I have a new job. I started working at the Heritage Senior Center in Dover a week ago Thursday (the 21st). I am the new Activities Coordinator. That means I get to plan the activities that the folks want to do at the Center. The job truly dropped into my lap and within days I was hired. So far I'm loving it. This is a very active and fast paced center. All members must be over 60 and it's amazes me how much fun they have. They are by no means "slowing down" in their senior years. At least not that I've seen.

Just for the record, NO, I haven't completely stopped doing Home Healthcare. I still have three private cases. These are people I've been with for an extended period of time and I just couldn't let them go. Three days a week I work for 9 hours, the other two days I work 11 hours. Emile and Brie are being very supportive and helping get supper ready on the "long" days. I start something in the Crockpot before I leave in the morning and Emile finishes it before I get home in the evening. It's wonderful having children old enough to pitch in now.

Our motto at the center is "Heritage Senior Center... Where Seniors Come to Grow." I have a feeling I'm going to learn and grow a lot through this experience. Who knows where it may take me. At long last I have a job with some benefits and growth opportunities. Happy Me!

Band Performances

West York's first football game was Friday, August 24th. We played Central (away). Being it was the first game, it would be the first "official" band performance as well. Being the "WOOHOO" mom that I am, I had to get some photos, right? So here's one of the three busses heading out to the game. Tagging along behind the bus is the van and Bulldog Marching Band supply trailer.
Here's the band during the half-time show. Unfortunately I didn't see the entire show. I was at my sister Cindy's house. She lives just a short distance from Central so I was hanging out with her until half-time. All of a sudden we realized how late it was and decided we better head down to the school. As we came out of the house we heard the announcer introducing the band... which as we all know means the band was entering the field. Uh-oh. Cindy drove as quick as she could (it's maybe 2 1/2 miles from her house but as the crow fly's, maybe 1/2 a mile at most, which is also why we could hear the game at times... sound carries). By the time we got parked and inside the game, the band was almost finished playing their last song. We did hear the entire Bulldog "fight" song though.

On September 9th the band also participated in the "Bands on Parade" at the York Fair.Oh when the band, comes marching in.... Don't they look great?!They did a nice job during their time "on stage." All the bands did though. There were 14 bands there if I remember correctly. The show lasted just shy of 3 hours. It was neat that the York Fair does this show so all the local bands can "show their stuff." See you next year.

Get Off The Sidewalks

Brie and her "Big," Crystal, from Big Brothers and Big Sisters went to a go cart speedway in Hanover last month. They had been on a their way to a radio station tour when they drove past it and thought it would be fun. They were right.
Step one... make sure you're strapped in and ready to go....
Step two... let er' rip! Coming through... everyone stay out of my way. I have places to go and people to see.
It helps to keep your hands on the wheel while navigating the turns, however, it looks like Brie did just fine. You go girl! There's a look of pure pleasure in Brie's face. I know she wants to go back again soon. I'm sure that will be arranged.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's the first day of school... HIGH SCHOOL for Emile. Woohoo! It's the one day of the year when the girls can actually count on me to make them breakfast before school. Again, Woohoo! I got up with Em and made her a yummy egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich with O.J. She requested it and it was really good if I say so myself. Before long Brie came down to help Emile lace her shoes. Wasn't that nice of Brie?! I'm always happy when the girls help each other and it's especially nice when the younger does what the older can't seem to manage without getting stressed.


And here she is all ready for her trip to the big house.. ok well the big High School anyway. Have a great year Emile.

After Emile left for school, it was Brie's turn for breakfast. She wanted homemade oatmeal... the old fashioned kind with toast and O.J. Can you believe some kids actually eat the regular stuff and not the flavored kinds? Brie eats both. While she got dressed I was doing the cooking.
Doesn't she look cute? Turns out the shoes she was wearing were too big and she had to put on another pair at the last minute. Regardless I thought she looked darling.... of course I would though.

Here's to a great year for both the girls. One other thing. I'd like to say thank you to Jack and Mike for coming over and giving the girls their back to school blessings. Both were inspirational and I know the girls will be blessed throughout this year. Have a great time.

Bulldog Band Camp

Every year in August the Bulldog Marching Band goes to a camp in Maryland for a week for band camp. They leave on Sunday afternoon and return Friday afternoon. This was Emile's first week of band camp and what a week it was. There's the obvious loading of gear and instruments for a 95+ member band. Heck it took 3 busses just to transport everyone. Wow! Each day there was a different theme, starting with "Rookie Day" on Monday. Every first year member goes through an initiation. Emile survived hers just fine (in fact when she called me that afternoon she had such excitement in her voice). Fellow band members.... AND sleeping quarters. Keep in mind that at camp there will be a "variety" of pranks, and there was no exception here either. Gear was duct taped to ceilings,all of the snacks in Emile's cabin were wrapped on a shelf in the center of the room. Who ever did it used yards and yards of plastic wrap to "secure" the goods. What a great prank! Em and one of her friends put cicada shells all over another camper's bed. You know the saying about "fair game." Again, Em loved being part of the fun. It was a great experience for her.

Who can object to the band kids going away for a week, getting to know one another, learning the field show and having a great time together? Perhaps this is one of the reasons why West York has such a well known marching band. You can tell by this little video that the caliber of our students is about the best it can be. Who could ask for more?

Beach Bum

My Emile is a total BEACH BUM!!! I mean she's a hard core, love the sand and water, fall asleep on the beach kind of BUM! I'm not sure where she got that considering her gene pool. Her dad has never been to the beach. I've gone enough times to know it's not my favorite place to hang out. I get burnt every time and enough with the sand in my pants already.
Emile on the other hand can't get enough of the shore. She loves everything about it. I must admit I see another side of Em when we go to the shore.... she's much more relaxed and "in touch" with everything. The first week in August she was invited to go to Bethany Beach with a friend from school. She had a blast! If you look closely you'll see Em. She's the head on the left. I guess she's somewhat "mastered" swimming in the ocean. More than I can say myself.
Of course what's trip to the beach without doing some shopping and spending time on the boardwalk? Emile brought me home a cool magnet (you all know I collect them from everyone and everywhere), and for Brie a pair of earrings. How thoughtful. She really is a great kid.
Happy summer trip to the shore. This was Emile's last trip for the summer. She went three times. Me, once! That was enough. Thanks Carly for inviting Emile. She had a great time and I was thrilled to allow her the time away from all the family responsibilies I put on her. I know how important it is for her to have some "down time" and just be a kid. Thanks again.

Nixon Park

The book club I belong to just finished reading a book called "Last Child in the Woods." It was a compelling study on how far away from nature we have gotten, as well as the tole it has taken on us physically, spiritually and emotionally. While I am NOT a "tree hugger" "save the whales" type of person, I do agree with much of what the author had to say. I remember when I was a child how much we played outdoors. We would be out from dawn to dusk. We didn't worry about the "boogie man" or truly "bad" things happening to us. Looking back I realize there were many times when we probably had put ourselves in danger... fortunately we got out of it without serious harm. Oh sure we had our share of injuries and some scars to prove it, however, we had a blast most of the time. If my mother knew some of where we had been she'd have killed us for sure.

I've always enjoyed nature. I love being outdoors (well not as much as I used to now that I live in humid Pennsylvania) and taking in the sights, smells, and feel of nature. The other day after the girls and I had gone to Brown's Orchard, we decided to stop at Nixon Park on the way home. What a beautiful place it is. We started inside. It was fascinating seeing the displays again. I hadn't been there since I went with Emile's 1st grade class. Wow, that was 8 years ago. I was amazed by the butterfly collections. I found that the butterflies from other continents were much more colorful than those here in North America. Their colors were so vivid and beautiful. This picture doesn't do them justice.Emile and Brie fell in love with the polar bear. It was quite the bonding moment as you can see. We all thought this "family" of deer was particularly special. I do wonder how they got these deer though.And how nice, the girls gave the bear some lovins'... isn't that special? I'm not sure he was enjoying it so much.How about these flying squirrels? Aren't they amazing?The point of this outing was to stop and take some time to explore the other things that we share this planet with... and to slow down for a little while. We really did have a fun afternoon. It was relaxing. Heck, how can't you feel better when you see how pretty Nixon Park is, right? Get out there. Take the time to take some time and explore. You'll be amazed at how much better it makes you feel.

Brown's Orchard

In August the girls and I decided to take a drive down to Brown's Orchard in Loganville. They have the best baked goods and Emile loves their sugar cakes. It's a fun place to go and they always have something going on, especially in the fall... like the Apple Festival for instance. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the girls.

I'm Back

There's so much to share with everyone. I'm struggling with where to begin. I think the best place is our house improvement project. If you look back through my blog to Brie's Halloween party, you can see the back of our house. It was UGLY in my opinion. I had been thinking about what to do to make it look better and came up with some reasonable ideas.... a little paint, some wood, new light fixtures, and a bit of elbow grease.

First of all, it helps to have great neighbors who were willing to "help" with this project. They did the majority of the work.... like here for instance. This is Todd painting the side of the house (Emile's exterior bedroom wall). While up on the ladder he got shocked by the air conditioner because it wasn't properly grounded. Sorry Todd.

And here's Kyla. She started painting the house one evening before we were even home. Imagine my suprise when I pulled in and found her already working hard. I was a bit ashamed. For the record, Kyla loves to paint... she says so herself. She did a great job.

Then the girls and I had several 4x8's and 4x12's to paint with the contrasting color. These boards would be used for the trim. It took two evenings to get them completely painted with 2 coats. I wanted to do it right.

Now we get to the good stuff. While Kyla took a much deserved rest, Todd was getting ready to put up the trim.

Even though Todd knows what he's doing, I was nervous every time he went up on the ladder. I could just see him falling and getting hurt. Fortunately he didn't. Here he is working on the back end windows.

And here are the two of them working around the back sliding door. We were closing in on the last steps at this point. All that was left to do was run electricity from a old light fixture on the side of the house around to the back, install the two new motion detection lamps (one on the side and one out back) and install an outdoor electric outlet below the back lamp. Todd had that done much faster than I thought he'd be able to. Of course Kyla helped a lot with this, too. They even put up two decorative pieces I had bought to put out back.

TADA...Here you have it. My new and improved house!! Kyla even "stole" the little flower planter beside the back door, repainted it with colors that compliment what we had done, then put it back. I was so thrilled. She is very talented... you should see some of the stuff she's done in their house. To be honest, they really inspired me to make the changes I did.

Another view... just a little closer. Doesn't it look great!! I'm so excited and I still love how much better it looks. So there you have it. The first major outdoor project we've done. Next we'll attack the back retaining wall and work on the back yard. I can't wait to get to that, although it will have to wait until next summer. That's ok. One thing at a time.

For those of you who don't know what the front of our house looks like, here it is. I've always thought the front was nice.... and now I love the back as well. Hope you enjoyed reading about our project.

Almost There

Ok, so we have the computer up... so to speak. Now all I have to do is get the pictures loaded and then I can get caught up on my blogging. That should happen tomorrow evening. Stay tuned.....