Week Days

Ol Mother Earth has done it again. This past weekend I could have walked around in shorts in a t-shirt, and today we woke up to an inch of snow of the ground! I think this year has had some of the weirdest weather I can remember. For example, Carlsbad residents tell me they only get one snow a year MAX--we've had a ton so far. They say they only get on average 13in of precipitation a year--I think we've already gotten that this year! Weird! I'm glad I hadn't planted anything in the garden as of yet. I think I'll hold off for a couple of weekends now.

Today I'm off to get finger printed and turn in my 80 page application for sub teaching. Holy cow I didn't realize all the paperwork involved in teaching. Hopefully they will qualify me quickly so I can start adding income to the Dorman family. It's been half a year since I last worked! YIKES! I really wish I could have found something out here in my field, but...the whole state of New Mexico is pretty void in terms of cargo. Maybe the next location will be freight friendly :)

Now to touch on my weight journey-- I've been busting it at the gym for the past two weeks and feel pretty good. I'm doing a lot more strength training than ever before and think that explains why the scale hasn't budged.
One thing I HATE and must mention is my butt though. I love my butt don't get me wrong, however it's frustrating!! It's the kind of butt that when worked out well actually grows outward and up. This is great for walking around in a bathing suit, but...I don't walk around in a bathing suit most of my days. So...it actually makes my jeans tighter. BOO to that! I just must remember that some girls would kill for a big round booty! However, I've decided to keep it up! I think having a great, tight, lifted butt is better overall! I'll suck up the tight jeans and pray the waist shrinks enough to make up the difference. Wish me luck people!!!

Susie Homemaker!

Alright! I finally got my phone to play nice and allow me to post pictures from this past weekend.

Here are my finished pillow products! I am pretty excited with how well they turned out. I think Luke was even shocked out how great they came out, and we all know he's hard to impress.
I know I promised picnic pics, but...we had a change of plans and ended up jump starting our New Mexican garden instead. Yes...I do realize that my pants are up beyond any acceptable level for people our age. Don't worry...Luke made fun of me for everyone already!

Here's Luke tilling as well!

Finally...our finished tilled garden! We haven't planted yet, but I have plans for the left half to be beautiful flowers and the right to be yummy veggies. Luke is going to build a compost box and herb box too. So...once we start producing, I'll be sure to post!

Sewing Saturday

Happy Saturday to all!
For Christmas this year I got a Singer sewing machine. I have been wanting one for a while now and finally put it on my Christmas list this year. With the move right after the holidays, I didn't get a chance to really pull it out until yesterday.
I'm going to have to say that setting everything up with the thread felt a little like brain surgery. If you have no idea about anything in the sewing world like me...getting everything in order before you even start to sew is HARD! I did finally get everything together though, and started exploring the different sewing options. My goal this weekend is two new pillow covers for our couch pillows. The current ones are UGLY! Luke has to work for a little bit today, so that's the goal while he is out. So...wish me luck in that adventure!
Once Luke is finished we are going to have a picnic! The weather is just beautiful out, and very warm considering we had snow so recently. I hear the whole East is covered in snow, so I'll post picks for ya'll to live through us. Ha!
Happy Happy Saturday!

Tubing Video

I think I finally got this thing figured out!

Cloudcroft Crazy!

It's amazing such a snowy winter wonderland is only two hours away. Cloudcroft has the feel of an Aspen retreat with little shops lining the streets in a rustic way. Luke and I got into Cloudcroft around 12:30 this past Sunday to eat lunch and hit the slopes. No snowboarding or skiing in store though--we went TUBING! Neither of us had ever been snow tubing before, so this was a great experience. I highly recommend it if you've never been and want to do something for cheap entertainment. The guides working loved both Luke and I, and hooked us up with the fastest tube on the mountain! No seriously though, they buffed the bottom of one tube to increase speed, and so graciously let me borrow thier scared tube for the day. My favorite thing to do was have the workers throw me into a crazy spin down the slope. I think Luke's favorite way was belly down speed racing. He was one of the only people on the slope to hit the fence at the end of the run (meaning he was going REALLY REALLY FAST)! Once you hit the fence the whole crew applauds your dare devil ways. Overall it was a blast! I tried to post a video we took of us flying down the mountain, but for some reason it's not working, so I'll post it on Facebook if possible and you can check it out there. So far I am LOVING this adventure ride in New Mexico! Now...I'm off to find a JOB...still working on that piece of this adventure :)

This Desert Life

Here are some pictures of our New World! I don't have any indoor photos of our home yet--mainly because it's not 100% in order as of yet. Luke and I should have that completely finished this weekend.
So far the town as been great! The neighbors all came over and introduced themselves and brought us dinner. A new mexican spicy stew of sorts. I'll have to send out the recipe shortly. A little different kick and taste, so exciting to both Luke and I. Our house seen below has 5 pecan trees, so Luke and I are collecting currently and plans for a pie are in the works.
This past Sunday we took a day tour over to Sitting Bull Falls. This is a 150ft. waterfall located about an hour away from our house. We hiked around the area and plan to go back this summer to swim in the pools. We took our suits for this go round, but just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. That's it for now!

New Stuff

It's official!! I'm a New Mexican as of last night! It's been a while since the last post, so I'll say the Holidays were great.
Luke and I were lucky enough to visit both families for Christmas. We had a wonderful break seeing our families and got a bunch of great new things. I think Luke was most excited about the Wii. He is officially crazy over Wii wakeboarding from the resort game.
Luke and I brought in our 4th New Year together (yes...this is our 4th year in a row kissing) in Nashville. We had dinner and drinks with some friends out on the town and then headed to a house party to watch the ball drop.
Thursday, Jan. 7th the movers arrived. They loaded up my car, our house, and off went everything. Luke and I drove to Oklahoma to visit with my cousins as we made the half country trek. I will say Oklahoma toll road are NOT COOL! I forgot they even had tolls in Oklahoma and after donating around 13 bucks, all I can say is they should at least make the roads decent!
So...first day in Carlsbad and I'm writing from the Holiday Inn hotel computer. Luke is hard at work already and I have run the new town errands of setting up the water (they require you to come in person,) and already started the job hunt. I still have not called Navarro to find out if I got they job, but I'm guessing if they were interested in giving me the position I would have heard something as of now. Sad Day! Would have been a pretty cool deal. I guess it wasn't meant to be, so I'll take it as that. I visited the New Mexico State University Carlsbad branch this afternoon and spoke with the Human Resource woman there, so hopefully they have something for me. She seemed very interested and positive in the idea of them having something for me, so...keep you fingers crossed for me.
That's it for now! Life is happening so fast!