I saw Ami last weekend and she commented on my new hedgehog tote - so I thought I would share. Isn't is cute! As most of you know I have a thing for hedgehogs, which originated with Max's dog toys. I have a few others in my collection and I'm always on the lookout. At the State Fair I found a hedgehog ornament and last week at a fall festival I found a hedgehog necklace (which I pointed out to my Dad and I should be receiving it for Christmas - yes, I'm spoiled). The tote is from www.modcloth.com. Check out their site - they have a ton of cute totes (Roxanne - there is one with birds that I think you might like. I've started my Christmas shopping and found a few things on their site.

This weekend was pretty busy, but I don't feel like I really did anything. I Dad was away for the weekend, so Max went to hang out with my Gram yesterday a.m. while my Mom and I had our hair cut. Then we went to the Mall for a little bit and picked up a couple of things. We had dinner with at my Grams and hung out with her for the night. Today Max had a bath (maybe tomorrow I will post about the disaster with his tail), I cleaned my closet and switched out my summer clothes, took a 4.5 mile walk with my Dad and dogs and did some more things around the house - not very exciting, but busy.

Happy Fall - the leaves are starting to change here!

Black Cloud

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way lately, but I'm pretty sure I have a purpetual black cloud over my head. This week I continued me streak of bad luck with a fender bender - welll, a little more than my fender is bended. Actually, my front bumper is stuck on with duck tape. I will try and post a picture tomorrow. I'm sure this will be a fun couple of weeks of dealing with the insurance company and garage. Oh well, something to do - right?

High School Revisited

I might be living one of my worst nightmares - going back to High School. It's actually not that bad ... yet. I signed up at the community gym, which is located at my High School. The facility is actually pretty nice - gym, pool, running track, racquetball. But I'm scared to death of running into people that I know. I started taking an aerobics class on Monday and Wednesday and there are a few people in there that I recognize from High School. I thought it would be as bad as gym class was back then! It wasn't quite that bad and I'm not sure anyone recognized me (thank goodness), but I'm working at keeping a low profile.

I'm trying to think up a good picture of Max for my holiday cards - any suggestions? We were playing with some of my old socks last week and I enjoy putting them on his feet/paws (he does a crazy walk with them on and then works at taking them off). Don't worry, it's not animal cruelty - he comes back for more once he has them off. I'm thinking about some kind of stripped holiday socks? I don't know if he'll keep them on long enough to take a picture, but it might be worth a try.

I'm getting pretty good at giving my parent's dog a bath. This past weekend she escaped and ended up in a huge mud puddle. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her - she was a mess! She needed a bath anyway, so at least she had fun getting really dirty.

I have been slacking off in posting ...

Thank you to everyone who has already sent back their pledge for the American Cancer Society walk I am participating in with my office - everyone has been very generous.

Max had an eye appointment last week to check a very large white spot that had moved into his bad eye. Even though he does not see out of that eye I was concerned that he would still need treatment, and I was even more concerned that they would want to remove the eye. When we went to Tufts for his cataract surgery they wanted to remove the bad eye since it may be prone to problems in the future. I'm happy to report that they did not recommend any treatment for the eye - just eye drops once a day. We do have to go back every six months, but I'm happy that is all we have to do (right now anyway).

We are coming into the homestretch at Cascade Settlement Agency. I am hoping to have software next week and finalize our bank accounts. I never imagined that it would take this long - although there were many things out of my control. I will be happy when everything is finally in place and I can start closing some loans (hopefully)!

I was able to touch base this week with the Moriarty's. This is a family that I nannied for while I was in college and have kept in touch with over the years. I will be helping Jenny Moriarty with the sale of her father's house. It was so nice to speak with her and get caught up on the kids. However, it always makes me feel really old - their youngest is a Senior in High School and she was only 10 months old when I first arrived at their house. They are a fantastic family and it's great to hear how the "kids" are doing.

Some really big news... A Hobby Lobby has opened in Rochester! So I'm crazy about craft stores ... what can I do. Hobby Lobby is a cross between Michael's/Joann's/Home Goods. It's pretty neat. One of the women in my office is cutting their weekly coupon out of her paper and I signed up for their newsletter - so that's two 40% off coupons a week! I did a little Holiday shopping there already. We drawing names for Christmas this year and I have my cousin's daughter, Nora (she's 9). As one of her gifts I'm going to do an advent tree. I found a hot pink stick tree (I don't know what else to call it) - it has about 15 branches of different sizes that stick out. I'm going to make some ornaments and containers to hang on the tree. She will have one to open each day for the 25 days before Christmas. I'm going to do a bunch of little things for her - candy, things from Clair's, etc. I think it should be a fun project. I'll have to post some pictures as I go along. If you have any ideas let me know.

Miss you all - hugs to everyone!

Making Strides for Breast Cancer

On October 5th I will be walking with my office for the American Cancer Society Making Strides for Breast Cancer. I am sending out my request for pledges this week. One thing about my new office that I really appreciate is their dedication to charity. They are involved with several organizations and put together events during the year. The owners are all very involved with charities of their choice as well. They have already made a $2,500 donation to the Making Strides walk and have challenged the employees to raise funds as well. I have never participated in one of these walks and I am looking forward to being part of the group effort. So any amount that you would be willing to donate would go a long way toward my goal of $500.

I am also walking this Sunday with my Mom in the Central New York SPCA walk. This is the shelter where Max and Neika came from. We will be taking the dogs with us and doing the short walk. My Dad wants me to sign a pledge that I won't bring another dog home with me (since they are going to have adoptable dogs there).

This past weekend I was able to see Leana Lucas (of Scrapbook Club fame)! She was visiting her sister in Rochester and it was great to catch up.

Banner

Thank you to Roxanne for designing a banner for me! She did a great job and it's too cute! I guess I will definitely have to keep this up now. Roxanne - you're the best and so creative!

The Great NY State Fair

The past couple of weeks the New York State Fair has been open in Syracuse. It brings back so many childhood memories - so who can resist. My parents and I headed there the weekend before last to see the sights and most importantly eat the food. The highlight for me is the Birds of Prey exhibit where you get to have your picture taken with one of the birds. I've done this in the past with Owls - so this year I tried the Falcon. My parents can never figure out how to use my camera - so I have video rather than a photo. I will upload the photo they took for my "donation."

To keep with the animal theme, we also spent time in the horse barn looking at the minature horses (something I've wanted for a long time). One of the owners told us they are more like dogs than horses - even better! I also took my Dad on a tour of the rabbit barn - since I've been trying to convince him to build me a bunny hutch since I moved home. No luck with persuading him, but I narrowed down my choice of bunnies. We did not spend any time with the chickens - yuck!

I was also able to see Ami Dudzinski Mehr over the long weekend. She was home visiting her parents and we met for dinner. It was so nice to see a familar face and to catch up. It's kind-of lonely out here, but eventually I will meet some people to hang out with. I miss all of you!!

I hope everyone had a good weekend and hurray for those of you with kids in school (My Mom used to call it Mother's Day when I went back to school).