Hey, at least we have our tree up. It's a small tree and we have more ornaments than we can fit on it but it's up. Just wanted everyone to know that despite my first non-white Christmas we will be enjoying it and thinking of our repective families. Remember that when I start teasing you about having to heat up your cars and shovel your walks.. hehe.

Well I'm safely back from my Thanksgiving vacation with my family back in Kansas City. I made Joe chauffeur me around and he managed not to kill me so that's a good visit in my book. I ate intense amounts of food that is not good for me. I won money at the poker game and despite what Joe says I could have taken the rest of his money given a chance. We had fun playing a bunch of Nintendo, almost beating Super Mario 3, and putting a serious dent in Zelda II.

The trip was too short. Or at least that's the way it seemed to me. I think I'm home sick. Helen's homesick. I like Phoenix but I think moving closer to our families is going to have to be a big factor in our next move... wherever that is.

The only picture that needs explaining is this one. This is my mothers storage system. Leftovers go into old country crock containers. Usually one of these actually has butter in it, but not always. Good luck finding out which it is.

Well folks, I'm almost home. I know I haven't had time to post about my trip while in Kansas City but I assure you I will get around to it in the next 24 to 48 hours. Right now I'm just missing Helen and killing time in an Albuquerque airport. It all reminds me of these commercials I've been seeing on TV about taking a vacation to recover from your vacation. I need some down time with Helen and no responsibilities other than taking care of Newton. However, I'm not going to get it. I work through the weekends so tomorrow I go to work and it's only mid week for me. Hopefully I can plan some sort of date night with Helen for Tuesday / Wednesday that will make it seem like I'm home.

Anyways, I don't mean to gripe. I'm just tired and I want to shower and get to bed. I miss my family, I wish I could visit more, and I'll see if I can work on that when Helen and I relocate again. G'night.

Mostly this post is about rubbing it in my Midwestern family's collective noses that it is still warm hear. Roughly its about 80 degrees here every day. Most of these pictures were taken at Palma park just across the street from where we live. The flowers are right outside our patio.

Not a lot going is going on here. I am sore every day since I started working out. And I mean sore as in I lurch instead of walk and wince whenever I sit down sore. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not pushing a little too hard. Oh well, I've got until Monday to recover from what I did to myself today and what is still broken from last Monday. Ouch.

Helen is being a good sport about me being sore and complaining about it all the time. My job is fine, although some days I want to stay at home and just hang out with Helen and Newton. Ok that's every day. Helen's job is wearing on her a bit. We've got to find her something else to do other than nursing. And finally, Phoenix may not be a place to settle more than a year. A lot of it depends on where Catherine and Curtis end up in the next couple of months. More on that when we hear from them.

Lastly, if you have Curtis' cell phone, please call him. He's trying to justify the money he's spending on his ridiculously feature rich cell phones and it would make him happy. Don't expect him to answer or even have his voicemail set up yet, but leave him a message anyways.

I'm grinding through my week and Helen told me I'd have a surprise waiting for me when I got off work. Her surprise was a picnic at a local park. Only problem was that we were expecting the last piece of furniture to be delivered between 4 and 8 pm today so we had to head home instead of the park. We made the best of it we could. She made the same sandwich for me she mad on our little QT picnic back in Tulsa. Apparently my memories are made of chicken and guacamole sandwiches. I'm easy to please.

Sometimes time over here moves a little faster than other times. Gearing up to the holidays seems to be moving pretty fast. I'm booked to visit my family Nov 21 to the 25th so count on quite a few pictures during and after that.

Last but not least. I am so sore. I had my first official work out yesterday and today I can barely extend my arms. I've joined Helen's gym. I meet with a personal trainer 3 times a week who's job it will be to kick my arse and get results. Wish me luck. Wish us both luck.

Well folks, she finally did it. Helen has left me. To add insult to injury she even made me drive her to the airport. Her parents are happy she's coming back. She left Newton with me. At least I have that.




She'll be back around Tuesday. I'll miss her, but I know she'll check this wondering whether or not I would post about her leaving. Love you too babe.