seriously.

watch your kids at the swim area. as we were leaving today we saw the guards carrying a limp little body out of the water by the little dam. Turns out that CPR worked, or so I believe.. I couldn't really see, but I saw the guards lingering and a woman hugging a wet boy.

the other day Evan left the back gate open while I went inside to get something, and next thing we know the neighbor is holding our baby and said he was down at the corner in the street. ack! I nearly had a heart attack. scary shit.

A good friend of a friend of mine lost his son while he was swimming at a pool. just knowing that is scary enough. and I think the scariest part is that Evan doesn't get it. doesn't understand why I tell him to not go past his belly button, to stay near me and swim in the area in front of out things. He's four, and doesn't think. He gets so excited, and just does whatever. My goal last year for this year is to teach him how to swim on his own. the trick is getting him to focus and not want to play with the other kids.

stupid UMass

the accounts dept at the university "forgot" to pay out departments gas card bill. our fleet consists of 2 suburbans, 1 Yukon, and a cargo van.. aka gas guzzlers.

their inability to keep bills paid has made our gas cards unusable. My truck has a 1/2 tank of gas left after today jaunt to the berkshires, and I know I can do tomorrows trip okay, but not so sure about weds.

So my boss and others are saying to use MY credit card for now and I'll get reimbursed for it. ummm.. I don't think so. we use 1 credit card, which we just paid most of the way off with a loan from the bank. I'm not about to put $120 on my card to fill my work's truck which get's 15mpg.. and that's Highway driving. AND in any given week I can fill the tank in my truck about 3 times (it has a 40 gal tank!)! putting in $10-$15 isn't gonna cut it in this beast, and if my car wasn't rattling every time the engine has to work I'd consider driving my car, and then getting reimbursed for mileage.. atleast my car gets good mileage! my car has this rattle that makes me nervous everytime I go on the highway or up a hill/mountain. and now my brakes which were new last year are doing something funny, and I have a feeling there's something fishy with the bearings.. I'm getting that noise when I turn corners.. it's faint but it's there. So needless to say I need to save my credit card moeny in case I need to fix my car.. oh and the dryer is still broke.

*edited to add* my boss gave me $100 to fill the tank with in case I need it before the dingbats in accts get the cards working again. That was very nice of him

just when we think we're getting ahead...

we recieve the notice in the mail that the gas company is readjusting our payment for our budget plan. This is normal, and usually isn't that much. our payment went up nearly $50, so now it's $193. granted we have gas stove, hot water, dryer, and heat the house with it, but our usage was less last year than the year before, with exception for one month I think, and even then it was about the same!! We even got a brand new furnace, because ours was old and crappy. We also got our notice from the electric company and that payment is going up like $30 too. and Health insurance is up another $50. fan-f-ing-tastic.

This sucks, and I know we're not the only ones in this boat, but honestly when is our President going to do something to help out this country that will be more than a short term "fix". Yes I am thankful for the "free money" that is coming our way that will help pay off our furnance and the new washer we got a couple weeks ago that was a phenomanel deal, knowing that it would save us money and that the money was indeed coming by the end of next week. We'll also be saving for the vacation we've planned, and need.

Dubba needs to do something for the little guys, this is crazy. We're having a hard time paying our bills because the cost of living has skyrocketing because of gas, and the sad thing is, that under normal econimic standards (pre- $3/gal gas) we'd be fine. Thankfully our mortgage is fixed and a super duper low rate, and our second mortgage is fixed, and thank god we were able to get a loan to pay off that credit card debt that acrewed when I was pregnant/maternity leave and my boss was being a douche about my hours and pay and ended up bringing home way less money, and will now be paid off in 5 years, when there was no end in sight before. We even switched to direct tv because it's cheaper than Comcast, by about $40. Even when the new customer discount wears off it'll still be cheaper than Comcast. and Thank god we don't have to worry about car payments-that's the second mortgage which atleast the interest is deductible.

the cost of gas in beyond unbearable. Those Stupid "ANALysts" need to keep their f-ing traps shut about what they "think" gas will go to. I think they are the main reason the cost of gas has gotten so bad. They make us all freak out and crap our pants and then the gas companies just do it because now we're expecting it. why can't they say "gas is expecting to drop to $2.50/gal" Think of how grateful everyone would be, when last year we were freaking out not knowing how much more gas would be a year later! and morale in this country would start to lift! Imagine that.

/rant

"bacation"

... as Evan says it, is coming to an end. I couldn't have asked for abetter week off, really. the weather was absolutely perfect! and technically I was supposed to work this week, but with everyone else in the house off (even daycare was clsoed) I decided that I couldn't work, and needed to spend time with the family.

so on Weds we headed to Boston. we took the train from south Acton and rode in to North station. We almost missed the train due to lack of parking but made it litterally 2 seconds before they were leaving. We went to the aquarium, and had a great time there until the octopus scared Evan into wanting to leave. which was okay because it was a mad house in there! OMG. I know it was vacationbut I feel like the fire code was being broken. If you've never been to the NE Aquarium, it's a fairly tight space inside and with kids running everywhere screaming and such being surrounded by concrete, it was quite loud! After that we walked over to the Children's museum via the Harborwalk path, which was nice, but took forever (it was the way the museum suggested to go.)
The children's museum was great fun.. for evan and liam.. exhausting for us! it was 3 floors of playing! we were going to go to the swan boats after, but we were so tired we said forget it. for the alk back to the T by the aquarium, we walked along the main road, and jay commented on how it used to be the highway. I couldn't believe it.. and then I remembered not having to go under it from fanuel hall (not that we went there, but in the past I have) and It looked so nice to see the beautiful buildings with all the green space in the road.. it looked like it had always been that way. As much as the Big Dig was THE biggest financial disaster ever, Boston looks fantastic now that it's done! and if you haven't seen it I reccomend that you do. We would have taken pictures, but the batteries died after a couple were taken on the train

hope all is well

Eastertime

lots has been going on.. you could prob tell due to the lack of posting on my part. Yesterday we ventured out to Yankee Candle. We have the luxury of leaving 15 min away from the flagship store in the next town over. In case you were unaware, this candle giant's headquarters are located in the next town, and is one of the area's largest employers.

It's a fun place really, and if you've never been there, you can't even begin to think of all the crap they sell that isn't scented or made of wax. They have all these different areas in the store, and it's one of the places in the area that if you need to buy something for Christmas anytime of the year you can find it here. Except, which we found out yesterday, piece to our willowtree nativity set. oh well.

This weekend was their Easter thing they do. Remember I went last year with the boys? we had a good time, so we went again this year. the scavenger hunt was made easier, and we cheated by checking off the boxes without finding all the posters to get the prize because Jay was getting a headache from the candle scents. We got more of those pink bunny ears that I got last year.

While there we sat in the king's chair and visited with the Easter Bunny where Evan says he was a "little shy", hence the grumpy face of his when he was by himself. I like visiting with the bunny there because he's free. We just have to remember to bring our own camera if we want a picture. I think it's funny that with this Easter bunny you can see the eyes on the person inside the costume. lol.. that poor woman in there must've been boiling. Glad it wasn't me.

Liam has started walking finally, and of course I can't catch it on camera. Every time I try he reverts back to crawling or Evan jumps in the shot, like today for instance.. In his underwear and then either flashes the camera or his hand is in his underwear. lol so needless to say I don't really have any good videos safe for the internet.

Evan is really enjoying school and I had the opportunity last week to help in his class. Man I wish my school was that fun! I was there in the morning until about 10:45. We went to breakfast, attended morning meeting, went to gym and then returned for snack time where while they were getting ready we played the game we brought, Hullabaloo (by Cranium), Evan's FAVORITE game. all the kids had a great time with it, and some even wanted me to bring it back. I had told them maybe another time I would. and then we had snack (I made green cupcakes b/c it was st. patty's day) and after that was choice time, and thus time for me to head home. It was fun.

On a side note, I need to see the doctor because I'm having this weird issue with some nerve feelings in my hand feeling funny ever since my elbow popped a couple weeks back. and I think it's aggravated by all the driving that I do. On Friday it was particularly bad, but the dr's isn't open on the weekends so I'll call them tomorrow. it's been better over the weekend, but still sore. the main pain for the past couple of days feels like there's a bad bruise in my fingertip, but I know I didn't do anything to it. On Friday my whole hand hurt with pain from my wrist to my middle finger. It's more annoying today than painful. I just hope that I can see a doctor this week. And I also hope that if I like the doctor I can choose her as my primary. I hesitate to do so out of fear that she'll leave the practice like my last 2 doctors.. the latter I hadn't even met before she decided to leave.

We also had the recent oppurtunity to visit my family out in Newton and some others who were in town from Florida, whom I haven't seen since Evan was less than a year old at mycousins wedding 4 years ago. Man I miss having my family nearby. I was spoiled as a kid and didn't realize it. I'm thankful that my immediate family is within driving distance (albeit 3 hours). I jsut wish we all had the opportunities to visit each other more. But those pesky gas prices.... is a rant for another day.

I'm off for now, but I'll post again. This last picture is of Evan and his friend Ezra who lives across the street playing with rescue heroes.

a birthday in the mist

in less than a week Liam will turn 1. this time last year I was fat and miserable

and after a rapid fire delivery of a jumbo rocket, many stitches in areas I'd rather not mention, and days worth of the weird oxygen hood thing and UV light treatments, I brought home a wonderful (sorta) little guy.

and the big brother was ever so proud
of his new brother and relieved just to have me home again.

and now I have this most wonderful little boy. who is happy, lovable, and an all around great kid

Evan has also grown up this past year too! after the baby was born he took it upon himself to potty train himself! yee ha! he loves his brother soo much, that when Mimi (great gramma) threatens to keep him, Evan says "no! he's MY brother!" It's quite amazing really. only now Evan gets frustrated when Liam wants ot play with his toys or accidentally pulls his hair.

Now, the week of his first birthday he's a totally different kid than he was even a year ago. he is eating all normal foods like a giant piglet. drinking regular milk (at daycare, but not at home), standing on his own more and more, and using some sign language. it makes you wonder what is going on in their little heads as they go through life not understanding any of it, but taking it as it is becuase it's the way it is and they don't even know that things could be different and that there's so much mroe out there for them.

The love you have for your children is like no other you've experienced until you experience it. I had no idea.

Let it be known:

that I solved the great "Acetate Mystery" at work.

edited to add:
Camelia (Ph.D student) has been racking her brain trying to figure out where 70g of Acetate came from in her soil (for her research) that was dug up off of rt 25 in the basin where we have monitoring wells. They use an alternate decing agent there that is safer for the cranberry bogs, called CMA (calcium magnesium acetate) they haven't use any yet this season so there shouldn't be any in the soil. She also rinses it here at the lab. She needs that soil specifically because of the bacteria that is found there.
So for the past 2 weeks she's been testing any and everything and running soil samples to see where it's coming from. On friday we put the soil in the oven to bake it-to make sure it is dry.. we set it up to see if the shiny side of the foil had an effect different to the dull side. Today she says that the Acetate is coming from something to do with the baking, and the data from shiny vs. dull foil was the same.. hmm.. so I suggested that perhaps there is ambient acetate in the oven.. perhaps it got spilled or something.
We check the oven. Lo and behold! there is a dish of Acetate sitting in the oven drying. For it needs to be totally dry to make a standard. The oven has been cleaned, and now a test bake is in progress to see if there is any ambient evaporated acetate still in the oven.

I requested a full acknowledgement at the end of the dissertation. lol