I love my husband!!

Derek and I were talking on the phone this afternoon, and I asked him about how his bathroom job was going (he's remodeling my grandparents' bathroom down in Arizona). He was telling me something about tile, or mud, or something tile related.  I think I had asked him a series of I'm-clueless-about-what-you're-talking-about questions until finally I understood. 

Once I finally figured out what he was talking about, I think I must have said something like, "Well, I'm obviously not a tile layer, but I do like being married to one!" Or something like that.

And Derek said, "And you do a good job at that!"

Isn't he cute?!  It was exactly what I needed to hear.

I Am Resolved!

It's taken me a while, but I think I'm finally ready to finalize what my goals for the year 2009 will be.  Making New Year's resolutions doesn't really work for me.  I'm all about starting new for a new year, but I feel like making resolutions just sets me up for failure.  I've tried in the past, and I didn't do half bad, but it felt a little forced because I felt like I had to make the resolution on January 1st and that I had to keep it, or I'd be a loser! ;)

So this year, I'm doing it a little different.  Who says you have to start at the very beginning anyways?  Finalizing my plans at the end of the January has given me time to really think about stuff.  I don't really have time to think about anything from approximately December 24th-January 11th because of Christmas, three birthdays and a wedding (this year)!  And I'm not making any specific promises to myself that I have to keep the entire year.  Most of my goals are very general, but will inspire me to make good choices to better myself.

And here they are (not in any particular order)...

1. Become a photographer:  This doesn't mean that I have to get a job taking photos, or that I have to spend money to take a class.  All it means is that I'm going to make it a priority in my life to spend some time getting to know my camera and learn to take better pictures.  And I'm going to be my only judge.  Well, I'll let my husband have a say... but ultimately, if I'm happy with it then it's good!  I'm excited to take my new camera on it's first scenic road trip to some national parks soon!

2. Take better care of my body:  Now I'm not saying that I abuse my body in any way.  I'm pretty careful about most of the Word of Wisdom stuff.  I've never smoked, drank (coffee, tea or alcohol), or done drugs.  But I don't exercise all that much.  Actually I exercise none.  And I don't always eat very well.  Not too long ago, I heard someone say that we would all be held accountable for how we took care of our bodies.  And that worried me.  The scriptures teach us that our bodies are a temple and that they are a gift from God.  I'm not abusing mine, but I could definitely show more appreciation for the amazing gift I received from my Heavenly Father.  I'm going to make it a priority to show appreciation in any of the following ways, getting more exercise--getting off my lazy butt and walking to my parents' house, stretching in the mornings, doing aerobics while watching tv (well... maybe not the last one. It sounds too dorky)--choosing fewer and healthier snacks, and going to bed earlier!

3.  Increase my gospel knowledge:  I've always had a hard time with scripture study.  For some reason it's been laborious and painful, and I never got much out of it.  And these feelings transferred to any other religious book.  But then I actually began to read a religious book.  You know, the kind where the author quotes a scripture selection every other paragraph, and I realized that that was the kind of scripture study that I could get into!  I like to go and look up the quoted scriptures and read around the verses included in the book.  It's a lot more fun for me, and I get a lot more out of it.  Right now I'm reading The Infinite Atonement.  It's slow going because there's lots to digest, but I'm really loving it!

Another thing that I already started doing that I think will benefit me is my "Book of Mormon Mondays."  This forces--or rather, inspires--me to read out of the Book of Mormon more often (lately it's been daily with my husband) so that I can have something prepared to blog about each week.  Sort of a lame reason to read, but hey, whatever works, right?  And it's fun!  I really enjoy it!  So I'm going to make it a priority in my life to find more of these enjoyable ways for me to learn more about the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ!

4.  Improve my relationship with my husband:  Now again, I'm not saying that I have a bad relationship with Derek.  It's actually really good, and has improved drastically!  But, as my dad always says, there's always room for improvement!  Most of my troubles come from control issues.  I'm a bit of a control freak and a worrier, and that's a toxic combination.  Lately, I've been trying harder to really think about whether I'm "nagging" him about something rather than "discussing" it with him.  And if what I think is important to talk about really is all that important to talk about.  I think it's been working better because both he and I seem happier.  I'm also trying to speak his love language more fluently and not be so bossy!

5.  Become a historian:  I'm a geographer, and a big part of geography is history!  For this one, I'm going to try to make a specific goal.  Each month, I want to become a (well rounded) historian by reading one historical book each month.  It could be a biography, memoir, a novel based on an actual event, a textbook type of book--believe it or not, I actually enjoy reading history textbooks--or even a book written by someone during that time period (think Chaucer or Uncle Tom's Cabin).  I'm not that particular on the where the history took place.  I love it all!  And I guess if I run short on time, I could watch a good, historical movie about a real event in history.  But that's risky.  I'll have to be picky with that because some could call the movie Titanic historical.  Barf.

Here's my "syllabus."  And I'm not planning on sticking to it religiously.  It's just a possible outline for my course of study.

• January - Africa
• February - The Middle East (not including Israel and Palestine)
  
• March - Russia
  
• April - China
  
• May - Japan
  
• June - Korea
  
• July - South East Asia
  
• August - Polynesia
  
• September - North or South Pole
  
• October - Israel and Palestine
  
• November - Central/South America
  
• December - Europe
  

For all of you who that you were bad about putting up Halloween photos...

Here it is 20 minutes until November 7th and I'm just posting my one Halloween picture.   Pretty sad, huh?  I guess I'll have to add a couple more to go with it.

The puking pumpkin.  By far the best pumpkin I've ever carved.  The kids who rang the bell were never looking at us.  They were all looking at the pumpkin!

Pretty leaves next to my parents' house.  The leaves finally turned colors here!!!

Some of Derek's recent work.  He embellished the ceiling and added crown molding

Derek surprised me with knobs for our kitchen today!  Hooray!  The edges of the cupboard doors were a little on the sharp side believe it or not.  I've broken quite a few nails trying to get things opened.  Not any more!  Derek-of-all-Trades to the rescue!

A New Table!

Sorry it's taken so long to post these pictures!  I know how you all have longed to see them! ;)

Well, here they are.  Derek did a pretty good job on the table didn't he?  When my visiting teachers came this month, they happened to see him working on staining it.  One thought that he was just refinishing their old table.  She was a little surprised when we told her he built the whole thing himself!

Derek and I set the table up Monday morning.

The inaugural breakfast.  To get everyone plus the table in the picture, I had to take the picture through the windows to the sun room.  And I forgot to remove the bottles causing weird reflections. :(

See that shine?  That's five coats of poly yo!

My Handyman Built a Beautiful Table

... but it's not put together yet.

He finished putting poly on it this afternoon and now we're all just waiting for it to dry completely (3 days) to put it together.  Some of us have been waiting longer than others.  We made the table for my Dad. He has been waiting for a table he ordered through a STUPID, SHADY, online furniture company.  The name doesn't come to mind at the moment, I want to remember it so I can tell everyone how stinky they have been to my family.  I mean come on!  How much lower can you get than scam a family who's buying a new table for the sole purpose of handicapped accessibility!

Anyways, he's been waiting for the table since February.  That makes 8 months.  That's almost a baby!  His birthday was on Tuesday so I decided that we should make him a table because he's probably not going to get the one he ordered.  And when I say we, I mean Derek.  He's like Bob the builder, except more real and more attractive.

And what he's made looks great so far!

And here's where I put in a plug for my husband! He's a handyman and especially interested in building things like tables, beds, shelves, etc. Check out his website, www.derekofalltrades.com and call him if you need anything.

Been Tagged

I got tagged just by reading!  Thanks Teri!




4 Random Things I love about my husband:
1. He is a handy, handy man to have around
2. He speaks English, Japanese, Korean, a little German and a little Chinese
3. His teeth
4. When he breaks out in a real smile in the middle of a crazy one





 4 Jobs I've had:
1. Hostess at Outback Steakhouse
2. LDS Bookstore worker
3. Temp for TRC Staffing
4. English Teacher in Korea  (one of the best things we ever did!!!)









4 Movies I have watched more than ten times:
1. Uncle Buck
2. Pride and Prejudice.  Yes, the 6 hour one...
3. Princess Diaries
4. Apparently I watched Dumbo 10 times a day when I was 2





 4 TV Shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. Monk
3. Psych
4. The Closer






4 Places I have Been:
1. Palmyra, NY
2. Gyoungbok-gung, Seoul, Korea
3. Craters of the Moon National Park
4. Fukuoka, Japan

4 People who e-mail me regularly:
1. My Mom
2. My grandma
3. Google Calendar Reminders
4. Mailer Daemon







4 of my favorite Foods:
1. Korean Food!!!
2. Bisquick Melt-in-your-mouth Pancakes
3. Pizza (I know it's so cliche)
4. Chocolate






4 Places I would like to visit:
1. China
2. Europe
3. Russia, the Trans-Siberian Railroad to be exact
4. KOREA!!!  I know I've already been there... I heart Korea!






4 Things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Halloween!
2. Getting Derek's handyman business set up
3. Maybe, possibly, someday buying a house
4. Christmas




4 People I tag:
Anybody really, but if you choose to be tagged, please leave a comment so I can read yours!

DEREK IS HOME!!!!

Derek's back! He's been at Scout Camp for the last few days. He volunteered out of the goodness of his heart. He was sort of expecting just one night, but they were in severe need of leaders so he stayed Mon-Thu morning. And I've missed him! It's so nice to have my honey back home again. It was too weird "living alone." Well, not exactly alone. I did have Willow with me. But she was pretty much lethargically useless. She didn't even want to play! All she did was lay on the couch. She's either depressed or sick.

Well, here's a classic Derek pose for you all to enjoy!

Half a man

Derek lost his hammer.  Doesn't seem SO bad, but since he's a handyman, it's a big deal.  He had been without it for a week or two, and I'm surprised that he survived.

So on Monday, for Family Night, he suggested that we have a short lesson and then go to Home Depot to get a shiny new hammer.  Can you guess what the lesson was on?  That's right, being a "tool" here on Earth for Heavenly Father.  Pretty clever don't you think?  And as cheesey as the inspiration for the topic was, the lesson ended up great.  It's always hard to come up with stuff for just the two of us.  We had been reading out of the Teachings of the Prophets books to prepare for Sunday's Priesthood/Relief Society lesson, but we kind of quit once we started the Joseph Smith book.  Don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT book!  I love how all the stuff Joseph Smith said is in one place.  It's just not so good for reading it for FHE.  Anyways, back to the lesson.  We both talked for a few minutes about how we can be, or are "tools."  It was pretty inspiring for me because as I thought of the ways that I am being a tool right now, I realize that I could be doing so much more! (That last sentence is true on so many levels!)

After we talked for a while, we went on to phase II in our plan, Home Depot.  Derek was so excited!  He hadn't been there for quite a while... at least a month.  It's his favorite store in the whole world.  Do you remember the commercials H.D. had running around Father's Day (at least, I think it was HD)?  It was something like, "think of where Dad would go if he had no other place to be?"  I kept thinking, what a dorky commercial, they just want people to buy stuff from them for their Dads.  Derek on the other hand kept saying, "That's where I would go if I had no other place to be!" Cute guy!  And yet another small digression.

We got to Home Depot, and of course, we needed to look at the flooring, specifically tile and hardwood.  That is the one part of HD that I really enjoy.  The rest of the store is somewhat boring for me.  The reason for going there is always exciting (like building a bed) and that usually gets me through.  But the flooring section is pretty.  I like to look at it and plan future bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens. 

After looking at the flooring, we headed on over to the tool section.  I was a little disappointed because in another home improvement store (not sure if it was Lowes or Home Depot) there was a "Tool World."  That made tools exciting.  But at our Nampa Home Depot, there's no "Tool World," just a tool isle.  We found the hammers.  I had NO IDEA there were so many types.  I guess that makes sense though, there are a lot of different uses for hammers.

Derek started trying them out, swinging them in the air to get a feel for them.  It didn't worry me too much.  I was far enough away from him to be out of danger, but it just looked funny to me for some reason.  Probably because there wasn't anything to hammer.  It was like a golfer getting a new club.  They swing it at imaginary balls to get a feel for the clubs, looking completely serious.  That's a little what my Derek looked like. And all the while saying things like, "...too heavy," or "...too light," or "...this handle's uncomfortable."  He ended up choosing a hammer that was pretty much exactly like his lost one, good ol' Stanley brand, but I think this time he got a 20 oz.

 Anyways, the whole point of this post is what he said as we were walking out of the store.  He turned to me and said, "Without my hammer, I felt like half a man!"  I told him, "Not half a man, just half a handyman!"  What a guy!  He is sure happy to have a hammer again!

PS:  Thanks to our excellent friend, Brent, for helping him get a replacement!

My Wonderful, Amazing Husband

Here's my baby!  Doesn't he look so manly with a sledge hammer slung over his shoulder?!  He's been working so hard the last few days!  A couple in our ward called to see if they could hire Derek to come help them put in a fence.  A HUGE thank you to Sister Bickham for recommending Derek when they needed extra help!!!!  At first we thought it would be a short job because it's a vinyl fence, but we soon found out that it will take a while.  I guess that goes to show that you shouldn't judge a job when you've not done it before! :)  But it's looking great!  All the fence posts are plum and in line.  It's going to be a perfect fence!

Anyways, I just want to publicly show how proud I am of Derek.  He is wonderful!  Derek has the unique talent of figuring out new things as he's on his first try!  It usually takes me two or three trial runs to get it right.  His end product of whatever (handyman-wise or in anything else creative) he does always looks so perfect.  He never thinks so, and tries to show me all the flaws.  I'm so grateful to have a husband who is able to do these sorts of things for ourselves, for our friends, and for pay.  I'm so fortunate to have an in home handyman!

Working, working, working!

Lately, Derek's been doing some work around the house at my parents'. And he's been doing an EXCELLENT job! He's fixed doors; made a gate in their fence; dug out a patio; re-arranged the sprinkler system to accomodate the patio; repaired the sub-floor in the second bedroom; cut, sanded and stained shelves for a pantry cubboard; repaired grout lines in their master bath (the professionals didn't use silicone in the joints so every joint cracked, dumb professionals!); and now he's filling in the hole he dug for the patio with road mix in preparation for the cement to be poured. I'm so impressed with how much he can do, how quickly he learns how to do it, and how well he does! A lot of the stuff he's been doing around here, he's never done before. He's got one of those genious brains thats able to just look at a problem, think about it, maybe reference a book, and then do the job well! I've got to do a couple of trial runs before I get a good end result. He's the best and I love him!

Our new business

I'm so excited!  Derek's starting a handyman business.  We've made flyers and everything.  He's so good at home repairs/remodels!  And he's got a blog for his new business too. There's not much posted yet, but keep checking!  We're going to have a bunch of great photos of his work! 

http://derekofalltrades.blogspot.com

If you know anyone that needs work done in the Boise-Caldwell area, let us know! :D

Haircut

I got my hair cut yesterday and MAN is it short!  I thought I had short hair before, but this time, it feels different somehow.  At least it looks decent. 

Derek's putting a ceiling fan in our bedroom!  Thank goodness for handy husbands and handy fathers who's brains are full of tips for when handy husbands run out of ideas!  Since our "box" (I don't know what "box" really means in this context.  I'm guessing that it has to be something in the ceiling for the light) is too weak to support a fan, my dad suggested that Derek put a 2x4 across a couple beams in the attic and attach the box to that.  So that's what Derek's doing now.  I'm so excited for a ceiling fan!  Our upstairs collects heat.  A ceiling fan will be so nice!