"Artoo and I have decided we will stay here...."

So after all that talk about leaving this apartment...we're staying. There is still a hole in the bathroom ceiling that we need to get fixed and the window may or may not still be leaking (the guy came and looked at it both inside and out...I am not sure but he might have miraculous powers of fixing-things-rays in his eyes or something because that's usually what he does and then we don't hear anything about it til I call the office and ask.) But despite the fact that we kind of really wanted it to be God's will that we move and be closer to Andrew's work I think we are both really finding some peace in the whole thing knowing that THIS is actually God's will. (like Andrew and I keep saying "why would we want something that's not God's will for us?)
I switched the living room around and am currently looking for some neat prints to hang in the bathroom (and as ever I am striving to keep the kitchen clean clean CLEAN!), Andrew surprised me the other day and bought us a water filter for the sink so that we didn't have to lug barrels of water from my parents home every time we went over to visit (although it DID kind of make me feel a bit old fashioned in a way...in a good way) and so that now we can drink our own water without too much fear of it smelling like hot socks or doing us harm the good ol' chlorine way.
And it's kind of nice knowing that we will still be close for sure to my family and my older sister for the summer. I think it's kind of teaching me a lesson that no matter where you are there is always something to be REALLY really thankful for!
Also things are seeming to pick up a bit around here, it seems they've suddenly decided that perhaps trash all over the parking lot is not considered really cool and stylish by anyone. Also there seem to be surveillance cameras mounted in the parking lot...whether for monitoring for suspicious activity or just someone taking up more than the one allowed parking spot remains to be seen but all in all it's nice seeing them take a little pride in this place.
Sadly it doesn't seem like the tenants take much pride in the place either sometimes as the garbage being in the parking lot in the first place attests....still I am hoping that the landlords are setting an example that will be infectious to everyone.
They also just had some landscapers in which is a good sign I think. All in all I think things are looking up a bit!:)

To sum it all up, we're together: we're happy..God is good!:)'

God DOES have a sense of Humor!

So if anyone was in doubt that God has a sense of humor, last night as me and Andrew were finally settling down to bed, after a major wrestle with a huge chair we were trying to wrap in plastic bags so we could safely get rid of it in the dumpster (we finally had to settle for writing all over it in black marker that it could possibly be bed bug infested so LEAVE it lie!) and our own personal symphony of music as the leaking from the bathroom ceiling was now dripping and plunking onto tile and into glass jar, and Andrew opened the Bible to a random spot and started reading Psalm 84: "How lovely is your dwelling place...." Andrew looked over at me and then we both just started cracking up laughing, the words were so ironic and we couldn't help ourselves and we couldn't stop laughing for a good five minutes. Andrew closed his eyes as he was laughing and said "Thank you Lord!" A good laugh is always a blessing from God, especially when going through a bit of a difficult time. Andrew tried to work his way through the Psalm without us going into laughter again but it didn't work too well, finally I shouted "Don't start over from the beginning again every time, that's what's making me laugh!" and in retort he yelled "Oh, for goodness sake, let me get through it once!" in Charles Thomson fashion from 1776.
We've been laughing a lot even through dealing with some of this apartment stuff, but that was laughter specifically sent from God and specifically pertaining to our situation and it was perfect!:)

Don't say it!

Just to let everyone know what's been going on with Andrew and me for the last couple of weeks...okay...months that I haven't been writing on here.
Recently we've been having some...issues with our apartment. Leaky sinks, leaky window sill...now leaky BATHROOM ceiling! :) Also we have been the rather unfortunately selected as party hosts to a number of very...disturbing guests: otherwise known as bed bugs! We are in the process of getting all of this fixed so that some normality can return to our lives before the next crazy thing happens! :-D Might I point out the fact that you may be laboring under a misconception that bed bugs means that we have a messy apartment and that I have not been keeping a good house...labor under that no more because I am actually rather good at keeping the apartment clean...well except for the kitchen which is clean every other day, and in actuality if you do some research online you will find that bed bugs are NOT a result of uncleanliness as was once thought; they are making a rather insidious comeback as a result of the DDT ban, apparently it was keeping bed bugs in check so well people didn't realize...until they stopped using it! Bed bugs actually, rather scarily, just are really good hitch-hikers and can be in any motel, hotel, or inn whether it be five star or minus five star...so it would be a really good idea to familiarize yourself with their signs so you can look for them before you accept any hotel room. Also they can hitch-hike in old sofa's or mattresses if you are the trash-picking type (which we are not), and I am also sure that you might be unfortunate enough to possibly pick up some at a thrift store if you buy some furniture you haven't inspected enough to be sure of. Also sadly you can get them from someone else if you live in the same apartment building...which means our case might actually be someone else's case. The other frustrating thing is that 50% of the people who have them don't realize they have them because they never feel the bites...which means if someone else in our apartment DOES indeed have them they might just not realize. Luckily it's exterminator procedure to check all the other adjoining apartments to make sure they don't have bed bugs so that the whole maddening cycle won't start over again. IN short...do some investigating, and do some research if you are thinking you might have them or you are thinking of picking up some 5th hand furniture. :)
I am now in the process of doing approximately 2,000 hundred million loads of laundry in hot water and hot air...I might be exaggerating the amount of laundry...but you can't prove it, can you? :) I am holding together well mostly on account of having an awesome God who is going to take care of everything, an amazing husband who keeps me calm when I start crying about 'freaky little bug things everywhere', and both sides of my wonderful family who give me hugs and send me encouraging notes, comments, and Psalm 91's! :)
Still through all of this I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be married to the best husband anyone could ask for and have a place to live (albeit a leaky, buggy, coldish one) and plenty of food and especially a God who loves me and who gave me the gift of eternal life so that I never have to worry about anything here in this earth: because in the light of Eternity....what's a couple of bed bugs? :)

That's Showbusiness...

Hi there- this is Andrew, in my inaugural full-length-cheating-by-reposting blog post.

To fully appreciate this news, we have to jump into the wayback machine, and dial back to August 31st, 2007. During this tumultuous time, I was freshly moved (about a month in) to the east coast from Washington. I was still staying at my Uncle Pat and Aunt Nancy's house as I was trying to find my feet. I was job searching, and only in the tentative first steps of a relationship with the lovely Sarah Harrison. This was about a month and a half before I would find the job that I was to stay with.

And on my blog, the now-kaput Misadventures of Andrew Gilbertson (http://andrewgilbertson.blogspot.com), the chronicle of my single life (in a nice bit of symbolism, this covered my move to Washington and ended with my engagement to Sarah, this blog began following our marriage, and the wedding planning time in-between was far too stressful to blog) I posted this:

"Well, today was certainly a unique experience for me. It began with waking up at 4 a.m. and setting out on a two hour drive which became a two-and-a-half hour drive when I made a mistake with my Mapquest directions in the dark and ended up stranded, going the wrong way on the freeway with no off-ramp to turn around in sight. So, even though I left an extra half-hour of time, I ended up ariving with less than 30 seconds to spare at my destination- the Bayonne High School in Bayonne New Jersey. If you're wondering where it is... it's basically the northernmost part of New Jersey, period. Litterally- the school sits at the edge of a beach, and across the water, you can see Manhattan.

I was there, completely clean-shaven for the first time since I started growing facial hair, in dress clothes that included a borrowed long-sleeve white buttondown shirt, to be an extra in 'The Sophmore,' a Bruce Willis film that will, I assume, be coming out in the next year or two. I, along with everyone else there, were portraying high school students.

After a series of long waits in the Hockey Rink 'holding area' for non-SAG extras (Those not suplied by the Screen Actors Guild) and a number of lines and forms, I was called off along with the massive throng of my fellow extras to the wardrobe department. The whole setup was located inside the school, having taken over nearly every classroom, and at every corner were single-sheet-of-paper signs pointing arrows to various production departments. I arrived in wardrobe to be given a black cardigan sweater with school emblem (which was fairly tight and extremely warm- welcome in the hockey rink bleacher area!) and a marron tie which I, of course, had no clue how to tie. After fumbling with it for a few minutes, I decided that since only about the top inch could be seen above the sweaters neckline, I could get away with looping the exposed portion into something that slightly resembled a tie-knot and leave the rest stuffed haphazardly under the sweater.

Finally, about three hours after my arrival, we were led into the cafeteria of another building, our main 'holding area.' It was comforting to note that already our situation was being labeled with the same terms given to livestock.

The room was filled with desks, already full, and we (the second group of extras to arrive) had to make due with standing around in the back half of the room. I finished my book far too quickly and soon began to notice what many others already had, to their dismay... it was hot. Really hot. And a thick sweater, or suit-jacket as others wore, did not help the sweltering temperatures any! As it turns out, I didn't even need to borrow the long-sleeved shirt- it was completely hidden by the sweater except for the collar, and my own short-sleeved version would have served fine. I was certainly wishing I had short sleeves as we baked in the early morning!

Finally, we were called in for our first shot. We were lined up in rows; I was in row A (near the back), situated as extra #113 next to a girl who didn't know her number and directly behind one of those guys unfortunate enough to have a face that you really can't tell what gender they are. After a few minutes, they started things rolling.

We were background for one of the teen actors to come stumbling past- I'm guessing, actually, that his character was late for our assembly- and the row he decied to run down was right in front of us, so perhaps I'll even be in the final shot- you'll be able to tell by the red folder (which had my mapquest directions to and from the shooting site) which I was holding in every scene.
As for what we were doing... just my luck- we were singing in a group. Only, to keep the sound from the actor's microphone uninterfered-with, they cut off the music as soon as 'action' was yelled, so we had to pretend to be singing, try to keep time with the imaginary beat, and look to a woman standing on a box to wave her arms as the cue that we were again supposed to mouth shouting "America!", our part of the chorus. Of all the things I cannot do... pretending to sing and dance aloud convincingly is pretty high on the list. I can hardly do them convincingly when I'm NOT pretending to! Nonetheless, I did my best to get into it- the director kept calling for "more energy this time," so I started bobbing up and down with the beat- meaning my lack of rhythm could now be preserved on celluloid for all the generations to come.

After that we were marched back into the 'holding pen' to hurry up and wait for another half hour. The extra-director (sort of our liason to the director) came in and said "Well, for this next shot, I need short people. So everyone that's, like, 5-2, 5-4, come to the center of the room." A lot of girls came forward, and the extra-director called out "We need a couple of guys, too!" I heard a number of people shouting encouragements, "Go on, man!" "Go for it!" behind me to the people around us as I went back to my book- until one of them tapped me on the shoulder and I realized they were all talking to me. "Don't be shy, man- go on!" she said. Thanks allot! I stalked into the middle of the room grumbling- I'll have you know I am 5-9! And I was hardly the shortest guy that stepped forward. but apparently I looked that way enough to my surrounding co-extras... that really had me steamed!

We were called in for another shot, lining up in our same rows, and we did yet another session of "America!"s. Then, we returned to the break room. There were some sandwiches set out because it was lunchtime, but they were quickly descended upon and by the time half my group got to them, myself included, there was nothing left.

Finally, they called for people that hadn't been used yet, and almost all of the seat-bound group of extras raised their hands, so they were ushered into the other room for filming... and we stole their chairs. I took a seat up front where I could observe an absolute beauty that I can only recal being bested twice in my life... the boom/crane-arm mounted camera. I was suprised by how many of the components I recognized... I guess I didn't expect Hollywood equipment to have common video components!

Finally, we were called in for our third shot, which ended up being our last. In this one, the principle of the school (represented by the same lady on the box) was in the middle of giving a speech- "When I look at you, I don't see juniors or seniors... I see Friars! BANG!" 'Friars' was the name on all the cheerleader unifroms that I saw, so I'm sure it's the fictional school team- and the BANG! was shouted by the extra director as a cue that the principle had just been shot. Our job... was to dissolve into panicked chaos. Headless chickens, as he described it. I was designated as one of four or five people that actually looked backwards and realized that there was a shooter on the roof of the building opposite us. So, I pushed forward, as if to help the injured principle, turned, did a double take, and tried to fish my phone out of my pocket and pretend to call 911 while being slammed from all sides by rushing, trampling people. It was actually quite fun- you don't get to participate in mass chaos with like-minded individuals very often. The shot had to be done several times as the first few takes were not chaotic enough- people just making straight lines for the door- and a number of people were apparently smiling or laughing at the chaos. Once the smiles dissapeared, and the panic looked more real, and several groups of people were routed to farther-off doors to confuse the foot-traffic pattern a bit more, we got a satisfactory take. Somehow, I kept ending up fairly well in front of the camera, pulling out my cell in the middle of a thinnning crowd (without meaning to) so if they use that shot, there's a good chance I'll show up. Who knows.

After that, it was back to wardrobe to turn things in. I must say that the Catholic school dress uniforms were a lot more modest than what most of the women chose to wear, and I had to make an abrupt about-face while heading for the snack table (back in our hockey rink holding area) as one woman apparently had no compunction about taking her shirt off and changing right then and there. After returning my tie (which had been un-mangled by a touch-up woman before the first shot, though it took us about 30 seconds to get it undone from what I'd done to it first)- and apparently the art of tie-tying is largely lost in today's world, as I had at least three people ask me if I knew how to help them with theirs- I returned downstairs and made the drive back- all told, having spent 7 and a half hours as an extra, while filming three shots. I'm sure I'll be going to see the film when it comes out... if nothing else, to figure out what the plot was about! So, that was my busy day for Thursday- the next few plan to be equally so, and I will keep you all updated!"


After a random 80s-sci-fi-movie trilogy last week (Ghostbusters II, Cocoon, and Innerspace; I didn't know that effects of that quality existed in the history of cinema; if you haven't seen it, SEE IT!!!), we happened to spot the film Assassination of a High School President at Hollywood Video, and we checked it out.

First and foremost, we do NOT recommend or endorse this movie! It is lewd, crass, features male and female nudity and copious profanity, and while occassionally entertaining (Bruce Willis is quite good in it), is very strange.

However, if you DO happen to pick up the movie; and if you happen to go to the 47 minute, 50 second mark, (Our computer shows 47:06) you might find a familliar face panicedly dialing 911, red folder and all...


It's a 32 frame shot (at 24 frames per second, this means it's 1 and 1/3 seconds long, and 12 of those frames have me obscured by foreground students (leaving 20 frames clear), so it's really my 5/6 of a second of fame).

Andrew Takes a Crack at It

This is a blog. Sarah said she'd post it. I wroted it by myself. I liked it gud. The ENd.

We got...MARRIED!?

Summer is ALMOST OVER!!! How did that even happen!? I am sitting here feeling so insane thinking that in only three months Andrew and I will be celebrating our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!! WHAT!? It's strange because in some ways it feels like we have ALWAYS been married (And not in the snarky sit-com way people say it when they mean they feel like they have always been married because it's felt like it's been FOREVER...I mean it in a Good way!). I think in some ways it's because it's hard for me to even remember what life was like before I met Andrew. I feel like I have always known him. IN some ways though it feels like we just got married two weeks ago. I was just trying to remember what it was like getting married the other night when I was trying to get to sleep, I had my eyes closed and in my mind's eye I was trying to picture everything as it happened that day. That was when it struck me....'We...got...MARRIED!?" It's this major life thing, something that you do once in a lifetime...and we did it already!!!!! It's just so nutty! But it's good nutty!

I think the one thing I have been experiencing these past couple of months since we got married is that I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!:) It was so much fun! (Which is why I have told Andrew repeatedly that he better watch out because I am pretty sure we are going to have to do a remarriage ceremony on our 5th year anniversary...also I did warn him that we are probably going to have to get remarried in the SUMMERTIME, so I can have huge glass jars of lemon aid. And this time we will be able to stay as late as we want and dance all night with our family and friends. It just seems like it would be so much fun!)

We have been having such a wonderful time together. Actually sometimes I get freaked out and more paranoid bause I love being married to Andrew so much my human side is thinking "What can happen to mess this up, now?" But I have been giving that burden to God and learning to just enjoy the marriage without worrying about something messing it up. (Especially because if you make God the center of your marriage, if something DOES come that seems to mess up your marriage for a while it always turns out making you grow closer and more in love once you get through the struggle with God holding your hands and leading you out.)

It's amazing how many little things in life can make you more in love and grow closer together. We were going through a semi-rough time for a week or so just where I was being impatient or we were misunderstanding each other and getting frustrated. And on a sunday we decided to go swimming at a lake nearby, and just spending that time together swimming and talking and joking in the BROWN BROWN water (it was one of those lakes where the water, as gross as it sounds, is this really deep brown. You come across that kind of water a lot in the Poconos too (don't worry...it's not brown for any sinister reason..!)) was like this healing balm that made things so much better! It was like a salve for our raw nerves/emotions and we have been just reaping the benefits from it ever since. And I realized that just taking the time to just BE with each other is so important. Sometimes you think you ARE being together when you are sitting together watching a movie or something in your home, but sometimes it takes "being together' somewhere else, breaking from the routine or breaking from where you usually are together (not that i am saying you can't grow closer at home, but sometimes when you hit a tricky patch getting out of the normal is a needed thing). Like going to a park and sitting on a bench and just talking to each other or imagining things, taking a swim, walking around the neighborhood.

I am continually amazed at all the different things Andrew and I are learning from being married. It's DEFINITELY educational! ;)

So....the sink is leaking again by the way! If that sink goes more than three months without leaking someday...I will be amazed!! I have just been sticking a trash can underneath it because i have been too busy to get maintenance over. The apartment has really been feeling cozy though this month because the weather has been so so nice and cool. I am surprised because i thought that summer ending would make me really sad, as summer is my most favorite month. But I am excited about spending my FIRST married Fall with my husband!:)

We love you all and hope we will be able to see you soon!

Coming SOON!:)

The misadventures of Andrew and Sarah Gilbertson....in a Canoe! :)
This blog will be updated rather soonly, especially after tomorrow night when I have pictures of Andrew's Taco Birthday Party! I will have stories to tell of our canoe afternoon and of Andrew's Birthday! Check back soon!