Bad Times...

I haven't felt much like posting the last few days as I've been going through an emotional rollarcoaster. I thought birth control pills were supposed to keep your hormones in check, but I have no other explanation for my crazy emotions. Life is stressful and everything tends to build up until I lose it. While I am looking at the positives of moving, it is still a hard thing to do. We spent almost our entire first year of marriage wrapped up in this house. It was incredibly stressful and Jeremy and I never saw each other. It is sad to have to let this thing go.

It is also frustrating that we still aren't settled into the house. It may appear that way (despite the many un-finished details), but our upstairs and garage in particular are filled with boxes of crap that quite honestly I don't think we need. I mean, if it's still in a box after what 3 months? of living here, do we really need it? I don't do well when my space is chaotic....

Compound this with the fact that Jeremy has Z-E-R-O free-time at home, I have not been in the best place. There are so many things that I would like for him to help me with around the house (Like going through boxes of his stuff for instance.), but there is literally no time to do it in. Tonight, for example, it's currently 10 to 9:00 and I saw Jeremy ten min. about a half hour ago when he got home. He quickly scarfed down dinner and took off for the pool to do a work-out with one of his ff friends. I am proud of Jeremy for putting his all into this firefighting thing, but I am definitely looking forward to his fire academy ending so that I have maybe a little more time with him at home to help me finish this god-forsaken house.

Lastly, (ok, maybe not lastly. I could go on and on about the political issues that have me riled up right now, but not tonight!) I am mad about my job prospects. In reality, there is a 0% chance of me finding a teaching position anywhere within driving distance in the state of Oregon for next school year. It might not even happen the following year after that. I am frustrated with this economy and the fact that some people do not value education as one of the pillars of our society. Education in the state of Oregon should not be in such a bleak state. Districts should not have to cut millions upon millions of dollars. Teachers shouldn't be losing their jobs due to loss in funds. Class sizes should not be rising. I am very frustrated. I don't even know what else to say about that.

Alrightly. Now that I vented and got all of that off my chest, I'm not sure if I feel better or worse. On a positive note: my kids were EXCELLENT today! I mean, seriously. They were awesome. Such a joy to be around and were exactly what I needed to remind me that despite the frustrations, they are the reason why I love being a teacher. There is nothing like seeing the light bulb go off, or making personal connections with students. I never get tired of hearing "Hi Mrs. Quinby!!" in the hall and seeing a smiling kid happy to have me as their sub. :) I just need a few more happy moments this week to balance out the stressful ones.

I hope all of you are having a great week and are riding a much gentler rollarcoaster than I am at the minute!
Lots of Love,
Britt

Weekend Wrap-Up

Welp, yet another weekend down the drain. Time never seems to slow down when it's the weekend. Saturday night Jer came home from fire academy and a retirement dinner at about 9:00 and brought with him his probie friends (and a wife!) for a movie night. It was fun to just hang out with friends. Today Jer was at fire academy again. I decided to go shopping for the dogs this morning. I got them much-needed new collars and a couple new toys. Here they are playing with a new bone.

Here you can see their new collars: Bailey got a pink one and Toby got a teal one. Both are reflective, so they're kinda hard to capture with a flash.

Then, this afternoon I went for a walk with my mom. We went to an open house near where my parents live. It was a nice house, but still needs some work, and we really don't want to have to do any work after this last experience. Plus, I have a house that I really like, so all houses are compared to that...and it just doesn't compare.

Jer came home just in time for Sunday night dinner at the Allen home (always a treat!). We came home to watch the Blazer game (boy it's a nail-biter and I hope they can pull out a win!), BUT the pager just went off, so Jer took off for the fire house...another structure fire...still getting used to the life of a volunteer firefighter. Hope you all have a great week ahead of you!

Lots of Love, Britt

Sleepy Saturday...

Not much goin on around here today. Jeremy is at fire academy and I'm just hangin out at the house. I stayed in my pjs until 12:30, and have done nothing but watch movies all day. I'm not complaining though! It's much better than unpacking boxes or finishing up the painting that needs to be done around the house. :) Here's some pictures of my company today on this sleepy saturday.

Toby in his usual spot: my lap.

Bailey sprawled out on the floor.

Good News!

Had our meeting with the real estate agent and it went well! We have our list of things to finish on the house and it was everything that we suspected for the inside and less than we thought for the outside. She really helped me figure out where we can save money and how to get the most bang for our buck. It feels good to have an expert tell us that we have a beautiful home and that I did a really great job on choosing paint colors and decorating(!). Yay! So, we're feeling good about everything and off to get some food (it's only 8:20!). Have a great night!
Britt

Happy Hump Day!

Yay for Hump Day! For those that don't celebrate, hump day is wednesday b/c once you get over the hump that is weds., the rest of the week is all down hill! We (the Allen family) have celebrated this day for a long time. I remember my dad waking me up for school when I was young with a greeting about hump day.

Anyways, I am grateful today because I have the day off! Normally, I would not be happy about not working, but today I have a LOT to get done. Tonight we are having a real estate agent over to critique our home and help us come up with a game plan for finishing the house and making the best decisions for it to sell (and quickly at that!). So, I'm running around cleaning and doing chores. Speaking of which, I have never been one to want an outrageously huge house, but somehow have ended up with a three story home. My advice for those who think they need a big house is to really think about how much cleaning you will have to do! It is seriously KILLING me trying to keep up with this house. I am very much looking forward to down-sizing!

Another great thing about tonight is that I will actually get to spend some time with the husband. :) On Monday, we spent about 30 mins. together before he left for a meeting and drills at the fire dept. On Tuesday, we spent 2 hrs. together watching the Blazers (awesome game by the way!) before he left to go running with his fire dept. buddies. They then spent some time with one of the guys who is going through a rough patch in his personal life. Needless to say, I am looking forward to having him all to myself (and a real estate agent!) all night! I'll actually be able to go to sleep with him home...Yay!

I'll post an update after we have our meeting tonight. Hope you have a great hump day!

Lots of Love,
Britt

Weekend Wrap-Up

Even though Jeremy has been busy with fire academy all weekend, we've managed to have a great couple of days. First of all, the sunny, warm weather has been so amazing and I'm convinced it makes everyone in a better mood. Saturday night was our first official fire dept. funtion: the crab feed. It was a little intimidating at the beginning, but it turns out that an old friend who I played basketball with in high school is part of the wives club! So, we had a lot of fun catching up. There was a ton of great food and lots of fun. Jeremy had to stay to clean up so I came home to watch the last half of the Blazers game. I won't say much about that...let's just hope they get it together for game 2!

Today, I decided to go shopping at Bridgeport so that I could take advantage of a coupon that expired today and use the gift card I received for my birthday from Mom and Dad. I stopped at my parents' house first and McKenzie said she would go with me. What a beautiful day to do some outdoor shopping! Our first stop was Ann Taylor Loft (my favorite!). I got lots of cute clothing for work and play. We ate lunch outside and then headed to DSW to go shoe shopping. Hooorrraaayyyy for new shoes! I was so excited that I came home and cleaned out my shoes (5 pairs to Goodwill!)

Now I'm just waiting for Jer to get home so that we can go to my parents' house for our weekly Sunday night dinner. Looking forward to a beautiful week!

Introduction and an Update!

Hello and welcome to my first blog post! I'm so excited to be starting this new way of keeping family members and friends up to date on our busy, busy lives! I had a blog for a short time in college, but because of my priorities at the time, I wasn't that great at keeping up with it. This time, however, I am optimistic that I will be able to stick with it. As an introduction, I'm going to give the short version of what Jeremy and I have been up to the past 20 months.

The biggest project in our lives has been the construction of our first house. Holy smokes has that been quite the project! We were lucky enough to find a lot in town that still has the feel of being in the country...complete with five deer who visit us often. We went from this...

To this...

Ok, so this isn't the finished product, but apparently I never bothered to get an "after" of the outside! Although, to be honest, the outside is far from being finished. We still need to paint, pour the sidewalk, and put in landscaping. All three are going to be huge projects that we're hoping to be able to complete after we get our tax return.

In other news, Jer and I were finally able to head back to Palm Springs, CA with my family for Spring Break '09. I was so happy to see the sun! It had been a loooooonnnnggg 2 years without going down there and we were glad to be able to make it. For those who don't know, my family has travelled to Palm Springs every year for Spring Break since I was 16. We go with the Carlson Family who are great family friends and so much fun to hang out with.

This year, both families rented a house to share. It was super nice and relaxing to have our own pool and hot tub and not have to worry about getting out there early each morning to save chairs! I can't say enough about how grateful we were, and still are, to have been able to stay with everyone and enjoy the vacation time with family and friends. We're already looking forward to next year!

Professionally, Jeremy is still working in commercial construction. Unfortunately, due to the economy, we're not sure how much longer his job will be around, but trying to stay hopeful that it will last. Jer has also decided to begin volunteer firefighting in town. This commitment means he is gone Sat. and Sun. at fire academy as well as having drills on Mon. and Thurs. nights. He is 2/3 finished with academy though and then he will be able to respond to calls. In the mean time, I get to hear that aweful pager go off in the middle of the night! He loves it though and I am very proud of him!

I have been substitute teaching all school year, mostly in town. Most days you can find me at my parents' school teaching 6-8th graders. I know I'm crazy, but what can I say, I love that age group (most days!). :) Just recently, I started working at the elementary level too and have enjoyed that as well. It is very very different from the middle school, but each have their own set of challenges.

Hopefully this was a good update for everyone. I am off to get ready for one of many fire department events...the crab feed!

Lots of Love, Britt