Up, Up, & Away!

I have just a quick second to check in before I'm done with work & officially on vacation! I have so much to do before I leave for Vienna tomorrow, but it's getting there little by little!
This past weekend was so much fun. My brother & his family were in town Friday - Saturday. Friday night we had a family cookout to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Saturday morning we got in on a little hometown parade action. The kids got tons of candy. Then Mike & I headed to Brown County to spend a few hours roaming the shops in Nashville. He bought some beautiful pottery & we had a great time just hanging out. Saturday night we met up with Mom & Dad, Beth & Brennan & their kids for dinner at Olive Garden. Yum! Then I went on a little shopping spree. I needed a new coat & some new jeans before I headed over the pond & I also picked up a pair of Dansko's (very expensive but supposedly very good for your feet shoes). Anyone else ever buy them? Opinions to share? So far I like mine. Then yesterday was church (evangelistic meeting started & wow - good stuff so far!) & some more bustling around followed by an Amazing Race party at Beth & Bren's. Very busy, very fun weekend. I'm blessed to be able to spend time with such wonderful people, family & friends alike.
This afternoon I've got laundry, tidying, & packing to do. Oh, and today is our one year anniversary as an officially dating couple. Anybody else out there completely surprised that I've been able to keep him this long? ;-)
And I'm happy to report that I have already voted. I will be getting back to the States on Election Day so I had to vote early. Voting is a very precious freedom. I recommend the movie "Iron Jawed Angels" to any person who wants to gain a greater understanding of what women in the past endured to enable us to vote today.
All right, I guess this is adios for now! I would say good bye in German, but I've got no idea how!

The During

Instead of skipping to the After, I'm going to have an intermediate step called the During. I don't feel like I'm officially to the After yet. I'm still unpacking, still situating, & the kitchen won't even appear in these posts because it is SO in the midst of progress. So here are the Durings. Hopefully after a very productive afternoon & evening today, I'll have some After pics to post soon - with furniture situated, boxes unpacked, laundry done...you get the idea ;-)

This is the lovely, little old time medicine cabinet that I preserved in the bathroom. I love it. Everyone asked me if I was going to replace it & I firmly said no. I love it. Mike put in two lovely new lights on either side of the cabinet & put in wainscoting & paneling above. I love the two tone blue. It's cheerful & makes me happy.

In the space next to the shower where we took out some old cabinets Mike built in this lovely shelf. This is the top half. And this is the bottom half. The lowest compartment is just the right size for my tall laundry basket. Very handy. Eventually I plan on making some curtains to hang on the inside for at least this bottom spot. This is the bedroom. The walls are Cranberry, the trim is Honeysuckle Bloom & the ceiling is Flax. It's hard to tell the colors from these dark pics, but I love it! It's a bit intense, but very warm.


I love this picture because it allows you to see a little better how it all comes together. The crown molding with the corner pieces was Mike's idea & has been considered a stroke of genius by us all. I think crown molding looks like the icing on a fancy cake. Beautiful! You can also see a little better the color of the ceiling. I promise, it does match the roman shades. I know in that other pic the color of the shades seems a little out there, but they really do look great.

Yikes, the clutter of moving! This is the living room During. The color of these walls is Lindhurst Mushroom & the ceiling is Quail Egg. It's hard to see much, but maybe you can see a little of how it's different.
And finally, the dining room During. Since it's very open between the living room & dining room the walls & ceiling are painted the same colors. And I have to thank God that I do actually really like all of the colors I've selected. That has definitely got to be a work of His kindness because I've never done this kind of thing before & I prayed often that He would help me. No one has the time or money to redo things, you know?

That's all for now! I hope that I really do get a lot done today so I can have some more pics for you this week!

The Before

I'm going to try to organize the posting of my house pictures. I wanted to remind you all what I started with so here are some "before" shots:

The massive plaster hole mess in the bathroom.

This is the space next to the shower where we took out some cabinets.

The bedroom before. If you know me well, you know that lacey, floral wallpaper & sheer curtains are just not going to cut it.

The living room before. The couch & chair you see are the ones that I sold on Craigslist.

The dining room before. See all that lovely painted-over wallpaper that I had to scrape off? And that's my mom & dad checking the place out just before I bought it.

My First Overnight Guest!

Roxi was here! She came in last Sunday for a quick visit. She got here before Mike & I got to town from one of his family get-togethers. I felt terrible that Roxi was on her own in our exciting town for about an hour before I got there to meet her. She was in a forgiving mood & we're very grateful ;-)

We met up just in time for the evening service & then came back to my house for some gourmet Pizza Hut. We visited & watched The Amazing Race then turned in early 'cause Monday was going to be a big day - The Covered Bridge Festival! Roxi came all the way from Ohio to spend the day with my family as we shopped the biggest junk sale in the Midwest! I'm a fan of the CBF but not because of the wonderful handmade crafts (there really just aren't many); I'm a fan because of the food! My dad always has something in his hands that he's sharing - roasted nuts, fudge, kettle corn, etc. It was a good thing we were walking around all day! I bought a big rug for my living room (which may later be relocated to the bedroom - this decorating business is hard!) & a harvest decoration for my front door. It was a wonderfully exhausting day. We were there from about 10 am to 6 pm. Whew!

Thanks for coming, Roxi! We all enjoyed having you here!

Not So Much...

This has been the picture of me for the last 15 days (who's counting?). I've had a terrible sinus infection/upper respiratory yuck going on for so long that I kind of forget what it feels like to be the normal Mary Ann. I was hoping this morning when I woke up I would feel like a new woman...not so much. Still coughing. Still fatigued (I think that's the worst part). Still getting sinus headaches. Still blowing my nose way too much.
I've finished a full 10 day course of antibiotics & I've been popping M*cinex DM like a junkie. I'm just praying that I can get over the whole deal completely before I fly next week. My ears can't hardly handle a flight when I'm 100 % well so I'm fairly certain that 3 flights on my way to Vienna could be completely miserable if I'm stuffy headed.
What do you think - is Airborne effective? Should I try it? And does anyone have any flying tips they would like to pass along? I'm always happy to get travel advice so let me know what you know!

Mobile Meltdown

I've had a super frustrating week trying to deal with a cell phone that has been on the blitz. It wouldn't charge all the way, it was sketchy about when it would it would turn on, it would turn itself off. Sometimes it turned itself on (don't know how that was happening & it was a bit creepy). Anyway, long story short, I ended up getting my mom's old cell activated for me b/c I'm at least three months from my new every two discount. I'm thinking this is a great deal b/c I just don't want to fork out the cash for a refurb or a new phone. One small problem - I have about 150 phone numbers saved to my phone. They assured me that if I had them backed up on-line (which I did) that I just needed to login & transmit the contacts to my newly activated phone. Awesome! Easy! Free! Yay! So that's what I did. Or that's what I thought I was doing. Horror of horrors I watched the computer screen reset with my mom's 20 contacts that she had saved to her phone when she was using it. Now I can't call anybody. I don't know anyone's phone number.

If you know me, love me, & want to talk to me please call me, text me, or e-mail me with your number(s). I feel so cut off; I feel so all alone! I feel so angry that this happened at all. Grrrr...Wahhhh...

Poll Question!

For all you fellow bloggers out there...I've been thinking a lot lately about why I blog & why I read blogs. When I first found a group of Northland bloggers out there, I was so excited! It was really fun to read up on where people were at, what they were doing, see pictures of their kids, etc. So I decided I had to have a blog, too. Just in case there were people out there that were wondering about me & where I was & what I was doing. And even though I don't have pictures of kids to post, I do have a cute boyfriend that I can post pictures of...heehee ;-) Anyway, the basic idea was to get in touch with people I had lost contact with & to maintain contact with others who are far away. And I've done that some.
But after some more in depth reflection I have decided what my one main reason is for blogging and what my one main reason is for blog reading.
I blog b/c I like to write. For those of you who know me well this will not come as a surprise. I love to type out a post about something funny that happened, or a strange question that arose in my mind, or an answer to prayer I've had, or insight about the Lord I've realized. Oftentimes I don't have time to actually sit at the computer & write the posts. But I get to think about them & that process, for me, is much more than half the fun.
I read blogs b/c I am a voyeur. Not in an icky, creepy way. I've always been a snoop - I wanted to know what other people kept in their bathroom cabinets so when I was a kid, I had to look (I promise I haven't done this in YEARS!). When I'm driving, I kind of glance around at the people in the other cars. And if you leave your curtains open at night you're just asking for me to look in as I go by. I just can't help it. And reading other blogs kind of satisfies the same nosey urge in me. Can't help it. Curiosity compels me.
So...why do you blog? Why do you read blogs?

Google Reader

I'm kind of slow on computer stuff. As with all things electronic I usually just learn enough to function in the most minimal way, which drives Mike nuts; he wants to totally figure out my laptop & ipod - I say, more power to him! Anyway, I decided to give Google Reader a try. I go through the craziest blog to blog to blog path to try to catch up with everyone's new posts so hopefully this will save me some time. We'll see. It's always fun to try something new, right? Plus, I've got a really bad sinus issue (bad enough to call the doc for drugs today) & we're really slow here at work. I had to have something to do. I already worked on my Sunday School lesson for this week & reorganized my materials. I have tried to hook my camera up to this computer but I can't figure out how to make it work. Alas, still no house pictures. An update on my pumpkin - I'd had it sitting out on my front porch for less than 24 hours before a squirrel or some other varmint took a big bite out of it's backside. Hilarious!

Finally!

Yep, I am finally moved into my house! I closed on the house on April 18th (my niece Madison's birthday as well as the day we had an earthquake) so it had been a little less than 6 months ;-)
I got off of work a little bit late & Mike's truck broke down so we didn't get off to a promising start. I was also kinda worried because I hadn't packed anything at Mom & Dad's. I didn't want all of my helpers getting impatient with me as I stuffed boxes & ran around like a crazy woman. I got home & my grandparents were there, ready & waiting with their truck. I know it sounds awful for me to enlist the help of my mid-eighties grandpa, but he is such a great packer, tier-downer, & he insists on helping. My grandma is a great cheerleader so we had to have her along, too. I'm not sure I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE my grandparents. They are such a source of joy & wisdom for me. My mom was a huge blessing to me because she had stuffed several boxes full for me while I was at work. I started piling up what was ready to go, they started carrying it out to grandpa's truck & a little bit later Beth & Brennan arrived to help. Caleb & Madison even got in on the action by carrying out smaller things. Moving is a terrible pain (I'm sure you can all agree!) but it was wonderful spending those few hours with my family. We got it all moved in about 3 1/2 hours. Very little of it has been situated or put away, but it's all there except for my tv & a couple of other things. I've even been staying there the last two nights. Yesterday my family went to a pioneer/harvest festival thing & I even bought a pumpkin for my front porch ;-) I'd take some pics & post them for you all but I cannot find my camera anywhere. Imagine that! I work both jobs today but I have high hope for organization & unpacking for tomorrow & Wednesday. This has been a long & ongoing process. I've been a bit exhausted & exasperated at times, but the Lord has been so good to provide just what I've needed all along the way. I can't thank Him enough for the people in my life - my family, Mike, Virginia - who have been so faithful to encourage & help me along the way. I'm so blessed.

The Official House Update

As of today here is the rundown:

• the bedroom is DONE! Except for some touch up painting which shouldn't take more than five minutes.
• the living room is DONE! Touch up painting note applies here, too.
• the bathroom is DONE! All we need to do is reset the toilet, reinstall the shower door & then I need to clean.
• the dining room just needs the woodwork washed, the floor stripped & waxed.
• the kitchen is an utter disaster. We'll label it the current work in progress. ;-)

And for the BIG NEWS - I hope to move in a big way on Saturday! It's gonna be an interesting process because we won't be able to start until about 3 pm because I have to work my second job. I'm excited; I can't wait! It's gonna be a major mess but oh well! Roxi, I hope you're ready for some chaos when you come visit :-)

Terrible Tuesday Curse Broken!

I thought things were all lined up for Terrible Tuesday #4. The day did not start out in a promising way - I woke up for work WAY late. As in I had about 10 minutes to get ready & I was still late. Not good. Thank God for a kind boss. After work I headed over to my house to check in with the sewer repair guys. I have to say that I totally do not envy them. Not a very fun job at all. The men that were working for me were so nice. They let me hover & ask all kinds of questions about what they were doing & what I could do to help prevent this from happening again. Basically I have to totally replace the sewer pipes with plastic or cut the trees down. I don't think I'm going to do either at this point. So I'm going on a strict regimen of Root Kill down the drain. Anyway, they dug down to the pipe & removed a patch (evidence of previous work), put the snake thing in a pulled out roots that were woven together so tightly that they looked like a carpet. What a mess! I'm so grateful they were able to get it all cleaned out. I was a little anxious about the bill. I could only imagine it was going to be huge because they had come out to work on it two different days & they had to dig, etc. I was pleasantly surprised when the bill was only $335. Thank God - a direct answer to prayer with that amount. I had tried to brace myself for the worst because everyone kept telling me it was going to be a very painful bill. I am going to remember who I called for service this time so I make sure that if I have a problem again, I can be a repeat customer.
I am cautiously hopeful that the Terrible Tuesday curse is broken ;-)

This & That

Wow, that's a little picture! I uploaded it from my cell phone. I'm sure you're all dying to know that I cut my hair. It seems like kind of a dramatic cut to me. It's as short as I've had it in years & I'm wondering why I waited SO LONG! Excuse the expression on my face; I don't know why I'm looking so weird.