Catch Up

I fell off the face of the blogging planet about 2 1/2 months ago. I felt bad about it, but I was also happy because the reason I fell off was that I actually became busy! This was really good for me; I was becoming increasingly unhappy with my lack of activity to that point. Let me do a quick recap to bring things up-to-date.

My last post was in April and it was about the visit my sister and her family made to see us and our trip to the Arch. That visit actually happened in mid-March. The first weekend of April we went to visit my Dad in St. Joseph and had a really nice weekend trip. Eli and I even got to go on a date to Olive Garden, which we really enjoyed (we even took pictures of our desserts-it was that big of a deal).

A million things have happened with Will and his development, but I have decided to save that for a separate post so I don't leave anything out.

Mid-April we filed our taxes and were happy to get a pretty good return, which we put to work in many different ways. We saved some away for Will and our retirement, paid off some debt, did some major maintenance on my 8-year-old Concorde, and had some left over for home improvement. The home improvement was my favorite part. We decided to plant a vegetable garden in the back yard so Eli got the tools and seeds he needed to begin. We planted 8 small azalea bushes in the beds that run along the front of our house, and happily they seem to be doing very well. The most exciting stuff though was for the inside of the house. I may not have mentioned in this blog before the large amount of work we would like to do to our kitchen. Most of it is aesthetic, but it was in need of a major increase in counter space. We purchased 5 feet of base cabinets and counter top for a blank wall in our kitchen. I was incredibly excited about this addition to the kitchen. The new counter top literally quadrupled the amount of working space I had previously. Not to mention the amazing amount of storage the cabinets added. We were also able to purchase an exhaust fan for our kitchen (there was none when we moved in,nor any evidence that there ever had been one). This was a necessity for many reasons. The steam from cooking on our stove top would accumulate on our cabinet doors and drip back down-ick! Not to mention that I couldn't draw hot air out or strong smells like onions, garlic or fish. I cannot imagine how the previous owners of this house managed without an exhaust fan in the kitchen.

We were also able to purchase a new, baby-safe television stand for the upstairs living room and a much needed ceiling fan for our bedroom. It was so nice to be able to tackle some of these projects. It can be so frustrating to want to fix something and know it isn't terribly expensive, but still not have the extra money to do it. I know that Eli and I both felt like we managed to stretch our money to accomplish alot.

The first weekend in May we got company by way of Robbin and Brian Brooks and Daphne. Robbin and Brian stayed for the weekend and we had a really good visit. Nana Robbin got to play with Will as much as she wanted and that was alot of fun to watch. We got to grill out that weekend and introduced Robbin and Brian to the handmade bratwursts we can get from our local butcher. Robbin and Brian also brought us gifts when the came, in the form of 3 tables, a nightstand and 4 lamps. I cannot explain how happy I was to replace those wobbly, particle board round tables with real, honest-to-goodness wood tables. And anyone who knows me is aware of my love of lamps and my severe dislike of overhead lights (much to Eli's dismay) so the lamps were a major bonus. Daphne stayed with us through Thursday and actually helped Eli put in our new cabinets. She hung out with me and we did a little wandering around, but it was generally a quiet week.

The following Sunday was my first Mother's Day. Eli and Will gave me a wonderful and sweet day. I woke up that morning to the most delicious french toast, bacon and coffee. Daddy helped will make photocopies of his hands and feet to put in my card so I will always know how big he was on this day. I also got some fun kitchen gadgets- a really nice box grater and some flexible cutting mats that I had been pining for. It was a really special day and I enjoyed spending time with my guys.

Just 2 weeks later we took a trip to Morehead. Olivia Adkins was graduating from RCSHS this year and rather than go to graduation, she requested that we come see her in the school play. We were more than happy to do this, and we framed a 4- day weekend around the show. Liv was Lucy in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and she was phenomenal. The entire production was wonderful, and I enjoyed getting to see some people I haven't seen in a LONG time. We stayed out at Park Lake for our visit, and that was a really nice bonus to the trip. It made everything seem more like an actual vacation for us, and was so relaxing. It can be hard to travel with a baby and stay at someone's house with them because it is inevitably disruptive for everyone involved. Being able to go back to a quiet, empty cottage at night made everything so much easier.

Memorial Day weekend was quiet and relaxing for us. We didn't travel and we didn't make any big plans. The Wednesday after Memorial Day I got to start something I was really excited about- ZUMBA!! I had heard so many people, including Kristi, go on about how much fun it was, and I was able to sign up for a fairly inexpensive class at the local YMCA. The first class kicked my butt, but I really enjoyed it. Coincidentally, the day I started that class, I also accidentally discovered the most wonderful park on the edge of town. I happened to be driving around with Will, just looking around some roads I hadn't traveled on before, and came upon West City Park. It is absolutely beautiful, and the answer to my long-standing wish for a good place to walk with Will. The park has 1.5 miles of uninterrupted walking path around several large ball fields and two large ponds. There are lots of geese and ducks for Will to watch, multiple large, well maintained playgrounds, and fishing in the ponds. It has quickly become one of our favorite places to go, and beginning that Thursday after Zumba I started walking with Will every morning.

The weekend after Memorial Day, Kristi and crew stopped over for a day on their way back from vacation at my Dad's. We took them for a picnic at the park, and Eli and Jeremy got to fish while Kristi played with Will and Liv made use of the playgrounds. We had a really good time. That night we were going pig out at Cici's, but as proof that Eli and I don't get out much, we arrived at the location to find out that Cici's had in fact been closed for some time, long enough for a new restaurant to be opened in the same space. After a quick debate we ended up taking them to Ryan's for dinner. They had never been to a Ryan's, and both Kristi and Jeremy's eyes' nearly popped out of their heads when they saw the size of the spread. We had a good, if quick, visit, and they headed back to Morehead the next day.

The following two weeks started a bout of bad luck for us. First, Eli accidentally shattered one of the panes of glass in our downstairs sliding glass door while weed eating. I had just looked out an upstairs window to check on him when I saw him charging up the hill of the yard at a brisk pace. I met him at the door to ask if he was alright, and he informed me of what happened. After a panicked attempt to cover the door because we were sure the rest of the glass would brake at any moment, we had the man who installed our windows last fall come by and give an estimate on a new door. It will cost a pretty penny, but the good news was that we could calm down because the rock that had shattered the first pane of glass had done no damage to the second pane so we have some wiggle room before we must replace the door this winter.

Next, the television in our upstairs living room died a quick, quiet death. We had been having picture problems for sometime, but weren't sure if they were related to the set or the satellite. It was definitely the set, as it just kicked off one night, made a strange humming sound and emitted a bad odor for the short time it took me to detect it and unplug the unit. We carried it outside to the carport just to be safe, and moved our little 19 inch television from the bedroom to the living room.

The third stroke of bad luck was that Eli had been working on an abstract to prepare it for a conference this fall and after a lot of hurried, hard work, his boss decided not to submit it for the conference at all. It was frustrating for him and for me because he had spent so much time on it.

Things seemed to ease up a bit after that and we thought our run of bad luck was over. This last weekend we took a trip to Dawson Springs to see Eli's family and had no problems. We had a nice visit with everyone and an uneventful trip home. Sunday was Father's Day, so Will and I got to give Eli his presents- a charcoal chimney for his grill and a tackle box now that he gets to do some fishing. We had a quiet afternoon to relax before Eli had to go back to work on Monday.

All of this catch up brings me to this week. I will write about the specifics of what happened this week in my next post. All I will say now is that the reason I suddenly have so much time to write a small book in my blog is that I am going to be off my feet for a long time. I fell on Monday and broke my ankle in two places. Ouch. More tomorrow.