New Living and Dining Rooms

After a week of living like this, we found some "takers" for our old furniture and they came last night for it. And a super sweet guy from church came with his truck and helped out, which was really nice.

And we now have our home back!

Here is the look at our living room, complete with a beautiful leather sectional couch, great end/coffee tables, and fabulous Frank Lloyd Wright-style lamps. The area next to our front door (upper right corner) is a little cramped, but it is well worth it for the new living room set-up.

And here is a shot from the living room into the dining room (our extra small, cramped kitchen is off to the left of the dining room, fyi). The sofa table doesn't quite (or really at all) fit behind the couch, so we've found a home for it next to the bathroom (which is off to the left of this picture). I LOVE the extra space for books! And so what if you have to turn sideways to get into the bathroom?

Back to the lamps. Isn't this great? Josh and I love this style! We have two table lamps and one floor lamp and they're beautiful.

All in all, some excellent hand-me-downs! We're really excited.

THANK YOU MOM AND DAD BROWN!

The only family member not exactly thrilled with the new furniture is the little fur-ball. He misses his chair and is currently experiencing a little bit of identity crisis.

He now thinks he is a cat.

The Grocery Bill

Does anyone else wonder how in the world you spent $350 last month in groceries and yet never ate at home?

This is what rolls through my mind each and every month as I'm paying bills: We went over our grocery budget. Again. So frustrating... especially at a time when we're trying to be frugal.

We're just two people. We don't buy steak or fish that often. We eat normal food like cereal and oranges and pasta and sometimes chicken chili. And yet we're both frustrated by how much money we're able to spend buying groceries. What is the solution? Should I start cutting coupons? Shopping discount food chains? Powdered milk?

I'm looking for some advice here.

#1 What should two people expect to spend on groceries for a given month?
#2 What are your best money-saving-on-groceries tips?

Ugly Clothes Week

Yesterday I set a rule for the two of us:

Wear only clothes you don't like. And that goes for jeans, shirts, underwear, and socks. And jammies.

We're headed down to South America in just 6 days (yay!) and I'm trying to get everything clean and packed. Then in just 2 days we're headed to (where else?) West Michigan to spend the weekend with college friends. We'll also get the chance to drop Riley off to "grandma and grandpa's house" and I'll work for a bit in the Grand Rapids office on Monday. We'll return to Bloomington Monday night, then leave Bloomington again at about noon the next day. Talk about whirlwind.

And since I'll have limited time to do laundry between our trip to Michigan and our trip to South America it is officially "Ugly Clothes Week" around here. We aren't allowed to wear ANYthing we're planning to take on either trip. And my goal in the meantime is to get through all of our current laundry before we leave.

So if you see us in old sweatshirts and ugly jeans, don't judge :).

The Current State of Our Apartment

So our home is in a temporary (I hope!) state of disarray. Basically, we have 2 couches (both quite large), 1 oversized chair, 2 decent sized dining room tables, a Poang chair, 6 coffee/end/sofa tables, and 12 dining room chairs stuffed into our little 1000-ish square foot townhouse. Not to mention a bookshelf, bedroom furniture, desks, and a futon.

Getting to the kitchen or the desk in the office takes some significant effort. Kind of like an obstacle course. So why in the world do we have this much furniture?

Well, my super sweet and generous in-laws decided to move and redecorate, and no longer needed some BEAUtiful furniture that we'd always liked. So they shipped it to us! We're thankful they have such good taste. The wood pieces are a great dark cherry color and a cute prairie style look. Plus a nice big leather couch. I'll take more pictures once it is all in place :).

The only problem is that it all arrived sooner than expected. Josh got a call at 7pm one evening while I was gone last week and was told they'd be there at 7:30 the next morning. So he shoved all of our existing furniture wherever he could and then loaded the new stuff around it. You can see our dining room piled high, and our office packed wall-to-wall with dining room chairs. It definitely makes things interesting!

I think some of Josh's fellow students may take the extra stuff off of our hands... thankfully!

Looking to Rent - St. Joseph, MI

So we found out that finding an apartment to rent in St. Joe for the summer is easier said than done. For one, we are not ideal tenants. True, we don't smoke, we pay rent on time, and we don't play loud music. However, we're finding that we have two significant strikes against us:

1. We only want to live there mid-May to mid-August.
2. Riley is coming with us.

And something I didn't think about: St. Joe is a resort town! EVERYONE wants to be there for the summer. There are tons of vacation rentals, but we certainly don't need a new 2500 sq. ft., 3 bedroom, on-the-beach, with-a-pool, type of place. Not by a long shot. AND we don't want to pay vacation rental prices.

And then there are a couple of complexes that gave me the heeby-jeebies. You know the kind. And I don't mean to be snobby here AT ALL. But I don't want to live in a place that isn't both:

1. Clean
2. Safe

We've simply not found anything in between "way too nice" and "kind of shady." So the search is on! We did drive through a couple normal-looking neighborhoods and found some "for rent" signs around. I'll be making some calls this week. We don't need a large space, but would like to live in a place that doesn't smell in an area where we'd feel comfortable walking Riley around.

So...

If you know of anyone with rental property in Southwest Michigan, LET ME KNOW.

Also, I'm worried that I'm wrong in all of this. Is it being snobby to want a nice-ish place to live? A part of me thinks that white, middle class folks like me tend to insulate ourselves from the problems of poverty and hunger and homelessness by choosing to live in areas where that stuff doesn't happen as much. I think it is awesome when middle/upper class people intentionally live with and serve underprivileged folks. What an awesome way to demonstrate the love of Christ. And when I read about the life of Jesus it seems like he was often intentionally spending time with and serving the poor. Shouldn't I try to be like that?

I don't know what is the right thing to do, honestly.

One More Day!

This week I've been out of town (and yet back in my hometown) for work. I've been able to do some training, learn about some new products, and catch up with coworkers. It has been a time to get re-energized about what I do. And I love doing something I'm passionate about. I'm very thankful for this blessing.

It has also been nice to be back in the home I grew up in. Great to spend time with my parents and Benny. We even went out for sushi as a family last night to celebrate a couple of birthdays - and we had a blast!

Grand Rapids is filled with friends. I got to spend time with Kara and Natalie, am planning to meet up with a high school friend tomorrow afternoon, and tonight I spent a great time with Sarah and her family (more on that later!). Wonderful, encouraging times, and I'm thankful my business trips take me to a place where I get to see all of these people.

And I even got to take Riley with me this time.

But I MISS MY HUBBY. Can't wait to see him... TOMORROW!!

And then we'll spend a fun weekend checking out St. Joe (and hopefully finding somewhere to live all summer!) and dinner with friends we haven't seen in months. *Smiles*

Jesus For President

My Copy Came In Today!

I'd been waiting in anticipation for this book to come out. I really enjoyed Shane's last book and had long looked forward to #2.

And I have read like 2 words and am already very impressed. For one thing, the message of such a book resonates clearly with my feelings and attitudes toward politics and church and Jesus (at least I think it does... I should read it first to make sure!) And just flipping through it here at my desk... I think the amazing color interior will add volumes to the message. It just looks scrumptious. Can't wait to dig in.

In case you're curious, here is part of the Z recap:

"Jesus for President is a radical manifesto to awaken the Christian political imagination, reminding us that our ultimate hope lies not in partisan political options but in Jesus and the incarnation of the peculiar politic of the church as a people “set apart” from this world.

Drawing upon the work of biblical theologians, the lessons of church history, and the examples of modern-day saints and ordinary radicals, Jesus for President stirs the imagination of what the Church could look like if it placed its faith in Jesus instead of Caesar.

A fresh look at Christianity and empire, Jesus for President transcends questions of “Should I vote or not?” and “Which candidate?” by thinking creatively about the fundamental issues of faith and allegiance. It’s written for those who seek to follow Jesus, rediscover the spirit of the early church, and incarnate the kingdom of God. "

Stay tuned for an actual review. This is more of a preview.