Weeds No More!

Finally!  I finished weeding out the backyard tonight, which officially makes me done with the big pruning and weeding job of our house.  My back aches (is 30 really that old?) and the yard waste people think I'm insane, but everything's been cleared out!

Before........

After.....

Now I just have to figure out what I want to plant there.....I may wait until next Spring.  We'll see.

Reading Challenge

Today in church we were given a challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  When he gave the challenge he jokingly said we had more time to read it than it took Joseph Smith to translate it and then sat down.  I thought he made his point rather well. :)  This new ward (congregation) is rather large with a lot of young student families.  It's a lot like Hershey, but I think it may be bigger.  The nursery is actually larger (if you can believe it).
We were officially welcomed into the ward today and already given the assignment to be on the Activities Committee.  I think it will be fun for Joel and I to work together again.  I'm all about this calling, because I'm not actually in charge.  I was already asked to play piano for Primary today, so the cat is out of the bag that I do music.  I was hoping to make it a little while without people finding out, but no such luck.  Oh well.

International Influences

I first noticed something was a bit off when we went to the post office and Joel and I were the only people speaking English.  There were tons of people there from Africa and Latino America, but I wasn't sure which countries.  It turns out that Columbus, Ohio has a huge Somali population.  In fact, it's the second largest population (Minneapolis being the first) of Somalians in the United States.  It seems kind of random to me, but there is also a Mexican Market in Galloway and 5 Hispanic restaurants within 5 minutes of our house.  You don't normally see real Mexican food on the East coast unless you're in a major city.  When I think of great international food my first thought would definitely not have been Ohio, but it makes for some very interesting meals and conversations. It's kind of fun.
Tonight Joel and I went to a local Somali restaurant.  We were the only non-Somali's at the joint, so I was pretty sure it was authentic.  They even had the Aljazeera channel on in the background.  I tried goat.  It really was just spicy chicken.  The spices tasted very similar to kuri.  I liked the rice and Joel had some Somali flat bread with his meal that I thought was tasty.  I'll chalk it up to one of those random cool experiences that I really never had thought I would have.

Back in the Game

I've started up quilting again- now that my house is somewhat in order and nothing is too pressing that I can't get a little sewing done in between.  My first project is a quilt for Shari.  She was my choreographer for both the musicals I did at Lemoyne.  She's fabulous at what she does and we worked really well together, so it was a win-win situation.  I'm going to miss working with her.  I meant to make a quilt for her earlier, but during the actual musical there's only time for the musical itself and just about nothing else, so I'm finally getting around to it. 

I'm using some of the left over material from the actual costumes of Once on This Island to make it a little more meaningful for her, but Shari's a very classy person and tropical themed decor is not exactly her style, so I'm going to try to mute the island garb by bringing in some darker materials - one having Treble Clefs on it - keeping with the whole music theme and do a Basket-weave design alternating the costume materials every other block.  We'll see how it turns out.  My goal is to have it done by the time I leave for Utah in 2 weeks.  Wish me luck!

Yard Work

After consulting with my dad through pictures last night I decided to tackle the front yard landscape.  The first issue was the dandelion plants.  I've never seen them grow that huge.  They were taller than Nathan and have thick roots that I had to dig up all around the house.  I thought that was the most pressing task at hand, because I don't want dandelions spreading all over my lawn. Then I had the task of uprooting this minty-vined herb plant (that's about as technical as I get with plants).  It has taken over all of the plants and bushes. 

I feel like having a house is making me learn new things everyday.  I don't have much of a green thumb.  In fact, the plant Adam bought me was killed because I let it stay out in the frost. (I was in denial for a while, but eventually Joel made me throw it away- it wasn't going to come back to life as much as I wanted it to).  I watched my dad garden my whole life, but the only time I helped was when it was obligatory for Family Home Evening Monday nights.  I should have paid better attention, because I don't really know what I'm doing.  I guess I'm going to have to teach myself some green thumb-ness and hope it sticks this time.
Here's the before........

After weeding and trimming.......that's as far as I could get before it started raining......

With new topsoil and some new flowers planted (taken at dusk when I finally finished)........

 The 2 in front are Hibiscus that will be Red and Orange when they blossom- you can kind of see an orange flower starting to bloom.

Home Sweet Home

As per the request of my dad, here are some pictures of our new home.  The piano movers came today, so everything is pretty much in place now.  I had a brief moment of panic when the keys all played as though the pedal was down no matter if it was or not, but luckily it was a quick fix and my baby is back- (yes, I mean the piano).
Here is the view from the front door.

My favorite thing about the kitchen (besides the cabinet and counter space) is the dishwasher!!  After 4 years of being without one it is a dream come true!

(Below- The view from the garage door)

Next to the kitchen is the utility room out to the backyard.  My first project is to get some curtains for this door, because I don't like the fact that people can look straight into my house.  We live on a quiet cul-de-sac, but our backyard runs into a busy street, so we're eventually going to need a fence.  Since that's not quite in the budget right now I'll have to be happy with curtains and some type of restraining device for Nathan :)

Oh, and Joel got his license this morning (after a couple more steps- I'll spare you the details), so he's officially legal and ready to start residency next week.  Wahoo!

Book Time!

I finally finished reading The-Read-Aloud-Handbook and I'm so excited to start reading the suggested books in the back.  Now that we're officially unpacked and box-free Nathan and I will be taking his first trip to the public library on Monday, and I'm thrilled (it's the small things in life).  I saw an article in the newspaper that this library is on the brink of closure, because of the town voting down its budget, so I'm a bit concerned, but in the meantime I plan on using it to its fullest potential.  I am a book-loving nerd and I make no apologies about it.
My next book I started is actually more of a tutorial- First-Quilt-Book - I have a bunch of quilting projects on the horizon and I've never actually read anything on quilting itself, so I thought I would try to glean some basic tips in an effort to improve my skills.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bureaucracy At Its Finest

So, the wallet is gone forever I think.  The waitress at the restaurant said there were some young girls that sat where we did, and that they may have picked it up.  So this morning Joel has spent his time trying to get a new license.  We went to the BMV (it's Bureau - not Department) of Ohio and they told Joel he needed to have the DMV (Department - not Bureau) of Pennsylvania fax them a letter stating that he has a Pennsylvania license on official letterhead.  They gave us the PennDot phone number and away we went.  The only problem is that the phone number doesn't actually give you the option of talking to anyone- it's completely automated.  There's an out of state phone number, but it also tells you to go to your nearest PennDot for assistance (I'm not joking).  I went online to see if I could find any other phone numbers for PennDot.  I found a couple, but all were automated with no option to talk to anyone.  Finally, I came across the general office phone number, and 3 transfers later and a new phone number to call, Joel finally got to talk to someone, but they told him that Pennsylvania will not send a letter without first receiving an official request from the BMV of Ohio stating that they need an official letter from the DMV.  Are you kidding me?  Joel calls the Ohio BMV which was a lot easier to get on the phone, but they told him that "we don't do that."  Awesome.
We're left with 2 options: 1- Joel can retake his driving test, but there are no immediate openings, so he would have to wait and hope they can get him in by the time his orientation begins, or 2- overnight a request for replacement form with the accompanying money order (of course) for Pennsylvania to make a copy of a letter that says he's replacing his license (isn't that pretty much what we wanted in the first place?), so that they'll fax it the Ohio BMV, and then Joel can take the written test and get an Ohio license.  Geez.
......The saga continues......we'll let you know if Joel ever actually indeed has a license again.