Prisoner

So, I need to vent... I'm currently working on a client I worked on last year (no names will be named here folks). Last year, I was given an access badge and the ability to work in my own cube and walk to and from meetings at my leisure. Sure, I may have gotten lost once but I never deliberately wandered anywhere I shouldn't have gone. Everything worked nicely and the client even requested that I come back this year because it went so smoothly.

So, here I am. I was given the same badge on Monday and everything was fine. But for some reason, yesterday they decided to revoke my independence!! I now wear a pretend badge that doesn't give me access to anything and must be escorted everywhere. Also, I have to work in the same room as my client contacts, which is definitely an inconvenience to both of us. But really, the worst of the entire situation follows:

1. I can't be left alone in the room. So, today when the only other person in the room needed to go to the bathroom, I had to walk with him to the breezeway (between two locked doors which I can't open) and wait there while he used the restroom.
2. I can't go to the bathroom by myself! To get to the bathroom, kitchen, microwave, etc., I have to pass through a door that I have no access to open. Thus, if I need to use any of the above mentioned items, I have to ask for someone to come with me (and wait, where necessary). And if you know me, I hate asking for things like that...

I seriously feel like a prisoner... Needless to say, I'm ready for this week to be over!!! (Rant is over...sorry for those who don't care, I just needed to get this out.)

Your Vote Counts!!!

In the spirit of election day, I would like to ask everyone's input on a very important matter... You see, last January Shane and I bought a Christmas tree. I think it's a 7-foot tree or something. Anyway, we decided we needed ornaments to decorate our new tree since the mini decorations we used for the 3-foot tree we inherited (stole?) from my parents will seem funny on the big tree. So, we went to Ikea last weekend and bought some decorations. We were really excited about them until we showed them to Tom... He mentioned that our blue/silver color scheme (which makes me think of winter, snow, ice...) made him think we were celebrating Hannukah instead of Christmas.

So, I want some input... If you saw these decorations on someone's tree, what would you think?

First, these in silver and dark blue: Then, these in silver:
These in white and dark blue:
The white ones of these:
The blue ones of these:
Your comments are appreciated! Remember...every vote counts.

Como Los Peruanos...

We have some Halloween pictures to post, but as I am in a hotel in middle-of-nowhere Colorado, I can't access them right now so instead you get a random update!

On Sunday, Shane and I made Peruvian food for Tom, Ashley, Jenny, and the Guthries. To break them into the Peruvian way of life, we made Lomo Saltado (Translation: Tossed Beef; i.e., the dish I ate pretty much everywhere while we were there). I wish I took a picture of the final creation, but it disappeared pretty fast so I don't think there was time to take one. Instead, I found one on the internet. Mine wasn't served with lettuce, the french fries weren't mixed in with the sauce (we had a few complaints about soggy fries...), and we didn't have an Inca Kola to drink it with (you can see it in the background). Despite these differences, I think it turned out okay because I made WAY more than I thought we'd need and there was barely any left. Next time...Aji de Gallina (Translation: Pepper Chicken)! Before they know it, they'll be regular Peruvians.

In other news, I am currently in Black Hawk, CO. It's a little mountain town about 40 miles outside to Denver. I'd compare the town to Park City, but it's lacking a few of Park City's draws: the view, the shops, the food... Pretty much, it's a very narrow town in a really narrow canyon that's made up of 5 casinos/hotels. Sounds fun, huh? I'm up here until I can get my work done. Then I'm catching a bus back down to Denver, where I'll catch a cab to the airport. Until then, I'll just brave the threats of snow...

That's all for now... Halloween pictures to come!

Attack of the killer...

...Bamboo?? So, Shane planted a new bamboo plant in our front yard. It's in a little patch of dirt between our driveway and sidewalk. Anyway, it's definitely thriving.

Last weekend, we noticed two new shoots coming up out of the ground. Yesterday, Shane noticed that the shoots had grown quite a bit so he got out his tape measure (yes, we lead very boring lives when we have to measure our bamboo shoots...). We are now tracking the growth, just for fun. Here are the measurements so far:

Day 1 (10/09, 6:00 pm): 34 inches
Day 2 (10/10, 7:30 am): 38 inches

That's right, it grew 4 inches in just over 12 hours! I don't have any pictures to document this phenomenon, but I'll have to add some once I take them. Until then, we'll keep documenting the measurements and keep you all posted... I'm sure you're just dying to see how fast it grows!

Changes...

So, time flew by and it's been a month since we last posted. I know, I know, I'm a slacker. I have been taking pictures with real intent to update our blog. I'm currently on a client where we conveniently have to leave around 5 each day, so I'm loving the free time!

Anyway, a lot has changed around our house, so here are some before and afters.

First, you may remember how excited we were when Shane's bamboo sprouts were about an inch tall...
Well, now the two that survived have 4 shoots each and are a couple feet tall!!! Happy birthday Bamboo...I think you're about a year old.
Next, our mismatched, inherited couches (which we loved and appreciated greatly) were donated and sold (one each)...
...so we could make room for our new couch, Sinclair, and a rug.
Then, with the help of some granite scrap from Excel and some mis-ordered sinks from Linkasink (and a lot of work on Shane's part), we transformed the master bathroom from this:
To this:
Finally, I got a bonus for passing my certification exam, which we decide to invest in some new wood floors (bamboo, of course) for the master bedroom. Here's our old carpet, which looked really nice when we bought the house, but we have since made it quite dirty...
Here's our new bamboo floor (and the installation progress--I needed to give Shane, Tom, and Roy the credit they deserve for all their hard work)...
We haven't cleaned them up quite yet due to another project Tom suggested while we had our room emptied and messy... Can you figure out what it is? Look closely at the pictures above. Still nothing? Here's an old picture from the same place to help you out.
We took out the door and put in a window! One day, while we were waiting for the vapor barrier to dry, Tom, Shane, and I were standing in the doorway looking at the room. Tom asked if we've ever used the door. Honestly, the only time we used it was when we were putting in our other wood floors and could only get into the unaffected portions of the house (the kitchen and our bedroom) through the back doors. We realized it was a waste of a wall and decided that if we took out the door, we'd be able to put our bed in that nook and have tons more space in our room. So we took advantage of the mess we'd already created and did it all at once.

So, those are our changes in the last while. Really, the sink and counters in the master bath have been done for a while and we've had our couch since the middle of August, but I haven't gotten around to blogging about it.

Sorry that we bore you with our house updates. It's just exciting to see how far we've come. It's funny, I keep saying "we" but really the credit goes to Shane and his wonderful father and brothers for everything. I just supervise (i.e. make them crazy with all of my questions and concerns since I don't understand the process...).

Anyway, that's all for now. I promise our next post won't be all about the house... Hopefully we'll have something more interesting to post soon!

A weekend to remember...

First of all, some of you took my last post very literally. I'm still planning on updating when I have time...I just felt like being a little melodramatic!

Anyway, last weekend, Shane planned a fun little adventure for our 3-year anniversary. With our apparently crazy lives, we couldn't actually celebrate on August 12, but we took comfort in knowing we could look forward to our Southern Arizona adventure.

I'll try not to give too many details...I know many of you hate to listen to my stories due to the unnecessary tangents and extra information, but here's a quick (or my version of quick) overview of our adventure (DISCLAIMER: After finishing the post (which took me quite a while to compile due to the time it takes to upload pictures), I realize that this is in no way a quick recap of the story. I apparently don't do quick. Feel free to keep reading, but know that you've been warned):

We planned to leave on Saturday by 7 AM. This would put us in Tombstone (site of the O.K. Corral...you know, Wyatt Earp?) by 10 AM, giving us plenty of time to wander around and get our fill of the wild west before we had to check into our hotel in Bisbee. I set my alarm for 6 so I'd have time to shower and pack any last minute things we'd need.

Well, I woke up on Saturday morning at 7:30... Apparently I set my alarm for 6 PM. This should've been an indicator of how the rest of the trip would go, but we paid it no mind. We rushed around and were on the road by 8:30. Just outside of Phoenix (well, technically Chandler, but it's where the city ends and the reservation begins), Shane realized he forgot a sweatshirt. One of our excursions was into an old mine where it's only 45 degrees on a warm day...so we decided a sweatshirt was needed. Just before Tucson, we called Shane's mom to have her look up all available Walmarts on our route. We found one was in Benson, a town just before Tombstone, so we stopped there to find something (which ended up being a decent sweatshirt, minus the random skulls on it).

We made pretty good time and were in Tombstone by 11 AM. Apparently they had extra activities (including a costume contest) for Labor Day weekend so the town was pretty full, but it added to the excitement.
We wandered up and down the dirt roads, ate in an old saloon (where Wyatt Earp owned a few poker tables), and watched a few gun fights (one of which was recreation of the incident at the O.K. Corral, which didn't really happen at the O.K. Corral, but down the street...but I won't get in to historical correctness right now).

Overall, it was a fun trip, but around lunch time I started feeling achey and strange. I just figured I was hot (there's no AC in the old west...) and my body was angry at me for sitting in strange positions in the car for 3 hours. But around 3:30, I told Shane it was time to go, but not before I took a picture with some nice town folk.

We got to Bisbee pretty quick, which was BEAUTIFUL! We rounded a corner in the road and saw this view (the picture doesn't do it justice, it was awesome):

Once we got to our hotel, I got in to my pajamas, bundled up in socks and my sweatshirt and climbed into bed. Deciding that I had a bona fide fever, Shane went out wandering to find me some ibuprofen. Sadly, there was no store within walking distance that had medicine, but some shop owner was kind enough to share his last two Motrin with him. Once the medicine kicked in, I was able to wander around town and get some dinner with Shane. The town is old (settled in the 1880s or so) and sits in a little valley, so it's a lot of narrow, windy streets and stairs.

The next morning, I felt just fine so we got up early and wandered around before everyone else was up and about. The town was really quiet, like we were the only ones there. We ate at the Labor Day pancake breakfast in town and then went to our tour of the Queen Mine, which was opened in 1890. They decked us out in coats, hard hats, battery packs, and lights! It was quite an experience...

After our mine tour, we decided that we'd head down to Douglas, which is a border town, so we could walk in to Mexico for lunch. We got in our car to go, but it wouldn't start...so we found someone with jumper cables and the car started right up. We figured the 20+ mile drive to Douglas would be enough to recharge the battery and we'd buy some jumper cables in town so we'd have them just in case. Right as we got to Douglas (or the Chevron just outside of town), the car died again, but while we were driving! Luckily, Shane was able to coast into a parking spot. We connected the jumper cables again and waited for a while, but it wouldn't start. After a few consultations we decided that it must be the alternator...

So, we were stuck just outside of a very small town on a Sunday of a holiday weekend. Everyone in town told us we wouldn't be able to find a mechanic until Tuesday, so we decided to at least get a tow back to Bisbee so we'd have a place to stay. We got back to Bisbee, only to find that there was absolutely no parking in town anywhere. Luckily, the tow truck driver had family that lived just outside of town...where the people who "work for the cartels across the border" live (that's exactly what our driver told us...no joke). It was quite comforting to leave our car in that neighborhood... Anyway, we were saved by Roy and Chance, who drove into town at about 10 PM with our truck in tow. We loaded up the Honda and they turned around and headed back to Phoenix. (Apparently, they got home around 3 and had the car off-loaded by 3:30. Poor Roy had to be up by 5:30 so he didn't even go to sleep... We're blessed to have such loving family so close by!).

We left Bisbee the next morning and stopped at Kartchner Caverns state park on our way home. While waiting for our tour, we researched cave life and practiced our spelunking skills... They wouldn't let us take cameras on the tour so we took pictures of the fake stalagmites in the museum...

We finally got home Monday afternoon to find that our car was already fixed. Apparently the battery was dead and wouldn't hold a charge...so no alternator to fix. Now you may wonder why we didn't think of that on our own. The cause of all the problems was the cheap jumper cables we bought for $12 at Chevron! They did absolutely nothing (we tested them later).

Needless to say, the weekend was full of adventure, but I wouldn't have traded any minute of it! Despite the unexpected issues, we had a great time together and we'd really like to go back to Bisbee again sometime soon.

To sum it all up, here are the lessons we learned on this adventure:

• Never buy cheap jumper cables...if they feel cheap, they probably don't work.
• Some car batteries require water. If the water runs low, your battery dies.
• Motrin can be a life-saver.
• I could never be a miner. The darkness and the metal toilet cart would probably drive me insane.
• I could not have lived during the 1800s...long dresses, layers of clothing, no air conditioning--not a winning combination.
  
• Sometimes it's nice to get up early in the morning so you can have the world to yourself for a while.
• Dads are smart. Somehow they seem to know everything about everything...
• Being family means you go above and beyond...just because you're family.
  

Well, this turned out to be extremely long, but I guess part of this retelling was for my own benefit. I recently reread my posts from last summer (moving, Peru, Hawaii) and I loved being able to relive everything. So sorry for those of you who don't like being part of my public journal...

Goodbye World

So, the picture has nothing to do with this post... It's just one we took while we were at the Outdoor Swap Mart this weekend. I don't like calling it Swap Mart; I think it should be call Swap Meet but everyone in Phoenix seems to think otherwise. While there, we tried on these really nice hats, but decided not to buy them. Thanks, Tom, for the picture! I think my favorite part is our expressions...we clearly didn't communicate the mood of the photo to one another :).

Anyway, on to the subject of this post, which kind of has a double meaning...

First, we're heading out on an adventure through Southern Arizona for the holiday weekend. Shane won't share too many details, but I think we're staying in Bisbee all weekend and visiting other places (like Tombstone, Kartchner's Caverns, and possibly Mexico) while we're there. It should be fun to get away for a while.

The second part isn't so exciting... My "busy season" starts in a week, right after Labor Day. That means I'm back to 50-hour work weeks so I may neglect the blog for a while (which, I know, is simply devastating to my many loyal readers...). Luckily, I think my Vegas trips are done so I only have Albuquerque and a brief stint somewhere in Colorado to look forward to. So, goodbye world! I'll see you in February (or March...)!

Casinos...

So, I need to take a moment to vent about casinos...I'm in Vegas right now, auditing one of the casinos on the Strip.

I've had my fair share of casinos lately. Every morning, evening, and around lunch time we get the pleasure of walking through the casino to get to our car. Also, anytime I have to use the bathroom, I have to go back down to the casino floor. Then, last night, we wandered through Planet Hollywood, Paris, and Bally's looking for a place to eat dinner.

Luckily, we're staying in a hotel off the strip that doesn't have a casino in it and I'm quite relieved.

I just don't get it... I see all of these people just sitting at slot machines, smoking their cigarettes. I really don't see the fun in it. Nowadays, instead of pulling the arm on the machine you just push a button and instead of hearing all the coins clink out of the machine, your points get racked up on your card. Honestly, it looks quite boring to me, just pushing a button over and over again watching your money disappear.

Anyway, those are my ramblings for now. I hope I survive all the smoke I'm inhaling...

A lesson on listening to the doctor...

So this is how Shane's arm has looked for the past three days...


And this is Shane, knowing that he should've listened to the nice nurses that said he shouldn't take part in overly physical activities shortly after giving blood...


I got a call from the Wednesday basketball crew asking me to come pick up my husband. No one told me what was wrong, just that he was "ready to come home." So I hurried to the church to find him with a HUGE reddish/purple lump on his arm. Our neighbor, who is a very kind nurse, looked at it and gave us some tips on how to deal with it. Now it's a matter of waiting out the bruise...

Shane spent the day today trying to convince people that I stabbed him with a fork. Sadly, some people thought he was telling the truth. What does that say about me???

Happy Birthday!

So, Shane's birthday was on Tuesday... I didn't forget (we had a party for him last Saturday), but I never got around to posting about it, so here's a few pictures and some video from the event. The party was mostly just family and one family friend. It was a good day! (P.S. the video is from our regular camera because our video camera battery was completely dead, so sorry for the pixelation...)

Smells like home?

So, we've had some pretty funny smells in our house lately... I think we forgot to run the disposal or something so it got a little rank. Anyway, I bought some refills for our air fresheners (the plug kind) at the store last night. I know Shane wouldn't like it if I bought any fragrance that looked pink or smelled like flowers, so I settled for one call Fresh Rain (which is clear).

I plugged them in and went about my business. Then, whenever I got a good whiff of it, I got this strange feeling like I was somewhere else. Finally, I stopped right by one of them, closed my eyes, and sat there until I figured it out...my mom uses the exact same air fresheners. It was a nice little moment of nostalgia (and a little sad moment of missing my parents' house). With my eyes closed, it was almost like I was back there, sitting in the basement. (On a random side note, my parents house smelled nothing like this when I was there last thanks to the stain and lacquer). It was nice coming home (to my home) today after work and having it smell like home...

Similarly, whenever I wash my hands with the cocoa butter soap we currently have in my bathroom, I'm transported back to the bathroom in our apartment in Baltimore. Even though we only lived there for a few months, that must have been the first time I'd used that kind of soap so it will forever be the smell of our Baltimore bathroom.

Maybe I'm strange, but my mind (and my memory) apparently pay extra attention to smells. Anyway, I guess that's enough of my very random post about smells. Really, I didn't think anyone would really be interested, but I've been thinking about it all day today. Enough of my randomness...

Hello from (almost) Mexico...and other random updates

I'm in a hotel in Sierra Vista, AZ... I drove for a little over 3 hours last night to get here. I think if I drove straight south of Tucson (instead of the southeastern direction I did travel), I would've ended up in Mexico, but I'm not quite there yet. Apparently the elevation here is almost 4000 feet so the high today was only 87 degrees!

This trip marks the beginning of my travel-full (I know, not a word) busy season. I'll be home for two weeks and then I'm off to Vegas for 4 weeks. Shane might be have to find another hobby to get him through this year's busy season...maybe more seeds.

Anyway, my post about bus rides seemed to entertain some of you. I'm happy to announce that my week of bus rides went so well, it turned into two weeks of bus rides! I'll be back in Phoenix on Tuesday night so I'll be riding the bus the rest of this week too. It's really such a great deal...I don't have to drive, I get to read my book, I don't have to pay to park, and I don't have to pay for gas.

I think the happiest news for me lately was that I passed the CISA exam!!! For those of you not in my world of auditing, that's Certified Information Systems Auditor (I know, super-nerd). I took in on June 14 (a great way to start a birthday weekend), and I really wasn't sure how it went, but apparently I did well enough to pass the test (granted, you only need a 55% to get a passing score)! I can't be certified for two more years, but I guess the exam is really the hardest part of it all. At least now I can say that I might be done with standardized testing forever!!

In other news, we had the Bakers stay with us for a little bit. We're SO excited to have our old friends back in the same valley as us. They only stayed for a few days (we were sad to see them go), but they probably are happier having their own space rather than being crammed into our two extra bedrooms. Either way, it'll be fun to spend some time together like the good old Wymount days...

This is turning out to be a very random post. I guess I just had a bunch of little things to write about and didn't want to make separate posts for each... We have some pictures to post of our new bathroom, but we've been slacking off a bit. Maybe someday soon!

Lean, mean, bus-riding machine

Today I rode the bus to work. When I first considered riding, I thought of the old UTA buses I'd ride downtown to visit my dad at work...but these buses are totally different. All of the seats face forward (like a charter bus) and each seat reclines and has its own light and air vent. It stops right by my house at a park and ride and goes all the way down the freeway to downtown without stopping. Plus, I get to read during my commute! I'm working my way back through the Twilight series in preparation for Breaking Dawn (I read Twilight on Saturday...I couldn't stop). I think I got off a little too early today (I walked about 4 blocks) so I might try the next stop tomorrow.

I got a free pass from work that lasts through 2011, so I decided to try it out. I'm a little wary to ride the bus to any of our client locations because I think I'd be riding the regular buses which may not be as reliable but it's awesome for riding to the office so I don't have to sit in traffic, pay for gas, and pay for parking (which is $5-$10 a day). Plus, it's a good excuse to leave work--most people won't keep you if you say you have to catch a bus.

Anyway, I'm planning to ride all week...it should be a fun, new experience.

Minor clarification...

So, Shane read the last post and wanted me to clarify that we did not name our couch Sinclair. La-z-boy has named the couch "The Sinclair."

I was fine just calling it Sinclair, but Shane said he would NEVER give a couch a guy's name because it would be disgusting to think he was laying around on a guy all day. I don't think I've ever thought of a couch that way...

Meet Sinclair.

Yep, this is Sinclair...the soon-to-be newest member of our family (in 4-6 weeks thanks to the saleslady's misreading of the warehouse stock). The pillows will be more bluish-green but other than that, this is our couch!

We've been wanting to remedy our couch situation for a while now since our two inherited couches just don't match...no matter how hard we try to convince people that blue/orange contemporary and green/red plaid couches were meant to be together.


So, on Saturday Shane asked if I wanted to go look at couches. I agreed, thinking we probably would just wander around and come home without buying anything. However, we were at La-z-boy and Tom showed us the couch he and Ashley almost bought for their house. We both liked it right away, but it took a while to decide that it was worth buying. After sending the saleslady away quite a few times so we could talk (Shane still doesn't understand why I can't express my opinion in front of salespeople), we finally decided that it was the best couch we'd seen and it was exactly what we were picturing for our house. It even fit the measurements we'd decided on exactly!

We were hoping to pick it up this Saturday, but we got a call (and a discount) after we left the store, informing us that the couch wasn't in stock so we'd have to wait a few weeks to get it. We gave away our green couch today so our house is feeling a little empty right now, but we're excited for the new arrival!

Let the fun begin...

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Knoxville...that's right, Tennessee. I spent the majority of last week in Cleveland, and will be spending almost all of next week in Seattle. I'm on a special project that requires us to quickly visit various locations for one of our clients in Scottsdale. I got picked to go based on my amazing technical expertise...(or my availability...haha).

All this travel may sound glamorous, but other than racking up the hotel and airline points and causing my body serious sleep confusion, all I do is work. Today we started at 8 am (which is tough when my computer says it's only 5 AM) and we worked until 8 pm. That's right, Shane and I left work at the same time today...I just started 3 hours earlier than him.

On the way here, we stopped in Dallas for an hour. We ate some BBQ (Cousins isn't quite the Colter's I remember, but it was still good) and then hopped on the next plane. It was fun to be in Dallas just for a little bit. I tried to pretend that I was actually on a plane to go and stay with Emma like the old days. It wasn't the same, but it was fun to think about it. I can't believe it's been so long since I've been back!

The one upside to the travel is I got the opportunity to enjoy one of my birthday presents...The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It took a bit to get into the book, but I really really liked it. It's very different from the Twilight books, but it was definitely good. It was also fun being from Arizona since the majority of the book takes place there...I've even been to St. Mary's hospital for one of my audits (is it sad that that's exciting?)...

Anyway, enough rambling. While I was gone, Shane and his dad/brothers helped put in our new sinks, faucets, and countertops in the master bathroom, cleaning up the cords behind the TV (with our entertainment center you could see everything), and putting in a new bamboo plant in the front of our house. He's so productive when I'm gone!! I'll post pictures of our new bathroom when I get home...

Humans 1, Ants 0

So, last Saturday Shane emptied our cupboards and sprayed all of the cracks where we think the ants may be living. We also sprayed all along the cracks outside our house and any other place we thought they might be coming in through. Since then, we've only seen two ants and both came off of towels from one of the drawers. We've decided that they can't get onto the counters because of the spraying. We're going to spray again this weekend and see if we can starve them out...

It's sad that this is so exciting for us... Yes, we need to get out more.

A Big (Little?) Problem...

I know, two of our last three posts were about insects, but here we go...

So, basically we've noticed a few little ants crawling on our kitchen peninsula (yes, I said peninsula...the part that sticks out between the kitchen and dining area) since the day we moved in. It hasn't ever really been an issue, except for the day they infiltrated my bagel box and ruined them all. However, they have recently discovered the dishes we leave in the sink usually have tasty morsels attached and now they know they can make it all the way to the stove unobstructed.

Luckily all of our food is stored in other places, but we're sick of the little things crawling everywhere. To top it all off, our empty Brita pitcher was on the counter while we were out of town, this morning when I went to pour myself some water, there was a dead little ant floating in it!

We've poured the ant dust all around the outside of our house so they can't get in, but we haven't seen a difference. We've tried two different kinds of ant motels that have the stuff they're supposed to carry back to the colony with no difference. We've even tried leaving cream of wheat out (which is supposed to make them explode).

We're open to any other solutions...any suggestions?

It's Official!

So, Shane officially started as a real, permanent employee at Medicis today. It only took about 8 months (which was faster than what I expected). Today he got his laptop, wireless card, a new nametag on his cube, a real employee access badge (instead of his temp one with a big "T" on it so everyone knew he was an outsider), a Medicis lunchbag, and a raise! I think he got a corporate credit card too but I'm not sure. They apparently kept him busy in all sorts of training and orientation meetings today because he was incredibly hard to get a hold of.

Anyway, they're shipping him off somewhere tomorrow to conduct a research study and then he has two more cities to visit over the next few days for more research. I know, I know, a good wife would know where he's going, but I'm writing this from my hotel room in Tucson just shortly after recovering from my Cleveland adventure. At least we're both out of town at the same time...

That's the news for now. We're hoping to go to Salt Lake for Memorial Day to see Jared, Jessie, and Vera since they've been in Bosnia for so long. We'll try and catch up with some of you Utahns while we're around.

Ladybug, ladybug...

The other day Shane was tending to his Adenium trees and he noticed little yellow things all over the branches and leaves. He poked one of them and noticed that the little black pieces of fuzz that were attached to them started moving!! After a little research, he realized that we had plant lice!!

He learned that ladybugs love to eat plant lice and other pests, so today he came home from Home Depot with a nice little mesh bag full of ladybugs. They hung out in our kitchen all day because the instructions said not to release them until evening time. When we got home from the party tonight we sprayed down the backyard (according to the instructions) and released the ladybugs all over the Adeniums, our pomelo tree, and the other bamboo bushes in the back. We took a few out front to our flowers in case there were any pests out there too. That was our fun for the evening...spreading ladybugs around the yard. They kept crawling out of the bag and all over Shane's hands and feet. According to the package, they should lay eggs soon and then we'll have even more ladybugs around!

Not so momentous...

Thanks to the many reminders to update my blog...

Well, it's funny that my last post was up for so long. It's a good indicator of how things have gone lately.

The morning after I posted that, we got "talked to" for leaving so early... That's right, leaving work at 5 pm is way too early. We were told that if we're only going to work for 8 hours we need to come in at 9 and work until 6 so it looks like we're working later.

Anyway, I've been on a really busy client and have had my fair share of late nights and long weekends of work which is why I've neglected the blog.

There was plenty to write about though...here's a quick recap:

• My dear friend Natalie FINALLY married Julian. It was a beautiful day and I'm so glad I was able to be with her!

• I was able to catch up with a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a while and see the progress on my parents' remodel when I came up for Natalie's wedding.

• Shane officially interviewed for a permanent position at Medicis. He's getting a formal offer letter from them next week so hopefully he'll be official soon.

• Shane finally won in the new couch(es) versus new TV debate. We now have a new 42" Olevia LCD TV and we still have our mismatched (but quite comfortable) couches.

• Shane felt guilty for getting such a big present for himself, so he bought me a new piece of art. It was something I was admiring at a store we visit sometimes but I didn't think he liked it much, but it's now hanging in our front room near his new TV. I wasn't going to let him buy it, but it was on clearance and we had a coupon so it was actually very decent priced (and significantly less than a new TV!!).

• The insurance company finally settled on Shane's claim from his accident in October. It's nice to finally have some closure.

• We almost talked to the Sandoval family in Peru over the webcam. We ended up talking to them on MSN messenger and seeing random pieces of the video feed from their webcam. It was still a fun experience. We're hoping to get them set up with Skype so we can really talk soon.

• The two bamboo plants that have survived thus far now have new shoots! It's a good sign since they look so skinny and sad, but they seem to be doing alright now.

Well, I'm apparently getting a little desparate for things to list since I'm talking about plants. That's enough of an update for now. Hopefully we'll have something fun to write about soon.

A Momentous Occasion...

So today I made history... I left work at 5:00 PM!!!! I worked my 8 chargeable hours and went home and I don't have more work to do tonight! This may not be a big deal to some of you, but those of you who have to worry about chargeability (which, based on our blog-readers is pretty much a shout-out Eric and Sharn) can definitely understand why I'm so excited.

Our team decided to enjoy the fact that we have plenty of time to complete our project and are only scheduled to work 8-hour days so we're leaving on time every day this week. I'm so excited!!

Okay, now I'm done gushing...

Quick update...

I know I already wrote an unbearably long post below, but I wanted to let you all know that we added two albums on Picasa. Click here to see pictures from Hawaii (which was in August, I know) and from our stay in Vegas before Christmas.

Pomelo?

So after months of telling everyone about our grapefruit tree, we have finally determined that our tree does not grow grapefruits, but pomelos. What is a pomelo you ask? According to Wikipedia, a pomelo is "is a citrus fruit, usually a pale green to yellow when ripe, larger than a grapefruit, with sweet flesh and thick spongy rind." That would explain my confusion when I cut open the first 'grapefruit' only to find that the rind was extremely thick and very squishy. Either way, we've enjoyed them and so have our neighbors and friends. We did discover that they sell pomelos for $2.50 each at the grocery store, so we might be selling them next year :).

I finally took our pictures off of the camera, so I have quite a few things to write about... This may be a long post so grab a snack, you may be here a while!

Anyway, last weekend (when Shane got President's Day off and I didn't), Shane kept himself busy working around the house. He and his dad and brother put in our new sink and countertop.
Thanks to some great connections, everything was FREE (except for the faucet)! The sink and stopper were from Linkasink (a company that the Guthries own) and the countertop was left over from a job that Shane's dad worked on.

Shane refinished the cabinets a while ago. Now, we just have to find a mirror that we like!

Shane's other project was to extend our back patio to the wall so he'd have a place to put the grill we inherited from Emma and Kendall. Shane dug out the dirt, leveled the ground, and laid all the brick himself. It turned out better than I could imagine!
Also, he picked up a few lights to accent our new bamboo plants and the rocks we got from another one of Roy's jobs.

This is a little old, but last month Shane took me to buy plants to fill the pot I got for my birthday. It only took six months, but I found ones I liked and Shane helped me fill the pot! It now sits next to our front door and I love how it turned out!

I also blogged a while ago about Shane and his dad putting in our new front yard. It's still kind of a work in progress, but here's a look at the main part of the yard. Now we just have to find some plants to replace our monster boganvias and then we'll put matching rock on that side of the yard too.

They also added to our sidewalk. I hadn't paid much attention, but apparently if a car is parked in our driveway, it's hard to get onto the sidewalk without walking over the rocks, so Shane and Roy decided to expand our walkway a bit... Here's the result:

We went out to spend a day with Amy, Chance, and the kids a few weeks ago. We watched Mason play basketball, had a barbeque, and played the Wii. It was a great day! After Mason's game, Paige and Brody wanted a chance on the court, so Shane gave them a boost!
Well, that should be enough for now... I'm hoping to update our Picasa albums with more pictures eventually.... Hope you enjoyed this update!