Another lovely day in Oklahoma. . .

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Aww they are cuties

 

[Kitty 34]

Aww they are cuties

Thanks Mackenzie. That was the first time we had seen or met Vivian since she was 4 weeks old over a year ago. She was still quite shy and uncertain with her surroundings. Will on the other hand was happy with anything and everything unless he got hungry!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Thanks Mackenzie. That was the first time we had seen or met Vivian since she was 4 weeks old over a year ago. She was still quite shy and uncertain with her surroundings. Will on the other hand was happy with anything and everything unless he got hungry!!

I know the feeling about being hungry

 

[Micca]

@Kitty 34 Great pic of you & the kids!

 

[leebee]

Hello! As I posted elsewhere on the CB, I have a new job! It came as kind-of a surprise, as I'd pretty much forgotten I'd applied. The ad was only posted a week before the application deadline, which was Oct. 11. I guess I'd subconsciously accepted that I wasn't going to be interviewed, when BOOM! There was an email asking to set up a Skype interview! I had the interview on the Monday of Thanksgiving week (USA) and they emailed this past week (on Tuesday) to offer me the job. The salary will more than double what I make now, so THAT's good, but it was very hard to actually accept the position. I love what I do now; I'm half-way through my 10th year of teaching math through special ed in a K-5 elementary school. I teach kids in a one-on-one (or small group) format. Most of my kids have some form of learning disability or ADHD. I am one of 4 teachers in a resource room, where we have about 30 kids who come and go for an hour or two every day. It's challenging and fun and I've grown into being a good teacher. I love my school, co-workers, and students... I'm going to be pretty sad when I have to leave. HOWEVER... DH had a surgical complication last winter (knee surgery that got infected), ended up spending 7 weeks in hospital/nursing home, and his knee/leg will never be the same. His strength and stamina are limited and he just can't keep working one full-time and 2 part-time jobs (not simultaneously.. but still puts in about 60 hours a week). This new job, with MUCH better pay, is what we need me to do to take the stress off him. SO... starting on Jan. 2, I will be the organic chemistry manager/lecturer in the Chem Dept. at UMaine. I'll manage the teaching lab, supervise grad students, handle the budget and ordering, and do some teaching myself. I'm a little nervous; I haven't taken an o-chem class since 1978, o-chem lab in 1983. However, the hiring team had both my CV and my transcripts, so they know my limitations- and they hired me anyway! I will stay in my current job until 12/22, when Christmas vacation starts, although I'm now wishing I'd resigned for a week earlier, so I could get a little vacation in. Christmas and the holidays aren't really very relaxing at all!

Speaking of Christmas, I have to get my tail in gear. We've put up the outside lights and will put up the tree next weekend. Also next Saturday, I'll go see my first of 3 Nutcracker performances. DD24 is a semi-professional dancer, so for decades we've been going to see her and her friends perform in Nut. Usually I see 10 performances a season, so it's really different now that she's in Connecticut and not dancing with her companies up here. On Saturday 12/9 we'll go see Bangor Ballet perform their version, "Nutcracker in a Nutshell," which is a child's version of the show, lasting about an hour. This is more of a labor of love for me; it's DD's home dance studio, her first ballet company, and I used to serve on the Board of Directors. DD will come home on 12/15, arriving in Augusta at 10:15pm. It's about a 90 minute drive from here and I'm TOAST if it's snowing, but a friend and I will go see Bossov Ballet's Nutcracker in Waterville that night. One of DD's friends is dancing the Sugar Plum role and as I have to be in Augusta to get DD anyway, we decided to go to the ballet first. THEN on 12/16, we will go to Robinson Ballet's Nutcracker here at UMaine. This is always a great show- with live music by the Bangor Symphony. DD danced with this company for 12 years, was a contributing artist and ballet mistress, and actually GOT PAID to do ballet for the last 5 years she was with them. It's always a little heart-breaking to see this show, as I know I'll never see DD again on pointe (foot injury, can't do it anymore) and I did so love seeing her as Dew Drop, in Waltz of the Flowers and as a snow soloist, and of course in her favorite role as Chocolate from Spain. (if I had any idea of how to post pics, I would!) ANYHOW... somehow with all this driving around Maine, I'm supposed to get some Christmas shopping done, the house cleaned, presents wrapped, and REVIEW ALL OF CHEMISTRY so I'm ready to start my new job on January 2nd! (some days I think I'm too old for all this crap!) OH YES.. and do some laundry... Anyhow, glad to see everyone is still posting and doing fun things!

 

[jevs]

Christmas, much like my trip report is still in progress. Aiming to get the tree up by December 24th

 

[NFLDERS]

Hello! As I posted elsewhere on the CB, I have a new job! It came as kind-of a surprise, as I'd pretty much forgotten I'd applied. The ad was only posted a week before the application deadline, which was Oct. 11. I guess I'd subconsciously accepted that I wasn't going to be interviewed, when BOOM! There was an email asking to set up a Skype interview! I had the interview on the Monday of Thanksgiving week (USA) and they emailed this past week (on Tuesday) to offer me the job. The salary will more than double what I make now, so THAT's good, but it was very hard to actually accept the position. I love what I do now; I'm half-way through my 10th year of teaching math through special ed in a K-5 elementary school. I teach kids in a one-on-one (or small group) format. Most of my kids have some form of learning disability or ADHD. I am one of 4 teachers in a resource room, where we have about 30 kids who come and go for an hour or two every day. It's challenging and fun and I've grown into being a good teacher. I love my school, co-workers, and students... I'm going to be pretty sad when I have to leave. HOWEVER... DH had a surgical complication last winter (knee surgery that got infected), ended up spending 7 weeks in hospital/nursing home, and his knee/leg will never be the same. His strength and stamina are limited and he just can't keep working one full-time and 2 part-time jobs (not simultaneously.. but still puts in about 60 hours a week). This new job, with MUCH better pay, is what we need me to do to take the stress off him. SO... starting on Jan. 2, I will be the organic chemistry manager/lecturer in the Chem Dept. at UMaine. I'll manage the teaching lab, supervise grad students, handle the budget and ordering, and do some teaching myself. I'm a little nervous; I haven't taken an o-chem class since 1978, o-chem lab in 1983. However, the hiring team had both my CV and my transcripts, so they know my limitations- and they hired me anyway! I will stay in my current job until 12/22, when Christmas vacation starts, although I'm now wishing I'd resigned for a week earlier, so I could get a little vacation in. Christmas and the holidays aren't really very relaxing at all!

Speaking of Christmas, I have to get my tail in gear. We've put up the outside lights and will put up the tree next weekend. Also next Saturday, I'll go see my first of 3 Nutcracker performances. DD24 is a semi-professional dancer, so for decades we've been going to see her and her friends perform in Nut. Usually I see 10 performances a season, so it's really different now that she's in Connecticut and not dancing with her companies up here. On Saturday 12/9 we'll go see Bangor Ballet perform their version, "Nutcracker in a Nutshell," which is a child's version of the show, lasting about an hour. This is more of a labor of love for me; it's DD's home dance studio, her first ballet company, and I used to serve on the Board of Directors. DD will come home on 12/15, arriving in Augusta at 10:15pm. It's about a 90 minute drive from here and I'm TOAST if it's snowing, but a friend and I will go see Bossov Ballet's Nutcracker in Waterville that night. One of DD's friends is dancing the Sugar Plum role and as I have to be in Augusta to get DD anyway, we decided to go to the ballet first. THEN on 12/16, we will go to Robinson Ballet's Nutcracker here at UMaine. This is always a great show- with live music by the Bangor Symphony. DD danced with this company for 12 years, was a contributing artist and ballet mistress, and actually GOT PAID to do ballet for the last 5 years she was with them. It's always a little heart-breaking to see this show, as I know I'll never see DD again on pointe (foot injury, can't do it anymore) and I did so love seeing her as Dew Drop, in Waltz of the Flowers and as a snow soloist, and of course in her favorite role as Chocolate from Spain. (if I had any idea of how to post pics, I would!) ANYHOW... somehow with all this driving around Maine, I'm supposed to get some Christmas shopping done, the house cleaned, presents wrapped, and REVIEW ALL OF CHEMISTRY so I'm ready to start my new job on January 2nd! (some days I think I'm too old for all this crap!) OH YES.. and do some laundry... Anyhow, glad to see everyone is still posting and doing fun things!

CONGRATS!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Sorry guys...not sure how to crop or change pic sizes. This is me and my grandson Will in the jumper and Vivian on the floor.

How's everyone doing? This thread hasn't been around in awhile but I think of all of you and see many of you (and like of course many of you) on other threads!!

Great picture, Kitty!!! Thanks for sharing.

Hello! As I posted elsewhere on the CB, I have a new job! It came as kind-of a surprise, as I'd pretty much forgotten I'd applied. The ad was only posted a week before the application deadline, which was Oct. 11. I guess I'd subconsciously accepted that I wasn't going to be interviewed, when BOOM! There was an email asking to set up a Skype interview! I had the interview on the Monday of Thanksgiving week (USA) and they emailed this past week (on Tuesday) to offer me the job. The salary will more than double what I make now, so THAT's good, but it was very hard to actually accept the position. I love what I do now; I'm half-way through my 10th year of teaching math through special ed in a K-5 elementary school. I teach kids in a one-on-one (or small group) format. Most of my kids have some form of learning disability or ADHD. I am one of 4 teachers in a resource room, where we have about 30 kids who come and go for an hour or two every day. It's challenging and fun and I've grown into being a good teacher. I love my school, co-workers, and students... I'm going to be pretty sad when I have to leave. HOWEVER... DH had a surgical complication last winter (knee surgery that got infected), ended up spending 7 weeks in hospital/nursing home, and his knee/leg will never be the same. His strength and stamina are limited and he just can't keep working one full-time and 2 part-time jobs (not simultaneously.. but still puts in about 60 hours a week). This new job, with MUCH better pay, is what we need me to do to take the stress off him. SO... starting on Jan. 2, I will be the organic chemistry manager/lecturer in the Chem Dept. at UMaine. I'll manage the teaching lab, supervise grad students, handle the budget and ordering, and do some teaching myself. I'm a little nervous; I haven't taken an o-chem class since 1978, o-chem lab in 1983. However, the hiring team had both my CV and my transcripts, so they know my limitations- and they hired me anyway! I will stay in my current job until 12/22, when Christmas vacation starts, although I'm now wishing I'd resigned for a week earlier, so I could get a little vacation in. Christmas and the holidays aren't really very relaxing at all!

Speaking of Christmas, I have to get my tail in gear. We've put up the outside lights and will put up the tree next weekend. Also next Saturday, I'll go see my first of 3 Nutcracker performances. DD24 is a semi-professional dancer, so for decades we've been going to see her and her friends perform in Nut. Usually I see 10 performances a season, so it's really different now that she's in Connecticut and not dancing with her companies up here. On Saturday 12/9 we'll go see Bangor Ballet perform their version, "Nutcracker in a Nutshell," which is a child's version of the show, lasting about an hour. This is more of a labor of love for me; it's DD's home dance studio, her first ballet company, and I used to serve on the Board of Directors. DD will come home on 12/15, arriving in Augusta at 10:15pm. It's about a 90 minute drive from here and I'm TOAST if it's snowing, but a friend and I will go see Bossov Ballet's Nutcracker in Waterville that night. One of DD's friends is dancing the Sugar Plum role and as I have to be in Augusta to get DD anyway, we decided to go to the ballet first. THEN on 12/16, we will go to Robinson Ballet's Nutcracker here at UMaine. This is always a great show- with live music by the Bangor Symphony. DD danced with this company for 12 years, was a contributing artist and ballet mistress, and actually GOT PAID to do ballet for the last 5 years she was with them. It's always a little heart-breaking to see this show, as I know I'll never see DD again on pointe (foot injury, can't do it anymore) and I did so love seeing her as Dew Drop, in Waltz of the Flowers and as a snow soloist, and of course in her favorite role as Chocolate from Spain. (if I had any idea of how to post pics, I would!) ANYHOW... somehow with all this driving around Maine, I'm supposed to get some Christmas shopping done, the house cleaned, presents wrapped, and REVIEW ALL OF CHEMISTRY so I'm ready to start my new job on January 2nd! (some days I think I'm too old for all this crap!) OH YES.. and do some laundry... Anyhow, glad to see everyone is still posting and doing fun things!

That's great, leebee. Best wishes with your new job. And hoping your husband improves as time goes on. Enjoy the Nutcrackers.

 

[Micca]

@leebee WOW Congrats on the new job! Amazing post! Classic case of "everything falling into place." You'll be seeing more ballet in a few days than I have in a lifetime.

DGDs will be dropping by for breakfast this week and we'll get them off to school while their daddy goes hunting. There is venison chili in my future!

 

[leebee]

@leebee WOW Congrats on the new job! Amazing post! Classic case of "everything falling into place." You'll be seeing more ballet in a few days than I have in a lifetime.

DGDs will be dropping by for breakfast this week and we'll get them off to school while their daddy goes hunting. There is venison chili in my future!

And you'll be eating more venison than I ever have in a lifetime!

 

[NFLDERS]

And you'll be eating more venison than I ever have in a lifetime!

You don't know what your missing girl!

 

[leebee]

You don't know what your missing girl!

I've only had venison twice. My parents had a friend who "got a deer" in the summer, out of season, so there was a big, secret barbecue to use it up. I was maybe 12, and horrified at the thought of eating Bambi! I didn't like the venison- found it stringy and gamey. I also had ground venison in spaghetti sauce once while I was in grad school; it was OK, but nothing I really liked. I'd try it again sometime- I'm pretty adventurous about food. We went to DH's Holiday Party on Saturday. It was an amazing spread, and I tried 2 new foods: goat and elk. I liked them both, especially the elk! Tender, flavorful... definitely not what I was expecting! The food was incredible, including a dessert buffet with 30 different offerings. My favorite foods of the evening were the rack of lamb chops, the scallop-ginger potstickers, and the elk! (The lobster stuffed squid was pretty good, too... and the crabmeat stuffed shrimp, and the duck confit, and the pork belly, and the coconut shrimp, and... Yup, it was a pretty amazing party!)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Hello! As I posted elsewhere on the CB, I have a new job! It came as kind-of a surprise, as I'd pretty much forgotten I'd applied. The ad was only posted a week before the application deadline, which was Oct. 11. I guess I'd subconsciously accepted that I wasn't going to be interviewed, when BOOM! There was an email asking to set up a Skype interview! I had the interview on the Monday of Thanksgiving week (USA) and they emailed this past week (on Tuesday) to offer me the job. The salary will more than double what I make now, so THAT's good, but it was very hard to actually accept the position. I love what I do now; I'm half-way through my 10th year of teaching math through special ed in a K-5 elementary school. I teach kids in a one-on-one (or small group) format. Most of my kids have some form of learning disability or ADHD. I am one of 4 teachers in a resource room, where we have about 30 kids who come and go for an hour or two every day. It's challenging and fun and I've grown into being a good teacher. I love my school, co-workers, and students... I'm going to be pretty sad when I have to leave. HOWEVER... DH had a surgical complication last winter (knee surgery that got infected), ended up spending 7 weeks in hospital/nursing home, and his knee/leg will never be the same. His strength and stamina are limited and he just can't keep working one full-time and 2 part-time jobs (not simultaneously.. but still puts in about 60 hours a week). This new job, with MUCH better pay, is what we need me to do to take the stress off him. SO... starting on Jan. 2, I will be the organic chemistry manager/lecturer in the Chem Dept. at UMaine. I'll manage the teaching lab, supervise grad students, handle the budget and ordering, and do some teaching myself. I'm a little nervous; I haven't taken an o-chem class since 1978, o-chem lab in 1983. However, the hiring team had both my CV and my transcripts, so they know my limitations- and they hired me anyway! I will stay in my current job until 12/22, when Christmas vacation starts, although I'm now wishing I'd resigned for a week earlier, so I could get a little vacation in. Christmas and the holidays aren't really very relaxing at all!

Speaking of Christmas, I have to get my tail in gear. We've put up the outside lights and will put up the tree next weekend. Also next Saturday, I'll go see my first of 3 Nutcracker performances. DD24 is a semi-professional dancer, so for decades we've been going to see her and her friends perform in Nut. Usually I see 10 performances a season, so it's really different now that she's in Connecticut and not dancing with her companies up here. On Saturday 12/9 we'll go see Bangor Ballet perform their version, "Nutcracker in a Nutshell," which is a child's version of the show, lasting about an hour. This is more of a labor of love for me; it's DD's home dance studio, her first ballet company, and I used to serve on the Board of Directors. DD will come home on 12/15, arriving in Augusta at 10:15pm. It's about a 90 minute drive from here and I'm TOAST if it's snowing, but a friend and I will go see Bossov Ballet's Nutcracker in Waterville that night. One of DD's friends is dancing the Sugar Plum role and as I have to be in Augusta to get DD anyway, we decided to go to the ballet first. THEN on 12/16, we will go to Robinson Ballet's Nutcracker here at UMaine. This is always a great show- with live music by the Bangor Symphony. DD danced with this company for 12 years, was a contributing artist and ballet mistress, and actually GOT PAID to do ballet for the last 5 years she was with them. It's always a little heart-breaking to see this show, as I know I'll never see DD again on pointe (foot injury, can't do it anymore) and I did so love seeing her as Dew Drop, in Waltz of the Flowers and as a snow soloist, and of course in her favorite role as Chocolate from Spain. (if I had any idea of how to post pics, I would!) ANYHOW... somehow with all this driving around Maine, I'm supposed to get some Christmas shopping done, the house cleaned, presents wrapped, and REVIEW ALL OF CHEMISTRY so I'm ready to start my new job on January 2nd! (some days I think I'm too old for all this crap!) OH YES.. and do some laundry... Anyhow, glad to see everyone is still posting and doing fun things!

Good luck and congrats on the new job!!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've had venison like once in my life. It was jerky though. I couldn't eat anymore after finding that out

No hard feelings though to those who love it it's just not for me.

 

[NFLDERS]

I've only had venison twice. My parents had a friend who "got a deer" in the summer, out of season, so there was a big, secret barbecue to use it up. I was maybe 12, and horrified at the thought of eating Bambi! I didn't like the venison- found it stringy and gamey. I also had ground venison in spaghetti sauce once while I was in grad school; it was OK, but nothing I really liked. I'd try it again sometime- I'm pretty adventurous about food. We went to DH's Holiday Party on Saturday. It was an amazing spread, and I tried 2 new foods: goat and elk. I liked them both, especially the elk! Tender, flavorful... definitely not what I was expecting! The food was incredible, including a dessert buffet with 30 different offerings. My favorite foods of the evening were the rack of lamb chops, the scallop-ginger potstickers, and the elk! (The lobster stuffed squid was pretty good, too... and the crabmeat stuffed shrimp, and the duck confit, and the pork belly, and the coconut shrimp, and... Yup, it was a pretty amazing party!)

OMGoodness! Those food offerings, superb, WOW!

 

[Micca]

I've had venison like once in my life. It was jerky though. I couldn't eat anymore after finding that out

No hard feelings though to those who love it it's just not for me.

I totally understand. I'm not a hunter or gun guy, if my son-in-law didn't bring it home I probably wouldn't eat it either. Somehow the chili he makes is just wonderful, the ground meat is even more tender than ground beef many people use to make chili. He also has some venison summer sausage that is really good.

I've eaten some semi-exotic things but never tried goat or elk.

My favorite foods of the evening were the rack of lamb chops, the scallop-ginger potstickers, and the elk! (The lobster stuffed squid was pretty good, too... and the crabmeat stuffed shrimp, and the duck confit, and the pork belly, and the coconut shrimp, and... Yup, it was a pretty amazing party!)

That all sounds really good. My local grocery store has begun stocking leg of lamb for the holidays. I'm really tempted but it's very expensive, I'm not sure I could cook it properly, and I'd probably be the only one who'd eat it. Well...maybe my son-in-law would try it.

 

[NFLDERS]

Reptile cage is painted..

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I totally understand. I'm not a hunter or gun guy, if my son-in-law didn't bring it home I probably wouldn't eat it either. Somehow the chili he makes is just wonderful, the ground meat is even more tender than ground beef many people use to make chili. He also has some venison summer sausage that is really good.

I've eaten some semi-exotic things but never tried goat or elk.

As I got older I got a bit more sensitive to animal stuff. I love meat for sure I just don't like to think about where it came from lol I know that sounds bad.

On the deer bit..it's probably a big combination of seeing them around me all the time. This is a common enough sight around me:
This is our backyard at the end of this September.

And even though hunting is prohibited in residential areas so I wouldn't have to worry about someone hunting them (I have seen 3 deer in 3 years be on the side of the road in our neighborhood because they were hit though ) it's just the thought. That's not to say that the deer jerky I had wasn't good--because it was lol--but I'll stick with beef jerky from now on lol

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Reptile cage is painted..
View attachment 286931

Looks good. Love the color used

 

[NFLDERS]

Looks good. Love the color used

Ds, and ddil wanted black to go with their other black/beige furnishings!