Memorial Day Weekend

Ray got out here in good time - I think a lot of people were traveling  on Friday night and not so much on Saturday morning. I do have to say I DON'T miss summer holidays in the Hamptons, here I think it can get a bit busy - but it's shopping and sightseeing busy, not puking in the bushes busy. Since we had the open house yesterday I put off Bushkill until today, Pearl had to be picked up by 3 so there wouldn't have been enough time to get there and back - we did Dixon City and got the grocery shopping done, plus we hit all of our favorite stores. The open house by the RE went alright, not great but at least the house got a good scrub! Harry thinks we have one interested party so keep your fingers crossed. We picked Pearl up at 2:30, she was not a happy camper and proceeded to behave as if she'd been a prisoner of war. The woman at the kennel suggested maybe some one needed some Ritalin - hmm. After letting Pearl run around the yard for a bit we headed back out and  ate early at the local Italian restaurant that Ray likes and that was pretty much it for the day. Today's activity depends on the weather, when I took The Hostess out for her morning constitutional it was rather grey and cloudy - I was glad we didn't go yesterday as we would've gotten caught in a rainstorm and since it's a hiking trail that would not have been comfortable to say the least. As Ray would say we have all summer so if it's cloudy again today we can go to the movies as  no one has seen Wolverine yet. In other news I did restart the sock and was glad I did - I did the long tail cast on but also figured out how to do the beginning of the toe correctly so there is no ridge.  I'm also using a smaller needle so I won't have to cast around looking for someone with giant feet to wear my bright green stripy socks.

It Is Done.

I looked at the sock last night  - on the surface most would say there was nothing wrong with it - but it had a few holes from accidental yarn overs, a ridge from knitting backwards on one row and of course the heel. So, I did end up frogging it and will do a better job the next time, I've knit socks before but this pair will be from the toe up instead of the traditional top down so it might take a few tries. And the yarn is too expensive for it to be a crappy pair of socks. I do have to get up and get moving - the open house is today and we have to get it cleaned up. Miss Pants will be in jail for a few hours - it's actually a different kennel and we'll see if she does better in this one as we're going to Washington in a couple of weeks and if she likes it better we'll contain her there. Ray is due out in a few hours and we have to finish getting his room de- catted, but for the most part I'm planning on a weekend to recoup my troops for a better week next week. Last week sucked, between bouts of homesickness, stress and everything going to pot it was just not a good week. And you know once you start riding that train, it's hard to get off. But I can see where I've made my mistakes and where I need to improve. Part of it is transitioning from staff to management I'm now looking at my career from the other end of things - as a visit nurse I knew not to schedule patients on a holiday, as a manager I forgot to instruct my staff not to schedule patients on a holiday. But I am learning, I just hope to be learning fast enough. 

Run Away! Run Away!

So, the weekend is FINALLY here -after two weeks of working straight through I am hoping to have some time off. Of course the moment I sat down with dinner and the lap top AND Total Recall on the tube the phone rang. From work. At least it was just a 5 minute fix - eek. We heard from Ray, he will be on his way here in the am, we may have to reconfigure our plans a bit, David was up in the Bushkill Fall area and he said it's pretty thick with New Yorkers for the weekend so we might just goof around Dixon City for the day and make a run at the falls on Sunday.  We didn't do pizza for dinner, we made the ravioli that we already have, I'm a bit out of the pizza thing anyhow. There is no Little Ceasar's near here and that's what I really like, especially the Cheesy Bread with garlic butter sauce. Very low calorie I'm sure!! The other thing that must be addressed, sadly, is the sock. Yes the sock might need to be frogged entirely - I completely screwed up the heel and I've been avoiding looking at it. I did the decreases all wrong for a few rows and even if I just frog it back past the heel I'll never figure out how to put the needles back on right. It's not that huge of a deal - a sock is a fairly wee item knitting wise and it's not like I've never had to do that before - the sweater I had to throw out the entire back because 2/3 of the way done I realized I had accidently used two different color lots and it was just not passable. And the thing with the sock is I could continue on but what's the point on making socks that no one will wear? Sigh. Rip it. Rip it.

Eat What You Have

We've been trying to eat what's in the house, as opposed to bringing yet more food in. This is not as easy as it seems. We had over the past few moves gotten rid of the things you buy - for whatever reason at the time - and then cart around even though the chances of it being eaten at some point are nil. I had a container of Greek spices - I have no idea what Greek Spices are but they smelled bad and made me glad I was not Greek and had to eat such things.  There was no chance of it ever being put on food and I could never think of anything to put it on, yet I toted that container through 3 houses as if it would become useful at it's final destination. So on the last move from Here to There out it went, along with the can of grapefruit which only made slightly more sense than the Greek Spices. Anyhoo, one of the problems with making a real dinner is it takes time and thought - I got home around 6 last night and started to reach for the pizza from the other night but stopped. Instead I made sweet potato fries, Boca Burger and spinach and actually, it only took about 20 minutes and while it cooked I fed the cats and put the dishes away - I suppose it's just a mind set.  We are getting better at shopping, we keep a list during the week so when we go we're not just buying whatever looks appealing  - and our shopping is very heavy on the fruit and vegetables these days. As the weather gets warmer that gets a bit cheaper, I'm still waiting for the blueberries to go down though - I cannot bring myself to spend $7 for a pint of those things.

Ho. Hum

Not much going on these days. Well, that's not true, there's just nothing different going on these days. The weather is going back to being warm, or at least warmer - again.  The real estate is having an open house for us this weekend, around there the housing market has tanked big time so it's very difficult to sell anything. It's even hard to buy anything, people are playing fast and loose with the financing (which is what happened with the last house we tried to buy) so the entire situation is getting discouraging. We would be able to rent our house for awhile but we have to find something to buy first, round and round we go. So for now, we will just continue to drive - I know a lot of people drive long distances to get to and from work but for us it's new and with my longer hours makes for a very long day.  Pearl is enjoying it strangely enough due to the pet sitter who comes on the days that we're both out of the house all day. David and I were laughing yesterday that we have become one of "those" people - you know, the ones that dress their dogs up in hats and use a doggy stroller. But like I said before, it just isn't fair to leave the dog locked in the house for 12 to 14 hours without a break. Oh well, time to get moving

Where Did The Weekend Go??

Well, that sucked, didn't it? I left the house at 8:30 yesterday and got back around 4 - just in time to finish scheduling everything and emailing to make sure everyone knows what everyone else is doing. And now it's Monday. I did get a bit more done on the sock last night, that's the nice thing about knitting socks is it goes pretty fast. I have to keep the whole business up on top of the entertainment system as you never know when Pearl will seek revenge for your not being here.  She can be like that sometimes. David and I both have a full week, the pet sitter will be by, she likes Pearl a great deal - and it makes it easier on us knowing the carpet will stay intact. I'm making plans to go to Bushkill Falls next weekend with Ray, we have the open house coming up too - it's just one day for a few hours, not so bad. We're planning on dumping Pearl at the kennel and then taking Ray up to the falls - that way the dog (and us) are out of the house for the day. David said Jackson called last night, he's still in Mississippi and doing well

Another Day

I'm feeling a little better today, like I said, it passes. My stomach's in a bit of knot and there is a general feeling of sadness, but it's nothing compared to yesterday.  And we have a full schedule for the next few weeks - Ray is coming out for memorial day, Nancy comes out the next weekend and the weekend after that David and I are off to Washington. That should keep my mind on other things.  Yesterday was just racing all day, I got up and cleaned the house, did the week's shopping in between the crying jags, then I got a call from the RN in Stroudsburg that patient #1 was running very late which ran into the time patient #2 needed to be admitted.  So I had to run out there and admit patient #2 and didn't get home until 7:30 and had to start calling scheduling patients for today. The rain held off until I got home - but wow is all I have to say. It was a huge thunderstorm that went for hours and hours, booming and lighting up the house all night. Pearl usually doesn't notice but this one she did, she was shaking like a leaf which was not conducive to anyone else getting any sleep. It finally let up and we slept until almost 6 am which around here is like the middle of the day.  It's very gloomy and overcast at the moment, the temps have also dropped down. I didn't schedule the first patient until 10 so I don't have to dart out the door. I have a tendency to do that in an effort to get it over with but all I end up is with another workday. Vincent is here in bed cheerfully parked against me, purring like a crazy thing - some days it pays to be Vincent.