Caps/Blues Game!

(So - no BS about why I have not blogged. Been busy, still adjusting, blah blah blah.  All true, but doesn't matter.)

A friend from church was given a pair of tickets to the Blues game last night - when my team from DC was visiting!  She is a hockey fan, so clearly we had talked about my love of the sport and how I would love to get tickets to the game.  Wow am I glad I have a big mouth - she invited ME!

I had to debate - and included folks on Facebook who were clearly one sided - whether to wear my Blues shirt or my Caps jersey.  Well before we moved I realized that there would be a dilemma - clearly I have been a fan of the Caps since just after birth, but I am a firm believer that you should root for your home team.  (That is why I could never live in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia)  I decided that I can root for two teams for 82 games a year, but for the two times they play each other I would root for the Caps.

Good news for me is that I am a fan of the sport in general, so I ended up in hockey heaven last night as the two teams played a great, clean game with lots of action, lots of hitting and no fights. (Sorry fight-fans, time and a place, and a hockey game is neither.)  The Caps won 4-1 even though St Louis looked to have played a better game and just didn't get the shots to go in. 

So - I've been to a thousand hockey games, and why blog about this one? Well, for the embarrassment factor!

During TV timeouts they do silly things to pass the time - which I guess is better than watching ads!  They did not do a kiss cam, but they had several fun ones that include dancing for the camera and such. There was a camera operator on the opposite side of the ice that clearly liked the folks in the seats right around ours.  They got a shot of the guy sitting RIGHT in front of us (for celebrity look-alike), then later of a woman a row back and over by about two seats. 

Well, they did a segment to the classic ballad Dream Weaver!  They showed one girl with a dream bubble about an engagement ring - funny! Then the guy beside her, clearly trying to run away from being associated with that, had a "dream" about a Bud Light - funnier!  Was skeeved out when they put up a young boy - maybe 8? - with a picture of a skimpily clothed lady.  Mom and dad were clearly uncomfortable, too.

Then they showed me and Barb!  Then I realized they were showing me because of my Capitals jersey...  I had the thought to pull it up to show my Blues shirt underneath, but I was worried about flashing folks. Nobody wants to see that!  So I sat there and laughed, anticipating "my" dream.  How about this one, my friends.... (picture in a dream bubble)

Oh yes, my friends, it seems that I Dream of Hasselhoff! 

Since it took a moment between put up my ugly mug and coming up with the "dream" picture, I was literally booed and subsequently laughed at by about 15,000 people! In public! At a hockey game!

In other words, my friends, last night was a perfectly awesome night!  GO CAPS! GO BLUES!  GO HOFF!

Playing Catch Up - St Louis Arch!

So, yeah - we went to the St Louis Arch last month after having talked about going for about seven years!  It was a great day, especially considering we kind of decided spur of the moment to go!

We got there early, as they insisted, and walked around the Westward Expansion museum that is housed in the underground part of the arch. Pretty cool stuff that included real artifacts as well as very realistic animal displays!

Since it is St Louis, there was a room dedicated to the history of baseball, and in particular the Cardinals.  I swear that I am going to have to start forcing myself to watch that boring sport or they might kick me out of the state!

Anyway - here are pictures from the trip:

The sun hitting the Arch just right:

All seven of us in a pod designed for three six.  It was tight, but a quick ride so not too bad!

Snapped this on the way in - they were too cute walking hand in hand. I don't usually doctor pictures this much, but I like the way it came out:

View from the top of the arch includes the baseball stadium:

We will surely go back, though the price might make it a regularly recurring event.

In and Out

My family is not one of nudists, just to get that out in the open (ahem), but we are not shy about bodies, especially since we are sharing one bedroom (our choice) and one small bathroom. It’s not out of the ordinary to have two of us doing different things in the bathroom at the same time, and when Abby is trying to get extra attention, she might pop in for a random tooth brushing. Up until recently (three weeks?) Abby has showered with one of us as well. She now showers on her own, and does really well with it!

Okay, now that you are picturing me naked, I will continue with the story that got a little funnier just this morning…

A few weeks back when I was using the potty (yes, I have a three year old, thankyouverymuch) Abby walked by and declared to Anny, loudly, that I have an “out-bottom” which is different from her “in-bottom” of course.

I might have puffed up my chest when she said “Daddy has a BIG out-bottom” too. What can I say, I’m a dude.

Anny and I had a chuckle and chalked it up to something her teacher had said since she is potty training two boys now, and Abby is the only girl anyway. That sounds a lot less silly than “ding dong” and “vijayjay” do. (Thanks Oprah for that last one!) It sounds a lot less weird from a three year old than “vulva” and “penis” do. It fits a nice middle-of-the-road, and I don’t know how far off it is.

We talked with some adult friends that we live with (subtle, right?) and the lady of the house said that her doc even refers to that whole area as the bottom, most likely because it is such when both standing and sitting. Go teacher for being on top of things!

Abby has mentioned it in passing, but it has been rare enough that I had almost forgotten about it. Certainly funny, but not worth posting on the blog. (Except for the awesome mental image of me naked – ZING – got you again!)

But like I said, this morning the whole thing got funnier.

She skipped the potty at home this morning, which is okay with me since the walk to school is about 90 seconds and if an emergency issue came up, I could run her there without issue. When we got to Ms Karen’s I reminded Abby that she needed to go, and one of the boys was on the little potty. Abby looked over and said "he has an out-bottom" as I expected she would.

Then Ms Karen said something strange - "So fun that YOU ALL came up with that - very cute!"

WAIT.

We thought that she was getting it from school, school thinks she got it from here. Our little darling came up with in-bottom and out-bottom all on her own! She came up with a new thing all on her own that is neither too kiddy or too clinical.

How cool is that?!

Update

Long update in quick snippets –

Abby –

Has had a cough for a week, but only when she is sleeping or laying down. She does this about three times a year when the seasons change drastically, as it has done here over the last ten days. I’ve slept on the couch with her a lot so that she is more upright.

Loves her school. Raves about it every day. She is getting into “projects” and brings stuff home at an alarming rate. The sorting is easy for me – has to be really special to her and she has to talk to me about it a few days later to be considered. We are really happy with the creativity and fun they are having together.

I don’t know if I have mentioned here, but she is the only girl there. BIG change from last year! She is getting to be braver, which is good for my little scaredy cat, especially on playground equipment and such. We have seen a difference when we are playing together outside of daycare, too. Abby was scarred by big kids toppling her over like two years ago on playground equipment, so this is a big development for us and one that we are welcoming!

Anny –

School is in full swing and it seems that she is really enjoying herself. I am proud of her for trying to be better at this school about participating in things that Abby and I can be invited to, like football games. That being said, we have not gotten to any just yet. Oy! We’ll get there, I am sure. Hockey season is just around the corner, and her school has a team, so we will likely go to some of those. (Wanted to go tonight, but I will only stand in the rain to watch someone that shares my last name!)

It’s a strange thing for us to not be cooking every night, every week. For those who have not read, we developed a calendar called “Operation Dinner In” on our Google Calendar. It is where we keep track of what we are going to be eating for about three weeks into the future. This helps us plan for groceries (buy a bigger tub of feta and spread it across several meals) which helps us save money. Since we are still living with the very gracious Paul and Sarahlynn (never enough THANKS! for this!), we have taken to alternating weeks. It’s fun beyond my imagination as we get to try some of their favorites and get to share ours, as well as journey to new foods together.

Anny has also taken up running! She is a very dedicated runner, she gets up early to go out for a run before work, then does a long one before the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. I think she has a goal of running a 5K on Halloween weekend, but I have not heard details as of yet. I’m disappointed a bit though. Anny has not asked for new running shoes yet, and I LOVE shoe shopping and want to convince myself into a new pair!

Me –

I’m doing well. I am not used to working so late in the evenings, which is one reason that blogging is suffering. I’m trying to figure out times that can work while still hanging out with everyone.

Work is going exceptionally well. I’m feeling like this place is a good fit for me. I am comfortable here, and people seem to like me, even without having brought brownies to the office yet! I hope to do that on Monday, if I can find time this weekend to bake some. I guess I could store buy, and I just might, but it’s a fun project to do with Abby as well.

I am still quite fat. While Anny runs I sleep. I have been partnering with her to do bedtime more, but that is when I should be out running the streets and am not. I would start tonight, but it’s raining. (I’ll say that again tomorrow!) I am genuinely eating better, in part because my desk is front and center as you walk into our office – I can’t sneak food all day long. I’m sure that if I put a little effort in sometime it would be different, so maybe I will. Maybe.

And that is my update. Hope that your world finds you well!

Another Post About Routine

Phew. Summer really is over in our family, starting today. Anny got her new students for the first *real* day of school, Abby went to daycare and I went to work. Now we can let things really settle into place.

But I will miss summer this year more than most. I got to spend a lot more time at home with Abby and Anny than usual, and probably more than I will again in the foreseeable future in such a chunk.  We did some fun stuff together and got a bit better acquainted with our new town. Good times.

I miss using my camera. I don't have any good reason. Don't know if it's lack of motivation, or just time or what. Have an 8 to 5, which means I'm home just in time to either help with dinner or change clothes and eat.  It was too hot for several weeks, so that is my excuse for that time.  Tonight, though? Nothing better than a sore back from running around all day at work. 

Speaking of which, things at work are going really well.  I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from all sorts of people.  Better than that, my boss has gotten that feedback too, which is important in the (non-profit) corporate world.  I am getting a lot out of meeting everyone because I am at the reception desk, but boredom in a new job is bad.  I have begged onto a couple of tasks, and hope to expand that later this week, to.  I finished a project today that was supposed to take the whole week. I started yesterday at 4 and finished before 2 today.  I am looking forward to new challenges with open arms!

I need to be better about taking my meds, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Anny and I have decided to join the church that Paul and Sarahlynn go to.  It is bigger than all of the churches I have ever joined. Combined, probably.  I have done some church studying for a while now and know that the reality is that a huge church is made up of a bunch of smaller communities, so it is not nearly as intimidating. Part of the perk for me is that in a church this big, it will be easier to "hide" from responsibility for longer. I have loved every day of serving as an Elder, Deacon and even as staff, but to go to worship and not worry about why one of the fans is not spinning, or how many people were in Sunday school or how many will show up for an event in the evening is kind of nice.  I will get back into it some day, but it's kind of nice for now. 

That being said, I really miss our church family back in Maryland.  REALLY great people who have loved us like family since the day we visited.  Really. 

Time to get the girl-child into the shower. She is swimming every day at her new day care.  We went with in-home for many reasons, but one of the biggest is the focus on being outside and doing a HUGE variety of different things from day to day.  Yesterday they went to a museum and today they went to the park. Tomorrow is the library. She might not have a huge class of kids to hang out with (seven instead of 18) she is getting a pretty awesome experience in this deal!

Seriously, enough typing. I hope to get back to regular blogging soon. No promises, but soon.

On Being Tourists

With our wonderful house hosts being out of town, we have been left to our own imaginations as to ways to occupy our time in a new place this week.  I has been, in a word, insanity!

We have visited five malls.  Really, five different malls.  And Target and the grocery store too, come to think of it.  Lots of shopping.  The weather has been either really hot or really wet (as it is right now), and we have been trying to watch out money that goes out.  With that in mind we have been very sure to not eat at a sit-down restaurant, and to eat at least two of our three meals a day at home.  Bringing our own snacks on outings has helped on that front, too.

Since we are not really hobos (sorry to any hobos out there reading my blog, your life is incredibly hard and I hate to use you as an example, but really, it's the truth) we could not make our time all about going to shopping malls or bus depots to stay cool, so we headed out on other adventures, too!  Adventures like...

We went to the St Louis Zoo one morning before the crowds or the heat arrived.  As it turns out around here, the zoo is free, but the "extras" like the Children's Zoo and Carousel are not, unless you are there during the first hour.  Since we are early risers, we got there in time to catch the Children's Zoo which has inside and outside fun, and was a great choice for us.  Overall, it is a really fun zoo.  It has lots of history, and lots and lots of acreage to cover.  We have been twice now and have only gotten to about a third on each visit.  We might have to head there again in the coming weeks to finish it off!  Abby's favorite part is the penguins, but I didn't get a picture of the penguins on this trip, so... She also loved brushing the goats in the Children's Zoo:

While Anny went to meet with one of her new co-workers, Abby and I headed over to The Museum of Transportation, which is just around the corner from the house.  We will probably buy a year-long pass because of both the affordability of it and the closeness to where we are.  It's small and focuses much more on trains and cars than other types of transportation, but it's the Mid West and that is the deal.  Abby was SO small around the trains, and here is an example:

Yesterday we went to the Budweiser Brewery for the Tour.  We had a really good group of folks, and a fairly small one at that!  I think there were about a dozen people, but we saw another group that was at least 30 people, which means that by the time you sit to listen, they have to move you quickly on so that the next group can come through.  They are very clockwork.  Abby was REALLY good for the tour, which was awesome for all of us.  She loved the horses, of course, but also liked to just be on "the big walk" from spot to spot.  I was really impressed with how ornate all of, well, all of EVERYTHING was in the factory.  There are four (or five?) chandeliers that stretch for three floors of one of the buildings, and the picture below is of the classic AB Eagle.  This is a room that has use.  It is a work room.  And it is incredibly decorated!

When Anny was talking with her new-co-worker (see above) they planned an outing for today to The Butterfly House.  Amanda (co-worker) has a 15 month old daughter, so meeting up there was a perfect idea!  As it turns out, another teacher friend with a 2+ year old daughter came along too, and it really was a great time!  The girls were really good, the butterflies were plentiful and the laughter was too.  I only got one picture of Abby, but several of the butterflies.  Check this one out:

We have had fun, but are very much looking forward the return of the cousins and their parents tomorrow!  This is a sampling of pictures, for the record, and you can find more HERE!

New Look, New Feel

All sorts of things are changing all around me, so when Blogger offered an easy way to jazz up the look of my blog, I hopped on it.  If you read through a reader, click through for a change.  Just this once.

Interview(s)

This week I had three interviews with the same company for the same position. I am hopeful to share with you soon that they have extended an offer of employment, but in case they do not and I want to apply for another position later there, I will withhold the company name.

The first of the interviews was REALLY fun! Strange, but fun. They went into strange office details, and even showed me a picture of a car that went through the glass about ten feet from where I would be sitting. I don't believe that it was intended to scare me, but it was clear that it is a significant part of the history of this particular building within the organization. Pretty crazy to see, though, considering the exterior of the building and the way the streets cross. Insanity.

The position that I have been trying for is as a receptionist. Several folks have pointed out that it seems a bit beneath my skills and history. That is, quite honestly, true. My priority right now is to secure a job and will work through advancing as I go along. Anny and I have talked about that, and it's a high priority for me that I be able to be around the house a bit more as we are getting settled into the new city/time zone/side of the Mississippi River. I don't want a high-stress, late nights job ever, but really do not want it at this time in our lives. The company has tracks for Admins (among others) to advance, and that knowledge is enough for me right now. Another huge bonus if I get this is that there is 100% tuition reimbursement. By golly, folks, I might be going back to school!

It would be a huge change for me to work at this place (sorry, the secrecy does indeed seem strange, especially for me!) in particular because of it's size. There are 400+ people working just in that particular facility. My last office had nine, and the one before that had three. Even combining both offices it would be about 400 short of the folks I would be working with! My extroverted side might just get completely giddy about this prospect! I would probably not see most of the folks most days, but wow, that is just a huge number.

I am hopeful, prayerful, that this job comes through. It's in a faith-based organization, which would make me happy. I am one that believes we work now for reward in heaven, or something like that. They did ask if I was comfortable with meetings that opened with prayer. I chuckled, since I have been leading prayer at meetings for 10+ years at this point!

Safe and Sound

Day two of driving was excellent, if not downright boring.  At one point I pulled up Bill Cosby and Jim Gaffigan because I knew that laughs would keep me more alert than just my normal "Monroe Weekend" play list on the iPod.  I will admit it was pretty fun when my Father in Law was jamming with me to Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers!  He complimented me on my generous mix of all sorts of music on the play list, which was nice.

Sever folks have asked how Abby did in the car - she did REALLY great.  She's a trooper.  She's a great car traveler.  Nana brought several treats - new books or stickers - and we had pulled some of her old-but-good toys into the mix so that she got to be excited by the "new" find all over again!  During the two days of traveling she only had one breakdown, and one potty "emergency" on the road - but it was even more luckily something that she was able to warn us about, so we managed to get pulled over off of the highway and got her on to her pink potty with success!  She's such a big girl - the best!

We did manage to have breakfast, lunch AND dinner at Cracker Barrel, which means Anny got what she wanted.  I highly suggest you look at their summer breakfast meals, it's a much lighter and filling and YUMMY! 
I was proud of my car - this is the first time that I know it has been out of the greater DC/Ocean City circuit, and it did really well.  I can not speak too highly of the folks at Johnny's Auto Service - they really like to bust my chops, but they keep the cars in tip top shape. I don't think I have put that much gas into my car in four months of combined driving!

All of our stuff from the car is just stuffed in our room, we will sort tomorrow at some point.  Tomorrow our plans also include setting up a PO Box, getting new cell numbers and just playing with the girls together.  I can't wait.  I have a job interview on Thursday afternoon, so please keep me in your prayers.

It Is Upon Us

It's 5:09 am where I am.  In two days it will be 4:09 am where I will be.  Where we will live.  We are excited about being in Saint Louis and being closer to our nieces and Anny's brother and his wife.  Between now and then, though, there is some logistical chaos of finishing packing the POD with odds and ends like "our beds" and such silly stuff.  They will go in after we have breakfast. 

Anny and I were noticing last night that we have culled and culled, and yet there are things we wanted to take that we can not.  Since our plan is to find a place that actually fits our family, rather than whatever is biggest, we don't need a lot of things.  Somehow we still have just a little too much, and some things are going to be left to my brother and neighbors.  (Congrats Erin on the new Ikea chairs that you don't know about yet...!)

We were once again overwhelmed with love this weekend - Saturday our neighbors had a picnic that was really relaxing and just nice and fun.  Sunday morning we went to church and went through the emotions that go along with leaving folks that have been such a big part of our spiritual health and life for the last five years.  There were tears shed, but many more prayers for our pastor as she is dealing with some health issues that prevented her from being with us on our last Sunday.  We missed seeing her greatly.

Last night we had dinner with the two boys that might as well be our nephews, and their parents, who I have been best friends with since freshman year of high school.  We will miss our family, and our church, but it was really hard to give out those hugs last night to the boys and Bryan and Charlene.  They are amazing parents and even better friends to us. 

I would be a terrible son-in-law, and a worse human being if I didn't express my appreciation for both their emotional support, and (maybe moreso right now) the copious amount of packing, cleaning and help they have done around the house for the last week.  I can never repay them, and know that I would be a fool to even try to.  I figure that such a public "THANK YOU!!" to Jim and Carol will be more than they ask.  (And since I know Carol is reading this, even better!)

This morning I am taking odds and ends to different places and picking up Starbucks for the coffee drinkers in the house, then we'll move some furniture next door, finish packing the POD and clean house.  After that we will load up two cars and start driving west.  Above all we are excited, but this morning - these two days - will be a long haul.

Even if you don't want us to be heading West, please wish us God Speed.  We will be back in the area later this fall.  I grew up here.  Even when we say goodbye, it's not for good.  This is the right time for the right move, and it's something we feel we need to do for us.  I know that some folks do not understand that, and I respect it. 

(Thanks will flow to Paul and Sarahlynn in the coming days, weeks and probably months! Promise!!)