Category: Life

There are two main reasons I have not been posting recently:

1. Facebook has not been pulling my blog posts onto my wall. It is supposed to automatically pull my RSS feed after a new post, but it isn’t. After searching around, I found that this feature is no longer available. Sigh. I now need to manually import each post.

2. Jesse and I have been working on how we manage photos. We have one camera and two laptops. Jesse thought he could import the photos on his computer and share them over to mine. So far, it has not been working that easily…but we are getting closer.

Here are some of the things I have not been sharing this fall.

 

Can you tell that I am a teacher? September and October have put me back into the Work Trenches. I am enjoying my job and my class, but my blogging has suffered. My goal was always to post every 3-4 days, and it has been weeks. Thanks for your faithfulness…inspiration is just around the corner.

…our own!

Today we signed the documents to pay off our previous mortgage and refinance our home. For the longest time, we were unable to refinance due to the drop in the value of our house. We bought in the early summer of 2007. The housing market began to decline soon after we purchased our home and continues to deteriorate.

With a record low in interest rates, we were able to refinance from 6% to 3.75%. In thirty years we will have saved thousands of dollars. In the short-term, God continues to provide for our family by lowering our monthly mortgage payment.

We actually enjoyed the process much more the second time. With much more knowledge and life experience, we were able to make wiser financial decisions. I still don’t understand everything about buying a house…but I am much better at signing my name on the dotted line.

 

…I will be a millionaire.

My husband is an entrepreneur. He has ideas…lots of ideas. Since we have been married he has created images for iStock, redesigned his personal website, finished numerous freelance projects (some paid, some unpaid), dabbled in photography, and created a resource for web designers related to Content Management Systems.

His newest venture involves board games. We both grew up in game-playing families. In college our group of friends would get together and play games. Since college, my brother and his wife (Alaina) have developed a passion for playing all kinds of unique and interesting games.

This year Jesse, my brother, and one of Jesse’s co-workers co-founded Boxed Up Fun. Boxed Up Fun is a website dedicated to introducing people to new games using videos. Check it out and write a game review at www.boxedupfun.com.

I don’t know if this is Jesse’s million dollar idea (though I know someday he will have one), but at least it keeps him out of trouble!

This is such a hard time of year for me. I love going back to work, but it is such an adjustment to go back to a schedule and routine.

You might say, “Andrea, school doesn’t start for two weeks!” Let me tell you, school starts the instant I started making name tags, desk tags, locker tags, class lists…and having school dreams!

You might say, “But you don’t have to be at school until next week…” The truth is I have already been at school most of the last two weeks.

And…tonight, for the first time this summer, I took a nap and then drove to the grocery store instead of riding my bike…because I was so tired. Sad!

Last week I finished my fifth year of teaching second grade. WOW! Where does the time go?

Those of you who know me well know that I probably started my “Summer To Do List” a couple of months ago. By last week, I knew exactly what I would do today on my first day of summer.

I woke up and began picking up the house including putting in a load of laundry. After eating a quick breakfast, I headed outside to finish weeding our landscaping rocks. I watered all of my plants and decided to break for lunch. After lunch, I headed back outside to begin work on my perennial garden. I am ripping out all of the ground cover and have an extensive plan for new plants and a better design.

I am taking a quick break before planning our meals for the week and heading to the grocery store. It is amazing how much one person can accomplish when you don’t have to go to work!

Don’t worry…every day of my summer will not be this productive, but for today, I am excited to get a few things checked off my list.

I have been blogging for one year. I have written 67 posts (an average of one post every five days). Jesse and I have traveled to South Carolina, Mexico, Chicago, Mankato, Neenah, and Up North. We have remodeled our kitchen and our guest room.

You have been following the Sutherland Road for one year. You have read about our successes and failures. You have learned about our family and friends. You have followed on many of our adventures.

I wonder where the Sutherland Road will take us in the next year…join me as we continue the journey…

Lately, I have been visiting the grocery store on an almost daily basis. It is silly, but the closest Cub Foods is less than a mile away, so it is easy to stop by on my way home from work, on my way to work, or other times as well.

Spring is such a busy time. My brain is full with grading, entertaining, and house work. In the month of April we hosted my mom and brother, Bible study, our friends the Quams, our friends Jon and Heather, a birthday tea, our friends Carl, Kristi, and Tyler, and Jesse’s grandpa and grandma Jones. Every time a new event came up, I needed to go back to the grocery store!

Tonight Jesse and I took my second trip of the day together…on our bikes. We were able to return a mistake I made, pick up the things I forgot, and get some exercise as well. My new goal is to get a Burley Bike Trailer in order to be able to carry all of my groceries home. If I have to bike on all of my trips to the grocery store, maybe I will visit less often!