December 8th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Class of '84
(obviously not all of us)

Good Morning! I have been seriously remiss in making blog posts lately, and I have a bunch to share with you now. It also didn’t help that I noticed I never posted the one from the 29^th. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I posted it Sunday morning on the blog site if you’re interested.

So, the 30 year reunion was a blast. I got to see a bunch of people, but I really couldn’t catch up with many because the music was too loud to chat. The common consensus was, four hour was definitely NOT enough time. We all wanted more.

The Committee
Back Row: Vinnie, Karolyn, Rebecca,
Bob, Mike, Laura, Gary
Front Row: Amy & Me

I think, in 2016, we are going to hold a 50^th birthday party for the class. We had some money left in the kiddy after the reunion was over, and we are throwing around the idea that, for the people who were there, it will be free, and for the folks who couldn’t make the reunion, there would be a nominal fee of $25 to attend. Now the reunion committee has an excuse to get together in under five years. It’s going to be great!

Yup, in PARK on the
highway

At ten in the morning, following the reunion, I began my drive south to bring Lys and her friend Max back to school. We decided taking Route 81 back would be much better than attempting Route 95. The best laid plans… It turns out there was a major accident on 81 in Virginia early Sunday morning, and traffic never quite recovered. We passed a dozen accidents, and if it wasn’t for this app Max had, we would have been sitting in more traffic than we did. All in all, the trip took 13 ½ hours, which I guess isn’t too terrible considering at one point I had the car in park on the highway, and we took several breaks and a 45 minute dinner.

Bumper to bumper on
Route 81

I crashed at Lys’ that night, and before I left, we had one errand to run. You see, for the past month, Lys has been getting cyber bullied, so our errand was to the police station to file a report. We had thought they would be able to subpoena Yik Yak to have them trace the IP address of the person doing the harassing; but even though the anonymous posts are disturbing, they do not cross the line into threatening, so the police’s hands are tied. They can’t do anything. The same holds for the college itself.

Because of this, Lys has elected to part ways with High Point, and return to Champlain. She would rather deal with a cranky Mother Nature than a psycho in the human form, and I can’t say I blame her. This means, next Monday, I will be driving back down to North Carolina to pack her up and bring her home. Then, in January, I’ll be bringing her back to Vermont, and setting up her new room up there. Never a dull moment. To be honest, I’d rather have her safe and only six hours away, so I’m not heartbroken that things did not work out at High Point. It would have been better if my daughter wasn’t traumatized in the process, but, live and learn. She’s a strong woman, with a good head on her shoulders, she’ll be fine.

The drive home was considerably better. It only took 11 hours, and that was with multiple stops, including a 45 minute one when it was pouring. The weather and traffic was terrible, and I was exhausted, so I pulled off at a rest stop, climbed into the back seat, and took a power nap. When I woke up, I felt refreshed, the rain had stopped, and the traffic had dissipated, so it was a beautiful thing.

I did not have my radio interview the Ron Shaw Show on ArtistFirst Radio Network on my drive home. I got the dates mixed up. My interview is actually tonight at 8pm. Ron told me my last interview had over 30K downloads, which completely shocked me, but he has the reports to prove it. Now that’s not the people who listen to it the night it aired, these are actually folks who clicked into the link after the fact, and listened to the hour long show. That’s mind boggling to me.

I have to make sure my phone is all charged and ready to go. I also have to figure out where I can do the interview. Last time I did it sitting in a chair in my driveway, because that’s where I got the best reception. That’s not exactly an option for a December in the Northeast interview, especially with a Nor’easter on its way. (There will be a special announcement on tonight's show, so, if you are available, please tune in.)

At least it’s a rain event, not a snow event. That’s all I would have needed. LATE Tuesday night, I am driving to Philly to pick up Dani’s boyfriend and his family from the airport. They have been down in Florida for the Cheerleading Nationals, and their flight comes in at 11:30. If this Nor’easter was going to be a snow event, I would have had them make other arrangements to get home. Then again, if it was snow, the flight would have more than likely been cancelled and I would have to pick them up on Wednesday.

Of course the lights on the
pre-lit tree wouldn't work, so
Paulie had to string more.

Saturday, we had our annual tree decorating party. It was over a week early this year. We usually do it as close to the first night of Hanukkah as we can, but Hanukkah is on the 17^th this year, and I wasn’t going to be home.

The 17 year old tradition started with one of my dearest friends, Rebecca, who happens to be Jewish. She loves decorating Christmas trees, but for obvious reasons, she did not get many opportunities to do so. I had invited her over to do ours with us. She would spend Christmas with us whenever she was in town, so why not have her help decorate the tree? By accident, not design, it was the first night of Hanukkah, the first year we did it. I had felt bad that on her holiday, she was helping us prepare for our holiday, so I made potato pancakes for dinner that night…and the tradition began.

3 dozen ornaments and
more lights out. The tree still
needs serious work!

Now, every year, I make a vat of potato pancakes (10lbs – roughly 200 - 250 pancakes), and a bunch of people come to my house and decorate my tree. With the exception of Rebecca’s son Noah, who placed more ornaments than everyone else combined, they did a sad job. I was too busy cooking to supervise, but I can just about guarantee, everyone else put exactly one ornament on the tree. I think next year, I am going to withhold the food until the tree is done. LOL.

Well, this had gone on long enough. I told you I had a bunch to tell you. The next blog entry will more than likely be next Sunday. There’s just too much to do this time of year, that I can’t find the time to blog as well. Sorry. I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

August 11th

Hi, it’s Christina –
 

It took over eleven hours, but we finally made it to the Outer Banks. Unfortunately, this is how our trip started:

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Driver-Killed-in-6-Car-Crash-on-I-295-219102701.html

 

Even after many years on the rescue squad, and being on countless accident scenes, seeing this one shook me up. There was literally NOTHING left on the outside of this car, just a mangled blob of twisted medal. I’m kinda glad everyone else in my car was asleep, so they don’t have the image permanently imprinted on their brain.

 

My husband and daughters woke up as when we were on the Chesapeake Bay-Bridge-Tunnel (they slept through two pit-stops and a gas fill-up) and wanted breakfast, so we stopped at Denny’s. Denny’s is usually known for their quick service, so I figured we’d be back on the road in half an hour. Almost two hours later, we get finish breakfast and are able to start heading south again. I realize things are done at a much more relaxed pace down here, but come on – two hours for breakfast? Seriously?

 

As usual, because we had plenty of time at Denny’s, I chatted with another customer. I made the comment about how many NJ License plates were in the parking lot. Not only was the man from New Jersey, he lives less than a mile from my house. I always said there were zero degrees of separation for our town!

 

Whatever, as long as I can hit that main strip getting onto the Outer Banks before one (rule of thumb for check in time on the island is 4:00 pm, so the closer you get to that time the thicker the traffic gets), I figure I will be able to avoid most of the traffic.

 

The first snarl happens fifty-two miles out and my eye starts to twitch. If I had to sit in fifty-two miles of bumper to bumper traffic, I was going to go postal. Luckily, it was only about two miles of back-up which I think was caused by an engineering error. Tons of cars had to get off at one exit, and the exit ramp was preceded by an equally busy entrance ramp. POOR planning if you ask me.

 

Traffic finally starts moving again and I think I’m in the clear, then boom, twenty miles out, it is bumper to bumper again. The last time we came to the Outer Banks, this strip took us over four hours to get through. This time, I managed in just under two, so I am considering it a bonus, but still at this point I am DONE and just want to get settled into the house, get some dinner and crash.

 

We get the keys, find the house and unload all of our junk. After the food is unpacked and put away, the next thing on my agenda is to make the beds. I go to make our bed, and the comforter they have on it is disgusting. I pull it off the bed and go to throw it in the washing machine, but it doesn’t fit, so I call the rental office and tell them about it. The girl asks what’s on the comforter and I tell her “Sorry, I left my CSI kit at home.” (You don’t even want to know.) They send the cleaning crew back to my house to get the comforter. As I am waiting for them to show up, I start looking around the place. The floors are a mess, the tub was not cleaned, the beds are sandy. OK, I can understand sand on the floors and the rugs. It is almost impossible to get the sand out when the house is in a beach town, but on the beds? The owner of the cleaning company shows up – what a sweet guy – I show him everything, and he immediately gets on the phone and arranges a crew to come over and clean again.

 

During this time we realize the AC is not working and we cannot get on to the internet. I am back on the phone with the rental agency. They say they will send over a computer guy and someone to fix the AC. She tells me a storm is rolling in, so things should cool down quickly and I should open the windows.

 

While I’m dealing with all of this, I send my husband and oldest daughter to the store and I wait for the various crews to show up and fix everything. I go to open the windows and find, except for two, the screens are either ripped, missing or filled with spiders so there was no way they were going to be opened.

 

The cleaning crew arrives and offers to clean everything, including the dishes which I have now discovered are all pretty gross. I told them I would just put everything through the dishwasher, and they could focus on the house. So the dishwasher is running, two vacuum cleaners are running, my youngest daughter has the TV going, and the computer guy and the owner of the cleaning company’s wife (another sweetie) show up. Now there are four extra people in the bungalow all working when Mother Nature decides to flex her muscles in the form of torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Of course the power goes out.

 

This is when my husband and daughter come back from the store. Did you know they only use paper bags in the stores down here? No plastic. Paper bags hold up so well during a downpour. Yup, you guessed it, groceries all over the driveway. You would think one of us would have thought to bring an umbrella. At this point, I don’t even want dinner, I just want to go to bed so I can wake up Sunday and all this would be over.

 

Power comes back on. The internet is now working. The cleaning crew finishes and promises to come back the next day with a clean comforter and extra dishwasher soap to replace what I used to clean what should have been cleaned before I got here. The AC guy shows up. Turns out the drainage lines were clogged, so the safety was shutting the unit down so the house wouldn’t flood. Easy fix, we are golden. My husband gets the grill assembled and cooks some burgers for dinner.

 

After dinner is cleaned up, I say I’m FINISHED and head for bed, the wonderful bed that squeaks so wonderfully with any slight movement you make. I try lying perfectly still so I don’t set off the bed and realize the bungalow has a pretty serious design flaw. All of the interior doors have louvers and are not solid. Not only do they not muffle sound within the house, somehow they manage to magnify the sound. So instead of sleeping, I am listing to the movie my family is watching in the living room.

Eventually I do manage to fall asleep, only to wake up at four a.m. (I misread the clock and thought it was six.) So this morning already I have emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, gone grocery shopping for items which were not purchased by my husband and daughter which we need – ie: half and half for the coffee - put everything away and have written this long-winded blog.

If find, at the moment, I am too tired and rather uninspired to tackle a writing challenge, so you have another day’s reprieve. Hopefully my husband has stopped snoring and I can go back to bed and get a few more hours of sleep. We will start up the writing challenges again tomorrow.

 

Have a wonderful day and happy writing!

July 12th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

 

Happy Friday! So does anyone have any great plans for the weekend? We’ll be at a birthday celebration on Saturday. One of my nieces has a birthday June 30^th, her sister’s birthday is July 7^th, so like with my girls who are Feb. 4^th & 15^th, we have a family party the weekend in between their birthdays. This year’s party was postponed so the girls’ aunt, uncle and cousin, who are visiting from Kentucky, could be at the party. But that’s not all… Saturday is also my brother-in-law’s birthday.

 

We made our trek out to Long Island yesterday. I was meeting my cousin half way so I could give her daughter back to her, so it was better than having to drive three hours to get to her house and then drive back home. Funny, I could swear I made it home from her house last Sunday in two hours.

 

I don’t know how people put up with that traffic, it’s insane. I also don’t know how people commute from NJ to NY every day for work. Sitting in traffic sucks up gas and the tolls alone to go over the Outerbridge Crossing and then back over the Verrazano cost $28. So between gas and tolls (obviously depending on the car you drive) you’re spending almost $50 a day getting to and from work. That’s $250 a week, $13K a year! Sorry, but that’s just flippin’ crazy!

 

Can someone please explain to me what justifies a $15 toll? That one bridge alone has got to be making MILLIONS every single day and at the expense of the hard working class. They should figure out a way to charge the people who are commuting for work like a dollar or two for the toll and everyone else has to pay a higher price with commercial vehicles paying the highest price. If you are going into the city for pleasure, then you have to pay. If you are going into the city to do business, then you have to pay. But if you are going into the city to go work for someone else, you shouldn’t have to pay as much. Wouldn’t that make much more sense?

 

And these bureaucratic ding-dongs can’t figure out why us common folk are struggling. All of them, across the board, they get elected and all common sense evaporates. The only explanation I can think of is that little light thingy they used in MIB is real, but it doesn’t erase memory, just the ability to think logically, and they zap every elected official during their initial publicity photos. What’s your explanation?

 

I say we form “The Common Sense” party; it doesn’t matter if you are more liberal thinking or conservative thinking, if you have common sense you can join (and then we’ll make sure we pass out dark glasses to our party before any photos are taken). I’m stepping down off my soapbox now. Sorry, there are just times when I feel the need to bang my head against a wall. But that took longer than I had budgeted for, so on to the challenges.

 

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Would you change if you won the lottery?

 

I said I wouldn’t change if I ever won the lottery, and I don’t think I have really. I will admit my clothes are no longer from the Salvation Army but from a department store, but that’s not really a change. And I have stopped eating Raman Noodles and have fresh fruit and veggies, but that’s just healthy, it doesn’t really change me. Well, one little change is I now have a tiny house with some land so I can plant a garden instead of low income housing, but that’s just a change in location, not in me. 

The kids are buying their own lunches at school and no longer have to use the free tickets we used to get, but they are definitely not point out that fact, so there is no change there either. For the first time ever, we have money in the checking account and there are no more nasty people calling us night and day looking for money. The only change there is I am no longer afraid to answer the phone. The cat and dog have now had all their shots, and our socks and underwear no longer have holes, but again I’m no different. I haven’t done anything extravagant, I treat people the same way I always have in the past, I can honestly say I have not changed.

The people around me however have and it’s very strange. Folks who would never even give me the time of day now want to be my friend. Companies all of a sudden think I am good enough to have their credit cards, we get at least five in the mail every day. Where were they when the kids woke up Christmas morning and there was nothing under the tree, hell there wasn’t even a tree.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.