11:38 p.m. - 15 December 2002
Long time no write
It’s been about a month and a half since we got back from vacation, and Lee is still talking about it. Heck, he’s even talking about possibly going back. As long as we go a different week – it turns out that the first week in November, when we went, is a teacher’s holiday in all of New Jersey, and a lot of parents take that opportunity to take their kids to Disney World. I wish we’d known that ahead of time.
He also would prefer to not see any strollers for a while: they were everywhere. There were almost as many twin strollers as regular ones, which surprised me. The ones that had one seat in front of the other weren’t nearly as bad as the side-by-side ones, which seemed to take up the entire sidewalk. And the parents who were using them tended to be particularly oblivious to how much room they were using. And I don’t think I ever saw them with two children actually seated in them, so I’m not sure how helpful they really were.
If we do go again, I’m definitely going to do what I said I was going to do for this trip: get in shape beforehand. Lee and I were both so sore and tired by the third day that we were pretty cranky. The parks all closed relatively early, but we never took advantage of that to do any of the nightlife kinds of things because we were too exhausted and we hurt too much. Every time we sat for longer than about five minutes, we looked like old folks when we got up because it took several steps for our hips to quit complaining. I knew that we’d do a lot of walking, but I underestimated exactly how much walking it would really be. So next time, we’ll start preparing a couple of months in advance.
Thanksgiving ended up not being terribly traumatic, after all. I cooked way too much food, and we’re still eating turkey soup. I had some trouble with my probe thermometer, which resulted in a bird that wasn’t done when I went to carve it. Everything was on the table, we’d gotten the baby to sit down in her seat, and I had a turkey that was still bleeding. Sigh. It was another half an hour until we tried again. It was actually a little overdone at that point, but since I’d brined the turkey, it wasn’t too bad.
No one took any leftovers, though, and I think there are still a few things in the refrigerator that haven’t been eaten. They may be kind of fuzzy, though, so I probably ought to go check it out and toss some stuff. The freezer is a disaster – it’s too small, and some of the shelves and pull-out baskets don’t work properly, so finding things requires taking most of the things that are already in it out. If we had the money, I’d buy a new refrigerator and put the one we have out in the laundry room. This would require moving the washer and dryer, but I think overall it would be worth it.
I burned the crap out of my hand last weekend. I turned on the broiler to make some cheese toast, and then realized I needed to put one more piece of toast under it. Since it was less than a minute after I’d turned it on, I just reached under to add the last piece. My hand touched the element and sizzled; when I pulled it back the skin was white and a little blistered. After a week, it looks like hell and hurts like a bitch. It doesn’t help that it’s actually right between my index and middle fingers on my right hand, so I keep brushing it against stuff. I think I’ll end up with a lovely scar to remind me to pull the damn shelf out to add things.
We got lucky with that bad storm last week: it sleeted for about an hour and it was all rain after that. We’re just too close to the coast to really have any chance of winter weather. My sister ended up being out of work for a couple of days, and the power was out in Durham for about a week. I cannot imagine living in a part of the country that gets snow on a regular basis. I think I’d go insane. I don’t like the cold, at least in part because my skin gets so dry, and since I just shattered the back windshield in my car by running the defroster, I’m not particularly fond of that accessory, which I imagine is vital when frost is an every night occurrence.
So, yeah, we just replaced the windshield in my car, after we’ve replaced the powertrain control module, the timing chain, and the head gasket. We think it’s jealous of the new car: a 2002 Saturn L100. Gold, but that’s because it was the only one on the lot and we knew that was the model we wanted. Plus, that’s what we drove to Florida, and I think the Squeak is just mad that we went off for a week without it. I just hope it doesn’t get worse since I put the Mickey antenna ball on the Saturn yesterday. I may have to see if I can buy another one. Good thing our raises went into effect last paycheck.
