To do or not to do??

So since moving into our new house I have been creating a long to-do list of stuff I would really like to see :) well I think that list maybe about to get even longer:

Hardwood flooring through out, I know this Photo doesn't show much, but I had the need to write and because i am sore at the moment going to take a photo is just to much work, maybe I'll do one later in the day when I can move around a bit better.

Yes every single non-tiled floor in our house has this flooring either all ready showing or under the carpet. It even carries on into all the closest :). Our plan was to do a DIY hardwood in the living room and hallway then carpet the bedrooms, but the more i look at the Hardwood floor the more I like it. With a bit of elbow grease, I think they would come up pretty sweet. What do you think? Do we take the plunge and refinish the floors we already have? I know it will save a bunch of money and I'm all about that, but it will be a lot of hard work.

Let me know what you think
Jenine

It's been a while.

So a lot has happened since I was last able to blog. The biggest change has been this little or should i say big baby:

Yes me and my husband took the plunge and finally become first time homeowners. We fell in love with this 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house the moment we set eyes on it. We started looking in January, took a 3 week break to go visit my family in England in February and jumped right back into the house hunting when we got back. 7 houses later and we put in an offer, which the sellers accepted and we moved in on April 30th.

For those that know me there are more photos on my Facebook. On here i will go room by room as we decorate :) Right now we are working on the guest bedroom so here is a sneak peak of a couple of projects I have done in there:

Fence post shelf's I need to put in another one to hold all my shot glasses - Not bad for someone who does not drink.

 

My friend gave me this great cabinet, it was a little battered up so decided to paint it the same colour as the walls and loved how it has come out :)

We still have a few projects in the room before the big revel, such as spray paint the bed, carpet, and a few paint touch ups but other then that its coming together nicely. Things have been a bit slower then I would have liked but what can you do when you can hardly move. Yay for back/hip pain :(.

Since my last post me and the husband have been working hard and and settling into life in Oklahoma well. I have been working hard on my weight loss and am now under 170, that means i am now less then 10lbs to goal. However I have been thinking of lowering to 150, we shall see. I feel so much better and love the fact i can get into smaller clothes now.

The husbands car is currently in the shop as the day after we closed on the house someone drove into the side of him. We are just truly blessed that no one was hurt and that their insurance is paying for it all as well as a rental.

Happy Sunday to everyone

Its been a crazy two months....

But we are still loving life in Oklahoma. Thing are slowly coming together and we are starting to settle into everyday life, I have found and quit one job at a daycare in Midwest City and been offered a new job at a daycare in Shawnee. That means less travel time and less money being wasted on gas, things were not what I was lead to expect at the Midwest daycare so when the one in Shawnee came along I jumped at the chance. I have also been accepted into OSU-OKC where i plan to do my RN part-time over the next few years and will be starting fall 2012.

Alex is starting to get a bit fed up with doing contract work and is still looking for that perm position so keep praying for him, that he may find one soon. Church is going great, we have been welcomed into Shawnee ward and have both received callings. While Alex was being set apart I had a bit of an emotional moment and it was made clear to me that this was the reason we were lead to Oklahoma.

Our cute little house :)

We love our little box, which we are renting from good friends. I have added a few little touches to it such as putting up a few photos and moving some stuff around, but i have also been adding more and more boxes to the kitchen as we are buying bits we know we will need when we are finally able to buy are own place.

So what else has been going on.......

In October Me and Alex celebrated a year of marriage with a trip to Dallas and medieval times. (I wanted to steal the bed from the hotel)

Spent time with great friends and got to see two great people get married

We have decided to go down to Florida for Thanksgiving

I only have 15lbs left to lose :)

We finally got family health care (yay for the complications of this)

Have been talking about buying land and building...(any thoughts from anyone?)

Halloween = pumpkin carving

Our Pacman pumpkin

 Well that's it from me, i promise that when we get proper internet then i will update this a lot more.

Fresh peaches and a missed birthday = peach upside down cake :)

In July I missed Alex's Birthday so to make up for it I decided to put together a little birthday treat, which was timed with a delivery of fresh peaches from TN so I made a peach cake and we boy did we enjoy it :) but i have to be careful so I only get a slice if I have enough points left after dinner.

A few people have asked for a recipe to make this so here is the one I normally use, (I have to be honest and say the one pictured is actually just a yellow cake mix).

To make you will need:

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup egg substitute (if your not watching your weight then real eggs work better)
• 1 1/2 cup peeled fresh peaches, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

line 9 inch cake pan with wax paper and place peach slices on the bottom ready to have the cake mix poured over them.

In a bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mixing well.

In another bowl, combine oil, milk, vanilla and egg substitute, blending well.

Add to the flour and sugar mixture; stir just until moistened.

Fold in chopped fresh peaches.

Spoon batter into prepared cake pan.

Bake at 350°F for around 30 minutes until top is lightly browned.

A slice is 6 WW points.

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we did...Let me know if you make hit and how it turns out.

Our new life in Oklahoma

So he is finally here and we can start our new life here in Shawnee, OK. Since making the choice to move out of Florida we have received so many blessings all of which we are truly thankful for. We have settled into our cosy little house, which we have been allowed to use while get ourselves ourselves established and find our own place...Which in my opinion can not come any sooner as I am so ready to start our family, but Alex being the smart one wants us to wait until we buy our own house.

In the past month I have been looking high and low for a job and finally got an interview and job offer yesterday from a nationwide chain, this has come at the right time as I am ready to get back to do something and this is perfect for the time being, while I try and find a job working with children or at the Y. I will just keep applying at the Y and I am sure they will eventually hire me just to get rid of my application :)

Today was a busy day today, we had to get Alex an OK drivers license and get his car registered here, which worked out great as our insurance went down by about $50 and that was after adding me with my permit onto the policy.

It's legal again :)

On another note we are going to England in Feb for 3 weeks and I am so excited that I will get to see my family and friends again after over a year of not seeing them. Also I have 24lbs to go on my weight watchers program.

The last 2 months

So the last two months I have been hiding at one of the best spots in the world (well to me anyways) I have been working at Girl Scout camp in Oklahoma. Camp was eventful at always and some great memories have been made. I am so lucky to have this opportunity to work with some awesome people and watch the campers grow each year as this summer season was actually season number 6 for me.

This summer I had a major goal and that was to redecorate the arts building know otherwise at the long house and I'm happy to say that with the help of a lot of people we made it happen.

finger Painting

staff hands from summer 2011

the finished product

The updated Rainbow of Children

I love how everything has turned out esp the new rainbow and may even use that in the nursery when the time comes.

This summer has taught me my resident camp years are coming to a close and that it has been really hard to be away from Alex, who is currently still in Florida closing things down. The move to Oklahoma has been great so far, I love the house we have been lent to use until we can get our own place. I love the people and I love the fact that I will get to have seasons again :). The move feels so right and has been timed perfectly as Alex's company back in Florida have decided to let all the IT department go and there would have been no way we could have afforded to stay in Florida now.

Last note on the eating better issue I am happy to report that yes its still hard work but so far I am doing well, I have lost nearly 20lbs over the summer and now face my biggest challenge being back out of a job and still managing to keep the weight off.

The new me!!

Is all about eating better, and working out more!!! Since moving to America I have put on over 40pounds and I feel every single one of them :(. 7 months of living in Florida, being stuck at home a) waiting for my green card so I could start working and b) then landing a job as a nanny meant I wasn't as active as I once was and that I had a lot of time to cook and eat. This all lead to me just getting bigger and bigger.

Well on Saturday I decided enough was enough and finally signed up to weight watchers in the hopes it will get me eating right again and I am also walking 1.5miles a day.So far everything is going great, I am already starting to feel better and have a lot more energy so keep checking in with me and I'll keep you updated with my progress...my aim is to lose 50+pounds.

After a 5k walk on May 21st 2011 - 2 chins on me - not happy.

Wish me luck.