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There it was, sitting just as he said, mostly out of site, at the top of the steps- a welcome sight after a long day. Its contents had been emptied, so I went inside to see what it had contained. I opened the door, and inside I found four cold precious wonderful containers, full to the brim. I pulled the open one out, and tipped it- its contents spilling into the glass I held. A sip reaffirmed the truth- fresh cold milk straight from a glass bottle straight from the local dairy, is a wealth of riches and we are indeed truly blessed to once again, have this simple pleasure at our finger tips. Ah, another hidden beauty of owning a home- milk delivery to a milk box on the deck. Yep, yuppy milk box- the new millennium version- a cooler- with the dairy’s name on it. Could anything be better?

“I fixed it!”

I heard the triumphant holler through the house, so I went to go see what was previously broken. He was in the laundry room, kneeling at the drier.

“Was it broken?” I didn’t know that the drier was off-kilter.

“Nope. But it was really ticking me off.” He swung the drier door to and fro. “I reversed it- it was bugging me.”

It is true- the drier door was previously on the wrong side, and this would make doing laundry so much easier. It is one of many things he has done since we moved in about a week ago to make our lives there much easier and better. New light switches, new outlets, new GFIs, new electrical plate covers, a new plug in the sink, fixing the hinge on the laundry room door, fixing the hinge on the garage door, and so many many more things. I am very proud of him.

Thank you to everyone who helped us move over the weekend. Sara for helping keep me on task and calm and helping me pack, David, Greg, Brett, Lee for moving boxes, Joan, Aimee, Monica, Aurora, Nathaniel for working on the kitchen, and Brian, Gary, and Ron for moving large furniture. Doug was completely exhausted- 50+ boxes, 15+ pieces of furniture not counting the small stuff, 3rd story apartment, and the drive to and from old and new, and the stairs and banisters in the new. Good job everyone! And thank you!

We now have the fun task of getting anything left behind, cleaning the apartment so it is spotless to get the deposit back, and if we can find our kitchen stuff in the new place, I think that will make things easier. We spend about a half an hour on Sunday morning just looking out the windows from under the covers at the blue sky, gorgeous spruce trees, and yellow walls. Hopefully, by the end of the day, we can let our kittens explore the whole house, which means we have to have a lot of the little things put away, and tools and screws and nails from replacing outlets in a closed door room.

Another part of the adventure begins- it is never boring.

Doug and I are doing a lot of home improvement projects in the house in Fort Collins. Amidst the dust and cleaning, we are painting the bedrooms in Fort Collins a pale yellow with white trim and white ceilings. It is beautiful. For those of you who have seen the exterior of the Lee Mansion or the interior of one of the rooms in Monticello, it is close to that yellow. We had a free weekend that no one had put into our schedules anything, so we painted together, and both learned about the other person’s painting methods- both have hints of madness. The best part is when we pull the last tape strip and put the hardware and doors back on, how stunning and beautiful it looks, compared to the whitish-grey that was there before. 15 years of college kids are slowly being covered by Behr Whisper Yellow and Lismore Cream White.

He speeds by, boosted every half a lap by the spinning wheels squeezing his side and accelerating him forward for another pass. The noise of the crowd and the world is a blur beyond the next turn of the figure eight track. The darkening of the sky over half the track worries him only if it threatens his performance and endangers his timed race, but he thinks only of the track and reaching the finish. Suddenly, a black object on the track blocks the entire width of the track, and before he can even try to steer around it or brake, he slams into it, sending him spiraling through the air, hood over foil, landing upside down and skidding across the tan landscape. Before he can catch his breath and assess what has happened, he is slammed against a huge post and bounces off and rolls several times. The back thing that was on the track bats him around, until he is dizzy. Suddenly, he is lifted into the air, but this time by pinkish pinchers, and set back on the track, and is racing along again, like it was all a bad dream. Perhaps it was…

But for Sprite, she was bound and determined to destroy Lightning McQueen, if it hadn’t been for Joshua rescuing his favorite car.

I got home and Doug was still in a very unusual mood- he was a bit glum from the not-so-typical-Monday. This is what occurred when I walked in the door.

I set down my things, gave him a long hug, got slippers on, put my hair in a pony tail, and thought to myself, “a margarita sounds good. I bet Doug would like a Margarita.” The line from the song popped in my head “in margaritaville…” I thought to myself, “Jimmy Buffet likes margaritas. I wonder when he will be in town next. Doug says he doesn’t come very often, if ever. I wonder if he will be anywhere close anytime soon. I should take Doug.” So, I sat down, Googled Jimmy Buffet, went to his Margaritaville website, and clicked on the tour. There was several listed, and Illinois in July didn’t sound good. There was a show in Frisco Texas in April that just started selling tickets today. “I wonder how much tickets would cost.” By the time Doug came back in from barbequing some steak, I had found two tickets.

“Wanna go? I’m serious… wanna go?” I asked him. I was only partly serious, but it did sound fun. Besides, the idea was forming in my head as I spoke- I have no idea what to get him for his birthday. This would do nicely. I pulled up a map to find out where Frisco is- north of Dallas. “Wanna go?” I turned to see two tears just starting their streaks down his cheeks. He was smiling, and gushy, because no one had ever done that for him before. “Wanna go?” The smile said it all, so I paid for the tickets right then and there. The whole thing took less than ten minutes. The entire thing is now only an hour or less old. Spontaneous. That is something that we both love in the other person.

He has been to two Buffet concerts, I have never been. So, now I have a month and a half to learn more about the side of my husband who is the Parrot Head, and we are both looking forward to it. At this point, we have this planned out for this event better than our honeymoon. We know a full month and a half ahead of time what we want to do. On our previous trip, we had plane tickets that nailed a few things down, but only a week ahead of time, but that was far more open ended. And ironically, we will be sitting for about the same amount of time to travel to the destination that we sat for Australia. One is 70 mph, the other is 570 mph.

Did I mention spontaneous? Margarita anyone?

We have been in the swirling dance of God’s plan this month, as minute by minute, day by day, where we are going to be living April first changes. If the house sold, if we could trade it, if we were to go month to month in the apartment, etc. There were several hits on the house and several walk thoughs, but today was the expiration of the six month contract with no further interest. We have decided, since we have one month left at the apartment, that if we are to do a month-to-month situation, that we would rather do it with the amount of rent in our pockets instead of out the door. So, we are headed to the house this month, piece by piece. The bedrooms need new carpet, as the carpet was almost original to the house. The main rooms were replaced a few years ago and are still in very good condition. And we have decided that we want to give the interior a fresh coat of paint before we move in- we are thinking a very faint cream yellow. So, we have several things to do this upcoming month. Wish us luck.

herding cats.

Actually, it is herding cats. Each night, when it is bedtime, we go to round up our two kittens to put them in the laundry room for the night. I don’t like them roaming around at night crashing into things. We also don’t let them in the bedroom, which means the closed door keeps the bedroom really cold, and we open it up at night so the air flows better. Cats on your face while sleeping, or cats biting your toes, is not what either of us have in mind. So, we put them in the laundry room each night with fresh food, water, toys to play with, and their beds and box.

For Sadie and Sprite, it is an end to getting into mischief each day, and they don’t ever want to stop playing or being with us. So, they avoid us when we go to round them up. Sprite has learned all the places she can run to in order to hide and avoid getting scooped up. It takes two of us some nights to stealthily sneak up on her from both sides, and even then, she scoots out from under our reaching grasps. Under the table, between the chairs, behind some boxes, squeezed between containers, repeat in a random order. Eventually, she makes the wrong move, and is caught and put in with Sadie, who doesn’t resist her fate as much, but still would rather escape when the door is opened to put Sprite in. A sturdy wooden chair is placed against the bi-folding panel door, (they have learned to push on it and open it) and then the job of rounding them up at night is done.

That is if we put fresh food and water down first. If we did that second, sometimes we have to catch both cats all over again. At times, our already sleepy minds don’t quite remember the order, or just don’t care, or believe that we can open the door, block it just right, and put food and water in, without them getting out. It is a daily comedy we can look forward to.

But yeah, sometimes it really is like herding cats.

Thanks to all of you who read this blog. Star, Paul, Sara, David, Michelle, Natalie, and those who’s ip addresses we haven’t taken the time to puzzle out yet. I know the pace of life can sometimes be prohibitive to writing responses or writing individual personalized emails. So thank you. Thanks for your support of Doug and I in our new marriage as we learn and grow. I hope this blog has provided insight into our lives and has been entertaining and given you a few things to smile about. Emails behind the scenes tell us that this is something people enjoy reading and if you have any topic requests, please let us know, here or in an email.

And, once again, the winter cold and lack of sunlight, compiled with 5 snowstorms in 5 weeks (soon to be 6 in 6), accompanied by very cold weather, has helped to prove one thing- I photosynthesize.

Lucky for me, it is Colorado, which means that sunlight can normally be found, even if it is sitting in a window, protecting me from the below freezing beautiful sunny day. Yep, I must be a plant. I hope I’m a daisy. Lucky me, Doug is the other kind of person who does not need the photosynthesis process and is a very upbeat happy guy, and finds it is his mission to make me smile and help me remember the beautiful parts of winter.

So, if you are also a plant, get some sunlight! Especially if it is a cold cloudy winter.