Storm clouds on the horizon...

We have a lot of friends and family going through some tough times at the moment, and I just wanted to send my thoughts out to them and ask for you to do the same if you have a few minutes!

- Jeremy had to have a basal cell carcinoma cut off his ear today; it's the spot that was burned by the pitot tube a few years ago at the airline, so we expect that it will be an isolated case. Thankfully I'm used to the basal cell removal process due to my mother having so many done, it hasn't worried us too badly.

- My sister in law Sarah isn't feeling very well and is nearing the end of her student teaching to get her degree; I hope so very much for her that she can finish, she's worked very hard towards this.

- Emily lost her job on Tuesday for no particular reason and is now on the hunt again! She's also applying to law school and trying to use this opportunity to do a full time program and get a fresh start.

- A dear friend of ours, I'll keep his name for privacy's sake, is going through a terrible issue with his son's school after his son was molested by another child. The school and DFCS are cooperating, but not offering any information they don't have to. Hopefully, everything will wrap up and their lives can go back to normal. Thankfully his son is young, so he doesn't completely understand what's going on, so a little therapy will go a long way.

- My sister in law Valerie and her husband just found out that one of the children they were trying to adopt from Ethiopia is no longer available due to his orphanage shutting down. They are in the midst of switching agencies again and continuing to try for the second boy they want to adopt.

- Jeremy's brother James is returning home yet again from another stint in supportive care. We hope that things will go smoothly for Marc and Jan in this transition.

- I'm getting the feeling that things may start getting bumpy at work... keeping my fingers crossed!

In good news, it does seem like Marc's (my father in law) surgery has done him some good and putting him on a late-but-great path to better health!

I leave you with one of my favorite Glee covers to date-- "Somebody to Love" (originally by Queen)

Congrats to Laura and Zach Baston!

Middle School us would TOTALLY laugh at Married us-- there may even be some shunning involved. We were SO COOL in MS/HS ;)

I know, not the best, but I don't have another picture of them where you can see them both! Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Zachary Baston!

Le Baston le Baston hee hee hee haw haw haw...

Felix White!

Congrats to Krystal and Charles on their THIRD beautiful baby!

Felix White, Oct. 2, 2010

Think Fast!

Congrats to my friend Joe who just found out that after a big fat runaround from SUNY-O he's going to be able to graduate in December! Doesn't give him much time to figure stuff out, but it's really great-- he definitely deserves a break!

Something new?

Not really, but here I am anyway! I've gotten down to business watching some of my Netflix queue, really trying to get through some of it since it's QUITE large. Over 100 titles on instant play, and that's just the actual queue. The DVD section is completely out of hand, probably around 400 discs. Insane.

I watched "Surrogates" this morning, it came out last year or the year before and has Bruce Willis in it, and it was really quite good. I mean, there was a little social commentary, but it wasn't really heavy handed and the story moved along really well without getting distracted by the subplots.

Now I'm watching "The Alphabet Killer" which is a thriller with Eliza Dushku. No reports yet, I'm only about ten minutes in ;)

As noted, we had an extremely long week last week and as a result have just kinda puttered around this weekend. I got my comforter washed (which was badly needed) and the bedclothes and some general stuff, stayed up on a cleaning/organizing binge whereupon I discovered that an entire magnum of Benadryl spilled in my travel bag and ruined the $100 gift certificate to Savage Pizza from one of my after school families. I'm going to go talk to them and see if they can pull anything up or give me a break, I would hate for the family that gifted it to me to have wasted their money! I know I need to put those things in zip loc bags, but I forget and then something like this happens, just about every time!

I don't have any pictures from recent events, but hopefully Michael will get some up and I can steal them from him. I feel awful because we've been SO busy recently I didn't have time to mail Ana's birthday present! We miss her SO much, and wish we could have gotten them there on time, but I'm sure she'll be excited anyway-- everyone loves a late birthday gift, it always feel like you birthday all over ;)

That's about all the news that's fit to print, and a little that isn't. I'm off to figure out what to get for Jan for her birthday since EVERYONE's birthday is in September! Della, Pops, March, Jan, Jeremy, John, Ana, Peanut, it's crazy!

Ciao for now!

Oh, AND...

Welcome to the world James Lewis! Born September 9, 2010 at 6:28pm 7lb 1.8oz, 19.5''

Caq, James, and Lewis-- one happy family!

Indiana Fun

Our neighbor Paige is from Indiana and, apparently, on long cold Indiana nights, they played Cribbage. It is an excellent game and I rock at it! Paige and I sat out on the porch this evening and had a Girls Night In with a bottle of wine, a deck of cards, and a cribbage board.

Jeremy and I have had a very long week with CSD out for "fall break" and us in for full day camp. The pay will be good, but WHEW we could use a weekend to ourselves!

Last weekend was recruitment and bid day for Gamma Sigma and Kappa Omicron, and I'm so proud of BOTH my chapters-- GS got quota plus one with 24 new girls and KO got 47 NEW MEMBERS!!!!! LARGEST PLEDGE CLASS EVER. I'm so thrilled, I can't wait to get back for homecoming and meet all the new girls!

Not much else to say, so I'm going to go to bed and get some sleep! Ciao for now!

A real update?

I know, it's shocking! An update that isn't entirely comprised of pictures!

Three hasn't been too much interesting going on lately, just the usual days dragging on, getting slammed at work, and keeping our fingers crossed that things will work out! Jeremy's yard sale thing seems to be panning out a little better than we'd originally thought, which is nice, and I keep finding more piles of things to work on. I tell you, being a child care provider is a thankless and painful job. There are brief moments when the parents tell me how awesome I am that it seems worth it, but there are days I just want to walk out the door and never look back! I've also decided, as I'm working at a church, that I'm sick and tired of hearing the phrase "non-Christian" used as a derogatory term. There are lots of "non-Christians" in my program, that's the POINT of my program, and that doesn't mean they aren't perfectly awesome kids who deserve the same amount of love, caring, and kindness. I can tell the parents who say this to me don't realize that I'm a "non-Christian" and that they're being terribly offensive, but I also have seen the reactions of my quite Christian seminary friends when they hear people say these things. Since when is being exclusive and looking down on people who don't share your views Christian?

I'll stop my rant there now, but it's probably the most irritating thing I deal with. Kids are kids, let them be.

Anyway, I've been getting myself together, did a lot of laundry and have been trying to get back in to the habit of cooking. It was so hot all summer that we didn't cook much and now that it's a reasonable temperature, I have to get back in the habit of shopping properly and cooking!

We've watched a lot on Netflix's instant play server, it's probably the best thing I've paid for in quite some time-- Jeremy can watch cheesy movies and I can watch Anthony Bourdain and Futurama!

Jeremy's birthday is next week, so I'm still trying to figure out what to get him, and though I'm fuzzy on the date I know Ana's is as well-- I totally messed up on that one and forgot to mail her present to Marc and Jan to be included, but no worries, it'll be on its way soon!

I'm basically rambling at this point, so I'm going to have a snack and hit the hay! More when I'm coherent/actually have something to say :)

Ciao for now!