what do you mean i have to go back to work??

yeah, yeah.. i know... i just spent a week at the cape, so i can't complain right? i did read some blogs while i was there, but vacation is vacation so a vacation from typing i took. did that make sense? oh well... i did to me.

we had a great time down at the cape, atleast i did.. everyone got to sleep in late... to 8 am... evan on our last day slept to 9:45, and i woke him up! he never does that he's usually up by 7:30 at the latest unless we're in the bed too. we spent a bunch of tie with my sister and nephew and some time with my mom, who barely got to see teh grandboys b/c they were both exhausted and tired so they all went to bed early.. oh well. we spent a few good days with mom's computer fixing it up for her, so now it works well, and has the anti-virus software set to "super paranoid". lol... only she has to figure some things out with the new windows XP! all in all i think once she gets to know and love her new OS she'll be happy :)

evan and i took a bunch of pictures over the week... and when our puter at home stops wiggin' out i'll be more than happy to share said pictures with you all. i suppose i could do it using the laptop, we'll see...

but i can't chat much more at the moment, i have to head off to wilbraham for work today. hopefully i post more this afternoon, and catch up posting on everyone's blogs!

hope all are well and not frozen! it's damn cold out today! wind chills about -15 to -20 last night! yikes!

sorry for the delay, folks

how many regular readers do i have out there anyway??? i know there are lurkers out there who done't comment, and then those who do, and also the ones who's puter's aren't cooperating and can't comment...

anyhoo, it' sbeen a while since my last post, or so it seems anyway. since i last left you or computer decided to commit suicide and fried itself or something. we had trevor come over and assist jason with the replacement surgery with his computer. trying to find the problem is a matter of trial and error... imagine if they did that at the hospital.. let's try the kidney, no wait, that didn't work how about the appendix... but i degress. after a few hours of computer parts surgery it was determined that our motherboard fried itself. the processor is still good, but we've also been having issues with our hard drive.. something got screwed up so we had to reformat and reinstall and then it was being crappy again yesterday so we have to reformat again b/c something is corrupted... what a apain.. but atleast i have the laptop to use in the meantime. the funny part is that when you put in the windows cd it tells you press escape to format and do a fresh install... well.... our esc doesn't work nor does the A key b/c evan spilt his juice on the keyboard 2 nights ago. we can't seem to keep keyboards any longer than a year before soemthing happens to them... that's why we buy the $12 model at staples..lol we can't win, but hopefully the puter will be fixed sometime soon

on friday we're leaving to go to the cape to visit our friend and my family. haven't seen them in a while. we'll be there a week! a whole week away from home.. woohoo! we're staying at our friend's apt who lives in pocasset which is perfect b/c it's a free place to stay. the main reason we often don't go to the cape to visit my family is b/c until tyler moved down about 6 months ago, there was no where for us to stay that didn't cost a minimum of $90/ night, off-season... in season is a joke, unless your rich... and that $90 room is at the days inn in middleboro... which if anyone is familiar with the area about 20 minutes give or take to my old stomping grounds in Onset. but we're very exciting about the trip. the only plans we have so far are to visit with the family over teh weekend (and trev and tyler of course) and try to fix my mom's computer while she's at work. hopefully it won't take longer than a day or so. we'll have to pray..

evan has started going on the potty, but only occasionally, and often before bed. diapers are still preferred at this point. lol...

oh so the nor'easter we got, turned out to be a dud... atleast our here in the pioneer valley. jay and i were a somewhat disappointed.... we were looking forward to a big snow... well the eastern half the state got it, oh and longmeadow, munson and palmer. apparantly only a handful of town in southeastern hampden county got the predicted amount the rest of us got like 3 inches, tops... wait, trev said in erving they got 8 or so, but i say he doesn't count... he lives on a mountain.

so how have you all been?... hopefully not as crazy as here

afternoon trek to holyoke

so this afternoon evan and i picked jay up at work and trekked down to the holyoke mall b/c some new shoes were in order. shoes were found and mine and even's feet are now newly comfy:)

the most entertaining part of our trip was upon exiting filene's... lol we used the elevator and on our way out of the furniture dept, jay says, "don't you just love listening to people talk about something they know nothing about.... " we passed a saleswoman was showing a nice wood table to some customer's she said, "this is a beautiful table and is made out of hard wood... yes... it's indeed pine"... it was pretty funny... wow... do you think the customer's caught her being blatantly stupid? lol

what is the world coming to?

i got this in my work email the other day.... this isn't a joke, but it's hilarious. see i work for Umass, aka "ZooMass" and the one thing you have to understand about umass is that no matter how much they try and clean up the image of the party school, it will always be a party school... but this also depends on where you live on campus... me? i lived in the hippie section... lol.. not b/c i'm a hippie, far from it, but i requested a dorm with "high speed internet" (which at the time there were only a handful) and i got placed in the smallest dorm on campus, Brooks... it rocked the first year, kool people, but it went down hill after that. many people moved onto bigger and better rooms, the ones in my building were on the small side for 2 people. it i liked it... it was close to campus, at the bottom of the hill, and about 100 ft from the DC (aka: dining hall)... it was also next to one of the most beautiful and mosde unknown parts of campus, Durfee Conservatory, and also Health Services was right there. the majority of the people in my building, the drug free floor excluded, all smoked pot... the building had a stench of stale pot... i think i was one of the few people in my dorm aside from those on the fourth floor who didn't smoke.. lol..

so anyway, this is the latest attempt by the university to curb binge drinking, and the drinking of minors....

January 26, 2006


Dear Student:


I want to announce some important changes to the University of
Massachusetts Amherst residence hall alcohol policies (Code of Student
Conduct, II.D). These changes, recommended by the Student Affairs
Judicial Issues Committee (SAJIC) which is comprised of students, staff,
and faculty, were subsequently approved by campus officials and are
intended to positively influence the living-learning environment in the
residence halls. The following changes are effective for the Spring 2006
semester.


*_Alcohol ­ Large gatherings_*


Due to the potential for noise violations and illegal alcohol
consumption, large gatherings are prohibited in the residence halls. A
group of more than 10 people in a residence room in which alcohol is
present (regardless of room size) will be considered a large gathering.
Progressive large gatherings (i.e. round robins) and/or any gatherings
that spill out into a common space are prohibited and may be viewed as a
violation of the alcohol policy.


*_Alcohol - Alcohol paraphernalia_*


The possession and/or use of drinking paraphernalia or products that
promote the abuse of alcohol and/or put the user in a position to
consume alcohol irresponsibly is prohibited. This includes but is not
limited to funnels, taps, and beirut/beer pong tables.


*_Alcohol ­ Drinking games_*


Creating, offering, and/or engaging in drinking games or other behaviors
designed for the purpose of rapid and/or excessive consumption is
prohibited. At no time should activities which encourage excessive
drinking and/or lead to the endangerment of the individual served take
place in the residence halls.


*_Alcohol ­ Large volume_*


The amount of alcohol which a student may possess and/or store is
limited to twelve (12 oz) bottles/cans of beer, two (750 mL) bottles of
wine, or one bottle of hard liquor (1L). This applies to each resident
in a room who is 21 or older. Other quantity-dispensing containers,
including but not limited to kegs and beer balls, are prohibited in all
areas of the residence halls.


*_Alcohol ­Empty containers_*__


Possession of empty alcohol containers (i.e liquor bottles, wine
bottles, and/or beer cans) is prohibited in residence halls by students
who are under 21 and may be viewed as evidence of possession and/or
consumption of alcohol. In addition, students are not allowed to use
alcohol containers, whether full or empty, as decorations within their
residence hall room.


*_ _*


*_Intoxication and Good Samaritan Protocol_*


Intoxication, defined as being under the influence of alcohol or any
other psychoactive drug to any extent which requires the attention of
University staff or which causes a disturbance or is a danger to persons
or property is prohibited. You may be reluctant to seek medical help for
an individual experiencing severe intoxication or a serious injury after
consuming alcohol. However, it is imperative that you call for medical
assistance since these emergencies are potentially life threatening.
UMass Amherst has developed the Good Samaritan Protocol to ensure that
the health and safety of all community members remains our first priority.


Sincerely yours,


Jo-Anne T. Vanin
Dean of Students

*now what's the fun of going to college if you can't have parties, with drinking games and paraphrenalia.. lol..

here i am again...

evan's sleeping, it's still early enough he's not done sleeping yet. i've had a pretty good week. we got snow the other day about 7" +/- and it was great snow for snowman making! woohoo! so while jays was doing the driveway, and evan as supervisor, i went to work on my first snowman onf the year! all our snow to date has been powder, except the one storm where it was so heavy it was pretty much water. my snowman came out well. it wasn't nearly as big as the one my mom and i made back in april of 97 after the blizzard (which was taller than me!) but it was still a good size, probably to my chin or so... that's right i said "was".... 2 nights ago he lost his head.. after the first night he was leaning a little backwards, and was still missing his arms, so i straightened him out and gave him some arms, no face or clothes, but atleast some arms. the next we woke up, i turned on the porch light as usual, so the paperboy doesn't kill himself, and there my creation was.... headless, smashed into little pieces on the ground behind him... i chuckled and called out to my husband... "hey the snowman lost it's head!".. he goes, "yeah i saw that" and we both chuckle.. oh well, they never last long, and when they do, they look pitiful after a few days, falling apart, and melting in places almost as if they're anoriexic... at that point i often just kick them down b/c it looks so pitiful, not that i'm saying i'd kick a perrson who's anorexic... i wouldn't, that's mean, but the snowman is different... it's like the lawn ornament that stays out all year, it's pathetic and needs to be taken care of... it melts faster if it's in pieces on the ground.

this is all that is left of my snowman... he's in pretty good shape, except is head is a lump on the ground.


so the weekend is supposed to be fairly nice, so that's good. very happy about that, but on tuesday, as you can see they're saying snow... according to the husband, he said they said it's gonna be a nor'easter. oh boy! it's gonna start monday as rain (oh good, i can still work and not reschedule) and turn to snow for tuesday, where it's looking like it'll snow all day tues. (oh good, atleast i'm not scheduled to go anywhere!) so we'll see what actually happens. one of my clients called my yesterday and asked if we can rescedule b/c he has a dentist appointment. i'm supposed to go on monday. let me just explain that what i do is, i drive to peoples houses all over the state, run their water, and take samples, and return to umass to drop them at the lab. on monday i'm scheduled to go to boxford, which is a 2 hour drive, so when i go there, i like to fill my day with 3 clients. i hate the drive. and at my peak load of clients i was going there 8 times a month... thankfully i'm down to 2 times. (i sample each client monthly for a year). the stupid part is that i schedule my appointments a month in advance, while i'm there testing i schedule the next appointment... now if he had a dentist appointment, why did he say the day was okay. the only thing i can think of is that this was a last minute appoinment he made and the only time that was open. but see, yesterday was teh 26th, and i'm supposed to go on monday which is the 30th... that leaves one day open, tuesday which is spposed to be a blizzard or something.. right... perhaps i can schedule him for the 2nd, when i'm gonna be back in boxford, it shouldn't be a problem as long as he can schedule.. i just have to call.. i mean remember to call. i often forget when i'm home. oh yeah, i forgot to mention i only work 3 days a week, because spending money on more than 2 days of day care is too expensive, mondays evan goes to jay's grandparents house, so that day is free. besides i don't really need to work more than 3 days, but hey the job's saraly, so i don't care.

on weds a friend of mine had a bunch of errands she needed to do before he chiropractor's appt, so i offered to have her oldest over to play while her and the 14 month old had a good time down in hadley doing their thing. we had a good time. it was nice to not have to entertain evan. they just played and played.... i got a couple pictures here...
when evan's at daycare, he loves to play upstairs with wil, so it was no suprise that he kept going upstairs to play with maddy! they were fine.. no loud noises, but a bunch of giggling... so i put down my book, which i was trying to finish... i was on the home strech of about 15 pages, and head upstairs...
the 2 kids are in hysterics... they're jumping on evan's bed! it was actually quite cute, so tamar, i apolgize if maddy starts jumping your bed at home.. i guess it's my fault. i fugured, hey, if it'll tire them out... besides after he has a bath and i put him on our bed to get diapered and dressed he has this thing where he has to jump around for a while. whatever... he kills some energy before bed. i suppose i spoil him in that sense, but my mantra is "you have to pick your battles" and it's worked so far. it'll weaer off or if he becomes recklass, then i put an end to it, but he's okay.
i got some videos of them too, only they're too big to post.

so that's that, and evan is awake now.

do this, it's neat

TIBETAN PERSONALITY TEST ~

Take your time with this test and you will be amazed. I did this last year when this came around and a spiritual wish I made did happen - in fact all year long.

he Dalai Lama suggests you read it to see if it works for you. Very Interesting.

Just 4 questions and the answers will surprise you.

Be honest and do not cheat by looking up the answers. The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is opened. This is fun to do, but you have to follow the instructions very closely. Do not cheat.






MAKE A WISH BEFORE BEGINNING THE TEST!




A warning! Answer the questions as you go along. There are only 4 questions and if you see them all before finishing, you will not have honest results.





Go down slowly, and complete each exercise as you scroll down.

Don't look ahead. Get pencil and paper to write your answers as you go along.

You will need it at the end. This is an honest questionnaire which will tell you a lot about your true self. Give an answer for each item. The first thing that comes to mind is usually your best answer. Remember - no one sees this but you.














(1) Put the following 5 animals in the order of your preference:





Cow, Tiger, Sheep, Horse, Pig


























(2) Write one word that describes each one of the following: Dog, Cat, Rat, Coffee, Sea.
























(3) Think of someone, who also knows you and is important to you, which you
can relate them to the following colors. Do not repeat your answer twice.
Name just one person for each color:

Yellow, Orange, Red, White, Green.
































(4) Finally, write down your favorite number, and your favorite day of the
week.

FINISHED? Please be sure that your answers are what you REALLY WANT.









Look at the interpretations below: But first before continuing,
REPEAT your wish.


*answers are in the comments area*

sounds right to me!