A Cabinet Full of Dishes

These are pictures for you Casey. This is the cabinet that Dad brought back from Illinois that is over 100 years old. It is for Greg if he wants it, but after he saw how many pieces in came in he may have second thoughts. The dishes inside are for you to do with as you please. I have shown a picture of one piece so that you can see the pattern. They are beautiful dishes and for dishes that are over 60 years old, they are in remarkable shape. I only found about 3 pieces that had chips or other slight damage. The gold leafing is wearing off, but they still retain quite a bit of it.

On top of the bookcase are the 2 history books from 1890. They are quite fragile but quite remarkable to look at. (I just used remarkable for the second time and I haven't used that word in a long time.) Dad also brought back 2 first edition Dr. Doolittle books and 2 first edition Mother West Wind books. They were added to the collection in the dining room.

These Two Are At It Again!!

The other day I posted the picture of Lucky in Greg's laundry basket. He was so cute and perfectly content to be there. So last night I was turning out lights and accounting for all of the cats being off of the porch when I came across Chocolate. He was sleeping in the laundry basket this time. Lucky was also on the table on top of a beach towel on the other end.

I think these 2 sweeties are more alike than we think. First I catch them on different days eating out of the big cat food container and then I catch them, again on different days, sleeping in the laundry basket. How cute are they? Chocolate has been venturing upstairs more lately and has taken to sleeping on my head some nights. I can tell when he slept there even if I don't see him, because I usually have a stiff neck in the morning. Chocolate seems take up a lot of space on the pillow!

Pretty Pictures

Okay, so this is what we spent last weekend doing. I finally finished my front bed project of taking out the lambs ear and spiky purple things and replacing with azaleas. The balance is much better and I know that I will still have some lamb's ear popping up because the underground root system was quite extensive.

The peas and lettuce sprouted last week and the garden should be full by mid-June. Yum!!!!

Finally, the big project this past weekend was putting up another section of fence in the courtyard. It is amazing how much bigger the courtyard is now. This weekend we will be planting tomatoes, peppers, green beans (up the pole left standing from the previous fence structure), and anything else that we fancy. If we can keep the rabbits and groundhogs out, it should be a nice garden this year.

Another Quickie

What do these 2 pictures have in common you ask? They represent two cute but stinker cats who seem to enjoy eating out of the large cat food container right after I have filled it up. I don't know what is wrong with the bowl of food on the floor or what makes this container so special, but within 2 weeks, I have caught each of them in the container of food as I was filling it.

They are both so darn cute and so concentrated on eating their prize that they didn't mind having their pictures taken.

UPDATE Time!

A few Lucky pictures today. This was his choice of sleeping locations the other day. The basket contained clean laundry and now contains furry laundry!!

On Sunday we extended the fence in our courtyard and while we were doing some weeding, we decided to let Lucky out there. Greg took the picture of Lucky and a bunch of Kitty as well. Lucky was very good and didn't try to go over the fence at all. I think he was happy with his bigger yard area. This week I am going to get the courtyard ready for planting the vegetable garden. Maybe Greg and I can get it done before Larry comes home from Illinois.
Casey, these pictures of one of your favorite trees are for you. The tree was in perfect bloom on Saturday so I took a bunch of photos for you. We woke up Sunday morning to a very windy and quite cool day and a lot of the flowers fell to the ground. The entire yard is coming into bloom. The azaleas will be blooming by the weekend, the apple tree is in bloom, the trees are all green, and the poison ivy is coming out (yech!). The peas, lettuce and spinach have all sprouted and we hope to have a bumper crop of peas when Casey comes home.
Can you tell I love spring? I love fall even more, but it is nice to see life budding everywhere after a cold winter. I even got my winter clothes out of my closet last weekend. Of course, the day after I did that it only reached 50 degrees. Not today though - high of 75.

A Trip Up North

Parent's weekend this past weekend and we got to visit with Casey!!! Yea!!! We got up there around 10:30 pm on Friday and made plans to pick up Casey early Saturday. Saturday we decided to drive through Vermont and stop at a few places along the way. We had a ball, stopping at a store and buying Casey and Larry hats, stopping to feed on Cabot cheese at the Cabot Cheese store, looking at items in a Scottish store, and walking along the Quechee Gorge (how pretty). It was fun and relaxing for all of us.

Sunday morning we picked up Casey after our stop at the King Arthur Baking Store and picking up some goodies and took her to lunch at Applebees. We did the grocery run and a few other things before heading back to campus. Casey gave us a nice tour of Phi Tau and the engineering building. It is hard to believe that her freshman year is almost done. Likewise for Greg, only 30 days of school left. Wow!! Where did the year go?

Couldn't wait until it was in the bowl

This first picture was taken on Sunday April 15 as a nor'easter came into town. Thank goodness it wasn't snow or we would have ended up in double digit snow accumulation.



Isn't he just the cutest? He was doing some seriously chowing down of the cat food as I was filling the kitchen counter container.

Second Varsity Win

Not the greatest photos, but he looked good out there. He and Collin won 6-1, 6-1 and Greg had quite a few aces. It's amazing how fast his game has picked up. I was glad that I got to see yesterday's match. It is probably the last match of the season as rain and Reading Olympics will cancel out tomorrow's match. Unless they make it up next week, he may be done for the season.

In other news, I found out today that I am moving out to the showroom at work on Friday. No I am not selling cars, I am moving because my office area is the first scheduled for remodel. Not looking forward to where I will eventually end up, but there is nothing I can do about it. I may need to speak to Nancy if she continues to dump her work on me all the time.

First Victory as a Varsity Tennis Player

Here he is after his first appearance on the varsity tennis team. He and his partner Collin won their doubles match 6-4, 7-5 and the team made a clean sweep of Christopher Dock. Tonight he played doubles with Collin on JV so that Stephen could play varsity. They won 8-1 in a pro set.

Cute Furry Picture

Great picture of Chocolate sunning himself yesterday when it was 60 degrees out.

Rainy Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....

I am sitting here and listening to the sump pump continuously pump out water from the basement channel. It has been raining all night and day and will probably continue into Monday and Tuesday. This is a Nor'easter according to the weather channel. I guess it could be worse in that it might be snow. Hopefully Casey isn't getting the snow part of this. We have already had to get the ladder out this morning in the pouring rain and fix the gutter on the front of the house. Rain was cascading down the front windows and would be ruining them for sure if we didn't fix the gutter right away. We did and now it is just an incredible amount of water everywhere.

I have to post something wonderful that happened to Greg yesterday. I know it is hard to read but here is what this email from Greg's tennis coach to four of the freshman players says: "I am very impressed with all of your tennis talent, enthusiasm and commitment to the team. As freshman and 1st year members of the team I see your future with NHS Tennis to be very rewarding for all of you. I have decided that Greg's total commitment and dedication to the team has earned him a spot on varsity. We will now have 13 members....You will earn your Varsity Letter by helping your fellow teammates raise the bar on how well all of you play.

Without sounding smug...I believe that it will mean a lot to you and your College prospects by the time you are seniors to be a 4-year Varsity member of a team that will be winning Districts and possibly States by your junior or senior year. Thanks for being such positive, fun to be around players. Coach A"



This is such a great thing for Greg to know that all of his hard work is paying off. He is always at practice giving 100% and listening to and respecting his coaches. We are so proud of him and look forward to more great things from him. I think it is amazing that his coach believes that she has such young talent as to expect a District Title and maybe appearance in the States tournament before they graduate. It is a talented group of freshman and I am so glad that Greg is having such a great time. It is amazing how far he has come in such a short period of time and if you look at his bulletin board you can see what he wrote: "THE BEST HAS YET TO COME". He would probably be embarrassed that I put this on my blog, but I think it speaks volumes of him.

Just a Few Random Thoughts

I found a new favorite movie this past weekend - The Holiday. This movie starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet is such a cute movie. It is probably very predictable to most people and just a regular old movie but something in it stirred me. I liked the relationship between Iris and her next door neighbor and the character Miles. I also thought Graham was a great character with a few surprises. I have watched it twice and plan to watch it again tonight before it has to go back to Blockbuster.

I have been finishing the binding on my blue and yellow quilt. I only have one more side to finish and then it is done. I will definitely have to take pictures. I probably should start a scrapbook of my finished quilts. Hopefully Casey will remind me to take a picture of her quilt when she brings it home this summer. (Hint Hint!)

I finally finished Lesson 1 for the Library of Memories class I am taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I spent an entire week organizing my photos and putting them into albums. This is a long term project and will probably take all summer to complete.

I am back on the treadmill after taking it easy for the month I was sick with bronchitis. I actually did 40 minutes last night - none tonight as ironing and other chores had to take a priority.

I am hoping to see an update from Casey very soon!!!!

Things to Ponder

I saw this on K. Smith's blog and thought it was something to think about. I need to start altering my course. Sometimes I just get caught up in doing the same thing day after day. Last week I decided to take a walk around Lake Galena on my lunch hour. I decided to start walking around the lake and after 15 minutes I would turn around and go back to my car and back to work. Those 30 minutes were so refreshing and necessary that I vow to do it more often. By altering my course of lunch activities (usually just running errands), I had a very peaceful and happier afternoon.

I Have Updated - Have You?

Message to Casey - Update your blog!!!!! You got on me, now I am going to get on you about it!!!! Put down the coloring books and crayons and update!!

Picture taken 3/24/07

Saturday's List

I thought of list of things would be fun today!

10 things that irritated me yesterday:

1. Sitting in FB's office and printing emails for 2 1/2 hours.
2. Using over 500 sheets of paper to print said emails (what a waste).
3. Being asked if I had done a few items that I would have done had I not been printing emails for hours.
4. Being told to be back from lunch by 2 so that I could answer Nancy's phone.
5. The look Nancy gave me as I met with MG for 2 hours going over audits that I do monthly (a little bit of jealously on her part maybe).
6. Having to put gas in my car that cost $2.79.
7. Reading in the paper that the CEO of Comcast Cable received $27.8 million in compensation last year while our cable bill continues to rise steadily.
8. Not losing any weight at WW yesterday.
9. Getting my paycheck and realizing that I didn't quite get 80 hours over the last 2 weeks.
10. Getting my paycheck and realizing I had less than 1 hour overtime.


9 Things I am Grateful For

1. My family and the fact that we really enjoy each other (most of the time).
2. My pets and the unconditional love that they give.
3. The ability to get out of bed everyday.
4. The fact that I have a job and can pay my bills.
5. Springtime and all of the beauty of it.
6. Finding a good book to read.
7. Remembering that there is always something to learn.
8. Having my health and the health of my family.
9. Technology - for the most part it's a good thing.

8 Things I Worry About Too Much

1. Money
2. Getting my TO DO list done daily.
3. Weight
4. My kids' future - it's their future - not mine
5. Having a clean house.
6. Honoring my parent's legacy
7. What other people think (sometimes - not that often)
8. What to fix for dinner

7 Things I Ate Yesterday

1. Lite English Muffin
2. 2 lite sausages
3. Lean Cuisine Pizza
4. Grape Tomatoes
5. Fiber One bar
6. 2 FF hotdogs
7. 3 soft pretzel bites

6 Things on My To Do List This Weekend

1. Laundry
2. Vacuum entire house
3. Dust
4. Yardwork - pick up sticks and tear out dead stuff
5. Call John
6. Update blog

5 People I talked to Yesterday

1. Greg
2. Larry
3. Casey
4. Carol
5. Michael

4 Goals for April

1. Finish quilt binding on yellow quilt
2. Scrapbook more
3. Plant peas and much more
4. Get to the dentist

3 Books I read in March

1. The Ultimate Gift
2. Beverly Nye's "A Family Raised on Sunshine"
3. Beverly Nye's "A Family Raised on Rainbows"

2 New Plans for Today

1. Take Greg to a Bowling Birthday Party
2. Hang out by myself - I thought we were all staying home today

1 Thing I Accomplished Today Already

1. Got Easter presents ready to mail on Monday.

Updated per Casey's request

Had a wonderful visit with Casey for the 2 weeks she was home. I miss her and feel surrounded by too much manliness - need my girl talk. I really enjoyed our drive back to Dartmouth on Sunday. Off to Buckingham Pizza for dinner. More to come later.

I'm back now and full of stuffed rigatoni and garlic knots (WW be damned!). Just kidding about the WW part - I plan to do the bowflex workout machine tonight. Haven't exercised very much over the past 3 weeks due to this illness that just won't go away. However, at least now I know it is bronchitis and am happily taking my antibiotics. For the first time in 2 1/2 weeks, my voice is starting to sound somewhat normal and not like I am going through puberty. I think my voice was wearing on everyone around me.

I have to post this little bit of information about motorcycles and head injury as my cousin's husband has been removed from life support following a serious head injury sustained in a motorcycle crash:

Motorcycles, Bicycles, and Head Injury

The increase in bicycling and motorcycling has focused attention on injuries sustained during these activities. Most of these injuries are traumatic brain injuries (TBI), caused by the lack of rider head protection. This exposure of the rider accounts for the particular types of injuries seen during these activities.

• Although the crash scenario often dictates the area of the body injured, fatal crashes are most often a result of traumatic brain injury. Often these are isolated head injuries with no other serious injuries.
  
  
• Fatal traumatic brain injury occurs more often in adults than children, although children are more often injured in bicycle crashes. This simply reflects the greater proportion of children using bicycles, as well as the lack of experience of younger riders.
  
  
• Many studies have documented the particular risk of brain injury when riding a motorcycle. The increased speed of a motorcycle and use in vehicle traffic adds risk of injury far beyond that of a bicycle.
  
  
• Traumatic brain injury certainly can cause death, but it also can cause disabling injury requiring extensive and costly rehabilitation. For many people, a brain injury triggers a significant change in lifestyle and function. Brain injury can vary from essentially minor disability to prolonged dependence on a ventilator to breathe and permanent loss of normal function. These serious brain injuries take their toll on families caring for an injured loved one.

Ron was riding his motorcycle without a helmet when he crashed. Naturally my cousin is devastated and unplugging him from life support has to be the hardest decision that she has ever had to make. Though Ron was an odd person, he was probably the best person for my odd cousin (she had her quirks and I don't believe they were all the result of her own actions - she went through a lot over the years).

In happier news, Greg won his tennis match today. He was playing doubles when his partner dislocated his shoulder during the 2nd game of the match. The kid was taken away in an ambulance and Greg was forced to forfeit his match. He ended up asking one of the kids on the other doubles team to play a match and the kid agreed - so they played singles. Greg won even though it didn't count in the overall match score. He also got a 98 on his big math test. He was in a great mood today.

I hope to update even more this week. I have some nice pictures of my two "little ones" coloring!!!!

No WW Update This Week

WW meeting cancelled yesterday because of the ice storm we were having. Bummer!!! I know that I had probably lost a few pounds due to the fact that I have been sick all week and not able to really eat much. Unfortunately, I haven't exercised either. Last night I did 30 minutes on the treadmill - the first exercise (other than walking) for 10 days. I am still not able to talk without my voice cracking and hope that my voice comes back soon. A week without a voice is not a good thing (though some people would disagree).

You Will Be Seeing Less of Me These Days!!!

23.8 pounds less of me!!! Weight Watchers today and I didn't want to go mainly because I was sick and hadn't exercised for 2 days. Well, I lost 5 pounds. Go figure! I guess having the flu does that to you. It's not like I was throwing up or anything - it's just that I am not hungry. Even tonight, I was only able to eat 1/2 of my hoagie at Buckingham Pizza. Maybe, if I am up to it, this weekend I will take some measurements so that I can track that as well. This 5 pound loss this week was definitely motivating for me. I haven't been feeling very motivated lately and haven't been writing down what I eat. This upcoming week I will do it since we are all exchanging food journals on Friday as a motivator to get ourselves to write down what we eat.

My goal is to be down 30 pounds by our June vacation. I can do this!!

Look Who I Saw!

I spent all day yesterday with Donna Downey. She taught 4 classes at memory lane scrapbook store and I took 3 of them. I took:

• Creative License - where we used scrap materials (chipboard and a grocery bag) and made a 12 x 12 album. I liked the album and would consider doing this again because I liked the way the pages were made.
  
• File Album - loved this little album. A fun photo file to highlight an event or trip. I am pretty sure I will be making another one of these.
• Bookbinding 101 - I am now confident that I can make my own journal. It was a lot of work, but well worth it as I love the finished product.

I will post pictures of all of the finished projects when I get a chance to finish them up. Overall, it was a lot of fun. Donna is pretty cool and I could definitely see hanging out with her. It is amazing to see all of these women who are the store groupies. I met some really nice women and watched the antics of the groupies. I guess this is their outlet and they use this as their chance to be loud and crazy. They were a talented group of scrapbookers and I think they probably all wish they were the Donna D., Ali E., Heidi S. of this area. It's not for me. I am not a very social scrapbooker and prefer to scrapbook by myself. I do love going to these classes and learning new procedures and seeing new projects. I think I will stay with the online classes. I don't think I will even go to CKC this year.

I'm Getting Old

Went to the eye doctor today and found out that I need bifocals. That sucks. I usually only wear my glasses when I drive at night, but I also need them now to see the TV from the treadmill. I sort of had the feeling that I might need them for reading as well since I squint at my computer screens at work. Now that I got the second monitor I requested, my display is smaller and harder to see. I can't change the display because it will affect one of the monitors and not the other. Oh well, maybe I will get some cool looking glasses that make me look smarter.

Looking forward to taking classes with Donna Downey this weekend. It should be fun and filled with lots of funny moments. I still have to get my stuff ready for the 3 classes.