2005, So Far

I've been thinking about doing a new entry since the new year started. There's a pretty good chance I'd've done one in the first few days of '05 if our modem hadn't died on the 2nd, but it's also been over a week since we got the new one, so who knows?

Joe came down and spent New Year's weekend with us. He was here from Friday night thru Sunday afternoon. It had been several months since I'd seen him and even longer since Kat or Becky had, since the last time I saw him we met in CCPhilly so I could give him some stuff I'd bought for him.

So, naturally, Becky didn't recognize Joe at all. But she accepted and took to him especially quickly; the quickest she ever has. By the end of his time here, Joe definitely had a friend in Becky, and Becky definitely had yet another member in her ever-expanding fan club!

In one sense, we really didn't do much(of anything) while Joe was here, yet in another we did a lot. I guess it's all in how you look at it.

Most of the non-sleeping, non-eating part of the weekend was spent watching various DVD's(As well as a fair amount of the eating part of the weekend too, lol). Everything from Veggie Tales to M*A*S*H to movies. Joe's majorly into DVDs and we just got our DVD player hooked up about a month ago and have been buying a LOT of DVDs since then, so it was fun for all.

We also did some shopping on Saturday. Yes, it was New Year's Day, but a fair amount of Mac Dade Mall was open. Including K-Mart, where Joe got 2 pair of sneakers and I got "Field Of Dreams" on DVD. Joe went there specifically looking for sneakers, and when he found some in his size for $10/pair, it made sense(and cents, lol) to get 2 pair.

We also went to PathMark. Mostly cuz they had Scott Tissue on sale(for even less than BJ's sells it for), but we also got other stuff too. Including - surprise! - more DVDs, lol.

Sunday was the day of the Phantoms game that I'd gotten freebie tix from that website for. Between registering myself & Kat there, we'd gotten 4 tix. Origionally, it was gonna be Katrina, Aaron, Betty and myself(plus Becky) who went, but Kat was sick and Betty had other plans, so I had 2 "extra" free tix. Eventually, Janet Brown's hubby and son agreed to meet us there, which was nice. Not only cuz I like them, but also cuz it would stink to have FREE tix go unused!

So, Joe & I took the R2 into CCPhilly on Sunday afternoon. From there, I went to the Phantoms game, and he took GH back to NY.

The Phantoms lost the game, to the Amerks, but it was still fun. And, since you often get what you PAY for, we couldn't complain about the loss, right?;)

When I got home from the game, I couldn't get the computer to work right. The puter itself worked ok, in terms of spreadsheets, CDs, etc., but I couldn't get online. I didn't really feel like dealing with it right then tho, especially since I knew it was too late to reach a PERSON @RCN, so I decided to wait till Monday morning to deal with it.

So, on Monday, once I determined that nothing had improved since the night before, I called RCN. They were able to figure out that the problem was, indeed, with the(ir) modem and NOT my puter - which would have been very possible, considering all the difficulties, problems, and "issues" I've been having with my puter lately.

Unfortunately, they also couldn't come fix it till Friday. So, while the repairs would be free, we were left webless till then.

I NEVER realized how "dependent" you can become on something that's, in truth, a NON-essential till then! All week, I felt so detached, cut off, and "out of touch" from things. Everything from my friends to the sportsworld, etc.

I did go over to the library to use their web-linked puter for about an hour on Wednesday. Of course, as a result of this, I now have a Glenolden library card.

I had a molar removed on Tuesday. Not fun at all, but that tooth's been givving me problems off and on for several years, so it was nice to finally get it resolved for good, even tho losing a tooth is never a good thing.

We also finally got around to joining the 700 Club that Tuesday. We'd been talking about it for awhile, and had pretty much decided to do it before this, we just hadn't DONE IT till then. But we did, and we also ordered the "Pat's Weightloss Challenge" DVD kit for Kat at the same time.

I don't agree with all of the theology or other views expressed on the 700 Club, but I agree with a lot more of it than I disagree with. And, after seeing the excellent help and relief work their "Operation Blessing" did after all the '04 Fl. hurricanes and now with the Tsunami in Southeastern Asia, we really wanted to do our part to help. I'm already wanting to double our contribution, but we'll continue to pray about it and see how just being committed to regularly contributing goes first.

Kat took a pregnancy test on Thursday and it came up positive. So, while we don't have an official confirmation(or due date, or count, or ultrasound) yet, we're figuring that #2 is due sometime in late July or early-to-mid August! :)

Kat's parents arrived on Friday night, since Saturday was Becky's 2nd Birthday and party. Saturday's party went well, tho my dad wasn't able to make it. He spent most of '04 with one bug or illness or another, and it seems that '05's picked up right where '04 left off, at least in that respect. :(

We weren't planning on telling many people(or any parents) about the pregnancy at first, having "learned" about telling too many too soon from our miscarriage of September '03. We only told our pastor and his wife - as well as Chip & Chris and their family - at first, and this was mostly just for prayer support. But Kat ended up telling her mom, who told her dad, so then we told her sister over the phone during the weekend.

But we still didn't want to tell my mom, so that meant we had to keep tight lips about it at the party. This was somewhat difficult at times, when we would have really liked to tell various friends we know'd pray for us about it in person, but we told each of them later - albeit not in person - so it all worked out ok.

Between Sunday and Monday, several things happened that were all related to Kat's job. The eventual result of all of them was that she's no longer a treatment nurse at her job, she's back to being a floor nurse. But this'll be much easier on her, with a lot less responsibility and "politics(read: BS!)" to deal with, so it's a good thing overall.

The worst of it is that her weekends off switched, they're just 2-day weekends now, and she'll have to work every other Sunday. But the good part about no more 3-day weekends is she won't be working 10 days out of 11 in a row anymore either, which is especially good since she's pregnant. And the scheduling coordinator told her she'll give her Sunday's off rather than the following Monday whenever possible, so that'll work out ok too.

So, Kat went back to work last Wednesday. She was able to juggle things so that she had this weekend off, even tho it's no longer her off weekend, technically. So, she was able to do her regularly scheduled week in the church nursery(but I juggled the remaining schedule to get her weeks in the nursery all on her "off" Sundays) and was also able to be present and vote at the Annual Meeting as well.

I got elected as one of the deacons for '05 at the Annual Meeting. The other 2 are Brian Borowski & Kevin Gibson. There's no quota on how many we have, but we had 3 last year and we'll have 3 again this year.

Another church member had been one for a few years, but he wasn't re-elected. Both Kat & I are ok with this(and neither of us voted for him), cuz we don't really feel that he's qualified.

I'm not even sure if he knows he didn't get re-elected or not yet, cuz he left the meeting before the voting took place. He didn't tell me the reason, but the fact that he left almost exactly at 1 - which was when yesterday's Eagles playoff game started - and wore an Eagles jersey to church(far from the first time) pretty much tells me why he left when he did. This spoke volumes to me as to his true priorities, and I'm prolly not the only one who noticed his early departure or the "curiously coincedental" timing of it.

But the fact of his not being a deacon this year isn't anywhere near as important or significant to me as the fact that I am one is. I've never done anything like this before, but there's certainly no reason not to start now. It should be interesting as well as stretching, and no-doubt frustrating as well at times.

Of course, this also commits us to staying @CBC for all of '05, and I accepted the nomination fully aware of this. Partly cuz we're really feeling at peace about staying there for awhile(at least) and partly cuz we won't be wanting to be steeplechasing this Summer, right around the arrival time of baby #2.