Picnic In the Park

Sunday we had our worship service at Herman Park followed by a potluck picnic. It's a great time for everyone from both services to get together. We rented a dunk tank and set it up with the pastors as the first to get wet. Everyone was asked to fill out a connection card during service and there was a spot to vote who should be dunked first, Jeff or Curt. Jeff got 50 votes and Curt got 37!

Home Owners Again!!

After an unbelievable amount of paperwork and red tape, we finally closed on our new house. We are home owners again!! As a celebration gift to myself, I bought The Complete Idiots Guide to Simple Home Repairs. This house is not new construction like the last one. It is about 30 years old and needs quite a bit of simple repairs.

Today I went over and did some deep cleaning in the laundry/furnace room. The previous owner had a cat and that is where the liter box was. Since Jeff is allergic to cats, I decided it better be my job to try to get rid of the strong cat odor. After several good scrubbings it does smell better.

A Fish Story

Jeff came back from Canada late Wednesday night. He had a great time fishing for five days with several friends from Minnesota. He literally caught hundreds of fish while he was there. His largest walleye was 27 inches long which he brought home and is having it mounted to hang in his office. He also brought home some fish for the freezer. I offered to fix the fish the next day, but I guess he is a little tired of fish after eating it twice a day, every day while he was there!

Making Walleye Rigs

Jeff is getting his tackle ready for an upcoming fishing trip to Canada with some buddies of his. Tonight he enlisted my help in making walleye rigs. His job was to tie on the swivel and hook. My job was to string on the beads and the spinner. Between the almost clear fishing line and the incredibly tiny bead holes, my glasses would have been handy!

Painting My Freezer

Back in May, Jeff and I bought a used freezer at a garage sale. It was in good working condition, but had a lot of rust on the outside. It's not really a big deal since it will be in the laundry/furnace room in the basement of our new house, but I am concerned that the rusting might get worse if the basement is at all damp (which basements tend to be).

Today I decided to try my hand at painting the freezer. My dad suggested that I get the Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy in the spray can, which I did. I spent the afternoon sanding, taping, and painting the freezer. I think the hardest part was taping the handle and all the parts that aren't supposed to get paint on them. It took a little time to get the hang of spray painting and learning how to get the best coverage. I have a few drips and it could maybe use a second coat, but all in all, it looks pretty good.

New Windows

When we temporarily moved into the parsonage more than a year and a half ago, it was in very poor condition. The church decided not to do any extensive repairs until we decided if the church would keep or sell the property. When we hired our associate pastor, Curt, this spring, the board decided to keep the parsonage for Curt's family to live in after we moved into our own home. We are starting to have some major repairs done on the house now.

This morning, a crew of guys started to replace windows. Every window in the house is getting replaced. This is a really good thing since most are either missing the storm window or the glass is broken. During the really cold months during the last two winters here, our heating bill was sometimes more than $400! The windows look really good.

Vacation in Minnesota

I didn't forget about my blog. I'm sorry if you have been checking for updates. It's been a busy couple of weeks. We just got back from visiting friends in Minnesota. We left our church in Hawley almost two years ago, but we still have some really great friends there. Our whole family went up there to spend 4th of July weekend. They boys each went their separate ways. Josh spent most of his time at a lake cabin with several friends and their families. Zach and his friends were in Detroit Lakes for the big celebration there. (It's supposed to be the third largest Independence Day celebration in the USA!)

Jeff did some fishing and golfing with old friends, which he really enjoyed. We spent time every day visiting different friends and finished up our weekend at our former church in Hawley. It was so good to see so many old friends. I think I definitely exceeded my daily hug quota!! The people at Hawley Alliance Church most definitely know how to love their pastors (and former pastors)! But as much as we loved seeing everyone, it is good to be home again.