Goodbye to the old, Hellooo to the New!

For quite a while now, in fact, before we were married, we knew that we wanted to sell my little Saturn when paid off for a bigger more family friendly car. (You must be very cautious when using this term when newly married, as I will explain later.) So we paid it off, cleaned it up to spiffy condition, and stuck up posters all over campus. We wanted to start in and around people we know.
When a car in such good condition and mileage as my little Saturn and it is being sold, if I were someone else, I would want to know why it was being sold. So on the flier I added that we are just wanted to upgrade to family sized car. When I called Zach in for editing, and besides correcting and informing me of the difference between a 4 cylinder and a V4, he pointed that one phrase out immediately and warned me that I might get a lot of questions asked if that was there, but it was left.
The next day I went in to ask permission to hang up said signage. One of the questions asked by the deans in the Student Life Office, was the family factor. After a quick explanation and reassurance that I was not expecting, the sign was hung on the board and I took off to hang up the rest over campus.
Well, the next day I got a call of interest and on Saturday, we sold the car. The next two days after that there were a miniscule flood of calls of inquiry. We had no idea it would sell that fast, in fact, I didn't have the title from the bank back yet. Now we were in a great need for a new car. Thankfully, we had been looking the last two weeks as we knew we were going to put it up, though we had in mind a timeline of more like a month for the sale.
We looked at quite a few cars and came to really look for a Chevy Impala. I love the room in them and the trunk and Zach is all about the bowtie and the American equipment that he can work on . Now I must say that I did bring up a minivan for consideration a couple times since we are going to run the vehicle to the last miles since it will be going down to the farm with us and since we want start a family in the next year or two it could be very practical in 4 years or so. My dearest is so very strongly against a minivan as is against most men's ego. He even admitted it. We came to a compromise. We would look for a good sized family car and run it to the ground. When it comes to when three kids or so are overcrowding the car, then he will just have to suck it up and be a man and give in to the practicality of a minivan.
With all this established, we kept looking. We finally found one we really liked on the Monday after the sale of the old. The whole time while looking around, we just didn't feel good about any of the cars and we were going to stay in our range and still get a good car. I kept praying and praying. The car we chose was a private sale and it is a very sharp looking silver 03 Chevy Impala V6 with only 52,000 miles on it.
I am very excited about it and since most men and women differ on the features of the car to be excited about, I will share my favorites.
- I love the power locks and windows and the little keychain control that I use with ferver each time,
- I love the huge backseat room, which also has the markings of the past backseat passengers' carseats,
- I love the absolutely gianormous trunk, which also pops open with the push of a remote button,
- I love the fact that is has a lot of oomph as I merge onto the interstate (which I was finally able to do 2 weeks after we bought since I got sick the day after we bought it),
- I love that the doors automatically lock when you shift into gear,
- and finally, I love that it has a front bench seat so I can still sit next to my honey on longer trips in a not too uncomfortable position.
Those are some of my favorite features and most of them are not the same as Zach's, though he does like the V6 power from my little 4 cylinder and the bench seat. Of course!
We are so very thankful for the car and have used it so much already and have even taken it down to the farm to introduce it to the gravel roads and back country roads.

The Unexpected Element of Marriage

I just had to get this out, but if you don't feel like reading a venting session, I will not be hurt if you skip this entry.
So in the last 4 1/2 months of marriage, Zach and I have been in cycles of one sickness or another. We are not talking a little sniffle here and there, but monoculosis and Flu virus that lasts 2 weeks and other ailments. After thinking about it a little bit, I can see the sense in it as you have two people living with each other and that increases the chances of spread of disease. Thankfully, I did get gifted the mono, but I gifted my honey with the flu thing. Missed 2 weeks of church and everything. So we have both used up all of the sick time that we have been allowed so far in the year. Zach had to use more and he has to work more to make it all up and then work extra to save up for mission's trip in June. Poor guy! He stills fights getting tired so very easily. They said that getting your energy totally back up from mono can last around 6 months to a year! Yay!
I know that the vows included "in sickness and in health", but com'on. This much in the very first 4 months is ridiculous! So we continue to pray and sleep good health to come back!!
Okay, I am done venting!

Snow more kittens!!

So we waited...and waited...and no police still. We had to leave at 5pm, so we left a note on the door and instructed security not to open the women's restroom door in spite of the desperate tiny sounds. On to home and to tell our families the adventure.

The next day, there was neither hide nor hair of the little fursome duo. We went on through our slow work day, till some Faith student comes in and asks if the kittens are still in the dorm. When I told her no, her face fell and she told me "I was going to ask maintenance permission to go play with them. Faith should really have pets for us."

Can you even begin to imagine that one? "Go feed the cats, Jamie." "Walk the dogs, girls" "Groom the guinea pigs for the 4 pm petting zoo." I really do like animals, but seriously, I think not!! Go get the student discount ticket for the Blank Park Zoo or go home and pet your family's dog or cat.

So much for Faith Baptist Furry Farm.

Snowing Kittens?

I must make this brief as the cops are soon to arrive. So much for time to work out. This is really rather exciting actually. We got a call from the 414 girls that there was a kitten siting in 418. For those of you who don't know about 418, it has been abandoned for about 3 years now and sits musty and full of school furniture. Well, Maria and I had about 15 min left, so full of curiosity we ran over to see if we could find them. We got there and in the breezeway, there they were - two little tabbies about 2 months old.

We stuck them into our coats and drove over to the shop. I will tell you that it is very interesting indeed to try driving with a squalling ball of fur and claws in your coat. I threatened the kitten not to unpleasantly dampen my sweatshirt. We got back safely and put them in the women's bathroom. I should have put them in the men's cause I had to go really bad about 10 min. later. When I was trying to exit the restroom, the handle stuck for about 20 secs and I had the terrible vision of the cops coming to find two kittens in one restroom and the previous heroine locked red-faced in the other.

So we have waited.....and are still waiting.....where is the Ankeny Police. Probably a newbie who hates the call, so he is taking his sweet time. He most likely even stopped for a nasty coffe from HandiMart first.

Story to be continued.....

Site Counter!!!

I am so very excited! First reason, I am so very tired for some reason and my coffee just taste so very good this morning, there is a meeting at work for blood screening and that means about an hour on the clock break, and then finally, I figured out how to put the site hit counter on my blog. That is a huge achievement for me as I know so very very little about computers and all the inner workings and language and stuff. Well, it took me about 15 min. or so, but finally I figured out where to copy and paste in the correct place. It took some experimenting, but success!! So now each time ya'll check the site out I can start racking up the numbers. Now I just need to figure out count down to certain date timers. Here comes Spring!!! 16 days till Spring!!!!! I can't wait!!

My Be-lated Valentine's Gift

I found out this morning that I do have a V-day gift, but it just didn't work out for Zach to have it in time. He was going to have the matching love seat for me. So we are going to get it ordered sometime soon. I really hope we can go in this Sunday and get the last of the President's Day Sale. I just hope that they have the matching piece since I got the couch last May. I can't wait. Practically a full set!! I love you, honey!!

Afton Alps Part Duex

This last weekend started at 3:45 am after 3 hours of sleep as the previous evening was consumed with going with the Youth Group to a Starz hockey game and returning home at 11 pm. I packed our lunches as Zach ironed wax onto his skis. That stuff smells and makes smoke like incense...cross your legs and start "mmmmming". We got to bed around midnight. I was so very close to just staying up for the next 3 hours, but was vetoed by a sleepy husband. Good thing that we weren't going to be driving. I prepped the espresso machine to compel me to wake up sooner and started sawing "Z"s, well Zach does the sawing.

The morning came way too soon and I had to be dragged out of bed. I successfully whipped up a caramel macchiato (very comparative to Starbucks and since places such as aforementioned aren't open before 4:30 in the morn.) with my eyes mostly shut as Zach loaded the truck. I grabbed the predished and warmed oatmeal and we headed out the door. It is so hard to look forward to something that is supposed to be fun like skiing when you have to suffer such an early morning knowing that going back to bed is so very far at the end of the day.

We got to the church, seemingly very quickly since I think I slept on the way up, and met with our fellow skiiers from our young married's class. There were a couple way too chipper for the time of night (I do mean night). Zach and I climbed into the very back of our new yellow church van and ate our oatmeal. I didn't last long after that and I was out. The trip on the way up was a bit sketchy for me, but for the fact that we learned that the back seat in the yellow beeping van is the worse place to try to sleep..or eat...or really do anything at all. This is due to the fact that you are continually and radically bounced off your seat at various time according to any little crack that might be in the road. It was miserable trying to sleep. Thankfully, on the way back we were able to trade with the Hartwig brothers who were single on this trip. They tried an illegal trade back 1 minute after we started back home. No way, Jose, boyzos!

We got the Alps and latched on our ski boots and stepped into our skis. While those who were renting equipment were aquiring their gear, Zach took me down the bunny hill a couple times to get the feeling back from two weeks ago and since this is my second time ever skiing. The snow felt so very different this time since it was icier. It was so very much slicker and I fell in the middle of a blue run. Embarrassing!!! I was so very much more hesitant this time. I actually didn't even go down any diamonds, though I should have tried one. (Are you more relieved Mom?)

The three of us couples skiied together for the morning, while the two "single" Hartwig brothers took off on their own to conquer the hills on ski and snowboard. It was fun as we took all blue runs and then rode up lifts with each of our honeys. I was trying the entire time to get the swishing turning part of skiing down which is the whole control factor of skiing. You gotta do some leaning and some major hip swinging.

After lunch, us girls stayed in the chalet for a little longer and watched the guys ski on the diamonds right in front of the big window as we requested. I think it did the guys a lot of ego good when we requested to see them show us their skills on the slopes. After a while, we decided to go back out. The three of us took our time and hit only the blue runs and had a ton of fun. The only injury that I did get, Mom, is a bruise the size of Dallas (for you, Jenna) on my hip. Okay, so that is pretty big, but the way it was acquired was pathetic. You see there was this lift that carries three persons. We were excited since we had been so far taking turns on who would ride alone on that turn. We got to the top and Tara, on my right, skiied off around to the left and fell, then Christine and I kinda scooted off and then fell right over on the left too. I was on Christine and my hip landed hard on her ski and boot. Well, we were laughing so hard while we were trying to get up that it took a little bit. It was a shorter time that it couldv'e taken though, but we still got an annoyed icy stare from the kid in the lift control box.

After a couple of hours, we were pooped and we got out of Afton Alps at about 5 pm. Home was another 4 hours away and then we stopped for dinner. This guy at Chilis was the most chatty waiter ever. Tip tactics I assume, but still I expected him to ask to swap best friend bracelets or something. He did provide good service though.

Because of the switch and after a couple of Yahtzee games with Zach on his compy, I blissfully conked out most of the rest of the ride home. Home was so very sweet to come home to and my bed so much more sweet. That was my second ever and and last for this year of skiing. I did my best, sweetheart, and I got my hips to turn and I got some good swishes. I did really have fun too! Till next year!!