Tragedy

Please keep the Steven Curtis Chapman family in your prayers. Their little girl, Maria, died yesterday when she was struck in the family driveway. My heart is breaking for them.

Dentists and Dentalatia

So I had to go to the dentist this afternoon to get a filling repaired. It's the second time this particular filling has needed to be fixed. Because when you're a kid and need to wear retainers, you tend to get more cavities than your non-retainer-wearing peers. At least that's what I tell myself so that I'll feel better. So my fillings are all very old, and because I grind my teeth at night, the fillings are not as sturdy as they used to be. And I'm getting a night splint as well...to help with the grinding...because I'm wearing away my teeth. I had a night splint a few years ago, but when I woke up in the night because I was choking on it, I decided to stop wearing it.

And getting impressions for said splint. How fun is that. Do I hear any cheers out there? If you've never had the experience of getting impressions done, let me just tell you that it really isn't that bad...until the goo from the metal plate that's plastered to your teeth starts to drip down into your throat...all the while fighting the urge to gag...and after what seems like an eternally long time, the impression technician can't get the tray unstuck from your teeth because the suction is so strong. Seriously. But other than that, it's not bad. Until it's time to do it all over again...because since there is nothing more that can physically fit into your mouth other than one tray, the top and bottom impressions are done separately.

It's a joy.

It's been awhile since I've had cavities filled, and all these new-fangled tools and contraptions are just quite futuristic-looking to me. What with that little white thingy that looks like an ear thermometer, except it has an orange light and shield on the end of it. What exactly is that for? Does that little one-inch shield protect the hygenist from radiation or something? And is it normal for the freezing to last 5 hours? My freezing was very bizarre because I had feeling on the inside of my lip; it only felt like my tooth was frozen and not any other places in my mouth. Until, of course, I had to rinse. And then I made a mess of my bib because everything dribbled down my chin. Sexy. I couldn't even drink my protein smoothie at supper without dribbling...even using a straw. And by the time I went to church tonight, the freezing was gone except the right half of my top lip was paralized. I couldn't move it, and when I smiled the right half of my lip went over to the left side. At least that's what it felt like. Lola got a kick out of it. I was the highlight of her day. I was starting to get worried that it was going to be a permanent thing, but now my lip is normal and I'm just left with a toothache.

You so wish you were me.

Telemarketers

Telemarketers are not my favourite people. For one thing, they always call when you're busy - I think they do that on purpose because they know you're mind is elsewhere...like rescuing the baby as she's climbing onto the counter...or trying to stop the boys from beating each other up...your mind just isn't into the conversation at hand and you'll pretty much agree to anything just to get off the phone and extinguish the small fire now burning on the stove. And they think they're so clever when the first time they call you're eating supper and you ask them to call back another time...all the while secretly hoping they forget...and they make little notes about you to try to impress you. Except sometimes, if they write down the wrong information, their devious little plan backfires on them. Heh.

This was tonight's conversation with a charity who is hosting a laser lightshow or some such deal. Now bear in mind that there are charities that I do donate to, but there are so many around, I just can't give to everybody.

TM (Telemarketer): Hello, is Mrs. Jaj there?

Me (Me): Speaking.

TM: Oh hello, Mrs. Jaj. I'm with a really good charity - you remember I was talking with you, oh when was it...last Thursday or Friday and you were about to go out for supper and shopping or something? And you asked me to call you back?

Me: We were eating supper.

TM: Oh. That's right. Well, anyways, the show is really great and blah blah blah. Can we count on your support again this year?

This is a charity that I've never heard of before, therefore I have not supported them in the past. I don't like it that they're assuming I won't remember which charities I support.

Me: We're not financially able to help out this year.

TM: That's too bad. Not even to sponser anybody?

Me: No.

TM: Well, I hope you had a good time shopping. I don't know what you were shopping for, maybe groceries, or...

Me: We were eating supper.

TM: Um...Mumble Mumble...click...

Hopefully I won't be hearing from them anytime soon.

And speaking of charities, if you are able to help out the China earthquake victims in any way, Half the Sky Foundation, Love Without Boundaries, and Canada Helps have all set up special funds to take your donations.

Happy First Long Weekend of Summer!

Here in the Great White North we are just wrapping up the first long weekend of summer - the Victoria Day Weekend - where typically barbeques are had and pools are opened for swimming. This weekend? Winter coats. And rain. So how did the Jaj's spend the holiday weekend? Mostly catching up on the homework that Tigger missed when he was off school last week. And I made up a chore schedule for the whole family, and so far everybody is excited about it. And willingly doing their chores.

Remember how I told you about this allergy test I had to take last week? With the 96 different foods I had to eat? Yah well, I postponed it because it just wasn't happening. Except now my test is tomorrow, and I'm still only a little half-ways through the list. But I do know that a filbert is a nut. A hazelnut, to be precise. And I don't like them. And almonds and sunflowers? Don't taste very good when they're not coated with the smokie saltie coating. And I still have 4-5 different varieties of fish to eat. Blech. And mushrooms. Blech. And goats milk. Blech. I wouldn't make a very good hippie.

And I've been invited to share pictures of our trip to China with the seniors at church tomorrow. So that's where I'll be at lunchtime. And even though I've had a month to prepare, Mr. Happy is helping me with a power point presentation right this very minute...or rather, Mr. Happy is doing the power point for me and I'm sitting here blogging. While eating Honey Comb (without the milk)...to get the taste of the filberts out of my mouth.

Wish me luck!

Chicken Spots

Yesterday:

Today:

Sunday:
She looks thrilled, doesn't she.

So. Is it possible for your brain to become infected with the chicken spots? Because I swear Tigger's is being eaten alive by the pox. We've been working on Math, to try and stay caught up with his classmates, and the poor boy couldn't even remember how to make a $ sign let alone add.

We're both taking a break.

It's Finally Happened

The measles and the mumps and the chicken bumps...

Have you ever heard that song? That's the only phrase I know and it's running through my head at the moment. How long has Tigger been wishing for chicken pox? It's been about 6 weeks now that he's been diligently checking for spots each day, right? Well. Wish no more, my friend, wish no more. He officially has the chicken spots, as he calls it. Is he excited? Heh. He was last night, but this morning he was in tears because, "I didn't the chicken spots would look like this! I thought they'd be the same colour as my skin!" Poor guy; and he only has about 2 spots that are starting to look gross. You know the kind...you can't help but get wide-eyed at the sight of them...and it's only the beginning...

I haven't taken his picture yet, but I will. Because I'm mean like that. I took Zoomer and Shaggy's pictures when they had the chicken spots, too, so it's tradition. I'll have to dig those pictures out and scan them for you. Shaggy was quite a mess.

So. I get to make jello today to make my spotted little friend feel better.

At least he can stop wishing now.

Happy Mother's Day and Other Stuff

Well, dear readership, I guess it's about time I turn off Scrabulous and Facebook and start paying more attention to YOU. Although, Scrabulous. It is addictive. I've been limiting my fun time spent on the computer because my office work is piling up. Because when mistakes are being made - not by me, mind you, but I'm the one who needs to fix them - it's just easier to take the job over and do it myself properly to begin with.

So. What have I been up to, you ask? I've started seeing a Naturopath again and on Thursday I will be taking an allergy test. And I have a list of 96 foods to eat by then. That gives me 2 days, people. And I've only eaten 18 foods off of the list and I started on Saturday. And it isn't like it's good food like cake and pie, it's all yuppy food like fish and lentils and filberts. Seriously, what is a filbert?

In the meantime, we've celebrated Thumbelina's 2nd birthday and Mother's Day. A belated very happy Mother's Day to everybody out there. I'm sure there was something else I was going to talk about, but now I can't remember.

There was a rumor that Melvin was going to guest-post. Believe me, that's one post you won't want to read. Oh, I totally meant to say miss.

The chicken pox are still making the rounds throughout the school, and Tigger is home today (and yesterday) with a fever. No spots, though, so I'm not sure what's up with him. And Thumbelina is beyond grumpy this morning. She's downright PMS-y. With a runny nose to boot.
So I'm sure you're bored to tears by now and just really only want to see pictures. I aim to please, to here you go:

I saw a similar shirt at Rubber Duckies blog, and of course since it was Elmo and Thumbelina is in love with Elmo, I knew I had to get me one. I mean her one. It came from here.
Her birthday cake came from a local grocer; I took in one of her storybooks and they scanned the cover and made an edible image. How cool is that!
She was very excited about presents!
And she LOVES her aquadoodle.
Tigger is having a great time playing with Thumbelina's new toys!

Boys

Wow - we're starting May off with multiple postings! Is it just me, or does it seem like Christmas wasn't all that long ago? And here the year is almost half over. Two hundred and forty-four days left.

So back to the subject at hand - boys. Is it just me, or are they not very bright? Or is it just my offspring that aren't very bright... Awhile back, some relatives were over to make sure the kids got to bed on time and didn't burn the house down while we were out- I'd like to say they babysat, but a certain 13-year-old wouldn't appreciate me saying he had babysitters, so I will just say that Mr. Happy and I had a previous engagement on the same day that various relatives came to our house. So after our said engagement was over and we were once again home, it was brought to our attention that the 13-year-old did not, in fact, go to bed at the appointed time, but stayed up and watched TV with the relatives. And rather than just run off to bed like said relatives were hoping he would, he made an appearance and let Mr. Happy and I know that he had not yet been sent off to bed. I really thought he was just being honest, but now I'm thinking he's just not very bright because he's a boy.

And to fully support my suppositions, I would like to present to you Exhibit A:


Let's take a closer, shall we?
Yes, that is ink, on a leather office chair. Thumbelina actually did the long stripes, but Tigger was the one who wrote Tigger's Chair. With pen. On an office chair. Not very bright. Because now he's not going to look very believable when we confront him with this transgression. I mean, he wrote his name on the chair; it will be hard for him to say he didn't do it. Unless of course he didn't do it and one of his brother's did it to try to get Tigger into trouble. But then that's just plain dumb because they're older and should know better. At least better than Tigger. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't Thumbelina...other than the stripes...even though she is a very bright toddler and can draw circles quite well, she just hasn't mastered her ABC's yet.
How does one get ink out of leather anyway?

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

I stole this from Sunshine & Rubber Duckies, but since that blog is password protected, you don't even know that I stole it, do you. Except that I just told you.

Anyhoo, I found this to be rather creepily accurate. Corn Flakes. Huh.

You Are Corn Flakes

You are traditional and easy going. If something is high quality, you're satisfied with it. You don't need much variety or novelty in your life. You're happy with what you have. You're quite loyal. You're the type of person who eats the same breakfast every day... And likely at the exact same time each day!

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

Word

It seems that we have an explosion of language happening here in Jajville. Every day Thumbelina has a new word that she'll say all day long. The other day, it was toilet. Don't ask me why. She would just say toilet. And then she'd yell, 'Mommy! Toyet!' And then she'd run to flush the toilet, all the while saying toilet. We've also had sauye (sorry), cheek, cayon (crayon), and I don't remember what all else this week.

AND last night she said her first 3-word sentence - 'Juice fall down'. How cute is that! I'm not sure if the juice was a legitimate drop or if she threw it on the floor. This morning she yelled at Tigger, 'ME do!' She hasn't figured out the pronoun I yet (not the part about it being a pronoun, just that it's a word to refer to oneself instead of me), because every time she hears the word I in a sentence, she goes around and touches everybody's eyes, while saying 'Eye!' Again, very cute.

So yesterday our social worker was over for her last visit. It was kind of sad, in a way, that this was our last visit because it's been a really positive experience for us in every way. Our social worker (SW thusly hereafter) was quite impressed with all the tricks of our Little Miss, and our Little Miss put on a fine show for her, despite only sleeping maybe 45 minutes for her happy nappy. She sang, she coloured, she bossed her brothers, she hung off the edge of the peninsula and swung while saying 'Weeee'... she bossed her brothers, she counted and played Seek! Hide!, she bossed her brothers ... it was a fun time. Really.

Her first recommendation was to slowly adjust Thumbelina to sleeping in her own bedroom instead of the living room (which is on the agenda soonish rather than laterish), and to get a 42" plasma TV to mount on her wall so that she'll have the noise throughout the night ... do we have an awesome SW or what! Actually she only said that for Zoomer's benefit. He just looked at her with one eyebrow raised and couldn't quite figure out if she was serious or not. I'm going to start looking for a TV/VCR combo to put in her bedroom. I know. I know! I've always been against TV's in kids bedrooms, and I was horrifed when I saw pink TV's and VCR's in the toy section of Wal Mart a few years back. Now I'm thinking it was a desperate adoptive parent who came up with that brilliant idea.

And her second recommendation was to put Thumbelina into some sort of program or activity with other children where she can learn that she's not Queen Bee and she can't go around bossing everybody. Because she is a smidge bossy. And on more than one occassion, our SW said, 'Boy, she just rules the house, doesn't she.' Not that we give in to all her demands ... but she's a girl who knows what she wants and doesn't mind telling you in no uncertain terms.

Word.

New Help

My assistant called in sick today, so the temp agency that we use sent over someone new for today. I think we'll keep her.

She's been doing a fine job, even if her work attire isn't 'professional'...

I think she likes her new job, too!
So Shaggy mentioned to me on Tuesday - 2 days ago Tuesday - that he needed to do a demonstration speech for today. Today. And he didn't know what he wanted to do, other than something 'Scientific'. I scoured the internet and came up with 3 options for him - dancing raisins, fake blood, or slime. He thought the dancing raisins were cool, but didn't think he'd be able to talk for 3-5 minutes about it. He really wanted to do the fake blood, but ours was a hideous mess that looked nothing like blood, so then he was pretty excited about the slime.

Our first experiment with the slime turned out pretty well, except it used up the glue that I had, so Thumbelina and I had to go shopping yesterday to buy more glue. When Shaggy came home from school yesterday, he immediately made another batch of slime...without my knowledge...with what little of the old glue was left. This batch turned out better than the first batch. So after supper, he wanted me to sit and watch him so he could practice in front of an audience. It was disastrous. It didn't turn out at all and was just a hard clump of solidified glue in a bowl of green liquid. I bought a different brand of glue, so I promised Shaggy that I'd buy him more glue before today. He was okay with that and told Mr. Happy that it was a pretty good speech until it all went horribly wrong at the end.

So back to Wal Mart I went in search of glue. I found the same brand as the first bottle he used, so hopefully his speech went okay today without his experiment going horribly wrong.

Tigger's speech about how to make a banana split went very well, thank you for asking. But we all knew it would, right? Nobody quite has the gift of gab like Tigger.

Switching gears, let's talk about chicken pox once again. Remember how I said that Thumbelina's little friend didn't actually have the chicken pox and it was just a false alarm? Well, it still is a false alarm. However, a second kid in Tigger's class is off school with the pox. And the two siblings of the first kid who contracted the virus are now both off school with the pox as well. And because I'm being all paranoid about missing our playdate on Saturday, I noticed a red spot on Thumbelina's belly when I was changing her diaper for happy nappy time (which she is rebelling against).

And because my daughter is rebelling at the moment, I have not been able to dust or wash the kitchen floor...because she still sleeps in the living room and the living room is right off of the dining room, which is right off of the kitchen. Not a big deal, except that our social worker is coming over this afternoon for our 12 months post-placement visit. Do you think she'll notice the dried ketchup on the floor??

Out of the Loop

So my much younger cousin, who turns 19 this summer, has recently acquired a tattoo. He has pictures of it posted on his Facebook page and one of his friends left a comment. And I quote, "Sick Tat". What on earth does that mean??? When I was a kid, we called things righteous, and rad. And we thought we were uber-cool when we said, "no guff" (see, look at me being all hip with the uber talk). But sick tat? I don't get it.

I think I'll go put some moisturizer on my old lady hands now.

Tids & Bits

I have nothing of substance to say. Be warned.

• My hands look old. It's true. I'm starting to get the old-lady bumpy vein look.
• The other day, somebody asked me if I was 40. Forty. 40. No, I'm not. I'm younger, in case you were wondering. I guess my old-lady hands are telling a different story.
• Mr. Happy won 2 tickets to see a Toronto Raptors game (it was a door prize at a dinner meeting he went to). Zoomer was going to go with him but has since gotten himself grounded, so then I thought it would be a nice father/son thing for Mr. Happy to do with Shaggy.
• Is it selfish of me to want to go on a date with Mr. Happy, even though I'm not interested in basketball, instead of Shaggy doing the father/son thing?
• But then we'd need to find a babysitter for the kids.
• Tigger broke his glasses. Again.
• I don't trust people who smile at me. I think they have a hidden agenda. Or that they're laughing at me.
• My basement is mostly cleaned out, except for a somewhat large desk. Next on the agenda is stripping. Wallpaper. Get your mind out of the gutter.
• Whoever inveted wallpaper should be hung by their toenails and publicly flogged.
• Except for the modern stuff, because that's pretty cool.
• It's a pain where the sun doesn't shine to take off the walls.
• Yesterday Mr. Happy asked me how come we have so much laundry. We have 4 kids (I just typed in 34 and had to change it - some days it feels like 34, especially when I'm doing laundry).
• I think it's safe to say that Thumbelina is now starting the Terrible Two's. They're not all that terrible, especially compared to Shaggy's Terrible Two's...but she sure can be disagreeable by times. And bossy. And whiney. But she's still cute.
• There are no chicken pox on our horizon. Thumbelina's little friend that she plays with in the nursery didn't actually have them, it was a false alarm.
• Unless, of course, Thumbelina or Tigger break out this week with them, but then I'll be really bummed because we are going to a playdate with our travel group on Saturday.
• Zoomer graduates from Grade 8 this year. Grade 8. Soon he'll be able to drive legally.

I can't really think of anything else to say, so I will end my post now.

Yay For Sweater Weather!

And new swings!

Just Junk

So it's Friday. The boys have just left for school and my goal is to make it through the day with my sanity intact. Why, you ask? Because it's raining, I'm tired, and we've been living with Miss Crabby Von Crabberstein for the last week. In all fairness to her, she has been exposed to chicken pox - her little friend that she plays with in the church nursery broke out with the spots yesterday. So maybe she already has the virus working it's magic inside her little body, making her miserable.

And I think it's probably time to retire the highchair. Our beloved highchair is now a hated contraption of belts and trays. The wailing and the thrashing that took place yesterday at lunch as I tried to strap Miss Von Crabberstein into it...I tell you it just wasn't worth the effort. I did get a big hug as she was gasping for breath once she realized she would not be subjugated to that form of torture.

Tigger has to give a speech in his class next week. A demonstration speech, no less. Tigger has no talents when it comes to anything involving manual dexterity...I'm not being mean, I'm just stating the obvious. He was born at 24 weeks and weighed a whopping total of 734 grams (which is 1 lb 10 oz).

I'll have to scan the pictures we have of him wearing Mr. Happy's wedding ring on his little foot. So as a result of Tigger's prematurity, his fine motor skills are somewhat lacking. And I've been trying to think of an easy enough demonstration for him to give his speech on, and then as I was looking at the bananas on my counter turning all brown and gross, it hit me. A banana split! Guess what we're having for dessert tonight...and Saturday...and Sunday! Tigger's got the whole weekend to practice.

And speaking of Tigger. There's a kid in his class who has the chicken pox - it's an epidemic, I tell you - and since Tigger has not yet had them, he is convinced he is sick to the point where he is even trying to force himself to puke. My poor little hypochondriac. There are no spots yet and no fevers yet, so he's off to school today.

And I'm in the mood to get rid of all the junk in my basement. I'm in the mood to have a giant dumpster come to my house so that I can shovel everything into a heap and toss it all in.

I'm also in the mood to go back to bed.

Untitled

I seem to be in a bit of a blogging slump. Not to worry, I'll get my groove back soon enough and then you'll all be wishing I'd just shut-up for a bit. It's okay, I'm not offended. So I'll just leave you with some pictures of the Princess.





China must be so proud!

Pictures as Promised

It's Thumbelina Day!!!

Last year:

This year:

Last year (notice how her pants are pulled up to her armpits??)

This year (they fit a lot better):

Last year:

This year:

Love those split pants!

Thumbelina has grown so much in the past year; we've had a blast!

Today is a Special Day

Today is Thumbelina Day. Our First Anniversary as a Family of 6. aka Gotcha Day. So far, Thumbelina has had a bath, has had her picture taken in the clothing she wore last March 12 when we first met her, has had lunch, and is now supposed to be sleeping. She is fighting it with all her might. She has fought the whole concept of sleep ever since I've gotten home. I'm tired.

I'm not sure what the rest of the day has in store for us. I'm hoping that we can go out to supper when Mr. Happy gets home from work, and I know there is going to be cake. With icing.

And the missing luggage arrived today! I know you've all been worried about that, but it arrived safely this morning. Which is partly why we couldn't just take off and do anything special (like shop) - we had to wait for the luggage.

Stay tuned for pictures.

Life is An Adventure

The Weekend That Would Not End

Travels With Lola

Flight 477 - To H-E-Double Hockey Sticks and Back

I Just Want To Go Home

These were all possible blog titles that were mulling around in my head to describe our weekend...intrigued, aren't you.

As you will recall, I had to take Shaggy and Tigger to Florida on Thursday to spend March break at the compound with the in-laws, Fil & Millie. Lola came with me. And if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know that when it comes to air travel...or really just any type of travel, the Jaj Family seems to have a curse. You can read about past adventures here, here and here and let's not forget that I left our plane tickets at home last year when we were headed to China. So this past weekend really should have been no surprise to any of us.

We made it to the airport on Thursday without any glitches...other than having to walk eleventy-seven miles from the parking garage to the actual terminal...and was it Lola who said, 'There's our bad luck for the trip'... ? Cursed us, she did.

Had an uneventful flight and made it to the compound safely.

As promised, Fil & Millie pulled out the maps as soon as we got there to show Lola where everything was, and Millie drew me a map on how to get to the shopping. I'm a mall magnet - they have a pull on me that is indescribable...plus this is my third trip to the compound and shopping...but we all would have been disappointed if no maps had been drawn at all.

On Friday we took off for shopping and really gave the Floridian economy a boost. 8 hours and 4 stores later, we were tuckered. That is not a typo, we really only made it to 4 stores.

We spent the evening organizing our luggage and trying to get everything to fit. The orginal plan was to pack a smaller suitcase inside a larger suitcase (for me anyway...I think Lola was just going to bring an empty large suitcase), but Millie called before we left and said we should try to come with just carry-on luggage, and we could use their big suitcases to come home...ahem...by big suitcases, she meant one average size suitcase and 3 carry-ons. So I ended up leaving half of my purchases in Florida for the in-laws to bring home with them by car in April. But that also meant I only had to claim half of my purchases, so it was a good thing after all.
Plus there were tornado watches all night for our area. My fear of tornadoes is second only to spiders, so I didn't get a whole lotta sleep as I listened to the wind and rain and sleet, waiting for our impending demise.


Do you like Lola's airport issued make-up bag? She was quite proud of it and showed it to everybody wherever we went. It was free.

Friday morning, Millie got us to the airport on time and once there, we discovered that there was a major winter storm happening in the northeast. 'Member when I said that I'd be laughing at yous all if you got snow while we were in Florida? Can I take that back? I really didn't mean it, honest. We were told that our flight to Cleveland was canceled - we could go the next day, or we could fly to Houston and then to the Great White North, arriving at 8:something that night (the current time was 7:30 am), or fly to Newark and then to the Great White North, arriving at 6:something that night. We opted for Newark. We should have just gone to the beach. So we sat around and waited for 3 hours until our flight was scheduled to leave.
We had a bit of trouble landing in Newark, so we were re-routed to Dulles in Washington and sat on the tarmac for 3 1/2 hours. This is the Dulles airport from our view of the window.
This is the giant cloud that passed by overhead, bringing wind at 39 knots with it. I have no idea how strong 39 knots is, but it is enough to shake a plane full of people.
This is Lola and me being bored and goofy. It's a self-portrait. Our seat-mate asked us if we had gone to school together because she could see us getting into trouble...
I have to say that being stuck on an airplane for 3 1/2 hours with complete strangers, you get a glimpse of their true personalities. And some of the people on our flight were not very nice. They complained about everything there was to complain about and got other passengers riled up, they had nothing good to say about the pilot who was only doing his job and had no control over the weather; we were very fortunate that our seat mate was a very sweet lady who incidently shares the same name as Millie. Plus she has a daughter-in-law with my name. Go figure. We were finally given to okay to fly onwards to Newark...these clouds were pretty.
These were the Clouds of Doom. I have seriously never been in so much turbulance in all of my life. I had to concentrate and do lamaze breathing to keep from getting airsick and using the barf bag...literally half the plane was airsick. Every time I peeked through my eyelids and looked out the window, I could see lights below and I thought for sure we'd be able to land...it seemed like we circled the airport for an eternity, and it was probably a good 45 minutes of flying through that same stupid cloud. The wind was 60 miles an hour. And we were in a tin can. At one point, the flight attendant asked everyone to reach up and open the air thingies to get the air circulating and help those passengers who needed it...I honestly thought she was going to ask us to reach up and get the oxygen mask thingies to put over our faces.
We finally landed at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, part of the airport is a military base, and the other part is for commercial flights. But since we were on a Continental airplane, and Continental does not have a gate at this particular airport, we had to get special permission from one of the other airlines to board at their gate. It was 8:30pm when we landed and after 10:30pm when we were finally able to leave the plane. In the meantime, there was a group of university girls and their coaches who were on a softball team travelling with us. One of the girls had an anxiety attack (she was a nervous flyer to begin with) and went into shock. Luckily this all happened once we were safely on the ground and the EMT's were called and were able to take her to the hospital. The other girls fed off the frenzy and the flight attendants used all but one tank of oxygen on the girls. We were out of food and water and pop and juice, so the alcohol was brought out. Lola and I just looked at each other...the difficult passengers became irrate. And irrational. One woman called her husband, who called the State Troopers, who sent an officer over to our plane to talk to us. The officer told everybody to sit down, and in true New York fashion a bunch of the idiots, who were teetering on the brink of drunkeness, stood up and yelled, "NO! We're not sitting down until you let us off this plane!" Now really, how much sense does that sentence make. The officer told us that there were 5 major airports in the area closed due to the storm so we just had to sit and be patient. I don't know about you, but when somebody who carries a gun for a living tells me to do something, I'm going to do what he tells me to do.

Lola and I made up names for some of the passengers around us - Doorknob had a giant doorknob on her finger, pretending to be a ring...she was a huge complainer and got everybody around her worked up; Buttcrack - needs no further explanation; Mark - looked like a guy we know named Mark; The Lushes - let their 18 month old drink their empty beer cans...thank God Lola and I are normal.

Oh, and there was a rumor going around that 3 passengers from 1st class were let off the plane because somebody came to pick them up - Phil Donahue. Who knows if it was him or not. So that got Doorknob all worked up and she called her daughter to come pick her up. We were relieved when she left the plane. This is what a military airport looks like. We finally had some supper at 11:00pm. Lola had white cheddar popcorn. I had a banana and skittles.
Our seat mate was sensible and bought a sandwich (the store/restaurant at the airport stayed open just for us - not the 3 of us, the whole plane of passengers).
Before we got off the plane, the pilot told us that there were rooms available at Quality Suites and Homewood Suites and all we needed to do was catch the shuttle. But we still didn't know what was happening the next morning so those of us who didn't live nearby and couldn't rent a car just stood around waiting to hear what was going to happen. Somebody said that the plane we just disembarked was going to take us to Newark at 8:30 the next morning...somebody else said 10:30...we decided to crash at a room and be at the airport by 7:30 the next morning to be on the safe side.
Our room was awesome and quiet.
This was what was left of our group the next morning. 31 passengers our of 112 (the university softball team took a bus to their final destination).
Because it was only going to be a 17 minute flight from Stewart to Newark, we were told to help ourselves to drinks and snacks.
And because we didn't want to sit in Newark airport for how many days without sustenance, I think between the two of us, Lola and I came away with 2 cans of coke, 2 cans of sprite, a 1.5 litre bottle of water and about 15 mini-packets of peanuts.

Boarding our flight to Newark...we were told that there needed to be 15 people in the front half of the plane and 15 people in the back half to distribute the weight...
Military planes:
Coming in to Newark (it was a bumpity flight):
Once at Newark, we were told that we needed to go to the Continental Service desk to find out how to get home. When it was our turn, we were told that our flight on Saturday from Newark to the Great White North had been cancelled, so I had been put on the 11:15am flight, and Lola on the 3:00pm flight (this was now Sunday)....we didn't leave Stewart until almost 11:30, so I missed my flight...not that I knew anything about it, but I still missed it. Plus Lola's flight was booked and I was told I would have to fly stand-by. Lola told the rep she was not going without me, and we told her that we had come in on Flight 477. Apparently the reps had all heard about Flight 477. We were given a knowing nod. Somehow, she was able to work her magic and found me a seat on that flight. We were really quite fortunate to have been able to get home on Sunday. Some people were told they wouldn't be getting home until Monday or even Tuesday.
And I must say that that was the smoothest flight I've ever been on. It was a joy, really. Except that our luggage did not come with us. We had to fill out a form at the continental desk in TO and shuffle through suitcases sitting around...so our purchases have not made it home yet. Hopefully they will soon.
While all this was happening at home, Mr. Happy was being a single-parent to Zoomer and Thumbelina. Thumbelina was not excited to see me; I think she was upset with me for leaving her for 4 days and 3 nights...but last night she would not go to sleep unless I was laying on the couch where she could see me...11:40 is when she finally dozed off...

And my dear dear friends who live in the city, who had planned on picking Lola and I up from the airport on Saturday and bringing up home and spending the weekend in the country, were forced to abandon their plans and sit by the phone all weekend and make numerous calls keeping everybody at home apprised of new situations.

And and Zoomer was supposed to fly out Sunday night from Detriot, but due to the storm of the century the day before, Mr. Happy did not even get close to the border before Zoomer's flight was supposed to leave. They were forced to turn around and come home. Mr. Happy said that was the quietest ride he's ever had with Zoomer, poor kid. We were able to get him a flight with a different airline close to home yesterday, so that we wouldn't have to run the risk of getting stuck at the border again, and now Zoomer is safely in the compound with the in-laws. He's even e-mailed me already this morning.

Thus begins spring break 2008. With still 2 feet of snow still on the ground.