Baking Something New

I signed up to bring some bread to our Lenten dinner at church for Wednesday. I decided to make some bread today just in case it did not work out since I was making it from scratch for the first time. I decided to try "Rustic Italian Bread". Here is how it turned out.

MinneSNOWta

Here is our current weather in Minnesota. All the schools are closed. We were supposed to get about 12 inches of snow today. When we woke up we had about an inch. Andrew decided he could still go to work. Off he went in my truck. I hopped around the yard taking snow pictures while trying to protect my camera from the elements. At the moment the snow level is rated "winter wonderland". We are still predicted to get 11.5 inches by tomorrow morning. When that comes I will rate it "don't bother getting out of bed".This happy little snow heart is NOT how I feel about more snow... but I thought it was a nice picture of sarcasm.The house and truck through the trees are our neighbors' the Millers. Here is our driveway heading out to highway 23. My phone rings... The truck decided to die just beyond view. I believe it is related to the distributor cap crack I had about a year ago but we shall see. Well the tow truck is on its way. I think I will just take a few more shots. I prefer to shoot Macro. So this was my favorite shot of the morning.

This was the whole plant to the above close-up.

Our Home - Part 2

This is another doorway in the kitchen. It leads to this small sink space. I placed a bookshelf there to use as a pantry due to lack of space. It is working out great. The door beyond leads in to the stairway area.Our stairway area has a miscellaneous toilet. (the only one on this floor) I consider it a good conversation piece :) I really like the hardwood floors and stairs in this house.Up the stairs and to the right you find out room.Lucy loves looking out all the windows in this house. Our bed looks like it is tipping in this photo. It is mostly the perspective (I had to stand on the dresser) but we are pretty convinced the room does slant some (this house is about 90 years old).

The bathroom is to the right of our bedroom. It has a tub. Andrew is still getting used to this. I use our clothes drying rack to dry our towels.

I use the "over the toilet" shelf to go over the sink because we did not have space for our morning routine items.

This house has its charms and challenges. We are finally mostly settled in now.

Our Home - Part 1

Here are the first picture of the inside of our "vintage" house. (The rest will come later when I figure out where things belong.)
This is our kitchen. When you walk in the door you enter the kitchen on the left. (Near the microwave) Also note, the "vintage" fridge. :) The cupboards are all basically on the one side of the room. It has been a challenge getting everything to fit, particularly because I cannot reach the top cupboards unless I climb on a chair and then climb on the counter. The stove is on the other side of the room. The doorway to the right of the stove leads to the living room.Here is the living room:
Our futon is also in this room but it has stuff on it... The doorway to the left leads in to a 2nd living room of sorts. We have a desk and shelf for Andrew's office and my craft stuff. More later.

Keeping Up With The Crandalls

Not to be out done by the Sr. Crandall mobile, our car decided to catch up.

And in case that was not "symmetrical" enough for you, here you go :) In other news, yet another basement with water greeted us this morning. 2 basements in 2 weeks with water. Heh. We were able to save our boxes this morning so that was good. We have them all stacked on my plastic tubs from college days. It has been storming since yesterday and the radio alarm woke me up with the news that our county was on flood watch and that it will be raining for the next 3 days. That was when we got the brilliant idea to check the basement. Life sure is keeping us busy!

Our New Home

Hello all! We are officially "moved" in to our new place of residence. Lucy loves it. Everything is still in boxes but I finished the final cleaning of the old place today. It has been a very busy 2 weeks. Andrew preached at two Lenten services and one Sunday service. I went on a women's retreat over the weekend. And we moved everything in between!!!! This morning we agreed to drive about an hour away to help out a church member. When we got back I did the final cleaning and drove our last few items to this place:This is the driveway from the perspective of our home.This is a view of part of the farm from the driveway.We are tired! (More pictures to come of the inside when we are settled!)

So Long, Sambas!

Some years ago (at least six!) Jonathan came home from college and left me his old Adidas Sambas. They were sweet shoes. I've kept wearing them ever since, though for the past few years they just been my "slipper shoes" for wearing around the house. The inside of these venerable sneakers are pretty torn up, the soles flat and smooth, and the Adidas stripes coming unsewn. A few months ago, when the right sole separated from the top, Alissa gently told me, "It's time," but I bravely taped the poor sole back together and kept wearing them.

But now, in the "slim down" that inevitably accompanies packing and moving, I've decided to retire the Sambas. This one's for you Jonathan, and your ancient, hand-me-down Sambas.

Today in the Weather

They are predicting the possibility of 10 inches of snow. We are also under a blizzard warning. These were taken at the beginning of the snow fall.

Psalm Series

During these weeks leading up to Easter I'm leading Wednesday night services. The theme I've chosen is the Psalms. Last week I spoke on Psalm 19 and this next Wednesday on Psalm 16 (33, 42, and 22 to come). It's traditional to involve the youth and kids more than usual during these evening services, so I've been trying to find ways for them to be involved. For the musically-inclined, I'll be having them sing the Psalm. Below is the scratch track I made of the Psalm (I didn't write it, but found it in a Catholic hymnal) for the youths to "get the song in their heads." Sorry if it's a bit bass-y. Also, I tried to post just the mp3, but blogger only accepts video files, so I added some photos.

We Are So Blessed

We got to go check out our new place of residence for the next few months. At first I was discouraged that we had to move now when we already know we will be moving in a few months. Today we got to go out to a farm and check out an old farmhouse that has been offered to us until we move this summer. Once out at the farm my spirits lifted! What a cute old house. It has lots of original hardwood in great condition! It has a nice working tub (a HUGE plus to me:) The only thing that disappoints me is that it isn't "our" house so we can't fix it up how I'd like it and really make it permanent. I will definitely post pictures once we get out there and I get a chance! Oh, and did I mention how awesome the neighbors are? (they are the ones that own the house) They were like, "come over anytime to do your laundry, and take a shower or anything". And they ended up chatting us up for several hours. Can you tell I am encouraged? :) Isn't it awesome how the Lord (aka Papa) has taken care of this family!? My excitement also goes out to Jonathan and Sara for how the Lord is working things out for them!

Making Cookies

The other day I was making cookies and this was what happened:It made me laugh so I thought I would share. Lucy has been very curious lately (possibly because of all the moving boxes everywhere) and surprises me often.

She also has a new fascination with the guitar case. Perhaps it would serve her well during a tornado.