Today, we were up at 4:30am. We stayed at Jake and Lauras house so we could get an early start to Emerald Isle, NC. After 14 hours in the car and 710 miles of driving, we arrived at Second Wind. That is what our 6 bedroom, 5 bath house is called. We were invited to come along with the Alianellos on their vacation for a whole week. It is quite a nice place where you can hear the ocean(and see it). All of the bedrooms are seaside and the house has a wonderful two story deck with lots of chairs on it for sitting and reading or looking at the sunrise or sunset or whatever you want.
I am ready for a little time off of work. It is nice to spend time with friends without having to worry about being tired in the morning and sleeping in for work. We plan to do some fishing and sea kayaking and swimming and suning and snorkling. It is supposed to be in the 75-80 degree range all week. Should be great.
When we get back home I will be picking up our corolla from the transmission shop. It needed to have the differential replaced. Not a small job I guess. Our intrigue is also giving us some trouble. A wiring problem that seems to be manifesting itself in the form of an out low beam headlight on the right side and a rear left window that won't go up. The AC clutch is also going bad and the engine needs a valve cover gasket. Oh the joys of owning vehicles. Even though we are having some trouble, we feel blessed to have cars and decent jobs. God is good.
Melissa's grandparents came to visit two weeks ago. It was really nice to visit with them and eat with them. Melisa and grandma made two apple pies while they were here. They were honestly the best apple pies I have ever eaten. Absolutly delicous.
Hmm I'll bet it'll be really close to winter when we get back to New York on the 18th. I'm looking forward to snowboarding. Soon it will be time to pack up the motorcycle hemets and het out the snowboarding gear.
Well, it's been a long day. Time for something like bed.
Until Next Time....
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
long time no blog...
Hmmm. Well i guess it has been a while. A few people have expressed their wonderings about what it is that I am up to. Well, a lot. I'm/We're still happily married. Trying all kinds of new meals and recipes. Trying to get into a good 'walking in the evenings' habit to keep from gaining all kinds of weight from the all kinds of new meals and recipes.
Work has been picking up. We just put out to bid a $225,000 double box culvert replacement for a village, not too far from where our office is. There is all kinds of new projects that are still in the preliminary stages, but there is some potential to be a lot of good new work for us.
I have done a few things to my/our cars. Turned front rotors and new pads on the Intrigue, New rotors and pads on the front of the Corolla, new exhaust 'donut' gasket on the exhaust of the Corolla(done by a local shop), new master window control switch for the Intrigue, new wiper blades for the Corolla.
Today, I helped Jake put in a water treatment system at his house. He has had a iron bacteria problem and he did lots of research (being that he is an engineer) and he came up with a pretty slick system. It involves a chlorine injection pump, am 80 gallon chlorine contact tank and a backwashable carbon filter. The chlorine disinfects the water as well as precipitating the iron out of the water. The chlorine contact tank is kind of a place for some of the precipitated iron to collect. The carbon filter then filters out anything that didn't settle out in the chlorine contact tank as well as removing some or most of the chlorine from the water. I helped him install the system which involved cutting into the existing piping and plumbing in the new system. I also had my first experience installing a relay to control the chlorine injection pump. The relay is engaged when the well pump comes on, then switching power to the chlorine pump. Anyway, the system is up and running. Now, Jake only needs to figure out how much chlorine to put into the water so that it does it's job, but is not overpowering. And now, his water that was once VERY stinky and dirty on the plumbing and fixtures has no smell and tastes GREAT :) I love when a job goes together and works.
Well, Until Next Time....
Work has been picking up. We just put out to bid a $225,000 double box culvert replacement for a village, not too far from where our office is. There is all kinds of new projects that are still in the preliminary stages, but there is some potential to be a lot of good new work for us.
I have done a few things to my/our cars. Turned front rotors and new pads on the Intrigue, New rotors and pads on the front of the Corolla, new exhaust 'donut' gasket on the exhaust of the Corolla(done by a local shop), new master window control switch for the Intrigue, new wiper blades for the Corolla.
Today, I helped Jake put in a water treatment system at his house. He has had a iron bacteria problem and he did lots of research (being that he is an engineer) and he came up with a pretty slick system. It involves a chlorine injection pump, am 80 gallon chlorine contact tank and a backwashable carbon filter. The chlorine disinfects the water as well as precipitating the iron out of the water. The chlorine contact tank is kind of a place for some of the precipitated iron to collect. The carbon filter then filters out anything that didn't settle out in the chlorine contact tank as well as removing some or most of the chlorine from the water. I helped him install the system which involved cutting into the existing piping and plumbing in the new system. I also had my first experience installing a relay to control the chlorine injection pump. The relay is engaged when the well pump comes on, then switching power to the chlorine pump. Anyway, the system is up and running. Now, Jake only needs to figure out how much chlorine to put into the water so that it does it's job, but is not overpowering. And now, his water that was once VERY stinky and dirty on the plumbing and fixtures has no smell and tastes GREAT :) I love when a job goes together and works.
Well, Until Next Time....
Saturday, April 24, 2010
First Weekend Home
It's saturday and I am actually writing a post....on Saturday. Imagine that. We had Jake and Laura over last evening for dinner and a movie. Melissa made this new coffee BBQ sauce. It was amazing. We had it with chicken and rice. Add corn and a salad to that and we had quite a nice meal. I think that we both agree....as did our company...that the BBQ sauce should make another reappearance in the future...maybe several. We will definitely be adding it to our binder of 'hit'recipes. We have been constantly amazed at how God has blessed us with so many things. We have pretty much been able to get anything we wanted for our kitchen through the wedding gifts that we have received.
We have used our pannini maker many times and are always coming up with new variations of sandwiches to try in it. We also take it over to Brad and Michelle's because they really like it, or actually, the food that comes out of it. We use our cookware set everyday and sometimes, we find that every pan in the set is dirty because we use them so much. And it's amazing because we do dishes very regularly....much more regularly than when i was living here alone. lol. Actually, the whole Apartment in general is cleaner now that Melissa has moved in.
Also, the coffee pot and french press get used very regularly. I try to use them both so one or the other doesn't get jealous. They both make great coffee. We used some gift money to buy a set of Zwilling J.A. Henkels knives. http://www.zwilling.com/en-US/Product-Range--sortiment/Cutlery--knives/Series-overview--serien/TWIN(R)-Four-Star-II--3542.html
We bought a smaller set that contains two chef knives, a parer, a peeler, and a serrated utility knife as well as the knife block and a set of kitchen shears. These, too we use every day and anticipate that they will last as long as the cookware set...
We also acquired a kitchenAid mixer. Melissa asked me if i wanted to buy a new one from the store when we were there, and I knew that she wasn't crazy about them yet, so she was asking me because she knew i wanted one. I told her that we should not spend $299 on something that she didn't really want, and that we might find one at a garage sale. WELL, wouldn't you know, Jake and Laura are buying a house and the sellers have been getting rid of stuff in a sort of ongoing yard sale. Jake called me last week and said that there was a kitchenAid Professional for sale that looked pretty good and he wanted to know if we wanted it(because he heard that we/I kinda wanted one). When I asked him how much they wanted for it and he said $50, I talked to Melissa and it didn't take too long for us to decide that it was an AMAZING deal and that we should get it. SO, we have one now, even though we are running out of room to keep stuff. :) It's stuff like that that makes you feel so blessed. A $300-$400 mixer for $50.00. :)
Thursday, We got her car title and registration all taken care of and switched to NY as well as her Drivers License. There is a 'mobile' DMV that comes to springville every thursday. They happen to set up at the town hall which is right across the street from where she works. It was great. After about 1.5 hours, we had it all straighten out and our pocket books were about $200 lighter. lol
Well, I suppose that's about it. I rode my bike to work friday. It was cool in the morning, but the afternoon was great. an amazing ride. We need to get all three vehicles inspected before the end of the month and probably get the oil changed for at least two of them. STUFF>>>>means you have MAINTENANCE to do with it. the more stuff, the more maintenance. amazing.
Until Next Time....
We have used our pannini maker many times and are always coming up with new variations of sandwiches to try in it. We also take it over to Brad and Michelle's because they really like it, or actually, the food that comes out of it. We use our cookware set everyday and sometimes, we find that every pan in the set is dirty because we use them so much. And it's amazing because we do dishes very regularly....much more regularly than when i was living here alone. lol. Actually, the whole Apartment in general is cleaner now that Melissa has moved in.
Also, the coffee pot and french press get used very regularly. I try to use them both so one or the other doesn't get jealous. They both make great coffee. We used some gift money to buy a set of Zwilling J.A. Henkels knives. http://www.zwilling.com/en-US/Product-Range--sortiment/Cutlery--knives/Series-overview--serien/TWIN(R)-Four-Star-II--3542.html
We bought a smaller set that contains two chef knives, a parer, a peeler, and a serrated utility knife as well as the knife block and a set of kitchen shears. These, too we use every day and anticipate that they will last as long as the cookware set...
We also acquired a kitchenAid mixer. Melissa asked me if i wanted to buy a new one from the store when we were there, and I knew that she wasn't crazy about them yet, so she was asking me because she knew i wanted one. I told her that we should not spend $299 on something that she didn't really want, and that we might find one at a garage sale. WELL, wouldn't you know, Jake and Laura are buying a house and the sellers have been getting rid of stuff in a sort of ongoing yard sale. Jake called me last week and said that there was a kitchenAid Professional for sale that looked pretty good and he wanted to know if we wanted it(because he heard that we/I kinda wanted one). When I asked him how much they wanted for it and he said $50, I talked to Melissa and it didn't take too long for us to decide that it was an AMAZING deal and that we should get it. SO, we have one now, even though we are running out of room to keep stuff. :) It's stuff like that that makes you feel so blessed. A $300-$400 mixer for $50.00. :)
Thursday, We got her car title and registration all taken care of and switched to NY as well as her Drivers License. There is a 'mobile' DMV that comes to springville every thursday. They happen to set up at the town hall which is right across the street from where she works. It was great. After about 1.5 hours, we had it all straighten out and our pocket books were about $200 lighter. lol
Well, I suppose that's about it. I rode my bike to work friday. It was cool in the morning, but the afternoon was great. an amazing ride. We need to get all three vehicles inspected before the end of the month and probably get the oil changed for at least two of them. STUFF>>>>means you have MAINTENANCE to do with it. the more stuff, the more maintenance. amazing.
Until Next Time....
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Still Married and Still Lovin' It
Well, it's been a month since Melissa and I got married...I've slacked off on writing regularly, and a few people have mentioned this....so, i will try to write a little something. :)
We have been putting our Apartment together....putting stuff away and cleaning up various messes that seem propagate all by themselves. We had three major 'dumps' into our apartment since we came home: all of our cloths from the wedding and honeymoon, all our gifts from the wedding that we picked up at Brad and Michelle's house, and a whole car load of stuff that we got from Bed Bath and Beyond and Target with Wedding gift cards. It seemed for a while that as soon as we got one mess cleaned up, another one just appeared. Anyway, thanks to Melissa mostly, we have a very clean and well organized apartment. We just need to figure out how to keep it that way. lol.
Melissa is working for a Surveyor in Springville. We live within a 10 minute walk of her office so when the weather is nice and she feels like it(or if we have a broken down car or something) she can walk to work. She was been working there for two weeks now and things seem to be going well. She has been in the office mostly so far, but last week she spent 2 days out in the field working with one of the surveyors. She really likes getting out and having the variety of being in the office and also out in the field. She is figuring out the programs that they use in the office. It's a pretty 'open format' office where she pretty much has to figure a lot of stuff out on her own. So she is getting used to that.
We have been shopping a lot at Aldi for groceries and finally have decided that we need to go there FIRST, before Walmart, so that we can get everything we can there. We keep going there last and finding out that we could have gotten tomatoes there and saved money on them...stuff like that. :)
I got the windshield replaced on the Intrigue last week. I was informed that i wouldn't be able to get it inspected until the windshield was replaced because it had two cracks in it. Fortunately I have glass coverage on my insurance and all it cost me was the time it took to make one phone call. We are still getting stuff straightened out as far as getting her license and vehicle registration into New York, but We're getting there.
Also, we are looking forward to our first Full Weekend home since we got married. :)
In subsequent posts, i hope to tell you how happy we are with our cookware set and our cutlery set. And the amazing deal we got on a KitchenAid Mixer.
Until Next Time....
We have been putting our Apartment together....putting stuff away and cleaning up various messes that seem propagate all by themselves. We had three major 'dumps' into our apartment since we came home: all of our cloths from the wedding and honeymoon, all our gifts from the wedding that we picked up at Brad and Michelle's house, and a whole car load of stuff that we got from Bed Bath and Beyond and Target with Wedding gift cards. It seemed for a while that as soon as we got one mess cleaned up, another one just appeared. Anyway, thanks to Melissa mostly, we have a very clean and well organized apartment. We just need to figure out how to keep it that way. lol.
Melissa is working for a Surveyor in Springville. We live within a 10 minute walk of her office so when the weather is nice and she feels like it(or if we have a broken down car or something) she can walk to work. She was been working there for two weeks now and things seem to be going well. She has been in the office mostly so far, but last week she spent 2 days out in the field working with one of the surveyors. She really likes getting out and having the variety of being in the office and also out in the field. She is figuring out the programs that they use in the office. It's a pretty 'open format' office where she pretty much has to figure a lot of stuff out on her own. So she is getting used to that.
We have been shopping a lot at Aldi for groceries and finally have decided that we need to go there FIRST, before Walmart, so that we can get everything we can there. We keep going there last and finding out that we could have gotten tomatoes there and saved money on them...stuff like that. :)
I got the windshield replaced on the Intrigue last week. I was informed that i wouldn't be able to get it inspected until the windshield was replaced because it had two cracks in it. Fortunately I have glass coverage on my insurance and all it cost me was the time it took to make one phone call. We are still getting stuff straightened out as far as getting her license and vehicle registration into New York, but We're getting there.
Also, we are looking forward to our first Full Weekend home since we got married. :)
In subsequent posts, i hope to tell you how happy we are with our cookware set and our cutlery set. And the amazing deal we got on a KitchenAid Mixer.
Until Next Time....
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The first from a married man.
So, here I am. Back in my, or should I say our apartment. I am married to the love of my life, Melissa. She's a Henning now. Lol. The wedding went pretty well. It was great to see everyone that came. Looking back on the whole thing, I'm kinda looking forward to seeing the pictures from the photographer. He turned out to be really good. The pictures should be available to view and purchase if you want online. When I get the webpage, I'll post the link.
The honeymoon was great. We stayed at a ski resort in the middle of the white mountain national forest in New Hampshire. We had a few rainy days which was ok and then we had a few super nice days. Warm enough for t-shirts actually. We walked around town one day and went to a bunch of shops. We went to an outlet mall another day. And even though it was warm and it rained some, we still went snowboarding. There was a ski slope that was up in the national forest. It was called wildcat. They are high enough that the temps were probably 7 degrees F lower than where we were staying. They still had great snow and on Friday they were running a deal...$9 lift tickets. For all day. They are normally $69. So we decided to go. It was great. We got there at 10. Boarded some. Ate lunch. Boarded more. And left at about 2:30. We were both tired out not having boarded much this season. :)
the mountain was really neat. there were all kinda of trails and they were long too. There Is a total of 2100 feet of elevation difference from the top to the bottom. The peak was at an elevation of something like 4100 feet. What was really cool was that Mt. Washington, the famous mountain of the presidential range, was right across the 'valley' from the ski slope and you could see it as you were going up the lift, at the top, and even while
boarding down. It was SO close. It seemed like it was almost unreal it was so amazing. We could also see down the valley and the other mountains too. It was amazing and a good reminder of the awesomeness of God and how amazing He is and how good he is to let us enjoy all his creation.
So now we are back in our apartment. I go back to work tomorow and it will be interesting to see what my/our new 'normal' life is going to look like. I'm typing this on my iPod so there may have been a few typos. Also. I'm tired of typing on the tiny keypad so I'm going to
be done.
Until Next Time....
The honeymoon was great. We stayed at a ski resort in the middle of the white mountain national forest in New Hampshire. We had a few rainy days which was ok and then we had a few super nice days. Warm enough for t-shirts actually. We walked around town one day and went to a bunch of shops. We went to an outlet mall another day. And even though it was warm and it rained some, we still went snowboarding. There was a ski slope that was up in the national forest. It was called wildcat. They are high enough that the temps were probably 7 degrees F lower than where we were staying. They still had great snow and on Friday they were running a deal...$9 lift tickets. For all day. They are normally $69. So we decided to go. It was great. We got there at 10. Boarded some. Ate lunch. Boarded more. And left at about 2:30. We were both tired out not having boarded much this season. :)
the mountain was really neat. there were all kinda of trails and they were long too. There Is a total of 2100 feet of elevation difference from the top to the bottom. The peak was at an elevation of something like 4100 feet. What was really cool was that Mt. Washington, the famous mountain of the presidential range, was right across the 'valley' from the ski slope and you could see it as you were going up the lift, at the top, and even while
boarding down. It was SO close. It seemed like it was almost unreal it was so amazing. We could also see down the valley and the other mountains too. It was amazing and a good reminder of the awesomeness of God and how amazing He is and how good he is to let us enjoy all his creation.
So now we are back in our apartment. I go back to work tomorow and it will be interesting to see what my/our new 'normal' life is going to look like. I'm typing this on my iPod so there may have been a few typos. Also. I'm tired of typing on the tiny keypad so I'm going to
be done.
Until Next Time....
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Getting Closer
The wedding is fast approaching.... These last few weeks have been very busy...with wedding planning stuff as well as other non-wedding, non-work stuff. Michelle, Melissa's sister had a baby last thursday. Ryan was born at 2 lbs 15.somthing ozs. Although he was premature and will be in the NICU for a fair amount of time, he seems to be doing pretty well. Michelle is also recovering. This does however mean that Brad and Michelle and family will not be able to make it to Maine for the wedding, which means that Melissa will not be having Michelle as her matron of honor at the wedding either. It has been pretty hectic over the last week, but we both know that God is in control and that He is working out His perfect plan. We are still super excited to be getting married in only 5 days.
I have spent the last week getting ready to leave for a couple weeks and cleaning the apartment so that it is nice and everything for us when we get back.
In other news, (by the way, this part was written a couple of weeks ago, but i figured i'd still post it because it is relevant to what is going on in my life and it is also very interesting)
Our church has started a small group study called "The Truth Project". It's a 12 class program where you go through videos that are basically a classroom setting. The series is all about developing a Christian worldview. Dr. Del Tackett is the guy that is teaching the lessons. It is really neat, they use all sorts of different media in the lessons and they interview some people from the general public as well as some well known Christian authors and preachers. I have included the links to two
The Truth Project Intro and Trailer
Dr. Del Tackett - the Truth Project 'tour guide'
Until Next Time....
I have spent the last week getting ready to leave for a couple weeks and cleaning the apartment so that it is nice and everything for us when we get back.
In other news, (by the way, this part was written a couple of weeks ago, but i figured i'd still post it because it is relevant to what is going on in my life and it is also very interesting)
Our church has started a small group study called "The Truth Project". It's a 12 class program where you go through videos that are basically a classroom setting. The series is all about developing a Christian worldview. Dr. Del Tackett is the guy that is teaching the lessons. It is really neat, they use all sorts of different media in the lessons and they interview some people from the general public as well as some well known Christian authors and preachers. I have included the links to two
The Truth Project Intro and Trailer
Dr. Del Tackett - the Truth Project 'tour guide'
Until Next Time....
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
6 and change more Weeks
This weekend was pretty nice. Friday after work, I got in the car and ventured out to Owego, NY to see Melissa, who was staying with her sister. On my way out there, I listened to some sermons on Marriage by this pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He had some really helpful things to say and this series was recommended by Melissa's pastor in New Hampshire. I loaded them onto my iPod and it was nice to be able to listen to something that kept my mind busy on the drive out there.
Melissa and I had our first pre-marital counseling session on Saturday. There are normally 6 sessions but since we are so far away, we are trying to condense them. The pastor (who is also the pastor of Brad and Michelle's church) said that we could probably do it in three sessions. We would just have to cover more each session. We were there for three hours on Saturday. Although it didn't seem like three hours. Afterwords, having not eaten lunch, we were quite hungry and decided to go to an Italian place that Michelle recommended. It was amazing! Each dinner item had three size options: single person, couple, or family size. We ordered a couple sized portion. Salad and bread sticks came with it just like at Olive Garden. Needless to say, by the time we left, we were hungry no more.
We are reading three books for our counseling, listening to a series of 9 sermons, and also reading a little material that Melissa's dad gave to us and an extra book that Melissa's pastor from NH gave us. I feel like I should be an expert in Marriage before I even get there, but I know WAY better than that. I'm just trusting God that He will help us overcome any and all hardships that come. :)
I have 6 more weekends to spend as an unmarried man. I will get to spend three of them with Melissa. The wedding is coming. :) it's coming fast.
Until Next Time....
Melissa and I had our first pre-marital counseling session on Saturday. There are normally 6 sessions but since we are so far away, we are trying to condense them. The pastor (who is also the pastor of Brad and Michelle's church) said that we could probably do it in three sessions. We would just have to cover more each session. We were there for three hours on Saturday. Although it didn't seem like three hours. Afterwords, having not eaten lunch, we were quite hungry and decided to go to an Italian place that Michelle recommended. It was amazing! Each dinner item had three size options: single person, couple, or family size. We ordered a couple sized portion. Salad and bread sticks came with it just like at Olive Garden. Needless to say, by the time we left, we were hungry no more.
We are reading three books for our counseling, listening to a series of 9 sermons, and also reading a little material that Melissa's dad gave to us and an extra book that Melissa's pastor from NH gave us. I feel like I should be an expert in Marriage before I even get there, but I know WAY better than that. I'm just trusting God that He will help us overcome any and all hardships that come. :)
I have 6 more weekends to spend as an unmarried man. I will get to spend three of them with Melissa. The wedding is coming. :) it's coming fast.
Until Next Time....
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Engagement Pictures, Wedding Plans, and.....well, Stuff.
So, I have some time during lunch....I think i will post a blog.
Before Melissa left when she was visiting, we got Emily Alianello to take some engagement pictures of us. We kinda just went around Ellicottville and pretty much just let Emily take the reigns and take pictures of us wherever she wanted. They turned out very nice. We have many many pictures of us now. :) Not only many, but many GOOD ones...if I do say so myself. Here's a couple that i especially like:
I feel like the luckies man in the world to have Melissa as my fiance. I'm super excited about getting to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. She is quite an amazing woman. She has been doing so much as far as the planning goes...I have been here in NY working away at my job, and she has been doing so good with all of the planning. She is also good about checking in with me when she want's my opinion about something. Her mom has been such a big help too. She is good at thinking about everything that needs to happen and making sure it gets on the calendar or schedule so it's not forgotten.
I've been breaking in a new pair of cowboy boots...my first pair. They are doing quite nicely. I think I like them and will keep them.
In other news, my car turned over 100,000 miles today. I thought i would try to see when it happened and remember where i was and such, but i was driving...thinking about something else....my fiance...and before i knew it, the odometer read 100,002. I missed it. Oh well. I guess it wasn't really that important. lol My apartment is so cozy these days. The little gas heater in the corner does a good job of keeping everything warm. I raised my shower curtain rod about 4 inches....the curtain was dragging on the inside of the tub and getting nastier than it needed to get...plus we might be getting a curtain liner soon and i wanted to have everything arranged so it would stay nice. After looking at walmart for some drywall anchors, i found some that would work. it went very smoothly and now it hangs quite solidly and higher too. I always appreciate a job that goes as well as or better than was expected.
I woke up earlier than normal today because I had a dentist appointment at 6:30AM. Yes. I was in the waiting room of a dentist's office at 6:30...eagerly waiting to get two cavities drilled out and kindly filled with that white stuff that they cure with the purple UV light... But not before I got a lovely injection of novacaine. Well, it went better than expected. No pain..although they are a little sore this afternoon.
Well, i will close for now i guess. I definitely am counting the days to when i will be a happily married man. (52. days.) In a lot of ways, March 19th is so far away, but in others, it is right around the corner....I was reminded early this week about the Bible passage, "be still and know that I am God"....I'm being still. It's hard to be patient sometimes, but it's good for me.
Until Next Time....
I feel like the luckies man in the world to have Melissa as my fiance. I'm super excited about getting to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. She is quite an amazing woman. She has been doing so much as far as the planning goes...I have been here in NY working away at my job, and she has been doing so good with all of the planning. She is also good about checking in with me when she want's my opinion about something. Her mom has been such a big help too. She is good at thinking about everything that needs to happen and making sure it gets on the calendar or schedule so it's not forgotten.
I've been breaking in a new pair of cowboy boots...my first pair. They are doing quite nicely. I think I like them and will keep them.
In other news, my car turned over 100,000 miles today. I thought i would try to see when it happened and remember where i was and such, but i was driving...thinking about something else....my fiance...and before i knew it, the odometer read 100,002. I missed it. Oh well. I guess it wasn't really that important. lol My apartment is so cozy these days. The little gas heater in the corner does a good job of keeping everything warm. I raised my shower curtain rod about 4 inches....the curtain was dragging on the inside of the tub and getting nastier than it needed to get...plus we might be getting a curtain liner soon and i wanted to have everything arranged so it would stay nice. After looking at walmart for some drywall anchors, i found some that would work. it went very smoothly and now it hangs quite solidly and higher too. I always appreciate a job that goes as well as or better than was expected.
I woke up earlier than normal today because I had a dentist appointment at 6:30AM. Yes. I was in the waiting room of a dentist's office at 6:30...eagerly waiting to get two cavities drilled out and kindly filled with that white stuff that they cure with the purple UV light... But not before I got a lovely injection of novacaine. Well, it went better than expected. No pain..although they are a little sore this afternoon.
Well, i will close for now i guess. I definitely am counting the days to when i will be a happily married man. (52. days.) In a lot of ways, March 19th is so far away, but in others, it is right around the corner....I was reminded early this week about the Bible passage, "be still and know that I am God"....I'm being still. It's hard to be patient sometimes, but it's good for me.
Until Next Time....
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Christmas Musings
Christmas has come and gone and January has set in good and proper. I spent Christmas and New Years up in Maine with Melissa's family. We did lots of wedding planning stuff. Invitations, made decisions regarding decoration stuff, looked at the reception hall, checked out music, arranged musicians, registered at stores....etc.
Everything went pretty smoothly. Melissa has lots of friends and family that are super willing to help out and stuff. That makes it nice and less stressful in general. We took a day to register at Sears and Bed Bath and Beyond. We went to Sears first and were pretty disappointed with the service and selection available to us. After feeling like we got almost nothing registered for, we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and were greeted and basically had a personal store guide the whole 3 hours or so that we were there registering for stuff. She even offered us something to eat toward the end of our adventure. SO, at 8:30 PM or so, we headed back home entirely exhausted. It was after we got home that we decided we should register at Target since the selection was so poor at Sears. We started a registry online and have yet to complete it.
Joel, Melissa's next younger brother, offered to help us get all of her stuff to NY and we decided that this last weekend was the time to do it. We loaded up his Tacoma and single axle trailer with her stuff and headed for NY on New Years Day. We laid over at Brad and Michelle's friday night and finished the drive the next day. It went very well. Nothing got wet, so i would say that our tarping job was a success. Also, the tarp did not start flapping or anything like that so it was a success in that sense as well. Joel headed back that Saturday evening and Melissa stayed at the Rabers house.
Sunday was nice. We went to sunday school and church. Pastor Doug, the senior pastor, said hi to Melissa and actually mentioned to the whole adult sunday school class that Melissa was visiting NY. Not that I'm an attention hog, but it was cool.
Melissa and Laura spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the next week painting the apartment. Jake and I helped them move furniture back into place...or to different places depending on whether the girls wanted to rearrange something or not.....we mostly moved stuff to different places. lol. The apartment looks great. new paint, some new furniture, nice things to put on the walls, and a new arrangement of furniture makes a big difference.
Melissa stayed at the Alianello's house most of the time she was here which was nice. She and Laura basically spent the whole week together. which was also nice. they got to hang out and also since Melissa didn't have a car really, it ment that she could still go places...as long as Laura wanted to go that is. :)
I took Melissa to the airport Tuesday morning at 5:15AM. she is now in Maine doing wedding stuff and being far away from me... We will probably get to see each other the last week of January. We are doing marriage counseling at her sister's church near Owego, NY. We have attended that church numerous times since we started dating and we feel like we know the pastor there pretty well. Also, it is kind of an in-between place for us. And he agreed to do it for us. :)
Well, that's the last month in a nutshell...err...blog i guess.
Until next time...
Everything went pretty smoothly. Melissa has lots of friends and family that are super willing to help out and stuff. That makes it nice and less stressful in general. We took a day to register at Sears and Bed Bath and Beyond. We went to Sears first and were pretty disappointed with the service and selection available to us. After feeling like we got almost nothing registered for, we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and were greeted and basically had a personal store guide the whole 3 hours or so that we were there registering for stuff. She even offered us something to eat toward the end of our adventure. SO, at 8:30 PM or so, we headed back home entirely exhausted. It was after we got home that we decided we should register at Target since the selection was so poor at Sears. We started a registry online and have yet to complete it.
Joel, Melissa's next younger brother, offered to help us get all of her stuff to NY and we decided that this last weekend was the time to do it. We loaded up his Tacoma and single axle trailer with her stuff and headed for NY on New Years Day. We laid over at Brad and Michelle's friday night and finished the drive the next day. It went very well. Nothing got wet, so i would say that our tarping job was a success. Also, the tarp did not start flapping or anything like that so it was a success in that sense as well. Joel headed back that Saturday evening and Melissa stayed at the Rabers house.
Sunday was nice. We went to sunday school and church. Pastor Doug, the senior pastor, said hi to Melissa and actually mentioned to the whole adult sunday school class that Melissa was visiting NY. Not that I'm an attention hog, but it was cool.
Melissa and Laura spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the next week painting the apartment. Jake and I helped them move furniture back into place...or to different places depending on whether the girls wanted to rearrange something or not.....we mostly moved stuff to different places. lol. The apartment looks great. new paint, some new furniture, nice things to put on the walls, and a new arrangement of furniture makes a big difference.
Melissa stayed at the Alianello's house most of the time she was here which was nice. She and Laura basically spent the whole week together. which was also nice. they got to hang out and also since Melissa didn't have a car really, it ment that she could still go places...as long as Laura wanted to go that is. :)
I took Melissa to the airport Tuesday morning at 5:15AM. she is now in Maine doing wedding stuff and being far away from me... We will probably get to see each other the last week of January. We are doing marriage counseling at her sister's church near Owego, NY. We have attended that church numerous times since we started dating and we feel like we know the pastor there pretty well. Also, it is kind of an in-between place for us. And he agreed to do it for us. :)
Well, that's the last month in a nutshell...err...blog i guess.
Until next time...
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