New toy

So after almost a year of yearning for a real camera we finally caved! I'm a huge fan of canon, and have done tons of research and decide on a rebel. I wanted to get the XSi, but since it was the newest out I knew it wouldn't happen for a long, long time, so I was content with getting the older, and almost as good XTi. Well it just so happens that they were on sale this week for $200 off! Making the price very reasonable to splurge on. After some easy convince talk with the hubby (he's wanted one too) we were off on Saturday morning to become the new owners of one. It def wasn't the easiest process, but over an hour later we were on our way home :-) yay!!!
Here she is...just out of the box! Couldn't use her yet b/c her battery had to charge.
Here are some pictures from later that day trying to figure out how it works.



Joey eating dinner...

Christy wearing some of hers...


and Kevin wishing he didn't add hot sauce to his!

I can't wait to get out and take some more shots!!!

Blue

My company deals with a lot of banks for work, and because of that we end up with lots of bank pens. The one bank we don't have an account with (Commerce)my husband has an account with so I have a bunch of theirs too.
I noticed one thing about all of these pens though...

They are all BLUE!!! I'm not sure why? Is there some bank law that states any pens have to be blue? Has it been proven in a study that blue has a strong impact or something on people? You would think that since banks deal with money, and money is green that they would have green pens.

Any thoughts?

Be Careful What You Ask For

This is today's devotion from Greg Laurie. I thought it was a good one. It's easy to ask for what we want, but God, being the Father that he is can see the bigger picture and knows what's best for us. We may pout and get upset with him, but when we mature and look back we see how good it was. We just need to remember that the next time we don't receive exactly what we ask for, and check our motives and see if it really is in line with His greater plan.



"And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls."
~Psalms 106:15

I sometimes hear people say, "I have been wrestling with God in prayer!" My first thought always is, "I hope you lost."

If you have been trying to bend God your way, then that is a problem. Prayer is not trying to move God your way; it is moving yourself His way.

In fact, I'm glad that God hasn't said yes to every prayer I have ever prayed. When I look back on some things I've prayed for, I realize that if the Lord would have allowed them, they could have destroyed me. They were not the right things or the right situations. So God graciously and lovingly said no.

In John 15:7, Jesus gave an incredible promise regarding answered prayer. He said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." From the original language, this verse could be translated, "If you maintain a living communion with Me, and My word is at home with you, I command you to ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires, and it will be yours."

When I read a promise like that, I gravitate immediately toward the part that says I can ask whatever my heart desires and it will be mine. But before that, Jesus said, "If you maintain a living communion with Me, and My word is at home with you. . . ."

If this is happening in your life, then you are going to want what God wants. If you maintain a living communion with God and His words are at home in your heart, then your outlook, your desires—and in time, your prayers—will change.

Moving 101

I have moved too many times to count, but I've always been with roommates, so only half the stuff, or less is mine. I have to say though for moving an entire apartment for the first time wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

For those of you who hadn't been to our first home, this is what it looked like on Friday night before the move...crazy right?


Sorry I don't have any actual moving pictures, I had my camera safely stored away so it wouldn't get lost or broken. Plus who can take pictures when they are carrying boxes and couches and dressers and....
We asked our family and friends (10 of us in total) to show up at 9:30. In true Crnkovich fashion my parents didn't show up till 10 with the big box truck. On their defense my dad was sick and wasn't even suppose to be driving, let alone a huge truck, but he loves me :-)
By 11:15 I closed the door to our old place for the last time, and we heading to West Chester!
Let me tell you driving down 100 trying to keep a caravan of 8 cars together is definitely an challenge...especially with the construction and forcing everyone into one lane...but we did it and began unloading a little before noon.

By 1:15 we were starved and glad to be finished! Well those who helped us were finished...we had to do the unpacking. Here's Kev's dad grubbing down on the yummy food my mommy brought. See all the boxes!?!?


As soon as everyone left Kevin and I began the feat of tackling boxes. A few hours later and I was starving again, and we realized that we were a few lights short, we had thrown out one of our lights, during the move, and now we also had an extra room. So we mad a 'quick' run into Main St. and hit up Cosi's and Bed Bath and Beyond.
I decide to take some mid-finished pictures, while Kev hit up some lesson plans. Here's part of the living room with our new light in the front.Our bedroom...the room isn't really slanted, I was just tired and couldn't hold the camera straight.



And the dining room! Reconize it from the eating picture? It looks a lot better huh?


Now all we have to do is figure out how to cover up the plain jane walls without painting or putting too many holes in the wall. :-)

I learned the key to an easy move is being organized and having great help. I can be a little OCD at times, but this was the perfect time to be so.

1. I made sure we labeled every box what room, and what was in it, and each room had it's own color also.

2. I also designed floor plans for each room so people knew exactly where to put things to save us from rearranging.

3. I cleaned as we packed. Furniture and rooms. Who wants to care a dusty bookcase, let alone move old dust into a new, clean place? When I finished packing up the bathroom I cleaned it, same with the kitchen and other rooms. Then on moving day when the rooms completely empty you just have to run the vacuum quickly and your good to go.

It takes a lot of pre-move work, but to make it easier on your movers and yourself after words it is so worth it!

Pups

So Kevin and I spent the last week house/dog sitting for some friends. We didn't have internet, so hence the lack of blogging.
They have 2 totally cute, totally crazy, totally, totally mental labs. Zoe is a yellow lab and Scout's a black lab mix. Since they are adopted no one is sure of what has happen to them in the past, so little things will set them off. We slowly learned through the week what worked...and what didn't.

They quickly warmed up to me and would sit on the floor next to me, or beg me to pet them, but they were to crazy about Kevin. Since it absolutely poured all day on Saturday they were pretty content with staying inside with us, but when the sun came out on Sunday that wanted to sunbathe in the front yard. Well we had to head over to our apartment to being to tack packing since the move was only a week away. They were not to happy to be rounded up and put inside, even though I gave them a treat for being so good about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Scout has a submissive urination problem, so if you look at her in the eye she piddles a little. Yeah, I made that mistake when telling her she was such a good girl for coming in.

The next day Kevin comes home to find a nice little present waiting for him from one of them....
Well that didn't compare at all the presents I had at 6 am the following morning!
Kev normally feeds them in the morning since he's up early, and then I'll let them out until I have to leave. Well he was running late, so being the nice wife that I am :-) I said I'd feed them...it would take 2 seconds and then I could go back to bed...right?
WRONG!!!
I go down and turn on the light and all I see is poop! Labs aren't the smallest dogs, so their poop isn't the smallest thing either...and it seemed to span the entire basement! As I'm surveying the scene trying to figure out the best approach, Kevin so kindly points out that there's piddle in the one corner also. Great!

As I finished up I noticed that Zoe wasn't acting herself, and wondered what was wrong...well it wasn't long until she threw up, not once, but twice on my now clean floor!
What a way to start off a day!

Luckily we didn't have any more incidences with them after that. Other then the fact that Zoe is very stubborn, and was a huge pain to get to come inside at night. I'm sure the neighbors love the fact that I was yelling for her to get in the house NOW! at like 10pm every nights.

Oh well...it's over now...and it's funny cuz I miss them. Starting out I told Kev we are no where close to ready to have a dog...but now I'm double guessing myself.
We can't have pets in our new apartment, so it'll be at least a year until we'll get to think about that. Hopefully I'll be able to post about the move soon. We don't have our internet till Friday but sometimes I can snag someone elses...shhhh.

Motorcycles

So I've been on a motorcycle twice in my life, both times in parking lots going under 20mph, and I still freaked out. There's something about having nothing around you that just scares me. I hate driving around them because I'm always worried that something will happen to them whether it be someone hitting them, or wiping out or whatever.

Well my worry came true on my drive home tonight. I was coming up Burke Rd to the stop light at Boot as a bike made a left turn onto Burke. Well I'm not sure if he took it to sharp, or hit something but the next thing I know he's on the road with the bike on top of him. I quickly pulled into the parking lot and ran over. The lady in the car who was 1st at the light was already talking to him, so I called 911 and a few minutes later like 10 cops showed up followed by the ambulance a few minutes later. Thank goodness he was wearing his helmet and a leather jacket despite the heat. I can't image the scene if he wasn't.
I wish I knew his name or some way to check up on him. I think he may have had some bruised ribs since he had problems breathing and maybe a broken arm, but hopefully that's all.

Definitely an experience I wish I didn't have to have.
So if you ride a bike or know someone who does please, please, please be careful and most definitely wear a helmet!!!