Settling in for Christmas!

 

We unloaded our stuff into the middle of the house and it seemed to
expand to fill the place. I'm not sure how we fit it all into the van.
The Meyers didn't have room for all their furniture and so they left a
couch, chairs, and their kitchen table for us to use. We slipped our
table into the back room here until we need it.

 

There was a deer to watch over us in the master bedroom, which we
relocated to the backroom. It was a little unnerving to be watched
over by the guardian...

 

It snowed a foot. Simon tried to shovel and made it about three
quarters of the way down the driveway...in a single shovel width. This
led to our decision, after getting plowed out, to acquire a
snowblower! See the next post for details about our Wee-Beastie!

 

CHRISTMAS TIME!

 

 

Pre-tree present pile/ decorations.

We set up our Christmas presents and finally got a tree 3-4 days
before Christmas. Consequently, we got a lovely nice sized tree
usually priced at $50 for $27 and then a $3 tree stand. It smelled
amazing and is beautiful!

The day was the warmest we'd had in a while...and consequently the
packed snow in our driveway turned to slush causing us to not make it
up our driveway, again- So we pulled the tree out and hauled it up the
drive to the house and Simon shoveled some slush out.

 

 

BOY MEETS RAZOR

 

What is this...?

How does it fit together?

 

OOOOh!!!!

It's a man-shaver!

I spent a couple hours researching and reading reviews on razors and found the perfect one online and ordered it from Target...and then 3 days later I got an email saying that one wasn't in stock and was no longer being sold. This was a tragedy like no other and when Simon came home I cried because we were about to move and I thought I had taken care of getting him a present and now I didn't have it anymore. So, as I'd spoiled any element of surprise, I showed him which razor I'd planned to get him and explained why so he could be happy about it even if he didn't get that one.

His solution was a good one and we went to Target (armed with a gift card that still has money from when we got married :-) )--he went to explore the store and I sat in front of the razors...and had no reviews to go by...so i called my mom and had her look up reviews for a couple that seemed pretty good prospects. I chose one and hid it as I purchased it and he didn't see it till Christmas, but was pretty excited about it then and is still enjoying it. It is a Norelco Aquatec razor: This means you can shave dry or wet and he can even take it into the shower with him. He says it does a good job.

 After reading the instruction manual Simon says he knows it's a man-tool because in the directions and warnings for cleaning it it says: "Do not use compressed air, abrasives, scourers or agressive liquids such as gasoline or acetone to clean the razor." 

 Yay! A drill!

Testing it out! I knew he'd enjoy opening it on Christmas. His mean wife made him wait! :-D
He saw it advertised and it was a good deal and so we went to Harbor Freight and bought it. He got in the car and was ready to tear right into it and jokingly suggested "This is one of my Christmas presents! ha ha.  I should save this till Christmas, ha ha," and I decided that was a good idea and took it away from him.

So many beautiful sweaters and a lovely scarf! They all fit quite nicely! Thank you to my Horrocks family!
We love the measuring cups, hot pads, pizza stone (which we will test out shortly)...


Someone was VERY excited for the Mr. Chicken shirts. He now says "MR. CHICKEN!!!" often and at random moments, particularly when wearing it (2+ times since Christmas), as well as whenever he sees his or my shirt around. Probably one of his favorite gifts!

So excited he even put up with his wife taking ANOTHER picture.

And runner up as second favorite gift is the "DOGBONE!"

 *a wrench

 

It was a fabulous Christmas and we enjoyed our second Christmas together with just the two of us. My family went out of town for Christmas and so we went to visit them over New Years and went skiing. It was a quick trip to return the van and see them. Simon worked his first day on the last day of December and had to be back to work the 2nd of January.

The Move and Initial Projects

Following Simon's completion of the Clinical Lab Science major and
graduation from Brigham Young University, he accepted a job in
Chewelah and Colville, Washington where we moved quickly after he
finished his tests. It was bitter sweet because it's exciting to
finally be done with the school stage of our lives, however, as this
is Natalie's freshman year at BYU, we'd gotten used to seeing her and
will be sad to not get to spend time with her.

Simon began applying for jobs in October and by early November he'd
traveled to Washington for several interviews and had been extended
three different positions: Colfax, Chewelah/Colville, and one in
Ellensburg. It was a very difficult decision for many reasons. He
turned down two of the offers and we accepted the job in Chewelah. We
began our search for housing. We were trying to have it settled by
Thanksgiving. However, people are move relaxed in this neck of the
woods. When we'd call to enquire about places people told us to call
back when it was closer. Even the week before we were moving one
person told us to call when it was closer. Talk about stressful! We're
moving in a week and would like someplace to put our stuff when we get
there... That was not the only stressful aspect of moving on... In
addition to our worries about housing, Simon's job had been extended
by the lab manager, but the hospital system HR was moving very slowly.
We were moving, we had a date, the job wasn't official, and we had
nowhere to live.

We loaded my dad's full-sized Dodge Ram van and my car December 5-8
and left Provo between storms on the 9th. It was really sad to leave
our friends. I'll really miss the Gordons, the Marianas, and the
Staples. They have been wonderful neighbors and friends and hopefully
we'll stay in contact over the years!
We stayed for a night on the 9th with my cousin Janese and caught up
with my dad in Oregon the following day; he'd left on the 7th but due
to weather, and the fact that he was driving Simon's Miata, not a snow
vehicle, he didn't make it ahead of the first storm. We caravanned the
remainder of the way to East Wenatchee where we stayed with my family
for a night. The following day we set out to house-hunt. The most
promising place we'd had in mind turned out to be pretty dirty and
smelled like sewage and trash....and there was garbage around the
premises... So now the hunt gained a level of desperation. After
viewing 8-10 places to live I really didn't like any of them...

Although further out from town than we would have preferred, we
decided to move into an LDS couples' home in Valley, WA. They are in
the process of selling their home here moved out just before we were
moving to Washington. It is much larger than we need at present: 3
bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a spacious kitchen and living room area. It
is part of a ranch on 700 acres. The entire ranch is for sale and the
other brother's family is still living in their house until it sells.

Our rent is very reasonable, given the extra distance to travel and
additional expenses of living out in the country. Because we are
living here at a lower rate, we are trying to help out around this
house however we can. Additional expenses we justify as additional
rent or in lieu of a deposit. Our first week we did quite a few
projects all at once. The kitchen sink's faucet was pretty bad and
spraying out at odd angles and not running in an even stream. So we
spent $35 to buy a new faucet. Simon is quite the plummer!

 

I forgot to take a picture of it while still mounted. I didn't care for the two separate knobs for hot and cold. And Simon used a razor blade on the sink mounting to scrape away the deposits before we put in the new faucet.

 

So much nicer!


The master bedroom was in the worst shape. Per the Meyer's request, we pulled out plenty of nails and screws: 20+, filled the holes. We pulled out and filled quite a few holes in the main room and kitchen as well. In addition to the nail holes, Simon used silicone/grout to fill in a crack in the wall and go around the window.  He then repainted a number of places on the wall that looked discolored because the walls had been behind shelves and dressers for years with little circulation. With the touch up paint on those few places, it looked like new!
 

 

And there was a lovely hole in the wall in the master bathroom where there was no longer a door stopper. I put in a $0.97 door stop and Simon used a repair patch kit they had on hand.

 

He did a pretty nice job!

They'd told us they couldn't get a cupboard door to stay on for some reason...so they just took it off and had the cupboard without a door. It didn't stay on because one of two hinges was broken. For about $12.50 we replaced the hinges.

 

 

There haven't been any other major projects to do since these initial ones. Simon is ambitious and it was fun to do together.
 

The Journey: Adventures in Edinburgh [part 3]

(May) We landed in Edinburgh just past midday. It was a return to the cold and chilly weather from which we'd had brief respite the last couple days in Spain. Our first afternoon, we caught the bus from the airport, located our hotel. We stayed in the Ritz :-D

We had this neat key to our room.

Elegant walls and sweeping staircases.

Centered in the room sat a four-postered bed. There was even had a sitting area. The window behind the couch overlooked the street; not the prettiest view, but a wonderful atmosphere.

 

The streets in this area were completely torn up because they are installing a tram. It made for a much quieter evening. 

We found an Italian restaurant nearby and ate a delightful dinner. However, even with the large portions, I was still ravenously hungry, so we found a Chinese restaurant down the road and got take-out from there of fried rice and chow mein. Finally satisfied for the evening, we only briefly wandered as a bitter wind blew. We returned to our hotel and settled in for a relaxed evening.

Heather's perpetual hunger was a very consistent element throughout our trip. I believe the cold (having to expend a lot of energy to keep me warm) and all the walking increased my appetite significantly. Simon kept being astounded by how much food I put away and was still hungry for more. I was always hungry. I used so much energy.

The next morning we wandered toward the Ediburgh Castle.   

We stopped in to see inside a few cathedrals. They are different from 

Spanish Cathedrals. Simon noted that in Spain, there are more paintings and more elaborate architecture. Whereas in Britain, the stain glass in most of the color and the building is made of sweeping arches--grand and majestic.

We approached the castle from the backside. It was interesting to see how it appeared to grow out of the rock.

Inside the Castle there is a cemetery for Soldier's Dogs, who lived in the castle at various points in history. The best thing we did here, was rent an audio tour guide. It made the castle much more interesting as it gave the history. We would not have gotten as much out of our visit without it.

Us overlooking Edinburgh. The fog is beginning to clear out. It took most of the morning.

We ate pita and humus for lunch. Look at the size of the flat bread we ate!

After lunch we walked down the Royal Mile and  took a tour of Mary King's Close.
http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_King%27s_Close
 A 'close' is what the narrow streets, on which most of the people lived several centuries ago, were called. This particular close was built over. Even before it was built over, it had gained a haunted reputation. Our tour guide took on the persona of someone who lived there and told us about his neighbors and how it gained its reputation, as well as about its being built over and its history into the modern era. It was definitely worth the entry fee. I highly recommend it as a stop if you should ever journey to Edinburgh.

We walked down to the gardens. They were very neat, but much further than we'd thought. My feet were sore by day's end and I just wanted to sit and sleep, but we had a train to catch. We collected our bags from our hotel--they kept them behind the desk for us, as we'd had to check out that morning.

We bought our train tickets, ate dinner at an Scottish pub and caught our train to Berwick (prounounced Ber'rik).

Early morning~Get thee hence!

Since June, Simon's internship schedule has varied greatly. We reached an all time high this week.

I took pictures of our alarms set on my ipod. Prior to this week "early morning" merely reached obscene levels. I can now officially say when the alarm goes off, "Satan, get thee hence!"

Parking Problems & The Glories of Fall

Gorgeous Garden

Our garden is lovely and surrounded by flowers. It is our little haven in a busy world.

 

 This morning glory is one of the few wild flowers I planted that actually came up.

Parking Problems

With the new school year beginning, we experienced a problem we've never had in the two years we've lived here. Girls from the complex next two us began parking in our lot ALL THE TIME. One night Simon and I came home from a long day of work to find both our spots taken, leaving us nowhere to park. Needless to say, frustrating. In front of each spot in our lot is a sign that says "Reserved 787" or "Reserved "789" and so on corresponding to our apartments. Somehow these girls can not read--I have no idea how they made it to BYU. Seriously people!

We tried putting notes on cars, but that didn't seem to have any significant effect.

So, with one repeat offender (don't know if they got a note ever or not), Simon and Nathan moved a cement block behind their car so they'd have to come talk to us to move it. He also left a sign. Simon had called to see what we could do and if we could get a towing company to move a car off of private property only to discover--without a contract with a towing company, they will not remove cars. Was there any doubt for how Provo's towing companies take advantage? You have to pay the company to patrol your lot, they charge people to be booted or towed, and if you have no contract you are toast!

Simon also learned from the attorney general's office that we cannot so much as touch the person's car. We cannot buy a boot. We cannot do anything without a contract. Lame!

Hence the cement block. As you can see, we are not touching the car. We simply moved a piece of private property, on private property. The sign also said we'd move it for $10 (way cheaper than a $60 boot or a $150 tow). When the girls came out to the car, the girl who owned the car pretty much threw a fit. How could someone be so horribly mean to her? She claimed ignorance and said "but I live right there" (behind the parking lot in Regency). "Do you live at 787?" She nearly cried and of course was not willing to pay $10. We let her go and she hasn't been back since. 

And probably the best example through all this is my neighbor Cambria. We're so glad to have them as neighbors. Cambria knows how to treat life with humor, which I appreciate and can learn from. Instead of getting worked up, when she sees someone park in their spot, she loudly says to her husband Christopher (Topher), "Someone parked in our spot again Topher!" or she'll put cute notes on their car, "This is not public parking honey." All in cutely scrawling handwriting on a tiny note card, that is too adorable to ignore. Oh to be happy and take life in stride with a smile and a laugh. What an awesome example for me!

For a number of other cars in the lot we discovered some have Regency parking stickers. I call Jenny, the manager of Regency and she looks them up for me, calls them and they move. It is a bit tiresome but finally seems to be working.

Fall

 For the first time since coming to Provo, we have finally been able to enjoy this season a bit more fully. With only work and an internship and no classes, we've been able to take a little more time together to enjoy the changing of the season. Monday the 24th of September we took a drive up towards Squaw Peak and the leave were beautiful, although beginning to get dark and threatening rain, which it did. Sorry Wenatchee folk, you could have used it a bit more with your fires!

And then yesterday, Friday, we went up Provo Canyon and up toward Sundance and Aspen Grove. Simon had an early shift this week at his internship and I didn't get called in to work. We took the afternoon and hiked to Stewart Falls. The air smelled so crisp and of fall leaves and pine. What a great 4 mile hike.

Such a beautiful day with my favorite person. Best date ever!