Category Archives: Travel

Soft, light and classic

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This weekend, I was in the car, ALONE for 4 hours (technically 8 including the return trip, but I was listening to football games then). I got to choose the music in the car. I could listen to Lady Gaga or NOT. If Taylor Swift came on, I could change the channel if I wanted. I was going through several different broadcast areas, so I learned a great deal of what radio stations are like in 2010:

  • Classic Rock: this now consists a combination of "Metal" and what I call "Classic" which involves guitars, drums and few synthesizers. Some samplings? "Iron Man", "Don’t Fear the Reaper", and a song from The Scorpions that I can not remember the title of for my life.
  • Light Rock: Pop. As in 80s Pop. As in Bananarama, Early Madonna, some Billy Joel,  The stuff I grew up to. Sad…
  • Soft Rock: The crap that those people 5-10 years older than me grew up to…includes folk stuff and Dillion. Beatles. Ick
  • Today’s Hit Music: Lady Gaga, Black-eyed Peas, my kids dance to this music.
  • Country: They still play the two kinds of music: Country AND Western (good for when I need a dose of Honky Tonk) (shuttup!)
  • Stations between 92-97: Can be anything from God love fests to Latino, to alternative rock
  • Stations between 88.1-92: Usually jazz or NPR

No wonder I like my music player

 

Dance like the world can see you:

This weekend, I traveled to New Jersey to see the Fabulous Mrs. Figby, Mr Figby and others. I got to meet some bloggers I have read for YEARS and others that I never had met before and clicked like bic lighter!  It was wonderful. I always worry if I stand out in a crowd. I am short and without style, I have the social skills of a flatulent warthog and I dance like a pregnant yak. However, I had lots of fun. I got along with Jenny, a blogger I had never met before, enjoyed shots and great discussion with Mrs. C, who is TOTALLY awesome, Danced like a fool and drank just a tad too much. Eh…

Unfortunately, I did get what I call a "flash migraine" at the dance club. Yes, I will admit I was drunk. BUT not that drunk. The flashing lights (in time with the music of course) got my nauseated and sharp pains between my eyes. When I get migraines, my auras are in my speech centers, not my visual. One great guy tried to get me to the bathroom to vomit, but I couldn’t explain to him what was going on, that I just needed to get out of the flashing lights. Mr Figby got me outside and within 2 minutes of leaning against a cold metal pole, I was FINE. Seriously. The flashing lights killed me.

On Sunday, we slept in. Mrs Figby’s daughter was finally warmed up enough to me to talk and on the way to spend her money for her birthday, we talked about Star Wars. Awesome! I REALLY enjoyed myself and once again wished I had more friends closer to me… I have a few female friends here, but the ones I need are far away. And I wish I had that many diners within walking distance of my house. Oh the diners!

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Vacation, Space Style!

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Today, we drove down to Olympia, and the D family (from No More Work than One) drove up from their home in the PNW, and we met for lunch and play. Things went well! D was not an axe murderer, nor was K2. S2 and H2 are adorable, but mostly played together, which was fine, as the place we went to was mobbed with kids. D and Jay spent time talking about Moore’s law and other geeky stuff. K2 and I spoke of simpler stuff like zipper workshops for sewing.

Soleil and Luna had fun, but they both fell down at different points and I had to break out the princess bandaids. S2 and H2 have not yet met the princesses. Good for them. Because once they do, it’s all downhill from there!

We had a lot of fun and D and I made fun of Jay because we could spot the Starbucks a block away and he couldn’t (he’s caffeine deprived, what can I do?)

 

Then we got back and had dinner with family and watched movies. I checked my work email to discover another code had broken and man, is that frustrating. At least I could diagnose the issue with out even looking at the code. Stupid databases.

So, we are getting close to the actual reason for this vacation, a Bar Mitzvah. I hope we survive the stress of a family gathering!
 

Harstine Island, Washington

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After a rough night, sharing beds with both girls, I slept in until 10:30am PST. Dudes, that’s like sleeping until 1:30 in the afternoon! Wow!

This place is, um… interesting. To be blunt, it’s not our style. This is a nice Island and the house is nice, but the kids are bored out of the gourd unless we are at the pool. There is very little to do in terms of small children. We ended up going to the mainland for dinner and then finding a playground. We got take out and just let the kids be kids for a while.

I sent Jay out for sunset. He wanted to get some photos at some point and the kids and I were watching a nighttime video..

Mt Rainer is beautiful from here.

Maybe when we are older, this will fit us more, but I suspect not. 

August 13, In bullet form

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  • Fail to fall asleep with feelings of impending doom. Find out Jay feels the same way
  • Wake up at 4:00am, eat breakfast over sink with dining room table and couch at my back. The flooring guys are to arrive at 7am.
  • Get the girls up and changed, Okay Luna got half changed…At least she got a fresh pull-up
  • Car to arrive at 4:30 for a 6:05am flight.
  • At 4:35, panic sets in
  • at 4:40, hyperventilation starts, I start to move things to our car
  • at 4:50am, cab arrives. I am in full adrenalin mode
  • Get to airport at 5:15 (for a 6:05 flight!!!!)
  • Takes over 10 minutes to check luggage. 1 guy working.
  • Security line is long. Really really long. Panic really really sets in
  • Our flight gets called to the front of the line…Whew…
  • Jay and I get separated in security… We each have a girl.
  • Soleil finds a dime  on the floor in front of the security. Almost have a melt down over not taking the dime through the machine. Manage to deflect this by tossing it in with our shoes.
  • Get dime back. Discover Murphy’s law of Airports is in force. The gate is the one PHYSICALLY furthest from security.
  • Play " I can get to the gate first" Final boarding call as we hand our tickets over. No sign of Jay or Luna. SHIT
  • Jay and Luna arrive at 5:55. Door shuts behind them WHEW.
  • Decent flight, but Soleil wakes me the only time I fall asleep. Flight attendant in first class is taken in by Soleil and gives us fresh, hot biscuits.
  • Arteries harden shortly after eating said biscuits.
  • Get to Dallas/Fort Worth. Find food and play area.
  • Get on next flight. Find a kind person is willing to switch an aisle for a middle so Jay can sit next to us. She must have kids. She knew who Nala and Simba were.
  • Flight is okay
  • Arrive in Seattle.
  • Luna LOSES it and can’t decide which parent she wants for potty. (she wants Daddy in the girls bathroom)
  • Carry her to potty while getting bit on the shoulder. Get her to go by reading Sleeping Beauty while she is being devil child on a bathroom floor. Can you say screw the 5 second rule? I knew you could!
  • Amazed her bladder did not explode in a horrific urinary disaster after seeing how much she peed.
  • Got back to Daddy. Got a smart cart for luggage
  • Read The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty to both girls.
  • Daddy says we are ready and go to Hertz
  • Jay gets car, I continue to read.
  • Hertz tells us to get car in slot B34…Turns out it was B348. B*tch forgot to put the 8. Took us 15 minutes to find car
  • Jay finds car just as the luggage all falls off the smart cart. I caught the camera bag just before it was to hit the ground.
  • Get all of the luggage, car seats and kids in car
  • Go to get the power cord for DVD player. Where’s the bag we packed it in?
  • SHIT! Jay left it sitting NEXT TO THE BAGGAGE CAROUSEL!
  • Jay returns 15 minutes later while I feed children Ritz crackers. They will be well preserved
  • Ask directions to Bremmington Ferry, get stupid answer (follow the signs)
  • Get caught in three different construction areas.
  • Make it 30 minutes before Ferry is to leave. Soleil fell asleep.
  • Jay goes to find food. Returns JUST as our line is entering the ferry.
  • Calm ferry crossing
  • Construction on the other side of the crossing
  • Get told by SIL "I sent you directions"
  • Check emails that are printed out. Shit, can’t find email with combination code.
  • Stop at grocery store. Get food for the remainder of the week. Girls need bathroom.
  • I find a drive through Starbucks (THEY HAVE DRIVE THROUGHS? WHO KNEW?)
  • Get back in car. Continue on and realize we REALLY don’t have directions to BILs guest house.
  • Try to call, no signal. Get signal, lose call
  • Get on Island
  • Get to the road that the key is on. Still can’t get combo or exact location of the key
  • Fuck it, we go to the gate and sneak in behind someone
  • Get to the house. Wireless is open access, get SIL on the phone
  • After getting verbal "eye roll" we get instructions to get the key
  • Get the key
  • Come back, empty car
  • Take girls to the beach
  • Then back for ice cream
  • Then stories
  • And bed.
  • And now we are cooking dinner
  • Can I go back to sleep now?

Sunrise

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Soleil woke me up a little bit ago and I can’t fall back asleep.

The sun is rising here and it is beautiful.

Sorry for all of the heavy posts. I am slowly working through everything. I will miss the funeral next week, sigh.

The mono is seriously kicking my butt. My sore throat is better, but sleep is difficult. I spent yesterday sleeping. A bit. My bosses are great about everything and gave me any sick time I needed to take to get better. But I haven’t been writing as much because my spare time is taken up by sleep.

Next week, we travel to the west coast. The first day will be long and tough, as the tickets are frequent flyer tickets and they are never convenient.  Then a ferry ride, a drive, a quick shop for food for the week and finally, we will arrive at our destination, a small island in Puget Sound.

We are going to meet D of No More Work Than One and originally I had hoped to catch up with Mrs. Figby, but given her sudden moving plans, I figure to let her have one less thing to stress about. Besides, she’s moving to this coast and I live near a small airport (if they ever fly to Boston), so there’s always other chances in the future.

I want to give a quick shout of support for WhyMommy. She’s having a rough week with chemo. Given that a simple virus is getting me, I can’t imagine how chemo is getting her fatigued. Go over and say hi for me, give her some encouraging words.

 

 

A mom’s guilt

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Hoo boy! 

The girls are working hard in the guilt department.

Soleil burst into tears last night when she realized that Luna and I were leaving tomorrow morning. She wanted Daddy to go. Or maybe she could come too. I explained that no, only Luna and I were going, not Daddy, not Soleil. The sobbing, the horror.

Later, Jay took her aside and explained the things they would do. She still complained that she would not be able to play with Luna over the weekend.

 While calming and rocking her, I had horrible guilt. What if something happens on the plane tomorrow? What if something happens in NC? I want to promise her that I will return. I can’t guarentee that. I want Luna to grow up with her sister. What if something terrible happens?

I go through this whenever I go on a trip. I suppose it is better than in the past when I would just go into complete panic attack over getting on a plane, but still…
 

 

Life in the fast lane

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Oy! Some days, the dragon wins. Today is not one of those days, but it started like it.

First, I have to fix the photos above. For some reason, they came out funny and three photos are on top of each other…

Let’s see, last night, I went to work out at the gym. Jay and I came to an agreement that I could work out on Monday nights and Saturday mornings (and I am going to add Thursday nights in there too). When I came home, Soleil was at the door to the garage screaming, reaching for me. Oh shit, what is this? I picked her up and Jay told me that her ear was bothering her. After 20 minutes of ear piercing screams that had MY ears hurting, I got the on-call doctor to tell me that giving her Tylenol and motrin 3 hours apart overnight was the best thing and to get her in to get checked in  the morning. Sure enough, she has an ear infection and will start the evil, yet needed antibiotics tonight.

I really hate the over use of antibiotics, on the other hand, I can’t stand to see my girl in pain. It’s a double edged sword…

Jay and I had a long time deciding what to do last night. You see, there are 4 people on my operations team at work. And this is my duty week. I am on call 24/7 this week. I have a 9am meeting every workday and I have to review the spacecraft command load to make sure it is safe for our instrument and that we are completing the science we want. I also need to be available to deal with any changes to the parameters for an observation and to build new commanding if needed.  We have an agreement that I will take any child to the doctor/dentist/ stay home if needed UNLESS it is my duty week. So, Jay should have taken her to the doctor. Except he had a meeting this morning at 10 that he had to be at. Sigh. I was able to do some work at home last night and get things worked out so I was ok to get her into the doctor. It is hard when life and work collide.

We have a busy week. Jay’s mother is visiting on Thursday-Monday. Yes! We have a sitter for a weekend night! :) Nance is very happy! Hopefully the girls will be as excited and let mommy get some stuff done this weekend!

Jay is not doing as well with his new Crohn’s management as we had hoped. The doctor is also not thrilled. The next plan may involve a very nasty drug, given via IV, once a month. I don’t like the sound of it, nor the side effects. I am trying hard not to put my head in the sand on this one, but for the moment, I am hiding from this.
Not even Dr. Google is allowed to talk to me about this until we decide this is to be done.

I was sad to see that ChicagoMom  is still struggling with her depression. It bites. It really does. If you visit her site, go give her a cyber hug, will you? I am starting to get a better handle on it by taking the cymbalta early, but… It comes and goes. This weekend I was with a group of wonderful people and I had a long day with Soleil and I was just apologizing for living by the end of the day. It was terrible. Everyone kept saying they understood, but MAN was it hard….

Finally, a big group cheer for Johnny, who finally got his referral for his son! Congrats Johnny and S and M!!!!

Packing my bags….in 2007

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The year 2007 is going to be a busy one!  We recently discussed our travel schedule…

  1. In Feb, Soleil and I are going to Florida to a gathering of my refuge friends (a group spawned from a fertility web board)
  2. I may visit Buffalo in March
  3. Passover? Cleveland
  4. The weekend after Passover? NYC. We have been SUMMONED to come (shakes head at Keith-BIL)
  5. May, Hawai’i. With the kids? Maybe. The original plan was yes, but since mom and dad were going to take care of the kids 4 hours a day and now mom is afraid to fly given her illness in November, I don’t know. But we have a meeting there.
  6. August. Bar Mitzvah for Keith’s eldest. This is very exciting. Seattle, here we come!
  7. Thanksgiving? Probably Cleveland. In-laws are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.
  8. Buffalo in late December.
  9. Oh yeah, Luna and I are supposed to visit my parents for a weekend too…

Busy busy busy year. Oh- And Soleil STARTS KINDERGARTEN this year! EEK!