Halloween Extravaganza!!

This is the first year that Steve and I have participated in Halloween activities together. Last year, Steve and I weren't even in the same state for Halloween, I was dressed up collecting candy in Disney with my family while Steve lived the bachelor life in Jackson.

Even though we don't have kids yet, we've decided to start making "family traditions". We stated our Halloween weekend with what I hope will remain a tradition in the Ackerman household. Steve and I watched a Halloween-esque movie (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, although we will watch something more kid friendly movie when little ones are involved) while carving pumpkins together. We had gone out to dinner and stopped at Walmart to get a carving kit (I had gotten the pumpkins earlier in the week). The Halloween section was hopping at Walmart, but we found what we came for & headed home.

To my surprise, Steve was really into the pumpkin carving (usually he is just amusing me). He actually picked out a pattern (as opposed to free-styling a molecule like the last pumpkin he carved before we dated). We spent a good couple hours on the pumpkins and had a very enjoyable evening. We even roasted the pumpkin seeds (by we, I mean I).

(My pumpkin is on the left -- Scarecrow w/Welcome & Steve's is on the right -- A Ghost)

Last night, we continued our Halloween festivities by attending a Halloween party. One of Steve's co-workers went all out and had a Halloween party. Both the inside and outside of his house were decked out with Halloween decorations. Dressing up was encouraged. I reused my Tinkerbell costume from last year. We threw together a "Captain Hook" costume for Steve. I was given a budget of $10, only allowing a pirate hat & hook. Had I had more time, I would have made him a real captain hook costume, maybe that'll be for next year ;-).

3 Years in the Making:

After 3 years, I have finally finished Steve's blanket!! I started working on it the summer before we got engaged. I had high hopes of giving it to him for Christmas 2008; however, it was a bigger under taking than I had anticipated. I had worked pretty diligently on it through fall 2008, however Christmas of that year brought on an engagement and wedding planning. Since I did a lot of the wedding stuff myself, all my time and energy went into planning and the blanket left unfinished.

After we got married in 2009, I would work on the blanket off and on. But soon, school and work took most of my time and the blanket officially got packed up not to be worked on until June 2011!! The blanket came with us to Tennessee, but just sat in a crate in the "office/craft room". I focused more on short term projects like hats, scarves, and baby blankets. I kept looking at the crate with Steve's unfinished blanket and just felt ashamed and overwhelmed with it. This summer, I finally pulled it out and decided now was the best time to finish it up.

For you crochet buffs -- the stitch was a single crochet with an extra loop added between each stitch. I also put the hook through only 1 side of the previous row's loops which forms the ridges in the blanket. The side border pieces were a later addition to the project. Once I got the length I deemed "good enough" it made the blanket look skinny so I added the edge borders to round it out. I just crocheted them with as "scarves" with the same stitch pattern & sewed them on the edges.

I don't remember how many skeins of yarn make up the blanket, but I think it's somewhere between 6-8. Halfway through the process, I had run out of yarn and had to track down more of the appropriate colors. I couldn't find the yarn in stores anymore and had to order it straight from the company. Steve would prefer to have the blanket a little bit bigger, but I am again out of the correct yarn and decided it was good enough ;-).

Oddly enough, the blanket matches the color scheme in the living room perfectly! The room currently houses green curtains, as well as rust & rust/green striped pillows. I did not buy the curtains or pillows with Steve's blanket in mind (I had purchased them when the blanket was tucked away in its crate). I guess this just shows my love for those colors! My plan is for the colors to remain the same in the new house, but we will see how that all unfolds.

Good to Be Home

I got home to Jackson from Indiana on Saturday afternoon. I had stayed Friday night with an old roommate & her husband in Columbus. By staying at their place, I broke up my drive between Friday night (2 hours) and Saturday (5.5). My drive was uneventful (no more deer!); however, I almost ran out of gas (I had been watching it but couldn't find a gas station/fast food combo just off the interstate, I had to just go with what was available when the light went on).

I had hoped for a nice quiet Saturday evening with the possibility of getting a pizza or sandwhiches so I didn't have to make dinner. However, that turned out to be a pipe-dream. Steve was ready for his wife back and a home cooked meal. I decided to postpone that quiet, relaxing time and fulfill all those wifely duties Steve had missed.

I quickly unpacked my clothes and began my monstrous piles of laundry (over 15 loads). Steve was completely out of all those "necessary" clothing items -- ha! Since I had started the laundry, I decided to go ahead and pull out our winter clothes (which had been neatly packed into boxes in June when we thought we were transferring to other housing for our stay in Jackson) and begin to put away summer clothes.

Luckily, I had made a few quick meals and had frozen them before I left. My original plan behind those meals were for Steve to be able to have a "taste of home" while I was gone; however, he didn't use them (as I expected) and it made it nice to throw a quick meal together. After dinner, Steve and I went grocery shopping together.

Sunday involved more cooking, laundry, and unpacking more from my trip. I'm finally getting my relaxing time (which is why I'm blogging now). I've caught up on a lot of sleep that I didn't get while in Indiana and am finally feeling myself again. I enjoyed my time in Indiana (especially that subbing -- so much fun!) but it wasn't very restful. I tried to cram in visiting people (which I didn't do as much as I had planned in the beginning of the week) and had to take care of my sister & parents' house while they were gone (which is a feat in and of itself). Needless to say, I was tired from my trip and was glad to be back home to my quiet house with Steve. Although, now I'm looking forward to our move (which will probably be as chaotic as the Indiana trip) and especially to our new house!

It's still not official. We will be making our final decision at the end of this week. Today is a termite inspection. Tomorrow is a Radon and roof inspection. Once we hear back from all of those we will make our official decision. We'd appreciate prayer on the inspections and that God will make it clear if this is to be our house!

Unofficially Home Sweet Home

We won't know until later this week if this will officially be our "Home Sweet Home", but we will go ahead and share it now on faith that this is meant to be our house.

The house was built in 1935 and has many of its original features. For instance, the roof consists of slate shingles. If a slate shingle roof is properly maintained, it can last up to 150 years. However, it appears that the previous owners have not done much maintenance in their 4 years owning the house. We have a specialized roof inspector coming in later this week to assess how much it will cost to get the roof in proper condition. To install a brand new slate shingle roof would cost at least $50,000!

Not only is the roof a potential issue, but during the general inspection, it was also discovered that there is low water pressure in the showers when water is ran elsewhere in the house. We had a plummer come in and verified that the issue is in the galvanized (original) plumbing. Some of the exposed pipes in the basement have been changed to PVC. He gave us a reasonable estimate on switching out all the exposed galvanized pipes which should help with the water pressure.

Steve quickly fell in love with the main foyer area. It took me the second showing to really appreciate the architecture and character of the house. I think this was due to the fact that while in Jackson, we had been really focusing on finding a "newer" home.

The dining room was exactly what I wanted out of a dining room -- big window & open arches to other rooms. This picture really shows off the character of the house. The wainscoting is only in this room; however, the molding can be seen throughout the rest of the house. The chandelier is all original and matches other light fixtures throughout the house. The chandeliers/light fixtures throughout the house are a little gaudy with all the glass jewels, but I fall more & more in love with them every time I look at the pictures.

The living room, upstairs bathroom, and a bedroom all have these really cool built-ins. The built-ins in the bathroom and bedroom are more like cupboards with drawers. I was surprised at how much storage was built into the house (generally storage is very lacking in older homes). The closets in 3 of the 4 bedrooms are pretty small; however, there are some extra closets in the hallway to make up for the small in-bedroom storage.

This is one of my favorite features in the home -- the stain glass window. This is the big window seen on the front of the house. The stairs wrap around the wall right underneath the window, and check out the other original chandelier! This house actually has 4 levels: basement, main floor, upstairs (master bedroom/bathroom, 2 bedrooms, & another bathroom), and a reconverted attic (4th bedroom). It's a whole lot of house -- 2400 sq ft (not counting basement)!!

The outside of the house is just as beautiful as the outside. The front yard has really nice landscaping around the front walkway. The backyard has a little patio right off the sun-room as well as another patio in the middle of the backyard. There are cement benches surround the 2nd patio. We plan on making that area into a fire pit. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there are lights strung through the trees in the backyard. The house sits on a .46 acre lot. The side yard is actually the biggest area around the house. There is a 2 car detached garage that matches the same brick and slate shingle on the house.

There you have it -- our future house (unofficially). If these pictures aren't enough, you can check out an actual video tour of the house here. If all goes as planned, we will take ownership in the middle of November. We'll keep you posted on the status of the house.

House Search Process

This blog post is a week overdue, but there is reasoning behind its delay. Last weekend Steve and I put an offer on a house in Lima. The house was built in 1935 and the inspection process is taking longer than anticipated. We haven't wanted to publicly broadcast it in case we decided not to take the house due to things found in the inspection. We should know by the end of this week how it all plays out; however, we feel confident enough to go ahead and share that this house is our new house. Here's it's story. . .

For the past month, Steve and I have been researching houses in Lima online. Our realtor (whom we connected with in June when Steve interviewed for the position) had given us a list of houses to look at. We chose some houses from her list and also did our own research and compiled our own list. Steve, being the engineer that he is, concocted a spreadsheet with equations & ratings that put the houses in a ranking order. We separately had to go through and rate the inside/outside, price, & square footage of the houses based on pictures & information. We chose the top 12 from the list and sent them off to our realtor.

We met with her last weekend in Lima and she had set up appointments with almost all of the houses on our list. A couple of the houses were already sold/on contract, so she added in a few houses that she thought we might like. We ended up looking at a total of 14 houses on Saturday. Some of them, we knew right away weren't the house for us, which helped a little in weeding through all of them. When we got back to our hotel after seeing all the houses, Steve and I were so sick of houses, we put a ban on the word for 2 hours. We went to dinner that night with our stack of house information sheets, pictures, and notes from the day. By the time we got back to our hotel from dinner, we had narrowed the selection down to three house:

Market Street -- A definite fixer upper! It was a "mansion" (4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths) in the historical district that was in dire need of repair.

Breese R0ad -- Move-in Ready! This house was located in the semi-country (away from town, but not country). The kitchen had been newly modeled and was gorgeous; however, it was located on a busy thoroughfare to the interstate and the master bedroom/bath had no privacy (it was the only bathroom on the main level, and the bedroom was located at the front of the house with many windows towards the neighbors).

Spring -- Old house with character! I wasn't a fan of this house upon the first showing. I didn't grew up with hard wood floors and don't really have an affinity for them. The "old charm" of the house was first lost on me. However, Steve wouldn't let me cross off the list.

We kept going back and forth on all the houses. Saturday night, I was leaning most towards Breese Road with Market Street in second. The problem with Market Street is that it would need lots of work. We weren't sure why we had a desire to be in the house -- to do all the repair work or to live in a historical house. Since no one lived in Market, we could see it any time we wanted for a second showing. However, there were people in Breese & Spring, so we set up second showings with those houses on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning, we headed to Breese Road first to look at it again. We decided it was a "safe" house. For instance, we could see ourselves in it, but we could see anyone in it. We could live in it and raise kids in it, but there was nothing jumping out at us. We weren't sure if we were going to see Spring for a second time, but right as we were finishing at Breese, we got the okay to head to Spring.

We got to Spring and went in search of the basement that we missed on the first time through the house. We found the basement (the door was hidden by the door we entered) and discovered that part of it had been finished into a really spacious & functional laundry room. I fell in love! This was my dream laundry room as well as one of the few houses we saw with a basement. I walked through the house with my new love of the basement and was already imagining how I'd decorate it. After walking through it all again, Steve and I looked at each other and had our "This is Your House" feeling we'd been waiting for.

Change of Pace

I have officially subbed at Western for a total of 4 days. Last week, I overlapped a day with the teacher I'm covering for. I was able to see how she interacted with the students, how the worked, and to figure out what I would be responsible for while she is away.

I finished out the week by proctoring their Unit Test over Ancient Egypt & Kush. It was a doozy of a test! They had 60 questions fill in the blank, 30 multiple choice, 15 true/false, and an essay to write. It was scheduled to take 2 days, but not everyone got it done in the allotted time. Today I was able to catch almost everyone up (I still have absences to make up and a few to finish their essays).

Today also marked the beginning of their new unit, which I will be teaching -- Judaism. We started the section off with reading the text and starting a map assignment (Students have a list of items -- cities, rivers, mountains, regions -- that have to be identified on a blank map. The students have the whole week to turn it in and will be tested over the geography on Friday). Tomorrow starts the actual teaching and note-taking.

It's weird to be teaching the history of religion in a public school. Our unit begins talking about Abraham, Moses and the Exodus, and will end with the time of judges, King David and Solomon. The students will also be watching the movie Prince of Egypt to help understand Jewish history and the first monotheistic (belief in one god) religion. {Can you tell I'm in teaching mode?}

I am truly enjoying being back at my old turf. It feels as if it was just yesterday I was sitting in Mrs. B's classroom (instead of 11 years ago). I get to work with some of my old teachers, which is kind of weird; however, it's also nice to already know their personalities. The best part at subbing at Western is, by far, the students! They have been absolutely wonderful!!! I have a few chatty students, but nothing compared to what I was dealing with in Tennessee. I have found myself looking forward to the next class coming in, realizing that time is flying by way too fast, and sad about having to go home at the end of the day (although, I am also pooped and crash upon returning home).

Which speaking of, it's past my bedtime and I feel like I'm rambling now. Hopefully, you get the idea that I am LOVING subbing right now. This experience is exactly what I needed. This is just one more reason why I'm so excited to move (good school systems!).

Oh Deer!

I left our home in Jackson Tuesday morning at 8am (central time) to begin my trek up North for my 2 weeks in Indiana. Little did I know that the most exciting leg of my adventure would happen just a mere 20 minutes later.

Being that it was bright and early, I was in a zone. You know, where you are well aware of everything in front of you so you won't hit anything, but not necessarily watching scenery to understand where you are. I was cruising along (thanks cruise control!) at 73 mph in our new car.

All of a sudden, I noticed just to the right of me that a doe (doe, a deer, a female deer. . . ) was bee-lining it straight towards my car. I noticed her in just enough time to slam on my brakes and swerve to the right (I was in the right lane with no cars around me. Although, there was a semi behind me, but I'll get to that. . . ). She was rather large (probably stood as tall as the car, or at least it seemed that way. It kind of all happened way too fast to take measurements).

We made contact, although it wasn't nearly as bad as it should have been. Luckily, she and I bobbed & weaved in unison & her rear end made contact with the front driver's side of my bumper. My car then locked up (remember, I'm slamming on my breaks. . . ) and I sort of fish-tailed. Luckily, I not only remained in my lane, but there wasn't another car to the left. However, there was a semi behind me). Had I hit the deer head on, the semi probably wouldn't have had time to slow or get around me, and he would have only had the option to hit me. However, this is a happy story, and we don't have to think about this scenario.

I do wonder if the semi driver saw the deer pop up in the field next to me & would love to hear the story from his perspective. However, I was in a sort of shock, and just continued to drive the car. I couldn't believe what had just occurred and didn't know "clipping-deer's-end-on-highway" protocol. I can say, that I was able to watch the deer's rear end (which looked in-tact) hide into the woods on the other side. (Keep in mind that we were on a divided highway and it made it across the West bound lanes, as well).

I called Steve (like any frantic wife would do). It took me a few rings to actually reach him. He knows I never call (always text!) and we had just said goodbye 45 min earlier. His immediate reaction was, "What's Wrong?!" I then proceeded to frantically tell what had just happened. I told him that I just kept on going. Should I have stopped? Do you call the police to report it? He responded with a simple, "Are you okay?" Upon my "yes", he just said, "keep on driving".

I had to stop for gas a few hours later, and hesitantly looked at the front of the car. Shockingly, it looked completely fine. Anyone I passed would be oblivious to my morning situation-- WHEW!!

I completed my journey to Indiana with no other issues. I didn't hit any traffic (except a couple of construction zones, but not too bad). I got to my parents' house and did a full investigation of the situation. I washed the front of the car and discovered a little paint chip on the hood. It looks as if someone jammed the hood with a writing pen -- no scratch, just a small paint chip:

(The paint chip is located in the middle of the picture just below my hand in the reflection)

As I was finishing up washing the car and drying it, I discovered that the bumper was cracked at the very bottom. The plastic sort of wraps under the car, and the damage was on the under part. By looking at the car straight on, you'd never notice it (which is how I missed it from the get-go).

The next morning, as I was headed to school to meet with the teacher I'll be replacing for the next 2 weeks, I noticed a screaching noise. It sounded like something was hanging under the car, but wasn't convinced at first. However, by the time I pulled into the school parking lot (which is literally a 1 min drive), I realized there was definitely something wrong. I pulled into a parking spot and did another brief investigation. There was definitely somthing hanging, but it was too dark (early in the morning) to tell what it was.

After school, I walked home and returned to the school with my dad. He crawled on the ground and looked under the car and discovered what the dragging piece was. It was the bracket that provided extra security in holding the bumper onto the car frame. He did a quick tape job so that I could drive it back to my parents' house.

(You can see the crack in the bumper, and the tape holding the bracket back onto the bumper).

My dad -- who is Mr. Fix-It, as well as just pure Awesome -- will be doing a full patch job before my return to Jackson (my parents are headed out of town for the next week).

I feel bad about the car, but know that things could have (as well as should have) been much worse. Colliding with a deer is just one of those freak situations that are sometimes impossible to avoid. I feel like the deer came out of no where. The sun was out, and the field had appeared empty. I'm just thankful for God's mercies in the situation. There were definitely many praises throughout the entire situation. Thankfully, we both (deer and myself) came out with minor bumps and bruises. Praise the Lord!

Indiana Girl

I grew up literally surrounded by corn fields. In fact, the house next to ours is an old farm house that used to have a huge barn and silo before it was destroyed due to tornadic winds. I walked to school, which had a corn field on 2 of its borders.

I have many memories of shucking corn in my parents' garage so that my mom could put up corn for the year. I think record years included 20+ dozen ears of corn. I always hated shucking the corn because of the bugs involved, but it usually went quick with 4+ kids working all day (we'd always convince friends or cousins to help out).

I grew up watching those green fields grow all summer & with the old saying, "knee high by the 4th of July". When Steve and I made the move down south, I wasn't prepared for the change of scenery. It was so bizarre last year when I started seeing fields of white, and it was too early for snow!

Cotton fields are still so strange for me. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that the little white tuft on the plant will someday be something I can wear! While driving the other day, I made Steve stop and pull over so that I could investigate the cotton more closely.

After some research (and learning about Cotton at the Hermitage during our Nashville trip), I learned that the cotton plant actually blooms flowers over the summer, leaving behind a little pod. The plant dries out around September and by early October, the pod bursts open, revealing the fibrous cotton.

Here's a cotton plant in early September. You can see a flower bloom (white) in the center, and a little pod (light green) to the lower left.

The white tufts look and feel exactly like cotton balls. It's still really bizarre to me, even after knowing the process and seeing/feeling the plant. I guess I'm just an Indiana & corn girl at heart.