Tidbits

So it is another lazy Sunday. The Hubs just left for his third trip to Canada so it is just me and the beasts. I have gotten used to it but, it does not make it easier. I have found myself antsy at times but, I have found some things to keep me busy and we have our daily video chats.

One of the top thins on my "to do" list is my resume. It is official, I am looking for a new job!

I have not been let go but, one of my major project that I was working on as a PM was pulled from me by my bosses new boss. I was 97% complete before it was pulled form me and I was not happy. The past few weeks have been incredibly weird and stressful. With the loss of some key players of our executive team and the quiet acquisition by a sister company it has become apparent that the way we have been doing things are not the way things will be done now.

The change is palpable and with some ears on the ground and with some honest conversations with my boss. I am seeing more and more that I may not fit the new mold. And I am okay with it and decided to make change happen so I am going to start to look for a new job.

I was encouraged after a number of conversations with my husband and then speaking with one of my neighbors. She is very well connected and helped talked me through some ideas and has given me the push that I needed to pull myself together and take the plunge.

As nervous as I am, I find myself very excited about the possibilities. The initial search that I did has netted me some job leads and really amazing opportunities out there for my skill set.

So what are your job searching tips?

Week one, day one

This week starts the Hubs six to eight week sojourn to Canada for work. Granted he will be home on the weekends but, I am not used to being alone. It is strange to thank that a couple of years ago I was living by myself and did not depend on anybody. It is not to say I depend on him but, I am so used to having him around to help with the dogs, help with dinner or even just have a conversation with. So it will be weird at first but, we will get used to it.

So this weekend, he had a list of things to tackle around the house. This was done, of course, after the Renegade art fair. If you have never been the Renagade art fair is a done at various weekends around the country and features crafters from all over and their unique goods. Almost all of the vendors are on etsy, so it was fun to see the variety. I thought that I would be the one burning through the cash but it turned out that Hubs took the cake. He had so much fun, and loved the quirkiness of it all. He kept looking at the different booths saying I want this, or we should get that. He restrained himself to a really cool graphic print, a laptop case and some quirky postcards. But we ended up with a number of business cards and websites for future purchases.

Looking back at the summer, we had some really great weekends together and with friends. Last weekend, we took the dogs and went to the burbs to visit friends. She invited Yukon and Rosie to play and run with her dogs. She has two big dogs and they were so thrilled to have friends over. As soon as we got there and took Yukon off her leash she took off and ran and played then pooped out before her second and third and fourth wind. You would never know she is going to be 12! Rosie ran the joint. My friend has an alpha female dog who is the boss but, when Rosie came along there was a wee power struggle and Rosie won. So there is this 8 pound dog running and playing with a 60 pound dog who would drop the toy if Rosie ran up to her.

So it starts, a few days each week without Hubs.

Any book recommendations?

Ramblings cause I am sick

I have this weird plague thing going on. OK it may not be an actually plague but I am sick. It started off with a sore throat that lead to a runny/stuffy nose that lead to a slight on-again off-again fever. Jealous much? I have been working from home in my pjs and whining to the dogs about how miserable I am. They just look at me and go back to sleep.

I am just glad that I am sick the week that Hubs is home. Because for the next 6-8 weeks, Hubs will be commuting back and forth from Chicago to Toronto. Meaning that he will leave for Canada on Sunday or Monday and be home on Friday. He has been working on a project for over a year and it is taking a direction that requires people on the team to work in Canada and he was chosen.

He suspected that this may happen and when it happened, I was not happy I am ok with business travel, hell I spent two weeks in NJ last year for a project (that never happened) but 6-8 weeks when it was suppose to be two weeks max. Then I realized that he may not be home for my birthday but, he assures me that he will because he has a sleep study the day before my birthday. Smart man.

So, I have been thinking of ideas on how to keep busy when he is in Canada*. here is my list so far

1-Clean the floors in all the rooms,
2-Clean the grout in the bathroom
3-Bead
4.Work with Rosie on her doggy manner class homework

I don't want to spend most of my time watching television, I want to be somewhat productive. I admit that there will be times when I will plop on the couch and turn on the tube but, I want to try to make that the exception rather than the norm.

What ideas do you have? Mind you, I can't do anything immediately after work because I have to come home and walk the dogs.

*We did talk about me coming up to visit him in Canada but I have to get my passport changed. Since I took his name my passport has my old one. Plus we are trying to watch our pennies.

Nine lives

I think that I have nine lives and right now I am in life five. Last week, we had a round of layoffs in my office. I knew they were coming and I knew who would be given the pink slip. I wasn't "in the know" as a manager or was told by somebody but I read the writing on the wall. See, I have been in this position before when you know that things are bad, you know that they are letting people in different offices go, you see the public financial reports and then whoop, here is another acquisition. This particular acquisition had a catch, it had a number of people who did the same thing and a few jobs that would not be relevant. We were warned that the top brass was looking for the best of the best. And last week, those who did not make the cut were let go.

It sucks to watch this unfold, seeing HR call people one by one and seeing them come out in tears and packing up their desk and heading out in less than 10 minutes start to finish. I have seen it four times before and probably will see it over the life cycle of my career. It sucks, survivor guilt I suppose.

Then to top this all off, our senior management was shaken up and the results have wrecked morale and stirred up the rumor mill. And thus began the chain of events, after the all of the layoffs; a few people quit. Our office when from a lively place a few months ago to a very quiet one. We lost staff to the other office and the lay offs. I

So where do I stand, I am safe for now and probably will be for a few more months. I hold a unique position in the company and right now I am busier than ever. It is not to say when I am done with my projects, they won't show me the door. It does say that I have to get a few ducks in order so that I am prepared to do what needs to be done for me. It has given me time to reflect on my job(s) and what I want to be when I grow up.

But at the same time, the opportunities are endless.

Have you been through a lay off? How did it affect you?

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Hubs is doing much better, he saw a top notch cardio last week who thinks that this was an isolated event give the fact that Hubs is healthy. However, he does want to rule out a few things so the Hubs will have to undergo a stress test, wear a heart monitor and have a sleep study over the next few weeks. Better safe than sorry!

Thanks for your kind words and thoughts!

Our second year and our first adventure

Hubs and I celebrated our first anniversary this past weekend. It is so strange to think that we celebrated a year, in a way it feels that we got married just last week but, have been together for a long time.

We celebrated a day early with an indulgent dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. We had wonderful wine, a great dinner and a luxe dessert We even got our neighbors to take our photo, prom style. It was a nice quiet evening that we just celebrated our marriage. Sunday was the actual day and we spent the morning in doggy school. Rosie has been signed up for intermediate doggy manners class to work out some behaviors. After class, we picked up my gift for Hubs. a replica wedding cake. For our wedding we had a small cake to cut and had cupcakes for our guests. So I had our cake replicated.

That evening we had cake and sparkling wine with one of my bridesmaids.

But, that evening started one of the scariest moments of my life.

Hubs went to bed complaining that his heart felt like it was racing. He did not sleep and when he got up in the morning he was not feeling better. He took the dogs out and came back all sweaty and exhausted for a simple walk. He did not want to go to the hospital or the doctor, he thought that it would pass. So we went to the store and after he made it past the front door red and sweaty, I made him call his doctor. So right in the paper good asile, the nurse told him to go to the ER

After a quick trip home for a shower, to pack a few things and grab a sandwich. We have both been to the ER before and knew the wait could be a while.

so we got to the hospital and they took us in right away. Within minutes, he was in a bed with electrodes on his chest an IV in his arm and a bunch of nurses and a doctor in his "room". His heart was in a fib. His heart was at 177-200 beat a minute! A normal heart is around 77-89. They started to rush around him adding meds to his IV and talking him through the process. We all stood by the monitor watching the numbers work their way down. At the same time, his blood pressure dropped. So they slowed down the med and he was made to lay down.

It seemed like an eternity before the numbers started to get into the normal range but, reality was only a few minutes. They had to give him a does a blood thinner to prevent clots due to his low BP. This gained him admission to the hospital. Once stabilized, he began to make jokes with the nurses and the doctors and tried to make me laugh.

I was so afraid, I could not believe what was happening. I got scared and began to get tears in my eyes. There was no way I could lose him, there was no way, we were just starting. He assured me that he was not going anywhere! He began to tease me how he always promised me adventure and I teased him that he had to stick around to kill bugs and reach the high shelves.

He got a room a few hours later and I went home to grab a few things for him. He stayed in the hospital for a few days for observation and got released on Wednesday evening. His brother and sister in law came by to visit, our neighbors took care of our dogs in the evenings so I could be with Hubs and our phone and facebook had messages of support from our friends and family.

He got released with orders to see the cardiologist. The doctors could not find a reason why this happened but we just have to make sure it does not happen again. So he is not allowed coffee or booze and is on some meds.

So our first week of our second year together began with a wild adventure. I told him that this is the worst that I will allow this year to be so only good things from now on. We made it through this together, he leaned on me, and I had to be brave. He always promised me an adventure, and together we will face it all.

Happy anniversary, babe. For better and worse, in sickness and in health. I love you always.

Spinning plates

Have you ever watched the circus performers spin plates, they strat to spin them on their finger then transfer them to these long sticks and them try to spin more plates while kee[ong the previous plates in motion?

Yea, that is what has been going on with me lately. I am working on this huge high profile project at work and was doign well, until someone else dropped the ball and handed it to me and then went on vacation. I was dreading today, I had a restless sleep thinking about spreadsheets. But ya know, it was not all that bad. Once I organized the info, worked out a plan with my counterpart, and started to get responses to my email things started to move. And I was able to breath. I know that I can do this and do it well and I so so glad that the higher ups are noticing what I have been doing.

So while I am appearing calm, my brain is all over the place and I feel a bit loopy and out of it (sorry I have not caught up on some blogs!). At the end of the day, I am just glad to come home see three furry faces, have a nice glass of wine and veg out with the hubs.

Plus there are some exciting things that have popped up in the past few days that we will have to wait and see if they pan out but, I am not going to over think, if it happens it will happen....I just hope that it happens.

So what plates are you spinning?

Sucks

Sometimes it sucks to be so far from your family.

Sometimes it sucks to get a phone call telling your grandmother in another country passed away.

Sometimes it sucks when you can't speak to your mom because she is on a plane.

Sometimes it sucks when your stoic dad gets emotional on the phone.

Sometimes it sucks to realize that the last time you made a trip there was 14 years ago and that money and lack of vacation time prevented you from doing so.

Sometimes it sucks that you could not say good bye.

So yea, sometimes it sucks.

Her-story epeats

As a kid, it took me awhile to understand the phrase "History repeats". Sure enough though out many years of history classes you learned about it (Like never invade Russia in the winter!)

It was recently that i noticed personal history also repeats. A few weeks back I got contacted by a former friend of mine on FB. We were close growing up and then we went to the same school and things did not go well. She became part of a group that ignored me, teased me and were cruel to me. It was not an easy time for me and my self esteem took a hit.

As I debated whether to accept or not,I stopped and looked at my life now and realized that this incident has happened to me throughout various parts of my life. It was not an exact story but there have been a lot of common elements that exist even today.

The only thing that changed is my reaction to it. I get over it easier or at least faster. I don't dwell on it and try to move on with my life (it is not always easy) or I just remove myself from the situation. Self protection perhaps, but I can anticipate how the story will go.

I did accept her friend request, I am glad to see that she is doing well. Now I have to figure out how to break the story I am currently in.

What about you, do you see trends and history repeating in your life?

Not as busy as a bee

So my lovely three day weekend last week was not what I expected. I had to work for half a day on Friday. I did accomplish a few things like going to my doctor, went to the fabric store (although I did not find a fabric I liked for the big secret project) and started to work on our wedding album.

Lately, work has been very busy. I am glad though because ti makes my days fly by the downside is that it is getting harder and harder to take some time off. I don't mind checking in ones or twice but, I don't like to be teathered to my laptop or phone when I am suppose to be out and about.

I do have a great boss who has granted me a half a day on Friday to make up for my hours "in the office" last week. So we are thinking about venturing into to the Taste of Chicago for lunch.
We also have a call with our financial planner, hopefully we can find a balance that will work for us.

I feel that I am making a lot of sacrifices and am still feeling a bit over my head. I question sometimes was the grad degree worth the costs? Of course it is but it takes a while to pay off both professionally and financially. I have seen some benefits and I am lucky to be in the position I am now because of that degree.

Lately, I am in a spendy mood, I want to buy a bedroom set, a screen door, tile our backsplash re-do our office and get a proper desk, replace some clothes that are old or too small (yea lets add go to the gym to that one) and go on vacation. We will probably get the door and figure out a back splash. The rest will wait...until we win the lotto!

Two three

I have two three day weekends in a row. I am taking tomorrow off and it has been much needed. I have so many things that I want to do and have to do and I wanted some time to do it without sacrificing too much of the weekend so tomorrow I plan to:

-Go to the doctor for a check up (Ugh it is all the way downtown, in the early morning because traffic is going to suck!)
-Go to the fabric store to pick up a button for a blouse, some thread for the dog toy triage center I have in my office (they tore up some of their favorite stuffed toys) and look at upholstery fabric for a super secret project that I will blog about soon
-Go to the dry cleaner to drop off clothes that have accumulated for months, yea not too proud of that one
-Go through the wedding photos and pick a few to frame
-Print said photos and actually frame them
-Start to create a wedding album
-go to my neighbors contemporary dance show

So that is a full day and I hope to cross many off of my to do list.

What is your to do list if you had tomorrow off?

Spotless

I am in a cleaning/decorating mood. I want to scrub down the condo from top to bottom and then I want to get rid of stuff.

I have this habit of putting things in (separate) piles and pretend that they are not there. Clothes, paper, shoes etc. It is getting to the point where the piles have piles! so I am planning on taking this Friday off. I have a doctors appointment then I am woman on a mission, going to the fabric store to get a button and look at some fabric for a project, the off to the dry cleaner and home by noon.

Having an extra off day makes my weekend feel more productive.

What would you do with an extra day off this week?

Just so personal;

The other day, I had lunch with a good friend of mine. We haven't seen each other in a few months and we wanted to catch up. Over lunch, she leaned back, took a breath and then began to tell me what has really been going on. I could tell it was not something that she talked about a lot and she began to talk more and more about this particular situation. As she did, she seemed to relax a bit more. I told her that she can always call me and talk about this and other situations anytime, that I am here for her.

She seemed really relived and then leaned in from across the table and whispered "It is such a personal thing, that I just did not know if I can talk to anyone about it."

That statement sums up the way I have been feeling about my blog (yep one of those blogger talking about blogging posts).

In the past few months there have been some things going on that are personal. My husband reads my blog and I am okay with that because it is not things that he hasn't heard before. But since getting married there are some issues that we are in the midst of that affect both of us. By blogging about them, I am exposing part of his life too.

Yet, at the same time, these are the things I want to talk about, I want input on them but, I just can't. It has really eaten me up inside because I do want some different perspectives that comments provide.

So I am trying to find some sort of balance. Yet, it is leaving me feeling that I am writing about superficial things like random weekend events.

I am working on finding that balance, finding the zen between personal and public. How do you do it?

Fluttering

I am now becoming entrenched in a new project at work that involves an acquisition. It is strange to be on the other side of an acquisition (the winning side so to speak). But that means that there is a lot of work and integration will be a long and bumpy process. So I have been traveling between my original office and the "new" office a few miles away, I have been on conference calls that start when I begin my commute home and often end with me sitting on the top of my stairs in front of my door (if I go in the dogs go nuts).

I get home so drained and tired. So this past weekend was a chance for me to rest and recoup. Except that Rosie does not have a snooze button and is awake every day at 5:45 which means we are all awake at 5:45 and I have been out on walks at 6. But we finally figured out a way to trigger her snooze button. Let Yukon sleep with her! She slept in yesterday to 8:30 but, we think that the long walk along the lake shore had something to do with it too.

Saturday we spent the day with my in laws. My sister in law and I went to a wine festival in Elgin to support a charity that her sister works at. We got to try about 12 wines and considereing that we swapped, it was about 24. There are an amzing amount of local wines (produced inIndiana, Michigan and Illinois ) most were fruit wines. There was this lovely rhubarb wine and an almond champagne.

After the festival we went back to their house for a nice BBQ where my brother in law served as the neurotic grill master. But to his credit, everything was wonderful!

The rest of the weekend was spent at home, cleaning sleeping, catching up on some movies, playing wtih the dogs and going for long walks.

We need more long weekends.

What was your highlight?

Not quite myself

I am feeling "off" lately. It is a mixture of feeling unappreciated, underwhelmed, tired, helpless frustrated, anti-social and stressed.

The frustrated, helpless and stressed feelings I can dive deeper into I know why I am feeling this way, I know the causes but unfortunatly there is no quick fix. It is a daily reminder of "Hi, here is your life now, here is the life you want and there is no way at this time to bridge the gap" My life is not that bad at all, I know that. I am quite fortunate in many respects but, there are things that I want (not necessary material goods although a Mac book with be nice) and I know that I can't get them. It is just beating me up.

Tired well that is due to the lack of a full nights sleep. I tend to wake up at least once during the night. The cat likes to scratch the door at the wee hours for attention or he decides to be sick at 3:14 am. Or the thunder wakes me up or I am too hot/too cold or I had a nightmare, or a siren goes off etc.

All of this makes me just want to hibernate and hide and try to figure my way out of this funk. I just don't know how.

Note: This is not a reflection of my marriage. I am very lucky to have my husband for so many reasons.

Putting away the suitcases

We got back yesterday from our weekend in NY. It was one of those trips that we did not plan to do anything. We both had to plug into the office on Friday so we stayed near my parent's house. My friend, her husband and her cute baby came up to visit we along with my dad and brother. I was able to satisfy my pizza requirements and it was a lot of fun catching up. We both new that the baptism would be crazy and when there is a baby as good and cute as Baby V, you will get no baby time.

We spent Saturday at the zoo and just strolled around the park. We had a good time and as my Hubs puts it, "the residents were lovely it was the visitors that were not". It was so true, some parents and kids were just out of control.

My dad took us out for Portuguese food that evening and it was so good. Hubs is determined to find a Portuguese restaurant in Chicago, any ideas?

Sunday we headed to Staten Island for the christening*. And on the way we went through all 5 bouroughs, one was not on purpose! We crossed 7 bridges round trip (two not on purpose). But ithe whole ceremony and party were worth it. Baby V was so well behaved she slept through most of it and at the part was passed around. She would just sit on you lap and look around. I tried but she would not fit in my purse. But she is going to come with her mom to visit us soon! WE were able to catch up with some friends and make news ones.

One of the people at our table is a filmmaker and my friends business partner. Their short file has been shown in 4 film festivals so far and has gotten some great reviews. He was very interesting to talk to! They are busy with four more films that they are hoping to work through this year.

Yesterday we came back to Chi town to tow very excited dogs and a pleased cat. It was good to be home and share a bed again. My parents ave kept my room and my brother's the same, with one twin bed so Hubs and I had our own room!

*I did wear my black dress but paired it up with my hot pink shoes and a hot pink flower pin. It looked great!

Black?

In a few weeks, Hubs and I are heading to the big apple to attend the christening of my best friend's baby. This is her first and she loves being a mom. She was my matron of honor and we joked that it was good she chose an empire waist dress since she was 8 weeks pregnant then. Her biggest regret was not having champagne at the wedding so we will be bringing her a bottle.

Her daughter was born in February during the worst snow storm of the winter and I was one of the few people that they called an hour after the birth. I have been given the title of Aunt.

Needlessness to say, we can't wait to go.

I have a question though, is it appropriate to wear a black dress for a christening? I would wear it with pink heels.

So what are your thoughts?

Hoping for a harvest

We spent our weekend doing the typical one day of errands and second day of chores. The bathroom and back deck are spotless, The floors cleaned (Until tonight when Yukon's shedding form fur tumble weeds) and an outright avoidance of the room that really needs attention...the office. We have too much stuff there, paper, desks random stuff. We need to get rid of most of it. We have two tables that we use as desks and then we have 4 bookshelves we realized that they take up too much space and that room is suffocating. So we are trying to think of a way to reduce clutter and open it up. Any ideas?

We planted our tiny deck box. We decided on basil, strawberries and stevia. While we know the basil will grow, we are wondering how the rest of the two will do. It is an experiement. Last year we did not have a deck box garden because of the stress surrounding the wedding. So this year, I wanted to have one. I wish we had a little patch of soil to work on because I would love to grow tomatoes and cucumbers with a few more herbs. But we will make do with what we got.

There has been some passive aggressive behaviour that is affecting our condo and last night we were in the middle of it. As with most condos, noise is an issue especailly if you have back decks, a few friends, a few drinks and open windows. One neighbor sent out a snotty, insult filled request for parties to be done by 10. This said neighbor has been the author of a number of these types of emails, he has this huge sense of entitlement and has not made any effort to come to any condo meetings. So the emails and insults continue.

Last night, many neighbors decided to rebel against this tenent by holding an impromptu drink/ bbq session, under our bedroom window. Normally, we do not mnid but the smoke, noise and unleashed dogs were getting a bit out of hand. Thankfully a few neighbors approached us and told us to let them know when we need them to quiet down. I said as long as they wrap up at 10 we are good and they did.

Communication is key but, I suspect that this type of passive aggressiveness is going to be a shot across the bow and we expect a few more rounds in this battle. We want a house.

Paradise lost

We are back from our amazing trip to Maui and have been for almost two weeks!

When we came back to work, things seemed to have exploded in our absence. It made us wonder, why didn't we stay? So all last week, we had a few late nights, working from home and plenty of meetings to get us back in the game. It was all worth it!

Our trip to Maui was just perfect. It was a great combo of activities and relaxing. When I am on vacation I can never really relax because there are things that Iw ant to do and see. This time we made it a point to do both!

Here are some highlights

• We got up early to watch the sun rise over Haleakala, a dormant volcano and by early I mean 1:30 in the morning. We did a tour and that was when our pick up time was. Our guide picked s up and I swear he was shooting espresso! I have never in my life met some one who was so up and at them for 8 hours. He was just pumped and excited. He has done this for 5 years and it was so refreshing in a way to see someone who loves their job.

• On our way up to the sun rise, we stopped at a rest stop and there were no lights and the stars were endless. We saw the milky way and it was beautiful.

• We spent the next day snorkeling. I found a company that only goes out with no more than 6 people rather than a huge group tour. Hubs and I had so much fun with our guide. she was patient and knowledgeable. It was so awesome to see her get excited when we saw a puffer fish.
  

• The most surreal moment was when we were swimming with sea turtles. We saw one and Hubs and I were so excited. then about 15 minutes later, we were surrounded by at least 8-10 of them, they were next to us, below us and above us. Since they are endangered we could not approach them but, it did not stop them from approaching us. They were so graceful and inquisitive. There was one who was swimming towards us and was just a few feet away before he swam away. I have a deep respect for those creatures now.

• We went hiking in one of the rainforrests. I though it would be more casual than it was. It was challenging, we were climbing up and down rock cliffs only holding on to hhibiscus roots. We saw a number of waterfalls but, were glad when it was over.
  

• Pineapples, so good, we could not stop eating them. Passion fruit gelatto was another yum. Apple bananas were delish.
  

• Seeing the Hubs get formally recognized by the executive team. I had the opportunity to meet his co-workers and some people in his company. Mostly everyone was really nice and we had a good time.

• Winning the coveted tiki trophy as part of the Hub's team building exercise. We won all our team events by the half and then killed in in the sand castle final. Our winning sand castle...sea turtles. but Hubs rocked the blow darts and I rocked the coconut toss.

• Sitting in by the pool overlooking the beach and seeing humpback whales play in the ocean. It was a mom and her calf having fun

• Seeing Jennifer Aniston jogging on the beach path at our hotel

• Meeting and getting our photo with Adam Sandler also at our hotel. He was so nice and genuine and called me "Short legs!"

I want to go back. The Island, the people, the drinks, the air was exactly what our souls needed. My skin and hair never felt better. The hubs and I reconnected without the distractions of our daily lives and got to spent time hanging out and just having fun.

Aloha Maui! Mahalo!

Now just the fingers

We are very close to getting ready for our trip. We were supposed to sit down and plan this weekend but then we had to clean the condo and yesterday was a wash because we spent part of the day with the in laws.

But this week, you would think we would have time but think again. We are busy from Wednesday onward with events, meetings and concerts.

So if any of you have been to Maui what are the must dos? We are planning to do the sunrise tour and a road to Hana tour. But what else, what do we have to try activity and food wise?

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And just to show you how busy we were, try doing this:

Almost just hands and toes

We have been counting the days until our trip to Hawaii. Sure we are excited to go and get to be somewhere new and exciting but, more so, we really need to get away. Things haven't been that great for us lately, we have been going through a down time with so many stressful things. Here are just a few in the last week:

-Hub's uncle passed away after a short illness, my father in law was able to see him before he passed and was there for the funeral. As sad as this is, his uncle passed away on his terms and had all his wishes and requests followed. It also ended some family strife that has been haunting the Hubs and his siblings.

-The Hubs has been stressed out from his job which translate to being stressed at home.

-We've been having some dog issues, one of which I can't talk about. The other one is that they have been eating paper, not just any paper but bank statement, tax document, old MBA papers. We have no idea how Yukon has gotten into them. So after two years of being crate free, she has now been put back in her crate.

-Money, but then again who is not stressed out by money. We are beating ourselves up on past money mistakes and the lack of foresight in other matters. But hey, we do not have crystal balls to predict the future but have to deal with the present. Thank goodness for the huge tax refund we got but it will require us to continue to live frugally.

-My grandmother is quite ill, very ill that I had to call my mom in Egypt. Thankfully, she has had a slight improvement and my parents got back from the Middle East yesterday.

Thankfully, the two of us are stronger together than ever. We've been there to support each other as the pieces being to fall.

So in a few weeks, we will be in the middle of the Pacific together celebrating the Hub's accomplishments and each other and not a moment too soon!