Tuesday, October 27

A salty rant

Disclaimer first: I don't feel like watching my mouth for this one. If salty language offends you, insert your own words or just skip reading this one.

I usually walk to the elementary school to pick up Miss Hurricane after school. (Mister Twister rides the bus and walks home from his bus stop with no problems.) I take the same route, half a mile each way, every school day that I don't have the car or don't feel like driving. Most people know when kids are in school - Monday through Friday, August through May around here. Breaks are advertised on the news, and most people know when those breaks are anyway - major holidays and such. This is common knowledge for people once they've been driving for more than a year of their life. Right?
Apparently someone didn't get that memo. Another thing most, if not all, drivers are taught *before* the acquisition of an operator's license, is that pedestrians have the right-of-way. Especially when said pedestrian is already *in* the crosswalk, and whether a crossing guard is present or not. (Note: the crosswalk this happened in today usually does have a guard before and after school, but he wasn't there yet.)

You can probably see where this is going. If you want to skip the language, I wasn't hurt in any way, but I am super annoyed. So much so that I made a point to get the license plate number of the offending vehicle as I stared at him/her while s/he (probably a damn woman, though) drove on his/her merry way.

It's raining a bit today. I was walking normally, even slowed down a bit to allow one car to go ahead before I came to the crosswalk. I do try to do this more often than not, even though I don't *have* to do this. When the first car had made her turn (I did see her, I know it was a woman - lol) I stepped into the crosswalk even before she was completely through it. I knew I'd make it across with nearly no wait time for the next car. Instead, this bitch/douchebag decided to tear through the intersection, and as my foot hit the sidewalk on the other side of the street - where I was going and wouldn't have been holding anyone up - this dipshit honked at me and seemingly made a point to ensure I knew that I'd angered him/her. Why? Who knows. There are enough pretentious fuckheads around here that it could be anything.
So, since this fuckhead honked at me, I turned to see the driver. Couldn't though, since the car was driving away quickly. Since I was using my own umbrella and had another in my other hand, I couldn't properly salute this idiot with my favorite finger. But I did see most of the license plate, and will be talking to the crossing guard tomorrow on my way to the school. He's a retired policeman and can 'have a word' should he see this car again. Nothing like a friendly reminder!

To the driver: fuck you, get over yourself. Take a trafic class, you obivously need a reminder on the rules of driving. Running late? Leave earlier. Having an emergency? Get thee inside an ambulance instead of driving yourself. Ready to get home at the end of a long day? Aren't we all! Unbunch your panties. Trying to get a visit from me to tell you these things to your face? Honk again, douchebag.

/salty rant

To everyone else: remember that pedestrians have the right-of-way in a crosswalk. In some cities a pedestrian has the right-of-way everywhere. You are no more important than me, and I am no more important than you. Don't be an asshole; what you give is what you get.

Happy Tuesday. May the rest of the week be better than this!

~Amphitrite

Tuesday, October 20

BOO!

I'm early on an update, for a nice change of pace. The kids and I spent a few days at Mom's house last week, and I have some pictures and video to share with you folks.
First off, the kids were on their Fall Break - just a four day weekend - so Mom came and picked us up on Thursday. We met up with my youngest cousin (a brand-new college student!) to have a late lunch and got to Mom's around 6 that evening. I didn't take the camera in with me so I don't have any pics from lunch with Cousin P Euchre.
Long story behind her nickname, but she's had that nickname since her infancy. That will henceforth be her pseudonym here. :D

Friday we had planned to go to the apple orchard... but we never did get around to anything in reality. I wish we had though, as I found out that they sold out of the very apples I wanted on Saturday morning! :( All I really did Friday was take some pictures of Mom's new gazebo... it just needs some insulation and four walls to be a really nice doghouse! LOL

Here are some pics of the gazebo:






You can click any of those to see a larger version.

I forgot to mention it last time, but I also inherited some old family photos of Dad's family. I want to scan those in this week or next and I'll be posting them on my genealogy forum. I'll slip a few of the (in my opinion) cooler ones here too as soon as I can. For now, I do have a picture of all the pictures before I carefully sliced all the tape holding them together:




<--- Tasty Krispy Apples!
Saturday we got up early enough to start some chili for dinner, and headed out to get apples. As I said, they were out of the Krispys I wanted by the time we got there, but we did get a gallon of cider and some dried soup mixes. Mom said I could have some of her apples that they'd bought earlier in the week. She knows how my kids go through apples!

Dad wasn't able to go to the orchard with us but he did take us out to dinner. He and Mom tried the Fuji Steak House (in Eastgate) a few weeks ago; they know that Miss Hurricane is learning Japanese at school, so thought it would be fun to treat us there too. This place is one of those open hibachi grill joints, where a chef comes out and cooks your meal right in front of you. We'd never experienced this but Dad promised it would be fun. He was right ~

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



That's our boy there who caught a flying piece of broccoli! Out of 7 people at our table, Mister Twister is the only one who caught any broccoli the chef tossed out! Apparently, all the chefs do this to relax the diners or something, but it was so fun to try and to watch others try too.

Since we went out on Saturday, we saved the chili for Sunday lunch. Chili's always better the next day anyway, right? Oh wait. We were going to save the chili for Sunday... sorry Mom, I have to tell on you here. It's too funny.
Saturday evening, on the way back from Fuji, I stopped by Goodwill to try to find new clothes for the fast-growing children here, so we got back to the house around 8:30. Mom changed into her pj's and I called Poseidon to chat. While I was upstairs giving Miss Hurricane a bath, Mom wanted to take the chili to the basement where she has an overflow fridge. I was later told that she dropped the *huge* pot of chili right in front of the fridge, and you know, maybe let a few words fly. LOL


<--- The chili, just hours earlier

Well, Mister Twister happened to hear her from another room, and he looked at Dad with raised eyebrows and big eyes and said "I've never heard Nana talk like that before . . .". Honestly, I snorted upon hearing this story from Dad! It was all fine in the end; the floor down there is concrete and she got it cleaned up, but she did have to start a new pot on Sunday. The chili was good, as hers always has been, so nothing to worry about!

No pics of the chili incident. Sorry. Sunday, Dad (and Angie, a.k.a. BatDog) brought us home by 4:30 and I've been doing laundry ever since. It was a good visit but we won't have a chance to get back up there until the Christmas Break. That does, however, give me some sewing time. :-)

Have a great week ~ another post will appear right after Halloween, as previously promised.
~A

EDIT: I forgot to give you a link to the whole set of pictures... that's what I get for rushing myself! Here they are:
Fall Break 2009
Sorry! ~A

Saturday, October 10

October, already?!

Hey, one year from today, the date will be 10/10/10! Cool! ADD comes in handy sometimes....
I was reading my only post from April of this year. I've got music on tonight and heard a song that reminded of Timmy. I totally forgot to put a slideshow in that post, so here it is: Timmy pics - and here's a link back to that post: He Was A Friend of Mine. Sometimes I just miss him, but it's easier now than a few months ago.

So, it was August the last time I posted anything... school life kind of got in the way, as happens just about every year around this time. So what's up with us, you wonder? Let's see:
~ Late in August, a cousin I haven't seen in many years welcomed her firstborn to the world! I'll just give you a link to her blog: Stocks Family. Miss Isabella is absolutely adorable!! Of course, I've already added all her information to my genealogy notebook. Big happy congratulations to Jennifer and Byron!! :D
~ August 29 I went to my cousin's house to celebrate his birthday with his family and some friends. The kids were with me of course, which ended up bringing the total kid count that night to something like 12 (there were visiting neighbor children every so often too). We had a good time, it was nice to catch up with people I hadn't seen since April, and all the kids enjoyed staying up late and camping outside. I remember having one gigantic Pina Colada once all the kids were asleep, and then there was talking around the fire out back. It was fun. I wish I'd taken the camera! I got Dave one small gift (right here) and he said he loved it.
~ September was pretty empty... school all but two weekdays - Labor Day, then the 28th the kids were off but teachers had to be at school. We had to get some new clothes for the kids who are slowly but surely outgrowing the clothes they've had since last winter. I did get the winter wardrobes out of the attic, and got everyone's clothing swapped out and got rid of what no longer fits and all. Since we put the boxes back in the attic, I've found a few more pair of shorts that need to be put up there now... that happens every year too!
~ It's October now. Poseidon turned 36 a week ago; we've got field trips at school; fundraisers are coming to a close and new ones are beginning; we're getting ready for Halloween. The kids are off school on the 15th and 16th for their Fall break and the three of us are planning to go to Mom's. We haven't seen her since Dave's birthday, and have only talked to her a few times, so we miss her and Dad!

So now what? Well, coming up we have the first field trip for Miss Hurricane this year. Her class and the other 3 first grade classes are going to an orchard. I volunteered to go along this year (because schedules worked out for the first time, finally!) and will try to get a picture or two. Her school does have a policy about posting pictures of children online, so if I don't forget the camera, all you'll see on here will be her alone unless otherwise noted.
Tuesday I might be at Mister Twister's school, but that meeting hasn't been planned out yet. I'll know on Monday if we even need it. The first quarter is coming to a close and somebody has developed the awful habit of "forgetting" to turn in homework... yeah. He hasn't even been doing the homework, and no amount of taking things or grounding him seems to have any affect whatsoever. It's maddening! I have been in weekly contact with one of his teachers and I'll know more on Monday.
We're already figuring out what costumes everyone is wearing for Halloween. Miss Hurricane wants to be Princess Peach, and I think Mister Twister is going to dress up as either Mario or Luigi. I'm thinking I'm just gonna do the dirty hippie this year. LOL Last year I went out dressed as Lily Munster, but I can't find the shoes I wore then, and no other shoes I have will work with it. I do have my 'Jesus shoes' and some other accessories so I'm taking the easy way this year! Poseidon usually doesn't dress up, if he even goes out with us. In past years he's had to work, this year he'll be home in time to go if he feels up to it. We'll see. I'll get pictures that night too!

November is usually 'boring' too with only Thanksgiving break keeping the kids home. We only have two family birthdays (adults) and one anniversary in November, so I have some cards to browse and maybe an anniversary gift to buy. We will finish up our Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving too since this year will be a light year all around. I'm only sewing gifts for our kids this year since I ran myself out of time to plan for anyone else :(
On the bright side, we are still on track for moving in June!

See you next time,
Amphitrite

Look what I found!

I need to write another update, I know. But I was looking for an old girl friend today and FINALLY found her!! When I did, though, I remembered something we have in common.

A photo slideshow. I'd forgotten all about this one! I think I made it in 2006 for MySpace (when I had a page there... no longer) and it's just been floating around the internet since then. I did a little editing of names but it's back to something I'm happy to share!



Only 10 pictures, but going back to when Mister Twister was just a toddler and up through Miss Hurricane's 2nd Halloween!

My friend I found? She's the girl in the second picture with me. We worked together in our early 20's (LOL, like I'm so old!). We took a mini-vacation with Poseidon and another friend from work to San Diego in April of 2000. That picture is from inside the Zoo somewhere, and I couldn't tell you what's in my cup... I do believe it contained alcohol though... but I wasn't the driver during the entire trip, so it's okay. :D

I have missed her so much over the last few years! We lost touch when I moved down here; I tried to send Christmas cards to her parent's house but never got any response and thought she probably had moved. I've googled her name I don't even know how many times, too! And today, when I struck gold and knew (by her slideshow) that it was really her, I actually let out a squeal! "OMG I found her! Yay!!" Startled the kids, but they'll be alright. I hope I hear from her sometime (so, girl, if you find this - email me or look on Facebook!!!).

Seeing her totally made my day :D

I'll have an actual update soon, around or shortly after Halloween.
~A