Just call me Mountainbum
by or Lakebeachbum. For all you avid 'NJ is better than NY' fans, i'm sorry to say that andrew and i have decided to sell out and become New Yorkers. Upstate New Yorkers that is. Most of you know that our condo is being sold and we have to move sometime soon. we've been looking in our area so long and nothing seems to work out-so frustrating. But we went up to lake george area a few weeks ago to visit friends and they convinced us to think about moving up there. They would give andrew and steady job and we can have a big house for a whole lot less than we are paying for rent. we prayed about this a lot, and since it seems that NJ isn't Jehovah's direction, this very well may be. Eventually I can go back to pioneering (and my health will most likely be better from less pollution), we can more easily afford to go do International Construction work, and plus the congregation needs help-they have 80 seldom worked territories out of 160. Plus it's beautiful up there and hopefully soon i can get out of an office job. ideally i would like to work at the horse stables in the summer and in the winter be a snowboard instructor at one of the nearby mountains (that would be the coolest job ever for me-paid to snowboard? free season pass? i'm there). At first I was such a mess b/c everyone i love is within an 1 1/2 from us now and i would esp miss my family. I really lost it a few times-hysterical, hyperventilating, and had to go see my mom lost it. But we visited the congregation this past weekend and it made so much of a difference-I feel so much better now. We like the cong very much and they are even willing to play softball-a big consolation.
Well we are looking at houses this thursday. we will definitely have guest rooms so i expect everyone to visit us. it's only 2 1/2-3 hrs from No.Jersey so i don't want to hear any crying about the drive (Michael J. Schiano). I'm sure we will be back to NJ for plenty of stuff too. oooh i'm getting excited.
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so i will be wonderfully and happily jobless for all of july at least. i'll have plenty of time for visitors!
i would totally be all about coming to visit in july.
oh man that would be sweet! we will definitely talk more about it
janine the people up there are going to be awed by you "city folks". They're not used to being around people who have "Talkin' pictures" and "perfume for yer armpits"
hahaha! we will come barging in with our 'big city ways' and 'new fangled gagets'. Well, you migh not be too far off-down the road from where we will live is a bowling alley and on the sign it says "Book your weddings and banquets here". Only true rednecks have their wedding at a bowling alley. I can't wait to tell jackie i found a place for her when she gets married.
you're kidding??? A bowling alley?? WOWWWEEEE
no, i wish i was kidding. i almost died when our friends pointed it out. seriously, who DOES that?
lol, man, i only HOPE i'll be well off enough to get married at a bowling alley
Man, poor beachbum, she's gonna have to look at crap like this every day
Why would you leave NJ and our lovely smoke stacks? for THIS??? NO WAY
::rolls eyes::
:P
LOL This actually came up in the image search for "NJ"
where are the tires, dead bodies and oil slicks in the water?? oh man how will i ever get used to all this cleanness? haha i love the pick of NJ-very fitting.
UPDATE: We went back up last Thurs. and put a contract on a house in Lake Luzerne. It's in a more rural area but close enough to town that I won't kill myself. Surrounded by mountains with the river and lake a few blocks away. It's a 3 bdrm 1 1/2 baths house (plenty of room for guests)-needs some cosmetic work but we don't care-now I can decorate however I want. Best part-it's just under $70,000 and our taxes will be $750 per YEAR. I didn't want to say anything b/c another contract was submitted the same day (the story of our lives-that has happened to us you don't even know how many times and we ended up losing). The realtor said we should have an answer by (last) Sat. but it turned out that the family was at a funeral we would have an answer Sun. or Mon. Yesterday the realtor said they submitted the contracts to a lawyer to decide (it's an estate). OH MY GOODNESS could it drag out any longer? I was freaking out yesterday! This morning Andrew called me and said he spoke w/ the realtor and we lost the house. Then just as I as about to cry he said he was just kidding and they gave it to us. We're not out of the woods yet b/c we have to go thru attorney review, but we're on the way so far.
Congratulations! Remember to let us know your closing/moving dates. I miss you already!
aw thanks hun. Our closing date is set for 6/14 barring no disasters but we want like a week or two to make some changes and clean up so we probably won't move in til the very end of june.
Oh, and i forgot to mention. Thurs after signing the contract, we got home and there was a letter from our landlord's saying they want us out by May 31st. Talk about Jehovah helping us just in the nick of time! We are going to ask our landlords for at least a two week extension, but either way looks like we are living w/ my crazy fam for a couple of weeks. man i always thought i'd die if i had to move back home, but it's so temporary and gives me a chance to spend time w/ them before i leave. i think i'll survive it :)
Wow - at least after living with your family again for a few weeks, you'll really want to move away.
hahahaha! that's exactly what i said!
awesome!
thanks. hey, you are pretty handy when it comes to carpentry. hehe we may be calling in some favors :)
who me? nah i just look good in the gear. like derek zoolander when he's the coal miner :)
but of course i'm always willing to help :)
WOW congrats!!!
that is totally a STEAL on your home!!!
I think I've been there - sounds realy really familiar. Beautiful area. Congrats!
I just saw this for the first time yesterday..Ive become so ezabel-lazy.
I hope everything works out really well for you guys! It sounds really awesome up there, pretty and clean and cheap. Cheap is good.
I'm still bummed about this. You know, I actually looked at realtor.com and century 21.com for houses in that area. That's how much I'm going to miss you!!!
well you never know, maybe you'll come visit me and want to live there too. i can get you in touch w/ a realtor :). try coldwellbankerprime.com. Look in lake luzerne, glens falls & queensbury. there are also nice affordable apts up there regencyparknorth.com
man, if you moved up there it would soo make my life greater
Aww! I'm not crazy about living in Bethlehem, PA because I think it's too rural. I think Lake George would make me crazy. You know Donovan's a country boy, but I'm trying to convince him to live in a small city, like Providence, RI or outside San Diego, which he loves. But I love NYC. I don't want to be so far away from that metro area. Don & I have circular conversations like that, where I say I want to move to another state, then say that I don't want to live far away from NYC, then he says NJ is too expensive and trafficy, and I agree... and you get the idea. Bottom line, we'll probably be where we are until one of us gets fired or quits our jobs. We're 7 blocks away; you can't beat that.
LOL - I can't believe you're giving me real estate sites! You're so funny.
weeelll i really want you to live close to me for a change. IS THAT A CRIME???
i see your love for dirty, smelly, hobo-ridden NYC is greater than your love for me. so that's how it is
That's not true! Don would never let me live close to the city. He's a mountain person too. Maybe you should work on him a little...
janine i saw billy last night. i went to my brothers meeting -
where's the rest of this story?
i dunno - i thought i posted it all. I am reporting this to the better ezabel bureau.
man we'll be even farther away. :( How ever will we dance now?
i know, very disappointing. maybe we can find some good swing somewhere in the middle or like maybe near jackson hole-i really want to go to wyoming. when are you moving?
i'm gone in two or three weeks. Training my replacement at work. Once that is accomplished i'm done....
this is so exciting to hear!!! this def is jah's direction as there is much need (as you said) in the ministry. the only thing is.....you better not let this keep you from coming out to visit me here in OC AND we have to hang out, even if for only a short bit, when i finally do go out to visit! =)
of course i will still come visit! it's just that now maybe i'll actually have the money to do it!
.
so what are you saying? i need to send you chocolates to sooth the soul i've distressed? i already had to bring lorraine brownies last night b/c some people opened their big mouths before i could tell her and she was quite upset w/ me.
Wait, I thought I was in the musings section. Sorry! I'm going to move my comment. I was so dazed with my happiness. I don't need chocolate from you, baby, all I need is your love. ;)
and all i need is your sugarfree pudding &/or donovan's fruit salad. oh, and of course your love :) hehe
wow - lake george area is awesome. i mean i'm sad to see you go... but the area here is just impossibly expensive.
When are you officially moving?
we're not sure yet, it depends on a couple of factors, but probably sometime in june
if u need any help moving or anything - dan and i would be totally down for a road trip to help you guys out.
It's so funny, noor and reem are really good friends of mine and they always talk about andrew and janine... it's you.
thanks! we just might have to take you up on that. but even so, you guys HAVE to visit us. we can rock at King Neptune's up there :).
haha i love reem & noor! reem & i were working on the roof at the jersey city KH together-it was good times! we should all do something together before we leave. i've been trying to get them to take me to this moroccan place where you can belly dance.
janine - you would love that place... it is in hackensack, called aladin's. i love going there.
well that's it-we must make plans to go-even if reem & noor can't!
that's in our old territory! i made my lit teacher take us there on a class trip in high school.
is this the same reem that was in the drama last summer - i don't know her but I know a couple that was in the drama and they were talking about it this weekend and we thought the name Reem was awesome, like Reem Acra the wedding dress designer
yup, reem was in the drama-the demonized girl. she was freakishly good. who is the couple you know in the drama? some of my fam was in it and it was at our hall so i was at rehersals all the time
Al and Sunshine - I forget which parts they played... but I think Sunshine said she was in charge of the makeup and put the bump/bruise on Paul's forehead or something like that.
oh yeah! I am surprised you know them. yeah sunshine did the makeup. i can't remember who Al was either.
yeah they're pretty cool. I know them thru Frank - and Chris even worked at the tree service business for a little tiny bit of a time before he got his job
also two of my most favoritest people live up there.
hehe-i was hoping you would forget. i mean i wouldn't want you to come visit for any other reason except to see me :). you WILL still come visit, correcto?
haha well i actually meant ANOTHER two people who really are two of my favorites, but i will def come visit regardless of whoever else is around
I had a horrible headache all day yesterday - I think it's because I was very upset that you'll be so far away. :( I'm very bummed.
oooooh i'm sorry! it's not THAT much further! miles can never seperate our love
I know. I wrote that sentiment on a note and am dangling it from my forehead.
Yay!!! This is so great for you guys, and yes I'm green with envy. My family wants to get outta Jersey to but, we were thinking PA... similar reasons, lower cost of living (simplify), more for your mulah.
Don't forget to ride the Mini-HaHa and go to the Wax Museum!
i love the dinner cruises! i know i'm going to go broke doing them all the time. is the wax museum the one in town? the scary one?
i think this sounds awesome. provided andrew will get an actual paycheck. ;) or did i miss my mark?
hehe, yes i believe he will-we trust craig. the other character :) -but we trust craig :)
well i, for one, will miss hearing you getting hollered at on kh projects. i will have to find some other crazy family to entertain me.
oh no no no, chica-you will not miss us. we decided we will still work on the NJ projects when necessary. Heck, Ramon still calls us to help out the North Jersey projects and he said he will still call us when we are in NY. we don't leave regionals, we just acquire new ones. let the craziness re-commence!
just so the rest of you know, everyone on that crew -her hubby, her brother and her overseer- is wholly dependent on our capable beachbum. all day long, they holler for her help.
Watch out, you might just fall in lub with Tuckerton. Heh.
hehe well if you give us jobs we might :)
hmm want my job? hahaha ...
well as much as i've always dreamed of working for El Diablo...no
yeah, you want less stress not MORE, i understand haha
argh WHY IS THIS HAPPENING ...this is not cool
b/c NJ, particularly where we live is ridiculously and obscenely overpriced in the housing department
we'll have to party at Jimmy's soon before we go. maybe you can show me how we dance like you showed jackie :) :) :)
what! ok that's not closer to me that's further away. best of everything to you two!
well now you have a vacation spot to come and chill-free board & food. think of it that way.
haha "free board & food" you know the way to a poor girl's heart
When is this all happening?
all depends on if/when we buy a house and when the closing is. but probably sometime in june. our convention is july 4 weekend so i'm hoping before then
you gonna give us some notice on that?
yup, of course. i will let you know after thurs if we saw anything we liked and what the status is.
well... i think we will have to have a going away party... maybe incorporate this into an eZabel party... what do you think guys?
oh, well we can def visit... but it IS pretty far... is that 2 hrs YOU driving... or me driving?
Oooh, we'll definitely have to have a party!
andrew driving-avg 75 mph. parties are always nice and we would love it, but i don't want anyone to feel obligated to or anything.
Obligated - schmobligated! We want to. :)
nooooooooooo doooon't leave me!!!!
of course i wish u guys the best, and it sounds like you are going to be really happy. i'm psyched for u!
haha nooooo matt keellllly! as much as it hurts me to be far from you, (and you from your fan club), alas, we must. But you WILL come visit us. That's not a question, i'm telling you, you WILL.
Matt and I podemos vistar juntos.
si, tienes que visitar tambien.
we will. How could we turn down free snowboarding tix? (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, "say no more")
hehe i'll see what kind of magic i can work on that :)
even if you can't, I'm still there. I really love you guys. You set a great example to us all, and Jehovah will continue to bless you for it! My thoughts and prayers are with you.
thanks buddy :). we love you, too and appreciate the prayers. and who knows, maybe you will come up and really love it there too :)
find me a women there, and then maybe we'll talk, ;)
actually i met a really cute single pioneer sister up there this weekend. you'll just have to visit :)
Ding! When can I come up!? ;)
hehe. july is good :)
a women?! todd is in search of a harem...i am shocked!
yep, he told me jwmatch.com wasnt working out too well for him....
haha
SHHH, Mike! I told you not to tell anyone!
that's right *A* women
lol. I don't know what else to say, but you did make me laugh. :)
Oh wow, that's awesome!! Sounds like the right decision for you guys, and working at a mountain is GREAT - I did it for a little blip of a moment when I lived in Scranton. It was really fun :) Yay for you! It'll be great!