MOVING TO HOUSTON!

We're moving! Well... that's just slightly premature. We know where my internship is, as of yesterday at 4:19pm, and we couldn't be happier.

For Richard, it's getting back to Texas, but for me, it's that PLUS the added bonus of getting the BEST internship site out there: Methodist Hospital in Houston. I'm so excited! My number one pick for internship site, AND no more -7 (or colder) temps... and a happy husband?! God is good, and i'm glad the wait is over. Now to just finish the house, and put it on the market, and find a new house, and pack, and move (including the kitties), and get it all done in the next few months. Oh, the excitement of my life. LOL.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Just look at that Tx flag flying! ;)

Sick

Well, it was bound to happen eventually... especially given that the only health insurance we have is the craptastic plan from the school... So, now i'm sick. Oh, joy!

I tried despirately not to believe it at first. I even blamed it on the sawdust Rich had stirred up in the garage, cutting beadboard and whatnot for the bathroom remodel project.  *cough*  ...oh, that was just some dust particulate matter, obviously, dear. I couldn't get sick...i don't have time.

24 hrs later, and I'm in bed, full-on sick mode. Fever and everything. Ick.

With the amount of snot in my head that's making everything sound like it's underwater, and the pain in my throat/lungs that feels like sandpaper with each cough, all i want to do is sleep. Unfortunately, that's an issue. Why, when the only remedy is "rest" is that so hard to get?!  Lying down is unbearable (i sense i'm about to drown), and sitting up is not condusive to a good night's slumber, so i've been forced into a half-sitting, half-supine sort of arrangement--pillows strategically placed--on the couch.  Which the kitties find to be quite agreeable. ("Oh, a fuzzy blanket and a warm human?! Don't mind if i do...")

Now if only i could get one of the fuzzy space heaters to pass me the remote...

1st Chistmas

Total success. Enjoyed each other's company, visited the neighbors (and started our day with a bloody mary and some of the best biscuts and susage gravy i've ever had. Yeah, i know. They're Yankees!), hung out with a friend from school, and spent the majority of the day in PJ's. I count this as a win.

Even started some new traditions for Christmas Eve, thanks to the brillance of Peggy and John Steele. Fondue smorgasboard food + lots of board games. (fueled with a little wine and lots of good cheer.)

Now if only the Cowboys would pull off a win so we can all get our Christmas wishes fulfilled.

First Christmas

Less than a week before Christmas! And two weeks of play ahead of me. :) I'm still running around trying to get everything done and packed and sent off to everyone before Christmas Day. (I feel we may need to take out a small loan to send out all the gifts! LOL!!) I had such fun making ornaments, that i wanted to send one to EVERYONE. Plus, gifts to parents, grandparents, brother/sis-in-law, and friends gets pricy when you're sending more than just a card. Totally worth it, though. I loooove gift giving more than gift getting....
As for myself, i'd rather have an adventure day and a picture to remember it by more than anything else in the world, which is why the time off is going to be so special. A lot of the cool touristy things Rich and i have wanted to do together since moving have been postponed either because of time or finances or both, but hopefully we will get to check some things off our our "wish list" soon. But really, i'm looking forward to Christmas day... just church with Ricard, being generally lazy, and relaxing together. Coffee, and breakfast with just Toak and Mini, and maybe a walk in the snow... if the weather cooperates and the wind isn't so cold. And only one rule: no projects or home improvement tasks for a whole day. whoo hoo!
We're so close to having many of our home projects done.. it feels like i'm forever saying that, though. Some days i just have to pretend the insanity doesn't exist, because it's impossible to clean up when you're living in a make-shift construction site.
Ah, well. Life is good.

Updates...

Can't sleep...time for updates:
We're going to have a "white christmas"! which doesn't excite anyone here in Chicago except maybe me... but it's pretty awesome.
We got our first snow on December 2nd, which is pretty late in the year for around here. I've been so swamped with the last weeks of school that i haven't really had time to enjoy it, but we did take some pictures of the house, and a test drive around the neighborhood...and a few days later i went to downtown Lake Forest to take pictures of the square to send to Grandma.
No snowman yet... soon, hopefully. :)

The house is looking so good... i'm so grateful and impressed with all the hard work Richard is (somehow) finding the time and energy to do. The new kitchen tile is IN and just needs to be grouted, and the new pendant lights are up over the sink. I know it's sad to say, but i'll be sad to see this house go after how amazing the kitchen (and the rest of the house) turned out. But Rich promises me that we can do it to any house we want to, and he'll be glad to do it to another one--in Texas--again. ;)

We've decorated for Christmas, and hopefully, this weekend i'll get my gifts finished up and sent off to people. I think we are going to be doing a "Christmas video DVD" instead of a letter, if Rich has his way. Fine by me, as long as i don't have to do the editing. I think it sounds like a fun idea.
School is going well... got to do a lot of awesome stuff lately. This semester is really picking up speed. Today we did a heart dissection. It was AMAZING. I can't wait to begin work. Or even just the clinicals...
*sigh*
Clinicals. That's on my heart lately. God will provide all the answers. "He can make a way where there seems to be no way." ...theme of my life. So...i'm trying to just not rush it and let it all fall into place. Still, i wish someone would respond soon so i don't look like i'm dragging my feet, when really i just have nothing to report and am trying to delay until i know what the plan is... So far, no one in Tx has jumped for joy at the idea of starting a new clinical site, so i might be duking it out with the rest of the crew for the available ones. We'll see.
Can't sleep tonight... too much on my mind. Including tomorrow's presentation that i'm nervous about. Not about speaking. I love public speaking  (unlike most people, i know), but the professor that is really, really into the details about the biochemistry and physiology of the disease i'll be speaking on has told me he plans to make an appearance for my presentation because he "loves the kidneys and their associated Pathologies"... so, lucky me, i'll be sure to have to answer questions at the end. Hopefully i am prepared for him...
Ok. enough procrastinating. I'm going to try to sleep.  Maybe.




I DID, "I DO", I ALWAYS WILL

6 months ago yesterday, was our wedding. 6 months ago today, we were on the road for a new town, new house, new life in Illinois.
Some days i feel like it was 6 years ago... like i can't really remember a time before being married and in school again. Other days, i still can't believe we've been married this long (it's flown by!), and i'm astounded that i'm half way through my first year in school.

I love being a wife. I have a great husband. And I had a good mom who was (and is) a good role model for what a helpmate looks like. Navigating the waters of "Team Notgrass" is tricky, but at least I have good examples of what a Godly marriage should look like, and i'm so grateful for that.

It means so much to me right now, with the unexpected "good news" of a friend who is getting remarried before the ink on her divorce is even dry. It's not my business, or concern, but with the whole ordeal being played out on Facebook, and her (mostly grown) daughters fighting and visibly hurt/conflicted over the relationships both old and new... it's just very real to me how often i take Marriage for granted as a lasting, life-long, loving relationship.

I know (even now, as a novice) that marriage takes work, and love is hard. And people are people, full of faults and sins and stupidity and foolishness and mistakes of all kinds. I'm aware people change, and two people, living as one, have to work to change and grow together even as they grow individually. None of it is magic, or easy, and no one should be judged (ESPECIALLY by me, a mere newlywed) on how they chose to live their lives and conduct their marriage...  but...wow.

To have parents, and grandparents, and in-laws, and aunts/uncles throughout the family who have stayed married through the hardships and heartaches or whatever trials and tribulations were thrown their way... what a great testament to marriage i've had, that i didn't even fully appreciate until i became a wife!

I'm barely even at the tip of the iceberg, i know. I have no wisdom to impart, nor should i be judging the relationships of others after half a year, right?! Our 80-something neighbors just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week. AMAZING. They are a wonderful couple who have so much to share about what it means to live "until death do us part", even when they don't use a single word. The way they care for each other, the way they look at one another, the mutual respect after so many years together... i want to be like them! Who wouldn't?!

My friend's news weighs on my heart. I want for her to be happy, but "congratulations" just don't seem to be in order. A month ago, she was asking for prayer requests as she and her ex-husband underwent counseling to try and reconcile their marriage... and i sense that maybe she said "Yes" to this new man simply because she was afraid to be alone, and even as an insult to her former partner about how quickly she could move on. But i don't sense a peace, or happiness, or completeness in her with the things she's said... and the things she's left unsaid. And that bothers me enough to write about it....and try to figure out why i can't simply express joy at her news.

I count my blessings that i'm only an outsider looking in, and i pray that i'll never have to face the heartache she or her family has felt in the last year... It only serves to remind me how much i need to respect and honor my marriage, and be grateful for the role models in my life. My mom is due a very big hug and a "thank you" the next time i see her. I may even tell her why.

Late Night update

Not feeling as funny tonight, but i realized, as i have no "followers" and no one to read this,... it really doesn't matter. I'm thinking of doing bullet points.

• Rich's new job is going well. I sense he enjoys having a job, because in a way, if you don't have a job to complain about, what do you have?! Exactly. Hence, the "i wish i had a job" is now a much cheerier "man, i wish i didn't have to go to work today." And everyone knows that's preferable, no?
• I'm officially on vacation. But not really. Before we fly out for Texas on tuesday, there are a lot of house things to get squared away... namely kitchen things, and mainly painting. Painting is my job. Some people are not cut out for painting. We let those people play with powertools instead---or go to work. Either is fine.
• I invited Mormons into the house yesterday. Still not sure why. They looked cold. So... now i have a(nother) book i wont read. Weird thing is, I didn't even really have a conversation with them that was worth having. I hadn't left the house all day, and i suppose at that point, ANY human interaction was better than watching the latest coat of paint dry. So mostly i nodded, let them de-thaw a bit, and was like..."Alrighty, then, fellas. Thanks. I'll be seein' ya." *sigh* Lame.
• Speaking of lame, i just checked my grades for my final Final. I indeed missed one, giving me a B.  SIX lousy, stinkin' questions long, over one of the most pertinant chapters in the book, and i miss one because i over-thought the answer and chose the "next best correct answer and not the VERY BEST one." Shoot.

That is all for now. Pics of the trip and of the house remodel maybe by Thanksgiving... hopefully.