Austin's "Mad Minute"

Austin got free access to the goody bag for his birthday today.

I've returned!

Well it's been a while since I've updated the blog! We are glad it's March...today is actually Austin's 12th birthday! February was definitely long and cold..I'm looking forward to warmer weather.

Today we went to Overeasy's in Cuttingsville for breakfast...it was nice to try someplace new and it was very good. Molly didn't come..she met Leanne and went to "tan" in preparation for the prom on April 4th. She found a really pretty black dress at Penney's, 3/4 length, spaghetti straps and fits perfectly. She wanted to tan a few times so she has a little color for the prom. We still have to find shoes somewhere...maybe a trip to Burlington or perhaps Crossgates in Albany. She's busy between volunteering every other Saturday and SAT's coming up in 2 weeks..then the VSAC Saturday at Castleton for juniors and parents to familiarize them about college, financial aid etc. She's looking at nursing schools, with the hope of eventually either getting her masters as a NP or going to PA school. Spring break we will be checking out UNH, University of New England, Quinnapiac, and maybe Boston School of Pharmacy and Science. Her science fair project was chosen to go to the state show at Norwich. She studied differences in heart rates of a large horse and a miniature both at different gaits. Apparently they liked it as she got 97%.

I've stopped picking up so much overtime. Only plan on 3 shifts this month. The department has been terribly busy and it gets old! I like my time off! John would like more overtime but GE has been slow...he did work extra last night but the O.T. there is slim pickings.

Cleaning up after the storm

John came home at 0600 this morning to plow the driveway so Molly could get out to school. We ended up with about a foot..very heavy snow, tough plowing. It was nice to have another day off...got caught up on housework and errands and took a walk with Austin. When John was done plowing we went for breakfast at the Castleton Diner. Back to work tomorrow, off the weekend and then on 3-12's in a row. Ugh. Will post some pictures from the storm, John plowing etc.

January 28th 2009 Snowstorm

It's been a busy couple of weeks...sorry for my lack of posts. 2 of the shift managers got hurt at work...one fell down the stairs and broke his wrist and heel, the other twisted her ankle, then lost her balance on her crutches, fell breaking 4 ribs and getting a pneumothorax...Needless to say overtime is widely available! I worked 109 hours in the last pay period! Monday I was able to go to Burlington for a pediatric emergency nursing conference held at the Sheraton...very good conference. It was put on by a pediatric nurse practitioner from Illinois that works in a pedi Level 1 trauma center. Besides being a great conference the hospital paid for everything! Not bad! Even got paid for my time....sort of feel a little guilty as it was actually fun.

Today Molly got a snow day...We are getting the storm that left so much ice and nasty conditions in the south...Cookie it sounds like Lexington really got hit hard. They talked about 12-18 inches but we only have about 8 so far. It's still snowing hard though.

I took a nice walk with Carol the other day...we hope to go to New York this May when the ED does another trip. Molly and I went to a parent's night at the high school for college info. Guess we need to start visiting schools. She wants to look at schools in Boston, Maine, New york and perhaps University of Kentucky. My friend Cathy at work wants her to apply to Georgetown...we'll see! Lot's of excitement in the future. She's eager to get out of Vermont!

I'm going to post pictures of a couple of deer that were in the yard today..I was watching tv and saw one of them outside the front window. I think they're hungry...having a hard winter..browsing on the evergreens.

January 4th 2009

We had a pretty quiet weekend. Molly and I did some errands in Fair Haven yesterday (with a mandatory stop at Dunkin Donuts for a coffee on the way home) We visited Carol and Mike and got to see all the critters including Buddy the miniature horse. Lola the pot bellied pig is getting big and the new little dog Nina is a really cutie...she loves to sit in laps. Today we went to the Castleton Diner for breakfast (on Pops) then came home and walked out back. I went down to the barn and took off Kacee's blanket and gave her a really good grooming. Even though it was only about 15 degrees, there wasn't any wind and it was nice and sunny. Last night had a great Pork roast from Costco's and tonight John made left over stir fry that was delicious.

Austin got clipped and a bath!!!

Well, Austin was not happy today! We got out the clippers and he immediately had an anxiety attack, shaking and shivering. I don't know why he hates to be clipped so much, we never hurt him. Anyway, Molly did his ears and his feet, I clipped his nails and then she gave him a bath. I'm going to attempt to put a little video clip of him on here too. The weather is really cold again. About 13 degrees this morning, with an even colder wind chill. It's supposed to snow a few inches. I've started the new James Patterson novel Cross Country...it's really good so far. I don't work again until Friday. Yeah! This week is notoriously busy in the E.D.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008

Well we had a great Christmas! We got up early, made a nice breakfast (I tried something new this year, crescent rolls stuffed with sausage and cheddar cheese) they were really good. We opened gifts in the morning, talked to family in Arizona and had a nice meal later in the day, shrimp, dip and crackers, chicken with hash brown casserole, green beans and warm brownies with ice cream for dessert...So much for no gluten today! Molly got me a new ipod, it's so tiny and holds lots of songs. My gift to all of us was a new TV so now we've joined the HD community. Thanks Rutland Hospital for all the overtime to help pay for it!! Molly was happy to get cash from her Dad and her grammy Martha for our next shopping trip. She picked out some clothes on our last trip to Burlington and wrapped them from me.

Today we've been quiet and layed back. We did go out for a little snowshoe, It's supposed to rain tomorrow and be up to 50 degrees tomorrow...maybe even thunderstorms, Weird!

Mom, I hope Rich and Bob pull up the blog while you are all together. Did you get my gifts from Amazon? Sounds like you are having a great time, I'm glad! Here are a few photos from our day.