Good Wolf vs. Bad Wolf

(Picture taken from First People Website)

Mary (my mom's friend who functioned as my second mother when my mom was pregnant with my sister and too sick to feed me. I used to call her MarMa basically fusing her name with mom!) was over last night and told me a great story that she read on SuzeBlogz's blog that I had to share...

TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Apache told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is The Spirit - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,"Which wolf wins?"

The old Apache simply replied, "The one you feed.."

Which one will you feed today?

Popsicles in a shot glass

Derek is sick and we're pretty sure it's strep throat. Seeing as he's now a doctor, he self diagnosed and started himself on antibiotics, but is still in a lot of throat pain. Striving to be a good and creative wife, last night I made popsicles for him with what I had to work with. Shot glasses, juice, and mini popsicle sticks from my waxing kit. I mixed different kinds of juice, poured it into shot glasses, and after it started to harden a little - stuck the waxing sticks in the middle! He loved them and they really helped his throat!

New Design!

I played around all morning to find a new background I liked and I think I found it! I even learned how to make a banner as a picture with writing in the middle of it in place of a header and it was quite challenging for me. I know many people know how to do this in a split second but this was pretty monumental for me! Let me know what you think!

Portland - looking for a place to live

This past week we stayed at Kristen and Terrance's house looking for a place to live for when we move to Portland in June. We originally planned on renting a place and really had no intention of buying. However, when we got there and realized that Portland is really a renter's market we were shocked. Rent rates are very high there and talking with Kristen and Terrance (who both used to be in the mortgage business) we realized there was a very good chance that if we bought a place our mortgage payment would be less than a rental payment.


So we got together with Mike Howe, a Realtor who is friends with Terrance and Kristen to start looking at houses. He was awesome and super helpful. He explained all about this $8000 tax credit coming up and also put up with us sending him hundreds of listings to view. After looking for a few days, however, we realized that what we were looking for was just a touch out of our price range and we didn't LOVE anything in our price range. We felt like we would be settling if we did buy and that we should be patient and wait until we move up to Portland and be able to have more time to look. We also realized that this will be Derek's last significant vacation for quite a few years and that we were spending it stressing over houses and scrambling to find the perfect one instead of relaxing and enjoying it. So we decided to go back to the rentals, and take one that is smaller (and an apartment) than we would have normally gone for (and therefore cheaper) and begin the search again once we are back in Portland. We also only signed a 10 month lease so that if we do find something to buy that we love we won't be committed for too long to a rental. I will be sending out change of address cards / graduation announcements shortly. I'm just SO thrilled to have an address to call home...even if only for 10 months! :)


Throughout our stay in Portland, Kristen and Terrance really wined and dined us. They were amazing and so helpful with our hunt for houses to buy as well as places to rent. They also brought us out to one of their favorite bars for trivia night which was a blast. We went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant (can't remember the name but it was SUPER yummy!) and also got to experience lots more of Terrance's professional cooking! Their two and a half year old, Jack, as well as their two dogs made the living situation exciting and also constantly full of entertainment! Thanks again for an awesome time in Portland! We can't wait to move there!



We flew down to San Diego late last night and will be here for just about a month. We have quite a few little trips planned throughout so our free time is actually very limited here, but we are hoping to catch up with and see as much family and friends as we can before we head up to our new home in Portland!

Drive to Portland from West Virginia - Day 4

We didn't leave until 9:25am our last day so that we could get a little extra sleep and make sure we were both feeling a bit better (which we both were). We drove 497 miles and it was a BEAUTIFUL drive! We passed Lake Umatilla which then turns into a bunch of different rivers that end up going right through Portland.

There was a lot of beach camping that we will have to look into more once we move there and go try out! There was some waterfall we passed that was beautiful and also a big attraction (there was actually traffic to get there...it's been awhile since we've seen traffic)! We also saw a stern wheeler boat which reminded us of when we went on one in Charleston and will definitely have to look that up to go on. We also passed a huge Outlet Mall which I got very excited about seeing as it wasn't very far outside or Portland! Yay for good shopping again!! :)

Before heading to Kristen and Terrance Baxter's house (my girlfriend who I've known since elementary school that we were staying with during our time in Portland), we stopped by one housing appointment to look at a rental. It was pretty much horrible and was quite disheartening considering I had it pegged as my favorite from what I had seen online.

We then went to the Baxter's house and hung out with them. Terrance made us a gourmet meal (seriously - he should be a chef) and we had a great time just hanging out. They made us feel so welcome and got us very excited to be moving to such a great place as Portland. Thank you so much to them for being such gracious hosts!!

Drive to Portland from West Virginia - Day 3

Highlights Day 3:

* Left at 7:35am

* Derek feeling a bit better but my throat starting to feel super dry and scratchy. I didn't sleep very well.

* Had a yummy breakfast of cheerios, hard boiled egg whites, little bit of OJ, and a little bit of decaf tea for my throat

* SUPER dense fog on the 80 when we left Cheyenne and we had to drive really slow. It was actually a little scary. Looked like a complete white out.

* Saw lots of snow in WY and ID. It was beautiful!

* I got to nap lots today and Derek drove the whole way.

* Arrived in Boise, Idaho at 6pm. Drove 716 miles today.

* Checked into a Comfort Suites which is our new favorite hotel. WAY better than the Comfort Inn. This hotel is the nicest we stayed in and the cheapest by $10! Huge room and huge comfy king size bed.

* Ate at Ono Hawaiian Cafe for dinner which was DELICIOUS!! Ginger and Cilantro Chicken, and Ahi Tuna Salad. YUM! Made us excited for our Hawaii trip which is just about a month away!!

* We're very excited that we will be in Portland tomorrow! Can't believe it's really here!!! We only have about 500 miles to drive tomorrow.

Drive to Portland from West Virginia - Day 2

Highlights of today's drive...

*Left this morning at 7:15am

*Derek was feeling MUCH better (thank you for all the prayers!!!)

*Arrived here in Cheyenne, WY at 7:15pm. Drove for 13 hours (gained another hour today) and a total of 864 miles. (Derek drove 555 of those miles too)

*Ate grilled KFC chicken, mashed potatoes, & green beans for dinner on the road - which is a very big challenge while driving! (Although not as much of a challenge as yesterday eating a grilled chicken salad from McDonalds while driving!) Derek tried to order corn as one of his sides and the lady told him (direct quote) "we have a hold on corn." Then just stared at us. Ummm...not exactly sure what that meant but we took it as "order something different so he got green beans too.

*We are staying at the Comfort Inn tonight which is smaller than the Comfort Suites of last night yet more expensive...interesting.

*We were a big fan of the speed limit being 75 most of our drive today which really means we got to drive 80 most of the way!

*McDonalds medium Iced Coffee with 2 pumps of sugar free vanilla and no cream is very delicious and gives you a good boost for driving while your husband sleeps!

*We saw tons of baby cows. It must be spring!!

*Took our aspirin this morning so we don't get DVT.

*I started reading this book I got called "Drink This" by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl and it's AWESOME. It explains all about wine. Really great book.

*We also started a new devotional and really like it. So far it's gone over Perseverance in James and Job. It had some very good thought provoking questions for us to discuss during our drive.

*Total driven so far = 1364 miles