How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

So, Tyler and I rather impulsively adopted a dog. We had been discussing it for quite a while, but we realized that we had better act now or wait until I was finished with nursing school because this was the longest break from school I'd get to train a dog. And there is no way I was going to try to train a dog while juggling nursing school responsibilities.

We looked online and at different animal shelters to see what was out there. I originally fell in love with Charlie, a poodle-bichon frise mix. He was so gently, sweet, and cute! Unfortunately, when I visited Charlie, Tyler wasn't with me, so I didn't know how he felt about owning a poodle. (Frankly, I'm not much of a poodle fan myself, but Charlie was just plain cute!). When we went back for Tyler to meet Charlie, he had already been adopted. I was pretty sad, but we still looked at what other dogs were available for adoption. This is when we met Chloe.

We played with Chloe and found her to be a bit larger than we were looking for, our yard isn't that big and we wanted a small dog so that he/she would have ample room in our home. But we decided to get Chloe and not a moment too soon! As Tyler walked up to the counter to say that we wanted her, a lady from behind said, "Not with my permission!" As it turns out, she wanted to adopt Chloe, but she still needed to get approval from her landlord. Since we didn't need approval and we were already there and wanted her first, we got to take her home.

It's been almost a month since we've owned her, and Chloe fits in perfectly with our family! She loves to snuggle (which is what I have wanted in a pet since I was a little girl) and is quite the energetic one too! We've also found out that Chloe is a chewer, and bit through my laptop cord, hence the lack of blogging since only yesterday I got a replacement power cord. But all in all, she's our little girl! She's nearly housetrained now, rarely barks, doesn't drool, and is my shadow all day long. We love her so much!Stats:
Age - 1 year 6 months
Gender - female
Breed - the shelter says she's a soft coated Wheaten Terrier mix. I do not agree. Whatever she is, it's cute to me!
How she ended up at the animal shelter - stray dog, found on the streets
Rate of Bone Consumption - eats a 10-inch rawhide bone in one afternoon

My Cup Overfloweth

Last week I had a day off from school; no clinical, no lab, no tests. I figured I'd take a school break and get in touch with my inner trophy wife. I decided to make bread with the Kitchenaid Tyler gave me. Since I'd never used one before, I used the white bread recipe that was included in the recipe book with the Kitchenaid. How hard could it be, seriously? I'd made bread many times before, I'm a pro.

Or so I thought.

I followed the recipe instructions exactly, even going to far as to warm up the bowl in the oven. Everything was going along just wonderfully until it came time to shape the loaves and put them in the bread pans. I didn't have pan size that the recipe calls for, I only have smaller pans. I figured if it makes 2 regular loaves, it will make 4 smaller loaves. So I shaped the loaves and put them in the oven to rise before baking.

1 hour later I go to take the bread out of the oven so I can start baking and this is what I find:

Note to self: buy bigger bread pans.

Nursing School

As this semester comes to an end, I thought I'm reminisce on all that I've done in my nursing classes this semester:Jerry the Giraffe is a little self conscious about his short legs.

Zoe the Zebra was during my lab on ECG monitoring.

And who can forget Lurky the Turkey. Note the awesome farm in the background.

I suppose I learned a few other things, but none as cool as my drawings. Hey, you gotta stay awake in class somehow, right?

Catch My Disease

When the weather gets all warm and sunny, enough that I can roll down the windows of the car and turn up the music really loud, my go-to song is Ben Lee's "Catch My Disease". The beat of the music to me just screams summer and fun and takes me back to my summer at BYU full of BBQs, swimming, friends, and parties.

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day in Portland, so I set that song on repeat to enjoy on my drive home. However, one thing was different: I just came out of a lecture (complete with nasty pictures) on the dangers/nursing care of a person with STDs. Yep, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, all sorts of nasty stuff.

Needless to say, "Catch My Disease" now holds a different meaning for me.

The House

Last week we moved into our first home! I'm still having a hard time believing that all of this is real and happening to me. I feel like a little girl again playing house, only this time it's for real! Some basic info:

• Built in 2001
• 1255 square feet
• 3 bedrooms
• 2.5 baths
• 1 block away from church (we didn't know that until we made an offer on the house)
• 1 car garage

Here are a few pics of the place, but they're from the inspection a while ago. I'll put more up once we're unpacked. . . we've still got loads of boxes hanging around all over the place. But for now, enjoy!

The kitchen

So there's a brand new microwave in this place, but we already have a microwave. Any suggestions for what to do with a second one? Currently it's upstairs next to the popcorn and we have used it twice when we are watching a movie in bed and want a snack.

The master bedroom
I'm so happy about 2 sinks and counter top space!

The walk-in closet :)
So far we've got our bedroom organized, kitchen unpacked (but a lot still on the counters), and an office semi-set up. Once everything looks decent I'll take real pictures, but I'm warning you, it may be a while until we get everything completely put away. . . I've got 9 exams this month.

I love nursing school, I love nursing school, I love nursing school . . .

The Testing Center

I never thought in a million years I'd say this, but the day has come. I miss BYU's testing center. Yes is stinks the waiting in line to take you test. And finals certainly are another adventure in waiting. And the only empty desk in the Testing Center always seems to be next to some "fragrant" individual. I do not miss these things at all.

I do miss the ability to choose when I take my test. I miss procrastinating taking the test all day so that I can study. I miss choosing whether or not I want to see my test score on that wretched television, all the while knowing that when I do get the nerve I can find out my score online. I miss professors taking the day off from lecturing so we can study for the test.

You see, at my current school, we have to take tests during class time, which is 8:30 AM. No more studying all day for the test.

But the thing I miss the most about the testing center? Free scantrons. It seems cruel to make students purchase an instrument that inflicts so much torture. As if we have time to study and buy our own scantrons!

Our Apartment

So I've been meaning to post pictures of our apartment ever since we moved in. Here she be! It's a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment, and we didn't realize that we had so much stuff until we moved in! Here is our living room. . . complete with exercise bike and computer chair.And then we have the kitchen. . .

That closet in the back of the kitchen is really our laundry room/pantry/water heater closet:

Our "dining room" barely fits our table. We love that our microwave won't fit on the kitchen counters so we stick it on the table.
I'll refrain from posting pictures of the bathroom, no one wants to see that. But to give you an idea, this is the one and only sink and the accompanying countertop space. How is a girl supposed to do her hair?
And the cupboard underneath the sink gets full just storing toilet paper and cleaning supplies! So here is my genius idea for storage in our tiny bathroom:Voila! An over the door shoe rack that holds hair products, make up, brushes, aftershave, curling irons, etc. It really has been a life saver for us. I don't know what we'd do without this.

Lastly we have the bedroom. Yes that's a suitcase next to the bed, pretending to be a nightstand. And that huge pillow was a Thanksgiving sewing project with my mother-in-law. We made it with leftover scraps from the quilt we sewed together over the summer.
So this is home! Well, for another 2 or so weeks. We're expecting to close on our first home within the next 14 days. :) Pictures to follow. But first, check out my domestic skills. Homemade wheat bread, yum!