It's that time again

As has become common-place for me I wanted to take a minute to look back on my 2007 Resolutions and let you know how I did. (And of course provide a few for the year to come as well.)

2007 Resolutions

• Take a vacation. A real one. (I did. I went to Mexico for a glorious week.)
• Find a new place to live. (Went above and beyond on this one. Moved all the way to Baltimore.)
• Find a new p-doc. I've been putting this one off way too long. (Yup. But then I moved. Go figure.)
• Put more effort into maintaining my old friendships while still building new ones. (I think I did a better job of this in 2007. You guys can let me know if you disagree.)
• Break past my indecisive dating patterns (This one probably still remains to be seen, but I'm very happy in the relationship I'm in at the moment.)
• Be nicer to myself, especially by reminding myself that I'm only human and not above the feelings we all experience (I still have to catch myself now and again, but I'm quick to remind myself of this at least.)

2008 Resolutions

• Get back to working out at least 4 times a week. (See that's what happens when you don't put it in your resolutions for a year.)
• Decide where I'm going to live next.
• Decide what career I want next. Oh, and get a job. (Those might need to be separate, I'm not sure yet.)
• Read at least 3 really good books.
• Take advantage of not having a full-time job and do some traveling!
• Avoid going crazy during the 2008 elections. Allow only limited time paying attention to what's going on. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.

That's a good start. Let's see where the year takes us!

Pond Hockey

Irie did her best to keep up with the puck and occasionally even got hold of it, which led to an early end to our pond hockey fun.

Phone Fun

"Can you hold on a second? I've got another call."

So many people to talk to, so little time.

Is it impolite to just hang up?

A smattering of pictures from recent Christmas festivities

Santa Claus enters. Notice Lucy's bear hug and Lainey's rapt attention?

I love this picture. It's like she's doing some Michael Jackson move.

My what a big bone you have Irie.

Irie decided Dad (the non-dog lover) was a great person to cuddle with.

I think this shirt is hysterical. Thankfully so does Zander.

Merry Christmas!

This post will cover a little of this and a little of that. Primarily because I am at my grandparent's house currently and internet access is a little... shaky. The good news is - they have it. The bad news is, it's pretty slow and is really only set up on their computer. Because of this I'm not going to bother to try to break this into multiple posts or get pictures up right now. That will just have to wait until I'm back in high-speed territory.

First off, last Friday Ryan took me to a new contestant bar for the best bar burger in baltimore competition - The Perry Hall Inn. I have to give him props - it was much better than the first place. It was definitely a dive bar and the clientele was... interesting, but really that's the kind of place I like, so it works. It's also about 5 minutes from the house which is good for me, but possibly not the best place to make an after work hangout because it's further from other people. Mostly I think Ryan wants it in the running because he used to be a regular there and has some pull with the staff. Hey, that's alright with me. I like when bartenders are nice. And Ryan's told me some fun stories about the place, so we'll see. The search will continue because two bars is just not enough to base a competition off of, but it's certainly in the running.

Then Saturday morning, I took off for the farm (aka my grandparent's in Indiana.) I am used to driving on off days (the day before most people take off or the day after most have to be back at work), but for whatever reason I chose to drive on the Saturday before Christmas this year. Let me tell you - it was a bit insane and I now know why I drive on off days. I have never seen the roads like this and was amazed how many people were at the oasis. There were literally no parking spots and lines out the door. Needless to say, Irie and I pretty much drove straight through without stopping.

Yesterday was a relatively low key day. Just some shopping and cooking and general catching up with the fam. And then today was our big Deetz family Christmas. I got the great task of dressing my cousin, Davey, up as Santa Clause (pictures will follow) in the antiquated santa suit. Despite a few tears in the suit and a pillow that was a little too square to be a belly, the little girls (all under the age of three) all seemed to enjoy getting to see Santa in action. Ever since then Lily's been telling everyone (with a note of disbelief), "Santa came today." It's definitely more fun to have little ones around at Christmas time.

Tomorrow morning will be the smaller family Christmas (Dad, Zander, Lily, Carl, Kathleen and me) and then I suspect we will be found playing some ice hockey out on the pond. In theory the ice is thick enough to stand on, but Carl did fall in earlier today. Dad claims he wasn't listening to instruction. I forsee some hypothermia in at least one of our futures. :-)

Some favorite memories from the festivities this week so far include:

• Lily standing at the basement door looking outside calling, "Santa, come inside and give me presents. I have a special donut for you. Santa...."
• Lucy, after receiving a stuffed reindeer from Santa, telling her parents, "Santa brought me a reindeer. That's what I've always wanted."
• My dad receiving a shirt from Santa that says, "Mom likes me best." A long standing family joke.
• My grandma asking me if I met my new boy at church. And me responding, "No. Actually it was at a pub crawl."
• And just the general way that stories spread around this place. It's simply amazing.

Can't wait to share pictures and the future stories to come. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good-night.

The best burger bar in Baltimore challenge

Back in Chicago I had this great burger place that several of us went to every Tuesday night. It's probably the only place I've ever been a "regular" at - and certainly the only place I walked in and my drink of choice was instantly brought over without having to place an order.

So, I decided to make a little challenge for myself here in Baltimore and see if I can find a comparable place. I may never become a regular - but I like to at least know it's there to quiet my great bar burger cravings.

Last night I drug Ryan out with me to check out the first of what will likely be many trials. I think we both agreed that the burgers were not the best (way too salty), but the place was definitely fun. It had foosball, pool, and a shuffleboard-like game. It also had a stripper pole and comfy couches. All in all, it's probably not a place I'll frequent when I'm hungry - but it definitely has hang-out potential.

Me on the pole.

Ryan on the pole.

They also had a replica of the awesome leg lamp from A Christmas Story. Love it.

The Ultimate Sugar Cookie

As Kathleen mentioned in Pumpkin News, I've been keeping myself busy with Christmas cookies here lately. It has long been a desire of mine to find the "perfect" sugar cookie recipe and I have to say - this year's is as close as I've ever come. These cookies are soft and plump, stand up to icing with no breaking and are VERY tasty. Even better, they seem to stand up to being stored without losing their softness (not that they seem to be hanging around very long here.)

I made the first batch a few days ago and then made some more with Lily yesterday. It's a much messier process with a two-year-old and several cookies didn't make it to the oven due to just a little too much touching, but all in all, we had a good time and they turned out remarkably well.

And since this is the season of sharing and I'm sure there must be a few of you out there looking for a good recipe, I thought I'd pass this one along. Enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.5 cups butter (or margarine) softened
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream together sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. Cover and refrigerate dough (at least one hour, but I left it in there for about 3.)

Roll out on floured surface to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Cut out shapes as desired.

Bake at 400 degrees on ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes.

A trip down memory lane

I've been spending some time tonight organizing photos on my computer and for the first time since I moved to Baltimore, I'm feeling a little pang of home-sickness.

It's funny to look back on all these old pictures from college and the years since then and realize I'm not there anymore. It's not really full blown home-sickness - I think mostly because a lot of those days are over now, whether I'm in Chicago or not. As much fun as it was, I'm not in college anymore. My friends don't live just down the hall. And most of us really do have lives that involve waking up early in the morning to go to work. Several of us have moved. Many are married. Some even have kids.

And mostly, I'm quite happy with how everything has turned out so far. I'm still close to my closest friends. For the most part we've all been able to evolve and still be involved in each other's lives. I'm happy with my choices and all that good stuff. But there's still that part of me that would love to be back at the cabin with Sarah, Michael and all our friends. Or going on a roadtrip.

It's strange to not have close girlfiends here. I think I'm doing fine in the making friends department, but it's not exactly the same as having Sarah or Nicole nearby. I'm used to having my shopping buddies or people I just lay around and talk about all the worldly issues with. :-) Or even the simple stuff, like heading over to Marcus and Beth's for dinner or catching a movie. There are things that are just easier with people you've known forever.

Man, I make it sound a lot worse than it is. I'm not unhappy here in the slightest. I guess all I'm trying to say is, I do miss my old world a little. Thankfully Christmas vacation is less than 2 weeks away and I'll get to reunite with a bunch of family and even spend some time in Chicago catching up on "the good ol' days." Until then - I miss you all and I can't wait to see you soon!

Whirlwind Weekend

Part I - Howl At The Moon

Aniel, Rich and Shannon taking in the dueling pianos.

Rich and Shannon taking some holiday photos.

Ryan and me doing the same.

After a few coconut drinks...

On Friday, I kicked off the weekend by meeting up with "the group" at Howl at the Moon. I've been to Howl at the Moon in Chicago, but I have to admit - this was cooler. The one in Chicago is just so over-run with tourists and it really isn't that big. This place was much more... enjoyable. It also happened to be luau party night, so we had a great time drinking out of plastic coconut cups.

Part II - Boordy Vineyard

The whole gang at Boordy.

Me, Joe (my first meetup friend) and Lisa.

Boordy Vineyard is super close to the house and there seems to always be something going on there. Yesterday was the Celtic Christmas celebration complete with Celtic carolers, wassail and cookies. We spent a few hours relaxing in the heated barn, taste-testing and enjoying good company.

Part III - Ravens game

Me, Ryan, Christine and Chuck

At the game (before the rain)

Ryan was able to get us awesome tickets to last night's Ravens game. We spent the afternoon tailgating (well, actually we mostly just did a lot of walking between tailgating parties) and then hit the 8:15 game. I'd never been to a pro game before, so it was kind of cool. They were playing the Colts so there was definitely some heated feelings around. We were super impressed by the number of people wearing Ravens camouflage pants. It was really fun though - especially before it started pouring during the 2nd quarter. The cold I was prepared for, the cold after being rained on for an hour was another thing. By the time we got home I was thoroughly frozen and it took several hours to defrost.

All in all, it was definitely a great weekend, but also one of those times when I really wished I had another day off to catch up on things like... sleep! But unfortunately no can do. Have to finish up some projects for DBSA and then re-enter good ol' Beechfield Elementary!

Welcome to the Baltimore Public School System - Part II

The new job is actually going much better now that I've moved over the older kids and have a teacher in the room with me. It still has its tricky points, but it's getting better. But today what really made me laugh was this sign in the faculty bathroom: "Hand washing only. Do not drink." When did we get transported to Mexico? Man, really doesn't make me want to even wash my hands in it. Oh, well. Welcome to Baltimore!

My first ghost walk

I went on my first ghost walk this past Friday night. Back in Chicago this was always something I talked about doing but just never got around to and then one of my meetup groups here decided to go on one. It was in Ellicot City (which come to find out is not particularly close to me). Ellicot City has a historic downtown which was kind of neat to see, but the ghost tour itself really wasn't particularly ghostly. I think this was in part due to the fact that we were on a main street and constantly had loud cars driving past, people heading to the bars walking by, etc. It could have also been because the meetup group was laughing hysterically and heckling the tour guide (nicely) the majority of the time. I think I would try another walk in say, Gettysburg, or somewhere more off the beaten path, but probably won't be back on this one.

Regardless, we had a really good time and I particularly enjoyed getting to know more people at the bar after the walk.

Some of the crew - with severe red eye.
(Left to right: Vince, me, Ryan, Beth, and.... a girl who's name I can't remember.)

Our ghostly guide. She was actually pretty good.

There was absolutely no mist around us when this picture was taken. None of us have any idea (except for camera malfunction) why it shows up like this. Oooooo.

Little dipper

Lily loves to dip her food in just about anything. For lunch today we were having Papa John's pizza with garlic dipping sauce and Lily was still working on her donut from earlier in the day. She decided that the donut would be even better if it was dipped in the garlic sauce. I'll give her credit - she seemed to enjoy it and went back for several more dips and bites. No accounting for the taste of two-year-olds. :-)

Welcome to the Baltimore Public School System

I've held off on writing this post because I wanted to give myself a little bit of time to digest all that's occurred this week.

Monday marked my first day at my new job. As I've mentioned before, I went into it with a bit of trepidation - mostly because I wasn't feeling particularly prepared, but I was also excited and ready to start.

So, I show up, go over to the cafeteria where snack was being served and begin to round up my first graders. On day one, I had about 9 of them. We walk (and I use this term VERY loosely) over to the classroom and get settled into the new room. I introduce myself and the program, the kind of stuff we're going to be doing and take attendance. So far, so good. I pass out some paper and crayons and ask them to draw a picture of something they're good at. Now, this is lesson #1 for me. I meant, draw a picture of something you believe your good at doing - trying to get at their strengths, interests, etc. They (of course) think I mean draw something that they're good at drawing. But hey, that works too. This kept most of their attention for, oh, let's say 10 minutes. Great, only 2.5 more hours to go.

Suddenly, all h-e-double hockey-sticks breaks loose. I've got two kids chasing a third around the classroom. I've got one punching the crap out of another. I've got one crying. I have one pulling on my arm pleading with me, "I want to do my homework!"

Using the loudest voice I have, I announce we're going to play "Simon Says." This is met with mostly cheers and the majority of the kids join me on the carpet. There are still a few running a muck, but hey, I'm doing what I can. Simon Says worked for maybe 5 minutes until the kids in the back decided that piling all their coats on the floor and jumping into them was way more fun.

Oh, and I've still got the one kid attached to me crying about wanting to do his homework. I tell him he's welcome to do his homework, but of course he can't do it on his own.

And so the day goes. We played every game I could come up with, but mostly the kids just ran wild. I yelled, I begged, I pleaded, I reasoned - all to no real avail. Mostly at 5:45 I was just glad they were all still alive and mostly in one piece.

I left that night thinking, "Yeah, this is not gonna work." But I was assured there would be a teacher with me the next day, so I came back on Tuesday. This may have been a big mistake.

Somehow on Tuesday I ended up with 32 kids. But having learned a few things, I managed to get them over to the school in a little bit more of an orderly fashion (well, until we were halfway there and they all broke into a run.) At this point I was still hopeful I would have a teacher waiting for us in the classroom, but... not so much. However, I did get all of them into seats and get test booklets passed out. (That's right, on day 2 after a full day of school, we wanted 32 first graders to take a math and reading placement test. Right....) But no sooner had I gotten the tests passed out then I realize, we don't have any sharpened pencils (as had been promised.) In the 20 minutes it took to manually sharpen 32 pencils, I had lost complete control of the classroom.

I had kids jumping off of desks. I had kids escaping into the hallway. I had kids jumping on each other. All in all, I think I sent 5 kids down to the office for medical attention (2 busted lips, two poked eyes, and 1 broken open scab.) Oh, yeah, and the kid that was being bounced on that puked.

I take full responsibility for obviously not having control over my classroom, but c'mon! I'm not a certified teacher. I really don't even have that much experience with this age group. I asked for help at least three times and was basically told that I needed to get stricter. I seriously spent 3/4 of the time threatening, yelling and sending kids to the principals office. I'm really not sure how much stricter I could be.

At the end of the night I pulled the site manager aside and said that if something didn't change I wasn't coming back the next day. We talked for a long time and I finally agreed to stay with the program if I could assist a teacher in a classroom rather than be the teacher. So I'm now helping out in a class of 6th and 7th graders.

All in all, it's going much better now. My first graders still run up to me in the cafeteria to give me hugs and tell me they want me to be their teacher. My 6th and 7th graders are slowly warming up to me. They're harder to win over, but easier to control. I actually got to help a few kids figure out one of their assignments yesterday and that felt good. Definitely more what I was looking for.

It's still not the best place ever, but I'm willing to keep giving it a try and see how it works out.

Monday I'm in charge of leading a drama class. Hmmm. We'll see how that goes. Wish me luck - I think I'll need it.

Oh Christmas Tree

I went on a very fun date last night which included touring this little block of row houses in Baltimore that go a little Christmas crazy. The camera phone doesn't quite do them justice, but it's the best I could do. :-) I think it was mostly impressive because there really aren't any other decorations around - just this block. Quite the eye-sore! It reminds me a little of my old neighborhood with the halloween decorations.

This is what Thanksgiving is all about!

Lily was serious about her turkey this year.

The whole nine yards

Where to start? It seems like it's been a long time since I've given any real updates on my new life out east.

Picking up where I believe I last left off... I had the house to myself for a few weeks (well, the dogs were here too.) Those few weeks went very quickly and were, for the most part, good. I got a little bored and stir-crazy here and there, but it pushed me to take a little more active initiative to meet some new people which has worked out nicely.

Carl, Kathleen and Lily all returned to Baltimore about two weeks ago, and the last two weeks have been, well, a whirlwind. Carl's been flying out for interviews, studying 12 hours a day for this big test he took today. Kathleen has, of course, been working everyday and somehow squeezed a day trip to Kansas City in. Lily turned two and is, well, busy like a two year old. I've been enjoying all the action, but I will admit, it was a bit like a tornado hit after having two pretty quiet weeks of basic solitude.

After 1.5 weeks of trying to be really helpful with the baby, house and dog, I decided I wanted to take a little break, so I took off this past Saturday for a pub crawl in Canton (a nearby part of Baltimore county.) This pub crawl started at noon and I just couldn't fathom beginning to drink that early and being able to stay out very long. I left the house saying, "I can't imagine I'll be gone longer than a few hours." 8 hours later, my big brother finally called to check up on me. :-)

It really turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be. The group of people that were having the pub crawl is called "Meet 4 Fun Maryland" and has an age range of about 22 - 62. Now sometimes this can be a bad thing, but I have to say, this was fun. It was so entertaining to hang out with people from so many different age groups, so many different walks of life. There's just something that will forever seem entertaining to me about watching 50 year olds flirting. With two single parents some might think I'd be used to this, but I guess I just don't get the opportunity to see it so close up usually!

Anyway, the day turned out to be a lot of fun and I think it was just what I needed to feel a little more in touch with my less... homemaker side. I think I also gave Carl a bit of a "what did I get myself into when I agreed to let her move in" scare, but I don't really intend to make it a habit. I'm still working on the balance of family time and going out time, but I think it will kind of work itself out - especially once I start my other job next week.

So, speaking of that other job, many of you know I ended up moving out here in a bit of a rush, because the job I really wanted to take started on October 13th. When I was fully packed up and halfway out the door (on about October 11th), I found out that the position wouldn't be starting until the end of October or possibly even until November. I decided to go ahead and move as planned, because I a) didn't have anything left in my apartment, b) had already rented my apartment and c) knew Kathleen needed some help with Carl being in St. Louis.

As luck, and the Baltimore public school system, would have it, the program got even more delayed and is now not starting until next Monday. The nice thing is this gave me some time to get settled in, get into a bit of a routine with my DBSA job, and just relax. I think this is particularly good because I have a feeling this new job is going to bring a lot of stress to my life. At least for the first few weeks.

When I first found out about the position and the organization I was completely excited. It's an afterschool program that focuses on schools who are below proficiency rates in reading and math. The program has an awesome curriculum and really goes beyond your standard book learning.

After going through training, orientation and a month of back and forth with the office here in Baltimore I'm still psyched about the curriculum, but the organization.... not so much.

I know I'm someone who likes to have a little more structure in life than most. I like to know what I'm walking in to - I like to have things planned out. But this is just crazy. Pretty much every question I've asked has been answered with, "In a perfect world, this is what would happen...." Hmmm. Well, I can understand that this isn't a perfect world, but I would like to have some basic, little tiny idea of what I'm walking into on Monday. Instead of telling me what it would be like in a perfect world, let's try, say, this world.

If for no other reason than - I'm working with 1st graders. I need to have some idea of how the afternoon is structured. I need to have a few plans in place so they don't eat me alive. First impressions with kids are sooooo important. Yes, I'm confident I can win them back, but, man, wouldn't it be easier if I could just look like I kind of knew what I'm supposed to be doing off the bat? There's nothing like trying to keep 1st graders focused when you have no idea what you're doing.

Regardless though, I know this is going to be a good learning experience and I am excited to get started and see what it's really going to be like.

In other news, Grandma Murphy and my mom got here Monday night, immediately broke open a bottle of wine and we've all been having a grand time ever since. Lily is most impressed by the idea that this is me and Carl's mommy and her mommy. She just gives us this look like.... "hmmm, I don't know what you're trying to pull over on me here...." But we're all definitely enjoying each other and looking forward to turkey day tomorrow! Gobble gobble.

Drivers get younger every day

I had the pleasure of picking Lily up from school today and she decided she wanted to do the driving. She had it down too. But the best part was when she looked at me and said, "Climb in carseat, Inrin. Lily's driving."

A day at the park

Lily and I went to the park yesterday while Carl and Kathleen caught a movie. Lily had just aquired a new baby doll, so of course the baby had to go with us. Normally this wouldn't even catch my eye, but the thing is - this baby she picked out is UGLY. To be fair, it's really not that ugly until you take off the hat and then.... ugh. I just don't understand the designers of this doll. They created one chunk of long stringy hair coming out of the baby's head. and there's these weird wrinkles like something happened in the manufacturing of the doll.

Now, Lily clearly loves this doll, so apparently the designers know something I don't. I'm afraid we may have another Zander on our hands. As a little kid, he was always big on picking out the ugliest items as well. Like shriveled up, gnarly pumpkins. Guess it's just that underdog mentality. Someone has to love these things I guess.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the park and the ugly doll. :-)

Lily loved sending the baby down the slide and then following it down.

"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy."
When I got a little bored and started wiggling the teeter-totter back and forth I was told, "No, Inrin. Bouncy, bouncy." Guess she told me.

Lily wasn't all about the swing when we first got to the playground, but before long she wanted to and then we spent a good 1/2 hour just swinging. She kept telling me, "Lily's baby swing! Whee!" This is a shot of her giving the ugly baby a kiss.

See the chunk of hair hanging down the doll's face? I mean come on... why?

Irie's learning how to share - kind of

Rain rain go away

This is day three of gross, rainy weather here in Baltimore. My head has been killing me for the past two days and I'm really getting tired of it. In part I'm glad that I'm working from home and don't really have to be out in the elements, but I'm also feeling a bit stir-crazy. Mostly I'd just like to be able to get outside a little (and have this headache go away - which I think is related to the rain as well, by the way.)

The good news is I've got several different activities planned this weekend, which I think will help with the stir-crazy factor. Tonight I'm supposed to go to Fed Hill (hot spot in Baltimore) to meet up with some potential new friends for a few drinks and a (get this) magic show. I'm very intrigued by this.

Tomorrow morning (weather permitting), I've got a morning hike scheduled with the dogs (and more people I met earlier this week) and an invitation to a party Saturday night (though I'm not sure I'm actually going to do that one - I don't have a costume!)

Sunday morning is another dog meet-up and then a people meet-up at a local winery.

Where am I finding all these activities you may ask... at meetup.com of course. If you're ever interested in making new friends, or finding people to participate in special interests with you - this is the place to go. It's basically just an online forum for every club or group you could ever think of based on your geographic location. You search for groups by your area and interests, sign up and then get emails about upcoming events. I love it.

Of course, you're not really guaranteed to meet wonderful people or anything, but it does give you stuff to do and you never know who you'll meet, right?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what all the weekend has in store. At the very least it's supposed to stop raining by Sunday!

My own Meerkat Manor

I've been putting Irie in the basement with Terra when I leave lately and when I get home and open the doors to the basement stairs, this is what I see. It's not a great picture, but she reminds me so much of the meerkats on TV. She stays like this until I get all the way downstairs. Cracks me up. :-)

Terra update

Lily and Kathleen left on Saturday to go join Carl in St. Louis for a few weeks, so now it's just me and the pups in the house. And other than it being a little strange that I have no real reason to leave the house or interact with people on a daily basis, it's going pretty well.

Sleeping has been a little challenging - mostly because Irie's a brat and doesn't want Terra to jump up on "her" bed. I've found that if I get Terra up there before Irie it all goes a little smoother though. And once they've both settled down, it's ok. The only other problem has been that I kind of like to move around a bit at night and Terra very much wants to sleep between my legs under the covers. Since my legs are often not under the covers this creates some problems. :-)

We've also been spending a lot of time at the dog parks. So far we've been to the regular dog park, a small dog beach and a new dog park about 20 minutes north of the house. I'm really enjoying the new park - mostly because it's bigger and all grass. And the drive up there is a nice one - through a more wooded area.

Dog parks have also been interesting because Irie believes that all balls that are thrown are for her to go retrieve, and Terra doesn't really believe in fighting for a ball. But, I've gotten smart and have figured out that if I throw Irie a ball all the way across the field, in the time it takes her to go get it, I can toss another one in the opposite direction for Terra. It works pretty well, but does give me more of a workout!

Today, Terra found an oversized tennis ball that she decided was the best toy ever. We spent nearly an hour playing soccer while Irie chased the pop-ups I kept throwing. Terra was so excited about her toy she even snubbed the treats I was giving out. :-)

That is one serious tongue!

The prized possession.

Irie was more taken with the horse in the field next door.

Our first solo outing

Kathleen had a teacher institute day on Friday so Lily and I were left on our own for the whole day! It was kind of a rainy day so I decided to take her on a little adventure to the Baltimore Aquarium. I haven't been there in years and I thought she'd enjoy seeing all the "fishies and turtles."

We had a good time and I think Lily really did enjoy seeing everything. She especially enjoyed jumping in the puddles that had formed on the "rain forest" floor and riding all the escalators up and down. I could hardly pull her away from the big sting-ray tank or watching the divers swim around as they fed the sharks. She ran from wall to wall so she could continue to see him. Every tank we went up to she'd look at me and say, "Open?" I think she really did understand that you can't "open" the tanks, because before long she was asking me with this sly smile on her face that she uses for asking for things like donuts for dinner.

However, I did learn/was reminded how truly difficult it is to take a toddler to a place like an aquarium on your own. We did pretty well until we grabbed lunch at the cafeteria. Carrying Lily, a bottle of chocolate milk and a cup of french fries (yes, that's what I let her eat for lunch - I'm terrible, I know.) was extraordinarily difficult. Especially because she was hungry and tired by then and wasn't too thrilled to wait in line. But other than losing a few fries along the way, we did pretty well. I did get lots of dirty looks from the parents with their more "balanced" meals. I fessed up to the family at our table that I was her aunt and that's why I could get away with this kind of lunch, which softened their opinions, I think.

All in all, it was a fun day. Here are a few pictures of our day (note the "pash-u" in her mouth in all of them!)

Hey you, with the camera... come look at this lizard!

Checking out the turtles.

Leaning up against the tanks and sliding down them was a particular favorite!

Long lost cousins

Despite Irie's bratty tendencies, Terra is a good sport and for the most part these pups are certainly enjoying each other.

These boots are made for walkin'

Kathleen has been trying to get Lily to put on these boots, but Lily's refrain has been, "No boots, shoes!" She was in a good mood tonight though so I actually got her to put them on. Once she had them on, she thought she was pretty cool stuff!

First post from Baltimore

13 hours, a few tanks of gas, multiple potty breaks, and lots of fast food later... Irie and I have arrived in Baltimore. As always Irie was a dream to travel with and spent the vast majority of the trip snoozing in the passenger's seat. She was, however, full of energy when we got here.

The last few days have been a bit hectic, but everything is going really well. I under-estimated the time it takes to "settle" and, in hind-sight, I probably would have taken a few days off from my remote working. I know, I know - it sounds ridiculous that I somehow couldn't quite seem to manage a 1/2 time schedule, but it was harder than I thought.

In large part this was due to all my computer issues when I first arrived. My trusty ol' laptop has slowly but surely been falling apart. Granted I have had it over 4 years, but I was hoping to get another year out of it. But as more things went wrong and as slow as it's running - I just decided it wasn't worth putting money into it to fix it. So, yesterday, I bought myself a new laptop, so I am now the proud owner of a Toshiba Satellite. My favorite feature - how little it is! I'm still getting used to the new Vista software - I'm not totally psyched by it, but I'm figuring it out. I'm still having a few problems with my connection to the office, but still a lot better than it was.

I still need to unpack the majority of my stuff and I still have a handful of move related stuff I need to do, but I think by next week I should be pretty much on schedule. (I hope!)

All in all, I don't really think the realization of moving has actually set in yet. I think I still feel like I'm on "vacation" or something. Lily and Kathleen are leaving for a few weeks to spend time with family in St. Louis this weekend, so after Saturday it will be just me and the dogs. I'm guessing the reality will set in a bit more then. I still think it was a good decision and am not sorry to be here at all - even if I do miss having friends around a little! :-)

So far the things that have struck me as the most odd have been 1) realizing I need to reset all my radio presets in my car. It's strange when you've been listening to the same morning show for years. and 2) there's no Jamba Juice in Baltimore. Jamba Juice is a recent addiction of mine and I absolutely love their "cold buster", but apparently that is just something I'm going to have to live without for awhile.

Otherwise, life is good and I'm enjoying my susie homemaker way of life for the moment. (Though on my first night I did accidentally light the chicken container on fire - whoops!)

I'll post some pictures soon.

From gainful employment to indentured servitude

Big things are definitely happening in my world.

First (and possibly most importantly) - the Cubs. Who would've thought that they'd get this far? Let's just hope Bartman stays home this time.

Secondly (and maybe equally shockingly) - I'm moving! Now, if you're a consistent reader of this blog, you've certainly heard me say that I'm not sure Chicago is really the place for me. I certainly love stuff about it, and it's most definitely home right now, but I've always been drawn to the smaller towns of my youth. So am I moving to Bloomington? Madison? back to Carbondale? No.... I'm moving to Baltimore.

I know, I know - that doesn't exactly fit, but hear me out!

Baltimore, obviously, is where Carl, Kathleen and (the love-of-my-life) Lily live. :-) I've missed having family nearby. I miss seeing them regularly. And, well, I just need a change. I really feel like I've been living in my cozy little comfort zone for the last... let's say 5 years and I need to push myself a little. I need to take a risk. I need to leave the familiarity of Chicago, my steady job, my fail-proof friends and just see what else is out there.

I'm certainly going to miss a lot about Chicago. I don't think I'll really even fully understand how much until I'm gone. But, barring a targeted nuclear attack, it'll still be here if I ever want to come back. And I know I'll visit.

And I'll miss parts of my job. It's been a steady-force in my entire adult life. (Granted my entire adult life is not really that long.)

And, I'll really, really miss my friends. I was telling Nicole last night that while I'll miss her and the rest of my "regulars", I know I will stay tight with them despite the distance. The more acquaintance type friends, the friends of circumstance, friends of friends, etc... it'll be much harder to stay in touch and remain close. And that's hard to walk away from.

I'll also miss being close enough to a lot of my family to drive over for the weekend and see them. Even though I'm not able to do it that frequently, it's nice to know I can meet mom for lunch on the weekend, drive over to either one of my grandparents' houses for an overnight, etc. I've liked having that option! But I know, in reality, the amount I see everyone is not going to change that much.

And I also know this move is not forever. The plan (or as much of one as I've got at the moment) is to live in Baltimore until next May or possibly June. Then, as Carl and Kathleen move on to wherever they go next, I'll move on to wherever I go next as well. What does that mean? Well, I'm not entirely sure. It will likely mean coming back to the midwest. Perhaps to remain close to Carl and Kathleen, or perhaps to check out some new place that seems to fit.

What will I do in the meantime, you ask? Well, I'm fortunate to have found a part-time position in Baltimore in a field I've always wanted to try out. I'll be working at an after-school program in a K-6 school, helping kids get up to proficiency levels in literacy and math. From what I know, it's not a homework help program or a baby-sitting service. They appear to have a very structured curriculum that has been proven to help students reach the levels they need to be at to progress to the next grade. It's very part-time and not a position I would be able to take on if it weren't for my awesome brother and sister-in-law who have agreed to take me in for the next 8 months. But, my hope is, it will help me get a better sense of whether this is a field I'm really interested in pursuing. And if it is, I hope the position will give me some of the "hands-on" experience that every organization in this field is looking for.

As it so happens, my current employer has offered to keep me on part-time to work remotely for a few more months to help make the transition here a little smoother. I'm not 100% sure how that will end up working out, but I've agreed to do it for awhile and see how it goes. This also allows me a little more time to get more of my work-world organized before I'm officially gone.

I'm, understandably, a little sad for all the changes and things I will miss, but ultimately I'm really excited about what's next. I don't know that I'm someone that always needs to be looking for the greener pasture, but I do think it's invigorating to just change everything around and start fresh now and again.

The other day, I was telling Carl all the things I'm planning on doing when I'm there - like walking the dogs, babysitting, cleaning, cooking.... He laughed and said, "You're not an indentured servant!"

And I guess that's true, but I am eternally grateful that I have such a loving and supportive brother (and sister-in-law!). And, besides, I love taking care of people - I'm honestly looking forward to playing susie-homemaker a little bit. Mostly I don't want to be a nuisance and instead help out wherever I can.

I'll do my best to keep you all in the loop as everything progresses. Wish me luck!

Argggh matie

Irie and I spent a good portion of our beautiful Saturday cheering on the kickball teams in the end of season tournament. Irie even showed her Pirate spirit.

Time to PARTY!

All this kickball madness makes a pirate pooch thirsty!
(Check out those dreds!)