Gra'ma, if you read this blog, you may want to skip this entry

Remember the old Hitchcock flick The Birds? Well, I had a bird in my house this week. How it got in there, I have no idea, but it was there, hiding on a bottom shelf in my kitchen when I got home. I think it may have come down the chimney.

I freaked out at first -- there was a giant moving thing in my kitchen that didn't belong there, and I was caught completely off-guard as well. So I behaved like a silly girl for a few minutes, then tried calling Mom and Dad to see what to do (in my frenzied panic, it didn't occur to me to open a window). Not being able to get through to either, I retreated to the basement, figuring that the bird probably wouldn't follow me.

It didn't.

Less than five minutes later, Ben got home from work. Together we tag-teamed the poor scared bird and it finally flew out the window. I think that my alarmed shouts when I first discovered it frightened the bird.

Now I'm only sorry I don't have a picture of it perched on my kitchen counter, or of us trying to coax it out.

Gra'ma...you can start reading again. I'm done talking about birds in the house.

Work (or sometimes lack thereof)

I work in healthcare. I’m not a doctor, or a nurse, or even a medical assistant. I do billing and reception work. I got into it by luck, but I really enjoy it. And I’ve found that from a benefits standpoint, there’s no better industry to be in. Healthcare takes care of its own.

So we moved to Cleveland about 6 weeks ago. I had started putting in applications and sending out my resume even before we left Maine. Cleveland is the medical research capital of the world. My husband works for the Cleveland Clinic, which is the fourth highest rated research hospital in the country (behind the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and UCLA). Also located in Cleveland is the University Hospital Health System, which has no small qualifications itself.

By now I’ve probably applied for close to 30 jobs. I got a bite back on one of them. I had a phone interview, but heard back yesterday that they decided to hire an internal candidate. I was bummed. It was at UH. I wanted to work there just because Ben is at the Clinic. I thought it would be funny. And it looked like an attractive position to me.

I’ve often had good luck, however, with temp agencies. I finally signed up for one about two weeks ago. I came in and interviewed and did the proficiency tests, blah blah blah. Two days (or maybe the next day) later, they called with a position starting at the end of the week. That’s how it always happens for me. I ought to just skip applying for jobs and just sign up with a temp agency every time. (I know, Dad – looking for a job is a full-time job.)

So now I’m working for a school district. I’m assisting the Director of Instruction at the Board of Education. It’s definitely a different experience from what I’ve done in the past. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s starting to grow on me a little bit. I think I’m just grateful that they’re giving me plenty to do. Yesterday was the first day of school, so things are beyond busy here. It’s a nice change after the seven or eight weeks that I wasn’t working. And I’m sleeping better than I was the few weeks before.

The best music ever recorded

I'm a music person. Not a musicAL person, mind you, but a music person. I do play piano, but it's been many many years since I've been able to spend any time playing. And I don't sing. Period.

But I love to listen to music. I love to have it on in the background. I like a variety of different types of music. In the coming months, I am excited to listen to Christmas music again. I think it's my favorite, but Ben won't listen to it any earlier than the end of Thanksgiving dinner.

I recently found a new (to me) radio station here in Cleveland that I have just fallen in love with. It's WKHR FM 91.5: Keeping your memories alive. It's got great music from the first half of last century: Bing, Rosemary, Frank, Ella, Louis, all the greats. It's fabulous music to just put on in the background, whether I'm cooking, reading, have company over, or just doing housework. Even thought it's all very much before my time (and in some cases even before my parents' time), I'm falling in love with this music the more I listen to it.

Just wanted to share.

Welcome!

Hello all!

I originally started this blog intending to put up photos about Ben and I while we were dating, and of our wedding and reception, etc. and email the address to family and close friends. Well, I've discovered that if I wait around until I have the time to pick out which photos to use, and then organize them and narrate them, I'll never do it.

So I'm starting from today. I will keep a blog (though not necessarily daily), and I will post pictures as I desire. I will not worry about catching up.

Whew! That was liberating!