Must clean house...

The movers came today and unpacked the boxes and literally didn't put anything away. They just unloaded and set the stuff down on the floor. The house is covered in stuff. I have to keep telling myself, "this stuff fit into an apartment that was 300 sqft less--it will fit in here." It still feels hopeless. I'm so worn out from constantly painting the last few days and then now I've got to put all this stuff away....*sigh* I'm excited though to move in finally and stay there. We're getting tired of going back and forth from the apartment to the house and back again. I'm exhausted...going to bed now. Night.

Today's task

Today's task was priming and that went a little better because I pretty much knew what I needed to do. I primed half the room, the closet doors, and the room door. I took off all of the doorknobs and I really want to replace them with newer, neater looking knobs (maybe the cut-glass kind). I guess I'm doing a lot of handy work now--stuff that I've never done before. Tomorrow, we're going to go over again and get the house ready and cleaned for when the movers come on Monday with all of our junk.

We had some excitement this morning. We were sleeping so soundly and then all of the sudden, Kyle got up out of bed to go check what time it was on his phone (we didn't have our clock in the bedroom because I left it at the house--it had a radio). He says, "Oh my gosh! It's 6:20am! I have to be at engineering pass downs at 6:45!" We were running around the apartment like panicked chickens! Kyle called me later on and told me that he managed to arrive at EPDs only 1 minute late, which is pretty good.

So that's it for today. More later as my house project continues.

Overwhelming!

Going into this painting business in the new house is starting to make me feel a little overwhelmed. It seems no matter how well I coated the wall, there were areas that looked like they hadn't been touched! Paint dripped all over the place and I kept getting paint on the window sills and on the baseboards and on the ceiling--ugh!! I finally went to walmart and got a good drop cloth to go on top of the plastic drop cloth that I had originally put down. It kinda helped with anchoring down the plastic so it wouldn't stick to me. I also got some stuff to take up paint that had dripped on the carpet (oops!) and hopefully it won't suffocate me when I try to use it. Guess I'll open the window before I use the potent stuff. After painting this one room, hopefully the other rooms will go a lot easier. I was sweating profusely and it seemed that I couldn't ever stop sweating even after wiping my face--it was literally like a waterfall. I feel so nasty...I should probably get a shower now because I know I am definitely NOT a sight for sore eyes. I just don't want Kyle to go in there before I can get things cleaned up so that he doesn't think that my battle with the paint can was lost--hehe. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow, I just know it. Please tell me that other people have the same troubles that I've had being a first time painter?!

Met a neighbor today while going to check the mail at the house. Her name is Laurie and she's an English teacher. That's cool that we have another teacher living right next door. Maybe we'll become good friends. Oh, I found a new love...this afternoon after I had given up the painting for the evening, I left the house and on my way home, there was a little hut selling jumbo shaved ice in any flavor you could possibly imagine....soooo...I bought one--watermelon to be exact. It was SOOOOOO good, especially since I was blazing hot and needed something to cool me down. I had been eyeing this place for awhile because it's on the corner of the intersection that leads us to our neighborhood--is that a good thing? Today was the perfect time for one. I figure that shaved ice with a little flavored syrup over the top is much better than stopping at the DQ every so often, right? I mean, it's ICE with flavor. Anyway, it was really good and so now I'm gonna have to take Kyle there so that he can have the same experience. Okay, so today I shared about my first painting episode and I'm extremely tired right now. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better time. Later!

Our new house in Meridian, Idaho

This is our porch. It's kinda small but we might be able to fit a couple of chairs in there.
We're walking in the door now and this is the foyer.
Oops, this is out of order...the front of the house. We're on the corner.

The french doors leading to the "library" room.
Inside the library room.

This house has an open floor plan, meaning the kitchen/eating area is open to the living room.
The living room space--it looks small from this angle, but it's not that small.

Our backyard. The sellers planted 2 globe willows in May, so they should be nice and big sometime in the near future.
The other globe willow.

The hallway leading to bedrooms and bathrooms.
Another one out of order...this is the patio outside the back door.

Guest bathroom.
Future home of a guest room. It's kinda small, but we'll work with it.

These are the blinds in our "office" room. I think the girl bit even more as closing day arrived.
The laundry room leading to the garage.

Master bedroom
Here's the actual second guest room sans blinds. Lovely shade of purple, right?

Master closet connected to the bathroom.
Our prized dual vanities!


Hope you enjoyed the tour of our new home! We're very excited and have already bought a lawnmower and a shopvac, which showed us that there's a lot more money to be spent--not to mention all the different paint we're going to have to buy to change some of the colors in this house. Money is what it's all about when getting a new home because things in the house aren't going to be exactly how you like it when you first move in. Kyle has relinquished all the power to me to put my touch on the decorating of this new house. EXCELLENT. *mwahahaa*

The countdown!

T minus 3 days til we have our house!! I'm so excited to start decorating it to our tastes! I've been looking around at paint colors and combinations trying to think about how I want each room to look. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the choices. Whenever we go to Barnes and Noble, I always go straight to the magazine racks where the home decor stuff is and I leaf through to get ideas. I've seen really good ideas in those magazines and I think they've kinda helped me a little.

Kyle told me something funny today: he said that his supervisor called him a geek and he's never felt so proud to be called that before--haha! His supervisor meant it in a good way though. He said something along the lines of, "And Micron gets to hire geeks like you to work!" haha. That just made his day. Lately he's been so tired when he gets home and he doesn't want to go anywhere when he gets in the door. I guess I can't blame him. I was the same way when I was working at Rowland Elementary. I would just be so worn out from those little children calling me every which way I went and they would grab ahold of me and I just had to keep them going at all times for fear of them taking control of me. He's experiencing some of the same exhaustion, minus the hundreds of elementary schoolers. Nonetheless, he's really and thoroughly enjoying his job here in Boise and that's all we can ask for.

Well, not much more has happened right now, so I guess this is it at the moment. OH! Almost forgot...funny picture for your imagination...Yesterday I went rollerblading and had my second spill. I was heading on over to the greenbelt, which is where we usually go skating because it's a nice path that runs along the Boise river, and I turned to go up onto a sidewalk and headed straight towards a flowerbed. I managed to maneuver myself and turn away from the flowerbed, but in the process it spun me around so fast. I thought I had completely stopped myself and thought I had averted disaster but alas, I went straight down, face first onto the sidewalk (I tend to have bad luck with face falls--just ask Mom and Dad). However, I did avoid a nasty face injury because when I fell, I caught myself in the push-up position and gently lowered myself onto the ground but I got up real quick because I didn't want anyone to see me like that. SOOO, no injuries this time...hehe. I quickly skated away toward the greenbelt and continued on my journey. Alright, that's really it for now.

Note to Grandparents

*you can print these pages if you wanted to but since there are a lot of pictures, it may run your ink low in your printer. I know every computer's different, but our print button for this page is up in the right hand corner of this website on the toolbar--it's also near the tools button.*

Our First Anniversary Weekend

(a marshy area on the side of Coeur d'Alene Lake)
(the scenic byway around the lake)

(looking out across the water)

(Yes, that is a feather in the median--it's not real though)
(view from between some trees)

(this was the scenery we saw in both Oregon and Washington as we were driving to Coeur d'Alene)

(the area was pretty desolate on the way to our destination)

This weekend for our first wedding anniversary, we drove to a small town in northern Idaho called Coeur d'Alene (pronounced: Coor dalayne). It was a beautiful town as everyone had said to us before we got up here to Idaho. We weren't, however, aware that it was a lake resort--so, it'd would've been better to have a boat or a jetski on hand. Nonetheless, we had fun. We stayed Sunday-Monday night and we came home this afternoon. The town is about 7 hours north in the "chimney" of Idaho and there are no direct interstates from Boise to Coeur d'Alene, so we had to drive through the eastern parts of Oregon and Washington to get there. The eastern parts of those states are extremely desert like with little to no civilization. We drove through the Umatilla Indian Reservation and I wanted so bad to see some teepees, but alas...none to be seen. :( Instead, I saw one casino and the houses that I did see were not so savory. Oh well, it was interesting to see. I did see some wildlife while driving. There was this doglike creature about to cross the highway as we passed by--it was either a fox or some type of wolf. And THEN!! As we were driving later on, I happened to catch a vision out of the corner of my eye and it was this big, black animal that was sitting on the other side of the interstate watching the other side of the traffic go by...I don't know what it was--I thought it was a bear or maybe a buffalo or maybe a moose, but I don't know. Maybe it was Big Foot for all I know. I just know that I wished I had seen it completely to identify it. Anyway, it was a really good and relaxing weekend and I'm glad we did it. Happy First Wedding Anniversary to us! We're planning on going to more places since Kyle tends to have long weekends every other week due to his shift. Can't wait!

Yay! He stays!

Kyle stays with his job! We're no longer in threat of layoff...thanks again for the prayers and positive thoughts! Kyle was so happy today when he called me before he came home. He said that he had some good news and said that all the layoffs have already been done and he's safe. He said that his supervisor told him that they expect great things from him and he's expected to climb higher in the tree of knowledge when it comes to the implanter machines that he's working with. Apparently, he's got some big shoes to fill because this one lady that worked there knew EVERYTHING about these machines, but for some reason, she got laid off awhile ago and now it's Kyle's turn to do her job. He's so excited, he doesn't know what to do with himself. He says he wants to learn anything and everything he can for this job and I know he will. He's determined enough. So, all is well in Boise for the Campbells. We'll have our house in a couple of weeks and we'll finally be able to settle down in Idaho for awhile. Now, we get to go celebrate our first anniversary in Coeur d'Alene, ID. Yay!

Things are looking up

For everyone who has been asking, Kyle is really, really enjoying his job--and he's not even out of training yet! Oh, and he said that the CEO of Micron sent out an email today saying that they have already thinned out people--so I guess Kyle stays with Micron for now! Thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts from everyone. I mean, this whole restructuring thing is still not completely over but we're thinking they're not targeting Kyle's area at least. The CEO also said that there's still some small areas that might be restructured later on, like in the next 6-12 months, so we still have a minute chance but we don't think it's going to be him. Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming, but I guess they don't have to come so fervently because we seem to be in the clear for now. It looks like we're going through with the house and it's going to be ALL ours!! YAY!! Finally...something to call our own.

We went rollerblading tonight and we also went blading through the Boise State campus. It was so much fun! We even saw the band practicing on the smurf turf. Seeing the band instantly took me back to college times. I miss college. I'm sure that's a common feeling among most college grads. I'll never forget the good times I had with on-campus living, dining hall friends and dates (haha...funny story), and just all the exciting times I had as a college student. Oh, and who could forget driving those 26 ton buses? That's an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life! I met so many cool people. Anyway, I'm sorry for the sudden reminiscing, but the minute we started blading past all those school buildings and dormitories, I was instantly caught up in a nostalgic haze. It's a good thing I didn't fall.

Random change of subject: Kyle and I went to this new grocery store (well, it's not new to Boise, just new to us). It's called WinCo. We went there on Sunday night to do our weekly shopping and we discovered REALLY GOOD prices--I mean CHEAP! Of course, you have to bag your own groceries (I won't go without Kyle--he's able to do that pretty quickly). The produce was really great quality for low prices and the meat was really low also--and they had mahi-mahi fillets for about $4.15/lb! We bought so much produce because of the lower prices. We bought this huge watermelon for about 25cents a lb. It is a delicious melon, too. So sweet and so red. I've been eatin' on it this whole week and Kyle hasn't really touched it so it's ALL mine! I guess I'm on a watermelon kick right now, hence the colors of this text. We also bought a lot of peaches because I love to chop them up and put them on cereal. I love fruit--always have! It reminds me of being at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the summer and they would always have a huge bowl of fruit to eat with each meal just about it...fruit on cereal, fruit for snack, fruit for lunch and dinner....haha...needless to say, the bathroom was visited quite frequently--haha...ok, so that was a bit off color, but hey, that's what makes this blog so dang interesting! *Sigh* well, I guess it's time for bed...Kyle has to get up with the chickens tomorrow (4:45am mountain time). So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehn'---Adieu....To you, and you, and you and you and you!!!

ps. Wiedersehn' is actually spelled Wiedersehen...they just cut off that 'e' because it's easier to say...kinda like we say goin' instead of going.

The rest of the zoo

(We walked around after we left the zoo and the Julia Davis park was right there...there was a statue of Julia Davis giving an apple to a little girl--so I took the apple from the little girl). :)

(There were 2 bald eagles in this cage...they're no longer an endangered species!!!)
(It's a Cappuchin monkey! He reminded me of Dexter from "Night at the Museum."

An afternoon at the Zoo

(a Gemboks...I think that's what it is)

(a very happy Zebra)

(Look! It's Happy Feet! I started wondering

why these penguins looked kind of nasty here

when they look so clean on the nature programs...

is it because they're in captivity?)

(He's lookin' at you!)

(I think this is the Snow Leopard)

We decided to go to the Boise Zoo...so here are some pictures to capture that event. Hope you enjoy! I have a few more but it's taking awhile to load the pictures onto this site, so I'll do the last of them tomorrow.

ps. I screwed up the layout of these pictures and can't figure out how to get the right text under the pictures--soooo....sorry. I'm not that computer literate--at least I can get the pictures ON the entry.... :)

BIRTHDAY!

Well, I had my 25th birthday today and it was pretty good. Granted, it would've been better being around my friends and family, but we made do with what we had. I would've posted pictures of us out to eat, only, I was dumb and forgot to take the camera with us...GEEZ. Oh well. We ate out at my restaurant and then we went to go get ICE CREAM!! I had what was called a chocolate devotion from Coldstone...it was chocolate ice cream, with chocolate syrup and huge chunks of brownie mixed in, and also it had chocolate chips in it. I think I've had my chocolate fix for awhile! No more for another month or so...

I got to talk to the people that matter so much to me (Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Dad). I wish they could've been here with us, but maybe some other time. Anyway, it was a good birthday today and thanks for all the birthday wishes either said or unsaid! Whew, it's getting kind of late here (11:05pm, which translates into 1:05am eastern time)! I better get to bed now. Night night.

Nice night out

We had dinner with a coworker of Kyle's, Rob Ronald. He seems like a very nice guy. He's from Chicago and very easy to talk to. He's about our age and he's basically got Kyle's same job but he's on a different shift opposite Kyle. So, he works Sunday through Wednesday, while Kyle works Wednesday through Saturday. We went out to a place called Table Rock Pub. We'd been there before but Rob hadn't. It's pretty good food--they're mostly known for their beer though. I didn't partake but Kyle and Rob did. We ate and visited for a couple of hours and it was really good getting to know him. Kyle found out he had a lot of the same viewpoints as Rob. At first they thought they were complete opposites politically, but they ended up agreeing on a lot of different things. So, now Kyle has a buddy there at work. Now it's my turn to find a good girl friend. Who knows, maybe Prithvi will be one.

I got a manicure and a pedicure today. It feels so good to have groomed hands and feet. I don't think I had had a mani/pedi since last summer. My feet were a little worse for the wear. I had a blister on each pinky toe and they're now healing, so it looks kinda nasty and when the girl started my pedicure, I told her, "now, I'm gonna warn ya--my pinky toes are just getting over a blister--they're not diseased even though it may look that way." The color on my hands and feet is called "Rock-apulco Red". It's a really good summer color and I'm excited. I also bought a new top to go with the skirt my parents gave me for my birthday. So now, I have 2 tops that I can wear! The one I bought today fits a little better around the arms but it's a little more snug around the waist. The one that Mom and Dad gave me is nice and loose so if I don't wanna wear something so snug, this one would be better--plus it goes really good with jeans. They also gave me two pairs of beautiful swarovski crystal earrings. I love them! I'm already wearing one pair tonight and they looked really good with what I was wearing tonight (which was just a pair of jeans and a terracotta colored tshirt. The earrings reflected the clay color really well. Kyle said I looked all sparkly and pretty.

Two of my friends got married today. I kinda wished I could've been there to see both. I know they both would've probably been a good time. Plus, I would've seen some old friends. Oh well, it was just too much to have just gotten out here and then just to fly back. Mom and Dad wouldn't been around for me to visit them in PTC, so that's okay. It worked out for the best. I would've been alone in my parents' house for the weekend because Kyle probably wouldn't have come with me. Well, tomorrow's my birthday and Kyle's already off the hook pretty much for a gift--my gift was the rollerblades we bought last month. We're going out to dinner and ice cream at Coldstone, but I've already divulged that information. I guess birthdays aren't really that big of a deal once you get married because it's all the same money now. I was discussing this with the nail lady. She basically said it's just not the same when you're married (giftwise). You'd rather just go out to a nice meal and possibly have a really good dessert afterwards. I don't know much anyway that I would want besides a new wardrobe, and we can't really just throw my clothes away and start over (at least not now anyways ;). So, I'll just really enjoy the restaurant and REALLY enjoy the extra chocolatey ice cream!!

I'm having a big sweet tooth nowadays, and NO, it's not what you think it is...I'm just going through an ice cream phase right now. I saw people on the food network taste-testing ice cream and boy would that be the job for me! I LOVE ICE CREAM. I don't know why it is, but it just looks so good to me all the time. I better not buy myself an ice cream maker because I'll be making it every week. Anyway, enough sweet talk, it's making me want some--but not until tomorrow! Alrighty, I've run out of things to say so I'm cutting it off right here and now. Birthday pictures will come later.

4th of July activities

Kyle got home a little after 7 last night so we started our cookout dinner. It consisted of hamburgers, bratwursts, fruit, and baked beans...mmmmm. For dessert, I made a 4th of July brownie complete with American flag decoration! That took me awhile to do that afternoon, but Mom, you'd be proud--I decorated a cake!

After dinner and a couple of episodes of Will and Grace, I pulled out the brownie and we ate a piece. With the icing, the brownie was so sweet and rich that we couldn't even eat our pieces.

Then, I had an idea. I cut 2 more pieces and put them on a papertowel and decided to bring them over to our neighbors for friendly gift. We were kind of hesitant because we thought they might think we're weird, but we did it anyways and ended up being invited in to talk and get to know each other. Well, I had already met the girl and her name is Phritvi. Her husband's name is Arjun. They both work at Micron and they both have their Masters. They are really nice and they loved the brownies. Phritvi said she loved chocolate and she said that her husband has a really big sweet tooth. So, we spent probably 30-45 minutes talking to them and were very easy to talk to. By the end of the visit, I told them we should go out together sometime (dinner, etc.) and they said they would love to--they had even said that they had been wishing someone would drop by their place to visit. She said that we were the first neighbors to ever stop by to talk. I invited them to eat with us on Sunday for my birthday at Bardenay, my favorite restaurant. They said they liked that restaurant also. Her sister is coming to visit them this weekend from the UK, so they said they would ask her if she'd be interested in going. We might even go see a movie. Looks like we made our first friends!

Anyway, we'll let you know more later about our new friends, Arjun and Phritvi as soon as we know more about them.

Home Inspection

Monday was the home inspection and for the most part everything went fine. There only a few cosmetic problems, but other than that, the inspector said this was one the best inspections he's done for awhile. He said the roof was the best he's seen in a long time! He said that it should last between 20-30 years (the house was built in 2003). So that's good because we won't even be in there for that long, I can garauntee it. The guy got down in the crawl space and checked the insulation and vapor barrier and he said that there was some insulation missing and the barrier needed to be adjusted--spiders had begun to make their dwelling where the barrier had slipped out of position---EEEEEWWWWWWW. I told Kyle awhile back when we got the first report of the property from the seller that we needed to get an exterminator out there first thing. I do NOT want any black widows or brown recluses making themselves comfortable in my house! One of the other things that I saw, that I didn't see before, was the blinds in one of the kids' rooms. It appeared that the girl had bitten and chewed on each blind as far as she could reach (and she's probably about 4 or 5 yrs old). I don't think we'd ever seen that as many times as we've gone in that house. I really hope they replace that to be nice. I don't want teeth marks on the blinds! If they don't, then I guess it's not a huge problem, but if MY daughter had done that, I would replace it before the buyers got the house.

All in all, it was a good inspection and I think we're really going to go through with it. Kyle keeps getting good vibes from people at work and so we're thinking we'll be staying here for awhile anyway. Still, we haven't heard anything official so don't stop prayin' now. Hopefully we'll hear something by the end of this week. Kyle's working today on the 4th because if he does, he gets 2 extra days of vacation that he can use at a later date if he wants. We figure we might use them in December for the Christmas holidays. We don't know exactly what we're going to do then about visits, but we're thinking we might just visit both families (i.e. spend a couple of days with his parents and then fly up to Indiana to visit my parents since they'll be up there). It'll be many hours of flying, but probably worth it. :) I won't get to see my parents until after the first of the year if we don't go visit them in December--whatever happens, I wanna make sure I can see them. Kyle's parents are coming out to Boise in September, so at least we'll see them if for some reason we can't make it to ATL. I wish we could see EVERYONE, but it's kind of impossible this time. I'm sorry. Maybe once Kyle has more vacation time, we can visit for a longer period of time. Or if he can't come out for some reason, maybe it would just be me. I know for sure we'll be in ATL next June because Kyle's sister is getting married on 6/7/08. I have 2 other friends that are getting married that same day. I might be able to see my friend's wedding right after Shelly's because he'll be getting married in Roswell (not too far from Woodstock).

Anyway, this was a lot of writing but I haven't written much in a few days and I wanted to catch up. I'm gonna start grilling at about 7:15pm tonight and I'm also gonna make 4th of July brownies for us to enjoy! Yay! Wish I could spend today with all our families--we'll be thinking about all of you guys! We love you and hope you have a happy 4th!