Growing up Amish

I finished Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler last night.  To be honest, the synopsis made it sound a lot more interesting than it really turned out to be.  It's the author's true story about growing up in an Amish community and how he eventually left them.  He leaves and returns a few times throughout his early life.  Some parts of it were interesting because it was an insider's view of the Amish and what it's really like for them.  However, he sort of glossed over a lot of the details in those situations or repeated the same examples throughout the book.  Also, it started to feel very repetitive after he'd left and returned a few times.  He would use the same description about how he felt.  It seemed like he was trying to add suspense to a few parts, but it really just seemed overdone. 

I will say that it's an easy read.  I read the whole thing in just a few days.  His writing style makes it feel like you're having a conversation with someone, but, like I said, it's a little repetitive.  Overall, it was interesting to see inside the Amish community (although he's quick to point out that they all have their differences), but it wasn't very exciting.  I'd rent it from the library, but I wouldn't buy the book. 

Memories of the Future

I finished reading the first volume of Memories of the Future by Wil Wheaton yesterday.  My morning ritual was to watch an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and then read the corresponding chapter in the book.  It makes the book that much better because I know exactly what he's talking about. 

I loved reading this book.  It gave a behind the scenes look at some of the things that happened on the show and it's also hilarious.  More than once my husband would look at me like I'd suddenly sprouted a second head because I would just burst out laughing.  His writing style flows very well and I love his snarky sense of humor.  I imagine some fans would be a little put off by someone making fun of the show, but his love for the people he worked with and the work they did shows through. 

I'd love to read the second volume, but for whatever reason it's not available for the Kindle.  I guess I need to do some searching and maybe I can find another digital version to read. 

Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day everyone!  In honor of such a nerdy day, I thought I'd share something awesome that I discovered yesterday while on my lunch break.  Jen of Epbot shared it yesterday and it made me laugh so hard I cried. 

It's called Fashion It So and it's a blog entirely devoted to rehashing old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and commenting on some of the fashion choices.  It's hysterical and I imagine it's still funny even if you have never seen the show.  It's even better if you have though.  I do not recommend reading it while at work though unless you want to get some really strange looks from your coworkers (trust me, I speak from experience). 

Enjoy your Pi Day!

Updates

Yeah, it's only been about six months since I last posted anything.  We'll call it settling in.  A lot has happened in the last six months.  We moved into our house and painted one of the rooms.  We've done very little to the house outside of that because I had the worst work schedule in the world and barely saw my husband.  But now my schedule is at least semi-normal so we've been enjoying our new time together. 

I've crossed a bunch of things off my list.  We rode a train near Santa Cruz.  It took us through the redwoods and was a ton of fun, even if we were the only people there without kids. That also counted as visiting a new city as we'd never been there before. 

We celebrated Christmas at our house, which was a lot of fun.  It was so nice to have everyone together and not have to worry about traveling as much (although we did still travel).

Yesterday we had a picnic, which was awesome.  It was the first really nice day that neither of us had to work so we spent it outside where we watched people ride a zip line.  Hubby almost talked me into riding it, but we decided to go do other stuff instead.

I also had surgery.  My gallbladder finally came out and I feel so much better.  Laying around for a couple weeks led to me reading a few books.  I read Wil Wheaton's Just a Geek, which is hilarious and sweet, much like his blog.  I love reading his stuff.  If I can ever get it to work for me, I plan on reading Memories of the Future soon.  That book is a bunch of his memories and critiques on the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation (yes, I'm a huge nerd).  If it's even half as funny as the podcasts that he created for it it'll be great. 

I also read the Tenebrea trilogy by Roxann Dawson and Daniel Graham.  Those books were freaking awesome.  I had to order the second and third ones when I was only halfway through the first because I knew I didn't want to wait to read them.  The writing is incredibly well-done and the characters are so realistic.  It's sci-fi, but very relatable at the same time.  I wish Roxann Dawson would publish more as she's an excellent author. 

So basically that's been my life outside of work for the past few months.  I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging.

A lot of updates

Well, it's been nearly a month since I've written anything and I have a good reason.  It's been the craziest month ever.  We moved into our very own house and, while extremely exciting, it's also come with a ton of work.  We spent the first couple weeks of this month packing and getting rid of carloads of stuff.  Then we moved in and the real work began.  We are still surrounded by boxes.  There are a lot of things that I don't want to pack until we do something else.  We can't set up our office until that room is fully painted (it's almost done, just a little touch up work left).  I don't want to unpack our bedroom until our closet is more organized and the bathrooms can't be finished until we actually redo the hall bath.  We have all of the basics out, but the rarely used stuff is still in boxes. 

In other news, we got a dog and then had to give her back.  She is an alaskan malamute and I love her so much, but we realized after we brought her home that we didn't have the time necessary to properly train her and give her the attention she deserves.  I wish we would have known that before because it would have saved us a lot of heartbreak.  She went back to her old owners, the people who own her parents and one of her brothers so for her it was just a short vacation and I'm sure she's fine now.  For us, it's been really sad and we both miss her a ton.  I think it will be a while before we attempt to get a dog again. 

So that's basically been our last month.  We are hoping things settle down soon, but I doubt it will since we have a few big projects to do around the house and then the holidays will be upon us.  Our weekends are quickly disappearing as we make plans that end up keeping us away from the house.  Hopefully since the weather is starting to cool down we'll be able to do lots of stuff here at home without being tempted to go out and play. 

Moving Right Along

I know I haven't posted in a while.  It's been a crazy couple weeks.  DH and I have both been busy at work and at home.  A couple weeks ago we went to the zoo with my BIL, his girlfriend, and her daughter.  It was so much fun to go with a little one. 

Since then we've spent most of our time at home packing and cleaning to get ready for our move.  We are down to the final days here.  We've gotten rid of a ton of stuff, which feels awesome, but it still feels like we have so much to move.  I've spent most of my morning calling and changing over utilities so that we are ready to go when the final word comes in.  We should be getting our keys tomorrow and moving in on Friday.  I can't wait to start setting the place up and really making it feel like our own.

Hopefully once we get moved in things will quiet down a bit and I can spend more time posting about our home and showing off the changes we make to it. 

Moving Along

We are moving along on the house. We started escrow a few days ago and DH and I spent last Saturday going through our house and getting rid of stuff. We took an entire car full of stuff to donate after we were done and we're still not finished. I love clearing out the clutter. I also packed up the first box that day too. That means a lot of my craft stuff is in a box for the foreseeable future. We are getting really excited about this move.

Moving Along

Over the last week or so we've done a few things to get ready for moving.  I went through my craft room last week and moved a ton of stuff out of it.  All stuff that I'm putting in the garage sale pile.  I'm glad we're finally going to get rid of some stuff.  Now I just need to get DH to go through his office. 

Also, I've been pretty sick.  The doctor thinks it's my gallbladder, but we spent the morning in the ER and they didn't think that was it.  They gave me some medication so I'm feeling quite a bit better now, but I think it's starting to wear off.  But I go back for another appointment on Monday and I'm really happy about that since it means we might finally have an answer. 

In the last week we also signed some paperwork so we could start moving on our loan and get that approved.  That was exciting because it means we're really buying a house.  We're also looking at a closing date of September 2nd, which is a few weeks earlier than we thought we'd be closing.  I can't wait to move. 

It's starting to feel like we really are buying a house.  Now we just need to get back in there and do a couple inspections.  I'm really looking forward to moving into our new house and turning it into our own space.  I'm also looking forward to having some color on the walls.  We've lived with white walls for so long and I'm looking forward to being able to change that. 

So that's all for the update.  Still no crafty projects, but in the next month or so we should be starting some work on the house. 

We Got It!

I got a text message from our real estate agent yesterday that we got the house!  DH and I are extremely excited.  We're waiting on the official approval letter and the final agreement from the current owners' second mortgage company, but that should all come soon and then we'll start escrow.  It looks like we'll get our keys and move in sometime in mid-September.  I can't wait to make it our own. 

A Mini-Trip

On Saturday DH and I got up early and we both had the urge to go somewhere, even if it was just for a day.  So we talked while we got ready and eventually decided to head to the beach.  He wanted to play with his metal-detector and I wanted to read a book on the beach.  It took us forever to get there because there was so much traffic and our GPS took us in the most roundabout way possible, but we made it.  While I read I saw I seal playing in the waves.  If I'd had a camera on me I would have taken a picture because he kept popping up really close to us.  Then, in the parking lot we saw one in a pond where they dock the boats.  He was playing too.  We also saw a tiny bunny.  It was cold and windy, but still so nice to just get away for a day.  Before we left, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants and got clam chowder bread bowls.  It was a wonderful day. 

I have no house updates though.  We are still waiting and it sucks.  If they'd approved it right away we'd be moving in a couple weeks.  At this point we're looking at mid-September at the earliest.  I suppose the one upside is that it will probably be the first time we've moved when it wasn't 100 degrees out.  I'm just hoping to avoid rain.