Yes, that's right. I am still here, and so is my entire family. Even my friend Doreen, who I most would have expected to have been raptured, responded to my text last night. So I guess now we wait and see. Maybe at work there will be some missing compadres.
Other than the cable phone, tv, and internet going out for an hour or so yesterday, and skies that alternated between threatening and bright hot sunny yesterday was a pretty ordinary day. I woke up with a headache from wine too late the night before, got a lot of laundry done, and took a walk with the dogs. Took B to tennis and hollered at M for not doing the cleaning she was supposed to do before having three friends show up to take her out for the evening. Three friends, might I add, who were very well received by our new guard dog!
And we look to the upcoming week, with Kevin off to Denmark. B is finishing up his time under math tutoring, as well as (should be) preparing for finals. M just has swimming and taking up space at school waiting for graduation (a month from now) and I will have to work although we're all off on Friday.
In other news, the newspaper just arrived, and me in my bathrobe. Abby is tall enough to reach the mailbox, I wish I could train her to go out and get it. I probably could, but she might eat any passers-by, and that just wouldn't be good.
Anyway, just wanted to weigh in and alert the world to my continued residency here; just in case anyone had any doubts.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
rapture watch
I've been neglecting my blog. Again, I guess nothing ever happens, or so many things happen but they just don't seem all that interesting. There are swim meets, warts, graduations, dogs, and monsoons. And then, there is the End of Days.
I heard on the radio this morning that the end of the world should reach us at around 6am Saturday. Of course, we don't know who will be raptured. The radio personality isn't too worried about the population of NJ dwindling by much; he figures we'll probably lose very few residents. Who knows, maybe he is right. I guess at this point all we can do is hope we qualify. It's not too clear what to do at this point, probably too late to mend your ways.
So assuming we are still here on Sunday, what does that mean? Back to work on Monday, back to the dog park, M has a swim meet, and B only has two more (four day) weeks of school before finals. He's only failing one class at the moment, but oh! what bad timing. It's religion.
Anyway, summer still isn't falling into place as far as trips and plans, but M will go to the national meet after all, but we worked it out so she'll only swim two of the four days. We will pay less, and she can come back and work like she wants to do. So she and Kevin (he gets to go after all so he is happy about that) will fly out with the team and fly home the evening of the second day. I figured, she's never made top 16 on her own, and if she does it this year we will gladly pay the penalty to change the flights!
B and I will stay here and do what we do. If all goes well, he will be volunteering at the big hospital near my office. He has had and passed his first TB screen, and he has to go again in two weeks. Then he has an orientation the night of M's prom, and I guess at that point he will find out where he can request. He says he would like to be in neurology. I know when M volunteered at the other hospital, you had to be 16 to be on the peds floors. I don't know if that rule will apply here as well. But he is pretty excited to do this job and I think (hope!) it will be good for him. I'm hoping he can do two eight hour days a week, and I can drop him on my way to work and pick him up on my way home. Then he'll do tennis camps scattered about here and there, and we have our trip to Boston. Still trying to work in Cape May! We never made it there last year :(
On the canine front (what happens to the dogs in the doomsday scenario?) Abby has been behaving well. I have a friend helping me with interventions and today we went to her house where Abby only barked at her a little when we went through the door and then she settled right in and made herself right at home. We also stopped by the dog park, where she now feels very much a part of the community, and she didn't bark at a single person, even when they petted her! She did poop in the tall grass though, and then I stepped in it. (ew) We also met a neighbor on our walk the other night and stopped to chat and she was fairly easy to calm after the initial woofing.
And in other news, our town is embroiled in chaos over development. They want to build 340+ homes just behind our hamlet (I think I have said this before) but now the golf course on the other side of the road sued for the right to build 200 houses on their property and won! So we are looking at 500 new homes to be built in an area of a couple of square miles. Pretty scary. And to think that we moved across town, doubled our mortgage AND our taxes for roads that will now be equally trafficked, but are less equipped to handle it. Hopefully litigation will tie it up for years so that at least when we go eventually sell our house, we will have some equity in it.
I heard on the radio this morning that the end of the world should reach us at around 6am Saturday. Of course, we don't know who will be raptured. The radio personality isn't too worried about the population of NJ dwindling by much; he figures we'll probably lose very few residents. Who knows, maybe he is right. I guess at this point all we can do is hope we qualify. It's not too clear what to do at this point, probably too late to mend your ways.
So assuming we are still here on Sunday, what does that mean? Back to work on Monday, back to the dog park, M has a swim meet, and B only has two more (four day) weeks of school before finals. He's only failing one class at the moment, but oh! what bad timing. It's religion.
Anyway, summer still isn't falling into place as far as trips and plans, but M will go to the national meet after all, but we worked it out so she'll only swim two of the four days. We will pay less, and she can come back and work like she wants to do. So she and Kevin (he gets to go after all so he is happy about that) will fly out with the team and fly home the evening of the second day. I figured, she's never made top 16 on her own, and if she does it this year we will gladly pay the penalty to change the flights!
B and I will stay here and do what we do. If all goes well, he will be volunteering at the big hospital near my office. He has had and passed his first TB screen, and he has to go again in two weeks. Then he has an orientation the night of M's prom, and I guess at that point he will find out where he can request. He says he would like to be in neurology. I know when M volunteered at the other hospital, you had to be 16 to be on the peds floors. I don't know if that rule will apply here as well. But he is pretty excited to do this job and I think (hope!) it will be good for him. I'm hoping he can do two eight hour days a week, and I can drop him on my way to work and pick him up on my way home. Then he'll do tennis camps scattered about here and there, and we have our trip to Boston. Still trying to work in Cape May! We never made it there last year :(
On the canine front (what happens to the dogs in the doomsday scenario?) Abby has been behaving well. I have a friend helping me with interventions and today we went to her house where Abby only barked at her a little when we went through the door and then she settled right in and made herself right at home. We also stopped by the dog park, where she now feels very much a part of the community, and she didn't bark at a single person, even when they petted her! She did poop in the tall grass though, and then I stepped in it. (ew) We also met a neighbor on our walk the other night and stopped to chat and she was fairly easy to calm after the initial woofing.
And in other news, our town is embroiled in chaos over development. They want to build 340+ homes just behind our hamlet (I think I have said this before) but now the golf course on the other side of the road sued for the right to build 200 houses on their property and won! So we are looking at 500 new homes to be built in an area of a couple of square miles. Pretty scary. And to think that we moved across town, doubled our mortgage AND our taxes for roads that will now be equally trafficked, but are less equipped to handle it. Hopefully litigation will tie it up for years so that at least when we go eventually sell our house, we will have some equity in it.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
month in review
Spring is finally here! It's a beautiful day, the birds are out, the boys are fishing, and M is at the beach for dryland training. We're going to church in a little while to set up some of the rooms for displaced families, a position for which I volunteered but have not quite figured out. But this will be my second time helping, and my first time "doing." And M needs her National Honor Society hours.
In M's world, school is almost over. She has one more AP exam to take, on Monday, and then she will consider herself "done with high school." (Even though her last day is over a month away.) Seniors don't have to take the finals in non-AP classes if their averages are A's, and she only has two non-AP classes, which she thinks are both A's. (one is gym) So she looks forward to the summer, her job, and orientation in July in Boston.
We're in a quandary over whether or not to go to the national meet. This year it's in Georgia, which will cause it to cost us well over $1000 for her, and another $1000 if even one person goes to watch. Not so good when we're trying to figure out how to pay the tuition for next year. Her coach-to-be said he doesn't mind if they don't do meets in the summer, he just wants them to train consistently. So she has to decide and we have to see. She thought of going for a couple of days but her coach may consider it all-or-nothing. She'd also lose a week of work pay in addition to the cost (as would I if I chose to attend). They want us to decide by the end of the weekend. This won't leave much money or time for a family vacation either.
As for B's summer plans, we sent off an application to volunteer at a local hospital. We were going to send in for a different one, but the paperwork was UNREAL, like he was applying for homeland security clearance. It was so cumbersome, and I would have had to pay for a two step TB test (so two copays instead of one.) The hospital we sent the paperwork to had only a one-sheet paper, and they said he would need that TB test but could have it done at their facilities. So we'll see what they come back with, they have actually been taken over by the group that uses the giant application, just haven't implemented it yet, I guess.
I actually had to write out an envelope even though it said one was enclosed. I sent that off thinking they were so disorganized, and this morning I found the envelope in one of my serving bowls on the bakers rack (Kevin thinks they're storage containers.) So who is disorganized now? Hope they still 'hire' B!
Also, he will do a couple of classes at the community college, one in writing and another in algebra review. He's been in this math tutoring center all year and while I'm sure it's boosted his math skills overall, lately it's not helping him with the tests in geometry. I think the tutors are more geared towards elementary math and possibly high school geometry skills are hit or miss, depending on what they actually remember. It's not part of the center's normal program. So next year I don't want to have to send him there, and I'm hoping a refresher course before the school year starts will give him that boost.
In animal news, Abby is doing very well except for her propensity to consume houseguests and people we encounter on our walks. She also enjoys a good terrorization of people who have just thrown out their poop bags at the dog park, when they spin around she seems to take it personally.
I'm becoming hesitant to take her, because although she never bares her teeth or lunges, she does bark very loudly and all her back hair stands on end. So tomorrow we're having a trainer spend an hour and a half with us to see if she can give us some tips on how to deal with it. I also suspect Sir Yapsalot is part of the problem. He just never shuts up and it's very obnoxious. But not scary at all. So that's why he's been allowed to get away with it. I wonder if the therapy session will end up more focused on his behaviors. Abby is very anxious to please, when she isn't afraid.
And in other news, our neighborhood is currently embroiled in a battle with the builder of a proposed mongo-development directly next to our little hamlet. The property, a former office complex which was rezoned for residential units, is going to house multifamily buildings which are totally out of character for this part of town. We have mostly two lane roads, no turning arrows at most of the intersections, and not really a large supermarket or school to handle the new influx of over 300 new resident families. Mostly what I'm worried about, traffic aside, is that this will cause a further plummeting of property values, which never seems to be accompanied by plummeting property tax bills. Good thing we weren't planning to try to sell the house anytime soon anyway because now it looks as if we will be stuck here for a while!
In M's world, school is almost over. She has one more AP exam to take, on Monday, and then she will consider herself "done with high school." (Even though her last day is over a month away.) Seniors don't have to take the finals in non-AP classes if their averages are A's, and she only has two non-AP classes, which she thinks are both A's. (one is gym) So she looks forward to the summer, her job, and orientation in July in Boston.
We're in a quandary over whether or not to go to the national meet. This year it's in Georgia, which will cause it to cost us well over $1000 for her, and another $1000 if even one person goes to watch. Not so good when we're trying to figure out how to pay the tuition for next year. Her coach-to-be said he doesn't mind if they don't do meets in the summer, he just wants them to train consistently. So she has to decide and we have to see. She thought of going for a couple of days but her coach may consider it all-or-nothing. She'd also lose a week of work pay in addition to the cost (as would I if I chose to attend). They want us to decide by the end of the weekend. This won't leave much money or time for a family vacation either.
As for B's summer plans, we sent off an application to volunteer at a local hospital. We were going to send in for a different one, but the paperwork was UNREAL, like he was applying for homeland security clearance. It was so cumbersome, and I would have had to pay for a two step TB test (so two copays instead of one.) The hospital we sent the paperwork to had only a one-sheet paper, and they said he would need that TB test but could have it done at their facilities. So we'll see what they come back with, they have actually been taken over by the group that uses the giant application, just haven't implemented it yet, I guess.
I actually had to write out an envelope even though it said one was enclosed. I sent that off thinking they were so disorganized, and this morning I found the envelope in one of my serving bowls on the bakers rack (Kevin thinks they're storage containers.) So who is disorganized now? Hope they still 'hire' B!
Also, he will do a couple of classes at the community college, one in writing and another in algebra review. He's been in this math tutoring center all year and while I'm sure it's boosted his math skills overall, lately it's not helping him with the tests in geometry. I think the tutors are more geared towards elementary math and possibly high school geometry skills are hit or miss, depending on what they actually remember. It's not part of the center's normal program. So next year I don't want to have to send him there, and I'm hoping a refresher course before the school year starts will give him that boost.
In animal news, Abby is doing very well except for her propensity to consume houseguests and people we encounter on our walks. She also enjoys a good terrorization of people who have just thrown out their poop bags at the dog park, when they spin around she seems to take it personally.
I'm becoming hesitant to take her, because although she never bares her teeth or lunges, she does bark very loudly and all her back hair stands on end. So tomorrow we're having a trainer spend an hour and a half with us to see if she can give us some tips on how to deal with it. I also suspect Sir Yapsalot is part of the problem. He just never shuts up and it's very obnoxious. But not scary at all. So that's why he's been allowed to get away with it. I wonder if the therapy session will end up more focused on his behaviors. Abby is very anxious to please, when she isn't afraid.
And in other news, our neighborhood is currently embroiled in a battle with the builder of a proposed mongo-development directly next to our little hamlet. The property, a former office complex which was rezoned for residential units, is going to house multifamily buildings which are totally out of character for this part of town. We have mostly two lane roads, no turning arrows at most of the intersections, and not really a large supermarket or school to handle the new influx of over 300 new resident families. Mostly what I'm worried about, traffic aside, is that this will cause a further plummeting of property values, which never seems to be accompanied by plummeting property tax bills. Good thing we weren't planning to try to sell the house anytime soon anyway because now it looks as if we will be stuck here for a while!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
home alas (at last?)
Sob. Not that I am a Fort Lauderdale fan, but this was probably one of the most dramatic differences in temperature and conditions of any of the four years so it was one of the hardest years to leave that behind. Yesterday morning we were in the 80+ degree ocean, bobbing around with the manta rays and the man-o-wars, and this morning we were out in the gray, picking up our muddy dogs in 50 degree weather.
At least the warmth is not far behind. The trees have buds and the forsythia is in bloom. Maybe some blue sky will peek through sometime this week.
As for the meet, it was a success in that everyone made it home in one piece, no MRSA attacks while down there although a couple of the spots have small red raised dots in them, but this may just be scar tissue, because they don't look infected. But swimming-wise, it was not one of the better meets for M. Not one of her individual swims yielded a best time, except for the 50 free, which she swam at time trials and it isn't one of her better events anyway.
She did have two nice splits in the relay, the first of which helped to place her and her relay team in a tie for tenth place, bringing them back to swim at finals on the last night. Unfortunately, they weren't able to hang on the that spot, and they finished last in finals, but that still put them on the board with two points (the only points scored by the girls on the team during the meet) and qualified them for YMCA All-American status. So at least the meet ended on an up note.
All of our flights were early, and we got home around 10 to find the house and cats in one piece, if a little smelly from bowls with caked wet food in the trash can. The dogs had to wait one more night, but they were thrilled to see us at 9am. Wilbur was fine, but Abby had eaten her towel (which I had not expected her to spare, so it was an old one) within half an hour of arrival - and he said that was a generous estimate. Her more egregious crime was against the proprietor: she dug up, in 45 minutes, three of the ten new sprinkler heads he had installed.
And now it's back to the real world, at least for a week. The week after, both kids are off from school. I'd like to take a day off and go into NY with them, but I doubt I'll be able to, so soon after having three whole days off in a row. Without pay, of course. Unless something happens causing me to become unemployed, either on my own terms or otherwise. I'm terrified to go back in. I have never been out this long in a row before while my boss has been in, and it's bad enough when he spends an afternoon there and I have to go in and clean up his mess the next morning. I am literally feeling queasy over the thought. (A feeling which is not helped by my panic over Brian's educational situation, which was exacerbated by three days during which he chose to watch Law and Order instead of doing the 2-3 hours of homework a day I had required of him ... I guess you can lead a horse to water, but that's about it.)
At least the warmth is not far behind. The trees have buds and the forsythia is in bloom. Maybe some blue sky will peek through sometime this week.
As for the meet, it was a success in that everyone made it home in one piece, no MRSA attacks while down there although a couple of the spots have small red raised dots in them, but this may just be scar tissue, because they don't look infected. But swimming-wise, it was not one of the better meets for M. Not one of her individual swims yielded a best time, except for the 50 free, which she swam at time trials and it isn't one of her better events anyway.
She did have two nice splits in the relay, the first of which helped to place her and her relay team in a tie for tenth place, bringing them back to swim at finals on the last night. Unfortunately, they weren't able to hang on the that spot, and they finished last in finals, but that still put them on the board with two points (the only points scored by the girls on the team during the meet) and qualified them for YMCA All-American status. So at least the meet ended on an up note.
All of our flights were early, and we got home around 10 to find the house and cats in one piece, if a little smelly from bowls with caked wet food in the trash can. The dogs had to wait one more night, but they were thrilled to see us at 9am. Wilbur was fine, but Abby had eaten her towel (which I had not expected her to spare, so it was an old one) within half an hour of arrival - and he said that was a generous estimate. Her more egregious crime was against the proprietor: she dug up, in 45 minutes, three of the ten new sprinkler heads he had installed.
And now it's back to the real world, at least for a week. The week after, both kids are off from school. I'd like to take a day off and go into NY with them, but I doubt I'll be able to, so soon after having three whole days off in a row. Without pay, of course. Unless something happens causing me to become unemployed, either on my own terms or otherwise. I'm terrified to go back in. I have never been out this long in a row before while my boss has been in, and it's bad enough when he spends an afternoon there and I have to go in and clean up his mess the next morning. I am literally feeling queasy over the thought. (A feeling which is not helped by my panic over Brian's educational situation, which was exacerbated by three days during which he chose to watch Law and Order instead of doing the 2-3 hours of homework a day I had required of him ... I guess you can lead a horse to water, but that's about it.)
Friday, March 25, 2011
let the whacking continue
Sigh. The end of another week. This one felt like forever and next week will be hectic too! B had so many tests this week and as I always say, it's like a game of whack a mole with him. He fails one class so I find out about it and buckle him down, then he does well, but at the expense of the others. You never know where the bad grades might pop up or if you can get to them fast enough to beat them away.
This time, it was chemistry which had to be improved. After sitting with him at first and then later just reviewing all of his homeworks before he turned them in, he got the only 100 in the class on the last test. But alas, he got a 50 on the history test he had over a week to study for (missed it when he was sick) and various other not-quite-so alarming but not acceptable grades in other classes. The final results are not yet in, but this weekend will be spent in preparation for the fourth marking period, which concerns me because of our plans to have him in Florida for three school days.
As for the family health, all is well ::knock wood::. The evil stomach virus so far has not claimed any more hosts since it felled Kevin for the better part of the weekend and Monday, and the sniffling of the kids is kept to a minimum; there are no more coughs or frightening body rashes. However, M comes off the antibiotic after this weekend, so that she won't have the side effect of sunburning while in Florida, but that means that her second week off of it will be spent out from under my watchful eye. I'll be sure to scan her every chance I get, and make sure that she remembers to check for anything that looks even remotely infected. I'll bring the pills down anyway, just in case. Sunburn is better than MRSA, but let's hope it doesn't come to that!!!
So she and Kevin leave on Saturday and B and I will follow along a few days later. The dogs will return to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, and we all come home the following Saturday night. I'll get the dogs back on Sunday, and I think both M&B have school that week and then spring break a week or two later. As for summer, we are trying to figure out what we will do, what we can afford timewise and moneywise, and what obligations M will have for college, we know there is a summer orientation and we'll probably all go up for that, as they run concurrent programs for the families.
The boring part of signing and applying early to college is that now, when all the excitement of finding out is so widespread amongst her classmates, her choice is old news. But she does have some excitement: she has a roommate! There are two girls from our state who are both going to be on the team, and she found out that they are rooming together! She had thought that you just let the coach know you want to live with a teammate and he puts you with one. But then she got nervous, and there are only a handful of new girls joining this year.
So she messaged one of the other girls she had met, but the girl had applied regular decision, so she was accepted later, just two weeks or so ago. M didn't know how to bring it up, so she was making a lot of small talk, and finally, the girl just asked her. So that is a relief. She thinks that the girl will make a good roommate. Interestingly, she is from Canada, and way out west.
And in other news, my job limped through the week without any major horrors, thankfully. Nothing new and exciting to report on that front, still underpaid but still happy to have an income at all. Hopefully some new business will start pouring in and I can insist on some better benefits as well as a better pay rate. I'm a little anxious though. I still feel a lot of loose ends, and we have a regulatory review next week (internal). One of the other guys told me that he had a dream that I left the company. And it must have been unplanned, because he said that he followed me out to my car asking, "what happened??" Uh oh.
This time, it was chemistry which had to be improved. After sitting with him at first and then later just reviewing all of his homeworks before he turned them in, he got the only 100 in the class on the last test. But alas, he got a 50 on the history test he had over a week to study for (missed it when he was sick) and various other not-quite-so alarming but not acceptable grades in other classes. The final results are not yet in, but this weekend will be spent in preparation for the fourth marking period, which concerns me because of our plans to have him in Florida for three school days.
As for the family health, all is well ::knock wood::. The evil stomach virus so far has not claimed any more hosts since it felled Kevin for the better part of the weekend and Monday, and the sniffling of the kids is kept to a minimum; there are no more coughs or frightening body rashes. However, M comes off the antibiotic after this weekend, so that she won't have the side effect of sunburning while in Florida, but that means that her second week off of it will be spent out from under my watchful eye. I'll be sure to scan her every chance I get, and make sure that she remembers to check for anything that looks even remotely infected. I'll bring the pills down anyway, just in case. Sunburn is better than MRSA, but let's hope it doesn't come to that!!!
So she and Kevin leave on Saturday and B and I will follow along a few days later. The dogs will return to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, and we all come home the following Saturday night. I'll get the dogs back on Sunday, and I think both M&B have school that week and then spring break a week or two later. As for summer, we are trying to figure out what we will do, what we can afford timewise and moneywise, and what obligations M will have for college, we know there is a summer orientation and we'll probably all go up for that, as they run concurrent programs for the families.
The boring part of signing and applying early to college is that now, when all the excitement of finding out is so widespread amongst her classmates, her choice is old news. But she does have some excitement: she has a roommate! There are two girls from our state who are both going to be on the team, and she found out that they are rooming together! She had thought that you just let the coach know you want to live with a teammate and he puts you with one. But then she got nervous, and there are only a handful of new girls joining this year.
So she messaged one of the other girls she had met, but the girl had applied regular decision, so she was accepted later, just two weeks or so ago. M didn't know how to bring it up, so she was making a lot of small talk, and finally, the girl just asked her. So that is a relief. She thinks that the girl will make a good roommate. Interestingly, she is from Canada, and way out west.
And in other news, my job limped through the week without any major horrors, thankfully. Nothing new and exciting to report on that front, still underpaid but still happy to have an income at all. Hopefully some new business will start pouring in and I can insist on some better benefits as well as a better pay rate. I'm a little anxious though. I still feel a lot of loose ends, and we have a regulatory review next week (internal). One of the other guys told me that he had a dream that I left the company. And it must have been unplanned, because he said that he followed me out to my car asking, "what happened??" Uh oh.
Friday, March 18, 2011
it's the weekend!
Ugh! A giant dog just came over and breathed kitty litter breath on me! Now I know why she was so quiet before.
I guess I should explain the lack of creativity in my heading. It's because I am zapped of it all. This week began with such frustration that I did actually move towards improving my working life. However, it got me nowhere and the next couple of days were better. I don't *want* to have to find a new job but this one just sometimes pushes me to the point of futility. So I put some feelers out but to no avail.
In health news, maybe it is allergies, but M's sniffles have picked up and B's cough is the cough that won't quit. I have to run out and refill her doxy anyway, and I'm also getting her some Nasonex, so maybe I'll pick him up some allergy/cold combination for B as well and see if that will knock it out over the weekend. It's been more than five days since he finished that z-pack so if there were any germs left, there may not be much z left to fight them. Best to dry it out if I can before they put him on more medicine. I hate that!
The big dog news is that the town finally cashed my check! My dogs are legally dogs! And tomorrow Abby is going to have her first real bath, and I'll get that furry leg trimmed down a bit to match the shaved one, which is now fully covered in fuzz. Yesterday I took them to the dog park and she did pretty well, but I worried about her hurting her knee so we didn't stay too long. I see she has a sense of distrust of strangers, which concerns me, so I want to work on that. The Doll took B out for lunch today and when she brought him back, Abby barked and growled at her when she offered her hand to be sniffed.
She did settle down but then she started back up again. I can't really have a dog who acts like this! She needs socialization. I might also take her to puppy school at PetSmart. I think the eight weeks of rehabilitation pretty much made her more protective of the house than I would like, although it is nice to have a dog who will protect us from intruders. We just don't want her to protect us from family and friends!
And in other news, we got new neighbors the other day. Sadly, it seems that they got the house for about $100,000 less than we paid five years ago. That's not good for the market value of our house at all, which is not good news for our refinancing hopes. By the time we manage to get back up to a reasonable loan to value ratio, the rates will probably have soared!
I guess I should explain the lack of creativity in my heading. It's because I am zapped of it all. This week began with such frustration that I did actually move towards improving my working life. However, it got me nowhere and the next couple of days were better. I don't *want* to have to find a new job but this one just sometimes pushes me to the point of futility. So I put some feelers out but to no avail.
In health news, maybe it is allergies, but M's sniffles have picked up and B's cough is the cough that won't quit. I have to run out and refill her doxy anyway, and I'm also getting her some Nasonex, so maybe I'll pick him up some allergy/cold combination for B as well and see if that will knock it out over the weekend. It's been more than five days since he finished that z-pack so if there were any germs left, there may not be much z left to fight them. Best to dry it out if I can before they put him on more medicine. I hate that!
The big dog news is that the town finally cashed my check! My dogs are legally dogs! And tomorrow Abby is going to have her first real bath, and I'll get that furry leg trimmed down a bit to match the shaved one, which is now fully covered in fuzz. Yesterday I took them to the dog park and she did pretty well, but I worried about her hurting her knee so we didn't stay too long. I see she has a sense of distrust of strangers, which concerns me, so I want to work on that. The Doll took B out for lunch today and when she brought him back, Abby barked and growled at her when she offered her hand to be sniffed.
She did settle down but then she started back up again. I can't really have a dog who acts like this! She needs socialization. I might also take her to puppy school at PetSmart. I think the eight weeks of rehabilitation pretty much made her more protective of the house than I would like, although it is nice to have a dog who will protect us from intruders. We just don't want her to protect us from family and friends!
And in other news, we got new neighbors the other day. Sadly, it seems that they got the house for about $100,000 less than we paid five years ago. That's not good for the market value of our house at all, which is not good news for our refinancing hopes. By the time we manage to get back up to a reasonable loan to value ratio, the rates will probably have soared!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
back from the beyond
Finally! B is better, the staph is gone (please please stay that way!) and we are back from the state meet. It wasn't a great meet for M, but after she go a new suit it did improve. I hope she will still do well at Nationals, these were some of the slowest state times she has posted since her freshman year.
B finished his z-pack but he had googled possible side effects, and saw all these people who said that they were exhausted like zombies and totally lost their appetites so now he sleeps all day and eats next to nothing. He is a walking string bean, it is alarming. At least he is improved. He still coughs but overall he is 1000% better. It doesn't hurt that his school is on break all week, either!
In the case of M, we see the dermatologist on Saturday, which will be when we find out how long she stays on this doxycycline. It seems to have taken care of the MRSA, and her face is surely looking better. But will both remain true once she stops? Because surely we cannot sign onto this for the long term!
Kevin is also back from his many travels, next trip is Fort Lauderdale! He just found out that there is a customer who would like to see him while he is down there so he can get some of the expenses paid for! That's certainly a plus. He'll fly down for the whole week, but B and I will only be there a handful of days. We're missing the first even again, unfortunately. Although I feel less bad about it now that the bleachers collapsed and the on-deck seating is being meticulously rationed out. They sold tickets through an internet sale and revoked all the ticket sales for the evening sessions because some teams bought them all and others got none. It's going to be crazy down there this year!
And in other news, the dogs enjoyed their stay at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. Of course, he misunderstood me and put the two of them together in a pen for a while and they (she) ate Wilbur's dog bed. I guess I should just be glad she didn't eat Wilbur, too!
B finished his z-pack but he had googled possible side effects, and saw all these people who said that they were exhausted like zombies and totally lost their appetites so now he sleeps all day and eats next to nothing. He is a walking string bean, it is alarming. At least he is improved. He still coughs but overall he is 1000% better. It doesn't hurt that his school is on break all week, either!
In the case of M, we see the dermatologist on Saturday, which will be when we find out how long she stays on this doxycycline. It seems to have taken care of the MRSA, and her face is surely looking better. But will both remain true once she stops? Because surely we cannot sign onto this for the long term!
Kevin is also back from his many travels, next trip is Fort Lauderdale! He just found out that there is a customer who would like to see him while he is down there so he can get some of the expenses paid for! That's certainly a plus. He'll fly down for the whole week, but B and I will only be there a handful of days. We're missing the first even again, unfortunately. Although I feel less bad about it now that the bleachers collapsed and the on-deck seating is being meticulously rationed out. They sold tickets through an internet sale and revoked all the ticket sales for the evening sessions because some teams bought them all and others got none. It's going to be crazy down there this year!
And in other news, the dogs enjoyed their stay at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. Of course, he misunderstood me and put the two of them together in a pen for a while and they (she) ate Wilbur's dog bed. I guess I should just be glad she didn't eat Wilbur, too!
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