From my eyes…

I know that most everyone has experienced a fabulous storm. And I know that storms vary by region and each has it’s one spectacular appeal. However, I couldn’t help but share this mornings severe thunderstorm with you.

It was amazing. It’d been going on for hours. Finally, at 9am I picked up my camera.

This clip shows how dark and windy it was. Realize, that it’s NINE O’CLOCK. It should be bright out and yet it looks as dark as night in our neighborhood and in the house. In this clip you can actually SEE the rain blowing down the street.

This next clip lets you hear how there was no break whatsoever in the thunder. It just kept rolling and rolling.

And finally, this clip has some fabulous claps of thunder. The screen was very wet and it was hard to get a good shot, but it sounds so cool. Also, I think this is the one where you can see a bolt of lightening over the tree farthest to the right. And yes, I said “damn” at the end.

I hope you enjoy this Illinois summer storm as much as I did.

I am a firm believer that if you don’t like something in your life you change it. It’s not up to someone else to listen to your bitching and change things for you. You must take the intiative and make your life work for you.

So, when I decided to move to IL and leave the dry desert for the humidity of the summer and cold of the winter,  I vowed that I would NOT adopt the Mid-west trait of complaining about the weather. It is actually something that annoys the heck out of me. This past winter wasn’t even all that cold - even to my desert blood - and people STILL were complaining about it and I just wanted to shout at them “MOVE THEN!” I just kind of smile and my usual reply is “This is why I moved here”. Then they think I’m insane and I don’t hear their weather complaints again….until the next rain, or snow when they’ve learned, and now say “I bet you’re loving this” and this time I just get to smile in response.

Now, as much as I hate to do this, and I swear it stops here, but, well, I have to complain about the humidity, because OH MY GOODNESS it’s DISGUSTING!!!!!! I sweat and sweat and sweat and I HATE sweating! And I finally understand why they advise asthmatics not to live in humdid weather. Twice now I’ve opened the door to let the dog out and been cut-off (though I’m so willing to deal with that rather than real allergies). Ugh, and then when you turn to look at something, you can all of a sudden feel your shirt stick to your back, so you reach up to unstick it and gag a little with the amount of sweat sitting there. Blech.

I’ve decided that to get through the seasons, I get one mega complaint per season, four per year, and there is nothing absolutely nothing to complain about in Autumn (God’s special little gift to me, sigh, I love Fall), so really it’s 3 weather complaints per year. That doesn’t turn me into a Mid-Western Weather Complainer does it? Just three? And I can’t think of a spring time complaint either, so maybe it will only be two. I mean the only problem with Fall and Spring is that they may be too short sometimes.

Ok so, above is my one complaint. I won’t complain again until next season, because overall I really truly love the weather here. But c’mon humidity? Ick.

This weekend I got to take a field trip with the kids I tutor after school. It’s a great perk to this program since I am new to the area and get paid to go on these trips to see new things. At 8 a.m. yesterday we headed off to thecity to visit the Shedd Aquarium. I had been wanting to go since I moved here, so I was pretty excited.

It was fun. We got there later than we’d planned, so I felt a little rushed to see everything. And we missed the underwater showroom, which I really wanted to see. But I did get to watch the dolphin show and the kids that were in my group seemed to have a grea time. Especially after I let them waste their money on dumb fuzzy seahorse toys at the gift shop. Overall it was  great trip.

I realized I absolutely need to spend some time with my camera though. I had the hardest time ever getting good shots through the glass. You aren’t allowed to use flash, which is fine because it would have made the glare worse, but I still just couldn’t get the shots. I was really disappointed. Here are a few that turned out somewhat ok.

This little guy was so darn cute! I want one.

 I loved these frogs and was astonished at the brilliance of their color. I want one in every color available.

The seahorses were really neat. There were several types of them. My pictures of the neon ones didn’t come out at all

A few more shots can be found here.

So far IL hasn’t been all that I’d thought it would be. I am farther from the city than I thought and stuck in this farmland with tons of happy little families that annoy me. I’m sure at least half of the annoyance comes from the fact that it’s regularly in my face that I’ll be 27 in a few weeks and I’m far from a family of my own. It’s a nice place, but not unless you are a family, eh…  

I’ve decided I need to move to the city. It will be very expensive, and my frequent shopping sprees and Target trips will be drastically cut back, but I think I will like it better.  I’m trying to land a job with Chicago Public Schools.  It will all depend on what school I get placed at but right now, I’m dreaming of a wood floored one bedroom in Lincoln Park.

I can’t make any big changes until the end of the school year, but I’m excited!

This morning I woke to start the first day of my FIVE full days off work. My roommate was still here and says to me “Have you looked outside yet?” When I turned to look out the sliding glass window I saw this

The first snow of the year. My favorite part was that Abby growled at it! HA! And then she barked once, then took the plunge and went out. When she came back she was all excited, but continued to growl at the bit of snow through the window. I can’t wait until it’s deep and she gets to play in it. She seemed to like it last year when I took her to the Mutt Strutt in Scottsdale and she climbed the pile of snow to play.

I have no idea if she will still have that smile on her face when her pee freezes to her whoo-ha!

This was an exceptionally hard week. I am just about at my end with tolerating pre-teen attitude, rudeness, and ungratefulness. I am about at my end of having no friends. I am about at my end of always feeling exhausted.

So, I made some changes. After a heart-breaking day at work on Thursday (I was excluded from a student/faculty volleyball game, even though I’d replied I would play) that left me feeling like in third grade when those rotten girls would ask me to play at recess and then when I tried to go meet up with them they would run away, I decided that I needed to make it known that I needed friends. I flat out just started telling people, that I don’t know anyone and asking if I coudl tag along whenever they go out. The biggest problem is that no one in this freaking state is single and no one goes out.

Anyway, I did manage to get an invite with a co-worker to go to a hockey game. We went to dinner first and talked the whole time. It was really fun and I hope I’ve made a friend now.

Then this morning I went to church. I felt very welcome and like I could make a home there. I plan to go to a craft party hosted by the singles group on Friday night.

I’m feeling much better and looking forward to making more friends next week.

Saturday will mark the one week of life in IL. I still feel like I’m on vacation. That’s probably because I’m living at a hotel and can’t really do anything with my dog here (she barks when I leave without her). I’ve landed a job. It was very stressful and I was sure I was going to end up being a cashier at Home Depot and putting my teaching degree aside for a year. Thankfully, I was hired to teach language arts and social studies to 6th graders. It is not my ideal job, but the staff seems cool (from the web site at least) and I really liked the principal. Plus, it is the only teaching job left in the county. Well, boys P.E. is still needed, but I can’t teach that. I got my job on Tuesday, but had spent Monday crying on the phone to a friend that I was never going to be employed here. It really ruined my day and I am glad that it was fixed quickly. I start work next Wednesday. It will be really hard, almost like a brand new teacher, because it is nothing I’ve ever done before. I’m excited though.

After I got my job, I headed up to MI to meet my cousin’s new baby. He is two months old now and so darn cute. He looks like his older half brother a ton, but I am curious to see if he picks up more of his mom’s traits as he gets older. I had a nice time in a familiar city with family.

I am headed up to visit more family in Sunday. I’m excited to see my aunt and uncle and be at their house. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve been there. Maybe my cousin will be there, too.

To pass the time here I take Abby out for a lot of walks. That’s something you can do in a city that doesn’t have a high of 1,000 every day. Abbydoo loves the time outside and I’m sure is happy about the extra attention from me. I’m reading some and looking all kinds of things up on the Internet. The windows are open and I’m loving that. In AZ, even on nice days I couldn’t have the windows open because of my allergies.

Overall, I’m very happy about my move. I am getting tired of the hotel and am ready to get settled in and acclimated to my new home and job. I’m happy though and excited for fall, the best season of all, to come.

A week ago today I started on my two day journey to my new home. The beginning looked something like this…

 
Sunrise as I was leaving

I spent the time listening to CDs and attempting some books on tape, but just couldn’t get into them. I just drove and drove and drove. The pets had most of the car to spread out and sleep, but they chose to spend most of their time cuddled up next to me…

 And then we finally arrived…

The recap state by state:

AZ - Lots of memories the whole drive. Thought about camping and my drive to AZ from MI with my cousin 5 years ago a lot. And thought about how much has been built, but how it is still the same.

NM - Seems nice enough, but it is still the southwest and I don’t really like that. I thought about Karel and how she grew up there and wondered if she liked it. I thought about how FIVE years ago that damn freeway was under construction so how could it possibly still be causing such a delay!

TX - Ew. Thought about fellow blogger, Alexis, and hoped she doesn’t live near Amarillo. Though I was plesantly surprised it has become a nicer town since that last time I passed through. Almost barfed when I came to the town called Bushland, and hoped beyond hope that it wasn’t named after the idiot it made me think of.

OK - Finally out of the southwest climate. Loved the bushes! Loads of police, especially undercover ones. Called my friend Erin to get the ins on local eats. Erin went to college there. She directed me to Braums. It was yummy and I was grateful.

MO- My goodness Kim was right! These people are total country hillbillys. I liked the Ozarks though and again was able to get info on good local food from a friend. I spent 30 minutes getting an Imos pizza in St. Louis (a lot less hillbillyish). It was well worth it.

IL - YAY! Almost there! I rolled into town and was very happy to see the hotel I would call home for the next week and a half. The front desk clerk was very helpful and my pets were glad to have some extra space.

We made it with no big hang-ups and we are all glad to be here!

Today was it. The day that I got the carpets cleaned, movers came, cleaned the house, and turned in the keys. It didn’t really all hit me until I went out to fill up the tank in preparation for tomorrow’s drive. I was sitting at a light and rested my hand on the emergency break in my car. It felt wrong, like there was too much space, so I looked down. There was too much space. My garage door opener was not there. I had just dropped it off at the rental office. I kept my hand there for a moment just thinking about how I don’t have a home here anymore. It was just a “there’s no turning back now” moment. And though I was a little overwhelmed at first the emotions settled into excitement very fast.

We’re off in the a.m. for a long drive across what has GOT to be the MOST.BORING. plot of land in our country. Ugh. I have books on tape and loads of good cds ready. Cat box, cat food, dog food and water ready to go. Full tank of gas. Clean car. Lots of anxious excitment. I think I’m ready.

It’s easier knowing there is a garage door opener waiting for me on the other end.

I’ve been wanting to blog for a while now about the emotional roller coaster that has accompanied the final details of this move. I just find it so hard to put into words emotions that I hardly understand. All last week I was weepy and sad thinking about saying goodbye to my friends. That started it. Then I would drive past some place and have that whole life flashing before your eyes thing. I’ve never had that. I’ve never been that person. I went to Kindergarten and was annoyed at the kids who were crying on the first day. I knew before I even started high school that I was going away for college. I got on a plane to live in Europe for 3 months when I was 19, without any tears. I’ve just never been like that. Gees, this is making me sound like a cold hearted person and that I am not. I am a sap. I am sentimental. It’s just that when something so exciting is in front of me, I don’t take time to close up what is behind me. For the first time in my life I think I’m doing that. It’s not that I won’t talk to my friends (I surely will…most of them probably daily - thank the Good Lord for Internet!), it’s just closing a huge, 16 year, chunk of my life. It’s remembering everything all at once. It’s just too much for the human heart to hold and it comes out in tears. I guess I didn’t blog this earlier, because it is so hard to explain. It’s the mystery of emotions. Anyway, the good-byes were much, much harder than I anticipated. And the on-edge tearfulness of last week was all a little much. I’m happy to say that I am over that hump and back on to looking forward. I just can’t wait to see the house I’m going to live in. To see what job I end up getting. To let my puppy run around in green grass (and me be able to play outside with her without the allergy issue). To have pretty buildings and homes around me everywhere I go. To be somewhere new.To be me.