I conquered the anxiety of the DMV

I'm sure people are wondering about our status what-with all the tornadoes last week. Good news, we're fine! The tornadoes (from what I've heard) were south of us or north of us but never hit near our house. I missed it all b/c I was in WI at the time, and luckily John was safe! So no worries here! Windsor, CO was hit pretty hard though so please keep the people there in your thoughts and prayers. It is a small little town (about 4000 ppl) south of Fort Collins.

I'm still getting used to the increased daylight here. The sun is fully up by 6 am and sets around 8:30-9 p.m. Our dogs are still trying to get used to it too, as they used to wake us up around 7 am to eat, and now they're up by 6 am!!

So today I conquered the DMV. If you know me, you know I hate the DMV. In fact, in my last picture for my Kansas DL I was so pissed off about the experience that I refused to smile for it. It seems I never have all the right documents or forms of ID and usually end up making a couple of trips, which only frustrates me more b/c the lines are so dang long anyway. In the end this only served to spite myself b/c it looked like a mug shot and I had to live with it. So today I put on my game face, and did a lot of research to make sure I had the right documents in hand. I gathered together my birth certificate, social security card, current license, mail that has been sent to our current address, the title to the car and the current registration. I looked at my marriage license and thought, 'maybe I should bring that since my name is different than my birth certificate', but decided against it, thinking I'd be fine. I knew it could be an okay experience when I walked in, b/c there was virtually no line. I was up at the counter within 5 minutes and the lady proceeds to review my documents. She checks out my birth certificate, verifies my middle name and then notices my name is different. She says, "Did you bring your marriage license?" Grrrr. I say, "No", already feeling my anxiety rise. She then reviews the documents with a co-worker, and then says to me, "Do they know you're married?" I say, "Does who know I'm married? I've been married 5 years!" She replies, "Oh, well sometimes with common law people come in and they've just forgotten to make it official." Anyway, it turned out that I didn't need the marriage license b/c Kansas is a "stand-alone" state, whatever that means!! So within a few weeks I should have my CO driver's license in hand!

Then it's off to the courthouse to obtain Colorado license plates. Now that line was a little different. I was almost thankful that I didn't have to sit in it, b/c I had forgotten my book to read while I waited. I had to get a document in order to get a VIN number verification at the local police station. Luckily I was able to get that in this afternoon, so tomorrow morning I'll be off to the Courthouse again in order to get the plates. This time, I'll have my book in tow. :) After that I had to run to the grocery store, and spent a little over an hour getting familiar with it since it's new to me. It was kind of fun b/c it's a really nice grocery store!!

Today was John's second day of work and so far so good! He is getting his application ready to start school at CSU in the fall also. He spent some time today figuring how long it will take him to finish, as he has to switch degrees b/c CSU doesn't have an Industrial Engineering degree which is what he was doing in Wichita. He will now be working toward a Civil Engineering degree, finishing in fall 2o10. He's also looking at obtaining an Environmental Engineering degree, finishing in 2011. (And yes, this is if he goes full-time.) When he finishes the C.E. degree he won't be that far from the E.E. degree, and it's taken him this long already, he figures why not just go for it? So we'll see! Wish him luck! I think when he finally finishes we're going to have a really HUGE party to celebrate it, b/c it will only have taken him 10 years!!!!

John met some of our neighbors last night who invited us to a BBQ this weekend down the street. That should be nice, I haven't met anyone since I've been here!

Well, I'm going to sign off for now. Wish me luck tomorrow at the Courthouse. I'm so excited to get CO plates, that's been the thing I've been looking forward to since finding out we were moving here! :) Gotta love those mountains!