Happy New Year!!

Wow! Somewhere along the line I missed a whole month of blogging!!! I haven't been too diligent in taking pictures, so this might end up being a boring words only blog. So what have we been up to the last month? LOTS of exciting and not so exciting things.

I'll quickly sum it up:
-we worked....seems like there was a rush of emergencies at work, so there weren't too many "normal" nights. For a while there, every night I went into work we ended up in the OR for stat C-sections.
-our computer broke, was fixed, and broke again...so we finally have a COMPLETELY new set up! Our monitor totally died and, thankfully, was still under warrenty. So we send our monitor in to be fixed and the manufactur says "the parts are on such a back order, just go pick out a new monitor!!" The catch was we had to spend the same amount of money as we had before otherwise we lose the money. Who would have guessed that the monitor we'd originally had ( a 22'') was now WAYYY cheaper than we'd paid before, so since we didn't want to lose the money, we ended up getting a 24'' screen!!! The thing is so huge we have to practically sit across the room to keep from hurting our eyes while we surf the internet!!! Here's a picture of our new monitor:

-Also in December we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary!!! I can't believe a year has already gone by! We went out to a really nice restaurant (Cornell's) and stuffed ourselves until we could hardly walk out the door! While we were there there was this group of 6 people who we kept staring at b/c they kept talking about "being on stage tomorrow night" and had the manager come over and ask for one of the ladies autographs... once we got home and googled her, we found out she used to be a famous singer. She sang 'I've got a brand new pair of roller skates..." AKA one of the most annoying songs in the WORLD!!! So that was our brush with fame.
-My family came up to spend Christmas with us and we had a really great time. Unfortunately I had to work most of the nights they were here, but hopefully they still had a good time hanging out at our house.
-I turned 24!!!! YIKES!!!! Is that a grey hair I see?!?!


And most exciting of all is how we spent the first day of the new year! Here's a hint:

We welcomed the new year with 6 fire trucks and 3 policemen at our house!!!!!!! So Tuesday morning (Jan 1) Jason left around 8:30 to go snow blow a driveway and then head to work. I had to work that night so I had just taken a shower (soaking wet hair) and went downstairs to fix the woodstove fire and do some laundry. So I cracked the door to the woodstove so the chimney would heat up and not smoke up the whole house when I fixed it. I throw some towels into the washer and go out to the woodstove. After I throw a few boards onto the fire I notice it's making a weird sound (sorta sounded like a rainstick) going up the chimney and where the damper is up the pipe I can see a little flash of orange where the hole is. So I run upstairs to make sure there's not flames coming out of the chimney and there's not. I run back downstairs and by this time the sound is getting louder and louder and the pipe is starting to turn cherry red!! FREAK OUT TIME!!!! So we had a pot of water on the stove that humidifes the air. So I try and pour it on the pipe...LOUD HISSING SOUND.... and then it starts to turn cherry red again, but this time the ENTIRE pipe is red and there is smoke EVERYWHERE! I quickly closed the door to the stove and shut down the damper and called 911!! The firetrucks showed up within 10 minutes, but how scary to be standing outside hoping you don't see your house burn down and you hear the fire house siren you know is for your house! There I stood crying in the middle of the snowstorm with a wet head, snowy glasses, my pjs on and crocs with no socks!! (The stove probably caught fire because I was looking so hot!!!) Anyways, everything turned out okay. I think the fire smothered itself out by the time the firefighters had gotten there so it didn't do any damage to our house. How scary though!!! Now we have to get everything inspected to make sure we don't have to replace the entire chimey. So needless to say it was quiet an exciting way to start 2008!!!

So here's to a much quieter year than it started out!!!!!

November Happenings

I can't believe it's already the middle of November!! Everytime I get used to writing the correct month on all of my papers, it changes on me again!!!!

My mom and Harley came up last week to spend a couple days with us and we had so much fun! I had a week off of work, so it was so nice to have some time together. It was great to just lounge around with mom and be able to relax without having to get anything done. We did get quite a bit of decorating done!!! Although, towards the end of the week Jason was reaching his limit. I think if I would have given him one more picture to hang he would have hung me instead!!! :)

Here's our newly decorated basement:

Our slowly developing picture collage

Mixed feelings on the joy of decorating

After all the decorating was done and I realized how close we had come to having "irreconcilable differences" due to wall hangings...we decided to do something that didn't involve nails or pictures or doilies! So last weekend we went to Arena Cross with Dave Zal.

I was actually on-call the entire time we were there. So I sat and clutched my phone in my hand terrified that it would ring and I'd have to leave for work from downtown Albany. Little did we know how the evening REALLY would pan out. Grab some popcorn, this gets good!

So Dave meets us at our house and since we weren't sure whether I was going to get called in to work, Dave drove separately so he could bring Jason home if I had to leave early. I really wanted to park in the parking garage because I thought if I got called in and had to walk to the car by myself I didn't want to walk through Albany alone. But Jason and Dave said they would find street parking close to the arena and "you'll be fine". So we parked in two separate places and then met up at the arena. I called into work around 9 and they said they'd need me at 11 so I figured I'd just leave from the arena and drive right to work and change once I got there. Jason kindly walked me to the car and then he was going to walk down the street and meet up with Dave at his car. So at 10:15ish Jason walks me to my car and I take off towards the hospital. I'm just getting out of Albany onto the highway and Jason calls me "you need to turn around!! Dave's truck was towed and we need you to take us to the garage!!!" WHAT?!?! I have no idea where I'm going!! So Jason tells me which exit to get off of and he'll run up the street and meet me. Well of course I don't come out where I'm supposed to and so I call him and he's way up the street and has to run back down again to meet me. So while he's busy running all over Albany trying to find me, I'm trying desperately not to get lost in Downtown Albany. Finally, we all meet up again....it's like 10:35, I have to be at work by 11 and we still have to find the garage!! We finally find the garage, Dave gets his truck back and I now have 15 minutes to fly to the hospital!!! WHEW!!! Amazingly I made it at 10:53!!!! I bet you the next time I say "hey let's park in the garage" the guys won't hesitate to cough up those 6 dollars!!!!!!! What an evening!!

Now I should really go and try and get some sleep. It's back to work tonight!

Geek Squad here I come!

So it's taken me forever to update and this time I really do have a valid excuse. The video card in our computer was shot, so we had to fix it before I could load any pictures. (Because who wants to see a blog without pictures?? It'd be kinda like apple pie without vanilla ice cream....BORING!) So with some gentle coaching and computer terminology dummied WAY down for me from my dad, I braved the wild world of computers. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I got the old video card out with no problems, it was the part where I had to go to Circuit City that was REALLY aggravating. So I go to man-world (aka Circuit City), looking every bit of the female that I am and I figured a girl in Circuit City would be something like raw meat in a lion's den. Either my stereotype is WAY off, or I've REALLY got to start working out some more!!! No one even looked at me!!! A store full of 15 guys and not one seems to care that I am a female and therefore don't have the computer prowess that they have hence the dumbfounded/terrified look I have on my face! Here's how bad it got. At one point, I swallowed my pride and actually walked up to one of the red shirted employees who happened to be on the computer (probably looking up "how to talk to girls.com". So I'm standing there right in front of him and he decides it's much more important for him to go answer a phone 2 aisles over than to help a living breathing clueless girl!!!!!! Never said a word to me!! Why is it when you just want to be left alone, every employee from 2 shifts comes over and asks if you need something, but then when you actually DO need help, no one cares!!?!?!?! So I summoned up my super girl strength, marched over to the video cards, did some careful reading and TA DA!!!! Picked the right card by myself and fixed my own stinkin' computer free of any Circuit City dorks!! MAYBE THAT'S WHY PEOPLE GO TO BEST BUY!!!!! So FINALLY our computer is back up and running.

So a quick run down of what we've been up to. We spent one Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago hanging out at Thatcher Park with George, Katie, Oscar, and Madeline, we went to Bronson's b-day party, Jason went to Heidi's b-day party, I went to work, we cut TONS of wood for our wood stove on Saturday and now I'm sitting at home anxiously awaiting the arrival of my mom!! My dad is in Europe for a week, so mom decided to bring Harley up and stay with us for awhile!! So I'm really excited for that. So enjoy the pictures!!





That's all for now! Until next time!

Happy Birthday Jason!

As promised, an update! Yesterday was Jason's birthday and we had so much fun. I had asked Jason before what he wanted to eat on his birthday and he said the trademarked Jason phrase "I don't care". After quickly rejecting my suggestion of tater wedgies and chicken livers, I realized he really did care and he realized he'd better give me some ideas pretty quickly. So he said he'd love to have a pot roast. I, on the other hand, tried to tell him how AMAZING the ham sandwiches are that I make...he wasn't impressed. Something about taking a giant slab of meat and turning it into something edible terrifies me. But I broke out my "how to make pot rost for dummies" manual and we were well on our way to a birthday dinner. As I started to get dinner ready, I noticed Jason eyeing my ingredients and I think that was when he realized I may have spent a little too much on his birthday presents and was now trying to recoup our losses.

"Always save". So what if we have to eat Ramen noodles for the next 25 years, they aren't too bad.

Before dinner Madeline came over and hung out with us. She is just too cute! She and "unkie" played while I made supper.

George, Katie, Oscar, Donnie, and Nancy came over for supper of coconut shrimp, green bean casserole, pot roast, gravy and red potatoes. Then we had dessert provided by Nancy! I have to say, it was a pretty good dinner.

Here's to another great 25 years!!!!!!

Teaser

Guess who turned a quarter of a century today?!?!? More to come!!!

Work and Wedding and Trains OH MY!

Did you miss us? Things have been so busy here. I keep thinking that I need to update our blog since everyone else is, but how boring would it be to read "Went to work last night. Got home. Kissed Jason goodbye. Slept all day. Got up and went back to work". I worked almost every night this past week, so it was nice to have the weekend off and to get away. We went to Attitash Mountain, in New Hampshire this past weekend for Nathan and Megan Blakemore's wedding. Donnie and Nancy rode with us and we left EARLY Saturday morning for the 5 hour drive. The wedding was really nice. Here are a couple of our pics:





Just as they kissed it started to rain which led to a mad dash inside since no one wanted to find out what would happen when you mix rain, chiffon, and Aquanet together.

Once we were inside, we anxiously looked to see who else would be sitting at our table. I'm always afraid that whoever we sit with will not have the same sense of humor that I do and, instead of finding it absolutely hilarious, will be disgusted when I put a giant thumb print in Jason's bread when he's distracted. Luckily, we had a good table. Never the less, I decided to be on my best behavior, so no thumbprints for Jason's food.

Donnie, The Baby Whisperer

Afterward, we went back to the rental house and crashed. Although imagine my complete horror as I learned that Jason and I were going to have to literally sleep on top of each other in the same room as Donnie and Nancy!!!

You sickos! What did you think I meant?? Thankfully I got the top bunk. Otherwise it would have been a terror filled evening as I laid in bed with my eyes peeled upwards just waiting for the top bunk to give way and crush me as I slept!!

On Sunday we had meeting with the Blakemores and then spent the day going for walks and playing games before we had to make the long trek home.

What neighborhood doesn't have an assortment of sheep and deformed ponies to look at?

Then it was back home for us!

As you can see from Donnie's face, he's thrilled to have such a normal daughter-in-law! :0)

THE END!!!!

The Great Adventurers Return

We survived!!! We went camping this weekend with Brad and Clarissa and it was so much fun! We drove to Lake George Friday afternoon and then camped at a campground up there. Check out how much stuff we packed for one night!! I was playing a game I like to call "wonder-what-we've-forgotten" and by the looks of things...we didn't forget a thing!

So we get to the camp ground and anxiously drove around looking for our lot, #139 and it was awesome! Not too far from the bathrooms (a necessity for me) and enough room for both of our tents. As we're excitedly setting up our tent with our chests puffed out because it's the coolest tent ever made, we look over and here's Brad and Clarissa:

They're basically setting up the Hilton of tents!! I KNOW that during the night I heard a splash coming from the indoor pool inside that thing! Sure took the wind of out our sails, but none the less, our tent was pretty nice. That night, Clarissa definitely raised the bar on camp food. We had steaks, diced potatoes, green beans, mushroom and onions for supper!!! No hot dogs and hamburgers for this crew!

The weather was perfect. Just a little shower around 6am that only last for a half hour and then it was back to great weather.

In the morning we were glad to see our site hadn't been raided by wild bears or crazy redneck campers, and we enjoyed a feast of pancakes and sausages.

Once we packed up our stuff it was off to explore Lake George and eventually, Saratoga Springs. We played mini golf where Jason beat us mercilessly by about 20 strokes and I had a massive heart attack as I watched a HUGE snake crawl nearly across my feet on one of the holes!!! No joke, this is a picture the grounds crew took of him:

I'm lucky to be alive. After seeing the snake I crossed Lake George off of my list forever and we all decided to go to Saratoga where Clarissa had heard of these paved bike trails in Saratoga National Historical Park. We had a lot of fun. Ended up biking 13 miles total, 12.5 of those were straight up hill! How I squeezed out a smile for the camera is beyond me!

Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed home exhausted!!!! Hopefully my legs will work tomorrow! Now it's off to collapse in my own bed and not have to worry what that weird crawling sensation is on my leg!!