Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

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slice of life

kindergarten

Here in central Texas school started today! We delivered a very excited five year old to start Kindergarten at our local elementary school. It was unemotional on all accounts…he checked on the pet iguana (which best not be a weekend take home pet) and settled into his seat without so much as a wave. Well, see you later, son.

A year ago was preschool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, kindergarten:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shane’s thoughts on the whole thing:

“I don’t think going to school will be like staying at home all day.” (no, because your mother doesn’t schedule 8 hours of activities for you)

“It’s weird to be awake when it’s darker outside. Usually I can just stay in bed until I want to get up.” (welcome to life, child)

“I’m pretty sure I’ll go to the gym everyday because I need to train to be an olympic-er.” (they may put you in the gym permanently, once they learn your energy level)

“I will miss you and the boys a little bit. But please clean up their messes before I get home so I don’t have to help.” (ha)

Huge Sale this Week

We are moving soon and need you to take our stuff to take to your home! We are having a huge moving sale. We would love to see you, if you’re able to make it!

Everything is well organized, priced to sell and from non-smoking households. All profits are going toward adoption costs for our daughter.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday (May 17th-19th) from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm each day

Address: 7960 Minar Avenue N, Stillwater Minnesota 55082

Some of what we have includes: (there is still so much more!)

– for the fashionista: men’s, women’s and children of all sizes. Most of the clothes are hung by size for easy shopping. Shoes for everyone!

– for the man: table saw, oil changing items, garden fencing and posts, BBQ grill

– for the bum: couch, wicker couch/chair/table set, rocking chair and more

– for the minors: many books, puzzles, toy sets, tunnel, tricycles, basketball hoop, etc

– for the littlest: be completely outfitted for a baby with boppy and twin pillows, stroller, blankets, nursing gear, infant carriers, johnny jump ups and lots more

– for the home and place you cook: exhaust hood/fan, crock pot, cookware, picture frames, office organization, curtains, water filter, sheet sets, suitcases

– for the life enhancing: TomTom GPS, excellent road bike, digital cameras

– for the no-money-out-of-your-pocket: coffee, iced tea, treats, miscellaneous items you may need!

sold

Josh and I don’t particularly like each other’s style of writing. I think he is too wordy and he thinks I am not funny. It’s a wash. And it’s also the reason we write two Christmas newsletters.

We decided recently to post Josh’s car on Craigslist to sell it before our upcoming move. Josh works from home now and having one car (the uncool family van) made sense. His car worked well but had many “character” flaws. Josh wrote the Craigslist post and then emailed it to me to put online with the pictures.

As soon as I read it I was convinced we would also have to list it for $50 because no one would buy it. And I clearly told him my opinion about it. Ha!

I posted exactly what he wrote:

1999 VW Jetta TDI – Silver

161,000 Miles

The Pros:
I have owned this car for 2.5 years. I originally bought it because I always wanted a Jetta TDI, and I had a 32 mile one-way commute to work. The gas mileage is awesome. I was able to get just over 700 miles on one tank the last time I checked it. 

It has been a very reliable car. Since I’ve owned it, it has only had two issues. After owning it about a year, it was starting to smoke a lot out of the exhaust. That issue turned out to be a large air tube that had a tear in it. I replaced it and it was back to normal. The other issue was this winter on that one extremely cold day. I didn’t add any cold weather gel preventative (which you normally don’t need, and the weather had been so mild), the fuel gelled up on the way to work and I had to get it towed to a place where it could thaw out. Other than that, it has treated me well.

The Negatives (Character):
Why is this list so huge!? I’m trying to sell a car, not keep people from buying it, right? Well, when it comes to vehicles, nothing is more frustrating than buying a used car, and finding out all sorts of flaws that the previous owner never told you. So instead of you buying my car and then getting frustrated, I’d rather tell you everything I know about it that could be viewed as negative. I want you to know what you are getting. It’s a great car in my book. It gets me from here to there with great gas mileage, and has had hardly any mechanical issues at all. But, there’s plenty of things that just aren’t up to par:

• The guy I bought the car from said the car had never been in any accidents. I’m not sure now whether I believe him or not, because upon closer inspection after I bought the car, it looks like the driver-side rear door and back panel have been replaced (the color is slightly off, and the door doesn’t shut as snug as it should).

• The body isn’t in that great of shape. The front bumper has slowly been working it’s way loose. I’ve zip-tied it in a couple places to hold it all on. It looks fairly normal, but it isn’t perfect. There’s a spot on the front bumper where the previous owner bumped into an empty trailer hitch on another vehicle (the square mark is there). The back bumper has plenty of bumps and bruises as well. There are random scratches, small dents, etc. all around it. There’s a bit of rust starting on the rear wheel wells. Most of this was all there when I got it.

• The previous owner put some silicone caulking on the top seal of the rear window. He said it leaked a little.

• The radio antennae is broken.

• The previous owner swapped out the stock stereo for a cd player. AM barely works. FM is fine. Haven’t played a cd in it. He also wired up a cord so that you can plug it into the headphone jack of something (I use my iPhone) and play music from there. In the process, he also tried to make a mount for his iPhone, and drilled a couple holes in the between the center air vents which didn’t work so he took it out.

• A couple of the air vent controls are broken (open/close, left/right).

• Dirty – the car was pretty dirty when I got it. I spent a little while cleaning it, but it’s got some stains. I recently detailed the interior again.

• Driver-side rear door lock often does not lock when using the key fab to lock the doors.

• The trunk often takes an attempt or two to open (either with the key fab or with the latch on the driver-side door). I’ve opened it up, and something isn’t quite right with the mechanics of the opener. It’s probably easily fixable. The previous owner clearly tried to use some tape to help it. It’s been that way and has worked the same since the day I got it.

• The key fab doesn’t have anything to attach it to a keychain, and I keep it taped together. It’s in rough shape, but again, it’s been that way since I got it.

• The engine is missing the normal engine cover that comes stock normally, and the protective plate on the bottom of the engine. I guess you could look on the bright side – as oil changes are a lot faster not having to remove them.

• The parking brake is shot. It will get stuck with the brakes on if used – so you can’t use it.

• The glove compartment door will come completely off if you aren’t careful. It stays in place when locked, but when you open it, it will come right off. Very typical issue with those Jettas.

• The wheels have been replaced with some after market wheels. Alloy rims. I haven’t had a problem with them. A couple of them don’t look very good though – the metal is doing weird things.

No joke, within an hour he had received over a dozen calls about it and had lined people up to come take a look. One man in particular was very persistent. I guess it was his dream car (who knew?!) that he had been shopping for for a couple of years. He drove straight over to deliver a check for the full amount, gave us a few days to make sure the check went through and then came and picked it up. The first time he drove it was out of our driveway.

At least three of the people Josh talked to complimented his post and said it made them want to buy the car more because of his honesty.

This is the public acknowledgment that I was wrong, in this case (and maybe this case only) about Josh’s writing style.

the presidentials

Tags

newt gingrich, rick santorum, senate republican conference

I was “randomly” assigned my first two roommates in college. I chose Northwestern without having set foot on the campus and I knew no one, so my choice in roommates was left up to the lottery assignments of Residential Life. And it lived up to being random…at best.

One roommate eventually confessed to lying on her housing application about crucial details concerning neatness, waking and bedtimes and likes/dislikes, etc. Her reasoning: she didn’t want to live with someone like herself. And it worked, for her. The other roommate, I still have no idea.

The truth omitter turned out to be very into politics (one commonality between us) and single handedly started and ran the College Republicans on our campus. During our first year Newt Gingrich was visiting and speaking at St. Olaf College. I had a best friend from high school attending St. Olaf so we all made an evening of it. I only vaguely remember meeting him and have no recollection of what he spoke about but at least there is photographic evidence.

Fast forward to my third year in the graphic design department. The summer before our Senior year was when most students completed their internships. My great Aunt Becky (awesome, not old) lives in Washington D.C. and worked on Capitol Hill. Her office, the Senate Republican Conference, had a design internship position open for the summer. I was accepted and spent close to three months fascinated with life in the nation’s capital. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

At the time the SRC was overseen by Senator Rick Santorum. We met with and supported all the Republican senators but had the most access to Santorum. The most impressionable time was at a private breakfast with just him and the office interns. It was quite the experience sitting in the Senate dining room at a table with ambitious people personally learning from a leader of the country. I remember him as being gracious, funny and open…and probably patient with what were very likely elementary questions from college students.

And now they are both running for president. Wow. I’ve never met Mitt Romney…and I hope there is never a picture that contains both me and Ron Paul.

a full year

It’s been a year, boys. Happy sweet first birthday!

Bryan, you are a steady delight. I see much of my personality in yours (finally, someone in the family has it!). You are very independent and can play for a long time entertaining yourself. You warm up to people more slowly but once you do, you’re all in. You like to stay up late seemingly not wanting to miss anything. And you know what you want and try to get it…which is manifesting itself in regularly taking toys from your brother. Your current favorite defense is to hit your brother repeatedly on the head. Your favorite comfort is sucking your middle two fingers on your right hand and because of that, when we snuggle you’re always on my right side.

Erich, you are my sweet and spicy love. Ninety percent of the time you are sweet, so sweet. You love to cuddle, be close to anyone in the room, and smile often. You will play contentedly if others are nearby but you often check in with them for a few moments to lay your head on them and then go back to playing. But when something isn’t going your way, the world knows it. You have a high pitched scream and a back arch that makes people question their sanity (or maybe that’s just your mother, everyone else can send you home). Currently your best defense is biting your brother. In many ways you are a personality twin to your oldest brother, and I already fear your third and fourth years, or at least my parenting of them. Your favorite comfort is your thumb on your left hand and when we snuggle you’re always on my left side.

Together, the two of you make a delightful (and dangerous) pair. We regularly enjoy your smiles and giggles and watching you explore your world. And we are excited for you to learn all that is ahead of you in year two.

today is that day

Today is that day. The day that the cute little grandma in Target vaguely mentions when she says, “enjoy it while they’re young; the days are long but the years are short.”

What they so coyly forget to tell you is just how long that long day is. And how it’s miserable. And how it makes you question why you wanted this instead of a 9 to 5 in a high rise downtown with extra cash flow for spa days.

Today was with injuries (yes, including a baby chewing on broken glass and not one, but two boys with probable concussion causing head bumps), and the king of undone houses (no big deal that toilet water is covering the bathroom while everything from the cabinets is sitting on the floor soaking it in; and when you see mom discover it, of course it’s a good idea to quickly make your way to the kitchen to empty more cabinets), and bad attitudes (of the screaming, and ipod throwing and hitting your brother with an etch-a-sketch type).

It’s also the day that daddie is caught over two hours late at work, three weeks of cycling sicknesses (by the sounds of which 50 year old smokers live here) when another scratchy throat and sinus headache are creeping in, and despite having a passion to cook and a stocked pantry dinner just isn’t a possibility. So there are buttered noodles, bottles and ramen. And while eating Ramen fond memories of how simple (and quiet and un-poopy) the blessed college days were.

Today is that day. And at the end of it when all the patience and yelling and anger and tempers have been spent there isn’t much left but to say I love you and to rock you  before bed. Even though it’s the last thing I feel like doing it’s also the only thing I feel like doing because today was just that hard.

austin

We’ve made a decision; a life altering decision. And we’re excited, really excited, to pursue it. We are moving to Austin, Texas!

For most of our marriage, eight years and counting, we have frequently discussed moving out of Minnesota. We have the desire to live somewhere warmer, and to enjoy the adventure of living somewhere new.

In our second year of marriage we moved to Tennessee for a school year while Josh was a resident director at a college. From there we transitioned back to Minnesota for what we thought would be less than a year. Josh was selected as a pilot for the US Air Force and we were in a waiting period before his actual entrance. We spent close to a year working odd jobs and living in temporary places. The crushing blow of his being disqualified left us spinning and rootless. We stayed in Minnesota mostly for a lack of not knowing what else to do.

Almost five years later, it’s time. We’ve had so many discussions but now it is time to start taking the steps. At least until we either drive out of the state or have it be abundantly clear that it’s not what we’re supposed to do.

Josh has been cleared by his current employer, August Ash, to continue as a full time employee and work from home. It will be a nice change to eliminate his 45 minute commute and for the boys to be able to see him more during the week.

Why Austin? Well, we’ve never been there, and to our knowledge we don’t know a single person that lives there. But, we do know it is in beautiful Texas hill country with a surprising amount of rivers/lakes in the area. It’s warm…melt your face hot at times…but the lowest it averages is about 40. As a family we love to spend time outdoors and have longed to live somewhere that we can do that comfortably most of the year.

The cost of living is lower than our current area and combined with eliminating a commute for Josh we are hoping to stretch our finances to pay off our debts more quickly. And possibly affording to travel more. We also think it will be important to live somewhere that the values are more inline with our personal ones. And while I don’t know for sure, but I suspect we will immensely enjoy the culture of Austin as a smaller city, live music and great foodie paradise.

We also hope to be able to put more resources toward Josh’s dream of his private pilots license and possibly a career in the field eventually.

I personally spent the majority of my growing up years living in southern states and am excited about getting back to the southern culture – friendly people, conservatives, big hair, fried okra, country music (don’t hate!), Biblical sensitivity, and sweet tea. In some ways it feels like home.

Also, I’ve always thought it would be really awesome to have a coke (because he doesn’t drink beer) with the G. W. Bush. In Austin I should be closer to our seven degrees of separation. I kid…mostly.

We’re currently planning to move this summer after the school year finishes for Shane. And I suppose we should start liking football…hook ’em horns!

merry christmas

We hope you have had a wonderful holiday season! Our newsletters are here (the “I love details” version) and here (the “time? what time?” version). Or use the buttons at the top of the page. Enjoy!

Photo credit: Karen Feder Photography