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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.

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