Nonni

Nonni is our Italian term for Grandmother. I had two of my own nonni's (three actually) growing up. My last living Nonni passed away six years ago and I miss her, as me and my children had moved in with my parents in May of that year and Nonni was living with them. We had four generations living under one roof for about four months and then Nonni passed August 23rd. I started to date my future husband about 1-1/2 years later.

His Nonni is still alive. She is a beautiful woman, inside and out. She is 97 years young. She lives in her own apartment and the whole family takes care of her needs. She comes to my house on Sundays after we attend church. As soon as we get back to my house, she wants to know where the laundry is. She folds two loads of laundry for me every time we get home from church. She is the most adorable person. I want to be just like her when I'm 97. I want to REACH 97.... This is Nonni watching the Yankees play on Sunday (she tries not to miss a game) with my husband's Steelers blanket keeping her warm. Love you, Nonni!!!!

Layoff Survivor Sickness

We had layoffs here at work last week. Because it is such a small company, everyone took it hard...especially me.

I just spent an hour filling out DOL paperwork and there is still more to come. I read about Layoff Survivor Sickness - where the people who don't get laid off feel as bad as the people who did get laid off. I feel like I have it...sad, sleepless, anxious, etc....

I'm doing what the article tells me to do to get over these feelings, but it is still hard and I know "this too shall pass". I know this too well. But it doesn't make it any easier today.

Friday Night Football

My daughter is a cheerleader. She goes to an all girls school and she cheers for a school which is all boys. She loves to cheer at football games. My husband coaches another high school football team. (These two teams do not play each other this year.) So Friday night, I went and watched my daughter cheer at one game and then we went to the last quarter of my husband's teams football game. My daughter's team won, my husband's team lost. Good thing I like football...

This is how Fridays will be for the season. And then on Sundays....the Pittsburgh Steelers!

Change

Change. Is it good or is it bad? Yesterday, change was a bad day, a sad day. We had to lay off five employees. Since there were only 15 of us, 1/3 of us were cut. Suffice it to say, it was a difficult day to say the least. Sue is gone. Her and I became fast friends over the last three years. I miss her terribly. We were kindred souls in so many ways.

I know change happens. I know it is a door closed and a window opened somewhere else....but it is hard. The work will get done, but the sadness will be around for a while.

Fall is coming next week, the season is changing. I have lived through 45 changes from summer to fall....I'll live through this change at work, too.

Doing nothing...

Tuesday night, I had nothing to do...Or I should say, I had a couple of things to do, but I did nothing and it was soooo good. I went in the hot tub for my back as it is still hurting due to the wonderful bear hug I received.

Once in a while, we all need to chill out and relax. Tuesday seems to be that day for me. No exercise class, no cheer leading for my daughter, no meetings, so Tuesday is my new favorite day of the week. I was going to trim the hedges and stop and see my parents and stop at the optometrist to get my new contact lenses, but I did none of these things. I cut down my stargazer lilies and closed the coop and sat in the hot tub... I love Tuesdays.

Chocolate...

Okay, I love dark chocolate! Don't all women? The other evening, I had the craving for some dark chocolate. I asked my husband if we could go get some ice cream. My favorite kind is called Razzmanian Devil - it is made by a farm about 25 minutes away and it is vanilla ice cream with Dark Chocolate pieces and a swirl of raspberry sauce.

Well, we really didn't have the hour to go up the farm and back so we settled for the supermarket 5 minutes away and got the "replacement" - Friendly's Fudge Berry Swirl. It is actually frozen yogurt with the same ingredients and is really, really good.

I had two bowls....My craving was cured! Thank you, Friendly's.....

Mondays...

Back to work today. My office manager has off, so I will be busy as I will get her work done also (to some extent). Lunch hour will be quick as I have to go the bank for my son and husband and get a Library book for my daughter. (The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne).

I'll work a little late today as I have to get my daughter from cheer practice again along with two other girls from town. Unfortunately, that means missing my Boot Camp tonight, but I took a run this morning so that is good.

My husband was so happy to see me yesterday that he gave me a bear hug...unfortunately, as soon as he did it, I felt the pain... I'm not sure if he bruised a rib or pulled a muscle, but my back is killing me. This too shall pass, I keep telling myself. I thought the run this morning would help it, but it did not!

My first mother's club meeting of the year is tonight at my daughter's school. We do a lot of baking for all the different activities at the school and I met a lot of great people last year, so I'm looking forward to it again, this year.

Camping Weekend

Well, we are back from camping and I'm thrilled to be home....It rained all weekend, need I say more. We made the best of it, but I was tired and dirty. The triplets had a wonderful time and so did all the kids. The adults read, played some games, did some walking when the rain stopped every once in a while and tried to enjoy this new campground.

My daughter and I had packed up most of our stuff last night, so we got up early this morning and got on the road by 7:45, following my dad who also left early. I got home in plenty of time to clean out the car, get organized, do three loads of laundry, take a shower and pick up Nonni for church. Then, since it is Sunday, Nonni comes over to spend the day with us. We did more laundry and then had a nice picnic/cookout outside - because it was beautiful weather at home!!! I just finished cleaning out the chicken coop and decided to go online and see what is happening in the world...Oh, its Sunday, which means football has started.... Are you ready?

What a way to ruin the morning

I was organized this morning. The only thing I had to do was get the wood (all chopped and stacked in the side yard), into the barrel to put into the truck. I got four pieces in to the barrel and there it was...Mr. Snake, three inches below my fingertips. I couldn't see his face, thank goodness, just his body curled all up. What a way to ruin the morning....I can't get the image out of my head. I'm deathly afraid of snakes, no matter what kind or color or anything.

I keep saying to myself, "Think Happy Thoughts", but it isn't working....

Camping

After walking my daughter to the bus stop, I'm heading to work a little early because I took 1/2 day of vacation. My daughter and I are headed off to the campground this afternoon. I will pick her up from school and go straight to the campground. I am not sure if the weather is going to hold, but a little rain never hurt anyone, except maybe that wicked witch! I packed last night, and everything is ready to go into the car.

We are only going until Sunday morning, but we are going with my whole family. My parents, my sister, her husband and their triplets, my other sister, her husband and one daughter (their other two are in college), my brother, his wife and their two daughters and my other brother and his family cannot go. We are meeting my cousins up there t00! We have two tent campsites and two cabin sites for 16 people....

I'm bringing my computer with me, but who knows if we will have access to the internet. The campground is about 1-1/2 hours away. You gotta love these mini vacations. I have a book to read, cards to play and lots of people to talk to. I'll try to get some pictures posted too.

I'll miss my husband while we are camping, but I am sure he is a tired but happy camper this morning...He will be driving back from Pittsburgh on Saturday. Congrats, Steelers! It wasn't pretty, but it was a W.

My Kids

I have three children, although two of them are now classified as adults. Rick is 21 and is a senior in college. Dominic is 20 and is a junior in college. Elizabeth is a sophomore in high school.

They are truly great kids. They have faced adversity head on. They have taken on challenges, that I would have never done at their age. They are all B Students and I have no "major" issues with any of them. I am very fortunate.

Rick is majoring in psychology with a criminal justice minor. He wants to be a police officer (at least right now). Dominic is majoring in Kinesiology with a concentration in strength and conditioning. Two years ago, I had never even heard of the word "kinesiology". I'm very proud of him as this is an extremely difficult major with an extremely heavy course load. He just got into the program and is excited about his journey. Elizabeth goes to a private all girls Catholic high school. My cousin Laura asked me one day - Why would you send your daughter to an all girls school - do you hate her that much? (she was kidding of course) But, the real answer is Nope, I don't hate her. I love my daughter so much, that I am sending her to this school. It has proven to be the best thing for her. Although she won't admit it yet. 15 is a tough age for a girl (maybe for boys too, but I never saw that).

The boys are very self sufficient and independent. They always have been. I send them their checks for their rent each month (off campus housing this year) and they make due. They will not come home too often this year as both have part time jobs and classroom work will be intense.

Elizabeth is a cheerleader. She has been doing it since she was 7. It is something she truly loves. Football season will be starting shortly, so we will be at games every Friday night. It is good though, as last year, I met a lot of wonderful moms and dads of other cheerleaders.

Today, I am working all day. After work tonight is my Boot Camp. This is another wonderful exercise class that is physical and as tough as the name implies. Then I have to go to one of my part time jobs at 7:10. When I get home later this evening, it will be time to pack for camping this weekend....

My Husband

My husband and I have only been married for a year. He has been a part of my life for five years. I am extremely lucky to have found such a great guy. (Don't get me wrong, he does drive me nuts, sometimes, but don't they all!) He is a huge Steelers fan. So guess where he is headed today? Yep...Pittsburgh for the opening day game of the NFL. He packed last night and couldn't find his new Steelers yellow sunglasses and new Steelers hat...he searched for over an hour....and he finally found them....under the bed. The guy is a Steeler fan(atic)! He has everything imaginable that has a Steelers insignia.

Anyway, I got up at 5:00 to send him on his way with five other Steelers fan(atic)s. Imagine six men, all dressed in their favorite clothes, heading to their favorite city with 1,000,000 (probably more) other people dressed exactly like they are and doing the same thing they are. They say Steeler fans are the best fans and I think they are right. Guess what, he takes me to a game every year. Guess what else? He bought me the same type of clothes. And Guess what else..I love this man, so I wear these clothes.....Let's go Steelers - beat the Titans!

My Hens

I had a great run this morning. I probably only ran 2-1/2 miles, but it was a great morning with no humidity. I'm working all day today - I still have to catch up from having Monday off, but it won't be that bad today.

I thought I would show you some pictures of my hens. I let them out of their coop every morning around 6:00 am. They are so happy when that door opens. For a while there, they were able to get in and out of their run at their convenience, but then a raccoon decided to burrow his way underneath the run and into the coop. He (or she) killed two of my beautiful hens last week, so within two days, I went and got two more. I have a total of four. The two newest hens are not laying yet, they should be laying in about a week or two. After the raccoon found his way in, we had to figure a way to close up the coop totally, at night. My husband devised a door and it seems to be working quite nicely. I am hoping that this is the last bit of work we have to do on the coop. It is now two years old and we have done some construction on it, since my two boys built it last March. It works for us, so that is all that matters.

Tonight is my new Zumba class. For those of you who don't know what Zumba is, it is exercising to Latin music. I have to say that I don't know how to dance very well, but...this class is great! You get a really good workout and you have a lot of fun at the same time - what is better than that! I have two great teachers (that is the most important aspect of Zumba) and have been enjoying this new craze for about 6 months now. You can enter "zumba" into youtube and watch a video to get an idea of what it is like.

Back to Work

After the wonderfully long weekend, it is time to head back to work. Mondays are usually very busy, but since it is Tuesday already, I have no doubt, I'll be working straight through until 5:30. After work, I have to go to school to get my daughter and her friends from cheerleading practice, then head home, eat and go to one of my part time jobs at the church. More on these subjects later.

I found out how to add a picture to the home page of the blog and now I have found out how to add a picture directly to the blog. The picture above is my Godson Bruno. His mom took this picture and it is the one she entered into the fair. Would you believe she didn't win?

The picture on the home page of the blog is from our wedding last year. Taken by Corimar Photograhy, the pictures were just awesome. We can only say wonderful things about them. So, Cory and Mark - you are WONDERFUL photographers!

Goshen Fair and the Labor Day Race

Today is Labor Day. A wonderful day off for most of us. Today is the New Haven Road Race. I have been doing this race for about seven years now. It is one of my favorites. I do the 5K and then we watch the 20K winners cross the finish line. Very exciting for everyone!! The weather was perfect for my sister and me to race. We also brought her triplets, my dad and my niece. A perfect morning. Then we all went home, showered, changed and headed to the Goshen Fair.

This is another tradition in my family. It is a great fair with a ton of people and demonstrations and activities and attractions. My sister entered her sons picture this year - it didn't win a prize, but it was fun to see something we all know and love at the fair. We stayed for a few hours and then came home and my husband had cooked dinner....Wonderful.

I went out after dinner to start a fire in the outside fire place because it is a cool Labor Day, but it was wonderful to just sit out there and read. I put the chickens in their coop for the night and decided to post today. My next thing to learn on blogging is inserting pictures... Stay tuned. I'll get to that soon.

My Second Day - Sunday

I loved the idea of my blog. So much so, that I couldn't wait to write on the second day. We had a wonderful time at my girlfriend Cheryl's house last night. They are good friends and we met a lot of their friends too.

Today is a full day too. (Don't you just love holiday weekends where everyone is having a party?) We are taking my husband's grandmother (Nonni) to church this morning, then heading to my husband's cousins house for a little picnic. Then tonight we are headed to my girlfriend Cindy's house for cake and coffee for her son, Nicholas, who is my godson. I make him his favorite pretzel snacks. There isn't a name for them I don't think. I just make them every year for his birthday.

The weather is going to be wonderful again today, so we are lucky to be having a great Labor Day weekend.

My first time

I wish I knew what blogs were years ago...journaling. I love to journal. It is a part of me. A part of me that is just mine. I have been journaling for years. The first blog that I ever read was called Gypsy Moments. It was about a friends' daughter's journey across the United States in an RV. I loved seeing all the places she visited.

Then when I found out what blogs were all about, I found blogs that I liked: Farm blogs, chicken blogs, Blogs about life and about going green and staying green! So, I have begun my own blog about what I know..My full time life.

I am married, have three children, work full time and have a few part time jobs. In my "spare" time, I like to do a little gardening, reading, running, raise some hens and find joy in life.

My two oldest sons are in college, my daughter is in high school. I am a newlywed...I've only been married to Tom for a year. He is a great guy, but more about him later.

I start my blog today, Sept. 5th, 2009 and I hope you enjoy it. If you don't, please look around and find what you do enjoy, there are so many blogs out there...and if you don't find one, start your own! I did!

Have a great day! My husband is at football scrimmage, my daughter is at the fair, I am doing some long overdue cleaning today, but this afternoon, we are heading over a wonderful friend's house for a picnic - I can't wait and the weather is going to be great. I have to run to the store to get some things to make dessert and then go for a run...

Enjoy