quite simply, just random stuff

where have the last three weeks gone? life has been insanely busy. but, i know that’s the way many people around school are feeling this time of year too. and, i’m guessing that based on the lack of updating on blogs that i read, lots of others are feeling the same way!

we’ve had several showings and an open house in the past few weeks. we dropped the price this past week as well. tuesday was a realtor tour; we’ll hopefully get the feedback papers in the next couple days. there was no information yet about the showing that happened on friday morning. we’re curious to see the information in the responses, and what we can do to help sell the house. we aren’t in a hurry, other than it would be ideal to move during the summer months. we’ve done a lot of driving around looking at different neighborhoods, here on the north side of holland. we’ve looked at 5 or 6 six houses, and have a short list of others we’d like to see. but with no activity on our house, we are not under pressure to find another one.

speaking of houses, last summer our next door neighbor’s house burned down in the middle of the night. it has been a work in progress since then to rebuild. a very, very, very slow work in progress! well, it’s may and she has still not moved in, but it looks like it may be soon. the house that burned was quite honestly a dump. unfortunately, we’re not too excited about the new house either. it looks so out of place in our neighborhood. it’s a big, pre-fab or modular home that sets up on a high foundation. i’ve been inside, and it’s actually quite nice. in fact, i love the floor plan! she asked me for some advice with choosing the wall colors. one suggestion was a more neutral taupe than the gold she was thinking about. i’m quite curious to see what all she decided.

we’ve taken time to enjoy a couple afternoons in downtown holland to celebrate tulip time. this afternoon was quite nice as we watched the tulip time parade and ate icecream cones. we sat right on the curb with one of ty’s co-workers and her family. last weekend we walked through centennial park for the arts and crafts fair. we ate carnival food that afternoon — corndogs, french fries, and fresh squeezed lemonade. it was all quite tasty — greasy, salty, and sugary! yum!

i am really enjoying using google reader. i do still go and visit actual blog sites occasionally.  i like the personalized feel of the blogs, versus the almost newspaper format of google reader.  but, it sure has saved me a lot of time!

an organized disaster

(i actually wrote this on monday, april 21, but i forgot to post it. i discovered it just now when i sat down to update my blog )

last week monday when i arrived at school, my desk was neat, clean, and organized. by friday it was literally piled a foot high, from edge to edge with books, binders, papers, etc… i don’t think it has ever been that bad. it was ridiculous! a couple colleagues commented that my desk was actually worse than their own, and a few others just looked at it and laughed! i always have a pile or two, but this was so bad i could no longer function. i told ty that i was so overwhelmed that even when i had 15 minutes, i couldn’t get anything done. which, of course, only adds to the problem as then i’m even further behind!

i’m perpetually looking to be more organized at school. i chuckle because my students think i am so organized, and so often i feel very unorganized! i always know where something is, it just may take me a minute or two to find it. (i think i inherited this trait from my father :)) well, i spent six hours this past weekend at school working on my organized disaster. i’m very good at putting papers on piles, and not so good at filing them away. so, i now have a very clean desk area! i filed a very large pile, rearranged a few bookshelves, put a couple more units into 3-ring binders, and left feeling very satisfied with my accomplishments. unfortunately, i didn’t get anything graded. but, this morning when i arrived at school, i was able to sit down and work! wow! it felt amazing to be so productive first thing on a monday morning. now the trick is to keep it this way.

mondays…

…after a vacation are always a shock to my system.  in many ways it felt good to be back at school.  i enjoyed seeing my 85 cherubs today :)  but, it was a crazy day!  my desk was clean this morning when i walked in the door.  by lunch time, it was completely buried :(  

i have some work to do yet tonight, of course!  :)  i could have done more school work over vacation, but why?  it’s vacation!  lol! 

we had a showing of the house early this evening.  don’t know anything yet about how it went.  as i was driving down the street and into our driveway, i noticed that the house for sale three doors down  (probably our biggest competition on the street) had a landscaping company working in the yard!  but, that’s ok.  our yard is looking good for this time of year — our daffodils are blooming!  patience…i keep telling myself.  the house will sell.  i just need to have some patience! 

my lazy days have come to an end…

this has been a very nice, relaxing spring break at home. a number of my colleagues were a bit shocked at my sheer delight in being home for spring break. i love to travel, there’s no doubt about that. however, i can be a huge homebody as well. and, i needed some time to just be home. in fact, there were a couple days this past week when i never left the house! i’m truly blessed to have had such a nice week!

• it has been good to get a few things taken care of around the house. one big thing that i tackled was the tupperware cupboard–just in case someone opens the cupboards when looking at the kitchen, i don’t want to scare them off with a mountain of tupperware at their feet!
• i’ve spent many, many, many hours scrapping! i ran out of adhesive, completed an album, i’m almost out of pages, and i’m almost out of printed pictures! i’m in june of 2006 that means…i get to scrap our wedding next!!
• i’ve watched many baseball games, and many movies (while scrapping)
• i caught up with several friends over tasty meals
• i spent three hours at school–it felt great to get some new bulletin boards put up, and i did some cleaning and organizing. i brought home some grading to do yet this evening, and i am in the middle of making a new bulletin board. i used my cricut for all the titles and a few shapes; now i can laminate them.
• i enjoyed some down time with ty. it’s great to hang out and not feel like i should be doing something for school! he worked, but he was able to be home a bit more too.

we had someone go through the house this past week–they weren’t interested, “it shows nice but has a tight floor plan”. we got a call this weekend from our realtor that someone will be coming through tomorrow evening. so, i’ve been picking up around the house this afternoon; i should probably fold some laundry too! i may even bake some chocolate chip cookies later tonight, just so the house smells tasty! i’m probably in for a lot of let downs if i continue to think this way, but i can’t help but hope that whomever comes through tomorrow just falls in love with our little abode and puts in an offer! i can dream, right?

i hit the ground running this week with at least four meetings (that i know of!). april and may are notoriously busy around school, so it’s great to have had the time to recharge. well, the tigers are losing by a lot (again) and the cubs are losing as well (at least it’s close!). i sure wish the mariners were on tv more often; ‘course they aren’t doing any better! LOL!

have a wonderful sunday afternoon. the sun is peeking out of the clouds right now…it’s cold outside, but it’s sunny! yea!

a big city adventure

a little bit about our sunday adventure. well, maybe more like an epic description of our day:

1. drove to michigan city — a beautiful sunday morning drive, sunshine all the way! we were early, so drove along red arrow highway for a good distance. we saw a lot of little towns, many antique stores, and some intriguing mom and pop restaurants which we may have to go back and try.
2. took the south shore commuter train from mi city into downtown chicago, near millenium park ($26 total for both of us, both ways!)
3. ate a tasty lunch at giordano’s pizza on randolph — no wait!
4. walked off our lunch on the way to catch the redline train which would take us right to wrigley field.
5. walked off more of our lunch when the first redline station was under construction, and we continued on to the next one; it was at this point we discovered the problem — only the elevated portions of the redline were running…the other portions are ALL underconstruction. (it would have been helpful to know this ahead of time; say, when we looked up the info about chicago’s transit system on line when plottin out our route…)
6. continued walking off our lunch as we pressed onward, looking for a different train to take us to wrigley.
7. hopped in a cab when we realized how far we had to walk to catch a different train and that game time was quickly approaching — i love cab rides in big cities! what a rush as the cabbie wove in and out of traffic; we made good time to wrigley!
8. joined the masses of people as we made our way to our seats.
9. found our seats in the middle of the first inning — section 511, row 5 (upper deck with a beautiful view of the city and lake michigan!
10. enjoyed the game immensely — it was 60 degrees, with a little wind. we were in the shade, but we did alright. i, of course, had on many, many layers, and brought a blanket and gloves.
11. CUBS won! it was an exciting game, and we had a lot of fun. as usual, people watching provides entertainment as well
12. walked about a mile through wrigleyville to catch the brown line (instead of the red line).
13. rode the packed train through chicago — we loved seeing the city from above the street level. such incredible architecture throughout the city.
14. laughed hard — when we got off the train, we found ourselves one block from the south shore commuter train station on randolph.
15. waited a little while before we could board the train — i enjoyed a cinnabon
16. shared our seats on the train — the six o’clock train out of chicago proved to be a popular choice. the train was absolutely packed; not a seat in sight. when a family of five ended up standing in the aisle, ty gave his seat to the mom who was holding a little boy. it turns out, the family was from grand haven, she’s a teacher and graduated from calvin in ‘92, they go to first crc, and they’ve done youth ministry in the past. we really had a nice time getting to know them. their little guy was 2 1/2. their other kids were about 11 and 9. the little guy was quite entertaining. definitely 2, but very well behaved considering the cramped quarters.
17. drove home — thankful for the beautiful weather, our adventure, and new friends.

ty said his favorite part of the day was riding the trains. i’ve never taken the train into chicago before. i have to agree, that was a lot of fun. i’m still a bit more partial to the actual baseball game…it’s deep in my blood we both agreed that this is a trip we would love to take again. i’m amazed at how easy it is to take the trains into and around the city (even when plans go slightly awry!). plus, with the price of gas and parking, this was way cheaper!

this was the perfect adventure for a warm spring day in april.

my spring break…an update

i really am quite blessed.  it is wonderful having some time off, and a husband who encourages me to take advantage of my downtime.  it is monday afternoon, and the past few days have been great.

a recap of my saturday:

• slept-in until 7:30 — when one gets up at 5:15 everyday, 7:30 is great!
• breakfast date with my husband — there is a dutch bakerjii just down the road which we both love
• scrapbooking — i finally completed an album about ty and i from june of 2005 through feb of 2006; the next book will have our wedding in it
• visited with the neighbor — our next door neighbor’s house burned down last summer; she took me on a tour of the new house.  it’s a pre-fab home, but i have a little house jealousy.  it’s a great layout — lots of what we are looking for in a home.  however, i will take a small house over losing everything in a house fire, any day.  (ty may disagree with me on that one; i’m a bigger pack rat )
• lunch on our back patio — the 60 degree weather was perfect for our egg-salad sandwich lunch outside; ty had a fire going in the fire pit, too!
• more scrapbooking
• a soak in the hot tub — ty needed it after all his work out in the yard
• and still more scrapbooking — i’m spoiled, i know!

it’s spring break!

wow; what a day! i’ve literally done nothing but lay on the couch. lazy? yep. needed? yep! i’ve watched the today show, little house on the prairie, the news, and the tigers! (tigers lost 8 to 5). sometime in there i slept for awhile. now, it’s time for some good ol’ hgtv! i’m so hooked on tv design shows, it’s slightly obsessive. but, i like to dream about the possibilities for our future house.

now i’ve spent the afternoon updating my blog. i’ve been having some trouble with my blog design. ty and i figured out the problem was due to internet explorer. when i switched to mozilla firefox, all the design problems disappeared. so, i’ve spent the afternoon messing around with my computer, and i took the time to set up a subscription to google reader. i’m looking forward to using google reader since it updates me when someone updates their blog. this should save me some time, since i often sit and go through my whole list of blogs in order to see who’s written lately!

as for the remainder of spring vacation, i have just a few ideas:

• scrapbook– A LOT!
• read (i’m in the middle of a great fictional civil war book — the widow of the south)
• take a walk (or two or three!)
• catch up with a good friend over brunch
• clean and organize a few more cupboards and closets (esp. the tupperware cupboard!)
• ice cream at captain sundae
• watch the cubs play at wrigley! we’re taking the train from michigan city into chicago for the day! it may be cold, but it should be a blast; especially with a stop at giordano’s pizza
• school (unfortunately, i do need to go to school for a day. i have a lot to do, however i’ll be a much happier camper if i get some work accomplished next week. i don’t like returning from a vacation behind)

well, i think it’s time for a little dinner. maybe i’ll actually cook for my husband this week!

house for sale

our house is officially up for sale!  it’s been a busy few weeks as we have packed some things away and moved furniture.  we love our “little house in the woods” as we fondly call it, but we are ready for something just a little bigger.  it was a strange, but exciting feeling to pull up to the house yesterday and see the for sale sign.  we would love to move this summer.  we already have a house we would love to purchase, but we’ll need to sell ours first.   we are having an open house already on saturday!  after i read the description of our house for the listing, i decided i would love to buy our house! LOL!  it sounds wonderful!  and, it truly is.  there are many things we will miss about this place.  especially our amazing backyard.   now that the house is on the market, we’ll have to keep it picked up.  ty is much better at that than i am…i’ll have to work on that.  i’m notorious for letting my clothes pile up all over the floor; probably not a bad habit to break :) 

anyone know someone who wants to purchase a great starter home on the northside of holland?

i know it’s springtime when…

…(in no particular order):

• captain sundae opens for the season
• mud is as prevalent as snow piles
• it’s 30 degrees when i leave for work and 50 degrees on my way home
• it’s the end of 3rd quarter at school — already!
• i’ve seen the sun 6 days in a row
• cadbury mini-eggs are back on the store shelves (i enjoyed a bag already!)
• i can wear skirts to school
• i get a hankerin’ for some good ol’ grillin’ in the backyard
• packing and cleaning begin in full force, as we get ready to put the house up for sale
• peeps are for sale in the grocery store — best served stale
i can go outside wearing a thick, cozy hoodie and no coat
spring break is right around the corner
the road becomes an obstacle course as i avoid potholes (or in some cases, craters!)
the days get longer
captain sundae opens for the season (oh, did i say that already?)
my energy level begins to pick up

and best of all…

• i get my yearly spring cold :( 

hopefully this is just a cold; i think it is.  it’s just a bummer.  i was finally feeling 100%, and it was great! a little extra sleep and downtime already has me feeling better than yesterday.   but no matter how i feel, seeing the sun shine brings a smile to my face.

 

 

saturday morning

saturday morning…typically a day i sleep in.  not this morning; i woke up @6:20!  well before my alarm.  it wasn’t hard to get out of bed today, because…

ty flies in to grand rapids in a couple hours :)   it’s been two full weeks since we’ve seen each other.  i left on friday the 22nd of february for guatemala, and he’s been in california for two weeks.  it sounds like he had a challenging and rewarding time at fuller seminary.  it will be good to have him home! 

it was a busy day for me yesterday…i figured i probably should finally unpack and do some laundry!  i needed a few things from the store, and i thought picking up the house would be a good idea too.  unlike my husband who immediately starts unpacking and doing laundry when he arrives home from a trip, i tend to put it off.   in the evenings this week i did a lot of sleeping and vegging, which meant i had a lot to accomplish yesterday!  fortunately we had a 1/2 day thursday and no school friday.  like a true procrastinator, i waited with my “chores” until i had to have them done!  i’ve even done a couple loads of laundry already this morning 

it’s time to check on the status of ty’s flight, eat breakfast, and get ready to leave.  i’m certainly not going to procrastinate and risk being late to the airport.  i’m so excited to have my husband home again!