:: Casa De Morrill ::

So as many of my friends and family might know, I never did complete a degree attending college. I went to three different schools before a combination of indifference and lack of money did me in. I have always regretted that fact.

This past spring Kat and I talked about this, and since GoDaddy has a program for tuition reimbursement we thought it best to see what it would take for me to go back and actually complete a degree. Well as it turns out, it is fairly feasible.

I applied to ASU and as of this past Friday, I will be attending classes again starting this Fall. I will be working on a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. So yes Mom, I did get my acceptance letter.

Here’s to expensive pieces of paper, and dreams fulfilled.

So the good news is that we are back to being a two kitty household. Kudzu had her scan and she was determined to be a good candidate for having the radiation therapy and we went ahead and scheduled it for last Monday. The procedure is just an injection, but they keep the patient in a special area after the injection, Kudzu was officially radioactive and needed time to come down to a safe level before she could come home. I picked her up this past Friday and she explained to me all the way home how happy she was to be in the car. It makes me wonder why I ever thought driving in a car with a cat was a good idea. Luckily this time it was only 45 minutes, not 3 days like when I drove with Weaver out to Phoenix.

But regardless she is getting back to her normal self once she had some time to sniff around. Her one big rule right now has to deal with sleeping with us. Since she still has some of the radioactive material in her system she is not allowed to sit/sleep on us for an extended period of time. Honestly we don’t need a new post entitled “My Cat Gave me Cancer” anytime soon.

In Other news Kat has spent the last 2 weeks up in Denver for business, and so I took the opportunity to fly up to Denver for the weekend. She finally got to show me around the city she has been going to for the past 5 years. The last time I went there was during college for a snowboarding trip, and even then it was from a bus window.

We went up to Arapahoe Basin since they were still open for late season skiing/snowboarding. I finally convinced Kat that she should try snowboarding, especially since she has had problems with her ACL in the past. I also decided that I was not going to teach her myself, we tried that once, for 20 minutes and decided that marriage was more important than snowboarding.

We got her first-timber lessons and rental stuff and I gladly sent her off to class. I also decided that lessons would be a good option for me. Especially since I am self taught for snowboarding and it was only about 20 bucks more for the lessons. It ended up being great for me, I was the only one in my class (blue/black slopes) so I essentially got a private lesson. The lessons were great and I really improved my technique. I had two big spills for the day, the first one with me landing right on my tailbone, how do I know? Well I think I cracked/bruised/broke it since as of today, it still hurts. No mom, I did not go to the doctor since it’s not like they can put my butt in a cast.

I also had an incident with a bamboo pole, luckily I did not have a good hat I could take with me anymore. It was quite windy that morning so I decided to pony up an extra 5 bucks to rent a helmet and in this case it did more than keep me warm. I caught the tail of my board on another bamboo pole in a really skinny area my instructor was leading me through. It launched me into the next pole headfirst and if I did not have that helmet I am pretty sure I would have gotten a ride behind a snowmobile. Luckily no ill effects besides a dented helmet and bruised ego.

The rest of the trip was great, the weather was wonderful and it was nice seeing Kat, and for once it was me who was going back and forth to the airport.

I just want to wish my wonderful husband a happy 31st birthday! With his new schedule, he even gets his birthday off.

Here’s a great picture of Sean for everyone else’s amusement on his birthday.

While watching the Super Bowl commercials (we don’t really watch the game, we fast forward through the game and just watch the commercials), I got through the backlog of photos that have been sitting on my computer since Labor Day weekend. Yes, I’m a slacker. Yes, I’ve been busy and just haven’t had the motivation until recently to start going through my photos again. So, without further ado, here are some links to the photos that I’ve finally posted.

Atlanta Aquarium - While we were in Atlanta before driving to Amy & Jack’s wedding, we decided to visit the new Atlanta Aquarium. We were really glad we did because it was beautiful.

Amy & Jack’s Wedding - Since I was a bridesmaid in the wedding and Sean was a groomsman, we didn’t get any shots of the actual wedding, but I did get a few of Amy and Stephanie getting their hair done up.

Tortilla Flats - Miata vs Corvette Drive-Out - Every once in a while Sean and I convince our friend Nathaniel to bring his Corvette Z06 out. On this particular day, there were no clouds in the sky (a pre-requisite for the car being taken out of the garage) and the weather cooperated with us for a beautiful drive out to Tortilla Flats.

Chiricahua Mountains - Sean and I needed a weekend to unplug so we drove out to the middle of nowhere (I’m not kidding, look on a map) and went camping for a weekend. All electronics were off. Just a fire, a tent and ourselves to keep each other company. It was wonderful.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum - While my parents were out here at Thanksgiving, we took a day trip out to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. There was supposed to be fall color out there. We didn’t see very much fall color, but the grounds were still very beautiful and we all had a pleasant hike around the property.

Grand Canyon - New Year’s 2008 - Lisa asked if we could all go to the Grand Canyon this past Christmas when they came out. We wound up driving to Flagstaff and taking a day trip to the Grand Canyon. The drive was gorgeous and there was just enough snow around to make all of us happy.

Flagstaff - New Year’s 2008 - On our way back from the Grand Canyon with Sean’s parents, we drove down through Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. Several pretty winter pictures resulted.

Huntsville Visit With Friends - Sean and I flew back to Huntsville recently to visit friends and family for a weekend. Misty & Stephen held a gathering for us while we were back so we could see everyone and the latest generation of geeks that have been born lately.

Liza’s Quilt - If you’ve asked me what project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half or so, my answer would have been this quilt. I could only work on it every once and a while and hand quilting is not fast, but it was worth every second of work once I finished it.

September in Arizona is known as the month when living in Phoenix becomes bearable again after a summer of triple digit heat and monsoon humidity. The weather still isn’t great, but mornings become pleasant, as witnessed by Sean and I starting to hike Camelback Mountain in the mornings. October in Arizona is known as the month when residents of Phoenix forget why we hate the summers so much and love the rest of the year. The windows are open. The temperature drops to the 80s during the day and 50s at night. These are the days when Sean and I can spend lazy mornings sitting on our patio sipping tea and enjoying the chocolate chip and pumpkin muffins I was inspired to bake this morning. The backyard is finally going to be installed this week. Next weekend we’re having the celebration of finally getting a backyard put into the house. An entire evening spent outside enjoying the cool weather and a nicely landscaped backyard. I love fall.