Whee!

Dave used up the last of his vacation days this past week, by taking off half way through Wednesday, and being a lazy bum the rest of the week.

I think he's gotten used to working such short weeks! Back to reality tomorrow, though--but then he earns his new block of vacation, etc on 3/1, so it's not so bad.

He gets TONS of time off from his job (the full complement of TEN paid holidays, paid sick time, paid personal days, and 5 weeks vacation), so he always ends up having time off without me, since I get so very little.

I only earn a grand total of 24 days off a year, and that includes which holidays we do get (6), and any time I take off if I get sick, or if I have appointments, or if the office is closed for bad weather, or if I take vacation time.

Thankfully, we haven't had any bad weather this winter, so I will have enough hours saved up to take that vacation we're talking about. A week. But after that, I won't have any hours left, and will have to start accruing again. Hopefully, nothing will happen while I have zero in my bank!

Finally got the the massage therapist license on Thursday. Sheesh.

And then, a miracle happened.

We went to change the address on my driver license (yes, they call them driver licenses here, not driver's licenses).

Remember how it took 8 trips, and two different places we had to go, to get me changed over from Illinois plates to an Oklahoma tag, and to get my driver's license changed to a driver license for this state?

This took about 15 minutes. In one place. During one single trip.

I was stunned.

Everything else has taken so many trips, and so much red tape, that I fully expected that, to update my address on my license, I would have to go fill out papers, and then at least go back one more time to get the new picture/license made.

But no.... it was not like that. A. Maze. Ing.

In other news, it looks like my dear friend, Jessie, who moved away from me in Illinois to go live in Michigan several years ago, is going to come here to visit!!!

We met at my job back home in 2004. I trained her on some stuff, and we clicked like we'd always known each other.

She's a lot younger than me, but we got along great and became best friends. But then the husband she was separated from at the time got a job in Michigan, and she had to move because of the kids. We were heart broken.

I got to go up to Ann Arbor to visit her a few times, and she came down to visit me and her family and Illinois friends a few times....so it wasn't so bad.

She had never even been out if Illinois at the time that they moved (she has since added Ohio and Kentucky, I think), but she has more than adapted to her new life, and loves it in Ann Arbor.

She has long since divorced her husband, and he has moved out of state again, but she didn't follow this time, because the kids are a lot older now. She has custody of the kids, and once in a while, they go visit their dad.

She has discovered who she really is in this time, and is completely in love with her fiance, Carla. But, despite all of the changes in our lives, we have remained dear friends over the distance and the years....and then I moved even further away a couple of years ago.

We obviously haven't been able to see each other since she came to see me off on my great adventure to move down here.

So--neither of us can wait!! And, this trip will add more states to her "states visited" list, too.

Her mom is coming along, because it's such a long drive. They'll be here for 3 or 4 days, and I will only have to use 2 days of my time.

Wheee!