January 20, 2009 President Obama, Danny's first date, Palpitations

It's Tuesday morning here, and although from where I'm sitting it feels just like any other Tuesday, today is going to be written about in history books, as the day that the United States of America swore in it's first African American President. We've really come a long way in a short amount of time. Although he wasn't my first choice, I hope with everything I've got that he gets in there and does some really great things, fast. America could certainly use some good news right about now.

Friday we awoke, back in 6 degree Massachusetts, and I cursed my decision to drive north. I should have thrown caution to the wind and followed my gut. I might have had to drive all the way to the Southernmost tip but warmth I would have eventually found. Dan and I did a little shopping then went over the the Mashpee Library for 1pm story time. The Waldorf school was there doing a little play, and there was a raffle for movie tickets that I quickly scrawled Danny's name onto. He sat and watched the play, I logged onto one of the library computers. A half hour passed quickly and I suddenly realized that someone was calling Danny's name. A bit alarmed I walked over to the corner and was surprised to find out that Dan had won the movie tickets to see Hotel for Dogs, he was very excited. We checked out a couple of books and since Buzz had the girls decided we'd go over there for a little while to let the kids play together. On the way, Danny asked if he could ask Seneca if she'd like to see the movie with him, like a date, he said. I laughed and told him it would be OK.
We arrived, took off our coats and shoes and the kids proceed to play. Dan asked Seneca to the movie. Very cute. Buzz and I decided we'd take them Sunday at 1:20pm. Saturday passed, and Sunday arrived. I asked Dan if we should met Seneca and Buzz at the movie and he said, usually the boy picks up the girl. I laughed, the boy is TOO much. We got Dan in the bath and dressed for his date, picked up Seneca and Buzz right on time. Walking into the movie Danny asked Seneca if she'd like to hold his hand, she said OK. Very cute. Dan gave the attendant their tickets, we got some popcorn and found a seat. The movie was cute, at one point I looked over at Dan and Seneca sitting side by side and swatted Buzz's arm. Dan was puckered up for a kiss, Seneca wanted no part of that and Dan went denied. We drove them home, visited with Jen and the other girls for a few minutes before we had to say good bye, so I could go to work. Fun day.

Monday was the MLK holiday but Mike had to work, Dan and I went to Kmart to pick up Big Brain academy for the Wii, brought it home and played for a while. Pretty cute game, and Dan can play by himself, we're doing all we can to promote some quiet alone play, as Dan will exhaust us otherwise.

Tuesday morning we planned for Buzz and the girls to come over here for the morning while their cleaning lady made their house sparkle. The kids played for a while, Buzz and I watched as much of the inauguration as possible with 4 children 5 and under running around. Ruby had school so Buzz and the girls had lunch and said good bye, the kids wanted to continue playing so we decided he'd bring everybody back after school and Joey's nap, and I'd make dinner. Dan and I ran out to the store. While there I felt strangely weird and my heart was racing. Not sure of what was going on, and having palpitations on a pretty regular basis, I decided to call my primary from the parking lot since I was already out and these episodes were starting to make me nervous. He was on vacation, I got the number of the on call doctor and decided to head home.
On the way, I felt my heart start racing again, and suddenly felt like I might pass out, not a good feeling driving 45MPH down a single lane road with no shoulder and a 5 year old in the back seat. I suddenly thought what might/would happen if I really did go out, would Dan know to find my phone and call 911, would someone stop to help, would that person really help. I think my panic might have exacerbated the issue. I remembered that if you were having a heart attack that you should cough hard and long and gave it a few tries. I did seem to help and the feeling was lessened. I immediately called Laurie who wasn't home, then Derek who lives next door. Quickly asked him if he could watch Dan when I got home, explained what was going on and thankfully he stayed on the phone with me until I pulled into the driveway. The feeling had passed but I could still feel my heart racing.

Once home, Dan safely with a friend of Derek's who was visiting, I called Elias, my dear cicada loving cardiologist from NY. Told him what had happened, he reassured me I was OK, but would need/want to see somebody today. Derek and I unloaded the groceries and put them away. I called Dr. Bowers' on call doctor who very coolly and calmly took my name, birth date etc. I found myself getting very frustrated with them, and realized it was starting again. Derek agreed to drive me to the hospital, we packed up Dan, made a quick call to Mike to let him know what was going on and we were on our way. Elias called en route and agreed if it was happening again I needed to be seen immediately. How lucky am I to have such a great friend. We arrived at the hospital only minutes before Mike, Derek agreed to take Dan home with him and watch him as long as we needed him too....lucky again, another good friend.

We were eventually taken into the ER and met there by the two best nurses Jane and Mary, ever. I was assessed, blood was drawn, and port left. Hooked up to a blood pressure cuff, oxygen sensor and heart monitor, and seen by the doctor who quickly ordered a chest X-ray. It was amazing how quickly things happened once I was in, and it was only a minute or two from the time it was ordered until I was being pushed down the hall.

The X-ray was uneventful and I was back in Room 3 in no time. I'd asked Mike to run down to Stop and shop to pick me up some lunch since I hadn't eaten all day, so he'd returned and I enjoyed some sushi. Then we waited. X-ray came back normal, one of the blood test was a little off and the doctor said it could be an indication of a blood clot, and ordered a chest cat scan which I was again quickly whisked away to. This time dye was injected into my port and within seconds I felt warm and tingly all over, an interesting sensation. Back in my room and just waiting I was happy to see Jen who had just finished her shift upstairs, she came down to see what was going on and ultimately lifted my spirit and made the wait for those results bearable. (you never know what they'll find when they start looking) before too long and PCT came in with a portable heart monitor which was my cue that I was being sent home. 7 electrodes were stuck to my upper and lower chest and a playing card sized box was fastened around my waist by a belt, the CAT scan came back normal, there some question about a possible thyroid connection but the results weren't back yet.

I'm to return the monitor after wearing it was 24 hours and a cardiologist will assess the results and send them to Dr. Bowers. So I'm to follow up with him next week unless I hear from the hospital sooner or I have another episode. I was released about 9:00 and while calling Derek to check on Dan was told that he was making us dinner. Nice, we were hungry. Dinner was great, Dan was sad to leave but exhausted and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. I curled up next to Mike on the couch and fell asleep.

January 4, 2009 Lots of catching up to do, and Danny's Birthday

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged, the more days pass the more resistant I become to updating due to the ever increasing backlog.

On Friday December 19th we had a snow storm. It started around mid afternoon and by early evening the wind was howling and the snow was falling quickly. It was our men's night, thankfully I'd planned ahead and prepared Chicken Marsala the afternoon before so I'd only need to throw it in the oven an hour before dinner for it to be ready. It worked out very well because at just about 6pm we lost power. We've had a couple of instances over the years where we've lost power and with 13 windows on our North wall, facing the pond, it's nearly essential to keep heat pumping in our house otherwise it cools off very quickly, especially during a bitter cold nor' easter. We decided rather then waiting to see if power would come on, to fire up one of the two generators we have, to power a light in the kitchen and the pellet stove. Our kitchen stove is about 20 years old and runs on propane, as does our hot water so even without power both of those still work, thankfully. Our house became the place to be, with some power, heat and a warm meal it quickly filled up, we enjoyed the company and a few games of cards before power was restored at about 10pm. It was a nice cozy evening.

Saturday morning I woke up to find some spots on my chest, they were somewhat itchy but since I'd been wearing clothes that hadn't been washed I didn't think too much of it. Just a little contact dermatitis, or so I thought. By Saturday night it had turned to raised patches and was also starting to appear on my back. Sunday morning I awoke very itchy and my entire chest and upper back were covered with these raised red itchy patches. I called my doctor first thing Monday morning and went in immediately. I showed him the rash, told him of the clothes I'd worn, he agreed it was probably just contact dermatitis prescribed a 6 day course of Prednisone and told me to take benadryl until the rash went away.
Danny had a great time at his school Christmas party on the 22th of December. Mike, Dan and I made chocolate Christmas bulb pops for the kids and teachers. The kids and I have made chocolate in the past, however is seems that Mike wasn't around because he had more fun making them the Dan and I did, and before we knew it he was in the kitchen, melting, pouring, freezing and wrapping and Dan and I were curled up by the stove enjoying a book. Dan had a great time at his party and Santa even made a surprise visit and gave Danny a fun doodling toy.


Tuesday I treated the itch as my MD recommended but didn't get very much relief, even with the prednisone. We spent the day getting ready for Christmas. Mike had a meeting so we met him down at Adam and Kristin's for their annual Christmas Eve's eve party. The company was great, the food amazing....it gets better every year...I don't know where they find the time or the energy! I asked Dawn, Kristin, Aunt Fran and Ed about rashes and lupus since they all have experiences with one or the other. Still nobody seemed to know exactly what it was. Wednesday morning I woke up and concerned that the rash wasn't getting any better and with Christmas only a day away I called my doctor who said go to the emergency room. It was Christmas eve, there was about a thousand things to do in the next 24 hours, there's no way I could go to the ER. Took two benadryl and hoped for the best. Finished wrapping presents, enjoyed a Christmas eve Chinese dinner with the Leone family, tucked the cherubs in, filled stockings, finished up with the Christmas preperations and went to bed.

At 4:30am Christmas morning Danny whispered in my ear...."Mommy, Santa came!" we'd left the tree lights on so he could easily see what Santa had left. I convinced Dan to lay down for another hour before my and Marley's bladder forced me out of bed, and with the effort woke Dan. It was the first year that we didn't have to wake him up on Christmas morning, I'm pretty sure it won't be the last. The kids opened their stockings, I made some coffee rolls and we sat to open presents. We all had a great Christmas morning. Emily got her Nintendo DS, Danny assorted toys, Mike his vacuum pump for his lathe, I was so happy to have a new real terry cloth bathrobe and a mother's ring. The family gift this year was guitar hero world tour band, which we knew we'd all love! With Christmas presents opened, everybody fed and only twice baked potatoes to contribute to the Leone feast I suddenly felt the need to visit the ER. I hadn't realized I was waiting, but I was....for everybody to be happy and content, enjoying their Christmas treasures...now they wouldn't miss me...at least for a little while. I drove myself to the ER, there were only two other patients waiting to be admitted, and I only waited a total of half an hour. Once in the emergency department, there was only one other patient, one nurse and one doctor. The nurse was attentive, the doctor took one look at my back, said he saw the classic Christmas tree shape and quickly made a preliminary diagnosis of Pityariasis Rosea. After doing a little research and running some blood work he was confident he was correct. Prescribed a stronger then benadryl antihystimine and sent me home. I returned by 1pm. Unfortunately I'd forgotten what day it was and instead of filling my script at the 24 hour CVS in Falmouth returned to our little one down the street which was, of course, closed. I decided that rather then heading back over I'd wait until the next day. Somehow knowing it wasn't anything serious made the itch more tolerable.

The next morning we all went out to breakfast at the Picnic Box, made a not so quick stop at game stop, our new favorite used Wii game store and finally picked up my script. After one dose I was wishing I'd made the trip back to Falmouth the day before. The itch was nearly instantly gone and one of the other uses for the medication is that it's a mild anti anxiety, used before and after surgery...all of a sudden I felt like I needed to sin!

The rest of the week went fairly uneventfully. We enjoyed the after Christmas togetherness. Mike took vacation so was off until January 5th, and Emily was officially unemployed as of December 24th. Ed had suggested a few weeks earlier that I should join him and Alicia for a night at the playhouse and since I was really itching to get out of the house decided I'd like to go down on the 27th of December to have lunch with the girls to celebrate Holly's 37th Birthday, see Mom, Mo, Fran and Gary off since they were all leaving for Disney at 1am Sunday morning and join Ed and Alicia at the playhouse. I arrived in RI around noon, met the girls at Coddington's for lunch to wish Holly Happy Birthday. Decided I'd go for a run up at Sachuest Point then arrived back at Mom's house to a nice hot bath...she's so good to me! Went next door to unpack in Zack's room and dressed for the night out. We were too late for dinner but visited with Matt until the show was ready to start. The play was great, very funny and well done. Afterward we enjoyed a drink or two before closing the playhouse and heading down to the Blue's cafe for the last half hour of their U2 tribute -Love is a temple-. As we were leaving there we got a call from Mom and Mo who were just leaving the shell gas station at the rotary, and wouldn't wait for us to say goodbye. Ed quickly noticed that they were on the ramp headed for the bridge and followed and passed them horn blaring. Once safely ahead and with no on coming traffic we pulled a U-ey on the bridge and waved good bye once more. Starving from a fun busy night we tried to go to Blue Plate diner only to find them closed. With I HOP as the only option we nearly had to wait for a table. My garden omelet was mediocre at best, but the company was great and it ended a very nice night. Sunday morning I awoke at 7am, with only a little hangover and again headed up to Sachuest point for a run. Came home, showered then met -Marie in Dartmouth for a late afternoon dinner and after two glasses of wine, and long walk through the mall to burn it off. I returned home around 8:30 Sunday night happy but tired.

Mike took the week between Christmas and New Years off so it was good ole fashioned family time. We ate out, worked on house projects, played Wii and enjoyed each other's company. New Years eve came with another snow storm forcasted. 6-8 inches on the Cape. I made sure I went out the day before and stocked up on milk and bread, heaven forbid we be caught without it! I checked my e-mail and noticed one from Alicia, checking in wishing us a Happy New Year etc. Alicia works at a computer so I can always count on getting a quick response during working hours. I asked her what her evening plans were and she said that Ed was helping at the playhouse and they were going to bring in the New Year there....hmmmmm....I thought. I went and found Mike and asked him if he'd want to drive down to RI, in a blizzard to stay at Mom's house overnight so we could bring in the new year with Ed and Alicia. He looked at me as if I were nuts, but being the good husband he is said "sure!" I asked Alicia if we could tag along. She told me to call Jonathan. I texted him at 9am, asking if he had two seats and let him know I'd be willing to help. 9:15, 9:30, 9:45....the snow has started and it's falling hard! 10am my phone vibrated....We have room...$%@&* snow! Mike walked in just a moment later and I told him they had room. We decided since the snow had already started that if we were going to go, we'd better do it now. Within a half hour, we were all packed including the Wii (so the kids would have something to do at Mom's house all night) We made the very slow 2 hour drive (normally 1 hour and 10 minutes) to Middletown, stopped at the grocery store for supplies and unpacked at Mom's house. With time to spare we decided we'd take the kids to see Marley and Me. A bad choice considering Marley dies for the last half hour of the movie and Dan's sadness consumed him by the end. We got back to Mom's in time to change and head to the Playhouse. Ed was helping Jonathan so Mike kept Alicia, Audrey (Jonathan's girlfriend) and I company. The food was unbelievable and we enjoyed the company. The rest of the patrons finished dinner and went into the show. Since I'd seen it the Saturday before and Mike wouldn't be interested we sat out and helped set up for the cabaret and New Year. By help out I had one job. Jonathan looked at me, as he handed me a tray full of empty champagne glasses, and said "You've done this before, right?" "Of course!" I said! and confidently started walking for the dining room. Just as I was stepping down my boot caught on the rug and crash! Three glasses to the floor. Thankfully none of them broke, we set the table. Mike carried glasses and I set thereafter, however Jonathan did break a glass after that event so I didn't feel too badly. The patrons came back out, and we enjoyed Cabaret and the dropping of the ball. It was a great night and I was glad we'd come. We went home freezing and climbed into Mom's nice warm water bed, and to sleep I went. Mike didn't fare quite so well. He and the water bed fought the whole time he was in it, he woke up early for a smoke on the back deck. The temp was 6 degrees and the wind was blowing at about 25mph. He was not happy. I found him at 7am sitting at the table, already into his second large Dunkin Donuts coffee. I was hungover but could clearly see we wouldn't be staying long. Packed up, woke the kids and in PJ's headed home. About 10 miles from the Bourne Bridge I suggested stopping for breakfast at a diner in Wareham. We pulled off but was unable to find the diner, spying a breakfast shack we decided it would do and pulled in. The Cranberry Cottage is our...read my... new favorite breakfast place. I had New England Benedict which is fish cakes on english muffins with scrambled eggs and hollindaise sauce. Even hungover it was the best thing I've tasted in ages. I ate it all. Mike had eggs Benedict, Danny and bagel with CC and sausage and Em scrambled, a bagel and home fries. Nobody was as impressed as I was. We made it home to find the house a chilly 54 degrees. We'd left the pellet stove running on low, and although it was still running it hadn't been on high enough to battle the 6 degree wind. By 7pm the house was up to 69 degrees. I fed the animals at Green Briar and did what I could to stay out of our cold house. Made baked stuffed shrimp for dinner with garlic butter pasta and casear salad and invited the Leone's over to join us. The Leone boys brought over their Wii controllers and fired up the Wii band for the first time in it's entirety. Two guitars, drums and vocals. It was really impressive. Everybody had a good time.

Friday we were scheduled to feed the animals as well and with Danny's birthday just a day away we had preperations to make. Em joined me in ordering balloons, picking up cake decorating supplies and a couple of last minute presents. We enjoyed lasagna at the Leone's for men's night.

Happy 5th Birthday Danny!!!

Saturday January 3rd, was going to be a busy day. Danny wanted to go to breakfast then bowling. Since bowling is in Buzzards bay, wareham I suggested we go back to the Cranberry cottage for breakfast. I was craving fish cake benedicts. The family agreed and we arrived here at 10:45am. Dan paid the bill as he had a couple of days before and told the waitress it was his birthday. When Dan sat back down the waitress announced that it was Dan's birthday to the entire restaurant, and brought out a muffin with a candle. Everybody sang him happy birthday. The time on my phone said 11:30am. He was exactly 5 years old. It was a special moment. I briefly recounted how thrilled we were to have him join us at 11:30am on that cool January morning 5 years ago during his homebirth. We left there and bowled a set at Ryan's family amusement, and spent a couple of dollars in the arcade, before a quick stop at the store to pick up his balloons and the ingredients for his spaghetti and meatball birthday dinner. We arrived home to find Gramma Nettie and little Gram just arriving with Christmas and birthday presents.
We exchanged Christmas gifts and finished just as friends started arriving for Danny's birthday. Laurie, Janni and Derek joined us in watching Dan enthusiastically open his gifts, slice his Spiderman 3 birthday cake, and enjoy his party. A group retired to the living room to play in the band as I dressed and got ready for work. Mike wrapped up the party and made Dan his birthday dinner. I think he had a great day!

December 10, 2008 GED Results, Preschool

We recieved Emily's scores in the mail yesterday afternoon. This is how they break down. Keep in mind she needed to score at least 410 in each of the 5 areas. 200 being the lowest, 800 the highest.
Language Arts-Reading- 670
Language Arts-Writing- 450
Mathematics - 440 -
Science - 560
Social Studies - 500
for a total of 2620 which averages out to 524. She had to have at least a 450 average.

Since, after finding out she'd passed, I didn't feel I could deny her anything we took a trip into Hyannis to the mall, to wander. Emily bought a couple of necklaces. Dan and I bought a couple of new pairs of pants and a new shirt for the first day of school. Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, he loves it. On our way home Dan asked if we could stop at Cape Maid Farms our local pet store. They have all kinds of cool animals including hairless hampsters, all kinds of snakes, lizards, spiders, and rodents, and this time we found a very nice feeder who brought out one of the ferrets for us to hold. Danny had a good time playing with them by putting a brush into their cage. Since they're were six young ferrets in there it didn't take much encouraging for their cage to turn into tumbling and nipping chaos. They had a great time, as did the kids and I. We might have to make visiting there an event we do more often. Em, Dan and I went home long enough to get our books together and head out to the Sandwich Library, where we returned and checked out more books and movies before meeting Mike at the British Beer Company http://www.britishbeer.com/local/sandwich/ for a celebratory dinner honoring Emily for her GED achievement. Em ordered Buffalo chicken tenders for an appetizer, Dan had Pizza, Mike had the French Dip, and I had a Greek Salad, one of the best I've ever had. It was a great night...

This morning Daddy woke Danny up a little after 7am and said Danny, you have to get up for school. That made Danny smile. Em and I will take him to school then go over to the Superintendents office to submit her GED results so she can be taken out of the their system. At 10am I have an appointment with Dr. Mann, my ENT then I have the rest of the morning for some Christmas shopping. I'm not sure I remember how to do that by myself !

Update: Unfortunately I forgot my wallet at home and since it was a 30 minute ride home to get it ran out of time for shopping before it was time to pick up Danny. He saw me, yelled "Mom" and ran into my arms. I'll take this over the clingy, whiny little boy I've spend so much time with lately. The teachers said he had a good day, and told him they looked forward to seeing him Friday....then a funny thing happened. As we walked to the van I asked Dan how his morning was and he said "not good" surprised I asked him why not. He said he couldn't do anything, they didn't play, they didn't go outside, nothing...in a very somber mood. I asked him if he was going to go back Friday and he said yes....now I'm confused. I asked him if he wanted to call Daddy and he said "not yet" Weird I thought. the teachers had mentioned that it was science day today so I prodded him further about what science he learned, at which time he got very animated. Told me all about the planets and how the "orbit" the sun. He said he had a great day, they played outside, he made lots of friends. Apparently he learned how to fool his mother in that very short 3 hour seperation! I'm glad he had a good day.

Emily's exit from the Mashpee School system was uneventful. We met Ellen Bankston at the door, she congratulated both of us, made a photocopy of Em's results and wished her good luck in whatever she chooses to do. Since she's being laid off just after Christmas I think she's scheming a ride down to Virginia with Mom and Mo to visit Vavo and Kathy for a while. From there who knows, maybe fly to Florida, and wait for us there, or fly home and make the trip with us. Whatever she chooses I think taking a semester off to do some traveling is the right choice for her. Carpe Diem honey!

December 9, 2008 Big News!!!

Within 24 hours I have one child newly emerging from the public school system, and one entering.

Emily passed her GED. Not only passed it but averaged a score of 525, when she needed 450. I am so pleased, and feel completely justified in the decision I made to take her out of school. It was absolutely the right decision. She recieved her diploma today and will walk the stage at Cape Cod Community College on June 9th.
We haven't recieved the scores yet, but I did call the school to make sure, and the Director said she really did very well, I'll post the scores when I get them.

Danny and I checked out a couple of preschools on Monday and found one we liked. I brought home to paper work, filled it out and returned it this morning. Danny can be very charming when he wants to be and asked the secretary very nicely if he could start school tomorrow. She said Yes. Danny will be attending the Kids Klub in Mashpee on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9am-12pm starting tomorrow. He's thrilled and was so excited to pick pretzels as his snack.


It's been quite a day!

September 20, 2008 Scallop Festival

6am:
Today Mike's going up to New Hampshire to his mothers house for 2 reasons. One, to bring home our dog, and two, because the porch on his mothers house is threatening to fall down the hill in front of it, so he's going to see what he can do to reattach it.
The kids and I are going over to Wareham to the laundry mat because now that we don't have a dryer, Emily is boycotting doing laundry and has piles to be washed. Since we're on that side of the bridge we're going to check out the scallop festival in Buzzards bay, then pick up Emily's friend TJ on our way home and she, TJ and Sarah are going to spend the afternoon hanging out.


Danny found this cool moth called a Large Tolype Velleda on the deck this morning. http://bugguide.net/node/view/3054

2:30pm
Danny's napping.....Em, Sarah and TJ are sitting in the living room watching Another Cinderella story, and I'm blogging.
We got an early start this morning, but not quite as early as Mike was hoping and he got out the door a little before 8am. The kids and I left around 9, arrived at Delkin laundry mat, started 3 loads of laundry and then Dan and I walked over to Walmart for sugar. We left there 30 minutes later with a winter coat, a Patriots warm up suit, two tee shirts, and a pair of pants for Dan. Two new red towels for the bathroom, Dan picked the color, our bathroom walls are chocolate brown & two new bras. I was hopeful when I chose 36C (11 weeks ago I was 38DD) and was thrilled when I got home, tried them on and they fit. We did remember the sugar thankfully and made it back to the laundry mat in time to put the clothes in the dryer. I've decided that the laundry mat is the way to go. In just over an hour we had 3 loads washed, dryed and folded. I might rethink buying a dryer and just plan to take a trip to Wareham every couple of weeks once the weather gets too cold for line drying.
We left there a little before 11 and arrived at the scallop festival just in time to get one of the last parking spots in their lot. Dan couldn't wait to try some rides, and originally thought he wanted to ride the ferris wheel until he stood under it and realized how tall it was, at which time he decided maybe he wanted to ride the bumper cars instead.
He also rode the serphent coaster, the slide, and made his way through the fun house. Then we went over to the Comcast booth where they were taking free pictures.and then onto the Banknorth kiosk for a spin the wheel contest where I won some hand sanitizer and to a name that tune contest that Em and I competed in. I won but just barely. We both won a free music upload card. We decided to take a walk through the craft tent and we quickly came upon an airbrush tattoo stand and Dan immediately decided he wanted a shark tattoo. Em chose a rose. We had just enough time to get back to the van and drive over the bridge to IHOP to pick up TJ.
We got home, fed Dan some lunch and sent him to bed for a rest.

Mike and Marley arrived home a at 10pm. Marley is shedding like crazy and left tufts of fur here and there as she came barreling into the house. She's been kennel dog for the last two weeks so she's pretty happy to be up on the couch, bed and Mikey's lap. Nettie kept one of Marley's puppies and named her Harlow. Every once in a while Marley lets out a little whimper....I wonder if she misses her babies....

September 4, 2008 My first annual Cicada exuvia & Dan rides a bike.

Things here have been pretty good. Just catching up on errands, shopping, cleaning up the house, and what we spend most of our time doing now....cleaning up after puppies!


The puppies needed to get out for a bit, after taking lots of pictures of them, Dan wanted a turn with the camera!

Marley doesn't seem to mind the pups climbing all over her!

Our other big news this week is that Dan has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He's still a little shakey starting and stopping, but he can ride like the wind when he gets going!

Dan riding his bike in the Remsen's yard

Last night I had my first class. Being a little nervous I left early....like 5:30 for a 6:30 class with a commute of 18 minutes. I needed to get my student ID at the library and since I didn't know where I was going I was glad I allowed extra time. I quickly made my way to the library, walked in the door and found that the receptionist at the desk was making ID's. I sat, took a picture and two minutes later was on my way. Since I was there I decided I'd see if I could find any information on Cape Cod Cicada's and saw a sign that said Cape Cod History with an arrow pointing down stairs. I came to a set of double doors, began to pull and realized the door was locked. Will have to go back another day when the Nickerson Library is open to do that research. I walked to South hall and began walking up and down the hall looking for room 111. The low numbers were on one side, the high numbers on another. An older gentleman was walking my way and since he looked like a professor I asked him directions feeling like a lost 1st grader on my first day. He directed me to the room directly ahead with no room number. I felt better. I sat, our teacher introduced himself and proceeded to school us on Sociology....and so forth...his favorite phrase. Since it was our first night he didn't want to stress us too much and let us go at 8pm. Nice way to start a semester...with a nice short class. I made it home to Mike, Em and Dan eating dinner and enjoyed sitting with them for the first time in a week.

Jen called yesterday afternoon and asked if we'd like to go apple picking with them today. I said sure, although it seemed a little early in the season. We hadn't seen them in a while and I thought it would be good to get together. I went for a short 30 minute walk this morning, trying to stretch out a pulled ankle muscle from Sleeping Giant. Then came home, showered, started laundry, packed a lunch and headed out to Walmart to pick up a few things before meeting the Harmon's in Acushnet. At 10:30 Dan and I were just leaving Walmart when we got a call from Buzz saying that the apple picking place didn't open until next week. With no other ideas we ended the call and were on our own. Dan's been asking about Water Wizz http://www.waterwizz.com/ so we looked in from outside the gates...too bad they don't stay open past labor day, we'd have been game for a September morning splash in their pools! We left there and decided we'd try to find some place to have lunch, thinking a beach, playground, park or cemetary. We drove toward Onset and made our way to Little Harbor Beach, it was breezy so we went to the marsh side and enjoyed lunch while watching 4 beautiful white cranes hunt for food. We went for a short walk along the water line, saw many fiddler crab holes and lots of poison ivy! We'd passed a cemetary on the way there, so I asked Dan if he wanted to do some poking around. Gerry swears by cemetaries for Cicada hunting, but admittedly they're not my favorite places....I thought I'd suck it up in the name of research. Dan said sure. Just as we were pulling into Agawam Cemetery in Wareham I heard a T. canicularis, that's a good sign I thought. We parked and started looking around. On the second tree we searched we found an exuvia, third and fourth tree two more. I was pretty excited with my first annual exuvia found on my own. As Dan and I made our way to a grove of pine trees I noticed large piles of sand and wondered if they could be Cicada killer burrows. Sure enough, finger sized holes on the edge of a pile of sandy soil. Looked just like what we saw in Wellfleet and I promptly called Gerry. He was interested enough to ask for a data point. We didn't see any Cicada killers and the mounds looked old (no new excavation) but you can bet I'll be checking it out next July! Here's the data point. Section A-3 & A-5 at the Agawam Cemetery, corner of RD Stillman Memorial Drive and Great Neck Road, Wareham, MA http://www.warehamhistory.com/AgawamCemetery/MapsectionA.htm

I had a GYN appt. at Wareham Nurse Midwives, and although I initially didn't want to take Dan with me, he behaved very well. Louise was very impressed with my new found health regimen. and encouraged me to continue with all the changes I've made. I weighed in at 175.4 lbs. Another 2 lbs lost! Blood pressure 120/70 pulse 72. I left there with an incredibly clean bill of health.

August 3, 2008 Dan can swim !!

I started this morning with another run. 3.5 miles in 50 minutes...I thought more running for more days would make my time faster, seems just the opposite...might need a day or two to let the muscles heal. Came home and did my ab workout, then loaded the truck with 5 weeks worth of trash and recyclables. We think we're beating the system buying 10 dump passes at $5 each over buying a dump sticker for $75 for the year. If we can go 5 weeks between dump runs it'll work! So far so good!
Mike and I dropped Em and Dan off at Percy's to wait in line for a seat for breakfast while Mike and I got rid of trash, and picked up a lawnmower (which Mike had running within 5 minutes of being home) and a bird cage that I think I can convert into a toad terrarium. Love shopping at the dump!

The kids were already seated when we arrived. Dan had Belgium waffles, Em scrambled eggs, a bagel and hash browns, and Mike Eggs Benedict with mushrooms. Percy's has a pretty amazing menu. I had an order of pan fried catfish and a small bowl of fresh fruit. Em asked if we could make a stop at Mashpee Commons for a new book that was just released named Breaking Dawn, and to see if she could find a bathing suit at Suit's you. Dan and Mike went in search of the book, while I helped Em with a bathing suit. She found a suit she liked and we headed home. Dan and I changed into our bathing suits and Em settled in to read.

It was a beautiful hot day and Dan and I went right into the water. Dan started swimming, and I wondered if he could make it to the raft, and asked him if he wanted to try. He swam the entire way, mostly underwater. He jumped off the raft and diving board and swam back to the beach, with minimal help from me. It was a big day for him and we celebrated with a big dipper when the ice cream man came.

The night ended quietly after having dinner with the Leone's. The puppies are a week old tonight and doing very well. We just determined that we have 5 girls and 2 boys. I don't know where we went askew but clearly somewhere. They are very cute and wag their tails now when they're getting ready to nurse.