Decisions Decisions

Well, Ron and I made the decision last weekend to stop all the fertility stuff. It's just getting to be too hard on me/us every month when I'm not pregnant... again. I do still have two months of my clomid prescription left, so I'll continue to take it for those couple of months to see what happens. But I'm not very hopeful and have gotten back to the point that I was before I got pregnant last time.... it's not the end of the world if we never have children. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to have one. But I need to look at the bright side and think of all the things we can do without children that would have been more difficult if we had them. Like motorcycle riding... going out and doing what we want when we want... being generally irresponsible. Keeping my kick ass body. LOL! Funny thing is, the day after we made the decision, I got a letter in the mail from my doctor telling me that he's moving his practice to Ludington. Guess, we made the right decision. It just kind of confirmed it for me.

Other than that, things are same as always. Working, working, working. I have run a little bit more in the past couple of weeks. I got my Riverbank Run training schedule in the mail last week. So now I'm looking forward to training for that. I still haven't decided if I want to attempt the Traverse City marathon. I might just do the Grand Rapids in October, it gives me longer to train. We've been busy with Christmas stuff lately too. And Ron got a different car last week. That's a way good thing. He rode the motorcycle all summer and then needed a car when the weather got yucky. We could have car pooled, but neither of us really want to do that. So, he got an old beater car that was just about falling apart with the plan to trade it in when our other car was paid off. Well, we got a letter from the place we got the other car saying that because our balance was so low we could come in and they would get us into something different. So, that's what we did! Now he has a 2000 Buick Regal. He loves it! But it stalled on the way home from getting it. Then two more times in the next two days. Good thing is has a 18,000 mile/18 month warranty. So, we took it back on Friday and will hopefully have it back tomorrow.

The 'kids' are all doing good. We took Hemi and Remington for a walk today. Hemi thought it was fun to pull me on the iced over sidewalks. Monster. Kitty got hurt last weekend but is all healed up now and doing good. Jasper is just as annoying as usual. Iggy.... well... Iggy is just Iggy. What all could an iguana do?! He's kind of boring.

I guess that's good for my update. Catch ya later!

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was exhausting, but really good!

Ron, Remington and I left home about 4:40 Thursday morning. We had really good weather for the most of the trip. The only time it got a little slippery was between Kalkaska and Mancelona, but it cleared right up by the time we got to Gaylord to get on I-75. We were making such good time that we decided to stop in Mackinaw City to take a couple picture of the bridge and to let Remington stretch her legs for a few minutes.

After Remington played in the very cold Straits of Mackinac, we got back in the truck and drove over the bridge. Can you believe the bridge fare is up to $3.00 now?! Last time we were up there it was only $1.50. Ron suggested maybe they could use a white board to post the costs rather than a sign... be cheaper for them to change the fare amount. Ron was very impressed though because you could not only see a cargo ship out quite a ways in the water, but it was also clear enough to see the island. Every other time we've been up there it's been too foggy to see out very far.

We ended up making it to my parents house about 10:30am. Becca, Mom and I got snacky things ready and then we all just kind of hung out, ate, watched the Lions lose and talked. It was really nice. After a delicious dinner Becca, Mom and I took CeCe and Remington for a walk. When we got home the guys were all sleeping, so we cleaned up the kitchen and just sat around for a little while. When Ron woke up we got things ready and headed back home about 5:00pm.

The drive home was a little bit more eventful. Everything was going good until we got about 20 miles from my parents house. It started snowing that thick wet snow... and it was dark so even though it wasn't sticking to the road, it made it really hard to see. We got to Trout Lake and I asked Ron if we had enough cash to get back across the bridge.. I'm not sure if they take debit. We didn't, of course. If I'd have thought about it I would have just asked my Dad for a couple dollars before we left! So, when we got to St. Ignace we had to get off the express way to look for an ATM so we could get money for the stupid bridge. We got back on the express way, in the cold yucky snow that wasn't sticking to the road and starting heading back down state over the very windy bridge. By the time we got to the south side of the bridge... this is only 5 miles, mind you... the snow was sticking to the road and there was probably about 2 inches all ready there. If it wouldn't have been for the vehicles in front of us, we wouldn't have known where the road was. It was horrible. We decided to get off the express way at the Petosky exit because even though it would be traveling closer to the lake and bad weather, it's all 2 lane highway so you can go slower and there's less traffic. We couldn't drive over 40 mph, but we finally made it to Petosky and it started to clear up a little bit. The rest of the trip home was hit and miss with the snow, but never as bad as it was just across the bridge. Once we hit Cadillac it was much better and we arrived home, exhausted, but safe, around 11:30pm. Very long day! I found this weather map from Thursday evening. The purple is path we followed all the way to Petosky!

We made the decision that next time we're going to hire a dog sitter so we can just spend the weekend.

Killer Squirrel

Holy dog shit Frodo! So, Ron and I went for a ride on the motorcycle tonight. When we got home I remembered that I needed to roll the window up in the truck, so I grabbed the key off the hook and skipped down the steps and across the yard to the truck. As I was walking across the yard I noticed this little furry animal following me. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and actually thought it was a kitten. I thought to myself, "Self, you need to check that out after you roll up the window." So, I rolled up the window and then kept hearing this chattering noise. I honestly thought it was just the truck creaking because it was parked on a small hill. I got out of the truck and shut the door. I was walking back across the yard, more slowly this time so I could figure out what this furry thing was. It was a baby squirrel! Maybe more like a young adult squirrel. It was crazy! I started walking away from it and it followed me. I would turn around and it would stop and look at me chattering the whole time. Apparently I really pissed him off! The living room window was open so I whispered loudly for Ron to come to the window to check out this squirrel. As soon as it wasn't paying attention I ran across the yard and leaped onto the porch. The little sucker was still in the yard chattering away at me. Ron came out to see what all was going on. He thought it was the giant squirrel that Remington always harrasses in the back yard. But, nope. Just a grouchy little one. So, now here Ron and I are, two grown adults.... staring at this squirrel that is crouched next to the steps in the leaves. Just a chattering away at us. We were like a foot from him the whole time. At one point he slowly walked over so he was almost to Ron and then he got spooked and ran back into his leaf pile. After about 10 minutes of this, Kitty made his presence known. Ron scooped up Kitty so he didn't eat Wally (that's the squirrel) and we came back in the house. I shut the screen door on the back door to keep Kitty in. But he managed to get out anyway. Hopefully he didn't eat Wally because I thought he was kinda cool... although I'm afraid to leave to go to work in the morning now. LOL! Ron thought he was rabid. I choose to think he's just friendly.

Down on the Farm

So, today some people from my department at work went to the Equest Center in Rockford to volunteer. We had people who haulded hay, painted fences, pulled weeds, helped the kids on the horses, moved mulch, painted a stage. You name it, we did it. I decided it would be good to be in the weed pulling group. I have a lot of fun with Rick, Gary, Susie and Gwen, so it would be great! We weren't actually pulling weeds. It was more like digging the weeds out. They have several different pastures separated by fences. There are these yucky weeds that grow under the fences and we needed to dig them out because you can't get to them with a mower or weed wacker. We had a riot! I was thinking, OK. This will be easy. Then we got out there and there was horse poo! Can you believe it?! So, at first I was tippy toeing around it (Jessi would be so impressed), after about 10 minutes it was like screw it. I just walked right through it. If anyone has ever spent any amount of time in a horse pasture, you know that there is no avoiding it. To make it even more interesting, there were actual horses in the pastures while we were weeding. I'm not much of a horse person. Everything was going good until we got to the 2nd to last pasture. There was a horse in that one that just thought I should be it's best friend! I was weeding and turned around and there it was... inches from my face. That was a shock! Then I was trying to get away from it and it chased me around a stump. Of course I'm yelling for my co-weeders to get it away from me. I didn't think anyone else saw. Turns out a couple people in the barn were very entertained.

There were also pony's there. They were so cute! I swear not much bigger than Hemi. One of them layed down on the ground and took a nap, on it's side, just like a dog. Then his foot started twitching like he was dreaming. Just precious!

After lunch we finished up our weeding so I joined Chet and Roger in painting the stage. Of course, because they are such gentlemen, they volunteered me to paint the legs of the stage because they were tired of doing that part. They're just great. LOL! Nah, seriously, they are great guys and I had a good time with them too. The nice thing about working with the two of them is we can work in complete silence and it's never awkward silence. It was fun working with my weeding crew too, but they're rowdier and more talkative. Sometimes quiet is good.

We took a group picture, maybe I'll post it if I get a copy of it.

I'm sweaty, smelly and totally exhausted, but it was a very rewarding and fun day. I think the best part was that some of the kids were there. It's great to know that what you're doing makes a difference, but it's even better when you get to actually see the people our hard work benefits. Just makes it all worth it and really puts things in perspective.

Now, I'm going to go take a much needed shower.

Running

I'm so happy that I ran tonight. Why didn't I do this a long time ago? I feel like I'm on top of the world. I could do anything right now! F'ing awesome! I feel like that McDonald's commercial... the one when the girl is in the boring meeting at work and she's drinking an iced coffee and in her head she's like "go Katie, go, go, go Katie, yeah!". That's how I feel. Just replace Katie with Tracy. LOL! Ahhhhh... now I know why I'm a runner.

Fall

I love Fall. Growing up I was always a total summer girl, but the older I get the more I just love Fall. The leaves are starting to change color and soon it will be time to start raking. We just sat on the front porch this morning for a little while and just watched the world go by. The air is so crisp and clean... but not really cold.

We went to Yankee Candle on Friday night because they had tarts on sale. They had all their fall scents out, so I bought cinnamon and pumpkin scents... among others. Today I put the Harvest Gold scnet in. Yum! I just love it. Halloween and Thanksgiving. The Haunt will be starting in another couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to going to that this year. I'm going to be trying to talk Ron into going to Robinettes in a couple weeks for donuts and cider... just like my Grandma and I used to do when I was little. Brings back so many memories.

We took the motorcycle out for a short ride this evening. Just around the country part of town... if that makes any sense. There is this road that I just love to drive down. It's cool in the truck, but even better on the bike. It's so close to town but yet it feels like you're out in the country. It's winding and covered with trees. Very peaceful. There is a house for sale back there. Maybe some day.

New job!

I'm so freaking happy! Ron started a job today! He's been doing the work from home computer business thing for almost a year now. It's had it's ups and downs. There have been weeks when he made quite a bit of money, but other weeks with nothing. I really wanted his computer business to work because I know that's what he wants. But at this point in time, we just can't count on it. I expect that he'll continue fixing computers as they come up... in fact, someone should be dropping one off today. But we really need for him to have a steady income. There have been times that have been really hard for me. It's hard to carry it all on me. It's a lot of pressure. So, I'm really happy about this. And a little bonus, I get alone time!!!! LOL! Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Ron. But sometimes I need alone time too, and it's hard to get that when he's always here. From my past experiences, our time together is better when I have a little bit of alone time. Plus, this way he is spending time with other people and not stuck at home all the time. So, it's a good situation all the way around.

So, about his new job. He'll be working at a Valvoline oil change place Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday... Friday if he wants too. He likes to do this kind of work, so he's excited about it too.