First Day of Training.....

Today was our first official day of training. We spent the bulk of it watching videos on a variety of subjects. Holiday has a very extensive training program with excellent information. They have gotten everything down to a science with operational issues. We really like Paul and Rosemary, the managers here....they are great teachers. They are originally from Pittsburgh so native Pennsylvanians like us. We have another day of watching videos tomorrow and then on Tuesday we'll start learning the operational side of things.

It was so hot here yesterday and even worse today. High 90's and very high humidity. I think someone forgot to tell Mother Nature that spring comes in before summer. I think they skipped it altogether....It's only the beginning of May. Not the time to have temps in the 90's just yet. Right now....at 9:30 at night it's 85 degrees. How's that for hot ?!?! Yikes !

My daughter Becky flew to Nashville Saturday morning to visit with some friends from the Recording Academy office down there. She got there in time for all the serious flooding that has been taking place. A state of emergency has been declared. Opryland hotel was evacuated today. She said it is so bad down there....roads all around where she is staying have been closed. Poor kid can't even get out to sightsee.....many of the streets are under water and things are closed. She's not even sure if her flight will get out of there....all flights today were cancelled. :(

Tonight Linda's daughter Stephanie came over, after work, and they shot some pool after supper. Linda got her butt whooped so then the three of us sat down and played a game of scrabble. A good time...

Fun Weekend....

We are on the last of a four day weekend and it's been awesome. Friday night, as soon as we finished with work, Linda left to go join her son and his family at her brother's house....a short drive from here. She took them to Halo Farm for ice cream and was hoping to see some bottling going on in the plant but they were done for the day. They all got a pint of their favorite flavor of ice cream and dove in. Their homemade ice cream is cheap and super yummy so everyone enjoyed it.

The next morning they drove to Easton, PA to the Crayola factory. This is a wonderfully creative place for kids (and adults alike), with tons of fun activities. Here are some pics of the things they participated in.

While Linda was hanging out with her family, I was having fun with my daughter. She took the train up from Philly and got in about 9 p.m. Friday night. We went to the local farmer market where she bought a bunch of veggies....then we went to a park in nearby Somerset and sat on a blanket, taking in the warm temps, blossomed trees and people frolicking in the vicinity. Saturday morning, we went to the Omega Diner and had veggie omelets....yum !

On Saturday evening Linda returned home so the three of us spent Sunday together. It was pretty quiet around....most all of the stores were closed for Easter but we did find a K-Mart open and went there to do some shopping. Went back to the house and watched a couple movies...one on Oscar Wilde and one on another poet (was really weird so don't remember much about it). I kind of lost interest when the poet guy set his wife's hair on fire....yikes ! It's a movie that Leonardo Dicaprio was in, back before he was in Titanic....strange movie ! On Sunday afternoon, Linda and I drove Becky back to Philly....it was a great day for a drive !

Monday morning Linda and I left for the Berkshires...near Lenox, Mass. Spent the night there and returned this afternoon. Much cooler up there than it was here. When we left there this morning, it was very cool and rainy. We got back to NJ and it was in the upper 70's and sunny. Funny how different a few hundred miles can make in the weather. Tomorrow we head back to work. The managers here have moved out so the apartment will need cleaning and getting ready for a new couple. Lots of things to do in the next couple weeks....

Our New Favorite Restaurant....

Tonight after work we wanted to go to a restaurant near us that is always packed with cars to check it out. It's called..Omega Diner and is about 2 miles from us. We didn't have the camera with us so sorry...no pics this trip. Linda and I each had deluxe veggie burgers that came with cole slaw and fries but we substituted sweet potato fries. There were two thick slices of tomato and some leaf lettuce to top off the burger. Everything was great. We were really stuffed so eating dessert, right then and there, was out of the question. We got a tiramisu to go : ) They have an extensive menu, a great bakery case filled with delectable choices and they serve breakfast ALL day. All of the meals come with soup, salad, vegetable, potato and jello, rice pudding or ice cream for dessert. Wow, this will be a fun place to go when we're hungry.

One more day to go before our days off. Today was sporadic with customers. Weather was awesome....in the mid 70's. Today it's been three weeks since we started working at this location. Today, mid 70's and gorgeous. Last Saturday, hurricane force winds and torrential rains. Our first Saturday, blizzard conditions with over 20" of snow. What is it with this NJ weather ? Talk about running the gamut.....can't get much different than that in the span of a couple weeks....Holy cow ! We will definitely take more of today's weather....the types from the previous weeks can just hit the road and never come back !

Remember the pond out back that was brimming full during the storm last weekend. Here's what it usually looks like....the sun was pretty as it started to set behind the pond so I snapped this picture.

Weekend is Over....

On Saturday we went to our friend Jan's house and spent some time with her. We ran to the store and got some groceries. Picked up some crab legs that were on sale ($4.99/lb - wow !) and went back to her place and cooked them up...melted some butter...Yummy !! Boy, were they good.

Sunday we watched the Super Bowl. I thought the game was going to be a runaway in the Colts' favor initially but then in the second half, the Saints came alive. What a great second half it was and it was so exciting to see them win and bring the victory home to New Orleans. Linda and I still think about our time in New Orleans a month before Katrina hit and how much the city has changed as a result of that devastating hurricane. I wish I could find the pics that we took of the city back then. It would be fun to look at them again.

Today we did laundry, hung out around here and then left to take Jan to her doctor's appointment. She had a follow-up appt. so the doctor could see how she is recovering from her cold. She still has some lingering sinus stuff going on but is on the mend. We're glad to see her better...it's been a long, slow recovery.

Weather is cool at night....high 30's this morning when we awoke. Got up to almost 70 today. Rain moving in tomorrow afternoon but temps through the week should be in the high 60's. Better here than in the northeast where they are expecting another big snow storm. Oh my....how I'm glad we aren't up there right now. We'll enjoy this weather as long as we can.