It's Fall!

I have a new favorite season now that I'm not teaching anymore. I used to associate fall with the most stressful time of the year, but now it's great. I love waking up and having to burrow under the covers because it's a little cold in the room, watching the fall shows premiere (yay, no more reruns and strange summer only shows), enjoying walks with the dog without sweating, going to football games and seeing friends...I could keep going.

Congratulations to all Panthers fans! You have a great team this year and they played well yesterday. I bet you'll have a great season as usual. I wish I could say the same thing about the Cyclones, but I had a bad feeling it would turn out the way it did yesterday. It's a bad combination when you have a well-established talented team playing well vs. a team with a new coach that can't seem to keep a hold of the ball. It was painful to watch! Oh well, it isn't anything new. If we're going to be beat by a smaller school, I'd rather it be a talented school like UNI. If they had an engineering program, then I probably would have ended up going there along with the rest of my family.

As for next weekend, I wish they'd just run the clock like they do for high school football when the points are spread so far. I really wish I could drink some beer next weekend for a little pain relief. Aren't I optimistic? I'm not looking forward to the Hawkeye fans either. Many of the visiting teams have gracious fans overall (of course there are some idiots), but the Hawkeye game gets ugly on both sides. Many of their fans are just fine, but the ones that are obnoxious are extremely obnoxious...kind of like some of my friends that we sit near. LOL! I wouldn't miss the game though because we've been surprised before. However, I'm predicting a winless season for the Cyclones this year.

It was fun having a posse of pregnant women at the tailgating bus. What a switch! We had little Gavin running around and getting passed around and smooched along with four pregnant women. The first in line is Kristin and she's due Oct. 5th. I think she's carrying a boy because she seems to have only grown in the belly area. Jillian is due Nov. 27th and she's obviously pregnant now. The last time I saw her she had a teeny, tiny bump. It's fun having someone that's due only a month away from me and expecting a girl also. It gives me an idea of what I'll be looking like in about a month. Then there's me, of course. :) Pulling up the rear is Amanda who is due April 18th. It'll be fantastic when she's out of the first trimester and stops being so nauseous! I'm expecting another pregnancy announcement or two during this football season. Last year I had mixed emotions when I saw pregnant women, but now I have a sense of kinship. I like feeling "normal."

Hopefully Jon will get home soon. He's rounding on his patients this morning and then he'll be free the rest of the day. I've enjoyed seeing him at night and not having to hear that darn pager.

Oh, and the nursery painting went well on Friday. Jon's parents are expert painters and they even have a special ladder (which most of my side of the family has borrowed at some time or another). I think I'm just going to do the stripes on a couple of walls and call it good. The majority of the room is going to remain "optimistic yellow" and it's very cheery. I can't wait to hang pictures and window treatments. However, then the nursery will be mostly complete and I'll have to find another project.