Decisions, decisions!

It has been a rough couple of days! I drove to Boise on Sunday and spent the evening with my dad. The weather was perfect! It was 78 degrees. We sat outside and chatted and, of course, we grilled. My dad made some fantastic spare ribs and baked (well, bar-b-qued, actually) potatoes. Deeeeelightful! I also discussed all my options/upgrades on my house with my dad and got his opinion since he knows a heck of a lot more about it all than I do! I am feeling very good about my choices! I am headed back to Salt Lake May 5 for house and mortgage meetings on May 6 and 7. My dad is going to meet me in Salt Lake and go to the meetings with me. I am so relieved that I will have someone there who has half a clue about what is going on. All my choices will be final on May 7th! And I will give them my construction deposit so hopefully they will get started on the construction shortly after that. I drove to Salem on Monday and it was just horrible traveling weather! Ok, so it could definitely have been worse, but I HATE traveling when it is sunny and hot...and there was record heat here in Oregon. It was only in the 80's, but it was enough to make traveling miserable. Thank heaven for air conditioners! My car was covered with bugs. I had to stop and wash my windshield in Pendelton because it was getting difficult to see! I did make it home though, and then I spilled water on my computer shortly after. Yes, my brand new laptop that I have only had for 3 months!!! It was like, seriously, one drop. But it was apparently enough to do some damage. It started acting funny shortly after the spillage, so I turned it off and decided to let it sit overnight. When I went to turn it on in the morning, it wouldn't even power up! I was so mad! Long story short, I took it to a computer repair place who kept it overnight and then told me it would cost $500 (!!!!!) to fix. Really?! Every cent for the next several months is going to house expenses. I surely cannot spend $500 to fix a brand new computer right now! So, I picked it up (and paid a $49 diagnosis fee) and prayed that I would be able to limp along with it until I can get it fixed. Well......I turned it on and voila!!! It works! YAH! All except the mouse on the computer. Which is no big deal really since I use an external mouse anyway. So, hopefully that is the only bad effect from the water. I am such an idiot!!! No more water or other liquids within 10 feet of my computer!! And, advice I was given after the fact, if you ever spill something on your computer, turn it off immediately and let it dry a day or two before trying to turn it back on again. I am headed back to work tomorrow for four in a row (ICK). But, I will be half done with all the shifts I have left here by next Thursday! Yah! I went to the Dr. while I was in Salt Lake and I am soooooo glad I did. I got things under control and am feeling so much better. Not getting headaches all the time and sleeping like a log! Hopefully that doesn't get all screwed up again when I go back to nights. Ugh. At least I only have a few more weeks of this crap schedule. Hopefully I will never have to work nights again!


I went to the design center on Saturday and picked out most of my carpet, cabinets, counters etc...I will finalize all of these choices at my meeting on May 6. Here are a few pictures.This will be the kitchen. Cabinets are knotty alder with cherry finish. The light wood is the flooring in the kitchen/entryway. Counter sample is on the left and carpet sample is on the right. I might change the carpet, although I really like this one. This is the bathroomn selection I like the best. Cabinets and carpet are the same. Linoleum has a bit of blue in it. I really like the counter but it is a bit dark...Bathroom again with a more neutral countertop. I don't like this one as much, but again, it's more neutral.

Close up of the bathroom counter I like best.

So...that's that for now. Things are going to be crazy the next few weeks while I am finishing up work and trying to get the rest of my stuff packed up all while going to Salt Lake again to finalize all my decisions and hopefully get construction started. But I can't wait to be back home again and move on with my life! Still no word from Westminster. Try not to be shocked!

AND!!!! I almost forgot (I'm not sure how! I'm totally excited!!) I got tickets to the U2 concert at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on October 23!! Pretty good seats, I think. They ought to be for $118 a pop! I'm going with Marija and her boyfriend Daniel. I know it is going to be so much fun! Not to mention an amazing show!

Lot #0414

You might be wondering why I have posted a photo of a patch of dirt. Or, perhaps you have put the title of this blog and the picture together. In any case, some pretty big news in my world today! And NO, I haven't heard from Westminster! I am building a house!! It is in Eagle Mountain in the Ranches subdivision. I can't even express how excited I am! I put the deposit on my lot yesterday and picked out the colors for the outside today. I even took pictures!

This is the color scheme for the outside. Not that you can tell really well from the picture, but the stucco is a dark brown and there will be rock accents. I picked the blue color for my front door and the beige for the garage door and accents. The other colors are accents and fascia, shutters etc. The shingles are obviously black. Pretty dang exciting! Tomorrow I am going to the "design center" to pick all my other stuff for the inside. I am definitely going to upgrade the carpet and pad and I am getting a gas stove. Other than that...who knows what they will be able to talk me into. So that's my exciting news! Obviously I have been having a great time here in Salt Lake! I have also found a job...which I kind of already had. I will be working for an agency here in Salt Lake going to different hospitals. I told the lady that I would probably be living in Eagle Mountain and she said they also do some hospitals in Utah county, so hopefully I will be able to stay close to home. All in all, things are falling nicely into place...if only Westminster would cooperate! But I suppose if they don't, things are going great anyway and I will just apply again next year.

Easter was really good for me! My best friend, Erin's, family had a BBQ. Of course I was in charge of all the grilling and the kids had an easter egg hunt! The Easter bunny even brought me a really cute shirt and some candy. Erin's family is pretty much my family so I was happy to be able to spend Easter with them. I also went over to my cousin's house for another BBQ on Easter night. All in all it was a fun and productive day!

I feel like I need to post a picture of some of the windmills I encountered on the way to Salt Lake from Salem. For some reason I am fascinated by them!! So I took about a million pictures from my car (can't believe I didn't wreck or something!)

I am headed back to Salem on Sunday. I am going to spend Sunday night and possibly Monday night at my dad's in Boise. Then back to Salem and work on Thursday! I am actually not dreading it! I am looking forward to working, picking up a few extra shifts and getting my things packed up and moving back here for good...and of course looking forward to finishing my house!! I will probably move in sometime at the end of August or beginning of September. In the meantime, I will probably bum a room off my cousin. So! I'm sure I will be throwing a big housewarming party at some point! Something for everyone to look forward to!

Spring has Sprung!

Well, I am officially out of my funk. I think Marija paying me a visit helped a lot! We had so much fun! We went out to Tillamook and went to the cheese factory. It was so freakin sweet! I love cheese.

There was a viewing area where you could watch them packaging the cheese. It was so cool! I wanted to jump through the window and take a big bite of cheese.

This was a gigantic vat of curds. They press these into the big blocks and then they let them age.

How bad would this job suck?? But it was cool for us to watch!

Tillamook also makes ice cream which I have been hearing wonderful things about ever since I moved here. So of course we had to try the ice cream! Marija got the Oregon strawberry and I got blueberry cheesecake. BEST ice cream EVER! And I don't even like ice cream! We then drove up the coast. Too bad the weather sucked bad. It rained off and on all day and it was windy and cold. But there was some seriously awesome scenery! We stopped in a town called Cannon Beach and had dinner and then drove home. I think we drove like 400 miles that day. I was pretty happy to be home!

Oregon coast...as you can see the weather sucks, but it was beautiful!

Me and Marija getting blown to smithereens. I look like a moron in this photo, but we were having fun!

This was on the way home. If you could see a little more to the right, there was like a total junk yard house there. I mean seriously....if you live somewhere with scenery like this, perhaps you could limit yourself to one or two cars up on bricks in the yard. Anyway, the rest of the time Marija was here we lounged around and went shopping. It was fun to have some time off and actually have someone to hang with!

I worked last night and Friday and I have not been sleeping worth a CRAP lately. I mean, I never thought I would say those words. This whole night time gig is kicking my butt. Hopefully I only have a few weeks left of this. The weather yesterday and today was awesome!! Today it was 75 degrees! I actually managed to sleep until 4:00 and then I got up and decided that it would be a good day to wash my car. And was it ever!! I was just going to do a quick wash, but once I got started I thought it would be nice to wax it...and polish my wheels...and condition my seats....so I spent a good 4 hours on my car, but man does it look good! Of course I took pictures.

I am so proud! And it is supposed to be sunny here until Thursday. I think that's some kind of record! So hopefully I will get to enjoy the fruits of my labor for a couple of days at least.

I can't wait for my road trip on Thursday! I'm sure Thursday and Friday will be some very long days full of driving, but I'm looking forward to jammin down the road with some awesome music! Of course I have procrastinated with packing. But I guess it will get done eventually.

I have also booked my tickets to New York Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully it will work out this time! My dad is going to be there at the same time and I'm sure it will be a blast! I'm told that's the best time to visit the city anyway. So....that is the latest and greatest. No word from Westminster (try not to be shocked). I should probably finish packing and try to get some sleep. I can't wait to see everyone in SLC!