Tag! I'm it.

Andrew said it was my turn to post again. Thanks for the nudge!

I'm not really sure why I haven't blogged lately. Maybe I've lost my muse since half of my readership (Hi Granny and Papa!!) is out galavanting across the countryside. We did make it back from Chicago just fine. We had an absolutely amazing time there. The trip far exceeded my expectations. As per Clay's whim, we dined at some really over-the-top places. We walked and walked and walked some more, and then we walked back to the hotel to start off in another direction. Quite honestly, the last two blisters on my feet just popped YESTERDAY! Yes, it's been like FOUR weeks. We visited the Art Institute. We did the architectural boat ride. We shopped the neat little Wicker Park area. We shopped the loop. We looped the loop. We bought shoes. We bought clothes. We ate. We walked some more, then got hungry and ate some more. It was really brilliant, overall.

Then we came home. I love home. Even though it's full of cats, home is still just delightful to come back to. We've marked another home improvement project off our list. We have a small walk-in pantry that had three shelves going down the wall, and now we have a whole huge wall of shelves. I just LOVE my new pantry. We can find everything we're looking for, and we don't trip over bottles of water and randomly fallen canned goods at all now! I really love getting things checked off our "to-do" list. With an older home, the list is constantly growing, so I love the feeling of accomplishment when something gets checked off.

Next on our home agenda is probably the living room. We really want to pull up the carpet and see if the original hardwood is salvagable. We (and by we, I mean I) also want to do some painting. As much as some of us enjoy our stark white walls, others of us living in my home really like some color. I'm in the color-picking phase right now, so we'll see how that turns out. Maybe the results will be a future blog post!

Also looking ahead, we're still traveling! Next up is Vegas. Some very dear friends of ours, Doug and Michelle, are getting married in Las Vegas in October, so we'll be joining them there for some frolicking. Clay, of course, has already booked dinner reservations for every night. We also have a couple of shows booked, and then of course, we'll have the true Elvis wedding as huge entertainment for one evening. Since Doug is the one who kind of hooked Clay and I up, I figure it's probably his turn to find a bit of the happiness that he gave us. So kudos to them!!

A few weeks after Vegas, we'll be making our annual mecca to Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains full of bears. Mom and dad have decided to bring the 4000 foot R.V. pulling the mini-van up the mountain in the light of day this year, so it probably won't be near so exciting, but y'know, we don't really go to Gatlinburg for the excitement, so that's ok.

Once that trip is done, we'll be full force into Thanksgiving and Christmas, so basically, this year is pretty much over. Maybe I'll post to my blog again after all that and let you know how it went. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll post again sooner.

I guess I now have to discuss the elephant in the room. What? There's no elephant in your room? Well, then, I guess YOU are not the one having MAJOR surgery on FOUR different parts of your body tomorrow. That would be me. And I'm scared. Sh*$less. A really lot. I've been known to chicken out and cancel appointments to get fillings, but now I'm going whole hog and getting all four wisdom teeth removed. And I don't want to. It doesn't make sense to pay BIG money to have something removed that God fully intended for me to have, particularly when they aren't even bothering me at all. But...thus is life. I go under the knife tomorrow morning at 8:00. Now I shall cease discussing this further, as just thinking about it is making my belly hurt.

I guess the silver lining is that at least I don't work tomorrow. But I'd much rather be at work.
Please send prayers and Jello. More specifically, send the prayers for Clay. He has to deal with me.