Thursday, August 20, 2009
Nebraska Vacation, June 16th-19th
Micah and I will be heading out to CA for one last hurrah before the summer ends (attending my childhood best friend's wedding), and he's no longer free to fly when he turns two next month. I know I'll be taking oodles of pictures, so I thought I better get my previous vacation photos up before I head out again!
The summer started off with a trip to NE - and it was wonderful! Scotty's mom, Lisa, is from a family of 11 children, who are now all grown. So this family just keeps on growing and growing with more grandkids and their spouses, and great grandkids (Micah is already grandkid #20)! It was fun to see Scotty, Amanda (his sister) and Lisa enjoying themselves with their family. I was also so welcomed into this loving and caring family. The reunion happens every two years, so the family stays in touch pretty well. Very fun and full 3 days!
I picked out a selection of photos from the trip and finally set-up an online photo album/gallery tool (Picasa), so just click the picture below and read the captions if you're interested!
The summer started off with a trip to NE - and it was wonderful! Scotty's mom, Lisa, is from a family of 11 children, who are now all grown. So this family just keeps on growing and growing with more grandkids and their spouses, and great grandkids (Micah is already grandkid #20)! It was fun to see Scotty, Amanda (his sister) and Lisa enjoying themselves with their family. I was also so welcomed into this loving and caring family. The reunion happens every two years, so the family stays in touch pretty well. Very fun and full 3 days!
I picked out a selection of photos from the trip and finally set-up an online photo album/gallery tool (Picasa), so just click the picture below and read the captions if you're interested!
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| Nebraska Vacation - Aulner Family Reunion (June 16th-19th, 2009) |
Electrical Blessings
We're still working on the house...but we're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is super exciting. We're priming away, and even starting to think about our paint colors. Soon enough, we'll be living in our first house - it's going to be a very welcomed day!
Along this journey, we've encountered so many blessings and super good sales too. :-) Thought I'd share some electrical stories with you.
For the months of May and June Micah and I were going to garage sales every week, sometimes 3 days out of the week. I have created a new verb for the way Michiganders get rid of their junk: garage-saling. It is intense! There are literally dozens of garage sales every week, sometimes more, sprinkled throughout neighborhoods in western MI. I got hooked. Micah and I found quite a few treasures this year.
One such garage sale had a bunch of misc. electrical and construction stuff in the back. We hadn't quite closed on our home yet, but I knew that all the receptacles were two-pronged and ungrounded. Lo and behold, there were 4 10-pack boxes of brand new 3-prong receptacle outlets in the mix of misc. goodies. I asked the lady in charge of this garage sale how much she wanted for them, and she shrugged, "A couple bucks a box?" When it was all said and done I walked off with all 40 of them, plus an additional receptacle with a "reset" button (GFCI), for only $6.00! That's big savings, and we have already begun to switch out the outlets at our house.
Another blessing has to do with the help of Scott and Lisa's neighbor, an "electrical hobbyist" as he calls himself. When he learned that we were buying our first home, he offered his services if we needed anything. Sure enough, we needed an electrician's help with running some wiring to actually ground some of the outlets that will be powering up Scotty's computer stuff for work. Scotty and he were able to tackle the job for a couple hours with some drills, wiring, and screw drivers and it's all set. Free of charge!! No hourly wages for an electrician, or cost of materials.
God is SO good to us. We're more confident in our electrical situation at our house now, and it's cost us next to nothing (something which could've already amounted to a couple/few hundred dollars).
Along this journey, we've encountered so many blessings and super good sales too. :-) Thought I'd share some electrical stories with you.
For the months of May and June Micah and I were going to garage sales every week, sometimes 3 days out of the week. I have created a new verb for the way Michiganders get rid of their junk: garage-saling. It is intense! There are literally dozens of garage sales every week, sometimes more, sprinkled throughout neighborhoods in western MI. I got hooked. Micah and I found quite a few treasures this year.
One such garage sale had a bunch of misc. electrical and construction stuff in the back. We hadn't quite closed on our home yet, but I knew that all the receptacles were two-pronged and ungrounded. Lo and behold, there were 4 10-pack boxes of brand new 3-prong receptacle outlets in the mix of misc. goodies. I asked the lady in charge of this garage sale how much she wanted for them, and she shrugged, "A couple bucks a box?" When it was all said and done I walked off with all 40 of them, plus an additional receptacle with a "reset" button (GFCI), for only $6.00! That's big savings, and we have already begun to switch out the outlets at our house.
Another blessing has to do with the help of Scott and Lisa's neighbor, an "electrical hobbyist" as he calls himself. When he learned that we were buying our first home, he offered his services if we needed anything. Sure enough, we needed an electrician's help with running some wiring to actually ground some of the outlets that will be powering up Scotty's computer stuff for work. Scotty and he were able to tackle the job for a couple hours with some drills, wiring, and screw drivers and it's all set. Free of charge!! No hourly wages for an electrician, or cost of materials.
God is SO good to us. We're more confident in our electrical situation at our house now, and it's cost us next to nothing (something which could've already amounted to a couple/few hundred dollars).
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Splash Pad
Micah and I have a few parks that we frequent. I thought it'd be nice to have a change of scene today, so he and I headed north to Lamar Park. This park not only has your typical play equipment, but also a "splash pad" play area.
Aside from being in the pool once this summer (in NE), and enjoying a day at the ocean (in CA), Micah hasn't really been in the water much. Hence, he's a little "water-shy" I'd say...today at the splash pad, he mostly watched kids enjoying the water world at a distance, and only "touched" the water with his hands from time to time. Once he got hit with a water gun and started crying and screaming for me.
Watching the other kids...
Testing the waters...
Aside from being in the pool once this summer (in NE), and enjoying a day at the ocean (in CA), Micah hasn't really been in the water much. Hence, he's a little "water-shy" I'd say...today at the splash pad, he mostly watched kids enjoying the water world at a distance, and only "touched" the water with his hands from time to time. Once he got hit with a water gun and started crying and screaming for me.
Watching the other kids...
Testing the waters...
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The 5th Puppy
I have been dog-sitting for my in-laws the past few days (they're on vacation). It's not quite like my Rex experience, because these dogs live in the same house that I currently do, so I don't have to actually go anywhere to take care of them...
Micah just loves these dogs; he's lived with and antagonized them since we moved here in November. Sometimes I even call Micah the "5th puppy." Shortly after we moved here, sometimes he would even "bark" when the dogs did, and he absolutely loves it when they lick his fingers, toes, whatever.
Now, even though Micah is super close with these dogs, I'm trying to teach him that he can't share everything with them...he's been scolded on more than 1 occasion for feeding them his crackers. This afternoon I was sitting at the dining room table reading a book while he sat across from me munching on some goldfish crackers.
A moment later I could hear Micah under the table with all 4 dogs. They were being unusually quite. I peeked under the table to find Micah feeding them all goldfish crackers one by one. I couldn't scold him this time - it was too dang cute (see video below):
I was also able to catch him naming the dogs on tape. When we first moved here I don't think Micah could tell them all apart (I couldn't either when I first met them when I was dating Scotty), but there is no question about it now - he definitely knows who is who in this pack of pups:
(To Facebook users: to see video clips, click on "View Original Post," which will take you to our web-site) :-)
Micah just loves these dogs; he's lived with and antagonized them since we moved here in November. Sometimes I even call Micah the "5th puppy." Shortly after we moved here, sometimes he would even "bark" when the dogs did, and he absolutely loves it when they lick his fingers, toes, whatever.
Now, even though Micah is super close with these dogs, I'm trying to teach him that he can't share everything with them...he's been scolded on more than 1 occasion for feeding them his crackers. This afternoon I was sitting at the dining room table reading a book while he sat across from me munching on some goldfish crackers.
A moment later I could hear Micah under the table with all 4 dogs. They were being unusually quite. I peeked under the table to find Micah feeding them all goldfish crackers one by one. I couldn't scold him this time - it was too dang cute (see video below):
I was also able to catch him naming the dogs on tape. When we first moved here I don't think Micah could tell them all apart (I couldn't either when I first met them when I was dating Scotty), but there is no question about it now - he definitely knows who is who in this pack of pups:
(To Facebook users: to see video clips, click on "View Original Post," which will take you to our web-site) :-)
Prime-time
At long last, Scotty and I took a break from scrapping off wallpaper adhesive, and began priming some rooms last weekend. Due to the fact that the walls formerly had wallpaper on them, we are using oil-based primer as a sealer, in case we missed any of the glue (I have learned a TON about wall treatment in the past month). The thing with oil-based primer is that it smells. It smells because it has very powerful chemicals, and, um, you need to make sure you get some fresh air from time to time or else you may start feeling a little different...
Scotty and I were up late on Thursday night trimming 5 closets, a hallway and 2 bedrooms with primer, so that we could roll the walls and ceilings the next night. Our primer of choice did have a potent smell to it (similar to wite-out), but we felt fine when it was all said and done.Friday night was a different story...
Scotty and I got to work on Friday night, hoping to finish the whole area we had trim-primed the night before, possibly pulling an all-nighter. Let me tell you, everything about getting this house in order has taken a whole lot longer than anticipated (for example, it had taken me over two hours to tape off those 5 closets, hallway and 2 bedrooms to even begin priming). Needless to say, Scotty and I were spending a lot of time in one particular room, which had two of the closets, four walls and a ceiling to prime. Once the closets and walls were done, I headed over to the next room to get started. Scott stayed in the first room and primed the ceiling.
I left Scotty in a room with a LOT of oil-based primer still drying, which meant that the fumes were pretty intense. The thing is, when you're in it, you kinda get used to it...I think that fact, coupled with the fact that Scotty just wanted to knock that room out, pushed him to stay in there until he got the ceiling primed.
About 20 minutes later or so Scotty came into the room I was in, informing me that the ceiling was done, but that, well "I think I may've gotten high off the fumes..." he said with a goofy grin "and I'm not joking" (and I could tell he wasn't kidding around)! I quickly told him to go outside and get some fresh air! We were calling this all-nighter quits, and I began to clean-up.
The more Scotty and I talked about it, the more we laughed. When I went into the room he had primed, I was nearly knocked over by the powerful smell - how on earth had Scotty managed?! Ha! He later informed me that it wasn't likely that he had actually gotten "high," but he was indeed starting to feel SUPER light-headed towards the end of it. I mean, seriously, he was in a room with primer ALL around him (open can on the floor, fresh on the walls on every side of him, above him on the ceiling, etc).
It was too funny.
The next day we woke up still tasting and smelling primer in our nostrils and throat - we picked up some respirators at Menard's, as we still have the upstairs to complete priming as well as 3 more closets, a living room, dinning room/kitchen area, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, another hallway, and all the ceilings. Oh yes, and then we'll need to actually paint them - TWICE. I'm resigned to fact that it's likely that we won't be in our home until October...that's alright - at least all the walls will be pretty. :-)
Micah washing corn...
...what a good little helper he is! :-)
(To Facebook users, click on "View Original Post" to see the video clip from our blog) :-)
(To Facebook users, click on "View Original Post" to see the video clip from our blog) :-)
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