Kashi, I love you.

I like cereal. But not the kind that gives you more of a sugar high than three Snickers and a bag of Reese's. Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose to eat that much sugar for breakfast?

My most favorite kind of cereal is Cracklin' Oat Bran. But it comes in a smaller box than most cereal's and is way expensive. So I don't ever buy it. Not too long ago James and I were at Wal-Mart, and apparently on a cereal extravaganza, we bought three boxes and two bags of cereal. About of week later, I didn't think we had enough variety, so I bought some Kashi cereal. I'd heard from my mother-in-law that it was really good, but thought it looked like there was no way it could be good with two people's faces on the front of the box with the tagline, "Good Friends."

I'm now a hard core Kashi fan. I first bought Honey Almond Flax, and Oat Flakes with Wild Blueberry Clusters. Yum. Be careful with the former, you've gotta let the nutty goodness soak in your milk for a while, or your teeth might break. When I checked out their website, I was even more sold. Their food is listed third on their home page; pretty good marketing strategy if you ask me.

One tip for you when you're looking for your first box of Kashi delightfulness: go to Wal-Mart, it's twice as expensive at Kroger.

Weekend Summary

Friday
-Biked to work
-Worked
-Biked to Lowe's to buy some packing tape
-Had an old man ask me for a ride on my bike
-Biked Home
-Packed lots of boxes

Saturday
-My awesome parents helped us paint, pack, put up drywall, and mud dryall. amazing. for the first time in almost a year since tearing down the plaster and lath, we have walls in our foyer!
-Watched Breach with my husband.

Sunday
-Sunday school and worship service at Stony Point
-Lunch with parents at home
-Dad and James put another coat of drywall mud on the foyer walls
-Franklin Street Community
-Enjoyed a beer on the porch with Owen while James was enjoying a beer at Ipanema with Ross
-Watched a tv show about a family with a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. omg.

Eight.

That would be the number of hours I just spent packing. That's nothing compared to what I've already done, or what is still to come. It's quite a job. I've moved A LOT in my relatively few years: I'm on move number 15 in 26 years (in 6 days change that to 27 years!).

This packing job is way different than all the others. One bunch of stuff is going into storage for 2 years. Every box is being labeled with everything that is in the box, lots of bubble wrap and such is being used. Every box is also being prayed over, to ward off the bugs and mildew. Another bunch of stuff is going to Scotland with us. I have no idea how to pack that stuff to withstand the flight and still stay within the airlines regulations (the specific airline has yet to be determined). Another bunch of stuff needs to go with us to our temporary home after we move out of our house. I can't think about this too much or I start to get overwhelmed.

There's only one thing left to do tonight: make some guacamole and eat lots of it. (Amy, you have no idea how much your delicious recipe is helping me stay sane.)

Serious Props to the Churchill Firemen

I was biking to work this morning when I looked ahead and saw a big plume of smoke billowing way above the houses. Since I need glasses to see details at a distance, I couldn't tell where it was coming from until I was a block away. Thankfully, the fire was contained in a metal trash can. Not wanting to see a burned house on my ride home, (with memories of frequent fires in the recent past, like this one, one block east of the trash can) I called 911 to report the fire.

The trash can fire was located at 32nd street, I talked to a 911 lady when I was passing 29th street, by the time I passed the fire station on 24th street, the fire truck was pulling out of the station with it's lights flashing. That's only 5 blocks! Can you imagine how fast those guy's must move? I mean, seriously, how amazing is that? I don't know about you, but I am very impressed. I'm also very appreciative to have those guys protecting my neighborhood. Thanks so much Firemen, for all of your hardwork and sacrifices, you're doing an awesome job!

Weekend Update

Friday
Off of work.
Spent all morning on the phone setting up meetings and events. (I don't like talking on the phone for extended periods of time. especially when I have to call a bazillion people and say the same thing over and over again.)
Needed more caffeine after the telephone marathon.
Packed up some boxes.
Ate dinner with James.
Did some more packing.

Saturday (James' Birthday!)
Got up super early.
Went to Ukrops and Wal-Mart and Church to get stuff for James' Birthday party cookout.
Packed more boxes.
Moved stuff around and put stuff upstairs so our house looked semi-functional.
Did some cleaning and laundry.
Had a BLAST at James' birthday cookout. Enjoyed good friends, had fabulous weather, ate all kinds of food.
Hung out with and got to know one neighbor couple better...we have awesome neighbors!
Went to sleep.

Sunday
Tired, slept in.
Went to Church at Stony Point.
Home.
Took cookies and communion crackers to Franklin Street Community Church.
Went to my parents house for Bocce Ball/Horseshoes/Croquet Tournament and Cookout, and to celebrate Father's day. Ate all kinds of food.
Hung out at my parents with a fun family friend visiting from out of town.
Got home after 10.
Ready for bed.

Back to work tomorrow!

Looking for an Electrician?

You need some electrical work done at your home? I've got just the guy for you! Our new electrician Mike is downstairs finishing up some incredible work for us.

The geniuses who first wired our house, put the electrical box outside. That needed to be moved inside, and updated to 200 Amps instead of 100. We also just inherited an almost new fridge and stove. Our current stove is gas, so we needed some wiring done to allow us to use the new electric stove.

We found Mike from his ad on Craig's List. He is a Master Electrician and has been working in this field for almost as many years as I've been alive. He grew tired of working for The Man and is starting his own business.

We've checked around and asked for a bunch of quotes for this job. Mike was by far the lowest price. But don't think for a second that a lesser price means lesser quality, this guy is on top of his game. He was extremely professional, considerate, and trustworthy: we left him, without hesitation, at our house all day by himself. And boy did he work hard.

And the final test: the use of multiple heat drawing appliances at once. Victory! I can dry my hair while James irons a shirt!

If you've been thinking about getting that electrical job done, but aren't quite sure what it would take, give Mike a call, he'll give you a free estimate.

I'm so relieved to have that job done! Thanks Mike!

NOT Homeless as of July 15th!

We have a place to live when our renters move in mid-July. Some friends of ours are leaving today for their adventurous 3-month-long retirement celebration RVing trip to Alaska and back. They've been thinking and praying for someone to stay at their house for months, but hadn't actively pursued it. While talking with my parents last weekend, they heard of our dilemma and wondered if their prayers had been answered.

I just can't believe it, the way this has worked out is incredible. They are helping us out in a tremendous way, but it makes us glad to be able to help them out as well.

So now we have exactly one month to pack it up and move on out. We're hoping to be completely out of the house by the beginning of July so there's more space to finish up the work we have left.

I'm a firm believer that events like these aren't coincidences, it's pretty cool how my friend Jesus works it all out.

The Joy of Being a Jennifer

I just checked out the SSA website after reading about the most popular baby name list here. My name was number 1 on the list each year from 1970-1984. 58,362 were born in my birth year (1980) alone! Turns out hundreds of thousands of parents think my name is as awesome as I do.

newly engaged and glowing

When this photo was taken, Blare and Zach had been engaged all of 30 minutes; aren't their eyes sparkling!

I'm so excited for these guy's. It's so funny to think back to our wedding (three years ago) when they were both a part of the wedding party, walking in the processional together, and having no interest in each other (that they spoke of, anyway); and now look at 'em! Crazy kids.

Congratulations guys!

Homeless as of July 15th

I'm sure once July 15th gets here, we will have a place to live. But right now, I have no idea where that place will be.

It was just confirmed that we will have awesome renters moving in that day. This is great news, an answer to prayer, a relief, so exciting, hard to believe! But...it means we'll have to move out.

We're thinking we'll be headed to Scotland sometime during the end of August or beginning of September, that date hasn't been nailed down yet. So we'll only need a place to live for about a month and a half. We're really hoping for no cost or low cost accommodations so we can bank some cash-o-la for any unforeseen emergencies that may arise.

My head is swimming and feeling slightly wobbly at this moment. Our reality is becoming a bit more real with every passing day. With 98% of our funds raised, and renters in place, things seem to be falling into place. But I realize they're not just "falling into place." Seriously, God's planning has made this process much less stressful (thus far) than I thought it would be. Alas, there are many more things to be done. Here's a list of a few things that are coming to mind:

1. find a place to live
2. finish renovation projects on house
3. pack house, move stuff to storage
4. get Visas
5. get flight lined up
6. spend lots and lots of time with friends and family

Anybody out there have any ideas on housing? We're open to any and all thoughts!

weekend review

Friday
-worked until 2, spent a few minutes recovering from the patient who successfully sucks the life out of any person he/she interacts with.
-ran a bunch of errands
-took my friend's 2.5 year old daughter to her father's wedding rehearsal to be the flower girl.
-vacuum packed a bunch of clothes and sheets in those space saver bags

Saturday
-packed some kitchen stuff
-took my same little friend to her father's wedding, she was a fabulous flower girl. calamity was averted (15 minutes before the wedding) when caitlin (dressed in her beautiful flower girl dress) tripped on her dress/was pulled by the ring bearer and fell down three concrete steps and landed face first at the bottom. it had to be God's angels softening her fall: hardly a scrape, no blood, and no tears!
-met James in DTSP for dinner at Allison's apartment with she, Sam, and Andi. dinner and dessert were so yummy, Taboo was hilarious

Sunday
-woke up late and very tired
-church at Stony Point
-home to have soup and grilled cheese for lunch
-took a long nap
-Franklin Street church
-Ran for the border with the Catrow's, discussed the Extremeness of the quesadilla
-home to wait for the Sopranos to come on

Our smart dog

We've left town, and our dog Owen, on several occasions. A couple of times we've had friends stay at our house with her, many times she's stayed with my parents and had a blast playing with their dog. The last time we were gone, it was for a month, so this is her most recent memory of us being away. Who knows if dogs actually remember stuff like that, but I do know they are able to infer things based on prior experiences. Like, us sitting at the table means there will be food to beg for, leash in hand means going outside, etc.

All this to say, she's familiar with seeing us pack bags and load up the car. Even if we're leaving just for the evening, she can tell; she goes to the door before we do, trying to convince us to take her along.

Lately, we've begun the packing process for Scotland. We've loaded up some boxes with items we'll be storing, and packed winter clothes to take with us (I certainly won't be needing my bikini). Concurrently, Owen has become much more attached and clingy. She's never been one to have symptoms of separation anxiety, but I think she's sensitive to us leaving. I wish I could communicate to her that we're taking her with us so she'll stop being so pitiful. Oh well, she's a dog, she'll be fine.

On a separate note, It's such a relief that these unimportant "parenting" items relate to a dog and not a baby. Oh dear Lord help me if I had to move a child to another country!