the days of relaxation - NOT!

So much for having time off to relax! Between taking the kids to doctor appts, picking up and taking care of Isabeau 2 days a week, dealing with unemployment and other paperwork, all my doctor appts, and all of the other things that come up in between, I am pretty busy.
The last few days have been CRAZY! I went apple picking on Saturday with my friends Joanna, Gabe, and Isabeau, who I live with. It was so much fun, and the kids had just as much fun as Joanna and I did. A beautiful day, perfect for getting out and enjoying the weather. I'll be putting some pictures up soon. I finished off the day by going out to dinner with my family and some friends from CO who were visiting.
Yesterday my wonderful brother Seth came over to put up a shelf in my room (I have no clue how to find the studs), so it's starting to have a lived in effect, rather than a 'guest room' feel. Since our friends were leaving in the afternoon, I went over to visit for awhile after church. Mom made an awesome meal, complete with fried chicken, etc. Mmm.
So today my shoulder has bothered me quite a bit. Actually, the last week or so the pain has been worse again. So I have an appt set up for another procedure. Hope it works.

Zachary's Birthday Party

My younger (can't say little anymore) brother asked me to make him a 'football' cake for his 15th birthday. So I made the cake this morning, but when I went to take it out of the pan, it came out in so many pieces I couldn't put it back together again very well. Since I want Zachary's cake to be perfect, I drove all the way to Bennington and got another cake mix, came home, made the cake again, and this time it was a success. Next on the agenda is to go over to my family's house to decorate it (Joanna asked to watch the decorating part of the process). The party begins at 5:30 this evening, and I think he'll have a great time, and the rest of us as well. :)

Living in Hoosick Falls, NY

I'm done moving, and loving my living situation. It's working so well to be with the Pattersons. Joanna works during the day, so I take the kids - Gabe(11) and Isabeau(3) to any appts they have, and pick Isabeau up from school/daycare on Joanna's two late days at work. Gabe has football practice several evenings, so Joanna and/or I will usually take Isabeau out to watch him, and she enjoys the playground right beside the football field. His first game was the other day, and he played very well. Their team won, something like 25-0. We're proud of him.
Isabeau is quite the talker. I don't think she stops talking for more than a couple seconds at a time from the moment she wakes up till she goes to sleep at night. I love her, but at times it is a bit much. Ok, a lot too much. :) She has more 'friends' (stuffed animals) than I've seen in my life! Her room is filled with books and 'friends', all of which are usually on the floor within minutes of cleaning the room. Oh well. She loves cuddling, and often comes to join me on my cot or gets me to come to wherever she is.
Joanna is one of my closest friends here, and she is always an encouragement to me. No matter what is going on, she's willing to listen and offer advice if she can.
So all in all, living in Hoosick Falls isn't as bad as I thought it would be. But then, I'm not out and about in HF either. Time will tell.

the crazyness of August

Hmmm. Lots of decisions to be made, and they all came about very quickly. I've been looking for a car for awhile, so the Hyundai Santa Fe I bought a couple weeks ago has been wonderful. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, and I'm not sure I could go back to a 'little' car again.

I was laid off from my job at the Coffee Connection due to the economy crisis, so I'm not sure what is in store in that aspect. September 1 will be my last day. I've spent the last few weeks working on packing up my things, to be ready for a quick move if that worked. I now have a place to stay in Hoosick Falls, so I plan on moving this Thursday or Friday.

A major decision has been what to do now that I'll be jobless. I've come to the conclusion that now (or soon, at least) would be a good time to drive west. So yes, I'll be packing up my Santa Fe and leaving the East coast. Not quite sure when though. I had wanted to go the end of Sept, but my doctors want me to try one more set of procedures before I go, which could put it into the middle of winter. If that happens, I'll probably sit tight until spring, since my final destination is going to be Homer, Alaska, if all goes well.

So a lot is up in the air right now, and until I know more, I'll just stay in this area, helping my friend out with her two kids as needed, and hoping that the rest and relaxation will help my shoulder/neck heal much quicker.

For now, I've been exploring and enjoying the scenery around here. This picture is at Grafton State Park.


I have some good friends in Petersburg that have the cutest daughter, and I had the opportunity to hold her for awhile on my latest visit to their house.

My darling Isabeau had to go to the emergency room one night, and the nurse was wonderful and gave her popsicles and a stuffed animal to take home! She is much better now, and full of her usual energy. She is one of 'my girls' from Sunday School and I love her and her family to death! Isn't she adorable? I get to pick her up and watch her and her big brother for a few hours once or twice a week. They are like siblings to me now.

Changes, changes, changes

In just a quick few days my life has been turned upside down. Not all bad. In fact, I'm excited about a lot of it, or at least some of it.
I'm going to be leaving the Coffee Connection at the end of August, so I'm looking for another job. A few possibilities for here, but most likely I'll be heading out west. Either to the Seattle area or Alaska, probably. As many of you know, I hate change. And yes, I'm nervous about this, but excited at the same time. I've also been looking for a car for the past 3 months. A couple weeks ago I was a victim of an online scam, and lost thousands of dollars by attempting to buy a car off of Craig's list. So if you were planning on using that site anytime soon, I'd recommend against it. Shortly after that, I found a car I liked, went down and looked at it, signed a bill of sale for one price with two thousand as a deposit. The next day on my way down to pick up the car I received a phone call from the salesman informing me that they had to do more work on the car and it was going to cost $1500 more than the original price. I argued for half an hour, and then asked for my money back, since I was not going to pay what they wanted. That's when they told me they couldn't get my deposit back to me for another 5 days, for various reasons. I took a look at the car, and they hadn't even done most of what they said they did! The car wasn't clean, hadn't been detailed, only had 1 of the 4 brake rotors replaced (they had claimed the extra $1500 was mostly due to the cost of replacing all 4). The manager I spoke to told me that it was my word against her salesman's, and his story was 100% different, and she chose to believe him. I won't recommend Nemer VW to anyone. I don't trust them at all.
Yesterday I finally found a car I think I'll be buying. And yes, you may all give me a hard time about it, because I'm going a totally different route than I had planned on. Instead of a small sedan that gets good gas mileage, I chose a Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, which is an SUV and gets bad gas mileage. But I do like it, and it's a private sale (see Ben, I was listening to you!) from a friend of mine. I'm also going to be moving out, though whether I'll get a room at a friend's house or an apartment I don't know.
I'm still trying to deal with my shoulder/neck injury, and am now also trying to take care of my recently fractured finger (I slammed the car door on myself - it was early and I was still half asleep!). I'm still going to Amsterdam for injections once a week, and I've been sent back to the chiropractor (for injuries to the other side of my back due to the last car accident) twice a week. I'm also going to see another pain management doctor an hour north in VT on the 20th. The hope is that he'll have more of a plan as to what I can do besides long term narcotics, which is what everyone seems to want me to do.
Work has been extremely slow, and I'm feeling it more so recently, due to the fact that more guys are stopping to 'say hi and visit' a lot more frequently. They are there anywhere from 15min to 4hrs, depending on when more customers drive up behind them and make them leave. It's kind of funny actually, and the other girls who work for us give me a hard time, because apparently they saw it happening before I realized it.

Housesitting and Friends Coming to Visit!

I'm currently housesitting for a couple from the church while they are on vacation. I'd forgotten how much I love my quiet time, and relaxing after a long day at work. My friends are gone until Sunday afternoon, and I have been given the opportunity to take care of their cat (who needs absolutely nothing!) and water their plants (all the ones outside are taken care of by the rain we had today). Nice and easy, and on top of that, I get a comfy bed and was able to sleep last night! Another advantage is that because it is in the village, I am much closer to work and can sleep in an extra 10 minutes in the morning. Yay!!!
On a side note, my good friend Heather is coming to visit me soon! I'm super excited, and can't wait till the dates are finalized and the countdown can begin. Another good friend is coming in October, and those dates are finalized and I'm just as excited for her to see NY. Carmel wanted to come for my birthday, so she'll be here at the end of October. It will be so much fun to celebrate with her able to join my family for the week. I'll get to be a tourist again with her. Heather and I had a blast when she was here for the first time a couple years ago. Fun times!

Car Shopping

I absolutely hate car salesmen! With a passion! I don't think they should be allowed in business. They are awful, and they try their level best to take advantage of me. I actually had one guy chew me out royally for asking a friend's opinion and then not buying the car. He informed me that I was letting others rule my life and I should have just bought the car as is, without asking anyone else about it, because asking showed my weakness and proved that I was unable to handle decisions or choices myself. Wow. I tried to explain that I don't know cars, and he does, but the salesman told me that I must not like the car, since if I liked the car, I would have bought it at his price, and since I checked blue book (it was over $1000 less than he was trying to sell it for) and talked to others, he knew he wouldn't be able to help me anymore and I had better get his car back to him ASAP (I was using a different car while they cleaned the one I had been looking at). So after work I took it back, had a friend give me a ride to Bennington, and drop me off. My plan was to walk to various car dealerships and buy a car that night, since I had no vehicle and no way home, etc. Unfortunately, the places were all closed by the time I got there, so I stopped at the Rescue Squad (not knowing what I was going to do, stranded in Bennington). One of the guys was about to get off, and he said he'd give me a ride home. 5 min before he got off, a call came in and he had to leave. The other guys headed to dinner, so I was out walking, this time in the rain (a major thunderstorm had just begun). Within a minute I was soaked clear through, crying, without a destination or a friend. I walked over to the police department, and sat in the lobby as I called everyone I could think of to come pick me up. I finally reached Jason, and he drove over from West Hoosick to pick me up. I called another guy out there to take me to work in the morning, and then used the other employee's car to do deliveries. Our mechanic came to pick me up in a '65 split window corvette, and took me over to pick up our truck (he had been working on it that week). So after that, I was out of the desperate stage, although I still did, and am, looking for a car. I think I may have found one. Too soon to know, but hopefully in the next couple days. No more car salesmen!

A few changes at the coffee shop

I was about to head home from my trip to the Big Apple when I found out that we had an employee quit (for a better job) and two more were hired (kind of spur of the moment, I think). So when I returned, I jumped right into training the two new gals. The part of my job I like the least is training. Nothing against any of the trainees, it's just hard to train someone to do something when even I am not sure what I do to make it work just so. Such is the case with the espresso shot, and steaming the milk. Two things that seem easy until you try them. As each employee then finds out, there is a lot more to this job then handing out regular coffee, with cream and sugar. So many different aspects can make a shot of espresso bitter, too strong, too weak, and even give it an aftertaste. Only doing it 'just so' will make it work. So hours upon hours go into practicing it. My dad has been gone since the beginning of July, only returning last night, so in addition to my normal hours, I've been filling in for him. We are down to one remaining employee who knows the routine, and even she is heading to college soon. So I also had to be there during the new employees' shifts, to continue training. I'm about ready to be done with the whole 7 days/wk 10-15 hrs/day, and all the stress that goes with it. :) The 'new' gals are doing well, and one is already doing some shifts on her own, calling me with questions. I do believe things are going to be pretty much back to 'normal' soon. Or at least I hope.

More of NYC - part 2

Ok, so I have had an insane few weeks. No time to even get on, much less write anything. So, to summarize the rest of the NYC trip, we had an awesome time, did a ton of stuff, including the aquarium, Coney Island, the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and a trip out to the Hamptons to visit Steve and his wife Sharis (I love that name!). It was really nice to have Mike and Scott there. Relaxing with friends is something I haven't had much of here. Steve and Sharis have an amazing house, and Steve took us on a tour to see some of the mansions the rich and famous people build. To me, Steve's house was a mansion! He has done so much to it, and it is still homey, with lots of room, and the hosts were wonderful. We had a barbecue (the famous Nathan's hot dogs) out on the porch, and I spent some time relaxing in the hammock by the in-ground pool and hot tub. Let's see, the aquarium was interesting, and I enjoyed seeing all the varieties and colors of the fish. There was a turtle that instantly brought back memories of home group - Dude!!! I managed to get some pretty good pictures, too. Coney Island was fun, walking on the beach after eating chili and cheese fries (REALLY good) and corn dogs (NOT great). The day we headed to see the Statue of Liberty was cool, but not bad. It was a good day for some pictures, and we weren't miserable because of heat and humidity (one of the days was REALLY muggy and I don't handle muggy very well). But this one was not, and while we spent some time on Liberty Island, the majority of it was spent on Ellis Island in the museum. Vic and Marco were the tour guides. Another day Marco took us to the Museum of Natural History, and then we headed downtown Manhattan (I think) to watch 'UP' at a theater - 3D even! Oh, it was wonderful to walk down the street, take the subway (though Marco always seemed to get mixed up at that point) and just have fun, being myself, without the stress of work or any particular schedule. Another day we went to a Mets game. I like baseball, though I'm not as into sports as those guys were. Walking around the stadium, seeing it from all angles, was cool. I even had my picture taken with the Reese's guy. :) Vic and Marco are both Italian, and one night we went to their friend's house (also an Italian) for a home-cooked italian meal. Mmm. Joey did a really good job, complete with wine and salad for starters, and then a goulash type dish with a different wine for the main course. Justin and Vinny are brothers who brought back memories of Mano. Though I didn't have a chance to talk to Justin much, Vinny came with us on the ferry to the islands, and then was also there at Steve's for the bbq, so I chatted with him a little more. Mary, Vic's sister, played the Wii and came downstairs in the evenings (I stayed at their house), and she was able to get off work for the bbq as well. One of my most enjoyable memories from the trip was my morning chats with Vic's mom, Peggy. The others slept in, so I went upstairs when I got up, and talked with her each morning. I don't think she minded, and I was so blessed to be treated as a part of the family. I wish they had been able to join us more often, but even so, they went to great effort to make sure we had anything we needed or wanted. Oh yeah, I can't forget the empanadas (is that right, guys?). Before the Mets game we went to this small place that made them, and just got a few to have during the game. They were sooo good! After the game, we went back and got a bunch more (30-40) and ate them all within a couple days. We did save a few to take to Steve's. Apparently Sharis loves them (I can see why!).
All those things are in random order, but the basic thing is we had a lot of fun. We came back from Steve's just in time to grab my things from the house, say goodbye to Tony and Peggy, and head out for Penn Station where I took the train home. What a trip!

NYC - part 1

NYC is amazing!!! Took a 22' skiff out around Jamaica Bay on Sunday afternoon, and I got to drive for most of it. In the 1st picture I was driving the boat with Russo's on the Bay catering hall in the background. I have so missed the ocean! It was just like Kodiak. If that was all we did, it would have made the entire trip worthwhile.

Ok, back up. I took the train to NYC on Sun morning, and Mike, Scott, and their friend Marco were supposed to come pick me up. They arrived after I had stood around waiting at Penn station for 45 min wondering what I would do if they didn't come. We took the subway back to Ingrassia's, where I'm staying, and then later Vic came over and took us to lunch at Gino's Pizza (the best pizza I've had yet!), and then out on the boat. Wow!
Yesterday(Monday) we walked down the road to a bagel place, that had lots of flavors, and the cinn/raisin one I had was huge and very filling. Then we left for the aquarium, after which we walked around Coney's Island. We had a great time - no schedule, no hurry, just walk, talk, and enjoy everything around us. We saw the show, where they had the pet sea lion do his tricks. They were actually pretty impressive, to the point of giving 'kisses' to the kids and people in the front row. After a short break when we got home, we headed over to Joey's house for dinner. He is an amazing cook, and makes the real stuff, since he's from Italy and loves to cook. We had a blast. Justin and Marco came over as well. White wine to begin, then salad, red wine, and he finished the meal off with a pasta/marinera dish that was spicy and delicious! Lots of real parmesan cut up for both the salad and the main dish. Mmm. All the guys have a lot of plans for what we'll be up to the next few days. I think a Mets game is in the works as well.
It's a much needed vacation, and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. The family we are staying with is Italian. Peggy and Tony are the parents, Mary is 22, and Steve and Victor are much older than she is, live nearby, and the whole family is very close. I had a chance to talk to Peggy a couple times, and Tony has been quick to make sure we have everything we need or want. Mary played Rock Band game Sunday night, and she is terrific on the drums. The trip has been great so far.

more 'wedding' pictures

wedding day!!

The homeschool gals had a mother-daughter night, where everyone dressed up formally, and Joanna, Mom and I went. They were having a bunch of the girls modeling some wedding dresses, and I was asked the night before to be a part. The wedding dress I wore was over 70 yrs old! I was worried I'd ruin it by moving, but it was a lot of fun walking down the aisle as a bride, in front of the mom's and all the other girls. It was well attended, and so much fun. As all of us girls were in the "brides' room" getting the wedding gowns on, we took a bunch of pictures (of course), so we have proof that for one night at least, we were beautiful brides!

mowing the lawn

Mowing the lawn at the farm is quite the job. Thankfully we have a riding lawn mower. A couple times, Joanna has ridden along with me as I did parts of it. A few scary moments for me when I thought I was about to roll the lawn mower over on top of me due to the steep hill. I had given Zachary, and then Joanna, my camera to play around with, and between the two of them, they took some good pictures. I'm sure I'll get them up soon. She of course had a blast, which was contagious, and we both ended up having a lot of fun.

headed for the big city!!!

I'm going to NYC! I leave tomorrow morning on my first train ride, and it will be headed down to the city to visit some friends from Idaho. I'm so excited! It's been crazy trying to juggle between doctor appts, car rentals, trying to get the shop ready for the week, doing stuff at home, packing (which hasn't been started as of yet), etc. You get the picture. Anyways, I should have some pics up from the trip in a week or so. I'll be gone until Friday, and am looking forward to some time away. The weather here is amazing today - a slight breeze, sunny with a few clouds, a litttle too warm, but the breeze makes it feel great! I just finished working, and as of 5 minutes ago bought my train tickets, and now I'm trying to figure out how I'll get the rental car returned to Brunswick (1/2 hr drive), after just finding out they closed at 12pm, though my car wasn't due back till 5pm. Hmmm. I'll try to be better at keeping up with this blog since I have more time on my hands this week. Right. We'll see how that goes. :) God bless you all. I think of so many of you that I wish I could see as well.

Pictures of my NYC trip

ok, so here are a few pictures of my New York City trip. I finally figured out the picture part of this. Aren't you proud of me? :) During the day, we took a ferry ride to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and walked around Manhattan, and through Little Italy and Chinatown. We had an evening out down on Broadway, with a fancy dinner at Serafina's, and second row seats for the Broadway show, Chicago. One of the actresses tossed me the rose I'm holding in one of the pics.