Retrospective and Resolutions

Well, my first year of blogging is over.

I was looking over the posts from the past year, and I have to say, I am really glad I started this simply for the sake of my own memories. There are a dozen or so things I saw that made me smile, or that reminded me how good God has been to Matt and I, and how much we have been blessed over the past year. Things like the soy milk ice cream, the conversation with my dad and the ways he's struggled this past year, the stupid things Matt and I argued about during the wedding planning, and then wedding itself and the honeymoon, adjusting to living in the same place, the house hunt, actually finding the house and moving in... It's all been so very good, when I look back.

I'm also a little chagrined to see how much I've gotten out of the habit of blogging, especially since this fall. I think about all these little things that happened which I didn't journal (because really, that's what it is, a journal I'm sharing as I'm writing it) and which I'll probably forget about before this year is over.

I know that part of it has been laziness. Just plain laziness keeps me from picking up the computer and posting something. It's easier to just watch movies with Matt, or lose myself in some mindless online game, than it is to sit and write. And a part of it has been computer issues which then lead (in my mind) to a back up of all these things I would like to write about. The perfect is the enemy of the good in this case, and I give in to that feeling that I will never catch up so why even try. Those two are the biggest issues, sure, but the other problem is that sometimes, the things that are going on in my life and in my mind are pretty personal, and I hesitate to put that stuff out there when I have no way of knowing who's reading it and what they're taking away from it.

Which leads to me not posting.
Which leads to me feeling like I'm building up a backup of things to post.
Which leads to me feeling overwhelmed and not even trying.
Because I'm lazy.

So, New Year's Resolution is this: I will try to post 3 times a week. I will try. I will not try to catch up if I miss that goal and only make it to 2 posts in a week. If I post more than 3, that's okay. Last year I posted 84 posts, which comes out to a little better than 1 1/2 posts a week. So I think this goal is reasonable.

I'll also try to open myself up a little bit more, while still being wise and not oversharing our lives. I have no idea what that will look like yet. I guess we'll find out together.

Christmas Lights

We decorated the house last week with Christmas lights and the tree. I love the star lights; they were at Big Lots and pretty inexpensive. Someone keeps messing with the controls, though. They have about 8 different blinking options, and I have them on steady on. Twice they were steady on when I've come home, and then hours later I've looked out the window to see that my front porch has become a disco party. I have my suspects. It just weirds me out that we haven't heard the culprits on the porch when they've come to change them...



We also put up the tree. I took this picture right after I took the pictures outside in the cold, so the lens fogged up and gave that soft focus look. Between that, the paneling, and the shag, it looks like the ghost of Christmas past. Matt and I were considering Photoshopping pictures of us as children into it and sending it out as a Christmas card. Over the past week, the tree has also developed a distinct lean to the right.We'll l have to fix it before my family's fake Christmas tomorrow.

Totalled

So, last Friday night I was on my way home from work. Nearly home, in fact - don't they say that the majority of accidents occur closer to home? I was minding my own business, thinking about what I needed to do when I got home, when it hit me.

Or rather, she hit me. With her car.

It wasn't icy or even rainy, and she wasn't drunk or anything like that. It was just one of those things where someone gets distracted at exactly the worst moment. She was turning into Dunkin Donuts, and did it right as I was driving past the entrance, and so she drove into my front end. The airbags went off, the driver's side door wouldn't open, and a lot of little pieces of my car wound up all over Eddy Road. And her car was just as bad. Turns out that the woman who hit me is a member of Ste. Marie, and so was the lady who stopped and let us use her cell phone (it's always when you you really need, when it's the moment you say that you get a cell phone for, that is the most likely moment for the battery to die, isn't it?). So it was a fairly amicable accident, all things considered.

At first, I was really annoyed. I mean, I was soooooo close to having this car paid off, and I had been thinking about all the things I would do with the money. I had had dreams of new carpeting and painting walls. But that's going to be delayed apparently. And I was annoyed about having to deal with the hassle of renting a car, making all kinds of calls, and now finding a new car, and all the time that takes up.

But as the week has gone by, I've been thinking about things and learning some things. First of all, my friend Bill said something which was not intended to be about me, but I think God wanted me to hear it. Bill said that sometimes God allows things to happen because He wants us to remember that we always rely on Him. So when we begin getting too big, too full of ourselves, He permits things which He knows will make us turn to Him and lean on Him and recognize that He is the giver of all good gifts. And so I think God is reminding me of this in a very gentle way.

The second thing is that the woman who hit me is in a much worse position by this accident. She's been unemployed for the past year, and the unemployment benefits run out in January. Also, her insurance company totalled her car, and she has no way to get another. Now, Matt and I will get by. We'll get another car, and we'll deal with still having a car payment. We are by no means ruined by this accident.

But we both are worried now for this woman, and praying for her. So I want to ask all 6 or so people who read this to pray for Ann as well. Pray that somehow, whether it's by finding another job for her, or help from her family, or the generosity of people who know her, that she is able to get through this time. ad marjorem gloriam dei, right?

Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree

Matt's family has a tradition where they go cut down their Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We joined them and chose our tree, and helped the rest of them pick out their trees and cut them down. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the day. You can see all 158 pictures here.

You can see all 158 pictures here

First Home Project

The best home projects involve at least:

• new wiring
• cutting holes in exterior walls
• many trips to the hardware store
• soldering
• lot of help

That's why we decided to make our first project putting the washer and dryer into the bathroom. The way that it was set up when we moved in, the washer was in the bathroom and the dryer was in the basement. Neither of them were High Efficiency, and simply having to haul the laundry up and down the stairs made it less likely that we would get laundry done until we had completely gone through all our socks and underwear. So this was one of the things we really wanted to get done first.

Matt ripped out the bottom cabinet against the back wall of the bathroom the other night. Then on Thursday, Hip came and helped him remove half the top cabinets. Then the real work began. Mike came over on Friday night and helped Matt run the wire for the new outlet and they also cut a hole in the wall and installed the vent for the dryer. Matt's parents also came over with tools and made a run to Lowes to pick up some supplies. Then Saturday morning, Matt, his dad, and Aaron moved the washer and dryer upstairs and finished up the outlet. Today, Hippert came back and they did some repairs to the plumbing.

Two days, one disastrously messy kitchen, and about $250 later, we have laundry on the first floor.


We've lost the storage space that we had in the cabinets, but the top cabinet should be enough to store toilet paper and towels. We'll be putting a small counter on the bottom half, with a hamper and laundry detergent and such underneath it. It's still messy looking now, but we're running the washer and I'm sure it will be much easier to get the laundry done. Which means it might actually get done on a regular basis!

Spamalicious

I hate spam. I seem to get a ridiculous amount of spam by email, and now I'm getting spam comments on the blog on a pretty much a daily basis. So I've added a word verification requirement here for comments. Hopefully it doesn't also prevent real people from posting.

Last night Matt and I went to see Boondock Saints II as "date night." Date night is in quotes because we went with Mike, Paul, and Anthony, and frankly, it was guys' night and I was tagging along. Boondock Saints was an unapologetically guy movie, and the sequel followed the same format; lots of shooting and swearing and absolutely no romantic subplot at all. They even indulged in a rant about being men and driving fast and smoking and eating red meat. Grrrr. The movie was good, not as good as the first one, but it was pretty good. The fact that it was guys night was okay because it was nice to spend time with them, and we went to the theater in Methuen and we drove our own car so it gave us time to talk on the way there and back again. It was good to be in the car where we weren't distracted by all of our creature comforts of home - the tv, the computer, etc - and we talked about work, the house, family. Quality time, for sure.

For the house, we are hoping to get the laundry situation updated next weekend. The plan is to move our washer and dryer into the bathroom, putting the laundry on the first floor, and give Matt's parents the washer which came with the house (which is a fairly new machine, energy efficient and works pretty well). That means ripping out the lower cabinets in the bathroom, installing a new outlet with a dedicated circuit breaker and a vent for the dryer. I'm a little concerned about losing the storage in the cabinet, but I'm sure we'll be able to work it out. I'm more concerned about where we're going to put the laundry detergent, because the upper cabinets are too shallow to hold a big jug. We'll have to measure and see if we can fit a narrow deep shelf in between the washer and dryer. I'm hoping! I'm also debating whether we can install a laundry chute from our room to the bathroom. That would be the best!

Pumpkins & pomegranates

Tonight, Matt and I are running Life Teen. It's a social and Matt came up with the theme: Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. Which basically means that we're playing pumkin themed games and eating pumpkin themed treats. We're playing Ghost in the Graveyard, and we'll also have pumpkin putt putt (you putt into the pumpkin, you don't putt the pumpkin), pumpkin pass, and one last game which will be a surprise.

Last night I made 48 pumpkin cupcakes, and Matt got the Dunkins at his work to donate pumpkin donuts. The kid we're planning the night with works for cold stone creamery and is bringing their pumpkin ice cream. I really hope there's a bunch if people there or we'll have crazy leftovers!

On a whim, I bought a pomegranate thinking I'd eat it all myself. Well, turns out Matt's never had them before and he Loves them, so we bought a couple more at the grocery store last night. I was looking up recipes and the most interesting one so far has been pomegranate martini. I'll have to buy a few things before we try that.