and a good time was had by all

    I am so very glad, in a way, that the whole hoopla over the holiday is over. It was a difficult one, for me, because of the empty nest thing. Jess wasn't here. But we did get to see him today, and Julie too. We were invited to her mom's house for Christmas dinner, and we went. I usually have trouble getting Hubs to social functions. But this was a small one.


    We had a really good time! Not that it was a surprise, or anything. We just haven't gotten to spend much time with them. Last year, they all went to the Giants game on Christmas Eve, then we all met afterward at her house, and had a big wing-ding. That was lots of fun! This year she promised it would be quieter, just Linda and Chip, Julie's grandmother, Jesse and Julie, and us.


    We really enjoyed their company, and the food was good. I've never had German food before, being of Italian extraction.


    Santa was good to me this year. I got the Kindle Fire I wanted, even though I was told I wouldn't be getting one. I initially had some trouble connecting to the Internet, then I realized I was attempting to use the wrong router. Once I got that straightened out, I was golden.


    First thing I downloaded? Angry Birds! I love that game. Hubs also got me some gift cards, Visa and from Barnes and Noble. I also have a nook, that I absolutely love, and will never give up. Technically, I own the nook, a regular Kindle, and now the Kindle Fire. Hubs uses the regular Kindle. I don't see me downloading many books to the Kindle Fire. I think it will be for playing games. But we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?


    I feel I must report that even though I took my knitting with me, I didn't knit at all today.

this year, Christmas will be different

    Surprisingly, this never occurred to me when our youngest child moved out this past June.  I was a bit worried about the empty nest thing, sure. But Christmas never crossed my mind at that time.


    When Jesse was a teenager, I purchased an elf hat, which he was to wear every Christmas morning when he handed out the gifts. He was our official Santa's helper. He wore it willingly, and played along. It just hit me yesterday, as Hubs and I were shopping, that he won't be here this year.


    There are so many stories from holidays past. One of my favorites? You know how kids always try to get their parents up really early on Christmas morning? Well, one year when Jess was a teenager, we decided to get him back, and we woke him up at 5:30 am. We ran in his room, turned on his lights, and stood there shaking him, yelling, "It's Christmas, it's Christmas! Get up, get up!" Of course he got up, and we had a good laugh. He was very understanding of our insanity.


    But he did say that we had better not wake him up at 5:30 again, ever. So when Christmas rolled around again, we woke him at 5 instead. He was not amused, but we were!


    Then there was the whole moose thing. When he was little, Jess loved moose. I know that he'll say it was all us, but he did love them. One year, Hubs sent all the way to Alaska, I think, for a lucite paperweight that had real, genuine, moose poop in it. You should have seen his face when he opened that gift! It was hysterical, and to this day, I've yet to see him laugh that hard again.


    Aaah, the memories. I'll always have those, won't I? And the elf hat won't go to waste. I thought I'd wear to to work this coming weekend, as it's the weekend before Christmas.


   

The Down Side

    I am discovering that there is a definite down side to having my beloved Hubs working a day shift. When he was working nights, he was sleeping all day. That gave me tons of time to myself. I got spoiled watching all the TV shows that I wanted to watch, I could go out and do whatever I wanted, as long as I was home by 3:00.


    That time restraint? I put it on myself, he didn't require it of me. I wanted to be home to start his coffee, and generally be here while he got ready for work. It was, after all, the most contact we had with each other during his work week.


    Even on his days (nights) off, he still slept a good portion of the day. He always had a hard time adjusting back to a daytime life. So I still had lots of time to myself.


    Now that he's on a day shift schedule, I am having a hard time with a few things. For one, he's up at the ass crack of dawn, even on his days off. So when I get up, he's already settled in his chair, with his coffee, and watching shows on TV that I don't like. So that means I'm missing my shows!


    For the first month, he worked a 5 day a week, 8 hour a day schedule. But now, he's on this funky 12 hour, two week, rotating schedule. He worked Sat, Sun and Mon, has off Tues and Wed, works Thurs and Fri, then has off Sat, Sun and Mon. So the days he works one week, he has off the next week. This schedule makes it very hard to schedule things like doctor appointments and such.


    I liked the night shift schedule so much better. He always worked Wed, Thurs, and Fri, and worked every other Sat. No muss, no fuss.


   Anyway,the other way it's messing with me is at dinner time. Now I have to cook a meal every single night! This truly sucks. Before, if I wanted to, I could have popcorn for dinner, or a frozen pot pie, or whatever I wanted, because he wasn't home for dinner! If I wasn't hungry, I didn't have to cook at all.


    On the plus side, we do get to spend a lot more time together. We are enjoying our empty nest. Even if he drives me crazy sometimes.....

A Birthday in the Family

  

    Today is a very special day. 23 years ago tonight, my last child was born. How well I remember that day. It was Halloween, 1989. That morning, I was bored, and feeling like a whale, so I decided to go for a walk. Just up the way, there was a street that was a very steep hill that went up and round behind the house where we were living.


     I made my way up that hill, stood for a while, then made my way down. I like to think that walking up and down that hill is what brought on my labor. Later that afternoon, I started cramping, and called Hubs, who was working at the garage up in Hyde Park. He jumped in the car, a little white VW Rabbit, and raced home. I believe he made it in under 30 minutes. It had started raining, and the roads were pretty wet. That drive normally took about 45 minutes!


     He scooped me up, and off we set down the Taconic Parkway, which was retaining the water due to the high curbs. You see, the hospital was down in Cold Spring, and that was quite a ride too.  I knew it would take a while to get there, that's why I didn't wait to call Hubs. Besides the fact that this was my third child, so hopefully labor wouldn't be too long.


    I don't remember how long my labor was, exactly, but I do remember having to give birth in the labor room, because someone had just delivered in the delivery room, and there wasn't time to clean it for me. That was disappointing, because they had a birthing chair in there, that I had been eager to try.


    By a quirk of fate, the new daddy of the couple who had the baby just before us was am old friend of Hubs'! And since they were also from Hyde Park, our kids went to school together, and are still friends!


   There is something I feel might be confusing, so let me clear it up. At the time, we were living in Sylvan Lake, with Hubs' parents, so we could save money for a house. Hubs was working in Hyde Park, and the hospital was in Cold Spring. We lived in Sylvan Lake for a little less than a year. We moved into our current house the 4th of July weekend of 1990.


    I have no baby pictures of Jesse Michael in my laptop, but he was born with little tufts of hair on his shoulders, and the tops of his ears. Fitting for a Halloween baby, don'tcha think? I remember the nurses trying to get me to name him Boris. No way. He was also the only boy born that day in that hospital.


   My youngest son has grown up to be a very good person. I am prouder of him than I can put into words. As I was thinking about what I wanted to say here, I wondered why this particular birthday was special. I think it's because it's the first birthday that he's out in the world, living away from us.


    For those few of you who will see and talk to my son today (you know who you are...), please remember: what is said in the blog, stays in the blog.


    Apologies for the long length of today's post. I guess I had a lot to say. I'm sure you can forgive proud Mama Scheff.  P.S. He's the kid on the left in the photo at the top of the post, with sister Sara and brother James.

Keep him on his toes

    Lately, it's been difficult to find TV programs on that I want to watch. You wouldn't think it would be so hard, what with the hundreds of channels available these days.  I've discovered the channel ID, Investigation Discovery. It's been there a long time, but I hadn't watched it.


    I've been filling my evenings with programs about spouses killing each other, and the like. My beloved Hubs wanders through, stopping to smoke a cigar, and watches with me for a little while. The other evening, he commented about my programming choices. He asks me if I've got any plans, if I'm gathering ideas.


    A few nights later, he sees I'm still watching these programs, and he comments that he's starting to get nervous. So I decide to have some fun. Last night, I went into the bedroom, where he was watching his show, and as I walked to his side of the bed, I counted the steps as I took them, softly, to myself.  His eyes got big, and he asked me what I was doing. I just laughed and said "Nothing..."


   Now, he's really getting nervous! I reminded him last night of the old proverb, happy wife, happy life. I just love pulling his chain. I must clear up a few things, I wouldn't want to give you the wrong impression! I am very happy with my Hubs. He's been even nicer to me since the last kid moved out.


    The main reason I'm watching ID, and all these true life murder stories, is that even with all the channels, it feels like I've seen it all. There's nothing on that catches my attention any more. Even all the bad science fiction, vampire, and zombie movies? I've seen them!


    The other night, Hubs poked his head out of the bedroom and announced "There's a zombie movie on! In this one, it's tree sap!" I don't think he was surprised when I announced that I had seen it already.


    So these real life murder mysteries are just something I haven't seen yet. The first ones I watched were all husbands killing their wives. None of them got away with it, which made me feel better. I made sure I let my Hubs know about it, just in case he had any thoughts...


    One last explanation. My Hubs and I do spend evening time together, but he isn't comfortable in the living room. Maybe after we get new furniture? But he is much more comfortable in the bedroom, so he goes in there after a while so he can relax. We don't, in general, enjoy the same kinds of shows anyway.

Operation Empty Nest Phase II

    Well, today was the final day. The son is all moved into his new house, furniture and all. This time, I got to go along, so I got to see how the kids have set everything up. They did a good job. And now that the couch is all in place, there's room for tons of people to sit!


    That being said, it was traumatic for me. As we were leaving, my boy shook his dad's hand, and remarked that it was weird. Then I got a big hug, and he asked me if I was OK, and if I was going to be OK. Of course I said yes, but I was tearing up. I turned away quickly after he finally let me go.


    I did remember to take a couple of photos while they were loading the truck, for the second time. I forgot the first time. Then, after they left the first time, the sky got dark, and it got all windy, then it started to rain. Then we lost power for a little while. But by the time the boys got back, the rain had stopped and everything was drying up.

    They had gotten the first load of couch to Fishkill with no problem. Second load also made it with no problem. Whew. Tomorrow, Hubs and I are having a little empty nest get together with Graeme's mom, Kit. I feel bad for her, as she is all alone in their house for the month of June. Her Hubs is away working. So I think I will be keeping her company on those evenings that my Hubs is working.


     As a side note, I have to report that the number of crochet hooks that were found in between couch sections turned out to be 7! There was also a large knitting needle, a row counter, a cable needle, a small pair of scissors, and a stitch marker. I hear that after the first load of couch made it to Fishkill, a crochet hook fell out of one of those sections! I forgot to get it back when we were down there. Maybe next time!

Operation Empty Nest, Phase I

    Yesterday was the day when my son, and youngest child, officially moved out. He and his dad packed up his boxes, his dressers and his queen size bed, as well as some of his other miscellaneous stuff, into dad's truck, and onto a borrowed trailer. I should mention that two of the three flat screen household TV's went with him too. He even rolled up the rug from the floor of his room and took that too.


    Just now, it's beginning to hit me. He's really gone. He will be sleeping in his own house tonight. Well, dad owns it, but he lives there. Now we get to look forward to Phase II.


    That is when Jess comes back, and takes our living room furniture home with him. We have a six piece sectional, with a sleeper sofa in it, and a recliner at each end. And now it will be his. I'm happy about this, because that means we get new furniture! We also get a new TV for our bedroom! I guess that is the trade off, we lose our son, and get new stuff.


    The funny thing is that all four of the young people who are sharing this house are each the youngest in their family. So all four sets of parents having the same feelings tonight. Hubs and I will open our bottle of champagne after that phase is complete. It should be tonight. Yesterday, I totally forgot to take photos, I guess it was the shock of it all. Hopefully today I can get some.