I almost forgot!
I got some WAY cool Christmas gifts this year!
My 2 faves are my 320 gig external hard drive (I could store everything from my work, home, and the boy's computer and not even make a dent) and my bread machine.
We will never have to buy bread again! I have already made 3 loaves since Christmas. It was fantastic! White, wheat, oatmeal...the combinations are endless! Muwahahahaha (evil laugh, I thought it was called for)
Pictures to come if I ever get this laptop up to speed (that's another story for another day)
Monday, December 29, 2008
Happy vacation!
Woohoo!
It's vacation time!
So far - I have cleaned. Fun, huh?
Random thought - why are Goya juice cans so thick? They're really strong aluminum!!
I know, it's random.
Next, it's time to figure out New Year's Eve plans.
It's vacation time!
So far - I have cleaned. Fun, huh?
Random thought - why are Goya juice cans so thick? They're really strong aluminum!!
I know, it's random.
Next, it's time to figure out New Year's Eve plans.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Big scary ice storm!
Wow...craziness...
Let me recap the last few days for you.
Thursday:
The power goes out around 8:30 or so. We sit in the dark, and decide to sleep on the futon in the living room to be closert to the wood stove. Little did we realize, this would be the first night of many.
Friday:
I awoke with a start at 7:45, realizing my alarm never went off. I have to be at school in 15 minutes. My cell died, and we still have no power. I don't even know if I have school. I go out to the car and plug in my phone and listen to my voicemail - luckily, no school
We wake up to a pretty scene - ice covered tree branches glistening in the sun. No wait - the beauty is suddenly drowned out by the realization that these tree branches are covering the ground and marking their destruction all over the county. Branches down in the front yard, branches hanging on the wires to our house (doesn't matter since there's still no power), a giant tree-sized branch standing straight up and down in front of the shed - it was buried 2 feet deep into the ground!, a tree split in half that hangs into the pond and broke one of the balustrades to the footbridge, a tree down in the middle of the backyard, and many more branches all over the yard. Branches on top of the fence between us and the neighbors, branches covering the lawn, that 3 foot diameter branch buried in the ground leaning against the shed, narrowly missing the pool filter...
We spent a number of hours sawing and clipping back, pulling and knocking over that giant tree-sized branch away from the shed. The boy tried to find a chain saw - ha - not much open around, and the only chainsaws he could find were electric - fat lot of good those would do us.
The rest of the day we were still cleaning the house in hopes that the house-warming party would still happen tomorrow night, and keeping the wood stove manned for warmth. Have I mentioned it's REALLY ccccold outside??
We spent the night in the living room again - it's kind of like camping! As a matter-of-fact, we pulled out camping gear and used it inside. We found our rechargable lantern and our coffee percolator. We could boil small amounts of water on the top of the stove, and we cooked food in foil packets placed inside of the wood stove. We're pretty resourceful like that.
Saturday:
Obviously, the party cannot go on as planned. Friends and family are calling the cell all day asking about the party. An email is sent out via a friend letting as many people as possible know the party is cancelled.
I had to move the food into a cooler and place it outside to keep cool. The freezer food was ok for the most part, but the fridge stuff was getting warm. I also had to move the bucket o' peppermentini outdoors to keep it cold - it never did create ice crystals.
Again, I spend most of the day loading wood into the stove to keep warm. I also wrap a lot of Christmas presents.
My college roomie and her hubby come down from NH and bring us warm food. We spent the evening by the fire with some drinks and some food. It was a lot smaller than I planned, but it was a lot of fun.
After they left, we again hunkered down in the living room for the night. It is COLD, but the fire is roaring, and we are keeping pretty warm.
Sunday:
About 1:30 am we awoke to the lights flickering a few times, then the ROAR of the smoke alarms going off. The alarms are all hard-wired, and I guess the flickering on and off of the electricity spazzed them out. We couldn't figure out how to turn them off. The two of us were running around the house trying to get them to shut up. I don't know what we did, but we eventually got them to stop.
Finally! Heat! Hot water! Electricity! Happiness!
We spend the day cleaning the house and the yard, answering emails and voice messages from friends and family asking how we are doing. I'm hoping that school is cancelled for tomorrow, since I see that all of the area schools have cancelled for tomorrow.
At least tonight we can sleep in our own bed tonight!!
Monday:
Of course we have school - every other school district in the area has cancelled, but why would we? On my way to school I am rerouted twice, and dodge branches and trees all the way to school. When I show up, half of the staff for the building aren't there, and most of the students from the town next door aren't there since their town has cancelled school. However, since the town next door doesn't have its own high school, half of them go to our high school. The buses, however, couldn't pick them up, even though they were required to be there.
Argh-ridiculous.
I was supposed to go Christmas caroling with some of my students at the local mall after school. The mall wasn't expecting us, and a lot of the kids had to bail; I decided to cancel. I must have ESP, since I learned later that the mall lost power again. Good thing I decided to cancel before school let out!
Finally...I'm home.
I'm exhausted.
I learn that the town next door has once again cancelled school for tomorrow...
We'll see what tomorrow has in store - will I be going through this all over again? Only time will tell...
Let me recap the last few days for you.
Thursday:
The power goes out around 8:30 or so. We sit in the dark, and decide to sleep on the futon in the living room to be closert to the wood stove. Little did we realize, this would be the first night of many.
Friday:
I awoke with a start at 7:45, realizing my alarm never went off. I have to be at school in 15 minutes. My cell died, and we still have no power. I don't even know if I have school. I go out to the car and plug in my phone and listen to my voicemail - luckily, no school
We wake up to a pretty scene - ice covered tree branches glistening in the sun. No wait - the beauty is suddenly drowned out by the realization that these tree branches are covering the ground and marking their destruction all over the county. Branches down in the front yard, branches hanging on the wires to our house (doesn't matter since there's still no power), a giant tree-sized branch standing straight up and down in front of the shed - it was buried 2 feet deep into the ground!, a tree split in half that hangs into the pond and broke one of the balustrades to the footbridge, a tree down in the middle of the backyard, and many more branches all over the yard. Branches on top of the fence between us and the neighbors, branches covering the lawn, that 3 foot diameter branch buried in the ground leaning against the shed, narrowly missing the pool filter...
We spent a number of hours sawing and clipping back, pulling and knocking over that giant tree-sized branch away from the shed. The boy tried to find a chain saw - ha - not much open around, and the only chainsaws he could find were electric - fat lot of good those would do us.
The rest of the day we were still cleaning the house in hopes that the house-warming party would still happen tomorrow night, and keeping the wood stove manned for warmth. Have I mentioned it's REALLY ccccold outside??
We spent the night in the living room again - it's kind of like camping! As a matter-of-fact, we pulled out camping gear and used it inside. We found our rechargable lantern and our coffee percolator. We could boil small amounts of water on the top of the stove, and we cooked food in foil packets placed inside of the wood stove. We're pretty resourceful like that.
Saturday:
Obviously, the party cannot go on as planned. Friends and family are calling the cell all day asking about the party. An email is sent out via a friend letting as many people as possible know the party is cancelled.
I had to move the food into a cooler and place it outside to keep cool. The freezer food was ok for the most part, but the fridge stuff was getting warm. I also had to move the bucket o' peppermentini outdoors to keep it cold - it never did create ice crystals.
Again, I spend most of the day loading wood into the stove to keep warm. I also wrap a lot of Christmas presents.
My college roomie and her hubby come down from NH and bring us warm food. We spent the evening by the fire with some drinks and some food. It was a lot smaller than I planned, but it was a lot of fun.
After they left, we again hunkered down in the living room for the night. It is COLD, but the fire is roaring, and we are keeping pretty warm.
Sunday:
About 1:30 am we awoke to the lights flickering a few times, then the ROAR of the smoke alarms going off. The alarms are all hard-wired, and I guess the flickering on and off of the electricity spazzed them out. We couldn't figure out how to turn them off. The two of us were running around the house trying to get them to shut up. I don't know what we did, but we eventually got them to stop.
Finally! Heat! Hot water! Electricity! Happiness!
We spend the day cleaning the house and the yard, answering emails and voice messages from friends and family asking how we are doing. I'm hoping that school is cancelled for tomorrow, since I see that all of the area schools have cancelled for tomorrow.
At least tonight we can sleep in our own bed tonight!!
Monday:
Of course we have school - every other school district in the area has cancelled, but why would we? On my way to school I am rerouted twice, and dodge branches and trees all the way to school. When I show up, half of the staff for the building aren't there, and most of the students from the town next door aren't there since their town has cancelled school. However, since the town next door doesn't have its own high school, half of them go to our high school. The buses, however, couldn't pick them up, even though they were required to be there.
Argh-ridiculous.
I was supposed to go Christmas caroling with some of my students at the local mall after school. The mall wasn't expecting us, and a lot of the kids had to bail; I decided to cancel. I must have ESP, since I learned later that the mall lost power again. Good thing I decided to cancel before school let out!
Finally...I'm home.
I'm exhausted.
I learn that the town next door has once again cancelled school for tomorrow...
We'll see what tomorrow has in store - will I be going through this all over again? Only time will tell...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
