Oh, Baby!!!

SHE'S HERE!!!!! That would be number 33 grandchild. And yes, I'm put out that I wasn't there and I can't hold her til she's almost a year old. It's not FAIR:) She arrived at LDS hospital on April 7 with Rachelle taking care of her, which made me feel somewhat better.....if I couldn't be there then Rachelle was a top notch substitute. I even got to see and talk to her on Skype (this is for all you ex-LDS nurses). Jeannie Gemmell is her doc. Weighed in at 8#6oz which was Mindy's largest baby. And the law is out that NO other kids are to have babies til we get home!! So we stand at 18 girls and 15 boys in the grandchild department. Not bad for a lopsided grama like me with 7 boys and 1 girl.

The other big news this week is Red Sox Nation. Opening day was Monday (got rained out til Tuesday) and I do believe that people here treat it like it should be a national holiday!!! They started TV coverage at 0530 and the game wasn't til 2 pm. Senator Kennedy threw out the first ball and he is really weak...it just went a couple yards. But he was smiling all the while. And like good Sox they won the first game but not the second. Tickets are impossible to come by heree, much like the Cubs, but one girl was going and they got theirs on Craig's List---from a season ticket holder that couldn't go and they got em for face value. So we may try to do that some day when we can go. Gotta hit at least one game at Fenway Park. Preferably not in the rain tho....

The work continues. We have set up office hours in the Belmont Chapel one day and one evening a week. It's just a classroom in the building but real estate is hard to come by here. This will be a trial to see if anyone actually comes for one on one help getting job ready. Our supplies will be kept in the maintenance closet!! Like I say, real estate is hard to come by. We are teaching workshops the next 5 Saturdays here, Harford and Exeter. Now we're beginning to run into Easter Weekend, next weekend is Patriots Day (kinda like Pioneer Day), then Memorial Day and then it's summer vacation, so it's going to be a different atmosphere and probably harder for people to commit to a Saturday workshop.

We're involved in the LDS Small Business Council in Marlboro which is being set up by a bishop there for self-employed people. The basic structure is about in place and now we'll start having "events" with speakers, etc to help those small business people keep their heads above water. We also are in the BYU Management Society where we are the "employment" people on the board. There's one here in Boston and one branch in Nashua. We have a breakfast meeting in Nashua next week and a lunch event in Boston in May. The board meetings are done by conference call which is nice. One guy last night was in Pennsylvania for work so the telephone deal is great. And I don't have to dress up!!! Just lounge around in my sweats and talk on speakerphone! One of the Stake Employment people in Concord, NH does that too and it's great.

The weather has promise of spring......one or two good days with sunshine in the 50's and then a couple days of rain. This last one was a gully-washer!! But they said we are in need of rain. All these millions of trees need their drinks, I guess. They never have forest fires around here as the humidity is so high and it does rain a lot.

Next week is apartment inspection week---it's really quite fun to visit with them in their "space". Monday we're taking the ferry over to Marth's Vineyard and the senior couple there is giving us a guided tour of the island and providing a bar-be-que. The missionaries from the Cape Cod area are going and we're tagging along. Can't pass up the opportunity. And the forecast is for sun, sun, sun. So hopefully my camera will provide a whole blog of pictures.