all moved in!

We are all moved into our new house!!!!! Well, it's still kind of a mess inside, but we're working on it. :) We had about 12 guys helping us and 2 flatbeds, as well as some pickups. We were done in a little over 2 hours! We were amazed by how quickly we got it done. Yes, yes, I promise pictures will come. My camera battery died and I had to get a new one...luckily the company said it was a known problem and they sent me a new one for free! Anyway, now that my camera is fixed, I can FINALLY get all the Lutherhaven pictures off of it! I am still stunned with all the improvements that we made on the house. I was looking at old pictures, and it's hardly the same house. I'm going to a slumber party tomorrow to celebrate my friend Jessie's birthday...they are having a baking contest. I'm making the truffles I blogged about sooo long ago and never made. Hopefully they'll turn out well! Psst...pretty much the only reason I'm making them is because we don't have any other ingredients of anything else! Our refrigerator STILL hasn't arrived (it's a LONG story), and we're living out of a cooler! I don't think I've ever appreciated refrigerators so much before... Anyway, off to bake truffles!

check out this giveaway!

Ann from Livin and Lovin is giving away a backpack loaded with goods - including a $100 Target gift card! Go check it out :)

-carlotta

the end is near...

The end is near, which means....

...we are moving on Saturday (the day after tomorrow...GASP!)

...our new house is (almost) finished

...we are packing like crazy, and still have LOTS and LOTS of it left to do

...we are slowly running out of time

...the breakdowns are starting (mentally, physically, and brand new appliance wise)

...the ordination is also near

...since the ordination is near, that means preparing for all the visitors is next on our (full) agenda

...I am SO THANKFUL that renovations are almost finished (see 'breakdowns'...that's been happening a lot to me lately)

...because I'm ready to start DECORATING!

...AND last but not the least

...it also means that I will be updating my blog more often (woo hoo!)

...and you all will also get to see the "before and after"s (which are coming very soon, I PROMISE!

...which brings me to my last point...

...when the end is near, means we are running out of time, which means I need to get myself off the computer and WORK!

united breaks guitars

This is soo funny! Well, obviously not-so-funny for the musician(s) that it happened to, but he does a hilarious job in the video. Find the lyrics here. The story is actually true...here is more about it from Wikipedia. On March 31, 2008, the band (Sons of Maxwell) was flying from Halifax to Omaha, Nebraska on United Airlines while on tour. While waiting to take off from O'Hare following a stopover in Chicago, passengers noticed baggage handlers in the act of tossing guitars. Dave Carroll notified attendants that the band's instruments were being mishandled but to no avail, and when the band arrived in Omaha, he discovered his $3,500 Taylor guitar had been substantially damaged.After months of contacting the company and being pushed from person to person, each saying it wasn't their problem, Carroll told United he would write three songs and produce videos for each about the airline and how they treated his complaint indifferently. The first single, titled simply "United Breaks Guitars" premiered on YouTube on July 6, 2009, and quickly became an overnight sensation. The video soon achieved over two million views. Soon after the video's success, United contacted Carroll and said they hoped to settle the matter soon. In an interview with the CBC, Carroll said United mentioned they may change their customer service policy as a result of the incident. United also claimed they wanted to use the video and song as a "training aid" for baggage handling. On another note - I know it's been a week..sorry!!! We're painting my room Monday - yay!! I realized today that we have to move 2 weeks from today...and the house is still FULL of stuff. We have been trying to put a few boxes in the car every time we go over to our new house. But there's only so much you can fit in our car. We hope to get a couple of guys from our church with pickups, and help us move...We're definitely seeing light at the end of the tunnel with renovations, though. Yes!

really?!

Has June 15th really been the last time I updated?! I apologize...it has been SOOOOOO busy!!!! I also apologize for the lack of photos. I know some of you requested that I put more pictures up on our progress with the house. I will - when I get around to doing it! Sorry!!!

2 weeks ago (the week of the 21st), I went on a confirmation retreat to the Oklahoma panhandle, to Camp Lutherhaven (pictures to come...once I get them off my camera :)). It is about 5 miles away from Knowles, OK. It is literally in the middle of NOWHERE!! I was super excited to go, as it was my first time away from home for 5 days without my siblings or mom (my dad, since he's kind of in charge of the youth, as well as the confirmands, naturally had to come along). We had a blast! We had to widen trails (which was probably the hardest work I have ever done in my life!!), so we got to stay for free. There were cabins, with bunks, and a full kitchen with a dining/living room. And the had air conditioning! It is so pretty there! When you're driving down the road, it's all desert shrubs, rocky, dusty soil...then you drive over a hill and there's a (springfed) lake and trees, and the cabins. It's really an oasis. When we were driving there, all of a sudden the van we were in just stopped. It just wouldn't go. We were able to get it to the cabin (about 2 miles away), but we knew we couldn't get it back home like that. We were scheduled to stay at the camp from Monday evening to Friday morning. We left as planned on Friday morning, and drove to Woodward, OK (about 70 miles away) to a mechanic. The car made it there without any problems. Oh, I forgot a Pastor Foote from Buffalo, OK (about 60 miles from the camp, so about 120 miles away from Woodward) came to Lutherhaven, and 'escorted' us to Woodward with a minivan, if we had broken down. We made it to Woodward by 9am. We didn't leave until 9am the next morning. The mechanics had different theories to what was wrong. At first they thought it was the alternator (mind you, this wasn't our church's van, it was Our Saviors, another LCMS church), so they replaced it. We had to wait 8 hours for them to do so, as they had to drive to another city to get it. Pastor Foote was so kind, driving us to Dairy Queen (where they gave us free sodas after they heard what happened), a state park, the pool, etc. So at 5pm Friday night we were heading out back home 10 miles away, in Mooreland, the car broke down again, doing to same thing that the mechanics were trying to make it do all day, so they could figure out what was wrong. We call the mechanics, and they drove out to the gas station where we were. Everyone was so nice there! We had tons of people come up to us, asking if they could help, and there were at least 3 or 4 people offering us their church to spend the night. The mechanics tinkered with the car 2 1/2 hours more at the gas station. By that time it was already 8pm or so, so we decided to spend the night at one of the LCMS churches in town. Since they still hadn't really located the problem, we thought it best just to stay overnight. We (the confirmands) were of course, happy! See, the thing is, that gas station was the last places of 'civilization' for 120 miles. We are so blessed that we broke down THERE! Anyway, we slept on church pews. Which is a first. But they were actually quite comfortable, with the exception of being a bit narrow. We all had bedding, as we had to bring it for the camp, so that worked out really well! We made it back safely by noon Saturday, uneventfully. But they STILL don't know what the problem was. So now I guess it's Our Savior's problem! heehee

In other updates on the house - in the master bedroom, it's painted (a really pretty red! pictures to come), carpet is pulled up, window seat is stained. We're pretty much done with that room! In the kitchen - the floor is laid (wood laminate, it is really, really pretty! We would have done wood, but it would have made the floor too high), the stove is in (we celebrating by baking a ready made pizza in it last night...it worked well!), it's painted, so all we have to do there is get the dishwasher, countertops and sink (both of which are coming next week!), and the refrigerator. The living room is primed, and getting ready to be painted today, I think. Upstairs we haven't done much...but we're starting on my room Monday. Yes!! I promise I will put up a video tour of the house (which was taken June 1st, before we had done anything to it - I promise you it looks very different now!), as well of pictures of the progress we have made. When we're moved it, I plan on taking another tour so you can see how it looks with the furniture, etc. I might make one when we're done renovating, but we don't have any furniture or anything. We'll see. AHHH this was a long post! I feel better now that I have updated. Sorry for neglecting you guys for so long!! Oh, and happy 4th of July!