Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Wednesday Afternoon

Hello!

It is totally snowing here you guys... Jeff has put his family chili recipe into the crock-pot, and it smells delicious.

Look at this cute picture of Maggie.



Oh let's see... hmm... where to start...I got my new issue of "The New Yorker" for this week finally! I have already read a fascinating article about mashgihim (kosher inspectors) in China. Which led me to this funny photo:


I've been thinking a lot about Vicky Pollard and Jeri Blank. Which led me to this:



and this:



And now my feet are cold and the dog is whining and I will now bid you farewell. And happy new year!

oo - one more!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

We have power, and it snowed.

Two things about this video:

1. everything is flipped. bizarro. alternate universe? my porch is to the right out the door, not the left for starters...

2. I didn't hold the macbook high enough to capture jim, but that's okay. no big deal.

3. I will perhaps (perhaps.) film a reveal later, after all the tidying. stay tuned!


Friday, December 19, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Wednesday Evening

Well I am certainly more comfortable, more 'at home' here in my sub-let. I am over at my friend Brian's apartment while he is out at a meeting. The kids (Henry and Lily) are watching a movie and Maggie is playing quietly in a nice hot bath. And I'm here with you.

Oh blog, I wish I had better news to report. 6 days later, still no power. It has been a memorable week. It's strange to come home to a totally dark house each night. We've eaten out for dinner (or paid to eat dinner each night), done laundry at Bob's, taken a shower someplace different each time, been kept toasty and warm by the wood stove, learned how to load the wood stove, bought a cord of wood, lugged gallons of water and charged anything that with batteries at any place I could get either, the list goes on and on.

Observations:

Jim. You can tell he's confused. He's in his crate during the day, so the house is dark by the time he comes out for the evening. This is fooling with his habits in many ways, I am sure. Is not fully comprehending.

Maggie. It's funny how kids are. She still reaches for the faucet to rinse her toothbrush, still stands up on tippy toes to try for the light when going in to the bathroom, pines for 'something cold! something not from the pantry!'

cutting it short, more later -

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Pictures from the Ice Storm

Here are some pictures I took from the ice storm... p.s. still no power. And Henry's out of school until January 5!

irksome!



This is the field across the road from us. Notice how the netting our neighbor uses to keep deer out of her garden has ice all over it.


A close up of the grass in our front yard.






My van.






Front yard.



Trike.

Feedback about my cysts

Here is some first hand testimony I just received from a friend:

You will also be excited to know I recently had a cyst drained, after it got infected over the summer. It went from a little bump the circumference of a nickel, or less, to a giant ugly painful red-purple chicken-egg-sized horror in the course of two weeks. It coincided with July 4 weekend, and I had to see two doctors, the second one twice after he cancelled the first appointment, which is why it took so long and got so horrible. Having it drained SUCKED, stinky and painful. I didn't have it removed at the time because you have to drain first, then remove later (that's if it is infected like mine; if no infection, you can just remove); but now the doc says it's too small to
remove (good job draining it!) so we have to wait til it grows again. It has not noticeably grown in the past five months. It's right on my neck, which apparently is a very sensitive place for surgery. I've had that thing since high school, with no problems until YIKES. So yeah, I encourage you to have yours removed before they go haywire.

Further:
They just get infected after a while, could take months, could take decades, like mine took about 20 years. I don't know how much you know about cysts: they form when a hair follicle duct gets blocked, and a little hard wall forms under the skin, keeping things in that should normally be exuded through the duct. But it's okay until it gets infected, which causes a buildup of pus (that's the stinky part) and blood. At least, that's my understanding. So they drain it, and take out as much of the cyst wall as
they can. Sometimes if they get all of the wall, it never comes back. With mine, they got a lot of it but not all of it, so it's still there, but it is teeny tiny now. It was painful when it was infected, especially when trying to sleep, and having it drained hurts even though they numb the local area because they're taking a scalpel to you! Giant sharp rotating knives, man!!! But after enduring two weeks of increasing pain, it was a huge relief once the draining was done. The surgeon offered to preserve the pieces in a jar for me; I said no thank you.

Original post:

In an effort to rid myself of bumps on my head, I am considering having two
removed in early January. They're sebaceous cysts, don't panic. In an attempt to research just what I'm in for in having them removed, I googled it and found some crazy stuff, yo! Check this out. This is a person who had cysts on their head, but let them go a bit longer than I intend to!


If you want to be really freaked out, go here and look at that (NotSafeForWork). Apparently to remove it, the doctor has to rub and massage and squeeze out the interior of the cyst!

Me, Mom and Dad and Andy Gibb


PEACE QUOTE

Listen,

says ambition,

nervously shifting her weight from one boot to another -
why don't you get going?

For there I am, in the mossy shadows, under the trees.

And to tell the truth I don't want to let go of the wrists of idleness,

I don't want to sell my life for money,

I don't even want to come in out of the rain.

- Mary Oliver

Sunday, December 14, 2008

More outages possible in ice-ravaged Northeast



Just read this story online about the storm, thought this was classic Yankee:


Retired auctioneer Ed Stevens, 88, came to the same shelter Saturday after rejecting several suggestions that he do so earlier.

"I told them, 'No way!' I guess I'm too damned independent," he said.

After two days of reading the newspaper in a cold house, he gave in.

"I guess if it's between here and freezing to death in my own house, I'll take here," he said.


More outages possible in ice-ravaged Northeast (AP)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Freeze!




Oh blog! I write to you from a hotel in Lexington, Mass. We have TV, but we have no working remote for it. We have WiFi, but we have no Jeff with us to enjoy it. I don't know how the pioneers did it with no power in their shanty, having to climb out of bed to change channels, reading newspapers. p'shaw!

We lost power around 10pm on Thurday night. Friday, no work. no school. It was crazy, crazy crazy ice covered gorgeousness. I took pictures, but robbed my camera to put the AA batteries to better use (or so I thought) powering a (useless) little radio I found. I'll post 'em later, you can bet on it.

Driving around today felt apocoloyptic. Like a crazy wonderland gone all wrong. Huge trees snapped in half, leaning against wires. Wires on the ground to drive over. Just crazy. Pictures forthcoming.

We have this room tonight and tomorrow, but Jeff and Jim aren't here. Jeff had been waiting for a call from Matt about keeping pipes from freezing and was going to head down here after us. But it turns out the best way to keep pipes from freezing is not to simply drain them and meet your family at a hotel for a hot shower and dinner. Easier to simply keep the fire going in the woodstove. So he's staying put.

We were already nearly here when we got the call that he and Jim would not be forthcoming. I'm not sure if we'll stay another night or come home tomorrow to be with Jeff. They (you know, those guys) are saying we may not have power in our town until mid week! Anyway, Henry is feeling crappy. I think it's because he's not eaten anything in a long time and had nearly zero water while sitting in front of the wood stove the last two days straight. Dehydration.



I am not sure what this means for my job, as the company is located in the same town. I am irritated with the whole situation.

Silver lining #1. I started reading (aloud) "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. They had a winter that lasted from October all the way to May! We have been enjoying this book and intend to finish it, I'm sure.

Silver lining #2. The Flynns loaned me their shower today. Thanks Flynns!

Silver lining #3. tbd

Okay we are off in search of dinner and evenings entertainment. Bye for now!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thursday evening


There was no school today, and I stayed home with the children. Not that I have actually stepped foot outside beyond heading to the mailbox, but there is, apparently, a terrible ice storm. The kids could have definitely gone to school, in hindsight.

We are expecting schools to be closed tomorrow as well, because the real meat of the storm is coming overnight I guess. I will make every attempt to make it in to work. I've been having head aches at work lately. Also I'm caught up in one area that had been nagging at me, and about to shift gears towards another project and that can be a challenge. I bet tomorrow will be quiet.

What else is going on. Today I gave the dog Jim a bath. He was dirty, he was smelly. It was time.

In an effort to drive traffic to this blog, I will be updating my Facebook status with the fact that I have updated this blog.

In an effort to rid myself of bumps on my head, I am considering having two removed in early January. They're sebaceous cysts, don't panic. In an attempt to research just what I'm in for in having them removed, I googled it and found some crazy stuff, yo!

Check this out. This is a person who had cysts on their head, but let them go a bit longer than I intend to!

If you want to be really freaked out, go here and look at that (NSFW).

Apparently to remove it, the doctor has to rub and massage and squeeze out the interior of the cyst! Check this out:



Hey now!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Maggie and Jeff





These pictures are from when Jeff took Maggie to see the Nutcracker Ballet a couple weeks back...

Sunday, December 07, 2008

A sweet video from Thanksgiving I wanted to post

Our Christmas Tree, 2008

Little Britain

I have been catching bits of this show, laughing and laughing at it. This is probably my favorite skit:



But this one is classic, too:

Jocelyn asked for a Christmas song

Saturday, December 06, 2008

I am fired up, and ready to go.

President-elect Barack Obama

I find this man so reassuring. I have a subscription to My Weekly Address from the President Elect and have been listening and staring deeply into his eyes and feeling better and getting ideas and wondering about life in America post 1.20.09.

Change is on the way, that is for damn sure.

December 5, 2008
This week President-elect Barack Obama addresses the job loss that our nation continues to endure and offers solutions to the challenges we face. For more information, visit http://change.gov.



The third part of his plan is what brought me to you, blog.
Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.
The public elementary school in our town is in dire need of repair, and a group of dedicated people are working hard to secure funding for the remodel. This may be just the ticket!

Also what he said about 'use it or lose it'. I'd heard something on NPR about how that policy with the money - - to inject it in the economy pronto to arrest this downward spiral, is an important piece to ponder.

And this bit:
As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.
It sort of startled me to hear this. Normally you hear about how parents are supposed to be afraid and wary of letting their child go "online". You know? But he's right. I wonder if a line or two about "now now, with parental involvement and safety controls we can keep our children safe from the ills of etc." lays on the cutting room floor of that speech. Very bold to just leave it at 'every child should have the chance to get online'...

also:
In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.
Ain't that the truth?!!? I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the different meetings he's had with the folks at Google and whatnot. The IT area of the health industry is probably a very interesting piece of the whale to chew on, professionally speaking. All that data, all that work-flow and procedure and humanity.

DOT COM!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Monday, December 01, 2008

While Henry does Homework...

I will write in my blog.

I am thinking of going to see a movie tonight, "Rachel Getting Married." I have heard good things about this movie, and I believe I will enjoy it. Plus-which, it plays at my local theater.

Yesterday I Skyped with family! What fun, what fun. So cool to look into eyes and participate in the easy flow of conversation between a few people who are able to laugh and slap knees and interject. Very much fun, yes!

Henry is struggling. He just announced that he has 16 more math problems. The next problem he has is 84 - 59. This worksheet focuses on borrowing from the tens column. He is really dragging. Poor guy! "Four more pages to go!" Just gave him the pep talk about eating a whale one bite at a time. He's a good guy, he'll get it done.

Maggie, on the other hand, is probably sick with the strep that Henry had last week! And I wonder if I, too, might not be heading down the sick road. I believe that I will be staying home with Maggie tomorrow, sorry to say.

We all had a fine time in Maine for Thanksgiving, how was your holiday? Can you believe it is Christmas time already? And soon will be 1.20.09! I heard part of a story on NPR this morning about the folks who organize the inauguration in D.C. and how it will probably (certainly) be a record breaking attendance. I mean, who wouldn't want to watch him take the oath? I would go if I could.

Oh, son. I'm going to take a quick video and show you just what I'm seeing here...


And now I must leave. Goodnight Blog!