Silent Night

Peace and quiet. Briefly. The kids were great yesterday. The excess of cookies and grandparents didn't seem to send them too far into orbit. We found homes for about half the gifts, but the living room still looks like a tornado blew through. Especially with the tree and trampoline taking up so much space.

Trampoline. Big hit so far. They don't actually jump around much, but they like to hang out inside and toss the balls around. If you ever decide to do something similar, make sure that the airpump you buy works on a standard outlet. Otherwise, you and your loved ones will spend two hours in the driveway on Christmas Eve running the pump off the car's lighter. Fun.


Claire and Nathan had to help open every present. Claire actually got a head start on the 23rd when she followed Sprite into my closet and started unwrapping gifts while I was in the bathroom. She's a tricky one.


Obviously, this was all very tiring for a one year old.


This was Nathan's gift to Claire. We bought the jewelry box prepainted, but then Nathan got to decide where the glitter, gems and stickers went. It's a bit gaudy, but sweet.


This is my favorite gift. We've been buying Nathan knights for awhile, and Dad got the castle to go with them. It's wood, not plastic, and is pretty realistic. (Well, it would be realistic if it didn't have Spiderman and his ATV there too.) He liked the King and Queen that came with it, and I bought a dragon for Claire to give him. I think some siege engines and some archers will find there way into his birthday presents too.


Tomorrow, I'm off to Saranac Lake again for another medical infusion. It's Dan's birthday, so I'm hoping to be home early so we can go out for a b-day/anniversary date. Then I'm off to Vermont and New Hampshire for Roxanne's party on Saturday, as long as the weather holds. We've managed a White (day after) Christmas, but just barely.

Christmas Eve

 

Getting into the homestretch on the X-mas planning. These are the most important cookies, the ones we leave for Santa to eat. Along with a few carrots, and maybe some spiked egg-nog. Claire's snoozing already, Nathan is watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". When that's over, I still need him to help wrap up his present for Claire.

Pray he'll get to sleep. Santa's going to have to blow up a gigantic trampoline with a noisy air pump, so I hope Nathan sleeps through that. The festivities will be in full swing tomorrow, when Dan's parents join us and my Dad for the present unwrapping.

I'm really excited about this. As I've said, we kind of skipped things last year. And prior to that, Nathan was too little to really be involved with things. We're going to have a lot of fun. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Where would you rather eat?

Claire's
Claire
Natch's (Nathan Alexander + Claire Hayden) pronounced Natchez
Natch


from our draft proposal

The theme for our restaurant will be American food with a Southern flavor. This will give us a great deal of flexibility in our menu choices. For lunch, we will be able to offer quick buffet style meals, focusing on comfort foods in the price range of $4-8 for soups, sandwiches and salads and $8-13 for other entrees. Dinner will be more upscale, with a menu that changes seasonally and prices in the $5-25 range. We plan to have a full liquor license, primarily to serve our diners, but with some solo bar business as well. On Sundays, we will be open for Brunch only. As much as possible, we would like to include local growers and businesses such as County Meadows Cheese, Sundance Knoll Ranch Beef and 8 o’clock Ranch Lamb in our menu choices. The attached sample menu will show you our current plans. Within a few months of starting the restaurant, we expect to be able to expand to in-house catering. Depending on customer needs, we will add outside catering by our second year. We will aggressively market the catering business for the summer months to capture wedding and reunion business.

We have several ideas that we plan to implement to become involved with the community. We want to mix education with enjoyment by hosting beer and wine tasting dinners. These have been very successful at other restaurants where I’ve worked, and it will be a great opportunity to introduce our neighbors to great brewers and wineries. There is also a rising movement in this country called Slow Food, which encourages the use of local products at the dinner table. I’m sure our community would enjoy having a North Country meal in the company of some local growers and cheese makers. We’d also like to offer short one-day classes in cooking. All of these events will be ideal during the months when we have forecast lower customer levels. In addition, we will be contacting Paul Smith’s College, the C.I.A. and N.E.C.I to offer externships to culinary students. This regular infusion of students from around the country will help introduce us to current culinary trends, and also inject some new viewpoints to our menu.

Got any Money?

We need to submit a preliminary proposal to the college to be considered to take over the restaurant that failed. There are about a dozen people who've expressed interest in it in the last year. I think we'll have a strong proposal, we know the town, and know what people want. But we ain't got no moolah!

Dan says he's working on that. I started a business plan and tried to work on the financials today. But it's all estimates until I talk to Dan about customers and get more details on insurance, licenses and equipment leases. The numbers I have now shows us making a whopping 10,000 the first year. Seems about right. Later years are 100,000. We might be able to open with 80,000 cash, but I'd feel much better with 125,000. And that's with leasing the building, not buying new fixtures, and living upstairs the first year.

We're completely insane.

Nathan as an Elf

Silly, silly, silly.

A Kiss from Claire

We had one of those perfect family moments on Wednesday night. All of us were in Claire's room, which usually means we're tossing stuffed animals and dolls around. But somehow we got Claire in a kissing mood. She kept going back and forth between Dan and I giving us kisses. We'd argue over whose turn it was, and how many kisses we wanted. Then, we'd sic her on Nathan and she'd climb all over him trying to give him a kiss while he tried to get away. Finally, we got him to participate by switching to a zerbitz contest.

Did I spell zerbitz right? Do you know what I'm referring to, or is this a word only Dan and I use?

A mortgage of one's own

Joy got me in a househunting mode and now I want to buy this house.

So, I need to get off my ass and find a job. 10 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 10 acres. If I tell you how much it costs you're going to want to move here too. Okay, 99,000. Now, move here and be my neighbor!

Home safe and sound after 3 hours in the car and 6 hours hooked up to an IV. Cross your fingers that it works.

Rituxan

Feeling a bit stressed. I start a new arthritis treatment tommorrow and the warnings for it go on for sixteen pages. I also haven't been able to find much info on how well it works for people, and what the long term side effects may be. It's been used for years for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma patients, but it was only approved for RA this past year.

The worst part is that I have to go to the oncology dept of the hospital to get it. I'll be there for a few hours getting the drug through an IV drip. And then I have to go back in two weeks for a second dose. If it works, I'll be pain free for six months.

Gimme Gimme

Even though Claire isn't talking much, she's definitely learned how to get her point across. Imagine me, sitting comfortably in my chair, until the little rugrat comes up and starts tugging on my clothes or finger. If I do not immediately get up, she will continue pulling, while at the same time, falling on the floor and crying. Persistent. Then, she will lead me to her goal(blankets, room, doll, kitchen cabinet, refrigerator) and whine until I probe into her mind and figure out what she wants. Fun Fun Fun.

Everybody Jump Jump Jump

My Christmas Shopping to-do list is almost done. Except for the kids. I haven't gotten them so much as a candy cane for their stockings. Claire doesn't even have a stocking. After watching Nathan run laps around the living room and Claire bounce on a package of toilet paper, I've decided that we should get a trampoline. But what kind.

There is this
Pros: room for two
Cons: Huge

or this.
which also plays music. Can't decide if that's a pro or con.

I think I'm leaning toward #1 because I'd rather have something that the kids won't fight over. I'm afraid they would always be pushing eachother off #2.

I have to decide and order soon. At least two websites I've been to tonight have been out of stock. But I need to check with Dan first. I think he's still holding out for getting Nathan a drum set.

Oh Tannenbaum

There are not enough lights on this tree. Part of the problem is that everything had been boxed up for two years and two moves. One strand of colored lights had an inexplicable cut on it. And my habit of saving candy canes to hang on the tree turned into an ooey, gooey mess. Plus, this is a really fat, full tree. We couldn't get much higher than 6 feet because of our low ceilings, so we made up for it in width. And the lights just disappear into the depths of it.

It's not quite done yet. I've got some red bows that I like to put on, but I've got homework due tonight. You'll get the full pictures sometime before Christmas.

The goose is getting fat

I used to like to wait until mid-december to put up lights and decorate for Christmas. Growing up, we never had a tree up before the 15th. But, I have a surplus of Christmas spirit this year after last year's disasters. I've even been listening to the "Holly" station on XM radio.

I put the outside lights up two days ago, wanting to beat the forecast of rain and snow for the next week. I got a light-up Frosty today, too. Couldn't resist. But my attempts to put him up during a break in the rain were twarted by the lack of a polarized plug. That, and the thunder. And more freezing rain. So I left Frosty tied to a tree and will attempt to get him plugged in tomorrow. My favorite purchase of the year so far is a $10 light timer. I program the lights to come on at dusk and go off 9 hours later. Yay for not going outside and Yay for saving electricity.

Too bad my Christmas shopping is still completely unorganized. I don't even have good ideas this year. Getting a pair of socks for my Mother-in-Law is about as far as I've gotten. At least I got it together in time to order my cards from Shutterfly during their 20% off sale. Here's one of the reject pictures.

I believe in ...... hmmmm

I decided to go to chuch today. I don't think I've ever been able to say that before. Wow.

I'm never going to be Catholic again, that's a given. But I've always felt that children benefit from religious education and from being part of a charitable community. When we lived in D.C., I considered going to Quaker services, but didn't really want to go alone. Now that we're here, and getting settled in, I keep thinking that church would be a wonderful way to be involved in the communitity and for the kids to meet new people.

Dan's mother, who was raised Quaker, goes to the Unitarian-Universalist church in Canton. I had no idea what the U-U's are, but generally thought that if my liberal, secular in-law liked it, it might suit me too. A few weeks ago I took the Belief-o-matic quiz on belief.net and found that my beliefs coincide with the U-U beliefs 100%. (Roman Catholic was about 13%)

I had a very nice time today. The sermon seemed to be talking about me (take a risk and try something new), the people were friendly, Nathan had fun in the playroom, and it smelled nice. Yeah, I have a thing for incense and candle wax. I just need to work out the details of what to do with Claire. She didn't want to be left in the nursery. Janet stayed with her so I could hear the sermon, but I can't do that every week. I'll have to work out how to take turns with her, or see if Dan wants to come, so I don't miss all the services. Nathan should be more easygoing, although he was shy, and also thought the music was too loud.

Z is for Zamboni

Enjoyed a rare Friday night off with Dan by going to a St. Lawrence Hockey game. This is the first men's game we've gone to, we were hoping the crowds would be light during vacation. There were still a lot of people though. Nathan was having a lot of fun, but when the Saints scored late in the 2nd period, he was scared of all the noise. Cheering, sirens, blaring music, stomping feet, the usual. Luckily, it wasn't a high scoring game, or he would have wanted to leave sooner. Making it through two periods was all we had expected anyway.(1 1/2 hours)

I'd like to go back, but not by myself with two kids. I'll have to see if Janet wants to come to games and hold Claire, or leave Claire at the grandparents. And I absolutely will not brave the BIG game against Clarkson.(the college in Potsdam)

Here's a picture that Nathan took of the game. And a few more I took.

Home again

I went down to CT for Jon's funeral from Sunday to Tuesday. Just me, at least I remembered the cruise control this time. Fairly typical Irish wake, crying interspersed with laughter.

Now that I'm home, I don't think Claire has forgiven me for leaving for three days. Either that, or she just likes Grandma better than me. Very fussy little girl. Luckily, Dan's been off the last two days, so she's been spending a lot of time in his arms. She'll forgive me eventually.

A true gift of life

It's a terrible thing to be 25 and have a brain tumor. That's what happened to my cousin Jon. He was given 6 months to live by the doctors. Thankfully, happily, joyfully they were wrong. He had surgery, the tumor was removed, and then he went out and lived his life. He fell in love, he started a business, he sang and wrote music. And now he is truly gone. Fifteen years later.

I remember...
running all over the yard playing Star Wars, and Jon was always Darth Vader.

the 4th of July party where he kept taking pictures of people's tongues, and how odd the finished "tongue" album looked.

he and his sister Mary singing a song to me at my wedding reception.




This is a photo from our family reunion last year. Jon (next to Dan and Nathan) was getting sick again by this time, the news today was not surprising. I'd like to believe in heaven today, because I know my Mom did, and she'd love to see her favorite nephew again. They were the clowns in the family, it's not right that they've left us so soon.

My nerd gene has kicked in again

I was stressing out all week over my accounting assignment. It was due at midnight last night, and I still had half the questions unanswered and hadn't taken the quiz as of 6 p.m. A horrible feeling was coming over me, related to the fact that this was only the first chapter in my career defining major, and I was having problems.

Decided to take a slight break from things and read Chapter 2 while waiting for inspiration. What a breeze! It still had lots of new information, but it was practical knowledge that I could relate back to work experience, instead of the theories and grand themes of chapter one.

Not only did it make it easier to get back to first assignment, but I got all of this week's work done by 11:00 pm as well. Plus, I reviewed the syllabus and realized what a small fraction of my grade this work was. Not that I can skip it, but at least it was a reminder that I could fudge one question each week without failing the class. Not worth stressing over.

Add to that the fact that I just selected a research topic for my second class and have no work due for the third and I'm golden.

Must Listen To Doctor ! !! ! !!

So, I'm stupid.

I knew that taking 5 mg of folic acid daily would reduce the side effects of methotrexate (nausea, mouth sores), but once I stopped taking prednisone everyday, it was a little tough to remember to take the folic acid.

But then I started finding mouse size lumps of hair in the shower every day. Hmmmm, what does that prescription form say? Hair loss is another side effect. Maybe, just maybe, I should take my supplement everyday. That would be smart.

But I'm stupid. I still didn't take it everyday this week before taking my methotrexate yesterday. And then today I took some prednisone on a mostly empty stomach. Oooops.

So, nausea. Check. Just in time race to the bathroom. Check. Afternoon spent not eating anything and drinking only weak tea. Check.

Do you think I learned my lesson? My hair certainly hopes so.

Waaaaaa Waaaaaa

Don't ever let your kids see you put the blankie in the wash.

 

 

I think she understood that when the dryer stopped making noise that they were ready. She pulled on one of my fingers to get me up and dragged me into the kitchen. I pulled out her quilts one at a time and she just looked at me like I was deranged. Then I got the blankie and she immediately held her hands out for it. Now she is rolling around on the floor with it.

Mmmm, frothy

Okay, I gotta try this. Although I think I'll wait until Dan's next day off. Combine one bottle of Diet Coke and a pack of Mentos. Or, in the case of this video, two hundred bottles of Coke and over a thousand Mentos.



BTW, this is done by some Coca-Cola people, not just random lunatics.

Yay, almost everyone I voted for won!

I thought I lived in a Republican stronghold here. After all, we do have a branch of the Council of Conservative Citizens in the next town. (I'd link to the site, but you really don't want to go there). While Dan was voting yesterday, a man in front of him piped up with "So, you're all voting Republican, right." When he persisted in then telling the poll workers to "Tell everyone to vote Republican", he was reminded that saying that was a wee bit illegal.

Happily, it looks like we're actually a democratic area after all. The County council went from 10-5 Republican to 10-5 Democrat. Spitzer (governor) and Hillary got 67% of the local vote. Our Representative is still Republican but the Adirondack Republican Rep got his wife-hitting, frat-party drinking, Abramoff connected fat-ass kicked out. Pretty much good news all around.

Will it really make a difference in National politics? Hope so. A lot of the Republican leadership from the last few years is gone. Santorum, DeLay and Frist are all gone. Even among the Republicans there has been a sense that the President has walked all over them the last few years. Maybe, just maybe, they'll find some common ground with the Democrats just to get back at the President a bit.

Class of 2008, or 2009, maybe 2010

Aaak. What have I gotten myself into? Had to read twenty pages from "Financial & Managerial Accounting" today. Now I have to submit some practice questions i.e...

Question #3: A major focus of this course is the process of financial reporting.
a. What is meant by the term financial reporting?
b. What are the principal accounting reports involved in the financial reporting process? In general terms, what is the purpose of these reports?
c. Do all businesses entities engage in financial reporting? Explain.
d. How does society benefit from the financial reporting process?

I also have to make sure I take a quiz by the end of the week. Plus there is a discussion on Ethics that I have to respond to. And that's just Accounting.

My other two courses will be expecting my research topic by next week, and I have to plan all the classes I'm going to take and submit a degree plan.

At first, I didn't even know where to begin. Now I've taped up a reminder schedule of which days I want to do which class. Sunday will always be Accounting, since that is the tougher course, and Dan is home on Sunday so I can take time to myself. Now I wish I'd started work earlier in the day instead of seeing Flushed Away with Nathan. I want to submit the practice questions before I forget everything I read today.

Whole Hog

Guess what, Dan has a blog. Guess what it's about. Betcha can't guess. You'll never believe it! It's about food. Wow. What a shocker.

A vote for me is a vote for scandal and corruption

I've been considering voting for a Republican candidate. Here's the deal.

A few days ago I got a "push" poll. After asking a few general questions, they asked if I was voting for the Dem Incumbent or GOP challenger for state comptroller. I didn't even know this position was up for election, so I said the Dem. The poller then asked if I would still vote for him even though he'd recently had to return $80,000 in misused public funds. Huh. Didn't know about that, since I'd never heard the guy's name before. This is where the "push" poll gets you.

Being me, I had to get more information about this scandal. Looked up some things and my inner accountant got riled that the comptroller (of all people) would use public employees and cars to have his wife chauffeured around. The New York times had an editorial about the issue, and have halfheartedly endorsed the GOP challenger. But the Republican is very inexperienced. He's only worked for a small city with a staff of twelve. Taking over the finances for a whole state, plus the state pension fund, is a bit overwhelming.

Still, I've been thinking of voting for him. He wouldn't make laws, and wouldn't have a connection to the National party. But I'm really bugged about the "push" poll. On the one hand, I'm glad to have an excuse to read up on the candidates more. I love to vote, but hate when I get there and see unfamiliar names. On the other hand, I don't want this form of negative campaigning to actually work. And I think, for that reason alone, I'll stick with the Democrat. Hope the GOP strategist finds this posting some day.

They also tried to do a negative spin on Hillary, playing up the idea that she may only serve NY for two years. Aw, what happened to the allegations of murder and lesbianism. GOP's gone soft.

I want to believe

I hope you've had moments in your life when something unexpected and magical happens. At those times, my brain usually tells me that it's just a coincidence and means nothing. But other times my heart wants it to be proof that there is something in this world beyond the physical. Looking at this photo puts my heart and brain to the test.

These are my mom's brothers, her sister and their spouses. And there is Dad, with a gleam of light next to him. I know it's just the sunlight reflecting off the lens. I know that. But everytime I see it I want to believe that it's Mom.

Is this Holiday over yet?

More firetruck rides. More candy. More costumes. This time in our little hamlet of Hannawa Falls. There were even real live trick or treaters going to the houses in the village. (I should explain that the village consists of two general stores, a bar and the post office with about 40 houses. Just 3 square blocks. We're about 1/2 mile from that.)

But, for a small town, there were a lot of kids at the fire station after the ride. Cider, donuts and big heaping handfuls of candy. They also had a costume judging contest. Amazingly, Claire was not voted cutest girl. Perhaps the fact that she kept pulling off her crown and messing up her hair counted against her. One of the winners was a Dalmation, with the VFD's name of "Hannawa Hounds" written on his costume. He was a shoe-in for a prize. Also, the boy dressed as an outhouse and the girl dressed as a shower. Biker boy also won.



Here's Nathan, threatening the entire crowd with his sword. We had some more wrangling over his costume today. He told me yesterday that since he'd already been a jedi and a knight, he had to be a pirate today. Then this morning, he decided if he as a pirate, he'd have to fight the other kids dressed as pirates, and he didn't want to do that. So, back to the knight, and I think he was the only knight, but that didn't stop him from fighting. There was still the grim reaper, army guy, witches and, of course, some pirates to duel.

Back to School II

My online classes opened today. It's another week before classes start, but I went in and read the course schedule and updated my profile to share with other students. I'm signed up for

Intro to Accounting - pretty self-explanatory.
Planning and Finalizing the Degree - 2 cr - This is a requirement at Empire. Since all the classes are done online, this is a way to be sure that you have a good relationship with your mentor and are on track to eventually graduate.
Information Literacy - 2 cr - I had a few options for my second Educational planning course. I decided that since I first learned how to research in the 20th century, I needed to re-train myself on education in the internet age.

Since I signed up for the second two classes at the Advanced Level, I'm going to have to write two research papers this term. I think I was smart to pick a term that will be broken up by a long Christmas break, it will give me time to get ahead on the work a little. The idea having to come up with two topics was freaking me out this afternoon, but then I came up with two possibilies while talking to Dan tonight. One paper will be a completely open-ended topic, I'm thinking of exploring the increase of the AMT tax. The other paper is meant to be about my career plans, so I think looking at how the accounting scandals and Sarbannes-Oxley have impacted accounting programs and CPA licenses seems a no-brainer. Alright, do I sound smart just talking about AMT and SOX?

My Fairy Princess and (Jedi) Knight

Lot's of Halloween pictures. Thursday night was "Fright Night". Nathan was dressed as a knight that day, and the businesses in town had treats and games. Nathan mostly just liked seeing all the other kids in their costumes, but was a little scared of some of the decorations the businesses had put up.

Today was a short parade through town.





Nathan said he couldn't be a knight again, so we got out the Jedi costume from last year. I was looking out the window all morning wondering if the rain would let up long enough. Finally decided to chance it, and the rain stopped just long enough for the parade.

Then came the firetruck ride.


What is crazier, that the town allows this, or that I did. I kept Claire with me while Nathan rode with a friend and his Dad. But there were other mothers who went up there with babies. Unfortunately, they were about halfway through that ride when it did start to rain again, and Nathan didn't have his coat, so he got a bit wet.

Then we braved a walk through more rain and massive puddles to get to the Elk's club. They had some classic games for the kids. Bobbing for apples, eating donuts off a hanging string, pin the nose on the pumpkin. One cute thing I've never seen was the skeleton hands. They took plastic gloves, put candy corn in for the fingernails, then filled it with popcorn.

Now, I'm exhausted. When we first got back, I was actually shaking a bit from the cold, the wet, and the walking. Snuggling under a blanket with Nathan, eating popcorn and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" has revived me a bit. And we get to do it all over again on Tuesday night when Hannawa Fall's VFD does firetruck rides too.

Couldn't I win some cash instead?

Alright, my favorite game is Monopoly, and the kid's favorite restaurant (and mine when I'm tired, which is always) is McDonald's. So you can guess that I really get into their Monopoly game promotion. Alas, no luck getting Boardwalk yet.

But I did score a prize from their online game. A Mobilegame download for my cellphone. Except, I don't have a cellphone. This is the kind of luck I have. Does anyone want this?

Game on! You just scored a MobileGame download for your cell phone from
feedmyphone.com by playing MONOPOLY(r) at PlayatMcD.com. MobileGames
from
feedmyphone.com will include a choice from great titles such as Block
Breaker
Deluxe, Midnight Pool, Platinum Sudoku and Platinum Solitaire.

Let me know and I'll forward the rest of the e-mail with the authorization code.

Agony

Every Red Sox fan remembers this night, twenty years ago. Here it is again, in all it's teeth-gnashing, nail biting, hair pulling glory. Except, in video game version.

Bottom of the Tenth, Sox up 5-3, Game Six of the World Series.

Spoooooky.

We're going to be pretty busy with Halloween the next few days. Tomorrow is "Fright Night" downtown. The shops are handing out candy and doing facepainting, tattoos, games etc. Then on Saturday we've got the Ragamuffin parade, followed by more candy at the Elks club. I don't know if Halloween itself will be celebrated, I can't imagine anyone on our dead-end road will be out. But at least we'll make cupcakes, since the cookies I'm making today will probably be eaten before then.

Dan just finished carving four pumpkins, I think his hand will be cramped for the rest of the day. I found this computer program for doing jack 'o lanterns. Great for those of us who are a bit artistically challenged. You enter in your pumpkins dimensions, pick out eyes, nose and mouths, and then print the pattern. You have to buy the program to get the printable templates, but you can play with the ideas and faces without paying for it first.

Here's Nathan with his pumpkin. In case you're wondering, the pumpkin is also named Nathan.

Frightful, but so delightful

 

 

Didn't I say in my cover letter that I showed attention to detail?

Almost had a disaster at a job interview yesterday. It was in Canton, so we went over a few hours early to spend time with the Family. I'd packed up my shoes and make-up, and grabbed the hanger with my shirt and jacket. Even remembered to stuff nylons in the jacket pocket.

Do you notice the flaw yet? NO SKIRT. Eeeekkk. Discovered this with only 20 minutes to the interview, which is not enough time to go to Hannawa Falls and back. But Janet had a stretchy black skirt, size medium, that I could squeeze into. If I'd been wearing a sweater, it would have looked hideous. But with the jacket covering my mid-section, it actually looked pretty sleek.

Hopefully they won't keep me hanging as long as P, M & W et al.

Finished!

I finally finished the shawl that I've been wanting to make for 10 years. See....




The story behind this is that way back in the olden days, or at least the pretend olden days, when I was working at Sturbridge Village, I made a shawl. It took a very long time, it was a pretty shade of blue/grey, and a loved, loved, loved wearing it around the village. And occasionally around the house. But it was part of my uniform, made with village yarn on village time, so I had to return it with the rest of my costume. And I mourned it, almost as much as I mourned the straw bonnet with silk forsythias that I wore in the summer.

Time has passed. We moved to Vermont and New York, but I never had any spare money to spend on something this frivolous. Then in Georgia, with the 90 degree heat, there wasn't much call for wool shawls. After that, I had to get going on baby blankets. But finally, I've done the shawl. Even though a sweater for Claire and four Christmas stockings were supposed to be next in the queue.

I cheated a little though. The original edging was a complicated lace pattern, so complicated that you only could see it if you were wearing it, anyone a foot away couldn't tell what it was. This was much easier, and faster.

I'm so happy that I've been wearing it the last few nights with all the loose ends poking out, because I didn't want to take the time to weave them in. I'm cold, and I wanted my wooly shawl. Yay!

Visitors

I forgot about Gym class again. Arrgh! Dan is driving up to Ottawa this morning with his Dad to pick up his half-brother and wife at the airport, and those plans completely drove the thought of Gym out of my head.

Dan's taking some vacation time this week so he can spend time with Andrew and Lisa. They lived in Texas, we went to visit on our honeymoon, but I've only met them once or twice. I don't think Dan's father handled being a divorced dad well, so there wasn't much of a relationship with Andrew (or his sister Laura in Seattle) when Dan was young. But George and Janet have gotten closer to them over the last few years, and try to visit when they can. Lisa was a big-wig at Motorola, so they have a slightly cushy life. They just sold their small Texas ranch, and are preparing to retire to Montana. At the moment, they're homeless, so they're visitig for about two weeks. And they may come back in a few months if their Montana home isn't finished yet.

Too bad all the wind and rain has knocked the leaves down already, things are not nearly as scenic as they were when I took the photos earlier this week. At least we didn't get two feet of snow yet. The weather report is calling for snow mixed with rain tonight, but it will melt as fast as it falls.

They called

Rejected. Very, very sad. Although she gave me the "you were a finalist" "we may get in touch if something else opens up" speech, so I guess I was pretty close.

At least now I don't have to worry about going clothes shopping for awhile.

Nothing yet

Well, I called them today. The woman I interviewed with was at their other office, so I left a message. I just don't want this to drag out over the weekend. And I'm getting frustrated because there are no jobs posted right now. I use a good website where stuff gets posted from the local Jobs Office and classifieds, and it's all truck drivers and nurses these days. There's no point in knocking on doors, unless I get desperate and want to do retail for the Holidays. I've got an appnt to take the County Civil Service accounting exam, but that's a looooong process with no guarantee a job will even be available. Grrr arrrgh.

In other news the kids have noses that a running like faucets. I can't wait to get them in daycare so they'll be sick every day. Yay!

And in other, other news, I'm switching drugs again. The miracle drug Enbrel doesn't seem to be working very well for me. And, after this month, my insurance won't be paying for it. So, I'm switching to Rituximab(sp?), which will be injected through a saline I.V. at the hospital. Takes a few hours, but once it's done, it should be good for six months. Cross your fingers, knock on wood.

NOW

Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call Call

Waiting by the f*ing phone

I want P, M & W, P.C. to F*ing CALL ME. CALL ME. CALL ME. CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.CALL ME.

And give me a f*ing JOB!!!

It should be clear by now that I don't live near a Gymboree. However, the local SUNY college has a lot of community classes, including kids gymnastics. I had my doubts about signing up Nathan for one. One issue is that Sunny (son of hippie, British Mum) absolutely hated it last year. He and Nathan are a lot alike, especially in their love of climbing and jumping, so that worried me. Also, it costs $64, and the playground is free. But the biggest concern was that it was at 8:00 am, altough I tried to put a positive spin on that, since it was early enough that Claire could stay home with Dan.

I do not get up at 8:00. I certainly don't get up at 7:00, Dan does. And lately the kids have been sleeping late, so there have been mornings we've all still been snoozing at 8:30. It should not surprise anyone when I admit that we slept through the first class. I didn't even remember there was a first class until about 10:00 am that day. And last week Dad was coming Saturday morning, plus I wanted to go to the Harvest festival, so we skipped the second class too.

But I was determined to get my money's worth and make it there today. Set the alarm last night, and managed to wake up at 7:00, which is a bit of a miracle since I had the AM/PM wrong on my clock. Rousted Nathan out of bed and ignored his "But I'm too tired for Gym class" whining. Got in the car with my campus map, concerned that I was supposed to go to Merrit Gym, when I knew for a fact that the main gym is called Maxcy. More concern when I pulled into what I thought was the nearest parking lot, and not only were there no minivans, there were no cars at all. Uh-oh. Did they move the class, am I in the completely wrong place, did I waste $64. Went inside and followed the "Kids and Movement" signs to the Merritt Gym, which was completely dark and definately lacking cushions for little kids.

Frak.(In honor of the return of BSG last night) Went back to the car with vague plans to circle the campus looking for people with strollers. Luckily, another minivan pulled up, someone who'd realized too late that there wouldn't be classes because it's Columbus day weekend.

What did I learn from this? Nothin. But at least we were up early enough that Dunkin Donuts hadn't run out of Boston Creme yet.

These are for Joy

I was looking for photo ops on my way home today, but then decided that I could do pretty well just in our own backyard. Here's fall!

Chilly

Getting cold. I've spent the last few weeks putting the storm windows up and down as we've swung from 40 degree nights to 70 degree days. But I think after tonight's frost, we'll be keeping the storms down permanently. Finally took the AC out of the window too, after using it about 3 nights all summer. I got some plastic wrap to put on some of the windows. I really hate that stuff, but the main part of the house is fairly old and not well insulated. It was probably a 3 room summer camp when it was built, and then was retro-fitted to a year-round home.

I think I finished the triangular wool shawl I'm making, haven't quite decided yet. It's really a bit too long in the back, but doesn't cover my front very well. I'm thinking of putting in a chunky button to keep it clasped in the front, and maybe adding some more trim to the front. Pictures eventually.

Luckily, they didn't notice the black eye

The job interview went very well. I think I was more relaxed than the interviewers. Threw in some talk about the AMT tax and the CPA exam, so I think that may have helped show off my intelligence. They were also very impressed with my cover letter, so I think I'm off to a good start.

I had to take an hour long test on spelling, math, etc. I think it was written in the 1920's and has been given to every employee since the firm was founded. Since I always use spellcheck and calculators, I was a little stressed at having to use a pencil and do it all in my head. I'll find out in a few days if I have the job, and make some calls tomorrow to see if the daycares I've talked to have openings. I should also start doing some online shopping to see if I can expand my wardrobe a bit.

Help!!!!!!!!!!

It was very liberating to clean out my closet in Germantown and throw away or give away all of my suits. They were worn out and badly fitting anyway. But now I have a job interview tomorrow and I have NOTHING TO WEAR. These are the only two things in the closet that are workable, and I don't really like either of them. How I wish Stacy and Clinton would show up at my door with a $5000 shopping spree.

Option one: Even the Queen of England would think this was too matronly.


Option two: A little more casual, actually too casual. Polka dots!! WTF!! This would be one of my desparate to have something, anything, that fit in the ninth month. And even it's a bit tight against the bust.



I want to race over to the store where I got the shirt I wore to Joy's reception, because I think they had coordinating jackets and skirts in a rosy tweed. Plus, do I need new shoes? I have two pair of black flats, but I feel I need heels for the interview. Except then I might end up limping through the office. BTW, this is for a CPA office, so we're not talking high fashion. But I really don't want to look like Ugly Betty either.