Happy Birthday MOM! :)

Mother kindly informed me that "it is September 14 already!" a couple days ago, meaning that I've been neglecting this, so I guess, in honor of her her birthday, I shall update my blog.

So yes...today is Mother's 51st birthday!! There Mom, now everyone knows how old you are. You don't have to shout it from the mountain top. Which you could, because you are in the mountains. Get it? Haha...I'm hilarious! I know. This is Mom on her birthday last year...with the awesome cake I made her :)...at the 'surprise' birthday party us kids threw for her...that she already knew about because she thought we all didn't care. Oh Mother. Please.

Anyways....so here I am. It has been over a month that I've been done working, and exactly a month since we officially moved to Illinois. So crazy to think about. For the most part we are settled in. There are a few boxes left, but those will probably stay boxed for awhile til we acquire more space...so that's okay. I am slowly learning the area...I can get where I need to, and Josh has it down pretty good so he can usually point me in a general direction. I enjoy exploring, so it's kind of fun to just drive around and see what I can find. There is pretty much every store you could ever imagine at my disposal, so that is very different from Otsego! Haha.

I can honestly say that I have not missed the Credit Union one bit! I sort of thought that I would...but nope! It's been glorious not having to go there and deal with the daily drama! Although I still hear about it...but knowing I don't have to be a part of it is fantastic!! Since I've been gone, they have hired 4 tellers and had to fire 2 so far...the 3rd one was the charm, and hopefully the 4th will be too (she just started I guess). I kinda feel bad about that...but then again, I don't. They knew I was leaving and should have been more on top of hiring someone instead of waiting til the last minute, so whatever. It is done and over with.

I do miss my friends though...a lot. Now that I don't have anything to do all day besides clean or explore or what have you, I am really realizing how alone we are here. Nobody in the apartments has really made an effort to be friendly or get to know us. Nobody in Aurora is very friendly - period! We have had visitors from home - and that has been awesome, but eventually they leave and it goes back to normal. I just keep telling myself it's only temporary...hopefully soon we'll be in a different area and that will make things seem a lot better. But until then...Josh and I have become even better friends, and the cats love all the extra attention because between me being home all day and us not doing much...they are hardly ever left alone!

I just want you to know...I am not complaining about being here. I was 100% on board with this move and I am absolutely loving this new change and all the new experiences that I'm sure are to come! It's just sooo different than what I'm used to. I've always stayed in my nice little comfort zone of a life...this is way outside of that! But I think it will be good for me, and I can already tell it's been good for mine and Josh's relationship. Definitely better than living in 2 different states...that's for sure!!

We are still working on getting our licenses, and I have yet to receive 'official' mail in my name, so I still am without a library card. They are so picky about these things, man! I am not a fugitive, I promise...I just want to read a book!

I think the mail situation is finally under control now...so that is a huge releif. And I even got the 2 things I was worried were lost forever: A thank you card for playing in Angela's wedding, and a $100 Visa gift card from work for accomplishing a goal they set for us. So I feel a lot better about that. Plus, it's nice to know that everything is going where it is supposed to be going.

Also Josh has me scared out of my mind...because I guess to get our Illinois licenses, we most likely have to take a written test, and possibly even an actual driving test!! AHHH!! Not that I am a bad driver...I just hate driving in places I'm not familiar. And I really hate driving with other people. Who judge me. And I do NOT want to parallel park!! I'm so nervous that I will fail...and how embarassing that will be, since I've had my license for SEVEN YEARS (side note: man I'm OLD). That would be pretty pathetic if I don't pass. So... we'll see. I'm crossing my fingers that that doesn't happen!

Okay well it is 3am...I am going to bed! I couldn't sleep so I was talking to my wonderful friend Mike whom I miss SO VERY MUCH and we ended up talking for way longer than I thought! It was so nice to catch up with him though :)

Goodnight!!