May 24, 2009

•  As usual, life continues to zoom along! Joe and I spent a week in England, the first week of May for the wedding of his son Jerome to his long time girlfriend Beth. Due to my limited vacation time, we only managed a bit over a week to visit, but it was nice to see his family and relax.

  Upon our return, we had visits from two of our out-of-state friends. The first was Robin, who was in the area for a conference his work had him attending. So despite it being just after getting home, we really wanted to spend some  time having dinner with him, while he was in town. Then, a week after we were home, our friend Daryl stopped by for the weekend, on his way home from a trip to Vegas.

  Since it was the last weekend of Ren Faire and Daryl had never been, we went out for the day. It was not insanely crowded but it was warm and on the humid side for Southern California. We did have a fun time, but it was nice to get back into an air conditioned car! I didn’t do many pictures this time, not sure why. But here is what I did take:

  

  I really thought the crown suited Joe, but he said he looked embarrassing in it. I still disagree! I think he looks very handsome in it!

  

  I was able to talk Daryl into trying on a crown as well. Now I have a great blackmail photo!! (evil laugh)

  

  Becca in her costume. Her crown has two dragons in the center and leaves on the sides. She sure has grown up into a lovely young lady!

  Megan didn’t feel like dressing up, so I didn’t do a faire photo of her. She did get a crown with a kitty in the middle (gosh, what a surprise). I will try to get a picture of her in it, she really looks cute! Queen on the kitties!

  However, Megan was recently honored by being picked as one of four students to represent her school in an award the school won for participation in the Governor’s Challenge. The Governor’s Challenge was trying to encourage all students to exercise at least three days a week, for at least 20 minutes each time, outside of school. Students then recorded their time and turned it in. Schools who were finalists, won $1000.

  It has been very hard to get Megan to participate. She much prefers to read a book or play on her computer. Not all being lazy. Part of it is her Aspergers, which makes her more clumsy than many kids. But with a lot of encouragement, she actually got into the challenge and religiously came home and did aerobics and jogging using the Wii, treating it like part of her homework. Her classmates, teachers and principal were so impressed with her devotion, they gave her this honor and her ‘success’ story has been posted on the Governor’s Challenge website! How cool is that?!

  

  Megan, holding the left sid of the check. Her principal, Mrs. Armstrong, who has really encouraged Megan, is the woman with the dark hair. The tall man to the left is the representative for the program.

  

  Closeup of Megan

  By the time this weekend came, I was running on empty. Work has been VERY busy and I am doing 10 hours of work daily, in the span of about 8. I am skipping breaks and often working mostly through lunch. We have a hiring freeze but that does not stop regulations going into effect that the company has to comply with. The first big one kicks in June 1, 2009, so time is ticking. My big project is designing and building a database to keep and report the spending the company does which is tied to medical professionals. States like Vermont and Mass. now wish this all to be public knowledge. So if we spend an hour training a surgeon how to implant our hip replacement, we have to record it and report it.

  Needless to say, I was exhausted by Friday night. So on tap this weekend is sleeping in, catching up on house keeping, and a little bit of fun. I went to a class on Saturday afternoon for three hours and made a fun nature-themed album. I am not done yet, but this is what the instructor’s sample looked like:

  

  Sample Cover

  

  Sample page inside

  

  And that is me on the left, hard at work. I stole this photo off the instructor’s website.

  Anyhow, that is about it for now. I hope everyone has a lovely, long weekend! Be well and stay safe!

  • 11:03 pm
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