States I've Visited

Map of States Visited

So I decided to keep track of the states that I've actually done something in. I've been to the 48 contiguous states already- with my dad being a truck driver, we managed to get through every state in 15 years. Maine was the last one to cross off that list. Now that I've reached that goal (years ago) I thought I'd like to make it a goal to get to the 48 .... no the 50 states and actually do something in each state. I found this handy little picture through pinterest (LOVE!) and I just quickly went through and checked the ones I thought of right away. I may think of something monumental in other states. Since I love lists....... here it is!

Alabama-
Alaska-
Arizona- Grand Canyon with my mom
Arkansas- Canoe Camping trip with Hesston College
California-
Colorado-
Connecticut-
Delaware- many times, one being that I used to work a market there
Florida- Disney World in 3rd grade
Georgia- Atlanta MCUSA convention, and to Americus with Hershey MYF service trip
Hawaii-
Idaho-
Illinois- Chicago Mission trip, and Andrew's aunt & uncle's house for Christmas
Indiana - Goshen to visit friends, Angola to go shopping, and other times I didn't realize I was there
Iowa-
Kansas- Hesston College
Kentucky-
Louisiana-
Maine- met Mom & Dad's friends Roger and Jean
Maryland- boating, and soccer tournments, and many other times
Massachusetts-
Michigan- Little Eden- and other stuff
Minnesota-
Mississippi-
Missouri- Soccer tournament at Hesston
Montana-
Nebraska- visited friends in Lincoln
Nevada- Las Vegas with my mom
New Hampshire-
New Jersey- OCNJ, and others
New Mexico-
New York- NYC with Meghan and Lisa
North Carolina- Duck, Corolla family vacations
North Dakota-
Ohio- live here now!
Oklahoma- Visited OKC with Andrew while at Hesston
Oregon-
Pennsylvania- born and raised!
Rhode Island-
South Carolina- John's Island, and Hilton Head
South Dakota-
Tennessee- Nashville MCUSA convention
Texas- introduced Andrew to Mom & Dad in Fort Worth at a Longhorn sale
Utah-
Vermont-
Virginia- visited friends and family in Harrisonburg, Virginia Beach for Senior trip
Washington-
West Virginia-
Wisconsin-
Wyoming-

24 down, 26 to go!!! :)

Just for kicks and giggles:
Countries I've visited:
England
Canada
Bahamas
Belize
soon Dominican Republic!!

Fighting the American Dream

I think I may have mentioned before that I am reading a book, Radical, by David Platt. I had just started it and was realizing that I was going to be convicted by it. That was a few months ago. I'm still reading it. ;) Anyway- I was right. It is VERY convicting. And quite honestly there's so much in it that I don't know where to start. I don't know where to start talking about it on here, and I don't know where to start in making changes in my life!!

It's basically about NOT striving for the American Dream. The subtitle, if you will, is "taking back your faith from the American dream." My heart tells me, I don't want to live the American Dream, and I want so badly to live like this book, like Jesus taught us... but my head is fighting my heart. Or maybe it's the other way around. 
Now, I must confess, this book has mostly been read in the bathroom. Don't judge. It's also gone on some vacations, but the majority of my reading has been throne-side. I, unfortunately, never got a pen in there so I wasn't able to underline the parts I liked. About half way through I started to dog-ear the pages that had something memorable written on them. That's the thing. This book has so much! I KNOW I'm going to have to read it again and take notes. 
I just got to one of the last chapters which challenges the reader (me!) to a year "Radical Experiment" I'm excited to finally get some concrete ideas and actions to do to live this conviction out. I will share what those are once I finish the chapter! :)
Anyway- I realize that I haven't actually said much about the book, but like I said, there's so much to it and really, I need to read it again. I think you should read it too. It puts a smile on my face to think of a generation living as Jesus taught us to, and not how our forefathers taught us to. 

On that note, I don't want to be "yeast of ingratitude." So thank you, God, and thank you Mom & Dad for giving me so many blessings. I am truly grateful. Lord, please help me to turn these blessings into blessings for you and your people.

"Real success is found in radical sacrifice. Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God. The purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. Meaning is found in community, not individualism; joy is found in generosity, not materialism; and truth is found in Christ, not universalism. Ultimately, Jesus is a reward worth risking everything to know, experience, and enjoy." David Platt, Radical, p.183

Junk Day and Yard Sale Finds!!!

As promised... here is my blog about my recent scores. I'm pretty excited about some of these pieces, others I might sell or do who knows what to...

First, we have this lovely cupboard that my lovely Andrew got from his Uncle Mike.
Mike bought it at it an old school auction. 
As you can see it needs some work. We're going to be using Restor-a-finish magic on it.
Maybe you'll get to see it when it's done!


Next we have this darling kitchen shelf. When my mom was here helping me move my things in, we both agreed that I needed something to fill this space that I could also put my kitchen utensils on.

 

I pretty much think it's perfect.


Oh! I almost forgot to mention. We found this at junk day. 


That means that we picked it up FREE along the side of the road!!!

 This charming window I bought at Andrew's Uncle Jon's yard sale for $5. When I sale yard sale... picture huge auction minus the auction part. It's massive. 


Anyway, this wasn't my original vision for it but I think I like the simplicity the way it is.


It'll stay this way for now, but might get some decorations added later in life.

This is a simple cheap bookcase. Nothing too crazy. $15 at a yard sale.

 Another FREE find from junk day. I cleaned it, but I want to cover it too. And it kind of smells. It is LazyBoy though!!

This little guy was another FREE junk day find. It hasn't even made it inside yet. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. Anyone want to buy it???

          This is probably my favorite score. FREE from junk day!!!!! It's a great little storage space for my craft supplies. It's so organizing! I can't wait to craft!

This chair we got for $20 at a yard sale. It's lovely, doesn't smell, and is comfy. I thought I'd drape a scarf over to spice it up... but my scarf took it over! I left it on anyway. Scarf was $2.50 bought on the streets of Bethlehem, Israel!

And finally I want to show this big guy off:I got this from my grandma, who apparently saved it from the dumpster. It almost never made the move to Ohio!!!Well I seem to be having some formatting issues. I wish blogger was easier to put pictures in. Oh well. You get the idea. :) Enjoy the day!

Life in Northwest Ohio

Greetings from Archbold! 

So I've moved into my basement apartment! It's pretty wonderful, and I truly appreciate the space. 

I was so excited to be on my own again - to have my own space, live my own lifestyle, and decorate my own way! I knew it would be hard to be so far from my family. 

And it is.

 I miss playing with my niece, watching Hulu and exercising with my sister, eating my brother-in-law's wings, and playing games with my mom.

That being said... 

I've really enjoyed the beautiful sunsets, picking strawberries, getting free fresh strawberries, homemade bread and cookies, making meadow tea, eating healthy, scoring deals on furniture and decor (i'll blog about that sometime), organizing my things into 5 rooms... 

let alone.... Seeing Andrew nearly everyday, and hanging out with friends.

Every place and "chapter" of your life has benefits and disappointments. That's just life, I guess. 

A disappointment I have right now, along with missing my family, is that I can't get enough work. I think I blogged about this before. Temping is great and all but I can't be working 1-2 days a week and expect to have the funds to pay loans, bills, rent, and $1000 towards my car. 

UGH.

My car had a birthday. She turned 100,000 miles a couple months ago. This means that it needs serviced. Not just an oil change and tune up - thought it really needs that too- but a timing belt change. That apparently isn't a cheap and easy thing to fix. 

So even though I already spent my paycheck (+) on my bills this week I have to drown myself into my car. BOO!

Praise God for an easy, free fix towards my car though! One of the little lights next to my headlight hasn't been working for a while and the dash light can be pretty annoying. I finally had A look at it yesterday, thinking I'd need to get another bulb. Nope! Just needed to hook the wires up! Thanks Andrew. And thanks, God, for giving me someone so handy :)

So yesterday I decided should be a job search day. It's a pretty well-known fact that I DETEST job searching. My LEAST favorite thing to do in all the world. 

Well, God knows this. And I reminded him of this yesterday morning and begged and pleaded that he would bless my efforts and that he would open doors of opportunity for hygiene work and other work.

GOD IS ALIVE!

... and listening... 

So the dental office I went to said they were going to call me yesterday but I beat them to it! 

I got one day of work.

I know I need much more than 1 random day of work. But let me tell you folks, that's a big deal. It's close to home and it's a full day at an office I like. I think I like, anyway. It's a foot in the door. An OPEN door.

Thanks God.

Then I went to some restaurants and delis and grocery stores to find another job and the first place I went had a sign on the door that they were accepting applications.

Thanks God.

So really... I don't have anything yet, but possibilities are there and I think doors are opening. Which is exciting. Oh! And I got a day of work helping a friend at a..... thing, this weekend! Ha! I don't really know what it is but it's good anyway. :)

Then I thought maybe I could make a couple bucks by selling some stuff on Etsy. I don't actually know if I will or not, but I set up an account. I don't have anything listed yet, but whenever I get around to crafting again I plan to try to sell some things. I guess I'm not too optimistic but you never know!!! 

My etsy name is kingRDHcrafter. I'll let you know when something gets listed.

Well I probably should get my laundry done, office organized, lunch eaten, and supper started! I'm doing my first entertaining tonight in my new apartment. I'm stoked. The grocery bill for supper though, I must say, was outrageous.

Maybe my coupons came in the mail today.

Thanks Michelle. :)

Happy First Day of Summer! Oh... hey.... Happy Baptismal Birthday to me! (&my Hershey loves) I should schedule in a quiet meditation today! 

-bk

And I Thought I Started Rural....

I like maps. I really like Google Maps. Andrew showed  me the great feature of Print Screen. I really like prt sc. This is what happens when two things I really like, come together! In the spirit of a blog (where they use prt sc all the time, i see now) and updating where I'm at these days....

Ambitious Morning

So remember that time I said I was going to do 10 things that day? That was awfully ambitious of me. This is what I said I would do:

1. Decorate a cake for my sister
2. Play with Greta outside
3. Exercise
4. Call Ohio Dental Board
5. Unpack/clean room
6. Job search
7. Pick pictures to print
8. Print Inspiration Album pages
9. Make Greta an apron
10. Check my email/facebook/blogger 10 more times

This is what I actually did:

    1. Decorated a cake for my sister

    2. Checked my email/facebook/blogger 10 more times

Turns out making a cake takes me all day. Here is my photo journey of my first decorated layered cake! I bought a coupler, bag, and a bunch of tips at an Amish store the other weekend and I was quite eager to use them. Now don't be too critical, I know I'm no Lindsey Tolino, or Kim Friesen, but I had fun and enjoyed it. :)

First Greta helped me bake the cakes

Then I put them together

Did the "ever-important" crumb coat

Iced the cake!

smoothed the icing with water

started the nerve-racking decorating

Please don't look too closely!

Probably should've stopped here....

All Done!

My sister has her PhD. She's pretty cool like that. 

Tomorrow is another day off... so hopefully I can get #2-9 done!! haha

Lists

As many of you may know... I LOVE lists. I make at least one every day, but usually more. I realized today that I not only like making lists, but I also love to read lists. Maybe you like lists, too, so I'm going to make some lists here:


A list of....
   1. Things I'll Do Today
   2. Things I've Done Today
   3. Things I Should Do Soon
   4. Things About Me
   5. Things About My Family

  Things I'll Do Today

1. Decorate a cake for my sister
2. Play with Greta outside
3. Exercise
4. Call Ohio Dental Board
5. Unpack/clean room
6. Job search
7. Pick pictures to print
8. Print Inspiration Album pages
9. Make Greta an apron
10. Check my email/facebook/blogger 10 more times

Things I've Done Today (at 10:00)

1. Baked a cake
2. Drove up to Michelle's... twice
3. Checked email/facebook/blogger 4 times
4. Played with Greta inside
5. Searched for cake decorating ideas
6. Brushed my teeth
7. Changed my clothes
8. Licked cake batter off the spoon
9. Taught Greta how to lick cake batter off the spoon (shhh don't tell!)
10. Watched  the elephant song  with Greta

Things I Should Do Soon

1. Make lasagna for a friend
2. Take a shower
3. Make a massage appointment
4. Make an appointment for my car
5. Finish Micah's birthday present (his bday was march 25)
6. Work on my Israel powerpoint
7. Write some letters
8. Charge my cell phone
9. Get new tires for my car
10. More CRAFTS!!!

Things About Me

1. I really enjoy lists
2. I like to organize
3. I love to see/feel/make the change from dirty teeth to clean teeth
4. I am disappointed when my patients don't get as excited as I do when their teeth are clean
5. I have a niece, a nephew, and another nephew on the way!
6. I've been dating my best friend for 3 1/2 years
7. I'm moving to Ohio in May
8. I'm ready for summer to be here
9. I'm ready for football season- there better be one!
10. I love to CRAFT!

Things About My Family

1. We used to all fit in the Buick Century
2. Once my nephew is born, we will have doubled in size... requiring TWO Buick Centuries
3. We used to live in Chester County
4. Now we live in Somerset County... except my sister's family
5. My sister becomes a doctor today (PhD in History)
6. My sister-in-law is a doctor already (of Physical Therapy)
7. My other sister has her Master's Degree.
8. I have TWO associate's degrees. :)
9. My family is Swiss, German, and French.
10. My great grandparents died at a really old age- 100s.