Not at fault!

I received a call from State Farm a couple of days ago declaring that I was NOT at fault in the car accident! Yippee! What a relief! I no longer have to worry about our insurance going up or having something on my record. As for the deductible, it's quite a long process. The total loss has to be completely settled (the car auctioned off), then go to collections, then work through disputes if there are any (which I'm sure there will be). So, we're looking at probably 6-9 months before we get reimbursed. By that time, it'll be a nice surprise in the mail since we probably won't be expecting it! Anyway, we are relieved and excited to be able to put this (mostly) behind us.

Vegetarian

A couple of weeks ago, I felt very convicted to be vegetarian for the month of November. I can't explain where the feeling came from, but I couldn't shake it and so I decided to give it a try. It's actually something I've been toying with for a while, but just keep pushing it to the back of my mind. I don't eat a lot of meat in general, so it's not a big change, but so far I am really enjoying it. I'm using this month to read and research more about it and try and figure out if it's something I want to commit to 100% or maybe just 90/10 or 80/20. I just can't shake the statistics about how much more energy and land it takes to produce meat for human consumption than grain, veggies, beans, etc. Pretty shocking. Especially when there are millions of people starving in this world. Any thoughts?

Driving

I still have days when I hate driving, but yesterday I was feeling really good about getting in the car and running errands by myself. I felt like I actually even liked our new car, which is the first feeling of fondness I've had towards it. I needed to take the 210 highway to get to my destination. As I was driving along in the right lane of the 6 lane highway, suddenly a flock of about 6 big white birds (maybe seagulls, I don't know) flew up from the shoulder and started hovering just over the right lane. They weren't too far in front of me and I had no time to change lanes. I started panicking, but thought, "Birds always fly out of the way...I'll be fine". But, these birds were a bit slow or something and I NAILED one with the windshield and killed it. Luckily the windshield didn't break. The bird just left a big smear on the windshield. I am once again freaked out to drive. Darn birds.

Harvest Festival

The Residential Community office at Fuller puts on a "Harvest Festival" every year where all the families of Fuller come and enjoy food, games, prizes, lots of candy, pony rides, and even a "hayride". All Community Coordinators are required to work at a booth at the event. We have chosen the hot cider booth both years now since it's the most "fall" to us. It was a beautiful night and we had lots of fun seeing all the kids dressed up in costumes. It was a little warm for hot cider, but fun nonetheless! We really enjoy being a part of the Fuller community.

Hello Honda!

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS MATERIAL RELATED TO A NATIVE OF FLINT, MICHIGAN, BUYING A HONDA. IF YOU FIND SUCH MATERIAL OFFENSIVE, PLEASE REDIRECT YOUR WEB BROWSER NOW.

Though it was sad to say bye to our Corolla, we are very excited with the purchase we were able to make this past Saturday. We are now the proud owners of a 2009 Honda Civic LX. It's a grayish, tannish color with beige interior. It's very nice and we love the new car smell!

Check out the cool split dash.

We hope to be driving this car for many years to come, which should be a possibility if no crazy woman runs another red light.

Apple picking

It's been a few years since we've done anything "fall like" and decided it was time we embrace "fall" in California. There's many apple orchards an hour or so away and we decided to go picking with some fellow Hope grads, Tony and Christen. It was nothing like Michigan apple picking, but still fun!

Tony, Noel, and Christen ready for an adventure.

Noel scouting out the trees looking for the best apple. He was VERY particular about the apples we were allowed to pick and put in the bushel.

It was quite an effort to get the best apples! Tony and Noel made a great team. Christen and I had a lot of good laughs.

As you can see, the "orchard" is not quite like a Michigan orchard. Mountains in the background, desert like terrain, and scattered trees that were NOT well labeled all made for quite an adventure. Another big difference in this orchard was the lack of donuts and cider! We were so looking forward to getting donuts and cider since that is part of the apple picking experience. However, the LINE...yes, line, was about an hour long for donuts, and the cider cost $10 a gallon! We were so desperate that we bought a gallon to share. It was definitely tasty, though I'm still not sure it was worth $10.

Studying the map...which was not very helpful at all.

Finally, a 1/2 bushel full of Granny Smiths and Romes (we split the 1/2 bushel). I've already made an apple crsip and hope to make to make some apple dumplings and an apple pie.

Goodbye Corolla

Well, it's been quite a week. The aftermath of an accident is time consuming and a bit emotional. We found out late Wednesday that the car was officially declared a total loss. We were not surprised, but it was still kind of sad. We decided we needed to go back to the collision place to say a final farewell, and check to make sure we didn't leave anything inside.

Pretty much wrecked, wouldn't you say?

Thank you for keeping me safe, Corolla! I'll miss you.

Thank God for airbags!

Bye-bye.