This was posted a while back on Right Mind, and we just had to put it up on our blog too.... :)

Apologies

I do feel bad that we haven't posted in a while.... it sounds lame to say that it's been a really busy week during the summer, but, well, it really has! So here are some highlights for you out of town relatives who might be interested.

I'm still plugging away at thesis work (on Tom Wolfe and the New Journalism of the 1960s). I had a meeting with Dr. Atwood who gave me very helpful tips and helped focus my paper more. A few nights ago I wrote a record ten pages in one night. It was an adrenaline rush, and definitely helped me on my way to finishing up. I'm defending it at the beginning of October. Scary!

Joel has been cleaning up our front yard, using his strong muscles to scoop ugly red rock out of our side yard and the front of the yard and all around the base of our house. The last owners really liked it I guess. We however do not, and plan on replacing some parts with grass and some with bark. I think it will look a lot nicer. We also are planning a trip to Lewiston to Home Depot to get new paint for the exterior trim and the door. No more pale aqua green, hurrah!

Joel is officially done with his summer class (woohoo!) and will no longer have to put up with some of the silly assignments he was required to do. For a fraud examination class there was surprising little fraud examination taught. So now he has a good three weeks before U of I starts to enjoy a homework-free summer.

I had an interview on Friday for a job at Montrose Academy as an Elementary Latin teacher. They're a very small private Christian school here in town who were in need of teachers for this upcoming year. It's an easy teaching job, I only have to lecture for one hour one day a week and then the students do independent homework for the rest of the week. I've already had one interview and things look promising. Now I just need to meet with the board and I should be a teacher in the fall. Salvete discipuli!

Mom and I picked out fabric for my quilt on Friday, which is a definite step in the right direction for quilt-making. I love the two fabrics and will post pictures as soon as I'm done!

That's about it for now. NSA starts in two weeks so I'm getting mentally prepared for one last year of school. Both Joel and I are excited to be done.

Guess who wanted to go to work today?

Garage Sale Hunting

This morning my mom and I went out at the crack of dawn (8am) to search for hidden treasure in garage sales around town. It was the first time we'd gone in Moscow, and I must say we collected a veritable wealth of treasures. Adorable baby gift bags for 25 cents each, a fabulous home-decor book for mom, red curtains for my bay window, and a much-needed jewelry box. I even found a nice brand new puzzle for Joel for 25 cents. But I have not mentioned our biggest find. Deep in the recesses of one garage my mother discovered the summum bonum of all garage sale finds: an old 800 series Bernina for 75 dollars. 75 dollars! Obviously these people didn't know what they had, and mom and I took great pains not to divulge this information. This is the second time my bargain-finding expert of a mother has made such a find. A few months ago she came across a fabulous old Elna, a quilter's dream, in Goodwill for 30 dollars. Having bequeathed this one to Kate, she was on the lookout for a good sewing machine for me next. It's amazing what you can find at garage sales. Now I REALLY have to get started on that quilt for our entryway.

I have to wax dramatic over such a fantastic find.

Hard Providence

We found out on Saturday that our cute kitten Whiskey has leukemia. She had been throwing up every day for a good long time, and so we knew something had to be wrong. The vets really have no time-frame for how long she'll live, it could be 2 years or 8. Right now there is a very small chance that she could develop an immunity to it. We've been praying in that direction.

It's strange to me how quickly you can become attached to an animal; we've only had Whiskey for 9-10 months, but I cried a good deal when I heard the news. Part of what makes me so sad is that she's not allowed to go outside anymore because she could infect other cats. She had gotten so used to being let outside all the time. So I've been praying that she wouldn't be constantly begging to go outside because it makes me so sad to have to say no. And God, as always, has been good and she really doesn't meow to go outside as much as she used to.

Having a cat also has made me think more about pets on the new earth. It seems strange to think that God would give us pets to love now, and then when he re-makes this earth those same pets wouldn't be there to entertain us. God gives out so many bountiful blessings, I imagine restoring our pets to us will be one of them. So when I'm sad that Whiskey can't go outside, I imagine being on this glorified earth in the next life, watching her pounce at imaginary shadows in the tall grass, and laughing as she wriggles around on her back in the shade.

God really blessed humans with pets. They keep us company, make us laugh, and are ever so huggable.

Some of my favorite pictures from our Santa Cruz Trip

More outside projects

After staring rapturously for a while at my beautiful wild rose bush I noticed that it leaned a little. By a little I actually mean that the shoots, which are my height, were bending so far over that they almost touched the ground. This was not aesthetically pleasing. So I bought a trellis and some tape, and ta-da! Now I can claim some credit for something that looks nice in our yard.



This morning I left the house to go grocery shopping and to farmer's market. Joel was having Keith Dimeler over to help him tackle our juniper bush problem. He hinted that they might be going to Moscow Building Supply for some tools. I didn't think much at the time, I probably just nodded. As I drove home a few hours later I passed Keith and Joel in Keith's truck. They looked extremely pleased about something, and I noticed a mass of destroyed juniper branches piled in the truck bed. When I got home I found this in our front yard.



I have to admit I was a little shocked to see two large holes in our yard, not to mention a piece of machinery slightly bigger than what I had envisioned when I heard the word 'tool'. But I was also immensely pleased. Keith and Joel in the space of a few hours had decimated our two gigantic and hideous juniper bushes, roots and all. I'm very thankful for their hard work. Yay for dead junipers! The world was made a prettier and safer place today.



Granted it will be even prettier once we fill those massive holes with grass.