Five Hours

I got teary eyed this morning when the huge moving truck pulled up outside our apartment building. It’s all so real.

Five hours is all it took for everything we own to be packed up into boxes. Our three movers (Joe, Robert, and one who I can’t remember) accomplished more in 20 minutes than I did all week. The boys and I ran errands like crazy people so we would be out of the way. We took our cat to the vet to get him up to date with shots and get his health certificate. We dropped a few bags of stuff off at Goodwill, had a lot of fun at Petsmart looking at all the animals and bought Dallas a special carrier, ate lunch at Pei Wei with all the business people on their lunch break, and we hit up target for a few essentials and fun goodies. Finally we came home to this.

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Now onto something toally un-move related. I am getting old. Last night I was carrying two loads of laundry down to the laundry room. I was engrossed in my thoughts about how it was my last time to do laundry here and I misstepped and totally wiped out. Dropped the laundry, yelled, bounced down the stairs on my tailbone wiped out. I had to sit there for a minute and think if I could even get up. I slowly got up and hobbled to the laundry room. Within an hour I wasn’t really feeling the effects of my fall except for a few bruises on my foot. But today…oh my word… I am feeling it. My tailbone throbs anytime I sit, my back is crying out for a chiropractic adjustment, and even my muscles are sore. My conclusion is that I am getting old and I am out of shape. I think there was a time in my life where that fall wouldn’t have fazed me except the bruise on my foot.

I think things like wiping out on the stairs is why my mom likes to call me grace.

So I am not sure if I will be able to update my blog until we get to Arlington on Sunday. Please keep us in your prayers as we wrap things up here and travel. Also, both Logan and Derek are not feeling 100% so please pray they don’t get any sicker.

Next time I blog I will be a Texan once again!

D Day

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Today was Derek’s big day. Six years of hard work all boiled down into an hour long thesis defense. I am so proud of him! He still has a few final touches to do in the next few days, but he is really this close to being Dr. Derek. I attended his defense today and let’s just say that I significanly brought down the IQ level in that room. I had absolutely no idea what Derek was talking about most of the time. But I sure thought he looked good in his suit! My thoughts during his defense ranged from “wow, my husband is smart!” to “wow, my husband is hot!I tried my hardest to understand what he was saying, but mosly I sat there admiring him like a student with a crush on a professor.

But seriously, I think that’s okay. Because I would venture to say that most people don’t know a lick about “Molecular Aspects of Flow-Induced Crystallization of Polypropylene”. Yes, that is the title of his thesis.

So it’s almost over for real. The movers are coming to pack us up tomorrow morning, and they will be here to load the van Thursday morning. Then we will go stay with some of our good friends for one last pow wow, we’ll have a going away party Saturday night, and we’re gone for good on Sunday morning.

I made a scrapbook page on Sunday about moving. I actually scrapped a lot this weekend becuse Derek took 3 whole days off. Here’s my favorites that I scrapped this weekend.

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I better get off this computer and get to work. I’ve got to get together all those little things that I don’t want the movers to pack tomorrow. And I need to get to bed. I’ve been staying up way to late and it’s totally catching up with me.

Happy Thanksgiving Dinner

Low key….laid back…mellow…that was our Thanksgiving this year and it was really great. With the move happening next week it just didn’t make sense to go home and see all our family so it was just the 4 of us. There was one other year when we didn’t go home and I cooked the whole Thanksgiving shabang. But this year, with the way our lives have been the past two months, I just didn’t want the stress of cooking and cleaning all day. So I purchased a box of stuffing, a can of black olives (a Thanksgiving day staple in my family), a can of cranberry sauce, a bottle of wine, a frozen apple pie, and vanilla ice cream. I think i spent a total of twenty minutes preparing for Thanksgiving, and that includes cleaning off the table and setting it. It was perfect.

While I did the minimal effort cooking, I sent to Derek to Boston Market for the rest of the Thanksgiving dinner. An hour and half later, he returned with the last bit of turkey they had available. Literally, the man behind D in line ordered and was told they were sold out of turkey. Praise God, we got turkey! I guess we aren’t the only ones doing a no-cook Thanksgiving dinner so Boston Market was packed.

Dinner was good. Not as wonderful as our family’s Thankgiving dinners, but good nonetheless. And so low key. I loved it. I scrapbooked some today, watched a little tv, played with the boys, and just had a great day. In the past 2 months, this is only the third day that Derek hasn’t gone into work. It was so wonderful having him home all day long (well, minus the Boston Market excursion.)

Tonight Connor told us that he wanted to eat happy Thanksgiving dinner again and have apple pie and ice cream. I love that he called it happy Thanksgiving dinner. He says the cutest stuff now!

And no Thanksgiving day post would be complete without a list of the things I am most thankful for…

-My boys. I can’t imagine my life without Derek, Connor, and Logan. They are such a blessing and a joy. Derek is endlessly patient with me, Connor just cracks me up, and Logan is so stinkin’ sweet. I am so lucky.
-The next chapter in our life. Going back to Texas feels like going home. I am so thankful that Derek has a great job waiting for him and I am excited about what the future holds for us.
-My wonderful friends. My heart is filled with love for my friends, both old and new.
-My family. My mom who I talk to almost every day, and my step-dad who has always provided so much for us. My sister who is one of my best friends, and my step-sister who just feels like sister. My two brothers who make me laugh and make me think. My dad, my in-laws, everyone. We have a wonderful, supportive extended family and for that I am blessed.
-We are all healthy. We have a clothes, a roof over our head, and fun stuff to boot. I know that these are things that I often take for granted.

I know that there are tons more things that I am thankful for but it is now midnight and way past my bedtime. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! (I’m practing my Texas talk…)

Drive in Movie

I took Connor and our good friends Matt and Jeff (who are 14 and 10) to see Chicken Little last night. It was a really good time and all the boys loved the movie (and so did I.) Connor insisted on bringing home the leftover popcorn and he’s been munching on it all day long. I present to you Connor’s interpretation of a drive in movie.

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Tag, I’m it

I got tagged in this little blog game by Kimberly. I’m sure everyone loves to read all about me!

2 – names you go by: Meg, Dirtbag

2 – parts of your heritage: English and Irish I think

2 – things that scare you: Something happening to my kids or Derek, heights

2 – of your everyday essentials: washing my face, coffee

2 – things you are wearing right now truthfully?: red athletic pants and a black t-shirt

2 – of your favorite bands or musical artists: Dashboard Confessional, John Mayer

2 – favorite songs: Run by Snow Patrol and Pachabel’s Canon

2 – truths: I hate peas, and Jesus lives

2 – things you want in a relationship (other than real love): Laughter and honesty

2 – of your favorite hobbies: scrapbooking and photography

2 – things you want really badly: a house with my own scrapbooking space and a Mac Powerbook

2 – places you want to go on vacation: Hawaii and Switzerland

2 – things you want to do before you die: Travel around Europe with Derek and watch my kids grow up to be happy adults

2 – ways that you are stereotypically a chick: I talk…a LOT! and I wear my heart on my sleeve.

2 – things you are thinking about now: Connor is taking the worlds longest bath and I need to change out my laundry.

2 – stores you shop at: (most frequently?!?!) — Target and Trader Joe’s

3 – people I would like to see take this quiz: Cindi because she loves things like this, RyAnn, and Shauna

Ramblings on a Friday Night

mook mük -s n., 1. A turn of undesirable events in which the outcome is unfortunate, though neither fatal nor entirely unforseen 2. ironic events appearing to be the soul amusement of the fates or an omnipotent mastermind. v. to cause, author, or catalyze a turn of events in which the outcome is undesirable or unfortuate, either by design or by accident. -mooks, mooked, mooking

I figured a defintion of the word mook was in order so everyone can understand where our domain name came from. My brother James coined the phrase many moons ago. Everyone in our family uses this word in everyday vocab, including Connor.

Here is a good examle of a mook that just happened today. I realized today that we are leaving in a little over 2 weeks and hadn’t bought plane tickets yet. For some reason in my mind I thought we still had three weeks. So I got online and ticket prices had gone up to $125 instead of $110 and the only flight at that price leaves at 7:00 a.m. Okay, sort of a mook but not that big of a deal. I call our airport ride to make sure they can take us at the butt crack of dawn. Yes, they can. It was time for us to go to our playgroup so I figured I would just make the reservations during naptime. I get online at 3:00 and here’s the mook…the price had jumped to $180 a ticket! Oh boy. So we end up spending $700 on tickets, not even including the $100 to check our cat. Good thing the company has given us money to cover things like this! But, it’s still a huge mook. We are paying boucoup (how do you even spell that?) bucks to fly out so dang early in the morning and if I had just bought the tickets two weeks ago I would have saved us a couple hundred bucks. Mookarama!

Connor and Logan were so cute today. I took Logan in to wake up Connor from his nap. Connor just lit up when he saw Logan standing next to his bed. I can’t really describe it, but it was so cute. He wanted to sit in the rocking chair with Logan and I was actually able to get a decent picture of the two of them together. It toally made my day!

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I like the look on their faces here. So serious.
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Derek officaly turned in his thesis today! I am so proud of him. So much time, energy, and work went into those 190 pages. There is still some work to be done, but the worst is behind him…really behind us. Although he was the one doing all the writing and research, this time has been hard on all of us. Horray for my love being only 11 days from becoming Dr. Derek! (which I fully expect everyone to call him.)

Almost up and running

Okay, all my faithful blog reader. Our new website, www.mookarama.com, is almost up and running! In the next day or two when you come to this page you will just get a redirect message. So bookmark the new site, memorize it, whatever!

I really do have some things I want to blog about but I am just tired. I told Derek tonight I am done. Done with everyone being sick. The boys and I have been fighting a cold for a week…which means that one or both of the kids are waking up several times a night. I’m done with Derek working so much. I’m done with our little apartment and old dirty carpet and noisy neighbors. I am just done. There is so much to do but i just don’t have the desire or the energy to do any of it. At least the movers will be doing all the packing so I don’t have to worry about that.

So I have about a million and one projects that I want to do in the next 3 weeks. Did I do any of them today? No. I played around on photoshop. Well, and chased Connor and Logan around but that’s beside the point. Here are a couple of the pictures I edited today.

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Oh, and for something really funny, check out my brother’s blog. It’s the post titled “Praise God for the Centennial Campaign.” He made me laugh out loud today and hopefully you will too.

The Busiest Place on Earth

Note to self…next time you go to Disneyland make sure it isn’t on a holiday. Oh, and make Derek come….

I haven’t blogged about Disneyland yet because honestly I haven’t recovered yet. Overall, it really was fun. It was great to see James, Kathy, Justin, and Kayla. Connor had the greatest time. But I have literally never seen so many people in one place and I am just exhausted. The exhaustion started on Thursday night. Disneyland jitters combined with a coffee drink that was supposed to be decaf resulted in one humdinger bout of insomnia. I didn’t fall asleep until 3 a.m. Thursday night and Friday started bright and early at 7:00 a.m.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but I will say that I left the house at 9:00 a.m. and got home at 8:00 p.m. I spent 3 hours in the car, 5 hours hanging out with James and Kathy, and 3 hours on my own with the kids (which includes time at the park itself and getting from the car to the park.) The 5 hours with Jame and Kathy were a blast. We didn’t get to do too many rides because of the huge crowds, but it was still just so fun. I love hanging out with them. The 6 hours I was on my own…not fun. Well, maybe an hour of it was fun. When we got home, Derek was here and I broke down. I just don’t ever want to go back to Disneyland without him by my side. I think it was the drive home with both kids crying that just pushed me over the edge.

So, I have been debating…was it even worth it? And yes. It was worth it to see how much fun Connor had. And to see James and Kathy. And just to go. When are we ever going to live 45 minutes from Disneyland again? I plan on going back to Disney when we come back to Cali for Derek’s graduation. But I absolutely won’t be going on my own with the kids!

It was hard to even take pictures because I was holding Logan in all the lines and on all the rides. But here are just a few from our day.

Justin and Connor…boys love headlock hugs!
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Playing with Gordon the train might have been Connor’s favorite part. There’s a whole story behind Gordon going to Disneyland, but that’s a story for another time.
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Kathy and I with the boys waiting for the big train.
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Possibly the highlight of the day, riding Space Mountain.
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Sweet babies, Logan and Kayla
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The end of the day…exhausted Logan and sugar high Connor.
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Can we please come back?
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Happies on a rainy Thursday

It was a rainy and cloudy and that pretty much always puts me in a good mood. I just love the cooler fallish weather. I think I have said it before, but I will say it again…November and December are my favorite months in California.

Anway, my happies of the day…

  • An impromptu trip to the mall turned out to be really fun. I had to get a blood test today and it just so happened that the lab was right next to the mall. What the heck, I thought. It’s raining outside, we’re right here, let’s go. We rode the train, played on the indoor playground, ate some corndogs, drank lemonade, ate ice cream and just had a lot of fun. Connor is turning more and more into a fun little person.
  • I wore some pants today that did not fit a month ago. Horray for finally losing some of this pesky Logan weight!
  • The moving company called today. We have an official moving date. Well, more like a moving window. They will be here between November 30th and December 2nd. Three weeks…yikes! Tomorrow the moving company thing might be more of a crappy than a happy, but for today it made me happy. My feelings about moving are still so mixed.
  • The boys and I went on a great little walk with our new stroller. I am loving the double jogger so much!
  • Good tv night tonight..Survivor, Alias, CSI, ER
  • Tomorrow we are going to Disneyland!

Life is good.

Oh yes, and news on the server and domain name issue…I am sure all 5 people who read this are on the edge of their seats… We decided to buy two of them. Not sure yet how exactly we will use them and all the details, but we now own www.mookarama.com and www.thethurmans.net. Horray for my dorky husband!

Imagination….my husband is a dork

This is the conversation Connor and I had this morning when he woke up…

Connor: “A purple monster came down the stairs and into my bed.”
Me: “A purple monster?”
Connor:”Yes”
Me:”Did he hold your hand?”
Connor: “No”
Me: “Did he cuddle your tummy?”
Connor: “No. He just laid his head on my pillow.”

I love that he is starting to have an imagination. I think this purple monster may have been the reason he woke up twice last night. That and his precious nightlight burned out. Maybe the purple monster only comes to visit when there is no night light.

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I love this man, even when he’s a huge dork. In fact, it might be one of the things I love most about him. He is so crazy busy writing but he still has time to ponder something very important. He actually informed me a few weeks ago that he was a little stressed about this situation. When we move in a month, we will lose the server that hosts our blogs. It’s a server that he built that he keeps at Caltech. Even if we just set up that server in our new house, there would be a least a month where we couldn’t blog and people couldn’t see our blogs. I’m a little bit of a blog addict so that is just purely unacceptable and he agrees.

So here is the solution we came up with. We are going to buy a domain name and pay someone some place to be our server. So I need help! My job is to come up with the perfect domain name. Here are few that are available…

www.thurmanfamily.org
www.thurmans.org
www.thurmanfam.com
www.mookarama.com
www.whatamook.net
www.meganthurman.com
www.thurmanhousehold.com

Those are just some obvious names that came to me but I really want some help picking the perfect domain name. My favorite so far is mookarama.com. Derek isn’t real keen on thurman anything just because it’s kind of plain and boring. He thinks that one word, two words max is best. And something that we wouldn’t have to spell out for people. Please, please suggest something good! There will be a prize if someone comes up with something that we just love.

Patrick…this seems right up your ally. Don’t let me down, dirtbag!

Horray for pizza picnic Fridays! I think I am going to scrap a bit right now since I won’t have to clean up my mess for dinner time.

And, news on the Logan front…he is now pulling up on things. And this morning he cruised just a couple of feet along the couch. He’s 7 months old…I am so not ready for this!

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