Nicole and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Have you ever read this book? Well I am contemplating writing my own book and changing the name from Alexander to Nicole. Saturday was one of THOSE days. You know, those days when you just want to go back to bed and start over. First off, I woke up with a terrible sore throat, clogged head (clogged with snot), and a puffy face. (Don't ask why a puffy face, because I have no idea... it just was for a good 2 hours that morning). Feeling under the weather is the TERRIBLE when you have ONE DAY, one SINGLE day of the week to catch up on things like housework and homework and grocery shopping and THAT day your immune system decides to crash. So I began my day a little ornery and a lot annoyed that I couldn't just sit around and drink cough syrup.

We (Jason and I) decided to do a little housework first, that went okay- although I wasn't as fast as I typically am. After an hour or so of that we decided we needed to head up to the school to take a few quizzes that we had put off until last minute. After studying for an hour at the testing center, we went in to take our tests and APPARENTLY they are only letting people take FINALS, since it is finals week! It makes sense I guess except for that our professor told us that all work was due by December 9th. No one ever mentioned that the testing center deadline was the 4th (and YES Jason and I are fully aware that we shouldn't have put it off until the week before, but really who of you have not done this before). So they told us to go to the Davis campus and take our quizzes (quizzes doesn't really roll off the tongue, maybe the plural for quiz should be quizi). So we ventured, in the cold and snow to the Davis campus... where apparently everyone had been sent because the line to get in the waiting line was a mile long. They were handing out buzzers (you know like the kind you get at restaurants) and our hands never made it on one of those buzzers. Basically, after 3 hours we had accomplished NOTHING, 0, zilch, nada. To me that is the WORST- accomplishing nothing on a day when you need to accomplish a lot and not even enjoying accomplishing nothing. It would have been one thing if we had been lazy at home for 3 hours and didn't accomplish anything.

So then we went grocery shopping, which was pretty uneventful and not that bad. EXCEPT that I am used to going grocery shopping alone and quite enjoy going grocery shopping alone, so when Jason was (in all innocence) trying to help me, I was just too frustrated to listen to his suggestions or opinions. So that made the day a little more HORRIBLE- I never like being mean to Jason, it never makes the day better and then we were both frustrated even more.

After arriving home, I realized that the day was just about over and I still had a few long hours of cleaning to do. So as Jason studied for another final, I began cleaning... still wishing that I could climb in bed and go back to sleep. Here is a little history to the next part of my NO GOOD day... -Our vacuum broke a few weeks ago. Luckily we have another smaller vacuum that we are storing for my mom, so I have been able to use that one. It doesn't work quite as good and it takes a little longer but it's better than nothing (history over)- So as I am vacuuming the living room, the smaller vacuum stops working as well! I layed down on the floor next to the vacuum for a few minutes, to gather the mental will power to not start kicking and screaming like a 2 year old.
I got up, proud of defeating my internal desires to give up on the day, and began cleaning out the fridge and doing the dishes. About 2 minutes into my endeavor, I flipped on the garbage disposal and much to my dismay I did not hear any disposing going on, only a small click... and then nothing. That was the moment when I did give up. I felt like everything I touched was breaking. So I then decided to give up and go take a lavender bubble bath. Doesn't that just sound relaxing? Well it is, when the water is hot! Do you think my water was hot? NOPE, warm for a few minutes, luke warm at best for the majority of the time! That was when I really decided that today was just not my day and it reminded me of this book.

The rest of the night, after I had given up hope of anything working out, wasn't so bad. Jason and I made breakfast for dinner and watched a crazy crazy movie- Coraline (It's like a kid's show on crack). And I would not recommend it for kids.

The only good thing is that I was able to go to sleep and the next day was better. Those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days don't come too often, but when they do it's nice to know I have someone to snuggle up and share my bad day with.

** P.S.... I know there are some moms out there thinking that my day sounds like a piece of cake compared to some of the bad days they have had...but hey, my day will come when I think back about this day and wish for it again but until then I'm glad it's over.

It's been a while. My desire to blog has diminished as of recently, but I will try to do my best with a little updating. We added this little bundle of fur to our family about a month ago. Boy! Why is that you always have to learn from your own mistakes instead of listening to others! OK- saying he was a mistake is a little harsh, but it definitely is an adjustment! The first night we had him, I probably slept 2 full hours because I was so nervous that he was going to pee on the carpet. I have calmed down since then and he has settled into a nice routine. We were thrown right into the middle of dog ownership when 3 days after he came to our house I found little bugs crawling all over him. I rushed him to the vet (probably a little bit of an over reaction, but hey I'm new at this) where they decided he had fleas! GROSS!!! Apparently they are very uncommon in such a cold part of the country but we got him from a farm where he and all of his siblings were kept in a stack of hay bails, so I guess between the moisture and the heat and all of the farm animals came the fleas! So we have been giving him flea baths every week and medicine once a month. Yes- it's sort of disgusting but what are you gonna do! He has turned into a nice little addition. Oh and his name is... Sawyer. Yes, from LOST. Olive doesn't really know what she thinks about him yet. She is so anti-social!We did a lot of festive halloween celebrating. One night Carlie and Tristan came over to carve pumpkins. It has become somewhat of a tradition and this year we all out did ourselves. Tristan looks like he is having fun huh! He was a little discouraged with how long it took to poke the holes in the pumpkin!This was the most tedious pumpkin carving I have ever done. My wrists and hands were sore for the rest of the weekend. I know... I'm weaksauce. The Results:

My Mummy PumpkinTristan's Creepy Peeper PumpkinCarlie's Monster in the Window Pumpkin
Jason's Angels Pumpkin- didn't help the Angels much in the series.Fun stuff! Why does it keep typing in link format? I can't figure it out.
Those are not links...

Jason and I are both really enjoying our new jobs. Jason gets to meet with people who come in to build new kitchens or remodel their old kitchens. He is really good at talking to people and understanding their needs. He also loves drawing/designing the kitchens. Sometimes when he tells me his stories about work I get jealous because it really does sound fun. I hesitate to say this because it might make him sound a little weird- but he really does have an eye for design. I'm glad that we have that in common. I'm sure he has watched A LOT more HGTV than he ever thought he would since we got married. We are already thinking of what things we can do to improve our own kitchen. That will be our summer project for next year! I want the total re-do but it makes more sense for us to just get new laminate counter tops (because I burnt the existing ones) and refinish our existing cabinets with the help of my dad and his shop. And maybe if I'm lucky a tile backsplash?? **Wow, that was a tangent** Anyways, good jobs! I feel really blessed that we were both able to get new jobs and we are so happy in them. Sometimes when I see a UTA para transit bus I think of how grateful I am for Jason's new job/opportunity. Not that driving the bus wasn't a good job, but this one is just better for where we are right now in life.
I am finally starting to feel settled in at The Franklin Group. Everyone has been really great to work with. I love that I was able to get a job doing pretty much the same thing that I was before. There is A LOT to learn when it comes to real estate, so I'm happy that I will be able to use what I have learned the last two years and continue to learn more. I am also very grateful to work so close to home. It makes such a huge difference when you have to leave your house 20 minutes early in the morning and get home 20 minutes later at night. I feel blessed!
Um, what else has been going on in our lives... Oh Jason got a new calling in the primary with the 9 and 10 year olds. There are only 3 of them. I had to sit in his class a few weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. The kids in there are so funny. I got released from my calling as YW secretary and called as the YW 2nd counselor. I fell blessed to still be in YW. I really love the girls and being on the opposite side of the spectrum, serving them instead of being served as a YW. Anyway, there has been a lot going on in our lives lately, just not time to write about it. We are looking forward to the holidays and spending them with family and friends.

Another Bit of Good News...

Jason got the job! It's hard to believe that we both got new jobs in the last two days. Needless to say it has been an emotional week with all of the interviewing, quitting, and changes. I am so happy and proud of Jason! He will be doing something that really interests him and it will be a great opportunity for his future in architecture. Another bonus (the one I think he is most excited about) is a normal schedule! No more waiting to find out his work schedule and no more calls to find out he works at 4:15 am! Leave in the morning get home at 5:00! Consistency is a good thing in my eyes! Finding these jobs has been a good lesson in patience for both of us (especially for me because I needed it more) and I think it paid off!