Wonderful weekend

The past two weeks have been absolutely crazy for us...not a single minute to just sit, relax, and breathe. We had been going non-stop from one thing to the next- not even time to grocery shop- until this weekend.
God knew 3 months ago when we both requested a random friday off for no reason at all, that we would really need it! The entire weekend was just a great time of sleeping in, doing nothing, seeing friends, doing what we wanted at the last minute, and being together. loved it!
Some highlights:
-Friday- Slept in while it was raining, lounged, went grocery shopping for the first time in 2 weeks (we had almost no food!), went to wendy's for chili, hung out and watched a movie with my dear friend Aubrey.
-Saturday- slept in again (although not as late), went to the track, had a picnic lunch, ran into friends- dinner with them, nick was able to mow the lawn for the first time in 2 weeks!
-Sunday- Church, Bubbles for lunch (love their 5 dollar specials!), watch a movie together, have friends over for dinner, read a book.
Nothing special- but really really great weekend! Exactly what we needed!!

Tradition

Christmas always sneaks up on me. I can't believe that in a few days, it'll be here!! Even though this is my second Christmas married, there have been some "firsts" this Christmas season that I've enjoyed and wonder if they will become a tradition.

-Making holly berry cookies. Found the recipe and had to try....Nick and I got to make them together which was fun. My love language is quality time so doing little things together means a lot to me. Very cute cookie- I'll post some pictures when I can.

-Wrapping gifts by the fire. Ahhh so warm and cozy!

-Making Chai tea mix from scratch. So easy, fun and good! A great gift for friends!

-Extensive decorating around our house- last year at the apartment there wasn't much room for any decorations. This year with a mantle, more room, and a house for lights outside, we've had a lot of fun!

-Shoveling our own driveway. At the apartment, our landlord would plow with his truck- we never had to worry about snow removal. And with the massive amount of snow we got this past weekend, we've definitely been doing our share of shovelling! I don't know if this is classified as "fun" but adventurous to say the least. White Christmas, here we come. =)

I'm excited to see how each year will be shaped by old traditions from both of our family's and new traditions that we begin together.

Icy weekend

It's ironic that my last post was about the cold and here I am to talk about the cold again. Well, before I could even get around to plastic on the windows, the infamous Ice storm of 2008 hit and hit hard. What I thought of as cold just a few days ago has changed completely. I guess you don't realize what you have until you don't have it anymore.
We woke up on Friday morning to a cold house with no power and an ice covered land outside. Oh did I mention a tree branch on Nick's car? We didn't want to try to do anything with the branch because it was hanging over our power lines. And another factor worthy of mention- Our garage has no house access. The only way to get in is through the main door, which is only opened with the (you got it) electric opener! So we were car less!
Most people who read this probably went through a similar experience as me....sitting in the cold, dark, and eating whatever make-shift dinner you could come up with that didn't need electricity. We held out through the first day and night, but after that, we couldn't take it anymore. We needed warmth!
Finally, after 3 days of no power and staying with family who had power, we were able to go home! Through it all we have become more thankful. Thankful for what we are blessed with- a warm home, lights, a simple way to cook. Thankful for friends and family who were there for us and took us in. We were also able to meet our neighbors for the first time (finally) and they're great! So excited to get to know them more! I can't help but think that was God sovereign in this storm and gave a lot of people the chance to step back, relax, and remember all that we've got right around the Christmas season.

Warm vs. Cold

Funny how growing up you never think about the temperature of your house, and if you do, you have no problem turning up the heat when your cold. Oh how it changes when you're responsible to pay for it!

I grew up in a small house with 5 other people. Our house was always warm and cozy, very rarely was I cold. And if I was, we had the wonderful blowers that I could just sit on top of and have the warm air quickly change that. The carpet throughout the house was convenient to keep my feet warm too! =)

Now I live in a larger house with only 1 other person. No more blowers- but radiators instead. Now only 2 rooms in the house have carpet....the rest are wood. I've quickly learned that wood floors = cold feet! The house is also on top of a hill- so the wind doesn't help with the chilliness, let alone the windows everywhere (including the big picture window).

Don't get me wrong! I LOVE my house!! I have been sooo blessed. I just NEVER realized how much it would cost to heat! I'm so thankful for my parents who worked so hard to give us a warm home growing up- I can definitely appreciate it now in a way I couldn't before.

My plan- cover some windows with plastic- I think it will help drastically. I'm feeling a Home Depot trip coming up soon!

Relief-

Things are finally starting to come together with our house! We set up our guest bedroom last night and my sister helped me clean up the dining room floor by putting things away in our brand new used (from Nick's parents) hutch. I can't believe how 1 little piece of furniture can make a room look 10 times more homey and put together! The plan is to get as much of the garage finished as possible this week and start hanging some things on the wall! I'm so excited to watch this house become more and more homey!

We're hoping to have a housewarming party at some point so everyone can see it. It may end up being after the holidays but we'll see!

This past week and weekend have been such an encouragement after our rough weekend mentioned in the previous post. It reminds me of the passage in Ecclesiastes 3..."there is a time for everything..."