Beef Baby

I know it's been quite awhile since my last post, I kept putting it off. But I feel today is a good day to express myself. We had a great month of October: my job is awesome and I love it, we've made some really great friends over here, Andrew had a wonderful 23rd birthday and Halloween was a lot of fun. I can't believe that we're already almost halfway through November though! It feels like the older I get, the faster the years fly by, which hopefully plateaus at some point; I don't want to be 40 without knowing how I got there. And I especially don't want to get there and realize I took everything for granted. People are talking about everything they're thankful for this month as a Thanksgiving-type-theme on their webpages, and I think that can really be a great thing to do. However, there are so many things/people/places/events that we can be thankful for, that we probably miss some. I would rather list off those I hope no one takes for granted. I've been preparing a list for a couple weeks now, getting it ready for the next time I hopped on here, and I hope I take it to heart and remember it over the next several decades. So... in no particular order:

Things Not To Take For Granted

(one for each day in the month of November)

• Always having a guaranteed parking space
• Going for walks with your loved ones
• Mild seasons
• Your favorite restaurants
• Family
• Friends
• Beloved pets, and the not-so-beloved
• The days you could sleep in and do nothing because you were unemployed
• The days you could go out and spend money because you were employed
• Someone else who cared to put out festive decorations so that you didn't have to work to enjoy them
• Someone else who planned meals, shopped, and cooked for you
• Dwellings with washers and dryers that don't require quarters
• Fingernails and toenails
• Food storage
• A great church
• Sweet-tasting tap water
• Coastal-living, if you're lucky enough to experience
• Being able to see and talk to someone almost immediately, whether in person or via technology
• The time before wrinkles started appearing
• Good skin days
• Good hair days
• Having at least one Starbucks within two miles, always. Maybe even a drive-through
• Good neighbors
• Wildlife friends
• Vacations and times lucky enough to travel without paying for it
• Coinciding days off with your significant other
• Having a good family doctor, chiropractor, dentist and car mechanic all in the area
• A fireplace
• Having your memories to reflect on
• The time when everyone you knew lived in the same spot and no one had to coordinate flights and trips to visit

Pullman and Moscow are finally beginning to feel like home. Andrew and I realized this a couple weeks back when we were out with some friends and all we wanted to do was return to the apartment and relax. I went out and bought some Fall decorations, and my grandma sent some of hers, so we now have a little spot that makes this apartment feel special. Part of my purchase was some Autumn inspired candleholders and pumpkin spice tealights, and almost every day I  come home from work, Andrew has them lit. He loves them! I had no idea that he would grow so fond of the candles and light them every time we come home, but it definitely helps the ambiance here. I'm so excited to have my family out in ten days and stay with us, I can't wait to show them our first place! Andrew and I are pretty proud of what we've done, granted we have some more work to do, but that will come later when we find a place we want to stay in for a longer period of time. We really want a couple kitties, but this apartment complex doesn't allow pets. We found a great complex up the road that does and it's in the same company. It's located conveniently for us to get to work and school, but it's a little more expensive. I'm sure we'll move though: we'll sacrifice almost anything if we can add some members to our family! 

Like I said before my job is awesome and I love it. It's in Moscow which is fairly close, just inside the Idaho border, about ten miles away. I work in a huge, beautiful office that is only a year old, and everyone there is super nice. I'm the oldest of the three new people, we hired a receptionist and another tech, and the majority of the employees started in the last year and a half. Out of twenty employees, Dr. Leach is the only male, and everyone is married; it's a great atmosphere to work in. We have two doctors, Dr. Leach (ophthalmologist) and Dr. Baughman (optometrist), and Dr. L. is the only ophthalmologist in the county, so people come from all over to see him. We do lots of basic eye exams and see lots of common eye problems, but because he isn't an optometrist we see/do so much more. We do LASIK in the back, and cataract removals, and Avastin injections for patients with wet ARMD, and the average age of our patients is probably somewhere around 70. Part of my job is to take care of the mail that comes in every day, and I noticed that Dr. Leach orders a lot of devotionals and Bible studies. I started discussing them with him in the break room and he ended up suggesting a church for us here in Pullman. Andrew and I checked it out and it's very similar to CHCC, which is terrific. It's just up the road which is great and it's only four years old. There is a major size difference though, and that takes some adjusting, but it's nice to find a church home over here. It's also nice to know that  the owner of the company I work for is a Godly man. 

Andrew is doing fantastic in school. I knew that once he was in classes he cared about and mattered to his profession, his passion and excellence would kick in, and it definitely has. He usually gets somewhere in the 90% range (or higher) on his exams and he loves what he's learning. His classmates are pretty interesting and we've really bonded with a select group. We've done lots of things outside of school which I really appreciate, because for awhile here our social life died. I get along with everyone and can follow along/hold my own in the conversations when they start getting medicine-y, at least for now. Who knows how well I can keep that up in the years to come. I'm so proud of Andrew and how well he's doing, vet school was the right career path for him, for sure.

I took some pictures throughout the last month or so and figure I should share a few...

My first day at work : )

Some Fall decor

The candle holders

The dressed up kitchen

The bathroom display

Andrew's birthday morning

I made him pose with a card...

The mug I made him: "Best Husband Ever!"

I hope this makes up for the last month of absence, and I hope I don't go too long again! Have a great rest of the week and I promise I'll write again!!!