Haunted House

Last night, I was home alone. This isn't unusual, Mike spends at least one night a week at the hospital. There have been weeks when he spends an entire week of nights there. I remember the first few nights when Mike was away- I was a little scared. I would check the locks one, two, or three times before heading to bed. I would peak in at the girls over and over to make sure they were okay. And every sound would creep me out. I would lie in bed awake, for hours, listening and worrying and about every unknown creak.  I know it was silly, but that's how it was. I have long since gotten over that. Mostly. There have been a few times when I had read a scary book, or watched a scary movie that I repeated those first all alone nights.

So, back to last night. I have been watching the series, "Drop Dead Diva" on netflix. On the episode last night, a couple was trying to get the bank to release them from their mortgage because they thought they had been sold a haunted house. Now, in all fairness, the show was not that scary. Okay, it wasn't scary at all. But as I sat there watching, I saw something move from the corner of my eye. Something outside the glass window. (I'm not a huge fan of sliding doors. Remember this?)

I glanced over, and continued to see a something moving around outside. I was definately startled, and feeling a little creeped out.

Soon, the moving thing revealed itself- it was a....

cat. Nothing but a stray gray cat. It was still a little weird though. The cat stared at me with it's green eyes through the window for a few long minutes. I don't know if it wanted in, or was just attracted to the light in an otherwise dark outside. But it totally startled me.

Tim's Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday, some of Avery's joy school friends headed to Tim's pumpkin patch. It is forty five minutes away, but worth the drive.

Instead of a sand box, they have a wheat box. (Last year it was a corn box, also a lot of fun). They have cats and dogs wondering around, a petting zoo which included some pretty cute pigs, a maze, and of course, a pumpkin patch.

Unfortunately, I guess we waited a little long to head over there this year. There were only rotten pumpkins left in the actual field. However, this did give Avery the chance to pick out a very unique pumpkin from the pre-picked pumpkins.

She chose a small, very bumpy pumpkin. She absolutely loves it!

Afterwards, Avery went to McDonald's went her joy school friends. It was a fantastic morning. On the way home, Avery said the cutest thing I think she's ever said:

"Mom, I have a lot of happy's today."

Joy school at Beaver Lake

This week was a busy week at Joy School. On Thursday, because they are learning about the joys of nature, we headed to Beaver Lake Nature center. It is a beautiful place to be in the fall.

As usual, despite the cold weather, Avery refused to wear her jacket. Or give me a normal looking smile.

I love fall here on the East coast. Unfortunately, our backyard actually looks a lot like this picture... and I don't feel like raking...

Once again, I'm not quite sure why Avery thinks that face is a smiling face, but it's the best I got. (: She was supposed to be doing a leaf rub, but didn't like that idea. She wanted to glue the leaves to her paper instead. That silly stubborn girl refused to do the craft because it wasn't how she wanted to do it.

So far, I think Avery is loving preschool. And I have to admit, it's nice to have a few hours to myself each week too.

Friends at the zoo

Last week, my friend Lindsey came up from Ithaca for a trip to the zoo with her daughter, Norah, and another friend. Lindsey was one of my room mates from BYU and I love having her so close! We didn't tell Bailey about our trip to the zoo- she is starting to realize that she misses out on a lot things being in school all day. Last time we went to the zoo with Norah, Bailey was devastated.

We got to see the new tiger triplets- they were really cute.

We always love the penguins. It seems like they like showing off to all the little kids.

While at the zoo, we sent Mike a picture of all the fun we were having, so he sent us a picture of all the fun he was having at work. It totally made us laugh. 

We love the zoo- and have to get as many trips in as we can before it gets too cold.

A little calmer

So, I'm feeling just a tiny bit calmer today. Well, I should say, just right now. I'm still really mad at some of the residents for dumping their night of call on Mike's year, while taking the better night. Even though they had the better night last year and are taking it again... Yeah. I'm still mad. And wondering why they think that is okay. Anyway, on to a related subject.

My friend pointed me to this blog about doctor wives, but nobody is really posting on it anymore. She had a link to an interesting article: http://www.humanehealthcare.com/Article.asp?art_id=138

It's all about the struggle for intimacy is doctor's marriages. As it turns out, they have a higher rate of divorce than average, and have all sorts of issues.

I'm not surprised.

This last month Mike was home a lot more than he was during the months of July and August. I am sorry to admit, that when he was home during those months, I was really mad at him. I picked fights and was basically just miserable. And it was totally subconscious. I didn't even realize I was doing it. Then, I was thinking about September compared to July and August, and realized how happy I was. This last month has been wonderful. I'm happy, he's happy, we're not fighting and it's just been a pretty great month.

October-December is not looking so great. So how do you stay happy when he's gone all the time? Any ideas?  

Even more joys of residency

Today at work, the more senior residents presented a plan to turn a nice rotation for the second years to yet another crappy one. All in the name of following the law. What a load of garbage. The truth is, it's to make their lives better, and ours even worse than it already is. What part of the law involves making Mike work all day, all night, and all the following day? That is most definitely illegal. And it's happened twice. Nobody cares if the twos work ninety hours a week, never get the required 24 hours off a week and work more than 24 hours straight. All of that is against the law, and all of that happened countless times over the last three months. I don't think Mike had twenty fours hours off in the last three months more than two or three times.

I am so angry and frustrated right now. I was really looking forward to that rotation. Now I have nothing but never ending work hours and no weekends to look forward too.

Avery's first day of joy school

This last Tuesday, Avery went to her very first day of joy school (a co-op style preschool class where the moms take turns teaching). She has been waiting for this day for what she thinks is a long time. After watching Bailey leave her behind all last year, not she has her turn.

She was so excited, and had her Hello Kitty backpack full of her very own school supplies. That little girl is adorable- doesn't she look so much like Mike? She too, was not sad to leave her mom behind. However, she did tell me that I could play with her toys while she was gone. What a sweetheart!

Later that day, she got to go to her first Ballet and Acro classes. She was in love. She had such a great time, she asked me this morning if today she had ballet again.