Success!

Even with a broken toe (I think that must be what it is), my mom, dad, Joel & I were able to officially "clean the garage"!!! It was a huge project & Joel and I know we couldn't have done it without help! When we moved in, the garage was so full of stuff we could only fit Joel's car in it (see the blog about his car being stolen & you'll understand why his car, not mine, had a home inside!). When the weather turned a bit chilly, I was determined not to have to scrape the car (why did we buy a house if I still had to scrape the car???) so, I worked on the garage just enough to fit both cars in it. Both fit--barely. We were door-dinging each other and it was getting a bit annoying.

So, with some help, we officially got it organized. With one trip to Goodwill & one trip to the dumpsters for recycyling, it's clean!!! It's beautiful!!! It's an official "Man Room!". We love it. Everything has a place--the garden tools are all hung neatly, boxes are off of the floor & Joel has a place to work at his bench. Thanks mom & dad!

Day Off

Joel & I were able to enjoy a great day off from work on Friday, October 27. We had been looking forward to it for some time as October is always a very busy month for teachers (parent/teacher conferences, progress reports, etc...). We were able to sleep in, enjoy the day & oh yes, clean! My parents were coming in to town on Friday evening, so we needed to do the usual cleaning for houseguests. Joel said, "It's a good thing your parents come to town so often so we have to clean!" Otherwise, it just doesn't get done. :) Can I get an "amen"?

Just as we were finishing up, I was in the guest room doing something and stubbed my little pinky toe. It hurt, so I took off my sock & examined my toe. It was fine, so I kept working. A little while later, I went downstairs and told Joel my toe still hurt & took off my sock again. This time it was turning black & blue and swelling up to be quite the little sausage. It's now more than a week later, still bruised & swollen & still hurts quite badly. Don't scroll down if you have a weak stomach--there are pictures.

Albuquerque

A few weeks ago, I was able to fly down to Albu- querque to visit one of my dearest friends, Jeni & her husband. They left this week to start a new adventure in their lives in another country. I met Jeni when I started working at Lincoln Academy over six years ago. She taught kindergarten & taught sixth grades. Over the years, we became good friends and when she moved to Albuquerque soon after my wedding, it was very hard. We managed to stay in touch and each October Joel & I would go down to Albuquerque with some other friends from Texas to visit Jeni & Tim. We went a total of 3 times and co-ordinated the trip with the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. This last trip, I made alone.



































It was great fun and happened to be the final weekend of the Balloon Fiesta. Dispite a dissapointing evening at the balloon glow (they start the fires in the evening and the balloons "glow")--it was high winds, so they couldn't do it, we were able to see some baloons on Sunday morning before church. They land wherever they can, so we "chased" a couple and saw them come down right in front of us! Amazing! So, here are some pictures from that trip. There are two series of pictures--two separate balloons coming down, one right after the other. If you've never taken a balloon ride--you should! It's amazing!

Confession of Faith

A couple of months ago we attended some friends' church out of town. It is very different from ours (traditional) and I enjoy attending there when we visit. Ours tends to be a bit more casual & contemporary (www.grace-alone.org). Our friends' church recites The Apostle's Creed frequently, if not every Sunday. I just love it. In our society, we just don't speak this way anymore. People are afraid to say what they believe at the risk of offending someone. Our, we might believe in our religion, but believe that another religion is OK, too. Well, I belive & love the summary of Christanity in The Apostle's Creed. Won't you read it & believe it, too?

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I belive in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlastings. Amen.

$2.39, 85 and 27-43

Fall has arrived! It is such a great season in Colorado! You can see how beautiful the leaves are by the pictures. These pictures are from our back deck & front porch. It's been crazy weather around here. A few weeks ago it turned cold--very cold. We were at a football game on a Friday night & it was actually snowing! Then, all of a sudden last week it was 85 degrees!! We actually were sunburned on Saturday! 85 degrees! Crazy!

We were at the Homecoming Football game for Joel's high school. The kids played well, but didn't really have a chance. They played a team from Weld County (farm country).A couple of the boys were well over 6'5" and one was even 285lbs! They also had a small team & the boys played both offense & defense. Our team is very good this year, but just couldn't stand up to that. We lost 27 to 43. It was still fun to be outside in the warm weather. The final part of my title is $2.39...we're actually HAPPY to be paying that for a tank of gas! 5 years ago that would have seemed outrageous! :)
Enjoy your day!

Two Cars

I know it doesn't seem like much from the picture, but it's a pretty big deal for us--two cars in the garage! Prior to yesterday we had so much stuff in the garage we could only fit Joel's car inside. Yesterday, while Joel mowed the lawn (it had been so long he had to do it 2x!) I worked on re-organizing the garage. I worked for a while--just long enough to get stuff moved around a bit. Next Saturday we'll do a lot more cleaning out. Then, hopefully when my mom & dad are here we can finish it up! Thankfully the weather has been cooler, so it is much more enjoyable to be outside. And, thankfully we could put both cars in the garage last night because when we got home from church the wind was howling!! It was really blowing. When we got up this morning the grill had been blown part way across the deck! Crazy! Winter is on the way! :)

0-50,000

Sofie (what I like to call my car) turned 50,000 today! She rolled over from 49,999 to 50,000 today as we headed home from church, so I had to take a picture! I got to thinking about how much my life has changed since I bought Sofie (thanks mom & dad).



When Sofie was only "12" (I bought her with 12 miles on her)
-I only had no nieces or nephews
-I was hopelessly single
-I lived in a 3 bedroom apartment with my friend, Jen
-I taught 6th grade
-I attended a church where I hardly knew anyone
-I hadn't heard of "scrapbooking" before

Now that Sofie is "50,000" (that's 3 1/2 years old in people years)
-I have 3 nieces & 2 nephews with another one on the way
-I am happily married (Praise God!)
-I live in a 5 bedroom home I own with my husband
-I work as an adminstrator at school
-I attend a fabulous church & small group where we feel connected & love the people
-I am addicted to scrapbooking & am well on my way to owning every tool imaginable needed for scrapbooking

Major life changes in the last three years! Amazing! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the next 50,000 miles!

Curtains Away

One project my mom & I worked on while they were here in July was curtains. We knew we needed to do something ASAP. Mom & I measured, cut & worked on curtains for almost every window in the house. She took the fabric home & finished them up. Below are the curtains for my office (the pink/yellow ones) which I actually sewed myself. You will also see the dining room curtains & new paint. They are the same as the front living room windows. Thanks, mom!

Fertilizer

Growing up washing the car meant only one thing: rain was sure to fall from the sky. Waxing the car also meant only one thing: severe thunderstorms, even on a cloud-free day. Poor dad.

Now, I have a new "curse" to live with; putting fertilizer on the grass means rain. Heavy rain. Even on a hot summer evening. Bummer, Joel.

Thanks for your hard work, anyway.

Family Reunion

We just returned from our family reunion with my family in Wisconsin. I didn't want it to end! Mostly because I like being with my family, but also because it marked the end of our summer! I just had to put some pictures from the vacation. My sister's kids are soooo cute. Faith is 3 and Avery is 7 mounts. They are both a lot of fun to be around. Faith is so active & Avery smiles ALL the time. Great job, Aimee & Gary!

Here are some of the fun things we did:

-Toured Lambeau Field in Green Bay
-Drove Go Karts
-Sailed on Lake Michigan on Mom & Dad's boat
-Went Miniture Golfing
-Aimee, Faith, Avery & I had a great time in Rockford visiting with family
-Batting Cages (Joel only--doesn't sound like fun to me)
-Faith rode on some kiddie rides at a kiddie park and loved it!
-Friendly Family Squirt Gun Fight
-Faith got to Kayak with Opa (Grandpa)
-Mom & I paddle in a canoe--scary thought
-Swam in the pool--Avery's first time in the water--isn't she cute??
-Rode bikes to a light house on Lake Michigan
-Visited with a friend who lives nearby & rode on her parent's boat
-Took Faith to an indoor water park where she rode every ride she could over & over
-Multiple attempts to get a family picture where everyone was smiling
-Ate & ate & ate & ate....

Aspens

I know, I know. It's been a long time since I've posted any pictures. But, we've been busy. And, the projects we're working on aren't that exciting (like weeding the yard)! I will try to post some pictures of the "finished" rooms (like the living & dining room) soon. Joel & I go back to work tomorrow, though, so it will be tough! :)

The pictures below are of the "Aspen Wall" in the dining room. Rhonda put up the wallpaper about 20 years ago and then she helped is take it down in July. That's almost classified as "cruel & unusal punishment". But, she was happy to help and figured out the best way to take it down--lots of water & lots of mess. It came down though & prompted a new Jacobson Rule: NO WALLPAPER.

The first picture is a "before" picture, then a picture of what it looked like after the wallpaper was off. The last picture is of me priming the wall after we textured it by hand & before we painted it. It's a LOT of work! :)

Just Like My Mom

After two weeks of helping Rhonda move out, one & a half weeks working on this house, 3 days of packing & moving, and another week of working on the house with my mom & dad, Joel & I finally had a day or two to relax over the weekend. It was marvelous! We were able to enjoy all the work my parents helped us with--new lights, networking to all the rooms, fridge hooked up, boxes unpacked & curtains started. Thanks mom & dad!

Sunday evening rolled around & we found ourselves wondering what to do now? Since it was raining, I decided I may as well tackle one set of curtains I had been put in charge of finishing (she took most of them home to Wisconsin to finish). My mom had helped me cut everything out & measure carefully. She had shown me how to work the simple sewing machine, so I felt confident & ready for the task. My first row of stiches had be pulled out & resewn. There went my confidence. But, in the end, I did finish successfully.

However, about half way through working on the curtains, I had to stop and think for a minute, "I am just like my mom". Not because I had to take my first row of stitches out, but because here I was on a cool Sunday evening in the summer, sitting in front of a made-for-TV Sunday Night Movie , sewing AND enjoying myself! Ha! I'm older than I think. So, my thought passed & I moved on. Thanks for helping me out, Mom!

And thanks, Dad, too for all your help!

Scroll down for some pictures of our new place!! And, if you haven't seen them in person, why is that?? Stop by!

Harvest Gold to Black

One of the most dramatic changes (and expensive) was our kitchen.




We decided to go ahead and replace the Harvest Gold appliances sooner rather than later. We like the new look. What do you think?? But, just like with any home renovation project, this one had 2 bumps along the way. The first one came when the stove was delivered. It didn't fit!! The old thirty inch stove had somehow fit into the spot between the 2 counters, but this thirty inch stove didn't. I thought we were out of the Middle Ages & had a uniform way of measuring! But, alas, my dad's first project Saturday morning was to hack away at the counter to get it to fit. Poor guy couldn't even get breakfast until it was done!

The second bump came later Saturday afternoon when Joel & Dad set out to do a 15 minute project & hook up the water line (already existing) to the fridge so we could have cold filtered water & ice. Again, 3 hours later & two trips to Ace Hardware, it was done. Yeah Dad & Joel!!

Going...Going...Gone!

Over the past few weeks, we've had a new deck installed! It was a pretty amazing process. As usual, it took 1 day to take down and a lot more to put a new one back up! It is very close to being finished & ready for some summer BBQ's!! While my parents were here, my mom & I spray painted the iron furniture Rhonda left us & it looks like new. We need to get it out of the garage on our new deck! We can't wait to start using it!

I Love Doing Laundry!

OK, so that might be an exaggeration, but it's more true now than when we lived in our apartment. Previously, doing laundry meant hauling down 2 flights of stairs to a dirty basement with a concrete floor! Now doing laundry means taking right outside my bedroom door to a freshly painted, newly tiled (so it's peal and stick, but you wouldn't have known unless I told you, right??), BEAUTIFUL laundry room! You can see the before (hot pink) & after (green) pics! Joel laid the floor & his mom, Rhonda painted it! I loved it until it flooded yesterday...right out on the floor & into the Library room next door. It's drying out as we speak. Joel fixed the leak. Bummer. but, I still love it!!

Meatloaf

Meatloaf, like the food, not the singer. Just wanted to be clear on that. I haven't had time (or energy) to post too many pictures on my blog recently. We've been working non-stop from about 8am to about 10 or 11 at night at the new house. I have taken LOTS of pictures & can't wait to post them, we just haven't been at home for me to do it! Today is the big moving day so we won't have our computers for a few days...

But, I did want to share how awesome God has been at providing the right people at the right time for us. We are so blessed. So, thanks to all the following people (most of them don't even read the blog) :) What a blessing people can be! You don't have to read about all of them, I just want to be sure to remember everything that's happened!

Betsy & Aaron--friends who came over & actually helped us scrape popcorn when they have a whole new house of their own to do!

Garrett & Jordan-friends who took us out of town camping to give us a break from working--it was awesome!

Our new neighbors, Scott & Julie came over for a tour of our new house last night & brought us refreshing drinks!

Nick-thanks for letting us borrow your truck to buy a new lawn mower!

Mom Jacobson-for cleaning, painting, cooking & doing pretty much whatever we need at just the right time. (Including bringing us meatloaf & mashed potatoes over last night. We REALLY needed a home cooked meal!

Mom & Dad Hagen & Gary & Aimee--thanks for being excited about our new place from so far away & thanks in advance for helping us with projects when you visit!

TK & the boys-for helping us build our deck & do some projects around the house

Jim-our new next door neighbor let us borrow some of his tools incluing a leaf blower so we could clean off our driveway. We also asked us to do our first "neighborly action"--pick up his mail while he's gone! That's a new one for us!

Suzanne--thanks for helping us with paint colors & other project ideas!

Jeff-thanks for helping us save some money & borrow your tools!

Our small group & others who are helping us move tonight--Thank you!!

The people at TC Performance who fixed Joel's car when it was stolen--it looks awesome & was done for about 1/2 the estimate!!

All the salespeople we've dealt with have been VERY helpful & friendly (a few were a bit chatty), but none were pushy! Yeah! That's a miracle right there!

Thanks, God, for providing sales on a lot of the items we've needed to buy!

I hope we can be a blessing back to you & to others!

Bye, Bye Popcorn!

We're in our first official week of updating our house. Our first project was to try working on the popcorn ceilings. Meaning: get rid of them! We've been told it's a lot of work, it's a mess, etc... It's all true!! But, we've had fun working on it and love the outcome so far! We've taken them out of 2 bedrooms and 1 hallway. We still have 1 more large bedroom & the living, dining, and family room!

On the left is a picture of the room before we started. The blue & yellow wall will be painted a soft yellow at some point. This is Ted's old bedroom. Don't tell him that it will soon be pink & yellow! On the right is me getting started on the popcorn ceilings! What fun! Down below on the right is me continuing the work. Joel was working hard on the flooring in another bathroom (those pictures on another blog, another night). On the left is me--dirty, dirty! Isn't the face mask attractive?? I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but my legs look bruised from the dirt. The ladder was very dirty!

And now you can see the finished product! Well sort of, part one is done at least. Step two we'll work on tomorrow--putting a little bit of texture back on. Step three will be priming it. And, finally, step four-painting!

Doesn't it look great??

Inside Project #1

After helping Rhonda sort, clean & pack up her house, we helped her move out on Friday. On Saturday, we had the biggest garage sale this side of the Mississippi! We made lots of money to help with our own move. Now, we're turning our focus to the inside of the house & getting ready to move in. Our first project was to take care of our guest bathroom. It had a leaky shower a few years ago that was fixed with beautiful marble. However, the floor & toilet didn't fare so well. We are having a new toilet installed (in the pictures you'll just see a hole where the HARVEST GOLD toilet used to be) on Monday, so we needed to get the floor bleached, cleaned & shellacked before then. You'll also see the bright green carpet that used to go into the bathroom. Rule #1 I've learned: bathrooms should not have carpet! So, today we'll be laying vinyl flooring. We're also shopping for lots of new items for our house! Check back soon because I'll be posting lots of pictures as we transform the house into our own! Also- for you out-of-towners, start planning your Colorado vacation now. Our guest room will probably be one of the first rooms done-complete with a queen size bed! (No more air mattresses!)

Life & Death

Maybe I'm getting older (27) and seeing the finer side of life. Or, maybe I'm just starting to wake up and smell the roses. Whatever it is, I have a much greater sense of how precious life is. And, I don't just mean being alive. I mean really living. We can go through the motions of doing our daily routine, rising early, going to work, eating, sleeping, even going to church. But that gets old (even at 27). I've never struggled with "What is the meaning of life?" because I've always known what it is--to love God & to serve others. But, I don't think I've ever really DONE it. Well, I think God has helped me turn over a new leaf this year. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I know that God has done a good work in my heart to help me do both better.

Something else I've always known, but never really experienced, is the saying that goes something like, "the end of one thing is the beginning of another". This is true, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't grieve the loss or the end of the thing that's over. Joel & I have been married for two years. We've loved living in our apartment--no shoveling of sidewalks, no raking leaves, no water heaters to fix, no windows to wash. It's been really nice. But, it is the end of that period in our lives. It is also the beginning of something new--a mortgage. No, it's more than that. It is the start of a great project. A beginning to a new chapter in our lives. And yet, it comes at a great price (& I don't just mean the cost of our loan).

For the past two weeks we've been working 12-14 hour work days helping my mother in law move out of the house we're buying (it's hers). It has been a lot of work because we've had to go through years of a life she's lived there. The great price is the not the hard work, the dusty closets or the heat of having no A/C. It is truly the end of a period in her life. She's had to go through countless boxes of memories of a life gone by. The death of Joel's dad almost six years ago makes this move bittersweet. His death (I'm told--I wasn't around to experience it for myself) was a bit unexpected, even though they knew it was coming; they hoped for more time. There was more time, so they thought. And yet, it was the end without them even knowing it.

Life is about more than just living--it's about really experiencing it, not missing an opportunity to love God & to serve others. Don't miss a chance, because it might be your last. And, if I may give a bit of advice, don't let you life get stored up in boxes. Clean out your basement, your attic, your garage. You don't need those things packed away--get rid of them. It's too much work to leave them behind when you're gone. And, as I recently heard in a sermon, "hearses don't pull U-hauls".