Back again...

I didn' t realize I hadn't posted here for so long. I guess we've been keeping me otherwise occupied. :)

I have been having lots of fun with my business and Nicholas and I've been keeping pretty busy with Mark's practice as well. Hopefully at some point I'll feel like I'm not a chicken with its head cut off. ;)

This weekend was a good one. We went to a party for Mark's networking group in Manitou Springs. It was such fun and even more so since I was able to share my Scentsy products with the ladies in attendance. They were all quite pleased and placed several orders which is great since I have three left before my first 60 days is over and I'm hoping to hit one more level before that is up!

There was so much food at the party since we all brought something to share....kalua pork, salsa, potato salad, etc. We brought what I named the "Dolly Madison Zinger Trifle." If you are a trifle snob, I'll be the first to admit, it is *not* a true trifle...it's probably closer to a mess, but I prefer to call it a trifle and since it isn't likely to be published in a culinary masterpiece, I'm sure you'll go with me on it. It was composed of coconut cake (the same as for Nicholas' birthday cake which, erhem, I was going to recreate, but when the cake comes out in pieces, a trifle it becomes!), raspberry jam, shredded coconut, coconut pudding and whipped cream for good measure. It was really pretty and very tasty...especially the next day after it was able to sit around for a while. I think I might just have to mess up another cake so I can make it a day ahead of time because there weren't many leftovers to enjoy that second day! ;)

Yesterday was a very productive day for me as well. The downstairs office area is now useable space...not a dumping ground as it has been acting. It was a necessary change since the computer I am currently typing on will be taking a little trip to the geeks at Best.Buy to fix its speakers. They are just awful and we've just not taken care of it....laziness for part of the time and then, well, I didn't have another computer out and available so that was an issue, but not anymore! I think it will be nice to have a desk again and I'm hoping it will lead to the kitchen table being nice and organized rather than looking like a desk with tons of in process projects. :)

We're having pictures of Nicholas taken again today. We're doing a few makeups for lighting problems and what not with his 12 month pictures. The pictures will be taken at the Broadmoor so we're sure to have some really lovely ones when all is said and done....hopefully Nicholas will be in a better mood today, too!

No More Demon Eyes

As you know, I typically don't use our blog for recommending products. Today, however, I'm making an exception as I have to tell you all about a great product I've discovered for removing red eye from photos called Stop Red Eye.

For those of you who aren't aware, Nick has aniridia and so his pupils are dilated at all times and a lot of the shots I take with our digital camera have red eyes. Some of these pictures are just cute as can be were it not for the red eyes which is why I turned to Paint Shop. Since it didn't go so well, I searched in Google for a solution to fix red eyes easily.

An ad for Stop Red Eye came up and I decided since they had a free demo, I'd give it a try. I was very pleased with how the program worked. With the click of the mouse (and that one click fixed all the shots in an entire windows folder!) the demonic looking red eyes were corrected and staring back at me was my darling baby boy!

I should mention that the program doesn't fix all photos, but usually the photos that aren't fixed are ones where Nicholas wasn't looking directly into the camera. This is consistent with what the website says the product works for so I'm cool with it.

At any rate, I definitely would recommend you take a look at www.stopredeye.com and download their demo to see how it works on your photos!

9 Months!

Where has the time gone? Before I know it, little sprout is going to be a teenager (a well-behaved little angel of a teenager, of course - hee hee!) if time keeps going at this break neck speed.

As far as updates, nothing too new in the way of the pregnancy. I'm still having back issues, but the chiropractic care I'm receiving seems to be helping keep me in a state where I can at least tolerate things.

We didn't really do too much baby shopping this week either. For the most part, we have most of the really important stuff. There are a few "wants" that we may still invest in, but until we have some real life experience come our way, we figure we have a good start. Thus, most of the purchases this weekend were for yours truly. :) However, I did start a little blankie for the sprout which should be quite lovely when finished....

We picked up some slippers and a nightie and robe that I can wear in the hospital during/after delivery. The robe and slippers are for sure before. The nightie - well, we'll have to see if it still fits in a few more weeks (that belly of mine is g-r-o-w-i-n-g it seems - pictures will be forthcoming...) and we also have to take into account that I'm going to be hooked up to an IV. Either way, it should get some use. Finally, to save me a lot of time and trouble, we invested in a little MP3 player for me to put my favorite music on since music can really effect my mood. So, I now how a cute little pink MP3 player that holds plenty of music to keep me moving and grooving. I'm going to give it a bit of a trial run here at work today (if my right ear stops being stupid and feeling all stopped up).

Other than that, we packed my hospital bag and started brainstorming some ideas of food to bring to the hospital for me. Since I'm allergic to so many things, we figure we better have a pretty decent stash on hand to ensure that when I'm done helping sprout make his grand entrance I don't turn into an angry (and very hungry ogre - you may or may not know that I'm not the most pleasant individual to be around when I'm starving). So, I have to do a little preparatory baking/cooking over the next two weeks for that. I packed everything I should need and then some (including my favorite surgery buddy - a stuffed mouse whose been through all of my major surgeries with me!) and several movies to keep myself amused as well. I decided to go for cute and not too hard to follow so the doctors and nurses who get to come visit me will be amused by two Legally Blonde movies and Bring It On (I figure some cheerleading in the birthing room could be a good thing!).

Other than that, yesterday was my parents' 30th anniversary! Happy day mom and dad!

Test Day!!

Today is the big day!! Mark will start his first big board test a little after noon! Keep your fingers crossed that he at least passes 4 sections (we'd prefer he pass them all, but we don't want to be greedy!) because then he will at least not have to take the whole thing over. We're hoping that the bizarre grading method they use will be to his advantage rather than his disadvantage.

A short overview of that grading is that they throw out all the questions that everyone gets wrong (sounds good, doesn't it?!?) and all the questions that everyone gets right (that pretty much sucks, eh?!?) and then they take the top person's score and curve it based on that from our understanding so hopefully Mark will know a lot of things that some other people don't!

In other news, MeLissa's started work on another baby blankie...and we're not telling who this one is for either. It is a lovely mint green in the same pattern as the recent patriotic offering. This and finishing up last week's quilt block (as well as the standard weekend errands) should keep her occupied during Mark's testing period. MeLissa also is going to a baby shower for one of her former coworkers and hopes to catch a glimpse of her buddy Alisa who is visiting San Francisco as well.

Happy Birthday, Mom! (and All About the Weekend)

First of all, here's a big Happy Birthday wish to MeLissa's mom. We hope she has a year full of happiness, health, and God-willing, wealth! :)

Now....on to the weekend wrap-up:

As we mentioned previously, we had a rather busy weekend! We started out on Friday night with a little informal (but fun!) birthday celebration for our friend Lisa who is still enjoying the ripe old age of 25 (and hopefully will for many more years)! MeLissa made some virgin margaritas to celebrate the occasion (and to try out our new spiffy blender!) and we enjoyed a tasty meal from O'Hana Hawaiian grill.

After dinner we chatted and let Lisa open her birthday presents - she loved them all! :) And, of course, we had some pretty yummy strawberry ice cream (homemade!) to celebrate - we didn't feel like trying for another "caketastrophe" so ice cream's the deal around here for birthdays until Martha Stewart comes to the rescue (seriously, we've written to see if she can come up with a suitable eggless recipe).

On Saturday, MeLissa finished up the baby blanket she made for a friend's little one and we'll be mailing it out (hopefully) this week. We hope they find it helpful in keeping the little tyke warm! Meanwhile, Mark studied....and studied....and studied some more. His board exam is next weekend so he's pretty much spending all his "free" time with his nose in a book!

MeLissa also spent some time quilting Saturday and Sunday. She's actually close to finishing the Drunkard's Path block. She just has 3 seams to go...but due to Sunday's activities taking precedence (and a little project for Mark which we'll discuss shortly), she expects to finish it later during the week. So far, the block is looking very bright and cheery!

Instead of finishing her block, she and Mark spent a fair amount of time on Sunday recording a video (which MeLissa will try to piece together over the next few days) for Mark's physical therapy class on various excercises, stretches and assessment techniques for those who sit behind desks all day to fix them right up when they start having problems. Apparently this malady is referred to as "Upper Cross Syndrome" in chiropractic circles. MeLissa is now privvy to the why it is Mark keeps making her do all these exercises and stretches she isn't terribly fond of. :)

Finally, we wrapped the weekend up by doing a little experimental cookin'. This week's foray was into the realm of bread making...specifically, spelt bread. MeLissa decided to try because she was craving a hamburger and really wanted to have it on a hamburger buns. Since she can't buy hamburger buns that she can actually eat, she decided to make her own. All things considered, they turned out pretty decent and worked well for last night's dinner, but we do have a couple of modifications in mind for the next attempt! Alternatively, MeLissa may start using a little low-carb eating trick and just ditch the bun since she's pretty picky - two lettuce leaves seemed to work pretty well at the hospital cafeteria the last time Mark had surgery. As for the bread itself, it also turned out pretty decent, however, due to a good portion of the batter going to the buns, it was pretty flat. Mark was certainly grumbling about his "toast sticks" while eating breakfast this morning.

MeLissa also did some grumbling because it appears that one of her favorite foods is just not going to cooperate. Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any pictures of evil pineapples. What a shame. At any rate, this pretty much leaves us at a 100% fail rate as far as MeLissa's food reintroduction attempts. We may give the pineapple one more chance later today, but we're not terribly hopeful...

Evil Carrots....

What? You didn't know that carrots were evil? Well, we have verified it. Last night we tried to reintroduce them into MeLissa's diet and man was that a mistake.

The first sign that there was probably a problem should have been that when MeLissa tried them alone, they didn't taste nearly as good as she remembers them tasting. We later determined, though that it was because we didn't have onions cooking with them in the roast pot. So, she persisted, ate a few more with dinner and went about the rest of the evening's activities (which included finishing the stitching on the blankie, though, we're now at the point of yarn weaving which always seems to take much too long!).

About 2 hours after dinner, MeLissa all of the sudden started experiencing the following:

very scratchy throat

very scratchy nose

very scratchy ears (inside)

Shortly thereafter, she began having trouble breathing (her first asthma attack for a couple of months!) and developed a killer headache (which, incidentally is still with her this morning - doh!). So, we think it's pretty safe to say that carrots will be added to the long list (potatoes, tomatoes, avocados) of foods tha we tried to add back in and that just didn't want to cooperate. We're debating whether pineapple or green pepper will be the next lucky food...

In other news, while looking at quilting sites of all things (found some great resources for free patterns, friends - if you're interested, shoot us an email), MeLissa came across a site which is the polar opposite of every other e-greeting site you have seen. We think we'll call it the "Anti-greeting" site. Here, you can send "Resentiments" to those who've broken your heart, been lousy friends, etc. We will warn you that many of the cards use less than sophisticated language, but they were kind of funny so we figured we'd pass them along. Please don't send them to us. :)

Please Sir, May I Have Another?

So, apparently, Mark's surgeon (and Mark) felt that the operation on his left eye the other day to remove the silicon oil and repair his retina were so much fun they want to go and do it again in a couple of weeks to the right eye! How exciting! :)

Well, okay, actually the real reason is that it is past time. We were supposed to have had the oil removed from the right eye in January, but due to the left eye not behaving so well, it was postponed. Now, though, the doctor is having a difficult time seeing in Mark's eye and so he's unable to really see if everything is behaving and what not so it's time. That coupled with the fact that Mark has a break the last week of March led to the surgery being tentatively scheduled for March 22. Keep him in your prayers, please.

At least with this timing, he shouldn't have to miss too much school for his next quarter, but he will probably have to retake or at least take an incomplete on a few classes from this quarter...which is fine - it just means he'll be even more prepared when he takes his next board exam, right?

Speaking of board exams, Mark will be taking his first round on March 18 and 19. Last night, we did a little practice exam and it was really hard (even though it was the exam Mark figured he was the most prepared for!) so now we're both a bit scared for him. At least if he doesn't pass this time, he can always retake it, but please pray that he's a first timer! :)

As for MeLissa, nothing nearly as exciting. She has 5 rows left of the little blankie she's been crocheting. That's pretty exciting! She also joined a quilting site last night that has quilting lessons over the internet. She's looking forward to seeing how a different teacher does things as well in getting copies of all the nifty patterns that the site gives out for free. Total cost of membership...$15. Having an invaluable quilting resource available 24/7 and getting a lot of cute patterns for free...priceless. The site is called Victoriana Quilt Designs if you're interested in checking them out. They do have a free block pattern every month as well as a wealth of free quilt information suitable for beginners on up.

Mousse to the Max...

Wow. We just had chocolate mousse. Or should we say MOUSSE? For those of you who know MeLissa well, you know she can really put away the chocolate, but she may have met her match. Yes, she's sitting here typing this (oh, come on you all know it's MeLissa typing here, don't you?) looking at an unfinished bowl of mousse seriously contemplating whether or not she's going to finish it. It is actually making her head swim. *That* is unheard of, but that is what a good mousse is like! If you'd like to try this delectable treat, please have a look at the recipe here- you might just want to invite a bunch of friends over to share it with.

Other than this little bit of sweet excitement, the Rocco house has been pretty quiet. MeLissa has been busy crocheting (the finished product will be showcased in future post!) while Mark has been studying chiropractic and laying face-down. We have another appointment for Mark tomorrow with the doctor. Hopefully, we won't have too much to talk about after that either! :)

More Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Laelle!!! We hope you have a fun-filled night to celebrate your entry into a new decade! Congratulations!

Not a lot else to write about today here. We're just plugging along with school and work. MeLissa is excited that she'll soon be able to get back into her Event Planning studies, though! She *finally* received notification last night that her books have been shipped. She was going a bit nuts waiting!

And, tonight, she'll be skipping quilting class (she hasn't quilted anything for a little over a week anyhow - just not in the mood lately) to go to Mark's Activator II class at school so that Mark's instructor can show him what to do with her adjustment wise. We're hoping that this combined with Mark's recent tissue work on MeLissa will eventually lead to a pain-free life. Now wouldn't that be nice?

V-Day Surprises

Here's a peak at what a few (very few, unfortunately) lucky close friends and our immediate family members should have found in their mailboxes by now!:

Innocent little wrappings









with Bears and Flowers on the back...









Soon they'll find...









A soothing treat inside the flap!









It's not much, but we did want to send out a little something this Valentine's Day...not saying we'll do it every year, but we know how much we enjoy getting a little surprise in the mail so we figured we would pass that joy onto others even though it isn't Christmas!!

Believe it or not, though, during her college years, despite a rather heavy work load, MeLissa did send out greeting cards for most major "Hallmark" holidays...and even some not-so-Hallmark ones. Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving - they were all an excuse to tell friends and family how much she adored them. It's kind of fun to do it again!

You Say Tomato...

Progress! Happy Progress! We've knocked the list of MeLissa's 25 allergy foods down to 24 this past week. It appears that tomatoes are back in good graces. We've had them two nights and there seemed to be no adverse effects. Yea!

We had another fun experience with Martinis on Friday night as well. MeLissa can now make yummy Sour Apple and Watermelon (2 different types there...not a combo, though, that might be a future attempt) Martinis!

In other happy news, MeLissa finished yet another quilt block. The Card Trick was a bit tricky, but she managed to complete it . The next block to be attempted will be "Drunkard's Path." Perhaps we'll have to break out the Martini glasses for that one. No? Well, yeah, it might not be a good thing to stitch under the influence...

We also did a little house cleaning and in the process MeLissa found a number of recipes she'll be sharing with the recipe group just as soon as she finishes with bridal shower recipes. Be sure to join the group if you haven't already - there are some super treats on the way!

Now we're off for a bit of grocery shopping and supply gathering for some Valentine surprises we have in store for a few people...

Triangular Triumph

We have made great strides here at the Rocco household today. Believe it or not, the E-V-I-L triangle block called a Dutchman's Puzzle (and it certainly was puzzling) which MeLissa started in her last quilting class is finally complete. It's not perfect, but it is "good enough" - it should make a nice pillow or maybe a framed picture if nothing else. MeLissa learned some information in her quilting class this past Thursday that cleared up why she was having so many troubles with this block. As they say, knowledge is power...and MeLissa now is one powerful triangle vanquisher. Or, at least, we hope so! She'll soon find out when she attempts to make yet another block - the Card Trick. Hopefully it won't be too "trixie."

In other news, our kitty seems to not be coming back. We're sad (well, MeLissa's sad - Mark and Pixie were of the opinion that Banshee was more trouble than she was worth), but we hope that she's found a nice warm and safe place that will make her happy. We still plan to keep our eye out for her.

As for Mark, studying and face-down time are the rule. He visited his retinal doctor this past week and discovered that part of his retina has not yet healed despite nearly 4 weeks of face down time to date! So, he's now face down with his head at a very uncomfortable angle in the hopes that it will heal and he won't have to have a repeat retinal surgery. We are really praying that this won't cause another delay in his board exams...or graduation!

As a side note - let us also send a "shout out" to Mark's parents who celebrated their anniversary yesterday! Congratulations! We hope you'll enjoy many more years of each others' company and success in the coming year!

Quilting Accomplishments...

MeLissa gave up on the E-V-I-L Triangles for a while...at least until she receives further instruction in her quilting class. As you can see from the pictures attached, she successfully completed not one, but two blocks. She effectively doubled, in one day, the number of blocks she's completed. Sewing machines are gifts from heaven above. Perhaps, they will even be effective tools in defeating triangles (or not...only time will tell).

The two blocks you see are called the "honey bee" which is, currently, unfinished. Sooner or later, it should have some wings appliqued on, but since that hasn't been covered yet, MeLissa wasn't responsible for that part of the block. MeLissa isn't sure whether she really wants to mess with such a cute block anyhow! The center of the block is a nine patch in mini form. It showcases the various birds found in the lovely Christmas material MeLissa chose. The "white" provide ambiance with their romantic trees and snow drifts...

The "honey bee" was the second block MeLissa completed. The first was a basic nine patch. Unlike her first two nine patches which each took several hours to sew, this nine patch took all of about 10 minutes! Putting up the sewing machine was definitely a good post-Christmas activity!

Instead of making a basic checkerboard design, MeLissa decided to get crazy and created this design with a diagonal row of Christmas trees highlighted by more of the snowy background fabric and two fun Christmas plaid pieces. She's really happy with how this turned out!

So Far So Good for Our Resident Domestic Diva!

Happy, though perhaps boring, news - potatoes seem to be okay! Can you hear the State of Idaho's thunderous applause? No? We don't either, but nevertheless, it looks like we have one more food to consider in our weekly planning ritual. And that, as one of MeLissa's favorite celebrities likes to say is a "very good thing."

Another very good thing - Overnight Oatmeal. We caught a glimpse of this recipe on Good Eats with Alton Brown the other night and decided we should give it a try. Let's just say that for somebody who doesn't like oatmeal (unless of course it's in a cookie or some other baked good), MeLissa had no problem finishing up a nice bowl this morning - she didn't even dump it on the floor which we're sure would please her mother who has traumatic memories of digging oatmeal out of shag carpet from when MeLissa was a toddler! If you're intrigued and want to know how to make this yummy breakfast treat, the recipe group is the place to be. Hope to see you there!

Want more good things? Have a look at the post link above. Martha Stewart is back and has a fun live show with celebrities, recipes, crafts and all things domestic. She's assembled a nice little "book" of 30 things everyone should know how to do and there's some great tips and tricks per our very quick glance. A quick tour around the rest of her site will lead you to many more good things for all things domestic -let your inner Domestic Diva shine!

Standard Weekend Fare & Banshee Watch Day 5

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. No kitties turned up to give us a reason to celebrate. We did take Pixie outside on a leash for a little bit, but she wasn't too thrilled about it so we brought her back in. We think it's good to have a kitty who doesn't want to be outside...especially given the whole Banshee situation.

We went to the grocery store and spent more than we had hoped as usual. Mark has found, however, that the grocery store's bags make excellent head wear. Since his eye is still pretty sensitive to light, he's considering trying to create a new fashion trend. You never know with the stuff people wear these days...he may be on to something! Next thing you know, Calvin Klein will be sending models down the runway with bags over their heads...

MeLissa also took a stab at quilting, but gave it up when she realized that she had just finished sewing...the wrong side. It's a conspiracy - the triangles are working against her - we're sure of it! It's hard to accomplish much when you're trying to learn how to use a sewing machine again (it's been a loooong time, kids!). At least she can stand with her head high since she did finally finish her paper for her wedding planning course...all is not lost (just our kitty still).

Much-a-Do About Decorating...

Christmas was officially over Saturday. Yes, Saturday. Epiphany which takes place on January 6 every year is the finale to Christmas and marks the earliest time that MeLissa will ever be found removing Christmas decorations (the current record for keeping decorations up goes to 1998 when MeLissa left them up so they'd still be around when she returned from France on March 20).

All this aside, Saturday was the big day when all the Christmas decorations came down and all the "every day" decorations were brought back out. 2006 promises to be a big year for MeLissa and in the spirit of the new beginnings it promises, she decided to do a little "sprucing" up of the house by moving "little things" around a bit. And, if we may say so, she did a fabulous job (and there's even just a touch of Christmas for us to enjoy all year round)!

Pictures will be forthcoming, but until that time, here's a little description of the changes she made:

The Kitchen: MeLissa decided things needed to be brightened up in the kitchen. The perfect means of doing so - the kitchen Snoopy collection! For the past couple of years, it has been showcased in our double bookcase in the front room. It is now gaily displayed on our kitchen bookcase and pantry. The red and white really are a nice happy addition to the room. As an added bonus, we were able to move all of MeLissa's entertaining books to a shelf in the living room book case and so she has room to add more cookbooks (Amazon and Borders are rejoicing!).

The Living Room: We mentioned the subtraction of Snoopy kitchen stuff (there's many other Snoopy knick knacks still there!) and the addition of the entertaining library to the bookcase, but we didn't mention that Mark's oversize Martini glass was added to the top of the structure as an on high centerpiece. We placed a red and green martini glass inside and flanked it by red and green striped glasses for just a touch of festiveness all year round. This would make a great centerpiece idea for your next cocktail party...add a few colored beads and voila!

The fireplace mantle also got a face lift. MeLissa loves the look of crystal and mirrors and so she built upon love by decorating her mantle with various crystal candle holders, knick knacks, etc. A glass heart bowl by Waterford is the central focal point with it's colorful potpouri. The two ends also are focal points with a cheery bouquet made of flowers from the very first floral arrangement Mark gave her (they were silk) and a lovely poinsettia which adds a little Christmas cheer.

The most important change that was made, though, was the addition of a sewing area for MeLissa. Yes, she hasn't given up on quilting - she's just decided to make things a little easier by setting up her sewing machine! She plans to attempt to finish the evil triangle block soon (which just for the record will require 2 more mini blocks since she had to rip one out the other night because it was not up to par!). Maybe she'll even post a final picture once she's finally won the war...

In other news, today (January 9) is Mark's first day back to school. This promises to be a challenging quarter with a board exam to act as the finale. Mark's quickly approaching the light at the end of the tunnel (which we've determined is 90% likely not to be an oncoming train!) - he's right on track to finish up his studies in June 2007.

Public Health Here He Comes!!!

We have exciting news folks!!! Mark's public health paper that we've been telling you so much about is in its final stages. Mark finished his first draft on Thursday night and MeLissa began reworking the draft on Friday during her lunch hour. MeLissa, for those of you who are unaware, is quite the wiz when it comes to writing and grammar -- so much so that she was asked by professors at her high school to come help grade English compositions after she graduated for several years (it was an *awesome* way to make a little spending money for Christmas break!).

MeLissa spent a good portion of Saturday and Sunday "grading" Mark's paper and providing suggestions for its improvement including a pretty substantial effort on the introductin and conclusion sections. We're sure that between the two of us, Mark will pass Public Health with flying colors, but keep him in your thoughts as he wades through all the comments and suggestions over the next few days. The paper is due on November 18!

In other news, MeLissa has made great strides toward completing the EVIL Dutchman's puzzle block. She is fully convinced still that triangles are E-V-I-L, but she also thinks they can be beat into submission after her recent successes. She'll post a picture of the finished block when she manages to finish it. Her final quilting class is coming up this Thursday. She plans to register for next quarter's class as well so that she can eventually claim her "Quilting Goddess" status.

And, one final note - a public service announcement, if you'll indulge us - please be sure to receive regular eye exams to prevent potential blindess from glaucoma. Check with your vision specialist to see how often you should be screened based upon your family and personal health histories. We want you to be able to see and enjoy all the world has to offer for many years to come!

More Quilting, Chiropractic and Planning...

MeLissa actually finished this block quite a while ago, but didn't post the picture. We figure some of you might enjoy seeing her first "real" block (i.e., it's going to go into a quilt!). It is, of course, Christmas-themed...MeLissa's favorite season. It is called a nine-patch block...can't possibly imagine why. ;) MeLissa's currently working on a Dutchman's Puzzle block which is giving her a lot of grief. She will win in the end, but she may have to be tricky!

In other MeLissa news, she's making plans for Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, our Christmas party and she's also spent a little time working on her future event planning business. She foresees venturing out into the world in early to mid-2006 as a supplemental income opportunity. When Mark's finished with school, she may pursue her "dream job" full-time! She plans to provide services for intimate events including birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, holiday parties, dinner parties, etc. She will possibly do do a few large events, if the opportunity arises, but she prefers the flexibility and extra opportunities for service that comes with planning smaller events. If you'd like to help her with her newest "venture," please ask any individuals you know who might be or already use an event planner for parties at their homes or elsewhere to contact her so that she can survey them about their needs. And, of course, if anyone wants any help on a social event they're planning let MeLissa know - she's looking for opportunities to boost her portfolio!

As for Mark, he's busily writing a paper for his Public Health class. His subject is glaucoma and he'll be discussing the public health threat it poses and what should be done to mediate these risks. His current quarter ends on December 16. He and MeLissa will travel to Colorado at some time during the holidays to visit with MeLissa's family and and to see all their friends in Colorado Springs and Denver!

Our kitties are also doing well -they're happy and healthy and are enjoying their new sleeping arrangements. Banshee is now an outdoor kitty with supervised indoor visits. She seems much happier and we don't have to worry about what little liquid "present" we're going to find next. She pretty much stays on our deck, but from time to time, she enjoys hopping up on the roof so that she can feel like she's on top of the world.

Pixie enjoys Banshee being outside because she gets to be the Princess again. She's become much more loving and "clingy" which we don't mind. She typically sleeps at the foot of our bed now because on the first night when Banshee wasn't inside and Pixie was lonely, we left our door open so that she wouldn't feel abandoned and she hopped up on the bed and didn't bother Mark nearly as much as he thought she would...especially since, for the most part, she stays in MeLissa's foot space!

Quilting, Church and Chiropractic

We've been a little busy these past couple of weeks. After returning from our adventure on the Ronald Reagan, Mark began his next quarter at school. It should be an interesting, but less challenging one than the last (according to Mark).

MeLissa has been occupied with her quilting class. She finished her very first block during class last week. It was a practice block and she is quite pleased with the results. She plans to make it into a pillow when the opportunity presents itself. Since then she has begun her first "real" block to be used in her sampler quilt project. We bought fabric for it a couple of weekends ago. MeLissa decided to take Mark's suggestion and picked out a bunch of cute Christmasy fabrics to make her first project extra special (because she adores Christmas as you all know!). This week she will finish her 9-patch identical to the "practice" quilt block (but Christmasy, of course!). She'll be moving onto making a Honey Bee block next...which, to be honest, looks a bit daunting, but she's sure she'll do just fine!

Mark's been keeping busy with school and weekend seminars. This coming weekend he will start his Diplomat program. This is an add-on certification (we know how much Mark likes to add those letters behind his name!) so that he can do chiropractic neurology. His decision to pursue this degree is a direct result of MeLissa's health issues last month where a blood vessel spasmed in her brain (she's fine now, but it was a bit scary in the beginning!). Her chiropractic neurologist has performed wonders and Mark wants to be able to help his patients just as much. We know he'll be awesome!

In other news, we're beginning the planning phase of a Christmas party we're throwing on December 3. It will be a fun night with food and good friends. Our biggest challenge right now is figuring out how many people we can invite before it become standing-room only! MeLissa has started making the invitations and the lucky attendees should be receiving them in early November. We'll provide updates as the plans progress....