The blog has been overhauled for Valentine's Day! I was all planned ahead with a V-day header, but then TCBOTB didn't have many backgrounds that were the same color tones. There was one, and it was cute, but it was generic - and I fell in love with this background. So I had to make a new header. That's okay, cuz I think it's cute. :)

That wasn't much of an update, so here's some real news. We'll start with the house. Matt finally talked to his boss, and he's going to waive the July requirement since Matt has actually been working there for almost 2 years. (Thanks Dave!) So in March, Matt will apply for jobs in the Phoenix area. We also decided on a realtor, Pam Jackson. My step-sister used her and loved her. She's also had a lot of friends and clients use her - and they all loved her too. I can't wait until April when we can actually go look at properties - and hopefully make an offer!

**Somewhat graphic information to follow**
Moving along :) - a few of you are a bit more intimately aware of the pregnancy journey. Two weeks ago (on a Tuesday) - I had some spotting and light bleeding. Now my darling cousin, Natalie, had implantation bleeding, so I called her and asked what it was like on Thursday. It sounded promising, so I tested. Negative. I tested again... I think Saturday - Negative. This past Saturday (like a week from testing), I was still randomly bleeding (light - and way long - nothing at all like my normal period). So I call my aunt, Koreen, who happens to be a nurse. By now, I've researched all my options (ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, and anovulation). She suggests that I call the doc on Monday if it is still going on.

Well Monday morning comes, and there's nothing, so I don't worry about it. Monday night - more bleeding. This morning, bright red bleeding, so I finally call the doctor. There, they drew my blood to do a pregnancy test and to test for anemia since it's been 2 weeks. Pregnancy test - Negative. Red blood cell count - 41 %, which is normal. So Dr. Money decided I probably didn't ovulate last cycle (ya, I really didn't know it could happen either - go figure, and it causes long and light periods).

Basically, since we're trying to get pregnant, he advised against hormonal treatment to stop the bleeding (doubling or tripling on birth control for a cycle), but to just wait it out. However, if I'm still bleeding by next Tuesday - I need to call him again. It's obnoxious, but it's still close enough to going off the pill that I'm blaming that ;)

Daddy works in Draper - so he took my laptop to the place in Salt Lake yesterday to get it fixed. In theory - they updated the bios so it won't ever happen again :) AND- they cleaned it up... it's shiny :)

While Daddy was over, he also was so kind as to hang the shelf Jason and Camile made us for Matt's llama rug from Peru. It gave us a spot to display a way cute clock we got for our wedding and has been in storage under our bed.

Close-up

I've wanted to write for a little while, but didn't know what I would talk about, so this is just to update everyone on our plans a little.

This summer, we intend to buy a house in Phoenix. I've found one I absolutely LOVE. I'm not posting identifying information on it because a) it has only been on the market for a few days and I don't want anyone to steal it, and b) I don't want to publicly claim it until it really is mine :). Now, the problems with my house (note use of the word "my"):
1- It's a bit on the expensive end of our range.
2- We won't be moving until May at the earliest.
3- Matt can't technically apply for other jobs within Wells Fargo until July.
4- Matt wants to have a job in AZ before buying a house.
5- My house is really new on the market and is a newer house - I'm afraid it will be snatched up before we're in a position to make an offer.

That said - I REALLY want it. I also feel really good about moving to Phoenix, and this has been the only house I've fallen absolutely in love with. Now to just watch and pray. On the plus side, if it DOES stay on the market, the price should drop by the time we want to buy it.

In other news, I've been off the pill since October. Can I tell you how obnoxious trying to get pregnant is? I've never actually charted my periods - so I've started doing that, and I've not been too regular. I've gone 35 days in a cycle - that was so annoying. I had tested like twice, and then bought more tests the same day my period started. I wasn't pleased. Not to mention, it seems like when you're trying, everyone either has kids or is pregnant. While I'm happy to hear friends and relatives are pregnant, I have jealousy over it. Superficial jealousy, but still.

Anyway, those are the biggest ongoing things in our lives right now.

I have embarked on the last leg of my undergraduate journey - it's about time! This is my last full semester ever (unless I feel the urge to spend 30k and get a master's). I still have one last class to take this summer, but that shouldn't be too bad since it will be the only one! Anyway, I want to do my synopsis like I did for fall.

MWF Family Financial Management with Ron Hammond
So far it's been a nice open forum to discuss how to be cheap. Savvy Shopper Deals is mentioned always. Ron and his wife are coupon clippers - to the extreme. Today he brough in some trophy receipts - amazing savings! However, I don't know if I could bring myself to be a clipper - it's a lot of work! We also have to keep track of our budget and anything we spend for the whole semester. It's at least a deterrent to spending money. At the store the other day, I even bought some cereal in a bag because it is cheaper. Baby steps I guess.

TR Anthropology of Mormonism with Ed Andrus
I love Ed! This is my third class from him. At least I know what to expect workload-wise. Unfortunately, I don't still own one of the books we're using (again)... but since I've read it once or twice, I'm not too worried.

TR Psychopharmacology with Dr. Yells
Also same setup as Physiological Psych, only this semester, it's all about the drugs! Should be a fun class. My goal is to at least pick a paper topic and start finding articles early.

TR Ancient Anthropology with Haagen Klaus
Or as Dr. Klaus would prefer - Archaeology thoery and method. The book is intense, but I'm getting used to it. This will be my most labor intensive class, I think. 10 page paper at the end and 3 essay tests - at least the final isn't comprehensive. My goal is to pick a topic for this paper pretty quickly too. However, he requires we use the American Antiquity style - I've used APA since high school! At least he provides a style guide, and it looks pretty easy. Man, do I hate papers.

So, as I mentioned, Matt got me tickets to the Rockapella concert on New Year's Eve at the McKay Events Center. I was way excited. I had dropped hints that it'd be fun to go to - but Matt already had the tickets before I said anything! (Not sure how he knew I would enjoy them...) So we went to UVU with Garth and Sarah, who also had tickets.

There were two opening acts, Noteworthy and The Osmonds 2nd Generation. Noteworthy was okay - the dumb sound people had serious issues though. On their last song, they didn't find the lead mic until like the last 2 notes. It was unfortunate. I wasn't excited about the Osmonds 2nd Generation either. In fact, I have tried to avoid them for awhile. BUT - I was most pleasantly surprised! They put on an amazing show, and with a medley of oldies, how can you go wrong? Sadly, my entourage sat there unenthused. Though, Matt and Garth had this dire need to clap not on the beat - literally anywhere but the beat. Boys are so annoying sometimes.

After an amazing show by 2ndG, there was an intermission while they prepped for Rockapella. It has been many moons since I've seen them, and I was quite thrown when there were 2 black guys in the group. (Not racist, I just really didn't recall any the last two times I had seen them.) Naturally, it was a little different, but it was still amazing. Scott, who produces, writes, and arranges, has been there forever. He has a very distinctive voice and style which, of course, is associated with Rockapella. George, the bass, has an AMAZING range, which he got to exhibit in a solo. It was nice to see all the parts getting more equal spotlight time now. Once again, I was dancing and having a good time - and hitting Matt and Garth for clapping like idiots :)

We didn't stay and pay to go to the dance party after (though it would have been sweet to see David Archuleta). Instead, we dropped the Collins's off and headed to Grandma Wilson's for games and food. Matt wasn't feeling well, so we actually left a little after 11pm. It was the first year in a VERY long time that I didn't stay up until midnight to ring in the new year. I must be getting old when sleep wins over a chance to party and make a lot of noise. We went to bed between 11:30 and 11:45, so it's not like staying up until midnight would have been a hard thing to accomplish. Once we were home though, there wasn't really much point. The new year will come whether or not I decide to make a big hullabaloo about it.

Allow me to vent my frustrations about my place of employment. Some of you will probably know that I have been working at Western Wats for... ever. Well, for almost the last 2 years, I have been working as an editor with the company, cleaning the open ended responses in the banking surveys we do. This has been a sweet setup since I had no set schedule and wasn't dialing. Granted, the hours were very variable, and some weeks there wasn't enough work, but I still liked it.

So my issue (one of many total, but about the only issue at the moment) is the fact that Tuesday before New Year's, Sam (our manager) pulls me aside to tell me they are moving banking up to corporate at the beginning of the year. The first thought that goes through my mind is - fine, I'll have to work there with Jan, I'll get over it. Then she says that they've been letting editors go up there, so I won't be able to edit anymore. She also says that she doesn't have any supervisory positions open since we assimilated people from Boutique when it closed. She kindly says that when she has something come available, she'll definitely use me, but right now, my only option is to dial.

Dialing hasn't been as bad as I would think, but it is NOT my favorite thing in the world. Unfortunately, with my school schedule and the fact that we probably won't be here through the end of the year, I don't have much choice but to suffer through for the time being. Sam was kind enough to say she'd keep my wage the same. That's nice, at least.

However, it was an annoyance that my first day back on the phones, they ask me to either stay until 4 or come back at 4 to do a client monitoring on a non-banking project. I'm not feeling very loyal to the company at the moment, booting me like that. This came on the tail of being the only one in the editing office who did get to remotely access in from home. So I'm not particularly in the mood to extend myself to be overly helpful. Yes, I'm an amazing dialer, and I try to do quality work, but I don't need to do more than necessary at the moment.

Sigh, if I could quit, or work somewhere else. Too bad Wats is still flexible and paying me the same wage. Maybe we'll get to move in like May.... (wishful thinking)