October 29, 2008 Emmy's car, GED, and Sociology

It's Wednesday and we were supposed to pick up Em's car today. Emily is still not feeling well but has to work. We're planning to pick it up after work, but on the way in she said " Will it make it easier if I don't go to pick up the car with you" at which time I said "absolutely!" She gave me permission to pick it up without her. Although this will make life significantly easier for me, I worry that I've pushed her over the edge and she's completely overwhelmed with all that happened in the last few weeks. Dan and I dropped her off at work and immediately went to the registry in Falmouth for what I expected to be a long wait. I was pleasantly surprised when my number was called before I'd even removed it from the machine. To my surprise I had all the necessary paperwork and marveled how the registry has changed since my youth when 3 hour waits and missing paperwork were the norm. Five minutes later we left with Em's registration and headed home to wait for the phone to ring. At 1:30 Dan and I went to pick up Emmy from work and since we still hadn't heard took her directly to 4C's to fill out the GED application that they only take on Wednesdays. Orientation will be Thursday November 13th from 4:00 - 5:30 and the test will be on Tuesday November 18th and Thursday November 20th from 4:00-8:30. Since hopefully she'll be driving herself around by then I showed her where to park and where the classroom for the test was. We left there a little after 3pm and since we still hadn't heard anything about the car decided to call. Russ answered and said they'd found that the alternator was bad and expected the part to come in mid-morning Thursday. We went home and enjoyed a quiet afternoon before it was time to go to school. By the comments my professor has made I've concluded he's a democrat and since Obama's 30 minute info-mercial was due to air at 8pm I wasn't surprised when he let those of us who had already taken test 2, go at 7:30. On the way out he gave us our scores. I smuggly waited for my name to be called sure I had scored no less then an A+ on this exam. I was sadly mistaken and scored only a B. I could find only a couple of things he considered errors and am beginning to question his grading policy. I intend to talk to him next week.

October 22, 2008 Walking and more grown up things for Emily

We awoke on Sunday morning to a beautiful cool fall day. We had breakfast and since nobody had to be anywhere until 2:30 I asked Mike and the kids to join me on a walk. They all agreed and we decided we'd check out the trail of tears off of Rt 149 in Barnstable, a 10 minute drive from our house. It was a nice path through the woods, Dan placed his arrows when we came to a new path. Marley found a ball and had Emily throw it for the duration of the walk. We were in the woods for nearly an hour before making our way back to the van. The ride home was filled with the sounds of "I found another tick" and we promptly frontlined Sampson who made it through the entire summer without needing it. In all we removed over 50 ticks between the 4 of us! Dan and I worked on wrapping his friend Justin's birthday present and making him a card for his 2:30 party, at which Dan had a great time. I went to work and enjoyed the quiet but efficient company of my Assistant Manager, as predicted we were done with hours to spare.
Monday morning we took Emily to work, then did some grocery shopping for the week, and came home and did laundry. It was a perfect fall day, with a brisk north wind. I dried our sheets on the line in 30 minutes and happily dried 4 loads in one day. I think that's a record! Dan, Marley and i took a walk down Cove Rd, to Shore Drive then through the woods home. It's a 40 minute walk and Dan really enjoys it. Monday night I worked as well, and again were done with only minor things left to do at 7:30. My Assitant Manager and I are now fighting for customers just to keep busy! My how the pendulum has swung!
Tuesday Dan and I took Em to work again and since it was another nice day and all the laundry was done we decided we'd spend some time at the playground. We pulled in and found the Harmon's there. Buzz and I had a chance to catch up while the kids played. We had lunch at the playground then since Dan's been nagging me to go we went over to the Cape Cod Children's museum http://www.capecodchildrensmuseum.org/to play for a little while before having to pick Emmy up at work at 2pm. I spoke to James at Citizen's bank when I was there on Monday about opening a checking account for Emily so she'll have a debit card. I've gone back and forth about whether I wanted her to have one and ultimately decided I'd rather help her navigate money management and banking under my supervision before she's old enough to do it on her own. So after work we went down to talk to James who set Emily up with her own Checking account under our account. The stipulations are that she will have $50 direct deposited into her checking account every week and all the rest will be direct deposited into her savings account. As it stands Mike and I are the only ones with access to online banking on all the accounts so I'm pretty confident it's a good way to start. She excitedly ordered In the Wild checks until she saw the price. Hey kid....this is real life now!
Wednesday was another busy day, Dan, Em and I all went to the Sandwich Library for Mr. Parson's storytime, then headed to Wareham to follow up with a recommendation from one of the Saturn dealership salesmen about Spirit Auto in Buzzards Bay. We pulled into the parking lot. The man Russ, who we were told to speak with, promptly met us in the parking lot. We told him what we were looking for and he directed us to a 1998 Ford Contour 84K miles, $2900. And somehow it felt right.....He said he hadn't looked at it yet, but was due to go in tomorrow and would give us a call. Em's calling it hers, hopefully we'll all go check it out Friday afternoon after she gets off work. On the way home, we decided we'd go take a ride to 4C's. I had to schedule another math assessment test to try and bring up my grade by 12 points to avoid a remedial math course, and since we were there I thought we'd check with the GED office about scheduling Emily's test. Everybody was very nice, and it was amazing how anti public, pro home school everybody was. Em will take the GED test next month and if she passes it could start college as early as this coming spring. I'm so excited for her, and wished that college had been an option for me at her age. I think I could have done well in the community college live at home setting.
I'm excited to report that I'm confident that I aced my Sociology test tonight. I was confident about the first test too, but completely studied the wrong information and came away with only a C+ (I cried) this time I'm confident I gave him what he was looking for....I'll find out in a week.

September 25, 2008 A new days dawns....

I awoke this morning to the faint smell of wood smoke and immediately knew the stove was lit. Lately the house has been about 68 degrees when we wake up and I inwardly moan a few times before throwing off my 4 layers of blankets to brave the cold. This morning I climbed out barely awake and curled up next to my wonderful husband on the couch. He can't wait for a frost, but knows how much I detest the cold. Since Emily has to be to work early everyday this week for inventory, he knew I'd be up and since the house was down to 67 he was kind enough to warm it up for me before my alarm went off.
We contemplated our respective days, pretty light for both of us, showered, dressed and wished each other a good day. Dan and I took Em to work then made a quick stop at the grocery store for....you guessed it....more apples. Our area isn't a big farming community. Although we do have a few farm stands and a weekly farmer's markets, most of our produce is still bought at the local stop and shop. I do, however, look for foods that are grown at least close by. Yesterday we bought concord grapes from Concord, MA, and today a sugar pumpkin from Hanson, MA. I bought Gala's yesterday that were grown in NH, but wasn't as happy with the flavor as I might have been with the Macintosh's so I sucked up the distance (and the price) and bought Macintosh's from NY. 12 big ones. Since Danny's reaction last night was very similar to his cousin Jonathan's I thought I might try another late evening canning extravaganza, then remembered....tonight is the season premiere of Survivor. I've requested both Wednesday and Thursday nights off until further notice to cover school and our survivor obsession. It's the one hour all week that we all sit in front of the TV with the lights turned off, and bowls of popcorn in our laps. Survivor is one of the few things I like about the start of fall.
Dan and I brought our apples home, I grabbed my school bag and back out the door we went so Dan could "socialize" at the playground. As I alternated between watching him play with a large group of boys, and studied, I pondered the idea of socialization some more. I understand the purpose, and I can appreciate the sheer chaos that would ensue if we didn't have it. Even as much as I hate to be stereotyped I understand how nearly completely socialized I am. And in the grand scheme of things I'm OK with it. I just like to retain a sense of uniqueness that seems to be lacking in my lessons thus far. Maybe chapter 6 will be enlightening.
As the playground cleared out, Dan and I agreed it was time for lunch, he'd played hard for nearly 2 hours and I'd read most of chapter 5...two birds, one stone. We came home to make lunch. Dan chose a bologna and cheese sandwich with a bowl of soup. Remembering the left over applesauce in the fridge, I asked him if he'd like some, and he said "please!" Since I didn't taste it the night before I decided to try a small spoonful, and that's when it hit me. I'm not generally a fan of anything apple but this small mouthful was wonderful. Not since making baby food have I gotten so much satisfaction out of providing nutrition for my family. And I have 2 more jars just like it in the pantry. It's official, I'm addicted...I'll be doing alot more canning!

September 24, 2008....still.... Sociology test

So here it is, hours after my first big test in 20 years. Class started promptly at 6:30pm. After a 45 minute lecture our professor offered us 15 minutes of study time or the option of taking the test immediately. I confidently raised my hand to request the test and began. 6 questions total, of them we were to choose 3 and since we were given a study guide with 9 questions, none of them were any surprise. I quickly regurgitated the answers, stood, handed my test to the professor, wished him a good week, and left the room. I was out the door by 7:45. There will be 4 tests, each 25% of our grade. There is an optional bonus paper we can write if we want to bring our grade up. Need it or not I plan on writing it. Apparently, I like to write. I wonder if he'd take it in blog form.
I arrived home with energy to spare, and since Mike adamantly refused to join me in reenacting the movie Mama Mia, I decided to make applesauce from the apples we bought at the farm stand this morning. Nearly 12 hours after finishing the second jar of grape goo nothing has happened. I considered adding it to the apple sauce for a unique flavor but might instead use it as pancake syrup as Kristin suggested. Since we have pancakes and french toast often, the grape goo might be a nice change from the maple syrup. With 2 jars to use I'm sure at some point I will do both. I peeled and cut 10 apples (not 40lbs) boiled them until they were soft, added some cinnamon, nutmeg and a little brown sugar and then mashed. After 20 minutes in the boiling hot water bath, 2 jars of canned spiced applesauce emerged to be cooled and stored. I waited impatiently for the satisfying pop, then retired to the living room to join Mike and Dan who were captivated in a ninja warrior episode.
I can't help but think, after reading Kristin's latest comments, that she and Mike are unwittingly the victims of the Silveira roller coaster. Thankfully they are both easy going, fun loving individuals who might otherwise not put up with our wild antics and/or crazy ideas. Adam and I, and I might also add our brother Ed, who's equally insane, are all lucky that way. Maybe we're even rubbing off on our spouses a little. Kristin's been showing signs of insanity for some time now and, who knows, a few more years with Mike. there might be chickens, and maybe a goat at the Gould ranch yet!
As for free thinking and social defiance maybe I can try focus my attentions on more global issues. Maybe work on world peace, or the abysmal state of our economy. Maybe our nations answers are in the jar.

September 24, 2008 More canning and wandering minds

Thanks Kristin for your tip. As you suspected in your comment, the regular pectin did not work. So Dan and I went to the store this morning, bought a box of liquid pectin and since they had some concord grapes we grabbed them too. Came home boiled down the grapes, added our grape soup from yesterday to the pectin, boiled it, put it in jars, and re-bathed them. As I type this they're sitting on the cutting board still soup. How long does it take to "harden"?

Dan's napping and I should be studying for my sociology test tonight, but feel the need to blog instead. After all, I've done the homework, taken the notes, and listened to every moment of my professors lectures. It's sociology, how hard can it be? As the weeks go by, I find myself more then a little agitated at the end of each class. Last week, enough so, that I sparked a debate. I resent the fact that sociologist suggest that we're all a bunch of cattle being raised with the same social standards and depending on our income, sex, race, education, etc. are expected to act in a predictable manner. As if there is no room for free thinking, or imagination. I've always found myself to be, more often then not, on the odd side of any social norm, and wonder why that is, and how a sociologist would account for it.

Take canning for example. Not the social norm. Most people go to the grocery store, buy a jar of grape jelly, pay for it, bring it home and it's done. However, I knew I'd like canning before I started. It's homey, it makes the house smell great and for the most part it's not very thought provoking. Well, right now it is because I don't know what I'm doing. But I suspect somewhere in the near future I'll have the logistics figured out and when faced with 40lbs of apples to peel, after about the 4th one, the hands will take over and free my mind to wander. I get the same effect from hanging clothes on the line, lying quietly in a hot bath or going for a long run. Somewhere there is a disconnect from being a person with a body, to just a mind going where it wants, when it wants. It's in these times, where I can really think things through for what they are and not for what I've been told they should be, that my most significant decisions have been made. Having Danny at home, deciding to home school Emily, going back to school myself are all recent events that have happened and are a direct result of many accumulated hours of a wandering mind. I wonder what my next social defiance will be. Whatever it is, you can be sure that hours of canning will have been involved. In the end, who wants to be a foregone conclusion, or just a social norm...I'm more interested in free thinking....I'm in good company ! Kristin, was that 100 chickens? I think my brother might need less nails to bang, apparently he's letting his mind wander farther then mine! Or maybe we can just blame our rebellious ways on genetics...

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 18, 2008 Wellfleet's Cicada Killers

I'm sitting here at the computer, it's 2:08pm on a Monday. The weather today is typical August in heat, but not in humidity and we're enjoying a nice south wind. Mike is away in Geneva NY for the week. He left early Sunday morning and we're expecting him to return either Friday or Saturday this week. The puppies are barking like crazy right now, Marley just fed them, so they're awake and practicing their barks before tiring out and taking a nap. Things here have been crazy busy, but I'll take it over being bored.
Friday I woke up at 6am, after working 5pm to midnight the night before, to go for a 3.5 miles run, then showered and quietly left my sleeping family to take my college placement exam at 8:30am. The drive to 4C's took 18 minutes. Directions were flawless and I soon found myself seated at a computer terminal. I took the test in 1 hour and 9 minutes. I aced the English comp, grammar and arithmetic portions of the test. Algebra was a little lower. I was then ushered to an advisor who helped me decide which course to start with, we chose sociology and she encouraged me to study up on my algebra a little bit and retake that portion on the test in hopes of pulling my score up 12 or so points so I wouldn't have to take a remedial algebra. If passed I can then move directly into Chemistry in the spring. I was sent next to the registration office and finally to the business office. It was 11am before I arrived home a happy new college student. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the beach, before another eventful evening at D & D.

Saturday morning promised to be very busy. Em had to be to work at 9am. The Goulds and Pam and London had beach cleanup at 9am as well. An early morning e-mail from Gerry said he wanted to go out to Wellfleet to check out a cicada killer Lek and asked if I'd join him. Mike had to pick up a box truck for his trip at 3pm, Em needed to be picked up from work at 4pm and I had to be to be to work for 5pm. And if that wasn't enough, our annual PPA adult social was Saturday night as well, and I was on the committee. Thankfully, after a call to Gerry telling him how bad the traffic was he decided he'd save his Wellfleet trip for Sunday. Mike, Dan and I arrived at the beach with Pam, London and Justin to find it already done. We have a mystery beach clearnerupper. Em finished work early and was home by 3pm with plenty of time to rest before she needed to set up for the party. And Mike's box truck was ready and waiting when we pulled up at 3. Our hectic day wasn't so hectic after all.I went to work, but heard that the party went great. Black and white was a hit, and there was plenty of good food to go around.

I woke at 7:15 Sunday morning in a panic because as of midnight Saturday, I still didn't know what our Wellfleet plans were. I ran to the computer to find a note from Gerry saying he was running late...awesome I thought, I'll have more time....until I read further and realized that running late to Gerry meant he was going to be here at 8am! I kissed Mike good bye and wished him a safe trip, ran down to start some laundry, made the bed, woke Dan up, and packed up a few things within minutes of Gerry pulling up. It was a bright beautiful morning and with nothing to do for the entire day I was thrilled to be making this trip. The only pitfall was that Dan would have to come with us. Even so, we were checking out a cicada killer Lek in a parking lot. Dan would be fine. And he was mostly. We arrived there a little after 10am. We got out of the Hummer, and started walking around. Gerry quickly found a pile of sand with a finger sized hole and stated this was exactly what we were looking for, but this one seemed old with no new sand. So we looked around some more and nearly tripped over a whole grouping of them right in parking lot itself. Seems they had made use of the cracks in the pavement. Gerry wes pleased to see newly excavated sand, so we hung around and waited. Sure enough with in a few minutes a female cicada killer arrived and flew into a hole. Gerry suggested that we plug the holes with sticks so that if a female arrived with a cicada she would drop it because she couldn't get into her hole. We filled all the visible holes and waited again. A few minutes later, a female arrived carrying a cicada. She dropped it just as Gerry said she would and Gerry picked it up and laid the Canicularis in his hand, hoping that the female Cicada Killer would take it from him. She never did, but I got some great video of her buzzing around and even eventually she did take it down her burrow. Gerry had asked if I'd like to keep the Canicularis and I said no, thinking if we got one, we'll get more. Gerry has a way of making things look easy. We hung around for another half hour waiting for the Cicada killers to bring in more Cicada's and nothing. Wished I'd kept that canicularis! Dan was getting restless and Gerry suggested a hike. http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/upload/GreatIIslandseparationsfinal.pdf
Here are a couple of youtube videos of the Cicada/Cicada killer we saw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D58MST_nE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6CWMcy5G7Y

We followed a path that emptied into a marsh, and this little bay created by Great Island. We took a right and followed the water around. Great Island is a peninsula with a small sliver of land connecting it to the mainland. It's mostly just a glorified sand bar at high tide probably no more then a couple thousand feet wide. We followed the path but it was slow going, the air warm and I could tell Dan was quickly tiring after about 1/2 mile of high speed walking. We decided to pass Gerry's net off to him when we realized we'd never keep up, and go exlore the ocean on the other side of the dunes. Gerry left us the Hummer keys and quickly disappeared onto Great Island. Dan and I had a great time exploring this little traveled beach and found a couple of bouys to start our collection. One was fully intact blue and yellow, the other small green and white. We made our way back down the beach parralle to the way we'd come and eventually made our way back to the Hummer. I had the presence of mind when packing to include Dan's bathing suit, and I wore mine, so we changed then headed back down to the marsh. Dan and I played in the water a while and observed the fiddler crabs, and small fish swimming around. Elias called and we chatted for a bit. Unfortunately I didn't charge my phone before heading to Wellfleet and mid converstation my phone died. It'd probably been over 2 hours since we'd last seen Gerry, and with no phone I was mildly concerned. I had the Hummer keys however and knew that my fears were unfounded. It's amazing how much carrying a live cell phone adds to your sense of security. Amazingly enough, Gerry appeared only minutes later, and we started our trip home. Elias had armed with enough ammunition to keep our ride home intereting. Gerry and Elias go to great lengths to annoy one another, and Elias thinks it's hysterical when he gets someone else to do his dirty work. Gerry never falls for it, and Elias and I are always disappointed not to get more of a reaction out of him.

Dan and I arrived home a little after 4pm. The Leone's were in the grove so I went and sat. Dan immediately ran off to play with his friends. We said goodbye to Gerry, and then hung out chatting in the grove for a while. As 6pm approached, Mike Leone went home. Laurie and I decided that since low tide was at 6:30 that we'd take the kids down to the tide pool to poke around for a while then get dinner at Seafood Sams. We hadn't really dressed for the tide pools, but it was nice to be by the ocean anyway. Em and Dan did a little exploring before we all got hungry and decided it was time for dinner. Seafood Sams was packed. So we decided we'd call in our order for takeout. One problem, my phone was dead, Emily's went dead just as we were dialing, and Laurie didn't bring hers. So we started looking for pay phones, giggling at how stupid this was all getting. After trying 2 broken pay phones we decided to give up and just stand in line. It moved quickly, and by 8pm we were sitting at the canal enjoying our meals. It was a great day on Cape Cod, nearly perfect in fact.

August 14, 2008 Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Things here continue to be busy so this blog entry is going to be quick. Em's working her normal schedule this week M-Th & Saturday (7 hour days) . I'm working T,Th,Fri, & S(7 hour shifts). Mike's working M-Th (10 hour days)and leaves on Sunday for Seneca Lake, NY for the week. Mike and the kids did really well with me working on Tuesday night. I made dinner, American chop suey before I left so all they had to do was warm it up. Work was good. I worked with another girl and it was fairly quiet but I prefer to stay busy, she on the other hand is newly pregnant and decided she's rather stand around. At 11:30 we prepared to close the shop and since she doesn't usually work nights I was in charge....after only 3 days. Just like Dunkin. Thankfully, closing was all relatively easy, so after shutting down the lights and locking the door, I set the alarm and we commited to leaving. It was 12:02am. Got home to find Mike awake, but just barely. Told him he should have gone to bed, and went there myself hoping he would too, which he did.

Wednesday was more of the same, the sun was out so Dan and I set about getting all our stuff done early so we could enjoy the beach for the afternoon, becauase at 7pm Mike and Laurie were picking Mike and I up to see Jeff Durham and the melody tent. He was a great comedian and we all had a great time. In bed after midnight again tonight, and suspect it will probably be the earliest for the next few days. I found an online study guide for the assessment test I'll be taking on Friday morning and quickly realized how little math I remembered. Thursday's project is a quick math refresher, hopefully the weather will be nice so I can study on the beach while Dan plays!

Marley's puppies youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaZ1tSxHBbw

August 8, 2008 I'm hired...and enrolled!

Wednesday was wet and quiet. We took Em to work then went to D & D to apply for a job. I was told to return on Thursday to talk to the manager. Will do. Dan and I came home and declared it movie day. We ate lunch then went up to the loft, popped in Jumanji. Dan thought it was great, action packed, and a little scary. Right up his alley, since he's a big boy now. Then we came down, made some popcorn and watched Flipper. Dan loves the ocean, and the animals in it, but he wasn't all that interested in watching Flipper, I don't know if he was all movied out, or if he just didn't like it.

Thursday started off the same way, Em to work, Dan and I to Dunkin to talk to the manager. I was hired in 2 minutes and asked to return for my first 5-midnight shift on Friday. Very excitig!

Today started off with a 3.5 mile run with Marley, I'm thrilled to have my running partner back! Did my ab workout when I got home, hung two loads of laundry on the line, showered and then took Dan, Em and Sarah to Hyannis. I dropped Em, Sarah and Dan off at TJ Maxx and went to Trader Joe's to do some shopping. On my way back, my cell rang. It was 4C's saying that I was accepted as a student, and that I should make an appointment for my assessment testing, which I then scheduled for next Friday August 15th at 8:30am. I'm very excited and Mike seems pleased as well, he's calling me his "coed". So tonight's my first night of work, looking forward to it,I hope it's going to be easy since I have so much experience and I also hope I can keep my eyes open until Midnight. With any luck, I'll come home happy but tired, fall into bed for 6 hours or so, then awaken refreshed and ready for a run.

I also talked to Gerry today. He asked if I would be interested in joining him in a cicada killer expedition in Wellfleet that I promptly accepted. Wellfleet in the summer on a weekend can be pretty frustrating, maybe I can talk him into a weekday!