today we are spending the morning getting bryana's hair restraightened... she is not too happy!!  the boys are in school and chieko is at work.. casey has a japanese lesson...  tonight casey and chieko are going out for dinner, alone...

this week has been pretty quiet.. the boys went to school on tuesday and wednesday.. ray had a field trip to go grape picking on wednesday... we went to coco's (restaurant) for chieko's birthday on wednesday and when we got home, the neighbor's were outside enjoying a cocktail so we shared her birthday cake with them..

thursday the boys stayed home while casey and chieko worked.. ray and i walked to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner.. this one is about a mile away and has a bigger selection of meat, casey wanted to cook a pork roast... leo was taking a nap so bryana stayed home with him, although she said he woke up about 5 minutes after we left... leo had a rough afternoon, he was climbing on casey's weight bench and i told him to get down and 2 seconds later, before we could grab him, he fell off and cried till bryana offered him her water... then about an hour later he was standing by the slider, pushing on the screen.. i said don't push that and within moments, the screen gave way and he tumbled outside onto the grass, which fortunately was overgrown and made for a soft landing.. still he was startled (we all were, we were right there!!) but other than some blades of grass in his wild hair, he was no worse for wear... i just need to mention that i was not the only adult around at that time :-)... anyway.. he also had his head banged on the door frame while being carried a little while later (not me)  so i think he has had his share of mishaps for now (i hope so, anyway!!)  of course now i have no way to get fresh air, the screen was in the tatami room where i sleep.. i guess when i closed the sliding glass door, i actually opened the other side (at my house only one door slides, the other is stationary) and when we were ready to settle in for the night, casey found a big frog in the tatami room!!  i don't even want to think about how creeped out i would have been if it had hopped on/near me during the night.. one of the disadvantages of sleeping on the floor...

where has the time gone?

we had our straight perms on wednesday.. mine is awesome and bryana's was too, until she washed her hair.. it is mostly straight, but there is a a definite wave in the back, so she will go back this week to get it "straightened" out (i kill myself, i am so funny)

leo, poor baby, came down with bronchitis on thursday so he and ray both stayed home on thursday and friday...we were supposed to go to niigata, to chiekos parents house on friday, but we postponed till saturday, hoping his fever would break and he would feel better.... didn't happen so he and chieko stayed here while casey, ray, bryana and i headed out mid morning..

the weather was much drier and cooler on saturday and the drive was long, but pretty... we arrived mid afternoon, dropped our stuff and ray the house (which i love.. very traditional japanese) and went out for ramen for lunch..

back to the house and into chiekos dads car for a visit to the family temple.. i misunderstood and thought it was their very own, but it is where the family goes for any prayer or funeral etc.. it was closed unfortunately and we couldn't go inside...when we got back to the house, ray was sitting outside with "baba" (chieko's mom) by the koi pond... their house  and yard are awesome and i will post pictures eventually..

sunday we took a long drive to the top of one of the mountains, through long cold tunnels ( i shouldn't complain because of all the complaints about the heat)  and at the top of this mountain is a dam and a resevoir where we took a very peaceful boat ride..  afterwards we had lunch (tempura of mountain mushrooms for me) and then back to the iguchis... they treated us to dinner at a local restaurant... it seems we are always eating and everything is yummy..

chieko's sister, yoshiko and her kids... ayumi, susune and tomonori (ray calls him tomorori :-) ) arrived during the night.. there was a festival starting on monday night and orginally  we were going to visit during the week, but casey and chiekos work schedules conflicted so we had to leave before any of the festivities started...before we left though, the kids did some origami and we took a drive to shrine where chiekos dad had painted all the banners for the festival..again, i will post pictures...

we had lunch and before we left, they brought out a couple of watermelons and the kids all took turns being blindfolded and spun around then set in the general direction to smack it and try to break it open.. kinda like a pinata, only it was sitting on the ground... when it finally broke, after many smacks, we enjoyed some of the fruit and the koi got the rest... "tomorori" put on his bathing suit and took a swim in the koi pond, which made ray cry because he wanted to swim too, but we were all packed up and ready to go.. it was just pitiful.. no tantrum, just a sad sad boy..

update

so i haven't figured out how to post pictures from the ipad to these posts, but i have put some on facebook...

the craft village was fun, but i think the "make your own" was geared toward kids... bryana painted a plate and ray and leo put their handprints on one, we haven't seen the finished products yet because they had to be fired/baked and then sent to the house...i stenciled a handkerchief with ray and bryana... not sure where it ended up, haha, but it was a stamped design so we only got to choose the colors we wanted to use..  mr kakeuchi gave bryana a hanging with her name in japanese.. everyone is so nice to us... mrs kuo had me pick fabric because she wants to make me a kimono.. i am not worthy..  the weekend was more barbecuing for dinner and on sunday night francis (from oklahoma!!) his wife myumi and their daughter emily came over as well... casey and chieko met again with the foreman on sunday morning..

monday bryana and i went to another of casey and chieko's friends apartment and had manicures... bryana's is so pretty i wish i could post a picture here, but it will be on facebook shortly... it is darkish pink with glitter on the tips, gradually fading to about midway toward her cuticle.. i opted for just a no polish manicure.. i can't believe how quickly my nails have grown out since we got here...

yesterday ray and leo got to stay home from school and ray and i made cookies while casey took leo to the dr. for shots... just routine, no sickness or anything... casey made pork roast for dinner and i made some coleslaw and mashed potatoes... we also steamed some corn on the cob... we are still eating well...

today the boys are back at school, it is raining off and on... bryana and i have appointments (reservations) at 1:00 for "straight perms"... i cannot wait, my hair looks like a brillo pad most days!!

my memory is starting to fail me...

monday and tuesday were very low key... we took the boys to school.. it is still so hot and humid, they are much cooler there anyway.. air con (that's what we call air conditioning in japan) and a pool to keep them cool and comfortable...today, wednesday is the start of obon, the holiday where people go an pay respects to their ancestors, so chieko is off from work for the rest of the week and the little darlins stay home too...

Now it is friday night and if couldn't remember everything on Wednesday, I am in worse shape this evening!!

Wednesday we went to a big giant candy store where we spent lots of money in a very short time..it seems that we have had barbecue several times, we brought lentil soup one night and last night i made chickpea salad to go with the nabe (again, not sure of the spelling), which was a delicious pot of veggies, meat and tofu..  Tonight the neighbors left us to our own devices while they went to pay their respects to their ancestors.. Casey grilled salmon and we also had salad, carrots,broccoli,asparagus and potatoes...bryana practiced using chopsticks and was able to pick up a single grain of rice ( not real easy in my opinion)..

Yesterday it was 95 degrees with humidity..today was a much cooler 91, but we spent a lazy day watching movies and reading..

Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot and we are going to a craft festival or something of that nature..

so....

it seems that i cannot put the pictures from my camera directly onto the ipad.. i will have to put them on casey's computer and send them to myself or something..or post from his computer

anyway, friday we went to the aquarium a couple of hours away.. i do have a couple of pictures, they are just not available at the moment... it was a lovely aquarium.. a little boy started crying as he was walking in ahead of us and it freaked ray out a little bit, but he settled right down and didn't want to leave when it was time to go...   this aquarium is located on a little island and casey commented that it was a little sad to watch the dolphin show with a view of the sea...  we had lunch there, sitting at the low tables with our shoes off.. noodles and rice and veggies.. we all ordered different things and it was all yummy...

for dinner casey sauteed chicken and some more veggies from his garden and made a salad of garden tomatoes and onion and cheese... we are eating a lot!!

saturday casey and chieko met with the forman regarding the house they are building, making some decisions about materials  they will be using, etc... the meeting was here at the house and lasted from 9 till 5!!!  the boys played in their kiddie pool for a while and leo escaped every time he had a chance.. he is constantly on the move!!  i was able to get both kiddo's to sleep for a while after lunch... dinner was barbecue with the neighbors.. barbecue is basically grilling meats and veggies..

the kuo's and kakeuchi's told us that they wanted to provide lunch for us on sunday... casey and chieko were going to check out bathrooms for their home and would not be around for translating and ray is not always willing to translate!  so bryana and i were on our own with the itranslate app on the ipad...they fed us two kinds of noodles with vegetables (also prepared on the grill, on a griddle placed over the fire)..  also on the menu was yakitori (not sure if the spelling is correct).. chicken on a stick, which i declined because i don't eat chicken (or most meat in general).. so they offered me a hot dog, which i declined so they offered me a different kind of hot dog!!  i gave up and had a hot dog...when casey and chieko got back, we were invited to have our dinner provided also.. " salad for dinner, what do you want to eat?"   i offered to make corn chowder and ventured to the store with both, boys in the double stroller, to buy the fixins... mrs. kakeuchi works at the grocery store and was surprised to see me there, shopping by myself with both kids, haha...  the chowder was a hit, the salad was good and the other salad had japanese beef on top which was probably delicious... and more hot dogs.. bryana and i split one that was more like ham than a hot dog, it really was quite tasty, it was served on a bun with lettuce and ketchup...

i must remember to bring my camera with me part 2

so where did i leave off...

right...

our flight from jfk to tokyo was great.. long, but no turbulence, etc.. they fed us well and kept us hydrated.. there was one horrible little boy a couple of rows up, his mom must have been sleeping the entire time, he was hanging over his sit back bugging the people in front of us.. finally the flight attendant told him to sit down and put his seat belt on..when he started climbing onto the tray table at the seat across the aisle... still no sign of his mom...she eventually appeared and made him go to sleep..

suddenly (only sudden that monday was gone..) it was tuesday night.. 9 pm...

we cleared customs and made a mad dash to the "black cat" shop where we sent those mighty heavy bags along to casey and chieko's because we were spending the night in tokyo... our connecting flight was not until 10 wednesday morning.... but because it was so late, our bags would not be delivered until thursday, no biggie... we had clean clothes and jammies in our back packs... the hotel was not luxury  by any means, but we got to shower and sleep horizontally.. breakfast was included as well as a free shuttle from and back to the airport..

another quick and easy flight across japan and we were met at the komatsu airport by 3 handsome fellas... it was awesome not to have to wait for our bags and walk right out of the baggage claim area to a jumping up and down ray and a not shy at all leo.. casey didn't seem too annoyed to see us either!

i must mention that is about a thousand degrees with humidity here..

a couple of stops along the way and we were HERE!!

we went out for sushi wednesday night.. this is the reason for my post title(s).. it was one of those conveyor belt places where the plates go by and you take what you want.. each plate was 100 yen, (about a dollar).. you can also order off of a menu if your favorite gets snatched up by someone else, it then comes around on a "special" plate so no one else grabs it.. it was delicious and ray said he wants to go again (he really is a well behaved little boy, sits in his seat, he is quiet and listens to his parents, most of the time, hah).. anyway i wanted to take a picture of it, but didn't have my camera with me!

thursday we hung around in our pajamas waiting for our bags to arrive and once they were here we got ourselves dressed and took a drive to see what was happening at the lot where casey and chieko are building their new home... again, no camera... we stopped by the beach and dipped our feet in the water of the Sea of Japan and had some shaved ice which was mighty refreshing (did i mention that it is hot?)

casey grilled meat, tofu, and vegetables (veggies were from his garden)  for dinner and i made a salad.

i must remember to keep my camera witth me

bryana and i left monday morning for a 5 week visit with the iguchi-beans in japan.. very kind of them to agree to have us for so long...

traveling using milage points limited the dates we could fly and being summer didn't make it any easier to choose the perfect dates for travel.. (i am not really sad about seeing my family here for 5 weeks, i just hope they'll have me back!!)  i also was not able to get a "partner" flight from boston to jfk when i booked so we were looking at a drive to New York..  lucky for me, jetblue had one of their sales a couple of weeks ago and i was able to get us a  timely flight at a reasonable rate, so we only had to drive to boston...  the only little problem was that our international flight allowed 2 bags (50 pounds each) to be checked and our jetblue flight only allowed only 1... the extra bag fee was not outrageous (in the overall  cost of things), i was really hoping to only check one bag each anyway, but my big suitcase weighed 58.5, not including my clothes which were already in a duffle bag...so sunday night we (not me so much)  were repacking  many of my things into bryana suitcase (now each weighing less than 50, but pretty close!)  and i got this really cool sit and stand stroller on virtual yardsale that i needed to bring with me so i could take nice long walks with ray and leo..(but it is so freakin hot) so that meant 2 checked bags each as well as our thousand pound carry on backpacks!!!

good ole jetblue didn't charge me for the stroller so i only had to pay one extra bag fee, yay... also, due to a couple of last minute additions, my suitcase actually weighed 51 pounds (no extra charge)

the flight into New York was smooth and when we arrived i immediately rented one of those carts because i didn't want to kill myself lugging 4 heavy bags etc, from 1 terminal to another.. wise move if i do say so myself...

we had plenty of time to find our terminal, check our bags again and get something to eat.. call to let people know we had a slight schedule change, browse the shops and exchange our currancy...

the flight to tokyo was also smooth although long, long, long (but we expected that anyway).. we flew on a 777 in case anyone was wondering...

okay so i started this post this morning and the day is now over and i have to go to sleep... i'll start another one when i wake up at 4 a.m.!!

i hate sewing!

it's my turn to wash the little cot sheets from school.. ( a couple of people have asked why there is no washer/dryer at school... i don't know, maybe because toddlers is the only program with cots, requiring sheets... supplied by the school? the other programs have mats for resting..no sheets ) anyway.. i have only had to do them a couple of times in the last 2 years and i don't mind, but every time i've done them, the little elastic strap thingies get all twisted and stretched, sometimes twisted right off... i thought it was my washer, but it's the dryer...

they were all tangled and clumped together in the dryer, needless to say, many were not dry so i sorted them all out and while i was folding and checking the dry ones, i noticed that the elastic thingies were getting caught on the lint catcher thingy... twisting away... so i stood there and kept untangling them till they were dry (only about 5 minutes.. )

we also have serveral perfectly fine cot sheets with very stretched out elastic that has been tied and retied to keep them neatly on the cots, but not very... so i thought i would replace all the wrecked elastic.. how hard can that be?  how long would that take me?  hahahahaha

i hate sewing.. the things i sew, either with the machine or by hand are pretty simple.. seams, hems...
but i can't seem to sew a straight line most of the time.. my fingers are clumsy, my eyesight is poor, my  patience is limited in this area...

so this is how it went..

day 1

start removing old, broken, stretched elastic using seam ripper to open fold and replace with new elastic..
poke hole in sheet...
pin new elastic in place
poke finger with pins
repeat 3 times..
1 sheet ready to sew

cut old, broken, stretched elastic where it comes out of fold
pin new elastic on top (it will be on the bottom of the sheet anyway, so who will notice)
poke finger with pins
repeat forever
many sheets, ready to sew

day 2

take out sewing machine
change red thread for white
replace bobbin
sew a paper napkin to see if bobbin is in correctly
fix bobbin

start sewing
poke fingers with pins
forget to hold onto thread when starting
rethread machine
sew several crooked lines (good enough)
repeat till half of sheets are done
run out of bobbin thread
refill bobbin
run out of thread
replace thread and bobbin
sew paper napkin to see if bobbin is in correctly
fix bobbin
quit for the day

day 3

count sheets to see how long this is going to take to finish

start sewing
break thread
rethread machine
count sheets again
poke fingers with pins
sew
forget to hold onto thread
rethread
sew
repeat repeat repeat
wonder why i thought this was a good idea

so there are, maybe, 20 little sheets and not all of them needed fixing, and some of them only needed one or 2 corners redone (oh and there were 2 sheets that were the wrong size and i figured i could alter them to fit, who am i kidding here? )  it should have been a quick little project..
i hate sewing

sunday (in japan)

everyone is still asleep here.. 6:55 a.m..... 

friday afternoon i rode the bike to the grocery store.. unaccompanied by anyone who speaks japanese....
i picked up a few familiar things and a couple of items by looking at the picture on the packaging...  the "margarine and sugar" sandwich was a  little disappointing.. looked like butter to me! otherwise i did okay... couldn't understand what the cashier was asking me, i think it was did i have a store card, for points... i just smiled and shook my head no.. she must think i am a moron..

yesterday casey, ray and i went to a different playground, which was mostly slides for rays age, and some more slides for older kids, requiring some fancy footwork to get to them.. he had fun and we heading back to the playground that i rode to on thursday..  turns out i was a couple of buildings away from where i should have been going and it WAS a school.. not where i was supposed to be at all!!

ray fell asleep before we got there, so casey drove me by some land that he and chieko have been looking at to buy and build a home .. it was very nice.. mountains views and more space between the houses in their current neighborhood.... plenty of space for a garden... in law apartment...

last night francis and myumi came over for dinner.. they brought a lovely pot of stew, casey made salad and had picked up a couple of baguettes.... chocolate cake for dessert also brought by francis and myumi,  delicious!


casey and chieko have legless chairs for sitting at the kotatsu.. it's nice to be able to lean my back against something, but i am sore all over from having to haul my fat butt up off of the floor thoughout the day.. they also have a very comfortable couch, but i tend to fall asleep whenever i find myself on it.

um...

i seem to be having a bit of trouble keeping track of the days... here it is friday already and i can't seem to distinguish one day from the next.. not that it is a bad thing...

i am really enjoying my time here and loving getting to be nannie..

monday ray and casey went to school... i must have done something during the day..

tuesday ray got to stay home and we just mostly hung around.. i made rice and beans for dinner..

wednesday ray was at school again.. i would love it if he stayed home everyday, but i don't want to mess up his routine too too much, besides it gives me leo time!! i made lentil soup for dinner with salad and chieko made delicious bread.

thursday ray stayed home again and we took a bike ride to a local playground that casey said was fun.. i got us there without getting too lost or run over, but there were a bunch of school children there and i wasn't sure if it was a school playground or if the kids were on a field trip and since i can't communicate, i couldn't even ask if it was okay to stay and play... sooo... we came back home.. i think we will try again tomorrow.. i made soy sesame tofu last night.. we also had salad, rice and some pork stir fry (leftover) that chieko had made for lunch..

today ray is back at school and i am getting some more leo time.. he is sleeping most of the time and right now he is curled up next to me while chieko catches a few winks.. leo is already holding his head up, pretty steadily, and looking around.. my grandchildren are SO above average, haha.. and adorable.. making sweet potato burgers for dinner tonight

saturday, etc..

chieko's dad made the four hour drive from niigata to pick up her mom on saturday... her mom made a delicious lunch of various rice balls, stuffed cabbage and i can't remember what else, before they headed back.. i felt bad that her dad was doing so much driving in one day, but chieko said they would take turns..

then we must have napped or something.. leftovers for dinner and bed (i have been going to bed REALLY early... )

sunday, casey, ray and i took the train to picnic along the river with hoards of other people (actually it wasn't overcrowded) and enjoy the cherry blossoms.. did i take any pictures?... do you see any?...

ray had fun climbing and then running down the sloping embankment, after a while he did some rolling down, getting covered in grass, such fun...

we took a wrong turn heading back to the train station, walking for about a year and finally hailing a taxi to get us there.. we were just a few blocks over...

more napping when we got back and yummy pizza for dinner...

i'm here

i left boston at 6 a.m. on thursday morning, after very little sleep the night before..i was going to be so organized and ready by tuesday... didn't happen!

anyway, traffic and check in were smooth, my bags were not over weight by some miracle.. i did have a middle seat on the flight to chicago, but managed to sleep some without falling into anyone else's personal space.. i forgot to grab my neck pillow but picked on up during that 2+ hour layover.. i got some yogurt and wandered...

a suggestion... if there is a mcdonalds in your airport, buy your yogurt and water there.. it is much cheaper.. unfortunately for me... i didn't think of this before getting my expensive yogurt.. i would have waited to have water on the plane, but i was thirsty..

i was in the last row on the flight to tokyo, (economy is 2-3-2 seating) the man in the other seat was chatting with the flight attendant and just before we took off, he said he was going to move up a few rows to the center section because there were some rows with only 1 person and it would leave an empty seat between them, and i could have both seats in the back... that was really nice and it let me stretch out a bit when i slept, which i did!

i watched 3 movies.. the decendants... mission impossible, ghost something or other and sherlock holmes.. i started to watch the j edgar hoover movie, but it didn't hold my interest so i stared at he sky map instead... i was going to watch a dvd on my laptop, for school, for some training hours, but for some reason it would play, oh well....

another 4 hour layer in tokyo, where i got my lovely milk tea and wandered the airport... up to the 4th floor airport mall.. i lost my bearings at one point and couldn't remember where i came in, but wasn't too worried, because i knew i just had to get back to the first floor.. bought a few little items and made my way back to the departure area and read till we took off (sleeping a little more) i must have looked like a lunatic with my neck pillow on, sitting there...

not too many people on the flight to casey's and i had my own row again.. a short one hour flight (although delayed) and casey and ray were waiting for me.. there is a glass wall between the arrival lobby and baggage claim so even though we could see each other, we ( and i mean me here) had to wait for till i got my bags for hugs and kisses...

it was friday night now, with the time travel and all....

ray was not shy at all and let me pick him up right away.. he has been very sweet about me squeezing and kissing him..

leo is a little peanut...he was not excited to see me at all, sleeps right through the squeezing and kissing..

4 leaf clovers

last spring i found a patch of clover in the yard, so of course i had to look for one with 4 leaves... over the course of a couple of weeks, i found 21+ in that one patch... well that patch was off in the wood chips and eventually got cleared (more or less) during a yard clean up.
anyway... last week i noticed a tiny patch of green in the general area where the clover was last year, so, yesterday i went to take a peek and sure enough, i found two 4 leaf clovers.. i seem to have misplaced my camera, but perhaps i can post a picture when i find it!

GOING TO JAPAN!!

i am leaving first thing thursday morning to go visit these little darlings

ray

ray and baby leo

sweet baby leo
born on april 4th
just over 7 lbs
just over 20 inches

also, very much looking forward to seeing casey and chieko
xoxo

wednesday september 14th

i am really enjoying my job... i don't get to spend much time chatting with my coworkers because i am busy busy most of the day...

when i arrive i say hello to the kiddos and teachers and if anyone is upset (kids that is) and if can help calm them, i do that... then i make the cleaning solution for each room and put away the lunch boxes.. then it's off to the races

check in with each room to help out if needed, see if they need any supplies.. wipes paper towels, etc.. then up to the kitchen to get/prepare snack

back downstairs to

give the teachers a potty break and help with diaper changes/potty.. either to do the changing or help out with kids while teacher does it.

sorry, it is now the 18th.. i didn't get to finish this post earlier...

but i set out the snack, help get the kids outside for playing, go back in to clean up after snack, if it hasn't been done yet.. set up the cots for naptime, put out the lunch boxes the kids have brought from home... back out to play till its time to come in..

then we diaper/potty again... i start to cover lunch breaks at 12/12:30/1:00... meanwhile the kids are all going down for "rest" when they have finished eating.. i am have last lunch for the time being.. supposed to go at 1:30 for 1/2 hour, but it usually is a bit after 1:30.. it is working well for me for now.. i go to the post office during that time, run the mail home, pee and brush my teeth then go back to work till 3.. anyway the day flies by

and i work with really nice people !!

happy labor day

friday was my last day of babysitting for d. he is a sweet, easy, good baby.. i told his mom that i will watch him on my fridays off if she needs me.

saturday, after pilates, i had a manicure/pedicure... i have been biting my fingernails again, but i really don't want to be putting my hands in my mouth when i am working with the kiddos.. groomed nails prevent a lot of that for me and my feet were just awful, so, even though i don't bite them, they needed prettying up.. m. did a great job as usual, although she did draw blood on 2 fingers and one toe!!! (just a little) she was so focused on those cuticles!!

sunday we were going to rent a motorcycle and spend the day riding around, but the weather wasn't great and the motorcycle doug wanted wasn't back yet and the sunday hours are shorter to begin with, so we drove around in the car for a while instead..

today is labor day... so i guess that means i have to work?? i am going to do some chores and some grocery shopping.. i will make a salad to go with the pot of lentil soup i made the other day. maybe i will make bread too.

tomorrow is the first day of work with kids.. i imagine there will be lots of crying (mostly the kids, but maybe me too!) i will feel inadequate at the end of the day.. i will do my best to spend equal time in each of the 3 rooms and to get all of my work done.. wish me luck!

yes.. i am tired

day two of "back to work"... today was more cleaning and setting up of rooms, although i don't feel like i did too much setting up. i sorted a few things and washed the cots and put on the sheets... i made some playdoh with miss sherri.

as i walked into the school yard today, i noticed a joyce landscaping truck in the yard and a bobcat in the play yard.. i thought "i wonder if that is jesse" "nah" he wouldn't be working this job (although he does drive a bobcat),,, i went in, going about my business and miss sharon said, " i saw jesse" how cool is that that we were both working at the same place?? he was cleaning up the play yard and bringing in more sand for the yard and sandboxes.. looks good jesse!!

once back home i did some of my "other job" shipping, statements, banking and post office, then on to my OTHER job.. covering the desk at PP and doing some chores there. i was going to stay for zumba, but i admit it, i am tired. i will probably be dead on my feet at the end of next week, when there are children to tend!!!

when i got home from PP we went to barbyann's for a bite ( yummy lobster cesaer salad , lobster bisque) and a couple of black russians.

casey says he will come home for christmas this year. he hasn't been home for christmas since he moved to japan.. he also says he is not bringing sugar ray or his lovely wife with him!!!! i am thrilled that he will be here, but heartbroken that he is not bringing the fam... i will take what i can get...maybe he will change his mind, (no pressure, no guilt casey) or maybe he will surprise us (again, no guilt, no pressure) i am just sayin'

hurricane, cat, work

the hurricane blew through here without too much inconvience... we lost power for a few hours on sunday and cable on monday afternoon till tuesday afternoon, but we survived...

little jerry has taken off again, as well as "buffy" the little stray(?) who has been coming around for about a year now.. i am sure they'll be back.. if they come around before nitzy goes up to bed, she sees them and frightens them away.

today i started back to work at w.p.f.s. i have the same job i had when i worked there before, i think it will be fun and the paycheck will be more fun!! my hours are 9 to 3, can't complain about that. i will also be working at least 1 day of late care. i signed up for fridays in sept.. i may see if i can just do that each week. today was a work day with no children.. setting up the rooms, putting up bulletin boards.. tomorrow will be more of the same and parent orientation.

it is dark already.. only 8 o'clock.. when did that happen

i have some "homework" already. i don't remember that from last time... "professional development goals" and how i plan to achieve them.. any suggestions. i don't really have any goals.. i just want to hold babies

i knew it!

i knew as soon as i finally decided to take away the litter box.....

(yesterday)

that little jerry would come back...

i was turning out the lights tonight and there he was.. in the driveway.. meowing.. he is thinner, but clean.. no ticks or booboos.. someone has been taking care of him

nitzy will be delighted!

devin's blog

did i forget that devin has a blog? well i found it today when i found he had a twitter account too. where have i been? i should know these things. anyway, here is a link.

http://gratefulbean.wordpress.com/ or you can look at my side bar thingy and get to it from there, if you want.