Whitby's in Chicago

So the first weekend of December, Cambria and her hubby, Bryant, meet up with us in Chicago to play for the day. I've been meaning to write about this for the longest time, but with the holidays it seems like everything got pushed back. Anyways, Rene and I drove up to Chicago and actually enjoyed ourselves. Our first time, we somehow ended up in the "ghetto" and then had the hardest time getting around. We were more prepared this time. However, we had to go the day the Bears were playing a home game... many of the areas were shut down for the game. After we were done eating and shopping, we went to the Aquarium. We had to walk a ways to get there because all the parking was taken up, and we went right by Soldier Field. I think it was pretty neat for Rene since one of his teams is the Bears.

Happy Holidays

I've been meaning to write for like a week but I had the opportunity to work some overtime. Anyways, last Friday after Thanksgiving, Rene and I went to the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Indianapolis. With us being in a big city, we thought this was going to be a grand tree and all. However, we were a little disappointed. There was no real tree, they just strung some lights off the monument. There were a lot of people and they had a stage where people sang some carols.... but it just wasn't that great. I felt bad a little because I had to talk Rene into going and then it was a big flop. Here are some pics, you can judge for yourself.

I just liked this one of a church that was lit up

Around the monument they had set a perimeter where they had large Nutcrackers and lit trees.

And here is the tree, I have one of it not lit up but it was just too ugly :-(

The following day, Saturday, Rene and I put up all of our Christmas decorations. The apartment looks so pretty! The greatest part was the following morning we had our first snowfall. Here are some pics of the snow right outside our front door. The only bad thing about snow and Indiana is that it doesn't stay... it just melts and makes it like Alaska's "break up." However, we will enjoy it while it lasts :0)

Coming home to a surprise =)

Today while I was at work, Rene called me to find out my favorite food. I thought he was trying to be sneaky and figure out what I would like for my birthday. However, there was a better surprise waiting for me!! I came home from work to find Rene in the kitchen making dinner. I was instructed to sit down and not look. Rene had been working for hours to create a home-made meal of beer battered halibut, french fries and tarter sauce...... oh what a guy!!! It was all so delicious, I haven't had good halibut since we were back home in Alaska. :-) Here are some pics:

A New Living Room

So many changes in the Dunford home. We have been richly blessed! A couple we go to church with had bought a second-hand couch. Once they got it into their home, they realized it didnt really go with the decor so they decided to give it away. Now, if you guys didn't already know, Rene and I have not had a couch since our home in Alaska. We have been sitting on huge 6 ft saks and have been waiting till we moved into our house to buy a couch. But, with this being a FREE couch, we jumped on it. Take a look...

Now a little while ago, I posted about a free piano that was being given to us. We finally picked it up this past weekend. Originally, Rene and some guys were going to put the piano in the back of a pick up truck, but after a little research we found out this was a terrible idea!! We ended up renting a U-Haul truck that came in extremely handy!! The next problem was how to get it from the house to the truck, then the truck to the house. Luckily for Rene and the guys the piano had incredible wheels! I should mention the guys who helped, as we are so incredibly grateful!! Scott (from work), Brad (from church) and Tyler (from church). Here are some pics of them moving the piano.

While the guys were busy rolling the piano along, I was busy in the kitchen making pizzas. We couldn't ask the guys for help and not give them some kind of compensation so I decided to give them what all guys love, FOOD! I had 3 pizza's, pepperoni and olives, BBQ chicken and chicken/bacon/ranch.

Okay, now for some details on the piano. It's a vintage upright grand piano, Hallet, Davis & Co. piano, est. in 1839 in Boston. The first tuning signature is dated July 1940 so we know it is at least that old. Some of the keys need some work as the ivory has come off and then a little work is needed on the front part where the key cover slips under (I dont know the technical terms if you could'nt tell). But it sounds great and has already been played plenty by Rene and I. =) We are so thankful for this wonderful gift. As I said before, we have been very blessed!!!

Fall time in Indy

It has been a while since I posted anything. I have been keeping pretty busy with work and church. A few weeks ago, I took some pretty fall pics around Indy. I had been wanting to get pictures for a while but things kept coming up. By the time we got around to it, most of the leaves were dead and falling off the trees. However, I did get some good ones.

This was taken at the Eagle Creek Reservoir, the one place we found that has HILLS!!

A closer look of the fall leaves

Some guy fishing... man do I miss fishing.

I really liked the pop of color from these tree berries.

I was taking this pic at night and it didn't really come out, but I like it

Here are what the leaves really looked like. I think they're beautiful

I loved the red ribbon of leaves in the middle of this tree

A week before Halloween, we went to Connor Prairie for The Headless Horseman Haunted Hayride. It was supposed to be a big, grand thing but we soon found out it was meant for very little children. We had fun though. As you can see, we were slightly bundled up which was a nice change from the warm weather. The hayride itself wasn't scary. The kids on the ride were telling their parents it wasn't scary! But, it was a good time, Rene and I were out and having fun together. =)

A very cute pic of Rene. I cut out my head and blew it up (I didn't like how I looked in the pic). Isn't this a great pic of Rene though?!!

A Piano For Me....Us

I am so super excited!! The other day I became the lucky owner of a FREE antique piano! I keep saying me/I but really its for Rene and I.... Anyways, there was a lady giving it away to anyone who would come pick it up. Luckily, I was the first one to reply. Rene is supposed to be trying to get a "team" together to pick it up. I guess it weighs a ton. We considered hiring someone to pick it up, but if we can do it free, that's so much better. I am very excited. I have been telling Rene for a long time that I would like to have a piano, or at least a cheap keyboard, but it just wasn't working out. Now, we are getting this wonderful antique piano!!! I guess I should say why I have been calling it antique, the family we are getting it from doesn't know how old it really is but knows it was tuned in 1940. I am guessing its much older than that, but I don't know. Here is a pic of the piano from the lady. I will be posting more pics once the piano is in our home.

Roach Infestation

Okay, so I know this isn't the most enticing subject, but I just could not believe what happened at work today. I arrived to work at 10am this morning and was told that we are having a roach problem, right around our set of cubicles!! I guess our supervisor had already contacted the building manager to take care of it, but we are at their mercy and don't know when they will get to it. Anyways, not 30 minutes into my day, I see some scurrying out the corner of my eye and there is a roach coming right for me. They say I screamed, which I fully believe, and one of the guys came and killed it. Needless to say, I was not into working any more. However, my supervisor didn't think it necessary for me to go home as I requested and merely moved me to anther seat. I told her flat out that my productivity would be way down and I would most likely get nothing done, but she did not seem to care. So, I zipped my coat all the way up, pulled the sleeves as far down as possible and held my purse in my lap......for 9 hours!!!!! I am not looking forward to work tomorrow and am seriously thinking of calling in sick or something. It just isn't right to have people working in those conditions, especially a large company. Oh, and get this. Right after my screaming episode, one of the VP's walked by to see what was going on and after saying he knew about the cockroaches, he looked down at me and said, "Good luck with that." What was that all about??!!!??? I bet if the roach was in his office there would have been exterminators there right away!! Oh, I hate bugs!

What would you do for a free handbag?

In answer to that question, I am posting a brief blog. I came across the handbag planet webpage where they are giving away free handbags every 24 hours. Well, I would love to have win one since Rene and I are on a budget and wont be purchasing one any time soon. Hopefully my efforts wont be in vain, as I'm sure they will be. However, if you would like to be as gullable/easily swayed as me, go to www.handbagplanet.com and try it for yourselves.

Weekend in Ohio

Yesterday, Rene and I headed off to Ohio to do some camping and see a Red's game (MLB baseball). A guy Rene works with gave us some free tickets so we made a weekend out of it. At first we were going to spend Sat-Mon in Ohio, but I got a JOB so our trip was cut short. Anyways, we reached the campsite a little late thanks to our GPS and the state park website. However, we made it there and had our camp set up before the sun set. As we were sitting down to roast our hotdogs, all light was gone. It was interesting to do everything by firelight. By the time we were ready for S'Mores, the fire was just embers (which is great for roasting marshmellows but horrible to see by). We ended up using our tiny flashlight for light and only ate one smore and no extra marshmellows. =) Now, sleeping was a whole other thing. We thought our tent was on a relatively good spot but once we were in the tent and in our sleeping bags, we realized there was a big slope. Neither of us slept well, I was "rolling" down the hill and then it was just hard. But, we had a lot of fun and wished we could have camped longer. We will definetly be doing this again.

Today, we went to the Red's game and found out that Oktoberfest was going on at the same time. It was great, a two for one deal (and no, we did not drink)! The game was pretty good. It was our first MLB game and that was cool to experience together. Although neither of us follow baseball, have a special team, or will ever follow baseball it was still good.

Effects of Hurricane Ike in Indy

Today as Rene and I were leaving for church we had quite the interesting experience. Rene opened the door and suddenly there was a large "Whoosh" and all of this rain blew into our apartment. Everything outside was blowing and just crazy. I thought it was the greatest thing and so happy that I had decided to put my hair up (the important stuff, right?). Anyways, I wish I could have taken a video of Rene opening the door.

Here are some pics from a week ago or so. We were having another small storm and it began to hail. Rene and I opened our front door to watch. I got amazed at the size of the hail, it was huge!! I had never seen hail like this so I ran to get my camera. Hopefully, you can make out the hail and rain. Now, living in such nice apartments, our gutter system doesn't work and whenever we have lots of rain there is a waterfall right by our front door. It's great!