january's been a whirlwind

The past few weeks have been quite busy, and maybe even slightly more fun than the 'norm' (as you can probably tell from our lack of blogging - we really need to work on that). I feel like we've been quite a bit more social than normal...which feels really good to me...but it makes work that much harder. Lol. Oh well.

When we got back from our holiday adventures, Brooke was in town, and then she came back the following weekend with her friend Emily from nursing school. It was SO good to spend some time with those ladies (and the rest of our friends we met up with while they were here). It was a real treat to get to see Brooke two weekends in a row (although I can't believe she made two trips down here)! I'm sorry she got in a wreck and had to get her car fixed up...but I'm certainly glad it took them a little too long to fix it so she graced us with her presence again! (:

In the past couple of weeks, we've also been blessed to have Monday-sushi-night with Charlie and Emily two weeks in a row! The first week we tried Maki (a create-your-own style sushi place) - you can read Chance's food blog for a full review.


This past Monday we enjoyed Austin's first conveyor belt sushi place...K.G. Sushi Train...they were having a special for $1.50 per plate...Chance and I totally loaded up on sushi - we all ate way too much!


The Monday we went to Maki (2 weeks ago) we also headed to my cousin Howie's to play wii with him...and we had a blast. Lol. He got some weird game pack that was pretty complicated, I must say. Check out the old man in the corner...lol...


Chance got pretty good at a few of the games...and Howie and I showed him up in basketball. The wii world is the only place where us shorties can beat giants like Chance. (:


...more fun ensued on Wednesday. We went to Liz and James' place for Elizabeth's 28th birthday party - and there were crepes and coffee for everyone to enjoy! It was a blast talking to friends from church and hearing some snippits of future Jets Under Fire songs, courtesy of Corbin. It was super chill....the cream puffs were tasty (even frozen), and the company was even better.

Seriously - we've had a ton going on...so much it's hard for me to remember it all! This past weekend was incredibly fun. Michael, Julia, and Sherrice all came in town on Saturday for the Wideawake CD release show. They came in a little early so we could play some games...we ended up playing Gemblo (which is similar to Blokus), Wasabi (which was just awesome), and Tsuro (which we love). The show was early, so we headed out for an early dinner and stopped along the way at Dragon's Lair (a comics/gaming store). We went about 6 months ago, and I had totally felt out of place...but this time, I felt like I fit right in. Hahah. I think I'm embracing my inner nerd more than I have been. After some shopping (and purchasing by Michael and Julia),


we went down the road to Phil's Icehouse (mmm, love me some sweet potato fries), which everyone seemed to love. After stuffing our faces, we headed to the show - where Sherrice and Michael stood in line and Julia and I sat in the car and stayed warm til the doors opened. It was good to see Wideawake again,


and I've got a billion opinions on the show...but I'm just hoping someone else (ahem, Sherrice) will review it for me. The best part of the show was my cousin Ashley appearing out of nowhere - shoot, I hadn't seen that girl in like 2 years. It was great to get to hug her!!!


After the show, we played a new game that Michael and Julia had just bought - and Chance joined us...he got home from work about the same time we got home from the show. Then - we headed to Whataburger to re-fuel, and followed up our grubbin' with some Killer Bunnies (which my pal Philip had given us for Christmas). It was a long, busy, fun day - I haven't had that much fun in quite some time.

...but we did have quite a fun time this past Sunday. After church we went to Lunch with Sherrice (who'd spent the night), Stephanie, Trey, Corbin, and Chad (Corb's brother) at Magnolia cafe. Mmmmm...good food. Then - Stephanie and Trey came over with their precious Yorkie, Becsar, and we introduced him to Freddie and Brewster. We played Killer Bunnies with them before they had to head off to dinner with some folks. Sunday evening we went to help Blaine and Elizabeth Crockett move their dining table into their new house, but it was already done once we'd arrived. We decided to help them out instead by going out to eat with them. Hahaha. We went to Firehouse Subs, which was actually REALLY good (not nearly as good as Obee's, but it certainly beats Jimmy John's, Subway, Jersey Mike's (which I really like) and POSSIBLY even Which Wich). They have a huge variety of hot sauces you can add to your sandwich (my personal favorite being Pappy's White Lightning)...mmm. Tasty.

In the midst of all of this 'being social'...we've also gotten a good deal of work done. Okay, okay...it's not as much as I'd like. But we've at least gotten the ball rolling on the garage organization project (which is huge). I forgot to take a 'before' photo...but I guess I should take one now so that you can see at least a portion of what we've come from. So far I've gone through about 3/4 of my stuffed animals and several other boxes, while Chance has hung a shelf and started putting things in the attic (where he had to first lay wood across the rafters).


It's going to be quite a process, but at least we're moving on it. Yesterday we painted one wall so we can start getting things set up at least along that wall. I'm really hoping we can finish it by March - that's my goal...because I'll have a lot of other projects to complete after that!

And now...I'm sick - with some kind of severe sore throat (maybe strep?)...I'm going to the doctor this afternoon. Fun fun fun.

So...in case you've wondered WHY we've been slackers....we really haven't - just in the blogging arena. I'm hoping we'll get around to posting more blogs (shorter ones)...as our schedule starts to clear. 2009 has certainly started out as a busy year for the Patricks!

a cue from beth

As I have been inspired by so many of Beth's posts, I decided I would give all you loyal readers a quick taste of what has been cooking in my kitchen. No, sadly you can't really taste it. However, I love to cook so if you bring yourself over, with a little warning, I will attempt to whip you up something palate pleasing. So here is what Claire and I had for dinner on Friday night.


I think I will call it Upside Down Stuffed Avocado. As you will probably notice, or have noticed in the past, I like to infuse a south of the border flair into my cooking. This recipe was a self created one. I decided this year I was going to find a good balance between using the 8 billion cookbooks I have and creating my own recipes. Someday I will compile my own creations into my own Tastebook.


The only problem I had with this meal was that I eyeballed the amount of olive oil put into the rice. Well, I'll admit, we all make mistakes and I over did it a bit so it came out just a tad on the oily side. Cutting the oil back would have made this probably a big winner, in this instance it just came out to be a good meal.



RECIPE:
1 Avocado (Halved, Peeled, and seed removed)
1 Chicken Breast (Grilled, Baked, or cooked to your preference)
1 Handful of Panko Crumbs
1 Cup Cilantro
1/2 Cup Green Onion
4 Chopped Button Mushrooms
1 Box of your favorite Spanish Rice (or make your own)
Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Tabasco, Cumin, Paprika, Fajita Seasoning, and Olive Oil

Saute the Mushrooms, Green Onion, Chicken in olive oil. Add all seasonings to taste. I like it strong so I pack it all on. Cover outside of Avocado with panko crumbs and quickly fry in olive oil until crumbs are light brown. Toss chicken mixture with fresh cilantro and portion onto the rice.
Top with the avocado, pitted side down and serve.

Enjoy.

i'm giddy...

...like a 16 year old girl. Resident Hero finally put up one of their newest recordings on their myspace this afternoon and I'm floored. Hearing their new song, "The Pressure" (no..the link is not broken I'm just not 100% sure you'll all be able to see it - but whatever, I digress)...took me back 9 years to the moment I fell in love with them in the passenger seat of Brooke's car. And then after that, when she dragged me to the first bar I ever went to to see the first real rock band I ever saw.


Lol. Wow. We even saw them on prom night.



So much has happened since then.



I know the song probably won't quite do for you what it did for me - It still has me reeling, it gave me chills, it made me truly feel something in a place I rarely do. But then, Ryan White's songwriting, guitar playing, and vocals are what made me fall head over heels for music. It was Resident Hero's passion (a passion which I have not seen surpassed) that inspired me to keep listening, seeking it out, promoting bands, and even start a management company with Chance.



I'm so impressed with how far he's come musically (oh, if I could only play some RH circa 1999 for you - and I loved it then)!

I can't guarantee that you'll like it. But you guys should all check it out...even if they're not your style. And wish them luck - they're showcasing in NY next week - hopefully something good will come of it. If Resident Hero isn't your flavor, or if you like pop music better than rock...you can check out his acoustic project with Gavi: Birds of New York.


That's all for now. Be expecting some possible future blogs about...my past and my future. Oh - and whatever Chance might want to write about. (:

big c's version of the holidays

I will start way back before Christmas. Pre-Christmas was kinda hectic. Although we did put up lots of House lights and a tree, it still didn't feel like much of a Christmas season. Claire and I were to busy running around trying to prepare gifts, travel plans, dog arrangements, work, and just keep our day to day lives in one piece. On my end it was mostly work and be discouraged that my computer was on the fritz and about to die. Beyond work, I did a lot of cooking.

But since Claire did most of Christmas I will briefly touch on my week alone in Austin and then update you on Amarillo.

While Claire worked, socialized, and visited family in Tyler. I was stuck in Austin pretty much just working. I did celebrate New Years Eve with our good friends Charlie and Emily. Thanks guys for inviting me! Mostly I just played Civilization IV which Claire got me for Christmas. Deep down I am still a nerd. Oh well, I enjoyed my time alone but was very ready for a vacation. Once Friday the 2nd hit I was off to Tyler with Freddie and Brewster in tow.

We were finally off to Amarillo for Vacation after that! I hadn't really had a chance to visit with family for over a year. So the plan was to make it as laid back and relaxing as possible, and it was. We did Christmas with my parents when we got there.

I got a sweet magnetic picker upper thingy and Claire got a little baggy to hold stuff in her purse among other great gifts.

That night we headed over to visit my great friends John and Lacey. Although their dog Darla stole the show after her bath.

The next day we finally went to Malcom's. Claire had been begging me to take her there and so Mom joined us


and we had lunch and sundays. Ours was butterscotch. It ended up being a little to butterscothy?! Good non-the-less.


We met up again at the Eslers that night to play some board games (munchkin) and catch up.


During the days Claire worked at Roasters and enjoyed some good coffee, while I caught up on my reading. On the 6th Claire and I celebrated our anniversary...family style.

We had a big meal out with my parents, John and Lacey, and Will and Anna. Off course, if you know us, you know we had to have Mexican food. So we went to Leals. It was delicious, of course. It was also a great way to celebrate two years of Marriage. We topped the night off with more board games at the Eslers. You may start to see a pattern here.


The next day we shopped out at the mall, made friends with a stray,

worked crossword puzzles, bummed around and ended up playing more Board Games.

All the days kind of blend together when you are recalling memories. At some point we went and saw Seven Pounds. I thought it was incredibly slow and boring. Claire was intreguied. We made our way over to the Water Still for some great flavored Ice Teas. We also played around with Scott's fancy lens for his Canon. We pretended we were models. Which Claire could be.


And I could not.


Mostly we ate a lot of food. Hung out every night at/with John and Lacey. Played games, had great conversation and even made some new friends! It was great to see Nick, Will, Anna, John, and Lacey all again and even got to hang out with some of their Amarillo friends, Thomas and Colleen.
On Friday we got up and drove back to Tyler to retrieve our dogs from Luci's care. Which of course while we were away Freddie thought it would be a good idea to eat a Tennis Ball, puke all over the room he was sleeping in and be a general nuisance for Luci. Thanks for keeping the pups though! Before leaving on Saturday to come back to Austin we played a little WII with Elbert. I also discovered not to mess with Claire because she was knocking people out in like 10 seconds flat on WII boxing. The pups enjoyed a smooth ride home

and we finally are home for a while. I bought a new computer on Saturday when we got back from Dell. Merry Christmas to me!

As for 2009, I expect a good year. Yes, Yes..the economy is bad, bad news, bad news, bad news. Thats all I hear. But after two years of marriage God hasn't failed us yet. In fact he has only blessed us so I expect good things in the future. Some things I know are coming and some goals I have set for myself and Claire:

Welcome in a bunch of Babies (Esler's, Rajeh's, Gooch's, and the Carroll's).
Get some new CD's from some of our favorite bands
Have a good time at SXSW
Plan the next set of Holidays way in Advance
Read a lot of books
Accomplish more of our summer goals
Blog a lot more
Practice my photography more
Clean out the Garage
Take a vacation (Most likely to San Francisco)
Redo our Back Yard
Possibly start a Garden
Put in Lights for the House
Write a lot more restaurant Reviews

And continue to bless and be blessed by others whether through prayer, conversation, online chats, blogs, phone calls, texts, emails, or just by word of mouth. I hope that everyone has something great to look forward to this year because I know Claire and I do. When I stop to look back on it I can truly see how blessed we are.

good times in tyler (aka: holiday blog #2)

Let's pick up where we left off, shall we?

Here's where my memory probably won't function like it should - which really frustrates me. Oh well - it's better for you guys - it'll mean a shorter blog to read (yes, short by MY terms, or shorter than it COULD have been).

The thing I remember MOST about the day after Christmas is the yoga. That's right...Luci talked me into doing yoga with her at her gym (instead of spending the morning working, like I fully intended). I've NEVER done yoga before - and only thought about it once or twice - promptly changing my mind when I remembered how clumsy I am and how badly I'd probably hurt myself. Somehow, the day after Christmas I decided it'd be a good thing to do - mainly because I was feeling like a tubbo from the mounds of food the day before. Anyway...I went....and according to my sister, Tonya - the instructor - went easy on us. Whatever. The class was small, thankfully; it was my sister, myself, Tonya, and two other people. According to Tonya I did fairly well - she gave me a few suggestions to correct my lines or whatever you call them...but I've NEVER seen my muscles twitch like that. I don't think I've ever done anything so strenuous in my life. Toward the end of the class Tonya said something about doing headstands, and I assumed she was joking and nearly started laughing. She wasn't joking. Everyone else aroumd me got on their heads like it was old hat. HA! I'm still on the fence about the possibility of starting to go in for yoga classes at Gold's ....or never doing yoga again, ever. Ha. It was amazingly hard - I was sore for days afterward, but I was proud of myself for doing it.

I don't have any photos from the 26th at all, so I'm going from memory here. I know the 26th started my latte kick - I had coffee with dad in the morning, and then again that evening with Zach Matson (a friend I hadn't seen in YEARS!). I was able to go to lunch at Carretas with Daniel Elbert (one of my absolute best, and longest friends) and hit up Target for some after-Christmas sale goodies (what a great friend, he was carrying crap around Target for me). I also had the pleasure of hanging out with the Becker family and eating some of Charlie's good cooking for dinner (yay for hanging out with Charlie and Em *and Maan and Sarah* in Tyler!)...but I had to turn down several plans for lack of better time-slot-planning (sorry Mark and Amanda). It was a pretty busy day, now that I think about it.

...and since my memory is apparently returning, you can all probably forget about this being a short blog...at this point, I'm writing for the sake of preserving what memories I do have...lol...

The 27th was 'Logan's Christmas'. It's the first year for Logan (my nephew) to have separate Christmases, but he celebrated with my family on the 27th - since we didn't get to see him on Christmas day. It was a pretty big celebration - we had pizza for lunch at his request...and watched him open a zillion presents (and opened our presents from he and Luci). Chance and I got him some webkinz - which I was pumped about playing with...but we never DID get around to it. He got some awesome stuff though...a new bike, a bike ramp, an iPod shuffle.


Man, he's spoiled. But we did have fun playing with his toys! My mom, Luci and I went shoe shopping briefly after that...and then I met up with Elbert for another latte and some wandering around Tyler (checking out some apartments and going to furniture stores and Bed Bath and Beyond). That night I was supposed to go to Megan Carr's wedding...but it also happened to be Tiffany Taff's b-day celebration day...so I opted to hang out with miss Tiffany and the gang instead...and Elbert opted out of the fun, so we went our separate ways. I headed to El Charro (one of the old childhood haunts) to have dinner with some fun folks (including, but not limited to: Trevor, Jonathan, Jennifer, Nathan, and Laura) to celebrate miss Taff being a quarter of a century old. We laughed a lot - then proceeded to her dad's house to play wii. That night - I moved my stuff from my sister's to my mom's so I could stay with her for a couple of days. That's right - not only is my Christmas a mobile one, but every time I stay in Tyler I generally move from place to place so I get to spend a little time with everyone. It'd be so much easier if my whole family just lived in one big house. On second thought, not really.

The 28th...Sunday...I went to Elbert's church which was pretty cool - the service was over 2 hours, which I'm not used to, but the worship was cool and the preaching was great too. Afterwards, I met up with mom, Luci and Logan for lunch at Chili's, then we headed over to my dad's house for Logan's Christmas with him. It was fun to hang out there for a little while...til I had to go work. Working in Tyler was interesting - I didn't get ALL my hours in, but it was fun to venture out to the various coffee shops. That day, I opted to go to Java Jams - the coffee shop in the grocery store (which, at that point, was the only one I knew had free wifi). There were quite a few interesting characters there - like the hobo who was sleeping across from me. My friend (and 'co-worker') Trevor showed up for a little bit with his brother Sam...and talked to me. When I finished working, I headed back up to Elbert's church (where he was setting up computers for them)...and we met his brother Scott for dinner at Little Italy (Lililly - for those of you who knew me in high school). I had probably the most fattening thing on the menu - eggplant parmesan with alfredo sauce. GOSH it was GOOD. I haven't eaten Italian food at a restaurant in at least a year (Chance doesn't believe in it)...so it was kinda nice. Afterwards, we pulled a typical Tyler move and went to walk around WalMart. Yup. That's what you do at night in Tyler. The boys got tired, and...I went home - intending to work - but passed out as soon as I hit the bed.

The 29th was my day of 'adventure' - Claire style. As I'd mentioned briefly before, Elbert was apartment shopping (he's been living with the 'rents and is ready to move the heck out)...but he couldn't do a whole lot while he was at work. I volunteered to check a few places out for him (get pamphlets, prices, info, etc) - so that's what I spent most of Monday doing. I went by 7 or so apartments before picking up some Chick-Fil-A for myself and Golly and taking it to her house to eat and spend some time with her. After lunch, I headed to these AWESOME new lofts downtown (the Moore Grocery Lofts)...and then worked a little at my dad's. Elbert met up with me around 4 at this really awesome 4-plex I'd found to check out on Craigslist - then we went to another amazing house that had 7 or so different units in it. These places were AWESOME...old...ahh...I can't describe them. The loft + those last two places were seriously amazing. If I HAD to move back to Tyler, I'd probably opt to rent out one of them. Loved them. I think I had soup for dinner at dad's that night - not that you care - lol...and then went to Elbert's to hang out. We played the Office game (one of his Christmas presents) - which he kicked butt at - me, not so much.


Although - I ALMOST won - I kept getting the easy questions. But he beat me. I let him. Not really.

The 30th was another adventure-filled day. I worked that morning at Cafe Tazza (best frozen Chai EVER). Then I went to lunch with Golly (who had been nice enough to loan me her caddy for the duration of my trip - so I was picking her up from her hair appt), mom, Luci and Logan at McAlister's. After lunch, I ran an errand or two, which included moving my stuff to dad's house (where I'd stay the rest of my time in Tyler). Then Luci, Logan and I went out to my aunt Julia's place. She and Jan (her friend who she lives with) have a TON of animals - so we thought it'd be fun to put on our grubbies and go play. There were so many precious pups (this one's Denim),


a cage full of beautiful doves, plenty of roosters...you name it.


There was a male goose that was in love with a male Great Pyrenees (and very protective of him),


some really funny goats,


and a PRECIOUS horse who followed us around and constantly put her face right in mine the whole time we were there.


Logan even got to ride a horse for his first time.


Afterwards we grabbed some gas station snacks, went shopping for dad's bday present...and then I went home to work a little more. We had leftover soup for dinner (if my memory serves me correctly)...and then I went to Elbert's again to close out the night. This time, we went to Dairy Queen donning free sundae coupons (courtesy of a client of Elbert's), I showed him photos of my day at the farm, he discovered Google Maps Street View for the first time ever and was overwhelmed,


and we watched Peanut (his sweet cat) be mischevious.


I'm a little foggy on the goings-on of New Year's Eve. I know I worked for a while that morning and I'm pretty sure I had lunch at some point, but I have no clue what or with whom. That afternoon I went over to my cousin Allison's house to visit with her and Nana (my dad's mom). It was nice to spend some time with them (even though Allison's bird Tweety was on my head half the time - haha)!


Late that afternoon I drove to the line to purchase some alcohol for NYE beverages. Ohhh - the line. Tyler is in a dry county, so you've gotta drive out to lake Palestine (or Kilgore) to buy any alcohol. Let me tell you - I have NEVER seen liquor stores look like this. It was like black friday all over again. Insane - I tell you.


Elbert came over that evening to celebrate with me. We began the festivities by watching a dvd he'd brought of all the Pixar shorts. It was a good start to the night - watching Jack Jack float around...and the snowman in his snowglobe...and those fat little birds on a wire. We then proceeded in our attempt to make mudslides (one of the only drinks Elbert will drink which is why I bought the alcohol)...only to find out that the blender was leaking. I guess that happens when you've got a blender from the 1970s. Hahah. I was determined to make them though since I'd driven 30 minutes to buy the mixins. Lol. I put some ice in a ziplock and Elbert pounded it with a potato masher while I hand mixed the alcohol with ice cream...then added in ice. We eventually put it back in the blender - just long enough to give it a good stir...then voila! Mudslides! They weren't actually too bad for my first time - especially considering the circumstances.


Somehow, Bert's was quite a bit stronger than mine, lol - oops. Oh well. I'll give the mudslide the credit for getting him to play Perfect Match with me (one of my favorite games when I was a little girl). It was hilarious. I'll give you a peek:


Oh man. I can't even begin to tell you. We kept trying to find Dick Clark on TV but it wasn't on until the very end for some reason - we pretty much ignored the whole New Year's thing happening. I mean - we argued about whether the ball would drop at 11 or midnight - and we said Happy New Year...but that was about it. We were too involved in our game of scrabble (which we both kinda suck at - so we made up ridiculous rules) to care.


Man - it was a relaxing, fun evening though - I love spending time with Bert. Missed Chance of course - and the fun he was having back in Austin...but I had a good time for sure.


New Year's Day I worked some, then met up with Elbert for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. He was pretty worn out from the night before - it seems his parents woke him up earrrrrly...but he still wanted to hang out. So...we chowed down and then headed to the mall and wandered around there for an hour or so. He bought some pretty nice things on sale (this guy's got more style than I'll ever have)...but I think the walking around the mall did him in. He headed hom to take a nap while I went over to Philip Newman's house for his family's annual New Year's Day get together. I was just in time for some dang good food - a LOAD of various potluck appetizer-type things...man...it was good. I got to play Settlers of Catan, Flux, and some other funny game with shapes with he and Michelle (love her) - and they gave Chance and I Killer Bunnies for Christmas - AWESOME! Without knowing that I'd ever wanted the game, Philip and Michelle prevailed and got it for us. Sweet action.


After getting KILLED in both games (I don't think I'll ever beat those two at anything) ...I went over to Elbert's where we played with Peanut, TRIED to play Killer Bunnies (but failed), and watched True Romance - which was a pretty good, *although pretty rough* movie.

On to the 2nd...my daddy's 60th birthday, and my last day in Tyler...Chance got in town around noon and we once again unloaded the dogs at my sister's house. We headed to petsmart to pick up some food for the boys and some things for Golly, then we met Elbert at Ken's Pizza. Mmmm...pizza buffet. Lol. Greasy, but good - and still one of the best salad bars! Hahaha. Ohman. After Ken's, we went with Elbert to the Mansions, an apartment complex out by the country club Elbert's parents are members at...just to check it out! And...THAT's where Elbert ended up signing a lease. Yaaaay - he found a place he really likes. I'm happy for him. It might not have been MY first pick, but it has most of the things he was looking for in an apartment! So...that's exciting! I'm happy for him. After that, Chance and I went and hung out with Golly - we did three crosswords with her (can I just say I LOVE doing crosswords with Golly?!?!)! Then, we headed to dad's house to meet he and Karen so we could head to Villa Montez (my favorite Tyler restaurant) for his 60th birthday dinner. The meal was delicious and the company was fun. I had a cucumber mojito (excellent) and a pomegranite mojito (not so great) while Chance sampled some imported beer from Argentina (?) and Puerto Rico (?) Lol.


We had family-style appetizers (mmmm, Chino Latino rolls!), followed by sea bass (for me),


surf and turf (for him),


and a massive plate full of dessert (also served family-style). It was a great night and a fun celebration for dad (I think!). It was pretty entertaining for Chance and I...Luci and Logan were there for the first part of it, and toward the end we were entertained by the 55-60 year olds all pulling out their iPhones and showing each other youtube videos. Man. THAT's entertainment. (: Hahaha. They're higher-tech than we are!


Well - that's pretty much the end of our time in Tyler. We hit the road the next day - I'll let Chance cover our time in Amarillo - since that was HIS official vacation.

I'm pretty sure no one will actually read this whole thing, and if you did, I'm sure you were bored to tears. I'm sorry. Lol. I just wanted to have memories recorded for when my memory fails (which seems like it could be any day now)!!!

...the end...(for me, at least).