Writing...Hesitantly

I hemmed and hawed about writing this down.  On one hand I don't want to be a downer on anyone's day on the other hand I view this blog as one way to keep memories and this has got to be in the books and I also value any prayers that may come as a result of this blog (boy does this girl need them!).

I wrote a little while ago about "The Beast" aka our radiator.  It bangs...all day...all night...ever...so...LOUDLY!!!!  It causes us to not sleep.  When I say not sleep I don't mean one night of lousy sleep.  I mean up all night long for multiple nights in a row.  When do we sleep?  We finally sleep when we have not slept so many nights in a row and are finally so exhausted that we are able to sleep through it. I'm pretty sure the L(train) could come through our bedroom and I would sleep through it. I am actually thankful that I don't have a full time job because I don't know how I would be able to do it.  On the days I have to work, it's not until later in the day and it's only for a few hours.

Speaking of work...I said (a long time ago) I got hired at Hunting Learning Center.  I still haven't had any hours in the books with them.  Why you might ask? Good question I'm still trying to figure it out for myself.  I have called and called and they have had a serious lack of calling back.  I have been promised a phone call each day this week from them and have not had a single one.  They are having problems getting everything scheduled with the schools I guess but that is the complete extent of information I know.  With all their lack of information I am also nervous how many hours a week I'm actually going to get from them.  This obviously leads to financial worry that I try EVER SO HARD to not have as I know it's in God's hands.  UGH!

Speaking of hands...maybe some people on our floor are missing them because every time I go to do laundry people have their laundry just sitting in the washer or dryer for hours on end.  Okay I know a pretty sad complaint.  But when you have all this stuff piling up, it's the little things that make you pop.

I cannot wait for the day we are able to look back at this blog entry and say, "CAN YOU BELIEVE WE SURVIVED"...okay actually I just hope we do survive.  We heard a message on Sunday about how Christmas makes your highs higher and your lows lower.  Even though Patrick and I have a huge high as it is our FIRST Christmas sharing together, we have so many lows I'm trying to push away.

So there is my downer for the night.  I know there are people that have it worse than us.  I know we have an endless amount of things to be thankful for.  But sometimes...just sometimes your heart can get pretty heavy and you can feel like everything is falling apart.  Tonight is just one of those nights.  I guess it probably can only go up from here though right?

We're trying to set a record here!

Everyone from "back home" (aka Rochester and St. Cloud) are posting their snow pictures.  Well I figured I should post mine except....it hasn't exactly gotten cold enough to snow.  So...you're left with rainy day pics. If it doesn't snow by tomorrow we will have set a new record for days without snowfall.  So am I cheering for snow or the new record?  I think it's obvious.  Bring on the rain!

The next picture is mostly for mom.  She bought us our first ornament for our tree when they were here and I totally forgot about it till the other day!  It's the Chicago skyline of course :)

So with the gloomy rain outside it's a snuggle up on the couch, take a nap, and relax sort of Sunday.  Enjoy the snow and try to stay out of the ditches you Minnesotans!!!

Where are you Christmas?

"Where Are You Christmas"

Where are you Christmas 

Why can't I find you 

Why have you gone away 

Where is the laughter 

You used to bring me 

Why can't I hear music play 

My world is changing

I'm rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too

How fitting is that song?!!!  I know I'm not the only one saying this based on facebook.  As I write this (7:50pm) this is what weather.com read on my computer screen...

Can you believe that?!  Today we had a high of 68 according to weather.com, but since I went outside today I have to believe it was even warmer.  Our apartment was so hot I was sweating.  I opened the window in attempt to cool the place down, and more hot air flew in.  Although this may sound like complaining, I'm not.  I'm very happy, but in utter disbelief!!  There is no snow in the 10 day forecast.  This leads to the dilemma.

I find it very hard for it to feel like Christmas when I look like I'm having hot flashes in my apartment.  I went on a quest today to bring a little more Christmas into our apartment.  

#1: We forgot candy canes for our tree

 Check!

#2: Start the present wrapping process

Check! Lucky Dan is the first one with a present under the tree.

So was my quest successful? Well I think I'm still having a never ending hot flash, but with a present now wrapped underneath the tree it may feel like Christmas soon!

Bring it on December

We did it.  We set up our first Christmas tree.  Is it a little Charlie Brownish?  Okay maybe.  But it works for our small apartment.  We decided the Charlie Brown feel is fitting for our lives rights now.  

Hmm...where to begin?

Wait! Where's the tree?!

See...Charlie Brownish.

 
                     

Lights!

Bulbs

Angel!  This was my parents' first angel on their tree too!

Mission complete

Front windows for some holiday cheer.  Aren't the people who live across the street lucky to have such a pretty view?!

Each new month proves to bring some challenges, but along with that comes special moments such as today.  So, bring it all on December! We can't wait for all the Christmas cheer you will bring and the warm temperatures too! (Monday is looking like 67)  

Analogies

Many of the students I work with have done or are working on analogy lessons so I thought I'd try my own.

Eating is to Full Stomach as Our Radiator is to MY DEATH

This is what the living room monster looks like

The beast started up about the middle of November.  At about midnight each night the beast wakes up and bangs over and over till about 5 or 6 am making it impossible to sleep. It's called water hammer and I would say that is quite a perfect name because that is exactly what it sounds like.  Someone banging a hammer over and over and over and over and well you get the point.

They have tried everything to fix it.  One of the maintenance guys finally admitted to me today that it probably won't get fixed till "the season is over."  Oh. My. Goodness.  So, as you crawl in bed each night this winter we're asking to send a little prayer up for sweet dreams.  I'm so nervous about how long this winter will feel with no sleep.

Filed under: when I was your age stories to tell the kids

Holiday #1 in the books

Well our first holiday together as a married couple has officially become history. I thought I'd give the rundown (and some awesome pictures) of our Thanksgiving weekend.

Wednesday = Day of torture.  The plan was to leave Wednesday morning.  Sylvan did not give me the two hours in the evening off so therefore we were forced to wait till I was done at 6:00 to start off on our at least 6 hour trip.  Our attempt to get out of Chicago proved to be impossible and thus we were set back another hour so our 6 hour trip quickly became 7.  Mix that with my motion sickness almost the whole ride...yup not my idea of how this holiday weekend was suppose to start.

Thursday = Happy Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving at the Sullivan house this year.  There ended up being 9 of us!  It was a busy and fun house filled with lots of food and cheering for the football game.  After the game ended the aunt, uncle, cousin & boyfriend headed for home or other places and then it was time for the Sullivan tradition.  MoViE!  Our goal was Lincoln at 6:10.  After getting up to get our tickets we discovered it was sold out.  We ended up settling for the 7:15 showing.  In our spare time we decided to play a few games.  After learning that the games gave out tickets we quickly turned into kids.  We figured out which games were giving out the most tickets and played them the most.  Our hour of waiting went by very fast.

Friday = BLACK FRIDAY!  Mom and I decided to go out early Friday morning instead of shopping in the middle of the night since we didn't have any specific things on our list.  We hit the mall at 7:30 am and ended our shopping at noon.  We had an awesome time and got some great deals.  My list involved getting our first Christmas tree.  I got the tree and everything to decorate it for $50!  I'm sure there will pictures soon to follow since I'm going to put it up this afternoon!  I can't wait.  The evening ended up being pretty chill at the Sullivan house.  The boys out numbered the girls 3 to 2 so we did have to sit through Expendables 2...hmm boys who are impossible to destroy.  Why was I watching this?  I can't say I would recommend it ladies.

Saturday = Winner Day.  In every way.  First we went with the Shupert family to Costco...I fell in love.  I am so jealous all you Rochester people who have access to such greatness! We ran out of there with a trunk full of groceries that I feel will last us forever! Costco is a winner for sure!  After hanging out all afternoon it was time to get our game faces on for Matthew's hockey game.  The Jaeger family ended up joining us for the fun.  Matthew's team kicked butt!!!  The score was 11-0.  Matthew got 2 goals and 1 assist.  We had a great time.  Of course I got many pictures!  Matthew is number 37 with the red laces.

Breakaway!!

Final Score

Future hockey player?

Fun with Friends!

Lakin was their biggest cheerleader

Bennett was snuggled up with dad, until he realized what was happening and then he wanted to be in all the action.

Look at my M&M's!!!

No sleeping for this little guy.  He only got upset when he couldn't see the game!

Sunday = A day of goodbyes.  The Bro-in-law took off for the airport early Sunday.  We headed to church with my family and enjoyed a very good lunch at HuHot.  After letting our lunches settle we took off back to Chicago at 2.  If it had not been for some bad accidents mixed with lots of cars on the road, we would have made the trip in record time!

Although the weekend did not start off how I might have liked, I quickly realized this weekend how lucky we are.  Both our families accept us as another kid in the bunch and we have so many good times with both.  Once we finally got to MN, our trip was so relaxing and fun.  A much needed vacation for all :) Family and Friends led to a whole weekend of Fun!

fix - (verb) to detroy

I guess the rule for fixing something is to make a bigger mess first right?  Well that is exactly what happened in my kitchen yesterday!

I had a small heart attack when I saw this...apparently they had to knock part of the ceiling down to let it try before they could repair it.

After they knocked the ceiling down it just kept falling.  These little ceiling chips were all over my kitchen.  The sky really was falling.

Notice the open window...it was freezing in here while in the process of fixing it.

As if we weren't already cramped for space in the kitchen!!  Oh well I was protecting that table I worked so hard on with MY ENTIRE LIFE!

The painter (who spoke very little English) told me once it dried there would be no line...yeah right.  This is not the greatest picture, but if you look closely you can totally see a line.  In person you can see the square they painted perfectly. 

My dad would have died if he had seen these guys repair the ceiling.  Let's see there was some slapping on plaster, no need to sand, and finally slathering on paint as if there is an endless amount.  He would push the roller into the corner as hard as he could so he didn't have as much to paint in the corner (which he painted last not first dad).  Oh well, I'm thankful that it's fixed and that my kitchen is back in order. How about something doesn't break today?