NATALIENATALIENATALIE

We got a call from Rose yesterday. KrissyKrissyKrissy had her little girl, Natalie Theresa, three weeks earlier than expected. All is going well for them. Now Eddie has a little sister who'll have to try to keep up with him. That's the latest big event in this bunch on the positive side. There haven't been any other births lately so it's a main attention grabber. It might start raining eventually but so far the weather's pretty nice today. Mary Anne called yesterday. All appears to be going well with her, Steve & kids.

NICE WEEKEND UP AHEAD

I've been reading more of that Chekhov play. I shall have to re.read it a few times to be able to get the gist of it. Each night this weekend I shall have to fill out at least a little bit of the job application so I can be ready for Monday's big interview. Uncle Frankie showed up for a while yesterday. There most certainly doesn't seem to be any big late breaking news about Fran these days. I haven't gotten a chance to see her lately but I assume all has been going at least reasonably well with her so far. Because of the kids' recent visit, the refrigerator & cupboards are absolutely full of leftover soda, junk food etc. Tomorrow I have to lector at 5:00 but other than that I don't know of anything else that's going on this weekend. My father went to a doctor's appointment at the V.A. this morning. All seemed to have gone well. Because it's Friday, he & Uncle Frankie will be spending the night at the big game. It's become quite a regular thing for them. I, of course, don't happen to like sports. I'll be doing the Friday dance. These days the weather keeps getting progressively nicer & nicer. Gas prices are getting obscenely out of control lately. Every time I pass by a gas station I see prices in the area of $3.50.9 with no end in sight.

KIDS GONE

Steve showed up last night. A friend from New Jersey was with him. This morning he & the kids left at around 10:30 to go home Mary Anne called first to check up on them. We fiddled around with my not-yet-working computer for a little while before they left. Of course my mind went completely blank at first about my password. I have so many different passwords I temporarily forgot which one was for that site. Steve made eggs for breakfast with a second pot of coffee. I didn't eat but I made sure I got coffee. He & I talked about my job search. Sam, supposedly the incurably quiet guy, most certainly seems to have outgrown that image lately. Bridget, of course, has always been our little resident chatterbox. Steve remembered to bring in my manila envelope full of scrap paper but unfortunately overlooked completely my green suit jacket. I left them both in New York a while ago. Yesterday Linnae called. She wants me to trade lector assignments with her over the weekend. Yesterday Heather from Baby Age sent me an e mail with an application & directions for the job interview on Monday. Somebody called from a health care place yesterday. They work with Medicare. She asked if I'd be interested in a job. This morning a guy drove down the street in a truck. He appeared to have been trying to deliver something to somebody on Susquehanna Avenue. He asked us how to get there. He ended up having to go a little out of his way because of road work at the closest intersection.

JOB INTERVIEWS

Yesterday I went to that job interview at the Human Resources place in Kingston. It most certainly seemed to have worked out quite well so far. I've never worked in that kind of environment before so it may be very interesting if they end up hiring me. I got back in touch, when I got home, with the woman from Baby Age. They want a copywriter. I have to show up at the Hanover Industrial Center on Monday for an interview with them. Everybody except Sam & me went to the store yesterday to get some stuff for the bathroom. He & I hung around & watched TV while the others were shopping. We watched a very old episode of "All That". The kids like "Scrubbed". This kid is determined to be quite the hep little homey. He spent the entire time absolutely constantly changing channels & gettin' down with his bad self. The fedora's always quite a groovy touch too. He & Bridget have both been quite helpful with all the things that have to get done in the bathroom. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. It's a good thing I didn't let Sam get away with trying to convince me to take him to a fast food place because we ended up eating pizza from Sizzle Pie when they all got home. Maybe it was because yesterday was so hot & I was forced to spend much of the day in a suit, but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of my day & woke up in the middle of the night with a mild headache. Howard asked, this morning, why I didn't bother to vote in yesterday's primaries. It's because I'm not a Democrat or Republican. Steve's showing up today.

INTERVIEW LATER TODAY

My interview is in Kingston at 2:00 p.m. I finished filling out my application yesterday. I already gave them a resume but I'll take another one just in case. Today is the big primary day so there are people going into the other part of the library to vote. Since it's only available for Democrats & Republicans, though, I'm not eligible. There's a woman outside telling each of us which door he has to go through. Howard, of course, as always, is right there helping. He seems to be involved with many different thins in this area. The library never opens one minute before ten lately. They always used to open at least ten minutes early up until recently. The lady who shows up every weekday morning told me lately they're not allowed to cheat anymore. The weather's been very nice lately. I found out that it's been snowing in Alberta, Canada. Sam is helping my father paint the bathroom this morning. Bridget is keeping busy too. Steve will be here to pick them up tomorrow so they can get home in time to do their homework. They'll be back in school again on Monday. They've been watching TV, playing & generally staying out of trouble. Aunt Lauren came over yesterday for a while on her way to the chiropractor. Uncle Frankie came over a little while after she left. I made sure I got lots of reading done yesterday.

WEEKEND WENT WELL

All most certainly seemed to have gone quite well with Robin's short visit to Pa. When I got home on Saturday afternoon, my parents were on their way to Hilldale to visit her & say hello. Mary Anne, Sam & Bridget came in yesterday. They made it in under three hours. Mary Anne, I assume, must have already left by now but the kids will be sticking around for a few days. Sam wants to help his grandfather paint the bathroom among other things. Mary Anne & Bridget, when I left, were outside pulling weeds out of the yard. I get my turn to cut the grass later. Right before I left to come over here, I did some pigging out on their beef jerky. Last night, I spent a while at the Oblates Seminary in Lafflin. Fr. Don Calloway, MIC. was there. He gave quite an interesting talk about his life story. It went from 6:00 until slightly after 8:00 p.m. I got a Totus Tuus cap as a souvenir. I found out about a job opening at the local JMJ Catholic 750 AM radio station so I made sure I gave the woman my name & phone number. Father Tom, from the Maronite Catholic church in Wilkes_Barre, showed up. He's in charge of their novena to St. Therese every Monday afternoon. That book I've been reading turns out to be volume one of Sigrid Undset's "Kirstin Lavransdatter". It's a mammoth classic historical novel from the first half of the twentieth century. Unless something unexpected happens I have an interview scheduled for 2:00 tomorrow at the Institute for Human Resources & Services in Kingston. It's right by Sizzle Pie Pizzeria.

BUSY WEEKEND

All most certainly seems to have gone quite well with Robin's visit over here. When I got home from the Carmelite meeting on Saturday afternoon.