Just wow

Yesterday, by the grace of God, C and I both had the day off and nothing planned. We took advantage and headed to the mountains. Driving up, we saw this. Fog is really the only "hazard" around here (you know, besides earthquakes and heatstroke). This picture makes the slow drives seem worth it though. Isn't it amazing?

Thankful

This was maybe one of the best Thanksgivings ever! The only think that would have made it better would have been to be closer to family. As it turned out, it was just the three of us, and it was easy and laid back and relaxed. The food was pretty delicious too! E was a big helper in the kitchen this year, helping me make the pumpkin cheesecake and cranberry sauce. C deep-fried the turkey (yum!) and no one blew up or had to be hospitalized. All in all, a total success.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I get bogged down in the daily stuff. There's laundry to fold, dishes to wash, meals to cook, boys to wrangle, bills to pay, money to worry about, animals to ignore, work to do... The list goes on and on. If I let myself, I forget that these things are the result of all the great things that I have in my life and the things that I most thankful for.

A job. I may not love it yet, but it's getting a lot better. And I get paid to do something that I really, really like and that I'm pretty good at. There are a lot of people right now who would give anything for the same opportunity.

A house. And clothes to wash. And meals to make. And dishes to clean. Heat and running water. If the worst thing I'm worried about is affording premium cable, I'm doing alright.

The animals. They get the short end most of the time, and they take the brunt of my frustration when it gets overwhelming. But the truth is, our dog has been an amazing companion for the last ten years and doesn't ask for much in return. She's kept us safe, tolerated babies, and hung in through three interstate moves. She's a good dog. Our cat used to keep my home rodent free and play with the baby. Now she pretty much just provides comic entertainment by her sheer size and obnoxiousness, but we love her. She also makes sure that I never get used to sleeping past 6:00.

And of course my family

This guy

And this guy

And for this one too, who hasn't gotten the attention he/she deserves yet. We are so thankful for you Bug, and we can't wait to meet you!

The job

I've been stalling on this post because the jury's been out on the new job. It most definately isn't what I expected, or for that matter what I'd been told it would be. However as my husband, who has picked up a little too much psychology over the last 10 years, says, I do this with every new job. So I remain optimistic and try to find opportunities to find my own place in this new environment. So from the beginning...

The new job, and the reason that we moved, is a staff psychologist position at a large women's prison. From what I understood, I was going to be starting a chronic pain program and carrying a caseload of therapy clients. The reality is that I'm part of this program that is not quite developed yet. It's me and one other psychologist who's never worked with inmates before, which is a whole other issue. We'll talk/rant about that one later. I'm also doing this triage thing where I essentially hang out in the living units and see everyone before they get referred to a therapist. I also deal with any emergencies that may come up in my area. The kicker though? The best part? On the days that I'm on the units I may be expected to ride a tricycle. Seriously, a tricycle.

The chronic pain program, and it's other groups, are still totally undeveloped. The mental health staff is bigger than any other place I've worked, and there's all these political cliques that are complicated and super nasty. I'm working my way through them, but every day feels like I'm walking in a minefield. Also, no one uses first names. At all. Ever. So every meeting, every walk down the hallway, every silly chat in the mailroom sounds like some Monty Python skit. It's only been a couple of months since I've been able to officially use the title, but I'm already tired of being called "Doctor." On top of that, some people, including my new partner, shorten it by just calling people by their last names. So now I'm being beckoned by people just yelling "Chiconky!" in the courtyard. I don't have an office, or a desk, or even a drawer to keep my stuff. That's been pretty humbling in and of itself.

It's not all bad though. My boss seems to really like and appreciate my style (even calling me "abnormally normal"). Because the program is so new, I have the chance to develop it in a way that works for me, and because my partner is new to the population I can take more of a leadership role. The needs are so great that I can start pretty much any groups I want and there will be a need. For example, I'm going to start a group for sleep issues while I get my pain program up and running. The population is awesome and the officers have been great. I've already had quite a few really cool opportunities, like sitting in on a treatment team meeting in segregation and seeing Condemned Row. I've also met a few really great psychologists. My supervisors are great, and a lot of the staff is right out of internship. It's nice not to be in the minority.

So like I said, the jury's still out. I'm hoping that as I get more comfortable I'll begin to like the job more. It's definately not what I signed up for, and a lot of the time I'm thinking to myself "What the f*$# is going on here?", but all in all I think it will be okay. Plus, E and C are doing so well that it makes it a lot easier to put up with some of the BS. C says "There's a club for people who don't like their jobs. It's called 'Everybody' and they meet at the bar."

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!