15,000 Miles - in 9 Months!

Little Red - my 2007 Honda Civic - hit 15,000 miles yesterday. Very sad. I bought the car on October 30th and it had 8 miles on it at the time. Granted I drove it almost 1,000 miles in the first 2 days. I bought it in Louisville, KY and so that took a number of miles to get home.

When I put 60 miles on it each day driving to and from work what else can I expect?? The good thing is that it gets pretty nice gas mileage so at least I can be happy with that. It's still in great shape and fun to drive.

Here's to hoping that the odometer starts slowing down a little!

Fantasy Football Newbie

My next venture will be trying out fantasy football this fall. My nephew Chad has a league he runs through espn and he invited me to be in it this year. I thought about it and decided - sure why not?

So I committed to it and then looked at all of the information on espn's website. Am I nuts? It looks to be pretty complicated and intense. Our draft is coming up soon, so I guess I need to start thinking about players.

I found myself listening to the local sports station in the car today - they have an entire program around fantasy football. I picked up a few pointers - none of which I'll share as there are others in the league who may occasionally look at this blog.

Feel free to pass along any helpful hints if you're a fantasy football expert!

Over 5 Months Since the Fall

I'm sure everyone is interested to know how the old ankle is holding up these days. Suffice it to say - better than 5 months ago! I almost feel like I can do everything I used to do without much pain. The swelling around the ankle continues to be present, but it's not as big at least.

This week I've been in more pain in the evenings. It's hot and humid - wonder if that's the problem. The other thought is that I'm now not "babying" it as much and so maybe I'm just using it more. I've iced it a number of times and even used a foot massager that we bought recently.

I was talking to a co-worker the other day about how it still occasionally causes me trouble. Her response was one of surprise. She had broken something too in the past (not anything that she walks with by the way) and was surprised that it was still bothering me. Made me wonder if I was healing slow, but then someone else pointed out to me that she probably didn't have a plate and 8 screws to repair the break either. Point well taken!

Anyway, I'm healing and getting around much better. Still have the pain occasionally, but all in all - getting around much better than last March.

Thanks for reading!

Catching Up

I've been MIA for the last couple of weeks. I've been on vacation and busy with work getting ready for vacation.

To get caught up....

Steve and I met up with his family at Fair Hills Resort a couple of weeks ago. Steve vacationed there when he was younger and he hadn't been back in a very long time. It was great to finally experience it firsthand instead of just hearing the stories. The resort sits on a lake and is very peaceful. It really would be a great place to be for a week. We only were there for a day or two.

I worked for a couple of days after Fair Hills. Then headed to Illinois for a week with the family. I saw a ton of people while I was in Illinois. My sister and her kids came for a visit. My sisters, their families, and my parents and I went to my mom's hometown for a bit of a family reunion. My mom's from a big family and our reunion included my mom, her brother, her sister, 2 sisters-in-laws, and lots of cousins. There were about 45 of us there and that was probably about half of what could have been had everyone been there. It was a lot of fun.

My parents and I took a day trip to Springfield, IL and visited a few of the Lincoln sites. We went to the relatively new Lincoln museum, Lincoln's tomb (not so new), and New Salem. I probably hadn't been to New Salem since 4th grade - a number of years ago! I would highly recommend visiting any of the sites. The Lincoln museum was very cool and definitely worth the time to go over there.

I had fun seeing the nieces and nephews while I was down there. My sisters, nieces and I went to see Hairspray while I was there - very cute movie. I also saw my nephew pitch in a tournament game (sadly they lost, but not because of his pitching!). I went swimming with my sister and niece and got together with Steve's sister and family for my favorite - Custard Cup!

All in all it was a nice summer vacation.

Now I'm back home and we are finally getting some much needed rain. Our grass hasn't been mowed for probably over a month. We are majorly lacking in moisture.

Sad news out of Minneapolis with the bridge collapse. It's been nice seeing how the community is pulling together and supporting each other.

On another sad note, my 2nd grade teacher passed away last week after a battle with cancer. She was one of the reasons I originally wanted to teach. She was one of my favorite teachers. I remember her as a beautiful, young teacher who was kind to everyone. She'll be missed!

Bob Didn't Tell Me Directly, but....

Drew Carey it is! Straight from CNN, Drew Carey will be taking over for Bob Barker on The Price is Right.

I'm happy with the choice. It'll be interesting to see how he does with it. Definitely a better choice than some that were talked about.

Recent Movies

As I'm sitting here watching "Ebert and Roeper" I thought I'd give a few movie reviews of recent movies I've seen.

Steve and I went and saw Waitress several weeks ago. It was quite the "chick flick" and not at all what Steve was expecting. However, he even admitted it was an ok movie. I thought it was good. It stars Keri Russell as a waitress in a bad marriage and pregnant. Keri's character is a well-known pie maker in town. There was enough mention of pie that we went for a piece of pie afterward. So, make sure you don't eat too much popcorn - save room for pie.

After the Waitress, I haven't gotten Steve back to the theater. I don't mind seeing movies on my own, so that hasn't stopped me. I'm making up for lost time while I was laid up this spring!

I saw Knocked Up. It was ok, but didn't quite live up to the hype I'd heard about it. Lots of profanity, so if that bothers you - you might skip this one. Seth Rogan did a good job and I enjoyed watching him.

Next was Mr. Brooks. This is a movie where Kevin Costner plays a serial killer. It was pretty interesting and a little creepy all at the same time. Supposedly they want to make a trilogy out of this story. However, given that it didn't do that great at the box office, I can't imagine they'll bother, but you just never know.

On the 4th of July I saw Evening. This was the ultimate in chick flicks! I thought it was a good movie, it was about a woman dying and remembering things from her past. Meryl Streep's daughter was in the movie and looks a lot like her mom.

Next up was A Mighty Heart. This movie stars Angelina Jolie as Marianne Pearl - wife of Daniel Pearl who was kidnapped in early 2002 in Karachi. It was an interesting movie and made me realize that not everyone is out to get Americans. There were many people who were trying to find Daniel. It was pretty eye-opening for me.

I think that is it for now. I know I haven't seen the "summer blockbusters" yet, but I sometimes like to wait until movies have been out awhile so they aren't so crowded. Nothing worse than being elbow to elbow with other moviegoers or having to sit too far down front.

Catching Up

I've been doing some traveling over the last weekend and have been keeping busy at work. Steve and I met up with the rest of my family down in Louisville, KY for the weekend. We took in a Cardinals/Reds game Saturday night. A few of us went to the University of Louisville's Speed Art Museum. Highly recommend it if you are in town. We of course had some good food and fun catching up with the rest of the family.

We kept pretty quiet for the 4th of July. We did take an 18 mile bike ride. Some people might suggest that I start out with a 3-5 mile bike ride my first time out since the ankle break, but I always like to bite off more than I can chew. Although I was able to get through the 18 miles yesterday. I'm a bit sore today though.

Another key accomplishment this week has been that I was able to run up my stairs at home. I was pretty excited to do that! You just don't know how much you miss being able to do the little things in life... Of course I can't do it today (see 2nd paragraph).

Onto other news....the GRE studying has paid off. I not only did ok on the GRE, but I have found out that I've officially been accepted to the graduate school I applied to. I start this fall!

That's what has been happening in my neck of the woods. Hope you are having a great summer.