This is what the sky looked like as I waited for the train this morning.  It never got really nice (nor did it get dark and stormy).  It was just a cool, cloudy day.  Very,very nice after the hot, humid weekend.

You know how you have vague plans for your weekend?  Grocery shopping, swapping out the summer clothes, cleaning out the craft room (which has become the “I don’t know where to put this so I’ll put it in here” room), yardwork, etc, etc.  Our weekend plans mostly went out the window.  Thursday night, my sweet, innocent grandson poked his father in the eye.  He scratched Patrick’s cornea causing him great pain.  They went to Urgent Care on Thursday night and by Friday morning, Patrick had a red, swollen, very painful eye.  I left work and took James so they could do what they needed to do.  He is young enough to need constant looking after and Kate had her hands full with Patrick.

So, twist my arm reeeaaalllly hard and make me take care of my grandson!  Jamie ended up spending most of the weekend with us while Kate and Patrick got his eye sorted.  We had things that had to get done and things that could wait.  We went shopping for a new refrigerator.  There is nothing mechanically wrong with our current one but we have not liked it since we bought it 12 years ago.  It was a quick purchase when our old fridge broke and it was what we could afford.  

The new one comes as a result of a surprise bonus from work.  It didn’t pay for the entire fridge but about 1/3 of it.  We were able to decide what we wanted/needed and spent a lot of time looking online before we went out to the store.  And we took James.  He enjoyed the day.  He opened every refrigerator on the sales floor.  We chose a french door refrigerator with 2(!) ice makers.  We use a lot of ice.  


It’s being delivered tomorrow.  It means I am taking another day off, and will have Jamie with me as Kate takes Patrick back to Wills Eye Hospital to get checked.  I don’t mind the day off but I am going to be stretched tight when it comes time to take off the time at the holidays I usually take.

Saturday we took James to Johnson’s Corner Farm to take a hay ride and pick a pumpkin.  Unfortunately, the line was so long, and he is so little, it would not have been worth it to stand in the line.  We walked around and with all the things he could see and touch, what did he choose to play with?   The mulch.  We chose several pumpkins

        Of all shapes and colors.  Some of them will get carved.  Some we’ll just save the seeds and plant them next year.

It was too crowded to easily shop in their farm store so I got some blueberries so James could have a snack.

We came home exhausted and hot and dusty.  There was DinoTrucks on the television and chicken fingers and french fries for dinner.  It’s part of the beauty of being a grandparent.  I don’t worry about his eating healthy for every meal.  I just feed him what he likes.

Saturday night we had to make sure he was asleep before we put him into the porta crib because he can climb out of it now.  He’s tall and strong for an 18 month old child.  We all watched the movie Babies (if you’ve never seen it, watch it. It follows 4 babies from different cultures from their birth to their first year) and James finally fell asleep hard enough to be picked up and put in the crib.  He slept through the night and we got up early Sunday morning and did some of the other chores we had put off.  The bed linens got changed and the laundry got done.  The rest of the groceries were put away and things were generally cleaned up.  We collapsed into our chairs when Kate came and took James home.  

And today was Monday and the week starts all over again.  I have groups of Temple Univ. students coming to my group this week.  They will be with us for 8 weeks.  They’re rec therapy majors and for some of them, this is the first time they’ve met individuals who have mental illness.  It is an eye opening experience for them and my group loves it.  I think they get tired of hearing my voice all the time.

Tonight we are making pizzas on naan bread.  I hope it’s as good as I imagine it will be.  I can hear Elanor upstairs laughing.  I’m going to go see what’s so funny.  I could use a good laugh.

Deja vu.....

It will be October soon and my thoughts are already turning to Hallowe’en.  It’s one of my favorite holidays.  I have decorated my office window with some friendly looking guys.  The best part is that when you walk down the hall, you can see my window.  It’s very popular.  I have had an office to myself for 2 years now, since my office mate retired.  I cleaned out years of saved papers and got a new floor lamp so I don’t have to use the 

                                                                                                              Overhead lights.  They buzz and it drives me crazy.  I bought the witch’s hat for myself from a crafter on Etsy.  She is in the Ukraine and I am glad I thought to order it in August because it came last week, plenty of time for me to put together a costume for Hallowe’en that is work appropriate (and comfortable.  Mustn’t be uncomfortable all day at work.)  I found a tunic with stars stenciled across it and a cartoon witch’s broom.  The best part will be wearing my hat.  

I know I haven’t written a word in almost a year.  I don’t want to bore you with a long explanation of what I have been doing and why I didn’t keep you all informed.  I’ll give you some bullet points:

-I stopped coloring my hair and started dyeing it in rainbow colors.  It’s now naturally a silver/white color so the blue and purple and red and green and yellow show up brilliantly for about 2 weeks and then they fade.  They look pastel and rather pretty as they fade.

-my grandson is 18 months old and cute and very smart.  I am glad to be the grandmom and not the mom for this kid.  He is a handful.

-Pk has a job as a contractor for a company that monitors/manages the electric grid for several states.  The commute is a long one but they pay him well.

-I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes after a blood test showed a glucose level of 853 (which put me in the hospital in intensive care for 3 days).  I have lost 50 pounds and have been trying to be more mindful of my portion sizes and what I eat.  I learned a new phrase, “insulin dependent diabetic” and also learned how important those 3 words can be.

-I will turn 62 in a few weeks and the word Retirement keeps cropping up in conversation.

THAT is an interesting topic and everyone has their own idea of what that should look like.  Me?  Well, my retirement will be the pension my employer has for me and my SS payments.  If I put off retiring until I turn 70 (sounds really really old but it’s only 8 years away), I will collect a significant amount more each month.  My job can be mentally exhausting but it is a desk job and I could easily work another 8 years.  I like what I do even if it means most of my day is spent entering my client interactions into the medical records database.  I HATE EMR.  

My family is all well at the moment.  Well, Patrick has a scratched cornea courtesy of his son.  He is in quite a bit of pain today.  Hopefully, he will rest some tonight with the pain meds they gave him and tomorrow will be a better day for him.

I continue to knit and spin.  I am spinning some quivit that I got for Christmas last year.  I also have 2 sweaters in progress for myself and one for Jamie.  I finished a sweater for my nephew’s 4 yr old daughter and their soon to be born daughter.  I am really a process knitter.  I enjoy the feel of the yarns and the look of the rows piling up to form a garment.  I knit slow but I am very ok with that.

We will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary in 2 weeks.  I have no idea what we are going to do.  They have been far and away mostly good years.  There were some tough times but we got through them and will get through the ones to come.  One of the good things about being long married and knowing your partner is knowing your partner.  I know I can disagree, sometimes strenuously, and while we may never see eye to eye on a subject, we can still discuss it and can agree to disagree.  And I know the love is there. 

My little corner of the world remains pretty much the same.  I’ll be getting “the orange” decorations out at home soon.  It’s always exciting to me because it is a signal that the holidays are fast approaching.  The weather is all over the place, 90’s one day, 70’s the next.  There have been gorgeous sunny days and there are some leaves just starting to turn color.

And to end with, here is a shot of my hair done rainbow colors by my daughter Kate.  I love it like this.  It is fun and I figure I’m old enough to do what I want with my hair.....and it’s only hair.  Since Kate is in school now and has an 18 month old toddler to keep track of, it’s harder for her to find the time.  I wait until she’s got some time and let her do what she wants.  I am never disappointed.

How are you?  Are you doing anything new and different?  Finish something you’ve been working on?  Start some new grand project?  I am feeling the pull of lace knitting.  It’s been a long while but I have so many wips now.  I really need to finish a few more things.

Have a peaceful weekend. My intention is to get back into regular writing, but we all know what is paved with all those good intentions, don’t we?