worst tease

My family stopped in for a very short stay last night. It was the happiest 20 minutes of my life (lately). Seriously, I was so excited for them to come. My mom, grandma, auntie, and sis-in-law were driving from Vegas/Utah all the way to DC and made us a pit stop. They originally planned to be here yesterday at 6 pm. I went grocery shopping so Jamey could cook a wonderful meal for them. Then after they'd been through a blizzard and wind storm it sadly got pushed to 10 pm. I called at 9:20 pm to see how close they were and they weren't even to Indainapolis yet! Over 4 hours to go! I was completely heartbroken but told myself I'd rather be me than them in the car for 18+ hours that day. They hit some more crazy weather and have a GPS with a sick sense of humor. I went to bed and they finally rolled in at almost 3 am. We talked excitedly for maybe 20 mins and then everyone needed to crash. I couldn't fall back asleep though. I was too happy to see them here in my house in Ohio!! It's the stuff dreams are made of. I set my alarm for an hour earlier than I needed, got dressed and ready for the day, then snuck down to the basement and crawled in bed with my mom to just be close to her for awhile. Jamey and I left for school before they were gone and I've been homesick the rest of the day. What a terrible tease that was! Luckily, I'll see them again this weekend for a real visit! I'm holding on to that. I'm horribly impatient though.

Cornhole??

I know. That's what I thought the first time I heard about it too. Huh? What? Turns out it is very popular around this part of the US. I don't know how far the fetish reaches since I never heard about it in all my time in western NY, but here it's HUGE. The first time I played was at an assisted living home. A group of classmates and I were assigned to go hang with the coolest Seniors for 2 quarters last year. We never had such a turnout as the day we brought in 2 cornhole sets! It was hilarious how into it they got. While not a super great pic, it's the only documentation I have of my initiation. I felt like a real Ohioian that day.

Since then, I've been to a couple Cornhole Tournaments. Sounds like it should be all fun and games but people actually take it pretty darn seriously. Poor Jamey. He's always my partner so he never really stands a chance. It's like playing horseshoes with beanbags. That's the only way I know to describe it. Our most recent adventure was a "friendly get-together". We made some pretty sweet team shirts and made it a couple rounds before being ousted from the bracket. 

 

ding dong the stache is gone!

 

  Jamey teaching himself to use the straightener. A lot harder than it looks.

Perfection.

so long...farewell...

(happy dance!)

 mmm boy

All Done

Jamey finished all his classes for good and forever today. He is all done. YAY! For him. For me...I've still got til June plus another year of classes. But he's done with the bookwork and on to the clinical! That is, as soon as he gets through his Step 1 Boards in June. So while this is a happy milestone, it is so not the end. Everyone be happy for Jamey! I am so proud of him and love him so much and he loves when I'm gushy like this. He's worked so hard and I'm excited for him to put all his studying to good use and can't wait to see what a great doc he'll be and to see what field he will choose to practice in. Way to go babe.

Poor Petey

Pete is my mom's dog. She got him from the Swap Meet in 08, so he's like an almost 4 year old mutt. He's playful and cuddly and loyal and a total love. And most the time he drives me crazy wanting me to throw the stupide ball! Petey is now blind. Just last weekend they noticed he was clingy and timid and they could poke his eye and he wouldn't flinch. First to the vet, Pete can't see. Then referred to a dog opthamologist, both of his retinas are torn in half and folded over each other. How does this happen?? By playing with his favorite toy, a set of plastic keys that he would thrash from side to side. The jostling just ripped them up! Unbelievable. So not only is he blind but he doesn't get his favorite toy anymore. Poor boy. On to California where the only dog eye surgeon practices who will do this type of surgery. His left eye was too far gone to be saved. It's been too long and has too much scar tissue. He'll never see out of it again. The right eye is operable. He had the surgery yesterday and already his vision is being restored. Gertie has been good to him and was assuming the role of Guide Dog, Pete would have to get around by sniffing and following her closely so as not to get lost and be scared and alone. But he's on the mend. When Mom first told me I couldn't believe she would spend all that money on a dog, but then again, it's Petey and so it's a different story.

ramblings

Don't know what to write about. I think I had an idea that made me open up a new box but now it's gone. It was Conference weekend and I loved it. I stayed awake for all but maybe 6 minutes. It's not that I don't love Elder Nelson, but I'm able to appreciate his written word more than his spoken. Something about the timbre of his voice resonates with my sleep waves. And now I'm just conditioned to go to sleep when I hear him. Yesterday I stayed awake in Conference by working on my scarf. I started it 2 months ago when I thought Ohio was going to have a winter, then we didn't. But I finished it and wore it all around the house last night because I was so pleased with my handiwork. This morning we had a potluck breakfast and wished we owned more chairs/square footage to invite more people over. It was delicious. Of course I have no pictures. I feel like I should be more interesting than this, but I'm really not. This week I have 2 friends getting married and one having a baby. All in Utah. They couldn't have tried to plan it better for me to visit if they'd tried. And yet I still can't go. I'll be here in The Ohio missing the action. Thank goodness for Skype and Facebook.