I think I'm back

Ok, it was brought to my attention last night that I have neglected my "public again" blog as well as everyone else's blog which I never read anymore. This is what the real world has done to me. I have my daily work routine and it feels like there is no time (or truthfully, just no desire) to surf the web, read blogs, or write on my own.

I resolve to be a better blooger. And blog reader. There.

So I guess the first step is to bring you bloog readers (hmmm is that 1? 2? 3 of you?) up to speed with what's been happening in my life, and we can then move forward with "regular blooging."

Shortly after Hurricane Ike blew through, I started my new job which has been quite fabulous. Of course, it has not been easy as there is constantly something that I don't know or don't understand that I have to read up on or ask someone about. In other words, even if I don't have something to do, there's always something to learn. The learning curve, in fact, is a bit overwhelming right now but I expect that things will taper off a bit and most things will come easily as time passes. I'd describe my job to you in more detail, but we'll leave that for a later poost.

In the past 28 days I have traveled to three other time zones:
-Mountain Standard Time: I was in Denver, CO at the end of October attending a Children's Oncology Group Meeting
-Eastern Time: My precious grandmother passed away at the age of 99 and we traveled to New Jersey for her services. She lived a long and full life and is now resting peacefully with the Lord.
-Pacific Time: I just returned from Arcadia, CA for some meetings and training.

In general, I don't enjoy traveling, especially if my other half is not with me. But it certainly is nice having all-expense paid trips where I stay in fancy hotels, select choice items off the menu at restaurants (instead of picking the most economical item), and having an excuse to visit my friends while I'm in their hometowns. Most notably I was able to reconnect with a childhood friend in California who I had not seen in 17 years.

In more current news, I believe I have fully recovered from the nastiest stomach bug I have ever had in my entire life. I am a generally healthy person and so spending an entire night sitting on the pot while at the same time hunched over a trash bag ridding my body of every last ounce of food was miserably traumatizing. But on the bright side, at least I got to take a day off work, be lazy and watch lots of movies.

That's about it. Keep your eyes peeled like oranges for more poosts. I won't promise that I won't let you down.

Catching Up...

Since my last poost, we have

1. Journeyed to Maine and back

• beautiful scenery
• adventurous hiking
• delicious seafood
• wild blueberries
• Martha Stewart sighting
  

2. Survived Hurricane Ike

• the most horrendous winds I have ever seen/heard
• power outages
• flooding
• trees down everywhere
• "PODs" = "Points of Distribution" becoming a key word
• new meaning to waiting in a "long line" for gas (Nate waited in line for almost 2 hours one morning)
• grocery stores with empty produce sections, scarcity of bread, milk, and other frozen or refrigerated items (I was really craving bananas and milk for several days and could find it no where)
  

Thankfully we only had a brief power outage and no damage to our property. Please pray for the many others who are still without power and who are facing substantial damage.

p.s.

I'm going public again.

And I'm going to start referring to Nate as "Nate" instead of "The Husband," and Cheyenne as "Cheyenne," instead of "The Cat."

It's good to be done

That's all I have to say about that!

eeeek!

For the first time since our wedding, I momentarily misplaced my wedding ring.

Last night we were at TCBY for 99 cent waffle cone Wednesday (thanks to Lisa B, who enlightened me about this spectacular special offer). I was wiping some fro yo mess off of my fingers which had dribbled out of the bottom of the cone when my heart skipped a beat. My left ring finger was bare. Where was my wedding ring?? The Husband, being of a calmer nature than me, smiled and explained to me that since the ring does not come off of my finger easily, I must have left it in the bathroom after I took a shower, shortly before we left the house. Right. Even though this made sense, I couldn't figure out why it would have taken me this long to have realized it was missing. I was still a nervous wreck. Not only was it my wedding ring, but it was an heirloom. I wanted to call The Cat and ask her to check in the bathroom to see if my ring was there, but obviously that wasn't going to fly.

Needless to say, we raced back home (well, at least The Husband describes my driving as so) and found it sitting on the bathroom counter, right where I always put it after showers in order to put on lotion. What a relief!

Pesky Skeeters

It never fails that in outdoor gatherings, I am either the only person to get bitten by mosquitoes, or, I get the most bites out of everyone. Unfortunately, I have a strong reaction to mosquito bites, which makes it difficult for me to enjoy the great outdoors as much as I would love to. My bites have swelled up to a range from about an inch in diameter (never smaller) to probably four inches in diameter (not an exaggeration). In addition to the massive swelling, the area(s) turn pink/red, get very warm, and if I have enough bites on my body at once (8 or more?), I feel dizzy and lightheaded (these symptoms are not to be confused with my unfortunate drinking allergy). To prevent such reactions, I've tried insect repellent, but the mosquitoes have braved the scent and bitten me anyway. I've tried wearing long sleeves and jeans, but the mosquitoes have bitten me through my jeans on many occasions. I've also tried constant movement at outdoor gatherings, where I look like I may have tourette syndrome. Nothing is fool-proof.

I don't know why the mosquitoes can smell my blood from miles away, or why they single me out, or why I have such extreme reactions. Perhaps it is my type O blood. Whatever the reason, it's really an annoyance that I could do without. I would love to have the mild (or nonexistent) reaction that most people have to mosquitoes.

Change

We cleaned the house yesterday and in the process I somehow swapped the placement of our toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder. After brushing my teeth last night, I realized that I had blindly taken "my" toothbrush from it's usual location and used it, without first looking at it. Can you see where this is going? Yep. I used The Husband's toothbrush. I guess things like this happen in marriage. You accidently use your spouse's toothbrush, acknowledge the mistake, panic for a brief moment, then move on. Now, had it been one of my brother's toothbrushes, I am sure I would have thrown a fit.

"At least I can adapt to change," The Husband said to me. Contrary to my lack of attention to the toothbrush I was using, he had actually looked and used his own toothbrush, despite its swapped location in the toothbrush holder.

Whoever said I always pay careful attention to details better think again.