Spring Break-comin' right at ya

Today (I wrote this yesterday) marked the official day 1 of Job's Spring break, woohoo! :) We did have plans to nanny for a little family in our ward but they had to cancel recently so we are planning new Spring break plans as we go here.
Today was just right.
After staying up to the wee hours of the morning talking to various family members over skype we slept in to an indecent hour. Job made breakfast/lunch, we read scriptures together, and we snuck in a Monk episode (we have quite the relationship with that OCD detective. don't judge). After that we went to work for a couple of hours, Job deep cleaning the house (he is amazing I tell you) while I searched my little heart out for a job to apply for. I finally found one and got everything sent in. I applied while somewhat grumpily watching the snow fall outside our window. I guess I spoke too soon about Spring coming.
This little game came in the mail today (per Job's request)

We are working on building our game collection. Job has wanted this one for a while. How could I say no to a face like that?! :)

After some work we decided to get ready for the day, and then took a walk to our little neighborhood branch library to pick up a little pile of goods to last us a day or two.

It looks as if we are ashamed of our movie collection in the pic ;) I assure you, we love our mix of feel goods, chick flicks, and Agatha Christie mysteries. Oh and Job has never read Harry Potter. We are going to start reading it together, yay! (I have no shame in being a bit of a HP nerd ;)

I made dinner

Hello fresh noodles from Russos. We love to add veggies to you and then eat you right up.

We watched a "sorta feel good" sports flick (meh) and then whipped out the sticks for some pick up action.

This guy is good. I lost.

Then I bugged Job while he chatted with his mamita on skype

Poor guy, never a moments peace

and now Job is cleaning the kitchen from dinner while I write in our "journal" (this blog. It sounds better when I say journal. I.e.: Job-"I'll clean the kitchen" Rach-"Great, I'll write in our "journal". See? Makes it sound like I am being helpful too)

More plans for just chilling tonight. A great start to a relaxing Spring break for Job :)

Well, I'd better scoot now. Jobito deserves a big ol' beso for cleaning the kitchen so well.

Sleeping Arrangements, Part Dos

Remember how we sometimes sleep in here?
Well, now we always sleep in the living room. We basically live in a studio apartment. I rarely see our lovely bedroom, only venturing in there for short spurts of time to grab clothes and run out.
You see, we have neighbors. But not just any neighbors, these are a special kind of pot smoking, drinking, partying, can't laugh quietly to save their lives, nocturnal kind of neighbors. And they attract a bevy of about 8 others similar to sit around their bong and laugh incessantly right as we are trying to fall asleep at night. And then they continue this charade all night long, only to take short breaks to cook up their specialty (which smells like something between wet dog, soggy onions, and burnt toast).
At first we thought, "how charming. Life in the big city." Well, after 5 months of interrupted sleep it has become marginally less charming. So now, since calling the police, talking to our managers, and going over there personally to ask them politely to shut up (only Job does this. I admit I am slightly scared of them) has not worked, we sleep in our living room. (our living room neighbors are dears. Never a peep.)
I realize this all may seem harsh, and certainly un-neighborly of me to say. I blame it on lack of sleep. But seriously, I don't mean to really speak ill of anyone, it has just become an annoying little part of our existence that we feel we must deal with. Like getting a cold or paying taxes.
But I digress, the real reason for this post was so I could document Job and I's various sleeping arrangements for this year we have been married. Some day, when we are lounging around on our Serta Sleep Comfort Bed with Anthropology bedspread we will read this post and appreciate those wonderful newlywed days :)

Where we have slept:

-First, right after our honeymoon we were on the floor of my parents house for a week or so during Christmas. Really can't complain about this one at all. They have a little "mother in law" type set up down there so it was private and quiet (QUIET! :) Ooh, except for when my little sisters yelled down into the heating vents to wake us up on Christmas morning. That was not quiet.

-In Las Vegas we slept on a 2 inch memory foam pad. It was slightly smaller than a twin size. For both of us. Once again, the fact we even had this was due to our lovely parents letting us steal borrow it off my little sisters bed. So we were very grateful for it.

-After a few months in Vegas we moved to Rexburg and into the bed big leagues. We bought a full sized mattress from a married student couple who were moving. 30 buckaroos. Who cares that it was 45 years old, had sagging springs, and made almost completely out of rubber? We had a real bed!

-After our blissful summer in Rexburg we stuffed our Honda with all we could (bed didn't fit. Sad day for us) and set off to Boston.

-Once settled in our apartment we hit the list, craigs style. My sister called us with a find: leopard printed futon, on the curb, ready for pick up! We strapped that 2000 pound piece of wood and cat onto the top of our car and lugged it home.

-Fast forward 4 months-our lumpy bumpy futon was giving Job neck cricks and me itches. Eeek! It had to go, pronto.

-We now sleep (in our living room of course) on a queen sized air mattress that we bought for when guests come over. I was missing our itchy, lumpy futon at first but have since become accustomed to the airbed's craters (see this post again).

So here you will find us, Job and Rachael, on an air bed in our living room, nestled in-between our dining room table and love seat. I don't see our bed situation changing any time soon, so for now I am just enjoying it to the fullest :)

Our rubber bed. So far the highlight of our sleeping arrangements history.

High Rollers

My bank just sent me "An important tax document" telling me that we made $10.92 in interest in 2010. WooEEE! We are rolling in the extra dough!!

Now, what to do with our new found wealth....

2 loads of laundry?

Why yes, I believe that is in order.

Sleeping Arrangements

Sunday night we slept in here:

Secret night photo while Job was sleeping and I couldn't

Because:
1) I came home early from church because I was feeling sicky. So Job dragged our airbed out, blew in up, tucked me in, and then made me dinner. <3
2) Our neighbors on the bedroom side are loud (more on that later)
3) Job thought the airbed would be more comfy than our lumpy futon
4) It is darker in the living room. I hate light when I am trying to sleep.

Due to all those lovely reasons you'd think I would finally be able to sleep. However the designer of our airbed decided it would be comfy (clever?) to add very large divots the size of the grand canyon (the fake one at Yellowstone) all over the bed. I was falling in these holes all night long. My knee would get stuck in one while my lady lumps were getting squished into another. Then I would try sleeping on my back but my pillow would get swallowed up in another hole. Needless to say I didn't get much (any) sleep. But Job slept just fine! Explain that.
Maybe I am a princess.
Yeah, that sounds good.....

Home Sweet Home

I have been working around the house lately to set things up and make our little apartment a home. Since we came here with virtually no furniture we have been trying to build it up slowly through craigslist, IKEA, Walmart etc... :) I love furnishing and decorating places so I am having fun with this. Despite our *very* limited we-are-students-(one-going-to-a-very-expensive grad-school)-living-in-the-most-expensive-place-on-earth budget (phew ;) we have been blessed to find a few things at a time to help get us going.
I actually think it is kind of fun to be on a tight budget because it fosters creativity. I can't just go into a store and buy the display room, so I am able to mix and match, make things, fix up things etc... to make our home our own :)

A few of our recent finds:

I would like to sand this baby down, get some new pulls etc... and see what I can do to it.

For now I just whipped out our little tool box and cleaning supplies and went to work ;)


Our first trip to Ikea :) We had never been and had a lot of fun looking around and getting a few much needed things. I.e. a table to eat on so we don't have to eat sitting on the side of our bed anymore ;)


Dining room, courtesy of Ikea :) We love it! I just need to add some color to the whole thing. I am thinking a low plantar of bright green grass down the middle, what do you think? :)



Home is not complete for us without delicious food :) We love food. A lot. ;) It is just a fun thing to be able to cook something together and then sit and enjoy it (at our new table no less ;)





(Yes, I do occasionally whip out the camera at dinner time and insist my husband smiles while I snap pictures. I have just got to capture life's little moments ya know? ;)

Job is really helping bring the spirit into our home with his good works. He is thriving in school and doing so well despite tons of pressure and lots of hard work. He is one of the only ones in his whole orchestra that got an A this past week for midterms (he will hate me for writing that, he is more modest than I am ;)
With all of his school responsibilities he also makes time for his callings in church (ward choir director and sacrament meeting chorister) and has been actively involved in working with the missionaries in our area. I am just so proud of him and all he does. Besitos Jobito!

Ahh home, it is definitely where our hearts are and we are happy to be here together to share it :)