Week 2 of Christmas Vacation

And it's raining again.

It had stopped raining for 2 days but the rain is back.

I took advantage of the non-rain day to decide to take the kids sledding. After the rain, the smog clears and you can SEE. Really see. snow capped mountains on the horizon. And we'd gone to one of those 2 years ago and it was fun (well.. for the kids) and I said 'ok, today we're going sledding' and made the 2 hour preparation hunting up appropriate clothes and a change of dry ones to go.  Had to explain to Kayla that a summer weight dress without tights or leggings is a poor choice of clothing, to Sonia that shoes with holes in them is not a good idea and to Joey that shorts are not appropriate for winter if we're sledding or not.

Good grief. They've been here 2 years. No wonder 2nd and 3rd generation southern Californians seem to have no sense of winter.

So.. with the truck packed with sleds, snow chains (which we have now) and a tow rope (because if you have it with you, you won't need it) we headed to the nearest mountain which is about 45 minutes away.

Get to it's base, look up and say... 'uh.. where's the snow?!'

It appears the snow capped mountains were not our local mountain. Of course the BIG mountain 2.5 hours away has ski resorts and such that the Hollywood types frequent but the thought of driving 5 or more hours for 2 hours of snow made me decide to aim for the mountain that appeared closer..

yes. that would have been appeared.

So you see.. on the map it LOOKED closer. However, that was how the crow flies. I didn't account that the road I took for 20 miles had stop lights every few feet and a speed limit of 35 mph for many of those miles.

I also didn't account that the road that looks like a straight shot to the mountain in fact circled round to the otherside and to that base and then wound up the side of it.

And I didn't realze all this because
a. since getting GPS's we don't have paper maps in the car anymore. Well. actually I think we have one of the mid Atlantic states, but last my geography was checked that would do me zero good these days.

b. my GPS is broken. And telling it "find me the top of the mountain" was never it's strong suit. Sure it could get you to a Mc Donalds after routing you past 4 other Mc Donalds, but to what you really wanted to go to if you didn't have a street address..no so great. But now it can't do anything. My bad luck with GPSs could be a whole blog post. The GPS I am returning today is our 7th GPS, I think. We had a Magellan which stopped working and was returned. Followed by our second Magellan which we loved and despite the disintegrating power cord it worked fine. Til the slime bags stole it from our car. They forgot the power cord to it. We have a momento of the only GPS we've owned that worked. It was also stolen with the new GPS we'd gotten for my car which we'd had for 2 weeks and for those 2 weeks it had worked. (so far that's 3) replaced those with 1 really cheap Magellan which will route you through a parking garage and through 5 u-turns to get you where you want to get but will get you there 55% of the time. The other was replaced by the same model as was stolen. It stopped working 3 weeks into having it. It went back. (that's 5) Decided we'd try Garmin since our luck with Magellan was 1/5 working well. Couldn't hear the darn thing over the kids. at full volume. It went back. (6)  And now unhappy and unlucky #7 is destined to go back to the store exactly 1 week into it's use.

No, I don't care the box says to not return it to the store I bought it from. Because if they're going to have me send it back and send me a refurb one that's going to stop working within weeks and not be covered under warranty I'm going to let the store send it back and give me my money back and start the hunt for a new one all over again. So far I never have been hassled. We'll see how today goes. I learned about the "replace with a refurb one when dealing with manufacturer tech support" with the Kid's brand new Leapster. I was insanely annoyed with that lesson but I haven't forgotten it.

So anyway... back to our mountain adventure...

I have a Map with some Routing features on my phone. So I planted a pin on top of the mountain and told it to route me there.

I should have thought about it and realized.. perhaps there isn't a road there.

Not to worry.. Google Maps can route you there. Through a campground and up a logging trail.

Which was probably last used for logging in the 1800s. So I got 1/3 up the trail (and yes, it's name was S103 trail) and with the recent rains huge portions of the back top (or what had been blacktop) had been washed away. Now mind you with our 4 wheel drive, tire chains and tow rope I wasn't feeling terribly secure sliding up the hill with a rather steep decline off the side of the trail. And it was about wide enough for a Hyundi. And Heaven help me trying to back down that trail if I met another vehicle.

The snow line was about 6500 feet which explains why we didn't have snow here- our mountain tops out about 6100 feet.

So we gingerly turned around at a somewhat level clearing with the kids loudly protesting that the snow was further up the mountain. Well.. there was some patches were we were- just not the 2 feet deep fluffy stuff- more like the once melted and re-frozen into crusty ice patch. And that was what they sledded on. It was fast. They crashed and cried. They went through every.single.pair of gloves we had in 1 hour because they didn't care for their hands being cold and wet. So about 1.5 hours into the snow adventure they were restless. They wanted dry gloves and more snow. They'd tried a snow ball fight. Well,.. yes.. when it's ice it hurts when you hit each other with it. They had to learn that the hard way. And in case you're feeling bad for them -the outside temp was 50 degrees. It wasn't like it was COLD. They just thought it was. Heaven help us the first year we move back to winter and they try to go out to play in the snow. I fondly remember being a kid and coming in and the pain of the toes and fingers thawing... ahh the fond memories of frostbite.. All that my kids are missing.,

So,... with no further ramblings- or more accurately- the kids have stopped playing nicely together- I am now off.

With a few pictures from today as soon as I unearth the camera

So we were coming down the mountain and saw this windmill farm. I bet you could put that to music.

It's been a soggy week in Lake Woebegone

And Larry's asked me to see if I can find a good used Ark on Craigslist.

Roads have flooded and been closed. Important ones. Like Freeways.
The Main road on Base has been closed and flooded and one whole area of base is cut off from everywhere else.

We, however are at 190-something feet elevation and aside from 3 inches of standing water in our yard, we're dry. The 3 inches of water and 2 weeks of rain are going to put an enormous damper on the 'operation swingset' for Christmas.  This swingset has been quite a feat to obtain,and we haven't yet started to attempt the assembly, which according to the review will take 2 competent adults 10-12 hours. If you add beer and arguing, it could take a week.

This swingset was on sale the day after Thanskgiving and all 3 stores we went to were sold out. Then finally we decided to just bite the bullet and pay full price, found a store than then had them instock and spent, oh, gee, 30 minutes with the cashier trying to figure out how to reserve it because we couldn't fit it in the Civic that night (we had a babysitter with the kids). The next day I go to look up the exact dimensions of the boxes and the swingset was on sale for the After Thanksgiving price. I sent Larry on "operation get a refund" which took him the patience of a saint the determination only he has and he got it done.

So now this 400 lbs of swing set is in the back of the truck. Sometimes it's really nice to have such a big vehicle. It's working as our dry storage shed. Our actual storage shed (is not dry) keeps water out about as well as a wall of sand like the kids build at the beach. Which will be just fine once I don't need to store diapers which need to stay dry in it. (we have wood holding our stuff off the floor. If we get another inch of water in there, not only will I need serious boots, I'll need higher shelves) 

But with all this rain, a really odd phenomenon has happened. The "rivers" which have been just dry river beds as long as we've been here- have water in them. LOTS of water. The water is a shade of poo brown, of course, but it's water. I think it's cool to have water here in drought land.

And that's the news from Lake Bonsall where the kids are playing Wii, the mom's blogging and the dad's stuck at work.

Well... nothing much to say. Still.

Or rather it falls under the 'if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all'
Because sometimes it still feels like there's a black cloud following me around.

For example yesterday...

I had to take our minivan to get "smogged" because we live in CA even though our van is registered in VA. But the base requires it to get our DOD stickers (which are those stickers on our windshield that are our get-on-base-free pass and even get our car saluted). ANYWAY.. we've been in states that required emmisions testing or inspection- that we can get used to, but our mechanic is a first come first serve kind of place. And he charges military 1/2 what other places do to get our Smog certificate. So.. since the kids were up bright and early anyway, we were there at about 9. Apparently there were alot of cars there before us. About 10:45 the kids had exhausted everything we brought to feed and entertain them so we went for a walk.

 And normally going for a walk would have been the first thing we did. HOWEVER.. southern CA must have alot of out of town visitors this week, since it's cold and windy all week. OK.. cold by our standards. I know whining about it being 50 degrees and rainy sounds like paradise to my New England and Wisconsin friends.  And to the Califiornians worried about drought complaining about rain seems dumb, too.. so I'm not complaining. I'm just explaining why walking wasn't exactly fun.

So.. we were in the toursity part of town. And none of the tourist shops were open. Apparently they knew that tourists aren't out before noon on a cold windy day. But there was a store open. A woman's clothing store. And since I'd hear a whole lot of "I'm cold!" we went in there to browse. And came out of there with a bottle of nail polish.

So we wandered further and found only the high end clothing stores and coffee shops open, so we wandered back to the repair shop lounge. Painted Kayla's nails.. Sonia wanted to hold the nail polish.
NOW.. the functioning part of my brain should have said "hello! you're letting a girl with impulse control issue hold NAIL POLISH?!' but at that point my brain had dissolved in the oil and gas smell of the repair lounge and what was remaining had been eaten away by the acid of the whining..

ANYWAY.. the van got done, we got through the line on base and got the stickers, ran several other errands. And at least twice the smell of nail polish permeated the van and I had to remind (in a forceful voice) to leave it shut. Again.. if my brain was on, I would have thought "just take the dang bottle from her" but.. perhaps it was wishful thinking, but I was thinking she'd manage to not get it everywhere.

We got home and Sonia said shes wanted to paint her nails. I told her to do it over a paper towel and place mat. What I didn't mean was to PAINT the paper towel and placemat. But I walk by and see nail polish everywhere.  In a humph I took the nail polish away and put in on a shelf in the hallway and shut the door.

And then the fun really began. It bounced out onto the cabinet and shattered.

I had bring pink nail polish on my coat, pants, cabinet and even the rug. The brand new rug.

So...

Have you ever had to get nail polish out of clothing and a carpet?

I used the entire bottle of nail polish remover and had to scrub the fibers of the rug individually until it went from bright pink to faint pink back to beige. It took forever. Or at least an hour. And the entire bottle of nail polish remover.

So without more nail polish remover I decide to look into the garage for something that might remove it- like paint thinner. Except we never use oil based paint because I'm a klutz and get it everywhere.

BUT... I did find a rusted bottle of Goof off.

Have you ever smelled Goof off?

Our entire neighborhood has now, after our afternoon.

So I spray the parts of the coat with it and scrub and scrub. And it fades but never disappears. So with a surrender I wash it in the sink and hang it to dry in the tub.

However.. the house reeks of the stuff. Especially the coat.

I scrubbed it out of the sink repeatedly til the sink was clean and Larry took the coat and tossed it in the washer with every sort of laundry additive we had- borax, tide, and I don't know what else.

Pull it out of the washer- and the WAHSER now reeks of the goof off.

The coat's in the garage now. I'm thinking of taking it to the car wash and hosing it down wiht the hand nozzle. It's worked for lots of other things.

And realistically I need a rain coat 7 days a year. I don't really need one. I have a coat and an umbrella.
And I'm thinking with time, the smell will fade.

But... except for one seam of cotton thread..

The nail polish is out.

And it will be a cold cold cold day before I ever buy more.

so if you're wondering where your Christmas card is... it's sitting here on the table by the front door. Unaddressed with the pictures to put in them still to be developed at some one hour place I still need to get to and without a letter or anything to put in it.  But my house is now free of nail polish stains. You gotta pick your battles.  I wish I had less options as to the battles I'm picking.

Parent brag here

So this is really for the grandparents, since it's really only the grandparents who will really really care about it...
And since it's only my parents who check my blog..

hi Mom and Dad!

Joey was awarded Student of the month this AM. His teacher had called me earlier this week to let me know, so we could be there to take pictures of it.

I took video

here it is

So it's been almost a month.

I can't believe I haven't updated this thing in this long.

*sigh* and of course I can't remember a month ago to fill in the details.

So I'll hit the highlights of what I remember- there was a holiday that involved eating Turkey. We made a turkey and ate it with stuffing, yams, and cannoli's. Oh, yes.. I should share the Cannoli's- because they're a treat that we haven't been able to get with any consistency since we've left CT. And while shopping in Costco, I saw this kit of about $10 that makes 24 Cannolis. And I thought 'well, can't be worse than the awful one I bought at little Italy here or the ones from Stop and Shop in CT...' so I bought it. And it was devoured in minutes. The kids each ate 4. I went out the following week and got another one and that one was eaten in a week as well. Yummm...

OK back to the update that doesn't involve food..

I passed my sailing class. I ended up sicker than a dog for the test, but Larry encouraged me to take it, so that I hadn't wasted the time and money on the class. So I went coughing and sharing my germs with the class and the entire water basin. We did our capsize the boat drill in 55 degree water in 50 degree air. I was trying to get myself a mini vacation in the hospital with pneumonia. It was so windy that the boats were leaning so far to the side that about 1/2 of the class fell or slid out of the boat on the sailing practical portion. It was pouring rain, and incredibly windy and well.. if I wasn't there to share my germs, I'm pretty sure the rest of the class was working on finding their way to pneumonia as well. I'd been sicker than a dog the better part of the week leading up to it- the kids, Larry and I all took turns being miserable. Larry started it and after putting himself on 2 antibiotics as well as trial and error on his patients, he deemed it viral and bought home the Robitussin. We're finally all better and waiting for the next round of plague to come to our home.

In other news- our van has been fixed. And the first whole day I was driving it and dropping the kids off at school, I was in a fender bender. Can I say my luck hasn't been great this year? Anyway- the insurance companies are still hammering out who is at fault. I thought it was me initially, thinking I hit a parked car but when she got out of her car cursing at me about how she was driving, I realized it may not have been me after all. Anyway. As long as I don't bother to fix the scratch on my side, I'm not out the money for our deductible. However.. if they find her at fault I might consider it. I could even get a new car seat out of the deal. She's been a peach to deal with. The day after the incident, she was at the school stalking me. As I pull up to let the kids out, she's rushing there to take pictures with her camera phone and use her body language.... anyway her new nickname is crazy psycho chick. So if you hear me refer to that, she's who I'm talking about. I wish I listened to the little voice in my head that morning that said 'take the Excursion' then she'd have been waiting all morning.... j

In seasonal news- we went to San Diego Navy Base's Christmas party. To see Santa. Because he was giving out Legoland tickets. Of course my kids weren't at all interested in seeing Santa or telling him what they wanted for Chrsitmas and as we were waiting in line, they figured out that the Santa on stage singing and dancing can't be the same Santa that kids are seeing and infact to get all the kids through the line, there were 6 Santas seeing kids, each in their own little tent.. Which Joey also figured out. But they had blow up slides and bounce houses and carnival rides, horse drawn "hay" rides, bowling, arts and crafts and... snow. of sorts. I'm not sure exactly how they did it but they had a hill of somewhat frozen wet stuff. (it was 65 degrees, so snow wasn't going to stick around for long...) They made a hill of hay bales and then covered the front of it with snow, put snow on the ground, fenced it in and put foam pads on the fence and handing the kids sleds to ride down the hill. Our kids thought it was fun. Mostly, although they complained that it was so cold it burned their hands and they weren't all that fond of getting wet when they slid off the sled coming down the hill.

But the few hours we spend worked out well, so I have 4 kid Legoland tickets I can use sometime between now and April. I was a little concerned they'd run out before we got through the line, but was happy they hadn't. And the kids got to have fun.

We also put up a Christmas tree. We initially planned on driving up to the mountains where it would have snow to find a tree farm, but there was a tree farm 3 miles away and we were getting off to a late start to get to the mountain tree farm. And the trees here are all the same, even the the mountains. And nothing like what we were used to as New England kids. They have long needles and are bushy or are like flat needle bushes that are grown and trimmed into tree shape. Anyway.. we went hiking up and down the hill looking at trees until we found one that was not too lopsided and they cut it down for us. They had a 'tree shaker' there - so in theory all the dead needles fall on the ground there. In theory. In actuality, there's an awful lot in the Excursion, in the driveway and in the vacuum. And our house smells like pine. And I realize I'm not a huge fan of the pine smell. And trees you go and cut from a tree farm here cost what a decent fake tree would cost. So we've done it once. Can't say we'll be doing it again anytime soon. At least not here.

Remember the Charlie Brown Christmas show where he goes to a tree lot to buy a tree? That's the norm here- they put up fences and lights and sell trees from a lot that they have shipped down from somewhere that real Christmas trees grow... somewhere like Canada, I think.

We also realized that somewhere between VA and house #2 in CA our outside lights have disappeared. So we bought more and put them up. We have plans to turn our flagpole into a enormous Christmas tree and vie for #1 on the more outlandish Christmas decorations on the street. I might have to post a picture when we're done. Sadly the icile lights we bought are the flashing kind, so all the pictures I took only have some of them lit because those were the ones flashing off. Next year we'll replace the bulbs so they don't flash. This year we've already put the ladder away.

We've done the majority of our Christmas shopping. I think. I hope. We haven't yet started making Christmas cookies, mostly because Larry and I don't need to be eating them. I made Fudge that he brought to his BAS (Battalion Aide Station in civilian English that would mean clinic or office) this week.

I have my apt for Lasik this week. I'm about as nervous as I could be. The re-check is Thurs and the actual procedure is Friday. In theory by Friday night I'll be seeing normally. I still want to chicken out but much like going to the Sailing test, I think my other half will get me there come hell or highwater with me hyperventilating in a paper bag.

Other than that... things are good. Bought Christmas cards (again, since I can't find the ones I bought and didn't send from the past 2 years..) and plan on actually mailing some this year.

But if I don't make it back to this blog between now and then.. I wish you a Marry Christmas and joy, peace and love this holiday season

XOXOX

~G