Burgers & Company

I'm a little late posting this, but here it is anyway!

A little over a week ago, we got to spend the weekend with Dad and Nancy.  They had invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them in Chicago, but as many of you married folks know, you sometimes have to split up your family gatherings between parents. As such, we will be spending Thanksgiving with Ashley's mom, but I digress.

Dad and Nancy came to visit us in lieu of Thanksgiving, and although it was a short trip (they came in on Saturday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon), we had a wonderful time together!  Their visit also had another beneficial side-effect: we wanted the house to be safer to traverse, so it gave us both the incentive to try and get the landing and stairs done construction-wise.  We still have some trim/finish work to do, but you can walk up and down the stairs without (us) feeling like you (our guest) might lose your footing.  I'm happy to say that everybody survived the trek to and from the upstairs bathroom without incident.

We also enjoyed taking them to some of the local eateries around Carbondale.  Those of you who have been out here know that there is no shortage of places to eat.  We took Dad and Nancy to S&B's Burger Joint the first evening they were here, and Ashley and I enjoyed their comments and reminiscing as they would look around the room at the various posters, album covers, and music videos on the TV screens.  S&B's is something like the Hard Rock Cafe (only better, I think), and they serve burgers and shakes.

Now, when I say they server burgers and shakes, I don't mean something you'd find at a diner-style restaurant.  Oh no.  This is not Steak & Shake.  This is not your average burger joint.  They pile on the toppings and sauces.  They have their own home-made shakes with real ice-cream, both of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties.  They have amazing smothered fries piled with similar toppings to what you would find on the burgers.  Can you tell I like this place?  They know what they are doing, and I'd recommend to anyone that they try this place at least once.  Dad and Nancy also said they very much enjoyed S&B's, so all in all it was a fun evening!

The next day they came with us to our church that we love so dearly.  Afterwards, Ashley left to serve in the Kids' Program teaching the 1st-3rd graders.  I would normally have joined her, bet I was able to forgo that time to spend more with Dad and Nancy.  While waiting for Ashley to finish, I took them around campus and showed them where I work, as well as some of the more interesting places on campus.  Nancy, I think, liked it a lot (maybe just a little).

Following that, we met up with Ashley again, went out to Moe's Mexican something-or-other (it's a tex-mex place where you can order tacos Subway-style) for a quick lunch, and then we saw them off so they could drive back to Chicago to catch a plane.  It was a short visit, but we managed to pack a lot in a short time!  Ashley and I really enjoyed their visit and we look forward to seeing them again!

Love,

Matt

A Little Late for Halloween, Don't You Think?

Well.

I meant to post this on Monday, but then I procrastinated getting the photos from Matt, then I was sick with this fiery sore throat/head cold/malaise, so that didn't happen.  

However, I'm back now in the land of the living (or at least I'm telling myself that) and in the interest of giving a few laughs, behold:

Before you ask, no, these fabulous head accessories were not for Halloween costumes.  We happened to be in Walmart looking for some puzzles to do on date night and came across these...

Bike helmets.  

Actually, Matt's headdress was just hanging up in the bike helmet area, but it was actually quite normal compared to some others we saw.

I think I would pass out from laughter if I saw someone wearing such riding down the street.  How hilarious is that?  

With love and laughter,

Ashley

"Another One Bites the Dust"

So, really, I have not been having the best week so far.  I will not bore you with the details because that would sound a lot like a whiny child, and, well, I can hear Barbara (my MIL) say in her sweet and truthful way "Well, you know, first world problems."

The main cause?  Yesterday, the Jeep received news that sounded a lot like a medical diagnosis, which included words like "structural damage" and "terminal."  To the Nervous Nelly's: no, we did not have a car wreck.  

My poor Jeep has finally bit the dust.  Quite literally, actually.  The body structure under the car is literally turning to rusty dust.  And there's really not much we can do about it.  :(  

Matt and I have had several friends who were able to pull off only having one car and I really applaud them.  I will just be truthful and say that, though I try to put on a better face, deep down I know that I am NOT one of those people and for various reasons: different work schedules, last-minute activities, running errands during lunch breaks... blah, blah, blah.

Really, I'm just that whiny child.  I wonder what interesting things might happen now that my 'freedom' is just a little more restricted.  I wonder how God will use this to teach me something.  It's probably patience, because let's face it, Matt got that in spades and I did not.

So, for your listening pleasure...Queen

Just try to keep that out of your head today, I dare ya!

With love and laughter,
Ashley

Congratulations, Grandpa!

From birth, I just had my mother's parents as grandparents.  My Grandma D (coming out "Grammaw," since it was pronounced with a southern twang) was an excellent grandmother who never forgot to send a card for every holiday, even the ones that Hallmark made up, like 'granddaughter's make-believe friend's birthday'...Day.

I really enjoyed those few years where my family lived close enough to visit every few weeks.  Grandma D loved playing gin rummy and cooking delicious southern food with all the fixin's, and by golly, you better wash up and take your hat off before you sat down to eat it!  She passed away several years ago and I still miss her sense of humor.

My grandfather was not really a man you could get close to, he loved all sorts of animals, but didn't really care for people very much.  

Fast forward to when Matt and I got married.  I get an awesome, loving, creative husband, and as the icing on the cake, I get an amazing family via a contractual agreement who treat me like I belong to their clan.

I still remember meeting Grandma and Grandpa Loen and breaking their coffee decanter, getting to celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary, and helping them pack up and move to Arizona.

After leaving each get-together, I always turned to Matt to say "Your grandfather is like those fairy tale grandfathers from a storybook!"  I say this because Grandpa Orie is the kindest, gentlest giant of a man that I have ever met.  Every time I get to see him, he greets me with that signature hug that envelopes you and a 100 megawatt grin that stretches from ear to ear.  I really treasure both him and Grandma Loen, the voice of sense and reason.

Today I read some great news - that Grandpa Orie is cancer free!  And I am so very glad.  It will make seeing the grandparents over the holidays that much sweeter.

Congratulations, Grandpa!

With love and laughter,
Ashley

Dogs Are Musical

As many of you probably know, I come from a musical family.  As a result, music is a big part of our family.  I enjoy finding new, cool songs to which I can dance around like a goof cool guy.  It is fortunate for me that I enjoy electronic music (specifically Nu Disco, these days), because the artists that produce electronic music also tend to have a lot of free songs for anyone to download.  It's a really generous and open community with lots of talented underdog musicians.  But I digress.

While searching for interesting songs, I will also occasionally find a neat music video.  Sometimes it's so neat that I want to share it with Ashley.  More often than not, it's only cool to me, but she is gracious enough to humor me anyway.  This brings me to last night.

We have a dog named Dash.  He's still technically a puppy, but he's a 45lb puppy, so I suppose calling him one or the other at this point is just semantics.  Like most young creatures, he LOVES to play, sometimes in spite of tiredness, reason, danger, and whether or not we want to.  I think the only things for him that stand above playing are food and the vacuum, the latter of which he is terrified.

Now, back to the music thing.  I found a really cool video by a group called Pentatonix.



Cool, huh?  Ashley thought so, too, until about halfway through the video.

When Dash started squeaking his ball.

Loudly.

Very loudly.

I imagine his thought process went something like this:

"Hey, you're playing with a loud toy!  I have one of those, too!  See?  I can even play along!"

And thus our little maestro played his own little overture and reduced us both to fits of laughter as we vainly tried to finish the video.

For all the difficulties of having a puppy in his "chewing phase," these moments when he disrupts our normal pattern in an unintended comical way (and they are frequent) make me glad we got him.  He's a pain sometimes, but he marches to the beat of his own drum.

Just like us.

Love and laughter,
Matt

Dash on the first day we got him.

Keeping In Touch: An Experiment

I confess that I am terrible about responding to emails, calls, and texts (in that order).  If you have ever tried to reach me, you know that the very best way is via my personal answering service who answers to the name "Matt."    

I also read blogs.  I used to read more, but really now I'm down to two.  Both are written by women who love Jesus, are absolutely hilarious, and started their blogs for the very same reason: to document their family and to keep in touch with others that they don't get to see very often.

Now that last part rings a familiar tune.  And the first part.  And the middle, but I digress.

We just don't get to visit Arizona, Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, or even northern Illinois very often (I am sad to say.)  So, I have been toying around with the idea of of writing a blog with Matt so that we could keep in touch with all of you.  Please comment, share, and interact with us.  That's the whole point of this experiment.

With love and laughter,

Ashley