The Cold, Hard Facts

The other day while in the elevator on the way back up to our room, I realized what can only be described as an unavoidable truth. I have been at the Residence Inn way too long. How can you tell? To help, I made a list called *drumroll please*
YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN AT THE RI TOO LONG WHEN...
1. When you begin experimenting with the continental breakfast- i.e. a toasted english muffin with sausage, scrambled eggs, seasoned potatoes and cheese sauce. Putting coffee flavorings in the waffle batter.
2. When you know every housekeeper and staff member's name.
3. When you KNOW who the noisy neighbor next door is, and see them every day at social hour.
4. When the receptionist asks you, on a daily basis, how your school day was.
5. When a majority of your meals are from the lobby area, costco or walmart.
6. When you start writing lists about all the weird stuff that comes from living here.
7. When you've been here over thirteen days and know there's only thirteen more to look forward to.
8. When you race around the elevator like a crazy person just for the heck of it.
9. When you realize the housekeeping lady must get very irritated at your habit of leaving layers of clothing on your side of the room. (I alone have this problem)
10. When there is not only a neighbor dog, but you know it's name and breed.
Some of these things haven't happened to me. Sad to say, many have. And, number 7 being very true indeed, I will have many more things to write about our stay at residence inn. Wish us luck, and good luck to all the schoolgoing viewers back home!

A Cornucopia of Internet

First here, I would like to publicly thank all who participated in my quizzes- as of right now, 79 people took the Marvel one, and 33 the Van Helsing one!. And yes, Taylor Jeanne is Bella. (But call me Edward and you will regret it dearly!)
Having completed our first week of classes, we are now enjoying a long stretch of dull days. And how wonderful dull can be! I'm writing from a brand new laptop, so any little quirks that pop up are probably a result of the new keyboard. I'm getting better though! Above you will find some pictures of us relaxing around the room. Note that everybody appears to be in one piece, Mitchell is still a hard-core gamer, and I appear to be lacking arms! (What I was actually lacking was a photographer, as it happens.) During our free time, the Nowakowskis typically cruise the countryside to get a better feel for the area, watch The Office and fine films such as The Avengers:Dr. Strange. Mitch and I sometimes watch The Next Greatest Superhero, but that's another story. However, with homework starting to pile up already, it gets harder and harder to relax. But, whether it takes a swim in the pool or run on the exercise bike, we all find ways to destress. I wish everybody back home a great start of school, and an excellent labor day weekend!

Technology- any texan's best friend

Well, things are finally starting to feel a little normal around here. With school, homework, real estate and all the little things in between that pop up, it's nice to sit back and enjoy the wonders of the internet once I'm back in the room. As you've seen, I recently made a quiz- it had a couple short-lived posts of it's own, as I think this site is a little late to update viewers. I'll soon be making others and adding more links- just keep your eyes on the link list! In the meantime, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are really enjoying school down here. Now, I know it's no Whatcom (snickers at Bella/Pyro), but honestly, we really do like it! Choir is starting to make sense as well- it's meant learning sheet music, but hey, there's a first time for everything. Mitch is also loving school- a lot more than I could say when I was in sixth grade! Above is a picture of one of the entrances to the school- and let me say, it is no understatement that this is one big building!

But, as the title suggests, I very much hope to take full advantage of the technology that is available to keep in touch. Wish me luck, and talk to you later!

Sorry about that!

HI- mradrz4evr again. Apparently my quiz link has been a bit hard to track down, so here's the hyperlink. If there are any other problems, just send me a shoutout and I will fix them promptly.

http://quizfarm.com/quiz_repository/new/180009/

My Quiz!!! Take it!!!

Hey everybody! This is just a short update to let everyone know I made a quiz on quizfarm.com! It's called Your Marvel Alter Ego, and I would be much obliged if you took it and told me how you like it! Check it out when you can, and thanks.

House Hunters - Texas Style!

As of yesterday, our family began a process that is renowned only in it's tedious, complex nature. Yes, the house hunt is begun!
Now, as a person who has experienced this process twice now in my lifetime, let me just say that it is WAY harder than it looks! Bear in mind that you are talking to the girl that, at the tender age of four, said frequently "NO MORE HOUSES!". I, of course, remember no such thing being interjected- just a whole lot of driving. Those memories came back to me before long as we spent seven hours in the car with our real estate agent, roving about the more peaceful parts of the city to look for houses. Keep in mind that San Antonio looks nothing like Seattle, so this is a bit different than you might imagine. Above is a picture of Stone Oak, where we are currnetly living. A few more trees than you may have thought, eh? But it is also very, very big, being among the top ten largest cities in this country of ours. This means much time spent in an air conditioned car, and what feels like an equally long time span outside in the steamy SA air. But we enjoy it, looking at all the different homes around the hill country. Our search has only just begun, so wish us luck!

Blast from the Past...last summer anyway

For everybody who was and wasn't acquainted with Cinder's litter last year, I discovered a couple of pictures of the puppies! They were Gabby, Ruffles, Miley, Bailey, Ray (yay Ray!), Turner....and I can't remember the last puppy's name! If anyone can jog my memory, please do! And please comment on their cutiness- they are cute, aren't they? We made believers out of multiple pugs-are-ugly sympathizers.

Memorable Summer Pictures...

Here are some pictures taken by the photomaster (my Mom), of our Oregon Trip and other candid moments. You will notice a picture of our family in front of the Alamo- before we moved, we took a trip down here to see the town a bit.
Next, here we are in front of Mount Baker- our last visit for a while at least!
Here is one of many sea lions we saw on the coast!
And here's the whole big family in Texas- you'll see my cousins Eddie with his fiance, Freddy, Eric, Sara with her boyfriend and my Aunt Jenny.
Well, there's the first round of pictures- I hope you enjoyed them!

On the Verge of School Days...

Well everyone, it is almost time for us to begin attending school. Much earlier than all you back home, but it looks to be a pretty good year! Mitch and I both joined choir, and hope to have a successful time at middle school. Wish us luck!

I'm starting to add some new features, so read and enjoy- I apologize that there is so little. As I wrote earlier- just wait and see! Tomorrow we move into the other hotel for a good 23 days- thankfully, we don't have too much to move quite yet! In the meantime, we have begun to enjoy all that San Antonio has to offer- from it's hundreds of restaraunts to the myriad supermalls. I swear- you could get lost in one of those things! But with school coming, we'll probably have a lot less time for sightseeing. Still, there is a whole lot to see- Six Flags and Seaworld or the Riverwalk! Anytime you folks want to sojourn down south, just ask us- by that time, we'll probably have the navigation down. And believe me when I say that that is a huge challenge in itself- this place is enormous!

The Blog has Begun!

We finally made it to San Antonio- and what an adventure it was! Along the way, we passed through Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Utah. The scenery was a sight to behold; and one which we won't soon forget. We hope all our family and friends back in Washington will enjoy this blog, as well as seeing a little bit of our new home.

Just right now our internet is a little bit off- we hope to add pictures once we get settled in a bit more. After all, it's only been several hours since we got off the freeway! Within a few days there will hopefully be a lot more to see on our site. Thanks a bunch, and goodnight from Texas!