New Year, New Start

I know, I know, it's been months since I've posted here.  Oops.  I'll summarize all the things that have gone on recently in a bit.

Anyhow, I saw something, well, several somethings actually, posted the other day about how the new year is a new book with 365 blank pages.  And well, that reminded me I really need to try and write at least a few of those pages down.... so, my goal is to try and remember to write here more.

So, what's been going on you ask?  Well, a heck of a lot, most of it trying.

Months ago I posted about the rent hike and moving.  That's been most of our adventure the last several months.

Anyhow, the good news of the move is that we're able to keep Boo in his current school through the end of the year.  They wanted to move him, but we calmly explained the economics of why we were moving and how making him change schools would more than negate the savings we'd get through moving.  So, they agreed that it would cause a financial hardship and let him stay, without transportation, but that's fine, we've got it covered anyhow.

The bad?  Oh, I'm not sure I can write that coherently.  In short, our new landlords are more or less slumlords who couldn't care less about their properties or their tenants unless they're not getting paid.

There've been some awesome lines from the landlord.... like "It's not as clean as I usually like to turn it over to new tenants.... but the carpets came up much nicer than I expected.".  We also got "do you want me to leave the paint for the trim?" when the walls (blue in one case) have very obvious places they were patched, one about the 12" in diameter, and never painted and the walls were filthy.  Or, how about "Will it be acceptable if I only get 3 of the burners working?"  I think that one takes the cake and says it all.

When people ask me about our new place, I usually say that it would be a great apartment if it had been kept up.  And it would.  Other than the fact that the boy literally has a bed room, with nothing but his bed, a stool for his clock, his clothes hamper and a tiny bed-side table.  There are two little built-in cubies that he's using for clothes storage.  That's supposed to be an "office" (that only has one outlet?).  The "second bedroom" is not much more than a glorified hallway with some funky angles at the one end and a tiny triangle of an excuse for a closet, that leads between the living room and the actual bedroom.  (And why is bedroom one word, but living room two??)  The kitchen would be nice if I could actually find another storage unit with drawers in it for the rest of my kitchen stuff that doesn't have a home.  (There are four tiny drawers in the kitchen, two of which are broken...)  And going from two bathrooms down to one and losing the dishwasher aren't exactly highlights either.

But, that's all the negative stuff.  We're making the best of it and we're not here forever.  Of course the general grumpiness has kept me from actually attempting to finish the unpacking.  I haven't even bothered with the bookcases.  The boxes of books are just on or in front of them....

But, there have been good things the last several months.  Boo's reading is coming along quite well and his math is exploding.  He's really enjoying school and his teacher just adores having him.  (Yeah, he's a cutie and sweet, and listens and works hard.... and she's young and cute.....)
I still really love my job.  I'm not a huge fan of the commute, but it could be so much worse.  The other people on my team are all great to work with, our manager actually cares and gives us real targets to aim for and the rest of management is all very supportive as well.  Oh, and just the overall attitude of the company is outstanding.  It may not have felt like it at the time, or throughout much of 2013 or the beginning of 2014, but getting laid off really was a blessing in disguise.  It forced me to move on and to realize exactly how poisonous my old workplace was and how wonderful it can be.  Sure, it's not perfect and I don't love everyone I work with, but I can work with them and get along in a professional manner and life is good.  (I don't expect to like or get along with everyone.... but I can play nice.)


So,  while 2014 was a bit of a roller coaster, I do believe there was more good than bad.  I look forward to an even better 2015 and will do my best to see the good in all the challenges.

I'll leave you with some random photos from the past several months, not really in any particular order or importance.

Firsts, That Don't Need Repeating

I don't really want to repeat Sunday and Monday.  It was full of firsts for Boo that never, ever need to be repeated.  It makes me so very thankful that Boo is as healthy as he is.

I think I've mentioned that Boo's been fighting a cough off and on for several weeks now.  This is important at the end of the story.

I guess I have to back up to Friday.  Friday morning Boo wakes up and his cough is back, but he seems OK otherwise.  Well, I got a call from Gak around 2:00 saying he'd been called by daycare and that Boo had a fever of about 101.  So, I go pick up Boo and take him to the doctor.  She says his lungs sound clear and that it's probably just something viral that's been going around.

Saturday we spend at home.  Boo still has a fever and isn't feeling 100%, but he's not too bad.  Saturday night about an hour after he goes to bed his fever climbs quickly to about 102.  I dose him with some Ibuprofin and he goes back to bed and sleeps through.  In the morning his fever is gone and while Boo's a bit tired, we have a good day including running a few errands.  Oh, did I mention I was on call last week and that as I was falling asleep at about 11:00 the phone goes off and I don't get back to bed until about 12:30 or so?  Yeah, already working on sleep deprivation.  Keep that in mind.

Sunday evening we give Boo a bath and put him to bed.  About an hour later (around 9:00) I go climb in the shower to get ready for bed.  While I was in the shower, Gak passes Boo's room and he's whimpering.  Well, a chaotic 15 minutes later that included me throwing clothes on, Boo complaining/crying of abdominal pain  and throwing up once and his fever back up to about 102 and some Ibuprofin we were at the ER.

Yep, Boo ended up in the ER for the first time.  About an hour after we got there his fever was up to almost 106!  They had to wait another hour or so before they could give him some Tylenol because while you can tag-team Ibuprofin and Tylenol, you still have to stagger them by at least 2 hours.  Because of his soupy cough they give him a chest X-ray (another first) and order a CT (yet another first) scan because of the tummy pain.

They put in an IV (still another first) and take a bunch of blood for blood tests and to give him some fluids.  I never, ever want to go through that again.  I never want to hear him scream like that again.  Although, looking back it is kinda funny.  As we were all holding him trying to get the IV in he starts yelling "I really have to go potty!!".  Now, mind you, "I have to go potty" is Boo-speak for "I don't want to be doing this and if I tell you I have to potty I'll get out of it...".  This just makes the very nice and skilled nurses (boy do I appreciate wonderful nurses, and we had several!) hurry just a bit faster.  Once all the screaming is done, I take Boo to the potty and help him pee in the cup for a sample.  (He really did need to pee... but...)

The next adventure was eventually getting him to go for the CT.  His fever was well on its way back down at that point and he was feeling much better.  He's saying that his tummy wasn't hurting much any more.  It was another thing I don't really want to repeat.  Once we got him onto the pad and I was able to hold his hand throughout, he was OK and very still, but it was convincing him it was OK and that I wasn't going anywhere that was the hard, tear-filled and thrashing part.

Well, about 1:30 or so the doctor comes back in and says that it looks like it is appendicitis like we feared with where Boo was saying he was having pain.  It was "borderline", but like the doc said, that's like being "borderline pregnant"; either you've got it or you don't.

So, since our little hospital doesn't operate on anyone under the age of 6 (and it wasn't an emergency at this point) they had to figure out where to transfer him to.  We end up at Lehigh Valley Cedercrest.  This is the hospital where Zoe was born.  It's quite huge now and is a very good hospital.  Most of the pediatric doctors are also at CHOP.  Thankfully we didn't have to drive down to Philly.  Actually, because it was so late and because Gak has to open the store all this week because his boss had surgery last week, we did a little juggling.  Gak ran home and threw together a bag for the boy and me.  Boo and I went by ambulance (still another first) up to Lehigh and Gak took the car and went home to try and get some sleep before work.  It was about 3:00 by the time we got to the hospital.  Thankfully by about 4:00 Boo was asleep.  I dozed for another few hours, but not much.

Well, to make a long and tired day short, by the time we got to Lehigh Boo said his tummy stopped hurting and his fever was well on its way back to normal.  (Point in fact, he didn't get any more fever medicine after the initial Tylenol.)  He slept in until about 9:00 or so, including waking just barely enough to nod at the doctor who was poking and prodding at him and fuss a bit when they drew some more blood through the IV port.  After much consulting amongst themselves and consulting radiology at this hospital, they decide it is not appendicitis after all, but walking pneumonia.

Yep, that's right.  Not his bowels at all, but his lungs.

So, apparently when his fever was on it's way up, his lymph nodes flared and this can cause lots of pain that can present like appendicitis.  The bowels of little kids are very tight and hard to see and you're looking for a structure that's 2" or less in size.  And remember, the doc at our hospital said it was "borderline".  The chest X-ray was clean, but the CT scan catches the bottom of the lungs and the left side was really pretty gunky for lack of a better word.  So, after a few more hours of observation and prodding by yet another doctor and putting in an order for amoxococyllin we're discharged!  We were out of Lehigh about 13 hours after transfer, about 19 hours after heading to the ER in the first place.  Boo and I were both tired but glad to be heading home.  I really have to thank Ed for coming and picking us up.  And I have to apologize for not texting/calling him to keep him in the loop and/or see if he could transport us to Lehigh to save the ambulance cost, but it was 2 am and my brain wasn't working well.  (That and I can never keep track of his schedule...)

Yeah, remember that cough I was talking about at the beginning and the fact that he went to the doctor Christmas Eve for it... well, I'm thinking that's probably when this really all started.  But, his cough kept going away and his doctor and I just figured it was the annual passing of the daycare crud... guess not.

Boo was cleared to go back to daycare today, but I'm keeping him home this morning.  We'll go in at lunch. (Don't get me started on the mess at work, almost none of which is my fault but means I can't get stuff done...)  Right now I have to finish building a Lego trash truck that Boo bought with his gift certificate from Nana.

Peace to all and may your loved ones be healthy, but if not be thankful for the awesome nurses and doctors that will help get them healthy again.  (And may I never have another 48 hours like Saturday night until last night ever again, or at least for a very, very long time.  And yes, I have always known, but am even more thankful that my boy-o is as healthy as a horse!)

Edit:  The flue test they did yesterday actually came back positive.  So, on top of everything else, he has/had the flu.  But, since his temp has been normal for more than 24 hours, he's still clear to go to daycare.  And he seems to be feeling good enough to do so for the afternoon.

List of December

Well, so much for getting back into the blogging swing of things.  Here I've let almost the entire month slide on by, not just a measly week or so.  And no, I don't have any new pictures either.
I take that part back, I do have some new pictures, but their still on the memory card(s) and in all honesty, and a sign of my total lack of organizational skills at the moment, I can't find my little Cannon...

Ok, so to keep this brief (haha) and try and get most of what's bouncing around in my head onto "paper", I'm going to present a huge bullet list.  Not my favorite way to do this, but it's 6:45 and I've only got a half hour at most....

So, in no particular order...

*Got the tree put up Saturday with Boo.  Decorating with a 4.5-year-old is fun.  You can tell a child was involved, there's one spot with a ton of ornaments and a smattering across the rest of the tree.

*Went to Amma and PopPop's for Hanukkah on the 9th.  It was a good evening.  PopPop actually read the prayers this year and I helped Boo light the candles.  We also got a chance to talk to Jon and Becca, which is always awesome.

*Speaking of Jon, I got to have lunch with one of his best friends (and a good friend of mine) from school yesterday.  I think I've known Ian since I was around age 12?  It wasn't too long after we moved to PA at any rate.  It was great to catch up with him.

*Speaking of Hanukkah and photos (wait, did I mention photos?), Dad was wanting to use his camera.  Mom tried to put him off about it for a bit, but he kept asking.  So, I took him his Nikon back when we went down for Hanukkah.  And since I can't find my little Cannon at the moment, I'm cameraless, other than my phone, which takes OK pictures, but getting them off there can be a pain in the butt.

*I've managed to get lots and lots and lots of Christmas crochet done.  No, you won't see pictures until later.  (That reminds me, I need to get pictures of my latest items... but... aargh... too much effort at this point!)  Well, maybe you'll see pictures.  I know I've got pictures of some of them....

*I think I'm all done with the Christmas shopping.  Still debating one small-ish purchase and I might need to pick up one other thing, but overall, I'm good.

*Wok is interesting.  We're going through a reorg, which in the long run I think will actually be quite good, but will cause a little chaos in the meantime.  I'm not sure yet if this is a good or bad thing, but my friend Bill will now be my manager.  Yeah, it could get a little tricky at spots, but we've been through tricky spots before.  As long as he keeps his ego in check (and I don't do anything stupid) we'll get along just fine with his new role.

*Next month I get to go to Texas for a few days with work.  (Well, that's if they send the PO in, but I'm about 99% sure they will...)  This'll be my second trip since the beginning of September.  It'll be nice to get out of the office.  Boo's old enough that picking him up from daycare or whatever doesn't mean I have to make sure the right seat is around, he just needs a booster and I've got an extra of those.  Boo's not happy with the idea, but he did OK in September and I know he'll be fine next month too.

*That reminds me, this trip to Texas will be the first time I'll have been on a plane since before Boo was born.  Wow, that's almost 5 years!

*Speaking of being born, my cousin Rae and her wife Kami welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world back on the 4th, Oren William.  He's adorable and I so wish we lived closer.  I have no idea when we'll actually get to meet him in person. /sigh

*Boo keeps growing like a weed.  He's so much fun to watch and play with.  He just amazes me every day.

*We went to Zoe's Christmas concert last Friday.  It was really nice (and just the Junior/Senior high kids).  After we went to the Ronda to catch up with Steve, Shelby and Randy, which is always nice.  Steve is going to be deployed again in January.  I have no details on length, but I do know it's back to Afghanistan. /sigh

*My friend Michelle is in Chile now.  I haven't heard much from her in the past few months, but it seems like she's doing OK.

*No, I haven't posted anything about what happened in CT on Facebook or G+.  I'm not going to either.  Actually, I take that back, I did make a comment on my friend John's one post.  Basically I agree that this is a horrible tragedy and I can't (and don't want to) imagine the personal hell all those families are going through.  The last thing they as a community need is to be reminded by outside people everywhere they look about it.  They're living it every blessed heartbeat.  The best thing we can do is not to ignore it, but to be respectfully quiet about it.  (And if I dwell on this too much I'll just end up putting myself into a bad emotional place and that won't help me, my family or the victims in any way, shape or form...)

*I'm hopefully doing something cool tonight.  Someone I've met through either a photography or a fiber circle on G+ (I can't remember exactly how I met her, but she's into both...) is in the area for work.  The boy and I are hopefully meeting up with her for dinner.  It should be fun.  This is a huge step for me, I normally find real life events like that really tough.  But, I've been kicking myself for a while for not grabbing the opportunity to meet another online friend when I was traveling all the time, so I'm not going to let this one slide by if I can help it...

Well, a boy-child is up.  It's almost 7:10 and we both have to get dressed, get breakfast/lunch together and get out the door.

Peace to all and may you not wait too long to keep friends and family in the loop and may you grab opportunities when and where you can.

Friends

I know it's early in the month to be pulling this one out, but today I've got to.  Today I am thankful for friends.

I'm thankful for the friends who have kids and tell me "it's OK, this is normal" when Boo has a button pushing day (like today)...
Long story hopefully short, bumper league finally started today because another little boy wanted to bowl.  Well.... despite being very interested and asking me every week (until a week or so ago) about bowling, when it finally came time to actually bowl today, we melted down.  It boiled down to me telling him we're here to bowl not just hang with the cousins and if he wasn't going to bowl we were going to go home... so... we disappointed another little boy (who did bowl) and we went home to Boo crying and whining about being hungry and tired.  So, I made him a second bowl of cereal and after that he lay down for about an hour or so.  He never did nap.  He only partially stopped pushing buttons.
I was so hoping that bowling wouldn't become the debacle that soccer did this spring/summer because he is very familiar with the place and the people and it was something he knows how to do, likes doing and asked to do.  Well, as soon as it became a "had to" instead of a "can I?" thing, he wanted nothing to do with it. So, yeah, already grumpy and frustrated with him and then he's been good at pushing buttons the rest of the day. And so, of course I'm even more worried than I was about Kindergarten next fall.  I just don't want to tackle that ball of wax right now.

But, I'm also thankful for friends who help each other out.  Scott had several trees come down in the storm.  So, Kat, Steph, Steve, Shelby, Randy, Chris and Dianne were all over helping him cut up trees and haul them to the front and all kinds of good things like that.  Since I was already making chili today because it's great weather for it and I promised Gak, I offered to bring it over for everyone.  Everyone was very thankful that I did, especially since Scott still doesn't have power.  Scott was very thankful for everyone's help today, and I believe people are going to gather again tomorrow to help with more cleanup.

But now, I am cold and tired and am dealing with a boy who never did actually nap today and is being a combination of whiny and good at pushing buttons... thankfully it's almost bath time for a boy.  (Although, I want to keep him up late tonight because, joy, it's the end of daylight savings time...)

So, I'm off to run a bath for a boy, maybe camp him out in front of a movie for a bit and then try and enjoy my evening....

Peace to all and my no one be pushing your buttons but you have friends to lend a hand if they are.

Apples

 Today was a great day.  Boo, Amma and I got to go apple picking with Lissa and the Piglet!  (Gak was going to join us, but he was having an out of sorts say and didn't really feel up for company... which I totally understand.)

Anyhow, I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  We had a lot of fun picking apples and just hanging out and catching up.  Boo and Piglet had fun playing together, as they usually do.  Mom, Lissa and I got to catch up.  And there will be much applesauce to be enjoyed by all for a long time.  We went to Freecon Farms right outside of Boyertown.  It's a nice easy drive for us, and not too bad of a drive for Lissa.  Hopefully we'll be getting together again sooner as opposed to later.  Living 2 hours or so apart is tough for getting together, but it is always so worth it when we do.

Three In One

This is actually going to be three different posts in one.  I've got three things on my mind that are very different from each other but are all clamoring to be typed out.

So, we'll start with the great phone call I got this afternoon.  Boo and I were playing outside in the beautiful (pre)spring sunshine.  I was happily cleaning out the car (it really needed it) and Boo was playing in the car.  My phone started to ring.  I didn't recognize the number, but it looked kinda familiar, so I answered it.  Much to my surprise, it was Michelle!!  She was calling me all the way from Afghanistan while she was waiting for her laundry to finish.  It was around midnight for her and the middle of the afternoon for us.  It was a great chance to catch up.  I was pretty amazed that she had the chance to make a call home and she called us.  I mean, she could have called Eileen or her parents or other family members.  I guess they've probably gotten calls over the last few months.  She should be home by about the end of April.  I can't wait.  Hopefully we'll be able to get a chance to get some lunch or something.

On an unrelated note, other than it's vaguely noteworthy today, potty training Boo seems to be moving forward.  I think we've finally hit on a bribe or two, er, goal that he's willing to work towards.  We've changed the M&M bribe to only be 1 if he pees and 4 if he poops.  He's been doing very well with the pee and even the poop on occasion.  He'll have a day or two of great effort and then the rest of the week, not so much.  So, to encourage a longer good time, I decided to bribe him with the new Muppets movie if he manages to stay dry, including at school, for an entire week.  I'll accept an honest to goodness accident where he just doesn't make it in time and lets us or someone know, but if he does what he did this afternoon of purposefully using his pullup instead of the potty and not letting anyone know, the clock resets.  And as a final goal, once he's in big boy under pants all the time, he gets his own lightsaber.  (He's become obsessed with them while watching Gak play his Star Wars MMO.)  Boo's been doing very well on weekends and even some days, but he's gone from telling them at school he has to go but not at home to reversing that.  Unfortunately, he spends much more time at school.  Oh well, we seem to be making progress so maybe by his birthday he'll be in real underware.

Finally, the most brain churning topic that's been sloshing around.  I finally got around to reading The Hunger Games trilogy.  I just finished the last book this evening.  Very interesting.  Very well written.  And very thought provoking.

My friend Will posted on his Facebook wall that he was looking for a copy to borrow and this sparked a discussion.  One of his friends basically said it was a stupid premise and that it could/would never happen and it's hard to enjoy a book no matter how well written with such a dumb thought behind it.

Unfortunately, another friend of his brought up something that I hadn't really thought about, but once they said it I realize was nagging in the back of my head.  Sure, it could happen.  Ask the Jews in Germany.  Ask various tribes and groups in Africa, or the Native Tribes of our own Americas; north, south and central.

For those of you who haven't read the books, the general premise of the books is that there was a war, there is now just the capitol and then 12 districts.  The districts revolted at one point in the semi-recent past and now the capital makes each district send two tributes to a death match... these tributes are between the ages of 12 and 18.... yeah... kids.

So, is it feasible?  No.  Is it possible? Sure.  Just ask anyone who's been ruled by fear and persecuted.  So, yes, the one guy does have some valid points.  In this day and age, you'd think this "couldn't" happen here.  But, one of the last things said in the third book is a very astute observation about how at the end of every war, we say we'll never let it get like this again, that we'll never have war again, but we're all short-sighted and greedy in the long run.  And then eventually it happens again.  Something happens, a misunderstanding, someone gets greedy, manages to get someone and then another someone and then more someones to follow them.  Then someone else decides that they don't like it, that they're wrong and then things escalate and the next thing you know, there's full fledged war.

So, these books have stirred several things up in my brain.  They're all kinda mushy and unformed right now, all fighting for attention.  There's the thought of putting mere children through that hell.  There's the gut-wrenching fear as a parent of my own son having to face such a thing.  There's the question of if we're becoming a society of "bread and circuses" ourselves.

So, just based on my own mental jumble and the speed with which I devoured the, these are well written books well worth the reading.  Gak just asked me if the Hunger Games were over, or if there was room for a sequel.  There is always room for a sequel, but it couldn't happen with the generation of characters in the trilogy.  But, where I see an opening is for a prequel.  It could be an interesting story to see how the world got to where it is...

Anyhow, the movie opens this week.  I'm actually interested in seeing it.  From the things I've seen on IMDB, it looks like they've done a great job with casting.  Now to see how close they stick to the story.  I'm not sure if I'll try and see it in the theaters or wait.  I'm still not sure if I'll be able to get to the movies to see Lorax with my boys before it leaves the theater.

I'm mentally loosing steam and it's 9:00 already.  So, I'll wrap it up here without any real conclusions.  Actually, I'll wrap it up by saying if you haven't read the books, read them.  Or listen to them.  Some of it's a bit disturbing, but it's worth the read.

Peace to all and may your brain candy actually have a little substance to it as well, your life continue to grow in positive ways and may your friends be well.

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....

Chaos

Well... Tonight I thought I would be uploading some of the cute 3.5 year dragon pictures I got of Boo this evening.  Instead I am sitting in the loby of a hospital waiting for Kat, writing this on my phone.
I don't have a lot of details at the moment.  Joan finally had her gastric bypass surgery on Monday.  The las I heard from Mel on Monday evening, via facebook only but that is a different story, was that Joan had come through the surgery well.
Kat just got here...

Ok.  That first part was actually written at about 7:30 or so....

It's now 10:15 or so and I'm home.

Here's the details as I've got them.  Joan was having respiratory distress up in her room.  Apparently she'd gotten into some serious trouble, vomited and ended up aspirating some.  Her temp was elevated some.  Her chest x-ray looked well, like crap.  So, she's on a vent that's doing most of the breathing for her.  They've weaned her off the meds that were keeping her paralyzed and from fighting the vent.  She's still drugged out of her gord and on major narcotics for pain.  She's fighting the vent a bit.

Kat, Steph and I were there to see her, as well as her sister Jill and her best friend, who's name escapes me for the moment.  Anyhow, there was a lot of discussion about what to do about the kids.  None of us who were there were happy with the situation with the kids at the moment.  They're kinda staying at their house, kinda staying with the neighbor Mandy who helped cause a lot of the drama the last time Joan was in the hospital.  Anyhow, the long and the short of it is, there are some emails that Joan wrote before going into the hospital that say one thing, but there is still the power of attorney stuff that was signed several years ago that is probably still legally binding.  So, if push came to shove, and Jill backs us up on this, we could try and enforce it and it would go to a judge and it would get very messy.  Oh, yeah, and as much as the kids say they love us... they are refusing to come spend the weekend with any of us.  That is a whole other rant that I'm not going into right now, but it does have some bearing on the current situation.

So, yes, despite what I said back in July about being done and not running to her side every time... well, you just don't throw away 20 years because someone's become even more of a crackpot than she was.  You don't stop worrying and caring despite how hurt you and your friends have been in the past.  Now, mind you I'm of half a mind to kill her when she does come off the vent.  But hey, that's something else entirely.

I'll try and post more here as I know more.  I do know that she will be in the hospital several weeks at this point with how much the vent is actually breathing for her.  Hopefully after they do some fun bag suctioning tonight her numbers will improve greatly by morning.  I'm not holding my breath, but I know that it will truly help.  I just hope she's got the will to fight this and to come back and heal.  If not, I really will kill her.

So, peace to you all. I'm going to go crash in my bed and hopefully get some sleep so I can function at work tomorrow.  Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to post those adorable pictures of Boo and rant and rave a little bit about how vacation has not helped my will to get work done at work.

email

Today I am thankful for that simple invention of email.  I'll go ahead and throw in the whole Internet as well, but while I may be thankful for the Internet, it is not for the same reasons as I'm thankful for email.

Anyone who has known me any length of time realizes that I am horrible about keeping in touch with people.  I don't write.  I don't call.  I don't stop in and say hi.  And I'm extra good about not doing anything for birthdays or other holidays either.  Due to this wonderful lack of communication, I have lost touch with several dear friends over the years.

Anyhow, there is one invention, while at times quite annoying has actually helped me.  This is email.  It is extra quick and easy for me to send a few lines on their way to a friend or family member to inquire about their well-being and give a quick little update on my own life.

Of course, when I love this the most is when I have family and friends far away.  And while Jon and Becca may be on the other side of the country, right now I have two very dear friends who are on the other side of the world.  One most definitely in harm's way, one hopefully not.  As much as I respect what they do and am happy that they love their jobs, I know that being so far away from friends and family stinks.

So, I have two little reminders (see above about me not being good at remembering to write) on my email.  One is set up to remind me twice a week to email Michelle, the other two to email Steve.  And, thankfully with the fact that email can transverse the distance in mere seconds instead of the month or more that a physical letter or package could take, I can keep in contact with two people who mean so much to me and are so far away.
I hope that I can occasionally bring a small ray of sunshine to their days.  Especially Steve, who, quite frankly, has a dangerous job in a dangerous area and then the added stress of not knowing what's going on at home.  I can at least provide him a little normality with my "nothing new is going on here, I hope you are well" emails.  I know I liked getting those kinds of emails when I was on the road all the time, and I was just in the country and home most weekends, not halfway around the world for a year or more at a time.

Anyhow, since I actually listened to the reminder on my desk this morning and emailed Michelle and tried to catch her up on the last few weeks of doings in our house, I'm very thankful for this little invention called email.  I may not use it often enough to communicate with those that I should and I may complain about how much work email I get on a regular basis, but without it, I would be oceans away from friends and they'd hear even less from me, and I from them.

I bid you peace and may you never loose touch with those you love.

Thankful November

Today is the beginning of a new month.  November really is one of my favorite months of the year.  The weather is usually quite nice still for the most part.  There is Thanksgiving, my dad's birthday and my birthday to celebrate all in the second half of the month.  The mad rush of the October reporting month is over and behind us.  The year is wrapping up.
This year I've issued myself a challenge, and made it known to some of my online friends.  Last year I did just over half the month of posting every day about something I was thankful for that day.  Well, this year I intend on doing that for the entire month.  I'll try and also keep up with the family news and my thoughts, but this month I am going to focus on the positive and find something to be thankful for, no matter how big or small, every day.

Today I am thankful for community.  I am thankful for two separate and distinct communities.

I'm so very thankful for my community of friends.  We can laugh together, cry together, have good times and bad together.  And we're there for each other through it all.  It's been a bit of a rough year in spots for some of us.  Some of us (me and my family) have fared better than others.  But, we're all here and we're all together.

Last night Steph brought Billy and Zoe over to go trick-or-treating.  (I have a picture of the kids, but I have to download it.)  We got a bit of a later start than we wanted and so many people were already out of treats.  That's quite all right in my book.  Less temptation for me!  The kids all had fun.  Zoe was a vampire princess, Billy was Darth Vader and Boo was kitty-cat boy.  I can't tell you how cute he was and how funny/cute it was to watch him run down the sidewalk with his tail peaking out from under his sweatshirt and bobbing right along behind him.  Boo loved it.  I somehow get the feeling that those sweats are permanently kitty-cat boy pants now.

The other community I'm thankful for I was barely involved with last year.  I'm actually quite thankful for a group of friends and spirit sisters I've met on the Weight Watchers community boards.  There are some spirit brothers there as well who I've found support from and been able to support as well.  But this small little group (or not so small these days!) of mostly women have done wonders for me the last few months.  We've all had ups and downs, triumphs and setbacks.  I've been able to provide support and insight and when I've needed it, they've been able to make me laugh or give me insight or point out things I'd told them that I should listen to myself.

I'll be honest here, my weight loss has stalled.  Most days, I don't really care about that fact.  I've reached the weight I was when I graduated college.  For so long that had been my desire.  I'm actually smaller in size now than I was then; I have more muscle now than I did then.  I proved this with the garb I was wearing yesterday.  (Yes, there is a picture, but it's on the camera...)  I had to take in the elastic in my undermost skirt about 6" and I hadn't worn the bodice I wore yesterday in about 5 years because it was too small and I'm not sure I'd ever laced it as tight as I did yesterday.  Also, my most favorite Irish dress is too big, probably by about two sizes, and I got that about a year or so after I graduated college.

Sure, there's a part of me that would love to loose another 15 to 20 lb.  And I'm sure I will at some point.  There just isn't a strong drive to get there now.  But, thanks to the ladies in my Weight Watchers group, I know that it is OK to feel that way and that if I ever feel like throwing in the towel and just stop paying as close attention to what goes in my mouth, they'll remind me of how far I've come and some little nugget of wisdom (sometimes a very little nugget...) that kept them from giving up and I'll carry on.  I think half the reason I still pay for my online membership is because I like seeing these other people and being able to encourage them and share in their victories, even if mine are quite small these days.

So, here's to a month of being thankful for the things in my life both big and small, near and far.  Hopefully I'll be able to do something this month that I haven't been able to all year, and that is post something, even a small something, every day.

Peace to all and may you have a community of friends to help support you and to help support.

Snow-tober?

Snow?
In October?
Really?

Yes, really.  And at least 6 if not 8 inches at my place by the time it was all said and done.  What was supposed to start out as rain, turn to snow and give us 3-4 inches and then turn to rain again, started out as snow and stayed snow all day.  I honestly thought it was late November or December this weekend...

Anyhow, despite the snow throwing a monkey wrench into some plans, it was still a pretty good weekend.  (I just wish I'd gotten around to getting me a new winter coat as my old one fell apart and was two or three sizes too big anyhow... and made sure we all had gloves etc.  At least the boy had a new coat, mittens and boots!)

Yesterday went more or less according to plan.  I ended up spending 2 hours in the grocery store with Kat and Zoe picking up stuff (with the power on generators for most of the time...) because we both needed things that were buy one get one free, but didn't need two... And the power went out right as I was about 80% of the way through browning the meat for chili (but there was enough residual heat in the pan left to finish cooking it off).  Thankfully the power was only out about an hour or so and I was able to get the chili in the crockpot on and ready for dinner.  Gak had all kinds of fun with stuff at work.  And Kat's mom ended up spending the night here because there was no way she was going to be able to get home even if they had power with all the downed lines and trees as well as the 7 or 8 inches of snow.

Today Kat and I were supposed to join Steve and Shelby for a 5K run/walk/jog at Peace Valley Park to benefit the SPCA.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of downed trees and things along the trails and it was deemed unsafe.  Hopefully it'll be next Sunday.

We ended up meeting up with Kat and Zoe at the laundry mat this morning because I had moved the car over there when the landlord was plowing and they'd come in to town to do wash.  We were originally going to head to Target to get out of the house for a bit, but instead the kids played and we hung out until the wash was in the dryers and then we went to lunch.

The biggest event this weekend was this evening though.  Steve was hosting a get together for everyone over at the local pizza joint.  You see, Steve heads to Afghanistan either Tuesday or Wednesday.  He'll be there for a year or so.  I should be used to this.  This is the 4th or 5th time in the last decade that he's been deployed to the Middle East, usually to Iraq, but to Afghanistan this time.  But, I'm not used to it.  I don't like it.  I understand to some degree why he stays in the Army.  I accept that it is who he is and what he does.  I even understand why we keep sending people over there, at least on some level.  But that doesn't mean I have to like it.  That doesn't mean that I won't be worried at least on some level until his plan lands state side again.  I may not have known Steve as long as some of the guys, but I've known him long enough and care about him more than enough to worry.  And besides, the way he honestly and truly cares for my boy, I have to worry.  Boo loves his Uncle Steve and wants him to be around as much as possible.  (Steve has this magic way with the kids, it's amazing.  Of course, I think it's because despite it all, he's still about 80% kid 90% of the time himself... sure he's as responsible and more so than anyone when he has to be, but he'd rather be playing with the kids any day of the week.)

So, it as usual it was good to catch up with Steve.  I just wish it wasn't because he was heading out of the country.

And speaking of heading out of the country, I realize that I never did post about last weekend.  Last Sunday we headed down to Baltimore to hang out with Michelle at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.  Which is a really awesome little zoo.  We had a great time.  We all loved the chance to spend the day together.  We don't get to do that often enough.  It turns out that we were lucky to get a chance at all to catch up with Michelle this time she was home.  She'd been in Afghanistan for about 5 weeks back in August and then home again.  (Of course, she was supposed to be in Pakistan for the year starting in August, but they're not really issuing visas much right now...)  Michelle still isn't sure exactly what's going on with her posting, but last Monday she left to go back to Afghanistan, for anywhere from two weeks to two months.  Yep, could be two months.  She's subbing for the person who was supposed to be there because when they had their physical, they found something that needed a minor out-patient operation.  So, until they get cleared to travel, Michelle will be filling in for them in Afghanistan.

At least both Michelle and Steve will be in the same country.  I feel a smidge better knowing that Steve will be there when Michelle is.  I know they'll more than likely never run into each other, but just knowing they're in the same area of the world is somewhat comforting.

Anyhow, it is well after 9:00 and I have to get up in the morning for the last day of the reporting month.  I'm not really looking forward to it.  It's Halloween though, so that'll be fun.  I'll be wearing my Faire garb that I haven't worn since before Boo was born.  And actually, I'll be wearing the bodice I haven't been able to wear for about a year or so prior to that because I was just too big.  Of course, the Irish dress that I bought about 8 or 10 years ago now is now about two sizes too big.  Which is both amazing and saddening at the same time.  I love that dress, but I've gotten more than my money's worth out of it.  Most of the guys in the office haven't ever seen me in it, and I can't wait to see their reactions...

So, peace (please) to everyone and may your weekends be full of fun, and your friends and family safe and sound.  (And don't forget to thank the service men and women and all the various support staff from the various departments who keep it that way...)

Friends and Beaches

Well, August is getting off to a pretty fun start.
Monday, Mom and I took the boy-o down to Delaware again.  Our friends Robin and Paul are up in the area from Georgia, and are staying with Jay right now.  This was the perfect excuse to go back to the beach one more time this year.  (I can't believe I've made it there three days this summer, each time with a different configuration of people, and all three times very enjoyable.)
I believe we have created an ocean loving monster, and I'm so very thrilled with that.  If you remember, earlier in the summer and last summer, whenever we would get Boo halfway to the water from our towels, he would make a u-turn and head in as straight a line as possible back to the blanket and towels.  Well, last time we managed to get him to splash in the water up to his knees and enjoy it.  This time, if I hadn't had a death grip on his wrists, I think he would have gladly let the waves take him where they would... and he was happily standing in the water up to his chest!  He didn't even want to get out when he was turning blue and shivering so much he just sort of vibrated in place.  Our visit with Robin, Paul and Jay was a good one as well.

Today, was another great day.  You see, my friend Blessa from England is in the US for a two week long road trip.  She brought her husband and her youngest with her.  I met Blessa 17 years ago (eep!) when we both worked at Camp Tohi.  I was just an assistant camp councilor and she was one of the riding instructors. Me, I've never been much of a horse person.  I never had any interest in taking riding lessons and had ridden about 5 times in my entire life (and I haven't ridden since either...).  So, who gets "stuck" with half the riding units that summer?  You guessed it, me!  I quite enjoyed it though.  Most of the time it was quite fun, and "rooming" with Blessa was a lot of fun.  She's about 6 years older than me, and at 18, that was a pretty big difference, but a comfortable one.  She provided a sense of stability and hmmm... not sure what the right word is, but it was a good thing.
Amber is 6 years old and she and Boo hit it off tremendously in about 2 minutes or less.  They had a lot of fun playing together while I threw lunch together.  Blessa and I had a good time catching up and I don't think Andrew was too bored out of his skull.  (Personally, I think he was just happy to get out of the car; their 1.5 hour ride turned into 3 hours!)

Anyhow, after their fun visit, they left to head off to their next stop, Ohio and our friend Lynx.  Lynx was another international councilor the year Blessa was there.  (Blessa was only there one year, I was there two and I think Lynx came back for four or more!)  I'm so jealous that she gets to go see Lynx.  Lynx was one of the two I bunked with during pre-camp that summer and she and I were quite friendly.  I think one of my favorite pre-camp memories is when we were sitting in a talk and I glance over at her note pad to see what notes she was taking, and it was in Dutch.  She caught me looking and we had a good laugh about it.  Anyhow, I hope to get a chance to see Lynxie again some time, I've just got to get the time to take a road trip.

I've got a lot of pictures from the beach to get off the camera (none from today, but Blessa has some...).  I'll get there eventually.

Peace to all and may your travels be safe, and your friendships a heartbeat away.

When It Rains, It Pours?

Well, up until yesterday, this past week has been pretty uneventful.  I mean, sure, the weather has become hotter than anything I care to think about.  Reporting month stress has been pretty high because we've been inundated with a lot of non-reporting related calls along with the normal reporting work load.  The vent fan in the Durango decided to stop working all together (but the A/C works, just nothing moving the air.  *sigh*) and the rear gears of my bike decide to start slipping.  That's all just normal, every day kind of aggravation.

Then, yesterday I get a text from Gak saying our son said his mouth hurt and he didn't want to eat.  By the time I got home, he was a pretty sad little fellow.  Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, we've figured it's Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  Nothing fatal, just really annoying.  Thankfully it's only his mouth and even more thankfully he doesn't have a fever.  That's the only reason they let him stay at day care today.  It turns out he picked it up from his best buddy there, Dominic.  I just hope none of the other kids get it.  I'd feel really awful about it if they did.  This is our second bout of it in the last 6 to 8 months I think, and if it's the same this time, in about 3-5 more days he'll be OK.
But, this is just a small, but painful and sad annoyance.

No, the big problems all involve my friend Joan.  Unfortunately, I can't really go into this without airing some dirty laundry I'm not really proud of.  My thoughts have not all been charitable towards her and her decisions with this issue.  For the moment I'm going to try and set aside our difference of opinions on many, many issues.  I'm going to try and set aside the fact that I wish she'd at least walk the walk, not just talk the talk, even if I don't agree with her talk.  This is bigger than that.
In more ways than one.
You see, Joan is a big girl.  A very big girl.  Larger than I ever was by far.  And while I've gone the "natural" weight loss route and made small changes to my eating habits over time and worked more and more activity back into my life, Joan decided to go a more radical route.  And, well, since she's got a lot more weight than I do to loose, I can't blame her for wanting a quicker fix to the problem.  Yes, Joan decided months ago to have bypass surgery.  I won't lie.  I've been arguing with myself to be supportive of her decision.  She's taking an active role in her life, and wants to change it for the better.  But, I just can't help feeling this is all a cop-out and she's looking for this to be a quick fix for all of her problems, weight related and not.  Without the motivation to truly change the mind as well as the body, this is destined for failure.
That is, if the surgery ever happens.
She was scheduled for surgery yesterday.  She went to the hospital as she was supposed to and they were getting her ready.  They'd started to put her under with some gas and then went to lie her on her back for the operation.  Her lungs spammed.  The muscles have become very weak.  They had to intubate her and gave her muscle relaxants, pan and anti-anxiety meds.  They've admitted her to ICU.  Her blood pressure was in the basement and her pulse rate high.  Hopefully she's off the vent now.  (They were going to keep her on it for 24 hours, to be safe.)  I haven't heard anything since this morning.  She'll be in the hospital two or three more days.  They may try surgery again in 4-6 weeks after some more tests (including an MRI once she's unhooked from the tubes) and possibly some pre surgery treatments of some kind.  (Personally, I don't think it's such a good idea to more forward with this, but this is for her and her doctors to decide...)
So, yeah.  That's bad enough.
To make matters worse, Joan's mom was taken to the hospital (not the one Joan's at, thankfully in many ways...) yesterday morning.  Getting the information third hand from Mel Bell (she got it from her aunts who were there, but I don't trust one at all and the other can be a bit flaky too...) Joan's mom is not long for the world.  She's had many, many complications to her health.  (Of course, a lot has been exacerbated with her own doing... I mean, come on, still smoking while you're on oxygen?!?!)  She's had to be restrained and drugged.  She had to be put on CPAP.  Her CO2 was at least 70-something yesterday, and by last night or this morning it might have been as high as 90!  So, yes, this just adds to the issues.
Oh, and Anthony is at camp and Mel is at a neighbors'.  Don't get me started in that whole little drama involving Kat, the kids and the power of attorney that Joan signed years ago now.  I don't remember or know all the details, so I'm going to leave well enough alone.  Once the dust all settles from the current crisis I'll see what's what and who needs what as far as growling.  Right now, we need to make sure that Mel Bell is OK, that Joan gets feeling better soon and that her mom holds on long enough for Joan to get out of the hospital.

Like I said, when it rains, it pours.  I'm just thankful that Joan's sisters actually did take care of her mom like they were supposed to while Joan was at the hospital.  I'm extra thankful that Joan was at the big hospital she was at, not a small local one.  (Yes, I love small, local hospitals for many reasons, but in this case, it probably would not have been such a good thing and she would have ended up at the bigger one anyhow, possibly in worse shape.)  I'm extra thankful that things went wrong before the operation started, that would have been even more of a disaster.  I'm also thankful that Mel has a support system in all of us and that this time, she's actually used it a bit.  (I hadn't herd from her voluntarily in months, which hurt a lot, but isn't part of this post.)

Anyhow, this is where I'm going to wrap this up.  I'll post again with more information as I get it and decide there's enough to post.  Mostly, I wanted to get this out there to try and muddle through the mixed up emotions roiling around in my head.  About how part of me wants to say "I told you so", and part of my is worried sick about Mel and that I really do hope Joan is OK and that maybe, just maybe, this will wake her up a bit and get her moving in a healthy direction....

So, peace to you all and may your troubles be small and few.

Hawk Mountain Hiking

Today was a grand adventure.  One that hopefully be repeating again.
Shelby on Monday declared that she was needing "out" and was going to Hawk Mountain today and if anyone wanted to join her, we were more than welcome.  I've been wanting to go back to Hawk Mountain for a while now and in reality, I needed a day "out" as well.  So, I told her Boo and I would be joining her.  It turns out that her two, Jared and Jocelyn joined her and Steve came along and Shelby's friend Stacy joined us as well.
It turns out that Hawk Mountain was hosting a fund-raising 5K today, so Steve was more than happy to run it.  He wasn't terribly impressed by his time, but not totally put out.  He felt he did OK for himself and he enjoyed himself, so that's the biggest judge.  His biggest problem was the fact that pretty much the last 2 miles of the 3.1 was all uphill, the last mile being very uphill.  (What do you expect, we were at Hawk Mountain after all.)

So, while Steve was running, the rest of us prowled along the trails for a little bit.  Then we joined up with Steve and went for a longer walk.  We weren't really planning on going all the way to North Lookout, but we ended up there.  We did make a few stops at some of the other lookouts on the way and the boys (especially Jared) had a blast climbing on the rocks.  Boo did really awesome, walking a good portion of it.  I ended up putting him into the back more because the ground was sooo rocky and he was having problems keeping up, more than he was complaining about walking.

I'm really impressed with myself though.  Even carrying Boo for a good portion of the 2 miles up and back, I was able to keep up for most of it and really wasn't winded and exhausted.  Let me tell you, the trail may have only been 1 mile each way, but there was a LOT of climb, especially at the end.  Of course, I love scrambling over the rocks and climbing about.  Mom has claimed I'm half mountain goat from time to time.  I think Boo inherited a good chunk of that too.

Steve was so impressed by Boo.  He was just wowing the socks off Steve most of the day with his conversation and observation, not to mention his endurance and willingness to climb all over the place.  I think Steve was more thrilled than Boo to give him a piggy back ride.  You'd think Steve liked Boo or something.  I really wish we got to see him (and Shelby and the kids too!) more often.  They're great people.  Of course, it doesn't help when Steve gets deployed overseas for a year or more at a time.  But that's a totally different story.

Anyhow, I think this is where I'm going to wrap this up.  We've got a picnic at Kat's tomorrow for Father's Day and Billy's birthday.  I've also got laundry to do and a quick grocery run to get in there somewhere too.

Peace to all and may your weekends be full of adventure!

Now where was I?

Ok, Ok, so yet another week plus has gone by without my paying any attention to this little corner of the world.
I think mostly it's because I've been stuck in a rut of work, snow, sleep and work.  Oh, and don't forget the snow.
I just haven't felt like I had anything to say recently.  I am working on a bit of a project/challenge for February, but it's in the percolating through my brain stages and doesn't have any real form yet.
Let's see here, what interesting things have been going on in my life?
Work:
My group moved upstairs to be with the software development team.  I think it'll work out in the long run, but it's a bit of a switch that'll take some getting used to.  I've both been more and less productive, so yeah, nothing new there.  I have to come up with my annual goals by the end of the week and I have to have 4.  After my review and knowing what's expected of the group, I'm still having problems coming up with 4 measurable and meaningful goals.  And no, my manager is no help on this one... we have to come up with them and then submit them to him for approval. Yeah, not so happy with this.
Working out:
Well, I joined the gym at the beginning of the month.  I've really enjoyed the switch, but the stupid weather keeps getting in the way of my plans.  (For example, as I'm writing this I'm supposed to be wrapping up my workout, but I just wasn't going to deal with the snow before I had to today...)  Hopefully I'll get firmly into my Tuesday/Thursday morning routine like I'd like.  It really helps with the cabin fever I get this time of year if I can be physically active in some way.
Crochet:
I'm currently in the middle of two blankets and a scarf/wrap.  I've been able to get a few minutes here and there with them and am quite happy with all three.  I'm not 100% sure who any of the projects are going to eventually end up with, but I'm enjoying them.  I've got major start-itis though right now. I've got some really yummy, fuzzy, bulky yarn to make a small baby blanket with (no, I don't have anyone in mind for it) that I really want to start just because it's warm and fuzzy and another pattern I really want to try again because it defeated me before and a couple of hats and scarves I'd like to make as well.  But I've got to finish at least one project before I start anything else.  Or at least that's what I keep telling myself...
Friends:
This past weekend was pretty uneventful as far as that goes.  There is a good bit of drama going on in part of my clan of friends.  No, I'm not going to write about it here.  At least not yet.  There are two, or more, sides to every story, and I don't have all the info yet and haven't processed it all to make a coherent statement.  In all that vague language, I'm trying to say that big things are going on that are troubling me deeply, but can't share it yet.
Family:
Dad has his up days and down days.  The business continues to roll along in fits and starts, but seems to be hanging on at the moment.  Mom's had some really good results with her chiropractor and it seems to be helping.  I love the fact that she can still come up just about every Monday to spend with Boo.
Gak and Boo continue to do well.  We've all had our moments recently with bouts of sinus ick, but over all, we've been healthy this winter.  Boo just keeps amazing me every day.  His vocabulary is HUGE and he's just too darn cute.  Boo really loves his new back pack (but not so sure about the chest-clip modification I added...)

But... I've got an awake boy who wants some snuggles, so I'd better sign off.

Peace to all and may things go well for you and yours.

P.S. I do have some new photos, but they're still on the camera....

Fast Forward

So, it's been almost a week again since I've posted here.  And those who see me on Facebook, also know I haven't been busy much there this week either.
I think mostly it's been a lack of motivation more than anything.  I must admit, most of the week has been pretty uneventful.  I am trying to find more things I want to talk about, not just report on my daily life, as well, that's pretty routine around here most days.
Anyhow, nothing too exciting happened over the week.  We did have some really nice snow on Friday.  Of course, with Gak working all day Wednesday and me deciding to drive the boys in Friday morning, my work schedule was all out of wack, and therefore I didn't get to the gym as I thought I would.  We'll see how my "schedule" works this week.  As it turns out, I could have let the boys walk.  They were calling for the snow to be done falling by about noon, and sure enough, by 11 it had stopped.  Of course, if I'd let them walk, we'd have had a blizzard...

Anyhow, as usual, the weekend is where the fun was.  We're still not quite back on to our "normal" schedule for Saturdays, and won't be for at least another week, but it was a bit closer.  I didn't want to do the laundry Saturday morning and Boo said to do it Sunday, so I said OK.  We dropped Gak off at work, did a few minor errands and then came home for a bit.  I was a bit of a bad momma and plopped Boo down in front of a Caillou episode.  But I had an ulterior motive.  You see, the evening before, I'd picked up a really neat mitten pattern and some cool fabric for Boo.  His hands are so tiny and his mittens so thick and big and he just doesn't quite get how to stick his thumb in the thumb, that I wanted to make him a pair or two that would work better.  Like I said, I found a really cool pattern.  I was just going to trace his hand, add some wiggle room and a seam allowance and a bit for a cuff and wing it and use some elastic to hold them on, but there was this neat pattern for baby/toddler mittens that are pretty open and wrap around their wrist and velcro close.  Yep, worth every cent.  (I'm even thinking of taking the pattern to the copier and make it big enough for me.  I know I'll have to make some adjustments, but that's OK, I can figure it out.)  So, in slightly longer than it took Boo to watch an entire Caillou episode, I whipped up his first pair of mittens.  Not perfect, but they work and were a great learning experience.
After that we met up with everyone at bowling as they were finishing and then had lunch together.  That's back to our normal Saturday.  I enjoy these little gatherings.  After that it was nap time (and time for me to make a second, better pair of mittens).
I had to wake Boo up to go pick up his Poppa.  After that we then headed to Kat's.  Boo and Zoe went playing in the snow.  My camera wasn't cooperating so I don't have any good pictures, just one I took with my phone.  Anyhow, Boo loved Zoe's red disk sled and had a lot of fun, willingly going down the hill by himself.  (He actually didn't want to go on the sled with Zoe, which is kinda funny, but typical for Boo.)
After the kids were done playing, we all head back into town to meet up with Steve and company for dinner. Well, it turns out everyone was going to go to the Philadelphia Wings lacrosse home opener.  Gak and I hadn't known about it.  At any rate, Boo and I decided to go (which meant Scott didn't have to drive) and Gak went home for an evening alone.  Gak said he'd gladly bring the boy home if I wanted to go, but I decided to take him with me.  Yes, he was up a good 2 hours past his bed time, but I had a feeling he'd do OK at the lacrosse game, and I was right.
We all had a great time hanging out.  My boy was quite the mooch though.  I stole some of Rachel's cotton candy and once he tried it, he couldn't get enough from her or Joce.  He also managed to mooch water ice off the girls too.  It's a good thing he's cute!  It was a good game, at least the first quarter.  After that the Wings fell apart and Boston won.  Indoor lacrosse is a fun game to watch, especially since they keep the tunes rocking the entire time.  We may have to do this again sometime.

Sunday was pretty uneventful.  We ended up not getting together with anyone for the Eagles game.  Which is good, as the birds totally fell apart.  I gave up actively watching after the first quarter, and fixed dinner, and by half time I gave up on the game for good and we watched The Muppet Movie instead.  (Much more enjoyable, I'd forgotten exactly who all made appearances in that movie.)

Anyhow, I've got to wrap this up.  If you want more pictures, go check Flickr.

Peace to all and may your unplanned adventures be fun.

Welcome 2011

Ok, so it's the 4th day of 2011 and I'm just now getting a post up.  I've been busy.  Mostly in a good way, but busy none the less.
The new year started out on a nice note over all.  (I will just gloss over the fact that it was a cranky morning for unknown reasons.)  We headed down to Amma and PopPop's around 10:00 to get there around 11.  We had a nice lunch (even if Boo was being a toddler and not eating and just frustrating his father...).  Boo got to play with his PopPop for a few and then Amma joined the three of us on our way down to Baltimore.  Yep, we headed down to Baltimore to meet up with Michelle and her aunt Eileen.
We left a bit earlier than we needed too, which was fine because it gave us a chance to stop at Whitemarsh so Gak could stop at the Games Workshop store there and the rest of us could wiggle a bit.  Boo never did nap on the way down there, even with Amma pointedly ignoring him.  We get to the Barnes and Noble right around 3:00, but as is ever the case, Eileen and Michelle were running late.  It was quite alright though.  Boo loves the book store.  Especially book stores with a train table.  Once Michelle and Eileen joined us, we headed next door to the Hard Rock and had an early dinner.  It was quite an enjoyable meal and it was really good to be able to catch up.  After dinner it was back to the book store so the girls could actually do some shopping (and we could continue to catch up) until Boo's lack of a nap caught up with him around 7.  One of these days we'll actually make it down there early enough and have enough time to actually go to the aquarium.  I love that aquarium and haven't been in so long.
Eileen is doing well despite her recent tumble down most of a flight of stairs.  Michelle is also doing quite well.  She's enjoying her time up in Canada and has recently found out where her next posting will be.  Come August, after a few weeks of home leave and a few more of training (pending her visa of course) she'll be heading to Pakistan.  Yep, Pakistan.  Of course, the news today worries me, but I'm an optimist.  She's not going to be in Islamabad, and closer to the Indian border, so it's a bit safer right now.  She even found a guide book at the book store, so it's not all bad.  We hope to be able to catch up with her sometime in June or July while she's home.  Everyone misses her so.  I just wish I was able to tell her that yes, we'll be up to Ottawa at the beginning of May (or even March).  I feel like such a horrible friend for not trying harder to get up to see her.  Stupid passport rule.
Thankfully it was an uneventful drive home and Boo slept most of the way to Amma's and then fell asleep about halfway back to our place.  I'm glad he did wake up for a bit there in the middle, it meant that he actually slept in the next day, which is always nice.

The rest of the start of the year has been fairly uneventful over all.  Today was my first day back to work since the day before Christmas Eve.  It was a little rough to get back into the swing of things, but not as bad as I feared.  I'd checked my email at one point in the middle of last week, so it wasn't too horrible when I got in.  I managed to get a good bit done, but need to focus a bit better tomorrow and get more done.  I spent a little too much time drifting while I was working on things.  I should be able to tie up some loose ends on some projects though, if I'm lucky.

I've also changed something else.  I've decided not to sign up for this session of water aerobics at the Y.  I'm just so sick and tired of fighting with the swim team and the pool that's a little cooler than I like and being shoved in the way shallow end.  So, I bit the bullet and joined the local gym.  They've got a good sized therapy pool (not too warm, not too cold either) that's open for use.  It's a little deep for me, but that's OK, it just makes a few things a little more challenging.  I'm still trying to figure out a new schedule for this as I would really love to get in the habit of going more than one evening a week.  I may see about trying to go before work on Tuesdays and Thursdays to swim or Wednesdays or Fridays after work for a short cardio or strength training workout after work but before picking Boo up.  We shall see.  Over the winter I really need to make sure I get indoor exercise in though, as I'm just not in the mood to walk outside when it is cold and/or windy.  Yes, I'm a wuss when it comes to walking outside during the week.  (But for an O meet, I'll go out in just about any weather.... why is that?... Could be because I'm usually dealing with heat not cold and not nice clothes either.)

So, this year is getting off to a good start, here's hoping I can make this year even better and more productive than last year.  My goals are to be able to spend more quality time with my family (which is different from quantity, but related), remember to take time for me and the things I love to do and to push myself as hard as I can at work so I can fully enjoy my time away from work with no regrets and nothing hanging over my head.

Peace to all and may your year be off to a great start and have a bright future.

p.s. I don't have pictures as I'd left my camera at Kat's house.  Mom and Michelle both got good group pictures, but neither of them has sent me one yet.

Cookie Monster Weekend

Ok, so a little late than never.  This weekend was a ton of fun.  I got to spend a lot of time with Mel Bell and Rachel too and all kinds of other good things.
As usual, the weekend started out on a hectic note.  After work Friday I had to go pick up Boo, go about 45 minutes or so to pick up Mel Bell, come back, hit the Chick-fil-a drive through, pick up Gak and head to Zoe's Christmas concert, all between 4 and 7.  Considering I work about a half hour from Boo's day care (and I got out a few minutes late) and that there was over 2 hours driving in that 3 hour time span, yeah, it was close.
Anyhow, I manage to get everyone picked up and fed and over to Zoe's school by 7.  This year they are having 2 concerts, the elementary age kids and then the Jr/Sr high kids, so it was nice and short.  It was a nice little program and Boo did very well sitting through it quietly.  After the concert we all troop over to the diner because we're the only ones who ate.  Of course, my son decides to eat again and we have a snack.
Saturday I drop Gak off at work and do a quick grocery run while Mel plays with Boo.  When I get home the kids get dressed and we go into "the dungeon" and bring up the Christmas stuff.  By that point it's time for us to head over to bowling to meet up with everyone for brunch.  (Yes, this was a busy weekend, why?)  When Rachel saw us coming in the door, you'd have thought it was more like 12 years not 12 hours since she's seen Mel.  Anyhow, after brunch I head home with Mel and Rachel and Boo.  I try and convince Boo to take a nap, but he's having none of it because two of his cousins are here.  Anyhow, the girls and I got the tree up and decorated while Boo was playing in his room.  We even got some cookies started.

The girls had a bit of a flour fight, but it's all OK as they kept the mess in the kitchen and even managed to clean it all up (well, almost all) on their own.  They even "helped" each other clean up a bit too.  It was good fun.

(This was actually from last week, but Boo helped with more sprinkles this week and with some mixing too...)

Anyhow, we made four different kinds of cookies that day.  Boo eventually did take a nap after I'd gone and picked up Poppa from work.
I took Rachel home after dinner and then Mel called her step-mom to see if she could walk over for a few.  (She lives about one block away, especially if you go out our back door to her back door...)  So, she took some cookies over and they hung out for a few hours.  It was nice that she was able to get some time over there too.  CC and George (Mel and Ant's dad) may not have been married or together long before George passed, but she really does care about Mel and Ant and they both like her.
Sunday was a bit more calm, as we didn't have a Rachel over.  Well, somewhat calm.  It was a gray and icky day but I had a boy who was full over extra energy.  Around noon we all trek over to the grocery store to pick Gak up some lunches for work (he had to open yesterday and will be going in at 10 from now until Christmas) and then over to Burger King to grab lunch, mostly so Boo could run around the play area. It's days like Sunday that I wish we had a yard.  Oh well.  And how come my buckets of energy boy will run circles around the apartment, but when you take him to a play area, just sorta stands there and doesn't want to climb or anything like he does all over the furniture?  Oh well, we did get him a bit more worn out than he was though.
After lunch we came home and Boo actually did nap for us.  Probably because there wasn't the excitement of two cousins being here and all the chaos of two teen-aged girls.  Mel and I baked some more cookies and waited for Joan to pick her up.  Yes, I like baking cookies, why?  Anyhow, Mel went home a little after 2 and the Boo-boy slept in a bit longer too.

Of course, that wasn't the end of my weekend as I try and use up the last bits of my vacation time and still have enough time at work to get everything done that needs doing before the end of the year.  I both love and hate having the week between Christmas and New Year's off.  I love having the time, but I hate that it shortens my time to get all the end of year work that comes in done.
Anyhow, since Gak had to work all day yesterday, we drop him off as Boo and I head down to Phoenixville to go swimming with Amma.  Yesterday was her swim class's Christmas breakfast and we were invited of course.  Anyhow, we got there a little after 8 and Boo had a blast!  He even let Erin put a bubble on his back and he went to her for a while.  Most of the time he spent with Amma playing while I worked out a bit.  It was a relaxing change from my high intensity class on Tuesday nights.  I'm going to miss it when this session ends, but I'm really tired of fighting with swim team and the water is just not comfortable (although it's been better the last few weeks and Mom's pool is just too warm...)  After swimming we went to breakfast and it was quite enjoyable.  Boo did very well and ate almost all of his pancake and about 2/3 of Amma's fruit cup.  (My boy does love fruit!)  We then headed to the book store to pick up one last present and then to Amma and PopPop's so the boy could have a play date with PopPop.  Unfortunately, PopPop isn't feeling too well, as he's got a kidney stone.  We did have a nice visit until Boo got to that silly tired stage.  I convinced him to get his jacket on and we went home.  He passed out before we even hit the Turnpike.  We got home and he woke up long enough for me to take him upstairs to our apartment.  Once inside he stripped his jacket as he stumbled to his bed and crawled right in.  He slept another hour or so.

Anyhow, I have an awake boy.  I've got to get both of us ready for the day as I'm dropping Boo off at daycare on my way to work since Gak has to be in at 10.  (This is one of those times a second car would be nice....)

Peace to all and may your weekends be full and fun.