Crazy Weather

So it's been well below freezing for over a week now, and yesterday it suddenly warmed up to almost 70. Bizarre but very nice. The ice melted. And then, oh yes, middle of the night I wake up thinking it's a tornado. My windows are rattling so hard I'm afraid they are going to break and I can hear the wind outside and I don't think I've ever heard it that loud before. I got out bed and Dad was up, walking around the house wondering the same thing. We'd been priming last night (and I can't get the dang stuff off my arms, they are covered in white spots), and we left some windows open. The Christmas tree had been knocked over, but so had our really heavy grill outside. Our patio furniture is now strewn across the lawn, too. We decided it wasn't a tornado and I went back to bed, but the wind, thunder and lightening was intense.

Now, just a few hours later, the temperature has dropped again and can you guess what it's doing now? Did you say freezing rain again? Oh, you're right! Great. I'm having soooooo much fun with this ice and driving bit this year. Verdammte Scheisse. Isn't it time I moved to a warmer country?

Aside from the weather, I was in Des Moines for Christmas and when I got back Dad had stripped the wallpaper from the kitchen and as I set my bags down he looked at my shocked face, grinned and said, "ready to paint?" Um, sure.

But of course, first comes the Kilz. Man that stuff is nasty. And, as already mentioned, I am absolutely covered in tiny white freckles of Kilz. Lovely. Maybe I'll wear gloves for the next round. Dad picked out sea foam, a color which is like white (or just simply white in my opinion) with a hint of blue and green. I maintain that it's white. I'll put up a pic when it's done and we'll have a little vote.

Anyway, I hope everyone's holidays have gone splendidly. : )

Winter in the Midwest

Today on my way to Lee's Summit I drove through the mini blizzard in my car that doesn't even like rain, thinking, please let it stop soon and the roads be decent by the time I get done working. However, it just continued to come down, and instead of staying at Mom's (which would have been the smart decision) I decided to drive home. There were so many cars off the road, and it actually took me two full hours to get home. Talk about really bad roads. So tomorrow I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere. Oh yeah, when I got home I shoveled the driveway - twice - and it's still a sheet of ice. Fun stuff. I'm betting those of you in places that don't have this problem are just laughing. If only Dad's truck was still here....

And the doc said my eye is looking great, it's changing shape and everything. So maybe in a few weeks we can stop with the eye-shaping contacts.

I'm so glad I have a fireplace right now. : )

Japan

I know I've not been updating this blog often, but there hasn't been a lot of excitement lately. However, I do have some news.

First of all, I know I was planning to move to Spain, but I think the jobs are better in Asia, and I've been seriously considering Japan. I am too late (just missed the deadline by a few weeks) to apply to the JET program, but there is another that Kelly is with that is legitimate and sounds good. So I am applying to them. I am also taking the Foreign Service Officer Exam in a few months just to keep my options open. As long as I do well on the exam, that is!

And I can see!!!!!!!! Ok, not perfectly, but better. The contact experiment we've been doing the past few weeks seems to be working and my doctor is getting really hopefully. I'm still hesistant to get too enthusiastic, but things seem to be looking up. : )

I also have a job interview next week. So fingers crossed.

The thesis is coming along slowly, but coming along. I have just over 20 pages on it now.

I think that is all of the news. I'll update again soon if anything spectacular occurs!