Author: Ariana Peters

Christian, homeschool mom, runner of 6 half marathons, PR 2:57 so far. Yes I am a slow runner. Small scale homesteading.

Layout of the blog.

by Ariana Peters, posted in books, food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training, travel

I hate being inconsistent. I really want to get to a consistent place with this blog where you can count on posts certain days and on certain subjects. I think I have come up with a schedule that works for me.

Mondays– Monday motivation- All things fitness centered, checking in on workouts and races, pics of food, hiking and all that good stuff.

Wednesdays– House stuff- house hunting, hopefully after we a house fixing it up and gardening and planting and all that jazz

Fridays– school stuff- everything related to school, studying, classes, frustrations, nursing school stuff, fun facts and so much more

Those will be the main weekly points, then above that my goal will be to post a book review at least every OTHER week (if I can get through a non-school book a week that would be awesome but I am not going to over stretch myself)

Other above and beyond things will be any traveling posts or fun things that happen. These will not be on any regular basis (unfortunately, I don’t get to set a traveling schedule hahahahaha it will be as time and budget allow.)

Is there anything else you want to hear about or talk about?

Let me know!

On the market less than 12 hours

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle

The house hunting “fun” continues.

We are using the Redfin app to look for houses and keep up with new houses. Redfin lets you share a list together so you can favorite a house and your partner can see it, and you can leave comments for each other. Redfin also tells you how many new homes have been listed since you last logged on and emails you suggestions (so far only about 1/3 of their suggestions have been close to what we are looking for but that is still good).

So I get a notice yesterday morning, I think I was already at work, that a new house is on the market, I pulled it up, looked at it and favorite it. I got home after work, took Artemis for a walk and as I am walking out the door I get a notification that the same house is now pending!!!! This house was on that market for all of 9 hours!!!!!!

We have plans to look at 2-3 houses this weekend so I will update you soon!

 

Well one of the houses we wanted to look at has an offer in so we are readjusting and looking at others. It is so frustrating! Houses are literally disappearing before my eyes.

Update from the weekend: We ended up only looking at 2 houses and by looking at I mean driving by.

1 of the houses we were going to look at was a manufactured home on a nice almost .4 acres, but we got the ever so polite correct ummm you might want to consider a different one. Apparently manufactured homes only have a “shelf life” so to speak of about 30 years and this one was over that (even though it was so beautiful inside) also I guess housing requirements are in the process of being updated and in a few years this would not meet requirements for us to resell it. So on to the next one.

Image result for house hunting meme (image from bing search)

House 2 had an offer previously but it fell through so we wanted to see it because he had liked it before. Turns out the realtor wasn’t showing it again until Monday. Oy. So we decided to just drive by it and see the neighborhood and the lot, wow was the commute so much worse than we thought it would be so that was out. I would spend no time at home, it would all be work, school, commute, sleep and start all over. So no.

House 3 is something a friend told us about, it isn’t actually listed yet but a family friend is considering selling it so we drove by to check it out. It had a good size lot and was in a decent neighborhood and is 2 streets away from the freeway to get me to work and 10 minutes from Brandon’s  work so it is situated in a good area for us.

For now that is where we are at. Things are hopping off and on the market and we are getting our earnest money and down payment and closing costs together so we are ready to jump when the time comes. I will keep you posted.

Monday Motivation ** December 11, 2017

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

(Image from google)

Happy Monday!!! Though in my week it is Tuesday (I work Sunday-Thursday currently)

Thanks to Groupon I am back in the gym!!!!! I really wanted to join a gym and looked at the various $10/month ones a few weeks ago but between start up fees, annual fees and driving time it just wasn’t worth it to stretch my budget; especially since I don’t know where I will be living in just a few short months so I don’t want to pay all those fees to just have to pay them again if I need to switch gyms.

I tried to let it go but it is getting colder and colder here and we are getting less and less sun. Today the sun sets at 4:27pm. I don’t usually get home until about 4:10 (on a good no traffic kind of day) even running my fastest (after getting home and changing close and getting Artemis’ collar on her I wouldn’t even be able to get 2 miles in.

So I looked for another solution because the sun won’t really come back for a good 2 months (at least not a time that works for me hahahaha) and once it does we might have snow and black ice for another month so I went to Groupon and found a gym that is about a 10-15 min drive from my house and somewhat in between work and home (and had good reviews) and they had a 1 month membership for $13!!!!! SOLD!!! and I am pleased to say it is a NICE gym. I did have to put down a $25 deposit on the key card but that is ok.

With that I got in 4 workouts this week. I signed up on Wednesday after work and ran 2 miles and did 5 min of strength training.

Thursday- I ran 2 miles on the treadmill (but hit the walking button instead of running so my bf lucked out with that in our challenge or it would have put him even more behind hahaha) and did 7 min of strength training

Friday-Rest (we looked at houses)

Saturday-because the price was so good the bf bought the Groupon too!!! Though his was $14 lol, I got an extra dollar savings. Ran 2.17 miles, did 8 min of strength training and 20 mins of the elliptical. WHEW! We then took a 2 hour nap.

We then enjoyed salad and totinos pizza to which i added stuff to make it awesome

Sunday- ran 2.15 miles then went home and stuffed my face with pasta.

I leave you with this awesomeness that has nothing to do with fitness

 

5 weeks until school starts

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, school/studying

And it begins, the countdown to winter quarter starts now. 5 weeks to go.

5 weeks until I start the joyous, interesting, horror that is anatomy and physiology.

Image result for anatomy class memes (image from pinterest)

Currently I am registered the community college I have been going to; near where I live just outside Portland as well as on the waitlist for the class at the community college in Salem. It all depends on what happens over the next 5 weeks. If we are in escrow in the Salem area when school starts (and I get off the waitlist) I will go there but if not or if I don’t get off the waitlist I will take it by my old house and just head there after work and study for a few hours. Maybe get a run in as the weather warms up a bit, we shall see.

Image result for anatomy class memes (image from google)

Everything is up in the air now, which is a little stressful but I am trying to just go with it. I also need to try and put a few dollars into savings to cushion the blow of tuition and books. Anatomy is not cheap, it is 4 credits and has lab fees along with needing supplies.

Be prepared to start hearing a lot about anatomy. I am already using Quizlet to study a bit beforehand.

Where are all the good houses?

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle

Since my last post we have gotten the previous inspection report on one house and would basically have to gut it from the inside out and pay crazy insurance until we got all the electrical fixed in case it suddenly burst into flames…..I am only half kidding.

Image result for house on fire meme (picture from nytimes.com)

so on to the next one. We saw one in the middle lower end of our price range that didn’t jump out at me as amazing but would be fine. The yard was small enough that I probably couldn’t have chickens but could do a halfway decent food garden.

The bf wasn’t feeling too great this weekend so we kept it low key. he emailed the realtor to get some info on the house and we decided to drive by it on Saturday to give us something to do that wouldn’t make it much worse. Don’t worry no one is living in the house right now so we didn’t creep on anyone. When we got there the house was being shown to someone so we drove by, went to lunch and Red Robin then headed back. I kid you now as we pulled into the driveway the realtor replied and said it was not financeable (probably because there is a hole in the roof) so there goes another one. We drove around the block deciding if we just wanted to head back home or what and as we came back around someone else was looking at the house, that is how fast these houses are going. It’s crazy.

Image result for competitive house market meme (image from pinterest)

I think we are going to go back to the bank and try and get preapproved for 25-50k higher so we can get something that is actually livable. We originally asked for a low amount to keep our payments as low as possible but I guess we are going to have to go up a little bit. I will keep you posted, wish us luck!

 

Monday Motivation **December 4, 2017

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

(Image from google)

 

I am trying. This time of year with less light and warmth to go out and do things is a great time to reflect on your life and make any changes that need to be made, so you have time to make them habits before the fun summer comes.

I got in 1 run last week. Here in the pacific northwest we get down to very little sunlight this time of year. We are at about 9 hours of sunlight a day right now (and of course I work 8.5 (when you factor in lunch) hours a day so it is getting tricky to get my runs in when it is still light and not 30degrees or less. I don’t have any actual cold (freezing) weather running gear yet.

If I get caught in traffic or need to stop at the store or something then there is no light left for my run, we still have 2-3 weeks before we hit the solstice so we will lose about another 30 minutes of light before we start getting it back so I think I am going to hit the dollar store for some cheap glow lights (like the kind you wear at a rave hahahaha) so I can start getting in 1 or 2 runs in the dark. I will have to buy some extra for Artemis too, being an almost totally black dog makes her hard to see in the dark. Her collar is reflective but I want more. When I get all decked out for night running ill take a picture for you. Here are some from yesterdays run.

House 1 down the drain + could this be any more confusing?

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle

We thought about making an offer on the cute little house I loved and Brandon asked some friends of his parents that buy investment properties and rentals all the time and they basically told him the land is worth more without the house on it and it’s a piece of crap. They had actually looked at this house to buy months ago and had done all the research on it. It even had leans on the property.

Image result for house buying issues

UGH and they told us that we can buy houses that say cash offer where as the real estate agent said we couldn’t. Also why would you list a property that has leans on it?! No bank will finance that? And why can’t people just be truthful? If you don’t want a piece of crap house what makes you think I will???

Why can’t it be as simple as they make it look on HGTV? Here is a house at the bottom of your budget, one in the middle and one at the top, lets tour all 3, ok now pick which one you would like? And none of them have leans or hidden disasters.

Image result for house buying problems memes

I had totally already started planning our life in that house and oh the yard and the garden and the chickens…… sad face.

Image result for house hunting memes

Oh well, onward and upward. I wallowed last night and now I am ready to start again.

 

This has nothing to do with houses but I saw this and loved it

Image result for house buying problems memes

 

Running report and catch-up

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

Good morning! For a little catch-up after the holiday week.

I got out for a run on Monday after work, the rain held off just long enough and I managed to make it out the door just a few minutes after I got home so I got the last bit of sunlight. Pretty sunset huh?

I am pretty happy with my running times lately. I have been trying to push hard during my intervals without totally killing myself.

My bestie in Nevada and I really miss each other so we have decided that 3 times a year we will meet in the middle for a “date night” hahahahahaha basically an all night girly gab fest where we will stay at a cheap AirBnB. Man AirBnB has made doing things like this so much easier, we get a little apartment with a kitchen so we don’t have to eat out and you can read reviews so you know its a nice little place to stay and it is totally easy to find places for $50, 60, or 70. We already have our first date weekend planned, I am so excited! By putting $20/month (or more if I can spare it) in this little jar that will take care of my half of the room and some gas money and a little food money. It is so important to put time and effort into your friendships if you want them to last.

 

My Thanksgiving, I had to work but I got my butt out for a run as soon as I got home!

It was really pretty out!

Artemis was pretty happy we got outside too.


I really enjoyed my last pumpkin spice latte of the year.

Enjoyed this awesome view on my lunch at work, the river looked amazing with the mist all around it.

 

 

We went a little all out for breakfast on Friday hahahaha. I had some apples from the boyfriends grandparents farm so I sautéed them in some butter, brown sugar and maple syrup to make a little fall apple syrup for my pancakes, it tasted like apple pie!

Juice Saturday morning for breakfast to counteract all the bad eating.


All in all I got 3 runs in which is better than last week. Now lets home this week, I can find a few dry moments to get some runs in as well! Wish me luck!

How was your thanksgiving?

Did you get any workouts in over the holidays?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle

I hope your day is filled with love, light, laughter, friends, family and of course way too much amazing food!!!!

My thanksgiving is not quite what I had hoped. My schedule at work just changed 2 weeks ago so today is my Friday at work and yes, I am working. I was invited to Thanksgiving with the BF’s family but there are eating at 1 and I now work until 3:30pm and wouldn’t even get there until 5 with the drive and needing to go home to let the dogs out first so no Thanksgiving for me this year. I did stop and get a Starbucks though this morning so that is nice.

My idea Thanksgiving would be a turkey trot in the AM then lots of family and food……one day.

What does your Thanksgiving look like?