My Family

Wow this sure is a loaded topic. :) My family has changed and grown a lot over the past year. First, Cody and I were (finally) married. My family effectively doubled, though since I already have divorced parents, I already had 3 families (mom, dad, step-mom families) and Cody only had two, so I guess my family only grew by 2/3, instead of a whole 100%. Anyway, I couldn't be happier with my in-laws. There is serioulsy not one of them I don't like - they are fabulous! They treat me just like I have always been family and are just fabulous. Our family continues to grow on his side - Cody's cousin just had twins and two more cousins are due with babies in the next few months!
In May the family grew again. David and Kim had another baby girl! They are two of the greatest parents I've ever seen. The now have three gorgeous girls (and I'm not just biased because they're my nieces - they are seriously gorgeous - super model gorgeous) and they love them more then you can imagine. Their patience is mind-boggling.
Then sometime in either June or July my mom got married. I'm not sure of the exact date because a) I wasn't told of the event until some time later, b) I wasn't invited and c) I haven't bothered to ask because I suppose if I'm not invited to a wedding I don't have to send a gift or anniversary card. To be fair, they didn't tell any of the family - not just me. I doubt I'll ever understand that but then again, it's not mine to understand. That was their choice and I've just got to deal. Anyway, I now have another step-family. I can't really comment on them because I haven't met them. I know I have two step-sisters but I don't really know much about them. I have met my step-father twice, but that's it there. So I guess my family grew again!
But then this weekend we had even more excitement! Our family grew again - but no babies or marriages. We actually found out we had another member we just didn't know about. You see, my grandma's sister, had a kid when she was younger (and unmarried). These days that's really no big deal at all. I bet we can all name at least five people who have gotten pregnant/had babies without being married or even keeping in touch the guy, but not back then. Back then it was not really heard of. Apparently the guy was in the military and as my grandma put it, when a guy got a girl "in trouble" (her words) his choices were to marry her or be transferred out of that base. Guess this dude didn't want either so he hurried up and married his long-term fiancee (real cool fella, huh?) and she gave the baby up - and then returned home as if nothing had happened. Again, these days that is pretty unheard of but back then it was just the way they did things - heck, they didn't even have internet! :) Anyway, no one in my family knew (except my great-grandma) and life went on. Well, at some point my grandma figured it out but never told anyone. Until this weekend.
On Saturday a lady and her friend showed up on my grandma's doorstep wanting to "investigate geneoglogy." Sucks for those two because my mom and grandma are geneology nuts - seriously. So they talked these ladies heads off about geneology when it finally came up that . . . (drum roll please) . . . the lady was my grandma's niece!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!! So they all yelled "Oh my God!" a lot and hugged and I'm sure some crying went on. Then they called my grandma's other niece (my "aunt" - in the south everyone older then you in an "aunt" or "uncle" and everyone your age is a "cousin" - so even though she's technically some kid of cousin, she's still my "aunt"), who found out she had a new half-sister that she never knew about - so of course she drove over and more hugging ensued. They then called my aunt's two brothers and let them on the "oh, by the way, I'm talking to your sister - nope, not that one - the one you never knew about - OH MY GOD! AHHH!" Then of course the entire family was called in turn and we all yelled "Ahhh.... OH my GOD!!" and thought how cool it is.
So, yup I have even more family then I ever knew!! How fun!!! The only sad thing is that she lives near Tampa (about four hours away) so they can't all hang out more and get to know each other. I think we might try to do a big family Thanksgiving so we can all hang out and meet our newest additions! Anyway, I think this is totally cool and find it so neat to find family we have never met! WELCOME NEW AUNT RITA!!!

Catch Up (not Ketchup).

First, I swear I was something like 25 before I learned the proper spelling of "ketchup" - it's actually a pretty tough one. Now "convenience" - that is one that I still cannot spell without spell check - and even then it still takes me 5 minutes just to get close enough for spell check to figure out what I'm talking about. One day when we have kids, bless their little brains because they will be the worst spellers ever - between Cody and I we can barely spell our names most days. :) But damn will they ROCK at math!

In other, no as random news, here's our life lately. Friday I had a orthopedic appointment for my knee - still hurts - now he's confused as to what is wrong so I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (of course the week of waiting was torture) to see if we can figure it out and fix it once and for all. I keep telling him I just want some kind of new age Bionic Knee replacement but no such luck because it doesn't exist yet. :(
So after getting into work late (since we only have one car, Cody came to my appointment and then I took him to work) we left early (what a great Friday) and went to The Zoo! As most of you know, I LOVE the Zoo! In the summer (in the north that is strictly defined as Memorial Day to Labor Day no matter what the astronomers/weather people say about Solstices and Equinoxes) the zoo is open until 7pm instead of 5pm, which is wonderful because then I can ride my bike or run (back when I could run) up there whenever I want and watch/stalk the baby elephants (by far my favorite right now). So Cody gave in and we went to the Zoo - it was actually pretty fun and we got to see the last Friday Night Concert Series at the Zoo so that was cool. The animals were all very cool as usual. Then we went out to eat (a rare treat lately) at a cheap/wonderful Greek place to relax. Then we sat up most of the night (until well past midnight) working on my Illinois Bar Application - what a jammin' fun time that was.

Saturday we woke up too darn early to get my Application notarized and get it mailed off in time. Then we just barely made kickoff for the Florida game at Ozzie's (we watch the game at Ozzie's because 1) we dont' have cable, 2) these early games are only on satelite, and 3) we get to hang out with our rockin' Gator friends). The game was great and we had a good time. Plus Notre Dame lost and Michigan lost to freakin' Appalacian State (they are a IIA team)! So a fun first week of football. The rest of Saturday we slept -no kidding - we slept a good 8 hours when we got home, woke up and ate and then slept some more.

Sunday Cody met with his school group to write a paper, I babysat for a friend's almost-two-year-old (adorable and TONS of fun!!) and we went to a friend's party - good times.

Monday was more group work for Cody for school and I went into work. So much for Labor Day and a three day weekend, huh? But I got a lot done on my brief, which I finally finished last night. Usually briefs aren't that big of a deal - they take a long time to write but they're fairly straightforward. This one needed to be 25 pages and mine was 36 so the hardest part was just getting it down. Finally managed to do that last night.

Well, Cody needs the computer so he can do more school work so that's it for today.

p.s. David - thanks for the google links (docs and calendar) - they are AWESOME!!!

Forget it.

I have a list of posts here to write. But seeing that I just got done with work (finally finished my brief!!) and it took me over 30 minutes to get on internet and pull up this page, I'm done for the night. Maybe tomorrow I'll have better luck.

Not this again. . . .AGAIN.

Well, I guess I spoke too soon. The car is broken again! Anyone want to buy a car in fair condition, inside smells like feet and apples (I always keep about 6 pairs of shoes and apples in my car), outside has some minor scratching from driving through a fallen tree limb, tires are scraped all to hell because the driver doesn't know how to stay off curbs, is loud as hell on the interstate, seats give you a headache after about a two hour drive, oh and yeah it randomly doesn't start? :)

It started (miraculously) on the way to work this morning but then when I went to go home, no love from the car gods. It just turns over and over and over but never starts. STUPID CAR! Stupid car people - this is the EXACT same problem that has happened every single other time but the last time we took it in they couldn't get it NOT to start - it kept starting for them! So we brought it home last week, it ran for exactly 7 days and is now dead again. Oh yeah, because it died at work, it's stuck in the downtown garage - the same garage it was broken into last time there was a three day weekend!!! AGGG!!!!

So, five things I'm thankful for today:
1. Wine - calms the nerves after you realize for the hundreth time you hate your car.
2. Internet - so it can suck your time so you don't dwell on said car - today's time suckage was Facebook. Yes, I know.
3. Cats -they're warm and fuzzy when you're in a bad mood.
4. Did I mention wine? Oh yeah, I did. Then #4 is MBA school. While Cody was at school tonight and thus could not assist with said car problem, at least he can hopefully get a job after school paying like $2 million and I can buy a car that works.
5. FRIDAYS!!! Thank God For Friday!!! Tomorrow (actually today since it's after midnight), I go to my orthopedist (please let him give me a bionic knee that will never hurt or let me down again) and then work a bit and then GO HOME for THREE DAYS! Plus it's the end of the month so for those of us that bill hours that means that after tomorrow is over I'm done with August and the week!! Yippee..

May your cars all run well . . . or at least run.

Not this AGAIN!

Nope, not my car breaking down (though I expect that any day too). Another Bar Application and Bar Exam! I've decided that since I'm going to be in Corn Country (aka "Missoura" as the "out-state" (non-St. Louis or Kansas City) people call it) another three years (thanks to Washington University's MBA program that is now eating up ALL of my husband's minuscule free time) I should go ahead and take the Illinois Bar. Since we're a "border city" it's really helpful to have both bar licenses and since my current firm does work in both markets it could really help me.

For those non-lawyers, applying for admission to a bar is just about as bad as the Bar Exam itself - either way I would rather poke my eyes out with a spoon. Everyone knows about the Bar Exam - hours and hours of testing, writing essays and bubbling in answers - usually it's a two day exam and they test you on anything from about 16 topics that you have no idea which they'll pick. That's nothing compared to the "Character and Fitness" Application!

The Bar Exams aren't actually that bad. I studied for Florida's and then since I was burned out on studying, I just answered Florida law on Missouri's and that was good enough. So the Exam itself is a worry far away.

The Bar Application is the current pain. The Florida Bar Application seriously took me years to finally finish. They wanted (and then Missouri wanted the same stuff all over again):
1) every job you ever had (complete with address, dates of employment, phone numbers, supervisors, how to get in touch with the supervisors, and a witness to attest that you worked there),
2) every address you ever lived at,
3) every credit card/bank account and debt you ever had (EVER!) and all those account numbers, balances, addresses, current balances, highest balance and current status,
4) if you ever bounced a check (which I had when I applied for the Florida Bar since that was before everyone used debit cards and electronic banking) they wanted 3 years of bank statements - every month for three years (they were $10 a month at my bank for past statements),
5) basically every tiny detail about everything you have EVER done (it would make anyone feel like a scum bag criminal), but worst for me was:
6) every ticket/infraction you ever got.

So as most of you know, when I applied for the Florida Bar it was quite an adventure - I've had my share (as well as a small country's share) of speeding/traffic tickets in my time. So I had to go through this thing with the Bar about my "blatant disregard for the law" and had to tell them that I would never speed again, blah, blah, blah (when I applied for Missouri it wasn't so bad - they just said "don't be a moron" and that was it). I was thrilled to get past that hurdle.

And then no-kidding right after they cleared me and all was okay and I just told them I would stay out of trouble forever, I was arrested for Possession of an Open Container of Alcohol and Assulting an Officer. Funny stuff, huh? Anyway, since I'm not a career criminal, they let me do deferred prosecution, pay my fine, do my community service, wait out my probation and then it all magically went away and was hopefully shredded somewhere. So when I apply for jobs and stuff I don't have to list it - but not the Bar! They must know EVERYTHING! There is no excuse in the world not to tell the bar something - no expungement, no charges dropped, no case sealed, nothing- you have to tell them everything.

So now, years later this retarded cop is still haunting me. I have to go dig up copies of everything (even though the state doesn't even have them anymore because it was all dropped) and give them the gory details. Basically I didn't know it was illegal to walk on the street in G'ville with an open beer (who would have known?). So I left a bar with friends, with an open beer (I was over 21) and someone grabbed my beer from behind me - I thought it was my friend so I back-handed the person who grabbed my beer - except it wasn't my friend it was the cop. Apparently cop was in a bad mood and felt like making an example out of Law School Girl so he got me on assulting him and the open container. I wish I could say I beat the crap out of him or something - if I'd have known how much trouble this would cause for the rest of my life I think I would have landed some good ones on him (just kidding - I don't beat cops- my brother-in-law is a cop and he is very wonderful and nice and gives cops a good name -it's the one's that give me tickets I don't like). :) Anyway, so now I've been working on my Character and Fitness Application for 6 hours now and I'm not even half-way through - EVERY job I've ever had - including volunteer stuff - EVERY address - EVERY credit card/bank account/etc - EVERY ticket (this one will take a considerable amount of time). All of this so they can allow me to practice in Illinois! Just thought I'd share some of my frustration.

The moral of today's story - don't be a lawyer if you've ever had more then one job, more then one address, more then one credit card, ever made a late payment on anything, or ever had a cop talk to you. :)

Thoughts and prayers.

Thoughts and prayers to my friend Melissa whose husband is having surgery today. We wish them the best and hope he is better soon!

Amazing.

Some things in this world are simply amazing. Cell phones for instance. I love them (yes, I see how they can be annoying but I could not live without my phone - not to mention we don't even have a home phone). 20 years ago I don't know how anyone ever planned anything with over 2 people - or ever got together for last minute things. Say I'm out shopping, doing errands, etc. and someone just got free tickets to a Cardinals game - without cell phones I would have wasted my day at the grocery store but with cell phones I can get my apples, run home and change and be at the game in 20 minutes.
The internet is another. How did people EVER plan vacations? I wouldn't even know how to get a hotel without the internet. Or how to get from here to say, Memphis? I would have to get a map somewhere and figure it out - and if you're traveling over a few states you'd better get a whole US map and spend some time figuring out your route - now you don't have to - shortest route? fastest route? Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Mapquest - they have you covered! Then there's the what to do when you get to Memphis? How did you find that out - the library? Order a Memphis visitors guide (and then how do you get the phone number to the Memphis Visitors Center? The phone book in Memphis? 411?)? Ask around? What about that cool little restrant that just opened on the corner - no chance in hell you'd ever hear about that without the internet.
So today Cody sent me an article on a new invention - Dry Erase Paint!! First, let me say we are obsessed with Dry Erase things - we have a dry erase board in nearly every room in our house - one has our finances on it (so we can keep close track of all that debt we're paying off by the time we're 84), one has our "house to do" list, another has our "summer to do" or "fun things to do" lists and another has our grocery, wal-mart, home depot, etc. shopping lists. I love them - they keep us sane. Anyway, now you can paint any surface (practically) you want and make it dry erase! Wood - walls - dry wall - anything! If you had kids it would be AWESOME! You do dry erase on the bottom of the walls (4 feet and down) then put a chair rail and paint the top half a kid room color - then only let dry erase markers in the room (no Sharpies - no house with kids should have Sharpies anyway) and let them go to town! How fun! So I'm sitting here debating all the things I could do with Dry Erase
paint!! :)

Other inventions I'm thankful for:
1. Running water. I currently have 7.5 litters of water bottles in my office - without running (clean) water that would be a lot of money per day spent on something like water (now I can spend my $7 a day on other random useless crap).
2. MP3 players. I have two (both cheap - nothing fancy). My old one (the speaker plug thing has to be twisted to work right so I can't run with it) is at work and I run with the other one. Forget dragging hundreds of CDs with you everywhere - and then stepping on them, sitting on them, scratching them, etc. - for someone like me who isn't great about taking care of toys, CDs were never good - plus portable CD players never got really good enough to run with (and they were heavy). So, lovin' the MP3 thing (hate the fact I can't get free songs
everywhere anymore - should have bootlegged more when I had the chance).
3. Rechargable Batteries. Save those landfills of all that battery goop. Plus they're cheaper in the long run.
4. Staple Removers. Even the manual ones - they save your nails - or your teeth.
5. Pilot Pens. They're expensive as hell but I love them. Now I hate using felt tip or ball point. Though Cody's sister left me with some pens when we were home for the wedding (either that or I might have accidentally stolen them) and I love them - great fun colors and they write really well - they're Pentel gel pens - and they're metallic (aka fun).

Inventions I like to see:
1. Comfortable work/dress shoes. Something as comfy as running shoes that I can wear to work.
2. Cars that work. Well, I guess they do exist but I just don't have one.
3. A Wal-Mart that doesn't suck. I swear Wal-Mart used to be decent and okay - not anymore - that places sucks as much as anything in the world. Their customer service sucks. Their products suck. Their stores suck. But I'm trapped because where else can I get deoderant, paper towels, milk, oatmeal, batteries, cat litter (Target doesn't carry my brand), photo processing and my tires fixed? Not that Wal-Mart does any of those things well - but they are all there.
4. Bionic knees that work. My knee is still bum - still hurts and can now barely walk on it (going downhill faster and faster). Wish I could get a bionic knee so I could run again and never worry about hurting it.
5. Cell phones that don't hurt your neck. I think this is mostly a girl/multi-tasking thing. Every time Cody talks on the phone he holds it with his hand - but when he talks on the phone he can't do other things at the same time. Every time I am on the phone I am doing something else - hense it is often between my ear and my shoulder - huring my neck like hell. Yes, I know they have the ear piece things but I can never hear with them and I break/lose them easily.

Later!

p.s. Wow yesterday's blog made no sense, was completely random, and just odd.

Insane.

We're normally pretty busy people. Very busy most of the time. But this past week has been insane even for us.
I guess the last time I blogged was last Wednesday (which seems like yesterday but also a year ago). Here's the scoop since then:
Wednesday - we had a Gator Club Officer Meeting which was fun but took the evening - always good to hang out with other Florida folk. :)
Thursday- Cody and I both worked late - him until midnight and me until about 8pm. Came home - ate- went to sleep.
Friday - Cody worked late - I had a work happy hour and then went out.
Saturday - SEC Alumni Club Softball Tournament - we lost to Arkansas. We were also dog-sitting - FYI dogs are a lot of work - I hope kids aren't that hard.
Sunday - errands, errands, errands - finally get to work on the house - pickle some green beans (long story)
Monday -Work late - 9ish
Tuesday - Drive to Poplar Bluff - get car back - they couldn't figure out what was wrong since it works now - have to wait until it breaks again to take it back again
Wednesday - Jammin' at the Zoo - wine tasting with friends and pals - a great time -and I didn't get sick this time :)
Thursday - work until 9 pm
Friday - saw my ear doctor - debated surgery - Cody had MBA orientation - I worked and then went to an art exhibit thing with a friend - then hung out
Saturday - Cody MBA orientation - me work
Sunday - ditto on SAturday - and then we went on a walk at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge - more on this later but I still can't run and really needed to get outside and move so we went on a "hike" - quite cool - also took my car to get the tire changed because it had a bulge - huge fiasco - morons

So we've had no sleep for over a week, haven't gotten to hardly see each other and have had no time to breathe. This week we vow to get better. :)

I'm telling you, it's the big "news" here . . .

STLToday reports: "The National Weather Service says today's high at Lambert Field should hit 107 degrees -- a record, for the second straight day." Now that's hot by any standards.

Why we are busy/get no sleep.

I left work around 8pm last night. Went home, cooked dinner (a healthy delicious meal of lime-honey glazed salmon on a corn, black bean and spinach salad), did a small work out, took a shower, read a little of one of the 20 books I want to read, went to bed and arrived at work by 7 am this morning. That's only 11 hours spent away from work! Now I see why we have no time! To be fair, I worked until 8pm because I had a brief to do, I work better at night when no one is around to distract me and I didn't want to take Metro home so I waited for Cody to pick me up after class.
Need sleep . . . .

Kids.

Yeah, so now we're married so we get the "kids" question a lot. Too bad we really don't have an answer yet. Hell, we don't even know what we're going to eat for dinner most nights (or most other things). But I've been thinking about a few things lately so as I work through them, I'll be posting them. I'm a "knowledge is power" person so whenever I debate anything I read about it, talk about it, think about it and generally get as much information as I can about it. So the kids thing scared the death out of me. The first step for me to getting over that is to get information on it. So that's the current quest - get myself less scared. So today, the two things that scare me about deciding when to have kids:
1. Having them too old. I don't want to be the "old parents." The ones the other parents can't relate to. The ones that don't have the energy to keep up with their kids. I don't want my kids to feel like "Wow! My parents were born in the 70s!!" when all their friends have parents born in the 80s, or worse yet, the 90s. I want to be able to talk to them and have them not look at me like I'm from a completely different planet. I want to be able to relate somewhat. I just don't want to be "too old."
2. Having them too young. Yes, in a way I still think we could have kids "too young" even though our days of being able to say that are running shorter and shorter. I don't want to look at my kids and think of all the things we didn't do because we have them, or think of all we're missing out. Yeah, you'll miss out on things no matter what age you have them at, but I want to be old enough to feel comfortable with that sacrifice. I think about where we would be if we had kids three years ago and all the cool stuff we would have missed out on. And it makes me sad we would have missed all that. And I don't want to rush into anything and then be sad that we're missing things.
Yeah, Catch 22 at its best.

Rockin' in the Lou

Not sure where "The Lou" came from, probably Nelly (ya' know, he lives here?), but I think it's funny.

Anyway, wow, I need to update. So here goes.
Last week was crazy insane busy, hence the lack of posts. Wednesday I was in Columbia for work and Cody had to work late. Thursday I had a deposition in Bloomfield (aka Corn Country) almost 3 hours away - at 5 p.m. - so when I left at 7 p.m. that put me home around 10 p.m. from work. Since I was going to work late, Cody went back into work after class to make up hours.
Friday was awesome. While a lot of bands come through St. Louis we just don't have the time/money to see them all so we mostly stick with local (aka free) stuff with outdoor venues (just because they are fun and cool). But Friday one of my old faves, Less then Jake, was in town. Yes, it's ska, and I know a lot of people have very pointed feelings on that, but I totally love the fast music that's fun and easy to dance to (you look good looking like an idiot). Anyway, we went out to dinner with a bunch of friends, then headed to the concert. The opening band was great. Less then Jake was great (of course I would always have liked to hear more of the older stuff). But Reel Big Fish (who apparently was headlining, unknown to me) sucked. They may be better in real life (I can't really attest to that since I don't really listen to them) but they suck in concert. But it was a good workout just to dance around and laugh at their lack of any real talent onstage.
Over the weekend we were totally boring and cleaned the house. Not just picking up food dishes but really cleaning. We vacuumed (didn't know we knew how to do that, huh?), scrubbed, picked up, went through crap, organized and really did a good cleaning of the house. We felt really good about it - much more so then weekend after weekend of no sleep and adding to the progressive mess that had become our abode. So we now have a comfortable and clean house. Yipee!
In other news, I'm still not running over 11 min. I think I want my doctor to cut my leg off because I hate it. Why won't it just get better!?!?!?! This is very frustrating to me for several reasons. Running adds a lot to my life - it is my workout so I can be healthy and not feel out of shape, it helps me maintain a somewhat reasonable weight, it's my stress relief/coping mechanism, it gives me energy (yes, don't wait until you have energy to work out, work out to get energy), and just makes me feel good. Without it I'm a cranky bitch. So I would really like them to fix my knee.
My car is also broken - again. It won't start. We're 99% sure it's the same thing they fixed in December and again last month (for free because it was waranteed). Stupid Stupid Stupid car! Each time is $150 tow truck bill and 2 weeks without my car (and that's not counting the time it takes us to find the time to get it to the shop). Oh well, love the Metro Link (our "train" or "subway").
Enjoy!

Hey Kitties, it's FOOTBALL SEASON!

Okay, so everyone knows that we're crazy. About a lot of things, but two things in particular (at least right now): the cats and football. So we've combined the two. Since we are gearing up for another great year of college football (I personally hate the NFL, though Cody tolerates it), anxiously awaiting opening game day (September 1st), we're bringing the kitties into the fun. As of now and until the end of football season they will have yet more new names. The kitty born Jasmine, known in St. Louis as Wiggles, will now be called Percy Harvin (the "touchdown marvin" as we call him), the great Gator wide receiver. Nala, now known as Mr. Pickles, will be known as Tim Tebow, the new Gator quarterback. And Tubby, Poofy, etc., now known as Bumpis, will be known as Estopinan, the defensive lineman (he's 278 lbs. - near Bumpis weight).
Go Kitties/Gators!

Yes. Yes, it is all we talk about.

Right now the only thing anyone is talking about around here is the heat. Hot this and hot that. On Sunday the temperature thing in Cody's car said 104. In the south they have the weather during the news. Here the weather is the news. Headlines are all about the "deadly" heat (yes, people die from the heat up here because they don't have air conditioning). The television stations and the newspapers have interviewed pratically every person who works outside, goes outside or looks outside during the day/heat. Frankly I'm surprised I haven't been interviewed since I do walk across the street to buy lunch almost daily - that has to be at least 30-45 seconds in the "deadly heat." :) Forecast for tomorrow?

WedAug 15
103°/78°

Cody's Five Things.

Tonight we have a guest "Five Things to be Thankful For." Cody graciously agreed (read: forced by nagging lest the nagging continue until he listed all five) to list his five things he was thankful for today.

1. Cody is thankful "Boeing pays for school." He didn't go into detail on this one - but I'm assuming he means both the courses he's taking now (including this evening) for some computer programming certification (that I would list the name of but I have no idea what it means) and those he begins on August 24th at Washington University for his MBA. On a side note, I just cannot get over how proud I am of him that he's taken the initiative (read: forced by the never-ending nagging wife) to go back to school and do something to not only help his life, but our "family."
2. Cody is thankful "You [Missy] made lunch for me today." Yup - I was all wifey and stuff last night and while I was making my salad for dinner (yup - on a major diet after eating Pop Tarts - the evil of all evil processed, overly sugared foods - this weekend on the float trip - plus all the other crap I've been eating lately while I haven't been working out - funny thing the more I work out the better I eat, the less I work out the worse I eat - go figure) I went ahead and made both of us lunches. He got some kind of sandwich on a tomato-something flatbread with turkey and chicken deli meat, cheese, tomato, cucumber (from the garden), green pepper (from the garden), mushrooms and banana peppers (from the garden). We're trying to eat as much from the garden as possible obviously.
3. Cody is thankful the "cats don't bother the rug by the door now." We have three floor mats in our kitchen. The black one goes by the back door (the door Cody enters and leaves from). For some reason the cats were obsessed with it and would lay on it and kick it until they scrunched it up or flipped it over or otherwise made it not flat - and thus difficult to open and close the back door. Cody hated this. So we moved the black mat in front of the stove and the red mat in front of the door - they leave the red mat alone - thus Cody can now enter and exit our home without having to shove the mat - or the cats.
4. Cody is thankful "this week is pay week." That's pretty self explanatory.
5. Cody is thankful "we're not bored." He says this as we swore we were going to get to bed "early" but it's after 10pm and he's working on the Gator webpage, I just got done working out and eating a nectarine and we both have a ton of other things to get done as well. So, while we are swamped with events and chores and work and obligations, at least we're not bored ("Bored" is a four-letter word around here - the moment we say we're bored we know something isn't right.).

sweating bullets

Thursday's revised forecast, per weather.com:

ThuAug 9
Partly Cloudy
102°/77°

Wow. Can't wait. While I love the heat and would take it over snow any day, I thought I was escaping this weather when I moved out of Florida. Bring on the Slip 'N Slides!

Five things.

My five things for today/this weekend to be thankful for:
1. Water - while Missouri does not have a beach (not folks, Lake of the Ozarks, does NOT count) and it doesn't have the beautiful springs, lakes and rivers of Florida, it does have some water, albiet not terribly close by. But there is water if you know where to look and the state lets you take as much beer on it as you want while you float/canoe. Fun times.
2. Summer - Every day until Labor Day I'll be thankful for summer. Because while some complain about the heat (100 degrees is a little warm) it's so much better then -10 degrees. I cool down after being in the heat in about 10 seconds after getting inside a car, house, building, etc. - it takes me 3 months to warm up after being in the cold.
3. Clients - while some are a huge pain, we went to lunch with one today that was a lot of fun and really nice. I like nice clients.
4. My legs. Or more specifically, my knees. While they aren't letting me run even 2 miles yet, I did get up to 12 minutes today. While on one hand I cringe to think I can only run 12 pain free minutes, it's better then 7 minutes and hopefully with a little determination and luck I'll be up to 2 hours again in no time.
5. My fish - we now have five more babies - bringing the baby total to 11 right now. They are breeding machines! I love just watching them swim around and socialize and they way they eat when I feed them. Way better then having a tv in the living room. :)

Busy Summer Time!

Wow - summer has hit full stride with us and all its busy-ness. Friday we went out to dinner with the two of us (not a common occurance given our schedules) and ate my favorite at the moment - Greek - they have this amazing spinach and feta thing in philo dough - if you're not big into spinach you'd hate it but I really love the stuff. Then Cody's cousin, Nicki was in town visiting with her boyfriend and kids so we went over to Illinois to the horse track and hung out with them. We bet a few different times and ended up winning a bit 30 cents - though I'm sure we spent more then that on beer so the "house" still came out ahead. It was great to see her and hang out since we don't get to see family often.

Saturday we were up bright and early for a float/camping trip. Lots of fun as always. Grab some people together - a few coolers of beer (and a little food) - some tents and off you go. We "floated" (that's what they call canoe/kayak/rafting here) down the Meramec River - not the most pristine river in the world but nice and cool on a very hot day. Then a night of camping and back home on Sunday for chores, errands, Chineese with some friends and laundry. Fun fun.

This week is jammed back as always - Cody had golf today (Monday is his golf and my long workout/goof off day) then tomorrow and Thursday he has class (a computer certification - MBA starts later this month) - Wednesday we have Music in the Gardens (the last one this year) and a friend's going away party (tough to chose which one to go to) and then Friday we've got a concert - an old Florida fave, Less then Jake - they're ska so if you hate ska you will hate them -I think they are quite fun and saw them many times in Florida and am looking forward to seeing them here. Don't get to see enough bands these days - lots of music (mostly local stuff) but not a ton of big name stuff - not that Less then Jake is really big name.

On with summer fun time - no matter how hot it gets I'm totally not complaining because I know that winter is right around the corner.

Summer Daze.

Wednesday's forecast:
WedAug 8
Sunny
101°/80°

Thursday's forecast:
ThuAug 9
Mostly Sunny
101°/78°

And I thought we got rid of this weather when we left Florida! Go figure.

Funny.

Energy

I've decided that I think I have a lot of pent up negative energy. I'm not getting all psycho-babble on ya'll here, but just describing in general a vibe that we each carry around - sometimes everyone can tell what "energy" you're carrying and sometimes it's just a you and you thing. I usually consider mine relatively peppy and happy, but I've been carrying around a lot of negativity lately. All sorts of various negative energy, for lack of a better description. So I've decided that's not particularly productive since whatever I'm feeling negative about doesn't particularly care (and it doesn't particularly affect it) and the only person it really bothers and affects is me - and those unfortunate, innocent souls who get stuck in the cross-fires of the energy who I probably end up projecting negative energy onto them and then they pass it on and that's why the world is going to hell - everyone passing around negative energy. Anyway, my solution? Change negative energy into positive energy. One way I've decided to focus on positive things is to write down five things I'm thankful for every day. So far today's are:
1. My house - I slept in it last night and it kept me cool on a hot night and I woke up in it this morning where it provided me breakfast, clothes, running water . . . . you get the point.
2. My car - I have mobility. Watch out other drivers - I would say "I'm a bad driver" but that's negative so I'll say "at least I drive better then the 90 year olds in Florida."
3. My job - I have one. It pays me money. And I sit on my butt all day - no manual labor here. And it allows me to blog when I have zero motivation on a Friday afternoon.
4. My friends - I had lunch with "the girls" today. Lovely, lively conversation. Interesting, smart, and funny people who actually put up with my company. We each bring something to the table (besides credit cards to pay the bills) including a wide variety of life skills and experiences.
5. You didn't think I'd leave out Cody did you? Yes, above most other things in life, Cody. He made me breakfast (okay, we had cereal but he at least brought me a bowl (I use plastic, he uses ceramic), a spoon (I use a big one, he uses a tea spoon) and my cereal (Rasin Bran Crunch - he eats Luckly Charms) to the table (we actually eat at a table now that we have one)). He told me to have a good day and told me I didn't look fat in my skirt (even though I did - honestly I have to get my weight back to where I can feel comfortable with it). He talked to me while I walked to court this morning and then called to see what was up this afternoon. He's my rock. A very very very large rock - iceburg size - in a often turmultous sea. But no matter how many hurricanes come (I know that hurricanes don't come in waters that contain iceburgs), he's still standing there. Yup, I'm certainly thankful for him.

So that's my five for now. And since it's really only mid-day I may have five more by tonight. I decided that I can repeat them because on different days you can be thankful for the same thing but for different reasons. For instance I could be thankful for Mr. Pickles today because . . . . wait, not much to be thankful for with the cat - just kidding. I could be thankful for my car today because it got me to work and tomorrow because it kept me dry in a rain storm - you get the picture.

p.s. If you note the time stamp, you'll notice that I am at work - and obviously not being a "productive worker" - but I work by the billable hour so if I mess around now I just have to pay for it later - so I don't feel particularly bad.

Kitty Birthday

Kitties on the "Pickle Post." For some reason we call any window sill, ledge, or other place where the cats sit "The Pickle Post" even though they all sit there - not just Pickles (short for Mr. Pickles). Here they are all looking outside at a bird or something but Bumpis is too stupid to figure out what is going on so she is staring into the kitchen in the hopes some food might drop from the sky.

Kitties in their pet bed Cody bought them in an effort to keep them from sleeping on our bed. The outcome? They sleep here until we go to bed and then jump in bed with us where there's more space, it's warmer and the possibly of getting petted.

I figured since I posted a bunch of pictures of Bo for his birthday I should post some of the kitties. I think I have more pictures of the cats then I do of Cody and I. :)

Happy Birthday Bo Bo!

Me, Bo and our dad at the wedding - I think this is just a crazy cool picture.

Birthday Boy and his lovely woman, Erica.

Me and Bo, my "baby" brother (who towers over me).

It's my brother's birthday today (Aug. 2) so Happy Birthday Bo! I doubt he reads this, or any member of my family for that matter, but just in case - I didn't forget! I hope you have a great birthday! Every year I add another year to my perverbial cake I don't really feel the years adding up, but every year, a few months after my birthday, when his birthday comes it really hits me how old I really am - my baby brother is how old?? Damn I must be getting up there!

I wish I had some cute story about my thoughts on when he was born but I wasn't there. I was a bit over two and got stuck at Grandma's house I think while the whole birthing thing was going on. When he came home I probably just thought he was a little blob (like the thing in The Big Dumbeldore in the Sky at the end of Harry Potter 7).

I don't think I was a very good sister. When he was little I used to think he was my doll and I'd drag him around. If he wasn't bigger then me I probably would have tried to dress him up and put bows in his head, but he got out of that one. I did tip over my rocking chair once and I think I blamed it on him and I think it worked - sorry Bo!

Then when he got a little older, but was still little, I used to just poke him until he bit me and then I would scream that he bit me. I would still do that but I bet it would leave a crazy bite mark now.

I think I tried to drown him in our pool when he was little (like under 4 or 5). He was in one of those tube floating things that goes around your middle. Well, I tipped him over in it and his head was stuck under water. I don't remember how he got up/out but I think it involved a parent jumping in to save him. Sorry Bo!

We used to come up with crazy imaginative games to play - remember, we had no cable tv (while he has fallen prey to the evil that is cable, I have stood strong in the face of Charter - that, and we're cheap and never home so it's not worth it for us to get it). We lived on a larger piece of land in the coutry and we each had an area that was "our" fort. I don't know if we ever actually built anything in "our" forts but they were ours and we used to have wars and stuff between then.

When we were both little our parents planted each of us a dogwood tree on said piece of land. When his was still little he tried to ride it like a pony and it sort of bend down - until this day (or until a few years ago when our dad sold the land) the tree was still sort of bent over - the funniest looking dogwood ever.

I used to call him "Bubba" for a very very long time - like up until a few years ago - I can't remember particularly why but I just started calling him that one day. Not in a bad way or anything but just my pet name for him. It was just me - no one else called him that so it was just between us.

When he was about in the 4th or 5th grade the whole Gulf War started and Iraq actually invaded Kuwait on his birthday. For years I tried to convince him that the whole invasion/war was his fault - sort of like someone trying to convince their sibling that a divorce/fight/insert bad event here was their fault. This is the same family that for years kept telling my littlest brother that the word "gulable" was not in the dictionary.

We got our first computer an Apple IIGS while I was in the 4th grade. It had a black screen and green writing and had a dot-matrix printer. No Windows yet. So Bo must have been in about the 2nd grade then - and damn could that kid program the hell out of that computer. It was all BASIC programming back then and he was insanely good at it. That was when I really realized that I will never be as smart as he is. As the computers got better, so did he. And now that's what he does for a living. Insanely smart kid. Wow, what does that say about me? He was great at computers as a kid and ended up a web/computer/programming/network guy. I ended up a lawyer - I must have been really good at arguing as a kid. :) He was always great at math too - tons of those trophies - he could probably build a large monument out of them if he wanted to.

He always had the hair that I wanted - straight with a bit of curl and pitch black. I got this sort of brownish curly/wavy sort of mop hair and he got this gorgeous black hair. He grew it out for a long time, but he's cut it now.

His real name is actually Brian Oliver - hence why we call him "Bo" (in case you don't see it, that's his initials). When we were little one of us kids realized that "Bo" is pronouced the same as "Bow" and from then on, every year on his Christmas presents we give them to "Bow." Yes, to this day I still find this hilarious. I doubt he does and he's probably sick of it 20 years later, but damn do I think it's funny.

It's funny to think of little siblings - to me he will always be my baby brother - this little guy who is just so "young" - yet he's not so young anymore - he's got his own house now and a great girl he's living with (that we are all not-so-patiently waiting for him to marry), a great job - he's made quite a nice life for himself as an adult. But he'll still always be my little brother. Happy Birthday Bubba!!!

Happy Birthday Kitties!

The kitties are five years old today (Aug. 1)!!! I didn't get them quite five years ago (I got them Sept. 12) but they were born "on or about" (that's a technical legal phrase) Aug. 1, so they are five years today (give or take a day or two)!!! They were originally adopted as Jasmine, Ariel, and Nala but upon moving to St. Louis, Cody changed their names to Wiggles, Bumpis and Mr. Pickles (respectively). So that's what they remain today. When I emailed Cody today to tell him the exciting news about their birthday, what was his response? Not "that's really cool" or "happy birthday to them" but "Only 10 years to go!" But then Melanie said she knew of two cats that lived to be 18 and 20 years old so he might have 13-15 years to go - poor Cody. :)
Anyway, Happy Birthday Kitties.

p.s. While I was doing my Europe 2002 scrapbook, one of the entries in my journal was "things I want to do when I get home" - there were a number of things listed like go to the beach, eat BBQ (and ketchup), get my hair cut, etc. and then "think about getting a cat and find it a good name." Well, I ended up with three and none of them have good names. :)

Babies!

We have babies! When I took this picture a few days ago we only had 6 babies (4 from one "litter" and 2 from another) but upon checking today we have two more very new babies - and they're not orange like these guys - very whitish/clear. Yeah, by the way, to clear up any confusion - that's my fish tank (one of many) in the picture - the tiny orange blurry things (there are three of them if you look hard) are the babies - obviously the large blurry things are the large fish - the big orange and black one is the mommy. Awww.... how cute. No, we're not having any babies larger then a grain of rice (that's a very large baby fish size) any time soon. :)

Miracle.

Those who know me know that I'm a procrastinator - of the worst sort. I will put off anything humanly possible. I also never ever finish a project. Painting our house? Started in June of 2005 - still not done. Craft project for my friend's kid who was born in November 2005? Still not done. I'm horrible about getting anything done. I think it's genetic.
Anyway, as I mentioned in the last post I was working on my scrapbook from my Europe trip in 2002. Well, low and behold, I worked a ton on it last week and got it DONE! I actually finished a scrapbook - this is seriously a miracle. I never thought I would ever finish this book. It's not the greatest or the most creative or the best thing ever - but it's FINISHED!!! I'm so happy - now I can't wait to show it off to everyone! :)

Not much.

It's been a while since I updated. Not much going on here - normal summer busy-ness. Usually at the end of the week I say in general that it was a good week - not this past week - something was just "off" last week. Monday and Tuesday I worked on my scrapbook from my Europe trip in 2002 - I figured it'd been 5 years so I need to get it done or be done with it. Wednesday was super fun but bad later. For $10 at the Zoo on two Wednesday's a year they have wine tasting. Not just a few wines to taste - but over 200. It's a fabulous event - nice evening, nice atmosphere, all the wines you could possibly want to taste - and the zoo. Too bad I think I tried to taste all 200 wines. :) Yeah, not a good situation for me at the end. I had a great time while I was still standing but let's just say it wasn't too great after that. I haven't gotten that bad in a long time - I felt like a 19 year old moron - I'm just too damn old anymore to be pulling crap like that - especially on a Wednesday. So Thursday was wasted - total crap. Since I'm running low on time off I went to work and pretty much laid down all day - I got nothing done - it was bad. Friday was good - I was feeling a little better and starting to recover (ahh the days - 10 years ago it would have taken me hours to recover - not these days - now it's days to recover). Cody and I went out for Greek so that was fun.
Saturday we spend the day putting together Dude's going away party (the guy living with us right now). He's moving to Arizona so we were running around getting party supplies. The party turned out pretty cool. We, of course, stayed up entirely too late hanging out with everyone but it was good to see friends and hang out.
Today we were pretty useless so we decided to run errands - got a bit of stuff done there.
So while it wasn't a bad week, I just don't feel great about it - hopefully this next week won't be as long.

Sigh.

I'm not sure how much I've blogged about this in the past few months, but back at the end of May I started having an insane pain in my knee about 2 miles into a run. It came on very suddenly, with no warning, at the beginning of an otherwise normal run. And it just got worse and worse - for the first time I actually had to stop running, turn around and walk home. I usually push though most anything. The second time it happened (the next time I ran a few days later) I ran through it, practically limping the last mile of the 5.65. The next few days after that I could barely walk. So I took a week off, started back slow and got to 7 minues. That was it - I could only make it 7 minutes. Down from 2 hours to 7 minutes - sad. At that point I went to the doctor - and of course, as the weath of information on the internet so informed me, it was IT band syndrome. Basically it's a band that runs from your hip to your knee - it's big and powerful but when it gets inflammed it hurts like hell. Women tend to get it more because we have wider hips and our knees turn in more when we run putting pressure on the band. So I was referred to PT. Usually I swear by the benefits of physical therapy - the last time I had knee problems PT saved me and when I had ankle surgery it was the only thing that got me walking again. So I religiously went to PT and did their exercises - to no avail - still couldn't get over 7 minutes without pain - I got up to 14 minutes once but it was apparently a fluke. So back to the doctor on Monday - he gave me an injection which hurt like hell but was supposed to be the magic bullet. So I couldn't do ANYTHING with my knee all week - biking, running, lots of walking, eliptical, stairs, weights, etc. - nothing. While it was difficult to sit still all week I did it. So today I was allowed to run again - up to 15 minutes said the doc - no pushing it. Well, I made it 10 before it started hurting. Sigh. I guess it's back to the doc for round two or option two - no clue.
I'm so tired of not being able to run like I want to. Anyone who was around me during the wedding or wedding planning found out quickly how much I need to run and how it is a wonderful stress release for me. Hopefully soon.

Done!

Book Seven officially finished - all 780 pages of it! Got it last night shortly after midnight and now done! And yes, I did sleep in there - actually got good sleep for once. But now I have to go pay attention to my husband who I've been ignoring all day. :)

Done!

Book Seven officially finished - all 780 pages of it! Got it last night shortly after midnight and now done! And yes, I did sleep in there - actually got good sleep for once. But now I have to go pay attention to my husband who I've been ignoring all day. :)

Go Wash U!

Check out this article on Business schools! Washington University (Olin) is where Cody is going - ranked 17th in the country! Yipee!

My favorite part of the article is: "A dramatic 25% increase in applicants to Washington University in St. Louis demonstrates Wash U's tremendous popularity."

Popularity? Not so much as free school. Applications may have gone up that much but it was likely all Boeing kids because they can get it for FREE - so that's now "the thing" to do at Boeing - Wash U Business School - it's a good school, good education, relatively low key and FREE! But nonetheless, Go Wash U - now we've got all sorts of new obnoxious college apparel to buy. Good thing they don't have a football team (I think) and play Florida or Cody would be in a really tough spot.

Thoughts for today. . .

Here is a poem/story to epitomize my day (for unrelevant historical reference The Epitome used to be one of my favorite bars/hangouts): (author unknown - not me - famous person unknown)

"Autobiography in Five Short Chapters"
Chapter One
I walk down the road. There's a big hole in the road. I don't see it. I fall in. It's dark and scary. It's not my fault. It takes me a long time to get out.
Chapter Two
I walk down the road. There's a big hole in the road. I don't see it. I fall in. It's dark and scary. It's not my fault. It takes me less time to get out.
Chapter Three
I walk down the road. There's a big hole in the road. I see it. I fall in anyway. It's dark and scary. Maybe I've got something to do with this. I get out.
Chapter Four
I walk down the road. There's a big hole in the road. I see it. I walk around the hole.
Chapter Five
I walk down a different road.

Yeah, today's been an interesting/enlightening/rough day. You realize that you keep walking down paths you've already been on over and over and over and over again and that you've fallen in that perverbal hole over and over and over again. And then one day you realize that's not such a great idea anymore and you stop falling in. I guess I'm there. Not quite to avoiding the road but to the point of learning to avoid the hole. That's really all I can say at this point - and by the way it has nothing to do with Cody. I just wish I would learn - I fell like someone is watching over me saying "when will that kid EVER learn?" And the answer, I guess, is that I'm really really dense.

Clarification

First, sorry the last post is an essay - I'm very very very long winded.
Second, to clarify, I love the wedding - it was fabulous and I wouldn't have changed a thing about that day. It was so great to see our friends and family that care about us and share that with everyone. I'm just reflecting on things I would change if I had hindsight (which we don't), especially with the wedding planning - not the wedding day. Because of the caring and support and love of those around us (especially Bonus Mom - I will never ever ever be able to put in words how much she helped me throughout the process - not only with actually planning and doing work but with just support - I would have crumbled without her) the wedding day itself was the best day of my life.

Weddings.

We've been married a bit over three months now. That makes me a wedding/marriage expert, right? I mean, three months, that's an eternity in Hollywood! Honestly I haven't thought too much about the wedding since the honeymoon. The thank you cards are winding down (if you haven't gotten yours yet, please let me know, because anyone who got us anything before June should have them by now), the dress is back from the cleaners and in the bag, the mementos are in a box (safe keeping for the scrapbook) and the photos are finally in. We've really just been enjoying marriage for now. It actually really rocks - it's so much better then being engaged!! Hell, getting my toenails plucked out with a machete is better then wedding planning! It's so much more relaxing and just nice. So some things I've been pondering on marriage and weddings:
- When we were engaged I had this insane fear that Cody was going to die. I know that's morbid but I was frightened to death (no pun intended) that he was going to die in a car wreck, killed by a drunk driver, drown in the bathtub, mauled by stray cats/squirrels/rabbits/dogs/insert vicious animal here, or whatever. I was just so scared he would die and not make it to the wedding and I was going to lose him and have to face such an incredible loss. I was scared that people would tell me, "at least you weren't married yet" as if that somehow made it easier and less painful. I didn't want to hear that, thus I feared for his death. Thankfully, that is over now and I feel safe and secure with Cody's well-being (not to mention the motorcycle is broken so that makes this part a bit easier).
- I would have had a longer engagement. I know that sounds silly because we dated for a total of something obnoxious like 7 years before we got engaged and had lived together for over two years and were then still engaged for almost 18 months - but I think I would have enjoyed more time reveling in engagement instead of rushing into wedding planning. Though on one hand I say that and on the other, we really didn't rush into wedding planning but put it off forever because it was such a pain (plus we were focused on the Germany trip for the first 8 months) and had it been any longer that likely would have just been more pain and stress on me. But in a idealistic world, I would have liked a few months to just enjoy the engagement and not rush into planning.
- I would have heeded the advice of my Bonus Mom better and really focused on Cody and I in the whole engagement/wedding planning period instead of everyone else. This is one of those things everyone tells you to do and you think you're doing it but you're really not and only after the wedding is over do you realized what a miserable job you did of it. It's impossible, I think, to 100% avoid this in the delerium of wedding planning. I would have cared less and less about impressing others (not that we really tried hard since we had a pretty tight budget) or what others thought (i.e. "people will think I'm stupid if I do ____ " or "people will like ___ so let's do that") and more about just making us happy (as evidenced by my day before meltdown, I was NOT a happy camper at that point). I would have focused more on the event - the wedding and marriage - and less on what people thought. While the wedding was worth every penny and second I put into it in the end, it wasn't worth all the time I spent thinking about what other people would think. It wasn't about impressing others or making them happy - it was about us creating a marriage.
- To add to that, I would have focused more on the "marriage" part and less on the "wedding" part. I think if couples spend 1/2 the time they spend talking about their marriages as they do their weddings there would be no divorce. We talked about wedding this and wedding that pretty much 24/7 (a HUGE mistake) and should have been talking about what we wanted out of marriage and what we expected. Luckily we've been together since the Ice Age and had really covered all those topics over the years - we got lucky and had the time to gradually ease into things - living together, joining bank accounts and finances, talking about expectations, kids, goals, life plans, etc. Since we'd heard that the #1 fight is finances, we spent more time then you can imagine talking about those issues - they are so well talked out we don't even deal with them anymore. But I wish we would have slowed down and really focused on marriage and not the wedding - because now that day is gone and what is left is a marriage for the rest of our lives.
- I wish we would have listened more. So many people, who were much wiser and had much more experience, tried to tell us to do this and that and we didn't listen. We thought we wouldn't fall into that mold/group/category - but of course in the end we did and we kick ourselves for not listening to everyone. There are some things that I think you just can't pass on to people - they are mistakes that everyone has to make and insists on making them no matter who advises against it - but now that we have the benefit of hindsight, they were all right and I wish we would have listened.
-And last, but not least, I wish someone would have told me how great marriage is and I (hopefully) would have stressed less over the wedding. I think there is a sense of insecurity that you try to fulfill with all this great wedding planning and events just in case marriage isn't all you want it to be. Maybe there's a bit of "I better have a super great wedding to remember just in case marriage isn't all that grand." But then when it's all over you realize that actually marriage is a ton better then any wedding - large or small, cheap or lavish - it's so much nicer then any ring or any tux or any dress. It's worth those things, of course, but in the end no one will remember my dress by next year, no one will remember his tux, no one will remember the flowers or the cake or the ceremony or the songs played, I'll probably have stopped wearing my engagement ring religiously (I've come to really love my wedding band - not that I don't like my engagement ring - I love it - but now the band means so much more to me - if I lost the engagement ring I'd be sad but not devistated - I would be crushed if I lost the band) but in the end we'll still have us which is so much better then any of that. If I had to give up my rings, my dress and the whole wedding I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could still have the marriage.

What a wonderful life.

Update of our life:
We got my car towed last week - finally - it's at the shop now. I hope to have it back before I get too old to drive. Yeah - I'm getting pretty sick of not having a car. It's not that I mind driving Cody to work up in North County when I work downtown (oh, and we LIVE near downtown), it's just I like the freedom of not having to sync schedules. We both are very busy and we are hard to sync.
In other news, Cody got into the MBA program at Wash U - a very prestigious business school. Yippee for him. I'm really proud of him and glad we have some direction in our lives now but I'm still on the fence about how I feel about being stuck (I mean "chosing to stay") in St. Louis for another three years. I like it here. We like it here. It's a pretty fun place to be. But we've done 99% of what we wanted to do here so if we left now I wouldn't be crying. Another three years here seems like a really long time. I'm sure it will pass super fast - as the last three years have. But I feel like we could be exploring something new for the next three years and now we're committing to the same old thing for another three. And that's fine for a lot of people - but we're in the stage right now where we want to see things and have the desire/ability to move around. But this is a really good thing for him/us and we'll make it work. Three more winters . . . I can't wait! :)
Friday we both worked pretty late (he picked me up at 8pm) and then went out to eat to celebrate and then had a quiet evening at home (very very rare). It was nice.
Saturday we went to the Soulard Farmers Market with Chris, got some yummy produce and went to the Bastille Day garage sale festival (go figure) and Cody got a stein and I got a bunch of old records (James Taylor, Bruce and the like). After lunch with Chris we went to a fantastic pool party/house-warming party. It was really nice to kick back and relax, have a few beers and swim around (though I am a whimp - if it's barely chilly in the pool I barely get in).
Sunday Cody had an all day golf tournament so I got a lot of work done around the house - laundry, cleaning, etc. - alone time is good sometimes - plus I get a TON of work done when I'm alone. :) Then went out to dinner with the gang at King and I (Cody's favorite restaraunt). Unfortunately for everyone else Cody dared them to get "Thai Hot Number 5" and they about got sick it was so hot - Cody is used to it because he is insane about hot stuff (aka has no taste buds left). :)
So that was it for our fun weekend - nice and fun but also relaxing. Another busy week ahead of us though . . .

p.s. Cody thinks it's creative that people are rumored to go to Harry Potter release parties and flip to the back of the book and shout out the endings. NOT FUNNY!

FOUR MORE DAYS!!

Only FOUR more very long, torturous days until Harry Potter #7 comes out. I swung by my local Barnes and Noble this evening (after an eye exam that took 20 minutes but figuring out my insurance took over an hour - thanks genius eye exam workers) and pre-ordered myself a copy of Deathly Hollows. It works like this: on Friday, started at 6pm you can go by and pick up a wrist band - you get a certain colour depending on the time you picked up your wrist band. You are then free to do as you please - go home and nap in anticipation - go out to eat/drink in anticipation - whatever suites you. Then at 12:01 they start calling out the colours in order and selling you the book. So yeah, I'll be leaving work on Friday early so I can be one of the first colours - who wants to wait in line all night to finally get your book?? :) Then I plan to spend the entire weekend reading. I CAN'T WAIT!!

HE GOT IN!!!

CODY GOT INTO THE MBA PROGRAM AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY!!!!!

And the world spins faster.

Today was one of those crazy days. It started out crazy and got crazier as the hours passed. We started out with Cody having a Wash U information session at 5:30 and me having PT at 5:15 - so we started with a car problem since mine was STILL in front of Babies R' Us in Chestefield (a zillion miles away). Then by 10:30 am it had gotten nuttier. Cody got a call from Wash U noting his planned attendance at the info session. Since he had an interview scheduled already on Friday they wanted to know if he could come in today and do it instead since he'll already be there - of course he said yes. So crazy us spent all day Monday looking for him a suit, paid extra to have the alterations done by Thursday for the interview on Friday and the interview gets moved to Wednesday - that's our life for ya'. :) So we drafted a nice, polite email telling the guy he won't have time to go home to get his "suit" and is it okay if he comes in work clothes - they lauded his desire to be professional and noted it would be fine to come in work clothes. To add to the crazy day I then set up an appointment to have the car towed to the dealer (I hate dealers and wouldn't take it there except they fixed it last time and I think it's the same thing broken again so I'm hoping they fix it for free this time).
So we both left work early, met at the house, got him dressed and ready for the interview (while he couldn't be in a suit because it won't be ready until tomorrow he needed to still look nice), I dropped him off for the interview, drove to Chesterfield to meet the tow guy - he took so long I missed my eye appointment that was strategically scheduled between towing and PT - got the car towed, went to physical therapy while Cody was interviewing and having his info session and then went to pick him up.
Busy but productive. He thinks the interview went pretty well and we should know by the end of the week. Pretty much our entire lives at this moment hinge on their decision. If they say no then we're moving to California. If they say yes, but for spring only, then we have decisions to make. If they say yes for fall then we have to talk but we'll likely commit to 2-3 more years in St. Louis. While I like it here, 2-3 years here is hard to swallow. It wasn't so bad a few years ago to think of 2-3 years here but now that I've been here for 3 years, I think we've done what we need to do here, seen what there is to see, and our time here has run its course. Plus 3 more winters makes me want to cry right now. But this will be a great opportunity for him. It's not that I hate it here, I actually love it here - good friends and good times - but this was never meant to be a permanent move - it's a stepping stone to something better- it was temporary - and we're sort of running on the back end of that. So we'll let you know when we hear!!!

Look what we made!!

We created life -sort of. Months ago our garden looked like the 2nd picture (which because Blogger can be dumb because I uploaded it first the second picture automatically goes on top - not what I was looking for). Tiny little seedlings perfectly spaced in rows. Now it's a massive jungle that is difficult to maneuver through. Yesterday on my way out to run (I'm up to 10 minutes! Take that IT Band problem!! I will beat you 3 minutes at a time if I have to!) I stopped by to check out how things were doing. So far we're getting tons of jalapeno peppers, quite a few banana peppers and we have a good number of bell peppers on the vines. But then I checked out the cucumber - which is half way to our neighbor's front porch by now it's getting so big - and we had a ginormous (newly added to the Webster dictionary today) cucumber! It was almost 8 inches long. While that may not be huge by grocery store/chemically induced plant standards that's pretty good for us! We were quite impressed. I think when we retire we're going to open up a stand at the Farmer's Market - wake up every day at 4 am, pick our wares for the day and open up shop. And we'll also sell our home-made salsa. We'll be the Pepper Stand. And we can barter with other farmers for the rest of the ingredients for the salsa because we really just grow peppers well. :)

Adventures in Adult Land.

Slowly but surely Cody and I are realizing that we are adults and that there's little we can do about that. Sometimes it's me that revolts against this seemingly impending doom and other times it's him. So here's some of our recent adventures in Adult Land - a land where we seem to be visiting more and more lately - for better or worse - though certainly not exclusively.
Thursday my friend Marissa was in town from NJ - those at the wedding will remember her as one of the bridesmaids - so her departure from St. Louis was particularly rough for me as she was one of my closest friends here. But the job she took in NJ was a wonderful opportunity for her and she is now really close to her family so while I may miss her, it's a fantastic situation for her. Anyway, we had a Girl's Night Thursday night and went to the Cheesecake Factory (I think I'm still full from that meal - and I had a "weight control" salad) and shopping - tons of fun as always - though I had no car - it broke down in front of Babies 'R Us out in the middle of nowhere (no there's nothing to tell - I was just getting a baby shower gift).
Friday I had physical therapy (I'm up to running 10 minutes without major pain now!) and then Cody and I went to test the car - still didn't work. Then we went out with Marissa, her fiance, and Melanie - always a fun time - and it included Ted Drewes (for those not from STL - that's crazy good custard).
Saturday we went to a friend's wedding - it was quite nice - and then, gasp, worked on the car AGAIN! We were morons and spent almost 2 hours on something that both of us should have known was wrong - it's a circuits thing - we tested the fuel pump that we thought was grounded, only to spend tons of time getting it out to realize it wasn't grounded and thus the test we did was invalid - it actually did work - so we put it back in and gave up.
Sunday we babysat some adorable kids! They made this whole baby thing look totally easy! Michael is 25 months and Daniel is 8 months -and they were fabulous! We played with them for a while, fed them and then they napped - for hours - so did Cody. Then they woke up - ate some more and played some more. Pretty much I just took whichever one was upset and Cody played with the other one so it worked out great. While I think he would be fantastic at quieting a screaming/crying kid when they either screamed or cried he sort of looked at them confused so I took over there. While I think now I'm great with screaming/crying kids, I'm sure as soon as I have my own I'll think very differently. :)
Today was more of the same - work and the car. We think we figured out what is wrong with the car - the same thing that was fixed a few months ago - so we're going to see if we can get them to fix it for free this time. We also went shopping for Cody clothes - this is the second time we've done this since I moved to STL over three years ago. But this time we were crazy successful - we got Cody a super great charcoal gray suit (for his interview with Wash U on Friday and to have a nice general suit) and a bunch of work clothes. It was overall quite sucessful.
So that's it - still no car but we do have Cody a suit. Now it's time to do my physical therapy - fun fun. I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their summer. :)

Free Long Distance.

The joys of free long distance! Back in the day when I first moved away from "home" I didn't have a cell phone. Shortly thereafter I was forced to get one for no other reason then free long distance and all the time spent on the road between school and home. At that time I think I only had about 350 minutes a month so I still used my home phone a good deal still for my long distance calls when the 350 was up. My long distance bills were still pretty heafty - even with the cell phone.
Not these days. These days we don't even have a home phone (no reason - we're never home) and I have about a zillion minutes each month for cheaper then I used to pay for my 350. Plus we have free roaming, free nights and weekends, free network to network, and still the free long distance! Times like now this is worth its weight in gold!
My car is broken - yes, again. We believe this time it's the fuel pump or injection or just tiny little elves drunk in my gas tank. But the car is stuck out in Chesterfield (still considered part of "St. Louis metropolitian area" but 30 miles from our house) and won't start at all. Well, we're incredibly fortunate in life in many respects, but right now one in particular stands out - Cody's dad. He's an insanely good mechanic. Not only can he fix anything while looking at it but he can help us fix it OVER THE PHONE! The ability to teach someone else to fix something 800 miles away is quite a skill. When I teach someone something I have to be right there and pointing and demonstrating - that's just how I can do it - but he can tell Cody in such detail what we need to check and what we need to do on a Japanesse car that he's never even dealt with (he hates foreign cars as much as Cody)! So it's a great thing that we have free long distance because we've been using a lot of it trying to gleam some of his genious in order to fix my stupid car! Did I mention I hate my car???

Very quick update.

Friday - Garage broken into. Hated on thieves. Wallowed in hate by renting a movie (McDonald's REDBOX rocks -McDonald's itself, of course, still sucks), getting a growler to go at Schlafly's (brewery) and custard at Ted Drewes.

Saturday - Home Depot - spent insane amounts of money to fix damage to garage, secure garage better and secure home/basement better. Spent the entire day implementing our new security measures (and planting some pretty flowers in the front beds where I took out all the grass and put mulch - now I don't have to yell at Cody to mow and he doesn't have to be yelled at and he doesn't have to mow.) After house/garage/basement was sufficiently secured, went camping in Burbon, Missouri. It was a nice sunny day - until we drove off to go camping - and then it rained and rained and rained. We set the tent up in the rain and slept in the rain. While our tent has a rain hood thing the tent is mostly windows and there's just so much you can do to keep it dry in a rain storm.

Sunday - Float trip on the Meramec. Beautiful but chilly and still somewhat rainy. Nice though. Came home and watched Borat (Cody and Dude pronounce this as "Bo - Rat") - it was hillarious!

Monday - Work. Work. Work. Oh, and work. And ran SEVEN minutes before my knee started hurting. A few weeks ago I was proud of 2 hours, now I'm happy with just 7 minutes - the things an injury does to you.

Tuesday - Worked. Went to Fair St. Louis - saw Lifehouse and Goo Goo Dolls and a cool fireworks display. Drank a bit too much vodka and Diet 7ups. Ordered the largest pizza known to man.

Wednesday - Spent the day painting the porch. We are well on our way to not being the trashiest neighboors on the block!!! Then we went to a friend's party/BBQ - lots of fun - and then saw more fireworks in St. Charles - very very good display. Then I went into work for a little bit to gather stuff for my trip to Columbia tomorrow - fun fun!

Comment of the evening.

Cody's Comment of the Evening: "Is that bug repelant or your perfume? You smell weird. "

For the record - I did not have bug repelant on.

Isolated.

There are a lot of feelings I have in life that I find it hard to pin a word on. Today is one of those, those "isolated" does a pretty good job. As I've said ad infinitum (great law school vocabulary for you there), Cody and I really like our lives in St. Louis - it's not that St. Louis is the greatest city in the entire world, we know that is not the case, it leaves much to be desired (clean air for one) - it's just that we have a really good life here - we've made this our "home." We've exercised our independence, developed ourselves and our relationship just the two of us and made a "home." Well, today that "home" feels isolated.
As I posted earlier in the week, my car was broken into over the weekend- they took about 150 CDs - my collection - my collection of almost 20 years. I felt awful but we move on and there's only so long you can dwell on it. Our solution was to subscribe to an MP3 service and just download the CDs and songs as they come to me. Works for me. I didn't report the crime because (a) I'm lazy and it takes time and (b) it wasn't that big a deal.
And then I came home today. It was a perfect Friday afternoon - happy hour and then come home and meet Cody. He finally got his motorcycle back from the shop and we were debating what to do with our evening. He went to get something out of his car (in the garage) and came back in, ever so calmly, and told me our garage had been broken into. I, of course, ran outside and sure enough, the door had been kicked it, the deadbolt knocked out and our garage broken into. We're thinking it happened sometime during the day, while we were at work and stupid kids were off school bored. Anyway, they took both Cody and Dude's bikes. Cody's was his bike from when he was 10 years old and it barely worked, so the theives got about $10 worth there, but Dude's was a nice bike worth several several hundred dollars. Then they took Cody's welder, given to him by his dad. Also, not worth a ton of money because it was old, but to replace it is big money. They also took the battery charger (we need it for the motorcycle) and a bunch of my garden tools (lopers, hedge trimmers). We're not sure what else yet - I'm sure we'll think of things as time goes on and realize they were in the garage and realize they were taken. Stupid theives left my bike (only worth $20 - I got it out of the classifieds in the paper), two computer monitors, a PC, two sets of really nice (and expensive) golf clubs, a microwave, a dorm fridge and some other random, more expensive stuff. So in terms of value they didn't get much but they did more damage to the door then anything else. So tonight we seriously boarded the door to the garage shut - literally screwed a 2x4 into the door and the wall so there is no way to get the door open (no deadbolt left) - so now we have to enter and exit through the automatic garage door. Doh! So tomorrow, our plans of fun and relaxing are gone, and instead we will be at Home Depot, buying a new door, new wood for the door jams (they busted up those when they busted out the deadbolt), new locks for the garage (and while we're at it the entire house - front, back and basement doors), and a bunch of chain to chain the remaining items together. We will then work on getting anything of value out of the garage and in the basement and then making a system to reinforce the basement door - a 2x4 blocking the door that you can only move from the inside. And then we move on to the backyard fence - finishing the wood part (8 ft tall) where there is just chain link now and where there is chain link at the very end near the alley (where the gate is - that will now have a padlock) put a 8 feet iron fence with spiky tops - the cops that came said that makes it so my thug friends can't jump it - else they impale their nether regions.
So, yeah I'm mad and scared and upset and violated that they took our stuff. But more mad then anything that they broke into MY space. My car is one thing - that makes me mad but it's just my car. My house and garage are a totally different story. That's personal. That's MY space. Where I'm supposed to feel safe and comfortable.
So, to the isolated part. Being here, so far from family in times like this makes me feel isolated. I don't feel lonely or alone because I have Cody here. But if this were to happen while we lived in Florida we could have gone to a parent's house and camped out for the night. They could have come over and comforted us while we called the cops, went through what was missing, and went through their reports. They could have calmed me down. When my brother's house was broken into years ago my mom and I went over there to help out. When things ever happened in Tally we'd all be there for each other - but now it's just us here by ourselves. We have to comfort ourselves, deal with the cops by ourselves and deal with this feeling of violation by ourselves - no family to come over and make us feel better or no family to run to. So it's not a lonely feeling - but more of an isolation.
So of course tonight reinvigorated the talk of moving. Oddly enough after my diatribe on feeling isolated from family in Florida, we're not talking about moving to Florida, or closer to Florida - but to California. Not forever - not a permanent move - just like St. Louis wasn't - but just for a go at it. Something new - something safer - something exciting to try - and if we hate it, we have no ties and we have no problem moving again. Sure, moving sucks - it's a pain, but we're young and we can, so why not? We'll have to see how things all play out - my job, Cody's job, Cody's MBA application - all sorts of things - we'll just have to see how the cookie crumbles.

The things you think about.

I was changing my belly button ring (or more properly known as a "navel ring") tonight (I had a Gator one in and am changing it to a frog one my mommy got me right before our wedding - the Gator one was for the wedding) and I realized that I've had my belly button ring for longer then I haven't had it. I pierced it before my 15th birthday (sometime in the 9th grade). When I took it out tonight to change it I realized how weird it looked without it and it hit me just how long that thing has been there. Just a thought.

On other thoughts, tomorrow is FRIDAY and that is fabulous. This week has been amazingly calm - owed mostly to several of our plans being cancelled due to torrential downpours so we've had more time free then expected - that will all change very shortly though - like tomorrow. Busy again.

In other news, I had my first bought with physical therapy for my knee today - fun fun. I'm all sorts of off balance with my muscles because I like to run, not do too much cross training and am really lazy when it comes to weights - leading to a crazy muscle imbalance - gotta fix that because I REALLY need to get running again - I only made it 3 minutes today until I was sidelined for pain. Apparently IT band stuff is not something that you just push thorough and take the pain - you're supposed to actually deal with it properly - well that's just no fun and a big pain in my butt. Oh well. Such is life.

Speaking of life, here's one of my favorite wedding photos. I have many favorites but this is one. I feel like this really encompasses how I feel about Cody and I in terms of stature - I always feel like I'm looking up at him and he's off looking somewhere and I have to tap him on the shoulder to tell him something - boy is he tall - and boy am I short (at least in comparison). Anyway, I thought it was cute.

FINALLY!!!

We were married almost 12 weeks ago - and we just TODAY got our professional wedding pictures. Better late then never and while I was getting antsy about them, I was so happy with them it was worth it. They can now all be found at www.cody-missy.com (I have both the ones taken by friends and family and the professional ones). They can also be found at pictage.com if you type in "Raffensperger." They are expensive to buy on Pictage so I plan to upload them onto winkflash or kodakgallery or something since we paid for the rights to the photos. :) Anyway, I'm thrilled with them. I also updated the webpage a bit.
In other news - not much is going on. We've had a relatively uneventful week which is rare for us. I went to the orthopedist yesterday regarding my knee and sure enough I have somehow found my way into IT band syndrome - which means no running in pain - none. So now I have the fun and joy of physical therapy again to try to make me better quick enough that I can still train for the marathon in September. At first I was incredibly frustrated by yet another running injury but I'm taking this one much better - it's like it's not even a shock any more. But I am getting antsy about not running - so hopefully I'll be cleared to go back soon!
Otherwise, we're just waiting on news from Washington University regarding Cody's MBA application. And enjoying our down time. :)

Photos.

I call this one "summer" - beer sitting on a porch outside (Square One Brewery)

My super cool Daylily in the newly revamped front yard.

Cody and his goat friend at Grant's Farm - he's feeding it the milk bottle.

Good Stuff.

And now the good. I have FINALLY updated the website (and taken down the wedding website since I never did much work on it anyway). So www.cody-missy.com finally has some more recent photos up. I fixed the link to the January pictures and added February, March and April. So now I only have May and June to go and I'll be all caught up. Maybe before our kids get married (our unborn, unconceived children) we'll actually get our professional wedding photos. Our contract said we were to get them within 4 weeks. But I didn't feel like being a witch and pestering him so I sort of left him alone and alone until I finally contacted him and he said they would be done "shortly." Then they were supposed to be the weekend before last. Then last weekend. Allegedly they are "in the mail" - 11 weeks after the wedding. So much for those creative Mother's and Father's Day presents I was going to make - we'll just have to wait until Christmas for those. But on the bright side - I hope they're good. And our website is up again. :)

Not so good stuff.

When there is good there is always some not so good. The not so good lately - my car - again!
First the darn thing started acting up again - and we just finished paying it off!!!! It will randomly not start - and it's not the battery. And then once it would start and then just kill and do that over and over again. So I was already in a Missy Car Hating Mood. And then I woke up this morning.
I got in my car as usual and went to go to work. But my "door ajar" light was on. Odd, but not unheard of -so I closed both doors again - but it was still on - it was the trunk. So I closed it and thought "hum, I wonder who left my trunk open?" Then I was driving to work and noticed several items that are usually in my console on my floor. I wondered why Cody would have taken everything out of my console. Then the passenger seat was all the way forward and leaning over (like to get in the back seat). When I went to go for my garage tag it hit me - my car had been broken into AGAIN! They stole all my CDs AGAIN! I swore I wouldn't put them back in there until I had downloaded them all on the computer but when I went to Jefferson City last week I needed music. So I have yet again lost my dear music!!! This SUCKS! I HATE thieves! They totally totally SUCK! And it's not like my CDs are worth ANYTHING - they are CRAPPY CDs - it's all sorts of random stuff that no one else has heard of, dating back to the early 90s, that have absolutely NO "street value." But they meant A LOT to ME! So I'm very angry at said thieves and wish I could beat them with a baseball bat - or at least tell their mother on them. She would NOT be happy with their behavior - maybe I should feed them to my new goat (when we get one).

Summer makes me lazy.

Summer makes me lazy - I've been so bad about posting lately. I blame it on it not getting dark until almost 9pm. Cody and I tend to eat dinner after the sun sets - so in the summer we end up not eating until 9 and then we hang around the house some - just doing chores or hanging out with Dude - so we don't end up heading towards bed until midnight - leaving me no time to blog. But I'm going to try to get better. :)
So - some updates.
Last week was marked mostly by Cody studying for the GMAT. So I spent time painting our porch (I got the deck part done - now time to move on to the porch - it's going to look so nice when I'm finally done!!!) and doing chores. Melanie and I went to the MUNY on Friday and saw "Oklahoma" - there was a very long, odd dream sequence at the end of the first Act but the rest of the play was really good - I really enjoyed it and Cody didn't have to get dragged to a play so we all won. :)
Saturday Cody took his GMAT and rocked it like I knew he would. He's much smarter then he gives himself credit for. He thinks because he's not an English wizard - though very few are (including myself) - but he has really good problem solving skills so even on the english part he did just fine. Now he just has to get that to the admissions people and hopefully we'll hear soon if he gets into the MBA program - cross your fingers! Anyway, once the GMAT was over it was party time again! We all went out to a pretty good Brazilian restaraunt and then went bar hopping - basically going to a bunch of different bars we hadn't tried out yet just to check them out. All in all a really fun night!
Sunday we were planning a float trip but the weather was crappy so we went on a Free Beer in St. Louis Tour. We started at Schafly brewery and took their brewery tour and enjoyed their free beer and then moved on to Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm has quickly earned it's place in my heart as one of the top 5 coolest things in St. Louis - there are animals and there is free beer. After a jungle type ride though this wilderness of wild animals (including a zebra) you are dropped off in the Goat Area. The Goat Area is the coolest thing ever - a bunch of baby goats that all these people are trying to get their very small children to feed with mild bottles - then people get upset when said goats knock said small child over - it's a goat that's bigger then your kid - who do you think was going to win? Anyway, the Goat Area is awesome. And we learned something new this trip - if there is a goat you particularly like you can have them "save" it for you until the end of the season (October) and then you can buy it for $50!!! We thought it would be at least $250 - but for $50 we might just get a goat - Mr. Pickles really needs a friend.
That's most of the weekend - more detailed posts to follow. And goat pictures.