Improvements

This month has seen some improvements in our house.

Improvement #1. For the past 7 months, this has bothered me:

Many things are wrong. The TV stand. The accumulation of cords visible to the world. The entire blah-ness of the corner. Closer up:

Every time I cleaned (notice the dust rag), I realized something needed to be done. So in one of my organizational trips to the store, I bought a cheap shelving system to create a less-claustrophobic space and to help organize some other randoms that were lying around the house.

Though not a perfect fix, a definite improvement to the use of this space.

Improvement #2. For three-and-a-half years we have had this TV.

Oh wait until you see the side view:

Wood panelling baby. I have no doubts that this was from the 1980s, but it was free and it was larger than the TV I had at the time. It has been perfect for us, but for about a year we have been talking about making the jump to a 21st-century TV. And, we did.

Our new toy should last us for years and we are still marveling over the picture quality. I mean, really anything would have been better than what we had, but this is amazing. Come on over anytime! And, now we have a TV in the guest room...visitors are welcome anytime!

I can think of many other improvements we could make. Living room furniture. Kitchen table. A house that we own. But for now, I am enjoying these small things that have made a big difference.

Then and Now

I tumbled upon an old photo of me while spending time with my grandparents. Actually, I stumbled upon a lot of old photos and brought them home to add to my ever growing catalog of photos.

Anyways, here I am on July 21st, 2006 - 3 years ago.

And here I am more recently.

I feel like I look a lot different now.

First of all, the hair. Whoa, was it blonde. And long. And fluffy.

The second thing I noticed that has changed is the smile - a change for the better. These pictures give a good depiction of how narrow my smile was before. Now, those gaps on the side of my smile are gone.

I could go on about my tan skin, my eye color, and my complexion. I could point out how you can tell I have a headache in one picture by the way my eyes are shaped. But really, I want to get to the shape of my face. It has gotten wider, which is a nice way of saying fatter. I was probably more active then, probably ate better, too. Going from walking back and forth across campus for class to sitting at a desk all day for a few years is bound to change your body. But this if the first time I noticed it in my face.

Good thing I am starting a new workout regime on Monday. Goal: skinny face. And legs. And butt. And, oh you get the point.

Bombarded

When are you moving? The end of May.
When's your last day? I really don't know yet.
Why don't you know? We still need to figure out some things.
Like what? Lots of things.
Are you sad to leave your job? Yes, I will miss it a lot. I will miss the people I work with and the job itself. It's been the best job I've ever had.
What will you do instead? Read this.
When's Hubs's first day? That's one of those details we need to figure out.
Have you found a place to live? Not yet.
Will you rent or buy? Rent.
Apartment? No. Duplex or house.
When will you find a place? Hopefully, in April.
How big? Hopefully 2 bedrooms and a 2 car garage.
Will you get a puppy? Probably not.
How big is the town? 40,000 people.
How far away is it from your family? 4 hours from one side, 3.5 hours from the other.
Do you know anyone there? Yes, I grew up in that town, although I haven't stayed in touch with anyone. We also have an Aunt and Uncle who live there.
Are you excited? Extremely. It will be even more exciting when we have some more details figured out. Time is flying by and we will be extremely busy until the move. I know it will be here before we know it.