We're Here

Greetings to one and all. Just wanted to let you know that Leah and I are finally in Lake Placid. We had to make three trips, two were done with the help of my parents van (Thank you Dad!) and the last one was made with my little tiny Sunfire. This trip was one that I want to paint a mental picture for you. Every one has seen a Pontiac Sunfire coupe at some time in their life, (whether you know it or not) but just in case you haven't, here is a picture of my car just after I bought it.

At first Leah and I had tried to pack everything. You must understand that our last apartment was quite small. It had three rooms, living-room/kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. I tell you that to tell you this, Leah and I had these four big wooden blocks that I had used during my time as a student at Potsdam campus. Any college student knows that there is priceless space under a bed if you jack it up higher. We used the blocks at the apartment to raise our bed so we could put stuff under it. These blocks were one of the first things to get packed. They went in the trunk.

The next thing to go in the trunk were my summer tires for the car. I normally wouldn't have summer and winter tires, but my dad found used snow-tires at a sale over the summer. The good thing was, the tires really hadn't been used very much. They looked brand new. Since the fall sometime, these tires have been on my car, and my summer tires have been sitting outside our apartment. And, just as a side note, I've been very grateful for my snow tires. They have dug in and grabbed hold when my back tires (which are the same as my all-season front summer tires) thought they would just go all over the road. Anyhow, those went in the trunk.

Before I get to the last thing that was packed in the trunk you need to know that when my dad and I switched cars, there were some things that he had put in my trunk that were emergency items. I forgot to switch those back with him. That stuff was also in my trunk, along with my two of my tool boxes (one was very small) and a Dremel set. The last thing that went in my trunk was the vacuum cleaner. A good ol' Electrolux, canister style! There was hardly any room left. But I fit it all in the trunk. I was proud, and Leah was proud. But, we had to take out the blocks, and take out the tires when we realized we'd made a huge error in how much stuff was left.

I'm almost done. I just want to give you the last details of our trip. Leah and I had the back seat of that car stuffed (and I mean stuffed) to the roof. We both had pushed our seats all the way forward and made the trip with our knees packed up under our chins. We had a load of laundry that we put in garbage bags, and sucked the air out with a vacuum cleaner at her parents. This made small bags of clothes that we put in any empty spot we could find. I felt like I was driving a go-cart, and Leah commented on how being so close to the windshield made a nice sun-roof. Anyway, we are here! The trip was cramped, but I give God the glory because earlier that day I prayed that He would help us get it all in even if we had to ride cramped.

I don't have any pictures for you now, but hopefully, there will be some soon once we get the place looking decent.

Some News

Greetings to one and all! Sorry that we haven't been up to date very much on this, but with the Christmas season being here, and the family, friends, food, fun, food, Christmas day, food and all the other things going on, it's been a bit crazy and hard to find time to write another post. But, we trust every one had a wonderful Christmas and we trust you'll all have a Happy New Year!

But I digress. Leah and I would like to let everyone know that we are moving. It's not too terribly far from where we are living now, it's about an hour and half away. We are moving from Massena, New York to Lake Placid, New York. Leah was offered a job working for my previous employer Dave Foster and it comes with a substantial increase in regards to income. She will be doing some cleaning of the very expensive houses in between rentals. This business has many many houses that need to be cleaned, and Leah will be able to work a regular week doing so. As for me, well... at this point in time, I'm going back to work with Dave also. I will be back outside where I have had this major itch to be for some time. I'll be shoveling roofs, snow-blowing driveways, shoveling walks, plowing, and losing some weight (I hope). I love the snow (to an extent) and as Leah says, "I think Jon has snow in his blood!" (which is a bit of an oxy moron because I'm always hot) I'm looking forward to being away from schools for a while. My last student teaching placement was very difficult for me and I want a break. I told Leah that for twenty years of my life I've been in school, I could stand some time away doing something I enjoy.

We intend to make the move in the next two weeks possibly even sooner. We are both slated to begin work on the 14 of January. We are both VERY excited! It will feel nice to finally have some "real" income. We have a nice apartment in Lake Placid all lined up and a very nice landlord. So, we wanted to share with everyone what our next step is! Once again, we hope you had a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!