Christkindlmarkt

We live about 40 minutes from the "Christmas City" - Bethlehem, PA. Each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, historic Bethlehem is filled with visitors. We joined in a couple of weeks ago, and thoroughly enjoyed the festivities, one of which included Christkindlmarkt. http://www.christmascity.org/CKM/default.asp

There was a man there creating ice sculptures all day with a block of ice and a chain saw:


The lights here were timed to the music playing. . .I was completely engrossed:

My husband. . .

. . .IS SO COOL!

Michael wrote an article for Relevant Magazine. . .it was a movie review. Check it out:

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/pc_article.php?id=7564

Advent : Narnia

We’re currently a couple of weeks into our Narnia/Advent series. Seriously, how cool is that. . .Narnia! The place we meet has been transformed into the land just beyond the wardrobe. . .in fact, we enter our Narnia through an actual wardrobe, complete with fur coats. And Mr. Tumnus has his own little corner of the room. It is a stark contrast to the last series on forgiveness, and it really shows the creativity of our church and our willingness to use many different things to communicate truth.

Narnia:



Looking through the wardrobe. . .Michael spoke the first Sunday of Advent:



Mr. Tumnus' room (Note the picture on the bookshelf):


It is Mr. Tumnus' father!!! (aka David Crowder):

So long, Squantz

Naming Squantz




Getting the goodies




Flappy skin




Butterin' up

First Holiday

So this Thanksgiving was not our first holiday as a married couple, but our first holiday away from our families. 1200 miles away from our families! What helped was that our friends Mindy and Chris came up from DC to spend the long weekend with us. We had a great time with them. And it made being away from "home" a little easier.

I was all ready with the ingredients for Thanksgiving dishes. . .when Mindy and Chris arrived Wednesday night, I thought we could clean the turkey to have it all ready to go into the oven on Thursday morning. My initial intentions were for Mindy and I to do it all (and we did 99% of the cooking on Thursday). But neither of us could handle cleaning the thing. It was completely nasty and smelly. Blech. Chris and Michael ended up doing most of it. lol. Mindy did actually rub butter all over the thing with her bare hands. WITH HER BARE HANDS! I ended up not touching the raw turkey one time. And I found out that for the rest of my life I will never clean a turkey.

Serious nastiness:




Mindy attempting to deal with our friend, Squantz:

Ah, this is how I like to see a turkey:

Thanksgiving Day prep:

Nice, huh?

Mindy *loves* leftover turkey:

Our Crib

So, I finally got around to taking some pictures of our place. And I did it right before we had company for Thanksgiving. (I think that's the cleanest we'll ever have this place!) Sorry for the crappy lighting. . .

Our bathroom :o)



Coffee-themed kitchen:



The porch/foyer:

Newly painted laundry room!

Living Room:

Bedroom:

Church at the Park

The last Sunday in October we had church outside at a park shelter. . .the place we normally meet was double booked, so we found another place. I'm not gonna lie, it was really cold. But it was a really sweet time of worship and teaching and fellowship. There's nothing like experiencing God outside in nature, even (maybe especially) when it's 50 degrees. Probably my favorite experience at church yet.

A New Friend for Dwight

Registering at the circus

At the prompting of my husband, I would like to share with you a very strange experience from this afternoon.

We finally travelled the 3 blocks to the rush notary tag place to get our cars registered in PA. We've kind of been putting it off for a little bit. Anyway, we walk into this dinky little office, the size of a small gas station, and go up to the counter. A female walks up (I'd guess she's in her late 20's) with a baby in her arms and asks if she can help us. I tell her that we need to register our cars here. She asks for our information and sits down (still holding the baby). At this point I think she's realizing that she can't input all of our info into the computer with a baby on her lap. So she hands the boy off to her co-worker. As our person is doing her thing, the other lady puts the boy in a walker, hooks a leash to the front of it, and proceeds to move in circles, pulling the baby round and round in a 5 foot circle around her. Poor thing. . .I'm surprised he didn't throw up all over.

So our girl is still working away, very efficiently, I might add, once she ridded herself of the baby. All of a sudden the co-worker steps to the back room. . .then out she comes with two pugs and the baby again. That's right. . .two very cute, very puggy, DOGS! She hooks the leash from the walker to one of the dogs so he can pull him around. I guess she was getting dizzy. So then we sign a couple papers and get on our way. What a strange, strange place.

I would like to leave you with some words of wisdom from the Pennsylvania Driver's Manual that I picked up from this notary tag place:

"NEVER take your anger out on someone else on the road. Sometimes incidents of road rage are caused by simple misunderstandings between drivers. One driver may make a momentary error in judgment that another driver sees as an aggressive act, though none was intended.

NEVER take it personally when someone cuts you off or pulls in front of you. Just let it go.

If something does happen, DO NOT RETALIATE, it is a serious distraction to focus your attention on a 'contest' with another driver. You are less able to respond to traffic signs, signals and the actions of other vehicles or pedestrians, as needed to avoid a crash.

DO NOT TRY TO TEACH ANOTHER DRIVER A LESSON. Do not insist on being right, even if you are right. You could be dead right!"

Office Convention 2007

Okay, all you Office fans out there. . .prepared to be totally jealous. Or completely make fun of me. I'm expecting both reactions. :o) On Saturday Michael and I travelled to Scranton, PA to take part in the Office Convention!

This was posted on the Convention's website http://www.theofficeconvention.com/about/: "The time has come for The Office fans to unite, and what better place to do it than the city that's home to Michael Scott and the rest of the Dunder Mifflin staff – Scranton, Pa. "The Electric City" is celebrating the best comedy on TV by inviting Dunderheads to converge on Northeast Pa. for a full weekend of pretending to hang out with other peoples' co-workers. Think of it like a Star Trek convention but with nerds wearing Dwight Schrute glasses instead of Spock ears."

There were a ton of people there, some dressed as characters of The Office. Much of the cast was there as well, less the five main characters: Michael, Jim, Pam, Dwight, and Ryan. Here we are, waiting to see some of the cast:

In the middle of the University of Scranton campus


Some random sightings of cast members signing autographs (Kevin, Daryl, Andy, Phyllis, Kelly, and Jan):

Creed and Daryl (Craig) sang and played with the band The Scrantones.

With our new buddies Phyllis and Bob:

The doves for the closing ceremonies of the Office Olympics:

Our day was totally fun! Definitely glad we went. :o)

I'm a Pennsylvanian!

Yesterday was a big day for Michael and me. . .we got our Pennsylvania drivers licenses! Weird. So weird. Then we got our new car insurance. (Our old company in IA isn't in PA.) Today or tomorrow we'll get our cars registered. Big steps!

Last night Michael and I, along with Paul and Rachel, went to Siamsa, an Irish pub in Stroudsburg. They have (free) poker tournaments every Tuesday night. There were four tables of Texas Hold Em being played at 9:00. Rachel lasted the longest of the four of us, but she didn't quite make it to the final table. After Paul, Michael, and I were out, we played at the losers' table. :o) I tore up there! I think by the time we quit, I even had more chips than
Michael! There was another round at 11:00, which Michael and Paul stayed for, but it was a little late for Rachel and me so we came back to town.

Autumn Blaze

Last night Michael and I went to the Autumn Blaze at "The Pines" at Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center (where Michael works).

Rachel and I tried a little croquet.

For dinner, they had a potluck of apple recipes. . .so yummy!!!