Getting caught up

Holy cow! Was my last post really in February???

Let's see, what's new:
- Max, the beagle, had heartworms and had to get 2 rounds of shots that hurt a lot. When they did his chest Xray, they found he's full of buckshot! Poor little guy. But he's doing fine.
- Laura is staying up here. She'll go to NoVa Community College for a year and then transfer to Va Tech. It's great having her here, although she's getting weary of driving Helen around.
- We're getting the floor of our garage loft floored for extra storage space.
- I've been rearranging furniture in a few rooms. Trying to get stuff put away.
- David's brother Robert and family were here in April.
- My parents were here for a visit in May.
- Bob's brother and family were here in early June.
- Bob filed for divorce.
- Building of the new court library down on the 2nd floor finally began

I had a meeting (Am. Assoc. of Law Libraries) in Portland, OR last week and Bob went with me. We had a great time, saw a couple of his good friends and they were super about chauffering us around. Very cool city - and Powell's Bookstore!!!! Amazing.

Other than that it's the same old: work, commuting, trying to watch movies when we can, doing as little housework as possible. :-) We get Bob's girls every other weekend, and for 4 different weeks this summer. We'll head back to Ocracoke Island in North Carolina for a week in August with Bob's girls, Helen and one of Helen's friends. Laura elected to stay home and be our pet sitter. She's not really a beach person anyway.

Hard to believe July is almost over. The year has flown by.

Winter blues

I have been terribly remiss and have not kept up with my blog. Things got crazy before Christmas and I never seemed to catch up. Now it's already past Valentine's...and guess what: I still haven't caught up. I've been sick all week with a nasty cold that's apparently sweeping the nation.

In a nutshell, everything is fine: work, home, kids (his and mine), although the animals have been more annoying lately.

Anyway, I'll get some photos loaded and do a thorough updating soon. Promise.

Small world

You know it's a small world when you run into friends at the airport. Helen and I were at Baltimore Washington airport for her flight to Jackson, MS when we ran into Laura and her husband Al. Laura and I were in the Cathedral choir together. They were in DC for a book/writing thing and were on Helen's flight to Jackson. It was great to see them. Al took this photo of Helen, Laura and me. (Why do I always run into people when I don't have any makeup on?? One of those mysteries of life. I had gone prepared to do battle at the airport, and it ended up being a cinch.) Seeing Laura reminded me that I still owe Trish bigtime because she helped me get the temp job at Mayer Brown. Once again, many thanks, Trish!!

Helen went to Jackson, then she and Laura drove to Memphis. But first my friend Molly from the Millsaps Library took them to Fenians with Helen's friend Reina. Looks like they were having a good time. Bob and I stayed here; he had to have surgery on his nose for a small skin cancer and since his face is swollen, he needed to stay put. Helen will fly home Tuesday from Jackson, will spend Monday visiting at Jackson Academy and seeing her friends.

We spent some of Thursday night and Friday morning retrieving our dogs. Turns out the wind shakes the gate and the latch works loose. Max got out twice and Janna once. But they're home now and snuggled up 'cause it's cold. I told Keifer he is the only one I can count on.

We've been puttering around the house, getting a few things picked up, watching movies. I cooked for Thanksgiving, did a chicken, stuffing, asparagus, and pumpkin pie cake. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. Tonight we're having a friend, Jim Drummond, over to watch a football game and eat. We have to replace the gate latch, and I'll continue chipping away at the small mountain of laundry, vacuum, etc. It's good to have these days off to get caught up with stuff at home.

Good news: Helen made the honor roll at school!! Good work!

Work is going well. We had a meeting with the architect last Monday, made a few changes to her plan for the new library space. We're actually losing some shelf space so we need to make some decisions about any large sets that can go. And of course they can if the material is online.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

At last - a job!!

Well, after a very tense August with nothing happening on the job front, I got 4 calls the first week in September. It was crazy. People had told me DC shuts down in August and to ride it out; guess they were right. Anyway, I have a job at the US Court for Veterans Appeals starting Oct. 22. It'll get me back with the feds, and I'll be running my own little library again: the best of all possible worlds for a librarian.

Helen has started school at South Lakes High School and it's going well; she has all A's and B's and her teachers are great. She made some friends before school started; there are a bunch of kids her age on our street and they're all really nice.

Laura is at Millsaps College, has a job in the college archives. I'm glad to have her back in Jackson where we know people, and thus, we have backup. Also, if I can't get in touch with her - which does happen because she isn't much of a phone person- I can email the librarians and ask, "Has anyone seen her in the past 3 days?"

The animals - Janna, Max and Keifer - seem to be enjoying the wildlife. Janna and Max bark and chase after it; Keifer kills it. We have been getting to know people on our street and in other areas of Reston because Max kept escaping and, since this is a HUGE "dog town", Restonites are very nice about getting lost beasties home. But we battened up the hatches so hopefully his wandering days are over.

Bob and I went to the 9:30 Club in DC twice - once to hear Matt Pond PA (his was the first CD Bob ever sent me when we started dating so it was a sentimental favorite) and then to hear Pinback. Needless to say, we were about the oldest people there. One girl asked Bob if we were related to a band member - the implied meaning: are you someone's parents? Bob asked me if I thought we really looked that old and I said, "Yes." Well, at least when standing in a group of 21 yr olds....

The latest

Sorry, I've been so busy at The Firm I haven't had time to update this. We've just been slammed some days - nothing we can't handle in terms of the subject matter - just lots of it!

Bob and I worked on some projects around the house this weekend. Our big decision was what style to go with: mission, which he already has going with his stuff, or a more techno-modern. The decision was made for us when we found a ceiling fan we love - in mission style. But a contemporary look, too. The fluorescent ceiling light in the kitchen is literally falling down (screw hole stripped) so now he's looking for a new ceiling fixture to go with the fan. The good news: he found a bunch we really love. The bad news: we have really expensive taste. We also saw a rug for the living room we liked. If we don't get that one (again, expense is a factor) it at least gave us ideas about what we want.

Bob told me to give him plugs for what a great guy he is. Well, hell, why not: the man cleaned the bathtub. And when he saw that the soap scum wasn't completely gone, he cleaned it again!!! And he makes a great vodka/gin & tonic. So he's a keeper.

The girls will be here next week - yeah!! And Max. We will go to Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks in 2 weeks, and there is a kennel there: Sandy Paws Bed & Biscuit Inn. Much cheaper than the kennels here, so we're taking the dogs with us. We can take the dogs out during the day and run around with them. They'll love it. And Bob's girls will enjoy it, too. We'll have to board Keifer. If he went into the marshy areas on the island, we'd never see him again. And all the water fowl would be toast. He would end up as a Store Cat for sure.

The job at The Firm is great; I really enjoy working there, and Barbara and Kay are really nice. I'm learning a lot. And I'm really enjoying Reston.

That's it for now.

Deer

Janna saw her first deer the other day - VERY exciting!! She wanted to go chase it. We also saw two fawns in the stream with their mother. Makes me wonder what kind of population control is in place; my brother James should come up here with his bow & arrow...

TGIF again! The job is going well but we've been getting slammed this week. Really busy. Bob is back from his vacation at Hershey Park with his girls. They had a good time but it was very hot, lines were long, etc. Even with 75 sunscreen he managed to get a tan. I told him he can never take any more trips without me; I missed him too much.

Laura is visiting my parents in Memphis. Helen is going to Vail, Colorado with James and family for a week. Laura has to go down to Jackson at some point and register at Millsaps.

We dodged a bullet on the AC unit; turns out the pan/coil was not level and water was pouring out the back. Got it fixed. Yay!! Thank you, Terry!!

Have a good weekend and 4th!!

First day at work

My first day at The Firm went well; I got to work on time, and they had a continental breakfast waiting for us. (They have that every Monday morning.) I did orientation most of the day, poked around and got the lay of the land in the library. The librarians took me out to lunch at The Prime Rib, a very posh, sort of "gentleman's club" place. I bet deals are made there. Anyway, it was really good but then we were all fighting the urge to sleep all afternoon.

The other interns were all about 19. I was the "old broad" of the group, or as some of you would say, Momma Mays.

Oh! The Firm has a cocktail party in the office lounge on the last Thursday of every month. Sweet!! It's not a beer frig but it'll do.

Call me crazy but I had a dogwalker stop by and visit Janna today, will do so all this week. Maybe until my girls get here in mid-July.

Got an offer on the house. Kinda low, but maybe we can work with it. Wish me luck!!