the bathroom

So the bathroom is small, and it has two doors.... and it had this nasty vanity with fluorescent lights on the sides. The electrical cord on the right went to a power strip that was zip-tied to the wall. um.... yeah.

Just lovely...

I almost painted it "Bullfrog" green, but went with "Crisp Sage" instead. I'm glad I did. And check out the cabinet, and the new outlet my brother wired for us. (We won't mention that he put a hole all the way through the wall in the process. haha)

So much better... oh, and we got rid of that awful storage shelf thing too...

Blessings.

the porch/laundry room

Hooray for Fridays! It's been a long week. :)

So this room is the reason I wanted to live here... it's kind of a three season porch, plus it had room for laundry and a freezer. Much nicer than a dinky apartment. :)

So it's only semi-organized. :)

There is lots of room for plants this winter!!

Blessings.

the kitchen

Yes, that is very nasty pink wallpaper. And the cabinets have scalloped trim. And the tile is brown with teal/aqua and tan. Quite lovely.

You can't tell, but the wall on the right was FULL of holes. Seriously, I spent at least an hour filling them with spackle, and we still ended up having to use wall cover on it.

And every room in the house is cable ready.... and there was about 10 ft of cable at every jack. um.... overkill??

So the paint kind of matches the blue in the tile... it looks brighter than it is in real life. :)

Yay for vintage apron curtains. They make me smile a lot.

And for tin signs!

Blessings.

Friends and Fireworks

I had Friday off for the 4th- hooray for my government job! It was great, I got to sleep in and get lots of stuff done. And I got to sit out in the sun and read.... one thing I don't like about living in town and having a very shaded back yard... I can't lay out. Unless of course I would in the front yard, but that would be super awkward. :) So I have tan lines. *sigh* O well.

Saturday some people came over for supper and games... good times. We skipped fireworks... nobody was very excited about going out in the cold and damp. We were hoping we could be outside... since our selection of games is so limited, but it was still fun. :) Mostly just good to hang out with cool people.

So I maybe insisted on going to watch fireworks on Sunday because I love them and it was super nice out and I was disappointed we didn't get to see them Saturday and it's kind of un-American to not partake! We went to Hopedale because it was close. I liked them. Even though we sat by some people with fluorescent hair (it seriously was still visible after dark) who insisted on smoking the entire time. I don't think I've ever been in front of buildings to watch fireworks, so the loud echoes were a new experience. :) maybe next year I'll get to go to Peoria's....

Blessings.

the living room

Before.... front door and very white walls.

After... front door... I'm still working on curtains. I just got some super cool fabric to make them because the only curtains that I've seen that I liked a lot were at Pottery Barn and therefore waaay too much money. Anyway, I digress.

Hooray for furniture! Direct from Klopfenstein HomeRooms in Ft. Wayne Indiana... it's nice to have connections.

Don't ask Bob about hanging these shelves... it was a pain... and the drywall anchors that came with them were worthless. I like how they look though!

ooo.... look, my orchid is blooming!

Blessings.

welcome...

So I'm sure you've all been dying to see what our duplex is like...
Check out the hanging basket and the festive windsock.

The back patio.

My flower beds- there would be more plants blooming if the stinking rabbits didn't eat them!

Sorry... no picture of the back yard and shed. *grin* You'll just have to come visit.

I have inside before and after pictures I'll post later.... wait for it...

busy...

So this weekend was pretty busy... I helped with Meg's baby shower Saturday morning, and then Bob and I went to his classmate's wedding in the afternoon... I'm almost glad it was too hot to be outside, because it was such a nice day and I was dying that I had to be inside for most of it.

And I've decided that even though AC receptions are long.... they're worse everywhere else. :) The wedding was really nice, and fairly short. We were at the "reception" (the receiving line was at the church; therefore, it was really just an after-the-wedding party) for almost 3 hours and they hadn't even started the dancing yet when we left.

It stormed that night. Which I hate... at least it made it nice and cool outside for the Sunday school picnic on Sunday. They have a swimming pool full of cans of pop and bottles of juice, so amazing. :)

mom, you should stop reading now... so... we have a mouse. Had a mouse. It was making its presence known in my kitchen last week- and ruined our leftover bread from Avanti's. Which was pretty tragic. I'm not afraid of mice, but they're just gross. We had a bunch of traps set all around the kitchen and Bob went down to check them last night- it ate the peanut butter off of them and they were all still set. Bob saw it on the counter and it hid behind some of the over-abundance of tupperware that is keeping food away from the mouse. And he smashed it. And one mouse is dead. And hopefully it's the only one... aren't they supposed to be outside in the summer?? Maybe he just went soft and decided he liked the air conditioning. We were lamenting that we probably dispatched Martin the warrior... haha.

So now it's really nice outside and I'm inside. *sigh* And Bob isn't working this week and I'm jealous. :P

Blessings.

not me wednesday

I did not use the rest of my wedding cake to make a chocolate trifle for the 'Taste of NCAUR' today.

*grin*


Mom froze the entire topper of our cake for us... which is great except it was waaay to much cake and was taking up room in my freezer. So I thawed it out... (don't worry, I put two pieces back in the freezer for our anniversary, although I think it's kind of a dumb tradition- what's the point?? Freezer burnt cake doesn't taste very good, you might as well make fresh cake.) Yeah, the frosting didn't like being frozen so it tasted kind of nasty, but the cake was still good. We haven't really been eating it though, so rather than throw it away, I scraped the frosting off and used it.

My kitchen was a mess last night. I was cooking up a storm and doing what I do best- getting almost every dish and utensil dirty. And we don't have a dishwasher. *sigh* But Bob helped with dishes. He's great like that. :)

Blessings.

girls night

Tuesday night I had some Washington girls over to hang out... my first non-family company. I was fighting the urge to reclean our house and make everything look absolutely perfect... it's a good thing I work 40 hours a week or I probably would have. *grin* hooray for being an AC girl...

So we ate a lot. (You can all thank me for not taking pictures while we were eating!) I made chicken pesto pizza, which turned out to be really good, and they all brought lots of other amazing girl food. *grin*

And then we played Encore for a while... because we can't get together without singing. Hm... I wonder how many other people play that game in 3 part harmony? Heidi and Kate... and Katie.

We walked to Pinky's for dessert... and apparently our very own former pinkette was cut out of this picture. Heather was there too!

Erin and Kate Katie and Amy

Good times. :)

turkey

Well, we survived the weekend. :D haha.... yeah... it wasn't bad at all. Not very much traffic on our street and no one blocked our driveway or parked in our yard. And we couldn't really hear the music at night- just the screams of pre-teen girls, but it would take a lot to block that out (or shut them up *grin*).

Sprout and I walked over on Saturday afternoon to check out the books... I came home with some Agatha Christie books and a Daphne du Maurier book that I haven't read before. Bob and Matt opted to stay in the air conditioning and play games on the computer Bob built the night before. (he's so smart. I'm glad I married a computer geek- he fixed my lappy and it runs 10 times faster now!) I did make them quit the game and come get turkey sandwiches with me. (So mean, I know) We rode the ferris wheel for an exorbitant amount of money. And ate a funnel cake. Good times.

I made 9.5 jars of strawberry jam when we got back. The half jar because I knocked over a full jar before the lid was on tight and I only salvaged half. Sad news. And my counter was super sticky. *sigh* Now I just need to find a place to store them...

Blessings.

trepidation

the turkey festival is this weekend. woot. it's about two blocks from our house. i'm told that tons of people are going to descend on the park... hence my title.

ok, so I'm sure it won't be too bad. :D It's only for a few days... and I have to admit that watching the carnival and the tents go up the last few days has been cool. Hooray for small town festivals. (we'll just ignore the fact that I've shunned the cherry festival my whole life and avoided the Eureka/lilac/Reagan/make-up-your-mind-on-a-name fest as much as possible.) Except for the library book sale. I love book sales. :D

Blessings.

antiques

So this weekend Mom and I introduced Shelly to pleasant hill antique mall. It was great fun... all kinds of things to look at and covet. :) I didn't get much, just some vintage aprons. Shelly came home with a birdcage and a hat, Mom got some books. I tried to convince Shelly to get this really cool mink muff- it was made of real minks, sewed together side by side, with their tails and paws hanging down the back. We took a picture on mom's cell phone, so I'll probably never be able to post it. :)

Jakey came over Sunday night to hang out... after supper. He scorned my offer of making him food in favor of frozen pizza... tsk. I mean, who would pass up chicken curry?? Actually, he said he didn't want to influence Bob's first curry experience or something like that. :) Jakey's not a fan of 'weird' food. For the record, it was really good. At least I thought so, but I like curry a lot.

The turkey festival is this weekend. I'm told I should be really excited about it. *grin*

Blessings.

student loans

So I would recommend avoiding the gov't student loans at all costs....

For two years while I was in school they sent me statements of how much I had borrowed. Every week the same thing. Such a waste of paper.

Then when it was time to start paying it back... no more paper. No instructions on where to send checks to, when payments were due, nothing. So.... I went to the website (which was hard to find) and set up automatic debits online.

It works well.... except that now I have to change banks and my name and address. A few weeks ago I sent them the address change and a copy of my marriage certificate. I went online last night to change bank accounts and my account came up as Jennifer R. Tazewell. Um... um...um.... what!?!?! That's our street name. How in the world do you mess that up?? And I'm pretty sure it was two separate changes; I did the address change online, and then had to mail the name change stuff. Seriously, you'd think they'd at least be checking against soc. sec. records or something!

*sigh* girls, don't get married, it isn't worth the hassle of changing your name. :D




ok. maybe it is. but still.

weekend

So we didn't do much over the weekend. Which was nice... although we didn't get to sleep in at all on Saturday. *sigh* hooray for bankers hours and having to be at the bank way too early in the morning. And then I had... I mean got to go to Tim and Melissa's shower. Yeah, still not a fan of showers, sorry to everyone that is. Although they are better when everyone isn't looking at you. :P

Saturday afternoon Sprout and I went to Menards and checked out the garden department. Which is super dangerous and I maybe left with more plants and things than I was planning on leaving with. :D We spent the rest of the afternoon tearing out the awful mulch and ancient black plastic in my flower beds and planting them. It looks ten times better now... hopefully my plants will survive. And I pulled grass from between the pavers on our patio, so that looks less trashy now too. :D

I really should take pictures of everything and post them... maybe if I remember... and after I get some more pictures hung. :)

Blessings.

tuesdays that feel like mondays

so yesterday I stopped at the DMV after work to get my license changed... and managed to 1.) not get lost in Pekin, 2.) not get mugged (it's a scary place), and 3.) make it back to Tremont without getting lost.

anyway, so I had twice as many forms of ID with me than I needed just in case they decided to really make me prove I'm me... the lady asked for our marriage certificate... I handed her my birth certificate... *sigh* I felt dumb. O well, I have a new license with a new picture and I look less stoned than in the old one. Woot. :P

blessings.

some pictures

Since I don't really have much to blog about... some pictures from California.

The coast

We drove to San Francisco one day and ate seafood. It was raining, this is the Golden Gate bridge in the rain.

Indoor swimming pool at the Hearst Castle that we toured. The yellow tile is filled with real gold. It was a pretty amazing place.

The view from our hotel.

Shelly graduated this weekend and Kendra had her party on Saturday... so we ate a lot of graduation cake... yay. Otherwise, it was a quiet weekend and we got lots done at our duplex. There aren't boxes everywhere anymore! Now if people would just stop sending gifts.... I could be done writing thank you notes!

Blessings.

mail

So I have a slight obsession with the USPS... not sure why, they're just cool. And even though they keep raising the price of stamps, it's still cheaper to send a letter to Alaska than it is to buy anything in our vending machines. And pictures in front of post offices make amazing scrapbooks. (yes, Bob did have to endure funny looks from people in front of three post offices in Cali- which I love.)

Anyway, so T-town is pretty small, right? And there's not very many people that work at the post office and they probably know everyone in town. (The lady I talked to the other day at the P.O. saw our address and said, "oh, you just moved in, didn't you.") So before the wedding we were trying to get water, electric, trash, etc. all set up and we kept waiting for the bills to come in the mail... nothing... no mail. Finally, they delivered about a months worth of mail (with overdue bills- *ahh*) all at once with a little card to fill out since we just moved. Um... um... ok??? Seriously, we used to get mail for all kinds of previous occupants at 709, didn't matter what the name was, the address was all they looked at, all that should matter. So we were getting mail fine... and I was getting packages addressed to me... but Bob was waiting on two things that the online tracking said were delivered. So I went to the post office (which I love) to see what the deal was. Apparently, there's another Koch farther down the mail route where they were delivering all Bob's stuff. um... um... but it's a totally different address!? I'm still really confused about that, since the Eureka Post office has had no issues forwarding all of my mail and they have even been crossing out Wyss and writing in Koch... O well, hopefully it's all straightened out now. :) And I still like post offices.

Kansas was good... Ned's speech (that he wrote in the wee hours Sunday morning before graduation) was great... I need to see if any of my pictures turned out.
Blessings.

randomness

I worked five days this week. *sigh* I'm ready for a vacation... ok, it wasn't that bad... but I really wouldn't mind not waking up at 6 every morning. :)

Grocery shopping takes me forever because I can't find anything in Kroger. I miss Lindy's. And Jerry's. I'm a huge fan of Beechum's though... hooray for small town grocery stores!

I haven't burned anything or shrunk anything yet. (crossing my fingers hard though) Other than ruining half a loaf of bread trying to figure out our new toaster... seriously.... it has a scale from 1 to 9 for toasting, you'd think that 4 or 5 would be nicely browned. Um... yeah... right now it's set on 1, and I can't leave a poptart in even that long. I think we have an over achieving toaster.

We're leaving after work for Kansas City because Ned is graduating this weekend. Yay! I'm excited, I haven't been to KS since that rather expensive trip back in November. Stinkin bored Missouri cops. Anyway. I'm over it now, really.

Blessings.

the big day

So... we're back. I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath. Sorry, BDY said I should go on hiatus. Actually I was waiting for pictures, since they are super important.

um... yeah... so.... we got married. the end. :)

We took pictures in Champaign on Saturday, on campus. It was great- the weather was perfect. And there were a million high school kids at U of I for the science Olympiad. And for a photography contest (remember that). Pretty much everyone we saw made some comment about us.... "look, is that a bride?!" and saying congrats and pulling out their camera phones and not very surreptitiously taking our picture. Kind of weird, have they never seen a wedding before? Anyway, so Taryn and Kristi had us all lined up on the steps at Follinger and this HS kid with a camera kept getting closer and closer to where Taryn was taking pictures.... funny, but I'm sure he was annoying T and K. He facebooked me later that night to tell me he won the photo contest and this was one of the pictures he'd used:

Somehow he managed to crop out half of the wedding party... o well... it's a fun picture. :)

Sunday was good, a little bit of a blur since I was so nervous about walking down the aisle. I came in when I was supposed to, I didn't trip, and I don't think I walked too fast. :) I don't remember much of the service... although I did notice that they forgot to sing the song in the middle. Haha, pretty sure that the song leaders and ministers and I were the only ones who realized it.

This is me with my flowers... Amber's an amazing florist. She humored me and let me use ring stands on the tables at the reception. And made them look super cool.

Apparently displaying your dishes is necessary....

Guestbook... and flowers in test tube racks. Which I love.

Cake is the best thing ever. Nuts, not so much. Can someone explain to me why there are nuts at every reception? Does anyone actually eat them?

More test tubes on the piano. They make me smile.

Bubble bowls.

Bridesmaid's bouquet.

Dr. Pepper.... so good....

Amber and Gab. So cute.

This is almost at the end... my feet hurt... I was exhausted... and I didn't really want to smile anymore. :)

My poor car. Covered inside and out with sticky notes. And saran wrapped. And the paint was soaped all over (I was maybe a little mad about that... the rest of it was good/funny).

We were ambushed with squirt guns... thanks to Justin K, we had one to defend us. And Mike's suit coat- thanks mike! Check out Cliffy in his spiffy duds... and corsage... that he bawled about until he realized that it wasn't a girl thing and that Bob had one on too. :)

This is my dear friend Gab squirting water through my open sun roof and I'm trying my hardest to squirt her back. I love the expressions on the faces of the other people in the picture... so classic.

So then we drove off into the sunset... er... well drove off until we found a garbage can to get rid of most of the mess. And then we went to California for a week and it was fabulous because I didn't have to work and I could sleep as much as I wanted.

drama

*sigh* so I'll be glad when the wedding is over and I can be a normal person again. :)

I picked up my dress last Friday and it fit and I love it... except the sleeves were a little bit too tight... so I got it home and tried it on... and yeah, they were really tight. So then we had to decide if I should just tough it out or have her redo them, um... yeah... so I got it back yesterday. And the sleeves are perfect now! yay!

The ring stand I borrowed from work for Amber to play with that fit the vases perfectly turned out to be .25 inches different than the ones I'm borrowing from the High School for the reception... aaaahhhh. Three deep breaths. We can always just put open hymn books on the tables right?

SERIOUSLY though, I'll be so glad to not have to think about such inconsequential details....

anyway. I'm getting off work early today. Yay! random side note: I'll have worked at the lab for 1 year on Monday. :)
Blessings.

Raindrops keep falling on my head

I hate moving. ugh. It's just not any fun, especially when you can't take everything at once. I just know I'm going to want to wear something that I've already moved. :) And that would be the end of the world... haha.

We have 13 boxes of books and two bookshelves. um... yeah... we're both bibliophiles. Which I love. I'm excited to read all of his books when I have time!

Just a few more loose ends to tie up... and 6 more days... craziness. :)

Blessings.

april showers

bring may flowers, what do mayflowers bring? Pilgrims! haha. such a good joke. :D

I'm officially done with showers now! Yay! I mean... bummer.... er...um... yeah. Tuesday was a busy day, we had dress fittings and my personal shower. Dress fittings went ok. My dress wasn't quite done yet (I'm not freaking out, I'm not freaking out) so I'm picking it up later this week. I still like it, the girls still look cute, so it's all good. :)

It was really good to hang out with some of my favorite girls... they made some great food and we got to watch Pride and Prejudice, which I love. I stayed out too late though. O well, some things must needs be. :)

My flowers are surviving... although they have been sorely neglected and not all of them came up. Hopefully a few of them will live long enough to plant outside.

10 days!

loose ends

So our Easter weekend was good. I had to work Good Friday and Bob didn't.... I guess that's what I get for working for the heathen government. :) At least it was rainy all day so I didn't feel bad about being stuck inside.

Saturday we got a lot of stuff done at our duplex. Matt and I brought a load of my stuff (mostly books) down and then he went to work adding an outlet in our bathroom. The medicine cabinet that was there looks like it was original to the house... recessed and complete with florescent lights on the side. The only outlet in the bathroom was on the cabinet, so somebody plugged in a power strip and tacked it to the wall. um... lovely. So we pulled it all out and got a nicer, surface mount one at Menards (my favorite store). But that left us with no outlet in the bathroom, which is where Matt came in. :) Apparently there were more studs than expected in the wall in weird places because it required two holes in the drywall and drilling through a stud. And the bit might have slipped and put a nice hole in the stairway. oops. But we got a new outlet and the bathroom looks ten times better. :)

Dad and Mom came in the afternoon and dad fixed the hole in the wall, hung the medicine cabinet, replaced a pane of glass... and complained about how he's already turning into grandpa w. and doing all our odd jobs. haha. Our Moms and sprout washed all of our dishes and shower gifts and put them in my cupboards- yay! And Bob and his Dad went and bought a washer, dryer, and freezer. So our house is pretty much livable now, hooray for them! I should take pictures sometime with the digital camera I don't have. :)

We were in Washington on Sunday for Easter and then my aunt's house for supper.... I was super tired all day. And I really haven't felt like waking up the last two mornings since it's been so rainy and damp. *sigh*

Blessings.

12 days.

lists

So I had a list of things on my dresser that I needed to get at Menards and Walmart... Jakey so kindly added a few... apparently we are in dire need of tarp straps and hogsheads.

I'm going to miss living with Jakey.

Two showers down, two to go. woot.

17 days.

the time flies on...

Or something. So we made it through week one of something every night, on to week two. woot woot.

It hasn't been too bad... although being so busy just makes me tired. Our church shower was good, now I just have to figure out where to put all that stuff! And write thank you notes. *sigh* I haven't written so much since school... plus I'm really bad at sounding sincere- I am really grateful, and I try really hard to not sound cheesy... but I don't think I'm very successful. O well.

Bob's birthday was Wednesday, so now he's older than me. *grin* Which I love. I was sadly remiss and didn't even have time to bake a pie or anything. Maybe next year.

We got to hang out with Luke and Heidi and Greg and Mary and Max on Friday... good times.

The painting is all done at the duplex. Yay! Thanks to Amy, since I was helping her in the kitchen, and then I would get distracted by my family moving furniture in... and other random things so she mostly finished it. And Shelly who has become such a good closet painter she's thinking about doing it professionally. Ha! I think we have most of the furniture we'll need figured out. Which is great. Now I just need to go through all of my stuff at home and probably get rid of half of it... right.

We went to communion in Washington Saturday night. My last one as an official Washington sista. *tear* And I sat by Shelly and we didn't get the giggles! Which is a first.

I am not excited by the snow.
Blessings.

20 days.

I love weekends

For the record.

Last Friday was bible study at Amy's house... it was good to be there. And her dad brought home four baby raccoons that were um... rescued... from a chimney. They were really cute! Bob wouldn't let me keep one. Not that I would actually want a baby raccoon... haha.

Saturday we spent working at our duplex and buying things at Menard's (currently my favorite store). We got mattresses and a microwave and looked at washers and driers and we're almost done painting. It started raining before we got them all home so that was an adventure. Our singing shower was Saturday night. Kind of strange to be having a singing shower, but it was good. :)

I woke up early and really cold on Sunday because the power was out and the tractor on the generator was really noisy. I'm ready for spring and not snow! Thankfully, my flowers all survived. We had some issues getting to church so we were kind of late. Bob's family came for church and for supper afterwards and a game of LOTR Risk. Good times.

We have a church shower tonight. woot. And something every night for the next two weeks. *sigh* I kind of just want to do nothing and sleep, but, I'll just have to wait for it.

Blessings.

26 days.

Prairie Fire

There's a patch of prairie grass on the hillside above the highway here at work. Today was burn day, so I wandered out to watch during lunch. It was really cool, it made a lot more noise and crackling than I expected. They scared up a bunch of rabbits... the higher the fire climbed up the hill more rabbits would come darting out across the lawn. I smell a little bit like smoke now. :)

Blessings.

life

So I'm maybe a little behind on the whole blogging thing. oops. I've been busy. Or something. :)

Last week we got to hang out with Caleb and Bethany, went to potluck at Dale and Meg's (fun, but really, really weird), got our dresses fitted (I still like mine, and the girls look really cute in theirs), got a lot done at our duplex (thanks to our moms and random aunts and cousins), and went to champaign to hang out with BDY and J-nelle (custard cup is amazing...).

Good times. Showers start this weekend. woot.

I have a bunch of crocus blooming in my flowerbeds and 3 flats of flowers in my potting shed. Life is good.
Blessings.

Taylor

Such a good weekend- the weather was amazing, the wedding was good, and I got to see all kinds of cool people, which I love.

Rustin and Sharon and Grace were in town for Mark's wedding so we got to spend Thursday and Friday with them. I don't think I've seen them since that Minneapolis trip a year or so ago when we all went to visit Meg. Good times.

Saturday Bob and I left early for Taylor because he had pictures... a little too early for me on a Saturday, but I lived. :) Gab and I met up during pictures and went to the mall, which was great. It was full of stock cars on display and the nascar families and good old boys that go along with that. Pretty amusing. We ate lunch at a fun restaurant in Quincy and then went to Hoerr's to hang out until pictures were over.

The rehearsal made me nervous. I'm maybe freaking out a little bit about walking down the aisle. It was bad enough at Heidi's wedding when no one really was looking at me. :)

The rehearsal dinner was good... got to sit by Neal and Kim, who I never get to see anymore... and then went to the singing... Afterwards some of us U of I people went back to the hotel, and went to Steak and Shake, and explored the exercise room, and hung out for a while. There were seven girls in our room- we had a bunk bed and a king bed. It was a little tight... but lots of fun.

I haven't been to Taylor for church in ages. It was a really good day. The wedding was cool... very fun to see Markus up there. :)

We left for home after the reception was over and had just gotten outside of Quincy when my engine started overheating. *sigh* It would. So we turned the heat on and opened the windows and stopped at a dinky gas station in the middle of nowhere to look for coolant. We're standing there looking at the very limited selection of uncut antifreeze trying to decide what to do... and two older gentlemen started offering all kinds of advice. (ok, so they were really, really old. and hard of hearing. and very obviously bored because they were sitting at a card table in a dinky gas station drinking coffee in their seed corn caps. It was hilarious. And fit every stereotype of old men in small towns.) They told us that the dollar general down the road had pre-cut coolant "two for 9 dollars." And that they were pretty sure that they had got a new shipment in this week. And that they didn't think anybody sold un-cut coolant anymore. Did I mention they were hard of hearing? So funny. I was having a hard time not laughing. Anyway. They were wrong about the price of coolant at DG but we got some there anyway. It didn't really help though so I'm driving the taurus until my car can get fixed. I told Bob he'll have to prepare himself because these things seem to happen to me a lot. :)

But we did make it home without the engine blowing up or something awful like that. And it was an excellent weekend, just really good to see U of I and Champaign people and Scott and Mike.
Blessings.

quote of the night

"If I'm ever dating someone I'm going to ask her if she likes to remodel. If she says she does, it's over."

or something close to that... someone was tired of painting and trying to remove the awful wall paper in our kitchen. *grin*

beauty and the mess

We had another busy weekend... but it was good. Friday night was WCV- I haven't been to that in a while so it was good to be there again. It might be the last time too... mur... sad news. The older ladies love "In the Garden" so we sang it twice, which is cool, but the guys don't like to lead it so they make us girls do it... always interesting.

I slept in Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the day cleaning and painting at our duplex. We got one room painted and most of the upstairs cleaned. And got to hang out with Kerry and Kelly, and Dale and Meg stopped by, and Bob's fam. It was a happening place. :) I managed to not get any paint on my clothes, which I love... but my flip flops have a few spots of 'cheerful morn' on them now. O well.

We went to Giselle on Saturday night- it was great. :D Ballet is just so pretty. Bob wasn't super impressed... but I enjoyed it, and I'm glad he was willing to try it once with me.

Sunday my whole family was in Tremont for church and then went to his house for supper. And we stopped by our house to show the fam... *sigh* so much work to do still. O well, it'll get done sometime.
Blessings.

pictures and cool people

So taking engagement pictures went pretty well... it was kind of fun, and I did not end up in the lagoon, which was good. T and K are just cool, and it was fun to watch them work. Or not watch them, depending on where we were supposed to be looking at the moment. :) It was such a nice day- I was a little cold by the time we were done, but still I'd much rather spend an afternoon outside than inside working!

Last night we went down to Champaign to hang out with the girls. It's been a long time since I've been there, and it was really great to see them again. We ate supper at Applebee's and chilled... and didn't get any scrapbooking done. Big surprise. So last August when I was up on the north shore with Amber, Sarah, and Nat we stopped at a gift shop... they were selling all kinds of personalized key chains... one of them said 'I love Bob.' Apparently they distracted me and got it just in case because they were "hopeful." So funny. And Nat found this awesome tin sign for my kitchen that says 'homemade pie' on it, I'm pretty excited about that. We got home kind of late... *sigh* one of these days I'm going to get 8 hours again. *grin*

Nursing home singing tonight... painting and ballet tomorrow.
Blessings.

busy

I'm ready for life to slow down a little bit.... unfortunately it won't for another two months. *sigh* It's good though.

Friday night we went to the 'wild game supper' in Tremont. We sang a lot of old songs that I remember my aunt and uncles' groups sang way back in the day. :) It was fun... and Sprout was home for the weekend so it was good to see her.

I got most of the rest of my seeds planted Saturday, I'm just hoping they don't freeze in my potting shed- it needs to get warmer soon. We went to the Koch soup supper that evening and then left early (but were still a little bit late) for Tim's senior recital at Bradley. Good times.

We get to take engagement pictures tomorrow... I'm not sure if I'm excited or not, since I'm not very photogenic and I have a terrible time not blinking for pictures. It'll be fun, and I'll get to take the afternoon off. *grin*

Blessings.

Packages

So almost everyday this week there have been packages to open when I get home, which is super exciting because I love getting things in the mail. Unfortunately it's things like ties, shoes, bibles, invitations, and not fun stuff like books or clothes. O well. It's still fun to open them up.

We registered at Farm and Fleet the other night... that was fun. I'm not sure why looking at chainsaws and hammers is more appealing than flatware... I'm just weird I guess.

Last night I went with a bunch of girls to Olive Garden to surprise Amy for her birthday. She didn't see it coming at all and her reaction was classic Amy. *grin* It was a good time. I stopped at Menard's on the way home, seriously one of my favorite stores. They have everything. I looked at paint samples... and got cell pack inserts so I can plant more flowers... and looked at cabinet hardware... so much fun stuff!

Blessings.

same old

so there's nothing really new going on... (that doesn't involve wedding stuff and it bores me when other people talk about their plans so I'll spare you all) I had a good weekend. Too short. It's unfortunate that every monday can't be a federal holiday. :)

I need to start seeds sometime this week, I am so ready for spring! I don't mind the cold, and I can handle snow. It's just too brown outside I want to see green.

ooo... my future sis-in-law started repenting last week! That's new and exciting. Otherwise, life is good and fairly uneventful, which I love.
Blessings.

long weekend

So have I ever mentioned that I love being a federal employee?? I had president's day off, it was great.

Valentine's day was busy... sprout and I went to get her measured for her dress and I picked up invitation books... I had no idea there were so many styles. They even have Cinderella invites that come with pumpkin coach envelope seals. So yeah, that's what I decided on.... ok, maybe not. I'm not a fan of crowded restaurants, so I cooked supper for my fam and Bob. (cheaper, and I get to make all of my favorite weird recipes. Definitely win-win.) He brought me roses... he's pretty amazing...

His family served lunch Sunday so we spent the day in Tremont. Getting up early is good for me, right? :) Good chance to get to know a new church kitchen... haha... in w-ton Drew always used to tell us that we weren't full members until we knew where everything was in the kitchen (and owned a roaster, but yeah, don't need one of those quite yet). We also learned that "Dinosaurs are very slow creatures..." so funny. :)

Yesterday I made a lot of decisions. Go me. It was maybe a little painful. Amber and I met for lunch, which was good, and then talked about flowers, which is fun. I also picked out and wrote invites, picked out veils, and made lists of people. eesh. O well, it has to get done sometime, right?

I did not want to get up this morning...
Blessings.

spring fever

I'm hoping that's all I've got... yesterday I dropped my cereal bowl on the table and it spilled all over the newspaper, floor, and me. And I can't keep my days straight for the life of me. *sigh* O well. :)

So we're mostly registered. yay. Not my favorite thing, but at least it's done. So we're sitting there talking to the BB&B 'bridal consultant' while she was waiting for something to load... she asked Bob, "so how did you propose?" Awkward pause... um.... haha. So we told her we weren't dating, we were just good friends when he asked, and I'm not sure if she totally got it. She kept asking if I was surprised... um... yeah... It was really funny.

I'm excited for the three day weekend! Although I don't think I'll have a whole lot of time to do nothing... o well. :)

so warm

I'm ready for spring. It's been so nice out- I really want to plant flowers or something. I have a whole package of seeds that I ordered sitting on my dresser just waiting... actually, I should start them in my potting shed later this month if I have time.

It was a really good weekend, busy but not stressful. Friday Bob and I met BDY and J-nell at Tobin's for supper. We stopped on the way and picked out a cake... yeah... um... I really, really, really don't understand people that actually care about all this stuff. Cake is cake and it tastes amazing no matter how it's decorated. :D anyway. It was good to spend time with B and J, catch up, get some good advice... good times.

Saturday I learned how to drive stick shift.... yeah, I know, how does a farm girl not already know that, but I never learned. I only killed it a few times. (Once in front of Dan L. Ha!) :) um... and I need a lot more practice before it would be safe for me to drive in town.

We were in Tremont on Sunday and spent some time visiting his grandparents Sunday afternoon... played dodge ball with his little cousins... *grin* I have terrible aim. And I throw like a girl. O well.

So I guess we have to register this week... woot. :P That'll be interesting.
Blessings.

skiing and soreness

So it was a pretty busy weekend... Friday night the yg sorted clothes which is always an experience. People donate some crazy things and you never know what you'll see. Like matt s. in a very large leopard print robe/dress/thing. *grin*

Amy, Elise, Shelly and I left right after that for Madison... well... we were going to leave right after, but of course we left a half hour later than planned. O well, I got to spend more time with Bob. And we still made it to the hotel by 12:30. (we might have gotten a little lost at that point)

Skiing was great! The weather was perfect- low 30's, sunny, not windy, and the snow was good too. It was a really good day... Shelly and I stuck to the easy hills. Ames and Elise tried some harder ones, and Elise came home with a cut from colliding with a snowboarder. We stopped at Culver's on the way home- so good.

I wasn't very sore Sunday until after walking around Jodi's reception for an hour and a half refilling water. And then we stood in line for another hour at Ted's visitation. I was pretty tired, it was a really long day...

Blessings.

life is crazy

For mom! *grin* So far she's done all of the hard work... and made lots of phone calls... and sent lots of emails. Anyway, Bob and I are getting married on April 26. Mom and Shelly and I went over to El Paso last night and got dresses figured out, which is good, and mom has tons of other stuff lined up already. Yeah, she's pretty much amazing.

I'm leaving tonight to go skiing up in Wisconsin with some girls... I haven't packed yet. Nor do I know how to get to our hotel. O well. :)

And I forgot that I should probably provide some kind of a snack tonight at the yg thing. Oops. Guess I'll be stopping at the grocery store on the way home.

One thing I did remember to do- my taxes are done!!! yay!!! I hate doing taxes and they used to reduce me to tears, but since I've discovered TurboTax they only make me slightly annoyed. And it takes half as much time. Which I love.

Blessings.

stuff

• we don't have a date yet, wait for it....
• I don't want to plan a wedding.
• I like being engaged.
• This morning the lady in the next lane was swerving all over traffic... yikes... it wasn't even icy.
• We went and sang for Ted last night, it was... sobering.
• We're going to T-town tonight...
• I'm going skiing Friday night/ Saturday with some girls and I'm excited!

Blessings.

Looking back at the road so far

The journey's left its share of scars

Mostly from leaving the narrow and straight

Looking back it is clear to me

That a man is more than the sum of his deeds

And how You've made good of this mess I've made

Is a profound mystery

Looking back You know You had to bring me through

All that I was so afraid of

Though I questioned the sky, now I see why

Had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view

Looking back I see the lead of love

Looking back I can finally see

How failures bring humility

Brings me to my knees

Helps me see my need for Thee

Looking back You know You had to bring me through
All that I was so afraid of
Though I questioned the sky, now I see why
Had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view
Looking back I see the lead of love

So this is Bob... he's pretty cool... we're both pretty excited.... hopefully eventually there'll be some pictures when we're not both super tired...