Catalyst Travel Day

Our day started bright and early at 7am driving from Cedar Falls to Minneapolis.

Here is our lovely driver, Alicia. She wouldn't look at the camera for some funny reason. ;)

And this is one of my bosses, Angela

And this is Craig, Angie's husband

And here's me.

This is my new boss, Gabe, and his great wife, Erin, at the MSP airport. Love that place.

That's Sky on the left and Craig again. Moving sidewalks are fun even for big kids.

Not sure why this picture is so dark, but I don't really feel like photoshoping right now. But I think that Alicia's expression is priceless.

And this would my "injury" from the day. I claim full responsibility for buying new shoes and deciding to break them while traveling. Moleskin was found today!

Well, I had a whole paragraph of details, but it got deleted and I'm not going to write anymore tonight, so enjoy the pictures!

Retreat and Recharge

Today my team at work is heading to Atlanta for the week!  We’ll be joining 12,000 of other church leaders at Catalyst.  I’m super excited to see what God has in store for us.

And for some reason I thought I wouldn’t have enough to do before leaving.  So I made these treat bags for everyone!

I used the new “Vintage Labels” set again to make the sweet backgrounds and then found the perfect sentiments in “A Day at the Beach.”

I really love the new Spring Moss ink.  Covers great!

Of course a treat bag is not complete without the treats!  What did I make?  Well, they’re called Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkles.  When taste testing, I literally just stopped and thought, “This may be the best cookie the I have ever made.  This may even be the best cookie that I have ever eaten!” 

Seriously, just try them.  (From “Betty Crocker’s Cookies and Bars” magazine at the grocery store.  Really, 90% of my best desserts have come from these magazines.)

Hope that you all have a great week and I *hope* to share some pics from my trip when I get home.

Patti

 

Supplies
Stamps:	A Day at the Beach, Vintage Labels
Paper:	Spring Rain and White Cardstock
Ink:	Dark Chocolate, Enchanted Evening and Spring Moss
Ribbon:	Dark Chocolate Grosgrain, Enchanted Evening Saddle Stitch
Other:	Labels Four Die (Spellbinders
	all PTI unless otherwise noted

Flaming Marshmallows

If you know me well, or have at least sat around a campfire with me, you know that I cook my marshmallows like this:

Until a few years ago, I would just stick a brand new marshmallow straight into the fire and torch it.  I have since learned that the perfect marshmallow must be slow roasted first for inside gooey-ness and then torched for that wonderful charred crust.  :)  yum. 

And yes, I know many of you are appalled at the way I make my marshmallows.  I am aware that this is not the “proper” way to roast a marshmallow.  But I don’t really care. ;)

One s’mores innovation I stumbled upon this summer is pre-melting your chocolate.  I’ve never cared for the way that the chocolate is still hard in s’mores.  Doesn’t mesh with the gooey ‘mallow.   Hence this:

Find a clean-ish rock around your campfire and leave one half of your s’more there to warm up while you roast your marshmallow.  (Half of a pudgie-pie maker works great too!)  But be warned, your s’more will be even messier with that melted chocolate!

And of course the master fire-tender:

Other high points in life right now are:

• Lots of exciting thing happening with my job.  As we start to work on our 2nd campus, everyone’s job is morphing/changing/growing to accommodate new staff and multiply our ministries.  Personally, it means that I have decided to work full time.  God has shown me that He has given me the time now and I have just been selfish with it.
• The house is taking shape.  I “finished” the living room and dining room the other night, all of the surfaces are clear and partially decorated and most of the boxes are gone.  We buried the invisible fence this weekend for Melody.  She’s gotten zapped a few times, which is hard to see, but she has learned fast and now she will have the freedom to be outside more often and when we’re not home.  No more being stuck in the kennel all day.
• Just wrote my first check for our mortgage payment.  Only 359 payments left!!  It is still kinda crazy to look around here and see what God has bestowed upon us.  We hope only to be good stewards of this gift we have been given.

Isn’t that just a seriously cool picture?  I think maybe these days I am more inspired by my camera than paper and stamps.  **Gasp**  I know.  Do I really consider taking my stamping budget and put it into photography classes or save for equipment??  What do you think?  Thoughts would be great.

Hope this finds you all enjoying your week!  Thanks for stopping by.

Crazy Busy Life

I can’t believe how time has flown by!  We’ve been in Iowa for 41 days now.  We’ve owned our home for one, (we finally closed yesterday!!).   And we’re looking forward to measuring time in years instead of days. :)

I had been working full time in WI, but I got done with my day at 2:30pm.  Now I am working until 4pm with a 1/2hour commute.  So I feel like I have no time in the evenings to be blogging or crafting!  The simple solution would be to get up in the morning.  But I somehow seem to take every single minute of the morning to get ready, whether it is 2 hours or 40 minutes.

So instead I have neglected my two favorite hobbies.  But I am working on new hobbies, including gardening.  Look at this lovely:

While I may not have chosen peach roses if given the option, I certainly can’t complain about rosebushes that grow despite three years of neglect!

We’re off tomorrow for a long 4th of July weekend at my parents’ house in MN.  And I’ll sneak in trips to Ikea, Crate&Barrel, Paper Source and Archiver’s!  Iowa is many things, but a bustling shopping destination it is NOT. 

Saturday will be delegated for nothing but this:

I love my parents’ house on the 4th of July.  “Musts” include:  sitting in the pool all day, Tracy’s taco dip, the Tessiers, and fireworks at Ojibway Park.  We’ve been doing it the same way for years.  

There will also be visits with my girlfriend since birth, Elisa, my aunt and uncle who live in Africa and my sister’s boyfriend from California.  I’m glad to finally get to meet him!

One last bit before I head up to bed…

Do you know what one of my new assignments is at work?  Developing my pastor’s blog!  So the past few weeks I’ve been researching and thus reading lots of blogs.  And now as we move forward I’m going to get to learn HTML and CSS so that I can completely customize his blog.  I am just tickled pink about this part of my job, (the rest is great too!).  Whoever thought that all of my blogging skills/knowledge would transfer to work?  Some may say it’s a small world.  I like to say, it’s a big world, but there is a great planner.

Okay, goodnight all and hope to be back more frequently!

~ Patti

God is Good

For those of you who normally come here for food pics or crafty things, this is a different type of post...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've faced a great tragedy,

But have seen the works of what you bring

A display of faith that you give,

I don't know if I will ever understand

The depth of what you've done inside

But I know I won't find any worth apart from you.

 

I know that I've been

Given more than beyond measure

I come alive when

I see beyond my fears

I know that I've been

Given more than earthly treasure

I come alive

When I've broken down and given You control."

~"Beyond Measure," Jeremy Camp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We're moving and life is changing.  My mother will tell you that I don't do change well.  Let me rephrase that.  I love the new adventure.  It's the transition I hate.  The feeling of life out of control.  Stuck somewhere between your old life and your new life.  And completely surrounded by boxes.  Awful, awful boxes.

I feel compelled to write my story.  I'm not sure who will care to read it.  It is not written for my pity or praise.  I want to write this because God is good.  I have seen the works of God.  And I just can't be silent.  Like Peter and John said in Acts 4:20 "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Almost three years ago, on May 20th 2006, I married my college sweetheart, Adam.  Two days later we moved to Iowa; Adam had an internship for the summer.  Three months later we moved back to River Falls, WI to finish school.

During the winter of 2007, Adam felt called to worship ministry.  He found a school in Florida and applied.  I started looking for teaching jobs for after graduation.  He was devastated when he was not accepted.  Then came Visible School in Memphis, TN.  Adam got accepted and off we went.

I'll tell you that we both cried that first day after the family had caught their flights home.  We felt so alone.  We felt alone for a while.  Adam had plenty of people that he knew from school, but just didn't connect with any of them.  Same with me at work.

Then we found Living Hope.

I grew up in the Catholic Church.  I grew up in an authentic and real Catholic Church.  I loved it.  I knew God.  We had a relationship. 

Adam grew up in an Evangelical Free church.  Just a little different.  We struggled with where to go to church since we started dating.  We always went to church together.  Sometimes his church, sometimes mine, sometimes both.

In Tennessee we tried a few churches.  The Catholic church down there was more...old...outdated...not alive.  I just couldn't connect.  Through a classmate of Adam's we found Living Hope.  It is a non-denominational church that was real and alive for Christ.

We joined a small group (about 6-10 people who meet once a week to study the sermon, engage in fellowship and be there for each other).  Adam and I didn't start meeting with them until November of 2007, but by the time we left the following February I knew that I could call them anytime, anywhere, no matter how long we had been separated.

During Adam's winter break from school, he started to feel called away from full time ministry and back to agriculture.  We planned  to finish out the school year in TN and then hopefully move back home.  Adam started applying for jobs in January of 2008. 

An email was sent to Adam's old university advisor, asking him to be a reference on the applications.  Just over a week later, Adam had been offered, taken and started a job teaching at the university for the semester.  Didn't see that coming.

Since we knew that it would be short term, we stayed with my parents in MN (they lived 1/2 hour away from the university).  I was able to get a teaching job at the same preschool I worked at all through college.  Then I peed on a stick.

We were pregnant!!

It would be the first grandchild for both of our parents.  I was thrilled!  I started seriously considering becoming a stay at home mom.  My teaching job demanded so much from me that I was exhausted every night.  I knew that I couldn't be a mom and a teacher at  the same time to the level that would make me happy.

We had lived in MN for two moths.  I was about 10 weeks pregnant.  Adam and I were at church and the sermon was about giving your troubles and hardships to God.  Laying them at the foot of the cross.  As we wrote down our biggest struggles, we looked at each other and prayed that God would be with us if anything big did happen.  Our lives had been fairly bland.  We hadn't been tested.  We prayed that we could still be as devoted to God if something awful happened.  We prayed that we would continue to trust him.

Easter 2008 was a great day.  It would be my last healthy day for months.  March 23rd.

I went home sick from work the next day with flu like symptoms.  Went to urgent care and told to stay home the next day.  Probably a virus.  The next night I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance with severe stomach pains.  I was sent home because there was no found cause for the pain, but with strict orders to return if the pain localized.

We went back at 3:30am, Wednesday, March 26th.

I had an laproscopic (sp?) appendectomy later that morning.  We stayed in the hospital that night to monitor the baby.  I went home for three days.  Sunday, March 30th, I was back in the hospital with severe pain.  I spent a week in pain.  By Saturday the doctors had decided to do exploratory surgery.

That night we lost our little boy. 

Our little angel was 13 weeks old and was beautiful.  Aaron.  10 fingers, 10 toes, eyes, ears, nose, mouth.  God's miracle.

Later that day my OB doctor, who had observed the surgery, told us that there was a massive pool of infection sitting right over my uterus.

The week following Aaron's death I seemed to be getting better.  I was allowed to leave the hospital to attend the funeral.  April 11th, 2008.  The same day that Adam and I started dating five years before.  When I returned to the hospital I went downhill fast.  God had kept me strong enough to be able to bury my son.  But I was not healing.

The next day I was transferred to a much larger hospital in the Twin Cities where I would spend the next three weeks with JP drains, NG tubes, wound vacs, PIC lines, lots of CT scans.  By the time I was sent home, it was May 2nd.  5 weeks in the hospital.  Every single night was spent with my wonderful husband sleeping on an awful hospital cot next to me.

I spent almost two months more at my parents' house recovering.  By the time we moved for Adam's new job in July, I was feeling much better but was still easily exhausted and my muscles were very weak.

Adam's new job brought us to Central WI.  I found a job and we started going to Edgewood Community Church.  Our transient livestyle compelled us to jump in and make connections right away.  We taught Sunday school, helped with the high school youth group and joined another small group.

As we've moved along in life this past year, we've found that God was the only place to turn.  We have faced great tragedy but know that God has a plan.  I know without a shadow of doubt that God has a reason for taking my little boy to Heaven so soon.  I don't know if I will ever understand why, but I trust God. 

As Christmas approached, I started to get sad.  There was no little stocking on our tree.  No little one to bundle up and take to church with us.  Then I remembered where Aaron is.  He is in Heaven.  He got to celebrate Christmas in Heaven with Jesus.  I continued to think about my boy in Heaven.  He never had to suffer pain or heartache.  He never had to deal with the troubles that sin creates in our life.  My son is in the safest, most perfect place that a mother could ever hope for her son to be.

Do  I miss my son?  Sure.  Do I wish that I could have seen him grow to be a man?  With every breath I take.  But that is my plan.  God's plan is better.  God's plan is what's best for us.  He knew us before we were born.

Sometime in the past year I also let go of some of my fear of death.  Despite how wonderful Heaven is, I am still human and am attached to worldly things.  But when I die I get to meet my son.  I'm not rushing into traffic to speed up death, but I'm not as worried about what I am going to leave behind.  Aaron is already in Heaven, just waiting for me.  Waiting for his mom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here we are, May 11th, 2009.  About to move again.  And God is all over this move.  Adam had interviewed with John Deere in December for a position that would take us to Iowa and close to some of his family.  After almost three months of waiting, Adam is told that they wanted to offer him the job, but a hiring freeze was put in place and they needed to hire internally.

During the waiting, Adam had applied for another job in the same area of Iowa, but we never heard anything back.  He called to check on the job.  It had just been filled.

Early in March, that company calls Adam, out of the blue, and invites him to apply for another job.  In this economy, who has an employer call you with a job??  Needless to say, Adam ended up getting the job.

I told you the story about my new job already. (Read THIS post.)

The story of our house??  The house we will own in a few weeks??  That's God.  We took a trip to Iowa awhile ago to start house hunting.  Spent all day with a realtor looking at a wide variety of houses.  Nothing struck me.  But we need a place to live.

Later that night we were hanging out with Adam's cousin and his wife, Dallas and Marissa.  She says, "Hey, some friends of our might be selling their house if he gets the job he applied for.  It's really cute.  Do you want to see it?"  Well of course.  Nothing hurt by looking.

I fell hard.  It's great.  You'll see pictures someday soon to see just how great.  Oh, and did I tell you the date??  April 11th.  A significant day for us.

We chatted with Adam and Annie, the owners, for a long time.  My Adam got recruited to play with the other Adam's band.  And Annie is just cool.  Not to mention their 3 cute kids.  I knew that even if we didn't buy their house, we would be friends.

We continued our house search.  Every so often I'd ask Marissa if she'd heard anything new about Adam and Annie.  We got down to the serious, "We need a place to live or we will be homeless!!!" time.  So we planned another trip for house hunting.  A few days before the trip, the other Adam got his job! 

Our house hunting trip started at Adam and Annie's house.  We talked a lot about the house and a lot about life.  Annie is one of the few people that actually brought up Aaron.  So many people just don't know what to say about him that they say nothing.  I don't fault them at all.  Who knows what I would want if you had never been through it.  But I love when people talk about Aaron.  It gives me hope that he will not be forgotten.  It touched me that she acknowledged him.

We told Adam and Annie that we still needed to go look at the other houses, because you just never know.  They were so gracious and even invited us back for pizza later that night!

Nothing compared.  Every other house paled when we thought of Adam and Annie's house.  We wanted it.  And it wasn't even on the market yet.  Long story short, it was a blessing on both sides that we could push through the purchase agreement and are now just waiting for the loan to finish processing.  Closing is planned for May 29th, (my 25th birthday!).  (P.S.  Adam and Annie have an equally amazing story of their journey to this house.  It's not my story to tell, but just know that God has been with them too.)

So here Adam and I sit in transition.  11 days until we move.  17 days until we are homeowners.  20 days until we start our new jobs.  Surrounded by boxes.  But also surrounded by God's grace.  His plan has brought us through the valleys and pushed us to the mountain tops.  We have learned to wait for His directions.  They have not always been easy directions.  They have been painful at times, but they have always been right.  His directions have always brought us to a place in our lives that we would have never thought possible before.  Each turn in the road has brought us closer to Him.  My complete and absolute trust is in Him.  I'll continue to wait for directions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've faced a great tragedy,

But have seen the works of what you bring

A display of faith that you give,

I don't know if I will ever understand

The depth of what you've done inside

But I know I won't find any worth apart from you.

 

I know that I've been

Given more than beyond measure

I come alive when

I see beyond my fears

I know that I've been

Given more than earthly treasure

I come alive

When I've broken down and given You control."

~"Beyond Measure," Jeremy Camp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

::Sigh:: :)

I've been fairly absent from my blog lately.  And will probably be absent for a while.  But do you know what??  God is doing great things right now that are keeping me busy.

Did I tell you?  We're moving to Iowa!!  Never did I dream that I would say those words with true happiness, but that is how I feel.  Maybe joyful would be  a better description.

Below is about the only picture that I have from the last time we lived in Iowa, three years ago.  We moved there two days after our wedding for Adam's summer internship.  After a long, boring summer, I vowed never to return to that awful state.

Confused yet?  Since we have moved away, I have become much closer with Adam's extended family in Iowa.  I've also learned that we lived in a really old, boring town.  This time we'll be in a better town, and much closer to family. Including 6 little cuties like this:

Adam will be working for another co-op, doing pretty much the same thing as he is now, but with a better company who is more interested in his future.

Me?  Well, funny story.  So by accident found a job on our new church's website...applied...called to see if job was even still available...yes and they were already planning to set up an interview..."I'll be there on Sunday, does that work for you?"...interview on Sunday goes great...telling Adam about how it went...tap,tap,tap..."Do you have a minute to talk to the director?" says one of the interviewers...talk for few minutes..."Do you want the job?"  "YES!"  "Okay."...He adds as I walk about the door, "I knew as soon as we got your application."

God.  Thank you.  You are mysterious and wonderful.  Your plan is far more than I could ever hope to dream up myself.

And the last, and most exciting, bit of news?  Well, I'll leave you with a picture, of ...

We have been waiting on God's directions for, really, years for this point in our lives.  We keep waiting for directions.  Sometimes we have felt burdened by those directions.  But always, they are the best.  The right directions.  Without those burdens and detours, we could never have found our way to the blessings that God has given us in these last few weeks.  We pray that we will begin a season of steadiness, but also know that we have no idea what is in store for us next!!

Back in the Kitchen

I've been so consumed with building Felicity Avenue that it has been too long since I've done some good baking. Today I was checking my blogs and found this fabulous recipe from Sophistimom. Cream cheese pound cake. It peaked my interest for two reasons:

1. I hate pound cake. Good reason, huh? No really, I've never been a fan of it, especialy that Sara Lee stuff that some people try to use instead of shortcake. But I love Sophistimom's recipies. So by her good name I wanted to give it a chance.

2. I have been wanting to buy a petite loaf pan for a long time.

~AND~

I had to make some thing for a bake sale at church.

So I went to the craft store on main street (which has a great baking section!) and got my new petite loaf pan. (Excuse the messy pan, didn't feel like doing the dishes yet.) When I was checking out the lady asked if I had any liners. Liners for a loaf pan?! Awesome!! So for less than $12 I was off to the grocery store and home to make some goodies.

Here is the finished product:

Great lighting, huh? :) In one word, FANTASTIC! Baked perfectly in 24 minutes. With a double batch I ended up with 27 petite loaves. One for us, one for my Secret Santa at work and 25 for church. I would still be baking right now if I was making cookies for the bake sale. Scoop x12, bake, turn pan, bake, transfer to cooling rack. Repeat. x10. Yuck. Needless to say, I am thrilled with my baking adventure!

To top it all off, I got this 25 pack of holiday ziplock bags at the dollar store. Not quite up to my crafty standards, but it's a bake sale. The rest of the entries were made and packaged by high schoolers, so...don't want mine to overshadow their work. I will "craft-up" the loaf for my Secret Santa. Check back later this weekend.

And the best part of my weekend?????

Adam is home ALL weekend!!!!

Long, Dusty Days

Melody is quite happy with her dad's new happenings at work.  She starts licking his shoes, pants, hands, etc as soon as he walks in the door. 

Today we taught Sunday school.  When we were taking prayer requests, one girl told us about a sister of her friend who was really sick.  Through a few questions and later a phone call, we realized that this was the daughter of a couple in our small group.  Their preschool-aged daughter had already been sick for four days when we met last Tuesday.  Turned out her appendix had ruptured a week ago!  She was taken to a children's hospital 1 1/2 hours away.  Her dad seemed relieved to at least know what is going on ( the past week and a half they had been in and out of the doctor's office and all they heard was "It's just constipation").   Later this week she will have surgery to clean out her abdomen and then hopefully will go home.  I was scared when I got sick this spring, I can't imagine being that little and going through the same thing.  Please keep her in your prayers.

After Sunday school we went to church and then Adam left for work.  I went over to a new friend's house (she and her husband are in our small group too) and us and her 1 year old daughter when to our church's fall festival.  It was way too warm, but the leaves at the park were GORGEOUS!  Yummy hot dogs and caramel apples.

Adam's biggest excitement of the day was a new haircut.  It had been getting pretty shaggy.

Another week started.  Another week of waiting for directions.

Off and running

Okay, maybe not running but at least exercising.  After work today I went to the weight room and used the elliptical for 25 min.  Since getting out of the hospital this spring, I haven't really done much.  First I couldn't do anything, then I was too scared to do anything.  Went pretty well.  It helps that there is a TV built into each machine, so just watch the show and forget that you are burning calories!

Y-Care this morning went longer (10:45) since the school started late for teacher in-service.  That meant that I didn't get to 4K until almost the end of class.  A few of the kids came over and said hello to me, a few gave  me hugs and a few said they missed me!  Even the teacher said she missed me.  It's nice to be appreciated.

Went to youth group tonight.  The peanut butter cookies that I made yesterday were  a big hit.  Also started to organize the supplies.  The room has become a dumping pile and makes me want to cry when I look at it.  Adam played with the youth band tonight.  Sounded really good but the bass was so high that I felt more music than I heard.  I only had one girl show up in my small group, so we just chatted.

Tomorrow is the "big" day.  I've really been doing okay.  Adam and I are going out to dinner, whenever he gets off work.  Yup.

Off to bed.

Tuesday Ramblings

Well, here we are on Tuesday.  As promised, here is my picture of the day.  A little blurry, but this is one of my favorite candles I got at the White Candle Barn last year.  I bought this and four other large candles when I was out of town, forgetting that I had to lug them on the plane the next day!

As I was looking at the pics on my memory card, I realized that I have lots of projects that I haven't showed you yet.  I'll get to that on Thursday, well maybe Friday. ;)  Went to small group tonight.  It was good, but really deep, theological stuff.  Good to have some people to muddle through it with.  Made these peanut butter cookies today for youth group tomorrow.  They taste fine enough, but they don't look as nice and I didn't end up with as many cookies as I had hoped.  Oh well, it's not their last meal.  What else, hmmm...

When I have to ask that question it means one of two things: 1. I don't have anything to write about; or 2. I feel like I have too much to write about.  Kinda the latter.  I have missed blogging about certain events, which isn't really a big deal, but I like to have things "documented."  My online scrapbook.

Goodnight!

Why do we need titles?

Thinking of a title is setting me off tonight. 

What did I do today...got my TB test, went to my Y-Care site, went to the Y, played with kids, went home and slept, talked to mom for an hour and half (thankfully noticed afterwards that it was her cell phone and since we both have Sprint I won't be charged for those minutes) and opened my box from drugstore.com.

This is where my day started to have some "excitement."  I have started to use Seventh Generation cleaning products, but stores here don't carry everything so I found them on drugstore.com  (These are "green" products that are plant based, not petroleum based, and are also chlorine free.  I'm slowly trying to become more "green.")  They were even on sale!  The box was kinda mangled and wobbly.  Opened it up to find a MESS.  The bottles of bleach, fabric softener and liquid dishwasher detergent were all COVERED in liquid laundry detergent.  That bottle was empty.  At least the person who packed the box put all of those bottle in a big plastic bag.  Called customer service and a new bottle is on it's way all ready, but have to "return" the defective bottle. ???  They're paying for the shipping at least.

   

Went to Culver' s with the Youth Pastor from church and his wife.  Really nice people.  Sounds like he's got a really good program going.  Adam and I will both lead small groups on Wednesday nights.  Then 4-5 graders in on Sundays, busy folks we are. 

As were were driving home tonight I realized that I am actually starting to have a life: I am busy every night this week!

Monday: Dinner w/youth pastor

Tuesday: CPR/First Aid training at work

Wednesday: High school ministry leader meeting

Thursday: Driving to my folks'

Friday: Tiff's wedding

Whew!  Tomorrow is a trip to Madison to get some wedding gifts and print pictures for a few scrapbook projects.  Then home to get my but moving on those projects!  Oh, and grocery shopping.  I know I am going to forget to do this.

Maybe a re-cap and pics of last weekend will be posted tomorrow, as I procrastinate finishing my projects. ;)

Home again, home again...

Home sweet home. It's 11:12pm and QUIET. Adam and Mel are sleeping, the tv and radio are off. The traffic is as quiet as can be. And I just got off of an extremely creative high. Good feelings.

Got home midday, just enough time to pick up a little, then Adam's Iowa grandparents and uncle stopped by for a few hours. (We're on the way to Sheboygan where Adam's aunts live.) We got some Black Angus hamburger, arm roast and stir-fry meat, plus fresh-frozen sweet corn and just-picked green beans. YUM! Need to call Dad for his green-bean recipe.

Adam had a headache all night so he just slept and vegged. I took advantage of that time by starting to make something for someone. I must be sneaky because someone connected to the recipient reads this blog. So no pics or explanations,

just know that I am in LOVE with Photoshop elements right now. And fonts.

Like this one I used tonight.

I used this one too.

Tomorrow I get my TB test for work; then off to the Y to meet up with Stephanie. She's going to take me to the elementary school where my YCare site is and then back to the Y to meet some of the kids. Tomorrow night we go to dinner with the Youth Pastor from church, excited to see what he's got in mind. Then a couple more days and we're off again! This time back to MN for a wedding and Kristi's big move! I wonder if Mom has started crying. Odds are pretty good.

Anywho, off to bed, but will share more about our trip and add some pictures later. Goodnight!

Some catch-up time

Well, I get behind in blogging, then I get even farther behind because I just have too much since I haven't blogged, so I don't blog. Bad cycle.

Job Update:

Did not get the library job. Disappointing, but I will still enjoy working at the Y Daycare. For sure, I'll be 7:30am-12pm as an assistant teacher in the 4K program. Which is kinda nice. Hopefully there will be an opening in their Y-Care (school age before school) program. Then I would go there at 6:30am and miss some of the prep time in the 4K, but still be there until noon. Thursday I have my orientation for a few hours and then maybe some subbing hours the next week. Both of the programs that I'll work in will follow the school calendar. Which could be very nice around the holidays! Pay is not as good as the library, but better than it could have been.

With my new job I do get a free Y membership. So if I stick to it, I could really get some of my muscle strength back. And hopefully, finally, start losing some weight. I'll already BE at the gym. Hard to make excuses not to go!

Last weekend my parents and Kristi came out for a visit. When Kristi wasn't sitting on the computer or sleeping, she was kinda fun. They got here Thursday night and we had a really good pork roast, watched some Olympics and celebrated Dad's birthday. I made him this peach cobbler. Homemade crust, thank you very much!

Friday Mom, Dad and I (Adam was at work and Kristi was sleeping) toured the area. Ended up going to dinner at Walker's where Dad, Kristi and I all got the burger baskets which come with fries and a milkshake. Yum! I'll admit, when we first moved here, I thought this place looked kinda nasty from the outside. Need some updates there. But inside it's a nice place, good dinner atmosphere and good food.

Saturday was a trip to Horicon Marsh. Mom got introduced to the many, many frogs that get disturbed during their sunbathing. Kristi counted 161 frogs on a 2.3 mi trail, but I think she missed just as many. Mel jumped off the boardwalk to catch a frog. Don't think she minded, but it was pretty deep and she was on a leash!

Kristi says there are five frogs in this picture. I only see four. Anyone else see five?

After a good BLT and corn on the cob lunch (and a nap!) we went to the Dodge County fair. A little too drinky for us, but then my husband tells us that is just kinda small town WI. We stayed for the Craig Morgan concert, which was really good. Wasn't sure what Mom and Dad would think, they're not really concert people, but I know Adam really likes Craig Morgan. Ended up that everyone had a good time.

And today I had to go to Oshkosh. To get new glasses. Because my old ones got eaten. By Mel. Grrrrr. The glasses fell off my nightstand and I was half asleep so I didn't pick them up. Dozens of other nights this has happened and my glasses survived. Guess she wasn't tired. So $300+ later, I'll be able to see again on Friday (without contacts).

Been working on more of my card packs. This is the one that I need to get in the mail this week. No, I am not worried that the recipients will see them or know what they are getting, because I don't really think that many people read this. Barb, Wava, Mom and a few random others. But if you do read this, leave me a post so I know who's reading my blog! Maybe I'm more popular than I think. Ha, not likely.

Front of box w/ gift card enclosure:
Other side of box, showing off one of the cards:

Lastly, we're hopefully going to start getting more connected at church. We're having dinner with the Youth Pastor next Monday to talk about middle and high school ministry on Wednesdays and hopefully nursery or children's ministry on Sundays. It'll be good to meet some new people.

Okay, FINALLY done with this post. Blogger is only user friendly to a point. Then in just plain old stinks. I think the pictures will be kept to a minimum from now on!