February 4, 2009 Gold's gym, Star wars, and Disney

It's Wednesday, the sun is shining and although it only early February I can already feel winters hold starting to lift. The days are getting longer, the sun warmer. I removed the covers from the sky lights in our bedroom this week. It's just about this time of year that the sun is positioned just right that in the early afternoon the sun will stream in onto the bed and warm it nicely. I love to lay there when the opportunity arises.

I've faithfully gone to the gym every day and except for the day after working out with Pam have felt no pain. I think that means I'm not pushing myself hard enough. Emmy printed out a pass as well and has been joining me. It's nice to have her there, and Danny loves to go their childrens room. It's even more satisfying when everybody is happy!

We had an eight inch snow fall yesterday. It was a classic north easter so Dan and I went out early. Went to the gym, then headed over to the KC Coombs school to sign him up for kindergarten in the fall. We came home and thanks to Matt, who borrowed from his friend Paul all the the Star Wars DVD's, watched the first 4. It was a nice quiet day, curled up on the couch, in front of the stove while the wind and snow blew outside. I strategically planned a roast chicken for dinner, there's nothing better on a cold yucky winters day then the smell of roast chicken in the house.

With Disney just 20 days away I decided to retrieve the paperwork from the safe and familiarize myself with the times and dates that were set forever ago. We're all getting very excited. I feel sorry for Mike who will remain here in the hum drum while the kids and I have a fun adventure in the warmth for two whole weeks!

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 12, 2008 Autumn olives, and stained glass

We've had a string of absolutely perfect early fall days. The air is crisp, but the sun still close enough to warm the day up nicely.
Since the foraging field trip I've been in a frenzy trying to harvest as many autumn olive berries as I can before they pass for the season. So far I've boiled down 5 cups of berries and frozen them. Originally I was going to make fruit leather, but realized after making the mash that I didn't have any honey or stivia, so to keep them I decided that freezing was the way to go until I'm ready to dehydrate them. This morning on my way to taking Emily to work I saw this amazing sized Autumn olive bush loaded with berries, so after dropping Emily off I harvested what turned out to be 12 cups more. Dan and I really like eating the berries as they are and since I haven't tried the leather I didn't want to commit to any more of that, and unsure about the recipe for jam/jelly, I decided the best thing to do for now was to freeze the berries whole. After spending an hour de-berrying loads of branches I now have 2 quart sized bags, and 5 sandwich sized bags full of berries ready to go. Dan effectively managed to avoid berry stripping and decided he'd rather play with the dollhouse in the tent. We're getting very excited about our two week trip to Disney World in February and since we'll be camping in Fort Wilderness with Mom, Mo, Fran and Gary we thought we'd air out the tents and make sure they were in good shape.
Since our Autumn olive hunt took us to Hyannis yesterday we decided to stop in at AC Moore. A dangerous place for both Emmy and I. Emmy has taken up knitting, and really likes making scarves from the fringy yarn. She bought 10 skeins of varying colors while we were there. While scouting around I found this absolutely beautiful (well at least I thought so) Homespun yarn and after asking both kids if they wanted something made from it, and both saying no, I decided I'd make something for myself. I chose this poncho for my most of the time winter coat, since it usually never gets really really cold here. The color is lemonade. I can't wait till it's finished...I've never knitted for myself before! http://%20http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-prettyPoncho.html While we were at AC Moore I made my way over to the faux stained glass window section. I've been looking at this one particular pattern for a long time and just was never sure if I really wanted to start what looked like a really big project. I astarted collecting all the stuff needed to complete it and before I knew it found my arms filled with everything necessary. I decided to bite the bullet, and proceeded to check out. As we headed home I was eager to get the kids fed so I could see what the project would entail. Turns out not nearly as much as I was expecting, and by last night had one of the kitchens storm windows complete. Our kitchen windows face our neighbors kitchen sliders and although we really like our neighbors I think we'd both feel a little better with more privacy. The stained glass was the perfect solution and we all agree it looks great! I had a chance to work on the second one this afternoon after breakfast at John's capeside dinner and a walk on the canal to the Jetty with Mike and Dan, but I ran out of materials! I think a trip to Hyannis might be in order on Tuesday, since tomorrow we're finally going to the King Richard's faire! Anybody want to meet us there???