Long time no blog!

Well, hello there! Well, it's almost a month since we posted here - hope you are all well, and weren't worried we'd been masticated by next-door's pitbull. We weren't, and we're still here and things are going really good!

FLIPPER DEPARTMENT...............

Note: Must stop calling he/she Flipper.

After our latest appointment on May 5th, all is still present, correct, and heartbeat-y. Amy's nausea has been, in the main, better, apart from, ironically, the day of our last appointment where due to a combination of a chest-cold and pregnant-itis she managed to waste a whole bowl of Golden Grahams outside the OB/GYN clinic, a crime for which she was not only forgiven, but given a big hug for. To add insult to injury the nurse asked if she was feeling 'sicky-poo'. Amy was restrained, the nurse lived, an ultrasound was carried out and everyone went home happy. Our next appointment is in about 2 weeks, when we have another video-type sonogram, so we'll put the pictures up for everyone. As much as us, you probably can't wait to see how much he's grown since the last one! Well, okay, maybe not QUITE as much as us. We are a little closer to deciding names now too. We are fairly certain we have decided definitely for a girl, but we still have a little list of boy names. AND DON'T ASK, 'cause we are keeping it a little bit of a secret until arrival. :)

POOPY HOUSE/LANDLORD DEPARTMENT............

Our landlord came 'round about 1/2 hour ago to fix our kitchen faucet, JUST at the moment I decided to visit the bathroom and 'lay my burden down'. The poor guy made a good show of it, but in a house this size - and given my unique abilities - the rudeness of the odor that accompanied our otherwise pleasant conversation was undeniable. Sorry, Matt. And WAAAAHOOOO! I feel strangely happy!

SMOKING DEPARTMENT............................................

Well, I don't know how, but I am part way through my FIFTH day without even a puff of a cigarette. Hoorah! Again, don't know how, but after the initial 48 hours during which I was tied for first on the anti-sociality index with the Stonefish....



The Stonefish, most poisonous fish in the sea. Isn't he a cutie?
Nope. But his Mom loves him just the same.





.... I don't feel I'm missing it quite as much as I expected. I am using Nicotine Gum, which I think is helping alot, less as a symptom/craving alleviator, rather more as an object to transfer the addiction to that is far less harmful, and far easier to quit than smokes. So, hooray! It's kind of become a point-scoring game to me - the more days I can rack up, the more excited I feel about quitting. Smoking is like falling into the bear enclosure at the zoo: It's not that you don't want to leave, it's just hard to say no when a bear says 'Stay awhile?" Keep ya posted...

CONGRATULATIONS TO AMY DEPARTMENT.................

On May 14th Amy celebrated her very first Mother's Day! We all had a lovely meal at Amy's parents, and I made Amy a card featuring pics of famous achievers as children, captioned with Future Composer/Physicist/Ladies Man (Bill Clinton) etc., followed by a picture of her captioned: Future Great Mom. 'Cause she will be. :)

WEATHER CENTER.............................

Nice! Has been cold, few rainy spells. Now sunny and pleasantly warm! Oh - we went to Minier (pronounced My-neer) to dry laundry about ten days ago and a HUGE thunderstorm passed perhaps ten miles east of us, and as we came back and drove through what must have been the surrounding weather phenomena we experienced some very bizarre conditions. It was sunny, save for the background of this enormous storm system, and quite breezy, but all around us were very localized areas of extremely high wind and pressure, lifting huge swathes of dust and debris from the fields and across the road. We found out a day or so later that there had been two tornadoes between Minier (Hold on...) and Hopedale (A-haaaa!) At the time Amy (sensible) was very concerned about the clear tornado risk, while Jim (man-child) kept saying "Let's drive back and see!!" In the end Jim relented and drove home, and once again, history will record that a wife saved a husband from being sucked up into the sky, blasted with lightning bolts, and deposited fifty miles away on the roof of a cow-shed. You know, that old story.

ORANGE JULIUS DEPARTMENT................

In recognition of my newly resurrected Orange Julius music-making hobby, we decided last night to make real Orange Julius-es (the drink). And, for some reason, we decided to take photos of the event! This is how you make an Orange Julius:

You need:

6 oz. can frozen concentrated orange juice
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 large ice cubes





First, put ice in blender.




Next, put lid on blender (important):





Blend for 30 secs. You may dance. :











Then serve, and enjoy! (Amy is saying 'Mmmmmmmm!')























Orange Julius-es are DELICIOUS!!!

LAST BIT VISA SECTION...........................................

We finally sent off our final bunch of visa/Employment authorization paperwork (for a year or so) on May 5th. We have got a receipt letter back already, and now the wait (again!) begins. Hopefully Jim should be working sooner rather than later, though. Send all prayers/good thoughts/crates of Red Bull to the USCIS, Missouri.

So that's that! We'll drop in again sometime soon. God bless you, and hope you are all very well indeed.

Love,

Jim and Amy and Flipper