Today at work I'm entering journal entries which means that my mind can wander while I do countless data entry. And here is where my mind has wandered. Apparently, I need a vacation...
First was the tiny, narrow gauge rail from Bwetsy-coed to the end of the tiny, narrow gauge rail line in Wales. Our group of 5 were the only ones on the train because it was just going to the end of the line, waiting there for 20 minutes and coming right back before it took us on to our real destination. But this little jaunt was extremely beautiful and showed us some very unique scenery. There are apparently whole HILLS OF SLATE!! Which is why every house within a 100 mile radius is slate stack. And it looks like some giant dump truck just dumped the slate all higgledy-piggledy. Very weird. But it was so peaceful with just the 5 of us, on a rocking train, with dappled sunlight, and my cousin playing his little flute/whistle. Wonderful nap opportunity. Which I took advantage of.
The next flash of a memory was when I was like 10 or 12 and we spent a family vacation in Yellowstone National Park. All 4 of us in the old Suburban with the let down tail-gate that was perfect for, well, tail-gating. We had the huge blue ice chest full of stuff. We had stopped beside the Snake river where lots of folks were fishing off a bridge. We fixed our lunch there and found...the grapes. We'd been traveling for well over a week, occasionally buying groceries to refill the ice chest. Mom had stored the grapes in a clearish tupperware thing to prevent them getting crushed. But they had been sitting in the sun (not a big deal, they didn't need to be cold) and had FERMENTED ON THE STEM! My teetotaling family found this to be especially funny and elicit. We have alcoholic grapes - NEAR THE KIDS!! They might be corrupted!
The next flash memory was of the cove of the lake below my parent's house. We've started swimming here more often because my husband who is magnetically drawn to bodies of water. The lake is just RIGHT THERE! Why are we not neck deep in cool water again. So down we all troop. This flash of a memory was oddly from the far bank toward the muddy top of the cove. But it was still relaxing to think of being neck deep in lake water.
Now, we're on the street in Edinburgh shopping for some pretty pendant pins for me that don't cost the moon. A medium amount of foot traffic on the Royal Mile, with lots of guys in what are called sport kilts. These are made out of canvas or broadcloth and have some pockets built in. They're the kilt equivalent of kaki's for men. Dark socks and sneakers with regular T-shirts. I can smell the air of the city. Definitely not unpleasant, but a lot of cities have a distinctive smell.
And now we're in Armagh, Northern Ireland. We've just driven for quite a while through the medieval city in our tiny car, on the wrong side of the impossibly narrow streets and actually managed to find our youth hostile with the GPS and dumb luck. The main thoroughfare of the city, I swear, is 12 feet wide and they consider that a two way street with sidewalks. And it's not like there's a ditch for leeway. It's 12 feet wide because there are very tall stone buildings on the edges. Anyway, we got to the hostile and sat in the parking lot for a minute, just breathing and marveling that we had found the place. Hubby says, "how about we tour this whole city on foot and not move the car again?" "Deal!"
So that's where my mind has been so far this morning. It's kind of nice!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
missed pills
This weekend, I ran out of one of my anti-depressant pills and didn't manage to get it refilled for 36 hours. As a result, I missed 2 pills. Wow, what a difference a tiny little pill can make! I warned my husband to be on the lookout for random crabbiness, sadness, and the other typical things. He's been a great help!
My prescription is now refilled and I seem to be returning to normal. Let me tell you how missing those pills changed me basically overnight.
I contemplated stopping nursing my son. I researched whether to give my 8 month old cow's milk or formula until he reaches one year. This was all because he's become a distracted nurser. Or perhaps I'm trying to feed him when he's not really hungry. Either way, he's gotten in the habit of turning his head to look at things while he's still got a tight hold on me. With 6 teeth. So because I was blue, I seriously thought about going cold turkey on him. This would be detrimental to us both and a lot more painful than the occasional gasp of breath. Last night, I figured out that if I gently held his head while he nursed, when he first turned his head to look at something, I would be preventing him, he would let go and continue to turn his head. Wow. Problem solved. That was hard. But this seemed like a big crisis because I'd missed the pills.
I really, really dreaded washing my extremely long hair. My hair nearly reaches the chair seat when I sit. I love my hair. I've had long hair for 20 years. My hair, aside from washing, is extremely easy to keep, and keep out of reach of Quint's tiny fists. But without my medication, I dreaded taking care of it so much, it seemed like such a huge chore, that I actually thought about cutting it off where it wouldn't fit in a ponytail.
We had planned to visit my folks this past weekend, but because of some health issues, the trip was postponed a few weeks. So I suddenly had a three day weekend with nothing planned! I made some serious lists and even put polyurethane on two large dining room tables. And then I missed my pills. Monday, I had absolutely no interest in completing anything on my list. ME! Not jazzed by a list of things to do and time to do it! I only managed to get done the things that take 15 minutes or less. I did get all the laundry really done, though, so that's something. But still, I only got half my list done.
Yesterday was the worst. I got about 15 minutes worth of work done during my 5 hours at work. I couldn't think of what I needed to do, yet I didn't even organize my full inbox. I had 3.5 feet of filing to do, and had already made the file folders ready to file all that. I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and told them at work that I wasn't sure if I'd be back. I got out of my appointment at 3:15. I could have gone back to town and worked for a whole other hour, thus saving my sick time for sometime when I was, oh, I don't know, SICK! I literally could not make myself go back to work. I told myself that if I stayed home that afternoon, I could make some baby food and still be productive. Or I could wash my hair without Quint crying. Instead, left Quint at daycare and I sat on my butt for 2 hours, eating Kit-Kat and watching Jerseylicious which I have never watched before and is a horrible, catty, shallow show that I now hate. I couldn't even confess this to my Hubby later, that I'd basically played hookie and had nothing to show for it.
During Monday and Tuesday, I nearly cried 3 times for absolutely no reason.
I also started to seriously dread being home alone all evening with just Quint. Hubby usually has lodge stuff to do on Tuesday nights. He got home at 6:30 and I was soooo relieved! We went on a walk, he reminded me of what all I had gotten done on Monday when I was off. He reminded me that I am a good wife and mother. We talked about how my situation in life has NOT changed in the past 2 days, even though it may feel like it.
Thankfully, neither Hubby or Quint ever really got on my nerves during this horrible 2 day period. Of course, I just completely indulged Quint in order to keep him happy. In the evenings, he really wants me to sit beside him and play with him all evening. If I walk off, he cries. Really annoying tendency, that. I've been trying to break him of it by weening him off constantly touching mommy. Monday and last night, yeah, I just stayed right there beside him so I wouldn't have to listen to him cry. And, let's face it, I was only going to sit on my butt anyway.
Today is tons better. I washed my hair (wow, only 20 minutes of work and 4 hours of being chilly) and filed that mountain of stuff at work. I have beautiful expanses of wood grain laminate to gaze upon on my desk. I've thrown away the empty Dr. Pepper cans and dusted these new gaps on my desk.
Huge sigh of relief!! I'm back to the real me!
My prescription is now refilled and I seem to be returning to normal. Let me tell you how missing those pills changed me basically overnight.
I contemplated stopping nursing my son. I researched whether to give my 8 month old cow's milk or formula until he reaches one year. This was all because he's become a distracted nurser. Or perhaps I'm trying to feed him when he's not really hungry. Either way, he's gotten in the habit of turning his head to look at things while he's still got a tight hold on me. With 6 teeth. So because I was blue, I seriously thought about going cold turkey on him. This would be detrimental to us both and a lot more painful than the occasional gasp of breath. Last night, I figured out that if I gently held his head while he nursed, when he first turned his head to look at something, I would be preventing him, he would let go and continue to turn his head. Wow. Problem solved. That was hard. But this seemed like a big crisis because I'd missed the pills.
I really, really dreaded washing my extremely long hair. My hair nearly reaches the chair seat when I sit. I love my hair. I've had long hair for 20 years. My hair, aside from washing, is extremely easy to keep, and keep out of reach of Quint's tiny fists. But without my medication, I dreaded taking care of it so much, it seemed like such a huge chore, that I actually thought about cutting it off where it wouldn't fit in a ponytail.
We had planned to visit my folks this past weekend, but because of some health issues, the trip was postponed a few weeks. So I suddenly had a three day weekend with nothing planned! I made some serious lists and even put polyurethane on two large dining room tables. And then I missed my pills. Monday, I had absolutely no interest in completing anything on my list. ME! Not jazzed by a list of things to do and time to do it! I only managed to get done the things that take 15 minutes or less. I did get all the laundry really done, though, so that's something. But still, I only got half my list done.
Yesterday was the worst. I got about 15 minutes worth of work done during my 5 hours at work. I couldn't think of what I needed to do, yet I didn't even organize my full inbox. I had 3.5 feet of filing to do, and had already made the file folders ready to file all that. I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and told them at work that I wasn't sure if I'd be back. I got out of my appointment at 3:15. I could have gone back to town and worked for a whole other hour, thus saving my sick time for sometime when I was, oh, I don't know, SICK! I literally could not make myself go back to work. I told myself that if I stayed home that afternoon, I could make some baby food and still be productive. Or I could wash my hair without Quint crying. Instead, left Quint at daycare and I sat on my butt for 2 hours, eating Kit-Kat and watching Jerseylicious which I have never watched before and is a horrible, catty, shallow show that I now hate. I couldn't even confess this to my Hubby later, that I'd basically played hookie and had nothing to show for it.
During Monday and Tuesday, I nearly cried 3 times for absolutely no reason.
I also started to seriously dread being home alone all evening with just Quint. Hubby usually has lodge stuff to do on Tuesday nights. He got home at 6:30 and I was soooo relieved! We went on a walk, he reminded me of what all I had gotten done on Monday when I was off. He reminded me that I am a good wife and mother. We talked about how my situation in life has NOT changed in the past 2 days, even though it may feel like it.
Thankfully, neither Hubby or Quint ever really got on my nerves during this horrible 2 day period. Of course, I just completely indulged Quint in order to keep him happy. In the evenings, he really wants me to sit beside him and play with him all evening. If I walk off, he cries. Really annoying tendency, that. I've been trying to break him of it by weening him off constantly touching mommy. Monday and last night, yeah, I just stayed right there beside him so I wouldn't have to listen to him cry. And, let's face it, I was only going to sit on my butt anyway.
Today is tons better. I washed my hair (wow, only 20 minutes of work and 4 hours of being chilly) and filed that mountain of stuff at work. I have beautiful expanses of wood grain laminate to gaze upon on my desk. I've thrown away the empty Dr. Pepper cans and dusted these new gaps on my desk.
Huge sigh of relief!! I'm back to the real me!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Lapband update
Hubby reported with glee the other day that he's down to 266 pounds! That's 24 pounds in about 10 weeks.
Hubby gasped in horror when I mentioned systematic belly photos to document his weight loss. But I recently noticed that I have regular photos that include his belly and best of all, there's a belly profile shot of both of us about a week before I had Quint. So we can use that as a gauge when he turns into my skinny husband. So there will be faceless belly shots some months in the future.
Hubby gasped in horror when I mentioned systematic belly photos to document his weight loss. But I recently noticed that I have regular photos that include his belly and best of all, there's a belly profile shot of both of us about a week before I had Quint. So we can use that as a gauge when he turns into my skinny husband. So there will be faceless belly shots some months in the future.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
My son the octopus
So it's just been like a week since Quint has been able to ooch, wiggle, nose-dive, belly-flop, then roll to wherever he wants to go. As long as it's within 2 feet of where he started. But he has turned into an octopus! And of course has magnetic eye-sight to whatever is nearby that I really don't want him to hurt, drop, or drool on. Especially if it has a plug or batteries.
Last night while we were conversing with our smoke detector (more on that later), I was trying to calmly hold Quint in my lap in the rocking chair in his room. Suddenly, at 1:30am, he finally realized that there are adult things on the shelf near my right shoulder. I certainly don't mean adult as in XXX (always be careful when searching for an adult anything on ebay, BTW), but water bottles, tissues, contact saline, granola bars, the white noise maker (lots of fun buttons with noises!), and CD cases. And he had to have them NOW!!! He suddenly transformed from this groggy, nursing baby into this quick and agile grabbing machine! I finally had to just stand up with him where he gazed longingly over my shoulder at all the fun bottles and things. And thankfully, object permanence hasn't kicked in yet, so I was able to throw burp rags over most of it and, to his mind, they magically disappeared!
I have GOT to finish baby-proofing his room this weekend. The quick version of that chore would only take like 10 minutes, I think. Then I would have his room, my office, and one of the living rooms completely safe for crawling small fry.
Smoke detector: Several times in our lives, twice actually, our smoke detector has tried to warn us of big mistakes we're about to make. True, we have trouble understanding it sometimes, but with the hindsight of about 2 months, we realize that the huge life changing decision was being endlessly discussed when the smoke detector spoke. Or honked in a conversational way. Or whatever you want to call it. We're some of those weird people who think that relatives or others might be floating around with us in our house, trying to find ways to communicate with us. Or perhaps we've watched WAAAAY too much Ghost Hunters. Or perhaps we're crazy. But not nearly as crazy as our nutjob neighbor who recently put his decorative cement pig up on one of the steeples he had affixed to his house just to piss off the homeowner's association (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!). The placement of the pig has become a daily "where's waldo" game to everyone in the neighborhood.
But that's this whole other type of crazy. Our brand is much more normal, right?
Anyway, every other time we've gotten (listen for the echo effect) "messages from beyond" it's been while we were debating a huge, life changing decision, or just after a beloved relative has died. We currently have no big decisions before us. So is this just a general warning? Will the big decision present itself fairly soon? We asked it about several subjects and got no response. We asked each other, "what does THAT mean?" only to have it honk at us again. We then said to each other "keep trying". We proposed some more subjects, but never could figure it out. We were watching the baby to see if he was acting like he could detect anything else, but he seemed perfectly normal, if a bit grabby. And rather awake for 1:30am, but who wouldn't be with a smoke detector honking right outside your door.
It seems important that the detector did not wake us up. All three of us were awake when this started, which is unusual. Typically, Hubby either still is legitimately asleep, or (I suspect) he's doing a darn good impersonation of his own snoring. After my curiosity had waned, I went back to sleep and the detector didn't honk again.
We did, of course, do the regular precautions in case the thing was actually, you know, detecting smoke. Hubby went downstairs to investigate. And found nothing amiss. And the smoke detector was silent the night recently when I left a scented jar candle burning in the kitchen. Aheh heh... Don't tell hubby that.
Quint did act weird starting at 5:30am, but that seems unrelated, I think. I accidentally showed him that it was daylight at 5:30 (I didn't know that?!) so he thought it was time to start the day. We all got very little sleep from then until we all finally got up around 7am. FUN!
So we've checked with various friends and relatives and everyone's OK. We're just going to be cautious and alert. While sleep deprived...
Last night while we were conversing with our smoke detector (more on that later), I was trying to calmly hold Quint in my lap in the rocking chair in his room. Suddenly, at 1:30am, he finally realized that there are adult things on the shelf near my right shoulder. I certainly don't mean adult as in XXX (always be careful when searching for an adult anything on ebay, BTW), but water bottles, tissues, contact saline, granola bars, the white noise maker (lots of fun buttons with noises!), and CD cases. And he had to have them NOW!!! He suddenly transformed from this groggy, nursing baby into this quick and agile grabbing machine! I finally had to just stand up with him where he gazed longingly over my shoulder at all the fun bottles and things. And thankfully, object permanence hasn't kicked in yet, so I was able to throw burp rags over most of it and, to his mind, they magically disappeared!
I have GOT to finish baby-proofing his room this weekend. The quick version of that chore would only take like 10 minutes, I think. Then I would have his room, my office, and one of the living rooms completely safe for crawling small fry.
Smoke detector: Several times in our lives, twice actually, our smoke detector has tried to warn us of big mistakes we're about to make. True, we have trouble understanding it sometimes, but with the hindsight of about 2 months, we realize that the huge life changing decision was being endlessly discussed when the smoke detector spoke. Or honked in a conversational way. Or whatever you want to call it. We're some of those weird people who think that relatives or others might be floating around with us in our house, trying to find ways to communicate with us. Or perhaps we've watched WAAAAY too much Ghost Hunters. Or perhaps we're crazy. But not nearly as crazy as our nutjob neighbor who recently put his decorative cement pig up on one of the steeples he had affixed to his house just to piss off the homeowner's association (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!). The placement of the pig has become a daily "where's waldo" game to everyone in the neighborhood.
But that's this whole other type of crazy. Our brand is much more normal, right?
Anyway, every other time we've gotten (listen for the echo effect) "messages from beyond" it's been while we were debating a huge, life changing decision, or just after a beloved relative has died. We currently have no big decisions before us. So is this just a general warning? Will the big decision present itself fairly soon? We asked it about several subjects and got no response. We asked each other, "what does THAT mean?" only to have it honk at us again. We then said to each other "keep trying". We proposed some more subjects, but never could figure it out. We were watching the baby to see if he was acting like he could detect anything else, but he seemed perfectly normal, if a bit grabby. And rather awake for 1:30am, but who wouldn't be with a smoke detector honking right outside your door.
It seems important that the detector did not wake us up. All three of us were awake when this started, which is unusual. Typically, Hubby either still is legitimately asleep, or (I suspect) he's doing a darn good impersonation of his own snoring. After my curiosity had waned, I went back to sleep and the detector didn't honk again.
We did, of course, do the regular precautions in case the thing was actually, you know, detecting smoke. Hubby went downstairs to investigate. And found nothing amiss. And the smoke detector was silent the night recently when I left a scented jar candle burning in the kitchen. Aheh heh... Don't tell hubby that.
Quint did act weird starting at 5:30am, but that seems unrelated, I think. I accidentally showed him that it was daylight at 5:30 (I didn't know that?!) so he thought it was time to start the day. We all got very little sleep from then until we all finally got up around 7am. FUN!
So we've checked with various friends and relatives and everyone's OK. We're just going to be cautious and alert. While sleep deprived...
Monday, May 17, 2010
8 months old!
Quint turned 8 months old on Saturday! I can't believe how quickly 8 months has passed.
The last time I weighed him, he was still about 20 pounds, but he might be 21 pounds by now. He eats 3/4 a cup of vegetables twice a day and sometimes only has 2 bottles a day while at daycare.
He is an expert at sitting, though he still can't go from laying down to sitting. He can go from sitting, to kneeling, to standing! Hubby/Papa has fun "walking" him around the room by holding up his hands and telling him to take a step. For quite some time now, he would sit on command for me. He's standing up while I hold his ribs and I say "sit" and he plunks down on his bottom. Lately, though, he's started rebelling by going stiff as a board, no matter how far back I tilt his shoulders. It's funny to see. He ooches around somehow on his bottom, so he is no longer right where you left him. This is only the beginning....
At daycare the other day, he stood up on his own! He was standing next to Priscilla, leaning on her leg when suddenly, she noticed that he was still standing and not touching her at all! He stayed standing for a nice amount of time, and then put a hand back on her leg when he started loosing his balance. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we bought him his first pair of shoes this weekend. If you're gonna be on your feet, you're gonna need shoes!
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He's trying to learn to crawl, which means that he's frustrated a lot of the time, and cries. He'll go from sitting to on all fours, typically with one foot sideways making life hard, and then can't figure out how to go forward or sit on his bottom again..jpeg)
He's getting really great at communicating with us. We're learning his cues for different things that he wants. He gestures toward what he wants pretty easily, or just grabs what he wants - sometimes with painful results. He also apparently wants to fly. You can just see it in his face that he wants to be over THERE! and will lean out and assume a superman position.
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My little guy is still a joy. He will be mobile soon, and I'm trying to prepare my mind and house for that large transition.
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I think he looks a whole lot like his papa in this one!
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Won't be long before he crawls in that toy basket!
The last time I weighed him, he was still about 20 pounds, but he might be 21 pounds by now. He eats 3/4 a cup of vegetables twice a day and sometimes only has 2 bottles a day while at daycare.
He is an expert at sitting, though he still can't go from laying down to sitting. He can go from sitting, to kneeling, to standing! Hubby/Papa has fun "walking" him around the room by holding up his hands and telling him to take a step. For quite some time now, he would sit on command for me. He's standing up while I hold his ribs and I say "sit" and he plunks down on his bottom. Lately, though, he's started rebelling by going stiff as a board, no matter how far back I tilt his shoulders. It's funny to see. He ooches around somehow on his bottom, so he is no longer right where you left him. This is only the beginning....
At daycare the other day, he stood up on his own! He was standing next to Priscilla, leaning on her leg when suddenly, she noticed that he was still standing and not touching her at all! He stayed standing for a nice amount of time, and then put a hand back on her leg when he started loosing his balance. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we bought him his first pair of shoes this weekend. If you're gonna be on your feet, you're gonna need shoes!
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
He's trying to learn to crawl, which means that he's frustrated a lot of the time, and cries. He'll go from sitting to on all fours, typically with one foot sideways making life hard, and then can't figure out how to go forward or sit on his bottom again.
.jpeg)
He's getting really great at communicating with us. We're learning his cues for different things that he wants. He gestures toward what he wants pretty easily, or just grabs what he wants - sometimes with painful results. He also apparently wants to fly. You can just see it in his face that he wants to be over THERE! and will lean out and assume a superman position.
.jpeg)
My little guy is still a joy. He will be mobile soon, and I'm trying to prepare my mind and house for that large transition.
.jpeg)
I think he looks a whole lot like his papa in this one! .jpeg)
.jpeg)
Won't be long before he crawls in that toy basket!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Bustin' chops
After telling this story to a friend of mine, she reminded me that Hubby has done this twice lately. I remembered that it had happened, but it took about an hour of musing to remember the details of that situation. And these are the good stories! Why is it that our brains are capable of remembering the details of when our husbands are morons, but completely forget the times that they completely redeemed themselves?!
So I write it here so maybe I'll remember for later. I'll even tag it "wonderful husband".
Yesterday, I balanced our checkbook. Yikes. We both knew we had spent quite a lot of money for various flood victims last week, but yikes. Each week, Hubby and I each get a certain amount of allowance money to spend however we want. There's also a recreation fund which is usually spent together, and a grocery fund which might include a fast food dollar menu dinner out. Restaurant food that is not consumed together falls into the category of our allowance.
In the previous 10 days, Hubby had spent nearly 8 times his standard allowance, mostly on food out. EIGHT TIMES! There had been a lot of late nights at work, and various club events hosted at local restaurants. One of the things I love about my husband is how frugal he is. Typically, if he ate out this often, there would be a series of $2.19 charges per meal. These were like $15-20 each!
So I call him up and bust his chops about it. He got all defensive and said we should take it out of a certain reserve fund that I didn't approve of. Twice during the conversation, he said something like, "oh yeah? Do YOU go by that rule?" Absolutely. I did the amazing thing and didn't really get angry. I even shocked myself in that. I knew I had logic and our standard money policy on my side. Duty called at our jobs and we had to get off the phone without a resolution. I probably called him some mean name after I hung up.
A couple hours later, after I'd vented to a friend or two, he calls me back. He says, "Did I REALLY spend that much?! List off the charges. Let's go through them." His voice is all calm, slightly guilty, and curious. We go through them to find that for one, he bought his co-worker's lunch and she paid him in cash, which he later donated somewhere. For another restaurant, he should have had two but not three charges. Dispute that one. (It has since vanished from the pending category.) So those two things help, but it's still a lot of money.
Then he says, "I'm out of groceries here at work and a bunch of those can be avoided if I restock my work fridge. Can I go to the grocery store today and do that?"
(Big grins) OF COURSE!
The only snag is that the one Kroger downtown may have gotten flooded. (Why do they keep building condos downtown, pushing a car-less society, while there is still just ONE downtown grocery store? There are people downtown who have to keep a car just so they can get groceries!)
Later, he had to run home for something anyway, and collected groceries from the house. He called me up to say what he'd taken, and we talked about what we should buy more of this weekend.
So this makes twice recently that I've busted his chops about something, managed to remain calm but insistent, and he's called me back later having come around to my view of things!
I'VE WON TWO ARGUMENTS PEOPLE! TWO!!!
And this one had to do with money that's always stickier. He not only saw my side of it, but has taken steps to correct it in the future.
Isn't my husband wonderful!
Today he even called me from the grocery store to say he was getting the weekly groceries and what else did we need! Fantastic!
So I write it here so maybe I'll remember for later. I'll even tag it "wonderful husband".
Yesterday, I balanced our checkbook. Yikes. We both knew we had spent quite a lot of money for various flood victims last week, but yikes. Each week, Hubby and I each get a certain amount of allowance money to spend however we want. There's also a recreation fund which is usually spent together, and a grocery fund which might include a fast food dollar menu dinner out. Restaurant food that is not consumed together falls into the category of our allowance.
In the previous 10 days, Hubby had spent nearly 8 times his standard allowance, mostly on food out. EIGHT TIMES! There had been a lot of late nights at work, and various club events hosted at local restaurants. One of the things I love about my husband is how frugal he is. Typically, if he ate out this often, there would be a series of $2.19 charges per meal. These were like $15-20 each!
So I call him up and bust his chops about it. He got all defensive and said we should take it out of a certain reserve fund that I didn't approve of. Twice during the conversation, he said something like, "oh yeah? Do YOU go by that rule?" Absolutely. I did the amazing thing and didn't really get angry. I even shocked myself in that. I knew I had logic and our standard money policy on my side. Duty called at our jobs and we had to get off the phone without a resolution. I probably called him some mean name after I hung up.
A couple hours later, after I'd vented to a friend or two, he calls me back. He says, "Did I REALLY spend that much?! List off the charges. Let's go through them." His voice is all calm, slightly guilty, and curious. We go through them to find that for one, he bought his co-worker's lunch and she paid him in cash, which he later donated somewhere. For another restaurant, he should have had two but not three charges. Dispute that one. (It has since vanished from the pending category.) So those two things help, but it's still a lot of money.
Then he says, "I'm out of groceries here at work and a bunch of those can be avoided if I restock my work fridge. Can I go to the grocery store today and do that?"
(Big grins) OF COURSE!
The only snag is that the one Kroger downtown may have gotten flooded. (Why do they keep building condos downtown, pushing a car-less society, while there is still just ONE downtown grocery store? There are people downtown who have to keep a car just so they can get groceries!)
Later, he had to run home for something anyway, and collected groceries from the house. He called me up to say what he'd taken, and we talked about what we should buy more of this weekend.
So this makes twice recently that I've busted his chops about something, managed to remain calm but insistent, and he's called me back later having come around to my view of things!
I'VE WON TWO ARGUMENTS PEOPLE! TWO!!!
And this one had to do with money that's always stickier. He not only saw my side of it, but has taken steps to correct it in the future.
Isn't my husband wonderful!
Today he even called me from the grocery store to say he was getting the weekly groceries and what else did we need! Fantastic!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Haggis, hasenpfeffer, and a lapband update
Two little stories and a lapband update.
First, the haggis:
My husband and I sing in the choir in our church, where we don huge, thermal, black robes each Sunday morning. Because we always have these robes on Sunday, we've gotten out of the habit of paying attention to what we're wearing at church. We put on any old thing and nice shoes since the robes cover us from neck to wrist to ankle.
The Sunday of the flood, hubby and I were supposed to help serve communion at church. After watching the news, weather, and various rescues, I chickened out. If something had happened to my little boy because I thought I HAD to be at church, it would probably ruin my life. I called the church to see if they were having services. Yes they were, but not many people were there. Hubby decided to go without us.
He called me after he got there to let me know he arrived and the state of the roads on the way. He said there were about 25 people there total, and not enough choir members to have the choir sing. They were having a truncated service even, but were going to have communion. We hadn't really paid attention to what Hubby was wearing when he left the house. So my publicly formal and dignified husband served communion in a T-shirt that said "got haggis?" like the old "got milk?" ad campaign. Oddly enough, no one said a word about it!
And now hasenpfeffer:
Last night, I was taking the cover off one of our baby carseats to wash it in the washing machine, like it says not to do. The cat was incredibly sedate and sprawled on the carpet remnant beside me on the floor of the garage. A little odd to be so sedate. Then I looked up and noticed something. A half a rabbit in one corner of the garage. The back half. Ewww! Not placed where she normally brings us mice, birds, and moles, clearly as an offering or gift. This looked like she was storing it for later. Bug killing and animal burial are clearly my husband's job, not mine. Hubby wasn't home. I forgot to mention it to him until we were nearly in bed. "Ugh, I'll deal with it tomorrow," he said.
This morning when I let the kitty in for her normal greet and feed, she was distinctly uninterested in her cat chow, but was very happy. She rubbed and rubbed against my legs as I prepared baby bottles. As I started loading the car, I noticed a small paw near the door, clearly in the typical "gift" location. One single paw and two patches of fur. The entire half a rabbit was gone! I looked at the cat again. She did look especially plump this morning. And her eyes were still at half mast with satisfaction.
After I got on the road, I called Hubby, laughing. "You have a much smaller job now with the hasenpfeffer! It seems she ate the whole thing last night!" "Wow," Hubby says, "Guess that explains why she looked at me funny last night. I put down some cat chow for her when I put her to bed and she looked at me like I was crazy. Who wants kibble when there's hasenpfeffer to be had!"
Folks have been wondering how my husband is doing with his lapband. He's doing pretty good! He has lost 18 pounds in 2 months. His belly is a different shape now - something only a wife would notice. A green, short sleeve, button up shirt that hasn't fit him for over a year now fits him and is a bit loose! He's had to punch a new hole in one belt. He still has a hard time remembering to eat slow and not drink during meals, but he's the one who has to pay when he forgets. The scars are still pretty dark, but he's not really worried about that.
First, the haggis:
My husband and I sing in the choir in our church, where we don huge, thermal, black robes each Sunday morning. Because we always have these robes on Sunday, we've gotten out of the habit of paying attention to what we're wearing at church. We put on any old thing and nice shoes since the robes cover us from neck to wrist to ankle.
The Sunday of the flood, hubby and I were supposed to help serve communion at church. After watching the news, weather, and various rescues, I chickened out. If something had happened to my little boy because I thought I HAD to be at church, it would probably ruin my life. I called the church to see if they were having services. Yes they were, but not many people were there. Hubby decided to go without us.
He called me after he got there to let me know he arrived and the state of the roads on the way. He said there were about 25 people there total, and not enough choir members to have the choir sing. They were having a truncated service even, but were going to have communion. We hadn't really paid attention to what Hubby was wearing when he left the house. So my publicly formal and dignified husband served communion in a T-shirt that said "got haggis?" like the old "got milk?" ad campaign. Oddly enough, no one said a word about it!
And now hasenpfeffer:
Last night, I was taking the cover off one of our baby carseats to wash it in the washing machine, like it says not to do. The cat was incredibly sedate and sprawled on the carpet remnant beside me on the floor of the garage. A little odd to be so sedate. Then I looked up and noticed something. A half a rabbit in one corner of the garage. The back half. Ewww! Not placed where she normally brings us mice, birds, and moles, clearly as an offering or gift. This looked like she was storing it for later. Bug killing and animal burial are clearly my husband's job, not mine. Hubby wasn't home. I forgot to mention it to him until we were nearly in bed. "Ugh, I'll deal with it tomorrow," he said.
This morning when I let the kitty in for her normal greet and feed, she was distinctly uninterested in her cat chow, but was very happy. She rubbed and rubbed against my legs as I prepared baby bottles. As I started loading the car, I noticed a small paw near the door, clearly in the typical "gift" location. One single paw and two patches of fur. The entire half a rabbit was gone! I looked at the cat again. She did look especially plump this morning. And her eyes were still at half mast with satisfaction.
After I got on the road, I called Hubby, laughing. "You have a much smaller job now with the hasenpfeffer! It seems she ate the whole thing last night!" "Wow," Hubby says, "Guess that explains why she looked at me funny last night. I put down some cat chow for her when I put her to bed and she looked at me like I was crazy. Who wants kibble when there's hasenpfeffer to be had!"
Folks have been wondering how my husband is doing with his lapband. He's doing pretty good! He has lost 18 pounds in 2 months. His belly is a different shape now - something only a wife would notice. A green, short sleeve, button up shirt that hasn't fit him for over a year now fits him and is a bit loose! He's had to punch a new hole in one belt. He still has a hard time remembering to eat slow and not drink during meals, but he's the one who has to pay when he forgets. The scars are still pretty dark, but he's not really worried about that.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Smugness
I'm feeling particularly smug today. I'm trying to be humble about it, but I'm going to be rather self-congratulatory here on my own blog.
One of my favorite blogs to read is Suburban Turmoil. This time, her blog was all about disaster preparedness. Some of you may know that I'm all about preparedness. I have to watch myself to make sure I don't cross the line into nut-job, which seems to be an ever-moving line. I am forever planning for some nameless disaster. While I think it would be really cool to have a whole bomb shelter with 3 months worth of food at all times, the reality is that we haven't even scraped money together for a generator yet. Somehow a new stove seems like it should be the first priority. Other things that we've thought of purchasing for disaster preparedness might seem to have trampled over the nut-job line, so I'll just keep those to myself. Little by little, however we've collected quite a nice stash of useful items though.
During this current disaster, I spent most of my day off glued to the TV, watching my son try to learn to crawl, and fielding calls from long lost friends to say "yes we're high and dry". We personally didn't have a disaster. But I was extremely confident in saying that we had everything we needed at our house to hole up there for a couple weeks at least.
Going through Suburban Turmoil's list was fun for me:
1. car cell phone charger - check!
2. Flashlights with extra batteries - check! One of the two I keep in my trunk is kept in a gallon plastic bag with the batteries outside of the flashlight. I had way too many batteries go dead because the flashlight got jiggled to ON at some point.
3. First aid kit - check, check, check! We have a first aid kit in each car plus our own medicine kit. Our car first aid kits are stocked with our typical OTC medicines and prescriptions as well.
4. A car power converter - check! Sure it might take us a few minutes to actually locate it in one of our cars, but we've got one!
5. weather radio and/or battery operated AM/FM radio - check! I'm even a big nerd and have one of those gizmos that has AM/FM radio, flash light, battery, solar, or crank powered!
6. water - check! We keep at least part of a case of water in each car (I had 1.5 cases last Monday) and have several gallon jugs in the garage. I did some further water hoarding on Monday as well.
7.Firewood - check! I even have the ability (with only a smidgen of know-how) to cook over an open fire. More likely, though, we'd cook with our gas grill if necessary.
8. appropriate food - CHECK! We keep extra dry goods in the garage.
9. Stay informed - check! I watched so much live local news on Monday that I gave myself heartburn
10. cash - check! We keep extra cash at the house. Do you realize that if the banking system looses power, you will have no proof that you have money? Makes you re-think only getting electronic statements.
Lindsey lamented in her blog that "I was totally unprepared for a disaster. We were out of milk (a calamity in itself, as far as my 3-year-old is concerned) had no working flashlights, and my cell phone was dead. Worst of all, I had just one diaper left.ONE DIAPER."
While we had a half gallon or less of milk on Monday, my child doesn't drink cow's milk yet. And we have a box of powdered milk in the freezer for us adults. I sometimes feel kind of dumb for keeping so many diapers in the house, but it eliminates one brand of stress from my life. I had 2 large boxes, one small package, and another probably 40 diapers stacked around the house. Diapers.com does the math for you to show you the best value in each brand of diaper. And if you spend more than $50, they deliver for free. FREE! DELIVERY! So I can even avoid ill-timed trips to the store AND buy a ton at once AND avoid lugging them back. This seems like a triple-win to me. And when my daycare lets me know that I'm nearly out of diapers, it's only a matter of remembering to put them in the car. Much less stress.
If our power had gone out, I would have been really bored. I would have burned more candles and dug out that old oil lantern I've got. My baby is not mobile quite yet, so candles around him wouldn't have been too dangerous. I would have had plenty to eat that didn't need cooking. I had my cell phone handy. We have a land line phone and at least one phone that isn't cordless and therefore doesn't need electricity. I would have worried a bit about my huge stock of frozen breast milk, but would have gotten over it if I'd lost it. I stockpiled some extra water. We were nearly out of cookies and cheetos, but these are not actually necessary in life, believe it or not.
I even had galoshes for my husband's ginormous size 14 feet!
So my preparedness allowed me to sit back on Monday, while the world flooded around me, and know that if need be, we could hole up in our house for a week or two in that specific situation. And today, I'm feeling rather smug.
One of my favorite blogs to read is Suburban Turmoil. This time, her blog was all about disaster preparedness. Some of you may know that I'm all about preparedness. I have to watch myself to make sure I don't cross the line into nut-job, which seems to be an ever-moving line. I am forever planning for some nameless disaster. While I think it would be really cool to have a whole bomb shelter with 3 months worth of food at all times, the reality is that we haven't even scraped money together for a generator yet. Somehow a new stove seems like it should be the first priority. Other things that we've thought of purchasing for disaster preparedness might seem to have trampled over the nut-job line, so I'll just keep those to myself. Little by little, however we've collected quite a nice stash of useful items though.
During this current disaster, I spent most of my day off glued to the TV, watching my son try to learn to crawl, and fielding calls from long lost friends to say "yes we're high and dry". We personally didn't have a disaster. But I was extremely confident in saying that we had everything we needed at our house to hole up there for a couple weeks at least.
Going through Suburban Turmoil's list was fun for me:
1. car cell phone charger - check!
2. Flashlights with extra batteries - check! One of the two I keep in my trunk is kept in a gallon plastic bag with the batteries outside of the flashlight. I had way too many batteries go dead because the flashlight got jiggled to ON at some point.
3. First aid kit - check, check, check! We have a first aid kit in each car plus our own medicine kit. Our car first aid kits are stocked with our typical OTC medicines and prescriptions as well.
4. A car power converter - check! Sure it might take us a few minutes to actually locate it in one of our cars, but we've got one!
5. weather radio and/or battery operated AM/FM radio - check! I'm even a big nerd and have one of those gizmos that has AM/FM radio, flash light, battery, solar, or crank powered!
6. water - check! We keep at least part of a case of water in each car (I had 1.5 cases last Monday) and have several gallon jugs in the garage. I did some further water hoarding on Monday as well.
7.Firewood - check! I even have the ability (with only a smidgen of know-how) to cook over an open fire. More likely, though, we'd cook with our gas grill if necessary.
8. appropriate food - CHECK! We keep extra dry goods in the garage.
9. Stay informed - check! I watched so much live local news on Monday that I gave myself heartburn
10. cash - check! We keep extra cash at the house. Do you realize that if the banking system looses power, you will have no proof that you have money? Makes you re-think only getting electronic statements.
Lindsey lamented in her blog that "I was totally unprepared for a disaster. We were out of milk (a calamity in itself, as far as my 3-year-old is concerned) had no working flashlights, and my cell phone was dead. Worst of all, I had just one diaper left.ONE DIAPER."
While we had a half gallon or less of milk on Monday, my child doesn't drink cow's milk yet. And we have a box of powdered milk in the freezer for us adults. I sometimes feel kind of dumb for keeping so many diapers in the house, but it eliminates one brand of stress from my life. I had 2 large boxes, one small package, and another probably 40 diapers stacked around the house. Diapers.com does the math for you to show you the best value in each brand of diaper. And if you spend more than $50, they deliver for free. FREE! DELIVERY! So I can even avoid ill-timed trips to the store AND buy a ton at once AND avoid lugging them back. This seems like a triple-win to me. And when my daycare lets me know that I'm nearly out of diapers, it's only a matter of remembering to put them in the car. Much less stress.
If our power had gone out, I would have been really bored. I would have burned more candles and dug out that old oil lantern I've got. My baby is not mobile quite yet, so candles around him wouldn't have been too dangerous. I would have had plenty to eat that didn't need cooking. I had my cell phone handy. We have a land line phone and at least one phone that isn't cordless and therefore doesn't need electricity. I would have worried a bit about my huge stock of frozen breast milk, but would have gotten over it if I'd lost it. I stockpiled some extra water. We were nearly out of cookies and cheetos, but these are not actually necessary in life, believe it or not.
I even had galoshes for my husband's ginormous size 14 feet!
So my preparedness allowed me to sit back on Monday, while the world flooded around me, and know that if need be, we could hole up in our house for a week or two in that specific situation. And today, I'm feeling rather smug.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Things learned this weekend
My little boy pulled up from sitting to standing for the first time yesterday! We were playing on the floor and he grabbed the collar of my sweater, and a fist full of neck skin (gotta break him of that) and pulled from sitting to kneeling. Then he put one foot flat on the ground, then puuuuuuulled and was on both his feet! The look on his face was so triumphant! He knew he had done something big!
Also this weekend, he learned how to wiggle and scoot more. Hubby and I were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. Quint wiggled his arms at me to indicate that he wanted to come to me. I said, "well come on over here" about a thousand times and patted my lap over and over. The cat knew immediately what to do and came over and curled up in my lap. A couple minutes later, Quint was ooching up my torso trying to pull up. As a result, we bought baby gates this weekend.
River funk does not come off pots and pans in the dishwasher. Like washing your car, the touchless washing system apparently doesn't work on even thin mud. So, water restriction or not, I'll be washing my friend's pots and pans by hand tonight or sometime soon.
My son just doesn't like peaches. Neither with rice cereal mixed in, or oatmeal. Much crying ensues. He also does not like peas with oatmeal mixed in by mistake. He does like pancakes and the stiff noodles you get at Chinese/Thai restaurants.
My son has 3 teeth currently showing, not 4. Maybe that one sucked itself back in, but more likely it's a really white patch of gums. This was found out by flopping him over my lap with his head tilted back and tickling him like mad. Amazing what you can see in a baby's mouth that way! And the laughing is a precious sound.
Also this weekend, he learned how to wiggle and scoot more. Hubby and I were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. Quint wiggled his arms at me to indicate that he wanted to come to me. I said, "well come on over here" about a thousand times and patted my lap over and over. The cat knew immediately what to do and came over and curled up in my lap. A couple minutes later, Quint was ooching up my torso trying to pull up. As a result, we bought baby gates this weekend.
River funk does not come off pots and pans in the dishwasher. Like washing your car, the touchless washing system apparently doesn't work on even thin mud. So, water restriction or not, I'll be washing my friend's pots and pans by hand tonight or sometime soon.
My son just doesn't like peaches. Neither with rice cereal mixed in, or oatmeal. Much crying ensues. He also does not like peas with oatmeal mixed in by mistake. He does like pancakes and the stiff noodles you get at Chinese/Thai restaurants.
My son has 3 teeth currently showing, not 4. Maybe that one sucked itself back in, but more likely it's a really white patch of gums. This was found out by flopping him over my lap with his head tilted back and tickling him like mad. Amazing what you can see in a baby's mouth that way! And the laughing is a precious sound.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Our friends - again
For those of you who know us, you very likely also know our friend who has the same first name as my husband. They have rented an apartment pretty close to us. Actually very close to the hospital where I had my son. They're planning on moving in their meager possessions tomorrow.
Their beds and clothes are alright, and they have a couple of large dressers that were upstairs. They have a lot of stick furniture, like dining room chairs and such. But their entire kitchen was underwater for 36 hours. Pots and pans do wash up, usually, but we're under a water restriction right now, so we're kind of hesitant to just blatantly use tons of water to clean stuff. The water police might come to get us!
The two things they need that he happened to mention to me on the phone today show the severity of what they've lost. I asked what they needed first, or if there was anything I could get them. He said they're going to need silverware and shoes. Their silverware, they deemed was just too gross to try to salvage. And like us on any given day, most of their shoes were downstairs last Saturday night. Their bedrooms and primary bathroom was upstairs. The living rooms, library, kitchen, washroom, and a guest bath were downstairs. They have 2 cats and a dog.
When we were at their house on Wednesday, we took a big box of kitchen pots and pans to keep at our place until they could reclaim them. Today I took them out of my trunk to put in my garage. The cardboard box she had packed them in was so moist that it tore down the side before we could get it to the car. As I was moving the muddy pots and pans, I noticed little trails in the mud in some of the dishes. Exactly what made those little trails?! And suddenly it makes sense why they wanted to throw away their silverware.
If you'd like to donate to their cause (I cannot for the life of me come up with a witty name for their cause!) let me know and we'll work together to get them gift cards or cash, or whatever you'd like them to have.
Their beds and clothes are alright, and they have a couple of large dressers that were upstairs. They have a lot of stick furniture, like dining room chairs and such. But their entire kitchen was underwater for 36 hours. Pots and pans do wash up, usually, but we're under a water restriction right now, so we're kind of hesitant to just blatantly use tons of water to clean stuff. The water police might come to get us!
The two things they need that he happened to mention to me on the phone today show the severity of what they've lost. I asked what they needed first, or if there was anything I could get them. He said they're going to need silverware and shoes. Their silverware, they deemed was just too gross to try to salvage. And like us on any given day, most of their shoes were downstairs last Saturday night. Their bedrooms and primary bathroom was upstairs. The living rooms, library, kitchen, washroom, and a guest bath were downstairs. They have 2 cats and a dog.
When we were at their house on Wednesday, we took a big box of kitchen pots and pans to keep at our place until they could reclaim them. Today I took them out of my trunk to put in my garage. The cardboard box she had packed them in was so moist that it tore down the side before we could get it to the car. As I was moving the muddy pots and pans, I noticed little trails in the mud in some of the dishes. Exactly what made those little trails?! And suddenly it makes sense why they wanted to throw away their silverware.
If you'd like to donate to their cause (I cannot for the life of me come up with a witty name for their cause!) let me know and we'll work together to get them gift cards or cash, or whatever you'd like them to have.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Stung
Last night Quint and I were playing on the couch and watching TV, a very common occurrence for us. I was leaned forward eating something, and he had fallen over sideways kind of behind me, reaching for something he should have. Like a cord, or a TV remote or something. Suddenly he absolutely shrieked and cried like crazy. I pulled him up by the arm that was flailing upwards and started to hug and soothe him. Not working. I thought he had just gotten frustrated or stuck behind me there. But he was going absolutely nuts! Waving his arms and really, really CRYING! I started to look between the cushions where he just was and started to run my hand back there to see if something sharp had poked him.
And then I saw it.
A creepy bug was crawling out from between the cushions. I hollered for Hubby who came barreling in there. I told him to find out what that was and kill it. I put the baby on the floor and start jerking off his clothes looking for where it stung him. He said it was a wasp. A WASP! His arm was red and swelling. What do we DOOO? Hubby calls my sister who is a nurse and I run to the kitchen for a frozen teething ring. I check for a stinger, but the sting place is smooth.
Just a few seconds after I press the teething ring to the sting, he stops crying and starts trying to get the teething ring in his mouth. I give him that one and go fetch another with more flat surfaces to use as a better ice pack. Sis says to give him Benadryl and watch for a rash. So we feed him some Benadryl which he gobbles down. I'm still freaking out, watching his naked little body all over while he plays with his stripped off bib. He's happy as a lark. He's even ok with me holding a cold teething ring to the arm that's not waving around a bib. Small heart attack.
He's so happy, that Hubby lays down on the floor with him making noises and laughing. The whole time I'm staring at his tiny torso watching for a rash and resisting the urge to strip off his diaper to search for rash.
He's perfectly fine now. His arm is no longer swollen. He has a tiny red dot where he was stung.
Whew!
And then I saw it.
A creepy bug was crawling out from between the cushions. I hollered for Hubby who came barreling in there. I told him to find out what that was and kill it. I put the baby on the floor and start jerking off his clothes looking for where it stung him. He said it was a wasp. A WASP! His arm was red and swelling. What do we DOOO? Hubby calls my sister who is a nurse and I run to the kitchen for a frozen teething ring. I check for a stinger, but the sting place is smooth.
Just a few seconds after I press the teething ring to the sting, he stops crying and starts trying to get the teething ring in his mouth. I give him that one and go fetch another with more flat surfaces to use as a better ice pack. Sis says to give him Benadryl and watch for a rash. So we feed him some Benadryl which he gobbles down. I'm still freaking out, watching his naked little body all over while he plays with his stripped off bib. He's happy as a lark. He's even ok with me holding a cold teething ring to the arm that's not waving around a bib. Small heart attack.
He's so happy, that Hubby lays down on the floor with him making noises and laughing. The whole time I'm staring at his tiny torso watching for a rash and resisting the urge to strip off his diaper to search for rash.
He's perfectly fine now. His arm is no longer swollen. He has a tiny red dot where he was stung.
Whew!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Our friends
Since we have not been able to contact our friends who lost nearly everything, I decided that I'd just pop in to talk to them in person.
The big reasons we haven't talked to them is that A)their cell phones were flooded B)no one we know has a land line anymore C)nearly all cell service is down in the disaster areas D)our friend who they're staying with lives close enough to the disaster area to have cell service affected. Good reasons all. But I wanted to hold them and reassure myself that they were alive and not just sitting around crying. I wanted to make sure that they had gotten all their carpet and fluffy furniture out before the mold takes over the whole world.
Despite the fact that my house and all my significant places in life have received absolutely zero damage, this disaster has really upset me. So much so, that I've grown a zit this week. For those of you who know me, that hardly ever happens. My sister who is not so lucky in genetic skin quality usually says we need to take pictures of my zits just to remind her that they DO happen to me.
So we go out there during a long lunch (baby is at daycare because what do you do with a baby at a disaster area). Folks were in a remarkably good mood for having lost half or more of all their possessions. Because they have no TVs, internet, or cell service (not really anyway) there is a lot of mixed information out there. Do we need to separate our trash into 3 piles or not? Yes, or the they won't pick it up. No, we've got a private contractor slated to collect for us. It's confusing to me and I'm not even dealing with trauma.
River funk is pervasive. Even on things that look clean. Their upstairs bedrooms were not affected by the flood, but might be affected by the moist funky air if they don't get things out. Take your average comforter. Do you really want it adjacent to river funk? After a while it will start to feel sticky just from the humidity. So they're trying to move things out from upstairs and store it.....somewhere.... as soon as they can.
The big reasons we haven't talked to them is that A)their cell phones were flooded B)no one we know has a land line anymore C)nearly all cell service is down in the disaster areas D)our friend who they're staying with lives close enough to the disaster area to have cell service affected. Good reasons all. But I wanted to hold them and reassure myself that they were alive and not just sitting around crying. I wanted to make sure that they had gotten all their carpet and fluffy furniture out before the mold takes over the whole world.
Despite the fact that my house and all my significant places in life have received absolutely zero damage, this disaster has really upset me. So much so, that I've grown a zit this week. For those of you who know me, that hardly ever happens. My sister who is not so lucky in genetic skin quality usually says we need to take pictures of my zits just to remind her that they DO happen to me.
So we go out there during a long lunch (baby is at daycare because what do you do with a baby at a disaster area). Folks were in a remarkably good mood for having lost half or more of all their possessions. Because they have no TVs, internet, or cell service (not really anyway) there is a lot of mixed information out there. Do we need to separate our trash into 3 piles or not? Yes, or the they won't pick it up. No, we've got a private contractor slated to collect for us. It's confusing to me and I'm not even dealing with trauma.
River funk is pervasive. Even on things that look clean. Their upstairs bedrooms were not affected by the flood, but might be affected by the moist funky air if they don't get things out. Take your average comforter. Do you really want it adjacent to river funk? After a while it will start to feel sticky just from the humidity. So they're trying to move things out from upstairs and store it.....somewhere.... as soon as they can.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
4th Flood Post
3rd Flood post
So here are some pictures of the flood.
To me, the most telling photo includes the sign for 4th Avenue. Many people have asked me and yes, I think there's a 99% chance that our pub had water inside.
The red piece of artwork that was on the opposite shore from Braodaway? Yeah, it was taken out by a shed yesterday. It is no more. The Music City Star - the commuter train from Lebanon had a significant portion of their tracks which are now bent. Floods took out the dirt, cross ties, and support system for the tracks.
Here's some pictures and video of Opryland Hotel.
To me, the most telling photo includes the sign for 4th Avenue. Many people have asked me and yes, I think there's a 99% chance that our pub had water inside.
The red piece of artwork that was on the opposite shore from Braodaway? Yeah, it was taken out by a shed yesterday. It is no more. The Music City Star - the commuter train from Lebanon had a significant portion of their tracks which are now bent. Floods took out the dirt, cross ties, and support system for the tracks.
Here's some pictures and video of Opryland Hotel.
Monday, May 3, 2010
2nd flood post - tap water
The county to our south mentioned last night or this morning that folks needed to boil their drinking water. Hubby called from his business trip and recommended I hoard some drinking water. Something simple. Like run a really full bathtub. So I've taken some probably overly severe steps to ensure that we will have both drinking water and bathing/washing water. I'm not going to list what I've done because I don't want to look stupid. :-)
But for my county, at 8am, they were recommending that we conserve water use. As in, please don't water your lawn (HA!) or wash your car. At noon, it was "if you're not feeling the impact of the flood, please cut your regular water use in half." Now at nearly 4pm, they've suggested skipping a shower and using water only for cooking. This could get bad...
On my side of the county, we are very blessed. Me and my neighbors are only impacted so far in that schools and daycare are closed. We've got everything we need. My neurotic tendencies to prepare for some nameless emergency means that after my water collection, we could hole up here for a week or two and have everything we need. We would eventually drive each other crazy and the cheetos and Dr Pepper might run out, but we will be fine.
But for my county, at 8am, they were recommending that we conserve water use. As in, please don't water your lawn (HA!) or wash your car. At noon, it was "if you're not feeling the impact of the flood, please cut your regular water use in half." Now at nearly 4pm, they've suggested skipping a shower and using water only for cooking. This could get bad...
On my side of the county, we are very blessed. Me and my neighbors are only impacted so far in that schools and daycare are closed. We've got everything we need. My neurotic tendencies to prepare for some nameless emergency means that after my water collection, we could hole up here for a week or two and have everything we need. We would eventually drive each other crazy and the cheetos and Dr Pepper might run out, but we will be fine.
High and dry
In case you're watching the flooding unfold on the weather channel, please know that we are high and dry and perfectly alright. Our house had no flooding. We have unflooded roads to get to Kroger, which still had half its' supply of bottled water as of Sunday evening. We have electricity. Our tap water is still Ok, though one of our two treatment plants is out of commission. We have plenty of groceries, diapers, and I'm working on the water.
There are still some highways closed coming in and out of the city, but there are enough highways available that I'm not yet concerned about grocery stores being restocked.
We have one friend who is without electricity. We have another friend - our friend with the same name as my husband - who's house was completely flooded. They were evacuated by a fire truck and are staying at the friend's house who went to Britian with us. They have no flood insurance. They do not live in a flood plain. We have no idea if their insurance will pay anything or not.
My baby's daycare was closed today, he's trying to learn to crawl, and he seems to be quite needy today. If I'm not within his sight, he's crying. So please pray for my sanity today!
More importantly, pray for our friend who lost everything.
More later
There are still some highways closed coming in and out of the city, but there are enough highways available that I'm not yet concerned about grocery stores being restocked.
We have one friend who is without electricity. We have another friend - our friend with the same name as my husband - who's house was completely flooded. They were evacuated by a fire truck and are staying at the friend's house who went to Britian with us. They have no flood insurance. They do not live in a flood plain. We have no idea if their insurance will pay anything or not.
My baby's daycare was closed today, he's trying to learn to crawl, and he seems to be quite needy today. If I'm not within his sight, he's crying. So please pray for my sanity today!
More importantly, pray for our friend who lost everything.
More later
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