Laura loved Hershey!

Photos of our candy bar making experience!

The finished product,,,,,,,,

Laura truly loved her visit to Hershey, it was the highlight of the trip for her without a doubt.She was excited and very verbal when we got there, at the kiosk the woman was explaining what we could do while at Hershey and she spoke up immiedetly. She told the lady with great excitement that she was going to make her own candy bar. We went on the factory tour ride and made the candy bar.
For Laura the factory tour ride was awesome as well, she did not have to get out of her wheelchair to go on the ride. The had little cars that were accessable, so nice to see. She rode thru the ride with a s ile on her face. When it was over we got our candy bar tickets, they gave us a time to arrive so we went to grab some lunch.
Laura and Daddy worked together to make her candy bar, she choose to put almonds, cookie bits and pretzels, she topped it with sprinkles. This was all done on a computer, she had to touch the screen to make the selections, she did a very nice job. After that she got to watch the machine make her candy bar, it rode down the belt and stopped at the stations the added ingrdients, then went thru the liquid chocolate, she loved watching every bit of it. Once the candy bar was done, she had to design her own cover using the computer again. Laura was interested thru the whole process and very excited to get her candy bar when it was done. The hardest part was getting her to just have a little piece of it. Either way I feel guilty, she should not eat to much at once because she is diabetic. But only allowing her a few bites makes you feel bad as well. The question with her life is always, quality or quanity, which one is best. I am often unsure of the correct answer! Can you make that decision? It sucks saying no all the time, don't get me wrong she gets more than she should but I would just like her to be like any other child and be able to say yes more than no.
Today we are just going to hang out at the campground together. Nothing to do here except be together for one last day with no stress. tom and I both thought of going home a day early but Laura does not want to. She wants to stay here alone with the two of us, just be together. She is smarter than we realize sometimes. Laura knows that if we go home suddenly something will need to be done and she will be stuck waiting for us to do it. Life gets in the way more than we realize. Little things like Aunt Jo needs cat food, the sump pump isn't working, laundry, shoveling, rakeing, mowing, it really doesn't matter what it is just something we need to do that takes us away from her.
So today we are going to make pizza for lunch, play a game, cook some dinner and have a fire, just so Laura is happy! Yeah for her, she spoke up and told us what she wanted! I love her and her Daddy bunches and bunches. Blessed we are just to have each other, someday the work part will be over or at least decreased and I can't wait! Enough is enough! So this will be the last post about vacation, today is for Laura,tommorow will be the drive home and Monday morning the alarm goes off at 5am and we hit the decks running again! It was fun!

Good bye Shenandoah, Hello Hershey!

Well our southern vacation began just over a week ago. We hurried out of New York, heading south to miss yet another possable snow storm. On our first night we made it to Belden Hills Campground just as the sun set. They were scheduled to open on the first, I called while at work and asked if they would mind our spending the night there, and he graciously said yes. So we were off, we got home at 4:30 and were on our way by 5pm. It was a dry drive to the campground. We would have a quiet night but Chey thought she was there to bark at all the deer living in the field around us. She cried and whined hoping to get us to let her out to play with the deer. So sleep was not a part of our stop.
The next day we headed for Lickdale, it was only a few hours as it was supposed to be our first stop. The truck traffic at the campground was noisy, although I did not notice it. Tom said it kept him up! We did not unhook, just got some fried chicken at the store and had dinner and relaxed.
First thing the next morning we were off to Virginia's Shenandoah Mountains. All I can say is what a beautiful area. Not only do they have beautiful mountains, but the farms and valleys are pristine. The campground is woodsy and had a beautiful waterfall,

with a creek running thru it. The only complaint about Shenandoah Valley Campground was that the sites were small and close to each other. It was windy while we were there and we were not comfortable having a fire as it was so close to our trailer. We set up and headed out for dinner, ribs, chicken, shrimp all the things that make you think south. The restaurant was called Rackem Sackem Ribs, very good meal. The next day we were off to The Blue Ridge Parkway, it is full of beautiful views of the mountains and valley below. Laura loved riding with me, daddy calls her our truck puppy, she loves it!

We rode for a few hours and then escaped the parkway to grab some lunch. Our first Hardees ever. It was ok, for fast food. People here are amazingly friendly and helpful. I can't think of a place that when entering with the wheelchair somebody did not help us. Awesome! After lunch we went back to the camp and relaxed. Had a nice relaxing evening.
The next morning we were up early and off for Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park, yet another beautiful drive. Although the mountains are still bare from the long winter it is beautiful! Gives you a differant view. The national park is said to be loaded with animals. Within the first few miles of our drive we met several deer crossing the road. I stopped so Laura could see them. Chey was up and barking at the deer, who just stood there and stared at her. We went about 50 miles of the parkway and spent almost the whole day there. It was awesome but very long at the same time. I don't believe that anyone could drive the entire 110 miles in one day, it was exhausting and beautiful all in one.
I must say this is a place that I would enjoy much more without a child in a wheelchair. A place that needs to be seen from the numerous trails, I am sure we missed the best parts of Shenandoah. Don't get me wrong, I would not give my life with Laura up for this or anything. Let me just say, it is one of the things I miss about my single life. Just to have the ability to chose to hike down one of those trails to see a differant vista or waterfall. What it will it be like, to see the national parks in this country with a child in a wheelchair will be differant for us. Our experience will be from the road side! It is what it is! I am sure we will love experiencing the parks together but I will always feel we may have missed something.
When we left Virginia we were ready to go, maybe not north but we had seen what we came to see. I would love to come back someday when the leaves and flowers are in bloom. The season is late here also, the very nice lady who cut Lauras hair told me that usually by the first week it is in full bloom here. So we leave beautiful sunny Virginia and headed north.
Here we are at Twin Grove Rv park, getting ready for our visit to Hershey today. I must leave now to get that kid ready!

Laura, Tom and I at Shenandoah!

These photos are of the three of us on top of the Shenandoah Mountain range on Skyline Drive. It was a relaxing beautiful place to spend the day! More later!

So our spring adventure begins just in the nick of time!

I spent a good part of the day stressing about the looming noreaster, the weather guys love to instil fear in all of us. I had to take matters into my own hands, with the assistance of the internet I found a campground just north of Bighamton that would put us up for the night. Hopefully we drove just far enough south/west to miss the snow. I really do not care if it rains, after all that is what spring is all about. So for now Tom and Laura are snacking and a game of yahtzee is in my immiedate future. Matter of fact the game is in my hand. A night of rest and then we will be on the road to Pennsylvania and finally Shenandoah National Park. I can't wait to get there, it has been a long time coming, let the adventure begin...............

Shenandoah here we come!

This will have to be a quick post, just to let you know I am hoping to post pictures and info about our great adventure. This week has been very busy packing and organizing the RV. Last week I said good bye for the final time to Aunt Mary, as Karen said "Til we meet again". The weekend was all about packing, errands and a few hours for family Sunday. Almost all of us were there, Tom stayed home to do some chores and Theresa, Bill and Will were on vacation in Florida and Heather was home with Miles who is sick wih a yucky ear infection. I invited Melissa and Hayden who both enjoyed there time away from all the craziness of the last few weeks. Melissa really has had a long hard time watching and waiting for her Mom to pass. Now she has to deal with a brother that thought he could get rich on his Mother's death, sick little yuck he is. What a terrable life he must have to be hanging on to his Mother's money to feed himself. I listened as he planed on buying a car and building a house. Craziness, they paid for his education, he actually has a Masters degree in music education. Really he needs to make it on his own now and this might just be what he needs to give him the kickstart. For the past few years he has been living off his brother but he has plans of movig to a smaller space which puts him in the streets, there is more to this story but I must give myself a kick start and go to work,LOL! Have a great day!

Life is beautiful and sometimes it is really hard, but life is beautiful!

Aunt Mary passed away early this morning, I do believe that my prayers were answered. I knew that I could not change her fate, so I prayed she have a peaceful pain free death. At least it seemed that way to me, she went into a coma a week and a half ago. She truly seemed to be resting peacefully thru the entire time, she really did not seem to be there anymore to me. Each time I visited her she seemed more like she had already left us and that last time, she tried to open her eyes to look at me but was unable to. So with a sad heart I said good bye, my hope now is that she is in heaven with God and our family that left before us! The services will be sometime this week.
Today was Tom's Aunt Jos 86th Birthday! It is strange to me that she has her 86th birthday, on the day my Aunt dies. For the last three years of my visits with Aunt Jo she tells me each time, sometimes several times that she wished she was dead. Even asks why God doesn't want her. It proves we have no controll of our final death. So anyway we stoped in the AM to give her medication to her. She has dementia and if she does not get her pills her memory gets very bad, soemtimes even dangerous. When we were there we said we would be back later for supper, reminding her not to eat til we get there.
We left on Laura's special outing and a few errands. We have been encouraging Laura to start going out on outings at day program. Every year the entire winter she refuses to go on outing with them. Every spring we start to encourage her to go out more often, the goal is twice a week. So for two weeks now she has had a special outing for being a very good girl. That is what Laura says! We ran to get propane for the RV, then made a stop at the RV store to get a filter and then Olive Garden for lunch. She ate very well and had chocolate cake for dessert. Laura and I then went home and baked cookies for dinner at Karen and Jims tommorow while we waited for her Mommie and Scott to come for there weekly dinner visit. Once they got here Tom and I went and got dinner for Aunt Jo and a cake. While we visited her I hemmed the pants I bought her. This weeks chore at Aunt Jos was to clean out her torn, stained burned clothes and replace them with new ones. I bought her 4 pairs of pants with two mathcing shirts and a matching jacket for each set, she was actually pleased. Everytime we do something for her we expect her to get upset but she now seems to like our help. It is almost as if a big part of her dementia is fueled by stress, as soon as she gets anxious about something the dementia becomes more intense and it takes sometime for her to return to her normal self. Today we visited for sometime while I hemmed her pants, she was alost totally normal the entire time with no confusion. It was actually a nice visit and she was appreciative for the clothing and the visit. I left there with a smile.
We were not home long before Laura came home, the usual hour with Tammy and Scott invading our house and my wishing that they leave soon so I can relax and unwind from a busy somewhat stressful day! It seems weird that I am not terrably upset about Aunt Mary's passing away but the truth is I know for sure she is now in a better place, no more pain! I invision she is sitting at the table with her husband, parents, cousins, aunts uncles and Jesus at the head of the table breaking the bread and dipping it into the sauce, yum that is what Jesus says! Sound good to you, wait til you join them, they will all be laughing and eatng some of Aunt Antoinette's pastries coffee and anisette! Memories that is what we have, my cildhood was unique! We all grew up on the same street. We were on the corner, my grandparents behind us, up the street was Uncle Patsy and through the woods was Aunt Mary & Uncle Jim and my cousins! The entire neighborhood seemed to be Italian or Polish and they all had something to offer from there gardens to share with a neighbor. Fruit, and veggies, homemade breads, pizza, jelly, sauce etc. That is why I invision them sitting at the table with Jesus having dinner, it is how I grew up being together, meant having a meal or a snack! So someday I will join them and wait for those left behind! See you soon Aunt Mary!

Laura's Saturday!

Most Saturdays Laura is up early excited to start the day. I find myself on Friday night trying to down play the weekends activities. I am hopeing that I can convice Laura to sleep late, so I can sleep late. She is excited to see her Mommie and Scott. Tom and I have to keep her enteratained. Today Tom took her out to run some errands and have lunch while I cleaned the house. When they came home her insulin pump needed to be changed, she needed her medicines and help getting cleaned up to go back out again. Laura has to wait all day for them to come, because Scott works during the day at Stewarts, he gets out about 2pm, they usually pick her up at 3pm. Many weeks they end up not showing up and then she is disappointed. Laura gets upset and may say something about it later. I often know she is upset and then I have to come up with something for her to do to fill the void. The last time we baked brownies and played the Wii. I can change her thought process but only temporarily. She will ask about them again later in the week, tell me she loves them and misses them. She seems worried that they won't come back again. It is a sad situation for her to live with. For years she did not see her Mom more than a few times a year, Laura did not ask about her at all then. Now that we are back to having fairly regular visits, it is hard for her to wait for each visit not knowing bugs her. Laura is a creature of habit, she does not like change at all, so when they decide at the last minute they can't come it is tough on her.
I really think she is just happy to see Scott. Her Mom has many issues of her own, she walks in the door barely speaks to Laura and spends the first 10 minutes of the visit telling us some story about being sick or someone else who is sick. She can go on and on about an issue. This evening when she returned Laura home to me she repeatedly told me that Laura was complaining about her face. Whe she left and I asked Laura what was wrong I could not find anything wrong and there were no complaints. Its like she had nothing better to talk about, I would prefer she just shut up, kiss her good bye and leave gracefully. That is not how it goes, she gets Laura into her PJs and then they stand at the door and talk to Tom or I for at least 1/2 hour each time, ugh!
The one thing I like about there visits is Tom and I actually get a few hours to ourselves. The house is ours, no sitter, no vistors and no responsability until she returns. We act like honeymooners for a few minutes, maybe go out for dinner, shop a little or just stay home and relax. Thoose few short hours feel good. But I am always happy to have our little girl back at the end of the day. So now Laura and I visit, share a snack and then I put her to bed. So Good night everyone!

Aunt Mary

Well I got an e mail this evening that tells me that Aunt Mary is coming very close to the end of her life. I just thought it would be nice to honor her with a few of my thoghts about her.
As a child when she gave me a gift she was very thoughtful, she somehow knew exactly what I liked without asking. Like the year she gave me the pretzel machine, I truly loved it. I spent hours creating differant flavored pretzels watching them ride thru the oven, soo cool! And she gave me my first album Donny Osmond, that must have been sixth grade.
Her and Uncle Jim were an awesome couple they both had an awesome sense of humor and could almost always get me to laugh. She was a loving but stern Mom. In our house we got away with lots of drinking even marijuana use but not at Aunt Mary's house. While I was in high school her niece Elaine came to live with her, I was a year yonger so we were hooked up as friends. We got along well and I was always getting Elaine into trouble.
She is an awesome cook, made the best cheesecake, I remember asking her for the recipe and she said to me it was the same recipe my mother used, she said she got the recipe from her, I was shocked because hers was so much better than Mom's. Shh don't let her know I said that. Her stuffed artichokes are soft and moist, they melt in your mouth and her spaghetti sauce is simple and yummy always. The things she prepares are filled with slow methodical love.
As an adult our times together have been sporadic, I tried going to her church for awhile. And then my cousin Melissa moved in with me, so I saw lots of them then. Times change lots and I our visits sometimes became rare. Although they were not often they were always good times for me. She once told me that she liked me best because I was not afraid to speak my mind. The funny thing is I feel the same about her. If she has something on her mind she says it even when the truth hurts. It has been tough medicine but at times exactly waht I needed to hear.
She will be missed by many. Her children have all stayed very close to her. They have had a tradition for many years of having coffee every Saturday night. So as she slowly leaves us to go home to her woderful loving husband and all of her loved ones that left her first. I know she is surrounded by love, I have prayed for sometime now that you have a peaceful painfree passing. I love you!

LONNNNNNGGGGGGGG Winter!

It isn't that I have been to busy to post anything on my blog lately, just trying to live through the long boreing winter. Once the holidays are over it seems that there is nothing much happening, so here goes. Maybe I am wrong? I am going to try to recall the events of the past two months. Snow storm, snow storm, snow storm, cold, cold, cold, ice, ice, ice. It has been an unusually difficult year for us here in the north east. For us it is even more difficult because Tom,s job in the winter becomes snow removal for every storm. I am not sure how many days the day hab. was closed for snow, I know for sure that it was more than ever before. Maybe six times. The storms were not all big ones, they were just continuos, one to two storms every week. It was ridiculous, and then yesterday the worst one yet shows up just when we thought we were begining to see signs of spring. The days are getting longer, and the snow had started to melt, but with a heavy wet snow storm it becomes difficult to remain optimistic about an early spring.
For the most part the highlight of most of our weeks were going to Ephrata to visit our friends and attend church with them. I like to think that our family's are very much like two peas in a pod or maybe a male and female ferns. We kind of support each other in a friendly spiritual way. We like the same things and share the same values, and we both have a handicapped child. On one weekend I had the opportunity to go snow mobiling with Karen, it was my first time. I loved it, I am sure if I owned one it would be difficult to keep me off of it. Maybe I would even like winter? Tom and Jim went out after we did and I am sure he enjoyed it as well. Laura was going to give it a try but in the end she chickened out, I forgot the old rule. Do not make her wait because the longer she waits the more worried she gets. Most weekends we share Sunday dinner, chat and play a few games. I never know where the time goes when we are together?
It seems every year during the winter I see very little of our family. We did attended Hunter's first Birthday and Baptism. It was a nice time visiting with everyone. Laura was very excited to meet her newest cousin, Miles for the first time and see Hunter. She truly loves babies! When Heather and Robert arrived to the party, she was waiting at the door for them. Hunter has become to busy for Laura so it is great having the arrival of Miles 9 months later. She was so happy to hold her new cousin and watch Hunter play. I enjoyed visiting with everyone as did Tom. But as always in the winter we were happy to be back home. Our home may be small but it is a secure and warm place to hibernate.

I have continued to visit with Aunt Mary, she is holding her own but it is very obvious she is begining to fail. Becoming thinner and more fragile with each of my visits. Last weekend we took Hayden for a weekend retreat. He lives with her and is having some behavioral issues. The house is a difficult place for a an eight year old boy to be. We didn't do all that much with him here but he certainly had an awesome time. We let him watch movies loud and play the Wii loud. We went swimming and made pizza Saturday. Sunday we took him to the RV show in Springfield Mass. He had a blast runnng in and out of about 100 RV's. We dropped him off Sunday late. Hopefully our taking Hayden every now and then will be a great retreat for him and get him through a rough time in his life. He has lived with his Grandma his own life and this will be the first time he has to face the death of someone he loves. For Aunt Mary I am just praying she has a peaceful pain free passing. It is sad to see her leave us.
My Uncle Merf also passed away in January after years of living with congestive heart failure he was 81 years old. Merf lived a full life, he was a happy gentle soul full of life. He played the accordian in a polka band most of his life. I always loved listening to him play as a child, it was always the highlight of each family gathering for me. My Dad played with Merf when they were children but he gave it up when he became an adult, I wish I knew why he did that. I would have liked to hear him play. As a kid I was surrounded by music both my Dad and Aunt Mary played the piano and organ at there churches and home. We all loved when Dad pulled out the bench and sat down to play, everyone would sit and beg for there favorite song, such great memories we have. The next few years we will probably go to more than one or two funerals. It will be time for a good part of our family to pass on. I know someday we will all meet in heaven, but it still is difficult to say good bye. Our family is full of love and zest for life, laughter is shared as well as tears. At my Uncle Merf's funeral, my cousin Richard who is a priest talked of his Moms, my Aunt Michelina's 90th Birthday. He had asked her what she thought about life and with many years of wisdom she simply said, " Life is beautiful, it is hard sometimes, but in the end it is beautiful" That is a very powerful sentence. So very true it is!
So here we are at the end of Febuary waiting impatiently for spring. We have just one more month til our first camping trip. Tom and I have planned a trip to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We found a nice campground with its own waterfall. On the trip home we plan to visit Hershey Pennsylvania. I have never really been to Penn., accept a quick stop at an airport to pick up a few clients. That is another story! So we are going to visit the Hershey Chocolate factory and possably the Amish country side. So as I sit here bored waiting for winter to come to an end, I know that it won't be long til we are enjoying our first trip of the year!

I currently have 4years and 4 months til I can retire. I have 29 1/4 years of state service, so by then I will be over the 30 mark. What that means is I will definatly retire then! Woo hoo! Leslie always tells me it will go faster than you think. I hope so! It is not that I don't like what I do for a living, I just don't like the bureacracy that comes with being a state worker. The state is broke and they will take it out on thoose that need them the most. The past few months have been farely smooth at work, its winter here in the northeast and nobody wants time off. Once spring hits we will all be in line for more time off. We all love being able to take the time off, but it makes it more difficult because then we work for long periods short staffed. Running full steam from the minute we walk in the door until the day is over. Just a few more people would be a great help! But that is not going to happen, so 4 years 4 months bring them on! So I say goodbye for now, stay warm and soon spring will be here I am sure of it.

2011 is here, the holidays are officially over!

It was a fast and furious holiday season, just like it always is. We spend weeks, months leading up to one day. Just one little day. Don't get me wrong I think Christmas is a beautiful blessed time of year, but maybe just a bit to commercial. Not, it is way to commercialized, way, way, way to commercialized. I spent the week before Christmas seized up in hip pain, I got my cortisone shot on the 23rd, not a minute to soon. I was not into the shopping thing because I really was not in a position to spend a bunch of money. And the whole gift giving thing is just stupid, I give you a $25 gift card and you give me the same, doesn't make much sense to me. So next year, the gifts will be from the heart homemade or not at all. I truly enjoyed buying gifts for the churches family. Every year the church gets together and helps a family in need, that was fun buying for little ones that would really be happy to get something special. But for thoose of us that have everything we need and want, maybe we should really just stop! Ok enough on my thoughts on Christmas commercialism.

Really it is a beautiful times of year, we spend time with our families and that is what we should be doing! Christmas Eve was awesome, most of my family was together, we had tons to eat and we were all happy to be together. That is all we need really, time together. My family is growong up quickly, 4 of my nieces and nephews are past college age, 3 are in college and 3 are still in school. I now have two great grandchildren, we will always be growing family. My Mom and Dad are very proud of there big family and they should be. It has been awesome to watch them all grow and I am sure my parents feel the same way! So a big happy family we are!

Christmas morning Laura was up bright and early, knocking at the foot of our bed. I got up turned on the coffee, popped the cinnamon rolls into the oven and sat down with her to open gifts. She had lots to open and I think she was happiest with her Uno game, rice krispie treats and a silly stuffed penguin, Becky got for free at a thrift store. I always make sure has has lots to open, socks, snacks, clothes, sticker books. But truly soon after she opens her gifts they just get set aside and I eventually end up giving them away to a local thrift store. This year the doll she asked for. will be gone along with a half a dozen stuffed animals. Living in a 800 square foot house keeps you from having too much, I could only imagine what she would have if we had a bigger house. With every holiday she gets more stuff, and with every holiday I get to weed it all out and pass some of it on! Laura is mentally about 5 to 6 years old, she has a short attention span and is not able to entertian herself on her own. So she likes to open gifts, but does not necasarily like to play with them, luckily the local thrift shops love our donations, recycle! Enough on that Christmas continued.....

Christmas day we spent with Toms family. First we stoped at Aunt Jos to give her pills to her and some fresh baked cinnamon rolls. She seemed happy to see us and was sad for us to go. We tried bringing her to Jim and Dianns last year but that just made her very anxious. So unfortunatly she stays home, she swears that is where she wants to be. But she constantly complains of being lonely. Hard for me to understand her. We had a schedule to keep, brunch at Jim and Dianne's. And then later dinner, which just so happens to be homemade pizza and wings. I know not your typical Christmas dinner, but somehow it has become our Christmas tradition. I think it started when Amy gave Tom a hot sauce sampler. Last year Tom, his brother Jim, and Dianne's brother Billy, tried to beat each other on who could tolerate the hottest sauce. I am really not sure who won, but they sure did have fun trying to out hot the other one. This year was more low keyed, I don't think they even tried any hot sauce. But anyway we spend the entire day relaxing and chatting with Tom's family, they are Jim, Dianne, Jessica, Amy and Matt. Sorry I do not have pictures of all of them.This year we had a few extras, Amy's best friend also known as her sister Karleigh and her Dad Gerard. He enjoyed breakfast with us but do to pretty serious cat allergies he was gone soon after. Laura and Jess played a few games, Dianne and I took our dogs for a walk, and then we all played a game of scgatagories, I think I spelled the right. And then it was time to make dinner the whole family was in the kitchen helping with making pizza and chicken wings. Dinner was yummy, Dianne makes a mean chicken wing and I make a great pizza! What a team! Soon after that we were home to rest again.

Sunday morning we were up early to go to church and have dinner with our friends. The church service was great, the older kids did a little pagent and we sang more Christmas Carols. Then we had dinner with Karen, Austin, Karena, and Karen's son the pastor Jeff. Jim had to leave early to bring a friend back to the train station due to  pending snow storm, that is supposed to hit the entire northeast. We left soon after dinner, had shopping to do for Aunt Jo and get home and get ready for the long work week ahead.

And a long work week it was for sure. As always at the holidays we are short staffed. Everyone wants time off then so we go to minimum staffing. It seems like a really, really long week. The clients were well behaved for the most part. We ended the week with a New Years Eve Party for them. I felt bad for  them this week, because the holiday fell on the weekend they had no holiday. Sure I get it the state does not want to give us the day, but these people never get a vacation and this time they did not even get a holiday. Everyday somebody gets them out of bed, helps them get dressed, feeds them and rushes them out the door. So wrong, everybody deserves a holiday and a vacation. Nope not them, it would cost the state extra money to do this for them. Beyond my controll, but my heart goe out to them.

So the week came to an end with new Years Eve. Our routine did not change this year, a few hordeuvers and a little sangria, with a movie. Shrek Everafter or whatever, good movie, munchies, sangria and company, just the three of us, wait four with Chyanne! By 9pm we were in bed.

Today I did a little overtime at a 12 bed house with what we call medically frail individuals. Not really frail, just people with physical, medical and intellectual dissabilities. They just so happen to require a nurse for things such as diabetic care, tube feedings, colostomies, etc. As always there is a nursing shortage and Nick recently asked if i would do it. So I did a little training, found it was not so bad. Hopefully I will be called back and make a little extra cash for our trip to Tennessee this spring. I met Tom and Laura for pizza, did a little shopping and here I am. Tommorow is a busy day to. Take down the Christmas decorations, get some meals made ahead for the week. I really want to get ahead of things so I can get back to swiming again. Thats all for now, just a not eto wish all of you a healthy, happy 2011!