Going to Minnesota...

In about 36 hours I'll be on a plane back to Minnesota... could someone please turn up the thermostat there before I get off the plane? I'm afraid the single digits are going to be a bit of a shock to the system!

I am really excited about it, in reality. My sister is picking me up from the airport with her 3 little ones, who I am SO EXCITED to see! I get to stay with them for 4 days before heading to Willmar to work in the tour office (I still work for them out of my home). We have a HUGE catalog to get out to the printer's, and I need them to proof it beforehand. We also have a lot of meetings to organize. I'm definitely pro-meetings at R&J, because it usually means FOOD! And good food at that! They love ordering out, and I'm happy to be a good excuse for them to do so. During the week, I get to stay with my beloved Kelli, who just had baby Owen- along with Jon and Rayna. I have to tell you, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone back in Minnesota. I'm just sorry that Matthew can't come with me.

I'll be gone for 11 days- a record time away from each other since we've been married. I don't think he's entirely heartbroken that I'll be gone for awhile. He'll have plenty of time to spend with his other love, 'Battlefield 2, 357 or something like that'. Silly boy.

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stalkee.

I hope this gives you guys a chuckle as much as it did me... the east indians called AGAIN! Wow, they REALLLY want to give me that money I guess! This time the guy actually knew what my name was. well sort of- he called me 'Sherry Cristina'. This guy was actually more convincing than the other two that have called in the last 5 days, plus he upped the amount to $5000- so I gave him all of my information. Bank account number, social security, blood type.

Just kidding. How could you think I would actually do that!?

I told him that he's the 3rd person that's called me and that I know they are not giving out free money. He then insisted that I take down his phone number to verify that they are legitimate. I told him that guy #2 gave me a phone number that went to nothing. I told him they should really stop calling me.

He said in his very thick accent, 'I'm very sorry ma'am... God Bless You'. I should've kept him on the phone after that- it could've been a fun ministry opportunity, but work deadlines are heavy right now. I guess it was kind of ministry- afterall, I didn't yell or threaten him, right?

Maybe next time because, after 3 calls, I am sure there WILL BE a next time.

Oh how I love you, Rhapsody.

Rhapsody is my new best friend. In case you haven't heard of it, it's an online music listening service. For $10 a month, you subscribe to this website where you get unlimited access to listen to as much music as you want. They don't have every single album ever made, but it has to be close.

The reason I love it so much? I work out of my home which, honestly, gets a bit lonely at times. Bertie (our superdog) is nice to have around as well, but Rhapsody tends to be less annoying. It doesn't incessantly whine at me to throw it squeaky toys so it can run and catch it. Don't get me wrong, I love my dog... but I really don't understand how a living creature can play fetch 24 hours a day. On the other hand, I can't cuddle with a computer program.

Today I needed a pick-me-up, so I signed in to Rhapsody and entertained myself by searching for all songs entitled 'Cristina'. I was shocked that there were well over a hundred! So I clicked on a bunch and laughed as I was serenaded by mariachi bands, blues singers, and a couple of creepy Willie Nelson wannabees.

Then I went back in and typed in 'Matthew' and found a good one to send over to my husband at work. His 'Matthew' song was by a grown man, pretending to be a little boy singing about his bike and how cool he is because of it. The only problem with sending him songs is that only one of us can be logged into Rhapsody at the same time.

We have Rhapsody wars pretty much daily, where he randomly kicks out of the program. Then I kick him out. Then he kicks me out... this goes on for awhile till he gives up.

I love my Rhapsody.

I almost forgot!

We visited another church this past Sunday. We weren't sure where to go, so we basically closed our eyes and pointed to one in the yellow pages. Alonna and Dan came down for the weekend (which was fantastic, by the way), so the 4 of us met up with my parents at said church. I think it was called Faith Assembly of God.

We pulled up to the church and knew just from looking at the building that we were in for an interesting morning. It was about the size of our house. So we walk in, and were immediately the center of attention. The funniest part of the morning was when the pastor came up to us before service and said, "I just want to make sure you are in the right place- seeing as how this is the first Sunday that Redeemer's Church is meeting in their new building next door." Side note: Redeemer's is the church we went to last time. The way he said it was... well awkward. We ended up being 6 of about 25 people there.

The service was pretty good, even though the acoustic guitarist had his guitar plugged into a bass amp that wasn't grounded and we could hear a radio station playing in the background the entire worship time :) The pastor's wife played drums, which I thought was pretty rad.

I don't think we will be going back. Not because of the size necessarily, but for several reasons. The service felt rehearsed - I don't like being told how to worship. The entire church was fasting together- not that that in itself is strange, but there was a write up on the back of the bulletin saying how if you break your fast that you would be letting down yourself and God. I don't agree with forcing people into fasting- I believe it needs to be a personal decision. There also was no youth group in existence (although I did see 2 students there).

After service was over, everyone gathered in the kitchen area for homemade bread and coffee. The kids were out of their class, which included balloon animal making, and they were definitely not shy. They took no prisoners as they whacked away at everyone in sight (including us)!

The search continues.

Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me.

Last Friday I received a phone call from a man with a really thick East Indian accent. Amused by the accent and the urgent tone in his voice (as well as the many other East Indian voices I could hear yelling in the background), I humored him. He struggled through a script detailing how I was selected to receive a $4500 grant from the government because I am an upstanding citizen that pays my bills on time. The funny thing was, he needed me to tell him my name address... and then proceeded to ask me where I bank and if he could have my bank routing number.

Now I may not be the sharpest nail in the bucket, but I do know that if the government was planning to send me free money (yeah, right) that they wouldn't have to ask me my name and address (he listed off the address of the guy who previously had our phone number). The way things are today, I wouldn't be suprised if they knew what I ate for lunch today. He kept pressing me for my bank account information (which I would not give him) saying (cue thick accent here) 'Ma'am, I assure you, your bank account information is secure. Not even George W. Bush could access your account unless you wish him to'. I told him he could go ahead and send the information to me in the mail, but I would NOT give him my account number. After telling me he could not do that, that 'this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity', I hung up on him.

Intrigued, I called our new banker and asked him if he'd heard of this happening. He laughed and said that it is, indeed, a scam. That companies trick people into wiring money to them, saying that a large sum of money will be sent out after a 'filing fee' is paid. Sometimes it's worse- people have lost all of the money they have saved in an account that way. Unfortunately, it's next to impossible to catch the thieves.

Today something priceless happened. THEY CALLED BACK! As soon as I heard the thick accent again, I started laughing. It was obviously a different person- he asked me for all of my information again. This time I drilled him with questions instead of answering any of his. He was not prepared to answer them, and got nervous when I started asking him for his name, telephone number, and supervisor's name (he gave me bogus information). He asked me why I didn't just hang up on him... and said to me 'I know you are recording this conversation'. He asked me several times 'What should I do now?'

I told him it's wrong of them to go around scamming innocent people out of their hard earned money. I told him they need to take our phone number off of their call list... then I hung up.

Score: Cristina=1, Scammers=0

weird dog part II

Last night Matthew and I drove to Springfield- partly to see my stepsister Teresa and her two little boys (which did not happen), and partly because we've had a $200 Target giftcard burning a hole in our pockets for several months. We ended up just getting a couple of little things we needed, then bought some presents. Kelli, I can't wait to see you and your new baby- I got something for both of you!

In case you don't remember me talking about Bertie's eating habits, here is what our floor typically looked like at our apartment in Minnesota.
She digs incessantly at her bowl until every piece of food is scattered on the floor. Then she goes around and picks them up... sometimes.

Since we were moving, I got rid of her old nasty bowls. Because of this not-smart decision, she's been eating out of our 'people' bowls. She loves it because they are light enough for her to dump all of the food out. Then she walks up to me with it- all proud of herself. The bowl set pictured below was my favorite purchase last night because it means (hopefully) that we no longer have to tiptoe around dog food.. So far, Bertie hates it. She scratches at the food bowl, whining loudly- it's too high for her to fling kibble everywhere. Ha- I win!
I guess I spoke too soon... I just walked into my bedroom and found her eating my chapstick.

Today...

"Let It All Out"

Let it all out
get it all out
rip it out remove it
don't be alarmed
when the wound begins to bleed

cause we're so scared to find out
what this life's all about
so scared we're going to lose it
not knowing all along
that's exactly what we need

and today I will trust you with confidence
of a man who's never known defeat
but tomorrow, upon hearing what I did
I will stare at you in disbelief
oh, inconsistent me
crying out for consistency

and you said I know that this will hurt
but if I don't break your heart then things will just get worse
If the burden seems too much to bear
Remember
the end will justify the pain it took to get us there

and I'll let it be known
at times I have shown
signs of all my weakness
but somewhere in me
there is strength

and you promise me
that you believe
in time I will defeat this
cause somewhere in me
there is strength

and today I will trust you with the confidence
of a man who's never known defeat
and I'll try my best to just forget
that that man isn't me

reach out to me
make my heart brand new
every beat will be for you
for you

and I know you know
you touched my life
when you touched my heavy heart and made it light

-Relient K

weird dog.

I'm convinced that our dog is part human- she does the weirdest things.

Here's a new one:
What does she do when she's thirsty and there's no water in her dish? First, she'll stare at her bowl for awhile to see if we'll get the hint. If that (and whining) doesn't work, she searches out the nearest bathtub, jumps in and stares at the spout. So anytime we hear the dog sliding around the bathtub, we know she's thirsty.... if we don't see the empty bowl first.

Here's another new one:
Since moving into our house, we've been trying to break Bertie of her spells where she tears around the house like a racehorse. Now we confine it to the staircase down to the basement. We throw her toys down the stairs and she runs down to fetch them as fast as she can. She's gotten so efficient that sometimes she'll drop her ball at the top of the stairs and play fetch with herself. Othertimes, she'll run up and down the stairs repeatedly... with the toy already in her mouth.

Sorry for stealing your thunder, Minnesota.

I'm not so sure Oregon is happy that Matthew and I are here now. We seem to have brought the Minnesota snow with us. Funny, I distinctively remember leaving that there. We really enjoyed the unexpected snowstorm we were blessed with this week. Tuesday was Dad's birthday, so the 4 of us celebrated by going out to eat then back to their house for games and dessert. That night is when the snow started. By the time we were leaving everything was covered in white and the biggest flakes I'd ever seen were rapidly falling from the sky. After 5 seconds of marveling at the beauty surrounding us, the 4 of us said goodnight with an all-out snowball fight! Matthew and I were quite the team against Mom and Dad. Unfortunately for them, we had our car to hide behind, so they were pretty wide open for our attacks. Fortunately for them, I have terrible aim and only hit them 3 or 4 times out of probably 50 shots.

The next day, we woke up to announcements on the radio of nearly ever school in a 60 mile radius closed. So naturally, I expected to see mountains of snow on the ground when I looked out the window. Yeah, there was maybe 2 inches on the ground. I had a good laugh, thinking about Minnesota and how horrible the weather would have to get for us to have a snow day. Many people live up in the mountains here, though, and black ice on the road can be treacherous. The snow continued to fall steadily all afternoon on Wednesday. I took pictures with my 35mm camera (nearly locking myself outside in my pajamas) so sometime I'll have to get them transferred to a disc and post them for your viewing pleasure.

new fridge!

Matthew and I are now the proud owners of home appliances. We purchased a washer, dryer, and new refridgerator since moving into our home and were able to get GREAT deals on all of them! The best was our refridgerator, though. Call me weird but I've been dreaming about owning a refridgerator that has water and an ice crusher/dispenser since I was in highschool. Some people want expensive clothes, others want diamonds, I dream of crushed ice. Through an odd series of events, we ended up getting our 26 cubic foot, side by side, ice cube/crushed ice and water dispenser Fridgidaire that was $1099... for $500!!! Hooray! It was delivered yesterday :)

This morning Matthew and I went to church with my parents. We're checking out different chuches in the area to find out where we 'fit' best. This morning we went to Redeemer's Fellowship. Our impression? Great pastor, great sermon. We're going to try another church next week-I'll post a review for anyone who's interested. I hope that in the process of finding a home church, we'll also learn a lot about the ministries in place in this area.

Hmm... I think I'll go see how Sid, our icemaker, is hanging in there. He's making his first batch of ice right now! Yeahhhhh!

The Dog Whisperer

Cesar Millan- Dog Whisperer

Ever since we had DirecTv installed last week, we've been watching The Dog Whisperer a LOT. It is so fascinating watching him tame dogs with wild, crazy, and destructive behaviors. We've learned so much about taking care of our dog through the techniques Cesar teaches in his program.

If you own a dog and have the opportunity, watch this program. You won't be sorry! If not, check out his website: http://cesarmillaninc.com . You'll find tons of great tips on being a strong pack leader for your dog. Even if you don't own a dog, you'll benefit from learning how to interact with dogs you encounter.

sleepy.

Tired.... so tired. The last few nights I've been having nightmares when I fall asleep. According to Google, "Nightmares tend to be more common among children and decrease in frequency toward adulthood. About 50% of adults experience occasional nightmares, women more often than men." Google also implies that I need to exercise more than just walking from my bed to my desk in the other room (I'm working out of our house now). I guess a sit up or two can't hurt anything.

We love our house!

Hmm... my brain has completly emptied itself. Goodbye.