Friday. Sox. Celebration.

Friday afternoon I babysat for Will. We had a wonderful time, he spent the first hour just sitting with me and smiling and laughing :) Even when I'm getting paged because the Premise outbound interface is down, you can't too upset when all the while you're looking at this beautiful smile.

He ate, he slept... we took just a few pictures ;) ... we danced around to some music. Then Matt and Krissy came home. I ended up staying until after 10:00p. We ate a late dinner and then Kris and I gave Will a bath. And not sure if this was an omen or a good luck charm or but the day Will was wearing his cute Red Sox onesie--- the Red Sox clinched the AL East title for the first time in 12 years by beating the Minnesota Twins 5-2 (Yankees lost to Baltimore- final score 10-9)!! GO RED SOX!

Then as Laura is calling me from somewhere fun in NYC to ask why Boston is called Beantown..... Krissy and I got Will ready for a bath. Wild and crazy Friday night, I know!!!

Will was having an absolute blast! We caught more on the video camera but he was just laughing and smiling, kicking and splashing! It was so cute.

A great start to the weekend!

Best night on television

Last night was the Season Premiere of The Office & Grey's Anatomy (which means I stayed up way too late. Both shows are on at 9pm, so Dan and I watched the first episide of The War {by Ken Burns} then watched The Office at 9. He was smart and went to bed. I stayed up to watch Grey's and then couldn't get to sleep).

Love this clip from the end of last week's episode- detailing what each character did on their summer vacation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJwaF4EClM
Ryan, "I think I dated a black girl" Too. Funny.
Stanley, "Still here"

Grey's didn't grab me quite as much as it usually does. Good episode, started trying to tie up some loose ends from last season.

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Cabinet shopping went really well! We picked out the style, and should have some drawings emailed to us today! More to come!

Cabinet Shopping

Today's the big day for Cabinet Shopping at Cape Cod Lumber!!!

I dug out the old "house ideas" binder this morning, which has clippings from magazines and catalogs that we've been collecting for months. Its been buried on the desk in the livingroom for months now since we haven't been ready to buy anything, so I'm glad to see it resurfaced :)

I also figured it would be handy to bring some pictures so John Brassington (who will be helping us) can see what the kitchen looks like. Its amazing that now I picture it exactly as it now.... when for so long it looked soo different and was ingrained in my head that way.

So here's the journey of the kitchen thus far:

This was just after we took out the L-shaped wall between the kitchen and the dining/livingrooms.... obviously, look at the sheetrock everywhere!

Such a big difference already without that wall. We had filled the cabinets with things we found around the house, had cleaned and wanted to save. But with the cabinets coming out, everything was stored away in the endless supply of silver Rubbermaid bins we bought at Target.

Took 1 day to get them all out, piled by the door, and shortly thereafter--> into the fire pit!

All the cabinets are out and the recessed lights have been installed by the time this picture was taken in May:

Ceilings done, walls painted, floors installed and sealed. Only thing left to do is get some cabinets!

Motivational Speaking

I went to a great Customer Service/Service Improvement Motivational Speech today at work. Really tired tonight, but I wanted to get some of this down before my brain just shuts off.

The speaker- Liz Jazwiec- was this really hilarious ED Nurse originally form a hospital called Holy Cross on the South Side of Chicago. Her stories were laugh out loud funny.
http://www.lizjazz.com/home.php


Some great take home messages:

Stop making excuses

• As hospitals we always like to think we're busier or have more acute patients or have less money to work with. Its not true. If someone else has done something that works--- stop looking for reasons why "that won't work here"

Decide that Customer Service IS a priority and staff will respond

• If a nurse dropped a needle on the ground, picked it up and dusted it off, then stuck it into a patient... a manager wouldn't walk by and see and say 'that's ok' or 'i understand that you've had a bad day... i know you'll do it right next time.' NO way. That's a quality/safety issues. Can't let that slide. But if another staff member is ride or abrupt on the phone, you'd be more understanding that they had a bad. The "do whatever you have to to get through the day" mentality doesn't get us anywhere.

Staff don't have to be fully satisfied themselves in order to make the patient's stay more satisfying

• Liz told stories about how even after improving patient satisfaction from 5%-95% their rates in the ED were still terrible (8%!!). Her mentality was "I'm here to save their asses, not kiss them!" but then her job was on the line, and she told staff they needed to make it happen or she was getting sacked. The staff loved her and agreed to be nicer to patients- but were so fake about it. Still- they did it. They asked if there was anything else they could do for the patient etc... and it worked! And then ultimately the staff were more happy too.

Perception counts more than reality

• What the patient thinks about the experience is what they're taking with them. In Liz's example their ED patients felt like they did not have privacy. She thought this was ludicrous since they had stretchers everywhere. Not enough room=not enough privacy. But someone suggested as they close the patients behind their curtains to tell them explicitly they're doing it for the patient's privacy. That was all it took. Reminding patients why you're doing things and leaving a good image in their minds--- means more than the fact that the hospital meets the standards in terms of privacy.

Ninety minutes well spent. You sign up for these things and sometimes its total rubbish. This was definitely an invigorating session that had everyone smiling and talking as they left. I'm so glad I went!

Good News- Good Friends- Gorgeous Baby ;)

This email started out my day on a good note:

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CELEBRATE OUR NEW CREATION DESTINATION DESIGN TEAM

Celebrate with The Crop Shop as we announce our first Creation Destination Design Team. We had so many wonderfully creative submissions, we wish we could have chosen everyone; but for now our Design Team Board has chosen the following designers: See Below.............
Thank you to all who submitted; we appreciate your time, talent and effort. Great work, everyone!

CREATION DESTINATION DESIGN TEAM DESIGNERS

ROBIN SERINO
JENNIFER LASSONDE
CORRINE GILMORE
MICHELLE MAGEE
LYN FINN
LINDA ABADIE

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU! THE FIRST DT PRODUCT PACKAGES WILL GO OUT NEXT WEEK. ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL US.

I am so excited! I can't wait to get more details. I know they wanted some people to teach classes and others to design product for in-store displays. But no matter what they'd like me to do, I'm psyched (and the 20% off discount isn't too shabby either).

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I have been emailing with Marta off and on now that summer has died down and she's finally mastered the creating of a Shutterfly album, so I was extremely excited to get these fun pictures from her.

I swear it feels like yesterday that I was hanging out with her in Spain (but really that was almost 10 years ago), no wonder Maria and Jaume look like totally different people! But Marta is beautiful as ever. Working in the Environmental Science field she's always loved, still acting in different theater groups and clearly have a great time with her friends and her boyfriend Albert. I am so thrilled to see her looking so happy! Miss that girl!

Link to pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0YbNnDdy3YuJA

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Some more cute pictures of Will- these are from Sunday 9/23.

Will was 2 months & 2 days old in these shots! Growing up so fast:

Two of my favorite summer stories

Still catching up from this summer, and don't want to let these two things pass unrecorded.

Megg and Emelyn were home visiting from July 11-August 11 and over the course of the month we had so many fun adventures, but these two 'funnies' happened on the same day- Emelyn was just on a roll.

Megg called on a Sunday morning and said "wanna go to Plymouth" well, I was cleaning at the time and spending a hot sunny day in Plymouth sounded better than that, so I said sure. Terri, Megg and Em met me and Mom at Mom's house so we could drive there together. Well, while we're waiting for Mom to get ready and Dad was digging up plants from the sideyard where he'd moved the fence to allow a truck to drive through to remove trees from behind the fence.

Emelyn wanted to see what Dad was doing, so I told her to go over and ask him. Dad explained that he was digging up the plants and was going to move them to another part of the yard... why he was doing it etc. Then, in typical Dad fashion, he says "Can you dig it?"

Well Emelyn just looks at him, looks at me, looks at the shovel lying on the ground (that's big and metal, and probably weighs more than her), scrunches her shoulders a little and says in her smallest voice, "I can try."

That's what you get when you try to use a 70's pun on a three-year-old!!! Poor little girl thought Dad wanted her to dig the hole!! I almost fell over laughing, and then made a feeble attempt to explain things to her!

Later that afternoon in Plymouth, after walking the jetty, we stopped at Peaceful Meadows for ice cream. While we're eating, Emelyn starts eyeing the toy boat near our table and asking if she can go for a ride. We didn't give her a direct answer right away and she just kept talking when she comes out with: "but you have to put in money or it won't work. You have to put in $14!" We all died laughing. No idea where she got that figure from but she was darn sure that's how much it cost. Mom asks Emelyn if she thinks there's enough money in her wallet to pay for it- Emelyn said "oh yes. There is" so Auntie Diane took out 2 quarters (aka $15) and paid for Emelyn's boat ride.

This kid is just priceless!

A Good Night's Sleep Makes a World of Difference

I went to bed around 9:00p last night.... and woke up this morning before my alarm clock, refreshed. Strange sensation for a Monday morning, but I'm taking it as a good omen that its going to be a good week. Has to help to start out on a good note right?

In other news, we have an appointment to meet with John Brassington at CCL on Thursday at 4:00 to pick out cabinets. I can't wait for that. We'd already gone and picked out what we think we'd like, but not down to specific measurements and what cabinets we can fit, what wood etc. I think CCL actually comes out to the house to measure and all of that good stuff too, but Thursday is the consultation.

And this is probably the strangest tid bit I have to report- I am kicking some butt in my Fantasy Football League (as if just playing Fantasy Football isn't strange enough for me, right?!). Here the gist: Christine asked me if I wanted to join her brother's team since they needed an extra person. No money at stake, so basically nothing to lose. I figured why not. I didn't adjust settings too much before the draft because, let's face it, I know pretty much nothing about football. I did tweak a few preferences for Patriots players I knew to be consistently good and let it ride. Well, I've won my first two games!!! Is it luck? Probably, because again I have no clue what I'm doing!! But it did make watching the games more enjoyable yesterday (well, let's clarify that-- it made being in a house with football on more enjoyable- I pretty much watched the baby, but Dan and Matt called out to me when "my players" were doing well!! that's ok with me!)

The week ahead:

• Might be going to Gram's for dinner on Tuesday night to hear more about Mom and Dad's Disney Anniversary Vacation and see some pictures.
• Gram has a 40% Michael's coupon for me-- so I'm hoping to get a tote to bring to the LM Crop in November
• Cabinet shopping on Thursday
• Babysitting Will on Friday :)

Weekend Recap

Its been a lazy sort of weekend, which is just what I needed after the busiest week of work I've had in months!



Friday night the whole gang went to Jamie's in Marshfield to see Mike Jolls' new band- Road Soda. They were great! I was so impressed. They have the old singer from Dick N Jane, Kristi. And Shayna from DnJ came in and sang a few songs with them. SO much fun!
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=208480956


Saturday morning I had a massage with Sheri at 11:30. Boy was I overdue!!! My back is still an absolute mess, but it felt wonderful for an hour :) And I already made my appointment for October. It can't come too soon.

After that I came home with grand plans to scrapbook the afternoon away. I got 2 LOs done, but then was just feeling extremely blah and almost sick to my stomach. Strange. Took that as a sign to just chill out. Then we headed to Matt and Krissy's for dinner. Matt and Jenn O'Brien (and their boys) pulled in at the same time as us (they had called on their way back from the beach to see if there were any plans). We had a great night... chatting and catching up. Playing with Will.

Got this cutie picture of Will in his Lazy Frog onesie from Uncle Danny.

The cutest tadpole in town:
The plan was to head home around 10p- I was pooped, but Dan and Matt got sucked into YouTube, so once I got Will asleep, I finally got some rest too. Can't complain about leaving late when you've got your favorite nephew sleeping on your chest ;) So yep. Good night!

Sunday morning-- did 4 loads of laundry. Puttered in the scraproom. No motivation. Headed to Matt and Krissy's at 2:30ish. Watched the Pats crush the Bills. Played with Will who was laughing up a storm. Looked at plans for Krissy's dream house. Ate some yummy blackened chicken, green beans and rice a la Krissy. And just enjoyed the day.

Now we're home. Dan fell asleep before 8p! Wiped. Think that's the only word for it. I'm not far behind him. Still got some catching up to do I guess. On that note. Nighty night!

Some good news-- finally!

Dan heard from Michael on Tuesday night saying that he's mailing the paperwork to put the deed in Dan's name and while that will take a few weeks for the courts to process, he'll receive a certificate in the meantime that will enable him to apply for the loan! It finally feels like we've got some forward movement on this, which is so exciting!

In the meantime, Dan's starting to build the shower and has ordered the tiles (aka pebbles) for the shower floor, and we're going to look at cabinets and have someone out to measure so we can order those soon today.

This is so huge!

Now if I could only get my car in too, I'd be all set ;)

And in the meantime-- updated pictures of the hardwood floors which have been sealed and are looking beautiful!!!

Does it get any cuter than this?

Still catching up on posts, and I feel like I've completely neglected by favorite new addition to planet earth- Williard Carlton Litchfield II. This boy is simply the cutest thing ever. Gave him Mom a bit of trouble on the way out, but he got here safe and sound, and we've loved him every minute since then.

I try to get over to visit with him every 5-7 days because the little man changes so much every time I see him. I went over there on Friday night. When I got there, Kris was ready to give him a bath, so I helped out. Poor little bugger was not liking it at first, but once Krissy poured the water on him to rinse he calmed right down and loved every minute from there on in. Got him all snuggled in his jammies and bounced him while he was cranky and then he passed out in his swing-- perfect timing since Matt had finished dinner (mmm... chicken on the grill).

Look at that little smirk!!! This picture was taken the Tuesday after Labor Day. I had the day off and went over to visit in the afternoon. Will had been up all night-- and of course so had Krissy. He was in a great mood when I first got there and we snapped these pictures--- then Kris went up to take a well deserved nap :)

This was taken one night after dinner. Will was in his chair on the kitchen floor as we ate, and then just got all giggly. Krissy sure does know how to get him going. Love that little smile!!!

This was taken the same night as the last picture. Almost time for bed-- hanging out with Daddy :) CUTIE PIE!

And of course this sweet little thing is surely a reminder of his namesake. I know we all think of Bill more than once each time we see this cute little baby that he would have given anything to meet. You would think that 9 months later things wouldn't seem so strange but every time we go to the house in Scituate it still feels like something is missing. And when I see Marilyn, Allen, Terri and Doug with Will, it just makes my heart ache to know that Will will never really know Bill like we did. But there are so many people who loved his grandfather so much and will be there to teach him some of the myriad of things that Bill knew and recount all of the fun stories about him.

Sox Mosaic!

This is my something new learned for today! Uploading to flickr and then making a mosaic. May not seem like much, but I'm pretty proud of it ;)

I'm baaack

Ok, yet again I am making a goal to blog more and I'm going to do it this time!

I feel like there's been so much exciting stuff going on and now that I'm taking more (and better) pictures, I love emailing them and including cute little stories- but I'm slowly coming around to the idea that it makes more sense to do that here where it is preserved by the Internet gods ;)

So here's a smattering of pictures from the Red Sox Game I went to with Mom, Dad and Jeff on Labor Day. I tell you, something about Fenway just makes it the coolest place ever. The crisp, bold, patriotic colors, the various scents of food and drink and just the joy that fills that place. I love it! It never gets old.

Have I mentioned I like my camera?!?!

9-11-07 What a Difference a Year Makes!

Bear with me as I get sentimental for a minute! This time last year I was sitting in the Emergency Department with my 24 year old brother, Jeff, watching coverage of the 5th Anniversary of 9/11 and waiting on the news that he had a brain tumor. We thought he had migraines or a virus-- how very wrong we were. What an awful, awful morning. I've never been more scared in my whole life. It didn't seem real- and yet, the next day we were shaving his head ...and the day after that (Wed) he had his first brain surgery. By Thursday he was up and walking-- talk about amazing stuff!!! If you have to have brain surgery you're lucky to be 24 and fit as a fiddle!

Friday he had surgery again, and thankfully this time they removed the entire tumor! He is still doing well, thank God, one year later though the recovery was a very long road. So strange seeing someone so young and healthy unable to walk around the house more than once in a day, sleeping on the first floor because the stairs were just too much. And yet, he prevailed. To date he's had many MRIs and still nothing else has been found. He's one lucky kid, and I'm one grateful sister! This is him last Monday at the Sox game. You'd never know there was ever anything wrong with him!

We're so blessed! I know this is a tough day for so many in America, but I just have to feel lucky that sometimes things DO turn out ok, and when they do, you have to remember that. I will always remember how lucky we are on this day. Thanks for peeking in Had to share my happiness today!