Busy Saturday...

Peter rented a rototiller for the weekend, and churned up the property... it's looking so much better! We spent the better part of the day (after he rototilled) raking and raking and raking. I think we would have been better off starting a rock quarry on this place! There's more rock here than dirt. After a few hours of sifting through the rock (with hopes of finding some dirt), it started raining. Now, don't get me wrong, I do like the rain, but NOT RIGHT AFTER THE SOIL'S BEEN TILLED! Argh!!! Alas, we continued to rake in the rain. I admit, it was refreshing, but it just weighted down the soil making it heavy to sift through...
Anyway, every muscle in my body hurts, but I'm making the best of it by complaining to any listening ears.
Oh, here's pictures of the progress.
BEFORE:
From the deck downstairs...
First sweep with the rototiller. Don't be fooled, the green is not grass, just weeds!
AFTER:
The water puddle is from the 'tiller getting washed. This will all be grass soon... hopefully!Up top... All the dirt areas in this pic should be grass too...From below, looking up. The "driveway" looking part in the middle will be paved, and on either side of it will be grass.That's all folks. Hope everyone has a nice Sunday...

New Coffee Maker!

It's a 3-in-1! Boasting Cappucinos, Espressos and just plain ole' coffee, I'm excited for the addition to our kitchen. :) And as only a girl would understand, I'm excited that it matches too! (the old white one didn't match so well...) Here's to hoping it makes wonderful coffee... Come visit us and we'll brew you a cup - on the house! (well, Peter will, I can't ever seem to make it quite drinkable) On an angle... :-)
My Aunt Renee called me up yesterday about 11:15ish, and said "I'm 75 miles away from your work, wanna have lunch!?" So, that we did! She was on her way West to Portland to pick up Cori and they were going to have a 'girls week' at the coast, then they'll head back to Boise... so maybe we'll see them again on their way back through?

Nothing much going on now in our parts... We had a lazy weekend, just doing some housework and enjoying eachothers company! Peter's nephew Daniel is in town for awhile, so he stops by every now-and-again and graces us with his presence (which is always nice to have). :) He and Peter have been working out on Peters weight set...
Daniel really enjoys his work out... Or maybe he's just smiling for the camera?
As for Peter, he was called in to work @ 10:00 last night, and didn't get home until 2:00am this morning, so he's exhausted... :-(

I'll let this be all for now... 'til the next big news in our life!

It's about time...

...for a new post, and an update on our little life.
We enjoyed having the workers Tues-Sun... they really spoil us around here! That is one very special thing about having few friends in our area, we get to see and have our workers much more often.
We woke up to some visiting deer on Saturday! Kind of strange, I'm not sure what they were doing so far into town, but they were sure enjoying the neighbor's freshly tilled garden!SPRING! It's tulip season! My favorite!Wednesday is my final for accounting, yuck. I'll be glad to be done with that class! Managerial accounting is next in line. I'm glad that they are at least online!
I think that's about all in our corner. Oh, the coffee pot gave up the ghost - tradgedy!!

He's HOME!

The title says it all! The longest two weeks ever are over, Peter's home! :-)
Thanks Mom and Dellas for coming to keep me company!!!!
We're thoroughly enjoying our weather... it's been so beautiful; yesterday it was almost 70! I had almost forgotten what those digits looked like.
After gospel meeting yesterday, (we have an early 3:00 meeting) we took the motorcycles out for a spin. That was our first ride this season. We rode for a couple hours, but I had to switch over to reserve so we headed back home. So fun though, and PERFECT weather for riding! I'm so glad it's starting to warm up!

Below are a few more pictures of last week.
I just like this one, no particular reason...Mom got one of the posterboy. Still no picture of his face though... I find it interesting, he uses his mouth quite often, actually VERY often, yet when it comes to pictures he's never willing to show it... hmm. Gotta love the cheeks... That's about it... this is my last "homework week" for my accounting class... Next Wednesday will be our final. I'll be glad to be done with it, only to start the next one though: Managerial accounting. Also in addition to managerial accounting I'll be starting my 7 month certification program... I think I may be a bookworm for the first time in my life these next few months!
Hope y'all have a fantabulous week!

Quick Post

I should be studying and doing homework, but alas, posting pictures is so much more fun.
Mom showed up on Friday, Dellas showed up tonight, Tuesday.
DISCLAIMER: Dellas doesn't like pictures. I will do my best to get one of his face while he's here. Meanwhile, you'll have to deal with not-so-flattering ones of his hands.
Here they're playing Yahtzee. Maybe Dellas is trying to show off his magic rolling hand? (he rolled two Yahtzees...)Look at that... I mean, you don't find hands like that anymore. (he's on his way over to push me off my chair. ha. he thinks that'll stop me!)My Mom is pretty. She bought daffodils today. They're pretty too...Ok, homework time.
2 1/2 more days until Peter comes home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday night supper

I ran 5 1/4 miles tonight, so in honor of my newfound health-kick, I thought I'd eat some greens for dinner! Yum-o. Turned out so good, and it was totally healthy aside from the whopping tablespoon of butter... (sheepish grin) Oh, and the cheese... :-)

Fresh Parmesan +Fresh Brussel Sprouts =
Yummy dinner!
My Gram Clark bought me these darling candles a LONG time ago, and I'm just getting around to burning them, but they smell SO good! There are 5 different scents, all different coffee flavors... Oh so good. The house smells like a Starbucks now... YUM. Dinner by candlelight!I must get to some homework... 8 more days until Peter comes home! At least it's not double digits now...

Lonely...

Lack of news = lack of updates! Sorry... There's still not much to report on, except that the biggest part of my earthly life (aka Peter) is in California for two weeks! :-( And I am a bit lonely. This house becomes quite huge when you have it all to yourself! And two weeks begins to feel like an eternity!
However, Mom is coming to keep me company next week! And I'm excited for that! She'll be here for a week. :-)
Nothing else really to post... I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Oregon Coast Weekend...

Thank goodness for Presidents!!! :)
We enjoyed our long weekend at the coast... Oceanside to be exact. Weather was typical OR coastal weather, cool, damp and grey... but beautiful anyway!
Our crew consisted of: Peter and myself, Sherrie & Loren, Christie, Daniel & Laura (Veldkamp) and Amy & Chantry (Filener)

Peter captured our 10 minutes of sunshine! Isn't it beautiful?! This is directly in front (ok, actually kind of SW-ish) of the house we stayed in...After our morning coffee run! See, we're official bloggers, even our sweatshirts say so! :)
Serious game of Pente going on here!
L-R: Loren, Sherrie & ChristieDaniella and Laura :)
Spiral staircase to upstairs... Kinda neat for this place, but I don't think I'd ever want one! It was a bit wobbly and not very easy to carry luggage up and down. (or maybe it was the operator that was wobbly? Naw...)
At the Tillamook Cheese Factory... and of course we couldn't resist the fresh Tillamook ice cream! YUM.
Amy & Chantry - CUTE picture!
Looking NW from the house. The picture that you see is taken when the tide is about midway. If you look closely (click on the picture), there is an opening at the bottom of the rock, (look towards the side of the cliff that the houses are on). This is a small tunnel that you can walk through to the other side when the tide is low - wouldn't suggest it though when the tide is high! Here's Peter inside the tunnel! (sorry for the bluriness...), but you get the idea. :)
Love of my life...
And finally, one of our humble abode, looking up at it from the beach.
Thanks Sherrie and Loren for including us!
Click here for more pictures of the weekend!

Venus Fly Trap

Happy Valentines Day y'all!
Peter's sis stopped by tonight, and brought us a Venus Fly Trap! It's so cool! Sherrie stuck a fly in it this evening but it didn't snap, however, when Peter took it out of the can, we realized it does in fact work! :-)
Here's a couple of the snapped ones...The lucky fly that made it through the jaws of life, but somehow died anyway!It's quite a fascinating plant... I've never wanted a fly in the house, but right about now I'm wishing I could find one! :-)

We're off to the coast this weekend. Sherrie and Loren found a rental cottage that they invited us to come share with them... and it sounds like there will be quite the crew there! Around 10 of us I believe! I'm sure looking forward to the sand, water and squeaky tillamook cheese! (We'll be close to the Tillamook cheese factory...) :-)

Central Vac Works!!! New Bikes!!!

I guess the title says it all... We now have functional central vac, and I've never been so excited to vacuum in my life!

Our new toy, and my wonderful husband!Hardwood Attachment... :) We used to go through an ENTIRE swiffer bottle to clean this room, so I'm SOO glad to have this now! It's much cheaper than $6/bottle for the swiffer wet-jet refills!Carpet Attachment... B.C.V. (before central vac) we couldn't even vacuum the carpet downstairs because our old vacuum would overheat every time we tried! In other news, my new bike came in this week and they finished refurbishing Peter's!! So we ran down to our local bike shop and picked them up. Too bad it's sopping wet, raining today! :-( We'll have to break them in another day!
Here's Peter on his cleaned up Bontrager!
And here's me with my spankin' new TREK FX 7.2!!Can't wait to try them out!!!

Real quick update...

Central Vacuum 75% done!

Peter finished putting in all the plumbing in the walls, upstairs & down on Saturday... Also, the outlets are in too. Now he just has to run the plumbing from the attic to the garage and install the vacuum unit! Speaking from experience, (Peter's experience) this would be a MUCH easier project to do when you're building the house, not after it's already built!

Here's a pic of one of the outlets... maybe not as exciting for you as it is for us!!!!!!!Also, Friday was my last day as a Loan Ops Specialist, and as of tomorrow, I'll be a Credit Analyst! I know the learning curve will be HUGE, but I am really looking forward to a change of pace and atmosphere!

Week 4 of accounting class down the drain... this week is my Mid-Term. Ack!

Conundrum

Time for my usual weekly post, and I have nothing to post about. I fear this is going to be painfully boring.
None-the-less...

Recap of our week:
-Office has 1st coat of paint on it, and looks AWESOME. I would post pics, but I want it to look picture perfect before I do... and it still has a ways to go. Maybe next weekend?
-As of Friday, Peter was feeling 100% better. However, evidently gravity isn't holding up so well, and he seems to be on a downward trend again, feeling 69 1/2% better tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings on that front.
-I finished week 3 of accounting class, and this time I'm not posting my quiz score.
-Our workers made it to the field!!! Janie Buell and Rose Davidson
-Peter has about 1/2 of the plumbing in for our central vac! Getting it downstairs hasn't been the most convenient of jobs, but it's almost there! :) Whoohoo!!!
I think that about covers it... I still haven't quite figured out who I'm doing this blog for; myself or those that I know read it, but regardless, I hope I haven't bored you to tears!

Have a great week!!!

Re - Decorating!!

I'm not even sure if it should be called "re-decorating" as I never really tried to decorate this room in the first place... it has always ended up getting what is "left over" of our furniture. But I'm excited none-the-less!
We bought a new futon mattress and cover online a few weeks ago, and they've arrived.
I have a beautiful picture in my head of how I want the room to turn out, so we'll see how close it comes to that idea!
Below are some pictures the new futon mattress, cover and rug. :) I plan on painting tomorrow afternoon... so another update should be coming soon. :)

New mattress... 8" thick! It's as comfy as a bed!

New mattress cover... coloring isn't so good in this picture, but it's chocolate brown with a turquoise blue swirly design.

And our new rug! It's chocolate brown w/ tan and turquoise accents... and looks perfect w/the futon cover!
The paint options are there too... I think we'll do the turquoise that's in the middle - the first one on that paint sample. It's called Jamaica Bay. I suppose if we can't be there, the next best thing is to paint the walls that color, right?!

Update...

Homework: Done
Quiz: 100%
Cool.

Progress.. hmm, I don't think so!

Financial Accounting Book - 737 pages

Working Papers - 1045 pages
Total Pages - 1782
Total Weeks in Quarter - 11
Total Days in Quarter - 77
Total Pages/Day - 1782 pages/77 days = 23.142857... pages/day
And I've read 16 pages so far this WEEK!
Yikes. I think I've forgotten how this whole school thing works.
My professor said to plan on 15 hours/week for this class... and I have hardly read for an hour...
I'm sure you know how I'm spending this sunny Saturday!

In other news... We were wandering around Fred Meyer the other day, and 50 foot strands of christmas lights were on sale for $2.75!
**Light Bulb above head**
WAH LAH!! Instant indirect lighting in the kitchen above the cabinets! Cool huh?!

Also in other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.!
I'm so glad you were famous so I can have Monday off!

New Year, New Job!!

Finally moving on... it's time for a new learning curve!

Since we moved in April 2006 I've been working at Columbia River Bank here in The Dalles, in our Loan Operations department. This means, I've been in our admin building (not an actual "bank" setting), maintaining the back-end support and documentation of loans. I've learned how to produce legal documentation for lending, how to load that documentation onto our operating systems, and also many certification procedures and miscellaneous odds-n-ends. However, as I always have my eyes on something new, I appplied for a Credit Analyst position across the street in our actual "branch", and I got it! I'm quite excited!! I think it's a great opportunity, with MUCH potential for growth. The bank will pay for me to take the required courses here at our college, as well as a 7 month program that will certify me as a Credit Analyst, there-by qualifying me to become a loan officer! At this point, I'm not sure if I want to include lending in my long-term plans, but I do know that this certification will definitely make me more valuable to Columbia River Bank as well as other institutions.

Life is GOOD! (remind me of this after I start my class next week!)

We had the privelege this last Monday & Tuesday of having Troy Patterson and Steve Watts come stay with us! I had fun cooking, and attempting to be domestic! Our special meetings were on Wednesday night in Hood River. We're such a small town that we get special meeting workers for two nights! :-) We'll head in to Portland on Saturday night to stay with Tom and Audrey and then off to Portland Special's on Sunday.

Sorry there's no pictures in this post... I'll update when we get back from PDX!

HAPPY 2007!

GOODBYE JEFF!!!

We'll sure miss him, but we wish happy trails and good luck to Jeff with his new job in Texas!
Jeff was one of our partners in crime in Cancun, and one of Peter's partners in crime in Aruba... Needless to say, he knows far too many stories about us!
Some pics of the party...
Lots of eating (as always)
Lots of visiting...
It was SO good to catch up with some of our Vancouver friends!
L-R: Marissa K., Cody, AlyssaPeter & Tim talking Google talk... Justin & Jeff
Lots of cute kids...
Haakkin being shy - This is NOT normal! I asked if I could take his picture, and he defiantly said "NO!" and made this face. He smiled a perfect smile immediately after the camera flashed. Go figure!:-)Farewell Jeff!