of our nation's most honored landmarks and presidents?

I used to work with these kiddos everyday?

My making descent food was actually worthy of a picture because it happened so infrequently?

I was a woman of business and wore clothes like this?

 

Our patio looked like this?

You had to do those shifts at the observatory that were so fun and so cold?

We met Gertrude and Helga?

Our new fridge broke and we had to buy a new one only to find out the old one's problem was that the door didn't close all the way (gosh I loved that fridge)?

All our kid stuff fit into one tiny corner (and we owned and had space for a desk)?

Hope you all enjoyed that waltz down memory lane with us -- I know I did! Have I mentioned we are really going to miss Colorado??

A Little Project: DIY Window Seat

Nick has been working late pretty much every night for the last 3 weeks...and a girl can only read so many books (especially when she's in a bit of a reading slump -- more on that later). Anyway, as I've been clearing out our home of stuff not going to New Mexico with us, I came across a little shelf in the garage, decided it was serving no practical purpose and decided to re-purpose it. This is what I came up with:

And this is what it looked like before:

 My thought was that if I'm going to try my hand at upholstery, I wanted it to be a no regret situation, just in case it went south. So this is actually a Walmart shelving unit we bought years ago for our specific needs and has been collecting dust and junk in our garage since we moved to our condo. If I ended up destroying it, nothing lost!

Which brings me to what I did and how I did it. Well, I followed this tutorial which was featured here and then I adapted it to my needs (like sanding everything down and then painting the unit because there was scuffs and chips and exposed particle board on the bottom of each shelf and the unit itself...we're cheap like that).

About the paint: I got a quart of Glidden Smooth Stone in Satin from Home Depot which ran me about $13. I wanted the color to have both grey and cream in it so it would mesh with whatever room we put it in (and there's quite a bit left in the can). I also took the 1/2 yard of fabric I got at Hobby Lobby for $2 so I could see them side by side.

The rest of the project was just like the tutorial, except I did end up buying the 1" thick roll of 6' long foam from Hobby Lobby, and using my 40% off coupon it ran me like $11. So the total cost for the project ended up being about $30, which I can do on my budget. Plus, I'm just pretty excited about how it turned out!

I know it's nothing really to write home about, but it filled two needs in our house (de-cluttering the garage and a small place for a few books in Alexa's room). It also filled a creativity and exploration bug in me, so now I'm cured for a while (until we move into a new place hopefully). Plus, with all that extra foam, it looks like I'm going to have to try another upholstery project!!

And now I can say I pretty much can woman-handle a drill. BAM!

AND I also proved once again that Pinterest can actually be a useful endeavor! YAY Pinterest!

(Speaking of...did you see our new social media buttons I put up on our sidebar?? Now we're a little social!)

While We Were Out...

Hi All! You may or may not have noticed I've taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging for a while, but all that's about to change. James is now 9.5 weeks old and I am starting to figure out how to be a mom and wife without sleep and with 2 kids. Every time I've sat down to post recently I just got this nagging feeling that I should focus on my screaming kids instead of the blog.

So, here is my super lame post about things I should have posted more in depth about during the last couple months:

1. Nick fake graduated and got a 3-year post-doctorate position at Los Alamos National Labratory in Los Alamos New Mexico!

2. Nick will really graduate in August and defend his thesis after which we'll be moving to Los Alamos!

3. We planted our garden! This year it's peppers, strawberries, and onions.

4. James turned two months old! HOLY COW! He weighs 9 lbs. 6 oz., and is a happy and healthy little boy.

 
5. Alexa still really loves James, nearly to his death a few times, but it's all good natured and no one has been permanently damaged...we think.

6. I have some catching up to do but I'm sticking with my goal of reading 50 books this year! I'm about 40-60% through about 5 books right now, so it's not over yet!

7. Nick went to France back in April leaving me at home with a 3 week old and a 2-year old for 8 days!

 The obligatory "Just in Case You Die" photo

8. The loneliness wasn't too bad though because my sister, Cindy, came out to visit for a few days. We had such a great time!

9. I finished my recreational women's soccer league last Friday and dominated the game by scoring 2/4 goals for our team. I'm really going to miss those ladies!


I'm really sure there are more posts I meant to do, but please, for now, consider me caught up and I'll fill you in on a need-to-know basis! 

Got a post already for tomorrow, so I'm serious this time that I'm back in the blogging world! Woot woot!

Sheet Protectors and Envelopes

While moving, it is amazing the stuff you find!



Like about 150 sheet protectors and 4 boxes of envelopes.

Guess it's always good to have a couple spare!

Our Little Tree

Let me tell you about our little tree.

 

I've posted about our little tree before, because yes, I love it that much.

 

It sat outside the sliding glass door of our apartment for a year and provided me with much entertainment. I should have been better about picturing all the memories I now have of that little tree (this one cat would chase squirrels up it and get stuck all the time).

 

But the most recent memory was when Colorado's schizophrenic weather gave us a snow storm in April just after the tree had bloomed its spring blossoms. The sun came shining in and created the most beautiful scene! My (lack of) photography skills only captured a very small portion of the exquisite beauty.

But now we've moved, and the thing I will miss most about our apartment is our little tree.

These two are my favorites!

I can't wait for nature's little wonders to grace our lives in our new home!

No Wonder Every Picture of Women in the 50's Looks Happy

So after we got the house we had exactly two weeks to get moved out from our apartment into our new home. FYI, that's not as much time as it looks like when you still have to do other things, like shower and eat, let alone turn in school assignments and fulfill church assignments. Craziness! Which explains why posting the last couple weeks has been sparse at best. Well, all the work and no sleep and poor eating habits were getting to me and one day (I think on the 21st) I woke up and I didn't feel well at all. I'm thinking "I really don't have time to be sick." Well, do you want to know what the best cure for tired/acheiness/Idon'twanttodothisanymore is?

Paint your face up, throw on some fake pearls, put your hair in a fun bandanna, and get to work!

Seriously doing that made this mountain of work,

and this

turn into this

and this

and this

and this

and this.

Funny story: right after I took this picture, the women from the Relief Society who said they were coming to help me pack knocked on the door, and I had the hardest time getting the stupid skirt off! I don't mind letting the world know of my ridiculousness, but the women from church coming to relieve me should believe that I was actually getting some work done.

This may explain why it took me hours to clean my bedroom growing up...