Another Rainy Anniversary

Wednesday was my and Dan's 31^st wedding anniversary. Last year we had to put off celebrating our anniversary because Sally was blowing in, and she made landfall very early on the 16^th. On Wednesday, Nicholas was making landfall in Texas, which is not very close to Alabama, but somehow we ended up with seven inches of rain just on Wednesday from him. It finally stopped raining around 4:00, which was perfect timing, because that is when Dan and I got off work and went to grab dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant. Here are a few pictures of the rain, the water-filled drainage ditches, and dinner.

I splurged a little more than I should have, lol. It's the chips and salsa that always get me, but the veggie quesadillas were pretty good too. It started raining again just as we got back home Wednesday evening and then it rained a little more yesterday. Today was dry, so Dan and I decided to go for a drive along the beach road.

We drove through Orange Beach and over to Perdido Key, FL just to see what is there. I noticed lots of shops that I'd like to visit someday, but since Dan isn't much of a shopper, I didn't suggest that we stop.

Do you all have anything fun planned this weekend? I have a student's paper to look over and give feedback on and then I may start working on the class I signed up for this week. It won't officially start until early October, but I can get a head start on the assignments. Other than that, I will probably do some cleaning and laundry. Oh, and my diploma was supposed to be ordered today. I never found out why it was not ordered after my degree was conferred, but I'm just happy it was a mistake. I had to order another copy of my transcript to be vetted for my faculty position, and it was delivered almost immediately. I remember the old days when they had to be mailed out and it would take weeks. Now with digital technology, it's almost instantaneous.

Well, it's getting late, so I am going to call it a night. I hope you all have a great weekend!

The Jeep Has Arrived

I have a few minutes before the virtual mini doctoral residency starts at CSU, so I thought I'd pop in with some updates. I am not required to attend, but I told my mentor I'd stop by for a bit. The kids are going to come over in a couple hours and we are going to the beach. It is supposed to be a beautiful day. Humidity is low, so it feels a bit like fall.

It's been an eventful couple of weeks. The day after I published my last post, we got a call from the dealership that our Jeep had arrived! We went to pick it up on September 1^st, and we have been really enjoying it so far. I would love to take the top off today, but I'm not sure Dan will feel up to messing with it. He had two teeth extracted yesterday, so he'll probably be pretty sore. He is still sleeping and I am going to let him sleep as long as he wants to. I haven't taken any closeup pictures of the Jeep yet, but I'll try to do that today and add them to this post later. After Dan's surgery, we went to the DMV and ordered a personalized license plate. It says PHDX2. The clerk told us that we could get any plate design we wanted and it would cost the same, so we elected to get Roll Tide (University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa) plates. I think they are going to look really pretty on the snazzberry red Jeep. It will take about 6 to 8 weeks for them to arrive, so we were given a temporary tag to display. I also got my official paperwork to sign for my new faculty position yesterday, and now I am officially a DBA faculty member. Yesterday was a really good day overall except for one little snaffu.

I called Trident because I still haven't received my diploma, even though it's been nearly 10 weeks since I officially graduted, and I found out there is some sort of hold on my account. I am not sure why, because I have no balance and my degree was officially conferred on July 4^th. The registrar's office is looking into it, so hopefully I will have it soon. I'm really glad I called, but I am annoyed that I had to. I really hope it was a mistake. I ordered transcripts and they were released, so I cannot imaging what the problem could be. In reality, transcripts are more valuable than the diploma, but I want to frame it and hang it behind my desk. I should frame my bachelor and masters diplomas too. My master's degree disploma is huge. I might have to special order a frame for it.

The only other piece of news is that I took the kitties to get spayed a couple of weeks ago. I hated to do it, but they are 5 1/2 months old now, so they could go into heat anytime. I had the vet give them their immunizations and microchip them, so they are good to go for a year. They are really good cats. They are very good natured, confident, sweet, and cute. I am really happy to have them in my life. They make me smile the way Jasper did, and they make it easier for me to think about him now.

I think that is about all that has happened since my last post. Oh, I just remembered--we also finally got our fence replaced. It fell down almost exactly a year ago when Sally blew through. Hopefully it will stand for at least 10 years. The guy who installed it did a great job! Well, I am going to leave you with a few pictures. I didn't finish this post yesterday, so I managed to take a picture of the Jeep, and I have to leave some kitties pics too. :) Whenever I bend over, Bella jumps on my back and lays down. She is a character!