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.

Final Phase of Moving

T'was the night before moving day and all through the house, not a thing was left unpacked, not even a blouse.

I wish that were true, but we are about 90% packed I would say and the movers come to load it into the U-Haul tomorrow morning at 9 am, and we are due in Kansas City to unload with movers there at about 2 pm. Just to add a little fun to my morning I have a dentist appt. at 10 am...will be glad this time tomorrow night when we are unloaded and in our new apartment!

Today was my last day at work and I had a good turn out at our farewell party at the Heidelberg after work. My "pic of the day" is of some of the boxes we have to navigate around in our apartment.

Meals

After a long day of back-to-back appointments and grading papers, I enjoyed a nice dinner with my husband and the student who is my peer leader for one of the classes I teach. We had a good time at our last meal at FlatBranch together before heading to KC. In addition, I had a nice lunch with one of the faculty members from my department today too.

Phase 3 of Moving

Phase 3 of moving has brought about boxes galore to our apartment while our living area bears a faint resemblance to the tidy humble abode we once had. I came home from work at 6:30 pm tonight and boxed up my closet, bathroom cabinet, living room decor, cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink and a few fragile items on my desk. My "pic of the day" is of all the hangers I had after I boxed up the clothes hanging in my closet!

The bright side is that before I left work, I had wrangled my work email down to just 35 emails in my inbox, opposed to the nearly 150 average I have been keeping for most of the month.

It's hard to believe that in 48 hours everything must be ready to go!

Sleepy

After church, Paul and I decided to indulge one last time in Boone Tavern's brunch before we move and we came home with full tummies that made us sleepy. We both ended up falling asleep for about 3 hours, completely missing out on the last walk, before we move, that we had planned at Stephens Lake Park late this afternoon. We're getting ready to watch the Amazing Race in a few minutes and I'm afraid I won't be able to stay awake for it.

20's & 30's Meet Up Group Farewell Party

My "pic of the day" is from the 20's & 30's Meet Up group party that we had at our place to celebrate our move. We played Trival Pursuit on Wii and divided it into gals v. guys, and the guys won by a very small margin.

Farewell Office Party

Since I didn't get a chance to post a blog yesterday, I'm posting a "pic of the day" from my Farewell Office Party organized by my supervisor.

Work & Home

After 11 student appointments today and a quick triage of my email, I was ready to call it a day at 5:45 pm this evening. My mom came down today to help us move into the next phase of moving and really get into the heart of packing. I feel so blessed because while I was at work all day my mom and husband packed, and my husband took my car for an oil change, gassed it up and my mom made soup for dinner which has been simmering all day and the aroma of the soup greeted me as I walked in the door this evening.

Warm Day

Today was a run, run, run day with 13 student advising appointments, two classes to teach and a doctor's appointment to end the day. In addition I've been spending my evening back on work email. On a positive note, it was a beautiful warm November day.

Busy Day

In the class I taught today we had members of the wheelchair basketball team come and talk to our class and address some "do's and dont's" as they relate to individuals with disabilities. We've had them come previous semesters and it's always a good class discussion. My "pic of the day" is from a wheelchair basketball tournament from last semester.

After that, I had 13 student appointments throughout the rest of the day, ran to the grocery store and got used produces boxes for moving at lunch, had a Happy Hour with a colleague, and chatted with a new friend who came to adopt one of our plants. Whew...a busy day.

Home Stretch

Another long 10 hour work day dominated my day. Paul and I have entered the home stretch with single digit days signifying the countdown to our moving day.

Extra Hour

Having an extra hour to sleep and an extra hour in the weekend with the time change was nice, although the darkness of night setting in an hour earlier was not so nice. My "pic of the day" is of Paul with his head in the stocks at the Renaissance Festival that we went to a couple of weekends ago.

300th Post!

This is my 300th post on this blog. It's amazing to think about the many different events, feelings and experiences I have blogged about since starting this blog in January.

Today, thanks to my mom's gift certificate, I was able to have some down time at the Mudd Room as I painted a piece of pottery - a picture frame. I'm excited to see it next week once it has been fired in the kiln. I used painter's tape in order to mark off sections and create straight lines and I painted it dark purple.

In regards to our moving process, Paul started packing up our office area and things out of some closets that we won't need anytime soon. Speaking of needs, the biggest need that we have at the moment is to find someone to sublease our apartment.

Weekend At Last

I arrived home exhausted after a really busy week filled with too many demands and too many commitments. I'm so thankful to have started my weekend and for it to be an extra hour long due to the time change.

Colder

Today we reached some milestones at work as over 1000 students have made appts. between the 4 advisors and our director at work. In addition, we reached the 500 mark of declared health sciences students! No wonder it has been a long and busy semester and early registration period.

The weather changed over the course of the day as it got colder and the wind started blowing. I was very thankful for the hot chocolate and chat with a good friend in a local coffee shop tonight.

Busy

Just a busy day of working 10 hrs and getting ready to leave and go back into work for a student organization meeting this evening.

Motion

I've been moving so fast in my job today that even as I sit still to type this I still feel like I'm moving in a swirl of constant motion. Today we've made some progress on finding sources for free boxes (namely HyVee). Other than seeing lots of students and receiving oodles of emails, all I know is that we're trying to organize two BonVoyage parties.

Countdown

We have entered the countdown phase of days left in Columbia before our move. From today, we have 16 days left until we move with 12 days left at work. After booking the U-Haul, movers and advertising our apt. for subletting, we are now at the stage of looking for freebie moving boxes and starting to think about what we can get rid of. Cleaning out our closets actually happens at a really good time because a student association on campus is collecting garage sale items for a fundraiser all this week. In other news, I had a long 10 hour day as we are at the beginning of the early registration season.

My "pic of the day" is of a couple from our Halloween party.