Consignment

I love a good deal. Usually, I find my good deals here by eying the aisles for those beautiful little orange stickers. I'd been to Stuff Etc. a few times before the spring semester, but always had a hard time finding anything high quality or that would be useful. But, after a few trips this Spring, I'm sold on consignment shopping.


My FAVORITE part of the store is the housewares section, (There are dishes galore, mismatched and full sets, charmingly ugly and completely beautiful. I recently read an article about a couple who registered for discontinued glassware when they got married and replaced each glass they broke with a random glass from a thrift store. I LOVE this idea, so if you come over to my house, please break my glassware if you can do so safely so that I don't have to break all of it myself. This may be a big job because I registered for an extra set of glasses when we got married in case of breakage.)

In May, Keriann and I planned to make a quick stop by Stuff on a stormy night, partly to see if they had any cute, cheap raincoats. They didn't. However, they did have a navy belt for 60 cents (Keriann needed one to complete an outfit), a super cute set of dishes for $25, an antique dresser with a mirror for $50, and a beautiful, designer, Victorian style couch for $300 (which ended up being only $225 after some unexplainable discount). You can read more about Keriann's jackpot here. I just bought a Banana Republic shirt which is super cute but is made for someone with skinnier arms than me.

In June, Dexter and I were having on of our signature stuck-in-a-rut-date-nights where we were wasting time not knowing what to do and not wanting to make the other person doing something they didn't want to do. Then, Dexter made a smart move and suggested we go to Stuff. My wonderful husband held my hand and looked at all the dishes with me, didn't act like I was silly to want all the dishes I didn't need, and even seemed intrigued by my mismatched glass story. He had already looked at the electronics, and I was going to suggest we leave so he didn't have to stand there while I dug through the racks and racks of color-coded clothes. But no, he wanted to look at clothes and shoes too. (What a man!) Then, right before we decided to leave empty-handed, we headed over to the book section and spent $8 on these beauties.

Then, (this has nothing to do with consignment but it was very exciting) Barnes & Noble had a $1 table where I found 2 books that were textbooks options for me at school and are pertinent to my new job. I also bought Cooking as Courtship, which has its hokey bits but has some entertaining tidbits.

I'm hoping to find some furniture to fill up some of the empty space in our new condo at one of the half-off sales Stuff is having this month.

Toast

"Life as we know it and perhaps love itself is virtually impossible without the toaster. Toast, which is to say warm, delicious bread, slightly crisp where it wasn't to begin with, is more than anything the food of deep affection. Symbolic and simple. Unassuming, unpretentious, unbearably kind. The last thing one can eat before they cannot stand food at all. The first thing one considers when hunger returns. It requires almost no attention on the part of the person offering it, and is, for many people, the stuff life is made of."

-Susan Wiegand, Cooking as Courtship

Recent Events

October 2008: Started looking for a job.

December 2008: Graduated from college.

January 2009: Started subbing.

January - May 2009: Scoured the internet for ESL jobs in Iowa.

March - April 2009: Applied for ESL jobs around Des Moines and Iowa City.

May 4, 2009: Got a call to interview at West in IC. Was shocked to get this interview and no others since I have more elementary experience.

May 8, 2009: Interviewed at West with 4 fantastic teachers/administrators. Wore my fabulous interview suit thanks to mom and dad. Slouched. Wondered, "Why did I just say that?" as I answered questions. Was told the hiring process should be wrapped up by next week. Told friends and family, "If I am offered this job, it's all God working."

May 14, 2009: Missed a call from the West administrator while subbing. Called her back and told her all the times my kids would be out of the room. Called her afterschool. Called Dexter. Called my dad to learn about what one does when one is offered a fancy grown-up job. Convinced myself that she might just have a follow-up questions or be polite enough to tell me the position had been filled. Felt like puking.

May 15, 2009: Missed a call from the same West administrator while subbing in the same classroom. Breathed deeply and prayed I'd figure out what she wanted before the weekend. Called her back. Was offered the job. Tried not to pee my pants or seem to excited. Asked for the weekend to give her a final answer.

May 15-18, 2009: Prayed like a maniac.

May 18, 2009: Accepted the job. Thought, "Maybe we should move over there."

May 18-June 8, 2009: Thought about moving. Weighed rent vs. buy. Thought, "There is no way we would get approved for a mortgage."

June 9, 2009: Realized most leases begin in less than 2 months and decided to act. Went to the bank to find out about mortgage possibilities. Almost started laughing when banker told us we were preapproved. Noticed banker seemed much more at ease after finding this out. Celebrated by taking Fitz to Dairy Queen. (We celebrate EVERYTHING with DQ this summer. Things like, "It's nice out," or "Yay, we're not at work anymore.") Drove around westside IC and looked at homes from the car window. Picked up fliers for homes and threw them in the backseat when we realized how much they were. Called about an FSBO condo. Saw it that day. It was beautiful, but didn't have a good place for puppy potties.

June 14, 2009: Got a tip about an almost-on-the-market condo! Thanks, SV!

June 15, 2009: Saw the condo. Wasn't big on the light pergo floors or the white painted cabinets. Wasn't big on it being much more expensive than others in the neighborhood. Realized it was actually a bargain since it was uncommonly large for the neighborhood. Thought, "What do we do?!"

June 16, 2009: Decided we needed a realtor.

June 18, 2009: Met realtor. Chose homes to see.

June 18-22, 2009: Nearly hyperventilated in anticipation of seeing houses. Saw them. Some were easily rejected. Was faced with the decision: like-it/cheaper/smaller vs. like-it/expensiver/bigger. Made an offer on Bigger. Spent the evening upstairs where our phones get reception waiting for a call. Realized at 9:45 that we'd missed a call at 8:30. Nearly hyperventilated again.

June 23, 2009: Received counter offer. Was irritated. Calmed down. Made counter-counter offer. Received and accepted counter-counter-counter offer.

June 23, 2009 - Present: Doubted decision. Didn't matter since acceptance was legally binding! Regained faith in decision. Repeat. Thought, "Something must be done about those white cabinets!" Thought, "Our lovely walkout basement will be so empty!" Thought, "DISHWASHER!" Thought, "My rug will look nice on the light pergo." Started pondering how to decorate in all my (mental) freetime.

Tomorrow: Inspection and radon test.

Pedal for Nepal

A friend of mine has an uncle riding RAGBRAI for a good cause. "Uncle John" and his two friends are raising money for the Nepal Home for Children, a Christian missionary organization that provides vocational training for children in Nepal. They hope to find 2,000 people to donate a penny per mile ($.01 x 500 = $5) so that they can raise a total of $10,000.

If you're interested in giving and/or praying, here is a link to my friend's blog where you can find more information. Here's the link to the actual site of Pedal for Nepal.

The Dating Game

Dexter and I have decided to try to make "dating" a bigger priority in our marriage. Otherwise, we end up feeling like we're living together out of convenience and we forget how much we like each other. However, there's always the challenge of what to do, and I'm looking for suggestions.

To Dexter, a date is going out somewhere--to a restaurant, a movie, a bookstore. To me, a date could be going out, but it could be snacks and a movie or board game at home as long as it's time set aside to spend together for fun. To me, a date could also be cooking a meal together at home. For Dexter, that is pretty boring for a date, although he's happy to cut or stir things on the stove (knives and fire--the manly parts) to help me with dinner on a normal night. I think part of the turn-off for him is that it leaves a mess in our dishwasherless kitchen that I might want to clean.

Our typical dates are as follows:
1. Netflix or Redbox and popcorn, fancy cheese, wine, or other good snacks
2. Eat out (I have banned things like Village Inn from being "dates" because we always get eggs and pancakes--so the food is really cheap to make at home and it doesn't feel like a date to go there)
3. Go shopping, usually to Target (this is not such a great idea because I think Dexter gets bored and it also might result in buying things just for the sake of calling it "shopping")
4. Dairy Queen

Do you and your man-of-choice have different ideas of what constitutes a date? What are your favorites and what are his? I'm looking for low-budget ideas as well as things that cost a little more to do every once in a while.

Delicious Dinner!

When I suggested foregoing the peanutbutter-chocolate stuffed french toast that was on the meal schedule for last night so that we could make strawberry-rhubarb crisp for dessert, I just about had a mutiny on my hands. And the mutineers had a point--it was pretty good. You do need a tall glass of milk/tea/something else to go along with it, otherwise you may choke every few bites because your esophogas is coated in peanutbutter. We didn't make the jam syrup because I'm not a fruit-chocolate person (except about these), we left off the whip, and used smashed up full sized chocolate chips.

What surprised me most about dinner, however, was how good the "good-for-you huevos rancheros" were. Depending on how crisp you get your tortillas (the crispness of mine was determined by how many other things I was doing at the time that each particular tortilla was on the pan), you can eat it like a taco or like you're eating the plate your meal came on. I think we probably put on more cheese than the recipe called for, but we didn't use sour cream, so I think it was still pretty healthy. I didn't make the salsa from scratch like the recipe said because I was tired and because I bought a large vat of salsa the other day that I need to use up before it goes bad.

Here's what our huevos rancheros looked like--not as pretty as Rachael's, but this is actually food and not food-photo props. (Seriously, my cooked canned black beans never look shiny and cute. Maybe it's because I overcook them or because I bought them at ALDI.)

Meal Planning Wednedsay (except today is Friday)

Since I graduated, I've been doing a really bad job of meal planning. This has resulted in too many trips to the store, too much money spent, too much eating out, too much convenience food, and too little nutrition. We joined a CSA with another couple, and since I'll need to plan meals that include whatever comes in my box each week. I follow this blog:

and every Monday, or Sunday night, she posts her meal plan for the week and uses a widget (am I using that word correctly) so that her readers can upload links to their own blogs. So, her website is a source of about 300 (or more) meal plans every week.

We get our box from the CSA on Wednesday nights, and since grocery ads come out on Wednesdays, I decided that I'll be participating in Menu Planning Wednesday throughout the summer. This was my first week, and this is what I came up with. I'm not planning to post all the recipes, but if something looks interesting, let me know!

Thursday: Stir-fry bok choi (from CSA), carrots, onion, edamame, soba noodles; canned pineapple

Friday: Boca burgers, salad (lettuce from CSA) with homemade vegetarian caesar dressing (no anchovies), beer bread

Saturday & Sunday: Eating on the road on the way to Des Moines--probably Subway or PB&honey sandwiches

Monday: Tofu nuggets, scalloped potatoes, salad

Tuesday: Peanutbutter-chocolate stuffed french toast, eggs, fruit

Wednesday: Leftovers OR if there aren't enough, we'll make what I planned for Saturday before I knew we were leaving (a healthified version of huevos rancheros, iced raisin biscuits, and a veggie purchased from the farmer's market)

We're also making yogurt in the crockpot for breakfast, "healthy" oatmeal cookies for snacks, and some quinoa and black bean salad for lunches.

Did I mention that my little sister is staying with us for a few weeks and she does dishes? That's awesome.