A Tiny Bit Early, but........

Happy  New  Year!!!!

Wishing everyone a great New Year's Eve and New Year's!  We'll be geeking on the computer tonight, so pop on the IM (lindenbush513 for AIM) or on WoW!

~Lindsay and Mike

December in Wisconsin....

Going out to battle the snow last Sunday morning:

Yep - that snow.

In December, we have had nearly 31 inches of snow, breaking a previous record.  All in December, my friends.  Winter just started Sunday.  Two words:  ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

On another note, Merry Christmas!  We had a relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Last night we carried on a dinner tradition by getting italian beef from a restaurant in town - authentic Italian Beef.  It was sooooooo good!!  Then this morning, Cory and Penny came over for Christmas breakfast.  Penny works across the street at the hospital in ICU and she had to work 11p - 7a.  So we invited them over.  I made my Bisquick Quiche - another tradition food - and pancakes and cinnamon rolls, and everything was excellent.  P left after a little while, since she was tired from work, and Cory stayed for a bit longer, playing a computer football game with Mike.  Then we've just relaxed and napped today.  

Playing on the computers tonight, who knows what tomorrow (and yes, there's more snow and maybe some freezing drizzle tonight and tomorrow morning...."sigh") and then getting together with Joe and Helen on Saturday.  

Merry Christmas!

~Linds

Getting Ready for Christmas

Monday Morning:

Our New Tree

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dinner =)

America at the PAC

Last night, Mike, Joe, Helen and I went to see America at the Fox Cities PAC.  They always do a great job, but last night they were able to play some of the songs they don't often play at concerts (at least the ones we've seen) including Hollywood, The Border, The Last Unicorn and a few others I don't know the names of.  Also a huge thing was that they announced that Gerry and Dewey would come out and sign autographs afterwards!  They never do that!!  So needless to say, we got to meet them last night.

So I present Gerry and Dewey from America!

Our tickets:

A t-shirt hanging on the computer room door:

It was definitely a great night!

~Linds

I Think We're Set for Winter!

This, my friends, is what 4 face cords (or 1 1/3 cords) of wood looks like at the Diamond residence:

The wood was delivered on Sunday, and it took us around 4 hours to move it from our driveway to the deck in back.  I wish I had taken a picture of the pile before we started moving it, but oh well.  

So now that we have the oil tanks filled, the wood delivered, and we're picking up a snowblower tomorrow with Cory's help, I think we're set for winter!  (I hope!!)

~linds

Brieft Update

Hmm - since it's been a month, I suppose I should update.  It's been pretty quiet around here.

For Mike's birthday on August 1st, we took the bikes over to the lake and biked between Two Rivers and Manitowoc. We did take a little dip in Lake Michigan, but it was cold!  We did happen to stumble across an ice cream shop in Two Rivers where they were doing some filming for Public TV about old-fashioned ice cream parlors and historic towns.  My hands could be in the show removing a sundae from the counter!

Winnebago County 4-H fair was the next weekend.  I was down in Oshkosh on Friday and Saturday, and it was, as always a good time to see old friends and catch up.  There was one accident, but the girl is ok.

Other than that, we've just been hanging out, enjoying the house and the weather.  We had our oil tanks filled up yesterday for the winter, and thankfully it was less than what we thought it was going to be.  Turns out the gauges on our fuel tanks aren't as accurate as we thought:  we had a lot more oil than we thought at the end of winter.  Had we known that the gauges were off, we probably wouldn't have worried as much about it.  So that was a really nice surprise.  =)  We just need to get wood and a wood holder for the fireplace and we should be set for the winter!  Oh, and a snow blower as well.  We don't need to be shoveling a ton of snow again!

Later!

~linds

It's official!  Well, for a week now - we closed on our house last Friday, so we've been proud home owners for a week!  We've been in the house since just before New Years, and we absolutely love it.  Granted, last winter sucked with the intense cold and snow and not having a snow blower, but we're so happy to be out of an apartment and have a place to make home.  We can decorate any way we want, (and believe me, we have ideas!) we can plant flowers and there's no sharing walls!  

~linds

2 Years Ago.....

Mike....

and Lindsay....

..said, "I Do"....

(till one of us croaks!)

Happy anniversary to us!  It's been a wonderful 2 years so far, and I know many more are to come.  =D

@-,--

~linds

Severe Weather Rolls Through!

We literally just had a severe thunderstorm roll through Appleton.  Mike and I were at the Copper Rock coffee house, doing some house planning.  We were ready to go, and as we were leaving we noticed that the sky was getting pretty dark.  We knew there was a chance for severe thunderstorms to roll through today, but this, my friends, was incredible!  We got home and the storm came through about a half hour later.  We're geeking in the computer room and it starts to rain.  Then it's raining harder, coming down at a slight angle with the wind.  The wind picks up, it starts raining harder, and suddenly I realize that it's not just rain coming down, it's hail!  Yes, hail!  It was about marble size hail!  And let me tell you, I haven't seen hail since I was about 12 or 13, and that was in Colorado.  

Now, the pictures!

During the storm out our picture window in front.

After the storm - I don't think those flowers are going to make it.

Thankfully, my lilac bush looks like it's none worse for the wear.  I wish I could have sound on here so you could hear what it sounded like on our roof!

And - more rain is on the way this afternoon!

~linds

June Happenings

Well, let's see.....what's been going on?  We finally have our 3-seasons room usable!  I know I've promised pics to some people, but I want to do a little more organizing out there before I take any.  We moved the futon and two chairs we had (one from dumpster diving!) out there, and we set up my old tv for just watching movies out there if we want.  Last weekend we found a little stereo system to use out there as well.  It has a 5 disc changer, radio and - get this - a cassette player!  Don't see too many of those anymore!  We also have a little table for eating out there if we want.  One of these weekends we're going to get the leaves and branches off the actual deck and set up the little grill we have, though we do need a baby propane tank for it.  

I have a lilac bush!  We planted it Sunday morning on the south side of the house where it will get plenty of sun.  If I remember right, it should bloom more often than the normal lilac bushes do, which will be great, since I LOVE LILACS!!!!  =D  I also have some snap dragons coming up in a little flowerbed to the north side of the driveway.  

This weekend doesn't have too much in store.  We're going out for happy hour Friday night with some friends that Mike works with.  We do this once in a while to let them vent about work and have a good time.  They're a neat group of people, very unique!  Next weekend, actually next Friday the 27th, we'll be headed to Jimmy Sea's, a restaurant on the Fox River in Green Bay, to see The American Nobody, an artist we originally saw in Madison last May.  He plays guitar, but he does looping, so he'll play something, record it, then the machines he has will keep looping it while he adds more.  It's so neat and he's incredible!  Go to his link above to check out his music.  We're guessing our close friends Joe and Helen will come as well.  They came to see him last year when he played.  

Other than that, not much happenin'!  

~Linds 

The Picture Post!

I was in Philadelphia at the end of last week for work.  Lucky for the admin, he is still alive, though my bosses and I would like to hurt him sometimes.  However, on Thursday night, I got the opportunity to take the train into downtown Philadelphia!  Fun!  So, needless to say, I have pictures!  I will also post another picture post with the dumpster diving treasures we've had, including our latest find tonight!

So, for the lady and gentleman who read this, I present, Philadelphia!

First up, Chinatown!  This was right outside the train station, and when I should have turned right, I looked left and saw this and had to take a picture. =)

Independence Hall!  That's right, folks!  If you look close enough, you can see Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha (aka Ben, Abigail and Riley) in the bell tower!  I was so excited to see it!

The Liberty Bell!  Unfortunately, I was there after closing, so this was as close as I could get.  But still!!!  The Liberty Bell!!!

Ever wonder where all your spare change is made?  Here's one place!

And this is just some really cool art on the side of a building.  =)

It was pretty neat to see the places where the good ole US of A came into existence!  (Thankfully, I never saw Sean Bean (aka, Ian) running around!)

See ya in the next post!

~linds

Garbage Treasures

As some know, I love to go dumpster diving - the fine art of keeping an eye out when it's garbage day for someone else's garbage that can become my treasure, as well as checking out thrift shops, Good Will, and the like for great deals.  I've scores some cool things.  

Well, since we've moved into the house, I've had some great finds.  (I plan on posting some pics after I can take them, hopefully tomorrow after work.)  We got our futon for free.  When we were still at the apartment, a guy was moving out after only a year in there and had barely used his futon.  Unfortunately, he had already tossed the mattress into the dumpster, but the frame was in excellent shape.  I also got a small desk lamp from him as well.   The mattress we got when we were leaving for work one morning, still at the apartment, and I happen to see a young couple putting their frame in the dumpster.  I got out and asked them if they still had the mattress, and if they did, could they hold it for us until after work?  Guess what, they did!

More recent finds?  A "rocking" chair (I put it in quotes because it's not the typical chair, but you'll see that in the pics) for the three-seasons room, a plant stand, some garden tools and planters, and a wrought iron table with a mosaic top.  The top is broken, but all the more opportunity for me to put something really cool in there.  

Then there's tonight's find.  On the way home from getting our lawn mower (which was purchased from someone at work for quite cheap!) we noticed that there was garbage out.  Time to go diving!  Right down the street from the lawn mower was a guy who was having his garage floor and driveway redone.  So he had to clean out his garage.  He had a really cool shelving unit out for sale, which I would have loved to have bought but didn't have the money for.  I did get some S-hooks to use for hanging things out on the porch this summer.  As we made our way towards the house, we hit one particular street that had a great little cabinet for the bathroom!  Just needs a little cleaning up with a wet cloth, and we're good!  No scratches, no dents, no gouges, nothing!  SCORE!!!!!!

I'll take some pics tomorrow night of some of my finds and figure out how to post them on here.

Happy diving!

~linds

This and that....

I think spring is here. The temps have been slowly but surely warming up.  I do believe Mike and I will be able to get out for bike rides this week!  Hurrah!  We did open the front door and the dining room window today.  And, even though I could not get to sleep last night and got maybe 4.5 or 5 hours of sleep, we rearranged a few pieces of furniture and it's amazing the difference it made!  In the house, we have a lot of built-ins, including a huge one in the bedroom, thus eliminating the need for my dressers which I repainted about 3 years ago.  They look like they could be from Pottery Barn or the like.  So I was a little bummed about that when we moved in, but believe me, I'm not complaining!  Anyway, we had originally decided to use the taller, 4 drawer dresser to hold our dvds and movies, while the longer, shorter, 6 drawer one could be used in the dining room as a buffet or something.  The tv was sitting on a small unit I got from a gal I used to work with, and Bonk (my parakeet) was on something I got dumpster diving, a fave hobby of mine.  I had the idea to switch a few pieces around:  the long dresser would now serve as the "entertainment unit" if you will, with the tv, dvd player and DVR units on top and the movies in the drawers.  The tall dresser that had formerly housed the movies would be moved into the kitchen to serve as......well, I'm not sure what, but whatever.  The old entertainment unit was moved to the corner where the tall dresser was, Bonk was moved to that, and his old table was moved in front of the window with a few of my model horses and our iPod Hi-Fi sitting on it.  Move a couple pieces of art around and voila!  The living room looks completely different and completely put together!  I'll have to take a couple of pictures when I get the little things picked up and post them.  I couldn't believe the difference moving a few pieces around made!

In other news...... I'll probably be going to Philadelphia over my birthday next week - hurrah.  Please note the gigantic amount of sarcasm with that exclamation.  More on that as I get details - yeah, I don't know much about that yet.  On the plus side, my birthday is next Tuesday!  Yay!!!  There really isn't a whole lot else going on.  

Any questions?  Post them or email me!  In the meantime, I think I'm going to get into bed a little early to make up for the severe lack of sleep from last night.  Here's hoping for a good 7 or 8 hours of sleep!

~linds

What was the forecast?

Just when I think spring has arrived in northeast Wisconsin, having had some gloriously warm days where Mike and I are able to get out for bike rides, the forecast for next week holds mid to upper 40s for the highs with chances of rain and snow showers.  Say what?  We can't go back!  The snow is completely gone, the grass is turning green or is already there, we've actually purchased (or found while dumpster diving!) garden tools and rakes.  We're searching for a used lawn mower to hold us over till we can afford a new(er) one.  Snow showers?  I say nay nay!

~Linds

A New Blog

I've made the jump to Blogger!  After seeing Cole's blog with Blogger and not using LiveJournal for ages, I've decided to come over here and try it out!  I'll try to be better at posting on here.  As I take more time to play with Blogger, I'll add more elements.  But for now, here I am, Blogger!

Cheers!

~Linds