I love the people I work with. :)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
.Arch Nemesis.
Let me introduce you to my arch nemesis!
That’s right, a paper towel dispenser. It is evil. It is out to get me. All I want to do is wash my hands and then dry them off. It sounds simple, right? Well this piece of blasted equipment is not about to let that happen! To the untrained eye you would think that all you have to do is pull down on that paper towel and this task would be complete. However, this is far from the truth! After washing your hands you first must shake, wave and fist pump your hands to get off as much water as possible…or else…
Yup. It mocks you. Flat out tells you, you suck at life. It generously gives you two little corners of paper towel that your too wet thumbs can peel off and not a scrap more.
We fight on a daily basis, but hear this paper towel dispenser… you may have won this battle, but I will win the war.
Don’t even get me started on the tap dance I have to do to get the faucet to turn on.
Friday, February 11, 2011
.100 Random Facts.
In honor of today, I have decided to bless you with 100 random facts. Again, these are facts and not debatable. Enjoy.
1. I love and serve one God.
2. I have lived in Minneapolis for almost two years now.
3. 3 was my basketball and softball number in high school.
4. I work in a church.
5. I hate to read. I only peruse magazines for the pictures.
6. I have two sisters.
7. Michael Jackson indeed is the King of Pop.
8. I have a puppy named Reid, but we call him Pete more often.
9. The Philadelphia Eagles are the best team in the NFL and I may be making a shrine to them in my basement.
10. <-- This was Audrey's basketball number.
11. I went to 4 weddings last year and already have 3 in the works for this year.
12. I own 9 pairs of sweat pants. And I would live in them if society wouldn't frown upon it.
13. I am slightly addicted to facebook.
14. Broomball is a hilarious sport.
15. We live next to a very nosey man.
16. We have a great group of friends that we do road trips with.
17. I miss them terribly.
18. My mom is a preschool teacher.
19. I have been married for almost three years. scary.
20. There were 43 people in my graduating class.
21. I like to go fishing. As long as I don't have to touch the bait...or the fish.
22. I am a homeowner.
23. I hate asking for help.
24. I have broken 16 windows in my lifetime... and counting...
25. Starbuck's is better than Caribou.
26. I wore glasses from grades 4-6.
27. I like to chew on ice.
28. My sister, Erin is amazingly crafty!
29. I learned how to open a book without breaking the binding.
30. Big sunglasses are better than little ones.
31. I really suck at keeping up with this blog.
32. People with my sense of humor are wonderful.
33. I wish I was a better photographer.
34. Shopping for clothes is dreadful.
35. I used to play in a men's basketball league.
36. My grandpa makes me laugh.
37. I have never been outside of the country other than the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
38. I am a terrible cook and would like on cereal if I weren’t married.
39. My friends and I have a secret language.
40. By Bet Bou Ban't Bigure Bit Bout!
41. My dad has worked at Colgate University for 27 years.
42. Horoscopes are for suckers.
43. There is a church pew in my garage.
44. Line dancing is actually fun.
45. Will Smith is a great actor.
46. The Velcro wall is not that fun.
47. Dirt racing is amazing.
48. I had to write this blog twice cause I’m that bad with computers.
49. My Grandma makes the nest chocolate chip cookies.
50. I have a huge family!
51. I have severe road rage.
52.I have worked at three different Dick's Sporting Goods stores.
53. As a child I could keep myself entertained for hours with a box and a rope.
54. McDonald's is better than Burger King.
55. I used to have 6 wisdom teeth.
56. I am married to a red head.
57. I could eat taco bell daily and be perfectly ok with it.
58. Home made ice cream is far better than anything store bought. FAR BETTER...
59. Nike shoes fit the best.
60. I have three nephews. Seth, Carter and Elijah.
61. I can smoke Ethan at Tic-Tac-Toe
62. Just Dance 2 for wii is amazing!
63. I like to sing alone in my car.
64. I hate talking about my problems.
65. Banks should give lollipops to everyone, not just kids.
66. I used to be in a co-ed dodgeball league.
67. Old people are cute, except when driving.
68. I don't care much for most board games.
69. I am and always will be a New Yorker at heart.
70. The only necessary condiment is ketchup.
71. Dogs are better than cats.
72. My birthday is in January.
73. I miss hunting with the men of my family.
74. If a tree falls in the woods, it indeed does make noise.
75. Audrey makes me laugh. A lot.
76. She should come visit more often.
77. I like to climb trees.
78. My dog likes to eat socks.
79. I hate when the NFL season comes to a close.
80. I wish I was taller.
81. <--This is my uncle Bret's race car number.
82. <-- This was my dad's race car number.
83. I am having trouble coming up with 100 random things.
84. Martha Stewart is clever and ridiculous all at the same time.
85. Colored Pencils are better than markers.
86. I hate seagulls.
87. Diet sodas make me gag.
88. I hope to one day move back to New York despite the high taxes.
89. I am going on my first Mission Trip outside the U.S. this summer.
90. I have yet to see the infamous Cherry & the Spoon statue in downtown Minneapolis.
91. White Castle is nasty.
92. Chocolate should be a part of the food pyramid.
93. I went to Rose and Marv's for dinner.
94. The human heart creates enough pressure to shoot blood 30 feet.
95. My husband is in love with bird feeders.
96. I came home one day to 13 of them hanging throughout the yard!
97. [Un]fortunately they didn't all make it to Minneapolis in the move.
98. After the first two rounds of cuts I am down to 489 facebook friends. For now.
99. Chapstick is a necessity.
100. Today my husband has reached 100% support for his ministry! :)
YAY for number 100 [all the rest too... but especially 100] :)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
.Sunny Santa Fe.
Today was a HUGE day for us. Since we moved out here to Minnesota we have been living as a single car household. But today, we end it. That chapter of our lives is closed! Freeeeedom!
It has been a constant battle to strategically plan who would get the car, when they would pick up the other person and where that meeting would even take place. In the summer it wasn't so bad, unless it was raining and Ethan couldn't take his motorcycle. But today we no longer have that hurdle to jump! We are a two car household and lovin' it!
Since we lept over that hurdle for the last time, the only logical thing to do is to look ahead at what the next hurdle may bring. And you all know what that is... naming the vehicle! This may sound like an easy task to some of you, but in reality, it is far from it! Most of my friends in New York would attest that for me, alliteration is a must! Hence, my last (and dearly beloved) car, Alex Alero! See how nicely that just rolls of the tongue? So, being that my new vehicle is a Hyundai Santa Fe, I had to decide whether I would go with an "H" name; Hailee, Hector, Hillary, Hugo, Hunter, Hoboken. Who doesn't love the name Hoboken? Or, we have the "S" option; Sadie, Sanford, Sammie, Scooter, Sampson, Stedman. It would be awesome to think of Oprah's boyfriend every time I went for a drive, right?! Gag me.
I was leaning toward the "S" option because last time I did go with the model of the car, rather than the make and why change somethin' that ain't broken? So, Santa Fe? What goes with Santa Fe? I thought about Sammie, but then remembered Ethan's best friend's name is Sam and that's just weird. Ethan tried to "help" (Studly, Stork, Stunkle, Sven, Steve, Simba, Sergent and Sully ) which was really no help at all. So I did the only logical thing left. Busted out the baby name website! My mother would be ecstatic if she new I was perusing around that site! But then I would have to break the news... naming a car mom, not a child.
So there I was flipping through S names of German, Hebrew, Polish, Swedish and Latin descent. (By the way, why is there no "American" Baby names thing to click on? But I suppose that's for another post). Finally when I thought all hope was lost in the "S" category, I saw it. The ideal name. It had just the perfect ring to it. It made me think of happier days! So there he was, sitting in my driveway... Sunny Santa Fe. So here he is folks, Sunny Santa Fe :)
Hurdle two of the car dilemma, demolished!
It has been a constant battle to strategically plan who would get the car, when they would pick up the other person and where that meeting would even take place. In the summer it wasn't so bad, unless it was raining and Ethan couldn't take his motorcycle. But today we no longer have that hurdle to jump! We are a two car household and lovin' it!
Since we lept over that hurdle for the last time, the only logical thing to do is to look ahead at what the next hurdle may bring. And you all know what that is... naming the vehicle! This may sound like an easy task to some of you, but in reality, it is far from it! Most of my friends in New York would attest that for me, alliteration is a must! Hence, my last (and dearly beloved) car, Alex Alero! See how nicely that just rolls of the tongue? So, being that my new vehicle is a Hyundai Santa Fe, I had to decide whether I would go with an "H" name; Hailee, Hector, Hillary, Hugo, Hunter, Hoboken. Who doesn't love the name Hoboken? Or, we have the "S" option; Sadie, Sanford, Sammie, Scooter, Sampson, Stedman. It would be awesome to think of Oprah's boyfriend every time I went for a drive, right?! Gag me.
I was leaning toward the "S" option because last time I did go with the model of the car, rather than the make and why change somethin' that ain't broken? So, Santa Fe? What goes with Santa Fe? I thought about Sammie, but then remembered Ethan's best friend's name is Sam and that's just weird. Ethan tried to "help" (Studly, Stork, Stunkle, Sven, Steve, Simba, Sergent and Sully ) which was really no help at all. So I did the only logical thing left. Busted out the baby name website! My mother would be ecstatic if she new I was perusing around that site! But then I would have to break the news... naming a car mom, not a child.
So there I was flipping through S names of German, Hebrew, Polish, Swedish and Latin descent. (By the way, why is there no "American" Baby names thing to click on? But I suppose that's for another post). Finally when I thought all hope was lost in the "S" category, I saw it. The ideal name. It had just the perfect ring to it. It made me think of happier days! So there he was, sitting in my driveway... Sunny Santa Fe. So here he is folks, Sunny Santa Fe :)
Hurdle two of the car dilemma, demolished!
Now, who get's the single stall garage?!
Monday, January 31, 2011
.Circus Peanuts & A Speedo.
Working retail has opened my eyes to a whole new breed of people. The kind of people that you simply can never please. The kind that will ask you questions that have clearly obvious answers. Clearly obvious. Then there are those that you can simply never understand what is going through their minds. You physically have to just shake your head and forget that the interaction even happened.
This entry is to share with you a few of those encounters. About the people that come into our stores solely to baffle me.
The first customer that I can really remember is really strange man. The front of our store is a wall of huge windows. Between the windows and the sidewalk is a large landscaped garden that is approximately 10-12 feet wide. That being said you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw a man walking within inches of our front windows. He then stomped through the bushes at the end and back onto the sidewalk right in front of the door. I thought that was strange and that this would be one of those shake it off and forget about it moments. However, when he came in I realized that he looked like he came straight out of the woods. He had on work boots, a hat that had a brim all the way around it, a back pack that was stuffed to the max and tall wool socks that his sweat pants were tucked into. He went about his way, did his shopping and then came back down to check out. When he left we all sort of watched to see if he would take his preferred route through the garden. And to our surprise... he did! Back along the windows he went. We all sort of giggled because we just couldn't figure out why you wouldn't use the more than spacious sidewalk that most people took.
He was almost out of sight, but then I saw him tuck into a corner. This intrigued me and I adjusted my position so I could see what he was doing. In the corner he had hid his other belongings that he didn't want to tote around the store. And can I just tell you that he had the largest walking stick I have ever seen! It must have been 6 foot high and no lie, 5-6 inches thick! I was blown away! A ridiculously huge walking stick? In Rochester, NY? Why on earth would he need such a thing?
Another customer that sticks out in my mind is a man who spent a lot of time around the swimsuits. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Then he walked up to me with two, one piece swimsuits in hand and asked, "How do you tell if this is mens or womens"? My jaw hit. the. floor. Seriously? Had the man never been to a pool? I answered him as calmly as I could, trying desperately not to burst out laughing, as I knew that I had to be on candid camera.
"Anything that looks like this is going to be for women, but I can show you the suits that are for men." Yikes.
Lastly, this story comes from working at the cash register in Rochester, NY. There were no customers in my line. A man walked straight up to me and threw two items on the counter. A speedo. And Circus Peanuts. What in the world? What could possibly possess a person to come into the store and walk out with that combination of items? How completely random.
You never know what you will come across while working retail.
This entry is to share with you a few of those encounters. About the people that come into our stores solely to baffle me.
The first customer that I can really remember is really strange man. The front of our store is a wall of huge windows. Between the windows and the sidewalk is a large landscaped garden that is approximately 10-12 feet wide. That being said you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw a man walking within inches of our front windows. He then stomped through the bushes at the end and back onto the sidewalk right in front of the door. I thought that was strange and that this would be one of those shake it off and forget about it moments. However, when he came in I realized that he looked like he came straight out of the woods. He had on work boots, a hat that had a brim all the way around it, a back pack that was stuffed to the max and tall wool socks that his sweat pants were tucked into. He went about his way, did his shopping and then came back down to check out. When he left we all sort of watched to see if he would take his preferred route through the garden. And to our surprise... he did! Back along the windows he went. We all sort of giggled because we just couldn't figure out why you wouldn't use the more than spacious sidewalk that most people took.
He was almost out of sight, but then I saw him tuck into a corner. This intrigued me and I adjusted my position so I could see what he was doing. In the corner he had hid his other belongings that he didn't want to tote around the store. And can I just tell you that he had the largest walking stick I have ever seen! It must have been 6 foot high and no lie, 5-6 inches thick! I was blown away! A ridiculously huge walking stick? In Rochester, NY? Why on earth would he need such a thing?
Another customer that sticks out in my mind is a man who spent a lot of time around the swimsuits. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Then he walked up to me with two, one piece swimsuits in hand and asked, "How do you tell if this is mens or womens"? My jaw hit. the. floor. Seriously? Had the man never been to a pool? I answered him as calmly as I could, trying desperately not to burst out laughing, as I knew that I had to be on candid camera.
"Anything that looks like this is going to be for women, but I can show you the suits that are for men." Yikes.
Lastly, this story comes from working at the cash register in Rochester, NY. There were no customers in my line. A man walked straight up to me and threw two items on the counter. A speedo. And Circus Peanuts. What in the world? What could possibly possess a person to come into the store and walk out with that combination of items? How completely random.
You never know what you will come across while working retail.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
.One of the Drafts.
Like I said earlier, I have not done this in next to forever. Being that I already had quite a few drafts in the 'vault' I figured I would just share one of those with you today to catch you up a little....
.A Blog So Faithful.
Unbelievable! I haven't posted in over a year! Though it feels like 20. So much has happened over the last year. How does this blog even exist? Where to start.
As I said in the last post Ethan and I moved in with a couple from Columbia Heights, MN on April 1st, 2009. We moved to Minnesota so that Ethan could pursue campus ministry full time at the University of Minnesota. An older couple from our church, the Jensen's, were more than kind enough to let us live in their spare bedroom as we searched for a place of our own. We had intended to be there for 2 maybe 3 months and thought that was more than enough time to find a house! (We were looking to buy because after doing some research, we had found that it would actually be cheaper for us to buy rather than rent! And we would then be able to have plenty of room to be comfortable and have people over once the ministry got going that fall).
However, after all of these plans that we had made, God did not have the same time frame as we did! We ended up living in that little 10 by 10 bedroom with half a closet and 4 dresser drawers as storage for 6 whole months! Looking back I don't know how we did it! (Actually I do, we left everything we owned in storage in NY and only brought our clothes, but that's beside the point). It was definitely a trying time for us. And the people that opened up their home to us as well. We both had entirely different lifestyles and to make them 'mesh' was rather complicated. Though in the end it all worked out and we did gain a set of wonderful loving grandparents out of the deal! After those 6 months were over we still did not have a place of our own, but we knew it was time to move on.
On October 1st, 2009 we moved in with the Olsen's! This time we were living on the St. Paul side of the twin cities, or as Sandy calls it "God's country". They have a beautiful home and 2 Golden Retrievers, Lexis and Gretta. At their home we had our own bedroom, a full sized dresser, closet and our own bathroom! We could not believe how spacious this felt. Don't get me wrong, we were and are more than appreciative for everything that we had with the Jensen's but it just felt like we upgraded to a mansion! (Not to mention the indoor pool!) We quickly became comfortable at our second home in Minnesota as the search continued to find one of our own. All this time we were meeting with our Realtor, looking at houses and even putting offers in on many of them. Time after time our offers were rejected. Our Realtor could not believe how many offers we had been turned down, outbid or just flat out ignored! We knew that the right house would come along in God's time. It was an extremely frustrating time for us. We so desperately wanted a place of our own. We wanted to be able to move all of our belongings from NY and be surrounded by things that were familiar to us. To truly make this feel like 'home'.
One house in particular caught our eye (mostly mine, but Ethan loves me!) :) So we put in an offer around mid October 2009. However, we were quickly informed that they had gone with a higher bid. So our search continued.
A couple months later we found that this particular house had gone back on the market! We quickly put in our same bid and waited some more. Again, we found out that they chose a higher bid.
This was really tearing at the heart strings at this point. We could more than see ourselves living in that neighborhood and in that house! We really could not see that God really had a plan for us to find a house at all.
That January we went home to spend "Christmas" with our families. It was a wonderful relaxing time and they all reassured us that the right place would come along. But I was feeling as though it had, and left. Twice. After our week at home we returned to Minnesota and for a THIRD time received a call from our Realtor. The house was back on that market!! I wanted to be excited, I really did. But there were two accepted offers that did not go through. Why was that? What was wrong with our dream house? This time before putting an offer on it, we had our Realtor do some checking into these different situations.
After we found out that both of the previous offers backed out due to insufficient funds we were quick to slap a third offer on this house that we loved! But at this point we pretty much put offers out there knowing that they weren't going to be accepted. After all, this was our 9th offer! So we waited, prayed and waited some more.
The day finally came. Our Realtor called us with the wonderful news that our offer had been accepted! The house was ours based on an inspection and our funds coming through. Ethan and I could not believe our ears! We wanted to know what the catch was. But that was really it. It was out house for the taking!
After 9 offers and looking at over 60 houses, we closed on our house in the beginning of April 2010 (a year and a week after we had moved to MN). It just goes to show that it is not in our time and not our plans, but God's!
.A Blog So Faithful.
Unbelievable! I haven't posted in over a year! Though it feels like 20. So much has happened over the last year. How does this blog even exist? Where to start.
As I said in the last post Ethan and I moved in with a couple from Columbia Heights, MN on April 1st, 2009. We moved to Minnesota so that Ethan could pursue campus ministry full time at the University of Minnesota. An older couple from our church, the Jensen's, were more than kind enough to let us live in their spare bedroom as we searched for a place of our own. We had intended to be there for 2 maybe 3 months and thought that was more than enough time to find a house! (We were looking to buy because after doing some research, we had found that it would actually be cheaper for us to buy rather than rent! And we would then be able to have plenty of room to be comfortable and have people over once the ministry got going that fall).
However, after all of these plans that we had made, God did not have the same time frame as we did! We ended up living in that little 10 by 10 bedroom with half a closet and 4 dresser drawers as storage for 6 whole months! Looking back I don't know how we did it! (Actually I do, we left everything we owned in storage in NY and only brought our clothes, but that's beside the point). It was definitely a trying time for us. And the people that opened up their home to us as well. We both had entirely different lifestyles and to make them 'mesh' was rather complicated. Though in the end it all worked out and we did gain a set of wonderful loving grandparents out of the deal! After those 6 months were over we still did not have a place of our own, but we knew it was time to move on.
On October 1st, 2009 we moved in with the Olsen's! This time we were living on the St. Paul side of the twin cities, or as Sandy calls it "God's country". They have a beautiful home and 2 Golden Retrievers, Lexis and Gretta. At their home we had our own bedroom, a full sized dresser, closet and our own bathroom! We could not believe how spacious this felt. Don't get me wrong, we were and are more than appreciative for everything that we had with the Jensen's but it just felt like we upgraded to a mansion! (Not to mention the indoor pool!) We quickly became comfortable at our second home in Minnesota as the search continued to find one of our own. All this time we were meeting with our Realtor, looking at houses and even putting offers in on many of them. Time after time our offers were rejected. Our Realtor could not believe how many offers we had been turned down, outbid or just flat out ignored! We knew that the right house would come along in God's time. It was an extremely frustrating time for us. We so desperately wanted a place of our own. We wanted to be able to move all of our belongings from NY and be surrounded by things that were familiar to us. To truly make this feel like 'home'.
One house in particular caught our eye (mostly mine, but Ethan loves me!) :) So we put in an offer around mid October 2009. However, we were quickly informed that they had gone with a higher bid. So our search continued.
A couple months later we found that this particular house had gone back on the market! We quickly put in our same bid and waited some more. Again, we found out that they chose a higher bid.
This was really tearing at the heart strings at this point. We could more than see ourselves living in that neighborhood and in that house! We really could not see that God really had a plan for us to find a house at all.
That January we went home to spend "Christmas" with our families. It was a wonderful relaxing time and they all reassured us that the right place would come along. But I was feeling as though it had, and left. Twice. After our week at home we returned to Minnesota and for a THIRD time received a call from our Realtor. The house was back on that market!! I wanted to be excited, I really did. But there were two accepted offers that did not go through. Why was that? What was wrong with our dream house? This time before putting an offer on it, we had our Realtor do some checking into these different situations.
After we found out that both of the previous offers backed out due to insufficient funds we were quick to slap a third offer on this house that we loved! But at this point we pretty much put offers out there knowing that they weren't going to be accepted. After all, this was our 9th offer! So we waited, prayed and waited some more.
The day finally came. Our Realtor called us with the wonderful news that our offer had been accepted! The house was ours based on an inspection and our funds coming through. Ethan and I could not believe our ears! We wanted to know what the catch was. But that was really it. It was out house for the taking!
After 9 offers and looking at over 60 houses, we closed on our house in the beginning of April 2010 (a year and a week after we had moved to MN). It just goes to show that it is not in our time and not our plans, but God's!
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
.Reid.
I would like you to meet my puppy, Reid. We got him last June from an animal shelter in Golden Valley. He is an Australian Shepherd/Collie mix and a complete spaz. He turned one on January 21st and hated every minute of wearing that party hat!He does not really have devil eyes, but they are gold so it is completely impossible to get a picture that looks like he is not seeing directly through your soul!
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