Things to Do This Week

We all get a 4-day weekend around here, and I've been thinking of what I'd like to accomplish during that time...

--bake Thanksgiving ham (no turkey this year!) and all the trimmings
--make annual chocolate chip holiday pie...so good, it doesn't last long!
--make a batch of Gram's Christmas cookies, and decorate with Emerson (okay, so we did chocolate chip instead!)
--convince Emerson that sleeping in is what you're supposed to do when no one has to go to school/work!
--if weather cooperates, play at the park with Em
--paint trim upstairs, and decorate the upstairs bathroom
--work on Christmas lists
--organize craft room/Em's play room
--take a bubble bath
--do some Black Friday shopping!
--figure out which photos to print for new frames on the stairway
--watch a movie with Keith (Thank you, Red Box!)

What do you think? Can I squeeze it all in???
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends & family, near or far. Love to all!

L&L

Loves:

--The way Emerson say "I need some buzz-ert" instead of dessert. So very cute.
--My short, no fuss, done in less than 5 minutes, cutie-pie haircut.
--The new shoes I bought in Portland...LaNaturalistas. The most I've ever spent on shoes in my life, but so, so worth every penny.
--The new Kathy Reichs book I'm reading (206 Bones). Really enjoy her books!
--That Keith brought me home Stam's chocolate truffles the other night, for no apparent reason. Yum!
--That Keith had the (?) foresight to change our auto insurance deductible to $100 about a year or so ago. That's paid off in spades this month!
--Listening to Em recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the dinner table.
--Enjoying music by a (new to me) group, the Avett Brothers...very nice.
--That instead of a turkey this year, we all voted for ham at Thanksgiving. So much easier for me!
--That next week is a 3 day week!
--That Emmy and I finally tracked down an H1N1 vaccine for the both of us. Too bad she has to get a 2nd dose in 3 more weeks.
--That Em is moving to a classroom in December with older kids, and hopefully some of the regression we've seen will improve.
--That Em took a 3 hr nap on Saturday, and I got some major power-cleaning done (visualize bleach water and toothbrush on shower grout!).

Loathes:

--That Keith's car won't be ready for yet another week, and I won't be able to take mine to the body shop until after Thanksgiving!
--That the contractor is STILL at our house...even though he's doing a lovely job, I'm ready to have my house back in order.
--That Em appears perfectly content to hide in the corner & poop in her pants....grrrr!
--That poor Amos is going bald again...not sure what's up, as I don't see any fleas on him. He's looking a little mangey these days.
--That my skin is reverting to adolescent behavior. Pimples in your 30's suck!
--That the weather is supposed to be rainy for the rest of the week & weekend.
--That our child is spending so much time in daycare.
--That we're probably going to have to do IVF to have another child. Luckily my insurance offers a very low cost option for this because I am a Duke employee. But still...

Portland & Stuff

The first week of November was spent in Portland, OR at a PA Educators conference. The conference was literally one of the best educational sessions I've ever attended. I went a few days early to attend a Basic Skills Workshop for new faculty members, which focused on teaching skills like developing a syllabus, writing learning objectives, crafting test questions, and the in's & out's of academic life. There really is a science behind this stuff, and they are skills to be practiced and honed! Writing test questions isn't easy! Once the actual conference started, there were many sessions focusing on Clinical Coordinators, and I came home invigorated and filled with new ideas!

I took the computer video camera, and was able to Skype with Keith & Emerson while I was away. Emerson took a look at me on the computer monitor, and promptly asked me "Mommy...where's your feet?". She was very concerned, and insisted I show her they were still attached to me. She and Keith did great the week I was gone! They were definitely ready to have Mommy home by Saturday though, and I was surely ready to be home!

Some of the faculty members went out for dinner each night while in Portland...I had the pleasure of sushi, Greek, Moraccan, Chinese, Indian, and delish regional food! I'd never had Moraccan, and it was quite an experience. There was even a belly dancer! She was actually really great, and our waitress told us she won all the regional dancing contests. She gave me a dancing tutorial while my dinner buddies shot video and snapped pics. Oh lord...that's gonna come back to haunt me at some point!

Work is getting very busy. We've entered into the Admissions season, and had our first batch of interviews last week. It's quite a process, but really neat to see how this all transpires behind the scenes. I'm doing more teaching of small groups, and was asked to be a Physical Diagnosis instructor next year. That's the class where students learn how to do physical exams. They practice on each other during the first semester, and in the second semester go over to the hospital and see real patients.

Emmy and I did a free trial class at The Little Gym in Durham on Saturday. It was a tumbling class mixed with creative movement & music. The Saturday class is a little packed, but Em loved it! The class was 60 minutes in length, and she was so tired afterward that she could barely walk to the car. I thought she'd fall asleep right on the sidewalk! She took a 3+ hour nap that afternoon! I got so much housecleaning done while she slept...it was amazing!

Our home improvements are dragging on...hopefully this will be the final week. We had a 2-3 week delay due to waiting for stair parts to come in. Sigh. It will be worth it in the end, but this Fall has been a real mess.

This past Thursday, I walked outside to leave for work and found a tree on my car! Yep! Another tree! Couldn't believe our rotten luck. Much less damage than was done to Keith's car last month, but still...what are the odds?? We're hiring an arborist to come check out our trees, and will take down the ones that are dead or dying. We have such dense trees around our house, it's really hard to tell what's healthy or not. Ugh...this has turned into a really expensive Fall!

October Fun

Em had a great October (well, minus the week or two of sickness, Amoxicillin and nebulizer machines)! We went on a family leaf hunt around the neighborhood to find the brightest colored leaves, and then ironed them between wax paper & hung on the window. She likes eating dinner and looking at the leaves. She had a class party on Friday, and decided to dress as a cheerleader. So very cute. We headed to DC this weekend so Em and her cousin could trick-or treat together. The girls stayed up until 11pm on Friday night, they were so excited to see each other! (This made for some crankiness about 10am on Saturday!) Emmy was a ballerina for Halloween, and Abby was a pink unicorn. They had a ball pushing doorbells between a few raindrops. The Fall color is at it's peak around here right now, but I think the rain is bringing down the leaves a bit early. Bummer...this is totally my favorite time of year!