It's a Love / Hate Relationship

What a wonderful Saturday...the weather was beautiful, even with the hint of humidity in the air. We were so lucky to be able to spend the afternoon enjoying the outdoors together. We decided to play a round of golf and convinced some friends to come along. I really have a love-hate relationship with golf...really just with MY game of golf. I had fun spending time with Randy and our friends Sean and Angie, but I truly am HORRIBLE at golf. I was so bad today that I almost gave up after the first hole...I knew it was gonna be bad after it took ?? strokes to get to the green (it was so bad I won't even share the # LOL). But anyways, I pressed on and ended up having a great time, and even shot a couple GREAT shots, although they were very few and far between. I do find that my putts are much better than my drives - probably all the time I spent on the miniature golf course growing up. I'm looking forward to getting back out there, even if I do suck at the game.

Yay! Summer is here...warm, sunny days, kids riding their bikes in the street, people out walking their dogs...I love summer. I just wish I had time to enjoy it! It seems we are too busy to live...too busy with work, too busy with home remodeling - busy busy busy, and no time to PLAY! I want to go golfing, ride our bikes, take the dog to the lake - you know, warm weather stuff. Not sit in my office typing reports, or cleaning the MESS that is my house. I need to go through our storage unit and basement, organize and hold a garage sale (or numerous garage sales), and just de-junk our home and start packing (yes, I know Randy doesn't graduate until February, but there's a distinct possibility of moving this fall). We can't possibly move all this stuff with us...it would cost a fortune! Besides not NEEDING most of this stuff. We seem to have more than when we moved and "downsized"...how does that happen? There's so much to do, way too little time to do it. HELP!!!! Oh well...baby steps I guess.

Our "NEW" Ford

Since the "accident" with the money-pit truck, we got a brand-spankin'-new (to us) Ford. But wait...it's not just ANY Ford, it a........Ford Festiva circa 1988. Everytime I even say the name I gotta laugh a little. Randy was so bummed...he wanted a new Jeep Wrangler but since he's in school and not making $$$$ (which you really really need to have when buying a new car) it just wasn't in the cards for him. So, with half of our insurance settlement, we bought our "new" car - paid in full. It needs a little work but it runs fine and is such a pretty color of silver-gray with some rust mixed in for that shabby-chic look. To top it off, there are little pink pinstripes (plus some other colors) along the sides. Hopefully he doesn't get his "man-card" taken away!

Bye-Bye Truck!

So, Randy wrecked the truck. Not the red truck (MY truck), but the white money-pit that he has been working on FOREVER. Somehow, in a relatively empty parking lot, he hit the only concrete post/light pole in sight. He wasn't trying to avoid hitting a person or another car, or even an animal...he just ran into it. I guess he got distracted by the empty lot and the HUGE choice of parking spaces (LOL). To be fair, he had been studying very hard for Part II board exams which means his brain was pretty much full of everything but the knowledge of how to park. He is sad...I am not, except now we need to spend more $$ getting another vehicle. The truck actually looks pretty good, except a big dent on the driver's side. It doesn't look totaled, but it is a total loss according to the insurance company...and it pretty much can't be driven in a straight line, if at all. So, bye-bye truck...thanks for everything

Finally...warm weather

What a beautiful day it was on Saturday. For the past month we had been talking about getting out of town, away from Davenport. Have I said that we really don't like it here? Well, we really don't. Not that it isn't a perfectly fine place to be...we are just tired of it. Add to that the stress of my work and Randy's school - we just needed to escape. Since we still had work and school to deal with, we couldn't plan on leaving until Saturday. Did I mention how beautiful it was on Saturday? Well, one thing lead to another and we ended up wasting so much time at home that it became just too late to really go and enjoy even a quick trip. S0....we stayed here. Not only that, but we ended up doing ANOTHER home improvement project. Yes, that's what we do when we have free time. We bought a new front door and a really cool storm door last fall. We installed the front door right after we bought it, but ran out of time and good weather to do the storm door. With 60+ degree weather on Saturday, we just couldn't put it off anymore. That stinkin' storm door took over 4 hours to install - and that's with Randy being as "handy" as he is. I can't imagine if he wasn't good with tools and home repairs. But, it's done and looks fabulous! One project down...too many more to go! As for our escape from this place, it looks like it will have to be this spring...probably after the next set of board exams. I guess Costco and Ikea will just have to wait for our money until then!

New Year's Resolutions...

I'm not one for making a lot of resolutions for New Years, mainly because I rarely follow through. Now, it's not that I don't WANT to make changes, improvements, or to learn something new, but I get comfortable in my daily life and I don't really take the time of think about these things. So, as January began I got to thinking what this year's resolutions could be...if I were to make any, that is. This is what I came up with...

1) Post in my blog more often. I WANT to blog - not because anyone really follows this or even cares, but it gives me a chance to express myself and I can use it as a journal to track the progress in our lives (since I don't actually keep a journal of my life). So, this is my first post of the year, and let's hope I do better in 2009 than I did in 2008

2) Learn a new craft. So far I am on my way to accomplishing this. I have been learning to make jewelry. I have a long way to go, but I am having fun doing it. I am really intrigued with metal weaving and have learned the basics. I am getting ready to make a really cool sterling silver bracelet and matching earrings (as soon as my online order gets here!)

3) Get healthy. Well, I'm having a hard time with this one since I've been sick off and on since December. Today I'm feeling pretty good and hopefully I am on the way back up to being well. I have several plans in the back of my mind on how I will become "healthy" and none of them are really appealing...LOL. I really enjoy good (bad) food and don't get nearly enough exercise. And then there is the addiction to coca-cola - I know this is bad for me but I love having one with dinner. I know I feel better when I eat well and exercise...I just have a hard time getting to that point.

4) Save more, spend less. What can I say about this one? impossible? I don't know, but I've gotta try. I'm tired of being broke LOL. And besides, we have a clinic to open soon

5) Lastly, stop procrastinating! As you can see, I'm about a month off in posting this, so this one isn't going as well as it could be. There is so much I need to do and I really can't afford procrastinating, but I can't help myself. I need to change this, especially with Randy's graduation and our upcoming move. We don't know where we're going or what we're doing yet, so I can't procrastinate on this one. We need to decide NOW and make our plans. One year flies by so quickly, and if we don't take charge now we will be homeless, jobless and broke...not a good way to start off a new chapter in our lives. If that isn't motivation, I don't know what is.

Vegas Vacation

With a whole month off to play, we decided to go home for a short visit. This was not just a vacation, but a reconnaissance mission - we really needed to decide this summer whether or not we will go back to Vegas once our Palmer experience is complete. We were lucky to be able to plan our vacation around the family reunion, since we haven't been able to participate for years. The family reunion is usually a huge ordeal with all of the kids and grandkids coming from all over the place. There are usually some activities planned, and this year the boys were planning on playing paintball. Randy was pretty amped for that and borrowed some equipment to take along.





After spending a couple of days in HOT-HOT-HOT Vegas lounging by the pool, we escaped to the boonies up near Ely where Randy's folks live. It is pretty relaxing up there, not to mention cooler than Vegas. We lounged around outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather.





Randy was able to get his brother, Ray, and his neice, Brit excited about the paintball experience; They did a little practicing outside the night before battle.





On the morning of battle, everyone met at the mountain all camo'd out and ready for war. Of course, there was a lot of trash talk between teams starting the day before, so emotions (and adrenaline) were running high. The teams were pretty uneven...our side had very little battle experience (unless you count 'Call of Duty' on PS3) and they pretty much got slaughtered. The only high point for our side was when Jordan actually connected a shot and sent Uncle Roger out of the game. It turned out to be alot of fun, especially for us "watchers"...we could see the battle on both sides.







Well, we had a great time overall...hanging out with family and relaxing. As for our reconnaissance mission...well, we decided that Vegas was not a place we want to go back to live. Really, it's just way too hot, way too crowded, and just way too fast for us. So, now we just need to decide where we will end up.