Tuesday: secret sister

So at church a bunch of the women exchanged names and then for the year you are someone's "secret sister." I don't know my person at all, which was a big bummer. But my secret sister brought me donuts on Sunday which Aaron gave to me at small group! Yum. I think it must be someone I know and someone that knows my love of donuts.

I decided I was pseudo on top of work today and so I'm not getting up early tomorrow. The thought has cheered me all night.

Monday: laundry weekend

Sunday

There was a special on Marine One on TV tonight that Ben and I watched. It was rather interesting, but they didn't have quite enough material for a full hour...several things were said twice.

Besides that, it was a wonderfully relaxing day.

Saturday

Ben and I had tentativly made plans with Clay and Jess to go cross-country skiing today, assuming it wasn't too cold. Well, it was too cold (felt like -1 during the day). They were in Owego anyway, so stopped over for some quick games and then we tried a new restaurant.

The restaurant is only open for lunch, which is why I haven't made it there before. The food was good. We had to walk through a store to get to it, and the store was jam-packed full of stuff. We were almost afraid to move because we might touch something with our bulky coats and break it. There was also stuff hanging from the ceiling and we bumped into it a few times and were suddenly scared that we broke something.

Thursday: animals

Today on our drive home we saw tons of deer. I saw about eight, Ben thinks he saw about 20 (12 on the way to pick me up). I don't know if it was a little lighter outside or a little warmer or what.

Then when we got home we noticed the Flurry had found a stryofoam peanut. She loves the things, but she usually ends up eating them so we try to keep them away. Anyway, while we were gone she managed to open the box that we had received last night and get the peanuts out. I am sad and proud of her.

Tuesday: work and dongles

I think dongle is a disgusting word, although fun to say. Therefore, Ben used it a lot in conversation after I told him it was disgusting.

I feel like I'm putting in more hours at work and falling further behind. Not the best feeling.

Sunday: snow and bowling

This morning, as we were running a few minutes late for church already, we realized that it had snowed last night and that we really needed to shovel to keep our driveway from getting worse. And then we met an invisable train that caused us to take a short detour. We weren't too late, but still late enough that no one was in the foyer anymore and we missed a few songs.

I took a wonderful nap and then shoveled again because the plow had gone through and it snowed a bit more. However, it's warmer than it was and there was no wind so it was actually nice. Then I decided to go for a walk. I had forgotten how steep the hill is and was slightly regretting my decision. But then it started snowing some more and I got to go downhill, so the last part of the walk was nice again.

We went bowling as a good-bye party for a friend from church. She's moving to California. :( But, I broke 100 both games and the second one I think I got my best score ever! I'm the "A" on the bottom.

Friday: cold

Well, yesterday was cold. So after dinner Dusty and Laura came over to our house for a fire, blankets, and hot chocolate. They also brought doughnuts and I got my favorite kind.

Thursday: cold

Well, there seems to be a cold front going through the entire upper half of the US because everybody seems to be having really cold temps. After Christmas it was supposed to get warm out and melt the last of the snow on our driveway, but it didn't melt. And then we missed a shovel and once there was barely enough to shovel. Anyway, the result is that our driveway is now a roller coaster. You go up a little bit coming out of the garage and you wonder if you'll get out of the end of the driveway without scraping the bottom of the car.

We've tried shoveling a little bit and it somewhat works. The problem is that there isn't a lot of loose snow. So I think what is left is hard snow and then my boot sinks down into it. There must be a layer of ice in between.

Well, that was the excitement of the day. Work wasn't too bad but somewhat boring. People are frantically trying to get to a milestone but I'm not really involved and so am trying to stay away lest I get tasked with something.

Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

Nothing all that special happened today. Work has been going really well this week. I don't really know why because I can't name specific things that have happened, but I feel like I'm getting stuff done and it is worthwhile stuff.

Monday: matching

So this morning I decided to wear grey pants and a maroonish shirt. Ben got up and put grey pants on. I said, "You should wear your maroon shirt so we can match!" as he got out a blue shirt and put it on. The disappointment must have been evident in my eyes as I said "I won't even take a picture." Since we weren't going to be seen together today, he concided. I proceded to keep standing next to him as we were getting ready and smiling. So he offered to let me take a picture. And the background I choose ended up matching too!

Saturday: bowling

I felt like doing something active tonight, so Ben and I went bowling. He did well the first game, I did well the second game (I broke 100!!).

The drive was a little scary though...it snowed all day and the plows hadn't come through all the roads. It was slippery. But not many other people were out so that was nice.

Friday: friday night activities

I had an especially good time with Dusty and Laura tonight. I'm not really sure why...we didn't do anything different from normal. We went to Applebee's and then watched some TV.

I had taken a nice nap with Flurry after work which was nice and warm and letting me not fall asleep to early. I forgot to turn on the blanket to warm up the bed so I'm a little sad about that.

Thursday: raid

Today is my first WoW raid in quite a while. So far it's going well, although I don't have any meters so I can't tell how my healing is compared to other people's. It is also only an hour into the raid, and I tend to get tired closer to two hours into it.

Flurry took a nap on my lap tonight. This is becoming a wonderful habit. I'm sure it will eventually become normal and I'll stop writing about it, but until then you can hear about it a lot. :)

Wednesday: ice and friends

Well, today was very icy out. We did go in to work, but maybe shouldn't have. :) Oh well, it is a lot easier for me to do most of my work there.

We had dinner with Aaron and Heather and then played some Rockband. It was nice having four instruments. Good times.

Tuesday:proof

So I have proof that Flurry's been sitting on my lap. She did it again today!!

I'm tired.

Monday: clean

Oh, the house is so clean right now. The appraiser is coming tomorrow so everything had to be picked up and at least more or less cleaned. So while Ben worked on the troublesome computers and his desk, I got the rest of the house. (I still think I won with the deal.) Everything is in it's place for probably the first time since we moved in, the floors are vacuumed or swifered, things are dusted, and the kitchen is clean.

I've been trying to get to this point for months. Guess it just takes a computer virus and an appraiser. :(

So with the cleaning and the first day back at work in two weeks, it wasn't really a fun day. But rewarding I guess.

Saturday: still home :)

Ah, it was nice to be home. Although driving the whole way is annoying, it is really nice to wake up at home and not have to drive more. Flurry was incredably cudley today...she even sat on my lap at the computer for about 30 minutes. She rarely sits on my lap and I've never been able to get her to do it at the computer. It's been nice.

We've also put away most of the Christmas presents. I think that this is almost as fun as actually opening them, as you can see how they're used and how the fit or look in a certain spot. I also started taking down Christmas decorations and am about half way finished with that.

Friday: home

We made it home!

My back is really sore from snow mobiling.

Flurry was very excited to see us.

Thursday: Happy New Years

Opps...I just realized that the title for the last post should have been Wednesday. :)

Anyway, Happy 2009! We watched Dick Clarke on TV and it was really anti-climatic. Each year seems to get a bit worse. Oh well...we got sparkling white grape juice and that is always good!

We went snow mobiling today. I got my own snowmobile which was very exciting. It is warmer and easier to hang on to and just more fun. :) The trails were rather bumpy but it was really pretty.


I also got the sewing machine out. Remember that sock from last Friday that kept falling down? Well, it got sacrificed to practicing. :)



Then I folded my headband. I usually have had it folded in half but now it is quarters and has a pretty pattern on it.

Thursday: Happy Old Year's Day

Happy old years day! It was somewhat relaxing today...we went to KMart and I got some thread and pins for my sewing machine (we'll see if they get used before I leave) and then all the girls got pedicures. The nail person had never seen nails like mine before, which I thought was rather weird...they seem to actually not be that uncommon. Oh well. I did get a cute flower sticker on them.


Then we went out for a nice dinner. They had party favors at the table so we had a lot of fun with those.

Us:
The artistic picture of the messy table that had way too many glasses on it
Happy Cheryl

Tuesday: skiing

Today we went downhill skiing. I've been downhill skiing once before and it was a bad experience. This time was much more fun. Ben gave Jamie and I "lessons" while Travis helped Jacob.

After several runs on the bunny hill I tried the easy green hill with Ben. It was ok...I got down without running into anyone or falling. :) It was the first time I was on a lift and the person in the chair in front of us was also apparently a beginner. He fell while getting off the chair lift. Instead of trying to get out of the way he proceeded to spread his arms out and stay there as long as possible. I ended up going in front of Ben but he is luckily a good enough skiier that he could deal with that. He also decided to turn 180 degrees half way down the hill and scared me out of my wits because I thought he was stopping and that I would shortly be plowing into him. However, he was just skiing backwards for a bit.

Back to the bunny hill for a few times to have the family all together and then lunch. I was warm before lunch but unfortunately lunch cooled me off somehow. I never quite warmed up again. But anyway...

Then Jamie, Ben, and I went on the green hill again. I starting going to fast so decided to ..uh.. sit down. :) Luckily I had learned how to fall correctly. The next two times going down this hill were much better. Ben stayed a bit closer and I did a better job of snowplowing. But then I was too cold so Travis and Ben nicely brought me home. Travis pulled my poles for a bit so I didn't have to try and ski on the flat/uphill part. Our lift tickets were almost done anyway and they're going back tomorrow so it was ok they didn't do any of the harder runs.

So...the day was fun enough that Ben can probably get me to go again. I'm a little sore though. (especially my arms...it is really hard to go uphill even a little bit).

Monday: water park

Today we went to an indoor water park. It was nice and warm with several largish slides. They were fun to go down and it was fun to watch everyone else play in the water too.

As we were leaving my throat started to hurt. I think I was sick the rest of the night. (Spoiler: I felt fine the next day.)

Sunday: Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Larry! Today was a nice relaxing day with several games, naps, food, and a movie.

Here's a picture of the family watching Larry open presents; the one with him turned out too blurry.

Saturday: Betsy and blanket

Well, I was going to go to Betsy's bridal shower and then go up north tonight or tomorrow. The problem is that the weather was supposed to get really bad tonight and stay bad tomorrow. So Betsy nicely came out to lunch with me so I could leave earlier in the afternoon. :) We probably got to talk more than we would have at the shower, so that's good at least.

The drive wasn't too bad, although it was really foggy. When it wasn't quite as foggy it was rainy. The worst part was at the very end when I think I had a few hydroplaning moments, but nothing too bad. I was happy to arrive though.

I also managed to finish half the grey on my baby blanket. I have decided to edge it in a burnt orange, so I'm not really half way done. But I am getting close.

Friday: boxing day

Happy Boxing Day! Except I didn't really box anything up since I'm not at home. Ben and I did repackage a lot of gifts though into few bags and sort into what can stay in the car and what can't. I guess that can count as our Boxing Day activity.

Not a lot happened today. Ben left. :( The bed will be cold without him. Dad and I went to the mall...it was incredably busy. We parked rather far away because it was at least a little less busy and then walked on some roads to get to the mall. My problem was that the elastic in one of my socks has died, so every 5-10 minutes I needed to stop to pull up my sock (depending on how fast we were walking). It was annoying. So these will get retired once we get home.

I ate lunch with the Menkveld clan; it was nice to see them again since it's been a while since I've seen most of them. Oliver isn't feeling well though, which is sad.

Thursday: Christmas

Merry Christmas! Ben and I spent the day with his family. I got a nice sewing machine...I think I'm going to make a table cloth first. There were lots of other wonderful presents too...Ben and I are excited to use them!

Jacob hiding under paper
Grandpa and Ashlyn opening presents.

Tuesday: Christmas with DeYoungs

Today we started out the day with a delicious breakfast followed by opening presents.


Here is a picture were we're sorting the presents but it looks like Nathan is trying to steal them away. I think it is my favorite picture of the day.

We all got these body-blanket things that have arms and zippers...specifically made for using them at them computer. However, they also make us look like penguins or Jedi (depending on whether we're walking or not). We can also only zip the top and have a cape. So many options. :)

Oh, it didn't stop snowing the entire day today. There is a lot of snow. Going to Holland the highway looked plowed, but most of the roads (even the main roads) had not been plowed recently.

Monday: we made it

We made it to Hudsonville today! We got in around 3:30. It was really nice to see the family for a while.

Sunday: Erie

We ended up leaving today at 3:30pm for Michigan. It was earlier than we had originally been planning on leaving, but the weather was going to be good for a while. We got to Erie, PA before the weather got too bad. It wasn't incredibly snowy, but the wind was causing white out conditions. Hopefully it will be a lot better in the morning!

Saturday: work and Flurry

Work went well this morning. The thing we had to do we pretty much had one shot to do it...else there would be a huge schedule delay. But we did it and it went smoothly. :)

Tonight I was telling Flurry that plastic bags are not for children and small animals to play with. She proceeded to put her head through one of the holes and sit down inside of the bag. Needless to say, she needed help to escape.

Friday: work, tree, and snow

Well, I had a record number of hours in at work: 53. I realize that this could be worse, but it was rather annoying all the same. However, I do feel as though I got a lot done. I need to go in for a few hours tomorrow :(, but I'm hoping for not too long.

We got a ton of snow today! There was pretty much nothing when we went to work, and at 2 when we came home there was about 6". More has fallen since then too. It is very pretty.

Here is our tree!

Thursday: lists

So Ben likes to "make fun" of my lists. I, of course, have a list of things for work. The funny thing is that I've started making a list of "really do this" things from my to-do list. That's right! Lists from lists. I might never hear the end of it, but found it too funny to not share.

Wednesday: 13.7

...is the number of hours I worked today. I know that might be normal for some of you, but it is not normal for me! I got swamped this week and with trying to be on vacation next week, I got even more swamped. But now it is time for bed.

Tuesday: lunch and party

Today at work we were given an appreciation luncheon. It included french onion soup, fillet minion, and cheese cake. It was delicious!

Then we had our Bible Study Christmas party. It has been a year that we've been with this group, since I remember being invited to last year's party and deciding to wait until the new year. We've formed a bunch of great friendships within the year though, so that is awesome.

It was a white elephant give exchange. There wasn't much stealing though. I gave away some angels that someone was excited to get because they didn't have any Christmas decorations.

Sunday: Christmas cookie-grams

Today my Bible Study delivered Christmas cookie-grams. The recipients got songs and about a dozen homemade cookies. The plan was to sing 2-3 songs, but most people were ready to get back inside after one. Oh well.

Here we are putting the boxes together:


And delivering:

Saturday: cookies

Today I made a lot of cookies. About 300, although only 90 of those were regularly sized cookies...the rest were bite size. It was three batches of dough worth.

I really like the idea of bite size cookies...and I can make so many from a single batch! Below are the ones I brought to a tea I had this afternoon.


Here's Ben's response on my to-do list when he saw all the cookies...

Friday: sandwich

So today I tried making my favorite sandwich from The Good Earth...turkey, cheese, and salsa cream cheese on a bagel. It turned out ok, but the cream cheese wasn't quite salsa-y enough. Maybe next time.

Thursday: long day

I worked for longer than normal today. I think I'll be working for longer than normal (for a Friday) tomorrow too because I'm getting up early to finish the work that I didn't finish today. :( Oh well. I'm thinking about starting to mix up some of the cookie dough I need to make for the 5 dozen normal cookies and 2 dozen small cookies I need for this weekend. I'm sure weekend activities will be fun, but I haven't quite motivated myself yet. Luckily, there is still plenty of time if I don't get to them tonight.

Wednesday

Hmm, I don't have a lot to say today. I keep thinking it's Thursday. I opened a can of pop and it was flat. I was sad. At least it wasn't sharp. :D