It's been kind of a long feeling week, but alas, it is the weekend. We have a busy weekend in store with Adam's aunt and uncle visiting, dogsitting Molly, going to the Farmer's Market, bank, possibly Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Best Buy, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and anything else that might come our way...but that's tomorrow, and we're not there yet :).

I'm pretty drained, at the moment. I think the McDonald's workout DVD has a good deal to do with that. It was seriously challenging...not at all what I expected. I'm going to make Adam do it with me sometime so he can appreciate how hard I worked :-p. Of course, I did pick the "I'm up for a challenge" feature over "Ease me into it," but in my defense, I was thinking...How hard could a workout DVD from MCDONALD'S be?!! I guess I got owned on that one.

Other things I accomplished today included making some chocolate chip cookie dough (this time from the recipe on the Ghirardelli chips that were on clearance at Target). I say dough because I actually froze all but 3 cookies (and the dough consumed in the process) worth. I waited until Adam was home to bake the three cookies so I wasn't the only one to appreciate the fresh baked-ness...and so I wouldn't eat more than I needed to.

I also vacuumed (it's amazing how much these animals shed...then again, I suppose we ARE in the desert), caught up with a couple people on the internet, read for a bit, played with Lacy in an attempt to wear her out before Adam got home, caught up on yesterday's news on "The View" online, beat my reigning contender on Bejeweled, cleaned up after Lacy when she got mildly sick for a bit (she's fine now), did some dishes, made dinner with Adam, watched a little of our new favorite show on Hulu ("Three Sheets"...it's about drinking customs around the world...and while we don't even consume ANY amount of alcohol on a regular basis...much less the amount the host of this show does, it is interesting and entertaining. Don't knock it until you try it :)), paid some bills, got the mail, applied for Renter's Insurance, and, of course, wrote this journal entry.

Phew.

Adam, again, worked on getting familiar with his job...and doing engineer type things.

And for an added twist for journals to come...feel free to submit any questions you have and we'll do our best to answer them :).

Happy Friday, and Goodnight!

Early post today. I'm hungry...and waiting on Adam to get here so we can dig up some leftovers for dinner. I figured I might just take the time to write the journal now and have the rest of the evening to vacuum (maybe) or just relax. It's been a pretty relaxing day, thought I've been somewhat productive, too. I went to the library and got out a book to read...and actually read some of it. I also sent emails that I've been meaning to send for a few days and got the dishwasher loaded up and ran. I got to talk to my brother, my mom, and Eli. I braved the heat and walked to the mailbox (our's isn't at the end of our driveway. We have 'community mailboxes' that are around the block...they're basically the equivelant of P.O. Boxes, but closer to our house). I cleaned up the floor in preparation to vacuum. And I remembered to eat (thought I haven't drank as much water today as I probably should have.) I thought about exercising...but I didn't actually do it. Perhaps tomorrow would be a good day to start that. I found my free McDonald's workout DVD (that's about the epitomy of ironic, if you ask me), so maybe I'll give it a shot, tomorrow.

The gardeners come on Thursdays to mow the lawn...and Lacy doesn't like that at all, so the morning was started out with our sound machine blaring to drown them out and Lacy and I locked in the bedroom until they left. I swear there were probably five of them, today...with rakes and mowers and weedeaters and...I didn't get a really good look, but it seemed excessive. Then again, so does mowing the grass every Thursday in the desert.

And that's the news from Rosamond...Adam's home, so it's time for some grub. Bon Appetite!

We just got home from a delicious meal and a good time hanging out with the Lucas'. Heidi made some really good parmesean crusted chicken and green beans with garlic, onions, and parmesean cheese, among other things, I'm sure. It was really good...and Adam remarked about how much he liked the green beans...which he, honestly, doesn't normally like at all...but he said..."They were really good....they didn't taste like green beans." I guess I'll have to snag that recipe since I love them. For desert, we had strawberry shortcake. Heidi made the biscuit part, I cut strawberries, and Adam and I made whipped cream together from scratch to bring along. Adam also got his first taste (I think) of espresso and was alarmed at it's strength. All in all, it was a great meal, and we had a good time.

Lacy meeting their dog didn't go as well as hoped. We had some idea that it might not go swimmingly since Lacy isn't really a huge fan of dogs that are bigger than her. It wasn't bad...and if Lacy wasn't so possessive about balls she's playing with...and actually was social with other dogs (we've tried hard to get her more social...but even when we had her at the dog park and DIDN'T bring a ball...she's just spend the whole time looking for one until she found one)...I think they would've done fine. Perhaps in time they'll win each other over. Regardless, we'll be watching Molly next week while the Lucas' are on vacation. She's a good dog, so it shouldn't be hard at all...and we're always happy to find people to trade dogsitting with. Here's a picture of our newest furry friend:



In other news, I had a pretty full day. I generally take a short nap after Adam gets off to work so I'm not too tired and in the best mood possible (I NEED my sleep), but couldn't sleep this morning...so I opted to watch "The Bachlorette:After the Final Rose" instead. I'm sorry, it's addictive. By the time I finished that, had some pizza for breakfast, and got myself in some sort of acceptable form, Heidi, Colton, and Jack came to pick me up for my first babysitting gig in CA. Originally, I was going to stay with them while their mom went to the doctor, but we ended up going with so we could go to lunch afterwards. They did really well, considering the amount of time it took for them to get Heidi in. Colton has a very vivid imagination that came up with things like robotic black widow spider...a pocket-sized sheep and pig that are now his pets...and me losing to him in Hangman because he thought I was keeping track of what the word that he came up with was, though I didn't have any idea...nor did he, apparently. It makes it easier to lose in Hangman when you know the only objective was for me to lose :-p. Jack is fun, too. He likes to be just like his big brother, but sometimes he says some stuff that's pretty funny.

So after a good two or three hours of imaginiation, games, losing a Pass the Pigs pig (which surprisingly was more exciting than disappointing because it meant that both boys MUST be magic), and Hangman...we went to lunch...and then headed home.

In the couple hours between returning home and dinner, I was able to straighten up the office, clean the catbox, clean the backyard, put dishes in the dishwasher, and rebuild my drawing table. Adam admitted that, though he said he would, he didn't really feel like putting it together...which I gathered since it was still in pieces...so it's a good thing I did it. I think I might take a crack at drawing again tomorrow. When you're home by yourself most of the time...it wouldn't hurt to have a good creative outlet for all the thoughts you suddenly have time to entertain.

Anyway, we're home now. We're going to get a later start on getting to bed than normal, but it was good to bond...and to see Adam bond with the boys. I always enjoy watching him interact with kids. It was funny when I told him he could come inside and he opted out for throwing rocks at plastic bottles with Colton, followed by playing "soccer" with them once they did come inside. Needless to say, they took a liking to Adam pretty quickly.

Adam seemed to have a good day at work. He's doing a lot more specific things, lately, so other than telling you that he's enjoying his job, gets to do and learn a lot of neat things, and comes home generally excited about what he's doing...there's not many details to be disclosed. But rest assured...he's enjoying himself.

I think we'll wrap things up for tonight. If I get a drawing accomplished, I'll share, but we'll see how tomorrow goes. Oh, and yes...my toe is much better. It's still a little stiff, but then, so is my finger that a student of mine jammed months ago by pulling on it. Such is life. Have a great night and an even better tomorrow. Peace out.

Another slightly unproductive day of home life for me. I spent most of the day frustrated with my computer. As lame as it sounds, I shamelessly admit that I was trying to get last night's season finale of The Bachlorette to load. For most of the time, I thought there was something wrong with my computer or brower or something...and spend a lot of time and effort trying to resolve that...only to find out it was moreso that too many other people must have been trying to watch and overloaded the server. The View worked fine, though...so I killed some time with that. I also realized that we were planning on having leftover roast beef for dinner...but had nothing to put it on...so naturally, I made some hoagie rolls from scratch. They turned out a little more dense than rolls we've bought in the bakery, but they were good. Other than doing the dishes from that...and indulging my horrible addiction to beating Lynn Fiscella and my brother on Bejeweled Blitz...my day was fairly uneventful an 'relaxing'. Tomorrow, I will have my first babysitting experience since we've moved. I feel somewhat honored to be able to do this since it's a compliment to have someone trust you with their children after just over a month or so of knowing them. I have spent more time with them recently, though. It should be fun.

I think I forgot to mention...the marriage license safely arrived home a week or so (i think) ago. I didn't want you to lose any more sleep wondering.

Life in California is still a lot different than Illinois, and possibly a lot different than I expected. We still have yet to get a kitchen table and eat most of our meals leaning against the couch in the living room. Two of our four bedrooms (though we use one as an office) haven't been touched much since we moved in and the doors stay closed to save on air conditioning. I think, when I have some more time...I'm going to try and put my drawing table back together so I can get some emotion out in drawing...though that'll be interesting since I wasn't there when it was taken apart, and Adam wasn't even the one who did it. Nothing like a good challenge, though, right? We've started getting more invites to do things...the Christening Sunday, hanging out with the Lucas', dinner at their house tomorrow, lunch with some girls, Disneyland...etc. It's nice to be thought of, but I think it's been good to have so much time to ourselves, too. It'll be good to have those options, though. Our neighborhood is literally only two streets. I'm not really used to that concept. Granted, my house last year was kind of in the middle of nowhere...and it wasn't really a "neighborhood") We've met all the immediate neighbors, but haven't really made any strong connections with any of them. I've done a lot more baking and cooking than I ever had...and it's been fun. It's a good way to feel productive...and to raise the A/C bill :). The dog and cat seem to finally be settling in a bit...though the cat seems to get crazier every day. He was literally chasing the dog, the other day. We have yet to have a day since the first week or so that the high has been below 100. I hear it'll cool off soon (like, the end of August, probably), but hearing about how there's been times that the temperature didn't get BELOW three degrees at NIGHT is a little daunting. So far, we've been fortunate enough to be able to have the windows open at night, and only have run the A/C for two or three hours a day (though we keep it on 84 or 85 most of the time...trust me, it feels good compared to outside.)

I think that's a sufficient glimsp for now. I miss talking to everyone and seeing people on a regular basis. I've actually kinda been in an introspective, introverted mood the past couple days (weird, I know) and haven't been much in the loop...but I usually am up for a Facebook Chat, text message, email, or phone call...so feel free to drop me/us a line. Thanks for keeping up with us this far...and stay tuned. Peace out.

Apparently, the weekend wore both of us out. I had a hard time waking up, this morning...and Adam had a hard time staying awake, today. I probably shouldn't have slept as long as I did...but there's not much to do about that, now.

Today, I felt very lazy. I think the most productive thing I did (other than taking my clothes from the garage upstairs to our room...and throwing them in a basket to take care of later) was making homemade pretzels. They turned out pretty well and tasted equally good.

It has come to my attention that people would like recipes for some of the things I've made...and if that's the case, feel free to send me an email and I'll send you the one you're interested in. Besides violating copywrights...it would take too long to post them all up on here, but I'll send them to you if you request them.

I learned an important lesson, today. Never check Facebook before you watch a show with a finale that you don't want to know about. Someone on your facebook is bound to be too excited to hold back details...and then the surprise is ruined. (If you're a Hell's Kitchen fan...don't tell us what happened until Thursday :)).

That's about it for now. We're gonna head to bed early tonight to try and catch up on the rest we apparently didn't get enough of this weekend. Peace out.

Here's some photos of the injured appendage. It's not as impressive in photographs. I have decided that I didn't break it because the only time I've been in significant pain today was when I tried to wear normal dress shoes. I quickly opted for the flip flops. Weight bearing hasn't been an issue, though...which is why I don't think it's broken...just a little bruised. I think it'll be better in a couple days.

Today, we kept pretty busy, and again were successful in wearing ourselves out. We made it Sunday school a few minutes late...but we don't usually start on time, anyway...so that was okay. After a lesson and some donuts, we went to service...followed by going to a friend's for a Christening and some lunch. We left very full and with plenty of food to take home with us, too. Thus, we've opted out of grocery shopping this week in lieu of leftovers (and dinner with the Lucas Family on Wednesday). It was nice to hang out with some people from church and get to know them a bit better. When that wrapped up, we came back home and dropped off the food, let out the dog, and collected our dirty clothes before going for our now weekly trip to the laundromat. It didn't take long since we didn't have as much to do this week, so we came home, and finished up thank yous, watched a little tv, and relaxed the evening away.

We feel pretty lucky that we have already found a dog-loving family to swap dog-sitting with. It's always hard to find people you trust and know are used to dogs enough to be able to handle your's. Therefore, the fact that we've found one after a little over a month of living here is pretty sweet! Heidi and Jedd (and Jack and Colton) have a huge dog name Molly. Adam and I decided she's actually not that much bigger than Lacy, probably...but her head is large :-p. Unbeknownst to either of them...Lacy and Molly will be meeting each other on Wednesday. We're hoping they like each other enough to co-exist during the times we are swapping dogsitting...but we don't live that far from each other, if it doesn't work out. We'll see how things go on Wednesday and play it by ear from there.

It's been a good day. Have a good night!

Oh Woe is my Toe

Today was an eventful day. We slept in (which was 8:30. It's amazing how the definition of sleeping in changes throughout your life.) After putzing around a bit, we decided to go to the Antelope Valley Mall, get a new tire, and shop for some shirts for Adam for work. We found shirts fairly quickly after we had dropped the car off, and walked around the rest of the mall to kill time. Adam got bombarded not once, but TWICE, by this guy who REALLY wanted to clean Adam's shoes and try to sell him cleaner. Adam said no both times and the guy still harassed us "Where you going man...dude, come on....seriously." Do people realize that is NOT a good tactic? We stopped by the kiosk claiming to be selling pre-sale tickets for the fair...but of course, after a lot of discussion about costs and whatnot...they didn't actually sell tickets for the fair at all. They sold tickets for ONE of the grandstand shows (and definitely not the one we wanted)...and the rest you had to get somewhere else. Lame.

When they still hadn't called us about the car, we decided to have lunch...and picked up an added bonus on the way. Wearing flipflops in the desert seems logical...but it is not a good way to protect your feet from accidentally toe stubbings by people walking in front of you. I've never had a broken toe before...so I have no reference for what it would feel like or how much or little they hurt...but my toe hurts. I mean, I can physically bend it and wiggle it without too much trouble...but I definitely can't put weight on it normally without it hurting...and it's definitely bruised. Oh well...even if it was broken (which it seems like it should hurt more than it does if that was the case) there's not much to do about it from what I understand. I'll just deal with it and hope it heals fast (and that Lacy doesn't step on it too many more times).

So then...after all that fun...and picking the car back up...we headed to Target, Petsmart, and then back home for the night. We watched Garden State...which is a good movie (better than I remembered it), and now...it's time to put ourselves to bed. Sorry about the abruptness and anti-climactic nature of that ending...but...G'nite.

At work today...Adam got to go to the Global Hawk hanger. It was cool.

I went with Heidi to get my hair cut. Here's the results.

Before:


After:



I decided I like it...but I almost wish it was shorter. However, it's hot here, so it probably wouldn't be good right now if I couldn't pull it back...so as backwards as it sounds...we'll save shorter (if I still feel that way) for the winter when it's cooler and I wouldn't have to pull it back. Besides...when you consider how much hair I have (or don't have), I cut off a lot today, already.

After my haircut, Heidi, Jack, Colton, and I had a "picnic" outside the library, then went to their end of the summer reading party (which was really more just kids eating ice cream.) I got a library card...but didn't check out any books, this time. When I got back here, I played with Lacy, uploaded yet some more wedding pictures to Facebook...and made dinner. We had macaroni and cheese (of the Kraft variety), tuna salad sandwiches, and orange juice. Delicious, I know.

Adam was shocked to learn that I ate the whole half pound of salami this week...by myself. But sometimes a girl has just gotta have her red meat ... or something. We enjoyed a glass of Moscato wine and some dark chocolate over some "Better Off Ted" and now we're getting ready to turn in for the night.

It wasn't quite as productive a day as I had hoped, but it was good spending time with friends. Hopefully we'll have our thank yous done and out by Monday...that's the goal anyway. I'm tired of them sitting here staring at me :-p. Tomorrow, I think we might go on a hunt for a kitchen table...since our slew of visitors (or something) starts next weekend. We'll see what we come up with. Otherwise...our visitors might just have to picnic on the floor like we often do (or eat out :)). Wo...we're both exhausted. While it hasn't been an incredibly busy week...it somehow still managed to drain us.

Happy Birthday, Hayden...and Happy Friday to all. G'nite.

As I sit here listening to the soothing sounds of Medal of Honor, I am frustrated by the fact that, somehow, a dog hair got INSIDE my screen. It's rather annoying because I keep trying to wipe it off...and it's not a problem covered under Apple Care, so it would cost money to get it out. So, here I sit...trying to learn how to deal since it is now a part of my computer...for better or for worse. How frustrating.

Today was kind of a lazy day for me...but you need one of those every now and then. I watched the View (which I actually do most mornings...but a day behind since we don't have real TV and watch our shows online the day after) and I caught up with a couple people on Facebook chat. Then I went to watch the kids sing for a bit at VBS with Heidi and Luke...where we later picked up Colton. Afterwards, we went to have lunch at Fosters Freeze. By the time we were done there, it was already well into the afternoon...so I came back here and looked online at some websites about the area and talked to my mom for a bit. I lost track of time and Adam was home before I knew it. I had gotten somewhat of a head start on dinner, but not enough...so Adam helped me a bit with cutting up vegetables and such. We had something called Chicken Supreme Casserole or something like that. I could go look, but I'm having a lazy day...so we'll just go with that for now. It was soup, chicken bouillion, vegetables, and chicken under a layer of crescent rolls from a can. Of course, we only made half the recipe...and still had leftovers. It was a little soupy because I forgot to half the amount of milk, but it still turned out decent. Here's what it looked like finished:



After dinner, we played some Wii Sports...and then went outside with the dog for a bit. Before our Wii Tennis tournament, I looked behind me and saw this and laughed:



Tomorrow's the big hair cut day. I'll take a picture and show you the final results. I hope I like it...but as Adam so eloquently said...it'll grow back. It's been a while since my hair has been shorter, so it'll probably be a nice change...and it'll be good to actually have some style to it...even though I'll probably have it up half the time anyway since it's generally just hot here.

Adam came home very mentally exhausted, today. He wasn't quite entirely sure what caused him to be so drained, but he literally just laid on the couch for a little bit to decompress a bit. Now he's shooting things to take out what's left. Nothing like a good war video game to make your brain relax, I always say....end of sarcasm.

So it's officially been a month and a day in Rosamond. So far so good...and like I said, it's been a lot better now that I have people to talk to during the day and go places with on occasion. Adam likes his job...and Lacy and George like having a bigger house to run around in. Candace is only an hour and a half away...and Andy should be in the area soon...and Adam's Aunt Julie and Uncle Jack will be here next weekend, so we're looking seeing all of them soon.

As for now, we're looking forward to going to sleep. Good night, all.

First of all...Lacy is TERRIFIED of bubble wrap. Adam forgot this small fact and popped some last night in our bedroom from our new noise machine...and she freaked out and needed a lot of convincing to even come back upstairs. On Lacy's behalf (and mine so I can keep my sanity around her) please keep this in mind and refrain from popping bubble wrap should you be around her. Thanks :).

Today was a better day for me mood wise. The past couple days I've been a little down and not in the mood to really be a people person, but today helped a bit. I got some of the moodiness out by cleaning up a bit around here. I vacuumed and cleaned up the kitchen and our bathroom. We had leftovers for dinner, (roast beef, baked beans, and salad), so that made things a little easier, too. I got to talk to my friend Crystal and she says she's gonna come visit. She's said that before, so we'll see if it happens (love ya, Crystal), but it would be really cool if she actually does. I also got a new high score in Bejeweled...and we all know how that can help the self-esteem. Heh. I also got to talk to Eli for a while...and while it hadn't been as long since I had talked to her, it's always nice when time allows for a good conversation.

Hell's Kitchen started...and it drove me crazy. I usually get drawn in after the first few episodes...but if I were to watch just the first one or two...I don't think I could handle watching it anymore. Adam thinks it's hilarious...but the chaos and immaturity is almost too much for me. We'll see if it gets better as time goes on. If nothing else, it's fun to watch it together...and it's nice for Adam to be able to talk to his family about it, 'cause they watch it, too.

We met Vicki, today. She's Harry Moore's wife. I'm glad I have her name down in writing, now, too...incase I forget :-p. She seems really nice and like the neighbor you should know because she has a handle on everything happening on the street and everyone who lives here. She said she'd come over and ask me to walk with her sometime in the evening and she can give me more of the lowdown about the neighborhood. She works at NASA on the base, so she's seen Adam coming to and fro. She knows the people that actually own our house, too...so she can put a good word in for us, now (hopefully :)). I think she'll be fun to be friends with. I liked her.

Well...it's a late night for us. I made Adam crack down on his thank you notes so we can get them out, and Hell's Kitchen was two hours long this week...so we're getting a late start on bedtime prep. Therefore, I'm going to wrap it up for the night. It's been a good day. I'm looking forward to another one, tomorrow. G'nite.

"Uh....guys...I know Kung Fu."

Well, after going through literally every box in the garage and everything in the house...I still cannot find the address list of my students that came to the wedding (though I did find all the thank you notes from my bachlorette party that I thought I had sent a while ago...sorry about that girls. They'll be on their way)...so I got creative and did what I could to find them through facebook messages and emails. We'll see how that works out. If nothing else, I'll just sent them to the school and hope they get into the right hands.

My birthday is on Friday the 13th. I can get into Disneyland for free on that day...who's in?

I attempted my grandma's chocolate chip cookie recipe again, today...this time WITH the oatmeal. They turned out fathomly, if that's a word, better. I don't remember them having oatmeal in them...but this particular recipe definitely works a lot better with it...trust me. Other than cutting my finger with a butter knife...and having to fish egg shells out of the dough (I tried to turn the mixer off...but accidentally pushed it the wrong way...so it took a lot more effort to correct than I had hoped), today's baking excursion was a success.

We finished Season 2 of Chuck, today. Season 3 starts next March, so we've got some waiting to do...but never fear because the new season of Hell's Kitchen started today...so we've got that to look forward to :). We'll have to be a new audio cord for my computer, though, because I forgot it was attached and it got bent. Oh well.

Lacy was weird today 'cause there was a Sonic boom. After that, any sound that could be even remotely skewed to sound some what like a boom made her bark...including the cookies being put into a tupperware container. It got a little old after a while.

Dinner update: Buffalo Burgers (grass fed and raised in the Antelope Valley), tater tots (NOT homemade), an baked beans (from a can).

Onward...

Hello faithful readers. And so starts another week in the life of the desert dwellers. Today has been kinda blah for me. I honestly didn't do a whole lot...and have felt a little mundane...but this happens from time to time. It makes the more exciting days that much more exciting, I suppose. As of the moment, I'm frustrated because I can't find the list of my addresses I wrote down for my kids that were at the wedding so I could send them some thank yous. It's gotta be somewhere...and I feel like I've hunted through everything and every box...but I guess I'll try again, tomorrow. I charged the Wii Fit battery, so I'll probably attempt that, tomorrow, too. Heidi called and told me I'm getting my haircut Friday. I realize that makes her sound like my manager or secretary or something...but it's really more that she has a car and offered to drive me, so I told her she could tell me when according to her schedule...which meant she got the appointment (and thank you :)). I'm still debating how to get it cut...and Adam thinks it looks good shorter... It seems like the times I've liked it best short were when I brought in pictures of Julie Bowen's hair. I'm still accepting suggestions...but here's what I'm thinking as of now:



In other news...I took this picture so my mom could tell me what kind of plant this is, 'cause it's kinda weird:



I made stir fry for dinner. I've never done that before, and we didn't really have a good recipe...so I improvised. I did pretty well, too. Adam got out the sweet and sour sauce and never ended up using it...which I take as a compliment. He also said I'm good at making rice...which IS a compliment, but doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do. Here's tonight's creation:




In the pan.....



And on the plate. And if you were wondering....Yes, that is a homemade fortune cookie. That is the one productive thing I learned how to do, today (if you can call that productive). Too bad I spoiled the surprise by leaving all the left over fortune papers on the counter for Adam to see. Oh well.

My grandma sent me some wedding pictures she took. It's nice to actually have some hard copies to fill the various picture albums we were given until I have time to make an official wedding album. They are nice pictures, and I'm glad to have them.

Adam said he just sat around and kind of wasted the day at work trying to get his clearance papers done...but he said he kinda enjoyed it.

And with that...Adam has told me that I look exhausted...and while I don't really feel as bad as I must look, perhaps that's a sign it's time to close today. G'nite.

We've officially been here for 3 and a half weeks-ish. It was a good day. We started off with Sunday School and church...had leftover pizza for lunch...watched Chuck...went to the laundromat...Adam went grocery shopping and I put laundry away...we had dinner (leftover spaghetti and sausage meatballs)...watched some more Chuck (we're kind of addicted...we're almost at the end of season 2 and it's getting good. It's going to be hard to have to wait a week in between episodes once the new season starts :-p)...and that brings us to now.

Our new thermometer said...at the hottest point, today, it was 110. This is the first time we actually BELIEVE that was the temperature since it came from outside our house in real time :).

In other news...I am very grateful for our new friends Heidi and Jedd. I sat by Heidi our first time in Sunday School and she's been the one person that I've connected with since we've been here more than just hello and casual conversation, thus far. I had a good time with her and her boys shopping last week...and was glad to be around kids again. I miss my class. We're going to the salon sometime this week together and I'm going to get my hair cut. I'm not sure how, yet, so I'll entertain suggestions if you have them. In any case, it's nice to know that there's someone I can call if I need something that doesn't mind helping me out...and someone that wants to hang out with me. It gives me something to look forward to. Sorry...I'm done being sappy.

There are puppies across the street...and sometimes, they sound like babies screaming...it's somewhat disturbing at times...especially to Lacy.

People keep asking how we're liking California. Here's a short answer, for now. Adam likes living in the desert. You'll have to ask him for specifics, but this much I know. It is nice not sweating just by walking out the door. It's been over 100 the whole past week and it's fairly bearable without the humidity. Of course, the air conditioner has run more, but that comes with the territory. Adam's loving his job so far. He comes home happy about what he got to do (for the most part. Paperwork isn't the highest thing on his list of excitments). He has his own desk and seemed excited to give me the tour of where he works. Him being happy makes me happy, too. I've had plenty of jobs since college that I did for the money (not all of them, mind you, but a good majority of them) to get by...and didn't have the opportunity to do something that my degree qualifies me for. The fact that Adam got a job that he's been working towards for 5 years and will love makes me happy. And the fact that he lets me NOT do things like I did before just for the money because he knows that I will be happier and less stressed not doing them makes me happy, too. I'm hoping to do something in the future, whenever that may be, to put my education into play and maybe even earn something for us...but I'm good for now. And while it's different here, and sorta hard to get used to...and I don't have a brother miles down the road or friends I see constantly...I have faith that there's a reason we are here.

And because of all that, California is good. I'm happy here...in a much different way than in Champaign...and I miss Illinois...but I'm going to do everything I can to make this as much home as Champaign was.

And on that note...have a great night.

It's been a good day. In Adam's words "We had a lot of fun...you got to see where I work." And indeed, both are true. We started off the morning with some eggs and the leftovers from my failed attempt at jelly filled muffins. After some diligent effort at trying to beat other people's scores on Bejeweled Blitz, we headed out to the farmer's market. Today's purchases included delicious peaches, avacados, Honey Raspberry "Sheep Nuts, (Which aren't as good as the last ones we bought)" some buffalo burgers, and the part that baffled me....three bottles of the AV Winery's own wine for 6 dollars. No...not each. They were having a sale on this particular wine of buy one, get two free....weird. Then we stopped by Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond for some things we realized we were lacking, one of which was a pastry cutter. Did you know the world doesn't believe in them anymore? They're either flimsy and made out of wire like wisks...or non existant. What happened to the good old fashioned pastry cutters with blades? Don't worry...Adam's diligently on a hunt for a good one. We came home and had some hot pocket Chicken Quesadillas and watched Chuck. This afternoon, we took a driving tour of Edwards Air Force Base...given by Adam. We stopped by the Flight Test Center Museum...which I found amusing because one of the exhibits said it was temporarily in repair due to sonic boom damage. We drove back and ordered a pizza from a local place. It wasn't too bad. Then we hooked up the indoor outdoor thermometer we got today since EVERY weather website tells us a different thing about what the temperature is. It's funny because some of them increase what they say the high temp for the day will be as the day goes on....and some won't even give you the high for the evening until it's later in the day. Adam decided we needed our own thermometer so we can decide what time to open the windows for the evening. So that brings us to now. It's now 8:15 and it JUST dropped below 100 degrees not too long ago. Which means it's the perfect time to get cleaned up and turn in for the night. Happy Saturday.

So, what does one do on a 108 degree day where there is a mandatory "brown out" (we were supposed to severely limit our power usage for a four hour time slot)? Clean the garage that is, obviously, not air conditioned. It actually wasn't too hot...and I was tired of it looking like this:



So that was before...boxes everywhere. Some of them were half full or only had one thing in them, and they were all spread out making it look a lot more cluttered than it was...and making getting to the car an effort in itself. So...a couple hours or so later...it now looks like this:





Yeah...it's safe to say that I'm proud of myself :). I also brought in a few more pieces of furniture...and made the place look/feel a little more lived in. The kitchen, however, is kind of unorganized at the moment....but we'll leave that for another day.

And a side note to anyone who thinks dogs/cat are NOT comparable to having children...perhaps you might be able to explain to me why there are toys scattered all over the house in places I definitely didn't put them :).

One more note so as not to disappoint the loyal readers...we had chicken quesadillas...with store bought tortillas, frozen chicken, and store brand shredded cheese :).

Have a good night.

It's apparently become apparent that the visual part of this blog is mostly food :-p. Well, I am not at all known for my cooking abilities...so the fact that, amidst some of the more epic failures, I've had several successes that not only looked good...but tasted good, too...I felt like I needed some concrete evidence of my newly found domestic prowess. Tonight's dinner was especially yummy, as well...and took little effort at all. I got to use our awesome crock pot (seriously...I am so glad we got this one...I love how it looks.)


I like the stoneware insert...I think it looks more classy than some, and it can come out and be a casserole type dish on the table and not look like a crock pot. Our's doesn't even say Crock-Pot on the top like this one does. In any case, I made roast beef for sandwiches. It was too easy. 2 cups of water, one .7 ounce salad dressing mix, the roast, and a few peppers...and 9 hours later...it was done (and delicious). We also had some corn on the cob.

Now that we've taken care of the "What's for dinner" portion of the blog, here's what today brought. (Sorry if you don't get enough of the what ADAM'S day was like part of things...but he can't talk about it. Domestic Engineering requires less of a security clearance, and you've all passed.)

To sum up today...I'm nearing the end of my thank you note writing...though there's still plenty to do. It's awesome to be able to thank so many people for all the awesomeness you bestowed on us...and for all the support you've given us. You don't know how much we appreciate that...but you will in a few weeks when we get this in the mail :). I also cleaned the office...and while there's still some random stuff...there's not nearly as much, and it's a lot more organized and in smaller piles. I also tried to "organize" the cleaning supplies under the sink so they wouldn't all fall when I needed something...and washed a bunch of dishes (which I have to go finish up from dinner). I also looked online at some kitchen stuff we still need...and noticed how much my dog sheds in the desert. I guess fur coats and 106 degree weather don't really mesh. I kept thinking today was Friday...but alas, it is not.

Happy Birthday Roseanne....

and a good night to all.

Stuffed Sweet Potato with green beans, corn, carrots, tomato, spinach, peas, and basil in homemade balsamic and vinegar dressing. Yum...

Almost makes up for the failed attempt at Cinnamon Donut Muffins. Don't get me wrong...they DID taste like donuts....but they're supposed to have jam centers...and the jam fell through to the bottom of the muffins...leaving it stuck to the pan and not inside the muffins. Even without the jam, though, they are great substitutes for actual donuts :). Also...I forgot to mention that we got our new dinnerware on Monday...finally. We originally were given it as a gift from our small group...but one bowl was broken, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond said they couldn't order us just one bowl...

...This time we ordered it directly from the company (Pfaltzgraff) because it had been on back order for over a month and we were sick of waiting. BB&B said they'd email me when they had it back in stock and we've still yet to get an email form them...so I guess we made the right choice. Our box did, however, still have one broken bowl....but the very friendly lady (end sarcasm) at Pfaltzgraff is sending a replacement one free of charge....what a concept.

In other news...the people of Chuck were really sneaky since they just released Season 2 on DVD and you can only watch certain episode online. The only way to watch the other ones is to get the whole season on DVD or buy it by the episode on Amazon on Demand. I guess we'll have to give in and support the industry :-p. At least when you buy it on Amazon you don't have to watch the commercials.

That's about it for now....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

G'nite.

As I promised...a more blogworthy post, today. While it wasn't really a more eventful day, I'm in a better mood, and have more impressive things to post (including pictures). I did fail to mention, yesterday, that I finally had a conversation with Betty across the street...so now I officially know both next door neighbors and the across the street one.

My day consisted of not going back to sleep...so I'm quickly losing steam. Instead, Lacy and I ran. It was hard. I'm definitely not in shape and only made it about 1 3/4 miles before we were too pooped and sore to go on. Then I came back, iced my knee, as they say..."took some time to enjoy The View," and worked on thank yous. I also made some custard for our dessert of the evening. After a while, I set up Adam's computer and the new desk in the office. I also prepped some food for tonight's dinner throughout the day so I didn't have as much to do come dinner time. I had tuna for lunch....cleaned the office a bit....did more thank yous...and got to talk to Terri.

Then I made dinner:



Salmon with Spinach, Cream Cheese, and Herbs wrapped in Phyllo dough (which, by the way, is a pain in the butt to work with...but turned out pretty well), and glazed carrots.



Here's the custard we had for dessert. After dinner, we watched some Chuck...and laughed at the cat. How can this possibly be comfortable?



Adam went to work and did secret stuff.

The end.

I am very tired...and quite frankly, not in the blogging mood. Here is your abbreviated version:
-Woke up with Adam...then went back to sleep.
-Worked on thank yous and watched Private Practice.
-Went to the Post Office and Walmart with Heidi, Colton, and Luke.
-Forgot about defrosting the salmon and filo dough...so that will have to wait until tomorrow.
-Made spaghetti and sausage, spinach salad, and garlic bread.
-Watched Chuck.

That about sums up my day. Tune in again tomorrow for a longer, more post worthy update.

It's a very humbling experience...not having a job. I've realized, this weekend, that until I execute a way of channeling my work into a money earning venture, that anything I have, want, need, etc. that costs money will more than likely be provided by Adam's paycheck. I know it's a blessing...not having to work. I know there's a lot of women that wish that they could stay home while their husband goes to his job. I have no problem with the staying home part. I like being able to cook for him, make the place look nice, get things done that he can't while working....you know. I haven't gotten lonely, yet, or run out of things to do. It's just a new concept for me to feel like it's not my say, anymore, whether or not something is worth getting. Don't get me wrong, I asked for Adam's opinion most of the time, anyway...but only because I hate shopping and spending money, and I generally feel guilty for doing so unless I have ample reason to believe and convince myself that it was justified. Let's just say that this Domestic Engineering thing is going to take a lot of getting used to.

Sorry for that non-traditional opening to today's post...but this is about life in California, and that's where I'm at for the moment. Today has been a long day, but probably because of the amount of things we've done this weekend. We made it to Sunday school...and early enough that I could change the backwards cut out "g" on the wall so that it wouldn't bug me for the entirety of today's lesson :-p. We got to talk to the people we'd met last week a bit more, and I get the phone numbers of several ladies in our class...and even an offer to pick me up to hang out sometime (we only have one car, and because of the distance it takes to get in to where Adam needs to go for work...and the complications with security...it's not worth it for me to drop him off and pick him up for me to have the car.) It was baptism sunday at church, which was kind of neat to see because each person getting baptized gave their testimony before the actual baptism. There was everything to people being raised in Christian homes and just feeling like this was the right time to people that have, in the past several months of coming to church, come clean from doing drugs and gang activity and rejoined their families. It was pretty intense.

After church, we came home and ate lunch...and then planned our meals for the rest of the week in order to compile a shopping list. It should be a good week for dinner.

We went to the laundromat and did our laundry...and then our new friend Ryan delivered a desk for us that his family no longer needed...so now we at least have somewhere to START organizing the office space into. Thank you Ryan!

Adam went to the store after Ryan left. I made chicken for quesadillas and talked to my mom. Once Adam got home and the groceries were put away, we finished making and eating dinner, watched some Chuck, had some coffee...and that brings us to now...when I have to get off of here to clean up the kitchen. It's been an exhausting weekend...and to be perfectly honest...besides the feeling somewhat helpless and longing to contribute in an equivelant to money earning fashion to the good of our household...I am looking forward to not going anywhere this week.

Have a good one.

One annoying thing about having a bigger house is that, especially when the air conditioner comes on or the dishwasher is running, it is impossible to hear each other unles we're in the same room. This is especially obnoxious when, for whatever reason, I didn't sleep very well last night. Oh well. At least we have air conditioning.

This morning, we attempted to make waffles from scratch with our new waffle maker. Like I said, I didn't sleep well, which basically equates to me being easily frustrated...and thus, I didn't last long in the waffle making endeavor after the batter had been mixed. Once Adam got the hang of working the machine, we did alright.

Afterwards, we traveled to Santa Clarita...which turned out not to take as long as we thought due to the higher speed limits here. We returned our KitchenAid mixer that sparked and smelled like smoke and got a new one that seems to work fine thus far. We also shopped a bit, had lunch/dinner at TGI Fridays, got some ice cream at a place called Pam's Ice Cream and Donuts (random) and headed back home to relax and watch some more Chuck.

We got home to Lacy's fun garbage can adventure, or what was left of it. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but might eventually result in getting a more dogproof version of a garbage can. We have Sunday School and church in the a.m. so hopefully that will lend itself to furthering relationship building and potentially making some more friends. The first week here wasn't too bad. Staying at home wasn't as hard as it could've been...and I kept fairly busy, even without a car or going anywhere. I'd imagine that might be the case in the long run. I learned quickly while it's hard for mothers to get things done because it seems like it takes a long time just to get various "simple" tasks done, even without much interruption.

Happy Birthday Dario.

G'nite.

My question for the night: If you spend $200 on clothes and stuff, but the receipts say you saved $200, does that make it free?

Let the weekend begin...

Don't worry...we've found a new show to watch. A new friend of our's from church suggested "Chuck" which I initially didn't want to watch because it looked like it could be a dumb sitcom...but it turns out it's a fairly good show...and Adam likes it, too. It's pretty addictive.

I met two households of neighbors, today...though I think the original will be the ones I get closest to. I met Betty, across the street, and her daughter Mica. Betty said..."Let me take this phone call and I'll be right over." She never came. I hope they enjoyed the cookies...and maybe she'll come another time. We also went next door together to meet Harry. Adam had met him before, but he didn't remember Adam's name (he thought it was Ryan) so it didn't hurt that he got another introduction. It was 7ish, and Harry was on his way to bed....so he kept it short. Therefore, we decided to go to the OTHER next door so Adam could meet the neighbors there. They invited us in for a bit, but we didn't want to intrude (they were also babysitting 4 kids other than their own...and John (the husband) was on his way to bed, too, to get a nap before going to job number two out at the base. Adam asked about John's job, which I had gotten wrong in my relay...which lent the perfect opportunity to admit that I had also gotten Marie's name wrong previously. Adam thought it was a bad idea to tell her that, but she was cool and I thought it was a good enough ice breaker. I think they'll be nice to know.

It's been a longish week, but I'm starting to get the hang of this staying home thing. It'll be nice to get out of the house for a bit, tomorrow, though I'm not sure how excited I am about how far we're going. Adam's decided that, especially since I haven't left the house all week, that we're driving to Macy's...which is about an hour and a half away. Oh well, it'll be good for me, I guess. It'll make staying home more appealing :-p. I did make a pretty good meal, tonight, though (rice and lemon pepper chicken from scratch...Adam made the broccoli)...and I didn't fail with the cookies today. I used the parchment paper, too, Grandma...it worked well.

That's about all I've got for now. Adam's turn:

Well, work was cool. I read about half of a book called modal analysis or modal testing. It was pretty good and I'd give it a recommend. Then I met a guy from U of I who graduated a couple years ago who was in DBF. That was cool. I got a bunch of paperwork done, and I might even get to use a computer on Monday. Happy weekend. We're off exploring southern California in search of a Kitchenaid mixer tomorrow.

Short one, tonight...but I had to report the good news. I know the neighbor's name! :). This was fairly exciting to me considering all the mishaps...and I don't think I'll forget, it now (though if I do, it's in writing, so I can refer back to it.) She (Marie) and her daughter Kylie came over, this afternoon, with a plant and a thank you card for the cookies. We talked for a bit. Her husband works at Edwards. He was in the Air Force for 20 years, then retired, and now works there as a civilian. They seem really nice, and it'll be nice to have "real" neighbors for once...not just people I live next door to.

We also have several upcoming visits to look forward to:
-Adam's aunt and uncle Julie and Jack
-Our friend Andy Rice from Champaign
-Our friend Candace from Champaign

It'll be nice to see some familiar faces...and it's been fun meeting new ones.

That's all for tonight. Peace.

Development Arrested

This entry shares the name of the last episode of Arrested Development...which we finished this evening over leftover pizza and corn. Whatever shall we do with our lives, now (end sarcasm). It was a good show, but I can kinda see how they might have struggled to keep the story line going for much longer.

Today, I made cookies in an effort to meet the neighbors. It was pretty much disaster. I tried to use my grandma's recipe, but it called for oatmeal, and I didn't have any. I didn't figure it could do much harm just to leave it out. I was wrong. The cookies turned out so thin that I couldn't peel them off the cookie sheet. I ended up trying to save them by shoving them into ramekins and calling them tarts. I was going to put a picture of them on here, but Adam said "No. They don't look good...but they taste good.) I added some flour to the remaining cookie dough and somewhat salvaged them. They were more like chocolate chip wafers than cookies...but I figured that, if nothing else, the kids next door would eat them...and hey, I forgot their mom's name (in case I didn't mention, I thought it was Mattie, but it turns out that's their dog) so this lent a perfect opportunity to learn it again.

So I brought the cookies over, but she didn't answer this time. It was her brother, who I thought was her husband and was quickly corrected. His name is Chris...and luckily, he told me her name, too...which I don't remember (I stink at this.). Perhaps I'll make some better cookies sometime and meet her again.

Tomorrow I plan on making some cinnamon bread in an effort to meet Harry Moore (the other neighbor that Adam met.) Hopefully that goes better. Something good DID come out of this though...my innovative new way to soften butter. I cut it in pieces and put it outside in the bowl for a few minutes. See...there ARE perks to living in the desert :).

Adam's turn....

I went to work and they sent me to watch a meeting... Then I came home.

Well the meeting was kinda neat. It lasted from 8-4 and there was only one stretch after lunch where I was falling asleep, but I did get to push the page down button for the slide show. It was funny because I asked, "How do I know when to go to the next slide?" Some people laughed and said, "When he says, 'Next slide.'" Yeah, it was one of those moments, BUT he only said that about half the time. The other times I had to pay attention for the pauses in between slides followed by the next slide's number. I think I did a darn good job. Man, I had a funny story about the word definitize, but it is an actual word. Darnnit. The same thing happened to me with the word educe last summer.

There were test pilots there too. They probably do more studying than Top Gun would lead you to believe, but Top Gun wasn't about test pilots so maybe that isn't any good. Well, they were taller than Tom Cruise anyway. They knew a lot of stuff. Most of the people there knew a lot. I didn't though!

Better Early Than Never

We're both very tired, today, so I figured if I didn't do this now, it probably wouldn't happen. It's only 7:15 here, but I think we might turn in soon. That waking up early thing is catching up with us.

Adam says work was fun, today. That's all he said.

But he told me that he had a seminar on ethics, and then spent the afternoon talking to one of his supervisors about the things that he'll be working on. Must've had a lot to talk about since he didn't get home as early, today.

I promptly went back to sleep once Adam left, and slept until about 9:15...when his text message asking me if I ever went back to sleep woke me up. Then I watched the Michael Jackson memorial service and wrote some thank yous. I made it most of the way through without crying until his daughter spoke...and then I bawled for a good ten minutes. After calling my mom, I decided to get my mind off of things and watched the last season finale of Grey's Anatomy and put some shelf liners in...which of course made me cry more (the TV show, not the shelf liner). So, afterwards, I played Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook (don't start if you haven't, it's extremely addictive.) and then went outside to play fetch with my dog. Adam came home shortly afterwards with a pizza that he was given as a welcome gift at work...weird. We ate it and watched some Arrested Development. There's only 5 episodes left...what will we do with ourselves :-p.

To wrap up, here's some things I've learned, today:

-It's hard to organize a house when you have no furniture.
-Sonic booms are really really loud...but they apparently bother me more than the dog.
-I'm apparently allergic to grass...which sucks.

Have a great night. Peace out.

One month later...

I almost forgot to update this, today...I know that would be a travesty :-p. Today was a big day for us. It was our one month-iversary...which wasn't that big of a deal :-p...but more importantly, Adam's first day of work (which I'll let him tell you about.)

My first day at home was nothing too exciting. It'll be hard to get used to...and I didn't really know where to start with the time filling. It wasn't that there's not anything to do, but moreso I didn't know WHAT to do. We woke up at 6, which I have not done in a long time. Once Adam got off to work, I went on Facebook for a while...the universal time killer. After spending too much time on there doing nothing...I uploaded all the wedding and honeymoon pictures. In case you're not on Facebook, here's a link to some (and by some, I mean about 825) wedding pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Album one: http://picasaweb.google.com/erincarrot/WeddingPhotosByMattDifanis?authkey=Gv1sRgCMjQ9aGDrIXqpgE#

Album two: http://picasaweb.google.com/erincarrot/WeddingPhotosByMattDifanisPart2?authkey=Gv1sRgCJbB3NGIzeX8fA#

Once, I was done with Facebook for a while, I conquered Wii. Adam wanted me to try and get to Pro level in tennis...and I did in just one short series. After doing that, I ate some lunch of salami and cornbread. I unpacked a couple more boxes and probably checked the mail about 4 times. After Adam called at lunch time, I started wedding thank yous (don't expect them for a while...that could be a full time job in itself :)). Adam came home early...which he texted me and told me he was going to do, but my phone was in the garage, so I had no idea. After a short nap and some sloppy joes for dinner, we watched some Arrested Development, Adam read up on insurance plans, I played more Wii and Bejeweled, and here we are.

Now to answer your more pressing question (you're probably more interested in Adam's day :))...How was Adam's first day of work, and what exactly is he going to be doing?

So I showed up at 0745 and sat around until 0800. Then we (I and the other new hires) started filling out some of the paperwork W4, I9, Direct Deposit, CA state taxes, signed a bunch of papers, got finger printed, stood up and pledged allegiance to the Constitution (which we as a group did very well), signed 2 more important papers, watched a corny yet informative movie on health ins., life ins., and retirement, listened to a lady speed through a bunch of benefit related things, then left to report to our supervisors.

My supervisor said to drive around, get to know the base, and eat lunch. So I drove around, ate my lunch, stopped at Starbucks because I was bored, went to the base library to use the internet and showed up to my supervisor at 1. The other new person that he had come in today had already been in industry, so he took the afternoon to get her up to speed since she should take less time. I found out I'd be working on the Joint Strike Fighter ( http://www.jsf.mil/ ). I went with a sort of boss and she showed me some of the things in the JSF hangar. The planes won't be delivered until later so there will be enough time to learn a little about the job before they show up. It should be interesting doing this since there are a lot of countries and the other branches with their hands in the JSF cookie jar. We also drove around to other parts of the base and looked at the NASA area. We saw 2 (or both, I don't know) of NASA's 747s for carrying the shuttles around and they had a handful of F22's out. There wasn't much flying going on though.

Another day tomorrow, and I'll get a desk.

See ya.

No pictures today...sorry. However, it was an otherwise productive day, I think...in the world of networking, anyway. We started our morning with sunday school at Wayside Chapel Community Church. We were told this is how we'll meet the alleged people our age at the church. It's kind of funny how, once you're out of college, "our age" becomes anything within a five year margin of how old we actually are. We met a lot of fun people, though...and pretty close to our age...though a lot of them have kids or newborns (and one will, soon.) I enjoyed our time with them AND we actually had people to sit with for the service, today...which was cool.

It was somewhat strange to both of us that just about everyone in our class looked familiar to us. Paul, the one that taught class, looks almost exactly like my uncle Logan. It's kind of strange. There's a lot of other people that seem familiar and we can't pin point it, but it doesn't really matter, I suppose.

I think we'll probably stay at this church. We haven't really visited any other churches (there really aren't any other non-denominational ones in Rosamond, and only one or two other churches, period.) We could go to another town, but I appreciate the appeal of knowing so many people so close to us (a lot of them live in the new sub-division literally hundreds of feet down the road.) This church is quite similar to WRCC (even the acronym WCCC :)). There's a lot of the same things structure wise in the service. There are, of course, things we don't love...like the electric drums, but I'm pretty blunt and have voiced my greivances on that matter with Nathan (the music minister) and he assured me that improvements are on the way :).

Anyway, after church, the rest of the day was spent making cornbread that Jenna Juday (one of my old preschool parents) gave me the recipe for. We made two batches because there was an all-church picnic this evening...and our sunday school class decided to pitch in and all have a potluck instead of all of us having to fend for ourselves for dinner. The cornbread was a hit...and there was tons of good food. We definitely picked the right week to start going to sunday school :). We got to hang out with the people we'd met this morning (and seen most of them at the grocery store this afternoon).

Adam starts work tomorrow. It's been a crazy first month of marriage...what with the actual wedding, honeymoon, moving, and now starting work. Tomorrow is the official one month mark...which is cool, but it went by really fast. I already can't wait for him to get home...and he is here right now. It'll be weird having him gone all day and me here when we've been together everyday all day for the past month. Well, we'll be getting up early tomorrow, so that's all for tonight. Thanks to all the new friends we made, today...we'll see you soon. G'nite.

Well, our 4th of July experience was nothing short of interesting. The Antelope Valley Fairgrounds hosted the fireworks extravaganza for the Lancaster area (Rosamond doesn't have anything), so we went to check out the festivities. It's a good thing we went early because the grandstands filled up pretty fast. Of course, I don't know why they weren't more full when we got there, considering the Rural Olympics were going on.

What?! You don't know what Rural Olympics are?!!! Well, we're not quite sure what all it entails, either, but we did catch the tail end of Potato Javelining...which consisted of a race with someone hanging out the window of two "antique" cars with a javelins and picking up potatoes. The winner was the one who picked up all the potatoes and crossed the finish line first. As if that wasn't exciting enough...they ALSO had a truck 'n' transfer race where two semis unloaded trailers, dumped hypothetical freight, etc, and then raced back to the starting line. Weird. Adam was a little disappointed that there wasn't a demo derby....but neverfear, there was a derby listed on the fair schedule (along with David Cook, Leeann Womack, and The Beach Boys).

After the Olympics wrapped up, we got to hear the musical stylings of a band I don't remember the name of. At the beginning of their set, they asked for requests...of which the majority wanted Michael Jackson songs (which severely frightened me. It's always worrisome to have someone else try and sing a good song....though I would've been up for hearing him do some Smooth Criminal.) Though we speculated that he only played ONE request (which was Michael Jackson), they actually weren't too terrible. Here's a taste (forgive the quality. I only had my cellphone with me.):



And here's a bit of the Michael Jackson song for your listening pleasure:



The fireworks started not too long afterwards. They were set to some good ol' fashioned cheesy America music. The thing that was ironic to me was that, in the mix, they actually played "America" from West Side Story. Considering the demographic here, and what the song is actually about, I thought it a strange choice of music. I got a couple good pictures of the fireworks with my phone. I was surprised at how good they turned out:



This was the beginning of the show.



Here's a picture of how close we were. I didn't zoom in, but they weren't lighting the fireworks off too far from us. You can see the smoke along the bottom of the picture.

And that's all I have...not because I didn't take anymore pictures...but rather because the fireworks broke and the show was pretty much over after that. It was kind of disappointing, but it happens...and they said they'd have them do it at the fair, instead (though I kinda think they might have already been planning on having fireworks there, but whatever.) So, no grand finale, but at least we got a couple smiley face fireworks in there before the mechanisms crapped out.

We hope you all had a good holiday. It's time to turn in for the night...if the dog stays calm with the neighbors lighting off fireworks. Hopefully we'll get more sleep than last night when the neighbor's dog barked almost the entire night. Kinda defeats the purpose of having a new bed when you can't sleep.

Well, g'nite....and Happy 4th. Peace.

Where the wind comes sweeping down the...desert?

It's really windy here...all the time. Not that that has anything to do with anything else. However, I did get a reality check when the delivery man that brought our bed said to me (after I mentioned how hot it was outside...it's a great ice breaker), "You just move here? Are you on the same side of the equator?" Put me in my place, I guess. Or something.

I don't have much to say...but because Ben implicitly challenge my diligence to keep the posts up to date, I decided to make good on that as long as possible.

Today consisted of waiting for our bed...and Adam going to the bank and the grocery store (oh...and watching too much Arrested Development....what? I told you we were a little addicted.) While waiting for the delivery truck, we had SEVERAL false alarms that thoroughly disturbed Lacy. There were kids outside playing, loud cars, the UPS man, a guy dropping off a package from the post office...and then, finally, the truck we were actually waiting for. And now to keep you from having to wait much longer...pictures of the new bed:



This is Adam...warming up the steamer on our new bed. Why, you may ask...because I told him we needed to steam the duvet cover for the first pictures so the newly laundered and assembled bed would look perfect. He was relieved when I changed my mind (of course, he told me he was only warming it up FOR me and I had to do it myself...so naturally, I said it looked fine :)).



This is detail of the headboard, which is often masked by the enormous decorative pillows (we had no idea how big Euro pillows were at the time we got them :)).



And there is storage...minimal storage, but still kinda cool.

Well, that's it for tonight. Our 4th Festivities will include going to the Fairgrounds for fireworks....and unlike the norm for the Midwest, there is absolutely no threat of cloud coverage, nor fear of it being too cold for comfort. Have a great night, and a great 4th of July. We miss you!

laundry day...

Yep, we did laundry today. We washed a bunch of stuff. In anticipation of having a new bed delivered tomorrow we washed a lot of sheets and things. We had to go to the laundromat because the house didn't come with a washer (well it did, but its in the corner of the garage and we assume it doesn't work. The dryer is a little frightening right now (think basement stove from Home Alone)). The washers at the laundromat smelled a little funky but the clothes came out alright. We also met a handful of people there. They were very nice. It seems like there are a lot of friendly people here. I like it.
After putting the clothes away, we watched about 3 episodes of Arrested Development, ate dinner, watched 2 more episodes, got some ice cream, then watched another episode. We might be calling it quits for the night on the AD.
Well, I think tomorrow is an official holiday. Too bad I'm not already working to get some sweet holiday pay. Hopefully the bed will come and it will be a happy Third of July.

-Adam

P.S. Here's what happens when the dryers don't dry things.

blah...

I have felt completely lazy and unproductive today, which makes sense since today was pretty unproductive. I mean, we did unpack probably a total of 3ish boxes of clothes. That's a total between the two of us. I feel incredibly lazy. I don't think Adam minded, though :-p.

I think I did a fair job keeping myself distracted, today. I know it's was a hard day for my family, but I did my best trying to remember good things and not let "it" get me too down...'cause that's not what Dad would've wanted. In our effort to have a good (and lazy...did I mention lazy?) day, we watched a LOT of Hulu. We're almost through the entire first season of Arrested Development...after only watching 5 of the episodes yesterday...so what does that tell you?

That about sums up the day. Don't buy sundried tomato alfredo sauce from Classico unless you like Spaghettios. G'nite.