The Schweitzer’s Place

Today we posted a bunch of stuff on Freecycle and craigstlist. That is always an adventure. When you post free it seems that you created a cannonball race like event where the trucks and suburbans are involved. It is fun to watch a truck skid up to the front of the house and 8 people jump out to rummage through the treasure. I don’t know how they fit 8 people in the front of a truck or how they get anything else on the pile of junk already in the back.

At least we got rid of some more unnecessary clutter. There will be more going soon. Before you know it we’ll live in a newlywed, bachelor-pad-like house again. I can’t wait!

Comparing New England to AZ

Another Nor’easter is blasting New England today. I had to dig my car out to get to work. I’ll need to dig myself out again to leave for home and I’ll probably need to dig back in when I get home.

Ya, I probably should have just stayed home like most of the rest of the office, but I had some stuff I needed to get out. It is a little fun to drive in the snow since there are not too many other cars out.

Look at this weather report from my iGoogle home page. That snowman there is just wrong! And to think it is a smiling snowman. I am going to go home today and build a snowman, with all the snow I have to move from my driveway. Then I am going to smack it with my snow shovel. That’ll show it!

OK, so it isn’t that bad, but I did laugh when I saw a snowman on the weather page describing “heavy snow”.

I hope you Tucson folks are enjoying the day. Let me know how long your bike ride was after you soak in the sun this afternoon.

Only two more months till spring…..

We changed our website to a WordPress site. Joomla is awesome and I still use it a lot, but WordPress fits what we do on our personal site much better. What do you think? Now you can comment on our site :)

We are working on migrating our photo gallery now. Check back to see all our super cool photos.

This past weekend was the most beautiful I have experienced since being here in New England. The weather was perfect and the scenery was picturesque. Brad and I decided to take advantage of the weather and go for a little hike. I was excited about the idea until he said those words that I thought were of days long ago…

Every now and again, usually at the onset of a new season, I feel like changing the look of the site. I wanted something simple, yet would reflect the time of year we are in. A season of change. My favorite, especially here in New England. Autumn is the most beautiful time of year. The picture for the banner on the site was actually taken right near our house. The road you see is the road leading to our little neighborhood. It is like many other roads here-reminding us of the beauty of each new season and how living simply doesn’t have to be a thing of the past.

I guess it is time to get the wood working photos back online. Some of these are pretty old, and some are brand new. I have them in an online catalog at my new woodworking site. I’ll see if I can keep them updated and add better descriptions so you can tell what each item is. Of course, that will just take away from my wood working time so I’ll need to find a balance in there some where.

I have a pile of wood in my garage that has been sitting there for over 2 years. It is time for me to turn it into saw dust and see what comes out of it!

It is bright and early as I sit writing this. I am taking a break from moving a bunch of items from upstairs to the downstairs. So, I sit here in a total mess. It is an overwhelming mess. I found the computer where Brad had the site open. I didn’t realize it has been so long since I have written an article or even been to the site. I see Brad added some “fishing reports” section. Whatever. That’s all I can say about his ability to fish and actually catch something.

Today is a day with much going on. The first of which is new flooring is going in upstairs. I am pretty excited because this has been long awaited. When we bought the house, we had decided we would eventually change out the carpet that currently resides. So, today is the day. Brazilian Redwood. Sounds pretty, huh? I will load some pics once it is all finished.

The other big deal about today is it is Brad’s last day at his current job. More on that to come. It is amazing all of the friends he has made and the support he has been given on his way out. We talked just yesterday about how in the teaching profession, those things are far-fetched. In a profession that is under-paid and under-appreciated, one is lucky to get a wave “good-bye” as they leave the school building. I can’t even fathom why the teaching profession is the way it is. How t.v. personalities can get paid as much as they do, but the person who is helping to raise 10-30 of our country’s future EVERYDAY of the week is paid merely peanuts. I guess it is a reflection of what a majority of our country really values-”entertainment”. That is another issue I am feeling annoyed with this morning. Just in the past week, I have seen a television movement taking over my community. T.V’s in automobiles is nothing new, but now they are in the check-out lines in the grocery store and get this-the gas station as I am pumping my gas. Are people really that addicted to t.v? I want to encourage all of you to turn the idiot box off and do any of the infinite amount of things you could be doing that are productive instead of watching and buying into the “entertainment” industry.

During my reading group time with my first graders, I scratched the back of my arm and felt a knot. I had a long-sleeved shirt on, so I reached down the side of my shirt to investigate. I didn’t really know what I was feeling, but knew it was not part of my arm. I know this must be so gross to read. I actually feel sick reliving the moment. I ended up pulling a small deer tick off of me. It was alive, but it didn’t look like it had been feeding. I of course could not freak out in front of my kids even though I wanted to scream. I have pulled them off of the dogs many times since we have moved to New England. Finding them on oneself is a completely different story. They really are totally disgusting little things. So, I am now in the process of monitoring my arm for signs of any disease from that nasty little thing. Gross! Yuck! Eeww! I feel like another is crawling on me. I’m going to take a shower…

A Christian friend and obedient server of Christ that I work with sent me the following link. The link says “kids”, but don’t let that fool you. The short video is thoroughly enjoyable for adults as well. PLEASE pass this link along to the ones you know. It explains everything we need to know about life. Enjoy! 

http://kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html

This past weekend, Brad and I took a trip to New York City. It was a lot of fun and quite easy. I purchased us some Greyhound bus tickets online. If you are ever traveling across states, check out their website for internet deals. I got us roundtrip tickets from Boston to NYC for $38 a piece. It is a great way to travel for many reasons. You don’t have to get aggravated driving, you can sleep, read, or knit on the way, it saves the environment, you don’t have to worry about parking or paying for parking when traveling to big cities, and do I need to mention that it saves you gas money?