Yucky Bug Going Around

It seems like everyone is getting sick. I guess it's just that time of year and for some reason it seems worse this year then in years past. Michael is mostly feeling better but still not back to his 100%. I talked to my mom last night and she sounded like death on the phone. (sorry mom, but you really sounded horrible!!) She had lost her voice and has some sinus stuff goin on. Anyways, thats just a start of sick people. So, I have been feeling pretty well and my throat has bothered me from time to time in the past few days, but its not been anything a cough drop/thoat losinger hasn't been able to fix. About 3 hours ago my throat started bothering me and I can't get it to stop hurting. Im drinking some warm tea but that doesn't seem to be helping. I refuse to get sick, not this time and not now!! So I'm gonna just keep pumping my body full of vitimins, antioxidents and excersise and tylonol. It will sound silly but usually I open a sinus probs/throat probs/cold or anything that has to do with my head with open arms cuz it gives me time to slow down, relax and be spoiled, but I have been down with these stitches when I first got them and finally able to move around quickly and able to do my regular routine, I don't want to waste more days... So...here I go, powering through this so I don't come down with this head junk everyone has. I figure, I've never really tried to power through a sickness so God should take notice of this and think, wow she is so grown up, and then make me all better. Wish me luck!! (Watch this, I could probably put money on the fact that I'll probably be on here in 3 days miserable and sick as can be, cuz thats just my luck)

Fun Sunday Night

Michael's sister and one of her friends came to spend the night with us, because they had to be in Downtown Dallas this morning. It really nice to spend some time with Michelle. We had some wine here and then went to dinner and came back and hung out for a bit. We never get to see much of her so its always nice when we do get to see her. Her friend was really sweet as well and they were great houseguests!

We got an email yesterday saying that our tax return was approved and so we should have our refund this week!!! They also told us since we did the Platinum service (which was the one we got the fee waived for) if for some reason we get audited (which I can't see any reason why we would) they would take care of us and get us through the whole thing including providing a lawyer for us if we needed it. I have never been disappointed with H&R block. They have always been very good to us and are very easy to deal with. I can't recommend them enough.

Taxes 2005

We got our last W2 form in yesterday from Texas Tech so we did our taxes last night, and now, that's done with. We are getting back much more then we had anticipated so that was a nice surprise. I guess we weren't taking into account that Michael had only been working at Texas Instruments since the VERY end of August. This was the first year we were going to have to pay a fee for filing online, but it was waived because we accepted to get our refund on a VISA pre-paid card instead of having it direct deposited.

We have always tried to do our taxes as soon as we get everything in for a couple reasons. We find that we get our money back within 10 days most of the time where as the longer we wait, the longer it takes to get our money back, and second because its always fun when all our friends are saying how they need to do their taxes and start putting it off and getting stressed about it, and we sit there and smile and say, oh we got our refund back in February. :o)

So yea for having our taxes done!!!

Clearing Out Memory Box

I have been saving a bunch of junk from all our trips for a LONG time now. Silly things like plane tickets and tickets to get into random places (up the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, The Colliseum) and even recipts from stores, and maps all have a box of their very own. Finally, I started putting them in a scrapbook. I had a bunch of pictures printed up and just dove right in. So far I have Germany, Norway and Paris done. Tomorrow I'll start working on Rome. Then I will have Geneva, Switzerland and Sweden left. My biggest tasks will be Russia, Costa Rica and Denmark which I will probably hold off on doing just a bit longer because, well I have the most stuff from those places. While I do see pictures from all these places often on our website its kinda fun to really take a moment and really remember all the great memories we made during our trips. The only probably is, it really gave me that burning desire to go somewhere. Not that I don't have that burning desire everyday of my life, it just made the flame stir up a bit more then usual!!!

I couldn't take it anymore and went to the gym with Michael today. I did a little VERY EASY cardio and that went...OK. My leg stitch kinda started bothering me after about 10 minutes so I stopped, then I did some forearms which went great. I may go ahead and skip tomorrow too and then Monday I have Tai Chi which will be easy with these things. They aren't dried up yet and still I'm getting just dabs of fresh blood on the bandaids. They should be drying up any minute now!! :o) So I'll just sit pretty and wait.

Sicky and Stitchy

Obviously I am stitchy, which makes Michael sicky.
He has been trying to fight off something for the past couple days. It's a sore thoat and stuffy nose. He got a good nights sleep and we took it easy last night (aka, skipped the gym) and this morning he took some Sudafed so hopefully he is doing ok at work. It's a good thing it is Friday. He can have the whole weekend to get better. My back got pretty tender yesterday and starting bothering me. Tylnol seemed to keep it under control. I seem to be healing really well. I think I am going to be pleased once they all heal because it seems like he did a really good job on them. I think its funny because we live in Allen, and our Doctors name is, David D. Allen... "Dr. Allen" in Allen. It's like being in New York and going to a guy named Dr. New York. (sorry, I am amused easily)

My throat started bothering me earlier, but it is feeling better now. I think the warm coffee helped soothe that!!

Part of Me is Missing

I got 4 moles removed today. It was surprisingly, fast, easy, painless and not a bit unpleasant. 2 of these moles I have had since I was a little girl, so once they heal, and the stitches come out and the bandaids get taken off, it will probably take a little getting use to not having them on me anymore. I go back in 10-14 days to get the stitches out. The best part?? It was only a 15 dollar co-pay. Even the receptionist was impressed how little I had to pay! God Bless awesome insurance!! :)

I really like this doctor. He is the same guy we used for our physicals back in October, and is our primary care physician also. I think I like him so much because for some unknown and odd reason he thinks I am fascinating. Back in October, he actually said, "Wow, you are Fascinating!" while we were going over stuff for my physical. So anyone that can take my little not exciting life and think it is fascinating ranks WAY HIGH up in my book!! :o)

Oh, and I did something cool yesterday. Mary and I went to Afternoon tea and the Grand Lux Cafe. It was fun, different and oh so yummy! We had finger sandwiches, tea (mine was peppermint), scones and an assortment of desserts. It was very tastey!!

Website Back

Soon after I posted yesterday about our website being down a little longer, Michael got it back up and working... So our website is back up. Thanks to everyone who emailed or told me (and there were a surprising amount of people) that our site was down and not working. I appriciate it cuz sometimes, we don't know that it's down. I was also glad to see that so many people noticed becuase it means, people are actually looking at it often. :o)

Pam Came, Saw and Conquered...Then Left

We had a really fun time. To refresh your memory, I met Pam while working at the Texas Tech Library. First we just worked in the same department, and then she got a promotion and became my boss. She left the library December of 2001 when her husband and her kids and herself moved to Germany. That was the last time I saw her. They moved back from Germany about a month before we moved over to Denmark.

Back to my story of the weekend. We had a fun time. We did a lot of catching up. Saturday we headed to downtown Dallas and went to the 6th floor museum. It is in the school book depository and is a museum dedicated to the life, death, and legacy of JFK. I was honestly surprised at what a really great museum it was. Of course it was neat to be able to be in the building and then walk outside and recognize everything from the pictures of where he was shot. I'm really glad we made it down there for it. Friday, Sunday and Monday we pretty much just hung out and took it easy, went to the gym, ate, watched some movies and some tv too. It was very nice. It had been so long since anyone came to see us that it was nice to have another visitor.

After she left it was a little lonely around here. Michael has been busy working on a computer and I had Pam to keep me company. (By the way, our website isn't currently working because he is working on this computer he is making, should be up again soon)

Here's a couple pictures of us in Downtown Dallas:

5 Months

Wow, 5 months! That's one full hand of fingers that we have been here! Next month will be half a year. It has gone pretty quick lately. It sure dragged at first, but the momentum is picking up. I contribute that to the fact that we have finally figured out our way around here, learned a bit about the area, and have finally gotten into a routine that really works well for us.

Sometimes I'll be driving and see a nice neighborhood somewhere and say, you know, maybe it would be ok if we had to come back and we could live somewhere around where ever I am driving and it wouldn't be so bad. But then, every time without fail, something later that day slaps me across my face reminding me why I don't like it here. Be it traffic, rude people in general, rude people driving cars, stuck up kids that you can tell their parents make boo-koos of money and spoil them rotten (most of those kids I have seen running around Plano), the horrible grocery stores -which might seem silly for some people, but our grocery store in Lubbock was honestly the best grocery store EVER and completely destroyed the grocery shopping experience for us anywhere else we go because it set our expectations way too high. Again, I know it sounds silly, but if you find yourself in West Texas find a "Market Street United" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

So I decided it's actually that it is DALLAS that doesn't like US. Like I said the other day, it is trying to kill us off and every time I start thinking, we could make this work here, it proves me wrong. We got our new health insurance information yesterday and I was flipping through it and I was glad to see we are completely covered for emotional mental problems, so if we go insane in the next 7 months...We can be treated!!

5 months down, 7 months to go... We are almost half way, can you believe it?

All Fixed

Ok, so we got a new battery. The old was basically out of water and some other junk. (I wasn't really paying attention very well) So far, so good on the working, hope it keeps up! :)

I'm getting ready for a friend that is coming to town tomorrow for the weekend. It should be fun. I haven't seen her since December of 2001! That was a LOOOONG time ago. I'm a bit afraid she's going to think we are both completely boring and completely lame, because well we kind of are! But we are fun in our own special, laid back, chill at home, cook everynight, go to the gym, go to bed early, wake up early kinda way. It's a wonder we have been able to keep Mary and Jason around for so long. :o)

Dallas is Trying to Kill us off..

Yup, that's right, Dallas is trying to see how long it takes to kill off our whole little family.
When we got here, there were four things that we called "Pates", Michael and myself of course, Hendrix and our car. Well, Dallas eliminated one of us pretty quick, but it has been working on our car from even before that. It is quite odd actually. Our trusty blazer has been the BEST CAR ever. But now, this is the third time something has decided it doesn't want to work. Perhaps its just getting older, or from all the driving we have to do here, but all I know is, if we can keep it alive until August that would be great. Because if it dies, Michael or myself are next to get the ax and quite frankly, neither of us are so much ready for that. :o) We said when we got here, we just knew we would be in at least one accident while we were here. However we decided that Mary and Jasons little accident the other day (no one was hurt and their car was fine) takes the place of us getting in one. (Mary, Jason - Thanks for taking one for the team) So that's that, Michael is getting a ride home from Klaus, after I feed the three of us, I think we need to get a new battery. Stuff still comes on but it wont start. I could explain it all but I know I will do it incorrectly and probably won't make sense. Thankfully Super Dad (Michaels dad Scot) can do practical anything when something is broken mechanically and know what needs to be done to fix it practically without having to even hear much about the problem or looking at it. He has saved us countless times and I'm sure will save us countless more.

Ok, so wish us luck that our car heals quickly.

And so it Begins

Michael had a meeting yesterday morning with the HR/Management guy from Denmark who was in town. Looks like it is positive that we will be leaving in August. (YEA) :o) We had been getting worried they would push the date back a few months. We dug out our CPR numbers (Social Security basically) so Michael can give our numbers to the guy because he is going to start the process of applying for and getting our permits all in order for the move. They are also going to help us look for a place to live. That's great news. As for the other details (salary,where he will be paid from, retirement stuff, taxes ect.) they will be worked out eventually.

It's a nice feeling to have gotten things moving on this and made me realize, hey, we are really moving back.!! It is starting to get more real and exciting.

Another visitor!

It has been a while since anyone came to visit and in a little less then 2 weeks we will have our next visitor. One of my friends who I use to work with at the library at Tech is coming in from New York. We haven't seen her since before we left for Denmark so its been a while. It will be fun to have another guest around for the weekend.

Speaking of weekend, we had a good one. Mary's birthday was yesterday so we went to Fort Worth to eat lunch with her at the fabulous Joe. T. Garcias! Mmmm. Afterwards we went to the Science and History Museum. It was fun and a cool little museum, but it didn't consist of a whole lot. It reminded me a lot of the Science Spectrum in Lubbock but much smaller.

The past week or two I have really been irked about living in Dallas. People seem to have gotten dumber (if at all possible), in more of a hurry (again if at all possible) and ruder (once again, if at all possible). If our hearts don't change, its going to take a hell of a lot more then we are getting now from Texas Instruments to drag us back here. Thankfully Michael feels the same way I do, he is just better at not expressing it as negatively! :o)

End of the Holidays...

I got our ornaments and lights off the tree, we got the tree outside, and I gathered everything Christmassy that I own and put it in a pile. The end of the holidays are always sad because, at least in our house, it gets less festive when the decorations disappear, but this year, it was a little bit harder to undecorate our place. I got three little storage containers and decided I could only keep what would fit in those. I have two pretty small ones and one medium one but still on the small side. If anyone remembers pictures of how teeny tiny our place was in Denmark, you'll understand why I couldn't keep it all. I had to go through years of stuff I have collected over the holidays and decide what I wanted to keep the most. What made it even harder was that a lot of our Christmas stuff was also used in our wedding.

So after much sifting and thinking and picking and choosing, I got it all narrowed down. Of course, I'm keeping all our ornaments and all the stuff that is particularly special. There were some silly things though didn't make the cut but I guess would have to be thrown away eventually. Examples: We still have the first 2 boxes of gold and red ornaments Michael and I bought back in probably 2000 the first time we decorated a tree together and the Santa Claus we bought to set on top of the tree. There was one year Michael got in the holiday spirit and jetted off to Walmart and bought a huge strand of green garlandly stuff and intertwined it with lights and hung above our fireplace probably also back in 2000 and we also used it at our wedding. I undid the lights from the garland for the first time yesterday. I guess going through all our Christmas stuff from years past put me in a remembering mood since this was our 8th Christmas to spend together some of this stuff went way back. Like I said, I'm a sentimental shmuck, I'm sure no one really cares about any of this that I just typed and if you read this long, thanks! :o)

New Years Resolutions

I'm not one to usually make these things but I decided a good resolution this year would be to make a list of everything we want to do here in Dallas/Fort Worth before we leave and then do it. When we left Denmark we kicked ourselves 100 times for not doing some of the stuff we wanted to. We just knew we had 15 months to be there and kept saying, oh we have plenty of time to go do that, and sure enough, we never did. I don't want to leave here with a bunch of regrets like we did when we left Denmark. (However we will be so happy to leave I think if we do miss a few things here and there we will probably get over it real quick :o) ) I haven't made the list yet but it doesn't consist of to much exciting stuff but lots of little things. (Fort Worth Zoo, Dallas arboretum, a couple restaurants we want to try ect...)

Speaking of New Years Resolutions, its that time again for the gym to be crazy. We love going to the gym during the holidays because it is always empty but then once the January 1st comes around all the people that made the "I'm gonna get into shape" resolution FLOOD the gym. Now don't get me wrong, I have all the respect in the world for those who make this resolution and stick to it and do a great job. It's the ones that come in and don't know what they are doing and only come a few times and give up. It just makes it more of a hassle for those trying to actually work out. Actually about mid February the gym gets back to its normal flow with the same people we see year round in there and all those new faces slowly fade away and occasionally one of those new faces sticks around, but its rare. So in short, the gym is going to be a pain for a couple months and we always dread this time of year in terms of gym going. Oh well. What can you do??

2006 - A Look Ahead

Happy New Year!!
We had an excellent New Years Eve over at the Partney's with 2 other couples. We ate, drank champagne, played "Apples to Apples" and had lots of fun. We stayed the night at a hotel and that worked out very nicely.

Ok, this is what we have to look forward to in 2006. We have lots of excitement and it is already adding up to be a very busy year! January or February we are hoping to make it down to "Huddo" which is outside of Round Rock which is outside of Austin to visit Michaels dad, aunt and some of out good friends that just moved down there as well. Michaels dad also just moved down there and we are anxious to see the new place. In April one of my childhood friends is getting married here in Dallas. Michaels cousin is expecting his first baby in June. Also in June we are heading back to St. Louis for my cousins wedding to a wonderful girl on the 24th. We have some other friends who are getting married in El Paso on the 1st of July and hopefully we will be able to make it down for that. July 29th we are going on our very first cruise with 16 other people! All of Michaels moms side of the family will be with us. It should be a blast and we are looking forward to it. And finally the biggest event of the year is our move back to Denmark in (hopefully) mid-late August. Which obviously we are anticipating. In addition we are really hoping to make it to either New York and/or Las Vegas before we skip the country. So hopefully 2006 will be eventful, fun and memorable!