Life Update: January 2014

I haven't done a very good job of keeping up on my day to day.  So I figured I'd give you a little update on what I've been up to lately.  Thanks to Ashley for the format inspiration. ;-)

Cooking: I've been focusing on cooking healthy, but also making it fun and delicious!  Some of our favorites so far include fish tacos, tortilla pizzas, and roasted red pepper soup w/ barley.

Reading: I just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and am getting ready to start Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosch for the girl power book club I just joined!  Also, I'm in the middle of The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller for a class that I'm taking.

Studying: How to teach reading to students for the class I'm in.  I'm in this class to renew my substitute teaching license, but I think that it will be very helpful in the tutoring business that I'm about to launch!

Looking forward to: February 2nd!  Yes, Super Bowl day, but also, launch day for my tutoring business! Holy moly is that already only a few days away?  I'm getting very nervous, but very excited about it.  My biggest fear is not having anyone interested, but I've already had three potential students just based on discussing this with friends and neighbors.

Obsessed With: Taking pictures of my cats.  I sent one of the pictures to Ryan on Monday and he said if I wasn't married to him, I'd be a crazy cat lady.  Probably...

Sick of: Being sick!! I'm currently sick for the second time this month.  Not sure what the deal is, but I have a feeling it has something to do with the fact that I got about 6 hours of sleep between Friday and Saturday night all together.

January Renewals: I gave up alcohol and caffeine for New Year's and I physically have felt so much better!  I think I've even lost a couple pounds from it. :)  I also attended a CEW (Christian Experience Weekend) this past weekend and though I ended the weekend physically exhausted, I'm feeling spiritual renewed!  It was an extra bonus to spend this weekend with my mom and my friend, Brooke.

Pardon the Mess

Due to the high demand of this particular post, please enjoy a tour of my house in pictures! (For those of you that don't know, Ryan and I are renting a house, we did not buy this place)  Also, we are STILL trying to find the right spot for everything, still reorganizing, and still going through some extra stuff we don't need...so pardon the mess.  Enjoy! =)

Front of our house, cute right?

Side yard

Back yard/garage (and yes, we have  picnic table!)

Side entrance, the one we use

Entry way/mud room

Kitchen

Nook (it's a mess right now!)

Looking into dining room from kitchen

Stairs to basement (not that exciting)

Basement=storage

Basement also is laundry room

Dining room

Between dining room and living room

Part of living room

More living room

TV/stairs in living room

Game nook!

Looking up into hallway upstairs

Hall

Hall

Looking into TINY bedroom...the cat room

As you can see, the cat room

One of my closets (yes...I said one of!!)

Pardon the destruction!  Bedroom.

Bedroom (still working on the extra stuff)

My other closet =)

Linen closet in the hallway

TINY bathroom

Bathroom

Aww yeah, we have a window in our shower!

Love the ceiling in the bathroom!

Office (Again, dumping ground for crap right now)

Ryan's closet

Wear the sewing machine and keyboard will go

Peter with crazy eyes...a good addition don't you think?

Cali

Peter looking cute! =)

Newest wall addition (in living room)

Chasing Tails

I know dogs chase their tails, but do cats?  Simple answer, you bet they do!  Here are some pictures of my awesome cats, as requested by one of my pen pals, Kam!


Meet Peter, a totally chill cat; let's say, a gentle giant. :) Peter is not full-bred, but mostly Maine Coon.  He can jump really high, but despite his large stature, he is surprisingly agile. He has an odd little habit of sucking on the top of his paw when he's happy, the vets say it's because he was weened too soon as a kitten.  I never got to meet Peter as a kitten, we adopted him grown up!  But my guess is that he was probably the cutest kitten ever!  We didn't pick his name, he was Peter Pan at his old house.  We tried to change it, to Sawyer, even just to Petey, but as odd as it sounds, he's just Peter.  Peter is the type of cat everybody wants, we get offers for him all the time.  Sorry! He's mine :)

Just chillin' on the kitchen table, as per usual

Being purdy

See Cali in the background?

 Meet Cali, an ornery little creature.  She is, as you can see, a tortoise/calico.  If you don't know a lot about cats, tori-calicoes are bipolar and sometimes you don't know why you keep them, but then they turn around and do something so cute you remember why you love them.  LoL.  Cali will be enjoying a lovely lap session and then turn around and bite you for no reason and run (and I mean RUN) down the hall and hide.  She always thinks she's in trouble, so when you walk towards her, she usually runs away.  That being said, she almost is always in trouble...she's always knocking over stuff, chewing on things (like carpet and cords!), or attacking Peter.  But she makes me smile and trust me, she is the softest cat you will ever pet.

Always trying to get to the highest point, this is on top of our hutch

Chasing her tail

Aw, she got it!