2 Days and Counting...

Here we are at Toojay's Gourmet Deli in Altamonte for lunch. I was just about to start the blessing. After I put Calleigh's bib on for a meal, I always say, "Time to say your blessing." And she folds her hands. I can't confirm or deny whether her eyes are open or closed but I figure that's between her and God. The reason we were at Toojay's is because I had received a gift certificate to eat there. The Altamonte ER has a guarantee that you will see a doctor within 60 minutes of arriving in the ER. As you may remember from my June 22 experience, it wasn't even close. So hey, at least I got a free meal out of it! The gift certificate expires on Friday so this was our last chance to use it as the next two days will be very busy.

Yesterday Calleigh and I went out to lunch with my friend RoseMarie. She was the Payroll supervisor in Accounting for many years and was one of the first person's that I met when I was a summer intern in 1997. Don't underestimate how important it is to be friendly to someone. I was a nervous college student coming to work in this huge hospital for the summer. I didn't know a soul. They had me work in Payroll for one day that summer and RoseMarie went out of her way to be friendly to me. I never forgot it - - especially when I became her boss six years later. She is truly a great lady. Anywho, we went to Moe Southwest Grill and caught up on everything that's been happening. I hadn't seen her since before Christmas (she still works at the hospital but in HR now). She was amazed to see how much Calleigh had grown and how much she looks like Duncan. She said "Duncan is a handsome guy and all but I never thought he would produce such a beautiful daughter that looks just like him." Ha! On our way back to drop her off at her office, I had Calleigh show off her baaa-ing skills and RoseMarie starting asking Calleigh what a dog says and saying "ruff." Calleigh started saying "ruff" back and then started dying of laughter. Every time RoseMarie would "ruff," Calleigh would "ruff" back and laugh her head off. I don't know why she found it so hilarious but something about it really got to her. It's a good thing I didn't get in an accident because I couldn't take my eyes off her in the rear view mirror.

Last night I left Duncan in charge and went out with my friends Heather, Nicole, and Piglet (legally known as Lourdes). I worked (although I suppose I technically still work "in" Accounting) with them all in Accounting although Heather has also defected to HR. We try to get together once a month for dinner so we can catch up. We went to Panera Bread and it was fabulous as usual. I was a tiny bit concerned what would happen with Calleigh since she sometimes has a problem with going to sleep when I'm not there but it went very smoothly. Duncan gave her some Silk before bed and then she went right to sleep.

Okay, yes, I admit it appears that I've been eating out a lot lately but for the record the Toojay's meal was free and RoseMarie treated me to lunch yesterday so really, I've only had to pay for one outing!

Recently, Calleigh has taken an interest in putting her blocks together. Whenever it gets a little bit quiet in the room, it usually means she's sitting in a corner somewhere working intently on her blocks. In fact, she sometime can get absorbed for a whole 5 - 7 minutes on the blocks alone. It's quite something. You can check it out for yourselves here. This video was taken a few days ago when she was wearing her lucky Red Sox jammies. Please note that the Sox have won one game in the last six (assuming they lose tonight) and it was when she was wearing those jammies. Time to bring them out again!


Well, I really must wrap this up. It's getting late and I have things to do. There is much to do between now and about 3:45 pm on Friday when we leave for the airport. We're flying this year to Boston (yippee!) but that creates more of a challenge since obviously space is limited. Thankfully, I bought the tickets on JetBlue before they started charging for the second checked bag so we'll be able to bring two each for free. Of course, Duncan insists that he's bringing the bare essentials and will be able to pack them in a backpack. Last night when I asked him for details, he said he was only bringing three pairs of underwear. Goodness, I'll pack one less shirt if we can squeeze in enough underwear for a week at least.

As far as our itinerary goes, we're flying out on Friday at 5:50 pm. We'll go to church in Braintree and then some time in the afternoon, we'll leave for Maine where we'll visit some friends and then leave after sunset for the rest of the 10 - 11 hour trip that remains. This year, the whole Brace family will be travelling together in three vehicles. It has been a very long time since I've been with my dad on the trip up and I must say, I'm especially looking forward to it. I'm really glad we'll all be together. I do believe that this will be the best Nova Scotia trip yet!