In The Shrill Of The Night

My last night on call was last night - nothing happens on Thursday one would think. One would be wrong - the second issue did me in, after phone call # 5 - 6, who's counting  I finally curled up in the guest room bed, Pearl joined me as she is a sympathetic creature. I was a dragging girl this morning, a mountain of paperwork and nowhere to hide. Wal - Mart is a viable option some days. But tomorrow is Friday and I'm in the home stretch as far as the shawl goes. It's slow going however due to the fact Reuben sees it as an adversary and launches his whole 9 pounds every time he sees it. He is one of the best puppies we've ever had, but he is still a puppy. He managed to sneak into the puppy chow bag the other morning, nothing but his wagging tail visible, David ended up having to come home for lunch as he was an explosion waiting to happen. This weekend I'm planning on planting my garden and we'll see what happens.  I am more than halfway finished making the rows and I spend every morning tugging up roots and stumps. We are still on a non-shopping binge, it still takes quite a few reminders to keep going, every time I start going into a parking lot I ask myself if I really need it, do I have one already? Finding something else to do is easy - it's remembering to do something else that's hard.

The Black Hole

 I did a little experiment yesterday on the way home - I put on You Tube on my phone and just let it play when I got off the highway because I wanted to see where the Internet cuts out. We live about 10 miles off the main drag so I was surprised when it kept singing.  A half mile from my house I hit the Bermuda Triangle of southwestern Pennsylvania. So if I lived in Gerard's Fort proper - which boasts a shed sized post office and a cemetery, I would believe it or not, have 4 G network. But here, Nada. Zipp. O. My cell phone service is a bit sketchy but it works - and really , if I want to play on my phone I can just flip it over to wireless and it works just fine so I can play Words With Friends on it and stuff.  Things are going pretty good with the puppy, we have been crating him because there's just too much for him to get into while we're not home but we are going to start leaving him in the kitchen. With our schedules he's in the kennel for close to 14 hours a day between work and sleeping . Pearl has decided she does like a Partner In Crime and as the days pass she plays with him more and more. I'm on call this week and the weekend was Mis-er-A-bull! The phone rang constantly all day Saturday and into Sunday, it was never ending. And then it was Monday.  The weather was beautiful and warm, then the temp dropped - but I looked at the weather and the next week forecast doesn't look too bad and hopefully it won't kill our flowers. Because the former owner was big into flowers our yard is erupting all over the place with all sorts of flowers, trees, bushes, etc..... and I did start my garden. So far I've done four rows and this weekend I'll start planting the seeds. David will have to get a fence up to keep the stupid deer out - they can find their own freaking food thank you very much. We hear from Jackson on occasion, we had a little issue as he has to use phone cards now because of the situation over in Kabbul but everyone thinks it's a telemarketer calling because of the number. He complained that Aunt Janet and Aunt Diane were not answering the phone and I asked if he'd left a message - he did and they picked up. I guess I should go and corral the wild dogs racing round the living room - it's hilarious but a wee bit annoying. Maybe more than a wee bit since they insist on doing it right next to my chair.

Kicking The Habit

 People often say getting a puppy is like having a baby in the house. No, it's not. Babies are diapered - here, we just keep the steam cleaner ready to go and plugged in. He manages to go outside more than inside but he also goes about 437 times a day which means our shoes have to be ready to go too so we can race outside before Reuben adds to the stain collection. On the hand, you cannot stick a baby in a crate while you go to work during the day - and Reuben has not seemed to mind it. The big issue with us both working is we have to dash home at night, 9 hours is not easy on a puppy and he does have accidents in the crate but we just keep a supply of clean blankets and when we're home he's outside. He'll be big enough to leave out  of the crate at night in a couple of months so that will make me feel better. We did the grocery shopping today, that's another issue. We need to rein in the spending around here, we've turned our weekends into a shopping trip every weekend. The other day I was ready to turn into CVS - then stopped myself and  asked WHY. The answer was simply I had time before seeing a client, pure and simple. I didn't need anything but had I gone in it would have been an easy $30 of things I don't really need, just want at the moment. So for awhile, no more yarn shop, no more Old Navy sales - if I go in a store for an item, it's that item and back out. Today I wanted seeds for my garden, bulbs for the bald spot in the yard  and we needed to go food shopping so we went to Wal-Mart  and could get it all in one place - I looked at the clearance rack, the yarn bins - but there was nothing I needed - and it's silly to 'save" $10 on an item you already have 2 of at home. But it's just like any bad habit - and that's really what it's turned into, a habit - you just have to keep telling yourself no. I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a frying pan ,bought it and then home. We had bought one of those Orgreenic pans they advertise on TV, you know the one they demonstrate blowing an egg out, sliding burned cheese, etc. Good luck with that! I used it a couple times to make scrambled eggs in the morning and you pretty much need a crow bar to pry whatever it is you're cooking. I was even frying up onions USING OIL and it all stuck! So I'm back to Teflon and screw the environment. In knitting news I'm on the edging of the shawl finally - but I have to say it went pretty fast. Today I'm on call and it's spitting rain so not much to do but answer the phone and watch HGTV.

A Lot Of Water Under This Bridge

David and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary today - can you believe it? That's how long it takes people to pay off their mortgage! Saturn has made ONE orbit around the earth the entire time I've been married. If you threw out a pair nylons on my wedding day it would just be decomposing.  We have raised two children, lost all our money, got it back, moved 6 (7?) times, had 5 Vizslas, numerous cats, 2 snakes, 1 iguana and a skink. We've owned more cars than I care to remember and we've fished, baked, cleaned, delivered newspapers, done construction, worked in a hospital between the two of us. We've fought, made up and fought again. We've defended each other even if sometimes we weren't right and would have been friends had we not gotten married. It has been fun, sometimes too interesting and now we have to shoot for 50. As far as celebrating, We didn't do a whole lot of course, I took the day off from work, we went to the yarn shop and then out to an early dinner. I got the Knitters Pride rosewood interchangeable needles which I've admiring from afar.  We really don't need anything at this point in time and that was the only thing I wanted - David is still thinking about it and will most likely sneaky buy a gun. Reuben the puppy went in the kennel and did fine - he's really a good dog.  He's only had a couple of accidents and doesn't seem to mind the kennel.  We've decided to kennel this dog because it's just not safe to leave him the run of the house while we're out. We had the neighbors over for dinner last night - finally! - I had made a beef stew with biscuits to celebrate the last day of winter. Funny isn't it, we didn't really have much of a winter this year. I think it snowed a total of 4 inches and yesterday I made my stew it was with the windows open and the ceiling fans spinning. It was almost 80 degrees!! So we had a nice dinner - and it wasn't overly hot in the kitchen. This weekend I am going to start planting my garden - Hazel and John said no watering is needed. Hazel said if you water all the time the plants won't put down good roots. I am still deciding what to plant and David  has to put a fence up around it. I've had a nice couple of days off - you couldn't ask for better weather could you? We are taking out the summer clothes this weekend too, we're at the point where we randomly root through the boxes looking for something to wear, soon ALL of the clothes will be out so I am planning on swapping them out this weekend and being done with it. The nice thing about the attic in this house is it's ON the second floor - you just open the door and walk in so it's not like you need to pull out a ladder and root around. I'm on call this week so plan on staying home this weekend -but between the new knitting needles, the puppy, the garden and having to put out my summer clothes I don't think I'll run out of things to do.

Busy Busy Week.

Lap sitting

 I haven't posted all this week - we have just been super busy. I was out til after 7 pm every night this week - almost all work related. I am still doing well at Weight Watchers, my weight goes up and down a couple of pounds but it's under control. I did get my car back after being The Sad And Somewhat Disappointed Nurse on Saturday after all and $600 later. I took Monday and Tuesday off this week - Tuesday is our 30th anniversary and everyone keeps asking what we're doing. As you can see from the pictures we finally added a new dog to the family - 8 week old Reuben so we will not be doing much. David and his friend Tommy rode out to Columbus Ohio on Saturday  to get him, they left at 6 am and returned about 3pm - poor Reuben threw up on the way home but recovered. After auditioning name after name David just threw out Reuben - and it suits him well, doesn't it? Pearl is not overly sure of him but is getting a little bit better about him and his Attention Stealing Ways. It's a temporary situation,  he will only be a little guy for a short period of time and then will fit back in the Hoi - Poli. We're having our neighbors over for dinner tomorrow  - they're same ones that plowed my garden for me. So since I have a couple of days off and we have a new puppy we thought it would be fun to have them over. I had my physical this week finally - the doctor said I was perfect!! My blood pressure is fine, my weight is right on target - I'll take it. I went for standard blood work this morning - I have great veins (which seem to delight every phlebotomy's I've ever run into) so it was a 3 second visit and then back home. We have to finish cleaning the house, I'm on the last part of the last repeat for my shawl and then it's going to be socks for awhile. We heard from Jackson - he's fine and counting the days. We've been worried lately because of all the unrest over there but at least he's on the base. I'm working on my garden and reading, I am still in love with my Kobo. I know a lot of people don't have that brand of ereader, but I really really like it still. I signed up for the weekly email and wish I had done it sooner because they have ecoupons - who would have known?  So things are rolling along as you can see, I am just waiting for the next dip on my own personal roller coaster of a life.

Potential for trouble

Gearing up

Sunshine Day

 Pearl had a play date today with her friends Sophie  and Libby - I of course went along because, well, Pearl's driving skills are a bit lacking. We do love walking with Charlene and her dogs - it was fun except when Bear the hyper lab showed up. I know his name was Bear because we could hear his owner whistling and yelling in the distance. He was exceedingly rude and boisterous, the ladies did not enjoy his visit at all. I wondered about his owner - Bear didn't respond to being called at all which made me wonder why someone would let him off the leash in the first place. Pearl goes off the leash now but she also has her electric collar on and she comes back when I call her - I would be leery to let her off otherwise since the "small" parks can cover hundreds - or even thousands - of acres of wilderness. But otherwise Charlene and I walked and chatted - then let the dogs play in a field for awhile. The weather is beautiful today, in the 60's and sunny. I have to get my garden up and running soon - I'm still deciding what I'm planting. David will have to invite the neighbors for next weekend for dinner as they had company all weekend. It will work out a little better anyhow as I'm taking a couple of vacation days in anticipation of my 30th anniversary and the new puppy will be here!! David and Tommy are going to get him this coming weekend - David says it will serve Pearl right for harassing us all these years. We're most likely going to name him Blaze (Or Bogart. Or Harlan.......). So it should be an eventful weekend. In other news we completely forgot about Daylight Savings Time so were surprised this morning, nothing out of the ordinary -we're surprised every year. We did our shopping yesterday and I showed off my shawl at Blooming Yarns - then bought another skein to sneak into the house. Bwa. Ha. Ha.

Rolling Right Along

 My car has been in the shop since Wednesday - we dropped it off after work as it has no wheel bearings left, the rotors need something rotor-ie and the brakes have to be talked to and straightened out. David drove me to and from on Thursday - then I had a rental car - it was a GMC something. The only interesting feature  was if you went in reverse a little video screen appeared that showed you a TV screen of what you were backing into. I kept thinking it would be VERY cool for it to play all the time you were driving - you could see the road disappearing as you drove. But then I also realized I would be mesmerized by something like that and would cheerfully drive off a cliff watching the road  play out behind the car, doing an inadvertent Thelma and Louise moment -but without a Louise. The car was supposed to be ready by today but now the dealership is hoping it will be done by tomorrow (hoping?? are we wishing on stars?). I'm upset as I have a busy week so I made a Pathetic Nurse Call in which I told them I had to see CHILDREN  next week and I would hate to upset their parents - the best I could do on short notice. It was not worthy of an Oscar but I would have gotten a nomination.  I was going to have the neighbors over for dinner Sunday but I have to go over and see what their plans are as I think they have company. I have to thank John - he somehow snuck over this week (with a tractor no less!)  and finished my garden plot - it's ready to go, I just have to decide what I'm planting. I think part of it will be devoted to flowers and the rest vegetables. The weather has been spectacular - hasn't it? Vincent the cat has been feeling better and goes out to harass the wide life. Connie and Fred did a drive by this week - they had been in Florida and stopped at Fred's grandson Carl's house to see him and his family. They stopped at our house next and stayed overnight, then back to Hampton Bays. It was a brief but nice visit - of course I would have enjoyed it more if i wasn't  STILL sick. I finished my antibiotic but it seems when I get over one thing - my nose is not running half as bad - something else starts - my chest is all congested - well, at least it's not a boring illness!

A Lull In The Waters

 I'm feeling a little bit better - not quite as drippy and snuffly - still coughing but not so breathless. I have an appointment for a physical in a couple of weeks. Since I was there I went ahead and made the appointment - with the doctor I had before we left. There's a lot of good doctors there and mine is semi-retired - but I like him a lot and he's good. We had a nice quiet weekend - I was too sick to have any other kind of weekend but that's beside the point - but it was fun. I spent Saturday in the yard with Pearl and Sunday we did a little shopping and then back home. I ate too much this week, and yes I did - the scale was busy telling me that little fact this morning. I've been very good up until now with keeping track but between the house guests, being sick and honestly just feeling like eating whatever  I wanted - I let loose and now will have to work twice as hard to get it off. It's not a huge amount and I think if you take care of the weight before it's out of control it's OK to once in awhile just do what you like. I haven't been able to exercise too much this past two weeks either - this morning I made myself get started before I talked myself out of it. How easy it is to just let it go one day, then another - then back to square one. In Shawl News I'm on to Chart F, then just chart G (twice) , the edge and then I'm done. I am definitely doing socks next - I've got the yarn and the pattern, then who knows! Hat, sweater, Afghan, maybe another pair of socks. I was going to try the two at a time socks but that will have to wait as I've bought about 8 sets of DPNs and it would be silly not  use them.

Busy Week.

Adam and Me

Kim, Adam, David and Grace

 I have been felled by Cooties. Unrelenting, snarky cooties. I am on antibiotics, Flonase and my face runneth over with every form of mucous known to mankind. I have gone through 2 boxes of tissues I swear. And during all of this our son Adam came by to visit followed by my brother in law and his wife Kim and Grace. I wish I had more time with them - but we did manage to get out to dinner a couple of times. Adam hasn't seen his aunt and uncle  in a few years so I know they all had a good time.  I called in sick twice, once on Monday to go to the doctor and then on Thursday when I just could not get out of bed. I worked best that I could - it will still be there Monday and sneezed and coughed my way through the week.  Today I'm feeling a little better, I got out to do a little shopping and on the way home took a road I hadn't before and took some pictures. When I got home Pearl and I wandered the yard - we looked at where the garden will be and I'm trying to figure out what will be growing this year. David has to fence it in - we have super sneaky deer lurking around all over looking for a free meal - I HATE deer. A Lot.  It's not like the Poconos where you were pretty much tripping over deer - the deer here are huge wild things - but they are sneaky and need to stay in the freaking woods and out of my yard. Considering that the total population of WV is LESS than NYC that means there are a zillion acres of woods - the deer need to stay in them. Humph! As you can see the shawl is coming along fine - the next project will be socks I think. I was going to do some organizing today but the day was so nice and I've been in the house all week so I spent a lot of the day outside with Miss Pants, I read and she patrolled(her patrolling does not extend to the deer, she completely ignores them) - what a lovely day - only 17 more days!