Our Virtual Homestead

2003-10-11T20:15:00.000-04:00

Goodbye Old Blog!

If you haven't heard from me, check your latest comments or e-mail. If it's not there, e-mail me. I'll be removing links from this page and just referring to it since I don't know how to move my archives over! :) Look out for lots of blogging goodness over there at the new homestead though! I'll figure out how to add commmenting soon.

2003-10-10T23:05:00.000-04:00

Queer Eye Marathon is on....

What more reason do I need to set about moving my little place in the blog o' sphere? Wish me luck, and e-mail me if I don't get in touch soon!

2003-10-09T23:01:00.000-04:00

Alphabet, via Robin's blog

A - Act your age - most people would say I probably act older then my age - married young, and will have babies young, although what classifies as young for having kids in these parts is pretty silly these days, IMO. I swear, the average age to even think of having kids is 35 around this place.

B - Boyfriend? - husband

C - Chore you hate? - vacuuming, so much I refuse to do it. That's E and little brother's job.

D - Dad's name - Dale (will be our first son's middle name)

E - Essential make up item - make up? what's tha? I don't need to make up for anything thanks. :) I do try to wear deodorant on a pretty regular basis though. LOL.

F - Favorite artist - lots, and I love whatever Balinese artist made my belly dancer statue.

G - Gold or silver - white gold b/c I'm allergic to silver but white gold looks just like it.

H - Hometown - Jersey Shore - still here!

I - Instruments you play - I sing. Constantly. E and friends say it's like living in a strange, strange, musical. Good? Bad? I don't know...

J - Job titles - Wife, teacher, animal scientist.

K - Kids - not yet, but SOON - E only has one semester of law school left. Whoo Hooo! We're waiting till he gets a job so I can possibly stay home once I have the baby.

L - Living arrangements - the not so virtual homestead, 2 acres, with old tiny farmhouse and machinery shop/forge in an old red barn. We rent, we'd like to buy and make this place fabulous - that or 20 + acres in Ithaca. Or maybe this place and then move up there. We're just enjoying where we are right now - today I had both rabbits out running around, and the dog until he got too annoying - Vicki and Luke have no fear of dogs, and she was jumping up and kicking him in the head whenever he got too rough, but he wasn't getting the message.

M - Mom's name - She has never used her (real) first name.

N - Number of people you've slept with - not answering that one here.

O - Overnight hospital stays - first time was a double hernia in kindergarten, then for tonsillectomy in grammer school, and lots of day stays...I haven't stayed overnight in a loooong time, regardless.

P - Phobia - foods I haven't eaten before, highway driving, needles - have medecine, working on some of these.

Q - Quote you like - none I like enough that I could remember them right now, like Robin, I'm not really a quote person.

R - Religious affiliation - Methodist. E and I are going to the local Methodist church right now by our new house.

S - Siblings - younger brother, 21 - he lives with E and I

T - Time you wake up? - early (6:45 on weekdays for work) and very late (11 or 12 on a really lazy Saturday! E and I are not morning people, suffice it to say.

U - Unique habit - Breeding insects and repiles, madagascar hissing cockroaches, melaworms, mice, leopard geckos.

V - Vegetable you refuse to eat - everything but raw carrots and cooked tomato products - again, this is where my meds and doctors come in.

W - Worst habit - Is my AS a habit? I guess not. Putting off doing the dishes till I get yucked out woudl probalb fit this description.

X - X-rays you've had - dental, I think that's it. With all the milk I consume, E jokes that my bones are made of solid calcium.

Y - Yummy food you make - lots and lots. The latest was tonight's - I made E a copy of a veggie dish he likes called "The singing cowboy" - I made seitan from gluten, simmered cutlets of it, fried it like chicken, served it with mashed potaotes, veggie gravy, and cornbread.

Z - Zodiac Sign - Taurus. (what a surprise lol)

2003-10-08T21:48:00.000-04:00

Treating Myself Nicely

That's my priority tonight...missing two days of Lexapro finally caught up to me today. I was near tears all day and by 5 pm when the copy machine broke, let out with expletives I didn't even know I knew before (and I have a bad Irish mouth to begin with!) I also trudged home, thinking E would be home from school today, to find the homestead deserted. Turns out I had his schedule wrong. Either way, I'm being nice to me tonight. That means spiral mac n' cheese, not enough fudge to cause a sugar crash, and blog reading up here while I listen to the Yankees/Cubs game vicariously (I can't hear the game up here, but I can hear E's moans, groans, and screams of excitment coming up the stairs from the family room.)

In other news?

We may be adopting a new female bearded dragon to breed with Ranger from a NJ Rescue so I'm excited to hear back about that.
Lisa and Pink both have very cute new haircuts/dye jobs and are making me ache to break out the snip snip on my own head- you should check 'em out.
My apple pie has been gobbled up, and I'm trying my second potato bread as we speak- it just isn't rising the way I would like. We need bread, so if it stays dense like the last one I'm going to turn out a white loaf that worked well last week.
I need to plant the privet, I need to plant the privet...but when will I drag my butt home with enough energy to do so? Hopefully it can last till this weekend.
I brought my last animal, Hannah the snake, back from school today - E was getting worried that the principal would stay p.o.'ed at me. I hope not. At least now there's nothing for him to hold against me. I've followed his daily memos to the T.

Robin has inspired me (via a chipmunk post of all things) to write about my life in Kalamazoo, Michigan a few years back. Should be ready for posting tomorrow. Hugs all!

2003-10-06T20:15:00.000-04:00

Buzzzzzzzzz!!!!!: Crib Notes from the Fugue

That's caffeine talking, ladies. LOTS of caffeine, compliments of my migraine medecine and a few hours in a dark, soundless room. Sometimes I just fall asleep, but other times, my brain races. Tonight was one of those times. A brief overview (for my own reference as much as yours) of my creative whirlwind:

Move the blog - if not to a different service, then to a different address at least. There are a few folks in my life who read this (may read this - I don't know) simply because when I first started I would give the address to anybody ~ "Hey, check out this cool picture of the yard/the dog/my cool new Tevas E got me". It's a lot more personal and part of my daily life now, a huge part of the community of women who support and encourage me and I'd like to take it back to square one as far as who reads it that I know - when I change the address I'll e-mail y'all individually- if I don't, send me a line. (I'll put a "closed for business" sign up here when I get to that point.
Using one of the services I'm trying out, or a Mac photo page, make a cast of characters page- me, E, pooch, little bro - everyone/thing I refer to on a semi-regular basis.
Edit/update my photo pages and figure out a way to get my new photos to appear first, if possible. I may just limit the photos posted to 10 or so at a time, and delete/add as I go.
IRL, set up Golom in the arboreal cham cage I brought home tonight - get her some good food (she eats crix, but her favorite food is small lizards like anoles, so I bought her one, sort of a peace offering for ignoring her, this afternoon). When we get to our next reptile show, I'm going to trade her for some credit for a female cham - she's the only critter we have who I really tend to ignore to the point where I feel bad - she just doesn't interest me at all, and since I can't use her at school now - well....someone else who actually thinks she's the coolest thing going would take better care of her. E will be taking over frog duties anyhow, since with my help he's going to set up a cool tall vivarium with poison dart frogs for our new family room (the captive ones aren't actually poisonous, btw, because they aren't eating the same stuff they would in the wild - but still finicky delicate little creatures - beautiful though.)
Brainstorming ideas for Jake, I'll e-mail ya' Santosha!
Was inspired by a decorating book at M & J's last night- very cool, brightly colored, small paper mache animal ornaments. Very cool, gotta do that. It will also give me another reason to use up the paper mache mix I have and buy wheat paste since I have Samhain plans that involve Martha-esque paper mache faux jack o' lanterns over tea-lights.
Plans for extra tidbits to throw in some cheerful lovin' mail for Lisa @ mamarama. It's a surprise, so I'm not gonna say.
A barter/borrow/trade page or column on my blog (Lisa B.K., didn't you have one? - you still use that?) - there are a couple of things I have need of here at the new homestead that people out there in blogland may have lying around - a package of my goods & wares in exchange and voila, the barter system continues and bypasses excessive consumerism.
Rethink my AM routine, if I make time for animal chores in the morning, the rabbits who just arrived and the bearded dragons who are now both home compliments of Mr. Principal will be better taken care of, and so will I since I'll be more likely to get enough sleep and eat breakfast.
Go down my kindred spirits list and tell y'all why you - and everyone else - is on it. There's a lot of history there from the past year that I'd like to take a wade through

The frenzy is fading, so that's all I remember at the moment...it's kind of like a dream journal, write it fast before it dissappears into the ether. Goodnight everyone!

2003-10-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

To Do

Already did a load of dishes, started a load of laundry, started a loaf of potato bread, and walked to the food store to get eggs and milk before making E and I breakfast...so I'm feeling pretty accomplished. That said, I haven't touched my school stuff and E needs me to fax something from Mama's for a fellowship application.

~~Sign kids up for on-line textbook, put a link on classroom blog so they know they can access it.~~
Lesson plans for Tuesday-Friday.
Figure out what I need to buy and use to do liver enzyme lab - find copy online as a reference.
Wire rabbits' hay rack back onto their hutch
~~Feed Ranger salad and bugs - find him a better bowl.~~
~~Feed Ani some salad - don't know if she'll eat it but I need to start her on it.~~
Clean mouse cage
~~See if pet store has my credit slip - if they do, buy an anole for Golom, crix for Ani (and to start breeding them)~~
Fool around with livejournal (thank you Santosha!) and I-Blog. See how they work.

2003-10-05T00:12:00.000-04:00

The Last Box

I'm happy to announce that the last boxes from our move were unpacked by my love this afternoon! Hooray! This was a good Saturday. A good Saturday involves:

Sleeping in
Opening up an account at our new bank with the very nice manager.
A pedicure to fix my horrifying post-moving day feet - a little heavy handed on the exfoliating, but otherwise a good place - and also next door to our house.
Books, books, and more books - we hadn't been to the library since before we moved. Among the treasures are a bread machine cookbook and two books on raising backyard poultry. I love the library. Always have, always will.
Went over to Mom's - she and I are going to sign up at Curves tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.
Baking an apple pie - now it really is October!
Trying out the bread machine - didn't work (we got a cooked mass - but it definitly didn't rise.) Dead/old yeast? I think that may have been the culprit. Trying again with a different bag of yeast and a little higher flour to water ratio tomorrow.

Now I'm off to bed - I fell asleep for a few hours earlier on the unmade, no sheets mattress, but I am definitly tired enough to crash again now. We went to a crazy-ass, not in a good way sort of crazy, bar last night.

Not a Shannon type place. Uh uh. Not to mention our buds didn't play till 12: 15 or so, resulting in a much later night then either E or I are used to nowadays. The bar had a whole crazy as I've said/satanist theme, with lots of day of the dead overtones - lots of skulls (cow, human, unidentifiable...), skeletons, weird dusty preserved stuff in bottles and under glass, and mucho drugs other then alcohol being plied by the clientele,who were more overly agressively drunk then friendly. Case in point? The punk band who were on second to last had as one of their groupies a little person, a woman dressed in a red satin dress, and blue wig. She was dancing on the bar, cartwheeling around, tambourine in hand - all fine with me. It was certainly entertaining, which I suppose was the point of the whole spectacle. But, bombed as she (and the rest of the bands' entourage) was, she just kept getting in everyone's face (to be funny?)- at one point she was trying to wrap red crepe paper around every one in the bar and would walk past you, grab you, and try to wrap whatever body part was at her level - personal space please! The bar was already crowded enough without a stranger trying to wrap me up in crepe paper without my permission, thanks. End of rant. That's why I'm tired!

2003-10-02T18:27:00.000-04:00

All In A Day's Work

I was practically exploding with energy when I came home today...hmmm do ya' think all of the extra sleep is finally making up for the sleep debt we incurred during the move? Definitly. And my cold is going away slowly but surely. All added up to a whir of shannon-ness buzzing around the homestead. I cleared the side beds but left those piles of weeds there, because the wheelbarrow doesn't have handles on it, just a trailer hitch for Landlord J's mini tractor thing. I'll put it on E's "honey-do" list for tomorrow. :) In the next few days I'll transplant in bulbs and hosta from the apartment - hopefully beat the frost, but we'll see.

Buzzed around some more - washing dishes (something was smelling like a whole lotta cabbage - finally figured out that one of the pots from the stuffed cabbage was still sitting around), cleaned out the mouse cage, cleaned out the bug cages, leos' cages too.

Of course, what would a day be without reading everyone's blogs? I'm too over-stimulated to comment in any coherent way, so I'll leave that for our (long!) weekend. Blog land reached out into RL this afternooon which always rocks, when what to my wondering eyes shoud appear but the Equinox mix from Lisa BK. Awesome.

Now I think I'll walk my busy little self (now hoping I don't crash in any sort of major way) to the corner and stop by Curves to pick up their pr stuff. If my mom does sign us up, that would be great - not exactly a gym type, but I certainly would like to have a palce to exercise in the winter that is just down the block. Did you know they don't have mirrors? Heard it on NPR the other day. Sounds promising. Hugs to everyone, 'specially the B-K's and their great soundtrack to my busy, busy day!

2003-09-30T23:30:00.000-04:00

In today's news

Begrudging boss-man handed over my paycheck - whoo hooo - grocery shopping, mum buying, and porch decorating ensued. I know a lot of people around here put cornstalks up for the fall, but how many can say they grew the darn corn themselves? Hmmm. Didn't think so! (Oh, is my farmer ego showing? ;) It looks really nice, and we had homegrown stuffed cabbage for dinner tonight before E disappeared with the boyz for basketball and who knows what else. A lot else, considering the hour.
Landlord J's not-so-wonderful aspects are showing - drain is clogged, barn has no electricity, pilor light is faulty on half of the stove - they are "on his to-do list". I know he's busy and he's not really into the landlord gig per se - he did just inherit the place...so why doesn't he just sell us the darn place and forget about all this pesky maintenance? Hey, a girl can dream, in a few months maybe more then that...
Queer Eye was watched (hooray!!!) and papers were graded - interim notices need to be filled out and handed into my supervisor tomorrow. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape considering how I had forgotten about the pesky things. :) Now to stay on top of the paperwork so it doesn't happen again.
Pam from dad and little bro's work offered me six chickens today - little bro is going to inquire further tomorrow. Will have to ask landlord J about that ASAP. Also, how to keep the poor poultry warm? I'll have to figure out something, ask Janna and Ed.
Keys were not made - copy of barn key, elevator key from school for animal moving purposes. Will have to get to that tomorrow.
Mama and Dad (supposed to come here and celebrate Thanksgiving at our new house) decided to go to San Diego to see E's half-aunt instead. I'm not as upset as E is. Funny how an "outsider" can get used to the drama that is his family more quickly then someone on the insde. :)

Off to feed the animals - g'night everyone in blogland!

p.s. If anyone has a LJ code, I would love you forever if you would pass it on so I could bond with all my women in blog who are up there.

2003-09-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

Sucked into the Void

Now weather it was my immune system sending a very strong message, the fact that the house has gone from uncomfortably muggy and hot to cold overnight (literally!) or just a bad case of the Monday's I couldn't tell ya'...but my afternoon projects were sucked into the black hole known as a long afternoon nap. I was a little p.o.'ed at myself when I woke up, thinking about all the projects I had planned, the beautiful clear autumn skies, etc. but I'm over it. I've started listening to my body more this year in an attempt to stay healthier, and so far so good. When my body just said "stop!" the other day I went home sick - and probably staved off a much more serious yucky illnes. Today my body needed sleep - and I let it.

I just finished making a big dinner for E after his super-long day in NYC (he had a big case in court this morning but it ran over and they are going to finish it via conference call next week) of cream pesto basil sauce, angelhair pasta, and mozz. garlic bread. While he vegges out, I'm taking care of the essentials...trash out to the curb, change of address forms to the fornt porch so the mailman can take them, animals fed and watered, a few papers graded (maybe)...and some more dinner - I didn't eat enough today. Check in with y'all later.

2003-09-28T22:02:00.000-04:00

It's ALIVE!

My dad dug up our old e-mate in the attic - it was Apple's answer to every woe in public education a few years ago. Teacher has one, kids all have one at their desk, messages whizzing back and forth, take notes, draw diagrams, atc. Never caught on though, and the e-mate, as well as the Newton software that powers it, went the way of the dinosaurs a while back. It's kind of a really simple really rugged laptop/PDA. I'm hoping to figure out a way to use it to store all of my school information so I'm not chained to the computers in the library. We'll see - the capacity is very limited, but I'm much more of a techo-geek now then I was back when I first learned how to use it. (E used it in college, then gave it to me when he got his I-Book for law school)

While you're here, check out Layne's blog over there in the sidebar- after 3 years she fessed up to her family about her (extremely popular, with huge readership, very personal) blog last night- the reactions are...interesting :) I hope she keeps it up, even if in mildly censored form now that the fam knows about it.

Earlier today: 2:30 and here we go...

So much to do, but I just need to start. We woke up late, late...but we probably needed the sleep. The day so far: a running list (I'm sticking to my 15 minute plan here, 'cept for the outside part since everything is drenched from this morning's rain - I'll work around the house instead.)

Breakfast with E - he made us waffles.
Start my blog entry.
5:40 pm - lesson plans are done - now I've got to alternate between house stuff and grading - these kids haven't gotten nearly anything back - I owe it to them to bust my butt this weekend - maybe it'll get me to keep up with the papwork from now on. Spending all the time on the move didn't help either.

2003-09-27T23:14:00.000-04:00

Cleaning House

OK, maybe just my office. We have tons to catch up on tomorrow, and are working a bit tonight after a long day of hard labor in the moving buisness. I *think* we are done - we moved in my grandmother's dining room set and couch and then proceeded to rearrange everything downstairs in the living and dining rooms this morning. It's so fun to have a dining room, I must say... We had E's family over for dinner tonight to celebrate finally being done...room for everyone to sit, at the same table no less. I'm gonna enjoy this over the holdiays.

Tomorrow's tasks are less physical, but I have to get my butt in gear early and stay that way...going to use my timer and do 1/2 hour of grading, 1/2 hour lesson plans. 1/2 hour outside work - still trying to clear the side gardens, replant the Siberian iris (not one of my favorites, but a shame to throw them out) by the screened in porch, and bring over my favorite hostas - nice big light green leaves with gorgeous, late season white flowers to put in the by-then cleared gardens that line the path. We cleaned the apartment to the bone today in preparation for Jean moving in tomorrow - E is exhausted, and I don't want his sciatica acting up, so I called in a sympathy vote once it was time to move in Jean's furniture - Dad and company are working on that tonight.

Right now I'm headed back downstairs to clean out my purse and a carton from the apt. in search of a store credit slip from the pet store- I hope, hope, hope I can track it down. If not, there are worse casualties of a move, yes?

p.s. E downloaded I-Blog for me last night - anyone use it - is it worth it?

2003-09-26T21:13:00.000-04:00

Here I sit doing my laundry

In my own house!!! Without having to go out to the car and look under the seat for quarters! Or negotiate a way out of our building and across the parking lot to avoid crazy lady. Yes!

And no, the thrill hasn't worn off yet. I was a bit twitterpated at my I-Disk but I bought more storage with my fun money for this month and am happy to announce that the interior pictures are up! So check em' out.

Today, as promised, E put up my clothesline, and we cut the old one off - it had grown into the tree. We also picked up Ranger the Bearded Dragon and the mice: currently stationed in my little bro's "office" which he has yet to use so I don't think he will mind.

The reason for the growing menagerie here? Hmmph. Principal lost it the other day for no real reason, just that the animals got him nervous - he is extremely..."fastidious". Now no animals in school says he - only "visitors". I wrote up a three page, might I say very thorough and professional, treatise on how I use reptiles in my day to day teaching and in my overall curriculum and his only response was a big fat "Denied" scrawled along the bottom - in red pen no less. At least we have a house now to keep all the creatures here with us, and hopefully some of them can move to the barn soon.

TGIF. I love y'all. Hugs!

2003-09-23T20:54:00.000-04:00

The Future is Now

It's unsettling and amazing...Today I realized I still haven't expanded to fill this space. I've been spending my days and nights shuttling between the kitchen, my office, and our bedroom. Today, sick as a dog with a nasty cold, I just wanted to crash - laundry was on the bed so by default I ended up here in the family room on the futon with the dog. I looked around and realized this was the first time I've spent time in here in any sort of non-moving related way.

The doors that this place has opened keep surprising me, jumping out at me when I least expect it. I read many blogs about small living - Path to Freedom, Living Small, Lisa BK's adventures, not to mention her chronicling of Janna's homested... All in all, I think we do it well - community garden, walking to do our errands, compost tumbler on the porch, attempts at vermicomposting in the winter... but it was/is not my dream. Every cell of my body emanates farmer-mama. My dreams - growing enough food to feed my family and put up for the winter, producing our own eggs and dairy, starting side buisnesses with both my art and my animal breeding - bearded dragons, chams, and geckos, space to raise/feed/bathe babies of my own, an expanse of sun, trees, and green to greet me every morning, complete with dog rollicking acorss the horizon, dragging his newest favorite stick behind him - require a modicum of space. And now suddenly, unexpectedly, years ahead of schedule, we have that space and more.

I wake up every morning, looking out the window that serves as our headboard, look over the barn, the tall maple in the round driveway, my sedum settling in around the side lamppost, watch the morning cars zoom by, and slowly smile in disbelief. This is my home - for a year, maybe more. Most likely, this will be where our first child is conceived, brought home, and nurtured in that same bedroom nestled under the eaves with the funny four foot door.

The most current projects on my mind? I started stripping the bathroom - I will finish preparing it for paint next weekend. Landlord J is coming to empty our part of the barn October 11th...then I will set up some empty tanks and lights - make sure the barn will be hot enough for the baby reptiles that I hope to be hatching there soon. Once I feel confident about that, I can go to White Plains and find a gravid/adult female Jackson's. Hopefully our man Bartleby will be accomodating to that idea.

We will be going by my grandmother's to finish clearing out her apt. this week - that means a dining room set for us and a new loveseat to fit into our family room - denim slipcover will be a must, but first I'll see if the loveseat itself fits. Also added to the family room (hopefully) will be the borrowed from mama treadmill, where I can exercise (for free!) while I read/watch tv.

Outside, E is hanging my clothesline tomorrow, and I need to work up the courage to ask Landlord J about the chickens - it's legal, E already went to the library and did the research. :) I started clearing the sides of the side entryway of the overgrown weeds today - bit by bit, I should be finished clearing it by Friday, and will plant it on Saturday with hosta from my apt. garden. The apt., speaking of, still needs to be cleaned - especially if Jean is moving in soon.

Samhain and Halloween plans include a jack o'lantern totem on the front porch, paper mache jack o' lanterns filled with white christmas lights inside on the mantel, and lots of thematic, spooky treats.

I am blessed - with my family, my circle of women in blog, and this new home. Hugs to everyone.

2003-09-22T15:56:00.000-04:00

Besides Loving Up this Adorable Canine

Update: I-Disk is being farty. Pictures of the inside of our new house will be up as soon as it gets itself righted. In other news, I must tell you what an amazing idlyic wonderland my life has become with a washer and dryer IN MY OWN HOUSE, an d don't even get me started on the xanadu that is my own room for crafts, sewing, reptiles, and schoolwork. I am one happy laundress tongiht, Oh Yeah.

I have some other things I should do today - my list:

Have a snack, put away the milk
Carry my books up here and the bookcase - start figuring out which of the millions of books I want/need in my office
Write lesson plans - print out 2 copies

~~Go pick up compost tumbler from the apt.~~ - stop by dad's and get Hannah the snake and a small garbage can for under the sink
~~Find NCLB credentials - bring copies to school tomorrow.~~
~~Write Chapter 1 Quiz~~
~~Take interior pics of the house~~ and put them up in photo album
Finish grading Lab Bio 2 papers.

I feel slightly overwhelmed, but all in all I'm not surprised at the length of my list, considering how busy we were this weekend with the move. I'll get caught up - encourage me!

2003-09-19T11:33:00.000-04:00

Stange Events of This Morning

Miraculously barely-touched by the hurricane, we have a few limbs down in the yard - that's it. I drove to school - beautiful, sun shining, cool autumn breeze, not a cloud in the sky, to find my high school parking lot empty at ten of eight. A teacher I didn't recognize told me we didn't have school. Why? Oh well, I'm going to enjoy it. We'll be moved in by tonight - since my brother and dad both have off today because of flooding/electrical issues as well.

If the appointments work out, we will have phone and cable at our new place by 5 pm tonight. Yay! I'm grateful this is going so smoothly, since (sadly) a friend of ours from Costa Rica has relapsed and is now in the states for another round of cancer treatment. I hope we can clean this place up ASAP and provide her with a place of privacy, safety, and calm - all in close proximity to family and friends as she goes through this again...she originally had breast cancer, but it has metasticized. Please keep Jean in your thoughts all - for stength of all kinds and for some release from her pain.

I'll hopefully be online from our new house by tomorrow AM and will post pictures of the interior. Hugs everyone!

2003-09-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

Quick Update

I'm sitting here in our half empty apartment, trying to figure out what I can move on my own that would make our life easier over there. E may have a hernia, so he is out of commision in the moving department - luckily our firends have been awesome - we moved so much yesterday!

What to bring now? I'd love to get our bed over there, but I need help with that...maybe the contents of the freezer, the side table, my glider, lamps...I'll figure it out. Driving around in this pre-hurricane just makes me nervous - the trees are blowing around so much they're almost bending over to touch the street. Hopefully we won't have it as bad as last year - I would hate to have the roads and power out, especially for more then a few days - it was pretty paralyzing, and a lot of people here lost their cars and houses to the falling trees, etc.

I'm sending safe thoughts to Robin, Pink,Claire, the list goes on and on - all in areas that will be hit harder then here with the current predictions. I may blog later from mama's - we're going over there to watch the season premiere of Survivor and CSI... hey, E and I may love "our stories" (well, I like both, but am a CSI fanatic - it grosses him out - silly man) but at least there are only two and they are on the same night :) All right, enough procrasintating. My sore muscles need to start packing boxes again!

p.s. The dog looooooves the new house - he was dashing around the 2 acres with the biggest grin, rolling around and fetching, and it topped it off when the little kids next door started talking to him. He's in heaven.

My pantry is much bigger then I had realized- so cool, althoght the kitchen is dirtier and buggier (mostly spiders - better then roaches or ants) then I had noticed. That can be fixed - it hasn't been lived in in a while, after all. And I have an apron hook and a dinner bell hanging outside of the side door. OK - Back to the farm now for real - with a car full of goodies.

2003-09-15T20:23:00.000-04:00

As Promised

The pic by pic canning process at Sustenance. Get it while it lasts! - Sustenance will be down temporarily this week due to a server move.

2003-09-15T18:52:00.000-04:00

This is What I Do

I apologize to Santosha, Mamarama, and Linda S - your packages are far from mailed. Because I was out in the woods for much of the afternoon trying to beat the hurricane, trying to catch 120 woodlice - a.k.a. pillbugs, rolie polies, potato bugs, sow bugs, isopods - for my classes tomorrow. I am a biology teacher. This is what I do. Yes, your high school bio teacher probably was as weird as you remember. :)

I'm saving the indoor jobs for the storm - mail, packages, moving into the new place. We are picking up the keys a few days early, on Wednseday. A good thing. I feel really confident about letting the landlords know we'd be interested in buying next year. It's funny how you can fall so deeply in love with a place so quickly- I feel confidant, settled, at home - like the first night I spent with E. Also a good thing.

2003-09-14T19:20:00.000-04:00

We'll have "a Hurricane Party Every Time It Roars"

So what exactly does one serve at a hurricane party? Isabelle is apparently moving with us...but we are bound and determined to be tucked into our new bedroom (nice n' big, blue carpet, new AC in the window, small closet, door is 4.5 feet high) by Friday evening. Heck, I may even be back on blog since the cable company is scheduled to come out that afternoon.

I was over our new place today - I brought my gardening tools over from the community garden (the ones I could find in the jungle of the autumn garden), the patio table, and our cedar front door "mat" that I luvvvv. Landlord J was working in the basement - concreting the dirt floor - and I spent a few hours digging up the hosta and distributing them along the front path. I also moved two azaleas that I spotted in one of the overgrown shade gardens to the front of the house by the porch. E spent the day at home packing - the closet and some of his clothes are packed and ready to go in the car.

That can up there is still taunting me...several more hours till we hit the 24 hour mark when I can check for a seal, according to homecanning.com I hope it worked!!!! update: My first try at canning was a success! - I'll post the pic by pic process at Sustenance later this week.

I'll be restless all this week, so excited to move that the clasroom isn't the place I really want to be, but it should be a pretty straightforward week - I need to pick up a video for the kids to watch on Friday. Ciao...

2003-09-13T20:50:00.000-04:00

Ani on her moon rock - what a doll :)

Saturdays

We usually get more done... but we did go out quite a bit today, even though now we're in movie mode ( "About a Boy" cuz it was based on the book by one of E's fave authors who also wrote "High Fidelity") and now "Alien Resurrection" on AMC. :)

I have curried eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and onions from the garden simmering, and a pot of salsa waiting to be boiled and canned tonight once I go over mama's and get our big stockpot. I can't wait to have a kitchen where I can keep all my pots - and today marks the LAST time we will have to go to the laundry room across the parking lot to do our wash - what a celebration! Hooray!!!!

I'm nervous about the canning but I think I can do it - I certainly have less to can then I thought I did - two big bowls of garden tomatoes, once skinned, peeled, and diced, only gave me four cups! (the recipe calls for 14!). I'm going to can one jar of salsa - it's probably a good idea to start small anyhow:) I'll post how I did on Sustenance.Org once the whole process is done.

Tonight I need to tackle some mundane work things as well...

Write up a new behavior contract for the kids to sign
Write up a safety and classroom procedure quiz.
Come up with/find three emergency lesson plans.
See if I can download Easy Grade Pro from the school server and put all my names and grades onto this computer.

I've been complaining to E how creepy it is to be the last one in the building every night, except for the night crew janitors. I wind up staying there till I get every last thing done, but especially once we move, I'll have plenty of physical and mental space to do what I need to. Once we move (starting next Monday) I'm going to leave work when I have about an hour's worth still to do and do it at home - on the back patio, the screen porch, my room, whateva'...it might lead to more peace of mind. That building can be pretty lonely and creepy after 4:30 - 'specially upstairs.

Speaking of moving, E and I have a goal: to sleep in our house starting Firday night - just come back here to pick things up. That means we need to move this stuff on Friday: our bed, our clothes, our pots and pans, our food, our bathroom "stuff", our computers, our phone. I think it's definitly possible.

2003-09-13T01:29:00.000-04:00

From The Friday Five

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?
Same name - I use my married name professionally, but I've never gotten around to actually legally changing it. Sometimes I hypenate it to cover all the bases. My initals didn't change when I got married - which was nice for my one personalized item (my planner).

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I wouldn't - I love my Irish/Jewish mutt of a name, thanks.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
My parents argued for quite a while -past the time I was born (granted I was born very premature - on the day of my mom's baby shower, actually) so I was sort of a surprise. For a while Sarah was winning out, but that was our next door neighbor's name who was only a few months older then me, so Shannon was it. (Gaelic for "little old wise one")

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why? I love Eliezer's name...I don't have any I instantly don't like on-site. I'm pretty flexible. We plan on naming our children in whatever order they come, Tennessee (fierce warrior), Georgia (farmer), Carolina - maybe. At least we've got the first one covered. Yeah, they just happen to be Southern states.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? Wow, Kabalarians.com was dead on.

Brief Analysis

The name of Shannon creates a very quiet, practical nature and a clever and inventive mind. Being analytical and naturally studious, you are interested in a factual understanding of the mysteries of life. Your methodical nature requires that you like to finish what you start without interruptions and also to have everything in its place and properly organized. An ability to concentrate could take you into computer programming or accountancy or any work requiring concentration and attention to detail. You have, also, a flair for creative expression with your hands. You take life seriously and can be easily and deeply hurt and go into moods which can be quite extreme at times, causing much turmoil and unhappiness. Finding it difficult to join in conversation with those with whom you are not well-acquainted, you could feel quite alone and uncommunicative with new acquaintances or in a large crowd. As a result, you could be accused of being unfriendly. You desire so much to be understood, but your name has limited your verbal expression to such an extent that it is very difficult for you to divulge your innermost thoughts even to those closest to you. One of your greatest salvations is being out in nature, for it is there that you find the peace and serenity you so much desire.

2003-09-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

Giving It A Try

I saw this in the grocery store when we were picking up milk tonight and I just couldn't resist. I'm going to try it this weekend - just the regular salsa recipe and seasonings it comes with since I've never canned anything before. Today was a hard day, preceded by a hard week. E is spinning, I am blogging, all is well and will be better after sleep and cinnamon rolls in the AM.

Hugs everyone for your support through all the house craziness and my G-Ma passing...I appreciate it more then you know.

p.s.Christy has some new house/rural living possibilities on the horizon, send her good thoughts! She may end up in a renting then buying situation which gives me hope that that might be a possibilty for us.

2003-09-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

Plans

I'm going to call landlord J tomorrow and see if he minds me poking around the yard so I can start landscaping this weekend- at least the main path (sedum interspersed with hosta that are already there, and underplanted with daffodils once it gets cool enough to plant them). I would like to plan out a traditional English shade garden incorporating the original brick patio into the design in the backyard behind the house (the large acreage is to the side behind the barn). If I get permission from landlord J, E can put all the leaves there and they can compost up nicely for spring.

I'm going to bring my plants from here and some from my mom's - I'm going to leave a little bit of each plant in my side garden I made here over the past two years, but bring the main plants with me - I doubt anyone will take care of it, but I'd like to leave something behind.If anyone has any ideas for shade loving, readily available shade plants please leave comments. I have figured in hosta, sedum, astilbe, and impatiens in the spring/summertime.

In other news:

I was brain fried at work today, but at least I was there! It didn't go too bad. I need to figure out which day I'm going to hold detention so I can start giving it next week - unfortunately I think I need to...yuck. I bought a file crate for my rolling cart and a lamp at office max today, but I also found a desk lamp and in/out trays at mama's house, so I'm returning the lamp tomorrow. Looking forward to a better day! (heck, it's Friday, it'll be good, right?)

2003-09-10T17:10:00.000-04:00

Last Week In Condoland

And it hasn't been a bad two years. The low rent and familial connection has eased a lot of my financial worries and once we fixed it up, our 400 square feet turned out to be a nice little nest for our first year of married life. But that doesn't mean I can't wait till next Friday. :)! More to blog later, gotta go to the dog park now, shake off some of the grief that is following me after a day at the funeral and cemetary.

OK, I'm Back. I just made some cabbage with carrots and ginger from the new cookbook my girl Santosha sent - it's great so far! The cabbage and carrots were from our garden, so that's always a good thing.

I'll be glad to get back into school tomorrow, even though I was ~ and still am ~ apprehensive about leaving them with a substitute so soon in the year. I'll be doing it again next Friday when we move into the new house, so I am hoping it went well. My parents, E's parents, G-ma L - everyone is thrilled with the place, so hopefully we'll have lots of help with the move next weekend. We don't have much so it shouldn't be too hard. All of the Flylady decluttering paid off!

We had everyone over at my mom's house after the burial so when I was cleaning up the leftovers I brought all of the extra drinks over here - a motley crew of hard lemonade, sodas, water, fruit2O, and beers - to have out on moving day. When we told E's G-Ma, she immediatly wanted us to buy it - to help us buy it. So all day today I've been restless, aching to buy the place instead of just renting. As I told E, it's frustrating because it's not that I want to buy a house around here - no, I want to buy that house, and E's G-Ma has offered to help us do that, but it's not for sale, and I doubt that it will be...but we will let them know that if they ever want to sell it, we'd be interested.

It is such a neat place...it was built in 1862 (as my father said, "Abraham Lincoln was president!") by our landlord's great-grandfather and great uncle - brothers from Germany. It is a "farm" in that it's large and old, and has a barn, but they probably didn't raise anything but a little food for themselves. They were blacksmiths - shoeing all the horses in the area. The barn is actually where they had their shop - the forge, machinery, steam engine, and all of the old tools are still there and haven't been touched...the hooks to tie the horses while they were being shoed are still on the wall.... Our landlords have a lot of history in that house, but we'll see.

I just need to re-focus (and am getting there!) on how fabulous it is that we are moving into a wonderful house next week, my father and brother are paying enough in rent (he is helping my brother out) that our rent has gone down to 1K a month, our landlords are very flexible and nice, the chicken coop/dog pen (we were poking around today) is in great shape, that I can finally retrieve my rabbits from college from my folks' house, and that this house and situation are an absolute blessing. I'm just thinking too much. Not unusual.

Our first projects (well, mine anyway - E will help, but I'm not sure what he will be doing on his own):

Borrow my father's hedge trimmers - trim the boxwood along the front of the house, and all of the random hedges on the property.
Divide the hosta and evenly plant them along the front walk - leave some room for annuals in the spring!
Clear out the gardens on the sides of the main entrance - there looks to be some usable iris, but the rest is weeds, and needs to be replaced - plants from here and my mom's house should fill it in.
The circle garden needs to be dug up and I think I will plant it with winter cabbage and/or mums for now.
Steam off the bathroom wallpaper and paint it white.
J, our landlord, is cleaning out our side of the barn for us, but I want to box up any random bits and pieces, and sweep it really well - also wash the windowns and make sure the phone in there is hooked up.

I'm actually thrilled to have all of these projects to do - I love physical work where you can actually see the results - I don't really get that from school so much and I miss it.

2003-09-09T19:05:00.000-04:00

Check It Out

Here are some pics of the new house that I took today when I was driving home. Scroll down to find 'em. :) We signed the lease today and are moving in on the 19th.

2003-09-08T00:11:00.000-04:00

Attention All, Attention All!!!!!

We are now two week away from livin' the dream. The dream being freedom, space, room to roam, and a wide front porch in the country. In the form of renting, but who knows what will happen with the farm in the future. Two acres, a chicken coop, a screen porch, front porch, and brick patio. And a WASHER AND DRYER. Stay tuned for a verrrrrrrrry interesting ride. We sign the lease Tuesday, move in probably around the 26th, but maybe earlier if E gets his student loan money back. Chickens, Rock Gym, Veggie garden. Flower gardens. Rockers on the porch. Craft studio in the barn. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping chickens - even if they stay in the pen all the time. Can still walk to the food store, cleaners, and all other major household needs. 5 miles from job. Ooooooooh Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhh

2003-09-06T22:51:00.000-04:00

Wanda Agnes Kilduff, Nov. 10th, 1916 - Sept.5, 2003

My grandma would have been 87 in a few months - perfectly healthy, she died in her sleep last night, which I consider a blessing, even as we grieve here. To live to 87 without suffering from cancer or other debilitating diseases, still living an independent life, even getting a chance to see your great grand-child be born, and then die a peaceful death. I would wish the same for E and I.

It has been a roller coaster of a day - my brother called us on our way to the pow-wow in South Jersey - luckily we hadn't left town yet. My mom and dad were at Costco and A was scared to death at the prospect of telling my mom the news (my grandfather passed away when I was only a few years old and my mom and dad were the ones who found him - he died peacefully as well - in his easy chair watching the SuperBowl).

We hurried to get to my folks' house and I was there when they pulled up. In a traditional sense, I suppose, I felt repsonsible as the eldest, or what have you, to tell her what had happened, although I never imagined I would ever be in that situation. Whenever our relatives have died, my parents have found out first. My mom is doing ok, deep in her grief...I wish she would cry more...she's trying to be strong to get through the next few days - once her older brother flies in tomorrow I'm hoping he will "take over" and my mom and aunt can grieve without worrying about all of the details of the wake, funeral,and burial.

I felt blessed today to have my family's recipes, and the abilty to grow and cook them food...it's the only thing I knew to do today after I told my mom about her mother passing away. I came home and made my great aunt sally's pasta salad, cut up some homemade fudge, and laid out some cookies, then brought them all over to where everyone had congregated at my aunt's house. It will be a hard few days.

One Door Closes

Adding to the roller coaster we are on today, the farm re-surfaced, with the landlady calling us this AM to see if we could work out a lower rent - I guess she likes the idea of having us as tenents. I worked up the guts to ask E what he thought of my brother moving in with us (hey, I lived with A for 18 years - I know I can live with him - other people - I'm not so sure. It would be a good transition for him. He would be away from my folks but still have someone to remind him to take his meds, get to work, get to class, check that he's seeing his doctors. My father agrees, and worked out what he/my brother could pay in rent. My brother and I aren't close - haven't been in many years. Living in the same small house might be an interesting, and good, way to get to know each other. Today was a reminder that when our parents pass on, my brother is my family, my blood. We came home and made a budget - see below and please leave comments, we'd really like to hear if this looks reasonable and what we could cut back on further - and called up the landlady and gave her the hightest price we could pay - 1700 in all with my brother pitching in. She is going to talk to her husband and call us back. Please pray or do what you do everyone. Thanks....

2003-09-06T21:50:00.000-04:00

Budget, comments appreciated

Here is our proposed budget in the house search. Does it look realistic? Any ideas on how to cut costs? Thanks.

2003-09-06T00:26:00.000-04:00

New account

Shannon. Shannon. shannonshannonshannonshannon. Hee hee. That feels better. Somehow sharing my blog creating space with my school blog was making me feel cramped and icky -also I was getting worried that having the "mrs.s" as my posting name was the reason people weren't commenting...ok, ok, so I'm allowed to be a little bit superstitious. So I moved the school blog to a new account and now will shannon away the days here.

I'll be commenting on all of yer' blogs this weekend - I stayed at work till 7 today, way past the call of duty to get my lesson plans done, and will thoroughly try to enjoy this weekend. Pow-wow tomorrow, and picking up new liz-es on Sunday.

I'm thinking about cutting my hair back to the length it is in my picture there in the sidebar....I know hair doesn't make the woman, but the shorter my hair is, the more confident I feel - in the classroom especially, since I'm basically in front of a crowd all day. We'll see. E is cool with it, and to deal with my mom, I'll just end up doing the usual - cutting it and showing up a few days later nonchalantly till she mentions it, and hoping I don't get too much crap. Snip Snip.

2003-09-04T23:13:00.000-04:00

We saw the old farmhouse tonight

It was a reality check, and also a way for us to get some closure and move on to looki for something just as good, but more do-able. As I've said (gushed) before, you couldn't ask for a better location - where else is the major town center less then a block away and yet you have two acres, a barn, front porch, garden, and a chicken coop? But the house...is tiny. The ceilings are verrry low - it was built in the 1860's, and the doors are even lower. For example, the chandelier is at approximately shoulder level - it's sort of surreal. The kitchen was old but nice, and it had a washer and dryer. There is a living room and dining room - small, but fine, and a weird thing that was the old dining room (it has a built in dish shelf in the corner...) but has a weird U-shaped half wall where the landlords put in a new furnace. It wouldn't work as a bedroom unless you were desperate. The orange carpeting is a little much as well!

Then the "4" bedrooms - this was the dissapointing part, and really makes it un-doable if we had to share the house with anyone (hey, if we could afford it on our own we'd move in now!) There was a largeish bedroom - the only addition to the original farmhouse, but the other "3" bedrooms are simply large closets by modern standards - you couldn't get a bed and a nighstand in them... I guess sleeping arrangements in the 1860's were much more sparse - they were basically just simple convent-like cells - maybe for a small mattress and light? (I was raised in a large Irish Catholic family, and have a whole lotta nun experience - I spent quite a bit of time in my great aunts' convents. So with those not being usable as bedrooms - except maybe a tiny nursery, which isn't part of our life right now - we would live upstairs in a bedroom and three teeny rooms and the guys would live..where? One of them would have to have the weird small den and I don't know if a bed would fit there ~ otherwise they would both have bedrooms on either side of the stairs - which E and I would have to walk through to get to the kitchen....not gonna' happen.

Sigh - moving on....in many ways. It has opened the door to looking for a new, bigger place and I think that is a very positive thing effect of the whole experience. Off to check the classifieds again....

p.s. Work is utterly exhausting me, physically, mentally, and emotionally - I've been reading your blogs every night to help me relax and it has been a godsend, but I haven't had the where-with-all to comment - I will start again, I promise!

I know work will get easier once I'm not rushing around and reeling from all of these people I have to placate, please, interact with, and keep under control. We are adopting two leopard geckos though! (two more - that will be 5) A young couple at Rutgers are are moving back to Europe and can't keep them, so one of our firends in the local reptile rescue e-mailed me. Their names are Ross and Cromarty - two places in Scotland where J, their "mom", is from. They will be coming here on Sunday - nothing like new pets to get me smiling again.

2003-09-03T07:36:00.000-04:00

I'm Off

First day of school with the kids, albeit just a few hours of freshman orientation. We're going to see the old barn tomorrow night, and hopefully a few places in farm country next week. Right now I need to concentrate on this "career" of mine. :) Today I'm setting up my desk space in the prep room and making files for all of my kids - oh yeah, whole department staff meeting as well. And so it begins. Wish me Luck!

2003-09-02T22:06:00.000-04:00

Why Am I On Here?

Because if I talk about this house any more I will drive E crazy.
Because the guys we need to rent it with (since it's too big and too expensive) are unorganized and slightly irreponsible and most likely won't come through.
Because it's a huge increase in our artificially low rent and that's scary.
Because there's acres of lawn and a frickin' chicken coop ready and waiting - oh yeah, and a barn with a blacksmith shop inside.
Because in a perfect world it would be a two bedroom farmhouse renting for ~1000/month - NOT a four bedroom renting for double that.
Because my crush on this house is blinding me to the negative aspects of said arrangment.
Because I want to win the lottery tomorrow and be able to rent this little perfect house all to ourselves.
Because I'm avoiding getting my gradebook and seating charts ready for my first day with the kids - TOMORROW.
Because even if we can't rent this house, maybe we should keep looking - in fact, I think we will, but then I go back to my third concern. And thinking about chickens again. (We even have a laying hen hook-up on the local historical farm 'cuz people give them breeds that aren't historically correct...)
Because maybe, just maybe, this dream is worth pursuing even if this old farmhouse (build in 1860 -whoa!) doesn't work becauselife is hsort and I'm passionate about havign a garden and chickens and I have a new job in the frickin' countryside.
Because I called another landlord about a "cozy cottage" on two acres and he hasn't called back yet....
Change is exciting, change is scaring me to death, change might be just what we need right now. AND CHICKENS!

On a Lighter Note

Golom the tree frog came home!!! which none of us were really expecting, even though it was possible. And Queer Eye is on! So I'm going to put my brain on hold for a while - it deserves a break.

2003-09-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

Darn that House!

The owners of the barn/house for rent called - it's twice as large as we need, and costs twice as much. While that's not a possibilty (although my heart aches that it turned out not to be) it has shifted our mindset - I think that we've just assumed we were going to stay here- had to stay here - to save money, but after this jolt to our thinking, I may start looking at the classifieds. I make enough to pay rent on a larger apt/part of a house, and I would love to have enough space to each have our own space - I love E, but we both rub on each other's nerves a tad, just because we don't have any separate space to do our thing. As he says, you can't do one thing without affecting the whole family around here. I would love a small patch of yard, room for Harri to roam instead of having to take him out to the edge of the parking lot. There are many small apartments/places for rent on the large horse farms when the workers aren't living in all of them, so maybe that could be a possibility. I'm glad that we have such a great situation here - no lease, and very affordable rent - so we can take our time and if we find the "perfect" place, E's grnadma will be cool about us moving on, I'm sure. I feel guilty for looking for a bigger place (we have a bedroom, bathroom, and common room here, about 400 square feet), especially when I stop and play with the kids who live upstairs, a young Mexican family with two toddlers who live in the exact same apartment we do. But then again, if they could they would most likely move to a bigger place! And maybe we're getting to the point where we can take that leap.

What to Do?

We definitly relaxed and enjoyed this day off, but now to get moving again. The rain that Lisa felt yesterday arrived here this AM, so it's pretty dreary out, but I have plenty to do inside, including finishing drying the current batch of tomatoes, taking off these pants which are really not stylish enough to justify their uncomfortable factor and put them in the bag for Goodwill, swiff the floors, and finish getting ready for tomorrow - while everyone was here last night, I slowly excavated through most of my school "stuff" and am in much better shape then I was at this time yesterday. Still a small pile taunting me from over there on my desk though. I'll check in with y'all later.

2003-08-31T13:56:00.000-04:00

Am I the Only One Awake Around Here?

Apparently.... We have very relaxed Sunday mornings around here, with the star of the show being the Sunday Nap. I'm not a good napper on weekends and usually end up puttering around the house, as I'm doing now. We woke up nice and late after last night's wedding and walked to the Methodist Church down the street. After the service we walked down the block to see the house my parents (may) buy in the daylight - it's really nice. I think things are looking more soild as far as the sellers accepting their offer but they've been downplaying the whole thing - they just don't want to get excited about it yet, and my mom is also really torn about leaving the house they've lived in for over 25 years....

I'm going to put my gradebook together today (we all have to use the same one so we were handed a binder and a million different essential documets to put into it the other day.) I also need to put the school calendar onto my on-line class calendars and read the rest of the secondary education book - it has some new ideas that I'd like to try. Tomatoes are in the oven drying as usual!

Our Good Afternoon:

I did sucumb to the Sunday Nap eventually, and then we had lunch. We took advantage of this awesome weather- crisp, cool, but sunny enough that fall doesn't seem imminent.. this is my favorite time of year. We went to the reservoir, took the dog for a great swim, talked about bass fishing possibilites with an older guy who walked over to see us, and took our dream of renting a bigger place to another level - actually calling the number posted by that barn I talked about a few posts ago. Our friends J and M are coming over for pizza (homegrown basil, oven dried tomatoes that I marinated in olive oil and herbs this afternoon, red bell peppers from the patio) and maybe some of the others in the rag tag crowd will stop by too. We'll see. I need to get some work done before they come over...eesh. While you're over here, go give my girl Claire some props - she just quit smoking - cheer her on!

2003-08-31T13:45:00.000-04:00

Someone left the cake out in the rain...

We spent a rainy day yesterday in Princeton at my cousin's wedding. She and D are both editors in NYC and it was very...tres chic. It was also wet, but everyone stayed in damp good spirts. The cerremony was outside, and the site was lovely with a flowered arbor underneath some old growth trees. The lightning, thunder, and rain cut the ceremony short, but we all made it through. The tents held up well, and there were quite a few tables inside the old house where they had the reception.

It was definitly more sedate then the last wedding in the family (ours:) - not much music to speak of, and no-one wound up in the nearly nude or in the river by the end of the party. I made K and D a beaded, framed copy of their wedding invite in what I thought was pretty sleek red felt on black velvet. I posted details about that project on Sustenance. We had left the pooch at home, so we came home pretty early, but all in all it was a nice, relaxed evening. Eliezer met the remainder of my many, many first cousins he had yet to see - my dad has five brothers so I have a flock of first cousins in the tri-state area. The pic didn't come out that clear - not many did with the downpour, but that is all of us cousins on my dad's side and a few of D's - his family is quite a bit smaller.

Best of luck K & D!

2003-08-29T15:57:00.000-04:00

Hot Stuff Outfit Explained...

As has become a theme in our apartment, things have been exploding again. This time it was the sink - it was filling up -from the drain!!!! I don't know where the water was (is) coming from, and I'm not sure I want to. I'm sitting here at the computer and I hear water dripping - I think "We don't have a fountain" and then "Did I leave the faucet on?" By the time I turned around and saw water pouring over the edge of the sink onto the floor it was already a minor flood. I pulled off my school outfit (a beige jumper) and ran into the bedroom, pulling on my short pink summer skirt - I figured it I was going to get gross, at least it would get on my skin intead of soaking into my cloths. I was bailing the sink out into the bathroom sink, but that was not working. I then threw open the window and started bailing the sink out of the window onto the side landing, hoping none of my neighbors would be coming home at that exact moment. My sandals were quickly turning the floor into a mud puddle, peppered with various sink grossness, so I ran to the closet and threw on my highest heels - I figured they were plastic - washable, right? - and that tiny heel couldn't have that much dirt on it to get into the water that was already on the floor. Unusual outfit explained.

Today we slept in, and I wrangled a parking spot at the DMV only a few minutes late for my fingerprinting appointment. I have had my fingerprints taken three times in as many years - what do they think teachers spend their summers doing that they keep making me get my fingerprints done? (other then making a pretty penny off each and every fee they make me pay for the privelige) I swear, there must be a trend of biology teachers turning bank robers come June that I don't know about.

Today I want to get more organized - I'll read my "teaching secondary school" book as a break, but I need to start excavating my pile of materials from yesterday. I made two online calenders for each of my classes so that website is looking pretty spiffy (well, it doesn't look that fabulous, but I'm happy with all the practical stuff I've put on there). I also need to get to the food store, help E wash the dog, and pick up a pretty frame and dried flowers to frame up K's wedding invite. Her wedding is tomorrow in Princeton - it should be interesting. I'll do as much school work as I can today, but I have till Monday night so I'll have time to get ready for K's wedding tonight.

2003-08-28T23:41:00.000-04:00

It's Already the Weekend!

And hooray for that. I am exhausted, and had a good session with Dr. D today, getting ready for all the politics at school. Even though it gets complicated seeing the same doctor as my brother, I do like him and he's helpful. $115 dollars of help, maybe not, but that's what filing insurance claims is for...

Quelle Suprise! I found actual information about my new job today - overloaded with info in fact, but I'll process through all of it - books, papers, faculty handbook, student handbook... (currently residing all over the futon and coffee table). I also met my supervisor, she's nice, even if frazzled right now.

For your reading pleasure, if you're interested in what this woman will be doing every day for the next ten months, here it is (I still haven't gotten my official schedule in the mail).

First period I have a prep or duty - I'm not sure if I'll have a homeroom.
Then two periods of regular bio in one room - I think the prep room next to that has room for me to use as a work area and/or keep the creatures. (I hope so)
After lunch it's across the hall for a concepts of bio class and then another regular one.

I'm nervous and unsettled about not having my own classroom, my own personal space to just chill when the kids get to me, decorate and furnish the way I want, set up the desks the way I would like. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but I also need to get my stuff into some classroom - even if I'm only there for half the day. I am a full time teacher, and I can't let my worry about bothering the teachers who have been there longer knock me out of a desk and an actual physical workspace. Hopefully they will all be cool and/or even helpful - I am hoping there will be a science staff meeting on Tuesday afternoon. We'll see. Off to find a picture to grace y'all with.

2003-08-27T17:52:00.000-04:00

First Day: Sleepy as a Walrus

To follow up my oh-so-serious post of this afternoon (hey, what are blogs for if not for getting stuff off your chest, right?)... I am definitly not used to working and am exhausted from all the mental activity and forced social interaction. LOL. I think I'll slip back into the groove next week, but I think tomorrow will be an equally long day. Today was district wide information, frustrating because I'm eager to find out specifics - those come tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to pick up my curriculum and schedule, find out if I have a classroom - all of that good stuff. If I do have my own classroom, I will hopefully be able to adopt some leos from reptile rescue. I have been looking at the pile of new reading material/books I received today...I'm eager to dive in, but dragging after today. I'll start it tomorrow afternoon and then I have the whole weekend. We'll see.

Morning Commute

7:30 AM: I turn out of the parking lot, drive past our ramshackle condo covered with white peeling paint and faded red trim. The houses on our street are old Victorians, some in better shape then others. Most have been converted to businesses – the schools here are called “poor performers” and “at-risk” by the state, and filled with African American and Mexican students with a high ESL population– many of the families who can afford to send their kids to private school or don’t move here at all.

I pass the Y, and cruise down what E and I jokingly call “yuppie central” – a small street that runs between the ice rink and a dance school, it is usually deserted, but once lessons start it is impossible to get through – crowded with luxury S.U.V.’s and the new status symbol of the rich around here – yellow Hummers looking like strange school buses cruising through the neighborhood. Crossing over the railroad tracks, I pass the neighborhood Catholic church – masses in both Spanish and English. Past a few bodegas, the Spanish record shop, and a new place that for some reason sells spike heels and leather lingerie – we find both its choice of wares and location sort of strange but it hasn’t gone out of business yet so someone must shop there. This time of year the front porches are crowded with kids in shades ranging from ebony to caramel, pitbulls tied to the railing with an old piece of rope, grandmas supervising, and the sidewalks are humming with young Mexican women pushing baby carriages and carrying grocery bags and laundry.

At the four corners –each with its own gas station – I turn onto the main drag and let myself float in the sadness and memories that have been haunting me lately – that may always come to haunt me this time of year from now on. Passing the street where John used to live, past the Chinese food place we would always go to in high school before I got my license, the pizza place where his friends worked, the donut shop and U-Cut Christmas tree farm where he worked for a few summers… it’s been a little over a year now since he committed suicide. Perhaps it is just because I have been driving through such an emotionally loaded area so often, or that his family is moving and taking his body with them to bury in Vermont, somehow making him seem more “gone”. Strange to think, even now, that someone I knew so well, someone I loved so much , tried to “save” so desperately is completely and utterly gone from this world. Even after we stopped dating when I went away to college, I would write unanswered letters, although I could count on his inevitable call or note when I came back on all too rare vacations. Although things might get physical, more often we would just sit – sometimes talking, but mostly I remember sitting there – on the beach, in the living room, in the park, hand over his, trying to intuit somehow if he was clean, if he was high, if he was using, what he was using from the depth of his eyes, the temperature of his skin. I couldn’t have saved John, and God knows I tried, and he certainly went to every type of rehab program and half way house his folks could afford. Might he be around if we had socialized medicine where he could have stayed at his last rehab unit longer? Or if the half-way house at the monastery had room that week? I don’t know and I know in my heart that these are unanswerable questions– but I ask them every time I pass by all of those familiar places.

Eventually, my perpetual ache subsides, and I turn into horse country – I’ve been passing a renovated barn with a for rent sign all this week and dreaming about moving in. Although we might be able to afford it, I don’t know how E would get to the train station so for now I’ll just have to fantasize about moving there and buying chickens. This is thoroughbred country –it’s the state animal and the U.S. Equestrian team trains here? (Just some trivia for ya’) Some of the farms have colts out right now, although it’s not really the season. There is a miniature donkey in one of the fields to my left and makes me want one when we buy land even more… The farms are still around – especially the riding stables and large thoroughbred operations, but interspersed now are McMansion developments, fashioned to look like the horse breeding estates with horse statues cast in bronze at their front gates. Another silly variation is the pastures turned golf courses with a horse theme.

I’m beginning to recognize the landmarks that mean I’m almost at work – e.g. ok, so I won’t be late after all!. There’s a farm stand on a corner where they are selling fresh corn and winter squash right now, and a deli/general store. My school is new, and looks a lot like a huge jail. It has a 1,600 student capacity but isn’t at capacity yet. E says jails and new schools look the same because the government uses the same major contractors – either way it’s very cavernous and full of echoes. I hope it will feel more “lived in” when the kids arrive (next Wednesday is freshman orientation) but high schools have always felt less homey to me then elementary schools – although I’m still feeling like I will enjoy teaching these 9th graders better then I did the middle school kids.

2003-08-26T13:32:00.000-04:00

Just in Case You Were Wondering...

I changed my "signature" to Mrs. S cuz' I started a school blog and I didn't want to post there as "Shannon". You know who I am ;)

Friends missed, Friends remembered

For all of my blog friends who read this, I’d ask you to send, your thoughts, prayers, meditations, and whatever else you have on hand to the general Idaho area where K has been on a fire crew for the past week or so. She is doing what she loves and I’m sure she was thrilled to leave on a moment’s notice to join the crew out there (she is a fire fighter with the park service) but with few chances to contact B, her partner, nobody is sure where she is or when she’ll be back. I hope she is running around the woods doing what she’s meant to do, living off the adrenaline, but I also hope we get her home safe and sound...

Another Day, Another List

I am determined to enjoy my last day of "freedom" before I go back to work tomorrow, including going out for a lemon italian ice! but I'm stuck in neutral, so I'm starting today with another list. There is a serious topic I want to blog about but I'm still composing in my head...I'll have to keep y'all in suspense for now.

~~Empty and load dishwasher~~
~~Go through clothes and get at least three outfits together for the next few days. Remember to hang them up on door so they're ready!~~
Get out dichotomous key lesson plan - will use it as an intro activity since it's curriculum based (won't be too cutesy) but also will help me with the kids names and getting to know everyone - that whole "classroom community" thing.
~~Write up the order I'm going to do things in an old lesson plan book - I can do general and lab bio the same for this week anyway.~~
~~Go out and get Ani crickets.~~
Re-do my welcome letter - it is way too long right now.

OK, here we go....

2003-08-25T15:58:00.000-04:00

Have You Seen This Frog?

Poor Golom, free-range in the basement. I went over there and filled her water dish - maybe she'll come back into her cage when she gets thirsty. I'll work a bit on schoolwork tomorrow, actually accomplish the list I made days ago. My last day of freedom before I start my new job - both scary and exciting.

Getting My Cook On

Before I head out to the garden I'm going to cook up some of the abundance I already have here. The corn, frying peppers, and tomatoes will go into some beans for rice and beans later (and for E's lunch). I need to plant more onions next year! The large tomatoes will be stuffed for dinner tonight. I have some of those rice pudding stuffed empanadas in the freezer - I'm going to fry those up this week to free up some freezer space.

New Find ~ New Perspective

Taking a break while the pots and pans soak in the sink, I was revamping my links - some of my sisters in bloggerdom haven't been online in a while - if they start posting again, I'll let y'all know. :) I found this in my travels... Theresa is a mom who quit her corporate job to be a full time stay at home mom this month. She is struggling with the new role, and though I am whole heartedly committed to raising my family when the time comes, I'm sure going from the work world to land of the mamas will pose some of the same challenges Theresa is going through now. So check her out when you get a minute.

Limbo

Well, I did get to the high school, and marched right into the main office to ask about my schedule/room/getting keys maybe? and all of that. I thought an in-person request would be more effective. But no. My schedule isn't finished, and there wasn't anyone in the science department. I think this is a sign that I need to relax and worry about my schedule when I have the ability to do something about it. Now just to follow that advice.

The house exploded over the weekend without us noticing, so I need to do something about that.

Put away the groceries - too many, but that's what I get for going food shopping when I'm famished.
Clean up the pooch - poor guy, he still has his hot spot and now his foot is bothering him.
Empty the dishwasher
Do the dishes.
Clean the counters
Sweep the floors.

It's quite a list, but it all needs to get done. I'll take some blogging breaks.

2003-08-24T17:20:00.000-04:00

Ughhh

What is with me and Sunday nights??? - I just get down...overwhelmed about the week ahead. I left Greg's a bit early to get some alone time - I'm sort of on social overload at the moment. Last night was fun, but since we don't drink or anything, when the guys get so loaded that they are just plain gross or jerks I don't tolerate it very well.The relentless noise and smoke filled basement weren't perks either. But E had a good time, and since it was his birthday, that's what's important.

Tonight was more fun - dogs!!! Greg's folks breed goldens and King Charles spaniels so I got lots of puppy lovin'. There was also room to breathe. Listen to me - what a party pooper.

I just realized I have a doctors appointment tomorrow - a month early!!! I'll call the office and figure it out... I am going to get up early and go to school - just sit around till someone can help me - get a science book, find out where my classroom is, any info will be helpful. I think this is a better place to work, but there is no preparation set up for new teachers and I am feeling a little lost. Once I get my plants, my animals, my books set up in my classroom I think I'll feel better. I hope I have a classroom! Looking at the schedule, D thought I did, but she's new to the school as well.

I got home later then I thought - Golom the tree frog has figured out how to escape her tank and now has a much bigger tank - E's parents basement. She's nowhere to be found, and I don't know if she'll make it (it's a maze of junk so finding her amid the huge mess won't be easy, if it's even possible.) but as E pointed out, there are lots of bugs and a few leaks, so she might make it for a while. Let's hope for amphibious miracles before winter hits. I'm down about that too, I s'pose.

Note to Self:

When we get back from Greg's bbq, I need to:

re-organize my clothes in my bureau so I can find proper outfits when I re-join the working world (this Wednesday, heaven help me!)
edit my class welcome letter
find a bio lab safety lesson and hand-out I can live with.

For your viewing pleasure: In the meantime, y'all should check out the pics from my love's birthday party in our photo album - see the sidebar) We're still recovering.

2003-08-23T12:51:00.000-04:00

End of the evening:

Whew - it was quite the party...of course, a party requires a red dress, specifically this red dress:

A.M.: Baking Marathon

I love baking/decorating cakes, really. I just need to get up off my ass and start today. Will post pics on sustenance once I'm done!

2003-08-23T01:07:00.000-04:00

I would like to announce

that today my husband won his first case! His client will get out of INS detention (he's been there for 6 months) Monday morning!

In other news, I dined out a record number of times today - breakfast with G-Ma, mom, Aunt N, Nikki, and Lucas, and then out for a family birthday dinner with E's folks at the Indian restaurant. Tomorrow is his real birthday, and we'll be celebrating in Perth Amboy....but first to make two cakes - X-ray one for Jerr and a Devo one for E. Baking tonight, decorating tomorrow. And, bonus!, "The House of Yes" is on, lots of awesome Parker Posey action.

Today's Outfit

for consistency's sake, this is what I wore: my new red and brown striped halter dress. I love the feel of the material - feels like an ancient t-shirt. I was mistaken for pregnant, again! I hate that. Whenever I lose even a teensy bit of weight from all-over, my generous bosoms and round belly and young age all combine to: "oh, are you pregnant, congratulations!" NO!!!!!!! I have a belly, and big boobs, and am skinny everywhere else. That's just the way my body works, ok. OK, I feel better now. Thanks for listening...

2003-08-21T23:15:00.000-04:00

Recently removed from the front of my thrift store tank top...

"R.L. :/ REG.# 67 SURPLUS GEAR SPEC. No. 0285 POLO JEANS CO RALPH LAUREN Est. 1967"

Why do they put such nonsense on shirts...seam ripper did the job just fine.

I love these pants - they are green silky fabric, and tie on - I bought them from an old Vermont hippie at a jazz festival this summer - he called them "Thai harem pants" - whatever... Once I get better at sewing I want to make a pattern from them and make lots and lots and lots.... Since they only tie on, they can be a bit risky, especially on a windy day, but that's never stopped me. I like this tank top much better now that I tore the patch off. (Got this one at Trader K's, Claire :)

2003-08-21T18:24:00.000-04:00

7:12 OK, I'm going to the garden...corn waits for no one, not even E, since his phone is out of commission apparently. Hopefully I will have seen my husband by the next time I get on here.

6:49: somebody stole all of the laundry detergent/bleach.etc. bottles out of the laundry room. Why? People. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

6:24: Done! and I feel like I'm actually moving forwards. I don't remember when E is coming home...but I'm heating up leftover veggie lasagne I made yesterday so I s'pose I'll just wait till he walks in the door. Today was his first day of school - his last first day - hooray! I hope his year goes well. As for mine....I need to look at a worksheet a fellow teacher sent me, and I think I'll find my Flynn lab safety sheet contract or find one online. It may not be what they use at the high school, but at least I'll have something. I'll call the main office again tomorrow and see if I can make any progress...even if I could get some phone numbers of the other bio teachers and the general bio text I would be a little more on top of things.

We'll see how our sanity is tonight - E's first trial, as I've mentioned, is tomorrow and he is realllllly anxious. I know he has been working his butt off .... I just hope that, even if his client doens't win asylum, E realizes that too. Public interest law isn't always a winning game, I think, and I hope he can find confidence in his own work as he gets through these first few cases, instead of solely from the judges' decisions. He's giving people representation - knowledgable, trained representation - that they would never have otherwise, and that's a blessing in itself.

I'm off to make some marinara sauce for extra pasta for moi tonight. Rice and beans will be on the menu tomorrow - so many frying peppers and tomatoes from the garden! I also need to go and pick a load of corn...it's ripening gradually which is very cool, since we planted seedlings and seed in two separate blocks, but almost every ear has a worm on the tip...any advice for preventing/getting rid of these?

3:48: I'll start today with a list - I certainly need it. I didn't eat till a couple of minutes ago and that was certainly part of the problem, but it's time to get stuff done. Hopefully everywhere I need to be will be open:

walk dog to post office: mail ice cream book and weigh air pump
come home and send an invoice for that
pick up E's "secret" present for his b-day Saturday.
empty and fill dishwasher

~~put last load of clothes away~~

2003-08-21T00:23:00.000-04:00

Back from the Aquarium!

I'm a zoo/nature center/pet store junkie so I had quite a day today. We went to every exhibit (I'm a stickler for that - hoarding the map the whole time - "Oh wait, we didn't see the whales yet, we can't leave!") and even made it to the sea lion show - which was really neat, considering its small scale.

I saw a few animals I've never seen in real life (I saw my first kangaroo last year and was excited, but sad that it was at an exploitative county fair petting zoo), including a pack of chambered nautilus, walrus, and a sea dragon in their seahorse building - the jellyfish exhibit (new, I think), called "Alien Stingers" is definitly a must see if you're going on a NYC jaunt/day trip anytime soon.

Today's Outfit is a hot and sweaty one...

my old blue/green halter top, and jeans - I probably would have been cooler in shorts, but have my irish complexion to consider. (I didn't get sunburned today - jeans and sunblock did the trick!)

2003-08-20T00:02:00.000-04:00

Today's Effort

In the ongoing shed the un-needed clothes while perhaps getting a more realistic (better) self-image before I parade around in front of teenagers all day...here we go. Today I wore my other set of denim capri pants (ok, first revelation: I have two - will need to decide which pair to keep.) and a new tank top from shopping with mom, with cinchy stuff at the shoulders.

The rest of me is pretty unchanging, despite the relatives' protest, same earrings day in, day out, cool curvy bravelet from Cape Cod also 24/7, wedding rings when I don't have this summer heat rash thing under them, and my summer shoes:

I abhor taking pictures of myself, so this is certainly a scary experience but it's all about growing right? Tomorrow E is taking me to the Coney Island Aquarium, hopefully it will relieve some of his pre-trial anxiety. So tomorrow, along with a sketch of my ongoing wardrobe analysis, you'll get some pictures of fish! Now to get my classroom blog up and running, instead of fiddling with what template I want to use, I'm going to go ahead and build the thing.

2003-08-19T13:56:00.000-04:00

To-Do

When stuck in a bog of computer surfing and layin' around, make a list. Do the stuff on it. :)

~~Get dressed in appropriate leaving the house attire~~
~~Walk the dog~~
~~Haul out my student info sheet, modify and print it out for my 9th graders.~~
~~Welcome Letter/Classroom procedures - get my original out, figure out what needs to change (probably need to pick up school discipline plan and integrate it but at least start)~~
~~go to mom's and go through "memory boxes"...save the stuff I can scrapbook, 3-D stuff should probably go...they made a second offer on the house, so need to start showing theirs soon.~~ but I still need to go back Thursday, so much stuff!
~~Once it cools a bit, E and I should take the dog out hiking/to the dogpark~~ We only made it around the block, maybe more walking later.
~~Go over to mama's and feed the lizards, rats.~~
Play with blogskins - find the one with frogs, try to get it to work for a class website.

2003-08-19T01:02:00.000-04:00

A Little Project

The late hour? The nervous anxiety about work? Whatever...I needed a new project. So I'm drawing a little self portrait every day - hopefully it will help me figure out exactly what clothes in this mess of sizes and styles I wear and actually like the way I look in! LOL. Here's the first one... red t-shirt (one of those comfy non-shrinking ones that was probably worth spending a bit more on) and capri jeans.

2003-08-18T01:25:00.000-04:00

This Sunday

We slept in...
I finished reading "The Lost World", after realizing I had already read it (this happens to me occasionally), and proceeding to finish it anyhow.
E asked N over - they were going to watch "Donny Darko" but our second-hand tv has a tendency to make everything look really dark, and since the movie was already dark, they gave up on it.
E and N went to play basketball in the middle school lot, and walked back here so N could pick up the scanner we sold him.
We dropped him off and while we were in the car, picked up a black mat to re-mat some pictures and groceries. Oh yeah, E got a veggie sub too.
E and the dog took a nap.
I made peach ice cream for E, as promised, and a batch of falafel for his lunch this week.
He woke up just before I set into brownie making.
I talked to my mom - they made an offer on a house - it's cute, but E is very concerned about its location, just two blocks away. I'm not even gonna think about that yet...
We went over to MIL's house and watched a bunch of old movies on the brownie projector - one of E the day he came home from the hospital in Tennessee, and one where he was a toddler (most were of E's mom and sisters when they were little)
We had dinner at midnight, and are (obviously) still up

It was one of those days. Heaven help me, tomorrow I'm going outlet shopping with my mother.

2003-08-16T23:18:00.000-04:00

Can You Believe She Went Shopping?

And yes, friends, I did. Not really normal for me, (at least not for anything but groceries!) but there I was, hunting and gathering at the mall. E and friends went to see "Freddy and Jason" and I took the opportunity to get some exercise and poke around to my hearts content - E just doesn't understand the difference between the comfortable khaki pants and the really comfortable khaki pants. :)

In an ideal world, I could wear cargo or other loose fitting pants and a tank top every day to work, but I did find some comfy work cloths today - two pairs of pants, a cotton tunic top, a summer dress (ok, ok, not for work - but cute, fits, and on clearance for 10 bucks :) and undies....it's that time of the summer when Victoria Secret has their five pairs for 19.50 and since I take no special efforts with my underwear (e..g. washing/drying them seperately, keeping them away from the dog at all times) I like to get them there since they really hold up to wear and tear.

We went over to my MIL's after the boys finished their movie and I fed my guys - the new breeder rats (for some reason I started calling them Nimbus and Nimbus 2000 and it has stuck so far) are settling in well - they will be raising litters in my classroom soon (I hope), and are the size of small dogs! I also got to get some quality time in with my bearded dragon boy, so that was fun. They really do act more like dogs and cats then lizards - so cool. E is off playing basketball, and I brought back some DVD's from mama's since she has the Netflix thing... I'm not really in a movie watching mood (ok, ok, I am almost NEVER in a movie watching mood - I can watch series on DVD, but anything else? eh....) and I got my prints from IPhoto in the mail today.

Scrapbooking? Maybe? I'm just still thrilled I found our pictures of Christmas 2002 in the depths of this computer! Our first Christmas and I was at a total loss to where they had gone - E's cousins came up from Trinidad too and saw snow for the first time, so there was lots of good stuff going on... happy to have those pics. I've been itching to work with my polymer clay, maybe make some new fern-stamped switchplates, but I just can't seem to get motivated in that direction. And mat up four pics E took of me and our town in high school that got wet and wrinkly.... OK, OK, I'm going to try to scrapbook a little bit.

2003-08-15T16:16:00.000-04:00

Blacked Out

We are all safe and sound now in our little New York Metro Area apartment...E was in Edison with his car wrapping up his work with Legal Services (not in Brooklyn yet, thank goodness!) so he was able to drive home, even if it took a while to get here. Nobody could find his g-ma who lives in the East Village, but luckily it was an issue with the phone lines - she was home after all! He drove in today and after a creepy time navigating five flights of pitch black hallways and stairwells (he ended up using his cell phone as a flashlight :) he got her out of the building and to her place here. She didn't want to leave, but with her medical problems, if she had needed to get out of the building, who knows if she would have been able to get out if she needed to on her own.

I had an AS meltdown last night, very hard on all of us. I slept in, E came home for a homemade lunch, and we'll go out and do something to celebrate the end of this summer's job for him tonight. Better days ahead....

On a brighter note, Carvegirl has re-discovered my current blog (she was stuck on an archive page!) and we are bringing home so much fresh produce every day from our community garden! Tonight, I'm going to make stuffed tomatoes with basil and onions, all from the garden, and steamed corn on the cob (I can't believe we are growing, and now harvesting, corn - it is absolutely fabulous!!!!!) We are picking the white corn - the yellow (with purple tassels?!) is still growing - we planted that from seed, and my mom picked up the white corn seedlings somewhere in the beginnning of the summer. Weeding hasn't been a top priority, and it's showing where I would like to plant new fall crops...a new crop of snow peas, maybe some spinach since it didn't germinate well in the spring. Any suggestions on other things I could plant?

2003-08-13T21:54:00.000-04:00

Ache

Today has been a weird day. I know that a part of it is worry about my new job - everything unnknown has a tendency to make me very pessimistic and worried 24/7 and there are a lot of unknowns with this job - what classes I'll be teaching, who I'll be working with, if they'll be friendly, if the parents are an ok lot, how my supervisor is, where my classroom is, if I can bring "the zoo" to school... I'm glad to be in high school, glad to be teaching bio all year instead of a mix of ecology/biology/chemistry/physics, but I do feel like I'm diving into the deep end. Only two weeks of uncertainly left, at any rate.

Also, I think looking at the year stretching ahead I'm just getting - bored? - I don't know, ready for a change in our lives. K is getting married, N is having a baby, my folks are moving, my dad retiring. We are just - here - and I need to find a way to be happy with that. In a year, E will be finished school and we can start to plan on buying land and starting a family...but I can't live in the future because then I get liike this, unsettled and unhappy.

In other news: Ramses the Veiled Chameleon was adopted by a local man today. He came with his two kids, and seemed nice and informed. E will miss him, but the space we've gained and the mildew we've lost have already made a big difference in our small space. I'm still hinting at a female Jackson's Cham to "keep Bartleby company" but I'll try to be patient and let E decide when he wants to get her. We certainly go to enough reptile shows, and the chams are so fiddly with their misting systems and lighting, that I do like him being their main caretaker.

I broke down and fed Ani crickets from the pet store today - that, combined with her new, bigger cage and she seems much happier. She just isn't growing as fast as she should on the bugs we're breeding right now.

Reno 911, our new favorite show is on in a half hour - family tv time. :)

2003-08-12T18:01:00.000-04:00

Decisions, Decisions

Just ran into the eternal dilemma - missing one ingredient for dinner. So will I go out and get it or make something else? Well, I'm gonna' finish watching "While You Were Out" first regardless... :) E came home early (yay!) but quickly fell into bed to nap with the dog...so they will be out for a while no doubt.

I actually made a bit of progress at school today - picked up the lab bio book and the principal said I could call next Tuesday AM to get my schedule - hopefully the other bio book (a lower level bio class without a double lab period) will be found by then. It looks like there is already trouble a'brewing between the principal/secretaries and my supervisor - I hate politics. I'm not going to dwell on it though - nothing I can do about it anyway. I'll finish my show, go out to see the lizards at mama's house and pick up some stuff to e-bay, on the way back I will get the rest of the food. Maybe delve into that bio book and figure out where to start...hopefully I can dig up the e-mail addresses of some of the other teachers.

2003-08-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

What would you do?

If your bathroom was BLUE? BLUE everywhere - toilet's little helper DRANO blue... on the ceiling, walls, toilet, sink, bathtub floor, covering all of your hair doo dads, make up, and medecine?

Well, once we talked to the upstairs neighbors - the source of the BLUE - we cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. And now the neighbor's blue toilet tank water is no longer our main decorating theme. What a night.

2003-08-10T22:18:00.000-04:00

Our First

We became a family a year ago today. The pooch wasn't at the wedding, but I did get some shots with him before I left my parents house. The highlights of a year ago today?

A wedding ceremony where everyone in our respective families got along and dropped the baggage they had been carrying all year letting us enjoy and be centered on our vows.

The brunch - french toast and mini bagels at a wedding are a good thing.

The groomsmen and other young men in attendance jumping into the river outside the restaurant, rented tuxes in piles on the dock.

The after parties - at my mom's, at his mom's - and probably others we didn't even know about.

Finally having some time alone to enjoy being married...

2003-08-10T22:03:00.000-04:00

All things financial...

For a little family that rarely spends the big bucks, much less the little ones, we have been on a (for us) shopping frenzy. So what do we buy, when we go on what Milkmonkey called a "Super-Commerce Day"? Here's a peak into the life and times of our communal wallet:

We finally ditched our coughing, hacking, and stuttering printer that E got years ago with his laptop, and (since law school generates hundreds of printouts every month) actually invested in a real heavy duty one - with flatbed scanner and copier for me! Whoo-Hoo! Look forward to scanned minutia in the future! We bought a hp psc 2110 all-in-one... liking it so far.
For our anniversary, I gave E a statue that he has had his eye on for, literally, years, since it was at Ten Thousand Villages when we left Ithaca and was still there this past weekend. So now we are the proud owners of Ithaca art (Kenyan actually).
Last night we were out on the town and bought each other Tevas - a small investment in our Ithaca future. They are regulation footwear up there... :) New tevas - with flowers! Oooh - girly waterproof hiking wear.

Thanks for playing.

2003-08-09T13:47:00.000-04:00

Slow Saturday

Just the way we like it over here - E and I have plans: to clean house, do laundry, and go out to find me Tevas and some new art supplies - decorative paper tops my list, although I think I may go with some lino blocks to do some new prints (my anniversery present from E) but for now... E and I are on our respective 'puters after a lesiurely breakfast - I made him stuffed french toast with raspberry syrup, he made me pancakes - even the dog got one!

In the latest news... we have tentatively agreed to get another Golden Retriever next summer - the great dog breed debate has been a'raging as of late and really, why not get another dog like the pooch when he's so fabulous! I just want to make sure to find a healthy pup with athletic, field-tested parents, and red of course!

I was in a tizzy when I thought our second Bearded Dragon, Ani, was male but am now slowing down and reconsidering - she's still tiny and hard to sex, but I think that despite her femoral pores she is indeed a little lady. (Reptiles don't have external genitalia making the whole process rather tricky). We found a home for Ramses the Veiled Chameleon, so that will give us more mental and physical space around here- let someone else have him who might enjoy his pretty colors and "I hate the world" attitude..." - typical of a Veiled, but not our scene.

I've been spending a lot of time on Sustenance, which is really rocking my world at the moment - such an active community of like minded folks - the coolest, but am trying to become more faithfull about posting here - it really helps clear my head. Maybe after I check my blogs every AM over breakfast I'll work on an entry - or maybe stick to my random schedule, we'll see.

2003-08-07T17:31:00.000-04:00

Bahh!

It's been one of those days. Now that I ate (funny how not eating can ruin your day huh?:) and cleaned up the house, I'm feeling better. I can do the things that didn't happen today - run to the human resources office, to my old school to get my pension information - tomorrow and it won't be the end of the world. The love's home - g'night all!

2003-08-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

Big Plans: a running list

11:44 AM: I am taking the fact that I got up at a reasonable hour this AM as a sign that I will have to get sh*t done. Actually, maybe I will. :) After breakfast and my usual read all the ladies' blogs routine, I'm gonna make the bed and do the dishes, then call E to give him some paperwork info and get some from him for our new health insurance. No word on the car yet. Hmmph.

1:29 PM: So far so good. My mom called, they didn't get the house by my aunt's. A bummer - I could tell - but at least they have all their financial stuff in order now for when they find another one they like. Got all that paperwork sorted out and picked up the laundry from the laundry room in the other building. Now, a really ambitious stuck at home lady would put another load in, right? We'll see. First I'll tackle today's e-bay - two records without sleeves. Now that should be interesting to try to pack. Oh, and I need to package that pesto I made so it keeps in the freezer. Also want to put our vacation pics in the photo album for everyone's viewing pleasure.

3:00 PM: Well, the car apparently doesn't have a coolant leak. So either it decided to behave for the mechanic or we're delusional. They are good folks over there though - if it does still act up, I trust they will take another look at it - and they better not charge us. I put up our vacation pics, so check them out over on the sidebar there. As for now, I deserve a break, so I'm gonna watch a cooking show and eat lunch. Then I'll haul butt over to the car place and pick up my ride.

6 PM: So the car is back, and the car guy said just bring it back in if it is actually leaking - so that's cool. I have quick pickles (cuke slices from the garden steeping in onion slices, crushed garlic clove, salt n' pepper and vinegar) in the works, and E will have those with his falafel, pita, and the red pepper hummus I made last night. We'll see how it goes over. I'm feeling really down today - maybe it's just the weather. Hopefully when I stop by my new school tomorrow I can get some materials to start working on...it would make me less nervous and also give me something concrete to focus on - all this dribs and drabs stuff I putter around with all day isn't helping my mood any. I'd love to have a month of planning done before the kids show up. Hopefully that way I can always be one step ahead of the game.

2003-08-05T17:56:00.000-04:00

Woman Without Wheels

My car has a coolant leak, so I'm relatively homebound today and until the mechanic calls (You can easily get to the city via public transit - one of the reasons we live here, but good luck getting anywhere else like the food store or everyday errands).

I did get a bit done...I sent out two records for E and did some housework. I tried to tackle the paperwork I have to get in to the human resources office - I filled in everthing I could, I'll just have to throw myself at the mercy of the secretary for everything else. She said she wanted it this week - well, we'll see, I need my car to get there.

I made some fresh tomato and mozzarella salad for E tonight - I've been picking the tomatoes as soon as they are ripe because they have been cracking...too much rain, I think. My pumpkins are rotting and/or ripening instead of growing since it has been so humid and wet - maybe they will set more fruit once the sun comes out. I may just pick them and use them to cook with, Halloween be darned. The flowers are doing fabulously well, as are the radishes. But what the heck am I going to do with radishes?? I guess I will give them to my mom - ever since she went to Paris she's been very into fresh radishes and fancy-pants salt.

Speaking of, they are moving! Now, to understand how this is sort of rocking my world, you need to understand that I get my homebody gene - my desire to buy ten + acres and be buried there- from my folks. E's family are roamers - Tennessee, North Jersey, and now their house down the road. My family on the other hand have lived in this county for as long as anyone can remember. My parents bought their house a year before I was born, and my mom gave birth to me in a hospital not three blocks from there. I didn't ever move back home - once I went to college I was outta there, but it has always been my childhood home - and it has always been there.

That said, I think it will be empowering for them, since they are downscaling and will be making quite a bit from the sale of our old house- hopefully enough for my dad - a workaholic professional musician - to work a little less. They are also moving (maybe) a block away from my aunt - my mom's sister - who, while I don't always get along with her - will be a good support system for my mom, especially if we end up moving away.

2003-08-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

Travelogue, and Good to be back Home

Although, as E remarked as we walked in last night, "it's good to be home, but it would be nice if home was up there"...but all in time. Even though it was raining when we left, and is coming down furiously now, the skies cleared as soon as we got into town...an omen or what?

After a detour to Syracuse to pick up a 78 record player E bought on E-Bay we wound our way back to Ithaca, with a stop at a pretty state park - Pratt's Falls - where I found some neat fossils. We did go to Moosewood's for dinner, and then walked the Commons, checking out what had changed. My AS reared its ugly head, so I just sat and chilled on the patio while E had hominy stew with cornbread - the food was good, as it usually is, but my personal opinion? They skate by on their rep - and overcharge based on that reputation as well. I ended up managing to eat some pizza on the Commons later that night.

On Saturday, we breakfasted at where else, the Ithaca Farmer's Market (Oh my goodness - how could I have gone that long without a waffle from the Belgian Waffle/Chile Relleno Stand???), picked up a picnic lunch at Greenstar and Wegman's, and stopped to eat on our hike at Buttermilk Falls. After the long steep hike, I was ready to go downtown, but E wanted to take the dog swimming to cool off - this proved to be a major mistake!!! gross warning: skip to next paragraph if ya' want We took him to the falls to swim and there was an awful smell....while the pooch and E fetched, I stayed back a bit, and then spotted it: a dead deer or something in major state of decay... Things went into slow motion, as the pooch spotted is soon after and made a beeline. Before we could stop him, he rolled, and rolled, and rolled...... I ran out of there- I could not deal - and E made the dog swim in the swift current for another 20 minutes. He came out clean - and so did the maggots. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I cleaned him up a bit, stomach clenched, and then we did an emergency run to the new dog bathing place - thank god it was there! Now he smells better then he ever has, thanks to a groomer with infinite patence, but it was a bit trying on all of us, as you can imagine.

Following that lovely experience, we shopped on the Commons, and I found a great Guatamalan collar for the dog (whose old one was in the garbage because of "the incident".) - I am calling it a tribute to the pooch's Uncle Dave - E's best bud - who is working with G.A.P. and has been in a small Guatamalan village for the past six or seven months now. It was sidewalk sale weekend, and E and I saw a rhino soapstone carving that he has been eying since it came into Ten Thousand Villages (who now have a year round store - whoo-hooo!!!). It was 75% off, and since it was almost the end of the day the guy gave it to us for even less - fifty bucks. E's anniversry present from me now sits proudly on our "art shelf" - on top of the record cabinet. On our way out we were hassled by the cops - excuse me, but how can you have a new no dog rule on the Commons when the zoning allows for both a dog bakery and a dog groomer?? huh?

We went back to the hotel to recover some more, and had a food court meal since we were right next to the mall. Not much has changed in town in the past year and a half, but it was startling how many big box stores had opened. Not in new places (e.g, they aren't clearing new land to do it - which is good), but as new attachments to the mall, to the food store,etc.. I wonder, considering how much protest there was when we left, what has changed? That said, I certainly made use of the new Borders, reading the new issue of Mother Earth News while E poked around. We went to see Tomb Raider II to get our Angelina fix that night- it was satisfying. :)

Yesterday we had a yummy breakfast at Collegetown Bagels - mmmm, Ithaca Bakery croissant with Nutella, and then ckecked out of our room. We stopped at Taughannock and hiked for several hours - to save $ we parked at the top of the Falls and walked the whole rim trail, with a break at the bottom to splash on the flats - that's where I took the pic above.

I'm glad to be home, but can't wait to make a new home up there. It was interesting ot be up there with "new eyes" so to speak. I was checking out every property for sale, how may organic vendors were at the Farmer's Market, what they were charging, where different town limits were (for school district purposes). It would be very freeing geographically to homeschool, but I don't think I will be able to make that decision until the time comes to send my kids to school so I'm covering all my bases. For now, I need to take my now more centered energy, and get prepared to confidently go into this new job in a few weeks.

2003-07-31T21:54:00.000-04:00

On the road...

Ithaca Falls, where E proposed.

As of tomorrow morning. So far all of the reptiles have been fed and taken care of so they can stay alone for the long weekend...but packing is yet to be done. We will be in Ithaca - hooray! - for the next three days.

What to do first! E wants to eat at Moosewood tomorrow night, and I'd like to browse on the Commons for a bit. Walk the flats at Taughannock Falls and hike a long steep winding trail at Buttermilk Falls that we only did once in crummy weather. Hopefully we'll catch some outdoor concerts and things as well. I'll just be happy to chill and relax in my favorite place. :) All you have to do is look at some of the links and you'll see why my soul needs to be there.

We may go driving around looking at possible areas we'd like to live, but I'm afraid that will make me impatient, espeicially if we see for sale signs, so maybe we'll just do some quick drive throughs of different local towns since E isn't too familiar with the outlying areas where we will probably be looking when we get serious in a year or two.

2003-07-30T17:14:00.000-04:00

In My Dreams

I would have a closet washer and dryer. In reality I'm off to the laundry room - hopefully for the last time this week. Flylady may say do a load a day, but when there is a trek, quarters, stairs, and a heavy bottle of detergent - sorry.

I also took a un-needed nap - but I'm not gonna feel guilt about it now. Off I go. Sustenance is up - check it out - thanks Lisa!

2003-07-29T15:04:00.000-04:00

What would you do if you had a million dollars?

via cucalambe, via yunape

As all the books I've read thus far have reccommended and I dream of being able to do, I would pay off our debt first - the rest of our car loan, rest of my student loans, and E's law school. Then buy a sprawling farm with a great excentric old farmhouse with a wrap around porch and long dirt driveway where I could stay home and start raising animals (chickens!!!) and food and having babies someplace near our family and the city so E could finish school (becoming a public-interest lawyer is his dream, and no amount of money will change that).

Hmmm - I'd sell our cars and buy eco-lovin' hybrids, like mama's Prius, which is the coolest.

I'd also deck out two rooms in our house - a record/djing room (soundproofed please!) for E, with all sorts of cool record themed decorations. (I saw a decorating show where they melted records and drilled holes in the center to make lights - I'd do that) where he could play his music, categorize/alphebatize and spin to his heart's delight. I'd make myself a reptile room where I could also do my crafts - silly lady, but I dream of built in cabinetry with under tank heating where my lizards would all be healthy and happy and oh so nice looking and streamlined.

So there are my dreams that are somewhat finacially dependent, laid out for ya'

2003-07-28T15:28:00.000-04:00

A Big Ole' Post

The patio in the heat of summer...

I am hoping that between working on summing up all that's been running through this little head of mine and tackling this very, very, messy, messy house I'll get quite a bit done today. Gotta remember to take a break for the dr's appt. though... Ani and Dar are on. Here I go.

On Food:

It's been bad lately...or at least my relationship with food in general has been. I love to grow food for my family, love to cook morning, noon, and night.... already planning what veggies I need to pick up from the garden to make E fried rice with eggs tonight. I anxiously wait till he starts to eat, or till extended family digs into my contribution to a meal...will they like it? Revelling as they actually do. If there is one thing I do well, it is make good food.

And then in my brain I'm still trying to figure out a way to abandon it entirely. What about those meal replacement shakes - three of those a day would be enough calories to keep me going, wouldn't they? And then there wouldn't be the unexpected tastes or textures. Or the guilt when I avoid the unexpected in favor of the more unhealthy familiar, the carbs and milk that I've lived on for 20 plus years till I tried to tackle this beast and eat "normally" - whatever that is. Or the conundrum that folows- the food on my plate may be classified as "unhealthy" by the big men upstairs but if it's that or not eating at all - shouldn't I? And why do I feel guilty?

And this - the very food that I drag myself to the table to eat - makes my curves rounder then I would like. Makes me self-consious in front of all those who would criticize me - and at times even those I know would never think too. It tortures me at the table and then later in the mirror. How is this fair?

Gardening:

On the community garden plot front, everything (hoping my mom remembered to close the gate last time she was there) is fab. I'll go over tonight - get some snow peas and scallions for dinner, pick the sunflowers and glads that have opened up, trim the batchelor buttons and zinnias so they keep producing. I had grand plans of dropping off baskets of produce and flowers to our friends and relatives with our garden taking off here this year, but I didn't count on - I don't know - I suppose it is a mindset. If I drop off veggies to someone, they say thanks - but they wonder why I dropped off that stuff - do they need to pay me back somehow, and all that. Not something I encountered in Ithaca.

Gardening in the sun-beaten wind tunnel that is my patio this year (why didn't I notice this last year? Were the plants shorter and more stocky? Was the wind not as strong?) is proving difficult. I better go fix the damage incurred while we were gone this weekend - wilted basil, peppers falling over, toppled eggplants, along with the windowbox they were in, arg. update: Well, weighted down with lots of rocks, "Soilmoist" (certainly not organic, but better then having everything die out there) to prevent another major vacation induced drought, and lotsa water, we'll see how everything recovers.

In a reminiscing mood, I took a new "after" pic of the community garden plot - here is the before pic as well - amazing what a few months of sunshine can do. I can't WAIT to harvest our first corn. Corn - I feel like such a down and dirty hard-core farmer!

Before - early May:

Last week, sun shining and everything growing as fast as lightning!:

2003-07-24T18:09:00.000-04:00

So now what?

Well, I'm a bit adrift now that I can live my life without the job search hanging over my head but so far today I've kept myself busy...

Sleeping in (mmmmm) and then up when Eve called and came by to pick me up
FTCM at the diner (second time in two days but am I going to complain? - no way!)
prescription sunglasses for her
dropped off her article in "Cure" to be matted up and framed
Spun by Borders to pick up a copy of "What No One Tells the Bride" for my cousin's shower
Grocery shopping - and Eve picked up the bill as a new job present- yay! What a fun present - so many things I haven't let us buy 'cuz of the budget crunch - vanilla beans (currently simmering in cream and sugar for some homemade ice cream), E's fave yogurt, and lots more yummy things stashed away for future reference
Once she dropped me off at the apt. I was off with the pooch to pick up the car in town- it needed a new battery, but the $ damage wasn't atrocious.
We stopped by the local pet store - I am so glad we discovered reptile shows and the local feed store - the prices are crazy in that place (but of course I still stop by at least once a week to poke around and see what they have - can't resist) and now the pooch is dog tired.

Better go tend to the ice cream, and maybe I'll get up the energy to do some laundry - we'll see.

2003-07-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

I got a new job!!!

And really, need I say more? :)

2003-07-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

Lizard Freak

Who knew? :) When I bought our first leopard gecko, she was a gift for my brother - that was only three years ago. When I interned at the Bronx Zoo, I worked in the mammal department- never even thought of working with the reptiles- who would want to do that?! Ha!

Well, my little brother couldn't handle the gecko, so I took her back and brought her to my classroom. Then came tree frogs - a friend at the local pet store recommended that I start a tank in my classroom. We moved back here with gecko and tree frogs in tow and then .... we went to our first reptile show. I bought my leo a mate and E bought a Jackson's chameleon. Soon after, I was given a snake for the classroom, and then soon bought another leo, a future female breeder. In the meantime, E rescued a Veiled Chameleon, the always amenable - yeah right- rescued guy who lives in our bedroom. The zoo continued to grow - a male bearded dragon donated by Chris, and then of course I had to adopt a baby to someday mate with him, a little three legged plucky girl. Then our classroom breeding project produced a baby leo. Although my first gecko passed on recently, I'd say we were full to the gills. Oh, but then the gecko bug struck again, and I came home yesterday with the most wonderful pair of African Fat Tail Geckos - a male/female pair. The big boy is in the picture above. I never thought keeping and breeding reptiles, and reptile food (superworms, mealworms, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, mice, oh my)! could be such an all consuming past-time and one of my favorite hobbies. How a year and a half can change things (and add ten animals to our household and classroom).

p.s. This show rocks. Watch it!

2003-07-21T11:50:00.000-04:00

Logistics

Today will be tricky... feeling like yuck! and a lot I wanted to get done. I feel like I spend my whole day cleaning lately - the minute I finish one job another one rears its ugly head. Maybe if I made shorter lists, or let myself off of the never-ending guilt train, who knows.

I do know that I haven't looked at my HTML book in ages, although I have been picking up bits and pieces from friends, and my Spanish book is languishing away on the bookshelf. I've learned the tricks of the e-bay trade, and have worked on my new projects page in preparation for sustenance.org, but some days I get so down on myself for not getting - I don't know - more done, somehow. I know this is all tied up with how much emotional and mental energy I'm devoting to worrying and carrying out my job search. I am hoping once I get this high school job solidified - tomorrow is the next step - my creative energies will be freed up to tackle some fun things I have been planning all summer. Here's hoping August will bring changes for the better.

Today:

~~I'm going to take some more medicine now (Tylenol for Women thank you!)~~
~~breakfast (better late then never) while I watch "An Adoption Story" - one of my fave new shows since I'm home during the day as of late~~
~~call doctor - she is a pain in the butt to get to call the pharmacy about prescriptions and I need a refill so I want to be able to call her a bunch of times.~~ We'll see if they come through - the secretary sounded much more helpful then they have been in the past. I'll call the pharmacy before the dr.'s office closes. 4:30?
~~mail e-bay records for E~~ Shipping was a bit more then expected - arg - note to self - make sure both E and I check shipping before we send out an invoice.
clean up the mess that is the bedroom
~~Dishes - one load out, one load in.~~
~~Bring clothes to Salvation Army or thrift store~~
Remember my 4:00 doctor's appointment!
Get up the guts to call health insurance and figure out what is going on with my claim. Aaaargh - I am not paying 300+ dolars when they had told me I only had a 5 dollar co-pay.

Update y'all later!

2003-07-20T00:29:00.000-04:00

Woman's Best Friend

My dog rocks. We are dog sitting our friend's new pooch, and while she is quite the beauty, and will be a wonderfully behaved pup once she is trained, I am really appreciating that the pooch - my pooch - rocks. I know I was lucky to get a pup with this much potential and such a good temperment, but I'm also glad in retrospect that I put so much time in with the obedience and socializing and all that.

He guards the house well, but isn't nasty or growly at random passerby while we're out.
I will trust him 100% with our kids
He is a big, goofy love of a dog
I love how athletic he is and how we can swim with him, hike, and all of that.

Yay dogs.

2003-07-17T17:26:00.000-04:00

Shannon's Back In Town

Sans pooch, but my mom gave a very convincing argument on his behalf, on how much he was luving being at their lakehouse, and how could I make him come home early just 'cuz I was?! Oh well. He'll be back on Saturday and the vet gave us a big speech recently about how much weight he's put on this past year.

I got home late last night, slept in (mmmm - I LOVE my wondeful, big, comfy bed), and after a doctor's appointment slogged through both the e-mail and dishes that had accumulated while I was away. Now I'm going through the fridge, trying to use up the food we have instead of buying too much at the grocery store today (the summer financial crunch, having looked at our bills and our checkbook, is starting to rear its ugly head but we'll manage as we always do - there are more important things in this world then money).

You may be wondering about my more relaxed attitude. :) Well, it was more the good news about employment then the lakehouse (even though mom, dad, and brother were remarkably well behaved for the three days I spent with them) that did it. I may (drumroll please) have the high school job I interviewed for last week before I left!!! There are two more interviews to go through though before I see a contract and I don't know if they are simply formalites or not - so we'll see. I'm praying that this comes through though!

Garden wise, I am going to drag E out to weed (kicking and screaming if I have to :) and to plant a new batch of onions and sunflower seeds, as well as thinning out the radishes. We don't really eat them around here, but better a food crop then weeds - we can dole them out to relatives. Harvest wise, I have been pulling in cut flowers, cukes, lettuce, cilantro, basil, and snow peas every few days. What a wonderful feeling when the harvest starts! Pics to follow - hugs to all of ya'll! Update: Well, we have a LOT of weeding still to do, but we did dig up quite a pile of 'em. I picked a pile of snowpeas, which will turn into a stir-fry tomorrow, basil destined to be freezer pesto, a bee-you-tee-full gladiola, seen above, more batchelor buttons, some red lettuce, and scallions. My goal: to only buy fruit for the next month or two as the crop steadily comes in, using only our own veggies.. I think it's do-able.

2003-07-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

Outta Here...for better or worse...see you in a few.

I am going to spend some "quality family time" on the Cape while E holds down the fort. Please, send me strong vibes to keep my backbone and self-esteem amid my crazy extended family.

I will be updating about the fabulous bounty in the garden when I come home - see my batchelor buttons?

2003-07-13T00:54:00.000-04:00

The Strange and Unusual Lightness of Being ... Me.

I just finished reading "What No one Tells the Bride" by Marg Stark, and one of her main points was the importance of having outside interests - each partner having an active life outside the marriage... I got down on myself at this point, being such a homebody, but I've been thinking. Isn't this a life outside of marriage? I certainly keep myself busy, entertained, and in other ways interesting.

Case in Point: So it's almost 1 AM, and apparently the night-time basketball in the church parking lot league :) that E and friends have been into lately is a hit - so here I am chilling out, content, and alone. So what if I'm not out with three or four "girl-friends"? - I haven't had anything resembling that since my late college years before my female friendships IRL fell apart. I have found a warm and welcoming community of women here in blogland as well as slowwwwwly building my HTML skills, which I would have never done without y'all. I blog away, as E calls it, finding kindred spirits and getting to know them all the time, and in the meantime have also finished my latest book from the library (see above), comtemplated my existence (currently) and fed my geckos.

Perhaps someday, when I enter my mama phase, or we move to a place where there are more people that share my passions and personality, I will find a new IRL community of women... I am, however, perfectly content tonight. And I thoroughly enjoy being able to say that. :) Hugs everyone.

2003-07-12T14:09:00.000-04:00

Waiting for the Man

OK so the entire family flipped last night after not hearing back from the woman I interviewed with. Reasons this might not be the end of the worldL

She sounded pretty confident that she could call me yesterday, but in my enthusiasm I could have taken that for a promise
Given our rapport I hope that she will call me either way.
Besides just switching jobs she was also interviewing people all day and got an urgent type telephone call about another thing she had to get done by the end of the day -so maybe she just forgot.
Given that this is not the number one issue on her mind (even though it is all I'm thinking about), it is possible that she simply forgot or didn't have enough time.

I will know more on Monday, here's hoping, and here's hoping it is good news. I am ready to be settled.

In other news:

If I can get my island time husband out the door and to my cousin's graduation party on time (a completely foreign concept to him, apparently) then we will be partying (well, sitting around with relatives), getting a haircut for E, feeding the lizards, and getting Tim a present before all this starts. Oie.

2003-07-11T15:54:00.000-04:00

I'm Freakin' Out, Just So You Know

So, interview lady has not called yet. Did she say 2:30? - or maybe that's when she was interviewing the other candidate....I DON'T KNOW. I am completely unraveled in the waiting and trying to get through to E so he can check his messsages in case she left a message on his cell (maybe?) I know that she may not even call today - she said she'd try, but she just started this new position and she's moving offices and all that so I can't totally flip. Urp!!!

2003-07-11T14:34:00.000-04:00

Three for Thursday

A more personal post to follow, promise - I'm just so nervous about hearing back about this job!!!!! (BTW, E "won" his case - e.g. they got an extension from the judge, which they wanted - good job love!)

PETS

1. Have you ever had pets? If so, name 3 (names and/or types) that you’ve had. (Pet rocks do not count).

Right now, we have +10 "pets"...

The pooch - my 3 yr. old, golden retriever, loyal companion
An always-angry-about something Veiled Chameleon
A rather sweet Jackson's Chameleon
Three leopard geckos - a breeding female, our "stud" :), and our first baby I hatched this year.
A baby female bearded dragon
A grown up boy bearded dragon (at Eve's for the summer)
A Florida Kingsnake
A White's Tree Frog
All the "food" - not pets - mice, mealworms, superworms, and hissing cockroaches. We really believe in the food chain around here.

2. What are 3 things you love or hate about pets?

I love how safe my big dog makes me feel - safe to live alone, when I did, now safe to walk out and about at night by my lonesome.
I have great fun breeding my geckos, which I would never do with "traditional" companion animals because of the vast overpopulation problem.
Puttering- lots of that when you have the collection we do.

3. What are 3 types of pets that you’d never have?

Mmmm - that's a hard one. I don't know if I could ever consider the class snake a "pet" - I am just not that big of a fan, but I do clean, feed, and take care of her. I don't agree with keeping primates and other undomesticated exotic mammals- e.g. prairie dogs, fennec foxes, squirrel monkeys, although I have known people who have kept all of these species.

BONUS: If your pet had to have expensive surgery or lifetime shots (like insulin for a diabetic animal) would you put your pet through it, or make the hard decision to put them to sleep?

The frugal animal scientist in me says I wouldn't, but if it were the pooch and we could in any way swing it, I would. I don't make the same financial sacrifices for our reptiles - we consider them more of a hobby and a collection then as individual pets, although I have occasionally brought one of them to the vet. Some other animal loving mamas have written that this devotion (aka to the pooch) will change once we have kids. We'll see.

One big change once mama days come will be our reptile collection - since salmonella is a real risk both in preganancy and to young children, either we will have a separate space for these pets with E caring for them or find new homes for them.

2003-07-10T15:43:00.000-04:00

Dog Days

The pooch is back from the vet - all up to date on his vaccines, and now high tech with his new microchip id. He's gone from 75 to 91 pounds in a year - yikes! We will definintly be taking him for more walks...this year we've gotten into a bad routine of take the dog out to the back and come back inside. Not good for any of our exercise routines. He could also have a thyroid problem, so we'll see if his weight continues to go up.

Had some mail errands to do today. :) Didn't do much else. I will call the insurance company - I am so phobic of anything medical insurance related. Grrrr. update So I called - why do I build up all this stress and tension for days about a 3 or 4 minute phone call? I'm starting to realize maybe this horrible week is me projecting my stress about my job interview tomorrow all over the darn place. I'll let y'all know how it goes. I could really use this job.

Breakfast, considering it's almost 4, would probably be a good idea. We (the pooch and myself) are not taking very good care of ourselves. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow and cheer this family up. E has his first "real" trial tomorrow. I'm off to get bee-ou-tee-full at the nail place - at least get a pedicure (mmmm) so I can wear sandals tomorrow to my job interview. Wish us all the best!

2003-07-09T17:30:00.000-04:00

What's On your living room wall Right Now?

Lots - I hate the walls in our little place - shiny white "textured" concrete.

Next to me, a shadowbox I made, painted black, with varnished shells I picked up from the beach on our honeymoon. I luv it.
Our pots and pans - hey, we only have 400 square feet to live in- we have a metal frame against the wall, and I hang our pots and pans there from S hooks.
My undergrad degree in animal science that my folks framed for me.
A framed poster of
"The First Kiss" print - a giraffe and her newborn. (I used to be a zookeeper and worked in the giraffe house)
An old tin sign advertising "Ithaca Guns" - we are not gun people, but the abandoned gun factory was just across from where I lived for many years, and the waterfall that starts there marks where E proposed.

2003-07-09T14:05:00.000-04:00

Just Thought You'd Like To Know

Since some of the great women I've "met" through blogging have linked here, I thought I'd give y'all some info that might not be so obvious...

I've been an ovo-lacto-vegetarian since I was a toddler. I have no memories of eating fish, meat, or fowl. E has been a vegetarian since college. We will raise our kidlets as vegetarians as well.
Tats: I plan on getting my childrens' names tattooed on my back - Milkmonkey reinforced this, with her beautiful Tallulah tat - although I am tatoo-less for the time being. E has a large back-piece of an ancient Chinese painting from the Met Museum of Art - a scholar's rock in grayscale - he credits this with getting me to jump his bones. (We knew each other since high school and got together a few weeks after his entire piece was finished)
Lurve and Marriage: E and I were married last August - we are going to Ithaca, NY where we were engaged for our anniversery in a few weeks.
The man: I teach, although I am in the midst of a maddening, super stressfull job search which will hopefully renew our helath benefits as of Sept. 1 when my old ones cease to exist. E is a law student - specializing in non-profit /public interest law, immigration and international adoption mostly.
I am an animal scientist and we have a small zoo, many which I keep in my classroom when I have one. Only one mammal - the pooch - not counting the snake food, and lots of reptiles.
I am an artist of sorts, and "retired" poetess - I draw, paint, quilt-sew, bake, and work with polymer clay when in the mood. My last project were "Hawaiinizing" our coffee table and making homemade Thank You notes.
'Puter - we are loyal Mac folks. I am learning HTML, bit by bit.
We are a Irish-Polish/Puerto Rican-Carribean (via Trinidad and Tobago) little happy family
I garden - a lot. We hope to buy at least five acres and rasie organic veggies, eggs, & dairy. Maybe a CSA farm

In other news:

I was doubled over with a migraine all this morning so now am feeling like I am behind and am frustrated. Like I need anything else to stress about. I am going to tackle this short list and consider myself accomplished.

~~Return movie to Blockbuster - Igby Goes Down - it was ok, E liked it more then I did.~~
~~Empty our dishwasher and load it up~~
~~Scrapbook Cape Cod pictures~~
~~Call insurance and see if the doctor I want to go to is covered.~~
~~Mail my resume and cover letter to county animal shelter.~~

2003-07-08T01:36:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm Up

I hate being on a different schedule then E...we had a crazy long weekend, and I got a chance to rest up this AM while he went to work. Now he needs sleep and it ain't happening with me, so I'm out here on the 'puter and blogging about it.

In other news:

I am going to do everything in my power to get the job I scheduled an interview for today - it sounds great, good salary, and the woman was very specific that she thought I would be a really good fit for the position -that's good, right? (I can't afford to get my hopes totally set though so the other apps still go out daily.) At this point, everything in my power will be finding my Environmental Science Unit Binder (not here so it must be in storage in E's folks basement) and dropping it off with her secretary so she can peruse it and be oh so impressed by our Friday interview. Can we all say it together...? I AM TIRED OF LOOKING FOR WORK.
My first reptile, Rosie, a leopard gecko, who I bought three years or so ago for my classroom, passed on yesterday. Bummer, but she had retained an egg and had some major organ damage going on (I suspect) and she's not suffering anymore. So what to do with an empty niche for another herp? I'm gonna get me one of these...

For those not as obsessed with the scalies as I am, that's an African Fat Tail Gecko, a close relative to the ones we already keep and breed, but I love their dark brown eyes and gentle personalites. I think there is a reptile show somewhere in these parts next month.
Now how to get to sleep? Cinnamon toast and read some blogs, along with a dose of "Simply Sleep" - for E, if nothing else. All my rambling around is going to wake him up eventually.

2003-07-06T15:37:00.000-04:00

Where to Begin

It has been a busy few days... We took the pooch on a big city adventure yesterday, and used First Run at Tompkin's Square Park for the first time, although we've watched all the dogs and owners many times when E lived on Avenue C. The pooch had a fab time, although he was a bit freaked about the Holland Tunnel and his first elevator ride. After a long, lazy day in the dog park, we dropped the pooch off at the apartment and stopped off at Crif Dog where E got his fave - deep fried veggie dog with avocado and cream cheese.

Here is a friend hanging out at First Run.

When we came home, we watched our movies (3 for $10 - July 4th special - whoo hoo), "About Schmidt" - good, but advertised as a comedy and light, which it definitly was not, and "Punch Drunk Love" - an excellent film, and Adam Sandler's portrait of someone with a social disability (e.g. Aspergers) was really dead on. (I always think of Emily Watson or what's her name as the "Red Dragon Girl" though) It's an intense movie - but definitly a must see.

This AM the adventure continued, with a trip to Englishtown Auction...we only were there till 1 but in that heat and dust, the long aisles seemed endless after an hour or two. We went with J and Miranda, and the guys picked up lotsa' records, Miranda snagged a "Hello Kitty" wall clock and some ho-hum house cleaning/kitchen supplies as did I, along with a rather fetching little crocheted red skullcap.

The plan was for everyone to continue on to the racetrack since E has never been. I was feeling too hot for words so ended up here chillin with the pooch and M went to see her mom down the road, so it's a guys afternoon out. Have fun, gentlemen - don't make too many bets please!

2003-07-04T15:12:00.000-04:00

Success

I've been reading through this definition of success quite a bit lately, in the midst of this job/health insurance craziness. There are more important things.

“To laugh often and much; to
win the respect of intelligent
people and the affection of
children; to earn the appreciation
of honest critics and endure the
betrayal of false friends; to
appreciate beauty; to find the best
in others; to leave the world a bit
better whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed
social condition; to know even
one life has breathed easier
because you have lived. This is to
have succeeded.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

2003-07-04T00:56:00.000-04:00

OK - I may have gone overboard trying to make this pic small....I'll try to re-post it... :) Either way, you like the hair?

2003-07-03T11:00:00.000-04:00

On Today's Menu

A bunch of folks are coming over to watch the fireworks from our roof tonight, and I need to get in the kitchen. E was also buggin' me to get my hair cut - change the hair, maybe change my luck in the job search? - but I have yet to call the salon - we'll see if anyone has time to do it.

On the menu tonight:

Mini-Pizzas with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden
Spring rolls with cabbage, pepper, carrot, and garlic - too much cabbage, not enough other veggies, luckily my audience didn't mind. :)
Chips and Guacomole, Salsa
Maybe popcorn if we need more food - we did need it :)
Rice Pudding Empanadas for dessert... -these were a hit - once I fried them I sprinkled them LIBERALLY with cinnamon sugar, and them drizzled them with a simple sugar butter, milk, confectionary sugar icing to make them super fab. What else could you fill desert empanadas with? Hmmmm.

Once I cook, I have to hope the skies clear, although if they have the fireworks tomorrow, most of the food will keep just fine. OK, I'm off - maybe back with a new hair cut?

2003-07-01T21:59:00.000-04:00

Another Day, Another Interview

And then, for whatever reason, I totally crashed. I suppose (you think? :) that I'm just internalizing all of this job search stress and it's banging around on my insides even when I don't realize it. The high school hasn't called yet, and I'm getting worried, but since I had an interview today I'm trying not to get into super stress mode.

I may go swimming with Eve tomorrow- yesterday was nice at the condo pool. (Not our condo, we're not that fancy-pants.) Tomorrow is my first day in a while without job scheduled stuff, so I'm going to the dry cleaners, weed the sunflowers and water what needs it (I try not to water very often so that the roots will actually compensate, considering I can't get there every day), and scrapbook. I got my pics from I-Photo, so I can actually scrap Easter and my Dad's birthday, plus a bunch of old memories that I thought were worth keeping.

Thymewise is writing about a communal living situation she was in once upon a time with a crazy lady - too common, I think. :) I saved a few memories from a similar period in my life but tossed a lot of them. My living situation now is so much more healthy and positive, even at its worst, then our little house on Lake Street was at its best many days. I lived with five other women in an old Victorian with a wrap around portch, two of whom I considered my best friends at the time. Considering that I have never had many close female relationships, this was a very big deal. Two years later, not only had they moved into an apartment together, only telling me long distance once they had signed the lease and left me with three empty spots in my house, that I was responsible for, but a few months later I learned they had also stolen my ID and were using gas and electric at their new house, compliments of moi. Shitty, huh?

I stayed there, bringing in a varied assortment of housemates that covered the entire spectrum of the good, bad, and the ugly... no kindred spirits unfortunatly. Why did I stay? My bedroom... Aaaaaahhh... I loved that room. Round and huge, perched at the top of the house and surrounded with windows. It was the ultimate sunny, airy nest. When we build/renovate/buy a house, I want a room just like that.... Also, I can not say enough about my love for wrap-around porches - sitting outside, watching the world go by, chatting with neighbors, dogs yawning in the sun on the steps.

Also, I had my farm stand. I saved all of the notes I got over the years. I grew veggies, flowers, and baked every AM. It was a strictly on an honor system basis - e.g. take what you want, leave what you can. This concept worked well in a hippie university town ... I don't think it would fly here. I received wonderful notes and cards in the donation box - from little I.O.U's to neat little cards people would make asking for a recipe or asking me to make their favorite muffin, etc. that week. I miss my farm stand - can't wait to have another one. I e-mailed a woman about the local (puny, but still..) farmer's market, so maybe I'll be making a comeback this summer.

2003-06-30T23:28:00.000-04:00

Whoo Hoo

E-mail link is working. Comments are working - and threaded. Archives - da dum - are working. The blogger in me is happy.

The patient in me IS NOT. Dr. Neurology man totally wrote me off today, and obviously has nearly no Asperger's experience; especially with women. Among his best quotes, I am a "bookworm" who "just needs better social skills". My nearly-normal social skills are the main reason he wouldn't say I had the syndrome in the first place. When it comes to AS, my sensitivites and low threshhold for stimuli/change is the problem - otherwise I think I cope damn well. Aaaargh. I'm going to research more doctors tomorrow.

Also have another interview which EVERYONE seems to want to go with me too, but I'm going alone on this one. Wish me luck! :)

2003-06-29T22:23:00.000-04:00

Worn Out Just Thinking About It

but actually jazzed to be getting so much done tomorrow. I have an appt. with a neurologist who (supposedly) will be able to diagnose my Asperger's in the AM, and then have my ob/gyn annual in the afternoon. I'm heading out with Eve, who will hopefully be able to help me find both offices.

My mom is on a guilt trip craze - her birthday was last week and she still hasn't opened her presents because (heavy sigh)"no-one's been around to celebrate". Ahem. I asked her if she wanted to go out the day before and she had told me she was going to be too busy with her high school's graduation. I will not get involved. I will not get involved. I will not...

I am also supposd to find out about the high school job - my fingers are crossed. Since I don't even know what the deal is with salary and benefits it's all quite a mystery. I also have another interview Tuesday and a job app to go out to another local high school this week. There is hope yet.

2003-06-29T01:18:00.000-04:00

Here are E and K, out with our respective pooches. We all had a great day. :) E's day is still going strong, as he is at another college graduation party. G'night, all.

BTW, I am liking "Area" which I found channel-surfing this eve. Neat ideas, and a not so irritating host or design concepts.

2003-06-28T13:13:00.000-04:00

Saturday... + Sun?!

This is the first sunny weekend we have had in weeks, amd the mood of the whole fam-damly is much improved. K and B are coming over in a few hours - they will be bringing Sahia and we'll go hiking/to the dog park. E has a graduation party this evening, but he'll be in attendence with us for a few hours.

We did get a bit of weeding and watering done at the garden last night, before going to see Charlie's Angels(yes, it was a very good time, butts, silly stunts, and skin tight clothing included :) The squash look much better from the past few days of sun, and the peppers have come back to life - the eggplant may have lost the fight. The lettuce, cosmos, and carrots are doing well, and I'll be able to cut a few Batchelor Button's in a few days - first homegrown flowers of the season, always a great day!

I still have to weed the sunflowers, but that will have to wait till after the festivites (maybe tomorrow evening)

2003-06-27T13:59:00.000-04:00

A Good Day

So far... lounging around with the dog, and lo and behold, another interview found me. It's at a middle school quite a bit away and if offered the high school position, I think I will take that, but it is nice to have another interview on the horizon just in case.

The garden deperatly needs weeding in the two beds I have ignored thus far (tomatoes and sunflowers) The plan was to go this AM, but that will have to wait till this PM to beat the heat. My patio compost seeded tomatoes are growing great guns, but since I have no idea what variety they are, here's hoping they produce fruit.

Some ideas for making today a bit more productive:

~~Go to library and drop off "Ghandi", pay overdue fines~~
Call up borough hall and find out details about selling at Farmer's Market
Fill out Petsmart app and drop off - yay - browsing at Barnes and Nobles.
~~Get a bag of topsoil and transplant the rest of the renegade tomatoes~~
Pick up some of those water-saver granules for the plants in Ramses cage and fix up his plants if he's not on that side of the cage. (Ramses can be a VERY nasty chameleon)
~~Order prints off of I-Photo to scrapbook.~~

Once all of this job stuff is settled (I'm feeling a little more confident that it will be soon...) I'd like to spend time on my HTML book and learning more Spanish - my plan is to go through the college spanish book I had one summer first and brush up on that - E and I both agree that being a bilingual household would be a great asset, careerwise and for our kids, but his Spanish is limited to what he picked up growing up in a PR household, and mine is limited to one summer in college. How I wish E had been raised to speak Spanish - but no crying over spilt milk now. I'm envisioning having our entire house labeled in the near future. :) I'm thinking happy thoughts today - Christy has baby on the way, and Milk just had Matilda. Hello new human beans!

2003-06-26T20:14:00.000-04:00

I hereby, for better or for worse, put my trust in...the new Blogger

I am so hoping that this version has some kinks worked out. Wonderful news over at Rural Dreams, and best birthday wishes and all sorts of other hugs are in order.

We are chilling out tonight - I was with Eve and friends most of the day after my BIG interview. I so hope I get this job...when I got the call yesterday if I was so relieved that they were calling me in for a second interview. I have been so unhappy and stressed out about my unsettled situation. E. is watching Ghandi after reading his autobiography, and here I am, as always, blogging away.

When I give my self time to sit back and think about what I'm really worried about, it comes down to healthcare and health insurance- for me and Eliezer and any children that we might be blessed with in the future. Many of our friends work, as many twenty-somethings do I'm sure, without health benefits, but I was talking to M last night and her incidental costs, especially for such a healthy athletic person (she's a dance teacher), are huge. I'm not ready to take that risk. Makes me want to move to a country with socialized medicine very badly.

We certainly don't need much money, but if one of us were to have some sort of accident, catatrophic illness, or even just have to cover the costs of a plain-jane pregnancy/hospital delivery ourselves, we could put ourselves deep enough into debt to severly hamper our plans for the future. Aaargh. Here's hoping for that job and the security/peace of mind it will bring until E graduates from law school.

2003-06-23T13:28:00.000-04:00

First Day of Freedom - Wahoo!

I celebrated by...sleeping in. I do have big plans to wake up with E every morning so I can get things done before it gets too hot and have breakfast together, but that will have to start once I shake this cold. I am feeling a bit better today, so that's good. I need to edit my template so it has a warning about how everyhitng over here in blogland is going CRAZY. Meanwhile, for anyone passing by, thanks for putting up with all the blogger garbage. I was checking out Movable Type today - don't know if I can handle that, but the Typepad thing they are going to start sounds alluring. I hate to pay for webspace when we already pay for .Mac but until I get more web-savvy/HTML-savvy, that might be my only option other then sticking with blogger.

Today will be all about:

Get in the Jeep and drive to post office to pay bills/buy stamps, drop off cookies at mom's for her latest "help those in need who also have kids in her class" project. (before she gets home so I don't have to deal - sneaky, I know, oh well).
~~WEED the garden...maybe this will have to wait till it gets cooler out tonight...I'd rather wear bug repellent then get a sunburn.~~ but still more to be weeded and planted - be back there tomorrow as well.
~~Pick up referral for neurologist (Asperger Stuff) either today or tomorrow.~~
~~Stake tomatoes on the patio~~
Feed the liz crew at E's folks house.
~~Stop by Aunt N's at 5 to pick up keys for dog-sitting.~~
Tackle HTML book some more tonight...I'm in the middle of the links chapter.

We'll see how much of that happens. Here's wishing Blogger gets its act together...

Tuesday, June 24: Another Nice Day - What A Blessing!

I'm going to write my posts this way for now, so I don't need to chance losing them to the shut down archives. That way I can play around with this template and sidebar to my heart's content - hopefully. :) I need to finish that to-do list from yesterday. The garden will definitly wait till this evening - once E covered me in Bug n' Sun, I was fine out there - and cool!

Maybe I can dig up some more job opportunities - at least that PetSmart one should get finished.

Well, the arrangements are in. We will be off for a weekend in Ithaca in late July - me for teacher reunion conferencing, and then long. lazy hikes, outdoor concerts, etc. with E and the pooch. I can't wait.

Wednesday, June 25th: Big Dreams - Might As Well Write Them Down

I couldn't sleep last night - so many ideas whirling around in my brain. In the light of day so many of those ambitions just seem downright - scary - to pursue. Recorded here for posterity, at least I won't forget them.

Get myself to all the local shelters - explain that I want to get in on the ground level if that's what it takes, and fill out applications.
Emphasize that I am looking for a full time position that will eventually lead to benefits.
Compile a list of all the shelters in the area.
The most likely position would be a vet tech where I would be getting the salary I need and hopefully benefits, so I need to call Rutgers AnSci program and ask someone there what extra classes I would need to take to get my vet tech license.
Get my application to PetSmart! - I need to start somewhere.

2003-06-22T23:08:00.000-04:00

The Sites We Sometimes See...

Oh my goodness. Pink, this is frickin' amazing.

2003-06-22T20:34:00.000-04:00

Hmmppphhh!

Maybe this summer I will start my blog again somewhere else - this is ridiculous! Part of it is my own ineptness with this stuff, but this darn server isn't helping! I write something and then bye bye, it disappears when I write something new into the archives that aren't working. This is probably due to the switch-over thing I know, but it's still frustrating. Also can't get my pictures to a reasonable size - either HUGE or thumbnails... I dream of a multi-faceted, ever-changing, always (or almost always) working blog, like Lisa B-K's or Pink Prickly Pear's. Ladies, you rock my blog world.

Sorry, all, just computer frustrated tonight.

In other news, we got a bunch done, since the rain let up for a few hours... birthday prez for my mom, trip to the feed store for dog chow and flea repellant, whiling away an hour in Barnes and Noble while E got a hair-cut across the street. Then trucked the furniture we took out of our living space over to my mom's - she's really upset, but didn't say why. Sigh. As usual. I am baking oatmeal raisin cookies tonight for E and for a family my mom is helping out at school. I pickled up a app. at PetSmart - they are looking for Dog Obedience Instructors. Maybe...

2003-06-21T23:28:00.000-04:00

New Start? Or just a new living room? :)

E and I are both hoping it will be a symbolic new start. We were crazy redecorators today, pushing and pulling our furniture and animals all over our 400 square feet of living space. (Well, we left the bedroom alone for now...) The idea was to divide our space into a living space and a kitchen/cooking space. So what do you think?

2003-06-21T01:39:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I Know - Things I'm Working On

My archives are still dead last time I checked. I may just have to put new code in from another template - or something of the sort. Believe me, dear reader, I am just as frustrated as y'all.

E has been endlessly entertained by this webbie award winning site. Just go. Poke around. Laugh.

2003-06-21T01:08:00.000-04:00

OK, OK, Let's All Calm Down

At least that's what I have been trying to do. Amazing the side effects of being a crumpled up little ball of despair... the geckos, I realized, haven't been fed in days, and my yahoo inbox was completely full, with warnings all over the place.

Today was my last day at work, and I cleared out by one o'clock. A good feeling. I got a bigger last paycheck then I thought I would, which is nicely cushioning both my fear and our savings account at the moment.

Everyone has been wining and dining me in a whirlwind of activity during my deep-down funk, which has been good for getting me out of the house - much less the bed - but sort of fried my Asperger's social activity-soaked brain. We'll have a quiet weekend.

Wednesday: Eve came over, E came home, consolation abounded, then dinner. Dad also came over to be fed and watch the Yanks with E.
Thursday: I put a few things in E's folks basement, had lunch with Eve, took an ENORMOUS nap (sorely needed), and then went to see a play, "The Adjustment", here. I thought it was quite funny, E thought it was a bit too romantic. Oooh la la.
Friday: Is it already Saturday? - sheesh, we need to get to bed. We went out to the library to return our goods -they were closed :( , then stopped by Barnes and Nobles to browse and possibly spend my gift cert. We, being out of the loop, didn't know it was Harry Potter mania night. It has made things interesting. After marveling at all the hoopla, we met J and Miranda at the Inkwell for coffee, and then followed them back to Barnes and Noble at midnight so they could pick up their books. We spent some more time people watching, and I found a book to record some real basic family history type stuff on the bargain rack and purchased it before the onslaught of Potter-book-buying. Now we're home.

2003-06-17T23:07:00.000-04:00

Mmmmm

We roasted marshmallows over the grill tonight - someone was grilling chicken out on the patio and when we came home the coals were still hot. How summertime. With all the palms from my classroom and the widowboxes filled up, the little side patio that we (officially) share with the rest of the condo is looking very chaotic, but I like that - it reminds me of the Puerto Rican community garden by E's old apartment in NYC.

I'm proud of what I've done out there, there was the patio full of discarded trash and nothing else when we moved in. Now I've totally converted the pathway into a side garden with perennials liberated from my mom's garden a town over, and we have the compopst tumbler (soon to be sold, hopefully cuz' we don't use it enough), a little iron patio table with two chairs and candles to keep the bugs away, all buried in a jungle of plants out on the patio. My plans still incude getting rid of the years of mildew on the concrete border that surrounds it.

I'm not happy when people use it to store trash (one person throws their Dunkin Donuts plastic coffee cup in the compost EVERY DAY - argh - another reason to get rid of it) but it was really nice to see people had set up a grill and were enjoying the nice serene space I have created.