The Fabulous B@ker Blog

Well, I tried to get Annalisse to do a guest blog, but she refused ("I don't like to write!"). I wanted her to tell you all about her productive summer, about which continues to proclaim: I got a lot done this summer! Or, I accomplished pretty much all my goals this summer! Since she won't tell you about her productive summer, I will! She took a Chemistry course that she needed for her major, and got a B+ She saw Ed Sheeran in concert She got her license She worked 100 volunteer volunteer  We visited some Rochester museums She took care of various doctor's appointments And, on Wednesday, she's going to Seabreeze, which she's been wanting to do all summer She packed a lot into three months. Now, onto a productive semester. She doesn't start classes until August 31, but she starts her volunteer coordinator job next week so will be heading back to school on Sunday. Junior year! (P.S. I'm off again this week...and keeping very busy!)

Hello! It's been a while since the last post AND IT'S ALMOST MID-AUGUST. Seriously depressing. I've heard recently that August is like Sunday night, and it is too true. Blah. Change is in the wind as we start to shift back to school, and everybody is a little upset (me: A LOT upset) that summer is almost over. While it's been a very busy one, it's not totally been the "good" kind of busy, meaning we've been busy with work and school. That's not to say there haven't been weekends (and extended weekends) of fun. In fact, just about every weekend has been filled with day trips or trips up north to clean Mom's house. I have had vacation time, though. During my first week off I did a lot of running around, and Annalisse FINALLY had her road test (she passed by a hair...). We did a couple of historic house tours, but Mark and the kids were tied up most of the week with work commitments. I also did not get as much porch reading done as I mig...

This summer, both kids have been making great strides in preparation for their respective careers. Cam and his pals Cam has been involved in Bioinformatics research at RIT for 40 hours a week (paid, thankfully), and comes home really excited about his progress and victories related to the project he is working on. Of course, when he explains what he's doing I have no idea what he's taking about. Oh well. Don't you hate it when they get smarter than us? Anyway, he's also involved in beginning his Master's thesis, the proposal of which he will defend in early fall. But it hasn't been all work for him, he's been having fun spending time with his Bioinformatics friends this summer and has developed a real bond with them. It's very nice to see. The RD Intern Then, in addition to her Bio class (in which she got a "B"), Annalisse has been working as a volunteer nutrition intern at  Trillium Health .  For her program, she needs 250 voluntee...

I'm off for a week! I'm on vacation! Siesta!  I don't have very much planned for the next week that I'm off ~ Cam is working. Mark is working. Annalisse is at her internship for three days. IT'S OKAY! The porch and my books are calling me, not to mention wonderful pup time. This weekend kicks off with Mark's 35th Pittsford-Mendon High School reunion at Cobblestone Creek (what to wear? what to wear?), and on Monday I'm going to have some "girl time" when Nic, Annalisse, Mary and I head down to Canandaigua for some old house tours at the Granger Homestead (haunted!) and Sonnenberg Gardens (probably also haunted!), along with a nice lunch at Simply Crepes. Annalisse has her road test on Wednesday afternoon (it's about time), and other than that the week is wide open for me. What a great feeling! It's been such a crazy summer so far. There was a time when work seemed to have quiet/downtime where I could focus on projects and reall...

Another summer weekend has flown by...slow down! And how do we wrap up a warm, beautiful weekend? With a turkey dinner, of course...courtesy of my sister, Carol, who is visiting. I'll take it! Turkey in July! Mark and I spent most of the weekend pulling weeds and doing some yard clean-up. I'm very disappointed in my herb garden this year, and actually with a lot of my plants. I planted really sweet yellow, orange and gold pansies at the end of May to brighten up the garden, and they mostly pooped out. So, do I rake them out and plant new? Well, yes and no. I turned the dirt over to get a lot of the weeds out, and took out most of the pansies, but left a few. Planting all those little plants is not my idea of fun, so I will need to decide  if I want to plant new annuals (like a hearty begonia) this late in the season. Adding to my floral disappointment this year, I decided to get red geranium hanging pots for the front porch, remembering a couple of years back how beautiful ...

It's only a little bit ironic that I used this photo since I am not a big fan of fireworks It's the Sunday wind-down-holiday-weekend recap. What a wonderful weather weekend, and a weekend filled with low-key fun. Just in case you forgot: I LOVE SUMMER Ahhh, it's so wonderful. It's still my goal to get a job with summers off. Two more years...when Annalisse is done with college...I'm hoping I can make some changes and figure out a way to not work in the summer months. We'll keep noodling on that one. Anyway, back to the weekend.  On Friday morning, Mark and I got up early and headed back up north to do some more cleaning and packing in my Mom's house. This time, we attacked the basement (damp, yuck) and threw tons of stuff out, and packed up other stuff. We were not able to bring as much back to Rochester as we had hoped, with the plan being to bring the boxes and boxes of housewares and tchotchke back to be donated to the annual Advent Hou...

What a news week! Unless you live under a rock, you know there were some pretty important issues in the news this week, all of which I am happy about  - being the bleeding heart liberal that I am! First up, the removal of the confederate flag from buildings in the South (not just South Carolina). After the tragic murder of nine innocent people at a church prayer service in South Carolina last week, the confederate flag became the focus (and has long been the emblem) of white supremacist hatred, seeing such activity as the inspiration for the shooter. While I would love the warmer weather in the South, I'm not sure I can deal with their attitudes. Take down that flag! On Thursday, the SCOTUS decision to uphold provisions of the Affordable Care Act (which others call "Obamacare," but I refuse to call it that...I find it a term derogatorily used by the crazy conservatives). Please, people, can we move on? ACA is WORKING! I now realize that before the ACA if Mark and ...