Country Inn & Suites

John has been in Minneapolis MN for the past week and a half for more training, and I was able to fly out last Wednesday after work to be with him, and enjoy the company paid for hotel room :)

John's bro and sister-in-law also live in MN, so we were able to spend some time with them, and get to know Krissa better. They took us to lots of neat places in St. Paul, and let us crash their Christmas party. I think John wants to move to MN now... except for the fact that it's been under 0 degrees many of the days we've been here.

That's the only picture we've taken the whole week. It was an amazing week though. John and I love eating out, but don't do it that often as it gets kind of expensive. So this week of HAVING to eat out and having his work pay for most of it has been a dream come true :)

time to take the garbage out

My pictures showed up backwards, so this post is going to be the same. The first few pictures are of Thanksgiving! Here is the shoe pile by the stove.


The huge bowl of mashed potatoes.

John's 23rd Birthday!
Sam, John and Kyle! Our first company at our new house.

JOHN AND HIS DEER!



Nothing much is going on here still. John is in Minneapolis this week and next for some training, so I'm flying out to be with him (at a hotel with a pool!!! :)) for a long weekend. I forgot to take the trash out today, and I'm going to be gone NEXT Tuesday so... John is coming home to a smelly, overflowing trash can. Good thing we have a shed to stash it.

I started working at Panera in Canton and it's going well. The people are very cool and I am working my ideal amount of hours. :)

I'll have access to the internet all day when I'm in MN so there will definitely be some more posts in the next few days!

nothing eventful to report

Not having the internet has really been a change. I feel disconnected from my facebook acquaintances because I no longer see all of the status changes. If I want to know where something is, I have to guess. Or realize it really isn't that important and I shouldn't go. Overall I think it's going to be good. AND it's saving us money. Speaking of saving money, John was on a money saving roll yesterday. He called our car insurance provider to let them know we moved, and because of our new location, we save over $100 a year. Apartment complexes must really be dangerous for vehicles :) We also switched to a lower minute cell phone plan. Maybe our Crown study is paying off... Speaking of Crown, this Saturday is our final class. It's kind of sad :(

John and I went to Chicago this weekend to see my cousin Kaitlyn, and I would post pictures, but I left my camera at home. Next time. It was SO much fun. She lives above a little flower shop, and we walked or took the el everywhere. Thanks Kaits for a great weekend and yummy food!

Nothing too much is happening. We're s....l....o....w...l....y putting our house together. John put the light in the upstairs bathroom in today. For the past two weeks we've had a lamp on the counter.

That's all. Really. Except for a picture of John sleeping with Taryn's kitty. I think it's cute.

WE MOVED!! (... and have no internet)

YAY! Saturday was our official moving day, and we spent our first night there. John has been sleeping there during the day every now and then, but that doesn't count. Our place looks great. And I just finished my interview at the Canton Panera (the only reason I'm able to blog, because we don't have internet at our house yet)... it was SOO not worth stressing over. The very word "interview" makes my heart beat faster and my stomach feel sick. Turns out all I had to do was write down my name and address and tell him my availability. Super easy. And I got a free coffee out of it, so now as I sit and take use of the free internet, I can drink free coffee too!! I'm being good to the budget today!! :)

Other than moving not too much is going on. We have the downstairs totally put together, and I'm pretending the upstairs doesn't exist.

I had a great birthday with John. He took me out for dinner, and even walked around Bed Bath and Beyond with me (this was a big deal. He had worked the night before and hadn't slept all day either. I told him he could sleep in the car while I walked around the store, and he STILL came in. He loves me :)).

That's all. I think we're going to Bay City this weekend so John can kill us a deer. I'll let you know how that goes :)

the dreaded question...

Caitlin tagged me a very long time ago to share 7 random facts about myself. Can I make my number one be that I hate, hate HATE having to share "interesting facts" about myself. You know when you go somewhere and they use that as the ice breaking, introduction. :) And yet I'm still doing this. Because I like Caitlin.

Fact #2 When I am home alone I have to have the shower curtain open. If it's closed I am convinced that someone is hiding behind it, to the point that I am too scared to open it and check. I open it now before John leaves for work at night. (waaaay too active of an imagination once it gets dark).

Useless #3 Tomorrow is my birthday :) Someone mailed me a balloon and I instantly blew it up and taped it to our wall. I love birthdays.

FOUR. When I was little, all of our animals (except the dog) had less than a one year life span. Chickens, turkeys, cats... they were either eaten (by us or wild animals), hit by cars, or ran into the woods. Our pets were "seasonal."

Fact #5 I LOVE hot drinks in the winter. Today I have had a mug of coffee, one of hot chai, and another of hot chocolate. Another favorite is hot apple cider.

number 6- My feet are always cold. I wear fuzzy socks, slippers, put that all underneath a blanket, and sometimes my feet are still icy to the touch. I wear socks to bed just to keep from freezing John out when I touch him. Unlike me, he is always hot and wears shorts to bed. So my feet could very easily find skin. Sometimes I do it just to see him jump.

FINALLY 7. Once at work, someone's total came up to $6.66 and she freaked out and made me add a bottle of water so that wouldn't be her total anymore. I like where I work. Another time, I met this guy who knew John back when John lived in Lafayette Indiana and worked at the airport. Pilot worlds are small.

THATS ALL FOLKS!!

I tag... Suzy , Kaits, and Heidi already did it, as did Peggy. And maybe some bold reader will feel inspired to share seven random things about them. THAT would be fun :) Even just one thing??? If seven people do one thing, maybe I'd still technically be following the game rules.

Chocolate Mug Cake

So... after three lovely days off (I worked all three days) John returned to work about 40 minutes ago. Remembering a comment I received on my last post from my lovely aunt about chocolate cake... I knew I'd be fine tonight :)
Here is the cake pre-assembled/microwaved:

It was SO easy to mix together. I only made half of the recipe, because there was no one to share it with... and I wanted to still feel slightly virtuous ;)

Here it is cooking...

And three minutes later, the finished product!!

It was sooo yummy! I didn't have any chocolate chips, but that would have made it even more scrumptious. But being the peanut butter junkie I am (and per my husband's suggestion) I dipped my fork in peanut butter before I took a bite. SO good :) :)

a spontaneous erruption of words

I keep intending to post something on here. I tell myself that I'll do it when John leaves for work... but when John leaves for work I get bummed out. And there are always dinner dishes that just bum me out further. And the fact that I have to get up and work on a Sunday morning. Basically, having a husband that works third shift and leaves me alone lots at night just puts me in a negative mood.

Since I haven't posted in FOREVER I'll update you on the important things. John quit his flying cargo job. He spent a month not working, and just started working as a mechanic for Mesaba airline this Wednesday night at 9 PM. He works 9PM to 7:30AM and then drives home and sleeps until about four, and then we hang out/eat/he showers, etc. until he leaves home at 7:50PM to do it all over again. The benefit of the ten hour shift is that he'll get three days off... but until then I kind of miss him. I know, I know. 3 and a half hours together isn't bad... but when you're used to THE ENTIRE DAY (or at least 2-10) it's a HUGE adjustment (for John too :))

John and I went to California for his brother Jim's wedding a week ago. That was an absolute blast, and I'll post pictures and tell about the fun stuff some other night. Probably not tomorrow, because posting two nights in a row would just be too much :p

My parents and Taryn came down this morning, so I could hang out with them on my day off (John was sleeping). They helped me pick out some more paint for our new place we're moving into (a duplex this time, up from an apartment! AND closer to John's work, so he won't have to leave as early). Oh. And Taryn made us some animals out of paper.

This evening was gorgeous. John and I drove down to the airport with some travel mugs of hot chocolate, opened the sun roof, and watched airplanes land. It was fun :) John also informed me tonight, how fun it would be to buy an airplane instead of a house and just live in the hanger with the airplane. I'm pretty sure he was kidding, so I said it would be tons and tons of fun.

I should blog more often. This almost feels like I'm talking to someone. Well... I really should do the dishes tonight. Otherwise I'll have to do them tomorrow night after I come home from painting the duplex after coming from Crown Bible Study AFTER coming from work. I think I'll be tired. But tonight I'm home alone and bummed out :( Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night my honey has off... maybe they can wait until then :) :)

My trip to the neurologist

For lack of good material, I thought I'd post about my latest trip to the doctor. I normally don't really mind going to the doctor, so long as it's not to get any shots. The nurse had mentioned something about blood work though (okay, said they were going to do it, but I was just HOPING against everything, that it was just a maybe). Anyways, I was a little mentally preoccupied when I got there and started filling out my new-patient paperwork. I got back to the exam room and was sitting on the crinkly paper bed SOOO stressed about the possibility of bloodwork when two male doctors walked in. Ahem. I made an appointment with a girl doctor. Hellooo!! That was my first clue that something wasn't right. Then he started asking me questions about who referred me, and I realized that his white jacket said "NEUROLOGY!" The front desk lady gave me the wrong paperwork, and so I got the very wrong doctor. They fixed it, and I waited for the new doctor.

It was cool, her daughter had worked at Panera before, (I work there now) and I was starting to think I liked her. Then she dropped the bomb. "How would you feel about doing some blood work?" I told her I had a fear of needles, started crying like a baby (maybe the neurologist should have stayed), and she said she still wanted to do it. They used a teeny tiny needle they use on babies, and the doctor actually held my hand. All in all it was okay (I only freak out before and after, not so much during). I survived my first drawing of blood from my body, and that gives me hope that maybe I WILL be able to make it through the blood work involved in a pregnancy. Take hope mother and mother-in-law... John and I may give you grandchildren yet!

this is getting old.

This is the third night this week I'll be going to bed alone. Oh, he's always there when I wake up, I'm okay with waking up alone. I get to leisurely check my email, shower, whatever I want. I really don't like going to sleep alone. The apartment makes more noises at night.

John and I were just starting to get to the good part in our movie, but it wasn't scary yet thankfully. Anyways. I just went into the kitchen because I was hungry, and I almost got a carrot out of the fridge because I haven't had my 3-5 servings of veggies today, but then I saw the donuts on top of the fridge and was like "you know what... THREE times this week. It's Saturday night and I'm alone. I'm eating an entire donut." So I did. And it was fantastic. Thanks mom and Christi for the donuts.

Oh well. At least it's a short trip and he'll be home before morning. Maybe he'll even get to go to church with me :) Yesterday John flew a passenger trip instead of cargo. It was a team of doctors that he flew from Cincinnati down to Texas to pick up some organ from a person that had just died, and then flew them back to Cincinnati to do the transplant. He said they actually got on with a cooler. He got home at 2:30 AM with an incredible amount of energy so we stayed up and talked for a while. And then slept in until almost 10. I guess there are some perks to his job. It's going to stink royally when I start my job though!

Okay that's all. I just don't like being all alone, and blogging feels like talking. Which is probably why I blogstalk people when I'm alone...

gun pictures are serious

John and I have been looking at houses lately. We so don't have money for a house, and we're not even sure how long we'll stay in the area, but it's not like we have a lot to do, and it's fun! Yesterday we went and looked at one, and when John tried the door (something my parents taught us... ) it was open so we went in and looked around. It felt kind of dangerous, but very fun. They had a fish tank built into the wall in the basement.

This morning John scooped what he thought was pepper off of the counter into his scrambled eggs... it was actually my coffee grounds. He didn't find me laughing at him very funny.

We went to Bay City last weekend. It's fun being at my grandparent's house. They live almost in the middle of a forest. At one point during the weekend John and Christi went out behind the garage to shoot a gun... just because they could.


Christi told John he wasn't allowed to smile in a picture with a gun.



That's all. Now John is on his way to Mexico and then Canada and then hopefully home. Who knows how long that will take. At least I don't have to make dinner ;)

Happy Birthday Jim!

We hope they smash your face into a GIANT cake in Mexico... even if you can't eat it.
Have a great birthday Jimmy boy.

possibly the best picture ever...

Furry Friends

I think I should begin by clarifying that this is John writing, not Amy. A post about animals from Amy would more likely be titled "I <3 Animals...they're delicious". Actually, our differing opinion on pets is what inspired me to write this. We can't seem to agree on pet topics: type of pet, indoor/outdoor, timing, etc.

Our most recent discussion was about ferrets. People tend to have one of two initial reactions to the word ferret (assuming they know what a ferret is...for those of you who aren't quite sure, keep reading). The first is negative: they're abnormal, they creep me out, they're mean, they smell bad, "Who in their right mind would get a ferret for a house pet??" The second is more positive: they're cute, they're unique, they're entertaining, "A ferret sounds like an amazing pet!!" Needless to say, I tend to favor the idea of a cute, cuddly, well mannered, unique pet while I believe my wife's reaction to the idea was, "I'll tell you what, you can have a ferret right after you find a way to solve world hunger."

Before I get any further, let me introduce you to Sonny and Jasper. Their owner Jan Smith insists "They are beautiful pets...their antics are incredible." And they are "the ideal pet for living in small inner-city apartments." So...how about some fun ferret facts?

Fact 1: The name ferret is derived from the latin furonem, which means "thief." Ferret owners can attest that this is a well deserved name, as they will happily steal anything they can get their paws on and hide it in their house.

Fact 2: Ferrets come from the same family ("Mustelidae") as badgers, wolverines, sea otters, skunks, mink, weasels, black footed ferrets and polecats.

Fact 3: Common nickname for ferrets: Carpet Sharks.

Fact 4: Ferrets live on average about 6-8 years but can live as long as 11.

Fact 5: Sizes vary between 12-16 inches in length and 3/4 - 4 1/2 pounds.

Fact 6: Contrary to popular belief, ferrets are completely domesticated and cannot survive on their own in the wild

Fact 7: Ferrets are litter trained (they go in the litter box like cats) and have no fear or aggression towards humans.

Fact 8: Ferrets sleep 16-18 hours a day and are most active at sunrise and sunset but adapt to the schedules of their owners as they are extremely social animals.

So...there you have it, they sound like the perfect pet to me.

I know what Amy thinks:













Do you agree?

VBS

This past week was Vacation Bible School at our church, and since I have no job, I was able to go every day, and play with/watch-so-they-don't-escape the little kids that were too young to go to VBS classes with their moms. It was fun-- I got to experience the good part of kids. Two hours a day, when (most of them) they aren't tired, are fed, and other people change their diapers. I also got to hear about weaning kids, trying to get them to sleep through the night, allergies, and watch them not share and hit each other while their moms try to figure out who had the toy first, and all that NOT fun stuff. The whole week was a blast though; I actually got to get out of the house and see people!

Recently...
Our power went out for a day, and our ice cream melted :(
Tom and Jody came to see us (well, to vacation, but they did see us :)) and that was lots of fun. It was a like a mini vacation for us too!
My family moved back and are living with my Grandparents only an hour away!
John and I started reading "Waking the Dead" by John Eldridge. We really like it-- I would recommend it.
Blogger has spell check! I know this because I spelled recommend wrong. But before I could embarrass myself with a huge spelling error it caught me!

I think that's all that has been happening. Its horribly hot out. We turned our AC on :(

I think I might go to the grocery store tonight or tomorrow. Hershey bars are on sale, and John and I's latest favorite desert is s'mores. The microwave creates almost the same effect as far as taste, and we're out of chocolate. Although maybe I shouldn't... I think in the last two weeks we have had 12 Hershey bars :-$ Maybe it was three weeks... that sounds better huh?

our own kind of cool :)

I don't know who reads this blog, so in case any of you don't know, I'll explain my husband's schedule a little bit. He is a pilot for a private cargo company that does on demand/emergency cargo shipping. So from Monday morning until Saturday morning John has to stay close enough to the airport that he can show up in uniform ready to fly within 20 minutes. He can get a call anytime; from 6AM to 11PM to 4AM to 5PM... anytime. That 5PM one is the reason I'm sitting here in Panera on a Friday night all alone :( Anyways! Because his schedule is so unpredictable, and he only flies about once or twice a week, I don't work so I can see and spend time with John.

All that said, we have a lot of time on our hands. A LOT! And there's only so much you can do when you can't travel too far away, or get involved in something that can't be stopped. So, as a result of all this information, we have taken up a new hobby-- one that my sister would describe only as LAME in the purest form.
...
Puzzles.
Yes! Our dining room table has been taken over by a 1,000 piece puzzle of flowers and grass.



And behind the puzzle are our two kayaks. Gotta love the places you find to put things in a small apartment. :)

In other news-- John and I totally had plans to use his weekend off doing fun things. We were going to have a date breakfast at Panera, and then go kayaking afterwards. But... seeing as how he won't be sleeping at all tonight, and may not even be sent home from Utah anytime soon... I may get to do all of that alone :( Stupid schedule. This is his second "weekend off" that got interrupted by a late Friday evening flight. I'm not bitter, I promise. I just needed to whine, and I try not to do it to John. Even though he reads this. I love your job John!

photo blog

I'm not really in the mood to write, but we have been doing a lot. Instead of writing about all of it, I'll just put up some pictures that don't really show what we did. I went to California for Mother's day and saw both of my mothers. It was kind of cloudy most of the time, but I it was so great to see everyone from Altadena again, and get to spend an evening with Christi and Suzy, and share a room with Taryn again. Here are a couple pictures from that:





JodyMom told me about this "eating for your blood type" diet which says basically that every blood type metabolizes and responds to foods differently. A+ people are not supposed to eat red meat, most dairy products, bananas, oranges, and random other things, so here is me and my dad holding up the "bad foods" for us.


John and I also went to Leo for Kyle's birthday. That was fun. Happy birthday Kyle.

posting weird pictures of my husband did not deter him from making his face again.


And these are some stones he put in when he was landscaping with Paragon landscaping a couple of summers ago. This doesn't have to do with anything, but he's just so fun to look at...



That's about all. We painted some more.
And made a batch of brownies but just left the batter in the fridge and ate them slowly over a couple of days.
And John bought a kayak.
And my family is moving back next month.
And Christi gave me a bunch of her old clothes so I look better dressed (and she can get more).
And our shower needs to be cleaned because we cleaned out our paint brushes in their and it's all orange.
Oh. The sink too.
Basically the whole bathroom actually. Just be glad there are no pictures of the bathroom this time!

Silence

To my one faithful reader (my dear mother) I apologize for my blogging silence. It shall not happen again.

Since my last post...
-I cleaned the bathroom.
-John came home.
-We had our first and second company -- thanks to Christi, and David & Traci, and Kaits! It was fun, and between both sets of company we consumed 2 gallons of ice cream.
-I quit my job.
-And I think that's all. I do have some pictures though, which are more fun than words most of the time.



This picture has been posted in hopes that John will see it and never look like that for a picture again :)


Being home for hours upon hours causes you to do crazy things. (Seriously though, the magazine came with some of the pages inverted)


This is John throwing away our bagel bites. Using Jim as our health role model, we're going to try to be more healthy. Throwing away our ho-ho's and bagel bites was the first step. We had strawberries for desert tonight. They were yummy, but somehow they didn't cut it. I found myself wanting to make no-bake cookies SOOOO badly. I think I like processed sugar too much. John wouldn't let me make the cookies. He IS taking a nap right now though...

My week as a single person (again)

Friday - discovered flowers, chocolates, and a card on the table left for me from my love; promptly cried and ate cookie dough for dinner; developed my noise making system to ward of scary nighttime intruders.
Saturday - Bought donuts and ice cream and watched movies all day in a state of self pity and depression.
Sunday - Church, Starbucks and Target with Caitlin--the ultimate pick-me-up.
Monday - I went to Bill and Trudy's, discovered sweet potato french fries, and was given a tour of the "high end" shopping of Somerset and Birmingham by Trudy. We walked through all the sweet home decorating stores, scheming of ways to do it cheaper at T.J. Maxx
Tuesday - Diane Kaisner and I went out for dinner and a really cute Mexican restaurant and talked about outrageous AC weddings where the girls carried flowers! I finished my half gallon of ice cream this day.
Wednesday- found out John is coming home on Friday. Feeling motivated now... After I got home from work I painted, got groceries, exercised, did the dishes and took out the trash.

I'm glad he's coming home.

On a side note: I haven't cleaned the bathroom since John left. I pretty much just use what I need and then put it back on the counter. I think it saves time. I don't think John will like it very much though. What do you think, should I clean it up before he comes home? :) :)

Taryn

She seriously has the sweetest faces ever.






Someday I want to be as cool as she is.

Home Alone

John has been gone since Friday afternoon.
I've never stayed home alone before in my entire life.
I was kind of scared that I would have nighttime intruders and I wouldn't hear them... so I devised a plan...



I set this up every night-- that way if someone so much as cracks my door open I'll be able to hear them, grab John's K bar he left behind, and hide. :) Actually I'm hoping the noise scares them away.

Apple Crisp

Last night I ate an entire pan of apple crisp.

It started out simply enough-- we had just finished dinner and I needed something sweet to eat (like I normally do). We had four apples that were getting a little old, so I thought I'd just throw together a small pan of apple crisp. I didn't really measure anything and just sort of did what looked good. When I guessed it was done, the apples were really mushy. I didn't know if baking it longer would make them crispier or MORE mushy, so I just decided to eat it the way it was. It didn't taste like "normal" apple crisp, so John didn't even try it. For some reason, I then felt like I had to prove it was good by eating the entire pan... which I did. Sigh. I then complained the entire evening about feeling fat. Oh the tragedies of my life. On a happier note (sarcasm), John leaves tomorrow :(
So my question is: (mom, since you're the only one that knows about this blog) would cooking the crisp for longer have made it crispier, or more mushy?

Introduction

Once upon a time...
I promised myself once that I would never become a blogger, but here I sit writing my first post. Having hours upon hours with nothing to do while at work, I discovered the joy of reading blogs of people I don't even know. Not content with merely reading, I created my own. There are benefits of blogging, right? I can stay in touch with my family and friends without calling them ALL... I can waste time... and maybe it will inspire me to take more pictures :)

*Currently*

• John is in groundschool for IFL Group and is leaving Saturday for simulator training in Texas.
• I work as a receptionist for a general contracting company.
• We live in an apartment with the craziest neighbors of all time.
• We love cookies.
• We've been painting our apartment for two weeks, and we've only finished one wall.