Uplifting Day

I had an uplifting, if slightly superficial day. First I joined a gym.


I was getting a little depressed because many of the nearby gyms were expensive with swipe cards that you had to pay for and enrolment fees and monthly dues of $40-$60 a month and being too far away. I went to this gym in Leavenworth (20 minute drive). I like it, it's just like the gym I used to go to in Atlanta. It made me super happy.
I also discovered that you can get NCIS episodes streamed from CBS. That made me so happy I said a prayer of thanks to God. It really lifted my spirits (I know I shouldn't watch so much TV. It's like thanking God for letting me a couch potato).
Then while I was looking up different engineering companies in Leavenworth the doorbell rang. I thought that it would be either the landlord or James. Instead it was a package from UPS.


It's my new Dutch oven from Kitchenaid. Hubii said that he would buy me one if we had to move half way across the country for his new work. Now we are even. But don't worry we were always even, we moved for us not just for him.
Now Hubii just got home and told me that we were invited to the picnic with the Chemistry department! I love a good picnic. I feel like I am having a blessing filled day. Hopefully I will remember it and not forget this feeling as soon as the next lull arrived.

Labor Day Weekend

Hubii does not get Labor Day off as he works for a private university that does mostly whatever it sees fit.
We did have a good weekend though. We went for a run at Weston Bend (not too fast though we were restrained by the speed limit).
After we got home we drove to Independence, Missouri for the Santa-Cali-Gon Days Festival. We did not find out at the fete what Santa-Cali-Gon was. We did get to eat smoked pork chop on a stick (the stick sold us).
Later after I looked at the website again I found out that it was named Santa-Cali-Gon Days to commemorate the City of Independence as the starting point of the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon Trails. Who knew! It was like a county fair, except it was held by the city of Independence. I would have liked to spend more time there but it was hotter than I had expected. Hubii and I did get to eat some home made ice cream sandwiches but I was not dressed appropriately for the heat. It was a good thing we left when we did because as soon as we got into the car the scattered thunderstorms appeared.

So we left in good moods and full of fair foods.

Now I don't need to go to the Grand Canyon

Last night Hubbii and I finished this puzzle that we got for Christmas. It took us 3 days. You see I have a lot of time on my hands. It had images from Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and Grand Canyon.

Getting into the Swing of Things

This is a picture of the Red Barn Farm in Weston. I go here, if I have cash, to buy fruits that they get from nearby farms. They do not have a lot of selection but it's fun to get non-commercial varieties of corn and watermelon etc. And yummy too.

In the past two weeks Hubii has been going to school and getting into work groove. These last weeks was full of faculty orientation and picnics. Yes you read right; picnics.
They monks had a welcome dinner for faculty and family the Friday before school started. The cafeteria staff grilled out burgers and a couple of different kind of hot dog/ sausage-y things. The monks gave us salads, tomatoes and fruits from their garden and some one brought a few huge kegs and a pump. Yes, once again, you read correctly they had kegs of beer. I love this place! Well not really because I don't like beer, but it's the thought that counts.
We also went to yet another ice cream social and this time they had home made ice cream!! The social was held at a little country church that was on a road that didn't even show up on our GPS at first (we had to add in gravel roads to find it). But that ice cream, I wish you could have tasted them. They were sooooo creamy. They told me their secret but I won't blurt it out on the internet. See how friendly they are here. It melts my ice cream chilled heart.
Yesterday we were at a potluck picnic at a professor's house. Everyone brought lots of yummy food. The best thing there, at least conversationally, was all the home brewed beer. If I cared anything for the taste of beer I would remember the different types. The only ones I remember were oatmeal stoat, creme ale and some rye thingamabob.
It seems that cottage industries (beer brewing, wine and mead making, goat cheese making etc) are the main source of entertainment for the professors here. I wouldn't blame them, they live quite far away from major cities. Soon, I will be one of them too. Fermenting strange fruits and liquids to extract their intoxicating wonders.
Hubii has taught his first complete week of classes. I think that he likes teaching but he doesn't like preparing for class. He is also worried about how to grade homework and tests. Hopefully once he gets into the swing of things he will have time to prepare for lecture, make HWs, tests and projects and grade them all. But he is wonderful and still does his chores around the house. Maybe I should pitch in a bit more but until this housewifii thing becomes permanent I don't want Hubii to change.

Sooo.... that's the highlight, in my opinion. Maybe next week I will get Hubii to give you his side of the story.

Wedding Vacation

So last week we went on a wonderful vacation/ Holiday to Canada. We went a week before my cousin Amanda's wedding to hang out with my family. We visited my mom's brother (Raju Uncle) and his family, then my mom's sister (Beena Aunty) and her family.
While visiting Beena Aunty we saw a show put on by my cousin (Logan). He and his sister (Kerala) were in a theater camp for the summer. Now we finally know where the song 'One Night in Bangkok' comes from. It was written for the musical Chess. It was a fun musical and had some rocking 80s style music. I loved it! We also got to visit Niagara Fall and the Butterfly Conservatory. I think that the butterflies were actually nicer than the Grand Canyon. But there are so many parks and rides I would love to go back and go biking through them.

The wedding was also tons of fun and I got to dress up. Plus we were finally able to make it to a morning prayer at the bride's house. Hubii is cataloging all of my family. We hope to make a comprehensive family tree. I thinks that my family is thoroughly impressed with my husband. We also got to hang out with all the cousins who came for the wedding.


But now our vacation is over and we are back in Weston. Hubii started work this Monday. This week is new faculty orientation. I have been staying home and either baking or looking for a job. So far baking is going moderately well and job search not so well. But hopefully things will look up after I get to know more people in this area.

State Park

Yesterday evening I used my breadmaker to make cinnamon rolls but I didn't bake them. I wanted to see if I could delay the baking till today morning. I baked them up and it came out ok. They rose well but they were too crusty on the outside, maybe from over-baking.
After breakfast we packed PB&J sandwiches and headed to Weston Bend State Park. We hiked to an overlook of the Missouri River. Part of our hike was on a paved trail and the rest was on a dirt trail. It was really pretty and supposedly we could see to Fort Leavenworth. After Lunch we took the road back to where our car was. I am glad we did because James spotted some wild raspberries. Probably the same that Lewis and Clark ate and wrote about.
We forgot our camera so there are no photographs. Sorry but we will post some soon and try to keep the blog interesting.

Slow Beginnings

We are mostly settled into our new rented duplex. We have been exploring and are now kinda familiar with the area. Familiar in the sense that if we get lost we know where we are lost in. We put up towel rods and towel rings. Wifii finally finished stitching a valence for over the front door.
Recent conversation:
Hubii (sitting on the floor next to dismantled vacuum cleaner as he hacks away at long black hair ball twisted onto the vacuum's round brush): When will you get a hair cut?
Wifii: After the wedding at some point.
Hubii: I felt like I just hacked all this hair out last month.
Wifii: I think you did.

But there are more interesting things to do here. Last Sunday we went to the icecream social at a nearby church. They had bingo, a silent auction, a country store and HUGE slices of cake for just a dollar. So we had cake and icecream (2 large scoops for a dollar) for dinner on Sunday.

I have been doing a lot of cooking. I have a lot of time as I am a house Wifii. But it is boring me. I have pledged to read one article from Popular science or popular mechanics everyday. Hopefully this will feed my inclination towards engineering. I had been reading a lot of cooking and food related books and blogs. But I really should stop. I don't need to encourage a love for food. It is inate in my system.

I am also going to use my library more often. It's been a while since I blogged for readers so it might be a while before this becomes more interesting and less rambling. But keep reading and commenting!