A Thai Tale

So, since I'm off this week, I'm spending the time at the apt. trying to get a lot of things done before we head to Iowa for the holidays. Have I been productive? I guess it depends on who you ask. This weekend, I sent out all the IS edits to the authors for their review. To date, I've gotten 4/6 back and have actually finished 3 of them. I got one more today, but it is going to require a lot of thought and madness, so I left it alone. That leaves about 3 authors I've yet to hear from, but they have time. I always like the feeling of getting all of those edits done. My deadline isn't until January 10, so I think I'm doing ok so far.

The dissertation has been the main project. Today, I emailed first drafts of chapters 4 and 5 to my director. These are the results chapters, and it feels like I've been working on them all semester (ok, so I have been). They were originally one big chapter, but it was getting out of hand, so I split them up into two chapters of about 40 pages each. I have to say, I actually didn't hate writing chapter 5. It was much easier than chapter 4. I guess I am just more comfortable writing in a report-like matter with my own reflections mixed in. Of course, the Director hasn't commented on them yet, so they could be crap for all I know. I started on the Analysis chapter too, which as far as I can tell is going ok, but what do I know? I've never written one of those before. It's the Methodology chapter that's killing me. I've done 5 drafts so far and just can't seem to get it right. So that's what's been happening here.

Today, after writing for about 3 hours and actually going to the workout facility at the apt., I treated myself to lunch at this little Thai place down the street. I've been meaning to go, but I just never have done it. I thought the fact that I emailed 80 pages to the "Director" was cause enough to celebrate myself. I also started getting a little sad knowing that there are no such Thai places where we're moving in Iowa. Sigh. The place was quaint and quiet, and I enjoyed my Pad Thai until some loud business people came in. Correction - loud business MAN. A man and two women to be exact. For the next 20 minutes I was subjected to the man's (loud) soapbox lecture on how wonderful the South Beach diet is. The two young and naive women with him ate it up, practically jumping up and down and exclaiming how they were "definitely, like totally, going to try it." Now, having been one who tried the South Beah diet (to no avail - I'm a fan of bread, what can I say?), I know it's not as easy as this fellow was making it out to be. (Plus I caught him on a few things he got wrong about the program.) Long story short: the Thai food was ok, but the atmosphere get annoying really fast with this guy. I'm just glad I don't have to work with him.

Well, it's almost 6 p.m. and I'm waiting for Ken to come home from work so we can find something for dinner. Last night, we ate a little something at home and then wandered over to the apt. clubhouse where they were hosting a holiday celebration for the renters. It was quite lovely. They had a fire going in the fireplace, music, and some tasty little treats. We didn't stick around too long though as there were several children running around and by the time I'd had a cracker or two, I'd reached my limit on dodging children for the evening.

I was proud of myself for one thing yesterday. At Ken's work, they had a holiday potluck and he needed to bring something. Since I'm home this week, I told him I'd make something. I made fudge, which I haven't made since Dad was alive, and, for the first time, little smokies in sweet sauce. I wasn't too pleased with the smokies and didn't think they tasted that great, but when Ken brought home my mini-crock pot, it was empty, so I guess they couldn't have been too bad. And the fudge was gone too! A minor accomplishment on my part, I'd say.

Happy Holidays

Ah...the week before Christmas. Finally, I am done with working for the semester. Of course, this does not mean I am done doing work. But at least I am not driving anywhere next week and can stay home and work. It finally feels a little bit like break. And, of course, we had a bit of a snow storm last night to make it feel like the holidays. We didn't get the 9-12 inches they said we might, but we did see probably 2 or so.

Ken and I braved the storm last night to go out for dinner. I've been craving Mexican food lately, and Ken has been a sport and gone with me. For those of you who don't know - Ken's idea of Mexican food includes only tacos: shell, meat, the tiniest bit of cheese, and ketchup. Yes, ketchup. He doesn't eat beans and is so-so on the rice. That doesn't sound very Mexican to me. Needless to say, going out for good Mexican food is kind of wasted on him. But he indulged me and we ate at a Tex-Mex place in Bolingbrook where I had a chicken chimichanga and he had a hamburger.

We've been bad in terms of eating out this weekend. Friday night neither one of us felt like cooking, so we tried this place we'd heard about called White Fence Farms. It boasts of having the world's greatest chicken, and apparently it's been around for over 50 years. Now, we are particular fans of the Del Rhea Chicken basket here in Illlinois. We love it - the atmosphere is great: a huge fireplace with lots of chicken decor. They have really good soup and rolls and Ken speaks highly of the chicken itself. It's one of those old Route 66 stops and has been around since the 1940s. But on Friday we decided to branch out and try White Fence Farms. We both gave it about a 3/10. Ken had the chicken and I had whitefish (so we could try something different). The fish was ok, but had far too much breading. I thought the chicken was fine--nothing to write home about, but ok. Ken said Del Rhea's was far superior. They didn't have rolls or anything and the place was so big that we felt a little lost. They did have a lot of nice decorations, antiques and whatnot, but it wasn't something we'd try again. Plus, Ken was very distracted the whole time by a woman eating there who was wearing a lightup holiday necklace. The thing kept flashing throughout dinner and it was driving him nuts.

Otherwise, the weekend's been pretty quiet. I spent most of the day working on editing and got a lot accomplished. Ken did various organizing projects. We took a couple of breaks in between working and managed to watch the whole movie Rudy, which we found at a thrift store for $1. I also spent time cleaning the apt. which has suffered from us being very busy. It now looks and feels a lot better.

We've had our Xmas decorations up for a while and so here are a few pictures. We don't have a fireplace, so we improvised on the stockings, hanging them on our big TV cabinet (normally, the doors are open and the stockings hang on the inside). When we move back to Iowa, I believe we'll be renting Ken's sister Kathy's house which has a fireplace, so next year, we may actually hang these correctly. The cats, of course, have their own stockings. We had to get one for Artimus, which he really got into as you can see from the picture. Tucker appears to be interested things other than his stocking. We also got the cats a few toys last weekend for the holidays. Ken picked out squeeky mouse and I picked out a catnip mouse. Tuck loved the squeeky one while Arty was mildly interested in both.

End of Finals Week (almost)

Here it is the end of "finals week" for the university. I haven't felt the real pang of that since I'm not teaching, but people around me keep mentioning it so I feel somewhat in the mix. Work is very busy these days as we make any and all preparations for the Teaching & Learning Symposium before January. My big project has been working on the program and gathering headshots of the presenters. It's amazing how slow professors can be. Give them a month to get a picture to you, and they all wait until the last day (hour even) to do so.

I'm looking forward to next week. I'm staying home (in Romeoville) and working, yes working. I have a lot of work to do -- editing to finish and two diss chapters to prepare for "the Director." I also need to start my analysis chapter so that I can enjoy my break as much as possible. I said I'd get a draft of that to him shortly after break. I do feel good that I finally got my Illinois English Bulletin article off to Jan. I've had that sitting on my desk since mid-October. I also need to revise a ReadWriteThink lesson that I finally got feedback on. It'd be nice to have that money before the end of the year, but I don't think that I'll quite make that (self-imposed) deadline with everything else that's going on. Maybe I'll get to it in January.

I'm also looking forward to another visit from Suzie and Rachel who will be stopping by on their way down south for the holidays. It will be nice to see them and Baby Jackson before we head back to Iowa.

Ken got his official start date for Deere: Feb 18. Thank goodness! I was so worried it'd be early January as the original offer letter stated. Now we at least have some extra time to prepare. With the Symposium, dissertating, looking for a job, and planning to move, January should be interesting, to say the least.

December 8

Real original title, eh? I've got nothing to offer by way of a creative title this morning. So far, I've spent the morning working on IS editing. Believe it or not, it took me 5-some hours to get through 1 article. Yes, 1 article. The author did a horrible job with formatting, which just served to make me angrier and angrier as I read. I even had to email the journal's editor and complain about this one person! Let this be a lesson to all of you remotely interested in publishing: don't p** off the copyeditor! Read the journal's formatting guidelines and follow them or risk the wrath of an overworked, underpaid copyeditor!

Okay, enough of my rant. This weekend will find Ken and me traveling to Cedar Rapids today for a short military thing. I'm going along for the sake of getting out of the apt and staying in a hotel even though I have oodles of work to do. While he's at his conference "board" thing in the morning, I'll be working away on projects in the hotel. I'm excited about staying at a hotel (for free!) and hopefully to relaxing in a hot tub if the hotel has one.

By Monday, we should have a good indication of when Ken will start his new job and when we'll have to deal with moving again. (Oy!) Thankfully, however, Deere pays moving costs and we're going to enjoy it for sure....that's right...we're letting the movers do the packing and the hauling! Praise be for those corporate jobs. Now I won't feel like a burden on my friends and family who helped us move to Romeoville only 5 short months ago. (Note here, thank goodness Deere also pays relocation costs associated with breaking apt. leases. What a mess that would be.)

I still have to do some organizing and pack the things I don't want the movers to deal with (read here: "break"), but I can handle that I think. I'll also need to figure out what I'm taking to B-N with me for the duration of my final (fingers crossed) spring semester. I'm waiting on final confirmation from my B-N residence facilitator (i.e., the person/people I plan to stay with), but I think things are all a-go. I have to say how wonderful the people in B-N have been, my CTLT crew and Heartland tutoring friends. When I first mentioned the new situation, several people offered to "shelter" me. Their outpouring of support has really taken me aback. I was so worried about what I was going to do, but all I had to do was mention the new situation and people like Jan, Claire, and Lisa all welcomed me. It's meant more to me than I can express. I will really miss the wonderful people and the friends I've made in Illinois.

Okay - have to go pack for what the weather channel's calling "wintery-mix" Cedar Rapids. Ah, the midwest. Isn't she lovely?

Deadline Woes

Just when I was starting to feel good about some dissertation progress I was making, I had a realization that time is indeed running out. In other words, in order for me to finish and graduate in May, I have a lot that has to happen NOW.

As many of you know, I've been having trouble with my dissertation director, who seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time to read and respond to drafts. So after chatting with Jan (my second reader), I decided to talk to the Grad Director. Roberta, grad director, was wonderful, although I wasn't pleased that she said it's perfectly normal for faculty to take anywhere up to 6 weeks to respond to a draft. She had good insight about my director's tendencies, and so we created a timeline for my completion which I shared with him.

One thing I did not know about was that in order to finish and graduate by May (according to the Grad Handbook), I will need to have a full draft of my diss to my committee members 2 months before the grad college's final format check date! This means I need to have drafts of everything to them by Feb 21. This was a little earlier than I'd planned, but certainly do-able. The only thing I'm now worried about is getting my director to read, respond, and allow me time to revise AND get them to the committee members for their review BEFORE that deadline. You see, the deal is that they need to have seen drafts of chapters before that Feb 21 deadline at which time they see the whole thing.

Now, my director doesn't seem to like to allow me to send drafts to my committee members until he's 100% satisfied with them, which means upwards around 5-7 drafts of each chapter. That, coupled with his slow 2-7 week turnaround time to me, makes it nearly impossible for me to revise and have things to him in a timely manner, let alone sending drafts to others before Feb 21. I'm trying not to worry about this now (hard to do when one has OCD), and right now my only comfort is that I have the Grad Director informed and on my side in case he slows things too much. But the reality of it all is starting to sink in. As if writing the darn thing wasn't hard enough, why does one have to worry about deadline crap like this? Oy.

Add to this the new stress of thinking about Ken moving, me moving back to B-N, editing projects that are terrible this issue, Christmas present-buying stress, and I'm one distressed cookie.

Iowa, Here We Come

I guess it's more official now, so I can share. Ken and I are moving back to Iowa. Yes, this is the big news. He has been offered a job at John Deere in Waterloo with plans to accept it. As of right now, our plans aren't completely set, but it looks as though he'll move back to Waterloo in January or February without me, and I'll move back to Bloomington-Normal for the spring semester to finish. I'll move back to Waterloo in May after I graduate.

I'm not sure what I'll do for a job yet as the options are a bit more limited in Waterloo than in the Chicago area, but I'm hopeful that the right job will present itself when the time is right. Overall, we're happy about the change (though it does mean moving again so soon). Now we'll both be closer to our families and will be able to participate in more family/friend gatherings and events. I'll keep you posted on other changes as they come.

December Snow, wait...Sleet...wait...Rain? Blegh.

December is here and with it comes what was supposed to be our first winter storm of the season. Ken picked me up from the train station Friday night and we decided we better get some groceries before the "big storm" hit. We got home by 9 p.m. and were feeling pretty good about ourselves about being so prepared. I was excited for the storm because I love those times when you know a storm is going to hit and so you know you're going to be able to hunker down inside and just enjoy the fact that you don't have to go anywhere.

Saturday morning comes along and it starts snowing lightly, then a little heavier, and then stops. Stops? Where was my storm? Then came the freezing rain which lasted most of the day. That was kind of interesting to watch, but I wanted to see snow, piles of snow. Still, we stayed inside most of the day and even put up our Christmas decorations so the place looks cozy. Today, however, the temperature is up and it's just cold and rainy. On the plus side, all the ice that was on our cars has melted thanks to the "warmer" rain. I still would have liked to have my snow storm.

As this is our first weekend home together in a long time, we are enjoying getting projects done. We've been going through our stuff gathering things to get rid of (give to Goodwill or something) and things to take home and leave there. I spent some time editing yesterday and today will work on the diss again. Ken's in the dining room working on who-knows-what. He just came in here and asked for a calculator, so there must be math involved.

All that said, I guess I should stop putting off working on my diss chapter.

Almost December

My gosh. How can November almost be over already? Of course, since I'm not teaching this semester, I'm missing out on all of the end-of-semester wonderful events that go with grading, revising, regrading, etc. I kind of miss that feeling of getting all those papers, getting them graded, and then turning in grades and feeling good knowing there's a big load of work done.

Now I just have the dissertation, which frankly never gets done. I'm on p. 64 of my results chapter with, I'd say, at leat 20 to go until I send that one off for the first in many revisions. My methodology chapter (draft 5) came back to me with MORE, yes I did not think it was possible, more revisions needed. After whining to my director, he suggested I focus on the other chapters and leave that to the end. He said it will make a lot more sense when that's the only thing left. And so leave it, I shall.

Thanksgiving at home was good. We ate too much, we traveled too much, and I got nothing done. There was a bit o'news that will be interesting to share with you all, but I'm waiting a little bit longer to do so. Nothing like dragging out the suspense, eh? Plus, this way you all have to keep reading the blog! Mwaa haa haa! Anyway, this news has shaken up life a bit, but people keep assuring me that all will come together as it is supposed to, and so trust them, I shall. I'll share with you all soon.

Well, I have to be off now. Have a meeting with the diss director. More later.

Somewhere between the Moon and NYC

Here I am home again after a lovely (but exhausting) few days in New York City. I was there for the National Writing Project conference, and as a bonus, my mom and sister Melissa accompanied me. I spent 1.5 days "conferencing" while they went sightseeing. After that, we were able to see so many things together. This makes my third official trip to NYC, twice this year alone! Oy! This time Ken got to stay home and "hold down the fort," as my dad used to say.

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. This first one is of Melissa and me outside Rockefeller Plaza. Here we were able to see the huge Christmas tree, the ice rink, and NBC studios. The tre wasn't lit yet and had all the scaffolding on it as it was being trimmed, but we got to see how big it really is.

Here is a self-taken close up of my mom and I at Radio City Music Hall. We treated ourselves to a night of watching the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular show -- very impressive! Of course, all the shows in the theatre district were on strike, so the place was pretty crowded. Inside the main entrance was an enormoust crystal Christmas Tree -- swarvoski crystal, I believe. Melissa seemed to know what it was and that it was a big deal. It's the same fancy foo-foo crystal they use to make the star at the top of the Rockefeller center tree.

Of course, then we saw the Rocketts themselves.

And what would a trip to NYC be without a run up to the top of the Empire State Building? Run, ok, not so much. But how about an hour's wait for an elevator ride up to the top? Mom kept talking about Sleepless in Seattle on the way up there. I think she secretly hoped Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan would be up at the top (Big Sleepless movie fan).

I have many more pictures to share, but I'm running out of time right now. Ken'll be home from work soon and we're headed to IA for a very busy holiday week. Will share more about that later and I'll try to get more pictures up as soon as I can.

Hope everyone has a good holiday! Talk to you again soon.

Marcy

A Few Thoughts on Veteran's Day (one day late)

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and because I am now living with an "official" veteran of a foreign war, I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts with you all. As many of you know, it's very hard for me to comment on things pertaining to the war. I certainly don't like the fact that we are at war or that so many of our citizens are away from their homes and are fighting for something that so many of us don't understand. But I have to express how proud I am of those who give up so much of their own lives to serve. Though I have not been the one to pack up all of my belongings and put them into an 8x8 storage facility, have to leave my work, family, and significant other to go to a place where the future is uncertain, or have to face entering a place where I might be called upon to kill or be killed, I have had to let that person go and have been the one left at home wondering what's happening and left to wonder if that person will come home.

I'm very proud of Ken for doing what he says is "his job" and for giving up his own personal life and career. He's been home now for 2 years and we're nearing a point where he could be called up once again. It's something I try not to think about too much, but it's something we both know could very likely (almost certainly) happen again. After having lived with him gone for 17+ months and experiencing all that went with that, I sometimes surprise myself at how little I think about those days. But when I do, so much of it is right there at the forefront of my mind ready to spill out.

Just this morning, I was in a meeting and sharing an idea for a professional development workshop helping faculty deal with college trajedies. I felt the need to share how big of a role the War in Iraq & Afghanistan is playing on our students and faculty today; this is something I don't think is talked about as much as school shootings or other terrible trajedies. Last fall, for instance, at the community college, I had a female student who had just returned from Iraq and whose boyfriend was still serving over there. One day in class she just didn't seem like herself. After class, I asked her if everything was okay, and she shared with me that she was worried because she hadn't heard from him in 2-3 weeks. I shared with her my experience of poor communication with Ken when he was gone and tried to reassure her that her boyfriend was just in a place right now where he couldn't communicate with her, but that he surely would as soon as he could. She seemed to feel better having someone to talk to, and though I'm not a counselor by any means, I think sharing my experience with her helped both her and me. It helped me put part of my experience into perspective. I wonder if perhaps I was meant to be part of Ken's experience so that though teaching, I could help students going or returning to the war. To date, I've had 3 students who've returned from Iraq and 1 who had to leave my class to go over.

But what about those students and faculty who don't have someone to share those experiences with? I was blessed with a wonderful support network of friends and family in Iowa and Illinois who helped me through those lonely, scary days while he was gone. I won't forget how alone I felt so many nights and weekends. One memory still sticks in my mind. I often had to pass by an English professor's office door who had posted anti-war signs. Each time I passed, I felt confused and saddened. I didn't approve of the war, but I felt that those signs marginalized my experiences and the experiences of others who may be in a similar predicament. At a time when the events and the result of each day were uncertain, I knew I wouldn't find support from that person should something happen, and unfortunately it was someone I had to work with regularly in some capacity. How many students had to pass that door and feel unsupported? How many faculty members who had loved ones overseas felt unsupported when they passed that door?

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say in this blog posting. I guess I just wanted to take a moment to remember that just a little over 2 years ago I was in a very different place, an uncertain place. Today, things are so much better, but at any moment, both Ken and I could find ourselves right back there again, dealing with that familiar uncertainty. I feel good in knowing that we've taken a big step in making our time together count. Moving in together, though a big decision on both our parts, was a step toward bringing our lives together while we have the chance to be together. I realize now how important it is to take action on something and make things count.

I thought I'd share these as well. Here are two pictures of the memorial stones placed in a Veteran's Memorial park in Dunkerton, IA - not far from where Ken's family used to live. Ken's brother, Tom, I believe, was responsible for donating for these stones. One stone shows Ken's grandfather, his father, and his uncles' names and the branch of service they served. Ken has his own stone with his former rank and the war he served in. Ken never says much, but I think knowing someone did this for his family meant a lot to him. He's very modest about his service and gets a little embarrassed when people stop him in uniform to thank him. But I like to think that deep down such actions mean something to him and make it easier for him to do "his job."

Weekend at Home

This weekend finds Ken and me at home in IL. He's dinking around the apartment doing little weekend projects, and I'm trying to get things organized as well. On Wednesday, Mom, Melissa, and I leave for NYC where I'm attending a Writing Project conference. Mom and Missy will be sightseeing on their own. I wish I could do that too. But I was just there in March. Hopefully, we'll have some time to do things together in the evenings and on Saturday for sure. We'll return to IL on Sunday morning at which time Mom and Missy will drive back to Iowa. Ken and I'll be leaving early in the week for Iowa ourselves to celebrate the holiday.

I need to get writing done this weekend as I'll lose several days and another weekend with the traveling. My goal is to return to the Results chapter and see what I can get drafted. My director gave me minimal comments on the first 40 pages, so I feel as though I can move forward with some confidence. I keep dreaming of what it will feel like someday to have my weekends back and not to be working on this project.

Not much else to share right now. May have more news later.

Same As Before

The weekend has come and gone, and it is a Monday once again. Thankfully, this Monday finds me at home working. It'll be one of those weird weeks again. Home on Monday, CTLT on Tuesday, Coal City workshop on Wednesday, CTLT on Thursday and Friday. I like having my Fridays at home to work, but I'll adjust I suppose. Weeks like these just make it more difficult to get things done on the diss.

I do feel good that I did send another revision of my Methodology chapter on to my director. That makes the 5th draft of that beast. Hopefully, this one is getting closer to being ready. I'm analyzing data for the second part of my Results chapter and am still waiting to get any feedback on my first half. I don't think I'm going to make my goal of having a draft of every chapter by the end of the semester.

I guess I had a nice weekend. I had to go grocery shopping on Sat. Man, what a chore! That is certainly not my favorite activity. I'm trying to shop less, so I've taken to making out a menu at least a week in advance to cut down on the trips to the store (and also so Ken knows what to make on the nights I come home late). The best part about Saturday was that Matt & Lisa came to the Bollingbrook area to do some shopping and we got together that night for dinner. We ate at a Mongolian BBQ place, which was wonderful! We have to try out those places while Ken is gone because he wouldn't like eating there. It was a quick visit, but we had a lot of laughs as usual.

Not much else new. I need to get started on some work this morning. More later.

Welcome (or Not?) November

Here it is, November 1 already and so little of the dissertation to show for it. In my defense, October has been a horrendously busy month. With yet another Coal City workshop presentation, an IATE conference presentation, a birthday, another Iranian Studies issue to copyedit, and a 4-day work-related trip to Pittsburgh, it's a wonder I got anything done at all.

Today finds me working on yet another revision of the Methodology chapter. Yes, seven weeks later, I finally got director comments (only to wish I hadn't). The result: more work. Will it ever be finished, I wonder. Who knows. But here I am plugging away at it again. This time I've cut out almost half of what I put in last time, per director requests. I've sent the first 40 pages of my Results chapter on to him again...with very little hope of seeing comments before the end of November (ok, am I just being nasty here?) I know that chapter's in very rough shape, but at least it's something drafted, or so I tell myself. I'm sure that one wil come back as slaughtered as the others.

It'll just be me and the cats this weekend. Ken's off to play Army in WI, so I'm hoping for a productive work weekend at home. It would be nice to have visitors, but I guess I'm just too far away. I'll probably be back on here this weekend sometime as I search for a break from writing.

Galena 2007

We made it back safely from a wonderful birthday weekend in Galena. The weather couldn't have been more perfect as we wound our way through the Illinois countryside. We started our trip Friday night by heading to Matt & Lisa's. There we relaxed and slept in --something that doesn't happen very often for either of us. Ken spent some of Sat. morning working while I enjoyed cable TV, always a treat. As a note, I'd like you all to know that I actually refused to take any work with me this weekend! Here we are on Sat. morning as we left Matt & Lisa's to head out even further into the country.

We headed east toward Galena and took our time stopping in the town of Scales Mound, IL, a little place I've always wanted to visit. You see, when I was a kid, there was a book I always read that talked about the life of a real family that lived in Scales Mound. Ever since then, I've wanted to visit and see some of the sights mentioned in the book. Ken, bless his heart, indulged me in that this weekend, even though the book is over 30-some years old and many of the sights aren't as recognizable as they were before. Still, we were able to play detective and discover some of the sights shown and discussed in the books. Very cool for me!


We then made our way to our B&B which was actually in Hazel Green, WI, just 8 miles outside of Galena. Apparently, it's nearly impossible to get a B&B reservation inside of Galena in October (turning leaves, fall festivals, etc.). But we stayed in a really cool old Stagecoach building converted to a B&B in Hazel Green. We highly recommend it! This is a picture.


That night, we ate at Vinny Vanucci's Italian restaurant in Galena and then took part in 2 historical/ghost walking tours of Galena. This is something we like to do, and while waiting for our first tour to begin, we calculated that we've only done 2 such tours so far (St. Augustine, FL and Plymouth, MA). The second tour of Galena was much cooler than the first, taking us to some old houses, buildings, and a cemetery. Like all good ghost tour people, we took tons of pictures trying to capture spirits and orbs on our digital camera (something the tour guides swear can happen). I'm not sure if you can see all of the little white balls of light in the picture below. These are supposedly spirit orbs. This picture was taken next to an old abandoned Poor House/Mental Asylum in Galena. Click on the picture and maybe you'll see them better.


On Sunday, we enjoyed the second B (Breakfast) of our B&B weekend and then headed out to see a few more Galena attractions follolwed by getting back on the road headed west. We stopped at Apple Canyon Fort in Elizabeth, IL because there was some sort of re-enactment of the frontier days at the fort. It wasn't super exciting, let me tell you.


In all, a great weekend, one that went far too quickly. It's back to work today at home for me and at work for Ken. I'm heading to Pittsburg, PA for a conference with the CTLT people from Thursday-Sunday of this week. We're driving the 8+ hours. Though I'm lookig forward to seeing what this conference is like, that's one drive I'll be happy to have done with.

Thanks, again, everyone for the birthday wishes!

The Big 3-0 approaches!

Thank goodness it's Friday. That's the only thing on my mind right now. Well, that and all the work I have to get done today alone. It's been one busy week. Things at work are very busy right now. We're all about planning the annual Teaching & Learning Symposium in January, so I'm in many meetings to discuss correspondence, signage, presenters' gifts, and other details. I'm also getting a lot of "must do" emails coming through everyday, from symposium proposals to log or University Award portfolios to deal with. Yesterday alone I spent my first 6 hours at work just dealing with meetings and sending/responding to emails. I have other projects that have been sitting on my desk needing to be attended to--the monthly newsletter for one thing. So much work coupled with the fact that I'm leaving next Thursday-Sunday for a conference in Pittsburg has me a little worried about how I'll get that newsletter done on time.

Today is supposed to be a big work at home day for me. I have IS editing to finish and get out to the authors for review. I also need to respond to emails pertaining to a workshop I'm doing the first Wed in Nov. All that to do (maybe even think about the Diss at some point...) and Ken and I are leaving tonight for a birthday weekend in the country. Yes, it's October, which means its time for me to turn the big 3-0 at last. I really don't feel any different. The only thing I wish I had accomplished by this time in my life is school. I really wish I had finshed my PhD before turning 30. It would be so nice to be done and have a job (and money) about now. All in good time, I suppose. At least I'll get it while I'm 30, if all goes according to plan.

We're headed to Matt & Lisa's tonight to break our stay on our way to Galena for a fine time at a B&B, eating at my fav Galena restaurant, Vinni Vanucci's, and then two walking ghost tours of Galena on Sat night. Matt & Lisa will be in NYC this weekend so unfortunately we won't get to see them as we use their house for rest. They are off enjoying Lisa's anniversary gift to Matt: tickets to a Giants game at Giant's Stadium in NYC. If you know anything about M&L, you know this is HUGE! You should have seen Matt's face when she surprised him with those tickets. There may have been tears, I can't remember.

That's all I have for now. Will return with fun Galena pics, I hope!

Military Formal

Hello again. We've returned from a super fast, lightening-speed Iowa weekend. On Friday, we drove to Peoria where I presented at the Illinois Associsation of Teachers of English (IATE) conference. After much technological difficulty at the conference (no computer projector as requested and troubles getting the laptop to connect to the hotel's wireless), I am pleased to say that the session went about as well as it could have. I only had about 6 ISU English Ed majors attend my session, but that was perfectly fine. They were a good group--very talkative and friendly. Jan N. was my session chair/recorder, and she also helped keep the session lively. That's my only major conference presentation this year. After last year's trips to San Francisco and NYC for CPTSC and ATTW, not only am I strapped for traveling cash, but I'm also completely worn out. I thought presenting at a regional conference would be a good plan for this year.

While in Iowa, we attended Ken's military "Dining Out" formal. I was not super excited about the prospect of buying (and wearing) a formal dress again given that I'm experiences less-than-happy body image time right now, but I managed to find a good one a month or so ago that was relatively inexpensive and that fit (comfortably). It was fun night, overall. Because of Ken's promotion, we had to sit at the head table (insert here any and every possible bad memory of having to sit at a head table for numerous weddings, etc.). I was not super excited about this prospect either as I don't like the attention to be focused on me (and especially not during an event where people are eating). But it went fine. The entertainment was lively and had us laughing; the entertainment included a roast of one of the long-time soldiers and even a couple of plastic sword and laser nerfgun duels. The evening ran a bit long, however, and we were not able to partake of the DJ as we'd hoped. By 10 pm, we were beat. Most of Ken and my time was spent talking to people and helping everyone feel welcome.


In other news, we're now considering Iowa as a possible future residence. If job situations and the timing work out as we'd like, we may once again be heading back that way -- this time for good. Nothing major yet though. There's still so much up in the air. I hate not knowing what's going on. We'll keep you posted if anything happens.

Expanding Family

It's been a while since I've written, and with good reason. Things are just too busy! The diss is coming along, but I've reached a point in my Results chapter where I'm just sick of writing. My advisor still hasn't given me comments on my Methodology chapter revision, which has me believing what I wrote was crap and has affected my ability to write my Results chapter.

Anyway, work at the CTLT, doing presentations, diss writing, editing for IS, and taking part in writing some lessons for ReadWriteThink are keeping me busy. I'm also in the midst of looking for jobs which has me completely stressed. But I won't go into that here.

In other news of being busy, we've expanded our family by one cat. A person at the Tutoring Center was about to send her cat up the river (i.e., Humane Society) due to some family troubles. Not wanting a cat to suffer, Ken and I agreed to take on Artemas for a trial period to see if he and Tucker would get along. After a hellish week of Artie hiding under the bed, hissing and swatting at the three of us, and then the relentless hours of cat fighting in the evenings, we've finally reached a point where we all seem to tolerate each other. There were numerous days/nights when we were ready to send him up the river ourselves (even after we were greatly assured that he was a very affectionate cat). Artie is now doing much better. He's almost completely out from under the bed and is letting us pet him without the incessant swatting and hissing. We think this may actually work out. Ken took this picture today of Tucker and Artie enjoying some Sunday morning lounging. You'd never know it was WW3 only a few hours before. Artie is the one at the top of the picture.

The evenings are still the worst times, however. If we let Tucker and Artie stay together, we are always awaken by the sounds of cat fighting. We have to lock one in a bedroom for the evening if we are to get any sleep. Ken and I have decided that we don't like being awoken in the night, and thus the idea of having children in the future is unappealing. Once I'm awake, it takes me 1-2 hours to get back to sleep, and you don't want to know me in the morning. (Seriously. Ask Ken.)

So that's what's been going on here.

Fun with Family

I thought I'd share a few pictures from the past two weekends. Two weeks ago, Ken was in WI for Army-related matters, so I was left home alone. I was slightly nervous about being alone in the new town and new apt, but all turned out well. I was able to get some much-needed work done on my diss and other projects and even enjoyed some downtime watching some of my beloved Northern Exposure DVDs.

Matt & Lisa came up that weekend as well and we made our way to a wine tasting in Naperville where M & L enjoyed sampling many wines. As their DD, I found my way around the many vendor booths and sampled a few Starbucks pumpkin lattes, honey-roasted peanuts, pepper steak samples, and even an ultra dark chocolate candy bar. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself just fine, with or without the wine itself. The weather was beautiful and it felt just like fall. After the wine tasting, we ate at a wonderful Cajun restuarant in downtown Naperville, something we could only try because Ken was in WI. (We knew he wouldn't have liked it.) Here is a picture of Matt & Lisa enjoying one of their wines (perhaps a little too much!)

Just last weekend Ken and I were on the road once again, this time together, as we traveled to Cedar Rapids for one of his Army conferences. I stayed with him Thursday night and then I headed up to Waterloo for some family time with Mom, my sister Melissa, and my niece Audra. I was able to take care of a few around-the-house projects for Mom, do some shoe shopping to get ready for Ken's Military Dining Out in Oct., and buy some shoes to match my new interview suit. Audra and I had fun playing together outside on Friday and Saturday. Here's a picture of her swinging with her "Tiger." She wanted him to swing with her, so I did my best to make that happen. Note that the loop is not around Tiger's neck, but under his front paws instead. The picture is a little misleading.

Though we love being with family and traveling, we are both looking forward to staying home next weekend and relaxing.

Apartment Pictures

I thought it was time to share some of the pictures of the rooms in our new place. A virtual tour, if you will. This is our living room taken from the entry way. It's a little dark in this picture. When I was taking it, I forgot that the open blinds would make the room look darker. Sorry about that. The large item in the upper left corner is our TV cabinet - the one Keely gave us. We love it! It was a royal pain in the you-know-what to move, but it holds and hides so much stuff. This morning I finally got the stereo hooked up. That's a project I've been putting off for quite some time. I'm proud to say I accomplished it by myself (sans Ken).

This is the view from the living room into the dining room. We're still working on hanging pictures in the dining room so the walls look pretty bare. To the left is the kitchen and to the right is the hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

A few weekends ago we spent some time finally hanging pictures on the walls. To the right you can see the picture Ken sent me from Iraq. It's a drawing of a picture of us that was taken shortly before he was shipped over. While he was there, he had an Iraqi man make the drawing from the picture of us he had.

The next picture is our kitchen, cow decor included. Those of you who know me know that I like Holstein cows. You can't really see in this picture, but I have more cow items above the cupboards. The door from the kitchen leads to our laundry room/Tucker's "bathroom" and eatery.

This picture isn't one on the major tour, but it was funny. As some of you know, Tucker has a this thing about sleeping in sinks. Every place we've been, he's found a sink to curl up in. At first I thought it was a security thing, then a it's cool and comfortable thing, now I just don't have a clue why he does it. But it always makes us laugh and usually surprises a few houseguests when they go to the kitchen or bathroom only to find a cat has joined them. Really, for the size of cat he is, it's amazing how he can make himself fit inside small sinks. Here he is in the guest bathroom.

Sumo Kitty and Me

Well, it's my first weekend hanging at the place by myself. Ken's off to play Army in Wisconsin so it's just Sumo Kitty and me. (Sumo Kitty is Ken's new name for Tucker thanks in part to the "Fat Kitty" blog posting). Last night I was watching reruns of The Office on TV and it was the episode where they go to the Beach and Michael wants to figure out who'll replace him. Of course Dwight and what's-his-name were in the Sumo outfits. I just kept thinking of Sumo Kitty. If only they made little Sumo Halloween coustumes for pets!

So far, so good for the weekend. Today I've spent the whole day in front of the computer working on various projects (the diss mostly) even though it's an amazing fall day outside -- cool and breezy. I've had the wondows open all day and actually got chilly! I love that!

A bad thing about working on the diss is that I can't check it off my list. Each weekend, I make a list of all the things I want/need to get accomplished by Sunday night. This was something I started when I came to the Ph.D. program (maybe I even did it in my MA program, but I can't remember). It seems like I always have so many little things to do, so I started writing them down and checking them off as the weekend goes by. It makes me feel good to be able to check something off. I was able to check off one item this morning: my lesson plan for the ReadWriteThink website. Every weekend, I put "Work on Diss" on the list, but I never feel that I can check that off. There's just never a feeling of being "done" even though I worked on it.

Not much on the radar for the weekend. Matt & Lisa may be coming out on Saturday for a wine tasting in Naperville. I hope the weather is just like today. I'll be happy to wear fall clothes again.

Gotta Have Goals

I'm dog and house sitting this weekend in Bloomington. I really do like dog/house sitting, I have to say. It's a nice change of pace to stay somewhere other than home (use their cable - can you tell I'm missing ours now that it is gone?). Sometimes when dog and/or house sitting, I surprise myself at how much I can actually get accomplished work-wise.

Take this morning, for example. Here I am in a house with several wonderful channels of cable, and I have been locked away in the office working on my diss. My goal today is to draft at least 10 pages. These can be very rough pages; I've allowed myself that at least. But at least it will be something. My Diss Director is sitting on (meaning "reading") my latest (revision #4) Methodology chapter, and so in the mean time, I've decided to get cracking on drafting the Results chapter. It's slow going considering I haven't finished analyzing all of my data from the class I taught in 2005 for which I'm basing my study. But I have starting some analyzing, or at least reading students' work again closely. So far in writing, I'm just working on setting up the part of the chapter where I describe the class situation and the assignments, so I can get away with not doing a whole of of reporting or analyzing. So far, I've typed at least six full double spaced pages. I just hope that it's stuff I'll be able to keep in the chapter once my Director reads a full draft. It's very disconcerting to have written so much only to scrap it and have to write more.

I've set a goal for myself in terms of finishing. I'd really really like to be done and graduate in May. I could always finish over the summer months and then walk at graduation in December of '08, but I'd really like to be done before the end of the summer. One thing I think of as a reward is to give myself a big trip in May once everything is done and before starting a job. England is a place I've always wanted to see; Hawaii too. The latter may be more in my financial realm than the first. Of course, maybe neither one will be financially do-able by next year. I'm trying to save some little by little in the hopes that I really will finish and will be able to take a trip. Gotta have goals! And now back to the Diss.

Fat Kitty?

Last night, Ken and I were sitting on the couch in the living room. It was such a nice evening that we had the patio door open. I was just moving Tuck over to the window to see a bunny when a woman and her mangy little dog walked by. She saw me at the window and said to her dog, "Look at the fat kitty!" I was insulted. Ken laughed. Yes, Tuck is big boned. Yes, Tuck was pooh-poohed at the vet the last time he went for being a little heavier than he was the last time he was there. I think I should have opened the door and let "fat kitty" eat her little dog.

Settling In

We're finally starting to really settle in and the apartment is starting feel like home. Ken's been working on little (though I dare not call them "little") projects around the apartment. One of his more recent ones, as of last weekend, was installing a new shelf above the washer and dryer in our laundry room. There was one shelf already there, but it was pretty high which made it hard to reach the detergent, etc. We went to Menards and picked out one almost identical. Ken installed and it looks, and functions, great. We are still adjusting to having our own washer and dryer. After so many years of carting numerous loads to Iowa and making due with apt washers, it still seems like such a luxury to be able to do our laundry whenever we want. I'm sure that excitement will wear off at some point.

Today is "bye bye cable" day. Yes, we had it for our month and it was wonderful. We'll miss it dearly, but we're trying to be economical and we really don't need it. It causes us to watch too much of it and not get work done. The cable person is supposed to be here between 8-10 this morning to get rid of it. Haven't seen him/her yet, so I don't know what's happening.

In other news, last weekend we drove around town and stopped for ice cream at a little shop close to Joliet. I can't remember what it's called, but I'm calling it "Jake and Elwood's" for reasons which should appear obvious when you look at the picture. It was great, and the ice cream tasted exactly like Dairy Queen's. There's a little mini-golf place across the street which I had to promise Ken that we would play the following weekend. Thankfully, the weather should be nice. We'll probably take Matt & Lisa there too when they come to visit this weekend.

Tucker's been doing well. He's particularly happy sitting in front of the sliding glass door or sitting on the table or desk when I'm trying to work on my dissertation. He's adjusted just fine. It's hard to imagine how he would act otherwise. He has a feud going on right now with a local chipmunk that's been tormenting him from the outside. It's pretty funny to watch them. Tuck can't do much, obviously, from behind the glass, and "Chip" as he's known knows it. Notice how Tuck's ears are turned all the way back and he's croutched in an attack mode while Chip scampers away, laughing I're sure.

That's all that's been happening here. Hope all is well with you. Thanks for reading, and have a great Labor Day weekend!

Always Travel with a Man in Uniform

We're back from a weekend conference in Kansas City. It was a good trip overall. The flight there was fine, but we did get delayed 4 hours on the return trip to Chicago. As usual, rain caused several planes to be cancelled or delayed into the windy city. We were among the lucky and at least were home by 9 pm on Sunday.

The biggest lesson I learned this weekend: always travel with a man in uniform. Do you know how many perks and priviledges you can get?! Seriously! Ken wore his uniform on the to and from trip and we were treated pretty good I tell you. Wearing what were formerly called BDUs (I'm not exactly sure what they're called now), Ken and I were able to cut everyone in line when going through security and we were upgraded to first class BOTH TIMES! Can you believe it? I've never sat in first class in my life, and here I am getting it on two flights! Did you know they give you real glass glasses to drink out of in first class? The seats are awfully luxurious and there's more room and no screaming children. We got all the refills of soda and snack bags we could want. It was shameless, I tell you. We were a little disappointed, however, that there were no hot towels or slippers. :)

Of course, Ken was greeted by many kind people throughout the airport, many who shook his hand, thanked him, and welcomed him home. I guess just because he was wearing a uniform they assumed he was either on his way there or home. I was still touched by how many strangers took the time to stop, shake his hand, and thank him. Ken doesn't like all the attention, but I thought it was nice.

Here's a picture of us at the banquet on Saturday night. Neither one of us cared for the meal though. The chicken was ok, but they served a side of artichoke hearts. Really now, who gives a bunch of meat and potatoes soldiers a side of artichoke hearts? There was one Captain at the table who liked them, so we all piled our artichoke hearts on his place and it became a challenge whether or not he could eat all of them. He did. We all thought he'd be sick the next day: artichoke hearts and jaggerbombs are, I believe, a lethal combination. But I spoke to his wife and she said he made it through the night just fine.

We're back to work and then looking forward to a week at home with nothing major planned. It'll be good to finally have a weekend at home.

Home and Away

We're home from a very nice weekend in Iowa. I have to tell you how unbelievably spoiled I am when I go home. Mom was wonderful. Friday morning and early afternoon we went shopping (looking for bargains, of course), and we found some. Mom and I found some nice shirts that we both liked, so ... dare I say it... my mother and I got matching shirts. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Of course, with one in Iowa and one in Illinois, I doubt we'll have to worry about wearing the same shirt -- unlike the way Suzie and I used to have to call the other if one of us was wearing pinkie or blackie (we had 2 matching shirts from a joint shopping trip, and, yes, we named them.).

Back to the weekend: Mom also spoiled us rotten with fresh Iowa Sweet corn and peaches. She made a peach pie and peach jam. The pie was gone after we shared it with Grandma and Art, but I made I back to IL with a jar of delicious peach jam. There's nothing like it in the world! And of course, Sunday night we had a nice dinner of roast beef, potatoes and more sweet corn. Needless to say, my clothes don't fit so great after the weekend (but did they really before?). Ok. Enough about the food.

It was good to come home last night from work and have a night "at home." Perhaps because it's early in our cohabitating life, but making dinner together was fun. Afterwards, we enjoyed some of my new fav show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe. Again, what am I going to do once we get rid of cable? I need to do some work tonight, but I'm excited about watching Ghosthunters again!

We're home for a few days and then off we go to Kansas City, MO on Thursday for a military conference (my first one!). Tonight will be packing and trying to decide what to wear to such a thing. I started this last night, and at the time Ken couldn't understand why I found this task so challenging (NOTE: he only has to wear his uniform all weekend). Sigh.

Back in the 'Loo

This weekend finds us back in Waterloo, aka "The 'Loo." Ken has 4 dys of Army duty and I have a dentist appt on Monday, so here we are. I'm currently sitting at the Panera in Waterloo trying to get some editing work done. I've managed to review 2 authors' articles so far and am now stalling on working on some of the other, more complicated, ones. It's hard to do get work done when visiting home because so much of my work needs Internet. This is my first time going to the Panera, but so far, so good. I tried the Barnes & Noble first, but they charge you for their wireless. Panera was free, so I stayed here.

It's been a good weekend so far. Friday, Mom and I went shopping and I found an interviewing suit (will have to start looking for real jobs this fall/early spring) and a possible dress for the Army formal in Oct. What a pain it is to find a dressy dress! Shopping for that is just not my thing. I'm still not totally happy with the one I bought, but it will work if I don't find another and at least it was on sale. Friday night I hung out with my friend Kristin and her family. I finally got to meet her two little twin girls!! What a treat! I waited far too long to get to see them. I also had a lot of fun hanging out with her and her parents - some of my favorite people in this world! Today (Sat.), I had lunch with Holly, Jim and Jonathon which was very nice. Once I decide I've done about all the "work" I can do here at Panera, I'll head home and see Mom. She is supposed to be making peach jam and possibly a peach pie. We may go see Grandma later today. Gotta love being home, eh?

That's about all that's happening here. Got some good news from one of my diss chapter readers who said that my latest revision to the Lit Review is good. When I get home, I'll start working on that Methodology chapter again or dig back into the Results chapter. His good comments have given me a boost!

Romeoville Celebration

Last night, we went to the little town festival -- Romeofest is what it was called. Before going, Ken and I decided how much we would actually pay for an entrance fee (now that we are on a budget). We decided that $2-3 would be all we'd pay to get in (yes, we're just that cheap). Parking was a bit of a hassle, but we found a spot on the street and walked on down. When we got to the entrance, we discovered that it was free to enter! Good enough for us!

Like any small town event, there were food vendors, rides, and tents set up by local businesses. We ate before we went, but were hoping for some dessert by the way of cotton candy (Ken) and mini-donuts (Marcy). After wandering around, we found some cotton candy, but struck out on the donuts. I settled for a DQ Brownie Blizzard instead. The rides and people operating them were a might bit scary, so we didn't partake. Instead, being the old people that we are, we tried our luck at a game of Bingo; we didn't win. But we did get hassled by some of the carnies. When we stopped to watch a kid play the balloon-popping game, we were heckled by a female carnie saying, "Stop looking and start cooking." I guess she wanted up to play. We just kept walking.

On our way back to the car, we heard some announcment coming from the staging area and heard the words "Liverpool" and "Paul McCartney." My interest peaked, we walked over and discovered a Beatles-like band called American English. They were all Beatles impersonators and, I have to confess, pretty good. We stayed for a while and had a good time. It was a nice night and would have been perfect if it hadn't been for the mosquitos and the woman smoking next to us. I wish I had a camera so I could share pics of the Beatles, but you can view the link if you want to see what they look like.

The Move In Continues

This weekend finds us continuing to unpack and make ourselves at home. Ken is working steadily on his boxes and his latest project is making good use of our exterior storage closet which is located on our little patio area. Here he is giving me the "all good" sign (though there is still a lot of work to be done).





My project has been cleaning off the bed in the guest bedroom/office. I seriously need to start working on various school projects (and eventually get back to that diss), but I'm kind of a freak who needs things organized before I can get into writing or working. Yesterday, I spent some time working on cleaning out the office area and making it seem cleaner.



This morning, we tried out our apt complex's workout facility and found it more than adequate. There are 2 treadmills, 2 elliptical machines, 2 bikes, 1 stairmaster, and various weight machines and freeweights. We can see the pool from the weight room and it looks very inviting when one is all sweaty and gross.

I did have to deal with some maintenance issues yesterday as well. We seem to have some very persistent wasps out on our patio. We've knocked down their nest and sprayed, but they keep rebuilding. Yesterday, the maintenance man, Joshua (who informed me he is allergic to stinging insects), did an excellent job of sealing the wasp hangout and spraying. There are 1-2 confused wasps still wandering around, but it seems like we may have turned the others away. Good news - our ice maker is also now working. What a luxury, I tell you!



Ok - I need to get some real work done this morning.

The First Commute

As many of you know, since I've moved up north a bit, I'll be commuting to B-N 3 days a week to continue my graduate assistantship at ISU. As a result of this, many of you have started asking, "How's the commute going?" I finally have a partial answer for this. My reply, "Ok so far."

I had my first official commute this morning. Leaving the house at 6:45 am in order to arrive early enough to take care of cats (am cat sitting), I discovered that the short drive out of my new town was a little slow since cars were trying to exit the northbound I-55 ramp. I soon discovered that I would need to be in the left lane instead of the right, which appears to move incredibly slow. In other words, I learned that the left lane was the one that would exit onto I-55 south - the direction I need to go in - a fact counter to my training in Interstate road exiting. Once on 55, the drive was as easy as can be. I was a little sleepy, a result of not getting to bed early enough the night before (Note to self - go to bed earlier), but all was fine.

Having made the drive numerous times before, I knew the route well and there were no surprises. I've decided that on the days I drive, I must invest in some books on tape or CD for the trip. Though I love listening to Whoopi on the radio, I lose her show around the Dwight/Morris area, aka Exit 220, and soon become bored with the other available stations. Today at work I took a moment to find my now-local library and will investigate their book resources this weekend.

I take a moment for a little digression...Can I just say how much work it is to move? I'm not talking about the actual lugging of boxes and furnature here. Instead, I mean the little things: changing addresses on every magazine, canceling accounts, etc.. Now having to think about going to the DMV is the latest thing I have to worry about doing. I think I'll try to take care of that here in B-N before I leave as I actually already know where the DMV is. I only moved once before, so these are things I didn't really think too much about or perhaps I found them fun and interesting. Now they seem annoying. Ken and I spent too much time talking last night about what all had to be done to change a name on a drivers license/drivers information file. After some internet searching, I think I've got it, but man, what a pain.

So I'm here cat/house sitting until Friday and will make leg two of the commute journey then. Will keep you posted if anything out of the ordinary happens then. Don't hold your breath.

P.S. Many thanks to all of you for commenting on my first post. It did my heart good to see that you're actually checking it! I've been kind of wondering if anyone would. Keep writing! I love hearing from you all.

Welcome Home

Hello Everyone. This is the blog I've created to share the life of Ken and Marcy - the now cohabitating couple. I hope I am better at posting to this than I can be writing and responding on other blogs. But I thought this might be a fun way of sharing our lives here with friends and family far away. The picture to the left is of our new place. Our apt. is the one on the first floor.

Today's big news! My first day at home after the big move. After a hectic weekend of moving -- with a great big thanks to friend Keely, and family Lisa, Matt, and Brother Tom, and of course Suzie & Rachel for their box-moving prowess within the apartment and numerous other friends who gathered and provided scores of empty boxes -- we have moved everything into the apt. The tough part is putting it all away. I've learned that Ken and I have very different philosophies when it comes to putting things away after a move. I like to open a box, put things away, and get rid of box. Ken likes to move boxes around, strategically locating them around the apartment. I have put away almost all of my boxes with the exception of a few boxes of books, boxes of pictures to be hung on the walls or placed elsewhere later, and the box or two that I know must be missing because I can't find my alarm clock or the coasters for the living room.

Other big news. Today was cable and internet installation day! Since moving out on my own, I have not had cable. For 4 years, I've been happy, even proud at times, to have been able to survive without it. For Internet, I used DSL, which suited my needs just fine. Now, however, there is no DSL where we live, so our only other option was to go with the cable modem. Fine, a little more expensive, but doable. The problem...now that I have cable, I'm very worried that I'll want to watch it more than write that dissertation or do my editing (both of which, incidentally, I should be working on now).

Anyway, I feel much more at home now with the Internet at my fingers and most of my boxes put away. I'll be housesitting/catsitting in Normal this week, so Ken'll be left alone with his boxes. I've already been told not to expect any grand actions this week in terms of them being put away when I come home. I can live with that. Life is good.