Thankful List 2010

Here is the annual list of things I am grateful for (you will note that the copy/paste issues that resulted in some of the formatting goof-ups are NOT on the list). Some are silly, some are very serious. Consider writing your own list - it might just make you smile!

1. Friends, new and old
2. Safe travels, which I can never again take for granted - even on short trips - with all the crazy driving that goes on in Waukegan
3. Decent health
4. Apartment fitness room, to help me work on #4

5. Nice apartment with good landlords and maintenance staff
6. Limpio cleaning service, who keep the complex looking great and also extracted all the water from our place during the fire sprinkler flood
7. Game night! It’s good to have something fun to look forward to each week.
8. Halloween decorations – they make me smile
9. My kitty – Walter is such a great little buddy
10. My ’05 Vibe, which has been a most welcome vehicle change. Haven’t regretted the switch even once since we got it in January!
11. The walking paths near our apartments
12. The water fowl that frequent the ponds along the walking paths
13. The crazy and oh-so-interesting black squirrels I see around home and work on occasion
14. The silly chipmunks that entertain around our complex
15. Harvest Bible Chapel, our home for great serving, worshipping, and teaching
16. Our Harvest small group Bible study, which takes a huge church and makes it a family
17. Ice Cream. It does a body good (in at least some ways)…
18. My fabric steamer, because I hate ironing but don’t want to look like a hobo
19. Our washer and dryer. It is SOOOO nice not having to pay to do laundry anymore! 20. Great memories to cheer and encourage me in the tough times
21. Plans, hopes, and dreams to give me something to work toward
22. A buyer’s market for our ongoing first home search
23. The MLS listing search engine with many criteria to make the house hunting easier
24. Our nice realtor, who has been very helpful and honest
25. Robbie Gould, who is a great kicker for the Bears as well as an animal lover
26. The lower gas prices near my job
27. A good full-time job
28. Great co-workers
29. PTO (paid time off)
30. Finally getting to ride Giant Drop on the 4th or 5th attempt (it broke down every time we got in line prior to that)
31. That Ryan’s horrible cell phone is finally eligible for a free upgrade, because his current one doesn’t ring when I call him half the time
32. The efforts of Dr. Kelly Crowdis and Christian Veterinary Mission in Haiti
33. The efforts of thousands in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship
34. Cuddle time with my husband
35. The Harry Potter books and movies, which provided me with lots of entertainment this year
36. The Waukegan Public Library, for lending me some of #35
37. The beautiful (or at least impressive) view I get of Lake Michigan on my way to work each morning
38. Coupons. I use them to justify buying #17 and other fun things.
39. My spacious kitchen, which is very fun to bake in
40. Inside jokes like “licking knives” and “Buford”
41. Funny real-life stories that you can’t help but re-tell over and over
42. Camping trips
43. Warren Dunes
44. Family – somehow you never realize just how special and helpful they are when you’re with them
45. My adorable niece and nephew and their sibling on the way
46. My wonderful, loving husband, who tries very hard to make my life easier
47. Our Heavenly Father
48. The Holy Spirit
49. Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself so we could be saved from our sins and prayed that we would have peace
50. The hope of Heaven

Anniversary Memories

Ryan and I both agree that our first year of marriage seemed to go by very fast. Perhaps that's because it was such a busy year! Nobody is perfect, life is hard, and we've had our tough moments, but God has really been faithful to us this year, as always. I am very fortunate to have such a patient and loving husband.

We celebrated by going to a wedding. (Guess that's the risk you take when you get married on a Friday to save money and therefore be able to invite more people. We wouldn't change that for anything, though.) I guess Chris Orme and Beth Randa decided our wedding day was so great that they picked the same date for theirs. The weather was gorgeous! I missed the ceremony because I had to work, but I presume it was lovely. It almost felt like cheating to be treated to a free wedding meal for our anniversary. The food was GREAT! And red velvet cake is one of my favorites!! The bride was glowing and gorgeous and the groom was grinning and dapper. IV memories were recounted with friends. The dancing was varied in styles and quite fun. Twas a great time.

On Sunday, we headed up to Lake Geneva and took in a Dancing Horses and exotic bird show. (Ryan surprised me with tickets.) I've been to Lippizan shows before, but this was totally different. Can we say, "horse and exhibitor person in glow-in the dark flame costumes"?!! And that was just one scene. A scene in which we got dirt kicked all over us by the horse. It was pretty cool. Another highlight was a mini horse named Harley who performed to "Bad to the Bone". They put a spikey costume on him and teased his mane all crazy. Half of it was him stubbornly refusing to do stuff, it was funny. We also stalked their many farm and exotic animals/babies with my camera for quite some time (see my FB pics). We dined on wonderful German fare (a tradition from the honeymoon) at a tiny local place. We got nice comments all day on our "I love my husband/wife" coordinated shirts. Wisconsin people are so friendly. Then we hung out at our resort and enjoyed the pool and hot tub.

Monday started with a delicious meal. A man at the table next to us (his voice sounded like a toned-down "Mater" from Cars) saw us holding hands and said "Did y'all just get married, or are you divorced?" I responded "We got married a year ago!" and he said "And you still LIKE each other??!...... That's cool!" At which a lady at his table said, "Leave them alone! They're normal people!" Not so sure I'd go that far, but... After breakfast and a walk along the lake, it was time to pack up and head home. Now our wedding cake top is thawing (yay for it finally not taking up space in my freezer!!) and I'm looking forward to eating some of it!!

New Routine

So we moved into our new apartment in Waukegan a month ago. Not completely unpacked yet, but I'm not going to worry about it, as the remainder is mostly photos and other decor that can be gradually placed and hung. There are some distinct advantages to our new place. For example:
- extra room allows us to keep Walter's litter box OUT of our bedroom
- washer/dryer in unit allows for any day to be laundry day with no lines, no on-machine payment, and no "guess I have to live with this damp load of laundry because I don't want to pay for another drying cycle"
- fitness area has not one, but TWO functional elliptical machines WITH TVs ON THEM! (Work out AND watch hockey??! Yes, please!)
- only a 15 minute commute to work for me, and it shaved 10 minutes off Ryan's drive to work as well
- kitchen is amazing AND open to the rest of the place, so I can be in there and still interact with others
- Lake County taxes are lower than Cook's by far
There are also some disadvantages:
- we are farther from our Game Night buddies
- the most convenient location for basic household/grocery shopping is the Super WalMart for all of Waukegan and North Chicago. Not only is it part of the evil corporation, it is even more packed with LOUD people than I am used to, and with EXTREMELY terrible drivers trying to create high-speed accidents in the parking lot, and with all the WORST carts in the world even though they don't look very old (so far my best cart had a wheel problem that made it go wobble-clunk with every step and my worst one had my arms aching from fighting it as it constantly turned a hard left for no apparent reason. Ryan can attest to this.)
- it floods. Not the "it rained outside and the waters rose and came in" kind of flood. The "sprinkler system two floors up went on the fritz and we got the trickle-down" kind of flood. It was quite the Sunday evening, but nothing was damaged and the carpet seems to have survived after a couple steam cleanings. (It was brand new.)

So I'm trying to get into a new routine with sleeping, cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, and exercising. I'm sure I'll get into a rhythm about the time Ryan goes back to school for his master's at the end of the month. Routines don't last long, it seems! Regardless, I haven't allowed much time for blogging in there. Nor facebooking. If you really want to know what I'm up to, call me or something!

Working out in the nice facilities here needs to pay off fast. I'm hoping to be somewhat less flabby by the time we go camping in July so the dunes don't kick my butt when we climb them like they did 2 years ago. And I don't scare everyone in my bathing suit. The scale is a cruel thing...

I have tons more to chat about and no time to organize my thoughts and put them here. Contact me if you need our new addy.

GO HAWKS!!

Quote

Since its been ages since I posted, (working full-time and communting 1.5 hours a day does that) but I don't have time for much, I offer you a profound "Ryan-ism" quote from this afternoon:
"I was very much not awake when you were waking me up."
He's a keeper!