It was a good weekend.
Last week, rather spontaneously, I decided to run the Mother’s day 5K on Saturday. I finished with a time of 28:20 pacing 64 or of 222 over all and was 22 of 79 in my age bracket (30-39). I averaged a 9:06/mile pace. If I wanted to make excuses I suppose I could blame it on the 35 degree temps and the drizzle and while I did my best to dress for the cold and wetness – I ended up sandwiching cotton layer between wicking layers and between the sweating from running and the drizzle I ended up just being an icky wet mess. But I don’t feel the need to make excuses - I’m still pleased with my time. It was an up and back all women run – so by the time the leaders were headed back I wasn’t that far from the turning point – much better than the Thanksgiving run where the race leader and I met when I was at the 1 mile marker. I feel like I rebounded quicker after this race too. I had a tough time getting warm but after the race I stayed on my feet and spent a fair amount of time shopping at Menards. By evening the sky was clear and I took the dog for 5 mile walk. And Sunday I jogged 3.5 miles. Much better than when I ran 2 weeks ago and it was a week before I could jog any distance over 1 mile.
I did some yard work Sunday. Put some flowers in pots and put the turf builder on the lawn. Time will tell if I overlapped my track enough. The last time I put the turf builder on lawn, I spiraled into the center of the yard and apparently had no overlap on my passes and I grew a lovely bulls eye in the back yard. This time it should at least be stripes. I have more yard work to do, like turn the dirt in my garden and try to grow a few veggies, but I am a wee bit leery of the temps still and will likely wait to put tomatoes in until after Memorial day.
More new camping equipment magically arrived. Ok maybe it wasn’t magic – maybe it was the USPS. Now Hubby and I have a double wide sleeping bag, a gravity flow water filter, and a new camelbak. I think with the stuff we’ve recently acquired and all of our other camping gear we are all set for some seriously comfortable car camping. I just need to get the big camp stove fixed - there is a fuel leak in the thingamajig so I am hoping my dad can help me replace it the next time I am home.
The Hubby Homecoming seems likes it just around the corner and while I am excited, I am also finding myself a bit more stressed out about it than I anticipated. I find that I am assessing everything I have done and not done in the past 10 months. I’ve found I have changed. I don’t always listen to the voice inside my head that tells me I can’t do something. I keep proving it wrong. I have a larger confidence. I don’t always have to be right, but I also don’t have to be on the losing end of every compromise. I’m trying to determine of all the things I have learned and tried this past year – what is it that I want to keep and what am I willing to give up to make that homecoming transition easier. Something I have started to do. After hubby left and I had to pick up the slack I picked up the ‘Me, Mine, My, and I’ coping habit. Basically instead of thinking as stuff and chores as ours, it all became mine. My dog, my house, my bank account, my budget … all mine. And now I am working to undo that thinking and put it all back to ‘Our and We’.
111 days to go.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Day 275
Two days away from crossing another month off the list. Yippee!
I had a good weekend. I ran the RSOP Spring into Shape 5k and finished with a time of 28:01. A new personnel best and I couldn’t have been more excited about it. I was so excited I wanted to run another 5K this weekend – unfortunately when I hit the track yesterday I quickly figured out that I rebound like a 30 year old, so I will need a little bit longer before my next race. So maybe if the weather holds out I will get my yard work done and if its crappy I can finishing cleaning my cupboards since I only made it through half when I worked on them 2 weeks ago.
Other than the running and the cleaning, not much else is going on here. With the minor exception that our new tent arrived today :) I can’t wait until I get a chance to try it out. For those of you keep track at home this is tent number 3. We have an ultra light two person tent for when we hit the trail and do some backpacking (or when I need a large outdoor kennel to cage the doggy in), we also have a lighter weight 6 person tent that we use in the BWCA, and now I have my roomy 4 person car camping tent – complete with screen room/vestibule. Yes it may be a lot of tents, but for people who love to spend their time in the outdoors – you need to have the right tent for the right occasion :)
I must admit that while I’m getting closer and closer to the starting the final count down to Hubby coming home, I am starting to feel an increase in anxiousness – both good and bad. I can’t wait for him to get home – to the point where I’m starting to read all the family support literature about what to expect when your soldier comes home. And while I understand what they are doing is trying to help set expectations that’s it’s not going to be all rainbows and kittens and shooting stars 24 hours a day, it’s tough to swallow the idea that while I’ve missed him and want to shower him with hugs and kisses that he may just want to find a quiet corner by himself and find his own way to adjust back into his Duluth life. But I imagine that as he tries to adjust to Duluth life – the pets and I will have to adjust to him as well and while I dream that I will have no problem sharing all our stuff again – I know the middle child in me wants to keep all her toys to herself. But I also know we’ll work through any homecoming issues together.
125 days to go.
I had a good weekend. I ran the RSOP Spring into Shape 5k and finished with a time of 28:01. A new personnel best and I couldn’t have been more excited about it. I was so excited I wanted to run another 5K this weekend – unfortunately when I hit the track yesterday I quickly figured out that I rebound like a 30 year old, so I will need a little bit longer before my next race. So maybe if the weather holds out I will get my yard work done and if its crappy I can finishing cleaning my cupboards since I only made it through half when I worked on them 2 weeks ago.
Other than the running and the cleaning, not much else is going on here. With the minor exception that our new tent arrived today :) I can’t wait until I get a chance to try it out. For those of you keep track at home this is tent number 3. We have an ultra light two person tent for when we hit the trail and do some backpacking (or when I need a large outdoor kennel to cage the doggy in), we also have a lighter weight 6 person tent that we use in the BWCA, and now I have my roomy 4 person car camping tent – complete with screen room/vestibule. Yes it may be a lot of tents, but for people who love to spend their time in the outdoors – you need to have the right tent for the right occasion :)
I must admit that while I’m getting closer and closer to the starting the final count down to Hubby coming home, I am starting to feel an increase in anxiousness – both good and bad. I can’t wait for him to get home – to the point where I’m starting to read all the family support literature about what to expect when your soldier comes home. And while I understand what they are doing is trying to help set expectations that’s it’s not going to be all rainbows and kittens and shooting stars 24 hours a day, it’s tough to swallow the idea that while I’ve missed him and want to shower him with hugs and kisses that he may just want to find a quiet corner by himself and find his own way to adjust back into his Duluth life. But I imagine that as he tries to adjust to Duluth life – the pets and I will have to adjust to him as well and while I dream that I will have no problem sharing all our stuff again – I know the middle child in me wants to keep all her toys to herself. But I also know we’ll work through any homecoming issues together.
125 days to go.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Day 265
That’s a big number. 265. 100 more days and it will be 1 year.
It really does seem like it’s just flying by now. I can’t wait for Aaron to get home so we can take our life off of pause and starting living it again. But I still have to wait, so I try not to get to excited that Hubby’s homecoming is getting closer and closer.
One week until my first 5K of the year. I feel pretty good about it. We had good weather last week and I got to do a fair amount of running after work. Yesterday was beautiful. I think it was above 70 here. I made the mistake of going outside at lunch time. When I came back from lunch I had made up my mind to use some vacation time for the afternoon – way to nice of a day to spoil it in front of a computer screen. So I went home and picked up sticks in my backyard and got a quarter of it raked - by then my neighbor had gotten off of work (he went outside at lunch time and had come to the same conclusion as I did). And rather than continue yard work, we retreated to our usual Friday after work hangout and enjoyed a few beers. More friends joined us and we spent the evening on the back porch at the Sunset. It was an awesome Friday.
Today wasn’t so nice. I think we had 45 degrees. But I guess it was ok. I went and got cleaning supplies so I can start my spring cleaning tomorrow :( I hate cleaning. I should really just hire somebody to clean for me. But I would have to clean first so that I was embarrassed by the amount of dust I have – which would defeat the purpose of hiring someone to clean. Suppose I should get my beauty rest so I can be well prepared for cleaning.
135 days to go.
It really does seem like it’s just flying by now. I can’t wait for Aaron to get home so we can take our life off of pause and starting living it again. But I still have to wait, so I try not to get to excited that Hubby’s homecoming is getting closer and closer.
One week until my first 5K of the year. I feel pretty good about it. We had good weather last week and I got to do a fair amount of running after work. Yesterday was beautiful. I think it was above 70 here. I made the mistake of going outside at lunch time. When I came back from lunch I had made up my mind to use some vacation time for the afternoon – way to nice of a day to spoil it in front of a computer screen. So I went home and picked up sticks in my backyard and got a quarter of it raked - by then my neighbor had gotten off of work (he went outside at lunch time and had come to the same conclusion as I did). And rather than continue yard work, we retreated to our usual Friday after work hangout and enjoyed a few beers. More friends joined us and we spent the evening on the back porch at the Sunset. It was an awesome Friday.
Today wasn’t so nice. I think we had 45 degrees. But I guess it was ok. I went and got cleaning supplies so I can start my spring cleaning tomorrow :( I hate cleaning. I should really just hire somebody to clean for me. But I would have to clean first so that I was embarrassed by the amount of dust I have – which would defeat the purpose of hiring someone to clean. Suppose I should get my beauty rest so I can be well prepared for cleaning.
135 days to go.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Day 253
We still have snow on the ground, and warm days now mean maybe 10 degrees above freezing (if we’re lucky). But never the less, spring is starting to peak through. Yesterday Bagley and I took a long walk through the neighborhood. We noticed the trees are starting to bud out, the squirrels are out and about, birds are all over the place singing, and the mangy deer are starting to appear to munch on rotten apples and steal from low hanging bird feeders.
I am totally ready for spring. I want green grass and flowers and trees with pale green leaves and baby birds and bunnies. My trip to Palm Springs does not seem to have alleviated my spring fever, in fact I think it is worse than ever. I just want to get outside and play – but there is still ice and snow :( It makes it really tough to hit the streets to continue training for 5Ks. Right now I run the track at lunch time and walk the dog in the evening. I need the experience with hills to improve my time. My next 5K is in 19 days - starting to get excited, and hoping to improve my time a little bit too.
Hubby is still doing well. Spring also makes me miss him. It’s usually this time of year we start dusting off the backpacking gear and planning our first Split Rock Loop trip. Nothing like backpacking at the end of April. The trail sucks, its cold, its damp – but we keep doing it– and we love it. I think this year might be my first solo on the loop. I’m a little scared about that idea, considering the problems we had last year – but I’m up for the challenge.
I reserved our BWCA permit last week too. That trip is a long way off though – I have wait until September. Sigh.
147 days to go.
I am totally ready for spring. I want green grass and flowers and trees with pale green leaves and baby birds and bunnies. My trip to Palm Springs does not seem to have alleviated my spring fever, in fact I think it is worse than ever. I just want to get outside and play – but there is still ice and snow :( It makes it really tough to hit the streets to continue training for 5Ks. Right now I run the track at lunch time and walk the dog in the evening. I need the experience with hills to improve my time. My next 5K is in 19 days - starting to get excited, and hoping to improve my time a little bit too.
Hubby is still doing well. Spring also makes me miss him. It’s usually this time of year we start dusting off the backpacking gear and planning our first Split Rock Loop trip. Nothing like backpacking at the end of April. The trail sucks, its cold, its damp – but we keep doing it– and we love it. I think this year might be my first solo on the loop. I’m a little scared about that idea, considering the problems we had last year – but I’m up for the challenge.
I reserved our BWCA permit last week too. That trip is a long way off though – I have wait until September. Sigh.
147 days to go.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Day 250
Actually this is written day 248, but I didn’t feel like paying $8 for internet access in the MSP airport since I will be home relatively soon – then I got distracted by sleeping and getting caught up on things.
First off – sorry for not posting. But in all actuality, me not posting means things are good. The urge to write erupts out of feelings of boredom, anger, sadness, angst, worry, fear… More or less, the desire to write for me often is a way to express bad feelings. Work has kept me busy, not happy, but busy – which is ok. Hopefully my project will reach an end point soon and I can go back to a normal work environment – I say hopefully, but I know it’s not likely. I’ll finish up the project I am working on and politely tell the people around me I will keep working but not to the devotion level that I have been. I feel like I have put in one too many nights without my key stakeholders be gracious or understanding (or even caring) - I’ll finish off my commitment at this level, but I’m going to reshape expectations and start enjoying my spring evenings (once spring decides to come to Duluth).
Hubby is doing well. We haven’t had the chance to talk like we used to, but we still email and chat when we can. We’re both looking forward to the day when we can be together again.
Now on to my exciting weekend. I’m on my way home from the annual soft ware conference that I’ve now attended for the 5th year. I spent the last four days in Palm Springs, CA. Nice place to visit and I hope I get the chance to go back, but it’s certainly not a place I want to live. Way too many golf courses and old people and heat. That and I have a tough time reconciling the amount of water they consume from northern CA and the Colorado river in order to keep their green grass and golf courses in the middle of the desert – especially when that means that real agriculture suffers so that some retiree can play 18 holes on a PGA course.
I’ve been up since 4AM. Yesterday was a busy day and I didn’t get a chance to pack until after our meal and casino night – so I didn’t make it to bed until well after midnight. While I realize that Delta and NWA are still working on merging their services together – I am a frustrated customer. My flights to Palm Springs were both still NWA and everything was perfect and on time and happy. My return flight has not gone so smoothly. My flight from Palm Springs left pretty close to on time – I felt bad for the 3 guys they kicked off the flight right before take off. Apparently it had just started snowing in Salt Lake and they wanted to load the plan with more fuel just in case we needed to land else where so we had to get rid of some weight. So I guess this caused us to land in Salt Lake 10 minutes late – and I rushed from one end of the airport to the other to catch my connector – I got there a good 7 min before the scheduled take off, but there was no ticketing agent at the booth and I didn’t know if I should get on. In retro spec I should have just walked down the jet way and tried to get on. But I didn’t and by the time the ticketing agent came back to the desk she told me they had just pushed off :(
SO then came the rebooking. She was bitchy and was no help and sent me off down to the rebooking center. The lady there did her best to help me. She got me standby on the next flight to MSP and told me I was on standby for the 4PM flight to DLH. Fortunately for me, other planes were late getting to Salt Lake and I got a seat on the plan to MSP. However when I got to MSP, I learned I wasn’t on the 4PM flight to DLH. I was nowhere on the list to DLH and the flight was overbooked and they were kicking people off the flight. That ticket agent was one of the old NWA partner flights and she couldn’t help me since my originating flight this morning was Delta and they can’t see into each other’s systems. At this point I was getting pissed – it hadn’t helped that I was hungry and I stopped to grab a sandwich on my way to catch the DLH flight and the idiot at the counter keyed it in as no onions instead of no ranch (yes I know this is dumb, but I was I was working hard to be nice and understanding as my day got screwed up and I got a @#!$ for a server who cared more about the sexcapades of his coworker than paying attention to the customer) So yeah, by the time I called the NWA phone number to try and get a flight from MSP to DLH I was pretty pissed. The lady was nice and I already knew the next flight wasn’t until 11PM – so here I sit waiting for my flight.
But my mood is not all foul. After I got rebooked, I headed to the main terminal to the one place in MSP I do like to sit back and have a beer and burger while I wait. The conversation was good. I spent a good hour plus talking to a fellow traveler. He was on his way back to Boston. And the conversation went all over the place - we talked sports, travel, 9-11, jobs – I was thoroughly entertained by him and as he left he gave me a business card in case I felt like changing careers anytime in the future :)
150 days to go.
First off – sorry for not posting. But in all actuality, me not posting means things are good. The urge to write erupts out of feelings of boredom, anger, sadness, angst, worry, fear… More or less, the desire to write for me often is a way to express bad feelings. Work has kept me busy, not happy, but busy – which is ok. Hopefully my project will reach an end point soon and I can go back to a normal work environment – I say hopefully, but I know it’s not likely. I’ll finish up the project I am working on and politely tell the people around me I will keep working but not to the devotion level that I have been. I feel like I have put in one too many nights without my key stakeholders be gracious or understanding (or even caring) - I’ll finish off my commitment at this level, but I’m going to reshape expectations and start enjoying my spring evenings (once spring decides to come to Duluth).
Hubby is doing well. We haven’t had the chance to talk like we used to, but we still email and chat when we can. We’re both looking forward to the day when we can be together again.
Now on to my exciting weekend. I’m on my way home from the annual soft ware conference that I’ve now attended for the 5th year. I spent the last four days in Palm Springs, CA. Nice place to visit and I hope I get the chance to go back, but it’s certainly not a place I want to live. Way too many golf courses and old people and heat. That and I have a tough time reconciling the amount of water they consume from northern CA and the Colorado river in order to keep their green grass and golf courses in the middle of the desert – especially when that means that real agriculture suffers so that some retiree can play 18 holes on a PGA course.
I’ve been up since 4AM. Yesterday was a busy day and I didn’t get a chance to pack until after our meal and casino night – so I didn’t make it to bed until well after midnight. While I realize that Delta and NWA are still working on merging their services together – I am a frustrated customer. My flights to Palm Springs were both still NWA and everything was perfect and on time and happy. My return flight has not gone so smoothly. My flight from Palm Springs left pretty close to on time – I felt bad for the 3 guys they kicked off the flight right before take off. Apparently it had just started snowing in Salt Lake and they wanted to load the plan with more fuel just in case we needed to land else where so we had to get rid of some weight. So I guess this caused us to land in Salt Lake 10 minutes late – and I rushed from one end of the airport to the other to catch my connector – I got there a good 7 min before the scheduled take off, but there was no ticketing agent at the booth and I didn’t know if I should get on. In retro spec I should have just walked down the jet way and tried to get on. But I didn’t and by the time the ticketing agent came back to the desk she told me they had just pushed off :(
SO then came the rebooking. She was bitchy and was no help and sent me off down to the rebooking center. The lady there did her best to help me. She got me standby on the next flight to MSP and told me I was on standby for the 4PM flight to DLH. Fortunately for me, other planes were late getting to Salt Lake and I got a seat on the plan to MSP. However when I got to MSP, I learned I wasn’t on the 4PM flight to DLH. I was nowhere on the list to DLH and the flight was overbooked and they were kicking people off the flight. That ticket agent was one of the old NWA partner flights and she couldn’t help me since my originating flight this morning was Delta and they can’t see into each other’s systems. At this point I was getting pissed – it hadn’t helped that I was hungry and I stopped to grab a sandwich on my way to catch the DLH flight and the idiot at the counter keyed it in as no onions instead of no ranch (yes I know this is dumb, but I was I was working hard to be nice and understanding as my day got screwed up and I got a @#!$ for a server who cared more about the sexcapades of his coworker than paying attention to the customer) So yeah, by the time I called the NWA phone number to try and get a flight from MSP to DLH I was pretty pissed. The lady was nice and I already knew the next flight wasn’t until 11PM – so here I sit waiting for my flight.
But my mood is not all foul. After I got rebooked, I headed to the main terminal to the one place in MSP I do like to sit back and have a beer and burger while I wait. The conversation was good. I spent a good hour plus talking to a fellow traveler. He was on his way back to Boston. And the conversation went all over the place - we talked sports, travel, 9-11, jobs – I was thoroughly entertained by him and as he left he gave me a business card in case I felt like changing careers anytime in the future :)
150 days to go.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Day 169
OMG. I admit it. I’m a reality TV junky. And I just watched my first episode of VH1’s The Tool Academy. Granted with most reality TV shows I will likely catch one episode and forget about it until they run a marathon of the season on a Saturday afternoon when I have nothing to do but veg in front of the TV – but that’s all beside the point. I want to talk about the Tool Academy. It’s all wrong. These girls brought their boyfriends on the show to make them change. These guys are more douches than tools, but I love the idea of getting a bunch of tools together and showing them how lame they are. I do have to admit there aren’t that many tools in Duluth. I think it has to do with the fact that winter last 6 months and all the pine trees make it tough to lay out and get a good sun tan. But last year when we took our cruise, the ship was full of tools. I think all males in New Jersey should attend the Tool Academy.
In other news – somewhere in Salt Lake City, UT is a person I really want to physically harm. OK – so fisticuffs may not be my thing – but I totally want to yell and scream and tell this douche what I think of him and anybody around him. So a little back story – Friday when I got home from work I got a call from the Post Master General’s office in Salt Lake City asking for my husband. I politely told the person on the other line that he wasn’t available. She went on to tell me that some packages had been intercepted in a mail order scandal with his name on it, they were trying to track down people of the same name and warn them and she advised me to check our accounts and credit report. I was kind like ‘I shred everything. I am careful with all my info. Must be some different people with the same name. But I will check the credit report anyway.’ So after some time entering in personal info and verifying account numbers I got his credit report and found a new address and a new credit card. I used many profane words in a loud tone. The dog left the room – I really home he doesn’t repeat those words in public. So I did the next logical thing, called the credit card company that issued the card, tried to explain the situation – and was met with much resistance. They pretty much couldn’t do anything for me until they had a copy of my PoA. I was ticked. They gave credit to some jerk that had a few bits of info – but they wouldn’t let me report it as fraud until they had a piece of paper saying who I was. Grrrrrr. Well I guess in the end they are one who will get stuck with the bad debt because they did a crappy job. So now I’m in the process of trying to clear it all up. My goal is to have it all charges removed and the card closed by the end of March. I think that is ambitious. But I feel a bitch streak coming on and I am so wanting to call the credit card company back and escalating this to a manager and then escalating to their manager – and as soon as the PoA arrives I will be doing just that. I worked in credit cards for a while. I know how this works. Let this be a reminder for all to do your annual credit report check: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/
Continuing in other news – resolutions are still going well. Well the running and working out are going well, not doing to great at getting organized and staying organized. But still trying.
I guess that is all to report today.
231 days to go.
In other news – somewhere in Salt Lake City, UT is a person I really want to physically harm. OK – so fisticuffs may not be my thing – but I totally want to yell and scream and tell this douche what I think of him and anybody around him. So a little back story – Friday when I got home from work I got a call from the Post Master General’s office in Salt Lake City asking for my husband. I politely told the person on the other line that he wasn’t available. She went on to tell me that some packages had been intercepted in a mail order scandal with his name on it, they were trying to track down people of the same name and warn them and she advised me to check our accounts and credit report. I was kind like ‘I shred everything. I am careful with all my info. Must be some different people with the same name. But I will check the credit report anyway.’ So after some time entering in personal info and verifying account numbers I got his credit report and found a new address and a new credit card. I used many profane words in a loud tone. The dog left the room – I really home he doesn’t repeat those words in public. So I did the next logical thing, called the credit card company that issued the card, tried to explain the situation – and was met with much resistance. They pretty much couldn’t do anything for me until they had a copy of my PoA. I was ticked. They gave credit to some jerk that had a few bits of info – but they wouldn’t let me report it as fraud until they had a piece of paper saying who I was. Grrrrrr. Well I guess in the end they are one who will get stuck with the bad debt because they did a crappy job. So now I’m in the process of trying to clear it all up. My goal is to have it all charges removed and the card closed by the end of March. I think that is ambitious. But I feel a bitch streak coming on and I am so wanting to call the credit card company back and escalating this to a manager and then escalating to their manager – and as soon as the PoA arrives I will be doing just that. I worked in credit cards for a while. I know how this works. Let this be a reminder for all to do your annual credit report check: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/
Continuing in other news – resolutions are still going well. Well the running and working out are going well, not doing to great at getting organized and staying organized. But still trying.
I guess that is all to report today.
231 days to go.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Day 163
Ahhh. Home again, home again. It’s a new year. So far I’m doing well with my resolutions. 2009 is going to be a good year.
Let me tell you about my Christmas vacation. I spent 2 weeks away from Duluth visiting family. After a quick weekend trip to visit Aaron’s family – I continued home for an extended stay with my parents. Bagley loved being at my parents. He got to go outside and frolic with their dog Blue and when he got too cold he got to come inside and be pampered (ie he got to crawl up on the couch and somebody would grab his blanket and tuck him in so he could take a nap and warm up). My kitties ruled the basement and made it their own. They found ways to get up into the window ledges and tease the dogs while they were outside. Boo took a liking to the fish tank and spent many evenings trying to play with them. She ultimately broke the glass top of the tank after slipping and landing funning after trying to leap into the window. Spook just chilled. She found a comfortable spot on the hot water heater and just hung out.
My parents’ pets (the Blue dog and the Oreo kitty) had differing opinions on their guests. Blue liked Bagley and was curious about the kitties – but when they told her they already had a dog in their life and knew how to handle them she became a little bored with them. Oreo despised all three - And vowed to stay outside until they left. This caused some issues for him because it was cold. And one afternoon after returning from town he crawled up under the hood of the jeep to warm up. He was still there when I went to start the jeep to go visit friends in Mitchell. I heard the sound and I knew it was not gonna be good. I saw Oreo dash out from under the jeep and take off for one of the sheds. He was limping, but he was still much quicker than I. I searched and called for him but he would have none of it that night. It was several days later before I finally caught up to him. No cuts, no severed limbs, but he was still limping and I was pretty sure he had a broken front leg bone – so dad took him to the vet. Sure enough he had a broken bone. They splinted him back together and when I left on Saturday he was once again ruling his roost even if it meant he thumped around the house with his huge purple club leg. He goes back in another week to see how he is recuperating.
I got to see all my siblings and play auntie to all my nephews and niece. The three littlest ones arrived with their respective parents on Christmas day. Three little kids make lots of noise. The oldest was a chatter box. He is currently working on potty training so we got to do the potty dance when he was successful at making it to the potty. We read stories, made pretend food, and hunted and ran from monsters. He entertained his little sister and they both laughed lots and were rather out going. He’s at the age where he remembers more things and wants to meet new people. She’s at the age where she doesn’t care much about anything yet. My other nephew was at the age where the only person he wanted to hold him was his mom. And when mom left the room that was bad and scary and usually required some sort of crying. But I’m sure in another couple of months he’ll will be babbling and liking to play with new people. The little ones left on Saturday and my two oldest nephews arrived with their dad. The oldest was all about hunting – which Bagley and Blue loved. He wasn’t able to get any pheasants that weekend but he did bring back several rabbits for Blue to chew on and then throw up. My other nephew likes to play games so we played several rounds of There is a Moose in the House.
After all my siblings and their kids left it was just me and my parents again. I chauffeured my mom around and we went to the community center and walked on the track, went after Christmas shopping, and window shopped for new furniture for their house. I also spent an evening in Mitchell dining with friends from school. It was great to see the Jeff, Carl, Phil, Hafner, and Jung again. Hopefully I will get to see them again when they come up for a concert in the Twin Cities in February.
I spent New Year’s Eve with my parents. We went to town and had dinner at a local sports bar then home. We watched The Dark Night and my dad went to bed before midnight. My mom and I stayed up and made it to 2009. Dick Clark sure looks old.
Then Saturday I packed up and came back to Duluth. I made pretty good time despite the frizzle. The kitties whined for the first 45 minutes then decided to nap for the next 6.5 hours. Bagley pretty much did the same. We beat the snow storm to Duluth. Saturday evening it started snowing and we ended up getting another 6 inches of snow. Sunday I did my best with the snow blower. Neighbor Steve was nice enough to clean my sidewalks and the alley way – but I did my parking spots. And once again the snow blower backed me into a snow bank while I wasn’t paying attention. But I figure its sill early in the winter – I’ll be showing it who’s boss before April is done.
Well this is certainly long enough. So The End.
Oh wait. Aaron is doing well. He wasn't able to call on Christmas day because the line for the phone was long. I was slightly bummed but I did have lots of family around so it was Ok. We did get to talk during our usually Sunday time slot. He seems to be doing well and I know we are both looking forward to the end of his deployment this year.
237 Days to go.
Let me tell you about my Christmas vacation. I spent 2 weeks away from Duluth visiting family. After a quick weekend trip to visit Aaron’s family – I continued home for an extended stay with my parents. Bagley loved being at my parents. He got to go outside and frolic with their dog Blue and when he got too cold he got to come inside and be pampered (ie he got to crawl up on the couch and somebody would grab his blanket and tuck him in so he could take a nap and warm up). My kitties ruled the basement and made it their own. They found ways to get up into the window ledges and tease the dogs while they were outside. Boo took a liking to the fish tank and spent many evenings trying to play with them. She ultimately broke the glass top of the tank after slipping and landing funning after trying to leap into the window. Spook just chilled. She found a comfortable spot on the hot water heater and just hung out.
My parents’ pets (the Blue dog and the Oreo kitty) had differing opinions on their guests. Blue liked Bagley and was curious about the kitties – but when they told her they already had a dog in their life and knew how to handle them she became a little bored with them. Oreo despised all three - And vowed to stay outside until they left. This caused some issues for him because it was cold. And one afternoon after returning from town he crawled up under the hood of the jeep to warm up. He was still there when I went to start the jeep to go visit friends in Mitchell. I heard the sound and I knew it was not gonna be good. I saw Oreo dash out from under the jeep and take off for one of the sheds. He was limping, but he was still much quicker than I. I searched and called for him but he would have none of it that night. It was several days later before I finally caught up to him. No cuts, no severed limbs, but he was still limping and I was pretty sure he had a broken front leg bone – so dad took him to the vet. Sure enough he had a broken bone. They splinted him back together and when I left on Saturday he was once again ruling his roost even if it meant he thumped around the house with his huge purple club leg. He goes back in another week to see how he is recuperating.
I got to see all my siblings and play auntie to all my nephews and niece. The three littlest ones arrived with their respective parents on Christmas day. Three little kids make lots of noise. The oldest was a chatter box. He is currently working on potty training so we got to do the potty dance when he was successful at making it to the potty. We read stories, made pretend food, and hunted and ran from monsters. He entertained his little sister and they both laughed lots and were rather out going. He’s at the age where he remembers more things and wants to meet new people. She’s at the age where she doesn’t care much about anything yet. My other nephew was at the age where the only person he wanted to hold him was his mom. And when mom left the room that was bad and scary and usually required some sort of crying. But I’m sure in another couple of months he’ll will be babbling and liking to play with new people. The little ones left on Saturday and my two oldest nephews arrived with their dad. The oldest was all about hunting – which Bagley and Blue loved. He wasn’t able to get any pheasants that weekend but he did bring back several rabbits for Blue to chew on and then throw up. My other nephew likes to play games so we played several rounds of There is a Moose in the House.
After all my siblings and their kids left it was just me and my parents again. I chauffeured my mom around and we went to the community center and walked on the track, went after Christmas shopping, and window shopped for new furniture for their house. I also spent an evening in Mitchell dining with friends from school. It was great to see the Jeff, Carl, Phil, Hafner, and Jung again. Hopefully I will get to see them again when they come up for a concert in the Twin Cities in February.
I spent New Year’s Eve with my parents. We went to town and had dinner at a local sports bar then home. We watched The Dark Night and my dad went to bed before midnight. My mom and I stayed up and made it to 2009. Dick Clark sure looks old.
Then Saturday I packed up and came back to Duluth. I made pretty good time despite the frizzle. The kitties whined for the first 45 minutes then decided to nap for the next 6.5 hours. Bagley pretty much did the same. We beat the snow storm to Duluth. Saturday evening it started snowing and we ended up getting another 6 inches of snow. Sunday I did my best with the snow blower. Neighbor Steve was nice enough to clean my sidewalks and the alley way – but I did my parking spots. And once again the snow blower backed me into a snow bank while I wasn’t paying attention. But I figure its sill early in the winter – I’ll be showing it who’s boss before April is done.
Well this is certainly long enough. So The End.
Oh wait. Aaron is doing well. He wasn't able to call on Christmas day because the line for the phone was long. I was slightly bummed but I did have lots of family around so it was Ok. We did get to talk during our usually Sunday time slot. He seems to be doing well and I know we are both looking forward to the end of his deployment this year.
237 Days to go.
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