Off to a good start today...

Got up early because I have a ridiculous number of things to get done, and I'm just fooling around on the computer for a bit while I reformat another one right next to me (got a nice setup going here, LOL)

Zoe responded to a comment of mine on her blog for the first time that I can recall (unless she responded to one that I never checked back on...)

Lets see. Today I need to get the hot water heater taken care of (dh gets paid today, so it's now or never!)

Then I need to make sure that this new computer desk I got from a freecycler makes it into my daughter's room. I would prefer to do this before she gets home, as she and I differ drastically in opinion over what is a suitable manner in which to arrange her (usually catastrophically messy) bedroom....

I also need to make sure I get laundry and dishes under control, since with 7 people in the house if you let them pile up for even two days you're up to your eyeballs in both.

Well, I'd better get to it all. I'm sure I'll be back here in front ot the screen later when I need to rest a bit from all the physical exertion. Probably won't go to the gym today, considering.
; )

Run, run, run!

Well, there's another "Aaron" title, LOL

Since Frank's Jeep is not reliable enough for him to drive to work, he's been taking his dad's Saturn, and his dad's been driving my car (which was just recently repaired, or we'd REALLY be stuck right now!)

Anyway, since dh has had to work over ('til noon) so far every day this week, I can't go to the gym in the morning... and it's been kinda screwing up the way I do things. But that's okay. I'll manage.

So today, as soon as he gets home, I'm taking Joe and Selena to the park to meet with the kids from a local homeschool support group we belong to, then after that I have to pick up Timmy, and THEN I can go to the gym. Finally, some time this evening, my neighbor is supposed to take me to get a computer desk that a freecycler is giving me, for my daughter, Sarah. That should be nice for her, as she's tight on space and it has more vertical storage space (above where the computer goes, it's like a hutch... I think) I'll probably just trash the desk she's been using as she has covered it with graffiti and someone would have to do a major refinishing job to it if they wanted it. It's a shame. Sometimes I just want to whack that girl upside her head.

I'm hoping I can remember to get my son to tape Smallville for me tonight, since the new season just started last week, but I'm not so much of a fanatic that I can't stand to miss it, either. In fact, I rarely sit and watch tv at all. I set it to turn itself off at night when I go to bed, and after I read my book I watch a little 'til I can't keep my eyes open, but nothing memorable, to be sure.

Tomorrow should be a little better, especially if dh gets to come home at 8am and we can do something about the hot water heater.

I suppose I shouldn't worry too much about not getting to the gym if I can't... it's more important that we deal with the water heater, and if I miss one or two workouts it's not going to kill me!

Okay. 'Nuff said. Time to get dressed and charge into my busy day. (It was nice sleeping in 'til 10 after making sure the kids got up for school!)

It never rains but it pours...

Ugh. Our hot water heater is leaking... and since it's attached to a dysfunctional solar panel, it may be more trouble and expense to deal with than it would be if it were a normal hot water heater. Not only that, but it's a huge capacity heater, and it would be a real bummer if we had to replace it with a smaller one due to finances. With 7 people taking showers, doing dishes, laundry, etc. I can't imagine how much of a nuisance it would/will be to have a 40 gallon tank instead of the current 80. (I'd LOVE to have a 120!!!)

In other news, my 18 year old son is currently attempting to buy a car... more about that as it unfolds.

Well, I'd better go get dressed and eat. I have a parent/teacher conference with my son Timmy's teacher at 2, and it's 10 past 1 now.

Ta!

Long hard day, and another to come...

It is really late for me to be posting today, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm okay, just swamped with stuff both online and off. I don't want to give a boring rundown of it all, just suffice it to say I've been thinking about all of you and will make the rounds to all on the blogroll as soon as time permits!
: )

I love you people!
~Lydia

This, that, and the other...

In addition to preparing for the hurricane, I've had to contend with a power play from another moderator attempting to take over my Freecycle group. She actually went in and changed her priviliges so that she had the power to delete my group, if she so desired... and I suspect she was trying to demote me from owner to member (which can only be done by another owner... not by a moderator)

Therefore I had no choice but to protect my group by demoting HER to the status of member... as well as another co-moderator whose priviliges she chose to change at the same time she changed hers... they are both of the same opinion regarding things that we disagreed on, so I decided better safe than sorry.

I have also backed up the membership list of my group, in case they find another way to circumvent my authority... but this is all so childish and petty, especially with this monster storm approaching... I really wish I had a B.O.B. to kick and punch on a bit! I would never attack a real person... but these martial arts training supplies are pretty nifty.

What flavor are you?

Got this from Lady C's page:

I taste like Beef. I taste like beef. I'm probably made of beef. You are what you eat, they say, and if the title didn't mean something else, I would be a beefeater. I think red meat is good for you. Puts hair on your chest. What Flavour Are You?

Well... I DO eat beef... but I hadn't thought I ate THAT much! LOL

Hurricane Shmirricane!

Not again! I can't believe we're going through this yet again. Oh, woe is me! Ugh.

Well, here's hoping that it doesn't hit us too badly...

Sad morning...

Well, we knew it had to happen eventually, after all... they don't live forever. We had just played with him and cleaned his cage... so he had plenty of fresh food, water, and bedding. I think he led a pretty good life.

Pinky the hamster has passed on... I have no idea how old he was when we got him, but we've had him for quite a while. Personally, I think he lived beyond the usual life expectancy for such a creature, but I'm still a bit sad. I just hope the baby doesn't cry when she wakes up and finds out about it.
: (

20 things about me...

I don't know how long this list will grow to... but since I've seen these on other people's blogs, I thought I'd give it a go. BTW... these are all things that are NOT on my website somewhere else... So:

1. I'm my mother's only child
2. My father had other children, but I've never met any of them. (Are you one of them?)
3. I love rich, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate more than life itself
4. The size I prefer to be is a 3-5 (American... not sure what that translates to anywhere else) But right now I'm more like a 12
5. My ideal "job" would be writing/producing/directing both films and animated videos to accompany all of my songs.
6. I love to be barefoot...
7. On hot days I prefer not to have BOTH my feet AND my armpits covered. One or the other needs to be bare, LOL
8. I like WB T.V. shows like Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven.
9. I once shaved my head... completely bald.
10. When I was a child I wanted to be a Veterinarian.
11. I am allergic to cats, which is one reason I changed my mind about #10
12. My mother was an awesome artist.
13. My father wrote television screenplays... I have some of them in my possession. Not sure if they were ever used, but they include plots for the "Twilight Zone".
14. My father was a disabled WWII veteran who had no leges from the knees down.
15. I went to a camp when I was young where we were assigned a horse and taught how to care for it. I got to go there two summers in a row (for a week or two each time)
16. My second toe is longer than the first on both of my feet.
17. I cut my nails short on my left hand to press the strings for chords on the guitar, but I keep the nails on my right hand longer for fingerpicking.
18. I haven't written a song in quite a while. The muse has been avoiding me.
: (
19. I like to have fires in my backyard... we have a "dish" to make them in, and they are similar to campfires.
20. I grew up going to Reds games at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati

Okay, that's it. I'll do it again some other time when there's nothing better to write about ...

More gmail invitations

They're like love: The more you give away, the more you get. Here's the run-down for those who don't know:

Gmail is google's email. They are only allowing people to join with an invitation, probably to keep out spammers. It is unlike any other email account I've ever had... and I've had plenty. For starters, they give you 1GB (1000MB) of storage, and instead of deleting emails, you can archive those you might want to refer to in the future... then use google's search mechanism to find that great recipe or whatever later on. It's awesome!
: )

If you'd like an invitation, I'll need your current email address (to send it to), as well as your first and last name, so you may prefer to email me rather than leave that information here in the comments. I promise, I will not use any of your information for any purpose other than to issue the invitation!

Blogsurfing

One of the highlights of my day is the act of going through the blogs on my blogroll to check for updates, and in some cases, to read back through older posts I haven't yet had the pleasure of enjoying. These (you) people have become dear to me, like members of my ever-extending family.

In addition to those whose blogs already grace my growing blogroll, I also seek out new ones to add, as well as to just leave comments of encouragement for those who might need it. Sometimes I even learn something new! It is true that in the process of doing this I must wade through a lot of rubbish, but I think it's more than worth it... in order to find the true gems.

In light of this, consider today's post a huge toast, to all of you whose existence enriches my own! Cheers!
: )

A rose, by any other name...

Lydia is the #243 most common female name.
0.086% of females in the US are named Lydia.
Around 109650 US females are named Lydia!

Glider is a very rare last name.
Very few last names in the US are Glider.
Be proud of your unique last name!

Shelley is the #2532 most common last name.
0.005% of last names in the US are Shelley.
Around 12500 US last names are Shelley!
source namestatistics.com

Unknown author, from the internet:

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back.

From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, it looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday." ...She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because we cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches... We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit."

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to... not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift... thrown away... Life is not a race. Take it slower.

Hear the music before the song is over.
To those who read this... I LOVE you & cherish our friendship.

"Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!"

If you're honest with your responses, I think this quiz is pretty accurate!

Outgoing (E) 51.35% Withdrawn (I) 48.65% Imaginative (N) 60% Realistic (S) 40% Emotional (F) 56.76% Intellectual (T) 43.24% Improvised (P) 65.63% Organized (J) 34.38% Your type is: ENFP You are an Inspirer, possible professions include: conference planner, HR development trainer, ombudsman, clergy, journalist, newscaster, career counselor, housing director, character actor, marketing consultant, musician/composer, artist, information-graphics designer, human resource manager, merchandise planner, advertising account manager, dietician/nutritionist, speech pathologist, massage therapist, editor/art director.

Take Free Career Inventory Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Don't let these losers trample on YOUR rights!!!

I am dumbfounded by what I just read. It gives me the creeps. And I don't freak out over every little thing but this just galls me: http://chapterandverse.blogspot.com/2004/09/edwards-calls-for-blog-reform.html

Being a good mom

I've decided to put off getting a job or going back to school for now and concentrate on finding my son a new job first. He wants to return to school, and I want him to do so... but the company he's working for sends him out of town on a regular basis, which would not be conducive to school attendance. He prefers on-campus classes to online studies, because he's a very "hands-on" type learner and wants to have an instructor there to show him how to do things when he's not clear on what he's supposed to do... and I agree with him. So until I get him into a job which won't require travel, I'm not going to try to decide what to do for myself.

Hopefully if I dedicate myself to finding him a job, it won't take more than a week or two, maybe a month... because the clock is ticking and I really want him to get enrolled in school to continue his education ASAP. Wish us luck!
: )

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Schwarzenegger’s homage to America

A truly moving speech by Arnold: Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Schwarzenegger’s homage to America

Homeschoolers beware...

One of the ladies in my local homeschool group was kind enough to forward this ominous piece of evidence that the spirit of Hitler is not yet dead: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40332

Back to life, back to reality...

Well, so far it looks like Ivan is going to miss us, but I'm still afraid to exhale just yet. My chest pain has diminished, though, so I'm thinking it probably was all stress...

I'm still going to wait at least another week before resuming normal activities (i.e. Body-for-LIFE) but I really want to wrap my head around it and get serious this time. I'm tired of half-assing it. If I want to have top-notch results, I'm going to have to be as good at eating clean as I am at sticking to my workout schedule. Oh yeah... when I get back to working out after taking a couple of weeks off, I'm going to be sore, sore, sore all over again.
: (

Stressed is only desserts spelled backwards

That's my mantra for the day. With all of these storm worries and everything else going on I feel like I'm going to explode. I wish I had something better to talk about, but right now my whole life seems to be living from hurricane to hurricane, hanging on every freaking weather report. Dreading the possibilities... and wishing I lived someplace else. Then again, there is no SAFE place to live. Earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, volcanoes... no matter where you live there is some natural phenomenon to contend with.

Until we know what's going on weather-wise I can't get my car fixed, and until I get my car fixed I can't really get a job unless it's close to home... nor can I seriously consider re-enrolling in school, which was what I planned to do if I hadn't found a job by October. School is looking more and more likely, though, just by default since I haven't really tried very hard to obtain gainful employment. Perhaps subconciously I really DO prefer the act of seeking a higher degree over that of earning wages. Does that make me selfish and disloyal to my family? We're not starving, but we don't have all the things we need...

Okay... so what does THIS say about me?

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Angina?

I'm not sure if it's all this stress about hurricanes and car repairs, unemployment and re-enrolling in school (no I haven't, but I want to if I can't find a job soon) but when I swallow food or beverage, or if I burp, I'm getting a godawful pain in my heart. My husband's company just changed insurance providers, however, so I don't have my new card yet. I don't want to go to the hospital and wait all day, but I don't want to die, either. I hope it's just nerves.

Not again. Ugh. Anyone wanna send me enough money to rent a camper and take my kids to see the Grand Canyon? 

Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick?

Bettie Boop


Who's Your Inner Sexy Cartoon Chick?
brought to you by Quizilla

Annual Dilemma

AAAAAAAAAAArgh!

My dd's "open house" at school was scheduled for last Thursday, but due to the hurricane was rescheduled for tonight. No problem, you say? Oh... but there is a problem. Because ds's open house is tonight, at a different school... and I missed HIS last year due to MY school schedule (I was in college)

So, I guess this year there is no choice but to skip dd's open house and attend ds's. I hate that though... because I like to hear from all the teachers and get a feel for their personalities. All I can hope for now is that dd doesn't have a snit fit over it. She usually says she doesn't care, but acts like she does... and we all know that ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS!

In other news, my son and I reformatted all 3 computers last night. I still have to reinstall a few things such as a driver for my scanner and some of my apps, but so far so good. I'll miss my old Windows 2000 partition though... although I'm thinking that may have been the problem, that it may not have had enough security.

Reformatting

I've dropped in to use a computer at the college I recently graduated from... I had started to reformat my computer at home and my ds called to let me know he's on his way home from his business trip (yay!) and can assist me. (Thank God! I already erased my entire hard drive... didn't feel like getting rid of that searchmiracle nonsense the DIFFICULT way, i.e. registry editing, etc.)

So the cavalry is on its way. But I was sitting in the parking lot where he works awaiting his arrival, reading my book (Siro, not bad, BTW) and he called to say the weather has delayed him and it will be another hour before he arrives.

I needed to log onto blogger away from home anyway... so I could remove the aforementioned link... and it's done now. Big sigh of relief.

Now. I have to reinstall all my programs, etc. once I've reformatted... prolly take me a few days to get everything the way I want it again. Plus all the windows updates, AV and SPYWARE PREVENTION. But what I want to know is how can I prevent that searchmiracle thing from getting back in? I don't know how it got there in the first place!!!

Link nightmare

My computer is infected by this nasty searchmiracle thingy that makes its own hyperlinks... and it turned "anal" on my sidebar into a freaking hyperlink and now I can't seem to edit it out. Blogger allows me to save my template changes, but I haven't been able to republish the damn blog. I'm trying from an uninfected computer this time, and it still won't work. Hopefully it's just a temporary blogger glitch and I'll be able to fix it later... ugh. I hear I'm going to have to either edit the registry or reformat to get rid of this thing. Sigh... either way, I'm in for a pull-my-hair-out-by-the-roots fun day.
: (

Win $100,000 just for being registered to vote!

Sorry, my overseas friends... this one's only in America... but go to Body-for-LIFE to see how YOU could win $100,000 too!
: )

No! Not MY computer!!!

Ugh. Well... now that the power is back on, I'm having trouble with my blasted machine. I'm hoping it's not what I THINK it is... because of the two possibilities, neither is satisfactory.

1. My 5 year old motherboard is finally giving out on me... (quite likely)
2. I have a virus or spyware screwing my machine up (also likely... even though I have up-to-date AV protection, I've never installed any spyware dohickeys... and when I try to go to add/remove programs now, the computer quits responding, and afterward the mouse won't work, even after rebooting.

Anyone have any ideas?
: (

Hope things are going better for all of you!

Internet cafes are awesome!

Well... no power yet at home, and a neighbor charged my cell phone, but I guess it keeps losing its signal and searching so it's gone dead again already! Forutnately, the proprietor of this 'net cafe is letting me charge it back up again while I'm here.

I may send the kids to a neighbor's for showers later if we still don't have electricity. Not gonna make 'em get a cold shower... Bob, Frank and I can go to the gym to shower... but not the younger ones. I especially want to make sure Sarah and Tim get one since they'll probably go to school tomorrow... which they WANT to do because it's air-conditioned there!

Well... that's all my news for now. Pretty boring, huh? The most exciting thing in my life right now is the book I borrowed from a neighbor to help pass the time. It's a spy novel... not normally what I would choose, but surprise surprise! I'm actually enjoying it. It's by a guy named Ignatius. He's not bad!

No Power, but not Homeless!

We have been without power since 2pm yesterday, but I came to the internet cafe in downtown Hollywood, to satisfy my addiction, LOL

Honestly though... it'll cost me a fortune to be online very much, so I'd best maximize my time here. I wish it were different, but I've got to take what I can get!

It could be several days before we get power again, and even then, I'm just hoping that the NEXT hurricane (Ivan) doesn't hit us!
Ugh.

I'm all-American. I'm APPLE PIE! LOL

find your inner PIE @ stvlive.com

Funny, since apple pie has always been my favorite, LOL

Still waiting... but here's what the ugly picture looks like right now! 

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Hey Aaron! That sounds like one of YOUR titles!

But seriously. The storm has arrived, and it's moving SOOOOOOOOO slowly. I'll be lucky if we don't lose power at some point... I fully expect that we will. Not much we can do about that... it's not like we could afford a generator or anything... and even if we COULD afford one, we'd have nowhere to keep it when we're NOT using it!

Yes. We need a larger home, but unless I start earning some money we won't be moving just yet. Might as well get used to the cramped quarters... could be like this for a LONG time!

On the other hand, cramped or not, right now I'm just hoping a tornado embedded in the hurricane doesn't demolish it and leave us homeless!

Yikes. I'll be glad when the storm has passed... but there's another one right behind it. Hopefully THAT one will go somewhere else, though... like curve up north into the Atlantic where no one will be harmed by it.

Here's what the storm looks like now... 

Reboot

Okay. Power surge. Now I have to reopen all the windows I had open and get back to what I was doing. But when the power went out I was commenting on someone's blog...

I have no idea whose. Maybe I can find it in the history, although I doubt it since I was "shut down improperly" but I'll look.

How to prepare for a hurricane

I got this in an email, and it was amusing... so I thought I'd share. Sorry it's so long...

Florida Hurricane Preparation

You all should be aware of hurricane preparations, but in case you need a refresher course:

We're about to enter the peak of the hurricane season. Any minute now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weather person pointing to some radar blob out in
the Atlantic Ocean and making two basic meteorological points.

(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed.

Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one."

Based on our insurance industry experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:

STEP 1:
Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.

STEP 2:
Put these supplies into your car.

STEP 3:
Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween. Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in Florida.

We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:

HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE:

If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements:

(1) It is reasonably well-built, and
(2) It is located in Wisconsin

Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not
to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss.

SHUTTERS:

Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages:

Plywood shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap.

Sheet-metal shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be
useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December.

Roll-down shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell
your house to pay for them.

Hurricane-proof windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so. He lives in Nebraska.

Hurricane Proofing your property:

As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc...

You should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool (if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the
hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles.

EVACUATION ROUTE:

If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's
license; if it says "Florida," you live in a low-lying area). The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm
hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely.

HURRICANE SUPPLIES:

If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now! Florida tradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of cat food. In addition to food and water, you will need the
following supplies:

23 flashlights.
At least $167 worth of batteries that turn out, when the power goes off, to be the wrong size for the flashlights.

Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the bleach is for, but it's traditional, so GET some!)

A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a hurricane, but it looks cool.)

A large quantity of raw chicken, to placate the alligators. (Ask anybody who went through Andrew; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate alligators.)

$35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.

Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your
television and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay
away from the ocean.

Good luck, and remember: Its great living in Paradise.

The wages of ignorance

Okay. Call me dense... but until I read another blogger's post (who was doing the same thing) I didn't realize that when your comments get emailed to me that I couldn't just hit "reply" and respond. I guess when I do that my email just gets swallowed up by cyberspace? Have any of you actually received those replies?

Anyway, the reason I'm saying this is that I'm sorry if I haven't answered everyone... I'll have to do so on the blog from now on. Duh!

*sheepish grin*

Hurricane Warning

Well... they just upgraded the watch for our coast to a warning, and the storm continues to look like it's not going to turn, but we all know how unpredictable they can be. Unfortunately, I can't even hope that it goes elsewhere, since if it does it will hit someone else I care about. The only hope is the wild card hope that it will take a hairpin turn and head out into the north Atlantic region... preferably missing the islands.
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We don't want any!

That damn storm hasn't turned at all. I'm going to be spending most of today doing hurricane prep. If anything notable occurs, I'll drop in and post it... but for now, I'd better get my ass up and get to work.
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Should we or shoudn't we?

Okay. We're watching this hurricane, and it's looking more and more like it might hit us. So should we go hog-wild crazy and board up, or wait and see? My husband is working 12 hour shifts from now through the weekend (7:30pm-7:30am) so he's going to be zonked tomorrow, and maybe on Friday too.

On the other hand, if it really looks like it's gonna hit us, he'll probably be given time off work... (there goes that precious OT!) and my son might be given some time off as well. In which case they'll have plenty of time to deal with Hurricane prep. Too bad we can't afford all the supplies that people are recommended to lay in...