VACATION!!! YAY!!!!

All packed up except for toiletries. Cats are the vet for boarding, dog will be going later today to the kennel. About to pack up the Jeep. All that will be left for me when I get home is a few cards and bills to mail out, and clean the litter pans. Oh, and pack the toiletries, but that is always the last thing.

Itinerary:

St. Louis, and the Cards vs. Cubbies basebell game.

Amarillo, Texas for the second night.

Albuquerque for three nights, and a three day long party, including dinner with one of my favorite writers, Stephen R. Donaldson, and a group trip into the mountains to swim in hot springs and visit ancient ruins at Bandelier National Monument

The Grand Canyon with friends, via Meteor Crater

Canyon de Chelly with friends, via the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

Back to New Mexico to Santa Fe and Taos, along with more time with friends in Albuquerque

up to the high mountains to Durango, Colorado, to ride the train through the San Juans and drive the Million Dollar Highway

over to great Sand Dunes National Park at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos

Coolorado Springs -- Pike's Peak country!

Home via St. Louis

 

Should be a great time! Can't wait for morning!

 

 

Sometimes in this life you just have to take a stand and do what you think is right...because of the nature of my work, I see so many people who are desperate for narcotics. Some of them have medical conditions and have a great deal of pain, so need them. Other have a medical condition called addiction, and they deserve our prayers and sympathy. But there are always a few who try to twist the system in order to gain narcotics to sell them. Sometimes I have to see proof that there is still goodness in the world, that there is more to life than illegalities, greed and inpatience...even if the proof is occasionally from within myself...

I require proof that there is also love in the world...

 

Went and got my little baby truck today before work. It was a joy to be able to drive in a vehicle with fully working brakes and steering. It was pouring rain again while driving home. It was a joy to be able to see so well with such bright headlights, and to not slide or hydroplane at all on the sopping roads.

This time next week I will be in St. Louis! Yay!

It is wonderful having the children out of school and being able to see them everyday. Yay again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we finally did it today. After several futile attempts, on different days, made impossible with Dan coming home and collapsing from debilitating headaches, we went in and filled out the paperwork to get a Jeep. We managed to qualify for a ton of incentives, including 0% down, 0% financing for five years, Chrysler employee price (they threw that in because I know someone who's husband was working for Chrysler when he passed away), and a factory rebate, which I rolled over to be the downpayment. It is a silver Jeep Liberty, 4 wheel drive, with a 6 CD changer, which had been a demo and has about 5,000 miles on it. I get to pick it up on Wednesday, after they put the hitch on it.

All that is left is to find a place for the dog to board and pack...

A little over a week until our trip!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, I cannot wait!!!! It has been so rainy this pring -- more severe thunderstorms today, it will be great to get out to the desert -- not to mention getting away from the mold and the pollen! Steven is very excited to get away from his allergies for nearly three weeks, as am I.

One neighbor started cutting his grass about 7AM. The neighbor on the other side started up his weed whacker shortly thereafter. Darned retirees. I just lay in bed, so tired I had tears leaking out of my eyes. It was very hot and humid again last night, hard to sleep even though I was already very tired...

Some storms started coming through this afternoon. They even set off the tornado sirens for awhile. I got to drive through them on my way to work - not fun! But it has seemed to have cooled things down...

Poor kids, had a half day of school, last school day of the year, and they end up in the basement taking shelter from bad thunderstorms. I promised them a nice lunch at the bakery on Friday to celebrate.

I am leaving for New Mexico in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was very hot and humid today. I feel exhausted...stayed up until 4AM a couple of nights ago paying bills, haven't caught up with my sleep yet.

The children are very happy! Tomorrow is the last day of school, and a half day at that.Bill is bummed though, beacuse he was given a long reading list and assignment list for English 11. I think he will enjoy The Red Badge of Courage, but he is already dreading the Puritan sermons...They will also both have wrestling practice  three nights a week, and I'm certain soccer  will begin by midsummer, too.

In the meantime, we will be leaving in 15 days! Still have to buy a truck! Dan is runnning around to all of the area dealers trying to make the best possible deal (all of them are coming pretty close to each other, anyway (rolls eyes)) so I hope he finds it pretty quickly! We also still need to find a place to board Max. Dan volunteered to take care of that, but I don't think he's done a bloody thing yet.

I did get Max to the vet today to get all of his shots. They were all due this year...and he's lost weight, so the vet wanted to run an involved blood test on him to make sure he doesn't have any hidden problems. Today (including the heart worm preventative medicine) put me back nearly $400.

Last night Dan and I headed down to Toledo for the fiftieth birthday party for a friend. The house where the surprise party was held was in a very nice neighborhood near where the Ottawa River meets Lake Erie. The house and yard were lovely, with great landscaping and lots of decks and places for people to sit. The food was to die for -- and included crab meat & cheese enchiladas. (droooooolllll). It was a very nice party, and we greatly enjoyed it.

Today was Steven's last soccer game of the season. The weather was warm and sunny. We have actually had sun for three days now! Unbelievable! But it was nice end for a rainy and muddy spring soccer season.

Tonight we will see Harry Potter 3. The kids are sooooo excited!!

Last month, May, was not only the wettest May in history for this area, but it was the second wettest month in history, period. And that's saying a lot, given how much snow we sometimes get. June is also off to a wet start. It poured all day today...it was a nice surprise to get out of work tonight and see a clear sky and a huge full moon!

School is winding down for the kids...less than two weeks left. I hope there will be at least one dry day for Steven's school picnic...they'll play softball and grill hotdogs. And I think Bill has another payment due soon for next year's school trip to Europe....that will be such an awesome experience for him! He's looking forward to getting to New Mexico in hopes of picking up a bit of Spanish. He's been studying French, and the trip will be going to both France and Spain. And Steven has been studying Latin American history all year, and can't wait to see the Palace of the Governors, the historic pueblos, and the ancient ruins of New Mexico. And like me, they both love the mountains and the canyons, the wildlife, the wildflowers and the clean, clear air...

One more day of work and then the weekend. Thank God. The third Harry Potter movie is coming out this weekend, and tomorrow I should try to get tickets for the children!

Made it to the bank today. Dan let me have our tax refunds from last year to start a vacation fund, which I threw in a savings account. Today I transferred $5000 of that to a checking account, so I can draw from it with an ATM card to pay for our trip later this month. Hopefully we will spend no where near that amount, though with the gas prices I am sure I will be upset over the trip will cost -- in fact, I am expecting the gas to cost more than any other expense, including hotel rooms and food!.

Watched a wonderful movie this morning called Whale Rider. It was a great movie from New Zealand about family, tradition, community, and spiritual growth.

Today was the funeral for my friend's baby. I was at work, but don't know if I could have bourne it if I had been able to go. He and his wife had gone through years of infertility treatments and miscarriages before this baby, and to lose him when he was nearly full term is a true tragedy. I do not know how they can bear the pain.