To Rent or Not to Rent?

We'll be moving to Baltimore sometime in August. We really need to figure out our living arrangement. Aaron will be in school full time from August-May, so he won't be able to work more than part time. I am diligently looking for a job, but haven't found one yet. I do have an interview sometime next week though, so prayers would be so appreciated! =)

Anyway, back to our living arrangement. We own a house, so we have to figure out what to do with it. Before Aaron decided to go to ATC school, our plan had been to fix it up and sell it. Let me tell you-- it has been back breaking work. I have painted every room (including the 40 foot high walls of our stairwell) by myself, we have replaced toilets, tiled floors, moved appliances, removed a banister, and changed every light fixture inside and outside our house. We never hired a contractor. We did everything ourselves (and we did it correctly). Then there's all the money we've put into it-- new roof ($2,500), new AC system ($2,000), new carpet ($1,500), new flooring ($500), new dishwasher ($500), etc. Now we're faced with a two month timeframe to "get rid of" it. We'll never be able to sell it. Not that quickly. Not with the foreclosures in our neighborhood. We have considered our options and feel the best one is to rent our house. We'll keep it as a long term investment.

The trouble with renting: renters. I've been one. I see them in my neighborhood every day. Generally speaking, renters do not take care of the houses they occupy. And I look at the type of people who rent my neighborhood: poor, dirty, loud, smokers, domestic violence, etc. I'm just afraid to have someone like that rent my home, my hard work, my investment and probably ruin it. I just want someone decent who will take care of it.

That's the plan though. We just have to figure out the logistics of it. Everything in the house is less than 3 years old-- the flooring, appliances, air conditioning, roof, plumbing. It's 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 900 sq ft. Our HOA covers water, sewage, garbage, snow removal, pest control, and landscaping. It has been assessed at $94,000. We're looking to charge in the ballpark of $850/month with 1 month rent as a security deposit. Do you think that's reasonable? If you've rented out your house, do you have any advice for finding a good renter? Dealing with maintenance? Property management?

I know God is being so amazing (like He always is!) to pave the way for Aaron to get into air traffic control. I trust that He'll bring the right person(s) to rent our house. I trust that He'll lead me to a job.

Air Traffic Control

Ok, now that we can talk about this publicly, I can blog more often!

Everything that reads this blog and most of the people who know us also know that Aaron has been trying to get back into aviation. He considered a career in aircraft maintenance for a while. He talked to recruiters in the Navy and Air Force, but he was too old to do anything aviation related. Then over the last few weeks we've been praying and diligently trying to figure out what it is that he needs to do and where we need to go.

About two weeks ago, he got back in touch with one of his buddies from the aviation department at Liberty. He had graduated a semester before Aaron and is now an air traffic controller at ROA. Well, this friend has a friend who works in the LYH control tower and Aaron was invited to spend a day up there. He got to talk to him about the different paths to becoming an ATC.

Last night (Monday), Aaron applied to 3 of the only 31 FAA ATC programs in the country. Today, he got an email from one and a call from another saying he'd been accepted! One is in Texas. The other is in Baltimore. I'm from Baltimore. My parents live in Baltimore. This is obviously the prime choice (+ it's cheaper!).

And a lot of the required courses are ones he took at Liberty! He's going to the school in Maryland next week to sit down with someone and review his transcripts. They'll do a course audit and determine which courses he needs to take and when.

So, God willing, come August, we will be out of Lynchburg! The rub is: to work for the FAA, you have to be hired by your 31st birthday. Aaron has 27 months to get this done!


This is such an exciting time in life and I ask that you'll pray for us! Please pray that Aaron will get hired by the FAA before his 31st birthday. Even if he doesn't, he said there are other companies that do different aspects of ATC and they don't have the same restrictions.

In other exciting news, our good friends, the Schroders are expecting! Now, normally I would not blog about someone else's pregnancy. Whatever. But this is so exciting because they tried for 7 years to get pregnant and then got pregnant without intentionally trying! This gives me some hope, which is fantastic because I am back on Clomid again. This is my 2nd cycle using it; 50 mg dosage. Last time was in March, when we thought for sure I was pregnant and then was told I might have a leutal phase deficiency causing me to miscarry. I was really upset after that whole experience and didn't want to use Clomid anymore. But we decided to try again. Please pray for this as well.

Where are you?

Well hello! It has been one month and two days since the last time I blogged. I have been so busy! I wake up between 6:05 and 6:45 every morning, depending on how many times I smash the snooze buton and whether I ironed an outfit the night before. I leave my house for work at 7:45am every weekday except for Wednesdays, when I leave at 7:15. I get home around 5:30 every week night. I try to go to bed around 10:30, or I will feel absolutely drained the next day. That gives me a grand total of 5 hours each day to make & eat dinner, play with/take care of pets, run errands, clean the house, spend time with Aaron, do my devotions, and hopefully spend a little time on myself. I just feel like I am going, going, going all day with no end in sight. Ever. I don't mean to complain, because I am fortunate to have a job. This time last year, I was praying every day to find a job. I had far too much time on my hands and for that I felt guilty. I miss those days! lol 

Here are some updates on the Jensens:

Military: No. For a while, Aaron was seriously looking into trying to get into Naval Aviation. He felt good about it based on all the info he was able to track down. Then the recruiter happened. He strung Aaron along for weeks and then finally told him he was too old. Applicants for Naval Aviation must be commissioned by their 27th birthday... he will be 29 in July. It was a blow, but he moved on. He talked to an Air Force recruiter once and hasn't heard back from him. We have a feeling their age requirement is similar. It's ok though. He tried and the reason he can't do it is outside of his control. So, military is out. This is ok though, beacuse every time an opportunity is shut down, that's one more question answered.

Crafting: I have been crocheting. A lot. I want to start selling handmade headbands, corsages, hair flowers, etc. Little things. I haven't decided how I want to go about doing this yet. I got information about selling on Etsy, but between Etsy's share and PayPal's share, the seller isn't left with much profit. I don't have any pictures with me at the moment, but the accessories are really cute and I think I might rather sell them on eBay, at yardsales, or on my website. We'll see. I suppose I'll actually get to use the Fashion Merchandising aspect of my degree! haha Hopefully this will at least contribute to being able to go on vacation.

Ninja Wedding: Aaron is in a wedding next month. A "Lord of the Rings" themed wedding. When he first told me about his groomsman attire, he referred to it as "a black ninja suit". I was horrified. I don't remember there being any ninjas in LOTR... When I came home from work yesterday, Aaron was standing at the front door in this black silk suit... and it was actually cute! It could not fit him more perfectly, so YAY for not having to have it tailored. It's 100% silk, so I'm worried about it lasting after he wears it. Not that he'd ever wear it as street clothing. But still, it was kind of expensive. I'm interested to see this wedding though. The concept is really creative!

Joe's Graduation: My brother, Joe, graduated from Liberty! And everyone except my dad and me got sunburned! hehe I'll post pictures of that later in a different post.

Traveling: We have been to Charlottesville, Williamsburg and Jamestown in the last couple of weeks. Next month, we have an out of town wedding in nowhere-ville, a weekend trip to visit my grandpa in TN, and I work the other 2 Saturdays. June is going to be the death of me! lol

Acne?

Dwight:  "I find that hard to believe. You text me when you get a new zit."
Michael:  "I'm a man in my 40's and I think that makes it a pretty big deal!"

I am having such a hard time with my complexion lately. It's just awful. My face is breaking out so bad! I have little bumpy pimples all over my forehead. They're not red or nasty looking, but they definitely look bumpy even with makeup. I also have nasty red zits on my forehead and chin. And finally, on my nose, I have like 200 blackheads. I have tried so many things and nothing is helping! I've tried new methods such as detoxifying/clarifying masques and tried and true methods that don't seem to work anymore. I try to remember to flip over my pillow every night and change my pillow case every other night. I wash my face every morning and then at night I wash and exfoliate it. I keep my hair pulled back at night. Ugh.

Currently, I use Clean & Clear 3 in 1 blemish clearing face wash-- this worked splendidly for me last summer. Not anymore. I also was my face with bar soap (Ivory or Dial) and a wash cloth at night because it feels greasy via any other method. In the past, I have tried just about every drug store brand and expensive brands, too. I used ProActiv in high school. It worked for a few months and then my skin became immune to it. I have tried Clinique products on different occasions, but it always makes my breakouts worse. Ugh. If any of you have suggestions, please let me know.

Actually, it just dawned on me that I have used a new face product, one that made me break out years and years ago when I tried it (but I then attributed it to my age and the fact that acne was "normal"): Bare Minerals. I completely forgot! Over our anniversary weekend, I went to a Bare Essentuals store and bought some, so now I have matte powder foundation and Mineral Veil. Dang. It's really sad when the expensive makeup that is supposed to be nourishing to the skin contributes to my horrible acne. I will definitely lay off these products for a couple of weeks and see if it helps.

Opal

I realized through a friend's post on my FB wall last night that I completely forgot to share with you all about our cat, Opal. Aaron and I got opal 4 years ago this month. We got her during the phase when I first started wanting to have a baby and Aaron most definitely did not. So, he got me a kitten instead. We found her through Craigslist and when we first got her, she was this teeny, tiny, fuzzy little thing with bright blue eyes and she was sooooo vocal.

Well, about a year ago, she developed this horrible habit of popping her nails on our carpet. Because our carpet was 25 years old and completely disgusting, we let it slide. We actually found it amusing. Then, in early March, we got new carpet. We tried for weeks before this to break her of the habit. Deterrent sprays, leaving a blanket over her favorite popping spot, spraying her with water when we caught her doing it, and in the past she had different scratching posts, but never used them. Then we got this beautiful new carpet and she started popping her nails on the steps. Nothing we tried worked and we didn't want her to destroy the new carpet, too. So, we decided to give her away.

I posted her on Craigslist and someone was interested. I had a bad feeling about these people since the first time they contacted me. They called at 9:30pm on our anniversary (Saturday) and acted frustrated that they couldn't come get her right then. We set up an appointment for them to pick her up that Monday and they blew us off. That Friday, they asked if they could come after work and get her, and then blew us off again. They said they're absolutely come the next day (Saturday), but called to cancel 20 minutes before they were supposed to come so they could go to a St. Patrick's Day party. Finally, that Sunday, they came to get her. They didn't ask any questions about her care or temperament, just about how much she sheds. This couple was total white trash. They were in their 40's, unmarried, poor, and both reeked of cigarette smoke. But we (selfishly) chose to spare our carpet and give her away.

As soon as they took her, I started crying. And then over the next few days, I cried and cried more because I missed her so much and felt bad for giving her away. I wanted her back, but when I called to check on her after she'd been with them for 5 days, they said she had adjusted very well and they just "loved her so much". That gave me a little bit of comfort, but I still missed her.

Two weeks after they had taken her, the woman called to ask if I would take her back. I asked why they didn't want her and she said her boyfriend was allergic to her. Riiight. Well, I lept at the opportunity to have her back, so they met me after work and handed her over. Funny how they blew us off 4 times to pick her up, but couldn't get rid of her fast enough.

They left and we let her out of her crate. She REEKED of cigarette smoke (and I have asthma, so that's not cool). She was absolutely hand shy-- she bit Aaron and drew blood. Her fur was falling out in clumps. And they had put this cheap plastic collar with a bell around her neck so tight that it was cutting into her neck. She was skinny and when we set her in front of her food and water bowls, it was as if she had been starving. Poor thing! I felt so guilty! We gave her a bath and I brushed her for about an hour. After that, she laid on my lap the rest of the evening. That was a Monday.

The following Thursday, we had her declawed. I'd had mixed feelings about doing this to her because it's widely considered to be inhumane. I read online that it's illegal in the UK because they consider it to be mutilation. But, we had to think of our carpet and whether being in a home where we were constantly angry at her was worth the guilt trip. So, we had her laser declawed. I tell you what-- it was as if they removed her claws and injected her with a huge dose of affection serum. She has been sweeter than she has ever been! We've kept her segregated to our guest room so the dog won't chase her, and she has LOVED it. We did have an issue a couple evenings ago where she was chasing a laser pen and one of her incisions came open and started absolutely gushing blood. I took her into our bathroom so she'd stop bleeding on the carpet and after 5 minutes, it looked like someone had mopped blood in front of the vanity. I cried then, too. Ugh. After about an hour it stopped and the vet said it would heal on its own.

So, she's going to take it easy for a few more weeks and get lots and lots of attention. And that's the long winded version of what happened with Opal. Thanks for reading!

Tipping the Scales

I tried to think of a clever title for today's post, but that's the best I could come up with!

For about a year, until I started my current job, I was in seriously good shape! I could comfortably wear size six clothes and I was in the range of 126-129 lbs. I'm 5'5", so that felt like a healthy, comfortable size for me. Most important though, I felt confident, so I wasn't constantly whining to Aaron about my flab. I did this mainly by eating a lot of grilled chicken and salad, and by going for walks/runs every evening in the summer. I love walking outdoors because I can set a physical landmark as a goal, I can take my dog with me, and I enjoy spending time with Aaron and friends. Unfortunately, when I started my current job, my physical activity ceased. I work in an environment where we are always eating. Burger King sausage biscuits at our weekly meetings, candy at the reception desk, reps are always bringing Panera bagels when they do training, and of course there is cake and ice cream roughly 45 times a year (employee birthdays). Now, I know I could always say NO to eating that garbage (and a lot of times I do!), but I also get no physical activity. I have two desks at work because I really have two jobs there. In the mornings, I am calling vendors and reps, working on newsletters and advertising, ordering products for clients, etc. I'm too busy in the mornings to get away from my desk. After lunch, the receptionist leaves for the day and I sit at the reception desk for the rest of the afternoon, billing and answering the phone. I am quite literally tied to the desk. I actually got "talked to" the other day for leaving the desk for 2 minutes to fill the mini fridge at the reception desk with bottled waters. I have been "talked to" for checking the mail (part of my job) and going to the bathroom, too. It's ridiculous. I've had 3 UTI's since I've worked there and the doctor who last treated me is actually one of our big clients and she said that she felt confident that the reason I keep getting them is because I'm not allowed to pee when I'm at work. How ridiculously unreasonable is that?! Anyway, not here to complain about work... back to fitness. The point is, I can't even walk away from my desk at work, so I'm sitting on my butt all day.

I hit my breaking point last weekend when I had to rubberband my favorite jeans. You know-- hook an elastic hair tie through the button hole and lasso the button with the other end-- like pregnant women do when they need to start buying maternity pants. And I had to get new dress pants for work because mine are too tight. Size 10. Double freakin digits! OH MY GOSH! I have been so upset about this. So, Aaron said we needed to budget a gym membership, so I had to wait and be fat all week.

Last night, I signed up at Planet Fitness. I was skeptical of that gym for a while because I didn't understand their commercials about their "judgement free zone". Basically, they don't want body builders or marathon runners beasting it and making everyone else feel like they'll be made fun of for walking on a treadmill (at least that's how I understood reading the policy last night). So, no weight banging, no grunting, no hogging equipment. Body builders and marathon runners can work out, but they want "normal" people and people who are currently overweight to feel comfortable getting into shape there. Good idea. This membership autodrafts $19.99 from our bank account on the 17th of every month, so I didn't pay anything last night. In June of every year, there is a $39 fee as well. It is still $55 LESS a MONTH than the Y! I joined the Y a couple of years ago, paid $150 signup fee and then $75/month and only went 3 times because I was embarrassed that I wasn't as in shape as everyone else and thought I would look stupid using the equipment. PF is open from 5am Monday until 9pm Friday night, 24 hours a day, and then 7a-7p Saturdays and Sundays. The hours are a lot better, and I can go before work or if I am feeling like it after dark. My membership also covers unlimited tanning and personal training sessions.

Today, I spent 5 minutes in a stand up tanning bed, which was my first experience with fake baking. FYI, I have absolutely no intentions of looking like George Hamilton! I just want to knock some of the paleness off my legs so I don't blind people when I wear shorts. And the girl who showed me how to use it told me no more than 5 minutes today because my skin is so fair. Really. I could pass for a Cullen. After that, I ran on the eliptical for 10 minutes and then did the 30 minute sculpting circuit, and then walked 15 minutes on the treadmill at an incline. Not much, but it's definitely a start. And I wasn't embarrassed.

I weighed myself at the gym, and I was 141 lbs. OH MY HEAVENS. So, my goal is to lose 15 lbs in whatever time it takes me. Must make my clothes fit again! I am only posting such a personal statistic to keep me accountable to those of you who read it.

I am also trying to eat healthier. I got Carnation instant breakfast shake mixes and fat free milk for breakfasts, weight loss oatmeal for lunches, and we'll get more gas for our grill and start back up with the salads and grilled chicken/pork chops. I'm vitamining it up, too.

What's Going On?

So, until my zillion posts today, it had been a while since I blogged. I love blogging. It is relaxing and helps me feel connected with those of you who read it. However, there have been some things going on lately that we have not really felt comfortable discussing publicly, a lot of things up in the air, and a lot of uncertainty about our plans for the near future.

My primary identity is child of God. Until a few months ago, that was absolutely, undoubtedly, unarguably the main focus of my life. Then I started getting busy and busier until I started to give up on it. When hard times financially came knocking despite my hard work, I got mad and felt like I needed to take the controls for a while to steer myself into safety. Boy, was that a lonely place to be. I am back to working on my relationship with God and really seeking His will and His heart. The same goes for Aaron.

The result: we are not moving after all. Not any time soon, anyway.

A few months ago, I blogged (on my old blog, I believe) about Aaron's desire to go to A&P school so he can get back into aviation. Aviation is his passion and a joyous, enjoyable part of his life. Then in January, we just got so fed up with our situation (crappy, low-paying, non-career jobs and a teeny little house with loud, obnoxious neighbors). We decided one day that we were going to move anywhere around Baltimore, DC, or northern Virginia, but I don't think either of us was completely excited about it. Aaron spent a week in Baltimore meeting job recruiters, going to career fairs, and going business to business handing out his resume. I recently had an interview with a very well known design firm in Leesburg. Basically, we have been working our butts off working here and looking for new jobs up there. Some of it was pressure from our families and trying to live up to others' successes, some from our own greed and insecurity. But a few days ago, I told Aaron that I didn't feel right about the whole thing. Confession time: I have gone to church twice in 2012. I have read my Bible probably 5 times. I have just been so far away from God. How in the world can I make a big life decision like that out of my own greed when I know it's not the direction God would have me go? Aaron's former decision to go to A&P school was realized after much soul-searching and prayer. I remember praying with him, "God, we feel this is the direction you're leading our family, but we cannot take on any more student loan debt. Please provide and we'll do this even when we don't know how we'll get by." And we felt at peace. Then we interjected our own concerns-- what about money? This is a 40-hour a week, year long program-- we'll be living on my (Jen's) crappy income. How will we pay for it-- we can't afford more student loan debt. We're ready to move on and move up, this is going to take a long time and slow us down. Etc. That's when we decided to move and jumped on that bandwagon.

Aaron made sacrifices so I could finish college. We lived off his lone income for three years before I graduated, and I am more than happy to do the same so that he can achieve his dream. I don't know how He will do it, but God will provide. That's as much as we are going to share at this point, but when we know more, I will update again.

To read about our anniversary, click here.

To read about our adventure today, click here.

5 Golden Rings

Let me preface this blog by saying I have no idea why it is highlighted white and gray. I can't make it go away...

Aaron and I recently celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. When I think back over the years, I can honestly say the time has flown. I barely remember what it felt like being a 19 year old bride, but there are things I look back on and remember warmly. For one thing, Liberty University told me I had to get a signed permission slip from my dad to allow me to move off campus, even though my reason for moving off campus was marriage. I forged it. What a ridiculous policy! Another was our first rat-hole of an apartment. It was less than 500 sq ft, but it only cost $375/month. But one of my favorite newlywed memories was the meatloaf. I remember proudly slaving over dinner one evening to make a home cooked meal that did not come out of a box or the freezer. Meatloaf. And because my husband grew up in such an anti-fat, anti-salt home, I planned to make it healthier by using ground turkey breast. Aaron came home from work to a meal cooked with love at a table set for a cocktail party... and after one bite, took the entire pan of meatloaf outside and pitched it in the trashcan (the pan, too!). He asked me if I had used cat food in it. Over the last five years, our living arrangement has improved and so have my cooking skills.

Anyway, we spent a few days in Washington DC for anniversary number 5. It was a blast!

Friday night, we went to a really nice mall and I got some Bare Minerals makeup and hair accessories while Aaron bought me a present. We then went to Macaroni Grill, which is one of my favorite chain restaurants. They take chain restaurants to a new level. The food looks elegant, the portions are not massive, and everything tastes amazing.

Saturday (anniversary day) got off to a rough start. I had researched restaurants in DC so we could stay away from chains and have nice experiences at local places. I found the perfect breakfast place. It had like 4,000  5-star reviews online. There was also supposed to be great shopping and a famous cupcake bakery in that vicinity. So, Aaron used some horribly crappy GPS program on his phone. I kid you not, we walked around for over an hour trying to find his freakin place and the GPS would randomly move our position and then send us in circles around the same block. Horrible. Finally, we were mad at the GPS and I was upset, so we got coffee from Starbucks and decided to head the area of the National Zoo and find something to do there instead. Well, wouldn't you know, the Metro was down at the two stops closest to the zoo! I was fuming at this point. Here we were-- celebrating our anniversary and everything was going wrong. Oy. Only us, I tell you.  The rest of the day went really well, though. We got off the closest Metro stop we could and then took a bus to the vicinity of the zoo. We saw a little restaurant called Ardeo Bardeo and decided to check it out. Score! This was the start to a perfect day. What made it so great? How about unlimited mimosas? Yeah, I was a little sloshed by 11am, but it was so worth it. I had this interesting and very beautiful soup (yes, my soup was beautiful). It was some concoction of rutabagas, apples, and blue cheese, and while it may sound horrible, it was incredible. I'm glad I was up for trying new things. And that was my first encounter with rutabagas ;)  I also had a croquette thing and they had incredible scones. Aaron's meal was disappointing. It was some kind of sophisticated grits dish... and it had like less than 1/2 cup of food on the plate LOL. He was not happy about that and ended up eating a decent portion of my croquette. From there, we went to the zoo and got the most awesome "show" of five lions playing with each other. I got some fantastic pictures, but I haven't had time to load them on this laptop. You can see a couple on my facebook page. After that, we went back to the hotel, changed into nice clothes, and headed out to dinner at Central.  I had my first ever lamb shank and enjoyed every last bite of it. Aaron got a burger, of course. Only my husband would go to a restaurant owned by a world renowned chef and order a burger. So cheap. My favorite part of the meal was when the chef made a special chocolate mousse with raspberry reduction for us because he heard it was our anniversary! =)  Delish! Aaron's favorite part of the meal was when the waitress told us my dad had covered the check. So if you're reading this, THANK YOU DADDY! It was such a blessing and so sweet and thoughtful of you! From the restaurant, we drove around DC and enjoyed the beautiful city lights. I wanted to take a picture of the White House at night, so we tried to drive as close to it as we could, and got tailed by the Secret Service LOL. At that point, we decided it would be better to park by the Washington Monument and walk. I'm convinced they have some kind of jamming forcefield around the White House. All of my pictures turned out blurry, even though I had the Vibration Reduction on and I tried every setting. Oh well. Then we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of our evening together. 

Sunday, we came home. On our way home, on the advice of a friend we love to death but completely disagree with now (you know who you are!), we ate at Chipotle. GAG ME. Yuck. That was a seriously awful experience. The closest comparison I can make is to Moe's. Unlike Chipotle, Moe's food is actually seasoned, their chips are unlimited, and they have multiple salsas to choose from. A bag with like 15 chips and a tablespoon of salsa at Chipotle was $3.99. Not worth it. And my burrito was bland. Oh well. So, friend, we will have to take you to Moe's sometime soon. We went to a nice mall and I got some new work clothes and jewelry. We also went to Cheesecake Factory- YUMMY! Yummy, but it was too rich to finish a piece. We each only ate half. 

So, that was our anniversary experience. I am so thankful for and in love with my awesome husband. God absolutely knew what I would need and want in a husband and gave me the best. Thank You, God!

First Geocaching Adventure

Chocolate pore cleansing mask- check.
Clean house- check.
Cozy PJ's- check
Husband next to me, looking funny in his chocolate mask- check. =)

Today, Aaron and I completed our first Geocaching adventure. A friend of mine had blogged about doing it last summer and today as we contemplated what to do with our day off, we decided to give it a try. <<For those of you who do not know about Geocaching, it is basically a "treasure" hunting game. You use a GPS, Google map, or compass on your smart phone to locate a container that someone else has left. As I understand, each container will be different-- some contain puzzles and clues to locate the next pieces, some contain objects that you take and add to, some are found by riddles, some are found by maps.>> We did the "Quarter Exchange" Geocache in our town. This one was a Rubbermaid lunch container that contained a bag of quarters, a pen and notepad, and parts of a puzzle for another Geocache. We left a Nebraska quarter in it. It was fun to read the notepad and see the dates of people who have found it-- it went back to 2005! I had so much fun hiking with Aaron! We were introduced to a park we did not know existed. We got great exercise hiking the trails. We got to work together to solve a map. And it was beautiful outside today.

The rest of the day was fun, too. We would have slept in, but everything in the universe conspired against us-- the cat, falling off the window sill she was sleeping on in our room, a neighbor's car alarm at 7:30, someone calling Aaron at 7:35. Eesh. At least we got to enjoy a longer day off, I suppose. I gave myself a fun zebra print French manicure. We watched Super 8. We went to Olive Garden for a late lunch and to Yogurt Yetti for dessert.

What a perfect day!

DIY Lamp Makeover

Over the weekend, we got new carpet and rearranged some furniture. I decided to get new lamps for our night tables, but I couldn't find any that I loved right off the bat. I knew I wanted something small, something with a white base, and something with teal in the shade. So... I decided to jazz up cheapy Walmart lamps.

 Seriously, the bases were $4.98 each and the shades were $4.98 each. So, that's $20 and change for 2 lamps, plus the fabric ($2.10) and spraypaint ($4.99) I used. So all in all, less than $30 for two lamps that look like they're from a specialty shop. Keep reading to see how I did this (it's easy!).

You'll need:

A working lamp base

A plain white shade without pleats

A lightbulb

White spraypaint that is safe for the substance of your lamp base

Fabric

1.  You'll need to clean and spraypaint your base if you're looking to change it. Follow the directions on the spraypaint-- some take longer to dry than others. I had to start painting mine a day before I made the shades. This lamp base was a tarnished black finish originally.

2.   Make your shade. Be sure to press your fabric before measuring or cutting to avoid wrinkly mistakes. Many new lampshades come shrinkwrapped. An easy trick is to carefully cut off the plastic in one piece, lay it on your fabric, and trace the outline of the plastic + about 1/2 gap on every side. You'll end up with something like this:

This is also a good way to be sure your pattern will be straight.

3.  Grab an extra set of hands and line up your shade with your fabric:

4: If desired, press or hotglue a hem on one of the overlapping back seam pieces:

5. Start gluing and pressing the fabric into place. Be diligent to avoid ripples and skews:

Also, make little slits on the fabric near the "spoke" part of the shade if needed.

Assemble your lamp, and here is your finished product:

Good luck!

What crazy weather we've had here, lately! Sunday, we got 7 inches of snow. Friday, it was 79 degrees. Today is't so WINDY!

Friday, Aaron had the day off and used his afternoon to have his car tuned up. The mechanic shop is right across from where I work, so he came over and hung out with me while they worked on his car. Our showroom was really busy, so my boss got us some pizzas for lunch. Aaron and I each grabbed a slice and went outside to eat in the warm weather. Well... it was also extremely windy. He set down his paper plate with a slice of pizza on it on the trunk of my car for just long enough to gulp a swig of water and woosh! The wind sent his plate like a frisbee across the parking lot and lifted his pizza in the air before dropping it cheese side down on my rear view window. It was hilarious!

We were supposed to have our carpet replaced Friday, but after working on our "pre-installation checklist" for 6 straight hours (which included clearing out closets, emptying shelves, stripping bed linens, taking drawers out of dressers, etc.), we still did not have everything done. We had to reschedule. So... our kitchen will remain in shambles until next weekend. We did decide to split our closet space though! For the last 4 years, Aaron and I have shared a tiny little closet and I always have such a hard time jamming a separation between hangars to make room for freshly washed laundry. Finding clothes has been a nightmare. So, we decided that I will take the closet in our room and Aaron can have the 3x bigger closet in the spare bedroom (which he will share with storage boxes). It's so much nicer! For the first time, I can see all my clothes. Why didn't we do this, sooner?

Tomorrow, I'm making a birthday dessert (probably some kind of cake) for one of my closest friends. I still don't know what I'm going to make yet... I'm thinking like a lemon or orange pound cake with whipped cream and berries. But I can't find a recipe that calls for less than a heart attack worth of butter. I'll keep searching!

And I wanted to take a minute to speak out against something the Pope said earlier this week. Infertile couples are not arrogant or sinful to seek medical help conceiving. Kiss my butt Pope Benedict XVI. You've never been married, never had sex, and never gone through infertility. You clearly have never researched the various "fertility treatments" which include everything from vitamins and supplements to oral medications to accupuncture to IUI (which uses husband's sperm and wife's eggs-- in the uterus-- no petrie dish-- for conception) and IVF (which I personally do have an ethical issue with). The Bible says nothing to the issue of infertility other than talking about five women (Hannah, Rebecca, Sarah, Rachel, and Elizabeth) who could not have children until after years and years of infertility. There were no other options back then other than to pray and wait. I'm not dismissing prayer-- not at all! But God created intelligent people who have gone on to study science and medicine and who have invented treatment options for couples. And for the Pope to say that... well, in my opinion, that is the equivalent to saying that a person stricken with cancer is sinning by getting chemo or that a person paralized in an accident is sinning by having spinal surgery. There are definitely different degrees of fertility treatments. Most of them involve conception happening inside the female body with the husband and wife's DNA. Period. "Fertility treatments" cannot all be grouped under the pseudonym "petrie dish babies" because the fact is, they're not! He's the one being arrogant by speaking about something that he knows very little about.

Vitamins?

So, I'm looking for advice today. Here's the sitch: Aaron has to take 10 vitamin pills (yes, ten) a day. The first 6 are no big deal. He just scarfs them down with orange juice in the morning. The problem comes from one vitamin. One very stinky vitamin. A vitamin that stinks so bad, it smells like diarrhea, sulfur, and dead fish all combined. I would complain about taking it, too. The olfactory offender: Selenium.

From left to right: Men's One A Day, L-Carnitine, Omega-3, two Vitamin D's, zinc, and Selenium.

And I am absolutely not exaggerating about the smell. I set out his vitamins for him this morning and I had to leave the room because I felt like I was going to be sick. And he has to put them in his mouth. Three times a day. 

Why all the hassle? Doctor's orders. Actually, the doctor wanted him to use a vitamin that is $150/month. And that just can't happen. This way, a month supply is more like $45. Mine come out to about $2 a month. 

So, do any of you have good ideas for making this disgusting vitamin less disgusting? He's admitted to not taking the Selenium sometimes because of the smell. So, anything that can help it be less nasty would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Also, one of my amazing friends (I can't say who yet!) just found out she is pregnant after her first cycle of Clomid, which is the medicine my doctor has prescribed for me to start using in a few weeks. I'm excited for her! But I'm also really excited that this medicine worked for her and hopeful that it will work for us as well.

-Jen

Updates: Doc, Anniversary, Etc.

One of my friends treated me to coffee today (thank you! You know who you are.). This friend and I have gone through some of the same struggles and situations in the area of infertility. One thing we talked about was how some people get so obsessed with getting pregnant or being pregnant that they talk about little else and really alienate their friends who are not or can not experience all of that. I hate when people do that. Hate it. But I feel like I have done it here, lately. This blog is not about the Jensens' babbying adventure. It's not. I don't have much time for blogging though and that seems to be the only thing exciting enough in my life worth mentioning. So, I'm going to make more of an effort to include other happenings of our lives in this blog.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and then went to Yogurt Yetti. Gooooood times.... lol. Today after my doctor's appointment, we went to Red Robin. I think I'm ready to eat at home for a while.

Next month, Aaron and I will have been married 5 years! We are going away for the weekend, but we're still undecided as to where. Originally we had planned to go to Williamsburg, but now we're thinking DC. We have been to DC twice in the last 5 months, but there is a lot to do and better hotel choices. On the other hand, colonial Williamsburg is really interesting and romantic and there is a restaurant I want to try that was supposedly George Washington's favorite. I guess we'll have to decide soon though.

I've also requested to use a floating holiday and get Valentine's Day off. If it's approved, we're going to have lunch at the Ploughcroft Tea Room downtown. I've wanted to go there since last spring, but they're only open from like 11am-3pm and we're always working then.
 
For those of you interested in how my procedure went today: It went great! Everything was normal and healthy looking. Praising God! If you want more details, send me a message or leave a comment and I'll provide. There is also a funny story =)

In the car on the way home, I said, "My cervix hurts." And Aaron said with all seriousness, "What is a cervix?" LOL

More Tests

Today was a really awful day. I mean, a day where I went into the bathroom and cried twice. I'm not going to write about that though. Just know that some of my emotions are playing into everything else I'm going to write about.

I was supposed to start using Clomid tomorrow. I've already gotten it from the pharmacy. Aaron and I had been praying that it would work. Etc. When we went to Dr. Williams last time, he said I needed to come back to have a procedure done to check for uterine fibroids (tumors in the uterus, usually benign, but could be cancerous). He thinks that may be causing an issue with implantation as well as be the reason for my horrible periods. Anyway, we got the price sheet from the office coordinator on our way out. She looked me in the eye and told me that everything except IVF and IUI was covered by our insurance. When I called to schedule this procedure earlier this week, they asked if I had started using Clomid yet and I told them no, and they said, "If you start using it, your insurance won't cover this procedure." It's $447! And they might want to do one more test with it that is $635. So, if we use this $9 medicine, we'll have to shell out over $1,000 next Tuesday. $1,000 that we don't have. So, we're going to wait to use Clomid until I get the results back from the SIS and HSG. So, yes, I'm disappointed. And on top of that, if I do have fibroids, I'll have to get a biopsy, a myomectomy, or possibly a hysterectomy. I just can't handle this. Maybe I'm overreacting, but just knowing there is a possibility of any of that... I'm 24 years old. This isn't supposed to happen to people my age. So yeah... it's a lot going on.

And, I will say this about my day. I have two co-workers who continue to treat me like their personal assistant. I'd like to give them both a kick in the pants. That's all I'm going to say about that. Forgive, forgive, forgive. 

Last night, we went for a walk and ended up walking 4 and 1/2 miles. Definitely the most exercise I've gotten in a while. It was  relaxing though. And today was beautiful! I had the windows open at home and the outside door opened at work. 

Long Day + Flying

It's just after 9pm and I'm ready for bed. This morning, I woke up at 5-something when I heard my neighbor revving his truck out front. All I kept thinking was love your enemies, love your enemies... I'd love to shove my fist through his teeth. I am not a morning person lol. I decided to go ahead and put something in the crockpot for dinner. I looked at what we had in the freezer and decided to concoct a soup. I used two frozen chicken breasts, 1/2 carton of chicken broth, a package of frozen spinach, a bag of frozen fiesta style vegetables, a bell pepper, a serrano pepper, and a jalepeno pepper and some seasonings and let it go all day. The house smelled so good when I got home from work! The soup tasted pretty good, too. I ended up adding rice to bulk it up a little. Overall, a great way to use leftovers and have a fat free, healthy meal!

Tomorrow is going to be such a long day at work because of inventory. All of the old people (over 60) have the day off, but I'm working at least 12 hours. Yay.

Aaron gets to go flying tomorrow morning! He's really excited about that. He hasn't been up in a Cessna in roughly 4 years. We went to the airport this evening and saw two jets and a Cessna 172 land within about 4 minutes. He was grinning from ear to ear and I'm excited for him to move along with all of the A&P plans. He's going to talk to the director of the A&P school at LU tomorrow about starting the night school program in April and hopefully he'll be able to find a job at Liberty so it will be free. Please pray for that with us. I'm really happy for him!

Well, I'm going to hit the sack. Night night world!

-Jen

3 of 3: Infertility Doctor

I am absolutely impressed with Reproductive Medicine and Surgery Center of Virginia! The office is clean and well decorated, the staff is professional and knowledgeable, and most of what we have to do will be covered by our insurance! I'm going to share with you about our experience there today. This will probably be a long blog. Sorry about that.

Before we left: I was uncomfortably anxious. I was expecting a wrench in the plans-- for the office manager to tell us they no longer accept our insurance, for the doctor to tell us conceiving would be impossible, or to get some other dismal, damning news.

When we got there: We had already filled out all of the paperwork last night because they have it printable on their website. So, we just waited. We were very early, so we ended up waiting about 45 minutes. There were two other families in the waiting room, both with toddlers. One woman kept going on and on about how her son was her "miracle baby" and how she and her husband never would have gotten pregnant without this place. The other woman talked about how she had to try for 5 whole months to get pregnant (poor her, right?) and that she just didn't want to wait as long this time. Insane. Let nature take its course! That's a perfectly normal timeframe!

Finally, I heard, "Mrs. Jensen?" and it was our turn.

The doctor looked at the results from Aaron's semen analysis in '09 and my laparoscopy in '10. I'm still fuming about that-- as it turns out, my doctor in Lynchburg never really did a HSG, but she told me she did it during that surgery and we absolutely paid over $1,000 for it! Ugh. So anyway... He explained more about Endometriosis than I ever knew. They are actually an Endometriosis research center too, so I take his words over those of my crappy Lynchburg doctor. So, essentially, for every normal woman, every month when she has her period, some of her endometrium comes out (her period) and some goes up and out the two other holes-- the fallopian tubes. That's normal. Some of it is absorbed back into the body and used as energy, and some is destroyed by the immune system. Perfectly normal. For someone with Endometriosis, the endometrium that comes out sticks itself onto organs (for me, my ovaries) and creates barriers and inflammation. He said that the reason we have never been able to get pregnant is because my ovaries are inflamed and then the inflammation produces a fluid that then coats the inside of the womb and destroys the sperm and/or any fertilized egg(s) before they can implant and become a pregnancy. My doctor at Women's Health Services NEVER told me that!

I was surprised when he told me I would have three tests done in the office right then and there (and I know Aaron was seeing dollar signs). First, they did an ovary check with a vaginal ultrasound, AKA a baseline scan. This was the second pelvic exam I've had in less than a week. I can't really complain though. Anyway, this was to check out my ovaries (obviously) to see if I had ovulated and from which ovary I had ovulated. They said I had ovulated from my right ovary and that my left ovary had an Endometriosis clump on it. He also said that my Endometrium looked good and thick. Then, they did two blood tests. Again, this should have been the FIRST thing my Lynchburg doctor checked after a year of TTC but she never did. They tested my Prolactin and Progesterone levels. My Prolactin level was good and she said my Progesterone level was also good (needs to be above 10, mine was 14), so, in the lab lady's words, "Your body did a good job ovulating." For once. Ha.

I'm just waiting on the result of my thyroid test from the doctor here. Dr. Williams also wants to do a Saline Infusion Sonogram to make sure I don't have any interuterine fibroids. That will be in two weeks. Aaron will also go in (probably the same day) for another semen analysis. This doctor said the kind of testing they use is more inclusive than what was done at Centra Lab.

Plan of action!!!!

For now, he thinks all of this will be a simple fix! No IVF (thank GOD!!!). He said our course of action will be as follows:

Step 1: Clomid. Double dosage actually.  I'm surprised that it possibly could be this simple. Surprised and relieved and hopeful. Really? A medicine that is less than $10 might be all we need???? Please, God!


Step 2: If we don't get pregnant after one or two cycles of clomid, he wants to try 2 or 3 cycles of Clomid with IUI. IUI is $353/each time and is not covered by insurance. We are praying it doesn't come to this. It's not the end of the world if it does (hey, what are tax refunds for?), but it's considerably more expensive than just Clomid. PLUS, once we do IUI, our insurance will no longer pay for fertility stuff. So, until we do IUI, all of the monitoring and tests are covered at 90%.


Step 3: If after all that IUI and Clomid don't work, I can use Clomid with a shot of Gonadotrophin (HMG) stimulation.

We can take any of those steps at any time and mix and match. I will have to go in for ultrasounds and blood tests every month to see which treatments are working. And he didn't even mention having to use Lupron first! Praise God. This is on schedule to happen much faster than we had hoped.

Please pray with us that just Clomid and "fun" are enough!

Overall, I am pleased with the amazingness of RMSCVA and so thankful to God that we can do this! Thanks for reading! And a BIG thank you to everyone who is praying for us!

Crafts!

I have always enjoyed making crafts. It started when I was very young and my grandmother was seriously the Queen of Crafting. She could make a 50 cent craft and sell it for $20 at a yardsale! Oh how I wish I had her talent for creating craft ideas. So, in the past, I have gotten lofty, spectacular ideas for crafts, but when I have gone to the store or actually started my projects, I have gotten overwhelmed and given up on them. So, essentially, I have wasted a looooot of money on craft projects over the years.


Well, I have found that I can find awesome ideas on Pinterest and give them a try-- provided they are linked to a blog with instructions. Now, I have complained about Pinterest's obnoxiously excessive e-mails, but a friend pointed out how to stop those. I can now get into Pinterest without complaint.

I have a huge "crafts chest", sewing machine, nice sewing kit, and a nice big desk to do this, so I am going to utilize that room as my new craft room. I know I'll need to get it more organized.

Well, here are the crafts I am going to attempt today. I'll let you know how they go!

http://youseriouslymadethat.blogspot.com/2011/02/knotted-headband.html

http://youseriouslymadethat.blogspot.com/2010/12/hair-rosette-tutorial.html

Doctor 2 of 3

We're getting closer to Monday. Today, I went to Forest Family Physicians for my adult wellness exam. I have not had a comprehensive physical like that since my pre-college checkup in 2005. This was even more thorough than that. 

The doctor was wonderful. I felt like he really listened to me and he knew much more than the other doctors I have been seeing. He said b/c of my bad periods, I need about twice as much iron than what is in my multivitamins. I'll have to buy those tomorrow. He also had their lab draw blood to check my thyroid. Apparently my gynecologist should have checked that after the one year of trying to get pregnant mark. He was confused as to why she had never done a blood panel. I won't have the results until next week though.

He also told me to lose weight... sadness. I'm 5'5" and weighed 138 lbs this morning. Apparently I'm supposed to be closer to the 130 mark than to 140. I already knew that though. I feel so fat and swollen. All I eat anymore is sugar, salt, and grease. The morning of our wedding, I was 123 lbs. Over the summer, I walked 2-5 miles almost every single night. Apart from a brief walk Tuesday night, I have not exercised in MONTHS.  So tomorrow (pay/grocery day), it starts. Salads. Vegetables. Fruits. Sports drinks. Supplements. Herbs. Exercise. Joy. (Not really.) I have been saying this forever, but I really MUST stop eating sugary treats. I wish I didn't love and crave them so much. I also have to start my vitamin regiment again. Prenatal vitamins (which I've used for years), iron tablets, fish oil, and vitamin D. This all started when I took this job. We eat all the time there. And I am always too tired to motivate myself to exercise when I get home. Oh well. Change is in order.

The plumber came by to give me an estimate on replacing our bathtub. I'm still waiting for him to put together a quote, but by what he described the process being like, I have a feeling this is going to be far beyond our budget. He'll have to rip out our drywall on both sides of the tub, cut a hole through the kitchen ceiling to fix the plumbing that the lazy builder didn't install correctly, take out some of our tile flooring, etc. So, we've pretty much determined that sounds like it'll be over $1,000 (+ products). Oh well. My dad is going to come down Saturday and try to repair the damage with a fiberglass repair kit. Yay for dads!

My brother is coming over for dinner. I have white chili in the crockpot. It smells delectable, but I won't get to taste it until 5:30. Fortunately, this meal is about as healthy as they come. Just chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), beans, chicken stock, onions, garlic, and spices. We shall see.

And I'm very much enjoying having a day off! Last week I worked 48 hours with Sunday as my only day off. It's nice to rest.

New Tub

When we bought our house in 2009, we had lofty ambitions for its future. We didn't care that everything was old and ugly because it was ours. We have done a lot of work to it, including:

-Replacing the roof
-New windows downstairs
-New furnace & heat pump

-New toilet, countertop, ceramic tile flooring, and mirror in our main bathroom
-New lighting and paint throughout
-New flooring in the kitchen and 1/2 bath
-New countertops and dishwasher in the kitchen

Our next big investment was planned to be replacing all of our carpet. It is disgusting. It has always smelled weird. It is worn flat, stained, stretched/shrunken in places, burned (from an iron, previous owners), and just all around gross. We never got around to replacing the carpet. We decided in November that we would start saving money for new carpet. We have already saved everything minus $600. Like I said, we thought carpet would be our next big expense. We thought....

On Sunday January 8th, there was an accident. I was taking a shower and I noticed that our water pressure was remarkably high (probably what it should be in a normal house...). However, since I'm used to showers taking a long time because of our typically low pressure, the hot water was running out quickly. So, Aaron joined me. He lifted one of his legs to wash his foot and I could hear his other foot slipping and squeaking. I distinctly remember saying, "Aaron, that seems like a stupid idea. You're going to fall."  "I'll be fine, Jen. I've done this a hundred times." Then BAM! I hear this loud thud and then land on my butt after both of my own feet are kicked out from under me. On my way down, I hit my rear on the tub fill and rip the shower curtain rod half out of the wall. Aaron looks up, bewildered, bleeding. It scared me and it really hurt, so obviously I was hopping mad. Aside from yelling at him, it was a good few hours before I spoke to him. That was when he showed me the hole in the side of the tub. It's on the skirted side, covered by the shower curtain. I covered it in duct tape and weighed our options. We hadn't planned on this expense!

The only good solution was to replace our whole tub. This is one of the moments I have been the most thankful for my job. I'm not going to say what my discount was, but let's just say it was steep. I have a plumber coming tomorrow to discuss installation and my dad will tentatively come down this weekend to help us tile the shower walls. I haven't even looked at tile yet. This is the tub and the trim we are getting:

 

The tub is from Mirabelle, Ferguson's private label.

The trim (pictured below) is from Moen. And I really love our Moen rep right now!

Doctor 1 of 3

Well, hands down, today's exam was the most pleasant experience I have ever had in 4 years of going to Women's Health Services. They have always been seriously awful. Some examples of this:

-Making me pay for an entire pelvic exam up front even though my insurance would cover it 100%, and then sending me a partial refund 4-7 weeks later.

-Not seeing me until at least 30 minutes after my appointment time.

-Not listening to me. Not having any compassion toward my condition. Never referring me to a specialist.

Last night I was so anxious (in a bad, bad way) that I was crying. Seriously.  I just knew they were going to make me mad and charge me a lot of money and not care about me. So Aaron pulled me close and prayed for me as a flood of snot and tears deluged his shirt. Love him. And today, he went with me to my exam so that if they tried to make me pay $200 some dollars for a FREE exam, he could talk to the office manager and fix it. Sigh of relief. I prayed for about 5 minutes before I even checked in. The receptionist was really professional and didn't charge me anything (yay!!). I only waited about 4 minutes (if that) before they called me back. They listened to me, asked me questions, and answered my questions. I was in and out in under an hour and the doctor personally gathered my medical records to take with me Monday.

This may sound dramatic or ridiculous to you, but it was big to me. And God took care of every detail. Thank You, Lord!

So, tomorrow I have a day off (yay!) and I'll have my annual wellness exam. Then we're getting our new bathtub, tile, and trim/valve installed. And finally on Monday, we'll have some options or direction.

By the way, this is the place we're doing on 1/23: http://rmscva.com/

QR Business Cards & Resumes!

I'm getting really nervous about all these upcoming doctor's appointments... "female exam" on the 18th, physical on the 19th, and the specialist in Charlottesville on the 23rd. This is what we had decided to do... and it just feels more real now... but also more scary. There's the very real possibility now of getting that definitive "No, it's impossible." But we're really hoping that with some medications, it will be possible!

Aaron is still exploring ways to get back into aviation. He had an awesome idea earlier this week! He is working on making an online resume. He created a QR code online and printed it on the back of some new business cards. So, now he'll be able to give anyone his business card and they'll have immediate access to his resume as well. Hopefully it will help in the job search!

 (His online resume is still in the works, so it won't show it now.)

I thought it was a brilliant idea. I also made one for work to put on the back of our business cards and advertising we do there to take people to our website AND I made one for Jensen Home Staging. I'm going to start working on that again. It's been a while. These are my new business cards.

-Jen

Snotty

I am sick. So sick. I don't even feel very bad. But you would think I'd escaped from a crazy ward if you looked at me. I have gone through more than one box of tissues since yesterday. My nose is raw from said tissues. My chest hurts from coughing. My ears sound plugged up from blowing my nose. And my sinuses are soooo full of snot and inflammation that my right eye has been squeezing itself shut and watering all day. I looked like I'd been crying, I sounded like a man, and my makeup was completely smeared. Yum. So anyway, people at work kept making me feel bad about "contaminating" them... So I went to the doctor over my lunch break. It's just a virus, but he prescribed a narcotic cough syrup and a z-pack in case this junk decides to set up shop in my lungs. I get bronchitis often in winter months. So anyway, I went to Target Pharmacy after work... and realized Ferguson had only mailed my health insurance card, but not my prescription card (which are separate this year, unlike ever before). Ugh. So, they didn't get it straightened out with the insurance company until 8:54, when they called to tell me I can pick it up tomorrow... yay. I hope I can sleep well tonight. 


Oh, and I'm now the go-to Excel person at work. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet...

A Look Back on 2011

Happy New Year everyone! People always focus on their big goals for the next year, but forget to reflect on what has happened in the last year. I've been reflecting, but Aaron and I have only come up with 2 goals so far, but just because we were out of town last weekend and we have family in town this weekend.

2011, like any other year, had its ups and downs. 

January: my goals for the year were to graduate and find a job. Check and check!

February: I started the internship that led to my current job.

March: Aaron and I celebrated 4 years of marriage!

April: I survived the tornadoes. I had been staying at my grandpa's house in TN when we saw on the news that there was supposed to be a massive tornado outbreak across the southeastern US. I wanted to leave that morning and beat the storm home... but he wouldn't let me go. And I'm glad. That evening (before I would have gotten home), a tornado touched down about 3 miles from his house. We stayed in the basement and I prayed for hours. The next day on my way home, I saw numerous towns along I-81 that had been ravaged by the tornadoes right about the time I was driving home. Additionally, our home was untouched. Praise God!

May: After 6 years, I graduated from college! That was such an exciting time in my life. I was ready to take life by the horns and whip it into submission. Still working on that ;)

June: Aaron and I started Jensen Home Staging and Design, LLC. We went to Hershey Park as our graduation vacation. And I interviewed for a job right next to where my mom works and my parents live... but turned it down.

July: I was given the opportunity to freelance a few jobs. I was still a little disappointed that I had not found a full-time job yet. Aaron and I went to Natural Bridge and their caverns for his birthday.

August: I was hired full time at Ferguson. This was also the first season of my life that I did not go back to school... it was odd.

September: The weekend prior to starting my job, Aaron and I spent a lovely weekend in DC. 

October: I got my first paycheck! That's about as exciting as October was. Mostly, we tried to adjust to life with 2 working spouses. It was a difficult transition...

November: Happy Thanksgiving! As embarrassing as this is, Aaron and I created our first ever budget. First. In 4 years of marriage. Before, we had always just kind of paid our bills and not spent much on ourselves. It was so empowering to feel like we were in control of our money rather than asking our bank account's permission to spend it.

December: Aaron and I saw lots of family members and made some big life decisions!