Uh-oh...

There's something going around the site. The morning teacher has been sick all week. More than half of her class has missed school all week...

Meanwhile, my class is at full attendance. Here's to hoping we don't catch whatever is going around!

So, eh, working....

for TFA and SWHD has its perks. Since they are organizations dedicated to helping the community, they get a lot of free stuff. A couple of days ago I got this email:

We've been offered FREE tickets to 101.5 JAMZ’s End of Summer Jam featuring GINUWINE, THREE SIX MAFIA, GS BOYS, JAY SEAN and MORE this Saturday September 26 at 8pm.

****

Unfortunately, Todd and I already had plans for that evening so I didn't get the tickets.

Then, just today I got this email:

HI Corps Members!

The City of Phoenix is offering 3 pairs of tickets to individuals interested in seeing AC/DC perform at the US Airways Center on October 1st, 2009 at 7:30p. The tickets are in the city’s suite, and popcorn and soda will be provided. Parking is on you own!

The first 3 people to email me will receive two tickets each and I will then provide you with more information.

Thanks everyone!

I replied:
Hello!
I would love to have 2 tickets to go to this!

Thanks,
Ashlee

She replied:
Thanks to everyone who replied so quickly! You guys sure are fast.

The first three people to email back and who will receive the tickets are:

Rob Saul, Lauren Jones and Ashley Hoffman!

Congrats...

So...having my email open while I do my planning sure does pay off! Todd and I are going to take advantage of this =D

And I look forward to going to many more events in the future!

Sweeeeeeet Deal!

So, Todd and I just won an E-bay auction (that we heard about from Craigslist). It's a local guy selling his 35" TV.

Bids started at $9.99.
By the end, they were up to $15.99.

Todd and I came out of nowhere at the last minute (seriously, there was 1 minute left on the bid), and snatched the TV for $27.99. Apparently the last guy's highest bid was $27.00.

Ours was $30.00.

Now we'll have a sweet new TV (well, not really new, but bigger than the 19" that we have now)!

Woot woot!

SIGG Bottles

I have several water bottles (Ashlee would say too many), and a couple are made by SIGG, a Swiss company. I suspect several of you may have a SIGG or two as well. When I saw a blog post about them on PhD Comics (link), I thought I should share.

Some background: Years ago (when I was in middle school or junior high) Nalgene became the cool bottle to tote around with you, and more recently it's been SIGG. In part, this may have been because there was a scare over plastic bottles leaching out BPA (link), which is thought to be dangerous for humans to consume, so metal bottles were thought to be safer.

The problem: Ironically, the SIGG bottles aren't bare aluminum: they are coated on the inside with some propriety polymer film, and it contains BPA. They recently started using a different coating that they assert is BPA free. Now they've started an exchange (link) (not recall) program. Interesting.

Will I send in the two SIGG bottles that I have to get them exchanged for brand new ones with the better coating? Maybe, maybe not. There are so many unknowns, and by that I mean that we aren't sure about what BPA does to a person, we have no way of knowing how much of it really came out of the old SIGG coating, we don't know how much is absorbed from the water into the body, and we don't know how much we get from other plastics products. What do you think?

Walmart Run!

Well, the house is coming along nicely. I might try to take pictures tonight before I go to bed or maybe tomorrow evening.

Today was a busy day for Todd and I. We bought ourselves a new bed (Queen size!). It's just the mattress and boxspring, but it's very comfortable. Craigslist wins again. We're currently searching for a sleigh-like headboard and footboard to go with it. And thanks again to Uncle Pat for letting us borrow his truck. I don't know how we would have gotten moved into this house without it!

Then, after getting the mattress, we made a huge Walmart run for some of the little things. We got a lot of stuff that we needed and we're in the middle of getting it all set up in the house. I think I am most excited about the curtains we bought! We're thinking of putting them in the family room. They're a nice olive green color and block out all the light, which will be great for cooling down the room and cutting down the glare on the TV. Unfortunately, we can't put them up yet because Todd doesn't have a drill =(

I think a drill is going to be our next bigger purchase. We desperately need one to do some of the home improvements we have planned around the house.

After Walmart, we went to Home Depot again. And now we're home. We're both sitting down because we feel like we've been moving around all day long (which is also the reason I don't have pictures yet).

Once we get some energy, we'll do dinner...

Then maybe pictures =)

TFA Party

So, Todd and I got an email a week or so ago about a TFA party this weekend. Deciding that we really wanted to work on building a community here in Phoenix, we went.

I just want to say this:

Teachers know how to party.

~Ashlee, who is having fun

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a sectional!

Yeah, that's right. You heard it here first - Todd and I finally got our sectional!

Now, for those of you who have been chatting with me, you know how I feel about the sectional. I think it's the one piece of furniture we truly needed. It gives us a place to sit, to chat, to watch TV, and to play our new PS2. It ties the room together.

So, with that in mind, we've been scouring Craigslist for a nice deal and a nice sectional. Todd wanted leather. I wanted microfiber or very high quality leather. We both wanted a nice deal.

Then we found a fabric sectional for $200 on Craigslist. Interesting. So we went to see it. And, despite our need for a sectional, we had to pass it up. It just wasn't anything close to what we wanted.

That night, as we briefly scanned Craigslist...oh my...could it be? A sectional! Priced at $200. Microfiber and leather. With an ottoman.

After emails, text messages, going out there only to be told they needed it for a couple more days, then them calling (only about 15 minutes later) saying that we could come pick it up, but that they had marked it wrong and it was really $400...

It was a fiasco. But we got it. We compromised and settled on $350 for it. Todd and I think that we ripped them off (i.e. we got a screaming great deal).

And now, without further ado, here is our sectional!
Hey, it's heavier than it looks. I needed a rest afterwards. And Titus was very curious about this new piece of furniture in his domain (especially since it smelled like it had been freshly shampoo'd - which it had!).

Here's a pictures without Titus and me obscuring the view.
It looks a lot better in person. It's pretty much exactly what I was looking for and I love it.

And it's super comfortable!

Yay!

~Ashlee, who is now going to go chill on the chaise (that little part that sticks out of the sectional - where she was sitting earlier)

Craigslist? Wut?

Just fyi, I know that "wut" should be spelled "what." Just in case you thought I lost my mind. But 'Wut' is internet slang, denoting confusion. Or maybe laziness in typing.

Anyway, moving on! As I mentioned in another post, Todd and I have been buying a lot of stuff of off Craigslist. And it occurred to me that some of you might not know what Craigslist is. So, allow me to introduce you.

This is Craigslist. It's a website that has different regions. For example, Todd and I search for things in Phoenix (duh). The site itself has a ton of stuff (like personals, job listings, discussion forums, etc.) but Todd and I mostly look in the 'For Sale' section. You can type in what you're looking for (e.g. Stainless steel refrigerator) or you can go to a broad category and see what people are selling - like appliances.

As with anything, it's important to be careful. We always go look at the item before we commit to buying it. But you can usually get great deals on things, especially when people are in a hurry to sell stuff. I imagine that the majority of our furniture is going to come from there.

So now you know. ;)

~Ashlee

Ring ring!

That's right, I got a new phone!


It's a nice phone and I'm still discovering all sorts of neat things about it. I'm on a different plan now (but I have the same number). But now, I have unlimited texting! So, all those people that I told not to text me like crazy because it cost me money? Forget it. =D

Now, I just need to get used to the keyboard...and all the things that it does. So far, I haven't even figured out how to lock the keyboard so that I don't press random buttons during the day...

~Ashlee, the new phone owner and home owner

What a mess. What a house!

I've been getting comments from several different people on our lack of pictures of our new house. I had wanted to get pictures put up here as soon as possible...but I just kept delaying. I mean, shouldn't those boxes be put away before we take a picture? Shouldn't all our clothes be hanging up? Shouldn't we be really settled in?

But I was told today that it was okay if our house didn't look perfect when we posted the pictures up. After all, we just moved in. So here's your warning: Our home looks like a disaster area right now. We're in the midst of setting things up and all our stuff is everywhere. You've been warned.

(And mom, this means you can't make any comments on how messy it is and how it resembles my room when I was younger!)

First of all, here are our washer and dryer that we bought from Craigslist.

And here's the laundry room. The washer and dryer are behind the door. We have a table, a shelf, and cleaning supplies stored here.

Next, we have our refrigerator that we also bought from Craigslist. We really wanted a stainless steel and black kitchen so we're keeping an eye on Craigslist for other cheap appliances. The fridge is great -no marks. We're already putting up magnets! Oh, and there's Titus in the picture too.

Titus is enjoying the new house. I think he's still unused to all the space. He usually hangs out in whatever room Todd and I are in. Right now he's sleeping next to my chair in the office. Anyhow, back to the pictures. Here's looking at the kitchen. Obviously we're still in the process of filling our cabinets.

And, here's turning around to face the family room...

Here's one with a little more light.

That couch isn't going to be there much longer. We're going to look at a nice leather/microfiber sectional tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to put that in there (that's my goal). And that couch will either go in the office (until we can get a futon) or out in the living room for seating purposes.

Speaking of living room...right now it's our place to store empty boxes.

We've got one bookshelf in there so far. Let's go on to the office. We just got it somewhat set up today. We've got both desks against the same wall. We want to put a futon against the opposite wall, we think.

Sorry for the poor lighting. I was obviously the one taking these pictures. At this point in the evening, Todd was doing homework. And now, the guest bedroom (which is acting as storage right now).

Here's the master bedroom. Most of the stuff is set up, but we're still in the process of putting all our clothes away. It's really roomy right now. In fact, we're keeping an eye out on Craigslist for a Queen or King (or California King?) bed set. We'll see how it goes.

Again, sorry for the lighting. The sitting room has become my space. My dresser is there, along with a 3-drawer piece that holds all of my make-up, hair stuff, etc. And of course, my walk-in closet.

The last thing I want to show you...

OUR POOL!


It's pretty large. The deep end probably gets to 9 or 10 feet deep. Todd and I have already enjoyed a couple of nights in it. We've had fun splashing around and even Todd says he's happy the house has a pool (he was originally against the pool idea). It's so nice to play in and it helps with the heat. We're also looking on Craigslist for some cleaning supplies and such to keep it looking good.

So that's a brief rundown. The three-day weekend was a nice time to get stuff together. We still have a ton to do, but we're not rushing or stressing about it. After all, life is too short. We're taking our time, enjoying it, and enjoying the pool. ^_^

House drawing

Tonight, after dinner and while Ashlee was relaxing some after another busy day of trying to get our house to look more like home, I pulled out a tape measure and my laptop. This is the result:

Because I rounded to the nearest inch for everything, and because I was a bit lazy, the values I used to make the drawing may have been off by an inch or two. At this scale that is really negligible though. Anyway, there it is, complete with "scale box."

Update: Per Ashlee's suggestion, I labeled the rooms.