Moving...again!

Well, it's been awhile since I blogged, but tonight I find myself homeless but in a hotel with air conditioning. What a luxury!! I will never take it for granted again. Anyway, I have nothing else to do so I thought I would update my blog.

We have spent the last year in an inconsiderate neighborhood, listening to other people's music, fighting, honking horns and random firecracker shows at all hours of the day and night. I didn't want to believe we were living in the hood. Most of the houses on our street are decent old Victrians, some of which have been converted into multi-family residences. There are only a few questionable looking houses. But Monday night made me come to terms with reality...we are in the hood. I was awakened at 2:30 am with what I thought was yet another firecraker show, only to find out today it was an automatic gun being fired at the house across the street and 2 doors down. A drive by shooting!! In Maine! Luckily we moved out of the house today, but we have to wait until tomorrow to get the keys to our new place.

No more sharing a bathroom with Ed. Or sharing closet space with him. We each have our own bathroom and closet again. Hopefully we are going to have some piece and quiet in our new neighborhood. We also have a little patio for eating breakfast on like we did in Hawaii. We have missed al fresco dining. And we will have a garage, which means no more cleaning snow off the car this winter. Now if I could wiggle my nose and have everything put away...

A photo book for Ed

This is my first attempt at making a photo book. I had alot of Ed's photos from when he was little digitally scanned by a professional so I could create a photo book for him for Valentine's Day. I wanted to do it scrap book style, but the techniques required alot of time. I had to abandon that idea in order to finish it time for it to be printed and shipped by Valentine's Day. I know some of you wanted to view it online but couldn't, so here are some photos. Top left photo is front cover and top right is first page.The bottom half is a 2 page spread of pages 2&3.

2 page spread of pages 4&5 and 6&7


2 page spread of 8&9 and 10&11


2 page spread of 12&13 and 14&15


2 page spread of 16&17 and 18&19


2 page spread of 20&21 and 22&23. These are some his drawings I found. On pages 22-24 are some of Ed's mom's favorite memories of him to. She wrote them, scanned them and emailed it to me. It's nice that they are in her handwriting.


2 page spread of 24&25&26 and the page of the book. The front and back are digital scrap book papers I found online and used as a background.


He really like the book and was mostly surprised. He didn't know exactly what I was doing but had an idea.

First Ski Trip

When we found out we were moving to Maine, there were a few things we wanted to try...skiing, tubing, and snow shoeing. After checking out the prices for the equipment and finding out they were so expensive, even the used ones, we put things on hold. But when Ed's office organized a ski trip to Shawnee Peak this past Friday, we decided it would be a good Valentines gift to each other. So we signed up for an hour lesson, against the advice of some of the others accompanying us on the trip. I didn't appreciate being taunted by the guys for us taking the lessons and for a second I thought, maybe we are wasting our money...but only for a second. When arrived at the ski park we put on our snow pants and got our equipment on only to find out we had an hour wait before our lessons. So we waited outside at some picnic tables watching others practice skiing and the more advanced taking the lifts up to the mountain top. We discussed whether we should put ours skis on and get a feel before the lessons but decided not to. Looking back it was the right decision, because I don't think I would have wanted to even bother with the lesson.

After about an hour of waiting we venture out onto the snow with skis in hand, not on foot, to where we were supposed to meet the instructor. He turned out to be an older man with really long and thick eye brows, not the hot young guys we have all heard about:( Oh well, he proceeded to explain the basics- balance, a quiet upper body, the athletic stance etc. Then we got to try walking up the slope and slowly sliding back down. After a few more rounds like that, we graduated to the next level and got to ride a really short escalator to a longer sloped area and continued "sliding" down and riding the escalator back up until he thought we were comfortable. The next lesson was how to do turns, weaving back and forth across the trail.

After graduating to the next level you actually got to take the ski lift up to the bunny trail and ski down. So after the lesson here is Ed coming down the slope:



Isn't that amazing after a one hour lesson!! No wonder the guys were giving us a hard time about the lesson. JUST KIDDING! This is really Ed after his lesson:




It was nothing like we expected. It was HARD! I can't belive the guys who said we didn't need a lesson! I did not even graduate to the turning(weaving) lesson, let alone get to go to the bunny slope. I had to stay behind all by myself and continue to "slide down the little slope and ride the escalator back up. I fell 3 times before they left me; and right after they went to the lifts, I fell getting off of the escalator causing one of my skis to come off. I didn't even notice because my nose was running so much and I was trying to dig a tissue out of my coat pocket. The guy working the escalator came over to me and said "Hey you might need this" and handed me the ski. I decided then, I was done!!


This little girl did better than I did:(



Unfortunately, we did not have the skills to get any pictures from the top of the mountain, but the slopes we could see were pretty. It was such a nice day, temps near 40 and clear and sunny. We had lunch on the deck watching all of the experienced skiers and snowboarders coming down the slope. We had a great experience even though we didn't learn to ski. I don't know how people can learn it in a 1 hour lesson any way. I am so proud of myself for trying!


I wouldn't put my skis back on for a picture so this is the only proof (if you can call it that) that I tried skiing. I did have ski boots on though.

Lake Sebago

These pics remind me of Hawaii. We saw lots of people wind surfing there, and I guess this sport was adapted from that. I think I'd perfer to be doing it in Hawaii, though.











The water along the shore was partially frozen and I thought all of the ice crystals and formations were interesting. Unfortunately, they did convey in these pics, but they turned out ok.

My First Mammogram

I had my first mammogram last week. Some docs say at age 35 you should have your first mammogram as a baseline for comparison for later mammograms. The docs at the Army hospital in Hawaii did not agree, even though my aunt was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. It is so frustrating that doctors do not agree on things that are as important as your health. I understand about the cost of the tests, but there has to be some kind of happy medium. I am thankful that my new doc supports the baseline test. I do have to admit, I am not very good at remembering to do monthly self exams and know that a large percentage of lumps are found during monthly self exams. Unfortunately, it does not help me to remember to do them.

I was escorted into the exam room and the tech asked me to remove my deodorant with an alcohol wipe(they provide a spray deodorant for after the exam). I put on the gown that tied in the front of course. The tech was a down to business sort of woman, not rude, just lets get to the task at hand. I was expecting the exam to be uncomfortable because of the machine but not because of the way the tech was handling my breasts. She was squeezing and pulling and pressing them to get them into the correct position. I don't have large breasts and that maybe why she had to handle them in that fashion. She placed my breast on this cold, metal pedestal like stand that is lowered or raised according to the patients height and begins pulling my breast out and pressing it down onto the pedestal. Then a clear plastic piece that kind of reminded me of a rather large square measuring cup came down and squeezed my breast even more. She asks "Are you ok?" Am I ok? Really...my samll little breast is squished into a flat pancake. But I pleasantly said "Oh yes, I'm fine." This went on for 5 more times (I had 3 pictures of each breast). Before she left the room; she tells me that they may have to have me come back for additional pics and that it was normal. I was silently praying that would not be the case, not because I didn't want them to find anything (which I don't) but because I didn't want to have to go through it again so soon. To top off this whole experience, the exam was right before my period so my breast were sore for alot longer than they should have been. So my advice is to plan your exam thoughtfully. Why is it that women have to go through all of these painful and embarrassing situations...periods,cramps,pap smears, pregnancy, childbirth, mammograms...and the men get off easy until they are 40 and then they have their first prostate exam. NOT FAIR!!!

Digital Scrap Booking

So I am trying out digital scrap booking. Here is my first page. It is hard to get started; figuring out which pictures to use, selecting coordinating papers, etc. Tell me what you think.

Four Day Snow Storm Dumps 6-8" of Snow in Portland

We did not have a white Christmas but New Years eve brought snow. And it continued to snow for 4 days. We ventured out to see how everything looked covered in snow.





There were lots of people playing in the snow; sledding, tubing, building snowmen and playing with their dogs. We are going to get a sled so we join in the fun the next time there is a big storm. We bought snow pants that are water proof as are our jackets so we will be warm and dry.


We weren't the only ones venturing out. This poor duck was walking around in the snow because the pond he usually swims in was frozen solid. He was very friendly and came right up to Ed. If he would have had food; I think the duck would have taken it right out of Ed's hand.



And there were lots of squirrels digging in the snow trying to find their stash of acorns. When they found what they were looking for, they gobbled up their treasure and moved on to the next hiding place in hopes of finding more to eat. The squirrels were also very friendly and came right up to us expecting to be fed.