Happy Thanksgiving

I am freezing tonight! Maybe cause I am tired (worked a double yesterday and picked up an extra 8 hours tomorrow since we are not having our Thanksgiving dinner until Sunday) and because I just ran outside to cover up some of the plants cause it is supposed to get down into the 20's tonight. Of course, it was all put into perspective when I talked to my daughter in NV and she said when she got home this AM from work it was 8 degrees outside!

And before I forget it - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And I wont even subject you to my tirade on how retailers have corrupted Thanksgiving and consumers have (literally and figuratively) bought into it.

If you are part of the crazy hoard that participates in Black Friday....well, just know that tirade explains why I typically work on Black Friday...

So apparently said daughter in Nevada had a run in with a deer on the way home. Smashed up her car, but did not total it - and she is unhurt. That makes me very thankful TODAY!

Luckily they have very good insurance. But what has her the most upset is that today she is going for her interview for a position she wants very very badly - and not only is she afraid the accident was an omen - it shook her up - and she didnt get any sleep today. And her SO missed out on extra pay, OT etc because she needed him home. So, as you read this - please say a prayer for them!

Looks like my short - but well enjoyed - career as a Clinical Instuctor is over. We have come to a parting of the ways because at this point in my life and career I am just not interested in orienting to another hospital in order to spend 6 - 12 hours/week doing things their way while we are still going thru so many changes where I work (they are trying to find a new clinical site because of our small patient census - yet they are negotiating with an institution that had jsut as small a census last year as we did!).

Plus, the cut in pay just makes it not worthwhile, yada yada yada. I hope they find someone to take my place - I told them a month ago that I probably would not be doing it and they just got around to meeting with me today. And the rotation starts at the end of January. (What is more sad, is they need to find a new Director for the program and they will be offering approx $30,000/year less than any other school around - they want to pay $70,000/year for a very stressful and more than full time job - when you can do bedside nursing 3 shifts/week and make more than a $100,000! Good luck with that!)

Anyway, what has me upset is that apparently they had some complaints from me from staff members. Yeah, the people I work with year round. They complained that I wasnt at bedside with the students 100% of the time. Really? 10 students spread between Pediatrics, Nursery, and Post Partum? And I wasnt with the students 100% of the time? Amazing how they could be in one area making that comment without knowing what I was doing in the other areas. And espcially considering that 1/2 the semester I had a student that I had to spend almost 1:1 time with every time she was on the unit.

But has me upset with this - is they couldnt say anything to me about it at the time. My co workers I mean. They didnt say it to me, but they commented on it to the school.....and then the school waits how many months to bring it up to me? Oh well, I will "Let It Go" because altho I enjoyed the student interaction it was very stressful to me and not financially worthwhile and it will be nice to have my life back next January - May for the first time in 3? 4? years.

So I leave you again with a Happy Thanksgiving and yet another request - as you come across people and situations that add to your thankfulness through out the year - please let them know about it. It will make their day, and yours!

Changes

Finally - after approx 20 years in this house and hating the palm trees all that time - we are finally getting rid of them. We started off with 5 - 3 in the front and 2 in the back. Not sure why ANYONE would plant that many on this small of a lot.

Got rid of one in the back many many years ago and it really traumatized the guy - cause it was so full of animals and birds and nests and baby birds.....Never could really find any one else to take down the rest that we could afford.


The most difficult one is left to come down. And that is cause it is growing up between a bunch of wires.

Our new front door is in. Will be delivered Tuesday.

Guess we have to find the hardware for it. And also order an address plaque for the house since we will not longer be able to use "the house with the 3 palms in the front yard"!!!

Damn

new driveway poured - check

new weatherstripping for door....ummm, I mean, new front door ordered - check

lots of pellets in the garage for winter - check

guy giving us the estimate to cutdown all those godforsaken palm trees in the front yard - what do you mean you cant do it now? Your cousin promised us......you came over and assured us you could do it, you just needed to price it out....

damn

Sunday

Isn't this pretty? This is in front of the house along Carmel Beach - I was parked in front of it for lunch.







Ok - I cannot believe how crazy these kids are! Swimming in the cold Pacific Ocean in October!!!!!








Up not quite so early Sunday - no free breakfast for us - HAD to go to our favorite donut shop to p/u donuts to 'pay' our son for dog sitting - so might as well eat there!

Then dropped off some 'maters at a friends house and sat an caught up with him and his son for awhile. Decided to head out for the BBQ - walked outside and it was pouring down raining!!!



Went to the BBQ anyway - there was some covered areas there. It was pretty miserable to start - cold and wet and all. But the rain eventually stopped and it got better. The food was pretty good too!

Headed home late afternoon - vegged out at home - and slept in the next day. Too much partying for this old gal.....and when I thought back over it - the entire weekend - I had a total of 4 glasses of wine! WOOHOO! Party animal!!! LOL

(BTW, I finished that scarf - which I started Sat - Monday night - and meanwhile ordered 3 more skeins of the yarn to make 3 more Christmas presents!)

Saturday

So up bright and early Sat AM. Breakfast at the complimentary breakfast in the lobby - not too bad. And headed down to Carmel Valley to drop hubby off at Rancho Canada for gold with class mates.









I went to a garage sale in Carmel. Nothing great. And drove around the beach a bit. Then into Pebble Beach for a garage sale - another great buy on a Longaberger basket - $1!!!!

Wanted a rusted out old lantern - thought it would look cool with a potted plant just sitting in it. But they wanted $5 for this hunkajunk.






So walked away from that and drove around 17 Mile Drive taking photos and enjoying the view.

Did end up at the yarn shop - Monarch Knitting and Quilts in Pacific Grove - GREAT shop!!!! And a couple of thrift shops. Then decided to get a sandwich from Troia's and took it back to Carmel - sat at the beach, ate, and started knitting a new scarf.





Then picked up hubby - back to hotel - shower time while hubby took a nap. Then to the reunion. Was able to wear heels only because I wore boots which covered up my elastic ankle support!
The food was pretty darn good for hotel type food! Actually had a pretty good time but stayed up way too late for this old lady!

Reunion Weekend - Friday

Coast photos 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach - yes it was an overcast day.



















One of my interesting signs....turn left to go into Rancho Canada Golf Course....right to go to Church....if the end were really near, I know I would choose to go right!







I love fog. Talking to people at the reunion who now live in hot areas, their one concern about moving back to the area is the weather....fog and overcast....all the lovliness of living by the coast. I would hate to give up the fall and spring weather when it is warm during the day but cool at night. But I definitely would take the fog over hear any day!

So - it was hubby's high school reunion this past weekend. His 40th. Yeah, I made fun of him until I realized that next year will be MY 40th reunion! OUCH!

So we went down Friday. Had several errands to run including getting the new lease signed by the tenants. Checked into the hotel (same hotel as the reunion was at). To find it over run by women dressed in red. A convention of Republican women - OMG!!!!!! Even hubby walked around muttering about wishing he could find a Jerry button! And I was wishing I had some blue clothes with me!

And speaking about clothes....I am unpacking my stuff while hubby is chilling on the couch watching something on TV....when I realize I do not see the clothes he was going to wear the next night! The clothes he HUNG BACK IN HIS CLOSET cause he didnt want to wrinkle them before he hung them up in the car!!!!!!! Yep, they were still hanging in the closet - AT HOME!

So made a trip to Del Monte Center and Macy's. Found him some nice pants and 2 different shirts. I really really REALLY tried my darnedest not to laugh too loudly about all this....

Enjoyed dinner at Ablonetti's (as usual) and then back to the room to watch some b'ball. Went to the bar to watch the end of it and nighty night for an early morning the next day!

Winter preparation

Well, we took a break from winterizing the house - maybe cause it is summer again? Yep, temps in the high 80 - low 90 this week. Went with daughter and her 3 sons to the corn maze. (www.gmfarms.com) again. Look what someone had the time and inclination to do - braid some of the corn hair!!! It was fun, but a bit hot out there in the midst of the maze.

One of the issues is the weatherstripping at the bottom of the front door is worn out. An easy repair, right?????? HA!!! 3 trips back and forth to Home Depot......finally got a bottom thing on, but with the rubber stripping inside, the door wont close! So we now have a nice gap at the bottom. So hubby's wish is coming true...we are shopping for a new door. And he is insisting on a new sidelight too. The only reason I am giving in is the framing ( or jamb or whatever) around the sidelight and all looks awful. But it is killing me how much it is costing....

The other thing is our patio cover. Anyone know of any contests to win a re-do of the backyard??? We have the ugliest backyard ever. Have hated it since we moved in and not only have not had the money - but just cant come up with ideas of what to do + the time and energy to do it.

So we have this long patio. Which could be nice except for this rather low tin roofed cover. And last winter we ended up having to put the outdoor chairs on top of the tin to keep it all from blowing off. So this week we took care of it - mostly hubby but he did get me up on (shudder) a ladder to help out. He nailed down the worst spots and replaced some rotted roof.

We are looking into getting the palm trees chopped down finally. Have someone who may be reasonable - but the problem is our new waste management is outrageously expensive - which we knew was going to happen when they came in with hybrid vehicles etc. And these palms are very tall (never did figure out how to kill them off when they were shorter) so they will result in a lot of waste. They are lovely homes for birds, rats, and squirrels so we will hopefully be turning into bad landlords and evicting them all without notice!

Next weekend is hubby's 40th (yep, that is FORTIETH) high school class reunion. I was picking on him and making fun of him until I realized that means mine is next year - OUCH! So next weekend we will be down in Monterey ( a rough life, but someone has to do it) - golf for hubby on Saturday morning - the reunion that evening - and then a BBQ on Sunday.