Catchin' Up - Baltimore & Irene

I've been meaning to write this post for months!  Finally, I'm catching up and getting it out there. Just to warn you - there are tons of pictures in this one...

At the end of August, Chicken Little and I flew into the storm, literally. The weekend before she was supposed to start school, Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast. I was concerned that our flights would be cancelled, so instead of being delayed, I was able to reschedule to leave a day early... Yes, you read that right.

We arrived on Friday night and the hurricane hit on Saturday night. I know that a lot of people were flooded and without power.  For us, thank goodness, the storm was inconvenient, but not too bad.

(This is the view from CL's window.)

Saturday it was a bit drizzly during the day, but we had tons to do. We had to move her into her new apartment - which meant painting, buying her a mattress and hitting the thrift stores to find a headboard. All started well: mattress - check, paint - check, Salvation Army....closing early because of the storm?!? It was 1:00, and it wasn't even raining yet! So we improvised. But first a trip to unload the van and check out her new digs.

This is her building - promising, but no parking.  (I ended up with a $75 parking ticket - grrr! - was NOT happy about that!)

But wait - a flight of stairs just to get into the building - a little of the luster wore off...

After unloading, we made a 4-hour detour through southern Pennsylvania! Oh. My. Goodness! That was some of the best thrifting - EVER!  We ended up finding an old wall-mounted magazine rack to use as a headboard ($25), a bench with storage (critical feature!) ($20), and a CUTE school desk and chair ($8!!) that she is using a night stand.  We also found several old suitcases (that I HAD TO HAVE), but that's for another post.



Finally, we made the trek back to her apartment and unloaded the van (in the rain).  Since the storm was really starting to come in, we decided to head straight to the hotel for the night.  BIG MISTAKE - all of the power at the hotel was out - ALL. NIGHT. LONG!  The apartment never lost power - hmmmm...

Relatively minor damage in her neighborhood, but they did lose one big tree which blocked the road. 

Back to the salt mines - painting, assembling and unpacking.  And a trip to the grocery store and Home Depot before I headed back to Texas. 



Lots of work to do!

Seriously - that's her closet!  Don't you just love old buildings with character?!  Needless to say, we had to go to Wally World and get her one of those self-contained closet thingys (see below) so she would have a place to hang her clothes.

I also noticed that there were a couple of spots on her ceiling that appeared to be darker  than the rest.  Apparently, the landlord still hasn't fixed this problem.  Hopefully, it was just because the storm was so strong, and it's not something that leaks every time it rains because the spot happens to be right over Chicken Little's bed.  The sky really could be falling - HA! HA! HA!!! Now, that would be a rude awakening!  (I crack myself up!)

On a positive note - look at those wood floors!  GORGEOUS!

CL's smiling because we've finished the painting and have started to assemble things, and she doesn't have anything else to carry up those darn stairs!  She's standing in front of a cute little mantel (no fireplace) in her room. 

OMG!  It was a loooooonnnnggg day of work. The only people third floor walk-up apartments are good for are college students who don't know any better!  EGAD!

So, we hadn't finished unpacking when I had to leave, but we had made a TON of progress.  Here's the almost finished room.

Magazine rack/headboard hung on the wall with about a gazillion screws (still, I told her not to weight it down too much).  Notice a pattern here?  It's perilous for the child to go to sleep!

She has a white matelasse spread on the bed because it will go with everything, and she has a couple of colorful quilts that she throws on top. 

Also, there's the desk as nightstand, and that ugly but practical closet thing. The cute light we bought this summer is one of a pair.  The other one is hanging on the other side of the room over her real work desk.

Her it is with her pink desk (a painted garage sale find from last year), and the dresser that she inherited from the previous tenant.  We painted the dresser and the magazine rack the same gray (found in the ooops! section at Wally World).  We also spray painted the shiny brass hardware a hammered nickel(?).

And we hung the sheers - I tried to convince her to get heavier curtains - but this is what she wanted.  They are pretty, but I hope she's not too cold in the winter - sleeping right there by the windows. 
The visitor on the bed belongs to one of her roommates.  His name is Christopher Robin - he made himself quite comfortable right away.
The rest of the apartment is cute, too.  It was already furnished because she has two roommates who have been there for a couple of years.  I'm sure we really disrupted their weekend.  Oh well - all in all, I think it was a successful trip.  We got her mostly settled and we didn't get washed away.  I did, however, have to take to my bed for two days afterwards just to recover!!


25 Days of Christmas

17.  Do you take neighbor gifts/treats to anyone, everyone, a select few?

Most years, we take cookies to the neighbors we talk to on a regular basis.  But since I've decided that I'm only baking a couple of batches, we will probably be a little Scroogey with them this year.

Cinderelly, Cinderelly...

I would just like to know who is supposed to do all the chores around here now that Chicken Little has moved away?

This is how I spent my Sunday:

Making pancakes - if CL were home, I feel certain that someone would have made breakfast for the fams before I got out of bed. (BTW - the trick to a perfect pancake is waiting to flip them until those bubbles pop.)

Unloading the dishwasher... really?? Where does this stuff go? I don't remember how to do this. At least since she's gone, it takes several days before it's full enough to run.

Oh, the glamorous life! Poop-scoopin' duty! Jealous?? (just keepin' it real, folks)

A little Fall decorating outside...



...and a little decorating inside. This part was fun, but why bother? No one is here to appreciate it. heavy *sigh* and mopey face

Somewhere in here I also went to the grocery store, paid a couple of bills, folded a load of laundry and cut back/cleaned out the back yard flower beds and 1/2 of the beds in the front. Oh woe and weariness, poor, poor, pitiful me... ;-)



Finally, Prince Charming rode in, took a little pity on my Cinderella soul... and cooked dinner. Yes, that is THREE roasted chickens you see. PC's traveling quite a bit, and he's trying to make sure I eat something other than cereal for the next couple of weeks. I can cook, but I don't like to - especially when it's only me. Besides, the man is a professional, so it's better for everyone to just stay out of his way and be appreciative!

Anyway, PC made enough for our dinner (just the two of us even though there are three plates out - it's a habit), and enough left over for salads and sandwiches and maybe even chicken salad later this week. YEA!

CRASH! Back to reality.... did you see those dirty pans? Who do you think did the dishes?

Chicken Little, my sky is falling!!!

Just to be clear - this post is not about implying PC did nothing - he did! In addition to dinner, he did the man-stuff: mowed, edged and weed-eated (is that a word?). This is simply my angst around the loss of the live-in child-labor I used to have.

The Road Goes On Forever

I started home later than I had planned... remember, I said it was hard to leave. I just fussed around like the mama hen until I was about to be kicked out.

So back along the Virginia Creeper Trail. Something about that name makes me uneasy - like I expect it to be haunted by all kinds of pervs and weirdos. I don't think the name does the scenery any justice.



I don't know what this is or where it is - somewhere in Virginia or Tennessee. Again, something about it made me uneasy. It looked out of place.



This, however, looked perfect.

And the road goes on forever....

It was a long trip home. I got in about 1:00 AM on Friday/Saturday, and went to bed. I stayed in bed all weekend - partially because I was exhausted from the trip, and partially because I couldn't think of any good reason to get up. I was in a bit of a funk.

Going to work on Monday was difficult, but I made myself get up and go. I was still wiped out - physically, mentally and emotionally. I felt like I was having to learn how to interact with my environment in a whole new way. I felt awkward talking to people at work, and weird being home with just me and Joe. I felt slightly uncomfortable all day. I was in bed before 7:00 that night.

There’s no need for concern - it's just a transition phase. I'm a big fan of cocooning -wrapping my old self up and not coming out until I'm transformed and ready to be new. It's a little weird still and the house seems kind of empty, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable and at the same time, a new sense of energy. I am starting to think about the possibilities and opportunities, and I can feel myself already starting to ease into this new way of being.

Here We Are & Dorm Cuteness

We were up early on Thursday morning. She couldn't check in until 9:00, but she didn't want to be late!

Notice the irritation - the nanosecond it took to take this picture was too long for Lib.

And we arrive...

Thank goodness she was only on the second floor. We had to unload all that junk and get it up those stairs. That was my least favorite part of the trip. I have a hard enough time hauling myself up - much less all of her stuff! And it was about 93% humidity - I was looking really pretty. What? It wasn't about me? Really? Hmmm....

Anyway - the dorm room is essentially a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. Chicken has one roommate who's in a single room, and then she shares her room with one other roommate. I met both of them briefly and they seem like very nice, normal girls (thank God!).

Living/dining room - no tv's in any rooms. There is one common TV for the entire complex - definitely have their priorities straight! (in this picture - the kitchen is behind me)

This is the bathroom - just a shower, potty and small sink - I just took this picture because I loved this shower curtain. I thought it was really clever for those having to share a bathroom with very little storage space - they don't have to tote their stuff back and forth.

Lib's room. We brought the desk. It's one of those inexpensive "farm" tables that we got a garage sale for $15. She sanded and painted it hot pink this summer. CUTE! No room for it, but we managed to find a place at the end of her bed and we wedged the night stand under it.

Notice all the junk she had to stack on top of her wardrobe. I was beginning to think I was going to go home with the van still half full.

Picking the bedding was quite a challenge. Lib didn't know what color or style she wanted, and then we finally saw a picture in a some magazine with a white bedspread and blankets or quilts at the bottom. PERFECT! She can change the cover at the bottom depending on her mood or the weather. This summer, she made that quilt at the bottom - it turned out really cute, and worked perfectly with the white.

The nice thing about this dorm is the homasote on the walls. The school has done this so the kids can have places to hang the art pieces they are working on or have finished. Pretty clever - and it also allows for the obligatory posters...

That vintage suitcase on the desk is full of her art supplies.

Think she was getting a little tired of all the photos?? I thought the sequined top for move-in day was an especially nice touch.

And then it was time for the long ride home. The van was really, really empty.

Wow! What a really wonderful and horrible day that was. I was incredibly proud of the independent, talented young woman she is becoming, but at the same time worried and sad to close this chapter. Leaving at the end of that day is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I started missing her before we even said goodbye.

No worries - YEA me for a job well done! I know she will soar.

And We're Off

Last Tuesday afternoon, we hit the road for the long, long drive from Dallas to Baltimore.

I rented a minivan (you aren't obligated to own one if you only have one child). We put the seats down (it took both of us to figure out how that worked). She loaded it up (to the very top), and off we went...


Yes, she took all of this to outfit her dorm room... and this was after weeks of scaling back on the "to go" pile. I have a firm belief that it doesn't matter how nice your stuff is, when it is piled in the back of a truck (or van, in this case) it just looks like a bunch of junk.


Notice that the door is not fully open. The entire van was like the overstuffed hall closet - you had to open the door a crack, put a hand in to catch anything that may come tumbling out, and then, without opening the door all the way you could quickly put in or take out what you needed. Just like that piled up truck on the Beverly Hillbillys intro...



Load 'em up, move 'em out. Say cheese!


Enough with the pictures already, Mom! LOL! She held that bonsai on her lap for about 8 hours before she was finally able to make a spot for it on the floor in front of her. It left her with about 8-10 inches of room for her feet.

It was hot! Even though most of our time would be spent in the car, this heat was not something I would miss over the next few days. 1300-ish miles to go!

Bon Voyage

We threw a big party a little over a week ago. The purpose was to get the family together for one final send-off for Chicken Little before she leapt from the nest.

I spent less than $10 on fresh flowers. I was concerned about the cheesiness factor, but I really liked the color combinations with the vases (I already had those). The second one was so festive!

Speaking of festive.... LOVED these shoes worn by my mother! Not what I was expecting for a cook-out, but since we stayed in (except for the actual cooking part), they were perfect!

This looks like only a few people came, but about 20 people showed up, and for most of the time, everyone was gathered in the kitchen (isn't that how it always happens?!).

The grill-master makes his final preparations... (please note his proud display of the team colors - it may only be pre-season, but my annual widowhood has already started - from now until February, I'll only have his attention on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.)

We tried to keep the menu, easy and summery, but it was still quite the feast. We had chips, salsa and queso to snack on, and the absolute best homemade sangria (recipe below), and iced tea, of course. Then for the serious eating section of the party, we had burgers, dogs, watermelon (yummy!!!), and potato salad. And for the really, really serious eating at the end, we had TWO desserts...

Banana pudding and hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting.... and homemade banner. I had planned to make cupcakes, but Chicken Little wanted a cake with frosting and layers, so I went with Plan B. It was the first time I made that cake, and it was scrumdiddlyumptious - even if I do say so myself. :-)

Chicken Little with said cake... I think a good time was had by all, and she was sent on her way knowing she is loved and will be missed. (please ignore the messy kitchen counters in the background)

Yummy Sangria Recipe (I found this at allrecipes.com)

½ c. brandy

½ c. triple sec

¼ c. lemon juice
1/3 c. frozen lemonade concentrate
1/3 c. orange juice

1 (750 ml) bottle dry red wine

¼ c. sugar (optional, but I added it)
1 lemon, sliced into rounds

1 orange, sliced into rounds

1 lime, sliced into rounds

8 maraschino cherries (or however many look festive to you)

2 c. carbonated water or ginger ale (optional, but I went with ginger ale)

In my version, none of these measurements were exact. I added more of what I like and less of what I don’t like – it’s hard to mess it up. Regarding the alcohol, get the cheap stuff because you’re doctoring it up so much that it won’t matter.

Directions: In a large pitcher, mix together the brandy, lemon juice, lemon concentrate, orange juice, red wine, triple sec and sugar. Float slices of lemon, orange and lime, and maraschino cherries in the mixture. Refrigerate overnight for best flavor. For fizzy sangria, add club soda/ginger ale just before serving.

Serve cold – over ice or not. Be careful – this stuff tastes like punch and will sneak up on you before you know it.