Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Katie says she hates money. I was wanting more of it. Hm...

[If you haven't joined already, you should]


I applied to 2 Nursing Informatics programs today -- the U of U and Duke. Feeling good about it, but still a little anxious.  I of course just want to know right *NOW*.  Now we just wait (and apply for a few more in the meantime, just in case).  I am very excited for the program though and the jobs out there.  

Katie and I were talking, and beings that a majority of the Nursing Informatics programs out there are distance-education, that gives us the freedom to stay living here, or wherever we want.  The U of U isn't online, but hey ... we live here, so it works too.  So . . . we're now officially open to the possibility of moving into a more permanent living situation!

I knew I wasn't going to make as much as I could be making while working at a hospital, but I'm also very glad for the ICU experience, and I love my job. Because of the opportunities my job gives me, I wouldn't change anything I've done.  I'm very glad to be where I am.  

Still, part of the opportunity cost there is the income.  We rattled through our budget and monthly income vs. outputs.  Of course, I wish it looked prettier, but it is what it is.  Sure, we can probably make some lifestyle adjustments and get a few more bucks, but that won't double our income.  I also don't want to buy a house based on what we *could* make after I graduate.  That sounds like not-smart.

So our million dollar house and yacht are out.  Sorry folks.  In the meantime, we'll look for something more conservative, but still try to stick 'round here.  We've got our money stats all laid out on a neat little spreadsheet, but still, we don't know what we can reasonably afford.

We need a financial counselor -- you know -- one that we don't have to pay.  

And a flying pig. (Hey, bacon flies right?)



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

It's been a good week!


Despite my being stressed over "The Child," this past week was really quite enjoyable. Brett was able to be home several mornings to watch the kiddo while I went to do a few errands and other fun things just for me. He's the best husband/dad ever (I know, I'm biased).


Waaaay back in July, Brett found a coupon on KSL for a massage at a chiropractic office up in Salt Lake for a pretty awesome deal. It was around our anniversary, and I hinted that I've always kinda wanted to get a professional massage, but thought it might be too "weird." But he bought it for me anyway. I finally redeemed it last Tuesday. Indeed it was a little "weird," but after chatting with my massage therapist for a bit, and relaxing on a toasty heated bed with fresh-from-the-dryer warm sheets, it was actually very nice. My neck hurt pretty badly during the massage, but it was my back afterwards that ended up completely sore from being worked on. That I became sore afterwards just helped solidify in my mind that the massage actually was doing something, working all those knots out!
This is not my bag of stuff, but you get the idea...
Then on Wednesday I had the chance to hop over to a "Busy Bag" exchange that my friend, Kristin another former teacher at Fort Herriman Middle, set up. I made 27 sets of 2 different activities and then got 25 additional activities from other people. I didn't know anyone else but Kristin, but it was still fun to get out and see her and her baby boy for a minute and then get a bunch of fun activities. I'm excited for when Lindy is big enough to actually use them.

This was back in high school... my hair is not that cute, and I'm not that skinny at the moment.
Thursday night I auditioned for the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, a local orchestra that's getting some very nice reviews. I contacted the conductor a few weeks ago, just wondering if they happened to have any French horn openings, which they happened to have. They have 4 horns, but one can't come every other week because of work, and they want to have 5 just to alternate parts here and there. So I practiced pretty hard for 2 weeks. My face is still out of shape (I last played the tenor horn for UPB 2 years ago, and haven't played the French horn seriously for a few years before that), and my fingers were slow and confused (tenor horn and French horn have different fingerings). But I picked some songs that I remembered and got them sounding passable. The slow song was sounding pretty good at home, but the fast one was needing work right up until the audition. But lo and behold, auditions always go the exact opposite of what you expect. The adrenaline apparently helped me on the fast one, which I thought sounded better than any time I had practiced it. But my nervous lip did not help the long soft notes on the other song sound very good, and it made me hit all sorts of other notes while slurring... oh well... apparently it was good enough! I got in! I'll start going to rehearsals in December for their concert in February. I'm excited to be playing again, and with such a great sounding group (although I admit it will not be as fun as playing with Sonja, Dave, or my high school pals Sylvia, Wendy, Ryan, Holly, Andrea, Jared, Jason, Brendi, etc.).

Friday I got to go out to lunch with another teacher friend, Amy which was fun as usual. I miss teaching. There's something I miss about hanging out at school with my buddies, molding young minds (I'm a biologist, so take that how you want to), and learning something new about how to teach or about science. I'm glad that we were able to get together.




On Saturday, my Mom watched Lindy while Brett and I went to the temple. We haven't been much since she's been born, so it was a welcome reprieve.

Sunday was Stake Conference which means one less hour at church! Don't get me wrong, I love church, but it's nice to have a little break once in a while, especially when you're trying to get a baby to nap at the right times.

My brother is the cool one... Molar Man!
Then Monday we went up to the special bakery store that we go to in order to get the best "dipping chocolate" that my family uses for our homemade candies at this "most wonderful time of the year." And then came home via the "Dontist" - my brother Don is our dentist... and we came away without any cavities! He works at a technically "pediatric" dentist office, but makes exceptions for family :) Even Lindy had a good time, and got a cool infant toothbrush thing (maybe it will be an incentive for her to actually pop out some teeth).

And during all this busyness, Lindy learned how to roll from front to back - something we've been working on for a month or so now - yay!!! (Sorry the movie is so grainy... apparently I don't know how to export clips.)