Hanging a shower curtain makes my arms hurt.

Well, here we are to stay. I blinked and we moved to Springfield. And we no longer call Kirksville home... Which is weird. Oh, but don't get me wrong, we are still "those Southerners." Oh, and GET THIS! We were in Meijer (the original superstore) browsing the international foods section. Amidst the Polish, Czech, German, French, etc. etc. sections was--you'll never guess--a "Southern" section! Really?!? True story.

We are still getting used to "Lincoln Land." I don't have the grocery aisles memorized--think Kirksville Wal-Mart. In fact, I'm still getting used to the fact that there are SEVERAL grocery stores to choose from. But, we really like it here so far!

I will have to take pictures of all my latest decor! Let me just say, Pier One is basically Pottery Barn for the masses. My latest purchase was this very trendy wooden sign that says "READ" to put over my desk. It just makes me want to read every time I look at it. I also got green drinking glasses! You know, like the 70s but better!

War and Peace anyone? Or Confessions of a Shopaholic maybe? =)

It's sort of like a cartoon flip book...

My last day at KCOM with two great people. I will certainly miss those girls!

Here is our garage packed and ready to go.

Erick (another great person who will definitely be missed!) and Jonathan loading up.




Drove that baby all by himself.

And you thought the packing mess was bad! Check out our unpakcing extravaganza!

Dad helping put together furniture

Starting to see some progress!

Finally, the chair and couch are assembled.

The new kitchen. It's not entirely done yet.




So, we're not completely unpacked... But, as you can see, after a long journey we're almost there. Thankfully, things are starting to come together.

Packing is a lot like Water Chestnuts...

In other words... DUMB, UGLY, SUCKS! Oh, and I do think water chestnuts are ugly. They're taupe! Why are they taupe? Taupe is the color of bad panty hose. Not to mention crunchy and slimy and two things that just really shouldn't go together. And that's how our packing is going... Crunchy and slimy--Yes, I do believe it can be described that way.


But, on a positive note, Jonathan and I did take a picture lately. We're pretty terrible at documenting life, but here we are in all our glory.

This was taken at Dr. S's graduation party! Hard to believe that Dr. S is a doctor now! Jonathan is not too far behind him! Thank the lords of Cobal--I hope you caught my Battlestar Galactica reference...




Well, I'll end with some Sarah reflections. We all know my sister is funny! Remember Sarah's dog, Noggin?




I don't really know what to say about Noggin because he is just such a ham. I hate to use ham as a descriptive term, but really, he's a ham. Like trying to fit in Max's kennel? How could he think that was a good idea? Ham, if you will... Well Noggin now has roaming rights when the C's aren't at home. But, the C's were home all last week on vacation. So, Sarah wonders what Noggin thinks of the owners that usually are at work but now are at home? "Get out of my face so I can watch my stories!"

Missouri Rain

As if the tornadoes weren't enough, now it has decided to rain--and rain, and rain, and rain... Our backyard and the assisted living place you see in the video is typically separated by a ditch. However, when it rains that ditch becomes a stream--today it's a river. I don't know how big it is, but it's the most water we've ever seen.

Tweeting, Hal, and other Life Events

Hal S. came for a visit last week. He was in town for third year testing, and he stayed at Hotel Parker. Now, you may ask why Laura and Hal are giving thumbs up?! Well, it's because after the bottle of Barefoot Pinot Hal gave us it seemed like the cool thing to do. Barefoot was Hal's choice as he thinks all Alabamians don't wear shoes.

Also, Laura and Jonathan have joined the world of Twitter. Please follow me at laurabparker.

As for other life events that you may have anticipated in the title, well, there are none. Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday Max!

If you can believe it, Max is going to be two on Wednesday!

The House Hunt Continues...

As you may know by now we are getting ready to move to Springfield, Illinois --which I really have a hard time spelling; it's "noise" without the "e." But I digress... The city of Springfield is awesome. The housing opportunities are proving to be a little more difficult. We went to see a house two weekends ago complete with a wall mural on the side of the garage. You think I'm lying? Yea, that's a parrot.

The search cotinues...