Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Oh Well

So last night I was looking through the World Vision gift catalog, and realized I'd made a horrible error in one of my goals. I thought I could purchase a well through W.V. for $1,800- but I apparently overlooked one of the 0's at the end of the number, which was a very important 0. It completely changes the amount to $18,000 instead of $1,800!!!! So I sadly must admit that I'm probably not going to be able to buy a well now- at least not soon. However, they have so many other cool things in the catalog that I could do instead. One thing that really caught my eye was the mosquito nets, which are only $20. But I may set a goal of buying 50 of those and then something else cool too. We got a call a few months ago that one of Nick's World Vision kids died of malaria at age 14, and it seriously broke my heart. I was amazed at how much it affected me and saddened me over the next few days, considering I had never even met the boy. The woman said that his parents didn't realize how serious the illness was, and that he could have been treated if he'd gotten to a good hospital in time. It's just so hard I think for us to comprehend not just having a hospital right down the street, or not having access to incredible doctors and medical care. It's so unfair that what I spend on gum and soda each month could completely change the lives of people in another country. So I think my new goal will be mosquito nets.

This weekend, Nick and I were in Tucson for his company's rewards program which was amazing!!!! We stayed at Loew's Ventana Canyon Resort and I was blown away by the service we got. The weather was perfect, and I seriously just laid out, read, ran, golfed with Nick (meaning I drove the cart around the course), and got a facial and massage :) Sadly, I did not finish Twilight yet b/c I got so into a book called The Shack. But I'm only 100 pages away from finishing Twilight. We met some really fun other NAPA people at the dinners, which was nice since most of the people weren't even close to our age. I was seriously afraid no one was going to talk to us all weekend b/c we were the babies of the group. But it ended up to be a great time :)

The bad news is that I skipped eating a fruit or veggie for one day and broke my streak, so now I have to start over :/ I had been doing so well and just had like 11 days left. But it was my bday and we had been traveling all day long and when we got home I just wanted to go to bed. I even had an apple in my bag!!! And as I was climbing into my cozy bed ridiculously early at 9pm, I thought about it and considered going to eat the apple- but was just too pooped. So I now must start over- grrr.

This week I'm having friends over on 2 nights- tonight for FPC Soup Night, and on Friday the girls are coming for HSM night. Several of us are wanting to see High School Musical but feel dorky, so we're all watching it together :) It was also supposed to be the night I learned to bake an apple pie from scratch, but that's gonna have to be another night now. Meg is an award-winning apple pie maker (seriously- she's really won a contest) and I'll admit that I'm not usually a fan of apple pie but LOVE hers. But she has to come late, so we'll just save the baking for a later date. So I haven't gotten to mark off anything big on my list this week, but have gotten my massage for this year, gone to 1 new city, almost finished Twilight, and am hosting 1 of my get togethers. Not incredibly inspiring, but not too bad either :)

Sunday, March 1, 2009

My Valentine's Day Goat

Well, this week was semi-successful in getting started.
-I cooked 2 new dinners, so that's a good start for my #33.
-#27 and #54 I started on and have been able to stick with so far. It makes #27 much easier simply by not going anywhere like the mall where there are things to buy. Although, I may have 1 obstacle: my car. I got my sweet Alero for my 21st birthday. She was only a year old and had been totaled by the previous owner, and my dad had a friend who fixed her up and we got her for $6,000- mom and dad helped me and paid half. Well, she's not feeling quite as perky these days, and she quit on me 4 times while I was driving the other day. It's a miracle that we didn't get in a wreck since 2 of the times it happened right in the middle of driving and I had to come to a complete stop, put it in park, and start her back up (the other 2 times were at stop lights at least). So I'm either going to have to pay for new parts to get her fixed, or, as Nick is encouraging me to do- get a new car :/ But I guess this will still be okay since technically it would fall under "things I need". I'd just rather keep the Alero for a little longer and have no idea what kind of car I'd like to have.
-#48- Ashley and I went out to the Little Victories land to walk and play with some of the sweet dogs this weekend. I wanted to go back again and spend more time out there helping around the land, but it's so freakin' cold that I couldn't bring myself to do it.
-#55- I wrote Oswaldo a letter, but haven't sent it or his care package yet. And as most people close to me know, the mailing part is sadly sometimes the hardest part for me. I'm not really sure why it's such an issue for me to actually send mail. I love picking out cards and writing them or writing letters to people, and will even put the stamp on. But somewhere along the way to actually mailing it, something goes terribly wrong. And I'll find the piece of mail 8 months later in my house or car. I realize it's not serving its purpose and not doing anyone any good there, but it just happens. It's like I'm postally-challenged or something.
#3- Things went well with my student at our first meeting. And I'll meet with him every Monday at the library.
#14- I'm LOVING the Twilight book. I'm only about 150 pages in, and despite my resistance, I really am enjoying the book. Only problem is that I'm reading too much all at once: "Chasing Harry Winston", "The Reason for God", "Girl with the Pearl Earring", "Confessions of a Shopaholic", "Jesus Wants to Save Christians", and finally "Twilight". Wow. Have I mentioned I have issues over-committing??? I hope to finish 2 of the books in the next few days at least!

I guess that's about all I've done this week for my list. This weekend Nick and I are celebrating our Valentine's Day :) Nick's bff Billy has come to visit us the past 3 weekends (including Valentine's Day), so we've postponed our "celebration" until this week. Billy's in Columbus for a little bit while interviewing for new jobs, so he comes to Huntington on the weekends to play in the basketball games and hang out. It's been great since Nick and Bill usually live so far away, and life is definitely always entertaining with Billy around :) So anyway, we're just going away for Saturday to go to a nice restaurant and stay in a hotel about 2 hours away. He already gave me my Valentine's gift, and it's one of my favorite ever- a goat :) Not that we have a goat living in our apartment now- but he bought me a goat through World Vision. I just told him I didn't want him to spend a bunch of money on flowers or candy or the usual gifts, when it could go to something more lasting. Don't get me wrong- it's not that I don't like flowers or romantic gifts (I made sure Nick understood this point too lol) But I was just really convincted at the time that that money could go to something bigger instead of for me to look at some pretty flowers for a few days and then have them die soon after. I've never been a big fan of the media's version of Valentine's Day and love. Not to sound hateful or like an angry feminist. I just think it's such a predictable, cheapened, watered-down version of what love really looks like. And it means so much to think that Nick's gift went to changing a family's life and giving them hope. I'm sure that in the near future I'll get the itch and want some tulips or peonies, but for now I'm so thankful for a husband who thinks outside of the box for gifts :)