Finally decided to solve the dilemna of not knowing how to add my gmail account to this blog. Meet me over on:
http://theseibertdaily.blogspot.com/
New blog... same theme. I even jazzed it up a bit for you all with a new header! Ooh-la-la :)
I'll be deleting this blog as soon as I migrate a few more things over.
Bu-bye!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Monday, November 7, 2011
November Update
Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts.... part of me has been trying to decide whether I should delete my blog all together (since I rarely update anymore, yet I still follow all the blogs on my sidebar and it's the easiest way to see which have been updated :) or go ahead and switch my blog over to a new site, since this blog is the only thing left associated with my old hotmail email address. (I can't for the life of me figure out how to add my google account...it won't let me, and when I try to comment on other blogs, it's a nuisance to log out of google/into this account, etc.) So anywho...that would explain why I'm rarely on here! Perhaps I'll make a new blog instead, keep up with it for 2 months, then slowly dissapear again :)
As for Ross & I, we are doing well! The house is slowly coming along. There is always a project to be done, but the list is never-ending so I try not to fret about it and just enjoy it. I'm finally hanging pictures to make our home feel more personalized and I'm also finishing up a painting for our dining room that I can't wait to share. I'm on the fence about it, I may need to go back and fix a few things, but I love the colors in it, so it'll have to work! I'm also back to my craigslist obsession and scoring a few great deals for random pieces of furniture that I feel we need (but don't feel the need to buy brand new!). I've recently scored 4 barstools (for our kitchen island) for $75! They were brand new in the packaging and she lived in Cranberry so it was a great find! She said the return shipping would've cost too much and they didn't quite match the color of her wood floors. Score! Ross & I can finally relax at our kitchen island while waiting for dinner to cook while sharing a glass wine :)
As for Ross, I feel awful about how stressed he's been for the past month. Since he's started his recruiting position at work, he's been working 14-hour days (sometimes more) plus weekends. And he's STILL behind. It's no wonder....the company used to have the 16 HR people recruit for their own sites, but now with the restructure, they have only Ross & his 1 coworker doing ALL the recruiting for all these sites. Something has to change soon. He's still job searching, but that in and of itself is a full-time job and he doesn't have much spare time to apply for jobs. I'm hoping for the best! He just can't catch a break. But he's hanging in there, even though he's close to being burnt out. Pray for him that he will hear back from either of the 2 jobs he's recently applied to!
As for myself, I've picked up a new hobby....Hot Yoga! O boy! I'm still dealing with daily back pain, and once Michelle asked me to join her for hot yoga last week, I thought 'Sure! Why not?!' I've tried almost everything else and am willing to keep trying until I finally find a cure for back. (And trust me....you CAN cure a bulging disc without surgery!) Sure, I know I can get around fine on a day-to-day basis, but that just isn't good enough for me. I'm determined to get back to 100%, and not live the rest of my life at only 80%, 90% on a good day. So hot yoga it is! I've gone twice this week, and so far I love it! I've also read a ton of research about how good yoga is for your lower back, so I can't wait to see if it makes a difference. From what I can tell, since my hamstrings are so tight (since I'm extremely inflexible), those muscles are apparently pulling on my lower back muscles, causing a lot of stress. So I figure if I can gain some flexibility (and strength) with yoga, surely it will help. And my chiropractor agrees :) The classes are a bit expensive but I tell myself that it has to be cheaper than surgery!! (er, maybe ....we do have awesome insurance and low deductibles, but that is beside the point! --Surgery is just not an option for me!).
Lastly, Ross & I have still been following our Fresh20 subscription. I'm really beginning to enjoy their menus and ideas for dinner, and I get so excited knowing that the dinners are healthy! Of course, some weeks I just can't fathom eating something on their menu, so I'll sub something instead, but for the most part, we've been following it to a 'T'. This week's menu includes a side of brussel sprouts (o boy...even Ross has never tried one! I'm nervous to say the least). But I promised myself to try everything before determining that I hate it. I've discovered a few new foods that I like that I wouldn't have dreamed of eating in the past :) And with this, Ross & I have slowly been making better food choices for ourselves overall so it's been a great change for us. Although he claims I'm 'forcing' him to eat healthy. (I came home with nutritous peanut butter yesterday and he cried...."what are you trying to do to me?!?!" HA!)
Anyway, that was a pretty long update...so I apologize. I'll figure out what to do with my blog soon, then maybe update more often :)
And that has me thinking.... I can't wait to get started on my Christmas letter! Too soon?!
As for Ross & I, we are doing well! The house is slowly coming along. There is always a project to be done, but the list is never-ending so I try not to fret about it and just enjoy it. I'm finally hanging pictures to make our home feel more personalized and I'm also finishing up a painting for our dining room that I can't wait to share. I'm on the fence about it, I may need to go back and fix a few things, but I love the colors in it, so it'll have to work! I'm also back to my craigslist obsession and scoring a few great deals for random pieces of furniture that I feel we need (but don't feel the need to buy brand new!). I've recently scored 4 barstools (for our kitchen island) for $75! They were brand new in the packaging and she lived in Cranberry so it was a great find! She said the return shipping would've cost too much and they didn't quite match the color of her wood floors. Score! Ross & I can finally relax at our kitchen island while waiting for dinner to cook while sharing a glass wine :)
As for Ross, I feel awful about how stressed he's been for the past month. Since he's started his recruiting position at work, he's been working 14-hour days (sometimes more) plus weekends. And he's STILL behind. It's no wonder....the company used to have the 16 HR people recruit for their own sites, but now with the restructure, they have only Ross & his 1 coworker doing ALL the recruiting for all these sites. Something has to change soon. He's still job searching, but that in and of itself is a full-time job and he doesn't have much spare time to apply for jobs. I'm hoping for the best! He just can't catch a break. But he's hanging in there, even though he's close to being burnt out. Pray for him that he will hear back from either of the 2 jobs he's recently applied to!
As for myself, I've picked up a new hobby....Hot Yoga! O boy! I'm still dealing with daily back pain, and once Michelle asked me to join her for hot yoga last week, I thought 'Sure! Why not?!' I've tried almost everything else and am willing to keep trying until I finally find a cure for back. (And trust me....you CAN cure a bulging disc without surgery!) Sure, I know I can get around fine on a day-to-day basis, but that just isn't good enough for me. I'm determined to get back to 100%, and not live the rest of my life at only 80%, 90% on a good day. So hot yoga it is! I've gone twice this week, and so far I love it! I've also read a ton of research about how good yoga is for your lower back, so I can't wait to see if it makes a difference. From what I can tell, since my hamstrings are so tight (since I'm extremely inflexible), those muscles are apparently pulling on my lower back muscles, causing a lot of stress. So I figure if I can gain some flexibility (and strength) with yoga, surely it will help. And my chiropractor agrees :) The classes are a bit expensive but I tell myself that it has to be cheaper than surgery!! (er, maybe ....we do have awesome insurance and low deductibles, but that is beside the point! --Surgery is just not an option for me!).
Lastly, Ross & I have still been following our Fresh20 subscription. I'm really beginning to enjoy their menus and ideas for dinner, and I get so excited knowing that the dinners are healthy! Of course, some weeks I just can't fathom eating something on their menu, so I'll sub something instead, but for the most part, we've been following it to a 'T'. This week's menu includes a side of brussel sprouts (o boy...even Ross has never tried one! I'm nervous to say the least). But I promised myself to try everything before determining that I hate it. I've discovered a few new foods that I like that I wouldn't have dreamed of eating in the past :) And with this, Ross & I have slowly been making better food choices for ourselves overall so it's been a great change for us. Although he claims I'm 'forcing' him to eat healthy. (I came home with nutritous peanut butter yesterday and he cried...."what are you trying to do to me?!?!" HA!)
Anyway, that was a pretty long update...so I apologize. I'll figure out what to do with my blog soon, then maybe update more often :)
And that has me thinking.... I can't wait to get started on my Christmas letter! Too soon?!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Not My Choice of Meat...
Ross & I have really gotten off track of 'healthy eating' lately. We've never really been 'on track,' but I like to think that since I don't buy Chips Ahoy weekly, or eat fast food everyday, we must be ahead of most Americans :)
Which is why I was so excited to finally kick myself into gear by signing up for TheFresh20! My cousin so eagerly sang their praises time and time again about how easy it was to plan your weekly dinner menu when they do all the work for you! And since their weekly menus consist of only 20 ingredients (hence, the name) and healthy choices, it was a smart and budget friendly choice.
But it still took awhile to convince me to sign up. Ross & I are quite the pros when it comes to planning our dinners for the week! We've been doing it forever b/c I refuse to buy too much food that will eventually not get eaten. We were great at making up our grocery list for the week, and buying only what was on the list. Go Us! But then again, our meals were beginning to get repeditive and boring, and not extremely healthy (especially since we considered our side of corn our only choice of veggie...which in fact, is not a veggie at all!). So my reasons for signing up steered towards getting more creative dinner ideas, and healthy dinner ideas. And then one day I could possibly go back to planning my own weekly dinners again.
So last night was our first try at this. I had all my ingredients bought, and looked forward to our week of dinners. (I chose the 9/2 menu if anyone cares.) On the menu were burgers, salmon, veggie casserole, stuffed chicken....all things that sounded great!
Last night Ross & I made the burgers. Or should I say...TURKEY burgers. Ugh. Ok....maybe they won't be so bad. I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! But apparently I don't read recipes well, b/c if I had noticed that I was to put shredded carrots in them...this dinner would've never happened! Who puts carrots in a burger?!?!?! Ew. But I forged ahead. Surely the provolone cheese and special dressing would make up for it? Or maybe not. After eating about 3/4's of my burger, I couldn't pretend to like it any longer, so Ross finished it for me! At least one of us didn't mind it! And here I sit now at work, eating a leftover turkey burger and it's still not growing on me. Something about the texture is throwing me off! And the carrots. They just don't belong in my burger!
So the first recipe we tried wasn't great. It was definitely healthy, but I just don't know about this. I choose red meat over turkey ANY day of the week. So here we go, with still a week's worth of recipes to try and hopefully some better luck than we had with the first recipe! After all, I guess I signed up for 3 months (at only $5/month it's quite a deal!) so I might as well give it a go for that long :) Wish us luck!
Which is why I was so excited to finally kick myself into gear by signing up for TheFresh20! My cousin so eagerly sang their praises time and time again about how easy it was to plan your weekly dinner menu when they do all the work for you! And since their weekly menus consist of only 20 ingredients (hence, the name) and healthy choices, it was a smart and budget friendly choice.
But it still took awhile to convince me to sign up. Ross & I are quite the pros when it comes to planning our dinners for the week! We've been doing it forever b/c I refuse to buy too much food that will eventually not get eaten. We were great at making up our grocery list for the week, and buying only what was on the list. Go Us! But then again, our meals were beginning to get repeditive and boring, and not extremely healthy (especially since we considered our side of corn our only choice of veggie...which in fact, is not a veggie at all!). So my reasons for signing up steered towards getting more creative dinner ideas, and healthy dinner ideas. And then one day I could possibly go back to planning my own weekly dinners again.
So last night was our first try at this. I had all my ingredients bought, and looked forward to our week of dinners. (I chose the 9/2 menu if anyone cares.) On the menu were burgers, salmon, veggie casserole, stuffed chicken....all things that sounded great!
Last night Ross & I made the burgers. Or should I say...TURKEY burgers. Ugh. Ok....maybe they won't be so bad. I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! But apparently I don't read recipes well, b/c if I had noticed that I was to put shredded carrots in them...this dinner would've never happened! Who puts carrots in a burger?!?!?! Ew. But I forged ahead. Surely the provolone cheese and special dressing would make up for it? Or maybe not. After eating about 3/4's of my burger, I couldn't pretend to like it any longer, so Ross finished it for me! At least one of us didn't mind it! And here I sit now at work, eating a leftover turkey burger and it's still not growing on me. Something about the texture is throwing me off! And the carrots. They just don't belong in my burger!
So the first recipe we tried wasn't great. It was definitely healthy, but I just don't know about this. I choose red meat over turkey ANY day of the week. So here we go, with still a week's worth of recipes to try and hopefully some better luck than we had with the first recipe! After all, I guess I signed up for 3 months (at only $5/month it's quite a deal!) so I might as well give it a go for that long :) Wish us luck!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Blogger Hello
Hi All! Long time no see. I've been super lazy this entire summer, so I took a much needed blogger break. Especially from the house blog. Typical me started up the house blog with all the motivation in the world, and quickly got distracted by more enticing things. Those who know me well also know of my short attention span....
What was I talking about?!
Ah...anyways.... Ross & I have been busy this summer, catching up and having fun with family and friends. And when we do finally have free time, we get about 5 minutes of work done on the house :/ But here's the latest with us:
1. Ross' job is an unending drama that I could drag on and on about, but here's an extremely short version: Ross is getting laid off from his HR Generalist position (as of 8/26) at NHS since they are 'restructuring' (aka downsizing) their HR dept. So instead of claiming unemployment come September, he applied for a Recruiting position at NHS (a step down the ladder, but a raise in salary since they eliminated so many positions) and succeeded in getting that job.
So all in all, he can work that position while he continues his unending job hunt. Unless he actually enjoys the recruiting position, then he can just continue working that job. But he's done recruiting in the past, and feels so-so about it. He really loved the HR Generalist position, so I hate to see him give up his job search when I know there has to be something better out there. And I don't think too highly of NHS any longer b/c of the numerous ways in which they screwed their HR employees over. ANY company has to treat their employees better than what NHS has showed us.
2. My job is still so-so. Nothing new. Moving on....
3. We are slowly making progress on the house. Mainly only when we have a free weekend, which are few and far between. It's been a busy summer. Ross has been working on the yard (i.e. tearing out weeds and bushes...aka, making it look way worse before it will look better....say, next summer?!). I've been working on the 2nd bedroom. It originally had parquet flooring, that we wanted to rip out first before installing carpet. So I ripped it all out in 2-3 hours (and saved it for a possible re-use?!), and we're ready for carpet to be installed next week. Once that's in, I want to paint the room, fix some of the wall where paint is peeling, and decorate it a little. I want it to be a spare bedroom (not that I really expect guests any time soon!), but we'll bring in Ross' old bed that is currently living in Stephen & Betsy's spare bedroom. I have big plans for this room since I have no inspiration/ideas for our own master bedroom which is desperately lacking in organization and decorations.
4. Lastly, I've deciced Ross and I have WAY too much clutter (aka, the 2nd bedroom was ALL storage), so I'm cleaning house and making a pile for Goodwill. NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING will go back into the 2nd bedroom unless I've used it in the past year. Our entire house is extremely lacking in organization, so I'm slowly making progress on that!
5. Lastly, Ross & I are eagerly looking forward to camping on Labor Day weekend with friends! This is only our 2nd outing for camping this season, so we're looking forward to it. And also our week vaca in Virginia Beach with my family in September, another much needed break! So still a few things to look forward to, and before you know it, summer will be over....
So that's all we've been up to. I hope everyone's summers are going/went well. I guess I'll see you back in about, oh, 3 months, when I decide to update again :)
What was I talking about?!
Ah...anyways.... Ross & I have been busy this summer, catching up and having fun with family and friends. And when we do finally have free time, we get about 5 minutes of work done on the house :/ But here's the latest with us:
1. Ross' job is an unending drama that I could drag on and on about, but here's an extremely short version: Ross is getting laid off from his HR Generalist position (as of 8/26) at NHS since they are 'restructuring' (aka downsizing) their HR dept. So instead of claiming unemployment come September, he applied for a Recruiting position at NHS (a step down the ladder, but a raise in salary since they eliminated so many positions) and succeeded in getting that job.
So all in all, he can work that position while he continues his unending job hunt. Unless he actually enjoys the recruiting position, then he can just continue working that job. But he's done recruiting in the past, and feels so-so about it. He really loved the HR Generalist position, so I hate to see him give up his job search when I know there has to be something better out there. And I don't think too highly of NHS any longer b/c of the numerous ways in which they screwed their HR employees over. ANY company has to treat their employees better than what NHS has showed us.
2. My job is still so-so. Nothing new. Moving on....
3. We are slowly making progress on the house. Mainly only when we have a free weekend, which are few and far between. It's been a busy summer. Ross has been working on the yard (i.e. tearing out weeds and bushes...aka, making it look way worse before it will look better....say, next summer?!). I've been working on the 2nd bedroom. It originally had parquet flooring, that we wanted to rip out first before installing carpet. So I ripped it all out in 2-3 hours (and saved it for a possible re-use?!), and we're ready for carpet to be installed next week. Once that's in, I want to paint the room, fix some of the wall where paint is peeling, and decorate it a little. I want it to be a spare bedroom (not that I really expect guests any time soon!), but we'll bring in Ross' old bed that is currently living in Stephen & Betsy's spare bedroom. I have big plans for this room since I have no inspiration/ideas for our own master bedroom which is desperately lacking in organization and decorations.
4. Lastly, I've deciced Ross and I have WAY too much clutter (aka, the 2nd bedroom was ALL storage), so I'm cleaning house and making a pile for Goodwill. NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING will go back into the 2nd bedroom unless I've used it in the past year. Our entire house is extremely lacking in organization, so I'm slowly making progress on that!
5. Lastly, Ross & I are eagerly looking forward to camping on Labor Day weekend with friends! This is only our 2nd outing for camping this season, so we're looking forward to it. And also our week vaca in Virginia Beach with my family in September, another much needed break! So still a few things to look forward to, and before you know it, summer will be over....
So that's all we've been up to. I hope everyone's summers are going/went well. I guess I'll see you back in about, oh, 3 months, when I decide to update again :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Happy Birthday to ME!
So here I am at work, trying to 'fly under the radar' and avoid telling any of my coworkers that today is my birthday. Call me lame, but I didn't want any of them to feel bad about not getting me a bday cake, since I normally get a cake for everyone around here on their birthday. Just one of my lovely admin duties around here :)
Well, the hubs is all too sweet and completely gives me away....
And he's also managed to turn my entire Finance Department against me since they now know it's my birthday, and NO, we are not having cake today. Apparently I should just bring in my own cake, because even though I told them that I kept it a secret because I did NOT want cake, they simply replied...."But WE want cake!"
O dear. haha
So Happy 25th Birthday to me!
Here's to hoping the next quarter-of-a-century is just as memorable :)
Well, the hubs is all too sweet and completely gives me away....
Thanks hun for sending me flowers at work. Now my cubicle smells like flowers :) And they sure are purtey to look at!
I apologize for the awful photo quality. You can thank my 3-year old cell phone :) That's right, it's quite ancient and I refuse to upgrade it because new technology scares the 'beejezus' outta me. More on that on a different day....
Anyway, I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have such a sweet and thoughtful husband to celebrate my birthday with :) And once again, he's out-done himself, and left me scrambling for ideas for his birthday!! ha!
And he's also managed to turn my entire Finance Department against me since they now know it's my birthday, and NO, we are not having cake today. Apparently I should just bring in my own cake, because even though I told them that I kept it a secret because I did NOT want cake, they simply replied...."But WE want cake!"O dear. haha
So Happy 25th Birthday to me!
Here's to hoping the next quarter-of-a-century is just as memorable :)
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Two More Days...
...until camping! :) :) :)
I'm so excited!! I got together all of our camping stuff last night, preparing for our 3-day weekend down at OhioPyle. And look at the forecast:
Even though Friday isn't ideal, you really can't ask for better weather than that :) I'll just hope that it rains all day Friday and then stops when we leave after work for camping. I still have so much to do tonight to get ready for camping ....pack clothes, bake (which I haven't done in MONTHS and am ecstatic to bake in my new kitchen!!), switch cars since my mom is lettting us take her SUV for more space, and pick up Ross' cornhole set from his parents house where it's been stored for quite some time (which we can finally store in our own house now!). I can't wait to see all of my friends. I think we're all guilty of having hectic schedules and not seeing eachother enough, especially Ross & I since we've been so unavailable working on the house night & day. But that phase is finally over and I'm ready to catch up with my fantastic friends.
Let the festivities begin!
I'm so excited!! I got together all of our camping stuff last night, preparing for our 3-day weekend down at OhioPyle. And look at the forecast:
Even though Friday isn't ideal, you really can't ask for better weather than that :) I'll just hope that it rains all day Friday and then stops when we leave after work for camping. I still have so much to do tonight to get ready for camping ....pack clothes, bake (which I haven't done in MONTHS and am ecstatic to bake in my new kitchen!!), switch cars since my mom is lettting us take her SUV for more space, and pick up Ross' cornhole set from his parents house where it's been stored for quite some time (which we can finally store in our own house now!). I can't wait to see all of my friends. I think we're all guilty of having hectic schedules and not seeing eachother enough, especially Ross & I since we've been so unavailable working on the house night & day. But that phase is finally over and I'm ready to catch up with my fantastic friends.Let the festivities begin!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Home Sweet Home
We're finally moved in and we love it!! I'm ecstatic and still in shock that Ross & I are homeowners! Even though we've been working on the house for the past 5 months, it didn't feel like our house until we finally moved in. And it still hasn't quite sunk in yet. I feel like for the first time in 4 years (since I moved out of my parents house), Ross & I can finally kick back, relax and settle down. No more worrying about where our next home will be be once our lease is up. What a joy!
The rest of this week is full of relaxation :) I have a few things to do to get ready for camping, which I'm eagerly awaiting! Ross & I don't get cable & internet until Wednesday, which I feel should be making me be productive, but instead, I'm fully enjoying having a piano in our house instead. It's been great to catch up on all the music I used to be able to play :) And Ross isn't annoyed yet...haha. Other than that, I've been touching up paint here & there, slowly unpacking boxes, and mostly 'putzing' around the house trying to feel productive.
Until then, I'll try to take some updated photos and share them with everyone :)
The rest of this week is full of relaxation :) I have a few things to do to get ready for camping, which I'm eagerly awaiting! Ross & I don't get cable & internet until Wednesday, which I feel should be making me be productive, but instead, I'm fully enjoying having a piano in our house instead. It's been great to catch up on all the music I used to be able to play :) And Ross isn't annoyed yet...haha. Other than that, I've been touching up paint here & there, slowly unpacking boxes, and mostly 'putzing' around the house trying to feel productive.
Until then, I'll try to take some updated photos and share them with everyone :)
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