In between household chores

Now, anybody who knows me pretty well knows I don't keep my house picture-perfect, but the work involved in keeping this place just 'lightly picked up' looking is simply incredible. I need a housekeeper! Ok, going to take a break now to iron a few things. Yup-iron. I don't, in general, iron, but my scrubs for work I do. Sigh. Ok, a little while later I am back, and three days' worth of scrubs are ready for wear. I got the ironing the scrubs thing from a teacher I had at the very beginning of nursing school who said we all needed to iron our scrubs. I remember thinking she was ridiculous, but here I am, a few years later, and all my scrubs are ironed before wear. Maybe just the tops sometimes, but they look nice. One must remember, I often have clientele who are quite elderly. They are from a time when everything was ironed before wear...

So right now Eric and the girls are off on another outing. Before they were walking the dogs, now they are off at a park teaching Sophie about bike riding. Sophie is so sensible, and careful, and gentle. She was all decked out in safety gear...and she did this all on her own. Eric took a picture of her on a throw-away camera. Cute! Now, our Alissa is still a daredevil, not afraid of getting hurt, and will use the safety gear and things like, oh, her glasses so she can see better ONLY when forced to.

I have been neglecting my blogging lately. Now that I am back to nursing full-time, I have time issues. I like to have time for my coffee, and I pretty much make time for that every morning. I ran from one thing to the next when I was off of work for the first time in a few days the other day. Got one car in for winterizing, got my hair cut, got baked goods from Marios, came home, then went back out and shopped for groceries. Eric was working during this day off, so I got back for the kids in the afternoon. We managed to have a relaxing day yesterday.

We went to the music store and rented a clarinet for Alissa, as she is going to have lessons now. She'll also be participating in track this year. I admire in Alissa the fact that she is up for just about anything, really. Anything we ask, do you want to do volleyball? Yup. Soccer, yup. Basketball, ballet, girl scouts, I could keep going, anything,,,answer is yes. And track? Puleeaase...only if someone is chasing me with a weapon would I ever do something like track. Ha. But Alissa, she is going to do track. Sophia is going to have dance lessons, either ballet or Irish-step. Both girls are excited about these activities.

Anyway, we then went to TSC, the Tractor Supply Store, which is sorta like a mini-Bass Pro Shop. I found four dollar thermal hats for winter (or next week) for all of us, but also enjoyed shopping around, looking at shoes and other stuff. There was country music playing in the store, and I was walking around humming the songs to myself until Alissa asked me what I was doing and did I know I sounded funny, then I realized what I was doing and stopped. I had that song in my head for hours that goes: "You look so good in love..."

Anyway, we came home and had lunch, then headed out with the puppy to Onondoga Lake Park, where we had a nice time. At least if the puppy is with us, we reasoned, we know he isn't wreaking havoc on the house. I saw a video on You Tube, where the people called their dog a 'Cairn Terrorist'...well, that is what we have. He's gonna be such a good boy...someday, I keep telling Eric. He's really not a bad dog, he's just a puppy. A wild, wild, nipping, barking, chewing, havoc-wreaking puppy. We saw a water snake at Onondaga Lake, about 4 feet long, in a little area of a canal that runs off of the lake. The four of us and two twelve-or-so year old boys stood and watched the snake for a while, we were intrigued, talking about how long the thing was, and look at the patterns on its skin, and ooh, ooh, there it goes...away under a rock. Wow.

So now it is Sunday morning, September 23, the first day of fall, the day before Eric's birthday. We're actually both off for the day tomorrow, so that's good. I gotta get signed off of this blog and get back to some chores. I'll try and write more again, and sooner than the last time. Oh, and yes, fall is about to be in full swing here soon. The colors are coming out more and more. There is still quite a bit of green, but now there are yellows and reds and browns, too. There are some flowers still in full bloom, lots of yellow flowers in particular, and some leaves are on the ground. It's pretty here now, and the weather is warm some days and cool on other days, just lovely!

Long time no blog!

Local Masons
Current mood: indifferent


A local Syracuse company named Rock On that does brick/stone work has a slogan on the side of their truck that says, "Are you stoned yet?"....

How funny is that? Eric saw this the other day on the road and told me about it.

Things are fine here. I have a four day weekend off, from Friday to Sunday. I have to say, floor nursing is some serious running around like crazy kinda work, but I do manage to get some cool days off. I don't have any serious plans, just some housework, some rest, some having the neighbor kids over for dinner...

I am off to go and watch some TV with Sophia...down time together is good.

School Days!

Quiet, Peace and Quiet...
Current mood: mellow

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! The kids are outta the house!! AND Eric and I are both off of work today....aside from the occasional cat chasing another cat or our puppy Loki creating some chaos, all is quiet and peaceful here in our house. It's cool out today, enough to open the windows, but certainly not cold out. We even had lunch ALONE together at a Chinese buffet. Oh, the things I took for granted before I had children. Not that I'd change a thing about my life, and my kids really are wonderful, but a little time away from each other is nice. Tomorrow Eric and I may go see 'Superbad' at the Carousel Mall. Aaaah, feelin good.

Fall Colors

Fall Colors!
Current mood: happy

We are just starting to see color changes in the leaves on the trees here in upstate New York; it's going to be really interesting and beautiful for us to see fall! I actually scanned the leaf/photo that is my main photo. Today was pretty much a home day for all of us. The girls and I grocery shopped and Eric worked. It'll help me feel rested for my work week Monday-Friday this week. Not much else to tell. Oh, our windows are open again, and we are enjoying not having the A/C on. High today here in N. Syracuse: 74. Low: 55, just lovely.

(I do know that the temps will be increasingly colder, and my blogs may sound increasingly desperate...hmmmm...it'll be interesting)...

The Fair!!

The New York State Fair
Current mood: content
Category: Travel and Places

Today my two daughters and I went to the New York State Fair. We had to leave Eric behind since he was working, I work all next week, etc. Work sometimes gets in the way of the four of us doing things together, but such is life. The New York State Fair is held in Solvay, which is super close to where we live. I think it took us ten minutes to get there, which was great. We found the fair easily off of Route 81, then 690 West. The Fair was Huge!! It was really the biggest fair I've ever been to. I haven't seen that many food vendors anywhere. We had a rack of ribs from the Dinosaur BBQ stand-which were delish. We had salt potatoes, too, which are a local thing. We ran into someone I know from work from the education dept, which was cool. I said hi to her, introduced my girls, talked for a sec. My job is going well, by the way, still in an orientation since I have less than a year's nursing experience, so I'll do patient care next week. Anyway, the fair...it was sooooooo HOT today, a high of 89, I think, and it felt like it, but we had a great time. The girls rode some rides, the three of us rode the ferris wheel together, and I even got on the Tilt-a-Whirl with the girls, even though I no longer enjoy fast/scary rides. The girls begged me to ride with them. I really did enjoy it-we laughed and screamed. Sophia said, "Mom, you're a kid again..." It was one of those 'moments' I think I'll remember forever. Ok, gotta run right now. It is dinner time at our house. I'll write again later.

Loki

Loki is the pup's name: for the norse god of mischief/fire/chaos; sort of a borderline personality, sometimes good and sometimes evil. He is also a gift-giver: but the gifts he gives are things he has stolen...all of this is depending on which myth you're reading. I totally and completely stole this name from one of my brother's dogs...Great name, James! Thanks for letting me rip it off of ya.

(?) Loki (?)

A Puppy!
Current mood: drained

Got a puppy today!! A cairn terrier, 16 week old male. We are still deciding on a name, but we think it's going to be Loki...pictures to follow soon. A cairn terrier is the dog used in the Wizard of Oz, Toto. I'm totally tired, & am starting a new job tomorrow, too. All's well, tho, just need a leetle sleep. Blog more another day...