Team Struemph

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE!

2009-09-30T10:28:00.003-04:00

Today is Kari's birthday so be sure to send her some Happy Birthday cheer.

BIG FALL PLANS!!

2009-09-10T13:13:00.003-04:00

So after my last post I was swiftly chastised by my brother and sister-in-law about posting that I had no big plans for the fall. They said that if their visit didn't constitute big plans than they'd just head for the beach. :) To that I said to them "show me the tickets!!" So they booked last weekend and are officially coming to visit DC for the 10 year annivesary in October!

I'm very excited but nervous because literally 30 minutes after she booked her ticket the guest bathroom started leaking and there is now a hole in the ceiling...oops!! So hopefully that'll be fixed by the time they arrive but I told them their room would likely still be pick with basketweave wallpaper.

Jason and Jolene are such a huge part of my life and I am so excited to help them celebrate their 10 year anniversary. They've been through a lot in the last 2 years and even during that time always have taken time to support me and everything in my life. Particularly allowing me to take over their home the week before my wedding so I'm happy to return the favor and give them a place to hopefully relax and enjoy a stress free vacation weekend!

So now we have big plans and I'm really excited!

Keeping up with the Struemphs :)

2009-08-31T14:44:00.010-04:00

Well a month later and I'm posting again! Doing such a great job of keeping you up to date on our lives right? :) I blame most of it on being very very busy but then again I do find time to eat and sleep (most days) so I should be able to find time to blog right!

Micheal and I are slowly settling into being residents of Maryland and the great Washington DC area. It still is pretty insane to me to drive past things like the Washington Monument, or the Lincoln Memorial on a regular basis - sometimes it feels like I've stepped out of my life and right into the scene of the next big blockbuster!

Micheal has been taking intensive French training for the past three weeks and I am busy working at my externship and my job. These things plus renovating our house keeps us pretty busy but we're still trying to find time to have some fun! Laura came up and visited this weekend and it was great to entertain our first house guest. :) AND put her to work helping me prime the shelves in my office - Thanks Laura!! We don't have any major plans coming up for the fall except to keep doing what we're doing.

Check out our home renovation blog at http://foreclosure2fabulous.blogspot.com - in the near future I might combine the two but right now am keeping them separate. We'll see how long that lasts. :) Leave me a note to tell me how you're doing!

We're In!!

2009-08-01T02:13:00.002-04:00

Greetings all! I'm writing this blog from our new home in Maryland. How crazy is that? We're home owners AND we live in Maryland? The home buying process was difficult to say the least but we're through it and working hard on making this house our home.

So far we've torn down some (but not all) of the wall paper, primed and are going to do some painting this weekend. Our new appliances are here and we are working on getting them in this weekend as well. We've done a lot of cleaning, a lot of throwing away, and a lot of cursing of the previous owners...seriously, what were they thinking?!?

We've been happily married for 5 weeks now and despite the house craziness they have been 5 wonderful weeks. Our wedding was amazing, truly one of the happiest days of my life. I'll post pics soon of our progress.

Signing off,
K.S.

Construction Day 2

2009-07-11T10:09:00.003-04:00

Wow it's been a while since I updated! And why is that? Because our lives have been CRAZY!!! We had an amazing wedding, the honeymoon was superb - we got back on June 28th and since then...things have been up and down, side to side, and pretty much topsy turvy.

To make a REALLY long story REALLY short - we haven't closed on our house yet but we're so close it's painful. We are very fortunate that the house is vacant and they listing agent gave us person to start working on it this weekend since we're closing first thing next week. We've been working on it for a few days and MAN is it overwhelming.

There is SO much to do, but it's going to be an amazing house...just wait and see. :)

Comprehensive Exams - Done

2009-06-08T00:47:00.001-04:00

Questions sent - I'm done. Will update with things I learned after I get some sleep. I had some funny ones...but my brain is so dead I can't remember them. :P

Comprehensive Exams Day 6

2009-06-07T02:13:00.002-04:00

The final day of questions. Today started off on a good note, the sun was out, it was the last day of questions and Laura and were ready to rock it! We saved the ethics question for last because it was the easiest and MAN am I glad we did. I don't have a lot of brain power left to integrate or think creatively, fortunately this did not require much of that at all.

I actually finished the question for the day at about 5:00. I started to get pretty stressed when I returned to the question I did yesterday because I still don't feel very confident about my answer. I will be working on it tomorrow.

Things I learned today:

I work much better when it's sunny than when it's rainy - some people say they prefer to work on ugly days because you don't feel like you're missing anything. I totally disagree, I need something to look forward to when I'm done!

That at a locally owned sandwich shop it takes 20 minutes to toast a bagel.

That doctors are not prohibited from engaging in sexual relationships with their former patients or with other individuals close to their patients. It is up to their discretion.

Music therapists have to be fluent in guitar, piano, voice, music reading, and a few other things...

Dollar store nerf guns can provide endless entertainment for two brain-dead graduate students.

...okay, well it's 2:30 and that was my cutoff time for myself. I've revised one paper I edited last night, hand edited two more which leaves me one more to hand edit. Revisions. Then child paper...Oy...

One more day then I'm free!

Comprehensive Exams Day 5 - A tough one

2009-06-06T00:23:00.002-04:00

Today was probably my worst and best day all in one. For writing and the experience it was the worst day - I really struggled with how to write the answer to this question, it was poorly worded and even more vague than the other questions. I'm thinking now that I should have done the other option. I have 10.5 pages written but they are not good pages so there will be a LOT of editing.

It was my best day because Micheal came to see me! It was only for a quick minute since I can't really take long breaks. We ran and got dinner and Kuba Kuba (aren't you jealous mom??) and then I headed back to the grind.

Tomorrow is the last day of questions and I will be addressing the ethics question. Then Sunday is the day of editing and reviewing. And thinking to myself.....what in the world was I thinking when I wrote that?!? (Hopefully not...)

Things I learned today:

The block radius around 808 W. Franklin is totally against me - I needed a bottle of Dr P and the student center was closed, the vending machine was sold out and Sahara was closed. I had to walk to the stinkin' book store - ugh.

I like everything in Cheez-it party mix...except Cheez-its.

When you have a very limited amount of time writing about something you don't know as much about is a LOT easier than writing about something you know a lot about.

The listing agent for our house is not answering her phone when our realtor calls...but she does answer her phone when a "prospective buyer" calls... (I wonder how I know that...)

That as the week progresses the "silliness" that was associated with sleep deprivation is turning to outrage at the process.

That several of the things that I left at home because I thought there would be no way in the world I would need them...would have been helpful.

Alright, 12:30 and I'm signing off to edit (hopefully not totally rewrite) the paper I wrote today. Two more days.....

Comprehensive Exams Day 4 - Hump day!

2009-06-05T01:00:00.002-04:00

Well, it's official I'm over half way done with this adventure. I'm tired, sore, brain-dead and my stomach hurts. BUT I finished my question today at 8pm which was awesome so then I did the references for all of my questions and now am going to sit down and review one and try to go to bed by 1:30!!

I'm really tired so my things may not be as interesting today...but I'll try.

Things I learned today:

KU lounge pants and a KU championship shirt can make anyone happy, even people who don't love KU (what is wrong with these people??)

If you put gross smelling/tasting vitamins in with Pepcid Complete tablets it makes your Pepcid Complete tablets taste like gross smelly vitamins...not a good thing we're your stomach hurts.

My mom didn't know that peaches had fuzz and nectarines did not until today - what rock has she been living under?

I really, really, REALLY, hate pasta salad.

Bottled Dr Pepper works much better for what I'm doing right now than canned Dr Pepper.

If you cite a measure cited within another study you have to put in both citations. Which is BS.

When you put 5 sleep-deprived grad students in a room for their daily 8:30 ice cream social and the conversation starts towards to gutter...it goes down hill fast and leads to the squeaky laugh.

If you keep eating you don't have to go back to work.

Whew, that took most of my energy and they aren't even that cool. I'm thinking it's just going to get worse from here...keep the good thoughts coming this way, I'm in the home stretch!

Comprehensive Exams Day 3

2009-06-04T00:20:00.002-04:00

I didn't leave anything at 808!!! Woo hoo!! 8 minute commutes are awesome. Today went pretty well, I actually finished my question for the day around 8:30 so will be working on finishing up the questions from the last two days tonight. We got 3 more RSVPs for the wedding today so we're officially up to 125 people! (WOW!) I didn't think I knew that many people! Oh wait...I don't know them all...

So, I know this is what you've been waiting for - what I learned today:

It is not a good idea to walk down steep circular metal steps in socks when you're half asleep, you might kill yourself (or end up with a bruise.)

Laura's apartment doesn't like me, I have injured myself by running into several pieces of furniture.

Ice cream socials in the Lemur Lounge are awesome.

That I have NO idea how people drink 64 ounces of liquid a day on a regular basis. I've been drinking so much more than I normally do and I have to pee ALL.THE.TIME! Seriously...back to 1 soda and 1 bottle of water a day for me after this, I need that time to be productive!

The more tired I get the less control I have over my desire to sing out loud when a good song comes on the radio (in my headphones).

One hypothesized causal mechanism for exposure and response prevention is habituation.

It takes at least three days of minimal sleep, high stress, and low enjoyment for me to not be worried about dog slobber.

I am not a goat.

That's all I've got tonight, now to shower and then to work!

Comprehensive Exams Day 2

2009-06-03T02:10:00.003-04:00

2:10 am and I'm done for the night! 20 minutes earlier than light night woo hoo! I have 10.25 pages so I need to find a way to cut out about 4 sentences to make it in under the 10 page limit but that shouldn't be too tough. This morning was rough and I got pretty discouraged but after taking a step back (and a lot of venting) I was able to move past it and get some good work done.

Things I learned today:

If I put the printer on fast draft mode it spits paper out too fast and it gets all jumbled up, unless I put my shoe in front of the paper tray to block it. Then it prints and piles nicely. :)

I HATE window unit air conditioners. If it's on I'm cold if it's off I'm hot - sheesh. I figured out today that the combination of shorts, energy saver, auto temp and 70 degrees seems to be about right...

If you're going to sit at a desk for 14 hours don't wear a shirt with an itchy tag (I know, lots of clothes problems right?) To cure this spill tortellini on yourself at lunch and turn your shirt inside out, no tag and no stain, much better.

I need to hide my good toilet paper better, I think other people are using it.

When 8 grad students being forced to take a ridiculous week long sit down to lunch together they get feisty.

The "truth" campaign saved the US 1.9 billion dollars in potential health care costs associated with nicotine use through prevention.

My brain must think that the 8 minute drive to Laura's house just isn't long enough because both nights I've left something salient to my continued work (last night jump drive, tonight laptop cord) at 808 W. Franklin. Turned an 8 min commute into a 24 minute commute...is it sad that I still think that's exciting??

Alright...off to bed, thanks for the continued support and positive thoughts. I'm feelin' them! Two days down...five to go. (aw crap)

Comprehensive Exams, Day 1

2009-06-02T01:13:00.002-04:00

Well, it's 1:15 am and I'm sitting down to make final edits for the day. Don't get all worried about me, I generally work this late during the year anyway so it's no big deal - but the fact that I've been staring at my computer since 9am this morning makes it a bit worse.

Things I learned today:

If you're going to have to sit in a chair for 14-16 hours straight don't wear pants that have a tie string, wear stretchy pants. (Mental note for tomorrow).

My sister is awesome, I had a granola bar for breakfast, trail mix and Twizzlers as snacks all day, two mini bottles of Dr Pepper and beef jerky (I know...it sounds gross when I write it all out but remember it was spread out over a LONG LONG day!)

A card with a little mouse trying to lift a big barbell is really funny after 7 hours of writing.

I can't be signed out of my email even though I should be, if I am I worry about it so it's not worth having it closed. I know, I'm addicted.

Exposure and response prevention is the most effective treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

........and we will need a new A/C unit, new hot water heater, and new appliances if we get the house on 1102 Oakview.

Alright, back to editing. Stay tuned for further updates......

Comprehensive Exams Eve...

2009-05-31T22:11:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow at 9am my week of doctoral hazing officially commences. I will receive 12 questions (two questions per six topic areas) and I have to answer 6 questions with a 10 page paper per question. I have 7 days to complete the papers, so basically 1 ten page paper per day with 1 day to edit.

So that means I won't be available via email, phone, ESP or singing telegram. I will take all of the positive thoughts and prayers I can get - I am hopeful that everything will turn out fine but it's a long week...a long week.

I'll try to post an update sometime to let you know that I'm surviving.

Wish me luck!!

Out with the Old in with the New

2009-05-30T13:35:00.007-04:00

The house we placed a contract on fell through after the inspection discovered significant structural problems, sending us back to the drawing board. Somewhat heartbreaking considering the obstacles we had hurdled to get to that point.

Last weekend we viewed several houses, and the last house on the list caught our attention. Tucked away at the end of a dead-end street, we found a proverbial diamond-in-the-rough. The location is amazing - its right off of I-495, so its a quick commute to work, and it borders a nature reserve. Literally a biking/hiking trail starts where the street ends. Its a split-level home with 5br, 2.5 baths, hardwood floors and art deco design cues - it looks like nothing has been done since the 1970s. We have already started our immediate renovation plans - alot of cleaning, opening up the floorplan, "green" paints and new appliances.

The house has an old security system (circa 1970s) with an extensive master switch panel in the foyer, a metal box on the outside easement with a siren and flashing light, a panic switch in the master bedroom and a few other mysterious features. It also has an old intercomm system (Kari wants to see if we can get it to work). The inspection is scheduled for Monday, so keep your fingers crossed everything goes well.

- Micheal

We are under contract people!!

2009-05-14T18:16:00.003-04:00

Well after the last update I really felt like there was no way we were ever going to find a place that we could call home. Then last weekend (man it seems forever ago...) we found a house (that we ALMOST didn't go see!) that we fell in love with, made an offer on Monday, got our counter on Tuesday morning and by Wednesday had a ratified contract!! Things are going SO fast, the inspection is on Saturday, appraisal should be done within two weeks and our closing date is June 12th. What's that you say? We're getting married on June 21st?? Well.....as they say, go big or go home.

(and I think we're just a tad crazy...)

More to come....

House Hunting Day 4

2009-05-09T08:01:00.002-04:00

So my personal goal of updating at least every week obviously didn't happen (I didn't post that as a goal though, because I didn't want to get your hopes up!) This last month has been INSANE for me with end of semester craziness, wedding planning, moving planning, and so on. I have officially taken my last class in graduate school and now all that's left is taking prelims, practicum, writing my dissertation and internship...piece of cake right?

So to add to our already full plate we decided that we were tired of paying rent and thought we'd try out the house-buying market - HOLY COW this is stressful! Today we're going on house hunting trip #4 and hoping that it's a TAD more successful than other trips, and honestly it wouldn't take much for it to count as being more successful...just seeing more than 1 house without mold would be an improvement!

So wish us luck and think good house-buying thoughts!!

Chicago - Day 1

2009-04-03T01:36:00.002-04:00

Hey all! We arrived in Chicago this morning after a moderately turbulent flight around 11:30. Took a cab/van with a kinda creepy driver (I don't like cabs, I always think about the movie the Bone Collector) to our AWESOME hotel, the Fairmont in Downtown Chicago. This was my first priceline attempt and I was NOT disappointed! For $75/night we have a huge room with a 42" flat panel TV, chaise, desk, dressing area and fluffy bathrobes. I'll definitely post pics, it's awesome!

We went to lunch at a place called the Elephant Diner and it was very tasty - and we were both starving so it could have tasted like shoe leather and we would have eaten it but fortunately it was great! Then we went and checked out the "flagship" Macy's store and it was HUGE!! Four floors and we constantly got lost, good thing they have lotsa people working! And the best news...we may have found Micheal's suit for the wedding! It's by BCBG so he's going to be super fashionable. After Macy's we checked out the Nordstrom Rack, not nearly as good as DC's.

The one drawback to this trip is I still have a ton of schoolwork to do so we have to balance the fun with the work. So we came back for me to work on my Minority Mental Health paper and relaxed a bit in the hotel room. Then we went to one of my fav restaurants, BIG BOWL! This place is awesome, if you ever get the chance to try one, DO IT! Unfortunately for most they only have restaurants in Chicago, Minnesota and one in Virginia. So you're gonna have to come see me and I'll take you there any day! It was raining so we took a cab there but decided to walk back to work off the massive dinner I ate. So we walked back in a slight drizzle and checked out the sights of the Chicago night skyline. Big cities are still a new experience for me, the highrises are amazing and daunting at the same time.

Came back to do some more work and now I'm going to go to bed. Micheal informed me yesterday that I had a surprise noon appointment tomorrow while he is at the conference. I can't wait to find out what it is!! Will post again tomorrow.

The busy life!

2009-03-28T18:48:00.002-04:00

Wow the weeks are flying by! Only 85 days until the wedding, which means 65 days until Prelims, 30 days until classes are done and 5 days until we leave for our mini Chicago vacation!

I've been trying not to panic on a daily basis, there is SO much to get done and it seems like not nearly enough time to do it. I know that it will all get done and turn out well sometimes it's just hard to tell yourself that from behind the stacks of books and papers.

Micheal is an amazing support, as I type this (instead of working on my Minority Mental Health paper) he is preparing to make us a delicious dinner! Easy Shrimp Scampi & Spinach - I'm excited!

I am very lucky.

I'll update during any free moments I have over the next few months!

The Beach was a BUST!

2009-03-08T23:19:00.008-04:00

So...we went to this little "beach" town called Colonial Beach. I vaguely remember someone telling me that it was lame but I just wrote it off as someone who was spoiled by having unfettered access to beaches and oceans. To this girl from Kansas any beach/ocean view is exciting RIGHT?!?

...maybe not...

So I'm pretty sure the theme song to Deliverance was playing throughout our time at Colonial Beach!

We went to the "beach"...

It was a little more rock than it was beach...but I found some cool sea glass!

There were also a ton of these birds

Anyone know what they are?? Black seagulls? They were everywhere...THE BIRDS THE BIRDS!! We high-tailed it outta there because if the crazy beach people didn't catch us on their golf carts...

...the birds were gonna get us!

So we opted out of our beach experience and headed over to Potomac Mills for a bit of shopping! It wasn't a total bust, we did see the ocean and have a fun memory to blog about!

Preview of blog posts to come...7 inches of snow and 80 degree weather within 1 week! It's been a crazy week in Virginia!

High of 77 - we're going to the beach!

2009-03-07T10:37:00.002-05:00

With the weekend off, spring break next week so my work load is minimal, and a beautiful day out there...

We're going on an adventure! Colonial Beach here we come!

Tune in later for details and pics. :)

A Very Long Week!

2009-02-22T15:52:00.002-05:00

Wow has this been a long week, and now it's Sunday and the weekend is almost over and we're going to have to start all over again. Bah. The REALLY annoying thing is that this week is almost going to be an exact replay of last week, thus promising to be equally as long. Such the optimist right?

Grad school has turned me into a very schedule oriented person, I'm actually using a paper planner successfully for the first time in my LIFE! Usually I waste about 10 bucks a year buying one and only use it for a week. Well I'm going on a month and counting and am doing great! (And have only lost it twice...) What made last week particularly irksome was I had to rearrange my schedule and it totally threw off my days. We're doing grad student interviews for potential students for next year and they are on Friday (the day I am not typically in Richmond.) So I moved my Friday assessment to Thursday morning (totally messed me up) then drove to Richmond for my Thurs night class, went to the applicant party after class got out at 8, stayed with Laura and then got up and started early on Friday collecting letters of rec for my externship interviews and interviewing applicants! Those poor applicants...I remember that time all too well and it's SO stressful. I don't look forward to doing it all over again for intership next year...Ugh...

So the other exciting thing that happened last weekend and permeated the week - Micheal broke his big toe! It's really gross looking - all black and blue and I can tell it really hurts. I tried to get him to use the motorized shopping cart at Target yesterday but he was a spoilsport and wouldn't do it. :P Here's hoping he starts feeling better soon! Alright, I'd better get back to work, neuropsych calls...

Happy Valentines Day!! (A day late)

2009-02-15T17:57:00.003-05:00

Hey all! I hope you had an excellent and love-filled Valentines! We're usually pretty low-key about Valentines, however this year I specifically asked that we make some plans and so something fun because I really needed it. Micheal was awesome and jumped into action!

He made plans for a great day together up in the DC area. We decided to get started on our registries, go wedding ring shopping, and go to dinner together.

First we went to visit the jewelry store of the famous blue box...

Tiffany & Co! This is where Micheal purchased my engagement ring so he wanted to go look for a matching band. We found some gorgeous options and are still thinking about what we want to do. The great part is that they carry wedding bands in all sizes so we don't have to decide RIGHT NOW and worry about having to get it and then get it sized in time.

Next we went to lunch at Cafe Deluxe, this neat little diner right next to the Crate and Barrel. It was very tasty! I totally meant to bring my camera so we could take pics of our day and of me wielding the registry scanner like a woman possessed...but alas I forgot.

After lunch we got our registries started at Crate and Barrel and Macy's. It was fun and overwhelming all at the same time!

Then we had dinner at my 2nd fav mexican restaurant (have to be faithful to Taco Casa) On the Border (OTB). Fajitas and Margaritas! What else could a girl ask for!

To top it all off we got to come home and watch KU beat KSU on DVR! All in all, a greaaaaaaat day.

Good news and warm weather!

2009-02-07T15:57:00.003-05:00

The last few days have been pretty awesome! In a life that seems to hand me more lemons than glasses of lemonade I'm trying to learn to celebrate the small things along with the BIG things!

Small things:
The weather is GORGEOUS today! It's 69 degrees in Fredericksburg today, we have the windows open, the kitties are happy, I'm watching KU play Ok State (we're currently winning) and Micheal and I had Frosties. So far today has been a good day.

HUGE thing:
On Thursday I got some of the best news I think I could ever hear. My sister in law (and Maid of Honor and all around best bud) called me to tell me that...my niece Ava's doctor has officially removed the diagnosis of Infantile Spasms from our little girl!!! She's been battling this illness since March of last year and they have been through so much in the past year, more than any family should have to endure. She is still having seizures and we're not sure where they are coming from but they are not causing constant disorganized brain activity and not preventing her from developing and learning like the Infantile Spasms did.

It's amazing, and I thank God for answering our prays and ask him to continue to watch over her and her family.

What small or big thing have you been able to celebrate lately?

::UPDATE:: KU WINS KU WINS!! Woo hoo baby!

It's been too long!

2009-01-24T23:38:00.002-05:00

So I know it's been forever - I'm sure my very very small reading list assumed I had dropped off the face of the earth! Or just lamed out on this blog like I have on so many before...

But in reality life has just been CRAZY and I've been wanting to sit down and write about it but so much has happened it's been a daunting task to sit down and write about it all. So I'm just sitting down to break the ice, it's not going to be a full update and truthfully all the details of the past 2 months probably won't come out but I'll try my best to keep up.

Micheal and I went home over Christmas to visit our families - this was his first Christmas home since we moved! It's always stressful when you're trying to see everyone in a short period of time but I think we did a good job of managing and had a good time!

I had several adventures over the break including an awesome New Years party with my Sari (by an inch baby) and a crazy sub-zero campout with two amazing woman (who hopefully still love me! - See wedding blog for details.)

And here are some pics...

This is my fav - almost professional looking!

Ezra trying his hand a photography

Two gorgeous girls

Pickens boys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T20:50:00.002-05:00

Gobble Gobble everyone! Micheal and I had a great Thanksgiving out here in VA, this is my THIRD year cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner. The first year I messed up the sweet potatoes, last year I forgot the rolls, this year I thought I had made everything and didn't mess anything up! I actually bragged about it quite a bit...then, yesterday when I was walking down aisle 2 at Target, I walked past... the stuffing section. Dang - I forgot the stuffing. Oh well, neither of us realized until I mentioned it so I think it doesn't really count as missing something!

I didn't make too big of a mess while cooking!

Check out that delicious cajun turkey breast!

Micheal was a good supervisor - he did make some excellent green beans... ;)

Carving the turkey - doesn't it look moist!

This is my favorite dish - sweet potato casserole!

Isn't this post making you hungry?!

After dinner we web-cammed with Micheal's family which was very nice and enjoyed some football on TV. Micheal went and checked the mail and his mom had sent us a package that included a fun Thanksgiving Turkey!!

It gobbles and walks, Moshe was totally freaked out and ran up the stairs - Indi is our brave girl. Shortly after this picture she knocked it over and started attacking it.

Micheal and I are so thankful for our family and friends who have supported us during our SEVEN years together, especially during the past 2 years out here in VA. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives.

We're coming home!!

2008-11-19T22:29:00.002-05:00

I booked Micheal and I's flights home for Christmas today!! I'm SO excited, this will be our first Christmas home together since we moved to VA. AND I got us direct flights - WOO HOO! So here's how it looks:

Leave VA Dec 19th at 12:15 pm, arrive in KC at 2:07 pm.

Micheal:
Leaves KC Dec 26th at 2 something and arrives in VA at 5 something.

Kari:
Leaves KC Jan 5th (after booking the Rose Garden!!) at 2 something and arrives in VA at 6.

More details and plans to come!

He's VICIOUS!!

2008-11-14T21:59:00.001-05:00

Moshe loves this toy, and will pick it up, growl and bull snort at you and then run off. BUT he wants you to chase him!! Here's a fun video - I'll try to get a better one but this should suffice for now!

I love triple coupon day!!!!!

2008-11-08T18:18:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I know this is lame to post about...but I'm so proud of myself you can just deal with it! Today was triple coupon day at Bloom and I think I did a pretty good job getting deals! Thanksgiving coupons are also starting to come out so I got some stuff early for our thanksgiving dinner. Here's a run down:

Bag o' salad: 3.29, on sale for 1.64 - 2.25 coupon = 61 cent gain!!
Pumpkin Cans - 2 for 2.61 - 1.50 coupon = 1.11 for two
All natural seasoning salt (minus MSG!) 1.99 - .90 coupon = 1.09
Evaporated Milk - 2 for 2.50 - 1.50 coupon = 2 for 1.00
Ziploc Sandwich bags 2.34 - 2.25 coupon = 9 cents!!!
Cafe Steamer Freezer Meal: 3.59, on sale for 2.00 - 2.25 coupon = 25 cent gain!!
Baking Powder 1.99 - 1.65 coupon = 34 cents!
Eggs 2.79 - 1.50 = 1.49
And chicken breasts on sale for 1.99/lb!!!!

WOO HOO!

Foodie Blog!! Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

2008-11-08T11:00:00.002-05:00

This morning I made some tasty Apple Cinnamon Pancakes and got rave reviews (okay, so one rave review since I only cook for two) so I thought I'd do my next foodie post. :)

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes (adapted from Allrecipes "Good Old Fashioned Pancakes")

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon (depending on how cinnamon-y you like things)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large apple finely chopped

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugar. If you have time allow milk and egg to come to room temperature. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowls; make a well in the center and pour in the milk, vanilla, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth. Stir in apples.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

This made about 12 medium pancakes, we ate 4 and then I made the rest and are freezing them for later. They were SUPER tasty! I'll go a little lighter on the cinnamon next time though, I did about 1/2 Tablespoon which was a little too much.

History in the Making

2008-11-05T09:25:00.002-05:00

Last night I did witness history being made. America elected it's first African American President.

Given the choice I would not have picked Mr. Obama to be our president; however, for better or for worse he will be our president and I hope that he does what is best for America. I have my doubts, but in the spirit of fairness I will reserve judgement until he has the opportunity to lead and work for the hope and change he has promised the American people.

-Kari

Bad updater!!

2008-11-03T08:27:00.003-05:00

OOPS!! Okay so it's been too long, and I'm actually on my way out to school so I don't have much time but I thought I'd just say hi and that I haven't forgotten about you all!

Life has been crazy busy around here, I'm not sure we know what day it is most of the time. I used to track days by what TV shows were on but now that we're avid DVR fans I can't even use that anymore!!

We're beginning to make plans to come home over Christmas so that is very exciting, this will be the first Christmas that we both come home together in 3 years!! ::KNOCK ON WOOD:: I don't want to jinx myself by getting too excited, just pray for peace and we'll all be fine.

I'm so ready for Wednesday, you have no idea. It's political mania around here and EVERY commercial is about the election.

Alright, those are my random thoughts for the day. I'll post more soon, I promise!! I have some fun kitty pics that I KNOW you all will enjoy ;)

-Kari

Happy Birthday to me!! (Late I know)

2008-10-11T22:52:00.002-04:00

Well my birthday has come and gone and now I'm another year older. I was dreading it this year mostly because the past two have been rough being away from my family but not having established my own "family" here. My birthday "snuck" up on my this year which I am told is the first sign of getting old, great, it's already starting out wonderfully. To my amazement however, this birthday was great and reminded me how lucky I am.

Midnight I receive my first birthday wish from Bobbie who stayed up chatting with me to wish me happy birthday!

5:30 Micheal gives me a hug and a kiss good bye and wishes me a happy birthday.

7:30 I wake up to a note on the bathroom mirror wishing me a happy birthday and a picture of a birthday cake drawn lovingly by my amazing (I am a lucky woman) fiance.

9:00 On my way to Richmond (yes I had to work all day) I get my first birthday call from Pat (Micheal's mom) and the day just rolled on from there!

11:00 I get serenaded by my friend Stephanie and my clinical supervisor (Arnie) with a rousing round of Happy Birthday to you and Steph brought me a great balloon that I had attached to my bag for the rest of the day!

I get out to my car and my family has been looking for me! A call from my bro, my mom and my dad!!

12:30 Lunch with 3 of my favorite ladies, Laura (the organizer), Raquel and Stephanie. These girls are amazing and are definitely a big part of my Virginia family.

I get out of lunch at Kuba Kuba only to get a call from my labmates who had wanted to surprise me by taking me to lunch!! You have to tell me these things girls!! I came into my office to a desk covered in Happy Birthday sticky notes and a personalized birthday crown. (The girls took me to lunch on Thursday.) I am blessed to have the DART girls in my life, Meghan, Katy, Heather and Priscilla are a great day-to-day support and help me keep what's left of my sanity.

Phone calls, texts and emails filtered in throughout the rest of the day, I talked to Jason, my Mom, my Dad, Sara, Micheal, Jolene, Bobbie and Cathy!

I got home to Micheal working on my birthday cake, flowers, and a birthday present.

I didn't check my mail until the next day and I had FOUR birthday cards as well!! From Cassie, Jason & Jolene, The Shove kids and my Grandma and Grandpa!!

Honestly this is one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. I was reminded how lucky I am to have so many people in my life that love me, new and old, close and far - thank you everyone so much, I am blessed.

The day to day grind

2008-09-25T23:04:00.003-04:00

Micheal arrived home safely on Friday from his latest travels abroad and is home for a while now!! Yay! Well, as far as I know right now I guess. :) We had a great day on Saturday, we went to IKEA and bought 20 of the squiggly vases seen on our wedding blog for our centerpieces! When we got in there were two ladies standing by the pallate of vases and I had this moment of panic thinking they were buying them all up and I about ran down to old ladies!! Fortunately they were going for the ugly pink and silver ones - we loaded up!

After that we headed up to Fairfax to Bobbie's bridal so I could try on my wedding dress for the final time before I ordered it. Micheal patiently waited outside while played in the dress shop. Then we headed up to Tyson's Galleria to go back to my favorite new store H&M!!! So far I've bought a houndstooth skirt, purple button up blouse with tie, black & white dressy tank top, dress pants, purple sweater and beige/grey sweater. They're really nice and very affordable! And Jolene told me that they're putting one in at the Legends so I'll still be able to shop there when we move home!! YAY!!!

Next we headed up to a party thrown by one of Micheal's coworkers. I know - GASP - we were social!! It was really a lot of fun and because he was nice enough to start the party at 4:00 we weren't driving the hour+ drive home at midnight!

There have been a lot of wedding accomplishments over the past week or so as well, check for updates on the wedding blog! Back to watching Heroes (I LOVE premier week and DVR!) and listening to the rain...

Gone, home and gone again

2008-09-14T17:23:00.003-04:00

So Micheal and I got to spend the week together this week which was nice, but now he's preparing to leave again tomorrow for another week. <..grumble..grumble..>

Anyone wanting him to post pictures of his trips should email him directly as I do not have access to them! (I would if I asked...but what fun is that when I can call him out on the blog!!) Love ya babe!

Nothing too terribly exciting is going on around here - OOH! Except that I got some grass to grow in our backyard! In spite of totally ignoring the directions on all of the bags (see last post) I have baby grass or "frog hairs" as I remember them being referred to as a child. I'll try to remember to take pics this week (I know I'm more excited about this than you, but humor me) and post so you can see my success! I also have one tomato growing and several buds on both the tomato and pepper plant. However, my tomato is at the top of a tall skinny plant and is, well, weighing it down a bit. I definintely need to get a stake and tie it up.

The other exciting event of this weekend (which will only go to prove how unexciting my life can be at times) is my amazing trip to the Bloom! Triple coupons and sale shopping - watch out, here I come! I walked out with two 3-packs of fresh chicken breasts, 1 lb of ground chicken, 2 tilapia fillets, a bag of salad, brown minute rice, ziploc freezer bags, grapes, JIF peanut butter, Kikkoman Stir-Fry sauce and frozen veggies for - (brace yourself) TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS!! I know, I know - I'm awesome, maybe I'll forget this whole grad school, psychology thing and become a personal bargain shopper...

Christmas shopping, a hurricane and grass seed!

2008-09-05T21:10:00.002-04:00

Well it's been quite a day! I did an assessment in Fredericksburg this morning, YAY clinical hours AND an integrated report - Sah-weet! Came home, talked to Micheal - he's doing really well, enjoying his time in Prague. He's supposed to be going shopping for me tomorrow, Prague is known for their cystal...

I then decided to take on the yard before Hurricane Hanna dumped 1-5 inches of rain on us this weekend. I bought some Weed and Feed yesterday to put on our yard and learned that I really need to read the directions on things (I'm such a man in that regards...who needs instructions?!) So you're not supposed to put it down when it's going to rain within 24 hours (oops) and you're not supposed to put it down within 1 month of grass seed (OOPS!) Oh well, my yard is seeded and weeded and feeded and if grass grows then bully for me! I'm ready for the rain!

When I made a target run for grass seed (I SWEAR my mom always said that it was weed and SEED, not weed and feed...) I got sucked into the Target clearance, I SWEAR this Target has more clearance than any other Target I've ever frequented. So this is where the Christmas shopping came in - I knocked two gifts off my list!
Disney Princess 3 in 1 overnight bag complete with sleeping bag. Score for Aunt Kari!

Micheal comes home on Sunday - WOO!

Mini Foodie Blog

2008-09-04T19:31:00.004-04:00

So I'm definitely not ready to consider myself a "foodie" - this is not from a lack of desire or trying, I'm just not that skilled yet. ;) I do enjoy cooking though and have made a few fun recipes lately so this is my first stab at a food blog post:

Thai Chicken Balls (From allrecipes)

I'm trying to find unique ways to replace ground beef in our diet so I bought some ground chicken and set out to find a tasty recipe on the web. I came across this recipe and thought it sounded good so I gave it a try!

I halved the recipe and had half leftover - we probably would have eaten more but they were a little spicy!

2 pounds ground chicken
1 cup dry bread crumbs
4 green onions, sliced (I of course left these out)
1 tablespoon ground coriander seed (Left this out too)
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce (instead used 1 T of hot red chili sauce, this was TOO much, will use 1 tsp next time)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
oil for frying

I added: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and a little ground ginger.

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together the chicken and bread crumbs. Season with green onion, ground coriander, cilantro, chili sauce and lemon juice; mix well.
Using damp hands, form mixture into evenly shaped balls that are either small enough to eat with your fingers, or large enough to use as burgers.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the chicken balls in batches until well browned all over.

- Instead of frying I baked these to go for a healthier option. I coated the bottom of a 8x8 glass casserole dish with olive oil and Archer Farm's Asian-inspired Simmer sauce. Preheat the oven to 375 and bake until cooked through - I want to say about 25 minutes.

I served it with stir-fry veggies also cooked in the simmer sauce and salad with mandarin oranges and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

They had an excellent taste but were WAY too spicy. (My fault, not the recipes fault.) I will definitely make them again and maybe I'll go find some sweet chili sauce I served it with stir-fry veggies also cooked in the simmer sauce and salad with mandarin oranges and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Kari M. - M.S. !!!!!!!!

2008-08-28T12:39:00.002-04:00

So maybe the last two years of my life weren't spent wasting away in class and in the lab for nothing! A week ago today (I know I'm behind) I successfully defended my Master's Thesis - and wow does it feel good. I was very nervous going in, not sure what to expect, what questions I would get. But the process was much less painful than I thought it would be.

There was no grilling at the end of the presentation like I expected; instead, we discussed each person's questions and concerns throughout and (shock) Clarissa was very supportive and helped me answer questions that I wasn't too sure of.

So what does this mean? I officially graduate in December (haven't decided if I'm doing the ceremony or not) but we are unofficially conferred the letters of the degree once the document is signed so that makes me Kari, M.S.!!!

Micheal was amazing, he took the day off, came down to Richmond with me and helped keep me calm. We both decided him being in the room would only make me more nervous so he just hung out around Rich while I had my meeting. He got back just in time to wait with me in the hallway while they discussed my fate. (Although by that time I was pretty sure it was in the bag.) Then we went to Three Monkeys where Laura, Priscilla, Katy, Meghan, Raquel and Alison (and Steph by phone) all came to help me celebrate! Since it was noon I had a celebratory Mimosa, it seemed like the most appropriate drink. :D

Then what did I do to celebrate?! Came home, checked "defend thesis" off my to do list and took a celebratory "I defended my thesis" nap!! (I know, grad students are lame.)

Here is my checklist! It felt awesome to check that one off.

So thank you to everyone who has supported me - it's been a long two years but now I think I can make it through to the end! There is a light (albeit a dim one) at the end of the tunnel! I just hope it's not a train headed in this direction...

Me from A to Z

2008-08-19T18:10:00.003-04:00

I've been tagged by Jolene to tell you about me from A to Z. I tag Sara!

About me: A-Z
A - age - 26 and feeling old :P
B - birthday - September 30th!
C - candy or cake - I'm such a sucker for a candy bar
D - dessert you love - Frosties!!!
E - easiest person to talk to - Indi, she is a good listener and never disagrees with me. ;)
F - favorite song - That's hard, I don't know that I have an all time favorite.
G - gold or silver - Silver, ditto
H - habit - Messing with my hair/putting my hair in a ponytail. If I don't have a hairband on my wrist I get a little (lot) freaked out.
I - instruments- Played the saxaphone and pretended to play the quads for a year in HS.
J - job title - Grad student, slave, lacky, research assistant, interventionist, staff therapist, slave...
K- kids- Kali, Indi and Moshe (I'll have non-furry ones someday...)
L - love or lust - A good mix of both :)
M- married or single - Engaged!!
N - next to you - Remote (for my new DVR!!!), Moshe, Pillows
O - one wish - To be in two places at once
P - person you called last - Micheal, to tell him about the DVR!!
Q - quotes - I "use" them all the "time" for "emphasis" and "sarcasm."
R- reasons to smile - I bet you can guess.... (DVR and NFLHD!!) - My life really is that lame.
S - steak or pork - I'll take a nice steak please
T - turns you on - Um, my mom is going to read this, so I plead the fifth!
U - unique talent - Insane multi-tasking
V - vegetable - Asparagus or canned peas
W - woke up at what time - Thank goodness at 6:45am!! I set my alarm wrong!
X - xrays I've had - I think...the only one...was one of my guts
Y - your favorite color - Orange!
Z - zodiac - Libra

Ode to Dr Pepper

2008-08-17T19:14:00.003-04:00

Sara said I need to update more even with random topics so she has something to read while she's hanging out down in FL!

So here we go, who wants to be a Pepper? I do I do!

One of the most common misconceptions about Dr Pepper (the period after Dr was removed) is that it's a Pepsi product since it is most often on soda fountains with Pepsi. But this is not true! Dr. Pepper is actually an individual company which is what gives it the ability to be traded out for Mr. Pibb on some Coke fountains as well. Coke tried to buy out Dr Pepper in the 80s and was denied by the FTC. Dr Pepper merged with 7up and is now part of the Snapple group. 30% of Dr Pepper is bottled by Coke bottlers, 30% by Pepsi bottlers and the remaining 40% by remaining individually owned Dr Pepper bottling plants.

Did you know that Dr. Pepper was actually patented and released BEFORE Coke? The patent for Dr. Pepper was granted in 1885! While researching this information I learned something new and exciting about Dr Pepper:

"The company sells more Dr Pepper in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia than any other metropolitan area east of the Mississippi River. Roanoke is approximately 90 miles east of the hometown of Dr Charles T. Pepper, which is Rural Retreat, Virginia. In the past, the city has been named the "Dr Pepper Capital of the World," and broke world records for its mass consumption of Dr Pepper in the late 1950s. [3] Dr Pepper donated a portion of its sales revenue in the Roanoke area to finance restoration of a circa-1950s neon Dr Pepper sign, which has the company's "10, 2, 4" logo from the time, in downtown Roanoke. Dr Pepper eventually became known as the official soft drink of the state of Texas." - Wikipedia

WHAT?! Who knew, the Dr Pepper Capital of the World was in my back yard?!?! Guess where we're going on a weekend trip next! I really want to order glass bottles of Dr Pepper for my wedding from Dublin TX. This Dr Pepper is still sweetened by cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Back to the Books

2008-08-16T23:24:00.002-04:00

Well, it's that time of year again - time to start classes. I honestly can't believe I'm starting my third year here, it's a catch 22 because that means I am HALFWAY DONE(!!) but it also means I've got the last half to go. I'm hoping that since I've got the wedding in there it'll all go by pretty fast. My year is looking pretty busy so far - going to be lots driving and a lot of late nights in Richmond. (Imagine that the soda is Dr. Pepper and not Pepsi)

I'm going to be taking social psychology and developmental processes as my classes, seeing clients at the Center for Psychological Services and Development (CPSD), doing assessments and hopefully seeing clients at Behavioral Healthcare of Fredericksburg, serving as an interventionist and research assistant for the Family Teamwork study working with teens diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, defending my thesis on August 27th at 9am, starting to think about my dissertation, preparing for comprehensive exams AND planning a wedding! Whew...I got tired just writing that!

Micheal is doing well, he's working 4 ten hour days usually getting Friday off which has been pretty nice - giving us the three day weekend. He's getting to go over seas AGAIN without me next month so I told him since my birthday is coming up I'd better get something cool and exciting as a present! I'll try to get him to post an update since he was the one that was very excited to have a blog that we could both access!

Kitties are doing great, Moshe is still a huge pain in the butt - but I'm not surprised anymore. I'm just waiting for him to grow out of it! He's a pretty funny guy though and provides us with endless laughs. He has turned into quite the lounger:

The boy does know how to sleep!

We've really enjoyed watching the Olympics (well, I have and Micheal has humored me) especially getting to watch Michael Phelps make history! I just watched his final race and wow, just wow.

Check out the new blog I made for all wedding related news and information - there is a link to it off to the left! Of course more will go up the closer we get to the wedding but it's always fun to get things started!

The Running of the Brides

2008-08-04T17:12:00.002-04:00

So I'm skipping ahead of the Kansas Post (I've been CRAZY busy!!) and putting in my Running of the Brides post - well, because I already posted it somewhere else and I can copy and paste!! So here it is! I had to remove a picture of the dress I bought b/c Micheal looks at this blog.

Wow!! That was an adventure! We started preparing the night before where I gave my "team" their matching t-shirts, we made our "Need 0-6 with straps" trading signs and going through wedding mags to get an idea of what types of dress I like. Then we got up at 5:00 am and got there about 6:15. The doors opened up at 8am and when we got there at 6:15 I would estimate that there were already about 300-400 people in line in front of us. This was the side of the building and the line wrapped around that corner to the front door:
This is my crew!! (I'm not wearing a fanny pack - it just looks like it - it was my supplies bag.)

Under that outfit I was wearing spandex workout shorts, and a strapless backless bra - there was no room for modesty, I was smokin' hot in that outfit, let me tell ya! So while in line the people from Weddingwire.com were going around to all the "teams" and told us that if we made up a cheer/chant about ROTB/Filenes, etc we could win a dress! So we made up a poem/rhyme and when they came back we shouted it and we were in the finals! They came back to film, we threw in some hip bumps and leg kicks and a sweet line about weddingwire.com (gotta love the site endorsement) and OMG - I WON!!!!!
They gave me a GC for $249, the price of what the least expensive tier of dress would be. So guess what, I was buying a dress that day no matter what!

So finally 8am got there and the race was on!! We went running around the building, down the steps and into the store! My poor friend Laura fell as we were running in the the store! I made a run back for her so she didn't get trampled and we lost Steph in the mix. Got in and all the dresses were already off the racks so it was a scavenger hunt to try and start getting dresses. The first ones were definitely "scrounged up" and were really scary. Then it was off to trade - there were two groups of smaller sized brides that were hoarding all of the small dresses and were refusing to trade! I felt better at the end though when one of the groups still hadn't picked a dress by the time I left. So Steph was out working the floor and Laura and I were trying on dresses.
Just a few pic from the field:Running in
About when Laura fell down
Yes these girls are wearing helmets!

I honestly wasn't blown away by a HUGE selection of beautiful designer dresses - a lot of it felt more like high end bridal boutiques cleared out the dresses that were on their clearance racks for a year. There were definitely some beautiful dresses but it always seemed like I was seeing them on other people! One funny part of the day was when a group found the dress they loved the whole group would scream and jump around - the funny part is this served as an alarm for all of those still looking for dresses. When you heard a group scream everyone else went running in that direction to try and get the leftover dresses from that group. I had one picked out that I was going to buy (and most likely sell on ebay) and then the group across from me offered me one they had been holding and it turned out to be very pretty. I still don't think it'll be the dress that I wear, I still love the other dress I posted about so will buy that - but I will officially be a two dress bride!
After a long day I wasn't spending $15 bucks on this shirt but it summed up how I felt ----->
All in all a fun adventure, would I do it again? Only for someone I REALLY liked.

There's no place like home...

2008-07-28T00:14:00.003-04:00

Micheal and I are both back in VA now from our whirlwind trip home to KS! We did SO much and got quite a bit done for the wedding. I'll post more later with pics and details, but I'm just too tired - so I'm going to bed.

Back in the US!

2008-07-15T22:59:00.002-04:00

Micheal returned safe and sound on Sunday from his Paris adventure! I'll post more pictures later when we download them from his camera. Right now the only one I have is of this crazy Parisian glass:

...and it has this cool picture on the back!

That's one hot giraffe!! He had a good time and brought me home some cool souveniers!

And - we're coming home in TWO days!

Can I get some frittes with that?

2008-07-11T09:16:00.002-04:00

Micheal's adventures in Paris have been going well! Here's the low down:

1. Everyone smokes
2. Everyone drinks espresso
3. Micheal tried said espresso....I could have told him he wouldn't have liked it!! Even a pack of sugar and a chocolate stick couldn't help!
4. Most menus are only in French (he's not in a really touristy area) so the first time he tried to eat he ended up with duck pate - and was NOT a fan of the "grey mush." However, unlike in the states you can't send it back just because it's nasty!
5. He's seen the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, strolled along the river Siene, put his bare feet in the fountains at the L'ouvre (I'm too lazy to go see if I spelled it right) and has received a gold wedding ring and a kiss on the cheek from a Paris vagrant. It's a funny story, ask him to tell you some time. :)
6. He's SUPER tired, he's walked about 12 miles a day just exploring the city, he says today he might rent a bike.
7. They don't make clothes in Paris that would fit me - so no cool Parisian dresses for Kari.
8. Extreme public displays of affection are the norm - it's kinda like soft core porn I guess. Yikes!
9. He's met some cool people in the political science field at the conference.

I think those are the highlights so far! He's doing well and is having a good time and already wants to plan a trip back so that he can show me the sights!!

The Eiffel Tower

2008-07-08T21:50:00.003-04:00

Micheal left for Paris yesterday! He's gone on business for a whole week leaving poor old me back here in Fred. He flew out of DC yesterday and made it to the hotel around 3am our time - I love calling overseas hotels looking for him, they talk for 30 seconds, I have no idea what they're saying and then I ask "Do you speak English?" and hope for the best! The best response I've gotten so far was "I'll do my best" - we made it work. :) If he'd go to Italy I'd have it covered, but then again I'd better be going with him!

He started checking out the city today slowly but is thinking about hitting Notre Dame tomorrow. I'm expecting a mini Eiffel and some tasty treats when he comes back! The kitties and I are hanging out here in Fred not doing much. I went for a bike ride yesterday and spent all day in Richmond today - went in for two therapy appointments neither of which showed...awesome.

I'll keep the updates coming (if anyone even reads this) - hope everyone is having a good summer!

WE COME HOME IN 10 DAYS!!!!!

The day to day

2008-06-22T19:54:00.002-04:00

Nothing exciting going on to report around here, Micheal and I are slowly preparing to come home. I've made up our tentative schedule for visiting reception sites, seeing family etc - yes I have to plan my trips home! Actually I have less "planned" than I normally do simply because I'm trying not to drive Micheal to the edge of insanity! So I'll do all my crazy running around trying to see everyone after he goes home on Wednesday. :)

We haven't done much lately...just working (boo) and some more working. We've taken to renting movies and keep talking about going out on a bike ride or exploring the James River up here, we just need to get motivated!

Micheal has viral conjunctivitis (sp?) and has to put this gross vasoline-type medicine in his eyes. It renders him pretty much temporarily blind so he gets pretty grumpy about taking it! :) But he's still doing good. We're trying to get it cleared up before I get it! (As I itch my eye.) Alright, back to work. See you all soon!

You're not in Kansas any more Toto

2008-06-12T23:05:00.000-04:00

Alright, I couldn't resist the Wizard of Oz reference - the weather here has been crazy over the past month. Not quite as crazy as the past few days in KS but very crazy by Virginia standards. We were in 3 tornado WARNINGS in a 3 week period and guess what...no tornado sirens OR many basements in VA! AND the weather people are idiots when it comes to severe weather; they obviously don't deal with tornados very often. Literally I went from one channel where one guy was saying "another patch of storms is coming through but these seem to be less intense and don't pose any danger" to the next station "this next patch of storms coming through look like they could be even worse and more dangerous than the last!" Ay-yai-yai!

I'm SO excited to come home! We finally get to start doing REAL planning for our wedding and not just online searching and magazine reading. I think we're adding Drexel Hall as a reception site to visit as well. My friend Shannon gave me all her bridal mags since she is getting married in less than a month so now I have all KINDS of mags to look at!

I submitted the last section of my thesis to my adviser this week which means I'm getting closer and closer to finishing my masters thesis! I'm hoping to have it done by the end of this month... I can't officially defend until the fall though, than I'll be Kari Morgan, M.A.

Here are some fun pics. :)

Here are the kitties hiding from the tornado! I got out the carriers in case I needed them to keep the kitties safe in case a tornado came through. We had rotation over the house but no tornado! Thankfully!

Moshe being a bag kitty! He likes to wear plastic bags like a cape!

My patio garden!

WE'RE coming home!!

2008-06-03T22:05:00.000-04:00

Alright ladies and gentlemen - it's official!! WE'RE COMING HOME! That's right, I said WE - Micheal is making his long awaited return to Kansas City! Rosedales here we come!

We fly home together on July 17th and will arrive in KC at 10:20 am. I'm thinking we'll meet up with some member of the Struemph/Pickens when we arrive spend the day in KC (have lunch at Rosedales) :) and then I'll probably head to T-town to see my family and have dinner at Taco Casa! (Do we see a theme forming here?)

While home we will be starting the exciting task of meeting with potential vendors for our wedding! Currently we'll be looking at receptions sites:

The Little Theatre

James P Davis Hall

Going to try and figure out catering and DJ and go DRESS SHOPPING!!!! Woo hoo!! It's gonna be a party!

Alright, gotta do some work.

WOO HOO

2008-06-02T00:12:00.000-04:00

I just finished a draft of my thesis!! WOO HOO!!! It needs SO much work still but it's so exciting to have some version of it done! And it's so dang late there is no one awake for me to celebrate with!! DAMN!

Back to the grindstone

2008-05-25T21:41:00.000-04:00

So it's been a long and full week! Monday I left for Miami to meet Jolene and Avangeline at Miami Children's Hospital. I packed up and hit the Richmond airport and got on my "turboprop service" direct flight - AKA - reeeeally little plane! Okay, so not puddle hopper little, but small enough that loading and unloading occured on the tarmac with portable stairs. :P

I made it to the Miami airport and man is that place crazy! I hung out there and waited for Jolene and met up with her cousin and we unloaded her off the plane and made our way to the hospital. Got checked into our "apartment" for the night, got Avangeline calm and happy and off to dreamland after a long day.

To keep a long story short, Ava had lots of tests done and at the end of the day the diagnosis was officially Infantile Spasms. While scary it's good to have an official diagnosis because it got us started on the path to treatment which we started that day. We're all staying very hopeful and putting our faith and trust in the Lord that He will make the medicine work and bring our little girl back.

This week was kind of weird, getting back into the swing of things after a week of sleeping on a chair bed and not doing any real work for a couple of days. :) I'm taking on a new client at the clinic that I'm not too sure about. I just got rid of a very complicated case and I'm pretty nervous about adding a new one. Although, it seems like this time of year clients leave like rats of a sinking ship so it's probably good that I'm taking a new one on. I'm also hoping to start a new gig up here in Fredericksburg and splitting my clinical time between Fredericksburg and Richmond which would be awesome!

No big plans around here this weekend except to finish up the draft of my discussion section for my thesis! The amazing thing about that would be that I would have a draft of my entire thesis done!!! Of course it has to go through a LOT of revision but it's one step closer to being done. Alright, I'm off for now. Much love. Prayers and love for Avangeline.

Update and off to Miami

2008-05-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update - Micheal is doing fine after the incident last night! He crashed after I gave him two Benedryl and woke up just fine about 8 hours later!

I leave for Miami tomorrow - then I have an intake on Thursday and supervision and an intervention on Friday. It's going to be a crazy week!

Killer Wine!

2008-05-17T21:23:00.000-04:00

So I just had to make an super-quick run to the Target after Micheal had an allergic reaction to the wine we bought for dinner! Mental note...don't buy Saint M wine ever again! We were eating and I looked over and the side of his face was all red. I asked him to turn towards me and BAM both cheeks bright red, nose bright red and spots on his neck. Did a quick scan of what we were eating and nothing new, the only new thing was the wine. So 9pm and I was off to Target. He's still pretty red so hoping to drugs kick in soon.

We had a pretty crazy week, Micheal had to work some long and weird hours and I worked quite a bit in Richmond. We ran around today but nothing exciting. I'm starting to get ready for my trip to Miami on Monday - picked up some snacks for the hospital room, gotta have supplies!

Alrighty, gonna go check on Micheal and make sure he's still breathing. :)

A weird day

2008-05-13T18:34:00.000-04:00

As the title states, today was a pretty weird day. Micheal had to go into work REALLY early this morning (really early) so basically I stayed up working until he got up to go to work then I went to bed so we just traded spots. :) I'm spending extra hours in the lab this week to get in some extra hours before I head to Miami next week with Jolene and Ava.

My 4.5 month old niece is going in for a neurological workup with their specialist team down at Miami Childrens in hopes of finding some answers. She's been having seizures for the past few months and medication hasn't been able to get them all under control. She's a tough little girl though - please pray for her strength and peace as well as for her family.

I have a workshop in DC on Friday for my research lab - it should be a looooooong afternoon, however the nice thing is that Micheal and I will be able to meet up after work and go out and have a little fun in DC! Maybe use one of those cool gift certificates that he got from work for being soooooo cool. :) (He got recognized by one of his coworkers for his effort and it got us gift cards to Maggiano's! Woo hoo!)

Alright, I'll leave you with a fun picture....

He's feeling a little.."boxed-in"...hehehe - He's very flexible! Mom, does that box look familiar??

Happy Mothers Day

2008-05-11T11:40:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day! A tribute to the very special moms in my life:

First and foremost - there is MY mom! She's an inspiration to me and has been a major contributor to the person that I am today.

A proud mom at KU graduation!

May, 2004

Here we are before a sad goodbye...

August, 2006

Back on a trip to visit

Williamsburg, VA

May, 2007

Then there is one of the busiest moms I know, one of my best friends and my matron of honor:

Left to Right

Jolene & Ivy Jolene, Christmas 2006
Ivy & Ava, Dec 2007
Jolene & Me, Dec 13th, 2007

For the next two moms unfortunately I don't have any digital pictures!

This mom has been a part of my life for nearly 20 years now. I remember when I was about 8 I had a very serious talk with her about how I was going to "address" her - that I was going to call her Diana, and then if I got more comfortable maybe I would start calling her "step-mom..." I think she probably appreciates that we stuck with Diana! I'm very glad she's been a part of my life and I'd proud not only to be able to call her my step-mom, but also my friend.

Soon I will be adding another member to the club - a mother-in-law! Over the past 5 years we've gotten to know eachother, and I look forward to continuing to spend more time together and grow this relationship as part of the Struemph family!

I'm not sure how they do it - they'll have to give me lessons when it's my turn!

Happy Mothers Day ladies!!

Dang allergies

2008-05-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

Tough day at the Struemph/Morgan household. VA allergies are really rough - I never even HAD allergies before we moved out here and now I'm taking allergy meds. So poor Micheal has a really tough time with all the pollen in the air. The pollen is pretty amazing out here - it covers the cars in a fine green dust there is so much of it; I've never seen anything like it. It looks like you've driven down a KS dirt road on a dry day and you've got a nice coat of dust on your car - BUT INSTEAD IT'S GREEEEN! Not good, not good.

Here are some pictures of my "green thumb" in action! The pot on the right has orange calla lillies growing in it. I'm practicing growing them to see how they turn out - trying to talk mom into growing them for my wedding next year!

The little guy on the left is a strawberry plant. He's growing great however...the strawberries...are a little weak ------->

We love our back yard though - even though it's small it really lends to some good times outside together and with the kitties. We have turned them into "outside monsters;" they want to go outside ALLLLL the time! If you even LOOK at the back door they're right there with you begging to go outside. It's a dance if I'm going outside and they can't go out - they're always trying to find a way to sneak on by. After the BIG rainstorm last night they definitely can't go out - since we have a mostly red clay yard it holds water nicely and so it turns a little swampy. The storm was crazy; we were under a tornado WARNING for a little while, but guess what! NO TORNADO SIRENS OR BASEMENTS IN VIRGINIA! So I panicked a little.....trying to decide which corner to hide in if I heard the "train" coming our way. We lucked out and it all went north of us but you could definitely tell that this was the most excitement the weather guy had seen here in a long time. Talking about rotating clouds and cautioning his faithful viewers to take cover.

Here are some pic of Micheal and the kitties enjoying their outside time -

Off to watch a movie! Happy Early Mother's day!!!

Making Changes

2008-05-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

I'm working on the background to try and make it look cool - but in the process it's probably going to look odd for a while. :) Kind of like spring cleaning....usually end up making a bigger mess on the road to getting clean!

:-D

(Should be working on my thesis, but blogging instead..bad Kari)

Movin' on up!

2008-05-09T17:15:00.000-04:00

Since blogspot seems to be the "in" thing to do - we thought we'd try it out! So the Team Struemph blog is officially up and running. Members:

Micheal Struemph (founding member)

Kari Morgan (affiliate, soon to be named member)

Kali (Princess)

Indi (Most loving kitty ever)

Moshe...(pain in the...well you know)

Look for more updates soon!