Trick or Treat...Better Late than Never

It's been forever since I posted. Life is busy and I have too many blogs to keep up with...this one tends to fall by the wayside because I hardly have time to knit anymore. I'm down to maybe an hour a week.

Anyway, we got walloped with the surprise Nor'easter last week and my whole town basically lost power. Halloween was delayed until tonight...which meant I had that god forsaken candy (which I made the giant mistake of opening) on my dining room table for another week!

Miss A will help us answer the door but we didn't do a costume for her this year. I was very uninspired by anything at Target this year and knowing she wouldn't be going trick or treating didn't help me in the motivation department to venture beyond Target's red walls.

I think A will have fun answering the door and seeing the other kids; I think she'll be ready to go next year. But for this year, we will enjoy staying nice and warm and cozy...it's chilly here!

Baby Knitwear

Ok, this is cute but would you really pay $35 for this for a 1 year old? No thank you, Gap. Especially when you can knit....which is what I plan to do. I can pretty much just look at it to be able to tell what to do so I think I'll whip this up for her to wear in Fall. I'll post a pic when I'm done to compare...

Rainy Day

We've had a string of rainy days here...which is fine on work days (except that we have a ton more walk ins, I guess people get bored and when you're bored, what better to do than go to the doctor's office!) but it's a problem when it interferes with our weekends!

I only went to Stroller Strides once, I don't think it's for me, but I stayed on the mailing list because they have lots of great activity ideas and seem to know what's up in the area in terms of parent/child venues. Some recent activities have been strawberry picking, a family festival complete with rides, face painting, and a pie eating contest, and something called Free Fun Fridays where there is free entrance to select museums on Fridays throughout the summer.

I also get good tips from daycare, Miss Christine mentioned that there is a place near here that is an indoor play area that includes a miniature grocery store, craft area, miniature post office. It seems more catered to 2-4 year olds but it's so cheap that we might check it out. They have an infant play area but it's pretty much what our library has but I'm curious to see what the place is all about and to see if it's something we might revisit as she gets older.

On top of that, we desperately need to get to Costco today, we are running out of diapers and wipes! Not sure if we will drag her there or if one of us will just scoot...those are our rainy day plans!

Patio

Here are the before and afters of the patio. All the work was completed in two days. Too bad the weather has been complete crud since it was put in and we haven't been able to use it. We bought a fire pit and we have a little bistro set that we used on the deck of our previous apt. M used it last night to grill out for the first time of the season...here's to hoping it's more moderate this week and not either raining or 97 degrees!

Patio

So, I totally forgot that our patio is getting installed today. I heard a big rumbly truck driving down the street and looked to see what it was and realized they were stopping in front of our house! Crud! I didn't have any make up on and still had my jams on which is ok because it was just a tank top and yoga pants.

With all of the planning for M's birthday, I really forgot about it. And it's not like I planned anything major, it was mostly just forcing him to finally decide on his birthday meal and dessert, but I guess between birthday planning, mothering, working it slipped through the cracks.

I'll post our before and after pics...they think it will take them 2-3 days to do. We are excited and the timing is great, we're having some friends over this weekend to grill out and now...enjoy the patio!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had an action packed week/weekend...early in the week, Miss A had a fever for a few days which had us second guessing whether or not we would be able to actually have our action packed weekend, but it all worked out in the end. She did miss a day of day care but it resolved within a few days and she's back to her normal self.

Anyway, Friday we went to the aquarium..we've been to a few kid friendly restaurants that had fish tanks and she really liked it. We got discounted passes through the library so we thought, what the heck. We headed into the city and spent about 90 minutes at the aquarium and Miss A was kaput. We tried to revive her with a feeding but she was pretty much all set with the fishies for the day. After being gouged $18 for parking, and that was the validated rate, we headed home to pack for the other adventures of the weekend.

Bright and early Saturday morning, we headed up to Vt to visit M's parents. Most of M's extended family have not met A yet, so the whole family was coming over on Sunday. She was great in the car, pretty much slept the whole way, waking up just before our usual pit stops and then falling right back to sleep when we got back in the car. The naps in the pack and play were dicey the first day, and she cried off and on for the first hour after going down for the night but then she was fine. The next day, she napped much better, charmed the pants off all of the family, and avoided her usual day 2 meltdown. She went to bed without any issues and actually slept straight through ( I think part of the reason for the success is that she can't drop the pacifier out of the side of the pack and play like she does with the crib). The ride home was fine, she slept for only 45 minutes of it, but I sat in back and played with her and we successfully avoided any major meltdowns.

We have one more day together since I don't work on Tuesdays and then it's back to the grind on Wednesday which will be a rude awakening!

Multi-Stripe

I have this strange love of using things up...like when you finish the toothpaste or when you have a huge thing of laundry detergent and it's finally gone. I feel that same accomplishment with this sweater...look at all the yarn I'm using up. The thickness of the stripes depends on how much of that color I have left....satisfaction!

The Multi-Stripe

Why am I making yet another sweater for myself and not Miss A? Because I have tons of DK weight non machine washable yarn to use up.

I'm making a multistripe sweater to use it up, and oh is it gratifying to see all of these small scraps of yarn finally being used up. I'm winging the pattern, heavily inspired by Elizabeth Zimmerman's designs...just measuring how many stitches per inch and then figuring out your own measurements and casting on that many stitches. Pretty darn easy.

I would show you a picture of the progress by my lovely external flash is out of batteries so I'm sure the harsh light would distort everything. I'll post one today after we take our weekly trip to Target to replinish supplies.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Keeping My Head Above Water

So I'm surviving as a new NP. Last Thursday and today, I took 6 walk ins each day. They are usually the 'easy' ones, like sore throat, ear pain, or the ever dreaded headache. They can also be difficult because it's usually an 'oh, one more thing' type visit...as in, you're under the impression the visits done and have one hand on the door and then you hear,'oh, just one more thing. I need refills on x,y, z and i don't q is working anymore for these five reasons, can you switch me to something else? Also, I want referrals for a, b, c. ' It's times like those that you really have to put your foot down and remind them that the reason they came in was the sore throat and that you would be more than happy to schedule them for next week to come in and discuss the 17 other medical issues.

When I go in on Wednesday, I am scheduled to do 6 physicals and 1 pap, and I'll have labs and xrays that I sent out today that will be back by then. Wish me luck!

New Job

Just a quick post about the new job.....A has conjunctivits in both eyes so between that and the new job I'm wiped. So far, so good. At this point, I have only seen one walk in on my own but I have been doing a lot of shadowing, reviewing charts, and looking up everything in the world. I do have a pelvic exam scheduled with me for next Wednesday, so I'm hoping that someone has a patient that lets me do one on her prior to me being by myself and doing one. There is another new grad, G, who has been there about 3 months. There is a more veteran NP, J, who has been there two years. So far, most days are very busy. I'm sure they are both eager for me to get up and running to take the burden off of them! Still waiting to find out what my first prescription will be.......I'm guessing atorvostatin but we'll see.

New Job, New Clothes!

I decided to step out of the box and try on things that I like on the hanger, even if they weren't me. That blouse is especially not me but I thought it was really pretty on the hanger, but the flowy-ness of it is usually not my friend but it's actually flattering (I didn't get the ivory, there's a a taupe color which is what I got instead). Both of these dresses are 'me' but I'm not really a dress person. The yellow one is my favorite! Also, the denim sheath dress is not exactly the one I have, well it is but it's going back because I found one in the same vein that is much more flattering.

Hiatus

Well, last Thursday was my last day at the job I've had for 6 years, in the department I've worked in for 8 years, in the hospital I've worked in for 9 years. Alas, I have 2 weeks off in between ending one chapter and starting another. Today is day #1. Here is my list of accomplishments today:

• Dropped A off at daycare


• Rearranged tupperware drawer


• Cleaned half bath


• Washed load of blankets for guest room


• Went shopping


• Went to the craft store


• Cleaned full bath


• Put laundry away


• Cleaned off stairway


• Picked A up at daycare

Before and After...Bathroom Edition

These are the befores of the half bath...


























These are the afters.....

The Nurse Practitioner's New Clothes

It's time for a wardrobe make over. I am doing a major job transition and I think the new place might be a little dressier. I have kind of let things slide as I got more and more comfortable in my job at my current employer, I'm looking forward to cleaning out my closet and throwing away things that don't fit that I've been hoping to get back into. I have so much in my closet that I never wear.

I'm also kind of looking forward to reinventing myself. For example, I never wear skirts or dresses to work because the shoe issue confuses me. Being in a clinic, open toed shoes are not appropriate...so I guess pumps are the way to go but for some reason the whole issue confuses me and it just becomes easier to wear pants.

I'm going to try not to think about the cash involved and just go out and get the things I need. I can't really think of the last time I bought multiple items at once aside from cheap maternity clothes, but I think I spent less than $200 on that whole wardrobe. I think with the new job I deserve to splurge a little!

The pic on the post is one of my early purchases. Totally not something I would normally wear, but I really like the tie waist. I figured it wouldn't look very good on me, which is why I usually don't buy things like this but it actually looks nice. I didn't even wait for a sale, I bought it full price. Then, the day after, it went on sale but Banana Republic gave me a price adjustment for the difference. I really like it and I'm wearing it today, supposed to get up to 60 here!

Squeak Update

I was on edge all day yesterday, my plan was if I saw it, me and Little A were going to be out the door in seconds flat. I didn't see it all day, but the anticipation of seeing it was almost worse! I scanned the baseboards of every room every time I entered, I carefully opened doors and looked at the counter tops. Nothing. I hoped maybe this was a one time visit and that I would get a good night's sleep last night.

Just to be on the safe side, M put out two peanut butter filled traps in our bedroom since that's the only place we heard it. He had band practice last night so I was alone when attempting to go to bed, except for my mother who was coaching me from distant lands. I used her advice and slept with our lamp on so that it would stay wherever it was, I didn't hear a single peep. Until 230 when Miss A woke up. I am not sure if that agitated it and it started squeaking or if it had been softly squeaking and I hadn't noticed. Anyway, I heard it and M didn't hear it at first. To me, it sounded like it was right near our heads below the bed. M finally did hear it after an especially loud squeak and we both jumped to the middle of the bed (this occurred even with the lights on).

We pulled the bed away from the wall, nothing. We could hear noise like it's little claws against the wall but we could not see anything where the sound seemed to be coming from. We are considering the idea that maybe it's in the wall, but the one thing that makes me think it's actually in our room is that I found a little wad of shredded paper near my closet....it could be Clete because he's been known to do that but it could also be our rodent perp.

We have yet to see anything...it's so irritating. After we tried to go back to bed last night, I could hear it's chirping/squeaking through the night and other random noises, like the sound of it messing with possibly a lamp cord and then another sound like it was moving some other things that are on the floor. Both traps remain empty....

M is going to vacuum our room today (it's been awhile) so that we can tell if there is more shredded paper showing up. Here's to hoping tonight is better....I know this tired feeling all too well from when A wasn't sleeping through the night. Hopefully this is a short reprieve from the wonderful full night's sleep we have been getting.

Things That Go Squeak in the Night

So last night, it was not baby A that woke me up at 224 am. It was a weird squeaking noise....I listened for awhile longer and am so sure it's a mouse! I woke up M and of course the critter was silent for about fifteen minutes but then he heard it to. Of course, because I was up, I had to pee so I had him escort me to the bathroom.

Once I was safely back in bed, he decides to check out his closet which is where it seems to be coming from. He turns on the light and simply stares into the closet, as if the mouse is going to be standing atop his mountain of clothes flashing a sheepish grin. Of course, he doesn't see anything. Plan B, get the cats. He first brings in Boigie who would be scared of his own shadow, so back downstairs he goes to get Clete while visions of carnage are flashing through my head. On the other hand, I would like to go back to sleep without listening to 'squeak squeak squeak' all night. The cats settle in on the bed for all of a second while the critter is quiet, they get bored and after a scuffle with each other, they both want out. Thanks for nothing!

I didn't hear much after that and eventually fell asleep. I woke up again around 445 and heard it again but somewhere else in the room. M, trying to make me feel better, said it might not even be in the house but in the wall. Or it might be a bird. Yeah right.

So far I haven't seen anything amiss this morning, I keep looking over my shoulder though.....I'm operating on high alert today folks :)

Half Bath Remodel....Day 1

Painting and trim touch ups are done....what do you think of the color? We really like it, feels warm and cozy and I'm almost wishing I chose this for our living room! But I'm sure I can find other warm and cozy colors when we actually get around to that.

Cabin Fever...

Today I'm dreaming of....

Open windows and fresh air
Crickets chirping (as long as they keep their distance)
Using our patio sat
A picnic lunch with A in our backyard
Walking around the neighborhood with A in the stroller (she too, is yearning to be outside. Trust me I can tell)
Having the half bath done

MY NEW JOB! I found my first NP job and will be starting in early April. I'm nervous but really excited at the same time. It's very strange to be wrapping things up at my current job, I've been in that position for six years! It's bittersweet in that I generally like my job (there are days where I can't stand it but we all have those don't we?) and I'm comfortable in it. I'll be going into something totally new, with lots of new responsibilities where I'll be totally outside my comfort zone. But, there are many things that I'm looking forward to. Using that shiny new master's degree, meeting new people, new patient population, a commute that's drastically shorter than my current one, learning new things....

Running

I tell you, having that Log Your Run widget on my blog sure has guilted me into running more than I usually would! By the way, I can't always see it on IE but it comes up all the time with Google Chrome (incidentally my border is much more aligned on Google Chrome).

Anyway, here are my totals so far:
January: 6.3 miles (yeah, I know...pretty weak)
February: 14.2 miles

2011 total: 20.5 miles/3:27:48 (hours run)

Bathroom Reno Day #1...in pictures

A keen eye will show you our nosy cat who just couldn't stay away and at one point ventured onto the back porch and was found just sitting there waiting to come back in. He's all talk I guess.