I've been away!

Wow, I hadn't realized it'd been so long since I posted! It's not like I have a real excuse either, except not much "news" to report. Our daughter seems to have made the transition to college very easily, much easier than I did that's for sure! I think it's going to be very strange having her home for a month at winter break. Hope we don't butt heads too much! She just signed up for her 2nd semester classes yesterday. Hard to believe her first semester is almost over.

I have been "working" (if you can call it that) for kgb information service. It is a lot of fun, something I can do an hour or two here and there. It does not pay much (only 10 cents per message answered), but I have learned a lot. Some things I wish I had not learned about (i.e. anal beads...who knew??). I think as I get better at it, I'll probably make more money. You have to be very quick, accurate and complete in under 103 words which is tough! Plus you are supposed to add a "cherry on top" of your answer...something that will get the customer to ask more questions and therefore, we'd make more money. I've made around $60 in a little over a week, by just working 2-3 hours a day (don't do the math to figure out the hourly rate!). At least it'll be a little extra money for Christmas.

I am having lunch with my former boss tomorrow, hope she has some good news for me. She had mentioned a while back about bringing me on at least on a part time basis to start. We've talked about it several times and I know she's trying her best but I am impatient. She just started her job less than a year ago and has to grow the customer base, and prove it to management before she can officially hire me. Although she did say that they are on board with it so far. Hopefully tomorrow, she can at least give me a time frame, which will be something I can hold on to and get me through the holidays!

The Two Martys

Ok, this is kinda weird. Our (guy) friend Marty is in the hospital. He was working at his desk the other day and one of their cats jumped up on his desk, got startled somehow and scratched and bit Marty on the hand. This cat is playful but is not a mean cat. Anyway, after a day or so it got infected, so he called the doctor and got an antibiotic. Well, this morning his hand was completely swollen and he could not move his fingers. So his wife took him to the ER where they sat for about 8 hours waiting for someone to take a look at him. Long story, but they decided to keep him overnight and are giving him IV antibiotics every 6 hours. If that does not work, they will have to open up the hand and "clean out" the infection. Ach! Poor guy!

Our other friend (girl) Marty has had horrible stomach pains along with some other symptoms for about two weeks. The dr. diagnosed diverticulitis and gave her an antibiotic. She is also on another antibiotic for a sinus infection. Well, when the tests came back, it did not show diverticulitis, so she's been referred to a gyno because the scan she had this week showed an ovarian cyst. She's been in a lot of pain (as much pain as labor, according to her). I am hoping they figure out what is going on with her soon, but I am really worried because another friend of mine had similar symptoms earlier this year and was finally diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It just sounds so similar that it worries me. I did not mention this to Marty, I don't want to scare her.

This has just been a bad week for Martys.

Another Monday....

I hate Mondays. And not for the reasons that most people hate them. I dislike them more than ever since I'm job-hunting. My daughter is off to college, my husband is at work, and I'm here. At least when we were preparing her for school, I had a project to focus on! Oh well...again, I have to think that there will be a time that I'll look back at this time off and think "why did I ever complain about it?!"

We went up to visit our daughter at ISU on Saturday, just for the day. Took her to Target to buy a rug and some toiletries and stuff. It was a gorgeous day.....mid 60s, bright and sunny. We had dinner and chatted quite a bit. She seems to be settling in and making the transition pretty well. I had hoped that she would not be too homesick, but it appears as though I needn't have worried...she is not homesick at all. She misses her kitty and that's about it! She talked about all the people she's met, the parties, etc. That worried me a bit, but I know she's a responsible girl and will try to stay out of trouble! I'm worried about the people around her, however, and her getting sucked into something by accident. I spoke to her briefly yesterday and learned that she got home from various parties at 7 am on Sunday. Not too thrilled about the partying but what can I do? Just hope that we have raised her responsibly and that the newness of it will eventually wear off. If I "forbid" her from doing something she'd likely do it anyway because I am not there to watch her every move so there is no sense in fighting about it. All we can do is reinforce what we have already told her...that she is there to learn, it's up to her to do a good job.

I am driving up on Friday afternoon to pick her up for the long weekend. Then, we'll take her back on Monday and spend some time discovering Route 66 and some of the little towns and attractions. Hubby is off the week of Labor Day and we really don't have much of an agenda, so we can take our time coming back home.

The weather has been gorgeous. Here it is August 31 and it's in the 70s with low humidity. Normally we would be suffering with high heat and humidity, so there is a welcome change! My garden sure is loving it!

Hummingbirds galore!

I have noticed so many hummingbirds the last couple of weeks. I don't recall ever seeing so many at one time, or being able to observe them such over a long period. I have had a hummingbird feeder for several years but thought it was too much trouble to make the nectar and put it out so it sat in the closet. Well, I decided to go ahead and put it out and have been so pleased with being able to watch them!

The feeder is mounted outside the kitchen window, with a suction cup. I fill the reservoir with the sugar solution and just watch them come to the window while I am standing at the sink. They don't seem to see me. Just a little while ago, I noticed one feeding on the flowers of my coleus plant, then another came, then a third! Earlier this morning, as I was sitting here at my computer, I noticed one outside the office window where we have a large Rose of Sharon bush!

I am not sure if they've always been here and I've been too busy to notice, or if they are just really plentiful this summer in our area.

Plan to do some research on the little guys and find out more about them!

Miscellaneous Semi-Related Thoughts

The job hunt still continues...and continues, and continues. There is literally nothing to apply for when searching the job boards. When I do a search, the most random things pop up...Subway Sandwich Artist, Avon Sales Rep. I don't know what qualifies me to be a sandwich artist, but there you go. I have to think that somewhere, there is a position for me and I just have not found it yet. I talk to former colleagues and sales reps all the time, just to keep my name out there, and they all say the same thing. NO one is hiring. I have started applying for part time retail jobs, just to keep busy. I don't really care if it's not a full time position at this point, I just want to get back to work. So far, nothing on those either. Ugh, I am not going to let it get me down any more though!

On a more upbeat note, the Mind's Eye reading is going very nicely. I had my second reading today. I read the news with two other ladies from 8-11 am on Fridays, at least for now. Technically, I am filling in for a lady who was in a car accident and is not expected to come back. The program director told me he has not heard either way if she is, but if she does end up coming back to read, he said he "has a few other ideas" of reading posts for me! Not sure what exactly that meant, hope it was a good thing! Anyway, it is a lot of fun and I honestly wish I had checked into it earlier. We read National and World news, local news, sports, obits, and general interest stories, book and movie reviews, etc. from the local papers as well as the WSJ and USAToday. I was a bit nervous last week, because I was filling in for someone and hoped I would not let anyone down! But the director said I did really well. The producer said that she usually has criticism for most people that read, but not me! It was perfect! I was so happy to hear that since I was a bit apprehensive about how I really sound on the radio (no one likes the sound of their own voice)! Anyway, too bad I can't get paid for it, because I am truly enjoying myself and wish there was a job in it!!! But you just never know, right?

The garden....well, my tomatoes are still producing. Most of them are green right now, but for a few days there, I was harvesting, 4,5, or 6 a day! They are delicious. The zucchini are still producing, although I have lost two plants, so production is winding down. I planted green beans last Saturday and today I checked on them and they are literally 3" tall...seems like overnight! Our weather has been so mild lately that I believe that's the reason. Hope it continues and I get a good crop of beans before the Fall.

School.....we take our daughter to college in less than 2 weeks. I am starting to get a bit melancholy, looking at her grade school work, old pictures, etc. I can already feel the tears starting to come to the surface! I remember the day she started kindergarten (see??), I cried all day long at work. People must've thought I was nuts! It was pretty short lived because there was just so much to think about, but this is different. She's actually leaving and not coming back, at least for a little while. It'll seem really lonely here without her, especially since I've been home this summer. Another reason for me to get back to work, and soon gosh darn it!!

ISU Preview

Last week, we attended Preview at Illinois State University. This is a mandatory event that the student and parents must attend before the student is "officially" admitted to the university. I must say, it was a pretty positive experience despite the information overload I felt at the end.

Once there Thursday morning (an easy 2.5 hour drive), we checked in, got Erin's dorm assignment and deposited her stuff in the room. After an initial orientation, we were then pretty much separated for most of the day, each attending different sessions. By the afternoon, we hooked up again and attended more seminars on housing, food service, student accounts and the like. Everyone at the university was sooo helpful and friendly and Erin met some other students who are majoring in Journalism. The student workers were juniors and seniors and it was good to be able to ask them just about any question about what it's really like to live on campus and what their freshman experiences were like. They gave very honest answers which we appreciated.

Thursday night, the kids all had fun together. They played games and had an improv skit on-stage. After our little parent get together where we met some of the parents, we headed over to the auditorium. I was pretty pleased to see Erin jumping right in and doing one of the games up on stage. I also noticed earlier that she seemed to be able to chat up people around her. I don't think I could've done that at 18...she is much more outgoing than I was at that age, and I am really proud of her. We realized when we met her outside of the auditorium that the same parents we were sitting with during our parent get together, were the parents of the girls she had been hanging around with most of the day! One was her roommate for the night...how much of a coincidence is that?

Later that night we said goodnight and she went to the dorm and we went to a hotel. She had a roommate (not her actual roommate, nor her actual dorm) who was from Danville, IL and evidently had her boyfriend there and got quite, uh... "friendly" with him in the hallway. Erin said she pretended to be asleep! I thought that good practice for what's to come!

We stayed in a hotel in Bloomington, although we had the option of staying in a dorm (for $40 each), Mark and I would've been separated, he would've been in the men's side and me in the women's side of the dorm/house with strangers. I was so exhausted by the end of the night that I don't think I could've even pretended to make small talk with a strange lady in my room. Yeah, I am glad we stayed in a hotel!

Erin finishing up her coffee before we headed back to the Friday morning sessions at Shroeder Hall.

Thursday evening, when we got to the dorm that she stayed at. The dorms at Watterson are a bit larger, she's in a quad and from the looks of them when we visited in the spring, are newer and fresher looking than Atkin-Colby where she stayed for Preview.

This is the walkway over College Avenue, connecting the quad with the student center. Daylilies were in bloom all over campus.

Butterflies/Flutterbys

Went to the Butterfly House this week with my friend, Marty. I had never been before (it's been open for over 10 years and is way out in Chesterfield, MO) so it was a nice, middle-of-the-week thing to do. She's on vacation and I'm...well, currently on extended vacation.

It was pretty cool.....when you first step into the house, which is like a botanical garden, the number of butterflies that are just flying about is pretty unbelievable! The bigger ones look almost fake, like they are suspended on a wire! But they are so pretty. Some were eating at special fruit stations and others were basking in rays of sunlight. You have to be very careful where you step because they do like to sit on the walkway in a beam of sunlight!Anyway, it was a nice time, not much else to write about it, so I'll share some pics: