Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thank you, Lord.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I am grateful for such a wonderful family. We all missed Dad this year...but we know he is in a better place now. The food as usual, was delicious...and I ate too much.
After gorging on turkey, dressing, yams, corn casserole...etc., we hung out. The teens and young people played a game. The traditional jigsaw puzzle was worked on. It was good just to be together.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

Like this picture? Allen took it this summer. Thought I'd use it...because I like pictures on my posts and I have nothing in my pics that have anything to do with today's entry.

It was a beautiful day...and I did not go out and enjoy it. I cleaned a dentist office and then did some errands on the way home. I needed to buy carrots for the turkey soup I'm making with the leftovers from the turkey I roasted on Friday. Am I confused about the date? No...I realize that Thursday is Thanksgiving and that I will be eating turkey. I will be going to Martha's house. There will be many people there and I will not get any leftovers. Almost everything will be eaten up on Thursday and whatever is left...Martha will get. That is only fair since she roasted and hosted. I like leftover turkey...so I took it upon myself to roast a turkey of my own on Friday. I did not wait until next week to do it...because Jamie is going to France.
(Again...nothing to do with today's post. A picture of us on Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire)
So I made soup, mopped my kitchen floor, dozed off while reading, watched Arthur with my daughter, ran to the store to buy bread since I was too lazy to bake my own...and I am now sitting and waiting for my son and hubby to come home so we can eat! The smell is driving me crazy because I am hungry!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Just another Saturday

More chronicling of my exciting life.
It's just another Saturday in our amazing household. Audra practiced tickling the ivories. They giggled quite nicely.
Allen went to swim practice at the high school and then came home and proceeded to make plans with friends. I was a very mean mother and made him do some homework before he took off.
Alicia and I baked peanut butter fingers. Tonight...I will be home alone. Alicia is staying over night at a friend's house. Jamie is working on our car over at Roy's house. Audra went to Abby's. Allen is hanging with Sam and Jacob. Maybe Sherman and I will take in a movie or....read, what else?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Obstacles and Bends in the Road of Life

I am really anxious now to get back to my grad work. I'm almost done...only two more courses and then my school internship. As many of you readers know (all 2 of you), I had to stop my studies because of my father's illness. None of us expected him to go so fast. I spent the day with Mom. I really miss Dad. I had a dream about him last night. I don't remember any of the details of my dream, just that he was in it. At Mom's, I just had to check to see if his coat was still hanging on the hook in the laundry room. It was. Along with his hat and sweater vest. Somehow that makes me feel good. I like seeing them there.

I just hope there are no more unexpected bends in the road for a while. There is good news! I can do my secondary level practicum with the same librarian that I was originally going to do it with. I wasn't sure if I could because she talked about retiring some day on her blog and that worried me a little.
Even though I am anxious about getting back to my studies, I am also strangely nervous about it.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

On to the next thing

We had a rough week, but God is good. Allen came down with the flu on Sunday morning, which explained why he was feeling so rotten at his cross country sectionals last Saturday. He missed most of school this week. I was able to communicate with his teachers and get some school work so he didn't fall terribly far behind. The varsity swim team season also started. I sent emails to the coach explaining Allen's situation so that the coach knew Allen was still interested. The coach also said that he would help Allen get into swimming slowly since he was recovering from illness. On Friday he went back to school and went to swim practice.
On Saturday there was a team building exercise with 6 different minivans full of teenage boys driving around town on a scavenger hunt. Jamie was one of the volunteer drivers. The game culminated at a team member's house in town with an obstacle course in the back yard.
I think the boys all had fun and it was a good way to kick off the season. Family members of the team were able to join in with the sharing of a meal.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Sectionals for X-Country

I know this picture is pretty lousy...but it's what I have! Today was a gorgeous day! Warm, sunny...a good day for a race. It was Sectionals for the X Country Teams in the area. Allen did not run his best. He got a bad cramp in the middle of the race. Right behind him is Dominik from Arcadia. Dominik is the son of a close childhood friend of mine...so I was pleased to see him in the same photo. In the end, Dominik came in ahead of Allen...but I think it was only because of the cramp. Next year, Dominik! Next year!And here is a little team building exercise after the racing was done!

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

h1n1

I'm finally getting around to telling you that the swine flu has come to our house. The school called me on Friday to come and get Alicia because she had a fever of 100.5. That evening the coughing started.
All in all, she had a fairly mild case of it. Between doses of acetaminophen, she happily read or played with her dolls. By yesterday she was bored and I went to the school to get some work for her. Today I "home schooled" her. She is itching to get back to school. She no longer has a fever....but the cough is lingering. I talked to the school nurse today and she agreed that as long as Alicia has not had a fever for a few days she can come back to school in spite of the cough. No one else has caught it besides her. At this point, I think the rest of us will be spared.
These pictures were taken by Allen at the NY State Fair last summer.

Monday, November 02, 2009

My Runner

Get Ready! Get set!
Go! And they're off!
I have not been very good about blogging lately. Sorry. I've been a bit distracted by everything in my life for the past year. School. The death of my father. I'm going to get back on track hopefully. I'll start with a very belated post about my son on our high school's Cross Country team. He had such a great season and it is almost over. Only this week to go. Next week he starts swimming with the varsity swim team.
Go Allen Go!!!!
I have found new inspiration for blogging in my area at Bristolwood. It is a blog that I discovered quite by accident while googling images of the annual Halloween toiletpapering of Cheshire. I know...it sounds strange but check out Gudl's blog too. She's the one that got me started googling for more images! I love all the photos they take of the area we live in. Yeah! More neighbors to get to know!