Summer is half over :(

Can't believe the summer is half over already. I go back to work in only 25 days. Not that I'm counting.

Tomorrow is Brenda's (my cousin) shower. Should be fun to see the family. We are officially in wedding mode now. Brenda is getting married in October in Boston, another cousin, Christy, is getting married in May also in Boston, Eric is getting married, here, in July and Alan is getting married the following June. So for the next almost 2 years, weddings on the horizon. How fun.

Speaking of weddings, Eric and Maia saw a photographer Thursday night. She seems to be very thorough and although it was eye opening to see how much it costs for the pics, oh well, its only once in a lifetime. So with 11 months to go, we have the minister, caterer, the tent and the photographer. Still to go ~ disc jockey, bathrooms, clothes, favors, flowers, decorations and the shower. Marlene and I were going over the budget, right now we have none, but need to rein in our spending or we'll be in hot water too soon. Although its their only wedding...

Alan and Melissa are invited to lunch with her grandparents in honor of their engagement. Hope they have fun.

Met the new principal this week, things look real good for the fall considering how tight the budgets will be and how far behind our kids are in relation to the rest of the state. It's funny that our kids have so many different experiences in life compared to those of their contemporaries but it doesn't seem to count when they take standardized tests. If there was only a way to measure their knowledge a different way. Sigh. Back to the principal, she is very enthusiastic and open to change. It promises to be a positive year. Maybe we can begin to turn the corner and make so real improvements. Also, she said the plan to build a new high school has been approved and we should see something happening soon.

Just heard that my cousin Bryan and his new baby Grant will be on the East Coast later this month, can't wait to meet Grant, he was born in Feb and lives in San Fransisco so we've only seen pictures. They are taking a trip to Dubai among other places and will be stopping in NYC on the way.

Back in good old NJ

Had a GREAT time in California with my west coast family. My Uncle Stas and Aunt Holly and their daughter and her family are out there. I went with my Uncle Joe. We fished in the Pacific, went to the casinos, house parties, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, the Hollywood sign, and the Nixon Library among lots of sight seeing both on land and water.

Uncle Joe, Uncle Stas, Holly and me.

Darcy, my cousin, and Rubin, her husband have the cutest little girl, Marley, she is a pleasure to be around and so even tempered. Rubin also has a daughter, Jordin, who is a great kid, getting ready for high school. Marley was still a happy kid after midnight as you can see in this picture of our "Polish Night' where we made home made perogies, platskies and even had Polish beer!.

Here we are at the local music night at the park, they had a free drawing and Uncle Joe won!

Mother in Law!

Great news! I'm going to be a mother in law, twice now!!! Last night Alan asked Melissa the big question. He did the one knee thing and she said yes, my baby aslo went to her parents over the weekend and asked permission, they obviously said yes, too.

Now both my boys are engaged to wonderful young ladies.

I'm so happy!

Rain Rain Go AWAY for Today

Today we are celebrating my niece, Kerry's upcoming high school graduation. Right now we are having our second downpour of the afternoon. I hope this is the last for today.

We are having a new patio put in the backyard, it is a mud hole. Today the guys came to lay out the circle of bricks and frame the steps, of course the rains came so they left. At this rate we will have use of the back door in September. the dogs have learned to cross their paws and wait to be let out.

On the vacation front, my Uncle Joe is going to visit my Uncle Stas in California in July, I'm tagging along, Can't wait! The last time I was out there was in 2004 when my cousin got married and that was only for three days, this time its a nice 10 day trip. We are going to spend part of the time on the Pacific, U. Stas has a boat that sleeps four so it should be fun.

Sixteen days until school is done, not that I'm counting. Sadly, the whole Medical Arts library is now in boxes all over the place at Main Campus. We are doing an inventory, after one week of scanning books, we have hit the 35% mark. Hopefully we'll be done by the end of the month. The Main/Medical Arts collection has more than 30,000 books plus videos, all the computers are tagged, vcrs, and teaching kits to name just some of the stuff that has to be scanned. Thank goodness for laptops and handheld scanners.

We have found some interesting stuff while doing the inventory (last time it was done was more than five years ago ~ that's when my partner started to work there) our books range in ages from the 1920's to the present. Friday I opened a geography book and the last time it was checked out was 1943! How cool and how diverting is it to find treasures like that? We have decided to save one set of general geography books from the 1910's but due to lack of space and a way to keep the stuff we have to get rid of the outdated materials. We are keeping the old yearbooks, school newspapers, trophies and of course pictures. We have some of the writings of Ernie Kovacs an alumni of the High. Hopefully someone will think they were worth keeping when the next inventory comes around.

I ordered acid free folders and envelopes to put the pictures we have from the late 1800's to now in better order - presently they are piled in a box that was wet (It was kept on the sink go figure) ~ unfortunately due to the budget situation, the last two times I ordered the folders they have been denied without explanation. My principal has no idea how purchasing makes its decisions on what gets ordered and what doesn't. Oh well, mine is not to question why....

The Car Project

No, this one isn't about Dave working on an interior, although he sent off a great looking 55 Chevy this week. Pictures later.

We went to Woodbridge Friday evening to see the Car Project, a group of musicians who created a whole band out of an old Honda! They have everything from percussion instruments made from wheels, hoods, glass, engine parts, a 'sax' from I think a muffler, a bass from a gas tank and a banjo/guitar from wheel. There is even a trombone!

Lots of fun, they write their own music so its a total new experience for your eyes and ears!

Random Mother's Day Thoughts

This is the first year without my mom, funny that I think of her almost every day and most of the time still think she'll be back.

Three times this week, unexpectedly she was brought into play, the first time I was getting my hair cut ~ and the stylist mentioned that she hadn't been in for a while. She didn't know that she had died, just that she hadn't been in for a cut.

My uncle sent pictures of the iris' at his house that are transplants from my mom's. I didn't even think of going over to her house to see if they had bloomed yet when his unexpected email showed up.

Then yesterday I was getting my first spring pedicure when one of the ladies asked me where my little mother was. My mom had never had a pedicure, or manicure, but I would take her with me and try to get her to have something done. They remembered her.

Go figure the timimg.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms!

Drain, drain go away

My left hip keeps filling up with a major league bruise, so every other week I have it drained. Today the doctor said after taking four large plungers of blood that there was a drip and he wrapped and taped it. He said sometimes fluid builds up, but not too often does this amount of blood, I think they just want the four units back that I was given in the hospital.

Anyway, the fact that I was bleeding didn't sink in to my thick skull, on the way home I 'dripped' through the gauze, tape, undies, binder, slacks and on my car seat. Thank God for Afta, Dave immediately cleaned the seat ~ here's hoping it didn't stain. Also I was wearing my Pinehurst jacket that Dave bought when he was there to play golf and got it along the hem, too. Right now its in the washer, lots of spray and wash and cold water. Hope there aren't any stains.

Enough of that, here's a pic of Dave, Rosie and me.