Ahhhh...

I feel relaxed. Today, I cleaned the house in 15 minute increments. I got a lot done. Our stuff is almost all decluttered and there is such a peace it our home. I absolutely love it. I went and got an hour-long massage today and it was amazing. The massage therapy place is only five minutes from my house and they are priced fairly cheap.

The couch gets delivered on Friday and then I'm going to get this chair from Pier 1 Imports if it matches well enough :) I also need a side table/cabinet and key hooks, maybe these, for the front door area. I'msoexcited.

It's nice to walk around the house and realize that there isn't much for me to do. The bed is made with fresh sheets, everything is dusted, all the dishes are in the cupboards, the candle is burning, and I have plenty of time and space in my house and in my head to actually do things I love. Like read. And crochet. And watch movies. And cook and bake. It's nice to have this time while I'm unemployed to work on all my projects that have piled up over the past ten years, from Young Women's and such.

I just have such a peace of mind. I'm planning on going to the pool and the library tomorrow. We're also going to shop for shoes, because all my heels are dead and so are Jordan's sandals. Life is good.

Oh, and in exciting upcoming events, Jordan and I are planning to go to Virginia Beach, possibly this weekend. We're going to fly a kite and go boogie-boarding. Yeah! We're also thinking about throwing a Halloween Party. There are a lot of new people in the ward in similar situations as us who also live close by, so it would be fun to have everyone over and dress up :) I love the holidays! And I'm already thinking about Thanksgiving...planning on cooking a small turkey!

A Healthier America

This is a trend I want to change for future generations of Americans. I hope you'll join me and watch the American Public Health Association's video "A Healthier America" and share it with people you care about.

Ants...

On Wednesday afternoon, I noticed some ants crawling around the window frame in the front room. In the evening, they were crawling out from under the window sill in the kitchen. For the life of me, I could not figure out where they were coming from or what was attracting them. My kitchen was almost spotless, and the trash was only half full. I killed a few of them and hoped they would be gone by the morning. Not so!

I came down for breakfast yesterday and there was a thick trail of ants coming from underneath the kitchen window...behind the microwave...down the wall...into the trash can...and completely covering an ice cream container! I had finished the few scoops left the night before and apparently the trash was touching the wall, so the ants had easy access. I was horrified!! I walked out back to see if I could find the source, but it wasn't anywhere. I think they were coming from under the house in the crawl space (gross, I was NOT going down there).

Out came the vacuum! Out came a clean trash bag! Out went the garbage can! Out came Mrs. Clean!! I was going to destroy these ants as if my life depended on it. I vacuumed the kitchen and used the wand to pick up all the stragglers on the counters and behind the sink. Every time I went in the kitchen, I vacuumed more up. It was an all-day battle. I kind-of hoped that my neighbors didn't hear every time I turned the vacuum on, because I turned it on probably every half hour lol.

This morning I went down and found a couple stray ants. They seemed to be withering and moving slow from lack of food. Into the vacuum they went, and I haven't seen any ants in the kitchen since this morning! Go me!

We're Eating REAL Food!

That's right people - we're no longer surviving on mac and cheese every other night. I know you all want pictures of our house and neighborhood, but I'm waiting til we get our couch next week to take pictures. Until then, you get to listen to my new rave recipes! Yay!

Last night, I made an amazing marinade for a flank steak. It's asian, and so so delicious. Slightly spicy from the pepper but a great after-taste from the garlic and ginger.

Sesame Pepper Flank Steak

Prep: 10 minutes + Marinating

Grill: 15 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

4 green onions, slices

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

1 Tbsp. minced fresh gingerroot

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

2 tsp. pepper

1 beef flank steak (2 lbs.)

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first eight ingredients. Score the surface of the beef with shallow diagonal cuts, making diamond shapes; place in bag. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Drain and discard marinade. Using long-handled tongs, dip a paper towel in cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack. Grill beef, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 inches from heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until meat reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a meat thermometer should read 145; medium, 160; well-done, 170).

Let stand for 5 minutes; thinly slice across the grain.

Ok, and then tonight I made some real chicken! Not plain with seasoned salt! Hallelujah for a kitchen in my house!!! haha :) This is for all the Italian lovers out there, namely Lindsey!

Caprese Chicken with Bacon

Prep: 20 minutes

Bake: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (but I halved it and still had enough leftovers for 2 people)

8 bacon strips

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 oz. each)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 plum tomatoes, sliced

6 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

4 slices part-skim mozzarella cheese

Place bacon in an ungreased baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until partially cooked but not crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Place chicken in an ungreased baking pan; brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with tomatoes and basil. Wrap each in two bacon strips, arranging bacon in a crisscross.

Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170. Top with cheese; bake 1 minute longer or until melted.

Jordan is enjoying eating real food, and so am I. I think I'm going to have to join a gym lol - all this delicious food!

Virginia in a Nutshell (by Jordan)

I've decided that I like Richmond. First, we have a nice little neighborhood. Since I don't have any pictures loaded onto the computer, just imagine a nice little suburb with trees, people walking their dogs, etc. The weather is hot (which I'm fine with) but the humidity isn't bad at all. Plus, I'm looking forward to a winter with very little or no snow. There are tons of trees here. I usually don't think of Salt Lake as a desert (no sand, no cacti), but it definitely looks barren when compared to the sheer amount of forestry around Virginia. There's no smog or haze. Gas prices hover around $2.50 a gallon. The roads in general have less potholes. Road construction is virtually absent. There are surprisingly few bars here (helps make the atmosphere more family friendly). Though there aren't any mountains or trails, there are a bunch of parks within a few miles from where we live.

The bad news is that the movie theaters do not compare to the ones in Salt Lake. I'll sum up the movie going experience here in two or three words: Expensive, run-down. Other than that, I'll think we'll enjoy our four years here.

The Little Car that Could

Jordan blogging. Last night, we made quite a trip and I'm surprised that my car lasted. First, I should preface by describing our car: It is a Mazda 3 hatchback. What's special about it is that this car is that it has literally been totaled and put back together again into a functioning automobile. In other words, it's a rebuilt title. Scary to think that we drove this 2200 miles in just under 40 hours two weeks ago, but we did it. Luckily, this car hasn't had any major problems in the three years and 40,000 miles I've driven it. But last night...

For Melyn's birthday we drove yesterday to Washington D.C. On the way back, we stopped at Woodbridge, VA (about 80 miles from Richmond, our new home) to go to IKEA. Melyn loves buying furniture and other home doodads from IKEA. Since our house had very, very little furnishing so far, and since we also had a bunch of IKEA gift cards, we planned to get a bunch of furniture there. I assume you all know about how IKEA "flat-packs" everything, so we expected to fit alot into our car. I love the little bit of extra space that hatchbacks can give you when the rear seats are folded down. So, at the end of our shopping we had two carts jammed pack full of stuff. Melyn asked, "are you sure we're going to be able to fit everything into the car?" I responded, "Of course!" (Since my car survived the trip to Virginia carrying four people and all our luggage, I believed my Mazda was capable of anything). Well, when I drove the car up to the loading area to where our huge pile of stuff was waiting, my car suddenly didn't seem as spacious or capable as I remembered.

Fortunately, we had an IKEA employee helping us. But as we were loading, I knew not everything was going to fit inside. So, as you can see from the first picture, we had to tie one large box (an office chair) to the top of the car. The inside was so full that I (the driver) had to lean to my left as I sat in my seat. I could not see anythingtot my right while inside, so I had to ask Melyn everytime I wanted to turn right if my path was clear. And we had to travel 80 miles with all this stuff. This is the kind of moment where you say a silent prayer. Believe it or not, we made it home. And the office chair on top made it too. I think it's about time that I give my car a break.

Job Hunting, Jump Start Med School, and Orientation

There are basically three hospitals that I would love to work at.

1. St. Mary's Hospital. It holds Magnet status, which essentially means it's an amazing place to work at. (There are only 3 Magnet hospitals in Utah, all IHC and in Provo, American Fork, and Orem.) Plus, it's only 1.5 miles away from my house, which means I could bike and Jordan could then drive to school. Or I could take the bus or walk if I was in a pinch. Plus it's so quaint looking :) The only downside is that they've rejected me from all but five jobs, but since I got my VA nursing license, that should change.

2. Henrico Doctor's Hospital. This is also about 1.5 miles away from us. Apparently, after talking to lots of locals, this is a great hospital.

3. VCU Medical Center. Oh how I would love to work here! First of all, it's literally across the street from Jordan's school. Jordan will be having clinical work and seeing patients here. Plus they are considering me for a New Grad Program in psych, which I love, and which would give me guaranteed employment for at least six months. Plus then Jordan and I could drive together whenever I work and he has school. It's only a 15 minute-ish drive.

On to other things. Jordan attended a Jump Start Medical School for the week of August 2. It was comprised of an introduction to how med school functions as well as a biochemistry class, which Jordan has already taken, so it was easy. They also had a ton of club introductions, and lots of free food. Yay!

The week of August 9, Jordan attended orientation for med school. He thought the majority of it was a waste of time, but that's ok. They mainly talked every day for hours about how to study and not be a failure in life. He's confident that he isn't a failure, and I am too :) This was also the week that Jordan's parents came into town to see us! More on all our adventures later. They were mainly here for Jordan's White Coat Ceremony, which is basically where they are given their white coats they will wear to clinical rotations and where they take the Hippocratic Oath.

Walking in with all the students

Wendy, Jordan, and Jim

Me and Jordan

I tried to upload videos of Jordan getting his white coat on and taking the Hippocratic Oath, but Blogger is being stupid. I'm sorry!