No news is good news.

All I can say is this was a crazy-busy, but good week. I worked all five days and Jer was busy with work and fire commitments. We got a lot done around the house this weekend which was much needed. We finally have mirrors up in all but one bathroom. Jer also put up another curtain rod in the basement. I'm really excited by how our basement is looking. It is really close to being finished and it's exactly how I pictured it looking. Today we had the awesome opportunity to go out on Jeremy's parents' boat. We were out for about 4 hours and unfortunately both of us got sun burnt! :P We had a lot of fun though and it was nice to just relax on the water and spend a little time with family. We came home and took a little nap...boy the sun sure zaps ya! We went out to eat and came home to work around the house. Jer caulked the siding, since our house will be painted next weekend (YAY!!) and I cleaned around the house, inside and out. We're looking forward to a short work-week and some fun next weekend.

Decisions, Decisions...

The good news: We are finally at the stage in the game where we are ready to paint the outside of our house!!! eeeee!!! I can't wait to have paint on the siding! WOOT!!

The bad news: Now I have to pick a paint color.

That's where you come in! I spent some time last Sunday buying some paint to test on the outside of our house. I came home today from work and took some pics so that I could post them on here and get some opinions. I really like both colors. I want a shade of gray, and they are pretty close to each other, but one has more green undertones and one has more blue undertones. The first picture is to give you some perspective of our house. So, ready to play help Brittany choose a paint color??? Okay, here we go!

The colors look pretty close on here, but I want to hear your opinions! The left one, or the right one? Thanks for playing along!

YES!!

I am over the moon excited because last weekend, Jeremy officially finished fire academy! YES!! I'm so happy to have my husband back and I'm hoping it lasts for a little bit. :) He's getting ready to start building his parents' house, which will be a huge and stressful project. EMT Basic classes also start in August. While I'm worried about how he'll manage everything, I'm going to focus on the positive...the fact that I have my husband all to myself on the weekends for now.

I have been extremely busy subbing. I have so many days booked already, that there are just a few left until the end of the school year where I'm not scheduled (yet!). This is a really challenging time in the school year to teach. The students have all forgotten how to behave, and the hormones have definitely kicked in. On the other hand, I feel really confident when teaching at CV. I know all of the kids really well and know which ones to keep an eye on etc.

In other news, things with the house are moving right along. Holly is home from law school and wanted to go to Ikea to get some things for her new apartment. Of course I jumped at the chance to go...even though I was just there! We had a lot of fun and I found even more things that I just HAD to have. ;) I picked up another $20 mirror for our basement bathroom, pillows to stuff into some pottery barn covers that I had picked up on sale, some curtains for our bedroom, and some organizational boxes etc. for the office. Looking forward to an exciting week; hope you have a good one too!!

Lots of Love,
Britt

Cleaning Schedule

Okay, I finally came up with a cleaning schedule that I think I can live with. I got the original schedule from Katie at The Hyper Homemaker blog. Unfortunately, she took down her blog due to a new job and upcoming book deal. It was an awesome blog with lots of fabulous ideas on how to have a clean and organized house, host parties, and set and reach goals for your house and life. I made changes to reflect our needs and am looking forward to having a much more organized home and life. I wanted to do a lot of small tasks nightly instead of spending hours on the weekend cleaning. Hmm...there's an idea; actually relaxing and having some downtime on the weekends! :) Hopefully my list will be helpful for some of you. Let me know if you have any tips on how to have and clean and organized home!

Daily Cleaning List

Kitchen:
-Load dishwasher and wipe down sink
-Wipe down stovetop
-Wipe down all the counters
-Swiffer or sweep the floor

Bedroom:
-Make the bed
-Put clothing away where it belongs in the closet
-Straighten out nightstand

Living areas:
-Sweep floors
-Wipe down couches, and fluff pillows
-Dust entertainment center, picture frames, and mantel
-Straighten up coffee tables and stray items

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

Monday: Laundry
Tuesday: Kitchen
Wednesday: Bathrooms
Thursday: Living areas
Friday: Bedrooms
Saturday: Laundry/Outside
Sunday: Off

Weekly Cleaning List

Kitchen:
-Wash hardwoods
-Wipe the cabinets, backsplashes, and appliances
-Wipe the switch plates
-Wipe the inside of the garbage can

Bathroom:
-Scrub the tub, showers, and tiles
-Mop the floor
-Wipe switch plates, doorknobs, and doorjambs
-Empty and wipe out wastebasket
-Wipe down the sink, counters, and faucets
-Clean toilets
-Clean mirrors
-New towels

Living Areas:
-Dust all surfaces - including electronics, books, picture frames, window sills, ledges, and tops of door frames
-Vacuum floors and rugs
-Wash hardwoods
-Wipe switch plates, doorknobs, and doorjambs
-Shake out/vacuum doormat
-Vacuum HVAC vents

Bedroom:
-Change the sheets (when laundry is done)
-Dust all surfaces - including electronics, books, picture frames, window sills, ledges, tops of the door frames, and ceiling fan.
-Vacuum floors and closets.
-Wipe switch plates, doorknobs, and doorjambs
-Wipe and disinfect telephone

Monday, Monday

Today turned out to be quite the surprise. I am booked all week for different classrooms at CV, but when I arrived this morning, I learned of a change of plans. The workshop that the teacher was going to ended up being cancelled. So, I covered her first period class since she comes from out of town and the workshop wasn't cancelled until 7:00 a.m. Then, I ended up helping the 6th grade teachers out...taking down bulletin boards, putting new ones up, helping a student, making copies, and correcting papers.

I went home at 11:30 and surprised my not-so-happy husband who had the day off and was planning on wasting the day away in bed/in front of the t.v. Just kidding...I'm sure he was thrilled to see me! ;) We watched some DVR'd "Rescue Me" and then got to work. I cleaned, organized etc. and Jeremy worked on things for his parents' house and cleaned up our yard (or where the yard will be some day!). We finally got rid of our trash pile on the side of the house! I am ecstatic about this because this pile included a busted air conditioner and toilet. Hmm, not exactly the impression you want to give of yourselves to your new neighbors!!

Tonight, Jeremy is at drills again and I am enjoying "The Hills," doing the dishes, working on homework, and considering going downstairs to workout. I am still working on the cleaning schedule. I found a great list that I'm working off of, but am having trouble nailing myself down to certain chores on certain days...especially since my schedule is so fluid with the nature of my job. Tomorrow night I have my final Teaching with Technology class which is awesome! I am looking forward to being done with the class, but in the meantime, I have some homework/ a final project to complete. Yikes...I better get out of here! Happy Monday! Hope you have a great week!

Whew! What a weekend!

Well, the end of the week turned out to be much more busy than I anticipated. Good busy though as there was lots of time spent with new friends. Both Jeremy and I are really enjoying his time with Newberg Fire Dept. Maybe one of the best perks are the new friends! We have met some amazingly kind people and look forward to continuing to meet people and gaining a support system.

Thursday night Jeremy was at drills. I ended up hanging out with another NFD wife, Elyse, and watched Grey's Anatomy. It was nice to have some company, even if the dogs were crazy excited all night by the presence of a new friend!

Friday night we met up with Elyse and her husband Travis at Abby's and then rented a movie to watch at our place. We were prepared for Jeremy and Travis to have to leave us to help with last minute set-up for the burn-to-learn, but the call never came through the pager. No complaints here!

That brings me to Saturday...the day that Jeremy has been waiting for since he started his training with the fire dept. All day Saturday was the burn to learn. He arrived at the station at 5:45 a.m. I showed up at the duplex at about 10 to 10:00 which ended up being perfect timing because they started just after I arrived. I ended up taking 157 pictures that day and tried to capture everything so that Jeremy would have some great memories from the day to look back on. For those who don't know, a burn-to-learn is when someone in the community donates a building to the fire dept. and they use it as a learning exercise. They spend all day going through different exercises and in the end, they let the building go and burn it to the ground.

Getting ready to start. Jeremy is in the middle, in yellow (because he is a probationary firefighter).

Jeremy's in the middle again.

Taking on the fire.

Me and the husband.

There's not a whole lot that I can say about it besides I don't think I've ever seen Jeremy so happy as he was that day. He had the biggest grin on his face and looked completely in his element.

Happy man.

I will admit that I was nervous at first about watching my best friend run into a burning building. Luckily for me though, our next door neighbor, Ryan, was there (although he was on shift and ended up having to leave for several calls). He talked me through everything that was happening and assured me that it was safe and going exactly as planned. Dan and Libby were also there and it was nice to have them and their experience there...such a comfort! Elyse and I stuck together...trying to get the best view and pictures for the guys. It was very interesting to watch and we had lots of fun together. :)

Letting the fire go...

All the probationary firefighters...Jeremy is bottom middle.

I ended up leaving at about 4:30 and Jeremy got home at 6:00. It was a long, but exciting and fun day. I am so very proud of Jeremy and look forward to many more years of his involvement with the department.

Today is Mother's Day and we met up with Doug and Kay for breakfast at 8:00. Doug and Jeremy have worked together in construction since Jeremy's house-building days and Doug was a huge help with our personal house this past year. After breakfast, we went to Jeremy's parents' church. We came home and Jeremy got to work outside...getting rid of weeds, fixing the back deck etc. I made a run to Target to pick up some more things for the house. My list is getting smaller, but I'm not sure if I'll ever really be done! ;) In just a bit we will be headed to my parents' house for dinner.

What a busy week we've had, but we have enjoyed every minute of it! Next week I am looking forward to working all five days in a different classroom at CV. Jer has Monday off and will do small jobs around the house/sleep a lot. Next weekend is the final weekend of fire academy for Jeremy. YES!! We are both excited for him to get his weekends back, even if it's just for a short time until EMT Basic classes start. Hope your upcoming week goes well!

Lots of Love,

Britt

Funny Story

So, I wrote last about our Ikea trip being ruined by the swine flu. When Jeremy got home from academy that day, he played the message from the 800# and it said that the children's play area was closed due to the swine flu, but the department store was open regular business hours! So, we quickly changed clothes and hopped in the car.

First, we grabbed some dinner at Nacho Mamas in Tigard...they have yummy fish tacos! Needless to say, our Ikea trip was successful! We got the rest of our hardware for the cabinets in the bathrooms and laundry room, a mirror for our powder bath, a dresser for our bedroom, and a book case for the office. I can't wait to go back...there are so many things that I love and want to add to our home.

Sunday Jer was at academy until after 7:00. I spent the entire day cleaning the house. I can't get over how much time it takes to clean four bathrooms! I am going to be attempting to set up a cleaning schedule today or tomorrow with the hopes that it will help me spread out the chores and not get quite so overwhelmed. So, look forward to those updates coming soon!

That night we had our usual dinner with the 'rents and then came home to put our dresser together. I will be taking some pictures soon so that you can see Jeremy's handywork.

On Monday, I worked at CV teaching 6th graders. Jeremy had drills at night and I got together with a new friend, Libby. She is another significant other of a Newberg Fireman, so we decided to get together while our men were away. That really helped the time go by faster and was really fun to just hang out and watch the Hills (of course!). Not quite sure what's in store for today, so we'll see...

Stupid Swine Flu!

Turns out the week ended better than it started! Friday night was fun because we had Jeremy's family over for dinner (Mom, Dad, his sister Allison, our brother-in-law Ben, and nephew Carson). I felt a bit like a chicken with my head cut off because after getting off work at CV, I ran to the store to grab supplies for dinner and then had to quickly put everything together for the meal. I made crescent chicken, salad, and cut up strawberries. I was so thankful for Allison because she showed up early and helped me do a quick cleaning of the house...I am SO appreciative of her! Anyways, dinner was good and we had fun spending time together.

After dinner, we watched "Marley and Me." It's my favorite book, and Jeremy gave me the movie for my birthday. Such a great movie! If you haven't seen it, you must!!

This morning I had some girls over for a Mary Kay color party while Jeremy was away at fire academy. We had fun trying on make-up and learning some new techniques. Then, we were planning on going to Ikea tonight after Jeremy got home. I want to get some book shelves and supplies for our office (still workin on putting that room together!). Unfortunately, when Jeremy called to see what time they closed, they told him that Ikea stores are closed due to the SWINE FLU!! Can you believe that? I mean how crazy is that?! I am not worried in the slightest about this stupid flu, and I am certainly not going to just sit at home until the whole thing passes over. How lame! I just hope they aren't closed for long...I was looking forward to the new stuff that I was planning on purchasing!!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend and thanks for all the kind words regarding the last post! I really appreciate my friends and miss those of you that aren't close enough to see very often. I'm going to try to talk Jeremy into going out to dinner and maybe shopping somewhere else?? I was set on going out, so we'll see!

Adios, Britt