Scrapbooking / Snowboarding / Emergency Room

As always I am keeping very busy. In the last week or so I have spent most of my free time getting ready for the scrapbooking retreat I am going on this weekend with Sarah. Tonight I hope to finish organizing and editing all my pictures and then take them to Costco to get developed. Sarah and I decided now, to leave early Friday morning so we’ll have even more scrapbook time. I’m leaving my house right after Jon leaves for school and picking Sarah up to head out to Gettysburg.

This past Saturday Jon and I went snowboarding for the first time this year – it’s been so warm we couldn’t go earlier. We went down the hill once and got back on the lift. There was a skier that I didn’t know sitting next to me and I was afraid I would run into him getting off the lift (I’m not that good at getting off smoothly) so I asked Jon if he could try to hold me up. So we got to the top and off the lift but soon after that both of us fell together. I hit my knee and got a bruise… Jon hit his knee really hard. He said he got really dizzy and thirsty and started blacking out and doesn’t remember much. He stood up for a little and was leaning on me but then collapsed taking me down with him (he doesn’t remember that). I think that’s when the ski patrol guys saw us and came over. They asked all kinds of questions and offered to take Jon down on a sled. Jon didn’t want that so he just sat down for a while and then made it down the hill to the lodge… that was then end of our first snowboarding trip! Not much snowboarding but we were both glad to be together.

Sunday morning Jon’s knee hurt extremely bad when he tried to walk so we stayed home from church. Sunday afternoon we found out Jon's parents had crutches at their house so I went and got them for him. That night we went to my cousins birthday party. Everyone was saying that Jon should get his knee checked out because it could be something serious even though it was starting to feel better.

So Monday morning we went to the emergency room to get an x-ray and a doctors opinion. The x-ray showed that it was just a deep bruise and the doctor said for Jon to continue using crutches for a few days and take it easy.

I was really glad to know that it was nothing serious and Jon was glad because it means that he can go snowboarding this weekend while I’m away – as long as his knee feels fine. Yesterday he started walking without the crutches and today he said it’s feeling really good!

How crazy! We are barely 6 months into our marriage and have already been to the emergency room twice! At least this time we got answers.

Just an FYI… the Passion Fest website that Jon’s been working on is live now: www.passionfest.org. Check it out! Jon did all of the image and animation work on it. They’ll be continual updates as the event gets closer.

Weekend Fun

I survived Jon being away at the men’s retreat! :) Thursday night I kept myself busy grocery shopping, cleaning and doing wash till Manda got there at around 10:00. We talked for about an hour and then went to bed. Friday night, after work, Manda was with me all night. We made dinner at my house and then went out to Starbucks for some coffee and to talk some more. We were able to really catch-up with what’s going on in each others lives, which was great! After Starbucks we went to Blockbuster to pick up Sweet Home Alabama… that’s one of my favorite movies and Manda has never seen it, so we watched that. As always, I cried when Melanie went to visit Bear’s grave in the coon-dog graveyard! :) That part always gets me. Manda had tears in her eyes too…

We talked till late into the night and when we woke up Saturday morning we talked the whole morning until she had to leave. I had a lot of fun and it distracted me from being lonely. Jon got home around 4:00 Saturday. I was so glad to have him back at home! Jon said the conference was really good and very encouraging and challenging. He went over all the messages with me and explained what he learned from each one. That was fun hearing all the things he was taught and it was really exciting to see him learning and growing.

Yesterday we had lunch with Nate and Shawna and then went to my parents house - Nate and Jon were target shooting with pistols. They’re both all into pistols these days so Jon was excited to get to shoot one. We also went over to visit Grandma Bea’s mom – Grammy – who turned 101 yesterday!! It’s amazing how much energy she still has.

Last night we had some people over to watch a new movie called “The Illusionist”. I had never heard of the movie before but it was really good. Nate and Jon installed my under-cabinet CD player in the kitchen. I’m looking forward to trying it out tonight.

My big project right now is getting ready for the scrapbooking retreat I’m going on with Sarah the last weekend of this month. It’s coming up quick and I still have to sort, crop and edit all the pictures I’ll be using and get them printed out. I think I’m going to be working on a 12x12 album of Jon and my love story, including our dating, engagement, showers, wedding and honeymoon. I’m excited to get started on this album.

The scrapbooking retreat, I’m sure, will be tons of fun! It’s in Gettysburg at a hotel which is right across the street from shopping outlets. So when we need a break from scrapbooking, we can go shopping! :) It’s going to be another weekend away from Jon though – I’m not looking forward to that. :(

Life is Slowing Down... For Now

Life has been moving along at a slightly slower pace since New Years. It’s been nice having a few more open nights in the last week or so. This past Saturday Jon and I went out on a shopping spree for a good chunk of the day. We were supposed to be looking for clothes; I came home with quite a few things but Jon didn’t get a single piece of clothing! Haha! The only thing he got was a Nintendo DS Lite, which is a hand-held video game system. He sold his old DS on ebay so he could get the DS Lite, since it is smaller and better quality. He also got a Super Mario Bros game. This game led to something he wasn’t expecting, and neither was I…

I’m not a major video gamer - or whatever you want to call it - however, there is one game that I used to love playing when I was younger…Super Mario Bros! Guess who used Jon’s new DS Lite first? ME! I discovered that I really enjoy playing this new Super Mario game, and it’s a lot easier than the classic version that we have been playing on the Wii. Jon said yesterday “Now I have the perfect wife!”. Of course he was joking around; but in reality, he is really excited that I now enjoy playing video games with him, even if it’s only when he’s playing Mario :).

Jon’s leaving tomorrow afternoon for “The Quest” Men’s retreat in Hershey, PA. He’s driving out with his dad and Dave. I’m really going to miss him! He’ll be gone until Saturday evening which is the longest we’ve been apart since getting married :(. Amanda is coming to stay with me tomorrow and Friday night so I won’t be alone. Tomorrow she’ll be out till later, but Friday we’ll be able to talk and catch up all night! I’m looking forward to that.

New Years Eve 2006!!

Not only was New Years Eve 2006 Jon and my first one together after being married, it was also our first New Years Eve Party in the little cottage we call home :).

Over the course of the night we had about 18 people in and out. A smaller group of our friends came over early to watch the Eagles game and have dinner. Then everyone else started showing up around 7:00. We played video games, card games, watched a movie, talked, and ate TONS of food! I should have taken a picture of it. Our kitchen table had the leaf in and was completely crowded with food + some.

December 31st is also Steve Heebner's birthday so I had secretly baked him a cake (which Jon decorated) and hid it until everyone was there. Then we randomly started signing happy birthday to him as we brought it into the room he was in. He was so surprised! :) 3 minutes before midnight we turned the tv on and watched the ball drop as we counted down. Then at 12:00 am we toasted the new year with sparkling cider and ran outside to lite off a bunch of fireworks in the back yard.

At around 2:00 am I had stayed up as long as I could, I crashed in bed with my noise machine on, and amazingly, didn't hear a bit of the noise that was right outside my door. People slowly headed home but a bunch of the guys stayed. At around six in the morning they found spots all around the house to sleep and stayed the "night" and into the morning. Everyone was awake and gone by noon on new years day.

For the rest of the day on New Years Jon and I cleaned up the house (which wasn't too bad) and took down our Christmas tree and all our other decorations inside. That night we went over to my parents house for dinner with my family, Nate and Shawna and the Clemmers.

Tuesday I took off work to stay home and finish getting my house in order and run some errands. I got so spoiled between Christmas Weekend and New Years Weekend! I only worked 3 days in between the two long weekends. Needless to say, this past Wednesday, I DID NOT want to get up and go to work again! :) haha... but I did. It makes me hope for the day when Jon's done school and gets a Job and I can start working part-time or none at all. I was so relaxed and not stressed out and I got to see Jon way more than normal.

Now that December is over Jon's back to working only 2 nights a week, last night and tonight. Last night Sarah came over to scrapbook and tonight I went grocery shopping, made brownies and have been blogging ever since.

I think it's about time I get up and start getting some stuff done. Jon should be home anytime!

Our First Christmas

Christmas Eve and Christmas were two very busy days for Jon and I, Christmas Eve we had church in the morning, which ended fairly early. Then we went straight to Nana & Pop-pop’s for the big gathering of my Dad’s side of my family - my favorite part is Nana’s homemade Chicken Pot-Pie! :) After that celebration, we headed back to church for the Christmas Eve Service. From there we went over to Jon’s parents for dinner and to open our stocking stuffers from them. It was a late night but it was fun. Here's a picture of us at Nana's (click to enlarge):

Christmas morning we slept in until around 8:00. I had made Cinnamon Buns ahead of time for breakfast and prepared coffee to brew first thing in the morning, but we aren’t big breakfast eaters, so neither of us was even hungry for the cinnamon buns. But we did drink our coffee while we read the Christmas Story recorded in the book of Luke. Then we poured ourselves some egg nog and set out some white chocolate covered Oreo’s and began our gift exchange. First we opened our stocking stuffers from each other and then our bigger gifts that were under the tree. Jon had been warning me for days that I wasn’t getting much for Christmas because my biggest gift was really expensive - he said it wasn’t something from my list; So I was really curious to find out what it was. Of course, Jon made me wait till last to open it, so I’ll wait till last to tell about it :). I got a big tub of gum balls (my favorite candy), some Creative Memories things, a cute pink cell phone holder, and a bunch of fun stocking stuffers. Jon got the new Ipod Shuffle, 2 video games, a wallet, a video game strategy guide and a bunch of stocking stuffers. I ALSO got a remote starter for my car, which was fully installed and functioning on Christmas morning!! That was my big gift, in case you’re wondering. I have no idea how Jon thought of the idea because I didn’t even realize I wanted one until a few days before Christmas, when I heard that someone else was getting one. I was so excited! He was really sneaky and got me to leave my car home two different days – one time I thought he was going snowboarding and the other time, he went out to start my car in the morning and said it wouldn’t start – while I was at work those two days he had the remote starter installed in my car! Isn’t he great?! :) I’ve been enjoying never getting into a cold car ever since Christmas. Below is a picture of one of Jon's gifts to me. He bought this really cute paper that wasn't actually wrapping paper, but he liked what it said, so he wrapped one of my gifts in it, I thought it was adorable!

After Jon and I opened our gifts from each other Christmas Morning we went over to Jon’s parents to spend some time with them and open our gifts from them. We couldn’t stay long though because by 12:30 we had to be at Grandma Bea and Pop-pop’s for my mom’s side of the family gathering. There we ate a yummy lunch and opened more gifts! Right from there we went over to my parents house to spend time with just my immediate family and open our gifts from my parents. Once again, we couldn’t stay long… we were back to Jon’s parents by around 5 or 5:30 to have a light dinner and then go over to the Inn for hide and seek, which has been a tradition for years. Christmas Day is the only day of the year that the William Penn Inn is closed; and Christmas night we go over with a bunch of our friends and play hide & seek all over the restaurant. We’re allowed to eat anything we find too! This year I was sort of a bum, I only played the game for a few rounds and the rest of the night I sat and talked with the moms. I was really tired. Jon had a great time though, especially when his team found a hiding spot that no one discovered for most of the night :).

So, that was our Christmas! I’m sure I missed plenty of things but I got the gist of it. I thought everything went really well for it being our first Christmas “on-our-own”.

Since we didn’t have that much time to ourselves during the actual holidays, Jon and I got steaks and had a nice candle-lit dinner Tuesday night. That was fun! Jon made the steaks and I made corn bread, noodles, beans and a baked potato for Jon. After dinner we just relaxed the rest of the night. It was great spending time together and not feeling rushed or stressed. Here's a picture of the table all set:

I'm so far behind in my blogging! I'll be writing about our first NEW YEARS in a little while!

Oh, and here are those long awaited picture of the outside of our house decorated with lights:

New York Pics

Alright, I got time to sort through our pictures so here are just a few.

This is inside of a really cool mall that we discovered, right near Rockefeller Park:


Me eating my Fettuccinie Alfredo that I loved so much:

Grand Central Park:

The Apple store:


Rockefeller Center (the first picture is a glimpse of the people-traffic around Rockefeller center):


The Charmin Restrooms:


The crowd of people trying to get into the train terminal:


Well, that's all! Hopefully you enjoyed these pictures. It's just little bits of our day :)

New York City

Man! Life is Busy! I’m just getting a chance to sit down and write about our day in New York City on Saturday. We had a great time. Nate and Shawna met at our house at around 8:15 am so we could get to the Trenton train station for the 9:08 train to New York. By the time we got to our destination the train was packed with people.

The first thing we did was just walk around with no real direction. We were kind of heading for Little Italy but went the wrong direction and ended up at Rockefeller Park. Jon and I had never been to that park before; it was a nice little park on the water.

After walking around Rockefeller Park we headed in the right direction toward Little Italy. On the way we walked down Canal Street where there’re all kinds of shops and people trying to sell you stuff. I got a Cashmere feel pink scarf, which I love!

We ate lunch at this little Italian restaurant that had the most amazing Fettuccine Alfredo I’ve ever eaten! While we were at the restaurant an older man that was sitting outside of the glass front window, had a heart attack or stroke or something and fell off his chair, hit the window, and was laying on the ground. By the time the ambulance got there the man didn’t have much of a pulse. They shocked him a few times but nothing happened. Then they got him into the ambulance and were supposedly still working on him when we left (which I guess what a good sign). Needless to say that was quite an event to happen. I was shook up for a while after that.

We took a walk in Grand Central Park after Lunch. I always love going there! There must have been a Santa parade that day, because there were hundreds of people all dressed up like Santa, walking through the park (they seemed unending)! It was pretty funny to watch and see all the interesting Santa outfits people had.

Not far from Grand Central park is the new Apple store that Jon really wanted to see. So we walked over there next. It’s pretty cool. The building is all glass with just a glass elevator in the middle of it and an Apple icon. You go down the elevator or the glass stairs and the store itself is underground.

There’s also a Nintendo World store near by that Jon really enjoyed going to :).

From the Nintendo World store we walked to Rockefeller Center. All of NYC was pretty crowded but when we got to Rockefeller center the people traffic got way worse. The sidewalks were so crowded that you inched your way forward, wedged in-between thousands of other people. It was nuts! We got to see the big Christmas tree all lit up (it’s so pretty!), but we didn’t even try to get close enough to watch people skating in the ice rink. It was way too crowded.

Time Square was our last stop before dinner. We didn’t actually spend too much time walking around in Time Square. We were trying to figure out where we were eating for dinner, and of course, everywhere was full with an hour or so wait for the next table! We ended up eating at TGI Friday’s right in Time Square. We were all so glad just to sit and give our legs a rest from walking all day :).

After dinner we were headed back to Penn Station to catch our train home but we stopped at the “Charmin” Restrooms first. What a crazy place! Yes, I’m talking about Charmin as in “Charmin” toilet paper. As a Christmas gift to NYC, Charmin installed at least 10 or more private bathrooms in a building right in Time Square. You go in and there’s a huge line of people in line. “Charmin” music is playing and there’s “Charmin” people running around dancing, singing, talking through megaphones, and all kinds of crazy stuff. After each person uses their own private bathroom with a little sink, a Charmin employee goes in and quickly sanitizes the seat and sprays febreeze. Then the next person can go it. It’s this big, huge ordeal just to go to the bathroom but it was nice and clean and quite an experience!

Once our 30 minute bathroom break was over we took the subway to Penn Station and waited to find out what track our train would be on (they don’t post the track #’s until 10 minutes before the train is supposed to leave). Once the track # finally was posted there was a mad rush of people that were running to get on the train. Once again, we were surrounded by hundreds of people squeezing their way through the doors and down the stairs to the terminal. We had to run all the way to the front of the train to find a car that even had seats! The others barely even had standing room. But we made it on the train and home by like 11:30, not too bad.

It was a really fun day!

I took pretty many pictures throughout the day but I haven't gotten a chance to go through them yet. I'll try to get to that tonight and post some, but there's no guarantee. :)

Passion Fest Video

The link below is a fairly short video clip from the previous Passion Fest. It will give you a little idea of what it's all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDEx3p3WIU4

Starbucks

My wonderful, sweet husband got off work early last night and came home to take me out to Starbucks for a date!!! I knew he was coming home early ‘cause he had told me to do my errands first because he might be able to get off work early. But then when he got home he said he wanted to go to Starbucks with me. I was surprised but of course, I was glad to go! :)

We had a nice time talking and relaxing together with nothing to do.

This week is a full week for Jon and I. Tonight I’m looking forward to a girls night at Denise Randolph’s house and Jon is probably hanging out with Ian because Ashley will be at the girls night too. Tomorrow Jon works and Sarah is coming over to scrapbook again with me. I’ve got all my pictures organized this time so I’ll actually be able to do some scrapbooking. Then Thursday night Jon works again and I was invited to go out for dinner with mom F! Friday night Jon and I are babysitting our favorite little buddies Hailey, Justin and Sydney. After they go to bed we’ll be packing and getting ready for New York the next day. We’re going for a day trip with Nate and Shawna to see the lights and decorations and to walk around the city. It’s always fun walking around New York City.

So that’s our week at a glance, and next weeks no less busy! What a crazy time of year. But Christmas will come and go before we know it so we’re enjoying the season while it lasts. :)

Here I am Again!

It’s been a while since I wrote but not that much has happened. The smell in our fridge is gone but we don’t know what it was. The guy from LG came out and took apart the whole fridge and couldn’t find anything or any reason we would have had a smell. Hopefully it doesn’t come back since we don’t know what it was. I’m so glad to have a working refrigerator again though! :)

Our wedding album is finally created and in the process of being printed. Here is a link to the digital pages: http://www.allebachphotography.com/customer/jonalana Page #19 is the only one that will be different when we get our album, we asked to have it spruced up a bit more. I’m so excited to finally get our album, everyone is always asking about it :).

This past Saturday Jon had to work for lunch to cover for someone so I spent most of the day by myself. We had my parents over for dinner then Saturday night. That was fun :).

Going back to last Monday night (a week ago) Jon and I had our first Passion Fest meeting. This is the first time we are involved with Passion Fest. It is a big event, originally started by a few people at THP, to reach out to the communities around us in a way that is fun for everyone. Earlier this year we attended Passion Fest in Pottstown and really enjoyed it and thought it was a great way to draw in the youth of the community and then to present the Gospel to them. So for next year we decided to be a part of the Passion Fest team so we could help plan, promote and run the event. Basically it is a totally free, family oriented day with all kinds of stuff going on. There’s activities for younger kids, speakers, bands, food, and action sports - which last year included professional stunt bikers, skateboarders and motorcyclists (all of who are Christians).

July 7th of next year is the event we’re starting to plan for now. It will be in Pottstown again. www.passionfest.org is the website for it but it’s still under construction so there’s not much information yet. I will probably continue to talk about it and give updates incase anyone wants to come or knows people who would like to come or possibly benefit from coming.

Tonight Jon is working again (this week is the only week in December that he’s actually working 3 nights). I’m going to go out and try to finish my Christmas shopping :).

Scrapbooking

Someone from LG (our refrigerator manufacturer) is coming to look at our fridge today!! I hope they can figure out where the smell was coming from. The actual smell seems to be going away but we want to know WHY it was there in the first place. If it’s something that died I don’t want the remains of whatever it is, stuck somewhere. And if it wasn’t something that died, the smell could return…

Wednesday night when Sarah came over to scrapbook we had a great time! It was a lot of fun talking and scrapbooking together. When I pulled all my stuff out, that I haven’t touched for probably a year or more, I had a lot of organizing to do. Miscellaneous pictures were everywhere and things were just all out of order :). So between talking and organizing my stuff I didn’t get much actual scrapbooking done, but it got me motivated and I had fun. I also discovered that I was out of blank pages for the album I am in the middle of, so last night, while Jon was at work, I went out and bought a few things I needed and then came home and continued to organize all my things. I have everything organized accept two stacks of pictures. Sarah invited me to go to a scrapbooking retreat that is the last weekend in January. I am really excited about going! I need to get everything in order before then and have enough pictures/albums to work on so that I can stay busy while I’m there. Jon thinks I’m crazy for going to a scrapbooking retreat, but he’s glad I have something to enjoy doing with friends! :)

Tonight I think Jon and I are driving down to some place near Philly because one of Jon’s friends from school is having people over to play video games for his birthday, he invited us. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do but I haven’t been able to spend much time with Jon this week so I’m just going to spend time with him.

Christmas Tree

Here's our Christmas tree finally:

Those blubs are not black and clear. The darker ones are actually a purply/grey color and the ones that look clear have glitter and snowflakes on them :). You have to see it in person to really know what it looks like but the picture gives you an idea.



I haven't taken a picture of the outside lights yet because theres a big chunk of them that died so we're going to replace them and THEN I'll take a picture.

Alright, Sarah's here to scrapbook, gotta run!

Quickie

When I was saying yesterday about Jon going hunting, I totally forgot to say that he really enjoyed hunting even though he didn’t get anything this past weekend. He’s excited about going again. He keeps teasing me that when he gets something he’s going to get it mounted and put it on our wall. Yeah RIGHT! :) I always said I’d never marry a hunter and now my husband is one! The thing I don’t like about hunting the most is the animal heads that get hung on walls as trophies. So hopefully Jon won’t ever really want to do that…

Sarah is coming over to my house tonight while Jon’s at work and we’re going to scrapbook. I’m excited, it should be a lot of fun, and I’ll be glad to start getting caught up on all my albums – I’m so far behind! Since Jon works every Wednesday night Sarah’s going to start coming over about twice a month to hang out with me and scrapbook, tonight is the first time she’s coming over.

Speaking of Jon working… I just found out last night that he has a new work/school schedule and he will now be working THREE nights a week! He just started a new semester of school this week and his new classes are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings so he’s working a double on Monday’s, Lunch on Tuesday’s, and Dinner on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s. That leaves us with Tuesday and Friday nights open. But then we have care group every other Tuesday. I’m pretty bummed about this new schedule! Jon said it’s only for the month of December though and after that he’ll cut back on work. Since I really didn’t like the idea of him working three nights he’s also going to see if he can just work two nights a week in December too. I hope he can!

THE SMELL update: our kitchen still smells like a mixture of bleach and dead something. I think Jon’s going to call Home Depot as soon as he gets a chance, to see if they can come out and take a look at the situation!

Thanksgiving weekend... and beyond

It's been a while! We decorated for Christmas since my last post so I was waiting till I had pictures of what our house looks like before I wrote. I haven’t gotten a chance to take them yet though, so I figured I better write because a lot is going on!

Thanksgiving went well and we had a nice day. We slept in :) and then went to my parents for lunch with a bunch of my extended family. Jon went with my dad and Alysa to sight in his gun for hunting and got all psyched up to go :). Thanksgiving night we went over to Jon’s parents for some more food and to spend some time with them.

I took off work Friday, and Jon didn’t have school so we had all day Friday and Saturday to start Christmas shopping and decorate the house for Christmas. We had a lot of fun spending both days together with nothing urgent to do! Friday we slept in again and then went out shopping for most of the day. After shopping we went on a date to Olive Garden for dinner, yum, yum :). Saturday we went out and bought a tree and then decorated it and we put lights outside on the house. I think everything looks really good and I'm happy with how it turnned out! I’ll take pictures when I get a chance and post them.

Sunday after church and lunch, Jon left with Nate to go hunting up at my pop-pop’s cabin in the Poconos. A bunch of guys go up the weekend after Thanksgiving every year for the opening of Rifle season. While Jon was gone I SHOPPED! :) I got a lot of my Christmas Shopping done on Sunday and even took a break to meet Jon’s mom and dad at Maccaroni Grill for dinner. Sunday night I slept over at Jon’s parents since I don’t like to sleep at home alone. I was really glad when Jon got home last night! I missed him even though he was only gone one night. :(

When Jon got home last night our refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen still smelled really bad (like it has for at least a week and a half), so he said we were cleaning it out right away. We’re both getting really frustrated with the smell and the fact that we can’t figure out where it’s coming from or why! There’s no bad food in either the fridge or the freezer plus Jon and Glenn Clemmer pulled the whole thing out and took the grate off the back and pulled some of the insulation out to see if anything was dead in there, but they couldn’t find anything.

So last night we nailed a drop cloth over the doorway from the kitchen into the hallway, we opened the windows and door in the kitchen and emptied everything out of the entire Refrigorator! We had to throw out anything that wasn’t tightly sealed because the smell had seeped into it; everything else we washed with soapy water. Luckily everything that was left from the freezer, fit into our extra freezer in the spare room. The stuff from the fridge we put in coolers out on the porch. Then Jon turned the refrigerator off and sprayed a bleach/water mixture all over inside and wiped it down. All night last night we left the doors to the fridge open and the windows open to air everything out.

This morning when we got up the kitchen mostly smelled like bleach so we couldn’t tell if the fridge still smells bad or not. The coolers both smell when you open them though so the smell must have really absorbed into the containers of everything. UGH!

Earlier today Jon turned the fridge back on and closed the doors and tonight he’s going to wash the fridge down again to try and get rid of the bleach smell, so we can see if the bad smell is still there. If it is, then I guess our next step is to get someone to come out and look at the thing! Maybe we’ll have to get it replaced by Home Depot.

If there is something dead in the back though, I wish we could find it because it grosses me out just thinking that it’s still in there, even if it doesn’t smell anymore. Eww!

So, that is what’s been happening over at our little cottage latley :) . Between the smell and our plumbing not working for a week, we are really learning what it’s like to have a house! For the most part I love having my own house but sometimes it’s just not fun. Hopefully we figure out this smell problem and can get back to normal life soon.

Alright, this post is really long. I’m going to go now. I’ll post those pictures of our decorated house as soon as I get to it.

Nintendo Wii

Sunday was launch day for yet another video game system! Nintendo’s newest system called “Wii” which is much cheaper than the Play Station 3 that we waited in line for. The Wii is a much different kind of video game system than any before it because, instead of a usual controller, this controller looks more like a TV remote and it’s motion sensitive it’s also much less complicated with less buttons than other controllers. In-other-words, all the people out there like me, who can’t help but move their hands around while using a video came controller, now can actually move their car or player or whatever on the screen when they move the controller.

Jon had a Wii system reserved, so Sunday he went to pick it up, and yesterday he had a “Wii Party”. A few of his friends from school came over earlier in the day after school and then last night a bunch of the guys from church came over. It was dangerous walking through the house! They were playing games like bowling, tennis, baseball, etc. Since the controller is motion sensitive when you’re batting in baseball you actually swing your arm with the controller in it. When you’re bowling you go through the motions, just like if you were bowling, accept you don’t actually throw the controller! You probably get the point.

They had David’s TV and Wii set up on the kitchen table and Jon’s in the living room. To walk through the kitchen you had to watch out that you didn’t get smacked by someone swinging their bat or racket or rolling a bowling ball!! haha

I took a few pictures but it’s hard to see the motion:

Dave & Steve playing boxing:

Bowling:

Tennis:

As far as other things going on in our life. We’ve discovered a horrible smell coming from, we think, the freezer although we can’t figure out what it could possibly be!

Our plumbing is fixed as of today!!! Yesterday and today they were working on it and today they realized that it could have been fixed last Monday but somehow there was a mis-communication and they didn't realize that it was the sinks and tub that weren't draining. They thought it was the toilet, which was actually working fine! I can’t wait to be able to take showers at my house, do wash, wash dishes and run the dishwasher again! I’m very thankful that Jon’s parents live right next door and they've allowed us to use their house whenever we needed , but obviously that's more of a hassle :)

Alright, Jon's waiting to use the computer, I've got to run!

Waiting In Line For A PS3

Last time I wrote I thought I would be home alone for 3 days (that was Tuesday night). Turned out I was wrong. :) Wednesday I had a conference to go to for work that was in Valley Forge, so, embarassing as it was, I asked if I could drive my car to the conference and then afterward not go back to work so I could hopefully get in line for a PS3 before the line filled up. I got to Best Buy at about 1:30 on Wednesday and was 15th in line (Jon was 1st). Jon talked to the people in front of me so I was able to hang out and sleep in the tent that Jon was in with Nate, David and John Hendricks. Here's a picture of the first two tents in line and a few people (the big yellow & blue tent is ours): Most of the other people in line were very friendly so everyone hung out together. By the end, a lot of us knew each other pretty well. Here's a close up of our tent (the one side of it isn't up in this picture): After I got there the line started filling up quickly, by around 5 or 6 that night there were as many people in line as Play Stations that Best Buy was getting (28). Someone in line decided to write up a list with the names of everyone in line so that no one could budge and say that they were in line if they weren't (people get crazy about these systems). There was a 24 hour Giant, a Target, a Lowes, and other stores, all right there in the same shopping center, so we were able to get out of line for little bits at a time to go get food or use the restrooms. People were pretty easy going about it.

Shawna and Kelsey got to Best Buy around 3:00 and they were racing about 3 other people who were also on their way. Shawna brought the Hendricks camping grill so some of us cooked up hamburgers for dinner Wednesday night and Thursday we made bacon and eggs for breakfast. A few of the guys also made Steaks for dinner Thursday night:

Nate making hamburgers:

Steaks:

Me reading a magazine: Thursday it rained so we bought a tarp at Lowes and put it over the tent to keep it from leaking. Then we all sat inside watching two movies on a laptop, which was hooked up to a car battery for power :). In the picture below you can see our tent in the background with the tarp over it:
Thursday we were on Channel 10 news two times. Throughout the entire time we were sitting there 2 news papers came to do interviews and Wired 96.5 (a local radio station) also came out. Channel 10 news interviewed Jon and Nate personally and video taped us grilling and sitting around.

The NBC 10 news van:

Channel 10 News video taping:

EVERYONE asked up what we were doing there! It was pretty fun, other than the fact that we couldn't get showers and it rained pretty hard on Thursday so it was very moist and a little damp on the outsides corners of the tent.

Here you can sort-of see some of the tents but they also wrapped around the building:

It was definatly an experience :)

Less than an hour later...

Jon came home right after I published my last post but he was rushing around and on the phone constantly. I bairly got a few words in and just waited to see what was happening. Then Nate showed up and after that it was really a mad rush around here. Jon ran around and grabbed things he needed and within 15 minutes they were running out the door to go to the Best Buy in Plymouth Meeting because there they only had 2 people in line so far so they would for sure get a system. I just sat in shock!

I came home expecting a nice relaxing night with Jon and to prepare for going to sit in line tomorrow night. Instead I bairly got to talk to him and he rushed out the door and now I have no idea what to do! I was looking forward to not working Thursday and Friday and now I'll probably have to work because I won't be sitting in line for a PS3 unless, for some reason, there's no one behind Jon, Nate and David still tomorrow night.

I guess I should start packing up some things to go over to Jon's parents to spend the night, and the next 2 nights!

This is the first time since being married that Jon won't be around :(. I'm going through withdrawal already!

Play Station 3

Oh boy... on my way home from work today I called Jon and found out he was driving around Montgomeryville and there were already people standing in line outside of Target waiting for the launch of the new Play Station 3 that comes out Friday morning. Jon and I and a bunch of other people from church were planning on waiting in line too but we weren't planning on arriving until tomorrow night. So Jon drove to Best Buy and there were already 11 people in line! He hung up at that point because he had to figure out what was going on....

About 20 minutes later he calls and asks what I'm doing, of course I'm just walking around the house wondering what the next few days is going to look like if there's already people standing in line and Jon is determined to get a PS3. Then he says that him and David are standing in line at Best Buy for a PS3!!!

So, now I'm sitting at home waiting for him to call back to find out what's happening. He's calling around to other locations to see if there's anywhere where there aren't people in line yet. They may not stay in line at Best Buy. I was supposed to be with him too, but I've got work tomorrow and I'm already taking off Thursday and Friday.

Wonder what's going to happen! One thing I know, if Jon doesn't come home tonight I'm not staying by myself! I'll be heading next door to stay at his parents, I have to go over there to get a shower in the morning anyway.

I'm Back! :)

Since the last time I posted I have had absolutely no time to write again. I've been busy at work and even busier at home preparing for my open house that was yesterday. Friday I only worked a half-day at work and then came home to start preparing for the open house. It was so nice out when I got home that I just had to be outside, so I raked the yard, swept the porch and walkway and washed some windows. I should have worn gloves to rake because I had a nice big blister when I was done. Friday night Jon and I organized some more upstairs and I cleaned up there so it was all ready.

Saturday my mom came over after lunch to help me finish making all the food. Without her help I never would have gotten it all done. We baked and cooked the whole afternoon and into the evening, it was fun! My dad came over with pizza at dinner time so we wouldn't have to stop cooking to make dinner. After we ate pizza dad and Jon helped make mini sandwiches and cut up cheese and ring bologna, which was the last of the food that needed to be made. Mom and Dad left around 8:30 or 9:00 Saturday and then I was up till midnight finishing the cleaning and organizing. Jon did a lot to help out during the day Saturday too, even though he had homework to finish up.

The open house yesterday turned out wonderful even though the weather didn't cooperate. It was raining off and on all day so we put a couple pieces of remnant carpet from Jon's parents house on the porch and right inside the front door and we had people take off there shoes when they came in. Suprisingly the house stayed really clean and there's no stains on the carpet! Yeah! We had WAY too much food though :) I guess it's better though to have too much than not enough. There was a steady amount of people coming through all day long but it was great! I took a few pictures throughout the day:

The main food table:

Here's another table of food we set up in the middle of the kitchen:

We had 900 some pictures from our wedding and honeymoon playing on the TV:

Mom, Dad and Uncle Ron watching the slide show:


I meant to take more pictures than I did, but I forgot. So I only have a few more than what is here. :( Oh well. Most of the crowd left by around 9ish but Amanda stayed to help clean up some. We were dumping things down the garbage disposal in the sink for a while and then turned it on and it kept going and going... It wasn't sounding normal, so we shut it off and dirty water started bubbling out! We kept turning it on but it didn't do anything different and when we ran water in the sink it would just sit there until we turned on the garbage disposal. I got Jon and he tried all different things but nothing worked. Then I was going into the bathroom to get something and noticed an awful smell and realized that the tub was full of dirty water with carrots and dip and everything we put down the garbage disposal, YUCK! Jon tried plunging the drains a little but it didn't do anything. It looked so gross. Jon's mom was still here at this point so she said she'd have the handy-man from the Inn come over first thing this morning to check it out.

This morning I had to get my shower over at Jon's parents house before work and I left with all my dirty dishes sitting on the counter. I had requested a half-day of work today so I could come home and clean, and I was hoping that the drainage problem would be fixed by the time home so I could do all my dishes.

When I got home there was an I.T. Landis Truck and the handyman from the Inn just leaving and I was told that our septic pipes were all collapsed and busted and it all had to be pulled up and re-done. They said we could use water, but sparingly and I'm not supposed to do wash or anything because that's too much water at one time. I can't really do anything though because the water drains from the sink and tub so slowly and if I turn on the garbage disposal to make the sink drain fast it bubbles in the tub, ha.

When I came inside after getting this news I was surprised to see my counters were all clean and there were no dirty dishes in sight. Jon's mom and Liz (her cleaning lady) had taken all my dishes over to her house and washed them for me!!! I am so thankful! Mom F even cleaned out the disgusting junk in the tub for me!

I'm so glad this all happend AFTER the open house when there was only 2 people left! That would have been really bad if it had happened earlier in the day!

Tonight I am getting a massage, I can't wait! I'm sure I have tons of knots :). Jon came home a little bit ago from school so I better go. We have to go out shopping to fill the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. This post is getting really long anyway.

Now that I figured out how to post images I'll have to post more of them later.

A surprise for me! :)

Normally Jon works Wednesday and Thursday nights until late, and since I don’t like being home alone after dark, most of the time I’m out running errands or grocery shopping while Jon’s at work. This was my plan for last night. I had a big list of errands to run: things to return/exchange, grocery shopping, gift shopping etc. Jon had said he would be taking off tonight to work on homework so I wanted to get all my errands done last night so I could be home tonight while he was there. Yesterday afternoon I emailed Jon to see if he had gotten off work for tonight so that I could plan my night last night. To my surprise and excitement he said he was going to be home last night PLUS tonight he is going to be hanging lights on the trees at the Inn so he’ll be home earlier than usual!!

So last night, instead of going out, I went home and got a LOT done around the house. Even though Jon was upstairs working on homework for most of the night it was good just knowing he was home, and we got to eat dinner together and spend a little time together at least! :)

Tonight I’m going to run all my errands and go grocery shopping. My open house is coming up in less than 2 weeks!! I can’t believe time went by so fast since I planned it. I’m going to start baking cookies this weekend and freeze them. Thanks so much for everyone that is helping out with food or otherwise!