Catchin' Up

I am eating my lunch in between my physiology and botany classes, and realized I should post something about what we have been up to! I am going to school and taking three upper level biology classes that meet an hour a day and then each have 4 hour labs every week, so I am here a lot. The nice thing is that I get home about the same time that Matt does. School is...going. I am a little burned out, but I am getting things done. For all of you that haven't heard me whine about my education dilema - after completing my degree at WSU, I decided to get my teaching certification from Eastern Washington University. They felt that I was "weak" in animal and plant biology (yeah...because I was taking the hard biochemistry classes, and already took a sufficient amount of animal and plant for my LAST degree!) so I have to take these three classes to get my certification. In addition, they want me to take two years to do just my certification taking teaching classes and volunteering in the classroom - but we have "adjusted" their expectations, and I will be done at the end of next year. I am also certifying to teach all sciences, so I have had to take an additional geography (weather) class, and will have to take one more physics class (astronomy). So, I feel like a sophomore again - and the best part is, all I have learned in my classes is....REVIEW...of what I already took in my "insufficient" plant and animal classes. So, there is my daily rant to Matt, who is tired of hearing it. I am grateful to have the opportunity to go to school and get the credentials I want, but I feel like Eastern is milking me for money (rather, I know they are!)

So, in other news, as most of you have probably noticed on the news, it has seldom been above 25 here for several weeks (after we got about 8 inches of snow) and lows have been around 1. So, Tillie the city dog, doesn't is not suited for the outdoor weather, especially since Matt and I are away all day from 7am-6pm, so Tillie has begun going to work with Matt. NO - before you ask, she is NOT going into that beautiful building (or lab) - she hangs out in her crate in the car. Matt parks in the sun (to get the temp up around 40) and then takes her out every couple of hours and spends a few minutes running the heater. The things we do for that dog.... Anyway, it seems that she has decided there may have been a shift in alpha power around here or something, because she now minds everything that Matt says and ignores me!!! Little twirp. We will be fixing that SHORTLY. Every morning she get all excited and stays glued to Matt's side from the time he gets up, into the bathroom, through breakfast, back to make the bed etc. She even waits outside the shower for him, lest he sneak away and leave her home by accident. Anyway, she is "digging" the attention, and it has been fun to see her have something to get REALLY excited about. Matt's co-workers think it is pretty funny. They occasionally come out to say "hi".

In other news, we finally got some of our storage woes resolved!! Matt and a friend installed a pull down ladder in both of their houses a couple of weeks ago, and after Matt installed a floor, we began to move "some" things up into the attic! You can actually see across our garage now, and get to every shelf! Additionally, the storage unit has been emptied (no more money down the drain!!!), and the spare room looks like...a spare room!!! We are excited to finally have the unpacking, organizing, sifting, chucking, rediscovering, waffling....etc. process almost done!!!! So, for anyone interested in taking a trip to the area - we have a nice, clean, well-decorated, uncluttered spare room for you to enjoy!

On the animal front, we have expanded the "family" and added another rat to our menagerie. Actually, we think we may have added approximately 4-15 rats - but we won't know for another couple of days. Ahem. Her name is Rosemary and she is a very light peach color, but has red eyes (incomplete albinism - called leucistic) - often seen in crows (blotchy white patches)....anyway, she is a doll. We are also planning a couple of nests of birds since I have lost a reasonable number to old age in the last year, and the numbers are getting thin. Aside from liking lots of singing, small numbers in the cages actually causes "turf wars" and I am tired of rescuing the "nerd birds" from the "bully birds." We are trying to figure out if we have what we need to put a nest cam in the box and monitor the babies as they grow- I know COOL! We will have to see how much spare time there is....

Other than that, and the new-er new car (an '02 Camry), everything is about the same. If you know anyone who wants to buy a '92 Camry XLE with 230,000 miles (but going strong) - let us know! It is taking up room in the driveway.

For those of you who are not members of the family - check out my Mom's blog (linked) and take a look at our new nephew - Jessie Taylor Summers (or J. Taylor as I plan to call him)! Megan's first - he's adorable!