Where has the time gone?

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted anything.  I don't actually know if anyone reads this anymore.  I feel like blogs are kind of 2005 not 2015 but I don't tweet or have instagram so I guess I'll just stay in my archaic medium.

Life here in IL is good.  Mike is still loving his job although it takes him away from home a lot.  His position allows him to constantly learn new things and that is definitely the type of job that he likes.  One of his main problems with grad school was after a while, he was using the same techniques to answer new questions but the daily grind became repetitive. Now, everyday he gets new questions from his reps or is learning how a different scope system works.

My job is also going well.  I also love my job but there are aspects that I don't love (like working every night and weekend).  I know my teacher friends know what I am talking about.  Whether you are teaching K-12 or college, every one has class prep, grading, and then extra "situations" with students (both good and bad).  I'm about to start my spring term (which means 11 weeks until summer).  Summer can't come soon enough.  I love it when I can come home from doing research and have my nights to myself.

Cali is starting to show her age but is otherwise healthy.  For those of you who knew her when we got her 6 years ago, I could take her to the dog park for hours every day. We forgo the dog park nowadays because her shoulder and rear leg joints don't do well with the jumping and tearing after tennis balls.  I can't control how people at the park throw the ball for her (i.e. up in the air thus making her jump) so we don't go.  We do go for a ton of walks (even though it is friggin' cold here) so she gets her exercise.  She self limits her exercise.  One day last week the temp was in the high 60s so I took her for a 1.25 mile walk when I got home from work.  A few hours later, at dusk, it was still that warm so I wanted to take her out again to enjoy the sunset.  We only made it .25 miles from home when she sat down and wouldn't go any further.  So we turned around and went home-what dog doesn't want to go for 2 walks?? Mine.

Here is a picture of the sunset that night.  Enjoy.

Practice

I'm still getting Mike used to the idea of having kids. He is getting practice with our friends son Jack. Tonight Mike got to read "night night" books. 

First world problems

Which one do I use? 

In my defense, this is the iPad I inherited from Mike, the computer I bought with grant money, and my new computer from work. So I technically didn't pay for any of them.  I guess that makes me pretty spoiled.

Christmas project

We've been slowly painting the trim in the house white. This summer I did half of the family room but still had the windows and doors to do. We decided against doing the windows because it's so cold out but tackled the doors, door jams and the downstairs bathroom trim. After several days we finished! Here it is.

Sweet Cali

Poor Cali has gone and hurt herself again. It's my fault- I was playing ball with her and now she has a lot of pain on her lower back. I don't know what she did exactly.  She won't go up stairs or get on the couch. When the doctor pushes on her the sides of her vertebrae at the point where her rib cages ends she winces and can't support her weight. Right now we have her on Rovera (NSAIDs) and hope it will reduce the pain and inflammation. 

Merry Christmas!

It was a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here.  Last night Mike and I went out for dinner to a local Italian restaurant.  Normally we have excellent service but not last night (of all nights).  It took us 2 hours to eat.  From the time we sat down to when we go our entrees it was 1.5 hrs!  We are pretty sure that either our waiter never put in the entrees or the order got lost.   A couple sat down 45 mins after us and got their meal 10 mins before us.    It was still a nice evening because we didn't have any other place to be.  After dinner we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

This morning we opened our stockings and then our presents.  My stocking had a new red travel mug, lots of chocolate, fuzzy socks, and a magazine to read.  Mike got wool socks, mints (he doesn't like chocolate), and dental floss (he flosses at least twice a day).

Our big present from Santa was a new vacuum!  A Dyson Animal.  Our current vacuum has slowly be breaking/losing suction so it was time to replace.  Santa knew that Cali sheds a lot and that we could use a really powerful vacuum cleaner.  Mike put it together and then proceeded to vacuum the entire house (Merry Christmas to me!!).  I'm not going to lie-I was shocked at how much dirt is sucked up.  Even though we vacuumed on Tuesday, we filled that canister with dog hair and dirt pretty quickly.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Visit with Grammy

My Grammy lives about 3.5 hours away but we haven't had a chance to get down and see her.  My Uncle was visiting her but flying out of Chicago so we drove down to see Grammy and brought him back up with us for his flight.  This allowed us some time with her and we got to spend two days with him-win, win!

Here are some pictures of our trip.  For almost 98 Grammy is doing really well health-wise but does have some trouble with her memory.  For example, she couldn't remember my dad, her oldest son, and also couldn't remember my brother.  Overall she had moments of clarity but doesn't seem to let her memory loss get her down.  I can't imagine keeping 98 years of memories in my brain!  The picture of me next to Sallee Hall is a building named after my great-grandfather Roy Sallee.  He was a biologist (!!) at Western Illinois University and they named this building after him.  When we were kids, every time we went to visit Grammy we would get our picture taken.  I was a little sad that I wasn't there with Tom and Laura this time around...

Mike, me and Grammy.

 My Uncle Jim, me and Grammy.

 Me and my grammy.

 Maybe North Central College will name a building after me?  (likely only if i donate Millions of dollars.....)