(Not So) Wild on Wednesday (on Friday)

Since it's not really Wednesday (and I missed the real W.O.W.), I've decided that this will be a Not So Wild on Friday list of one.

Something I'm Not So Wild About:

• crowds



yes, those are children watching the parade ON TOP of someone's car
yes, their mother did get on top of the car to join them
yes, she fought the NYPD when they told her no one should be on top of the car
no, she would NOT shut up about it
yes, the car was dented like a son of a gun

Or more accurately, the crowds at the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  At the begining of the parade I was just fine...there were a lot of people but I had my own space and nobody was pushing me around so they could get better spot. 




start of the stroller attack

Then some lady thought I would move if she repeatedly rammed her stroller into my feet/ankles.  She must not have been aware of my opinion about people with stollers (oh you aren't either?  Well...I could go on and on about it, but my sweetie would tell me that I need to get over it, so here's a summary:  I understand that strollers make life SO MUCH EASIER for parents...but I feel like some of them like to use their strollers as weapons to get people out of their way).  Yeah, this lady was a memeber of the strollers as weapons group...so I stood my ground and did not move one inch.  NOT. ONE. INCH.  When she finally gave up (ten minutes later) I wanted to turn around and shout "Yeah. That's right. I'm not movin' for your stroller that doesn't even have a kid in it or anywhere near it," but I thought it would probably start a riot, so I kept quiet.

After that I occupied myself with the parade:

Here are a few of my instagram photos (there are more over on the sidebar--if you're interested)...

You can see from that last photo (hello kitty balloon), that we ended up moving because I couldn't take the crowd anymore.  That's actually in front of Penn Station (yes, I wanted to leave) and I kinda, sorta wished we would have been watching the parade from there the whole time...there were still a lot of people in that area, but they were spead out...and my sweetie probably wouldn't have had to hold me in place (TWICE) to keep me from bolting because I COULD NOT HANDLE one more person banging into me/pushing me out of the way to get a better spot or leave the parade.  So, yeah...not a fan of crowds.

Other than that, Thanksgiving was delightful...no...SUPER delightful.  E's brother and sis-in-common law (they're like me & my sweetie...pretty much common law married--is common law even a thing anymore??) are in town to help us take a few things that we don't need out here to MN.  So, we all went into the city and met up with one of E's pals from work for the parade (which...even though it doesn't sound like it...I DID enjoy...when I was away from the crowd).  Afterwards we took the train back to dirty Jersey and had ourselves a Thanksgiving Ham and watched some football.  We followed that with a trip to Liberty State Park to see Lady Liberty all lit up for the night.

Lady Liberty at night--pretty awful picture, but you get the idea...right?  Right.

Like I said...SUPER delightful Thanksgiving.  I hope everyone else had a Happy Thanksgiving.  Next time you hear from me, it'll be from The Star of the North--MINNESOTA!

Big News 'Round Here

You may have noticed that the DIY and Apartment improvement projects have come to a screeching halt.  Oh, you didn't?  Well...they did.  There's a reason for that...

Yeah...that's right...it's time to break out the black socks and sandals because my sweetie and I are going to be Snowbirds this winter going to be Reverse Snowbirds for the winter.  Wait...whaaaaat?  Yeah.  I said it.  We're going to Minnesota for...WINTER.  (Well...I'm going for WINTER, my sweetie may or may not be an actual snowbird and go to Florida after the holidays.)  I guess that means it's time to break out the Bear Paws and Parka...

for awesome.

In addition to the lack of DIY projects, the blog posts have been rather sporadic.  There's a reason for that too...we haven't been doing much except tyring to decide what needs to come with us and what needs to go to storage.  I KNOW...riviting.  Do not fear, though...I have big plans for the winter...including:

• MacGyvering the heck out of my Ma's "condo" (it's not a condo...it's a townhome...but my Ma keeps calling it a condo...so condo it is)
• seeing all my old pals
• meeting my new pal Lauren (we met on the internet...I'm hoping she's not secretly a serial murderer...guess I'll find out) and having a Wild on Wednesday/The Gaudier The Better--Pinterest Craft Challenge Night
• playing with Val Stella in the snow
• hangin' with all my favorite lil' people...like Axel & the Trips
• going to the Geneva Cancer Auction
• watching the crazies jump into the lake (in WINTER) for the Polar Plunge
• and so on and so forth

So...yeah...the blog should be slightly more interesting than it has been of late...in a week or so.  We 're heading west on I-80 this weekend, but rumor has it that a Thanksgiving Day Parade is in my future (oh man, I LOVE a parade)..Later Gators.

Wild on Wednesday

It's Wednesday and it's time to get WILD (I missed it last week--sorry Lauren!)...so, here we go!  This week I'm W.O.W.ing about:

• New York City

We took a lil' jaunt into the city a few nights ago...not to do anything in particular...we pretty much just lurked around, but when you're in the City even lurking around is a grand ol' time.  We went to Times Square, went into a couple of bars/restaurants, rode the subway, walked around the NYU area, and the best part...rode on a rickshaw!  I took a little video and I'm hoping it will upload, but I've never posted a video on here so...you know.

Oh man...I felt bad for our rickshaw cycler.  I told him he wouldn't be able to pull all three of us, but he swore he could.  He did...but you should have seen the sweat beads rolling down his face when we were done...poor guy.  Good Times!

Here are a few phone shots of our adventure (a few are rather blurry but you get the idea...right?  Right.)...

So, yeah...I'm pretty wild about NYC.  I kinda, sorta love the fact that you can go there with absolutely no plan and still have a great time.

• Awkward Family Pet Photos

I think I will let the Pictures speak for themselves...

photos from Awkward Family Pet Photos

photos from Awkward Family Pet Photos

Are you seeing the monkeys with clothes on?  The horse?  The skunk?  That raccoon?  Ohmygosh that raccoon is killing me!!!  I could look at these ALL.DAY.LONG.

And I think I'm going to have to end my W.O.W. list...I mean...how can I top this...

photo from Awkward Family Pet Photos

It's a RACCOON.  Sitting in a ROCKING CHAIR.  Next to a FIREPLACE.  I DIE.

Maybe the other W.O.W.ers will be able to top that raccoon, on a rocking chair, next to a fireplace...let's find out...

• Lauren at Our Big Fat Farm Wedding: Crazy Every After 
• Paula at Our Dailey Life
• Jennifer at The Home Daybook
• Cathe at Cathe's Version of a Cookbook
• Danielle at The Adventures of...Small Steps in a Big World

These are the only other W.O.W.ers that I'm aware of...so if you're WILD about something let us know!  If you're too shy that's ok...I won't be offended...I have my new friend the raccoon, on the rocking chair, next to the fireplace, to make me feel better.

Happy Monday Y'all!

What's that you say?  It was Monday yesterday? Are you sure? 

Guess the day got away from us...eh- Val Stell?

Ok...fine...Happy Tuesday Y'all!  I meant to get a post up yesterday, but...you know.  I blame it on the Hunger Games book.  I'm usually not into all the crazy popular young adult books.  For example, I've never read the Harry Potter or Twilight books--I think all the superfans kinda, sorta scare me off of them.  Plus, when a book is good, I want to know what happens faster than I can read, and...I WILL. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN.  Plus, all the Harry Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games/etc. books are in a series and once I start I know I won't be able to stop until the very last book.  So, I try to stay away from them. 

Except, that I didn't yesterday.  I started the Hunger Games while I was taking a walk on the treadmill and proceded to spend the day reading the entire book and not doing ANYTHING else until I finished it (ok...fine...I took a long break to take the dog on a walk and two short breaks so she could go to the bathroom).  And I may or may not be about to order the next two books from Amazon (see...I MUST know what happens).  And THEN I saw the movie trailer and I fell even more in love with the book.  Annnnnnnd now I'm a bit concerned that I'm turning into one of the crazy superfans.  I may or may not be planning to re-enact the Hunger Games with my sweetie and Val Stella (ok...I'm not...but I should).  So far, I've kept the superfan in me contained, but we'll see how that goes.

Oh--and speaking of superfans--even though watching the Vikings game last night made me want to break my own toe (mostly because the offensive line is about as useful as a sack of crap), the Vikes looked really nice in their uniforms, so...GREAT JOB!

P.S.  Don't forget to W.O.W us tomorrow with your Wild On Wednesday posts (and don't forget to let us know you have a W.O.W post)! 

Do Not Be Alarmed--

I'm still alive.  And we do have power again (it came back last Friday night...woohoo!) and you may or may not remember that I've been blessed with the back of an elderly person (like 103 years old, elderly)...and well...it acted up last week...and I took a break from the internet machine and pretended like it was 2005 again.  (What?  I had a car that only had an AM radio until 2003...I really took a leap into the 21st century when I got a laptop in 2006.)  There was A LOT of television watching while laying on the floor going on (if my back wasn't spazin' out, it would have been super relaxing) and not much else.  I did find time to send my sweetie a special picture for his birthday (yeah, there was no fun birthday celebration--I told E his birthday celebration would be moved to a later time and date--he said ok)...here it is:

Val's Stella's the greatest. 

I'll be back to regularly scheduled programing on Monday. 

I've Written a Little Song for Y'all



Oh...you can't see my sweetie?  Me neither...not for almost a week.


It goes a little somethin' like this:

The lights are out,

I want to shout,

we are the last people without power in New Jerseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,

the lil' neighbor kid can't even watch Cars 2 on DVDeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, 

and he's had it for four days!

No way!

Yes way!

They tell us it will be restored today,

but they said that yesterday,

We shall seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I feel like Taylor Swift can turn that one into a hit.  Oh and I'm not even makin' it up when I say we are THE LAST people in NJ without power.  We took a drive last night to see how things are lookin'.  Well, let me tell you...they're lookin' pretty great everywhere EXCEPT the one side of the apartment complex we live on and the 25 or so houses on the next block that must share a power line with us.  I guess they must have forgotten about us when they were fixing ALL THE OTHER power lines in the neighborhood.  My sweetie tells me I should look on the bright side...at least everyone else has power...that's somethin'...right?  To which I reply, "THERE IS NO BRIGHT SIDE, BECAUSE THERE IS NO LIGHT, BECAUSE THERE IS NO POWER." 

If you couldn't tell, I'm getting a little ornery about this.  I'm trying to calm myself because I know the workers are going as fast as they can, and we'll get power when we get it, but GEEZ it's taking a while.  I feel like there will probably be a Boat House '99 re-enactment (for all my Gusties out there) in my apartment when the power does come back on.  Yeah, me & Val will be pullin' out our best dance moves while we listen to Big Pun tell us about how he's Still Not a Playa.  Annnnnnnnd I had forgotten how much I liked that song...now I CAN'T.HARDLY.WAIT. for the power to come on.

Here's a slice of our life lately:

down to our last candle

lots of eating out (this was the Summit Diner)

stashing beer in the cooler

reading My Pal Al's column in the Kerkhoven Banner with a flashlight

staring out the window at the buildings with power (ok...fine...my sweetie doesn't do that...just me)

Oh and a BIG thanks to Lauren at Our Big Fat Farm Wedding: Crazy Ever After for her hilarious comments (they're keeping me less ornery) and one of the BEST W.O.W posts I've EVER seen (ok...fine...I've only ever seen like five of them...but hers was still numero uno)!  Annnnnnnnnnnd we have another W.O.W member!  Paula from Our Dailey Life joined in on the fun this week (even though she's recovering from nasal surgery--hope you're feeling better)!  LOVE IT.

I'm off to see if I can help the linemen restore my power...ok, no...not really, but I should.  Later Gators.

Wild On Wednesday--2 . 0

Still no power...and there's a threat that it may or may not be turned off here (my workplace) in order to work on some downed power lines so this week my list will be a list of one.  What are you wild about this Wednesday, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you...

photo found via google

ELECTRICITY.  I think I love it more than my sweetie (sorry Sweets).  It's one of those "you don't know whatcha got til it's gone," things that you never think about or appreciate.  I mean, I have been without power for long periods of time before (the Halloween of '91 that I seem to be obsessed with) buuuuuuuut, I was a kid....stuck at my BFF's house for a week with NO SCHOOL...so that was more like Oprah & Gayle's camping trip (except not really at all).  This time I'm in an apartment building in New Jersey and the buildings across from us have power and are teasing me with lovely, lovely electricity EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.  Come back to me sweet friend.  I shall never take you for granted again.

Oh...AND I'm WILD about Lauren & her WOW list...you must, must, must, must go see what makes her Wild this week (I think I see the Pedal Pub on her list...I'm WILD with envy on that one...I've wanted to do that EVERY SINGLE TIME we take a trip back home, but I'm the only one...who wants to have fun...).

And you should REALLY join in and tell us what makes you WILD on Wednesday...or are Lauren & I the only ones who want to have fun?  If we have to raise hell, ALL by ourselves...we will, but y'all that ain't right...come on, come on...get your good time on...and get a lil' WILD tonight! (HAAAA! HAAAAA!  Now you have that Dierks Bentley song stuck in your head!)

One more...

photo from Three Buns

Sooooooooooooo, wild about Axel & the Trips' Halloween costumes! 

And I guess maybe I lied...my list was longer than one...ooops!

Still No Power......

in our apartment (although the buildings across the parking lot from us all have power...and have for two days.  For annoying...but since I'm not a master electrician & can't fix it myself...I shall let it go & turn EVERYTHING I own on when the power does come back!),  but Govenor Christie says the power will be back on by Thursday now...we'll see.  The good news is, we have power at work, so I can give you a little picture update...

So here are the pictures I took with my phone at the start of the storm on Saturday afternoon...

And here are the pictures I took when I decided it was time to leave (about an hour later):

And here are some pictures of what the town looked like on Sunday morning (these are from the Summit Patch online newspaper...I must have been too busy gawking at the downed trees & power lines to take any pictures)...


photo taken by Lisa O'Hearn--found via Summit Patch



photo taken by Robert Ticzon--found via Summit Patch

It doesn't look much different now...'cept the snow is melting away...they even postponed Halloween (I kinda, sorta think that's maybe spoiling the kids a bit...I remember back in '91, we had to be pelted with sleet/ice/snow or forget about Halloween & it's tricks or treats...but maybe us Minnesota kids could take the elements better...that's probably it)....

photo taken by Jim Schacter--found via Summit Patch

Anyway, I should probably do some work at work & enjoy having power while I'm here.

CHEERS! to living like a Pioneer (ok...fine...it's not like living like a Pioneer at all...but it is kinda, sorta the worst).