Tuesday, March 31, 2009
You should register!!!
GO HERE to Sign up for free (thanks Shan!)
A good long while ago, near the finale of Act I, Kevin and I registered to be bone marrow donor. The idea of actually donating bone marrow sounded painful but we just registered our information so that in case we are a perfect match for someone we can actually help them. The registration is not painful at all (if I recall you have to like swab some spongey things and put into separate containers?)... anyway..at the time we did it as a part of a Leukemia thing for a Geneseo student that was in need of bone marrow.
I know if my bone marrow is ever needed as much as my fears of pain would be present, the knowledge that I am helping and perhaps saving another human's life would allow me to push through my own personal torment to hopefully help someone through theirs. So I registered.
and I hope you will also!
D
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The big move
Okay so as you all know, Kevin and I finally (after three years and a trans-state relationship) moved in together in the beginning of March. Here are some before and sort of after (I'm still mid-decor) pictures to tide those over who do not live nearby and cannot come visit.
So I prepared my parents house for the move and I had asked a lot of friends and family to help me move so I wanted to be sure that everything was ready and rearing to go so that when people came to help that it would be simply move this into truck type situation. Our good friend Walt accepted the challenge to drive and man the UHaul truck as he is a self proclaimed 'expert mover'.:)
Here is Walt and Kevin moving the headboard onto the truck:
I had created a 'staging area' for all the bins and furniture that was to be packed/moved in both my parents living room and garage for easy access and minimal door opening/closing times.
Staging Areas:
I had asked people to come to the house at Noon, and because everyone showed up slightly earlier (about 11:50) we were actually completely 100% done at 12:01 loading the truck at my house,,, which is pretty amazing and all in part due to the awesome help of Kevin and Walt and Justin (Walt's brother in law),Jason Tina, Nick and of course my family and myself. Super fast. Rapid fire.
So then we took the truck over to our apartment, and here are a few 'before' photos. I actually took more on my parents camera but since I keep forgetting my own camera its not fair to wait for the truly before pics,, when these will suffice.
Before Bathroom
Before Office
Before Bedroom
Okay so before we do the 'after' pictures I want to put a few pics of the post moving lunch, cause some of the moving occured at Kevin's house too and Kenny, Matt, Dawn,Jim, Kevin's Uncle Eddie and Kathy (?) and of course his parents and sister. So here are a few candids of the post move lunch.
Okay so after everyone left Kevin and I passed out (literally) for a few hours and got to work. Since everything was in bins we had a lot of stuff to put away and a lot to unpack. I am proud to say that almost three weeks later we are about 99% done unpacking and we're at the 'decorate and where should we put this' part of the game. Which I think is the fun part,, and I've already rearranged things once in three weeks so outlook is good for more revamping! Here are some 'mid' pictures because there is still a LOT more that we plan on doing to the rooms and to the apartment but this is where we live so ya'll can feel welcome to look!:)
Mid-Bathroom
Mid-Office (eventually will be spare bedroom but we don't have a bed yet so its only an office for now).
Mid-Bedroom
Mid-Kitchen
Mid-Living Room
So as you can see there is a lot of natural light in the rooms (except the bathroom), with huge windows and blinds everywhere that really make the apartment a homey warm atmosphere. We have a lot more room then we need so we'll find a way to fill it all up with fun and cozy accents to make a nice home for ya'll to visit sometime soon.
I hope you liked the pictures!:)
Danielle
So I prepared my parents house for the move and I had asked a lot of friends and family to help me move so I wanted to be sure that everything was ready and rearing to go so that when people came to help that it would be simply move this into truck type situation. Our good friend Walt accepted the challenge to drive and man the UHaul truck as he is a self proclaimed 'expert mover'.:)
Here is Walt and Kevin moving the headboard onto the truck:
I had created a 'staging area' for all the bins and furniture that was to be packed/moved in both my parents living room and garage for easy access and minimal door opening/closing times.
Staging Areas:
I had asked people to come to the house at Noon, and because everyone showed up slightly earlier (about 11:50) we were actually completely 100% done at 12:01 loading the truck at my house,,, which is pretty amazing and all in part due to the awesome help of Kevin and Walt and Justin (Walt's brother in law),Jason Tina, Nick and of course my family and myself. Super fast. Rapid fire.
So then we took the truck over to our apartment, and here are a few 'before' photos. I actually took more on my parents camera but since I keep forgetting my own camera its not fair to wait for the truly before pics,, when these will suffice.
Before Bathroom
Before Office
Before Bedroom
Okay so before we do the 'after' pictures I want to put a few pics of the post moving lunch, cause some of the moving occured at Kevin's house too and Kenny, Matt, Dawn,Jim, Kevin's Uncle Eddie and Kathy (?) and of course his parents and sister. So here are a few candids of the post move lunch.
Okay so after everyone left Kevin and I passed out (literally) for a few hours and got to work. Since everything was in bins we had a lot of stuff to put away and a lot to unpack. I am proud to say that almost three weeks later we are about 99% done unpacking and we're at the 'decorate and where should we put this' part of the game. Which I think is the fun part,, and I've already rearranged things once in three weeks so outlook is good for more revamping! Here are some 'mid' pictures because there is still a LOT more that we plan on doing to the rooms and to the apartment but this is where we live so ya'll can feel welcome to look!:)
Mid-Bathroom
Mid-Office (eventually will be spare bedroom but we don't have a bed yet so its only an office for now).
Mid-Bedroom
Mid-Kitchen
Mid-Living Room
So as you can see there is a lot of natural light in the rooms (except the bathroom), with huge windows and blinds everywhere that really make the apartment a homey warm atmosphere. We have a lot more room then we need so we'll find a way to fill it all up with fun and cozy accents to make a nice home for ya'll to visit sometime soon.
I hope you liked the pictures!:)
Danielle
Monday, February 23, 2009
moving
Moving is such a bother. Seriously. Its amazing how much STUFF a person can accumulate in such a short time.( although I say the same about stupid student loans and how fast THEY accumulate in just 4/8 years, THAT,, not amazing,, ).
My parents have been gracious enough to let me store bins upon bins of 'stuff' from years past in the basement. But as the bins pile up from my siblings and their travels, plus my parents and their never ending collection of 'stuff'... well I just felt like I should go through many of those boxes and do a 'clean sweet- keep/sell/toss'. It went quite well. I am selling my old books (textbooks and otherwise) on amazon and hopefully can get a little income to do some work on those never ending loans, but there was A LOT of stuff!!
So I'm not NEW to moving by any stretch of the imagination. I moved to Buffalo, again to college, mid-year in college, grad school, mid summer in grad school, again to go home, again to NYC, again to Astoria, again to NJ.. frankly its ridiculous. In NYC because I really had very little support and even fewer friends with cars, I had to pay for movers to take my stuff in their trucks, which turned out to be a great investment at the time. (much cheaper than me attempting to move a queen mattress alone and trying to drive a U haul truck through Manhattan,,frankly I get mini panic spirals thinking about it)
So this move that I'm starting is the first for Kevin and I as a duo. It should be interesting to say the least. We have an excessive amount of stuff, even after purging (which I think he's just learning how to do based on years of packratting)... and we don't have much furniture but the things we've refurbished or taken from our family members, but cohabitation with someone you care deeply about and have been awaiting for about 3 years... well its exciting!!!
We both can't wait to host parties, and have friends and family over, and walk down to the street to 'OUR Pub".. and have pot lucks, and wine/beer making. Its going to be great, and it will be our world to create and define and we been patient with ourselves and each other (as best as possible) and its going to be awesome.
Move in day is March 1st,,,and while we'll be doing things here and there in pieces during the week,, look forward to postings to come on our apartment and what a cozy nook we have created!
My parents have been gracious enough to let me store bins upon bins of 'stuff' from years past in the basement. But as the bins pile up from my siblings and their travels, plus my parents and their never ending collection of 'stuff'... well I just felt like I should go through many of those boxes and do a 'clean sweet- keep/sell/toss'. It went quite well. I am selling my old books (textbooks and otherwise) on amazon and hopefully can get a little income to do some work on those never ending loans, but there was A LOT of stuff!!
So I'm not NEW to moving by any stretch of the imagination. I moved to Buffalo, again to college, mid-year in college, grad school, mid summer in grad school, again to go home, again to NYC, again to Astoria, again to NJ.. frankly its ridiculous. In NYC because I really had very little support and even fewer friends with cars, I had to pay for movers to take my stuff in their trucks, which turned out to be a great investment at the time. (much cheaper than me attempting to move a queen mattress alone and trying to drive a U haul truck through Manhattan,,frankly I get mini panic spirals thinking about it)
So this move that I'm starting is the first for Kevin and I as a duo. It should be interesting to say the least. We have an excessive amount of stuff, even after purging (which I think he's just learning how to do based on years of packratting)... and we don't have much furniture but the things we've refurbished or taken from our family members, but cohabitation with someone you care deeply about and have been awaiting for about 3 years... well its exciting!!!
We both can't wait to host parties, and have friends and family over, and walk down to the street to 'OUR Pub".. and have pot lucks, and wine/beer making. Its going to be great, and it will be our world to create and define and we been patient with ourselves and each other (as best as possible) and its going to be awesome.
Move in day is March 1st,,,and while we'll be doing things here and there in pieces during the week,, look forward to postings to come on our apartment and what a cozy nook we have created!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
The passing of friends and family
This weekend as you may or may not know, Kevin's grandfather passed away. He was a beloved father, husband, grandparent, brother, son, soldier and friend to all whom he met. He even let me hug him on his birthday a few years back when we first met (the sign of a good soul and confident man). Kevin was lucky enough to have seen him sleeping peacefully about 30 minutes before he passed and that blessing helped many of his family members to find peace this weekend.
This weekend has me thinking a lot about death and the way I'd like to go and how I'd like to be remembered and different coping strategies. Having no grandparents left myself, I tried to reflect back on those passings to see if there was anything that I could learn from or assist me to be empathetic to those I was with this weekend. Of the people that have passed in my family, one was abrupt and a shock and three were slow and drawn.
I'm not sure which is the best way to say goodbye also. Should you tell a child that their family member is sick and getting worse, and let them see their family member and say goodbye, or do you let them keep the memories they have already and let them say goodbye at a wake or funeral? Is it better to be shocked into grief or slowly accept your way into it? We were shocked by my grandfathers death and that was super hard, and we were not shocked by my Aunts death, and that was super hard also. I was able to say goodbye to both at the wake/funeral but both were really REALLY hard, probably cause they were so hard for my parents go get through too.
My grandmothers both passed really slowly (lung cancer or emphysema or something) and when the actually passed I was in college (or grad school) and I wasn't told it had happened til finals were over. I didn't say goodbye but I think because it was so slow I kinda knew it was happening and not having seen my parents upset helped me to let go easily also.
So I guess I wonder, is it better to be shocked or better to let go over time? Better to go to a wake/funeral or better to not have them. I don't know. I think also it depends on the age of the person, I know that some families feel like the funeral is important and other families feel like its something that the person who passed might not have wanted.
Its all very sad and dark but I guess where the faith comes into play and helps you to let go.
This weekend has me thinking a lot about death and the way I'd like to go and how I'd like to be remembered and different coping strategies. Having no grandparents left myself, I tried to reflect back on those passings to see if there was anything that I could learn from or assist me to be empathetic to those I was with this weekend. Of the people that have passed in my family, one was abrupt and a shock and three were slow and drawn.
I'm not sure which is the best way to say goodbye also. Should you tell a child that their family member is sick and getting worse, and let them see their family member and say goodbye, or do you let them keep the memories they have already and let them say goodbye at a wake or funeral? Is it better to be shocked into grief or slowly accept your way into it? We were shocked by my grandfathers death and that was super hard, and we were not shocked by my Aunts death, and that was super hard also. I was able to say goodbye to both at the wake/funeral but both were really REALLY hard, probably cause they were so hard for my parents go get through too.
My grandmothers both passed really slowly (lung cancer or emphysema or something) and when the actually passed I was in college (or grad school) and I wasn't told it had happened til finals were over. I didn't say goodbye but I think because it was so slow I kinda knew it was happening and not having seen my parents upset helped me to let go easily also.
So I guess I wonder, is it better to be shocked or better to let go over time? Better to go to a wake/funeral or better to not have them. I don't know. I think also it depends on the age of the person, I know that some families feel like the funeral is important and other families feel like its something that the person who passed might not have wanted.
Its all very sad and dark but I guess where the faith comes into play and helps you to let go.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
In the beginning........
So I love love LOVE to read other people's blogs, and I've had a few of my own, of sorts. I was a livejournal-er,,, then a deadjournal-er, then a myspacer, and I just learned how to post a note on facebook. However I stopped the first one because it would not allow me to moderate those that posted hateful or snide comments on my journal. Deadjournal is still up and only because I have yet to print them all for my own records and amusement, and Myspace is still up but I might abstain from using that since Nicole is on facebook too. We'll see..
So my friend Jen Davis has a blog, and she cracks me up on every blog. Even the emotional or sappy ones still make me smile,,I think its a sign of a good writer but its also probably cuz she in general makes me smile.
An my cousin Shannon has a babyblog, which allows me in NY to see cool adorable things my lil baby cousin (is that a second cousin or a cousin once removed/ how does one remove cousins exactly?)... anyway lil MollyP has her own babyblog and I get to see pics of her eating and the newest video is of her rolling over. Pure joy.
So when I was trying to come up with a name for my blog, I was thinking,, "well what I am trying to do with my life today/this year/in general? And then I decided a theme might make me feel restricted and therefore I might not post anything... I almost called it something like Tangent Talker Takes Town (I know, amazing alliteration) because I tend to talk as I type and my thoughts kinda go all over the place on different tangents..
But that seemed a lil silly. I couldnt come up with something funny or quick witted like Librarians Do It Quietly (Davis's) which makes me giggle like I'm 12. Laura's is about Green Revolution or something and I really don't know anything about being 'green'... I considered doing something about being frugal because being in Buffalo and working where I work is significantly lower than I'd like and requires me to be very frugal with the things that I do in order to keep the Fico peoples happy and not bankrupt myself. Plus I love getting deals and having people help me become smarter or thriftier.
So in the end, as you know, I left it as Danielle's Meandering Thoughts,,, cause that is what they do, meander wherever they choose to be, and we'll see where the next road takes me tommorrow!
So my friend Jen Davis has a blog, and she cracks me up on every blog. Even the emotional or sappy ones still make me smile,,I think its a sign of a good writer but its also probably cuz she in general makes me smile.
An my cousin Shannon has a babyblog, which allows me in NY to see cool adorable things my lil baby cousin (is that a second cousin or a cousin once removed/ how does one remove cousins exactly?)... anyway lil MollyP has her own babyblog and I get to see pics of her eating and the newest video is of her rolling over. Pure joy.
So when I was trying to come up with a name for my blog, I was thinking,, "well what I am trying to do with my life today/this year/in general? And then I decided a theme might make me feel restricted and therefore I might not post anything... I almost called it something like Tangent Talker Takes Town (I know, amazing alliteration) because I tend to talk as I type and my thoughts kinda go all over the place on different tangents..
But that seemed a lil silly. I couldnt come up with something funny or quick witted like Librarians Do It Quietly (Davis's) which makes me giggle like I'm 12. Laura's is about Green Revolution or something and I really don't know anything about being 'green'... I considered doing something about being frugal because being in Buffalo and working where I work is significantly lower than I'd like and requires me to be very frugal with the things that I do in order to keep the Fico peoples happy and not bankrupt myself. Plus I love getting deals and having people help me become smarter or thriftier.
So in the end, as you know, I left it as Danielle's Meandering Thoughts,,, cause that is what they do, meander wherever they choose to be, and we'll see where the next road takes me tommorrow!
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