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...)

Saturdays are Fun Days (and Snow Again...)

Well, we survived another snow storm, making 3 in 3 weeks.  I really don't mind snow, I actually like the way snow makes everything look and it's fun to play in too.  I just wish it had been spread out through the entire winter, not just the last 6 weeks of it.  I mean, we've had 4 major snow storms this winter, one in December and 3 in February.  What happened to January?  What about the beginning of December?  Oh well.
This one, in some ways was a non event.  I say that because just about everything we got, is gone now.  That's not to say it wasn't inconvenient and a pain.  Thursday it started snowing sometime between 3 and 6 am.  (I know this because it wasn't snowing when Gak got up at 3 to pee, but it was snowing by the time I got up at 6.  It wasn't too bad and it wasn't sticking to the roads.  Gak talks to his boss and his boss says if you want to open, by all means!  So, we get Boo dressed and all head out the door.  I thought I might be home by noon, but it still wasn't sticking to the roads or the cars.  I did knock off a little early to pick up Boo, just because I didn't want to be the one responsible for keeping the ladies late.  We came home and played for a bit before picking up Gak about 45 minutes early because they were only getting the one pickup that day.  By the time we picked him up, it had started to stick on the roads a bit.  I was also feeling lazy and didn't want to cook.  So, after stopping at the bank, we go to the diner for dinner.  It was only 6:00, but the place was deserted!  The snow was beginning to stick very well by now.  So, we had dinner and came home.
Friday I looked out the window at 5am and saw about 6-8" of white on the roads and it coming down sideways and decided to work from home.  Well, it turns out I could have made it in and made it back.  The snow pretty much knocked off by mid afternoon.  Gak did have to go in to work and worked until close.  When we'd called the day care in the morning, there weren't any other kids there, so we decided I was just going to take personal time in the afternoon.  Well, other kids did show up, but I still took the time.  (I wasn't being overly useful anyhow.... and I really just wanted to play with my boy anyhow.)  It was a nice afternoon playing with my boy, and watching the US total Finland in hockey.  Actually, most of the action was in the 1st period.
But, today was a really fun day too.  You see, Abi is in town for a couple of days.  Her schedule is kinda tight with doctors appointments for her mom and all kinds of family things, so this morning/early afternoon was the only time our schedules matched.  Unfortunately, Gak had to work.  But, Boo and I headed down to my mom's to meet up with Abi.  You see, her house is mid way between where her parents live now and where I live.  Her dad didn't want her driving all the way up here.  Unfortunately, Mom was at the shop.  But, we had a nice visit any how.  We hung out for a good 3 hours just catching up and playing with the boy.  Boo really warmed up to her quite quickly.  He is a good judge of character after all.  (Although, some days I'm not so sure what that means about Joan... she's the only one he ever really screams for when picked up.... sorry Joan!)  After leaving Amma's house, Boo promptly crashes.  I was going to stop at Microcenter and pick up a new fan for my computer, since that's what seems to be not quite right, but when I got there he was sound asleep.  So, I just kept going.
After Gak got done work we ended up going to Red Robin to eat.  Gak had eaten early and Abi and I were so busy chatting, we didn't bother to eat.  (Boo had some peanut butter crackers and some crasins, but that was about it...)  It was very yummy and I ate too much.  But, considering it was 2 meals in 1, I don't feel so bad.
Anyhow, that was my fun day.  Tomorrow is chore day.  I've got to do the laundry and the grocery shopping (and go to Target and get diapers...) and hopefully Gak will get a chance to clean the bathroom and make a swipe at the floors.  Yay...
Oh, and I'm not 100% sure which fan is making the noise in my computer.  I keep tossing up between the big honking fan that's part of the CPU/case heat sink system or the fan that's part of the power supply.  I can't get to either very easily (as in, they're hidden and I can't figure out how to get the assemblies apart...) and even though they're not right next to each other, I can't pin down where the vibration is coming from.  Of course, the two things that aren't in my computer's book is how to replace either the cooling system or the power supply. *sigh*  The slightly newer ones at work it looks real easy to get to the heat sink/fan for the case and CPU, but this is just a hair older and a different model.  There aren't any obvious blue tabs/latches to try.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure something out... either that or I'll bake the new hard drive, which I really don't want to do.

Anyhow, I'm off to go adventure in Norrath a bit before I crash.  Peace to all and may your weekends be fun.

P.S. Of course I forgot my camera and there are no pictures....

9-months and Other Sundries

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time, so I'll have to keep this post short.

It was a cranky weekend for most people involved.  Saturday Boo was a bit cranky and clingy and very sleepy.  It just wasn't a fun day.  We went down to see what the other vultures had left at Circuit City (not much) and a few other errands after Gak got off work.  Boo was fine, so long as he was held.  We ended up having dinner at Panara Bread, which was quite yummy.

Sunday, he was a major cranky butt and decided he didn't care how tired he was, he wasn't going to nap and would much rather scream.  That and he decided he didn't want to nurse during the day.  He's started not taking a bottle for Gak in the day, but I was hoping that was just a timing issue of his "real" breakfast and when they had to head out the door.  Now I'm beginning to wonder.

I went to BJ's on Sunday after a quick family trip to the Q-Mart.  I spent way too much money, but I probably saved us a good bit on groceries the next several weeks and Boo won't need diapers again for another month or so.  We didn't get any dragon pictures Sunday because he was such a tired, snotty, fussy little boy.  I like to try and get happy boy pictures because, well, most of the time he is a happy boy.

Yesterday was his 9-month doctor's appointment.  And lots of snow.  That does figure in to the picture.  Boo had been snotty and coughing a lot more over the weekend and sounding a bit soupy in general.  Well, as usual the prognosis is that his lungs are clear.  His doctor wasn't happy to hear that his cough never really did go away after last month even though it did calm down a lot and stopped waking him up after a few days.  She wasn't happy to hear it's back and how often he's coughing.  So, we're on his first round of Amoxycillin.  He's not too happy with it, but he hasn't spit it back at us yet.

Oh, for those keeping track, our boy is now at 19 lb 5 oz and 27.75".  He's now down in the 25%.  I'm not sure if this is because of his major transition to solids, his lack of wanting to nurse in the last few weeks or if he's just slowing down.

Let me take a little side trip into the whole nursing thing for a moment before I get on to the rest of the cranky day.  For the last few weeks he hasn't been taking a bottle after his 10am "breakfast" and before Gak has to walk him to day care.  No big deal.  He has been managing to get about 10-12 oz in him during the day and nursing both at 7am before I leave and at around 8 when he goes to bed.  Well, Sunday he only nursed morning and night and only got about 6 oz with cereal during the day.  (He'll normally take a bottle or a bottle and a half for the ladies at day care in the afternoons...)  Yesterday, he even refused to nurse at bed time, but screamed instead until I put him in his bed.  Therefore, he got a whopping 6 oz.  That's no where near enough.  I have no idea what's going on.  It just started and of course I'd told his doctor in the morning that he was getting around 18 oz or so most days.  AARGH.  I need words!

Ok, on to the rest of the day.  It snowed.  Therefore, GrammaSue was stuck and couldn't make it up.  No big deal, we can take him to day care.  I had to go to work because of a WebEx training meeting with a potential customer.  I could have done it from home, except the snow was supposed to be over the weekend, not yesterday so I didn't bring home my computer.  So, I call the day care and tell them Boo will be there.  Then, after his doctor's appointment, the snow is getting worse.  So, I call work and make other arrangements for the training and call the day care to say "never mind".  Well, in the next hour or so, the snow lets up considerably.  I take Gak to work, Boo falls asleep in the car, so I decide to go down to work (after picking up his meds) and at least rescue my computer.  I am stupid and try and do the meeting any how myself.  Boo is having nothing to do with this.  He didn't want to play nicely on the floor or on my lap.  He also decided to fall off my chair the second after I put him down and looked at the computer.  (I was standing in front of the chair, but he managed to miss me completely and plop on the floor.  He's ok, just a little shaken.)  I had logged in both from my computer and George's as me, so when I left I couldn't just turn off my computer and take it with me, since I was the one "running" the meeting.  He wouldn't nurse in Julie's office before the meeting.  (She was smart and working from home.)  The sales guy on the call was being downright rude about me trying to work with Boo around.  Boo wouldn't nurse when we got home or a couple of other times I tried.

Needless to say, I was feeling like one of the worst moms out there.  I'm not the worst on the planet, but I sure wasn't a good one yesterday.

Oh well.  Here's hoping today is better.

Well, I've got to wake Boo, give him his meds and see if he'll nurse *fingers crossed*.

Peace to all and may you not have cranky days.

Edit:  Nope, Boo didn't want to nurse this morning, screamed bloody murder actually.  Gak managed to get an ounce or so into him from the bottle and managed to get some fairly thin cereal into him as well.  He was not a happy camper until after he ate something and then all he wanted to do was bounce in the bouncer.  No idea what's up, but here's hoping it's just something minor and things will be better in a day or two.

Wild Weather

Well, can the weather get any weirder??

This picture is of Boo that GrammaSue took yesterday.  The face says it all.  Anyone who's following baseball knows that for the first time in World Series history, they stopped a game.  Well, more like put it on indefinite rain delay.  If they'd called the game after the 5th, the Phills would have won and we'd be planning a big party.  Now all kinds of chaos is breaking loose.

Not only did it rain like crazy last night, this morning it is snowing!

No, I don't have pictures.  I only have my camera phone with me and I can't get it to send out pictures for some reason.

On my drive down here, it was raining quite a bit.  The temp on the bank sign said 33 degrees.  There were some pretty solid rain drops.  By the time I got down here to work, it was snowing for real.  It has gotten quite heavy and is actually sticking.  They were calling for 3" in the Poconos, but nothing here.  What's really funny is that it's not snowing 15 miles north of here or about the same south of here.  It's just this one little area where hte conditions are just right.

It's a good thing GrammaSue brought up the snow suit yesterday that they bought Boo.  Luckily he and Daddy got a ride from Uncle Scott.  Unfortunately, Uncle Scott called about 3 minutes before getting there.  So Boo went to day care today in his sleeper and his snow suit.  Daddy did get a picture of Boo in the snow suit.  It's a little big on him.  I'll post that one tomorrow.

Boo also got something really cute in the mail yesterday.  He got a new dino from Nana in OK.  I got several pictures of Boo and his two dino buddies playing in the crib this morning.  They're still on the camera, but look for them tomorrow!

Anyhow, I've got to get back to work.  I'm feeling a little bit under the weather (haha) with a bit of a cold and it's almost the end of reporting month.... Can we say crazy???  (Actually, I need to run out for soft tissues as opposed to the sandpaper that is free around here and some cough drops...)

Peace to all and may your weather behave itself!

Snow!

Subtitle: ... and other sundries

Well, it looks like the snow we were supposed to get Sunday night/Monday morning has finally shown up now. Actually, they were calling for snow today earlier in the week as well, so I guess this isn't related. It's just beginning to stick to cars and stuff, but the roads are still mostly just wet. That's good. I don't need ice. No, I don't have a picture yet, my camera is at home and there are no windows in my part of the office anyhow.

Other than that, this week's been mostly boring. I've been pretty tired all week, but that's because I'm not sleeping overly well and I can't take a nap at the office. I really wish I could. It would make the day go by so much faster. It's mostly my normal insomnia waking me up at night, but sometimes it is beginning to get tougher to get comfortable. Although, that's the joy of a waterbed, it conforms to you as best it can. That definitely makes things more comfortable. Gak and I played around a little bit in Norrath the other day, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open and it was only 8:00. I tried playing with yarn a little bit last night, but I don't really have a comfortable place to do so. My computer desk is too crowded and not a good place to work with yarn, I can't get comfy on the sofa without lying down and this makes using your arms hard and since I still don't have a headboard (don't ask) I can't easily prop myself up in bed to work. Oh well, I'll figure something out. I've got too many half started projects and ideas to completely put away the yarn. (I don't dare bring anything into work or else even my vague attempts at productivity will go out the window!)

I have no idea what's going on the rest of the week or the weekend. Hopefully I'll get the Tree down so I can start trying to tame the back room so we can move the bed into there soon. I really need to get better curtains for that room though, the ones we've got in there are mostly for show, they don't really block out any light and since it's a south facing room, boy does it get bright in the morning!

Ok, I'm just so totally rambling. I'm tired. I'm avoiding real work. I'd better sign off now before I totally loose any semblance of intelligence.
Peace to all and may your weeks be good and the weather pretty.

Snow???

OK. It is official, the weather is really messed up.
Wednesday it was sunny and warm and beautiful. The temperature was up over 70 I believe. A wonderful day.
Yesterday started out nice, but then started getting grayer and rainy as the day went on.
Today, it's sleeting and snowing.
What is going on???
I give up. I just don't understand. And don't get me started about the fact that daylight savings time started over the weekend. I know, it isn't technically Spring until the 21st. But I'd like it to be spring now. We almost had it earlier this week.
Oh well.
I'm just writing this up and I'll be heading out the door. My boss just passed by and told me to leave when I wanted because I'm heading north. I agree. I was hoping to be out of here by 4, and now I can.
Yesterday Gak had a Dr. appointment. He likes being in the gray area. A lot of his blood work numbers landed in this gray area. The area between where a few years ago, it would have been fine, but they've adjusted the guidelines again so they're just out of spec. Trust Gak to be just a little off. Oh well. It doesn't mean any drastic changes, mostly on his part in what he eats when I'm not around and in the exercise domain. I try and cook healthy, or at least healthier. I grew up that way, so it's how I know to cook. It is all the stuff he eats while either at work or while I'm on the road. He's got a follow up in September. Hopefully changing a few little things will bring everything back into line.
This weekend's activities are looking a bit uncertain now. Kat had to cancel the gathering tomorrow because Zoe had a 105 fever overnight and was going to the Dr. this morning. Hopefully it isn't anything too major. She's had a cold off and on for a while of one kind or another and had a Dr. appointment on Tuesday about allergies. Everything Kat was told sounds so familiar... I've lived it most of my life.
Well, I'm going to wrap up and head out. Peace to all and may you not slide your way home.