Well, another year and another garden. I have finally come to the realization that planning the perfect garden is beyond my abilities, so perhaps I will hit on the best garden for me with some trial and error. This year I planted my three raised beds and also put some plants in the ground. It is nearly the end of the growing season and the results are in:
Raised bed #1- Herbs. I planted two basil plants, dill (seed), chives (seed), cilantro (seed), thyme and rosemary. Holy crap, one basil plant would have been more than enough. I have really enjoyed watching the bees buzz away on my basil flowers though. I have made several batches of pesto with more to come soon, since the boys cannot get enough of it. I am going to start experimenting with other nuts (instead of pine nuts) though. I have been using Ball freezer jars to freeze the pesto in but find them to be a smidge too big. The common recommendation to freeze pesto is to use ice cube trays (too small, in my opinion), but I heard recently someone say that they use muffin tins- perfect! The dill and cilantro went to seed before I could use them so next year I need to be more diligent about seeding more plants throughout the summer. The chives were overtaken by the basil and I just discovered them underneath the massive plants today, so I'll need to use those. I love using fresh herbs in my cooking- it makes all the difference. Dried herbs taste terrible once you are used to fresh. I wish I had planted sage in my garden this year, so next year I'll replace one of my basil plants with sage. I pulled out all of the rogue mint from last year and luckily none of it came back. I planted it separately in a container but it died.
Raised bed #2- tomatoes and onions. Well, SIX tomato plants is about four too many. I had grand ambitions about canning tomatoes but I have come to the conclusion that canning tomatoes is more trouble than it's worth. They taste good and are inexpensive to buy so why bother? I wasn't overly impressed with any of my tomato varieties and next year plan to get some heirloom/non-genetically modified seeds. I planted: Early Girl, Jet Star, Bloody Butcher, Better Boy, Bush Goliath and one unknown. The Early Girl tomatoes were the best and even they weren't all that amazing flavor-wise. I made some tomato sauce and tomato jam but a ton of tomatoes went to waste, which is a total shame. The onions and leeks (both from seed) were almost totally crowded out by the tomatoes but a couple hung in there. I have not harvested any leeks yet but did harvest some green onions which were yummy.
Raised bed #3- peppers, beets, parsnips... and a rogue "volunteer" tomato plant from last year. I planted two red pepper plants, two green pepper plants and two jalapeno pepper plants. I really only needed one of each- these were huge producers and I have more peppers than I know what to do with. I am going to try freezing some poppers later today. I don't know what to do with the excessive amount of green peppers I have though! I need to start offering them to the neighbors. I have made a batch of pepper jelly which didn't even put a dent in what we have out there! I also planted a bunch of beets from seed. Now I know that they are a cold weather harvester so I should have held back some seeds for mid-summer. I harvested a bunch of the red beets already and made several jars of pickled beets. I have a lot of golden beets sitting out there ready to be picked though. I planted parsnips from seed and pulled one out to see what it looked like- while the leaves were huge the parsnip itself was puny so I will give them some more time. In the middle of all of the parsnips I have a volunteer yellow pear tomato plant which must have come from a seed from last year's crop (the tomatoes were in this bed last year). I didn't care for them much so I didn't plant them this year. I can't believe how this little volunteer plant has taken over a third of this bed though!
In the ground: zucchini, cucumber pickles and pumpkin. I got wise this year and put the monster zucchini in the ground- that was a good move. It's doing okay but not producing like it did last year, which is fine with me. I am still amazed that you can go out one day and see a little baby zucchini forming and two days later it is the size of a baseball bat! The cukes were not worth it- I would get one cuke here and one there but never enough at the same time to actually pickle anything. I won't plant that again unless I figure out what I did wrong this year. I got the pumpkin plant in the ground really late and it struggled for a loooong time. It is finally looking pretty decent right now but I am not sure we will have pumpkins in time for Halloween. We'll see. I also put a couple of raspberry bushes in the ground and those seem to be struggling; we will see what next year holds for them.
For next year, I think I'd like to do some snap peas, swiss chard, green beans, carrots and maybe potatoes. Thinking about this whole locavore movement and people trying to feed their family from their garden makes me realize what a huge undertaking this could be... so much to plan and to can! I want to get a pressure canner so next year I have more flexibility with what I can preserve. This has been a lot of fun but I think I can do better next year!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Not easy
I have been having a really hard time with balancing the working mom gig lately. Something- which will not be discussed- has really shaken my confidence at work and I am having a hard time knowing where I am supposed to be lately. I still love what I do and am thankful to have found something I enjoy so much but I am definitely struggling right now. It sure doesn't help that my boys just NEED me so much right now. It breaks my heart every time I leave them. It is getting harder and harder, and while I have no interest in staying at home it is just... hard right now.
This weekend we have had our company meeting which leaves little time for anything but work. This afternoon was our free afternoon and it was very much needed. I had totally hit "overload" last night and between being exhausted and eating garbage the last few days I just needed to be home so badly. I went home, was greeted by my four boys (two human and two furry). Everyone was just so excited to see me- especially the dogs. I put the boys down for their naps, worked on homework (ugh, seriously, why did I do this to myself right now?) and then we laid 20 strips of sod (another stupid stressor- about 1/3 of our lawn died and we are replacing it bit by bit. We don't have time or money to do the whole thing at once so we are doing an hour here, an hour there.) When we started the sod, just Eli was awake and wandering around the yard while we worked. It was threatening to rain but hadn't done much yet. P and I were all the way across the yard when suddenly a huge CRACK of thunder and lightening happened VERY close by. I dropped what I was doing and sprinted across the yard to my poor baby who a second before had been saying "waining!" and now was crying and running in terror. It was so sad. Gray thankfully slept through the thunder- he has suddenly started to be scared of it- but when he woke up we continued our sod project. At one point, I was kneeling on the ground, cutting sod into strips and he was sitting right next to me, totally glued to my side. He just hugged me while I worked and it was so cute. A little later, we were cleaning up our tools and we noticed that Eli was belly-down in a mud puddle. It looked like he was doing yoga- plank, then downward dog- and watching the rain sluice off of his belly. He was in heaven. Meanwhile Gray got his hands the slightest bit dirty and was having heart failure. Could these two people be any different??
We had ice cream before dinner and I spent some quality time laying on the bed with two little boys draped all over me and it was just bliss. I hated leaving to go back to the hotel tonight, knowing that I will be leaving again this week Tuesday through Saturday. Thank goodness after that I am home for almost all of the next two weeks and then we have a week long vacation together. We all need it. I just wish I could bring my doggies with us!
Goodness, I love those boys. I am lucky.
This weekend we have had our company meeting which leaves little time for anything but work. This afternoon was our free afternoon and it was very much needed. I had totally hit "overload" last night and between being exhausted and eating garbage the last few days I just needed to be home so badly. I went home, was greeted by my four boys (two human and two furry). Everyone was just so excited to see me- especially the dogs. I put the boys down for their naps, worked on homework (ugh, seriously, why did I do this to myself right now?) and then we laid 20 strips of sod (another stupid stressor- about 1/3 of our lawn died and we are replacing it bit by bit. We don't have time or money to do the whole thing at once so we are doing an hour here, an hour there.) When we started the sod, just Eli was awake and wandering around the yard while we worked. It was threatening to rain but hadn't done much yet. P and I were all the way across the yard when suddenly a huge CRACK of thunder and lightening happened VERY close by. I dropped what I was doing and sprinted across the yard to my poor baby who a second before had been saying "waining!" and now was crying and running in terror. It was so sad. Gray thankfully slept through the thunder- he has suddenly started to be scared of it- but when he woke up we continued our sod project. At one point, I was kneeling on the ground, cutting sod into strips and he was sitting right next to me, totally glued to my side. He just hugged me while I worked and it was so cute. A little later, we were cleaning up our tools and we noticed that Eli was belly-down in a mud puddle. It looked like he was doing yoga- plank, then downward dog- and watching the rain sluice off of his belly. He was in heaven. Meanwhile Gray got his hands the slightest bit dirty and was having heart failure. Could these two people be any different??
We had ice cream before dinner and I spent some quality time laying on the bed with two little boys draped all over me and it was just bliss. I hated leaving to go back to the hotel tonight, knowing that I will be leaving again this week Tuesday through Saturday. Thank goodness after that I am home for almost all of the next two weeks and then we have a week long vacation together. We all need it. I just wish I could bring my doggies with us!
Goodness, I love those boys. I am lucky.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Resolutions: A Six Month Update
- Run a 10k- done, and actually I ran two! Then I hurt my sciatic nerve, somehow, but it has gotten better and I need another race to train for. Hoping to do another long-ish race before the end of the year.
- Buying clothes that I like. I am definitely getting much, much better about this. My problem now is I have a lot of random things that I like but nothing to go with them. I have consciously put things down in the store that I had picked up because it's cheap, or wearable but not necessarily cute.
- Complete the 365 project. I'm sad to say this went nowhere, primarily because after Gray broke my camera I bought a new camera that I HATE and therefore do not use. I have yet to suck it up and buy a replacement camera but need to because I am losing precious time with my babies! Note to self: buy that camera TONIGHT.
- Take six sewing classes. I still have only taken that one class and didn't even finish that project. Ugh. I really wish I had more time for this. I am going to call right now to see if I can sign up for the A-line skirt class.
- Take six classes at the rec center. I still only have taken that one yoga class and haven't done any more. The problem is that I started my AuD last month and at the exact same time the you-know-what hit the fan at work, so I do not have time for anything else!
- Conquer the last 20 lbs. Hmm. Since January I have lost about 12ish lbs. The last time I checked I have about seven pounds to go. It would be great to be done with this by the end of the year, but I have somehow totally lost my motivation. We'll see how this pans out.
- Date night once a month. I'm not going to say we have been perfect about this but I do think that we've done alright. I wish we could actually find a babysitter that I liked though.
- Fancy cut out cookies. Nope.
- 15 workouts a month. January- 16, February- 15, March- 18, April- 16, May- 14, June- 14. NOT BAD.
- Accessorize. Meh. I guess I'll never be great at this.
- Being nice. I need to work harder on this. I am acutely aware of the fact that my bluntness can be offensive. I wish I was better at thinking before I talk.
- Read one classic per month. After struggling through a couple of painfully boring books I decided this goal was not worth it.
- Finish the window in the basement. We have gotten nowhere on this. GAH.
- Finish the kitchen backsplash. DONE!
- Start the basement bathroom. Nope. Dammit.
- Basement fridge. Done!
- Yell less. Well, this is a work in progress.
- Little things count. I am good on this with some things and bad with others. Money and budgeting is so hard for me and I swear I am going to get this under control.
- Quick phone calls/emails are better than nothing. This is totally not quantifiable. And therefore I have no comment.
- Set up wills and college funds. Nope. This has to happen soon.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
So this is Three?
It's been a couple of months since I ditched the monthly letters to Gray, so I owe him an update. In the last couple of months, we have transitioned to a new nanny, started pre-school, got kicked out of pre-school and started potty training (and stopped, and started, and stopped, etc). Gray was so excited about pre-school and he got to go to two classes before they told us that he had to be fully potty trained in order to attend. Now, I totally understand these rules but was so annoyed that they neglected to tell me this before I got the poor kid all excited to go TO SCHOOL! The next session starts in mid-August, so we are working on potty training in earnest now. I have figured out that Gray is not a kid who is going to be trained in a weekend- this is going to take weeks, I think. All weekend we have been visiting the potty regularly, and having accidents regularly too. It doesn't seem like we are making any progress at all, but we are keeping on. Today he accidentally peed a total of two drops in the potty and I went totally overboard with the praise... and he freaked out. I did eventually talk him down but he was not having it. He wanted off the potty that instant and of course had an accident about five minutes afterward. Poor kid. Every time he has an accident he says "But it's okay Mama, it was an accident, right? It'll dry, won't it?" I feel like I keep unlocking little bits of his psyche as we continue the potty training venture. Yesterday when I put some poop in the potty he said "I don't want my poop to go into the wall!" so I had to explain that it goes down a pipe to a pipe under the street... to which he said "I don't want my poop to go under the street!" Oy.
Gray has also been somewhat of a mama's boy lately. I feel like I'm getting glimpses of four year old Gray and I am looking foward to getting to know that boy. Three year old Gray has these incredible moments of sweetness and insight interspersed with these insane crazy periods. Sharing has always been a sore point for Gray and I have observed him hitting or pushing Eli to get him away from toys. I get SO MAD about this and always over-react, which doesn't help one bit.
I love to watch Gray learn to reason and think things out. I was drinking a protein shake in the car the other day and he said "Is that chocolate milk?" to which I said "No." He said, "Mama, just look at it. Is it CHOCOLATE milk? It LOOKS like chocolate milk!" I had to agree, it did and then I explained that it was chocolate flavored (and not very good). He tells me all the time that when he is big like Mama and Dada he can drink the things that we drink.
He remains a finicky eater, insisting that all kinds of things are "yucky" which makes me insane. Stuff he loved a year ago is now stuff he will not touch. He is a great sleeper and continues to take epic afternoon naps. Every time I think "Oh, I should just put them in daycare" I go back to this fact. He would not get those naps at a daycare and he just loves them so much.
Gray is developing this insane sense of humor and the best example happened the other day. We were at DQ and he was eating a dipped butterscotch cone. I was telling him that when I was a little girl I loved eating those too. Phil said "Do you like doing the same things that Mama did when she was little?" Gray said, "Uh huh!" Phil said "Well then do you want me to break your arm?" Without missing a beat, Gray kept licking his ice cream, stuck out his arm and said "Go for it."
He is awesome.
Gray has also been somewhat of a mama's boy lately. I feel like I'm getting glimpses of four year old Gray and I am looking foward to getting to know that boy. Three year old Gray has these incredible moments of sweetness and insight interspersed with these insane crazy periods. Sharing has always been a sore point for Gray and I have observed him hitting or pushing Eli to get him away from toys. I get SO MAD about this and always over-react, which doesn't help one bit.
I love to watch Gray learn to reason and think things out. I was drinking a protein shake in the car the other day and he said "Is that chocolate milk?" to which I said "No." He said, "Mama, just look at it. Is it CHOCOLATE milk? It LOOKS like chocolate milk!" I had to agree, it did and then I explained that it was chocolate flavored (and not very good). He tells me all the time that when he is big like Mama and Dada he can drink the things that we drink.
He remains a finicky eater, insisting that all kinds of things are "yucky" which makes me insane. Stuff he loved a year ago is now stuff he will not touch. He is a great sleeper and continues to take epic afternoon naps. Every time I think "Oh, I should just put them in daycare" I go back to this fact. He would not get those naps at a daycare and he just loves them so much.
Gray is developing this insane sense of humor and the best example happened the other day. We were at DQ and he was eating a dipped butterscotch cone. I was telling him that when I was a little girl I loved eating those too. Phil said "Do you like doing the same things that Mama did when she was little?" Gray said, "Uh huh!" Phil said "Well then do you want me to break your arm?" Without missing a beat, Gray kept licking his ice cream, stuck out his arm and said "Go for it."
He is awesome.
Dear Eli: Month Nineteen
Oops, what happened to Eighteen? Well, it's been a little crazy around here, so we skipped a month. Sorry, dude!
My dear E,
You are such a funny little person. You play hard, cry hard and laugh hard. You are a man who likes to entertain and we love to watch you do it. When I think about a day in the life of Eli I feel dizzy and exhausted. You want to play trucks/throw rocks/play on your scooter/sit on Gray's bike/dig in the garden/play with your "eck-uh-vay-ter" in the rocks/"read IT!" and do it all RIGHT NOW. When you decide you are hungry or thirsty- we know to watch out. You are a force to be reckoned with. You will claw at the fridge saying "MILKIE MAMA! MILKIE MAMA!" which we finally figured out came from us saying "You want some milk, E?" You continue to be a pretty good (if messy) eater and you particularly like eggs. We keep joking that you are a vegetarian since you don't seem to care for meat all that much, and you seem to have my (poor) attitude about fruit. You will eat a perfectly ripe banana but don't have much use for other fruits. You love to help me "cook" and the other day I pulled the oil out of the cabinet to use in a recipe and you said "Oil!" so maybe you are a budding chef? When I was putting you to bed last night you had me laughing so hard because as soon as you realized it was bedtime you tried to stall: "Cookie? COOKIE? Noodles? Mac-uh-cheese? MAC-UH-CHEESE? Pease MAMA?"
We are always laughing at your outrageous vocabulary. I brought you into the kitchen the other morning and you looked at the owl cookie jar and said "Owl says WHO WHO!" Your dada is always asking me "Is this normal? Is he ahead?" and I tell him "I don't know any other kid this age who can say "reach it, reach the Ba" when they are stretching to reach their pacifier." Kid, you have no business having a much language as you do, particularly since you have that darn Ba (and sometimes two Bas) in your mouth! We try to limit Ba use to naps/bedtime only but you somehow can sneak them out of bed with you. You continue to sound like English is your second language, though, and that is really funny to listen to. There are a lot of Borat comparisons used around you! You know your name is Eli "Luckner" and you are ONE! You can sing the ABCs, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Rock-a-bye baby, Twinkle Twinkle, Ring around the Rosy among many other songs. You can count to ten fairly reliabily and can occasionally spell "Eli" for us. But one of my favorite things to hear you say is when you call your brother's name, second only to the (one) time you said "Love you Mama" unprompted.
And, boy, you are a lover. You are so pretty and you bat those baby blues at me while you spontaneously come over to hug my legs. You also love Charlie with all your little heart has. Today we were asking you if you wanted to do all sorts of things- eat this, go there, do that- and to everything you said NO! until we asked if you wanted to give Charles a kiss. You went over to him, kissed him and said "Good night Charles!"
Today, you peed in the potty. We have decided to (somewhat unfairly) use peer pressure to encourage Gray to use the potty. You will sit on the potty anytime I ask and today we hit the jackpot- you peed. We clapped and yelled and praised you heartily and then you got a prize (a car) from the prize jar. Gray cried. Your dad said "Well, at least we now know that he cares" since prior to that we just weren't sure. So thanks for that, E. Afterwards you were wandering around, diaperless and you found your boy bits. You said "There it is!" and we laughed and laughed.
You are such a clown. You are uncomplicated and sweet and I just can't believe that you are going to be a terrible two or three year old. Seriously, MY Eli? I just can't even imagine.
I love you, baby boy!
Mama
My dear E,
You are such a funny little person. You play hard, cry hard and laugh hard. You are a man who likes to entertain and we love to watch you do it. When I think about a day in the life of Eli I feel dizzy and exhausted. You want to play trucks/throw rocks/play on your scooter/sit on Gray's bike/dig in the garden/play with your "eck-uh-vay-ter" in the rocks/"read IT!" and do it all RIGHT NOW. When you decide you are hungry or thirsty- we know to watch out. You are a force to be reckoned with. You will claw at the fridge saying "MILKIE MAMA! MILKIE MAMA!" which we finally figured out came from us saying "You want some milk, E?" You continue to be a pretty good (if messy) eater and you particularly like eggs. We keep joking that you are a vegetarian since you don't seem to care for meat all that much, and you seem to have my (poor) attitude about fruit. You will eat a perfectly ripe banana but don't have much use for other fruits. You love to help me "cook" and the other day I pulled the oil out of the cabinet to use in a recipe and you said "Oil!" so maybe you are a budding chef? When I was putting you to bed last night you had me laughing so hard because as soon as you realized it was bedtime you tried to stall: "Cookie? COOKIE? Noodles? Mac-uh-cheese? MAC-UH-CHEESE? Pease MAMA?"
We are always laughing at your outrageous vocabulary. I brought you into the kitchen the other morning and you looked at the owl cookie jar and said "Owl says WHO WHO!" Your dada is always asking me "Is this normal? Is he ahead?" and I tell him "I don't know any other kid this age who can say "reach it, reach the Ba" when they are stretching to reach their pacifier." Kid, you have no business having a much language as you do, particularly since you have that darn Ba (and sometimes two Bas) in your mouth! We try to limit Ba use to naps/bedtime only but you somehow can sneak them out of bed with you. You continue to sound like English is your second language, though, and that is really funny to listen to. There are a lot of Borat comparisons used around you! You know your name is Eli "Luckner" and you are ONE! You can sing the ABCs, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Rock-a-bye baby, Twinkle Twinkle, Ring around the Rosy among many other songs. You can count to ten fairly reliabily and can occasionally spell "Eli" for us. But one of my favorite things to hear you say is when you call your brother's name, second only to the (one) time you said "Love you Mama" unprompted.
And, boy, you are a lover. You are so pretty and you bat those baby blues at me while you spontaneously come over to hug my legs. You also love Charlie with all your little heart has. Today we were asking you if you wanted to do all sorts of things- eat this, go there, do that- and to everything you said NO! until we asked if you wanted to give Charles a kiss. You went over to him, kissed him and said "Good night Charles!"
Today, you peed in the potty. We have decided to (somewhat unfairly) use peer pressure to encourage Gray to use the potty. You will sit on the potty anytime I ask and today we hit the jackpot- you peed. We clapped and yelled and praised you heartily and then you got a prize (a car) from the prize jar. Gray cried. Your dad said "Well, at least we now know that he cares" since prior to that we just weren't sure. So thanks for that, E. Afterwards you were wandering around, diaperless and you found your boy bits. You said "There it is!" and we laughed and laughed.
You are such a clown. You are uncomplicated and sweet and I just can't believe that you are going to be a terrible two or three year old. Seriously, MY Eli? I just can't even imagine.
I love you, baby boy!
Mama
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Recipe for Disaster
6:10 Leave house, plenty of time to get to airport, find dinner and get to gate for my 7:45 flight.
6:22 Traffic is completely stopped on the highway, calling Phil frantically so he can look up traffic report. I am never going to make it on time. Evaluate other route possibilities- I still won't make it on time.
6:40 We get past the stalled truck, traffic starts to move. I can make it, barely.
7:00 Arrive to airport- garages are supposedly all full. I will do valet if it means I can make this flight.
7:02 Valet is full. I have a heart attack.
7:05 Circle back around and decide to gamble on the garage. After all, it's Wednesday night and a lot of people come back after short trips on Wednesday night. Blow right past all of the signs that warn me "GARAGE IS FULL."
7:08 Score excellent spot by doors to terminal. Run through security, run to gate (looking longingly at dinner options, bathroom, water fountain).
7:15 Arrive at gate. We will be boarding in five minutes.
7:20 We troop out to the plane in pouring rain/snow mix.
7:22 Text Phil to say "Phew! I made it!!!"
8:00 Text Phil to say "We are sitting on the tarmac and it is snowing HARD!"
9:00 Another text: "We are still in Denver." Luckily I am enjoying my book.
9:30 Another text: "Still here. Waiting to be de-iced. They said it could be an hour." However I am enjoying the chocolate chip cookies that they have provided. These may be the best non-homemade cookies I have ever had.
10:30 Still on tarmac. They decide they are going to take us back to the terminal for now but we will be able to leave in two hours.
10:45 I tiptoe through 2" of slush in ballet flats with no socks, slog through the terminal to the only open eating establishment- McDonald's.
11:00 Wander back to the gate, looking for a free outlet. Find one and realize that my power cord was shoved into my gate-checked luggage. Resign myself to one hour of battery life and french fries. At least I have a good book.
11:01 See the flight attendants from my flight walking by with their luggage. My reaction: ??? and also !!! They inform me the flight has been cancelled.
11:05 Back to gate. One frazzled woman is trying to manage two or three messed up flights and a ton of angry passengers. She keeps talking to the passengers that are pressed up against the desk, breathing down her neck but for some reason is not making any PA announcements about what the hell is going on with our cancelled flight for those of us who are trying to be calm and patient.
11:15 We are all booked on a flight tomorrow morning but they won't tell us when. They threaten us with "If you want your luggage back it's going to take a LONG TIME. Otherwise we will just keep it until tomorrow morning." I finally make it to the desk and find that the flight is booked for 8:13 which means I will miss my meeting. I chose to take a credit and am told I will have to go to the service desk upstairs. "You mean the one that's mobbed?" I ask. Yes, that one.
11:25 I stand in line for about three minutes and then realize I could be here all night. I call Frontier Customer Service and am informed that the hold time is 26 minutes. I decide I would rather fight with them on the phone tomorrow about this mess. I head towards baggage claim and thank G-d that I am not trying to entertain a young child in this situation as many parents are. Bless them, I feel so bad for them. I see a mom snap at her daughter and a nosy, well-meaning hippy try to step in saying snottily "Is everything all right here? Can I help you with something?" and I think "You stupid hippy, you just humiliated that mom and now she is going to be even more crabby with her kid. Nice work."
11:30 I stop at the desk in the terminal where there is no line to see if they can help me with a credit. They are clearly tired and want to go home. Everybody is complaining and I can't believe the crap that people say to each other. The guy behind me keeps saying that a five million dollar deal is on the line TOMORROW MORNING and he is going to lose it if he is not there. The woman next to me says that Frontier has RUINED her evening, as well as the evening of her mother, son and daughter-in-law. She finds it unreal that they will not pay for a hotel for her 82 year old mother. (The irony of this situation: she is flying to Colorado Springs, about 60 miles away. Her son reportedly started to drive up and was 30 minutes away when she was told that the flight was going to go but then it got cancelled again. I'm thinking why did you tell him to turn around???) They tell me that they will credit the flight but I will be charged a change fee. Whatever. They also tell me that my bag could take up to an hour to get upstairs. She writes the time on the ticket: 11:56 and tells me to come back if my bags don't show up in 30 minutes.
12:16 I feel like I have just won the jackpot- my bag shows up.
12:20 In the car, headed home. Yay!
12:25 Car in front of me at the garage exit seems to be having an issue.
12:27 Still more issues. The person behind me refuses to move, even though I have my back up lights on.
12:30 WE ARE NOT MOVING and all of the other lanes are flying through the garage exit.
12:35 I have a heart attack at the car behind me and start to back up anyway.
12:40 She finally takes the hint (FOR CRYING OUT LOUD) and I switch lanes, pay and am on my way home.
12:50 Really tired and having problems seeing the road due to this rain/snow mix. Nearly sideswipe the median.
1:10 Home at last. Scare the shit out of my husband. Mission accomplished (not really).
6:22 Traffic is completely stopped on the highway, calling Phil frantically so he can look up traffic report. I am never going to make it on time. Evaluate other route possibilities- I still won't make it on time.
6:40 We get past the stalled truck, traffic starts to move. I can make it, barely.
7:00 Arrive to airport- garages are supposedly all full. I will do valet if it means I can make this flight.
7:02 Valet is full. I have a heart attack.
7:05 Circle back around and decide to gamble on the garage. After all, it's Wednesday night and a lot of people come back after short trips on Wednesday night. Blow right past all of the signs that warn me "GARAGE IS FULL."
7:08 Score excellent spot by doors to terminal. Run through security, run to gate (looking longingly at dinner options, bathroom, water fountain).
7:15 Arrive at gate. We will be boarding in five minutes.
7:20 We troop out to the plane in pouring rain/snow mix.
7:22 Text Phil to say "Phew! I made it!!!"
8:00 Text Phil to say "We are sitting on the tarmac and it is snowing HARD!"
9:00 Another text: "We are still in Denver." Luckily I am enjoying my book.
9:30 Another text: "Still here. Waiting to be de-iced. They said it could be an hour." However I am enjoying the chocolate chip cookies that they have provided. These may be the best non-homemade cookies I have ever had.
10:30 Still on tarmac. They decide they are going to take us back to the terminal for now but we will be able to leave in two hours.
10:45 I tiptoe through 2" of slush in ballet flats with no socks, slog through the terminal to the only open eating establishment- McDonald's.
11:00 Wander back to the gate, looking for a free outlet. Find one and realize that my power cord was shoved into my gate-checked luggage. Resign myself to one hour of battery life and french fries. At least I have a good book.
11:01 See the flight attendants from my flight walking by with their luggage. My reaction: ??? and also !!! They inform me the flight has been cancelled.
11:05 Back to gate. One frazzled woman is trying to manage two or three messed up flights and a ton of angry passengers. She keeps talking to the passengers that are pressed up against the desk, breathing down her neck but for some reason is not making any PA announcements about what the hell is going on with our cancelled flight for those of us who are trying to be calm and patient.
11:15 We are all booked on a flight tomorrow morning but they won't tell us when. They threaten us with "If you want your luggage back it's going to take a LONG TIME. Otherwise we will just keep it until tomorrow morning." I finally make it to the desk and find that the flight is booked for 8:13 which means I will miss my meeting. I chose to take a credit and am told I will have to go to the service desk upstairs. "You mean the one that's mobbed?" I ask. Yes, that one.
11:25 I stand in line for about three minutes and then realize I could be here all night. I call Frontier Customer Service and am informed that the hold time is 26 minutes. I decide I would rather fight with them on the phone tomorrow about this mess. I head towards baggage claim and thank G-d that I am not trying to entertain a young child in this situation as many parents are. Bless them, I feel so bad for them. I see a mom snap at her daughter and a nosy, well-meaning hippy try to step in saying snottily "Is everything all right here? Can I help you with something?" and I think "You stupid hippy, you just humiliated that mom and now she is going to be even more crabby with her kid. Nice work."
11:30 I stop at the desk in the terminal where there is no line to see if they can help me with a credit. They are clearly tired and want to go home. Everybody is complaining and I can't believe the crap that people say to each other. The guy behind me keeps saying that a five million dollar deal is on the line TOMORROW MORNING and he is going to lose it if he is not there. The woman next to me says that Frontier has RUINED her evening, as well as the evening of her mother, son and daughter-in-law. She finds it unreal that they will not pay for a hotel for her 82 year old mother. (The irony of this situation: she is flying to Colorado Springs, about 60 miles away. Her son reportedly started to drive up and was 30 minutes away when she was told that the flight was going to go but then it got cancelled again. I'm thinking why did you tell him to turn around???) They tell me that they will credit the flight but I will be charged a change fee. Whatever. They also tell me that my bag could take up to an hour to get upstairs. She writes the time on the ticket: 11:56 and tells me to come back if my bags don't show up in 30 minutes.
12:16 I feel like I have just won the jackpot- my bag shows up.
12:20 In the car, headed home. Yay!
12:25 Car in front of me at the garage exit seems to be having an issue.
12:27 Still more issues. The person behind me refuses to move, even though I have my back up lights on.
12:30 WE ARE NOT MOVING and all of the other lanes are flying through the garage exit.
12:35 I have a heart attack at the car behind me and start to back up anyway.
12:40 She finally takes the hint (FOR CRYING OUT LOUD) and I switch lanes, pay and am on my way home.
12:50 Really tired and having problems seeing the road due to this rain/snow mix. Nearly sideswipe the median.
1:10 Home at last. Scare the shit out of my husband. Mission accomplished (not really).
Friday, May 6, 2011
Dear Eli: Month Seventeen
Dear E,
All of a sudden you are a little boy and really not a baby anymore. With the exception of your "Ba" you have shed all of your baby ways- no more bottle, no more baby food, no more baby words. All of a sudden you love to kneel on the ground and play with trucks, or cars, or anything that has wheels. It is so cute to watch you guys playing cars together. The first thing you did when you got out of bed this morning was wiggle your way out of my grasp and sit on the floor to play with your firetruck. It's not all a bed of roses, however, since sharing with you makes Gray slightly crazy. The other day you woke up and started to play with this horribly loud "Animal Train" toy that we have. Gray came out of his room, ignored my "Good Morning!" and looked around suspiciously, saying "Where's Eli?" (This was followed by a screech and "ELI CAN'T HAVE THAT!") It's hilarious to watch you sprint to Gray's room any chance you have so you can root through his closet or bookshelves. The other day Gray closed his door to you and you stood outside wailing "Grayson!!!" I have a feeling that this sibling argument stuff is going to haunt me for many years!
You are starting to want us to read longer books to you now and I am constantly impressed that you will sit for a pretty long book. The baby books are definitely behind you, as are baby toys and baby clothes. You have cruised into 18-24 mos clothes and it occurred to me the other day that there may be a point where you catch up to Gray's size. You love to sing songs, including "Old McDonald," "Twinkle twinkle," "ABCs" and "Row row row" still remains an old favorite. Every time we are singing "Old McDonald" and I sing "And on his farm he had a..." you always yell "PIG!" mostly because you like to make the snorting sounds. You also like to pretend to sleep and will crawl into Gray's bed whenever you get a chance and pretend-snore.
Your speech, Eli, is simply amazing. I could hear the nanny just now coaching you to say "Colorado." After you repeated it a couple of times she said "A little guy like you shouldn't be able to say that!" You will repeat anything we ask you to, and you are now putting two and three words together routinely. Last night we graduated from "All done!" to "May I be excused?" when you get down from the table. It is so cute to hear you talk and I particularly love to hear you say "More, Mama" or "Milk please Mama" because the way you say "Mama" is just adorable.
This last month has been pretty tough. We had a big shake up at work and also your beloved Nicki quit, so I am pretty certain you have felt the stress of all of that. We have had a hard time finding a replacement nanny but we finally have one that seems like she will be great for you guys. She is super high-energy and has you guys running all day. It seems like she is not afraid to get dirty and play hard, and that suits you perfectly. The more time you can spend playing with rocks, mulch, sand or water, the better, as far as you're concerned.
E, you are equally exasperating and adorable. You do NOT listen (what is wrong with you, child?) and can be so naughty. Your dad and I look at each other and say "we are in SUCH trouble with this one" about you all the time. I think his strategy of pouring all of your energy into sports is a good one and we will get you enrolled in something as soon as you are old enough. Goodness knows you love sports- you can correctly identify any sport you see on TV. But when you are cute? You are very, very cute. Recently you have started to hold the back of my head and exuberantly kiss me on the mouth over and over. The frantic nature of it is so... Eli. We call it having "E-feet" when you get so excited that you do a little jig. Kiddo, you are hilarious.
I am so lucky to know you, E.
Mama
All of a sudden you are a little boy and really not a baby anymore. With the exception of your "Ba" you have shed all of your baby ways- no more bottle, no more baby food, no more baby words. All of a sudden you love to kneel on the ground and play with trucks, or cars, or anything that has wheels. It is so cute to watch you guys playing cars together. The first thing you did when you got out of bed this morning was wiggle your way out of my grasp and sit on the floor to play with your firetruck. It's not all a bed of roses, however, since sharing with you makes Gray slightly crazy. The other day you woke up and started to play with this horribly loud "Animal Train" toy that we have. Gray came out of his room, ignored my "Good Morning!" and looked around suspiciously, saying "Where's Eli?" (This was followed by a screech and "ELI CAN'T HAVE THAT!") It's hilarious to watch you sprint to Gray's room any chance you have so you can root through his closet or bookshelves. The other day Gray closed his door to you and you stood outside wailing "Grayson!!!" I have a feeling that this sibling argument stuff is going to haunt me for many years!
You are starting to want us to read longer books to you now and I am constantly impressed that you will sit for a pretty long book. The baby books are definitely behind you, as are baby toys and baby clothes. You have cruised into 18-24 mos clothes and it occurred to me the other day that there may be a point where you catch up to Gray's size. You love to sing songs, including "Old McDonald," "Twinkle twinkle," "ABCs" and "Row row row" still remains an old favorite. Every time we are singing "Old McDonald" and I sing "And on his farm he had a..." you always yell "PIG!" mostly because you like to make the snorting sounds. You also like to pretend to sleep and will crawl into Gray's bed whenever you get a chance and pretend-snore.
Your speech, Eli, is simply amazing. I could hear the nanny just now coaching you to say "Colorado." After you repeated it a couple of times she said "A little guy like you shouldn't be able to say that!" You will repeat anything we ask you to, and you are now putting two and three words together routinely. Last night we graduated from "All done!" to "May I be excused?" when you get down from the table. It is so cute to hear you talk and I particularly love to hear you say "More, Mama" or "Milk please Mama" because the way you say "Mama" is just adorable.
This last month has been pretty tough. We had a big shake up at work and also your beloved Nicki quit, so I am pretty certain you have felt the stress of all of that. We have had a hard time finding a replacement nanny but we finally have one that seems like she will be great for you guys. She is super high-energy and has you guys running all day. It seems like she is not afraid to get dirty and play hard, and that suits you perfectly. The more time you can spend playing with rocks, mulch, sand or water, the better, as far as you're concerned.
E, you are equally exasperating and adorable. You do NOT listen (what is wrong with you, child?) and can be so naughty. Your dad and I look at each other and say "we are in SUCH trouble with this one" about you all the time. I think his strategy of pouring all of your energy into sports is a good one and we will get you enrolled in something as soon as you are old enough. Goodness knows you love sports- you can correctly identify any sport you see on TV. But when you are cute? You are very, very cute. Recently you have started to hold the back of my head and exuberantly kiss me on the mouth over and over. The frantic nature of it is so... Eli. We call it having "E-feet" when you get so excited that you do a little jig. Kiddo, you are hilarious.
I am so lucky to know you, E.
Mama
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