Animals With A Sense of Humor

 

Never can get enough of this video! Especially the end...STEVE STEVE STEVE!!!!

Up and Running!

So we finally have the net and home phone back up again...only took them a week...and still no explaination as to why it went down in the first place. Not much happening this past week...we have just been working and trying to get rid of the mice in our kitchen. We set out bait and they didn't touch it, so we put out actual traps...and as soon as we turned out the lights we heard a loud "SNAP!" and then I kid you not the mouse screamed! I was freaking out because I was scared to open the door to the kitchen so I ran back to our room and shut the door...then I heard Steve open the door then slam it shut so quick and fall backwards...and I yell (as I am so not going out there!) "Are you okay!?" To which I get "Yeah, the friggin think jumped at me!" So apparently we had a mother and child mouse....and the mother was protecting the baby. Well I said leave it til the morning, because by then it'll be dead. Well we get up the next morning...and wouldn't you know, no mouse! The thing escaped! However....we haven't seen or heard from then since....this was two nights ago. I can't believe we scared the mice away....either that or they are hunkered down waiting us out.  Some other good news is we bought a new fridge today. It is a wonderful side by side LG fridge/freezer. They are delivering it on Thursday and I am very excited to get it...even more excited to have a freezer that has a bit of room!! Now we can get some bulk meat from Steve's work for cheap. The next thing on the list is probably a new to us car....used but new to us. Steve is going for his P's soon and with our work schedules overlapping more and more it will just be easier to have two cars...however I don't how soon any of that will be happening...hopefully sooner rather than later. The weather here is starting to cool down (which is why we think we had the mice because it certainly wasn't because we dirty) and it is nice...but I have to say I am gonna miss the summer....I didn't make it to the beach once this year which is so sad....but hopefully when I go home in April it will warm enough to visit the beach. Looking forward to it! Not looking forward to all the traveling by myself....just gonna have to pack lightly I suppose. I will post photos of our new fridge when they get it here...very excited!

Diet Coke Dilemma!

Since we have been in Australia and I have been with out a steady source of such vices as Sun Drop or Dr. Pepper....I have had to replace my caffeine addiction (as lots of soda here is caffeine free unless other wise stated) with something...well shocking to me to say the least...Diet Coke! Who would have thought! I hated Diet Coke at home...and I don't really enjoy it that much more here...in fact sometimes when I ask Steve to bring me a drink I will ask for a Dr Pepper....but mean Diet Coke. It is a mental thing I think...I keep telling myself that I am drinking Dr Pepper...and it starts to taste like it!! Lol sad huh? Now to the dilemma part...I have never had so much artificial sweeter in my life...and then the past few months...I have been chugging a 30 pack of Diet Coke cans in about a week and a half sometimes sooner!! I ended up pretty much cutting all other forms of liquid out of my diet...not on purpose it just ended up that way....

Well I recently started feeling really crummy....I mean more than exhausted...more than a headache or more than a tummy ache...I just couldn't get out of bed hardly. Then it dawned on me...it might be the Coke...not the drug but the drink! So the past few days I have been on Diet Coke detox! And man is it hard!! I have gone from drinking about 7 to 10 cans a day to just two today but my max allowed is 3. I have had to put some milk back into my diet as well as plenty of water....already I could feel a difference in my level of tiredness this morning. Even though I had to take Steve to work and then get back up for church a couple hours later...I was able to pretty much pull myself out of bed and get dressed with wanting to throw up or feeling like I was going to pass out from exhaustion...I think also part of this is lower caffeine levels...which may be helping me sleep better...although I don't know if I was sleeping bad before...I didn't wake up a lot and Steve hasn't mentioned any sleepwalking or talking. But who knows...maybe I wasn't in a deep enough restful sleep.

So it is only day 3 of my detox and so far so good...eventually I wanna ween myself down to none....and treat myself with REAL Dr Pepper ever so often...since it is full of at least real sugar...which is not good for you either but has never made me feel the way the artificial sweetner junk has. Hopefully I can do it!! I do love my caffeine!! So fingers crossed!!

Worn Out!!

I don't about anyone else but the past few weeks I have just been worn out! Between moving, and work, going back and forth to Melbourne a few times, and some medical issues I don't have much more energy left....I have been going to bed earlier than usual...just to try and catch up a bit but when that alarm goes off in the morning and I have to get up....it is all I can do to get up and drag myself to the car...it is a quarter past five and Steve has to get to work...he drives us there but then I have to drive myself home. Most mornings, especially, now that the sun isn't rising as early as it was, I find my eyes drooping and worry myself on that drive home...Thankfully, Steve has a friend from work who can pick him up most days out of the week...I only have to drive him two days out of the 5 he works

  Once I am home, I climb back into bed and have an alarm set for 8am. It is now quarter past 6am. In the past 8am has been the time I wake up on my own but I set the alarm just in case...but in recent weeks I find I am still feeling crummy and tired at 8am and just wanna stay in bed for much much longer....

  I am not sick, Steve goes to bed and gets up and goes and doesn't seemed phased! Oh how I wish I could be like that! I am hoping that the new medicine I am on will help sort things out and I can feel a bit better...because I find that when I feel so tired and my body is so achy my eczema plays up...such a strange connection!! 

A full on day at work today and then of course there is tomorrow...but then I have a few days off so I am hoping that I can rest up and relax...and maybe next week will be different!!

Babies, Babies, Babies!!

I don't know what is in the water, but I must not be partaking! I found out that a few people I used to know are expecting a child this year....and as much as I want to be happy for these people that I barely talk to anymore...I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy.  Steve and I really want to have a baby this year...and we have really started thinking about it since we got our own place....no avail yet...and I am worried that with my past womanly problems that it might not be so easy. I am slowly realizing that this road isn't going to be a walk in the park like it is for some people. I want to have a family more than anything and I want that family with Steve...and I know he wants those same things. What if we can't have kids? How would we ever afford adoption? or IVF? or any of those other expensive treatments? What if I am meant to never have children? I can't help but have these worries in the back of mind. I think maybe these past year and the year to come are meant to teach me patience...patience in getting a house of our own, patience in hearing back from immigration, patience in having a child...because once I have a child Heaven knows I am gonna need all the patience of Job. :) Nonetheless, there are times when I forget that maybe this is a lesson and wallow for a bit in my own pity...I can''t help it! I am human! But I am trying and I am trying to be less stressed about the whole situation as I have read that doesn't help matters. I guess all I can do is try and remember that this too shall pass.

Happy Belated New Year!!!

Happy Belated New Year everyone!!
I, in my true fashion, am a tad late in the salutations but better late than never!! In this past year so many things have changed...big changes! I got married for one...pretty big deal. And then moved to the other side of the world...quite literally! It has certainly been tough, on both me and Steve, but we have made it! Next month is our one year anniversary and I just cannot believe that it has been that long since we tied the knot. By coming up on the year mark we have been focusing more and more on getting prepared to go to the Temple together and be sealed together for time and all eternity. Brother Frank Cooke has started us in the Temple Prep class during Sunday School, and we are about half way through with that. Brother Cooke also has given Steve and I the Melchizedek Priesthood class which was extremely helpful for Steve as he didn't know very much and me as well...Bishop submitted Steve's name and this past weekend at Stake Conference Steve's name was read out and sustained and then he was set apart by Brother Cooke, Bishop Bowley, Stephen Rechter Sr and Jr, Mitch Rechter, and Mario Sedlar. I was so happy for Steve and he is very excited to learn more about the responsibilities that he now has. We are also excited as this means we are one step closer to the Temple. 

    We were really looking forward to Stake Conference and the talks that we would hear, however we must not have been meant to hear those messages just yet because the live feed was interrupted several times and then remained very jumpy, so much so that the Area Seventy member that was there decided it was affecting the Spirit and that we would all be better off just hearing it at a later date. They are going to get DVD copies sent out to all the wards, and I am hoping that it doesn't take long because I was very interested in the talk by Elder Scott on the sanctity of womanhood. 

   Another bit of good news for THIS year, we finally were able to secure a rental here in Bendigo! So we moved in on the first of Feb and we are loving it! We are slowly building up the house and everyday it looks less and less like a frat house! :) I gave Cathy and the kids a Skype tour the other day and Clay asked me "Where are all your pictures?" and I had to reply "I am working on it buddy!" haha even my 4 year old cousin notices the lack of decor here!! How sad am I!? But we do have frames, I am just working on where I want photos and what not....it is way harder than you think!

  Steve is still working for the Hazeldene's farm, making fairly decent money, he was promoted again recently and if the supervisor gets his way Steve will move with him to a brand new farm later this year, and with his great track record he might possibly be looking at another promotion! We can only hope, because with each promotion is better pay and he accrues his paid leave quicker!! I am working for Coles Express/Shell. Coles is a supermarket here in Australia, a very big one. And they also partner with Shell Gas Stations. I work there about 15 to 20 hours a week, which is fine with me! I don't really want a full time job right now...the money I make from there helps out with rent, and we live off of Steve's pay for everything else. We aren't rolling in the money but we aren't going hungry either. We are really rather blessed...because there are lots of people out there, here in Australia and back home in the States that are doing it much tougher!

   I hope that I can really keep up on this blog thing, and if everyone reads it, it would really save me from having to repeat myself like 80 times haha sometimes I don't mind but other times it is nice just to be able to put it in one central place...and there is definitely more space than in a Facebook status or something....

Lots of Love

Mandi