Happy Happy Days!

I got the CALL! A job offer that I am so very excited about! I still have to go through a drug test, but that's okay - and waiting 10 or so days for the results. I'm so excited and thrilled to be working again soon. My job title is Clinical Informatics Specialist - and I'll be working for a great lady and in a small group. It's the best of both worlds, very large company in upstate NY - but working within a very small part of it. No cubicles! Not sure that I'll have my own office or share - I'm good with either as long as I can work well and do my very best.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and well wishes! I appreciate it.

I'm adding some pictures of Stillwater below from our August camping - it made me happy to think about it so added it to this post....

We camped at Stillwater again late summer and had this beautiful beach and cove all to ourselves. The guys dragged stumps from all over the place and we had one heck of a bonfire!

The next night it was kind of rainging and we decided to use the fire pit in the camp area - under the trees - the guys dragged the wood up that wasn't burnt from the night before - this was one HOT fire - and very enjoyable.

Winter has arrived...

The wonderful late fall and 'warm' temperatures have departed upstate NY. In fact they seem to be a distant memory. Yesterday morning we woke up to -11 and this morning -7, tonight they are calling for an ice storm and the details are sketchy. It all depends on whether you listen to the local news or go to wunderground.com. We'll see what happens.

My cats are feeling cabin fever - they go out for a few minutes at a time and leave muddy wet nasty prints on my front window to get my attention to let them back in. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I'm eager to get on my bicycle...it's been far too long. Waiting to have a free room to put my bicycle on it's platform so I can ride. I see people riding outside on their bikes - I just don't seem to have the fortitude to do so.

Ah well...my mind is wandering - wanted to post pictures - none of them are 'talking' to me right now. I'll look more tomorrow and see what I have.

Have a warm evening!

Disneyland and California Adventure

These pictures were from 5 years ago - not a ton of them, but I just felt like revisiting a really fun time. I'll add more pictures of Georgie - he was a gift from a good friend and my traveling companion!

Disneyland - Fall 2006

My Gnomad Georgie! In front of the roller coaster in California Adventure.

Mums that were placed in such a way to be Mickey Mouse faces! I thought it was so cool!

Candy Corn field in California Adventure - too stinking cute.

Stillwater Reservoir, Summer 2011

Stillwater Reservoir, it's near Big Moose Station, and by near I mean 15 miles of hilly dirt and rock road. And when you get there - you have to get a site - it's first come, first served. No reservation, no cost, but you have to have a boat to get to all of the sites but one. You get your site, then put your boat in the water and in RB and my case - load that boat up till it looks like it will capsize with a strong breeze! LOL. Then putt putt our way to our site, we are fortunate in that most times the people we camp with have been there for a day already and have a site all picked out. We just go there. This time it was an island with two sites on it - but they are so far apart you never see the other people. It was beautiful and RB and I were on the beach. Very peaceful!

The first night we got to Stillwater - we had set up camp and decided to go out and try some fishing - I was too busy playing with the camera.

This place is so beautiful...love how we left ripples in the water and how the sun and clouds look in them.

This was on the other side of 'our' island campsite. You can tell which way the winds blow by looking at the top trees.

We caught quite a few small mouth bass - we let them go. It's exciting when you keep catching them over and over.

The view from our tent as the sun was rising. The lake was calm and clear - it was a very hot weekend - and very nice!

This is an area that is behind our island on the main land - it's the waterfalls as we all call it - very deep and cool so the bass love it when it gets hot out...

I couldn't resist adding this picture. It's a picture of THE BOX! - aka our outdoor bathroom. That's it for amenities up at Stillwater, but it does beat going in the woods (well for women anyway!)

Sunset on our second night - sky is just starting to pink up.

More of the pink sky reflecting on the lake.

Otter Lake last summer

I was looking through my pictures on my mac last night and found some images from Otter Lake that were so beautiful and made me want to be there so bad! Actually it made me want to be at a lake anywhere in the Adirondacks - in the summertime - with a cup of coffee and sitting on a beach or a dock watching the lake wake up with the sunrise. Enjoy!

Happy New Year

Camp was wonderful! We brought in the new year with dear friends and family and mother nature. Again it was warmer than expected - the snow melted and it poured on New Years Eve - then cleared up enough for us to split and stack a cord+ of wood. RB has the oldest homemade splitter in the world - LOL but it works like a champ. The wood that we were splitting up was wet and frozen and HUGE - it took a lot of work for that splitter to get through those 2 foot in diameter logs - but darn it, it did.

We had some yummy appetizers - shrimp cocktail, veggies and dip, taco dip, cheese and crackers and pepperoni - and then for dinner we had salad, porterhouse steaks and au gratin/scalloped potatoes*.
It was incredibly good - I think that being up at camp, working hard and having fun makes everything taste better. 
*RB wanted me to make the box au gratin potatoes - 4 of them - because he loves them. Well I had a double box and bought two more - I was putting them together in the morning and noticed that the amounts of water and milk and butter were different on the boxes -but thought because I had a double box and that was a smaller size - I got it all together and put it in the oven. Then I started breaking down the boxes and realized that I had bought two scalloped potatoes and had made 2 of each. It was quite funny to realize how out of it I was!

The weather is starting to change - I just walked 35 minutes and at times the wind was crazy! It felt good to be in the fresh air.

Now it's time to start cleaning up stuff - my mother is coming to visit and I've kind of taken over the entire house! LOL - It would be nice if she could use the guest room and not feel like she's in a maze!

Happy New Year to you all!!!!

Christmas gifts...

I made a quilt for RB. It was a lot of work and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I made it with 2 Moda Jelly Rolls - it's all flannel.

I didn't have a pattern to follow - did a take on the split rail fence pattern. Of course because of this, at one point I had 13 blocks I had to take apart and sew differently. I was a tad aggravated - but I always felt like I would finish it.

I found the border fabric at Heartworks Quilt shop down in Fly Creek on route 28, the back came from Joann's fabric - I lucked out and found 108" wide fabric so I wouldn't have to sew two pieces together. I was so amazed at how well it all came together.

This was a fluke - we went to a winery and saw a "Redneck Wine" glass, it was a large mason jar on top of a candle stick but it was a little crooked and I didn't want to spend $8.00 for it. So the next day I was on a mission to find candle sticks, glass glue, beads and I already had mason jars in the basement - and I went to RB's house and we created our own version - called "Hill Billy Wine Glasses". They came out way better than I expected!

I also made dishcloths - knit ones - they came out great and I was able to make enough to give them to 9 people!!!!

Christmas was wonderful.... I feel very blessed to have RB, BP, and so many others in my life....

Merry Christmas

It's a few days away, but I got all of my sewing done. WoooHoooo!!! I'll post pictures of what I've been doing after everyone gets their gifts, it's been a pleasure and therapy of a sort. My 3 month old sewing machine has lots of miles on it and it was a great pleasure to learn how to use it! (Without my mom over my shoulder!)

RB and I are heading to his family out in the Rochester area and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone! I've been to the cousins house 2 times - this will be the third - exciting! And I made something for all of the ladies! I just finished wrapping them all up.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - May peace, happiness, security, love and laughter be a huge part of your lives!

7 Days

I think I've been in a time warp! How can there only be 7 days till Christmas???? How did I miss the passing of the days so quickly?

Well, I've been sewing like nuts and knitting - Henry and Einstein make sure that they are in my lap when I start knitting so that they can breath on the yarn - it's quite amusing as they know that they can't touch the yarn so they just get their noses as close as they can. Einstein thinks that the knitting needles are his personal scratching sticks - LOL. Try knitting with a cat head butting the needles, not easy.

Ah well - I have to get back to sewing - there are 7 days till Christmas, but I've really only got about 4 days to sew - lots of stuff going on!

Back on track

It's still bugging me that I don't have a job yet, but I can't change how companys' do their HR stuff - so instead I will keep sending out my resume and cover letters and seeing how much my RB and friends care about me with the phone calls and emails about jobs out there....it's so wonderful to feel that caring!

I've been sewing up a storm! LOL - I will post pictures after Christmas - don't want to give away any presents! But I've learned a new thing called Quilt as You Go - WOW! it's fast and easy and I can make 4 placemats with 5-7 pieces of material in a few hours from start to finish! And they are so much fun. Of course I can't seem to get the sizes all identical - but then again if they were identical it wouldn't be as much fun! I'm also knitting dish clothes...those are fun too - if I can remember to pay attention to my counting.

Well - I've made pecan sandies aka nut balls this morning - nut cups and chocolate covered cherry cookies are next on the list. YUM! But have to go work on a project that is for a very special man in my life....it's a doozie!

Merry Christmas,
Michelle