# 9 and no it's not Ted Williams!

Today I am thankful for our first snow a couple of days ago.  I love waking up to a blanket of white even if it didn't last very long.  It sure was pretty and I look forward to month of waking up to winter wonderland!  And I cannot wait to share it with Baby Savage.  John and I have such a love of winter and the many hobbies we partake of during that season.

Then on Saturday...I am thankful that I live in a wonderful small town.  We have been here almost 6 years and have met great people and neighbors.  I love that one of my co-workers thinks that I have become a townie.  It is so much like the town I grew up in without the rich snotty factor.  It's nice to go into the little stores around here and see at least one person I know each time.

Onto November 7th and 8th

Yay the election is over and with it go all the nasty political ads and rhetoric.  Voting day went off without a hitch here and the press is already discussing who will run in the midterm elections.  Seriously can't we have a month or two off???  Now onto my thankful stuff....

7.  I am thankful for my two jobs and that I enjoy going to work at each of them.  I work with wonderful people at both of them and I am happy to be a part of each work family.  I have been in my current skilled nursing facility for the last 6 1/2 years.  It's the longest I have ever worked at one place.  Guess that says something, either that or I am too lazy to get my resume updated!  Just kidding, I really do like going to work every day.   My other job at the fire department is an outlet for the other job.  It is so different and unpredictable from what I do during my "day" job.  I love my fire family and even though we can be as dysfunctional as a real family, I mean who else wholeheartedly has your back in dangerous situations and then slams you the second you get back to the station??  Just like real family!

8.  Feeling very crafty these days, I am thankful for my love of sticks and string.  I love creating wearable art.  And I know John loves my craft because he wears his socks almost every day during colder weather.  Gives me a reason to keep on knitting when I see his little toes being warmed by my creations.  I love sitting down for a few hours each evening to knit away while I watch TV.  And I love when a project finally comes together after months of working on it.  Lately I have taken to small projects that only require a few days to finish them.  I have a sweater on some needles, but can't even remember where I left off so I will probably frog it and start over again after the baby gets here.  Can't wear it now anyways since it's a wrap sweater.  But it could look nice next spring!

Still feeling thankful (5 and 6)

Tuesday is here and I am ready to post again...I know twice in one week...seriously I haven't had a lot of down time in my life as of late.  Last week we felt the outer bands of Hurricane Sandy on Monday and even though John was out of town...I was crazy busy and I will be this week as well.  I am trying to tie up loose ends before Baby Savage gets here.  At the top of my list, I need to get my EMT refresher put to bed.  Once those hours are in, I can worry about the rest of it after he arrives, but at least my recert will be complete.

5.  I am very thankful that our family and friends in NY and NJ all came out relatively unscathed from the storm last week.  Our plan is to head down there in two weeks to Asbury Park as we do each year for the annual holiday soiree at the store.  For me this year means sitting around knitting and not supplying free labor.  My cankles really aren't up to hours standing around decorating Christmas trees.  But it is always a great time and a great way to ease into the upcoming holiday season.

6.  I am thankful that the election is finally here and I can finally stop listening to all the negativity put forth by those running for public office.  There needs to be some serious reform when it comes to political ads and I personally think they should only be able to talk about themselves and their platform instead of bashing who they are running against.  And I even got a snazzy parking cone out of the deal...one more thing I probably won't live down for a few years!

I am thankful for....(the first four days)

There are quite a few people I know who are taking time each day to list the things that they are thankful for during this month of November.  I plan on doing mine in chunks because lately I am a spaceshot and I would forget to do this each day.

1.  I am thankful for my husband who has been spending each weekend getting our little home ready for Baby Savage.  Each Sunday when he could be off hiking, he and my father tackle another step in finishing our basement.  We are up to the electrical work so it's coming along.  And I can tell you exactly where the bathrooms are located at each home improvement store in our area!

2.  I am definitely thankful for my parents.  Dad has been here every weekend since his retirement helping the basement along and Mom has made sure I have warm outer clothes to wear as I keep getting bigger and bigger.  I am going to be looking like the red version of the Michelin man in my "new" winter coat.  Now I won't freeze on our way into the hockey games in the upcoming months.  I did look longingly at my pretty red peacoat, but there is no way I am squeezing into that anytime soon.

3.  I am very thankful that I have had an uneventful and uncomplicated pregnancy so far.  Baby Savage is doing somersaults as I write this.  He is growing fast and my glucose test was negative.  Guess that means I don't have give up my nightly dose of ice cream.  I did have my first braxton hicks contractions the other night on our way home from the car accident in Pittsfield.  He either liked riding in the ambulance or that was just a little more excitement than he is used to.

4.  I am thankful for my snug little home as the temperatures start their downward trek.  Glad for our new construction and super efficient home.  Even though we haven't turned on the heat yet, we have been running our gas fireplace from time to time to keep the chill out.

Well that takes care of the first four days of the month...

A weekend away

John and I ventured up to Bartlett this weekend for the North County EMS Conference.  I figured it was a good chance to get some CEUs and actually get away for a weekend.  I know, who does that?  We haven't for a very long time.  It was a nice break from the constant construction in the basement and getting the house ready for Baby Savage.  Well it was nice until we got check into the hotel.

We walk into our room and there is no bed...what no bed???  There is a couch, a loveseat, a small kitchenette, but no bed.  Oh wait, it's a Murphy bed...pulls down out of the wall.  Well that would've been fine if I wasn't almost 7 months pregnant and needing all the extra support I can get.  I have to apologize to my husband for my whining, but that was not what I signed up for.  I quickly went through my emails that the hotel had sent us when they changed our reservation from the Attitash Village to the Grand Summit Hotel.  In very small letters is a disclaimer stating that some of the rooms only have Murphy beds.  So when they sent me an email stating we had been upgraded and when really what was the upgrade??

So we spent a miserable Friday night of me tossing and turning because I could not find a comfortable position.  Saturday morning dawned and we were off to pick up our registration packets.  Well come to find out we weren't registered...the person who was supposed to send in our stuff, never did.  Awesome, excellent!  Fortunately they let us register that morning and we even got the classes we had wanted to attend.       Still not impressed that we were never informed that our registrations weren't going to be sent in and in the future I will handle my own registration thank you very much.

I also went to the front desk and practically begged to be switched rooms.  There was no way I could handle a second night on that awful bed.  The nice lady at the front desk took pity on me when I played the pregnancy card and we were quickly moved into a room with two queen beds.  An upgrade indeed!

We did make a trip for old time's sake to Berlin for Riverfire.  I am quite impressed with how the city has started to rebound itself after the early 2000s when the mills had shut down and people left the city in droves.  The new federal prison had it's ribbon cutting on Friday and it was nice to see the community out for it's fall festival on Saturday night.  Even the mills are back up and running.  The downtown area looks like businesses are returning and the area has come back to life.

As nice as it was to get away, it's always so nice to be back in our little home.

I grow people, what's your superpower??

Ok I have to admit I have been slacking at writing big time.  I read a friend's blog daily and I am so impressed by how she keeps up with it.  What's my excuse?  Honestly I do not have a good one.  I haven't been running.....oh I am a huge slacker in this department.  But my body no longer feels like it belongs to me, my balance just plain sucks, and I am usually wicked tired by the time I get home from work.  I know, I know, excuses!  I do manage to get a walk in several days a week now that the weather has cooled off.  It really was a hot, humid, miserable summer.

But oh I have been knitting.  Baby hats, baby booties, baby sleep sacks, and baby blankets have taken over my knitting bags.  I have managed a pair of socks thrown in there as well.  Knitting and reading have taken over my world.

Had a great MD appointment today and baby Savage continues to grow.  I am measuring at 25 1/2 weeks and only gained 5.5 lbs this month.  I have been really watching what I eat and have upped the fruit/veggie intake.

So life is good and I'll try to write more in the upcoming weeks as his arrival gets closer!  But with so much to do there are no guarantees!

I'm back....

Well summer is winding down here in the Lakes Region.  It's been crazy busy and I have seriously neglected my blog.  And as John says..."you have so many things to write about, what's going on?"  So I will start with my road race.  It was a huge success for my first time and I cannot wait to do it all over again next year with a goal of having at least 70 more runners for a grand total of 200.  That would be fantastic for us.  We had some excellent sponsors who showed us support and a great t-shirt designer over at Tracings Graphics in Alton.  The weather was perfect with overcast skies to begin the morning and it slowly cleared during the race.  I have to thank my wonderful volunteers both from the fire department and from the town.  They made sure everything went smoothly for our runners.  So all in all it was a great day and I have heard a ton of compliments for our run and only a few suggestions for next year.

Let's see, the little dog had a minor surgical procedure to cut an infected sebaceous cyst and I must say she was a champ throughout and never even went near the staples she had in her back for over two weeks.  The vet was able to local and it was done in less than ten minutes.  She's all mended up and has permission to get in some last swims before summer is gone from us.  Supposed to be a beautiful warm weekend here so she may get her opportunity.

Next up, we are starting to gear up for the biggest change to our life as we welcome our little boy in January.  We have started to get the basement ready so we can turn our second bedroom into a nursery.  The sooner we get the basement done, the sooner we can do the changeover.  Our plan is to lighten up three of the walls with a light orange and keep one wall a dark color.  We are going for a nature theme instead of the obvious fire truck theme.  Gotta break him in slowly!

I also started my first baby project.  I am using up a huge pile of scrap yarn to make his first blanket.  The goal is to have it done in the next week so I can move onto hats, booties, and mittens.  Ahh the joy of having a winter baby.  I can't wait to make his first hat which he will wear home from the hospital.  It's a snowman hat complete with "coal" eye and a "carrot" nose.


As far as running goes, well that is one the back burner for now.  I do plan on running a half next May, just gotta make that happen in the spirng!