Dec 11, 2012
Overheard from Upstairs
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Chichimama: “C, are you ready for me to go through your agenda and homework to make sure you got it all?”
C: “Stop treating me like a baby!”
Chichimama: “I am not treating you like a baby, but last week you either forgot to do or hand in 10 assignments, so I kind of feel like I need to work with you a bit on your organizational skills.”
C: “Fine. Give me a minute to double check everything.”
20 minutes later…
Chichimama: “C, what’s going on???”
C: “I realized that I might not have been as diligent as I should have been about double checking everything…but I STILL don’t need your help.”
10 minutes later…
C: “OK! I’m ready!!!”
Chichimama looks at one sheet of paper. “Tell me about this.”
C: “Argh! I forgot to do that too!”
Sigh. Raising a organizationally-challenged preteen is harder than it looks.
Nov 6, 2012
Photos from the Neighborhood
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Thankfully, no one was hurt near us. And these pictures don’t really do a good job of showing the true state of things, I couldn’t get close enough to the real bulk of the downed trees and wires.
Nov 5, 2012
Bullets of Sandy aftermath
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*it was not a Hurricane. So says the governor of NY.
*regardless, I have no power, there are no plans for me to regain power, and it is freaking cold in my house.
*first world problems, I know, at least I have a house, but regardless of my apocalypse prepping abilities, I am not prepared for a multi-week power outage. It is cold, and our house is drafty enough that the fire cannot heat it enough to make it comfortable. Clearly I need to regroup yet again in my prepping efforts.
*i am rather glad I have no way to see the images of the destruction as I cry just thinking about it and the descriptions from folks who have seen the footage just about sends me under my table in a fetal position.
*the kids and I have moved into the kitchen which can vaguely be heated by the fireplace. M is in a sunny, undisclosed location with his golf clubs. I am not bitter. I am not bitter. I understand that business carries on, but really? His timing is impeccable.
*I think I am running for town council as I am convinced I can do a better job than our current set. One lives two doors down and there has been no effort to communicate anything about the town’s status. Not even notification that my polling place had changed in case I wanted to vote for him.
*the saving grace of this whole experience is the local library. They switched to solar power a wile back and have served as a place to get warm, get info, charge phones, etc. All libraries need to install solar panels in case of an emergency, it makes a world of difference.
*the gas rationing has led my kids to the inevitable conclusion that the world is running out of fuel and we are all going to die. That’s been a fun middle of the night conversation.
*more to say if I ever move off my phone as a blogging device, but for now we are safe, fed (all hail pasta and the gas stove) and vaguely warm. Hope all of you who were in Sandy’s path are safe and sheltered.
Oct 28, 2012
Bullets of Hurricane Sandy Prep
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As I sit here awaiting the inevitable power outage, trying to eat my way through a deep freeze full of food, and trying not to cry over the thought of losing the contents of said freezer for the 4th time in 12 months, here are some bullets to keep myself mildly distracted and entertained.
- Dear Trader Joe’s Shoppers: a cartload of frozen food will do you no good unless you have a whole house generator. Sorry to break that news to you.
- Dear Neighbor who is frantically trying to rake her lawn before the storm hits, why bother??? The leaves are falling faster than you are raking. Even my eight-year-old figured that out.
- Dear Neighbor who somehow managed to get the tree guys out to trim her trees today, I will not in anyway blame you when the power goes out. In fact, you may be my heroine. Other neighbors who have never had their trees dealt with, I’ll be looking at you instead.
- Dear M who deliberately parked his car in the “safe” spot in the driveway, leaving me to park under the neighbor’s scary tree, I noticed :-). And that just means that you will have to give me your car to drive when mine gets crushed, FYI. Unless you are going to stay home and shuttle the kids to and from school…
- Dear neighbor(s) who is(are) testing out your generators, I hate you, just a little. Especially since you aren’t on the side of the street that always loses power, and I know that you don’t ever offer it up to those of us who are not so well prepared. You will not be on my “Please, take the contents of my freezer and enjoy since you have power” list.
- Dear kids school who has not yet made the call to close, who are you kidding? We all know there won’t be school tomorrow, or Tuesday, and probably not for the rest of the week. So could you please just send out the 50 billion phone calls, emails and text alerts before I go to bed? I am all for the power of positive thinking, but I am also all for the “get a good night sleep while there is some semblance of heat in my house” philosophy.
Over and out from the Hurricane Sandy Bullseye.
Jun 22, 2012
An article for my circa 2004-2008 blogging pals
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For all of you who kept me sane when the kids were tiny…thanks ;-)! Too bad we can’t figure out a way to keep it going while protecting the privacy of our tweens…because man. It’s rough being the worst mother EVEAH.
May 13, 2012
Trying out the WordPress App
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Trying out the WordPress app so I can teach my parents how to use it. Because apparently when one retires, one goes on a grand adventure and wants to blog about it!
The Pleasure-Way, soon coming to a small town near you. California or bust!
Mar 16, 2012
Some more house pics (progress is being made!)
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Progress, very slow progress.
Mar 13, 2012
Random Bullets of “Hi there! Long time no see!”
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- You know how I was going to write this year? Yeah. Clearly not happening as I haven’t even made my goal of posting once a month. Whoops!
- But in my defense, my house currently looks like this:
- The only furniture in the downstairs of my house right now are three kitchen stools. It’s been like this for almost a month, and there really isn’t an end in sight. On Monday we are moving to Rebecca’s basement for a bit, while the floors get repaired and refinished. I am looking forward to a couch and a table. My kitchen counter, which has never been my favorite thing, is now really, really distasteful. Especially since I am well aware that because of the unexpected additional expenses involved with the project, I won’t be replacing said counter anytime soon.
- “What happened?” you ask. Ah, you see, I was greedy. I wanted to get rid of the ugly 70’s paneling in my family room. And the nice contractor who lives around the block gave me a really good quote for removing it, so we said yes. And then when he pulled the paneling off, he discovered that our frame had rotten through. So we had to reframe the side of the house. And rerun the dryer duct (the cause of the rotting). And since the walls were now open, it seemed like the right time to update the electric and…and…and…M will never, ever listen to me the next time I tell him I want to do a minor little project.
- It will be lovely when it is done. Or so they tell me.
Dec 13, 2011
Christmas Menu 2011
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Christmas Eve
Baked Brie and Crackers (Trader Joe’s, because I am lazy like that 😉 )
Christmas Cookies (Varieties to be determined based on my baking urges)
Champagne, Cherry Bombs
Christmas Morning
Coffee ;-), OJ
Bacon
Fruit Salad
Christmas Dinner
Lemon Garlic Shrimp (or Shrimp Cocktail if I am lazy)
Crisp Goose (with sage stuffing instead)
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Slow Cooker Sour Cream Cheesecake
Day After Christmas Breakfast
More Coffee ;-), More OJ
Bacon
Then we head to FL and I laze by the pool with my new books!
A Day in the Life 