A Hunting We Will Go.

Jake is not a hunter usually, but I was working at his computer last week and found a copy of a freshly printed hunting license. Hmmm. I sensed a new experience on the horizon. Jake even went out and bought a "work coat" because he doesn't have any stuff that can really get dirty in, like if you were say, out hunting.

So, in 32 years I have never been hunting. I have occasionally shot a gun at a tin can (and totally missed) but have never piled into the family truckster and headed out into the great wide open to try to explode nature's creations. Not until yesterday.

I really didn't get a lot of instruction as to how the whole thing worked,and I sure didn't ask a lot of questions. People had guns, and I assumed my only job was to stay out of the way. I also assumed the process would work like a well oiled machine with each person knowing exactly where they should be placed and their role in the activity. I should have asked more questions before the truck rolled to a stop and we all jumped out like we were chasing down a loose ten dollar bill blowing down the street. I didn't expect that. I thought we would wander up and down a field in a line and it would be pretty boring. Apparently though, Jake's dad and his buddy have it down to a science. They don't want to do a bunch of walking, they just want to jump out of the truck and shoot some birds.

So here is a shortened version of the rest of the events:

1. Sometimes there is no good spot to stand. Jake's sister Kelli is my hero. Her one good shot of the day was when a bird flew over my head as I was lying on the ground in a ball at the first place we stopped. She didn't take it. Therefore I am still speaking with her.

2. Something that is black and white and wiggly in the underbrush isn't always a skunk. A pheasant's neck ring is also black and white, and they wiggle around a bunch in the underbrush if they are kind of shot. What you shouldn't do is run the opposite direction screaming "skunk" at the top of your lungs. At that point I received the very important information that you have to chase down the birds after you shoot them super fast as they are quite the runners and it is inhumane if they are allowed to escape when they are wounded. I decided I could get on board with that train of thought.

3. About that train of thought. I was sitting in the truck at the last spot, messing around with my phone when I heard some serious gun fire. I look up just in time to see a bird go down 50 feet from the car in the higher grass. I thought about just pretending that I didn't see anything, but then I thought that Jake's dad would be disappointed in me if I didn't take his information seriously. So I run up the side of the brush, not planning to see anything, and then I stumble upon the bird that is supposed to be dead. But it isn't. It's trying to run away. Crap. Well, here we go. I do what any wildlife loving person would do, and I stand on it's head with my boot. So I am screaming obscenities, the pheasant is flapping it's wings, and then I fell over into some sort of bush full of stickers. At that point, the guy that shot the bird finally made it over to deliver the death blow to the pheasant.

So then we headed in with a bunch of birds(15 total)and we take the "hunting picture". I had never looked closely at a pheasant before that day. They are absolutely beautiful birds. The colors and patterns of each feather are unique and intricate, and would be difficult to reproduce accurately by even the world's bests artists. I was not expecting them to be so impressive. Let's face it, the only bird I have seen up close is a chicken, and they are nasty.

We now have pheasant for our freezer and will have to figure out what to do with it...

Adventure Cooking

So I am trying something new today. I am making pork green chili to attempt to replicate the great stuff we were eating in CO. I hope it's at least a little good because it's some work for sure. I don't think I have enough chilis so we will have to head back to the store, and I don't have any tomatillos, so I will have to find those as well. I really like to try and get outside my "cooking comfort zone" every now and then. I do tend to struggle with it because I really don't do well following recipes because I am a "dumper" at heart and am not much at measuring.

I am trying to get better at cooking mexican food and chinese food. I am sure you were all wondering... I think that it benefits me way more in my day to day cooking to try new things in other cuisine. I think I have learned how to add flavor in different ways with the influences from other cultures. Of course it doesn't always work out.

I am wanting to get another half marathon on the schedule. There is one in 3 weeks in Tulsa, but I can't decide if I want to try it. I haven't run in 2 weeks with recovering from the half marathon and now I have a nifty ingrown toenail I am having worked on Tuesday morning. Gross.

Last funny thing. Our neighborhood declared YESTERDAY Halloween. They posted signs and everything. It was weird. Apparently our neighborhood (actually the newer part) is a madhouse on Halloween, and I am not sure if that impacted the decision, and in what way. Just seems weird.

A Vacation and a "Half"

So, we had a "working" vacation earlier this month. We headed out to Colorado for a few days last week and had a great time. Luckily enough we got to spend some time with some great people we don't see often enough and do "touristy" things in Colorado. The initial motivation was to run the Rock in Roll half marathon with Jake's sister and Jake's friend Richard, but in the end it was a great vacation.

We have both been to Colorado frequently in the past, but it is always at a full run to get to the mountains to go skiing. While we were there we skied until we couldn't walk, and it was winter so the weather was always crappy. This time, we had a bunch of time and the weather couldn't have been any better.

As with most of my posts, this one will be primarily about food and exercising.. You do what you like, and I like to eat so I need to exercise. I love having stuff at restaurants that I wouldn't usually have. When I think of Denver, I think of awesome Southwestern type of food, especially green chili. It's a favorite of mine and not very common(or at least not any good).

We started out flying into Denver super early on Thursday morning. We are only a quick 1.5 hour flight from Tulsa, so that is pretty awesome. We jumped off the plane and headed to Downtown Denver for the day. We had breakfast at a place called "Snooze". Pineapple upside down pancakes were my first fun Denver food with an awesome amaretto latte... So then I needed a nap. But instead we headed to the museum of Science and Nature. It was great. The best part was the 3D Hubble Space Telescope IMAX show. It was awesome. I hate space and 3D (in general), but I loved it. The planetarium show was super boring, or at least the two of us thought it was because we both fell asleep. I guess that is what happens when you have a 7 a.m. flight. Luckily we rallied fantastically for the KSU/KU watch party in Colorado Springs with Jake's sister. That was the world's best football game ever. We watched every last minute.

The next day we got up and headed to the Air Force Academy for a tour. It was an amazing place. The chapel is amazing, and learning more about the academic and service requirements really brings to light the level of commitment these 18 year old kids make when they apply to the Air Force Academy. We then went back to Denver for the Expo for the Marathon and Half Marathon. It was a total fiasco with a million people and every woman participating brought at least 2 kids and a stroller. All the kids were running around nuts because they had been eating all of the energy blocks, energy shakes and whatever other "energy" foods they had for sample at the expo. Those people knew what sugar-rific energy crap those kids were loading up on and just stood by and let them do it. Ridiculous. Friday night ended with the greatest pizza of all time at a fun little place in Colorado Springs. It was outside, the wine was great, and it was perfect.

Saturday morning we headed downtown in Colorado Springs, had delicious green chili omelets that were awesome and then headed to the Garden of the Gods. It was super amazing and freaking freezing with a north wind at about 1,000 mph...and then I fell off of the sidewalk. Yep, it happened. I took my eye off the damn thing for one second and I catch the edge, twist my right ankle and skinned the crap out of the outside of my whole left leg. It was ridiculous. We then headed to Manitou Springs to look around. It's an awesome little town where the Pike's Peak train takes off from, and home to the stairs made of railway ties that ascend a full mile straight up. Yep, that's a full mile straight up. Luckily we had a race to run the next day, so we talked ourselves out of doing it for the sake of "conserving our energy". We will go back and conquer those stairs, we will... There was a super awesome dinner with steak with Jake's parents back in Denver, then back to the hotel for a nice restful night's sleep. Or a Mexican wedding reception one floor below us that went on until midnight. Not exactly a relaxing and rejuvanating way to spend the evening before you plan to run 13.1 miles.

So the next morning started at 5 in the morning. We got all ready and headed out. There was major traffic jam and Jake had to do some quick thinking, but got us there AWESOMELY. Jake's parents were super. We parked at their hotel, they held all of our junk during the race, and took us out for brunch after the race. They were real troopers. It really couldn't have been that interesting.

The race itself was really interesting. I hadn't ever run that far (I had made 11 miles before in good shape), but had been doing well with my runs. I hadn't run at a mile of altitude either. Putting those two things together made for a not great end of the run. The altitude factor was much worse than I thought it would be. I knew I was in trouble when I got winded climbing a flight of stairs the first day we were there! The worst part is that there really is no way to prepare for it either. I really thought I would run about a minute faster per mile, but there was no way I was going to be able to do that. But, not bad for the first one...and, I did beat Jake, so there's what really matters.

There were 16,000 people running the race and the atmosphere was amazing. It is a fantastic feat to put on an organized activity like that for that many people, not to mention all the people the bring along with them. All in all I am happy with the fact that I made it through it. I am all about doing another one.

There was a whole additional day and a half to this vacation, but I am too tired to write about it right now. Real quick though: Fort Collins, Iranian food, inability to walk right down any stairs, another awesome green chili breakfast, Estes Park drive, Estes Park Brewery, Boulder, Denver airport, home at midnight, trip over.. Whew. It was awesome, but explains why I am still a little tired.

Super Saturday

After about 6 weeks of running around crazy, we have a weekend with nothing scheduled. I love to go see folks and to have them come see us, but there is something to be said for having no reason to get out of bed on a Saturday! I am pumped to watch football, cook a bunch of fun food, and just mess around with a short "to-do" list. I am through my first beer of the afternoon, so it is going to be a beautiful day!

I just have some random ramblings if you have nothing better to do than read this!

Our lawn has multiple personalities. Sometimes I look at it and think that we are making awesome progress, then other times I look at it and think that we should just dig a moat around the house and just set the yard on fire. We have a combination of mushrooms from the wetness, dead grass (or "dormant" Jake keeps telling me) from the heat, patches where the grass is 6 inches high and places where the grass is really short.. Oh, and there are trees growing up through the bushes we are trying to kill. Luckily we have some constants, like the grass attempting to grow across the sidewalks and weeds everywhere. The weeds are really impressive. They are truly hardy and prolific. We had some that were 6 feet tall. No lie. PS: who decided they were "weeds"? Maybe since the "weeds" do so well, we should make them the primary part of the yard and kill off the finicky grass... Just a thought. Hopefully we can get out there and do something about it tomorrow as it is finally less than 100 degrees with 75% humidity every day.

I am still getting ready for our Half Marathon in October. My body no longer finds it entertaining that I am only running and no longer biking or doing core strengthening, so it decided to really make itself heard over the past two weeks. It's funny that even when I spend all day telling people what to do for stuff like this for a living, I am too lazy to do it right for myself. It was going too well. It is fun to be a "runner" though. I was always in awe of anyone who could just go out and run a few miles like it is no big deal. I realized the other day that I no longer see 3 miles as a "big deal", and I have done a 10 mile run and lived through it. Pretty cool to see something in yourself at 32 you couldn't have had the mental fortitude to do at 20...although my body would probably feel better if I were 20!

Work is super busy. I am glad to have a bunch of time this weekend becuase I have some performance appraisals to work on and my student's assessment to do as well. Being a student is the worst. You are taking out a loan so you can pay the school, so you can come to my clinic and work 40 hours a week. That is pretty dis-heartening for sure for him, but he is doing a great job and is a good guy. He laughs at my jokes and helps me get my work done without making me want to strangle him, so that is pretty top notch for a student!

Well, off to focus on football!

Really Great Weekend

This weekend (or whole month actually) was an example of how it is nice to be back close to home again. I got to spend the weekend with my family without catching a plane, missing any work, and I know I will get to do it again next month if not sooner. I miss many things about South Carolina, but what I get to do here far outweighs the lack of winter weather, beach proximity, and even the ease of oyster procurement!

KSU won, KU lost and honestly there is no better way to appreciate a Saturday. However, as a KSU fan you can never truly enjoy it as we spend out time waiting for the other shoe to drop when we will lose to some jackass team that we should beaten just because we are KSU and that is how it goes. I may purchase a NDSU t-shirt just in case we have it together this season and it would be my chance to wear it with pride.

We also got a ton of wedding planning done for Molly. We are trying to figure out where to have her bachelorette party. She lives in Memphis, friends in KC so she thinks she wants to be in KC...but we may try and squeeze a hometown shower in that weekend...and that is where it all gets dicey. I am the Matron of Honor..that word is weird. "Matron". Awesome. Time to buy a girdle...

So That's What I Dream When I Take Allergy Medicine

So I had this dream last week. It was bizarre. I dreamt that I had changed professions and was now a sanitation attendant (janitor) in a super classy subway bathroom (not classy at all). I was actually working in a men's bathroom, which doubled as a cafeteria, where all of the stalls had no doors. Yep, that's pretty bizarre.

Don't worry though, it was totally "G rated" because everyone was eating food off of their laps or reading the paper in their stalls...rank.

In that same dream, a very good friend of our had to go to jail for shooting a moose..with the gun behind his back. It apparently was not problematic that he shot the moose, only that he did it with the rifle behind his back.

Neat Benedryll, thanks.

Running in the Rain.

I used to LOVE running in the rain. Sprinkle, thunderstorm, whatever. It was something different, it cooled me off, it motivated me to speed up a little. It broke the routine that I am so used to.

I was out running in the rain in college on a day just like this when a huge storm kicked up. It didn't look like it would be much, but I got about a mile from ADPi and looked up to the sky to a boiling, black, angry mass. The lightning really kicked up in a hurry and I turned around the head home. It poured on me like I had never had in my life. The lightening seemed to be about 5 seconds apart and felt about 50 feet from my head. It really was scary for a little while because it escalated so quickly and there was no where to go to get away from it. I knew better than to stand under the trees, but I also didn't want to stand out exposed as that felt even less safe. I finally made it home and said a quick prayer of Thank You and went about my day of preparation for recruitment activities with all of my friends.

Only later that day did we hear that the new football coach's wife (Phil Bennett)had been out running in that same storm across town and had been struck by lightning. She had died. I had never really thought of the danger before. It hadn't ever crossed my mind as I headed out into the drops, unafraid of the thunder.

A cloudy day still puts a spring in my step, but I don't run in the rain anymore.

And then I had to carry my bike a mile....

Yep. I need more time to write than I have right now about my weekend biking adventure! It was definitely awesome.

Had a great bike ride this morning with Jake. It was beautiful. The roads here aren't nearly as scary as the one's in SC, so that makes it really nice. I would even consider going out by myself here. I would never have done that in SC. Our ride this morning was rolling hills, ranches, long horns and tall grass. Gorgeous. It was a great way to start the day.

We are going on a float trip this weekend and I am totally jazzed about it. Jake and I had a prior float trip experience that was not so good, so I am hoping this one redeems it, or Jake may never go again!

I can't believe summer is almost over. The kids and teachers I treat are talking about going back to class already. Unbelievable how fast this has gone. Work has been super hectic so I haven't gotten to enjoy my summer like I would have liked to. Hoping all this hard work I am doing laying a foundation pays off...because it's hard work...

What I don't understand is that sun is coming up later and going down earlier, but somehow it is still hotter than the face of the sun all the time. Explain that you crazy science folks!

Yeah For Sue!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE WORCESTER. I am pretty sure you are one of three people that reads this thing, so I thought your birthday could be the subject today! Hope it is a great one! You are my favorite mother in law....

Communicate People

That is a famous saying of someone in SC that I used to do triathlons with. She was AWESOME with e-mail and always right on top of it and it would take Jake and I a few days to get a response to her, which always made her nuts. I suppose that there are a few of you out there that still read this mess, and I have been terribly inconsistent with it which makes me sad. So, now I am going to try to do it in the mornings since I seem to have more time then. Turning over a new leaf today. We will see what the underside of that leaf looks like...

This is an ode to how much I LOVE the mornings! Holy Smokes there is no better time to the day. I have been getting out and running in the beautiful summer right before the day starts and there is not a time I am more excited about my day. Everything from yesterday is behind you, everything for today is in front of you and you are stealing a glimpse at how great the day can be. Deep breath in ----- exhale. Now, rock on Friday.

Flashback

We got to spend last weekend with our buddies from South Carolina. It was the best time. I certainly miss those jokers. They were my family for 2.5 years when we were too far away from our "real families". I got to see a former employee of mine marry a student of mine. They were engaged before she came to be my student, but it was still fun for me. We ran through Greenwood and I got to hang out with my old boss/mentor who is my absolute favorite. That is always refreshing for me. It recharges my batteries and gets me excited about work. We then pushed through to Atlanta in our ghetto cruiser rental car.

Jake is a "Gold Member" at the Hertz rental car joint. Apparently that doesn't matter in Atlanta. Apparently that means you get the crappiest car they make. Luckily we only drove it 8 hours in 72 hours. It was a piece of junk for sure.

We stayed in Midtown Atlanta and it was AWESOME! We stayed at the Marriott Suites with 8 of our friends and had a big time. We went to some great restaurants, I got to run around Piedmont Park (ATL version of Central Park), got to catch up with some great people and had a super time. The wedding was outdoors and the weather was gorgeous. The wedding was at 12:30 on a Sunday and the DJ wanted us to tear up the dance floor by about 2:30....so we complied. I love my husband for that reason. If someone needs him to do the Cupid Shuffle in front of everyone in order to make a wedding dance fun, he'll do it. I a never alone in my stupidity..we'll mostly never alone. I do some pretty stupid things.

We got home LATE on Sunday night and the next morning I got up and went to work, Jake got up and went to the airport. I left yesterday for a class, Jake gets home tonight late. I get home late Sunday night, Jake leaves late Sunday night. Fun.

Cool/Not Cool

1. Cool: Writing a fantastic post that was awesome all based on the "Cool/Uncool" theme. It was magical. Not cool: The internet not being fully connected and the post being lost into cyberspace never to be seen again.

You all will just have to wonder how good it was. It was spiffy for sure.

Screw you internet lords and evil connection failure wizards. I am almost certain it is some sick jackass's job to make sure I fail at using technology..because it really shouldn't be possible that I can be that bad at it. And I hate my husband for then being helpful and telling me what I "should" have done. I seriously want to kick him.

Happy Freaking Monday.

So Anyway

This is an update post..so of course there will be bullets and incomplete sentences..and run on sentences like I like to do.

1. "throwback" soda- why did they ever take the real sugar out to begin with? Then why did they put it back in? Furthermore, why is there a hillbilly with a big moonshine jug and a plaid shirt on the can of "real" Mt. Dew? What does that even mean? Does real coke now contain cocaine, and real Mt. Dew now contain real hillbillies?

2. My current thoughts on television- "Justified" on Fx, "The Good Wife", and "Modern Family" are my current favorites. They are smattering, funny and inappropriate in their own special ways.

3. Our yard full of crap- There is so much crazy vegetation growing in my yard and "flower beds"/weed beds. I don't know what to torch with Roundup and what to let continue to prosper. Maybe I will just cover it all with mulch and see what blooms in two months...

4. "New Toll Happenings"- This should have been #1 but I put these in the wrong order somehow. Molly and Chad got engaged last week and then came to Bartlesville to see us and surprise my parents with their announcement. We went to Tulsa so Mols could look at dresses and had a great time in general. Next April we should have quite a shin-dig.

And that is all I currently have in the hopper.

So, That's Sunday School.

Or otherwise titled "Demonstration that God has a sense of humor". The Sunday of Valentine's Day we went to Sunday school. We celebrated Valentine's Day the night before with a combination of wine, bourbon and beer. Needless to say my mind was not the sharpest tool in the shed and we were headed to meet a bunch of folks at church. Recipe for disaster..yes, yes it is.

So we get divided up into groups to work through a Bible passage and I of course get matched up with the Youth Pastor and leader of the group. He then looks at me and says "Let's just turn to the book of Acts"...and then I almost threw up. I am sorry, but I learned the books of the Bible about 20 years ago in Weekday Church School..I don't remember what I ate for breakfast, and I sure don't know where Acts is in the Bible right now. So I take the Bible and open it up..and it falls to the book of Acts. I almost died of shock. I fumble through and find the verse and start to read. The jist of it is that the Gentiles and the Jews should hang out together and eat meat, but the Bible chose to phrase it all about circumcision and non-circumcision...which I get to read aloud to the Pastor. That was great. I wanted to croak. I only recall snippets of all of it because I was very busy trying not to cry/laugh/run from the room screaming. The rest of it involved the Pastor making me discuss our part of the questions with the rest of the group, which was challenging as I had completely blocked out the Pastor and my discussion of circumcision and meat eating. I had to admit it to the group that I forgot our original answers, but shot very well from the hip. Jake was not nearly as mortified as I thought he would be. Point for Hilary.

Along Came Hilary.

Here are several gems of the day.
1. "Do not feed my dog more than 2 raw hide bones a day or his farts will be so bad you will want to cry." We had some friends over today helping Jake run some sort of wiring for something and I actually had to bring it up to them so that they didn't think it was me ripping them silently while we watched the KSU game. I am amazed that he can just lie there asleep and drop napalm bombs. He must be laughing his butt off inside his little doggie brain.

2. "If a toilet looks plugged up, don't flush it." Directly followed by: "You know the architecture of your home is super awesome when your toilet overflows and it comes out of an overhead vent in your foyer onto your dog's head". He was super confused. Maybe that is why he is acting out with the farting.

There is a scene in a movie called "Along Came Polly" where Ben Stiller stands praying over an overflowing toilet...that has been me twice since we moved into this house. Not in the 30 years before this have I ever had a toilet overflow. I do not know how to operate a plunger. I do not know better than to try and flush it when it looks clogged. I do not know how to stop it from overflowing. I do know how to run through the house screaming and swearing as the water pours out everywhere.

I should have known better. I thought I knew how to stop it. I thought I learned from the first one. I held down the flapper, I was ready with the plunger, but the water wouldn't stop rising. Then I realized that the plunger was a moot point after the water starts to rise because you can plunge without slopping the water everywhere. And with all the slopping, if a turd is dislodged then what? I'll tell you what, there is a loose turd in your bathroom or on the floor and one of Jake's friends is helping him string cable and how do you explain that scene..so no plunger. Then before I could consider it any further it was over, the water had reached the top and was going everywhere, so I grab all of the mats in the room..oh yeah, all the time yelling like a crazy woman. So all the banshee screaming finally gets Jake's attention and he shows up, just in time to have the toilet spontaneously flush itself and suck all the extra water (that was not already all over the floor)back down and resolve the problem itself...except then it was pouring out of the ceiling in the foyer...hmmmm. Luckily all of the overflow was clean water (or as clean as it gets coming out of a toilet)so it wasn't a total disaster of loose turds and teepee everywhere. So that was my morning.

Catching Up!

Hey there folks. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and your New Year is off to a fabulous start. Mine is lovely so far. I have so much to catch everyone up on so this will be a "Magic Bullet" post. An attempt at a fast summation of many points...everyone knows I am terrible at telling stories in a short fashion, so just put up with it and pretend it was short. And for extra fun, these are not going to be in any particular order. Here goes...

*Bartlesville- actually has a bunch of cutural stuff. It's amazing. There is a Mozart Festival,huge regional theater, ballet company, orchestra, whole deal. It's pretty cool. We won free tickets to "Broadway in Bartlesville" last week. The way we got tickets was pretty funny. We took a bunch of packing paper to the Humane Society and met a really nice guy who was the director. He started chatting us up and asked us if we would like to register for "some tickets for cats", and that "no one else had registered so you would definitely win"..Jake and I don't want any damn cats. We both stared at one another and tried to find a way out of it, until the guy explain that the tickets were for "Cats" the broadway show that would be in Bartlesville. So that was funny and we registered for them while watching someone with meth teeth try to adopt an animal while the humane society person tried to find a reason not the give it to them. We got a call that we won them last week and had a great time. We went to the show and then to a really cool bar at the top of a building that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a great evening.

Oh, and by the way.."Cats" is really just about cats..there is no other meaning or deep plot. I had seen other Broadway shows and there is usually a plot. Don't waste your time trying to figure out what "Jellicle cats" are because it's hopeless. You never find out.

*Christmas- Due the other things going on in life we spent Christmas in South Carolina without our families. It turned out really well though as we had a few great friends that weren't going anywhere either, so we just spent the time together like a makeshift family. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas, which made me really happy since I worked on Thanksgiving, and ate Pavlova for the first time. It is an AWESOME meringue dessert that is native to New Zealand, but that my Austrailian friend insists is native to Austrailia.

*Moving- What a total fiasco...but not so bad because it is always going to be non-ideal. We got on the road super late due to the retardation of the loading crew. My husband was awesome and drove the whole way as we were pulling my jeep and it was totally pouring the whole way. He is a saint..yet again.

*Ike- Doing great in his first real yard. It is actually fenced in so we can just put him out there. It took a lot of work to convince him that yards aren't just for pooping in, that fun can happen there..so now he begs to go out so he can stare inside while holding he frisbee in his mouth and looking pathetic. Then he decides that you aren't letting him in and lays down 1 inch outside the door looking pathetic so there is no possible way you can accidentally leave him out there.

All right. I am totally tired. Giving it up for the night. PS: we are supposed to get some sort of really awesome ice storm at the end of this week. I am really glad we live in the Midwest again...Crap.

Insomnia

So, it is 3 a.m. and I am on the computer. Generally not good. I am not sure what is keeping me from sleeping lately, but it's doing a fantastic job. I don't start work until Wednesday, so it makes me nuts that I can't sleep because I could sleep all I want..until Wednesday. Crap.

I have heavy duty blog catch up to do right now, but I am not sure that my thoughts would be organized enough to be worth reading!

My parents came over the weekend and helped us put a big dent in getting the house together. It's nice to have another set of hands and eyes for sure. You get to the point where you are just wandering around in the boxes and not sure what to do next! Jake's parents are coming next weekend to bring Ike back to us and see the new digs. It will be fun to see what Ike thinks of the new fenced in yard and significant increase in living space!