11/19 Wednesday again

One week from today I'll be in North Carolina with Rob and Beata. For some reason I thought they were coming to Quincy for Christmas so I didn't do Christmas shopping for them. But Rob said they hadn't planned to come, so now I have to frantically search this weekend for just the right gifts. Hard enough to do anyway, but in a time crunch it's even harder.

I can't wait to see them. It'll be so nice to have another mini-vacation. Sure wish I could take Gus with me though. I'll miss him terribly.

Took the day off work because of a medical procedure so it was a wonderfully lazy day--just me with Gus and Bozie. I loved it, and the rest felt great (emotionally, not just physically). Tonight I'm teaching a class at QU but it won't be full-length.

10/17 Nothing much

A busy day at work and I'm glad it's over. Gus and I will have to go in tomorrow to finish some stuff, but it shouldn't take too long.

Made my flight arrangements today to go to NC for Thanksgiving. It will be fun, but I'll sure miss little Gussie while I'm gone.

Guess that's it for today. Boring, I know.

Oh...wait...big news is that St. Joe let Gus out over lunch today because I had a meeting that was scheduled at the last minute. Thanks, St. Joe.

10/15 Cookie news

I tried walking the girls together again tonight, but it didn't work. Sigh. I walked them separately and that worked out fine.

Later, they went out in the backyard and got muddy. (Again? Still?) Quincy did her usual thing of coming inside and jumping in the bathtub. The miracle occurred when Q jumped out and Cookie jumped in. Yep, for the first time I didn't have to fight Cookie to get into the tub. I tried to reinforce that behavior as much as possible. Hope it happens like that from now on. She may weigh only 40-some pounds, but it feels like more when I'm wrestling her into the tub.

So much to do to get ready for North Carolina. I'm doing laundry now. Tomorrow night is cards, and Wednesday night is choir practice. I leave really (really) early on Thursday so tonight is really the only night I have to prepare.

Knowing me, though, I'll finish late on Wednesday night. Ms. Procrastinator!

10/15 Leaving Thursday

I get to visit Rob and Beata on Thursday and part of Friday. Am flying to Raleigh and will stay at their house overnight. Then on Friday they're driving me to Charlotte, where I'll participate in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. I was asked to be the Operations Division Leader for the crew and said absolutely yes.

It's a great event, and my sisters, nieces, friends and I go to the Chicago one every year. My sisters and I have done it for the past six years and over the years others have joined us. It's such a wonderful time. Even though we're all so busy--especially Jan who walks the 40 miles--we still get to spend some quality time together and I cherish it.

This one won't be as much fun as Chicago because they won't be there, but it's a worthy cause and I'm looking forward to it.

Plus it will be super to see Rob, Beata, and the zoo. Haven't seen them since early May when I drove back there to pick up Quincy. She was eight weeks old at the time. And about eight pounds. Now she's eight months old (tomorrow) and more than 60 pounds. How time flies!

Can't wait to see two of my kids!!!!! I could use the hugs.

2/1 Beata got her snow!

Our backyard view. One is off our deck. The one that has a very white section is the path on the way to Adi's grave. The path doesn't contain any leaves so the snow looks lovely.


Right now it's freezing rain and Rob had an errand he had to do. We tried to buy some sandbags last night for the back of his truck. Well, even Lowe's hadn't heard of that. They said they had bags and they could sell us sand and we could put the sand in the bags. Rob tried to explain the concept of selling full sandbags so people with trucks and rear wheel drive vehicles could drive on the bad roads. No luck. (We're not in the north anymore, Toto.) So he decided to put his lawn tractor in the back of his truck. Pretty darn smart, these Samoans.

All schools were either closed or had delayed starts today. Even Ft. Bragg is closed. Amazing. We probably had 1/4 inch of snow. But I do agree the roads may become really bad if the freezing rain stays frozen on the ground.

Beata took her dogs outside, but they didn't think it was as fun as she did.