Greetings from Memphis
So, we managed to survive the massive trek cross-country to Memphis, TN. It was a very, very long car ride, but we managed to survive it and it went well. The trip was long, and we did not make the expected stops when we planned on making them, but we still managed to get here ok.
The first night we stayed in Ellensburg, since we were too tired to venture all of the way to Spokane after getting a bit of a late start. The next day (Friday) we met up with Josh's pseudo-brother in Spokane for an early lunch, then headed to Missoula, where we planned to have a more real meal at our favorite Chinese resaurant. Unfortunately, there were electrical problems at the restaurant, so we ended up just heading on with our journey. We stayed Friday night in Bozeman, MT and go up early to visit the Museum of the Rockies where we not only got to see a great dinosaur exhibit (with some famous dino's, like Big Al, who Maddisyn has a movie about), but we also saw an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts, including King Tut's corpse; it was very cool. We then pushed on out of Montana, and through Wyoming, then into South Dakota where we stopped off to see Mt. Rushmore, which was a nice break from the road and one of those classic "must see's", but I liked the museum more (as I think all of us did). We then traveled through the rest of South Dakota, spending the night in Sioux Falls. It was a long day of driving, but since we managed to get to South Dakota the day Sturgis finished, we were competing with a ton of bikers for hotel space, which left us needing to drive pretty far to find a place. Sunday, we crossed into Iowa, and through most of Missouri, stopping in some tiny little place close to Missouri's border on Arkansas that I can't even remember the name of, for rest that night. We got up later in the morning Monday morning, headed into Arkansas for breakfast, and ended up in Memphis by afternoon (we arrived at the rental house at 14:15). So, we were able to meet with the woman checking us into the rental house, hang out for a bit, then walk down the road to the house we're having built and cheked it out (It's going to be so nice! I'm so excited!). We then headed into the city where we met with Maddisyn's new preschool teacher to prep her for her first half-day of school (this whole week has been half-day's, while next week will be the first week of full days; this week is just a "phasing in" of new students).
So far, Maddisyn seems to really like the area and our home, as well as her school and teacher (it's hard to get her to leave when we pick her up!). All of us (especially Josh and Michael) are not fond of the heat. It was ridiculously hot when we arrived (over 110 degrees, peaking at 118 degrees throughout the day; it's been over 108 everyday since then), and the other day the boys decided they needed to go shopping for new shorts. Heh. Apparently, Memphis is in the middle of a heat-wave (for the past four weeks actually). They say that it's not normally quite this hot, and that they haven't had such a long stretch of weather like this since 1980. Phew!
Anyway... We're not unpacked, and don't really intend to be, since we'd just need to pack up again in a few weeks (we plan on taking possession of the new house in about a month). We did get our new refridgerator though, which arrived today (yay!); the coolers just weren't cutting it in this heat (even with AC and fans). Comcast was supposed to setup our internet connection on Tuesday, but of course didn't. They ended up not coming up until today, so we just now got internet access at home, which meant Josh had to work on things that didn't require an internet connection. We'd pretty much just been using internet via the school connection when possible, but now it's all resolved, so yay. Ooh, and I got the keys to my office today (among a million other keys to rooms I needed access to), and setup a desk and such in there, which was nice.
I had an appointment with the OB/GYN today who took some new ultrasounds of my reproductive parts. The cyst on my left ovary seems to have recovered (though the ovary is still a little enlarged, but that's to be expected). They also confirmed a cyst on my right ovary, but fortunately, that seems to be resolving as well. Unfortunately, it is resolving because it ruptured (man was I in crazy-ass pain a couple days ago, but now we know why). Fortunately, the ovary itself, though enlarged, seems fine and to not have suffered any ill-effects of the cyst rupturing. They expect it to recover, along with a couple smaller ones they observed, that also appear to be resolving on their own. Their guess is that I am one of those women prone to cysts, and recommend that I go on hormonal birth control (which I had been avoiding for a while now, for a myriad of reasons, including how crappy they make me feel, using fertility awareness and condoms as my prefered family planning methods). They took some more blood and will take more next week, just to check some things out, then we'll go from there. I'm not thrilled about the idea of going back to hormonal contraception, but the agonizing pain of the cysts is getting very problematic, so I suppose I'll follow my doctor's advice for now. Next, I just need to find a place to order my new eye glasses from (and probably some contacts, as well).
Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll try to write more later and keep everyone up-to-date on our Mid-South adventures. I hope everyone is doing well back in the great Pacific Northwest. Miss you much!
Big Love!
.md.
The first night we stayed in Ellensburg, since we were too tired to venture all of the way to Spokane after getting a bit of a late start. The next day (Friday) we met up with Josh's pseudo-brother in Spokane for an early lunch, then headed to Missoula, where we planned to have a more real meal at our favorite Chinese resaurant. Unfortunately, there were electrical problems at the restaurant, so we ended up just heading on with our journey. We stayed Friday night in Bozeman, MT and go up early to visit the Museum of the Rockies where we not only got to see a great dinosaur exhibit (with some famous dino's, like Big Al, who Maddisyn has a movie about), but we also saw an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts, including King Tut's corpse; it was very cool. We then pushed on out of Montana, and through Wyoming, then into South Dakota where we stopped off to see Mt. Rushmore, which was a nice break from the road and one of those classic "must see's", but I liked the museum more (as I think all of us did). We then traveled through the rest of South Dakota, spending the night in Sioux Falls. It was a long day of driving, but since we managed to get to South Dakota the day Sturgis finished, we were competing with a ton of bikers for hotel space, which left us needing to drive pretty far to find a place. Sunday, we crossed into Iowa, and through most of Missouri, stopping in some tiny little place close to Missouri's border on Arkansas that I can't even remember the name of, for rest that night. We got up later in the morning Monday morning, headed into Arkansas for breakfast, and ended up in Memphis by afternoon (we arrived at the rental house at 14:15). So, we were able to meet with the woman checking us into the rental house, hang out for a bit, then walk down the road to the house we're having built and cheked it out (It's going to be so nice! I'm so excited!). We then headed into the city where we met with Maddisyn's new preschool teacher to prep her for her first half-day of school (this whole week has been half-day's, while next week will be the first week of full days; this week is just a "phasing in" of new students).
So far, Maddisyn seems to really like the area and our home, as well as her school and teacher (it's hard to get her to leave when we pick her up!). All of us (especially Josh and Michael) are not fond of the heat. It was ridiculously hot when we arrived (over 110 degrees, peaking at 118 degrees throughout the day; it's been over 108 everyday since then), and the other day the boys decided they needed to go shopping for new shorts. Heh. Apparently, Memphis is in the middle of a heat-wave (for the past four weeks actually). They say that it's not normally quite this hot, and that they haven't had such a long stretch of weather like this since 1980. Phew!
Anyway... We're not unpacked, and don't really intend to be, since we'd just need to pack up again in a few weeks (we plan on taking possession of the new house in about a month). We did get our new refridgerator though, which arrived today (yay!); the coolers just weren't cutting it in this heat (even with AC and fans). Comcast was supposed to setup our internet connection on Tuesday, but of course didn't. They ended up not coming up until today, so we just now got internet access at home, which meant Josh had to work on things that didn't require an internet connection. We'd pretty much just been using internet via the school connection when possible, but now it's all resolved, so yay. Ooh, and I got the keys to my office today (among a million other keys to rooms I needed access to), and setup a desk and such in there, which was nice.
I had an appointment with the OB/GYN today who took some new ultrasounds of my reproductive parts. The cyst on my left ovary seems to have recovered (though the ovary is still a little enlarged, but that's to be expected). They also confirmed a cyst on my right ovary, but fortunately, that seems to be resolving as well. Unfortunately, it is resolving because it ruptured (man was I in crazy-ass pain a couple days ago, but now we know why). Fortunately, the ovary itself, though enlarged, seems fine and to not have suffered any ill-effects of the cyst rupturing. They expect it to recover, along with a couple smaller ones they observed, that also appear to be resolving on their own. Their guess is that I am one of those women prone to cysts, and recommend that I go on hormonal birth control (which I had been avoiding for a while now, for a myriad of reasons, including how crappy they make me feel, using fertility awareness and condoms as my prefered family planning methods). They took some more blood and will take more next week, just to check some things out, then we'll go from there. I'm not thrilled about the idea of going back to hormonal contraception, but the agonizing pain of the cysts is getting very problematic, so I suppose I'll follow my doctor's advice for now. Next, I just need to find a place to order my new eye glasses from (and probably some contacts, as well).
Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll try to write more later and keep everyone up-to-date on our Mid-South adventures. I hope everyone is doing well back in the great Pacific Northwest. Miss you much!
Big Love!
.md.