Hot Hot Hot

Here in the northeast it's been hotter than the hinges on Hades lately. I've found that the people I work with during the day are managing far better than I. I have gone to work dressed in my normal attire only to find that I want to strip it all off and run nekkid through the sprinklers outside (now...there are no sprinklers outside but people have offered to squirt me with bottles of water from the second floor windows if I decide to go run around sans clothes!)

It's supposed to be hotter this weekend if you can believe it! I plan to drink lots of fluids and not venture far from the bathroom.

On the job front - the new job is going amazing! I've done one day alone and managed quite nicely. I only had to call for help once (but it was a doozy - we went off the air for a few minutes - not good in radio!) I like it so far (it's only been one week but it's like falling off a bicycle... I picked up the routine in nothing flat).

New Job News

I started my new part time job today at our local radio station. I used to work in radio four years ago and I jumped back into the fishbowl of radio and swam like a guppy! This station uses a more sophisticated software system but it seems much easier than the old DARTS system we used to use way back when. I'll be doing logs, filing, answering phones, and all the stuff that needs to get done. I'm excited about the idea of being "in radio" again even if I'm not one of the elite on-air personalities. I'm happy being behind the scenes, making things run smooth.

Cavities and other Yuck

I was the lucky one to take all three kids to the dentist today. I took 1/2 and afternoon off from work to be told that overall my kids have nice teeth however they've got combined at least 9 cavities. My daughter has two, my son four, my oldest has 3. You all know how long it takes to get into the dentist so don't shoot me when I say the oldest is going in tomorrow at 10am! yes, I said TOMORROW!! I almost fainted when the receptionist asked if it was ok. OK?! OK?! Are you NUTS?! Of COURSE it's ok!!! So the oldest goes back tomorrow; the other two have appointments for August 3 and4 th. Yep that's only a couple of weeks away! I think I'm liking this dentist already! We'll see when the bill comes in.

Today is also my last free afternoon. Tomorrow afternoon I start my new job at a local radio station doing the traffic and miscellaneous office work. I'll report later in the week how it goes. I celebrated my last afternoon off by taking out the canoe with my three kids. I took the youngest and my middle son out, then came back, dumped them out, took the oldest alone, brought him back and then took the middle son out again alone. I'm wiped out!! I had to call Sandy from the middle of the lake to rag - Hey guess where I am?! LOL! In the middle of the lake! I can't say what the reply was - something like Aww you bugger!! LOL We haven't been out on the lake in a couple of weeks. It was cool to turn the kids onto something fun.

Learning New Things

This weekend, I spent watching my friend Cedar work on face painting. She is amazing! I can't believe she "claims" to not "know how" to paint! She did an awesome tiger face on her middle daughter that, if she hadn't said it was her, I would NOT have recognized her! She had a very serious expression on her face that fit right in with the tiger face. Cedar also had two gigs, one was a warm up where she absolutely ROCKED according to Phil, and a second 'not so busy' gig where she only painted nine faces in 3 hours. A little disappointing but she rocked on one of the two so it was ok :)

She has inspired me to work on my balloon twisting - I need to learn more, do more, get myself out there to the people in town who do not know me and what I do.

Canoeing I Go

Well, I finally got to take my new baby up to my friend's house. For those that haven't been following along, I bought a canoe recently. Sandy (my friend) and I took her out for a short trip around Crowley Pond and I got a quick steering lesson. We then spent a good deal of Sunday afternoon working on her - she's got some new screws, a nice wooden cover on the stern and a panel on the bow to hold in the foam pieces. Everything is nice and waterproofed with eye hooks on both ends to put rope through. I felt confident enough to take Miss Rachel out on Monday afternoon for a short spin on the lake near our house. We both had a blast just taking a short glide around the lake. I wanted to go again today but it's been thundering out off and on all day so I don't really want to take a chance. There will be plenty of days to take her out :)

Sunday I was at Phil and Cedar's to celebrate their youngest's birthday - he turned the BIG ONE! I have truly forgotten how much fun it is to celebrate a first birthday! Yo got into his cake with much abandon. Can you say Ice cream E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E? There are pictures but I won't post without permission. All I will say is that the Big Boy got a shower with me after he was done with his ice cream cake (which didn't thrill him at all).

Big Red Riding Hood

Late last night, I figured out how to fix the chain on my new bike (it's an 18-speed Schwinn) and it is ready to roll! Since I'm 5'9 it would be silly to call myself Little Red Riding Hood! I went for a short ride today to the local store for milk. I know one thing - my butt has forgotten what it's like to ride! OUCH! The only benefit to carrying the gallon of milk home on your back? Your back stays nice and cool :)

I'm a sweaty, tired mess right now so I'm heading off to the bedroom where the AC is on and it's nice and chilly. A shower is on tap for later this afternoon - I have some more dirty work to do and it doesn't make sense to shower now and then in about an hour...just sit upwind of me!

Happy 4th of July

I had a rare day off so I decided to go alone to NH and visit my friends. I left Friday afternoon early (picking up Sandy from work on the way up). We decided to go to dinner while we were out and enjoyed a very nice seafood dinner at a restaurant where we DIDN'T have to speak into the clown's mouth to order! :)

Then onward to the house. The little girls were almost asleep when I got there, but I did manage to sneak in and pass out hugs and kisses all around. Cedar and Phil were both up and we had a chance to sit and chat like grown ups. It was a nice evening all around.

I had the opportunity to spend Saturday with the girls - they were very well behaved all afternoon. No need to speak more than once to any of them. They swam in the pool, we went to Petco to get some ICK medicine for the fishtank, then stopped for ice cream on the way home. After a very short (less than 20 minutes for everyone) lie down, I made cheeseburgers for dinner and everyone ate everything. By the time Phil and Cedar got home, everyone was asleep - even the baby! I just wore that poor little thing out. Of course, I only had about twenty minutes of grown up talk before I, too, hit the sack and fell right to sleep.

Sunday I helped with several projects - one being shoring up a trunk for Phil and Cedar to use in their library show. I helped a lot - I got to hold the screws oooh boy! LOL. Then it was on to fence staining so that the yard can be fenced in and keep the little ones safe. The final project of the day was starting a rose arbor on the side of the house. Somehow I managed to drop a 2 x 6 x 12' piece of lumber on my right foot. Hurts like the devil but Cedar is going to love this rose arbor when it's all done. All day Sunday the scent of ribs smoking wafted through the air. I was going to leave at about 3 to head home but when I called home, everyone had gone off for the night so I decided to stay for the rib-a-cue and come home Monday morning (a rare day off for me!) I dropped Sandy off at work on my way home Monday morning and then headed to my home. After 2 1/2 hours of driving I pulled into my driveway, walked into a house that was totally devoid of people (for a CHANGE) and promptly fell asleep across the bed. When I got up, I hung out a load of laundry, did the dishes, tidied the bathroom and mowed my front lawn.

Right now, it's almost 9pm and I'm seriously thinking of taking shower number 2 for the day. I'm wiped out from trying to put the chain on my bicycle and inflating the tires. I'd like to ride tomorrow but I don't think that's going to be an option - I put the chain on backwards...ya I know... yes, I DID read the directions!!!