Happy New Year's Eve

I finished the green sweater and went to get started on the socks when I realized I don't have the right sized needles - the patterns I do have the right sized needles for I don't have enough yarn for. I sent off for the right sized needles but will be doing mail box duty as they have to come all the way from Vancouver so in the meantime I'm finishing up the afgan and maybe doing a bit of reading. Eek. I had an ok day at work, nothing major but a lot of running around. One of my patients has a fairly new aide who is hoping to go to nursing school so I find her sweet and amusing - everything is an emergency and is dignosed to the 10th degree so I end up spending quite a bit of time on our visit. The patient enjoys the attention though and I'd rather have an aide that reports everything than one that reports nothing (until it falls off or turns green or something). When I spoke to the office I was told she'd be getting counseling but I said the magic words - "possible student nurse" so hopefully they'll be kind to her also until she gets over it. Most of us do.I got home around 5 and looking foward to being off tomorrow - and not being on call. I checked my email and there was one from the relative that doesn't like me. I of course went to delete it but curiousity got the better of me. Silly me, what was I thinking? Next time I'll delete it right off the bat but there are times in life you just can't help yourself. I can remember once when I was a kid going in the downstairs bathroom and being very surprised at seeing the ceiling over the tub sloping down in a strange bulging way. I stood on the edge of the tub - and I can clearly remember thinking as my finger neared that odd curve that MAYBE I should leave it alone - but my hand continued along it's pre-destined course and I was instantly covered in water and wet sheetrock from the leaking pipe above. So, same song, different chorus. The thing is - it's a new year and I have so much more going on in my life and I'm off tomorrow! So the email is gone and my first resolve of the new year is to listen to that little voice, because 99% of the time it's right. Happy New Year Everyone

The Tater Mitts

I posted pictures of the Tater Mitts yesterday but didn't mention them, so today they get my Official Opinion. The reason I bought them for David for Christmas was because we'd seen them on tv and he'd been interested - but not in a potato related way. The reason he'd wanted them had more to do with Claw The Evil Cat - he thought they would be an excellent way to retaliate for her midnight attacks and her general evil behavior. His plan was to grab the cat with the Tater Mitts the next time she bit him and rub her bald. That made me laugh so when I saw them on sale at Giant Eagle he got a pair. What they look like is a pair of heavy duty dish gloves with fish tank gravel crazy-glued to the palms, Adam and Jackson didn't think much of them. David decided to try them out for thier official use, so he piled the potatoes in the sink and went to work. The first thing he noticed was you have to run water as the Tater Mitts clog up immediately with what little skin you manage to rub off and you need to rinse them constantly. So he rubbed the potatoes for a bit and then I rubbed the potatoes for a bit longer. The end result was the potato looked like it had been tied to the back of the car and dragged for a few miles, suffering from a mild case of Road Burn. However, after about 15 minutes and who knows how many of gallons of water we gave it up as a bad job and went back to the Tater Peeler which incidently cost about a quarter of the price and took about 3 minutes. We haven't tried them out on Claw yet as first of all it would probably take most of the day to rub her bald and I doubt she would stand still that long and secondly she isn't overly smart but is smart enough to stay away from the Tater Mitts.

We Are All Of Age Now

I managed to take my 4 hours of personal time yesterday for Jackson's 18th birthday - I begged a patient to let me see him early so I managed to squeeze in all 4 patients before 1 pm and made it home by 1:15. Jackson being Jackson didn't want much in the way of birthday stuff - we took him out to Cheddars for a late lunch, went shopping at his favorite book store and then cake at home. I'm taking him up to the Meadowbrook Mall today in Clarksburg to spend some of his loot and I'm looking foward to just hanging out this weekend as we all know last week was a long one. Christmas went well, it was so nice having both the boys home for the holidays - I wish I could've spent more time with Adam but I did manage Christmas Eve and Christmas so I can't complain too much. One of the best things about being in home care is always being home for the holidays - and being awake for them to boot! Everyone got what they wanted - Adam bought me the entire Little Britian series which I can't stop watching, it's probably one of the funniest series I've ever seen and I now have ALL of it. I finished my sleeveless cotton sweater last night and am now scoping around for the next project. I'm thinking Socks but I don't know if I'm brave enough to attempt them - they look hard and you have to make two of them relatively the same size and shape. In case you're wondering - Sprint has not called since the other day so I'm hoping I'm past that and that Mary has learned her lesson.

I'll Be Taking Names

Yesterday Sprint called me one too many times. I've been oncall this week and for the past 2 Sprint's been calling my phone between 4 and 6 pm - the exact time you get those hinky patient calls. This has caused me to go racing up 3 flights of stairs and to the back bedroom only to be offered another phone line - I've pushed to "no" button, asked them not to call, etc.. Yesterday I ran all day and at 5 pm - you guessed it - my phone rang. Whoa betide that fool. Mary greeted me and started her spiel to which I told her she had no right to call me, that I had been put on the no call list TWICE and I didn't feel my own phone company should be harrassing me. To this Mary attempted to continue to sell me another phone line - I cut her off and told her that I was NOT paying Sprint to call me nightly, that I had already spoken to them NUMEROUS TIMES and I needed to know how to make the calls stop. Mary suggested the no call list which I shot back I was already on it and now I would like her to put the supervisor on. Hmm. She told me - and here is where not only did I go over the edge but was catapulted straight into space - that she'd see if a supervisor could call me since they were all at lunch right now- and SHE WOULD CALL ME TONIGHT(please note I was waiting on a line during this conversation which was a lovely way to pass the time unless you were standing near me...) I let Mary know that since I'd been called every night for the past two weeks I really didn't think ANOTHER phone call was a good solution, did she??!! And then, in my best Exorcist Voice  I said "It's 5 o'clock in the afternoon and everyone is at LUNCH? I don't think so - you'd better go get the manager NOW MARY" - and lo and behold there be the manager( a bit of advice here - when fighting with any company always get the name of the person you're talking to and use it often - it freaks them out much better). He didn't make much headway and was quite disconcerted when I told him I thought I should be able to cancel my phone service with no early termination fees which he said I couldn't do,etc.. He told me he was taking Personal Responsibility to make sure I wouldn't be called again - I told him I hoped so because if I EVER got called again I would go crazy - since I was already doing my best Exorcist Voice that probably gave Russell something to think about.  So, I think I may be on the no call list for real this time - we'll have to see. Otherwise Russell Morgan the manager and Mary have bought themselves a whole pile of trouble.

I Think My Journal Broke.

I've been having problems with my journal for the past few days and am not sure what happened. I can't see any of the entries on it - the pictures are there but no words. Does it look like that to you guys?? I can see this entry, but the rest of the page is blank. AOL is no help as we no longer pay for it so no customer service. Anyhow, I had to go into the office briefly yesterday to hand in the mountain of paperwork I had generated over the weekend - Adam got to hang out with Susan - but then that was it. Christmas Eve went very nicely, we went out to Ruby Tuesdays for an early dinner and bought Christmas dinner on the way home. EVERYTHING is closed here for the holidays so for the past few years we've been staying home. Last night I slept - and no phone calls. Oh well, Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Well, Sunday turned out to be as much as a fiasco as Saturday. I started off at 8:30 am so one of my peds patients wouldn't have to see me on Christmas eve, when I arrived the Under 10 Crowd had already been indulging in cake and candy and were alternately whizzing around the room and crying. I brought gifts for the whole posse which were spirited off since it's not Christmas yet, much to very (vocal) disappointment of the crowd. That was actually fun and then off to the rest - a ton of driving but I got home around 2 pm. We went to the new Cracker Barrel and right before I got my food - my phone rang. Sigh. I rushed everyone through thier meal and then raced off to yet another admission arriving home just before 7 pm. I got up early this morning and finished up the paperwork and took Adam into the office with me so I could finish faxing and letting the director know any changes. He got to meet a few of my co-workers and then ran over to Starbucks next door for some coffee. We went to Gabe's after that, I had to pick up some pants for David so I would have something to put under the tree - for the past few years we've just exchanged token gifts and then go shopping in January when everything is on clearance and you can REALLY clean up. So I am (presumably) off today since I did a total of 11 visits over the weekend and oncall after 5 pm and then oncall for Christmas. For Jackson's birthday this coming Friday I'm taking the rest of my personal time so we can do something - he's leaning toward a movie and dinner with his PARENTS - the Geek didn't fall far from the tree, did he?

Is It Friday Yet?

I'm having problems with my blog - it keeps telling me AOL doesn't support this browser and to update it, but when I try then it tells me I already have the lastest browers so I have no idea - I'll try to reload the AOL when I get a chance. Adam arrived here yesterday in good time and spent the day hanging out with David and Jackson. I spent the day working. I had THREE admissions covering about 200 miles so I started off around 8:30 am and got to the exit home around 4:30. Then my phone rang and the one patient I had done much earlier in the day had developed a problem so I had to turn my car around and drive an additional 90 miles since of course it was one of the further out patients. So I arrived home about 7:30 pm - and today doesn't look much better. Our office is open for Christmas Eve which I was very surprised about - but considering the way they treat the nurses I suppose I shouldn't be. I'm trying to take off for Christmas eve, I moved my patients to Sunday (which is why I'm working today) but I think Monday is shaping up to be a mess so who knows. Adam is having a good time I think, I hope and we'll have Christmas together at least.

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Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let It Rain.....

Tonight at 1:08 am will be the official First Day Of Winter and we in WV will mark the occasion - with a bit of rain. This will probably be followed by the usual Festival Of Mud. It was a bit gloomy yesterday but not bad which was good because I had a lot of driving to do. As you can see I was passing through Hundred, WV - there is something about that town that I really like and no, I can't explain it. It's VERY far and there isn't much to it, but - I don't know - it's just very pleasant is the best I can come up with. I'm trying to get into the holiday, but just can't for some reason this year. Our office is open on Monday, but I've shifted a lot of my patients over to Sunday as they are as thrilled about seeing me on Christmas Eve as I am about going. I'm on call anyhow, so it doesn't matter which day I'm out and about. Still knitting my butt off - Alex got the Christmas Tree hat I sent him and he looks very cute in it (he tends to look cute in EVERYTHING however) - I actually made a second hat for a patient but that one was way smaller - it was tiny enough to fit Mr. Lee - and it was still too big! Her mother appreciated it though I think. We did finally get a tree - it's a bit on the puny side but David said there wasn't much to choose from this year and I guess with the kids all grown up, there's no point in a big tree anyhow. Vincent prefers a big tree - all the more ornaments to destroy for him. Jackson is off today for some reason, he probably wishes he had told us yesterday as David woke him up at the usual time. He's going to Becky's today to get his hair cut. We got his senior pictures but since he wore a tee shirt they really just look like regular school pictures. David whined because we Paid How Much For These but I told him to suck it up - he's only a senior once.

Whoo. Hoo.

Well, I'll be darned. Yesterday it was uber-yucky. Today it started out uber-yucky and now it's cold on top of that. Vincent went out but threw in the towel around noon and has been amusing himself by harassing Claw. Claw is not amused in case you're interested. I've started going through our closets - we've got tons of books we've read, odds and ends of yarn left over from projects, a fleet of various canvas bags I've picked up on sale or were given to me - all piled rather not tidy. I started in the one guest room where some of my stash is, well, stashed - I got rid of a host of bags I'll never use and shouldn't keep even if they were free, some balls of yarn that there wasn't enough of or I simply hated and can't even remember why I have it - and then headed to the downstairs closet. I sorted through tons of books and reduced my supply to two milk crates - good for me -and then did the same with the hutch upstairs. I got rid of fake flowers and some clothes, not nearly enough but it's a start. We took it to Goodwill and they were happy enough to have it - David mentioned that whenever you get rid of things you feel better, lighter. But we do have to be careful as in the past we've gotten rid of things just to be rid of them and find ourselves buying a replacement as it turns out we really did use it after all. On the way back home the wind picked up howlingly and then it started spitting snow. While we were watching the television set (Graham Norton marathon anyone?) the lights flickered and went out - twice. This would be when David remembered he hadn't picked up any kerosene for the emergency heater but we do have a new flashlight so we're getting there. He went out and got some so we are sort of set in the event of an outage - but I still would hate it.

The Heavens Are Open For Business

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but mine remain soggy and dismal. The rain a couple of days ago was over the top bad, they were closing a lot of roads and detouring due to flooding - the town next to us was evacuated due to rising river waters. They sent everyone home from school around 11 am - I'm glad David is home doing the house because he went and picked up Jackson from school. Working was interesting, I was glad most of my patients were fairly close by but most live down rural roads and it gets a bit interesting even in good weather. They're predicting either freezing rain or snow for today, I was hoping to finish up shopping so we'll see. Mr. Lee continues her Plant Harrassments, she is very taken with the plant and it's now permenently squashed in the center from her sitting in it all the time. David seems to think it reminds her of being outside and has voted I let her have the plant and then played the Sympathy Card - that she's 18 this year and a little old cat. I pointed out that hadn't played well in Peoria last week when the "little old cat" was bent on eating his chicken right off his plate and he shut her in the bedroom upstairs so he could finish his dinner in peace. You might be noting that Mr. Lee does whatever she wants and has spent most of her life getting away with murder. Hmm. David has to get a tree this week, if he waits until after Monday he will be decorating it and that's all I have to say about THAT.

The Art Of Destruction

Due to the recent renovations of the kitchen and dining room my One and Only Plant was moved to an end table in the livingroom giving Mr. Lee The Antichrist full access to it. Last night was the limit when I came into the room after a very bad and somewhat strange afternoon - there was my plant with a Cat Butt poking out of it as the other end of the cat was busy shredding the interior plants. She turned around at the sound of her name and I gave her a very stern talking to, as you can see from the picture it had very little effect. Hmm. Anyhooo, I had a very VERY far away admission yesterday so I didn't schedule too many patients since we also had our weekly meeting. I got through the first visit and had planned on dropping the labs off in Fairmont and then continuing on towards Hundred. Now, I eat lifesavers in the car all the time, I'm very addicted to them I admit but this time I hit a bump and lost it on top of the steering column. Before I could grab it - it slid in a crack and disappeared. I figured it probably fell out of the car or on the floor and didn't give it another thought until I pulled into the hospital parking lot - and couldn't shift into park. My shift made a crunchy noise on the 2nd attempt which is when I figured out where the lifesaver had landed. After numreous attempts I managed to get the car to go into park and then couldn't get my keys out of the ignition. Feel free to sigh. I had my spare key with me so I locked the car and dropped off the labs and then called David. He asked me what I wanted him to do and what I DID want him to do was: get in his truck, drive 150 miles an hour, fix my car and then leave so I wouldn't lose any time. He didn't think that was necessary and would look at it when I got home since the car was drivable and I had the extra key to lock it with - he is so unreasonable, isn't he? I went out to do my next admission and it went well until they let me hold the puppy. I would have enjoyed it way more if they had taken the puppy OUT before they handed it to me so I got to drive home with candy stuck in my steering wheel and covered in puppy pee and calling Susan at the office did no good as she couldn't stop laughing. When I got home things got better, I took a shower and horsed down about a pound of maple sugar candy - courtesy of my Dad(thank you again!) - so, is it Friday yet??

Moving Right Along

I finally had a good night's sleep last night, I have no idea why but I guess when it happens you shouldn't question it, just enjoy it. We got most of the Christmas presents mailed off yesterday - I sent the shawl I made last month off finally - it's currently winging it's way to Kent England where it will hopefully live a long and productive life. The Christmas Tree hat arrived on Long Island just in time for the holidays and I hope it fits. Baby heads are hard to size, they tend to be bigger or smaller than you think they are and babies being contrary creatures to start with, are hard to figure out even if you eyeball them directly. Too big is the better choice as it's a pretty good bet they'll get bigger at some point as opposed to shrinking. I sometimes have to take care of shrinking babies in my line of work and that is NEVER a good thing. Not a good topic, let's move on, shall we? I had an orientee with me today riding shotgun to see how he would like being a visit nurse. We drove all over, past the stray dog and trailer gang, over the rackity homemade bridge, down a long country road and up a steep hill - he liked it and even seemed a bit excited about it so hopefully we'll have a new nurse in the other office and that will end the On Call Disaster. I'm still ignoring everyone and occasionally get news through the Office Grapevine about what my latest move is. So far I've found out I'm Very Angry and Quitting although the grapevine was a bit hazy on the details about when and where,etc.. I find it fairly amusing because when things get rough I tell Susan it doesn't bother me because I'm Quitting Anyhow. I'm thinking about making some Christmas cookies this weekend but I'm also thinking about Just Lying Around which is always the better choice in my book.

Up In Smoke

I took Jackson with me yesterday so I could get my Christmas shopping done and out of the way - with work being so busy and everything else going on it's pretty hard. And then you have to add in the fact it all has to be packaged up and mailed - arrgh. Anyhoo, we bought most of the gift cards at Giant Eagle because A) there was no line and B) you get gas perks for purchasing them there. So, there we were waiting on line behind a woman purchasing  3 cartons of cigarettes - 2 Marlboro (that was my old Weapon Of Choice) and 1 carton of Doral. When the cashier said "That will be ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DOLLARS AND THIRTY FOUR CENTS" I almost fell out. After she left I asked the cashier if I had heard right and yes I had, she broke it down and taxed it for us - and then we all stood around being Agast for a couple of minutes. I quit smoking years ago and have not had one since and at that moment I was very glad I had. When I quit it was something like $18 a carton - and that was NY prices, not WV.  Eek. So after that I finished my shopping and got everything wrapped and ready to go. Adam will be coming home for the holidays so I'm very excited about that! Even though I'll be on call it will be so nice to see him!

Stick In The Mud

Yep, it ALL melted - and then it rained. If you walk around my yard you actually make noise and there are areas you might possibly lose a shoe. Pearl playing fetch is a sight to see as she tends to slide by the thrown object and keeps going on the slick ground. I've learned not to throw it near stationary objects as it's painful to watch. David and I finally got some Christmas decorations up, we put a few lights up outside to show our spirit of the season and a bit around the house. Since the diningroom and kitchen are currently under construction it's a little hard to decorate around the piles of stuff. All in all the holiday season here is pretty lowkey, for some reason no one really feels like it. I don't know if it's the weather, the fact that we will be in great transition soon, if it's because it's just the three of us now and soon to be just the two of us. This season is never what it should be - in your mind it's lights, food, and gifts and in reality it's rain, bills and a pretty strict diet in January. So I continue to knit which keeps me sane, I'm halfway through the sleeveless cotton sweater and will finish up the afgan after that. Then I might be making my first pair of socks - we will see. The On Call War continues on at work with a few other side notes thrown in, I just keep my head down and stay away from it. My boss continues to be nice to me which is REALLY freaking me out - I have no idea what her agenda is these days - there is another wide circle I'm making. Apparently Interim had a party for the employees and the only employees that were NOT invited were the nurses - I have no idea on that one either. One of the nurses made sure I knew and my feelings were hurt until I realized that A) the nurses were never invited and it hasn't hurt my feelings for the past 3 years and B) I wouldn't have gone anyhow - so that was the end of that. But it is odd the way Interim treats thier RN's - I hadn't thought of it until the other nurse brought it up - at other facilities I've worked you get bonuses and parties, at Interim they kind of make a point of ignoring the nurses and you literally get nothing for the holidays - however the office personal get stuff. HMM. Oh well, my goal is I'm hanging in there until Spring and then regardless of whether we move or not, I'll be looking for another job - I just can't afford to quit right now with David working on the house and we just cannot afford COBRA or be without benefits right now.

There's No Business Like Snow Business

Wednesday was a nightmare - drivingwise. We were supposed to get 2 inches, instead we got about 6 and the roads were a disaster, iced under and snowed over. And of course ALL of my patients were between 30 and 50 miles away and down back country roads. The pictures of the roads are some of the ones I was traveling on - I don't think I went over 27 miles an hour all day. One patient forgot to mention her road hadn't been plowed - that was the scariest. I've had patients down there so I'm familar with the area but in the snow it's a whole new world. I negotiated it well until I remembered the hill - which curves around with a drop off and no rail of course. So as I approached I hit the gas enough to get traction, but I couldn't go too fast as I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make the turn. Just as I got to the top my car slid sideways, but I managed to stop before I went into the ditch, I just sat there for a moment with my heart beating wildly - it never occured to me I'd get stuck! I took a deep breath and calmed down - and got my car out without incident. After I finished that I cancelled the last patient and headed to the highway - figuring it would be smooth sailing. And it was - if you didn't mind sailing along at 22 miles an hour. A truck in front of me started to go faster - and then fishtailed wildly across all the lanes which kind of discouraged us Nervous Nellies from attempting the same feat. There was a logging truck halfway across one of the lanes and about 5 cars scattered around him and here and there cars cattycornered off the highway when they just slid off. I finally made it home and was worried if I'd be able to get there, we live on a pretty steep road - but much to my surprise it was plowed. And so was most of my driveway! Our neighbor (remember the guy we let hunt in our yard for deer this season?) did the road with his ATV and then came over and did our driveway too! How nice is that?  Today it's warmed up and the yard is a festival of mud - Pearl is disappointed. She LOVES the snow and has spent the past few days racing in it, eating it and rolling around in it. She is so wierd.

Bigger Is Not Always Better

Why do I always go for the bigger one, even when I know better? I made a Christmas tree hat and bought the pompoms for the top. At Michaels I had the ones I needed right in my hand, but then spotted a bag with them twice the size at the same price. When I took them out of the bag they took on a life of thier own, fluffing up to the size of softballs. ARRGH. I gave it a go anyhow and no matter what I did the hat flopped over from the sheer weight of the giant pompom which insisted on listing to the side anyhow. So in the end if you add in the gas for the additional trip and having to rebuy the pompoms, I obviously didn't save a dime AND I have a whole bag of them that I cannot use. The oncall wars CONTINUE - I came in yesterday to find out that not only am I  still mad but I'm quitting over the oncall schedule. That was news to me. I asked politely when I was leaving and was I going to stomp out? When Susan asked me to add to my roster of patients I told her I really didn't care since I'd been told I was quitting - HA. Well, I thought I was funny. The patients are picking up a bit but I was able to get a bit of shopping in, Jackson has asked for one thing and it's something that's guarenteed to disappear right before the holidays so I found a store that still had them and got it for him. The temps dropped yesterday and we got snow - I don't think it's as cold as we think it is, it's just such a drastic change. I'm still trying to get David to get the decorations down, but he's still doing the kitchen so I'm not sure how we're going to decorate around that. I guess I'd better get moving.......

Avoiding The Backyard Brawl

Those are pictures of an old and very small graveyard on the side of the road in Grafton. It was not as interesting as I had hoped, but it had a lot of very old and handmade gravestones. Unfortunately time and  weather had worn most of them smooth reducing them back to no more than rocks. When I die I will not be buried of course, but cremated and tossed back. Hopefully Someone will put me in the ocean with Mikio and Setsu and not keep me on the entertainment system as an attractive paperweight next to Copper with a piece of chachi on top of me. And yes, for the record I do still miss and mourn Setsu and Mikio and probably always will - there is not a week that goes by that I don't think of them and wish they were here. I cannot believe it's already December, as usual the Christmas presents are unshopped, the cards remain in the upstairs closet (I hope!) and not a decoration sullies our home. I told David I'm sure the neighbors must comment about the nice jewish people that live up on the hill..... We had a fairly quiet weekend at home, this weekend was the infamous Backyard Brawl (WVU against Pitt) and we went to Clarksburg to stay out of town. We managed to avoid traffic but forgot and tried to get on the WVU exit on the way back - big mistake. The cars were backed up all over and blocking both lanes, we finally managed to get into the passing lane and went home by way of Pennsylvania (it's not as bad as it sounds, we live 4 miles from the border). But doing anything in town on Saturday was out of the question. David continues to work on the kitchen, he needs to replace 10 tiles from the kitchen and of course (insert SIGH here) we cannot find anything to match. We went up to Home Depot in Clarksburg and found half of our neighbors there along with some heavily discounted faucets - they were displays and we got a $400 set for $20 bucks. Not bad for a Saturday.

Who Turned Off The Heat??

The tempetures have dropped drastically - this morning we woke up to ice and about 20 degrees, David spent from 2 am on poking and yelling at Pearl as she was pushed up as tight as she could get. She is not a cold weather dog we've discovered. Yelling at her did no good as she then laid under the bed and cried which is also not Conducive To Sleeping. David spent all of yesterday trying to get that porch done, I took a couple of hours of personal time as I had nothing to do yesterday afternoon and I need to start burning it so I got to pick up Jackson. I HATE picking up Jackson from school as I ALWAYS somehow manage to do it wrong -it's the wrong place, wrong time, etc, and I have to hear it all the way home. So David managed to get a lot more done than he had expected and it only took me three tries (sigh) to pick up Jackson correctly. David's  been busy working on the kitchen as you can see from the pictures and yes, he did decide to repaint the cabinets back white. The grain was not even or attractive and and the RE agent had suggested he got back to white as it made the kitchen much darker. In the end though they look much better - one of the original reasons he removed the paint was because they'd been painted multiple times over the years and from what we could see, they just went over the dirty paint without cleaning it first. The molding had even lost it's definition from having so much paint on it. He took down the wall between the kitchen and dining room which looks nice and will eventually be tiling and flooring. We're trying to keep it at a minimum and just doing the basics but the RE was quite emphatic that the kitchen needed to be redone and we needed to put down new carpet. We're waiting for the spring to do that as we won't be showing the house until then.

New Toys

I was actually going to have David buy me this knitting bag for Christmas, but I wasn't sure he would order it and I couldn't wait, so it's here. It's green suede and is just so cool - if you like that sort of thing of course. The cotton sweater is finally going well after multiple attempts - but now that I have the pattern down it's going great guns. David is currently tearing the kitchen apart, there will be pictures tomorrow. He's repainted the cabinets antique white, replaced the counters and will also be redoing the floor in the dining room and kitchen. Oh, and he tore down the wall between the two also. He's finishing up that project he's been working on for clients  this week, we've had a bit of rain so it's been hit or miss all week which is really frustrating for him - he only has a day and a half to do and it's been tough trying to get it finished. Yesterday morning it was raining again and by the time it cleared up he was too deep into the kitchen to stop so he'll be going to the job today. The On Call Wars continue at work, the nurse from Bridgeport has handed in her resignation which is totally stupid - I mean you have to figure if this woman has been working for Interim for almost a YEAR and didn't realize we were oncall during the week, that kind of speaks to how often you get called out during the week....it's all baby crap if you ask me. I just do my job and don't get into it, I'll protest if it gets too unfair but for most part it's not a bad job at times. My boss has been suspiously nice to me for two weeks running - I have no clue and don't care to. I spend as little time in the office as possible and do most of my paperwork at home, thereby staying firmly under the radar.

All The Animals In The Zoo

Jackson will be 18 this year right after Christmas, can you believe that? Mr. Lee will also be 18 this year and it's starting to show. Her latest is jumping - and missing, but not entirely missing - just enough to hang on with her claws and drag herself the rest of the way up. This is a problem as her claws tend to embed themselves in your leg and last night after the 3rd time I was tired of it and yelled at her. I've also had to hide my ONE plant as she loves to bury herself in it and bat it around. David worried it might be poisonous but I pointed out she'd eaten about a 1/3 of it with no ill effects so I wasn't worried. Pearl has been a whining pest, she doesn't quite get the season is over and yesterday brought me her little hunting vest and dropped it on the floor next to me. You have to be a bit desparate if you're asking the vegetarian to take you hunting. Work has been funny - since the 4rth nurse broke her leg it changed the oncall schedule and all hell has been breaking loose ever since. I ended up oncall Christmas week - the other nurse had invited her whole family down and she would've been oncall, but that would have put me on call for Jackson's 18th birthday - so I figured switching would benefit everyone. The 3rd nurse thought the other office had switched it out and she was mad so she told the boss we were BOTH mad which I thought was hilarious ( I was like "Really? did I stomp around and break things? Would you like me to?") - but then they switched it around again and I made them put it back. That made the 3rd nurse on call for New Years (she'd already been oncall for Thanksgiving) and made nurse #2 on call for NO holidays so the boss tried to make 2 &3 oncall for half a week. Since #2 was happy being on call for no holidays she took another tact claiming she thought we were on call for only weekends and not the entire week and if that was true she wasn't getting paid enough.......At this point I took some Excedrin out of Susan's desk and left the state feeling I would be better off in Pennsylvania for the afternoon. And I was since no one in Pennsylvania was concerned with the oncall schedule.

End Of The Season

David took the pictures I have posted today - that's the preserve that they've been hunting on all season. Yesterday was the end of pheasant season - and they got skunked. But they had such a good time no one was complaining. Poor Pearl is all beat up from the heavy brush and cover but she has the rest of the year to recover. Yesterday was quiet for me, no phone calls so I pretty much cleaned the house and then parked myself on the couch and knit for most of the day while watching BBC America. I have a morbid fascination with How Clean Is Your House and You Are What You Eat and then of course Dr. Who and Torchwood were on last night. I finally got that cotton sweater started for real, there are few little spots I might need to eventually fix but they'll be on the bottom so it's no big deal - I absolutely will NOT frog it again. And then I worked on the afgan for awhile, that's at the boring and endless part of the border - when projects get to that huge and repetative part of the program it's hard not to get distracted. I see I got a call from my job last night but I can call this morning so I guess I'll be working this morning. I really can't complain though, the last time I was on call I didn't get one and this time I only got one, so not so bad. I am on call the weekend before Christmas and for the entire holiday which most likely will be bad, but I was off for the entire holiday last year so I guess it's only fair.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

The tempeture has remained low, in the 20's - since it rained the other day the grass is frozen and feels wierd to walk on. The other morning I noticed that where I stepped it left a very definate footprint - so with nothing else to do while Pearl did her rounds, I very cheerfully wrote my name out in the grass, very big. When I came home yesterday afternoon my name was still there - I guess since the grass was so frozen I must've broken the blades and it looks rather permanent - oops. David has not noticed as of yet and it should be gone by this spring so I'll try not to lose any sleep over it. Today is the last day of hunting season so they'll be heading off this morning to get thier last licks in. David has taken Jackson every day this week since he's off and they've been having a grand time. I'm on call for the weekend so I can't go too far, I'll just be doing the grocery shopping and pottering around the house this weekend. Tonight they'll be having the Thanksgiving leftovers, we don't have too much though so it won't be an endless march of reheated mashed potatoes and dry turkey. And of course there's Christmas on the horizon, I think we'll be doing gift certificates again this year as mailing becomes rather nightmarish when you're doing in en mass. David will be working on the house after the holidays and we're tentatively planning on him taking about 6 weeks to complete most of the inside work - there's just no other way around it.

A Pretty Quiet Thanksgiving

David and Jackson went hunting this morning as they had planned - Pearl was along to point out various and sundry things, which she did quite well I understand. There are only two more days and then that is It. This left me to man the turkey -actually the turkey breast as there are only three of us and only two will eat it. We made the traditional Too Much Meal and ate until we neared explosion. For the rest of the day we just hung about which is always on my list of things to do. I'm finishing up the afgan and have started the next project, a sleeveless cotton sweater that I've started a total of three times so far due to the fact that some of us cannot follow directions. Luckily I'm smart enough to throw in the towel before it gets too far and I alternate working on the afgan when I start to get too frustrated. It poured like crazy first thing this morning, then it was warm and then the temp dropped so it feels like fall again. My neighbor has been setting up his Christmas decorations since a week before Thanksgiving, that's pretty big here. I find it a bit unsettling at times as a lot of people haven't taken down thier fall and halloween decorations - it's disconcerting to be driving down a road surrounded by witches, tombstones, elves, santas, turkeys, sleighs and  haybales. I had problems making it through Mannington the other day as NO ONE seems to be able to agree on what season they're celebrating.  I'm hoping it will all be straight by New Years.

Is It Dark In Here - Or Is It Just Me?

Daylight savings time takes a great deal of getting used to, doesn't it? Since we're up at 4 am we tend to be in bed early too so it take awhile  to stop waking up at 3 am. I'll let you know when it happens, sigh. And you have to be VERY careful to stay perfectly still as Pearl will detect the slightest bit of movement which means Let's Get Up And Start Racing Around to her. I had an easier day today, not too much drama (or driving) and even managed to get all of my paperwork in. I got done a tad early and headed off to Jiffy Lube to get my oil changed as I'm about a thousand miles past due. I called David from there to let him know I'd be home soon and asked what they were doing. He informed me he was just getting ready to put the turkey in. Hmm. I told him that would be impressive if it was Thanksgiving and he was like Well! That explains all the strange looks he got today when he told everyone he had to be home to start the turkey - thank goodness I called or we would've been celebrating twice.  The guy at Jiffy Lube saw I had a CRV which his girlfriend has and that lead to the Picnic Table discussion which everyone with that model has when they meet another owner. My car has the most useless feature in the universe - if you pull up the rug in the way back there's a square cut out looking thing - it's a removable picnic table with expandable legs - no kidding. The reason it's so useless is A) there are no secret chairs to sit on, B) it's under the rug in the back so I would have to dig through a ton of medical supplies to get it out and C) how many people would pull off the side of road, haul out a picnic table and have lunch?? But it's so bizarre everyone that has one likes to talk about it and show it off. It's even better than the billion secret compartments and doors secreted all over (Jackson and Adam used to joke I could be a drug runner in that car). I do admit I love my car. I'm off tomorrow,back on Friday and then on call for a week. Oh well, it had to happen sometime.

Tooling Along

Today I have to sit down with the other nurse and get our patients traded off - in the course of the past few weeks for some reason I've been getting all the patients that live near her and she's been getting the ones in my neck of the woods. I mentioned this last week because I actually drove past Deb's house last week going from one of mine to the other so hopefully we can do a bit of trading today and cut back on our driving time. We're off for Thanksgiving which I love - major reason NOT to work in a hospital - I mean even if you're oncall you can at least spend part of the day enjoying the holiday.  I spent years working the night shift and even when I was off (which was rare) I usually worked the night before and got home around 8 am. I would sit around rather bleary eyed while the kids opened thier presents, found thier baskets, etc, etc and then totter off to bed in order to get up in time to sit down to the various holiday meals. Most of the holidays with the kids is a bit of a blur. It'll just be the three of us for Thanksgiving again, Adam has to work so he was unable to come but hopefully we can spend Christmas with him.

Day Of Rest

They went hunting for so long yesterday that I called them as I suspected they might have lost the dog and were afraid to come home. But they were actually having a really good time, David, Jackson and Pearl - they didn't get home until late afternoon with everyone covered in burrs and swampy stuff. Pearl was actually a bit pooped out - for about 20 minutes and ate two dinners, it's a bit hard to keep weight on her at this point so we just stuff her full every chance we get. There's no hunting on Sunday unless you wish to shoot a coyote and a few other odd animals that the state seems to think doesn't need a day off - I have no idea why there's no hunting on Sunday in the first place, it's not like the animals are attending church....I finished making a Christmas tree hat and am currently working on the border of the afgan I started in the spring and got bored with. You can't work on an afgan in the summer anyhow - it's too hot so I'll have it done before the end of the month at any rate. I've got some paperwork to finish up and patients to call which I hate doing on the weekend, when I'm off I want to be OFF and anything work related feels like an intrusion. I've been sort of gliding along at work lately, I have to say if we weren't selling the house in the spring I would be looking for a job somewhere else long before now. I'm so tired of my boss's errant behaviors and getting glared at sporadically because of some reason she doesn't feel she needs to share. I've been told this is what she does - if things are going badly for her she likes to take it out on the staff  and it's not just me, it's a blanket effect, but still! The only good thing is I no longer feel I owe any loyalty to the job so when I get ready to go, it will be with no regrets or guilt on my part. But that's down the road so for now I do my job. And that's it.

Hanging Out In The Yard

I have no idea what fuels my never ending fascination with graveyards - the more gothic the better of course. This one is in Fairmont and of course - the view is incredible from the top. I didn't get any pictures that high as it was raining that day, that's what the little blurry spots are on some of the pictures - raindrops. I'll be going back next week of course to finish trolloping about, it started to rain harder when I was there and we all know how delightful West Virginia Mud is!! Jackson has the entire week off for Thanksgiving which we were not aware of (I dont' think he was either) so he and Dad will be hunting thier tiny hearts out as next week is the last week of pheasant season. They will be toting Pearl The Magnificent with them to point out what is obvious to her, her new thing is quail - I wonder how she tells the scent of those birds from the others. I've been having quite a week with driving, the patient population has picked up a bit - finally! - but they're spread all over the map lately. I've been wearing out my Crash Test Dummies CDs and cannot find the These Ghosts That Haunt Me one despite my looking high and low. I know if I break and buy a new one the old one will suddenly appear somewhere. Since I'm ordering from Knitpicks this morning I have to at least appear conservative with my money. I'm buying a super knitting bag and some more of the yarn I made the shawl out of as I have enough left over to almost make something but not quite. Yarn never comes out even no matter how hard you try - you either fall short or end up with enough to not quite make another something.

The Shawl is DONE

This weekend I was determined to finish that shawl - as I've gotten closer to the end it's been dragging, the last 5 rows were neverending. So yesterday when they went off hunting I parked myself on the couch and just finished up the last row and the binding off part - it actually called for a crochet border but I couldn't figure it out and at that point the idea of going around AGAIN was not half as attractive as it would've been a month ago so I just finished it off. Then I soaked it and blocked it out on the bed in the gun room where the cats can't get to it - I'm sure Mr. Lee would dearly love to either prickle her claws all over it or secretly puke on it or something - she's a cat and then tend to do those things. In hunting news Pearl the Girl scored big again this weekend, she put up over half a dozen pheasants and they got three. David is working today so he can take Jackson tomorrow as he has the day off from school. The season ends on the 24th for pheasant so David's trying to get in as much as possible, but the good thing is they'll be able to go hunting Thanksgiving morning, he hasn't done that in 5 years so I know he'll be looking foward to it. I had a nice weekend, pretty quiet and all - I have to finish up some paperwork this afternoon and plot out my patients. I also started working on a Christmas hat as an inbetween project until I figure out what my next one is.

I didn't recognize him right away, sitting on the couch outside of my office. I actually thought he was someone else, but then it hit me full force who that was and even more important, what it meant. I will be skirting the edge so bear with me. When I sat down the first thing I asked of course is where she was. He just grinned and said she's inside - they'd been hoping to see me. I was freaking - because she was orientating, wasn't she? Sometimes you get to see people get well, other times you're just in the middle part - and you don't get to see what happens. I thought about her off and on, how was she doing, was she alright? Sometimes at other people's houses they would mention her name and say, oh well you don't know her I'm sure and I would get a tiny glimpse as they gossiped a bit. But here she was - and looking as amazingly healthy - I actually started laughing and telling her to stop talking before I started crying - she was ok! Sometimes life gets to be too much doesn't it?, the job isn't going well, everything is up in the air, grind after grind. And then something or someone crosses your path and gives you that sense of pure amazement and joy - something that can't possibly be is right there in front of you, being. And that is when your feet find the path again and you know there is an end, despite the static around you. You go sister.

What Goes In, Must Go Out

I have to say I have sucessfully avoided vomiting in the past two days by simply not eating anything returnable. But then there is the flip side of the coin, sigh, sigh sigh. I had ONE stinkin' bowl of Cheerios with a VERY SMALL banana and woke up 3-ish with a rather desparate urge to run to the bathroom - Diarrhira anyone? It was good I got started early as my first visit was before 8 am. And no, I haven't been able to call in sick as there have been patients that only I can do so I've just had to suck it up and keep going. Last night I had a melt down on the phone - I had a full day with a LOT of driving and got a call around 4 pm asking if I could do an open - I just lost it. All I've wanted to do is crawl in the linen closet and pull the door shut behind me but I've gotten up, dressed and out the door for the past two days and just when I thought my day would be somewhat managable - I get this. So I didn't yell, but I voiced my opinion while apologizing and assuring the person I was not mad -  and when I stopped in today to make phone calls Susan informed me they'd found someone else to do it. I could have wept a tiny bit with relief - I'm just tired and achy with a constant bit of nausea thrown in. I did eat yet another bowl of Cheerios - my stomach is rolling like a wave already, yipee. Where is Friday afternoon when you need it??

We Are Not Adjusting

It's bad enough to be stuck waking up at 4 am for the rest of my life - Pearl has not quite gotten the Daylights Saving Time thing so she starts in around 3 am since in her world it is Time To Go Out. So now we spend the hour between 3 am and 4 am repeating "Be Quiet!" - Pearl has responded to this by whining softly under her breath. Since she generally has herself parked inbetween us it's a bit hard to ignore. I'm not feeling well today, but am on the fence as to how I'll be proceeding. I feel tired, dizzy, slight nausea - however that could go either way so I'm not quite sure what my plan of action will be. They're predicting snow this week already, not sure if I believe that or not. David is taking Miss Pants hunting this morning, with the daylight savings thing he now has plenty of time to do a bit of hunting and then truddle off to work. I've got to get my coats drycleaned, I generally like to put it off until I actually need them so that way it's really inconvienient.

Sunday

So far, so good - but I won't say anything as I don't want to jinx this weekend. Jackson said there is no such thing as a Jinx but he's still young yet. My Hit Counter broke the other day (no, I don't know why, they just do) so I had to get a new one. Of course since this one lasted longer than any of the other ones I couldn't remember how to do it and now I have Simply Enormous One. It will have to stay for now and it is rather spanky at any rate, isn't it? Anyhoo - David took the crew hunting out on Saturday, he's found a spot that isn't well frequented as it's a bit more of a hike and they did VERY well. David said Jackson and Pearl were having a ball hiking through wheat fields and up hill - they got a total of 3 birds all flushed by Pearl the Big Favorite. I have to say out of all the Vizslas we've had she's one of the best. Jackson shot his first (and second) pheasant which is the limit in Pennsylvania. They were out most of the day, today there's no hunting so Pearl has the day off. She could use it, the brush is pretty hard on the dogs and she's all scratched up, her poor little face was all pink yesterday. After the 24rth is grouse season but David said he had his eye out and didn't even see one. I've been doing stuff around the house here and there, we went to the book store and Sam's Club this morning, nothing out of the ordinary. In the Never Ending Shawl Dept I have about FIVE more rows to go which is the good news, the bad news is the rows now have 1,320 stitches per row. Hmm. And it needs an edge and then there will be the Great Experiment in Blocking. I've been having fun this weekend, I am off my diet for a few days to give it a break and have been subsiding on cake, candy, and coffee my 3 favorite food groups. David and I had our usual fight about moving, I generally refuse to discuss it which leads to all sorts of Lectures and Disgruntled Commentary. A lot of it has to do with the fact that until we are actually ACTIVELY involved in selling the house and so forth it just feels like a useless conversation. As far as I'm concerned it will happen when it happens and until that time there's no point in discussing it.

I Hate Being On Call

Being on call is a pain in the butt - even if no one calls there is the potential someone will so you cannot do anything that is far from the house. I keep checking  my cell phone just in case I missed anything and if it goes like it normally does, it will only ring if I'm more than two floors away from it. This will entail me racing up the stairs just in time for it to stop ringing and the office will immediately call the house phone which is conviniently located at the opposite end of the house. Just before I pick that up someone located in the downstairs family room will pick THAT phone up and yell up the stairs it's for me - and the office wonders why I always sound so crabby when I answer the phone!! And to make matters a bit more complicated my cell service is spotty at best at our house, I think we live over the Burmuda Triangle Of Sprint as I can't hear you in the livingroom, my cell service goes to roaming in the hall, I get good reception sitting on my bed but not over the dresser and the dining room is hit or miss. I have no idea -don't ask. David, Jackson and Pearl are going hunting this morning for a bit, I'm not invited as I am a vegetarian and might be forced to take the moral high ground just so PETA won't string me up as an example to all the other Bad Vegetarians out there - I won't mention that it was me that requested someone save the tail feathers - after all the bird isn't using them..... I'm thinking of sorting my yarn while they're out commiting all sorts of infractions against nature, I can't do it in the presence of the Yarn Hater as he gets all worked up and then starts giving speeches on Moderation and perhaps someone need a Little Psychiatric Assistance. Hmm. Bastard. I'm about 10 rows away from finishing the shawl and then have to figure out how to block it, that will be new for me as this is the first thing I've ever made that's real wool. I have the pins all ready I just need to scout out a safe spot, especially away from Mr. Lee and her Kneading Little Claws - she LOVES my knitting.

Back in Time

How quickly I remembered how things used to be - I found David and Pearl in the laundry room yesterday morning. When I inquired as to what they were doing, David replied he was going to work - I asked why if he was going to work what he was doing shoving his pocket full of shotgun shells - was there something I needed to know? Then he admitted there MIGHT be a bit of hunting going on that morning but he was doing it for the dog.... this all ends on the 24rth so I'll just pretend I don't see them sneaking off every 5 minutes. David got Jackson a license too so they'll both be trolloping about on Saturday with Pearl the Hunting Dog in tow. I'm on call this weekend which sucks but what can you do? Yesterday I spent thinking about Annie - she occasionally pops into my mind unannounced, I have no idea why. She was a woman I met when I was about 16 - and she was what I wanted to be when I grew up. She was a fish filleter at Carnisi's where I opened scollops after school - my bench was near the pass through where she was on the other side filleting fish. She was pretty big - at least I thought so at the time, always wore a crew cap and a yellow rain jacket, and could fillet a fish in under 30 seconds. She spent her winters in the keys working the bars, she told me once she could carry two kegs by herself. She drove an old bronco that had about a million miles on it, it seemed to suit her perfectly. I just admired her to pieces, she just did what she wanted to do, made a ton of money and no one ever told her what to do, not even the owner of the shop - she was so good at her job she pretty much ran her own show. I never did get to be a fish filleter - it's one of those jobs it's almost impossible to get into, no one will hire you without experience and you can't get experience without the job. I guess one of the reasons I think about her is you wonder what happens to people like that when they get older - do they eventually marry, find a permenent job, a stable place to live? Or do they spend thier whole lives travelling back and forth with no one, living from temporary apartment to temporary apartment and if they do, is it really that bad of a life? Sometimes I wish I knew what happened to her and I hope she's still as happy as she was when I knew her.

How Quickly Things Change

I was all set to have a relaxing weekend - things have lately, been pretty quiet and strangely enough going well. Jackson took the car for the day so David and I decided to head out for Clarksburg. Right before we left the phone rang - it was from a previous job that had not ended badly, but hadn't ended well is the best way I can put it. They had a leak in the roof which happens - but the guy was somewhat threatening which was odd, since David hadn't refused to do it or anything. But we certainly weren't going to go running over there either so he'll have to deal with it. Then on the way down the road my cell phone rang and it was another country not heard from - they wanted David to come look at a roof too. David called them back while I made pictures at CVS and then off we went to Clarksburg. I got some great deals at AC Moore's and David got Pearl a hunting vest - since there are a number of guys that use the game preserves he wants to make sure no one shoots her by accident. And she looks very spiffy in it in case you're wondering, she doesn't like it but I think she would like getting shot less so she wears it. Anyhow, just as we were getting home my cell phone rang AGAIN and it was Susan - the nurse that was oncall this weekend had broken her leg jumping out of her husband's pickup truck and was onroute to the hospital via ambulance and there was a Bridgeport patient that needed to be seen, not to mention the Sunday visits. Jackson had my car so I couldn't help Saturday but I'll be doing the two today as someone has to do it. Of course this will change the oncall schedule too, we went from once every 5 weeks, to every 4 weeks and now it'll be every 3 weeks. Why do I feel like pretty soon we'll be back to every other week again??

Great Expectations.

David was out training Pearl last night - on thier last walk through the woods she pinned the injured pheasant instead of retrieving it - David was not happy. So he was using the pheasant to practice with and Pearl did retrieve it until she decided she'd rather do something else and then wandered off. He started to get mad, but I pointed out Pearl had only been hunting for a couple of weeks and quite frankly as far as the fetching things goes - she doesn't always bring the rubber frog back either. We just don't make a major production since no one but Pearl is enchanted with a wet rubber frog anyhow and most days I would PREFER she not bring it back. So he broke out the Vienna Sausages and got 100% results after that - Pearl would sell her mother for a Vienna Sausage. The weather has been wet and rainy all week - the main reason David has been able to get so much pheasant hunting in - but is supposed to clear up in the coming days. They're going early this morning for a bit as Saturday is when everyone and his brother goes and it gets a bit crowded. As for me I had a student with me for a couple of days this week which was fun - she was about my age and NOT enchanted with home health, I guess it's not for everyone. She said she was not comfortable with going into people's homes like  that and was VERY uncomfortable with the pediatric aspects of it all, I never thought of that which would explain why it doesn't bother me. I think the driving freaked her out a bit too - what I consider fun and relaxing she thought was too much and not something she would not like to do. Oh well, to each his own I suppose.

A Reason To Exist

David is quite taken with the hunting around here - he and Pearl have gone for the past two days and have gotten one pheasant so far, much to David's great joy. As I stated previously, the hunting preserves are only a few miles from the house and since we've had bad weather David's been able to get a bit of hunting in between rain showers. The rain has been pretty steady for the past two days and the yard is uber- yucky as all the leaves have fallen so there's soggy leaves every where you look these days. Jackson and Becky are planning on hitting the Fright Farm again this year so hopefully the rain will hold off on the weekend. I'm on call Halloween weekend so they can't go then. The weather has finally started to cool, this time of year is a pain in the butt as the mornings start off fridgid and then by 1 o'clock you're rollling up your sleeves and pitching the sweater. We have the heat on this morning for pretty much the first time this year. I am STILL working on the shawl, I've got about 15 more rows to go, but it's dragging now as I get to the end. The rows are well over a thousand stitches so it's about an hour a row and I've been working on it for so long it seems it will never end. I might do a few christmas tree hats when I get done just so I can do something easy - and FAST. I ordered way too much yarn for the shawl and actually have enough to do a second one. The big question would be of course - do I want to do another one??

First Stew Of The Season....

.....even though it's EIGHTY FREAKING DEGREES OUT. Arrgh! Will Fall ever come and stay? This weekend has been an up and down sort of thing - first of all since we asked Pool People #2 to close the pool after waiting forever and a day, at 4 O'Clock on Saturday Poolpeople #1 showed up ready to roll. Terry apologized and said they should've told us that if we called at the end of September there would be 80 pools ahead of ours - of course Poolpeople #2 don't have an answering machine so we can't leave them a message. Part of me wanted to tell Poolperson #1 that we had someone else to do it, but you know A Bird In The Hand and all - I just wanted SOMEONE to close the thing as I've been scooping out bushels of leaves a couple of times daily. David attempted to hunt today, but when he got there there were no other hunters - turns out there's no hunting on Sunday in PA. He had called when he got there and I had the reg book, but couldn't fine anything saying you couldn't. After he hung up I DID find the rule (page 22, 1st column, 2 sentences buried on the bottom) and couldn't get ahold of him. So I got in my car and drove over so he wouldn't get fined or worse lose his spanky new license. Jackson called me when I got home to let me know David was home. David called me then too to let me know his phone had glitched and he'd been unable to answer it, but a guy saw him get out of his truck with the dog and told him there was no hunting on Sunday so he just left. He was a bit disappointed, bu it's not a big deal, he's going to shoot some trap with Cecil this afternoon and will most likely sneak off at some point in the week with Pearl The Mighty Hunting Dog for a big adventure. I haven't really done much this weekend except lay about and so forth. I'm really waiting for it to cool off - I just don't feel like moving around until then. Pearl and I go out in the yard, but it's just too hot! And since all of my summer clothes are packed away I have nothing but long sleeves and pants.

AOL Makes Me Crazy

I am seriously thinking about just ditching the AOL - the only thing that stops me is the blog of course and the fact that I've had this screen name for years and the idea of having to change it and tell everyone, etc is just too annoying. The latest problem with it is everytime I go to log in my password comes up invalid and then I have to change it. The weird thing is if I sign in under David's screen his works - and mine is the master screen name so that makes even less sense. After I log off today I'm going to run the Norton as I've already reinstalled the AOL without any sucess. Not much going on today, the weather has cooled a bit more and the leaves are all falling straight into my pool. We finally found another pool company and they will be closing the pool finally next week. I'm pretty beaned at Mick - if he couldn't do it he could have at least called and let us know instead of leaving us hanging as we head into November. Jackson is staying over Becky's house tonight which is apparently ok with Becky's parents. He's going to be 18 in a couple of months so I'm sort of Whatever about the whole thing. This morning I took David on a tour of the State Game Lands of Pennsylvania, he got his hunting license for Pa as the preserves are actually closer to us than WV's are. It's about 7 miles from our house and there's over 8,000 acres set aside for hunting. He's going to wait until it calms down, today was opening day and it was a sea of orange vests and pickup trucks. Pearl will be going with him - they've been practicing in the yard with doves -in WV no one seems to have a problem with you discharging firearms in the backyard. The neighbor has a tree stand in our yard for the deer also, so I'm guessing it's not against any rules or something. I hope!

Reality Sucks.

I have to admit, I started my day with a knot in my stomach and no song in my heart. Sometimes when you get to take a few days off it re-energizes you and makes your job all shiny and new. For the rest of us however it reminds us how bad things have gotten and it's like going back to prison after weekend furlough. I do hate it, the worst is I REALLY like my job, I really do! I enjoy the patients, the variations of treatment and patients, the driving - when I apply for another job it will be the same kind but a different place. My favorite back to work discovery was a co-worker had been running her mouth again about my making trouble with a patient to the boss - until someone else reminded her I wasn't even in town and she should try to get her story straight before she went tattling down the hall!! I don't get into that nonsense, it just turns into a finger pointing event but it does hurt my feelings. I have no problem with this individual and even get along with her, so I have no idea what's going on - and I really don't want to know or care. eek. I was glad this morning to get straight on the road and stay there and I'll be doing that for the rest of the week hopefully. Jackson is feeling much better, he's down to the occasional cough and sniffle with no pink eyes in sight. David is almost done sheetrocking the basement and has started spackling, he's also going to be building a porch for clients at some point this week. I am getting ahead of myself by getting my winter clothes all out and my summer clothes all put away - and it's not even January yet!

We're Back!

David took Jackson to the doctor on Thursday as not only had his cough worsened, but he was sporting a pair of Candy Apple Red eyes. Jackson insisted he didn't want to, but I'm glad I made him seek Medical Attention as not only did he have bronchitis but Pink Eye too! We had planned on leaving early Friday but Jackson had a rough night and we needed to drop Pearl off at the dogsitter plus all of that last minute stuff that appears out of nowhere. We left about 10 and enjoyed the trip, stopping for a long lunch and arrived at my sister's house at 4. My mom drove down from LI for the night and that was really nice to have everyone together for a little while. She left around 11 the next morning and we took the boys to the King of Prussia mall. It is WAY too expensive to buy anything there but fun to windowshop and have lunch on the second floor overlooking the fountains. Adam had decided on an Irish pub/restaurant for his birthday dinner and because we had such a large party we had to Wait. According to the people I was with, I have inherited my Table Waiting Skills from my father Hank The Impatient who apparently also glares at the staff and glances at his watch frequently if made to wait any longer than 3 minutes. I personally think anything over 7 minutes is excessive and after  10 minutes I'm ready to find a different place to eat. But it was not my birthday was it so I did make an effort to keep the Sighing and Glaring to a minimum. The food I have to admit was wonderful and it was a good dinner. We went home for birthday cake after and Adam is now officially 24! The next day we didn't do much, went to the outlets and a fake Amish gift shop, I bought two little pieces of Shoofly pie because A) I am the only person who likes it and B) if I buy a whole pie I will EAT a whole pie and no one wants that kind of trouble.Diane made a big supper and then after thier friends the Copacs came over with thier dog Cooper and thier baby Corden both of whom are too cute. Both of the boys enjoyed playing with the baby - Cordon is about 1 and very funny of course. We left early Monday morning, me missing Adam already - he is doing better I think but has a long way to go. It hasn't been an easy transition for him and has been a struggle but I think he's starting to get his head above water - it's just going to take time. We got home about noon and went to pick up Miss Pants at 3pm - she was beside herself with Joy and Hysteria, she lost a little weight but we expected that as Vizslas tend to pine when separated from thier families. I think we're all glad to be home.

Counting Down

Even though it's really only a four day weekend, I'm very much looking foward to some time off from work. The slowdown continues with the patients and work has gotten very rough - everyone is testy and mean - hiding from the boss has become an occupation with most of the staff. It's a bit disconcerting on my end - I actually LIKE my job but with this atmosphere of unrest it's a little hard to continue and not play into the office politics. So I could do with a little time away from the office, I'm playing around with asking for one more day off - that would still leave me with a full week of vacation time. Jackson is recovering from his illness, he still has a cough but was able to go to school yesterday and then spend the afternoon at Becky's. On Sunday due to the fact he couldn't move around too much he was forced to spend the afternoon watching TV with his mother. Much to his dismay  the documentary I've been waiting to see for two weeks happened to be on so he was forced to watch Love Me, Love My Doll on the BBC -

      http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/245/index.jsp

It was hilariously creepy - these men are obsessed with thier rubber life sized dolls - we figured out they cost about $6000!! The whole hour covered pretty much everything you would ever need to know about these dolls, Jackson spent most of the hour looking  somewhat distressed when he wasn't laughing his butt off. David is taking Pearline to the dogsitter today for one more "dry run" so she can play with others of her kind.  We have everything set for the weekend including someone to come and take care of the cats and so forth, I cannot wait.

The Best Laid Plans

I picked up the corsage yesterday - we employ the fancy florist, Zaccgnini's because they always do such a swell job. It's quite lovely, I know because it's still residing in my refridgerator this morning because Jackson didn't make it to the Homecoming dance. He woke up yesterday with a temp of 101.5 and the rest of the day went downhill from there. He kept thinking he'd feel better but around 4 pm he still was unable to get out of bed - he still had a fever despite my frequent dosings of tylonol and at 4:30 finally threw in the towel. I have to say Becky was much more understanding about it than I would have been at the that age but Jackson said she'd been kind of on the fence about going anyhow. She is NOT however on the fence about going to senior prom but that's in the spring. Anyhoo, I did my one admit in Grafton yesterday and then went to a flea market at the Clinton firehouse which was fun. I got a bunch of stuff for only $8 that I seriously don't need and can't figure out why I bought it in the first place, however that can be said for a few of my other purchases in the past and at least these unnecessary items didn't even break a ten. Jackson and I watched the BBC channel last night - we are seriously addicted to Dr. Who and Torchwood and never miss an episode (when they have marathons we're glued to the tube all day!). I have to finish up some paperwork today and hopefully everyone will stay quiet - although  I doubt it.

And I Was Almost Home Free.....

......and then the phone rang, I have an admit to do tomorrow. Being on call is a bit nerve-wracking as it can go either way -there can be not a peep all weekend or it can turn into Drive-A-Thon since you have to cover all 250 square miles by yourself. Anyhoo, I ordered the corsage for Jackson today in my travels - he and Becky are attending the Morgantown Homecoming Dance again this year. Jackson was a bit bleary on what color her dress would be so I did red roses on a black and white background. If they have any complaints they can do it themselves or I'll wear the corsage while I clean the bathrooms this weekend. I did a flu shot clinic the other day, that really sucked. It was at the Waynesburg Shop & Save and there were a few things I had complaints about - first off the Pharmacy that is NOT part of Shop & Save was having thier own flu clinic next week. I knew this because there were big signs up all over and the overhead kept announcing it every half an hour. It would have been less of a problem if they hadn't been offering thier shots for $5 less than we were. Then they seated me near the freezer aisle which is a not so hot spot. Especially after 4 hours. Then of course there's the people element to the whole thing - I had several people come up just to let me know they'd already gotten thier flu shot. Two asked who was going to give it (given the fact I was wearing a NURSING UNIFORM I kind of thought this was a given.  I resisted the urge to start peeking under the table and peering down aisles..). I did end up giving about 16 shots since it's covered by Medicare part B - in my rather liberal spare time otherwise I caught up on paperwork (thank goodness I'd brought it along just in case I had a "spare" minute) and I did some people watching of course. There was a teenage couple shopping with a parent that were  making out so frantically I thought at one point he was just going to bend her over the frozen turkey section and have at it - there was a somewhat disgruntled elderly gentleman with Parkinson's shopping with his adult son trailing behind him discreetly as possible,  trying very hard not to interfer. And there seemed to be quite a few people that wanted to take advantage of the papertowels on sale behind me but were a bit leery of the nurse with the sharp instruments positioned in front of them. Over all it wasn't a bad gig.

Lost In Space

ARRGH -  I HATE getting lost, don't you? This morning started off so well - I thought I had clear directions that I  did not. I had a lot of driving to do today on top of all that,so it made it very stressful. I headed off for the town and followed the directions I was given. The first problem was the road I was on turned into another road (which was not noted) and I could find no sign for 218. So I headed back the 10 miles after talking to some construction workers who pointed me in another direction (one of the guys had a girlfriend that lived in that town) but the 218 I was heading down I know  will take you into Spraggs. Hmm. SO, I went back to the post office and found that 218 has a north and south and I was headed down the wrong path. Oh and just in case you're ever driving down Jakes Run - there is no sign for 218, apparently you're just supposed to know where it is.  I arrived at the patient's house 50 miles later with all the driving back and forth I did and an hour late to boot.  Then I was off to the other end of WV for a regular patient and then to Fairmont to the lab. THEN I had to head off to Pennsylvania, about another 50 miles down the road. The patient had a problem with his access which necessitated him going back to the hospital (with me in tow) to fix the problem and then back to his house for the actual visit. I had another patient I was supposed to see but Susan found someone else to see that one - that goodness because that patient would have been treated to Crabbypants the Nurse and who knows what would have happened then. David has been working on the house steady - he is done residing the entire thing and is going to start the inside at some point. He picked up a siding job too but has to wait for the siding to be ordered so he has a bit of time. I'm still working on the Shawl That Will Never End, I still have about 40 rounds to go, they take forever!!

The 66th Annual Buckwheat Festival......

....and I have the tee-shirt to prove it. We went fairly early as it was Saturday and that is one of the most crowded days of all. They do the animal judging in the morning and then have the Farmer's Parade around 12 where the grand champions get shown off - it's a very big deal in Kingwood. The first thing I headed for was the Fried Dough stand - you have NO IDEA how good that stuff is - it's not for the  weak of heart or the the cholesterol impaired though. They take a piece of dough the size of a dinner plate, deep fry it and then roll it in sugar thereby covering all the food groups in one fell swoop. David made me share with him as he refuses to put up with the aftereffects of my eating something like that by myself for the rest of the afternoon. After that we headed for the livestock barns where all the 4-H kids were sitting with thier show animals - the pigs were huge as were the cows and the goats and sheep were adorable. We did the craft building next and then went shopping. I bought some buckwheat flour that now has to be shipped off and got my official tee shirt of course. by now it was closing in on afternoon and we headed out as the traffic and people were pouring in - this is one of the biggest fairs in WV and people plan thier vacations around it. As you may have noticed Jackson was not with us - he was off having a ball with the car which we let him have for the entire day,  much to his amusement. I checked the local calendar of events and the person that told me it was Homecoming this weekend was wrong so Jackson headed off with no restrictions other than be home before dark. He and Becky tooled around for most of the day just enjoying the freedom no parents bring.

Buckwheat, Food Of The Gods.

We're headed off to to the Buckwheat Festival this morning, some of us more reluctantly that others - but as long as I'm happy who cares? Jackson will be lent my car which I'm a bit nervous about as we will be out in Kingwood while he's back here in town doing heaven knows what in the CRV but the weekend is the only time he has to drive and we all have cell phones. We did get in touch with the pool guy but he's overwhelmed this time of year so it'll be a few weeks more before it gets closed up for the winter. Since the leaves have started falling they all seem to head for my pool, I'm actually cleaning it more now that I did all summer. Pearl is still using it though, she runs around the yard til she gets all hot and then flings herself in the pool, paddles around and then gets back to the business of Rubber Frog Fetching which she takes very seriously. David took her to Ricki's for the day this week and she'll be doing another day this coming week. Ricki had her out in the main drag but she was freaking a bit so Miss Pants got taken in the house with the other two vizslas and did better there. Maybe Pearl is just a Dog Snob. Pearl was also entertaining the neighbors the other night, they were out in the lower acres scouting out - David told them they could hunt the deer down there - and I put Pearline in the house so I could say hello. She was up there barking her head off and then stopped which I was grateful for until I saw her little red self hurtling across the yard straight towards the neighbors.Since she had time to kill she spent it figuring out how to open the screen door in her desperation to Visit With The Neighbors.Not to mention being  very serious about her hostessing duties and will not be thwarted.  Much to my surprise she behaved herself and of course since they are hunters and she is a hunting dog everyone got along. I am ALMOST done with the dentist, dammit. I got to my appointment and was told there was an emergency so I had to wait almost an hour. Then the tooth he was working on turned out to be way more difficult than he had anticipated and then the part he had to make took longer, plus he was doing another patient at the same time - and the whole upshot was I ended up being at the dentist for 3 hours. So I had to make another appointment to have the impressions made for the partial I'm getting for the back and then I will be done. Forever. Or at least 6 months which ever comes first.

Is It Fall Yet?

You would think it is - after all we had our first day of fall, yada yada. The weather however, would not agree with you as it's zipped back up to the 80's and even 90's at times. Gone are thoughts of down and leather, my shorts remain in the dresser, my flipflops will have to hang on a few more weeks. The only sign of changing seasons is the pool is A) too cold to swim in and B) full of leaves every morning. I guess it gives me something to do while Pearline zips around like a lunatic. Pearl is having an adventure tomorrow - we're planning on traisping to Janet and Diane's for Adam's birthday - this will be the first birthday we get to spend with him in 5 years, can you believe that? However Pearl The Pest has never spent a night away from her queen sized bed with the comforter and the pillows she sneakies up on when we are asleep. ( I was looking at dog beds in Sam's Club and David came up behind me and demanded to know who was going to sleep on THAT - he then announced there was no point at looking at them as he didn't think he would fit on it...). So rather than freak her out we decided to have her give it a go at Rickie Anderson's Doggie Daycare so she can see how the other half lives. Rickie has Vizsla of her own and also has an enrollee that she claims is more spoiled than Pearl the Girl - we'll see who wins that contest. In other news, Jackson went to the interview and found they will not hire him as all the positions available are for 18 and over - I think someone didn't look at  his birthdate close enough. He was a bit disappointed but will survive. I'm awaiting another package from Knitpicks ( I swear it's the last! Really!), I got the email yesterday that it had been shipped out so I can start hanging out by the mailbox Monday I think. I ordered some more of these -

http://www.knitpicks.com/Options+Harmony+Wood+Interchangeable+Needle+Tips%3cbr%3eUS+Sizes+4+-+17_NDKPNDETipWD.html

Even though I swore I wouldn't. The Buckwheat Festival is this weekend so that will take care of my Saturday and Sunday will find me (hopefully) on the sofa knitting and watching Junk-O-La televison.

Getting There, Slowly

It's very hard to take pictures of some things and make them look like they do in real life. Yesterday I hooked up another 60" cable and knit halfway around so I could stretch out the shawl and get an idea of how big it is and what it really looks like. Most are a little fuzzy but you can see the pattern. I think it'll be bigger after I block it and I have the pins to do it. Not much going on yesterday, Jackson went to Becky's as expected - David and I deposited a bunch of checks which added up to more than I thought it would. We did the bookstore(s) of course and then back home. I did do a (tiny) bit of cleaning just so I would look good and then David and I proceeded to have a little arguement about what we are doing after we hopefully sell the house. I'm open to all possibilities but his big problem with me is that I LIKE West Virginia. Sorry, can't help it. I told him that makes no difference because I like other places too and when you get down to it my main requirements are a place to run Pearl The Pest and no neighbors within peeking distance. As I get older I truely realize I am a happy little hermit, my dog and my knitting needles make a good day for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my friends and (some) family but people being nearby would make me crazy. And after we sell this place I'm sure I will miss it and cry, but life will go on as it usually does. I just told David he needs to carefully consider where he can live - and be happy. Moving - even down the road - is such a big undertaking that after this I don't want to do it again. David is busy plotting out the final renovations of this place, I can see the carpeting is going to be the biggest annoyance - since David will also be pulling the giant bolts out of the ceiling from the overhead hoyer lift he took down when we moved here and then the ceilings will have to be repaired. He has Jackson's bathroom almost done though which made Jackson's week.

Lay About

It's almost 8 o'clock and I've already thought about cleaning the house twice. As to wheather I'll actually do it is a mystery to us all. David said there's a bunch of exercise bikes in the local bulletin so I suppose I'll be checking that out, he said he will NOT buy another one until I look at it. And I have to do something, since the weather has gotten cooler (inspiring pie eating and so forth) and I'm not swimming in the evening anymore my weight has been creeping up pound by pound. Jackson is heading over to Becky's today, I would prefer he go tomorrow but he was giving me all sorts of static so I said FINE and I'll have to think of something else to do. We have to stop by the pool guy's store as we cannot get ahold of him - if we can't today I'll have to find someone else to close the pool. I am now completely sick of cleaning and maintaining a pool I cannot swim in - after Sept starts the water temp takes a nosedive and stays there. We had briefly considered closing it ourselves but I'm afraid we'll do something wrong and burst the pipework over the winter or something. And we are getting too close to the finish line for that to happen. I'm still working on the Shawl That Will Follow Me To My Grave, I think I have about 50 more rows to do and I'm done. That doesn't sound like a lot until you realize each row now has almost 600 stitches and will have more than that in a few more rounds. I have to sneak an order out to Knitpicks this morning, I'm like an addict I admit it, just one more order and then I'll stop.... but they keep coming up with such good - and cheap! - products. I mean honestly - lace weight wool for $3 a skein? Pinch me! That's another task I have to do is go through all of my knitting stuff, the stash has grown to the point I'm not sure what I have in there anymore. And it's overflowed from Grandma's dresser to the guest room closet. And the basket. And the drawer in the entertainment center.... you get the idea. Sigh, the burden I carry............

A Grave Situation

Are you all tired of the graveyards? Too bad for you that I live amongst the Not So Recent Dead AND have an unhealthy fascination with them. This graveyard is in Waynesburg, PA and I've always driven past it but never had the time to go trotting through the tombstones. I was in the area around lunch time so I spent it hiking about and sightseeing. The graveyard dates about the early 1800's and most were buried during the victorian era in which everything was Excessively Frilly And Big. There will be more pictures tomorrow of course - the stones actually soar to heights of 20 feet, there are multiple crypts and everything is beyond fancypants. I was peeking in the mausoleums as I'd been rather effectively locked out of them - I did rattle the doors but to no avail. Of course if you actually get in, then you have to worry about the door swinging shut behind you I suppose so it's a no win situation. One of them had the most hilarious stained glass window of one of the decedents. I had to assume she hadn't spent her entire life looking that old and stern - I bet she would love to beat the relatives that commissioned it! If I had to be stuffed in a mausoleum with a window I would like it to make me look like a Playboy Bunny or very athletic or something - not like I had a mouthful of lemons. But that's me. I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend, cleaning would be practical but doesn't sound like a whole bunch of fun. David is working out in Fairmont and will be done there next week, then he'll probably spend some time working on our house. We're probably going to have to tighten up the budget as he's got to take some major time finishing up the house for  the spring. He's tried in the past to do it weekends and evenings but it just doesn't work as you can't get anything completely done and it gets discouraging.

That's How I Roll

As I get older, it takes a bit more to get me excited or upset. Today was one of those days where the whole thing just seesawed back and forth and I just teetertottered along with the best of them. I got some (guarded) good news about one of  my peds patients, not out of the woods but at least is heading for a metaphorical path out. Of course then there was the other visit which involved Trained Medical Staff so that was not good. I got back to the office and finished up my calls, then headed home to finish up paperwork under the trees with Pearl.  I called David to let him know I could pick up Jackson today and the phone rang right before I left - it was Sam's Club looking to interview Jackson. There was a huge accident in Granville which was surprising as I didn't think they had enough room for anything huge (you can pretty much spit across it) -once again I was in a nest of Trained Medical Staff so I turned around out of that traffic jam and headed to town so I could sit in another jam. When I finally got Jackson I remembered today was one of the last days for Senior pictures and he hadn't worn a nice button down shirt - but you can have them taken again tomorrow. Jackson said he had thought about that as he didn't like the tee-shirt he had on, he had planned on wearing his Jay and Silent Bob shirt (that should make Grandma VERY happy) - I was informed only ONE person wore a suit and tie and he was a big Dork. Since I don't want Jackson to have to join the Dork Protection Program and have to relocate I suppose I'll let it alone. He called Sam's and has an interview for Tuesday since he's getting his haircut on Monday.  Speaking of Dorkiness, David finally found me an exercise bike (used) and brought it home sight unseen. It's a brown and beige Huffy circa 1852 with a big rubber tire. Jackson finds it hilarious and thinks it needs a basket or something. Maybe I'll join the Dork Protection Program.

In The Fix

David decided to take yesterday off and finish up a few projects. He framed out the upstairs windows he'd replaced and is well on his way to finishing Jackson's bathroom. He gets a bit overwhelmed at times, altogether it's about done but there's so many little projects and then there's the carpet issue. We don't want to spend a lot on it of course since we're selling it, but it has to be somewhat decent enough to sell. Some of our furniture has to go into storage, especially the dining room table set that we brought from Pennsylvania. The PA house had an open floor plan so it was ok to have a huge table and chairs but here we have an actual dining room and it fills it too much. The RE told David the dining room is very big but the oversized table makes it look smaller so out it goes. He still has to finish the last bit of siding and then there's the back room......I've getting overwhelmed and I'm not even doing it! Anyhooo, I got my latest order from Knitpicks, David doesn't bother saying anything he just puts it on the table and sighs. This month they have Harmony Bamboo needles that fit the Options set so I was VERY stoked for that! I did however restrain myself and only buy the sizes I knew I would really use instead of buying one of each size in the event I might possibly use them someday. I'm backing up on projects - I have the yarn for the sleeveless leaf sweater and the yarn for the grey socks, hat yarn, the afgan just needs a border and it's done, the shawl is getting there, I suppose if I stopped eating, working, sleeping and speaking with other people I could get a handle on it.

Sightseeing and Other Activities

We've had a very good weekend - it started off rainy and but then ended and then it was just sort of crappy and cold. Yesterday we hit the stores - I took Jean to Gabe Brothers for shopping and got a couple of things. There were tons of things I liked, but I really need to get down my winter clothes and start sorting - I always end up with way too many clothes. When we came back we headed out again to Ray's favorite activity, Barnes and Nobles and I got a good deal on a book and also the newest They Might Be Giants CD - whoo. Hoo. We ate at Tibarios, an italian restaurant  - I've been drinking red wine all weekend - 3 glasses total which is more than I've drank in the past two years I think. At this rate I should be an alcoholic by the time I'm 90. This morning we all went out to breakfast and then when we came back I took Ray, Jean and Jackson out to the cemetery in Core so they could take pictures. We also crossed the Mason Dixon line (it's about 12 miles from my house) and showed them the little park. Jean wanted to see an Antique store, there aren't too many of them around so we went to the Seneca Center and she got her antique fix in - then off to the Beanery. As you can see it was a fairly quiet weekend punctuated by large heavy meals - if Ray lived here they'd have to roll us down the driveway to get to work - I'll be on the treadmill til I expire this week! David found an exercise bike for me and will be picking it up on Tuesday - I think this will be the perfect time to get one, don't you?