USA

Well... until we get out exploring the new area, I will have numerous pictures of the dog. Actually, no matter what we do, I will most likely have lots of pictures of the dog. hehe. Like this one - I tell you, mom is right - she is like a cat. Not quite sure what exactly her goal is here, but she managed to just balance on the back of a chair for a while.

So, we are now in Ottawa, and it's quite the quaint small town outside the big city of Chicago that you would imagine. In fact, we live in a DRY COUNTY! No joke. But I suppose there's no harm - that only means we have to drive further to buy beer. Over the river - it's so perfectly stereotypical. We are directly across the street from a huge park, it couldn't have worked better for Charlie, despite the bitter cold and wind. It's getting warmer as the days pass - and now my cheeks and thighs don't become painfully hard and cold while on our walks.

And believe me, there really is a deer in this picture. This is but one of the many country roads around here.

And now, in other news - have you heard of the campaign called Beautiful Lengths? It's a program from Pantene to get donations for hair, which they use to make free wigs for chemo patients - pretty groovy, eh. So I did it. Yes, I admit I had a twinge of nerves, for a second. But hey, it's just hair.

I found a salon here and snip snip I now have short hair! Ha! Pretty funny Cujo's hair is MUCH longer than mine now. This salon was great - and guess what? They served alcohol! No joke - I had a beer during the appointment. It felt like I should've gone all shi shi and gotten wine, but you know me and my crush on beer. And I was really just so flabergasted when the offer came, I placed my standard order. But anyway how great is that?! You need at least eight inches to donate, so start growing now.

Sounds like a campaign brief... on the road to Illinois... vote for us!

Anyway, back on to I-80, our home away from home. Pit stop Omaha, Nebraska.

Funny thing, I'm getting worse about pictures. I am started to feel like I have too many, go figure. I thought I could never have enough of one thing. That was proven by my fifty pictures of the same koi fish in the Omaha Zoo last summer. Anyway, I digress... pictures - I was not so psycho "I HAVE to take a picture of EVERY second" of our latest trip through Omaha, which makes me have regret now. Haha. So, no pictures of dinner at Vlasaks, no pictures of washers at Dinkers, and no pictures of Grandma V. Bummer. I have learned my lesson. And will now be the rabid picture taker once again. Though, Team Potato was not worthy of a picture at washer night. Then again, Team Rock of Love was. Moving on...

Charlie has to be a very adaptable dog to live this lifestyle. So far, she's doing as well as we expect for a puppy thrown into this crazy yellow line chasing life. She slept all day riding in the truck.
She found her spot in the motel.

She had her run-ins at the Payne house, but overall made a friend, I think. Be it a love/hate relationship, it's still a relationship. Just like real friends. And they only drew blood once. Which is similar to Cujo and Hilt. Ha!

New restaurant alert in Omaha - this place was GREAT! Just wanted to jot it down before I forgot - this is after all, my reference page, too. Wonderful Italian pasta and groovy ambiance! Thanks to Grandma for taking us there for lunch!

Mom sent a workshop in a bag with us, so we held a Kite Making night with the kids and a general schmooze session with family. All the kids are growing so fast, and it's always good to see all the family and hear what's new.

After a few days with us, this is what the end of the night looks like.

After fixing what was broken (read home maintenance), we had a chance to slow it down a bit and enjoy just being back home for a couple weeks. Amidst the relaxing were Christmas parties, meals, movies, happy hours, and watching football games with friends and family.

Weird find - The elephant condo from Florida had this EXACT elephant in it - we are being followed. He made it all the way to Pocatello! What are the odds?

Luckily, we got home a few days before Ashley's last basketball game! Even though they lost (by 20), it was a good game and Ash did really well. I never knew girls middle school basketball could be so cut throat.

Poor Charlie had her surgery. She was probably wondering what kind of people adopted her. She was so out of it when she came home you couldn't help but feel for her. Cujo even went so far as to hand feed her. Really, we aren't those kind of people. But yes, he was that day. She was moaning and literally crying. Let's all do a collective OHHHHHH. Okay, it's over - she's fine now.

We brought in the New Year very low key, but I took a picture so here it is. Hey, at least we stayed up til midnight, right?

Mom held another Kite Workshop - this one was Tako (octopus) Tako (kite), and was followed up days later with a New Year Day Kite Fly, which is supposed to be good luck. The workshop gained the attention of the local newspaper, who posted an interview here.

Who couldn't use a little extra good luck, so we braved the cold and wind and flew those kites! Errrr, two did get stuck in a tree, but only one stayed in it. And yes, Charlie loves his Grandma Micki, haha! She thinks he is a cat stuck in a dog's body - he does love to rub on people and balance precariously on stuff, oddly enough.

Cold weather and holidays = PUZZLES! Seems that puzzles are a phase, and that phase rears its head in wintertime. I swear, I start on these things and don't raise my head for three hours. Then when I finally do, I wonder where the time went and why my neck hurts so damn much. Ugh... Still, I return. And yes, happier than shit when it's done, and oh so full of accomplishment. And PROOF needed, thus photos! Nerds!

For the holidays this year, we not only had a lovely turkey dinner together, but also went bowling. I think all of us broke 100 - woohoo! Actually, I think that most all of us got right around the same score, within single digits. Spooky. Anyway, enough about bowling, in all honestly, we went for the beer and wings afterward.

Turns out Charlie loves to go hiking in the outdoors and snow, and also likes chasing sleds (and small children) down the hill.

Yup, we did it... we got a dog!

It's been almost five years since Fred and Poco died, and we are finally ready. Charlie is from the Shelter, and is still a pup but has a history. She's been adopted twice already but had to go back to the pound both times. We think this falls under the '3rd times a charm' phrase. Even though her mouth is around Cujo's finger, she is sitting, which is what he asked her to do. So she sits, but she's definitely a mouther and loves to heel - which is her nature, being a Heeler X. Can't fault her for that. So far so good.

We've left sunny skies, green grass, short-wearing Santas and headed north. Played the last round of golf with our dollar Goodwill club, waved goodbye the jobsite and loaded up.

Lucky us, we got to stop and see the lovely Wards on our way. They welcomed us into their great home and treated us to a wonderful meal with great conversation with them and their visiting friends. Go figure - they were from Idaho too. Mini Idaho reunion for one night. It was so good to see them, it'd been more than three years, and one night was just not enough. Better than nothing though.

When you drive 5K+ miles, you are bound to encounter some interesting sights.

Our first true attempt at geocaching was when we got to Bonne Terre. This picture pretty much sums it all up. Wandering around staring at a little device. And no, we did not find the damn cache. Argh. Gave it our best try though, but Papa Joe and I were ready to go way before Cujo and Blue were. No Amazing Race for us.

We got to Omaha and immediately tried to acclimate our fair weather skin. The tub helped. And suddenly the Christmas decorations and music that we'd been seeing and hearing for a month fit. Gotta have that weather to feel like the holidays to me, I guess. And trimming the tree took on the literal meaning, too. Finally got to meet beautiful Lydia in person.

Our first week home was spent in a hurried repair/remodel project that was not optional. Curtis was my very own Ty and did a fabulous job at all the crappy shit that had to be done. Bright side is we now have a shiny new fitting on our water main pipe right outside the house, as well as new cabinets and sink in the kitchen.