Post-Christmas Thoughts

So, it's been quite a while since I posted last...perhaps no one is reading this, but that is fine. We are in the middle of our first snowstorm of the season, and Abby and Ken are napping, as is the dog! I will briefly update y'all on our lives...
Ken got a p/t job with Horton Hospital and is currently doing Orientation shifts while being on vacation from Big Blue. His last EMS shift will be New Year's Eve. Abby is almost done with her first semester of her junior year, with an English Regents on Jan. 11th, her SATs on the 22nd, and her All-County Concert on the 28th& 29th. She is currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for her AP US History course and studying for the above tests. I have off from Religious Ed classes for a week, and after the disastrous Christmas Party classes, am looking forward to the change. I have some serious thinking to do re: my 7th graders, who seem disinterested and rowdy. Oh, well...that is what prayer is for!
Advent was nice, with our church doing an Advent Penance Service and, later that week, a Lessons and Carols night. I also went to an Advent Prayer mini-retreat with fellow catechists. That, plus morning mass at least twice a week, got me into the spirit of the season! And, as I get older, I find that Christmas is no longer my #1 holiday...I am beginning to think Easter is. Sure, I love snow and winter and cookies and the tree and all that, but the shopping and stress is now getting to me as I approach my late 50s. I don't have grandkids yet, so that may also contribute to my inclination to see Christmas as a quieter time, one that I should spend more in being with others, doing for others, than in consuming! I am actually looking forward to Lent...and the rhythm of the seasons.
Abby got tons of stuff, and seems happy. Ken and I got new LR furniture in September, so we just got each other small items (robe for me, new office phone for him). I miss seeing Maggie this year...first time since 2005 she hasn't been home. And that year, she flew in on the 27th, as Theresa had died on the 26th. It was also nice having Aaron last year...he ate a ton of my cookies and kept Abby busy with games and such!
Kate and Tracy came down Christmas Eve day, and we had dinner early (Ken had to work). It was nice, as we haven't had them for Christmas Eve in years! They left after breakfast the next day...Doug also came up on the 24th and left early this morn, before the snow started to fly. We all enjoyed Taboo and Abby's new Pictionary for the WII.
As we end another decade, I hope for peace...in my family, in the country, in the world. And that you all find the same in your lives!

Lovely October

October and November are my fav months...because it is cooler outside (usually), because the kids are back in school (yeah!), the color of the leaves are lovely, and the garden is winding down (no more watering/feeding/weeding!) Also, we were married in November and I choose fall colors for my bridesmaids to remind me of autumn! There is still enough sunshine to keep the afternoons warm, but it depends on where you are in the garden. The back deck no longer receives more than a few short hours of light, and the back bed is in full shade all day. Washing can still go outside, but I have to get it on the lines before 9 am or it won't dry. But there is a cool breeze and I can sit in the shade with the dog and watch the leaves fall...terrific!

Halloween is a Sunday this year, so it may or may not be crowded. The past several years we have seen a decline in the number of trick-or-treaters, but this is okay. At our hayday in the late '90s, I would go through 15 HUGE bags of candy and then hunt through the kids if anyone came to the door after 9 pm. Last year, I had bags leftover, so my CCD kids were rewarded! Abby did "door duty" last year, but has hinted she may be up for going out with some of her friends this time around.

Thanksgiving may be small for us. Maggie can't come, if at all, until after Dec. 25th. Kate is working, so she and Tracy will be down on Friday to help us decorate for Christmas and then we will reciprocate by going up to them on Saturday. Wendy is "depressed" and doesn't want to come. Haven't heard from Doug. But I will still make a turkey, pies and watch the Macy's Parade, followed by "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" on tape. Good times....

Enjoy the color of autumn!

This is Autumn???

OK, first full day of autumn...and it hit 89 degrees, people! The dog and I have had it. Both of us are just dragging ourselves around and, luckily, I get to go into the airconditioned car! I am leaving in a few to pick up Abby from her hospital volunteer job...and at 6:12 pm, it is 84 and high humidity. I officially HATE summer!

On another note, why, oh why, do young beautiful girls in my family get tats??? I am not speaking of Kate, who has only 2, one small on her ankle and one on her back by her waist, but of a certain niece who shall remain nameless here. Actually, my other nieces also have them...I think maybe only Maggie and Abby are without...and they both share a fear of needles! Thank God for that.

Religious Education classes going well, though the building is NOT airconditioned and the kids were drooping this week. Many of the students in my evening 7th grade class I had last year as 6th graders....MAWAHAHA! Mrs. Dull strikes again...divine retribution??

Keep cool!

Religious Ed classes start!

OK, got home about an hour ago and have completed my first class...out of about 85, I figure. Nice group of 6th graders, 16 in all, so the classroom is a bit full, but we will manage. Our pastor walked in and quizzed the kids briefly, as he is wont to do, and we seem to be a great bunch! Abby is my assistant on Mondays, so she is a big help, being "old" enough for the kids to respect her, but "young" enough for them to relate to her.

Summer seems to be making a brief return, it hit 80 degrees here, but at least the nights are getting cooler. We really, really need rain, not the brief shower that passed through while I was in class. I hate water restrictions, but they really are a pain in the winter, as you seem not to be aware of a drought then! Hoping for a regular snow amount this year...last year was a bit much! We had over 3 feet in one day...

I hope to continue on the reading jag that I am on...have done quite a bit this summer, but I am too lazy to put them all on Good Reads, so just trust me, I am reading! Finished Dragonriders of Pern and associated tales, read 4 Brother Cadfael mysteries, and The Lady in the Tower and Mistress of the Monarchy, both by Alison Weir. Currently on Queen Isabella by Weir, another Cadfael and a book of SF short stories. It's great to get back to reading, after all the probs with my eyes.

School days...

Ok, tomorrow is the big day...and I don't mean just because Raymour and Flannigan are delivering my new living room set...Abby becomes a JUNIOR in High School!! She gets her ring next month, she takes the PSAT for "real" in October, and she starts her AP courses this semester. For the first semester, she has AP Chem every day, AP US History every other day, Pre-Calc and English 11 Enriched. We have 84 min. blocks in our block-scheduling. On the alternate days of APUS, she has band. In the spring, she will have AP US History every day, AP Chem every other day alternating with a study hall, French Grammar (4) every day and Gym alternating with Band. She will have one January Regents (English...please pray for no snow days!) and one June regents (Amer. History) and 2 AP tests in early May. Busy, busy year.

I sell books next week for Religious Ed and then the Catechetical Mass on the 12th with luncheon and we start classes the week of the 13th. I am doing Monday and Wednesday afternoons for 6th grade and Thursday nights for 7th grade. Remind me why I am doing this in December, when I am going nuts!

Ken has been busy doing catch-up chores from 5 1/2 yrs of school, so our LR/DR and Kitchen have been painted and the patio is nearly done. Next weekend, working on the front post and tying up my monster mums. He should hear by next week about his part-time nursing job. Fingers crossed!

So, I am now going to get Abby going, to make sure her new bookbag is packed and clothes out, etc. Good luck to all of you who have to do the same with your kids....and let's remember how lllloooonnnngggg this summer has been!

HE PASSED!

Yeah....Ken passed his NCLEX exam! He is now officially an R.N. and can start to do part-time work at the hospital. After vacation, he will call and set up orientation and all that entails. But we have a cushion now and can breathe after almost 6 years of his hard work!

In the meanwhile, he has been a darling and has been working on painting my kitchen cabinets...more than halfway done. Next weekend, we will start to repaint the LR/DR...same colors (red accent wall, white for the rest), just to freshen it up. Our new living room sofa and loveseat SHOULD be here by October, but who knows? I'm hoping before Thanksgiving.

Well, Maggie should graduate in June of 2011, then Abby in 2012. Then the Dulls should be done for a while....unless Kate goes back to school.

Enjoy the rest of the summer, folks.

Ken

Ok, today Ken was in Albany taking his NCLEX...Nursing Boards, for us dummies! He finished in just over an hour and won't know for 48 hours or so how he did. But Kate, our very own professional RN, who took them 4 years ago, said it's a good sign that he finished early. Supposedly the test takes you from easy to hard questions, and if you flub a hard one, it moves back down for several easy/medium ones...so, the longer you go, the more you have messed up?!#

Anyway, this is the end of a VERY long haul for all of us. If he passes, Ken can worry a bit less about IBM's corporate B#!@S#@% and get on with his life. He won't leave IBM...will hang in there as long as he can...but he doesn't have to worry soooo much if they do pinkslip him!

Our "long term" goal is to get Abby into college, and hopefully through it, before we have to move/change jobs/go nuts.

Cross your fingers Ken passed!

Now it's August....yikes!

OK, I really have to make a schedule to post to this thing. Another month almost has passed...but besides record temperatures here in NY, nothing much is new. Kate and Tracy had their Open House party last weekend, and Maggie flew in as a surprise...you should have seen Kate's face when she opened the door to her twin standing there!!

Abby loves volunteering in the hospital the two afternoons, and the nurses have quickly learned she is efficient and reliable and she has already done the Nursing Schedule on the computer...plus watering the patients, doing filing, running errands...she has learned the hospital layout, has yet to go to the morgue, loves the grilled cheese in the cafeteria, and all this will be for naught when the new hospital opens in September of 2011. But I think it is helping her confidence and to make up her mind of what she might want to be...all good things!

Hershey Park in two weeks, then a week to shop for school and then September 2nd is the BIG DAY! I am looking forward to more of a schedule, less driving to Middletown for me, and for cooler weather. But I don't love getting up at 5:30 am and when I get back to teaching religion, I am sure I will wonder where the summer went!

Enjoy!

July already??

Wow...last time I wrote, 'twas the beginning of June....now, we are almost half-way through July! The heat has been brutal and we are down inches and inches in the rain department, so I soon anticipate a call from the Village's automatic phone system informing us to conserve water. Last year, we had rain and slugs and mushrooms. What a difference a year makes!

Abby is in the last week of music camp and her third week of volunteering at the hospital. So I am spending huge amounts of time driving...but at least, it's air-conditioned. I also managed to make all four nights at the end of June/beginning of July of our church's Catechist Formation classes. I have already done Level I twice, the last time in 2007-2008, and recently completed the Level II classes (all online this time!), but it is nice to "learn" and hear other people's ideas and thoughts. I realize how much I miss school; and how the chance to go to college again myself has passed. First, it was "get the twins through college". Then "Ken has prerequis to do", then "Nursing School for Ken". Now, in 2 years time, we will be packing up Abby for college. So there goes it for me....but at least I can still take classes now and then and keep the grey matter from turning to mush!

Memorial Day and now it's June....

After a nice, though tiring, weekend at Tracy's and Kate's, we drove back to the house on Memorial Day afternoon, opened up the windows to air the place out, and vegged! Now it's June...wow...can you believe it? The groundhog has eaten up my gerbenas AGAIN! By 1 pm, the dog and I are done with the heat and just lay around panting. My roses are blooming and the weeds are growing, so there is that to do. And Ken has the time to BBQ, saving me from the stove. What a guy!

Abby has finals next week and then 3 regents over the course of the following two weeks. We have yet to hear from the Summer FUNdamentals camp, so I have no idea of our schedule during July. Have to make arrangements for Hershey in August. Ken's Review course for his Nursing Boards are in two weeks, and then he has to sit for the NCLEX exam. Hopefully, he will do as well as Kate did (she passed on her first try). He then has a part-time position all set up in our local hospital to do Med/Surg for a few months...his ultimate goal is to go to the ER or ICU.

I am currently re-reading the Dragons of Pern books...love them! I also realize how often I re-read books I love. I have two Alison Weir books on my table by the bed and by the sofa, but those are a bit harder to get through...the Pern books are like a diversion, like watching a silly "I Love Lucy" show that I have seen a million times before. But books are like that...some you skip through, some you savor, others you slog through, and then there are those that leave you totally dissatisfied...like the latest "Law and Order" shows, where you go "Huh?" and wonder if this is why they were cancelled!

Happy June to all....especially those taking finals!!

Summertime

As today's temp reached a balmy 89 degrees, and they are predicting over 92 tomorrow, I can see that, despite all my hopes, summer is a'comin'! For those who don't know me well, this is my LEAST favorite time of the year. I do not do well with humidity and heat...so global warming is gonna really suck!

That said, summertime does mean longer days, so one can still sit outside past 6 pm and appreciate all the hard work done in the garden these past few weeks. I miss playing cards outside with Kate and Abby...Abby seems to gravitate towards the swing these days (yep, 15 1/2 yrs. old and all of a sudden, the swing is a big thing!) or her basement bedroom and the WII or some such electronic device. So I sit with my old dog and watch the fireflies and see the bats start to fly by and then spray my hostas with Liquid Fence so the deer and groundhog don't eat them, and then I go inside and realize that it is way past my bedtime! Summer also means no really frantic days of school/ccd/meetings. Hopefully, Abby will have a counselor job at the summer camp in Newburgh, and after 6 weeks, we can just relax. Oh, and Hershey Park! That is our one get-away. Even though I do not ride the rollercoasters, it is a break that we all look forward to with great anticipation!!

While the airconditioner seems nice now, by August, I will have a love/hate relationship with it. My sinuses and eyes will have become dried out by it, and the noise will have driven me crazy...but I cannot stand the days without it. All my laundry and ironing must now be done way before 10 am, and the hours between 1 pm and 5 pm are spent in the darkened livingroom. In 8 weeks or less, I will be longing for autumn. But for now, summer is almost here.

Weekend plans

This weekend is Mother's Day and as my mom and my mother-in-law are both, hopefully, in Heaven, I will be spending the time at home with Abby and Ken. Well, Ken is working tonight and tomorrow night, from 6 pm to 6 am, so that means Church with Abby by myself and two nights alone. I thought once he passed Nursing School, things would calm down, but what do I know? Next week, he is gone Tues, Wed and Fri from 7a to 7p, following a RN's shift all week to complete his clinicals. So Sturbridge next weekend will be a delight...a "late" Mother's Day gift!

I recently looked through old letters and cards that the girls have given me. I don't keep many, because I lost some in the flood of '96, and I don't want to wind up on A&E TV as a Hoarder! But it is nice to remember the times when they were actually more excited about Mother's Day than I was...and the breakfasts in bed, with them jumping up and "helping" me open cards, presents and eating my meal! And then going to church and being so proud that I was a mom, after all that time trying to become one!

So, Happy Mother's Day to all those who are moms/grandmas/aunts/godmothers/etc. I hope the people you have touched in your life remember to give you a hug or a card or a call!

Religious Ed. classes

Today was the beginning of the end...my last "official" class of my Monday afternoon 6th grade CCD class. Next week, a party, hand out report cards, play a Jeopardy game of my own devising based on the curriculum, and then it is over! On this Wednesday, the last "official" class of my Wednesday afternoon 6th grade class...with a repeat of party next Wednesday.

As we move away from Easter and into softball/baseball/spring sport season, the kids become more anxious to leave class and hurry away. Even this measley hour spent with me seems to be too much for them. The overwhelming majority of both classes do not go to Mass, so this is the only moment for them to touch the Divine! As I did my review quiz with them today, I can see that the students did NOT absorb all that I struggled to give them. We still cannot get that there are Liturgical Seasons, and that Christmas is NOT preceded by Fall, but by Advent. And that the colors for Easter are NOT purple and yellow, but Gold and White. Let's not even discuss the Sacraments, which took over 2 months of my life with them...

The rewarding part of this job is when that one student asks me if I will be teaching 7th grade next year and can they get into my class? I keep telling myself that if I only reach ONE per year, if I just get ONE to pray a bit more, to go to Mass one more time, to think morally just once more, then I have done a good job. Not great, but good. Maybe some of them have had that "Oh ho!" moment, when something becomes clear for the first time. Maybe one of them will turn to prayer when life sucks. Or maybe I am just kidding myself...at this time of the year, I am disheartened and tired. The summer vacation seems to refresh me, and I will be back in September full of the Holy Spirit and new ideas. But in the meantime, there is registration in mid-May, teachers' meetings in June, the new book committee in late July and then book sales in August!!

Countdown to June

I really hate this time of the year...as the school year winds down, everyone seems to realize that they have yet to give out enough assignments to my kid(s) and proceed to harry us all with the onslaught of such projects. Even Ken had a lab/project due in Nursing yesterday...his final exam is on Monday, the 26th, but then he has to do a week of following an RN around on his/her shift. Graduation should be May 22nd...cross your fingers!

And Abby has been hit with a huge project in Globish (Global and English) and a book report the following week for the same subject! Plus we have NYSSMA coming up (instrument review), service hours to be done, and three Regents to study for! Plus I have my two Religious Education classes to wind down, with both a final for each and a party to plan....yikes!

At least, Abby is organized and on top of things. Can't say the same for the bigger kid!

4/11/1982

Twenty-eight years ago today, I was in Southampton Hospital on Long Island recovering from a vaginal AND a c-section! We were now a family of four...twin girls, both with blonde hair and brown eyes. It was Easter Sunday and Ken was sitting next to my bed, nodding off, having been up for over 24 hours. My pains began during the Easter Vigil Mass and by 11 pm, we were on our way to the hospital (with a shower curtain in the back seat, just in case!) The girls were about 3 weeks early, but both were over 6 lbs. and, except for some bilirubin issues, did well. I came home on the 17th and it's been a whirlwind ever since.

So, to my two wonderful older daughters, Happy Birthday, many, many more and I love you both. I miss the baby years, the toddling times, the elementary school days, and yes, even the teenage years! You are now older than I was when I had you...hint, hint!!

New Home Ownership

Well, Kate and Tracy have now been homeowners for over 7 months. They have had to deal with leaky pipes, broken locks, crumbling steps, handrails on the deck missing, huge tree limbs ready to fall, and a multitude of other things...but today, they have a DEAD possum in their backyard! This far and away beats the mouse that they finally trapped in a sticky trap but was still alive, so Kate had to smash it with a rock!

Things could be worse. I think!

Spring??

OK, here in the mid-Hudson Valley, we have a unique season...it is not spring, nor summer, nor winter, but a combo of all. Tomorrow we will hit 86 degrees F; by Saturday, it is to be 55 as a high, and there is no telling if snow is no longer a threat until we hit May. As I drive Abby to school, it is 39 and drizzly, but along the way, I see high schoolers dressed in short-shorts, flipflops and halters. Others are bundled up in jeans and hoodies. No one has an umbrella...must be "uncool"!

Now, I remember going to Forest Hills High School with no hat in the winter...wow, what a rebel! But I did have boots and gloves and a coat. So, I guess I truly was a "geek". But I didn't spend the day with wet shoes, clothes or frostbite. Maybe the weather was different in Queens in the 1970s. Or maybe we were!

So, tomorrow, we will sweat. Saturday, we will freeze. But, eventually, spring will come, fleetingly. Then the humid, hot summer of the Hudson Valley will start. And I will miss this weird season of Spring???

Good Friday

Ever since I became a Catholic, no, even before, when I was attending services with Ken, I have found the Triduum to be a very profound, calming time. My favorite service is Good Friday. No mass, the altar stripped bare, the reading of the Isaiah (my fav prophet!), the epistles, then the Passion where we all get to cry out "Crucify him!" and prayers for everyone from the Pope to those who do not believe in God...as we move along, I think of those who fall into each "category". While the Easter Vigil is full of light, smoke, incense, and pomp, Good Friday is simple, quiet...we even leave without a hymn and the holy water fonts are empty. Something about this brings into focus what it is we are commemorating. It's like a funeral, but not quite...there are no flowers, no murmurings in the back of the room by the very young and very old, no body to inspect to help you deal with this inconceivable event. I think because I know tomorrow is Holy Saturday, that I know what the outcome will be, that it is not quite as sad. There is hope...and waiting.

A Blessed Easter to all of you!

You're getting old when...

the thought of Peeps (which you previously would steal from your siblings' Easter baskets and let dry out until they were the right consistancy) now makes you shudder. Perhaps it is the excessive sugar content? Or that Peeps might pull out a cap and result in another dreaded visit to the dentist? And why are Peeps in so many colors and shapes? Chicks, people...yellow chicks!

And why is it that hyacinths today do NOT smell like they did when you were younger? Have they gone the way of the great tomatoes of my youth? Or the roses that would fill a room with their scent? And I know for a fact it is not MY olfactory glands...I can still smell a skunk for a mile, the scent of gas leaking, even the occasional "leak" from my dog!

First things first!

OK, so I am a bit late in the blogging department! It takes a while to teach this old dog new tricks! Having hit a major birthday recently, and seeing as my youngest is already gathering college materials and pamphlets, I decide to join the 21st century and start. Hopefully, I will remember how to login to this site, what my password is and what my url is so that I can pass it on to others.

I drove up and back from Kate and Tracy's today to drop off Abby at their new house. I stayed only long enough to clean their livingroom and dining room windows and put up the curtains that Tracy ironed last night. I was going to stay overnight, but the "temp" of the room kept getting colder, as Abigail was not thrilled that I was staying....so, I hit the road and got back in record (for me) time. Drizzle all the way...sun only showed as I pulled into the driveway. I will be childless until Holy Saturday morning, so I have time to boil eggs, make babka, clean the house, prepare the Easter baskets, finish spring cleaning, shop, make Judy's Cole Slaw, make two lamb cakes, and bake the Easter ham! Should be enough to keep me busy....Happy Easter to all!