I believe they call this "crawling back"

Well, we are officially back in Salt Lake City, we left Lafayette on the 20th, to start our 5 day road trip across the country. The weather co-operated for the most part, and there were only a few treacherous roads that we needed to maneuver, and by we I mean Seth ( I volunteered to drive, but he wouldn't let me, less out of chivalry than martyrdom though..). First night was spent in Chicago with Maribeth, unfortunately for her, we had spent the day finishing up the packing and cleaning that makes for some very lazy house guests. As we were leaving Chicago the next morning, our widows immediately frosted over, and the thermometer read 0. Proof that the Midwest is uninhabitable. Maybe was very well behaved in her crate for the entire trip, and only barked occasionally at other guests at the hotel in Sioux Falls. We stayed with my mom's former co-worker Sarah in Rapid City the next night, and while stuffed full of wax grilled cheese sandwiches from the small town diners, I agreed to try a three week vegan cleanse diet. Today marks my first day, and my stomach is presently reminding me that I have not met my carb and cheese quota for the day. More on this in a minute.* For the last leg of our trip, we stopped in Billings to visit my Grandma, who graciously gave us her bed for the night, and stuffed us full of pie. We arrived in Salt Lake on Monday to news of a new pseudo niece, Yvette Redman who arrived that morning on her mother's birthday. She is quite squeezy,and has the most beautifully round head of any new born to date, and did I mention that she is absolutely adorable? I would post pictures, but Kellie likes to keep a low internet profile, and who knows how many weirdos out there read my blog... Right there are six of you. I can see you on my sidebar. Congrats Kellie and Joseph!
We have unpacked and settled back into our lair living as trolls in Mom's basement. Seth is going back to work at the U for the next 5-6 months, and I am making a complete circle and applying for seasonal positions at local nurseries ( the job I had in High School ten years ago before I undertook 7 total years of higher education so that I didn't have to work in low level temporary seasonal positions for the rest of my life). Think about the irony. But hopefully we will be onto bigger and better things for the latter half of 2011, Seth received his masters diploma today, and confirmation of his American Board of Radiology application fulfillment, so that he may take his boards in August to start his official board certification. And once we know where we are headed for the PhD part of his scheme, then I can start studying for my liscensure test to prove that I memorized all of the correct theory, that is never applied in everyday practice. In the mean time, I will concentrate most of my energy on not feeling sorry for myself, at least I haven't worn out the welcome at moms...yet.
* The vegan cleanse is part of the CLEAN diet which is used to help you feel less like a pile of turds, increase energy, improve digestive function, and help break the sugar, fat, salt addiction that I have been feeding for the last 26 years. You have liquid meals for breakfast and dinner, no crazy lemonade concoctions here, just a smoothie with fresh fruit and nut milk, and then soups for dinner, this is supposed to be really easy on the digestive track, and then you have a real food meal for your lunch. The diet restricts anything that can cause irritation, which happen to have been my staples of vegetarian eating for the last 9 years, wheat, dairy, soy. I will update to keep you six informed of my progress, and of course to keep me honest.
And now, a reward for reading through all of my terrible grammer! Pictures from our move!

This New Year I resolve to become an adult.

I actually have a resolution this year, and it's a good one. I am going on a clothes diet. No clothes shopping for one year. In an effort to save money and the world, I am giving up on my favorite past time, spending what I don't have to buy more gray and black sweaters. This is also a great excuse to not resolve to loose any weight this year.
We have been in Salt Lake for the last two weeks, celebrating the holidays with our families and friends. It is so strange to be back, mostly because I know we will be hopping in the car upon our return to Indiana and making a b-line back to this very basement, but also in how I feel as though I never left. We spent Christmas morning with Dad and Sue, Chris, Candice, Zoe and Luc, having brunch and watching Zoe tear into presents. Oh, and holding baby Luc. And by holding I mean smothering. I had a hankerin' to hold that baby, and that is exactly what I did... for the next five hours. We spent the evening with Mom, making the fanciest of Christmas cocktails, and of course more food and baby holding. The rest of our time has been divided between Eric and Holly, and Kellie and her soon to be baby, who I will also smother. We spent New Year at Eric and Holly's with some of their friends, ringing in 2011 with plenty of Champagne, and a little self control, we are after all closer to 30 than 20. And Kellie and I are back to our old ritual of thrift store haggling and eating mexican.
Overall, it's been a great two weeks, here's hoping it is a foreshadow of the next five months.