I did not fall off the face of the Earth. In fact, we just moved to Kentucky.

Hello! Long time no see! Did you miss me? Probably not, what with all the sweating and general stinking I've been doing in the time I've been gone. But, with all the sweating comes a finished product (but not always, sometimes I just sweat because I'm hot), and that, my friends, is what we have. Well, sort of. It's ALMOST done. There are obviously pictures to be hung and floors to mop and boxes to take to recycling, but there is a light now. I can see it. Unfortunately, it too puts off a lot of heat and IS WINTER EVER GOING TO GET HERE???

LOTS has been going on around these here parts. We moved out of Old House (that always seems to feel about 15 degrees warmer than New House) but haven't cleaned it yet. (Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?) We moved into New House and only managed to break about two things that we own. Not too shabby. Sam's room was finished first (OBVIOUSLY) so that the precious sleep schedule could continue on without any hiccups. We finally hung pictures in there today. Watching Steve hang pictures did not have nearly the entertainment value that I'd hoped it would (for Sam. I was enthralled).

I'm still getting used to having stairs. Good news: I haven't taken a tumble down them just yet. I can tell that it will happen though. More good news: I do seem to be huffing and puffing at the top of the stairs less than I was a week ago though (NOTE: STILL huffing and puffing, just LESS, so...), so that has to be worth something, right? I will confess that after running up and down the stairs during the move had its consequences for me the next day. Muscles that haven't been activated in QUITE some time were burning/tingling/aching. It's time for me to start hitting the gym again. Yikes.

Speaking of working out, Sammy and I are going to our FIRST EVER Mommy and Me Zumba class. They offer it at our community center in a kind of public room, and I'm not sure if that's to keep demand down for on-post housing or just so the housing ladies can have something to laugh about during the day. Either way, we're going. Knock that off my list. Hopefully Sammy isn't scarred for life. And hopefully I can walk up and down the stairs the next day.

We just got internet and cable hooked up this morning. Praise the Lord. We were renting an awful lot of awful movies from Redbox and it was starting to wear on us. I'm the type that can't stand to stop a movie halfway through no matter how bad it is, but this one movie was so bad (and so CLEARLY filmed in the early 90s, but marketed like it just came out), that I didn't fight it when Steve said he was stopping it. In our recent TV/Internet lull, I did get all of my magazines read, so the spot next to my nightstand looks amazingly clean and organized, and I tend to spit out random facts at Steve that I can't back up because "I read it in one of those magazines," but I recycled them all as soon as I was done with them and can't refer back to those breaking stories and pressing issues. <sigh>

Walks here are a lot more interesting than in our Old Neighborhood. There are paths, trails, sidewalks, random yard sales, different houses and yards to look at, and we aren't stuck with doing the same boring loop every time we decide to walk. However, in order to walk and not lose yourself in a puddle of sweat, you must start out at approximately 3:30am. I had been meeting a friend and walking from 8-9 or 9:30, but we were soaked and wondering when the first nap was coming because of the pure STENCH coming from our armpits and hoping they would be asleep long enough for both of us to make it to our houses and shower. (I regret to say that some days, that did not happen. Don't judge me.) So one morning, Sam woke up earlier than usual, and we were out the door by 6:20. I was thinking it would be SO much cooler then. HA. It was not. I sweated (is that a word?) just as much as I did at 8. Sometimes Steve and I will go in the evenings (that means 5:30pm- har har har) in order to keep Sam awake for a smidgen longer, but it is, again, SO FORKING HOT that we all come back ready to go to bed at 7.

Our neighbors here are so nice. Not that we didn't have nice neighbors in Old Neighborhood. Because we did. Well, the ones that I introduced myself to were nice. Here, people come say hi to YOU because YOU'RE the one who's new and moving in and don't know anyone! How novel! (For the record, this is the way I think it should work all the time.) Our attached neighbors just moved in a couple weeks before us and we had dinner with them a few nights ago. Our other next-door neighbor was best friends with the lady who used to occupy our house. She was anxious to see what the workers had done to the inside of our house since her friend had moved out and I told her she was more than welcome to come look around. And she did. But she brought cookies the size of my face in order to have a REASON to come over. I like that. I like that a lot. They were chocolate chip and had just come out of the oven and I'm not really ashamed to admit that those were my dinner that night. It was amazing, I'm an adult, and I can ruin my appetite for dinner with dessert if I feel like it! Scale be damned!

I'll post house pictures once everything starts looking more normal, but in the meantime, feast your eyes on this:

First pool trip on post. Check out that sweet belly. YUM.

While this is totally off-topic and random, I need some advice. Is it common for a dentist's office to require x-rays before they will clean your teeth? Obviously I am a new patient and that is why they want the x-rays, but holy molars the x-rays are something like $165, and the chipper little telephone receptionist was all, "And that doesn't include the cleaning!" After I was done choking on my own tongue, I told her that I would have to call back. I find that ridiculous. Can't I just tell them that I no longer possess wisdom teeth? I have no interest in having a root canal performed on me? I just want my chompers cleaned and scraped! Also, I think I have a hole in my gums that is becoming a little worrisome to me and would like to have someone resembling a "professional" check it out. Thanks in advance for the advice!