Holidays

We're in New England for the holidays. Visiting my family in NY (yeah, I know that's not really New England,) friends in NH and The Boy™'s family in ME. So far we are having tons and tons of fun.  It's really nice to be out of PA and to see everyone we haven't seen for years. It's making me want to move back to NH in the worst way.

Patience. Patience.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

People Are Stupid

Yes they are.

Parents panic last night.

Show is sold out! We have family and friends who haven't bought their tickets yet!

Show is not sold out. Those people were buying tickets to the WRONG FREAKING NUTCRACKER!

People are stupid.


Is it Christmas yet?

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

(Do I have that song stuck in your head now? It's stuck in mine!)

It snowed today. Much more than expected. And since State College can't seem to get its act together when it comes to clearing the roads of the awful wet stuff, The Boy™ and I decided to stay in (once I got home from work.)

(The view out our living room window.)

So, instead of grocery shopping and buying Christmas presents, as I had intended to today, I made myself a cup of really hot tea, cranked the Holiday Mix on my iTunes and pulled out the Christmas decorations.

Yes, I know, it's only the 5th. I'm breaking my rule of not putting out Christmas Crap before the double digit days of December.  But what good are rules if you can't break them? Besides, since we're going to be gone so much of the Season this year, I figured if I want to get any enjoyment out of them, I better put them up now.

Or you can blame Nutcracker rehearsals, this cold and lack of sleep for my having lost my senses.

This was once a prop from a show. The stage manager gave it to me as a closing night present. This is the first year I thought to stuff lights inside it. It looks nicer at night (though I don't think the picture would come out as well.)

The reindeer displayed on the bookshelf. I think he sneaks in some philosophic reading of Lila and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance late at night when we are asleep. Last year he was with the theatre books. He's a well-read reindeer.

 Even Betty is getting in on some of the action with lights around her bowl and the LED angel to keep her company. The angel is less creepy in real life, let me assure you.

This is our small attempt at a tree and my collection of Christmas books that only come out for the holiday. One of these days, we'll be in a place that has the room for a full size tree and I'll be able to put up the decorations from my childhood. But until then, they're safely tucked away and we use this little tree instead. Since we're not actually here on the Day itself, it's not as depressing as it sounds.

It's been a long day, and it's time for a well-deserved nap.  The Boy™ has already found his chosen spot under the comfy quilt Grandma and Cousin Suzie made for us.  I'm settled in my chair with my laptop, knitting and cough drops.  This cold I picked up over Thanksgiving is still lingering. Just kind of a stuffy nose and cough at this point, but it takes a lot out of you.  In a way, it's probably better that we stayed in today. Wouldn't want to subject my germy self to the populace, would I?

THe Little Things

I'm sick right now and in the midst of Nutcracker rehearsal hell, so the little things are driving me nuts.

For instance:

To answer the question once and for all and shut everyone up about it: meat is sold by weight, baked goods are sold by count. Hence, eight hotdogs to a package and ten rolls to a package. It's not a conspiracy, people. It's just the way things are. It sucks, yes. Get the hell over it.

Rant finished.

Another Year Older ...

Yes, it's my birthday.

Yes, I'm turning 30.

No, I don't have a problem with this.

Know what else I don't have a problem with? The fact that I'm a great big geek.  My husband got me The Best birthday presents. In addition to an adorable mug with a 'G' monogram on it - filled with my favorite jelly beans from Wegman's - he got me a label maker and this framed print.

We're going out to dinner with friends after work tonight. Tomorrow, after I survive three and a half hours of Nutcracker rehearsal, Mom, Sister and Beebe are coming to visit.  I plan on spending the rest of the weekend in the hottub at their hotel. So, if you're looking for me, that's where I will be.

Christening Pictures

Nephew's Christening was this weekend. I don't have any pictures from the church since, as the Godmother, any time anything interesting was happening with him, I was also up on the alter taking part. But I have some nice group pictures of him in his suit. He's not really crying in these photos, though he isn't has happy as he normally is. He was over tired and a little grumpy by the end of it all. Can you really blame him? 

 

 

Movin' and Shakin'

There has been an announcement at work.  The Bosses are leaving.  BossMan got a job in North Carolina. He's leaving in December and BossWoman and the kids are leaving in June when the kids are done with school. 

At the moment, it seems they are planning on running the joint as Artistic Directors from down there.

None of us are really sure what this means. 

I'm not entirely convinced they even know what it means.

It could be good; it could be bad.  We're all in 'wait and see' mode at the moment.  I'm trying not to think about it.  We're getting into the busy season with birthdays and christenings and Nutcracker and holidays.  I'm trying very hard to just take it one day at a time and not think too far ahead.

I'm not very good at one day at a time.

Domestic Sunday

 Or, My Sunday in Pictures

Every once in a while, you need to have one of those days where you stay at home and just get shit done, know what I mean? Today was one of those days.  The Boy™ went off to the laundromat with three bags of laundry and some books to read while I got down and got dirty.

I cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom. This included mopping the floors (which I don't think have been mopped since we moved in,) and cleaning behind the toilet. Ew. The bowl of apples from the farm looks much more appetizing on a clean table.

     After cleaning, I made a bit of a mess again and cooked a pot of Butternut Squash and Apple Soup.  It starts here 

and ends in delicious soup.   I cooked and chopped and cooked. Then took a break while the pot was simmering and realized I had to clean some more.   So I did some more dishes, put away clean laundry when The Boy™ got home, and cleaned some more.  Even Betty got a bit of a bath.

 

   While I was busy in the kitchen, I got my snacks ready for the week.

  My nutrition teacher will be happy.

  Now that everything is scrubbed, cooked, chopped, shining and sweet smelling, it's time to take a break and enjoy my hard work.  Let's just hope things stay clean and nice for a little while before I have to do it all over again.

The Wedding Post

Last weekend, we went to Connecticut for Cousin Pete and Meg's wedding. It was gorgeous and wonderful and beautiful. We are all very excited to welcome Meg into our crazy family.

I don't know why I didn't take many pictures of the ceremony or reception. Or the awesome after party where Uncle Fred's awesome band played. I took lots of pictures of the baby, of course. Because that's what I do. You can, of course, head on over to Margot's blog to check out her pictures and more detailed posts about it.

So, here's our boy. One of the rare occasions during this weekend he was actually in his mother's arms rather than his grandmother's arms. He was fascinated by the patterns on her dress.

Don't worry, he is looking at his bottle in this picture, not the glasses of wine. We haven't made the poor child into an alcoholic yet.

                                                        There's the beautiful bride!

(Not ColinB) Gabriel found better things to do than participate in the reception. He obviously finds comic books more exciting than dancing. Good choice, kid.

Catching Up

I've been neglecting this blog lately, I know. It's easy to do with Facebook and Twitter out there.

I'll start with the thing most people are talking about right now: The Snow!!

Yes. You read that right. Snow. In the middle of October.

So much, in fact, that I have a snow day today.

(Which is nice, 'cause it means an unexpected day off of work.)

(But bad because, WTF?? Snow in October??)

Pictorial evidence:



This was my drive to the store last week. A sort of gloomy, rainy day. Typical fall weather. The leaves were just beginning to turn.





These were trees from our backyard yesterday. There has been more snow since then.



Since the trees all still have leaves on them, the snow is weighing them down and causing branches to break off. A lot of people have lost power and phones in the area. We lost power at about 4:30am on Friday. It came back on between 9:30 and 10:00am.



The Boy™ discovered snow can make a nice cupholder on the roof of the car. Until it melts, that is. Then it makes a crappy cupholder.

The upside of this sudden, unnatural and unexpected snow storm (aside from my day off today) is that we have discovered that the heat in the new apartment does not, in fact, work. The maintenance guys have been here for the past few days working on it. I'm glad that they've figured it out now, when it's supposed to warm up in a few days, rather than November when it'll just get colder and colder until Spring.

I'll try harder not to neglect this poor blog so much. Next to come, a couple of pictures of ColinB from Pete and Meg's wedding last weekend. I meant to take more pictures of the actual wedding, but .... I'm a doting Auntie. I can't help myself.

The Littlest Ones

I love little dancers in tights with seams up the back.

And I admire their mothers' patience when the seams are straight.

Avenue Q

We saw Avenue Q tonight

I can cross something off my To Do list.

Gina is a happy girl.

Friday Night

What a party girl am I! It's Friday night. I just got home from work. These are my plans for the evening.

1. Watch Dr Who while sifting through my starred items on Google Reader.

2. Make myself Thai stir fry.

3. Watch more Dr Who.

4. Take a hot bath (hopefully soothing the pain in my hip.)

5. Watch more Dr Who.

6. Read a little.

7. Go to bed early.

Are you jealous of me? 'Cause you should be. This is what counts as an Awesome Night in GinaLand.

Sunday

I am spending the whole day knitting, eating jelly beans and watching Dr Who on the Roku.

Because I can.

Injuries

Yesterday was a bad day for injuries. We had three dancers injured at work, not including the one who broke her foot last week and is out for four weeks.

Then, I came home from work last night to find The Boy™ sitting on the chair with his foot up and an icepack on it. He stepped on it wrong taking his bike outside after doing some repairs. This morning, there was a nasty bruise and a lot of swelling. Two hours at the doctor's later and the xrays reveal it is definitely broken. He sees the orthopedist on Monday.

For the time being, he is in a boot with crutches. We'll see how long that lasts. One of the crutches has already been abandoned and he's more or less just hopping around and limping.

Things I'm Working On

I finally replaced my set of size 0 double pointed needles. The first pair I had were so twisted and warped, they were unusable. The new ones were only $4 (about.)

I splurged and got some sock yarn while I was at it. The total still came to under $20. I think that's the major reason I've taken up knitting socks. Sock yarn is so much less expensive!



I'm not sure what to do with the yarn. The colors are more manly than they looked on the website, so maybe I'll knit up a pair of socks for The Boy™ for Christmas. We'll see.

This is the sock I'm currently working on.



It took me a while to find a pattern that worked with all the colors. I think this one is working. We'll see when it's done, I guess.

Two Kinds

I evidently only know two kinds of people:

1. The people who post on their Facebook page some sort of expression of sadness at the death of Patrick Swayze.

2. The people who post on their Facebook page some sort of expression of disappointment that the Bills lost.


Regarding the death of Patrick Swayze - This makes me sad. I'm not surprised, of course. The poor man had been quite sick for quite some time. I'm actually more sad over his death than Michael Jackson's death.

Regarding the Bills losing. Seriously? You're surprised? That team couldn't win a game if they were the only ones playing.

My New Dresser

The Boy™ and I recently made some furniture purchases. We got a side table for my chair (which I sorely needed,) a new shoji screen for the bedroom (to separate The Boy™'s office area from the sleeping area) and a new dresser for me.

The dresser I used to have we got for free from a friend who lived upstairs from us in our first apartment in NH. This was almost 10 years ago now. It was about 4 feet tall, contained four drawers and was a piece of crap (but it was free!)

I've needed a new one for a while.

The one we bought is a very well constructed, unfinished pine dresser. The sort of dresser meant for an adult instead of a six year old.

We got some hardware (it came with none) and some Bombay Mahogany stain and stained it last weekend. After a week's drying/airing out time in the apartment, today it was finally time to put all my clothes in it. It's awesome!

Here are pictures of the process.


Unfinished dresser:


Unfinished dresser and unfinished drawer:


Drawers with 1 coat of stain:


Dresser with 1 coat of stain:


Final product in place in the corner of the bedroom:

First Week

The first week of the new session is almost over. It went well, I think. The daily transitions from Private School to Our School went surprisingly smoothly. The kids in the Private School are a good group and help to clean up and clear out every day. I'm wondering how much it'll change by June. But for now they're good.

Rumor has it, BossMan and BossWoman are looking to hire someone else at the front desk. This will actually be kind of nice. It'll move my weekday hours earlier (11-6 instead of 12:30-8,) and I'll have someone to alternate Saturdays with me or cover if I am sick or have to go out of town.

I've sent in a resume to the School of Music at the college. They're looking for a Stage Manager. I'm kind of in two minds about it. Part of me really wants the job. I miss SMing, and the extra income will be nice. Part of me is worries I'll be exhausted working the dayjob all day and then SMing evenings and weekends.
I'll have to wait and see, I guess.

E-mail Guidelines

I saw this at Lifehacker and got a little chuckle from it. Feel free to pass it around to your friends and loved ones who annoy you with e-mail forwards.



This is not humor. I share it with you because you probably get at least as many stupid email items as I do and may want to have a handy way to tell otherwise nice people they're blundering as email newbies.

I humbly suggest that you may wish to share this with all of the email lists in which you participate. You may also wish to keep a copy send to correspondents who forget these suggestions.

Email Facts Of Life

1. Big companies don't do business via chain letter. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true". Furthermore, just because someone said in the message, four generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit", does not actually make it true.


2. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to their cousin.
And I quote: "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories. None have." That's "none" as in "zero". Not even your friend's cousin.

3. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy here. Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on.

4. We all know all 500 ways to drive your roommates crazy, irritate co-workers, gross out bathroom stall neighbors and creep out people on an elevator. We also know exactly how many engineers, college students, Usenet posters and people from each and every world ethnicity it takes to change a light bulb.

5. Even if the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain-letter?

6. There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm it at an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with virii. TryNorton or Symantec.

7. If your CC: list is regularly longer than the actual content of your message, you're probably going to Hell.

8. If you're using Outlook, IE, or Netscape to write email, turn off the "HTML encoding." Those of us on Unix shells can't read it, and don't care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since you're probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway.

9. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" that begin each line. Besides, if it has gone around that many times - we've probably already seen it.

10. Craig Shergold in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards. He apparently is also no longer a "little boy" either. Nor can you get into the Guinness Book of World Records this way anymore (the rules were rewritten specifically to prevent this.)


Some of it may be a bit outdated (does anyone really still believe the bullshit about the kidneys?) but it is a good starting point. If your friends or relatives forward you an "OMG!!! Don't let this happen to you!!!" e-mail, forward them a link to Snopes so they can actually verify if it is true before they send it on.
A good rule of thumb: if you read it in an e-mail forward, it's probably not true.

I don't know about the rest of you, but if I receive an e-mail with FWD: in the subject line, I delete it without even reading it. Sending those things to me is a waste of keystrokes.

Arg!

I'm kind of annoyed that here it is, Sunday night, and I still have no idea what I'm working next week.
The dance teachers have known their schedule for weeks. Front desk has no clue.

Is it really that much to ask to get our schedules in enough time to actually plan things? Just because they don't plan a damn thing in advance doesn't mean that the rest of us don't.

Gr.

Study Update

6 week weigh in the blood test.

I've lost 4.5kg (almost 10lbs.)

I also lost cm off my hips and waist. I don't remember how much, though. I was too busy trying to convert kg to lbs in my head and I missed what she wrote down.

I don't know if or how the bloodwork has changed. I don't get those results. My veins cooperated, though, and the nurse got all the blood she needed on the first poke. That's good for me!

Life From Here

Things are still pretty busy at work, right now. Not so much from Fall Registration, though that's still going on and keeping us occupied (and a little frustrated.)

The biggest thing is Private School that's moving in. It's a private Christian high school. There are only about 60 students in the whole school (grades 9-12.) They're moving in at work. They'll be occupying the building during the day and we'll be using it at night.

It's good, I guess. Good for the Private school. They are Christian, but do not require their students to be Christian and therefore, don't want to be affiliated with any particular church. Thus far, they've been renting out spaces from churches during the day to have school in. With us, they're not really affiliated with anything (except maybe the arts.)
And it's good for us because it helps us save money on rent. The rent in our building is pretty high (due to the renovations they did to put in the dance studios.) Hopefully, this will mean less money going out for us (and with any luck, raises for those of us who have been busting our asses all summer.)

I'm a little afraid, however, that it's going to mean I'm stuck on evenings again this year. Which will suck. I hate working evenings. I know I should be happy I even have a job, what with the economy being what it is. But evenings just suck. If I'm not in rehearsal or production, I want to be working 9-5 like regular people.

But I suppose I ought to be happy with what I've got.

Um.

Yeah. It's fall registration. I'm burnt out.

I can has vacation now?

Weekends Rule!

I am so happy it's finally the weekend! This past week has been crazy.

Fall registration has begun at work. I can't believe how stressed people get about their kids' dance and music lessons. I seriously had parents in tears because the piano lesson time with the teacher they wanted was already taken. Really? Dude, it's a piano lesson. It's not heart surgery. Relax a little!

I'm hoping to have some relaxation and fun this weekend. Although, I seem to have started off on the wrong foot. With the garbage trucks arriving at 7:30am and all. But I'm making up for it by staying in my pajamas as long as possible.

Next week is going to be just as bad. Open registration begins on Monday (for new students and continuing students who didn't pre-register. Last week was just priority registration.) Then, hopefully, things will calm down a little. Only to get crazy again on September 9 when classes start again.

Meanwhile, the Study Diet is going well. I'm sort of learning things at the weekly classes (did you know you can drive a car 22 miles on the calories in 217 Big Macs?) I think I've lost some weight. My clothes are beginning to feel a little looser.
I've been getting up early and going to the pool before work this week. How about that?! Only four out of five days, but it's going well so far. It still kills me when the alarm goes off and I know I can't lay in bed another 20 minutes. But the pool is pretty quiet at 7am and I can get a lane to myself (I'm bad at sharing lanes; I don't swim straight.)

And now, for your entertainment (because I know this was a dry post; I started out with work, so I bet Beebe skipped over it altogether!) here are some pictures of our favorite baby Nephew. These were taken when I was in NY a few weeks ago. Nephew is about 6 weeks old.




First time in the sling and loving it!



Auntie Gina's hippy boy.




Daddy's #1 Draft Pick



He's awake! (And not very happy about it - "Auntie, stop taking my picture!")

Exhausted

Fall registration began today.

Due to some family circumstances for BossWoman, DanceTeacher is teaching her classes instead of working her usual desk hours this week. So I am the only person at the desk.

This is bad because fall registration is our craziest time of year. I got in today at 8am. By 8:15, there were people at the desk and the phone was ringing off the hook. I went to the pool before work today, and brought my breakfast to the office. It was 2pm by the time I got a chance to eat.

This is good because ... frankly, DanceTeacher isn't a great administrative person. I'm a little afraid of how she'd mess up fall registration. As crazy and hectic as it is, it's good that I don't have to clean up her mistakes on top of everything else.

So, it's going to be a crazy week. I'm exhausted already and it's only the first day. I'm hoping it'll only get better from here. I've had to deal with a couple of unhappy parents today. There isn't a whole lot I can do about the things that make them unhappy. Your kids' dance and music lessons are not a matter of life and death.

Tired and Sore

We're all moved. Not in, just moved. Our new apartment is full of boxes of things needing to be sorted and put away. Some of the things to be discarded. The new apartment is smaller than the old one. Smaller than we realized. We're having a hard time finding room for everything. Which makes this a good time to prioritize and downsize.

Right now, we're both tired and sore. It's been a rough week. We're feeling our age.

Next time we move, we're hiring movers.


Also, things are happening at work. Things which might make work in the fall good and might make it bad. It'll make it interesting at least. We shall see.

Moving Day!

Today is moving day. Well, the beginning of moving week, since we don't technically have to be out of this apartment until Thursday.

Due to work commitments, we're doing the majority of the move today and tomorrow. The Boy™ will be finishing up the small stuff and the cleaning during the week.

We're starting with the bedroom and The Boy™'s home office stuff today. I will be waking up in the new apartment tomorrow.

The Diet

I have briefly mentioned the study I'm involved in regarding weight loss and chocolate. While I didn't sign a confidentiality form, I'm not sure how much I can say about it. So let's just leave it with the fact that it has to do with weight loss and chocolate. I'm in the experiment (the chocolate) group (as opposed to the control -- the non-chocolate -- group.)

The real point of this post is the weight loss portion of the study. They've put us on a calorie restricted diet. It's not a huge calorie restriction, and not something terribly difficult to follow. Based on my BMI, age, body type and activity level, I am to eat 1500 calories per day. I am assuming this is to get me down to my "healthy" BMI by the end of the study (December 3; 18 weeks from now.) My "healthy" BMI is a mere 1 point lower than what it is currently. (As an aside, I think BMI is a crock of shit, but this is a topic for another post.)

To ensure that it isn't a "fad" diet (i.e. low carb, high protein, etc.) they're using the diabetes exchange system. This is how the MayoClinic explains the exchange system. It's actually much easier than counting calories. There is a bit of measuring involved, at least until you get the hang of eyeballing serving sizes. I'm still measuring things a bit. I'm trying to overestimate just to stay on the safe side, but I suspect in a lot of cases where I think I'm overestimating, I'm actually getting the serving size about right.

So far, it's not too bad. The biggest problem I'm having, though, is hunger. Not the typical "I've used all my points and I'm still hungry" kind of hunger. I still have "points" (calories, exchanges, whatever) left at the end of the day. I'm just not sure how to use them and I'm so overwhelmed with choices, that it's just easier not to eat anything.

The past two nights I've gone to bed hungry.

I might have solved this problem, though. I looked on the list of exchanges at the MayoClinic's website and have discovered that THREE CUPS of popcorn (that's stove or microwaved popped with no butter - how I usually make it) counts as one carb/starch exchange. Popcorn is a good after dinner snack for me. The Boy™ and I make popcorn a lot. Three cups is a lot, and I've been having at least 2 or 3 starch exchanges left at the end of the night. So that would be about 6 cups of popcorn. I don't think I could eat 6 cups of without getting an upset stomach (I don't digest corn very well.) This is good news.

If you're interested in more about this exchange system, or the diet itself, let me know. I'm more than willing to share the tips and "rules" with people (though there really aren't any rules except the amount of exchanges I'm allowed to eat.) I'll probably be writing more about the diet. I have 18 weeks to go.

Things I Have Learned Today

* Gina's bum is The Boy™'s muse.

* Taking down shelves is art.

* It takes Gina just as long to iron a shirt as it takes The Boy™ to take a shelf off the wall. (I don't know if this means I iron shirts slowly or The Boy™ takes down shelves fast.)

Sporadic Blogging

Hi. It's me. Your sporadic blogger friend.

Things have been busy around here lately.

I just got back from an enjoyable week's vacation at Mom's. We had fun. A little relaxing, a little gym time, a lot of Baby Nephew time.

This coming week is going to be crazy. Back to work and back to life. The Boy™ and I are busy back and preparing to move. We're just moving across the street, but I have come to realize, there is no such thing as an easy move. Be it across the street or across the country, a move is a move. You still have to pack up your entire house and move it to a new place.
The good thing is, we have a whole week to do it. We can be in the new place on the 1st and we don't have to be out of the current place until the 6th. That takes some of the pressure off, I think.
I've sent off some e-mails and some facebook messages with our new address. If you haven't gotten a message and think you need the new address, let me know.

Pictures from vacation to come. And perhaps pictures of the new place, once we're in as well.

Long Day

I had a really long day at work today.

They had shut the water off to our building to find and fix a leak.

It was supposed to be off for about an hour (which, I think, is why they didn't evacuate the building and tell us all to go home.)

It was off at 1pm at the earliest (that was when we first noticed it, I got a phone call from the management office around 1:30.)

At 5:30, I got a call saying the plumber has to order the part to fix it and they're going to have to keep the water until noon tomorrow at the latest.

I spent a seven hour and fifteen minute shift without being able to use the bathroom.

I had to pee. so. bad.



On a lighter note, I have next week off, and I'm going to spend the week visiting Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother-in-Law and Nephew. Maybe some other people as well.

Catching Up

I still don't have the pictures from Philly yet. I have to finish the roll of film. Just like when I was a teenager. Quick! Take pictures! Any pictures! I want the photos off the beginning of that roll!

Anyway, here's a quick wrap up of what's going on in my life right now:

1. Arts Fest. It's that time of year again. Downtown is crowded with vendors and people. Nighttime is full of kids, cars and kegs. Nothin' says summer like fair food.

2. ENT. I finally got in to see him. Nothing so far. They're going to do a CT of my sinuses. He can't really get an idea of what the problem is until he sees what's going on inside. So it's more waiting.

3. Work. Same only less hours.

4. Moving. Um. Yeah. We're moving. In three weeks. Not far. Just across the street. But Move In Day is looming and starting to stress me out. If you feel like you need my new address, let me know.

5. The Study. I'm involved in a study at the college. In involves weight loss and chocolate. Right now, I haven't gotten to the chocolate part, but do have to keep track of everything I eat and all my activities. It's complicated.

6. The back and hip. Actually, those are feeling a little better. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I think the doctor prescribed swimming has been helping. As long as I don't spend a lot of time with the vacuum cleaner at work (no, I'm not being a baby about it, it really does hurt that sacral illiac joint,) I'm pretty much ok.

7. Sister and Nephew. They're doing quite well. I saw them on the 3rd. I'm hoping to see them again soon, depending on my work schedule. He's getting bigger, she's getting smaller. They're all (Brother-in-Law included) getting use to each other and starting to figure things out. Nephew is still cute as a button.

That pretty much sums things up. It's late now and I'm going to bed. I have a long day of Arts Festing to do tomorrow. Fried Dough and lemonade are calling my name. What? Weight loss? Whatever.

Delayed Post

I meant to post about this the other day, but as usual Life got in the way. As it has the habit of doing.

This past Saturday, The Boy, Circus, B and I drove to Philly to see JP and his Wife. They were in town for Wife's work conference. It was so awesome to finally meet JP. Philly was cool, but the real point of the trip was to meet them. I'll have pics up eventually. My camera died at some point between when I checked it before we left and arriving in Philly (I think it turned itself on somehow.) So I had to stop at a CVS and get a cheap, FunSaver camera (good Kodak girl that I am.) I have about 4 more pictures left on the roll and then I have to find a place that will develop it.

In other news, I finally saw the orthopedist last week. No news there. As per usual, they can't figure out where the pain is coming from. He advised me to swim 3 days a week to try to strengthen the back and hip, and stretch. Great. I'm scheduled to meet another doctor in the practice on the 16th to talk about injections. Fantastic. And get a back brace for when I have to sit for a long time. I'm going to look for one tomorrow to wear for the drive to Rochester on Friday. Hopefully this will help me arrive at Sister's house still able to move with some ease.

Uneventful

The Allergist's verdict was very unhelpful.

First they did the skin test on my back. They drew lines on my back with a marker and made about 10 rows of little pin pricks to test for various things I could be allergic to.



Then I waited 20 minutes to react.

The tech came in and looked.

And looked.

And rubbed a little.

And looked.

The pricks for the dust mites reacted a little.

The tree pollen row may have trace reactions.

But.

Hm.

Nothing else seems to be reacting much.

Another tech came in. A tech in training maybe? To sort of see how it was done. "This is sort of an oddball one," the first tech says. Thanks.
She notes down her observations, tells me to get dressed and goes to tell the doctor how I did.

Evidently, I failed the skin test and had to take a retest. This time, on my arms.



She writes the initials of what each test is for then pricks a needle and injects something under each letter.

Wait 20 more minutes.

The tech comes back to look.

Hm.

Nothing much again.

Good news is, I'm not allergic to the cat.

Bad news is, we still don't really know what is causing the ear pain. Could be the dust mite allergy. Maybe.

The allergist gave me yet another antihistamine to try and some pamphlets on how to reduce dust mites.
And will send a report to my GP about sending me to an ENT. Though I may contact my GP first, since I don't think I want to wait that long.

As a reward for my good behavior (and because we were both starving,) The Boy™ and I went to Otto's for an early dinner. We sat outside under an umbrella and had a very nice meal. We need to go there more often.

Week of Stuff

Things happening this week. Not really exciting to you all, I suppose, but things to knock me out of my regularly scheduled programming.

1. First week of the summer session. This requires a new work schedule for me to get used to. I'm done a little earlier on Mondays and Wednesdays, a little later on Tuesdays and Thursdays and off altogether on Fridays. I'm going to try to take advantage of having Fridays off to get down to the Farmer's Market. I missed it most weeks last year because of my work/show schedule.

2. Doctor's appointments. Allergist tomorrow and Orthopedist on Thursday. I'll update with the results, if any.

3. A three day weekend! I have more of these coming. This is exciting.

4. A trip on Saturday. The Boy™, Circus, B and I are going to Philly to see JP (who is there for an unrelated trip.) There may be a yarn store and Ikea included in the visit. But the real reason is to see JP. Pictures will be taken and posted.

5. Perhaps a ballgame on Sunday? The Boy™ gets free tickets to the local minor league baseball team with his student ID. He got a ticket for the game this Sunday. I may or may not go with him, depending on how tired I am after the Philly trip on Saturday.

In the meantime, I have finally gotten some knitting done. Finished the first Dead Simple Lace Sock and have started the second Leaves of Whimsy Sock. I've realized just how much sock yarn I have sitting around. I need to start knitting it up or face having to move it at the beginning of August. I also started something that will be a Christmas present for Nephew. I'm not sure it's coming out right, though, so I'm thinking of frogging it and starting again.
Pictures of the knitting to come.

Oh, and while we were at the comic book store last weekend I got a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies It is hysterical!
Elizabeth sits at the party because she has no one to dance with (which is what you do when you have no one to dance with at parties in those days.) She overhears Mr. Darcy saying that she is not as pretty as her sister and therefore he doesn't want to dance with her.
That jerk! thinks Elizabeth. I must defend my honor! She leans down to get her dagger from her boot to stab it into Mr. Darcy's throat just as -- Oh look! Zombies! Girls! Pentagram of Death!

Really! How can you not love that?!

Work Stuff

It's been a weird week at work. Makeup week. The only people who have been in have been music teachers. Sporadically. I've been covering the desk in the evenings. It has been nice and quiet. I spent the majority of that time on the computer, which I'm not allowed to do, but did anyway. Because, really? Who is going to notice. And what else is there for me to do?
Today is the last Friday I have to work for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow is the last Saturday I have to work for a couple of weeks. The schedule for the summer is light, compared to the regular session. The bad news is, I only have 28 hours a week. We're going to be on a tight budget this summer. The good news is, I have three day weekends for the next four weeks or so. I should keep in mind this little break is much needed after being so overworked for the past ten months. It'll be nice.

In the meantime, for your viewing enjoyment, here is another picture of Nephew:

Back to Real Life

The Boy and I are back home in PA. We spent the past six days in NY with Sister, Bro-in-Law and Nephew. It was wonderful. Nephew is so adorable, I could just eat him up! I wanted to stay for weeks and weeks, but all things must come to an end. I can't believe he's going to be MONTHS old the next time I see him again. Something is just not right about that. That's what I get for moving away, I suppose.

I'm stuck in Limbo Land this week. It's makeup week at work. So some classes are happening, but most are not. I'm on a weird kind of half schedule. It's sort of like the last week of school where you have to go in and do things, but you know that whatever you do this week doesn't really count.
Plus I don't really know what's going on for next week, as far as my actual schedule is concerned. So I can't plan anything (not that I have anything to plan.) And that kind of stresses me out. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I'm not.

I'm hoping things will be sorted out soon. All kinds of things. Things I can talk about and things I can't. I'll be posting about them as they are sorted or not sorted, each as they happen to be.

It's a Boy!!!

Sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy today! Nephew is 6lbs, 12oz; born at 3:55 this afternoon. Mother and Baby are doing wonderfully.

Things Happening

There's stuff going on. Stuff and things.

Went to the doctor today about my back. They took some X-rays. Not entirely sure of the results yet, the radiologist has to read them. Once he does, they'll burn the pictures and the radiologist's report onto a CD and send me off with the CD to the orthopedist's. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to another specialist I go. This is beginning to be a trend I don't like so much. But hopefully this will help. In the meantime, Dr. S. has given me some different pain meds. We'll see how they work.

Took Jersey Cat to the vet today. He got his distemper and his rabies shots. Which he didn't like at. all. We're discussing what to do about heartworm, fleas and ticks. That will need to be settled soon. Also, a feline leukemia shot. We didn't do that in NH because he wasn't going outside. But now that we take him out, he'll need to have that done.
The vet also says he's a tad bit overweight. He's up to 19lbs. His ideal weight is about 17lbs. Aren't we all slightly above our ideal weight, though? Why should Jersey be any different?

I also have heard back from first thing I'm not mentioning in case I jinx it. Think happy thoughts for me tomorrow around 3:15 EST, if you don't mind. Just send all the good vibes you can in my direction and I will be grateful. I'll let you know all about it if it works.

Sunday Off!

I have the WHOLE DAY OFF!

Spent the afternoon with Cris, Bec and The Boy™ at Webster's.

Lemon-Mango iced tea is my new favorite thing.

My goal for the week is to find lemon-mango tea so I can make my own.

Work

Blogging from work again. Which I know I shouldn't do, but it's quiet right now and all my work is done.

Today is my second or third to last (depending on makeups) Saturday. Until the fall, unless I get another job before then. Don't ask how that is going. It's all in limbo.

Next week is doctor week. Jersey Cat goes to the vet for his shots (then to PetCo for a summer shave.). I'm going to the doctor about the back (again) and the allergist about the ears. Wish me luck with that.

Post-Wedding

This took much longer than it should have. Things have gotten busy around here. Blame it on work.

Here are a couple of Post-Wedding (that's Cousin Fred's wedding, for those of you just joining us,) pictures. Sunday, the day after the wedding, was a BBQ at Fred's house. Monday, before we went home, we met Margot and the boys and Fred and Michele at a nearby playground to release some energy before the long drive home (and boy, was it long! Construction and traffic galore!)



(Okay, this isn't really post or pre-wedding at all. This is the view from our hotel room balcony. Which it was a bit to chilly to do more than stand on for a few minutes to look at the view and snap a picture.)