Most Medicated Blogger (posted by Ann)

Maybe I should explain that. I had my gum surgery yesterday, and I look like a chipmunk today. (No, no pictures.) As compensation, I am enjoying better living through chemistry. All went well, and I think I'll be off the drugs tomorrow and probably back to work by Friday. In the meantime, if I say anything stupid, I have a great excuse.

Boy, do I have a lot to talk about! That's what happens when I don't post for over a month. Get a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, because this will take you a while. I'm voting for the wine because then you'll be chemically enhanced just like I am.

Let's start with what Charlotte sent me. She made me a boat bag which is absolutely fabulous, and I have pictures to prove it. Please note how well it fits on the boat, the great fabric and sailboat trim, the monogram, the CAT embroidery and Charlotte's name tag - it is even the right size for all the sunscreen, bug spray, hats, fleece jacket, etc. that go on the boat with me. It's perfect!!

Don even got into the act and modeled it for us.

The CAT bag went for our last sail of the season, which I'm sad to announce was last Saturday. It was a beautiful day, as you can see. This picture is one of the other boats that was headed up with us going by the lighthouse at the harbor mouth.

I snapped this one because it cracks me up. It looks like a mother duck with all the babies, doesn't it? I really want one of those little boats - they look like so much fun!

Steve's been busy with Cross Country, though the season is over. I got pulled into helping host an end-of-season bonfire, and of course - you guessed it - I'm cooking again. We'll see how many RSVP, I don't think it will be quite as big as the pasta party. And - woo hoo! - it's not at my house. I'll gladly make 30 lbs. of sloppy joes if it's not going to be here! Here are three slide shows for you to watch, and I believe I have two more to come.

Hoffman Estates 9.20

Palatine Invite 9.22

Antioch Invite 9/29

The Antioch Invite has lots of pictures that Lani took too, though as she mentioned we managed to not get any pictures of ourselves. It was a great visit, and I am jealous that she got to see you in Bar Harbor. I've never been there, but I'd sure love to sail there one of these years.

I have been working on photos trying to get together some for the end of the year banquet, so they can have a "best 3" of each of the runners. I have taken a lot, as you all know, but I really wanted to do some work on them so I got Photoshop. I'm addicted! It's complicated, but it can really make a difference. Look at a couple of before and after shots and you'll see what I mean by that.

On this last one, I'm still trying to figure out how to blur the background so just the runner in the middle is crisp. I know it can be done, but probably not at my medication level. I'll show some more once I figure out how to get more things done. It's really fun!

Well, I'm off to take more drugs and put more ice on my poor swollen face. I'll leave you with these pictures - Tater is so big that he doesn't quite all fit on the couch at once, so here he is on the couch one half at a time.

Long Time No See! (posted by Lani)

September 23rd was our last post? Ow. We're both horrible slackers, although I'm sure you've been just as busy as I have. In my defense (I'm feeling very defensive here!) I posted on the 23rd; on the 24th I got a call, on the 25th I went out on a trip. On the 26th I got back, on the 28th I came to Chicago to visit you. On the 1st of October I came home; I was home on the 2nd and then off flying on the morning of the 3rd. Got home on the 6th, on the morning of the 7th I headed to Bar Harbor, Maine to spend a few days with Mom and Dad. On the 10th I came home, on the 11th I went back out a 3-day trip, home the night of the 13th and then back out the morning of the 14th for another 3-day trip from which I just returned yesterday. Since my last post, not counting home, I've spent at least one night (in several cases multiple nights) in Milwaukee, Syracuse, Greensboro, Greenville-Spartanburg, Chicago, Portland, Bar Harbor, New York City, Charlotte, and Rochester. OK, I don't feel so bad about not posting.

So anyway, back to the FUN travel part of this post -- Ann, how did we manage to get NO pictures taken of us while I was there? Next time we aren't going to do that. From Maine, though, I have pictures; sadly they're on my laptop right now. I'll do another quick post with more on my visit with Mom and Dad, and pictures from Maine, later tonight or tomorrow.

Oh, did I mention that during my few scattered days at home our roof sprung a leak, so a good chunk of my meager home time was spent having roofers come out and give estimates on what has turned out to be not a repair but a replacement job? And things are only going to get more intense, because it is looking more and more as though we're moving to Colorado sooner rather than later. This of course means that all the little things in our current house that we were going to fix "one day" need to be fixed now, so we can put the house on the market. Next house, ya'll, I am fixing that stuff for ME. It just chaps me that I'm fixing up this house for the benefit of strangers and not for us.

Steve will be heading out to Colorado within the next week or two to finalize the details on his new job, and hopefully I'll be able to tag along with him and we'll do some house-hunting. If not Beth has graciously promised to go with me on a house-hunting trip, which I know has NOTHING to do with going back to the Boulder Club for martinis and to the German restaurant in Nederland for more yummy German food and flirtation with yummy German waiters. Nothing whatsoever. Either way Nancy, our lovely and hard-working Colorado realtor, has been filling my inbox with listings on potential homes so I know there'll be lots to look at, and hopefully one of those will be The House. We're still trying to work out just how to put this house on the market given our zoo; this should be interesting.

In other news work, while hectic, is going well and I'm enjoying it more than ever. Stinks that I'll have to quit when we move to Colorado, and yes I definitely will, there is NO WAY IN HELL that I'm commuting to the east coast every 3 to 4 days even as a lineholder. Steve has gently hinted that he'd really like it if I would consider a regular job that doesn't require me to be gone all the time; I'd like to keep flying, and Frontier is hubbed in Denver and Republic also has a crew base there so there's definitely an option for that. We'll have to see how that plays out once we get there. I'm in a couple of swaps which promise to be lots of fun; one is a Random Theme Swap and one is the Knitters Tea Swap 4 (the 4th iteration of the Knitter's Tea Swap, which I had a ton of fun with the 3rd time around). I've missed doing swaps and am having a great time with both of these. I've done very little actual knitting, mostly because I've either been working or talking to roofers or sleeping, but I did finish one sock, all but the toe grafting, and my baby sweater has one sleeve on it; maybe by tomorrow night I'll have both of those done, eh? And here at home Steve is happy but stressed out, Pippin is doing amazingly well, the cats are all fat and sleek and happy, Jesse is chattering away at me -- how're things in your neck of the woods?