Take Me Back Tuesday

Taken: Summer '03

Location: East Beach, Charlestown, RI

This was our very first trip to the beach together. You never know how that's gonna go, right? People have very different ideas of what a day at the beach looks like. Me, I like to get there real early, when it's still a bit misty and chilly, and read for a while, wrapped in a warm sweatshirt or under a blanket if necessary. I then like to bake myself once it warms up - no frisbee, no football, no radio - just baking and reading. Oh, and sangwiches - gotta have sangwiches. And fruit and water, of course. I like to wrap up by 1 or 2:00 and head home to take a nice snooze. Ahhh....

Turns out Dennis was quite alright with that approach. Thank goodness. =)

Is it summer yet?
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When did this happen?

OK, so seriously, how big is this guy?

Sleeping Beauty

My friend Liz posted some pictures the other day of her beautiful kids sound asleep. Reading her post reminded me that I had taken some similar pictures of Matthew recently that I meant to post, but never got around to it.

So, here we go. I couldn't resist taking these. Matthew had been napping for quite a while, so I went in to check on him. I found him with his legs crossed (in his ever-present yoga pose) and bent over in half, deep in sleep. It didn't seem too comfortable to me, but he obviously didn't mind.

Take Me Back Tuesday

Date Taken: August 10, 2002

Location: Connecticut Trolley Museum

I remember it was a sunny, warm day, and we rode on top of one of the trolleys. Lot more fun than I thought it was going to be, too. I can't even believe Hannah and Connor were so little - but oh, so adorable!!

How do you like my granny glasses chain and big ol' headband? What was I thinking?!
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Take Me Back Tuesday

Date Taken: January 11, 2003

Location: Highland Links Golf Course, North Truro, MA

Dennis and I were away at the Cape for the weekend, and he was taking me on a lighthouse tour. We stumbled upon the Highland Lighthouse and this golf course - turns out it's the oldest links course in Massachusetts. The course runs along the cliffs with the ocean below - just gorgeous. It's open year-round, and you play by the honor system during the winter by depositing your greens fees in a little box by the clubhouse.

We were freezing our a$$es off, but it was a gorgeous sunny day with amazingly no snow on the ground. Gotta love the beach in the wintertime.

SO. FREAKING. FED. UP.

Allow me to bitch for a few moments.

I have so had it with watching people get screwed. Two weeks ago, I wrote about some folks at work getting laid off. I was (and still am) grateful to have kept my job.

Today, I went to pick up Matthew at daycare, and as usual, I logged into the computer and checked him out for the day. I checked our mailslot, and found a few papers in there. One saying they need verification of his most recent physical, a state health assessment form, and a third sheet which turned out to be a letter from the director. I read it in disbelief.

In a nutshell, it said that due to the economy, enrollment in the center is down, and that as a result, Thursday, March 12th (yes, today) would be Amanda's last day. Amanda is Matthew's primary teacher.

I am just devastated. This young woman has taken such wonderful care of Matthew over the last year, and he really loves her (and she him). You can just see it. Don't get me wrong - the other teachers are wonderful, too. But there's just something special about their relationship.

I walked into the infant room, and saw her almost immediately. I just said her name, and she knew that I knew. She had Matthew with her, and she immediately started to cry, as did I. We hugged, and I thanked her for everything she's done for us this past year. Matthew is a happy, well-adjusted, fun-loving boy, and she's played a part in that. We will miss her so much - all of us - me, Dennis and most of all Matthew. It breaks my heart to think about him looking for her and her not being there. Gosh, who'd have thought I'd say that? Remember this post? Yup, that was Amanda. Thankfully she's planning to stop by and visit, and they're hoping to be able to hire her back in the future if things pick up again.

I'm so pissed that it's had to come to this. All because of the greed of people who don't give a shit about anyone but themselves. Ordinary people just trying to make a living are getting their lives upended. Here's someone who I'm sure isn't making a huge paycheck, doing what I consider to be the most important job in the world, losing her job three months before her wedding. Nice.

Something's gotta give, folks. Things are just so out of hand.

Update 3/13: Just wanted to clarify something lest I give the wrong impression. I'm not blaming the folks at daycare - they're not the greedy people I'm talking about. I'm talking about those fat cat CEO's who are sitting pretty while everyone else suffers the consequences.

Take Me Back Tuesday

Date Taken: August 22, 2004 3:39 p.m.

Location: Quabbin Reservoir

I took this picture from an observatory tower on the south end of the reservoir, Enfield Lookout, named after one of the 4 towns flooded in 1938 to provide drinking water for Boston and 40 other communities. Amazing story - check it out here. If you're really interested, PBS has a great documentary called "Under Quabbin", which is fascinating.

A beautiful view, but so much more to the story.

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A random thought....

Wouldn't you rather have these....

than these?

And no, I don't mean 1% rather than whole. I mean the screw-on tops rather than the snap-on kind. Don't you just hate the little milk crusties that accumulate around the snap-on top? You can never keep them from falling into your cereal.

Gross.
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Take Me Back Tuesday

Taken: August 22, 2006 3:19 PM

Location: Lodge Kura Hulanda, Curaçao

We were on Day 2 of our honeymoon, and Dennis had bought a few Cubans in the gift shop at the Lodge. He was enjoying one out on our balcony, and it smelled outstanding so I decided I needed to have me some. I'm sure I wasn't holding it appropriately, but nevertheless, it tasted damn good. I only smoke the good stuff. Hah!

It's calling my name....

Just checking in after a somewhat stressful week. I had training outside the office this week (Mon-Thurs); 8 hours each day with 2-3 hours of homework each night. Suffice it to say that I'm am waaaaaay out of practice doing homework. I had to close myself off in the office (after Matthew went to bed, of course) with no noise to distract me. Depsite the homework, I actually learned a lot, and am looking forward to the second round starting March 9th.

Then, on Friday, there were some announcements made at work about layoffs of some key individuals in my area (rumors had been bouncing around all week). I was working from home, so I was a bit removed from it all, but I could still feel the stress of everything going on. I'm fortunate that my teams are not impacted (in fact, I'm taking on some additional folks), but some of the cuts hit much too close to home. Some people I admire and respect are "no longer with the firm". Having been in that position myself, I really hate to see that stuff happen. It definitely reinforces that it doesn't matter how much you know - no one is indispensible.

Should be an interesting week coming up. There are a number of meetings scheduled tomorrow to help everyone understand the changes and what to expect going forward.

I've got a couple of spa gift certificates that you can bet are going to be put to good use real soon....

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