Mold and Must and Miserable Dust....

Wow - It's been a while. I didn't realize it had been so long. BAD ilanna BAD! :)

Ok - so i'm here now. I was away on vacation over the weekend (from about thursday on) and wednesday i was trying to babysit a VERY talkative 6 year old while working and so didn't get to post much last week.

So - I went to Martha's Vineyard. It's where my husband grew up and where my inlaws reside.

It is a LOVELY island. And it was being nice to my nature, and being cool the entire time we were there. never topped 75. Course it also rained 3 out of 5 days. Regardless of the weather, we had a good time. Got to relax a bit, we went shopping (always a good thing) and we went to the farmer's market. (brought home 3lbs of local honey and some flavored vinegars.) Got goodies for myself and goodies for my friends. One of the most well known souveniers from MV is the Black Dog. It's famous, t-shirts and clothes etc. I got a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie, both INCREDIBLY comfortable and good quality. :) what's also fun, is the spin offs. One enterprising tourist shop has started printing the "bad dog" items. We got my brother a T-shirt that said something like "Bad Dog Oyster bar, always fresh and steaming!" (bearing in mind that the bad dog is showin as a black dog in a Pooping position. :) There's a few really good ones from there.

We went to the local winery and I bought some wine and other stuff. Course, i'll never drink the wine myself - so it will have to wait until i have company over who will share the bottle. :) i'm sure i can arrange that at some point. :)

We never got to go sailing though - water was a bit too choppy and our tummies were sensitive so we avoided it. That was the DOWNSIDe of the trip. My mom and i have had off stomachs the entire month of august. ANd our allergies have been bad this month. In fact on the way up, mom and I took the train to Providence and met my husband there for the last leg of the trip - b/c we were afraid of being without a bathroom. Anywhere we went on island, we called ahead to make sure there were bathrooms available. I did finally have some lobster the last night we were there, but we were being very careful with what we ate... paranoid even.

Unfortunately the other problem was sinus. I'd been taking advil C&S most of thismonth off and on. I was taking it every 3 hours up there. And for the first time in about 4 years, I had to take claritin. you see...it's an island. ANd it was raining. So there was that in and of itself. The really bad part is that my inlaws house is a Mold Experiments' wet dream. the basement smells like the underside of a dock. I couldn't go down there unless I had a cloth around my face to make breathing easier. The rest of the house is almost as bad. It's 30+ years old, and never had any AC, central ducting, etc. The lack of central ducting is probably the only thing that saved us since it would have blown air from the basement otherwise, but that means no dehumidifying. A lot of people thing AC is just to cool things off, but it actually CONDITIONS and cleans the air too. Carpet is at least 15 years old, as is all of the furniture and curtains etc. So it just breeds and breeds. I sat down on the couch and my eyes began to itch and water. Hubbies allergies started getting really bad too, and mom in law was MISERABle, and it was HER house! She finally admitted outloud that her allergies were worse in the house than out of it, and dad in law said even he sometimes notices. I can only hope they decide to do something about it. She mentioned bringing in a professional cleaning service, but I think they are going to have to strip all fabrics - replace carpet, reupholster furniture, get some new furniture etc. Will have to see.

So you see, all in all we had a very good time, but our heads and bellies were miserable. My only other real complaint is that when we go there on vaca, I sleep in bro in law's childhoold bed/bedroom, and hubby sleeps in his own bedroom. Twin beds. I could accept that before we were married but ....sheesh. Time to clean out the old rooms and make them into guest rooms of some kind. King or queen bed, night stand etc.

I think the next time we go - we are going to see if we can rent a house or something while up there, so there can be more comfort options etc. In the mean time, i'm going to enjoy my COZY sweats this winter, and my zip up hoodie sweatshirt. I'm going to LOVE putting that raw honey in my tea in the mornings. In fact i used some this morning. It was wonderful. Very mild, not overly sweet at all, so I didn't get that weird honey aftertaste from drinking too much. I might have to bring some into work and have it here so I can have more tea during the day. :) I can't wait to try using some of the flavored vinegars in cooking, and seeing the looks on friends faces when i give them their gifts... :)

And now - i'm back at work. :) wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Doggies are home. They are like LUMPS. So tired they don't want to move. hopefully they stay that way through the weekend since hubby is going right back out of town to Canada to train with a kung fu grand master one last time before starting massage school. So i get to take care of the puppies - which means no sleeping late. (sigh)

Oh well.

SOON, I promise, I will get pictures of the floors, and maybe some pics from MV. I only took some on the ferry over, and when we went to Gay Head but there are some pretty cool pics. :)

hope everyone had a good weekend, and those on the east coast enjoy the rain this week. :) i'll try to get back to posting more often. :)

I scream you scream we all scream for . . . umm.. well.. hmm... :)

Ok

So my new mission is to buy an ice cream maker. I used to have one but between various moves from place to place too many parts of gone missing and all that's left is a frozen bowl. :)

And of course counter ande cabinet space is severly limited. (I gots too many gadgets)

So i figured i'd get the one that went on the kitchenaid. All i need then is freezer space for the bowl, and some drawer space for the attatchment gizmo. :)

The reason for this mission is, I love ice cream. But i'm trying to get in shape and lose weight. One goal set for me food wise, was to have only 1 ice cream a week. Well. Hmm. this just sucks. :) and I can't get the sugar free stuff cuz aspartame gives me a headache, and if I get the fat free stuff a) it's hard to find that WITH sugar and b) there's nothing to stop the sugar from being like a hypo injected directly into my blood stream. :)

So - i've decided that maybe i need to make my own. Alter it. Make ice milk instead of cream so i can have flavor and dairy with out being high fat. Or use SOy milk, and maybe use honey instead of sugar. I've got all kinds of ideas on how to alter the recipes. Only one i havne't figured out at the custard base ones, cuz they NEED the heavy cream to make them the right consistency. So i'll have to explore. :)

But i wanted to post and interesting recipe I found here: "Perfect Kithcen by Esseti"

Avocado Ice Cream

While an avocado-flavored dessert may seem strange to North Americans, South Americans have long considered the avocado an ideal ingredient for sweet dessert. Try this recipe and you'll understand why.

Three 8-oz. avocados
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup superfine sugar
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup heavy cream

Peel and pit the avocados. Cut them into chunks and purée in a food processor. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of purée. With the machine running, add the remaining ingredients.
Pour the mixture into the bowl of the machine and freeze.
Makes about 1 quart.

now - I love avocados. I LOVE guacamole - and it's got such a nice creamy consistency. And it's a healthy fat, even if there is a fairly high content. But i never thought of using it in ice cream. ya know? But something about this is REALLY intriguing me and I think I should try making it, if only so I can say I did and tried it. Apparently it's very popular in south america.

I guess I will have to let you all know how it came out. Cuz man, if i can't get my ice cream fix i'll be upset. And it's not just the sweet - it's the cream. :) It's the best thing for heartburn/acid reflux. Oh well - we'll see what happens. I have to get the maker first. :)

blah blah blah. . . . . .

So there isn't a whole lot going on right now. :)

The house battle still occurs, though I think that mom has pretty much decided to stick to her plan and just say no. Probably the best for all concerned. At this point it burns a lot of bridges with that contingent of the family but to be honest, it doesn't really bother us a whole lot. :)

the Flooring continues. They are working on the hall bath now - I think that the master bath is finally done. YAY! :) it looks lovely. there will be pictures soon, i promise!

Went to a wedding this weekend. It was a LOT of fun - and a really gorgeous ceremony. and it was SHORT and sweet - I think from the time the groomsman processional started to the end was less than 20 minutes. And then they did a really cool receiving line idea. Instead of a whole line - they greeted each row of guests as they exited the ceremony area.

The weather was gorgeous and we got to enjoy all of it at the cocktail hour after the ceremony - and then we all went inside for the receptions. It was a lot of fun. I really liked the idea that to get the B&G to kiss, instead of tapping glasses, each table had to stand up as a whole and sing a song with "love" in the lyrics...

I had a really good time - watched my friends get trashed - danced and in general had a good time. though jackie it seems may have broken her foot wearing flip flops while chasing the bride. (not really flip flops, more like "slide sandles" but... still - not good for running.)

I'm also going *NUTS* because I found something out and i can't share it. Once i can i'll let ppl know, but those who know me, know how hard it is for me to keep a juicy secret... hell - i have trouble holding on to a present long enough to wait for the occasion. :)

Then Sunday, i helped my friend sort through some clothes, and then went miniature golfing with my husband and then we went to the mall to get bday presents for his neice and nephew. Then home and dinner and bed.

All in the midst of that day - we were doing the hot and cold compresses for mister's foot. You see he managed to do something to his paw.

Thursday night we went to the vet and had it X-rayed. $220 later, nothing broken. Saturday morning the paw was even MORE swollen and oozing a bit (yick!) So i took him to the emergency vet because the only 2 on duty at my regular vet's office were UNACCEPTABLE. (don't like either of them) And the emergency vet is WONDERFUL. So another $135 later :) my dog is on antibiotics, pain killers, and Benadryl. The current theory is that it was an allergic reaction to a spider bite or something similar. It is going down somewhat. Looks a lot more normal. :) I think the benadryl and compresses are helping which is a good thing. So both dogs are home with me while they are working on the floors. the bulk of the dangerous stuff is done anyway - and they are afraid of the nailing etc.

and that is my life as it stands now in a nutshell. :) pretty boring eh? :)

Whoops...

I realize i haven't blogged much this week. Sorry about that.

Specially since of course ALIT as reared it's ugly head. Not sure how much i remember since there was so much of it.

The latest is that since my GM's house isn't selling well, they are thinking of renting it for a while, and then maybe selling when the market picks up. There's some rumor that the orthodox in the area are "ganging up" to price fix the housing market. Who knows? But the key to this point is that they are talking about renting to my cousin A and his girlfriend E. While it would be great for them to be nearby my aunt and uncle to help them when needed, it still becomes an equity issue as to who is getting more of the estate, whether or not it's really monetary. Make sense? So there's of course the unconcious manipulation going on and mom just doesn't want anyonein the fmaily to be livng there period. B/c then it becomes them trying to recreate the high holidays etc... it's a complicated mess.

meanwhile - not much else is going on. There's lots of stuff really but i can't really get into it too much. :)

The floors in the meantime look AWESOME!! i'll post pictures when it is ALL done and you can see the finished product. :)they are working on the bathroom right now. :)

have a great weekend all!

Anyone have any frankincense and Myrh?

Well the messiah has been born. around 3pm on saturday afternoon. Apparently it was a fairly easy natural birth.

When my mother asked my aunt if the suka was going to nurse, the response was "oh please!" :)

And of course she is named after my grandmother. The name is actualy nice but I will refrain from revealing for anonymity's purposes... :) anyone who really wants to know can email me. :) She was stayin in the hospital for a day or so and baby is in the NICU just to be cautious.

Other than that I don't know much.

Will get the seamstress' help with putting the tags in the sweater and send that on in a few weeks. Mom is working on finding something to send as well.

what's funny about the whole thing is...

Mom and I were pretty ill feeling this weekend. really nauseous, couldn't sleep, headaches etc...I told mom that it was probably the messiah coming making us sick. What's funny is, we started feeling better right around when the birth was done. :) Weird huh?

Not much else to report as of now. The floors are being started today - so hopefully i'll have a bedroom to sleep in this evening.

(btw Mary - you might want to visit your local comic shop and look into a series called Civil war and Frontline... all about should super heros be registered and government controlled or not - lot of interesting political commentary you might like - hell everyone might like... :))

Friday Silliness....

First of all

I just *LOVE these T-shirts. Especially the first one. though I have both. :) hehehe DOOM! The comic strip is also heartily entertaining for those of you who want to waste some time reading... it is definitely worth it. :) I've even met the BF in person and he's a really cool guy. :)
It's silly. MWUAHAHAHA. :)

So, Mom isn't feeling so well today. What's odd is, last night and this morning I had a lot of the same symptoms (just more mild) and no idea why. It could be the weather changes that are happening. We are all sensitive to the barometer. :) *OR* my guess is this is nature's early warning sign that the messiah is coming and we should be prepared. {evil grin} well - it's a theory. And as we all know (and my friend used to have for her signature) I want to move to Theory, because everything works in Theory. :)

Also - if you go to In The Puddle and click on the right hand "vote" button in the comments section - it will take you to an amusing picture. Though if you don't know what FSM-ism is, then go here for more info.

So I dropped off my new skirts at the seamstress last night to have them hemmed up in front (at the waist) since they are shorter in back (due to the butt shelf most likely :)) and the seamstress loved them. So that helps :) but I also found out why they cost so much. I never looked at the tags while at the store - but they are basically sheer handkercheif style skirts over a liner. well theliner is the usual poly. But the entire layered over skirt (both of them) are made out of silk. That explains a lot. Oh well. I just won't be allowed to eat anything (since i'm a slob) :)

Not much else going on here today. I'm just trying to not freeze to death in my office. (my aisle is colder than a lot of the others, noticeably.) and looking forward to going home at lunch to warm up. :) or hell even going outside. I mean you KNOW your office/cubicle is cold, when during the heatwave with temps over 100, you are happy to go outside, and it feels good... sad... really sad. :)

oh well - have a great weekend everyone and if i think of anything more profound i'll post again. :)

the latest delusional amusement...

So cousin P is talking to her brother J (the suka's hubby) and asking if they'd picked a pediatrician yet. J says "yes, we're going with the folks who took over dad's practice when he died." So P says "that's silly, they are more than half an hour away! why would you choose them?" and J says "well because they OWE us. They wouldn't have had a practice if it wasn't for us, and we want someone who will call us back within 5 minutes, and make house calls and since they owe us we figure they'll do that." Cousin P at this point begins LAUGHING! "J, daddy died 15 years ago. His practice may have been the BEGINNING of theirs, but i'm sure they've built it plenty over the years themselves. They don't owe us anything." - J says "so they won't call back in 5 minutes? I thought they did when your son was sick" P says "I called during office hours! and i brought him in to the office."

Disillusionment can be so much fun ya know? They've also hired a nanny at roughly $2k a month. Full time who will cook and clean. P asks how they can afford this, and J says "well if suka does 2 or 3 freelance things a week it isn't a problem." Of course she hasn't been doing more than 1 a month since the pregnancy. It's too hard to write she says. Of course, P completed her PHD including onsite research, the thesis etc, while carrying around her infant son in a carrier. and she didn't have any help. How hard is it to write a fluff article when the kid isn't even out and crying yet?

Sheer Insanity i tell you. The only saving grace to things like nannies and that, is that at least the child will have some good influences. The nanny they hired is someone who's been in the family helping elderly members for many years and so is a known quantity.

Today is the sonogram - so i'm sure i'll have some news by tomorrow, or if not by next week as to what is happening with the birth of the messiah. :)

Tune in.. .same web time (maybe) same web channel :) MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA :)

In other news... i'm inflicting my trainer on mom (EC) tomorrow. She will hopefully help design a set of alternative excercises that will work for her and not bother her back etc... :) finally -i get to watch someone else be tortured. hehehehe.

Secret Shame. . .

I have to admit... I"m strangely, sickeningly addicted to "Walker: Texas Ranger"

hell if I know why. and of course I love ripping the show and the premise to shreds. :) I mean - right now i'm watching, and walker goes "undercover" as a teacher in the high school. So what's his name? Mr Walker. Right cuz that is SOOO undercover. :)

And yet, i'm enthralled. Is it because I just like watching him beat people up? Could be. Vicarious thrills are always good when it comes to violence. :) Maybe it's the Daylight goodie two shoes version of Batman he seems to be. :) (the kick anyone's butt, and amazing 6th sense reflexes) I just don't know. It's a sickness I tell you! :)

In other news, we're currently awaiting news of tomorrow's sonogram for the Suka. She's apparently effacing and they are going to do the sonogram to decide what to do. induce, c-section or wait it out? Of course we think, that the doctor will induce or do the C-section just to finally get her off his charts. :) I think she's been driving him thoroughly nuts for the last 7-9 months.

Crazy Aunt R is up to old tricks again trying to sue everyone and their mother.

and all the usual stuff is all over the place. :)

Ahh well. As long island turns is at it again. :)