Back to school

I can't believe I'm writing that. Really? Back to school? It feels like I just got done...but it's actually been almost four months since I finished my last class. After getting my BS in Business Management, I've been doing some research as to what to do for graduate school. I had seriously given up on the whole idea of it, since it is just so expensive, at least the major I wanted (Masters in Accounting). Well, God has opened some serious doors, and I'm just walking right through them. I'm actually not doing my masters, that's been ruled out. Instead, I've decided to take a few extra classes in order to sit for the CPA exam. I didn't have enough accounting credits with my degree, so after I take about 6 1/2 classes or so, I'll be able to do that. My first 4 credit class starts tonight, (can't believe they let me register a day before class started) and I have another one starting next Wednesday. Because all the classes I need are available at night, it won't be affecting my work schedule hardly. I'm so thrilled! And the place I'll be taking my classes at, University of CA-Riverside (UCR) is only 2 miles from my house! Right next to one of my favorite frozen yogurt places in the world! ;o) I'm scared in a way, because I know it's back to no free evenings or weekends, back to a more messy house, backlogged laundry, and a myriad of other things that crop up when I'm focused on school, but I hope to be finished by the end of this year. After that I think it'd take me a few months to pass all 4 sections of the exam, but overall I'm excited about the new direction in my life. Wish me luck!

Help Needed

Does anyone have a suggestion for what I should do with my sliding glass door and kitchen window? Preferably I'd like them to match or coordinate somehow, and the only thing I've ruled out for the sliding glass door is vertical blinds! I'm at my wits end though, with these two. We've been in our house for almost two years now and I just can't figure out what I want to do with these! And it's not just a looks issue, it's a privacy/safety issue too! I don't like that anyone can look in our house at any time of the day or especially night. All suggestions welcome!

Happy Sabbath!

It's been a long time since I've written, and I have no real excuse. Well, I might have a small one. A couple of weeks after the superbowl I decided to go on an all out media fast. I mean no radio, no music, no TV, movies, internet (unless it was work-related like emails) and no facebook or blogging either. I feel like I gained alot from it. I don't know exactly how to put it into words, exactly what I may have gained, but it had something to do with clarity, peace and more time on my hands. Alot more time. The hardest thing, believe it or not, was when I was in the car. I always listen to music or NPR, always! So instead I took the time to listen to the Bible on audio or pray aloud.

After it was over, I've been out of habit with FB and this blog, so it seems. Or maybe not too many interesting things are going on? Life keeps ho-humming along, work, work and some play, and then more work. I love my job(s). I love my husband. I love spending time with him. That time will get more scarce as the summer comes along. One thing that is coming up is gardening. Yay! Although our tiny plot is nothing to brag about, I do look forward to the meager provisions that will be springing forth soon.

This time, we aren't planting one single tomato plant! They were a real disappointment last summer, and they were 90% of our crop. This time we're going to stick with what really worked, corn and green beans. And maybe lettuce and onions. We didn't really eat the beets... :-/

Disappointment

I can't believe it's really over. We had so many possibilities, so much hope for the future, life was exciting and things couldn't look brighter just last week. And now it's all gonna end like this? Thankfully, I'm not talking about anything of 'real' importance. I'm only talking about my super duper football team, the Chargers. I know, who really cares, right? It's all a make-believe world, where we humans affix some sort of significance or meaning to a bunch of guys throwing a piece of leather around. But it's exciting! And hey, for what it's worth, I think it's one of the fairer sports out there, because of the salary cap. And the game is pretty complicated, so you're at least stimulating some brain cells. The only draw-backs are the high cost of the tickets, the time-consuming nature of being an avid fan, and ofcourse a hoarse voice now and again. (mostly if you're lucky enough to go to a live game)

Well I was pretty down yesterday, I really thought we could go all the way. We have a bunch of talent on the team, and they played like they were out for a walk in the park. Boy was I angry at 'em.

Well LT (my fav player on the team) pretty much sums it up with this picture.

Good-bye Chargers' season. Hello life-without-football-for-the-next-eight-months.

It's been a while

I can hardly believe it’s been almost 10 months since I last wrote here. That’s how depressed I was from turning 25. Haha. Actually, that just happened to be my last blog post…I’m pretty sure. But I must say, since I’m a couple of months shy of another birthday, 25 has really turned out to be a pretty nice age to be so far. But really, I don't know what happened. Seems like just yesterday I was writing about the lack of things to look forward too. Now, life has gotten pretty interesting. The last few months have felt like someone stuck their finger on the fast forward button and forgot to let go. I can’t complain though. I tell you, I love living in California (yay for 75 degree weather in January!) I love the fast-paced lifestyle, I love being busy, and I love having a gigantic to-do list. Can that be considered an addicition? Do I need to seek help? I don’t know, but I know it would be hard to give up. There’s something about having 101 things to do that day that gives you something of an adrenaline rush. It wakes you up bright-eyed and full of energy, just to keep one step ahead of the game. Sadly, I’m going to have less of that busyness now. I just finished my B.S. in Business Management this month, and I’m beginning to plan how I’m going to fill my time now that my no. 2 time-stealer is gone. Surprising how much free time one can really have. Of course, not wanting too much down time, I’ve taken the liberty to write myself a list of things I will be accomplishing with my new-found free time.

#1. Clean out and organize each of the six closets. #2. Start teaching and taking piano lessons again.

#3. Paint the house room by room, beginning with the guest rooms/upstairs and ending downstairs.

#4. Join Fitness for Life (a wellness promotion program at work where you get incentives for miles) and log a minimum of 116 miles a month.

#5. Landscape the backyard.

#6. Do a thorough study of several of my favorite Bible topics.

Of course, the list above is not to be confused with my New Years resolutions. Among them, I mean to 1. Live a consistently GLOWing lifestyle (ask me if you don't know what that is) 2. make friends a higher priority 3. make it through 6 weeks of the "Eat to Live" food plan (if you haven't read that book, I highly recommend it) 4. keep my blog updated 5. send out Christmas cards this year! 6. decide if I want to get my Masters, and if I do get started on it.

I have a feeling I'm not going to be bored this year...

A nice bird and I hanging out in Oceanside earlier this week

So why does turning 25 stink?

Ok so now, I'm not hitting some kind of quasi mid-life crisis or anything, just feeling a little down since my birthday. It's like, from the time you can remember, you're really looking forward to your next birthday, when you're 12, oh yay, I'll be a teenager next birthday! Then you're looking forward to 14/15 because then you can get your permit! And then ofcourse, 16 is so magical right, your drivers license, etc. You know how it was, when we were 15 1/2 we wouldn't say "I'm 15 1/2" you say "I'm almost 16". Then the big 18, that was one of my favorite ages to turn, you're an adult now!! And then my 20th birthday was pretty cool, no longer a teenager sounded so grown up. But my total favorite was 21, now I was really an adult! And life was so exciting, I was looking forward to dating, and marriage, and all that good stuff! The next couple of birthdays were tolerable. Then 25. Well, now I can rent a car and pay no extra fees. Yay, sounds great.

But now, the future looks long and monotone. The biggest thing I see in the future right now, seems like age 60 when I can start getting those senior discounts, and maybe retire! ugh. Just thinking about being that old makes me even more depressed. So, anyways I am just rambling right now, but I am beginning to understand why so many middle age women begin hiding their age and stay stuck at 21. Well I would definitely appreciate advice on how to age gracefully. Seems like I need help with that right now. Oh, and one other thing. I guess the one stop between 25 and retirement would be having babies. That might add some excitement from here to there. So I'm thinking I should probably wait quite a while more, don't want to use up the last great thing to look forward to between now and 60...

I'm sitting in the airport, waiting for my turn to board. I'm heading to Tennessee for the weekend to see my wonderful family. My friend dropped me off a little bit early, so I get a little me time. Yay! It sure feels nice to sit down for a little bit and just have nothing better to do than get online, and not have to feel guilty about it! =) So we had two Bible workers staying at our house for the last 10-11 weeks. The last one is leaving tomorrow, so it's going to be strange to have our house to ourself again! Although I feel bad, because Teddy and I didn't get to spend alot of time with them since we are gone all the time, I will miss having them here. Now you all peeps out there need to come visit, because there's alot of extra room now!

So I promised a picture of our piano, so here it is. I can't figure out what to do with the rest of this room yet, so it's pretty empty. Just the piano and our formal dining table. No pictures, nothing. Hmmm...need some inspiration, and some time!

Does anyone have any sheet music of semi-classical music they wouldn't mind passing along? I need to start practicing my music reading again, all I've been doing is playing what I've remembered over the years, and hymns. But I wouldn't mind something cool to learn.
This past weekend Teddy and I spent some time on our garden. We are installing a border to help keep the beds level and, since they're raised beds, from falling.

I'm so happy that our little tomato plants are growing quickly! 10 tomato plants, that will be so nice!
I don't know why I'm so excited about the tomato plants particularly, maybe because I remember that little old lady at church when I was young. She would always bring her delicious, homegrown tomatoes to potluck, and even after we'd had our fill she'd go around asking us, "Yun's wan a 'mater?" lol Can you hear the S. IL accent? By the way, did you know the difference between a Texan accent and a Southern accent? Texans say 'ya'll' and Southerners say 'yun's'! Well my turns coming up here pretty soon, so I should sign off. Yes, I get to see my family in 6 1/2 hours!!