Birthdays, sore thighs, and democrats--oh my!

Hello all. I'm having a hard time figuring out what day it is, as our schedule has been a bit here and there this week. Jack's and my schedule usually revolves to some extent around Mike's, and his this week was to work the whole weekend, take Mon. and Tue. off, work Wed. and Thur., take Friday off, then work half of Saturday and have Sunday off. It's now the Wednesday he is back at work and I can't keep from asking, "now, what day is it??" We had a nice but way too quick visit to Iowa City on Monday to spend more time with Sarah and Orion during their visit, and to meet Carrie and Rob's new darling, Eleanor. Here are some photos from that all too short day:

Eating lunch at Atlas


Mike's talking drugs, can you tell?
It was a fun trip and we are now reminded that we wish we could see everyone more often.

On Tuesday, I finally broke out the new jogging clothes I bought to inspire me to start running again. Since Mike was off work that day it worked out that I could bust a move in the morning, before the 90-degree weather hit. I can tell you that my legs were verrrry jello-y by the end of that jog. I'm hoping that I can figure out a schedule when I can go regularly. My only options seem to be: 1) get up at 5:45 and go before Jack wakes up to eat at 6:30am (um, if only I was that much of a morning person); 2) go at 4pm when Mike gets off work (HOT, and the best time to work on diss. stuff); or 3)go after dinner or after Jack's last feeding of the day while Mike puts him to bed (if only Jack's schedule was regular and I could count on this time...). So... at this point there is no plan other than to attempt to plan to jog. Sometimes. Hopefully at least 3 times a week. Later on Tuesday we also made a trip over to our local Creative Kidstuff store to check out activity tables for Jack's 1st birthday present. Now it turns out I no longer have just one thing I'm coveting for his birthday, I have two. We are most likely going to buy the Nilo activity table and put it in our living room/playroom for him. This thing is great, and they had one on display for him to try out. Perfect size, two-sided table top, great for trains, legos, crafts, you name it. We found it online with free shipping for $30 cheaper than in the store, but the store has some of the remaining block chairs no longer available online since they are discontinued. This will be an expensive, but totally worth it, gift. I'm also wooing about the Mio trike I saw there, which has a handle for parents to push and steer and a surround-the-seat bar for toddlers who can't yet peddle or figure it out. Then you can remove those things after they are old enough to use it as a trike. He loved it in the store, but at $80, it's a pricey trike. I'm hoping for birthday money from grandparents ;)
Oh yes, and on Monday night we watched the Democratic You Tube Debates on t.v. Watching the debates usually results in a lot of soapboxing from Mike and I, even though we agree on what we soapbox about. I'm pretty impressed with a few of the Democratic candidates this year, although they all annoy me in the traditional ways. I stand firm in my registered independent status, but I nearly always vote Democratic (with the exception of a green party/independent candidate here and there). I want very badly to like Hillary the best, although she still tries hard to tread a thin line sometimes. I feel Obama seems to be the most genuine, along with Edwards, but I think Obama would institute more real change than Edwards. I LOVED Dodd's idea of instituting mandatory service (well, I need to look on his website for the details) for all citizens. I think this is just an awesome way to make people aware of their citizenship and also to get them to serve the people in ways that matter (i.e., non-military ways like community service and social justice action). I realize Clinton started Americorps, but it seemed to me that Dodd was suggesting the idea of getting (making?) all people the option(?) right? to offer some sort of service to "their country" during their lifetime. I'm envisioning this to be like the 2 yrs. of evangelizing Mormons perform, although hopefully this would be shorter and with wider options. Hmm.
Well, enough for today. Have a lovely evening. And all of you dears out there who said you've been reading, please leave me a comment occassionally so I know you're still out there. Betty, that means you!