This is My Family

A couple pictures from my quick trip home last weekend.

Tagged

I also was tagged to post 6 randoms...

1. The lights went out during the sermon last night at church. We had communion by candlelight. It was peaceful.

2. I enjoy driving. In fact, both Aaron and I do. Our dates often consist of going for drives. (We frequently laugh at ourselves because of this.)

3. I was in choir for 6 years. I don't think I have a good voice.

4. The only time I really let loose and sing is when I'm driving by myself.

5. When I go home alone, I often end up with no voice... Singing (bellowing) for 8-9 hours will do that.

6. I sang really loud (loudly?) last night, it was too dark for anyone to tell it was me.

Life is Good

And busy... I'll be around but probably not posting much this month...

*I'm moving.

*Just upstairs, but still moving.

*I have to call my Internet provider and let them know.

*Hopefully I won't have to go too long without it

*I'm putting that off until my last class, tomorrow

*Final presentations and reports are due this week

*I'm scheduled for 50 hours every week from now through New Years

*I have to figure out if I'm taking another class next semester

*I am taking an online photography class

*I'm nervous

*I told Aaron he had to hit the submit button for me

*I wasn't sure if I was ready

*But I'm excited also

*That starts Jan 9th.

*The prices are down through the 15th, email me if you are interested

*Only a couple gifts left to get/make

*I'm determined to not shop on Christmas eve this year

*I would have been done except they decided to do a secret Santa exchange at work

*The gifts that I do have are wrapped.

*My college siblings and I have to take a family picture this weekend

*I love the Christmas season!!!

Happy Belated Birthday!

It was this kid's birthday yesterday. I can't believe how old he is. Such a character! I love hanging out with him. I think in this picture he really wanted to go swimming so I told him I'd give him a dollar if he went in his clothes... I'm such a bad influence!

I wanted to say hello to some new readers! Hi Colleen and Molly! Welcome to the blogging world!

And by way of explaination-

The picture below is of Jodi. I found it on my computer- it was taken in April of 2005 by my father. I put it up hoping for a comment from her but she must not read my blog anymore! Where are you Jodi???

Quick Post!

I didn't mean to take a break from blogging... I'll be back soon!

Good Morning

I am officially and completely debt-free...

And the picture has nothing to do with that, but it's worth a smile!

T's Birthday!

It's Tommy's birthday today. Happy birthday Tommy!

Since he's away from home and won't get his birthday dinner from mom this year, I called him up last night. After verifying that he had no plans for this evening, I invited him out for dinner.

And being the wonderful sister I am, I told him he could pick anything on the menu- even the fillet mignon...


And then I told him- bring your id, they give you dinner for free on your birthday!

This, That and the Other Thing

I was in Chicago last weekend. Kara and I went to take advantage of a weekend off, leave town and do some shopping.

It was cold and windy downtown. But we managed. I spent a little bit of money, took the train downtown, took 3 pictures, ate well and enjoyed the weekend.

I came back to leave Monday for training. I was gone until Wednesday, during which time my store was visited by the regional Vice President of my company. Huge deal. And my reps were awesome, passed with flying colors.

I received a call Wednesday evening that we were going to be audited on Thursday. That was nerve-wracking. So much so, that I forgot to pick up a printer to bring home and call Annette and let her know I wasn't going to stop by. (Sorry Annette!)

We passed the audit with a respectable percentage. I couldn't stop smiling, it was my first time ever being audited. Now I know what to expect and I'll be much more relaxed the next time around.

Now I'm gearing up for the holiday season in which this Saturday will probably be my last one off until after New Years. Love working retail...

Where was I this past Weekend?

Middle Aged

I have some pictures from this weekend that I will post- when I get back to my computer and camera... I know it's been awhile since I've posted pictures!

In the meantime, I have been meaning to blog about an experience I had in class a few weeks ago. We were discussing meanings of words and phrases and how they are used in coaching situations.

Some words do not have to be discussed, everyone knows what they mean. Plenty others need to be talk about to be sure everyone is on the same page.

In order to illustrate this concept, my professor put a list of questions on the overhead.

"Bob makes a lot of money, how much does he make?"

"Carol makes a lot of money, how much does she make?"

(The gender thing seems to be a thing of the past for college students as everyone gave the same answers to these two.)

There was also this question:

"Bill is middle-aged, how old is he?"

I gave my answer as 45-50+ which seemed to be standard for almost everyone. (ETA: My thinking behind that was that people seem to live to be 80-90+ and half of that gives you my middle age!)

Then one girl piped up and said she answered 30+.

So according to her, I will be middle-aged in a little over 5 years. Anyone else with me in thinking that's a little young?!

Whoops!

Sorry, I forgot to go back and let you know what I was actually doing in this post.

Yes, Sharyn and Megan had it right. I was getting ready for winter by putting plastic over all three of my windows. I had massive heating bills last year and I don't want to repeat that. So every little precaution helps! They sell kits to do this- you put tape around the edges, stick the plastic to it and heat with a blow dryer to smooth and tighten it!

My Thought

I'm not going to go into my political beliefs today. Instead, I'm going to tell you a story.

I have a friend who was married within the past year. She and her husband bought a house, and settled in. In the process of doing that, she had some dealings with her local village clerk. The clerk didn't appear to know how to do the job.

My friend decided to do something about that. She ran for the clerk position and won that election last night.

As I think about her story, I am struck once again with the truth of the matter. No matter what your political beliefs, be it Democrat, Independent, Republican, this quote applies:

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

I voted

Have you?

ETA: This was my first time voting at the poll booth. I've always done absentee ballots before, quite an exciting event!

Imagine If...

You passed by my window tonight- and saw me holding my hair dryer to it...

What would you have thought?

Confession

I don't actually make the apple pie in a jar part of apple pie in a jar...

Nope. I willingly take that from my mother when she offers (and remind her to offer when she doesn't.) Then I pull it out when I want a great dessert, open the jar, put it in a dish, then cover with topping and bake.

I can tell you how to make the topping!


No, I do have the recipe somewhere and if anyone wants to can apples, email me. Then send me a jar 'cause now I'm out!

It's Calling Me

I'm sitting at my computer catching up on blogs and knowing that this is in my fridge:


Leftover from the dinner I made last night. If you've never had my mom's apple pie in a jar, you are missing out. It's absolutely delicious!

I'm dreaming

We have this program at work where we can earn reward points and exchange them for different items. It's really nice.

I've been saving mine, I'm hoping to earn enough to get a lens for my camera.

Well, I was browsing the catalog the other day and I realized that I have enough points to "purchase" this lens.

But this is the one I really want. Yet, I'd need to earn three times as many points and I just don't see that happening before they expire. I'm debating- should I wait and see? Or should I just get the one that I can?
What do you think?

The Rest of the Story

A little later than I had said- here are some other pictures from our drive a couple weekends ago.

Sad News

Aaron's dad passed away on Monday night. It was quite unexpected and everyone is coping the best we can.

The visitation is Thursday from 4-8 at the church, and the funeral Friday morning at 11.

After spending the day with his family yesterday, I am more grateful than ever for our faith. It's such a blessing at a hard time like this.

Fall Color Tour

I don't remember ever having a year with as brilliant colors as we are having. And being the procrastionator that I am, I didn't get out until today to take pictures.

It was a gorgeous day, and I took well over 100 pictures. I have to go through them more thoroughly, and then I will post!

A Wonderful Weekend & The Last of September

Photo Overload Ahead...

Last weekend I finally got up to see my grandparents. It's been too long since I've made it up there. It was nice to have the time to go and visit.

They are two wonderful people. Visits with them always include lots of laughter!

We walked over to Uncle Brian's to see how his house was coming along. I couldn't resist this shot!

On Sunday, I went with Aaron to try and find a spot for his deer stand. We didn't have any luck, but I did try my hand at shooting a 12-guage shotgun.

True fact: Ever since we've been dating, we've been told congratulations on getting engaged probably once every three months. (We aren't engaged.) We'd only been dating for about eight months and my mother was asked how the wedding planning was going... I've always gotten a good laugh out of it. Maybe it's because we spend random evenings like this???

~~~

Everyone who's had to go to laundry mats knows that there are certain machines that work better than others. You learn the tricks. And it's disconcerting to go to the laundry mat when "your washer" is in use. Anyone out there know what I'm talking about?

But no matter how many times I go, I always get stuck with the bad cart. The one that will not turn, no matter what you try. I end up lifting it across the floor- might as well just use my basket...

But I know the dryers that work... And then one went and failed on me. So now I have to figure it out again.

~~~

I took a trip this weekend. Aaron and I went to the camp on Friday night. My parents had been planning on re-roofing it but it was pushed it off 'til the spring. We (Aaron and I) kept our plans to go.

Instead of roofing the camp, on Saturday the girls headed to Amish country while the boys went to a sporting goods store.

There was a young girl parked in her buggy on the side of the freeway, selling her goods. It amazes me that this is all handsewn. That takes so much talent and hard work! I had to ask if I could take a picture. She said that was fine as long as I didn't take one of her and her brother. (I'm assuming it was her brother.) The Amish consider it vanity to have pictures taken of themselves.

I love this lake. It's one of those places that doesn't ever really change. We all need spots like that.

I spent a lot of time with the three little girls this weekend. They are growing up so quickly.

Em was showing me how she had to pose for pictures at school.

I asked Laura too also, and this is what I got.

Immediately after Jodi showed me her pose she asked "are you putting that on your blog?"

I did manage to get a real smile from Laura.

Fall= leave piles= jumping!

She has the most contagious giggle. I find myself trying to make her laugh just to hear it.

And she is going to be a gorgeous young woman before too long!

As the littlest, she'll always be spoiled.

Saturday evening we headed all the way down. Sunday was my mother's birthday and Michelle had a small family party for Mom.

Where's Waldo, good for hours of entertainment!

18 years young!

After the excellent ham dinner and birthday, everyone headed to the cider mill.

Em was fasinated with these. She kept going back to the display.

"Take a picture of me holding four of them!"

And before we left she did convince Mom to let her get one.

My dad.

What would a trip to the cider mill be without fresh cider and donuts?

Yum!

The whole crew. This picture makes me laugh. We've got all kinds of expressions going on here!

It was a great weekend. And it was made even nicer by having the day off today, so we didn't have to rush the trip. How did you spend your weekend?

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to this wonderful lady! I love you Mom!!!

And the Winner is...

First I want to say thank you for all the wonderful comments! It was a lot of fun to read about everyone's dreams. So many of you have inspiring goals. I love that!

And my way of picking a winner? I cut out all of the comments, put them in a jar and shook one out.

So the winner is:

Leanne said...
A couple years ago, a friend sent me her Christmas card. On the outside of the envelope she wrote, "Leanne - you are living your dream life!" Just scrawled, as an afterthought after she sealed the envelope. I wish like the world that I had saved that envelope. As a reminder that I am indeed living the life I always wanted. I'm married to an amazing man and have three beautiful boys. Life's not perfect, but it's really good. When I reach for the stars, though, I think about whether or not I'm doing enough. I want to matter. I want to effect change in my kids' lives, in my community, and in my world. I want to never be still so that, God willing, I can do my part to make the world just a little bit better. :)

If you'll email me your address, I will get that out to you!

Thanks to everyone for playing!

Giveaway

I've been thinking about this post for awhile... I told you awhile back that I was going to do a giveaway, and I haven't done it yet.

I feel a little egotistical doing this as a giveaway. It makes me nervous. But I have this picture:

It's blown up to an 8 x 10 and framed. And the entire purpose of doing that was to give it away- I already have it on my wall as a 12 x 13. In my opinion, it's the best picture I've ever taken. And at some point in my future life, I'd like to do something with my photographs.

It's scary for me to put this out there- but if you want it, leave a comment.

I want to know what you would like to do in your "future life." Or are you one of the lucky ones to be doing it right now?

I'll pick a winner on Friday.

Quick Preview

Here is a quick preview of last week...


I was gone for training, and was able to have a rental car. The nice thing about rentals is you get to try out different types of vehicles. I keep a running list of types of cars I like and dislike from those experiences. This one? It was nice and roomy, I liked that. But there wasn't much space for luggage...

In the town that I had training at, there are these corn statues (for lack of a better description). I have no idea why they are there, I keep meaning to google it to find out.

And in the historic "old Dublin" there was this rock wall. I found it to be very unique. I'm not sure that I would want anything like this in front of my house, but it definitely adds character!

A Few Randoms

I've noticed that I'm not the only one taking mini-blogging breaks these days... And after this post I will be gone for a week. But, not to worry, I'm still taking pictures!

I love days that start out looking like this. (Or somewhat like this, seeing as I doctored the color.) Fall is absolutely my favorite season ever. And the days that the sky is gloomy, the wind is howling and the only thing you want to do is curl up and read a good book.... Love those days!

This is a place by my work. I have been bringing my camera everywhere I go these days. And it struck me that this would make a cool background for portraits.

I had this kid over for dinner the other day. I was really glad that he was able to come. He's up here for his first year at school and apparently learning all the tricks on how to get free meals. I told him that I would be more than willing to have him over at least once a week. As I've said before, I do enjoy cooking and it's always nice to have someone who appreciates it to help eat the meal!

If you are keeping track, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted a picture for every day this month. I have been taking them, but not posting. The one I took yesterday we of an overhead walkway in town. They are removing those, so I decided that I wanted to get a picture before that happened. It has the name of the town I live in on it. And even though I know people can figure it out through different blog entries, I'd rather not make it that easy!

And I know I said I'd be doing a give-away soon, that's still coming! I'm just debating what to give away. As soon as I figure that out, it'll be posted!

eta- for what-ever reason, blogger is not keeping my paragrapghs separated, sorry!