Halloween

Why pay for family portraits when you can get gems like these?

Have you ever seen a cuter Superman? (He wore shoes later, I promise)

Birthday mani-pedi's with Mom. This place is special because they offer never-drying nail polish. Ask Mom, it's probably still not dry.

But we ROCKED the flip-flops, and our toes are bee-u-tee-ful!

Man, this whole post just goes to prove how redneck we still are. Now I have to go shovel dinner off the road out front.

Pictures from the move

So first, I forgot to get any pictures of the truck, both leaving and arriving. Fail. So picture in your mind a long semi-trailer packed to the brim with boxes and furniture, then covered with camping tarps. On the top are all the things we forgot to pack, thrown wherever they'd fit. The laundry hamper survived, despite all indications otherwise.

Day one and he's already dubious

C, true to form, golfing at a rest stop

And breaking in the new front yard.

There aren't many pictures from the trip itself. What you missed is E likely having swine flu for the first half, and then us driving like bats out of hell through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.

The truck arrived that night and was unloaded the next day. Everything came out fairly well, with just a few casualties.

We're getting more settled in, but there are still boxes in every corner. I may end up throwing blankets over them and calling them "occasional tables" I don't think anyone will notice, especially not if I start collecting porcelain dolls and using doilies.

We're Here!

After a VERY long road trip, we finally made it to Fresno on Thursday night. Highlights after Denver included Wyoming, which is lovely, Utah and Nevada, which are not, and driving through Yosemite National Park in the middle of the night. We hope to see it in the daylight someday, as we hear it's beautiful. I do not love driving mountain passes, or letting other people drive, and so I was a teensy bit nervous as my mother drove the van over the pass (again, I know, What self-respecting Colorado girl? and Dude, deal with your control issues... etc.) I kept reminding myself that she'd been doing this for years and was feeling a little better when she turns to me and says "If you look carefully, you can see the gremlins in the trees!" At that moment I thought, "Well at least they'll find our bodies somewhere pretty and I have clean underwear on." Turns out she was not delusional and we made it safely. The house is great (thanks Dave!) and the neighbors are already friendly but eccentric. There was a brief encounter with cockroaches but that's been resolved. So now we're just unpacking and trying to figure out how to get around. The town is nice but very urban. The weather is amazing, 70s and 80s since we got here. Pictures and more details will come soon. First impression though, I think we're going to like it here.

On the road again...

Just a quick update: We left Minnesota on Saturday (at 5:30) and made it to Iowa. The next day we took in the beautiful landscape of Nebraska. Highlights included a gas station that catered, the most roadkill I've ever seen, and a water tower painted like a space ship. Truly, those were the highlights. Yesterday we got into Denver. We had planned to stay with my grandmother, but given E's illness and the small, but present, possibility of it being H1N1 we decided to get a hotel instead. C was able to get together with a couple of his old friends from back home and E and I spent the day laying in bed and watching TV. Tomorrow we're off again.

E seems to be getting a little better, or at least slightly less pathetic. The animals are faring well, and the cat is getting used to living in the car. Both cars are holding out, and the drivers aren't doing too bad either. We're still hoping to make California by Friday. Fingers crossed!

Saying goodbye sucks

Tomorrow we are planning to hit the road and head back West. I'm really excited for the trip and the next chapter, but I've been in denial about actually having to say goodbye to the friends that we've made here. E woke up sick, and so had to miss the last day of school. The first tears were shed as I packed up his cubby and said goodbye to his great teachers and wonderful director. His teachers had a going away gift for E, and E gave his class blue cookies. It's amazing what a difference a good daycare makes, and I'm hoping we're as lucky in California.

Then I went to have coffee with my best Minnesota friend and her beautiful little girl. I think I'm still in denial about leaving these guys.

The trailer is packed and has been picked up. I'm still working on getting us organized and the cars packed, but it looks like we're actually going to have to leave. So Minnesota, thanks for being so good to us. I will gladly be mocked for the accent and feel offended whenever anyone invokes Fargo as being a good example of the state. Oh geez. And in true Minnesota fashion, I will always say "This isn't cold! Remember when it hit -35, -55 with the windchill?"

*It also sucks to be sick when there's no TV or furniture. REALLY hoping he gets better soon.

Dude. Seriously?

This is what we woke up to this morning. I haven't decided whether to be happy or not, but I am a little worried about the movers on Thursday. In unrelated news, it's supposed to be 71 in California today.

And just for my own accountability, I haven't been entirely successful in procrastinating. Those of you who were lucky enough to witness our preparations for moving to Minnesota will appreciate that this is the bulk of our boxes, total. Really. Our house in Oregon was like an episode of "Hoarders."
And this is the Goodwill pile. Again, I think this shows a lot of personal growth. Last time we moved I had 3 garage sales and still donated a cubic ton of crap.

Can you tell I'm procrastinating?

Yeah, so no blog posts in months, then you get three in two days. That could only mean one thing. I have other shit I should be doing. With my thesis, it was cleaning. Dissertation was first exercising (good) and then baking (negated the exercising). Moving is obsessively refreshing Twitter and catching up on blog posts. And a renewed interest in 90210 and Gilmore Girls reruns.

Oh that's right. Moving. We're moving to California (I know, WTF? where did that come from? what self-respecting Colorado girl? and all that). Actually we're moving to California next week. Hence the procrastination. I HATE packing. Hate it with the passion of a thousand burning suns. Or not. I like the organizational part, but I go through emotional phases while I do it (come on, I'm a doctor now. You knew this was coming). First, I'm all gusto and get-to-it-ness. This leads to the Oregon in me coming out and deciding that we are evil disgusting materialistic consumers and "why the hell do we need all this crap, whine, whine, self-rightous rant and compensatory recycling." Then I find my ass glued to the couch for a week with so many more *important* things to do *(see above re: 90210). From there I freak the f--- out, rendering myself completely paralyzed by anxiety and alienating all who know me with my amazing level of bitchiness. This inevitably leads to illness, leaving me whiny and useless. After that, I usually return to being a normal human being, and pull it off at the last minute. So the truck comes Wednesday and I'm just getting over a cold. We'll see how it goes.

I ended up taking a job at a women's prison in California, where they want me to start a chronic pain program. This is so exciting and so grown-up that I still have a hard time believing that I'm talking about myself. We found a house (thanks to my dad and brother who made sure there were no crack houses or dirty brothels next door), and C was able to transfer to a good position. E will stay with the same daycare company and so hopefully the transition will go okay. Fingers crossed. It seems a little bizarre to be moving somewhere none of us have ever been, but this is how we roll.

I'm excited that I was able to find a position in a prison, and even more excited that I get to continue working both with women and with the chronic pain patients. There aren't many, if any, chronic pain programs in prisons, so I get to blaze my own trail. California prisons are huge and well known for their "atmosphere" and so I'm interested to see how this will be different. Obviously going from a population of 500 to a population of 4,000 will be a big deal. California also has the furloughs, which means a lot of unpaid days off. It could be so much worse, so I'm just rolling with that part. Being me, I'm more concerned with whether I have to carry a clear bag and if there's a strict dress code. It's all about priorities.

E and C are excited about the change. C, who was ready to leave Minnesota by the end of November last year, and E, who says that he's ready for "fun in the sun." I'm not sure what he means, but he also wants to go surfing, take swimming lessons, and have a birthday party. I'm not sure how much he understands, but he's been a trooper through the chaos.

So yeah, should probably go pack some more boxes. Or just shovel it all out the door. Either way.

Pretty sure this is where the gray hairs are coming from

AKA: Parents of the Year

Minnesota State Fair - the belated edition

Around here, the State Fair is a Big. F-ing. Deal. Although it was over a month ago, life has been super crazy and so this is the first chance I've had to load pictures.

The butter sculpture of the Minnesota State Fair Queens and Princesses

My turkeys

The view from the sky tram

Cheese curds. Our local delicacy and so, so good! You can practically feel your arteries hardening.

E played two games and won two prizes. The kid's a shark.

And then... he spotted it. He immediately wanted to ride this. I had my doubts, because he's not always known for his fearlessness. This time last year he wanted to ride a pony ride and I ended up having to sprint along side holding his hand. Embarrassing AND exhausting. Double Win! However, we figured we'd give it a shot.

I'm not sure I've ever seen him wait this patiently

And he's off!

Doesn't this just make you feel happy? He still talks about it. I guess he's got a little fearlessness in him afterall.