Weekly slide photos

Thought it would be fun to show slides from a trip our family took with our former Pennsylvania neighbors, the Smiths, to the east coast of Florida.  We visited St. Augustine and Daytona, and since I recently visited those places two summers ago and hit many of the same places I thought I would show pics from each visit.  Just for fun.

St. Augustine - Castillo de San Marcos fort - One of my favorite places to visit.  So much history and the tour guides there now their stuff.

St. Augustine 1974 - Rusty, Cara, Kim & Steph

No more climbing for photos by 2008

Outside of the fort in the early 90's - took a trip there with Tom

Outside of the fort in 2008

St. Augustine - Alligator Farm - Such an interesting place to visit.  I can remember being horrified at how many alligators there were in one place when I was a kid.  I was even more amazed at how many there were in one place as an adult.

1974

2008

Marineland, FL - Marineland - Remember going there with the Smiths, but the best memory is going there with Tom.  The place was very rundown then, but you could literally get close enough to the dolphins to touch them.  It was the best trip.  The park closed down and eventually reopened, but as a research facility. 

1974

1974

 Early 90's - the park closed a few years after Tom and I were there

Early 90's - such a great visit

Daytona Beach, FL - As a child I remember that cars could drive on the beaches then.  Apparently now you can only drive on the beach one hour before sunset and one hour after sunrise.  I saw maybe one or two cars drive the beach while I was there in 2008.

In the Atlantic 1974

In the Atlantic 2008 - Russ' grandkids

(The two he missed out on and the two who would definitely be splashing him with water!)

Mexican Night!

Ring, ring.

Me:  "Yes?"
Kelly:  "I was just wondering if you had anything you needed from me this evening.  You know, something you need me to do?"
Me:  "We need your vivacious personality and witty charm."
Kelly:  "Are you with Connie?  Those are awfully big words."
Me:  "We also need your supervisory skills in helping with the cooking of fried ice cream.  You know how I hate fire and hot oil and the possibility of fire.  You are so good at keeping those to a minimum. 
Kelly:  "Fried ice cream?  That isn't exactly something I enjoy, but since you need my help I'll be there in half an hour."

 Madison found the recipe on the Internet.  I purchased the ingredients at the grocery and sat back, far back, from any hot action and enjoyed catching up with an old friend while Madison and Gabby, with Kelly's supervision, made the fried ice cream.

They rolled the vanilla ice cream into balls.  Darcy helped with the crushing of the Frosted Flakes and then she too, so much like her mother, left the room while the cooking happened.  Madison and Gabby added sugar, cinnamon, and honey to the crushed flakes and rolled the ice cream balls in to the mixture.  They then froze the balls for a half an hour.

While the ice cream balls were freezing the two girls had a discussion regarding the type of pan that should be used to cook the oil.  I piped up and offered my two cents which was using my pasta kettle.  The one that is way, way, way deep so that any hot oil that might splatter would have to jump further to reach any hands or fingers.  When Kelly saw this pan she put it back into the cupboard and took out a sauce pan.  She cooked the oil very slowly and tested its heat periodically. 

When Kelly deemed the oil hot enough she put in the first ice cream ball and it sizzled and quickly turned brown.  Out came the ball.  Madison traded places with Kelly and fried up some of the remaining balls.  The fried balls were put on a plate where Gabby used whipped cream, honey, and chocolate syrup to pretty them up.

Delicious!

Connie Foot Photo #13

Three days after the apligraf was sewed on to the foot Connie noticed a lot of drainage.  The home healthcare nurse alerted the Foot God who asked to see her the following Friday.  I was not able to accompany her on the trip and so my knowledge is from Connie's point of view. 

The apligraf had come undone and slid to the side of the wound.and thus was rendered useless.  The Foot God was not happy.  Connie was not happy.  He reiterated that she needed to stay off of the foot even if that meant going into some type of nursing facility.  Connie did some research on this and find a place near her house that would accommodate her and she decided to see how it looked by her next visit in a week.

I visited her yesterday and was there when the home healthcare nurse came to change the wound.  It looked better then I thought it would look.  It seemed smaller, and there is new tissue growth, but at this point perhaps I'm just willing it so. 

Today the Foot God's office called and told Connie that they have found the foreskin that he originally wanted to use, but was unable to locate due to insurance reasons.  He has found it and I will take her in tomorrow to have that surgical procedure.  I'm thinking I shall sit in the waiting room so that the Foot God has room to move and concentrate without me hovering over his shoulder taking pictures.  But I do hate to miss it.....

Billy Joel sings it best....Pressure!

Yahoo briefly had a lead on my homepage that wanted to inform me of the some places kids should see.  I had some trouble with my internet (Bright House, you are killing me!) and by the time the Computer Guru got me up and running the article had poofed.  I googled it and found something from CNN Travel about the 15 places children should see before they turn 15.  I clicked on to it because I was curious and because I'm looking for summer vacation ideas.  I also wondered if I had seen these places.

1. The Grand Canyon - check for me - check for Madison - I went to the Grand Canyon first with my mother and grandparents as witnessed by some slide photos previously posted.  I then went again with my mother and my friend Kim when we took a little trip to visit my Auntie Marilyn who was living in Arizona.  The third time I went to the Grand Canyon I took Tom and Madison.  Tom had never been and so on a visit to Arizona with his Aunt and Uncle we took a side trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon.  Madison wasn't quite two.  Still counts I guess even though she has no memory.  

2.  The Redwood Forest - check for me - Again another thing I did on that trip out west when I was seven years old.  I really only remember looking at tall trees. 

3.  Monticello - check for me - I don't have photos of this trip because I was young and with our friends the Smiths.  We visited Monticello and watched the crossing of wild horses from Assateague Island to  Chincoteague Island.  I actually remember visiting Thomas Jefferson's house and have a vivid memory of walking up to the house on a pathway.

4.  Freedom Trail - check for me - This was yet another place Kim and I visited on our excursion through the New England countryside.  We had met up with a tour group led by a guy named Al from Boston.  We ended up in a couple of youth hostels with this group, and when Al heard we were going to be through Boston he invited us to stay with him.  He worked in Hingham in the shipyard.  He lived in a dormitory warehouse where he supervised the kids who worked there in the summer.  The kids lived in this dorm then, but since it was October the dorm was empty and so Kim and I stayed a couple nights there.  It was the craziest thing I've ever done and the most fun.  We took the ferry into Boston and walked the Freedom Trail.

5.  Niagara Falls - There is some discrepancy in this one.  I thought I had been here on my way to or from Europe the summer before my 8th grade year.  My mother swears that never happened.  I have a photo of some roaring water that I always thought was the falls, but....guess I will have to put this on my list.

6.  The National Mall - check for me - check for Madison & Darcy - Another stop on my trip with Kim.  We did the city proud.  We rode the trolley and hopped off and on viewing attractions.  It was a great way to get around the city to see everything.  I later went again with Tom when he ran the Marine Corp Marathon.  I seriously have very few memories of touring D.C. then with him, but we went again with Connie and the girls a few years ago.

Trip with Kim in the 1989

Trip with Tom in early 90's

Trip with the girls 2006

7.  Williamsburg - This too is another one that I'm sure I've been to and so I'm checking it for myself.  When I did this I'm not sure, but I remember exploring Jamestown.  Perhaps with Karl Smith?  Hmmm....perhaps I should still go through Williamsburg on my way to the Falls.

8.  Walt Disney World - check, check, and triple check - You live in Florida and can afford it you go to Disney World.  I'm glad to see it made the list because it truly is the most magical place on earth.  Okay, maybe that's stretching it some, but you will definitely forget about your worries when you visit here.






9.Independence Hall - Now there is a slight chance that I have been here, but I'm not going to count this.  I visited Philadelphia years ago while visiting my once Pennsylvanian neighbors the Smiths.  I flew out of Philadelphia on my first solo plane ride and so we stayed there with my friends' grandparents.  We might have done some touring of the city, but I have no memory of any of it save for sitting around the Dilg's house.

10.  Alcatraz Island - Never been and San Francisco is on my lists of places to visit.  I'll just add Alcatraz next to it and make sure my daughters are along for the ride.

11.  Ellis Island - Although I visited New York with Kim on another traveling adventure we did not see Ellis Island.  I was more interested in seeing David Letterman at the time I was there.  My kids have only driven around New York City as we made our way to Washington D.C. so that certainly does not count.

12.  Yellowstone National Park - check for me - On my trip out west.  This is probably the park I remember the most because we had a bear come up to our car window and it was oh, so exciting and yet oh, so scary.







13.  Fenway Park - Never been, and I found this one to be the oddest of all the places listed.  I like baseball, and I understand it is the oldest stadium still around today, but wouldn't the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown be a better place to visit?  And I have visited that and could have checked it off, darn it!

14.  Crater's of the Moon National Monument and Preserve- Huh?  Never heard of it.  It is located in Idaho and known as "the only officially weird park".  Apparently there were volcanic eruptions there some 15,000 years ago and it has a 618 square mile lava field that was once used by astronauts as a training site.  Interesting.  Guess that will have to be a stop on my way to California.

15.  San Diego Zoo - Nope.  Along with San Francisco, San Diego is a place I've never been, but is on my list.  I'm not a big zoo person, but I've heard this is the zoo to tour in the U.S.

Okay, so I've been to eight out of the 15 places (and maybe more depending on who you believe), but I've got a long way to go in making sure my children get to these attractions.  Madison will be 15 in November so it looks like I've got my summer already planned.  You would have thought they would have done a better job of not spreading them all around the map of the U.S., wouldn't you?  I guess I'll have to group them and take the next few vacations to hit the north, south, east, and west attractions.  Anyone want to join me?

Look what I found

Since we chucked the entertainment center I had to find a spot for all of the crap that was inside it, mainly CD's and records.

Darcy:  "What's a record?"

I had just taken them all out of the entertainment center and dumped them on the dining table and dining room chairs.  After a week of looking at the stuff on the dining room table I began looking around my house for a place to put the stuff, albeit temporarily until we replaced the center.  After a week of searching for the replacement I realized that the albums would need a more permanent place because the new entertainment centers are now called consoles and are half the size.

Tom:  "Why are we keeping these albums?"

I live in a small Florida home that was built in the 60's.  People in the 60's obviously did not have much stuff because besides a closet in each bedroom I have exactly three other closets; one by the front door and two in the hallway that are half the size of the one by the front door.  So let's say I have two extra closets.  Seriously, if you really got do to it the only closet that is really a closet is the one in Madison's bedroom.  It is like the closet Rusty and I had as kids, stretches almost the entire length of a wall.  For years her closet housed every piece of junk we owned.  Now it houses all the extra bedspreads, comforters, and quilts along with some junk and boxes of junk.

So I decided that I would put the CD's in the buffet that my mother-in-law gave me that is right by my front door.  It is quite large and I got all of my CD's in there.  It also had my photo albums so I thought I should take the photo albums out and put them into the hall closet and replace them with the record albums.  Easier said then done and it resulted in an emptying of the closet and a lot of other nonsense, but it doing all of this I discovered the following:

This was an album I ordered off the television!  It had all these great hits, but when it arrived I discovered that the songs were sung by other singers and not the original artists.  A  huge wake up for me at my own expense.

I think this must have been one of Rusty's records, and I bet he never played it.  I kept all of his record albums because a lot of them were in my old record case that I had as a kid (bet I could find it in a slide photo) and he didn't want them, and I was feeling nostalgic, what with the sale of my 8200 house.

Who doesn't love Uncle Lumpy?  This will be one of the first albums I play when I get my record player hooked back up in my TV console.

Obviously I had a think for Muskrat Love.  This is the 45.  Remember when those records came in protectors with pictures?  Found quite a few of those.

Who doesn't love George Michael and Billy Joel?  I was a big Billy Joel fan.  Think I have most of his albums and he dominates my Ipod next to Toby Keith.  My favorite George Michael song back in the day was Faith, but that came way later than his stint in Wham!

I ended up getting all of the stuff put away, but now I can't wait to hook up the old recorder player and start listening to some of these oldies!

Darcy:  "What's a recorder player?"
Tom:  "You still have a recorder player?  Does it work?"

What to think, what to think...

While being a stay-at-home-mother is a thankless rewarding job, it is a job that, when the kids are grown and off to school or sleep overs or get-togethers, one is left alone with only the thoughts in one's head.  I spend a lot of time talking aloud or just talking aloud in my head.  Here are just a few things that went through my head yesterday while cleaning:

A man had to have designed the toilet.  He had to have done this because no women would have designed a toilet with curves.  What is the point of all these curves on the underside of the toilet that no one even sees?  Curves that collect dust, dirt and grime that then have to be cleaned...by a women...who has to bend way over to even reach the stupid curves in the first place.  Are all toilets like this?  They probably aren't, but then Tom picked out this toilet and he is a man and he didn't look at these dumb curves and think, "how ridiculous".  Because he doesn't clean them! 

And then why do builders put the curved toilet in a spot right next to the shower so that when someone wants to clean the toilet she can't get her upper body between the tight fit of the toilet and shower to even clean the curvy toilet?  She has to kneel on the tiled floor to even reach the bottom of the toilet.  Because builders are men.  If I were to build a bathroom I wouldn't put the toilet here.  Where would I put the toilet?  Hmmmm...how would I have designed the layout of this bathroom?  Well, I would put the sink under the window.  Why aren't sinks under the window?  Then you would have something to look out at and enjoy.  Why are the showers under the windows?  It makes mold grow around the window and you have to make sure you have windows that are designed for no peeking.  If the sink were under the window who cares if the glass was see through?  Of course, you couldn't have a mirror, but you could put the mirror on another wall.  Okay, okay, maybe this design is the best for this particular bathroom, but know what?  I wouldn't have put the stupid bathroom here in the first place!  Yeah!  Yeah, I would have designed the entire house better so that the toilet was in a better spot.

I got this type of vacuum cleaner so that I could save money on bags.  I thought dumping out the canister would be quick and easy, but I didn't realize how filthy it would be.  Every time I want to vacuum this canister is full, and I don't know this, and I vacuum anyway, and it is a crappy job.  And then I discover it is because the canister is full of dirt and grime.  So I go to remove it and the dirt and grime falls out of the top on to the semi-cleaned floor that I just vacuumed.  And my hands are black.  And now I see that the bottom of the canister, which my husband pointed out to me catches dirt and grime, is full too.  Now I'll have to clean it too.  Oh, and look what is in here.  The filter.  And it is filthy.  Now it is all wet from cleaning it so I can't put it back together and finish vacuuming.  The vacuums with the bags are looking better to me. See what happens when I get cocky?  Who in the world designed these things?  I bet it was a man!

I don't know why I can't just stay in one room and finish cleaning it.  I'm cleaning my dining room table, but that led to me opening up the hall closet, which then led to me cleaning out the hall closet without finishing the dining table.  And at one point I wandered into my bedroom closet and what do you know?  I started cleaning it too.  Why is that?  My house looks worse then it did before I started cleaning.  I made a list.  Why didn't I just stick with that list and follow it?  It doesn't say clean out closet.  Well, it sort of does.  I mean I kind of knew that I would have to get some things down to make room for some of the stuff on the dining table.  But the bedroom closet wasn't on the list.  But it does look good.  And I got rid of a bunch of clothes I won't ever wear again.  And it freed up space so that I could go shopping.

Remember when shopping....?

Does anyone out there (over the age of 40) remember the grocery carts where kids rode under the basket?  I have vivid memories of going into a store with my mother and immediately fighting over who was riding under the cart.  Because there was only one mother and two kids, only one kid was able to ride.  It was designed so that the kids fit right under the cart sitting upright.  All kids rode under the carts and it was like a little society where mothers would push us around while they shopped, and we would talk to one another or wave to one another from the floor level.

I thought of this the other day while shopping because while I was at the checkout my daughter did this:

 

She doesn't quite fit, but she says it beats walking.

Connie Foot Photo #12

 Today the Foot God decided he would sew on the apligraf (read here all about it).  As I've said before the apligraf is living cells, proteins, and collagen all rolled into....what looked to me like a piece of paper.

 The apligraf came in a sealed bag.  The Foot God had nurse Michele pour some saline into the bag and then he pulled out the apligraf with tweezers and slapped it on to the wound and smoothed it out.  I commented on how it looked like a piece of paper and my disappointment in this, but the Foot God was pretending I was not standing over his shoulder admiring his work and taking pictures.

He then opened another bag and removed this tool.  He had a curved needle that was threaded and he began poking around for a place to jab this needle into.  When I realized that he intended to sew up Connie's foot I decided that perhaps my standing over the Foot God might make him nervous, and I went to sit down....by Connie's head.  Connie and the Foot God commented on my squeamishness and my lack of professionalism as a blogger, and so to save face I returned to stand behind the Foot God and resume photographing.

Nurse Kelly peeked into the room to observe.  Connie did not feel his sewing, and he seriously did not care one way or the other, or so it seemed.  Again, it is hard to read the Foot God.  He had a tough time getting the needle in and out of Connie's thick skin and lots of blood was involved.

When he finished sewing it looked like this.  I was a tad disappointed in the whole procedure.  This is a graft?  It seemed quite sloppy to me, which I commented on and was ignored.

The Foot God then cut around the apligraf and his sewing to tidy up a bit.  I mused aloud at how much apligraf seemed to be wasted.  No comment.  He had told us earlier he had gotten it for free, and other than thanking him, Connie and I left it at that.  We wondered, of course, later how he had done this, but at the time Connie was just thankful.

The job was completed in less time then it took to visit the lady's room.  I said that the end result looked like a pink rose and nurse Michele agreed.  The Foot God just continued ignoring us and working on finishing the job.  Usually he leaves the wrapping job to the nurses, but today he did it himself.  Which, of course, I commented on.

Which he, of course, ignored.  When we talk about the Foot God aloud we also answer for him so that it is like we are having a conversation with him.  Occasionally he makes one syllable responses, but it is very rare.  Sometimes he says, "What?" and then we repeat our comment and he might snort or he sometimes repeats what we just said in question form.

Me:  "Wow, he is actually doing the dressing this time.  He never does the dressing.  He usually leaves that to the peons."
Connie:  "Perhaps he feels that after a surgery he must finish the awesome job himself."

Foot God:  "What's that?"
Me:  "You're doing the bandaging.  You don't usually do that.  You order your nurses to finish up that mundane job."
Foot God:  "I don't do the bandaging?"

When it was all over and done with the Foot God said he would see us on Friday, but I mentioned that wasn't such a good day for me.  We changed it to Monday, although I offered to rearrange my schedule if he thought Friday was when he should see her.  It was like pulling teeth, but he told me Monday was fine.  The home health nurses are not to touch the foot and the bandage is not to come off for a week.  Connie has an appointment with the infectious disease doctor today, but she will not be able to see the foot, and when we called her office to explain this the nurse said to come in anyway.

UPDATE:  Visited the infectious disease doctor who informed Connie that she could pump in all the antibiotics into the wound, but the only way to heal was to stay off of the foot.  Connie actually heard this       (unlike all the times I've said it) and is adapting.  On Wednesday the wound was seeping through the bandages.  On Thursday the home health nurse called the Foot God and put new bandages on top of the old bandages and Connie is to see him Friday.

Weekend in review

 - Saturday I tried to sleep in, but was rudely awaken by the dog who jumped up on the bed and ran from side to side, attempting to jump over my legs, but failing miserably, while he avoided my husband who was chasing him to remove his sock from the dog's mouth.  It wasn't quite nine o'clock.  I got up, grabbed my phone, and climbed into Darcy's vacant bed to play the new games I'm obsessed with on my Iphone.

• Words with friends
• Bakery story
• Restaurant story
• Sally's Hair Salon
• Farm story
• Sally's Spa

- While on Iphone playing the above games I got a text from Kelly who wished to meet me up the street at our local cafe for breakfast.  While I wasn't dressed and was quite content to linger in Darcy's clean room, that had taken me three hours the day before to clean, the thought of the cafe's creme brulee french toast had me texting back I would be ready in ten minutes.

- Met Kelly (with the girls) and enjoyed my creme brulee french toast while sitting outside enjoying the broiling Florida sun that shone down on my back, the only part not covered by the rainbow striped umbrella over our table.  We lingered after breakfast not sure that we wanted to continue on with the hussle and bussle that was to become our day.

- The girls and hubby hemmed and hawed about accompanying me on my weekend visit to Connie's and so I marched out of the house in irritation and visited her alone.  We had a nice chat and I completed her grocery shopping for her.  I then headed out to the mall.

- Which was a mistake because trying on bathing suits once again soured my mood, as did the phone call I received from hubby and daughters stating they were heading up to Grandma Connie's to meet me.  They met her without me.  We met up later for dinner at the Olive Garden.

- After dinner Darcy and I continued shopping because we weren't ready to end the day.  Madison and Tom headed home.  Darcy and I went to a different mall and ended up buying her a third dress for the 8th grade graduation that has become larger than Prince William's upcoming marriage.  The girls need a dress for the graduation itself, which will be held outdoors, and for the party, that will be in the evening at a country club.

Darcy's day time dress

Darcy's evening dress

Darcy's 3rd dress

- Enjoyed the Super Moon outside upon our return.  Dabbled with photographing it, but have decided it will not win any photography awards, although the foliage picture might.

- Found to my horror that, despite my belief that all Hoosiers filled out a NCAA basketball bracket each March Madness, this is not the case.  Kelly doesn't care for basketball, thus causing me to wonder if she was adopted from China.  Lost my pick of Pitt to beat Duke in the finals.  Wondering now if maybe I've been away from the state for too long.

- Spent Sunday at a third mall shopping with the eldest daughter this time who is the one graduating and who is the one without any dresses.  Came to the realization that she finds it a torture to shop with me because I'm obviously an idiot who knows nothing about fashion.  While I might not know fashion I do not believe I am an idiot, and I do know what looks good and what doesn't.  I also remember feeling those same feelings about my own mother.  Very conflicting and not how I wanted to spend my Sunday.

- Decided my dog matches my tile floors.

- Headed for bed and realized that the sheets I took off the bed to wash that morning hadn't magically reappeared on the bed.  Wondered how comfy the new couch was in the Steelers room, but knew that come Monday I might not be so cheerful!