Friday 10/25

Hi Ladies!

The picture is our anniversary gift from Aurora - she made it in school.  The best part, for me, is she got a great compliment from the teacher on it - yeah!!  I think it has also helped her want to do better.  BTW, our anniversary was 9/23.

On that note, we took our first college trip with Aurora.  The school is in Morrisville, NY, which struck me as we live in Morrisville, PA - lol.  David and I liked it enough to think we needed to go back to school, esp as neither of us went to college.  So all others we visit will have to beat it.  The only thing that is bad is its 4 1/2 hrs from near w/o stopping.  We left at 3:45 am to go up there - can you say tired?  We got there at 8:45, left just after 2 and didn't get home until after 9 (stopped to eat once we got back to town).  What a long day!  We are going to do two open houses next month - one at Temple - Ambler campus and at DelVal in Doylestown.  Both are about 45 min from home.  Closer is good:)

Been pretty busy.  Work is crazy, as usual.  The girls are doing ok in school - we did hit both back to school nights.  Aurora is back to bowling on Saturdays, Amelia to dance on Mondays and she finishes up lacrosse clinic tomorrow.  My gf Jen is moving - once the house she'll be renting passes inspection (it failed today - something electrical).  So she was going to move Monday, but now hopefully it will be Wednesday.  I am taking the day off to help and have been over there on and off this month to help her pack.  We did go out to dinner with her and a few others a couple weeks ago and had a great time.  I did not know Don Shula had a chain of steak restaurants (for those not into football, he was coach of the Miami Dolphins for a long time).  The food was good - and expensive.  Wasn't quite expecting that.  Dessert was totally fabulous though - a chocolate molten lava cake - that was huge!  I should have taken a pic of that.

Book Club was last week.  We read Reconstructing Amelia.  I liked it, even though you know it will be sad.  Amelia is 15 and dies at school - the cops called it suicide.  Her mom, Kate, gets a text that says Amelia didn't jump and the rest of the book is her "reconstructing" the last few weeks of her life.  It was interesting as it was written for today's world - pages were done with "text" messages and Facebook pages, just like all kids do now.  I liked it a lot.  Next book is The Natural by Bernard M (I can't remember the name).  This book was made into a movie in the 80s starring Robert Redford.  Saw the movie but never read the book, so that works for me.

Ok, off to bed.  I have to take both girls in the morning, as David has to go to work.  Lets leave with another picture . . . .

Amanda

Tuesday evening--Oct. 22

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since I posted but I have been checking in and reading posts. I also vote not to shut down the blog. I do check in and I will try to post more often.

I have been busy as well--the days and weeks fly by. We just celebrated Lauren's 6th birthday--can you believe it? She loves kindergarten and is on a soccer team. Jake is doing well in pre-k and likes his teachers. We are watching them this weekend so Karen and Jer can get away for a few days.

I have been dieting. My last doctor's appt. my blood sugar was too high and my doc wanted to start meds but I suggested I try dieting first and she agreed. So far I have lost 22 pounds and my blood sugar and blood pressure have come down. I am pleased with the results and I am sure she will be as well. I would like to loose 40 pounds altogether.

I have been reading a lot. I know you will all be happy to hear I finally discovered Robyn Carr and have read the first three books in her Virgin River series. I love them and can't put them down once I start a new one. I have also been reading a historical mystery series by Carol K. Carr (no relation to Robyn!) called the India Black mysteries which I am enjoying. I am continuing to read the Bullet Catchers and the Black Ops. series. I just read the newest Carla Neggers book, Declan's Cross which is very good. Right now I am reading an older Andrea Kane book, No Way Out.

As you can imagine Don and I are watching a lot of football. The Steelers are finally doing better and Penn State is having a pretty good year.

I hope everyone is well and posts when they have time. Can't believe it is almost Halloween and the holidays will be here before we know it!

Mary

Sunday 10/20

Hi,
I know it's been forever since I've been here.  It seems like with the job I have now that time just gets past me.  I really don't know where it goes, but it sure does seem to fly by!  I leave home to go to work about 6:30 in the morning and don't get home again until about 5:30 at night.

Lately I've been just exhausted.  Things still aren't settled with Brian, and his issues.  Every time I turn around I find out something more about it, and have been trying to cope with that.  Constantly trying to learn to get along with Richard and him living here, and trying to get him to understand that I'm just requesting normal things, not things that are trying to rule his life, but to be respectful of my home and life.  Grown kids!!!!

The last few weeks have been stressful because Travis our big dog is sick.  We don't know what's wrong with him, and he won't eat daily and he hasn't  pooped in a week!  He's been to the vet 3-4 times and even spent a week at her hospital!  Still no clue what's wrong.

Wednesday I'm hosting the book club for dinner.  It's our annual Halloween one, and Mike has made a ton of lego things for this year's event.

It seems like I'm doing more listening to audio books than actual reading.

I vote no for closing the blog.  I don't think we can really make it go away anyway, but it's a nice place to pop into occasionally and see who has posted what!

Sandi

Fri evening, Oct 18/13

You know, I've been wondering about that as most of us hardly come here any more.  I don't know about you, but my life has exploded lately, and with my computer acting up like it is, I hardly go anywhere any more.  Yet, I'm like DonnaM, I'm not quite ready to let go. 

I miss her pictures.

And I got quite a few good ideas for books to read from you all.  I've read the whole Fool's Gold series by Susan Mallery as well as several other of her books.  I've been doing a lot more reading of library books, which was encouraged here. 

Oh dear, what to do. . .

My old blog that I set up many years ago is still here.  It's got something like 4 posts.  I haven't checked to see if it still works or not. 

We're getting ready for winter -- I've even got my Christmas music out already {:-o  and you're preparing for tropical storms.  Keep safe! 

I have to sew gold ribbon onto the dresses 2 of my granddaughters are wearing for their brothers wedding.  They were going to get married next summer -- the baby's due in March. . .    He's actually a step-grandson, and he's lived with his dad for quite a few years, until the last few months, so I don't know him all that well, though he is very polite.  I guess that will make me a step-great-grandma.  Yikes!  I'm not ready for that!

Thursady night

DonnaH~~spoke to DonnaM about whether we should close this a few weeks ago and she said not yet.  However, neither she nor the others have stopped in so, I don't know what else to think.  Everyone must have gone their separate ways; there has been very little action all year in here.  What do you think?

My trip to Epcot today was really nice.  It's good to see an old friend again.  Epcot is part of Disney World and features different countries.  Some of them are really interesting, like China with a 360 degree movie.  Of course, each country features its own food!  The weather was perfect and TS Karen is waiting until the weekend to bother us.

Trudy