Happy Halloween!

Of course I have to work and since most of my patient population is older than dirt and incontinent to boot - well, there will be NO trick or treating there! I had to work the daylight savings time night which sucks half of the time. If you're lucky you can work the Spring Ahead which is an hour out early. I was not lucky. I worked the Fall Behind part of the program which is having to stay an hour extra and since they don't change the clocks til later everytime you look at it you think it's 5 am! And then you deflate realizing it is only 4 am. This is exacerbated by dayshift scampering around happily since they get to come in an hour late. I ended up waking up at 1 today, the shift in time has me off schedule, but I'm off tomorrow for one day so I  can catch up on my sleep then. I made Jackson get out of bed, he doesn't even have the excuse of working, now does he? We haven't had one trick or treater and I'm trying very hard not to trick or treat myself - at least not too much. The weather is beautiful today, isn't it? I had the dogs out and they're still on Gopher Hole Patrol, we haven't seen one yet, but I guess since I'm always digging at the holes, they've probably moved.

Things Are Moving Along

Some more pictures of the family room in progress. Over the winter we'll be furnishing it, there's no hurry so when we come across something we like we'll buy it. Of course we ARE being sued so perhaps it will have to be very inexpensive furniture. Maybe that french stuff, "plas-teak". We're kind of over the shock of it all, David has touched base with thier lawyer and will speak further to her next week. This is all coming at a very bad time, we're dealing with trying to get Adam home, David's mom needs surgery, I'm adjusting to my job, etc. But on the other hand I suppose there is no "perfect" time to get sued! Jackson's doing well, he seems to be making acquaintances in school now, no real friends yet but has been having fun on the bus and at lunch - and of course metal shop. The new thing is smacking each other on the elbows with slags of metal, Jackson got nailed last week and gave it back this week. I've got no idea where the teacher is in all of this, from what I can tell he just sort blanket-yells at everyone once in awhile and then wanders off, no one seems to have an issue with this. Jackson is also taking badmitton in gym - isn't it interesting that in NY gym is all basketball and track - you get out of state and it's cup-stacking and badmitton. Last month he was playing field hockey - the boy version where the goal is not the net, but various limbs of the opposing team. Despite the rough-housing he seems to be adjusting.

A Boy Named Sue

Well, that really isn't a pictureof a boy named Sue, but while we're on the subject WE are being sued! The people that bought our house developed water and mold problems a few weeks after we left and are claiming we covered it up. The fact that we only lived there for 7 months, never saw any of this and fixed everything else from the hot water heater to the septic system -  why would we have let that go?? AND to add to it when David was doing his painting he was trying to find a better color to paint the downstairs so he experimented behind the wet bar, sigh -where the mold is. He couldn't decided on a color so just used the paint the former owners left. so it looks like he painted over it. WV seems to be the never ending saga. They've had the house inspected and it seems the house was waterproofed at one point and there's some sort of french drainage system that doesn't work and no one seems to have known about it. Not to mention they've had record rains in WV which may have been why we never saw this. We're trying not to stress about this - the bottom line is they're suing for $10,000 and even though it's ALOT of money it's not a super scary amount. The problem is even if we fight this we'll still have to pay court costs and that could amount to or supercede the amount they're suing for. David called the inspector that did the WV house and got her wife. When he told her we were being sued she told him to join the club - they're being sued for $15,000 over some peeling wallpaper at some other house he inspected a few years ago. . We're not getting crazy over this however, David's made some phone calls and we'll just let it work itself out. On the other hand any advice would be greatly appreciated at this point (or maybe donations). On other news I will be off orientation on Sunday finally! Just in time for Halloween, how strange is that? I'm also off for the weekend of the 6th in case anyone wants to visit! (BRING CASH)

Change Is Good For You!

David's been working on the house steadily, what a difference it is for him to have the time to actually do the work instead of trying to squeeze it on the weekends and nights. The first picture is the guest room which we're leaving intact for now, the decor goes with the furniture we brought with us. I found some old pictures of the living room and family room so you can really see the difference. After David's done, we'll reorganize and straighten it out, since he's constantly moving things there's no point in trying now. Jackson did make his mountain last night, when it's painted I'll post a picture. David gave him a couple of cans of instant insulation so he just squirted a mountain out on a piece of cardboard. I still dont' see the point of it myself, I can see this project for elementary but for high school students?? I'm still working on my sleeping - I waited to go to bed until 10am and got a few hours. I'll go back to bed after dinner for a couple hours more. I find it a bit silly that I've had to make sleeping a project, of course our Vincent has made it his life. We've been making him go out and it's a struggle, the second you get near the door he starts squriming to get down. He occasionally will ask to go out, but I dont think he'll ever be an outside cat again.

The Face Of Innocence

I ended up shutting Mr. Lee down the basement today, I'm having enough problems sleeping without her leading a commando assaults on the bedroom door. It's not as bad as it sounds since the "basement" is actually a carpeted family room and Jackson's bedroom is down there too. When I got up she was playing with Jackson and refused to come upstairs until later to eat, so I'm guessing she didn't suffer overly much. I'm still having trouble sleeping, insomnia during the day is an odd animal. It's not that I'm not sleeping - I am - I'm just not sleeping when I WANT to be. Instead of falling asleep when I get home I can't seem to be able to drift off until noon or so which puts my whole schedule of sitting around and watching tv off entirely. We're currently at odds with Jackson (hmmm, arguing with a teenager, how strange is that?). He was supposed to have done a project for school which was to build a mountain out of  the material of your choice. He thinks it's stupid, as do his parents but it needs to be done. So far it's a week overdue and he's been dodging his mountain building responsibilties all evening. If they thought bringing the mountain to Mohammand was difficult, they should've tried to bring it to Jackson - he apparently has been sprayed with Mountain Repellant. David's planning on launching another assault in a little while. I guess it makes the day go faster!

Hang Ten!

Of course, with Vincent naptime pretty much covers most of his day. He's got this new habit of sleeping with various parts hanging over the side of the loft which we find quite amusing. Mr. Lee's been practicing her circus act by marching back and forth along the handrail so the loft has been a great hit with the feline members of the family. Yesterday was quiet, devoted to phone calls and housework. We went out to the chinese buffet and Jackson tried the sushi. He didn't think much of it and refused to try the squid salad even though it was very cool looking with all it's tiny tetacles and tomatoes. It actually looked like something you might dare a very drunk person to eat. David met a guy down the road named Roman who's from Russia and is very nice. He's a limo driver in NYC but spends every single weekend out here. The weather's been getting chillier and the leaves are starting to turn from thier brilliant colors to drab brown. Jackson is off to see the eye doctor this afternoon and I am back at work. This week  I work a day during the weekend which I'm glad for as it will break up the week - 5 nights straight week after week is a bit hard to handle. I'm starting to Christmas shop, picking up little things here and there. Every year I try to get started early, lose steam and end up running frantically two days before Christmas. We also joined the local video store, it's no blockbuster but they seem to have quite a bit.

Just Hangin' In The Hood!

It's hard to believe it's almost Halloween. Probably because all the stores have been decorated for Christmas since September. Most seem to have thier Halloween displays butted right against the trees and holly. It's hard to feel spooky amongst the twinkling lights and snowmen! We went to a craft fair yesterday, all candles and ribbons type stuff. Jackson and David were a bit miffed, they thought there would be Dead Animal Crafting so in retalitation they persisted in following right behind me like a pair of demented baby ducks. After about half an hour of that I gave up, bought a couple of things and ix-nayed out of there. We ended up in our favorite spot, Commerce Blvd in Dickson City. Jackson reserved the Metroid Game and got a free tee-shirt which he gloated over all the way home. We went to Sam's Club to buy Jackson his weekly Cartful Of Junk which he'll run out of by Wednesday and then trail around the house claiming There's Nothing To Eat. Vincent the cat continues to be quite the popular boy except for Claw of course. He jumped her this morning which caused all sorts of troubles and ruckus - he doesn't hurt her but it certainly doesn't help her disposition. Mr. Lee has taken up walking along the railing of the loft, it's amazing how she's regained her sense of balance after all the damage she sustained back in April - and to think she's be going on 15 this year. David continues to work on the house - we've decided to give it a couple more months. With what we had left over from the sale of the house and my salary we can afford it and it's easier if he just gets it done now, instead of trying to do it piecemeal on the weekends. He's tiling the family room this week and doing the never-ending painting.