About 1 minute in, Mary is hiding behind a lamp
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
All moved in, no fatalities to report. Only minor injuries
Well, we closed on the house and we moved in. Pictures of the new place can be found in various facets of the internet (Our Flickr page, and Mary's Facebook are two I can think of off the top of my head.) I'll add a link to this post later.
I feel like we'll be unpacking boxes 'till the end of time, but as of this weekend it's actually starting to look like a house.
Moving things into the basement was an adventure. Whoever designed the stairway to get down there did not take into account the fact that people might one day want to bring down furniture, the couch got stuck half way down. After a swift Marykick™ the couch chased me down the stairs like the giant ball from Raiders of the Lost Ark and I ended up with a slightly hurt ankle. But it's down there now and it looks great.
A couple of weeks ago we installed a dog door so Wampa can go into the back yard without waking us up at 4 in the morning. Kevin was going to do it for us, but that ended up leading to the 2nd injury of the move (And one that involved a quick trip to the ER) when a screen door slammed on Kevin's thumb, fracturing the tip and slicing the nail off almost completely.
Overall I'm loving the new place, moving is stressful but that was expected. It really is turning into a great little home, and Mary and I keep planning little things to make it even better.
I feel like we'll be unpacking boxes 'till the end of time, but as of this weekend it's actually starting to look like a house.
Moving things into the basement was an adventure. Whoever designed the stairway to get down there did not take into account the fact that people might one day want to bring down furniture, the couch got stuck half way down. After a swift Marykick™ the couch chased me down the stairs like the giant ball from Raiders of the Lost Ark and I ended up with a slightly hurt ankle. But it's down there now and it looks great.
A couple of weeks ago we installed a dog door so Wampa can go into the back yard without waking us up at 4 in the morning. Kevin was going to do it for us, but that ended up leading to the 2nd injury of the move (And one that involved a quick trip to the ER) when a screen door slammed on Kevin's thumb, fracturing the tip and slicing the nail off almost completely.
Overall I'm loving the new place, moving is stressful but that was expected. It really is turning into a great little home, and Mary and I keep planning little things to make it even better.
Friday, February 13, 2009
New year, new house
Like Mary mentioned in the last post, we were looking into buying a new house. Well, now we have a closing date. If all things go according to plan, and they rarely do, we'll officially own the house at 4:00PM on February 23rd. For the Kyle Reeses out there yelling "TELL ME THE YEAR!" That would be 2009. If you're interested in the house, check out our flickr page.
Other than going through the home purchase, not much has been going on. I'm visiting family and friends in CA next week. Mary will be staying here making sure the dog doesn't burn down the house. I wish she could have come but hopefully she'll get to next time. I'm hoping next time will be in May around my Birthday.
Other than going through the home purchase, not much has been going on. I'm visiting family and friends in CA next week. Mary will be staying here making sure the dog doesn't burn down the house. I wish she could have come but hopefully she'll get to next time. I'm hoping next time will be in May around my Birthday.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Happy New Year!
Well 2009 is here! Hopefully this year will be a good one!
Wow I haven't updated in a while.. Let's see what has been going on in our lives.. Sue visited for Thanksgiving and Christmas in Michigan, it was great having her and we miss her a lot. The holidays were fun and went by surprisingly quickly. I'm still looking for a good job and am wishing I could sell my diploma, for all the good it is doing me! We're also thinking of buying a house instead of renting, as right now it would actually save us a lot of money each month. I found one that me and Jim both love, so we'll see how things go with that! Other than that we haven't done anything very interesting and are just trying to stay cheerful and warm despite the winter weather! Hope everyone has a happy New Year!
Wow I haven't updated in a while.. Let's see what has been going on in our lives.. Sue visited for Thanksgiving and Christmas in Michigan, it was great having her and we miss her a lot. The holidays were fun and went by surprisingly quickly. I'm still looking for a good job and am wishing I could sell my diploma, for all the good it is doing me! We're also thinking of buying a house instead of renting, as right now it would actually save us a lot of money each month. I found one that me and Jim both love, so we'll see how things go with that! Other than that we haven't done anything very interesting and are just trying to stay cheerful and warm despite the winter weather! Hope everyone has a happy New Year!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Testing this map thing...
I visit the website www.tripadvisor.com occasionally, and just noticed I can put this on my website, thought I would give it a try. It's a really good website, by the way, for planning trips, or seeing if there's anything fun to do in your local neighborhood...
There are a lot of spaces left to fill, darnit!
There are a lot of spaces left to fill, darnit!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Pretty colors
Last weekend Jim and I took a short weekend trip to New England to see pretty fall foliage colors (you can guess whose idea this was). I always thought Michigan was pretty in the fall time, but it doesn't quite compare to the scenery we saw in Vermont and New Hampshire area. It was a wonderful trip, and we did it on the cheap (relatively speaking) so it really wasn't that bad.
Here are a few highlights on the way:
This was the route we took. We went through 12 states and 2 countries, 7 states I had never visited before.
We stopped for lunch in the Niagara Falls area. We ate at the Hard Rock Hotel, something of a tradition for me and jim, but it was way overpriced for what we had this time. Don't think we'll be back. It was kind of funny that we sat at the same table we ate at last time. I did enjoy our stop at the Coca-Cola Store where we had some yummy maple walnut ice cream. We drove to Latham, New York (near albany) and slept in our car for the night.
In the morning I rinsed my hair out with shampoo using a gallon of purified water in the parking lot.. it worked surpisingly well! We had breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, which were very common in New England (I had a pumpkin muffin and pumpkin latte, mmmmmmm). We drive the remainder of New York into Vermont, and start along Route 100 - considered one of the most scenic routes in America. The whole drive was filled with beautiful colors. It wasn't just one pretty look-out here and there, the whole route was just gorgeous.. We stopped at cute little country stores, ate yummy fudge and vermont cheese, and just enjoyed the scenery. Here are some of my favorite photos from route 100.
We stopped at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, Vermont. It was really crowded for some reason, so we decided not to wait an hour for the factory tour and just ordered ice cream and walked around the "flavor graveyard"
After that, I drove through most of New Hampshire while Jim slept. The scenery there was just as stunning, if not more. We saw a moose at one point, though I was driving too fast to get a good photo of it.
We drove through the "Kancamagus highway", another route that's considered one of the top scenic routes in america during fall foliage. We got there at twilight so the colors weren't as spectacular as they would have been in the day time, but it was still gorgeous.
We slept in a nice place called "Alyssa's motel" about twenty minutes into Maine, past the new hampshire border. The beds were soooooo comfy that night, especially compared to sleeping in the car from the night before. The next day we headed to the coast of Maine near Portland. We went to the beach at Kennebunkport, Maine, it was a beautiful sunny day and the maine coastline was gorgeous! I'd love to go back and go even further north where the coast is even rockier.
We had lunch at a lobsterpound place, called "the clam shack", where we had the freshest and cheapest lobster ever. I had a "lobster roll" with clam chowder - delicious! Jim had a lobster taken from the ocean just that morning. We sat in our "lobsterondack" chairs and ate our yummy meal.
After our yummy meal we drove the short distance to Boston, Massachusetts. This is where we got lost in an alternate universe for more than an hour and I go absolutely crazy! Finally we find the beginning of the freedom trail and start our little history tour. Boston was CROWDED that day and everything I wanted to stop at had hour long waits. Everyone in the world had the same new england itinerary as i did that weekend. We still really enjoyed the historical stuff along the freedom trail, but didn't have that long to visit. We'd really like to go back and spend more time in boston.
We stayed at the Days Inn in Salem that night. We were going to go on a salem ghost tour, but decided to just relax in the hotel that night. Jim showed me something called "Dr. Horrible's sing along" or something, it was cute.
The next day was our last day, and we had 16 hours of driving ahead of us. We stopped real quick in Salem though, since we were there, and went to the witch trial memorial and the super old graveyard nearby. Nothing was open the time we were there (early in the morning), but it was a quaint area, i'd like to return one day and do more stuff.
We start our long drive back home, through Rhode Island and Connecticut. We stop at "pepe's pizza" in New Haven, Connecticut, for some famous pizza. We ordered half clam pizza, half pepperoni. The pepperoni was delicious.
We got stuck in traffic in New Jersey for an hour, due to a bad accident, then we drove the remainder of the distance into Pennyslvania, ohio, indiana, and back to kalamazoo michigan (yay?), getting in at 6:30 am, a little later than planned. It was an awesome trip. I enjoyed spending the time with jim and singing showtunes with him in the car! I highly recommend a fall foliage trip into new england to anyone though. Even though me and jim were probably the only people there that weekend younger than 50, it was a lot of fun. Had we had more time there were a number of things I would have liked to do in the area. Beautiful country!
Well that's all I'll say for now. I will post again soon!
-mary
Here are a few highlights on the way:
This was the route we took. We went through 12 states and 2 countries, 7 states I had never visited before.
We stopped for lunch in the Niagara Falls area. We ate at the Hard Rock Hotel, something of a tradition for me and jim, but it was way overpriced for what we had this time. Don't think we'll be back. It was kind of funny that we sat at the same table we ate at last time. I did enjoy our stop at the Coca-Cola Store where we had some yummy maple walnut ice cream. We drove to Latham, New York (near albany) and slept in our car for the night.
In the morning I rinsed my hair out with shampoo using a gallon of purified water in the parking lot.. it worked surpisingly well! We had breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, which were very common in New England (I had a pumpkin muffin and pumpkin latte, mmmmmmm). We drive the remainder of New York into Vermont, and start along Route 100 - considered one of the most scenic routes in America. The whole drive was filled with beautiful colors. It wasn't just one pretty look-out here and there, the whole route was just gorgeous.. We stopped at cute little country stores, ate yummy fudge and vermont cheese, and just enjoyed the scenery. Here are some of my favorite photos from route 100.
We stopped at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, Vermont. It was really crowded for some reason, so we decided not to wait an hour for the factory tour and just ordered ice cream and walked around the "flavor graveyard"
After that, I drove through most of New Hampshire while Jim slept. The scenery there was just as stunning, if not more. We saw a moose at one point, though I was driving too fast to get a good photo of it.
We drove through the "Kancamagus highway", another route that's considered one of the top scenic routes in america during fall foliage. We got there at twilight so the colors weren't as spectacular as they would have been in the day time, but it was still gorgeous.
We slept in a nice place called "Alyssa's motel" about twenty minutes into Maine, past the new hampshire border. The beds were soooooo comfy that night, especially compared to sleeping in the car from the night before. The next day we headed to the coast of Maine near Portland. We went to the beach at Kennebunkport, Maine, it was a beautiful sunny day and the maine coastline was gorgeous! I'd love to go back and go even further north where the coast is even rockier.
We had lunch at a lobsterpound place, called "the clam shack", where we had the freshest and cheapest lobster ever. I had a "lobster roll" with clam chowder - delicious! Jim had a lobster taken from the ocean just that morning. We sat in our "lobsterondack" chairs and ate our yummy meal.
After our yummy meal we drove the short distance to Boston, Massachusetts. This is where we got lost in an alternate universe for more than an hour and I go absolutely crazy! Finally we find the beginning of the freedom trail and start our little history tour. Boston was CROWDED that day and everything I wanted to stop at had hour long waits. Everyone in the world had the same new england itinerary as i did that weekend. We still really enjoyed the historical stuff along the freedom trail, but didn't have that long to visit. We'd really like to go back and spend more time in boston.
We stayed at the Days Inn in Salem that night. We were going to go on a salem ghost tour, but decided to just relax in the hotel that night. Jim showed me something called "Dr. Horrible's sing along" or something, it was cute.
The next day was our last day, and we had 16 hours of driving ahead of us. We stopped real quick in Salem though, since we were there, and went to the witch trial memorial and the super old graveyard nearby. Nothing was open the time we were there (early in the morning), but it was a quaint area, i'd like to return one day and do more stuff.
We start our long drive back home, through Rhode Island and Connecticut. We stop at "pepe's pizza" in New Haven, Connecticut, for some famous pizza. We ordered half clam pizza, half pepperoni. The pepperoni was delicious.
We got stuck in traffic in New Jersey for an hour, due to a bad accident, then we drove the remainder of the distance into Pennyslvania, ohio, indiana, and back to kalamazoo michigan (yay?), getting in at 6:30 am, a little later than planned. It was an awesome trip. I enjoyed spending the time with jim and singing showtunes with him in the car! I highly recommend a fall foliage trip into new england to anyone though. Even though me and jim were probably the only people there that weekend younger than 50, it was a lot of fun. Had we had more time there were a number of things I would have liked to do in the area. Beautiful country!
Well that's all I'll say for now. I will post again soon!
-mary
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
No more homework no more books...
Well, as Jim blogged the other day, I did indeed pass my defense on Monday, and officially have earned my Masters of Science in Biology - woohoo! I have no idea what I'm going to do with this degree, but I finished, and right now, that's all that I care about! I didn't fail or quit, I am very happy. Getting a Master's was MUCH more challenging than I expected. If I could choose between having my Masters or having the last two years of my life back to do over, I would probably choose having the last 2 years back, but what can you do. Either way, I finished!
Lost wedding gift - Jim found out the other day that a bunch of our friends pooled together and put money in a card for our wedding. This was the first I had heard of it - I have no idea what happened to it, but I had no idea this card existed! I don't know if it was stolen or lost, or what. This is such a bummer, more than anything because I feel really bad that a large amount of people were never thanked for their thoughtfullness and probably think we're ungrateful. This is what bugs me the most! I tried to be very careful that thank-you cards were sent and people were thanked. I have no idea who was a part of this card, or sent what, or did what, or wrote what... It sucks that the money was lost or stolen but really I just would have been happy to know that this card existed... People who steal things suck!!! So anyone who was accidentally slighted from our wedding - we are very sorry!
Okay, I'm going to go back to being happy I'm not a graduate student anymore. Just wanted to post those two notes. Next post should be more interesting hopefully!
-mary
Lost wedding gift - Jim found out the other day that a bunch of our friends pooled together and put money in a card for our wedding. This was the first I had heard of it - I have no idea what happened to it, but I had no idea this card existed! I don't know if it was stolen or lost, or what. This is such a bummer, more than anything because I feel really bad that a large amount of people were never thanked for their thoughtfullness and probably think we're ungrateful. This is what bugs me the most! I tried to be very careful that thank-you cards were sent and people were thanked. I have no idea who was a part of this card, or sent what, or did what, or wrote what... It sucks that the money was lost or stolen but really I just would have been happy to know that this card existed... People who steal things suck!!! So anyone who was accidentally slighted from our wedding - we are very sorry!
Okay, I'm going to go back to being happy I'm not a graduate student anymore. Just wanted to post those two notes. Next post should be more interesting hopefully!
-mary
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