Snow Fun

Travis has been having fun with all the snow. So far his fun has been confined to our small porch.


The beginning of the snowman army.



The battle ensues. This is very reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes.

Ice Storm

This morning at 9:00 I received an automated phone call telling me that our flight for that evening had been canceled. Apparently there was an ice storm coming at that time and the airport decided to go ahead and start canceling flights. Our flight was bumped to Christmas Eve at 6:30 pm. We called to see if we could get out any earlier. We are now scheduled for a flight at 9:50 in the morning with a connecting flight in Iowa. We should be in Dallas at 2:00.

We both were pretty bummed about this turn of events.

Merry Christmas

My mom sent this to me. Hilarious!

Tomorrow--Texas!

Travis and I have been counting down the days until we leave for Christmas in Texas. We will be hitting up family in Abilene, San Angelo, and Dallas. We are both so ready for this!

Travis finished his round of tests last Thursday and has been enjoying his two weeks off so far. He did superbly well on his tests, as I knew he would. He has spent his time reading, playing computer games, catching up on ESPN sports, and studying. As Travis says, studying has become a dirty habit.

I work tomorrow but plan to leave a little early so we can make sure to catch our flight. The plane doesn't leave until 6:30, but there is no telling what the traffice will be like from North Chicago to O'hare. Our preacher's son has offered to take us and pick us up from the airport. We have been so blessed to get to know this wonderful, giving family!

For the past few days we have had a nice covering of snow on the ground. I woke up this morning to fresh layering and thousands of little snow flakes falling down. It snowed all last night and all of today. The forecast says it is suppose to snow more tonight and tomorrow. (Get me back to the brown grass of Texas!)

Here are a couple pictures of what I woke up to this morning:

November and Thus Far December

And once again I have slacked off on the blogging. This whole job thing is cutting into my blogging time! I wouldn't go back to where I was a year ago for anything. I will just need to work harder at updating. Perhaps that will be my New Year's resolution.

The weekend before Thanksgiving I headed down to Texas to take part in Robin's wedding. For those of you who do not know Robin, she was my maid of honor and I was hers. It was a wonderful wedding! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my college friends and meeting my friends' baby for the first time. I also was able to spend time with my mom and sisters. Dad was unable to make it--but don't worry,dad, we'll be there in about two weeks! Here are a few pictures from the wedding:




A true Texas toast--Dublin Dr. Peppers


The College Gang, at least those that were able to come.

We had a very wonderful Thanksgiving, even though we were not able to go home. Our preacher and his family had us over. They have really taken us in. They take us out to eat after Sunday service at least every other Sunday. We spent the entire evening at their place, eating, talking, and watching tv. Because we do not have cable we are unable to pick up any of the sports channels. Our preacher found the A&M vs. UT game on ESPN and Travis was in heaven!

Travis has this week and next week left of classes. Then he will start his two week vacation, though he will still have to study. Over the next two weeks he has 5 (dropped down from 7) tests. I'm doing my best to stay out of his way. This Thursday one of the college students we knew at A&M Church of Christ is coming to the podiatry school to interview. We will be going out with he and his parents tomorrow night for dinner. We plan to take them to Giordano's for some fantastic Chicago pizza.

And in case you're wondering...the snow has started. The past couple of days we have been getting "Texas snows" as I call them: a light covering on the ground in the morning and by mid-afternoon it's gone. Tonight I think we are in for a bit more. So far I can't make out where the parking lot meets the curb, and it's still coming down! I will try to post some pictures soon.

Travis and I are looking forward to spending Christmas in Texas with family and friends! Counting down the days...

Hockey

Wednesday we went to a Blackhawks hockey game with 5 of Travis's classmates. I didn't realize the game would be in the United Center, the same place where the Bulls play. And apparently it can be switched very quickly--the Bulls had a game the night before the hockey game. I really enjoy watching hockey, probably because of the great possiblity of fights. This particually game had a fight within the first 5 minutes. The Blackhawks played against the Colorado Avalanche. They won after going into overtime and a shoot out. On the night we went Bobby Hull was there, a hall of fame Blackhawks player from the 50's or 60's. Personally, I had no idea who he was--I'm just quoting what I learned from the big screens. Also, Vince Vaughn was in the audience.

Here are a few pictures from the event:







And here is a short video of the action!

Week Off

This past weekend Travis, along with all the students at Rosalind Franklin, began a week fall break. Travis has been counting down the days until this glorious time. Of course the staff and faculty do not get the week off. So I begrudgingly arise from bed each morning as Travis remains snuggled under the covers.

So far on his week off we have enjoyed some delicious Mexican food with his friend's parents. We also had a less than enjoyable lunch on Sunday after church. It started out endearing; Travis wanted to spend time with me by eating at a restaurant. We decided to try an Italian restaurant we had seen in the town of Libertyville. Now the drive from church to the restaurant took 15-20 minutes. Once we get to the restaurant we see the sign: Open at 4:00. Who opens at 4:00 on a Sunday? Sheesh. We then drive past another Italian restaurant with cars in the parking lot--a good sign. By this time we are pretty hungry and sick of driving around. We reach the front entrance and are greeted by a waiter who informs us they are only open to host a baby shower. Really? After trying our best to go to a local restaurant we opt out for Olive Garden. We will not be craving Italian food any time soon.

We also spent an enjoyable evening taking apart an Xbox. Travis's friend Chris brought his Xbox over last night to play video games. Because the game kept freezing the guys decided to use canned air to clean the Xbox out. Travis forgot to mention to Chris that the straw part of the can can easily come off if blown too hard. An important warning too late in discussion. Conversation which occurred:
Travis: Did you blow the straw into the xbox?
Chris: No. (sarcastically, as he shakes the xbox and we can hear the straw rattling around)
Thus began the "surgery" on the Xbox. I say surgery because podiatry scissors were used in the effort of extracting the straw from the gaming system.

Tomorrow night we are venturing out with some other podiatry students to see a Black Hawks hockey game. I'm pretty excited about this.

And even though he has been excited about this week off, Travis has already admitted that he is bored :)

House O' Sickness

Apparently something other than cake was passed around at that wedding we went to weekend before last. One of the classmates in attendance, along with her husband, came down with the flu. Then the groom was down and out with an illness. Come Tuesday, Travis started to feel bad. We think it was just a virus of some form and not the flu. He was out of commission from Tuesday through Thursday. You have to love married life where you share EVERYTHING. On Saturday I started to get some congestion and a bit of a fever which lasted through Monday. Travis and I are both still battling congestion and a cough, but we are doing much better than we were.

(Happy 20th Birthday to my sisters, Jennifer and Traci!)

We're Still Here

Once again I have fallen off the blog wagon. It's time to do some major catching up.

* Heather's wedding was wonderful and it was great to be back in Texas with good friends. I was able to meet Kristi's precious little boy and see Trish pregnant. It was a little hard not having Travis there with me. Because the wedding was in College Station I was able to surprise many people at A&M C of C with a Sunday morning visit. I also was able to make a trip down to the museum and visit with everyone which made my heart happy. I haven't seen my co-workers since we left for Chicago.



* I realized how accustomed I have become to the Illinois weather. It was in the 90's on Saturday in Texas, and I thought I was going to melt. When I left Chicago to go to Texas it was a balmy 70. I get back 2 days later and it's 40 something. Not a good prelude to the winter.

* Travis has been doing well in his classes, as always. He picked up a Radiology class a few weeks ago, and he will start a Surgery class next year. Of course these are tacked on without any of his other classes ending. He is very ready for the classwork to be over and the clinical work to start.

* Work is going well. So far we have had 5 successful interview days. On a couple of days it has been a little stressful trying to find faculty to come interview, but other than that we have been fully prepared. I am thoroughly enjoying my new position and the people I work with. For know I am still walking to work. We shall see what the next months are like.

* Besides work and school, Travis and I have been having our share of fun. A couple weeks ago we celebrated the birthday of one of Travis's classmates at a place called Gameworks. It was a two-story arcade. The best part about this arcade was at 9:00 they kicked anyone who was under 21 out--teenie bopper free zone. I can't tell you the last time I was at an arcade and we both had a blast. Travis stuck mainly to the shooting games, although he was quite the champ at ski ball. I decided to waste some points on one of those crane games. I actually won, not one prize but two in one pull! The prizes were these weird guys with four arms, but I still won. Last weekend we went to a classmates wedding in a small town near Springfield. We had a great time, but that is one boring drive--cornfield after cornfield.

I apologize for the lack of blogging. Well, I am on my 4th week of the new job and enjoying it so much more! My first day was rather boring because I went through orientation. The second day was my actual first in my office area. I found out that day that I was going to be sole person for the Chicago Medical Admissions. The girl I had met on my interview was switching to another department. (I am so thankful she is still in the building because I call her daily with questions). So the past few weeks have been all about digesting large amounts of information as well as keeping everything moving. As of right now we have a temp receptionist who helps me with the phones, filing, and mail. However, there is the possibility of her leaving at anytime which will not be good. Our department has gone through major changes and is looking to hire a couple more admissions people to help out.

The Chicago Medical School receives 8,000-10,000 applications a year. That is way too much for one person to handle! Right now I am learning how to manage what needs to get done each day and pass on jobs to others to help get it done. So far I have helped run an interviewer training session, a tour guide training session, a Q and A session with a prematriculation group at the school, and sat in on my first committee meeting. Next Tuesday is our first interview day which I am busy getting ready for. My Mondays and Tuesdays from next week until early May will, for the most part, be overrun by interviews. One of the good things about this job is there is always something that needs to be done...and the days just fly by!

This Friday I am headed to Texas for Heather's wedding. I am truly looking forward to coming home and spending time with some very dear friends.

Last Day

The last day has come and gone, and I can feel that the stress and anxiety has completely drained from my body. The ending of the day was bittersweet. As much as I disliked the work, I really enjoyed my coworkers, the doctors, and clinical assistants. The other podiatry schedulers signed a card for me and got me a gift card to Bath and Body Works. One of the clinical assistants, who I talked to everyday, gave me her email address and asked me to keep in touch. My manager asked that I keep in touch with everyone to let them know how I am doing. Bittersweet, but glad to be out. I have new employee orientation on Monday at Rosalind Franklin...and will be walking over to my new job at 8:00!

Counting Down

For the past two weeks we have been counting down the days. Each day I come home and Travis asks how the day was,then reminds me how many days I have left. The two weeks has gone very quickly which I am thankful for. I'm getting to that point where I know I'm almost out and really don't care anymore. But I'm forcing myself to continue to do my best work, especially if it means it will be less my coworkers will have to do once I'm gone. The other day, after continuous nagging to a facility to finalize a list (one of the many things I hate about this job), my boss said to me, "won't you miss this feeling of accomplishment?" I just laughed it off. No, I will not miss meeting deadlines at the expense of courtesy, professionalism and respect to others.

Travis's first week went well, although he was incredibly tired. He was in classes almost everyday from 8:00-4:00. He also is in charge of a couple organizations which equates to after class and sometimes evening meeting. This year is going to be different from his previous year, especially with his clinic time, which I believe he enjoys much more than sitting in class.

This Saturday Travis and I begin a new endeavor. Somehow or another one of Travis's classmates talked us into playing intramural flag football. I think the last time I played flag football was in 6th grade p.e. The teams have to be co-ed, and I know pretty much everyone on the team. Thankfully our group is not that big on winning but just having fun. My plan is to run around and make it look like I know what I'm doing. We'll see how it goes.

Update--Good News!

I apologize for my lack of blogging, and I know some of you are interested to know about the job prospect. I finally have something to tell. For awhile I thought that the position had been filled without me knowing. I found out via Travis that the school was on a hiring freeze for awhile. This Wednesday I received a call from the lady I interviewed with back in July. She explained that the school had been going through some department changes, and she will no longer be over the admissions department. She had showed my resume to the lady who would be taking over and wanted to set up a time for her to meet me. I gave her some dates for next week and waited to hear back. Friday came and I hadn't heard anything. I needed to know before the day was out so I could put in a time off request.She called me later that day to report some good news. It hadn't worked it's way completely through all of the channels, but I was offered the job! She told me to act surprised when HR called with the offer. They need me to start as soon as possible, so I was more than happy to turn in my two week notice before leaving work today. I can make it two more weeks, knowing there is an out.

Travis finished his summer class and clinical work last week and had this week off, though he stayed very busy. He was an Orientation Administrator for the new podiatry class. He had a small group of students, around 8, who he led and gave advice to. He and his friend Chris also spent the week cleaning the anatomy lab and getting it ready for the new class. He told me stories about that which I will not share on this blog. Feel free to ask him about it. When I returned home from work each day this week he was incredibly tired. We decided he needed a week off from his week off. Monday he officially starts his second year of school--his last year in the classroom. I know he is very ready to get the classwork over and start his externships.

Dim Sum and Sharks

Lately we have been pretty busy on the weekends. I think we are trying to do as much enjoyable events as possible while Travis has time...and while the weather is nice. This Saturday we went downtown with two of Travis's classmates, Jason and Raquel. We started off by having dim sum in Chinatown. I always thought that dim sum was a specific Chinese dish, but it is not. I looked it up and literally it means "a bit of heart". It is a meal of small dishes usually served as a brunch. The restaurant we went to had ladies pushing carts around with different food options. I was very glad we had Jason with us, who is Chinese, and could suggest what to try. I can't remember what everything was called that we ate, but all of it was fantastic! We also ate everything with chopsticks, which was a trick for me, but I believe by the end of the meal I reached intermediate level of chopstick use.







After our wonderful meal we head off to the Shedd Aquarium. We had to stand in line for about an hour waiting to purchase tickets, but it went by quick. We started off with the 4-D Planet Earth experience. It was one of those short movies where the chair vibrates, puffs of air come from the floor, etc. Our movie was mostly about penguins in the Artic. We had "arctic winds" blow through the theater and at least three squirts on water on our faces. The aquarium is huge, filled with fish and mammals from all over. Some of our favorites were the beluga whales, sea/river otters, penguins, and tank of sharks. Travis could have spent all day in front of the sharks. He really wants to swim with sharks. He also enjoyed the anaconda... me, not so much. We had a wonderful time and would recommend the aquarium to anyone visiting Chicago.









Finding Nemo didn't lie to us: Clown fish really do live in anemones!


These are shark eggs with baby sharks inside!



Here is a very short video of the Beluga whale. I tried to get pictures of the whales but they wouldn't stay still long enough. :)


I had my interview at Travis's school last Thursday. I felt it went very well. For the small amount of time that I was in the office I could feel such a difference in the attitude and overall ambiance from the job I am at now. Now I am just waiting to hear back.

4th of July Weekend

I apologize for the lack of blogs lately. We haven't had too many super exciting things happen. We had a very relaxing weekend without lots of plans made. I had Friday off which was very much appreciated. Friday morning we went out to breakfast at a fantastic place in Lake Forest. I almost always get pancakes at breakfast restaurants and proceed to rate the restaurant based on the taste of the pancakes. This place received five, if not 6 stars. We took it easy the rest of the day and went out for ice cream in the evening.

We did start a 1000-piece puzzle on Friday night and continued it throughout the weekend while watching episodes of X-Files (birthday present for me). I haven't put a puzzle together in quite a long time and forgot how enjoyable it can be. Travis is quite the puzzle master. We planned to go to one of the many fireworks shows on Saturday evening. Since all the towns up here are so close together you have a choice of which maddening crowd you want to mess with. We ended up not heading out to any of the parks, but instead hanging out with some of Travis's classmates at their apartment building on the other side of the school. The building has a large balcony where we sat and could see about three different fireworks shows in the distance. It was a perfect way to spend the 4th, and it was the first time I have had to wear a jacket while watching the fireworks! In the evening it got down into the 60's.

Sunday we had a barbeque with some of Travis's classmates. It was a bring your own meat and slap it on the grill type of function. There was so much food! We had hotdogs, brats, steaks, chicken, sausage, four different types of chips, corn on the cobb, potato salad, ice cream sandwhiches, popcorn cake, and a white sheet cake. We both were so full by the end of it.

After such a wonderful weekend it was hard to go back to work. Work has been pretty rough. This job is not what I expected it to be and does not fit with what I really aspire to be doing. Also our company is planning to move locations. We will be moving near O'Hare in February...the worst part of winter. Right now it takes me about 20 minutes to get to work. Without traffic (or snow) the drive to O'Hare takes 30-40 minutes. I have been looking and sending my resume out to other job opportunities. I'm trying to find something in the education field which is my background and my passion. I received a call last week about a job opportunity at Travis's school. I have an interview set up for this Thursday. The position is for an admissions officer. If I get this job I would be able to walk to work which would come in handy during those snowy months. We both would appreciate it if ya'll would keep this in your prayers.

Texas Weekend

This weekend we traveled down to Texas for Cody, Travis's brother, and Larissa's Wedding. It was so nice to be back home with the brown/yellow/green grass, the open landscape, and the 90 degree weather. Travis decided to take the opportunity and stay a little longer. He left on Thursday and is staying through Wednesday. I was there just for the weekend due to work, but it was a very needed and appreciated time.

The wedding was wonderful, full of lots of stories, laughter, and a few happy tears. I know Travis and I really loved spending time with our families. I even got to spend some time with a dear, dear friend. Robin, my college roommate, came to the wedding as the photographer. Some of my favorite moments from the wedding include going with Grace to buy supplies for the newly wed car, Cody and Larissa's Star Wars themed slide show, and my sisters dancing in sync to YMCA.

I took a few pictures from the event, not as many as I should have. I tend to forget about having a camera and get to busy socializing.



The first dance to "At Last".



I think an appropriate title for this picture would be Welcome to the Bodeker Family, Larissa.



The Texas vacation continued as we stayed with some very good friends in College Station. We made sure to hit up some highly missed food joints. Saturday for lunch I got my Freebirds fix. After the wedding we went with a group of friends to Sonic; the closest Sonic to us in Illinois is around 40 miles away. I had been having diet vanilla coke withdrawals. Sunday we went to A&M church and it was absolutely wonderful. I do really like our church in Illinois, but I've truly missed the people and the worship at A&M.

My flight left at 3:45 on Sunday afternoon and I almost missed it! A couple of friends from church were going to Houston to drop something off and offered us a ride. We would have made it with plenty of time except for the closed highway. The north bound tollway which takes you to the Houston airport was closed, without any signs warning you ahead of time. We had to take a 15 minute detour just to get back on the correct highway. Thankfully our ride knew another way to get to the airport. When we arrived to the airport the terminal I was suppose to get off at was under construction without a drop off area or any signs for a detour. We ended up driving into the parking lot, where Travis and I jumped out and ran for it. We got there at 3:15, 30 minutes before my flight left. I was very glad Travis came with me, just in case I needed to find another flight. Luckily I already had my boarding pass and paid for my bag. There were hardely any lines at the luggage check-in and security. As soon as I was through security I ran for my gate which was only 4 down. Thankfully I made it onto my plane with time to spare.

Travis comes back tomorrow, and I can't wait to have him back!

Memorial Weekend

We had a fabulous Memorial Weekend. Travis began his week off and I was blessed to have Monday off. On Saturday we ventured out to the great city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Travis was excited because this was the first Saturday since August that he didn't have to study. The trip took about an hour, about the same time to get to downtown Chicago but without traffic. We fell in love with Milwaukee. It is clean, not overly crowded, and has plenty of attractions. Our first stop was the Milwaukee Public Museum. At the museum we began with an Imax film on sea monsters. The museum was wonderful. We really enjoyed the butterfly room, a glassed in area full of butterflies! My favorite area was created to look like an old village, and each house should a different culture. We also enjoyed the rainforest room which was created to look and feel like the real reainforest. My camera ran out of batteries while at the museum so I only have pictures of the rainforest room. After the museum we headed out to lunch. We weren't really sure where to go. I had planned where we would go to dinner, but not lunch. After driving around downtown for a little while we decided to try this italian place. It was a family owned restaurant and some of the best italian food that either of us have had. I had a fantastic lasagna dish and Travis had some dish with spicy sausage, ziti, and a special sauce, all served with hot, homemade bread. We found a park near the lake where some type of festival was happening. We stopped to check it out and found out it was a kite festival. Families were out there with their kites, as well as professional kite fliers with trick kites. Apparently kite flying is big up there. Here is a little video of the trick kite, as well as a picture of the biggest windsock I have ever seen!




We ended our trip with dinner at a place called The Brat House. We had some wonderful brats on pretzel buns. We were told later by someone at Travis's school that The Brat House is one of the best places for a good brat.





On Sunday afternoon we ventured out to south Chicago, not southside, south Chicago. We were educated on the difference. One of Travis's classmates invited us to a barbeque at her family's house. Their house was a historic house from the early 1900's. Her mother is a retired interior designer. Needless to say the inside of the house was amazing. We had a meal of smoked ribs, corn on the cob, and baked beans. It made both of us feel right at home.

Travis begins his summer work on Monday, but next weekend we head to Texas for Cody and Larissa's wedding!

First Year Finished

As of today Travis finished his first year of podiatry school! He excelled in every single one of his classes. He is so excited to be finished. He has a week off and then he will begin his summer work. The summer will consist of one class and some clinic work which will be much lighter compared to past few months. Travis has big plans for his week off, mainly sleeping, playing golf, playing computer games and just relaxing. He deserves it for all of his hard work!

I have Memorial Day off and am extremely excited about the 3 day weekend. Travis and I are planning to spend Saturday seeing the sights in Milwaukee. It's only about an hour away and is cheaper than downtown Chicago. We've been told there are some great restaurants and fun places to see. Hopefully my next blog entry will have pictures.

It finally is getting warm here. This week it has been in the 70's and 80's, although today it was back in the low 60's. On one of the days when it was 80 my co-worker was complaining about how hot it was outside. If she only knew...

I Survived (and Conquered) Cinco de Mayo

Work has been very busy lately. Kristi, you were right...I am longing for those days of boredom. At the beginning of last week 2 girls from our department were let go. So Nastasha and I took over their desks for the week which entails taking care of 3 doctors: checking in on their visits for the day, scheduling visits for the upcoming weeks, and revising lists. Last Friday the doctors were all switched up between the 5schedulers. So this week I started off with my 3 doctors.

Monday I was pretty stressed about everything I had to do to get caught up. At the end of the day we found out that 2 of the schedulers would be out tomorrow. So instead of taking care of the visits for 3 doctors, I would be taking care of 5 doctors. The extra fun came this morning when our manager informed Nastasha and I that the other scheduler called in sick. The two of us now made up the podiatry scheduling department, and each of us handled the visits for 8 doctors! Our training must have been superb because we ended up reaching an average that podiatry has not seen in quite awhile. Our manager was very, very impressed...so were we!

A White Coat and a Wonderful Visit

Travis' white coat ceremony was very enjoyable event, and I know for him it was very rewarding. He is beginning to see his hard work pay off. Because I was a little rushed getting to the ceremony I did not grab my camera, but thanks to my dad we have documentation of the event:









We had such a wonderful visit with our parents and were glad to have them with us. We made sure to take them for deep dish stuffed pizza, a Chicago must. We mainly stayed around our area, visiting the huge outlet mall in Gurnee and scoping out the house used in Home Alone. The house is quite interesting. It's not like you expect. It is in anormal neighborhood with houses situated quite close on each side. The magic of Hollywood. The best part of the visit was the wonderful time of visiting. We were sad to see the weekend end, but we look forward to our seeing everyone again in June for Cody's (Travis' brother) wedding!

Oy!

I apologize for the lack of blogging; it wasn't intentianal. A week or so ago I was on the computer when a message popped up warning me that I had a virus on the computer. Well, fearing a viral infection I clicked to get it cleaned, knowing our computer security would zap it away. Apparently the message did not come from our security. It was actually one of those sneaky advertisements for some cheap virus scan. Because I clicked on it, it was downloaded to the computer. Even though we erased it from the computer, its ghost remained, blocking me from viewing certain sites, mainly my blog. It appears that today the computer has been exorcized, and I am able to catch people up on our lives.

* The big event this week is Travis' white coat celebration tomorrow afternoon! Both my parents and his parents are in town as we speak for the celebration. My manager and I worked it out so that I could get off early for the event--thank goodness.

* Work is going well. Each week I have a little more added on. This week I am sitting at another scheduler's desk and taking care of what needs to be done. For the first few days I sat in her spot and she told me what needed to be done. Today I sat in her spot and she moved to another area to work which allowed me to figure out for myself how and what to prioritize. Next week I will get my doctors and begin fully working as a scheduler.

Putting the Night Away

Last night Travis and I had a little date night. With his studying and my working we realized we need to find times to spend time together. We went to dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse and then played glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. For some odd reason I have been wanting to go play miniature golf. I haven't played in years...and believe me, it showed. The golf course was inside the huge mall in Gurnee. Thank goodness it was indoors because it was way too cold to play outside. We had a lot of fun and a good time just being together! Here are some pictures:









Here is a video from the night. I enjoy it because it was Travis's first time recording a video with my camera. This is my first time putting a video up, so I hope it works.

So Proud

I am so proud of Travis for his amazing accomplishments in all of his classes. I also am very proud of his extra-curricular achievements. Travis is apart of the Honor Council which reviews education misconducts, such as cheating, and then makes decisions on what should happen. A couple of weeks ago he found out that he will be the co-chair for the Honor Council next year. During the orientation week in August Travis will serve as an orientation advisor, answering questions and showing new students around. Just this week he found out that he will be one of 9 Ambassadors for the school. He and the others will help out with recruitment.

With all he has to study I am truly amazed at his devotion to these other activities.

The Student and His Foot

The school issued a plastic foot and leg to each student to use for study practices. It has become apart of his being. When he goes to class, the foot is tucked in the outer pocket of his bag for all to see. In the evening when he is studying and I am reading, I will look and he is scratching his head with the foot or doing some other hilarious gesture. Last night he staged this pose, and I couldn't pass it up. The poor, tired, malnurished podiatry student!

The First Week

I apologize for the lack of blogging this week. I have felt very drained when I get home from work. My body is having to learn this schedule again. My first week has been a little boring, trying to take everything in. Another girl started the same day as me and is in the same position. The two of us have bonded pretty well. I knew my position title before I started, but I didn't know which field I would be in: Dentistry, Audiology, Podiatry, or Optometery. Ironically, I am a Podiatry Scheduler. Travis was excited about that!

My first three days were rather boring because I sat and observed one of the schedulers. The first day I was a little nervouse because of all that she was doing. I had no idea what was what or why she would do a certain task. On the second day I felt much better. I understood what was going on and could anticipate the next step. This job is quite different from what I am use to. A majority of time is spent working with a database system and there are many different reports which have to be filled in.

At the end of Wednesday we were taught how to do a couple of tasks and then spent the next two days completing these for the other four podiatry schedulers. Since there were two of us working on this we finished them quicker than one person and would then be stuck with nothing to do. We often times would walk to each other's cubicle to see if there was any work we could take.

We are learning the job bit by bit and then we will be given our own doctors to schedule and take care of. The people I have met so far are very nice and helpful. Hopeful they all remember what it was like on their first week.

Snow Storm in March

Last night the snow started falling around 7:00 p.m. When we woke up Sunday morning there were inches of snow on the ground, and it was still coming down. We went about our normai routine and got ready for church. We left the apartment a little earlier than normal, in case we needed to go slower on the roads. When we entered the hallway outside our apartment we noticed the lights were out. Apparently part of our building lost power; luckily, our apartment did not.

I'm not sure how much snow we got, but it was quite a dropping. As we walked to our garage we had to bend under tree branches that were hanging much lower, due to the weight of snow. Some of the trees were actually leaning. When we reached our garage I pushed the garage door opener and nothing happened. I tried again and again. The light on the opener would come on, but nothing would happen. Travis ran back to the apartment to get the key which we have never tried before. Either we have the wrong key or it is not cut properly, because it would not turn. So we ended up not going to church because our car was locked in the garage! We are hoping this gets fixed before tomorrow...when I have to drive to my first day at a new job.

Here are a few pictures of the spring snow storm:

Winding Down

This Thursday was my last day at tutoring. Over the past two weeks I have been administering a standardized test to the boys, just like the TAKS test. I've been breaking it up into one or two sections per meeting. So Thursday we finished the last two sections and then we had our pizza party! We ate pizza and cookies and I distributed their prizes. The tutoring company gave each kid a new packback and a t-shirt. I gave them a little bag of some goodies they could use at school. And then we played a game! The boys had asked me to bring Monopoly. So we spent the rest of the time playing Lord of the Rings Momopoly! I am going to miss seeing those little guys!

In my last post I mentioned getting up earlier this week to condition my body for when I start my job. Travis and I, both, were a little skeptic of this. I decided Monday would be my last day to get up at 8:00, but every day after that I got up at 7:00. I even cooked Travis and I breakfast on Tuesday. Today I got up and drove my route to work. I wanted to see how traffic was at that time, how long it would take me, and figure out where I was suppose to park. I am all set for Monday.

This Week's Events

Well, I have one more week of freedom until my new job starts. After 7 months of waiting and searching it doesn't feel too much like freedom anymore. There are only so many times you can window shop at Target. The company sent me a large packet of paperwork to fill out and send back. My hours of work will be 7:30-4:00, although I may need to come in around 7:00. For a non-morning person this is going to be fun. I may have to learn to enjoy the taste of coffee. This week I will be practicing waking up early so the following week is not such a shock.

A couple of weeks ago Travis and I decided to get rid of our cable. We wanted to save money and stop unneeded watching. The majority of the shows I watch are reruns that I have seen before. We have signed up with Netflicks since we are quite behind in the movie watching, and it is a little awkward getting to our Blockbuster. Our first two movies, Prince Caspian and Kungfu Panda, should arrive tomorrow!

Tuesday we had an enjoyable dinner with Travis' dad who was in town for work. He took us out to eat at this fantastic seafood place called Bob Chin's. The place was huge and had some amazing food! Of course the more important part of the evening was catching up!

Today our church had a potluck lunch. We brought the traditional southern potluck dish: green bean casserole. We were shocked when ours was the only one on the tables. According to the preacher's son this church is known for its jello molds. He begged us not to bring one. Hilarious! One of the ladies at the church is polish and brought homemade stuffed cabbage and blintzes. Both were absolutely amazing! We ended up taking some plates of food home, so no cooking dinner tonight!

I Have a Job!

I received some of the best news at 8:30 this morning. The company that I interviewed with a couple of weeks ago called to offer me a job! This is the scheduling position with PrimeSource Healthcare in which I will schedule physicians to visit nursing homes. The pay is more than the minimum I was hoping for and the benefits are wonderful. I will start on March 30th which works out perfectly with the tutoring job which ends on the 26th.

Travis and I are both so thankful and excited! We are going to have a celebratory lunch! Thanks to all of you for keeping us in your prayes.

Glimpse of Spring?

I realise I haven't updated the blog in about two weeks. Not too much has happened to us during that time--just the same old routine. Here are a few tidbits:

* The weather has been teasing us lately. Last Thurday and Friday the high reached the 60's and it was fantastic! I went out with a very light jacket on, and Travis went without a jacket. I actually saw people in shorts! We were back in the 30's/40's for a few days. Then yesterday it got in the 60's again, which was not in the forecast. Then today we woke up to 20's, but with the wind it felt like the teens. I will take that 60 degree weather any day! We also are getting lots and lots of rain (which is better than snow).

* Travis has about 10 1/2 weeks left of his first year which is unbelievable. To me, it seems like he just started; to Travis it feels like it's been 2 years. He still is doing great in all of his classes! We are looking forward to his coat ceremony at the end of April...and a visit from both sets of parents!

* Tutoring is going well. I am getting close to the end though. I am now into the math section, which has gone much better than I thought. Math is not my forte. I am better with the liberal arts. Thankfully it is elementary math, and there are lots of manipulatives to use (play money, flash cards, etc.).

* I'm still waiting to hear about the Rotary position. A couple of weeks ago I had an interview with a medical company which schedules doctors to visit nursing homes. The position would be as a scheduler and it sounds rather stressful. I'm sure I can handle it, though I'm not sure if it's exactly what I'm interested in. Hopefully I will hear from them soon. I also was contacted this week for an interview with a job placement company as a recruiter. I will go to that interview next Wednesday. Though it has been a long struggle waiting on a job, I am thankful that I have been contacted by many companies. I know of others looking for jobs in this area who haven't received a single call for an interview.

Happenings

First of all I must post this enjoyable picture:


This is a gag gift my sister sent to Travis. He loved it! I think he should wear it in his anatomy labs.

Travis is off from school this week, but not off from studying. As soon as he goes back he will begin 12 weeks of tests. His days are not completely filled with studying. We have been spending some time having fun. Our preacher and his wife gave us a giftcard to a restaurant for our anniversary. Last night we decided to take advantage of the gift and had a nice dinner at LoneStar Steakhouse. The restaurant is a Texas theme which was very enjoyable. It was a little weird to see all this Texas paraphernalia and then have a waitress with a thick Illinois accent.

I am having a wonderful time with my tutoring. The boys are so well-behaved and excited to learn. On Tuesday I was going to administer an assessment test to see how the tutoring had benefited the students. Before the test I wanted to review over some of the aspects they had learned. For most of the review I used items that were included in the tutoring binder. However, I felt that they needed something else to help them with the different paragraphs in an essay. So I found the "sandwich" technique online and quickly made visual aids for the review. Here is the paragraph sandwich:



On the test the students had to write a sentence about their class, using proper capitalization and punctuation. One of the boys wrote the sentence: My teacher Mrs. Bodeker is a good teacher. That just made my day!

The Chicago Bulls

Last night Travis and I went to a Chicago Bulls game at the United Center. One of his classmates arranged for a group of the students to go with discounted tickets. We were pretty much at the very top, but still we were at a Bulls game! This was my first professional basketball game to go to. We watched the Bulls play the Denver Nuggets, and they won! Hopefully we can go to at least one game of all the professional Chicago teams. Travis received a compliment last night from a group of girls. I had to get up a few times during the game, and the best way out was to hop over our seats to the top and go down the stairs. Of course when I would come back Travis would get up and hold my hand to help me down. On my second time coming down this group of girls wanted to tell me how nice my husband was for always helping me down. Yes, he is a good one!

Here are some pictures from the game:







Here is the final score. We received a coupon for McDonalds which said if the Bulls scored 100 points and won you would get a free Big Mac. As soon as we hit the 100 points Travis and some others kept chanting "Big Mac, Big Mac!"

Tutor

On Monday I received a call about a part-time position as a tutor which would start on Tuesday and run through mid-March. Since I am still waiting to hear from the Rotary and don't have anything else in the works I accepted the job. I did receive an email from Rotary last week letting me know that they have yet to make a decision--so I am still in the running.

On Tuesday I drove to Niles, IL to meet with the supervisor I would be in contact with and to learn exactly what the tutor position would be doing. I haven't tutored before so I wasn't sure what it entailed. The job is for Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00-4:30 at an elementary school in North Chicago. I have a group of three boys, one in fifth grade, one in fourth grade and one in third grade. On Tuesday the supervisor came with me to show me how it works and told me I could jump in at any time. I let her run the majority of the show so I could see the full routine. There is a binder with all of the lessons and all of the materials included. The lessons are over English/Language Arts and Math. On Tuesday the lesson was mainly over pronouns, nouns and verbs. I wanted to establish myself as a tutor with the boys before the session was over and before it was all on me next time, so I handled the very last session of the lesson. The boys are very sweet, attentive and eager to learn.

On Thursday it was just me going over a lesson on punctuation and the structure of paragraphs. I had received a call from the supervisor earlier letting me know that the old tutor might come by to say goodbye, but it wasn't for sure. In the middle of the lesson he showed up with a pizza and coke. So we had a pizza party break and I chatted with Mr. Quigley. He is the Reading Specialist for the district and because his schedule was busy he had to stop tutoring. The first lesson went well. We didn't make it all the way through, but we will pick up where we left off next time.

I am very excited about this temporary position. Even though it is very part-time, I enjoy having something to do and not just anything. I am making a difference in the education of three young boys.

The Anniversary

Travis and I had a wonderful anniversary. I felt well enough by the time we left for dinner, though I did stuff a stash of napkins (I used up all the kleenex) in my purse. Again I had no idea where we were going to dinner. Travis picked a wonderful restaurant in Lake Forest, a very swanky, well-to-do town. We were greeted by the manager and taken upstairs to the Bank Lane Bistro. We were seated on the patio, which during the winter is glassed in with overhead heaters. We started out with an appetizer of calamari which was excellent. I had a salad which consisted of a mixture of greens encircled by thinly cut pieces of cucumber. Both Travis and I picked fish entrees. He had the Australian Baramundi and I had a fish that started with a k. I can't remember the name, probably because I had never heard of it before. Both dishes were excellent and were light enough to where we didn't feel overtly full. Since we still had some room we ordered dessert. Travis had the chocolate creme brulee and I had the warm melted center chocolate cake. Of course both desserts were delicious. How can you go wrong with chocolate?

As we were leaving we had our waiter take a picture of us to commemorate the event(see below). After the picture Travis was able to shake hands with the cook and complement him on the meal. He had never meet the cook at a restaurant before and was excited by this. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and hope to sometime go back.

We ended up not going out to a movie but renting one instead. I liked this idea a lot better, one because I was running out of napkins, and two, there really wasn't much playing in the theater that I wanted to see. However, there are many movies that are out to rent which neither of us have seen. Travis picked the movie and chose wisely. We spent a wonderful evening watching the thriller Eagle Eye, a movie we both had been wanting to see.

Overall we had a very enjoyable anniversary.

Valentine's and Anniversary

Travis and I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Since our anniversary is only two days after V-day we didn't do too much. I did receive my traditional rose from my dad which is sitting nicely in a vase which hasn't had flowers in it for quite awhile. Travis got me a sweet card and a simple but wonderful gift: a package of those gourmet M&M's--triple chocolate! Those things are the best: milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate all in one. Because he has two tests this coming week he spent most of the day studying, but later that evening we went to an ice cream place we had been told about. It is called Oberwise and they are big up in this area. I don't crave ice cream that much, but Travis loves it and misses Blue Bell. Oberwise had some pretty good stuff. We decided to splurge and get something more than just a scoop of ice cream. I got the hot fudge brownie sundae and Travis got the old fashioned sundae. Both were delicious and we have decided to visit this ice cream place again.

Today is our one year anniversary. It is amazing how fast this year has flown by! Travis and I have been a little sick with congestion gunk. Travis had it pretty bad last week right when he had two finals. And lucky me I started feeling the symptoms last night and woke up today feeling awful. With each passing hour I feel a little better, however my nose resembles Rudolph. I'm sure I will be much better by this evening. Some friends of ours gave us a generous amount of money at Christmas time to "play" with. We decided to keep it for our anniversary. All I know is that we are going to dinner and a movie. Travis is keeping it secret where we are eating. I little while ago he surprised me with flowers and a card. What a sweetie!

I will update later this week and let you know where we end up eating.

The Legend of the Stache

As many of you may remember from an earlier post, Travis was growing a moustache for three months as part of a bet to raise money for a diabetic organization. Many of you were privileged to meet the stache during our trip to Texas. The cutoff date for the bet was February 1st. So Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight Travis removed the hair that we both had become accustomed to. And because the power of the stache was broken...the Cardinals lost the Super Bowl.

Here are some pictures from the momentous night: