School

I've pretty much been "chubby" my whole life, and that pretty much made my entire school experience, from kindergarten to Bachelors degree, miserable. A fat chick is a target. Everyone seems to be okay with that. Additionally, or maybe in part because of always being a target, I've always been somewhat socially awkward, and that led to me periodically getting in trouble at school. I talked a lot. My attention wandered. I corrected teachers. I talked a lot. I also had a lot of problems with anxiety. Stomach problems. Recurring nightmares. Etc. So, while I do have a (small) handful of not-miserable memories of school, for the most part I look back and ... shudder.

When Seth started kindergarten last fall, I had high hopes that his school experiences would be better. That his memories of it would someday be happier. After all, he's a good looking kid who is not chubby. Smart, sweet, funny. And when we first met his teacher, we were all enthusiastic about the school year. She's experienced and involved, and from everything we'd heard about her, her kids all loved her and they learn a lot from her.

This past Friday, Seth got in a fair amount of trouble at school. Her notes are sometimes vague, and he sometimes acts like he's not quite sure why he got in trouble (which is counterproductive, if you ask me). Brian and I have been after Seth for a while now to not get in trouble anymore at school, and a couple nights last week he wasn't allowed to watch television or play with his DS, because of it. But on Friday, he cried at school. He got in trouble for forgetting to do something...and I'm sorry, but forgetting something is not a behavioral problem (if it were, I'd be in Leavenworth by now), and then he cried in class, and then he got in trouble two more times. In the note she sent home, she actually made fun of him for "bawling like a baby" ... at least, that was our perception of it. We both found it pretty unprofessional of a teacher to make a remark like that, in any case. So Seth didn't get in more trouble at home for that, as we could both tell he'd stressed himself out enough over it (hence the crying).

Last night as I was getting Seth ready for bed, and he realized it was a school night again, he started telling me his stomach hurt. "If I throw up tonight, I won't have to go to school tomorrow, right?" This made me so sad, I can barely articulate it. That's how it started for me...seventeen years of daily torture and nonstop anxiety. It is now my mission to keep it from happening to him. I wish I knew where to start.

Softball Practice

OMG, why do boys eat dirt?!? Why? Why did he do it again this year? I sat there in my red chair outside the field and didn't know whether to go sit in the car and beat my head against the dashboard, or climb the fence and go all King Kong on him. And seriously, softball dads who are standing around the field? Pay attention to other kids besides your own kids. Specifically, the one in right field who is EATING DIRT. Looks like he could use a little of your attention, ya know?!?

Deep breath.

Okay. Besides the whole "eat dirt and embarrass my mother (she's the one sitting over there in the red chair)" sketch he performed for everyone, he did pretty well. Threw the ball, caught the ball, hit the ball. The actual softball stuff, not embarrassing. Second practice, Friday night. Oh, and his team is named the Holden Hitmen. As I told my sister, somewhere a Zarrelli ancestor is smiling.

Laughter

Having found a new blog yesterday (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/) and having, further, laughed my ass off while reading said blog, I've been giving some thought to all the things that make me laugh, and why. I don't mean to get all Aristotelian on you or anything, I just have a, shall we say, eclectic sense of humor, and lots of stuff makes me laugh. Here are a few of those things, in no particular order:

Friends outtakes. Specifically, the ones involving Ross, a couch going up a narrow stairway, and a set of bagpipes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQicfUjVVqU&feature=related
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C1rfr495sY

The moat scene in The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Just humming the music from this makes me giggle. "Swine moat!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyLCkbyYfis
(sorry, this clip has an ad in front, I hate that)

This, from History of the World, Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2skwoHvw-3w

Damn near anything in Young Frankenstein, but especially this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu1DMSqTLyk

Monty Python's sketch The Fish-slapping Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s
and
The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91_jymgH8QY

These twin boys, talking to each other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY

This website:
http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/
and this one, tho he doesn't update it anymore:
http://mil-millington.com/
(btw, Mil's a tremendously nice guy, we've exchanged several email messages over the past few years)

And, of course, a lot of stuff Seth says and does. Yesterday he told me he had "fifty-five pounds of love" for me.

Oh, and why do these things make me laugh? They're just frickin' funny!

Absence

I see it's been well over a year that I've written a blog entry. As I suspected from the first, my ability to maintain a blog...not to mention my overall interest in doing so...dwindled over time. Plus, once you get used to Facebook, blogs seem superfluous. Especially when you're as lazy as I am. So, an update. Or, shall we say, a series of updates.

Seth
Seth's in kindergarten now, and is doing well...except for that all-important "listens and follows directions" category. The kindergarten grade report at Seth's school is a simple series of Ys and Ns, Y being yes, this student has mastered this specific item, and N being no, your kid obviously should have attended a preschool. Thus far, Seth's grade report has been 99% Y and 1% N. Apparently, he doesn't like being told what to do anymore than I did. Acorn...tree. He's wearing glasses now. My little Clark Kent. He's done very well with them so far. Knows how to handle them, how to take care of them. Knock on wood, this pair will last a good long while. He's been taking piano lessons since this past October. His instructor says he's done very well. And yet he bitches and moans *every day* about practicing, says he HATES it. And I say, no one I've bought a $500 piano for gets to quit until they're 18. So there. We've got him signed up for machine-pitch softball this year, and practice begins this week. Last summer he played tee-ball, which was slow and boring, and to which I no longer wanted to be subjected. I mean, Seth. Seth didn't want to do it anymore. Brian took him to Chuck Gard's house a couple weeks ago to practice hitting, and said he did surprisingly well, so we're not worried about his skills. Just everyone's level of interest.

Us
We have a trip to Disney World planned for June, after school is out. We're driving down in the new Pilot, and spending four days there before driving back. Three days at DW, one (possibly) at the Kennedy Space Center. I'm in full-on planning mode, of course. We're also hoping to make it to Chicago again for Labor Day weekend this year, to stay at Hotel Arnold and see our good friends James and Kristal...not to mention Gabriella and the new baby (due in May). Brian is still at Billy Goat, and I am still at SH3. This means we haven't won PowerBall yet. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you. Life goes on.

Seventy-four

President's Day. Or is it Presidents' Day? The important thing here is I get the day off work, so I don't really care where you put the apostrophe.

Another crap weather day so I'm staying home, which was not the kind of day I had in mind. I just don't like driving on slick or snowy roads if I can possibly avoid it. And since I'm all about avoidance, here I sit. I haven't even started doing laundry, I'm just...sitting. Reading. Goofing around with Seth.

Not too much going on these days. Brian and I spent this past Saturday night up in Kansas City. We got a room at the Westin Crown Center, went to the Nelson for a couple hours, and then had supper at Figlio's on the plaza. (The Spaghetti Diavolo was more diavolo than I remembered. Whew!) Seth stayed with Brian's folks overnight, and he had a good time too. Brian had roses delivered to the hotel room, when we walked in I was surprised with them. At first I didn't realize what he'd done, I just thought maybe the hotel had them in the room for Valentine's Day. And I'll be honest, when he first said that he'd had them sent...I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. But while he's something of a bullshit artist, he's not a liar, so I finally believed him. And I certainly brought them home with me.

I've really been wishing I were in New Orleans lately. You know I've been there three times, right? Last time was for our honeymoon. But lately...I don't know what it is. I just REALLY want to get back there. It's probably that it's Mardi Gras week and the Saints just won the Super Bowl and I just read a book about it and watched The Big Easy again, so it's on my mind. In the air. But we sure don't have much of a travel budget this year. I got a good deal through PriceLine for the hotel room this weekend, and my dad is letting use some of his timeshare points for a long weekend in Arkansas at the end of May, but beyond that we're homebound this year. And Seth starts kindergarten in August so from here on out our travel plans will be defined and limited by his school schedule. But, man...beignet at Cafe du Monde. Brunch at The Court of Two Sisters. Hurricanes on Bourbon St. That music. That SMELL. I want to go back!!!!!

Anyway. Looks like it's lunch time. Seth will be out here any minute looking for a turkey sammich. Best go get ready for that.

Seventy-three

Long overdue for an update, I see. Sorry, Facebook is easier.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.... Our tree is up, the stockings are hung, the lights are up outside. And it's coooold. Almost done with the shopping, but need to start the wrapping today. I think we're going to see Brian's grandmother today, take her her gift and visit for a while. We were at Anne-Marie's last night, making cookies and candy and just hanging out. Had some wine, the first I've had in AGES. Expected to get buzzed and then have a headache, but neither occurred. I'm guessing it has something to do with body weight. :oP

We've got a new front door in and almost finished, Brian is going to finish up the trim and whatnot today, if he's feeling up to it. He wasn't feeling very good yesterday or last night, flu-like symptoms. The old door was letting so much air blow through we might as well have left it open. We went ahead and bought the new door so we could get the tax credit. And because it's purty.

Seventy-two

Chicago
Labor Day weekend, 2009

Saturday: rode the train (Seth loved it), got to Chicago a half-hour ahead of schedule (everybody loved that), had a steak dinner at Hotel Arnold (yum), watched a movie when the kids went to bed (by Grabthar's hammer!).

Sunday: went to church (and did NOT burst into flames), lunch at Cafe Arnold (on the house), afternoon at the Museum of Science & Industry (rock star parking!), deep-dish pizza at Moretti's (topping compromise reached after some intense--but bipartisan--negotiations), Settlers of Cataan until 1:30 am (guess who won).

Monday: breakfast at McArnold's (Seth finagled some waffles), packed the bags and stashed them in a locker at Union Station (with fingerprint scanning! on a luggage locker!!), walked to Michigan Avenue (OMG my feet hurt), saw the Oprah brouhaha (she shut down two blocks of Michigan Avenue for her show), found the LEGO store (spent some money in the LEGO store), homed in on the Girardelli chocolate store ("Would you like a free sample?" "What do YOU think?"), caught the bus back to Union Station (oh thank god), arrived in KC on time. And tired.

Thanks again to James and Kristal for being such great hosts. Gabriella is beautiful and you make great parents ... and you're great friends as well. We miss you but it's nice to have such a cool place to go visit now.

Seventy-one

Am returned home from a nice, long weekend at Lake of the Ozarks; specifically, Ben and Karla's place near Laurie, MO; more specifically, near mile marker 43. Due to issues I won't go into in any great detail (let's just say the closer I am to a bathroom at night the better off I am), we decided to find a hotel room for the four of us (Brian, Seth, Lacey, and I), but we spent the rest of our time (not sleeping) at Ben and Karla's place. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. Brian and Lacey each spent large chunks of time taking naps sprawled across various horizontal surfaces. Seth and I, not so much.

We drove down Friday and beat everyone else there, so we unloaded the groceries, scoped out the situation, determined there was no possible way I could navigate the stairs at night without killing myself, and went and found a hotel room. Went back to the house to find Karla and Erlan in residence, and Scott and Jenni Harvey parking and setting up their pop-up camper. Ben and Chip and Nicholas showed up shortly thereafter and we got the party started.

Saturday we swam and went out on the boat and some people rode the inner tube (main channel!) (not me) and we "parked" in a cove and had some lunch and swam some more off the boat, and then went back to the house (where we found Ben's sister Amy waiting for us) and cleaned up a little and ate a big supper (excellent burgers, Amy!) and then we went out on the boat to see the fireworks. Seth fell asleep on the way out. We found a spot, were waiting for the fireworks to commence, realized a storm was moving in, and turned and headed for the house. At which time we decided that cowardice was the better part of valor (or however that goes) and we pulled the boat tarp out and no sooner had we done so than all hell broke loose and we got RAINED on. But we were covered up and Ben got us home none the worse for wear. And yes, Seth slept through all of it. One thing to note: today Seth was brave enough to "swim" on his own. He was wearing a life-vest and pretty much *couldn't* sink, but finally let go of Daddy and struck out on his own. He was very brave and VERY proud of himself...and now, of course, we'll have to watch him a thousand times closer when we're anywhere near a large body of water. Now that he thinks he's unsinkable.

Today, Brian and Lacey decided to try a little fishing near our hotel room (we had a dock right outside our door, basically), but didn't catch anything so it was short-lived. We headed back over to Ben and Karla's where we had a big breakfast (excellent eggs, Amy!) and then pretty much just sat around and visited until it was time to leave. Brian helped Scott and Ben a little down on the dock, trying to fix one of the boat lifts. Seth and Erlan played together a lot ("We caught six roly-polys!") and we had some lunch and then headed home. Oh, yeah, also, this morning we stopped at little roadside park that we found between our hotel room and the road back to Ben and Karla's house, that turned out to be a little roadside park I was at, oh, maybe about twenty-five years ago. Has a little memorial to Zach Wheat (baseball player)...and we had gone down many moons ago with my dad so he could visit with Wheat's grandson (or whoever). Kind of a coincidence, I guess.

In any case, we had a good weekend and are looking forward to going again sometime. Oh, and uh...I forgot to take my camera. So if I can finagle some pics out of Karla, I'll try and remember to get something posted sometime. Otherwise, you're just going to have to take my word for it.

Seventy

Seems as tho I just haven't had much time to write on the blog lately. For those desiring a few trip details...Myrtle Beach was nice, but it ain't no Key West! We did have some excellent seafood at a buffet called Captain George's, and we spent some very fun and relaxing days at the beach. Excellent body surfing and wave jumping opportunities. Going out just past the breakers and riding waves makes me happier and more relaxed than just about anything else in the world. It's a true wonder that I live in the middle of the country and not on the edge of it somewhere. I must really love Brian!

Back at home and at work now, of course. Time marches on. I'd love to say we have some great Fourth of July plans approaching, but we do not. We might hook up with some folks we know whose son Seth goes to preschool with our son Seth, they're pretty cool. We chatted with them today at the ice cream social at the preschool and due to Joe's work and all the hay mowing/raking/baling about to commence they never seem to be able to make firm plans for anything in June or July either, so even if the guys are out in a field somewhere, Cindy and I and the two Seths may manage to make a day of it. Sparklers may even be involved at some point. (Yes, the metal ones! Dammit, we're mollycoddling these kids!!!)

Did you know I found out there's a Target right down the street from my office? I love Target. If Brian were paying more attention, the words "I'm going to Target today" would send a cold chill down his spine. They make more money off of my impulse purchases than I care to discuss. ("Hm. These flip-flops are only five dollars. I'm wearing flip-flops today, and I have four or five more pair at home, all rather similar. But these are only five dollars. I must have them!") (True story.)

I also love The Penguins of Madagascar right now, it is hands down my favorite new TV show this year. Seth's too. The new episode "Needle Point" is one of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen, I laughed my ass off. Tom McGrath is a comic genius, I am absolutely in love with his voice and comic timing (he's Skipper). In the movie Madagascar II, when he's in labor negotiations with the chimps, who are demanding paid maternity leave, and he goes "Maternity leave?" (then looks under the table for a moment, and pops his head back up) "You're all males!" leaves me gasping for breath every time.

Too much information? I was afraid of that...

Sixty-nine

Myrtle Beach (June 2009)

Sixty-eight

We went to Worlds of Fun today, the weather cooperated and our friends Jim and Trisha Williams were there, from St. Louis, with their kids Sydney and Jake. Syd sang in a choir competition this morning (still waiting to hear how her group did) and then they spent the rest of the day at WoF. Seth really enjoyed himself, I think. We spent the first part of the visit in the Camp Snoopy area, with the rides for the little kids. There's a little roller coaster there, the Wacky Worm. Seth rode it six times! Snoopy and Lucy came out to see the little kids but Seth wouldn't go near them (truly his mother's son!). Then we hooked up with Jim and Trisha and had some lunch (four slices of pizza, three fountain drinks, and one water = $38), and then split up and rode some other rides. Brian and I did manage to ride the Mamba while Seth went with Lacey and Trisha. We also rode the Octopus, since Seth was big enough if we accompanied him. The ride I really thought he'd enjoy, Le Taxitour, he hated. Go figure. Then shortly before we left, we found a little "theatre" where the Peanuts characters shared a little stage with any kids there and they sang and played some games. Seth finally agreed to share some space with adults in furry costumes, it was very cute.

In any case, we all had a good time and it was GREAT to see the Williams family again, however brief. Hopefully we'll see them again before another year goes by.

Sixty-seven

There is a duck who has made a nest under the edge of a large round hay bale, one of the many that's currently in our yard. Her feathers are about the same color as the hay, except for a flash of white and green. I almost missed seeing her, she was very well tucked away. I didn't get too close, I didn't want to scare her or frighten her away. Of course, now I will worry about her and her eggs. We have dogs and cats roaming around, after all. I'm going to pretend it's the same duck that I found in our basement last year (or was that two years ago?) as that makes the story better. She was so happy that we got her out without hurting her that she decided to come back and lay her eggs nearby.

An update on my cousin Alan's condition: he is alert, can eat solid foods, recognizes his family, and can speak (tho with some slurring). I haven't heard any update on his paralysis, so I have no idea if that will improve or if he'll remain partially paralyzed. Still don't know much about strokes, even tho I watched my Grandmother essentially disappear before our eyes when she had her first one. Or maybe that's why. I think I tend to avoid the topic.

We still have two kittens, Mama cat has relocated them to one of the smaller sheds now. The female has long hair, white with black and orange thrown in. I've been calling her Fluffernutter. The male has shorter hair, white with black and gray spots/stripes. Tried calling him KitKat but it hasn't stuck, will try coming up with something else. Have a feeling they'll end up being my outside cat family.

Another weekend flown past, very little to show for it. Didn't even really get to sleep in, either day. The wind woke me this morning. I really, Really, REALLY hate spring/summer storms, and am already sick to death of the wind. It just will not let up.

Sixty-six

Waiting to hear what's going on back east tonight; apparently my cousin Alan suffered a "significant stroke" today. He's about 44, 45 yrs old, too young for this. His older brother, my cousin Rocky, died in 2001, and their father, my Uncle Butch, died just a couple years ago. Not sure what is going on with that branch of the Zarrelli family but I don't like it!!

Other updates...we're looking forward to getting to meet Gabriella Arnold later this week. James and Kristal are in MO for a week (well, Kristal and Ella are, anyway) so we're meeting up with them on Thursday evening so that we can visit with all three of them before James leaves for work commitments.

[I bought a new book I'm thoroughly enjoying right now, Michael Palin's Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years. I don't know what it is about diaries or journals, but I find them fascinating, and here's a very funny guy talking about a very interesting topic during a very interesting period of time.

We bought the movie Bolt recently for Seth. I'd had three or four people talk about how funny it is, especially the hamster, Rhino. I was underwhelmed, to say the least. The pigeons in that movie were funnier than Rhino, and that's not really saying much. I much prefer the penguins and King Julian in the Madagascar movies. And the fact that I'm arguing the merits of one set of animated characters over another is really peculiar, anyway...

What else. Uh...I finally got some "girl time" this past weekend with Wendy and Karla. We met up in Lee's Summit for lunch and some power shopping. It was much needed, appreciated, and enjoyed. We're next hoping to get together in May at Wendy and Andy's for a splash-in-the-creek day followed by a campfire and cookout. That's, uh, not just for the girls, by the way, that's for all of us. :o)

Some pics from Easter.

Sixty-five

Party Pics

Sixty-four

Gorgeous day, eighty degrees fahrenheit, March 17. Great for the drunks out in Westport tonight! Now, those were the days. Start drinking at 9:00 am, wind down around ... oh, 2:00 am. I'll bet Jenny's out there right now. All the single ladies, put your hands up!

We're having a party for Lacey's birthday this weekend, incredibly hard to believe she's turning 16. I've known her half her life now. The first time I met her was in a parking lot, I was meeting Brian and Lacey for Red Friday, and I pulled into the lot and parked and turned the ignition off and turned to open my door...and she was already standing at my window, checking me out. Funny kid. Good kid. Argues like a barrister, but good.

Seth is sitting across from me right now with dirty knees and a big scrape/bruise on his forehead (faceplant on the playground at preschool), checking for toe-jam. When we got home he jumped right in his jeep and cruised around the yard for about half an hour. Totally happy. That thing was worth every penny.

My rash is nearly gone, I'm happy to report. Just nearly.

Sixty-three

Spent a good part of my morning at urgent care again. Last night I started getting a rash on my chest and arms and face, and this morning it was everywhere, and my face was swollen. Got a steroid shot and a prescrip for prednizone, and some antihistamines. It has maybe started to go down a little, but not much. I have NO idea what's going on, an allergic reaction to something, but god knows what. I can't think of anything I did differently yesterday, didn't use any new soaps or lotions, didn't eat anything new or unusual.

Looks like MU just won the Big 12 championship. Woot! So much for the Baylor bandwagon. I read earlier that the arena wasn't even a third full, and scalpers couldn't get $10 for tickets. That's kind of ugly.

I downloaded the new U2 album over a week ago and still haven't listened to it. I don't know why not. AND, I don't even know what it's called or what any of the songs are. (When asked, I always say U2 is my favorite rock band. Does this now disqualify me from being able to say that...at least with a straight face?)

I'm sitting here typing this and watching Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey undressing each other. If that doesn't make you want to kill yourself I don't know what will.

Sixty-two

Another Friday rolls around. This time last week I was unconscious, I was SO sick last Friday. Dr said viral bronchitis but I don't think it could have been that. I've had bronchitis before and this wasn't anything like that. In any case, I feel better now.

My very good friends James and Kristal had their baby this week, Gabriella Jean. She'll be called Ella, I believe, and not Gabby, thank goodness. :o) Seth is very interested in her, we got to have lunch with them around the holidays and Seth thought the whole "she has a baby in her belly" thing was fascinating, so now that she's "out" he asks about her a lot. The inevitable questions are bubbling around in that active little brain of his, I'm sure.

MU won their basketball game last night, apparently. KU and KState both lost yesterday. Funny. Even funnier -- I don't care!!

Random pictures to follow...

Sixty-one

What? Where have I been? Oh, you know. Job. Husband. Kid. Freelance work. A house to keep up with.

We bought another cow this past weekend. What? Yeah, “another cow.” Now we’re up to three cows. We bought the first two around the holidays. Lucy and Ethel. The new cow is Roseanne. She has a heifer calf, her name is Darlene. What? Yeah, yeah. Television names. You noticed. Lucy and Ethel are both pregnant. If Lucy has a bull-calf, just guess what his name is going to be.

Uh…we’re starting with the prep for the Myrtle Beach trip. Seth is already talking about what he’ll wear. We priced airline tickets and discovered it was WAAAAY cheaper to fly to Charlotte than directly to Myrtle Beach. So we'll rent a car (we would have anyway) and drive down to the beach, it's about three, three and a half hours. For an old hand at car-trips like myself, that's a cake-walk.

Seth. Seth is good. I am finding, however, that the Fours are definitely worse than the Twos or the Threes. And when you’re dealing with a smart Four, you’re really in trouble. I don’t have any specific stories to pass along today, just suffice it to say he's got a huge vocabulary and he knows how to use it. He also knows how to use charm and dissimulation.

Also, in case anyone else was wondering but had never bothered to really find out, I just read a little about why February only has 28 days. Probably at some point in my youth we studied this topic, but I didn't retain the info. So...

When the Roman calendar was first created, it was established to keep track of the agricultural cycles of planting and harvesting. There were, initially, only ten months, March to December. But a guy named Numa Pompilius decided, around 3000 years ago, that a calendar that basically overlooked one-sixth of the year didn't really make sense, so he decided that a year should have 355 days...approximately the length of twelve lunar cycles. Extra days ("leap" days) were added to keep the calendar roughly in tune with the seasons, and January and February were added then (to the end of the year). Since Romans considered that even numbers were unlucky, he made seven months 29 days long, and four months 31 days long.

But, it turned out he’d need one even-numbered month to make it come out to 355 days. So February was picked, since, at that time, it was the last month of the year, and was “assigned” only 28 days. It wasn’t until a long time later that Julius Ceasar reorganized the calendar, bumped it up to 365 days, and moved January and February to the beginning of the year.

Sixty

Well, it's been a while. Too much "life" going on, I guess.

Seth's Christmas program at his preschool was Tuesday night, the roads were bad but since they didn't cancel we forged ahead. It was very cute. His class sang two songs, "Silent Night" and "Up on the Housetop." I'd post a video here but apparently they're both too big. Santa also put in an appearance. He and Seth had quite a conversation.

Otherwise, we've just been getting ready for the holidays. I'm pretty much done shopping, just a few little things left to finish it up. Work has been busy, have had to bring a lot of work home over the past couple months. But they've given us two nice bonuses this fall, so I can't complain about that. And just one more work day to go and then we have a nice break, I have off from the 23rd to January 2nd. Brian has that time off as well.

Tonight we're going up to Wendy and Andy's to have dinner and play cards and visit and spend the night, and then tomorrow we're doing Christmas with Uncle Phil and Mary, since they can't come up on Christmas day. Hopefully the 20% chance of light snow today stays 20% or below, and light as well.

Fifty-nine

Key West

November 1-8, 2008

Saturday, November 1: Travel. Lots and lots and lots of travel. A hotel stay, then a shuttle from the hotel to the airport. Two flights. A four and a half hour drive from Ft Lauderdale to Key West. Oy!

Sunday, November 2: Drove around the Key, took in some sights. Stopped and parked near Mallory Square, immediately starting buying things and taking pictures. (In the new encyclopedia coming out early next year, there's a picture of us next to the entry for Hoosier Tourists.) I did snag some Key Lime Lotion that is really great, and we bought some Key Limeade that was really great ... sensing a theme, are we? We went to the Aquarium, where they had a touch tank that I was armpit deep in within seconds of sighting it. Crabs, starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, etc. Had some lunch, stocked up on groceries for the week, and went back to the resort and hit the pool.

Monday, November 3: Brian found a half-day chartered fishing trip to join (the boat's name was the Captain Conch), whereon he caught a 20 lb barracuda. I do not have pictures of this yet, he took the waterproof disposable and we don't have it developed yet. He also caught another large fish, I think he said a big mackerel. While he was doing that, my mom and sister and Seth and I went to one of the small beaches on the south side of the Key. There was no surf, the water was almost completely still. For someone who grew up going "down the shore" to LBI, with sometimes monster breakers, it was weird. Almost eerie. There was also lots of broken glass, so I, of course, spent my time looking for and picking up and grousing about bits of glass so Seth wouldn't cut his feet. He spent all his time running around like a crazy man. He does love the beach!!

Tuesday, November 4: My mom and sister went their own way, so Brian and Seth and I went on a glass-bottom boat cruise, out to some coral reefs. A pod of bottle-nosed dolphins joined us and swam with the boat for a while, I was excited to see that...so naturally the battery in my camera died right about then. I got a small bit of video and a couple shots where you can sort of maybe kind of tell that they're dolphins. The cruise itself was very cool, we saw some beautiful fish and coral while we were out there. Then we walked down Duval St and had lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. Had our first conch fritters there (or, as Seth calls them, critters); they were quite good. Did not see Jimmy Buffett. After lunch, we bought some ice cream cones, bought some large matted prints from a professional photographer and had it shipped home, and then went to the Pirate Soul Museum, which is tres cool. Even the stuff you had to smell.

Oh, yeah, I went and found the house on Duncan St where Tennessee Williams lived. It's not a museum now or anything, just a private residence, so I just had Brian take a couple shots of me standing outside. I was dying to see the studio out back where he wrote but it's fenced and, of course, the yard is completely full of palm trees and other lush green things.


Also, Brian and my sister and I stayed up to follow election results and to hear the acceptance speech from Grant Park. I wept. I was so proud of this country!! (Missouri, not so much...) John McCain's speech was very gracious ... where was *that* guy during the election? The John McCain I liked a year ago finally showed up! I think if Obama had run against the *real* John McCain it would have been a tougher race.

Wednesday, November 5: The Big Day, the trip to the Dry Tortugas. Seventy miles west at 26 knots on choppy water ... Seth threw up before I could get him outside. Then two other people threw up. I thought maybe, just maybe, I would have to join them, but I stayed strong and did not ralph. Thank god, because the rest of the day was BEAUTIFUL! I have never seen water like that, so incredibly, perfectly blue. I could have put up a tent and stayed on that beach forever. Fort Jefferson was cool, also. Could use a few ghosts, some eerie noises in the dark corners would have spiced things up. But my god, the water.

I tried snorkeling. If anyone reading this knew me as a child, you know I used to enjoy swimming. Loved to swim underwater; I was like a seal. Then I hit puberty and inexplicably lost the ability to keep water from entering my head through my sinus cavity. And one summer wearing a nose clip around your Jersey cousins will permanently cure you of wearing a nose clip, so no more swimming underwater for Jennifer. Anyway ... I put on the mask, got the tube or whatever in my mouth correctly, put my head underwater ... and hyperventilated. WTF?!? So now I'm AFRAID of going underwater? When did that happen?

Also, the captain of the catamaran we rode out pulled Seth and me aside to show us what was quite probably the biggest fish I have ever seen or will ever see up close, a 300 lb grouper, one of five or six that hang around under the docks and boats there on the island. It was huge. The pictures I took don't do it justice, there's nothing really showing for scale.

We doped Seth up with some dramamine for the ride home, and he slept the entire way. We had supper at Finnegan's Wake (complete with authentic swearing Irishmen in the front bar! Fookin' this and fookin' that! It was great!) and then hit the hay, we were thoroughly worn out.

Thursday, November 6: More shopping in Mallory Square, and a visit to Mel Fisher's Maritime Museum. If you're into underwater archaeology (shut up, Anne-Marie) and shipwrecks and gold, Google this guy. He found the wreck of the Atocha and brought it all up. It's quite something. I wanted to see more gold, but what the hell, it was still cool. In one part of the exhibit you get to heft one of the gold ingots from the wreck. Heavy! Later in the evening we went back for sunset at Mallory Square, when lots of street performers and artisans and vendors set up shop. It was neat. Seth was being a pill, really whiny and grouchy, wouldn't even smile for the pictures with Captain Wasabi, a very nice pirate who didn't make us walk the plank or anything.

Friday, November 7: Our last full day on Key West. Because I'm me, we went for some more shopping. I caved and bought a replica coin from the Atocha; it's a replica, but it's made from a silver ingot that was on the Atocha, so it's *almost* real. It was authentically expensive, in any case. Brian and Seth and I went to a restaurant for lunch called the Conch Republic Seafood Co., and I fully and wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant to anyone going to Key West who wants a fantastic seafood meal. OMG!! I had a dish that was ravioli stuffed with crab meat, paired with seared jumbo shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, and baby spinach, in a lemon-garlic-parmesan cream sauce. My basic reaction was "Holy Shit!" I also had a real mojito, which I *think* might have made the meal even better. :o) Later in the afternoon we went to our third beach, at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park on the west side of the Key. It was nice, but really rocky and full of shells. We traveled home the following day, landed at KCI around 10:00 pm, where it was SIXTY DEGREES COLDER than where we were all last week. That makes it rather harder to be glad to be home. Also, our furnace isn't working. Did I mention how cold it is here?