Wednesday, July 01, 2009

2 Cheers for Southwest Airlines

I booked a ticket from Southwest Airlines about a week ago. I was headed to Clarksville to pick up the Trailblazer and trailer. At the time we made these plans my dad said he could bring the truck and trailer up the next Saturday. We needed it before then so I said I'd just fly down and get it.
Last Friday my dad was laid off from work. Very sad for him to have to start the job search all over again, but he seems to be up for the challenge and is looking at it as a blessing in disguise. **So if you know of any job openings for an electrician in the Nashville/Clarksville area just let us know. :)
So now my dad's schedule is conveniently clear and he can drive the truck/trailer up to Valpo for us earlier in the week and will fly back the next day. He and I both love to drive so the task was appealing to both of us. The only thing holding us back was the Southwest ticket that I had already purchased. I called today and they easily canceled the ticket and I was able to purchase a new one for my dad. VERY EASY! And I saved $20! There were no cancellation fees or extra charges involved.
We flew to Denver and then California on Frontier a couple of weeks ago and we noted that the experience just wasn't as nice as our past flights on Southwest. (plus the fees for bags that Southwest includes...) I'm pretty sure from now on we will be loyal Southwest customers.

Which airline do you fly with the most? Do you use hotwire type services to book your flights or purchase directly through the airline?

Saturday, June 13, 2009

In Clarksville now back to Valpo

We were in Clarksville for two short days. I was able to get the house spotless again for a showing this morning and an open house today. (I feel like our trip was complete because I got to eat at Whits BBQ, The Blackhorse, and on the way back to Valpo we stopped at a Chick-Fil-A. **None of which are available in Valparaiso.) ha!

Heather blogged about the reason we were in town.

We were here so that Daniel could sing in the crowd on Chris Tomlin's Christmas album. The same guy that produced Daniel's record (the famous ED CASH) was also recording Chis Tomlin's live Christmas album, so he called and asked Daniel to be a part of it. Daniel in turn asked the Grace Community Church praise band to also come and sing and be a part. Too Cool!!!





Since I wasn't there I had to steal Heather's pics to prove that 1. She was there (pictured w/ Chirs Tomlin). 2. Chris Tomlin was there. 3. Daniel was there (talking to Louie). And #4!!! Louie Giglio was there!!! So cool! :)

**I stayed home. Standing quietly for 3 hours and trying not to make any noise just doesn't appeal to me. If you aren't singing you can't make a peep...so I've learned being married to a musician. And besides I had so much to do around the house. La De Da. We are now back in Valpo with lots more stuff and are ready for our first week of church camp this coming week. YIPPEE! May be quiet around here for awhile since we are headed to camp.

later, Emily

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Laughing so Hard

I am laughing so hard right now.
I laughed when I went to this website, but now I'm laughing even harder at Daniel who is now looking at this website.

www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com


Our favorites were under the Category: Literal LOL (look on the right hand side near the bottom). And enjoy!

We haven't laughed that hard in a long long time so I had to share. :)

Friday, June 05, 2009

Watching Movies

UP- Anyone see it yet?
A new friend and I went to see it last night (in 3-D). Granted I don't have children, I don't filter things through the "appropriate for little children" lens. I was wondering if any of you have seen it and what you thought. I had heard two reviews. 1. Great Movie and 2. Sad Movie. I'll have to agree with both. It was sad to me and one part in particular that was very real to life instead of fairytale-ish where everything always turns out perfectly. I appreciated the realness. (If you have seen it- I am grateful to be a part of a wonderful marriage that is proving to be an amazing adventure.)

TAKEN- Anyone see it yet?
We got this one from the beloved REDBOX. I had been putting off seeing it due to my perpetual worry of bad things happening. But- this movie came with great reviews from friends. (Again- remember I don't filter movies as being kid friendly.) We love a good action thriller and this one was AWESOME. Spoiler alert- if you haven't seen it yet you might not want to read the rest of this...The story is about a girl being kidnapped and also shows the inner workings of trafficking of women (very eye opening). The movie shows the fathers pursuit of the daughter. And of course he finds her. Her response- "You came for me?!?" The whole movie had been showing his arduous and difficult pursuit to bring his daughter safely home. And then when he finally found her she was shocked that he even came. I started thinking that God is going to great lengths working in our lives, and although we are going through difficult times He, as our father, is working behind the scenes to rescue us. My attitude should go from being angry that He's not working out the circumstances of my life the way I see fit, but grateful at the lengths He is going to come to my rescue. Probably far fetched parallel, but I couldn't believe she was shocked when her dad showed up. Am I going to be equally shocked when the God of the universe shows up in our circumstances where I can see Him and reveals the past few years where He has been working out the details. Hopefully I can have the faith that He is working out His plan for us and that this time of waiting is also a part of His plan. So often we feel forgotten when things don't go our way or when our plans fail, but His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. I am hopeful that He is at work and will come to our rescue at just the perfect time.

While I'm waiting I guess I'll keep watching movies. :)

Thursday, June 04, 2009

My new pet peeve

I have a new pet peeve. It is with realtors who allow pictures taken of houses that really aren't ready to show yet.



We use the internet as our main source of finding houses. Our realtor up here (who is great) sends us listings when they hit our price range. But seriously- sometimes they don't have many pics, sometimes they have horrible pics, sometimes they have pics of the most random things.



Do they really want to sell their house or not? I'm so thankful for our realtor in Clarksville who took a large amount of pics to give a variety and now we are getting a cool feature where people can get a virtual tour of the house.

**Both of these pics come from houses for sale in Valpo. Note in pic number 1- did they even straighten up? Didn't their realtor tell them to de-clutter and to put some stuff away so the house would look bigger and show better. Note in pic number 2- what is this? Did they really post a pic of a door leading to a door? Or is this featuring the stuffed teddy bear that comes w/ the house. Who knows there was no explanation to go along with it.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Doggie Drama

Suzy is an outside dog. She loves to live outside and come in for SPECIAL OCCASIONS...like it was a really big treat for her to be able to come in and visit for 20 minutes at our house- then she'd go right back outside. In the winter she'd get to stay in a little more often, but still SHE LIVED O-U-T-S-I-D-E.

Now we all live in a one bedroom apartment. It has been going really well. She has gotten used to living inside and likes it just fine. She is a very shy, timid dog. She goes on alert if she hears another dog outside or someone coming to the door. We have been going on walks everyday to be sure she can do her business and have some outdoor time.

All was well until tonight. THE RAIN CAME. When it was raining in Clarksville I never worried about her, she has a nice little dog house and she could get under the deck. If it was storming bad I would let her in the basement, but never for extended hours where I'd worry that she would need to go to the bathroom.

Do you get where this story is going?

I came home tonight knowing that Suzy needed to go out to go to the bathroom. I told her it was raining. Generally she would have just wanted to stay inside if that was her choice, but she had to go out before we all went to bed. I get the big umbrella thinking we could maybe both stay dry...THAT IS THE MOMENT THINGS WENT WRONG. She was terrified of the umbrella and ran as far as the leash would take her away from me. I had to juggle the umbrella and her weight pulling me, in flip flops mind you. I finally had to put the umbrella down she was so terrified, talking sweet to her just wouldn't work. So we both got SOAKED. But she finally went "potty" and we both came back inside wet to the core. Whew. What an adventure. I must really love my dog.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Settled

We have an apartment in Valparaiso, IN now and Suzy is here with us. We now have a couch and chair and are no longer hanging out on the lawn furniture. *long story, but we decided to get an apartment at the last minute and didn't have our DDB trailer to be able to pack up some furniture the last time we were in Clarksville. So this last week we took the trailer to Clarksville. (then headed to Destin, Fl with two other couples for a long weekend vacation.) Then packed up the trailer and headed to Martin for a spur of the moment visit with Daniel's family then back to Valpo on our 9TH ANNIVERSARY! (I'll have to say the trip from Martin to Valpo was much better than the trip from Clarksville to Valpo- much more scenic and lots less traffic.) Anniversary celebrations would have to be postponed, but must not be forgotten. :)

Poor Suzy (our black lab) has never really been a 100% indoor dog and now we share this one bedroom apartment with her. She has had high anxiety about the move and being in a strange place, but right now she is relaxing. She has enjoyed our daily walks, but I have not enjoyed being on poop patrol. yuck.

My new favorite thing about my apartment is that I can play my iPod speakers and they provide music for the entire house. Today I have a station playing based on Bebo Norman. I have all the windows up and a great breeze is blowing. So nice!

Now I have to get back to putting our clothes away. I really do have way too many clothes. Why then do I have trouble finding something to wear? Who knows.