Busy, Busy, Busy

Well as usual my life continues to be busy. This is the first weekend in a long time that I haven't had to worry about homework. So, this post is going to be pretty lengthy as I try to catch you up (I hope I don't forget anything). First, let me tell you a little about the site. In case you haven't noticed, I've made a few subtle changes. I updated the family photo so that the site could have a holiday feel (don't get excited, that was last years photo). I've also included a site counter at the very bottom of the page, newsflash at the top of the page, a link to sign our guestbook (yes, please sign it when you get a chance), a link detailing information about "The Secret", and I've also included my favorite poem; Invictus. You should also start to see google ads somewhere on the site beginning any day now. Jim decided to add his own blog so if you want to read what's going on in his head, or read about his seemingly endless hockey stories you can do so at http://www.atomicmapleleaf.blogspot.com/. Or, you can access his site by utilizing my LibertyLinks at the right. While I was in the process of making all of these changes, I managed to lose my LibertyTracks map, which had to be cleared and reset in order to get the map back on the site. Anyway, I've gotten kind of bored with the actual page so I've been researching some other blog templates to give the site a "face lift". I'm hoping to have the entire site revamped after the first of the year...I can't wait to see the final product!

So like I said, this is the first weekend in a while that I'm not stressing out about homework. Last Monday I took my final so I'm now officially on my winter break. Classes will begin again on January 22 and I've already registered for the next semester. Apparently I'm closer to completing my degree then I thought...I just have English and Math left. I think if I bust my butt then I should be able to graduate in May 2009. After I graduate I have no idea what I plan on doing. I'm pretty positive this will be the end of accounting but I'm still really interested in reproductive research. However, I also know I can't pursue reproductive research here in Los Alamos. Which brings me to my next topic...

It's no secret that Jim and I hope to leave Los Alamos once Jimmy turns 18. We haven't officially decided where we would like to move to but we've been talking about either North Carolina or moving to Canada. For those of you that don't know, Jim is originally from Toronto and he would love to move back to Canada. Earlier this year we spent time in Toronto but I wasn't particularly impressed, then one of us mentioned Calgary. I was intrigued and quickly became interested in Calgary after doing numerous internet searches. I also immediately felt a sense of urgency to go to Calgary to check it out for myself. So, Jim and I are in the process of booking a trip to the Calgary/Banff area to take a look around. The trip is scheduled for the first weekend in March and I am beyond excited. We'll be staying in Banff but also spending time in Calgary and I think I'm more excited about Banff then anything else. Banff just seems like such a beautiful mountain town that I know I'm going to enjoy.

In other news I've been trying to get ready for Christmas. I started to get into the holiday spirit once the weather turned cold and the snow rolled in. Since then, I've been on a roll and I've gotten about half of my shopping done. I hope to finish my shopping by the end of next week. Today I wrapped what gifts I do have and I hope to bake my holiday cookies tomorrow. I still have my Christmas cards though...I haven't even started but I suspect they will not take me long.

Neither Jim or I really have any plans for Christmas day. In fact, Christmas will just consist of Jim, my Mom, and myself. This is the first year in memory that I really haven't had any plans. I normally don't even work during Christmas, but since we're not doing anything I decided to work. Honestly, I'm kind of bummed...what a boring Christmas...no traveling, no family, no nothing..ugh.

After Christmas Jim and I will be working hard on Jimmy's bedroom. We decided to switch his bedroom and with the office, which will give him a bigger room. But before we move him, we decided to do some mild remodeling...nothing major, just some paint, a ceiling fan, new blinds and a new bed. I really think it will look nice once we are done. I'll be sure to take before and after photos for your viewing pleasure.

I have a few other topics that I thought I would update everyone on but I think I'll do it during the week. This way I don't bore you with a never ending post.

And The Winning Name Is...

Well after much debate Jim and I finally decided on a name for our new little puppy. We decided on Tundra for the call name and the AKC registered name will be El Norte Tundra del Jemez...providing my translation is correct. I'll have a friend at work check the translation for me but in English it would be, The Northern Tundra of the Jemez. I can't believe how excited we are for this puppy and he's not even born yet.

Anyway, it's Saturday night and so far Jim and I have had a wonderful weekend (we don't have Jimmy this weekend so its been really quiet). We got up early and went to Albuquerque to try and find a new bed for Jimmy. We found a great bed and I hope that Jimmy really likes it. We also went to Lowe's and I picked out some paint for his bedroom. I'm pretty sure I grabbed five different choices and slowly I'll eliminate a few of them and I might be daring enough to allow Jimmy to have the final choice. I'll be done with school December 10th and Jim and I will be spending the next several weekends getting everything cleaned up. I would like to start painting shortly after Christmas and his bed should be delivered either the second or third week of January.

I'll be going into work tomorrow morning and I hope to spend the rest of the day baking some cookies. Jim will spend most of tomorrow working on some computers (I think he has four to do). So that's pretty our weekend....

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

So I thought I would take a few minutes to give everyone a few updates. I guess I'll begin by telling everyone that I had surgery yesterday morning to try and find the source of my pain. A few months ago I met a wonderful OBGYN who thought my pain could be caused by scar tissue that formed after my appendix was removed. I decided to allow her to go inside to take a peak and remove whatever she finds. I went into this surgery anticipating the removal of this scar tissue, but what they found kind of shocked me. My OBGYN didn't find any scar tissue from my appendix, but she did find endometriosis. I was shocked because on two other occasions I've been check for endometriosis (including the day I had my appendix removed) and nothing was found. So now I'm kind of curious to know how long it has been there. I don't have any other information as to what else could have been found, but I should know more when I return to her office for my follow-up. What an odd turn of events....

In other news, Jim and I found out that the dog is pregnant. No, not our dog, but the dog that's carrying our puppy. We're still very excited and the litter should be born the third week of January, which means we hope to bring home our puppy around March 10th. And we still haven't decided on a name yet. I went looking the other day and I came across a few that I sent Jim; Thor, Conan, Zeus, and Amarok....at least we still have several weeks to decide.

We also recently decided to move Jimmy's bedroom. Jim has been wanting to switch the office and Jimmy's bedroom for quiet some time now and it looks like we'll be doing everything in a few weeks when I finish this semester. I have about a month between semesters and I really think it will be perfect timing to patch some holes, paint his new bedroom, install a few ceiling fans and clean everything out. It's not exactly a project I'm looking forward to but in the end it should be nice. I'll be sure to take pictures throughout the project, so keep an eye out for updates within the coming weeks.

I went through the camera today so I think I'll end this post by sharing some recent photos with everyone:

I'll start with a few pictures of the animals, of course I don't have a good one of Corki...

Here are some pictures that my mom took on Thanksgiving.

Mystery Diagnosis

Okay, I know it's been a while since I updated all of you on the pain that I've been getting on my right side. I've been taking birth control pills now for 5 weeks and while I haven't had any major "flare ups" I've still been getting some pain. Luckily nothing has been so intense that I've had to take pain meds, but the pain is waking me up. I'm now back to getting the pain daily at around 4am and it goes away shortly after I've gotten out of bed in the morning. I'm not scheduled to go back to see Dr. Thompson until January but he did suggest that I see an OBGYN (mainly because I haven't had a pap smear in several years) but also so we could get another opinion.

Yesterday I met with an OBGYN from Santa Fe who seems to think the pain is a result of my appendix being removed. When I had my appendix removed, I was told it was covered in scar tissue. I went a year and a half with no pain and now I'm here with the pain again. So what could have happened during this year and a half to cause this pain to return. Well, it would appear that it takes about one to two years for the body to fully heal and form scar tissue around the wound. Unfortunately, to much scar tissue can form and it will begin to contract...causing pain. Scar tissue does not appear on an ultrasound and the only way to find it is to go in and look for it.

So, I've elected to have another laparoscopic surgery to pull the scar tissue out and hope it doesn't appear yet again. At this point I don't have anything scheduled, but I plan on calling the office tomorrow to see when I can be fit in. All I know is it will be on a Tuesday, since she does all of her surgeries on Tuesdays. Since it's laparoscopic it's a quick surgery with a quick recovery. In fact I only plan on taking that Tuesday and Wednesday off from work.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting relief from this annoying pain and I'll update all of you when I find out more info.

Happy Halloween!

So there comes a time in ones life where we must embarrass ourselves. Well, today was one of those days for me. I went to work this morning dressed in my normal work attire...with no plans to dress up for the festive occasion. I hadn't been at work for very long when everyone began asking me where my halloween costume was...I didn't have one. As luck would have it our loan department decided to have everyone dress up as pumpkins for a pumpkin patch theme and they had an extra costume (one employee was out today for a family emergency). And yes, they decided to have me join them in their pumpkin patch.

I felt very naked and "open" today as I walked around in my little pumpkin costume. Oh, I had to go commando for this costume, which is probably why I felt naked. You see, I stood in the mirror after putting this costume on and I realized you could see through it...and right at my black thongs I was wearing today. So, they had to come off....

Anyhow, here are two pictures that were taken today. The first picture was a group shot taken today in the loan department. The second picture is one that Jim took right after I got home...enjoy, and yes please laugh at me if you please.

Luckily, I'm now sitting here in comfy cloths just handing out candy to all of the kids that come by. No more costume..

Fall Has Arrived

I was standing outside in the driveway after I got home from work tonight talking to my mother when I was suddenly struck by the fact that the leaves are really changing colors now. The temperature has begun to change here and there are now leaves resting on our driveway. When mother left I decided to grab my camera and take a few pictures of the tree in our front yard that is in full fall colors...gorgeous actually. Anyway, I thought I would share these photos with all of you.

Puppy Update

Well, I thought I would give you a quick update on our ongoing puppy fever. It's official, we decided to go ahead and get a puppy. I found what appears to be a wonderful breeder in Ravensdale WA. I came across this breeder through terrificpets.com which is pretty much classified ads for dogs. I was struck by a simple picture that was advertising their own website. The malamute in that picture looked just like Nanook, but darker, so I had to investigate. There was something about their site that really struck me...I can't pinpoint it, I just knew these were wonderful people.

While searching their site I was able to find the dog that was pictured on terrificpets.com...his name was Champ Blaze and he was beautiful. So, I sent them an email and told them we were interested in a male puppy possibly from Champ Blaze. I also told them we weren't in any hurry and would prefer to wait until after the new year. Oh, I also included two of my favorite pictures of Nanook. Anyway, to my surprise they responded to me right away (I'm still waiting for a response from the breeder in Colorado that I came across) and I was told that Champ Blaze was set to breed with Staray any day now. Well actually Staray was suppose to be pregnant now, but I was told the timing has been off and they're hoping to have her pregnant shortly. I could hardly contain myself....

So, it looks like we found our match and I'll be sending them my deposit shortly and waiting patiently for word that Staray is pregnant. Since they reside in Washington they did tell me I could have the puppy flown to us, or we could just drive up there. Jim really wants to make the drive but I'm a little reluctant. It will probably still be winter when the puppy is ready to come home and I'm a little concerned about the weather. For some reason I'm thinking that Washington gets hit pretty hard with snow and I'm afraid of road closures. However, it seems kind of weird to have a puppy shipped to you...although we're thinking we should be able to pick him up in Albuquerque.

So, the next subject is what to name the new little guy. Both Jim and I are stuck on Odin..which is a norse god meaning god of war. However, I wouldn't mind at least considering other names. So once again I'm asking all of you to help us out, if you come up with a great name we'd love to hear it. I do want to find something that has to do with Alaska or northern gods. Oh, if anyone is wondering Nanook comes from the inuit mythology meaning master of bears.

If you would like to check out the site for Wokini Alaskan Malamutes their address is as follows:

http://www.wokini-alaskan-malamutes.com/index.html