29 Days - the countdown continues

So, today makes it officially 29 days until the wedding..yeee! I'm getting excited/nervous. Today we went to the courthouse and got our marriage license. That just makes it even more real. We will have a shower on Sunday, which we're both excited about, have to make final decisions on music, have a final fitting at Elegant bridal, meet with the photographer to go over the minute-to-minute details of the ceremony/reception, and gather up RSVPs! Its going to be awesome :) The next 4 weeks are packed with stuff and before I know, I will be Mrs. Duane Borba. Thats SO weird. Oh and don't even get me started on Christmas...I can't even think about it.

Cas

Oh SNAP!

OMG only 33 days until the wedding!!!!!!!!!!!

A new leaf?

So if you haven't caught on yet, Hollie is in town and is on my case to blog more often. Its a tough-love situation. Now the tough part is trying to decide what to blog about.

Sophie got a couple new toys.

One is for her - A Kong Wubba (a brand new chew toy that is for extra strong/extra enthusiastic chewers)

One is for me! - a static training collar to help notify Sophie when she is doing something bad.

(pictures to come later)

Anyways, Sophie loves her new wubba and it might actually last around the house for longer than 5 seconds. Its much better than the old torn-to-pieces slippers that she stole from my mom's closet. I like her other new toy, a "static training collar" aka a shock collar. It works wonders for the number one problem: jumping on new people. That is the most annoying and troublesome problem that we face. It is horribly embarrassing when you cannot control your dog when a friend comes over. All the jumping and scratching and terrible-horrible feelings when your friends leave with injuries that they didn't come with. So I am very happy to say that although the shock collar does not hurt Sophie, it grabs her attention enough to stop the bad activity. After only 24 hours she is completely different, still jumping occasionally, but one could easily tell that she resists 7 times out of 10.

I'll keep you updated on the status of the wubba.

Cas

Sweet little things :)

So today was the all-important, much needed and every-so-fun lingerie shower :0 Oh snap! I will admit that I was nervous going in because I am not someone who likes to share all my business with everyone and that is definitely an "all up in your business" situation. But still, I only plan on getting married once in my life and so I want it to be special.

The shower was so much fun! I had many great friends and family come to support the two of us and have a little fun by picking me out some very "sweet little things." Everyone was so generous in what they gave, It makes one feel very special. I also need to say a special thank-you to my sisters, Jennifer and Hollie, who put the whole thing together :) Without them, there would be no lingerie shower and a very small bridal party :) I love my sisters.

I would also like to thank my out of town friends, Lauren, Emily, and Alyssa, for making a special drive just to come to the shower :) You gals are awesome!

Cas

pumpkin!

It was very much my delight that I stumbled on to the pureed pumpkin at wal-mart today. It took a dreaded wal-mart run and turned it into an experience to look forward too when I got home. See, one year my mom made this delicious pumpkin dip and I fell in love! Its so light and tasty, and pumpkin is good for you, right? A couple years ago, I recalled this experience with the pumpkin dip and I decided to experimented and made my own. It turned out so great I've made it every year since. Its soo simple and super yummy. This is how I made it.

you need:

1 can pureed pumpkin

1/4 pkg cream cheese ( i use the kind that is 1/3 less fat)

1/4 cup sugar

1 TBsp cinnamon

Basically I guessed on the measurements because thats around what I put in, but I always taste it as I go :) Anyways, make sure before you start that the cream cheese is very soft, otherwise you'll end up with chunks :/

Directions:

Blend ingredients together and enjoy! It goes amazingly well with ginger snaps or apples. Let me know what you like it with!

Casey

Home Improvements :)

I knew I would be taking on several home improvement projects when I moved into the house I am currently renting. It wasn't exactly in the greatest shape aesthetically speaking. Previously the walls looked a lot like this:

I'm sure somebody thought that was very stylish and modern, maybe when the house was built. But at least they got one thing right, look at the gorgeous wood floors though :) Anyways, now the walls look more like this :

Ahhh...so much better :) Even a cute owl lantern to give a little life/character to a neutral wall.

Oh and don't forget the other improvements that have been made, a new couch and new fabric on the dining room chairs.

If you look closely, you can tell that I haven't finished painting, but you have to cut me some slack. I'm painting the house all by myself, only on my days off and I'm not going to spend every day off painting, especially when it takes all day to paint just the walls. Then another 1-2 days for the baseboards, chair railing and crown molding.

Soo cute! I love the new fabric.

Things are coming together very well and I can't wait until everything is painted and I get some wall decor up and really make this a home for Duane and I to start our new life together.

Cas

Our stray..

This is our stray kitty...her favorite place to take an afternoon nap is under the carport. I couldn't get a closer picture without either switching lenses, or scaring away the cat. She's a mommy, sadly we sent her babies to the humane society to be adopted. Unfortunately, they won't take Mommy Kitty because she a wild woman :)

soon to come...pictures of the new couch :D

Yard work

Today I got a lot done :) and it always feels really good when you have a great, productive day. This morning my wonderful neighbor drove me to Lowe's so that I could buy some lattice board to fix up the back deck so cats can't get under it. Then when I got back to the house, Duane was packing up the dishes and food so we could "fog" aka bomb the house for fleas. So we set off the three bombs and ran for our lives to the fresh air of the outdoors. Duane set off the cutting the lattice and I began trimming the hedges. We worked outside the whole time that the bombs were doing their business. No more little sprigs popping out of the front bushes and no more crazy vines climbing up the front wall. I should have taken before pictures, but I didn't really want everyone to see what it looked like before :)This is the cute little house that I live in! I trimmed the hedges myself and I am about to invest in a lawn mower..I'm so domesticated. hehe. Duane still has a little work to do with the lattice, but we won't hold that against him. I'm just glad he was willing. I also worked on the fence line (it use to be COVERED in ivy) and now there is just one small spot (were a wasp decided to take up residence). I cut some low lying branches and pulled weeds, it felt great!

Fleeeeaasss

So this is basically going to be like a venting blog about fleas...If you know a good trick to get rid of them, please pass it on.

My yard is infested.

Yes, Sophie is an inside dog, but she has to go outside to use the bathroom. So every time I take her outside, she ends up with more fleas. I got to where I was bathing her everyday and using the flea treatments and spraying the furniture daily. Still, Sophie would scratch herself until she bled. It was horrible. Finally, I had to send Sophie to Mom's house so her skin could recover and she could heal and get a little relief.

Still. I have fleas in the yard. Its the stupid stray cats. I have never hated the strays until now, and I wish they were gone. They get up under the deck and lay around in my yard and bring fleas. Supposedly fleas cant live in direct sunlight so they must be coming from beneath the bushes and the deck.

I plan to bomb the house and the neighbor is going to spray under the deck and then we will reinforce the boards so the cats can't get back in. I spread some granular treatment in the yard. HOPEFULLY this will work. I've already spent so much money and stress on this. I just want the fleas gone so Sophie can come home!

Afters..

So I feel like I will actually have stuff to blog about in the next couple of months. There are so many projects to be done with furniture and the house that I can't wait to share. Among the future projects includes recovering the dining room chairs, hanging drapes/curtains throughout the house, painting the walls, painting my deck furniture... and so on. But, I haven't done any of those things yet so I will just tell you about moving in. It was super easy to move because I had lots-o-help from friends and family. Alyssa, her Dad, Aaron, and Duane helped me move stuff from the apartment, and then Mom drove here with my stuff from Augusta. It really only took about a day to get settled. Thanks everyone!!

Cookin' Time. Too bad you can't see in the picture, but on the opposite wall is the apron my sis gave me for christmas :)

Living room/Dining Room, Complete with a twin bed serving as a couch..just until Wednesday, then my new couch is coming! Thanks Mom!

Reading Corner and Closet

Master Bedroom..Complete with comforter from high school :)

Befores and Afters

Before:

Recently (July 23) I moved into a new house!! Not an apartment, not a townhouse, but an honest to goodness house, freestanding from any other buildings. So I got some pictures of the before and the after move-in.

Living room

Dining/living room

Bathroom

Spare Bedroom

Master bedroom

So there you have it..pre-move in pictures.

Along with moving in to a new house, I have started a new job :) As a Registered Nurse too!! I'll tell more about that later though.

Casey

Pictures to come soon!!

I do plan on having a blog very soon that actually has some pictures in it. It just requires a little more time than I am willing to put in right now. HOWEVER, I have taken lots of pictures so they will be here soon. Also, the plan is that I want to make a dish that everyone seems to love but I've never had the courage to make and I plan on documenting in pictures. :)

Preceptorship is done. It was amazing and I don't think I could've been placed with a better preceptor or in unit that I would have loved more. I learned so much and actually didn't mind getting up at 4:40am to get there. It was even ok when I had night shift and had to stay up all night and sleep during the day. Surprisingly, I slept from 9am until 5pm on the second day. Wow. Maybe night shift won't be so bad...

Second interview is today. After what felt like forever (but was really only about 9 days), I got a call back to schedule a second interview at Memorial for the Nursing Residency program. I'm not as nervous as I was before, but I'm sure it will come soon.

Hollie and Jordan are coming this week!! oh and I'm graduating too. Lots coming up...Interview today, Kat's Birthday tomorrow, Mom's birthday Wednesday, Alyssa and Aaron's engagement party thursday, Pinning ceremony friday, Graduation saturday... Lots of pictures to take :) Will post soon..I hope. :)

Life is hectic

So I know, I know, I know...I'm a terrible blogger. I don't have time for this and when I do have time, its not exactly on the top of my priority list seeing as how I don't have a lot of followers or anything. But here I am and in order for this post to be a quick one, there probably won't be any pictures.

What have I been up to since January when I last posted, well school mostly. But I am very happy to report that all the exams are done, I'm going to pass all my classes and graduate with honors on May 8, 2010. I thought that things would slow down once all the classes were done, but now I feel more busy than ever.

Frisbee has been going on too. We placed third in our last tournament and score 32 points in a row. It was a great weekend in charleston with a bunch of amazing girls.

Sophie has been back and forth between my apartment and my mom's house. She is so sweet but man she cries so much. I will be very excited when she grows out of this phase and is more content.

Right now the main thing is preceptorship. For those of you who don't know, my preceptorship is kinda like an internship. I was paired with a nurse at the hospital and I shadow her for 120 hours, doing everything that she does (i.e. patient care, charting, reporting off, etc.). Let me tell you, it has been amazing and I would love to have a job where I am right now. I am currently in the pediatric intensive care unit and Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, GA. I love the nurses that work there and the patients that we take care of. Its not just the children, but the complexity of their illnesses that really challenges you to be a critical thinker. If not right away, I would love to work in PICU in the near future.

Speaking of work..I have a job interview today! I really hope that things go well today because this is a position that I would really like. It is at the same hospital that I currently work at as a nursing tech and also the hospital that I am preceptoring at. I'm nervous!

New Topic: Housing. I need a place to live. I fell in love with this one place, but someone else got it. I didn't feel secure enough to start signing papers without the guarantee of a job so I missed out. I hope I don't miss out on all the good places while I'm waiting to hear back from applications...

Well, that is my life right now in a nutshell. Wedding wise, there isn't much to report because nothing is really going on right now.

Cas

A DIY to satisfy any aspiring percussionist

This is a DIY blog. Now, you may be asking, "Casey, what are you going to make with bottle caps, a hammer and a beer bottle?" Well..it was all Duane's idea, I promise.

Duane got this great idea to make a bottle cap shaker instrument from a german percussionist, Roland Peil. He started with 200 bottle caps which he purchased off ebay. He used the old beer bottle to serve as a platform to nail a hole in each bottle cap. Talk about tedious, but he was very determined :)

I couldn't help at this point (but I did offer), because there was only one old beer bottle in the recycling. But, I did catch somebody napping, even with all the hammering going on downstairs.

Then I was able to help with the stringing process. He used fishing line cut into about yard-length strands and threaded the bottle caps on (about seven per line) with knots in between each cap.

When I was done threading a line, he took over, attaching the line to a rope and then using the left-over line to attach more bottle caps to the opposite side. Below you can see the final product! The whole project took about 3 hours of work (including the trip to walmart for the fishing line) and it cost about 15 dollars to make ($13 for the bottle caps and $2 for the fishing line, the rope he already had)

Lucky him, he's so happy with his new instrument.

My life has gone to the dog

Oh Sophie darling..You have taken over my life. And Duane's. (I'm not sure Duane is quite as happy about it.)

You make yourself look so cute and innocent. I wouldn't hurt a fly momma. (Yes, I often say out loud what I think Sophie is trying to say to me)
How could anyone say no to that face? Trust me, its hard when she's this cute, but it gets a lot easier when she is peeing on the floor or chewing up you clothes or your hand.
What are we going to do with you? Sophie you have officially taken over my room too. I might go crazy living in such a small space with a rapidly growing furry creature. At least (crossing my fingers) you're starting to learn how to entertain yourself.
But I guess you are part of the family now.