Good news bad news

My mom and MMBF finally got their electric back today. Woohoo!
My mom found out she has Lyme disease again. Poor mom.

How is that my fault?

My lawn looks absurd. It is very scruffy and uneven because I had to set the mower to it's highest setting to cut the grass because the grass had gotten really tall. It looks like a rejected shag rug. That was attacked by a child wielding a dull scissors. With poor depth perception. Who couldn't walk a straight line. And maybe had some Scotch.

And the grass had gotten so very tall because I never got a chance to mow it. And by "never got a chance to mow it" I mean whenever I had a chance to mow the lawn it was too hot or I didn't want to.

So, not really my fault.

Grilled

We all went to Sarah's house last night for dinner, it gave my mom and Rick a chance to spend the evening bathed in the glow of electronics since their power is still out.

Mike is a grilling master and when they invite you over for grilled anything the answer is yes before they finish asking. Last night was tuna, he has perfected the art of grilled fresh tuna steaks still pink on the inside. This is my almost favorite, right now grilled tuna is up there with salmon, my long time obsession. I'll have to convince them to have a grilled tuna/salmon taste-off where I will promptly declare a tie and insist we try again the following week.

Last night the tuna served with cold beer, hot corn on the cob, and a very silly 2 year old made any problems from the day quickly dissolve.

They get tuna steaks from their neighbor the 

same day he catches it. How fresh is that?!

Playing balloon keep away.

For the love of Keurig

Rick's coffee-pod drawer.

You are looking at 55 mornings of caffeine. Comforting, isn't it?

And then she was gone

Hurricane Irene whipped in to town, knocked out my power for 15 hours, flooded the basement and then with a final flick of her windy tail moved on. 

My mom's power is still out, her road is closed from fallen trees that took the power lines with them. They are estimating her power will be out for several more days. 

DAYS.

Today the sky is beautiful, like nothing ever happened.

It's official

New insurance

title transfer

registration

new plates

State inspection

emissions tested

As of today my car is finally an official resident of PA.

In case you were wondering

My stoved ham-toe still really hurts.

Can you meet me?

I got a call from my mom asking if I could meet her at a store just down the street from my house. Sure! She was trying on dresses for a wedding, could I help her make the final decision? 

This call made moving to PA completely worth it. I have lived out-of-state my entire adult life and this type of everyday moment with my mom was just never possible.

She tried on several dresses and then several more until she found the perfect one. Nothing monumental happened, just picking out dresses, laughing and having a good time. I waited outside the dressing room door and thought about how nice and normal this was.

Perfect dress, Mom.

Now, now, do it now.

Fa la la normal life and then BAM suddenly an urgent work request comes in at the same time the auxiliary newsletter must be done and printed and folded and stuffed and addressed and forms filled out for the post office and dropped off for bulk mailing at the same time the dog's medicine MUST be filled and can not be put off or she will have seizures at the same time as my last soldering class is being held which I missed because the client who's job is so urgent doesn't get back to me in time at the same time my car was scheduled for emissions and state inspection which now has to be rescheduled because the urgent job should have gone to the printer by now but I haven't heard back from the client with approvals.

The hex wrench diaries continue

This giant mess...

turned into this:

Yes, that's right, I built the sofa from scratch 

(and by scratch I mean what was already prebuilt 

and put into boxes for me to assemble). 

Still.

AAA+

Please come right in, no waiting, have a seat in this comfy chair, please read a magazine while we do all the paperwork for you, cash or check is fine by us, we are happy and tell jokes and share fun stories, how else can we help you, anything at all, only ten minutes and there you have new registration and car title. Please come back any time, we miss you already.

What a difference between the DMV and AAA.

Brownies for Sarah

I am amazed the batter actually made it into the pan. 

Twinkle lights

I found a big lump of white lights while going through the closets. 

Best reading light ever.

In the gutters

This is my temporary solution to the overflowing gutters that flood my basement every time it rains. I line up every bucket I own under where it overflows the most, when the buckets are half way full I drag them to the street and dump them. You would be surprised at how fast they fill up.

Penfield beach

I'm very happy I moved back to PA but I still miss CT. In CT I lived 6 minutes from the beach, it was heaven. From fall through spring dogs were allowed on the beach, there was a jetty that people fished off, a marina, a park where dogs were allowed to run without leashes and a marshy area where people would kayak to get close to the wild heron nests. What more could you ask for? Six minutes, people!


These photos were taken April, 2010.

Nashi

I was only able to take one photo of Nashi before

Lola got jealous and sat directly in front of her.

License to Ill

You have 30 days upon moving to PA to get a new license, after 6 months I figured I was pushing my luck and I better get it taken care of. How hard could it be?

I researched and printed and highlighted and made folders of everything I could possibly need to get my PA license. Thoroughly prepared I drove off early in the morning to get there moments before the doors would be thrown open to greet the smiling faces of potential PA drivers. 

I arrived ten minutes before the facility opened and the line already snaked around the front and side of the building. I took my place in line and waited. It took 30 minutes before I set foot into the outer lobby, another 10 minutes to make it through the front doors where I was greeted with a sign that said NO CASH. CHECKS and MONEY ORDERS ONLY.

You have got to be kidding. Curse word curse word curse word. I never carry my checkbook. It never said anything about this on the thousands of pages I scoured on the dmv PA state website. I can hear my checkbook at home laughing at me. 

Fine. I'll be back tomorrow with checkbook in hand. I'm resilient, no problem.

This time I leave half an hour early so I can be first in line before they open. 18 people are already in line when I pull up. 30 minutes later the doors open to a rather dour group of potential drivers and we begin to shuffle forward. 10 minutes later I get my numbered ticket, another 30 minutes and I am called to the window where the woman barely glances at my documents and tells me I have the wrong version of my birth certificate. This just can not be happening, there has got to be a way to make this work. 

Nope.

Back to the house I drive, where the other copy of my birth certificate is in hysterics and can't wait to tell the checkbook all about it. 


And back to the PA dmv where a surly group of dangerous looking people who I hope are never allowed to drive a vehicle are loitering outside. The clerk was kind enough to let me back to her desk without waiting again and after many photocopies, signatures, eye test and paper shuffling I was allowed to pass through to the photo center where I received my new license which shows me looking dazed, slightly incompetent but relieved. 

The Hex wrench diaries

After the Hoarders tv show marathon earlier in the week I went into freak-out mode and went through all my closets and made a huge mess. It's one thing to pull everything out and sort through it but another thing entirely to repack and put away. Apparently I need work on the "putting away" skill.

My office is on the third floor of the house and for the past six months, since I moved, my office has consisted of my desk, computer, printer and 16 boxes of stuff. I couldn't shake the feeling that the Hoarders camera crew were lurking around the corner so I decided enough was enough. Off to my weekend house or as some people refer to it; IKEA. I picked up five storage units and a new catalog. I spent 2 days building the units (I think I am the only person who actually enjoys putting IKEA furniture together) and unpacking the boxes. I am very sorry I didn't take before and after photos, the transformation was very satisfying.

Continuing on the Hoarders theme, if you have ever seen the show you know someone is always tripping, slipping, falling or tumbling over 8 foot high piles of garbage through out the house. Obligingly I loaded my arms up with as much as I could carry down the stairs and managed to, surprise, trip and stove my toe. 

Pain. 

Waves

Of

Pain.

Couldn't walk for the rest of the day. 

The following day I woke up and just HAD to cut the lawn NOW.  After all the batteries were drained from the weed-wacker and lawnmower I hobbled inside and peeled off my shoes and socks to discover my toe had been replaced by a ham. 


Couldn't walk for the next two days.


S'ok, I spent the time reviewing the IKEA catalogue. If anyone wants to come with me to my weekend house I'll be leaving at dawn on Friday. 

Purge

I watched three episodes of Hoarders in a row the other night and now I am on a rampage to get rid of anything remotely unnecessary.

That show is the best motivational tool ever to clean up the house.

Correspondence

Dear Weather,
Would you please relax already?

Dear Electric bill,
I thought we were friends.

Dear Ceiling Fan,
I love you.