Slow Weekend

Originally it was going to be a busy weekend, two local soccer games on Saturday and one game at Virginia Beach. Plus on Sunday the return of Jacob from his band's trip to Disney World. The rain, however washed away two of the games. Max was only able to get his game in on Saturday because his game got moved to a turf (ie fake grass) field that is impervious to rain. And I must say it was a nice change of pace.

Kitty Cat Ice Cream

Kitty Cat Ice Cream, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

I got a bit of a surprise when I opened up a new carton of ice cream and found a kitty cat inside. You can even see it on the underside of the top. The kids were very much impressed and Rebecca said I should take a picture.

So far this has been the biggest excitement around here during winter break. Mind you we had had some lovely meals, the highlight being the roast beef I made last week. Meryl wanted to celebrate and picked up a lovely bit of beef from Costco. It was nicely marbled with a good sized fat cap. It roasted to perfection and yielded tasty drippings for the traditional Yorkshire pudding.

We have been mostly slobbing around the house and reveling in our not having to be anywhere in particular. Just the occasional movie, trip to the library, and going to services.

I miss not being up north with my Mom, but I don't miss the horrific drive it usually is to get there this time of year.

Well That was Annoying

Last month my computer died and I went on hiatus until its replacement arrived and I got everything squared away on the new system. I had just gotten back in the swing of posting when Friday the modem called it quits as I was writing a very involved email.

Nuts.

I did the usual power cycling and it refused to work. One long phone call later I got Comcast's blessing to swap out the old for a new one. All I wanted was a functional modem. the tech support guy wanted to get me a discount on my service and determined we would be eligible for the latest and greatest of their modems. It is an all in one unit that functions as a modem, digital phone jack, a wireless router, and could poop rainbows. Honestly I tuned out halfway through. All I cared about was the reduction in my internet bill. Then he started to schedule me for and installation appointment for either Monday or Tuesday. Whoa, that was too long to be without internet service and I can do this myself.

Why can't I just pick it up at the service center that is less than 20 minutes away?

I got some song in dance that it is only on the service trucks and can't be just "picked up at the service center." I could, however, have it shipped to my house directly. Which, of course, would be next Friday. Ouch. We settled on my getting the basic that day and turning it back in when the new one shows up. Amusingly I was offered the new fancy dancey one at the service center. Score one for diy.

Sadly my victory was short lived, the new one didn't work either. So another call to Comcast and this time with the tentative diagnoses of bad wiring. and I could be scheduled in for Tuesday for a service call. Ugh, we are now even further back to getting the internet back. Fortunately the whole thing resolved itself when the magical modem suddenly powered up. That said, I'm still waiting on the modem thing to start pooping rainbows.

Hiatus

My nine year old computer is essentially dead, the fan is broken and the video card is none to happy either. Since it is a very geriatric system that long ago topped out with XP (a soon to be orphaned operating system), it is time for a new computer.  n the mean time I'll only rarely post as it is awkward to do it on my phone. My children will happily let me  commandeer their laptops, but then I feel pressured. So until then enjoy your summer!

Spring Break

The kids are off on spring break this week and we haven't done much of anything apart from going to services. Well Jake has gone off to look at colleges with Larry, but the rest of us have been bumming around the house.

And you know it has been nice. We can stay up late, sleep in, and today I got to do a pajama day, something I only do if deathly ill.

 I felt a wee twinge of guilt when a friend posted on Facebook the things she has done with her kids, but then again we are all happy to be doing nothing for a change. We have busy days and it's nice just to check out for a bit. It's called break for a reason.

Mid Pesach Lament

I miss bread, specifically toast.

Yay Slippers!

I love the weather we are having now, low seventies during the day and falling down to the mid forties at night. The brisk mornings are far more pleasurable than the swampy sauna that we greet me each morning in the summer. The best part is that I get to wear slippers again.

I had a lovely purple pair that Larry got me, oh about two years ago. Unfortunately the dogs liked them as well and ate one. I couldn't find the same pair again, but I did find an acceptable replacement at Kohl's. So now I get to curl up each morning with my feet in a cozy pair of slippers.

Hooray for fall and the attendant lower temps and hooray for slippers!

Rather Vermontish

Max, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

The weather has been glorious this week, upper 70s and minimal humidity. Just like the summers I know and love in Vermont.

So it has been rather annoying that I have been under the weather this week. I'm much better now, two days in bed did a world of good, but I'm still not hitting all cylinders. Hopefully I'll be able to do the full dog walk tomorrow. The pups have been forced to settle with just a short two block walk the past two days.

As for the rest of the gang, soccer and band having been going full bore, Nate has been doing some fitness training related to lacrosse, and Larry has been enjoying the fact that he is not coaching. After 10 years he has had enough. He wants to be able to go to all the kids games, not just the one he is coaching.

Life does not stop around here, even if you are sick.

Dr Headclaw

Dr Headclaw, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

This is Dr. Headclaw and he is the henchman of the Evil Disco Pony.

At least that was what I was told today.

Portal and Pools

So far summer break has been going pretty smoothly. We have spent a fair amount of time at the pool with the added bonus of biking to and from is now viewed as a good thing. Last year we got our driveway paved which lead to a burst of proficiency in bike riding on the part of the dynamic duo. Previous years it was an ordeal to get them to haul out the bikes, now they sprint ahead in their newly realized freedom.

As for the Portal end of this post, I finally finished off the original game and then whipped through the second. In my opinion, Portal is one of the best games ever. It is very forgiving of my less than stellar gaming skills (skillz- I do not have them) and poses a good mental challenge. I was a bit sad when I came to the end of the game last night (the gaming explains the lack of posting yesterday), but I still have the challenge maps left to futz around. I highly recommend the games and you must do the first one appreciate and understand the second.

25?

I've got some big anniversaries coming up and one of them is my 25th college reunion.

I honestly can't believe it's been 25 years since I graduated from college. Yes I am the parent of two teenagers one of whom has a learners permit, but 25 years out? No way.

I kind of wish I could go, but the reunion weekend is at an impossible time- the first weekend in June. The kids are still in school and Nate has his first big lacrosse tourney that very same weekend. I know I'm not the only parent in my class that is stymied by the date, however we have no say in regards to the on campus festivities. It's the first weekend after graduation and it's before the campus gets handed over to various summer programs.

So I guess I have to wait until my little birdies have flow the nest (or at least a bit more self sufficient) before I can met up with the old gang.

Ugh

It's been baking, baking, baking all this past week. Rugelach for the blog thingy I'm doing, hamantashen for Purim, two batches of chocolate chip cookies for concessions at the band festival (one for Friday and one for Saturday), and a lasagna for the Purim potluck yesterday.

I don't want to touch my oven for a week.

Mind you I enjoyed making all those things, I just wish it all hadn't been in a five day period. At least things will be back to normal for a bit. That is until the next potluck on Friday. Meryl's idea of springing for pizza is sounding better and better.

Sunday Night Already?

It wasn't particularly busy this weekend, nor particularly slothful. However, it seemed to whip on by. I think I'm suffering from a bit of time compression from too many things on my calendar.

This coming weekend is my dog club's big specialty. I won't be there in person, I have far too much on my plate as is, but there are a myriad of details that need attending to for the big day. Then I hand the whole mess over to the acting show chair and she can deal with the show herself.

The weekend after that is the big 1-0 birthday for my favorite set of twins. For the first time ever they are going to have separate parties. We have things pretty much roughed out, I'll have to work on it some more tomorrow.

Then there is the big one, Nate's upcoming Bar Mitizvah in November. He is plugging along as are the arrangements. That reminds me I have to call the florist about the arrangements for the bema. We don't do any thing super fancy (no ice sculptures or fire breathers for us), but we do want to have a nice luncheon and more birthday party party afterwards.

Throw in the High Holidays, marching band, and soccer to liven up the mix. So yeah, I'm just a bit busy right now

Farmville

Farmville, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Not the game, the actual town.

I've been amused by the whole Farmville thing over on Facebook. Mind you I don't play the game, instead I keep thinking about how there is a very real place in Virginia called Farmville.

I had been by there years and years ago, long before the game ever existed. It wasn't terribly significant to me back then, other than the rather odd name. Fast forward back to the present, the town's name has had a whole new dimension added. The funny part is that Farmville is relatively built up. It had far more to offer than the quiet county of Cumberland where Bear Creek Lake State Park is located.

So when I went there this summer I just had to take a picture of the "Welcome to Farmville" sign.

Sleepy

John, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

The dreaded end of summer cold drags on and all I want to do is sleep. However a parent's work is never done and I have to soldier on. At least everybody is back in school.

Thus ends a less than scintillating post, punctuated by two sneezes.

Beetling Along

Beetling Along, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Not much is going on right now. It's summer and I'm enjoying not waking up before the crack of dawn and the pared down schedule.

That being said I'm still busy. Nate and Jake have sports camps this week, soccer for Jake and lacrosse for Nate. Max and Rebecca have finished their swimming lessons and are much more confident in the water. And looming over all is the start of the school year next month.

So I'm just beetling along like this little guy I found in our backyard.

Aw Man!

I had a lovely post all planned out with pictures and everything and then Flickr decided to have a hissy fit and not recognize Blogger.

I could force the issue and code by hand, but honestly I don't want to. At least I can take a small bit of solace in knowing I'm not the only one blocked out. Hopefully the problem will be resolved tomorrow. Even if it isn't fixed I'll make sure to get something up one way or another.

Stupid computers making me have to think and figure things out.

Quiet Weekend

highway home
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

I didn't do a whole lot of driving this weekend.

Larry and I divvied up the kids and I ended up only taking Rebecca to her game. Larry took Max (his game conflicted with Rebecca's) and in the afternoon took Nate. And I'm happy to report that in all three games our team won.

Woo Hoo!

Then all I had to do was run the crew up to Richmond for Hebrew school.

The rest of my time was spent reading and picking up the hundreds of sticks from the lawn so we could mow. The lawn still doesn't look great, but at least the weeds and grass are all at the same height. I won't even talk about what the dogs did, except that it took 15 bags of soil and a 5 pound bag of grass seed to fix their mole hunting activities.

Having dachshunds is not conducive to having a perfect lawn.

Otherwise it was a lovely weekend with the added bonus of Meryl coming for dinner.

Non Sequitur: Telemarketers

Non Sequitur Telemarketers
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

This is possibly my all time favorite cartoon. I cut it out of the newspaper when it first run way back on Feb. 21st, 1999. I haven't seen it published since.

Because of telemarketers I have become a huge fan of caller ID. If I don't recognize the number (of the 1-800 variety) or the screen flashes it's UNAVAILABLE, I don't pick up the phone. If the call is important they will leave a message. My feeling is that the phone is for my convenience and as such I'll answer when I darn well feel like it.

Whew Doggie

Today was the last big day of errands before the kids are out for five days. I didn't have lunch until after I picked up Jake from school at roughly quarter to three.

Jake was shocked at how late my lunch was and asked me why.

So, I told him what I did between seeing he and his siblings off in the morning and picking him up from school.

I walked the dogs.
Goofed off on the computer for 20 minutes.
Returned some dishes to a kind neighbor.
Rescued my beloved chickadee cookie tin (sans cookies) from the high school.
Drove to Meryl's and together we ran errands (it's far more fun to do boring stuff with a friend.
The errands consisted of:

Dropping off Jake's trumpet to be repaired.
Treat shopping at the For Love of Chocolate with bonus purchase next door of a new camera bag (Dell keeps eating my camera bags).
Getting wine for Thanksgiving at the wine and cheese store J. Emerson.
More adult beverage shopping at Corks & Kegs.
Hardcore veggie shopping (Hee- or rather Haricot vert shopping).
A preemptive Costco run, I refuse to go there the Wednesday before Thanksgiving onto the Monday after. Around Thanksgiving Costco becomes an evil, evil place.
And then a quick stop at Trader Joe's.

Whew, Meryl and I packed in a whole lot of errands, but now we are done with Thanksgiving shopping and don't have to set foot in a store until next week.

After I finished reeling off all my accomplishments Jake, clearing stunned by it all, told me I deserved to goof off for far more than 20 minutes and then asked if I do that every day.

My answer was fortunately no.