happy halloween y'all

I'm baaaaaaackkkkk.

Charm City is very cool, and I wish I could have actually seen the sights I researched and wrote about. My day was spent inside the convention center and the nights at 'command performance' appearances on three evenings and the other couple I collapsed in my room.

So, no visit to Poe's grave. No visit to the aquarium. No visit to the Inner Harbor.

I did get to eat two very yummy crab cakes, some amazing Italian food in Little Italy, and sample a local microbrew and enjoy my beloved Harp on tap (a real treat).  I also met a ton of people I have emailed with over the past 2.5 years and was invited to the president's penthouse suite for a cocktail party one evening. That was a shindig for her 'closest friends' and I was very pleased to be included as I met a ton of the upcoming leadership in the association.

So, it was a very good trip. It was really hard work for one day and the rest was just work.

I have today off and am back in the office tomorrow.

So, have a great weekend and I should have a few book notes to share come Monday.

See ya later, hon!  (love the Baltimore 'hon' thing...and yes, I heard it more than once.)

adios

This will be my final post for a while. I don't usually post here on Fridays and with jetting off to the east coast early Saturday for our meeting, I doubt very much I will have time to compose blog posts next week. I'm sure I will have tons of stories to share once I return.

I have my clothes gathered for the meeting. I have my agenda printed off, certificates ready for departing committee members, my schedule of events organized...so, I'm as ready as I can be at this point.

Here's hoping for a smooth connection in Atlanta on Saturday and easy flights on both legs of my trip.

Bring on the crabcakes...and maybe a nice local microbrew or two.

Adios.

newspaper

This morning there is not one happy story on the front page of our newspaper. The lead story is about the three medical folks who died in the helicopter crash yesterday. So very sad. It makes the cuts Delta is making at the airport and the school merger nonsense pale in comparison.

I saw on my Facebook feed this morning a 'share' of a post from on of the nurses' sons. It an area of our size, the whole six degrees of separation thing works really well. It is more like 3 degrees.

On days like today I am very tempted to read the comics first and find some laughs before I read the rest of the paper.

Why is it that folks are so fixated on sharing the 'bad.' Heck yesterday while I was giving the receptionist her lunch break I had three people stop by to tell my how hard it is to work the national meeting. They made it sound like it was the hardest thing to do in the world. Are you kidding me? Have you people never worked a 12 hour shift in your lives? Really? Worse than a bank on 3rd of a month that falls on a Friday? LOL

Give. Me. A. Break.

Work is WORK. If it was Fun they'd call it FUN.

I fully expect to be tired. I fully expect to have to deal with some grumpy people. I fully expect to have to deal with some grumpy people who don't speak English. Shit happens. You deal and move on.

As I told them all yesterday with a smile, "Well, it is a good thing that Sunday only lasts for one day then." And the next day will come. For some, like the 3 on the front page of today's paper, they don't get a tomorrow.

My thoughts go out to the families of the 3 medical professionals who died yesterday. They were doing jobs they were passionate about. Working with ill kids takes special people, and we have a lot of them in our area with the major hospitals located here that cater exclusively to children.

way to go

The boy's speech team chalked up their 100th first place win at this past Saturday's tournament. That is a great thing, but what we are so happy about is that he seems to be truly enjoying being involved with this program. The trophy and the medal he brought home are secondary to that.

He had to wear his suit to school yesterday for club/team picture day. He said he was asked a lot if he was going to a funeral, but he also got a lot of compliments on how nice he looked.

Fun stuff. Three tournaments are scheduled for November, busy month! And then we host our own tournament in December. 

So, Way To Go, CHS Speech and Debate team! 

awesome

We had such a good visit with the middle kid. It was awesome to have her home and to be able to spoil her a bit with some nice meals, a bit of shopping, plus lots of laughs and lots of talks. It was wonderful.

Now it is time for me to get ready to head to Baltimore. All the last minute things we need to do before leaving are on the agenda for the next few days. Then off we go. I finally found a sweater to match the pants I bought for this trip. My work wardrobe is pretty limited and it was well past time to add some new things to it.

The ceiling project is still ongoing. Ugh. My house is pretty gross right now with all the dust and drywall bits.

Cooler temps have moved in and I caved and turned on the furnace yesterday. It was 60 in the house. That is a bit chilly.

Off we go for our walk. Nice to have the chill when we get going.  Enjoy Monday.

no walk today

It is pouring rain! Ugh. No morning walk. I did a few yoga stretches instead, which puzzled the dog, and didn't really give me that burst of wakefulness I've come to crave at this time of the day.

The middle kid is coming home today!!!!!

So excited to see her and have her home for a long weekend. I'm taking a half day off on Friday so we can go out to lunch and do a bit of shopping.

Guess I will read the paper now, or maybe I will go job in place to get the blood moving.

Happy Wednesday! Hump Day! Rainy Day!

This is me trying to be peppy. It isn't working.

and the rain moves in

Rainy days ahead, which is just fine, except I don't want the middle kid and her friends to have to drive home in nasty weather tomorrow.

I'm debating on taking some time off on Friday. It would be fun to have an afternoon with the girl. And if I get home by 12ish, she might be awake by then!

The older girl is arriving for her fall break the same day I get home from the convention. So, no need to take time off as I get a day off after coming home to 'recover.'

The ceiling in the great room is coming along. Hubby pulled the sound system speakers and filled those holes. He also fixed the stains on the sheetrock and made sure nothing weird was going on with all of that up in the attic. So, later this week, after things dry really well, the next steps will begin! I may have a room we can sit in sometime next week!

Happy Tuesday. Stay dry, my friends!