Life is BUSY!!

Ok, So I was just reminded in a not so subtle way that my blog is pretty old. It has been a very long time since I have updated, so here goes.

The first week of August, my cousin Kandi and I packed up the boys and headed to Buffalo to pick up Kaylie from staffing a boot camp on the Little Rock and Sullivan ships for Navy Sea Cadets. We stayed for the graduation, packed her into the car with us, and headed for Michigan for an awesome visit with Aunt Dawn and Uncle Butch (my Dad's sister and brother-in-law). What a great time we had! We made the pact that we were on vacation, and were not going to be pressed for time. What should have been an eight hour trip turned into 14. By the time we went to Buffalo and saw the graduation ceremony, and then got something to eat(we met Uncle Larry in Buffalo at Duff's Wing House in Buffalo, it was just about 3pm before we got on the road to Michigan. We made frequent stops and finally made it to destination Clark house around 11pm.

Aunt Dawn got up early every day and made us a great breakfast. Boy, could a person get used that! At night, the kids, and the adults, minus me, played a cut-throat game of Phase10. I don't know what it is all about, I had quiet time while they were playing every night...lol, I made a good choice!! Dawn and Butch took us to the Hudson Car Museum, to the Henry Ford Museum, to the Ford Rausch Factory(they make Ford 150's there) and to Greenfield Village(an early 1900's living museum where the people dress and live like they did back then). Kandi and I tried two or three times to take them out to eat, and lo and behold, they picked up the check each time. Finally, we told them that WE were going to treat them to dinner, so we could thank them for putting up with us! I cannot thank them enough for giving us a vacation that I am sure my kids, Kandi and myself will remember forever!

The kids loved it, and before we even left their house, they had already said that next year, we need to make it a whole week long. They had such a great time and really got to know their Great Aunt and Uncle, which pleased me, as they had not really gotten to spend that much time with them over the years.

We got back, and back to work I went. I work for an eye surgeon out in Liverpool. He specializes in cataracts and glaucoma, plus we also have another optician there. It is a very busy practice and so fast paced that it sometimes makes my head spin. My job is to check out the patients as they are finishing up, collect the moolah, schedule their next appointment and post their charges in the computer. Also have to put their charts back together and put them on the cart to file later(which the others and I share) A new demension has been added to my job in the last three weeks or so. I now have the responsibility of making sure that the patients who are scheduled for surgery have their preop appt, and make sure they are cleared. It is in no way, shape or form that simple. Sometimes it takes ten tries to get another office to get the needed information to me, and then if the pt was not cleared, I have to figure out why and try to fix it, or move them along to my boss who ultimately decides who will be cancelled or rescheduled for another day.

That, my friends is why I love my job so much! Some days more than others, but normally, it is a very nice place to work. When I first started there, I hated it, so much so, that after being there for a month, I put in my notice. The day before my last day, my boss and I had a very long conversation, and I ended up staying there. I have not regretted staying for a minute! I really like the people I work with, and my work days speed right by!

The kiddo's have gone back to their schools. Kaylie is a senior at Chittenango, Jayson is a freshman at Boces in the Career Academy, and Kevin is a seventh grader at Boces in a program at Cortland Alternative High School. Three kids, three different school districts...I do not like the high school in town, so have come up with alternatives for my children to get the best education that they deserve. All three will graduate with regents diplomas, and have skills that they need to either further their education or in the boy's case, have a trade that they can start a career with. Jayson's school, has the opportunity in the junior/senior year to shadow four different job paths, such as carpentry, mechanics, medical and landscaping. Whichever he chooses to follow in his later years in high school, he will come out with that trade already in place, and be able to find a job in that profession at that time. Kaylie has gone from wanting to go to law school, to wanting to go to school for a history major to wanting to go to school for general studies and then to pursue nursing. She cannot make up her mind. She has until December to make it up, then she needs to know what she wants to do, so she can get her college applications out and in the mail! Kevin is loving his new school. It is a small class, where he can get the individual attention that he needs to retain the information put in front of him.

Jayson rides to work with me in the mornings and then rides his bike the mile or so to his school, then bikes back to my work and hangs out either in the waiting room at work, or in the car. Not sure what we will do when winter comes, will have to figure that one out soon!! The days are getting shorter and colder.

I have added a couple of pictures of our vacation. I think I took about six hundred pictures, truth be told. The kids were packed pretty tight in the back seat of the SUV we took, but still had fun. The others are us at the sights I mentioned earlier.

Ok, ya'all, I have typed enough for one night. I will try to get updates a little closer than two to three months apart..hee hee, Aunt Lori! P.S.. Jayson's eye is better, actually took him to see my eye Dr. the bruise is still there, much lighter now, but we were told by the Dr, that it was bruised into the bone, so it may take a very long time to heal. He is doing much better!

Ok, off I go, LIVIN MY LIFE~

Love and hugs!

Joanna