Old, Comfy Shoes

It's Christmas time again

2010-12-11T21:10:00.003-05:00

It doesn't feel like Christmas should be here. At some points I really enjoy it and other times I try not to think about celebrating Christmas without my mom.

It's nice now that we have been at our church for over a year we are making new traditions. I feel like I get to use the hospitality that my mom taught me in creating traditions and events that don't always remind me of her. I get a break from remembering that she's gone during these times. And then I realize that something I did or suggested came from something she did or taught me, and I want to call her and tell her, but I can't.

This week has been harder that last week. I think it's slowly sinking in. Most of the time I can't believe she's gone, but sometimes it just hits me that she is. Sometimes I am fine and then I open a card from someone who wrote an incredibly kind note to me and I cry all over again.

I am so blessed to have such great friends and family during this time.

2010-12-04T20:04:00.002-05:00

Last year we couldn't find the stocking holders I had gotten for Ben and Jason. We needed two more stocking holders to hold the new stockings for the two new members of our family. We couldn't find them so they had to share with Sarah and I.

Today I went home to help pick out the Christmas tree and decorate the house.

Today I found the two stocking holders in a box of Christmas stuff.

Today we only needed one more.

Lots of Changes

2010-11-30T18:58:00.003-05:00

A lot of things have happened recently.

My mom passed away this month.

Sometimes it doesn't seem real and other times it seems way too real.

My uncle put it well - after 4 years my mom won the battle with cancer and stepped into Heaven.

The hope we have in Christ is what is getting me and my family through this. The hope that God's word is true and that He has restored her. The hope that this is not the end, but just another phase of my Mom's life. It's a hope that God has reaffirmed many times that now it feels more like a confidence than a hope.

I am going to try and blog again. It helped me process things when my mom was diagnosed and I think it could help me process things now.

I've realized that through all of this I am seeing people's humanity, to some extent, for the first time. I think going though this pain has opened my eyes to the hurts around me. It's easier to listen to people more. Probably at some point it will get easier to talk too.

I started counseling again yesterday. It didn't fix everything, but I think it will help me walk through this grief.

Even though this is so hard, God keeps showing me how He is using it. He's pretty good like that. I can't wait to see what He will do next.

For now though it's one day at a time.

And I thought it would be boring...

2010-09-04T09:39:00.004-04:00

At one point I had thought that following God would be incredibly boring. I was afraid that true obedience to Him would mean that I had to follow a list of commands and walk around sadly singing hymns.

What a lie!

True obedience to God is one of the most thrilling, exciting, and breath-taking adventures I have ever been on. Walking by faith means that every day I don't know how God is going to work things out. It means trusting that God is either going to provide a path over or move the mountains that are in the way. It means following what He has called me to do and trusting that He is going to take care of the details.

Our time here in the city has not been what we expected. We expected that Ben would have no problem finding a second job. It's been a year and no second job. Yet, God has abundantly provided for us and has opened up Ben's schedule to work for the church full-time.

We expected that we would rent for the first couple of years and yet God provided a way for us to purchase a beautiful house. Yet at the beginning, God allowed us to experience dealing with a terrible landlord. This opened our eyes to the housing problems in our neighborhood.

God provided this building for our church and now the renovation costs are coming back over double what we had budgeted. We aren't sure how God is going to provide the funds for this renovation, but it'll be exciting to see how He works.

Walking with Christ is an adventure that I wouldn't trade for anything!

All In...

2010-07-26T18:49:00.002-04:00

There are very few things in your life that you should throw yourself into with a wild abandon. Most things are best done in moderation - eating candy, exercising, or watching T.V. The Christian life is not one of them. You either throw yourself in and put it all on the line or you might as well take your ball and go home.

This past year has been a series of decisions where we've tried to say, "it's all yours God. Take it and use it." And you know what? It's been the BEST year of my life. To live with complete abandon for Jesus... it doesn't get any better than this. There is freedom in just sitting back and asking God, "What next?"

It hasn't been an easy year, but wow, has it been rewarding. Seriously people should live like this all the time. If you aren't... you should!

And then there were 4...

2010-03-27T10:56:00.003-04:00

Since our house wasn't enough of a zoo, we got a puppy. A puppy that will turn into a giant dog. Because that's how we roll.

We got a Rottweiler mix. Yes I know. He's probably going to eat cats and chase children and attack people. But everything we've read and heard says that they are great dogs if you train them well. So the puppy is doing great. He's picking up on training really quickly and he and the cat seem to get along alright.

And I can't wait for the dog to be 70lbs and sitting in Ben's lap....

Behind

2010-03-20T19:56:00.004-04:00

Well it's definitely not winter anymore and I have officially not posted in over a month. Even my comments are all screwed up and I don't have the time to fix them.

The truth is that things are crazy busy over here. Work is stressful and ministry can be all-consuming. I see why it is hard to have good boundaries when you work with the church. There are so many people who need help. But... I can't help anyone when I am going crazy, so we are trying to figure out a good balance of work, ministry and family time. It's coming...

Living in our neighborhood has so many funny things that happen. It's never boring here. Like yesterday we kept a dog who's owner got arrested. (The owner got out of jail and took their dog back.) Two weeks ago we had a local business deliver gravel for behind our garage. We needed 2 tons and they dumped 4 tons. We ordered 3/4 inch gravel and they dumped construction debris. Yes. We got swindled and a one-day project has not ended yet. Hurray for home ownership!

We also got a cat. It was my valentine's day present. Her name is Mocha and she likes to have her nose scratch, play behind the curtains, throw up in the basement and pee next to the litter box. We are trying to work on the last two. She has until the end of May or we are going to have to take her back to the shelter. Which would be really sad because she is a pretty cool cat.

SNOW!

2010-02-06T10:46:00.003-05:00

So it's still winter. Sigh... It snowed and iced a bunch last night. It really made a big mess of everything. I tried to drive in it today and I saw people sliding off the road and being carried away on stretchers, so I came home. The last time it snowed we had to deal with the CO detector, so it would be reasonable to assume that something would happen during this snow storm, like our furnace would go out. But that's where you would be wrong.

Our furnace went out earlier this week. It was planning ahead for the snow storm and decided to go out at 4am on Tuesday. It could have just stopped working, but instead the motor had to burn up which means we woke up to what smelled like an electrical fire coming from our gas furnace. That was fun. Great way to start the morning! Thankfully nothing serious happened, except for the fact that our house dropped to 55 degrees. Brr!

Our house is warm now, and the furnace is fixed. I am so glad we bought our home warranty. Best purchase EVER!

We planned and booked our summer vacation last week to somewhere warm and tropical with a beach. Someplace where there is no snow. I can't wait!

Enjoy your weekend and stay warm and dry wherever you are.

Iocaine Powder. I'd bet my life on it!

2010-01-07T19:43:00.006-05:00

Today I almost died. Lately Ben and I have been tired and I've been getting headaches. These couldn't have been related to stress or lack of sleep, no, there must be something more.... After a quick Google search today I determined that it probably was Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning. Sure our house is so leaky and drafty we can't even keep heat inside, much less CO, I was convinced that this had to be the cause.

Once the possibility of CO poisoning entered my brain it would not leave. I NEEDED a CO detector. We needed one right now or we may die in our sleep. Never mind that a snow storm had just moved into Ohio. Never mind that we were at a level 1 snow emergency. Never mind that I came home early to work from home because the roads were so bad. We NEEDED a CO detector.

I did what any good wife would do. I made Ben bundle up and walk with me down to the hardware store to buy a CO detector. Yes we walked in the snow to the hardware store because I needed a CO detector. Right now! We also needed to stop on our way back at Walgreens, UDF, and the Taco Truck. I mean we were right there! Ben is so patient.

We got home, and I quickly read the instructions, and plugged the CO detector in the wall. Within 2 minutes the alarm started screeching (which I have to say made me feel justified in our trek in the snow). Apparently 85 decibels is really, really loud and alarms do not make me think rationally. I started yelling at Ben to hit the reset button, Ben was yelling at me to figure out what the alarm meant, I was yelling back that the instructions said to MOVE TO FRESH AIR AND CALL 911!

Because you know, the emergency crews had nothing else to do this snowy evening.

Finally Ben took the alarm out to our back porch where it promptly turned off. We figured it was because there was no CO out there (it's WELL ventilated) and there was CO in our house which makes it a deadly, brain-frying gas chamber that we just paid a whole lot of money for ahhh!!!!

Actually no. Ben read the instructions more thoroughly than I did and found out that there are two types of alarms on this detector:
1. A steady screech that will make you wet yourself; and
2. An alarm sequence that goes on for 4 beeps and then off for 5 seconds.

Which one do you think alerts you to the power going off and which one alerts you to deadly gas? If I designed an alarm I would make the ear-bleeding, 85 decible, screech an alert to DANGER GET OUT NOW! and the on and off again alarm a gentle reminder that the power is out and you are no longer protected against CO poisoning.

But no one asked me when they designed this alarm. This alarm will screech at you so loud that the neighbors can hear, when it loses power. Because that's what I need to hear when my power shuts off - a really, really loud alarm.

When you are close to death all it will do is beep at you. Seriously? That's the best alarm for that situation? What the crap, Kiddie Alarms? What the crap?

So apparently the outlet we plugged it into has issues. That was it. We weren't close to death, or brain damage. We just got to add "fix the outlet in the bedroom" to our to-do list. Pretty anti-climatic huh?

I don't think that I should have to go into work tomorrow. I almost died tonight you know...

It just depends on the day

2010-01-01T14:42:00.005-05:00

You know how when people have kids, that's all they talk about? I am that way with our new house. Be prepared though, because in a couple months I am getting a kitten and that will be all that I will talk about...

Reasons I hate that we bought an old house:

We hung up curtains and the draft coming through the windows blew them around
Our queen-sized box spring doesn't fit up our stairs. We are spending today arguing about the best way to cut it to make it fit
Our "2-car" garage is really a 1.5 car garage. Any car bigger than a Miata wouldn't fit in the second half
On any given day one of our toilets will probably block up
Old plumbing
Poorly placed 2-prong outlets
Even with all the vents closed upstairs, it's 66 degrees downstairs and 72 degrees upstairs

Reasons I love that we bought an old house:

3 stained glass windows
Original hardwood floors in the entire house
Original wood doors and woodwork
Large kitchen
1,500 sq ft in our price range
A front porch with room for a swing
A garage off an alley instead of off the street
The neighborhood
Large windows
A neighborhood with mature trees

Generally I love my house, but sometimes it makes we want to live in a cookie-cutter condo. Anyone want to come wrestle a box spring upstairs?

2009 - The busy year

2009-12-31T16:03:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-27T12:39:00.008-05:00

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...

2009-12-13T21:02:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-11-30T19:58:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-11-04T20:40:00.003-05:00

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?

2009-10-18T20:48:00.005-04:00

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.

2009-10-04T11:34:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-26T18:02:00.005-04:00

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

2009-09-22T17:21:00.003-04:00

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....

2009-09-05T17:52:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-22T17:20:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-08-15T15:51:00.002-04:00

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....

2009-08-06T14:47:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-07-30T19:04:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-28T18:22:00.006-04:00

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

2009-07-27T20:01:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-07-23T18:57:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-07-05T17:44:00.007-04:00

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

2009-06-21T07:13:00.006-04:00

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...

2009-06-14T13:47:00.008-04:00

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

2009-05-24T16:47:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-05-10T19:21:00.007-04:00

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..

2009-05-07T17:59:00.005-04:00

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?

2009-04-20T18:51:00.004-04:00

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?

2009-04-19T15:55:00.002-04:00

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....

2009-04-15T19:27:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-06T18:48:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-16T19:11:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-14T16:16:00.001-04:00

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

For Sale: One wicked cool car

2009-03-09T18:43:00.007-04:00

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

2009-02-16T09:46:00.001-05:00

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

You did what?!

2009-02-09T19:10:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-28T09:48:00.007-05:00

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:

2009-01-27T10:30:00.000-05:00

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

West Virgina Ninja

2009-01-24T10:42:00.000-05:00

New Post

2009-01-14T18:14:00.001-05:00

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

Attention All Fad Dieters

2009-01-12T20:02:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-01-05T19:59:00.002-05:00

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

Welcome 2009

2009-01-03T17:28:00.002-05:00

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

2009-01-01T09:07:00.003-05:00

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!

Tips for keeping your money

2008-12-24T19:38:00.004-05:00

I used to follow the financial meltdown of the global economy pretty regularly, but then I realized that there was just too many banks failing and too much of my tax dollars were going to people I wouldn't hire, so I just gave up. But I can see how in all this uncertainty it can be hard to pick a bank. Will it still be open tomorrow? Does this bank still give out suckers? Do their checks look cool? All of these are important questions. It's hard to pick a good, solid bank, but one bank near my house is making it a little easier than the others. It is standing above the rest and helping you make up your mind. It's their sign that reads,

"New Home Lone Rates"

that boldly proclaims that you should take your money elsewhere. Preferably to a bank that can spell. And maybe count.

Hopefully this Christmas season you placed your money in a better bank. Have a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy the time we have to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

Snow Day

2008-12-16T08:47:00.003-05:00

The rain, ice and snow came and it's shutting down everything around here. I haven't gone into work because I am a chicken and would rather not get hit by a crazy driver. I must say that the best part of winter storms is the news coverage around here. They go crazy. They interview people buying snow shovels, the provide live coverage of the "snow falling! From the SKY! And landing on the ground!" and they tell just exactly the road conditions - treacherous. Which could mean slightly damp or it's a death trap. They use the word pretty liberally around here.

While we were watching the news this morning to see if I should venture out there were two reports that I really enjoyed. In the first report the reporter directed the camera to her feet where she showed us that the snow "covered her shoes". This is breaking news people. The snow covered her shoes. The second report covered the main road in town and was showing how slippery it was. To demonstrate the bad conditions, the reporter WALKED ON TO THE ROAD in front of oncoming traffic and slid around on the ice. Because nothing speeds up the morning commute or boosts T.V. ratings like a live video of a reporter being struck by a car. Thankfully that didn't happen, but I am hoping that from now on that reporter is regulated to the news desk. Where it's dry and there are no cars to leap in front of.

If it's snowing near you, stay dry and enjoy some hot chocolate.

What's in a name?

2008-12-11T18:36:00.003-05:00

I need your help. Old, Comfy Shoes may have run its course. I used to love writing funny stories about what goes on in my life. Now I feel like I have run out of material and I am keeping this blog going just out of obligation. It's hard to come up with stories when 11 hours of my day are taken up working or driving to and from work. Since I can't blog about work it really puts a crimp in my style. Also, I've become nicer and can't make fun of people on my blog which removes about 90% of my content.

What I want to write about is how we could do something about the crap that goes on in this world. I want to write about why we should do things about the problems we see, why as a Christian it's important to do something about the environment, poverty and racism. These are things that I enjoy discussing and want to write about. I want to get people's feedback on different books and make people aware of opportunities they have to get involved. I want the time I spend writing to mean something.

There is just one thing holding me back: I can't come up with a name for this new blog. There's no point in registering a new site if I don't know what to call it. Do any of you have any ideas? Could you send them my way? Leave them in the comments if you don't mind. I'm sure someone out there has a brilliant idea that they don't mind me stealing.

We are good friends...

2008-11-21T21:32:00.010-05:00

Yesterday was one of those days. Everything went wrong. I came home to find out that our credit card number may have been stolen and new cards would take 1-2 weeks to arrive. Awesome timing since I was planning on doing the Christmas shopping tomorrow. Awesome. Our internet was down and someone couldn't come out until Tuesday to fix it. I put sour milk into the eggs I was making and the flour I was going to use had worms in it. It was not a good evening.

But now it's Friday and after 4 days our internet is FINALLY fixed. It is a much better day!

Last weekend our friend Scott got married. Congratulations Scott and Olivia.

We gave them a set of unique trivets.

And Ben got to do the worm at the reception. I think that this makes it a good wedding.

We also pranked their house, which apparently is not done here in Kentucky. When I describe how we booby trap the house or rearrange all of the furniture while the couple is on their honeymoon, I get told I am mean and not a good friend. I don't think that they understand; that's just how we treat our friends in Ohio, we take all the labels off of their cans and fork their yard to show our love. Fortunately Scott lives in Ohio and he's participated in plenty of pranks. He had it coming.

We re-did the bed

the shower,

the pictures,
and the basement.
We also left them a welcome home note.

In all actuality this is pretty tame. They should be happy that Matt didn't release all those pregnant hamsters in their house. That would be a real surprise!

Happy Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T18:26:00.007-05:00

To all the men and women who served in our military - thank you!

Here are some pictures from our veteran's day parade:

And of course no parade would be complete without a guy with a cat in his coat:

Vote!

2008-11-04T18:56:00.004-05:00

Did you?

Up until last night I was an undecided voter. Neither candidate had what I was looking for. Both had really great qualities and both had some really bad qualities. In the end we finally decided on one candidate but it wasn't easy - we had to pick which candidate got heads and which one got tails, and that took quite some time. So congratulations America, we've managed to pick two candidates that I can't get excited about.

I will say that even when I am not excited about the choices - I am very thankful to be able to vote. Not everyone gets or had this opportunity and I realize that this is a privilege. I hope you got out and voted even if you weren't excited about the race.

To the people with excessive Halloween decorations...

2008-11-02T08:40:00.003-05:00

Hello,

I thought about mailing you this letter but I couldn't see your house number for all the Halloween decorations in your yard. It really is impressive that you could fit so much stuff in such a little yard. I will have to admit that I was pretty offended when you first started decorating. The lone life-size mannequin with the butcher knife chopping up a body was pretty disturbing. The fact that you put it right at the curb where I couldn't help but see it really frustrated me. I considered complaining.

I am glad that I didn't. I might have missed out on all the other mannequins you had to set up. When you brought that trailer over with all the additional decorations that you had kept in storage, I knew that we were in for a treat. You set up an entire haunted house worth of characters, flashing lights and tombstones all in your little 10x10 foot yard. You managed to get all the horror stars out there - Jason, the headless bride, Freddie Kruger and so many others. It was better than a wax museum. And the music! You probably had at least 3 different songs all playing simultaneously. You really outdid yourself and anyone else who lives in this county.

So thanks for the mini-haunted drive in your yard; however, it's November 2 and Halloween is over. I may still be offended by the chopped up body and fake blood. Could you take it all down now? I just can't wait to see your Christmas decorations...

Thanks,
Andi

Shh... don't tell anyone

2008-11-01T10:20:00.004-04:00

Ben and I were invited to a "Sola Scriptura Costume Party" last night. We were supposed to come dressed according to scripture. You really can't get much bible-nerdier than that. We were pretty excited. Some of the more creative costumes were "Potipher's wife" dressed in fishnets and a bustier, "Drunkeness" dressed in beat up overalls and carried the "fruit of the flesh" in a brown paper bag, and our asian friend who dressed as the "wise man from the East".

I tried to come up with the cheapest costume possible and when I realized that Ben wouldn't let me dress as Rahab the prostitute, I settled on spies to Jericho. Behold our costumes:

We actually won an award for the most creative costume. I've never won a costume award and I am pretty pumped about this one. I am totally displaying the trophy in our living room.

I see said the blind man as he picked up the hammer and saw

2008-10-28T18:56:00.003-04:00

I've begun to realize that I am getting old. I am noticing wrinkles on my face and I can't stay up past 10 pm anymore. I don't think that I am old, I'm just moving in that direction. The biggest sign is that I have to squint at every presentation and street sign. I've put it off until I am 25 - but I think I may need to just suck it up and wear contacts or glasses all the time now.

I went to the eye doctor on Saturday to get a prescription for contacts. I've never worn these before and let me say - I am not a fan. Sticking something in my eye is crazy unnatural; it's right up there with tanning beds and Donald Trump's hair. Some things are just not supposed to exist.

I am going to give them a try a though. They do seem uber convenient. Saturday and Sunday went pretty well; it just felt like I had an eye lash in my eye the whole time. Monday morning was a wreck. I was running late and couldn't get the stupid lens in my eye. Then it fell in the sink and I had to take the time to clean it, but I didn't really clean it so when I did get it my eye it burned. Bad. Which caused me to yell and hop around the bathroom grabbing at my eye. When your eye is burning it doesn't really like to open up which made it ridiculous hard to get the lens out. When I finally did pry my eye open and pull the lens out I was so fed up that I threw the lens away, grabbed my glasses and headed to work.

Today I was able to get them in without burning my cornea off, but getting them out was another story. It took a LONG time and involved me scraping the inside of my eyelid with my nail. Twice. I'm not sure this is going to work out for me. I am either going to blind myself or master contacts. I hope it's the latter.

Dramatic Lemur

2008-10-24T19:16:00.001-04:00

It's creepy and cool all at the same time.

I give you the dramatic lemur:

*Thanks Nate for showing me this!

Free!

2008-10-12T14:33:00.003-04:00

Free dresser for the taking.

Solid wood. Has been stripped and repainted white. It looks good, but there is remaining paint stripper that soaked into the wood and is causing the new paint to become tacky. Currently unusable.

With some hard work this dresser could be stripped, sanded, primed, painted and sealed again to possibly be a beautiful piece of furniture. Possibly. Or it may be the largest time sink hole EVER.

Any takers?

Sometimes it's best to not even start

2008-10-09T19:21:00.005-04:00

I know. The VP debate was soooo last week. And there wasn't anything remarkable about it at all. I was hoping for some major blunders and there weren't any. Sigh... instead we shall talk about my blunders....

Ben says that I overestimate my abilities and underestimate the amount of work a job takes. He says that I don't set reasonable goals for myself. I say that he doesn't dream big enough. Can we clean the whole house, mow the grass, discuss our marriage AND plan our financial future all on a Thursday evening? Yes we can! Dream big!

But... recently I think that I might have taken on a project that morphed into a time-sucking-waste-hole and maybe it was over my head. Maybe. It all started with this dresser:

I had redone it a couple years ago and had decoupaged antique postcards on the drawers and top. It was a unique dresser and I liked it, but it was time for a change. It was time for all of my furniture to match. Like a grown-up. The plan was to paint my headboard and dresser white. In one Saturday. Simple right? Just prime it, paint it and seal it. Yeah.

Well when I painted the dresser last time I was lazy and didn't prime it and the paint started peeling and then the cards wouldn't come off.... and it turns out I needed to strip the whole thing!

Every project always morphs into something that is so huge it's ridiculous. So I drove off to Lowe's and I convinced myself to buy a soy-based paint stripper because I care about the environment and am secretly a closet hippy. It actually worked surprisingly well - it just took longer to soak in and required a little more elbow grease than the burn-your-skin-off stripper. And when I say it took longer I mean that it took all of Saturday and most of Sunday to strip the dresser to look like this:
I can't decide if it looks like a designer urban grit piece of furniture or if it looks like it should be on the side of the road. It also smells like paint so all of our clothes are currently chilling on our futon and the headboard is hanging out in the hallway. Ahhhh!

Now that I've put this much work into the dresser part of me thinks I should just strip it down to the wood and stain it. But that would defeat the purpose of the whole project - to get my furniture to match. So on Saturday I hope to finish stripping it and paint it white! I hope. Anyone who wants to help is more than welcome. I still have a headboard and a nightstand to do. Dream big!

Politics - The new Survivor

2008-10-01T20:04:00.003-04:00

While we were hanging out with some friends this weekend, Matt put a finger on why I am so intrigued by this year's presidential race. It's like a T.V. drama. Each day it just keeps getting better. I have to tune in every day just to find out what happened.

When I thought McCain couldn't win, he picked Palin as his running mate and things got more interesting. When I had thought someone had said the dumbest thing ever, they let the vice presidential candidates talk. When I thought that there couldn't be anything left for the candidates to talk about, our financial system tanked and Obama and McCain rushed in to rescue us (which last time I checked they weren't actually economists or on any finance committee). This is like the best reality show EVER. And I get to help vote someone off. You can't ask for better entertainment.

I cannot wait for the VP debate. It's going to be hilarious. Biden says whatever pops into his head and Palin doesn't seem like she is ever really sure what to say. This will be a great debate. I have no idea who to vote for, but I am certainly being entertained while I figure it out.

Favorite quotes from a V.P. candidate:

Biden on the 1929 market crash:
"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened."
(Roosevelt wasn't president then and television wasn't invented until later)

Palin when asked what magazines or newspapers she reads:
"Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years."

I love this country.

A Timeline of Poop

2008-09-28T16:40:00.001-04:00

July 22: A bird poops on me while I am walking into work. Not a good start to a day.

August 21: Again, I am pooped on by a bird while walking into work. I can't win.

September 20: Ben is pooped on by a bird while sitting outside reading. I do a little dance because for one it wasn't me.

October 19: I plan on staying inside and avoiding windows.

Next time I'll get Tooth of the Month

2008-09-22T19:48:00.003-04:00

Friday I went to the dentist. I was a tad bit wary about going to a new dentist down here. (Wary, by the way, is the word that lost me a spelling bee. It's not spelling W-E-R-Y.) I had gone to the same small dentist office in Ohio since I was 5. I didn't really want to find a new dentist and I had heard horror stories about dentists down here. Unnecessary root canals. Crowns that weren't fitted. Cavities that didn't exist. So I put it off until it had been over a year since my last visit and I wasn't getting my money's worth from the insurance I was paying.

OH MY GOSH! Dentist offices have gotten so high tech. This office that I went to was HUGE! It was like a teeth cleaning warehouse! There was a whole hallway of rooms of hygienists just cleaning people's teeth. I had never seen anything like it. Then, they took my blood pressure. Just to "make sure I was relaxed". (Or for cheaper malpractice insurance. You pick.) But the best part was the x-rays. I hate getting x-rays taken of my teeth. HATE IT. It makes me gag and it's no fun. But this office had digital x-rays. That instantly popped up on a screen in front of me. X-rays of my teeth. Just like that. It was so cool. Well until it showed that I had 3 cavities between my teeth from not flossing. Ever. And a 4th one forming. Guess who is the queen of flossing now?

The downside of the visit was that I had a cheerleader-sized version of Helga the Hygienist who felt that it was her duty to not only stretch out my lips but also floss down to my toes. My gums are still sore. I think she was trying to make a point about flossing. I get it. I'll floss now.

Don't call us, we'll call you

2008-09-17T20:25:00.002-04:00

Today I read a job posting for a truck driver.

Wanted: One driver capable of maintaining a hazardous material license. Must be detail oriented and be able to multitask.

I don't know about you, but I don't want hazmat truck drivers multitasking.

It saved a wretch like me

2008-09-13T09:24:00.003-04:00

Lately I have realized that I need to be a more graceful person. I need to extend more grace to others and to myself. Especially to myself. I am realizing how my perfectionism is not helping, but hurting me. Philip Yancey defines God's grace as this: "There is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and there is nothing that I can do to make God love me any less."

This is a hard concept for me to grasp emotionally. Grace in the abstract seems good and idealistic, but grace in practice seems stupid. Surely I have to do something for it. I find myself working hard to be good enough for God's grace or berating myself for not being a gracious person. I think that I am missing the point.

The other day while doing my devotions I was reading in Romans trying to understand God's grace more. I know that because of God's grace I have salvation and a relationship with God, but how does grace play out in my daily life. What role does grace have in working out my salvation? I came across Roman 8:1-2: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

Did you read that? There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! That phrase alone is worth a party to end all celebrations! I don't think that I have ever really understood that. I had always held myself to the standard of perfection as a Christian, and I never reached it. I kept failing. And you know what? In Christ it's ok! There is no condemnation for my short comings. God does not keep punishing me because I am not God. There are consequences for my sin and God teaches me to live more like him, but I am not condemned because I am not perfect. I don't have to carry around the guilt of my imperfections and sin. I AM NOT CONDEMNED IN CHRIST JESUS.

Do you know how freeing that is? I can enjoy life because all I have to do is try my best to be obedient to Christ. Once I confess my sin and turn from it I can move on. God does not require me to grovel and pay penitence for my sins.

We serve an amazingly good and gracious God. How can you not love Him?

That's snot my job.

2008-09-02T19:16:00.003-04:00

Now I am sick. Obviously I know what my body thinks about camping in the rain. I won't tell you what I think about my body right now because we are fighting. Fighting with snot and tissues. I think I am losing.

Also, nothing says welcome back to work like cold chills, achy joints and 471 unread e-mails. Yep. I had 471 unread e-mails when I logged on today. When I left I had 38. That's a lot of e-mails to read and file. Which made me want to go back home dive under the covers and watch movies until I felt better. Instead I bought myself a sprite and popped some DayQuill. (Mom read: I drank some wheat grass juice and took some vitamin C tablets.) Needless to say today was less than stellar. Hurray that this is only a 4 day work week.

Anyway, back to the vacation stories. Ben and I have this theory that people when they are on vacation think that they are invincible. Which is why they stop in the middle of the road to stare at rainbows, swim in unknown waters and get really close to large dangerous animals. Nothing bad can happen to them! They are on vacation! The stupid thing that we saw someone do on our trip (besides go running towards a bear) was climb over the railing and walk out on to a rock cliff at the top of lookout mountain. Like a cliff that dropped several hundred feet. He walked out onto the ledge to take a picture of a bronze statue of an eagle. The statue was about 5 feet from the railing and I am sure that his zoom lens would have given him the same shot, but nope, he had to risk his life instead. But he didn't fall because he was on vacation! We tried to get a picture of this stupidity in action but our memory card was full and I couldn't decide which picture of us to delete the fastest. Also I needed to go pee. Oh the people you see when you travel....

Are we there yet?

2008-09-01T11:28:00.006-04:00

We are back! And I never want to ride in another car again. Sitting in one for 11 million hours driving from wal-mart to wal-mart is enough. Our vacation originally was going to be a camping road trip of the South. But since we (and by we I mean Ben) didn't plan on it being cold in the mountains or it raining almost every day of our trip our vacation morphed into how-many-wal-marts-can-we-visit-in-one-week. Even with all our money going to feed the Man, it was a good trip.

First though I have to tell you a little bit about our trip to D.C. Being true to our overacheiving selves we crammed in as much stuff as we could. Even to the point of hauling our luggage around Arlington Cemetary the last day we were there. (Wouldn't recommend that.) But the highlight of the trip occured while Ben was sitting in the hotel room doing homework. The day before we had gotten into a "discussion" about how close to the road you should stand waiting for the crosswalk signal. Ben stands about as far away as you can because "these drivers are crazy". I like to stand right on the edge of the road and dare someone to hit me. Or at least I did, because the next day Ben saw a lady at a light drive over a curb and A GUY'S BICYCLE as he was waiting for the crosswalk. She drove over his bike. Like he had to pull it out of her wheel well. So I guess that means Ben gets a point and I'll stand next to him away from the street.

The one thing that I realized while camping is that I don't like to live far away from civilization. And by that I mean restaurants and stores. Driving 30 min into the nearest town that has a Wal-mart and an Applebees is not my cup of tea. Also I realized that camping in the remains of a tropical storm are also not that much fun. In 24 hours the side of the mountain that we were on got 2 inches of rain. The other side of the mountain got 8 inches. Which meant no river tubing or water slides for Andi. Sad.

We did get to do some really neat things though, hiking in the smokies, mirror maze in Gatlinburg, hiking through a gorge in Georgia, visiting Ben's family in Georgia, seeing Rock City and visiting the Chattanooga aquarium.

I have about a million other stories but right now it's lunch time with no food in the house and my father-in-law is coming over tomorrow and he'd probably like to see the house and not so much all these piles of laundry.

I have no idea what happened

2008-08-16T19:31:00.007-04:00

So here's an update on my gardening skills. It started off looking like this:

Which grew into this:

Which turned into this while I was in DC:

All I can say is that it's a good thing that I am not responsible for growing food for us to eat. Because I am pretty sure we would starve. I really don't know what happened. The plants just started dying. There had been an oil spill near the steps some years ago... but grass seems to grow just fine there, so I have no clue.

Our trip to DC was awesome. I passed the training that I was out there for and we crammed in tons of sightseeing. I also learned that while Continental Airlines are helpful and friendly, they cannot be trusted. They will tell you that you are on one flight when, whoops, look, you're on a different flight flying to a completely different city! They like to keep you on your toes. It still puzzles me that we paid $250 for Ben's ticket and they always rebooked him on the better flights. My company paid $1250 for my ticket and I got rebooked on the worst flights. But we ended up flying together and surprisingly all of the flight changes worked out in Ben and I's favor. More to come on that trip!

God is Good

2008-08-05T19:23:00.003-04:00

This week Ben and I have received two great blessings from God:

1. Ben's school gave him a scholarship that makes next years financial situation a whole lot easier.

2. An unexpected gift of being able to go out to eat after a long, hard day.

Right now it feels like God is saying, "I know", which is humbling in deed. Who am I that God is mindful of me? We serve a good and loving God.

Here's where I bow out gracefully

2008-07-28T18:33:00.002-04:00

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. Staying busy, lots of changes (no I am not pregnant!) and a lot of travel coming up. Which means that posting will be light. Hopefully I'll have some funny stories from our trip to DC and our road-trip vacation next month. In the mean time enjoy some reading at these sites:

The Simple Family. A blog focused on living a simpler life with less stuff.

All or Nothing. Humorous by a small boutique owner.

Nothing But Bonfires. A lighthearted blog that always makes me laugh.

Catch you at the end of summer...

It was one of those days...

2008-07-22T20:03:00.001-04:00

Today I was walking into work and a bird pooped on me. Right on my skirt. And I touched it with my hands trying to figure out what it was.

Feel free to laugh. I did.

Random things I have seen go past my kitchen window

2008-07-14T19:22:00.002-04:00

Or why this town is so awesome....

A man riding bareback on a horse
A golf cart
A backhoe shoveling snow
A tricycle/rickshaw made out of the back of an old VW beetle and half a motorcycle
A 3 year old running through the street by herself
The neighbors dog run over to poop in our yard
A man on a riding lawnmower....that he had driven across town
An ice cream truck that played no music... instead the driver pulled a string inside that rang a bell on the outside.

I'd like to point out that I don't live on a busy street. And we've only lived here for 6 months. This town is so weird it's awesome.

A random fact about me

2008-07-03T21:44:00.003-04:00

I have to wear socks to bed no matter how warm it is. Without the socks it feels like my toes are wild and unrestrained, they might just run off in the middle of the night. The socks keep them where they belong.

In the same way I can't stand for Ben's toes to touch me. It doesn't matter if they are in a sock or not - there is something weird about the feeling of toes touching me.

What is a random fact about you?

Climbing that ladder

2008-07-01T21:13:00.004-04:00

At work we were discussing an upcoming visit from corporate and how they would probably stop by the building where we work. I commented that that would be a good day to wear my "I am management material" hat in to work. Another co-worker suggested that a t-shirt that read "willing to relocate" might be helpful. Because nothing impresses like a t-shirt. Possibly pants with "promotable" written across the butt would work as well. I've got some time, so with a little more brainstorming I might just be announcing my promotion on here....

Look, Ma! No Hands!

2008-06-28T19:40:00.002-04:00

Dear Fellow Drivers,

You are the reason that my insurance premiums are so high. It is you and your crazy driving. I am not sure I can take it any more. I kindly ask that you please start staying inside your lane, using turn signals and stop cutting me off.

I know that sometimes there are more important things to do than drive. Like that time you had to eat that sandwich with both hands or the ice cream you needed to eat with a SPOON. Obviously those are a higher priority than watching the road while driving 80 mph, but do you think that you could maybe stop text messaging while driving?

I must admit that you are stylin' up there, all alone, in your Chevy Suburban. I envy your hauling capacity and extra head room; my small Miata cannot compete for your space on the road. I just ask that you not take your space on the road out of where I am driving. Maybe look before you merge into me. Or try using a turn signal. I'll get out of the way.

We are all just trying to get to work, school or home safely. I promise I'll stop chewing you out in my head if you will stop playing wack-a-mole with my car. Deal?

Your Friendly Neighbor,
Andi

Over a year...

2008-06-21T22:32:00.008-04:00

To celebrate our anniversary last weekend Ben and I went to my cousin's wedding and visited with my extended family. We know romance!

We also stayed at bed and breakfast that was beautiful but also kind of creepy. Not that they decorated it in any creepy way or anything. It was well lit it's just that old houses creep me out. It's hard to relax when you worry about turning around and seeing a ghost. I don't think that I should have ever watched The Others.

We reserved a whole suite with a pool table and a private porch. Because nothing says romance like a game of billiards (I won!). The porch was very nice and relaxing and we ate our old wedding cake out there. The wedding cake that we saved from our reception which wasn't a year ago, but rather 10 months ago. So I guess we got off better than most couples who get to eat year old cake.

Eating the old cake was interesting since Ben has developed an allergy to wheat. The whole ceremony of the cake consisted mainly of me eating it and telling Ben that it wasn't very good, it was rather dry, and he wasn't missing much. Ben licked his piece and then took a bite and surprisingly was not sick the next day. We refer to it as the miracle of the cake.

The suite were we stayed had a guest book for us to sign and because I am super lucky I opened it to the one page that should serve as an example for why you should not have a guest book:

Yes. It says "Our passion filled this room." After I read that I was afraid to touch anything in the room. Seriously, why would you write that? Who wants to know that? The owners? I doubt it. Future guests? I certainly did not. I disturbed me enough to take a picture of it and share it on my blog. Aren't you glad that I did?

At one point Ben realized that he had left his tennis shoes at my parents and so he had to go on a walk with me dressed like this (only he wasn't fuzzy in real life):

All in all it was a nice and relaxing anniversary.

One Year Later...

2008-06-14T08:18:00.003-04:00

One year ago today I Ben and I tied the knot. It wasn't how we had planned but we had a beautiful ceremony that was just perfect.

Happy Anniversary Ben! I love you so much!

Gross Bugs

2008-06-12T19:21:00.007-04:00

I've been really grouchy lately. Ben says it's from lack of sleep I prefer to blame it on these bugs that are ruining my life. Cicadas.

They are everywhere. And I hate them. Their little shells are all over my stuff outside. The noise they make is deafening and they like to fly and land on me. Which is why my garden hasn't been weeded or watered. I don't like to go outside. I wanted to take a video to give you an idea of what it is like but I just couldn't capture it. At least you can get an idea of what they sound like though....

I also haven't been driving with the top down. I did that once and I was afraid to slow down. The bugs were everywhere! This week Ben and I walked to the grocery store and it was frightening. The cicadas were COVERING the trees lining main street. Walking through this corridor of bugs was like walking though a gauntlet. I couldn't take them flying at me anymore and broke into a flat out run. Which startled the cicadas and caused them to swarm Ben. He should have run too.

So cicadas basically live underground for 17 years, come out, eat, mate and die. Well except for the females who come out, eat, mate, lay eggs and then die.

I really wanted to give you all a feel for how these bugs swarm so I convinced Ben to shake the bush that they were in. Unfortunatly I think that you just have to be there in person. Please excuse my screams....

More Wedding Pictures

2008-06-05T18:17:00.010-04:00

Isn't that a wonderful picture of my sister? She is so pretty! This past weekend was a whirlwind of crazy. My sister and I sometime are a true study in contrasts.

I was more stressed on her wedding day than on mine. This was mostly because Sarah's way of handling stress was all "ehh... it'll get done." While I, on the other hand, was running around waving my hands in the air yelling, "It doesn't just get done! Someone has to do it!"

Poor Ben got the brunt of most of it. At one point we had stopped to get food and I opened the bag, saw something that I didn't order and promptly yelled at Ben for ruining my life. You would have done the same thing if you were looking forward to chicken nuggets and instead found chicken biscuits. You too would have felt like your life was ruined. And then I saw the sticker letting me know that the biscuits were free. Ben suggested we go back to Chick-fil-a and throw them at the nice lady. How dare she give us free food! Sarah on the other hand forgot to eat.

The ceremony was beautiful and everything went as planned.

Well except for the part where my brothers forgot to bring the aisle runner down, but my mom forgot to reserve them a seat at the reception so they called it even.

The cake was a wonderful cheesecake that people lined up to get. I have never seen people line up at a wedding for cake. Good choice Sarah!

The dancing was a lot of fun. Ben got to teach a Chinese student how to do the Bus Driver, the Shopping Cart and the Walker.

Sarah - I am very happy for you. What a great wedding!

Wedding Bells...

2008-06-03T20:58:00.003-04:00

This weekend was crazy busy what with my sister getting married and all. Yep. I cried a lot. And now I am tired so I'll just post some pictures that I stole from the photographer's web-site. She rocks.

In case my day job doesn't work out....

2008-05-27T20:55:00.003-04:00

First off, this is the 300th post of the blog at this address (oldcomfyshoes.blogspot.com). That makes between my old and current blog, 550 blog posts. Do I seriously have that much to say? Apparently. Although less people read it now than before so I am guessing I am getting more boring. Sorry.

But! Today Ben and I came up with a BRILLIANT idea. Bill Gates has nothing on this innovation. We think that the features of two great programs, Facebook and Outlook, should be merged. Think about it. You are sitting at work and someone sends you a nasty e-mail, in this new program - FaceLook - you can throw a sheep at them. If a coworker does a great job you could send them a smiley face or a unicorn. You could choose how you want to send back that return receipt on that e-mail with either a thumbs up or a flaming bag of poop depending on your mood. You could set-up polls to see where your coworkers want to go for lunch or to find out what everyone really thinks about your boss. In FaceLook you could not only be professional co-workers but you could also be friends.

I think that this will catch on, it just may take a few years...

Strawberries!

2008-05-25T18:32:00.012-04:00

I love three day weekends. Love them! We packed this weekend full too! Yesterday we got up and went and picked strawberries! Tomorrow we are going hiking all day. Did I mention I love three day weekends with beautiful weather? I do!

Here are some pictures from the strawberry patch:

This is before Ben starting doing any of the work. I am all alone in a big field.

Oh wait, now Ben is working!

I FOUND ONE!

YUM!

We picked two pounds by the time we were finished. Just enough for the two of us.

Also, the cicada's are coming out. Gross.

Have a fun and safe memorial day!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-05-21T19:23:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I turned 25. TWENTY FIVE! OH MY GOSH I AM OLD! Do you see any wrinkles? Gray hair? TWENTY FIVE!

That's pretty much how I felt the last couple of months leading up to my birthday. And then when it came I was pretty excited. It was my birthday! I am now 25! I can rent a car in my own name! And.... um... well that's pretty much the only benefit, except that now people feel like they have permission to ask me when I am having a baby. Because you know, I probably want to be able to walk at their high school graduation so I should probably get on that.

I was thinking deep thoughts yesterday on my drive home and I realized that I have a lot to celebrate on this birthday. I've learned a lot in the last 5 years. Things that I am proud of. Here. Let me share them with you:

Things I've learned in the last 5 years:

- How to love more deeply.
- How to be ok with needing other people.
- How to pick my battles more wisely (still working on this though).
- To appreciate good friends and the importance of breaking up with bad ones.
- How to choose a health insurance plan.
- How to cook more recipes.
- How to properly wash a car.
- To laugh at myself more.
- To let more things go.
- The importance of not running out of gas.
- How much I love and appreciate my family.

See? These are good lessons. From here on out I am going to try and look at birthdays as celebrations of growth. Not milestones to death.

So hurray for 25 years! Hurray for 25 years of learning how to be less stupid and caring less when I am. Hurray!

Yesterday

2008-05-11T13:51:00.011-04:00

First off - Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!

Secondly, I hurt. Yesterday was a beautiful day. So pretty in fact I was lured outside to do some gardening. I haven't planted anything in the ground since elementary school and I swore that I wouldn't start now. But my neighbors have a garden and our half of the duplex was looking dumpy with the grass bed we had going. My plan was to spend 2 hours MAX on the garden. Here's what I started with:

I dug all of that grass up with a trowel. I started thinking that people who buy tillers are wimps, and ended wishing for a tiller or at least a larger shovel.

I planted cosmos in the back and impatiens in the front. Because I am a crazy person I bought 54 impatiens. This was the only flower bed I was going to work on. And it only needed 16 flowers. Like any home project this one ended up taking up the entire day. Notice the length of the shadows in the pictures. So I sucked it up and tackled the other two flower beds.

The next flower bed I worked on was also on the front of the house and was completly covered in grass. You can see that our neighbors are more on top of things than me.

I planted the same things there. There's some other plant that was already growing... I guess I'll figure out what it is when it blooms.

I also worked on the side garden. It seriously needed some work. Also it was filled with rocks so if all my flowers die, it's not my fault.

It looks so much better cleared out and tended. Our place now looks like we care.

Ben also did some yard work yesterday. We recently purchased a reel lawn mower. We tell people that and they just look at us and ask "as opposed to a fake one?" It works pretty well. You get a work out pushing it. Our back yard is mostly weeds and it doesn't cut those so well, but it was cheap and we aren't trying to win any awards for our lawn. Plus it makes Ben's muscles big so I am not complaining.

Today I am incredibly sore form all that work. My butt hurts the most. Do you know how much you use your butt? A LOT! Every movement hurts. I guess it's good that I have a desk job to go to tomorrow, or maybe it's because I have a desk job that I am so sore...

A letter to our electric company

2008-05-03T09:43:00.005-04:00

Dear Kentucky Utilities,

This letter is to inform you that your internet bill pay system, “BillerExpress”, is neither quick or efficient. I would suggest renaming it something along the lines of “WasteOfTime” or “WebsiteOfFrustration”.

Today, my husband and I tried to pay our bill on-line. We spent quite a bit of time trying to guess what form of our account number the web-site needed to register us. As you know, the account number listed on our bill is 2##### -1111. BillerExpress would not take this number no matter how many times we entered it. We even called the customer service line only to be told that that was the correct number and we must not have been entering it properly. Finally, by sheer luck, we tried 2#####111 and it worked! I would like to point out that this is two characters off from our actual account number, but obviously we should have known to drop a one and the dash!

We then, by mistake, felt like we had mastered BillerExpress and could pay our bill on time. Silly us. When we went to pay our bill the only option we had was to “Search and Pay My Bills”. Here’s a question for you: Why must I search for my bill when I am CLEARLY logged in as Andrea? Also, why when I am logged in as Andrea and search for Andrea does it say, “No records found?” I’ve provided a print screen of this result for your information.

We tried searching by our account number as well and got the SAME RESULT.

I would like to suggest to you that there may be a problem with your on-line bill pay system. It is frustrating and illogical. If you are paying Transactis Inc to manage this system for you, I would fire them.

Enclosed is our payment. We look forward to a NEW on-line billing system for Kentucky Utilities.

Your Unhappy Customer,

Andrea

May Day!

2008-05-01T19:07:00.005-04:00

Today was May Day and the National Day of Prayer. As is my tradition on May 1st, I left baskets of goodies on my neighbor's doorsteps with this note:

Happy May Day! It is an old tradition to leave sweets and flowers on your neighbor's doorsteps on May 1st. Today is also the National Day of Prayer. We have been praying for you and your household today.
Happy May Day from Ben and Andi!

Here are the baskets in work:

Here they are ready to be delivered:

And a completed one:

Happy May Day everyone!!

An Inconvenient God

2008-04-24T19:24:00.002-04:00

Today I was thinking about how God is not always convenient and how that's a hard lesson to learn. I wonder if more people would follow Him if it was easier.

Would they have crucified Jesus if he hadn't told them to leave their father and mother? Would the rich young ruler have been Jesus' biggest supporter if he hadn't been asked to sell all he had? Would my co-workers go to church if it was comfortable?

It would be incredibly convenient if God delivered me completely from my anxiety.

It would be convenient if God would heal my friend so she and her husband could have a baby.

It would be convenient if God removed all of the cancer from my Mom's body.

Yet God stays his hand from changing these circumstances. He is asking me, my friend and my mom, "Do you trust me?" and the answer has to be "Yes." He reminds me that He didn't come to make my life comfortable; He came to seek and to save those who are lost. Jesus didn't come to run for office; he came to die for my sins.

He asks for not only my anxiety, but for all of me. All of my friend, all of my mom, all of me. He asks for our complete trust and surrender not just when it is easy, but when it's soo hard. He knows what He is doing. He knows the result of this anxiety, empty home and cancer and He promises that it will be good. It just may not be convenient.

Sometimes, I think, that I get more mad at God for not taking my problem away than at the problem. And maybe that's the lesson I need to learn right now, to wait for his goodness.

A surprising beginning to my weekend

2008-04-19T09:43:00.004-04:00

My grandfather was a pilot during WWII. He had some amazing stories about from that. After the war he maintained his pilot's license and actually owned his own plane for a while. My uncle was able to track his plane down and I got this e-mail from him about it today:

Hey everybody,

This was Grandpa' plane. He sold it when I was about 7 years old. It's worth a small fortune now. We did loops in it and Mom would get sick, Dad let me land it once when I was 5 years old. One time we ran out of gas over West Alexandria, Ohio and did a forced landing in a cornfield (the corn was about a foot high). One time we flew to Kokomo, IN and visited Aunt Dudie and Uncle Don. Back then the plane was blue and yellow, had a wooden prop, and you had to pull the prop to start it.

I was able to track it down because I never forgot the ID #.

Uncle Tom

I miss my grandparents...

3 Things

2008-04-13T15:15:00.004-04:00

1. It's cold and rainy outside and it makes me mad. I moved South and it's April - it should be warm and sunny. I mean it was never in my life plan to move South, so since I did, I would like to reap the benefits of warm weather and sweet tea. This weather reminds me of Ohio. I want my money back.

2. Has anyone ever heard of Belle Brezing? No? You really should look her up. She was an internationally known Madam here in Kentucky, Lexington to be exact, around the turn of the century. Great role model. Now generally cities and states try and down play the role prostitutes had in their history, but not so here in Kentucky. Here she gets displays at museums and even a bed race. Yeah. A race where people dress up, in drag even, and roll beds down main street. Lexington and Louisville both honor this madam with a bed race around the start of famous horse races. You can't get any classier than that. Oh Kentucky how I love you...

3. Last night someone knocked at our door and started yelling. Ben jumped up and opened the door. Ok. Pause and reread that. Ben opened the door to our HOME to some guy banging on the door and yelling. Yeah. I was not happy and if this guy didn't get Ben first he was going to hear it from me. Fortunately, my husband does have a head on his shoulders and had looked out the window and knew he was opening the door to the plumber we had called.

The burly plumber and his equally large assistant looked at our shower and told us that they would need to come back on Tuesday with the needed parts. Then the plumber gave us his name and phone number and told us to call him if we weren't going to be home on Tuesday. Can you guess what his name is? I have no idea what his real name is, but the name that he gave us was Animal. Yeah. Animal. Our landlord's plumber goes by Animal. He has three teardrop tattoos and large hands. Tuesday should be interesting.

All I wanted was some Sun Chips....

2008-04-02T18:58:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the vending machine died and ate two of my quarters. By the end of the day there were signs all over the machine stating that it was broken and that it owed Michelle $1.00!!!!!!!

Today I watched a guy remove the sign that was covering the coin slot, insert his money and then get mad when it ate his money.

He's destined for management somewhere in this world. He may be your next boss.

Seriously. I mean it!

2008-03-30T15:45:00.006-04:00

After I wrote the post about the reusable bags, my good friend Chris called to tell me that yes, I am a hippy. Thanks Chris!

This weekend was my first shopping trip sans plastic bags. I folded my little reusable bag up, stuck it in my purse and headed to the mall. I really wasn't sure what to expect and I was a little nervous. I can talk a big game about breaking social norms, but when it comes time to back them up, I worry about how awkward it's going to be.

The only store that I bought something in was New York & Company. I bought a dress shirt on clearance. I took my purchase up to the counter and when she went to bag my shirt I pulled out my bag and asked her to please put it in that instead. She read the sassy little comment on the bag, "Paper or plastic? Neither." and asked if I just brought these bags in when I shop. I told her I did because I hate plastic bags. She gave me my receipt and that was the end of it. It was pretty anti-climactic, which is good and how it should have been. My hippy crusade can continue.

This weekend Ben was in the wedding of his old roommate. I like going to weddings and seeing how other brides pull theirs together. This had to be the biggest wedding I've been too. There were 14 bridesmaids and 7 groomsmen. There were 33 people involved in the wedding ceremony! I don't even think that I have that many friends!

Here are some pictures:

Here we are waiting for the exit of the bride and groom. Ben's tux smelled like butt.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

A word of advice to those who DJ for their friend's wedding:

2008-03-29T18:54:00.002-04:00

Clear your iPod playlists before hooking it up to the sound system. That way when someone hits "shuffle" while everyone is cleaning up the church fellowship hall, a song won't come on the drops the f-bomb multiple times.

Just a suggestion....

Computers, the environmnet and yuppies

2008-03-26T18:20:00.005-04:00

I am gaining quite a reputation at work as a computer whiz. This is funny since once I deleted Windows Explorer because I used Firefox and didn't need it. For all of you who just thought that that sounds like a good idea let me explain the difference between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer lets you read this blog. Windows Explorer controls your desktop and deleting it will remove your start bar and all your icons. You will need to reinstall windows to fix this.

Most recently I purposefully disabled the TCP/IP on my laptop while trying to connect to the coffee shop Wi-Fi. Again, some of you get the irony there and others of you don't know that the TCP/IP must be enabled to access the internet.

So it really is ironic that people come to me with computer questions. To prove to you how great a computer whiz I am, here's a list of all the things I've done to help:

Made 2-sided copies
Deleted a line in a pdf document
Copied only values into an Excel sheet
Changed the tab spacing in Word
Put a schedule into PowerPoint
Password protected an Excel sheet

You can see that I'm not terribly helpful with the computer and I certainly don't deserve the title of Computer Whiz, but I am going to ride this wave as far as it goes. Hopefully it lasts until review time...

But what I really want to know is why couldn't I be tested on these sorts of things when I interviewed? I mean seriously, Long Division? And while I know it's a mute point because I got the job, I think I could have showcased my skills better by formating a letter instead of dividing 456 by 12. I'm just saying....

In an unrelated note I've decided to stop using plastic bags. At all. I hate them. I hate how they sound. I hate how the clutter up the sink. I hate how they feel when they are wet. I hate how they get stuck under my car on the highway. I hate them and I don't think you are supposed to have that kind of a feeling toward a bag. So I'm not going to use them anymore. I'm using reusable bags instead. I've been using them for awhile at Kroger and I love them. They are so much easier to carry. And you get money off of your grocery bill for every bag you bring in at Kroger. I now have bags for other non-Kroger places. I think I will look like the hippy when I go clothes shopping with reusable bags, but if they won't use my bags, they won't get my money!

I stopped by the Wild Oats store near my work today and they are making it a company policy to stop using plastic bags by April 22, 2008. I wanted to hug them. Until I bought gluten free pretzels for $5.99. They should give me a resuable bag for free at that price....

Today while driving home in my convertible, wearing a visor, sipping my green smoothie and listening to a lecture on my iPod I realized that I fit a stereotype. And I'm not quite sure what to think about it....

Pinching those copper coins

2008-03-16T15:51:00.004-04:00

This weekend I did two things to try and save us money.

The first thing that I did was to switch the toilet paper. We had been buying gold plated TP, and I figured that if we were really serious about cutting costs we had to downgrade - our tushes could handle it. We aren't really roughing it yet (pun intended). The money that we are saving is for vacation not to buy food or anything. And while it may only be a camping vacation, my work is going to pay me to NOT work. Life is hard.

The second thing I did was cut Ben's hair. Myself. With scissors and a comb. I'm not so sure it was a good idea. The front looks pretty good but that back looks like I took a weed wacker to it. Ben can't see it so he thinks that it looks fine. But I can see it and I KNOW! We were at lunch today and I kept staring at his hair thinking, "What have I done?" I'm not sure how to fix it. We may go buy clippers and try and even it up that way, but that costs money and that's counter productive.....

A Comment During Our Walk Today

2008-03-12T18:59:00.002-04:00

"You know, I would feel a lot more confident about the drivers around here if I didn't just see one with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand shoved completely in their mouth."

Sledding!

2008-03-09T15:10:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures from our sledding adventure yesterday. We didn't have any sleds so we covered cardboard in a trash bag and that worked for a while.

Ben:

Me:

Bundled up:
Snow drifts:

Here's a video of one of the sled runs:

Fire and Snow

2008-03-08T10:59:00.004-05:00

I was beginning to think that the great people of Kentucky were prone to drama. This was mainly supported by the Kentucky Homeland Security Ads that ran on television. You can watch it here. (It'll open up windows media player to play it.) Go on and watch it and you'll see what I mean. Obviously if you live in Kentucky you are at risk of spontaneously combusting. So, please visit that web-site and make sure you are prepared for that.

If that's not enough to worry about, people around here also like to freak out about the weather. Someone in all seriousness told me yesterday that we were supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow in a place where I have ever only seen 1-2 inches. People were stocking up on food and firewood so that they could ride out "the worst storm in the last 10-15 years".

I scoffed at their predictions. I am from the North and snow does not phase me. I laughed at them all, pointed out that it's supposed to be 50 on Monday and assured them that I could wait out the storm with my meager groceries. Plus I live within walking distance to a grocery store. I will live. Plus, I said, "we are only going to get 1-3 inches of snow. In Ohio they have blizzard warnings. I'm not scared."

Well it looks like they may have been right. I think that we probably have about 4 inches of snow. It almost covers the grass in my backyard. It really isn't that much snow, in Ohio this may slow things down for an hour, but life would keep moving along. Here life stops. The people of Kentucky knew something that I did not; THEY DON'T HAVE SNOW PLOWS IN THIS TOWN. I have not seen a single snow plow around my house this whole storm. 4 inches does shut things down because YOU CAN'T SEE THE ROAD. Dang-it. You people win. You were right. I guess I need to go figure out how to avoid spontaneously combusting now....

*** Edited to add:
A couple hours after I wrote this post the road crews were out in a force that I had never seen before. They were a team that was unstoppable.

They had a show plow:

And a back hoe:

How I love Kentucky.

Tomorrow! I post pictures of sledding!

quality products

2008-03-02T14:43:00.002-05:00

It's lovely outside and I really wanted to wash my car today. Ben headed to the store to pick up a garden hose and he found one with this warning:

WARNING!
Do not drink out of garden hose!
This hose contains chemicals that are known to cause cancer and birth defects!
Wash hands after use!

Seriously? This product is seriously on the shelves? Why would this hose be out there for sale? I can't think of a time when I have wanted to wash my car AND get cancer all at the same time. Maybe we just aren't their target market....