Christina's Blog

Work/Bratwurst Festival/Remodeling

2008-08-15T11:59:00.003-05:00

For the rest of you in Ohio....isn't this mild weather in August fantastic? I'm definitely ready for fall. Work has been keeping me pretty busy. We entered a float in the Bratwurst Parade, so I worked on organizing that. We won the Chamber of Commerce Award. Other than that, I haven't been doing too much. Isaac and I finished remodeling our bathroom a few weeks ago. Now, we've redone every room in the house except the one bedroom upstairs. We have a few months though before the nursery needs to be ready!

Hello

2008-06-12T08:21:00.002-05:00

I know it's been forever since I've posted anything. Isaac and I haven't been up to too much. We went with my sister to a Red's game at the end of March, we've planted our garden for this year, we took a trip to Dawes Arboretum, the Columbus Zoo, and a Columbus Clippers game over vacation a couple weeks ago, and we finally splurged last weekend and bought a pool. We decided it was cheaper and more fun than buying another air conditioner for our house. I will have to post some pictures when I have a chance.

Our Little Boy

2007-11-01T16:59:00.001-05:00

Not too much new going on with us. I just thought I'd share some of our latest pictures of our spoiled rotten cat.

Pictures

2007-08-23T08:22:00.000-05:00

Okay...The pictures aren't showing up, but I think if you click on them, it will take you to the local newspaper for pictures of the flooding.

Flood

2007-08-23T07:58:00.001-05:00

Wow...I've seen more water in the past couple days than I ever want to see again. All I can say is praise God for waking Isaac and I from our sleep at 2:30am Tuesday morning. Since we got up to look at the pounding rain, we saw that our street was under water and ran to the basement to see how much was there. At the time, we could still see the basement floor so we have to rush and move everything to higher ground, including our washer and dryer. By the time it was all said and done, we have about a foot and a half of water in our basement, caused mostly by the drain backing up and sending water into our house from the street. Our backyard flooded as well and I'm afraid I lost my garden, but thankfully we still have our house. We live in a higher section of town and never in a million years would have guessed we'd end up with water. Our neighbors said that in the 25 years they've lived in their house, they've never had so much water. Although we spent all day Tuesday cleaning out the basement and were completely exhausted I feel guilty in complaining. There were so many homes in town that were completely destroyed by the water. Most people around here don't have flood insurance since it rarely ever floods, even though the Sandusky River runs through town and unfortunately most of the homes destroyed were in the poorest parts of town. Please keep our town and those in the other counties around the state that were declared disaster areas in your prayers.

Thieves

2007-05-30T07:35:00.000-05:00

Okay. I just have to vent for a moment because I'm really irritated. Why do people think that it's fun to steal other people's property? People typically work hard for the things they have and to have some idiots just come and completely disrespect that simple fact --that annoys me. We, and others in our neighborhood, had landscaping lights stolen over the weekend. It's not the material items that upset me so much as the fact that I feel a little less safe and I feel a little less trusting.

Gardens

2007-05-26T10:47:00.001-05:00

The Past Couple Weeks

2007-05-26T10:34:00.000-05:00

Since the weather has been so beautiful the past couple weeks, we've been outside when we aren't at work. We've got all of our flowers planted and our garden set. Some of the crops are starting to come up already and I'm so excited! It's such a great feeling to see what you planted growing. We scaled back the garden this year and I'm much happier with this arrangement. We created four different raised beds. This allows the soil to warm up quicker and thus you can plant earlier and it makes it much easier to weed. We had an enromous garden last year and it became a bit overwhelming. If all goes well, we'll have radishes and lettuce ready in a couple weeks and then in July and August, we'll have cucumbers, zucchinni, onions, tomatoes, green beans and carrots. We've also got an herb garden growing with lemon thyme, lavendar, rosemary, spearmint, and catnip for Woodrow.

We also went to the Columbus Zoo last weekend for our anniversary. It's probably been about 10 years since I've been to the zoo and longer for Isaac so we had a good time.

House

2007-04-14T14:39:00.000-05:00

We've been working more on the house. I thought I'd post a few pictures. I love the woodwork, but it's defintely a lot of dusting. We wallpapered the entry way on our "vacation" last October and just a few weeks ago replaced the carpeting on the stairs. The previous owners had carpeted over carpeting, so image have two layers of carpeting to pull up and padding so old it had turned to dust. It was not a pleasant experience, but the finished product was worth it.

Woodrow

2007-02-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures of our kitten that I couldn't post a while ago. He'll be a year old April 26th. He's not nearly this tiny anymore, though.

Valentine Blizzard 2007

2007-02-19T18:59:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd post a couple pictures from the blizzard we had here in Ohio. In Bucyrus, our official total was 16" with 35-40 mph winds. When I was in school, that would have been cool. Now that I'm working and have sidewalks and a driveway to shovel, I hate snow. I spent an hour and a half just shoveling our driveway and the sidewalk in front of our house. The one positive out of it was Isaac and I ended up getting to spend the day together. I work during the day and he was scheduled to work that night, but needless to say, we were under a Level 3 snow emergency until 9pm that night, so neither of us were going anywhere. Snuggling is so much more fun!!

Work

2007-02-05T15:48:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't blogged in forever. Just wanted to let everyone know all is well. We've been in our house nearly a year now and continue to work on home improvement projects, but I spend most of my time at work, so I thought I'd post a few pictures. The house you see is actually our office. It makes for a very relaxed, yet professional atmosphere.

Niagara Falls and Woodrow

2006-06-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a really long time since I posted, but I just don't feel like there's too much exciting to share sometimes. I do finally have some things to share. First of all, our garden is finally planted. We are trying to grow tomatoes, banana peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, and some kind of beans Isaac's mom gave us. We also have lots of flowers. I'll be so happy if anything grows as we've been battling bunnies, birds, and squirrels. I finally put the tin pans on a stick out and (cross your fingers) it's working so far.

Then, over our anniversary weekend, Isaac and I took a trip to Niagara Falls. I had never been there and Isaac was when he was four, so we thought it would be a nice weekend get-away. It was so amazing! It was just awesome to see the power. I have to say I prefer the American side. It's less touristy and you can get so much closer to the falls. Also, they have a lot of hiking trails. I think we walked a good ten hours in one day--starting on the Canadian side and then coming back over to the American side.

Finally, Woodrow. A couple weeks ago, we were over at Isaac's parent's house and we could hear a kitten crying. Isaac went looking a few times, but couldn't find any kitten. He went looking one more time before we went home and came back with Woodrow. After taking him to the vet, we found out he was about 6 weeks old and only weighed 1.3 pounds. I wasn't too sure about having a cat around at first, but I must say he's quite adorable and I've grown quite attached.

* I tried to post pictures, but they won't post, so I'll try another time.

Hello

2006-03-17T19:09:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while, but life's been more hectic than imaginable. Isaac and I recently purchased a house. So, between helping with my mom, work, and working on the house, I haven't had much time to write. An update on my mom--she's home and has a new hip. Now she's just continuing with physical therapy and antibiotics. She's well on her way to walking in to church on Easter Sunday. Praise God!!

As for the house, we have everything out of the apartment now and are working on redecorating. It's so much fun to actually add color and design things the way we want them. Our kitchen and bedroom are finished and our office is almost done. We got the walls painted last night and Isaac hooked the computer up today. We need a new floor covering, but it's all so expensive, so I think we're just going to have to put up with the ugly carpet for now. Everyone keeps reminding us that we have our whole lives to make our house just the way we want, but it's too exciting and we're having too much fun! The money issue could be a problem though and with our first mortgage payment coming up, I think we'll have to hold off on more projects until we can replenish the reserves :-)

Update on my Mom

2005-12-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a rough few days, but at least we have some more answers now. We found out that my mom had/has an infection in the muscle and bone in her hip. They ended up taking her from Mansfield hospital to the Cleveland Clinic. She had to have the ball of her hip joint removed and they are working with her now so that she can learn to get around for a while until the next surgery. So far we are hearing that she'll have antibiotics for several weeks and then this spring she'll have to a hip replacement where they'll stick a new ball in and re-create the joint. As you might expect, she's in a lot of pain right now, but they are trying to work with her so that hopefully she'll be closer to home for Christmas. We know she won't get to come back to the house for a while, but we just want her closer to home and all better. I know it will be a long and difficult road for her and us, but I just have to thank God for his awesomeness. The doctor's really couldn't imagine how she could have so much infection. They don't understand why she didn't show any signs of it of and and why it didn't hurt other organs. It's pretty scary. She's definitely not out of the woods yet, but she's on her way and we'll just have to take one hurdle at a time. Please continue to pray for her. This coming year is going to be a year of challenges, but I know she's tough!

Prayer Request

2005-12-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

In case any of you get a chance to read this tonight or tomorrow morning, I just wanted to request prayers for my mom. She is having surgery tomorrow to extract fluid from the soft tissue in her hip. She has been in constant pain and hasn't been able to walk for about three weeks now without the use of a walker. We've been through a lot of doctors, but we've finally found one who said he will help her. We don't really know what this means and obviously are pretty worried, so any prayers will be much appreciated.

Lexi

2005-12-02T17:06:00.000-05:00

This is Lexi when she was only a week old and she's almost 7 weeks old now. So, she's grown a lot since these pictures were taken, but they're the only ones I have. I'll definitely have more after Christmas.

Also, I don't know why the second picture posted twice, but when I try to get rid of it, it deletes all the pictures so, oh well.

Promoted!

2005-11-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

First of all, the pictures of Lexi should be coming soon. We had to change some things around with other technological equipment we have and I haven't had a chance to hook up the camera to download pictures.

As for the title of my entry, yes--I've been promoted. I am very excited and honored. Now, in addition to my human resource duties I'm also in charge of payroll and time tracking. These are definitely huge undertakings, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Otherwise, I haven't been up to too much. Isaac and I almost have our apartment completely decorated for Christmas. We are getting a real tree, so we'll have to wait a while before we can get that.

Aunt Christina

2005-10-17T22:59:00.000-05:00

Well, this weekend was exciting! Friday night Isaac, my sister, grandparents, and parents went out for my birthday. It was really fun to all get together, especially since I hadn't seen my sister in about a month. Saturday I got to spend some time with her and then Sunday was our suprise. That brings us to Aunt Christina! Wow, that sounds weird. Abby gave birth to a little girl last night at9:16pm. Alexis Maria weighs 6lbs. 91/2 ounces and is 19 inches long. Since she was born so late last night we didn't get to see her until today. We went down to the hospital after Isaac got home from work. She is so adorable. Apparently she was crying all last night, but she was a sleeping little angel the whole time we were there. I'd never held a baby before so I was pretty nervous, but really excited. It was so much fun just to watch Lexi sleep and make funny faces every now and then when she was stretching. I'll have to post some pictures when I get some. I'll definitely be a willing babysitter. Isaac and I figure this will be good practice for us before we start our own family. We get to spoil our niece while learning all about babies!

2005-09-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Folly Beach

Historic Charleston

Pictures

2005-09-12T21:07:00.000-05:00

Once I can get my picture icon/link to work again, I'll post more pictures from our honeymoon--even if we have been married now for almost 4 months!

Changes, Changes, Changes

2005-09-12T20:36:00.000-05:00

We just found out this past weekend that Isaac will be working at Lowes starting the 25th of this month. We're both really excited. I know Isaac can't wait to get away from Walmart (he's had some managers that have been real jerks--like the present one who tried to get away with not giving him any bereavement leave when his grandmother passed away). I'm also excited because that means I'll have a happier Isaac to live with and hopefully we'll get to move on some of our plans a little faster than we originally thought. Namely, we would like to build out in the country. The land we have in mind is where he proposed, so that would be really special. It's a beautiful clearing in the woods and would be the perfect place for a house! We've still got a little while to wait, but hopefully within the next year and a half or so we can buy the land and start working on some of the prep-work. That will definitely be a change for me to live out in the country, but I think it will be nice.

I Am Alive

2005-09-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry to alarm everyone. Yes, I am still alive. It's just been a really crazy summer and I think things are finally starting to settle down.

I've settled into my job now. Things are going really well, but the who knew the world of HR could be so crazy. There is no such thing as a typical day, but basically I handle insurance questions and enrollment and hiring and terminating employees. The most enjoyable project I'm working on involves developing new incentive programs. I'm really enjoying it and learning quite a bit about farming, a topic I must admit I knew very little about before I started. One of the greatest things is that it's like a big family and everyone is so friendly.

Married life is still going very well. We've been spending a lot of our time with our families and staying active by going for walks and swimming at Delaware Lake.

One of the main reasons I haven't written much this summer, especially in about the last month and a half, is that we were spending most of our free time with Isaac's grandma. She really started to go downhill after our wedding and then she passed away August 8th. As is obviously expected, it was a very difficult time. Even though we knew it would be better for her so that she wouldn't be in any pain anymore, it was so hard to watch her slip away. It was also really hard for me to see Isaac hurt and know that there was only so much comforting I myself could do. We are doing okay though and a lot of times on our walks, we go through the cementary and stop by her grave. I think that really helps.

Well, there's not much else going on, so I guess I'll stop writing for now. I hope to stay in better contact. I miss you guys and it's been great to read about what all of you are doing.

In about a month I'll have some baby pictures to show too. Abby's due around October 21st, so I'll be an aunt. It's exciting, but kinda weird too :-)

Honeymoon

2005-07-03T12:40:00.000-05:00

I'll write more when I get a chance. Things are really busy this summer, but I'll take time soon--I promise. Here is one of our pictures from our honeymoon. This one was taken at Fort Sumter

Married Life

2005-06-07T21:32:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but Isaac and I just got the internet hooked up today. The apartment is coming along well and is beginning to look more like home. It's been difficult to get everything put away between work and sleep, but we're getting there.

My job is going well. I started on the 31st of May. There is so much to absorb and the person whose job I took left a real mess, but I'm starting to get things sorted out and I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable. I've got a great little fact to share with you. I never imagined in a million years that I would ever be responsible for transporting boar semen, but that's one of the little details they forgot to tell me in the interview. Apparantly to keep from spreading pig diseases the office staff is called upon to transport semen to the barns so the sows can be inseminated. I thought you'd all get a kick out of that!

Also, as Isaac and I are beginning to write thank you notes, I realized that I don't have addresses for you Abby M., Maria, and Rebekah. If you could email those to me that would be great.

I'll talk to you all later and I'll try to do a better job of keeping my blog updated.

So Much To Do and Time is Passing So Quickly!

2005-04-14T18:32:00.000-05:00

I agree with the rest of you girls that this will be a great way to keep in touch! Time is really passing quickly. I'm going to miss everyone so much, but I'm excited about the upcoming changes....namely my wedding in 37 days!! All of you have been such great friends and really hope we can stay in contact for many years to come! When Isaac and I get all settled into our apartment, all of you will have to come visit.

Hopefully no one is stressing too much! Let's enjoy these next few weeks!