You Would Think Having Cancer Would Teach Me Patience

I have always had a problem with my patience. I am more of a "here and now" type of person. God has sent me situations and trials time and again to teach me to have more patience. And you would think that going through all of my super drawn out cancer treatments would have given me a little more patience. Obviously not.

Today was painting day in the TV room. I have actually never painted before. I've watched a lot of TV shows that paint rooms, but apparently that doesn't make my skills any better. Jake was helpful and patient, and the room turned out nice:

However, through the process I almost got more paint on the ceiling and trim than on the actual wall! I would just get so caught up in the 'hurry and do it' mode that my brush would go a little too fast and *poof*! The ceiling magically had paint on it. At least, that's how I like to think it all happened. But we do have some white paint somewhere that Jake will have to use when the walls are dry to try to cover it up. I would try it, but I'm sure I would get so impatient that the walls would then have white blobs on them. And now you can see the never ending cycle it would become. Good thing I married someone who is patient!

Stripping Down!

Word of the wise: Never Wallpaper Your House! And if you do and then get tired of it, DON'T STRIP IT YOURSELF!!

I have been feeling super lazy lately with not a lot to do so I decided to give myself a project. We are living in a nice house out here, but it is 50 years old and back then my grandma wallpapered every surface possible. Since then, not only have styles changed, but the wallpaper is dirty, gross, and peeling. So I decided that I wanted to paint the TV room and the kitchen. The wallpaper came off easy enough (I don't even want to tell you how many cobwebs and spiders I encountered while doing this process!) but the glue on the back proved much harder. Luckily, Jake and I had bought:

to make the process easier. And now, here is the universal truth that will save you many frustrating hours in life:

Things are easier to do when you follow the directions.

I thought I was above directions. I was a fool. And if you are stripping your own wallpaper, know that you really should let this stuff soak in for the full 15 minutes. Sometimes I amaze myself with my own stupidity and thick-headedness.

P.S. I only did the TV room. No way am I foolish enough to go through all this again! I can live with the kitchen the way it is!

Rainy Days on Fridays Always Get Me Down

When it rains here, it makes you just want to sleep. All day.

Further Details

A lot of people are wondering what in the world we are doing in Boston. Well, Jake is doing his research for his senior thesis. He has decided to study the Brazilian immigrant population in Boston and how churches here help them become established. We chose Boston because my grandparents house was sitting empty waiting for us and we chose the Brazilian population because Jake is fluent in Portuguese. We were lucky that there is a HUGE Brazilian population in Boston! Jake is working with the Celebration Church, a Brazilian Baptist church here. They are really nice - when I went they even offered a translation ear pierce! They are afraid that Jake is going to try to convert their members, but we have done our best to convince them that we are only here with academic purposes in mind. So far the pastor has been really willing to help Jake and we are very grateful. We will be out here until the end of August and then Jake will write his senior thesis during Fall Semester. So now you know!

Imposter!

I was excited to have a bird feeder right outside the window so I bought some bird seed to attract the birds. This guy is definitely NOT a bird! :) I wondered how my seed was gone so fast!

I think I'll call him Fred.

I Love To See The Temple!

Hana went to the temple for the first time last Friday! Jake and I went with her and had some fun photo ops outside of the temple. It was our first time to the Boston Temple, and it was gorgeous! We had a great time all together!

It's Official... I'm a Water Snob

If the tap water even has a hint of an odd taste, I won't drink it. I mean, I will, but I find it revolting and it makes me gag. And since our water here comes from the local pond, I can't really handle it. So I accepted the fact that I am a water snob and went to the grocery store and bought 4 gallons of water! At least I am embracing my snootiness!

The Lazy Ways of Cohasset

Jake and I are having a great time out here, but it has taken an adjustment to get used to the slow country life. There's not much to do here, and if something is a 30 minute drive away it is considered "close". But it is undeniably beautiful and we love living in the house overlooking the pond and it has a big garden that Jake spent all day in the other day planting things! Here is the view that I wake up to every day:

And that was even a rainy day! You should see it when it is sunny! Last week we got so bored of doing nothing but sitting on our butts looking at the computer, Hana drove us out to some of the closest beaches and we had some fun! The Scituate "beach":

We walked a long way out to the edge of the peninsula but it was fun hopping from one rock to the other! We felt quite victorious, as you can see:

And since it is so beautiful, we had to do a photo-op!

Then we watching the waves crashing over the rocks some more:

After that, we headed to the beach in Cohasset - the prettiest beach in all of Massachusetts if I do say so myself! This is the beach that is only about 5 minutes from my house!

Jealous? You should be! :)

P.S. Jake just got a job teaching archery at a summer academy! Hooray for my manly husband!

Niagara Falls

Since we were only a few miles away, and since Jake had never been, we decided to venture up to Niagara Falls for most of one day! We had a great time watching the vast amounts of water topple over the falls and walking all over the place - until I got a massive blister! That's when we decided to try and drive over to the Canadian side. What a mistake! First, we got interrogated by the Canadian crossing people, then we couldn't find anywhere to park that wasn't under $18 (which we weren't willing to pay since we only planned on staying for 2 hours), and then we decided that since we had payed the toll to get over to this new country we would at least drive around in it! Well, pretty much all we saw were lots of hotels and motels all advertising that they had heart shaped Jacuzzis. Canada - not my favorite place!

At night they light up the falls. Jake and I were too cold to stay for more than one color - red. So there you go! That was all we put up with. Then we hurried back to the hotel and jumped under the blankets to try and warm back up!

And my favorite picture:

Um, DUH!!!

We Made It!!!

Jake and I made it to our Boston house yesterday evening! The trip was great, and we made it through all of Harry Potter 6! No road problems, no weather problems, and no car troubles - so we were really lucky. We also spent about half a day at Niagara Falls, so I'll post pictures of that later. Just wanted to let everyone know we arrived safe and still in love!