Lets Be Frank

The Badlands of South Dakota

Windmills of Iowa

This Friday will mark one month here in the heartland of America! Kyle and I are pretty much just working all week long and on opposite schedules of one another so still haven't had an opportunity to explore the land as much as I would have liked to by now. Then again, we have only been here for a month and getting settled in takes more than just getting boxes unpacked and such. We are working to get all our finances in order from Rhode Island to here, working to make sure we are saving not just breaking even, etc. etc. We have a few ideas for what to do this Summer once it gets warmer. Kyle suggested taking 4 days off going to the Badlands of South Dakota which is a 6 hour drive from us but what a  beautiful state park! Not sure if we would camp or find lodging close by but either way it would be a nice little get-away. On our bucket list as well is going to Mt. Rushmore, Denver CO, seeing a tornado, go to a Huskers Game and just do whatever wherever! We have so much land to explore out here! When we were driving through Iowa during our move we saw all these little red blinking lights, all in sync, miles and miles of them and couldn't tell what they were at first but then once we got close we noticed that they were windmills. I'd love to see all of those during the day time. Lots of ideas I have of where to explore and clearly looking like lots of time to do it while we are here!

So in the mean time, like I mentioned earlier we are on pretty opposite schedules at the moment so coming home after work to no one or even waking up to no one can be a little.....lonely of course. We had talked about getting an animal for a while but weren't sure about where to start in that decision making process. Our apartment has a specific building for dog owners and all other buildings can have cats and whatever just no dogs. We have wanted a little feline fur friend for quite sometime. In the past thought I have had many allergic reactions to cats. Kyle's family cat Ajaa was medium to long haired cat and I would have to take some allergy meds being around her. They weren't too bad but allergies would flair up if I spent too much time in any particular room that she resided in. I always mentioned to Kyle that it might not be so possible to get a cat with my "condition" even though I really wanted one too. There are a few cats that my friends have had where I had no problems at all. Both were shorthaired so I thought maybe that was the key! The biggest thing is that we just wanted something to look forward to when we came home instead of being sad that we weren't coming home to each other.

I was going to surprise Kyle because really it was just me holding us back being unsure of my reactions but I decided what the heck lets just pop some Zyrtec and bury my face into my little kitty! I looked online and really the only places besides sketchy craigslist in which to purchase an animal is from a breeder or a shelter. Breeders were ridiculously expensive and I didn't really want to go through a breeder because I knew how many cats (and dogs) were in shelters and needed just as good a home and in my mind deserved it. I loved the idea of adopting! Next step was call the particular humane society and see what was needed in order to adopt and the response I got was hilarious "it doesn't take long at all". Ok...so here I am assuming I need to put some paperwork in and be an acceptable candidate to adopt. Kyle and I went to the humane society in Council Bluffs Iowa to check out their kittens. We walked in, asked if we could take a look and the woman gave me a little application with just basic information: Name, Address, Phone number, and we filled it out while we picked out our little guy. We saw one and just instantly fell in love with him. He was so calm and good didn't even meow or claw when we picked him up and turns out his name was "sleepy". I told Kyle this was his spirit animal if her were reincarnated into a calm cat it would be this one. Once we
handed in our application she said "that'll be 75 dollars do you need a cat carry box?" WHAT that's it? I give you some basic information and we can bring him home? I was a little nervous like whoa this is REAL am I ready? This isn't even a human and I was nervous that I would be unable to take care of this kitty. I can't imagine how irrational I will be when I am one day carrying our future child (good luck Kyle). Anyway, sleepy is not a suitable name for this little guy and Kyle had the perfect name. FRANK. Oh little Frankie how we love you so! You're just the cutest little rascal we have ever had the pleasure of adopting! Once we got him home he was so cute jump skip and hopping around. He would explore and meow and was just the most adorable stinking thing ever. AND I haven't had any allergic reactions thus far which is WONDERFUL. I can cuddle him and love him in all the best ways.

So lets be Frank, literally. He is so happy and care free and just makes you
happy by looking at him. He hops on your back like its a piggy back ride and could play with a piece of string for hours. What a life. He is a good reminder to be happy and know that when things are not as great as you want them to be like being in a shelter or not seeing your husband everyday of the week, they'll get better, they will change like being adopted or getting a cat to ease the loneliness. God is good. He provides. He has been at work in our lives long before we even take the time to say "thank you God" So be like Frank. Yeah you gotta work but take the time to enjoy your surroundings, play, cuddle up to the ones you love, because lets be honest look at this face. Best thing we have done so far in our short time here in Nebraska.