To my faithful blog followers

If I still have any followers out there... thank you for not giving up on me! And in case you are wondering what we've been up to at the Mullauer household:

1. My new job is still totally consuming me. But I can honestly say I love it. I love working with the patients and their families and all the responsibilities that go along with it. A lot of changes are happening in our practice the next few months, including one of our doctors retiring. I'm giving it until summer when things iron out a little more to see how the workload ends up. Right now I am not convinced that one person can do this job. But everyday I am more thankful to have a job considering the unemployment rate in this country. The extra hours I'm working have made me love my paychecks as well. It's a great feeling when your son brings home a $800 tuition bill and you can write a check without wondering how you are going to buy groceries that week.

2. I am sooooo excited about getting our chain link fence installed as soon as the snow melts. They are coming out Monday to give us an estimate. It took a lot of convincing for Craig to agree to this one. Craig likes the openness of our back yard and I agree with that. He's afraid that putting up a fence will be confining. But I think the trade off will be well worth it. With 3 dogs it's just too hard to keep track of them when we are outside. I LOVE the outdoors and want to be able to enjoy being outside without being constantly consumed with where the dogs are every moment, which is what it takes when they are outside with us. Another big plus.... no more skunks. For those of you that have followed my blog know the horror stories we can gone through with skunks and our dogs. And it hasn't been an isolated incident.

3. We've attended several Ferris functions with Jordan this past week. We went to Grand Rapids Tuesday for a new student reception and Saturday we went to Big Rapids for Jordan's testing/competition for the honors program. There were 350 students competing for 290 spots. I'm confident that Jordan will have no problem getting into the honors program. Jordan has been working hard studying and retaking her ACT test. She's trying to get an extra 2 points (she has 29 now and needs a 31). If she can get a 31 Ferris has guaranteed her a full tuition scholarship for 4 years. We have enrolled Jordan into a Kaplan ACT class at Western starting May 1st for 6 weeks. They meet twice a week. It's not cheap at $500 but they guarantee your student increases her score or your money back. It will be well worth it if Jordan can get the two extra points. Pray for Jordan!

4. We are all soooo ready for spring. This winter has not been fun in terms of the usual winter stuff we usually do. Snowmobling has been for the birds. I only went on two rides the whole winter. Craig did go up north sledding with club members a few times, but even the snow wasn't great up there. I'm dreaming of our camper trailer, gardening, getting outside with my camera, my spring birds (hummers, orioles, bluebirds!), you get the picture...

5. I'm trying to learn to love Fiona. Do I sound like a terrible person? As I type this she is curled up next to me snoring. This is a rare rare rare occurrence. She just never settles down and lets me love on her. Craig says that Zoe was the same way but I don't remember that. She is relentless in her constant badgering of Zoe. Poor Zoe goes upstairs to be by herself to get away from Fiona. This makes me sad as Zoe is such a people person. And Seadra just hates her. Sorry if I'm sounding negative, I want to love her. I'm hoping when we are not so cooped up in this house once spring gets here that it will get better. What was I thinking!!!!

6. We signed up for Netflix this winter and I really enjoy that. Right now I have the television mini series Roots coming one episode at a time. It is so worth the money. We only pay $8 a month and you can turn over a movie every 2 days. It's wonderful. And some movies I can watch wirelessly on tv or my mac. The biggest perk is no late fees. I can't tell you how many late fees we've paid with the kids renting movies.

7. Track season starts Monday for Jordan. It's another one of those lasts that we will be enjoying with Jordan this spring. I'm hoping that I'm able to get out of work early on track meet days. Watch for track photos on my blog.

8. Caleb's keeping busy working and going to school full time at KVCC. He's making a little more noise about switching his major to education.... we'll see. I think Caleb would make a great teacher. He's such a people person. He's anxious for spring as well. He's dying to get his Mustang on the road again.

9. Craig and I are going to Allen Michigan Saturday antiquing. I can't wait. Allen is the antique capital of Michigan. It's such a fun day and I so need a fun day.

Take care my friends... I miss you and I miss my blogging.