The Final Screw

No, that's not a dirty title. Take a look at this:


That's right....that's the final screw of the deck! Notice that J is smiling, knowing that it's all coming to an end.













Of course, all did not go smoothly, because come on, would a day of working on the deck be complete without a little adversity?
See this picture?















That's the second to last screw, which stripped 1/4 of an inch from the rail and was a real bugger to remove. Notice the less-than-thrilled look on J's face. We knew that things had been going too smoothly....but, we conquered it and then we celebrated:







We even put the camera on the nice wide railing to take this timer picture!




We'll post a beautiful, finished deck photo once the inspector comes and we can put the table, grill, etc. on there for the full effect.

Fun in Holyoke.

Today we met Suzy, Andy, Tom and Lexi in Holyoke, MA at a state park. It was a gorgeous fall day and there was much fun to be had.
Here's a picture of Tom, the cutie pie!

We had a nice picnic and then we RODE THE MERRY-GO-ROUND!! Let me tell you, it's been a while since I rode a merry-go-round and it was a lot of fun. J swears his horse beat mine, but I disagree.

Happy Wedding, Donna and Drew!

This weekend I traveled to Ohio (sans Justin) to celebrate the wedding of my cousin Donna and my new cousin-in-law Drew (obviously I know that's not really his title). The wedding was a lot of fun because the bride and groom were very obviously happy. Here's a picture of the happy couple:





















I also got to see my parents and Erin and Dave. Here's a shot of me with Erin--everyone kept saying we look alike.



















J was a work horse and worked on the deck while I was gone...and he helped some friends of ours move. I definitely think I got the better end of the deal.

Back in the saddle again

We've gone back to school! Ack!

Actually, everything is going pretty well...evacuation practice (fire drill) is always interesting with kindergarteners for the first time, and today was no exception. My new students have been lovely...hopefully that's not just a first week of school phenomenon.

back to school

both J and I have had professional days this week as we prepare for students to arrive on Tuesday...how on earth did September arrive so quickly?! No big plans for my birthday on Saturday...a few BBQs to attend this weekend, so maybe we'll do the birthday dinner out the following weekend.

28 sounds old to me. And at my new school, I definitely feel older than I did at my last school, because there are a lot of young teachers.

I think my new library will be ready for the kids. The back workrooms are another story, but the main library should be fine.

I keep meaning to post pictures of my knitting creations, but I keep giving them to people before I get around to photographing them. Maybe I'll take a picture of the purse I knit and then felted.