The Big Date!

It looks like March 1st is the magic date. Assuming my visa is in order by then. If it is then shiny. Otherwise we will be heading to Korea asap. That is the skinny on our departure date. In other news packing continues as planned and near completion. Should be interesting to see how much stuff we end up bringing with us. Also Caroline has been a sickly girl. She got a pretty bad case of pink eye actually. It is clearing up though glad to say.

Dust off you top hat and tux because February 27th is our Lafayette going away party. Should be sweet. It also a birthday party for a few people if I'm understanding correctly and a welcome home party for Jenny. So it should be quite the affair. (Don't actually worry about a Tux :p)

The big news...

I'm just going to get right into it. Caroline and I are Pregnant and we couldn't be happier about it! Our kid is going to be born over in Korea so we have to figure some things out of course like what paperwork needs to be filled out to ensure American citizenship for our little bundle. But this also means our kid will be born with adventure and mischief in her (sure it could be a boy but we both think it will be a girl and Deva agrees) blood. We approve of this though it will probably be worth a whole pile of trouble as she grows up. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

Back Home

Hello. I am back in Colorado. I got back on Friday, but it has been pretty busy. Spent some time with Charlie and sicky Rachelle. Yesterday was full of walking and running errands. We walked down to the bank, over to Walgreens, down to the tattoo shop (scheduled Justin's touch-up), then took the bus down to Rei to get some Keens for Justin, Barnes and Noble, and Whole Foods.

For those who don't know about my addiction yet, I love Sudoku. I have gone through one series of books that go from white belt to black belt. I am about to start the second degree black belt. They seem so easy now, although I'm glad I made that progression. So I am starting on a new series that is Mensa approved. It is called Absolutely Nasty Sudoku. There are four levels. After that, I will try the book of 500 championship-level ones. I also bought another book with very challenging ones, including 25 x 25 squares. It looks crazy, but so fun. There is also a book of Mensa How to Solve Sudoku that I want. It explains all the patterns. I only know 3 or 4, but there are quite a few. They have funny names like the Gordonian Rectangle, swordfist, turgot fish, jellyfish, etc. Justin studies chess, I guess this is my chess.

Last night we went to Nyala Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. We only had to wait about 15 minutes for the table. The food was amazing, although the waitresses aren't really used to handling a crowd! We had the lamb wot, chicken alicha, and engudai tibs (button mushroom). It comes with yellow lentils, salad, collard greens, and green beans and carrots. The spices are awesome. I love that place.

Justin will be posting next to share some great news with everyone. 안녕

Down in Pueblo...

So being down in pueblo has been surprisingly relaxing. Normally being in Pueblo just puts me off. Something about the town has just felt...wrong...for a long time. While this isn't any kind of indication of wanting to settle down ere it has been nice.
I've mostly been spending time with my mom though I also spent time with Jake, Kiera, and Jeff. Jake has gotten really good at painting his miniatures and the Keeper of Secrets ( http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/kosecrets3.htm ) Mom and I got him for Christmas is impressive. Kiera is doing well and Midori is, of course, amazing. Janet (Kiera's Mom) took us out to dinner at an excellent Mexican place. Midori got a kids margarita and , upon drinking it, got very tired and cranky. She didn't even touch her food. Silly kiddos. Jeff is also doing well. He lost a lot of weight and is getting an excellent promotion at work. That should go well considering Jesse is about ready to pop out her first pod person.
Beyond visiting I haven't been doing much. Studying chess of course. I made some excellent strides in my tactics training acheiving a high rating of 1626. I won't be going to any tournaments or anything but it is very nice to improve. I also bought some movies I've been wanting including the A&E Pride and Prejudice miniseries. So chess, movies, and visiting has been my last few days. Nice but I'll be happy to be back home and getting ready for Korea.
Speaking of which...My paperwork should be just about done being processed and will soon be winging its way back to me. Once thats done I'll send everything off again, this time to the Korean Consulate in San Francisco. Their the final touches will be put on everything meaning I'll get my visa. Then tickets and packing, then long flight, then adventures with my co-pirate! Good times will abound.
Co-pirate is still in Texas. Her exploits are recounted below. I miss her many muchos. RAWR!

Texas update

Past time to blog again. I'm in Texas. It's been a lot of fun.

Saturday I flew into Austin. Mom picked me up and we went for lunch at my favorite bubble drink place. The rest of the day was just relaxing. Sunday was my Mamal's birthday. We went to a great Austin restaurant and then back to my uncle's house to play with the youngest of the family. She just turned a year old and is so smart (not to mention cute).

My friend Deva is letting me borrow the car that I sold to her a few months ago, so I have transportation while I'm in town. I drove over to my Dad's house to have some hang-out time with my little sister (who's 16 now) and my dad. The next morning my step-mom had come back from working out of town, and I got to catch up with her for a while.

Mom and I met back up for lunch, then we went to meet my ex-husband for some final divorce paper signing. Yay! I am now officially divorced! It's good to have that done!

That's what I've been up to. I will be seeing my friend lisa this afternoon, Deva tomorrow afternoon, and then Thursday I'm going down to San Antonio to see the Nana and Granddad. It has been a good week so far. I'm not sure why, but I'm happier than I usually am when I visit down here. I think a part of it is the weather. Yes, it's still humid, but it's not 100 degrees like it is in the summer when I visit. It's tolerable. Also, I've got the whole week to see everyone, and I don't have to go back to work when I get home.

The only down side to this week is not being with Justin! He's in Pueblo visiting his family and friends. Just a few more days apart though, and we will be inseparable for a year!! Rawr, Justin!

안녕

Ups and Downs

It was a rollercoaster day. Started out great. Had beverages and treats at my favorite coffee shop with good friends Sharon and Kendra. Headed over to Eco-thrift (best thrift store EVER) with Kendra to say hi to the eco-people. Good stuff. It went downhill when I got home. I can't find one of my favorite cds, The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack. Then I had to call the airline I'm flying on tomorrow to try to fix a mistake that they made on my reservation. I talked to the highest supervisors in two departments and then filed a formal complaint. I usually don't bother with that, but I was MAD. Never did get the reservation fixed. I have to just exchange the flight on the day of. :P
I did eventually get in a better mood after a great conversation with my mom. She really cheered me up. Now I'm all packed for flying to Texas tomorrow, and my ipod is full of great music (except Darjeeling...grrr).

Yesterday went pretty well overall. It was my last day with the Daycare. I trained my replacement cook, which was the least exciting part of the day. Then I had some Bubble drinks with my co-worker Tabitha. Good fun. After that headed over to the elementary school to say good-bye to all my school-agers. It was sad, but we had cookie cake and they gave me tons of farewell cards and hugs. They are an amazing group of kids.
Yesterday evening, our friend Matt came over for several hours and there was some great conversation. We were all exhausted and ready for bed by midnight.

Update on Korea: We may be leaving as late as the 27th now. It could still be around the 19th though. As soon as the school decides on an orientation day we will know. There is still a couple more bits of paperwork that I have to get, but those are waiting until we get plane tickets. It's starting to feel real now!

It has been great getting time to hang out with all our friends so much. The aforementioned Matt and his gf/my co-worker Shauna are on the way over for more good times. I should definitely go brush the garlicy pesto dinner out of my mouth before then. 잘자

In case anyone needs some cute

Tibby and Takei
Originally uploaded by poodia2002

I'm alive!

Hi everyone! Yay, my first post! I am feeling much better. Got some yummy rosemary bread and tea in me. Mmmm.
We are getting closer to Korea. It's coming up fast. Will be visiting Texas this Saturday. I can't wait to see everyone down there. I have my last day of work tomorrow. I'll be training my replacement and then popping in at the school-age program to say my good-byes. I see some tears in my near future. It has been so great working with these kiddos. I'm gonna miss them a lot. I hope I get to work with some awesome kids in Korea too.
Dozer is crazy right now. He's been stuck in the house with the rest of us, which apparently leads to "playing" with the cats. It will be good when we get him into his new home. He'll have 2 other dogs to mess around with, and a bigger yard. It is sad, but we really don't have time or energy to enjoy him right now anyway. He's been a great foot warmer the last couple days though!
Now that I've checked in, time to finish my tea and maybe work on some Sudoku.

korea

Also another snag out of the way. Apparently some check list I was supposed to send wasn't given to me. But now its filled out and sent on. All should be well.

Drunk visitors and other unexpected complications...

So Caroline is pretty sick. This makes me a sad Panda. Probably a flu. She is currently resting in bed with a full supply of ginger drinks, medicine, and soon rice for breakfast. So hopefully she will soon be on the mend. However, between that and a little visit we received about one a.m. last night I didn't sleep overly well. See the story goes something like this. Our roommate Jake didn't have a key for a while. We made him a key but it didn't work for some reason and he said he was going to get a new one but I'm honestly not sure he has. So we started leaving the side door open for him since he often comes home late. So last night I woke up with a midnight thirst. Proceed to the kitchen, leave lights off so as to protect eyes, consume milk, all is well. Heading back to the bedroom I got an eerie feeling like I was being watched from the darkness. I shrugged off said feeling cause yes I believe in ghosts but I know this place has a ghost and he's pretty quiet. I must be freaking myself out right? So I just go to bed. Once in bed we start hearing noises. At first we think it might be someone downstairs. We hear the bathroom door open and the fan/light turn on then quickly turn off followed by the spare room door sliding open. We are trying to figure out what it could by. Maybe Jake or Charlie? Charlie doesnt seem likely. He has his own bathroom and why would he be going into the spare room this time of night? We didn't hear Jake's door open either and he wasn't in the living room when I went to the kitchen. I start to get worried though as details begin to fall into place despite my half awake state of brain. Caroline gets up and leaves the room while I start throwing pajamas back on. Just as soon as I get my pants on I hear her open the spare room door and some quick movement followed by her popping back into the bedroom with a freaked out look on her face. I look out the door and some guy who I've never seen is staring at me. The following conversation was fairly akward. I'm hoping their is a reasonable explanation for this unfamiliar face in our house. A friend of Jake's maybe? He says yes but follows that up by heading for the downstairs door and making readily apparent just how drunk he is (which is extremely btw). The guy is having trouble with the door. Great. Caroline suggests I go help him with the door. I'm, still being freaked out, understandably hesitant. As I head down the stairs he begins to head up the stairs. I block his path and ask again if he is Jake's friend, "yeah sure I'm Jake's friend" he says with a sort of hesitancy of his own. Determined to be sure I move to Jake's door and start knocking. "Jake do you have a friend staying in the guest room tonight?" "No" is my answer. So that's that. I tell him in its time to go. He, seeming to think we are somehow friend by this point, beings insulting me for being a bad friend, but has the decency to make for the door. Problems with the door still. Now knowing where I stand with this guy and being fairly sure he has no weapons let alone the ability to use the in an effective manner open the door for him and let him out. Lock doors, Caroline calls police. I'm sad we had to do that last bit but really? I don't have a way to take him home nor the patience to find out where said home is anyway. I'm not going to just let him hang out on the porch (which he did until the cops arrived) to greet the daycare parents in the morning. Furthermore, it is cold out. I'm not going to just let him wander the night hoping he manages to make it home safe. He might just wander into someone else's home again. Needless to say the cops handled it. Freakin wierd though. I certainly couldn't get back to sleep for a number of hours nor sleep well the rest of the night. Drunker visitors...Do you have a key Jake? Hope so cause I'm locking the house up from now on.