blogging done for now

hello to everyone who reads my blog

as you probably know I haven't written for a while and I don't really plan on writing anymore blogs. I enjoy facebook a lot more, it is a lot easier to put up pictures and such. So good bye, this blog was fun but I have only one friend that still writes blogs so it is not very condusive to good conversation...thanks for reading!
Jessica

Branson Trip

So this weekend was Steven and I's much anticipated road trip to Branson Missouri. It was a four hour drive straight south and on the way we stopped off to go to "crystal cave" similar to the other cave we went to in May, but this one was more on the primitive side. It was discovered in the early 1800's and not much has changed since the 1930's except for the lighting. We got a tour from a 91 year old gentlemen who took us with a few other couples and a big mennonite family. There was an old native american graveyard inside and some carved symbols on the walls from them as well. Pretty crazy how old that cave is. After that we went to Branson a town of 6'000 people - but astonishingly it was freakishly packed with tourists so that it was faster to walk than to take a vehicle....I thought that when people told me that Branson's traffic was bad they were just being extreme, but I have never been in traffic that bad that started early in the morning and ended at about midnight. It was crazy. I would compare it to New York (from what I have seen in the movies.) I think that the traffic could make it or break it for people visiting Branson. Thank goodness for our GPS that saved us many times and we found back roads that we never would have found if it wasn't for our navigation tool. ANYWAY, we went to a ventriloquism / magic show (very cool), ate at a diner where all the waiters and waitresses sang to you (some of them were even final contestants on american idol!) and went to a hollywood wax museum. We also went to the historic railway and boat landing on the river. We walked through "historic branson" and it was really enjoyable. Steven had crab for the first time (or at least he doesn't remember eating it before) at "Joe's Crab shack." On sunday we were invited by Brook and Scott from our church to join them at their parent's lake house. So we went boating, tubing, and swimming, and had a really nice time with them. Swimming in lakes down here is wonderful! The water is SOOO WARM! Like a nice bath! The funniest part about that day though was this dog named "gary" which was funny from the start, but he was about 5 pounds, 8 months and full grown. He had an underbite and a lion-looking face, but just this scrawny little thing, and he was always in trouble which was funnier because people were yelling "Gary! Stop that! Gary! Get outta here!" And he was such a trouble maker too. So it was all day long. And if you haven't figured it out yet, Gary is my dad's name, so that's why I found it so funny. Anyway, here are some pictures from our weekend, and the dog in the pictures is Gary. Pretty funny looking dog. (or rat some would say) So the weekend was a lot of fun and definitly worth the trip!

Removing shoes before entering house = VERY WEIRD

Although not as embarrassing as before(e.i. communion story), this is another embarrassing church story. So last week at church there was a women who had severly broken her arm horsebackriding. Our pastor Eric announced that it would be extremely difficult for her this week to be making supper so if people wanted to donate their time and make her supper, he was sure she would appreciate this. So I decided that I would help and make her some supper. Soooo. That week after preparing a crock pot roast for Sarah and her teenage daughter, Steven and I drove to a gorgeous acreage log cabiny type house. Sarah anserwed the door and so we stepped in and removed our shoes. Well Sarah thought this was really strange and not wanting to be rude we explained to her that we were Canadian, this is something that Canadians do that American's obviously don't. She was quite shocked and kept asking us questions about why and how. Anyway, we had a little visit at her house and then went home. At church yesterday Pastor Eric thanked a particular couple for bringing Sarah and her family a supper, and didn't mention Steven and I which was fine when all of a sudden from behind us we hear: "And Steven and Jessica brought us a lovely roast!.....(she pauses)....and they took off their shoes before they came in!" Everyone is kind of silent because this isn't exactly something that is funny, more like strange for these americans. So then she goes "They're Canadian! and they take their shoes off!" And still everybody is quite silent because this still doesn't really explain why us Canadians take our shoes off, it kind of just made us look like weird fanatical shoe removal freaks. So then Pastor Eric asks rather suddenly..."so are their shoes still there?" (Scattered chuckles from around the congregation...) Then Pastor Eric says, "Thanks Steven and Jessica for coming all the way from Canada to deliver supper for Sarah" The church kind of laughed... We said "no problem." And then the church service kind of went on as usual.....but I still feel pretty weird. So, it doesn't sound all that embarrassing....but trust me, my face was red.

Soooooo, nothing much new to post, I'm pretty much just writing out of boredom.

So Steven and I finished our two trips back to Edmonton this summer. It was really nice and sometimes I really don't know what we are doing in kansas city at all.....everyone we care about lives in edmonton. I hate to complain ... but I'm not doing so well right now. Not that happy to be down here really. Other than that tonight I have an awkward situation that I must deal with. So. Here it is: One lady from Steven's coworkers wives invited Steve and I to taco dinner and uno playing with some olympic watching I'm sure. The trouble is I just got a phone call from another one of the wives who was clearly not invited to taco and uno night, and invited Steven and I to a movie. I hate it when I'm the one who has to deal with other people not inviting eachother to whatever.

It has been really nice weather down here. Not too hot at all, and not really even that humid can you believe it! I almost cannot since it has been unbearable since May. It makes me really excited and I have been outside a lot more now.

I went to the pet store yesterday out of boredom to visit some puppies. Steven and I have discussed it and we cannot have any pets while we live in this tiny apartment and also while we don't live in Edmonton. (For various traveling and other reasons.) But I saw some "Morkies" (Yorkshire Terriers and Maltese crosses) a Dashund, a "Bichi-poo" (Bichon Fries and Poodle) ...that thing was the cutest most fluffiest thing you ever saw. Also a shetland sheepdog puppy and two Puggles! Puggles are apparently "designer dogs" meaning you specifically mix (in this case) one beagle and one pug to make a litter of puggles! There are no puggles making puggles I guess, this is a rule for some reason. Puggles are ridiculously cute! wow. I will have to keep them high on my list for particular dog breeds that I like.

So anyway, that is a puggle for your information. Try to control yourself before you call up the nearest breeder and arrange a similarily adorable creature to be yours.

I wish I could have a dog....someday though that would be nice.

Anyway, I got nothin. Hopefully I can get back into blogging....

Cariboo not accepted here....

So I decided to do some laundry in the basment of the apartment. It is a coin operated laundry machine. I looked through my quarters and found that I was short one american quarter. I was debating going to the store to get change when I had a genious idea! Why not use some of my Canadian quarters that were currently collecting dust? (We found that through all the sorting and moving in, we found some Canadian change that adds up to about $9) So I brought all my laundry downstairs (a load of whites) and put it in the laundry machine with a dash of bleach and put the quarters (and the one Canadian quarter) in their respected slots. Well that did not go over so well. After jamming it up and trying several times to just try to "slam through it"....I realized I wasn't getting anywhere. So.....I took all my laundry out and had to bring it to the laundromat. By the time I washed it the bleach had destroyed our duvet cover, and left some marks on a swim suit, and my favorite capris.

I attempted this quarter exchange last week, yesterday I checked on the washing machine and it had a sign that said :

"Washing machine broken... (coins jammed)"

Well I am certainly not going to complain about the broken washing machine. The brutal part is that the people who run these buildings know that Steven and I moved here from Canada and if I was to complain it would be too easy for them to put 2 and 2 together......

So I have to do my business (laundry business anyway) at the laundromat now....and I don't try to slip any Canadian Cariboo quarters in anymore... I learned my lesson.

Happy Friday!

This is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding besides some of the ones with Steve of course! Nobody looks bad, everyone looks good!

So today is friday. Fridays are pretty sweet.....even when I had to work them they were good, and now they couldn't be any better! Steven and I try to do something new and exciting on the weekends and I don't know what exactly we will do, but I know it is going to be fun! Last weekend we went to the waterpark.....during this week we went to another waterpark. Maybe this weekend will also have another waterpark visit. It really beats the heat like nothing else. Anyway. I'm just excited. Weekends are the best. Steven and I bought two season passes to a place called "Union Station." It is an old train station that has been restored beautifully and has a space and science type center, an Imax screen, a planetarium screen, (the dome type screens), restaurants which we now have a discount for, gift shops, and other tours. So we think we will watch a 3-D movie about the ocean. I can't wait. Should be crazy! Other than that, there are so many fun things to do around here! I'm not feeling as homesick lately because I know that I am going back soon enough.

p.s. 12 more days till I'm back in Edmonton!

UPDATE. This is the latest Jessica and Steven news.

It is hot here. Seriously. Everyday I go outside and I just think "what the heck." The people here say that August is a horrible month. Apparently you just don't go outside. It's just so hot.

hmmmmmmmm. Sounds a little like Edmonton in January. With reverse temperatures of course.

Anyway. The past events of this week have been this:

Last tuesday (June 3rd) : A birthday celebration in the morning for two of the women who came down from Canada with us all. Cupcakes and coffee were on the menu.
-Later on that evening a crazy storm hit us with wind, rain, and hail. It hails here pretty much once a week. People get golfball size hail and never have I seen so many dented vehicles from hail. (This storm happened during our small group time.)

I can barely remember the rest of the week at all actually....
oh yes. Thursday. I went to the zoo with Shauna. It was so hot. Not only was I a sweaty mess, but I drank 3 big water bottles full of water. So I also went to the bathroom 4 times in the span of 2 1/2 hours. Next time I go to the zoo, I go in the morning. We didn't see to many of the animals, I guess they didn't want to be outside either.

Friday Steven, Tim, Shauna, and I all went to a Chinese place called Blue Koi. No Chinese people were working there at all.....But then again we aren't in Edmonton. I have noticed that I rarely see oriental people or middle eastern people here at all. Edmonton is more culturally diverse.

Saturday Steven and I went to see the Chiefs practice, kind of a rally for the fans. That was fun. Then we went to an outdoor waterpark in Independance. We put on lots of sunscreen so we weren't burnt. Then we were really tired and went home and watched a movie. It started raining and hailing again. Good grief. It's too bad we have no place to park our car inside!

Sunday was church, and then Steven and I cleaned the apartment, organized and went through everything we brought down and threw a few things out. We also discovered a few things we wished we wouldn't have brought down and have decided to give it away to Good Will or whatever they have down here. This apartment is small. Which in a way is good. Because we can only bring back what can fit in the Cavalier anyway! At the end of the day, (surprise) a storm with crazy lighting, thunder, and rain came, but no hail this time.

I have the countdown to come back to Edmonton on. 15 days now. Can't wait! That means 19 days till Amy and Aaron's wedding! Woe. That is crazy. I bought a dress yesterday at Target! So I am ready to go!

Homesick right now.

Hey all! I haven't been up to much lately. I booked my flight back to Edmonton at the end of June so that is exciting. It is really hot here today. 30 degrees and humid. But it is not that enjoyable when you have no one to enjoy the heat with (during the day.) Although we haven't been alone for long as Dirk and Bea left on Tuesday morning this week. I was pretty sad about that. We did many touristy things with them and had a lot of fun discovering Missouri. I am a official tour guide of Missouri if anyone ever wants to come down! I know the best places to go! You will never be bored.

Yesterday I went to Shauna's apartment's pool. Shauna is a girlfriend to one of Steven's coworkers. It was nice and warm yesterday too. We just swam for a bit and read books and magazines when we weren't in the pool.

I have been really wanting a job lately (weird). I always find that summer is a very motivating time for me to want to work strangely enough. I guess the heat never gets to the extreme like it does here where it actually debilitates you from wanting to do anything. I just want to be home right now, even though there is no such thing as home right now. I feel comfortable here enough because all of my things are here and I have my own space, and I know that I don't have that in Edmonton. Steven and I both have been quite homesick since his parents have left.

So the weather is calling for some pretty extreme weather. Tornado warnings and type weather are being called for all regions swooping south under missouri to the east and north east of missouri. (That is what I watched on good morning America this morning.) If you want to watch what I watched, go to this page and watch the video.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/Weather/wireStory?id=4961421

This web site gave an interesting fact, and maybe a little bit of a scary fact: "With the year not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service. Also, this year's storms seem to be unusually powerful."(http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4941803)

Soooo, weather is a little scary today with the super hot day today and the intense storms predicted for tonight and the tornado warnings sweeping the mid-west. We were going to go to a baseball game tonight but I think that we are not going to be doing that anymore!

Back to the Blog

Sorry for the delay! I really don't have an excuse!

Soooo, nothing really all that interesting or blog worthy has really come up and so there isn't much to write about. On friday it was "girls night out" and us ladies went to the "power and light district" down town. It was pretty fun but rediculously expensive. On saturday Steven and I went to "First Watch" (you will see a lot of these if you come down here) they are breakfast brunch and lunch restaurants and they don't serve supper. then we went to "Ace-West Hardware" and on a wim added a new member to our family! An impatient that is going to be our new windowsil plant! Well, it was full of flowers too many to count and so we lovingly bought it some fertilizer sticks for indoor/ outdoor plants. We asked the worker about what would be a good plant for inside and 3 hours of sun and this is what he suggested. Well. That guy I just don't know about him. Because 24 hours after owning this plant all of the flowers have fallen off and it looks wilted and so sad. I think that I have the opposite of a green thumb. Even when I try, I still end up killing plants.

So the first picture at the top of this blog is what impatients are supposed to look like and what our plant looked like when we first bought it. Then somehow we destroyed it. Possible reasons it is doing so poorly is that we put in the fertilizer sticks right after we got it. But the fertilizer stick package recommended that we pout 4 of the sticks in our flower pot. Well, we decided to put only one in and break it into 4 pieces....because I was very wary of the fertilizer sticks.....I don't know, maybe they are the culprite.

2nd thing that we might have done wrong is that we set it right next the window....I don't know why that would be bad. But it has almost kicked the bucket and we are concerned parents!

We have done no over watering what-so-ever! It was very moist when we got it and stayed that way until the next day. So I watered it a day after that even though it was still wet.

The container has holes in it at the bottom so it can drain....

I don't know. But it looked so nice on saturday and now it doesn't! This impatient needs your help! Post a comment for your expert advice on this (apparently) indoor and outdoor plant. Because otherwise the life of a helpless impatient plant will be forever gone! Not to mention this gardener's confidence will be shattered....

Bruno!

This is the dog that we were dogsitting! He is very funny but not very nice to people he doesn't know....I promise I will write a longer post later but today I don't really have time!

A fraudulent scheme and a rat to redeem....

Last night Steven and I scoured the internet searching for pets that wouldn't require as much responsibility as a dog. I have been really wanting a dog since we got here, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense with all the travelling that we need and want to do. A cat would be the perfect fit considering their independance and their need for attention being much less than a dog. Except that my whole entire family is allergic to cats and to have them over to our house would require them to be on allergy medication....making them not feel good or like themselves.

The pets we looked at (and laughed at) were birds and rodents.....we first looked at parrots, and then doves, a canary, and even a pigeon! (coo coo coo!) Then we were looking at guinea pigs, hamsters, and ..........RATS???? What???? Here in the states you can own rats as pets??!!! Oh yes you can! And they are extremely intelligent! Apparently, according to Wikipedia and other information on-line, you can train a rat to come when it is called, do tricks, and be litter trained! Apparently it is common to have pet rats that do not bite you and so you can sit and cuddle with them! (lol) So, Steven looks at me with this totally interested face...and I was a little shocked because I know what he is thinking! He wants a rat!

Apparently they are sanitary because they are domesticated and looked after. They are bred in clean sanitary conditions and are not picked up off the street or anything. The wild rats are different than these pet rats (according to Wikipedia) So they get their shots just like dogs and cats do! You still keep them in a cage and bring them out to run in their ball and hold them just like you would treat a hamster....except that they come when they are called! (how cool is that??!!) I am thinking I would like to have a canary.....I'm not totally sold on the rat idea, not totally against it either. But we would have to sneak that rat into Alberta! We would have an illegal pet! Sounds kind of on the dangerous side......

Your thoughts on this matter would be appreciated!

Confusing Communion in a Strange Denomination!

A long long time ago (yesterday ) in a land far far away (Kansas City) two seasoned experts on the practises of Communion entered into a strange denomination of which communion is only a shadow of the CRC.....

Ok, so yesterday was sunday and that time of the month....(no not that) It was communion at church! SO....

SCENES FROM LAST SUNDAY:

Narrator: The Pastor's wife introduced herself to Jessica and Steven after church and learned about their situation. She was interested about the fact that they had been married a mere 3 weeks at that point and was curious to know more about us. She then asked....

Pastor's Wife (Giovanni): So did you go to any other church's since you have been here?
Steven: I went before Jess came to a Luthuren Church.
Pastor's Wife (Giovanni): Oh, how did you like it?
Steven: Well it was ok, it was a little weird, the Pastor sang the litergy and the whole congregation all drank out of the same communion cup.
Pastor's Wife (Giovanni): Oh, Ok, (laughing) so you didn't like that.....
Steven: I didn't do communion because it was a little too weird for me at the time...
Narrator: Steven, Jessica and the Pastor's wife continued to talk and it was a friendly conversation indeed.

THIS WEEK AT THE SUNDAY SERVICE:

Narrator: Steven and Jessica enter the church and converse with members of the congregation. Topics such as bible Study, babies, Kansas City University winning their previous game- (college basketball) were all discussed. After the congregation sits down and the service begins....Steven and I notice something at the front......something on a table.....something I hadn't done since I was in Edmonton....something looked a little off.....Could it be.....no wait.....it couldn't! BUT IT WAS!

A Half Loaf of Bread and a SINGLE CUP OF GRAPE JUICE adorned the table for COMMUNION!

Steven looked at me....and I looked at him....it was pretty obvious. This communion was going to be a weird one.

Steven just couldn't believe that he had said all those opinions about communion at last weeks service without experiencing communion here first.

So the worship starts and then ends (it was lovely) and the sermon begins and finishes off (very powerful....meaningful...) and then it started. Communion. And I have done Communion many times....but never like this. I was very concerned I was going to get sick! What if I got a cold sore! So then the Pastor organizes people to stand around the table at about 8 at one time.....Steven and I happened to be in one of the front rows....so we went first with a few other people. So they passed the loaf around and you were supposed to rip off a piece. So we did that. We were very much concentrating on the bread and passing it around when to my surprise I saw the big silver cup of juice coming my way! I quickly downed the bread and Steven did as well....we both looked at eachother and I took the cup in my hands, raised it to my lips and took a sip....and Steven gave me this nervous awkward look and took a sip as well.....wWell, when we passed it to the next person they

dipped
their
bread
in
the
juice
HOW EMBARRASSING! Yeah, so we were the only ones to sip the juice (we had no bread left to dip anyway) and everyone else very sanitarily dipped the bread in and then ate it........we walked back to our seats and Steven could not stop laughing. He was shaking our bench! He just could not stop thinking about the fact that we sipped out of that cup and that everyone else had dipped the bread! We poisoned everyone with our germs! We also were laughing that we were the crazy Canadians who thought that this possibly wasn't a communion but a lunch and left the communion table full of bread and juice mustaches around our mouths like children....

Nobody mentioned it to us afterward....but we were still laughing about it after the service....I guess I'm going to watch and listen more closely the next time I'm in a strange church and communion begins in a strange way....

Honeymoon pictures

The honeymoon was really really fun and relaxing! We went skiing, dogsledding, shopping, had a fondue dinner and even went to a dinner theater! Very memorable time!

Good Evening to you all

Hello! Today I made Steven lunch, (this is a recurrent request from him) and I really don't mind making him lunch as long as he is patient if I'm late to meet him at his work. After the lunch with the rest of his co-workers, Christina and I (another wife) decided to walk "Truffles" (their dog) and pick up some stuff for the home at Target. It was my first time at Target, and I was quite overwhelmed (It was a super-target, not that different from a super-walmart.) Except it looked a little like a department store. They had 33 tills with about only 5 cashiers available to serve us. It had a pizza hut, starbucks, and another restaurant that I cannot remember. (CRAZY BIG!) Anyway, we had some delicious starbucks and I had a Cinnamon Dolce Latte, thought you might want to know! (It was abnormally platable! (acceptable or agreeable to the palate or taste; savory: "palatable food.") So maybe that latte wasn't savory per say but it was a tasty treat..tasty enough to get recognition in a blog! Ok, ANYWAY, we shopped around this extravagantly large and profusely vast target for a few hours....and I picked out some really nice dish sets and the cutest glass pitcher, I just had to get it! Yup, Target is an interesting place.

Steven and I both have been asked why in the world we would move to Kansas City, coming from Canada. The people just say, "what? isn't that place supposed to be so much better than here??" One lady even asked why in the world Kansas City.....I have yet to quite understand these comments....Kansas City is not the greatest place I have personally ever been to....but it is so much different from home. It really isn't that bad. But I will give everyone more of an opinion once I have been here longer than 2 weeks.....considering I have only been here for a mere week and 3 days....oh dear....I'm starting to miss home....not the weather....just the people.

So on that sad note.....

Aloha.....which means hello and good-bye! which means apsolutly nothing.

p.s. Steven and I are a few blocks away from 2 liquor stores.....which are the same chain under the same name. "Berbiglia" Isn't that a crazy name??? It is spelt how you say it. Whenever we talk about Berbiglia we often say it several times because the name is so strange! Berbiglia Berbiglia Berbiglia..........Berbiglia Berbiglia Berbiglia..........Berbiglia Berbiglia Berbiglia..........ok I'll stop!

oh good grief!

This is a picture from my bachelorette with all the cousins! Thought I would throw that in here with the rest of my random post!

Read what I accidentally almost posted on someone's wall. If you read it carefully, it makes me sound so crazy!

"Yeah, school is all done and I graduated from Grant MacEwan from the Social Work program. I worked after school till I got married in a group home and now I technically can't work here at all! "

It makes it sound like I got married in a group home, and not only that I got married in a group home, but because I did, I cannot work in the States! So there is some mixed up thought process! Good thing I read that before I sent that out! When I read it after I wrote it I burst out laughing! How embarrassing! I will be asked if I had the ceremony in a group home, and what kind of a person would do that anyway? So strange. So there is a mistake for you to laugh at!

Today Steven and I had lunch, I made him a lunch and brought it over to him. It was pretty tasty and Steven ate whole wheat brown bread! I was pretty excited about that. Although the bread here is considerably sweeter here than in Canada, it is something that I keep noticing.

Also, the drivers are so angry all the time! Everybody honks at eachother, and it's not like Canada, people here honk ALL the time for anything! driving too close, not moving exactly when the light is green, all that kind of stuff. Makes me a very scared pedestrian. Although I wouldn't compare it to the Carribean countries who just honk their horn for honking sake, the people here are actually pissed!

So two American insights for the day. The bread here is made with more sugar, and the drivers are considerably more angry than in Edmonton.

So Relieved

I am so glad that the wedding is over. Seriously that was one of the most stressful things that I have ever done and I guess now that it is over I am much more happier! I enjoyed the day, (the beginning of the ceremony I was feeling extremelely nervous) but it got easier and easier after that. Maybe that is why I don't mind being here, because it is such a relief after planning for that day for so long! (Well it seemed like a long time!)
This past weekend we rented a truck and spent all day saturday furniture shopping at the most amazing furniture store ever. Nebraska Furniture is just phenomenal! Very cheap prices for things that are cheap and then they also have some really nice stuff as well that is priced appropriately. The store is honestly twice the size of Ikea easily. They have really nice stuff for interior decorating as well. Steven and I picked out a small kitchen table and 4 chair set, a computer desk, a dresser with a mirror, and a toaster! One of Steven's coworkers, Tim, agreed to help us move this stuff up the three flights of stairs to our floor. Another one of Steven's coworkers, Eric, gave us a couch so we moved it on saturday as well to our apartment with Tim's help again. (I totally could not have moved the dresser or the computer desk up all those stairs! So I am really thankful that he did this for us.) Right now our apartment is coming out of dissarray from the do it yourself assembly that took place all day yesterday by mostly Steven. The only thing we did not complete was putting the mirror on the dresser - definitly not as big of a priority as the kitchen table and chairs! We went to "Lowes" which is set up very similar to Home Depot, and we bought some hampers (thank you Joni!)...no dryer balls yet, some appliances, (electric frying pan, waffle maker, blender, sorry christine, no sandwich maker yet!) and some basic cleaning and organizational supplies. We needed two carts in the store and it was nice that we could make use of our truck again! We plan on buying a vehicle hopefully in the next two weeks. Things are coming together and having my own place with my own stuff feels wonderful!
Easter was nice, we went to the Good Friday Service at the "Revolution" church and it was nice, and the Easter morning Service on Sunday went really nice as well. We signed ourselves up for a small group on tuesday nights so hopefully that works out well. The church had hidden 99 Easter eggs around the sanctuary and the kids had to find them during the greeting, it was pretty funny.
Today I have to return the truck :( and do laundry using our new laundry baskets! Thanks again Joni!

p.s. I bought the nicest shower curtain! Makes this place look like a classy establishment!

p.p.s. Can you tell I am sooooo pumped about all the new stuff I just bought! And there is still so much more stuff that we need still! Shopping is sooooo much fun when you have money to spend and things you need!

In Kansas City

Here we are in Kansas City. I'm sitting in my apartment, sitting on the only piece of furniture that we currently own besides the bed. One folding chair. At least it has a slim piece of padding. I am typing on an upside down cardboard box. The monitor is set upon a tupperware container. Unfortunatly all of our media is crammed into one corner because this house was built a thousand years ago and has a very limited supply of outlets and only one cable outlet. The telephone also has to be in this very corner. The sun is hot down here let me tell you. It is a balmy 19 degrees Celcius outside right now. I walked outside without a jacket - just a t-shirt. I have all the windows open letting the fresh heavenly breeze flow into this desolate apartment that looks incredibly cheery from all the sunshine. I have to close the blinds otherwise it gets way too hot. Also with the heavenly breeze comes traffic noise, construction noise, and children playing from the nearby school. So it's a little noisy, but not a big deal. I walked to meet Steven for lunch(......YUM!) At his work and ordered some food from the restaurant downstairs. As we walk in the guy behind the counter calls out "Hey Mr. Steve!" Steve explains to me that this guys knows everyone who eats at his place by name. He says "This must be your new wife!" Steve introduces me as "Jess." Behind us are two women waiting in line. They give us a wave and Steven introduces them as the ladies from the bank downstairs. "This is Gina and Susan" He introduces me as "Jess", and they give me a friendly smile and a "Haah Jess, come on over and we will include you with Steve's account." (I guess we are on an short version of our first name basis here.) Our food is ready and the guy who owns the place calls out "Mr. and Mrs. Jessica!" We laugh and I feel like I'm in some quaint small town when really I am at the bottom of a 15 floor office building encompassing multiple different businesses, and the tallest building till you get near down town.....Which is like Capilano to downtown Edmonton.

Anyway, there were a few more conversations, one involving poutine and how in the states you can't order those cheese curds....it went over my head because I don't eat poutine that much. I'm not too eager to gain the 15 pounds associated with marriage that quickly. Anyway, tomorrow I have great plans! One of the wives who came from Canada invited me for some yoga at her house - she lives about a 35 minute drive away, but she is offering to drive so that makes it just perfect. I suggested we go to JCPenny....I cannot wait. Now I can actually start buying things for the home! Starting tomorrow. OH! And tomorrow is Good friday and that will be nice because I am really looking forward to attending the church that Steve has been going to. Haven't gone to church in 2 weeks so this should be good.

Have a good one, aaaaaaaah, I am just enjoying this heavenly breeze and this rediculous place where everything is cheaper and everyone talks weird.

A very fun night!

Last night was my bachelorette party! It was very fun! The night started out with toboganning and stern warnings from our mothers to be careful on the most deadly hill in edmonton....the last time my cousins and I had been there, a girl had an accident and had to have re-contructive face surgery! So needless to say, this hill is steep, and has bumps that will send you flying! The best sled was one that had a smooth plastic side and a layer of foam - perfect for the bumps big and small as you go down! (Many were lamenting this morning of sore bums.) That was very fun. Then we headed out to a hotel where we proceeded on with our merry little party. It was very fun, we had alot of games that we played. Then we all got separated at mid night by a security guard. Apparently we were being too loud. Then a devastating phone call with the threat of eviction! We all kept it down after that....but it was pretty funny. A pretty memorable night too! Thanks to Penny, Eva, and Christine, and all the others who made it so much fun!

a time to be silent, and a time to blog.

Almost nothing has changed since my last post. But every single day I feel closer to the finish line. You know how at the very end of a race you feel motivated to go a little bit faster? I will be surprised if I don't run down the ailse, dragging my dad behind me, "Come on Dad, only 4 more meters!" The finish line is definitly in sight now. I have been delegating tasks and it has helped in de-stressing myself. Thank you so much for everyone who has agreed to help me! It means so much! Lately I wake up in the morning motivated to do something - anything. I just feel on-edge. I have been going swimming, but it's most definitly not for the goal of fitness, although that will be a bonus. I just need to get stressfull energy out of me and swimming seems to help, and it is especially nice in this disgustingly cold weather to be able to sit in the hot tub after a good swim. I did 28 lengths yesterday, which is nothing compared to Oma and Opa's daily quota of 60 lengths but I'm getting there. So to say the least (as of this week) I have been feeling a little bit of stress. The sleep is a little more troubled and I am really done with not having Steve around. He comes back in less than three weeks, and less than 4 weeks till the wedding day. And then peace. And then we will go to Banff and have so much fun, have a little get together with the fam before we leave and then head out on a one way ticket to Kansas City!

woops

sorry everyone. I totally forgot about my blog! It's kind of unreal. Steven left at the very beginning of January and on friday it will already be Feb.1st. He seems to be enjoying his time in Kansas City. He often talks about the apartment that he found for us to rent (built in 1940!!...sooooo old!) and the cleanliness of the streets. Sometimes he will brag that it is a balmy +17 degrees celcius there.....while we are suffering in -44 degrees celcius frigid weather. I just don't know exactly what to think of Kansas City. Mostly I am excited because it sounds like a cool place, but it is REALLY REALLY far from home. So it's hard to imagine a life down there with friends.....but I guess it will come eventually. These days I just plan the wedding. That is the main reason that there have been hardly any blogs. I average about 2 wedding things per day and my "to do" list is down to 3/4 of a page. Some of the things on the list are easy, like calling people and asking them to do stuff for me, and other things are slightly more difficult such as, well, nothing is really that difficult at all, it is just sitting down and doing it. So I guess some things are lengthy chores and some are relatively shorter and easier. Lots of people are offering to help, and just having the knowledge that people are willing to help makes it easier to deal with. For the most part I actually really enjoy doing all this wedding planning. I think I would much rather be the one making all these decisions than someone else. (I always thought I would hate planning a wedding, turns out it's really not that bad.) And on the wedding day I will have done it mostly myself, which will make me proud. So that is what is going on in my life. Mostly just wedding stuff....and without steven it is hard to write posts because all my life consists of is the group home and the wedding planning....which can get boring. So anyway, I will try to write later, until then, bye bye!