to buy or not to buy...

Hey all.

Hope this week has treated you wonderfully thus far :)

mine has been great minus one little annoyance..

I cant seem to eat any food without feeling absolutely dreadful afterwards.

I think its my gall bladder...

(or lack thereof)

(i have no gallbladder!) :)

Anyways...

this week has been full of planning out my new apartment!

** so stinkin' fun **

and planning out my new BUDGET...

** not so stinkin' fun **

but its good :)

I have a picture in my mind of every room and how I want it to look and I have realized something..

I love green.

olive green, bright green, irish green, siege green...

GREEN green GrEen GREEN!!!

I really like this color.

I may have an all green apartment.

and thats perfectly fine.. because..

its mine! :)

hehe

I started my first apartment project this week..

allow me to explain :)

I was given t

wo end tables, a coffee table and a sofa table from a lovely family.

its a nice "set" and it was very nice of them to give it to me..

however.. its wood.... not "espresso" wood... but more.... blonde.

This does not match the tan/green/dark gray color scheme I have pictured in my mind for my living room...

so.. I painted :)

Check it out my people:

I'm happy with the results :)

now onto the next dilemma...

minus the fact that I still have no dining room table..

ugh, if I could just go buy any dining room table I wanted... I would probably get this one:

simple. adorable.. and 500 dollars.

UGH.

looks like I'll be thrift store shopping.

BUT WAIT-- i have been thrift store shopping... and have I found a dining room set?

noooope.

it will all work out Brooke.

you WILL get a table and chairs.

You will be able to have dinner at a table.

This will happen.

I hope. :)

ON my final note for the evening:

I have a new addiction:

food blogs.

I am dreaming of the dinners I will make for myself and my guests!

tonight i made grilled chicken with spinach and mozzarella with roasted red peppers.

yumm-o baby.

(and some whole wheat pasta with some organic and AMAZING sauce)

bon-appetite! :)

Please feel free to come by anytime in about a month or so and I'll cook you dinner..

...... but we may have to sit on the floor :(

sick and busy.

Last week I got the flu.

Well, I guess its NOT the "flu".

I've been told that the "flu" is a head cold?

(i dont understand this.)

I did not have a head cold.

I had the following:

nausea, body aches, cold sweats, nausea... nausea....

ugh. i forgot how much I hate the flu.

And I realized that I still pray to the good lord above when I'm feeling a little qweeezy..

example:

Brooke: "oh no, lord, please! Please.. i dont want to throw up... please..."

(I think He may laugh at me sometimes).

Well, the Lord didnt answer my prayer....

And.thats.all.i.want.to.say.about. that.

I'm better now. Thank you Jesus. :)

In other news.. I have an official place to LIVE! :)

Regents Center apartments, I think we will get along just fine :)

this is my BUILDING ------------------------------>

so exciting :)

I lay in bed at night thinking of how I'll decorate and paint colors.

curtains. lamps.

(which by the way I purchased my lamps for my living room today!)

I have pretty much everything I "need".

EXCEPT a dining room table.

I had one and JUST got rid of it like 6 months ago...

my mind set was:

"whenever I move out on my own I'll just buy a new one".

stupid silly Brooke.

So. if any of ya'll have a dining room table you would just love to get off your hands...

well, my hands are willing to do ya a fava :).

so, the countdown begins...

Although the starting day for work HAS changed.

Poor little Hayden is still in the hospital.

(the youngest child is Hayden, he was born 10 weeks early and is still in the hospital gaining his strength!)

So, I am now here until the weekend of April 30th! :)

Which I'm a tad thankful for.. gives me more time to get things in order! :)

In other news, I leave to See Nish this week!!! SOOO EXCITED!

I have missed my best friend.

cant wait to see her, eat amazing food and tour washington DC! :)

pictures and stories to come :)

be ready for endless blogs on decorating and cooking...

im so excited about cooking my own dinners every night :)

moving on...

"moving on is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard"

... somebody wise said this

So... I have big news.

Crazy news.

Scary and exciting all at once kinda news.

I'm. moving.

yoop. you heard me.

moving.

listen people.. this is why I thought i had insomnia.

This is why my last dozen blog posts have been about seeking something, looking for something, dealing with change.

I think I was being prepared for this move. (literally.)

As most of you know I have fallen in love.

to my aunts that read this: Its not what you think.

About two and a half years ago I came across a family that needed a part time baby-sitter.

I was just recently un-employed and desperate for any kind of job.

this wasnt the job I was looking for.. but it found me.

and im.so.glad.

I started working for the Dean Family and life has not been the same.

I have been a nanny for about 5 years and I have heard about having an "alice" experience.

(ya know, "the brady bunch" alice... come on people!)

And I thought that I had experienced that already, but man oh man, I was wrong.

The Deans welcomed me not only into their house but into their hearts (cheeeeeees-ay!)

But seriously, they took me in, they loved me, they accepted me and they paid me. ha.

back.on.track.

The Deans were only in Nebraska for residency at the Medical Center.

So i know and they knew that the job would only last a little over 2 years and then they would move away.

What we didnt know was that we would fall in love with eachother and NEVER want to say goodbye! Ha.

I LOVE this family.

Can I just tell you about them puh-lease?

Well, there is David and Jozette. (aka: mom and dad)

David is funny and goofy. Nice to everyone. Cares about people and LOVES his family. He has become like a big brother to me. Very protective of me, likes to humiliate me (I'm assuming this is big brother stuff since I never had one).

Jozette has a heart of gold. Sweetest person you'll ever have the pleasure of crossing paths with. She was born to be a mom. She is patient, warm, fun, inviting. She is easy to talk to. I LOVE her.

Grace is in kindergarten. Grace is funny like her dad but nurturing like her mom. She is sweet and wants to do everything the "correct" way. She rarely has to be scolded. She is a GREAT big sister.

Addi is almost 3. Addi is hilarious. She is her own person for sure. Does everything at her own time and in her own way, she is unique. I have a really special bond with Adds because I have watched her since she was 5 months old. She loves to cuddle up with me at any given moment. She is the one that gave me the name "bup" that i'm sure I'll have for a long time to come. :)

Paige is a little over a year. I looked forward to Paige from the second I heard she was coming into the Dean family. We awaited her arrival and talked and talked about what life would be like once she/he finally got here! Paigie had the most handsome ultra-sound picture you could ever see. I was so sure she was a boy. But she surprised me. Which was only a prediction of what was to come... :) She continues to surprise me. She is quick tempered and very senstive. She is happy and giggly. She is already funny. She is a talker and LOVES her sisters. She may be the most "hard core" sister of them all.

These are the Deans and they have become my family. I love them dearly.

now.back.on.track. :)

When I first met the Deans I was unsure about taking the job only because it was only part time.

I could NOT shake the feeling that God was telling me:

"Brooke, they need help and I want YOU to be the one to help them!"

(now.comes.the.hard.part)

Welp, the Deans are moving and they dont really need a "bup" anymore. :)

(the circle of life..... )

So i started praying about what to do next.

I interviewed and turned down jobs and prayed, and cried, and questioned, and prayed.

(this probably explains the last 5 or 6 posts) ha.

A couple weeks ago I met a family in Olathe Kansas with 2 little kids.

They need a nanny full time starting in about 4 weeks.

They are a sweet little family.

As I walked out of their house and got into my car I started to cry as I felt it again.

(brooke, they need help, and i want YOU to help them)

Were they the Deans?

nope.

Is it going to be like the Deans?

nah.

Did they need my help?

yep.

So, after thinking and thinking I have made a decision.

to move to Olathe Kansas.

(siiiigh)

In the next blogs to come I'm sure I'll talk about the excitement I have over having my own place.

(ya heard that right people. I'm getting an apartments and living ALONE)

I'm sure I'll talk about the excitement of a new town (somewhat new).

I'm sure i'll have much more interesting things to write.

I do KNOW that this is what i'm supposed to do.

I AM excited.

But this blog....

this one for tonight...

i just want it to be about the family that has loved me and shown me that I'm a nanny.

Its who I am.

Its what I do.

Its what I love.

exciting times.

scary times.

defining times.

... to be continued :)