100 things about me, part II

51. I once stepped on a priceless kaolin pipe that I had discovered earlier in the day.
52. I've always wanted to shave my head
53. and pierce my nose
54. and get a face tattoo
55. Saner folks have convinced me not to do any of those things.
56. I lived in 6 states and two countries
57. I've visited at least 15 states and 7 countries.
58. When I was younger, my sister and I tried to get into the Guiness Book of World Records by see-sawing. We lasted all of an hour. We didn't get in the book.
59. I'm an introvert.
60. I've been told my twin and I had our own language as children.
61. I've always wanted superpowers.
62. Maple walnut fudge is my favorite type of fudge
63. Mowing the lawn and weeding my flower garden is very carthargic for me.
64. Baking brings me joy as well.
65. I am a "swamp yankee" at heart
66. living in a good ol' boy state.
67. Every temp. position I've had has resulted in an offer of a full time position
68. I have "failed" at only one thing in my life, everything else is still in progress.
69. Honda CRX hatchback; my first car, my favorite car
70. My guilty pleasure is to watch UPN "America's Next Top Model"
71. and am embarrassed to admit that
72. I am not a patient person when it comes to ignorant people
73. In emergencies I act, I don't just stand there.
74. I attempted to stop a ring of shoplifters once
75. I was not 100% successful
76. I saw my husband about 3 months out of 12 the first year of our marriage
77. The herb "lemon verbena" is incredibly aromatic and invigorating
78. I went an entire New England winter without once wearing a winter coat (it was cold, I was stubborn)
79. My childhood nickname was "Rocky"
80. My high school nickname was "Foof"
81. My college nickname was Snail
82. Deep forest green and brown are my favorite colors to wear
83. I am a morning person
84. I stay up too late most nights
85. I need one cup of coffee to get me going in the morning.
86. I will not lie to you if you ask me a direct question.
87. I will circumvent the truth and use "lawyerese" if I don't want to tell the truth
88. Seeing my son unconscious after surgery, not waking up easily, was one of the most painful moments of my life. My heart literally hurt.
89. I wore a MIA bracelet until the soldiers body was recovered and I had contacted his family. It was part of my wedding jewelry.
90. I am physically stronger than I look.
91. When I get an idea in my head, I want it done now, not in 5 minutes.
92. My friends are my family
93. I like to think the weatherpixie on my blog looks like me
94. She doesn't really
95. My soul mate thinks I am the smartest person he ever met (I was fishing for something to add to the list)
96. Bad grammar makes me cringe, but I totally understand bad spelling.
97. I like to buy gifts for people for no reason, but will hold on to them until a holiday comes up.
98. I must have a well stocked pantry - at least 3 types of sugar, 5 vinegars, numerous extracts; you get the picture.
99. I refused to change my maiden name when I got married(and it is a doozy to spell)
100. I don't mind strangers reading my blog; but if I know you I have to trust you completely to let you read it. Don't ask me why, it is a complicated thing.

100 things about me, part 1

1. I am an identical twin
2. I used to be an archaeologist
3. and an EMT
4. and a postal worker
5. and a substitute teacher
6. and a medical assistant
7. I want to win a Nobel Prize, I don't care in what subject
8. I have written a children's book; it wasn't published, but not for lack of trying
9. I would like to have some of my short stories published
10. I have broken my arm/hand/elbow three times
11. I am a klutz
12. I love Elvis movies
13. I have one son
14. I don't want any more children
15. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up
16. I finished college in three years
17. I wish I was still in college
18. I met and married my soulmate
19. I love to read
20. If I don't do some sort of physical exercise every day I get cranky
21. I don't exercise everyday, so I am not a nice person to be around
22. If I am your friend, you can count on me to help you as long as you ask for help
23. I don't ask for help
24. I have no regrets in my life, every experience has made me stronger in one way
or another
25. I don't like birthdays
26. I expect everyone to work as hard as I do and am often disappointed
27. I can waste a whole day reading other people's blogs
28. Autumn is my favorite season
29. I've never taken any illegal substances
30. I've been stalked by two different men
31. I always can see the other person's side
32. I believe you are only given as much as you can handle
33. I've been in an art show (literally, I was one of the subjects)
34. My sister used to threaten to kill me when we were kids. She was serious.
35. I have a brother who I don't talk to and I don't know why.
36. I love to gamble with other people's money
37. I was on my college crew team
38. I own a dwarf rabbit
39. I am not living up to my potential
40. My favorite non-alcholic drink besides water is coffee milk shakes
41. I craved crab rangoons when I was pregnant
42. I have yet to find a hobby that I am good at
43. I'm 5'2"
44. I enjoy jobs that require some form of physical exertion
45. I love to rollerblade but have not been able to master stopping
46. Bike riding is also a passion, but only when I lived in New England.
47. I collect fountain pens
48. and cruets
49. I'm growing my hair for "Locks for Love"
50. I procrastinate

doughnut search

"Hey mom, Ive got an idea."
"what?"
"Let's go get doughnuts for breakfast!"
"Yeah, that sound yummy. Let's go. We'll go to Shipley's down the street."

No we won't. Even though our area was spared from any devastation from the storm, we are still in a "recovery zone" and supply trucks have not made it here yet. So business have not reopened. If you forgot to stock up on gas, meds or food, you are out of luck. Our local Randall's grocery store was open, but all dairy and meats were being removed from the shelves and shoppers were not allowed to buy any of it. The bakery had no food, there was no bread. The only thing you could find easily were fresh fruits (no one stocks up on those for a storm).
From a food safety point I do understand why it was done, but it certainly was an odd sight to see. This obviously is what happens all over when a disaster stikes. It was so weird not being able to just go to the store to get my doughnuts and gallon of milk.
We haven't had basic services like mail either. Again, I'm glad our local government took precautions, but it seems weird trying to explain to outertowners why we haven't received letters sent. I never thought of this side of disaster recovery. It makes you realize that victims of storms continue to suffer for weeks afterwards, that they are not even able to get their small pleasures.It is something to remember that next time nature strikes hard.

We made it

I know you are wondering how we faired through Hurricane Rita. Here you go:

Windows intact - check
Trees still standing - check
Power on - check
Backyard lake retaining its banks - check
Roof secure - check. Well I didn't really check since there are still wind gusts of 50 mph and I didn't think it would be a good idea to climb the ladder to look for loose shingles.
Cabin fever - check and double check

There could still be some flooding as the days go by if she stalls, but it looks like we made it through unscathed. Hopefully this will help alleviate some of my son's fears of storms. He can now realize that all hurricanes are not Hurricane Katrina.

We've got some windows to unboard and some sleep to catch up on, so I had best go now.

Hurricane Rita update

It looks like the storm is now a category 5, and we expect to see winds of 120 MPH hitting our home with strong possibility of tornadoes. Luck seems to be with us in that the storm surge should not reach us, although the wind will probably do damage.

Hurricane Rita

I just wanted to let you know that there is a good chance that I will not be posting for a bit. It looks like my area will be hit by Hurricane Rita, which means power will be out. My poor son is panicking at the thought of a hurricane hitting us. He keeps mumbling under his breath "why do we have to get hit by a hurricane, why does there have to be bad weather, it's not fair". We have close friends who lost everything they own during Hurricane Katrina and now he thinks the same will happen to us. I keep trying to explain to him that hurricanes can be "fun".

When I was growing up, I went through a few hurricanes. What I remember most is playing board games by candlelight and sitting outside as the eye of the storm passed over us. The clean-up afterwards was not always fun, especially since it seemed to include a severe case of poison ivy. We had tons of poison ivy around us, in bushes, trees, etc and it would blow down with the storm winds.Inevitably, you would end up picking some up without protection on your hands and *poof* an itchy rash would appear. That part wasn't fun, but it certainly was not the worst thing that could happen.

I do have to admit that I am a little nervous, since it is now forcasted to be a Cat. 4 hurricane. We're just going to stock up on supplies and tough it out.

Cardshark in the making

Today my dear son asked if we would like to play a game of "Sorry" with him, which we agreed to do after dinner was done. As we are prepping dinner we hear shouts from upstairs "I'm setting up the board" "What color do you want to be" and "I've mixed the cards around so don't touch them". "Fine, super, whatever you say dear" are our responses back to him. Yet he keeps going on about how he has shuffled the cards, how they are all set and that we should not touch them. OK, I'm getting a wee bit suspicious. Then we hear him call down "I got a twelve, I'm moving" "Dad, you have an 11, who do you want to switch with?" At this point we call up to him that we are not playing yet, wait to after dinner, then we will play. Oh yes, and put the cards he pulled onto the bottom of the pile. He insists that he can't do this, that he'll just keep them pulled and we can use them when the game starts. Hmm.

We have dinner and are cleaning up with prodding from him to "come and play". Luckily a call from Grandma distracts him for a bit, so we can clean up. Since he is still on the phone with Grandma, I sneak upstairs and shuffle those cards. He finished his phone call and we go play. 12 for him to start with, 11 for Dad, and a 3 for me.
We go another few rounds and he stops and says "hey, what happened to the cards?"
I ask innocently, "Whatever do you mean dear?"
"They are not the same, you're supposed to have the low cards, dad and I get the high cards so we can move faster."
Aha! "So you cheated?"
"No, I just arranged the cards so Daddy and I could win. That isn't cheating. How did you know?"
"Sweetie, I'm your mom, I always know"

Later my husband asks how did I know, since he had no clue. "Come on now," I say, "when someone is intent on you not rearranging cards in a game you know something is up." Dear hubbie looks me in the eye, pause a moment and says simply, "He gets that from your side of the family". True, oh so true. In fact, though I hate to admit it, I felt a little misplaced pride in my son's first attempt at a con job.

Popcorn time

It's that time of year - the leaves are changing, there is a nip in the air, and if you take a deep breath you can smell...popcorn. Yup, popcorn sales have started for the cub scouts in our area and my son is overjoyed about it. Not because he can raise money to support his troup, not because he can earn a patch for his uniform, not because he can display his salesmanship skills; no because he has the chance to earn prizes. Prizes that we could buy in the store at about a tenth of the amount of money that is needed to be raised in order to earn them.
At our pack meeting last night, as the popcorn sale was announced it was my son alone who jumped up, punched his hand into the air and yelled "yahoo". He is bound and determined to earn the lego sets that have in the prize catalogue. What is his goal? To sell $1350 worth of popcorn. This might be possible if we were a family where both parents worked for big companies and brought the order form into work and pushed our fellow employees to buy, buy, buy. We are not that type of family. Hubby and I firmly believe that if he is to learn anything from this experience he must do the selling. Luckily the boy is more than willing to go to all our neighbors and ask if they would like to support the boy scouts. In fact, he is planning on spending "family fun night" going door to door. I don't know how much fun it will be, but it's his choice and we will support him.

1 year anniversary

I just realized I forgot to celebrate my one year anniversary of blogging. I remember when I first started, so young, so innocent. I actually thought that I would faithfully blog everyday and would have a legion of readers following the trevails of my life story. I soon realized (1) My life is not that exciting, and (2) I have to learn how to post pictures to really draw the crowds in. Since I don't have a digital camera, the crowds will have to stay away and I will just enjoy the company of my faithful blogger family. I've also come to the realization that I'd rather read about what is going on in my fellow bloggers lives than come up with something in my own life of which to write. Luckily for you (or not so lucky, depending on how you view it), Wally has pushed me to write more often so I continue to blather on, even when there is absolutely nothing to talk about. I do try to post at least once a week and have on occasion posted several times in one day.

Now I will make the request that I seem to see on all one year anniversary posts. What would you like me to write about?I promise I will give each request careful consideration before deleting it to the trash can. I'm kidding. If you ask, I will write.

Wednesday

I told my boss that he needed to post for the accounting job I've been doing (along with my own by) by this Wednesday or I was quitting. He told me this morning that he posted it, which made me feel a little appreciated. Come to find out, it was my district manager who did it, not him, most likely from the strong suggestions of another manager who actually listens. It is OK, at least it was done. I don't know why I would expect my manager to get the work done - he doesn't listen most of the time anyway. I told him flat out "I do not know how to do this job". His response, "don't be silly, you are muddling through fine". "Muddling through" in an accounting position usually means trouble and audits. This is not something that should be acceptable.
I don't run the place, it is not my responsibility.

Flooding in

I just got back from volunteering at my son's school (I do it every Friday that I have off). There was a flood of refugee families coming in to register their children for school. The district has waived most of the normal requirements needed to register for school, ie. shot records, copy of the last physical, school records, etc., since someone with common sense realized that these people were not thinking about school when they fled their homes. Half of them probably thought that they would be returning in 3 days, not in the months to a year that it might actually take before they are able to go home again.

Most of the parents look worn and tired, with a few showing some stress and frustration, but under control. The children just look shell-shocked. Many of them have a blank look to their eyes, like they are in a dream state. As one child was being led to his new class, he looked around with a panic-stricken face and broke into tears. His mother was barely able to hold herself together as he was led away. Luckily, we have a very good staff of counselors and one of them was able to distract him and get him smiling again.

Some of my relatives up north can't understand why the children are being made to go to school so soon after this tragedy happened. It for the simple reason that these families need a routine, something to cling to, something that is part of a "normal" life. If they are allowed to sit in a hotel room, an overcrowded shelter, or a converted stadium; despair sets in. Giving them something to focus on gives the children purpose.

Rebuilding

So now that New Orleans has been pretty much wiped off the map; when they rebuild can they truck in some dirt so that it is above sea level? Every time a hurricane or tropical storm is predicted for New Orleans, the threat of flooding is real since it is 10 feet (about 3.2 m) below sea level. I know in the past they would not make it level because buildings had been there for centuries and you couldn't build up one section of the city while leaving another part of the city to collect the run off into its section. Now there is no excuse. Yes, it will add to the expense of rebuilding but wouldn't it make sense to rebuild with the idea of not setting yourself up to have to rebuild againthe next time a hurricane hits?