Back into the swing of things...

Well I had the opportunity to do some touristy things before my family went home.. We took the DART into Dallas and saw all the JFK stuff. First, the DART was really easy, affordable, overall clean, not very smelly, etc... pretty much the opposite of BART! We did have one interesting moment when a woman got on the train and my dad tried to make small conversation with her (commenting on the weather) and she didn't get what he was saying so it was awkward and weird and she sat down and threw a bag of McDonalds that someone had left on the seat and french fries went flying all over the place. So opposite of BART but similar in having weird things happen while on it.

The JFK museum, pictures, the story, the road, the grassy knoll, etc etc was all very interesting. I mean I obviously knew the story but I learned a few things that I never knew, plus some of the pictures were heartbreaking.

So, did I mention that on the day we went to Dallas it was in the low 30's? IT WAS FREEZING. The wind whipped you and made you want to die. Because atleast if you were dead you wouldn't be cold anymore. You know, that cold where all you can do is scream and yell to keep yourself going? Yeah. It was that cold.

In typical Autumn fashion I wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather. I had flip-flops on which presented quite a problem as the temperature continued to drop. I stopped at a CVS drug store and bought knock-off crocs that have this super warm fuzzy sock sewn into them... They saved the day!

And of course to continue typical Autumn fashion these very ugly, very cheap shoes have been on my feet ever since... I've even worn them to work! Haha. I laugh each morning I put them on because I can think of several people who would be horrified knowing I am wearing those shoes to work. Oh well. They are warm and they are comfortable (comfort being the key).

C was still sick over the weekend unfortunately so he wasn't able to join us.

I took my family to St. Jude's 5pm Youth Mass. It was overall a nice Mass. The priest seemed friendly and open. The music wasn't bad but the parts of Mass that are sung were surprisingly done in the very traditional way. I would have wished it to be a little bit different but I am willing to go back and check it out again. We might also try the 12noon Mass and see if we like that one. There are also a ton of other Catholic churches around here so we might check those out too.

On Monday we drove to Denton and went on a college campus tour of UNT... Micah is interested in their Music program so it was cool to go check it out with him. The school is pretty darn impressive with all the services and amenities that they offer for the price of tuition.

On Tuesday we drove my family to the airport and they flew back to California. It was a bittersweet moment. I think bittersweet is the word I'm looking for... Luckily I have been so darn busy since they left that it hasn't really hit me that I'm in Texas and they are all the way in California. I did look at plane tickets to get a sense of how much it would cost me to go home for a weekend... So back to bittersweet, we were talking with my parents and we figured out that essentially we had had visitors starting way back in November and pretty much nonstop through this past Tuesday! Haha. We had really been constantly with someone for the past 2 or 3 weeks though. Surprisingly I think we handled it beautifully. It didn't feel overwhelming or like it was too much. I think in fact that it really helped with us feeling more settled in and normal here. Thank you Micah and Ian (and mom and dad!)! So the bittersweet part comes in because now it's just me and C here at home... and it IS nice to have some time alone together but on the other hand... it's pretty quiet now. So back to adjusting, settling in, and adapting to all these changes........

Wednesday was my first day at work. Today was my second day and oh my goodness, tomorrow is my third day at work! I think I will like the direct interactions with clients but the paperwork makes me nervous. I am hoping with more time and experience I won't be so nervous, stressed, or intimidated by all of it. It's just something different than I did before and I want to make sure I do it right and that I uphold my ethics in the process. This whole idea of billable hours makes me nervous. I asked for a challenge and I certainly got one!! I've also been asked to work on a project already plus I have a busy schedule seeing clients so I am feeling a bit overwhelmed but I am assuming, hoping, praying that I will feel better about everything once I get the hang of things. Right? ..........sigh!

We already have quite the social life around here. I even put a calendar up on the refrigerator because we have so many things going on!

We are asking for prayers for Chris' job. We know there is the perfect job already waiting for him; we are just hoping and praying and asking that this job finds him (or he finds it) already! We're doing okay still but we will feel better once we're both employed and we finally get health insurance again.

Updates from last post:

• Time Warner cable finally sent out a tech that knew what he was doing-- he resolved all of our issues and we now have cable in both rooms. Woohoo!
• Remember my computer wasn't working? Well the hard drive crashed and I lost everything. yes we have an external hard drive; No I did not back up my computer because that would have made too much sense. UGH!
• My mom and I went shopping and I found some really great work clothes. Some nice classic pieces to work with. Yay!

Alright, that's all for now... email me if you have questions that I didn't answer.

Love you!!

A & C