Sad news...

I am very sad to report that I had someone very dear to me pass away. My mom's aunt Phyllis passed away yesterday after being in a coma since Jan 8th. Phyllis was more of a Grandmother to me, not just a great aunt. She stepped in after my grandparents were gone. My heart truly aches. But I am thankful that she is in a better place...

I thankful that it's going to work out for me to go back to Minnesota to give support and attend the funeral. I will be flying out of Indianapolis tomorrow (Friday Jan 30) morning at 7:15am and will come back next Thursday Feb 5th around 10pm. When I booked last night, and still now, the actual memorial service date had not been set...I'm just hoping and praying it will be within one of those days (which there's a very, very good chance it will be). I didn't think I'd be coming "home" again this soon. I feel bad it's for such an event. But nonetheless I will get to enjoy some quality time with my family.

Abhay will stay here in Columbus. Which is a very weird thing. Most of you know that the two of us are attached at the hip, and rarely ever apart (besides at work). This will be the longest we've been away from each other since Feb. 2006. He's my rock and it will be hard to go through all this without him. Be he will stay here, keep watch on the house, work, and live a bachelor life for 6 days. He'll be fine. :)

If you pray, please keep my family in your prayers. It's never easy to lose someone you love. If you don't pray, pass along good thoughts, strength, and peace their way. Thank you!

--Mandy

And it goes on....

It continued to storm all through the day yesterday, all night, and until around 10am today. During the afternoon/evening yesterday freezing rain was pouring down. YUCK!!! Now it's the dig out process. I'm waiting for the plow to plow out the street before I shovel the driveway. Abhay did it at 7:15 this morning...but it's totally covered again. I still haven't attempted to go anywhere. THANK GOD for our garage where my car is nice and toasty warm--free of snow and ice. I love being a teacher and having snow days. Abhay is one of the only people at his work-place today. :)

I took a couple more pics today...

Our boxes and looking down the street

Our patio view! :)

Snow!!

I've been wishing for a snow storm here in Columbus since October, and I finally got it. Last night we got 5 or 6 glorious inches of snow. It's supposed to snowing/sleeting all through the day and then hit us again tonight with a few more inches. I was so sick and tired of looking at the brown yucky grass and fields. Now it's all nice and bright. Looks so clean. It had snowed a few times this winter season, but just melted right away the same day.

I even managed to get a snow day from school today. Third of the school year. The first was for icy roads (which were all pretty much melted by 10am that morning) and a couple weeks ago for cold temps (-10 below. *snicker* The same day in my hometown it was -60 with windchill and they ran school ON TIME). I'm spending the day at home. Catching up on reading, laundry, and DVR. No plows have been out, and probably won't be until morning. Which is crazy to me. I know I could drive just fine in this weather, it's the other scary drivers around here that I worry about. They are bad enough drivers when there isn't any snow.

Here's a couple of picture of our house with the snow. I think it looks so pretty...

--Mandy

Windy City Fun

We enjoyed a weekend trip to Chicago this past weekend. It was so nice to get away and see friends. It's not a bad drive for us at all...4 hours. The great thing about going there is that we gain an hour! We were oh-so-happy to be able to spend time with good friends!!!

We stayed with our friends Rajat and Shruti, it was so nice to chat and spend quality time with them. (Abhay and Rajat are old friends from their undergrad in Pune, India) Saturday we all went into the city and met up with Abhay and I's friend Carrie and her boyfriend Josh. It was SOOO good to see her and meet him. We truly miss our Minnesota friends. We went to Shedd's Aquarium (which was awesome)and ate a lovely dinner at Maggianos Little Italy downtown. Abhay and I got our first experience on riding the "el" train in Chicago. It was so convenient and so much easier than driving a car downtown. Plus not to mention cheaper (parking is INSANE). Abhay and I also got to enjoy some fantastic Indian food at India House downtown with Rajat and Shruti for brunch Sunday before leaving town. Great food and fantastic fun atmosphere. Abhay thought the lamb was "divine" and I loved the chicken tikka masala.

I loved seeing snow once again!! I also enjoyed the cold, just not the 7 blocks of walking in it to catch the "el". I'll forever be a snow lover.

The crew outside of Shedd's--What an awesome view of the city!!

Cost of War

I was looking online to figure out how much money is being spent in Iraq. I found a very interesting website http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home. The website has a running counter for how much is actually being spent right now. Also, you can check how much each state is spending. Just to put it in perspective, the small state of Indiana could be doing the following with all the money Indiana has spent so far on the war (On the website you can check your state too):

Taxpayers in Indiana will pay $10 billion for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

2,959,263 People with Health Care for One Year
OR
9,495,120 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year
OR
246,365 Public Safety Officers for One year
OR
155,518 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year
OR
1,339,154 Scholarships for University Students for One Year
OR
104,598 Affordable Housing Units
OR
4,730,759 Children with Health Care for One Year
OR
1,494,180 Head Start Places for Children for One Year
OR
174,996 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
OR
136,968 Port Container Inspectors for One year

Makes us wonder how many people would still have jobs with only part of this money. Oh!! Also check Michigan the total amount of money spent by MI so far is $17.4 billion. coincidently thats the same amount as the auto bailout and it has been said over and over again that hopefully 1.4 million jobs will be saved with this bail out.

I know people will argue that they are doing this for security reasons. But there are many more means to keep a country safe. War is not a solution it is only a temporary band-aid.

Abhay

Proud day

Today was a big day. History was made in the United States of American. I was so very happy to have the fine privilege of watching the inauguration of the 44th president, Barack Obama, today. What made watching even better was that I got to share it with 40 5th grade students. I feel proud that I was able to sit with America's tomorrow and watch history in the making. I will remember it for the rest of my life. (as cheesy as that sounds...;))

It's no surprise to any of you that Abhay and I are both huge supporters of Obama. We're both excited to see the changes that will take place with him in office...

I'll leave you with a quote Obama made in his acceptance speech:
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

--Mandy

Home Warranty

Just a note to say how thankful we are that the previous owners of our house purchased a one year home warranty for us when bought the house!!

We were having some issues with our garbage disposal when we got back from our Minnesota trip. Monday, it quit all together. Most of you know the story of how our garbage disposal in the townhouse in TRF backed up and leaked raw sewage everywhere (just days before our wedding), so needless were say we're pretty gun shy when it comes to garbage disposals. We contacted the warranty company and yesterday they sent out a plumbing agency to fix it. It ended up it was just clogged badly, but not something we could have fixed ourselves. Our portion to fix this was a measly 60 bucks. I asked the plumber how much it would have cost if we didn't have the warranty...and he shared it would have been SIGNIFICANTLY more than 60 bucks.

YAY!!! We're hoping we never have to use it again but we are even more so grateful that we have it.

--Mandy

Tests, laptops, and vampires...

This week came and went...and left a few things to note.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to Bloomington, Indiana. I had to go to Indiana University and take a PRAXIS test to get my permanent Indiana teaching license. Right now I just have a temp one. I had to take 2 different PRAXIS tests in Minnesota to get my teaching license there. Let's just say, these tests are NOT fun. They are the type of exams that you take and when you leave you are sure, without a shadow of a doubt you've bombed it. (I passed the first two in Minnesota with flying colors--scores well beyond what was required) I prepared myself for that feeling, but I think I did ok. We'll see when my score comes in a month. Abhay came with me, which was nice. He dropped me over and the explored around town for the 2 hours I was in the test. Afterwards we ate at Panera for lunch and headed home...

After a few hours being at home we decided to drive to Indianapolis to buy a laptop at Best Buy. (sadly Columbus doesn't have a Best Buy...only a Circuit City) We've been in the market for a new laptop for sometime... Abhay began seriously looking around Thanksgiving. We finally found a great deal and an awesome laptop. It's a Compac Presario--that's about all I know. haha. We both LOVE the huge 15.6 widescreen screen on it, I know that much. It's nice to have a computer than actually starts on the first attempt and doesn't need to be restarted 5-6 times throughout the day. Now it's on the the daunting task of moving everything over from the Dell. I'm already done backing up pictures. Now on to my 800+ songs and many documents. Uff!

One more thing that I cannot forget to mention--books! For Christmas Abhay gave me the first book in the Twilight saga, Twilight. I started reading it Wednesday and finished all 500 pages of it by Saturday evening. I started book 2, New Moon, last night before bed. These books are so addictive. I love a series that I can't put down!! I recommend them to anyone.

Here's wishing everyone a great week.

--Mandy

Melancholy

We made it home Sunday night, well I should say Monday morning, and we're oh-so-happy to be home. We were greeted with 35 degree temps....almost a 70 degree difference!!! :) It felt weird for both of us to drive on snow/ice free roads. We had gotten used to it while up north.

So now Christmas is over and we are into the new year. I always get a melancholy feeling in January. In Minnesota I used to blame it on the weather, but this year that's not that case. I think it because the whole anticipation of Holiday season is over, and it's back to normal life. I was telling Abhay about this and he said, "Why do you feel that way? It'll come around again next year." Him saying that gave me an "ah-ha" moment. He's so right. Plus there are PLENTY of other things to look forward to and experience.

--Mandy

Some things change, some things don't...

Yesterday we were able to spend the afternoon and evening in Bemidji. Bemidji is where I went to college and lived for two year after while I taught kindergarten in Red Lake, MN. I LOOOOOVED living in Bemidji. It was the perfect town for me. I hadn't been there in over a year, so it was really nice to visit--but made me miss it. Some things had changed, and then some hadn't at all. I drove by my little, cozy, yellow house that I rented for 4 years. It brought back such good feelings and memories just seeing it (although they have now painted it big bird yellow...it's so bright). Lots of big changes happened in my life while living in that house. I was also able to stop into my old stomping ground--Herberger's (the store I worked in for almost 4 years.) I was really shocked to see some people that I used to work with still work there--many of them I had trained in! :)

Our whole purpose of going to Bemidji was to see our friends. We met up with Jess, Heather and Matt, and Sean and Jenny at The Green Mill. It was good to chat and reconnect with them. We really and truly do miss our friends from up here! We're so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. It felt so odd not to have Carrie there--we missed you, girl!! :)

It's storming, yet again, here in TRF today. We had plans for the day but those had to be canceled due to this yucky weather. We plan to enjoy our last full day here by relaxing and eating a Walleye supper (YUM!!) cooked by my Mom. We're flying back home tomorrow afternoon. Cross your fingers for good weather. As much as we have really enjoyed our time here, we're looking forward to getting home. It'll be back to the grind for Abhay on Monday morning, and school starts again for me Tuesday.

2008 in Review

I sat today reflecting on the year past. A whole lot has happened to the both of us this year...

January: January began with me starting a new job at Digi Key here in Thief River Falls. I trained for this new job the whole month and all of Feb. It was bitterly cold in Minnesota and we spent lots of time going to hockey games and watching movies. We thoroughly enjoyed living in our townhouse and being only a few miles away from my mom and dad.

February: February was a whole lot of the same as January. Nothing too exciting.

March: This was the craziest month of the year. Early in March, Abhay flew to Indiana for a job interview. We figured it would take weeks to hear back, but within one day he was offered his job at Emcon. We thought long and hard about, put a pen to paper, and consulted our parents. After much debate, he accepted the job, gave notice at his job at Arctic Cat, and I gave notice at my job at Digi Key. Movers came at the end of the month and packed up our townhouse. We said goodbye to our family and friends and we off to a new life in Indiana, a place I had never visited or seen.

April: We settled into a 6 month leased 2 bedroom apartment. I started my job as an infant teacher at CCDC and Abhay started his new job. We did lots of exploring around Columbus and Indianapolis. I met lots of Abhay's friends from Michigan Tech that live in Columbus and we began to from/rekindle friendships with them. We made a trip to Chicago at the end of the month.

May: May brought lots more of exploring around our area. We really started to like Indiana. Abhay's mom and dad flew in from India on the 28th and spent the rest of the summer with us, which was a treat. We found the closest IKEA in Ohio!!! We started getting used to Starbucks coffee--much to our dismay there are no Caribou Coffees close to us.

June: The beginning of June brought heavy flooding to Columbus. I was off of work for almost 3 weeks due to the flooding and continued to work part-time at CCDC all summer--when it was supposed to be a full time job. Happiness for us came in the form of a Greencard for Abhay. What a intense ordeal...but makes life a whole lot easier for us.We enjoyed time with each other, Abhay's parents, and our friend in Columbus.

July: July 4th brought Gunjan, Abhay's sister our way. She was in the US all summer for work and she was able to come and visit us for the long holiday weekend. We all had such a great time. We did lots of traveling in July--all over Ohio and back to Chicago. July 7th brought Abhay and I's first wedding anniversary. We also began our house hunt.

August: Our highlight in August was the chance for our parents to meet!! My parents flew out to Indiana before Abhay's parents left. It was so nice for them to be able to meet. We all had a great time together traveling around Indianapolis and down to Kentucky. Before everyone left, they were all able to see the house that we had put a bid on and were hoping to purchase (which we did).

September: September brought the happy and stressful time of purchasing our first home!!!

October: Our whole October was preoccupied with packing and settling into our first home. We could have never done it without the help of our friends. In October, I received my temporary Indiana teaching license and was finally able to quit my job at CCDC and start subbing in the elementary schools in Columbus. We had so much fun handing out candy to trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood

November: November we were both busy with work. We enjoyed a 3 day trip to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. We had a blast decorating our house for Christmas at the end of the month.

December: Of course, our highlight of December was spending two weeks in Minnesota with my family. It was so nice to be able to relax and spend time with people we love. We loved the milder weather of Indiana in December but were then shocked to the core when we arrived in Minnesota.

Abhay and I are looking forward to what 2009 brings us. 2008 was a great year for us personally, and job wise. We hope to travel more--we'll be heading to India sometime and we also hope to make a trip to NYC, DC, and where ever Gunjan comes in the US. We have lots of plans for re landscaping our whole outside when spring comes and lots more projects for our house. And as always, we hope to spend lots of quality time with each other, our friends, and family. After all, those people are what life is about.

We wish you all, and your families, a wonderful 2009. We wish you joy, health, and prosperity in the new year!

--Mandy

Night owls...

If you're like me and are NOT a morning person, check out this article. Finally, something in our defense!!

3 Smart Things About Sleeping Late


--Mandy :) :)