A Little of This and a Little of That.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is, if it's a week day I head straight for the shower; if it's the weekend I usually head for the coffee pot.  I'm not a morning person - I need time to wake up slowly and acclimate to the world before interacting with people is smooth.

I can hardly wait for Phil to be TOTALLY finished with all things school - to have a job and we have two incomes and no more school.


The quickest way to my heart is an unexpected kindness anything from the smallest gesture to a big thought out plan  because my top love languages are acts of kindness and quality time.


A little known fact about me is that I played the violin for four years, from 4th grade through 7th grade. When I think about that it makes me laugh because I have some of the slowest motor skills ever - how would I have ever gotten my fingers to move quickly enough.


The best part about my job is the flexibility.  I have the ability to dream up something and then learn how to do it...which rocks!  Yes it's stressful too but I am so thankful I'm not stuck confined to one task or set of responsibilities.  So for example, I have learned to setup and manage Wordpress websites, video editing, some HTML... the list goes on.


Something I just *couldn't* live without is (disclaimer... I added the asterisks because we all know we could go without most everything) my iPhone (smart phone)... now that I have grown accustom to having the luxury of it I use it all the time.  Directions, Google, weather, things around me, check depositing... I use it all the time as a function of my daily life.
Some of my favorite apps for the iPhone that I think EVERYONE should have:

AROUND ME

WHITE NOISE

BANKING

I have Chase cause that's who we bank with but other banks have them too.  I can deposit check from anywhere which is awesome.  I almost never actually have to go to the bank now.

CODE READER

This app rocks - so if you are at the store trying to decide if something is a good deal... just scan the barcode and it will bring up that item all over the web and you can compare prices... right there!!!

YELP of course, but I really only use it when I travel but I love to have it then.

American Airlines when I fly is a must have.

FLASHLIGHT

UNITS

DROPBOX!!! If you use it.

and of course

HOLY BIBLE

Lots of different translations you can easily switch back and forth from and much more.

Something useful that I wish I knew how to do is crochet.  I just love all the cute stuff you can make. I could probably learn I just haven't made the time. or play the piano.  I just wish I could sit down and play something beautiful - it seems like a very relaxing talent/skill.

This is why I want to crochet cause this stuff is FREAK OUT adorable!!!

I have a whole slew of first world problems!

Therefore I am blessed.... just saying.

Here are a few I was annoyed with this week - pretty silly:

• I couldn't keep my pony tail from slipping out during my soccer game.  Why would my hair tie not hold my hair tight enough? 
• The batteries fell out of my dog's shock collar somewhere in the backyard. How am I supposed to get my dog to mind now?
• I burnt my hand doing dishes cause the water from the faucet was too HOT!  OUCH.... but thankful for hot water.
• I can't keep the door to my freezer closed because it is so full.  I don't even really know what is in there, I really need to clean it out.

So here is a video I thought summed it up well, and made me laugh.

Anyway,  this weekend I concurred the fan!  Awwww it felt so good to FINALLY get that darn thing going.  So here are the gory details.  Let's just say it all began a quite morning probably about six months ago.  Phil had left early for a rotation and I slept in a little bit as I was working from home.  I was awakened by a slam which I attributed to Phil leaving in a hurry (which isn't like him to slam something - but I was asleep so it made sense).  Then a few moments later I heard another, which I figured was Phil forgetting something and coming back in and then again leaving in a hurry (Phil forgetting something is VERY like him - but again, the slamming isn't).  So anyway, when I finally got up that morning I walked out of my bedroom to find a fan blade laying in hallway, it had flown all the way across the house from the kitchen to the hall way where it greeted me.  And I guess in the process of losing a blade the fan became unstable and threw the opposite blade off as well.  These blades of course accounting for the slams I heard.  All that to say we no longer had a functioning fan in our kitchen and we needed to replace it.
Then our friends just recently bought a house and had a fan in the master bedroom they were replacing with one that matched their decor and said they would give us the fan they were taking down!  YAY, free fan!  But that fan was a dark wood which would be awesome in my living room space with the fireplace, which currently has a white fan.  So we decided to move the white fan to the kitchen and the new fan in the living room.  But moving ceiling fans isn't really a one person job so I needed some assistance.  Our good friend Isaiah was over being a good semaritan and helping us out with the yard and he also made time to help me with the fans so we took on the project Saturday.
I have installed at least four fans in my life with just me and a roommate so I was pretty confident we could do this fairly easily and without the fear of dying.  But let's be honest we are talking about electrical work and other than electricians and super handyman types there aren't too many of us out there who know exactly what is going on when a bunch of wire show up.  So we began the tedious process of working upside down to completely blade-by-blade take apart the two fans.  After a few choice words and some Pinterest ol' trickery
we had that fan down and ready to by put up in the kitchen.  We got the whole fan up and back together turned the power back and and low and behold the fan worked!  .... the light... didn't :(  Sad face!
Then we went to hang the other fan and realized we didn't have the proper brace to hold it... another sad face.  I did a little googling and when that failed I took a trip to Home Depot.  The gentleman at HD was very helpful and I went home ready to fix the light problem, the missing bracket problem still has yet to be solved.
So I went home took apart the fan AGAIN and fixed the wiring as instructed.  I decided it would be best to test it this time before putting the WHOLE fan back together.  Novel I know!  So we tested it and EVERYTHING WORKED!  hip hip hooray!!!! So I put it all back together tighened it all down for extended use, turned the power back on for the final time and do you know what happened!!!! The light worked and the FAN didn't!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! I TESTED IT.  So with that I took a break.
The next day re-energized I again disassembled the dang fan and fiddled with all the wiring.  I don't know if I did anything actually productive but I did a little testing and the booger worked.  So I decided to put it together a little at a time and test along the way... this time it worked at every step and even in the finished state!!!

So I have a working kitchen fan, again!  The other space... well...

Not so much.

It's almost Saturday.

Today is a good day because it's Friday.  This week has been very tiresome and I need a few days away from the office.


The best thing I did all week was opening week Rangers game!


The current weather is I think it's pretty nice, but maybe pretty windy.  I won't know for sure 'til I go out for lunch since my office building has no windows.


The best thing about spring is that everything is blooming and so green!


A fashion trend that I'm dying to try out for spring is strangely enough I think I'm leaning toward the colored jean.  It may have been a fall trend that I'm catching onto late but I think I might like it with some adorable wedges or pumps!

A person who made me smile this week was my friend Alana, she is doing me a huge favor and I thought it was super sweet so it made me smile.


The most delicious thing I ate all week was dinner last night for sure!  My friend Ashley and I like to co-cook when us two couples get together and we do a pretty fantastic job I must say.  Last night was Giada's Chicken Saltimbocca with garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and king bread rolls.  I really should have taken a picture... but this is what the chicken looks like.

Easter Weekend!

Today is Good Friday. 

Just a little funny for the day.

Yesterday I posted on my Facebook a written message from my Bible app. YouVersion that I thought was beautiful so I decided that I would typographically illustrate it.  So here it is.