Not So Much A Good Friday

Yesterday was a day I devoted to scrubbing my frig out, dusting and grocery shopping--dreaming of Ina Garten's Orange Glazed Ham that will grace my Easter feast table...

Most of the day was spent either beating the rain fall, glued to the TV watching "storm mode" or huddling...in of all places Walmart.

Yep huddling in Walmart is what I said!

 I have woke to realize there is no visual effects to being part of a "code black". Which means Walmart locks the doors and instructs its customers that a tornado has been spotted in the area and everyone must gather in the center of the store till an all clear is announced.  Huddling in the center of the store with Walmart mutants is really no fun. They allowed customers to continue shopping which was okay if you were in the market for Huggies diapers, an exersaucer or St. Louis Cardinal paraphernalia; because that is all that was in the center of the huddle zone.  Lucky me the restrooms were in the center cause I needed to pee like a race horse. When I entered the restroom I found around 20 mother and children seeking safety sitting on the nasty bathroom floor, ick! King Ralph moseyed over to electronics to see if the gazillion flat screen TV's were channeled to the weather. [They] "don't turn the TVs to weather in order not to panic the customers". Like a mandated center of the store huddle doesn't ensue panic. Dam, one pre-tween was crying before the wind even started to howl. I don't know about you but hearing my local weatherman tell me Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers came to town this week because they new our area was the hot storm mecca of the week and pointing out the deep red swirled areas on the map is more comforting than a Walmart "code black".  As I stood in the huddle listening to the storm grow in intensity, believing grapefruit size hail was turning my truck into Swiss cheese...turns out there was no hail just the fattest rain drops falling in gallon dumps along with roaring winds.  All this because I wanted some jelly beans.

While King Ralph and I huddled in Walmart we worried about Princess A who was in St. Charles on a party bus celebrating a friend's twenty-first birthday, M at work and D in the city at a restaurant celebrating one of her besties sixteenth birthday. When in "storm mode" mother hen and her rooster want their little chicks close by.  Turns out while our little chicks were fine our communities where hit yet again, neighbors crumbled, airport closed down....  When will this freaky wrath of weather stop? Dear God it's really enough now!  When you can walk away with your life it gives new meaning to Easter blessings.

While yesterday's non-stop storms have passed, birds seem to be singing their morning songs today, we wait...not just for Easter's blessings, its feast of ham, colored eggs and those treasured jelly beans, but MORE STORMS!

(the skies are darking as I type)      

Season: Sprinter

Who needs words when a picture tells the whole story--yuck!

Expecting 4 inches.

While I Was Doing Laundry

While I was doing laundry my pilot nephew was busy having just another day at the office.

The best part of this first day of Spring, besides being proud of my nephew, is wearing my sunglasses and flip flops not just because but because the weather becons it.  Grilling ribs and chicken, listening to music on the deck and sipping ginger ale.

I forgot to mention there are 49 days in the school year for me and D. Five days less for M.  Is counting down wrong?  H-E-double-L, NO!   

I Didn't Smell This One Coming

The words Spring-Break usually should include "spring"--

which is officially calendared to begin on March 20. 

Instead we have woke on the first day of break to this:

This photo was snapped at 830am

The snow stopped falling at 10am

All I have to say is...

THIS IS BULLS#*+!!!!!!!

*********

1145am snow coming down again

big-fat-flakes

MORE BULLS#*+!!!!!!!

The Reason I Still Buy Jelly Beans

I had planned on skipping a beat with Easter this year...not buying baskets of candy, instead slipping a gift card or cash to the girls. When I mentioned this to King Ralph...there is always a corn field in my house, and one of many ears caught wind of my comment and moans "Princess A still got a basket of candy when she was a Freshman in high school!" So I revamped my original thought bought a sprinkling of candies and other goodies (flip flops and fun tanks), slipped a wee bit of cash into a plastic egg for each and did the traditional bunny baskets. Except I didn't hide them this year. I figure basket hunting time was better spent straightening and teasing those bumps they all like to wear in there hair.

After a feast of honey glazed ham, Kari's Egg-cellent Egg Casserole, hash brown casserole, blueberry muffins, strawberry short cakes and mimosas (for the 20 and over crowd) I snapped a picture of my babies to remember why it is-- I still buy and eat jelly beans.

Spring Break Costa Altantica Style

Getting back into the swing of routine life is a bit difficult when you have had the Caribbean sun kissing your skin for seven glorious days. Somehow I drug through Monday and then crashed at 7pm, sleeping till 530am. I woke to a Tuesday weather report of warm air and sunshine--just what the doctor ordered.

Last Thursday as I laid on a pool lounger on deck 10 switching back and forth between my novel and watching dolphins chase each other and the ship…I was a far cry from the torrential road blinding rain storm we drove through almost a week before that brought me to that place; that place of tropical relaxation and tranquility. Sunshine has a way of doing that. So does boiling hot sand on Morning Star Beach in St. Thomas that sends all running, no matter age, to the crystal blue and turquoise water. As does a Spanish fort in San Juan and crashing waves on Cabbage Beach in Nassau.

The dining room was another story. All I will say is the hamburgers at the pool bar saved my life each day. Things like this: seafood pasta with a dwarfed octopus placed on top was most definitely an appetizer killer. Don’t even get me started on the turkey with giblet gravy! I give kudos to the asparagus flan and the snow crab quiche, but I don’t have a lot of praises for the chef of the Costa Atlantica when he puts red and green candied cherries in the baked Alaska. I love me some candied cherries, IN MY FRUIT CAKE AND HOLIDAY STOLLENS, not in my baked Alaska!

The girls had a good time being silly
All us girls

We had a great time on the ship dancing

Relaxing with a good book

Most of all...being together as a family

Because after all that is what a family vacation is all about. Enjoying being together.

Most of all thankful the girls all have cameras they remembered to capture our memories when I forgot mine (because D moved it from the packing spot).

easter

What Makes A "Good Friday"

I have had my "June Clever" going since 6am. It feels oh-so-good.

So beside the obvious christian reason that makes this Good Friday-- having the day off work, my house smelling like Febreeze Mr. Clean and the dust bunnies caught and trapped-- making way for the bunny of the season that should be, D serenading me with the piano-- playing the sound track from Pride and Prejudice... I am feeling all good on this Friday.

So what's left? About thirty guest arriving at 6pm for everything fried and fattening-- fish, fries, hush puppies...

Mmmmm, I'm getting hungry already.

Now what do about the moonlight egg hunt. With all this rain it may be a swim meet for eggs.

The Break is Over

A weekend simply told with a few photos.

There was a night in the city.

A morning in the park.

Snapping pics of architecture.

To hang in the office.

Then to the burbs to hang with good friends.

Because, sometimes, luck has it, that your friend's kids become some your kid's best friends.

Watching the kids play ball games in the yard in the beautiful spring Frankfort air.

Men grill. Meat.

(pictures snapped by CoCo)

Now it's back to reality. School. Work.