hi everyone--i'll try this again. i am at home this monring, making sure that my remote access to the FS network is okay--after converting my laptop to windows xp. so far so good. i'm pretending i'm david--sitting around in my underwear drinking coffee--conducting business! he is in san antonio for the past 4 days--due home late tonight. so i have been batching it. i did go to my second dancing class last night--solo. i did okay. i danced a lot with the lady teacher--after she made herself start leading. didn't quite get the "cha cha cha", but i'm sure when i get my partner back next week, i'll be fine. david actually had a lot of fun the first week. he is quite a dancer, and he loves the ladies as you all know!
things here have been good. we had a fast but really nice visit with david and charlie. had a very nice weekend with M and D. a free day at the zoo--which was pretty overwhelming for me. but a fun way to spend my 52nd birthday. shelly went with us, which was also fun.
we are doing great with shelly--she just got a job at a local hospital, working full time in the emergency room, and going to school full time. she is making it on her own, and she and her dad have been doing very well after a rough fall with little communication. so that is all good!
i did apply for a job in albequerque-- a job i've been watching for 3 years, after the director retired, and the region decided what to do. it is the director of lands and minerals, a GS-14/15, which is rare, and david would still be able to keep his job with wagner, and work down in their office in alb. after much soul searching, and research, we decided to pull my application. our relocation service has changed, and of course, our house wouldn't have appraised out at what we'd like right now. so we are staying put. hard decision, but we are happy with it. we don't know what 2009 will bring for david. oil and gas has really tapered off in CO, and that has shown up in his 2008 salary. so, we're better off with fewer unknowns.
i've started a boot camp right in our neighborhood. one of our new neighbors is a personal trainer and we asked her if she would do a boot camp for her neighbors. we meet every sunday morning, and it is usually 4 or 8 of us. it has been very good--mainly lunges, free weights, exercise all stuff, steps. my tricips feel it today. but it is teaching me some new stuff i can do on my own--which is my favorite thing.
i'm taking it a little easier on walking the dogs. link just has such a hard time with his hips if we walk every day. so our walks are shorter. and i keep him on the leash, so he doesn't run as much. i did sneak out with ruby by ourselves last week, and he barked (i'm sure) the whole time we were gone. he'll be 12 next month, and he's an old man with the heart of a puppy! ruby is feisty as ever--just got a spring haircut, and is now speaking for her meals. she loves to kindof gurgle, so i'm having her do it every day. it always makes us laugh! we are so easily entertained.
saw slumdog millionaire, and gran torino lately.
well, i'd better get over to my office now that i know that everything works!
we love youu all.
love--michele, david, link, and ruby