Now You See It, Now You Don't!!

Yep, after many many years Jackson has lost the hair. He's claiming it's due to David but considering the first thing he did when we got home was have me take pictures and then email them off to all his friends - he's not unhappy. The girl that cut his hair was a nervous wreck, she was fairly new but was a Hot Chick so anything she did was ok with the boy. She was going Oh My Gwad as she was cutting off the very long parts and Jackson was like just keep going. So he is a Neat and Tidy boy these days. He also managed to unclog the john that he jammed up yesterday after a secret trip to home Depot. We took him out to his favorite chinese buffet and he did make a little extra cash off the haircut so he was a happy boy yesterday too. They're still predicting a major snowfall for Monday so I guess I'd better finish up my shopping today.

The Boy I Am Considering Killing.

Jackson developed a problem with his toilet this morning in which it does not drain right. Further investigation has uncoverered the fact that SOME people have trouble distinguishing thier "toilet" from thier "trash can" and they have now been advised that in the event thier garbage is full, that it is NOT prudent to flush the excess. Sigh. Hopefully a little Drano-type stuff will help as attempting to explain the dynamics to David will be a bit tough and might even involve some yelling since David will be the one negotiating the underworld of our house. It started to snow again this morning but just a dusting, we're expecting "significant" snowfall on Monday - whatever that means. That works out well in my world since I'm working 7-7 on Sunday and then off on Monday which means if everthing goes as predicted I'll miss the bad parts. I've been doing alot of walking lately, both on the treadmill and in the neighborhood. The nice thing  about them not letting dogs run is you can walk forever without being chased down by someone's dog that the owner will insist is "just the friendliest thing" while the animal is eyeballing you like a Big Mac. I'm taking ACLS on the 8th, they somehow messed up my schedule so I've got to do 8 hours of ACLS, go home and then come back for an 8 hour shift - but then I get an extra day off (sort of!) so it works out. Jackson and I are off to Dixon City this morning for him to finally get a hair cut, I think he's sick of having to take care of all that hair and is ready to get rid of it. Not to mention if we can't get the toilet/trash can thing straightened out it will go along way with Dad.

Row Row Row Your Boat

Vincent has become, as most people know, a very valued member of the family. Now he's truly fitting in by being a Loony Cat. Over the past few months his obsession with running water has become quite apparent - and now he has a new found activity of playing in the bathtub. He gets in there and flies around and then just bounces around the bathroom in general. He waits outside the door  hoping to see the toilet flush and is my occaional pal when I brush my teeth or wash my face. He breaks in while we shower and it's not unusual these days to see a pair of little black ears peeking past the curtain. He decided to be brave and  ventured out into the snow yesterday but was back in the house before I was. The dogs enjoy it and we got more snow overnight, with more predicted later in the week. I started walking yesterday, I have about 10 pounds to lose, gained partially because I've been unable (or unwilling) to go to the gym. Faced with either the prospect of losing it or having to buy a new wardrobe if this continues I've decided to bite the bullet and get moving. I've found that as I get older the pounds that used to just come off now stay on like cement. It's hard to stay the course when you work at it and nothing happens or you put in a large effort with little result but I need to take care of this before it gets unmanagable. Sigh, grapefruit anyone??

The Latest Fashion

I took a tiny break from the poncho, which I might add is taking YEARS to complete and it still remains homeless. I made this hat because I liked the earflaps (and you can tie them up for summer wear as demonstrated in picture #2) and it's currently on it's way to Farmington, Maine for Celia since she's one of the few people I know that seriously could use the earflaps. I'm actually almost done with the poncho, but as we all know the last bit is always the longest  and I'm currently making myself finish it. If I don't, it'll sit on a closet shelf for years, haunting me until I finally lose the directions and throw it out and then feel guilty for wasting all that time and effort for nothing. Jackson and I went to see Constintine yesterday, it was pretty good and Jackson particularly enjoyed that God gets his ass kicked a little bit. He's still going through THAT phase of Drama And Darkness but occasionally a little light peeks through so we'll just ride it out. The movie theater here still amazes me, afternoon matinee is very popular and the parking lot is always 3/4 of the way full, even for the first showings. We got home around 5 pm and then went out again to the chinese buffet, so yesterday was a good day. David is currently negotiating another job and while he's not busy doing that, he's busy breaking the rules with the Gestapo. He was thinking they were maybe tailing him, but I think he's just got a little bit of paranoia going. He finished the front of the house, it's hard to tell in the picture I posted but it does look much better. He'll probably do the entire house eventually since he doesn't seem to be able to help himself and leave anything alone. We got about 5 or 6 inches of snow last night so school is cancelled which is ok. They were supposed to have today off but they took it away due to all the snow days they've had and now have had to give it back since it, well, snowed. I'm sure Jackson's weeping will be held to a low minimum, perhaps a few tiny sobs into his pillow. He generally doesn't get too upset over school closings. David might be going to NJ this coming weekend, Ray's sister's house is getting ready to be sold and he wants David to have some of his sister's furniture so if it doesn't snow that will be the activity for the weekend for them and Jackson and I will be on our own. Sleeping late and eating doughnuts!! Whoo hoo!

Aloha From Delaware

We had a good time at Janet and Diane's. The plan was for me to pick Jackson up from school parking lot in the back at 2:45 and drive straight to thier house. Jackson obliged by standing in the front of the school.I didn't know where he was so I tried calling his cell phone that he didn't answer because he thought I was that crazy spanish woman who thinks he's her son Justin. So I had to call David at home to call him to find out where he was. We got it all straightened out and off we went.  We were heading down the highway at 3:15 when my phone rang - it was David wanting to know if  I wanted this black suitcase by the couch. Sigh. So back to the house we went and that turned into last minute packing, bathroom breaks, etc so when all was said and done we got to Janet's around 6:30, it's about 2 1/2, 3 hours from here. We went out to Harry's Hotdogs and the waitress was making a little fun of the lone vegetarian having a Reuben without the cornbeef but she was nice. They've been doing tons of building in their area, I was amazed at how many more town houses have sprung up. That farm behind them is now another development sadly enough. We headed out for Delaware the next morning, Jackson's whole mission for visiting Aunt Janet was to buy an external memory and he's been saving his money for quite awhile. Since there's tons of shopping and no sales tax he made out pretty well. For lunch we did Kahunaville, which is like a little bit of the tropics in the middle of winter. Not really, but it's VERY tacky and alot of fun and you can get fake-y tropic meals. I didn't do too much shopping myself - after all the moving we've done the idea of adding more stuff to our house just isn't appealing anymore. I can no longer look at anything without thinking of how well it will pack. We had a quiet saturday night and watched a DVD - Troy which Jackson enjoyed because he loves mythology and I  enjoyed because I love Brad Pitt (who doesn't??). We headed out at 9 am Sunday  since I had to work the  7 - 7 that night. Ray was out for the weekend visiting David so I got to see him for a big five minutes I think. Davids' busy doing a bit of re-siding in the front of the house today and I took pictures to show to the gestapo since he once again does NOT have permission to do any of this. I'm considering blackmail.

Our Backyard

Well, one more night of work and then I'm off for two! Work has been getting shorter and shorter, but it's the same where ever you go, so there's no point in complaining about it. The temp finally dropped this morning and although they were predicting up to six inches we've only gotten a little less than a dusting. They're threatening again tonight but we'll see. We're leaving for Janet's tomorrow after Jackson gets out of school and should arrive around dinner time. Work was rather rough last night - ICU can either be very easy OR very not easy. I had two patients and spent the entire 12 hours running between the two of them. Hopefully tonight will be a bit easier! And I've run into THAT nurse - there's one on every floor. You know the one that pretends she writes people up and talks about them because "I just have to!". I overheard this individual telling someone that she's anal about everything and I guess that would explain why she's such an asshole! (pardon the french!)

A Dog In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

Silly thing. David must be back since I can hear Copper whining upstairs and scampering around. Roman came over the other day with his three year old grandson Justin to see the dogs which of course the dogs loved. Justin is very cute and speaks only russian but being three is the same in all languages. Jackson and I are are heading out to Janet and Diane's this weekend, I'm still waiting to hear if Vincent is invited or not. Otherwise he'll have to be a bachelor with David. It's more fun to be a bachelor if you have testicles I think, but we all have our cross to bear. I get paid tomorrow and I'm looking foward to that, makes my life worth living. I had one patient( he has dementia) this week as we were turning him, looked at me and asked "how did you get involved with this group?" and when I didn't answer lowered his voice and asked "was it greed?". The aide and I were laughing and I told him money would have to be involved for it to be greed! The snow continues to melt but given where we live I don't think this is the last of it yet. David's in complete denial and is Peter-Panning it about the weather, poor deluded boy. The temps are supposed to drop back down to the twenties this weekend and I don't care how many times he watches the weather they aren't going to say anything different. He can clap his hands and click his heels all he wants!