Brain Dump

- I had a 50 hour work this week (including one holiday) and my paycheck should be sweet.

- It will help pay for this:

(in black) which we found in the Ikea "As-Is" section. It was there because it was assembled but didn't have a box or the assembly instructions. It was about 30% off the original price, but because of their daily deals, it was another 30% off the sale price. How could we say no? We've been wanting a leather sectional forever. We love our old couches, but they are a pain when it comes to dog hair! Now, we have 3 couches in our living room - it feels very much like a McMenamins movie theater, minus the movie and basket of tots.

Anyone want a lovely sofa set?

- We are going to see Grace Potter on Friday. I'm a very wishy-washy fan of live music, but I'd see this girl if she played in a dumpster. She is beyond awesome. If I didn't love Ben, I'd totally have her babies.

- We spent the morning in one of my favorite ways: sleeping in, walking to Baker & Spice, the Farmers Market and playing with Bridger at the park. Lovely.

- We're finally going to church tonight - it's been way too long!

- The bedroom is coming along slowly, I'll post pictures when it's done!

So worth it

I'm am tired today. Bags-under-my-eye's-bags and sick-to-you-stomach tired, and it was totally worth it. Last night, Ben and I stayed up all night talking. Just talking, having fun, laughing, sharing, cuddling and enjoying being together. We were in bed reading books to wind down but started talking and kept going. We talked about our past and little details we both cherish.

We shared silly secrets (who knew we had any secrets after being married this long) and poked fun at the other.

We talked about the relationships that helped for each other into the person we were when we started ours. We talked about falling in love. We talked about how we love each other more now than we did back then.

We discussed the future, what we want for our family. We said many times how thankful we are for our little family right now.

At 3:30 AM we finally decided we should brush our teeth and go to sleep considering Ben had to be up for class by 7:00 AM.

Before we drifted off to sleep (and I consequently woke back up an hour later and was pretty much up the rest of the morning - stupid cough!) my husband looked at me and said "I am so blessed to have someone that after almost 4 years of marriage we can still stay up all night talking and having fun. I hope we can do the same thing 8 years from now and 20 years from now. I adore you."

I adore him too.

I went to work today. I had made it through yesterday just fine. I went to bed early and slept well. When I woke up with my eyes crusted over this morning, I though, "it'll pass - power through!" so I skipped mascara and headed in. However, I started to notice that none of my coworkers were standing near me, and then, finally, when the 2nd attending of the morning asked if I had just been crying, I decided enough was enough and I went to the doctor. 

How's about a upper respiratory infection, a sinus infection and bilateral conjunctivitis. Sounds like a Z-pack and some erythromycin eye ointment should do the trick. 

Now, I'm laying in bed about the watch last night's Bachelor and frequently needing something from my little stash:

Laying Low

Oh man, our house has never been so under the weather! We are both still sick! We've been laying low (except for our trip to Ikea yesterday!) and trying to recover, but to no avail, we both woke up this morning feeling terrible.

I am super nervous because I have to work tomorrow and I volunteered to come in early for another nurse who has to catch an early plane. That means I'm starting off my stretch with an almost 14 hour day. I am already dreading it.

I have big plans for a shot of Nyquil and an early bedtime after church tonight to help me rest and prepare for tomorrow.  Please pray for us. Pray for healing and renewed energy.

Thank you.

P.S. The bedroom is coming along nicely - but slow. We're taking out time. We finished our night stands and the dresser and I'm hoping Ben will be able to hang the headboard tomorrow. Oh, and we LOVE our new bed!

Coming Soon: A Bedroom for Grown Ups

Our new bed was delivered today and let me tell you, it is AMAZING!

We went to Ikea for a few shelves and ended up with a new dresser, two night stands, a mirror, headboard, a painting and a comforter set. Holy moly. We didn't even buy shelves.

Now, we're off to build away (much like little elves). I'll post pictures when we're done.

Equally Yoked?

This is Ben and me today. His sinus infection is still going strong (though he's much better than a few days ago!) and I'm giving hacking up my lung a good go. My throat is on fire and I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Plus, these q5minute clammy heat flashes are a total bummer.

I don't like this being stick stuff. I'm a pretty good care-taker, but I get all turned around when I'm the one feeling under the weather. No es bueno.

I've never had to call in sick for more than one day in a row before and I feel awful about doing it now. I'm just hoping whatever I've got turns around quickly so I can make it on Friday. We'll see. Today, we'll just be in bed or on the couch resting, drinking tea and popping Airborne and Emergen-C like they are going out of style.

Visiting Mom's

Ben, Bridger and I went to visit my family in Southern Oregon. It's always nice to see the fam and bringing out our inner redneck is fun too!

My brother Mark took Ben up to the mountains to go shooting and he finally got to fire his prized rifle. He inherited it after his Grandfather died and it is a very special to him.

Here it is in all it's ethereal glory.

Ben's funny in that he will mold and adapt to whatever kind of situation he is in. He loves being classy and urban in the city and then transforming into a rockstar while on stage. Similarly, give him a gun and a pair of Carhartt's (not pictured) and his inner country-boy comes out. I love it!

We went down for an after Christmas family get together and to celebrate my sister Erin's graduation from Community College. She was home schooled through high school and choose to go to college early and earn her AA degree. She now has her Associates of Arts in English (I think) and she just started classes for her Bachelors of Literature at Southern Oregon University. Ben and I toured the campus with her and made sure she had everything she needed (books, parking permit, etc.) for her first day on the "big campus." It was so fun watching her be so grown up. I am so proud of her! 

Erin, Courtney (the BFF) and Mark

The whole family (including Erin's bestie Courtney) surprised Erin at dinner at Olive Garden after her first day of classes. After dinner we headed back to mom's for cake. It was a really nice evening.

Mom & Me

Dad & Me

We had a really nice visit but it was definitely hampered by a very unwelcome visitor: Ben's nasty sinus infection. He was miserable. He tried to sleep, but his congestion and head pain kept him up most of the night (he even did some "test hugs" at 6 am to see if I was awake and ready to get up with him - I was not!). He did his best to take care of it with Ibuprofen and saline washes, but by the second morning puss was gooping (yes, that is a real word, I think) out of his eyes and he started to run a fever, so I took him to the urgent care center in town. Armed with two weeks of antibiotics and ten days of Prednisone, he's finally starting to see the uphill and seems to be on the mend. Thank goodness! I don't like when my baby is sick!

On the ride home I started to feel a little off and I began coughing up a storm. Oh man, I hope that it not my turn to be sick now! We made it home safely and I'm now snuggled on the couch hoping that some rest and a few more doses of Airborne will help me feel good as new in the morning. Here's hoping I can go to work tomorrow!

My boys on the drive home. Bridger was a bit lonely in the back so he came up to snuggle for a while. These loves warm my heart.

Starting the New Year on the Right Foot

I know everyone has said this already, but holy moly, I cannot believe 2010 is over! What a whirlwind of a year. I'm not going to do a year in review, but let's just say last year was great. We had some rocky points and some wonderful ones, and I believe we ended 2010 in a really good spot. 

I have never been good on making resolutions every year but I tried last year. They were a little lofty and I don't even think I believed them as I was writing them. I hit a few points and missed more. I should have just been simple with my resolutions and stated the two that were most important to me. The first was to grow as a wife. Of course, that will always be something I strive for - I am so proud to be Ben's wife and I want to be a good one. I seriously fail in so many ways, but I love him as best I can and I think that is the most important thing. 

The second thing I wanted to do, but if I'm being honest, didn't think I actually would do it, was to run a 5K. A few opportunities presented themselves, but for one reason or another, I couldn't/didn't sign up (we were out of town, I had to work, etc., etc.). I started walking on the treadmill for 3 miles at a time and running as much as I could. I am not a good runner. I am very out of shape and I'm lugging way too many extra pounds around to make it an easy task. I have never believed I could be a runner. I admire those that do run, but I can't take my mind to actually allowing myself to go there. I'm afraid. Afraid I'll look stupid. Afraid it will hurt. Afraid I won't be able to do it. 

I decided to not be a baby any longer and signed us up for the last 5K of the year, well, technically the first of the new year, but I'm gonna go ahead and count it as 2010. I really wasn't prepared (except for my outfit, I obviously made sure to prepare myself in that area), but I tried to stay positive. My goal was to run as much as I could and push myself as hard as I could. I didn't care about my time (although I wanted to finish in 50 minutes max and was hoping for 45), I just wanted to finish knowing I did as good as I could have.

Race day finally came and my just-getting-over-a-nasty-bug husband was pretty nervous. Christmas had knocked us off our training wagon and he was anxious about doing well. Plus, it was below freezing and neither of us had ever ran in the cold. However, we bundled up and headed downtown to await the stroke of midnight. We counted down 2010 and after a quick smooch we were off. 

I did as best I could. I would say I ran about 2/3 of the race, which is more than I thought I would. We ran together for 3/4 of a mile (I ran that whole distance!) and then I needed a short walking break and Ben continued on. I am proud to say I ran as much as I could. I set little goals for myself saying "ok, walk for a few more steps and then run to that sign up ahead" and I met every one (I usually cut myself slack and stop early). The cold was really getting to me after about 2.5 miles and I was coughing a lot. Soon though, I saw the flashing lights of the last leg. The end was in sight. I started thinking how I thought I couldn't do this, but here I was, actually doing it! I ran the last few blocks and rounded the corner for the finish when I saw Ben, cheering me on. I ran into his arms and about started crying. I was so proud! "I did it! I ran as much as I possibly could!" I was so happy! What time is it I asked? He looked at his watch and it wasn't even 12:45 yet, meaning, given the few minutes we had to wait to actually start the race (we were at the end of the crowd), I had finished in less than 45 minutes!

38:16 to be exact! I was floored! I never dreamed I'd beat 40 minutes! I averaged a pace of 12:10 a mile, which is crazy considering I had never been able to sustain that on a treadmill! Ben did awesome too, finishing at 31:42.

Ben said my time was a testament to what I actually can do as opposed to what I only think I can do. I am just happy that I did what I wanted and that was to do the best I could - the time is just icing on the cake!

Here we are before heading to the race bundled, nervous and excited...

...and here we are after, cold, tired and so very happy!

Happy New Year! Here's to a wonderful 2011!