Wheeling WV!

 It's been a fairly quiet week - David went back to LI on Monday to visit family and will be returning tomorrow. I had asked him to go while I was still off so when I return to work next week it will be a little less stressful without worrying about the dog and the house, etc. David will be starting soon too, but I'd like to get my feet wet while he holds down the fort for another week or so. I haven't been doing much - I go out in one direction or another each day, exploring my area, seeing what's what. I went up to the outlets one day - there's a Harry and David's so I stocked up on Charred Pineapple relish and so forth. Yesterday I headed out to Wheeling - I checked out a yarn shop of course - word to the wise, if they don't answer the phone and they don't list hours it is NOT a good sign. But I went in there not expecting much and was not disappointed - my main goal was just seeing Wheeling which is fairly nice although I just stayed on the outskirts. I was only a few miles from Ohio but will save that for when David can ride shotgun AND my camera is here - he took it to LI with him so I'm stuck with my crappy cell phone for snapping pictures. Anyhow The Yarn Cellar should have been named the Yarn Slum, even if it had been open I would have thought twice about actually going in and might have skipped it. Yes I would. Would too. Shut up. I did find a HUGE Cabela's surrounded by an even bigger shopping complex - SCORE!! - so the day was so not wasted. There was a Michael's where I scored knitting needles super cheap, wandered around the bookstore and then went to Cabela's so I could take pictures and Ha Ha send them to David. He called an accused me of Cruel and Unusual Punishment, especially when he got the shot of the rows and rows of shotguns. They had koi ponds and a museum of taxidermy so I had a great time wandering around and will bring David when he gets back. Our neighbor gave me more vegetables, she has a huge garden and is at the point of overload - I had to borrow a wheelbarrow to get it home - but I'm grateful for all the free produce. I'm still in love with my Ereader and have downloaded the entire Anita Blake series, I'm on book 7, nine more to go. But it's so relaxing, I sit in the backyard under the trees with my acres of green grass ( I have grass! I have grass!!) with Pearl busy bee-ing around. She goes and visits the neighbors, she and Gabe are still having fun being Neighbor Dogs, I see Jim and Robin once in awhile. I finally got my replacement remote from Atlantic Broadband, there's a month out of my life I'll never get back. If your remote doesn't work they will send you a replacement BUT you have to wait until they get 5 customers that need remotes as then they can send them bulk and it's very expensive to mail things you know. No, I'm not kidding. So Kudos to Atlantic Broadband for having a low rate of remote malfunctions but that didn't help us poor schmucks that were remote-less for a month. I suppose I could go around the neighborhood vandalizing the remotes but that would be difficult and probably not make me Neighbor Of The Week.   I'm getting ready to head back to work Monday morning, I can't believe I've been off for a solid month, but glad I did it. There are few opportunities in life that you get a chance to do that without worrying.

Current Events

 Adam is a car owner as of yesterday. My cousin John and he went car shopping with loan in hand - the Navy exchange was having a car sale event with insurance and everything on site - why can't they do that for rest of us? What a great idea! Adam got an 04 Mustang convertible with only 55,000 miles all within budget - so he's now fully on the road.  Jackson sent us a picture of himself in body armor - looks like a toughie, doesn't he? It won't be too long now until he goes overseas - he's enjoying the training and the army toys, glad he's happy and very proud that he's chosen to serve his country. My mother's cat Jingles passed away this morning after his many valiant battles with the squirrel population, I know we'll all miss him. He was my Grandmother Carter's cat and after she passed away my mother and Fred took him.  Things will not be the same without him.  We've been busy for the past couple of weeks - the fridge that came with the house up and croaked - after 5 pm of course - so it was Commando Appliance Shopping for David while I frantically potted everything down to the Hide-A-Body sized freezer the former owner left behind. I put all the fridge stuff in coolers so it only froze a tiny bit - David managed to find a fridge on clearance so it ended up being OK in the end. We attended a birthday party Friday for friends and then the friends were over here yesterday for our first BBQ - Pearl was hostessing her butt off of course. We did dessert in the house, the weather continues to be oppressively hot and humid and even sitting under an umbrella didn't help. We're going to the neighbor's tonight for another BBQ - I'm trying to be careful as my weigh in is Wednesday and I would hate to start gaining already - I've lost about 8 pounds so far. I did keep within my parameters on the point system so I'm proud of that. In knitting news I started the second sleeve and have a couple of inches done, but it's at the point of Slow Going and I Wish It Was Done.  I'm busy looking for my next project, will probably be a shawl or socks, we'll see. Today I'm just hanging out as I cleaned the house yesterday - I'm on my last week of vacation, can you believe that? I can't!

Casey Anthony - Lizzie Borden

Lizzie Borden took an axAnd gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

Just for the record, the total number of whacks delivered to her stepmother and father was 29, not 81 - but twenty nine doesn't rhyme with much, does it? The Casey Anthony trial reminds me so much of Lizzie Borden - the evidence was overwhelming, she was caught multiple times in untruths, and yet, walked. The arriving officers noted Lizzie standing calmly on the landing on their arrival mere feet away from the body of her stepmother, there was no sign of a break in, the neighbors saw no strange activity. The family had been fighting quite bitterly over the father's money and lack of generosity with his daughters, both of whom feared everything would go to their stepmother. At the time of the murder Lizzie stated she was in the barn looking for sinkers (the temps that day had been over 100) - the subsequent investigation showed a thick layer of undisturbed dust - Lizzie offered no explanation. She also burned a dress 3 days after the murder stating she had ruined it. Officers found a cleaned axe head with the handle missing. The media became a circus with the local society women supporting her - after all how could this young woman have murdered her own parents - and not be remorseful at all? After the trial was over and the money inherited she became shunned by the very society that had supported her and spent the rest of her life as a curiosity. She was sued by family members and was forced to settle claims. A lot of people think Casey has gotten away with with her crime and it's true she won't be going to jail. But it's started - she's forced to go into hiding, death threats dog her every step, she's being sued for over $100,000 to reimburse the rescue group that searched for that little girl even though she was very much aware she had died weeks prior. Her parents have disowned her and the chance of her every having any life is slim to nothing. They say history repeats itself - and that's not always a bad thing, is it?

Settling In

 David and I have different styles of relaxing - I'm under a tree with my ereader or on the couch with my knitting or computer. I sort through clothes (no matter how many times I do it, I can always come up with a bag for donations), I cook things I  usually don't have time to cook, I walk, browse, snuggle the cat. David is on the phone, in the truck, up the ladder, down to the shooting range, plotting planning shopping visiting. He has been to Hunting Hills two Sundays in a row, that's the sporting clays and hunting club, conveniently located right down the road. This way you'll never be bored as you can shoot clays when the game lands, which are also conveniently located right down the road, are closed for the season. And of course he isn't going alone - our phone rang at 6:45 am this morning to see if David could come out and play, we are right back in the swing of things. I met the neighbor - her name is  Robin -today too so we've got tentative plans to get together and we are having the Bucklews over for a BBQ this weekend. Hopefully Susan can get over to the see the house too, busy! I've started letting the cats out a little - Bad Vincent heads right for the road so he gets jettisoned back in the house, Claw has not been out as much as I do worry about her. She doesn't go far but I worry about her not being able to find her way back to the house if she does wander. I continue with my diet, I am doing well so far and hopefully can keep it up - and off! In knitting news I finally have the first sleeve finished and now will be starting the second sleeve. I'd like to have it done before I go back to work but we'll have to see about that. David might go home for a few days before I go to work to see his parents and then he has to get moving too. We're very much taking advantage of the fact we can afford to take a month off - I'm sure this opportunity will never come our way again so we're trying to get the most of out it, for my part I'll just continue to drift towards August..........slowly

Back Home

The ride back through NYC was the usual - I'm convinced they've hired someone to beep at me at least once during my sojourn through the big city and it's super annoying. Here I am  just trying to see if I should be in this lane or that, maybe a tiny bit of sightseeing from the highway and then BEEP, so rude. Apparently New Yorkers are not big fans of my Superior Driving Skills. By the time I got to my sister's I was pretty beat so my shopping was limited to Barnes and Nobles - I did try to find one of the knitting stores on my list but it was a false lead, so off to Janet and Di's to go play with Cooper who is super cute. He's also a bit of a pest, but aren't they all? Janet made us a great vegetarian dish and Di followed with a great WW dessert - they just got back from multiple vacations so we were all pretty wiped out. TV was an issue, Diane likes Victorian stuff but Janet warned her it would not go over big with me unless they were Flesh Eating Victorians so we settled on True Blood, it wasn't a big deal because we all pooped around 9.  I left the next morning a little after 8 and headed off to the first yarn store - it didn't open til 10 so that was a bust. The next one I hit was pay dirt - one of the staff came out and curiously asked me why I was taking a picture of her sign with my phone. I told her that my husband had told me not to buy anymore yarn so I was sending him a picture with HA HA written underneath it - that got a laugh from the other shoppers on the porch since we all know what I'm talking about.  I did buy a bit of yarn, not much since we are getting past that and then I just meandered my way home.  And I'm glad to be here - I missed David and my own dog, Vincent and even Claw a little bit. I have my second weigh in at Weight Watchers today and I'm curious as to how I did after a week of vacation. After this I'm going to start exercising, my ellipse and exercise bike are still in the garage so maybe David will bring them down to the basement for me. We have to start getting some more stuff done, although I still have a couple weeks of time off it's slipping away so fast! You always think you have all this time and really, you don't.

So Long To The Duck!

 Of course I didn't get to do and see everything I intended while I was here but that's the way vacations are, aren't they? I did manage to pack a lot into the past four days  though - I saw (almost) everyone I wanted to see, I went (almost) everywhere  I wanted to go  and I did worship the Big Duck while I was here.  My visit with Liz was nice and Kirstan remains the same great kid she's always been - I wish things were going better for Liz but it will all straighten out. We went to the party for the boys on Saturday, Amy had rented one of those giant inflatable bouncy things - it was a huge hit with the 5 and under crowd. Alex only came out long enough to get cake and darted back in, Matthew right behind him. The next day I headed off to Liz's and on the way back stopped at Tanger Shopping mall, wow was it crowded. I quick went into Eddie Bauer and that was it! I spent a quiet evening with Mom and Fred. This morning I'll stop by the ocean to take some pictures before I leave, I didn't go swimming after all. It just seemed to be too much trouble and too many people. This time of year is vacation time for a lot of folks so every where you go takes forever and a day to get there. I'm going to Janet and Diane's for a day to go shopping and hang out with them, then back to the salt mines. David has  been doing all sorts of things while I was gone but more needs to be done. He's been having a good time too, he went shooting clays at Hunting Hills - a hunting club conveniently located right down the road from our house with an old friend and then spent the afternoon playing with Tommy's new ATV back in the woods, then he, Cecil and Tommy have some activity planned for Wednesday. So he is not lacking for entertainment while I'm gone. Oh well, I guess I'd better get moving, my bag will not pack itself!

Homeward Bound

 The original plan was to leave from E. Stroudsburg - it would have been a 3 1/2 hour drive. Instead, due to the quick sale of the house - for which I'm eternally grateful - it was a 91/2 hour drive. I left at 7:15 and was going to stop over, but by the time I was close enough  to stop - I was almost there. When I hit traffic in NYC I wondered if I'd made a mistake in doing the whole trip at once - it's bad at the beginning of a trip but you get through it - at the end of a 10 hour trip though it's just torture. I arrived around 5 pm and just hung out with Fred and Connie, nice to be back. Yesterday Mom and I went to visit Grandma Hendrickson, she's 94 today. I brought her roses, I know she can't see them but they smell lovely and she was in good form. She asked about the boys and David, she's gotten so tiny! After that we headed off to Dad and Maryann's their new dog is a hoot and Rhee of course is growing in leaps and bounds. Mom and I stopped at a local farm stand - you can't beat fresh produce and then I picked up some wine for a friend in WV. We ate at the Modern Snack Bar - when we visited my grandfather in Mattituck or after a bingo game that was the place to eat. Mom had her favorite fried soft shell crab, I had the egg salad which was keeping with my diet. I've been on it for 3 days and so far, so good. The new Weight Watchers Diet is much easier to follow and it seems to be keeping me on the straight and narrow. We did toy shopping for the birthday party and then back home. Last night we had a horrible thunderstorm and I woke up around 10:30 feeling a bit damp. Turning on the light revealed a very large leak centered over the bed with a big bubble forming behind it - just a little advice, don't touch the bubbly thing, just saying.... so I put the trash can on the bed and moved to the other room which was a little confusing for Janet and Diane when they arrived as I appeared to be using all the rooms. They went into our old room and everyone was settled for the  night. The skies cleared overnight and because I caught the leak when it started no harm done. I'm off to see inlaws today, then the party, Liz's tomorrow and then I'm debating my game plans for Monday as I'm considering staying overnight in Hershey to do a little sightseeing and shopping while I'm there - might as well. The month is ripping by fast of course, last week I was looking at an endless vista of time to get things done, today less than three weeks. We are having friends over in a couple of weeks and the neighbors asked David when I'm coming back so they can have us over to dinner so we'll have to have them over too.......I'm planning on making the most of my time off, can you tell?

Day Six

I know it's a stupid cartoon, it's what we're stuck with until the Geek Squad gets here - again - as I can't remember how to access my photos file off the old computer. Not any one's fault, the night he came to set up the wireless router was the same night we had horrible thunderstorms that of course knocked out the Internet half an hour before he arrived - and restored 10 minutes after he left. We have a super busy day today, the computer guy comes back tonight, the furniture comes at some point today - David has the front door frame ready to be pulled out due to the size issue so cross your fingers! - we dropped David's truck off this morning as the guy got the parts to fix the AC and compressor and I'm going to my first Weight  Watchers meeting in Carmichael's this morning. I need to lose 25 pounds and a little more AGAIN. I can lose it but my problem is I can't seem to keep it off. Liz has been having great success with the meetings so now that we're moved I am starting this before I start work. My big problem is I lose the weight and think I deserve to eat anything and everything that I want. I tried on bathing suits last week and was confronted by a store mirror designed to make me look as awful as humanly possible. It was hard admitting I need to lose the weight but I've done it so off I go in 20 minutes to be discreetly weighed - it would only be discreet if they didn't share the information with me, but that is my opinion.  After all of this I'm heading off to LI tomorrow and will most likely stay over night in the Lancaster area. My Grand Scheme originally had been we would sell the house in the 60 day period and I would go to LI from East Stroudsburg. However due to the mad scramble and subsequent landing in a pile of stuff that whole plan got jettisoned. The big issue aside from leaving David holding the bag would be I would have ended up in the Hamptons on a holiday weekend - no thank you! We have a BBQ planned in a couple of weeks with some friends of ours and we have been exploring the area, even though we lived here before we are now rummaging around in the other direction, up instead of down. I guess I'd better get moving - the scale awaits!

Day Four.

David and I have a running list that changes daily and is never finished - every time we get back one of us goes"oh no! we forgot the........" - fill in the blank here. Yesterday was Furniture shopping day - the first place we stopped was EV Rooms, we found a set we liked, got the dimensions and tried to put in an order. First we were told unless we took the floor models  it's a special order (?? we were ordering the exact model off the floor) that would take 4 - 6 weeks. OK, we can live with the floor models. Delivery is $60 and  wouldn't be until near the end of July even though we only live 16 miles from the store. OK, David will come get them himself if we can't wait. Oh, more bad news - we do have to special order the coffee tables and then two more weeks to deliver and a separate delivery charge because we will have to deliver twice - it is now two months to get the coffee tables plus and extra $60 since they can't be delivered with the couches. I felt very bad for the salesgirl as we all knew she was losing her commission on this one and she was very nice-it obviously wasn't her fault. We took the card just in case, left and headed over to Chucks furniture where we found a set we liked more for the same price and it will all be here Wednesday. Problem solved. We have the Geek Squad from Best Buy coming today to hook up a router so we can go wireless, we now have a washer and dryer and I have to call Atlantic Broadband again today, there's always one in the bunch isn't there? Pearl is beside herself with glee these days, she spends all day rummaging in the dense undergrowth around the property and we get to hear the squeaks and squeals of Very Annoyed Wildlife as she gets great delight out of disrupting their day. When we were in the back of the property the next door dog Gabe came to visit, Pearl loves him. They romped and ran, then I ran as she ran off with him. I met the neighbor Jim and will be meeting his wife later - they're both nurses and she works down the road from where I'll be working. Pearl and I also took a short tour of the neighborhood but it's so hot and humid this morning we turned back after about 15 minutes. We're firing up the BBQ tomorrow I think but today I am planning on doing a little laying around!

Atlantic Broadband

I had wanted to put a picture on this entry - I am beginning to realize why only two of our neighbors have cable for their services. It took about 15 minutes for the pictures to load and I must've accidentally posted this - you'll just have to live with it. We don't have wireless (cable won't set that up so we will have to find computers guys) so I'm on our old computer. The TV is not much better, the remote they gave us either doesn't work or it does things like run through all the channels repeatedly. I called customer service - and they didn't know. So rather then send a tech out they are MAILING me a new remote that most likely won't work. The sad thing about their customer service is they really don't know anything, it's not like they're outsourced or anything. Oh well - listen to me! We are just decompressing right now, the sale of the house in East Stroudsburg did go through on time thanks to all of David's hard work so we're done with that. But since we ended up closing a full month before we had thought we would - we had planned on a 60 standard closing but because of the buyer's mortgage we did it in 30 - it was a mad scramble to get everything packed and done. I ended up working literally up to the last day, I finished work Wednesday afternoon and was on the road on Thursday so there was no breathing room at all. But in this economy I'm not complaining, the fact that it sold when it did is a great thing and we don't have to deal with renters. But now that we are here there is major sorting out. We did some big shopping yesterday - and have more to do. David's AC decided to conk out - the place down the road ordered the part but told him not to drive the truck as it there is something on the compressor that could damage the belts if it let go. We're without couches - they didn't fit through the doorways so we gave them to someone who really needed them so we'll be looking for that today. We have tons to do, but we have a whole month to do it in, that may or may not be enough time. I got the kitchen fairly put together, the living room was easy as we have a wicker couch and a coffee table - the bedrooms are in limbo as we are not moving up to the master until David does a full renovation on it so we're in the guest room, our clothes are upstairs and in the basement and stuff is piled all over as there is no where to put it. But we got the lawn done yesterday, we have a phone, lights, hot water and TV, Pearl is already harassing the local wildlife so life is good for Day Three.