Sunday, August 31, 2008

It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Hit By A Hurricane

My sister Gina and her family live in New Orleans. She has made her career as a lawyer, fighting for the people of New Orleans. Long hours were taking their toll and she wanted to spend more time at home with her husband Charlie and my stinky nephew Stephen.

So she got a new job. She is working for St Tammany Parish. She is second in command. St Tammany Parish is just north of Lake Pontchartrain across the long causeway. As a government official she is very busy preparing for Hurricane Gustav.

There are mandatory evacuations. Charlie and Stephen are in Texas with my folks.

But Gina....had to stay.

Earlier in the week there were some light hearted conversations about how she's only been on the job a few weeks and now she gets a hurricane. And to top it off...tomorrow is her birthday.

It's not very funny any more.

Say a prayer for her...and all the government, rescue and emergency folks who are hunkered down, waiting for the storm to hit. And waiting to help those who need help and to do the things that need to be done so everyone can come home.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Me Thinks Perhaps He's Seen It Once Or Twice Before

Andrew and I have spent the day together.

We went to Splash Cove where I didn't do the typical, sit on the side of the pool and watch him. I swam, wore my goggles so we could wave at each other underwater, went down all the slides...many times, stood under the water fall and surfed in the wave pool. This is the only 6 year old summer we get.

We bought a used Trail A Bike and took it for a test spin.

We went to the store, got the fixings and enjoyed home made pizza.

I spent $10 on two movies at Blockbuster but he wanted to watch 'School Of Rock' instead.

So now I am relaxing on the couch while he recites to dialogue.

Anyone got any guesses how many times he's seen it?

Those Calls That Stick WIth Us

We had a tough call early in the morning last shift.

Not tough physically. We weren't there a long time. It wasn't that.

It was the finality of it. The sad, sad waste. Something unfortunate happened. Maybe intentional, maybe not. That's for the police to decipher. But it is sad.

Sad for the family who lost a daughter. Sad for the family that perhaps has already lost their son. Sad for the little brother who was there and will never be the same.

Teachers, cops, ems, fire, nurses, docs, hospice...we all have a handful of calls/patients/students that stay with us. People we see when we close our eyes.

My list is one call longer.

Friday, August 29, 2008

I Had The Best Intentions


Really...I did.
I was going to spend the day working on some projects at home.
Maybe even tackle the attic office.
I swam this morning. Did a little basic housework...
...and then.
Zzzzzzzzz.
(and some Oprah)

Jeeze...she has an annoying voice...

What do you think about the republican vice presidential candidate.

Not very polished.

Ummm...now I don't have a clue...even more than before.

(I CANNOT believe I've asked a political question on this blog...what is the world coming to?)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Hereford House or Little Caesars?

My fab nephew Austin turned 16 yesterday...yikes!

For dinner we went to the Hereford House for meat. He's a boy, you know...gotta have meat.
Dinner was yummy.

Andrew had Little Caesars. Picky kid. We tried everything. He wasn't having it...we picked up pizza on the way home.

Crazy.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I am now the proud owner of not one but two epi pens.
And the wasp sting has now cost me over $200.
And I get to spend next Friday at the allergist getting all sorts of insect venom injected to see if I react.
Good times.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Sonic Coffee??

I think every fire station should be equipped with a coffee maker that can be controlled with a long distance remote control.

So the coffee will be ready when you return from the 5am grease fire at Sonic.

(yes our coffee maker has an auto function...it's set for 6:45am)

Have a great Tuesday.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

i love my dogs, i love my dogs, i love my dogs

(i don't love my elderly dog's elderly bladder)
I swear I just let her in!
It's why we have wood floors and a box of dog towels in the garage...

What Customer Service?

If I were providing a service to someone...perhaps...car insurance. And I raised the insurance $250 a year...FOR NO REASON (they said it was a 'state wide increase').

And that person called to let me know that they were cancelling the policy and going with another company (closer to the original premium).

I would not be insulted or snippy when that person was not interested in getting a home owners quote.

Why, why would I continue to do business with them when they raise my rate FOR NO REASON!!!

And then...when I change my phone service and the company I switch to contacts my current provider. Why does the original company still bill me...for service I've not yet even received...or will ever receive since I no longer am connected to them!!!

I'm surrounded by papers. And starting to lose track of who I have talked to and who I still need to talk to.

Arghhhh.

Side note...the fellow from Liberty Mutual (they now hold both home and auto for me) was super. If you are looking to switch let me know and I'll give you his number!

Have a great weekend.

(please note that this is in no way a post about money...it is a post about business, how not to do business, customer service and how frustrating it is to deal with these people. Do you have any frustraing customer service stories? Come on...you guys always have stories!)

Friday, August 22, 2008

still nothing...so here is a picture of my lemon growing on my little lemon tree.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Not much going on today so here is my favorite picture from this last trip.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Yawn...Go USA


Oh my gosh...are you as tired as I am? All this Olympics watching is really interfering with my quality sleep time!
I FINALLY saw some rowing today. Michele Guerrette won a silver medal in the women's singles event. 1st time since 1982 that the US has medaled in this event! Go Michele!
Of course, I was at work and as the men's pairs were about 1500 meters down the course we got a call and we we came back water polo was on. Figures.
Speaking of water polo...those folks are tough. They are swimming or treading water the entire game. Cool.
Earlier this week I might have mentioned that I was not so fond of beach volleyball. Here's my beef.
There are 302 events in 28 sports. When they are showing swimming we watch different swimmers swim different events. When they are showing track and field there are many different athletes competing in many events. Rowing-same. Weightlifting-same. Gymnastics-same. There are some team sports that don't hold my attention much, baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, etc. But even in those sports the teams are large.
Beach volleyball. IT'S THE SAME TWO GIRLS DOING THE EXACT SAME THING. OVER AND OVER AND OVER. And it's on TV ALL THE FREAKIN TIME!!!
Okay, I'm done.
I did enjoy the badminton. And the cycling was neat although I don't really understand the track racing. I'm like most of the rest of you, I've been watching Micheal Phelps every move. I'm watching the women's marathon right now and it's pretty cool.
So...what are we all going to do when this is over? Sleep.
(I've tried several times to get the spacing in this post but blogger hates me)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I hate beach volleyball.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Itchy!!!!

Oh my lord...the itchy...it it so ungodly itchy!!!!

I'm three doses of steroids in and woke up this morning with my right eye completly swollen shut.

Now I'm just itchy....

I know it will/is getting better but I AM SO OVER THE ITCHY PUFFY FACE!

Did I mention that I'm itchy?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

It's Just A Little Swollen, Yeah.

Apparently I'm a tad allergic to wasps all of a sudden. A trip to the emergency clinic for antihistamines and steroids and hopefully tomorrow the puffy face will look more like my regular face. And I will steer clear of wasps from now on...and maybe get an epi pen...hmmmmm.

Kimmy says the picture doesn't do it justice. Gina suggested a girls night out where I can be the ugly sister. Barb and Kim were plotting how to save my life with a bic pen should I have any trouble breathing (don't worry Mom...my breathing is just fine). Austin thinks I look like I got beat up.

Can ya feel the love?

I Got Beat Up By A Texas Wasp

And just say that you pick up your baseball cap, put it on your head and there is a wasp in it.
He will sting you on your forehead and you will wake up the next morning with a very itchy rash on your forehead and scalp and your eye will be swollen...not shut but just enough to make you look like you got beat up...by a wasp

I know it's probably not very animal friendly but I crushed his body with my shoe.

Now he's mulch.

Which I suppose is environmentally friendly.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Dad Always Has A Project

My father with his heart condition wanted to move a wood pile...in the heat of the day.
So everyone jumped in to help...except me of course...I was busy documenting the processs in pictures.
Austin got to practice his driving.

More Riveting Vacation Pics

Blogger is such a huge pain when it comes to uploading photos and arranging pages that I will be posting with no organization and only some commentary...enjoy.


On Vacation

MUD commented a few days ago how he wished his people would post while on vacation. Now I think he was strongly hinting that he'd REALLY like to see some pictures of little Austin Michael...and I have to agree with him, some more pics would be awesome.

I do understand that between getting the new house ready to move into, getting the old house ready to move out of and running back and forth to NICU, they might have been just a little busy. But they are home now and we all hope good pictures are forthcoming.

Now...here's another one of my vacation posts. Get a cuppa and settle down for painfully cute pictures of the nephews, cools pics from the lake and maybe...just maybe a picture of my dad...SMILING.

Travel to Texas if often peppered with little detours. We don't take major interstates...as you can see above...sometimes we don't even take minor ones. The IPhone came in very handy. Who would have known that the correct turn would take us under this bridge!

Andrew and I start every morning with a walk to check out the dock. It's one of my favorite parts of every day.


Andrew is perfecting his photography skills. I won't share the 16 pictures of the garden hose.




Austin and Andrew enjoyed the boat trip. We went out to see the lake and do a little swimming.

Sistahs...

Ready

Set

Jump

Coming back into the cove Andrew took the steering wheel.

Look...his hands only!

At lunch while we were explaining to Andrew that he would have to take turns playing with the IPhone...that I was Austin's aunt too...Andrew said "she's MY aunt Jenn, I saw her first!" I love that kid.

Kenny was our awesome photographer...Kim gave some instruction.

Can you believe this is AFTER Austin's haircut?

Three of my favorite people.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

You'd Think By Now...


Grocery store employees would be figuring it all out. Reusable bags, I mean.
Get ready for a little rant.
In the last week I have:
  1. Shopped at a local grocery store. One that advertises a 'farmers market' on Saturdays and participates in an Eat Local CSA. I grabbed something by mistake and I left my cart at the checkout (it was not busy, no one else in line and the checker said "go") to grab the correct item. When I returned the checker had rung up my items, placed all of my produce in separate plastic bags and put my purchases in my reusable bag. ARGHHHHH.
  2. Forgot my reusable bag and asked that my purchases be sacked in paper...which she then slipped inside a plastic one. ARGHHHHHH
  3. Had a 2 minute conversation with a checker trying to convince me to put my prescription, already over packaged in a paper sack, in a plastic sack. ARGHHHHH
  4. Had a checker put a carton of eggs in a plastic bag and then put the bag in my reusable bag. ARGHHHHH

It's interesting to me how confused some checkers become when presented with a reusable bag. You know how they load a paper bag...heavy items at the bottom, bread and eggs on top...yeah, not so much. They lay the bag on it's side and shove everything in. I often take the bag to the end of the counter after I've paid and re sack.

It would be easier to just be quiet and take my purchases home in many plastic bags. It would be easier to drive my car to work. It would be easier to dry my clothes in the dryer. It would be easier to just throw everything away.

But it's not about being easier.

It's about be more aware of the impact we have on the world we live in.

But it's not easy.

There...I feel better.

Here They Are


Mother and Son
(And I have word that he's coming home today!)

Monday, August 04, 2008

Oh My God...It's So Freakin Hot!

Like 100 degrees!
I promise to freeze my buns off all winter but for the love of god bring on the AC!
Hanging out at the station today. Brought the girls because old dogs do not do well left out in the heat. The AC here is just barely keeping up.
Can't wait to get a fire call, put on our snowsuits and go work hard...yeah, good times.
So what do all really smart people do when it gets this hot? Why they jump in the car and drive to Texas where it's REALLY hot. So, yeah, we'll be doing that later this week. I WILL be in the kiddy pool with Andrew.
(Yes MUD, I'll blog from there and no, I don't have a picture of Austin Micheal to post)
Speaking of the little guy. He's had a rough go his first week of life. Had some trouble keeping his oxygen level up so he spent a few days under a hood getting some help. Now he has a little jaundice but they are taking care of that with some lights. Hopefully he'll be home soon but a few prayers sent his way can't hurt. His mom sure wants him home and healthy. I can't imagine how hard this is for mom and dad.
So...anyone have any techniques for dealing with the crazy heat.
I like napping by a fan.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Yeah...so, please don't come over. Okay?

Because the homestead is a mess like never before.

Manda went off to Alabama to hold and love the new baby nephew and left me all to my own.

Now I vaguely remember living alone. Leaving the dishes in the sink. Letting my debris pile up on the couch. Not making the bed. Clothes on the floor. The house is small so it doesn't take long for things to go really awry.

Yeah, it's like that. Maybe worse.

I don't know if it's just because Amanda is out of town and I don't feel like I need to keep up with my junk so it doesn't spill over into her world. Or if it's the end of the crazy July that was.

But somehow I've lost my way around home.

The drawers are still straightened, the cupboards pretty okay, garage is good, refrigerator not too scary, basement had some recent attention. But the general living space...a little frightening.

So that's what I'll be doing tomorrow. Maybe I'll listen to some tunes that I didn't lose on the IPhone!

Kinda Like The Blue Screen Of Death

This is what the screen on my IPhone looks like. (now don't give me any crap...I know I just posted about money being tight...I bought this over a year ago...when it seemed like I HAD money...now I know better) So every once in a while there is an update for the phone. I just plug it into my computer and click 'update'.
The one available today was taking a while. The chief came by so I went up front to visit with him.
When I returned to my computer...the screen looked like this.

Ummmmm...
So I opened I-Tunes (which runs the IPhone) and saw this (only it said IPhone instead of IPod) :

Crap, Crap, Crap!!!!

Appropriate panic set in. Palms sweaty, tightness in the chest, ringing in the ears.

Quickly called Apple.

Nice customer service fellow (yes! I said nice, who knew) talked me through the restore and voila, I didn't actually lose anything.

Disaster averted.

This technology stuff is tricky.