Michael's future plans (maybe) & Apartments

As the semester progresses Michael is getting more and more excited about graduation! He is also in career search mode. While we don't know this for certain, and we haven't gotten specific details yet we do think that we will be staying in the Lafayette area. Michael's job at Starr & Associates is going incredibly well. The job is a good fit for Michael-- he likes the work, and the people.

The upsides
-He really enjoys what he is doing
-We already have friends in the area
-We are only 3 hours from home, which is good compared to living in Iowa or Texas
-I would be able to finish my schooling at Purdue

The downsides
-We are STILL 3 hours from home
-It is frigid here in the winter
-Michael will have to train for 4 years to get his surveying license

We still don't know what God's plan for Michael's career is, but we are sure that it will work out. For now we are fairly sure that this is where we will be for the next 4 years. We are looking at larger apartments and townhomes today. We entertained the idea of purchasing a house, but don't want to rush into it, so we will wait awhile.

Here are our main criteria we are looking for in our next apartment:
-2 bedrooms
-1.5 to 2 baths
-Washer & dryer hookup or w & d included in apt.
-DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Cat friendly (I hope to have a kitty by September at the latest)
-Away from campus traffic!

Today we are merely driving by apartments to see if we like them from the outside, and to get a feel for the general location of them.

I did something bad!

That is what I texted Michael this morning. What did I do that was bad? Well...
In my defense, I still had lots of Christmas money left, and they had been $200, and I paid WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY less than that! Love em'!

A blog for Beth Spencer

Dear Beth,

Your blog about Isabella and Mckinley fascinates me. Could you please blog every hour on the hour for me? (I seriously thought to myself "Beth hasn't been blogging all that much". I then realized that 1. She blogs all the time, and 2. She has 2 children under 5 and might be otherwise occupied). I often find myself having to pace myself reading your blogs, because I want to save something interesting to do at work.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Laura

PS. This was not meant to be sarcastic in any way. I really love reading about your family. Isabella seems like such a cool kid. I'm sure Mckinley will be too.

He's siiiick!

Before you start accusing me of making him that way...I'm innocent!!

Michael's sickness is some sort of flu. We don't know which kind, and are watching him closely. If he starts oinking we have instructions to fill the prescription for h1n1. Otherwise he is to rest and take nyquil and dayquil. My sickness was strepish.

So, where is Michael today? Working. He seriously likes his job that well! He wanted to go in. I need a job like that!

Anyway I am back to sheet washing, lysoling, and boiling things! Say a little prayer for Michael, will ya?

I'm a Barbie girl!

Check out my new Barbie boots! I had seen these on Target.com a few weeks ago, but they only had a size 6 available. I checked back and they had my size! I got them yesterday, and I happen to think they are fabulous!

Also, Barbie and my mom were "born" in the same year.

What a great day to be a republican!!!!!!!!!

Today was the special election for Ted Kennedy's senate seat. That seat in Mass. had been eld by a democrat for 47 years. Today, a republican won that special election! Here are the two best things about this:
1. No more Democrat Super majority (bring on the filibuster!)
2. The people aren't happy with what the Democrats have been up to!

It's a Grand Ol' Party (GOP) indeed!

Good to be back to normal!

Ahh! It is so wonderful to be back to normal! Michael is home, I'm not acting so paranoid/crazy, life is good!

Friday night I picked him up late. The Indianapolis airport does have a really neat feature. They have a cell phone lot, where you can park without paying anything and wait for your phone to ring. I picked Michael up right around 11:00pm, and we made the trip home. We stayed up until 2am catching up.

Saturday morning was Christmas morning! Santa brought us lots of neat things. Michael surprised me with a beautiful necklace. I had been eying necklaces with keys on them, and he got me one that was far prettier than any I had seen, and it does take a lot to surprise me, which made it even more special!

Me holding my necklace!

Michael opening presents!

Christmas morning!!!!

We lounged around the house all day, and for dinner we made calzones with my Christmas Cheese! Fontina cheese will now be a staple for our calzone making! I took down Christmas decorations that I have been longing to take down for a few weeks, while saying bah humbug the whole time.

Today, Sunday we spent the day shopping for Maria's baby shower next week. I wanted Michael to get to be a big part of the shopping since it will be his first nephew (from his own sister). We got some cute things for little Cletus, which if I haven't mentioned it is a boy, and no his name isn't really going to be Cletus. It just rhymes really well with fetus.

The day I've been waiting for!!!

Michael comes home TONIGHT! He leaves New Orleans at 4:35 this afternoon. His second flight leaves Dallas Ft Worth at 7:40, and he is due to land in Indy at 10:40pm.

The roads around here aren't great, but they aren't bad either. I was able to get to work goin 40 or 45mph, which isn't bad considering the amount of snow that was dumped on us.

Michael is ready to come home. Last night he was all packed up and ready to go.

We did get a bit of good news yesterday. Michael got a ticket on Christmas Day in New Orleans. He made a U-turn, and there was no sign posted, so he thought it was ok. Well, of course he got pulled over and the officer also accused him of running a red light as well. He was given a ticket for $292!!! Well, he plead his case with the city attorney and the attorney took it down to a non-moving violation that won't go on his record. It also reduced the amount to $111! We were thrilled!

Say a prayer for my trip to get Michael, as well as all of Michael's travels today! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is an exciting day for me, but also one for Beth, Josh, and Isabella. Congratulations Spencer's on your new addition, she should be here any minute!

Day 17

Let it snow! We got a ton of snow today. More than you Southern Indiana folks could imagine. Despite the snow I still had to go to work, hotels don't have snow days! We had an easy day, much better than the chaos the day before.

I was getting ready to head home for my last night of solitude, when my friend Samantha texted me. Her fiance is out of town for a job interview, and she is lonely. I invited her over too occupy both of our time. We had a great girly night. We watched Legally Blonde, chatted, and I made breakfast for dinner. I am so grateful for my friends up here! They have really been great to me!

Day 16

Today was an interesting day at work to say the least. It started out normal enough but quickly morphed into chaos. Here's why:

9:35 -lights flicker and we lost 1/2 of the power to the hotel

9:35 and 10sec: I get an emergency call from the elevator telling me they were stuck.

9:35 and 45sec: Person is rescued from the elevator.

9:37 I realize that my phones aren't working, but my computers are.

For the next hour maintenance, Duke energy, and Huston electric tried to figure out what the issue was. It turns out that our transformer had blown. Why we had 1/2 of our power still, is a mystery.

10:45 We find out that in order to fix the issues 1. they have to cut down a tree 2. they have to find a new transformer 3. they have to cut our power off entirely to fix it

11:30 my phones begin to work again, unfortunately my link to the reservation system is down and I cannot make reservations.

11:45 The new guy that had been hired for a maintenance position and had been here for 4 hours quit.

1:45 we get a 15 minute warning that the power will be pulled.

1:46 I get 3 people at my desk wanting to ask the most trivial questions that I can't answer, while I am desperately trying to back up all of my work.

1:55 sprint to meeting room to tell the Japanese guys that they are going to lose power, they were thrilled...

2:00 Total power failure

2:03 Karen the GM of my hotel and Homewood came over to work on bills in our back office?! in the dark. I got her some flashlights.

It was really creepy with no power. I felt like I had been plunged into a horror film.

After my crazy day at work I headed out to get a few Michael gifts and stopped by Target, then met Samantha, Josiah, and Julie at the movie theater. We saw It's Complicated. It was hilarious.

After the movie I headed home did some cleaning, talked to Michael and that was just about it.

Day 15!

Wow! Just a few more days! I am so excited. But...imagine my frustration that they are predicting lots of snow for Wed, Thurs, and Fri morning?! I really don't like the cold and this forecast is driving a bigger rift between me and the snow. Our friend Ron has a 4 wheel drive SUV that he will use to get me there if he has to.

Michael seems really ready to come home. They aren't doing much that is productive, mostly just sitting around getting paid. Which, if you know Michael, he HATES sitting around doing nothing. He would rather work for his money, strange, huh?

Anyway...

I went to work and came home tired again. I took an hour and a half long nap, it was amazing. I watched NCIS, and did some cleaning in preparation for Michael's homecoming.

Not much else going on!

I'm just not interesting enough to blog every day (days13 &14)

It is true. I am not really all that interesting on a daily basis. At least not interesting enough to blog about. Anyway...per Michael's request I will continue on.

Sunday I spent most of the day relaxing and visiting with people. I did make it to church, which is always happy!

Monday I was back to work. It was somewhat exhausting, after being off and sick for four days. After work I ran some errands that had really needed to be done last week, but I just didn't feel like it.

I have to finish Christmas shopping for Michael, because the things that I have left to purchase are best if bought RIGHT before giving. It makes it even more exciting that Michael is coming home that we get to open gifts together, and finish our advent calendars! Other than that Christmas is wrapped and ready to go. I will be making anise muffins for Michael for next week's breakfasts. I think we are going to make calzones on Saturday night with my fontina cheese that I got for Christmas(I know, weird, right?)!

I also have a few surprises planned for Michael! I cannot wait to see that man!

Days 9, 10, 11, and 12 (today)

Whew! On day 9 I went to the Doctor as planned. She said I definately had an infection, be it strep or otherwise it would be treated the same way, with an antibiotic. Enter the wonderful discovery that was penicillin. She also told me not to return to work until Monday.

So, to spare you all of the mundane details, I spent days 9, 10, and 11 recovering. But my mom and dad made sure that I wasn't lonely for the new year, thanks guys!

I only have a few more days until Michael returns home to me, and I cannot wait to see his face! I have warned him that I'm not letting him out of my sight EVER again, I think he is a little scared :-)

Happy New Year!!