Cannot wait for Monday!

Cody has his only sit-down final yesterday and now has two more take-home finals this week (hence I have time to blog because he is glued to my computer (I have to use his crummy keyboard so if my typing sucks, blame the keyboard)). One is due Friday and the other due on Monday. Then he has a whole week of no school! While I am 100% supportive of him being in school and I think it is the absolute best thing for him and our family - it can be hard at times. I cannot even imagine how people do it with kids. He works 40 + hours a week and then has over 9 hours of class per week at night. Then there are the homework assignments, projects, group meetings, tests, and of course, finals. Heś such a trooper though - more so then even me at times. Heś handling it fabulously and doing so well in the classes, really learning a lot and enjoying the material, but I don´t handle it so great at times - though I´m working on it. Itś hard not to see him as much and it severely limits our ability to travel or go out of town because he can´t miss school - it´s actually easier to miss work then school. Then it´s hard to see him so run down and working so hard, I feel like there should be something I could do to make it easier on him but I can´t do his work or his school. Then I feel guilty since I have it so ¨easy¨ in comparison, so I try to do as much as I can around the house so he doesn´t have to worry about all that but I still feel bad for him. But then he gets to talking about his classes and how much he´s learning and how great they are and how much this is going to help his/our future and all the sacrifices of time together seem worth it. I still can´t wait for Monday for a week off and then finally graduation (though that is no where near). I´m really proud of him though - heś a real trooper with it all. Looking back it makes just going to school full time seem like cake walk - and we thought that was hard!

Those were the best days of our lives?

Cody and I went to a trivia night on Saturday night with some friends. I don´t know if this was a phenomenon that I missed when I lived in Florida, or if they just don´t do this sort of thing there (probably because there is much more to do in FLA then here - like be outside 12 months of the year). In any event, itś actually a pretty cool set-up - they are usually set up by charities or groups trying to make money so you get a group of friends together (about 8) and all bring whatever food and drink you want (we brought chocolate covered strawberries and beer), pay an entrance fee and play 10 rounds of trivia against all the other tables. There were probably 20 tables there so thereś a good crowd of people. Then they read out the questions and your group writes the answers down and you turn in the answers at the end of each round. So itś a fun little thing to do with friends, usually for a good cause. So, anyway, we had this trivia night on Saturday and on the way home we started talking about math competitions - not sure how we went from trivia to math competitions but we´d had a few beers. Anyway, as most people who know me know, I was a total math geek - but I really wouldn´t call myself a geek because I thought I was a damn cool math club girl - at least in my little teenage head. So we started talking about math clubs which got us talking about middle school (when Cody was on our schoolś math club and I was not - see, he was a geek first). So when we got home we pulled out our old yearbooks - all six of them (we started going to the same school in the 7th grade even though we didn´t meet until the 8th grade). It was really funny to look through them all together after all these years. I think one of the things I love most about Cody (amount a zillion other things) is our history together - itś just fun to look through those things and laugh at the same thing. Anyway, we were talking about high school and how so many people see those years as the best years of their lives. While we didn´t fiercely hate high school (at least not every single day), we didn´t love it either and certainly wouldn´t consider those the ¨best days of our lives.¨ So we got to talking about what time period we would describe as the ¨best days of our lives¨ - our childhoods running around before jobs and responsibility? high school when you learned to drive? turning 18 so you can finally go out to clubs? turning 21 and not worrying about cops all the time? going to college and doing all those fun college things? grad school? So after going through all those things and laughing about stories to go with each of those (we met before we were 18 so we got to go through all those together) we really decided that right now is the best time of our lives. Honestly, not just trying to be trite. We can legally drive and drink (not at the same time), rent cars, get cheap car insurance (we´re over 25 AND married - and neither of us have a red car), we own a house and our own cars (finally paid them off!), we finally have enough money to not check the bank account every time we go grocery shopping and to travel on occasion, we have close family but also have our independence, we´re old enough to know enough about retirement and finally be able to speak intelligently about the options, we not only have good friends but throughly understand the value of good friendships - both his, mine and ours, we are slowly but surely paying off our debts without adding more to the list, we´ve had the opportunity to both grow individually and as a couple living in STL ¨by ourselves¨ and having to figure out a lot of things on our own, wére close with our families but not dependent on them or excessively intertwined, the wedding hell is behind us, we know that we really understand each other well, but also know that we grow a little more each day so there is always something more to learn. Basically, weŕe at a good spot and feel that this really is as good as it ever has been and hoping it just keeps getting better. Oh, and we know all about insurance (which when youŕe younger couldn't care less about) and we actually have earthquake insurance - in case you haven´t heard we had an ¨earthquake¨ a few weeks ago. People swear they felt it here - we didn´t feel a thing.

Sigh.

Ahhh.... A nice sigh of relief. Winter is finally leaving us and I couldn´t be happier. While we still had frost last weekend, the highs are now out of the 40s and solidly into the 50s and 60s - today we even got into the high 70s. I cannot even explain how good this feels - my skin can soak up sun for the first time in ages, I can walk around outside without 15 layers of clothes and my shoulders hunched up to my ears because I´m cold (my shoulders are slowly returning to normal level), I can wear shoes that aren´t boots and I can see the sun and a blue sky (winter in STL is 6 months of gray skies). All of this is very very very happy. I totally have spring fever too. At work I just sit and stare outside at how nice it looks and marvel at all the green coming back into the trees and grasses and how blue the sky is and just wish I were outside. At home I can barely keep myself inside long enough to cook dinner - I want to run, play in the veggie garden or just mess around with my little plants in the front yard. So I am super happy spring has arrived.
One sort of funny/sad/cute/yucky spring story from today though - When I got home from work today I noticed that my hanging potted plants were looking a little dry and needed some water. Since they are hung well over my head I just push up on the bottom of the pot to unhook it and then bring it down. So I did that and saw a mass of gray fuzz in my plant as I brought it down - so I did what any wimpy girl would do, I screamed and dropped it. I swear it looked like there was a rat or something in my pot and I was freaked out. Well, it wasńt a rat - it was a nest of baby (and I mean itty bitty baby) birds - in my pot! There were now five of the little things (no feathers yet, just skin and that gray fuzz stuff) on my front porch. So I freaked out and called Cody and he said to pick them up with a spatula (because if you touch them the mom may not come back for them) and put them back. So I got a spatula out and tried my best to gently scoop them up, deposit them back in their nest and hung the plant back up (stupidly without watering it first). So I really hope the mommy bird comes back or I´m going to have a dry, dying plant and five dead baby birds. And I don´t think I can deal with that.

Damn can they be annoying!

I love kids as much as the next guy, but damn can they be annoying! I work on the 10th floor of a large office building in downtown St. Louis. While we occassionally have to listen to jackhammers busting up the sidewalk for new streetlights or the saxaphone guy playing the same incessant tunes, or the beep of the underground garbage collection, the sounds are relatively tolerable and you get used to a certain amount of background noise. And then for some reason today an Allied moving truck has parked itself right outside my office building and is letting an entire busload of kids honk the horn. Over and over and over again. First, why is there a moving truck on my street? Makes me think first World Trade Center bombing. Second, why is there a busload of school children on my street? The Arch, obviously a popular school children destination, is still several blocks away and has plenty of parking closer then over where I am. There is nothing, unless you count Hooters or stories and stories of boring offices, that could possibly entertain children. No clue why they are even here. I rarely even see people in shorts or jeans in my daily life - suits, suits and then some regular "business casual" - that's about all that is downtown.
Anyway, back to this noise. It is not like a car horn. It is like a barge horn or a train horn. If a car or even large truck honks its horn on the street I can barely hear it and rarely would even notice it. THIS horn, however, sounds like a barge is coming or a train is about to barrel into the building. But it's not just one toot of the horn and the offending annoyance moves out of the way. It is this horribly loud, irritating noise over and over and over again. Why do kids find that amusing? Or funny? Or anything other then insanely annoying? I just don't get it!!

Word fun.

I love words. I like learning new ones, looking up definitions to old ones and learning new definitions and finding the "right" definition for words I've always used. Some I just like because they sound cool or they are not used often, though they should be. And as days all melt together and are overtaken by the mundane, the most I can hope for is to see a new or fun word once a week or at best, every other day. But today, so far, I've had FOUR. They're all just fun. A newspaper article termed something "quixotic," a blog I read discussed "heuristic" traits, a doctor used "pejorative" in a deposition and another medical record used "ubiquity." Four fun words all in one little day. None of them are exceedingly special, but they're something then the mundane stuff you read all day, every day. I'll take all I can get, okay? :)

Bonus Parent Fun!

As mentioned earlier, Cody's parents came to visit this weekend! It was awesome. It is always great to see them and even cooler when they come here because we get them to ourselves and they get us to themselves. They flew in Friday morning so we picked them up from the airport. Amazingly enough their flights were on-time - this is unheard of in STL. This is the first time they flew up here instead of driving so it was good that everything went smoothly. We hung out Friday mostly inside because it was really rainy and yucky and chilly. We went to Fitz's for dinner - it's a rootbeer factory/brewery. They have awesome rootbeer floats - even if you hate rootbeer they're good.
Saturday we hung around and then helped a friend move a washer (the joys of being the only one with gas prices these days with a bigger vehicle) into his new apartment (which looks just like a Hobbit House). Since the washer was in Illinois we had to make a stop by Fast Eddies for some cheap burgers and beers. Then since it was another crummy day weather wise, we just hung out with each other. That's a great thing about Cody's family - you don't have to "entertain" them - they honestly just want to hang out with us - and us with them- so there's no pressure to "entertain."
Sunday was an absolutely amazing day weather-wise. They had never been to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which happens to be a mile from our house and which we happen to be members (i.e. we get in free), so we finally got to take them there. Everyone is always hesitant about going to a "garden" thinking it will be lame and stupid but it really is a really fabulous place and not just a bunch of flowers (though the tulips were unbelieveable - the one good thing about living in the north). We walked all around the garden and had a good time moving around and talking and hanging out. After the gardens we came home, got out the lawn furniture, set up the table and chairs and just sat outside on the sunny afternoon, talked and drank beer. It was about as perfect as a day could be. It was so nice to feel the sun on my winter parched skin, talk with people we love, and have a few beers. It was a really great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Then we went to eat at another restaraunt in the Loop and headed home.
They left this morning unfortunately. I also learned something about myself about leaving. I purposely scheduled a doctor's appointment this morning so I could avoid the airport because I am NOT a good good-bye person and I am an even worse good-bye person at an airport. So I told them good-bye at the house and let Cody take them. I was a bit upset in the car on the way to my appointment but did better then I normally do. So I was thinking that I may be doing "better" in this department. Until I came home to a totally empty house. Cody was at golf and they were gone. It was so sad. So I learned that it's not the actual good-bye part that I'm really bad at but the returning to something empty (when they drive away after having driven here I always break down in the house because it's so quiet after having guests and the same thing in the car after dropping people at the airport - the car seems so empty). So I learned that about me - for better or worse.
But we had a great, albeit short, visit with them. I could literally blog for hours on how much I think of them as people. They raised two amazing kids - confident, self-sufficient, but not bratting or snotty. Their children are kind, compassionate and super smart but not nieve or unrealistic. They went through a lot to get where they are and to get their kids where they are and they did a great job of it. They are awesome parents and even awesomer (is that a word?) Bonus Parents. One of the reasons they are so great to me is because they don't have to be. No one expects in-laws to be fabulous so the fact that they are makes it even that much better (just like my step family - they are so great even though they don't have to be). They are always down to earth and give the best advice ever. In all the years I've known them they have never told Cody or I what to do when we ask for an opinion on a decision - they just give you tools to make the decision for yourself. Sort of the old teach a man to fish story. Anyway, they are great and I love them to death and miss them already. Now we just have to find time to plan a trip down to see them (and the rest of the fam)!

The cat is out of the bag.

So, I guess I can finally post this on my blog though I was going to have to wait another few weeks until I could "officially" notify everyone (even though I've alluded to it on here before). I got a new job! I actually found out back in February (right before I took the Illinois Bar - so in the end, it really didn't matter if I passed or not because I won't need Illinois in my new job) and absolutely cannot wait to start! I don't start until June 3rd because the other person I'm replacing doesn't leave until then.
I'm leaving the land of billable hours, clients, and constant bickering between clients, claimants, attorneys and judges for no billables and interesting work. I'm trading in strict policies and office politics for a fabulous small group of people. I'm trading in the law firm for a court house. Without being too terribly specific (because it is the government) I am going to work for a judge in one of the courts here. It's honestly my absolute dream job. I would give up almost anything (professionally) for this job. I won't be litigating and arguing all day but instead working with the judge on his cases, researching case law and writing papers for the judge. That's really what I love about the law - doing the research and writing. While I thought for a while I would like litigation - it's exciting and something is always going on - after doing it for over three years I'm really ready to move on - and away from litigation. So this job is perfect. I really can't say enough how perfect this is for me professionally and for Cody and I personally. No more crazy stress about clients or billable hours or competition - but now it's a team atmophere where we're all working towards a common, unified goal. I gain a lot in flexibility and leave the rigid office world. There are literally so many good things about this job that it would take forever to mention.
So, how did the cat get out of the bag? Beats me. Sort of. Like I said, I've known about it for a while and kept very very hush hush about the whole thing (for obvious reasons - I need my current job to pay me until I start the new one). Until last week when out of nowhere someone stopped me in the hall at work and said "So, Melissa, I heard you got a new job." I looked like a deer in headlights and my jaw dropped. I had no idea how she heard or what was going around. Turns out that STL is a much smaller world then I even imagined and one of our partners was somewhere and ran into someone at my new job and they talked and our partner learned of my new job. I wasn't going to give two weeks until May so this was obviously much earlier then I planned to tell everyone. So, instead of coming to talk to me and see what was up and what my plans were, this person just started telling everyone in the firm - without talking to me first. So I was more then a little annoyed that someone would start spreading personal information without at least giving me the courtesy of a heads up, but that's life in office politics and that is why I'm thrilled to be leaving. So, while it wasn't when or the way I wanted it to happen, everyone now knows at work so I can start telling everyone else.
I am soooooo...... happy!

I am NOT a serial killer!

As I think I've mentioned before I took the Illinois Bar Exam back in February and found out I passed a few weeks ago. Most people would think that is enough to be admitted into the bar. Well, it's not. In every state, not only do you have to pass their ridiculous exam but you have to jump through 725 hoops for your "character and fitness" application. They want EVERYTHING about you. And you can leave NOTHING out. You have to give every job you ever had, every address you ever lived at, school references, work references, court references, every credit card/bank account/money account you have ever had, any checks that ever bounced, any credit cards that you ever paid one day late (and why), all traffic and parking tickets, etc. You get the point - it's insane. On top of that you have to sign every waiver known to man so they can get everything on you from all the agencies and give a fingerprint card. It's a pain but usually not that big a deal after you've gathered all the information. And since I gathered most of it for Florida (and thankfully saved it all) the other two weren't that bad. Until last week.

For months Illinois has been sending me things like "we need a better adddress for the grocery store (Bruno's) that you worked out in 1996 that is now nonexistent but we still need to talk to the manager" and crap like that. I ever so impatiently send it back (repeatedly) saying Bruno's is closed and I have no clue who my manager was - oh, and yea, it was TWELVE years ago. So last week I get a letter from the Bar people saying my application was turned over to a Committee Member. It sounded ominous and scary but friends said it was standard. So I call said Committee Member and he calls back on Thursday wanting a meeting/hearing on Friday. Mind you, I have painstakingly moved everything off my schedule for Friday because Cody's parents were in town last weekend and I wanted every blasted second I could get with them because we never see them. But, no, Friday it was.

So Friday I march my happy butt (sarcasm is dripping onto my keyboard) to fabulous Columbia, IL (don't know where that is? you don't need to. Ever.) to have my hearing/meeting. I thought it was going to be laid back and have a talk. It was brutal. By the time I left I felt like I was the leader of a Columbia drug cartel that laced some cocaine with poison, fed it to a village of small children, killing them and then I dismembered their tiny bodies. That's how they acted. They really acted like I was some sort of career criminal. Now let me back up. What were they so angry and testy about? Some other stuff too, but mostly traffic tickets. Yes, that's right - traffic tickets! Who here does not have ANY traffic tickets ever? (okay, actually, don't answer that because I happen to know some crazy people who have managed to evade those blue and red lights) Anyway, I'm not saying I've been always perfect or that I was a model citizen at the age of 19. But then who was? (Again don't answer that because I do know some model citizens at age 19.) So I happened to have a speeding "problem" and I happened to get a lot of speeding tickets. And by "a lot" I mean A LOT - as in problably more then the rest of my friends and family - combined. But I wasn't denying any of them - I admit that I was young, reckless and had no respect for the law and sped everywhere I went because I was young and always late. But they wanted to go through every single one of those tickets in my hearing/meeting. So I went throgh them (this took a while), attempting the best I could to remember which each particular incident entailed. I expressed a good bit of remorse and humility, described my reformed ways and essentially begged for forgiveness.

When I left I felt like some kind of hardened criminal and it was unclear whether I would be "certified" or if I had to go to the next step in my quest to prove my character fit for an Illinois attorney. Thankfully I have been notified that I am now "certified" and that Illinois has found me fit to join the ranks of their esteemed lawyers (and as Melanie put it, when she finds one of those esteemed lawyers, she'll let me know). So I, allegedly, will get sworn into the next, and hopefully last, bar on May 8th. And then be done with all this!

Wow.

Lots to post on so in the interest of not making some obnoxiously long post (and risk losing it because my computer crashes half-way through), I'm going to break it up into a few different ones. In any event, there have been some crazy ups and downs this past week but everything has sort of worked out now, so that's nice.

Another 13th birthday - Jessica.

My cousin, Jessie (which is what we called her growing up - though she is now going by ¨Jessica,¨ I still call her Jessie), also had a birthday on the 13th. For her privacy (many women over 25 do not broadcast their age) I won´t say how old she is but she is over 25 and younger then me. Anyway, she was really my only cousin growing up since I only have three cousins, but she was the only one on my momś side, which we saw more. We grew up spending a lot of time together because our grandma watched us a great deal (thanks G-ma!) and had a great time. There are so many stories I can´t even begin to recite them all. I still have trouble with her and my brother (they are the same age) growing up every year because I still see them as 8 year-old kids. :) So, happy birthday Jessie - hope itś a great one!

Happy Birthday Kennedy and Preston!

So, I´ve been meaning to do this for quite some time now and I actually think about it often so now I´m finally going to start it the best I can. What, you ask? A birthday ¨tribute¨ of sorts. All these birthdays pass and I really want to give a nice ¨shout out¨ (to use a super annoying phrase coined somewhere during the 90s that is obnoxious and, well, annoying) to those folks.
So, first in this ¨series¨ is Kennedy and Preston. They turned one yesterday. Codyś awesome cousin, Trish and her fabulous husband, Joe had twins - a girl and a boy last year - unfortunately, quite early. To back up, Trish and Joe are two of the greatest people ever and are an absolutely adorable couple. You can just tell they are wild about each other. I´ve rarely met a guy who is so head over heels for a girl as Joe is about Trish - he adores her and you can see that in everything he does. Anyway, they were pregnant with twins last year during our wedding and, unfortunately, at that point Trish was on bed rest. She was so cute and felt bad for missing the wedding, but made her dad come to the wedding even though she was potentially due any minute. Well, the kids hung on six more days, in enough time for her dad to get back to Wisconsin, until they made their entrance. Unfortunately they were early so were in the hospital for quite some time. When we went up in May for a wedding they were still in the hospital but we got to stop by and see them. While they were super tiny, they were adorable. It was so cool to get to meet them. They are now both home and doing good. And a year later, here they are celebrating their first birthday. So happy birthday Preston and Kennedy - hope you have a great celebration!!!

Sigh

We have floors. You have no idea how happy this makes me. It seems like forever ago that we (meaning ¨I¨) tore out the carpet upstairs in the beginning of this insane quest to rid ourselves of old nasty carpet and update to more wood and new carpet. Well, the long, seemingly endless, journey is finally complete - sort of. Last Tuesday they started the floors - lots of installing new floor in a spare room and sanding the stairs (they were in pretty rough shape - they are, afterall 100 years old). Unfortunately, they were unable to start the painting of the stairs that day because they were not done sanding. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday they put the three coats of polyurethane on the stairs, meaning we couldn´t go upstairs at all until Saturday morning. All in all it wasn´t TOO painful. They usually called on their way here and I ran home from work for a little bit while they painted. They called on Friday while I was in Jefferson City and Cody in a meeting so they had to come back later - so much for giving us a heads up. Anyway, the spare room is gorgeous - absolutely love it. The stairs look better - much much better - but still old - but in a cute, antique sort of way. I still have a good bit of painting of trim and installing quarter round around the new wood to do (wood people charge an arm and a leg to do this so I figured I can do it myself) but I´m getting there. We spent the ENTIRE weekend moving EVERYTHING out of the bedroom (where it was living while they redid the spare room) and all into the spare room -same with the Boy Room - everything out into the dining and living room. We actually slept on the futon in the dining room last night - that was certainly a first. So today they came (insanely late as always) and put in the carpet. Now itś the race to get things as put back together as possible before my bonus parents come on Friday. While they totally would´t care what the house looks like (theyŕe that sort of people), they only see our house a few times a year at best so we really want to show its best side. :) Thankfully Cody was home today (no school on Mondays) and this weekend (no group meetings - thatś a first) to help out - after today itś all me until his folks get here. But I really think I can get a good bit done -hopefully.
Honestly, that is all there is in terms of news. Not too exciting for the rest of the world but has been turning our world upside down and back again. :) I´ĺl be glad when our house is back to somewhat normal mode.

No kidding.

Rain / Snow Showers

This is what weather.com has listed as our forecast for Saturday. Sounds great, huh? I think the Weather Man forgot it's APRIL!

Hanging with the flooring people.

PTO (paid time off - the replacement in corporate america for sick and vacation time) rocks - at least sometimes. While in an ideal world we would only use our PTO time for fabulous vacations to far away exotic lands, given the strength of the dollar, I'd like to meet one person who can afford such vacations to far away lands at this point. So I've got the next best thing going today. Nothing. That's right folks - today I am doing nothing (not really true but in the grand scheme of things it's nothign). While this morning I woke my happy butt up, got dressed, drove all the way to work only to realize I left my garage pass at home, drove back home and got said garage pass, went to work, turned on computer and prepared for morning court, I then got the call from the wood people that they would like to start the installation/refinishing today instead of Thursday. While this is fabulous in many ways (get it done sooner!!) it was certainly not in my "schedule" for the day.
So I finished morning court, went home to let them in and I am now babysitting the wood installation people. While I briefly considered leaving them to their own vices while I saundered back to work, they have twice now opened the basement door (no clue why) where I have the three cats stashed (we have a lock on the kitty door for times like this) and they have run out the front door (luckily it is "mild" outside because the front door has been open all day for ventilation - lots of dust from sanding) and I have had to run down the street finding them because they are scared to death of the noises in the house right now. So no leaving them unsupervised anymore. So I had to take a half day today - and I get paid for it. Thank you PTO time. Something is just fun about not being at work and being paid for it. :)
Well what am I doing with my time? Napping? Watching daytime TV (shoot me if this ever happens)? Painting my nails? Nope - because I am compulsive and absolutely have no clue how to relax and do nothing and get very angry if I am not "productive" in some sort with every day, I am rearranging the basement. Sounds fun, huh? I am going through every single box (we have 5 Atari's - anyone want one?) and throwing away crap/junk. I have a "keepsake" box from middle school, one from high school and one for "beyond." I am combinging them into one. One keepsake box is enough. I am throwing out all sorts of old crap, that while it is cute and has memories, has no physical place in my life - it is bascially taking up room in my overflowing basement. For instance, old playbills. Wow - memories. But what in God's green earth am I going to do with them? Nothing - except keep them in a box which I never go through unless I want to throw some stuff away. So I am keeping mostly pictures, notes (written by and to me), and writings (journals and notebooks of thoughts/drawings - yes, I suck at drawing but I used to do a lot of it) - and the rest is going in the garbage. So if you ever wanted to know a lot of juicy secrets about me and all sorts of embarassing tales, your best bet is to go through my garbage can tonight. :)

Opps. . . almost forgot.

I found out today that I passed the Illinois Bar Exam. I'm honestly not sure what to think about that. Basically I either feel like I bull shit way better then I thought or that the lawyers of Illinois are a lot stupider then I thought. I am shocked they let me pass that exam. I seriously seriously blew that test. And while I'm happy I didn't fail, I'm not particuarly happy I passed. Does that make sense? I'm glad I didn't fail because as much as I say it wouldn't have bothered me, it would have stung somewhere that I failed at something that I wanted to achieve. So I'm glad I don't have to explain to the world why I failed. But on the other hand, I'm also not really happy like I should be that I passed because I don't feel the sort of accomplishment that comes with studying for something, doing your best and achieving an objective. Normally doing something like this feels really good but I don't feel accomplished at all because I know I did so bad and I don't feel I really deserved it. I feel like I totally bombed on the test and only because everyone else must have done so bad that somehow I passed. So, while I passed and thus didn't waste all that money I don't really feel accomplished either. It's like if you interview for a job, know you did horribly and have no business getting the job, but get the job anyway because you were the only person they interviewed that passed the drug test - yeah, you may have gotten the job, but not because you deserved it, only because everyone else was so stupid.
Anyway, hopefully that will be one of the last I ever have to take. The whole process is really getting old and is not enjoyable in the least. But at least I can add another state on my resume. Not that I will be working on my resume any time soon. . . . . hint, hint, hint. :)

Happy 366 Days!

Well, I guess our first anniversay is extra special. While most people only have to wait 365 days for thier first anniversary, we had to make it one extra day thanks to Leap Year. But lo and behold, we made it. We were really sweating that one extra day. :)
Today is our very first wedding anniversary. Aside from being really cool that we have a wedding anniversary now it's very convenient because for years we've had all sorts of random anniversaries - our first anniversary (1996), our getting back together anniversary (2004), me moving to STL anniversary (2004), our engaged anniversary (2005), etc. Now we just have to worry about one. That's just cool. It's sort of a symbol of taking all those years and all those special days and all of a sudden wrapping them up into one big package - our wedding anniversary.
Cody and I are pretty laid back about celebrating things like our anniversary, birthdays, etc. We really make an effort to make every day a celebration, so we don't want to blow those "special" days out of proportion and make the rest of the year somehow less special or important - plus we're just laid back folks. But today we really wanted to take in the first anniversary and how cool and really special it was. So we went out to dinner and had a really good time hanging out with each other (we spent most of the day moving furniture and pulling up carpet tack strips for the floor people to come put in new wood - great bonding time). I was so touched by the people who called, emailed or wrote to wish us a happy 1st - I didn't think anyone would remember except for us! It really made us both feel so blessed to not only have each other but also those around us to share this with. While the wedding planning was not the most fun part of any of our lives, the wedding was priceless and the memories we have with our friends and family are totally irreplaceable.
Since we've had so many "special" days and anniversaries over our years together I didn't really expect to feel that much different about today, but it really is so much more special then I would have expected. We got to chat about our zillion years together and how things have come together for us where we are now and all our thoughts on the past, our present and our future. While what we do with our lives certainly wouldn't work for everyone or every relationship, I really think what we do works so well for us and I'm so happy we've had the time together to develop our lives into a place where we are both happy and comfortable. It's certainly taken a lot of trial and error and a lot of experimenting on what works and what doesn't work for us but we both are really enjoying where we are right now and are just blessed that things have turned out the way they have.
So, happy 1st anniversary Babe. As we've said so many times before, only 99 to go! You really do mean the world to me and there's not anyone else in this entire world that could ever even come close to making me as happy as you do. We really got it right this time and I am so thankful every day I get to spend my life with you. You rock!

Baby Bash!

Saturday Cody and I threw our first baby shower! Actually it was an "anti baby shower" - our friends are way too cool for a "regular" baby shower. Plus we'll find any excuse to have a keg party. So, we gathered the troops, got a keg and food and had a good old fashioned party - with some baby stuff. I actually made two things I had never made before in my life - a turkey and a diaper cake.

First - the turkey. Back at Christmas when turkeys were on sale we bought one thinking there would be some reason at some point to make a turkey. Well this was the perfect occassion. So we got all excited, took the turkey out early enough to dethaw (this took about a half a millinium) and were ready to cook our turkey. Only one problem - Cody left to get the keg and left me with a raw turkey. While I am not a vegetarian, I'm just not a huge fan of meat. Most of what we eat is already cut up beef (though we rarely eat beef - mostly because I don't know how to buy or cook it) or chicken breasts. I don't really buy anything that needs any more man-handling then that. I thought I would be okay with the turkey - just take it out of the bag, put it in the pan and pop it in the oven, right? I was wrong. That was the grossest thing I had ever seen or touched. For some reason I'm okay with a cooked turkey but I got really freaked out by the dead/raw turkey. It was disgusting. I seriously thought I would throw up after looking at the raw bird and the cavern that is its insides - so super gross. But I managed to close my eyes, put the bird in the pan, put the pan in the oven and close the door - the rest was up to Cody. In the end it tasted very good and we made cute little turkey sandwiches, but I will never look at turkey the same again. I'm going to stick with a ham at holidays.

Second, my diaper cake. You always see those cakes made out of diapers and they always look so cute. So I thought I would try my crafty hand at making one for our friends because they are just that cool and worth it. I thought it would be a quick and simple process -I was wrong. But in the end, and with a lot of help from Google, I made a darn cool looking three layer cake out of diapers and burp clothes (or wash clothes - I can't remember and can't tell the difference). I was quite proud of myself.

So, all in all the party was awesome. The keg was floating by the end of the night - always a good sign -and the happy parents to be had a lot of cool loot. We're very happy for them both and can't wait to meet the little girl. :)

Been a while.

How can there be "so much going on" at the same time there is "nothing going on"? I have been basically going crazy these last few weeks with flooring people. To add to our already indecisive natures and our insane mission to get the absolute most out of our money, the flooring industry in St. Louis is crap. My current wrath is at both some local flooring companies (that either quoted us outrageous prices to refinish old floors or put in new ones or that just didn't show up several times) or a national chain, that rhymes with Dome Mepot, that just can't seem to figure out what a floor is. I have gone around and around trying to get some prices - a seemingly easy process that has lasted weeks. So today, weeks after ripping all my carpet out of upstairs, living with (very sharp) carpet tacks on the stairs and the rooms, living downstairs with the upstairs completely torn up and moved around, I finally have a floor contractor. We went with a local company that I absolutely LOVE. The lady calls me back, is super nice and understanding and has been so kind in working with me and my seemingly endless concerns and questions (this is a big deal for us and thus I have put a LOT of thought and energy into it) - plus I wanted to support local business since I am about ready to burn down our local Home Depot out of frustration. So we should have new wood next week. Still have to figure the carpet out. Home Depot acts like I'm the first person in the history of the store to want carpet. Go figure.

In other news/thoughts:

In case you haven't seen this yet, you should watch this. While I'm not usually one to awe over anything on Oprah or get all giddy about things floating around on the internet, this is pretty good. If you watch the abridged Oprah version (that's what the link is to), you can link to the original, much longer, version that is just as good. Pretty moving stuff. It's all about achieving your childhood dreams and all that stuff. This guy had dreams, went after them and did a good job getting them. Cody and I discussed this and are still debating what our childhood dreams even are or were. I guess we can't ever reach our goals or dreams without figuring out what they are - gotta work on that.

I've stopped drinking on the weekdays - at least for a while. I know, I'm lame and old and no fun. But I think it's a good thing because booze has a lot of calories (and I'm trying to drop my "Midwest Middle") and I was drinking not a ton but often so we've taken up hot tea instead. How old and lame, huh? Instead of coming home and relaxing with a beer, we now come home and relax with a cup of hot herbal tea. :) But no worries, we're still fun enough to drink on the weekends. :)

I'm sort of running again. Had a numbing shot in my knee (oww!) a few weeks ago and was able to run great - meaning something is wrong (duh). But I've been taking it pretty easy and building up and I did 40 minutes today with only very little pain so I'm very encouraged. My goal is the STL half marathon in September and the Chicago marathon in October. We'll have to see. :)

Other then that, I do have some really cool news that I think I will be able to officially post about soon. It's over the moon great. :)