New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve proved to be a day where I did a few more tasks while Paul edited his film before we settled down to a night of Wii games and a movie. My "pic of the day" is of one of the houses we came across on Paul's birthday that was all lit up with Christmas lights.

Warm Temps and To Dos

I had today off and I guess it was a good thing because we found so many things that we needed to do (e.g. unbox some more items in the closet; take down the Christmas tree; buy a new wireless router & install; vacuum, wood rasp the closet door, ect.) in addition to taking a walk. It was so unseasonably warm today, 68, that it was a perfect day to try out the walking trail in our apartment complex. I wish I could have had more of a "day off" kind of day without so many tasks, but at least the rest of the New Year's weekend should be clear.

My "pic of the day" is of Kitty who found the most comfy and highest spot on our couch.

Kitty

We have one spoiled kitty on his way to becoming a lap kitty.

Today was a slow day at the office which gave me a lot of time to get some things done that I've been wanting to have time to do. On a side note, I was lucky to have a second vacation day built up since I just started my new job, and it came just in time to add to my three-day New Year's weekend, to make another four-day weekend! I hope I can get recharged, as I'm so tired, for the New Year and new week ahead.

Paul's Birthday

It was Paul's birthday today and I surprised him by taking him to Llewllyn's, a Celtic themed pub. My "pic of the day" is of him and his friend Pat.

Lazy

I was the definition of lazy today. I did not get up until 12:30 pm, and then we went to watch The Little Fockers at the movies, and came home and watched How to Train Your Dragon. In between we did run a small errand and went by Hallmark for me to get Christmas paper and bows that were 40% off. Also, as my "pic of the day" shows, Paul put up the film strip wall hanging I got him for Christmas. Oddly enough I'm feeling tired again and wish it wasn't the last of my time off.

Tummy Rubs & Blackout

My "pic of the day" is of Kitty's (and Paul's) new favorite thing: tummy rubs. This pic was taken on Christmas Day, but Kitty has been getting many "tummy rubs" before and after Christmas.

I guess it proves that the past couple of months of changing jobs and moving has left me exhausted as I slept for 13 hours last night and then fell alseep for a nap early this evening. About an hour after I woke up from my nap, we heard what sounded like a loud clap of thunder followed by the electricity going out in our complex. It must have been a transformer as there was no thunderstorm about. We had just ordered pizza and ended up having pizza by candlelight before they got the electricity back on this evening. So thankful they were able to get it back on before bed.

Christmas Day

We had a nice day of opening gifts, with the help of Kitty, a nice Christmas dinner with mom and then snuggled down to a movie early this evening.

Christmas Eve

I got up this morning on Christmas Eve and realized that I didn't have anything pressing immediately to do and it felt weird. For a short time I felt like I didn't know what to do with myself since I didn't have anything to do. That soon changed when we went to meet mom and she came to our apartment for Christmas. After doing a grocery run, showing her Kitty and our new apartment I got hit with the sleepies. I then spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening dealing with that and was horrible company until I was able to take a short power nap. Then we played Uno for the remainder of the night.

Four Day Weekend

I started my four day Christmas weekend at about 3 pm this afternoon. It couldn't have come soon enough as I'm really tired and ready for a break. Shortly after I got home today, I fell asleep for 3 hours and woke up ready to go right back to bed.

Christmas Gifts

A busy day at work resulting from some new government regulations caused me to come home exhausted and needing a nap before pressing on to wrap Christmas gifts. I am left wondering if there will ever be an end to my "to do list" and if I can ever have an evening to myself?

Long Day

It was the kind of day where you wake up looking forward to the hour you can come home and collapse. The bad thing was that just as I neared quiting time, I encountered an issue which resulted in me coming home and having to work until 7:30 pm. I am now really tired.

My "pic of the day" is of Kitty making himself at home under the Christmas tree.

Too Spoiled

They say a picture is a worth a thousand words. I don't think further commentary is needed today...we have one spoiled Kitty! This "pic of the day" was taken after Kitty had 12 hours of sleep curled up on our love seat, and immediately after a belly full of Fancy Feast.

Apartment Warming

We had an apartment warming party tonight and had some neighbors and my colleagues over.

Home stuff

We had yet another day filled with home improvements (installing new darker colored mini blinds in our bedroom and putting more Word Art up on the wall among other things). We also spent several hours getting the checkbook in order along with documenting the moving expenses and my last pay stubs from MU. After a day of numbers and home improvements we welcomed a chance to go out to the movies for a change. On a side note, I can't believe it's only a week until Christmas!

Kitty's Cozy Corner

This afternoon we got out early from work and when I came home Kitty was waiting for me in the parking lot. When he came upstairs into our apartment, Paul proceeded to put together Kitty's "cozy corner". Kitty has since claimed it as his new home/bed as seen in my "pic of the day".

Christmas Tree

Got through work today feeling really tired and then pushed onwards to put up the tree and write Christmas cards tonight. My "pic of the day" is from the tree.

New Phones

Tonight after work, Paul and I went cell phone shopping and purchased the new G2 T-Mobile Google smart phone. So nice to trade in our old flip phones that didn't even have a text plan! We feel like we've moved into the 21st century.

Last night we did comparisons of cell phones and cell phone plans; Monday night we did comparisons of insurance plans and both nights I calculated final grades for the two MU courses I was still teaching. It was soooooooooooo wonderful tonight to have the cell phones bought, the insurance chosen and its enrollment form complete and final MU grades submitted! After all that I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Jayhawk Territory

I had to go to Lawrence today to the main University of Kansas campus for a work meeting today. While I was there, I just had to hunt down a pic of their mascot, the Jayhawk, to take a pic of after having been an employee and student at their rival school, MU, for so many years!

Information Overload

Today I had HR orientation at work and the focus of it was to review the benefits available to employees, specifically health insurance. We reviewed a health insurance plan comparison chart that was 8 pages long (and that was the summarized version)! In addition they had the highlights of each plan option on a PowerPoint along with all the other numbers, info and deadlines of additional benefits and by the end of the three hour orientation my brain was suffering from information overload.

Tonight, we had Kitty visit again, which was a welcomed relief after an information overloaded day. My "pic of the day" is of the area surrounding the back of our apartment on Sunday after Saturday night's snow.

Snow

My "pic of the day" is of the 2 inches of snow outside of our apartment that the Kansas City area received since late yesterday.

Cold

Cold is the only word that describes today's falling temps (over 20 degrees in 10 hours), the blowing wind and first snow of the season. My "pic of the day" was taken this evening to show the snow in our parking lot and on our cars. You can see Paul faintly in the background through the snowflakes as he was taking boxes out of our apartment that we had unpacked today and was running them down to the dumpster in the brutal cold (temps in the teens and windchills in the subzero range)!

Friday

I'm glad it's Friday and there's a chance to rest. We had our visitor, Kitty, again tonight and he loved the Fancy Feast we had bought for him but he didn't stay long to visit. It's been a good week, but a tiring one, and I feel just as sleep as Kitty looks in my "pic of the day".

Holiday Lunch

Today at work they had an employee Holiday luncheon where we were treated to a lunch of salad, pork, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and dessert. We ate our lunch in an auditorium in the Student Center and my "pic of the day" is of the musical entertainment and KU flag that was on stage in that auditorium.

Kitty

Our visitor from last night named, Kitty, decided to end his visit last night by hoping into our bathroom sink and making himself at home.

A Visitor

A visitor named, "Kitty", came to visit tonight...

He was fed a ham dinner by my husband who is allergic to cats...

Then Kitty found a comfy spot to take a nap...

New Bathroom

Tonight after work I just had to go buy the needed accessories that I had come up with in my mind's eye over the weekend to decorate my new master bathroom. So my "pic of the day" is of my new bathroom decor. The two picture frames will eventually have 5x7 photos from pics I took this spring of purple/lavendar flower blossoms.

Home Improvements

Today was marked by a lot of sleeping and then shopping for more items that we needed to finish our home improvements. It's funny how changing one thing can lead to so many more things. Today my focus shifted to our new 2nd bathroom and the colors we want to use when buying items to furnish it. My "pic of the day" is a close-up of my Precious Moments collection that we put on display shelves yesterday.

Decorating

It was definitely a decorating kind of day in our house today, and our apartment is finally starting to take shape and feel like a home. My "pic of the day" is of the decorating we did. I'm especially excited about the new shelves I bought last night on sale at Hobby Lobby which Paul put up for me today in our bedroom to display my Precious Moments collection. I'm very thankful to Paul for all his handyman skills today!

Shopping

After work today, I went to Hobby Lobby and Target to get some things such as curtains, floor lamps, throw pillows, bath mat among other home decor items that we needed to help settle into our new place. I was so thrilled to see that Hobby Lobby had the items I was shopping for on sale for 50% off, what timing! I spent a lot of time this evening, figuring out measurements, choosing colors, size and textures ect. I didn't get home until 10 pm and I'm tired, but it sure was fun to finally have the ability to let loose and buy luxury items!

In other news, Paul helped me remove three big bulletin boards in my office, the bottom long one in my "pic of the day" above (which by the way is 8ft long) seems to be welded to the wall which is fine because I can use it. So, I had the idea to buy 12x12 size scrapbook paper of a travel/international theme and plan to use it to cover the bulletin board as a background to decorate it.

New Office

My "pic of the day" is of my new office at KU Med. It's essentially a blank slate except for the small bookshelf of mine that I brought in located in the far right corner of my first pic. I wanted to take some pics before I started to move in my personal stuff and decorate so I could log the transformation.

First task is to take down as many bulletin boards as possible.

The Odd Couple

My "pic of the day" is of my husband (who's very allergic to cats) with my mom's cat who insisted on making friends with Paul on Thanksgiving day and cuddling up next to him. Funny how life seems to be filled with "odd couples". This particular odd couple looked very tired after Thanksgiving dinner.

Flurries

Snow flurries greeted us on this last day of November as Paul drove me to work this morning. It was a flurry of a day back at my new job. There were so many things to do and it was one of those days where "once in a blue moon things" and weirdo problems seemed to be the theme of the day. However, at lunchtime we all went down to the main lobby of our building to watch a Native American dance demonstration. Oh, how I wish I had my camera!

My "pic of the day" is of our U-Haul as we were trying to unpack it on Nov. 19th . I would have posted these sooner on my blog, but we lost my camera in the moving shuffle and Paul recovered it this afternoon as he unpacked more of the boxes. It looks like complete chaos because we had to cram the last pieces in wherever they would fit without boxes.

Still Sick & in Boxes

Today should have been my first day of my first full week at my new job, but I was too sick to make it to work. I missed the HR orientation which mostly reviewed insurance and benefits. I'll have to wait until next Monday for the next scheduled orientation, however I'm supposed to have my insurance selected within 15 days of starting so I guess I need to track down the info on my own and select it before the orientation. Somehow I always end up paying for my time off.

Meanwhile at home, with Paul and I both sick the unpacking has come to a standstill since last week. So my "pic of the day" is of all of the boxes in our office (yes that's a love seat in the left-hand corner hidden underneath all the boxes) and we have plenty of other boxes in the other rooms of our apt.

I am feeling better, but have that foggy, disconnected and spacey feeling in my head. I believe Paul is feeling somewhat better too...slowly but surely we are getting well.

Tomorrow as I venture into work, Paul is going to try and get through some of the boxes. Right now whenever we need something it's kind of like a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt and we get excited when we come across something we've been wanting to use, like the oatmeal I found yesterday! Three things that we can't seem to find are crackers, paper plates and dry erase markers. Hopefully those will surface tomorrow.

Still Sick

My husband and I spent another day still sick and sleeping a lot.

Still Sick and House Bound

I woke up feeling a little bit better today, but still very sick and then Paul started getting the onset of the same symptoms this afternoon. This is the first day since we moved here that we stayed in all day and watched t.v. (the MU v. KU game, and an on demand movie among other things) all day.

Sick

Spent Black Friday finding an Urgent Care that was open in the afternoon and which would take my insurance. I still had to pay $50 to be seen for about 10 min. to get a Zpac prescription for my sinusitis, but I'm thankful to have an antibiotic.

Turkey & Kitty

We spent a relaxing day off at mom's for Thanksgiving so my "pic of the day" is of course the turkey. I got to play with my mom's new cat, Izzy, so my other "pic of the day" is of the kitty. Although I battled the onset of a sinus infection
all day, I had fun nonetheless playing with the kitty, spending time with my mom, showing her pics of our new apartment and talking.

Not Feeling Well

On my second day of work I woke up feeling like I was getting sick with a sinus deal, not fun. I have continued to feel worse throughout the day and am thankful that we got out early at 2 pm for Thanksgiving because I came home and crashed on the bed - sleeping only 30 minutes but just lying still for over two hours.

Good First Day!

Today was my first day at KU Med and I was able to jump right into some immigration questions. I've found all my colleagues to be really nice and professional, and I enjoyed the lunch they planned that we all had together. I did a lot of orienting myself to my new office and work surroundings, and that combined with the newness of our apartment and trying to orientate myself to my new home surroundings has left me really tired. I was glad that the work day was over at 4:30 pm and that I was home by 5 pm, which gave Paul and me time to try out the apartment complex gym and still have an evening.

Shopping and Rest Day

Today was a shopping day as we went out to find a microwave since our last apartment had a built in microwave that belonged to the apt. We also dropped off our apartment inventory at the leasing office and I ran by KU Med to complete my I-9 form so I'd be ready to work tomorrow. In addition we shopped for a lot of odds and ends such as storage organizers, 3M hooks, kitchen scrubbers ect. However, I did find a nice ottoman in Target that will serve as a vanity stool. After shopping, I spent the remainder of the afternoon resting and watching tv and then Paul tried to fix dinner which was difficult because we didn't realize how much that we needed to cook or cook with that we still had in boxes.

Hoping for a good night's sleep before my first day at my new job.

The Big Move

I can't believe it's been four days since my last blog, as I've had very few misses in my blog and none beyond 1 day. I guess I can be excused since we did just move and I was without internet service for almost 3 of those days.

I can't believe how much has transpired in the past 96 hours since my last blog, and so much of it seems like a blur, but I'll try to recap what's been going on:

Thursday: We got up at 7am, the movers starting packing us up at 9:30am and it took them until nearly 1 pm to get everything loaded. We actually ran out of room in our 17 foot U-Haul and had to do a lot of creative stuffing in our cars and the passenger seat of the U-Haul to get it all to fit. We then had to go get the car transporter attached at U-Haul to tow one of our cars and had to go back to the apt. so I could drive the other car and Paul drove off with the U-Haul with my car keys inside! Luckily I was able to get him by cell phone before he got too far away. All of this slowed us down and we ended up leaving Columbia at about 3:30 and hit rush hour traffic in KC and had to rush against the clock to get to our apt. complex to sign our lease and get the keys to our new apt. by 5:30pm. Since it was after 6pm by the time we got our apt. keys, the movers rescheduled our unloading to the next day, so we had to go out and buy some essentials (like an air mattress) to get through the evening. Within our first hour in our new apt., Paul ran into our new neighbors as he was unloading stuff from the car and they invited us over for an informal party which was actually a little dinner party so we ended up having a home cooked meal of steak and lobster bisque after a long day of moving!! We got to bed at about 11:30 pm.

Friday: We didn't sleep well because the air mattress didn't hold air and we were up by 7 am. Paul had to drive the U-Haul to return the car transporter so the U-Haul could be unloaded by the movers who were supposed to get arrive btw. 11-11:30. We unloaded our cars and then the movers were a little late and came by 12:30pm and unloaded more boxes than I ever imagined we had for 3 hours. We then assembled our Sleep Number bed and then went to Applebee's and came home and collapsed from pure exhaustion at 9 pm on a Friday night and slept for over 12 hours.

Saturday: We tried to unpack a few of the most essential boxes and move the other boxes to the perimeters of the apt. because the Time Warner tech was coming by to connect our cable and internet btw. 2-5pm. We then ran to Wal-Mart for a few things and happened upon a good sale for a flat screen tv (something we had been wanting for a long time) so we made an impulse buy and got it home and put up just before the cable guy came. Then we had to move around/unpack even more boxes to make sure we had a view of the t.v. from the couch. Then we invited our friend from Lee's Summit over who we haven't seen in about a year and ordered a pizza and watched football on our new tv. Just as we were getting ready for bed at about 10:45 pm, our carbon monoxide detector started going off, which scared us, until we realized it was just an alarm for low batteries. So, Paul made a trip out and got batteries which solved the problem. So it was pushing midnight before we made it to bed.

Sunday: We slept in, and Paul got up before me and started making his way through the boxes in the office and for his closet. I was supposed to take it easy, but got obsessed with getting all the clothes I would not be wearing into the new Space Saver vacuum sealed bags that we bought the day before. I spent the next 4 hours sifting through clothes and sorting them from cold and warm weather clostes and further into categories of fit and doesn't fit. Finally by 5 pm I relaxed on the couch and fell asleep for a few minutes before we decided to go out for dinner. We were going to run 2 miles down the road, but that restaurant didn't exist at the address we found on the web, so we GPS'd some other restaurants and drove around for the longest time (about 40 min.) not finding anything we wanted and actually came within walking distance of the plaza and then decided to go to an Applebee's that we knew. When we walked into the Applebee's, believe it or not, one of my former students and advisee was there with his friend, so I talked to him and then we ordered and finally got to eat!

I have one more day off to try and rest before starting my new job on Tuesday. My "pic of the day" is of our new 42" flat screen t.v. in our new living room.