productive?

we may have another month (at the least) before we may be able to move into our new house. so, what do we do with our time before then? well, i haven't been called for work for the last three weeks, so meanwhile joey and i have been making the most of our sweet bonding time. a few times (including this morning) we have hit the dog park and ran errands together but mostly he just sleeps as i read or do housework. i expect to get more calls for work starting this week, tomorrow marks the start of the district's fiscal year and everyone will gain their new vacation/sick days. i feel bad because joey has gotten used to me be being home and i hope he doesn't take it personally when i start work again. i say that seriously too, joey often takes things personally. he's surprisingly quite an emotional little guy.

i'm naturally a very lazy person so it's very hard for me to not sit in front of the tv all day. (especially when there's such great programming on hgtv. i loves me some hgtv!) during my downtime i've kept up with tidying the house and have read sense and sensibility. i haven't read anything by jane austen before this but have always wanted to. last summer i read a biography on austen but it has taken me this long to actually pick up one of her novels. i'm thinking of starting the jungle by upton sinclair next but i'm open to any suggestions. :)



unfortunately, michael hasn't had as much free time as i have, he's clogged with reading and researching for his masters classes. there's piles of "school junk" on the kitchen table and i'm not completely certain which semester it's all from. it's hard not to feel bad for him, he has five hours of classes every thursday night and hours of homework every week. honestly, we'll both be doing a lot better after he's finished with school in the late fall. he'll finally get his life back and i'll finally have my husband (and kitchen table!) back.

the very hungry caterpillar(s)

maybe i should blog complaints about my plants more often, if these are the sort of results i get. :) you're so right lauren, it smells amazing!

we got a call from our realtor yesterday to tell us the bank has sent the offer to freddie mac for approval and that he hopes the morgage insurance will go through at the same time. hmm, i really have no idea what that all means to us, but i did get the part about freddie mac giving us a forty-five day window to hear back. things are moving along slowly, but the good news is that things are moving. i'm optimistic that they will approve us for the house, eventually. i don't think the bank would want to spend all the time and effort on a new buyer, especially since they have so many other houses they need to sell but i think it's going to be a quiet july.

last night michael and i were enjoying the warm evening on the porch and as i was watering my plants, i found two green caterpillars on my geranium. i had noticed that something had been nibbling on my leaves lately, i just couldn't figure out what. i guess i'm not quite a "master gardener" yet because instead of killing them on the spot i couldn't help but think about how adorable they were! they were just munching, munching away with their little heads inside my pre-formed geranium buds. although i was i little tiffed that they targeted my BUDS, i am flattered that they picked my plant to munch on. when i was younger, every season my brother and sister and i would always try and save the caterpillars from crossing the road. we had a lot of the "wooly bear" types there and i don't know what it was, but they would always cross the road and get smashed. (they must have been suicidal) i remember one time when i was about twelve, i was taking a walk down the road, looking for caterpillars and i noticed a car coming. at the same time i saw a little caterpillar lopping along in the lane. the car moved to the left as a courtesy for me and ran right over the little caterpillar. all that was left was a tiny greasy spot on the road. i felt so terrible! if i hadn't been there the car would have missed the caterpillar completely! i was done trying to save the caterpillars after that.

i spent a good hour last night googling "green caterpillars" to find out what they were going to turn into. i thought maybe something exotic because they ALWAYS use green caterpillars in children's stories and they ALWAYS have them turn into something beautiful. they're such a brilliant shade of green too, sort of a dark lime color. oh well turns out they're just the brown moth types that get stuck inside your house and annoy your dog. whatever. our children are being taught lies.

the price i pay for mercy...

happiness!

and there it is!

"hass" and "hers" and his and hers.

i finally planted my avocado seeds; hass and hers. :) i got a little impatient (which i seem to be a lot lately with my plants) because they hadn't sprouted or grown roots, so i planted them into two small pots i had.


i know that they're trees, not flowers, and they take longer to grow but i thought i'd try and help them along. they've both cracked open so i don't think they're dormant. i decided to plant them because i read online that avocado seeds grow faster when planted rather than in a cup and also because they were getting a little sunburnt from the hot weather. hopefully they will both grow up to be very healthy and strong and make their mama proud.

lately michael and i have been riding our bikes more often together, it makes a great (cheap!) date. :) michael has been clocking in the miles daily himself on his more serious rides, which unfortunately i'm not able to do as easily. first of all, i don't have super muscles like my husband and never will. secondly, his bike is designed for speed whereas my bike is designed for vintage awesomeness. i love my bike but i would like to get a second bike for longer rides. i still would like a single speed with the same gear ratio of 52/16, (which i may say is very close to mr. kruse) but my concern is money. i feel awfully guilty every time i spend money these days because i'd like to save as much as possible for the new house. so if i were to get a second bike, it would have to be an amazing deal.

my bud-dies?

FAIL!

i don't know what it is about these little gardenia buds but they're suuuure taking their time. i haven't updated their progress since the first week of may because none of the buds have bloomed. sigh... i've been mindful of my watering and i've been checking my gardenia daily, and yet. they. tease. sorry if i seem a little impatient... but i'm still waiting to see the beautiful little blooms that my gardenia has promised me for the last five weeks now.

hopefully i can give another update soon... :(

brainy brian!

this weekend michael and i drove down to san luis obispo for brian's graduation from calpoly. whooo! we had a great time visiting with him and michael's parents in fabulous san luis obispo and surrounding areas. i used to live about 20 miles southeast of there before i moved to oregon so it was great to see the old stomping grounds again.

since lately my thing has been to post a lot of pictures rather than actually write something readworthy, here you go once again!




hello graduate!



we drove to the olde port inn for lunch at avila beach after the graduation. avila beach is great and perfect for a photo op!

it's bangin'!

well, i went ahead and did it, i got bangs! i've felt that i needed a change (or an actual style!) for awhile now, so i figured today was to be the day. besides, summer is always a good time for sassy hairstyles and awkward self portraits!

it seems no matter how tight they wrap those salon ponchos, i always find little chopped up hairs on my neck and clothes each time i get a hair cut...

adventure with family!

on sunday, michael and i went to california adventure with my brother james, his girlfriend brandi and her parents. both james and i had never been before, but i gotta say that they have some pretty awesome rides. not so sure what james thought... :) so, since posting pictures is easier than actually writing a post, here's a few pictures!


brandi and (an excited) james.


michael on the lookout for more scary rides!


twin grins!

a cloudy high.

i did NOT want to come to work today. i had decided this last night, today was to be my catch-up day on housework and errands. i was only going to work today if the IT department requested me, and guess what? they did all right. oooooooh! i had plans, dangit! i was going to give joey a tea tree oil bath because he's so itchy from shedding so much. i was going to go out and run in the morning and start my day all energized. i was going to pick up my paycheck and deposit it at the bank. i was going to water and prune my plants and perhaps transplant my unchangeable avocado seeds into pots. i was going to vacuum and sweep the floors, wash the clothes and maybe try to tackle organizing the pantry. i was actually looking forward to all this!

these days i have to try and work as much as i can though because it's the end of the school year. once the schools close for the summer there won't be a lot of work for substitutes and there's such a competition for the jobs left. so grudgingly, i got out of bed and got ready for work. once i kissed michael goodbye and he pedaled out the door, i was determinded to be in a bad mood today. not a mean spirited mood, just a bad one. this didn't last long however because once i walked out to my car with my coffee and noticed how cloudy it was, it started to sprinkle on my head. funny how a cloudy chilly morning would make most people groan, but instead it cheers me up. there's just something about cloudy chilly mornings, they make me wish i had kids that i could walk to school and we could jump in the puddles along the way with our boots. (i daydream a lot) i couldn't help but smile at the misty rain today. so, maybe today will turn out to be an okay day after all. maybe i'll finally get my day off, tomorrow. ;)

this and that.

as you can tell by the lack of posts about our new house, nothing much as happened lately. we're still in escrow and we're still waiting on the bank that owns the house to do their end. meanwhile, we've been approved for a loan and at some point need to sign the paperwork with our agent and our realtor checks in with us every week so we don't feel too forgotten. we did hear last week that the bank has moved ahead with their appraisal and our realtor should call us sometime this week about that. hopefully the appraisal will kick start something and escrow will move a little faster and we can finally do our inspection. lets hope so.

also, my dear maria taught me how to crochet the granny square stitch. i always wanted to learn to do granny squares because i think they make the cutest afghans. here's my little dark brown afghan i'm making out of some extra yarn i had. i hope to make it 2 foot by 3 foot, just large enough to wrap around my legs when it's chilly. i also want to make fuzzy tassels and add them around the edge to make it more "granny." :)


and just for fun, here are some things i'm currently just absolutely crazy about:

lacey's new blog: her garden pictures are too cute!

grapefruit - so refreshing during the summer. i like them best either peeled like an orange or in juice form.

romantic comedy movie/craft nights with maria: well, i've always been a big fan of these actually. :)

double dates with michael's parents: always a good time!

smell of chlorine: okay i don't bend down and inhale it or anything, but when i walk by the pools in our apartment complex and it waifs over, it's so nostalgic.

the cossacks by leo tolstoy: surprisingly romantic.

the sun shining until 8 o'clock at night: i seem to get so much more done when it's still bright outside and the nights seem to last forever!

bees: they are just so busy! unfortuantely i mostly find wasps instead, or rather they find me...