"How I Would Kill You"...

So, Jake and I were sitting out on our deck tonight and somehow the topic turned to how we would dispatch one another in mortal hand to hand combat....Jake didn't referee tonight, so the conversation was sparse... I figure that is a regular conversation for any regular married couple to have occasionally anyway.. So, it was my skilled PT knowledge against his general brawn and I guess both of us were pretty passionate about the discussion as neither of us is really fond of being wrong. Later that night Jake is taking the dog out and runs into one of the apt managers who makes a comment about how it is so weird that OUR SPECIFIC BUILDING is situated in such a way that you can hear every word we say all the way on the other side of the apt complex. In case you are not keeping up, that is code for the fact that everyone heard Jake and I talking about how we would kill each other in hand to hand combat. Even I am a little embarrassed about that one. Probably not good. Jake thinks he needs to go talk to the apt guys about it tomorrow and explain that neither one of us is actually trying to kill the other one...just talking about how we would do it if we had to.... The lesson is that Jake and I no longer live where no one else hears our discussions so we need to keep the crazy to ourselves...or, if you find me dead from a 3rd grade Tae Kwan Do move, Jake did it...

Not So Awesome

It really does not sound like it is a good week to be in Kansas. I hope all of you are staying safe and warm in your houses. Jake and I are thinking of you and are guessing you are wishing you had come along to SC...at least for the week!

Ike The Trainwreck.

Ike has not been getting out as much since we moved. We live on the second floor of an apartment complex with a very serious rule about dogs not being off of the leash so his life is pretty sedate. So when Ike does get outside and off of the leash to do a little Frisbee catching he takes it very seriously.

Jake brought Ike back from the park yesterday and Ike was limping a little...and tracking blood all over the white carpet that we don't actually own. Anyway, to make a long story short, Ike had torn the top off of one of his small pads. Jake and I taped a sock on his foot (yep, the vet said that was the way to go) and ran out the door.

We get home last night and he is limping on his other leg, which he has actually slit/skinned a quarter size chunk of pad off of the bottom of his foot. So, by 11 pm last night our dog was walking around wearing two of Jake's socks taped on his front feet. He was not amused and fell over several times when he stepped on his own floppy socks. Sad little animal...he can't trust either of us. Jake apparently took him to play fetch in an abandoned glass dump and I taped socks on him. He is hiding from us today. I would hid from us too.

Christmas Time...Kinda

It is 77 degrees today. There are people at the Christmas tree place wearing shorts. It is really hard to get into the spirit this year due to the unusual weather circumstances I am living in. NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING. I know most people that read this are sitting in Kansas in a pile of ice and snow that is a major problem to every activity. I am baking Christmas cookies with the deck door open and the air conditioner on so we don't sweat to death with the oven running. Very bizarre.

It is a little weird to get up everyday and have nice weather. It is like being Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day". Almost every day has been sunny, pleasant, and exceedingly boring. Not to say I want to return to freak ice storms and random tornadoes, but a nice thunderstorm when I am at work with nowhere else to go wouldn't be completely uninvited. That and the fact that it hasn't rained here in forever and apparently Atlanta is drinking all of the water in the south...too bad they can't drink out of the ocean. Then again, they would probably use that all up on their yards anyway. Everyone is so wound up about "the drought" down here. Apparently they have never lived in Western Kansas.

Anyway, I am definitely feeling badly for all of you with the 1 inch of ice on the roads, brandishing your snow shovels (we sold ours for $1 about 4 months ago), and slip sliding all over the Sunflower State. I am so excited to get back home for a little Christmas and maybe just a dusting of snow while Jake and I are there...no more than a few flakes required to make me happy.

Selling the House.

I totally forgot to mention that we got our house sold last week. I probably forgot to mention it as we didn't exactly get what we wanted for it and I probably won't want to ever talk about it again after all of the hours Jake and I spent picking adhesive off the floor and literally investing blood/sweat/tears to fix it up. Oh well. Jake keeps reminding me that there are people everywhere losing everything since they cannot sell their house, and with 353 houses on the market currently in Manhattan we should feel lucky that they chose ours at all. It is funny to sit around and having NOTHING to do to your home/apt to fix it up. Actually it is a total relief. Part of me is going to miss that place....and part of me just wants to never look at it again. Those feelings are actually a step up from me wanting to just burn it down for the past month.

For the record, St. Joseph himself had a hand in this whole thing and it was a strong one. For those of you that are not a Toll and did not pray to St. Jude to find your lost stuff growing up or wear a St. Christopher medal to protect you in your travels, St. Joseph is the saint of the home. The belief is that if you take a statue of this particular saint and bury it under specific specifications (in the backyard, upside down, facing the house I think) it will help you sell your home. I can hear you laughing. However, it works. I know several Realtors (Lutheran ones) that are not above a little help from good old Joseph, and if a Lutheran is up for a Catholic idea it must be a pretty good one.

Anyway, Jake and I were getting anxious about selling the house since the market is so disastrous, so when I stumbled across a statue at the market in Charleston with my folks 2 weeks ago I bought him. Kelly Law had agreed against her better judgement to sneak over to the house and bury the statue in the lawn. I really think she thought I was joking when I asked, but the little guy was all boxed up and ready to roll when we started negotiations for these folks to buy the house two days later. Pretty impressive that he managed to work his magic from inside a box half the country away...I do have to talk to him about working on his financial negotiations....I probably needed a different saint for that one!

I really owe a big thank you to everyone who picked up a roller, picked wallpaper, pulled up carpet, or entertained me while I pulled up tackstrips. Without your help, we never would have gotten this joint in good enough shape to sell at all. We really would have been in trouble. Oh, one last thing, if Jake and I ever talk about buying a home that "needs a little work" ever again you are to kick us in the heads and remind us of the last two years!

Wow.

I am trying to put in a picture of the football/basketball watching set up at my home. I really thought when we got rid of the HUGE tv that we were calming down the insanity. Apparently I was totally wrong. I am hoping the picture turns out as it is totally worth 1,000 words

Thanksgiving

I was definitely missing everyone on Thanksgiving. However, we managed to get through it unscathed and in one piece with only 1 or 2 meltdowns on my part. That is pretty good as far as I am concerned for me!

Jake and I went to Greenville on Thanksgiving Eve as I was assigned the pecan pie and Jake ate all of the "good" pecans I purchased the week before...His defense was that I didn't tell him NOT to eat them. My defense was that I didn't think anyone could eat that many pecans in two days and still be alive... Anyway, off to Greenville we went because I wanted South Carolina pecans that would be fresh and fantastic for the pie (Jake assures me that the first batch I had from Greenville were indeed delicious) so we went to Whole Foods. I am sorry if some of you hate Whole Foods, but they really have it figured out. They have it rigged so that you can buy a bottle of wine there (regardless of day of week/time/whatever) and drink it while you shop. You can't leave the store with it on Sunday, but you can drink 10 bottles of wine if you want to as long as you are in the store. BRILLIANT! So anyway, they had wine and cheese sampling randomly going on that Wednesday evening that basically turned into a party. I dare you to find a party in your neighborhood Dillon's or Scott's Thriftway... Then we went next door to get some dinner so we could be legally sober to drive home. Then I baked 2 pies. It was a long day for sure, but a pretty fun Thanksgiving Eve.

We got up the next morning and watched Christmas Vacation. Everyone should do that at least once this time of year. I am convinced it is good for you.

My boss was nice enough to invite us over on Thursday. She is a very nice person who makes me look like a slow moving, unpassionate, quiet person. I love it. I am never the craziest person in the room when she is around. Nice feeling to have occasionally! Anyway, she always has Thanksgiving for the "homeless", not the actual homeless of course as much as the folks at work that live too far away to get back for the holiday. This year it was her family, her parents, Jake and I, and one of my co-workers and his girlfriend. My boss has a mother that is a carbon copy of her, only 75. It was hysterical to watch. The kitchen is like roller derby, you want to jump in and help with something, but I was worried I would be knocked over by someone and accidentally tramped by someone else before they even realized I was down! It was nice to see chaos in someone else's home and it made it feel like home!

Clemson Game

I got to go the Clemson game the weekend after my parents left. My friend from work Caroline ended up with an extra ticket and invited me to go. She is a South Carolina fan (major Clemson rival) but is a bigger fan of sports in general so she goes to as many games as she can get her hands on tickets for...not to mention the fact that her ticket source is so fantastic that you get to sit field level with faculty and family of the players. Clemson is only about 1-1.5 hours from Greenwood, but most of it is on freaky two lane highway. Which is how everything is here, but I for some reason thought there would be large highway/interstate all the way to the front door of the ball game like KSU. I was very wrong. The Clemson tailgate experience is major for sure. Not to mention complete chaos. It makes me very proud of how orderly the KSU stuff is but at the same time the mayhem makes for some interesting stuff. All of the paved tailgate areas are spread out all around the stadium, then they have a whole bunch of open fields they have folks park in. I realize that the set up at KSU is similar with the area north of the stadium, but I know most first grade kickball games are more organized than what I observed! No one was in charge of parking anyone or making sure anyone was obeying any sort of rules of orderly anything. There are also an additional 50,000 people tailgating, which I suppose complicates things a bit. Oh, they also put one of their porta-potties half on the curb...which is the one I got..which subsequently caused my beer to tip over and soak all of the remaining toilet paper that I hadn't used...whoops. Nothing can make you feel fatter than knowing there is a giant line of people standing outside the porta-potty watching while you almost tip it over turning around in it since it is on the curb. Luckily the guy behind it was a lot heavier than me, so any memory of me rocking the potty was quickly erased when he actually did almost tip it over...for real.
The game itself was pretty amazing. The girl who routs for KSU and the girl that routs for South Carolina University both ended up on the Jumbo Tron more than once as they were on the front row of the end zone during the most important game of Clemson's season against Boston College. Kinda surreal seeing yourself in greater than lifesize with 100,000 other folks watching. Lots of things go through your head: "Don't look down at the camera, you'll have five chins!", "Do I have anything hanging out of my nose?", "Why did I decide to wear the orange shirt under the purple jacket, Nikki is going to kill me if she sees this on TV!"
The realization of how having no one in charge of organizing anything can be a problem was made very obvious when we tried to leave the tailgating area....It took us an hour to get out of the parking lot. I mean sitting in the car as there is no traffic flow happening anywhere for an hour. Not a cop, not a kid with a light up stick, not any help at all for dog eat dog world of the parking lot after a loss. Then we had to drive in stop and go traffic for another hour trying to get onto the interstate. Then it was an hour home. So, it took us twice as long as it should have...2:30 in the morning is when I got home.. And it was my weekend to work so I was up at 6:45. Not awesome at all. Yikes.

Blog Catch Up...

Just realizing that I didn't write about a couple things that have been going on so today is going to be a catch up day. Not exactly timely, but everyone will still get the idea of what we are up to.

All Over South Carolina

My parents and Nikki came to visit last weekend and they got to see almost every inch of South Carolina from the mountains to the ocean. Whirlwind weekend for sure, but lots of fun.

We started out in Greenville, then up through the foothills of the mountains to see some of the fall colors. SC has been SO DRY that I think it is usually a little more colorful, but it was still a beautiful drive. We headed to Greenwood and spent the night. We had initially planned on going to Charleston Saturday morning as I thought it was only two hours, but then Jake informed me that I had slept through part of the trip and it was actually 3 hours...whoops. We decided we should go to Charleston anyway despite the drive, and we dropped off Ike at "dog camp" and headed out.

Charleston was great. We stayed at the same hotel we stayed in our prior trip with Travis, and were able to walk all over the city. It was a fall day for sure in SC as it was about 60 degrees, but we had great time looking in local art galleries, seeing the ocean, and we even took in some steamed oysters and live music. My father spent most of the trip looking for the perfect pecan pie, almost to the point of being a pecan pie stalker, only to miss out on the one time the girls stopped and found some while he and Jake were booking the golf outing. Hehehehe! He got on the plane without ever getting a bite of the greatest southern creation they have come up with so far. On Sunday morning the guys hit the golf course and the ladies headed for Isle of Palms to the best place to brunch I have found yet. Crab cakes Benedict all around with a cup of coffee, then we stuck our toes in the ocean while wearing jeans and heavy jackets....I never said we were smart. I am pretty sure the water temperature was higher than the air temperature!

It was a long drive all the way back across the state to get them to the airport on Sunday, and from what I hear an even longer ride back to Kansas. Anyway, it was definitely a good time despite the fact I was still recovering on Wednesday! I had a great time with everyone, but it made me realize how much I am going to miss not being home for Thanksgiving this year. Oh well, we are going to try to get home for a week at Christmas and that will be more fun than a quick trip home and turn around to be back.

Seriously?

I was flipping through radio stations today and heard Christmas music. Then I promptly nearly drove off of the road. Then I walked into the portal to hell otherwise known as WalMart and was greeted by a 15 foot tall fake Christmas tree. When did Halloween become the starting date for the holiday season? I remember when I couldn't wait for the day after Thanksgiving to start hearing Christmas music and begin the fun holiday season. Now the Christmas trees are coming in with the school supplies. Seriously? I am becoming a grumpy, old codger apparently as I am going to refuse to buy Christmas gifts before Labor Day...which is when I am sure they will start with the Christmas music next year.

Making me nuts.

I am angry at my dryer. I would throw it off of the deck of my apartment if I thought there was anyway I could get that done without having to ask Jake for help with moving it. I don't think I can talk him into helping me. The stupid dryer door is on the wrong side and opens in a manner that I cannot effectively get anything into or out of it because it is in the tiniest space ever, sitting one million feet from the wall for some reason, and I really feel the washer and dryer hook ups are backwards put into by some cracked out electrician/plumber with a very ill sense of humor. So, in light of this I did what any self respecting woman would do...I threw a fit, took the dryer door off and tried to put in on the other way. And will now walk away and ask Jake to fix it as I am too angry to even look at it. Dan Worcester told me that the door could not be reversed when we moved here and I did not believe him because it is ASININE that the dryer door is not reversible. Well Dan, you are right, it is really dumb. Is it some sort of sick attempt to make you buy another dryer if you need to make the door open the other way? Dear lord. I would write someone at Sears a letter or go to the store, but I am afraid the men with the white coats would come get me after I went to Sears and threatened someone when they offered to sell me a new $200 RIGHT SIDE OPENING dryer door to replace my LEFT SIDE OPENING dryer door..AAAHHHH. I did not realize the architectural commitment I was making when I bought my dryer two years ago. They should hang up a sign in the dryer department of the store or something.

I do realize that it is only a symptom my actual angst regarding the size of my current living space. Yes, I know it could be worse and it normally does not make me homicidal, but this is a special Saturday. I have to go to the storage unit and attempt to find some of my sweaters, but also sort out some of my summer clothes to trade out b/c there is not enough room here. Probably b/c there are mountain bikes in one closet, all of my kitchen stuff in one hall closet, Jake works out of one bedroom, and our regular sized furniture takes up a gigantic amount of space in this place. Jake, myself and our possessions could fit here easily...if we were midgets with tiny furniture, tiny clothes, and smaller junk...but then we could not reach the shelves..so that wouldn't even fix the problem...AAAHHH

When to ignore the locals.

We are in Hilton Head enjoying some beautiful weather and getting ready to head out to dinner, but this was too good to wait to type for fear I would forget one glorious instant.

So, we have had the worst dining experiences in the past 24 hours I have ever had while on vacation. I have never been to Hilton Head before, but I expected delicious buckets of fresh shellfish and seafood lining the streets and available on every corner since it is an island. Seriously, it should be wonderful. Unfortunately we have been lead totally astray if there is decent food on this island. Last night Jake asked the conceirge for a "fun local seafood restaurant", and we ended up at an unfortunate Joe's Crabshack knockoff. Although Joe's has better food and probably some non-skunky beer. I also need to mention that I finally got a book and read that it is "the best restaurant for kids on the island"...just imagine how much I enjoyed that plus crappy food and skunky beer. Then this morning we went to a highly noted restaurant on the water where they promptly burned the snot out of my FRENCH TOAST...they screwed up FRENCH TOAST. So then we just gave up for lunch and went to a joint called The Earle of Sandwich which is a bar like the Stuga. Food was sketchy at best, but better and less expensive than the rest of what we have been eating. Then we got to talk to the bartender. Dear Lord. All the people that know anything about travel always say that you should ask the locals for the best spots to eat. I think there should be some sort of disclaimer regarding exactly the typ of locals you should ask. So despite that little voice in my head, I asked. He had several brilliant nuggets of insight for us:
1. "The best seafood here is at the Holiday Inn Buffet, it is awesome." Yes, he said that.
2. "Never use the coupons they give you in the magazines, b/c anywhere you need a coupon to go, you don't want to go".
3. Another thought on the Holiday Inn, "There is a great Tiki bar back there. My friends and I go there all the time. Just walk back there like you are a tourist (easy as we are indeed tourists) and they won't bother you. We also like to use the hot tub and the pool there. Did I mention how good the seafood buffet is for $11." Yes you did mention that earlier.

So out we venture in an attempt to find seafood better than at your local Red Lobster in a city that is an island in the ocean. Seriously. If we do not succeed I will be crabbing for myself in the ocean tomorrow morning because this is ridiculous.

Oh, and there are alligators everywhere. I am not in love with Hilton Head.

Betty Crocker Ain't Got Nothing On Me!

I am hanging out tonight baking cakes for work tomorrow. I have never had to bake multiple cakes for anywhere I have ever had to work, so this is fun. There is apparently a HUGE Halloween event every year at work called "Spooktacular" where all of the peds patients, kids from a shelter, and employee kids dress up and come trick or treating in our building. It is really a cool thing. Of course what is any good get together without a cake walk, so I am at home being Betty Crocker and getting ready to head to Hilton Head for the weekend. The pediatric therapists have been working on this deal forever and everyone gets really into it, which is especially cool since very few of us actually have any kids ourselves. I am talking fake spiderwebs on the weird hallway art every business has, spiders hanging from the ceiling, and apparently a haunted house springs up sometime overnight. A little out of control, but still a pretty good time. It is nice to take someone else's kids, sugar them up, and then send them home with their "real parents".

I really am appreciating the altruistic spirit of the hospital I work for. You are given a lot of opportunities to do some neat service activities because we are so much a part of the community since the area we serve is relatively small. It makes me happy. We also get to celebrate holidays. Apparently political correctness is totally optional down here as a bunch of people are dressing up for Halloween and there is already talk of a CHRISTMAS party..nope, not a HOLIDAY party, a CHRISTMAS party. That's what I am talking about.

Nascar with Bicycles..

We headed to Greenville on Sunday to do some big time shopping...that you can find at any regular mall that is not in Greenwood, SC. We were going to stop in downtown to grab a bite to eat when happened onto the "Fall for Greenville" festival. Really a pretty cool thing. Greenville has the Reedy River flowing through the middle of downtown, and they have done a great job of building the downtown area around it. There is a bridge suspended over the river (which is amazing) with assorted parks around it, amphitheaters for events and restaurants....and apparently a very important bike race through downtown a few times a year. The idea is you cordon off all of downtown, then ride your bicycle in a circle as fast as you can around several blocks against a group of other insane people roller derby style (flying elbows, etc). And then you can go have a funnel cake or watch a bar tending competition. Oh, don't worry if you fall off your bike in the first billion laps you can get back on and still race, but that is totally against the rules in the last 5 laps. Apprantly even anarchy has rules. It is an awesome event that Greenville has really embraced. Greenville is much more progressive than you would think. Lots of almost hippies with bikes, dogs, granola, Teva sandals, but they are just not as serious about their "hippiness" it as their Asheville brethren. We had our dog along and I have no fashion sense, so we blended right in. Jake and I sat outside and ate some lunch in the sun while watching crazy people drive in circles as fast as they could on two wheels. Not a bad day.

I am certainly surprised with all of the biscuit eating I have witnessed that SC is actually one of the hotbeds of triathalons, running, and other fitness business in the US. Very weird when they eat fried chicken for breakfast. I think it runs in pockets. The fit people are REALLY healthy, and everyone else is REALLY UNHEALTHY. Yikes.

Old Style and Pineapple

So the K-State game is on this evening. Weird, weird, weird as it is starting around 9:30 which is shortly before my very lame self goes to bed. Anyway, in celebration of the KSU game I got a hankering for a little "So Long Saloon" Old Style and Pineapple juice. Now that may sound like a rank combination, but I invite all of you out there to give it a try. Truly a delicious taste experience. And a really nice way to use up any additional crappy beer left around your house after a party/tailgate involving any of the Toll family who brought crappy beer and then drank your delicious beer (Molly and Matt Toll..you know who you are). So Jake and I set out this afternoon to find some Old Style beer. You would think that would be something that would be available in a place that sells A LOT of "forties" in the grocery store/walmart and has a wide selection of different flavors of Milwaukee's Best (the beast). Incorrect unfortunately. Also unfortunate is the weird liquor laws in this state. You cannot advertise "liquor"...so they sneakily disguise what they are selling by saying "Package Store" or "Red Dot Store", which just means liquor store once you figure it out. For a while I just thought they shipped A TON of mail out of this place, taking "package store" to mean "UPS store/FedEx store". That would have been confusing when I went there with my mail. I think it is kinda like swearing in a foreign language, it still means the same thing and my mother informs me that it still counts as swearing....I still have to put money in the cuss bucket for it whether or not it is in English. The Package/Red Dot/Super secret liquor stores all have to close at sunset. Yep, could be 9 pm, could be 5 pm depending on the time of year. Furthermore to further dissuade you from becoming an alcoholic they hide these places in the WORST parts of town, or maybe it is just a considerate move by the county to make it easier for poor people without cars to get their drink on. I got so freaked out by the location that it kept me from going into the one place we did find. Think about that...a place so scary it kept me away from alcohol. Yep, pretty scary.
Anyway, I ultimately gave up on my search for Old Style and settled for Pabst's Blue Ribbon that you can find at any neighborhood Food Lion grocery store. I figure that PBR sounded equally rank and nasty and would do nicely. Jake Worcester the beer snob was so embarrassed to buy it that he made me carry it all over the store. However, ultimately all of the work and embarrassement and near death was worth it as I sit here sipping my lovely yellow concotion and cheering on the cats!

What is "Soul Food" Anyway?

So tomorrow is October birthday celebration day and the theme is "soul food". I admittedly have no clue what that really means, and my co-workers informed me that it is what you eat on Sundays for dinner. I informed them I would be bringing a nice steak with a baked potato and some sort of veggie...apparently that is not right. After further instruction I am now making my sister Molly's famous creamed corn. One bag of corn, two sticks of cream cheese, half stick of butter, and 3 T of sugar...that should be southern enough hopefully... It is a tablespoon of butter short of a stroke so that should be about right. I have no clue how people eat this stuff down here and are not dead. It scares me that I am now the "healthy eater" in the group at work. They all seem fine, but I am minorly afraid they are all going to drop dead simultaneously of a stroke in the middle of the chicken finger, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, creamed corn, cornbread lunch tomorrow...

Minor Toe Surgery

For those of you that know the saga of the ingrown toenail there is finally an end. For those of you that don't know about it, count yourselves lucky... I will have to see if I can figure out how to post pictures. It would be totally worth it. The toenail procedure is definitely the gnarliest thing I have paid someone else to do to me. I got it fixed yesterday afternoon in the sports clinic at work. It was a slow day with no one else to poke around on, so I asked the doctor and residents where I should go to get it done. Their eyes lit up like Christmas and they practically ran to get all of the necessary tools. I guess the ingrown toenail is a good draw. Lots a blood like surgery but very little risk... The doctor and resident that did it certainly had a good time and it was a nice learning experience for everyone. Especially my co-workers who came to ask me questions only to see my bloody foot all propped up with a bunch of people around it. "Sweet Jesus" was actually used! I really appreciated them fitting me in during work time and so far it has not falled off yet so YEAH! They rammed 2 Q-Tips full of Phenol (which smells freakishly like fermaldehyde) into the hole to kill the nail bed, then twisted it around for good measure. Pretty soon the black stuff should peel away and I will be good as new!

Absentee Blogger

My husband ran away with the working computer last Monday and left me with one he insisted was "just a little slow"...or maybe just a lot broken. However, I suppose then I am a testament to the fact that the world does continue to spin even though you cannot get to your hotmail...or see the latest Brittany video on You Tube. I should lie to you all and tell you that I read several books, discovered a cure for the bird flu, and located the Arc of the Covenant..or the truth, that I watched a whole lot of Law and Order re-runs punctuated by occasional ridiculous movie Jake hated or a new show with commercials intacted..UGH. Good lord how I miss the DVR. Cox cable was the biggest rip off in the world, but the DVR made it all worth it. Luckily now I have the 24 hour hunting channel. Now instead of watching commerials I can simply change to channel 31 and watch not only stalking of the prey, but the actual kill shot...I don't think they have that on tv in Kansas that I can remember.

Asheville and Little Switzerland

Jake and I packed up and headed to Asheville, NC on Saturday morning. Asheville is about 2 hours north of Greenwood and a completely different world for sure! It is kind of like Lawrence, only with real hippies instead of Johnson County based college kids who are just posing as hippies to allow them to smoke pot and rebel against "the man" while still wearing Hollister and A&F. There were a whole bunch of unwashed people with rank dreadlocks walking around with their belongings on their back and Teva sandals. Along with a lot of loitering, and not a single minority....very strange place. Actually it was really cool. Lots of nifty shopping, neat restaurants, live music, museums and really friendly people...probably due to all of the pot. Definitely a place that would be fun to go back to overnight or bring some friends along and do some going out. We could be totally off of the handle and go completely unnoticed in that crazy place.

We then drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Little Switzerland. Someday you all need to see the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is like driving down Highway 1 on the west coast, that scenic and way more windy. The only problem was that we did not find a gas station on the way out of Asheville and there was not a town/gas station/hole in the wall anything for the first 50 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway...I am going to write Dodge a letter and thank them for allowing for stupidity and having the gas light go off with 51 miles worth of gas left in the tank! We were sweating it for sure as there are no shoulders on this dangerously narrow/windy road. The scenery would have been way more enjoyable with a full tank unfortunately. Once we got gas we went to Little Switzerland. Picture Lindsborg with no people, no culture, and 3 building...all connected. Yeah, a little disappointing for sure. Luckily the joint had beer and was able to redeem itself with a nice deck with a decent view of the post office...

Lazy Blog Readers

Everyone is telling me that they are reading this, but no one is posting any comments. Get on it you fools! Thank you Bill for leading in the league in "Most Posted" at 3 comments.....

Addendum to Charleston

The first place we went after setting down our bags in our hotel in Charleston was a famous restaurant called "Jestine's". The place has all sorts of write ups from every who is who in the world of food. You wait in a long line outside before getting a chance to sit down in a tiny little restaurant to eat fried food.. Not my idea of a good time but Jake and Travis were quite impressed. I was amazed at the number of adults that felt it was a good idea to stand outside in 90 degree heat at 2pm with their toddlers and babies to eat in a tiny restaurant full of food a kid would not touch with a 10 foot pole. I was grumpy after standing in that line, so all of the kids in the joint were totally angry by the time they got to sit down to their Oprah endorsed fried okra and collard greens. As we left after eating all sorts of fried things and Coca-Cola cake I noticed one perfectly silent baby in the corner....because the mother was breast feeding it in the middle of the restaurant. Not in the restroom, at her table, not covered up with a towel, in front of the window with the line full of people. Jake and Travis didn't believe me that someone was doing that..so I had to take them back to the window and show them of course. Almost as upsetting as the huge amount of assorted fried things I had consumed at lunch!

Nothing But Class...

So we are in the "nice" Piggly-Wiggly by the lake where the rich folks live when suddenly I smell cigarette smoke. I start looking around and notice that someone has just lit a cigarette and is smoking in the checkout line of the grocery store...not only that, but this particular character is also not wearing a shirt....or any shoes in the grocery store. He is also very irate as he is attempting to purchase a Mountain Dew but dropped his money through the conveyor belt somehow in the unmanned checkout line where he magically dreamt someone was going to check him out. After several minutes of watching this saga unfold the manager shows up and tells the man that he cannot smoke in the store. The man looks surprised and angered by this and walks out of the store muttering "asshole". He then returns without the cigarette (or shoes, or a shirt) and gets back into line. Another confrontation with the manager happens and the man finally gets his Mt. Dew and heads out the door. The manager walks behind us and mutters "F*&king redneck"....The manager's name tag said "Billy Bob" and he was wearing a plaid shirt and work boots... I love it here!

Charleston

Travis Lenkner came to town this weekend and we headed 2 1/2 hours to the coast. Yep, only 2 1/2 hours, no plane ride involved. Jealous yet?

Charleston was fantastic. It is a really interesting mix of old and new. When I say "old" I mean "OLD" like Revolutionary War old. On Saturday we stood outside in line to eat some southern cooking in a tiny restaurant, walked around town to see the sights, and then had some really great seafood for dinner. They have carriage rides that you can take all around the city to see the sights, but most things are in pretty good walking distances. It is totally worth a trip to see a city like that.

On Sunday we drove across a new really high bridge over the water, and a really cool bridge over marshlands to get to Isle of Palms. Very nice coastline for sure with some big waves and warm water. The outdoor temperature was around 81 degrees while the water temperature was 83 degrees. There were a ton of folks surfing and a bunch of kids digging really deep holes...that seemed to be the cool thing to do on Sunday apparently. I even saw a grown woman digging a really deep hole with a shovel by herself. Not sure if I can even speculate what that was about. Travis and I managed to get our pants wet (imagine me doing that) when we were standing in the surf and not paying attention, so I had to buy a 10 dollar CRAPPY beach towel and got to see a giant lady with a giant tattoo on her giant arm of a giant torso of a giant naked lady....now that is class. Thought about trying to nonchalantly take a picture with my camera phone, but decided I would be risking a serious beating from her one arm while the naked lady watched from the other arm...

I am certain that my mother will be disappointed that the most detailed part of my post about one of the most beautiful places in America involves white trash tattoo choice....Love you mom!

My Inner Self?....

I decided last Tuesday that it was time that I tried to get into touch with my inner self or whatever, so I decided to go to a "Beginner's Yoga" class. The class was full of very nice people over the age of 50 who were very pleasant and eager to tell me stories of how much they enjoyed their yoga class. At that point I was pretty sure that it was going to be too easy for me and began to think about checking the schedule for the "real" yoga class. The teacher was a very pleasant lady over 50 who was wearing some sort of an outfit with lots of flowing fabric and some sort of windchime situation around her neck (which luckily came off before class started). The teacher took time to chat with me and give me an intro as to what would happen, all the time wearing a very supportive and pleasant smile. Then she pro ceded to beat me up in a way that I have never been beaten up before. I was falling over, sweating profusely, and swearing under my breath by the end of class. Who knew being a tree could be so hard? I am not sure how my inner self was afterwards, but wasn't really walking correctly until Saturday. However, I really enjoyed it. After telling other people how to exercise all day long at work it is sure nice to be able to turn your mind off and let someone else tell me how to exercise. I think I enjoy her sneaky, pacifist version of sadism. I will have to try some of that kind on my patients as opposed to the usual loud and scary sadism that I employ!

Forced March Through Hickory Knob Park

Instead of relaxing at home today, I talked Jake into heading about .5 an hour away to Hickory Knob State Park for a relaxing hike around part of the lake. 7.1 miles later he was pouring sweat and barely speaking to me. I was also pouring sweat and barely speaking to me. The dog was of course totally fine, although orange from getting in the lake and then rolling around in the red clay dirt. The dog is still orange after the bath, so I am wondering how long that will last. I apparently made a misjudgement regarding the topography of our new home, and Jake then pointed out that we could have just walked into Lindsborg from my mom and dad's farm for the same distance...I should definitely not be in charge of that again. Jake was actually awesome during the whole train wreck and deserves a lot of credit for not just shoving me in the lake at mile 5 and leaving. He actually says that he enjoyed it. We will see if I can talk him into going again....ever again.

SEC Football Is Intense!

Just got back today from our trip to Auburn over the weekend for the KSU/Auburn football game. I really enjoy weekends where you are more tired when you go back to work on Monday than when you left work on Friday. Luckily tomorrow is an additional day off to let me recuperate! I was originally scheduled to work, but there were luckily too few people needing PT in the hospital!

We left on Friday afternoon and headed to an Alumni get together at the ESPN Zone in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. Neat little spot with a lot of small boutiques and a lot of yuppies. I won't hold the yuppies against them though! There were around 75 purple folks there having a good time. I don't think that the servers were quite ready for how many drinks it takes for the Wildcats to have a good time! Some Oklahoma State fans that were in town for the GA/OSU game came to our party instead of their own Alum group as ours was more fun.

Auburn was an absolutely amazing experience. Everyone there was freakishly nice. Like nice enough that you thought they weren't being nice, but they WERE actually being nice. The atmosphere is better than anything I have seen in the Big 12. The huge stadium is right on campus, all the tailgating happens on the lawns of all of the campus buildings, and the bar area is about 10 steps down the block. Their downtown has a bunch of bars, but also has a footlocker, a gap,and a bunch of hometown businesses. I really don't think the whole thing is owned by some bar slumlord named "Rusty" like Aggieville is! The South is very funny. Anything goes as far as class goes. There were a ton of girls dressed up in sun dresses, some boys in blazers, and then a bunch of randoms with their faces painted that were totally hammered. Our seats at the game were super and we were surrounded by a bunch of really great KSU fans. I am confident that we make more noise at our 50,000 seat stadium in Manhattan than they can make with 80,000. The first 3.5 quarters of football were amazing and the last .5 of a quarter was amazingly bad. Oh well. Could have been a much worse showing for sure.

Sunday we drove back from Atlanta through Athens, GA where the University of Georgia is located. Their campus is GIGANTIC and they again have a very large football stadium right on campus that is about 10 steps from downtown/bar district. Auburn definitely was a prettier campus, but the downtown in Athens was really pretty and had some really swanky stuff that adults could enjoy along with the bars for the drunken masses. I did manage to find my favorite beer on tap for the first time in a tri-state area since moving, and can safely say that they put more bulldogs on things than we paste with Powercats....that is scary.

Our Apartment- The Addendum

So as of tomorrow we have been in our apartment for two weeks. I would say that we are doing really well in getting everything going were it belongs except that would be a complete lie to my friends and family. Most of the reason not everything is in it's very own special place is that there is no very own special place for 2/3 of what we own. Our guest room is serving as the unpacking/repacking zone for boxes that need to be pared down and taken to the storage unit, not to mention the fact that we are going to have to dig into a couple of boxes already at the storage unit to find a few very necessary things that did not make it into the apartment the first time...like the silverward holder (currently a large tupperware bin), the coffee pot (currently a saucepan on the stove), and my one missing large basket that matches the other basket under the coffee table. They are a pair for Pete's sake and it just doesn't look right if there are not two of them!

We also only have one "assigned" parking space. The rest of the parking is a free for all. I don't really enjoy that situation. I am getting to old to wake up in the morning and not remember where I have parked my car...because I had to park by the garbage bins and I can't see my car from my apartment. I am especially irate about it right now as new tenents moved in above us and they got 2 PARKING SPACES. They drive two expensive foreign cars with Benz in the name and one of them may have a mysterios flat tire one of these days.

The only other truly pathetic thing about the apartment is the total lack of straight runway for the dog. He is no longer able to get up to full steam while wildly running like he did in the Manhattan house. There are no stairs to wildly fly down, no wooden floors to skid across, and no more long stretches of open area to be totally insane. This leads to a lot of additional contact with objects and people which leads to a lot more broken wine glasses and nearly broken appendages. Actually it has forced us to be way better about taking him out for walks and bike rides. I have managed to con Jake into several of these activities as well. Do not tell him that it is actually exercise... We are getting a lot more of "hey mister, what kind of dog is that?"..."Can that dog really catch a frisbee", you should see people stand around to watch that. Ike isn't even that good. Not like he is jumping off of Jake's back or catching 10 frisbees at once. I guess he is really weird looking in the new world of coon hounds and bassett hounds, and I guess it would be pretty unusual to see a bassett hound try to catch a frisbee when I think about it....

Groceries....

I now am a shopper at "Bi Lo", "Piggly-Wiggly", and "Food Lion". I am not sure what any of those things actually mean. You would think that all grocery stores are the same, but I had to stop a total stranger and ask them what "pole beans" were...they are green beans that are grown on a pole...duh.. But they are mutant gigantic. Lots of pork in the grocery stores. Primarily lots of extra pork parts that don't necessarily show up at Dillons if you get my drift.

First Week of Work

Hey all! We are back in the swing of things now that we have been working for a full week! Work is going really well for me. I am getting to know all of the staff-at least 30 new folks in the department both inpatient and outpatient, and it is definitely a good challenge to work somewhere this big and this new! Everyone is very friendly and very helpful with all of my ridiculous questions. Today was my first full day in the outpatient clinic, and I was lost 3 times. I was told by several of my co-workers that it was very funny to watch me wander around. I suppose it is also funny to watch me drive around as I am lost basically all of the time. The lack of street signs and absence of any sort of straight road has made my navigational abilities more deficient than normal. That is very scary.

Slow on the Updates

So, it's been a few days since our last post. Unpacking, starting work, getting acquainted with the area, walking the dog all seem to take a lot of time!

We'll have more to share shortly - starting with the lack of sidewalks in SC, and as I'm sure my dad has told everyone he knows, the "front door stoop/steps/porch to nowhere"!

The Airport and BBQ!

We took Jake’s parents to the Atlanta airport today. It was our first real chance to navigate the two lane highways as “short cuts”. Yeah. There is not a straight road here at any point, and there are 5 different ways to get everywhere. The trip to the airport was about 3 hours door to door, and since we were out of the house before 7 there really wasn’t any traffic. We were definitely sorry to see Jake’s parents go. They were really a tremendous help in this whole experience!

On the way home we stopped at a roadside BBQ joint called “Vanna Country BBQ” on Georgia Highway 17 that was absolutely fantastic. They are only open 11-9 on Fridays and Saturdays and it is in a big shack with red check tablecloths, plastic silverware on the tables in a bucket, and a whole loaf of white bread just sitting on each table. Jake was in total heaven! The beans and ribs were really great and they had some sort of “stew” with meat, corn, barley, and God knows what else. It was super. I really don’t want to know what else was in it. We left with a pound of ribs and a new respect for shacks on the side of the highway. Next time the folks are in town we are definitely making the drive…

The Move Journal

We kept a journal of our move, since we couldn't easily post while on the road. I'd recommend going to the end of the blog and reading up, since it'll make a lot more sense that way. Hope you enjoy!

Only thing to add to Friday

The only thing I have to add to Friday is that Dad and I got the last of the stuff on the truck unpacked into a storage unit and returned the truck and trailer...at the Penske place, the gal doing the check-in didn't even notice a "slight" scratch inflicted by my garage in Manhattan. Yippee!!!

Friday - breathe a bit

This was a pretty uneventful day. There was just a whole lot of unpacking, sorting, and reboxing fun. I am quite impressed with myself and everyone else who gave me a hand with packing as NOTHING was broken. That is pretty darn good for a 1,200 mile move. However, I really don’t think I will be changing my profession in the near future!

We took Jake’s parents on a tour of Greenwood…at least the part that we know of without someone else taking us on a tour.. We ended up driving around the new golf course that Davis Love III has built near Greenwood. It was absolutely amazing to see. The houses each have their own boat dock to the lake and have front walk plaques with their names and far away original addresses like NJ, TX, CA, CT to name a few. I told Jake he could certainly play golf there…when we could afford to live there.

We at dinner at a fun downtown Greenwood spot called TW Boone’s with great onion rings, shrimp and prime rib.

Moving in - Whoa!

So, after Hilary sweet-talked us into our apartment a day early and we did all the check-in stuff, we proceeded to unload all 26 feet of the truck. Dad and I did most of the unloading while Mom and Hil tried to put things away as fast as they could to make room for more stuff! It had to be 100 degrees at 7 p.m. with an 80 degree dew point. Dad and I were both soaked through. We finally got the last of it in the apartment a bit before 11:00, and loaded the few things that were going to a storage unit back on.

It was a long, long day, but we're very glad to have gotten that done!

Our Apartment

Thursday - Greenwood or Bust!

We left Jake’s aunt’s house at 5:30 this morning. I don’t necessarily want to do that again anytime soon. Just got passed by an actual clown car (truck) NW of Chattanooga, TN. www.bubbletruck.com I am almost afraid to look at the website. The scenery going through the mountains is gorgeous. We got to Greenwood early and ended up being able to get into our apt. a day early. It was about a billion degrees out and Jake and Dan were sweating through their shirts while I realized that all of our junk was not going to fit for sure and we were going to have to get a storage unit. I had a minor freak-out but managed to not totally lose it. We slept pretty well for sure!

Family is the Best!

Nashville made a great stop for us - we got in before evening, and that gave us a couple hours to relax and catch up with Aunt Barb and Uncle David. It was a great evening and helped recharge the batteries after a long couple days. Thanks Aunt Barb!!!

Wednesday - On to Nashville...

Lots and lots of driving to do today. Our goal is to make it to Jake’s Aunt Barb’s house by mid-afternoon. Jake and Dan drive that truck as fast as it will go (70 mph before the governer kicks in) and they never stop. Meanwhile, Sue and I like to drive 85 mph and then stop for ice cream and bathroom breaks so the guys can catch up! We almost totally missed a turn in downtown St. Louis and I thought I heard Sue swear…but then I realized that it was probably just the echo from me swearing. We did end up making it in one piece luckily. Ike got to sleep in the shed while we stayed inside at Jake’s Aunt Barb’s house. I don’t think he actually slept though as he is not into sleeping anywhere other than our bedroom and is not exactly into nature…

The Side of the Road - not a fun place to be!

Ahhh…the joys of 62 mph average driving on the Interstate. I’m now “that guy” driving really slow down the road. The Penske had a governor at 70 mph, though I’d hit 71 ½ if I caught a fairly steep downhill! Of course, just west of Booneville, MO, (mile marker 90.4, to be exact – can you believe they put them every .2 of a mile in Missouri?) a puff of smoke, followed by a whole lotta smoke, told me something was wrong.

As I opened the door, the entire driver’s side of the truck was covered in oil. Not a good sign at all. I got on the phone to Penske and they sent out a mobile repair unit. After 90 minutes of sweating while sitting with dad in the cab (to avoid the mosquitos), “Yogi” arrived. He was a great guy who walked right up to the truck, shone his flashlight inside, and said, “Yep, I can fix that!” Thank goodness – the biggest worry of all was that we’d have to switch trucks, which would mean unloading and reloading. No way we could have fit it all back in without Tom’s expert packing! Anyway, 30 minutes and four gallons of oil later, we were back on the road to Booneville and done driving for the day…

Tuesday - Loading Day

Jake’s parents and my dad are here to help us pack the truck. My dad came unexpectedly and that was great help. He has a very special way of making things fit into spaces that you don’t think they will fit into and we got the truck packed nice and tight. Just kidding dad!

We manage to get done by about 3pm and decide to leave Manhattan and drive past KC as far as we can get. That will definitely help break up the drive tomorrow to Nashville. Jake and Dan are driving the truck with all of our belongings and the Jeep on the back, Sue and I are driving the Durango with Ike and our luggage.

Just before Boonville, MO, Sue and I fly past a broken down yellow truck on the side of the road that is smoking profusely with the hood open..with a maroon Jeep on the back..and Jake standing beside it. Of course Murphy’s Law kicks in and Sue and I have to drive an additional 7 miles before we can turn around to go back. I have to admit that did not know how much oil it really takes to operate a big truck, but it is a really impressive amount when ALL OF IT IS ON THE GROUND. Luckily the Penske folks sent a pretty great repairman out at 8 pm and got the guys up and running again.

Sue and I got the last hotel room in Boonville as the MO state fair had taken every other one. Then there was the business of trying to sneak my 85 lb dog into the hotel without getting noticed. The place allowed “small pets” but I am seriously doubting Ike would count as “small”, and it was the last hotel room for an additional 45 miles. I am a terrible liar and not very sneaky so it was pretty funny to watch me try to sneak the dog in through the back door. I was just waiting for someone to knock on the door next door and for Ike to start barking. Then we would get to see how comfortably all of us could sleep inside the Durange and Penske cab.

Monday, August 13 - Packing Day

We are madly packing trying to get ready for the move. We seriously doubt it is all going to fit in the van. Definitely should have had the moving sale after we packed the truck. We had to take the furniture from the second story out the window and off of the roof. Always a fun experience for sure. Luckily Justin Law is always up for a good time like that. When we purchase our next house we will definitely make sure all the furniture can get into/out of the house through a door. Seriously.

Update - Posting the Journal

We kept a journal as we traveled, as we didn't have access to the web to post updates. So, they'll all be posted as daily recaps...

Let the Fun Begin!!

So...Hilary and I are off to Greenwood, SC. What an adventure!

Hilary suggested, and I agreed, that doing a little blogging about our trip, our new home, and all the fun things we'll do would be a fun way for our family and friends to keep up with us. So, check back often and see what we're up to. She and I will be posting more later today and throughout the week with our moving fun!!!