We Got a Dog!!!

We finally caved and got a puppy!!! I haven't blogged in a week due to the fact that I've lost all sense of a life upon getting her. She's so much work, but completely worth it!  I have a feeling this blog will turn into an "All About Kya" forum! : ) She's our baby girl and we love her to death already!! So for me to remember when I'm old and gray...

• She was born May 8th, 2010 and we brought her home on July 25th, 2010.
• Alex came up with her name, Kya. Nobody can remember it but us and my sister! We think it suits her perfectly! She's a japanese dog and her name means 'a diamond in the sky.' we love that!
• She was 12 weeks when we got her and already weighed in at 8 lbs. and 4 ounces. 
• She went to her first vet appointment and was given a clean bill of health and a lot of attention from the people there!!
• Every single person who meets her asks if she's a siberian husky and when we reply that her breed is a shiba inu, they look at us like we're nuts and think we made the name up. 
• We picked her among the litter of nine other puppies because she seemed the most calm, was cream color, had sweet eyes, and an adorable white stripe down her nose. 
• She was practically potty trained on day three of having her and has only had two small potty accidents in the house up to today.
• She's REALLY good at playing catch with her red ball and will already bring it back and drop it in our hands. 
• She's cuddly and really loves her belly rubbed. 
• She wants her sisters, Ellie and Amelia, to play with her so bad but they're extremely scared of her.  
• She's done SO well meeting everyone in the family and all of the many dogs in the family, too! She's so sociable!
• She's also independent and likes some playtime by herself on a daily basis. 
• She loves truck rides and looking out the window from her daddy's lap!
• She's THE best dog in the entire world!

We're so looking forward to all the years we have with her; we think she's going to be a great dog! : )

Today's Plate Excursion-Success!!

I had mentioned in a previous post that I was obsessed with plates and would be scouring this week for some beauties!  After a tasty meal at Subway with my mom today, we decided to head over to a local antique store.  It's HUGE and totally overwhelming, but it was definitely worth all the searching.  I came home with a mere $16.00 worth of really neat serveware, a total of two large platter dishes, six small salad plates, and one adorable little teacup. Here are my findings from today.

I also came home with an obsession for the Noritake China-Mavis line, and now I want to collect the entire thing.  

It couldn't possibly match any better in my kitchen, which is light blue and white. They're so pretty, dainty, and simple. Everything I love! They were discontinued back in 1969 but you can still find the entire set and all matching serveware online.  The set itself isn't badly priced, but things like the salt and pepper shaker, the butter dish, gravy boat, etc. those are real pricey. I may have to start collecting these and asking for them as gifts.  They're just so adorable. Here's a few pieces I want to purchase NOW.

I'm telling you, they do not make stuff like this anymore at all!

So family, there's some great gift ideas! : )

Here's another neat set I got today, too. 

I got the medium sized platter dish, two salad plates, and the little teacup all in this pattern.  Again, the color and simplicity is exactly what I was looking for.  Obviously, the teacup will not be hung on the wall. 

Lastly, I got this large plain white platter dish, but I liked the cut of the plate. 

So my plans are to continue looking.  The large platter dish will be going on that big empty wall in the kitchen along with others I have yet to find.  The other two sets I don't know how I'm going to use quite yet.  I'm thinking about putting one of them above my stove in some sort of pattern.  I'd also like to wait and see if I can find a neat shelf somewhere that I could use above the stove and possibly set some plates up on that.  Only time will tell...

Decisions, Decisions...

Deciding to leave Bolingbrook High School roughly four months ago was one of the hardest decisions of my life.  It was my first real teaching job; I had really helpful and nice coworkers; I had finally just gotten my own classroom; I was teaching an 11th grade AP course where the kids actually wanted to learn; and more importantly, IT WAS A PAYCHECK!  In this economy, that's hard to come by.  Being that I support both Alex and I financially during the school year, there is a lot of pressure that comes with that territory.  Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful that I was in the position to be able to go to work while Alex went back to school full time.  My number one priority in life right now is to get Alex through school and graduated.  It's so important to him, and I want to help make that happen.  I want to make is as easy on him as I can.  He spent many years trying to work full-time and go to school full-time while paying all his bills all at the SAME time.  Let me tell you, it's REALLY hard.  So I promised myself that once I got on my feet at BHS, I was going to try to nudge him into believing that we'd be okay enough for him to quit his job and go back to college.  It took me about four months to feel comfortable enough to send him back to school, where he belonged.  

If you don't know my husband, let me tell you, he's a genius in many ways.  His mathematical/scientific side of the brain is fully functioning while mine, on the other hand, is not.  I always tell him that hopefully our kids will get some of his mathematics genius because it's NOT coming from me.  He has a way with speeches, too.  Not only that, but outside of the classroom walls, he is so gifted mechanically.  He's not just your typical gear-head either.  I mean, this kid can do it all.  He can fix anything and everything, you name it.  He can tear apart an entire truck and put it back together in a much more sound way than it ever began.  He can rebuild engines, do body work, he can do it all.  In fact, he's been working for a solid year rebuilding his old truck from the frame up.  

He worked day and night on this thing.  I mean he COMPLETELY rebuilt it.  Today it looks something sorta like this: 

Now, this was back all in the way in March.  This was the day he drove it for the first time in almost a year.  He was sooo excited!!

His dad always is helping him, too.  I love that they can do this stuff together!  

And now today, I'm even able to drive it!! : )  He changed it to an automatic.  I'd like to think just for me!! : )  It's super loud, super obnoxious, super bumpy, but all made by Alex and that is sooo cool to me.  

So anyways, he needs to be in school.  He deserves it.  He has an engineer's brain so that's what he's doing.  He should be finished in three more semesters.  I couldn't be more proud.  I can't even think of his graduation day because it almost makes me cry.  I can't hardly wait until that day!  To think that he did this, we did this, will be so awesome.  

So really all I have to do is keep my promise.  My promise to work and keep him in school.  So, that's why moving here was SUCH a big deal and SUCH a hard decision to make.  We really wanted to be here by our family but it meant leaving behind a secure job.  I knew I was going to struggle getting one here, too.  And let me tell you, I have.  The teacher pay just two hours from Chicago is literally split in half.  I am NOT kidding.  At all.  I wish I was.  This was hard for me to swallow.  After a brutal frustrating situation with Erie High School where it came down to me and another male for a fabulous english position, I moved home to nothing. 

Until today!  So the whole reason for this post comes down to this!  I finally decided today how I will be spending the next year of my life.  I will be spending it at Sterling High School, and I couldn't be more excited!! This is really what I wanted to do and I didn't know if I could make the numbers work but I found out today, they will!!!  I will be taking over a maternity leave until October there.  I will only be doing this part-time, though and that's where the split decision occurred.  So, in the mornings I will be at the high school teaching two sections of 10th grade English honors and one section of remedial reading.  Both of these are new for me.  It's going to be an adjustment but an exciting one!!  In the afternoons, I will be subbing for the entire district.  This will keep me busy for the entire day.  After the maternity leave, I will just change to subbing full-time at any school in Sterling district.  I will also have my Iowa teaching license by then and will be able to sub over at Clinton High School too as an option.  Both have promised to keep me busy.  I have an interview with Clinton for the first week in August to be put on the full-time sub list over there as well.  NOT ONLY THAT, I'm not finished, but I'll be working part-time for Ashford University as a Teaching Assistant/Writing Specialist.  I'll be assisting five week online courses from home.  It's all done online on my own schedule, which is great.  It's roughly 10-12 hours a week so I'm hoping I can handle all of this.  I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.  That's what I'm just going to keep telling myself all year.  These things all combined will be enough to cover Alex going to school, all of our bills and necessities, and hopefully leave SOME breathing room.  If we can just get through these next three semesters, we will have defeated all odds and hopefully will come out ahead!  I know Alex can do it, hopefully I can too.  

It's going to be a big year with a lot of adjustments, but I think it'll be good.  A learning experience.  Hopefully something that will lead me back to where I really want to be--a full-time English teacher at a school that I can really settle down at, spread my wings, and hopefully soar.  

A New Little Baby Boy???

No, we are not having a little baby boy...we are having a little baby girl!!!!!  welllllll, not a human baby girl, a little puppy baby girl!! haha!  Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up! : ) 

Alex and I have been desperately wanting a puppy for the last year.  However, living in an apartment just didn't seem fair to a dog so we refrained.  Then we didn't know if we wanted to deal with all the hassle, the money, the vet bills, the potty training.  We didn't know if we should get one before we have kids and then the dog wouldn't be use to being around little ones.  We didn't know if we were responsible enough, home enough, or ready to be doggy parents.  

A year later, we're still wanting one.  And we think we're ready to take the leap!  We now have a house with a lot of yard space so we solved that problem.  We're pretty much home all the time.  We don't really do anything so we definitely have the time now.  We're married and not tied down to any kids...why not have one?? EVERYONE has a dog I think, but us!  

There's really only two problems.  

1)We have two precious little kittens, Ellie and Amelia, that pretty much own this house.  I can't imagine how they would deal with this.  I'd like to think they'd get use to it and grow to love the little puppy, maybe even all three of them could curl up together on our bed and we'd come home to find them blissfully asleep next to each other.  Three cute little sisters.  However, our cats are kind of...temperamental and mean.  I can't imagine it being this easy.  Don't get me wrong, Ellie loves her momma and Amelia loves her daddy...but they don't deal too well with strangers or really anyone else, except maybe my sister.  I don't know if I'm willing to make them completely uncomfortable in their own home for the rest of their lives.  The only thing is, we're GOING to get a dog eventually, even if it's not now.  They're going to have to get over it someday.  

2)The breed.  I think we've finally chosen one that we both completely agree on, but it was rough, let me tell you!!  Alex has always dreamt of having a siberian husky.  He just loves them!  However, they're extremely sheddy and very much a one owner kind of dog.  But they're soooo cute!!

How could you not fall in love with these little things??

We've always known we wanted a big dog, one we could take on walks, bring in the truck, play catch with, and take out on the river. So that was an easy decision.  After doing some more research, we found an even bigger dog, an Alaskan Malamute.  We thought they were so neat looking!! Plus they howl; super cool!! 

We love how snuggley and big they are!!!

The more we thought about it, though, the more worried we got about the size and their possessive demeanor.  This is when we found our match, the Shiba Inu!! They're more compact, super playful, good family dogs, smart, and absolutely adorable!!!!  They come in three colors and we can't decide which we like best. Alex is partial to the white ones.  

We just think they're so neat!! We've looked up a lot of information on them and they seem pretty much perfect!  Most importantly, when we do start a family and have little babies around, we want it to be safe.  These dogs seem like a great family dog!! 

This is the little girl we might go see tomorrow.  

We love the little white line down the middle of her head and that her legs are all white.  We're going back and forth between two names--Ava or Mallie.  Either way, she'd be all ours and that makes me SUPER excited!! : ) we shall see!!! 

Fingers Crossed!!

Tomorrow is a big day.  At 9:00am, I have an interview for a high school English position.  It's temporary, just for the year, but IT'LL DO!!  I'm just dying for a job!! I'm unbelievably nervous, but ready to get it over with! I've been thinking about it nonstop since last Monday when they contacted me and scheduled the interview.

WE NEED THIS, to say the least.  At the end of August, our insurance and my paychecks will cease to exist and that completely terrifies me.  Being that I'm the primary breadwinner of the family (which is A LOT of pressure but kind of gratifying), I really need this job.  Alex is enrolled and will be attending Western this fall and he's going no matter what. period.  Therefore, I must have a job and one that can support two adults, two adults that badly need a new vehicle.  ASAP.

So tomorrow morning at 9:00, think of me, please and send some good energy my way!!
: ) Hopefully I'll be back with good news.

The Beauty of Plates

There's just something so...pretty about plates.  I can't describe it.  My eyes have always been attracted to them for some reason or another.  We'll be in a department or antique store and my hands instantly graze over the tops of the pearly smooth surfaces.  I love them in all colors but I'm especially in love with creamy whites and old antique ones with pretty light pink or yellow flowering. 

How could you resist these???

I've always wanted to collect them but wondered what I would do with them all...Have a secret stash of beautiful plates?  Bust out my favorite ones when we have company over?  Bundle them all up and store them down in our dark basement to collect dust?  Maybe display them somehow?  When I was choosing the dishes for our wedding registry, I thought my mind was going to explode with all of the choices!!  It was probably my favorite thing that I had to pick out for our wedding!!  I think I changed my mind at least 300 times.  This is what we finally chose:

I loved the simplicity of them and that I didn't have to feel bad using them every day but yet they were still very pretty.  I'm still so pleased I chose them.  It was extremely easy to get matching platter dishes and other serveware--just choose white! Here's a few more of the many things we chose to go along with them. 

Being that I'm currently jobless, which means majorly pinching pennies on things like decor and such, I've been trying to think of some creative ways to decorate our new place.  Here's my dilemma...we have this HUGE pale blue empty wall in our kitchen that's dying for something pretty to go on it.  I've considered everything: shelves, framed art, photos, you name it.  

Here's what I'm working with. 

After doing some investigating online, I finally stumbled across something that felt like me.  Something I could be happy with on my big empty wall.  You guessed it!!  PLATES! Many plates! Different types, different shapes, different sizes--all arranged into a beautiful piece of artwork.  I was officially inspired.  So...that leads me to finding these said plates.  Starting Monday, I will be hitting the local antique stores for plates, plates, and more plates.  I realize this could take quite a while coming up with a group of them that are to my liking, but that's okay.  All the more fun.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to show you a finished wall that looks something like a perfect combination of these:  

Now I just need to find some plates and a pattern that works for our wall and we'll be good to go!! Hopefully I'll have some photos of our wall o' plates soon!!