The Weekend

It's been busy this week. Chris had been plowing for the first half of the week with pretty much no sleep/breaks in between each lot. I've been busy at work trying to wrap up stuff for the holidays - I love that we're closed for half of this week and half of next week.

Spent Christmas eve with my family. We had a Buffalo Wing Bar for dinner. Made the wings and had about half-a-dozen sauce choices, including some homemade ones that my dad made to try to imitate BW3's. It was pretty good. Very spicy stuff. We all had to drink down some milk and egg nog to cool our tastebuds.

Presents were fun. My mom and I bought a home brew kit for my dad and brothers to make some homemade beer. Should be good family fun. I wish I liked beer more. At the very least I could make them fun labels should they ever wish to label their bottles.

For both my folks and Chris' we put together a wedding album (finally) with our favorite pictures. We had never gotten around to it before, mostly because it was overwhelming to narrow 3,000 some pictures down to just around 100... You can look at (and order if you wish) the book here. You'll need this: Book ID: 852576 Password: 2400650

That's all I've got for now. We hope to head back home (we're up north right now) this afternoon. Hopefully the fog lifts some...

God bless!

Sold!

We are no longer the proud owners of the green Ford F150. Yay! That's money in the bank towards a motorcycle for Chris.

We still have a tv up for sale. No real hits on that yet. I wonder if you'd get better hits in the fall when college students are moving into their apartments? But that's a long time to chill out with it. If you know anyone looking for a tv, stand and HD antenna, let me know!

At my parents' house we have pretty much a whole room full of items for garage sale. So it'll be a big sale this spring. And I think we're going to try and Craigslist their gym set and get that out (it's just taking up space right now).

It feels so good to purge all of this stuff...

In other news, little brother is coming home Saturday, so I need to clear a space for him...

Toms Shoes

Advent Conspiracy

I stole this from a friend's blog. Way cool video. Looks like a good cause, too.

Boxes, boxes, everywhere.

I'm so tired of unpacking.

Thanksgiving Trip

Okay. Just a few things to catch up on.

So we where out East for Thanksgiving and for the weekend. So we spent some time sight-seeing the usuals (Chris hasn't been to any of these places and it's been years since I've been there either).

First stop, Hershey. Went on the free Chocolate World ride where they show you how they candy is made. You get free candy at the end of the ride.

Then we also hit up Gettysburg. There was a new visitor center with a new museum and the cyclorama. Cyclorama was awesome. Museum was all right, I just got bored after the first hour. I have a hard time staying interested in history that long. We spent at least 3 hours in the museum...

This is me at a restaurant (O'Rork's or something....) reading up on the local stuff.

Outside of the visitor center.

We also wandered around outside. It was cold. Here are pictures.



We also had some awesome wings at a restaurant in Harrisburg called Underdogs. Great price too.


And of course, the main reason we were there was Maren's wedding. Everything was beautiful. It was fun to hang out with everyone, even if it was very brief.

We Made It!

Well, we made it to Harrisburg. We made it out of the house at about 5:20am and arrived to our hotel pretty much right on the dot 12 hours later.

Sean made it safe from the airport and chilled out with Uncle Skip and Aunt Pam while we fought through Harrisburg rush hour traffic.

Once we dropped off our things at the hotel we headed to Maren and Ed's house (they're the ones getting married and hence our trip to Pennsylvania). They have a really cute house. Very nice.

Maren and Aunt Pam made us hot Italian sausages - apparently something my grandpa always need when they were in Pennsylvania. It was pretty good. The spicy ones were definitely better than what we can find in Michigan.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving with Aunt Sandy, Joe and Grandma. Friday is helping prep for the wedding and probably a trip to Gettysburg and Hershey. Saturday is the wedding and Sunday is the trip home. I'm glad I don't work on Mondays...

Vermicomposting.

I think I'm going to do it.

I have a birthday coming up... It would be a random thing to ask for on a birthday, but...

It's cost effective, good for the planet, doesn't smell bad and will give me fertilizer for my plants.

I'm not sure if my parents are all that on board though. And it's their house.

But I did get a book from the library today, so maybe that will help convince them that it's okay. Heck, these pets would do a lot less damage than their dogs do...

Almost Done.

We've been slowly moving out of our apartment for the past month. And we're almost out! Chris' parents drove down with the trailer yesterday and we hauled our dining room table and chairs and a few other large objects up to their place to store in the basement. It was great to have a place to put all that while we don't need it.

Just a few more things left at the apartment. We're still trying to sell our TV (Chris hasn't gotten around to putting it on Craig's List yet...maybe once we're back from our Thanksgiving trip), the truck and hoping to find a good home for my old iMac. The iMac comes with a scanner and is great for a family or church who wants to be able to edit their own videos. I'll make a good deal for you if you're interested. Just let me know. I'd love to put it in a good home.

The basement that we're moving into is a current mess. Boxes and drawers and stuff everywhere. I think after Thanksgiving we'll be working on putting all of that stuff away. Fun fun.

I've got to get ready for church now...

Menu Engineering

This is an idea of part of what we do at my office:

Menu Engineering

Tea Time

What a day. Very full.

This morning Chris and I met up with our friends Daniel and Kristin. Daniel is raising support for his upcoming ministry at U of M through GCM, at New Life Church and the East Quad, so we went out for breakfast to hang out with them and talk about his ministry and how to support him.


We decided to meet at Sundance for breakfast, but once we got there we saw that they didn't open until 9am. It was 8am at the time.

Daniel and Kristin, living nearby, had ridden their bikes, so Daniel rode his back to their apartment and Kristin hopped in the car with us to show us the way. Once at their place we all piled into a car and moved on to Wolfgang's for breakfast. It was good.

Then we stopped at their apartment to borrow some books and ended up hanging out and having some tea. At 10:30am we had to take off because I had a Bridal Tea Party to attend at noon.

So from there we stopped in Hudsonville, picked up a few clothes from our apartment, then headed to Zeeland where I dropped off Chris and picked up my friend Jen. Then the two of us headed to the tea party.


The party was pretty fun. They had it very nicely decorated with all sorts of tea sets from Kimberly's (the bride) relatives. So tea and prizes were enjoyed by all.

That wrapped up around 3pm, so once I dropped off Jen, Chris and I met back up in Zeeland, had some dinner and then headed back to the apartment to take another load of stuff to our new basement living quarters.

And now I'm home. Ready to relax. Maybe with a cup of tea.

Power Line Media

I finally updated my website. I need to add more to my portfolio, but that will come after the big move.

www.powerline-media.com

The portfolio is a flash download that I found and put my work into.

Applesauce

Chris and I headed up north to do some canning this weekend.

We had lots of leftover apples from the Pumpkin Patch, so we wanted to put some to good use. We rifled through my mom and grandma's mason jars, found two dozen and were on our way.

First we had to cut up the apples and remove the seeds. We kept the peels on – adds a few nutrients and makes the applesauce a pretty pink.


This is me and Chris' parents working on those apples.


Then came the cooking. We put them in big pots with just enough water so they didn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Stirred them around until they got fairly mushy.


Chris is good at stirring.


Once they were mushy enough, we cranked the apples through the food mill. This pulled off the apple peels and made the sauce nice and smooth.


Finally, we put the sauce into the jars and ran them through the pressure cooker.

I never realized apple sauce was so easy to make. Well, the process is easy, but it definitely can take some time to do so many. We filled 19 jars. 19 quarts of apple sauce. Wow! We'll be all set for a few months.

Moving...

Well, I made good progress on moving today.

I called the gas and electric companies and told them to stop services at the end of the month. Then I hauled a bunch of stuff to our new diggs. Then my mom and I drove back to the apartment, packed more stuff, hauled more stuff and then did it one more time for kicks and giggles (and to get more stuff out).

Our office is getting closer to being emptied. The living room has been pared down a little.

Tomorrow we'll make a trip up north, partly to haul a few things to store up there, mostly to make apple sauce, and partly to clear a space to store our stuff in the basement.

Now if we could just get some stuff sold... People on Craigslist have been kind of frustrating. Most don't show up and none have returned any phone calls when I try to figure out if their coming and why they haven't shown up. This is craziness.

I'm going to try and pack a little more yet tonight! We're getting there!

Harry

Here's my second pumpkin carving for this year. I did it last week. Rather, I did a lot of it, but due to a long day with horrid customers, my patience was thin and Chris generously stepped in and finished the minute details for me.

Actually, he became rather obsessive about it. I think he'll join me next year in carving...

Bleu Cheese Fondue

This was pretty popular at this year's Pumpkin Stew. It's a great fondue - very easy to make and delicious with a crusty bread or fresh broccoli.

Ingredients:
• 4 oz. crumbled bleu cheese
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 8 oz. cream cheese, cubed (I use neufchatel cheese - 1/3 less fat)
• 8 oz. monterey jack cheese, cubed
• 1 Tbsp. kirsch (I use blackberry brandy)

Heat the wine and cream cheese, stirring until the cheese melts.
Add the monterey jack cheese a little at a time, stirring constantly.
Blend in the bleu cheese.
When it's smooth, add the kirsch.

Serve with French bread, fruit or veggies.

Jawa

Here's my first carved pumpkin this year. It's a practice run for what I'm going to do for our pumpkin carving contest at work.:


This is what it looks like with the lights on:


For those of you who don't know, Jawas are from Star Wars. "Jawas were typically short humanoid natives of Tatooine..."

Craig's List

Hey guys.

We're going to put a bunch of stuff on Craig's List this weekend. We wanted to give you guys first dibs if you wanted anything. Prices are negotiable:

Samsung TV
($250 for TV, $100 for stand, $50 for HD Antenna)
I belive it's this model: TX-P2670WH 26-inch wide Premier Series DynaFlat HDTV w/ Built-In Tuner
http://www.taaffephoto.com/item_detail.php?item_id=110098

Couch & Loveseat
$150 for the set - includes free brown couch covers and some green pillows. Nice starter set.

iMac DV - I need to look up specs for this one, so I'm guessing at the value. Let me know if you're interested and I can dig.
$200 - one of the originals. Still runs nice, I just don't use it. Comes with iMovie 2 (at least you can use that to upgrade). I'll also throw in Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 for free.

UMAX Scanner - Astra 2100U
$15 - nothing wrong with it other than I don't use it.
If you have a Mac, the software runs on Classic. I think it can also run on Windows. I have the Owner's manual, I'm pretty sure I can find the disk back.

HP Deskjet 5550 Printer - nice for homework.
$30 - I have friends' who have hated this model, but mine has never let me down. I just have too many printers.
Needs some ink cartridges. If I have time to get some, I will. I will throw in a ream of 8.5x11 white paper for printing for free.

Stair Stepper
$10 or less - for some reason I agreed to take this lightly used stair stepper from a friend. I really have never used it. We'll deliver it to you for $10 (within a reasonable distance), or if you come pick it up you can just have it.

Computer Keyboard - from one of Chris' old computers.
$1 - Will probably end up in Goodwill.

Ford F150 - green and manly.
$2500 - we would keep it, but with Chris' new job, there's no more freelance-landscaping so we need to get rid of it. Anyone know anyone who wants a truck? Comes with remote start, was set up with some air-cushion thing in the front for plowing, but has never been used for plowing. Chris really needs to fill in the specs here.

I can send you photos of anything on the list if you're interested. So, there ya go. We'll be adding this to Craig's List, but if any of you are interested, give us a call.

Al & Chris

Need Groceries

I'm hungry.

So, we had been house-sitting for about a month and a half in Zeeland. Now we've been back in our apartment for maybe two weeks, but because of Pumpkin Patch and the process of moving back into the apartment and everything else going on in our lives, we haven't gotten groceries other than necessities.

So tonight we shop. After going through the coupons.

Once Pumpkin Patch is done, I'll need to start packing things in the apartment. We're moving out of the apartment. The official day to be out is November 30, but we'll be out before Thanksgiving (we have to be... we have a wedding in Pennsylvania to go to!).

Anyone want to buy a Pumpkin Patch tshirt? Let me know if you're interested....

Chris just got home. Time for food!

The Weekend

We had the first weekend of Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. I took a lot of pictures and posted them on the website.

Kim, Chad, Tony, Kate and Sierra all came up and visited us at the Pumpkin Patch. My parents and their dogs also came up. It was fun having people we knew come to check things out.

I got Chris setup with a blog account, so you'll see the occasional post from him (like the most recent post about his new job).

I talked to our apartment manager today and turned in the papers to move out of our apartment. We'll be officially out on November 30, but we'll probably have everything out before then because we'll be gone over Thanksgiving weekend for my cousin's wedding in Pennsylvania.

Chris has a potential buyer for his truck. He wants to sell it and then buy a motorcycle for his shorter commute for his new job. I prefer bike commuting (and by bike, I mean pedaling, no engine), but if he's willing to change his lifestyle a little and use something that's more fuel efficient, it's a step in the right direction and I'll take it. Once we move into Zeeland I'll be able to ride my bike in to work more (I did fairly often for the month we house-sat) – at least until the sidewalks are covered in ice. Then I'll probably go back to driving in.

Chris is looking at a Honda 919. I guess it's referred to as a "naked bike." It's not a crotch rocket, but it looks like one. You actually sit more upright in this type of bike. We'll see if we can pull the funds together to get it. We may need to rework the budget a little bit to make it happen... I'm not very excited about it, but I know it's not an impulse buy, so we'll see if we can make the numbers work.

New Job Announcement!

I have recently accepted a position at Blue Ridge Landscaping as a landscape designer! I will be starting next month after Thanksgiving! It will be a great move for me as my commute will be 15 minutes rather than 45!

In addition, Alison and I will be moving out of our apartment in Hudsonville and renting the basement of a really nice couple in Zeeland, plus rent will be much lower than our current rate ;)

This move will position us to look toward the future in a big way, as in a house of our own in the Holland/Zeeland area! We will be selling a bunch of stuff, (vehicles, television, couches, and other randomness) in order to reduce our material goods, and to fit in the house in Zeeland. Al says that I can buy a motorcycle if I sell a vehicle!

Pumpkin Patch...

...is upon us.

T-shirts are made. The weather is supposed to be fantastic. Gas prices have gone down a little.

Pray for good crowds and fun times. And that Chris and I have a good time and don't get too stressed out with everything going on.

Come visit us!

majorpumpkinpatch.com

Pumpkin Stew Date Set

It's November 1. Mark your calendars.

Saturday Morning

So, I guess I'm not very good at updating this on a regular basis.

Great things are happening in Chris and my lives right now. I can't really post it here yet, but some of you know what I'm talking about (no... it's not a baby, thank goodness).

This is our last full day house-sitting for my parents. I swear, their dogs are worse than having kids. Sometimes they are like little kids, sometimes they're like teenagers. Everyday I come home to something new destroyed. It's probably my own fault for not hiding EVERYTHING all the time... They ate one of my mom's good tupperware lids and another handmade dishcloth... I guess my mom and I are going to have to do some crocheting to replace all of the dishcloths the dogs ate...

Adam and Jenna are moving house today. Chris is gone working, so I'm going to attempt to drive the truck over. I can handle it, I just don't like to. Jetta or bicycle are much more comfortable for me to drive.

Maybe I'll take a few pictures and post them here.

Pumpkin Patch is next weekend. I don't know if I'm ready for it. I should really sit down and develop a whole marketing plan for that... We have so many ideas and we just need to follow through on them.

What I really need to do is crank out some comment cards this year so that we can get more ideas and find out what people want. I think I'll make the cards into a raffle and they can win a couple of Pumpkin Patch hoodies or something.

I should also get some real driving directions posted... Google maps takes you on a very bad route that might not actually go all the way through.

Well, I better go do something.

Pumpkin Patch is Almost Here

Pumpkin Patch is just around the corner. We cranked out a t-shirt design and we're going to try selling shirts this year. Hopefully it goes over well, because next year I'd like to plan ahead a little more and increase the clothing variety to include hoodies and other items.

Make sure you check out www.majorpumpkinpatch.com. You'll find more info there.

Early Morning Saturday

Good morning!

Chris has left for work already and I'm wide awake, so here I am. My parents come home today, so I need to scramble to get things cleaned up around the house so they don't think we trashed it while they were away...

I had been intending to mow the lawn on Monday, but then the lawn fertilizer guys came Monday morning and I wasn't allowed to mow it that day. And then every evening following I (1) worked late and (2) either didn't feel like it or had to deal with other stuff. So yesterday evening I got home, the sun was going down, I pulled out the mower and barely got through the front yard. It was pretty hard to see near the end. So I have the rest of the lawn to mow today. And then there's the dog poop that I've neglected to pick up all month...

I also need to do tons of laundry. I don't like laundry. Random picking up around the house. Vacuuming. Go to the grocery store.

I think I want to grill up something nice for my folks when they get back. I'm going to attempt to pick out some good meat (Chris recommended Sam's Club and NY Strips) and also try a recipe for grilled portabella mushrooms. And maybe some potatoes of some sort.

I also need to get some grease for my bike. The chain is very dirty and VERY dry. Not very good for my bike. I found that the local bike store that I usually go to has a very informative website - basically an online bike maintenance manual. Holland Cycling & Fitness.

That's about all I've got for now.

Time for breakfast.

Week Two of the Trial Period

So at work, me and a couple of the other girls convinced our company that we should try experimenting with working four 10-hour days for the week. So we're doing a four week trial period. I have Mondays off, another girl has Wednesdays off, and a third has Fridays off.

This is my second Monday off. Got a few things done. I've been spending the afternoon chilling out in the apartment. I had Chris "cancel" the cable to get them to lower the price. So in addition to getting the price lowered, he also added HD channels... So we're having an HD box installed.

I also met with my financial planner and finished filling out forms to get some sort of Roth IRA thingy set up. Interesting how I'm great with numbers but can't wrap my mind around financial investing.

I also stopped at the bike store and got a front light for my bike. I got tired of biking to work in the dark. It's safer to have a light (I already had a rear light) and I think it's also the law.

The lawn at my parents house was fertilized today. We're house-sitting for them. I had the dogs outside for a few minutes. Emma (a golden retreiver puppy) kept eating the grass, so I had to put them back inside. She threw up a little later. Fertilzer is not good for dogs to eat...

When I stopped there again after running errands, they had torn apart their last stuffed animal. Fuzzies were everywhere. I should probably restuff and sew them all together.

Well, I think the cable guy is wrapping up, I should go check on him.

Saturday Morning

Here it is. Saturday morning. Chris is at work. I'm chillin' with the dogs and the cat. Trying to figure out which websites I haven't looked at yet to waste my time on...

I have a list of things that I should probably accomplish. Clean the kitty litter. Make banana bread. Mow the lawn again. Clean up the kitchen from last night's cooking. Clean the office. Vacuum. Run the dogs. Ride my bike. Ride my bike with the dogs? Pack for going up north tonight. Go to the bike store and buy a new lock and light (it's dark commuting by bike in the morning, and I lost my lock to the river the other day...)

So there it is. Plenty of things to do, I've just got to dig deep and find the motivation.

Or keep going to websites and drooling over things I can't afford. Someday I'll have my xtracycle...

A Return to Blogs

I haven't blogged in a long time. I always enjoyed it. Then I graduated, got a job, got married, and ultimately have spent less time casually in front of a computer.

But, perhaps this is a good time to restart blogging. It's still pretty popular. My brother blogs, my friends blog, hey, even my parents blog. Sure, I mean, they're blogging because they're on a trip, but still...

So, here it is. A new blog.

And I have nothing to write.

Perhaps tomorrow.