This week in life

Just a funny picture of Jub taken a week or so ago. We'd taken the games to Texas at Christmas--Jub was intending to jump into the crate and didn't make it very far. Then I think he started enjoying the view from up there because he sat up there a couple more times. He can be rather cute when he's not being a cat.

I registered for my graduate classes at UNT on Monday. I'll be taking 7 hours this semester and will spend four days on campus starting next Friday. The rest of the classes will be done via the Internet. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. But I'm excited and interested in seeing how the classes work. But I've got to get my brain back to thinking in more academic terms. Paul and I were pleased that the tuition bill wasn't as much as we'd originally budgeted. That's always a good thing.

Yesterday, I had one of those moments at work that really make me question some people's thinking. On Monday, one of my coworkers came by the library to ask me if my neighbors whose house has been on the market for 6 months would be willing to rent. My coworker sold her house and she and her family want to rent a house until they relocate in the next year or so. I called my neighbor and got the ball rolling on that. Yesterday morning, I was standing in the office and told my coworker, "Oh, I'm going to go call Neighbor back and then will get you two in touch." My coworker didn't say anything to me until after I'd chatted with my neighbor for a good 20 minutes and we'd talked about what a win/win this was, etc. When I went to talk to my coworker shortly after the phone call, she told me THEN that she and her husband had found another house to rent on Tuesday. I still have no idea why she didn't tell me this rather important little tidbit BEFORE I called my neighbor. I dreaded having to call back my neighbor to tell her--I think my earlier phone call was a bright spot in a rather dreadful six months in regards to their house--and now I had to call back with more disappointing news. After lunch, I saw my coworker again and confirmed that she didn't need the house. Thankfully, Neighbor was gracious and appreciative that I'd done as much as I had for them. There has been someone visit their house twice now in the past week so hopefully, something good will come of that for them and they will be able to start their lives for real in St. Louis. But I still just wonder what the hell my coworker was thinking by not saying something to me first thing this morning. Some people. . .

Paul took the Camry in for the 100,000 mile check-up yesterday as well. Holy cow. Aside from the body and the engine, I think he's got an entirely new car under the hood. He was funny when he called with the news about what had to be done because he prefaced the entire conversation with "Now, remember I haven't had anything done on the car in a long time." I think the entire car was being held together with a wing and a prayer. There are new engine mounts, brakes, CV boots, spark plugs, timing belt, and a whole host of other things. We laughed at the end when the service manager told us that oh, yeah, and we also had to replace the antenna because we forgot to lower it before washing the car. It is cheaper than buying a whole new car and hopefully, we won't have to spend quite so much in 50,000 miles.

Paul and I think we're going to do some furniture rearranging this weekend. We're going to move the futon into the guest room. It's technically too big--it's 91" long so it will take up the vast majority of one wall--but we want to see how it will work with the more open floor arrangement. I think I'll like having it rearranged although I'd like to still eventually get a daybed for the guest room. We're going to move the double bed into the upstairs bedroom. This will at least give us an idea for furniture in the rooms.

So, that's pretty much it. We've both about shaken the lingering cough. The calendar is filling in but it's just enough to keep us busy and Paul's travel schedule isn't nearly as crazy as it was last year at this time. He's gone next week and doesn't have travel plans again until the last week of February or so. Life is settling back into a nice little post-holiday routine.