Monday, September 22, 2008

These are the Monkisms of our Lives

Since Carol doesn't mind me kidding her about her "Monkisms" here are some examples & a few of my fau paus...evidently, some guy keeps coming in to our kitchen & moving the foot pedal trash can back a few inches at a time but we haven't caught him yet. My paper dixie cups didn't match the bathroom decor so we've hidden them in the cabinet below. So far I put dirty dishes in with the clean ones and trying to be helpful one morning, unloaded & put away a full load of dirty dishes. So, our next purchase is going to be a Clean/Dirty sign so I don't screw up again! I've only broken one dish so far so that's not too bad for me. Carol had showered & when she came out, I had broken the dish & unloaded the dirty dishes so she asked if next time, would I please just stay in my chair till she got out? :-) I've only had to return 2 or 3 items that I bought the wrong kind so I'm learning. But, you don't know what pressure is until you've had to pick out apples for Carol...I could have eaten one or two by the time I found 4 that had no bruises or marks whatsoever. As I was putting away the Derby glasses, I started to panic..thinking not only do they have to face the same way but I'll bet she arranges them by year. As I'm doing my sodoku puzzles & talking numbers to myself, Carol said "just let me know if I'm supposed to answer". I am getting up early every morning (around 6:30) & going to bed much earlier than I used to...so Carol says, at least Mom could stay up & she was in her eighties!
But in all seriousness, we are getting along great I love it out here & as you can tell we can kid each other about both of our idiosyncracies. Hope all is well with all & love you.
Patrick & Carol

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Busy, busy, busy

Well I've been keeping busy lately, if you couldn't tell from the title of this post. I recently took a trip to L.A. to visit friends. I hadn't been back in awhile, so it was really good to catch up with people and hang out in the city. I went to the beach twice, which is probably about 1/4 the amount I went the entire time I was living there. The weather was great and I packed a lot in the days I was there. Here's a photo from the beach (I'm second from the left, and yes, the water was quite cold, but I braved it).

From L.A. in August


If anyone is interested in seeing more photos from the trip, you can click here or on the "L.A. in August" link above.

I got back to Omaha from that trip at midnight and left the following morning for Minneapolis to help my sisters move into their apartment at the University of Minnesota. It was a quick trip that involved a lot of unpacking and trips to IKEA, Target, Trader Joe's, etc. I guess that was just practice for my big move-in that has already started.

We then drove from Minneapolis to Hancock, Wisconsin for a relaxing few days at the cottage. It was also the first time I was able to witness the Labor Day parade. Parades in Hancock are one of my favorite things, and this one did not disappoint (despite its close resemblance to the 4th of July parade). The main difference (and main attraction of the overall parade) was the float with free potatoes and carrots, which parks on the street after the parade and provokes total mayhem. You would think we were back in the Great Depression days. I felt like I was in a scene from The Grapes of Wrath. I did, however, manage to grab a few carrots and potatoes. Here's a photo from the chaotic scene:

From Hancock Labor Day


And if you are so intrigued by that photo that you can't wait to see the rest of the parade excitement (believe me, that was the most exciting part - although there was a crane with a man throwing bouncy balls off of it, but you don't quite get the effect from a picture), then you can click on that link above for more photos in an album.

And now to the present: fall classes have started up again and I've got what seems to be a good group of enthusiastic students. I've also started moving into my house. It's a slower process than I would like, but it's going good so far. I'm still mostly in the cleaning, sanding, painting, removing carpet phase. But the living room actually started to look like a living room today, so that was very exciting. I'll post some pictures when I get further along.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

House Pics


Hey, where's my coffee?