snowing again

We are supposed to get 3 to 6 inches of snow today. I tried to go to work again, but the snow is so heavy I cannot see where I was driving and then when I got to the highway, they did not clean the roads--it was so slick and full of snow.

So, I am stormed in AGAIN! I will have to work on Saturday, at least for a little while to make up for the day I missed, I have so little vacation time to use.

Amy

Amana Christmas Trees

winter pic 1

winter pic

winter weather

I am stuck at home again from work, we are waiting for the road blade to come and clear our road. Svenja too two videos of the storm this weekend and here they are.

Christmas prep.

We are finally getting ready for Christmas. We bought gifts last weekend and it was the first weekend that was 1/2 ways decent weather wise. It snowed and was icky out, but it was the best weekend we have had in December.

Warren and I mailed the cards and gifts yesterday. I am going to shop for Christmas treats and food for Christmas day.

I did not realize how difficult Christmas planning is when you work full time! I have always had more time to prepare the past years. I also do not get the day before Christmas off, so that will be a little crazy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

my car

My heater broke a few weeks ago and I did not have any heat. Warren spent two full days working on it. I felt bad and I tried to help. He's working on warming up right now and my car works.

snow

I always say that I love the changing seasons, I think today I would call myself a liar. I left work early and it took me over an hour to get home. It's snowing and the roads are snow covered and ice covered.

It's been a crazy week weather wise, it is shaping up to be a pretty interesting winter.

Thanksgiving

We went to Warren's mom's for Thanksgiving. My parents came also, so Svenja got to meet both sides of our family. It was good to see our parents again. We got to see Dona's new home, which was really nice. She is doing really well, which was good to see. My parents are doing well also.

We also spent 22 hours total in a car. I am not sure Svenja was too excited about this. We split it up into two days each way and stayed with our friend Aaron who lives in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. On the way to the family, Svenja got to go to the Mall of America. She really enjoyed that as she likes to shop, but also thought it was too big and too much. That's been her opinion of the US lately, too much...too much food, too many Christmas lights on houses, too many cars, everything too far away...

That's all that is going on around here. We are both back to work yesterday and I realized that I cannot be gone on vacation. I had three families blow up on Wednesday and my supervisor had to handle it. Warren is pretty behind at work also.

my dining room table

pictures of my future table.

Amana Colonies

Here's a picture of Svenja in front of the Colony Inn. Note the German word for "welcome" above the door.

Hello everyone

Things are going pretty well around here. We are going up to Warren's mom's for Thanksgiving. Svenja is excited to see two more states, even if they look the same as here.

We went to get Svenja a winter coat. She is used to the cold, but the crazy changes in weather that baffles her. We have mornings in the 30s and afternoons near the 70s for a week. Now it's cool all day long now.

update

It's been a while since I have written, so I thought I would update you on our family.

I am doing well, I cannot keep up with the housework, but that's what it is like when you work full time. I decided to stay where I am employed and am getting better at my job. I may even be starting to like it.

Warren is doing well, he has gotten back into woodworking. He's made some improvements with the saw mill and has been cutting up the logs in the garage. Work is going well for him.

Svenja is doing better at school, she has all Bs or As now. She is making friends and getting used to our American ways.

That's all for now.

California wildfires

My mom called tonight. My aunt Laura and her family live in South Pasadena, CA. So far, they are safe, but have been told to be ready to evacuate at anytime. Keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.

found a car

Warren and I (well Warren more than I) found a purchased a car. It's a 2005 Ford Five Hundred. It looks like a Taurus and Warren says it feels a lot like his old Bronco.

Speaking of the Bronco, we are looking for a worthy charity to donate it to, suggestions welcome.

our Lincoln

The old Lincoln died today. We are making arrangements for it's final resting place. It was a great car. Okay, the air conditioner didn't work , or the fuel gage, and the dashboard would blink warning lights that would blink for no reason.

Now we will be doing some "emergency" car shopping. If it's not one thing, it's another.

Rainy Day

This weekend was cold and rainy all weekend. Svenja stated that it reminded her of home and that this rain is "normal". She had never seen rain that comes in sideways like it does during storms around here.

You can definitely feel the changing seasons here. The leaves are turning and falling. My menus have went from grilling and salads to soups and casseroles. I am beginning to realize that I am very much a seasonal person. I am sure part of it is living out here as we plant in the spring and are now getting the grape vines and yard ready for winter.

The animals feel the seasonal changes around here too. Warren was moving logs in the garage and came face to face with a skunk that made a nest for himself in between the logs. Neither were hurt or sprayed from this interaction.

That's all that is going on around here.

Update on things

Things are going well here. Svenja is doing well in most of her classes and is going out with friends more.

As the weather is getting cooler, Warren is busy getting ready to do woodworking this fall/winter. He has not really done much woodworking since we moved here, so I am glad that he is getting excited to do this again. We cleaned the shop a few weeks ago. We are missing an important tool, though and have no idea where it is. Warren wants to make a kitchen table and chairs this year.

My hobbies are a lot smaller and less ambitious. I am working on two wall hangings and hope to finish my quilt. I am also knitting a scarf for Svenja (she asked me to and picked out this really cool yarn) and a new scarf for my coat. Last year's scarf is a little out of shape and I plan on making a new scarf every year.

more kities

Here's a picture of Warren reading with Stubby and on of Pearl and Stubby together.

Warren's run

Many of you are aware of how much Warren likes to run. He prefers to run outside and now it is dark in the mornings. He currently has a little light that he wears on a headband so he can run in the mornings.

Yesterday morning, Warren had to run on the major highway near our home. He was running on the shoulder and kept getting flashed by the semis that were driving by. Warren is wondering if his light is too bright and what kind of stories that the drivers are saying after seeing someone running with a light on his head.

Homecoming Dance Pictures

Farmer Warren

Wine making

Here's a few pictures of Warren pressing his grapes. This was a few weeks ago, I just got an opportunity to download the pictures.

kitty pictures

Here's some kitty pictures we took this week. That's Svenja playing in the picture with Pearl.

A wedding, a dance, and a baseball game

We have all three this weekend. Svenja has her first Homecoming this weekend. Last night was the game, and they lost, again. This team has not won a game yet. The days of the week with the dressing different was really strange to her. She participated in the dress like a famous person and the time wrap day, but the Pajama day was really strange to her. She refused to go to school in her pajamas and thought that was the strangest thing. She was the only senior not to dress up that day, but she is Ok with it.

Warren has meet her date for the Homecoming dance when he picked her up after Volleyball. I meet him tonight. I cannot remember his last name, but his first name is Daniel. The good thing about having the youth group is that I could find out if this is a nice guy or not and he is a pretty good guy. He can't drive yet, so they are carpooling, which makes me a little less nervous. I'm such a worrier, but sometimes I wonder if it's because of my job. The first thing one of the girls told me at LYO was that he was really cute...teenagers.

I have a co worker getting married today also, I may be going alone to this wedding, which will be strange.

Tomorrow, the foreign exchange students go to Dyersville to the Field of Dreams movie site. We watched the movie last weekend. We will watch the game and then go out for food. Should be a fun day.

The LYO has also been asked to do highway cleanup this morning. Most of the kids cannot make it, but I will be there and hopefully I will find the time to do laundry and housework too.

Adjustment

Svenja had her first day of school yesterday. She was so nervous that morning. She wanted me to come in with her and help her through her payment of fees and the last of the paperwork. The school is really great, but sometimes the office workers rattle off all the things a student needs to do and sometimes they go too fast for her to understand. I'm not used to rephrasing things and asking others to slow down, but I am getting used to it.

Svenja said school went well. She is having difficulty understanding her Foods teacher and her Biology teacher though. Her other classes went well. She likes Volleyball after school. Warren had to make dinner and made Tacos. Svenja liked them, but we have not made anything that she recognizes, so if anyone has German food recipes, let us know. Svenja's mom may send a few and Svenja will translate, hopefully nothing will get lost in translation.

In true Wambsganss/Schmitz tradition, we have not taken a picture of Svenja yet. We will hopefully get this accomplished soon and will be able to post it, so you have a face to go with the name.

getting into a routine

Hey everyone,

Today is the day of the foreign exchange student picnic. I am sick today, so Warren and Svenja went without me. I hope they have fun, it will be a great opportunity to meet other students from around the world that ended up in Eastern Iowa.

Svenja starts school tomorrow. She was registered on Friday and I think she was a little overwhelmed with deciding what classes she is taking. Their system is in trimesters, so Svenja's schedule will change in every three months. Svenja is from a village of approximately 300 people and the high school in Vinton/Shellburg has 60o students.

We went grape picking yesterday. Warren promised we would help, so Svenja got to experience grape picking. It was fun for us, but I am not sure how much Svenja liked it. I asked her a couple of times if she wanted to go home and she said no, so I hope she didn't hate it. We went to the movies last night, Svenja picked Rush Hour 3 and she really enjoyed the movie.

That's all for now,

Svneja's here

The foreign exchange student, Svenja, is here. She flew in yesterday and will register for school today. More to come.

Labor Day weekend

My parents came for the weekend and I think we got more accomplished this weekend than the last two combined. It's been fun having them here, I do not get to see them often enough. They leave on Wednesday morning.

Warren and I are going to be host parents to a foreign exchange student from German. Her name is Svenja Beister and she will be here late Wednesday night. We have been busy getting the upstairs bedroom ready for her. We got a bookshelf and a desk for her.

tomatoes

Today as been a catch up day in the yard and garden. Our garden exploded in tomatoes again this year, though some rotted before we got home (yuck). I also have a lot of jalapeno peppers to deal with also. Our potatoes did terrible and our catalope looked really good and now they are rotting on the vine before they are even ripe, not sure what that is about.

I am canning. I made some salsa, I made a small batch as it is a new recipie, but will be making more. I also am currently working on tomato sauce. What a mess, I have had a couple of boil overs and my kitchen seems to be covered in tomato juice right now. I hope to also make stewed tomatoes, but am out of wide mouth jars today. It actually a cool day today, so it is not miserable to can today.

Our lawn exploded also. I have to do the trim work, but have not gotten to it yet, so the yard looks terrible. Warren came home early on Thursday to do the large work and burnt his hand on the tail pipe of the mower. He was moving a tree branch out of his way and it snapped back and his hand hit the pipe, not a big burn, but is looks terrible. If you add this injury to the pinched finger that Warren got when we were moving the other lawnmower with a flat tire on it so it would not be lawn art while we were gone, We seem to have a lot of mishaps with lawn mowers.

We also are working on a new project. For those who have been to the place, we have a cement circle in our yard near the house for the old cistern. We are building a small fire pit on top of it so we can use it and it looks like we wanted the circle there. We have the cement and bricks and it's about 1/2 way completed.

That's all for now,

Museum of Flight

Here's a picture of Warren at the Museum of Flight. We had a blast there too. There is a good picture of Warren checking out an engine (properly trying to figure out a way to make it work better)

Famous Seattle...

Here are two famous landmarks of Seattle, the Space Needle and Pike's Place Market.


We had so much fun at "the market" that we went there twice! We had so much fun watching the street performers and the crowds. Got fresh fruit for the day and have tastings of great Seattle produce. Warren was disappointed we could not bring any fish home though. The picture of the harbor is taken from the market.



We went to the Sci Fi Museum and the Experience Music Project at the Seattle Center (where the Needle is located) Both Museums are huge!!! We became museumed out! It was cool to see all the exhibits.

Seattle

Here's a few pictures from our trip. The first two are from Mt. St. Helen. It was a really cool sight and we learned a lot about volcanoes. We also got sunburned, but that's us.

On our way...

Today is our 5th anniversary! We are planning on having a honeymoon vacation. We are flying to Seattle today! I am busy getting ready to go and Warren is working a 1/2 day at work today. We are so excited to be able to get away for a few days, we need a break from our jobs.

Pictures to follow...

MIA

I have been busy and boring the last few weeks, so I have not blogged recently. Warren and I are going to Seattle for our 5th anniversary, so we will post pictures soon.

Work has been stressful, like everyone else's job!!!

Not much else to say.

Have a good week everyone.

more pics

Here' a before and after picture of Warren and a picture of their packs.

Warren's back

Warren is back from his trip to the Big Horne Mountains. Here's a few pics. I think he and his friend Aaron, had a good time. Warren was pretty tired after he got back from the trip.

My new haircut, for those who have not seen me in a while. Guess I am a few years ahead of a "midlife crisis" I donated my hair to locks of love, so it went to a good cause.

New to this..

Hello family and friends,

I have a friend that blogs and it has been so fun to see what she is up to. Warren might post some things too, so you will know what we are up to here in Iowa.

Things are going well here. Warren is hiking this week (pictures to be posted later) and I have been alone all week. The cats, Pearl and Stubby, are keeping me company and I think they notice the absence also.

More to come as I become more creative.

Amy J.