Like the alliteration? I guess it isn't quite alliteration in the spelling sense but phonetically yes.
Yes, I have juicy genetics. Where in the heck am I taking this? My skin has always had a way of calling mosquitoes to it. When I was younger, it was not a big deal. Yes I got lots of bug bites but nothing to serious. But I have noticed since I moved to South Carolina four years ago this "situation" has become increasingly worse. This summer has been horrible. I stayed out late for a July 4th barbeque and the next morning awoke to a myriad of bites ranging in size from tiny to nearly 3 inches in diameter. Besides the fact that I wanted to scratch them like crazy the larger ones are hot to touch and somewhat painful. Solarcaine is mildly helpful - combating the heat with cooling effects - but for the large "welts" it needs to be applied almost every hour and half to even get me to stop thinking about wanting to rip part of my skin off my body.
I managed to get over this happening only to stupidly walk Silvio late one evening in shorts. Bingo - yesterday the welts appeared. Seeing as I didn't learn my lesson before, I put Solarcaine on the irritated areas before bed. Needless to say, someone did not sleep well. Today, as the welts seemed to get larger, I decided on a new plan of attack. Enter Lanacane. Almost immediately, that tingling need to scratch my legs off was gone. More surprisingly, it has lasted nearly 10 hours and seemed to reduce some of the swelling. It did not however take away the heat. But who cares if I am not scratching every three seconds.
What have we learned: For the rest of the summer, it appears I must now walk Silvio clothed from head to toe to avoid bug bites. This should be so much fun!!! Then slather on the Lanacane to stop the itching. Finally, I am the biggest baby ever!
Other news: It has been raining since about 5:30 this evening. I am going to be pissed off if my neighbor tries to blame tomorrow's mudpit on my yard.
Day 192 - Lawn Maintenance Mayhem
Long story short - we have spent the past year desperately trying to grow a meaningful lawn without forking over thousands of dollars for sod. Right now we have a lawn that some would say is nice - it still has patches of grass-less space. But if you look from far away, it does not look half bad.
According to our landscape professionals, in normal weather we would only need about 30 minutes of watering twice a week. Unfortunately this is not normal weather and the grass minimally needs about one hour's worth of water 3 times a week. Now watering for an hour is silly - the ground saturates to quickly and will not absorb the water it so desperately needs. To combat this problem and still get an hour's worth of water, we have set our cycle of zones to run twice. It runs through zone 1 - 5, and about a half hour after zone 5 finishes, the whole thing starts over again. All this is done early in the morning while it is still cool (who calls nearly 80 degree weather cool at 2 am?) so that the grass can grow deep roots and suck up as much water as possible.
Enter the only true neighbor we have. They moved in about 9 months ago. We have had our sprinkler and drainage plan going since they have moved in. This weekend though our lawn maintenance is no longer OK. Our neighbor's lot has NO grass, it barely has weeds. It is - for all intents and purposes a large mud pit. They are trying to get grass growing in their lot and now it is our issue that their dirt is "wet" and they can't get the grass to grow. Without pointing out the obvious facts, trying to get grass to germinate in 90+ degree weather is nigh impossible (we tried last summer), the fact I have no control over when it rains and your "yard" becomes a mudbath, and I can't control the wind so that it doesn''t blow some of the water onto your lot, I tried very hard to be civil. I tried to explain how I understood what was happening - we had the same issue - we live on a hill. If it rains, where is this dirt supposed to go except down the hill? I said I would check with our lawn care people about what if anything we can do.
Enter lawn care guy. He confirmed the fact that yes, we do live on a hill so any sort of water is going to drain down the hill through the neighbor's lot. There is almost nothing they can do to change that fact. He then proceeded to say - we can't not water your lawn. If we stop watering, we have dead grass, which means nothing is holding the dirt in place, which means more mud in the neighbors lot. He checked the sprinkler heads, which are in order and the program, which is appropriate for the weather we have been having. The only thing he said we could do is reduce the percentage of water coming out of the heads by 25%. So we made the adjustment and after a week I need to check back in with him.
Now, I have to inform the neighbors of what I am doing to HELP their situation. On one level, I am sympathetic. I know how hard it is to grow the grass - we are still in that process. But it isn't our fault that our neighbor's are unable to get their grass to germinate. At what point do I throw my hands up and say I've done all I have done??? Personally - being the mean person I am, I think adjusting my already minimal watering scheme (I don't even water every day of the week) is more than enough. We didn't have any neighbors come out and help our lawn situation. Neither has anyone else in the development - even the people at the bottom of the hill who bit the bullet and sodded their entire lot to stop the mud movement.
I refuse to believe that their mud issue is totally our sprinkler issue. It has been fine for the past 9 months - why now? My personal belief is that the city is sending them nasty letters, which by the way - we got and had to deal with as well. Other people in the development have as well. Their code violation is that the city requires you have a lawn in by a year of residing in your home.
If it isn't clear, this whole situation is bugging the living daylights out of me. I find it hard to be in the house and try to prepare for the next school year with this hanging over my head. I want to have the confidence that I will handle it civilly and not become a total *itch. At what point can I say I have done all I can to help your situation but there is nothing else I can do about it. Neighbors - you need to deal with your problem yourselves - we didn't have any help and we have been more than generous.
Ugh, rock and hard place. But at least yesterday and today I reorganized all the stuff in 2 closets, a desk, and 2 nightstands. Here's to hoping I can do some brain work tomorrow, if not, I'm not sure what else is left in this house to clean or organize.
According to our landscape professionals, in normal weather we would only need about 30 minutes of watering twice a week. Unfortunately this is not normal weather and the grass minimally needs about one hour's worth of water 3 times a week. Now watering for an hour is silly - the ground saturates to quickly and will not absorb the water it so desperately needs. To combat this problem and still get an hour's worth of water, we have set our cycle of zones to run twice. It runs through zone 1 - 5, and about a half hour after zone 5 finishes, the whole thing starts over again. All this is done early in the morning while it is still cool (who calls nearly 80 degree weather cool at 2 am?) so that the grass can grow deep roots and suck up as much water as possible.
Enter the only true neighbor we have. They moved in about 9 months ago. We have had our sprinkler and drainage plan going since they have moved in. This weekend though our lawn maintenance is no longer OK. Our neighbor's lot has NO grass, it barely has weeds. It is - for all intents and purposes a large mud pit. They are trying to get grass growing in their lot and now it is our issue that their dirt is "wet" and they can't get the grass to grow. Without pointing out the obvious facts, trying to get grass to germinate in 90+ degree weather is nigh impossible (we tried last summer), the fact I have no control over when it rains and your "yard" becomes a mudbath, and I can't control the wind so that it doesn''t blow some of the water onto your lot, I tried very hard to be civil. I tried to explain how I understood what was happening - we had the same issue - we live on a hill. If it rains, where is this dirt supposed to go except down the hill? I said I would check with our lawn care people about what if anything we can do.
Enter lawn care guy. He confirmed the fact that yes, we do live on a hill so any sort of water is going to drain down the hill through the neighbor's lot. There is almost nothing they can do to change that fact. He then proceeded to say - we can't not water your lawn. If we stop watering, we have dead grass, which means nothing is holding the dirt in place, which means more mud in the neighbors lot. He checked the sprinkler heads, which are in order and the program, which is appropriate for the weather we have been having. The only thing he said we could do is reduce the percentage of water coming out of the heads by 25%. So we made the adjustment and after a week I need to check back in with him.
Now, I have to inform the neighbors of what I am doing to HELP their situation. On one level, I am sympathetic. I know how hard it is to grow the grass - we are still in that process. But it isn't our fault that our neighbor's are unable to get their grass to germinate. At what point do I throw my hands up and say I've done all I have done??? Personally - being the mean person I am, I think adjusting my already minimal watering scheme (I don't even water every day of the week) is more than enough. We didn't have any neighbors come out and help our lawn situation. Neither has anyone else in the development - even the people at the bottom of the hill who bit the bullet and sodded their entire lot to stop the mud movement.
I refuse to believe that their mud issue is totally our sprinkler issue. It has been fine for the past 9 months - why now? My personal belief is that the city is sending them nasty letters, which by the way - we got and had to deal with as well. Other people in the development have as well. Their code violation is that the city requires you have a lawn in by a year of residing in your home.
If it isn't clear, this whole situation is bugging the living daylights out of me. I find it hard to be in the house and try to prepare for the next school year with this hanging over my head. I want to have the confidence that I will handle it civilly and not become a total *itch. At what point can I say I have done all I can to help your situation but there is nothing else I can do about it. Neighbors - you need to deal with your problem yourselves - we didn't have any help and we have been more than generous.
Ugh, rock and hard place. But at least yesterday and today I reorganized all the stuff in 2 closets, a desk, and 2 nightstands. Here's to hoping I can do some brain work tomorrow, if not, I'm not sure what else is left in this house to clean or organize.
Day 190
Now, I am not the first one to run around and flaunt my Roman Catholicism. But I went to Mass today. It felt good and added bonus I thought the Gospel reading was really a message for me. Even better the Gospel was only 5 verses long. So what touched me? Well, here is the reading -
Besides that fact then when I heard it, the priest said "Martha, Martha" as if he was saying Marsha Marsha Marsha from the Brady Bunch, i feel that I am anxious and troubled. I am constantly running around to make sure things are ready to go. Even more so during this deployment. I feel that the running of the household is creating a wave of insanity in me. I need to make time to just rest. Relax. Maybe is Jesus was more hip he would say Chill-ax Martha. Don't worry so much.
So what am I going to do about it. Well, knowing me - I will constantly have vexations about anything and everything. But I need to make sure that I make some time each day to just chill out. Lately this has been occurring in the evening while I play Lego Harry Potter (trust me my summer days have been filled with lots of cleaning, reorganizing and then reorganizing some more). I just need to carry this attitude through the school year. Just stop doing work in the evening and Chill Out!
HAHA see how long that lasts.
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."
Besides that fact then when I heard it, the priest said "Martha, Martha" as if he was saying Marsha Marsha Marsha from the Brady Bunch, i feel that I am anxious and troubled. I am constantly running around to make sure things are ready to go. Even more so during this deployment. I feel that the running of the household is creating a wave of insanity in me. I need to make time to just rest. Relax. Maybe is Jesus was more hip he would say Chill-ax Martha. Don't worry so much.
So what am I going to do about it. Well, knowing me - I will constantly have vexations about anything and everything. But I need to make sure that I make some time each day to just chill out. Lately this has been occurring in the evening while I play Lego Harry Potter (trust me my summer days have been filled with lots of cleaning, reorganizing and then reorganizing some more). I just need to carry this attitude through the school year. Just stop doing work in the evening and Chill Out!
HAHA see how long that lasts.
Day 188
I will not apologize for my lack of updates this time. My weirdness about being secure on the internet won this bout. There were no posts because Silvio and I went on our massive roadtrip. We would like to thank all of our friends and family for taking time out of their schedules and let us invade their homes. We are so grateful for your kindness.
Some things we learned on our road trip:
I think that sums it all up. I did learn that it would be super awesome if my car could act like a huge telephone. So we are going to get that situation fixed. Then I can talk to people while I'm driving. Super excited about that.
Other than that - we have past the half way mark and hopefully only have about 5 more months to go. Yippee!! Unfortunately I only have about a month left to prep for the start of school next year. Keep your fingers crossed.
Some things we learned on our road trip:
- Fort Leonard Wood really should be named Fort Lost-in-the-Woods.
- It is baby season. Congratulations Ladies!
- Going on a distillery tour in 90+ degree heat/humidity does not make bourbon taste any better.
- Silvio is not at all an interesting road trip buddy. He just falls asleep the whole time.
- Toy Story 3 in 3D was an intense movie. I am serious.
- I wouldn't mind moving back to South Carolina - the beaches, the people...
- It doesn't matter what shoes I wear, I will manage to injure my feet.
- After going through a bunch of stuff from my parents move, I really did save some odd, sentimental, and totally hilarious stuff from when I was younger.
- I am not a fan of Nestle fruit flavored water.
- My in-laws are really kind people, but they have some wacky kitties.
- I love taking pictures of butterflies.
- Joey Fatone (NSync) is actually a decent actor.
- Silvio and Anthony love cupcakes. Anthony likes to hold them and Silvio likes to eat them.
- Our country is amazing and beautiful. It is too darn bad I can't drive and take fancy pictures at the same time.
- Being back home in Kansas, really isn't all that bad.
I think that sums it all up. I did learn that it would be super awesome if my car could act like a huge telephone. So we are going to get that situation fixed. Then I can talk to people while I'm driving. Super excited about that.
Other than that - we have past the half way mark and hopefully only have about 5 more months to go. Yippee!! Unfortunately I only have about a month left to prep for the start of school next year. Keep your fingers crossed.
Day 161
Mad. I spent all that time in Florida not to far from Universal Studios. Why did they not have the decency to open up the Harry Potter Wizarding World 3 days earlier when I was there? Clearly - big fan right here. I did not want to be taunted by Daniel Radcliffe on Fox News this morning talking about the park and all the rides and the buildings. I am Bitter. Yes, it needs the capital B.
In another side note, I am thinking about applying for an assistant coaching position with the cross country team. I'm horribly out of shape and have an awful knee, but that does not erase 3 years of running in high school - earning 5 varsity letters, and 2 years of running cross country at one of the best division 3 colleges in the country. Does that sound good enough for my letter? Do you think Silvio will be mad if I am not around all the time to play with him? Even better do you think he has the stuff to be a team mascot?
In another side note, I am thinking about applying for an assistant coaching position with the cross country team. I'm horribly out of shape and have an awful knee, but that does not erase 3 years of running in high school - earning 5 varsity letters, and 2 years of running cross country at one of the best division 3 colleges in the country. Does that sound good enough for my letter? Do you think Silvio will be mad if I am not around all the time to play with him? Even better do you think he has the stuff to be a team mascot?
Day 159
First day back from my Disney trip a la 2010. I have loads of little things that I need to get done. But that is besides the point.
I left on Wednesday last week (the 9th). That was a fun filled day - dropped off Silvio at the pet resort. Quick back to the house to make sure everything was taken care of there, then drove 2 hours to KCI. I got to Dallas no problem and actually took the first class upgrade (45 dollars - I wasn't giving that up). I had an enjoyable flight and even spent a portion of the time talking with my neighbor. Dallas is a fantastic airport. I am convinced of it. Yes it has some draw backs - but really, they made it easy to get from one terminal to another. Plus, I got to sit down and eat lunch at TGI Friday's as opposed to running around getting take out. The flight from Dallas to Orlando - ended up being about 45 minutes late. Boo. Plus, we can not forget the hour time zone change. I didn't actually get to the hotel to meet up with the parents until nearly 9 at night. I think I spent over 12 hours traveling in some form or another.
Saratoga Springs is a humongous resort. Really - Disney could put another theme park on that plot of land - it's that big. Talk about getting exercise - nearly a half mile walk from our room to the Front Desk, or food, or the big pool. Thank goodness we had a quiet pool nearby. I felt really disconnected as opposed to the other resorts we have stayed at. At the Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach Club, you get a really feeling of hustle and bustle and people moving around. It's really quite dead at Saratoga Springs. I guess that just isn't my speed.
I purchased my ticket on Thursday. I really would like to thank Disney for the Military Salute promotion. What normally is a nearly 300 ticket - 4 day park hopper pass (with tax), I only paid half that price. Sometimes the military is good for something (if only my hubby was with me).
We snuck through Epcot - growing to be one of my favorite parks. We tried out Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions and created our own roller coaster. Raytheon, which runs the exhibit, tells you it is all about the math and science that we can create these great rides. It got me to thinking. I think I would like to create a on-going roller coaster project for my algebra 2 students - build different roller - coasters by piecing together different types of functions (we explore a lot of them in algebra 2). But it would be something that I would really need to work on like...right now. We also played the The Great Piggy Bank Adventure. It was really fun - more geared to smaller kids to learn about saving through 3 video game like activities. But we had a blast playing the games. I think we made more noise then the kids playing the games (you played in teams). We went on the Nemo ride in the Living Seas - not particularly spectacular - except for the part were it was the actual huge fish tank and they projected the characters on that. We roamed around the countries and got some sushi in Japan. Then we headed to Hollywood Studions (MGM - it will always be MGM - stupid name changing). We went on the Toy Story ride, which I think is more fun than the buzz lightyear ride. It might be because I can score more than 6000 points on it. After that it was time for dinner at Hollywood and Vine. Yummy buffet - good after a day of park hopping.
Friday we took it easy. Did some shopping at Downtown Disney and a nearby outlet mall. Kinda out of character. Then we went to eat at Kouzzina by Cat Cora. Greek food. Totally yummy. Fantastic meal - it is housed in the same place that Spoodles used to be on the Boardwalk. I am really a Greek food newbie. Never really branched into that food culture. Okay it was my first foray into Greek food. I had Avgolemono, Traditional Egg-lemon Soup with Chicken and Rice. So lemony and soooo delicious. Then for dinner I could not decided what I wanted. So I went with the Kouzzina Trio which was tasting size portions of Pastitsio (Greek lasagna - cinnamon infused), Char-grilled Lamb Burger (spicy burger), and Cinnamon-stewed Chicken with Orzo. For dessert, loukoumades - freshly Made Greek Doughnuts drizzled with warm Honey. Reminded me of tiny zeppoles covered in honey and not powdered sugar. I am making my mouth water just thinking about that meal. I hope that I can find a good recipe for the Avgolemono. I would love to try it on my own. Clearly we needed to walk off our fantastic dinner. So we set off around the lake. We caught Illuminations and then finished our walk around the lake.
Saturday, mom and I set off for the early morning park opening at Animal Kingdom. 8 am park opening and we got there at about 8:10. It was very light foot traffic wise. We were surprised. We headed straight to the safari and got picked off the line (hurray for being a small party of 2) to go on one of the handicapped trucks. So lucky! It was barely 8:30 and there was still breakfast food out for all of the animals. So they were out and about munching on breakfast. Fantastic. We got super close to the giraffes and the white rhinos. Craziness. Probably some of the best pictures I have ever taken of the animals. We went on the gorilla trail and the tiger trail. The we headed back because it was hot as...well you can fill in the blank. Spent part of the afternoon at the pool. Then got ready for a nice meal at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian. That meal was depressing after dinner in Kouzzina. We were all ready for some seafood and just totally disappointed. I will leave it at that. But afterward we headed to the Magic Kingdom for the comeback of the Main Street Electrical Parade. I think we nearly sat in the same spot from our very first videotaped trip to Disney in 1987. Am I dating myself? The music is slightly a bit more techno-ified but I love it. They added some new floats which look great. But the lights - compared to the old bulbs - these LED lights are so bright and fantastic. I tried to capture it with my camera.
We got up a little later on Sunday to head back to Epcot. We had lunch reservations at Le Cellier in Canada. Before that we Test Track, got fast passes for Soarin', and rode the Journey into Imagination (i could probably spend an entire post on how Disney messed that one up). Lunch at Le Cellier was totally yummy. I had the cheddar cheese soup - and was able to snag the recipe from the kitchen. Score! Then we had the Filet Mignon with wild mushroom risotto. Needless to say there were 3 very clean plates. For dessert we ordered this chocolate whiskey cake - oh to die for. If we weren't walking around and sweating our behinds off in the 100 + degree heat, I would probably have gained about 5 pounds. We could not resist a stop at the Maelstrom or a chance to walk around the shops. Disney is bringing back some of the original t-shirt designs and I love it. Nothing major for dinner since lunch was so yummy.
Monday was the last day in the parks - so we headed to Magic Kingdom. Can we say crowded? There was a Pampered Chef convention in town too. I could use some more pampered chef. (Gosh it all comes back to food doesn't it?) We went on Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, the Laugh Room (I really enjoy that one - plus you spend a lot of time in the air conditioning and you see people do things they normally wouldn't do.), and Pirates of the Caribbean. Had a little lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and high tailed it out of there because it was another bloody hot day.
Yesterday - was a long day. Up at the crack of dawn to get on the Magical Express back to the airport. A sad day. I wish Matt and Andy had been able to come. Or that it had been longer. Oh well. A few more steps closer to the end of this year. :o)
I left on Wednesday last week (the 9th). That was a fun filled day - dropped off Silvio at the pet resort. Quick back to the house to make sure everything was taken care of there, then drove 2 hours to KCI. I got to Dallas no problem and actually took the first class upgrade (45 dollars - I wasn't giving that up). I had an enjoyable flight and even spent a portion of the time talking with my neighbor. Dallas is a fantastic airport. I am convinced of it. Yes it has some draw backs - but really, they made it easy to get from one terminal to another. Plus, I got to sit down and eat lunch at TGI Friday's as opposed to running around getting take out. The flight from Dallas to Orlando - ended up being about 45 minutes late. Boo. Plus, we can not forget the hour time zone change. I didn't actually get to the hotel to meet up with the parents until nearly 9 at night. I think I spent over 12 hours traveling in some form or another.
Saratoga Springs is a humongous resort. Really - Disney could put another theme park on that plot of land - it's that big. Talk about getting exercise - nearly a half mile walk from our room to the Front Desk, or food, or the big pool. Thank goodness we had a quiet pool nearby. I felt really disconnected as opposed to the other resorts we have stayed at. At the Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach Club, you get a really feeling of hustle and bustle and people moving around. It's really quite dead at Saratoga Springs. I guess that just isn't my speed.
I purchased my ticket on Thursday. I really would like to thank Disney for the Military Salute promotion. What normally is a nearly 300 ticket - 4 day park hopper pass (with tax), I only paid half that price. Sometimes the military is good for something (if only my hubby was with me).
We snuck through Epcot - growing to be one of my favorite parks. We tried out Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions and created our own roller coaster. Raytheon, which runs the exhibit, tells you it is all about the math and science that we can create these great rides. It got me to thinking. I think I would like to create a on-going roller coaster project for my algebra 2 students - build different roller - coasters by piecing together different types of functions (we explore a lot of them in algebra 2). But it would be something that I would really need to work on like...right now. We also played the The Great Piggy Bank Adventure. It was really fun - more geared to smaller kids to learn about saving through 3 video game like activities. But we had a blast playing the games. I think we made more noise then the kids playing the games (you played in teams). We went on the Nemo ride in the Living Seas - not particularly spectacular - except for the part were it was the actual huge fish tank and they projected the characters on that. We roamed around the countries and got some sushi in Japan. Then we headed to Hollywood Studions (MGM - it will always be MGM - stupid name changing). We went on the Toy Story ride, which I think is more fun than the buzz lightyear ride. It might be because I can score more than 6000 points on it. After that it was time for dinner at Hollywood and Vine. Yummy buffet - good after a day of park hopping.
Friday we took it easy. Did some shopping at Downtown Disney and a nearby outlet mall. Kinda out of character. Then we went to eat at Kouzzina by Cat Cora. Greek food. Totally yummy. Fantastic meal - it is housed in the same place that Spoodles used to be on the Boardwalk. I am really a Greek food newbie. Never really branched into that food culture. Okay it was my first foray into Greek food. I had Avgolemono, Traditional Egg-lemon Soup with Chicken and Rice. So lemony and soooo delicious. Then for dinner I could not decided what I wanted. So I went with the Kouzzina Trio which was tasting size portions of Pastitsio (Greek lasagna - cinnamon infused), Char-grilled Lamb Burger (spicy burger), and Cinnamon-stewed Chicken with Orzo. For dessert, loukoumades - freshly Made Greek Doughnuts drizzled with warm Honey. Reminded me of tiny zeppoles covered in honey and not powdered sugar. I am making my mouth water just thinking about that meal. I hope that I can find a good recipe for the Avgolemono. I would love to try it on my own. Clearly we needed to walk off our fantastic dinner. So we set off around the lake. We caught Illuminations and then finished our walk around the lake.
Saturday, mom and I set off for the early morning park opening at Animal Kingdom. 8 am park opening and we got there at about 8:10. It was very light foot traffic wise. We were surprised. We headed straight to the safari and got picked off the line (hurray for being a small party of 2) to go on one of the handicapped trucks. So lucky! It was barely 8:30 and there was still breakfast food out for all of the animals. So they were out and about munching on breakfast. Fantastic. We got super close to the giraffes and the white rhinos. Craziness. Probably some of the best pictures I have ever taken of the animals. We went on the gorilla trail and the tiger trail. The we headed back because it was hot as...well you can fill in the blank. Spent part of the afternoon at the pool. Then got ready for a nice meal at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian. That meal was depressing after dinner in Kouzzina. We were all ready for some seafood and just totally disappointed. I will leave it at that. But afterward we headed to the Magic Kingdom for the comeback of the Main Street Electrical Parade. I think we nearly sat in the same spot from our very first videotaped trip to Disney in 1987. Am I dating myself? The music is slightly a bit more techno-ified but I love it. They added some new floats which look great. But the lights - compared to the old bulbs - these LED lights are so bright and fantastic. I tried to capture it with my camera.
We got up a little later on Sunday to head back to Epcot. We had lunch reservations at Le Cellier in Canada. Before that we Test Track, got fast passes for Soarin', and rode the Journey into Imagination (i could probably spend an entire post on how Disney messed that one up). Lunch at Le Cellier was totally yummy. I had the cheddar cheese soup - and was able to snag the recipe from the kitchen. Score! Then we had the Filet Mignon with wild mushroom risotto. Needless to say there were 3 very clean plates. For dessert we ordered this chocolate whiskey cake - oh to die for. If we weren't walking around and sweating our behinds off in the 100 + degree heat, I would probably have gained about 5 pounds. We could not resist a stop at the Maelstrom or a chance to walk around the shops. Disney is bringing back some of the original t-shirt designs and I love it. Nothing major for dinner since lunch was so yummy.
Monday was the last day in the parks - so we headed to Magic Kingdom. Can we say crowded? There was a Pampered Chef convention in town too. I could use some more pampered chef. (Gosh it all comes back to food doesn't it?) We went on Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, the Laugh Room (I really enjoy that one - plus you spend a lot of time in the air conditioning and you see people do things they normally wouldn't do.), and Pirates of the Caribbean. Had a little lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and high tailed it out of there because it was another bloody hot day.
Yesterday - was a long day. Up at the crack of dawn to get on the Magical Express back to the airport. A sad day. I wish Matt and Andy had been able to come. Or that it had been longer. Oh well. A few more steps closer to the end of this year. :o)
Day 150
We can officially turn the page on 5 months of this deployment. I am surprised that it is here.
**Interlude: While starting to write this, I was interrupted by the doorbell. There is another church that is looking for members. This is probably about the 5th or 6th time since we have moved here since this has happened. Mind you - they are all different churches. As much as I would love to be a member of so many wonderful organizations, I am a card carrying Roman Catholic. Yes, what some would say is one of the more structured belief systems out there. But that's okay, I like structure. Anyway, I just never really remember this happening so much back home. Maybe it is a mid west sort of thing?**
Back to our regular programming. This means that we are 30 days away from the half way point (supposing things do not change). I am not sure if this deployment feels easier or faster compared to the previous one. I am just happy 5 months are done.
I also managed to complete all of the assignments for my last online course. It feels satisfying. To be honest - I think I have hit the end of the road with schooling. I am done. I have no desire to take courses for credit, get any more degrees, nada. Not that I do not enjoy learning. I just am done with the pressure of having to perform. Now if I found some fun cooking classes, or maybe some piano lessons (that would require having a piano to practice on first, doh) I would be all for it.
Other than that - just spending loads of time watching the news (depressing), cleaning (or getting me dirty), or reorganizing (throwing old crud out and buying fun plastic tubs to put the rest of the stuff in).
**Interlude: While starting to write this, I was interrupted by the doorbell. There is another church that is looking for members. This is probably about the 5th or 6th time since we have moved here since this has happened. Mind you - they are all different churches. As much as I would love to be a member of so many wonderful organizations, I am a card carrying Roman Catholic. Yes, what some would say is one of the more structured belief systems out there. But that's okay, I like structure. Anyway, I just never really remember this happening so much back home. Maybe it is a mid west sort of thing?**
Back to our regular programming. This means that we are 30 days away from the half way point (supposing things do not change). I am not sure if this deployment feels easier or faster compared to the previous one. I am just happy 5 months are done.
I also managed to complete all of the assignments for my last online course. It feels satisfying. To be honest - I think I have hit the end of the road with schooling. I am done. I have no desire to take courses for credit, get any more degrees, nada. Not that I do not enjoy learning. I just am done with the pressure of having to perform. Now if I found some fun cooking classes, or maybe some piano lessons (that would require having a piano to practice on first, doh) I would be all for it.
Other than that - just spending loads of time watching the news (depressing), cleaning (or getting me dirty), or reorganizing (throwing old crud out and buying fun plastic tubs to put the rest of the stuff in).
Day 148
I'm not sure if this is considered momentous or what. But I suppose it should be documented.
I sliced my finger this morning with a serrated knife. Okay, that sounds a heck of a lot worse than what happened. I was preparing to cut some more slices of bread from the loaf I baked yesterday. *Probably a good thing I had managed to cut two slices just before the incident and managed to eat breakfast. I most certainly would have been forgoing breakfast if this happened first.* I can barely even explain how my finger got there, but all of a sudden...knife to bread and then... knife to left middle finger. Being I have the lowest threshold for pain imaginable stopped myself going - "WTF my finger hurts!!!" Then I saw blood. I knew I only had mere seconds before - for no reason at all - I would be fainting on the floor. Since I am a 5 year old when it comes to cuts, scrapes, and bruises - finger went straight in mouth as a ran to the bathroom and turn on the faucet. Why I ran to the bathroom sink when there is a perfectly usable kitchen sink not 2 ft from me - I have no idea. I think I screamed like a little baby for about 2 minutes and tried to keep myself from hyperventilating. Fortunately for me I spent part of yesterday putting all of the band-aids and neosporin away in the closet. My finger stopped it's bleeding just long enough for me to fumble one-handed through everything. Bandage complete. Laid down on the floor for 10 minutes while Silvio just licked my right hand.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. After that - I got cleaned up.
I inspected the cut this afternoon. Thankfully for my killer instincts I just ended up with what looks like a mother of a paper cut. Nice and deep. Not deep enough to warrant a call for help. Since I got the neosporin on there real fast it even looked as those it was starting to heal up nicely.
Now I am slightly embarrassed. I do not even want to come close to that bread knife. Nor do I want to cut a slice of bread - no matter how much I want it and how tasty it is. I guess I won't be baking for a while - until I become comfortable with the bread knife again.
I sliced my finger this morning with a serrated knife. Okay, that sounds a heck of a lot worse than what happened. I was preparing to cut some more slices of bread from the loaf I baked yesterday. *Probably a good thing I had managed to cut two slices just before the incident and managed to eat breakfast. I most certainly would have been forgoing breakfast if this happened first.* I can barely even explain how my finger got there, but all of a sudden...knife to bread and then... knife to left middle finger. Being I have the lowest threshold for pain imaginable stopped myself going - "WTF my finger hurts!!!" Then I saw blood. I knew I only had mere seconds before - for no reason at all - I would be fainting on the floor. Since I am a 5 year old when it comes to cuts, scrapes, and bruises - finger went straight in mouth as a ran to the bathroom and turn on the faucet. Why I ran to the bathroom sink when there is a perfectly usable kitchen sink not 2 ft from me - I have no idea. I think I screamed like a little baby for about 2 minutes and tried to keep myself from hyperventilating. Fortunately for me I spent part of yesterday putting all of the band-aids and neosporin away in the closet. My finger stopped it's bleeding just long enough for me to fumble one-handed through everything. Bandage complete. Laid down on the floor for 10 minutes while Silvio just licked my right hand.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. After that - I got cleaned up.
I inspected the cut this afternoon. Thankfully for my killer instincts I just ended up with what looks like a mother of a paper cut. Nice and deep. Not deep enough to warrant a call for help. Since I got the neosporin on there real fast it even looked as those it was starting to heal up nicely.
Now I am slightly embarrassed. I do not even want to come close to that bread knife. Nor do I want to cut a slice of bread - no matter how much I want it and how tasty it is. I guess I won't be baking for a while - until I become comfortable with the bread knife again.
Day 146
Well I did it. After the Hair debacle of Lawton, I finally got it cut. It feels fantastic. I keep brushing my hands through my hair in wonderment. Yes it really is that short. No, I do not have to worry about blow-drying hair that comes down to the middle of my back. Yes it was long. Plus, I splurged on some hair products - a really really nice flat iron (bye bye 15 dollar Conair iron), new shampoo, plus other fun hair creams and sprays. Gosh i feel so girly.
Silvio had his annual vet appointment. He is doing well. The vet thinks he is hilarious. He even sat nicely while they gave him every shot imaginable. Needless to say, right now he is passed out on the chair behind me. So much excitement for one day. Little downside - he needs to lose a couple of pounds - he is 23 pounds. Yikes. He doesn't look like Kona - but he is a bit chubby. More walking outside for us then.
I did a little bit of work today. That is a bit of an understatement - I did a bit to get ready for Disney but that was it. Tomorrow I need to get at least one of these papers completed and start cleaning the house. Dirty house is not fun. If anyone would like to clean it for me - you are more than welcome too!
Went out last night to Harry's with the Yellow Ribbon Social. Lots of fun - plus I miss going out to eat. I really need to be more comfortable with going out to eat by myself.
I watched An Education tonight. It was a really good movie. Hmm, no wonder it was up for an oscar or two.
Silvio had his annual vet appointment. He is doing well. The vet thinks he is hilarious. He even sat nicely while they gave him every shot imaginable. Needless to say, right now he is passed out on the chair behind me. So much excitement for one day. Little downside - he needs to lose a couple of pounds - he is 23 pounds. Yikes. He doesn't look like Kona - but he is a bit chubby. More walking outside for us then.
I did a little bit of work today. That is a bit of an understatement - I did a bit to get ready for Disney but that was it. Tomorrow I need to get at least one of these papers completed and start cleaning the house. Dirty house is not fun. If anyone would like to clean it for me - you are more than welcome too!
Went out last night to Harry's with the Yellow Ribbon Social. Lots of fun - plus I miss going out to eat. I really need to be more comfortable with going out to eat by myself.
I watched An Education tonight. It was a really good movie. Hmm, no wonder it was up for an oscar or two.
Day 144
Book update:
Textbook for special ed online class is finished. No more reading that for me.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - enjoyable quick read...I think there are 2 other books by Larsson that go with it.
Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn - just started reading it. If only I could get away with not giving homework - do you think that is even possible?
Summer Reads:
My Life in France by Julia Childs - I wanted to read it before I attack the cookbooks.
Julie & Julia - confession, yes I watched the movie - but I'd like to read it too after Childs' book but before cookbooks
What Einstein Told His Cook - science and food - the kitchen revealed, I just couldn't resist.
Beer & Philosophy - okay this is more for Andy but I have a feeling I might speed through it before I send it to him
Book on the horizon:
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee - this is the original science/chemistry/food investigation type book - I'd call is summer reading but I do not feel like lugging a 700 page book around (plus I think I have to order it online)
How To Cook Everything by Bittman - yes I think this is last major cookbook I want to add to my collection - for now.
Off to not stare at the computer. I could probably do that all day if I really wanted too.
Textbook for special ed online class is finished. No more reading that for me.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - enjoyable quick read...I think there are 2 other books by Larsson that go with it.
Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn - just started reading it. If only I could get away with not giving homework - do you think that is even possible?
Summer Reads:
My Life in France by Julia Childs - I wanted to read it before I attack the cookbooks.
Julie & Julia - confession, yes I watched the movie - but I'd like to read it too after Childs' book but before cookbooks
What Einstein Told His Cook - science and food - the kitchen revealed, I just couldn't resist.
Beer & Philosophy - okay this is more for Andy but I have a feeling I might speed through it before I send it to him
Book on the horizon:
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee - this is the original science/chemistry/food investigation type book - I'd call is summer reading but I do not feel like lugging a 700 page book around (plus I think I have to order it online)
How To Cook Everything by Bittman - yes I think this is last major cookbook I want to add to my collection - for now.
Off to not stare at the computer. I could probably do that all day if I really wanted too.
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