Do Good Work

A few weeks ago, this world lost a very comic and caring man. I just felt like I should write a few things about a person who made an impact in my life as well as many others. Andrew and I had lived with them for the past 16 months, so I got to know his grandparents better than most granddaughter-in-law's may. I appreciated Grandpa mainly for his humor and his enjoyment of life but also for his protection of me. I will never forget the day I was scheduled to have my wisdom teeth removed. He was laying in bed, in pain that had lasted years and years, yet he was very concerned about me and how I felt that day. He also prayed with me on my first day of work. I'm cerainly not the best person to write about Grandpa, as I haven't known him long, but his life had an impact on mine. As the family has been saying, I know he is singing and praising God and now free from all traech's, peg tubes, and pain. He is greatly missed.

We've Moved

When I got home from work last night, Andrew said, let's move our bed tonight. I still wasn't quite sure we could do it, but Andrew, Nick, and Wayne loaded up the bed, nightstands, and dresser and we slept at our new house last night. After envisioning this experience for the past year or so, I never thought that I would describe the experience as emotional or sad, but that's what I felt. I felt so sad to leave Andrew's grandma by herself. I knew we couldn't stay there, but I just didn't know how hard it would be! :(

We both slept fairly well except for me being a little disoriented when I went to the bathroom at 1:00 am and Dewey still slept at W/S house until we get his stuff moved. I'm not sure how we're going to manage him during the day. He may have to be an outside dog.

Hopefully pictures and another post to follow. Right now I'm trying to sort out who we should get our permanent mortgage from. Any advice?

Easy Fix!

The septic guy found the problem, and it was an easy fix. It's hard to explain but a pipe leading into the septic tank was pushed against a piece of concrete, so it couldn't drain. Easy fix and we can move in anytime. All we have to do is move our bed!

Plumbing Problem

Well, our small plumbing problem has turned into a bigger plumbing problem. The plumbers at our house yesterday discovered that the drainage problem was not a blocked pipe inside or a capped vent, but a problem with the drainage pipe running out to the septic tank or the pipe from the septic tank to the leech field. The septic guy is supposed to stop by and diagnose the problem today, but we've probably got a crushed pipe or one that came loose during the grading of our yard.

So, we can legally move in, but we can't use any plumbing right now, which is a major issue! I'll update as soon as I know anything! I'm mainly anxious to get started on my diet. I need to find my cookbooks!

Certificate

I just called the county and found out that our certificate is going to be issued today at 1:00 pm! Yeah! Now, we are just figuring out who is going to go get it. I have been talking with the permanent mortgage guy and so hopefully we'll get stuff worked out tomorrow. We need to settle while the interest rates are low!

We're still having a few plumbing drainage problems. I called the plumbers and they won't be out until tomorrow, so the earliest we will live there would be Thursday night. I still need to find my pots and pans, so we can actually cook and eat.

Yeah!

P.S. I'm sort of ashamed to admit that my QVC diamonique ring came yesterday, and I LOVE it. Susan, I forgot to show you when you were at our house! Oh, and that dish soap smells so good, it's like being at a spa!! It was good that the kitchen sink water backed up into the bathtub, because then at least it was lavendar scented waste water! :)

We've failed!!!!

Well, we did fail our driveway inspection today, because the inspector couldn't see through our culvert pipe, but he is allowing us to pass anyway on one condition. We have to write him a letter saying we'll fix it within two months (I already faxed the letter). Even though that pipe has worked for twenty years now, I am appreciative that the inspector is letting us get our Certificate anyway. He could have made us fix it before getting it! Yikes!

It now looks like I can probably pick it up tomorrow afternoon or sometime Thursday. The certificate will mainly allow us to roll over our construction loan into a permanent mortgage with a much lower interest rate. We're still plugging away at moving in, with mainly kitchen stuff at this point. We'll try to take pictures and post. Our computer is now at our new house without internet access, so it may be a week or so before new pictures arrive. We are getting the internet hooked up on Saturday.

We've Passed!!!!!

We passed our final final inspection today! Yeah!

We still cannot get our certificate of occupancy, until the driveway has been cleared. The guy is supposed to do that today, so I should be able to pick it up next Monday or Tuesday, but . . . . no more inspectors in our house! :)

Liar

I am such a liar. I have not posted like I said I would! I kind of forgot that I was going to a musical last night. Three of my voice students performed and it was fantastic. Very professional for a high school musical. I was proud! :)

We are having another final inspection today. I will be quite floored if we don't pass, as we did everything the inspector told us to last time. We are also supposed to have a driveway inspection to look at our culvert. I hope we pass that, because it would be the only thing stopping us from getting a Certificate of Occupancy. I will post on here again, once I know the results of our final.

Yes, a post will follow this weekend, but it won't be today! We have snacks at small group tonight, so I have to make something between when I get home at 5:30 and when we leave at 6:45 tonight.

Final Inspection

Well, we had our final inspection this morning. We have a few things that we need to fix but they are very minor. We'll have another inspection on Friday and we should pass that.

We need to have a 3x3 landing out the mudroom door and off the front porch. We have to fix how some insulation is laying upstairs in the FROG (future room over garage), and we have to have our sump drain permanently installed.

Hopefully there will be another post tonight.

Posting

Keep your eyes peeled for a post tonight or tomorrow. My husband's grandfather died last weekend, so I haven't felt much like posting here lately, but I do want to write something. So check back.

Good Morning

I received this email from my mom this morning. It's a picture of my dad and his favorite cat, Puff Daddy, saying "Good Morning" to us. I thought it was so cute that I wanted to share. :) I'm not sure why my dad is squinting so much.

We passed!

I just talked to Andrew . . . and we passed our final electrical inspection! Yeah, no more electric!

Crazy Weather!

In a perfect world, we would have had our grading done today, Andrew would have built outdoor steps this weekend, and we would be having our final inspection next week. However, February has been quite a brutal weather month for us. We've had three fairly large snow storms in the past two weeks and today we're having "freezing fog" or whatever that is. All of this weather has delayed on of the major things we need to accomplish before our final inspection, our yard grading. I spoke with the inspector this morning, and he said he would let it pass if it weren't perfect, as long as water couldn't stand near the foundation. So . . . um, we have some work to do especially since we have two very large holes next to our foundation.

Things to finish before our final inspection:
Banister (I think will be done this week)
Carpeting (Middle of next week)
Grading (Whenever the snow melts off our yard)
Steps or landing out the back door (After the grading is done)
A "sidewalk" from the front porch to the driveway. I think we're going to use some crushed gravel. (After the grading is done)

We're having our final electrical and final plumbing inspections today. I'll let you know how those go. Originally, our goal was to move in on March 3rd, but with all this weather, I believe it's more realistic to think it will be on March 10th (ish).

Water!

We have running water!! Yeah!!

We had a little scare this morning, because the plumber couldn't get the water meter to turn on. So, I called the county, they came out and helped him! Yeah!

I also met with the carpet guy today! Decisions, decisions.

Sorry this is short. I'm swamped at work! I'll write more later with updated running water pictures!

Picture Update

Pictures I took last night, after our plumbing fixtures were installed:

Kitchen sink area. Notice the dishwasher, sink, and fixture! The dishwasher isn't actually pushed back into the cabinet yet.

Our messy kitchen! Notice the new lights, which I LOVE!

The bathroom shower tile. I'm not very happy with my job, but it works. We just need to decide on a shower curtain.

Toilet! We put the seat on last night, but this picture was taken before that. Andrew was in charge of getting the toilet. He got an elongated bowl, of which, I'm not a fan!

The bathroom sink fixture.

A different shot of the kitchen sink!

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day

My wonderful valentine is giving me the best present ever, hard work on our house. He has asked me for several weeks what I want for valentine's day, and I told him that I wanted him to move some appliances into our house for valentine's day. Next year perhaps I'll want something more "romantic" but this year, the gift of working on our house, is the most romantic and loving thing I can imagine!!!

I've finally got my camera back in my purse, so I'll take pictures of our progress tonight.

Also, the plumbers decided to venture out in the ice today to work in our house. They said that they won't be done with everything until Friday, so we still had to push back our geothermal schedule, but that's ok. It's finally supposed to warm up next week (into the 40's) and I have our excavator scheduled to do grading on Wednesday, we may have to push that back a bit, but it looks promising.

New Business?

It's snowy, icy, and cold here today. Our plumbers called and canceled this morning, as did the drywall guys (they are touching up a few spots). So, hopefully they will be able to "make it" tomorrow. The plumbers are putting in our finished plumbing (toilet, sink faucets . . . running water!!). I made it to work just fine. I even left a little later than usual (I blame scraping my car, although the laying in bed and watching the weather didn't help) and got here just after 8:00 am.

I am thinking about starting a little side shopping "business" after we are moved into our house. I would mainly focus on grocery shopping (someone will give me their list, I buy the groceries and deliver them). I need to start out by thinking of a good name. The only one I've come up with so far is Schechter Shopping. I don't particularly like it and neither does Andrew. If you can think up a cute or meaninful name, please post a comment and let me know.

I Love Survey's!

Since I love survey's and love my husband, I thought I'd fill out one about him! Enjoy!

All About My Man

His age: 26

How tall is he? 6'4" (tall!)

How long have you been together? Six years or so (we met Fall of 00 in college)

How long did you know each other before you got together? Not long, a month or so.

What physical features attracted you to him first? His build. I don't like scrawny guys!

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Mango (red)

Hair style: Buzz (which I cut every few weeks)

Normal Outfit: khakis and a nice shirt- ‘business casual’ or jeans and a sweatshirt

How did you meet? Music Theory 1 Class at Sterling College

How serious is it? I'd say it's pretty serious! Actually, we do like to have lots of fun together!

Are you “in love”? Yes!!

Do your parents like him? Like him? They LOVE him (not to mention how much my Gparents LOVE him).

Do his parents like you? Yes, I think so!

Do you trust him? Yes, 100%.

Would you share a toothbrush with him? It would take a VERY dire situation for me to do that.

Would he let you wear his pants? Yes, I actually did wear his pants once to class, after I had gallbladder surgery! It was funny (since he's 6'4" and I'm 5'3").

Do you have a shirt of his that you sleep in? Lots of them actually, every night.

Do you like the way he smells? Yes, except when he farts :)

Can you picture having kids with him? Yes.

What bothers you the most about him? When he ignores me. I know it's unintentional, but still, it's not fun.

Does he have a temper? Very very rarely. I've seen it maybe once.

Are you happy to be with him? Yes!

Does he embarrass you in public? Not usually. I can't think of anything.

Does he smoke or do drugs? nope.

Does he have any piercings? nope.

Any tattoos? nope.

Does he have any scars that you know of? Yes, many from his childhood "adventures."

Is he a Party dude or Stay at home? Stay at Home guy, no doubt.

Is he Outgoing or Shy? He’s friendly, but I wouldn’t call him outgoing.

Does he love his mama? Yes! He's very much a family guy.

Would he hang out with you and YOUR friends? yeah he has before.

Sing? Yeah, the boy can sing. He doesn't anymore but I still swoon to hear some of the recordings he made for me in college. Hopefully he'll sing again in the future.

Domestic Bug

Yesterday I caught a bug. The domestic bug. I have not felt this way in a LONG time, over a year, perhaps. For example, yesterday at work, I planned out a menu for a week (yes, South Beach Diet "y") that looked so incredibly yummy to me (I'll post the recipes as soon as we try them out). I also keep day dreaming about all my cooking equipment that is packed away, about to be unpacked, and where it should all go in my kitchen. I also signed up for FlyLady again and I can't wait to shine my new sink (www.flylady.com). I read all of the reminder emails today to "declutter" and I can't wait to start all of that again! It didn't help that Andrew thinks we may be able to call in our final inspection the week of the 19th. Most of this all depends on getting our yard graded and steps built out the back door. I hope we can get lots done this weekend because I have certainly been infected with the domestic bug again, and can't wait to do that stuff again! It's been so long since I've shopped, cooked, and cleaned my own place!!

We should have some appliances moved in this weekend, which will be totally exciting! I'll take pictures.

Another subject: Last night we headed to Lowes to buy our shower tile. After about an hour of deliberations, we decided on matte finish white tile (6x6), with an accent border running through about 3/4 up the shower stall. After Andrew consented to letting me get the accent piece I wanted (a.k.a Andrew dislikes it) I decided to ask the Lowes-tile-lady's opinion. She said she loved it. When we were checking out, two Lowes people said how much they loved that tile piece. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=190688-74035-DE4038DECODCC1P&lpage=none

Click on the link above to see the tile piece. The bathroom is nautical blue and will have brushed nickel fixtures and a silvery brushed nickel framed mirror. I thought this tile would be beautiful with it. Please give me your opinion!

Home Improvement: For Women

I decided, after looking at the power tools in Lowes the other day, that someone should come out with a line of pink power tools. I would certainly be tempted to buy something like that. Someone told me that they had already been invented, but certainly aren't available at your local home improvement store . . . believe me, I've looked. We'll be making a run to Lowes tonight, to buy our shower tile, and some painters tape for me, so I can paint the trim in the house.

Since our hardwood floor guys weren't able to make it out yesterday, due to the snow, I was able to walk on the floors last night. So, while Andrew was writing his paper, I went out to the house and wired up a whole circuit . . . by myself . . . . and it even works . . . . I tested it all! I wired up 9 plugs (outlets) last night in the living room and they work. I am quite proud of myself. My plan is, when Andrew is putting up the backer board for my tile in the shower (much to heavy for me to lift) then I am going to help him out by wiring a few more plugs upstairs. Hopefully this will save him some time, since he's got a long to-do list before we call in a final inspection. We're still hoping to complete the tiling and electric this weekend so we can call in plumbing and electrical final (whoo hoo) inspections early next week. I'll post pictures after the weekend of the shower, and the electric.

Cancel(l)ed

I discovered today that cancelled can also be spelled canceled. I was in the process of making signs for the church saying the evening activities were "cancelled" due to snow and I couldn't figure out how to handle the second "l". The dictionary told me it was acceptable to make the choice either way! Imagine that!

We are supposed to be having our hardwood floors finished however . . . due to circumstances that would be too long to go into here, the heater in our house does not keep it warm enough for the second coat of polyurethane (sorry for the misspelling) to go onto the floor. So we put some heaters out to the house, hoping to bring it up to 70 degrees! My desktop thermometer says 13 degrees, which is fairly warm considering the last 24 hours.

Our goal this weekend is to finish the shower tiling, kitchen counter and sink, and electric. That way, next week, we can have the plumbing finished, our geothermal heat hooked up (again, long story), and have a plumbing and electrical final inspection!

We are currently being hammered with a big snowstorm. I hope the roads are cleared by tomorrow, so that the hardwood floor guys can get out and finish our floors!

2/3/07 House Pictures

We broke down and hired a guy to hand doors and run baseboard. It was the best decision we've made thus far. Two guys hung all our doors, and ran all of the baseboard in about seven hours today. We're leaving the windows to be done after we move in. Here are pictures from today!

Walking into the kitchen from the mudroom. All cabinets are in, and notice trim on the downstairs doorway! :)

Closet doors in Andrew's "office". I still have quite a bit of door and trim painting to do. I got several doors painted but not all of them, as you can see in this picture!

Bathroom lights and sink were installed (by Andrew) today. I LOVE this kind of sink because it is so easy to clean, no lip on the sink!

The door to the hallway and closet in the bathroom all trimmed and pretty! :)

Baseboard in the living room, looking into the kitchen. You can see two of our IKEA stools. We need to store those downstairs before the inspector sees them!

Andrew opening the pantry door. You can see more cabinets this way. Andrew just has to install the countertop and sink along the wall with the window.

All the cabinets are in the kitchen. We're missing a backer board on the pennisula, but it will get done. Andrew's standing where the fridge will be.

Our house today. It is SO windy and cold!

Memories and Poems

I got permission from my sister to post a poem she has recently written about the Walter home in Downs, Kansas. She is so talented!

You have been an immoveable friend of the truest kind

You have held us through bitter winter winds and glorious summer evenings.

Your air is thick with innocence.

Your walls echo with the laughter of children and the comforting, familiar voices of the old.

You have a fire, ever burning—Started by the old, but fed and tended by the young.

In you, the simplest of things became majestic, grand events,

And the simplest of people were seen as royalty.

You sat humbly in a small corner of the world—scarcely recognized,

watching beautiful stories unfold—untainted by the world.

You saw how the true greats lived, And witnessed giants in the ways of love.

You beheld one of the greatest love stories ever told— Truest love of God and fellow man.

But you have seen sorrow, yes you have seen sorrow.

You saw death come like a thief in the night and take before it’s time.

You saw us sit by your ever burning fire and ask, Why?

You have watched the glowing embers of youth slowly die

And stood strong and steady as the old became weak and frail.

You have seen a thousand goodbyes,

Some fraught with tears and filled with wishes that we could stay in your sanctuary.

Yet you saw with us the truest beauty that exists on earth

And held it humbly and gently for these many years.

You have been an immoveable friend of the truest kind— We depart in reverence.

New Pictures

Oops, I uploaded them backwards again. I'm in a hurry. Trying to get this done on my lunch break.

Most of the upper cabinets are done!

Andrew tells me some bottom ones are done. I haven't been out to the house, because of voice lessons!

My bathroom floor tile. You can't see it very well, and this is a bad picture of me! :(

The next project for me is the shower, as you can see behind me in the picture.

Andrew and Tim working on the cabinets!

Proof that I really did do the tile!

Break . . .

Temporarily taking a break from blogging . . . sorry Mom! :)

IKEA (and weekend) pictures!

Enjoy the pictures from our weekend trip to Pittsburgh, PA to visit the IKEA store!

Andrew helps me with my Vanilla Soda at Tom's Ice Cream Shop (I think that's the name).

Wayne (my F-I-L) in front of a church where his grandpa was the minister.

Andrew leaving the IKEA cafeteria. I'm bummed I didn't get pictures outside of the store, or with any of the items we purchased! Oh well!


Here we are, going down to the bottom floor to get our stuff.

In the check out line. We had two shopping carts, and several (3 or 4 maybe) flat carts full of stuff! Andrew with Wayne and Susan in the background.

The U-haul trailer we had to rent!

We stopped by Snug Harbor, the childhood home of Andrew's Grandpa Myers. These houses were all so unique and full of character. This one belonged to Andrew's greatgrandparents (Nana and Pop).

Susan and I at the entrance of Snug Harbor.

Here is what we are thinking for the house schedule this week:

Today: Cabinets Delivered (they have to fit into the garage with the appliances, and the furniture we just bought).

Tomorrow: Hardwood is installed and Andrew might start installing cabinets. I will continue to work on my tiling.

Wednesday: Cabinets, finish electric, and tiling.

Thursday: Cabinets, finish, electric, and tiling.

Friday: Our trim and interior doors are delivered. I will spend my weekend painting them. If the cabinets are done, then Andrew can start putting in the trim! :)

Next week: Once the cabinets and countertops are in, the plumbers can come back and hook up the water, so we'll have running water!

Disturbing!

I have found this article very disturbing. I first read about it when they reported the woman dying and now I am astonished at the radio station's reaction to her death. Maybe I'm just naive.

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/8725/52/
We had our appliances delivered today. Perhaps it was a bit early, but since we can now lock our house, I figured that they would be ok. We need a few of the smaller appliances (microwave, dishwasher) for when the cabinets are installed, hopefully next week. We are going to Pittsburgh for the weekend, for an IKEA extravaganza shopping trip. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures of our fun, and post some on here.

The "richest" I've ever felt!

When pulling away from my house last night, after a night of tiling and cleaning, I reached up to my visor and pushed a button and my garage door closed! I felt so rich, as I've never had a garage before. I never want to take these things for granted! I hope to finish up putting the tile down tonight, and possible grout everything tomorrow!

Weekend Pictures

I took several pictures of the house project over the weekend. I spent most of the day Saturday covering walls with a second coat of paint, trimming stuff, and cleaning. We also had our heat turned on, so it was a nice 65 degrees in there all weekend. I took the day off yesterday (Monday) and spent most of the day tiling the floor in the mudroom/laundry room (yes, BY MYSELF). I was so excited to be able to do that. Of course, I only laid tile where no cutting was involved. Our tiles are 18x18 and we're finding them difficult to cut. I have to wait for the experts to cut them (Andrew and Wayne) before I can actually finish the floor. I hope to get most of the bathroom floor done tonight. Enjoy the pictures!

The start of my tiling work!

Our muddy front yard! It has rained so much here! One of my to-do's for today, is to call the excavator to see if they can do our final grading.

Our new front door handles and lock.

This isn't a very good picture but I love the bathroom blue (Yacht Club) and the new light fixture.

The light fixture in our bedroom. We love IKEA!

The lights in the "dining" room. This will go over our dining room table.

The tile work, when I was done yesterday (still not officially done). Sorry, I was trying to get a picture of myself so I could have proof I did this, but it didn't turn out well. Andrew forgot to take a picture of me! :(

Hopefully more pictures and progress soon. I think I will be most excited for the kitchen cabinets to go in. They are schedule for next week. We are taking a trip to Pittsburgh this weekend to visit the IKEA store there and buy some furniture. It will be so nice to have a weekend off from working on the house (although the more we work, the sooner it will be done).

Some Pictures . . . Finally!

The porch lights that Andrew wired up tonight! They are small but shed a surprising amount of light!

The light above our front door (we'll probably shorten it a little more). The walls are painted Applesauce Cake! It's not completely done, but we got SO much done this weekend!

Our new lighting in the family room! Noticed the recessed lights. The walls don't really look this shade in real life. The next picture is a better representation of the color.


Our new IKEA light fixture in the living room. The walls are also painted Applesauce Cake.

The Kitchen. We left bare spots were the fridge and cabinets will go. I LOVE this color called Regal Red. The camera also had a dirty lens!

Anne helping us paint the walls in the dining room/kitchen.

Anne and Maggie paint.

Susan trimming and me touching up the ceiling (although the ceiling is still not done).

Susan painting the ceiling, yesterday. Sorry these picture go backwards in time!

Jennie painting the grey primer in the kitchen.

Our garage door! Sorry, I didn't get a picture with it closed yet.

Andrew installed our outside motion detection light.

We got so much painting done this weekend. I almost feel like we're ahead of schedule. We're hoping the HVAC can be finished this weekend, so we'll have heat in the house. We are also hoping to have our hardwood floors installed this week. I am going to attempt to do the tile work myself. I'm taking next Monday off, so hopefully I can do it then. I calculated that I spent about 17 1/2 hours painting this weekend. I'm ready for a shower and then bed!

I'm a big talker!

So, those of you who know me well, know that I like to talk big, but I'm rarely able to physically do everything that I would really like. To make a very long story short, we had a problem installing our garage door yesterday. To simplify: There was some concrete in the way. I decided to take it upon myself last night, with the use of my father-in-law's concrete chisel, to chip away the section that needed to be fixed. So, I probably spent and hour or so, pounding and chiseling my way through this concrete. I was able to get a large section of it removed, but I couldn't do it all (so we're having a guy with a saw come and fix it tomorrow). Anyway . . . at 2:16 am, I woke up with a horrible ache in both of my arms, mainly my hands and forearms. My body does not respond well to pain and this was so bad, I actually thought I might lose my lunch. Instead, I just went downstairs, took three asprin, and drank a glass of water. I headed back to bed and just lay with my hands perfectly still and the aching got a little better. So, I pretty much caused this pain with all of the hammering and chiseling I did during the evening hours. It feels better this morning, although I still feel a few twinges! Ouch!

In other news: I wired my first outlet last night, and it worked! I'm so happy to be able to help Andrew out!! Andrew also got two circuits hooked up in the house. So now, we can walk down our basement stairs and flip a light on, instead of having to plug everything in to an extension cord run from our temp pole! Yeah! I'll post pictures soon!!

We're ready to paint!

I received a phone call from our drywall guy this morning, telling me that we can start painting on Friday! I'm so excited to be able to paint, because it's something I can do. We're going to try and have a "painting party" on Saturday! Hopefully, we can get everything primed that day, and then I can get rest painted the following week.

I'm a skeptic of new year's resolutions, so I only made one this year. I really need to try and get more sleep. I know that's not very deep, but since I feel like I try to work on things daily (like being positive, not complaining, etc, etc), I thought I'd try to concentrate on one. I've already failed! We stayed up until 11:15 pm or so looking at our IKEA catalog. Oh well, there's always tonight!

We're back in Ohio

We're back at work today after traveling home from Kansas yesterday. We started out by having a lovely breakfast with two of our good friends from Sterling (yeah for the Lightners). They had mercy on me and helped us pick out some of the paint colors for the house. They are talented in that way, and I am not! So we have most everything decided on that.

The drywall guy is going to start mudding this afternoon or tomorrow. We are waiting on the heaters at the moment. Since we don't have our HVAC unit hooked up yet (that's a different story), we have to bring in propane heaters so that the drywall mud won't crack and pull the seams apart. This process will probably take a week or two to complete. After that is dry, we will be ready to paint, and then finish trim, electrical, and flooring. We are debating how much of this we should do ourselves. We are trying to hurry, since we are paying interest only until we officially "close" on our loan, and the interest rate is pretty high.

I'll try to post Chicago, new house, and Christmas pictures on here when I find my computer and the time to do it.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We are having a wondering time visiting my family in Kansas. We are headed to Stafford in a few hours to spend Christmas with my grandma's side of the family. It's always a fun gathering!

Our drywall continues to progress, although they aren't working again until tomorrow. When we get back, we are looking forward to getting our garage door installed, and finishing up the decisions on our paint, as we will need to be doing that in a week or two.

That's all for now! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

All I want for Christmas. . . .

I'm getting what I really want for Christmas . . . drywall in my house. They started today! Hooray! I'm on my way over there to take a look at what they've done and possibly take some pictures. We are headed to Kansas tonight, so we'll have to get pictures now, or when it's done.

I'm so blessed to work where I do. I not only have a positive work environment, and good benefits, but the congregation is so friendly and appreciative. Let me list for you, the gifts I've received this Christmas: a bag of cookies, a box of candy canes, a devotional book, a stationary set, a bag of chocolates, a box of ESTHER PRICE chocolates (I just ate one), a nativity wall hanging, a Santa ornament, a CD, a scripture ornament, and a very yummy pecan butter coffee cake.

Merry Christmas a little early!

Drywall Time!

I received a call this morning from the inspector at Butler County. They are letting us pass the foundation inspection, as long as we write a note to the county saying we realize that we don't have straw on top of the drain tile. We are having an insulation inspection today, which we are pretty certain will pass, and then we'll be ready to drywall!! Yeah! I'm very excited.

Passing the time!

I'm amazingly bored at work. I just got done folding tons of bulletins, so I'm taking a break and posting this. I'm hoping this will keep my mind of off our inspection with an unknown result.

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? gallbladder surgery Jan of 04

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM? a quilt, my earring holder, a picture, etc.

3. WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE? it's pink and razor-like

4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO? I like almost anything. I usually listen to praise and worship music.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? Around 6 am, I think

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? my house to be finished!

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS? family and friends I've moved away from

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION? I have no idea.

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL? rain or my tea brewing device making Orance and Spice at work.

10. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC? not generally

11. DO YOU GET SCARED OF THE DARK? only if I'm alone for a long time and awake

12. What? what..what..

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOGNE / PERFUME? I'm not sure, I like lots

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? duh, red heads, of course

15. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING PROPOSED TO AT? well, since that already happened, I'd have to say Sterling Lake.

16. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS? Tea only

17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING? it changes, probably sausage

18. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Coconut pecan pie or a warm brownie with ice cream and caramel

19. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU MADE MAD? Ha! I probably shouldn't answer this question on here. Let's just say it was someone that I live with.

20. DO YOU SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE? sing . . . yes, speak . . . no

21. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU (OF THE OPPOSITE SEX): a hockey puck

22. DO YOU LIKE ANYBODY? Yes, I like a lot of people! My husband, family, and friends.

23. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED? Yep, my elbows. It's gross!

24. FAVORITE CLOTHING BRAND? I'm not sure I have a favorite right now. Anything that fits and looks ok.

25. WHAT`S YOUR DREAM CAR? Chrysler 500 (black with tan leather interior)

27. WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR DREAMS? finish my house and have a family or be in a touring singing group

29. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU? I've always been a fan of writing notes. That way they can keep it with them. (I like getting notes too).

30. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED:7

31. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES? I've always wanted to see what being blonde would be like but I generally like my brunette hair.

32. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL MOST OFTEN? Butler County Building Department (I've got it memorized).

33. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? guilt or farting (at home) and way way overprotective parents (at work)

34. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE U.S? yep! Canada once, and Europe twice.

35. YOUR WEAKNESSES? Caring too much what everyone thinks about unimportant stuff (like appearance and money)

36. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO LIVE? I'd like to try several places out. Chicago, Hawaii, New Zealand, or Europe

37. FIRST JOB? babysitting

38. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL? Yes, in middle school, until my friend's mom got mad and I got chewed out. I NEVER did it again.

39. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS SURVEY? working!

40. IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY WHAT WOULD IT BE? tummy tuck or something done with my hips!

41. WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS SURVEY? taking a break from work

42. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST? singing at Monroe Pres probably

43. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME ILLEGAL? wouldn't make much difference to me (besides cooking).

44. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? a nice relaxing dinner in my new house (hopefully)

45. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT? I've always thought I wanted four. Now that I want to adopt as well as have biological kids, I'm not sure how that will turn out.

46. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? just my middle name, after my Grandpa

47. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? No.

48. WHICH FINGER[S] IS YOUR FAVORITE? the one with the diamonds on it!

49. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? last night (I think a few times).

50. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? If I don't write too fast.

51. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?i really don't like lunch meat (or any other kind of processed meat). I will eat turkey but that's about it.

52. ANY BAD HABITS? My main bad habit is worry!

53. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF? hmm, I don't think I have any embarrassing CD's. Andrew's first CD was the bodyguard, that's sort of embarrassing.

54. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably. It takes a while for me to form deep relationships with people, so I hope I'd stick around.

55. HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL? probably when I was younger

56. DO LOOKS MATTER? Generally, no. I try to keep myself presentable but not spend too much time or money dwelling on it as I think there are more important things in life.

57. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER? Oh, all sorts of immature things. Andrew usually lets me beat on him for a while and then I end up crying.

58. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME? umm, where is my first home?? Actually, my second home right now is probably my in-law's house.

59. DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY? not strangers but if I know people I'm pretty trusting.

60. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? any doll

61. WHAT ARE THE FIRST THREE NUMBERS IN YOUR CELL PHONE? 513

63. DO YOU USE SARCASM?at times. I try to not overuse it.

64. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT? no..

65. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL? loves God, emotionally stable, caring, sense of humor (a.k.a my husband)

66. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Jaimer

68. DO YOU UN-TIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? nope

69. WHO IS YOUR CRUSH? Umm, I'm married.

70. WHAT`S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Coconut or Toffee Chip

71. WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU WENT ON A DATE? I do believe that was last Friday night.

72. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE COLORS? red, pink, and black (to wear)

73. HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE? They were ALL removed in March

74. WHO/WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST RIGHT NOW? My family, good friends and Sterling co-workers

75. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS? it would be fun but it takes a lot of time

76. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? preschool kiddos having play time the the gym here at the church. They are excited because today is their last day before Christmas.

77. LAST THING YOU ATE? sandwich

78. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Jenny my sis

79. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IN THE OPPOSITE SEX?walk

80. FAVORITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG? I Will Trust in You (Craig Aven, the Worship Leader at our church)

81. FAVORITE THING TO HATE: right now it's the Butler County Building dept. Just kidding. I don't really hate much.

82. FAVORITE DRINK? Cranberry or peach tea.

83. FAVORITE ZODIAC SIGN: I have no idea.

84. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SPORT? football to watch, tennis to play

85. HAIR COLOR?light brown

86. EYE COLOR? I've never really known. Depends on what I'm wearing.

87. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES? only after I take my contacts out.

88. SIBLINGS? yes, a sister and a brother

89. FAVORITE MONTH? May!

90. YOU LIKE SUSHI? Yes!

91. LAST THING YOU WATCHED?The weather channel this morning

92. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Hmm, probably May 25th (our anniversary)

93. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? Not Applicable!

94. SUMMER OR WINTER? SUMMER!!

95. KISSES OR HUGS?both please, I prefer hugs, and lots of them!

96. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS? relationships

97. WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS? Amy Doane perhaps?

98. WHO IS THE LEAST LIKELY TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS? Jennie or Maggie! :) Althought it would be fun if they did!

99. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Born O'Hurley. I wouldn't recommend it.

100. IS ANYONE IN LOVE WITH YOU? Yes, my husband is. He's told me several times today!

On Pins and Needles!

We ended up having to dig up two corners of our backfill so the inspector could look at our foundation. He discovered that we were missing straw in our backfill. I'd never heard of this before. He's still not sure whether or not he is going to make us dig up the whole foundation and backfill again with straw on top of the gravel or not ("yes, Merry Christmas to you Mr. Inspector"). He is going to try and pass our foundation "as is" through his boss tomorrow morning. I hate the waiting game. I wish I would just know what was happening. The guy is really nice, so I do trust him to do what he can to help us. Hopefully, he will get this cleared through the county for us and we'll be able to drywall later this week (maybe Thursday or Friday). We'll have a significant setback if we have to redo the backfill. I'm supposed to call and find out our verdict tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, so I'll keep you all informed.

Daily Advice: If you would like to be sane, don't build a house by YOURSELF! This is not for the faint of heart!

Inspections Inspections

We are meeting a county inspector to look at our foundation this morning. Let's hope and pray that he won't make us dig up a corner of it (the excavators are so expensive) but I have a feeling we'll have too. I hope this all gets worked out this week.

I was welcomed to work today by three Christmas cards, two bags of goodies, and a gift from one of my co-workers. I'm such a bum or a scrooge this year, for not doing nice things for my co-workers. I would make them some Christmas goodies, but I'm having a difficult time finding time or a kitchen!

We failed again!

I'm back at work today. I came in for a few hours yesterday but felt terrible, so I went to the doctor and then home. I have a sinus infection. It made it in today by about 11:00 am and feel a bit better than yesterday but I probably won't stay the whole day long. My head is pounding.

We've had a terrible mess with the house. First of all, the county called Andrew and our UBI office to say that we never had a foundation inspection. This is true. . . because I called the county before we backfilled and a lady there told me that "you only have to have an inspection if it's a walk-out basement." Well, now they are saying that we'll have to dig up one little corner so they can inspect it. This stinks, it really does. The inspector also found three things that he thought we should fix with the framing. Two of them don't make sense to us, so we'll need to get that figured out. This whole things just makes me dislike the government even more! Anyway, I'm sort of foggy headed right now, so I can't explain everything that we have to fix. The inspector said to go ahead and insulate but we can't get that inspected until we pass the framing inspection. So, we have insulation being installed right now, but we can't move past that until we get several things taken care of.

All for now!

We didn't pass!

I decided to stay home from work due to terrible sinus congestion and constant sneezing. Anyway, I just went out to check and see if we passed the framing inspection and the "fail" sticker said that we had to have the approved set of plans at the house for the inspector. The frustrating part is that I called the building department this morning to ask if there was anything the inspector needed and all they said was that he needed access to the house. Argh! So, I guess the real inspection is tomorrow.

We PASSED!

Andrew just called from the house to say that we passed our electrical inspection on the second try! Yeah yeah yeah!! I'm so excited to be moving on to things that I can help with! On to the framing inspection tomorrow. . .

Weekend Happenings and Inspections

We had an action packed weekend. On Friday night, we joined several other "young married" couples (we're the longest married) :( from Grace Chapel for a Christmas party. It was so much fun, despite the fact that we played a pretty intense getting-to-know-you game that asked some personal questions! I then woke up on Saturday with a bit of a sore throat. I went on to help clean the Monroe church anyway. I then helped Andrew finish up some of the electrical stuff at our house. I'm getting quite helpful in my ability to connect grounds, drill holes, and help run wire. I just wish I had learned all of this earlier in this process! Then on Sunday, I taught two hours of Sunday school in the morning. I still wasn't feeling the best, so I hope that it was good. I was pretty foggy, so I'm not sure how it went. Then in the late afternoon, I headed down to Fairfield to watch one of my students in a Christmas play at her church. She played the part of Mary and had several solos. She did such a good job singing. I wasn't able to stick around to talk to her afterwards because our family headed over to watch Wayne and Susan's church choir in their Christmas program later in the evening.

I debated whether to go to work today. Not because I feel that sick, just a stuffy nose, and a sore throat (which I suspect is just a product of bad allergies) but I have four sick days yet and there wasn't much going on today. In the end, I decided to come anyway. I'm going to have to cancel a few of my lessons tonight, due to the fact I can't really sing with my nose so plugged! Oh well. I'm just thankful that I don't feel that sick.

We are having another electrical inspection today. If we pass, which I think we will, then I can call in for a framing inspection tomorrow, if we pass that, then we can have the insulation installed on Wednesday, and after that is done the drywall can be hung! We can really move if we pass these two inspections! I'll let you know!

Top 10 Reasons I Love my Sister!

I've created the following list from my trip to Chicago.

Top 10 Reasons I Love my Sister (and love to visit her):

10) She always comes to pick me up, even if I'm on a street corner (in downtown Chicago)!

9) We can hobble along together on the ice and not seem too weird or too old.

8) She made me some yummy fondue (cheese and chocolate).

7) She lets me hang out with a group of all Psychologists, which I found wonderfully refreshing.

6) She is fascinated with my ability to do a sinus cleanse!

5) We can talk about things, like exclamation marks, for long periods of time.

4) She warns me before having to hold hands in church, after singing the Jesse Tree song.

3) She takes me to the nationally ranked, Wheaton College Cafeteria.

2) She pumped up my air mattress with a hand pump. It was funny!

1) She let me meet her date for this weekend, and didn't get mad when I remarked about how normal he was compared to her other dates (and didn't get mad when I told the date that she had broken her nose in basketball . . . . although to my defense, that was better than saying "oh my, I think I have on someone else's pants").

Chicago Update

I had a fabulous time in Chicago! My sister and I spent many hours just hanging out together and talking. We also had fun going to tea at the Urban Tea Lounge, attending the Wheaton College Christmas concert, making fondue, and a volleyball tournament. I have a few pictures that I'll put on later. We both miss Sasha living in Chicago and hope that she comes home soon!

Well, we have continued to postpone our electrical inspections. Andrew continues to talk to the inspector and find things to fix. I think this is just fine. The inspectors will charge per visit, so it's better to get it right first, rather than have the inspector back time and time again. I'm obviously ready to be in our new house, but I realize the benefits of being patient.

No Inspections

No inspections yet. Andrew talked to the electrical inspector on Thursday morning and discovered some things he's got to fix. We are having our official electrical inspection on Monday. I will be in Chicago (yeah, yeah, yeah), weather permitting, visiting my sister. I can't wait, if you couldn't tell. I'm taking mega bus and my ticket was under $25. I had to change it once, so that made it cost a bit more. :) I would so move to Chicago, if Andrew would go with me. I wonder how I love going to the city so much, and Andrew loves going to the country. It's a mystery. Anyway, I heard some fantastic lyrics today (Big Daddy Weave). They really hit the point of what we've been hearing about in church lately. Enjoy!

I try to hold my own life in my own hand

Frustration sets in, thought I had this

Failure is the one thing that I can’t stand

Oh, You remind me that taking care of me

Was never in my job description.

Oh, now I’m finding You want to fix it all

You’re just waiting for permission

I’m giving up, I’m letting go

Of everything that I’ve held onto

I’m giving up, I’m letting go

Of everything that I’ve let hold me

Far too long (for so long)

Lord I know I need to give

You full control

Help me give up and let go

I want to trust You with my whole heart

Not lean on what I think I understand

And even when I can’t see Jesus, help me still to believe

You’re unveiling an unfailing plan

Oh, but sometimes the old me creeps back in

Oh, and the only thing I know to do is give it all to You again

Help me give up, help me let go Help me give it all to You

Inspection Update

I called for an inspection this morning and found out that we have to have the electrical inspection before the framing inspection. So, I requested that, which will take place tomorrow. I will call in the other one, once we pass the electric. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully we pass right away, or just have minor things to change!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been so long since I've posted. I can't believe that I actually let it go a week without writing anything. I think that's been the longest break thus far! I hopefully won't do that again! Anyway, we're moving forward with the house. Andrew has one major project left with the electric and we'll be ready for inspection. We're having the insulation guys out tomorrow to do firestopping (plugging up all the holes in the walls with caulk to prevent fire from spreading . . . heaven forbid if ever a fire). We are planning on calling in for our framing inspection (this is the big one, folks) on Thursday. I hoping that we can both meet the inspector out there. It's pretty rare (I've heard) to pass this inspection the first time (not to mention passing the electrical inspection), so let's hope and pray that we won't have much to fix! If we don't pass, we'll be pushing the insulation and drywall back a bit. I'm so ready to be painting and well . . . moving in!!! I still haven't decided on all the colors yet (umm, help!!!). Our major deadline now, is Andrew's schoolwork resuming in January. I don't want him to be working on the trim, cabinets, or hardwood floors (as he says he's doing) when he needs to be studying.

We had a calm and relaxing Thanksgiving here. Andrew and I were able to "escape" down to Shaker Village for a night on Friday night. Andrew had been wanting to go for his birthday, so . . . we used his birthday money to pay for the trip. It was so nice to just get away from everything for a night. He can play a mean game of checkers! I almost had him beat for a while (because I'm sneaky) but he beat me in the end. It was so fun and relaxing just to do something else than talk about the house and make those kind of heavy decisions with him!!

I'll keep you updated on the inspection, etc. I'm so hoping that we pass and are drywalling by next weekend!!

Sinus Wars!

I've struggled with sinus problems ever since I can remember. Upon moving to Ohio, my sinus problems have gotten much worse! My nose doesn't agree with the air, I guess. Most recently, the chiropractor has said to me that she thinks she can fix my sinus problem. I am overjoyed to hear this but skeptical at the same time. She has adjusted me twice, thus far, in order to correct a sinus headache that I've had. Neither time has worked! :( As I'm faced, again today, with another pounding sinus headache (and no, drugs don't have any effect), I wonder what the solution might be. I have sinus headaches approximately 5 out of 7 days a week (especially lately). Argh!! Any ideas?

We've finally set a bit of a deadline for the electric to be finished. We're hoping to have our framing inspection on November 28th!! It's not set in stone but we're hoping for that date! After that, we can proceed with the insulation, drywall, and finish carpentry!!

Siding Pictures . . . Finally!!

Back of the house with siding.

One side to go with siding

House on 11/19/2006 with siding and trim

Calm

I fear we're in the calm before the storm, the Christmas storm I mean. Things at work have been unusually slow but I hear about the dreaded (although that word is rarely used) Advent season. The church calendar picks up with several services per week, etc. I've used this time to try to get all organized and ahead in some projects.

The siding is mostly up on the house and I promise pictures sometime soon. I bought batteries today, so my camera will be functioning soon. I am so pleased that I learned how to do something useful at the house. I'm shimming the windows myself.

Also, my good friend, Connie, and two of her friends, are coming to stay this weekend. They are actually here to attend a youth gathering in Cincinnati. Should be fun, folks!

No Title

We are still hunting for a car. I made several phone calls yesterday, only to discover many of the cars we were interested in from dealerships were already sold. We do have an appointment with a guy from Dayton to look at his 1995 Honda. The price is really good for the car but we are leery as the guy said his ex-girlfriend ran the car into a guardrail when it was icy. Ah the drama! We'll see if we like it or not.

I received a call, the other day, from the May Festival Manager. They are opening up one concert in January, this year, to any former singers, if they want to return. I really wanted to do it, because of the music and it's just fun to be around good musicians, but Andrew convinced me (or made me think) that I would be completely stressed and busy if I did that. I would drive down to practice on every Tuesday night (minus the holidays) until the end of January. As much as I really want to do it, I just have to think that I'll do it again when I'm not so busy.

I started seeing a chiropractor this week. I had a stiff neck that wouldn't go away for almost a month. She found that almost my entire neck was out of whack (my term not hers) and the natural curve supposed to be in my neck was gone. So, after receiving my first adjustment yesterday, I'm here at work, trying my best to use the proper posture she told me too. I never thought I had that bad of posture before, but I guess so. I also realize that if I'm ever using my mouse at work, I have to really slump over and lean forward to use it! My keyboard is on a pull-out thing but my mouse is not. I tried moving it this morning, so we'll see if that helps.

Ok, all for now! I've got to get to work on the newsletter!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! :)

Well, just automobiles, in our case. We found out that our car is a bit beyond repair. It has a bad transmission, and a leaky valve resulting in the cost of the repairs totally about twice what the car is worth. We're going to try to get a few hundred dollars from it and buy another car. We have our eye on a 1997 Toyota Camry that is around $4,000. We own another Toyota Camry and love it! We were also commenting to each other that it might get confusing around our family since two other people own the same model and color of that car! Actually there are a total of six Camry's in the family and if we buy this one, it would total seven!! :) We should take a picture!

The siding guy is working today. I'll take some pictures tonight, if there is anything to see. He says that it should only take him one week to finish, so we'll see. I bought a kitchen sink and bathtub/shower faucet yesterday. I ended up with a cast iron sink because the other ones felt way to cheap!

Well, that's about all for now. We're just plugging away on the electric, cleaning things up, and moving forward on things. I'm hoping we can have drywall in by/around the 17th of November. I'd like it in before Thanksgiving anyway. All for now!

Election Day

Well, it's election day. For me this means that my place of employment will be packed today, because it is a voting location! It's been hairy this morning! :) But I won't go into that.

We received our car title yesterday!! Yeah!! I am headed to Middletown today at lunch to sign the title over to an Ohio one and get the plates. And again I say . . . yeah! I also have a chiropractor appointment at 6:00 pm tonight. My neck has been out for a long time. We get 12 "free" visits per year. Since there are only two months left in the year, I figured I'd be under that number.

After my lessons last night, I "drove" the Oldsmobile to a mechanics in Fairfield to be checked out today. I liked going down the hills because then the car would make it above 30 miles per hour. I think I pulled over about three times to let people pass. It wasn't too bad. Jennie came and picked me up (thank you Jennie!!) since Andrew was at work last night until 10:30 pm! I couldn't sleep, so I enjoyed a very funny "Whose Line" rerun. The mechanics are just checking out the problem, then we will decide whether or not it is worth the money to fix it. Unfortunately, I left my cell phone at home this morning (charging) and so I don't know if they called me yet or not. Thankfully, Susan (my m-i-l) works about 2 miles from me and she is bringing my phone over. I'll pick it up mid morning when I go to Middletown for the car tags. It'll be so nice to have our cars back again.

Andrew continues to work on the electric and says he'll be close to finished this weekend. Also, the siding guy starts this morning. Andrew met him before work. It should look MUCH different by the end of the week. I'm so excited!! I'll post lots of pictures when things look differently.

Don't worry, Mom . . . . I'm also going to vote at lunch today.

More Survey's

Ok, I realize that no one has commented in a while. Andrew suggested that I not write anymore until I got 7 different people to comment so . . . I'll think about that for the future. These survey's are way too much fun for the time being. Andrew loved the name one below, but didn't post anything (yet). The fun part (for me) is reading yours! So, please post yours in my comments! Here's another to enjoy!

1. Who was your best friend(s) in high school? Marie Chesbro

2. What sports did you play in high school? Tennis

3. What kind of car did you drive? 1991 Buick LeSabre (we called it Big Red)

4. It's Friday night, where were you? Probably at a sporting event (watching my sister)

5. Were you a party animal? . . . umm no

6. Were you considered a flirt? I don't think so . . . although that's where I first learned! :)

7. Ever skip school? Well, once I had a little "disagreement" with my PE teacher and went to the principal's office (I was friends with her daughters) and we just sat and chatted since it was the last day of school. I also "skipped" choir class once and this same principal wrote me an excused note! :)

8. Were you a nerd? Only a music nerd, not a book nerd

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Definitely not! I followed all rules!

10. Can you sing the fight song? I don't think it has words

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Bennington (for letting us watch SO many movies), Mrs. Richardson (for letting me cook and sew during school), and Mrs. Suiter (for letting us read our library books and eat Peanut Butter M&M's everyday during spanish class . . . guess that's why I don't know ANY spanish).

12. Favorite Class? History, or English

13. What was your school's full name? St. John High School

14. School Mascot? Tiger

15. Did you go to Prom? Yeah!

16. If you could go back and do it over, would you? Try harder in Math class

17. What do you remember most about graduation? It was so quick and I had to pray infront of quite a few people!!

18. Favorite memory of your senior year? The musical

19. Where were you on senior skip day? There was no such thing.

20. Did you have a job your senior year? No, besides helping out on the farm. I worked at the bank, after I graduated.

21. Where did you go most often for lunch? Home or The Ruby Slipper

22. What did you do after graduation? Went to Sterling College

23. When did you graduate? 2000

24. Who was your senior prom date? Matt Fox

25. Are you going to your ten year reunion? If someone organizes one.

26. Who was your home room teacher? I don't remember having home room. We were so small, I don't think it was needed. Don't remember.

27. Who will repost this after you? I HOPE everyone does!

Trouble . . . not in River City but in Ohio!

Well, we waited too long to renew our car tags for the Toyota. Andrew took it in to work on Monday to get Ohio license plates when we discovered . . . we didn't have the title. I called the county in Kansas, and they said that our title was "in progress." Well, it has been "in progress" for three years now!! The lady apologized and said they would get it to us soon. So, in the mean time, we can't drive the Camry around, because it has expired tags. So, my considerate husband let me take his car to work, while he drove his parent's truck. On my way to work this morning, I was just driving along, being nice to the car, when all of a sudden, I went to press on the gas petal and it went clear to the floor with no reaction from the car. I coasted for a while and tried to figure out what to do. I pulled off into a subdivision and figured out that the car, while in drive, was only running in first gear. Well, I could manually put the car into first, second, and third, so I tried that and found it would run in third. The problem was that I couldn't get over about 25 mph without the rpm's getting too high. So, I called Andrew and then put putted my way to work. Now, I will just have to put put home tonight, too! I'm thinking the transmission went out. Ha, I'm faking you out! My husband told me that. I had no idea what was wrong with it. Anyway, I'm not sure what we'll do about cars but things could be worse. Speaking of . . .

The sweet girl, Ellie, in my Sunday school class, is having her third open heart surgery this morning at 9:00 am. They have amazing technology these days and her parents have a website where they update every so often. If you are interested in reading it and praying for her can email me at jaime_schechter@yahoo.com but I can only invite people to it through email.