House rambling, lol

We close on our house in 1 weeeeeeeeek! Woot!

I begin with talking about the house for lack of a better starting point.

I am most excited about making this house our home. We have been dreaming of this house for months now and it's finally happening :) Once we get the keys in a week, we'll immediately go over and start cleaning. Our first major renovation is the kitchen floor. There is a dip in the floor from the foundation settling that we'll be fixing with... well, I can't remember exactly what it's called, lol. During that process, the ceramic tile will more than likely crack (not to mention the fact that it is not an attractive color) so we're going to be replacing it. The last weekend of July is when we will be getting LOTS of work done. My Dad, Aunt and little brother will be coming down to get some major projects done like repairing drywall, building a pantry, putting screens on the windows, replacing the back door and putting a banister on the staircase among many others. After that, we will be painting, installing appliances, cleaning carpets and doing one more cleaning to clean up from the construction and we'll be move in ready! There are other very minute fixes like replacing faucets and some caulking and stuff that can most certainly wait until later.

Not much to report other than that. I had the stomach flu Tuesday so I'm playing catch up after being out of commission for a day and a half. Jason has officially started working under his promotion status and he loves it! It's so much easier than what he did before. He has new responsibilities and is catching on very well. I am so proud of him for all his hard work.

Holy Cow - Another bit of good news!

I'm pretty shocked about this one... Jason was on his way to work this morning when a familiar phrase came on the radio:

"Call now to win!!!"

Yep, Jason called and won 4 tickets to a Springfield Cardinals game (the minor league AA affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals) and a dinner for 4 to Fazoli's! We've never actually been to Fazoli's but we're going on Monday with some friends of ours from our ward and we're going to the game that same day with Jason's twin (a really good friend of Jason's who is almost a carbon copy of him - same name, too) and his son who Jason teaches in Sunday School.

Looks like Monday is going to be a good day :)

Smile... then a head shake

He did it!!! Jason passed his clinical test for his promotion! He is now Jason Duree CNA (Ceritified Nursing Assistant), CMT (Certified Medication Technition). Fancy, right? Next Fall, he'll add 3 more letters onto the end of his name... he'll almost have more letters behind his name than in his name! LOL

While he was on the phone telling me the good news, he got into a fender bender - hence the head shake. I always discourage him from talking on the phone while driving because he is, well, can be, a less than observant driver. Not to mention the texas-sized blind spots that SUV's have... ugh. If you were to see the car, you probably wouldn't even notice the crack (it really is small), but it stands out like a sore thumb to me. The Equinox was my birthday present after all.

*sigh*

Jason's says it was bound to happen and I guess so. The first brand new car I've ever owned is tarnished. Boo. At least Jason is ok and it was still a brilliant day :)

Last night of hiding out

It's finally here! Tomorrow, Jason will take his clinical test for his promotion which, unfortunately, will take place at 5:15 tomorrow morning... yuck. Even yuckier is the fact that I have to stay up and wait to bring Ainzley to bed. Her bed time routine consists of nursing to sleep between 9 and 10. Then transferring her to her swing for a couple hours while Jason and I have our late night talks since it's the only time we really get to talk, lol. He always lets me go to bed first before he brings Ainzley in between 11:30 and midnight... now I get to bring her to bed. I have a hard time falling asleep typically (I always have) so I have to try to fall asleep with Ainzley right next to me making all her little grunts and Jason on my other side snoring ferociously. Go ahead, be jealous!

I am completely looking forward to tomorrow being over and being able to get a restful night's sleep!

I'll see you all tomorrow... I'll be the one looking like a zombie

More on Nursing School

We found out a funny tidbit of info yesterday. Jason was originally accepted as an alternate for nursing school (we already knew that, though). He was alternate #6 of 10. He works with a girl who is alternate #10. Jason told her yesterday that he got in and that maybe she would get a phone call as well. So this girl called the school wondering how many alternates were left before she might get into the program as well. The secretary she spoke to (and this is the good part) told her that, thus far, they've only accepted one alternate: Jason. Monday, they were notified that someone would not be able to attend the school in the fall so they started calling the alternates... they called all five before Jason but none couldn't get a hold of them - Jason was the only one who answered his phone that morning.

We feel really blessed and are extremely grateful :)

Hiding out

I'm currently hiding out in my closet, lol. Jason has to be to work at 5:15 in the morning. To avoid waking Ainzley and I up unnecessarily, he is sleeping in the living room which means Ainzley is asleep in her swing in our bedroom. So I don't wake her up, I'm in the closet until I'm ready for bed, lol. Annnyyywayyyyyy...

GREAT news has come to the Duree house - Jason will be starting nursing school this fall! After 3 application processes, he's finally starting and we couldn't be more excited :D We also got to see the house yesterday with the electric working! They had to have it turned on for the appraisal so we made sure to stop by and test everything out. We're very happy to report that all electrical systems seem to be in working order - including the jacuzzi tub! Yay!

It's been a good couple days. Now I'm tired and ready to be out of this closet! Good night :)

Ainzley's Newborn Pics

My Beautiful Daughter

Writing this made me feel so much better

I found this quote before Ainzley was born and fell in love with it. It's everything I didn't know about my self and everything I want Ainzley to remember as she grows up and goes through difficult times. I had this cut in vinyl and put it on a picture frame for her. I added her name at the top of the quote:

Ainzley
Daughter of Divinity
Be strong and of good courage
You are truly a royal spirit daughter of Almighty God.
You are a Princess destined to become a Queen
Your own wondrous story has already begun
Your Once Upon A Time is Now
~ Dieter F Uchtdorf

As silly as it may sound, I never knew any of this about myself. I always had self confidence, though and respected who I was. I didn't try to be someone everyone would like. My friends were people I genuinely liked and wanted to be around and they liked me for me. I was always proud of myself knowing that I was presenting my true self and other people liked being around that.

Somewhere, I lost that.

People around me make me feel (honestly?) like crap sometimes. But that's bound to happen - can't change someone else. What sucks is how I let it get to me. I dwell and over analyze. Suddenly I have these hurt feelings and resentment that just eats at me for days sometimes. People ask me questions then talk in circles questioning why I am the way I am, basically... sometimes, it borderline chastising! I get that not everyone is going to see eye-to-eye, but respecting those differences is important, not giving them the 3rd degree. People tell me how important I am to them, then forget about me when something or someone else better comes along. I was always proud of my matter of fact-ness and being forward and honest with people. Now I'm looked at as a witch. I wish I could just be loved for who I am.

I am a Daughter of Divinity.
I will be strong and of good courage.
I know my mortal mission, where I came from, and my divine destiny.
I was given my many traits and my personality because they are GOOD. Differences should be embraced, not frowned upon.

I refuse to be around people who would belittle me or make me feel less than what I am: a royal spirit daughter of Heavenly Father. I deserve better than that and I will make sure my kids do. My family needs me the way I was created. I will use my strengths and talents to raise a righteous family. I will live up to the person I know I can be and who my Heavenly Father wants me to be.

PS I am not referring to my husband at any way in this post. He is the best and I am so happy to be married to him for eternity :)

Weekending

What a great weekend!!! Jason's work schedule has been a little off the past couple of weeks. The only guaranteed day off he's had were Sunday's and some random day during the week. Last week, he worked Monday-Saturday... it was a long week so we were really looking forward to his "weekend" off. Sunday we went to church which was great except we had to leave early. The refinished the gym floor and the fumes were AWFUL! I'm allergic to perfumes and really sensitive to smells so I got a migraine really quickly. We came home, had lunch, put the kids down for a nap and headed to the pool (with the baby monitor). After the kids woke up, we went to dinner at a friend's house. Our friend and Jason are basically twins. His name is also Jason. He and his wife have 3 boys - the oldest is 18 and the youngest is 12. We love hanging out with them and playing games. We came home just in time to get through bed time and Jason and I got to spend time swinging on the back patio after the kids were asleep.

Yesterday, we woke up and headed over to the house to take some measurements. Then we stopped by the mall. We walked into Sears and happened to find a great dishwasher on clearance. Then we spent the next 2 hours just wandering around the mall. Oh, and we bought David some new shoes. He needed new church shoes and we found some AWESOME tennis shoes for him for the fall. They're a size 11 (he's currently a 9) which is huge for a 2 year old but he's got such wide feet! Hopefully they'll last him awhile, lol. We came home from the mall, put the kids down for their naps and went to the pool again. Every Monday (that Jason has off work) we go out to dinner to a restaurant called Amigos. Delicious Mexican food!!! We love it. We went to Lowe's to get quotes of flooring and a counter top for the kitchen and finished the night with frosties from Wendy's... another Monday night/FHE tradition.

It was a busy weekend but such a blast! Jason also got called into work this morning instead of this evening so we get to spend time with him tonight, too. Summer is starting off good for us :)

Blah

I am getting restless. I need a change... or a break... something out of the ordinary. Oh, vacation! Except all our money is tied up in the house for the moment. Which, by the way, we're closing on the house on July 7th - yay! I am definitely looking forward to the house - it needs a lot of little and very simple cosmetic fixes. It will keep me busy for awhile thank goodness! We also bought a fridge.... it was originally $2500 and we got it brand new for $1280. It's not a scratch & dent or a close out or refurbished - just a great deal. Gotta love Memorial Day sales! :)

Until then, I'm working on making my first blessing dress to sell and I will also be making bows... lots and lots of bows since they're easy and can occupy a lot of my spare time.