Happy Halloween!

I had 7 trick or treaters! All in one day! That's more than I've had in the last few years put together!
I finally got to meet Steph's friend Brad. Steph is dressed as Ralph when he was in the SeaBees. This afternoon she brought over a gold thermal shirt and a picture of Captain Kirk, and asked me to transform the shirt into a Star Trek uniform.
I did the neckline the same way I would bind a quilt, and then did the triangular area. Steph did a freehand drawing of the badge, and I cut it out of light fabric and satin stitched it on. Steph drew the star in the middle. She got gold braid, and I slit the sleeves so I could sew the braid on, then re-stitched the seam.
Not bad, if I do say so myself!
So tonight Steph and Brad are at Jay's for a Halloween/birthday party, and we're babysitting for Whiskey. Toast isn't sure she wants anything to do with him. He's a lot more active than she is- he occasionally sits and snuggles, but has also been exploring. Miss Millie wants nothing to do with him, of course.
It felt good to do some sewing. I started cutting scrap batting into 7.5 inch squares for Heather's table runner.

And so it goes!

Another week survived!

Sunday night we were up half the night with poor Toast itching. Monday I drove to work, and wasn't on all cylinders- I was watching some little kids, and went a little too close to the post on the driveway at work, and scraped the side of my car. My poor car!

Ralph took Toast to the vet, who gave her a spray for her back end, and said keep her on the benedryl. The diagnosis was that she's allergic to the flea bites. Whiskey has to go back to the vet Friday- he's still having issues. He's doing much better with the crate, to Steph's relief.

Today we had CPR recert after work, so I'm good for another 2 years. Personally, I think it should be a 10 year certification, since the basics never change, just the ratios, which they change constantly.

Little Mike graduates from Motorcycle Repair School tomorrow, and immediately heads home, and swears he's never leaving again. Mike and Donna are having a family graduation dinner for him on Sunday. I'm making kielbasa, hot dogs and sauerkraut, and Joseph's Trifle.

Manda and Ben are planning to come home for Thanksgiving! It'll be the first time she's been home at Thanksgiving since 1998, so we're really excited. Unfortunately, Heather and Ed can't come up- darn hospital schedules.

I got the new Transsiberian Orchestra CD from amazon. It's as good as all their others! I just finished a really good book- Swornn to Silence by Linda Castillo. A mystery, of course.

And the beat goes on!

Fleas!

Poor Toast has had the worst week! Somewhere, either at Whiskey's foster home or in our yard, she picked up fleas. Poor thing was so itchy! Ralph put on some flea stuff that didn't work, then got some natural citrus spray that also didn't work, then we tried an oatmeal flea bath which worked for a few hours.

Finally I called the vet and went and got Frontline, which worked. Then she got this red icky rash that Sam diagnosed as flea bite dermatitis. So I started giving her benedryl and using anti itch spray, and kind of holding her so she couldn't scratch, and it looks better today.

Yesterday Ralph was working, and I was going out, and Steph had a wedding to go to, so Sam kept Whiskey. She and Lou fell in love with him, and he gets along with her little dogs. Steph slept over here last night and picked up Whisey this morning and took him home.

Steph and I went to the Berry Baskets Quilting Guild Quilt Show today. She put Whiskey in the crate, and the little stinker digs as the bottom tray til it slides, then he can get out the wide mesh of the bottom! He was looking out her sliders when we got back! She wanted me to walk him a bit so she could vaccuum, and he was pretty anxious- he kept scratching at her door to get back in!

The quilt show was nice- it was about 100 quilts, and a dozen or so vendors. We admired the quilts, and I bought a couple panels and kits. I really do have to get out of my funk and back to quilting!

It's a beautiful day out, about 60, blue sky, and the leaves are yellow and red. Very pretty!
And so it goes!

Holly

The week that went on forever!

It's finally Friday night- I thought it would never come. What a week! Two weeks worth of stuff going on at work- I'm finally almost caught up on the paperwork.

Toast came home from Whiskey's foster home with fleas. Meds, several fleabaths later, I went to the vet and got Frontline. The poor thing has been so upset all week- she'd be fine right after a flea bath, and back to being bit the next morning. I gave her an oatmeal fleabath this afternoon, and she was itchy right after, so that's when I went and got the Frontline. She's already somewhat better.

Whiskey had his trip to the vet's. Steph changed his food, which was a big improvement. He's going to go visit Aunt Sam for the weekend, since Steph has plans (a life!) and Ralph is working, and I have somewhere to go. Aunt Sam has housetrained a million or so dogs, so she's going to work with him.

I'm reading Sworn to Silence, by Linda Castillo, which is fabulous. Gory in places, but a very well written mystery. And I just ordered TSO's new CD from Amazon- it comes out soon.

The last few days were gorgeous, in the 70's. Today was in the 40's and drizzley, and I think it's supposed to rain over the weekend.

Mike, Donna and Jake fly to Florida tomorrow. Mikey graduates from Harley repair school on Friday, and they have to pack up and clean his apartment. Donna and Jake will fly home, and Mike is driiving up with Mikey. Mikey has been so homesick the entire 18 months, and he just can't wait to get home.

Heather and Ed have livestock- 3 chickens for eggs and a duck because Ed likes ducks. Big Ed and Jeanne are going down this week to visit- it'll be the first they've seen the new house.

No sewing or quilting- I haven't had the urge to even go sit and crochet all week. Manda has her second knitting lesson tomorrow- she's very excited about knitting.

And so it goes!

A Birthday and Whiskey Weekend

Last night we went to great-nephew Justin's 4th birthday party. He loves skateboards, so his mom made him this really cool looking cake. We were all very impressed by it, and it tasted great, also!
There's the birthday boy, blowing out the candles. It was a really good party, plenty of people to chat with. We had quite a discussion about various cruises, which makes me want to book another one!
Today we went to meet our new grand-dog, Whiskey. He's about 8, a short haired dachshund that Steph adopted yesterday from a dachshund rescue. Poor baby was abandoned in Georgia. They think he was used as a breeder, and kept crated all the time. He's been neutered, and had to have some diseased teeth removed, so he's on antibiotics. He's really skinny, and needs to put on a few pounds. He also needs some remedial housebreaking.
He's a cutie pie, and he and Toast are getting along fine. Steph was a little stressed, so we brought Toast home with us for the week, so Steph can concentrate on Whiskey.
Toast never bothers much with toys, but he loves to make his squeak.
He looked like the dog in the Petsmart commercial, carrying his toy around.

So it's been a nice weekend, but all weekends are followed by Mondays. I have a busy week this week, with sports physicals, the eye doctor, attendance and PAC meetings, a nurse's meeting, a Healthy Alliance meeting, and I'll have a student for two days. And I want to try to get to the gym once or twice, too!

And the beat goes on!
Holly

Sick day

I felt so awful this morning that I called out sick, went back to bed, and slept til 1 pm! I felt much better then, but I really hate to waste a sick day on being sick. The rest of the day I read, crocheted a little, and spent too much time on the computer.

It got cold! It was in the 40's during the night, and rain all around us, but not here. At least, not yet. Ralph has been putting the yard to bed for the winter- fountain down and stored, all the lawn furniture on the porch, getting his tractor ready for winter, making up Cliffie's little house in the garage.

This weekend AAA is having a Travel Expo that I want to check out, and in the evening is Justin's 4th birthday party. It'll be nice to see everyone at the party.

I'm missing the big Houston Quilt Show this weekend. Just didn't feel like the long plane trip right now. Steph is going out to see Manda in a few weeks for a long weekend. She needs her Houston fix. Houston is a wonderful place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. It's just like Central Florida, without the alligators or palm trees.

My Uncle Bill is in the hospital, with emphysema. Hopefully he will come home tomorrow, and my cousin Denise swears they're all quitting smoking. Good luck to them- it's hard to quit.

My friend Lynn is in another hospital, where she's having quadruple bypass surgery tomorrow. It's really scary how you can be fine one minute, and a train wreck the next minute.

Eddie's afghan is finished, and Julianna's is started!

And the beat goes on!

Holly

Another week zipped by!

I can't believe I haven't been here in a week! Every day I had work, of course. Tuesday night I finally got up the nerve to go to water aerobics. It was such fun! The water was nice and warm. There were about a dozen ladies, all around my age, and none of them was Twiggy. I could keep up with the pace, and felt like it was a good workout. And talking to the ladies I found out what classes were the most fun.

Tuesday in the middle of the night I woke up with cramped toes, which says the workout was good. I couldn't go back Thursday night because I had an inservice to go to from 4.30 til 7.30. It was in my town, it was free, and it was 3 CEU's.

Good thing it was free- the speaker was terrible. The title was Managing Emergencies in School Aged Children. Obviously the speaker, an RN, has never even talked to a school nurse, since she had no idea what we do. And emergencies were never mentioned, other than to glorify EMT's and rescue squads. But we got out early and got our CEU's.

Ralph is finally feeling better, and today I feel lousy. It's also dreary out. I went to bed early last night, and slept late today, and I feel a nap coming on.

I'm working on the border of Eddie's afghan, and planning the table runner for Heather's wooden island. She wants reversible, autumn and winter.

And so it goes.
Holly

Wow, it's October!

The weather is cooling down nicely, and the trees are starting to turn. I've had to have the heat on in the car a few times in the morning, but I still get my large sweet tea with extra lemon on the way to work!

The school year is in full swing. In October I have two evening workshops to go to- I need the CEU's for my license, and the professional development hours for my school job. Camden County School Nurses has it's first meeting next week. CPR recert is this month, and after this time, I only have to do it twice more!

Triple A is having a Travel Expo on the 17th, and there's a local-ish guild quilt show on the 25th. We have birthdays this month- DMIL Florence, DSIL Charlotte, great-nephew Justin. Parties for Justin and my friend Barbara.

Ralph has 50 weeks left to work, a max of 100 days. He has a terrible cold, and should have called out for today, but wouldn't because it's a weekend. I hope he calls out for tomorrow, and stays in bed and rests.

I've got about 10 more rows to do on Eddie's afghan, and it'll be done. Then I can start one for Julianna, because I won't give him his til hers is done. I'm a smart grammy!

And so it goes!
Holly

North Carolina Weekend

Rapid Rover was due to come for Steph and I between 0600 and 0615. Steph decided to sleep in her own bed and come over in the morning. At 0550 I started to get really worried- I'm the one who is always early for everything. I got her on the phone at 0555, and she was in the next town. She walked in my door at 0559! Rapid Rover got here about 0610, and we were the only passengers. We got to the airport and thru security by 0700, and had time for breakfast sandwiches. The plane boarded at 0800 and left right on time at 0830. As soon as we were in the air, we both went to sleep, and slept for the whole hour long flight. We got in right on time, and met Manda, who got in 5 minutes after us.

Charlotte airport is beautiful, unlike Philly. Lots of nice stores, bright, airy. We went to baggage claims and Heather picked us up shortly. She had Julianna with her. We all piled in the car, and Julie looked around at us and started to cry! It was a few minutes before she relaxed, but wouldn't talk to us.

Our first stop was a bridal shop, where Heather and Steph tried on dresses. The shop worker took a liking to Julie, and dressed her up in a tiara and bracelet. The brideswomen found a dress they liked, and the shop opened a file. Rebecca will try the dress on, and if she likes it, they'll be ordered.

We went off to lunch at O'Somebody's (I forget the name), then headed to Heather and Ed's house. Manda and Steph hadn't seen it before, and were very impressed. Ed barbecued steaks on the grill, and we had a delicious dinner.
After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to Eddie- I can't believe he's 6! What a doll he is. Pleasant, well behaved, and adorable, all thanks to his parents' hard work. We had strawberry cake, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. Of course we all sat up and talked- lots of wedding talk!

Sunday Eddie and Julie jumped into bed with Manda and me. Steph had wisely slept in Julie's bed, since Julie usually ends up with Ed and Heather. Heather made a huge breakfast for us all, and after everyone showered and dressed, we were given a tour of the yard. Ed has been working very hard in the yard and fields, and it shows.

In the afternoon, the girls and the kids went to a corn maze. Ed worked in the yard, and I napped on the couch.
Ed barbecued again, this time hamburgers, hot dogs and pork chops. He also made his mom's recipe of potato salad, which came out great! More cake and ice cream rounded out the meal.
The kids take mealtime very seriously! After dinner we watched the movie 27 Dresses, which was cute.

Monday Eddie went off to school. and we packed up. We headed out to Concord, where we went to another bridal shop looking for shoes, but the didn't find what they wanted. We went over by the mall, and went to McAlistair's Deli for lunch, then I went in a fabric store conveniently located next door, and the girls went into several shops. From there we headed to the airport. We had some time, so we got cookies and had a final visit before splitting up for our terminals.

The flight back to Philly was the roughest I've been on. Lots of bouncing around, and we had to circle because of backup due to the storm in Philly. We finally landed, and were held on the plane another 15 minutes. Our 7.30 arrival turned into 8.30. There were people on board who had to get a connecting flight to England, they were being paged as we finally got off the plane. They had landed us in the International Terminal, the first I'd ever been there. It's much prettier than the rest of the airport!

Kate picked us up, and we got home about 9.15. Ralph had ordered pizza for us, and it got there right after we did, so we had a late dinner, then Steph and Toast headed home.

It was a short visit, but a really fun one. With Julianna only being two, I feel like we need to visit as often as we can, so she remembers us.

The rest of the week was busy. Tuesday was accupuncture, Wednesday was back to school night, so I had to be at work til 7.30 p.m. Thursday I food shopped on the way home from work, and Friday I had stacks of laundry to do. No sewing, and only about an hour of crocheting.

And the beat goes on!

Holly