Good news and still waiting on other news

I saw someone post a picture of their Salt Lamp on Facebook and it reminded me that I have a salt lamp but haven't been able to use it because the bulb went out.  I went to wipe down my lamp and decided to plug it in another outlet.  As I was trying to remove the stand, the lightbulb turned on!  Now that I know my salt lamp still works, I have it in the living room on our TV stand.  I will bring it back in the bedroom in the evening.  I am hoping it will help us sleep better and clean our air at the same time. 

We still have not heard back from the apartment.  I hope they call soon. 

I received some great news this evening.  I passed my final exam.  I was taking an online course in Medical Administrative Assisting through Career Step.  As an NC resident, our tuition is greatly reduced.  I had until April 30th to complete the course, but I finished and took my exam on March 1st.  I received an email today letting me know I passed.  When I went to check my score, I realized I passed with HONORS!!!! 

I am waiting for the school to let me know how I can receive my certificate of completion and they will also let me know how to go about taking the CMAA test, which means that I will be certified if I pass that test.  Certification means more pay with employers.  I am unsure if I am going to take the test.  If I can take it online, I will definitely look into it. 

Apartment/Moving, Work and Workouts

Shannon talked to his mom the other day and apparently, they are wanting to move back to NC.  They are interested in the apartment complex we applied to.  They had looked at it two years ago when they were moving out of their house but on a whim, they decided to move to the beach instead.  Now, they want to move back to NC.  After my father-in-law's health scare a few months ago, they realized that it would be better for all of us to be near each other.  They can help us and we can help them.  Plus, they are already familiar with the area.  We also have Trader Joe's and a few other natural foods store that they like.  In their current city, the closest Trader Joe's is a few hours away. 

We still have not heard any word from the apartment complex regarding our application.  They told us it would take around 3 days (we turned in our application on Wednesday), so hopefully on Monday we will hear something.  We drove by that area again.  They have Walgreens on the corner (there is also a CVS across the street on the corner) and Harris Teeter (grocery store) and many other stores directly across the street from the complex.  The entire apartment complex property is on 32 acres of land.  It's a huge looking place.  When we drove through it, it looks so quiet and peaceful.  Very family oriented.  Plus, the office does a criminal background check. 

Shannon worked 12 hours last night.  He had to work from 7pm until 7am.  He had to work one site from 7pm until 11pm and then do his supervisor shift from 11pm until 7am.  But during the 12 hours, he will be paid the same rate of pay!!!   The acting manager (they still haven't filled the position of the former Account manager) told Shannon that he will have more hours for him this week!  I am so glad there are plenty of hours to be given out to everyone.  It sounds like everyone is getting extra hours or overtime if they want it. 

Since I am feeling completely better and no longer have dizzy spells, I started March off to a great start.  February was not a good month for me.  I am back to doing pilates for now.  I am going to continue with pilates and then add yoga here and there.  Once I have done that for a few weeks, I plan on adding Turbo Jam and then Turbo Fire.  I am just taking it day by day. 

2012 Taxes are done and filed

I filed our taxes yesterday.  Luckily, we qualified for free tax filing, for State and Federal.  Unfortunately, our refund isn't as big as we hoped it would be, but it is better than nothing (like last year). 

Rental Application

This afternoon, we filled out and turned in our rental application to the apartment complex we want to move to.  We asked to see the two bedroom/1 bath apartment that we want.  We already saw it back in August or so but wanted to see it again.  When we got back, we filled out the application right there in the lobby of the rental office. 

We've got a tooth...finally!

Kyle has lost several teeth over the last year or so.  We finally have one of his teeth!  His bottom tooth has been loose for days now.  Over the weekend, his daddy and I showed him what to do with the tooth after it pops out.  We showed him that he should put it in mommy's hand.  We demonstrated that when the tooth comes out, he puts it in my palm.

Tonight, he was playing with his loose tooth and he pulled me to the bathroom and pulled it out and put it in my palm.  We now have a tooth from Kyle!!!! 

Started looking for apartments

I started looking for apartments online.  We're not sure if we want to stay in the area so that Kyle would remain a student as his current school since the entire staff and parents know of his special needs.  That would be ideal.  But also, we want to find a place that we could afford to live at. 

I also realized that I want to live in an apartment complex that offers a gym!  That would be ideal too.  I love the idea of having the opportunity to go to the gym to workout whenever I wanted, especially while Kyle is at school.  It would give me options, besides working out at home. 

Also, we want an apartment with a washer and dryer or hook ups in the apartment.  It's for convenience.  We are also considering location.  We want a place that has a grocery store or drug store nearby.

I hope we can start visiting a few places soon.  Shannon is aware that we need to give a 60 day notice before we move out. 

Blog issues resolved?

For the last month or so, I have been having issues with my other blog, Beauty Brite.  Beauty Brite is all about product/book reviews, giveaways and more!  It has also become my "full time job/hobby."  I love it.  It has also helped me earn money here and there.  Over a year ago, I switched to self-hosted wordpress, which means I own my blog and my content.  When I was "hosted" with blogger, I saw it as "unsafe" because blogger had the ability to delete my blog without warning or without notice for any reason they wanted.  I wanted to protect all of my hard work and my writing by switching to wordpress.  I also pay for my own hosting. 

Anyway, in late January/early February, I started having issues with posting and editing content.  I was unable to post new posts and edit current posts or pages.  You can read about it here.  After getting it fixed, it started happening again.  It would happen after I logged on to my blog from one computer and then log on from another computer.  Anyway, I found out about a security plugin to install and every since I installed it, I no longer have an issue.  With the plugin, I was able to run a scan and then whatever issues they found, I was able to "remove" the threat!  I am so glad my blog seems to be working again with no issues.