Ah, so much to say, yet so little to tell.

Corey and I finally broke down and signed a contract with a cell company. I really think we're going to like them, though. We took the phone on our trip with us, and didn't hit a single dead spot!

We left Wednesday to take the kids to Bakersfield, about the halfway point to Corey's folks. By the way, don't ever stop at the DQ in Ludlow, CA. The food is, by all appearances, so fresh that you have to wait for them to slaughter the pig, harvest the eggs, grind the wheat, and knock up one of the cashiers and wait for her to throw out a kid to be raised up as a cook. And the food doesn't even taste good, in spite of the fact that by the time they get it to you, you're half-starved.

ANYWAY, we met up with Corey's parents without incident, and sent the kids off for a month-long summer break. Mercedes will be going to summer camp while she's up there.

We headed straight for Vegas from Bakersfield. It's the first time I've driven through that much of Nevada. It was kind of bizarre, seeing the teeny-tiny towns with two or three HUGE casinos lording over them.

We spent our little anniversary vacation doing touristy stuff - drinking, gambling, shopping, checking out all of the casinos on the old Strip and the new Strip. We even went on one of those damned time-share things that we managed to avoid while we were in Hawaii. I think I won't be doing that again until or unless we are actually shopping for one. We did get a free dinner and lunch out of it, although I'm not sure if that made up for the worry that the guy driving us around may or may not have been on coke. *sniff-wipe/sniff-wipe* We'll just be glad we're alive and pretend that we thought he had allergies.

After all of that touristing, though, my legs and feet are shot. All I want to do is soak them in something soothing, like a vat of amaretto.

Yesterday was my first day shift, and really, it wasn't horrible. If I hadn't been feeling crappy, I might have enjoyed it. On the plus side, I can get things done that are work related while I'm at work. Like, since I was possibly exposed to a TB patient, I didn't have to come in on my off-time to get tested. I just said, "Hey, Jen, can you cover me for half an hour?" and walked to Occ. Health to get my TB test, on the clock. I also get a scheduled lunch time, instead of just taking it as I can, like I had to do on night shift. I was able to invite Corey to lunch with me because I knew when it was, and I knew I'd get a full half-hour. I'm still struggling with getting on daytime hours, but it'll come with time, I'm sure.

I spent all last night, and part of today, nursing a sore, sore throat, sinuses, and ears. I was also very achey. No fever, though, which is weird. But, it seems to be easing up, so I should be good to go for tomorrow.

Five days until Coffee Night with Christine. I'm jonesin.

the last trail...the next path