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Upon arriving home and turning the key in the lock, an action that most of the time results in discovering some level of disaster beyond, I discovered a new extent to which our kittens can be malicious.

Before my eyes, on the floor was, for the third time this week, some dried flowers, completely ruined and scattered, several picture frames once on the mantel, and a now broken numbered and signed-in-person-by-the-artist sculpture, a four foot plant uprooted and chewed to bits with wet potting soil everywhere, bits of litter box sand coated poop, and an abstract piece of art from eye level on the wall now in crumbled pieces mixed with the rest of the disaster in the floor.

Both kittens were scooped up, and put in their room, the laundry room. I made sure they had food, water, and as many of their numerous toys that we could find in with them this morning, and they will be there all day, until I can manage to clean up the most recent disaster. I am also going to be packing almost everything away, until the kittens have a rumble room all to themselves. Hopefully, they will have a romp room all to themselves in Fort Collins.

UG!

Its cold outside and no one wants to wander to far from home. The housing market is pretty slow, and it is a bad time to be selling a house, but a good time to be a buyer. David and Sara just got themselves a new home as they figured that paying rent doesn’t make sense, and are excited and busy nesting in to a pretty split bi-level oak trimmed house. Their logic is similar to ours- why pay rent to a landowner, when you can be your own land owner?

There is a house that is for sale that is about 0.07 miles or 370 feet or 112 meters from a tributary of my favorite running/walking/bike trail in Fort Collins. It is older, and needs a bit of love, and would be a good house for a few years for a family just starting out in the world. The carpet in the bedrooms needs to be replaced, and the kitchen is from the early 70s, and the floor plan is not the best layout but it works. And what would we have to do to get this house? All we have to do is turn up the thermostat and flip on the lights. No paperwork, no realtors, no sellers. Nothing.

So the plan was originally to have Doug’s house sell months ago, because we currently pay rent and mortgage, but could not get any nibbles on the house for selling or renting. We wanted to find a house for ourselves together someplace between where I work and where Doug works. But, the best laid plans are not often the way that the water of life circumstances flow. We have found that, more often than not, God has something much more beautiful and creative for us than anything we would have thought of. So, once again, the flowing water of His love directs us towards an entirely different plan than we had in mind much the same way our relationship changed from mere friends into a couple and then to being a husband/wife union.

Oh dear, whatever shall I do?!? I have to live less than a quarter mile from my favorite running trail, closer to the mountains, in a town with churches that we each were already involved in… Drat. I guess I will just have to put a smile on my face and deal with it the best I can. I already called the Van-Go people to hopefully join a van-pool that I can take to Denver, as there is not any form of organized mass transit to Denver for north of Longmont. So, we are gearing up for another adventure.

Doug and I got for each other early Christmas gifts, and the snow day after the blizzard, we were out playing with our new snow shoes walking along the Platte River in the nature area. We have since gone snowshoeing twice more with Ron, Michelle, and Joshua. We went to Echo Lake, and we have cone to Red Rocks. I hope this grows into a regular event, as we get to see some very pretty scenery we would otherwise miss in the winder. It is also a hoot to see your close friends and family with a face of snow wriggling around and trying to get up. That is, if you can see past the snow on your own face sitting chest deep in the snow drifts. Red Rocks Amphitheater is the perfect place for that kind of comedy, as our laughter bounces around the snow covered red rock walls.

Doug and I also went to the sledding hill of my childhood to go sledding. I have only been able, until now, to convince David and Sara to go sledding on that hill. This time, Doug and I were able to get JC and Rebecca and Jackson to come as well. (I know JC from work.) It was Jackson’s first time sledding. Doug the daredevil decided head first is a must. We built a ramp to fly off of, and each had a sore tuchas as a result. We all had a great time on the hill, even though it was a bit windy.

We have decided to start an entry for everyone to post random information that is not related to any topic here. We request that you post those under this link, as it is not very much fun to try to move them here. This version of blog puts your comments to the box on the right as most recent comments, so we will be able to see them. When this note disappears, use the box at the bottom of this page to find it again.

Thanks.

Paul,
Come get your Bunderburg… 🙂 We will feed you. Pick a night.
Chy

Is your handwriting better in Times New Roman 12 than what you can make with a Bic pen? Is your Bic handwriting better than your spouse’s handwriting? Do you have several hundred thank you cards to write? Did you go on a long whirl-wind vacation for two weeks and then not open presents until a week after that? Do you feel that it is very important to follow etiquette and handwrite every single thank you card? Do you feel, that no matter how late, you should still send a thank you card for a wedding present? Do you believe it is ok to relax a bit after a wedding and honeymoon, and not open presents right away? Do you believe it is more important to learn how to communicate better with a new spouse, and enjoy the first few months as newly weds the best you can? Has those two months had the careful dance of your first major holiday and a birthdaywith new families? Has those past two months flown past filled with everything post-wedding that happens? And, after the stress and drama of the past year that continues to this day, are you just barely starting to feel like the nice kind sweet person people have known you as?

So, if you are one of those people and sympathize with all of this, and you gave us a present, I promise I will have those thank you cards in the mail as soon as possible, and your gifts are very much appreciated. I haven’t forgotten, and I take these things very seriously. I have given wedding gifts in the past that has either not been appreciated nor did the new couple send thank you cards. So, thank you, here and in the notes that are in need of addresses and stamps.

If however, none of these things describe you, then how about this…

If you can’t help make the situation better, please then stay out of it. And nagging on me is not the way to help. I will get those notes out, but continuing to pester me about it is not helping that stress level at all.

Thank you.

“One is my name, the other is not.”- Data

What is it with people that they think that just because I got married, my name is suddenly Mrs. Doug… ? Wrong-O!

My name is still, and always will be, Christy. Please get that right. You can screw up the last names all you want, but don’t mess with my name. Yeah, I will be using my last name as a second middle name, and Doug’s last name as my new last name. But sheesh! My name, my first name, the name everyone knows me by, my personality, my character, what my inner-most core responds as, is Christy. I am not Doug, Doug is Doug. I realize the priest screwed this up, but if you were there, you saw that I would not leave the alter, and even scolded the priest for it until he gave me my name back. My name is Christy! Not Kristi, Kristy, Kristie, Cristy, Christie, etc. Good grief- Get it right!

(Grumbles as she walks offstage…)

1.
We have a new black female kitten named Sprite to keep Sadie company and to be her playmate- they are slowly getting used to each other, and tired each other out yesterday by running and chasing and playing.

2.
We have a new couch- it is sage green with two tan accent pillows and a red “pop” pillow with a beautiful design on it. The couch is micro-fiber so spills clean up better. The old futon and cider blocks are gone- thank goodness- now there is something to relax and watch tv on that is comfortable in our apartment, though we spend more time sitting in candlelight with the radio on to the Martini playing Frank. Our apartment is much cleaner now, without the 40 square feet of recyclable boxes, and without the things we donated to charity and the other things we recycled. It looks like the apartment of a new married couple instead of two college vagabonds.

3.
I decided to get my hair cut so that I can try to look less like dull drab woman and more like a young women of my age and culture. With that, piece by piece, parts of my wardrobe need a bit of modernizing as well. Sara helps me with both of those, and Doug grins at the results, and it feels to me that I am adding a freshness to the way I present myself to other people in my profession.

We all (Doug’s family) are anxiously waiting for Greg and Teresa’s baby. We were at Ron and Michelle’s last night, and we all sat on the edge of the chairs, jumping at the slightest sound of a phone’s ring tone. Hopefully, it comes soon for her. Come out into the world, little one- there is a whole family just waiting to love you. But, for now, we wait.

Wednesday 11/1- And the rumor is that they had a girl this morning. Now, another wait- permission to come visit the new little girl.

Wednesday evening- Isabella Rose is a beautiful little baby, sleeping peacefully bundled up tight in her daddy’s arms.

“So, how is married life?” That is the common question right now.

Now, I have asked this question in the past, when I was still single. I honestly wanted to know what it was like to be married, especially in the first few weeks of a marriage, and how it differs from being single or dating, and to get an idea how the answer changes over time.

I have also observed several married people (either married for a short amount of time, or for many many years) ask the question. I interpret the question differently than the single person’s question. “Remind me of what it was like to be freshly married, help me see how much I have learned, how much things have changed or stayed the same, how does your married differ from my own, or is it similar to mine.”

Short answer-

Doug and I have gone on a honeymoon/vacation, and have gone back to work.

Long answer-

No one ever mentioned that there is a huge amount of analytical planning logistics involved in all of that. It might seem obvious, after thinking about it, but the romantic side of me, when dreaming about the first few days and nights of a honeymoon, didn’t think of the logistics of moving bags from one place to another, having to be on time, traveling through airports, transportation in other cities/countries, etc. I only thought of the relaxation and the fun and the dreamy Hollywood romance kind of stuff. But, we told ourselves, we also planned a wedding. Next time we go on vacation, we will know better, and will have the vacation planned better.

We learned a little about communicating and working as a team to get something done, and to help the other person in areas they are not the best at. For example, I have trouble lifting heavy bags- Doug helped me with that.

We had a wonderful time traveling throughout Australia, and we will have to share pictures and the stories of adventure, once we get that all organized.

And to answer the “Is your marriage like mine?” Well, if you know either of us very well, you know there is an on-going whip cream battle that recently extended into chocolate pudding too. So, if you end up in the kitchen laughing so hard you can barely breathe, chocolate pudding on glasses, in hair, on faces, on shirts, on floor, on counters with a cat licking up the spots she can reach, then yes, ours is like yours. We are still trying to figure out the morning routine better, but I do like having breakfast with him. And, he scraped the ice and snow off my car this morning too. We have the normal bills to pay, and he picked up groceries the other day. After the chocolate pudding laughter fit, we watched “Finding Nemo” to see the coral on the reef again. We are taking time this week to relax and get our feet under us, before we start visiting people again.

So my question in return is this- “Is this is what married life is like, with its ups and downs, learning curves, helping each other out, discovery, laughter and adventure?”

Or maybe I am over analyzing, as usual, and it was either a simple question, or there was an underlying question, not mentioned above. So, the answer to both of those is… “Great!”