Holiday 2012 Madness Part 1

This is the day that the holiday season of 2012 started to go stir crazy.  Before that it was just regular crazy.

It started with Halloween, or rather the Halloween that we didn't have.  On Monday October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy made her way to us on the south shore of Long Island.  Thankfully our home was spared any damage, our in-laws and neighbors as well.  However - 2 doors down from us our neighbors mighty oak tree was uprooted and fell directly into the street. Thank God it fell that way and nobody's roof was damaged on this block.  I wasn't thanking God however when the tree took our power lines with it.

Suddenly we were without power, hot water, and heat. With all faith in humanity we waited for the power company to come out and fix us. And we waited.  And we froze. We used our Bar-b-Que grill as much as we could but it was too cold to stand out there and cook.  I was aware that other neighbors and 'hoods were without power as well but I needed to worry about us.  Schools were closed, work was understanding, but we needed to get fixed.  In total we lost about 2 weeks between power being out, cable being out, in-laws staying with us because their power was out.

We never quite made up for lost time after that.  We have tried to in many ways, but the fact is time is going by so quickly that you can't make up for lost time.  Once time is gone, it's gone. Lessons learned from all the madness - 1) we need a generator at home.  It's now December 27 and I'm still waiting for my husband to get that together.  2) Family friends are priceless.  The showers and electricity and news they provided were heaven sent gifts.  3) Do not open Halloween candy before October 31 or you will eat it even in the dark and in the cold. 

The very good part of this ordeal was that T1 and I had the foresight for me to drive into NYC and bring her home before the storm.  Not just for safety but also because she was flying out to the Marine Corps Ball to be with T1F.  It was a perfect plan because the City was in worse shape in may ways.  They had flooded subways, streets with puddles that looked like small ponds and no way to drive in and no way to drive out the first couple of days.

By the time her flight was scheduled to leave, she was able to get on the plane and fly to her true love, and true warmth, hot water and hot food.  They also really enjoyed the ball.

Tick-Tock

Somehow it is already the middle of May.  This is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that it means we are finally taking our first trip to Bermuda!  We had purchased a pretty awesome deal from Groupon.  In case I haven't mentioned it before, I am a big fan of Groupon.  I haven't had anything go wrong with any Groupon that I've even purchased or used.

This was our first time buying a 'Groupon Getaway' and what we did learn was that before you buy the hotel or accommodations from Groupon, check the airfare for that destination.  The airline industry  makes it very hard to find reasonable prices to any place and geez, the amount of fees and taxes they add to the ticket price is hurtful to a family on a budget.

From our location in New York the flight is about a 2hr 20min trip.  For somebody like me who is extremely claustrophobic,which will no doubt be worsened by flying over the ocean the entire time, this is a pretty decent flying time and hopefully I will have enough time for my meds to kick-in before we descent.  I don't do very well on the decent.

My prize will be Bermuda.  I will come back with a couple of pictures to share.

As for the bad news, I'm going to be in Bermuda in less than 24 hours and I can't think of anything bad right  now.

(This is what I hope I find when I get there.)

(this is a picture I found at http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/downloads/downloads)

Long Time No Post

What seems like such a long time ago, I decided to start a blog so that I could get some memories posted and maybe even get some mild venting done.

Who would have thought that trying to find 10 or 20 minutes a week to write something would be so hard to come by?  My goal was one post a week and I can plainly see that I haven't hit that mark in a long time.

I wanted to write a post about how one day I just decided to break-up with Facebook.  It's been a good decision.

I had a little story about finally being given the secret family recipe from my mother-in-law to make her Pizza Rustica pie for Easter.  I rocked it.

I finally got to see my San Francisco Giants play baseball out here. It was against the NY Mets and the family all had a great time on a gorgeous weather day.  They lost that day in a very exciting 9th inning but they won 2 more games before the series was over.

We had a day out at the Central Park zoo and while the animals weren't plentiful, the Hasidic Jewish families were out in full force.  Coming from a San Francisco upbringing it was quite a site for me to see.

T1 and T1F surprised us all by showing up on our doorstep last week.  He had surprised her last weekend in the city and they did a very good job surprising us the next day.

Lots of work stuff going on.  Too much to tell.  But there is some exciting stuff on the horizon.  I hope to find more time to write about it.

He Ain't Heavy - He's my Brother

I have been blessed to have the 3 brothers that I have.  And one sister.  Being part of a divorced family there are usually some explanations that I have to provide about whom is who and whom I grew up with and this is about B1.

B1 is only 13 months older than I am.  In our early years we had each other through everything and we were close, tight, thick as thieves.  As very small kids, maybe 2 & 3, my mother and father divorced.  All we knew was that we didn't live with our father anymore.  Later on, my mother would remarry and we gained a new brother (B2).  While B2 had a different father, we swore we would never call B2 a 'half' or a 'step.'  (Later when my father would remarry and B3 and S1 were born, we felt the same way. Still do.  Always will.)

In 2nd grade, I was so smart that I skipped it and joined my brother in 3rd grade.  I was so happy. From then on, we had a lot of the same friends, knew all of the same people and ran in the same circles.  We never really had terrible fights.  

In our teen years we went to concerts together; crazy rock & roll shows.  Some of my favorite memories were standing in line waiting to see AC/DC, Tom Petty, Black Sabbath.  It was what we saved our money for and when B1 started working, he was always so generous in the discounts he would give me on the price of a ticket.

Then - and I remember this like it was yesterday - he went to the Navy.  I was alone without my big brother for the first time.  I missed him dearly.  We wrote each other often.  When he graduated boot camp I beamed with pride as much as my mom and just like her, I cried tears of joy to finally see him.

Many years later, with a boatload of memories we still have, we began to settle into our own lives.  Mine with my dear boyfriend who is now my dear husband and B1 with a new girl.  She seemed nice enough but there was something.  A small something that I couldn't quite put my finger on was poking me inside.  Slowly I saw my dear brother start to slip away.  He spent less time with us, less calls to the house, less visits.  As I prepared to leave San Francisco I knew that "she" had him and we lost him.  

Lots of years later there were signs of a comeback.  A couple of letters.  A phone call here and there.  A fresh start for him.  She was in the background.  Still there but no longer the presence she was before.  A new career for him sent him driving across America and when he gets back to home base he stays with our mom in Northern California.  I am thrilled for my mother to get her oldest son back.

We now have phone calls together. Some text messaging.  We even Facebooked for a while (Facebook is a whole different post).  

My father recently had a reunion with B1.  They had spoken even less in the past years than I had.  My father was over the moon to find out my brother was heading straight to his town on a Friday, my birthday to be exact. They sent me the picture you see above.  I got a little choked up when I saw it.  A combination of joy for both my father and my brother.  

And a slight tinge of envy.  Because even after all this time and our reunion of being back in each other life, B1 and I haven't seen each other in a lot of years.

Flags at Half-Staff

On Monday April 2, I took T2 to school and as I drove into the parking lot, I immediately noticed that the American flag was flying at half-staff. 

I first wondered if I had missed anything on the news and realized that I actually hadn't watched the news in quite a while so there wasn't much chance I knew what was going on in the world.

When I walked T2 into the hallway I asked the hall monitor if she knew why the flag had been lowered.  Nope. Not a clue.  I asked a parent if they knew what it was about and again the answer was no.

I left school and headed to the Post Office for a book of stamps.  As soon as I drove into the parking lot, I saw the flag at half-staff again.  So now I'm thinking that some high ranking guy in our lousy government had maybe died and I knew nothing about it. Obama? Cheney (finally)? 


I asked the Postal clerks what the flag at half-staff was about and neither one of them knew.  What the heck?


Just then one of the managers came up front and I asked him what was going on.  He said he had a memo about it and he would bring it to me.  Ok, a memo is good.  I needed to know at this point.  


This is what I read:

April 2, 2012 - New York Governor Cuomo has directed that flags on state buildings be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Monday, April 2, 2012 in honor of Staff Sergeant William R. Wilson III of Getzville, NY who died in Paktika province, Afghanistan on March 26, 2012.


Sigh.  Another American soldier lost. Nobody more deserving of a flag at half-staff.

Goodbye First Tooth -

On Thursday March 29, 2012, my baby girl, whom we know as T2, lost her first baby tooth.

The first thing that came to my mind was "Geez, after all that work for that tooth to
cut and come in," and all the turmoil  we went through for her to keep her teeth clean and brushed ~
just like that, one baby tooth down.

The way it played out I actually ended up pulling it.  Or as my Hubs says, "yanking it out."  Which is just ridiculous.

She came home from school and said it was bothering her. Her older sister T1 said "T2, mommy pulled all my teeth out. It doesn't hurt. Let's do it."  T2 agreed and we grabbed some dental floss, tried a few times to get the lasso around it and once secured, one small yank and it was out.  It was so close to coming out that it actually flew onto the floor.  Luckily we got it for our dog did.

The tooth fairy was very generous by giving her 5 gold, Sacagawea dollars.  I was a quick thinker in telling her that she only does that for the first time.

I guess this is a milestone.  The beginning of T2 leaving the baby things behind.  Growing up so to say.  And I just can't believe it's happening already.

Where is the time going?

Somehow we are already half way into March.  Spring is literally right around the corner.  As anybody who knows me will agree, I am a happier person once Winter starts to become a memory.  I am that person that has an immediate mood shift when the clocks change and "spring forward."  (I might be a little grumpy off because of the time change but it's short lived).   I love to leave work and see that there is still daylight out there.  Plus I just love to leave work.

But all of this has just happened so quickly.  The beginning of the month was my birthday.  And while my age remains 40-something, I still realize in other ways that another year has gone by.  Not too long after my birthday my mother has a birthday.  Wow Mom, you're really that old now?  Another measure of proof that my 40-somethingness won't last much longer.

Then it's T1's birthday.  This year was hard because she was away at school and wouldn't be home until the weekend for us to officially celebrate.  It's the first time she was away.  The first time I didn't get to sneak in her room at the exact time of her birth and give her a hug.  But the times being what they are, we did get to speak and she was nice enough to sound as she actually enjoyed the call at 10:23 pm.  The end of the month will bring more birthdays on my inlaws side of the family.  

Then Bam! We're in April.  T1 has spring break the first week of April and T2 has the second.  I think it's a little unfair they're not better coordinated.  The end of April will be T1F's graduation from his Marine Schooling and God willing, a trip home that T1's heart could really use.   

I don't like to wish time away.  I want to enjoy every day because I really believe we should make everyday count.  But I admit that I am looking forward to the official start of Spring.  And the "kids" being home from school.  

In the meantime, I'm thankful for good weather, the first signs of Spring and leaving Old Man Winter behind.  All of these are good signs of passing time.

A beautiful almost Spring sky with a perfectly beautiful American flag.