Good morning ladies!!

A quick pop in before we leave.

We are going to DS's concert in Muskegon, just south of the cottage.
He has to be there two and a half hours early so we will drop him off and meet up with my sister, nephew and dad for lunch. Then we will all go to the concert (I think) As far as I know all three of them are going. It will be the first time any of them have seen him in a concert. BIL and SIL are coming to the concert too I think. Pretty cool. Of all of the places they could be performing it's some place that we have relatives.

Will catch up tonight. Probably won't be home before nine.

Hope everyone has a good Sunday. Pat, hope the bad weather doesn't come your way.

good afternoon everyone!

Rhonda, hope the job offer is one that you will be able to take.

Pat, I've been watching the storm on weather.com and on WMURTV in NH. I have a friend who goes to OBX and she is posting updates. Angry storm that Sandy. Stay warm, dry and safe. I still haven't heard is my Niece's flight is one that is cancelled.

The French onion soup is delish. I started with a package mix but instead of just adding onions, I browned them in butter first. First time I ever used my broiler too. Oh and the first time I've ever used ramekins. Firsts for me today!

Cold and dreary here. Should have some sunshine later though

Later!

Hi friends...I am so happy to hear about the good news of the impending job, Rhonda. I truly hope it works out. And, you know, even if the benefits package isn't as good, it IS a job. If a better benefits package (and job) come along, you can always make the change. But, having a job is better than no job at all.

Nancy, so glad you got your mom moved with as little stress as possible. It sounds like the new nursing home is a positive.

Laurie, your new title of Zumba-ista is making you quite happy! I'm so glad you are lovin' the Curves position!! How are things overall with Dion? On FB, he sounds really happy and relaxed...moreso than I've noticed in a long time!

Pat, your purging and work is paying off with you having the space to get ready for the upcoming storm.

Congratulations to Jenna on the new condo, Carrie! I'm so happy she can house your Miata, too! That will be a plus all-around!!

As for me, I have been working very hard to keep up with things at school. It's paying off, and I actually feel reasonably content right now. I have 3.5 more weeks of work before my 6.5 week vacation that includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Yes, I am quite happy about all that! But, I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before leaving because when I return I will hit the ground running with a new unit that has never been taught (by me) before. It is a trial run that is being taught this year for the first time. Three of my colleagues are teaching it beginning in a week and then another colleague and I will be teaching it in January and February. There is quite a bit of pressure on us to do it properly and lots of planning and preparation has gone into it. I will very likely do lots of prep work to help my colleagues during November to pull it off, because however I help them will ultimately help me as well.

Terry and I continue our discussion of me retiring this year instead of next. I am so incredibly tired. This would be a good year to retire because there are many huge changes taking place next year and I'm not sure I want to undergo them. This unit of which I speak is one of them. I need to make an appointment with one of the retirement counselors and find out what the ramifications of retiring one year earlier than anticipated will do to me. The problem is that the last several years my salary has been cut each year by budget cuts, so there's no telling how much my retirement will actually be anyway. So, the best idea is to talk to a retirement counselor.

Anyway, that's what is going on here. Everyone out there stay safe with that huge storm. I'll keep my eye on the weather for you.

Hello ladies!

We had a really nice day.
Got on the road on time. My sister and BIL rode with us. We met my sister, nephew and dad for lunch. Then wasted a bit of time. (my dad, sister and I went to goodwill. we had three cars so we went three different ways) I got two new tops, a jacket and 8 scrapping magazines. Then we went to the concert. My BIL, his wife and her dad (who we are close to because her folks hung out with my in-laws and we have our holiday get togethers, and lots of cookouts, up there together) After the concert we went out to pizza with them. The concert was great too.
A guy that I graduated with plays in the band from up there so after the concert I looked for him and chatted a bit.

Pat and Carrie it sounds like your both in for some nasty weather.

Pat, good plan, moving the freezer food to the garage freezer.


Carrie, woohoo for Jen!!! Tell her congrats (and good luck, haha). Is this the place you liked but needed work? What an exciting time for her!
Sounds like you are making great progress on the baby album!

Tay's GF got to go to O.K. with the band for the Notre Dame/OK game. They are on the 16 hour long bus ride and it broke down. ugh!! Don't know where they are but they weren't scheduled to get home till 4 a.m. as it was. It's going to be a tough school day tomorrow!

Lizzy!!!!! I missed you!!!
Glad things are going well at school!! What a great vacation you will have with all those holidays off!! yippee!
I think consulting the retirement counsler is a very wise idea. They deal with those issues and know the ins and outs.

Hi Laurie!
We are rooting for the Tigers too. Sure wish they could win tonight. I would feel bad for them if it ends up being a sweep.
Glad D is doing so well.
I have a french onion soup recipe that I have never made. We got it from a restaurant that had good soup and I think it says to cook the onions in butter too.

Rhonda, how was you friend day today? Hope you enjoyed it.
It sounds you were very busy with your outside chores and got a lot done. It's nice that Cody could help you.
The new piece of furniture is supposed to go upstairs on the right of the fireplace but we will see.

I am going to go watch the game a bit closer since this may be it....

Good morning!

Rhonda I am glad your interview went well. Sorry the benefit/pay won't be what you are making. I hope you can see what is out there before they call and you have to make a decision. Are there a number of jobs available in your field right now? I agree with Lizzy about having a job, of course that depends on your comfort zone about not having a job and if things would work out if you didn't. WTG on getting your garage cleaned.

Pat I hope Sandy doesn't impact you too much and you are able to get your cards done. I imagine most people will be home today as Sandy hits.

Carrie that is great news for Jenna. Is the one you told us about a few weeks ago or is this a different one? I imagine she is excited to have her own place! WHat size baby album did you make? I hope Sandy doesn't impact you too much either. I hope you don't lose power.

Paula it sounds like you day was a great one. Bummer about Tay's GF though. WHen did she make it back?

Laurie I like french onion soup but have never made it. I love it with the french bread and the cheese on top! Yummy!

Lizzy good to hear from you! WTG keeping up at work! WHen you say you would retire this year are you saying at the end of 2012 or at the end of the school year with this group of students? I hope the retirement adviser can give the answers you need to make that decision.You wouldn't think a year would make a huge difference, but I suppose it can.

Well DH made his decision on his ice shack. We will just have to go look at one more to make sure that is the right one. It will be a while before he needs it, but they tend to sell out quickly.

We ran some errands on Saturday and on Sunday we worked a little more in the basement. Rick organized and I went through another tub. We ended up with another box for Good Will. I like doing a little at a time. It isn't so overwhelming! I also have a couple of things to list on craigslist.

I already have my halloween projects planned for the week. I did that yesterday too.

I hope today goes well. I got very little sleep last night. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I even got up for a bit and then went back to bed. It didn't help. I don't feel overly tired, but I should be!

I hope everyone has a great day!

Carrie what kind of impact will you get from the storm? I know you said winds and sleet, but have your area schools and governments offices closed down like so many?
We are marble painting (to make spiderwebs), a Halloween color sheet, and a monster mash sticker sheet. It is actually a 12x12 scrap booking sticker sheet. I found it at Tuesday Morning for 2.99 for 25 of them. It is a big spiderweb with spiders, flies and halloween sayings they get to put on it.

Carrie, I didn't realize you were so affected by Sandy! Stay safe and try to stay dry.

Pat, hope you are weathering the storm. I have been trying to keep up with it's progress, but can't really tell where it is going, who is affected and how bad. I am keeping all in my prayers.

Nancy, the Halloween projects for the kiddos sound like fun. That was a great buy on the sticker sheets. Hope you are able to get the ice shack you want!

Paula, glad the day went to well yesterday. And you found some goodies at goodwill while waiting!

Lizzy, I hope you are able to visit with retirement counselor. That will make it so much easier to make your decision about retirement. So glad you are keeping up with things at school and are looking forward to your time off. That is awesome that you will have all three holidays off. Enjoy!!

Laurie, glad the onion soup turned out good. I may have to give that recipe a try!

Pat, I would like the recipe for your squash soup. I want to try new recipes with new (to me) ingredients. I have never cooked with squash so that fits perfectly.

I still have not heard anything about the job, so I just put in my resume at a couple of other jobs. So the wait continues.

good evening.. it has been a long day and will be a long night. The wind and rain have been awful. Gusts and hard rain coming and going. I have not lost power fortunately, and have been communicating all day with family from NC to MA.
I worked a bit on my Christmas cards just for a break. But the winds howling have been un-nerving.

Just to clarify.. Carrie's weather has been caused by a cold front that is moving towards me. Winds from Sandy will clash with that front causing all the snow in the mountains. Right now, they have had 2' in some areas of WV and western MD and are under a blizzard warning. The weather from the clash will spread to Paula and up into Canada.

Spoke to my Mom in CA today and we talked about the pictures that she got last month. She was finally able to sit down and look at them. She said she is sure I will be very excited to get to see them. I told her that I want her to keep them there and NOT put them in the mail. I told her we will scan them and then I will be comfortable. I want to scan them at the highest possible resolution and I don't think my sister would think to do that. Anyway, I am very excited to get to see the pictures, just not sure when I can get there yet.

Other than that, it has been a day of weather watch and talk. I am so ready for this storm to be over.

Thanks for the good thoughts Rhonda. This has been the worst weather I have seen. I am grateful to have power. So much worse in NYC. Jim has a cousin in Brooklyn and I did hear from his wife tonight. They are ok, but of course scared.

I hate when I can't get into a book. I have been trying to get some e-books loaded on my tablet for when we travel and if I fly out to CA.
I have been thinking I need to get my records in order to see what I want to look for when I get out to CA. I will be at my sisters part of the time and that is where I found new info last year that needs looking into. Hope if I can get out there, I can spend some time checking out some bits of info. Mom said the writing on the backs of some of the pictures is definitely her sister's, but who gave her the info, we have no idea. Could have been my grandfather.

Paula 50 pages is a lot. I hope you can get them done. Sorry about the piece of furniture maybe not working. At least you have a plan b.

Our winds should be calming down over the next 4-5 hours. They said by the morning, it will be still be raining but better. The weekend is going to be sunny and dry for clean-up.

good afternoon.. short break here while I have some lunch. Day is going well.. I have almost emptied the smaller spare bedroom. This room will become more of an office that Jim can use when he works from home. It will also be where we will keep all the research stuff.
I still need to empty the cabinet in there and then we can move it to a different wall. Hoping Jim can also get the desk moved today. He is back to the office tomorrow.
Paula, monster house should go quick with Tay's help. And I hope you are able to get a lot of the pages kits assembled. Since I don't scrapbook everything and have no plans to do the last 40+ yrs, I am never really behind. I do need to do the gingerbread pages from last year and also finish up some cemetery pages from a NC trip, but other than those and the recent society meeting, I am in good shape.

Very dreary here today with winds and a little drizzly rain. Nothing bad or even near what we had yesterday. It is chilly though. Can't wait for some sunshine this weekend.

Wow Carrie, you are having a wild time!!!
I am only making good progress on the layouts because I have a deadling looming. I want to have plenty to work on this weekend.

Pat, glad things are better than expected for your area!

We did loose power late this afternoon for two hours. So glad they got it back on so fast.

We did get signed up for the cookie class too. Now to work on the mile long list of things we need for it. ugh!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


Darn, just typed a long post and it disappeared

To recap:

Paula, the cooked class sounds like lots of fun.

Pat, glad the family made it through the storms with minimal damage. I know you will be so happy to accomplish the purge/sort goal.

Carrie, congrats to the family on the new addition. Glad they were able to make it to the hospital in time.

Hello to Nancy, Lizzy, and Laurie!

Going to be a beautiful day again here. Near 70*, and will be for the rest of the week. At least it will be a nice evening for the trick or treaters. I don't get any here, so didn't buy any candy - no temptations!

good morning.. and Happy Halloween. This is one of those holidays that they could skip as far as I am concerned. We still get some little ones in their cute costumes, but most of them are teenagers with pillow cases. I think more and more people are taking advantage of the safe inside community activities and/or trunk or treats. Anyway, I buy candy I don't like and anything that is left gets put in the CFS boxes.

Rhonda, enjoy that weather.. It is chilly here and of course still damp, but we are going into the upper 50's, so do-able. I am just so glad for the winds to be gone and to maybe see a little sun today. I am so over Sandy.
Were you able to get into the book you are reading? What else are you working on? I made a list the other day of which records I would need to check for if I go to CA. Several births and a couple possible deaths plus one marriage. All from the mid 1860's, so not sure what I will find except for the marriage, which I know is there. That was the record I found on line last year that opened the flood gates (so to speak) for me. Those records plus the box of pictures at Mom's will make for a good genealogy trip.

Paula, I say go for getting the Thurs house out of the way, if you haven't already. Procrastinating is one of the things I have worked hard on this year to stop doing. This morning before I got on the computer (except to quick check, society emails) I started on the desk drawers. I also got the dishwasher going and a load of laundry downstairs. This afternoon I will be packing up all the CFS holiday cards. I have one more pkg coming from FL (should be here today or tomorrow) and that will be it for now. I am still trying to decide if we are going to do cards TO the troops this year.
Hope you can find those Christmas pictures. I take less and less pictures every year now that the grands are getting older. We do always get a family group picture though. This year I would like to do separate shots also, like as if we had them done professionally. Not likely to happen though unless I get creative. I am finding if I get the kids involved it goes a bit better. Like giving them different responsibilities. It is too hard to have it done at a studio since there are so many of us.
The cookie class sounds fun. When is it scheduled for? I look forward to seeing pictures of the finished product.
I need to get back to work here. I am 5 mins behind.

Happy Halloween, friends! As I said before, life has been busy, but pretty decent. I worked like crazy yesterday, but got lots of good stuff done in my classroom. I changed the bulletin boards and moved a bunch of stuff around. I still have one board to do and some maps to hang up on the wall. I might try to work on that tomorrow afternoon. I have two parent conferences tomorrow...following report cards. One is a mom who wants to drive home a point with her son and the other is a dad who somehow thinks his son is "failing." I don't quite understand his concerns, nor does his son, but we will figure it all out tomorrow.

Sorry to all of you who have been experiencing the Sandy travails. We, of course, just continue with our pleasant weather, although we are under the "Santa Ana" conditions that we typically experience in the Fall. Santa Ana conditions are very dry, often very hot weather which leads to a high-fire-risk. We had high winds last week which only makes it worse, but fortunately didn't have any fires.

The days are racing past and I am desperately trying to get some things taught before we take off for vacation. As usual, we keep getting interrupted with trivial things like fundraising assemblies (?). This next week, we are going on a field trip, but still haven't received the permission slips from the Vice-Principal, so I had to send him an email today requesting them. HELLO!!

Good idea about submitting more resumes/job applications, Rhonda. Keep all those options open!!

Well, I've got to go and take care of a few things before going to bed. Everyone take care.

Pat, sorry your day started so early, but at least you have made good use of it! Hope you can get your errands ran and that you are finally able to vote today.

Lizzy, you are really sailing along. Soon you will be on vacation! Do you have any plans or trips planning during your time off? Hope that VP gets off his duff and gets those permission slips to you. They should have been sent out and returned by now.

Paula, did you do Thursday house yesterday? I hope you get all the pages done that you have ready. That will be great progress. Then you can come spend several days with me and help me get a start on getting caught up

Nancy, did you end up with lots of "ghosts and goblins" last night? Nice that Riley could help you with the baby so you could help the other kiddos on their projects.

I worked yesterday getting ready for the auction. I was helping sorting and setting things out, moving things around. I was on the go all day. I will also be working outside again today. The auction is tomorrow. I am not used to doing physical work all day so was ready for bed early last night. Loved all the calories I burned! I am so ready for this week to be over.