Wednesday: volks parade

It was a beautiful day out today, so I decided to ride by bike down to the parade.

For those of you unfamiliar with tulip time in Holland, the first parade starts with street scrubbing. Basically, anyone from the community that wants to can dress up in their Dutch Costume and clean the street.

These are random people that I don't know, but the boy is one of the cool water carriers. He's also drenched, because it was hot out and half the fun is getting each other wet.

Here are Allison and Scarlet. You can see that the streets are wet from being washed.

Next up were Jamie and the kids. I almost missed them because I thought Jamie had a different costume and I was on the other side of the street. I had to do some running to catch up and cross over.

Next up was Ben's alma mater. I know he played drums, although I'm not sure what he played while marching.

Since I saw Ben's alma mater, I thought that I should wait for mine too. I was going to leave after it. However, they ended up being the last band. Oh well, there were some interesting floats and other ...segments?... to make it worth the wait. I took a picture of the drum major in honor of Nathan.

Tuesday: this and that

Today, like most days lately, when by rather quickly. I did some errands, including getting groceries. I ended up with four containers of frozen juice. We don't drink a lot of juice, but it sounded really good.

Oh, I also played some racquetball. Dad tried to cheat when the score was 14-7 (Dad) by ending the game. But I made him play out that last point. He also hit me in the shoulder, just after I was thinking that we had been doing a really good job of not hitting each other. To make it up to him I hit one ball towards him, but he flailed out of the way. It was funny.

Good night. I'm tired.

Tuesday: first appt

I had my first OB appointment today. :) It didn't really feel like much of an appointment, because they mostly just gave me reading material and I gave blood for some tests. I also found out that I might only get one ultrasound at 20 weeks. I was hoping for more.

I'm only feeling ok. Nights, right before bed, have been the worst, although I haven't thrown up. Yesterday I was gone for about four hours and so exhausted when I got home. My naps have increased in length to about two hours and I'm not having trouble going to sleep at night. But besides those things it isn't going too badly. It's nice not having a job so I can nap.

Monday: quilt show

Today I went to the Holland quilt show. The quilts were beautiful. There were several kinds that I can never see myself making, but they were still amazing.

Here are my two favorites:

Salvaged Rainbow by Meghan Derks

and Delicious by Shelley Wisendhall (that name might be spelled incorrectly...the picture with the info was out of focus).

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! It was a fun day...brunch, dessert, art-in-the-park, and pizza.

Brunch had a delicious chilled mango soup. It was tangy and kind of like melted ice cream, but still edible. Then I came out ahead at art in the park as I didn't buy anything and found a quarter on the ground.

I took a few pictures and this is the only one I really like. I know it's rather crooked, but...that adds to the charm. It is of Ben's Grandma, and I think she is saying "ooo" to something Scarlet was doing.

I also realized that I forgot to actually talk to Pat today (sorry!!). My plans got messed up when Dad called me and then by the time I realized that I can call people too it was too late. But whether I did a good job of showing it or not, I really love all the Moms in my life.

Sunday: Happy Mother's Day

...to me! :)

Ben wished me Happy Mother's Day a few times too and that was wonderful.

Saturday: fireworks

Tulip time started today! I'm kind of excited...it's been a long time since I've been around for the festival. We saw the fireworks this evening. It ended up being colder than I expected and we didn't quite plan correctly...oh well. The fireworks were pretty and loud.

Thursday: a present

I was in the car this afternoon changing my shoes from my comfortable flats to my dressy heels and what did I find in one of the shoes? The green-tailed mouse toy. Flurry was obviously just wishing me luck. :)

Wednesday: busy

Hmm. I'm trying to think of something interesting to write about. Today was rather busy...career fair, talking with Jess, racquetball, and picking up Jamie's kids. But nothing special really stuck out. So I guess this will just be a short post.

Tuesday: grumpy

This afternoon I was grumpy. Luckily, only Flurry was around.

Unluckily, Flurry's response was to bite my legs, which made me grumpier.

Monday: bee

Today I was doing just a little bit of yard work since it was sunny and I went into the shed to get a rake. I heard a BZZZ behind me, and so turned around and looked up. There were two bee hives and a gigantic bee. It was about three times the size of a normal bee. Normally I'd ask Ben to spray the bee stuff at this point, but I'm not really sure how to safely spray these nests. The are right above the door, so it is either straight up (and still might have a problem getting them) or from inside (which seems like a bad idea).

I also walked the Holland mall with Betsy. The mall is pretty dead, especially compared to when I was in high school. But it was a bit cool outside so it was nice to have a comfortable place to walk.

Monday: week 5

Well, I guess the + on the stick was actually correct. The nurse on the phone said I'm due Jan 4, but according to the internet calculations I'm due Jan 1.

Also, the general practioner doesn't do OB stuff, which I understand. But you can't exactly ask people for recommendations without them wondering (or asking) if you're pregnant. It's a problem. So if I were still an unpregnant person, I'd ask for recommendations now while you can still say you're not pregnant. :)

Sunday: kitty

Travis and Allison came over briefly after church. Scarlet got to see the kitty. She got to pet the kitty too as long as Flurry was looking the other way. Needless to say, Flurry is not fond of small people. (She's been doing much better with big people lately though!) So she would hiss at Scarlet and Scarlet would just laugh like it was the best thing. Phew. I'd rather have her laugh than be scared of Flurry.

Uncle Ben also helped her play the drums for a bit.

Saturday: something I like about Michigan

I like that when you go to the gas pump, you can use the little lever thing in the handle so that you don't actually have to squeeze the handle the whole time you're getting gas. That was definitely something I missed in New York.

Friday: windows

Today we got new windows installed. It is rather exciting because the old ones didn't really move anymore and one had a large hole in it into which I stuck a sock to prevent a draft. However, because of this I ended up staying in the basement with Flurry most of the day. I put a box at the top of the stairs to prevent her from getting out, but if she really wanted to she could get out. She just didn't really want to as long as I was in sight.

Thursday: tornadoes

This morning I sat in a waiting room for two hours while mechanics worked on making the car feel better. A news show was on...I think FOX news, but I wasn't paying much attention. During that two hours, I feel like I heard the same thing over and over and over about the tornadoes..."This is a terrible disaster that will never be forgotten."

Needless to say, by the end of the two hours I was glad to get out of there. And that made me feel bad, because I was so sick of hearing about the tornadoes, but there are lots of people that are affected by them.

Dusty and Laura are OK, but have left for a little bit. Here's a fun conversation about meat in a cooler...

Tuesday: girls' night out

Tonight I went to a girls' night out. It was fun...we stood in line for quite a while for a massage, but it was worth it.

Besides that, today felt rather busy. But since I took a long nap in the middle of it I'm not sure that was actually busy.

Monday: lost lost found lost

Lost: 2 phone chargers, although 1 might be in storage. One is very lost.

Lost: the top sheet of our white sheets. How did it get separated from the rest of the set?

Found: one phone charger! It was in a bag with the signed Frisbee and was the very last thing I unpacked.

Lost: one recipe for a bisquick/salsa/chicken/cheese meal. It had been lost in NY, found while the movers were packing, and is now lost again. I haven't looked on the internet for it.

Monday: +

I took a pregnancy test today. I almost waited to take it because we only have one left and I didn't want to get a negative result and have to buy more. But I also have been feeling rather weird the last few days and our curiosity got the better of us. So I took the test. And it was positive.

Yay!

But it's also a bit scary.

Sunday: Victory!

Happy Easter! I woke up today with the word "Victory" in my head. I was hoping to sing "Victory in Jesus" at church, but I'm not really sure if that is an Easter song. Of course, we had forgotten to turn on the alarm clocks and awoke 27 minutes before the service was supposed to start. We made it with about 10 seconds to spare, but we made it.

Then we went to see all the families. At one party there was an Easter egg hunt. One girl wasn't able to be there, so Ben and I did her basket for her. It was my first ever Easter egg hunt, so I was pretty excited about it. And the basket matched my shirt!

Then we saw my family for a delicious dinner. I tried artichoke. While I think it might be an ok food, it might be too much work for me to really like it. Then we quickly stopped by the other side of Ben's family and then made it home.

Saturday: I forgot

Why I forgot to post tonight, a few thoughts by Amanda

I forgot to post tonight because I had other things on my mind. Why do I have a runny nose? How can I slightly change this mini quilt to brighten it up? Is it too early to go to bed?

Maybe you're telling yourself, "Self, do my eyes deceive me or did Amanda post tonight after she said she forgot to?". My response to that is that I practically forgot to post...usually I do it before getting ready for bed, but tonight Im posting from bed...and it took some willpower to stop the game I was playing and post.

Friday: Good Friday

Jesus wept and pleaded with his Father to not have to endure the pain of the cross. Reading between the lines, I think he was scared. But yet he went through torture for me.

While I'm incredibly glad that he went through with it, I'm also glad that he didn't want to. There are things that I'm scared of, but if I have to go through them I can rely on the strength of Jesus.

Thursday: this and that

Let's see...today I did some random things. I helped one of Ben's aunts move a little bit of stuff to her new house. Most of the moving is happening on Saturday though. It's a very cute house...and it's older, so it has all these random things in it that might it fun. Cheryl and I put together a shelving unit. It made me feel like an engineer again. Especially since we had a few problems (why does pre-built furniture never seem to go together as easily as it should).

Then Cheryl and I went grocery shopping. We almost didn't go since there was nothing urgent that we needed, but we also realized that the store was probably just going to get busier and busier as the weekend went on. Needless to say, it was still rather busy for a Thursday afternoon.

Then I took a nap. I've been trying to not take naps this week because then I have a hard time falling asleep, but staying awake didn't seem to be much of an option. I made Flurry take a nap with me by sitting in her favorite chair.

Wednesday: easy day

Today was a rather easy day.

I started the morning by making donuts. I made them because last weekend I really wanted some but didn't have any frozen batter. So now I have some frozen batter. And I had some donuts!

I did a little cleaning and made a few phone calls, but there was nothing huge on my list that needed to be done. So I finished my book and did some quilting. Oh! I also talked with Jess a little bit over the computer but her computer overheated so it was rather short.

Tuesday: r-ball

Dad and I played racquetball today. We both won one game. Then he came over for dinner, and it was nice to see him.

Besides that, not much happened today. We just had our first thunderstorm which is cool.

edit: I wrote this yesterday but clicked the wrong button so it just saved and didn't post.

Monday: a tour

This is what I woke up to this morning. At least it was nice enough to stay off the driveway.

I also finished unpacking the last few things upstairs, so I thought I'd put up a few more pictures.

bathroom

second bedroom (it has some of Ben's clothes, but besides that we don't use it. Flurry tries her hardest to make us keep the door open though.)

Bedroom

Bedroom from another angle

office/bookshelf area (although we don't use it for an office)

It actually ended up being a rather busy day. I started to contact some people about mowing our lawn in NY (which felt really odd with snow on the ground here). Ben and I had lunch with someone we went to college with. I got a new library card. I tried to send some packages, but this post office won't tape my packages shut. I did manage to run into someone else I went to college with, so that was fun. Then I bought groceries. I realized half way through that I was getting rather cranky, but luckily there was no one for me to be cranky towards. Then I had dinner with some family.

I'll leave you with this thought that I thought when I needed to wait for about 10 minutes and realized that I had left my iPad downstairs. "I'll read! What a novel idea."

Sunday: a profound thought

Are pet fish really pets since you don't pet them?

edit: I added the following picture for Ashley. I did once have someone ask me if we

always wore wooden shoes.

Saturday: lights

Ben's parents came over today to see where we are living. While they were here we managed to figure out what the light switch that seemed to do nothing does, find the third electrical circuit in the basement, and figure out how to turn on the lights under the cabinets in the kitchen.

One of them must have plugged in the cabinet lights without us watching, because it took us a while to figure out how they got turned on. I kept flipping light switches with no luck. Then as I was getting dinner ready I just happened to notice a plug that was plugged in and wondered if that's why they were on. Phew.

Friday: textbooks

So during the last seven years, Ben and I have lugged around about 10 boxes of textbooks from house to house. Several of the books we have two copies of, but we lug them all around anyway. Then Ben said he needed some as a reference for his new job. So I went to pick them up from the storage area.

It made lugging them all over the country suddenly worth it. I also got to feel rather thin as I snaked in between stacks of boxes trying to find the right ones.

Thursday: mall

I went with Cheryl, Allison, and Scarlet to the small GR mall today. We had lunch there and they needed to get some stuff at one of the stores. The lunch was delicious...an egg scramble. I asked for raisin toast and when it came out there was icing on it. At first I was disappointed because that wasn't what I really wanted, but after I started eating it I enjoyed it. It was like a little cinnamon roll.

There were also these huge fish in little fish ponds in the middle of the mall. It was fun watching Scarlet enjoy them.

I think I also figured out the trick to getting long hot showers in this house. We figured out how to get hot showers, but they didn't last quite as long as I like. (Don't get me wrong...they were really close to the right length. And they were never cold. Just not perfect.) I thought about telling you the trick but I don't think anyone would really care.

Wednesday: super productive

Thanks to Ryan's idea, I captured a video of myself cleaning up the living room. He suggested making a stop motion video, but after about 15 minutes of video processing (and only getting through 15 seconds of video) I decided that was a bad idea. So instead I grabbed just a few shots from the time it took me to clean. It makes me look like a super-productive cleaner.

Tuesday: not so productive

Today wasn't as productive as yesterday. I still got several things done, but none as cool as going from a messy kitchen to a clean kitchen. Because of this, I've decided to add finishing the living room to tomorrow's list. And it'll give me something to take a picture of.

This morning I had lunch with a friend that I haven't seen in years, and that was nice. Then we ended up picking up Ben's parents from the airport at night. We got to drive in a Volt for the first time...it was pretty nice. Lots of buttons to play with.

Monday: first day alone

Today was my first day alone while Ben worked. It went by rather quickly. My major goals of the day were to finish unpacking/cleaning the kitchen, do the laundry, and have lunch with Dad. I had several other goals if those were finished.

I got two of the three goals completed; I didn't get to the laundry. Dad and I went to the good cafeteria at Hope and it was good. It was nice to see him. When I got home I still had a long ways to go on the kitchen, but Flurry was begging me to take a nap with her. So I did. However, I still managed to get the kitchen finished. The cupboards are completely full, but I did manage to fit almost everything that we use on a semi-normal basis in them. I did have to put a package of flour in the freezer though.


I forgot a picture from yesterday. It was a lovely day out, so we spent quite a bit of time in the sun room/porch area.

Sunday: church and picnic

This morning we went to Engedi church. I liked it, although I did get rather sad at one point because my friends weren't there. I know I'll make new friends, but they won't be the same.

Then we went over to Travis and Allison's for dinner. It was a beautiful day out so we grilled. We also tried to play a little frisbee, but it was rather windy.

Ben starts work tomorrow and I think I'm having some sympathy nerves for him. I feel like something big is going to happen tomorrow, but I don't expect anything big to happen to me. I do have a list of things I'm hoping to get done though, including finishing unpacking the kitchen.

Saturday: Mom

Today is the anniversary of Mom's death. I've been mulling over a topic for this post, but wasn't able to come up with a good one. While I may not have much to say this year, I still love her and still miss her.

Friday: family nap

This week of vacation has been rough on Ben and I, so after our one errand today we were both exhausted. So we took a nap. Flurry joined us. It ended up being two hours. While it isn't that unusual for me to take a nap that long, it is a bit surprising this week since I've been getting plenty of sleep.

In other news, it's amazing what was in my kitchen in NY that I couldn't find. For example, I had two small cans of shortening. I needed some more, but couldn't find any. So I bought three sticks (that was the smallest amount). I threw out one can, but I still have too much shortening. I also found a little jar of curry powder that I didn't realize we had. (So we made curry this evening.)

Thursday: broken

This morning I had a new flavor of yogurt. It wasn't as good as I was hoping. But Flurry still enjoyed the half-lid that I let her have.

I also found the third broken thing from the move. The first two were rather minor items. But seriously, can you believe that they didn't pack the silverware...er, plasticware...better?!?

Wednesday: more settling in

Today's "big" activity was getting groceries. We decided to go to Meijer. I really like Meijer, and they've updated the store quite a bit since I've been there last. (For those that don't know, I guess Meijer is similar to a Wal-Mart...but better.) The food selection is better than the close grocery store in Owego and probably similar to Wegmans.

We also got several boxes unpacked today. Ben got the TV all set up. And I found the sheets! I was actually looking for some pins for sewing, but they were being rather elusive. And I keep getting hot at night, so the sleeping bags had to go.

Flurry says hi. She's glad to have been let out of the bedroom.

Tuesday: stuff

Today the movers dropped off our stuff. It turns out that we have a lot of stuff. It fit so neatly into our house, and so not neatly into the new house/storage area.

We've got the important things set up, like the computers. I also emptied 2.5 boxes in the kitchen, mainly while looking for things to make spice tea with. I also want to get the kitchen boxes finished to move some other things around, but that will happen tomorrow.

Monday: we made it

We made it to the house! It's a very nice house...pictures to come shortly. The Internet guy came and (hopefully) got it set up, but there is no wireless so I can't post do anything with it yet.

We had dinner with Dad and Pat and it was nice to see them. I guess that's really all I have to say today; it was a boring but relaxing day.

Sunday: good byes

Today was the worst good bye day.

But first, a cool story. I messed up my ATM card a while back (it's a long and complicated story) and got a new PIN number...I think in early February. I got it, looked at it for a second, and then put it somewhere, thinking that I'd find it again before I had to use the ATM. Well, I realized last night as I was half asleep that I didn't have my PIN number. But I did think of four digits in my have dream state. In the morning I first tried the old PIN, which unsurprisingly didn't work. So I tried the four digits that I dreamed last night. And they worked. How cool is the brain??

Church gave us a nice send off with some cake.

Ben also played the drums...fun songs were picked out just for him.

But it was the time after both services that was the hardest, as we said good bye to the best friends that we've made in New York. I know that everyone hates good byes, but I've decided they're good in a way too. They give value to the relationships that were made.

“No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are throroughly persuaded of each other’s worth. “ Robert Southery

But I still have Ben. He held my hand as I cried when we left the parking lot. He even shifted with his left hand so he didn't have to let go of my hand.

We finally left Owego around 3pm.

Flurry did ok. She was quiet some of the time and when she was crying they weren't the super distressed cries, just the annoyed meows.

Saturday: potluck

The movers moved everything out of our house this morning. They were all out by noon. I found it odd how they were willing to pack some things (like a half used bottle of fabric softener) but not other things (like an unopened bottle of laundry detergent).

We cleaned, with Jess' help for most of the afternoon. Cleaning is annoying.

Then we had a potluck with our friends. I've loved the potlucks that we've had; there is always good food and laughter. i was hoping for a game of frisbee, but it was a little too cold. And I was having too much fun talking with people. But we did get a signed frisbee as a gift!

Toledo

Well, we made it to Toledo tonight. That was our goal. Besides Ben having a bad headache, the drive (about 8 hours) went well.

a lot of other things happened yesterday and today that I want to write about, but I want to wait until I have pictures. I am pretty sure that I have the camera adapter somewhere in the car, but i'm not quite sure where. So hopefully I get the posts posted on Tuesday (Im not sure I'll have Internet access tomorrow).

Friday: packing and party

Today the movers came and packed us all up. Well,they still have the upstairs bathroom and a few misc.things to finish, but they got almost everything done.

then I went to a girls night were we went out for dinner and then played some games. It was a lot of fun.

And Im exhausted. I have some pictures, but not the energy to find the adapter to post them. Good night.

We started taking some things apart today before the movers come first thing tomorrow. My desk only took about 10 minutes to get into small enough pieces to get out the door, so we're waiting to do Ben's until tomorrow morning.

We moved the picnic table into the garage because it is supposed to snow (at least a little bit) tonight. While we were doing that I decided that I should do a quick rake on one side of the house while we still have rakes...leaves get caught there every year. It was a little drizzly and a little cold, but not too drizzly and not too cold. I actually had a pretty nice time outside.

Wednesday: small change of plans and lunch

Well, today was going to be rather busy as Ben and I had several last things to finish up before the movers come tomorrow. Then the movers called and said that they aren't going to come until Friday...which actually works out a little better for us in the end.

You'd be proud of me...I'm even making some of the phone calls. I'm making the easy ones, but I'm proud that I'm not making Ben call everyone.

I had lunch with Jess and Heidi which was fun as usual. Actually, it was a little more fun than normal because Heidi was there. And I found a person to give all my extra cardboard boxes to! I was going to recycle them, but reusing is even better.

Speaking of things you put out at the curb, we almost missed our last trash pick up this morning. I figured that I'd have plenty of time to get it out, although I really wasn't sure when it got picked up. I woke up around 8:45 (later than I have been waking up) and got up to put it out. Then I started hearing this weird noise...I thought it sounded like an owl. Then I thought that maybe it was the garbage truck. So I threw some clothes on to at least get the trash can out there, and then I could go back through the house and pick up the last trash. Well, I got the can to the curb about 30 seconds before they came by. Phew.

Wednesday: pants and cookie cake

I wore my comfortable pants for most of the day today.

I don't wear them very often, but all of my jeans were in the wash. They're super comfy, but I need to be in the right mood. And not have to leave the house.

I did change into jeans for Bible Study though. They surprised us at the end with a nice cookie cake.

Monday: dreams, food, and Benadryl

I woke up in the middle of a dream this morning. I was in school. It felt like late high school because I was riding a bus. In English, we were studying "The Metamorphosis" and had to write a paper comparing and contrasting Gregor Samsa (i.e., the guy who turns into a cockroach) (yes, I had to Google what his name actually was) to a real person. Except the only person I could think of was the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast", so I was trying to figure out how I could convince the teacher to let me use him.

In other news, today was a great day in our house for finishing off food! We finished off a yogurt, a box of noodles, a can of white sauce, a can of red sauce, a can of chicken, a box meal of fried rice, the last of our eggs, a bag of tortilla chips, and the Coke. While we won't be able to finish everything that we have in the fridge, we are making pretty good headway.

We gave Flurry some Benadryl today to see if it would help sedate her for the upcoming car ride. It didn't. It actually seemed to make her slightly more alert, which the vet said could happen. So instead of taking a nap this afternoon with me she cleaned herself. We will be trying some different medicine tomorrow or Wednesday.

Sunday: misc little things

*After church today we went to Applebees. On the menu cover there are currently four people (two couples) sitting around a table. It matched us almost perfectly...even the order that we sat in. The only thing wrong was that Ben has dark hair instead of blonde. I tried finding a picture of it online, but was unable to. :(

*We think that Flurry can tell something big is happening and seems to be a little off.

*I started a new blog solely for quilting. I'll still post some quilting pictures here (when quilts finish or when nothing else happened that day), but I'll probably post more in-progress pictures over there. We'll see. I figure the worst that happens is that I don't post on it anymore.

*I don't have to work tomorrow!! Woo-hoo!! That means I can go to bed any time that I want to.

Saturday: another farewell

Tonight we said goodbye to our Saturday night gaming group. It's been fun getting to know them and the food has been good.

My pet dragonling turned into a silver dragon (oh, I've always wanted a dragon) and I got to roll 11 d20 to kill a red dragon. Unfortunately, that also killed me.