Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Good, The Bad and The Sad

Strange post title, I know.  But, it just about covers the three things I wanted to quick post about.
The Good:
Mom had her knee replacement surgery yesterday!  Everything went very well.  She was able to get up and take a few steps to and from the recliner.  They didn't take her to therapy yesterday, but will be this morning.  She'll be released from the hospital either tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon or Thursday morning.  She was in great spirits, although a bit bored, last night when I talked with her.  I had talked with Becca a bit earlier in the day and even though she was tired, she was confident of Mom's surgery.  I'm so very thankful that Becca was able to come out here and that Mom is able to have this surgery done.  Mom really needed it for a while now and it will be so nice for her to be in less pain and be able to do simple things like climb stairs without too much extra effort.

The Bad:
I have strep.  Yep, this actually factors in to why I'm so glad Becca was able to come out to PA to help Mom out for almost two weeks.  If I'd been the one to take her to the hospital yesterday morning, we'd have been in a heap of trouble as I hadn't been started on antibiotics yet and the last thing you want in a surgical area is someone with an active infection like strep!  So, after a miserable weekend and a painful start to the morning, I got on some antibiotics and was told to take essentially a double dose of Alieve for the pain.  I think I'll stick to single doses for now.  I don't normally have breathing issues with pain meds, but last night I'm not sure if it was stress or what but my breathing was off.  I don't think my inhaler would have helped any, but it just wasn't quite right.

The Sad:
A very dear and good friend of mine at work passed away over the weekend.  Bill Dudley was only 66 years old.  He'd been like a father at work for me many times.  He has such a huge and kind heart, but trust me when I tell you he wouldn't take guff from anyone.  I knew we were in trouble with some of our contractors we'd hired into the service group when he admitted he didn't even bother to learn their names because he knew they weren't going to be around long.  He'd help you out in an instant, but if you kept coming to him with the same stupid things, he'd stop helping you and just ignore you.  Everyone here really cared about him, and he really did care about everyone here.  He let me rant and rave in his general direction a time or two when I needed to let off steam, but as soon as I'd gone just a hair too far or ranted just a moment too long, he'd put me in my place and remind me that we were at work.  Like I said, he could be a father to me at work some days, and I never once resented it.  I actually was quite comforted by it, that someone in this building really did care when some days it felt like no one did, especially in the early years.
He lost his 3 year long battle with cancer.  It started out as throat cancer of some kind, but eventually moved into his bones.  He will be so very missed around the office.  I will miss you Dud!

So, I'd better actually get some real work done, I've been procrastinating most of the morning.  Peace to all and may you have much, much more "Good" than "Bad" or "Sad".

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunday Quickie

Just a quickie.  I missed the opportunity to remember Chalenger yesterday.  I was reminded whrn I saw a post by my friend Landon.  Those who know me know exactly what.kind of impact that made on my young life.

I am very glad that as I type Becca is winging her way across the country. She will be taking Mom in for her surgery tomorrow.  I wish I was able, but I'm not really and besides, I think I came down with strep yesterday morning. Just what I wanted... not.

Anyhow here is a picture of my most recently completed project.  It was supposed to be a shawl, but I figured I would never wear it that way and it just happened to be exactly wide enough to turn into a shrug.  Yes, the yarn matches the first pair of socks.  I also used that yarn first to make a pair of fingerless gloves a few years back.  (This project has been on the hook well over a year!)

Anyhow, that is about all I had to say.
Peace to all and may you be healthy and happy.



Friday, January 27, 2012

Wet Winter?

Can I tell you that I'm sick of rain?  Really, well and truly I am sick of rain.  Don't get me wrong, we can usually use rain... but man has the last 12 months been WET!  Remember all the flooding and rain I talked about this summer?  Remember how many weeks I posted that I couldn't get a bike ride in because it was raining.  Well, the trend seems to be continuing through the winter.
And can I tell you I'm not happy about it?
I want snow.
Yes, you read that right, I want snow.  I want about a week of nice cold, clear (not damp!) weather and then a dumping of a foot or more of snow.  And then I want it to stay cold for another couple of weeks so it stays around.  I want to go sledding a bunch more times with my boy-o this winter.  I want to get some pretty pictures of the snow.  I want the cold weather to kill all the germies that keep getting everyone sick over and over again because this stupid weather just keeps incubating them.

I know, I know, I'm whining again.  And I'd also better be careful about what I wish for.

Anyhow, besides this wacky weather that feels more like April or September, this week has been going well.

Monday was the last "Amma Day" for 6-8 weeks.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not, but Mom's getting her left knee replaced on Monday.  We're all pretty excited about this, a little nervous at times, but pretty excited.  Her knee really has gotten quite bad and is getting more unstable by the day it seems.  Thankfully she has a doctor who seems to be really awesome and is having it done at a facility that handles about 1000 or more knees and hips a year.  Yep, you read that right, a year.  That's over 20 a week.  (If you're re-reading this blog post, you're not imagining things, I changed it, I had the wrong numbers stuck in my head... Mom corrected me *laugh*.)  She's also found a really awesome rehab program that's all day for an entire week and should get her up, moving and well on her way to 100% much more quickly.
Boo's excited about that thought, if only because Amma mentioned she should be able to go down the slide with him at the park come spring... All our conversations about why he won't see Amma on Monday go something along the lines of:
"Amma won't be here Monday" - me
"Why?" - Boo
"She's getting her knee fixed"
"Oh! So she can go down the big slide wif me!"

See.  I told you the boy-o loves playing with his Amma.

Anyhow, Becca is flying out here on Sunday so that she can stay at the house with Mom and Dad for about 2 weeks and get Mom to and from the hospital and rehab.  I really appreciate that she can do this.  She's able to work from home (and I think she's spending a few vacation days as well...) which means she can still get her work done and take care of the running around.  I just have to make it a priority to steal here at least one afternoon for a bit.  That and I've got to make sure she and Boo get some "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" time.  We've been trying to get the two of them and that book together for the last year!  I think Becca will be quite blown away at how fast Boo points out Goldbug on each page, I hope she's been practicing!

Anyhow, I think my file is almost finished evaluating so I've really got to pay attention to some "real" work.

Peace to all and may you have a dry weekend (unless you really do need the rain!) and good adventures ahead.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Where Was I?

Now, let's see here, where was I?  It's been so long since I've taken the time to form coherent thoughts here, that I'm not sure I can.

January has truly been a busy one and not all the fun kind of busy.  Work has been tough and I keep feeling like I'm slipping further behind.  I keep closing as many tickets as I can, but they're coming in fast and furious right now, and not all are related to the reporting month we're in the middle of.  And it seems like I keep finding myself eyeballs deep in something long and involved that isn't going to be cleaned up quickly, or even just be a bunch of grunt work.  Oh well, it's been keeping me on my toes at any rate.

We had a bit of an off week with Boo this week.  I think I mentioned it on Wednesday evening.  He was healthy the rest of the week, just a little off.

Yesterday we finally got some snow.  Yes, we had that nice big storm back for Halloween, but yesterday was the first day we'd seen anything other than a few flurries since then.  We have had a good bit of rain and a good bit of very cold weather, but not until yesterday did we have both cold weather and precipitation.  Thankfully for us, it stayed all snow.  I think we got about 4-5 inches or so.
The toughest part of the day was dropping Gak off at work.  The roads were truly a mess and the snow was still coming down pretty good.  Boo and I then put the wash in at the laundromat and played in the falling snow until the washers were done.  Then I peeled off his wet mittens and socks and tossed them in with the rest of the laundry.
After laundry I took some GS cookies over to Rachel because she managed to sell out of Caramel deLites in 2 days.  (That reminds me, I should probably put in an order for some more of some things... especially with the cookie booths we've got coming up... we'll see where we're at Tuesday...).  Actually, I ended up picking Rachel up and taking her with us to have brunch with Kat, Zoe and Granmom.  Zoe asked if Boo could come over sledding, and I said after Gak got off work but only if Boo napped.  That was pretty good incentive for Boo to stay in bed and I could tell he had played hard in the morning because he crashed hard and only woke up because Michelle from across the hall pounded on our door so I could move the car so Jim could plow that half of the parking lot.
So, after picking up Gak from work, the three of us headed over to Kat's house.  Kat was out with Scott (which is a good thing), but Zoe and Granmom were home.  Steph got home right after we got there too.  After a few I took the kids out sledding.  We had a lot of fun.  (I didn't get to sled much myself though, but was chasing them up and down the hill a lot.  Steph got Boo this awesome inflatable snow tube for Christmas.  He's so light, that once there's a path down the hill, he just flies!  He had so much fun.  He did end up in the prickers once or twice but he didn't really care.  I think we were out there for at least 45 minutes.  And once we came in, the kids wouldn't stop eating.  That's amazing for both of them.  They each had almost 2 servings of popcorn chicken pieces, Zoe had a little thing of mac-n-cheese, they split a packet of ramen soup, shared a huge slice of watermelon and then I lost track of what all they asked for and ate.  I know there were strawberries involved, and goldfish crackers, but I'm not sure what all else.  Very little of it was junk, so I didn't care.

Andy got home about an hour after we'd come in from sledding.  He cooked dinner and the four of us adults (Granmom had left for work already) hung out and had an enjoyable time.  It was very nice to be able to spend time with just Steph and then just Steph and Andy once Andy came home.  I really do enjoy hanging with them and they're my friends in their own right, not just because of Kat.  And it was also nice to be able to hang out without all 4 kids underfoot.  Don't get me wrong, I love them all, but all four in the house at the same time gets a bit crazy.

Today was mostly a low-key kind of day.  We went to Target and found this awesome Sesame Street DVD set.  It's two DVDs with the best highlights from the first 40 seasons.  It included things like the introduction of Telly.  The scene with Big Bird when Mr. Hooper died.  Maria and Louis's wedding and the birth of Gabby.  And there were a lot of my favorite counting and letter scenes as well, and a "Monsterpiece Theater" with Alistair Cookie.  I'm hard pressed to say who enjoyed it more.  Anyhow, the boys both took long naps this afternoon and I'm now about 7 or 8 rounds from completing my 3rd pair of socks.  (Yes, I've been busy this month.  3 pair of socks, finally finishing a shrug that started out life as a wrap pattern and I'm about 2/3 of the way through a circle vest too!  I haven't worked on the afghan for some friends I wanted to do, after starting I'm just not that into the pattern I've got and need to find another...)

So, it's now 8:30 and I think I'm going to finish off those last few rounds of the cuff of the second sock and call it a night.  (Boo, has other ideas though, he just paraded through here for about the 4th time since I tried to put him to bed...)

So, peace to you all and may you have fun adventures and good weekends.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Girl Scout Cookies!!

Well, tomorrow starts the first day of cookie sales for my first year as a leader.  Oh, and did I mention that I'm also being "cookie manager" this year too?  (I have 5 girls, we got started in October, I wasn't about to try and con, er ask, someone else to do this with such short notice...)

So, Monday I picked up 36 cases of cookies.  I'm impressed, the guys with the trucks portioned out and handed over my cookies in record time.  I even had enough room in the back that I could still see out the back window!
Last night we issued 3 cases worth of cookies to each of the girls, and Kat and I also took some.  We've got two cookie booths coming up (and I really should order some more thin mints, carmel delites and maybe some shortbreads...).  Our first cookie booth is next Friday (the 3rd) at the Q-mart from 4-9, and the other is on the 12th at the Wawa near Target.  It'll be from 10 to 2.  Hopefully all of the girls can make at least part of the time.  The promise of being able to split the credit for the cookies ordered is a big bonus.

I think I have everything under control.  Unfortunately, I can't find a packet of training information that has a lot of dates in it and I think I'm missing a record sheet, but I could be imagining things.  I'll have to ask Loretta tomorrow when I drop Boo off at daycare.  (I love having the older girl coordinator and cookie coordinator be the woman who owns and runs Boo's daycare.  Of course, this is how I got "roped" into being a leader too...)

If anyone has heard about the "Savannah Smiles", sorry, we don't have them.  That's a different baker than the one my council uses.  (I personally like our baker better, the other baker always tastes a little stale to me, we used them a few years and I've bought them from girls in other councils...)  The picture at the top of the post is the 8 kinds that we have this year.  The "Shout Outs!" are the lower calorie option for anyone who's interested.  No, I haven't tasted them... if I'm going to eat cookies, I'm going to eat the real ones, either Thin Mints or one of the Peanut Butter ones.  (Shortbreads and Carmel deLites are good too, but I think Peanut Butter Sandwiches are actually my favorite...)

Also, for those of you who are muttering and grumbling under your breath about cookie time coming along just in time to throw you off your New Year's resolution diet, fear not!  You can actually do something called "cookies from home", which is where you pay for a box of cookies, but instead of going home with you, the troops take them to a central location at the end of the sale and they get sent off to the troops overseas.  As I see it, that's a win-win situation all around!  The girls get some money to fund projects, the troops get a smile sent to them and the buyer gets to feel good for helping two groups of people instead of just one and they can avoid "having" to eat all those yummy cookies....

It's been a busy, hectic week already.  Sunday Boo was a little sick, Monday he was fine, Tuesday morning he woke up at 4am complaining his tummy hurt, went back to bed, and when he finally woke up for good, woke up puking. *sigh*  No daycare for him, and I got to work from home yesterday afternoon.  It turns out that I was about the only one getting work done yesterday, even with a sick kiddo because the network went down around 9:00 or so and didn't come back until 3.  Thankfully I was able to access the sites I needed to from home and actually got a good bit done while Boo was a sad little lump in front of a couple of movies.

I'm off to play with yarn a little bit.  (I know, I know, I don't even have the Christmas photos up on Flickr yet, and here I am playing with yarn...)  Either that or I may try and read a few more pages on the nook.  (I'm reading the first of the Baroque Cycle by Neil Stephenson, over 1000 pages and very interesting...)

So, peace to you all and may you find enough room in your heart and your pocketbook to support your local girls.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Not Much

I'm really not sure I have anything useful to say today.  I just realized that I hadn't posted since Wednesday and here it is Sunday again.  I've got a few ideas rattling around in my head.  I'm not sure if any of them are going to come to fruition.

Work is work.  It's the first month of the quarter, so reporting is in full swing.  With the new regulations that went into play at the end of the third quarter, life has been a little more fun than usual.  That is if by fun you mean an increase in calls and time spent answering the same questions again and again.

This weekend has had it's ups and downs.  I'm ready to leave the lows behind, so we're not going to go there.  Suffice to say overall it was a good one, if only because I got to spend plenty of time with my boys today.

Tomorrow will be fun as I'll be taking a long lunch to pick up the Girl Scout cookies for my troop (which don't go on sale until the 19th!).  I think I remember the time I'm supposed to be there, but I'm not 100% and either it's not actually listed anywhere in the online cookie pages or I'm just not looking in the right places.  (I mean, this is the site I had to go to in order to order the cookies and schedule pickup in the first place.  And no, I don't have/can't find the paper I wrote the information down on.  I can't find one of the two sets of papers about the cookie sales to begin with and I'm sure it's in there.  I think my desk is eating things again.

Well, I'm going to go read a few stories to my boy-o and tuck him into bed.  (Hopefully he'll go to sleep easily tonight and not come up with every single excuse to get out of bed...)

So, I bid you peace and good days.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Quarks

I know, I know, I should be working.  But I wanted to get something down before I totally forgot and the moment passed me by.
I'm writing a list of things in my notebook for a project I'm working on.  It involves a lot of numbers and a few words and grouping them according to unit.  It suddenly struck me as I was writing a { and a label of how many times I watched my dad write the exact same symbol in almost the exact same way and with his sure hand label something he was showing me.
I can't count the number of projects and assignments and other "things" he's helped me with over the years, especially the school years, where I've watched him write a neat list and use a bracket to group parts of the list together and label them.  I don't know why this particular entry in my notebook so suddenly and powerfully reminded me of Dad, but it did.  I guess for a change my letters and the way I wrote my "2" look more like his steady, sure, dare I say engineer's, hand makes them.  (Sorry Dad, you may protest that you're a physicist stuck in an engineer's role, but compared to the engineers I know and work with, you're an engineer.)

Of course, this makes me think of other quarks I share with my parents and my brother.  It reminds me how in college the first time I saw Ben in about 8 years how I couldn't get over how much like my brother he is in mannerisms and those little things that make Jon "Jon".  The sarcastic, yet honest, joy in a thank you for a silly gift.  (The appreciation of the gift in the first place.)  The head tilt and even word choices and voice that sounded so much like my brother in so many ways.

I share a laugh with my mother.  I share a devious sense of word play with my father.  Jon and I can have entire conversations with a glance.  I fondly remember my dad protesting on more than one occasion "you were supposed to inherit all of my good traits!".  Of course, Mom or I would usually answer with "what good traits?", which in turn would be returned with "not that one!".

Now I have to wonder what traits of my own, good, bad or indifferent, that I will see, already see, in my son.  And those of my dear husband as well.  I'm not just talking about his physical traits (he looks much more like Gak than like me most days, but you can still see my features in there too).  I'm not talking about the fact that he's a lefty like me.  I'm talking about the way his mind will be ordered or not.  I'm talking about the little motions or sayings or postures that will speak volumes above and beyond normal conversation.  I'm talking about preferences and all those little quarks that will make him uniquely "Boo", not some other little blonde-haired, blue-eyed little boy.  I'm talking about those traits that will tie him permanently and irrevocably to our family, his unique blend of families.

Sometimes nature is greater than nurture.  (Like those invisible ties where only part of a genetic code is shared between Jon, Ben and I that screamed at me loud and clear on that cold November day in New York.)  Sometimes it is nurture (the making of lists) that brings out the nature.  Sometime it is routines and habits that get passed down from generation to generation just "because that's the way mom/dad did/does it."

So, I will head back to my lists and enjoy the little quarks that make me who I am and tie me to my dad.  I will look for them and smile at them and appreciate them for the gifts they are.

I bid you peace and may your own quarks make you a wonderfully unique person.

Monday, January 09, 2012

Multitasking

Well, it looks like I'm not starting off the year too great when it comes to keeping this blog updated.  I really do want to do better this year than I did last year.  I let things go a bit at times and, even if I don't have anything "big" to say, there are still things going on in my life.

Anyhow, this past week has been pretty good.  I managed to stay quite busy and even focused at work.  I feel like I got a lot accomplished.  I'm not sure how much I really did get accomplished, at least according to the numbers, but I've been moving forward.

I also managed to crochet a second pair of socks last week too.  (Actually, I finished them Saturday.)  Yes, yes, I know, I shouldn't be writing here on the blog while I'm supposed to be working and I really shouldn't be crocheting.  At least this "sounds" like work, even if I'm writing something for me.  But, the blessing and the curse of reporting month is that the EPA checking software that I use to validate and check reports that our customers submit has a habit of taking for-freaking-ever to import a file and then check it.  So, while I'm loading an entire year's worth of data from a site into the checking software, I can't connect to another site (that would kill my connection to the EPA databases).  Therefore, I can either sit here and stare at a screen that's not really changing, or I can try and do something productive.  I should be going over some stuff for a conference call this afternoon, but I'm having problems focusing on it and really need to hop into the site to check out a few things.  So, I figured I'd better take the opportunity to write a few words.

This weekend was a pretty good weekend, even if I am fighting off a bit of a head cold or a sinus infection (I'm never sure which until a week or two has gone by and I'm still stuffed to the gills with snot...).
Boo and I had a good day on Saturday.  We got the laundry done.  We swung by bowling to say hi to the kids.  This wasn't a "kids weekend", so Rachel and Billy were going home with their dad.  Zoe was going home with Scott because Kat was at the funeral for Uncle Joe's mom who passed away earlier in the week.  (It was a little sudden, but not unexpected, her health had been failing quickly recently...)  Boo and I had a nice lunch at the dinner and then he went home and crashed and crashed hard.  He'd been up since 6:00 or maybe a little earlier.

Anyhow, after we pick up Gak we do a quick BJ's run to pick up dishwasher soap, tissues and a few other little things.  (I forgot to get filters for the water pitcher, but I'll fix that soon...).  We used the gift card Nana (Gak's mom) gave us for Christmas to Applebee's for dinner.  It was quite yummy and I managed not to stuff myself silly.  Boo even managed to eat a good bit of his dinner.  We headed over to Kat's for a little bit because Boo was quite unhappy that he hadn't gotten to play with Zoe.

Yesterday was a really fun day for me, even if it was a little long.  You see, Boo and I trekked out to York to visit Lissa and Mary.  Admittedly, there were several other people there because they were hosing a Tupperware party.  That was my excuse for dragging the boy halfway across the state to toss him in with a bunch of people he didn't know.  He actually had a good time.  Mary has two boys, one of whom is only about 1.5 to 2 years older than he is.  They weren't home most of the afternoon, but the toys were and Mary was more than happy to let Boo play with them.  And Boo was more than happy to play with the trucks at my feet while I socialized with the ladies.

It was soooooo good to get to see Lissa and Mary.  I've missed them so.  I'm glad we caught up with eacho other again.  Lissa and I are already talking about getting together over the summer, including possibly going to Knoebles together.  Our friend Ejn was there too.  Her husband and their two boys (Boo is in the middle of these two) went to Chuck-e-cheese while we gathered, but I'm sure Boo would have fun with her boys too.  And actually, Ejn probably lives halfway between Lissa and I, so it would be totally awesome to all get together at their place.

Well, it looks like I've typed long enough for all of my reports to finish loading into the checker.  Off to start the evaluation and find something else to keep me occupied while that happens.  Maybe I'll warm up my lunch early, since eating late wouldn't be too good of an idea with the call I've got.

Peace to all and may your reports load swiftly and more importantly, may your visits with friends be wonderful.

P.S.  I just noticed that this is the 777th post.  I've successfully posted a huge honking airplane's worth of posts? Hmm....

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

New Year!

Well, it's a new year and hopefully it'll be a good one.
I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to write, so I thought I'd just start writing and see where it takes me.
The picture at the top here is one of the ones my friend Steve sent me this week.  He took this back in November; it's a full moon over Kabul.  Yep, Kabul, Afghanistan.  He sent out several pictures from his tour so far.  It's amazing how beautiful the place can be, and how dangerous and not just because there is a war going on.
My friend Michelle has spent several months over there off and on since this summer.  One "comforting" fact is that all snakes in Afghanistan are venomous.  Oh, and you'd better check the bath house for snake and insect visitors before using.... just ask the guy who ended up streaking across the compound because he found the snake that was hiding in the shower room after he'd already stripped (and used his clothes to cover/distract the snake so he could escape...).  Yeah, fun, fun fun!

Speaking of Michelle, we had a nice visit with her over New Year's.  She was originally going to come up New Year's Eve and then go home Monday the 2nd.  Originally she wasn't going to have to head overseas anywhere until the middle to end of January.
We all know how schedules can change.
Instead of heading out at the end of the month, she was to get on a plane the evening of the 2nd and head over to Pakistan for a few weeks.  Yep, Pakistan.
So, she came up New Year's Eve and we ran a few errands, had some dinner and watched some movies until midnight.  I should say, Boo, Michelle and I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and then Michelle and I watched "Princess Bride" until it was midnight.  (I also crocheted an entire scarf to go with my coat through the two movies...)  Gak crashed and crashed hard early because he had a killer sinus headache and the meds he took (plus the very long, hard hours he'd been working and no sleep the night before) knocked him out cold.  Yep, I actually stayed up later than my hubby... and by several hours!
Anyhow, it was a nice relaxing evening at home.  And can I tell you how much I've missed the last few New Year's Eves without Michelle?  For about 5 or 6 years there we would alternate going down to MD or up to PA for New Year's Eve.  It had become a tradition.
Anyhow, Sunday morning (the first) we get moving and go out to breakfast.  After we've gotten back and cleaned up (we just got dressed and went since it was both a Sunday and a holiday, so who knew how crowded the diner would be...) and fiddled with Michelle's computer a bit she asks what Mom's up to.  She said she really wanted to see Mom if possible.
So, I call up Mom and we arrange to meet at Panara Bread near her house in about an hour.  Well, of course we don't get moving right away.  And then when we stop for gas before getting on the highway Michelle locked her keys in the car, but had luckily popped the trunk instead of the gas tank and we were able to get in through the back seat to unlock the door.  We had an enjoyable lunch together and just caught up.  It would have been too much for Dad to go over to the house.  But, of course he said to Mom that he wished we'd gone to pick her up as she was leaving.  So, Michelle headed back down to Virginia to finish with the laundry and the packing and all that jazz and Boo, Gak and I follow Amma back to the house and hang out with Dad for a bit.

Boo was getting a bit tired, so we made a hasty exit.  We went over to the computer store (that we'd been to the day before) to exchange some RAM that Gak bought because he picked up DDR3 instead of the DDR2 that he needed.  (I still need to install it for him, it's the only thing he doesn't like doing on his computer...)

So, that was the start to our year.  Michelle made it safe and sound back to VA.  We had a good afternoon with both Mom and Dad.  Although, the good days with Dad are getting fewer and shorter.  I will treasure the moments that we get.

Other than that, it's the normal stuff around here.  Back to a "normal" work schedule.  Need to get back to a "normal" swim schedule but the beeper call I had Monday night prevented that, and lack of motivation Friday didn't help either.  I'm kinda glad to be back to a normal work schedule, but I enjoyed last week so very much.

I think this is where I'll wrap it up for now.  No, I haven't uploaded any of the photos to Flickr yet.  I'm sorry.  I'm going to go play with yarn now.

Peace to all and may your holidays be good and your friends safe.