Day 20

I feel accomplished and its only 1:38! Today I am finishing up some last minute travelling things. I went to the store to get a couple things but mostly so that I could get change so that I could go get quarters. I desperately need to do laundry but the machines only take quarters. It takes 7 quarters to do a load of laundry, I have one. So I got some change and went to the bank here in town. Tom picked one and asked me to open an account. I did so and I got a whole roll of quarters!!!! I am now at the library rushing through my post so that I can go home and do laundry, finish packing, and wash the dishes :)

Day 19

Today I found out that we were definitely coming home this weekend. In fact, we are leaving tomorrow right after work! Therefore today was spent mostly in preparation of the trip.

I went grocery shopping for the trip home, I balanced the checkbook and paid  rent. I then spent most of the rest of the day making jewelry to bring home with us.

Here are the results

When Tom came home I asked him if he wanted to go on a walk again and he said yes! This time I brought my camera :)

Day 18

Today I cleaned up the mess I made in the kitchen last night. I washed the mountain of dishes I made and cleaned the various surfaces that I dirtied.

After cleaning I decided to take care of the Goodwill pile and go to Hobby Lobby to make an exchange. I had seen the Goodwill a couple days ago and I was confident that I could find it again. I didn't need any directions, I didn't need the GPS either! I could find it myself. Or not... I drove out to the side of town that has all of the big chain stores and spent about 10 minutes looking for the Goodwill before I gave up. I know its out there somewhere. It is behind one of the big stores, which big store its behind I am still not sure of :) So off to Hobby Lobby I went. I had previously bought a package of transfers. It had 4 pages and the top one was the one I wanted. It was only after I bought it, brought it home and opened it that I realized that all four pages were not the same and that I would use the other 3 pages. All of this to say, I needed to return it. So I did and I exchanged it for a bunch of fall colored beads, some metal findings, acrylic paints and a pretty good idea of what I wanted to make!

Here are a couple results of my trip

I spent most of the rest of the day one these and i am pretty pleased with how they turned out.

When Tom came home from work I asked him if we could go somewhere, anywhere would be nice. He said sure and after we discussed the possibilities (which took about 5 minutes at the most) we decided to go check out the "lake". I put it in quotes because compared to the Lake at home, it looks more like a pond :) We walked all the way around the lake. It was beautiful out there, the sun was setting as we walked around the lake. I regretted my choice of leaving my camera in the car. 

Day 17

So today I cleaned the kitchen. I washed all the dishes we made over the weekend and cleaned up our mess.

I then decided to make meatballs. Well, I regret the choice right now. Our stove smokes every time we cook anything on/in it. it sets off our smoke alarm every time we cook. So instead of taking the smoke alarms down ( which is what I normally do) I decided to open the back door which is located in the kitchen. We do not have a screen door on our back door, just the door. It has been quite warm lately with only a slight chill on the air. Nebraska doesn't seem to want to give up summer yet. Unfortunately this means that there are millions of flies still going strong. In the time that it took me to cook  2lbs of meat no less that 100 flies entered my apartment. I am not exaggerating at all. In fact I am pretty sure there were more, much more. I personally killed 60ish flies with the fly swatter. I got fed up with the flies halfway through making meatballs and I decided that I was finished. I closed the back door and started hunting down the flies I missed while cooking. They all seemed to be in the living room trying to get out of the glass windows. I swatted and smashed, I chased and cornered, I did everything I could to kill those flies. Well most of them got away. I then decided to bring the fly paper from the kitchen into the living room. I set it up right by the window and then continued my chase. Well, inevitably I suppose, I backed up into the fly paper and got my hair stuck in it. It surprised me because I had forgotten already that I moved it there. I yanked my hair free and decided to give up the chase of the flies.

Here are some pictures of the fly paper. The sad part is that there are still many flies flying free and alive in my apartment :(

Day 15-16

The weekend :)
So to continue about Saturday; after the library we came home and Tom put some of the tools in his truck. Since he took them out of the office we were able to clean up and set up my half of the room. we put up some pictures and set up my bead table.

This is what the office looked like before

And this is what it looks like now

I can now walk into the room :) Lord willing we will be able to get the garage soon. we will then be able to get all the stuff off the floor and Tom's clothes in the closet. We would also be able to have people come over to visit then!

Sunday was depressing. I miss Missio Dei Fellowship so much. This week we tried out Northern Heights Baptist church. It was the most unwelcoming church I have ever been too. The greeters (the only way we could tell that they were greeters was by the name tags that said "greeter" on their shirts.) were stone faced statues. They shook our hands and said "good morning" and moved on to the next person. No smile, no "welcome to our church", no directions to the bathroom or sanctuary, nothing. We then made our way to the small crowded sanctuary and tried to find somewhere to sit. There were people everywhere talking and laughing, blocking the aisles and walkways. No one stopped to say "hi" or "welcome to our church". We found a seat in a half filled pew only to be told to move! Apparently one lady "claimed" the last available space in that pew and would be "right back". We got up and made our way back to the foyer. I was hoping that we were leaving but Tom was just trying to find a less clogged way to the other side of the sanctuary. We finally found a seat near the front of the room just before the service started. At this point all I wanted to do was leave. I missed Missio so terribly that I was fighting very hard not to bust into tears in front of everyone. Well we stuck it out. The music was ok, the band seemed new and unpracticed. No biggy. The sermon was pretty good. I liked the message. The pastor preached on 1 Cor. 1: 26-31 "Nobodies for Christ" His main point is that God picks the "nobodies" to work through because He (God) wants the glory and we need to stop avoiding evangelism because we don't feel like we are good enough. He had to work hard for his congregation's attention though. People were whispering back and forth, kids were getting up and down, babies were crying with no one taking them out. The whole experience sucked. Out of all the people there only one lady welcomed us to the church and that was at greeting time. She was an elderly lady named Florence. I thank God for Florence.

After church we came home and ate. then we had nothing to do and it was only 1:00. So we decided to go to the mall just to walk around. We then went to the library to get some movies. We got 5 movies, Rocky, a documentary on the Medal of Honor, and the threes documentaries on bugs. And that is how we spent the rest of our day. I did get to talk to my dad for a little bit and my mom for about an hour. I am glad I was able to talk to them. My mom especially is good to talk to.

Day 14-15

So yesterday was Friday, which means Tom only worked 4 hours. I think Fridays are my favorite because he comes home early :) Not much happened yesterday. We watched movies and the best of the Johnny Carson Show :)

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday to get a couple things and while I was in the bead aisle I heard a couple ladies talking about websites they go to to get beads and other supplies. I told them about a couple of my favorites. Then one of the ladies said that she didn't know how to wire wrap beads and the other lady said that she didn't either. I told them that I did and invited them over to show them. We traded business cards and Lord willing they will come over next week.

Today we cleaned out the bed of Tom's truck and changed his oil. I helped by reading my book in the truck :) Now we are at the library. Our life is full of adventure as you can see.

Tom is watching me type this. It's kinda creepy having him stare over my shoulder. He is also being a typing/spelling Nazi!

Day 12-13

So, I can't think of anything interesting that happened yesterday. I do remember that I came to the library and couldn't get on the internet. And I went grocery shopping.

Today I decided to go to the mall. It is smaller than Regency, like maybe a third of the size. They have a Maurice's so I am happy. I spent about 2 hours there just looking around. I then went to Hobby Lobby because I am almost out of waxed linen cord. I spent about 45 minutes there just looking around. They have things at this Hobby Lobby that isn't at the one in Kenosha. I need to start saving up :) I then came home to find a business card stuck in our font door from a police officer asking us to contact him. Apparently there are city ordinances about parking an unhitched trailer on the street. we don't have a driveway or parking lot or anything so we have been keeping the trailer on the street.  On Sunday a guy from across the street asked us to move it so that there would be more parking, so we moved it further up the street away from the apartment. I explained to the officer that we just moved here and we were Lord willing taking it home this weekend or definitely next. He was very nice and said that if we took it home this weekend, there would be no problem. I we couldn't take it home we needed to find somewhere for it to stay that wasn't on the street. I wonder where it will go...

I am trying to make BBQ Pulled Pork for dinner. I have never made it before so I hope it turns out. I am making it in the crockpot. I put the pork in with 3 cups of water and some salt and granulated garlic. I put it on low for 8 hours. About 3 hours later I added more water because the pork soaked up most of the water I originally put in. I hope that works...

I started on some jewelry last night. I hope to have our office unpacked and rearranged soon. We can't do anything though until we get a garage. We are waiting for one to become available. When it is available, all of Tom's tools will go in there along with par stock type items and seasonal clothing. This will all but empty out what is in the office right now. We will then be able to unpack Tom's clothes (the closets are much smaller here so Tom's clothes are going to go in the office) and I can set up my bead table.

Day 11

Today I was having trouble going to sleep after Tom left. After one too many crazy dreams I got up at 8:45.

I decided to pay the bills due this week. I am very happy to announce that we paid off one of our medical bills today! Two more to go. We hope to have all of them paid off by the time we come home with money left over.
I took the bills to the post office. I was going to go on a walk but it was too cold to walk into the strong wind without a hoodie so I went home to find mine. I couldn't find it so I decided to wait until it was a little warmer.

I read Matthew 6-10 today. It was very convicting. I am not perfect and I know that I will never be. I am very thankful that Jesus loved me so much that He came and died to pay the penalty for my sins.

After reading my Bible I started on the mountain of dishes leftover from dinner last night. I have given up on my dishwasher. It doesn't clean my dishes. I found my self scrubbing all my dishes with soap before putting them in the dishwasher. There is no point in doing that and  then wasting money on "washing" them again. So I am now washing the dishes by hand and putting them in the dishwasher to dry. I watched/listened to Mamma Mia! while I did the dishes. Yes, I even danced around the apartment a little.

Last night was a disappointment to Tom. He talked up my cooking all last  week and I guess quite a few guys sounded interested in paying me too cook for them. I worked really hard yesterday to make a complete dinner for 6 men plus us too. I just barely finished it on time. I then got a call from Tom saying that they were going to be working an extra 1/2 hour. I was able to get everything portioned out and in a laundry basket with some towels and to the job site with the extra time. As I pulled up everyone was leaving. I was kinda confused because I thought I was supposed to be bringing them food. Tom came over and told me that they had to go to the ATM. I left the food with Tom and went home. I was pretty sure that he was going to be home soon. After waiting for an hour I texted him to see if he was on his way. It only takes about 5 minutes to get home from the job site so I was kinda wondering what was going on. he came home soon after that with the basket full of food still. I asked him what was wrong and he said that no one came back. I didn't care that much but he looked like he was upset about it. When I asked him he said he was just upset about having waited so long. I got a text around lunch time from him saying asking me to bring 3 dinners tonight. Hopefully it works out better tonight. I hope so because we spent a lot on the food.

Day 10

Not much has happened today. I went for a walk/jog. About ten minutes in my mom called me. It was very nice to hear her voice. We were able to talk for about an hour.

I started reading Matthew today, I read 6 chapters and then noticed the time.

I am at the library now, I found out yesterday that instead of using the library computers (which I have a limited amount of time on) I can use my laptop. I left my camera in the car but I should be able to upload some pictures tomorrow :)

Today I am going to be bringing some of the guys dinner. I am kinda nervous about it. Oh well, God will work it out :)

Day 8 & 9

Not much happened on Saturday. We went to the Library and got a couple movies. one wouldn't play at all and the other was boring. Tom fell asleep really early (poor guy)

Sunday we tried out our first new church. To quote Tom it was mercifully short. It started at 10:30 and was done at 11:30. this included a baby dedication, singing, children's lesson time, the sermon and an alter call. The sermon's main passage was very out of context and the other passages He used to support what he was saying didn't seem to match either. One good thing about the church was that they were very welcoming. People came over to us and introduced themselves and tried to make us feel welcome. I liked that.

Tom decided he wanted to make breakfast tacos so we wen to the store to get the ingredients that we were missing. One part of breakfast tacos is a big piece of beef roast. Tom usually cuts it into strips and grills them. We had everything ready to go and set up to grill but we couldn't find and lighter fluid so Tom sent me to the store to get some. When I got back as I was making my way to the back yard I heard voices and just assumed that it was the neighbors talking to themselves. When I go to the back yard to my surprise Tom was talking to one of our neighbors! He made a friend before I did! So not fair... Please keep us in prayer as we hopefully continue to develop this relationship. Lord willing as we get to know him better we will be able to witness to him. His name is Jake.

While we were cooking the meat we were being swarmed by flies. After a while Tom got fed up with the flies and went inside for some weapons! He declared war on the flies outside. he brought out some fly paper and tried to get them that way. After a while he realized that it might be too far away so he brought it a little closer.  He then thought maybe if he held the plates close to the paper the flies might get caught on it. He caught a few that way but not enough. we finally finished grilling and brought everything inside. Unfortunately the flies came with us. Tom then proceeded to attack all flies within his reach with the fly swatter.  It was a little funny but much appreciated. Altogether I think we killed 10 flies last night. There is one left but he will die soon (I hope)

We got a miniseries from the Library yesterday called "The Pacific". It is made by the same people who made "Band of Brothers". I have enjoyed it so far. I am looking forward to watching more with Tom.

Day 7

I am excited for 2pm to come today! Tom gets off early so I will have some one to hang out with!

On to things I have accomplished today. I finished the third book I got from the Library and I mostly finished making my dress. All I have to do is make the sash for it. I am pretty proud of my dress :) Thank you Nicole for buying me the fabric and fixing my sewing machine!

Despite the fact that I am so far away from y'all I am enjoying myself here. Instead of getting a job (for now at least) I will be making meals for some of the guys that Tom works with. After this I am going home to make them a survery of sorts in oder to make sure I don't feed them something that they are allergic to. I am kind excited about this. It seems like a very womanly job and I am looking forward to it. It will be an adventure for the fist week or so as we figure out the best way to do things. I am enjoying the fact that my kitchen is clear of moving debris and stocked to cook. I am going to try to surprise Tom with blueberry muffins tomorrow morning. I got the recipe from his mom. Tom says that they are the best muffins EVER!!! So hopefully I will be able to make them just as good.

We are hopingto get the internet next week ( I really hope we do!!) so Lord willing there will be pictures coming soon.

I am kinda nervous for our first church service on Sunday. There are 3 baptist churches in town. We are going to try those first. I think we are going to First Baptist this week...I'm not sure.

As I read back over what I have typed so far I realize that there is no clear connection between thoughts. I'm sorry. I guess this is what comes from not talking to anyone all day. Oh well. Call me any time between the hours of 10 and 4. I would welcome your calls.

Day 6

I was pretty sure I was going to freeze to death this morning...It was cold when I got up to make Tom breakfast. I couldn't go back to sleep when I went back to bed because it was so cold. I ended up having to get another blanket.

I didn't do a whole lot this morning. I did get to have a 45 minute long phone call with my Mom :) It was very nice hearing her voice.

After talking to my Mom I decided I better get to work. Last night Tom bought me a pantry because I was struggling to fit everything in to our 6 cubboards. We got it on sale from ShopKo :) I finished unpacking the kitchen today! It lokks really nice. When we get the internet at home I'll post before and after pictures.

I don't have much time today so I have to go. I hope y'all are doing well

Day 5

I got to sleep in this morning, I didn't have to get up until 6:15 :) I am hoping that I can get a bike soon. Lord willing, I will just stay up after getting things ready for Tom and take a bike ride or something.

Today I am unpacking the "office". We can actually walk in there now, lol. I unpacked most of  the boxes and cleared off my desk. I got tired of unpacking and decided to try to make a dress. I set up my sewing machine and put thread on my bobbin. I then spent twenty minutes trying to get the bobbin tread to come up top. It worked (I cheared quietely to myself) and decided to test it first on so scrap materiel that Nicole gave me. The top thread was fine but the bottom was really loose. I tried flipping the bobbin over and it still didn't work. I got fed up and came to the Library. I am very thankful for my friends who gave me all sorts of options of how to fix it.

It is kinda chilly here. It feels like Fall started.

Just saying, nobody here seems to get the whole "be quiet in the library" thing...

Day 4

9-13-11
Not much happened yesterday after I left the Library. I walked over to the museum by our Apt. But it cost money so I decided to save it for another day.

The maintenance man came over and fixed our dishwasher (Yay!) I was still having a bad attitude about unpacking so I decided to watch a movie and sew up some holes in our pants. I watched 27 dresses. I really like that movie.

When Tom came home we went to Walmart again to get some food. I made beffy mac and cheese for dinner with buffalo (not as spicy as it sounds) velveeta. It turned out pretty good.

We took a drive to get a better feel of where things are in town, we brought our map just in case. It is pretty hard to get lost here which is nice. We drove out into the country to check it out. Lots of corn...it was pretty though.

Day one-three

Our Grand Adventure                                    

9-10-11

We went to Mom and Dad's house for brunch before setting off on our grand adventure. Mom made coffee cake and eggs :) She makes the best coffee cake ever! Nichole and Lydia were able to join us. It was a meal filled with  laughter and love.

            After we finished eating Lydia whipped out two full grocery bags full of snacks for our drive. Then Mom asked if we wanted any of the leftover from our party the night before to bring with us. My initial thought was “ were are we going to put all of this?!” It all fit and it was very helpful. We were able to eat that instead of stopping to eat somewhere along the way.

            It took about 10 hours to get to Norfolk, Nebraska. It was an adventure in itself following Tom! I think the trip home for Thanksgiving will be better because I know what to expect now.

            We made it safely to Norfolk around 10pm. We unloaded most of the essentials. We were up until about 1am trying to settle in. It was very nice to sleep in our bed again, I missed it so! It seems bigger after sleeping in a twin size for most of last week.

9-11-11

We woke up around 10am. We unloaded our vehicles and the trailer. While we were doing that we realized that the windows didn't lock. Tom would have none of that! He said “we need to secure this place. It would be way too easy to get in!” So we went to the job site and cut some scrap wood to hold the windows shut. (The job site was very impressive. It will be interesting to see what it looks like when its finished.)

            After getting the wood we came home and secured the windows and grabbed my computer. We then spent about 20minutes driving around trying to find some free WiFi. We eventually found some in the parking lot of the Country Inn and Suites. I'm pretty sure we looked like creepers sitting in the parking lot :)

            We then went to WalMart to get some groceries and then back home. We were very hungry by then but didn't know where any of the pots and pans were. So we spent a couple hours unpacking most of the kitchen just trying to find something to cook in. Of course they were in the last boxes that we looked in. We made dinner/lunch (linner?) and the maintenance man and the landlord came over with some paperwork.

            After dinner we watched the Breakfast Club (Tom picked) All around a profitable day. The next day real life would begin.

9-12-11

The alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. Ugh! I forgot how early 5:30am was! I made Tom breakfast and lunch and packed it all up for him. Due to the fact that we haven't found his alarm clock yet I woke him up. He went off to work and I was all by myself... I went back to bed and woke up to the sound of little, running feet. I think the upstairs neighbors have a kid, I'm pretty sure his name is Anthony because I have heard his mom yelling at him on more than one occasion. It made me think of  Kendal and how even when she is frustrated with Anthony she deals graciously with him. I miss Kendal.

            I did laundry today.  The laundry room is right outside my front door. There is only one washer and dryer so I set a timer for the clothes in order to be polite to my neighbors. I apparently didn't press start because it never went off. I put the clothes over and started a new load. When the dryer went off I found the clothes still wet. Not sopping wet but still wet enough that it needed to be run again. I thought to myself “I'm not wasting another 75 cents to run it again, I'll just hang them around the house to dry.” I switched the setting on the dryer from “normal” to permanent press”  It didn't get the clothes any dryer than normal did. So I used my last three quarters to run it again. It dried the clothes the second time around. I wander if this is a normal occurrence. Oh well, its still cheaper to wash clothes here.

            I was tired of unpacking the kitchen stuff so I decided to work on the bedroom. I turned on some music to drown out the silence of being by myself and the occasional noise from upstairs. I unpacked the stuff in the dresser first. I set up my jewelry box and my jewelry. I came across the green necklace Nichole gave me. I felt the need to text her and tell her that I missed her. I unpacked most of my clothes (I think we are missing a box)

            After all of this I decided to be a big girl and venture out to find the post office and the Area commerce building. I brought the GPS just in case. I put the post office into the GPS and followed it to the post office that is one block east of our apartment :/  I filled out our change of address form and went back to my car. I tried to put in the area commerce building in to the GPS but it couldn't find it. So back into the post office I went. When I asked for directions, they ladies asked me if I knew where the Ford dealership was. “No” I replied “this is my second day in town, I don't know where anything is” “Well, this street out front is 4^th st. Take that south and go through 2, no 3 lights. Take a right and the building is right in the middle of the dealership.” I thanked them and went on my way.

            I followed the directions and found the building but didn't see anywhere I could pull into. To late I realized I would have to park on the street. I went around the block for a second try when I noticed a shop called The Craft Gallery. I think yes! I kept going and went into the Area commerce building. The lady was very nice and gave me a couple phone books and some Norfolk booklets. One had a map in it! After this I went back around the block to check out the Craft Gallery. It was a cute place with country style crafts like bird houses and such. When the lady who ran the place came over to ask if I needed help I told her I was new in town and just checking stuff out for now. “Oh” she said “did you get a job here?” “my husband did” I replied. “Oh, what is he doing?” “ He is one of the men building the Family Aquatic center” “Is that an Aquarium or a pool?” “Its a pool/water-park type place.” She wrinkled her nose at me and said “I voted against that.” What do you say to that?!?!?! I said “well I'm glad my husband has a job!” She tried to pull the words she spoke back but it didn't work. Oh well. She drew me a map of how to get to most of the places I might want to go in town. And gave me the name and number for the only Cable company in town.

            After I left there I tried to find the cable company's office to find out how much it would cost to get the internet. I couldn't find it so I went home. I got really excited when I saw Tom's truck parked outside our apartment building. It was only 3pm! Two whole hours before he was supposed to be home! He came out of the apartment just as I was getting out of the car with a tool in his hand. :( He told me he loved me and that he would be back in a couple hours, LW.

            I went inside disappointed and feeling quite sorry for myself. I thought “if only I had a book!” I then got the bright idea of using my newly acquired map to find the library! It was just across the street from the post office according to my map so I decided to walk. When I arrived I went strait to the front desk to get a library card. The lady was really nice. She told me what she needed from me and of course I didn't have half of it. I explained to her that I didn't have anything official with my address on it because I just arrived Saturday night. She was very kind and gave me a library card anyway! She then explained everything I would need to know about the library. I was able to get on facebook and check my email there, which was nice. I also got a fun book and a book of Nebraska History in pictures.

            I came home and started dinner for Tom. I turned out ok. I think the carrots were the best part... Oh well.

            Tom took me on a drive to explore the town. Johnny Carson grew up here or something so we went to find the house. Couldn't find that so we went to the park looking for the cowboy trail-head. Couldn't find that either so we came home to watch a movie. On our way into the house as we were passing under the lone tree in our front yard I caught a glimpse of something moving by Tom's head. It was the biggest spider I have ever seen!!!! Tom didn't seem to concerned. And then told me about the giant spiders in the desert somewhere. I don't think I will be going to the desert any time soon...

9-13-11

I'm tired of unpacking already. I unpacked most of the bathroom stuff today.

            While I was doing that I was thinking about how it would be a good idea to keep a journal or something about our time in Nebraska. That thought led me to the thought of a blog so that our parents could feel included in our time here.

            This first post will probably the longest because I want to catch y'all up on the happenings here. My goal is to write something everyday. Until we get the internet I will be typing up the day's happenings and saving them to a USB and taking them to the Library the next day. It is 1:48pm and I don't really feel like unpacking. Therefore I am procrastinating a little. Please don't think badly of me because of it.

            When I get a chance I will upload pictures of our apartment and of my progress unpacking and setting up. Ok, I am taking this to the library now. I am sure something will happen later. If something does happen I will write it down tonight and post it tomorrow. Well I thought I was taking this to the library, I had to go find the USBs. Didn't take me super long though. Sandy packed the desk up very nicely and put it all in the same box.