Multiplying Blogs

You may have noticed our posting here has become a little sparse.  In addition to this blog, we have two other blogs we've started.  Scott has a blog connected to his work where he blogs 5-6 times a week.  If you're his Facebook friend, you've seen some of these updates.  We also started another blog specifically for our trip to Russia.  Because of privacy and safety concerns, we don't plan to link any of the blogs, but would be happy to give you the links if you want them.  Just send us an email to let us know.  And don't worry, we will still continue to blog here from time to time.

April Showers Bring.....

If April showers bring May flowers....

What do April snow showers bring??

• cold
• depression
• wet socks and shoes
• birds in hiding
• slipping and sliding down the hill to my car after work
• a general, overall foul mood

Yes, today is April 7th, where the average high is 56 degrees. Today we were a balmy 37 degrees with rain and snow flurries. This was the kind of snowstorm that had huge, ginormous snowflakes. I was thankful I had a big golf umbrella today because it was really coming down. 

As I was leaving work, this is what I saw: a beautiful winter wonderland....in April.

Even the birds were taking shelter under a pine tree as the snow was too much for them.

I got home from work and could have shoveled the driveway, but decided that was just too much for me in spring. I sadly looked at all our tulip stems coming up, now covered in snow.

The worst part was the snow was heavy and slushy. I really could have been wearing boots today because there was so much wet slush. Both Scott and I came home with wet shoes and pants cuffs and drenched socks. Not fun.  I'd much rather go back to the 70+ degree days we had awhile back.  I guess those days were just teasers.

It's April? Really?

Wow, April really snuck up on me this year. I really don't know where the month of March went. I seems like just yesterday when I was getting ready for the season of Lent, and now, it's halfway done and Easter is rapidly approaching.

April is always an interesting month. Both of my sisters have birthdays this month, as well as a number of other family members. It's also tax deadline, which is something everyone simply looks forward to, right? Easter invariably falls in April, so it's also a month for remembering Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection for us.

What big plans lie in store for April? Well, of course Holy Week and Easter. But really, there's not a lot really big in our plans here. But if you have any great ideas for some fun spring activities, please feel free to share them!

Random Sights Around Town

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  Sorry.  Life has been busy as I was out of town last week and then preparing to go out of town the week before that.  It always seems to take such effort and energy to prepare for a trip and then to recover from a trip, so I'll keep this short.

Here's some random pictures I took around town the beginning of the month. This beautiful home is set for demolition.  You can see people have already started pillaging the home by removing the garage doors despite the No Trespassing sign hanging right there.



This nice home is also set for demolition.  You can see the reason why- new power lines going in.  Imagine you wake up one day with this big thing in the middle of your driveway. I'm sure that's not how it happened, but there are several homes (at least 12) along the main road nearest to our home that are set to be torn down because they stand right in the way of the new power line.  They are also widening the road from 2 lanes to 5 lanes, which resulted in the need for new power lines.  The project is supposed to be completed by the end of this year, so we'll see if that's the case or not.  I'm just happy we have an alternate route to our home, so we can bypass the mess of construction.

Some people got creative with this yellow sculpture on campus and turned it into large fries and a hamburger.  I thought it was pretty clever.

I saw this as I was leaving my office building one day. You can see the fog rolling in at the base of the mountain.  Kind of neat.

Here's a cloud burst Scott thought was neat as we were driving through the mountain pass.  You can see it covering the road.  Visibility was clear right up until we drove through it and then we couldn't see anything for a few seconds until we were in the clear again. So weird.

And that's all the random updates from me.  Despite what these pictures show, our snow is gone and even the mountains are beginning to lose the snow we can see on them.  Spring is on its way!  Hooray!

Spring Fever/Madness

It's getting to be spring around here. Most of our snow has melted off, and I've even been wearing short sleeves over the past week or so. I love winter, but do have to admit that there is something exciting about spring, when life seems to wake up and perk up once again.

But perhaps some of you thought that I had gone into a hole for hibernation. After all, it's been quite a while since I last blogged here! And since I know you all were dying to hear from me, my wife thought it would be good for me to get some words up on here.

Actually, part of the reason I haven't been so active here is because I've created a blog related to my work, and I strive to create a new entry on there six days a week. (If you would like to check out that blog, look me up on facebook for the link, or email me and I'll get it to you.) It's been a fun adventure, and I am really liking the discipline it takes to put a few paragraphs down each day.

It's also been a time where I have been finishing up some of my doctoral work. I took two classes in January, and I typically have 10 weeks to get my papers done. So I've been working on those so that I can get them to my professors before the deadline.

In addition, I will be taking another class this summer, and have begun my reading assignments for them. That also takes up a bit of additional time.

So there is my life in a nutshell. Of course, my favorite thing continues to be spending time with my wife, so she is in line for the lion's share of my time. You can almost be sure that, anytime I haven't blogged for a while, she or some of these other things have been taking up my time.

It's good to be back. I promise I won't go so long between entries if at all possible!

More Crafting

Right after I finished my three-week "beginning" knitting class, I started a three-week "basic" sewing class at the technical college.  I've had a new sewing machine for a few years that I've never taken out of the box.  The last time I sewed was in 8th grade home economics when I made a duffle bag.  It turned out fine and my sewing experience was positive, but it's been more than 15 years since 8th grade sewing class and I was nervous I wouldn't know where to begin or remember how to sew.  I was hoping the class would serve as a refresher for my sewing skills and give me the confidence to take the machine out of the box and begin sewing.

In previous posts, I detailed how the beginning knitting class was not really as beginning as I thought it would be.  You can imagine my frustration when the same was true for the sewing class.  I showed up the first day and we started right in cutting out our pieces with a pattern and sewing the pieces together.  I thought we would begin by practicing sewing or reviewing the different stitches, etc.  I was so frustrated and this right on the heels of all the knitting frustration.  Ugh.

My skill level was again near the bottom of the class, but thankfully there were only 7 others in the class and the teacher was patient.  And the nice part was, the learning curve with sewing is much less than with knitting.  It's not that hard to run pieces of fabric through the machine.  For some reason, however, I got the machine that continued to have bobbin problems or tension problems or needles that came unthreaded.  Just my luck.

The first two classes we worked on a smock apron.  I learned how to piece the parts together, I made a pocket, did a blind stitch on the backside for the hem, and more.  Here's the finished product:

Then the last class we made a hobo bag.  This was more challenging then the apron.  We worked with interfacing to add a stiffness to the bag and a lining and pocket inside.  Here's the outside of the bag:

And the inside with the pockets:

I like both of the projects now that they are complete and in keeping with my goals for 2011, I guess I can say I learned to sew and knit; thus, achieving both of those goals already.  I'm working on the Bible verse goal all year and the other goals are a little more vague and less measurable, so you probably won't get updates from me on them.

As far as classes labelled as beginning or basic- I think I'm done taking them unless I'm looking for an intermediate class.

And the sewing machine- it's still in the box, but at least I have opened the box and read the instruction manual!

Catching You Up On My Verses Challange

Way back in this post, I shared with you my 2011 goals.  I'm happy to report that I've been working away at some of them.  One of the goals was to memorize 24 Bible verses as part of a challenge put out by Beth Moore.  I've been plugging away at it and am on my 5th verse of the year already.  I thought I'd share the verses I picked with you.

Jan. 1st- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:27 NIV

Jan. 15th- I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  Psalm 130:5 NIV

Feb. 1st- The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."  Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV

Feb. 15th- "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

March 1st- Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever!  Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV

The verses are so comforting and encouraging.  It's been really fun to have something positive to meditate on when I'm getting ready in the morning or walking on the treadmill.  And it's fun to see what verses my 2 friends pick when we email our choices back and forth.