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Ouch

Last night we were invited over to our friend Kelly and Aaron's house for dinner. He cooks! I was impressed - they made pork loin, stuffing, green beans, fruit salad and rolls. They mean business! It's so nice to enjoy a meal with friends that I didn't have to cook. We are blessed. After dinner and dessert (I brought the homemade raspberry cobbler) we played a game of balderdash. Neither Andy or I had ever played before - it was so fun! We are board game junkies though anyway.

As you'll remember from my past post, I took a nasty tumble down the back steps last friday. Well last night my neck started really hurting (actually it was sore starting saturday, but not really painful) - I woke up this morning at 3 in the most excruciating (sp?) pain. WOW. I've avoided the doctor today as I can't drive and Andy had meetings all day, but i'm definetely making an appointment for tomorrow. I can't stand or sit comfortably at all, and I can't move my head from side to side without crying. We were suppose to have Linda, Andy's Mom down for her birthday dinner tonight but I was in so much pain I couldn't bend over to cook. Andy is going to take her for a seafood dinner tonight. I still feel really bad though!

Well I'm going to try to get some more sleep. I'm way overtired.

Have a great night!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/28/2006 04:07:00 PM, ,




Acadia National Park Weekend in Review

Friday: We woke up early so we could pack the car and get up to Andy's mothers at a reasonable hour because we had a long drive ahead of us. It was pouring when we left, and because of the rain, I slipped going down the stairs and fell about 8 steps. I am black and blue from head-to-toe. Great way to start off the trip.

We picked up Linda in Topsham, and literally stuffed her luggage in the car. We barely had enough room. Next time I will insist (with much resistance) that we take two cars. Three people, one dog, tents, sleeping bags and clothes do not make for a cozy trip in a little Honda.

We arrived at Hadley Point camp ground around 5 and began to set up camp. It took a long time because we had two tents and a screen tent (plus we had to reset up a tent after much debate about where it should go - how frustrating!). After camp was set, we drove into Bar Harbor to get Chinese because no one felt like cooking that late! Molly and I waited in the car while Andy and Linda picked up the food. I had a nice chat with Erica while waiting for them to get back.

We get back to the campsite, and no electricity! Great! Apparently the whole town was out. Luckily we had one battery powered lamp - so we ate by the dim light. We wanted to have a camp fire, but it started sprinkling around 10, so we decided to go to bed.

During the night it pours, and I mean pours. At 3 in the morning Andy wakes me up (I can sleep through anything) and lets me know there is about an inch of water IN the tent and water is dripping all over his face. By this time the dog is up, ready to be taken out....ugh!

Saturday: Many stressful hours later - we are in the lovely Bar Harbor Days Inn. Our entire camp site was so flooded that anywhere you walked you were in at least 2 inches of water and mud. Not worth it. Everything we brought was wet, and as an added bonus, it looks like raccoons got into our screen tent in the middle of the night and destroyed my picnic basket (even though there was no food in it or anywhere else in the screen tent) - apparently raccoons have an affinity for duct tape and dish towels, who knew?

We tried to make the best of the day even though the weather was horrible. After we all took showers and put on the driest clothes we could find we headed out for breakfast. Unfor. Molly did not appreciate being along in the hotel room, so she started howling and howling (bloody murder)- so I had to stay back with her. Andy was nice enough to bring me back blueberry pancakes though.

We packed up the dog and tried to do as much of the park as we could. It was really foggy, so you couldn't really even see the ocean. Andy and Linda did get to go down to see Thunder Hole though, so it wasn't a total loss (I stayed with Molly in the car - it was too slippery for her). However, when Andy got back to the car, he realized that he left his lights on! So the car didn't start. I had to ask everyone in the parking lot for jumper cables - no one seemed to have any as most people drove rentals. Great! Also - no cell phone service, so we couldn't even call triple A. Alas, over an hour later we found some lovely people from Virginia who were happy to help us out. After that fiasco we decided to leave the park! We drove back to the hotel room and took a much needed nap. Everyone was still damp and overtired.

Around 6 Andy took Linda out for her birthday dinner to Geddy's. I stayed back again with Molly which sucked, but what can you do. Andy brought me back dinner and by then it had cleared up so they all took a walk while I ate in the hotel room (Molly is hideous when anyone has food).

Sunday: Finally some sun! Well it was partly cloudy. We packed up the hotel room, and headed back to the park. We got to go up Cadillac Mtn and spend some time at Thunder Hole, Little Hunter's Beach and Otter Cliffs. We ended the day with a nice walk down the carriage roads.

We were headed off the island at 1pm and arrived in Topsham at 6. We got Linda all unpacked, and then were on our way. Around Freeport, I noticed the dog was really quiet - she got into my purse and ate an entire Dark chocolate bar (originally for smores). AHH! Major panic as chocolate is very poisonous to dogs, especially dark. We pulled off at the closest exit and called the Animal Emergency Clinic. They told us we had to give her Hydrogen Peroxide so she would barf it back up. We drove around and finally found a drug store, administered the HP and luckily she threw it all up (she didn't feel so lucky). That was so scary! Ugh. I'm banning chocolate from our house (well - at least for a while!)

So now it's Monday - Andy went back to work today and I'm attaching the mountain of laundry that is beckoning me. Camping is so much work!

Check out our pictures from the trip!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/26/2006 08:08:00 AM, ,


Andy and are going camping this weekend with his Mom in Bar Harbor. We are taking the dog which should be interesting. We've never camped with her before. I don't anticipate it will go well. She is a very light sleeper. Luckilly I have next week off to recouperate.

Andy was at the store tonight and he brought me home some rubber cement. I didn't even ask! He's great. (I know, must people don't get excited over glue - but i'm a scrapbooker!

Speaking of scrapbooking - I have a few minutes free right now as Andy is setting up our new tent. I have learned (the hard way) to leave him alone when he puts things together.

I'll post pictures from our trip on Sunday!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/21/2006 06:01:00 PM, ,




Who created air-conditioning?

....i love them.

It's a hot 92 degrees here this morning, and it's barely 9 o'clock. Steamy. We have an air-conditioner in our bedroom, but have been reluctant to put one in the livingroom/dining area because its so open. We've both been really extra cranky because of the heat so last night we put up temporary curtains to block off the entry ways so we could keep the living room cool. What a difference! We're not used to this heat at all - for the past 4 years we lived literally on the ocean, so it was cooler and there was a nice breeze. Not so much when your land-locked.

Today i'm home. I only have to go into work one day a week from now on. How glorious. Yesterday was that day - so I have the rest of the week ahead of me. I also got all my grocery shopping out the way yesterday. I really have been dying to make scones, but its so hot, I don't know if I want to turn on the oven. They are pretty good though - may be worth it!

I'm actually typing on our "new" laptop. Just one of the advantages of having a computer teacher as a MIL. First dibs on computers that are being sold by the school. In Maine students get new laptops every year, and the old ones are sold. This one is only a few years old! Woohoo. Andy hooked up a wireless router, so i'm in my bed typing in the air-conditining. It doesn't get much better than this. Well, maybe if I had a scone!

Well - off to do laundry. Enjoy the day!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/20/2006 08:14:00 AM, ,




I'm back!

Going to camp was definitely an interesting experience. I trained the new "office people" as best as I could. Unfortunately neither of them seem to know their way around the computer very well, so I can pretty much guarantee I'll be getting a lot of "how do I?" calls in the next few days/weeks. It's been so hot here the last few days (not that I'm complaining) - but it was especially uncomfortable at camp where nothing is air-conditioned and the presence of a fan is laughable (they provided one in the room I stayed in, but there was no electricity). Needless to say I didn't get much sleep!



Friday we celebrated Andy’s birthday with his Mom Linda in Topsham, ME. We went out for dinner to the Ninety-Nine. It was good! She watched Molly for us this weekend so we could go to visit friends in Salem.

Saturday we traveled down to Salem and enjoyed lunch with our friends Matt, Erin and their baby Olivia. She is so cute! Here she is at the restaurant with Elmo. She kept dropping it, and Andy happily picked it up 45 times!



Erin and Olivia


Saturday afternoon we spent the day at the groundbreaking for the science building at Gordon College. Andy was so happy to see it finally in the works! He was on the prayer team way back in the late 90's and now he can see his prayer answered. How cool!

Satuday night we went to the Macaroni Grill with our friends Ben and Sarah. It was so nice to visit with them. I really miss our friends since we've moved, but I don't miss the traffic in MA! Oh its horrible.

So we're back in the swing of things this week - Friday we're off again, this time we're taking Linda on a trip to Acadia National park! Should be loads of fun!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/19/2006 08:02:00 AM, ,




Andy's 28th Birthday

We woke up today with a call from Andy's mother at 7AM!

Then the cable guy came a half hour early (when does this ever happen?, i'll tell you - when your in the shower!). He puddered around, and found "nothing wrong with the box" even though we still can't get channel 505 properly.

We met Andy's Dad and Cathie at Bugaboo creek steak house for lunch. We both had the Black magic steak, of course. It was so good today! The wait staff even sang happy birthday to Andy - and made him kiss this moose. He was so thrilled!

We came back to the house to have birthday cake and ice cream. It has been hot out today, so it was a nice treat.





Tomorrow I leave for camp for three whole days. I'm not at all looking forward to it. I have to train everyone in the office and the medical building how to use the new CampMinder system. They don't even have electricity in the bunks! I'm not too happy - but hopefully it will go by fast.

Saturday we leave for a mini-break to Salem. Andy's Mom is watching Molly, so we're going to stay overnight. It will be great to see some of our old friends.

More birthday pictures.....

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/13/2006 05:49:00 PM, ,




Summer Vacation

Friday was my last day of work until August 15th - Ahhhh. I love having the summers off. I still have to go into the office maybe once a week, but not for a full day. I really enjoy being at home.

Andy likes it too! Dinners seem to be much better quality when I've been home for the full day.

Andy's Mom, whose a computer teacher her in Maine, is getting us two fairly new Apple laptops next week. They are getting new ones, and the state has authorized the sale of the old ones! So for $50 dollars we get 2004 laptops. I'm pretty happy about it. Andy is dying to get wireless internet, so we can be online outside. I can't wait!

Andy's Dad is coming tomorrow for Andy's birthday. They are bringing their new ShitZu puppies: Moses and Millie. I'm not sure how Molly will react without the full attention on her. I'm making Andy's cake today: Dark chocolate fudge with Dark Chocolate butter cream frosting, fresh raspberries and hazelnuts on top. I'll have to post a picture when I'm finished.

Well, i'm off to tackle the laundry pile. It's amazing how much two people go through in a week!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/12/2006 07:08:00 AM, ,




What do you think...

about Gay marriage?

How do you think it will affect society if an amendment is passed?

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/07/2006 12:09:00 PM, ,


Praise:

They just installed an air conditioner in my office, hurray!

I'm going to be volunteering at The Root Cellar this summer, how cool!

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/01/2006 02:59:00 PM, ,




Bug-a-phobia

Yesterday was a day to forget. It’s been stiflingly hot here the last few days, which makes working on the 2nd floor with no air conditioning really fun. I ended up leaving a little early due to the heat and because I wanted to get a jump-start on grocery shopping. They are remodeling the store so nothing is where is usually is therefore it took me twice as long to get what I needed. How annoying.

When I came home I opened the door and found that our dog had knocked a picture off the wall and shredded it into 45,000 pieces. If that was not enough, it seemed she had ahem, relieved herself on the shredded picture pile. Joy.

I put her on the tie out outside so I could clean up the mess (which didn’t come up very easily thanks to the wetness), and so I could bring in the groceries (Amid the vestabule of hornets! - how do I get rid of them?) She howled the whole time. It you have ever heard a hound dog howl you know what I was going through. She has been way out of sorts because Andy is gone. She sits in the window every night watching and waiting. It’s actually really depressing (he is coming home tomorrow night though, hurray!!!!)

The highlight was a call from him. He arrived in England safely and is doing well. I miss him so much! He also called me when he got up this morning, which was 2 AM in the US. I didn’t mind though because I was actually sort of awake. I got bit by a bug in my bed (no, not bedbug, an actual flying outside bug). I have bugaphobia, so it took me a really long time to convince myself that there were no more in my bed. Blah. Worst way to wake up ever.

So now I’m at work, sweating. Hopefully today will be better.

posted by Andy and Amanda Wheeler @ 6/01/2006 08:55:00 AM, ,