Hey Strangers!

Sorry I'm so absent again.  This time, though, I do have a good reason.  It's been a really tight year and toward the end of summer bills just started slipping a bit behind.  Something had to give and so I decided to let the Time Warner services go for a while, which includes our landline telephone, our cable and our internet.  I really really miss my interwebz!!!  LOL!  But we have been getting quite a bit more done around the house and spending quite a bit more quality time together as a family.  I think we were all a bit more plugged in than we'd have liked to admit and really needed this detox.  Kyle and I are at least able to surf a bit on our iphones and Colin can surf when he's in Cornwall at his grandparents'.  Right now I'm at my good friend Megan's house sitting with her son Noah while she and Howard are at her brother and future SIL's dinner/bachelor/ette gatherings in Potsdam.  They're getting married next weekend.  Kyle and I won't be able to make it....he's got to work and I'll have Sam.  I'd have liked to have gone or at least have set it up for Kyle to be able to go for a bit, but c'est la vie I suppose. 
Colin is, if not enjoying, at least dealing well with sixth grade.  He had a bit of a meltdown before school started having heard some awful things about his teacher and the homework, etc.  Now that he's actually in there he's doing just fine.  The teacher isn't a monster at all, just strick (which isn't a bad thing) and he absolutely loves the other two teachers, Miss Powers and Mr. Lindt.  He's been doing a lot more reading, I started him on some classics, and now he's finished The Hobbit and started on the LOTR trilogy.  At 11!!  I can't get over how well rounded he is....kids that smart didn't usually have much social life when I was that age but he's got plenty of friends and good friends.  Yay! 
Got a lot of garage sale'ing done this past summer....still catching one or two here and there.  I'm a total addict, but it gives me a chance to have a little retail therapy that I can actually afford.  And I've made some awesome discoveries and even gotten some Christmas shopping done.  Yay me!
I've instituted a Craft Night.  It's every other Friday night.  I provide the location, my house, and the table space for whatever it is you want to do and attendees bring their own snacks/beverages and themselves.  So far it's been mostly Joann and I, though Crystal came to the last one and Steph came to the one last night.  Jen hasn't been able to make it at all yet, but hopefully she'll find time for the next one.  She's just crazy busy.  Meg hasn't been to any, but she's never been big on driving around the county backroads in the dark.  I'll get here there eventually!  I've gotten a lot of scrapbooking done, which was the point for me.  I hadn't really sat down in a couple of years and done any and I'm way behind, as in 2006 behind.  Right now I"m working on our wedding pictures!!  Yikes!
This Halloween will be our 5th wedding anniversary.  I'd like to do a costume party or something as we're off that weekend, but I just don't see being able to get everybody together.  Everybody has plans usually for Halloween as everybody has kids, so I'm just going to let it go.  We'll do something just us and it'll be fun. 
I'm down to a size 14, though I was a bit below it and have put 5-10lbs back on.  I've only managed to get to the gym about once a week for 4-6 weeks and it's starting to really show.  I've got to start doing my own thing at home, but that level of motivation was never my strong suit.  Le sigh.  I need to go jogging again.  Maybe now that it's cooler out....if it ever stops raining!  I'd like to be a 12 for the holidays, but if I can stay in these 14's I'll be pretty happy.  As long as I manage that 12 by next summer I'll be a happy girl.  As two years ago I was creeping into a 20-22W I'm a very happy girl!
Joann and Robert are looking at buying a house.  They were looking at one but it didn't work out and now they've got their eyes on another one, on Brighton this time.  Got my fingers crossed for them....I think if they could get out of that small rental and get into their own space and have ENOUGH space it would go a long way toward helping them feel more settled.  They're very tumultuous people but I think they make a good couple.  :-)
Peggy's cervical surgery is all over and all the post op appointments are done.  She did very well, healed very quickly and it really did wonders for her movement and pain levels.  Her lower back is next on the list but she seems like she'd like to wait a bit before embarking on another surgical adventure.  As much fun as it was! 
Dad's doing really well with his new hip.  He's been off his cane for some time now and though he has a limp at the moment he's getting around just fine.  Now it's Mom's turn to do something about her knee which hurts her terribly though she doesn't admit it often.  Hopefully there's something they CAN do about it.  Dan's been shown to have two herniated lumbar disks but he has no insurance.  Hopefully something works out for him.  I wish he could have some awesome job fall into his lap....if only it worked that way!  Uncle Billy just got out of the nursing home and is apparently doing much better.  Katie and Todd built a nice ramp up to the front door to make it easier for him going to and from dialysis.  I haven't heard much from Katie recently, but I am hoping that no news is good news and that just means that things are going well for her and time is just galloping by as it does when nothing makes you stop and notice.  I haven't called her much and for that exact reason so I figure it's the same on both ends!  lol
That's about all the updates for the moment....or at least the ones that come to mind.  There are all sorts of random details, but you get the gist of it!  lol  Plus I think Howard and Meg will be home in a little while and I've got so manny things I want to update while I've got real online access!!!  Facebook was a freaking mess with hundreds and hundreds of game notices I had to delete and these new list options that took me half an hour to figure out.  I'm sure there are more things I'll need to do to it when I get our interwebz back on again but for now it seems tidied up a bit.  Stella, Howard's mom, just called to see how they're doing.  She sounds like a very nice lady.  Anyway, off I go into the wild cyber yonder!!!