New blog

I've decided that it's time to move to a new blog.  I'm really excited about it and I'm hoping that the few of you that read my blog will follow me to www.notenoughdevotion.blogspot.com

How to meet and make friends with the neighbors

1. Lose a branch from one of the two trees in your yard during a storm.
2. Clean up the branch and put it out for trash day before any of your neighbors even realize that the branch fell.  (If trash day conveniently happens to be the next day, this will be extremely easy!)
3. Lose another branch from the same tree during another storm so that about half of your tree is gone.  Poor sad tree:(
4. Attempt to clean up the branch, but realize you don't own the right tools for the job at the same time your neighbor crosses the street  to help you carrying his chainsaw and an extension cord.
5. Do not repeat too often or your neighbors may get annoyed that you won't buy your own tools.  

But for now, I'm really enjoying meeting the neighbors.  The neighbors on either side of us and across the street are awesome people who all have a dog (or dogs) and a kid (or kids).  We'll know where to go when we need advice for either!

Dinner on Carrabba's

Last night, Andrew and I were invited to Carrabba's for a wine tasting and dinner that on the owner!  It was amazing.  We sat at a table with about five other couples and the owner of the local Carrabba's and ate and drank so much!


We tried two appetizers, three entrees (including clams, which we'd never eaten before), and cannolis for dessert.  We also tried three wines, a prosecco, a pinot grigio, and a merlot (which of course was my favorite because I like red wine much better than white).  The food was delicious.  My favorite thing we tried was a new appetizer that was simply grape tomatoes and mozzarella on skewers with balsamic vinaigrette and pesto on the side.  I would eat that and only that for my entire meal.  Well, that and maybe some dessert, but I don't want to think about that right now because I'm STILL stuffed!

Look at what we'll be seeing on our honeymoon!

That's right!  One of the first things we're going to do in Maine is go on a moose safari.  Ever since I learned there was such a thing I've been dying to go, and now I'll finally get to!  We're going through a company called Mainely Photos in Millinocket, Maine.  The company is run by two professional photographers who give you a money-back guarantee that you see at least one moose.  I can't wait!

Image from this site

At the start of summer

Well, summer is officially here!  And even though I'm teaching summer school, it's so nice to have a bit of a break.  The students in summer school always work really hard because they know that when they finish the class they're working on they don't have to come to summer school anymore.  We're not even a week in and I already have three students finished!

Other than teaching summer school, I've been working around the house.  We still have some stuff to move over from the apartment, but we should get that taken care of in the next week or two.  Right now, we're just having fun figuring out where everything should go.  We're also working our way through redoing the flowerbeds that the previous owners covered with a layer of plastic and then three to four layers of river rocks.  In order to be able to plant anything, we have to get rid of the plastic and rocks first, which is about as much fun as it sounds like it is to move...

I'm also working on planning our honeymoon.  At this point, we're thinking of flying into Boston and spending a day or two there.  Then we'll either rent a car and drive or take the train up to Portland, Maine.  We'll hang out there for a few days, traveling a little south to see some of the smaller towns (including Kennebunkport which I'm really excited to see!) and then head north towards Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  On the list of things to do while in Maine:  see as many lighthouses as possible, see lobster, try lobster (neither Andy or I has ever had it), go whale/seal/puffin watching, go on a boat, and I'm sure there are some other things that I'm missing.  Anyway, if anyone's been to Boston/Maine I would love some suggestions of things to do/places to go.

On a completely different note, has anyone ever been to When Eddie Met Salad?  I went today for the first time and it was AMAZING!  I had the Sante Fe chicken wrap, which is not something I would normally get but it was so good.  I can't wait to go back and try some of the other food there.  Just thought I'd mention it in case any of you have been passing it by like I had until today.

Memorial Day weekend projects

So we've moved into our house and completed a bunch of projects already.  I know that I haven't shared pictures of the house (which I should be doing later this week!) but I do have pictures of our projects!

Project 1 - Moving a HUGE entertainment center we bought off of Craigslist.  

I enlisted the help of my mother, sister, and husband to make this happen because there was no way that I could do it on my own.  It was a great buy because it's made by Bombay Company and the whole thing is solid wood.  It's a beautiful cherry color that will look great when we get all of the shelves filled and when Andrew gets to eventually buy his bigger and better TV.

Project 2 - Priming the walls and ceiling of the garage.

Our garage has drywall on the walls and ceiling, but didn't have any kind of primer or paint on it, so we decided that we wanted to put a coat of primer on it to help seal it and keep out any moisture.  Besides, what doesn't look better with a good coat of white paint or primer?

Before                                              After

Project 3 - Brightening up the front porch with our kissing Dutch people and a hanging flowerpot.
Back when we were still looking at houses, I found cement kissing Dutch people on Craigslist, bought them, and repainted them so that we could put them somewhere in front of our new house, whenever we managed to get one.  So this weekend, we were finally able to put them out on the front porch and they look great!  We added a cute purple hanging flowerpot that we bought at Meijer and some flowers that we planted this afternoon and the porch looks much brighter and happier than it did this morning!

Before

After

Project 4 - Redoing the flower bed by the light post.
Our last project this weekend was redoing one of the flower beds.  First we removed the ugly edging the former owners had.  They we changed the shape from a square to a circle to make it easier to mow around.  We used some of the small river rock that is in most of the other flower beds as a new edging and added some flowers!  I think it looks so much better!

Before                                               After

Garage sale finds

Now that we know that we're moving in a week, I was really excited to go to some garage sales!  We have so much more room in our house than we do in our apartment and, while I didn't expect to find tons of stuff, I thought we might find a few things for the house.

After hitting about 8 garage sales (and not being able to find one that we were trying to go to because they didn't have any signs!?!) we ended up with a copy of the dvd Signs.  I honestly don't like the movie that much (mostly because the idea of aliens really freaks me out), but I'm talking about crop circles in one of my classes and this movie is an obvious choice to show.

The other things we got were some really cute postcards that look like they're made out of cardboard that say "We've moved!  We're living out of boxes!"  They'll be perfect for letting some of our older friends and relatives who aren't into email or Facebook that we've moved and tell them our new address.

Can you tell I'm really excited about moving?

Packing it in

We have a closing date for the house!  In less than a week we will be closing and taking possession of our first house, which means we get to start packing this weekend.  Have I mentioned I LOVE packing???  I think it's something to do with my want to be organized, even though I'm totally not.  The thought of taking our possessions and packing them up neatly into boxes really appeals to me, especially because it'll give us a chance to reassess what we actually need and to think about where everything will go in the new house.

Now if only I could get my hands on some free boxes...

What is marriage?

I just finished reading Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I will not attempt to summarize everything she write about in the book, but the basic idea is that she researches and writes about marriage in order to come to terms with having to get married so that the man she is in love with can live in the United States with her.  Both she and this man have been married and divorced and they did not  plan on getting married until he was arrested for overstaying his visa in the United States.


She brings up many interesting points about marriage, but one of my favorite parts of the book is when she writes about the shared intimacy of marriage.

The poet Jack Gilbert...writes that marriage is what happens "between the memorable."  He said that we often look back on our marriages years later...and all we can recall are "the vacations, and emergencies" - the high points and low points.  The rest of it blends into a blurry sort of daily sameness.  But it is that blurred sameness, the poet argues, that comprises marriage.  Marriage is those two thousand indistinguishable breakfasts, where intimacy turns like a slow wheel.  How do you measure the worth of becoming that familiar to somebody - so utterly well known and so thoroughly ever-present that you become an almost invisible necessity, like air?

After reading that, I looked up the poem that she mentioned.

HIGHLIGHTS AND INTERSTICES

We think of lifetimes as mostly
the exceptional and sorrows.
Marriage we remember as the children,
vacations, and emergencies.
The uncommon parts.
But the best is often
when nothing is happening.
The way a mother picks up the child
almost without noticing
and carries her across Waller Street
while talking with the other woman.
What if she could keep all of that?
Our lives happen between the memorable.
I have lost two thousand habitual
breakfasts with Michiko.
What I miss most about her
is that commonplace
I can no longer remember.

I think the few lines are a beautifully put definition of marriage.

Another update on house #4

We heard back about the appraisal on the house and it was perfect!   That means we only have one more hoop to jump through until we own our house - getting approved for the loan.  Hopefully this won't be a problem because we're already pre-approved for much more than the loan amount we need.  If all goes well, we'll be closing on our house on May 13th!  Yay!

There is no should.

Do you ever have one of those days where you're just not feeling social?  Today was one of those days.  I went to a friend's wedding that was absolutely beautiful, but it was a smaller wedding where I didn't know anyone other than my husband (obviously!), the bride and groom, and a few members of the wedding party.  And as much as I felt like I should socialize with the other guests because that's the polite thing to do, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I figured 1) I'm here to support my friend who is getting married and that's the most important thing.  2) I'm probably not going to see any of the guests that I don't already know again.  3) I'd rather talk to my husband than anyone else because I'm more comfortable with him than anyone else.

So you know what?  I didn't talk to anyone else.  Obviously I congratulated the bride and groom and chatted with the girls in the wedding party, but, other than that, I gave myself permission to not be social.  Normally, I would put a lot of pressure on myself to socialize, but the simple act of giving myself permission to do what I felt like instead of what I felt like I should be doing was wonderful!

It reminds me of something a friend said to me once: That there is no should.  Think about it for a second.  It's so simple, but so freeing.  Whenever I remember that saying, it reminds me that it's okay for me to ignore the shoulds that I place on  myself and to take that pressure off of myself.

As if I didn't already have enough to read

It's time for the library book sale!!!  It happens twice a year and every time I find a bunch of books.  This year I got a paper bag full of books for only eighteen dollars!

Here are the books I got this year:

• The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve - I have seen this book all over the place, but haven't actually looked at it until today.  I read the back cover and the first few lines and now I can't wait to read it.
• Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - I actually owned this book about five years ago, but gave it away because I couldn't make it through it.  I didn't really think anything of it until I saw the movie at the library and rented it.  The movie was beautifully sad and made me want to give reading the book another try.  
• Sarah by Mark Halter - People have compared it to The Red Tent, which makes it good enough for me to read it!
• Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou 
• Gather Together in my Name by Maya Angelou
• and a bunch of books that I'll use for school next semester

I have a busy weekend, but I'm sure that I'll be able to work in some time to start on my new books!

A news story everyone should be aware of

I know I just posted about how I've been getting a lot of inspiration from other bloggers, but I couldn't help but post about the news article that this blogger brought to my attention in her post!

The article is about an elderly gay couple who lived together for twenty years, but because of legal issues were not permitted to be together during the last few months of one of their lives.  It breaks my heart to think of not being able to see the people I love in my (or their) last months of life.  No matter where you stand on the issue of gay marriage or gay rights, I have to hope that you would agree with me that it is ridiculous to forbid anyone to see their loved ones in their last months of life.

An update on house #4

We got a text from our realtor tonight telling us:

1. The house has been appraised by the bank.
2. The appraisal hasn't been filed yet.
3. We should hear about the appraisal (hopefully) by Friday!
4. The person who appraised this house was not the same person who appraised house #3.  If you remember, the appraisal for house #3 was $20,000 below what we had agreed to pay, which was what screwed up everything with house #3.  We're praying that the same thing doesn't happen with house #4.  We'd love it if you'd  pray about it too!

Rambling thoughts on blogging

Picture taken from this post.

I have been feeling rather uninspired lately when it comes to blogging. Most of my posts lately have been inspired by other people's blogs and wanting to repost things that they've written that I don't want to forget and want to share with others.

That brings me to my thoughts on blogging lately. I want to share my thoughts with others, but I don't feel like anyone actually reads my blog. And I don't want to be one of those whiney bloggers who posts about no one reading their blog in order to get comments saying things like "Of course we do!" and "I love what you have to say!" But I am not sure if I want to blog simply for the sake of blogging if no one is going to read what I'm writing. I LOVE reading people's posts and am daily inspired by something that I read, but I also want to feel that I'm contributing to that inspiration as well as connecting with people.

So is there a point to all this rambling? Not really. I just needed to express what I'm feeling about my blog lately and to take some time to consider why I'm blogging and who I'm blogging for.

A quote about hope

I found this quote on this beautiful blog and liked it so much I had to repost it here.

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.

If we remember those times and places (and there are so many) where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.

The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

-Howard Zinn

Springpad

Have you heard of springpad? I just started using it today and I'm completely in love! It basically lets you "clip" something on the web and save it on your springpad. I'm using it mostly for recipes, but you can also use it to save restaurants, wines, or pretty much anything on the web.

Since I just started using it, I haven't discovered all of the possibilities, but I'm so excited to figure out everything I can use it for. If you're someone who uses springpad, I'd love to hear any tips you have for how to use it.

Review of my goals: March

1. Read (and record and reflect on the books i read)

I haven't been making much progress because I'm reading three books at once, but I'm still reading. One of the three books is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and it's really, really good!

2. Read the Bible. That's right. The WHOLE thing.

I have made major progress in the Bible during March. I finished Exodus and Leviticus and have moved onto Numbers. And I'm actually enjoying most of what I'm listening to (remember I'm listening to the Bible) because it makes m understand how much God cares about the Israelites to give them all of the laws they are supposed to live by.

3. Write letters.

I have been doing a great job of writing to my pen pal through Barnabas Ministries, but not so good on the birthday cards. That is one of the projects I'm going to work on over spring break and I'm really excited about it.

4. Spend ten minutes a day moving my body.

I have been really inconsistent about working out, but I went on a walk yesterday and loved being outside in the sun, so my plan is to start walking every day for at least a half hour. I know that I'm better at walking with someone else so that I have them to convince me to go even when I don't want to, but sadly my friend Katie who I walked with almost every day in college is all the way in Michigan so I'll have to see if I can convince Andrew to walk with me. Or I'll keep my eyes open for someone else who's willing to walk with me?

5. Commit to following my bliss, meaning that i'm going to stop doing things because i feel like i should but because i want to.

I need to stop focusing so much on finding a house. We've managed to put offers on three houses that all didn't work out, and we're to the point where we're running out of houses that are already on the market and are waiting for more houses to go on the market. I might be just a little obsessed... I'm hoping to take a break from that and have some fun over spring break. Wish me luck!

Delighting in the Sabbath

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

-Isaiah 58:13-14

I have never been good at making myself do things, especially things that are good for me. I don't drink as much water as I should. I'm not nearly as good as I should be at working out. So it's no surprise that the thing that would be good for me spiritually - setting aside a day for God - is not what I do. Instead, I do exactly what the above verse says I should NOT do. I go do "as I please."

I could try to list the reasons that I don't set aside a day for God, but none of them are any good because I shouldn't be trying to come up with reasons at all. It should not be a debate. I need to spend at least one day a week with God.

And while I do feel like I'm getting closer to God by listening to the Bible while I drive in my car, I think that that's still a way of fitting God into my life instead of fitting myself into the life that God has for me. I need to make more of an effort to go God's way instead of going "my own way." So this is my commitment to myself (and the handful of people who actually read my blog) to be better about setting aside at least one day a week for God.

An Update on Our House

We have a signed contract. We had the inspection. The sellers fixed the few issues we found during the inspection. And then we hit a roadblock...

The bank sent out someone to appraise the property's value to figure out how much they were willing to loan to someone buying that house. They appraised the house for twenty thousand dollars less than the price we have on the contract with the sellers.

If the sellers were willing to accept that price, it would be great for us because we would get to pay twenty thousand dollars less, but the sellers won't agree to that price. And we can't magically come up with that much money. So the only step we were able to take was to appeal the appraisal.

We appealed the appraisal over a week ago and we're still waiting to hear back from the bank. But we've heard from our relator that he has never heard of an appraisal being overturned. We're still hopeful because we LOVE that house, but we're also looking at other houses. At this point, we haven't found a house that we like as much as our house (or I suppose I should say our "almost" house?) so we're more than a little frustrated.

I even had a dream about looking at houses and accidentally standing our relator up for an appointment that he'd scheduled, which (for the record) didn't actually happen. We're going to look at four more houses tomorrow night, two of which we've already seen and are possible back-up options if we aren't able to get our house. We'll have to see what happens.