busting out the big guns

This October marked 3 years of trying to conceive for us... that's 36 months my friends.  36 cycles that didn't work out the way we wanted them to.  36 heartbreaks.

Now before you proceed further into this post, know that you will know the intimate details of my cycle whether you want to or not.  My boss and coworker know them as well as some people in the ward, and I'm not afraid to talk about them anymore, so go ahead, get to know me and my Aunt Flo.  We'll be official best friends.

My insurance through my work started in May so we decided to go see a doctor in June and start back on the clomid wagon in July.  I was hopeful that things would go similarly as before, with the exception that we'd end up with a baby in the end and not a miscarriage.  The doctor seemed nice enough and we ran some bloodwork in addition to doing a semen analysis for Dustin.  All things came back normal and being 20 pounds lighter, we were excited to start treatments again.  We put a  pause on "project look good" and moved forward to "project make a baby."  After all, this doc even had us doing day 21 progesterone tests to monitor ovulation... make sure the clomid was doing what it should.  How could we lose?!

And so we got excited.  July came and my BBT charts looked promising... day 21 results came back as low (meaning they said I didn't ovulate) and so we moved ahead to August.  Afterall, in both pregnancies I had from clomid, it was the 2nd round that did the trick.  This time we bumped the dosage up.  August's chart looked good and then day 21 results came in... and were lower than July.  Which means the doc wasn't very happy with me and now they wanted me to maybe do one more month but then send me off to a specialist.

I was starting to feel a bit crazy.  My charts were good, so something must be working, right?  Also, basically everyone I've ever talked to about infertility asked me if I was diagnosed with PCOS-- to which the answer is NO.  This doctor went over the usual symptoms with me: weight gain, increased hair (like on your neck or chin), depression, difficulty losing weight, and of course, infertility.  I sat there like, 'um, yes, those are all me.' and then he looked at me and said, 'meh, you look fine.'  REALLY?! That should have been my first clue to seek help elsewhere. 

But I didn't and so September was going to be the month, we just knew it.  We were on the higher dosage of clomid again and the charts looked good.  Day 21 progesterone results came back and... still low.  I was frustrated.  We had gotten so excited.  I even let myself start buying baby things.  And we were having no luck.  So in October we made an appointment at Oregon Reproductive Medicine to see a specialist while doing one final round of clomid in hopes that we could make a miracle.

The meeting with the specialist was fine.  She was very thorough on how the female cycle works with hormones and all that jazz and talked about things we could do to move forward-- There are more tests to be done and lots of money to be paid, but there is a plan in place that is more aggressive to make "project make a baby" work.  She also made me feel better about my progesterone draws.  She told me I was ovulating, that even if my results were "low", they were still above ovulation range, which means I wasn't crazy after all.  But she still didn't diagnose me with PCOS.  I even asked her about it--she said that because I generally have regular cycles that I probably don't have PCOS... though you CAN possibly be regular and still have it.  Blarg.

Infertility is depressing.  I won't lie.  There are many times that I have broken down and just couldn't take it anymore.  I had Dustin give me a blessing and I felt better, but the heartache that comes each month is always there.  When we were told about the more aggressive treatments we got excited-- "we could be pregnant next month!" was all we could keep thinking.

And then the end of October came when it was time to make a decision-- the proposed plan was to do up to 4 cycles of IUI with additional testing such as a hysterosalpingogram (HSG for short--its a big word for an x-ray dye test for your uterus/tubes to make sure all the lady bits are ok/not blocked), genetic testing, ovarian reserve testing, FSH/Estradiol testing, the works.

For those of you who don't know what IUI is, it is a fertility treatment that uses a catheter to place a number of washed sperm directly into the uterus. The goal of IUI is to increase the number of sperm that reach the fallopian tubes and subsequently increase the chance of fertilization.  It starts with a Day 1 (can be done days 1-3) ultrasound to get a general baseline.  Then a medication is taken days 3-7 and a Day 12 midcycle ultrasound is done to see how your ovaries are reacting to the medication-whether you're ready to ovulate or not.  Then comes the trigger shot-inducing ovulation.  Give it a day or and you're back in the office having the husband do his business so they can wash the sperm and get all the best ones ready to inseminate you a few hours later.  Wait 12-14 days and BAM, you have a baby.  At least, that's the plan.  In all actuality, we learned that chances of getting pregnant on our own is about 2%.  With IUI, it bumps it up to 20%.  Not super promising, but it's 1000% more of a chance of pregnancy that trying on our own.

 And it costs a lot.  Of course it's not as much as IVF, but it still has a pretty penny on it.  Not to mention that my health insurance covers NOTHING to do with infertility.

 So this decision of what to do for November was hard.  Christmas is coming up and with my brother's wedding in December, we had the unexpected cost of plane tickets to Utah for the holidays.  We also need to register our car in Oregon and get Oregon driver's licenses and that can cost a bit too.  Dustin's student loans this quarter aren't stretching as far as other quarters as well--he is taking an extra class/seminar this quarter to get a special certification for the Graston technique and we got him a chiropractic table since he is in adjusting classes now and needs to get a good feel for adjusting.  Money is tight.  That's how grad school goes, right?  If we waited a few more months, we could always lose more weight too and hope that that helps with fertility... So many factors to consider!

But we really want a baby.  I convinced myself that we would wait until January when we will be getting more student loans, promise of a tax return, and a Christmas bonus from work.  But every time I thought I was convinced, I really wasn't.  I would feel depressed.  And then the thoughts and excitement from our first appointment with the specialist came creeping back into my head--"we could be pregnant next month!"
And so I let that win.  Because I felt happy about it instead of depressed which is good enough for me!

And when my period started this week, we made the call for the baseline ultrasound.  I went in for it this morning and the ultrasound part was fine.  My uterine lining is fine and my ovaries have plenty of eggs in them.

What was TRAUMATIZING was the 6 vials of blood that they wanted for blood work!!!  I was not prepared for that.  My arms are known for being terrors when it comes to giving blood--remember how I was shunned away from the plasma center because my veins were deemed unsuitable?!  And now they wanted 6 vials.  Wow.  So I was poked once and got half a vial.  Then it stopped.  So I was poked again. And again.  And then we called for backup.  Where I was poked again, and then finally on the FIFTH attempt, we found a winner vein to complete the other 5 vials.  Seriously traumatic.  Especially when I had to check out and pay $563 for all the trauma.   (I told you it was a pretty penny)

Fail.

The good news is that I shouldn't have to do those nasty things again.  At least, I don't think so.  They were for fertility testing and now we know the results- my FSH and my Estradiol are both completely normal-meaning my ovarian reserve is just fine and I'm not menopausing anytime soon.  My TSH (thyroid) came back as HIGH (which I had tested before by lame doctor man who said it was normal), so I am starting on a thyroid medication tomorrow.  I'm kinda excited about that just because I've wondered if there was a problem with my thyroid for a while now (hello, I gained HOW many pounds?!), but was told it was normal.  I hope this really helps. Thyroid symptoms can also be similar to PCOS symptoms so maybe it's just a thyroid issue all along?  I dunno, guess we'll see!

I did get a prescription writeup thing to have MORE blood work done at a different clinic (that can take my insurance) for some tests that will check out possibly why I've had 2 miscarriages.  I might give that some time cuz after today's trauma, I'm gonna have to build up all my strength for that. 

I also have a prescription to start Femara which is like Clomid but with less side effects (um, hello, why didn't we pick that before?!).

This Friday I have my HSG and then next Friday will be my midcycle ultrasound.  In 26 days we can know if I'm pregnant or not! 

This is progress people!  The plan is in action and moving forward!  Sure, we'll be broker than broke when it's all said and done, but hopefully we'll end up with a bouncing bundle of joy in 9 months.  Fingers crossed, prayers said, good vibes sent out to the universe.

If things don't work out this cycle, we will take a break until at least January, maybe another month or so to boost up the funds again.  (Thank goodness for HSA money left over from Storesonline!!)

So there you have it-- the big guns have been busted out and we are attacking this fertility head on.  If you so feel the need or desire to pray for us, please do.  If you so feel the need to send us money, I'll give you our address hahaha.  We're hoping for the best and will keep you posted!

Pay off my car two and a half years early....

CHECK!!!

Next step: Student Loans paid off. Save for a house. And an Alaskan cruise for next summer.

Goals made. Now ready, set, GO!

Timing is Everything

Remember how just a few months ago I just didn't want to work? You can read that blog post here. I would look for jobs or even go to an interview and I just really really really felt like I shouldn't get a job. So I didn't. We booked our 3 week trip home to Utah and I figured I would just start looking again when we got back from our trip.

We were originally planning a trip home to Utah in March during Dustin's 2 week break because Dallin was going to be home from his mission then.... so we felt bad that we wouldn't be home for Dallin, but just felt like it was the right time to go home. Well, the week before we left for Utah in December, I got a call from Robert Half Accounting saying that there was as full time permanent billing clerk position that they thought I would be a good match for. I agreed and they set up a phone interview.

I interviewed the week before we left and thought it went okay, but really wasn't sure because I couldn't tell their reactions to my answers over the phone. They asked what my schedule was like the following week because they would be setting up in person interviews for those they liked from the phone interview. I told them I would actually be out of town for a few weeks and they said that was fine, they were willing to wait for the right candidate.

That week we also got a call from my dad saying that Dallin was coming home from his mission on the 21st due to some health issues they wanted taken care of in the USA. He wasn't given a "medical" release, he was given a full time, honorable release from his mission and we were all excited that he would be home for Christmas and able to start getting better. This completely solved our worries about not being there in March to see him when he got home.

During our Christmas break, I felt ready to go back to work. We could always use the money as living off of student loans is not completely ideal, but I finally just felt ready for work and wanted to find a job. The job I interviewed for on the phone sounded like a good position for me, similar to what I was doing at StoresOnline, so I was hopeful that they would really wait for me to come back and interview again. I knew that if they liked the candidates they interviewed while I was away, they would most likely pick one because there's no sense in waiting for someone if you already like who you have and they are right there ready to work.

Well, I got a call after Christmas asking if i could come in the following week to interview, to which I had to explain that I wouldn't be back until the 6th, which they were fine with. The first week of January I got a call asking if I could come in ON the 6th, to which I had to explain that my flight wouldn't get in until 8 PM. They were also fine with this and we set up an interview for Monday the 9th.

I went to my interview with fingers crossed (and lots of praying), and I thought it went well. The company seems like a really good company to work for with lots of potential to earn bonuses. That night I got an email saying that I needed to fill out their application (cuz all this job finding and interviewing was set up through Robert Half Accounting) and a form for a background check. I figured this could only be a good sign... and it was!

I got the call Tuesday morning that they wanted to offer me the job and that I would start possibly Friday! Well, today is Friday and no, I am not blogging while at work, the manager is out of the office until Tuesday so I start Tuesday the 17th. The company I will be working for as a billing clerk is called The House of Antique Hardware, a company that sells hardware online. So before, I worked for a company that sold online stores to people, now I actually work for an online store! The location is NOT downtown Portland, which I am super happy about, but it's close to it, pretty close to the Lloyd Center, and literally 1 minute away from Voodoo Doughnuts.

I can't believe how perfectly the timing worked out for everything. Back in October, I had no idea why I just completely felt like I shouldn't get a job. The spirit was helping me on my path to find a job that I will like, at the same time getting us home for Christmas to spend time with our families and to be with Dallin at his return from his mission. I am so grateful for the blessings of the spirit and how our loving Heavenly Father sends us inspiration to guide us down the path that is best for us.

Timing really is everything! I got the job, now we just need to get the baby! Next step for us? Hopefully. :)

Working for the money

Dustin started his classes today and so far they have been great! Just a review for now, but with all the horror stories we've been hearing from other students, he's just getting started. :) With starting classes today, that also means that we got our student loan money check with the remaining balance after tuition/fees. It was more than we thought it would be and are very excited about that! But that also leads me to more internal conflict...

You see... if I was totally honest (and this is my blog so I get to be totally honest about how I feel), I just don't want to work. I. just. don't. want. to. And now that we have more money to live off of than we thought we would, technically, I don't HAVE to work. Because we don't NEED the money, we're actually sitting pretty comfortably. BUT if I did work, that means that we wouldn't have to take out as much student loan, therefore having less to pay off post graduation, therefore having a lot better financial situation once we're done. Which is really brilliant, a much better situation for us in the long run. Also, we'd have more money during school to finish paying off the car loan, my remaining student loans, and start paying off Dustin's undergraduate student loans. Which then again equals MORE MONEY. Duh, of course this all makes sense because working will mean more money.

But working... sigh... why can't there be this amazing job that I would just love love love?! I thought I had found it in a data entry job I tried applying for, but that is since gone as the whole 'moving here' thing got in the way so that I couldn't get all applied for it on time. I keep browsing CareerBuilder and Craigslist for the perfect job, but I can't seem to find it. All the Accounting jobs I could potentially be interested in are all temp positions, which is not my ideal kind of job.

I met with Express Pros Staffing, another company like Robert Half or Accountemps, but it's the same kind of situation--temp jobs. If I get a job, I don't want to keep doing temp jobs, hoping that another position will open up when the one I'm temping for is up. So where oh where is this perfect job that will pay me awesome amounts of money so that we don't take out as much student loans?! I just don't know.

So for now, I guess I'll keep looking. Even though I'd rather just... enjoy my time. Work on projects. Exercise. Blog, blog, blog. Read. Cook healthy meals. Spend time with husband during his school breaks. Etc.

Doesn't that sound like such a better life?! Much more enjoyable? I think so. What do you think?

My competition....

So today as I was browsing among the deals on Groupon, I came across this little gem....

MY COMPETITION!!! Crave Bake Shop in Lake Oswego, OR had a "deal" for cake balls. That's right, for only $9 (originally $18), you could get a dozen cake balls! I'm sorry, but I don't care that they are gluten free, dipped in Belgian chocolate, and made by a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef that was on Cupcake Wars. That is still WAY over priced in my book. And guess what?! By lunch time, the deal had SOLD OUT. Crazy.

So folks, that means that MY Cake balls (Breezy's bites) are a SMASHING deal. And that I should charge more. My non-gluten free, Nestle chocolate dipped, BYU trained chef cake balls are selling for $5 a dozen. But maybe I should go up to $10 for Portland seeing as a normal dozen can go for $18. That means $10 is still a DEAL. If you'd like to order, please send me an email with your flavor choices and quantity, and I will make sure to deliver some quality cake balls made with love. I am also now selling cookie dough truffles and Oreo truffles. Please inquire for pricing if interested. Cash preferred.

Now to get a Breezy's Bites web site up and running..... :)

101 Cake Balls

My newest cookbook. I have not experimented with it yet, but plan on doing so this week!

All I've been posting about lately is the move, so I interrupt the countless moving posts that you are all sick of reading about to blog about CAKE BALLS.

You know what would be my dream job? Baking and decorating in the kitchen all day long. But not in a professional bakery because instead of "lalalala, make some frosting; lalala, decorate a cake; lalalala, let's try out a new recipe", it would be, "THERE ARE 15 CUSTOMERS STILL WAITING FOR THEIR CUPCAKES AND YOU RUINED THIS BATCH OF FROSTING AND SPEED THINGS UP WOMAN!!" and basically, that would not be my dream job anymore.

I still have dreams of someday setting up my own bakery and selling all things wonderful. With a specialty in cake balls. You know, those wonderful little bite size pieces of cake and frosting harmoniously combined and dipped in chocolate?!?! Freaking awesome.

Sweet Tooth Fairy sells these little treats for A BUCK A PIECE! Which is way overpriced. They are not that good. Not compared to my cake balls. Mine are bigger, better, and half the price. The only problem? I don't really sell them. But I'd like to. "Breezy's Bites" sold at "Sweet Escape". Don't steal those names, I'll kill you.

So here's the goal: Move to Portland where cake balls aren't as well known (I feel like they are a big Utah thing?). Bring a batch of cake balls to a ward or school function. Everyone devours said cake balls and HAS to know who brought them. At which point, I chime in and say, "oh yeah, that was me. I make them. I can sell them to you for a steal of a deal for you next __________ (fill in the blank. Possible options: Birthday party, bridal shower, baby shower, women's luncheon, etc.) And BAM. I'm in business. And selling cake balls like hot cakes. And making money. And living out my dream job. Until I'm shut down for not having a business license or food handler's permit, or permission to sell baked products from my home. BLARG. But it's a start, right? We'll see how that dream plays out. Until then, there's always plasma to earn money. :)

Wrenches and Goodbyes

This week has been crazy with different wrenches thrown in my plans. Why is it that as soon as I plan out my life, some wrench needs to get thrown in to shake things up? I guess I'm just being kept on my toes.

Remember how much we love that apartment complex in Vancouver named Cascade Park? The one with the waterfall and the fireplace? Well, I called them to get applied for the apartment. And they told me that the one we wanted wasn't available because the tenants (who were supposed to be kicked out) were not leaving until October. Which doesn't work for us. So then they told me that there was only a downstairs unit available with the floorplan we liked, but that was not so great for us because the downstairs units are $50 more a month. No bueno when you're going to be tight on money as is. The apartment was supposed to be by the waterfall, we said great. Then when we called back about it, they said that the only one that was available is actually a DIFFERENT one that is down by the highway, but still a bottom unit. I was starting to feel like we were getting the run around.

I was able to download the applications and email them in and our email conversations continued... our credit was great (no surprise there), but they just needed to verify income. Which is great for what we're making now, but remember how we won't be making ANYTHING when we move? But they didn't say they wanted to see any financial aid rewards or anything.... And they wanted the security deposit NOW. Which I wasn't happy about because why would i send that much money if we weren't going to get approved? WRENCH.

Now I've seen enough Judge Judy to know that you should have EVERYTHING in documentation, so I continued with the email plan explaining that I wasn't going to send money without a contract. Which they disputed with "we only sign contracts in the office." To which I said, "well, if I can't sign a contract, I can't start paying rent September 1st cuz we won't be there til the week of the 20th." To which they said, "okay, fine, we'll see what we can do."

Tuesday they sent a contract over and said we could sign it and fax it in (why was that so hard for them? I have no idea). As I looked at the contract, I noticed that they also require you to have a landline number for the security gate so guests can call you on their keypad and you can let them in. This is not an expense we were even THINKING about getting as we don't nearly come close to using half of our minutes with our cell phones. Plus, with Dustin at school all day, and me at work all day to pay for this bottom unit, why would we want a home landline?!? So extra money for the apartment that we don't even want, and now extra money for a utility we don't even want? WRENCH.

At this point, I was seriously starting to question whether we wanted to live here and rent from this management as the whole process had seemed like a hassle and was hard to communicate with. So then we remembered our second choice in apartments: Star Crest Manor in Portland. Over $150 a month cheaper than Cascade Park with all the new expenses. And way closer to Dustin's school. Close enough that we wouldn't need 2 cars. Cut that expense out. And the landline. Add satellite/DVR service, and it's STILL cheaper than Cascade Park. No bridge traffic. An apartment with TWO bathrooms. 5 minutes away from the plasma center. This was looking like a MUCH better option for us and we set our minds that Star Crest was the right decision for us.

Then my Aunt Sheri went to Cascade Park to check out the apartment for us in person. And talking with the management, they told her that if she gave them the security deposit right then, we could actually have the original apartment we wanted because the tenants are moving out in three days. SAY WHAT?!? I guess that there are other people in the complex that want that apartment but haven't put money down on it yet, so if we showed the dough, it was ours. WRENCH. This gave us a lot to think about. We told them we'd take a day and let them know.

On the way home from work (mind you, this is all still TUESDAY), I get a message from Robert Half Accounting saying they have a potential position for me. I called him back and found out more about the job, that it would need to start beginning of September, that they were looking for someone that I met the qualifications for perfectly. This meant that I would have a job! That we could afford Cascade Park! WRENCH.

Seriously, by this point I was freaking out so we stopped at Arctic Circle and got a Butterfinger shake to clear our heads :) It worked.

We made a pros and cons list, listed out all expenses associated with both apartments, and decided to sleep on it.

Final decision made yesterday morning: Star Crest Manor in Portland. We think it will be a great home for us and if we end up hating it and having the money to afford Cascade Park, we can always move. I mean, we're going to be there for YEARS so if we're at a cheaper place now, we won't be out anything really. And we'll be able to save that extra money from cheaper rent and transportation costs to maybe come home once or twice in the next 3-4 years. Or buy food. :)

We've applied for Star Crest and are waiting to hear back on whether we are accepted or not. Of course, they are hung up on "income verification" because they want 3 x rent NET income (what would we ever do with all that money?!?!) We gave them the info for the financial contact at UWS and hopefully she can send them what they need and explain to them that we will definitely have the funds to pay for rent. I'll let you know how that works out. If we're not accepted, I have no idea who will accept us cuz that rent is pretty cheap. Hahahaha.

As far as hearing back about the potential job, after 2 full days, no one has called me about an interview or a job, so I'm guessing that they, like everyone else, do not want to hire me because I don't live there. And the apartment people don't want us cuz we dont' have a job? It's a catch-22.

Oh man. Life is crazy. We are packing up all we can now and there is still TONS left to pack. It's only a month away!

Nathan, Adrienne, and Elliott moved to Chicago on Sunday and it was very sad to see them go!! I definitely loved having them here for the summer and spending time together playing games, watching the Bachelorette, SYTYCD, and Parks and Rec. And of course, snuggling and kissing little Elliott!! We miss you guys and hope you are having a great time on your adventure in Chicago!

Living in Rose City

Our trip last week to Portland had me feeling anxious, nervous, and excited. Now I think I'm just excited. We saw a lot of apartments and the VERY last one we saw will most likely be our future home. It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in Vancouver, just across the OR/WA border, 20 mins away from Dustin's school, but is awesome!

Option #2 is a 2 bed/2 bath in Portland only 8 mins away from Dustin's school. Here's the low down of our 2 favorite options.

Cascade Park in Vancouver:

Specs: 2 bedroom, 1 HUGE bathroom, 1029 sq feet, completely recently remodeled. And by recently I mean that the apartment we would like to move in to is going to be remodeled as soon as the current tenants (of 10 years) are moving out by the end of the month. The whole complex started remodeling last summer and this is the last apartment to be redone. The current tenants did not want the remodels while they were living there so once they're out, everything will be redone-- granite counter tops, new appliances, new flooring, new paint, new cabinetry, the works. We will be the first people to live in this basically new apartment. Washer/dryer is included, wood burning fireplace, large deck with outside storage, they even have a spice drawer in the kitchen! I'm kinda in heaven.

Added perks: tennis court and basketball court, big pool, year round hot tub, WATERFALL by the pool/hot tub that lights up at night, gym, tanning bed, yeah, it's a great place. The price is right and utilities are in the right price point as well.

Cons: It's farther away from Dustin's school and for a one car family, that poses a little problem. We're trying to come up with solutions as distance to the school is REALLY the only con. The neighborhood is actually really good, and grocery stores, restaurants, everything basically is close and we'd still get the same kind of "hometown" feel like what we have in Spanish Fork/Salem. We really like the idea of that.

Solutions..... A) Convince my parents to let us use the extra car that wouldn't be used until Dallin gets home from his mission in March. Which at that point, my dad should buy himself a new car and let Dallin drive his old car. Brilliant.

B) I won't get a job when we move and Dustin can take the car. That's right, just kick it at home doing fantastic things with my day all day. We figured out that if Dustin decides to do school year round aka continue during the summer instead of taking one quarter off (thanks for this idea Julia, it's PERFECT, AMAZING, LEGENDARY really), we'd have enough money to pay for life instead of having to save some money from each quarter to fund the quarter off summer break. The reasons this would be so great: Dustin would finish in 3 years instead of 4! We'd have money to live! Afterall, we're going to be getting student loans for the same amount of school time, just might as well finish earlier. I'd be able to stay home and be a happy wife to make a happy husband! Honestly, this plan is very doable. Dustin's quarters are each 10 weeks long with 1 week of finals and then TWO WEEKS OFF. Which means he gets a decent break between EACH quarter. If I wasn't working, we could spend those two weeks TOGETHER. We could come home and visit family. We could take little trips to the coast or Seattle. If I was not working full time outside of the home, I could do all the cleaning, cooking, laundry, exercise, EVERYTHING. So Dustin could wake up to a hot breakfast, have his lunch packed lovingly with secrets loves notes inside, then come home to a clean home, and dinner ready. Then he could spend the evening studying and ending the night with a game of tennis or a soak in the hot tub. Happy wife = happy life.

Now just to be clear, it's not that we couldn't do this same setup if we lived in the Portland apartment, but the Vancouver apartment is so much better and we would feel so much SAFER. The area, community, and features are just so much more US. That's how we roll.

Also, before anyone starts thinking that I'm completely LAZY and INCOMPETENT because I have zero desire to work when we move out there, I will still find a job, at least part time, if not something full time. I was just starting to freak out about how much life would cost and that I'd HAVE to get a job if we want to eat. But with this set up, it wouldn't be mandatory and I could find a job that I enjoyed. I did interview with Accountemps while I was in Portland and they have my resume and had me do skill tests so they can place me somewhere. I'm just not going to keep actively looking for a Portland job right now because I keep getting the same response--you don't live here so we won't hire you. This plan just makes more sense to me. Dustin and I have both decided we can sell plasma twice a week (I should be a pro after the 9 blood draws this year!) for extra income and I would love to teach a bunch of piano students. Vancouver would also be a better area for this because there are more families instead of city living adults. I'm still voting for employment at Costco.

Option #2 for apartments I'll be brief on since this is turning into a long post and I'm sure you'd like to see pictures. I'll include other trip details in another post :)

Star Crest Manor in Portland: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 980 sq feet, good location in relation to the school and decent neighborhood. Washer/dryer in apartment, functional floorplan, gym, no pool though :( It was nothing super special, but it was decent and well under our price point. Problem is that there aren't a lot of grocery stores nearby. It's city living, just not downtown city living. But since the school is close enough, I could drop Dustin off at school and take the car to work, wherever that will be. Perk: It is close to the plasma bank.

Basically we want Cascade Park. So here are some pictures of it :)

Big bathroom. Yes, that is a DOUBLE vanity. I'm a fan.

Wood burning fireplace in the family room.

Big pool. Can you see the waterfall? It's not super clear in this picture, but it looks really nice in real life!

Hopefully we'll be putting out a Welcome mat there soon!

Still employed

I work at a company called StoresOnline. Sometimes I hate my job. Sometimes I love my job. Right now, I am just very happy to still have a job! Press release came out today. You can check it out here. Essentially 30% of the employees were laid off today. Crexendo (StoresOnline) has decided to restructure it's current sales strategy. Which means no more seminars. Which means the marketing, booking, call center, and all seminar sales teams are no longer needed. Guess what. I process all the sales seminars orders in Accounting. So is my job needed? Not really. But I thankfully still have a job. They have work for us to do as they restructure everything, and we still need to finish all our reports and have scanning in documents from LAST year still to do (we're a little behind). So we'll be kept busy for a little while and start cross training in other areas, maybe build a website, learn to link build, etc.

I was really really concerned for my job when the information was released today. I haven't kept it a secret that I'm moving in just a few months. They know I'm outta here come the fall. So i was worried they would just give me the boot now. Our corporate controller talked to me today as I was voicing some of my concerns and he told me that they took into consideration that I was moving and wanted to keep me. I have a great attitude and am a pretty freaking amazing worker and they want me to stay. It was SO reassuring to hear that!

We have a trip out to Portland next week (holy cow, is this move really happening? Is it really getting close to game time?!) and that means I need to get my resume ready and start applying for jobs! Maybe even score some interviews while we're there next week....I completely love working in accounting and working in an office jobs. Sometimes it's crappy work, but there are definite perks that you don't get in other jobs.... Monday-Friday 8-5 schedule, paid holidays, paid vacation days, health insurance, matching 401k... It's fantastic. I'd really like to find a similar type of job (something in Accounting) when we move, but the market looks a little hard. Most jobs are temp for short term projects and occasionally temp to hire, which I'm fine with, but concerned that it will stay temp FOREVER and the full time perks won't be included.

Another job that I'm kinda excited to apply for is Costco. Call me crazy, but every single person I've talked to about working at Costco LOVES working there. Apparently they have AMAZING benefits. You do have to work on Sunday, but they pay time and a half on Sundays so people are sometimes willing to take your shift for the extra money. So in addition to my accounting jobs I'll be applying for, Costco is up there on the list.

Wish me luck in finding the perfect job. I need at least $10 an hour for us to survive out there, but that's for another post. :)

My life is good. I'm still employed. And I thank my lucky stars for that!

Money

Yesterday we got to celebrate our 6 month anniversary!!! We've been married for SIX MONTHS!!! Can you believe it? Time has gone by super fast... and yet 6 months seems like a long time... We feel as though we've been married forever, but our wedding was like just yesterday. Such different feelings, but so good! We got to celebrate by going out to eat at the Chef's Table. I haven't been there since senior year prom in high school and it was SO GOOD!! Way better than it was at Prom! ha ha ... Pretty sure life now is way better than it was at Prom! It was a fun little splurging trip and now we'll be saving more than ever and cutting back as we get ready for our cruise (which is in 27 days...) and just life in general.

It's crazy how fast money can go... especially when Dustin isn't working very much because he's taking 22 credits... yeah, it's madness I tell you. We decided we'd try to be poor and start eating top ramen and macaroni and cheese and stuff like that. Do you know how much money we could save that way?!? SO MUCH!! That would be nice. We had dinner over at Nathan and Adrienne's house on Sunday and they have a goal to save $50,000 by the time they graduate... holy cow! That has to take major self control to be able to save that much!! I want to be as cool as that and try to really really save lots of money... isnt' that a fabulous idea?! Some day we'll have loads of money, but for now, we'll try to save save save and good things will happen!

Plus, if we start eating crappy food then the cruise food will taste even MORE amazing, right? It's basically a great idea! :)