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.