Aunt Brandy came over for a bit and we both realized that we really haven't been out of the house since Friday. Well, maybe there's an escape from these four walls planned for tomorrow. We'll see..... The LW and I watched an interesing little film called Night And Fog. Not something to watch on a full stomach nor is it something to reinforce any semblance of faith in humanity.

Ahh, the dangers of sending the LW and Auntie Melissa to the video store. I still kid the LW about Morvern Callar...with good reason.

I ran over to Shakespeare's Sister and found this. May the sleeping giant that is the populace of this country shake off it's amnesia in the coming year and wrest our collective fate from the warmongering draft-dodgers that only serve themselves.

Organized things today. Papers tossed and shredded. The LW took a HUGE nap and caught up on some sleep that was lost due to yet-to-be-seen teeth.

Saw footage of the lines to get up the mountain today. What a mess. Glad that we beat that rush by going yesterday. If you didn't get included on the email list for the photos, shoot me an email and I'll send it.

Watched the movie 39 steps tonight. Hitchcock was good with a camera.

Last week was great, up until the point at which we knew that VitalCheck and "Brown" weren't goint to come through with CP's birth certificate. Evidently "Next Day Air" means "whenever" in BrownSpeak. Everything was pretty much planned out for a run to Kino Bay....and then it wasn't. We ran over to the Garbe home to break the bad news and then headed home.

Auntie Melissa was supposed to have gone with us, so we just had her over for the xmas time stuff. Of course she's a complete stinker and bought us a gift. She walked out of her apartment with a burnt red/orange colored chimnea. It's really cool and we can't wait to fire it up. She got some things for CP as well, but all she really needs is a box and a spoon.

CP really loves playing with Melissa and it was good to get to visit with her. She and the LW made some sugar cookies and just goofed off all weekend. We went over to Oma's house on xmas day afternoon and visited with her and George's gang. Oma had all kinds of great things cooked and we had a great time. She sent us home with a whole salmon that was flown in from Washington. Sweet! It was pretty funny that in August of last year, that salmon was the thing that sent me to get the EPT and sent the LW face down at the porcelain altar.

We remarked this morning about where 2005 and 2006 went.

On the day after xmas, we were sitting around wondering what to do. We had played around with the idea of going to IKEA, but figured that it would just be a complete mess. At around 10am or so, I called it. We were going. The LW and I began measuring the room and fumbling through the catalog. We settled on some things and called Enterprise. They had a minivan for the same prices that Orbitz spit out, so we snagged it. We were off to Phoenix by 1:00 or so. Melissa had never made the trip there and we listened to her CDs all the way there. There was still plenty of parking space left in the lot when we got there....odd. We made it in and began wandering. Melissa was a bit taken aback just as we were on our first foray into the store. So..much..stuff. It was funny to watch Melissa go into one room, write things down, then cross them off at the next room. We did the same thing on our first trip there. Classic. We made it through and found everything that we went for...and then some. The tricky part was getting it all in the minivan. Melissa helped pack it in and soon we were off for On The Border on Ray. The LW got a gift card there from the contracting company that she works for. All of us had a big dinner and drinks - it cost us $10. CP had her packed lunchbox dinner and a boob for dessert.

The next day was the unloading and building. It took all day and part of last night. Everything in the living room has now been spun around and organized. 1 Expedit 72" cube and 2 Expedit 58" rectangles allowed us to put up some of our books. We replaced our old desk with a red Alve desk/bureau unit that is really great and has tamed some business clutter. The bike rack has been moved to the west wall and the wall behind the stove is clear. The LW is anxious to put up my photography work that's been shelved for years. It was a good adventure and my back hurts. One massage comin' up!

On the motorcycling front, I got my row assignment for the upcoming race in Phoenix on the 7th. We'll see how things shape up in the 30+ C class. This could be a tough run since the last race really showed that I'm in pretty poor shape when it comes to wrestling a 250lb motorcycle through deep sand. That may get fixed soon.

CP is cranky and teething again. We look forward to some upper teeth soon. The bottom teeth are really sharp now.

Off to work today at noon. This leaves the wife to watch the baby, but I really couldn't turn the chance of it down. I was referred by a wonderful client and it'll be fun. Whether it's the season, the office, or my increased evening availability, business is good right now. It doesn't hurt that this is the time of year for cyclists around here. It was really slow as I ramped back into it after CP came along. It's really hard not to tie personal happiness to work or at least a job well done.

CP is doing well and is happy today. Her nap schedule is back to normal, but will get upset again in the morning when we head out to Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico. 6 hours in the car sleeping will make her an interesting tot this weekend. We'll be taking Auntie Melissa along with us and that'll be great. She's a good egg.

Bad dreams last night for CP and she didn't even wake from it during a diaper change. I had to work to get her out of it and it took about 45 minutes for the LW and I to get her settled down and back to sleep. This was about 3am or so. The LW worked on a proposal letter that may net some funding for the gardens - the bad thing is, she was up until about 1am. It'll be interesting to see what comes of this grant stuff. It'll get a garden going at a home for men here in town. I tried to get something going on it last year, but I had to back out as the time for planting passed. I just got a little busy with a little person. The guy that runs the home is nice, but when I talked to him recently, well, let's just say he wasn't really full of holiday cheer.

Yesterday was a rough work day for the LW. Some things going wrong with spurrious XML code here and there. It's all settled now and we're enjoying the quiet of our chilly afternoon. Oma Darlene dropped by to visit CP and drop off some paperwork. CP enjoyed her brief visit. Auntie Melissa called a little bit ago and said that she's been called back for a 2nd interview of sorts after the first of the year. We hope that she gets this one and will be an employee of the U. Healthcare is not really a good place to be these days, unless you've got your own practice and drive a Porsche, that is.

CP was up at the baby butt crack of dawn this morning and the LW let me "sleep" until almost 8am. There's just something about the little food processor we have that defies sleep though. I woke up to a house filled with the smell of cinnamon apples. CP's appetite has increased lately and she can put away half of a banana as a light snack. She really puts those two teeth to good use. She's been enjoying the stuffed animal that we bought a few weeks back. It's a monkey and we call him "Cheeky". Since we don't bring him out all of the time, he gets a huge response and it's pretty funny to watch.

We hope to catch a concert this coming week by the Sons Of Orpheus. Our friend Pete sings in the group and is quite a character. I've only met a few people in their late 80's who have as much spark and life as he does. He just got back from a trip to China and I heard that he had more than 7 performances in a little over a week.

Tonight we're off for a party in honor of Aunt Brandy's upcoming birthday. It should be fun and there should be some other small people there. That's the only bit of planning that we have to work around today and that's rather nice.

The LW asked me the other day about an idea: What if we spent all of the money that we were thinking of spending on "stuff" and instead put it into making our house as self-sufficient as it can be in the next few years? I think that it's a grand plan. She was nursing the idea that she should get me an expensive digital SLR camera so that I could take pics like I did when we were in Arkansas. That's almost $1000 to start with right there. I hope that this plan will bear fruit.....tangelos and Meyer lemons. We'll get the cistern finished soon and go from there. I think that we'll increase the garden, plant fruit tree or two, change the herb garden to add grass and fencing for chickens, and add a grape arbor. It should be interesting. I'm hoping that I can probably make enough from selling the diesel to cover alot of this. We'll see.

Yesterday the negatives and contact sheet came back from Centric Photo. Some of them came out ok and some of them will take work to make prints from. All of them are good to see though. There is a B&W shot or two of the LW when CP was getting close to arrival and I'm glad to know that those photos will be around for 100 years. Where will all of my digital photos be? I hope to print out some of them soon and send them to the grandparents. I was able to do this when Olivia first came into the world, but have not done it since. There's nothing like having an 8x10 or larger photo in your hands that you can touch and look at without batteries or electricity.

I got some time to get out and play with the BioDiesel Datsun project this past weekend. Al from up in Washington sent me a great wiring harness that was salvaged from another Diesel 720 that has A/C. I ripped the dash off and got into in on Sunday. By the end of the afternoon, the old harness was out and the "new" harness was installed into the engine bay, with a few connectors that remain to be sorted out. The crack-monkey that owned this truck had it wired together with electrical tape. Red Green would scoffed at the job this guy did though. It was a mess. I hope to finish it up this coming weekend, but it really showed my hands a thing or two. I guess in my current line of work, my hands have gone all soft and every little knick and ding really left a mark.

CP is doing well. She's sleeping right now and it's pleasantly quiet in the house. The LW is clicking away at the laptop in the background. There are some new photos posted in the flickr badge on the right, so check them out.

I had a discussion about mortality with my brother this morning. It's a tough thing for most folks to grapple and digest. We talked about ~2060 or sooner and how we'd both be pushing up daisies eventually. I think that people have tried to deal with this issue for eons and that it led them to wonder - "is this all there is"? For the LW and I, staunch materialists (body only, this is it), the answer is yes. We're a cosmic oddity, we'll have our time, then we'll pass right back into the cosmic dust from which we came just like plants. This is our one shot in this long continuum of births and deaths on this rock. Our ancestors broke into dualism (body & spirit) as a way to explain away the evidence of what happens when you assume room temperature and answer the question of why, it opened the door to all kinds of speculation. Who's right? What makes my spirit any more than the spirit of a tree or another form of life? Ahhh there's the rub.... Who draws the lines here? Rhetoric, wars, and early indoctrination of children (Sunday school) have been used to answer this question in one way or another for years with no end in sight.

The LW and I heard this story on Morning Edition. Kohn discussed being given little information other than some interesting theories and lots of information about surgeries for carpal tunnel. To give him credit, he did note toward the end of the story, that he had been told that it could be referred pain. I wish that I could contact him and let him know that he's probably close to hitting the nail on the head there. Travell & Simons will show him what he's looking for. Maybe he'll find his way to someone who does trigger point work.

We switched back to NPR from the am radio side where we stood all that we could listen to of our blatherer in cheif dodging questions about his failed staying of the course with no compass. Nowhere in his speechifying was any time given to what happens when you back the lighter of two dark horses in an ugly fight, have the CIA train and arm them, then abandon them when you're done. Nothing about rampant fundamentalism among our "allies" either. Nothing about this whole mess still being blowback from the overthrow of Mossadegh! Thanks BP!

Nice.....just stay on Kaptain Karl's message Dubya.

I'm sore. 40+ miles on a dirt bike in my first desert race and the 3rd time I've been on a bike in 15 months or so. This pain isn't just your average, "ooohh, that's a sore spot" kind of pain either. As long as I don't really move much, everything's fine, but when flexion or extension are involved, things get ugly. It's referred to as DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. I pretty much blew through every one of the suggested preventative measures for DOMS.

The first lap of the race was pretty rough. The guys on my minute were faster than me in the washes. The race started out in a wash that had a good bit of gravel in it, which was good. It went through some nice sections of trail, then turned into what's sometimes referred to as "sugar sand". This was not so good. Throw in some whoops that were the size of VW bugs and it was a recipe for a good helmet fire, you know, where you have to dive off of the bike head first to put it out. I did this a few times. The first couple of times, I used a tree or a creosote bush to break my fall. After this, I was thoroughly beaten and then it got interesting. They sent us into a narrow wash section that was about 6-10 feet wide. It was full of rather large rocks. Anyway, I made it back to the finish and I've never been happier to see 20 miles on the odometer in my life.

I didn't really think that I'd go back out for a 2nd lap, but Eric and Joe wouldn't let me DNF. I thought about it for a bit, then decided to go back out and finish. We had about 30 minutes to rest between the two 20-mile laps- I ate a snack and juiced up with some Cytomax.

I learned some things from the first time around and was able to use them on the second lap. Don't get me wrong, I still got smoked here, but I changed the way I approached things a bit. The first time around, I was running the little XR in a gear that was too high most of the time. This didn't really help much because the throttle response was sluggish (putting it nicely). On this lap, I ran it in a lower gear and revved it out. This helped with throttle response and made it so that I rarely had to use the brakes. Just like riding the ATCs with no brakes that Jason and I learned on. (Yeah, and dad said that motorcycles were too dangerous) The sand wash and whoops were considerably easier this time around and I was able to negotiate most things....except a hill where two guys stalled in front of me. I wasn't racing for money, so I just sat and waited it out. It was ugly, but I made it up on my run at it and got the thumbs up from the guy behind me. I did have to take a break though. After that hill, I got back into my own little groove and had fun. It was a beautiful day, the dust wasn't too bad most of the time, and I proved to myself that I could do it. It's the longest I've ridden since the Colorado trip a couple of years ago.

I camped again on Saturday night because the thought of driving home from Wickenburg was more than I could safely accomplish. I loaded everything up and settled in around the campfire for a bit. It was nice to hear the different things that had happened to the others and to hear about their experiences. Everyone had a good time and there were no really serious injuries.

I got up this morning and headed for home just after sunrise. It was a beautiful drive out by Lake Pleasant. When I got here, the LW was nowhere to be found, so I walked back into CP's room. There she was, in her crib watching the mobile. She smiled when I asked, "where's the beautiful baby...?". It was the best! 2 days away from CP and the LW and I couldn't wait to see and hold them both.

My folks sent my camera cable out, so look for some new additions on the flickr spot soon. I'll try to get a link to the main cache of photos once I get them posted to the yahoo account as well. I have some videos too for all of you on high-speed. I'll put links in the blog.

Life is good.

Two good days in a row. Last night we went over to Oma's supposedly to have dinner and I got surprised by Oma' merely being the babysitter. We went out for dinner, then picked up Auntie Melissa and the cake, and headed back to Oma's for a round of Quiddler. It was good.

The sound of rain splattering on the concrete woke me up this morning, well after I'd gone back to sleep following CP's 3:45am vocal lesson anyway. I got the bike gassed, loaded, and headed out for Reddington Pass to give the XR a little bit of a test. IT WAS COLD! I dressed just like I would for a winter ride back east. It felt just like all of those times my bro and I would load up - headed for a weekend in N. Mo. farm country. It's supposed to get down to around 25-30 tonight. Nothing like the desert for wild temperature and weather swings. I got about 15 miles or so of trail riding in and finished up around 30 with fire road riding. It was fun not to have to keep up with anyone and I found a good training loop. Trail #4438. In one section it's nothing but bowling ball sized rocks laid next to each other....for about a 1/4 mile.

We're off to see Warren Miller's new movie Off The Grid tonight. They're handing out Telluride lift tickets with an entry and there's a guy that wants ours. He's going to get us in to see the movie in return for our lift tickets. It's a good deal for everyone and it'll be Dianne's first Warren Miller movie. My first time to see one on the big screen.

Aunt Brandy is going to babysit! Yayyyyyyyyy!

It was a good a day as any to turn 37 I reckon. CP was great all day and I got lots of calls from people that were happy to know that I'm alive and well. As a friend often says, "Every day I read the obituaries and I am always pleased to find that I'm not listed". Best of all, my wife let me do what I wanted to do today for a bit. I got some free time to tinker with the XR250 and it was a blast. I'm convinced that tinkering is profound therapy for whatever ails, but insurance doesn't cover it. Tonight she bought be dinner and ice cream. Life is good.

The LW got out of the house today and zipped over to Ike's Coffee and Tea to work for a while. It was so wonderful to see her get out of the house and I must admit that I really enjoyed having the house to myself, well, almost. CP kept me company and was just all smiles today. We soaked up some sun in the yard for a bit and before we knew it, the LW was back and sequestered on a conference call.

We're watching a bit of football on and off. It's going with the TV muted and is completely pleasant that way. I think that the last time I watched a snowy football game, Terry Bradshaw was playing as quarterback.

I should be able to post photos once my camera's cord arrives in the mail from Arkansas. It's always the tiny important things you leave behind.

CP fell asleep in my arms tonight and that's the best birthday present of all.

We made it! The trip out to Chicago is in the history books and we're enjoying a beautiful and quiet Saturday at home.

All went well on the trip and it was good to meet the LW's paternal side of the family. They were all cool. CP got to see some new people. Some folks that I'd met before and some new faces. The Betsy met us at the airport and it was relatively smooth sailing from there on out. We had a great thanksgiving and topped it off with smores by a bonfire. Some of the in-laws stayed at the Blackhawk's Trail Lodge just outside of Byron. It was a nice spot and the folks there are great. CP traveled well. She slept most of the time and was happy for the rest of it. Wherever we went, people told us what a good and beautiful baby she was. She loves everybody. We made it back to O'Hare with time to sit down and eat a nice lunch before ambling down to the gate for the 4 hour flight home.

We've got the flight travel thing ironed out, but I hope that we don't have to go anywhere anytime soon. We tried out something new this trip - the Magellan NeverLost system that they put in the Hertz cars. Man, that thing was really sweeeeet. It's really easy to use and is so much better than all of the hassle (and interspousal yelling) that goes along with being lost in a foreign town.

CP has learned recently to employ her new teeth to shock her mom while she breastfeeds. It gives the LW quite a start and makes me laugh. I don't think that the LW sees it to be quite as funny as I do though.

Off to see the Betsy tomorrow morning.

Today will be spent washing, cleaning, and packing. I hope that this time we can prepare a bit better to make it through the TSA (Take Shoes off Again) checkpoints. The last time, they completely unpacked our perfectly, and tightly, packed baby bag and we almost didn't get on the plane because it took time to repack.....while trying to get the carseat out of the way and our shoes back on.

As if that wasn't enough stress, I made us miss the flight. I printed the information for the trip that we had originally booked. It later changed and I printed the wrong information. There were 4 connecting flights about an hour apart on our way home, so it wasn't a big problem. We just shifted to the flights that were an hour later than the flight we were supposed to be on. Not fun though. We discussed getting stuck in DFW and figured that we'd just go visit Gramma if that happened.

Our car seat is an issue. We love our trusty Britax Boulevard, but getting it through the airport is a pain. It now has it's very own hand cart so we can roll it through the airports when it gets gate-checked. For this trip, we'll see about working on packing and consolidation. For those of you who have never had to gate check any baby stuff....welllllllllll you're in for a treat! I only hope that you don't get some of the same cranky childless gate agents that we've had to deal with. The airlines treat them poorly and sometimes you can really see it.

A beautiful Saturday outside.... spent indoors. I only got out to put laundry on the line and I had to rush and juggle the baby with the LW just to do that. The LW has been in the kitchen and I've been puttering when CP naps. Doing things while CP naps ends up not getting either of us very far. We finally got some sleep last night, but it was a rough go. It's hard to look forward to holidays when you're only semi-functional due to sleep deprivation.

O'Hare the day before and after Thanksgiving is looming in the not too distant future. It hangs there like dental work that you know you have to get.

There are a few new pics in the flickr box now.

Back from Arkansas and CP came home with one more tooth than she left home with. It was a good trip and we got to visit with people who had never seen CP. There are plenty of pictures of CP with her grandparents and great-grandparents. It was the first time that Jason got to see the baby and it was nice to get to visit with him.

As always, CP's sleep schedule was fouled up by all of the travel and has yet to really sort itself out. It's a really fun time, let me tell ya. It should be back in order by today some time. Next week, we do it all over again.

J and I broke away on Friday to try and get some dirt bike time. My buddy Pat from KC had loaned me one of his spare bikes and J brought it down with him. We sneaked away on Friday and headed out, only to be stymied (a second time) by a KTM that wouldn't perform. Last time it was the 400EXC that I bought (oil leak) and this time it was a loaner that had some seeeerious carburetion problems. We think that the main jet may have fallen out and landed in the float bowl. It was like riding a bike with a throttle that acted like an on-off switch twice every second. Not fun in a rock bed.

I'll post photos and more stuff later. Work is busy this week with our big cycling tour.

A toof! Right before we leave town to visit the folks in Arkansas. How fitting considering the prevalent stereotypes.

It was a good weekend around here. Dug in my Community Garden plot and then got to watch Long Way Round all day on Sunday. I saw it on the shelves at Casa Video, but thought that it'd be some half-arse docudrama about a couple of rich Brits running around the countryside. Well, it was kinda like that, but still good. Other than McGregor not being able to ride in sand or potholes worth a crap, they did really well and it was a good recording of the trip. It also showcased how KTM threw them under a bus at the last minute of their trip and how BMW saved the day. It's one of the few DVDs beside On Any Sunday and Dust To Glory that I'd consider owning. Now I know why my friend Pat really wants to get out on that XR650 and stir up some dust. My throttle hand started to twitch just sitting there watching the movie. It looks like a trip to Moab is somewhere in the future....I'd guess somewhere before my 40th birthday and just after I get a GPS and figure out how to use it. Maybe I can pry my brother out of the armpit of the midwest and get him on a bike out here.

The LW got to sleep in until almost 10am on Sunday. It was good to see her stumble into the living room with squirrelly hair and sleepy eyes. CP had been up since about 6:30 and she and I had a good morning, so it started everything off right. Aunt Brandy visited in the afternoon and then the LW went to see Maya Angelou with Aunty Lisa.

Haggard...you silly fundie republican. You may remember this guy from the "Root Of All Evil" series that Richard Dawkins did. It's funny to see that some of the folks who rail the hardest against gay marriage and promote "family values" turn out to be rotten to the core. All we need now is a pic of W huggin' ol' Teddy Boy.

From Wikipedia:

Haggard is a firm supporter of President George W. Bush, and is often credited with rallying evangelicals behind Bush during the 2004 election.^[7] Author Jeff Sharlet reports that Haggard "talks to... Bush or his advisers every Monday" and opines that "no pastor in America holds more sway over the political direction of evangelicalism."^[8]

In a June 2005 Wall Street Journal article, "Ted Haggard, the head of the 30-million strong National Association of Evangelicals, jokes that the only disagreement between himself and the leader of the Western world is automotive: Mr. Bush drives a Ford pickup, whereas he prefers a Chevy."

It's a shame that you can't share a cell one day with Dr. Dino the dummy. Tip: Pharyngula

Halloween was fun for us and CP got to see some of the little ghosts and goblins when the LW handed candy to them. We had more than last year, which wasn't saying much, but it's a start. Hopefully more lights next year will do the trick. It helps that there are a few others who have kids on our little dead-end street. Next year will bring more decorations and an actual costume for CP. We expect a good time.

Soon we'll be off to Arkansas for a visit with my side of the family. It should prove to be interesting as there will be about 20 or so people in my parents' house at one time....and not all of them are really social animals. Having about 6 kids running around should make it fun though. We won't make it back there for xmas, so this will be our visit with everyone. Xmas in Mexico this year with some friends. Kino Bay and a beach baby xmas.

Watching and reading more news and views and I can't help but think sometimes that this country is headed down the crapper. The pendelum is still swinging. Our once good AZ senator, has all but sold out his last ounce of decency and pork-busting. Today a law was passed that allows indefinite detention without charge. Someone questions a candidate who is running on the family values platform about whether or not he spit on his ex-wife and he gets jumped. Umm, yeah....spitting on an ex-wife. Those are family values. Our fake-texan-in-chief seems to be moneying up to buy a 99,000 acre property in Paraguay. Do you think that mineral and water rights come with that? That's not just scenery. Maybe he'll flee there after he gets impeached and convicted of war crimes. I think there are probably some people left in that part of the world that speak German. They weren't part of a tour group either......

I called the AMTA today to renew my membership and was told that my license basically wasn't good enough to renew/upgrade my membership. I'd have to go and find my diploma and send in a copy. WTH? I had to do that to get my membership! The lady on the phone at the AMTA said that they had no record of my documents there. Nice. It seems that they didn't like the grandfathering that was done when the AZ licensure program was set up, so they won't recognize your license if it was issued before 12/31/05. I called the AZ massage state board office and the lady on the phone basically could have cared less. It wasn't a problem for her, so it wasn't a problem. She said that my problem was with the AMTA since they didn't consider the license valid. Having a license that the state issues not be recognized by one of the biggest massage therapy organizations in the country is not a problem? Hullloooooooo!! That's like someone earning a license to practice medicine in AZ, but being laughed out of the AMA. Probably wouldn't happen. I promptly wrote an email to the AMTA president and the president of the local chapter. The local chapter president was very interested to find this out and I have not heard back from the national folks. It looks like I'll be getting my membership from the ABMP. The AMTA membership decision folks can sod off, even if they do have a fancy convention every year. Oh wait, I helped pay for that for the past two years......

I called the ABMP (they support NPR) and they said that after I applied, they would check with the AZ license folks to make sure that my license was in good standing. They also said that there was no problem with my licensure in Arizona, no matter what the date. It's a state license and they accept it as such. I wouldn't be so miffed about this if I hadn't put all of that time into getting a Tucson license. Practical test, long written test, and haggling with city hall. That was back when you had to have 1000 hours of school, a medical checkup, and a TB test. Now, since AZ went statewide, all you have to have is 500 hours from some national chain community college in a strip mall and take a computer test. That, in my mind, officially puts massage therapists back down in between the hookers and hot dog vendors as far as the public's view of us is concerned. Before this, the shady folks had to set up shop on the outskirts of town.

A busy day today. Left the house after 10am and didn't get home until about 7pm or so. My hands are completely cooked, but this week will pay the AMTA for my first year of professional dues. Yayyyyy....well, kinda. It gives me insurance and a link on the massage finder portion of their website....and a few more requirements for continuing education.

The LW had a meeting today, so she dropped CP off at Oma Darlene's place. It was our first time giving her up where we were actually more than 20 feet away from her. I guess she did pretty well since she loves her Oma, but was quite perturbed when she realized that the rescue-boobies were out of range.

The Halloween decorations are out and there's nothing cooler than your first ever set of yard skulls and reflective bats. We've had a good time putting up all of the bats and the other stuff. It's the first time that we've ever done it and the LW especially liked it....a second chance at being a kid it seems. We went to the zoo last night for their little Halloween shindig for the kids. We didn't dress CP up since it probably would have made for a rough evening and it's just as well since she has no idea what's going on anyway. Next year though....look out! The Deatherages were there with the little one(s). It seemed as though we all ran off and left something at the house. A hat, a wallet, an extra umbrella.... It was raining when we left the house and I was worried what we were getting ourselves into, but it stopped when we got out of the car and turned out to be a really fun time. There were so many cute little ones out and about. Good stuff. Blogger won't upload the photos, so check out the flickr badge on the right.