Tuesday, August 30, 2011

So long!

Gone...

This house was in Nags Head on the sound.
It was called the Stinson Ranch.
I have always loved this house, ever since I discovered it one time when I was out
rambling, sometime in high school.
This house sat out on the sound from 1898 until 2011.
Man!  Too bad...
The sunset view from the rocks around this house is beautiful, and I imagine
that since 1898 many people have enjoyed the sunset from that porch.
If you want to read more about it, this foto was borrowed from the
Our State magazine.
One of their photographers took it, not me...
check out an article in Our State if you are curious..

I am off to enjoy some spam and cheese toast...
yippie! :)
We do love spam around here, and by {we} I mean --well, me. :)

Not to be forgotten!


So, this was our first day back to school together!  Our classic picture by the door spot has all
brown, I am thinking of a better spot to pick, but that is our back door...
Elena has her two front teeth out, she can untangle her own hair, and put on all her own clothes,
she can make a big part of her own breakfast.
I make her lunch. :)
She picked out her backpack and her lunch box, which has a matching water thermos. :)
We are very excited about first grade.  She has several friends and a cousin in her class, and my favorite first grade teacher is her teacher!
This year my goal is not to eat lunch with her every day--I did last year...yep!
So we had one and one half days of school, and then we are not gonna go again for a while.
No biggie, we will hit the ground running whenever we are able. :)

Oh, Bethany, we got power again yesterday (Monday) at 2:45, and the phone was not working again
until last night --{see the tree in the road}

huirse (ooh ear say)

Escape--from Irene--that is what we did.
Andy was at the hospital working, and we were
safely tucked away at my Mama and Daddy's house.
We started to hear the hurricane on Friday during the night.
By Saturday morning first thing, Elena had already learned
the pattern of strong wind (squall) and then calm...she told me,
"Mama, I have been listening to it all night!"
The lights went out at 6:30 AM--but thanks to my mom
we had coffee from an insulated canteen that she made just
in the nick of time.
Children played all day in the dark with their flashlights...
It was, by the way, a {very long day}!! It really
went by slowly.... very, very slowly....
Saturday evening the storm raged on--it really lasted
a long time!! My Daddy hooked up the generator...which
would run the freezer, the stove, and The Lion King on T.V.!
So the kids watched a movie before we drifted off--
nah...we actually just wallered around in the hot night air
and tried to sleep with a battery powered fan.
I did rest.
Sunday morning, we came home again, to clean the yard.
So, there are pictures of the huge trees down.
One across the road and on in the neighbors yard.
Eerily enough, none of ours fell, and neither did the swingset, and
neither did the TV antenna on top of the house....
ugh...that was strange, but fortunate!
I spent the duration of the storm at my mom's worried that
the two big pine trees in front of my house, would be laying in the roof (my
house would be a total loss if this were to happen)
Alas! They stood strong (thank you trees)
The pictures of the children playing in the water are of Andy's Mama's
house.  There was sort of a lake from the rainwater on the street side of the house.
On the other side is the river (which had seven foot waves in it)













Now, we are waiting for school to start back.
Two schools in our county--I have heard--had the roof blown off.
One was flooded really bad.
Who knows when we will go back!!
So all of the kids who went to school last week for a couple of days...
probably will have forgotten all that before they get a chance to go back again.
;).
No biggie...as I told my children each time they bemoaned not having TV--
at least we are not under tents with flies in our eyes...
All is well here in the L Dubs :)

Friday, August 26, 2011

so now...

Now we have decided that we will go to my mom's.
She said that we should not come until bedtime--that was a hint that
she does not want us there until bedtime.
Fine with me--I totally get it. :)
It is just raining a lot right now anyway...but
Andy will have to go to the hospital tonight for his tom.
shift.
They have to spend the night before at the hospital.
Makes sense.
I have more to post about, but right now, I am side-tracked.
Melissa--I am reading Reva's book--makes me miss GLight so bad!
will post about it later. :)
Thanks for the rec.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

When the hurricane is coming....

Well, let's see...
When the hurricane {is coming} people do certain things around here that would look odd to the
visitor.
Everyone takes their boats out of the water and puts them on the highest spots of land.
So you will be driving around and the slightest little mole hill will have 10 boats on trailers all
lined up.
Along river rd which runs parallel to the river, all of the people put their boats and cars on the little
hills beside the road--ditch banks, sort of.
We have a plan.
Andy will have to be at the hosp. and he might get trapped there...he has to work Sat.
Knowing this, I have decided to go over to my parent's house with the children
and while I am at my Mama and Daddy's house, my in-laws might be here.
They live on the river...
So if they all come over here--6 of them....I will leave??
Does that sound bad?
nah...just sensible.
:)

Monday, August 22, 2011

Who cares? {do I?}

So I just finished reading this book.
It's been around a while, but all of a sudden I had ganas to read it.
It is called French Women Don't Get Fat.
I remember hearing about this book when it first came out.
The author was on all the morning shows trying to {sum it up}.
It is sort of a must read, if you care about what she has to say.
I am thinking that I do care, I am just not sure how I can
make it work for me.
I am piggy.
I am a mouth stuffer--a Snicker's bar equals two bites for me.
I want my whole sandwich, thank you. ;).
ummm...let's see..if I am stressed at the end of the day, and
I pass through the front office to sign out, and there is good cake there..
I will stand up and scarf down a piece--the one I cut for myself, which
is not a sliver, thanks very much. ;).
Then I will eat it with my hands, in front of people...yep!
Now, I will not eat just any cake this way {very French}, only
good, homemade, Ms. Twilla cake....that's all --
She has beautiful recommendations, which basically add up
to looking after your self.
Forget that you are a tired, bedraggled, overworked mama...
forget it!! Or rather, embrace it, and decide that you deserve
to be very mindful and treat yourself well....
drink water.
don't eat {or scarf EVER standing up}
instead of eating {or scarfing}, just breathe deeply
get moderate excercise
move it sista!! (which i do )
I am going to put her web page in my sidebar.
I am going to chronicle this aspect of my life a bit...in
a story like way, b/c I am interested in this...
btw Here is the plate of pancakes I ate the other Sunday.
Did I eat just one peach pancake?
You be the judge....
Now, the author would agree
with my choice of fresh peaches...but THREE OF THE PANCAKES???
I am guessing she would say, "only if you would like to eat only lettuce for the next three
days"
And she would be right!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

One last little taste...

of summer!
We woke up early yesterday AM and left for the beach.
My mama was there waiting for us.
The water was perfect!! Here are some fotos....
We actually waved goodbye to the {summer beach} today...me and
all three of my kiddies...so sad!














Tomorrow, it's back to the ole rat race, {reluctantly}
I say reluctantly b/c I do love my job, and I love my co-workers, and
my work mission in general, however, leaving a summer behind...
it does make one mourn a bit.. :)

Three apples tall



So all of the boxes
from shoes (stuff to buy) have been utilized to make Smurf houses.
I did not give my children this idea.
I leave them alone, and they will come up with it, okay --sometimes I {force them to
leave me alone} and they come up with it.
They are LOVING playing Smurfs.
Would I {dare} touch or reorganize this Smurf village??
ughh...
My name is not {Gargamel!}

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Una noche de celebracion

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Take a listen--if it is not up here, try this  Click on the link.
You tube is being difficult this A.M.--or maybe I just do not know what I am doing...


I hope this video puts itself up here.
I am thinking that the code looks a little short.
It is a song from the Putamayo CD latin lounge.
Last night we all went out to celebrate a birthday, and we danced and
danced.  The band was all over the place, and played all kinds of music.
It was great.
The birthday girl stuck to one style of dancing, but danced to EVERY SONG. :)
FUN
So I was the DD for birthday girl and her husband.  Andy was at home in bed
after working all day, and preparing for work today.
I had a peaceful little moment with this song, just my headlights shining in the dark
on the curvy dump road...
Sonyando. :)

Friday, August 12, 2011

Countdown?

I guess I could say that some kind of countdown is beginning, but it's not.
I think I have to go to work next Thursday.
So however many days that is, I will not be going in early, no need to be so eager, and I
do not think I am going to countdown...makes me dread it more.
I am just gonna set my clock on Wed. night and get up Thurs. AM...Lickety split...Lippity Clippity.

I will say this...all summer long I have been working out during Regis and Kelly.  It has been a good
part of my Summer, no let's say GREAT!!
Now, all I can think is how am I going to get this workout in during the school year.  I wake up at 7:00 during the summer and at 9:00 I work out...
So, if I have to leave the house at 7:40 and I have to have one hour before that to get everyone ready...that's 6:40--So if I need forty minutes of workout time that means waking up at about 5:45.  I might try to do it...
EEEEKKK---we will see if it ends up being worth the sleep feelings.
DREADING it!!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Fury

Yesterday I got mad.
I am going to vent on {my blog}.
It's soap box time.

The state employees have insurance (it's a {benefit}.
I will say that at one point I had to buy my own insurance, and I found much better plans/
deals available when I shopped for myself.
So, really, this {benefit} means not having to shop for oneself--to me.
It means, right now, having all of my costs re: healthcare dictated to me by what
I see as a big ole monopoly in the NC State system.
Let's think about this {critically}, does this behemoth have
any competition EVER?
Was it ever even considered that if we got a raw deal
that our {people} might look after us, and get us a better deal...???
I am thinking probably {not}.

Well, this past spring we all had to re-enroll.  Pick the plan you wanted.
If you are fat or if you smoke you had to pay more--you could
only get 70/30 insurance.
If you promised you were gonna quit (backed up by a doctor) or
if you promised you were trying not to be fat anymore--also
signed by doc.--you could do 80/20.
So I was on the ball.  I signed up for 80/20 decided that my
few (c's) from time to time were gonna get ditched etc.

Well, about June they decided that they no longer care if you smoke, or
if you are fat--but if you had 80/20 you were gonna have to just pay for that
option out of pocket.
The difference in cost for me is 87 dollars a month.
Well, I do not want to pay for the difference, to be honest, we
never even go to the damn doctor.  I would not benefit from even having the 80/20.
So somewhere, in the back of my summer brain, I needed to remember, that
NOT RIGHT NOW, sino, from July 15-29th--I was gonna have to switch it.
I needed to remember this.
Well, guess what......
I DID NOT.  Between pool, puerto rico, beach, river, visits....
I forgot.
The lady at school said, I sent out many emails....guess what..
I do not check my email in the Summer.  I do not get paid in the Summer.
I am not at work!!
So now, that is 87.00 times 12 that is getting taken from me.
I am so pissed.
Before I bothered the school lady--it is not her fault, so I figured I would try to solve my own problem, I
called blue cross blue shield.--they said the school lady had to handle this for me.
Then she called them to inquire, and they said, they had no record of me calling....
{I must have called the wrong number}--I called the one that was listed on the damn
website btw.
I will be calling BCBS several more times today.
The squeaky wheel gets the juice, I say...and today I am going to squeek.
So, the school lady said to me, well you did know about this before school was out,
Yes.  I did.  But we did not have the option to go ahead and switch it right then, while
we were all still at our desks.
This makes me mad as hell!!!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

On any given day...

around my house, in this Summer time, you could come in and find
three little children running around, one after another, PLAYING just as
hard as they can go.
It is so funny to hear/watch--I do not participate much, as I might
ruin the play scenario which is entertaining them so well (whatever it might be).
It so reminds me of the little rascals.
They are little rascals...running through the house on a mission.
Are they taking care of all the animals, entertaining their hermit crabs
in the little people house etc, playing store with their new wallets, playing school,
making couch cushion pirate ships...what are they up to?
Whatever it is, I have really been enjoying listening to them, tear through
the house....to do what kiddies do best! :)
At night I clean up after it, and last night I thought to myself --they have actually
had the chance this summer to play with their toys!  Their toys are strewn everywhere
shopping carts, baby doll clothes, trucks, cars, tools....and it is organized chaos
that comes from playing....
So, long Summer...I am going to miss you.
This is probably going to entertain you all (or not) for a while.  I am in a state of semi mourning called
{the end of summer break is in sight}
It includes--crankiness, crying, dread, nervousness, rushing around (gotta buy a whole lotta stuff--I guess).
It also includes, a little bit of excitement about going back to work to see my work buddies, to
set up a new therapy schedule, to work with my students again, to have a routine (mixed feelings)...
I might have to post about this several times.

WWMD? # 7

just as soon as I take the pictures, after I have charged the camera! :)
I have the idea...but it does need a picture...
Stay tuned and come back, right {here}!
It will be here. :)


So
this is the countertop that is to the right of my stove.
It is a working space...see the knives, and the canisters for stuff??
See all that?  See all the other stuff too?
I think Martha would probably tell me to put that stuff where it belongs...
the pantry--but we already went there, no?
This is the spillover area..see the lucy charms?  the fruit candy, the empty carton 
of silk? (belongs in recycle, which is full btw)....see...Martha
would have those same people who fill up all the little glass bowls with pre-measured stuff, those
people would be cleaning this working space up.
I don't have {those people}
therefore, I have a ever crowded working space.
Check out my good wine find!! It's called
Elena Mendoza--
When something is called Elena I basically try it/buy it,
what a sucker, no?
Mendoza is the last name of the family of a friend of mine. :)
Hey Mendozas! {sandra} 
Okay people--I am off to drink some vino tinto del verano y chill out. :)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Change of scenery, 2011








We played on the beach
We got matching pedicures
We had a pirate adventure--dads and big kids
We hung out at a maritime museum
We rode go-karts
We played arcade games
We ate good food
We lost two top incisors (hello snaggle toothlandia)
We enjoyed crystal clear, blue, warm, calm ocean (thank God)
We had a change of scenery. :)
We are tired, and glad to be home. :)
More to come...

Spot on!

Spot is our family's chihuahua.  He is what we call, "an evil dictator/stuffed animal come to life".  Sometimes, after he has ...