Update

I have a ton of things to tell you guys, so bear with me on the long posting.

1. Dad: Dad's surgery went great. He was sent home the next day and is doing very well. All of your prayers and thoughts were really appreciated by all of the family. In true German spirit, there were many moments of hilarity, even in the hospital. On the way down the night before in the lovely snowstorm, Kenny and I decided to take a trip, ala a ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl for all of you carnival fans, in his car. About 5 miles south of St. Genevieve, we hit a patch of black ice, he lost control, we spun across the median, and ended up facing north in the northbound lane. Think of the scene in Tommy Boy where the deer wakes up in the backseat and they loose control of the car. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one of us resembles Chris Farley or David Spade. Luckily, there was no deer in the backseat! Dad saw all of us before he went into surgery. When he came out, they had him on a wonderful drug cocktail of Fentanyl and something else that was going through his iv. He didn't remember seeing any of us before surgery, and he kept asking things like, "Where's your mother?", "Did ya'll just get here?", and our personal favorite,"How's the food here? I'm hungry." He kept dozing off and waking up, at which point he'd ask the same questions. We thought about making up different answers each time, but Mom said that was just mean and that we should behave ourselves. We also had a dramatic reading of his new "instruction manual" that comes with his defibrilator/pacemaker. We learned such tidbits as he can no longer weld things (Thank the Lord!), he can still use the microwave to pop popcorn and heat up contraband honey buns, and that if he and my mother are having "relations" and his defibrilator goes off, my mother may receive a shock. Only my family could find humor in an otherwise humorless situation. In any case, he is doing well, but he still needs to quit smoking. He's been smoking since he was 13, and I've watched him try to quit numerous times over the years, but he never manages to stay quit.
2. Life in Apartmentland: Our days in apartment land are numbered. Kenny and I have just joined the adult world of being "homeowners". We have purchased a home here in Washington. We've been looking for about a month. We've seen so many houses that they're all starting to blend together. Our closing date is March 30th, so once again, it will be a moving marathon. The new house has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a large kitchen with ceramic tiles, a finished family room in the walk-out basement, new berber carpet throughout the house, french doors in the main level kitchen that go out to a deck, french doors out of the family room in the basement that go out to the underside of the deck that has been made into a screened porch, and a two car garage. Needless to say, we're excited, but a little sick at the same time. As long as we don't think about what we've done, we're happy, but this is a huge committment. It's saying not only am I committing to living in this place for quite a while, but when you buy a house with someone, it's a big committment in that you're saying, yes, I'm going to stay with you for the long haul, which sounds really weird coming from me since I've always been the one who wanted someone to commit, (not to a mental hospital, but that may happen if they stay in a longterm relationship with me!). Sorry about the run-sentence there! It's just that now I'm at that point, where we've bought a house, are considering getting married, etc. and I'm kind of freaked out. I'll be okay, but it's like a cold slap in the face from reality. I'll try to figure out how to set up a Flicker account and upload the other pictures so you all can get an idea of what the inside and outside looks like. Don't worry guys, I'm happy about the purchase, but it's taking some getting used to.
3. The slap me in the head part of the post: As if all of the above weren't enough to make me insane, I've decided to return to graduate school and get my degree in library science, which is what I originally wanted to do anyway. I had to get reading certification to keep my job and it was only another three classes after all of the certification classes to earn my master's degree. I went that route so I could move up on the pay scale. In any case, I'm in the process of applying to Mizzou and will only be taking 1 class per semester. I'm trying to avoid taking out any more student loans, plus finishing a master's degree in four semesters is the definition of stupid. The new degree is a total of 42 hours. With taking one class per semester, I think it will take me anywhere from 4 and a half to 5 years. Keep in mind that math is not my strong point! Wish me luck!
4. Since I'm going to be meeting people about a mortgage, getting inspections and appraisals done on the new house, and packing like a crazy person (hopefully we'll find enough boxes), posting may be spotty for a while, like it typically is. I'll try to get pictues uploaded so you all can see the house. We'll send out new address and phone info in the near future as soon as that all gets straightened out.