Doom de doom doom

Would you look at that!  Two post within 30 days of each other!  Hope I'm not spoiling you all! ;)

So, nothing has really happened, lol. Kara, Charlene and Jorje have all finished the semester. It was a good one. All of them passed their classes and Kara came out happy with her grades :) (She took Mass Media, Business Law, Business Statistics and Information Systems--they all sound super boring to me, but she had fun). So, now we are planning our annual camping trip that we take every summer. This time we are going to go to Assateague Island so we can go to the beach. 

We set up a garden in the back yard. We planted Tomatoes, Jalapeno Peppers, Bell Peppers, Onions, Sugar Snap Peas, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Yellow Squash and (accidentally) Potatoes. Should be a good harvest! However, I'm hoping that next growing season, I will have enough money to build raised beds. This garden (my first garden I've done on my own) is right in the ground, and honestly? I'm far too laz--uh, BUSY, to weed it, lol.  But the grass is taking over so I gotta get on that.

We also have a few pumpkins that I need to plant. These are left over from the two pumpkins we had for Halloween.  

On another subject.  We have painted the Foyer/Stairwell/Hallway from that weird yellow/cream color to a nice sandy tan color. The trim was also the same yellow/cream color, and we are painting it white (Charlene is actually taping off the walls so we can paint, lol) So, that's my next project.  

Now, in my spare time, I kind of putz around on the interwebs, or watch Dr. Who, or watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic....but Kara brought home a copy of Brandon Sanderson's new book, The Rithmatist. It was fantastic! In true Sanderson fashion, the magic system was intense and the book was funny and action packed.

It takes place in a world similar to ours, in on of the 60 United Isles. The main character, a 16 year old boy named Joel--the son of the cleaning lady at the academy he attends--is not a Rithmatist. He's always wanted to be one, but the change for him to do so has long past. But that hasn't stopped him.  He still knows more about the science behind it than most people do. Well---I'm far too lazy to write a review/summary.  Here is what's located on the cover of the book

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings—merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students study the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery—one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.

So...yea. Read it. It's really good. I busted it out in a couple days, so it shouldn't take long for other's ei
ther.

Anywho...not much else to talk about, so I suppose I'll sign off.

<enter some nerdy reference here>

Sacrebleu!

It's been just about an entire year since the last post!  Holy cow!  A lot has happened in this last year, it's been crazy. So, I guess I'll start from the beginning.

Last time we posted, we had JUST moved into our house! (Isn't it awesome? :D)

Isn't this house just the best? lol

We rebuilt the ceiling in the kitchen and bathroom.

Isn't that an ugly hole?

We tore up the floor in the attic to make room for

our in house movie theater! :D         .

We painted the walls from this ugly...Orange? Peach?

and Yellow Combo...

Really have no idea what color that is....

To this much better looking Purple/Cream combo =]

So, those were the major renovations we did.  We also took down some trees in the back yard, and the pile sat there until about 2 months ago or so (I tell you what though, made for some good firewood this year!)

It took a while to get the house set up, but now it looks like a home, not just a house. The general clutter left over from people who are constantly at school or work, the sound of puppies trying to kill the mailman...you know, that whole homely thing.

When we moved down here, Kara had a job at this awful company called Absolute. They dealt with Truckers all day. Not fun.  I was unemployed for a few months. But I finally landed an awesome job at the Credit Bureau of Delmarva (aka. Credit Plus). Really cool job.  I work in a call center updating credit reports for mortgage companies. I've learned a lot about the industry, and it's actually kind of fun.  The people I work with are awesome, I don't have to wear a tie (actually...I almost always show up to work in jeans, tshirt and flippy floppies), and the job is easy. And I make bank there with their bonus incentives ;)

Kara has since gotten out of her awful job, and is now happily employed at Barnes & Noble. A dream job for her while she goes to school. Her first semester at Salisbury University is coming to end (finals are next week). She is majoring Business Information System. I'm not sure what that means, but she explained it to me in classic Mike terms "Business on Computers". I suppose that makes sense. But she likes it well enough, except for one class where the teacher "couldn't be more dull if he tried".

Living here in Salisbury, we are about 30-40 minutes from Ocean City, MD (Not to be confused with Ocean City, NJ....because really...who want to go to NJ?  It's the armpit of America). But...we really only went to the beach like 2 times last Summer. We were far too busy planning a wedding!

On September 15, 2012, Kara and I tied the knot at the Fallston United Methodist Church in Fallston, MD. Not to toot my own horn, but the ceremony was beautiful, the reception was awesome and overall, it was a blast!

The Beautiful Ceremony!

The Awesome Reception!

The overall success!

After a long night of partying, we ran off to Lancaster, PA where we spent the first night at a Bed and Breakfast. Then we proceeded to catch a plane and flew to the Bahama's for a week in paradise.

Sadly, the week in paradise had to end, and we came back to the real world.  But the experiences of that week are still with us. It was amazing there.

So the next few months went by uneventfully, then come the new year, our little home got two new additions. (No, not kids...but sometimes I wonder about George, lol). We got two room mates. Charlene and Mike (aka George) moved in with us! They are both going to SU with Kara. George is majoring the same thing as Kara, and Charlene is majoring in French. 

Now, in May of 2013, we are getting into the warm season. We have a vegetable garden growing, the yard is looking great and we built a shed! We are almost halfway through the year, and it's been pretty good so far.  We have the rest of the year to look forward to.  Hopefully, it wont be another year before another post is written.

May you always find water and shade.

Housework...how I hate you.

So, while Kara has been at work, and I once again find myself in a tight spot with work (They were supposed to transfer me a week ago, and still haven't!!!), I have doing the housework! I hate it soooo much, but the reward is awesome.  I just built my own custom shelves out of some scrap wood we had in the basement, pretty cool.  They look good too!  Not crooked or anything! lol.  We are using them to hold some of our movies, but we still a bajillion more movies to put somewhere for now (to the basement they go!). I've also spent today hanging up the pictures, and getting the house ready for the weekend, because we will be gone.  Heading back up to Elkton for the Scottish Games, and for Kara's graduation. Our living room looks like a living room now!  The tv center is all set up, cable, dvd/vcr, wii, ps2 and ps3 :D Pictures on our end tables and on the walls.  It's looking like a house now!

I'm gradually getting through the two spare bedrooms upstairs.  One of them will be turned into an office, but we have a futon in there that we bought at a yardsale.  Smells hardcore like Asian, but that's what OxyClean and Febreeze is for!  Getting a lot done, and still have more to do...but tonight, Kara and I are going to this wedding expo because we won a 3 day 2 night trip to somewhere. We get to pick, all we have to do is pay for the airline tickets to get there. Totally stoked.

And now my lunch is devoured, so back to work...

May the odds be ever in your favor.

The House!

So, the house is coming along well.  I'm actually posting this because I'm procrastinating...really don't feel like doing anything.  It's raining and gross outside, Evil is asleep in my lap and Chanel is at my feet, and Food Network is on.  But Kara is off at her first day of work, so I should have some stuff done when she gets home.

Today so far, I've gotten the primer/sealer on the ceiling we installed in the kitchen and bathroom.  But total work done on the house is new paint in the living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.  New ceiling in the kitchen and bathroom, floor torn out of the attic, trees cut in the back yard to start cleaning up the fence line, and all the furniture moved into the house.  I have to arrange the furniture this week while I wait for my transfer at Staples to go through. Hopefully I can get completely unpacked.  We'll see lol.

But so far, Kara and I LOVE Salisbury.  We are half a mile from the on ramp to route 50, which takes us directly to Ocean City, MD.  The locals have told us it takes under 30 minutes to get there.  The mall and right down to rad too, and a bajillion different restaurants. The people here are all super nice, and the neighbors are friendly. It's great down here.  We haven't gotten around to meeting too many new people, other than the neighbors and the cashiers at walmart, but still, they are all nice.  Hopefully, when we get around to getting back to school, we will still feel the same way.  We don't plan on starting school until January, because we have a full schedule for the summer and fall, what with a few weddings to go to, including our own, then our week long honeymoon to the Bahama's!  (Totally stoked for that!)

But, it's been 30 minutes since I put the last coat of primer on, so I suppose it's time to actually paint the ceiling now.

May the Force be with you.

Who we are!

Mike and Kara Forever: Past, Present and Future...

It's just that. It is full of memories from the past that friends and family can share with us, it is about how we are doing, and what we are doing, and it is about what we plan on doing!

So who are we?

We are a couple that's taking on the adventure of first time home buyers, of weddings and college. We have been together for 5 years and some change, and are tying the knot on our 6 year anniversary. At this moment, the main point of this blog is to allow friends and family attain information on the wedding. Where it's at, where we are registered, what is going on with it...things like that. But this blog will be about more than just that--it'll be about every event happening in our family, major or not. Like talking about the Chinese food I just devoured or the house we just bought. If you want to know what is going on in our lives, this is the place to go.

I dunno how often I'll post, or if I'll still be doing this in a month, but this is the chance to have friends and family in our lives more so than they normally are.