October 25, 2008 Halloween,Emmy's new car, and Mike's gallery.

Dan and I spent the better half of Thursday working on his turtle shell for his Halloween costume. He's going to be Leonardo from the Teenaged Mutant Ninja turtles and since Halloween is just over a week away we knew we had to get moving. The grocery store was giving away Red Sox balloons (since their season is now over) so we decided it would be the perfect mold for his turtle shell. Dan had a great time playing in the flour and water glue!
Friday we were scheduled to feed the animals at Green Briar but on our way there we got a text from Buzz and the girls asking us if we'd join them at the playground since it was such a nice morning. Last night was our first frost so I found it hard to believe, but we thought we'd give it a try and sure enough the morning was bright, beautiful, and warm. We played with the girls until it was time for them to go (Seneca had to be to school at noon) and Dan and I went off to feed the animals. We got home and Dan refused lunch, very uncommon for him. He layed on the couch and nearly fell asleep. I felt his head and sure enough a fever. He's spent lots of time with the Harmon girls this week and they all have runny noses. so I wasn't surprised.
Mike and I spent the afternoon getting ready for men's night then I took Marley for a walk while the guys rested. We had a small group for men's night, just Mike and Laurie and Richard. I'm not sure where everybody else was but we had tons of ham and scalloped potatoes left over. The night ended early and we tucked Dan into bed after a dose of Tylenol. Em, Mike and I stayed up to watch Ocean's 11, then went off to bed shortly after.
We woke up this morning and Dan immediately said "feel my head". He was nice and
cool and he seemed to be back to normal. He woke me around 2am to give him another dose of Tylenol, so I wasn't sure he was cured, but glad that he seemed better. I went for a run and did my 3.5 mile loop in 42 minutes, 5 minutes less then the last time I timed it. As I was getting back I decided to get the mail from the day before and found that our Disney tickets had arrived, Hurray!
We decided we'd head over to Wareham and try Leo's luncherama for breakfast then go check out that Ford Contour before Emily had to be to work at 12:45pm. Breakfast was good, typical diner food, Dan didn't eat and was suddenly looking under the weather again. While eating I got a call from Russ at Spirit Auto letting us know the car was ready. "Well good!" I told him "We'll be there in half an hour." We arrived just as the Contour was being finished. Mike immediately popped the hood, climbed under each side, checked the trunk, and found the source of a couple of leaks. He and Em climbed in to take it for a test drive. Mike drove it out, but Emmy drove it back. Mike declared it a decent buy, settled on a price of $3300, Em said it was the one she wanted and signed the papers. We arrived at 11:45am and left with the papers signed at 12:20.

We took Emmy to work then went over to Color Obsession which is a high end art gallery in South Cape Village that caters to New Seabury. Gail took 17 of Mike's pieces to display and sell. He's been working with a glass blower named Dave McDermott http://www.mcdermottglass.com/ and a master furniture builder Paul Noyse who both have work in this gallery. The three of them are getting ready to collaborate on a piece. He's excited and I'm very proud of him for following his passion!

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.

October 18, 2008 More used car shopping...

We got a late start this morning, but eventually made it out the door. Mike finished installing his new exhaust system and was confident his truck would pass inspection, which it did. Since we were out that way we browsed some used car lots on Willow street in Yarmouth and found a Mazda truck Mike said might be ok. Unfortunately nobody was in the office so we'll try calling on Monday. We made a quick stop at a pizza shop then took Em to work for 12:45. Mike, Dan and I made a quick trip to the grocery store for dinner supplies then came home. Mike decided he was going to take a nap. Dan and I opted to take Marley for a walk in the woods. We had a great time, I love walking in the woods in the fall. And both Marley and Dan got out some pent up energy. A win/win for all involved!

I went to work, this could be a long story, but I'll shorten it. Basically I walked in a little before 5pm. The assistant manager (AM) was there who I love to work with, but nobody said anything about me giving notice, until a few minutes after 5 when the AM checked the red book and asked what was going on. I stated that I gave notice. What I hadn't known was that my Brazilian Friend's (BF) last day of work was tonight. AM noted that she didn't think the Manager had seen my note and suggested I let her know later on. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm not quitting. If my BF is leaving, then I'm staying. She and I worked together throughout the night. I had lead headset (the one you can talk through, the other you can only hear) so I was pretty much tied to the service area. My BF was then respondsible for things like sweeping and mopping. I did my job, and was getting ready to work on the sandwich board when I noticed my BF pouring water into the bakery case. We were low on donuts so she'd moved them to one side. Before I knew it she was standing barefoot in a pond behind the counter. I've never seen anything like it. I took a picture. At that moment the phone rang, My BF answered, yelled for a few minutes in Portuguese and then handed the phone to me saying the Manager wanted to talk to me. My BF and the Manager are good friends. I said Hello and she said you wanted to talk to me?
I spilled my guts told her that as of right now my BF was barefoot behind the counter in a puddle with three other unfinished projects going on. She said it was unacceptable and asked to talk to her. My BF sounds like she's yelling when she's having a normal conversation and I wanted to avoid a controntation with so much work left to do so I asked my Manager to hold off until later on. She and I worked the rest of the night until 9:45pm when the phone rang again. I was taking the garbage out but I could hear yelling coming from inside. I did the rest of my work, happily said good bye and promptly left. She grunted....so it goes! So I still have a job and actually can't wait for work tomorrow.....I predict we'll be done early!

October 17, 2008 Used car shopping and Bye Bye Dunkin

I booked Disney! We have three flights round trip, and since I was doing it I ordered tickets for Dan and I for Disney. We decided that with 10 days of passes we didn't need the park hopper feature and saved ourselves a $100. The tickets should arrive by the end of the month. We're very excited, but Dan keeps asking when we're leaving....it's going to be a long few months!!!

Today's Friday and Mike's home and on a mission to replace his exhaust system. I am on a mission of my own. To find Emily a trustworthy car in the $2500 range which is what she's saved along with a $1500 start on insurance/fees/etc. She goes for her drivers road test on election day, November 4th and is thrilled that Gogie will be driving up since neither of our vehicles qualify for the road test. There must be an emergency brake between the two seats in case the testing administrator needs to stop the car. I can't wait for her to be able to drive herself back and forth to work. Ever since she's switch to cashiering sometimes Dan and I wait for an hour for her to be done. The time has definitely come. We checked several dealerships and it seems they all run the same way. They sell off their older trade ins to used car lots so most of them don't have anything in stock under $5000. We checked a couple of used car lots and found a couple, but either they were too old or had high milage. We'll try a place in Buzzards Bay tomorrow that one of the salesmen recommended. We got home around 2pm, had something to eat and relaxed until it was time for work.

I'm scheduled to work with my Brazilian (read, not-so) friend tonight and tomorrow. I don't have a good feeling.
10 O'clock follow up. Tonight went as expected, although I decided that rather then kill myself to get us both out on time I'd see what she does when left to her own devices. Namely, me not cleaning up after her. I arrived 10 minutes early as usual. I like to get there early, see what's going on, get a jump start if I need to without dealing with customers. Seems the other employees think then when I walk through the door I'm on. Laurie promptly collected her tips, counted them out and left! Celia started yelling for me to get her a toasted bagel, I pointed to the clock and told her I wasn't punched in yet. She yelled that I was on, I yelled that I wasn't. And so the night began.
I did what I always do. I took out all the trash in the store, including outside. Swept and mopped the entire store. Cleaned and stocked the Sandwich station, did all the dishes, cleaned the ovens, cleaned out the donut case, emptied and cleaned all the ice coffee urns, and waited on customers. She had to clean two dairy cleaners which normally take her 3 hours (me 30 minutes) and stock and clean the drive thru station. That's it. When I left at 10, because I had to pick Emily up at a football game, she still hadn't finished one of the creamers, and her station was trashed. I didn't feel bad about leaving. As I was finishing the paper work, temps, and donut and bagel throwaways, etc. I added a note for Camilla (the manager) that I was giving my two week notice. Enough is enough, I started working to get out of the house, socialize, gain a sense of accomplishment and make some money. With only two of those goals being met, it's just not worth it....I wonder what I'll do next!

October 16, 2008 Playground & Disney plans

Dan and I enjoyed a nice quiet morning hanging out at the playground with Jen and the girls. I knitted, Jen and I caught up and Dan and his friends played on the equipment then made they're way over to their favorite hill and started constructing "houses" from the lumber lying around.







The sword that Danny and Daddy built.

On an exciting note, I started committing to our
Disney trip and in another window as I type lays 3 plane tickets to Florida just waiting for Mike's inspection before I hit the "Buy" button. As it stands we'll be gone for two weeks Tuesday February 24 - Tuesday March 10. Flights are $209 per person. 10 day park hopper passes will cost Em and I $287 each. Originally this trip was going to be for Dan and I alone. I took Emmy to Disney when she was 5 and thought it was the perfect age so I've been telling Dan for years that we'd go when he was 5. But now that Emily has a job she's decided she wants to go and pay her own way. With free tent at Mom's campground, and a free flight that leaves her responsible for park passes and food. Pretty good deal, and I'll be willing to bet the only people sleeping in the tent will be Danny and I. Your highness will be holed up in the camper!

October 15, 2008 Dr. Mann & Corn Maze

Another busy day here at the Gould cottage. Emily had to be to work for 8:45, I had a 9:30 appt with Dr. Mann (ENT)and then we were due to meet the homeschoolers at Sauchuk Farm
http://www.sauchukfarm.net/default.htm in Plympton at 11:30. On top of that we thought since we were up that way we might check out Daddy's new office in Taunton if we had time.
Dan and I dropped Emmy off at work then headed into Falmouth for my appointment. Dan decided in route that he wanted to be Leonardo from the Teenage mutant ninja turtles for Halloween, and since we had a few minutes we thought we'd run into Walmart to see if they had a green sweat suit. They did and while we were there I optimistically grabbed a pair of size 10 jeans and a couple of medium long sleeved T-shirts, since my wardrobe is down to one pair of holey jeans, one pair of stained jeans and too many over sized short sleeve shirts. We made it to Dr. Mann's office right on time and was promptly invited into one of the exam rooms. Dr. Mann was very nice. My lyme test came back negative. My VNG came back abnormal. The way he described it is that the test results suggest that there is either a leison growing inside my left ear or within my brain. I promptly pointed out that he MRI was negative and he concurred. At which point I asked if I had something growing in my ear. I'm not sure he ever answered that question but suggested that my new diagnosis was Meneiere's disease....well duh, the first doctor I saw back in RI said that's what it was 9 years ago! Anyway, he said before starting medication he wanted me to cut out as much salt as possible from my diet. SALT ! In the last 5 or so years I've given up nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, meat, dairy and wheat, and the only thing that made the last three of those bareable was the salt. I cried right there in his chair. I'm a realist, things happen, bad or good and it's just what it is, it's meant to be. However that's before I was asked to give up salt. I'm sad, I feel like I've lost a friend and now wonder if eating is even worth doing, with everything tasting so blah. Irrational I know, and tomorrow I'll pick myself up and move on, but today I mourn. I hope Dr. Mann is wrong. Maybe I'd rather have a lesion. Ok...not really...
I left there thinking about all the favorite things I'm eating now that I'll have to avoid. Namely fake buttered popcorn and anyting marinated in vinegar.
We made it up to Plympton a little after 11am and without enough time to visit Dad we went directly to the corn maze, had a quick lunch then explored the farm. They had a cool pit filled with corn for the kids to play in like a sandbox, and cow train, and hayride to a pick your own pumpkin patch and of course the maze it self with sheets of paper called passports as clues to find your way. Marie was there with 4 of her boys. We met her and her family at the foraging field trip, so it was nice to see a friendly face. There were homeschooler from all over at this event since it was off
Cape. She and I started the maze together and our boys immediately took off into the maze. Dan thought he was such a big boy hanging out with all of them and since Marie's boys promised to look after him I let him go. Talk about an over protective Mom. Marie and I got lost....alot. Finally we found a number, consulted our passports and found our way to the first bridge. It was a beautiful view and she and I had fun taking each others pictures from up there.....boys? What boys? Since we could no longer hear the cherubs and it'd been a while we decided we'd go back to the start and enter the maze through the exit to head them off when they got to the end. We exited the maze then reenterd the exit which brought us to the second bridge. We could hear the boys but quickly lost their sound. We decided they were probalby already out and decided to go out ourselves. We found the two littlest boys petting and feeding the pygmy goats. Dan and Brenden did a great job of taking care of one another.
We found the rest of the boys, and some other homeschooling Mom's and talked while the kids played. Eventually most of the kids were out and one of the Corn Cops started up the ATV and started giving cow train rides. The kids had a blast. After that we climbed aboard the hayride. Marie opted out of this adventure and I willingly kept my eye on her boys. They each picked a miniature pumpkin to take home, we boarded our ride and made our way back. A quick look at the clock told me I needed to call Emily and tell her we'd be late. We left Plympton at 2:15 and made it to Mahoney's at 3:30. There's just no good way to get from the Bourne Bridge to East Falmouth. We came home and tag teamed the chores and before we knew it we were all relaxing. I threw a couple of racks of beef ribs in the oven, then went to class. Since tonight was the debate our professor thought our time was better spent watching that and let us leave early. I've been craving fresh Autumn olive berries all afternoon and decided on the way home I'd hit the playground in the dark to harvest some. I'm addicted to these things, they'll have to do if I can't have popcorn. And remember those size 10 jeans? They fit!

October 14, 2008 Graeme Base

The homeschoolers were invited to meet the childrens author and illustrator Graeme Base. http://www.graemebase.com/Home.cfm We didn't own any of his books but always like to meet such creative people and since he was going to be at the Sandwich library, we thought all the better. We took Emily to work then headed over there and made it just in time for the start. Turns out he's an extremely talented story teller as well as artist and Dan was enthralled with him. He read his book called Enigma which is a story he wrote based on his son's relationship with his grandfather. During the reading Dan raised his hand to ask a question. Graeme stopped reading and patiently asked Dan what he wanted to ask. Dan said "Can I borrow that book when your done with it?" Which immediately raised giggles from the crowd. He can be quite charming when he wants to be. We decided to buy the book and Graeme signed his name along with a picture of a rabbit that he just whipped up. There is a video of the signing to the left if your interested. It has a safe in the back of the book which you have to unlock using three keys. Dan couldn't wait to unlock the safe to see the code. I'm sure we'll spend a substantial amount of time tonight deciphering pages. Maybe I can get Mikey to do it!