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.