I Have a Problem

I have a problem that I've always had but is becoming more and more evident since I started school again. I CAN'T SAY NO!! Someone asks me to do a favor and I am automatically flattered (I really do love feeling like I'm a person who can help out and like people can come to me for advice and assistance) and in the spur of the moment, I arrange my schedule in my mind to fit the favor in.

I remember when I first started school, one of the teachers said there comes a time for every nursing student when you feel so overwhelmed you just sit down and cry and you look around and your house is trashed and the laundry and dishes are piling up and you haven't cooked dinner for the past month. I honestly didn't think that time was ever going to come for me...especially not in the second semester!! What is encouraging and frustrating at the same time is that I'm realizing that it's not school that has me so stressed, it's everything else (which has put stress on the school because I've allowed myself to get behind).

I feel like I always end up letting down and pushing aside the people who mean the most to me and the ones I want to show gratitude to and serve the most, especially Mike. Like a bishop who sets aside his family responsibilities to fulfill ward responsibilities. Only my situation is WAY smaller than that :). But I do feel like my problem is interfering with things/people that are MUCH more important!

So my question is this: how do you let people know they can rely on you, that you feel like you owe them a lot and that you want more than anything to help them out but you just can't?? I need advice stat! :)

P.S. PLEASE do not read this post and think it is directed at anyone!! My problem is with time management, not greedy people and I just want to know how other people cope!

Miracle Drug

Ash has wanted to post about when she went on Acutane (Isotretinoin) for a while now and I'm going to finally do it for her. Here are a couple pictures of her acne from random times over the last few years. In the past she usually had me touch up and hide this stuff.

This medicine seems to be associated with a lot of negativity and a lot of people tried to warn her not to do it. Ashley wanted to post this to encourage people to do it if they can. It's definitely worth it. I didn't even notice how much her acne bothered her until it was gone and her whole attitude changed. She is happier and more comfortable.
So I went and took a quick picture tonight of Ashley to compare. She's not wearing any Make up and I didn't do any touch ups to the picture. Here it is.....(I love seeing her happy)

After

Before

Awards

The other day, Mike brought home two new awards from Bank of America. I was in a grumpy mood and he tried to cheer me up by saying that they were prizes he won for me. Actually, they're incentives because he's doing so well at work!If you can't tell, we have a B of A keychain, a grooming kit and a $25 gift card

He's already number 2 on his team and he's only worked there less than three months! I'm so happy to know that he's doing something he's good at and is making him happy too!

Need more space

So recently Ash and I finally got tired of living in a one bedroom apartment, so we made it into a two bedroom. Here's our second bedroom.

Which we put right in the middle of our living room.

I actually really like it. Especially because I sleep right next to the sliding door that I always leave open at night. So we're definitely growing out of the place and we put a bid on a house, and after a little bit of negotiation they've accepted our offer.

I've heard that the house is not yours until you have the keys, so we'll see if we actually buy the house later but it looks like we're heading that way for now. It's a pretty small modest home, and not to mention old, probably just right for us.

Things Have a Way of Working Themselves Out

I wondered when I gave this to Mike for Christmas if it was the right thing to do. I've heard/seen a lot of horror stories...
Seeing as I included this with it...I was probably just asking for trouble.
I thought we'd at least be using Rock Band a lot.
Crazy thing is, he hasn't done much of either since he discovered this:
We learned you can stream Netfilx instantly through the XBox and it's basically Mike's dream come true! It's pretty much all he uses it for (and the only thing I know how to use on it). If you have an XBox 360 and haven't signed up for Netfilx, you're missing out!!

Mike's mom also gave us an awesome TV for Christmas (another dream come true for Mike!). I found this in the instruction manual when Mike was setting it up.
It didn't have an English side to it...maybe it said these things somewhere in the English directions but what do you think it's trying to tell us? The one of the little guy jumping on it was what killed me. Imagine if I had to get after Mike for doing that. Haha!