Week of Freedom.

I am off work. All week. With my favorite people. My sis is here from Dallas and of course my parents. I got my furniture moved in my house today (thanks to the movers, best money I have ever spent) and am getting settled in. I will update with pictures...looking forward to a week of relaxing- pool, movies, shopping. :)

Times two!

We had another softball game tonight in 8,000 degreee heat....and yes...we lost. But the good news is that I found my glove as I was unpacking before the game (I had been borrowing a teammate's). With this big break in excitement, I was posted up in right field (as always) and I caught not one, but TWO fly balls! Hooray!! I am fairly sure my team was shocked, but that's okay....maybe I can do it again sometime!

If you cook it....they will come....

Last night was the Painting Party....Part 2. Yes, that's right, it's beyond me that people were so kind to come over last week and paint, but yet, they returned last night and did it again! I feel that it could have been motivated by promises of chicken enchiladas. Mmm. Nevertheless....the living room and dining room are now painted (the living room for a second time) and I am getting that much closer to actually moving in! I think they all did a great job!! :)

With the excitement of last night, I also got to use my oven for the first time....so pumped! It worked so well (you never know!) and I captured a few pictures to share.

The first cooked item out of the oven!
My friend Sarah's kids.....too cute and very helpful!
Jennifer hard at work.
The finished product!! Much preferred to the previous dark burgandy color!

The End.

So, after much anticipated build-up for the last 6 months of what "will happen" with Jon and Kate +8, now we know. They announced on the show tonight that they are separating and then it was announced that they filed for divorce today. So sad for all their kids!! I was talking to a friend about it earlier and she was like, maybe there will be two shows, "Jon + 4" and "Kate + 4". :(

This should never happen...

***WARNING: Graphic photos to follow!***

Again....this should NEVER happen....in slow-pitch softball. Last night we were mid-game and my competitive streak took over when I was running to third. I was going to get thrown out, so it seemed logical to slide. POOR DECISION!!! The middle picture is of my outer calf and the lower picture is my thigh. Ouch! Thankfully I work at a hospital and the physical therapists do wound care for patients, so a friend doctored up my injuries with a neosporin-type gel and gauze. Pretty sure they won't have to amputate now....oh, and I was safe. ;)

Priceless...

Pizza....$25


Drinks....$10


Five friends to help paint my new house....Priceless


Lisa, a physical therapist I work with at the hospital...

Sarah, another physical therapist from the hospital and my neighbor...
Jennifer, one of the social workers from the hospital

There were two more painters, but I didnt get pictures of them in action. We are making very good progress! With the help of some friends, we painted the master and guest bedrooms and the living room, and had a good time no less. I will put up some post-painting pictures sometime soon. :)

Visit to KC....

This weekend I went to Kansas City for a continuing education course Saturday morning for speech pathologists and got to see some friends while I was in town. Friday night I stayed with my friend from grad school Teresa and we went to one of my very favorite restaurants. It's called Oklahoma Joe's Barbeque and it is awesome. It is located near KU Med Center and I first learned of it from friends when I was in school there. It's actually ran out of a gas station and based off the experiences I have had there, I am not the only person that loves it. When we got there, the line was out the door and I would guess there were 50-60 people in line; and it stayed that way until we left after dinner. So good! I would highly recommend it for some good BBQ in KC!!
My "Smokie Joe" and seasoned fries. Mmm!

After dinner Friday, Teresa and I went to meet up with some other friends from grad school and it was really good to get caught up!

My former roommates Danielle and Leah.

Leah, me, Danielle and Teresa

After my class Saturday, I got to go meet Brooke Evelyn, my friends Julie and Aaron's little girl. She is two weeks old and such a sweetie. I lucked out and she was awake for most of my visit and didn't cry much at all. It was good to see her parents; they are definitely in love with her and so proud, as they should be! I can't wait to see them again!! :)

Welcome to my home!

I am finally announcing to the (blogging) world that I bought a house!! I signed the weekend after Easter and just closed today. I am PRETTY EXCITED!! It's about 5 minutes from work and in a cute little neighborhood. My parents and I got some pizza and went over to MY HOUSE and had a little party! Let the painting and moving begin!! Cheers! :)

My first house!!

The entryway

Kitchen and breakfast nook

Butler's pantry

Formal dining room....

Master bedroom...

Guest bedroom...


Deck....

Me in my new backyard...

My first two house guests!!

Celebration pizza from Glory Days!

Some of the flowers in my backyard...

Some more roses....

Inhumane working conditions...

So, there is a SERIOUS problem at my work! Every Monday, about 3:00, the occupational therapists do a cooking activity with their patients....that involves baking fresh chocolate chip cookies. SERIOUSLY!?!?!? What did I ever do to deserve this sort of torture!??! The kitchen is across the hall from the speech office, so the smell of fresh cookies floats across the hall and into my nose and makes me so hungry I feel like I could chew my arm off!! It's at the worst time of day too....lunch has worn off, the appeal of work is fading and there is like an hour of work left to go....I don't know if I can go on working in this set-up!! If you read in the newspaper that a speech therapist went crazy and took a bunch of cookies from some elderly patients, it was probably me. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

King of the Guac...

Mmm...so before about 3 years ago I had never really had guacamole, or any interest in it for that matter...but apparently IT IS SO GOOD!!! My dad has been cooking some up this while I have been staying with them (roommates/parents). He has tried several different recipes and this weekend he made one with a recipe from the paper....it has a little different twist, but we liked it! Give it a try!

1 cup (8 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 ripe avacados
1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapeno peppers
2 green onions, finely sliced
1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Served with blue corn tortilla chips.

Two weekends in a row!

My baby sis had yet another wedding this weekend...another one in Kansas! So, that means we have had Meg time two weekends in a row; it's almost too much. ;) When we picked her up at the airport Friday night, we went to Bo Ling's....which has the best Chinese food you have ever had, we think even better than PF Changs!! It's a great chain in the KC area; so good! Here is a picture of us pre-chow down!!

2-1...

Tonight we had our 3rd softball game....played at some of the newer diamonds in town that are really beautiful. There is nothing better than going to the softball fields on a gorgeous summer night like tonight, with kids running around the playground, bubble gum and the sound of bats connecting with incoming pitches. We won 10-5, so this brings our record to 2 wins and 1 loss. I can't claim that I had a lot to do with this victory, but I stood in right field and threw a ball in that rolled to me one time. :) I need to go to the batting cages as I tend to be off with my hits....you know it's bad when the catcher on the other team is giving you a pep talk!! I think we have 8 or 9 more games to go this summer, so hopefully I can get it in gear, but I'm just glad to be out enjoying the nice weather; as long as no one hits it to me. ;) Happy Summer!!

Same game....new town....

Dice....check.
Snacks....check.
Prizes.....check.
A bunch of ladies looking for a night of fun....check!!!

What do you have when you put all of these key ingredients together?!

BUNKO!!!

Since moving to Topeka, I have had a four month break from bunko and have really missed it! Of course, probably because of all of my good friends in Wichita that I played with are so entertaining, and we had so much fun whenever we got together! Well, a good friend from high school and I got a group together up here and had the first one last night.....and we had fun too! I had some 4th of July prizes and lots of food (probably too much). Only a few people had played before so everyone was figuring out the rules, but I think everyone had a good time. Looking forward to playing many more times in the future!

Bloomin'

This week my parents' flowers around their house have really started to bloom and tonight I was noticing how pretty they are....thought I would share. I also bought some white roses at Sam's and have been pleased with how they have turned out. Hopefully you are all having good things growing in your corners of the world. :)