Updates from Colorado

Christie has decided to take the springtime to start a babysitting business in our house. She will eventually go back to teaching, but for the time being she would rather be at home with Maci and Melia. She posted an ad on craigslist yesterday about noon and had a response back in a few hours. It appears that she will be watching a 2 year old and an 8 week old baby. The mom and kids came over last night to check everything out. She will be bringing in about $175 a week (for Monday through Thursday) and still get to stay home with Maci and Melia. She will get the best of both worlds, food money and staying at home. Life is good!

Jake has adapted well to his new soccer team. He has Tuesday and Thursday night outdoor practices at UCCS and and then plays indoor games on Friday and Saturday this week. The coach is outstanding and very demanding. Even a missed pass forces the boys to do pushups or crunches. Last night the team had to do 65 pushups, 35 crunches, and a lot of running during the 90 minute practice. The workouts were not for goofing off, but for blatant mistakes made on the field. Jake didn't mind as the team works well together. The team has already accepted Jake, and joke and talk to him all the time. Jake is pretty happy right now.

I am trying to figure out where to go to school. At Carthage I was a junior in standing with dual degrees in English and Religion. To continue the Religion degree I have to go to a Christian College out here and that puts a hold on the English degree. I am thinking about going to the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs to finish my undergrad work. The decision is what to do about the Religion degree. I don't really want to be a pastor, so the degree is not required for a future career, but it would help for a paraministry career. On the other hand UCCS has a lot of night courses offered from their History department and I really love History. I already have a few History courses from Carthage that would transfer so that may be the route I take.

My job has changed a little out here. Instead of calling on a mix of AG and CE dealers, with the dominant portion being AG, I will be calling on only construction dealers. That is great in this tough economy. Yes, I am being sarcastic! To make matters more interesting, I will have a new boss. He is gay. I have spent the last few years trying to change my ways and learn tolerance. I have done pretty well at it. Unfortunately, the jerk tried to kiss me and told me I was "absolutely gorgeous" when the whole team was in Phoenix a few weeks back. I was so repulsed. I don't roll like that! Nobody saw it so it is my word against his. I now understand how ladies feel when their boss exhibits inappropriate behavior. I wanted to kill him, but I have a wife and five kids to support so I just walked away. Tolerance just went out the window! The next year should be real interesting...