A Wreath of Book Pages

My job is mostly involved with answering the phone and making out bills and talking to customers. And running errands and cleaning up too. Some days though, there isn't as much to do and while I need to be here to get the phone, there might be dull minutes where I really wonder why a girl like me hangs out in a shop like this so much! My office looks like this most of the time:

  I move stuff around all day but it never looks any tidier. And the turbos and stuff like that that end up on my desk just get old to look at.
 So one afternoon I decided to have a project of my own to work on. And between phone calls, this is what I made. Yes, the guys all looked at it and thought that I was crazy. :)

 And this is what it looks like on the hanging on my corner closet.

I found a good tutorial for it here. Mine looks a little different though. Mostly because I read the directions after I do the next step. And because I used more layers of book pages than she did on the directions.

Christmas

It's the time for:
                                  gifts under the tree,

                               Nativity Scenes,

      Holly berries and other cozy decorations, such as a white coating of snow,

  It's the time of year to teach your kids what's true... and what is not.

It's a time for giving and possibly receiving. It's the time of year to read Luke 2 together as a family. And it's the time to see relatives that you haven't seen in ages. And it's the time to eat lots of yummy food...


Or so I hear.
You see, to me as a child, Christmas was the time of year when:
   ...We counted the colorful lights on the way to Bible study. Then since Josh always spotted the most and because I didn't appreciate losing, I'd try to stay awake on our way home and find the ones that he saw that I didn't see on the way there.
 ...We got pictures in the mail of our friends and cousins. Then we'd compare the pictures to last year and be amazed at how much people change in a year.
 ...We made jokes about Santa Claus not stopping at our place.
 ...Grampa and Gramma would put up a tree in their living room. It was the greatest puzzlement to my little mind. Why would you put a tree in your living room and decorate it all over? I'd want to stare at it but didn't want anyone to see me staring, so I'd avoid looking at it instead.
 ...My aunt and uncle sent us a package in the mail. That was fun!



Then I got older. I got married. I got a job. Now Christmastime signifies a little more to me.

It's the time of year when:
...People put more stuff on credit cards.
...The folks on the radio seem to not realize that just because five different artists sing Jingle Bell Rock and Walking in a Winter Wonderland DOES NOT mean that they are different songs. And they seem to have also forgotten that any thing else exists in the musical world.
...And on a musical note, churches seem to all of the sudden lose all the other pages in their hymn books and only have those 20 pages of Christmas songs.
...First stores are jam packed and you decide it's not really worth the wait in line; then the stores are closed and you wished you had waited in line.
...Customers want to wait till after the first of the year to pay their bill, to help them get through Christmas. (And remind me again... exactly HOW does that help you get through Christmas?!?!)
... Some people are exceptionally helpful and happy, but a large percentage of people are exceptionally grumpy and grouchy. They are too busy and have to see too much family and have to spend more money than they have and, and, and. The list goes on.

You see... I've never celebrated Christmas. For twenty-two years I've been able to escape Christmas. "Escape?" Is that really the word I used? "But how", you ask, "can you feel right about escaping our Saviour's birth? And it's special. It's fun! And why NOT be a part of it?"

Well it's simple to me. I never have celebrated it and I know nothing of the specialness. I've never experienced it. At least my memory says I haven't. Pictures say that I did when I was about two. I don't remember though and I feel fine without ever knowing what it was like. I don't feel like I missed out on something in my childhood. I feel honored that my parents chose to miss something that was special to them so that I would be able to be free now. I think that was not their reason for it at the time though. :)
   And why try to say I'm celebrating Christ's birth when it creates stress and misery for so many people? Yes, I'll celebrate a birthday. I'm not against it. There is no point in it, though, when the one for who the celebration is for gets forgotten, or when the stress level gets high, or when it just becomes a bargaining exchange. "You give me a gift, I'll give you a gift."
  I love the fact that our Lord came as a baby, lived life as a human, and then died in my place, my Saviour forever. I love that. I don't down that at all. But I personally am fine without a big party to celebrate the fact of that baby.
  And besides my husband dislikes anything other than work so holidays really stress him. He's fine without the party too.
  Will I continue not making traditions for that day when I have children? Maybe so. Maybe not. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. For now I'll probably just continue watching everyone celebrate, and while I miss out on the fun, I'll be ok with it because to me, I feel that missing out on, as I see it, the stress and stupidity, will make up for it.

Wassup God?

Recently a friend and I got to discussing what it would be like when we meet God. What will we say? I said that I was going to say that it is Christ who has covered me and redeemed me. He said that he'll probably just say "Wassup God?" because, in his words "No one is perfect and God, of course, is not either. Who knows what it will be like, so just be cool about it!"

I maintained that God is perfect and holy.

Two passages come to my mind.

 Thinking of the verse in Philippians 2 that speaks of Jesus, humbled to become a man, obedient to die on a cross, exalted by God who has given him a name which is above every name, such "that at the name of JESUS, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that He is Lord", I started thinking more about what will happen when we meet God.

Will everyone be so in awe of Him when they see him that even the very hardest hearts will melt and will bow their knee before the King of Kings?
Or, Will they be forced to bow before Him? Is He so deserving or desiring of praise that He will force everyone to honor Him with the respect He deserves?


John says in Revelation 1:17&18 that  "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and hell'".

What John saw, he described. His face alone was like the shining sun, his eyes like blazing fire, his voice like the rushing waters. This character is not the type to be buddies with. It is the type to honor and respect and praise.

In Revelation 5 the angels sang

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength

and honor and glory and praise!” 

Then John says in verse 13 that he heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise and honor and glory and power,

for ever and ever!” 

I would suggest that everyone will have recognized            (1)who the Lamb is and (2) that He is worthy of praise.

The second passage that came to my mind was the one in Romans.

Romans 14: 9-11 "For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’says the Lord ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God".

Speaking to believers in the verses preceeding verse 9, Paul explains how one man's faith allows him to do something that would cause another person to stumble and that God has accepted each person who has come to Him. It is between that person and God. Verse nine then has gone on to explain that it was for this reason that Christ died and returned to life- so that He could be Lord. Verse ten asks why do you judge considering that, since God has accepted each one on His terms, every. single. one. of. you will stand before God's judgement seat. One person is not better than another. One person is not worse. "Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glory". (Romans 3:23)

To me, this is a blatant reminder that I am no different in God's eyes than                                                                          The lady with a "Help pay my electric bill" sign at the corner,
  or The guy who works in the auto parts store,                               or The lady who is behind bars,                                                       or The millionaire who works hard to put a tax on
                                                         cows' emissions.
The only thing that sets me apart from some people is that I have been redeemed by Christ. I have chosen to live my life for Him and because of His amazing grace I am a new person.

Because I am a new person, can I just go on with my life, living for myself? I think not.

In reading a bit in Revelation, I came across this passage and I was struck again with a fact that I did already know, but... the liars and unbelievers are listed with the murderers and sorcerers. In God's eyes they are the same. Sinners.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Rev. 21: 6-8

What are we as Christians doing to teach others of Christ's forgiveness and redemption? What are we doing to tell them that He can be their God, that they can have life, and that because of what Christ has done for them, they do not have to have their part in the lake of fire?

"Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24:36-44

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."  1 Peter 3:15

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17

Curly or Straight?

When I went to get my hair cut on Tuesday, I decided to be different from my normal and get it straightened just for fun. It's kinda cool just because it's different. Blake likes the variety but he still maintains that it's "just hair".

   

Things I've learned about curly hair versus straight:
    :: It takes less time to make your hair look presentable in the morning when you have straight hair.

    :: Old guys like curly hair. At auto parts stores, a few old guys have asked me what I did to my beautiful hair?!

    :: Some people really notice what other people's hair looks like. Other ones, upon hearing discussions about my curly hair, ask me if my hair is really normally curly.

   ::Curly hair is more forgiving...meaning if a few hairs are out of place, they just curl around and look fine; straight hairs stick out straight!

      :: My hair is much lighter (as in not heavy!) when it isn't full of curls.

           And here is me with my "normal hair look".
                       So what do you think?

 

I'm thinking... Blake is right. Hair is hair. I have to say though...
                          I'm pretty sure I like my curls. :)

Curtains

Before my family came for a visit, back when I got that random urge to make my house look cozier, I made new curtains for my kitchen. Now I'm thinking that I would love to make curtains for the whole main floor of the house, but I only did the kitchen windows. The heart appliques took a long time so I only put them on the curtain for the door. :)

  I had two styles in mind, but I wanted them to look puffy. I thought about making puckers sort of like in Maria's dress- she was the flower girl in my wedding. I can't think how else to describe it and I'm told that a picture's worth a thousand words.

  My other idea was to try to do it the way I've seen in some Amish friends' homes. Doubled up and when all done they are supposed to be fluffy. I chose to try this style.
 Well... It didn't work right. They looked like this.

If you will notice, only the left end is a little puffy. The rest is quite flat. When I hung it up, I was bummed! I had just washed the window and there was a roll of paper towels sitting there. All I could think of was that it needed something stuffed in there.
  You guessed it- on the left end there are paper towels stuffed in there. Then it looked lumpy.  
  Fortunately Shannah stopped by and suggested tuille. I've often wondered why they sell so much of that stuff at Jo-Anns! Now I know. :) Take a couple yards and start stuffing curtains. Then they'll come out looking like this!

Celtic Thunder

For my birthday in November, Blake's four siblings in line behind him- Maria, Logan, Audrey, and Shannah- gave me this: 

 "Celtic Thunder: Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 7:30 p.m."

  I took the camera along... and we tried taking pictures of ourselves. {Self portraits don't often turn out well, in my opinion!}
  There was a sign stating that pictures and videography were strictly prohibited. I didn't take any...except for before we got into the auditorium... before I saw the sign. I was seeing how the camera worked since I was using a borrowed camera of Shannah's. I got one blurry picture of the people before we headed up to the highest balcony (there were two balconies) to find our seats and pictures of the hallway.  The Palace Theater in Cleveland is VERY fancy to a country bumpkin like me!

The show was fantastic! Blake was a great sport about it, even though it is not his style of music and the first half was Christmas music. Then the curtain closed and twenty minutes later, after the intermission, the curtain opened again and the whole stage had changed from looking like a park at Christmastime to a misty Irish hillside with a castle behind. Yes, quite enchanting! I had a blast and Blake enjoyed himself. We both enjoyed taking the evening off from work! I think that I'm wanting to visit Ireland even more now. :)

To see some of their other songs, you'll just have to look them up on Youtube or go see them live. If you take the time, look up "A Place in the Choir". It's one of my favorites, but for some reason I couldn't get it to load to my page! :(

A fresh new coat of... Decorating

The house needed a new look... I was sick of the same one (look I mean, not house!) that I saw every night when I came home from work and again the next morning for a few minutes before we left for work. So one day I took some time off work and went shopping. Yep, I really love shopping, but especially when it is for little verses or pictures or strings of hearts or curtain fabric to make my house look cheerier. For some reason I find that kind of shopping much more fun than clothes shopping or even food shopping- which is amazing because I do so love to eat! :)
   So... since my living room got re-wallpapered this fall and I do not particularly care for the pattern/color, I decided that perhaps some more decorating would make me not notice the wallpaper as much. I started shopping mostly for the living room. The dining room colors are so much more fun and cozy though, so I enjoyed working in there more.
  There were a few different projects that I greatly enjoyed doing, but this was my favorite... Except for possibly my new kitchen curtains which I have forgotten to take pictures of every time that I have stopped at home.
   I took down a few pictures I had on one wall in the dining room, and created this:

--And no, I'm not a photographer and so that is why I took the picture from an angle. When I took it from the front it got this blot from the flash, but my house is dark and I didn't want the picture to turn out like this: --

I had hoped for a sack of burlap to pin my pictures on, but couldn't find one. Apparently they discontinue stocking them at Pat Catan's after Halloween! So I went to Jo-Anns and bought a yard of burlap. Then to hold it all together, I used some straight pins that must have been about what Laura Ingalls would have used... I'm not sure where they came from but they sure were old; I felt good about finally giving them some purpose!

This is my favorite picture that Blake and I have ever gotten. Neither of us are photogenic so I was impressed!

Ten Things for Thankfulness ...

1- Mom and Dad were able to come out here for five days last week. We spent the week mostly making food and then eating it. And talking... Like the night before Thanksgiving we stayed up until at least one a.m., for some reason all squished into my tiny kitchen, sitting on the floor, talking. It was great fun and full of laughter, but once we went to bed, no one wanted to get up; Consequently the turkey did not go into the oven until 9:30. Yes, Late! So Thursday we spent just hanging around and sort of creating food- what we could bake in the toaster oven since the oven was full of turkey. :) When we finally did eat, it was four o'clock but we enjoyed it immensely! After eating we all read some bible verses. Everyone's name tag was a walnut with a small paper stuck in with their name on it. Inside the walnut I had stuck numbers and so when they cracked the walnut, each person had to do what their number corresponded to on my list. Some had to think of certain thankful things, some had to read a psalm, Nathan had to quote a poem, and, ok, I will admit it. I purposely chose number one for Blake. He had to spell Thanksgiving backwards. :)

2- Our shop is warm. While we don't have a waste oil burner yet like we had hoped, space heaters do warm it up immensely and my office has a nice little electric heater so I don't freeze at work.

3- Dad put up a shelf for me at the shop and hung a mirror at my house... two projects I was waiting on... Hoping he could do when he came to visit me.

4- Blake was able to take work off extremely early two nights in a row last week while Dad and Mom were here. Friday he left work at five and Saturday at six. Thursday he also was off all day and since I didn't work Friday or Saturday, it felt like a vacation!

5- Opportunities to witness. Not just briefly mention God, but in-depth conversations about who God is. The kind of conversations that make me walk away realizing how much I do NOT know and how much I NEED to know. The kind that spurs at least myself on to want to learn more about who He is.

6- My sisters... all five who put up with me and listen to me and are my friends despite everything about me that could really annoy them.

7- God's amazing grace. What my life could be if it were not for His grace!!!

8- Gum. It really helps my mouth out. :)

9-Customers who are patient even when we are so busy that they have to wait a very long time to get their truck fixed!

10- And certainly not least, I am incredibly thankful for my husband. He is patient and listens to me well. He tries hard to make me happy even when I am just plain grouchy. He works extremely hard to provide. He is forgiving even when I am really not nice. He tries to be interested in what I am interested in. And some times that is really tough for him because I know he really could care less about what kind of curtains are in the kitchen. :)

No. One. Will. Believe. Me.

              Neither that clutch nor that brake worked. I am serious!                                               And this was the result.

There was a bump, a scrape, and then a BANG. And it wasn't gonna move. The frame was on the curb and the wheels were not really on the ground.

And I was shaking. So naturally, I called Blake. In a calm, common sense way, he told me to put it in reverse and back out. I tried. Then he said to put it in four wheel drive and back out. I tried. Then the two great guys at Advance Auto Parts tried to push it. It didn't even rock. So Blake came with a chain. It moved. :)
   Now the guys all just roll their eyes and say "Female Drivers!" I say "Duramax 6-speeds with ABS brakes are not for me. Even if we are told to put 50 miles on to test a customer's truck, I do not want to be the one to do it!"
 

I don't want to drive that one again. Maybe I'm weird, but those pedals did NOT go down!


P.S. Please note that I think the only damage to the truck was a small piece of the bug deflector that is no longer with us. That's a relief!

Michigan and Blue Christmas Lights

Before I say anything else, I will tell you that while this story is true, I don't ever intend to try to repeat it as it is incredibly embarrassing and, naturally, is quite upsetting/embarrassing to my poor husband. 

   Saturday was Seth Haley's wedding (http://www.sethhaley.com/blog/) in Michigan. Due to several different problems, the only Yoders from our area who actually were able to travel the five hours there to spend a few hours at a wedding were Maria and myself. Unfortunately I started my day late and she was out loading black walnuts on a semi and so we left 20 minutes later than we had hoped to. When you're working with just enough time to get there, that's a bad start.
   Maria suggested that maybe "we could speed a little" and so step on it we did. My skirt had some slightly greasy spots on it and so I had washed it quickly before I left. Hanging it to dry in the back seat of my truck was an easy option. Unfortunately I forgot that my gift was wrapped in a red cotton throw rug. Halfway there when Maria went to move it to assure complete drying, she found a red line across the lower half of the skirt. We pondered the fact that the only skirt I had brought to wear to the wedding now was two-tone, and then forgot it when we got off the highway, because...
   Due to the fact that I am directionally challenged and do not own a GPS, I had printed out exact directions to the place. The problem with GoogleMaps is that they don't know when a bridge is out and a detour has to be made. We tried to find our way,calling Blake every so often while he followed our progress on the computer. "We are just north of ...." "Ok your road is a couple miles ahead on the left." Our problem came when the town had road names and the computer only gave us road numbers. We promptly missed our road and  ended up at the square in town. Deciding that at this point the convenience store manager could give better directions, we asked. "Turn right at the light. Seven miles north on the same road." Halfway there Blake insisted we were going the wrong way. We turned around, noting that we had not quite 25 minutes to spare. Choosing to change when we got back to the light on the square rather than to find the wedding late and then change, we rushed into the closest place we could find, backpacks in hand. "Welcome to Subway, how can we help you?" We forgot to notice them and ran to the bathroom. Our clean clothes got thrown on, mine being a short summer skirt that didn't have new maroon lines. Maria combed her hair and I ran back to the truck and combed mine there. Coming back into Subway to find Maria, I filled in the little lady behind the counter on our crazy behavior and asked whether we truly had been correct about the direction of this town hall. She was pretty sure we were right so out the door we ran. Unfortunately we got in line at the light behind someone who was in no hurry at all and he felt that he needed to go well under the town's 25 mile an hour speed limit. I wondered if possibly he was deciding whether to pull off the side of the road and was having trouble making such a choice. Deciding quickly that double yellow lines mean "Pass with care", I stepped on it. The poor man looked mad.
   Maria was frantically trying to get her nylons on without getting a run and I tried to console her that SHE was not the one who needed to hurry here. I had to get us there in the ten minutes or less that the clocks were probably showing- we hadn't taken the time to look. Feeling quite in control of the wheel and finding that the gas pedal could go down a lot further, we started covering some ground- fast. The speed limit increased to 55. That was comforting. A line of traffic was coming towards us and I let out my latest thought. "I really hope I don't get a ticket!" Maria looked in her mirror at that moment. We both got the same sinking feeling as we saw pretty blue lights come over the hill behind us. I mean, they would have been pretty if they hadn't been on the top of a cop car, right behind us. I pulled over and Maria reminded me that we'd better grab our forgotten seat belts.
   Of course he took his sweet time to come up to my window. I took the time to find my sandals under the back seat, remembering the my driver's ed class taught how your hands ought to be on the steering wheel out of politeness for the policeman - I think was the reason... Something to do with the fact that he could be reassured I wasn't going to pull a gun on him. Anyway when he finally sauntered to my window, he said the most unfitting thing. "How we doing today?" "Not very great!" I blurted out and then continued on with the whole information how we are late and we don't know if we're going the right way... "Is that why you were driving like an animal?" I told him I guessed so. He started in on me, explaining that I had passed on a double yellow line (me, sinking feeling in my stomach, thinking "No way, you saw that?!), then went on to explain that I was driving very recklessly and how he even had a hard time catching up to me! I wanted to tell him that he must not have been driving very fast, but I bit my tongue. He pointed to Maria and asked who she was. I told him "That's Maria, my sister- in -law". That was the point when she almost waved a very polite hi-nice-to-meet-you-please-let-us-go wave but instead held her hand in her lap. He reminded me sternly that she is special to someone and that I was driving like a crazy animal. Maria wished I would have gone "Moo!". I didn't. Then he asked where we were trying to go and, I, almost in tears, stated the town hall name and how we were getting all sorts of conflicting directions and how there was this stupid detour and so we scrapped our directions a while ago... he pressed me for the exact address and we finally pulled the directions out from under our hairbrushes, dirty socks, chocolate milk, and purses that had found their way to the middle seat. He took my information as well, and told me again that he had a hard time catching up with me and when he did, here I was just 5'2"! (Later in recounting the story to a friend, she said "That's discrimination! You mean short people can't speed?!). He informed me that he had to go put my information in and he would try to find out where we were headed, but I was just going to have to wait about five minutes. I took the time to grab my mascara, text my husband, and make sure my clothes were all tucked in. Maria took the time to decide whether we could get a picture with him. I declined, with the excuse that I didn't think that was legal. I was thinking how I had been speeding, a lot, AND I had passed in that 'pass with care' zone. This wasn't looking good for my wallet. Or my license for that matter!
   He came back, handed me my information and sternly said "Follow me". I didn't dare do anything else. We pulled out and Maria died laughing in the seat next to me. "We are getting a police escort!" and then she laughed some more. We realized we didn't get a ticket and then noticed again that we were getting a police escort. My foot starting shaking frantically and I told Maria that I did not find this funny, and she laughed uncontrollably. Having been told that we were supposed to stay on that road, we were surprised to see him turn off, but we followed and a quarter mile down the road, there was the building. He did a U-ey in the road ahead of us, waved, and drove off. We pulled the truck off the road in the first parking spot we could find and ran into the building. The wedding party was standing there, ready to walk in. (Of course they had witnessed our escort!) We slipped in just in front of them. Yep, we made it. In the nick of time. Guess we wouldn't have if we wouldn't have gotten stopped. We would have been farther up that other road searching for a non-existent building. The only thing that would have made it better would be if he would have escorted us with his lights on... We'll try that next time. Wait. I don't plan to ever try to re-enact that. I'll let Maria drive next time. :)

My week

It's Friday night and I am thankful. There are several unfinished projects and our landlord wants to put a freezer in the back room tomorrow, so a little more cleaning/ organizing needs to be done for that to happen; mostly the week is over. Tomorrow is the farm picnic at my in-laws for all their customers, so we are taking a Saturday off for a change and I am quite excited! The exhilarating monotony - :)- of our shop can wear a person down, especially when it's every night till close to midnight. Mornings are never enjoyable! :)
   For a real change, Blake left work early tonight. He and two other guys were getting together to build Ford Cummins mounts. For those of you who don't understand why they must be built and can't be bought, I'll tell ya. Ford diesel trucks have a Powerstroke engine. Dodge diesels have the Cummins one. Many guys think that there's nothing better by way of a truck than a Ford, but pretty much everyone out there has to admit that if you need an engine, Cummins has the upper hand over all the others. So. Some of these adventurous folks put the good and the good together. That means parts have to be fabricated to make everything fit right. And the mounts are the first place to start. A couple places make some already and so they can be bought, but some don't really last that well and some people are dissatisfied with them. Blake and these other guys have talked about a better way for a while, but as Proverbs says “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” They are actually doing them now. :) Blake is determined and with enough time, I'm completely confident that my husband will come up with something quite usable!
   Unfortunately the only truck that could take me home is one that I have never driven and only drives for ten minutes at a time and then dies. I hope to lock up and head home soon, but... I may continue working because it will be easier then sitting on the side of the road with a dead truck! :)

My friends like me

Look what I found when I came back to my desk! I have to admit- a noise did come out of me that was something similar to a scream.

 I was relieved to see that it was dead. And I'm thinking that the guys here enjoy the fact that there is someone like to me to pick on. Just maybe. :)

Spare Time and Smoke

The newest Diesel Power magazine came out yesterday. First they sat there to study one together. Then they realized that there were two now to study. So they did. "Oh look! This guy custom designed the..." and "Wow! I bet that one runs- look at the smoke!"

By the way, meet Andrew (on the left), our Amish buddy who cannot drive a truck, but can work on them all day long. :) We call him Gabby. He can talk [almost] as much as me!

Kangaroo anyone?

It's not every day that you get to see a kangaroo. It's especially not every day that you get to see one in your own driveway! What happens when lots of people come here, drop one truck off and pick up another one, though, is that you get to see them transfer all kinds of random stuff. Today it was a real live kangaroo.

I was so intrigued by it's legs. Yes, I know. I'm still a little kid. They are just so long and fascinating!

It's totaled, I think...

To sum up the story quickly, the truck was in an accident- And everyone who was in the vehicle is recovering. The passenger broke her back but is healing as well expected.

   As you can quite easily see, the frame is bent- badly! The reason it now has become our truck?
     Reason #1: We rebuilt this motor completely just three weeks ago- it had 125 miles on the new motor but was not completely paid off.
     Reason #2: Everyone calls Blake because hunks of junk like this one are known to be treasures to him!
   Want to know a final story to the accident? It wasn't in the road. It was in a field hitched to a goose neck trailer with a load of hay. And the hill was too steep. :(

Of Blake and Bunny Rabbits

  For starters I must say that Blake is a determined person. That's how he got me! So. If he decides that he does not like a rabbit, it will die. If he decides that he likes it, he will chase it until he catches it so that he can hold it.
  It was a quiet moment for a change, and together we walked around the back of the shop. A very tiny and startled something dashed under a truck and I ran to see the little thing. I would have given up even though my first reaction was that I really wanted to hold it; determined he chased it around and under and behind several different vehicles. Then it dashed across the driveway and he ran too. The poor bunny tried hard but soon it was caught. I squealed at the same time as the little thing did. I was worried for it's life because Blake never said a word the whole time, but he carried it over to the shop and sat down. I wanted to hold it but first went to grab the camera.

   I did pet it briefly but the poor thing was quite scared and when we relaxed, it snatched the moment and ran. Happy it was free. Free to live life as God created it to do. Free until it gets bigger and not so cute and begins eating someone's garden... but we won't go there! :)

Sunflowers... and Us

Blake's sisters decided it was time to get family pictures. Consequently, my husband and I got our picture taken! (that is an amazing fact because he typically doesn't approve of getting any pictures taken:) )  I'll post more later, but for now, here is my favorite.

Fountain- with or without the Nook?

Everyone knows that I can get confused easily, But! We can get people injectors, we often travel on a Fountain Nook road, and once in a while, my husband is known to make a "house call" to fix some non-mobile motor for an Amish person. When a guy called to ask for some injectors to be tested, I told him that was fine and he could bring them by whenever he had a moment. He explained that they were in a Caterpillar and the guy who worked here had just stopped by his place another time to fix something- he's just over on Fountain and he's trying to help out his dad and if we tell him the injectors are bad, then he'll just buy the new ones from us! Easy! Great! Well. I explained the story to Blake and we agreed that house calls should not be done for work on Caterpillars- and especially since we don't even work on heavy equipment. So it was agreed and I called him back and politely explained that he was welcome to pull the injectors out and bring them on over because Blake could pop test them and tell him whether they were bad; sadly we couldn't come over there to check them. He thought and finally asked where we were because he wasn't sure if he'd ever been here. I began explaining the road and gave the address number. He acted confused and said "Yeah, but where? In Denver? He's the mexican right?" I told him the town and that no, Blake is not Mexican and he started laughing and said "Oh I'm in Fountain, Colorado! I must have bought something from him once because I had his number in my phone but I couldn't remember who he was! Guess I won't bring my injectors over. Thank you!" -Click-
   Well thank you. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Hope you are able to find someone who knows of a Fountain without the Nook. I guess I assumed too quickly that your out of state number meant that you didn't know the road names too well. And I'll try to assume less and be more observant next time! :)

New England

I'm thinking, but I'm not positive, that this rocky crag is where the Old Man on the Mountain used to reside.

Someone made mention to me today of how they have heard that Vermont is beautiful, but that they have never been there to see in person. It made me think of New England summertime beauty and so I took a moment to search for pictures. (One of my siblings owns the right to actually snapping these photos!)

Life now includes...

Yes, it's our blog! Our life is pretty routine. Get up in the morning, go to the shop, get greasy, talk to people about trucks, go home somewhere hopefully before midnight, eat supper quickly (if I made it home long enough to make any!), and go to bed, just to get up and start another day. In reality though, no two days are exactly just the same because the combination of Blake and I living together creates all kinds of fun chaos. It seems that somehow we keep having things happen to us that keeps life from being too dull and I've decided that it's time to join the blogging world so that I can share some of our life with others!