2009 - The busy year

2009 will be know forever as the year that flew by. Pretty much anything that could change did. Well except that we didn't have a baby. I don't think I could have handled this year with a baby.

Here's a random list of things we did this year:

- Survived an ice storm in Kentucky

- Tried to sell my car (it's still for sale)

- Ben Graduated from Seminary

- Applied for a million jobs

- Switched jobs

- Moved twice

- Bought a house

- Got involved with an urban church plant

- Started leading a Bible Study for Middle School Girls, and liked it!

2009 has been an awesome year. Ben and I have been praying and waiting for this time for a long time. We finally get to do what God called us to do several years ago. We feel incredibly blessed and we think people are crazy for not wanting to move to this neighborhood.

Happy New Year

New Home Pictures

I thought it was time to show pictures of our new home decorated for Christmas.

Before:
After:
Other end of the living room:

Dining Room before:
After:
Here are some pictures of our Christmas dinner table:

I tied different ribbons on each of the glasses so you could keep track of your glass throughout the day.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

It's called character...

If you owned a house and the basement leaked, what would you do? Would you

A) grade the soil around the house to cause the water to run AWAY from the house?
B) fix the broken downspouts so the water doesn't pour into your basement?
C) drill holes in the basement floor so the water can drain out quicker?

If you answered C you probably owned this house before us. There are so many great things about this house that I love and then there are things like the holes in the basement floor that make me scratch my head. There are so many things that we want to fix/upgrade that I don't even know where the list begins. Thankfully none of them must be taken care of RIGHT now and we can wait until we have money to fix them. Otherwise my mom may have gotten a downspout for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas we got our tree up, but have not had time to decorate it. I knew that being a pastor's wife would be busy but moving and being a pastor's wife is just plain crazy. No one should move around Christmas time. Moving has not gone like I planned. Our box spring doesn't fit up our stairs, the back porch is filled with boxes and a cold crawled in my head and died. So needless to say I am full of grump.

Anyone want to come clean and unpack boxes?

Woo Hoo!

We bought a house today. We are now homeowners.

We move on Saturday. Which is not soon enough. I just cleared out a cupboard in my kitchen and found a family of cockroaches. Ughhhh! I still have the shivers from that discovery.

Ben just pointed out that cockroaches are supposed to be cleaner than than the inside of your mouth. Doesn't matter. I hates them!

New title...

I think I may have to change the name of this blog to "Old News that Andi Never Writes about".

We are buying a house. And it's sucking everything out of us. All our time. All our money. All our laughs.

I've decided that buying a car is much easier than buying a house. For one cars are not covered in asbestos and two they don't have leaky basements. I think I may decide to live in my car.....

The plus side to all of this is that I will get a cat out of it. This is what she looks like:

Time to go relax and not think about loans and inspections and moving!

Who lives there anyway?

Everyday I drive past this house that has a sign in the front yard that reads,

"Fur Room for Rent"

and up until recently I thought that they were trying to get someone to rent a room decorated in fur. Zebra walls, leopard bed, fuzzy fur-like carpet. I couldn't figure out who would want to rent a room covered with fur. A wannabe rapper for his new music video? I have no idea. It took me two months to realized that they were trying to rent out a FURNISHED room. Which makes a whole lot more sense and seems much more marketable. I still can't help but think that it has a zebra print bedspread though.

Speaking of random things I've seen since moving here... the other day I was sitting in my car at a park on my lunch break. There was some event going on and there all these adult women dressed up like bumble bees. Which wouldn't have seemed to odd if there had been any kids there - but there wasn't. It was all adults. Anyway, the lady bee comes walking out to her car and throws her car door open into my car. WHILE I AM SITTING IN IT! She doesn't stop or even seem to notice it, she just starts digging in her car. Of course I get out and point out that she just hit my car. The one I am trying to sell. She apologized and we looked at the car. I don't think she was sorry that it happened, I think she was sorry she got caught. It's a good thing she drives a car with a plastic door.....

What I am realizing is that just like in Kentucky, people are strange...

Living Right Here, Right Now.

Yesterday something happened that reminded me of the importance of living in this neighborhood. Our church follows the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) model for ministry. There are three things that are essential to christian community development:

- Relocation - living in the community so that the issues become "our" problems and successes instead of just "yours".

- Redistribution - working toward justice for all people regardless of their race or status.

- Reconciliation - people to God and people to each other.

Yesterday I saw again why relocation is so important. I was locking up the church building after a group of volunteers helped clean it when I noticed a woman in a wheelchair in our parking lot. Because I was here and was walking to my home, I got to meet her, hear her story and pray with her. She's going through a rough time right now and I hope that yesterday she realized that God loves her.

I love this neighborhood. The people here are so open. It is so encouraging to be able to spread God's love just by walking home. This neighborhood is helping me learn what community really looks like. It's messy and inconvient and it doesn't fit in a program or time frame, but it's good and encouraging and I think this is how we are supposed to live.

What I found on my wall

A nail in the wall in our apartment:


I wonder what was going through the person's mind as they were trying to hang the picture that hung on this nail. Were they thinking that it wouldn't be that hard? When they realized that it was crooked, did they think that they could just put the nail a little lower? Did they lose their level? Were they super frustrated with their wife who couldn't decide where they wanted the picture? How many curse words were said when putting this nail in?

Either way it entertains me!

Drama

Sigh. There have been about a million things to blog about and I haven't had time to just sit and write for a while. The big news is that I love being here! Yeah, our neighborhood is a little rough, but it's a seriously fun place to live.

What I don't like is our landlord drama. We are currently depositing our rent with the county until he makes the repairs he needs to make. We have no idea what happened to him. He hasn't been by to pick up our neighbor's rent, our certified mail to him has gone unclaimed and he's changed his phone number. Our water was almost shut off because it hasn't been paid since February and it took Ben talking to several people at the city to keep it on. He didn't show up for the mediation appointment we had and he hasn't returned anyone's calls. We have no idea what's going on.

What I do know is that I am getting tired of washing my clothes at a laundry mat when I have a washer right in my basement. I'm ready to find a new place....

So Ben got our internet working... kind of... and we realized why we got such a deal on it. It's slower than dial up. Like seriously it's slow. You can't watch hulu, forget loading a web-page with animations or sound, and be prepared to wait an hour just to get the phone company's web-site to load. This speed shouldn't even be called broadband. So we got sucked in and had to upgrade to the normal priced plan and we still have a one year contract. Grrr.

New Home

We still don't have working phone lines, which means we still don't have working internet, which means I have to come down to the church office to get my internet fix. It sucks.

We moved into a place where most people try to move away from. It's a neighborhood of police sirens, fights in the park and broken homes. There's trash everywhere and everything is run down. We can't use our washing machine because someone poured cement down the pipes. There's a feeling of hopelessness here that's evident in the surrondings.

But our neighborhood is full of some of the most friendliest people I have ever met. Everyone sits out on the porch because they don't have A/C and everyone knows everyone. I can walk down my street and introduce myself to anyone and have a conversation. The church here is respected and a part of the community. The kids here go out of their way to spend time with Ben and me. Just this past week we had some events for the local kids and there are some great kids that live here. So much potential!

I am excited to live in this neighborhood. These people are loved by God and He has a plan for their lives. I just hope that Ben and I get to be a part of it...

We're in Ohio now. And we are staying busy. And are fighting with our landlord to get basic things like working phone jacks and outlets working. More later....

Two days to go....

I quit my job today. Ok so maybe I quit it two weeks ago - but today was my last day. There were maybe some tears.

We move in TWO DAYS!!! We finally have everything from the apartment to the utilities to the moving crew figured out. By moving crew I mean our family and friends. Who like to spend their days moving our stuff and getting paid in Pizza. These people are hard to find. If you are one of them I promise that we we be organized. We won't be packing while you wait for us to finish so you can walk that box to the truck. We'll have everything in boxes when you get here and will have and a plan on how to load it all up. Please show up on Saturday. I whine a lot if I have to carry a couch.

We are trying really hard not to buy anything until we are sure that we ABSOLUTELY need it. Because moving that extra bar of soap may be the thing that pushes us over the edge. It may be the item that causes all of the moving truck's tires to explode. It may be the item that causes the box to go from heavy to TOO HEAVY. I'm not sure why, but it is super important that we wait to buy that soap until we get to Ohio. Also it's kind of fun to use the soap we brought back from the hotel. It's like every day is a vacation. A vacation where you go to work and you pack up stuff when you get home.

Since we aren't buying anything it means that we are making like a million trips to the store to buy things. I refused to grocery shop - because we needed to eat what we have at home. So instead we've been to the grocery every day this week. It's a fun and European way to live. We only buy fresh peanut butter at the market every day. Everyone should do this. I think it may extend your life. Which reminds me that I need to get paper towels....

You say 'Mater...

Two days ago I came home to find 5 garden tomatoes on our driveway, near our backdoor. When I asked Ben about them he said, "I figured you knew why they were there."

So some mystery person anonymously dropped off 5 tomatoes at our house and we have no idea why. We've called all two of the friends that we have and they didn't leave them... We weren't going to eat them, but there is nothing better than garden tomatoes and I am trying to live on the edge a little...and well.... We ate one with dinner. Now I am trying to not imagine my stomach eating itself.

Just call me Andi the Serf

So that apartment that seemed so great... well.... let's take a quiz and see what you think.

Choose from the following the reasonable things to put into a lease:
A) Tenant will pay for any plumbing work that needs done
B) Tenant will pay $120 every time the landlord has to come look at the plumbing
C) Tenant will pay for any damage done to windows or doors including damage caused by severe weather
D) All of the above

So raise your hand if you would go with D. You would make a great landlord in Ohio! In fact I think I know someone you could work for.

Short of the lease changing, we won't being signing anytime soon and may be back to being homeless in 2 weeks....Hopefully something works out soon....

Edit to add: I think we worked things out. We may just need to change the wording of the lease a bit...

Moving at the speed of change

Everything is happening sooo fast. On July 1st I applied for my job. On July 22nd I accepted the job and on August 8th we are moving.

Last week I had a phone interview, took part in Amberly's wedding, drove back to Ohio for the second interview, accepted a job, quit a job, and signed my name to the apartment Ben found. Whew. The apartment is exactly what I imagined a city apartment to be. Small, hardwood floors, fireplace, lots of windows, old. It's not where I want to live for forever, but I think it'll be fun. We will just be living there until we can find a place to buy. AHHH!

Today we started packing and I forgot how exhausting it is. WHERE DID ALL THIS STUFF COME FROM????? I am not sure why we still have our old license plates, but I am also not sure what to do with them. Also what do you do with good office supplies that you won't use? And that jewelry I like but haven't worn, what do I do with that?

This is what our office currently looks like:

If you like packing and want to come help... we would welcome it.

Hurray!

I can finally post why I haven't had time to post!

WE ARE MOVING! IN LIKE 2 WEEKS!

We are finally moving back to Ohio. After being in transition for FOREVER... we have jobs and things are in place to move. We just made the final decision yesterday and I start my new job in 3.5 weeks. Today Ben found us a place to live while we look for a home to buy!

So much is happening at lightening speed that it is hard to keep up.

We are super excited. We'll be working with a small church plant in an urban neighborhood. I am excited about the community development opportunities and Ben is excited about the discipleship opportunities. This is what we have been waiting for for over two years and it's nice to take a big step towards it. My husband is going to be a for real, no kidding pastor. I'm so proud of him. He's going to make a great pastor!

Hopefully there will be just one more trip to Ohio and then we will live there! I am so excited!

I hope you had a great Independence Day. Ours was filled with trips back to Ohio to visit family. Yes. I know. We spend so much time in Ohio we should move there. We are working on it.

We spent some extra time at my parent's house helping them clean for the cookout they were having. My sister, Sarah, and I got to go through some boxes full of stuff from our childhood in the process. Whoa. There was a lot of highly entertaining items in those boxes. Lucky for you all I took some pictures before I tossed the stuff!

First up - Self Portrait, Age 7

Apparently I still had blond 80's hair then and had lost a tooth. Also I was rocking the multi-colored turtle necks. It took me a while to figure out what was so "off" on this drawing but Ben helped me out and pointed out that my eyes were all wrong. Which just goes to show that even at 7 I thought my eyes were just that blue.

Next - Illustrated story. Date unknown

The story was something about how I was thankful for my mom, my dad, God, food and flars. Which, from judging by the picture, means flowers. My favorite part of this picture is my mom's chicken feet hands and my dad's butt hands. Not sure where I got that....

Next, I was reminded why I disliked swimming lessons so much. I sucked at it. Here's a report card from 1989 (age 6):

I needed work on everything except for floating and sticking my face in the water, and yet I still got a GOOD JOB! comment. Please notice which class I should be in next - Polliwog I.

Now, let's jump ahead a three years and see the report cards for Sarah and I in 1991:
I am STILL IN THE SAME CLASS. Except now my little sister is in there with me. Awesome. I really enjoyed spending 3 years in the same class. There goes my parent's hopes and dreams of me being an Olympic swimmer. Also, let's read Sarah's comment: "Sarah is a very eager pupil. She will soon be a fine swimmer." Let's read mine: "Andrea tries hard and has a desire to learn...." But obviously I wasn't learning... It took 2 more years for me to make it through Poliwog II and to get an instructor who was tired of trying to get me to swim with my face in the water and just move me on to Minnows. Then we stopped taking swim lessons and there was much rejoicing. Now my idea of swimming involves laying on floating and relaxing. I've got that down.

I also found my preschool evaluation and learned that even back then I had a hard time not interrupting people could only recognize numbers 1-5, 7 + 10. But doggone it, I could share and play well with others. Take that stupid swim class....

Father's Day

It is only fitting that I got one of the worst sunburns ever on the first day of summer. Yesterday we celebrated Father's day by taking my dad to a putt-putt golf course. Since I am a genius I forgot sunscreen and probably just aged my skin eleventy billion years. Now that I am 26, which is closer to 30 than 20, I am very concerned with this. I feel like they should publish books titled "your changing body" to explain what happens to your body as you get older. Suddenly my body is REQUIRING me to exercise to stay fit. What is up with that? I can't even imagine what it's like to be pregnant when you body completly takes on a mind of its own....

Anyway, putt-putt was a lot of fun. I got a hole-in-one, but still managed to come in last place. I blame the sun.

So seriously, what's up with the crazy blue water? Do people really think that that's how water should look?



Happy Father's Day Dad! I am very blessed to have a great father like you! I love you.

I like sleeping in my own bed...

Whew! We just got back from Washington D.C. where I sat in a class and learned about contract law and Ben sat in a hotel room and researched laptops to buy. Which we did and we have a shiny new computer that doesn't emit a high-pitched screech or randomly freeze. Hurray! We also traveled up to Ohio last weekend for my sister-in-law's wedding. It was just as crazy as family weddings should be. But it went well and was beautiful and they are now married!

We had a great trip in D.C. We had time to do some sightseeing while we were there. I was pretty excited that I got to see the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Viewing these documents was pretty crazy because some security guard who wanted to go home decided no one needed to wait in line and made it a giant free-for-all. We went from some kind of order to just rushing into the rotunda to try and get a glimpse of these famous items. The people there who were visiting from cultures that do not wait in line definitely had an advantage. They could figure out how to get up to documents while the rest of us American's just stood quietly in line not sure what to do. So I think I saw half of the Constitution before I gave up and moved on.

We also got a tour of the National Gallery of Art which included the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere. I almost got us thrown out of the museum because of that piece. I was posing next to it and, according to the guard that yelled at me, almost touched it which would have set of an alarm and wow... that was embarressing. So here's a picture of me keeping a safe distance from one of our country's most priceless peices of art:

I have to include this one because I find it hilarious that the flash edited it the way it did:

We also got to visit the National Museum of the American Indian. The architecture of that building is amazing. Once you walk up to it, it doesn't feel like you are in D.C. anymore. Very neat museum.

We saw many great things and met some very interesting people in D.C. I love the diversity there. We tried Spanish food for the first time ever at a tapas bar (you have to make sure you stress the A in there or people will think that you went to a topless bar, which is completely different. Everyone had their shirts on at this restaurant.) We listened to a jazz concert in a park and all around had a great time. It made me wish I was living in a city.

The only downside was coming home to a broken dryer. We just fixed this thing a couple of months ago. AHHHH!!!!! That's just how things go right? You buy a laptop and a major appliance breaks. If only we had gotten the laptop that also dried clothes....

On the brighter side - today is our 2 year anniversary. Which we are going to celebrate by not leaving our house and grilling out. Have a great day!

Congratulations

Way to go Ben! You worked very hard for your Master's of Divinity. I am so proud of you. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

Flowers!

So last year, my flower garden only made it through part of the summer. Today I replanted it and am trying again. Here's what it started as:


An here's what I ended with:

I still need to work on the last one. I may get another tomato plant and pot it or I'll plant some more flowers... I just ran out of plants today!

My Mom is an awesome gardener and I wish I had taken the time to learn more from her while I lived at home. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!

Pants and then some..

My pants have continued to not fit. Which makes me grumpy and irritated and in general a joy to be around. So this past weekend I went pants shopping, which was about as much fun as doing our taxes. One thing I learned: Express is DEAD TO ME. Here's how it happened...

In 2006 I bought some jeans from Express for $40 that made my butt look amazing. I got compliments at the grocery that they were that cute. In 2007 I bought some more jeans from Express for $50 that were one size bigger than I had bought before. Odd, since I didn't actually gain any weight. Must be anti-vanity sizing or their sizes rose with their prices. Anyway, in 2008 I bought Express jeans at a thrift store and was happy. In 2009 I gained some weight that seemed intent on sticking around and went up one pant size. I went to Express to try on $70 jeans that didn't fit. According to their jeans I went up two sizes. And there is no way I am going to pay $105 million for jeans that say I am fat. No way. So Express.... YOU ARE DEAD TO ME. Also - the jumpsuit should die. Please stop selling it. No one looks good in a jumpsuit.

I really think that you should be allowed to count pants shopping as exercise. I did the equivalent of 700 toe touches while trying those pants on.

I stopped by the bathroom while I was at the Mall and I experienced on of the grossest things ever. I even debated sharing it on my blog... but it was just too crazy not to. So stop reading if you don't want to know my gross story. I was in my stall when someone entered the stall next to me. Before I knew it a small piece of poop landed on the floor between us. I stared at it for a while, not believing my eyes. There was a POOP PELLET on the floor. A foot and a half from my shoe. As I stared at the poop pellet I had just one thought, "I hate shopping."

Thankfully the day got better after that as I found cute pants at Old Navy. Which did not cost a million dollars and were correctly sized. Thanks Old Navy. You saved that day.

20 year rule?

My Mom, because she is the best, gave Ben and I an Easter basket. She even used the same Easter basket I've had since Aunt Dudie made it for me when I was eight. She filled it it full with chocolates and caramels and at the bottom she she dumped in Starburst Jelly Beans. Those are the BEST! You seriously cannot beat those jelly beans!

This is where Ben gets grossed out.

My basket has beautiful purple Easter grass that matches the basket. It always has. Ever since Aunt Dudie bought it. The grass never gets thrown out. It just stays in the basket, get stored in the attic and then once a year I eat candy off of it. This is also true for all my siblings Easter baskets. Every year we comment on how unsainitary it is, but we can't resist the CANDY! Sure the grass was made in the 80's and sure it probably has some awful chemical in it, but it's a tradition. That makes us exempt from food safety rules right? The bonus to this is that I think Ben and my sister's husband are going to refuse to eat anything that is unwrapped and placed in that basket. Which really works out well for me. More CANDY for me!

So what do you think? Would you eat it?

There's a new post up at Our Old Shoes. Today we look at how we can take care of the environment through "green" cleaners.

Death and that other thing....

So today is tax day. Hope you remembered...

We were up late last night doing ours. I know. Why did we wait until the last minute to do our taxes? Well there was this thing and then that other thing and then Ben had that empty promise from his school of a Spring Break and then some more stuff came up and did you see what happened on The Office? So yeah. Didn't do them until last night.

I learned a lot of stuff last night. Like that Ben's work-study money isn't tax free. Which we thought it was since taxes weren't being taken out. Oops. I also learned a lot more about the tax code than I ever wanted to know. Did you know that you can claim the saline solution you buy for your contacts? You would have to be a VERY detailed record keeper to claim that...

Our taxes were somewhat complicated this year since we lived and worked for two weeks in Ohio. Two weeks. Ben figured it would be pretty simple to file the Ohio taxes using their online tools. He was wrong. By the time I had filed our federal, Kentucky and local taxes Ben was yelling at the computer, "I DON'T OWE YOU $830! YOU OWE ME MONEY OHIO!" After some ice cream and an exciting read of the Ohio tax code we finally figured out how to claim part-time resident status. Sigh. I hope your tax filing was simpler than ours. Next year we are having them done...

Random

There is, FINALLY, another post up at Our Old Shoes. This post was written by my old friend, Chris.

****************
Today I went to the doctor and learned 3 things:

1. I gained 4 pounds. This explains why my pants have stopped fitting. I was hoping that it was because I had dried them too long...

2. 3 sips of coffee an hour before my appointment will raise my heart rate 15 bpm. Which means that the girl I saw at the gym drinking a red bull while running on an elliptical had to have had a heart rate of about 300.

3. My doctor lacks bedside manners. At one point I wanted to punch her.

Questions my blog might ask me if it became self-aware

Hey there! Where have you been? Haven't been posting much....

Well I've been busy. You know how those things go.

Actually I don't. I've been bored. What have you been doing?

I told you were were selling our car. That's been taking some time. And Ben's getting ready to graduate which means we may get to move into a house with more than half a closet and things are kind of crazy at my work. So you know. I've just been busy.

Uh... Huh..... You know your other blog is also feeling neglected.

I know, I know. I haven't had much energy to spend time researching things like slavery. When we move into a place with some storage space I'd also like it to be closer than an hour from my work. That would be nice.

Why does my banner still have snow on it? It's been in the 70's. I think it's time for a spring banner!

Fine. I'll replace your banner.....

You know it wouldn't kill you to at least post something, sometime.

It also wouldn't kill me to fold my laundry, but it's still sitting there on the couch in pile. Or maybe I should file my taxes but that's not done. Getting the dishes done would be nice too. Also going for a walk. Meeting my neighbors. Reading that book I started a month ago. I'm just a little overwhelmed right now and something has to give.

That's cool. I understand. But while you are sleeping I'll be posting pictures of you from Jr. High and the journal entries that are still stored on your hard drive.

I think it may be time for Ben to reformat this computer when he gets home....

Posting may be light for the next several weeks. We have a lot of things that are up in the air and we need some time to get them all done....

New Post

There is a new post up at Our Old Shoes about the modern day slave trade.

For Sale: One wicked cool car

This weekend was a sad weekend. We put my baby up for sale. It's sad and exciting all at the same time. I am going to miss driving my Miata - but I am excited to be taking steps towards inner-city ministry. So if you know anyone who is looking for a 2002 5-Speed Miata with 78,000 miles on it, have them e-mail me at andicandi at gmail dot com.

Ben and I have been obsessed with trying to figure out what kind of car to buy once we sell the Miata. Like we can't focus on anything except figuring out which car would be the best value for our money. So we need you help. Please respond to the poll on the side as to what kind of car we should get. We've narrowed it down to four choices, only two of which I will actually consider, but I want to hear what you think first. So fill out the poll. Now. And let us know if you would recommend the Scion xA, the Nissan Sentra, the Toyota Prius, and the Ford Focus.

In happier news, the weekend before last Ben and I went caving at Mammoth Cave. It was pretty awesome, except that it totally kicked my butt. Apparently sitting in front of a computer all day does not prepare you for sudden exercise. Neither does eating candy bars or watching T.V., but I made it and I am glad we took the short trip. We crawled through small holes, narrow passages and down rock piles. We also got really thirsty and very sore. Ben found a bat, which was less climatic than it seems. You would think that he could have found it after it bite him on the neck or something, but instead he was just walking along and said, "hey look, a bat." It didn't bite anyone or do anything exciting except hibernate, which is cool and all, but it makes for a lame story on my blog. I found an eye-less beetle. That also did not bite anyone.

In fact the most alarming thing that happened on our trip was that my pants ripped. Right on the butt. Which if I was on a normal hike I could totally be discrete about it, but on a caving trip where I was crawling on my hands and knees? No. I just ended up mooning everyone for half of the trip. Mostly I just mooned Ben, but I am sure that the people behind him got glimpses of my right cheek now and then...

I would love to post pictures of this trip. Especially the one Ben took of my butt cheek, but we took a disposable camera and I am too lazy to go somewhere and scan them in. Which is probably better. We didn't get a picture of the bat or the beetle and I am sure no one wants to see the other pictures of me.

Now go respond to my poll! I need your help!

Economic Advice

This is a little dated but I think the advice is still applicable.

You did what?!

I can't get this question out of my mind. I've seen these signs too often to dismiss them as random events. Maybe some of you know....

WHY WOULD ANYONE FLUSH PAPER TOWELS IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM?

At my gym, at Ben's school, in random restaurants there are signs reminding us ladies not to flush the paper towels. Why do they have to do this? Is someone wiping with the paper towels (ouch!)? Do people get the toilets confused with the trash can? How is this such a problem that they have to print out signs, laminate them and post them on every stall door? Could someone please explain this to me?

Also, there's a new post up at Our Old Shoes.

Ice Storm

This is day two of the ice storm. We have about 1/2 inch of ice and now it's snowing! Hurray! There are branches down all around and our electricity keeps flickering.


I thought I would enjoy two days off of work, but I am seriously sick of being stuck in this house. I think this video pretty much sums it up:



I hope wherever you are, you are staying warm and dry.
Edited to add: The snow came and made everything BEAUTIFUL:

There's a new blog post up at Our Old Shoes on responsible charity.

West Virgina Ninja

New Post

There's a new post up on Our Old Shoes. This week we are looking at what is "enough".

Attention All Fad Dieters

You are messing up my system. What is up with all the health food being gone at the grocery store? Are there that many of you that decided on January 1st that you would only drink organic milk? Did everyone decide to make their New Year's resolution to only eat lean, grain-fed beef? Or is there just one of you who is stock piling in case we have a shortage of ground turkey?

Now, I've always said that I think people should eat healthier. A lot of our nation's health problems would be solved if everyone ate more veggies and less mac & cheese. But now, I take it all back. When you all do eat healthy I can't find what I need at Kroger! Was it really nessecary to buy ALL OF THE FROZEN VEGATABLES? Was it? Because I am getting really tired of having to go to the store 2-3 times a week just to get a carton of farm eggs.

Here's the thing. I know this won't last. That in three weeks most of you will go back to eat how they used to eat, and then I'll be able to buy my grocery's again in one trip. There is a better way, you know. If you KEPT eating healthy all year long, hopefully Kroger would adjust their inventory and we could all find what we need. But when you go back and forth and back and forth, I CAN'T TAKE IT! So please, either start commit to eating these things enough so that Kroger can stock them properly or just hand over the free-range chicken breasts.

Thanks!

Go check it out!

There is a new post up at Our Old Shoes about how you can help fight world hunger.

Welcome 2009

One of Ben and I's goals for 2009 is to simplify our life. Our first step is going through all the the old papers we have and shredding anything we don't need. Today I found a gem in the midst of all of this junk.

Back when I got my wisdom teeth out I woke up from the anesthesia and started talking. To stop me from busting my stitches, my mom handed me some paper to write on instead. I am so glad she did, because here is some of what I wrote:

My mind doesn't work. I see indians!! - only when I shut my eyes.

Can I go play in the creek?

I should do more drugs.

Every time I close my eyes the Indians come back.

Codine?

Did I get a sticker?

Just a minute ago you were walking around giving soup to people. Peasants - they were starving. That is a stupid pie to wake up to.... Mirror - I was battling indians in my sleep and you were feeding the wounded. I woke up. Maybe. That nurse kept getting in the way when you were feeding people. I don't know why people would take drugs - this is freaking & something I never want to do again - getting knocked out I mean.

Bag?!

What a great start to 2009!

New Blog

So I liked that you were all thinking in the post about what I should name my new blog, but I ignored all of your comments. Here's why, when it came down to it, I still enjoyed writing on this blog. I enjoy writing about random things and I want to continue that. I also want to write about things that may make a difference in the world... so as of today, Jan 1, 2009, I am launching a new blog, "Our Old Shoes". This blog will focus on how we can walk together to help people. It will look at how as Christians we should be walking with those who struggle and how we need to realize that we need people to walk with us through our struggles. This blog will look at why, how and where we can get involved to make a difference.

This is very different from the reason I write Old, Comfy Shoes. I will continue to write here, but you can also find me at Our Old Shoes.

Hope you have a great start to 2009!