Year 3 - Day 229 - August 16

Here we are, on the first school night of the year. Tomorrow when the alarm goes off, I have to stay up! Oh the horror. Luckily I have a day to break in the alarm and my 5:45am days don't start until Monday. Whew. I got these paper globes at Target this summer and I'm hoping to make the Very Hungry Caterpillar out of them like this. Lots of people had it pinned on Pinterest and when I saw the globes on clearance I couldn't refuse. Of course we just got the email saying we can't hang things from the ceiling, so we'll see if I get in trouble. That'd be a bummer!

Year 3 - Day 228 - August 15

My other souvenir is a teeshirt from my favorite golf place. I probably won't wear it out and about, it'll be a pool/beach/lounging/PJ's tee shirt, but it was only $5. All 4 holes depicted on here are ones that I have mastered. :) Love it!

Year 3 - Day 227 - August 14

Definitely my most bizarre souvenir purchase ever! When we were checking out of the B&B, the innkeeper asked me how our stay was and I told her we really enjoyed it and that I wished I could take the sheets home with me. (I don't know what they are, but they are amazing!) She laughed and said she got that comment so often in the beginning that she now has sets available. She pointed at the sign in the corner with the display. So yup. I bought sheets. They were totally reasonable too, cheaper than I'd pay for a king set of good sheets at a regular store!

Year 3 - Day 226 - August 13

Normal people make chili for the Super Bowl or other wintery activities. We spent last night and today making and continuing to cook chili. We had a few of the ingredients from the crop share, so we bought the rest and finished up. We did actually have it for dinner tonight (and Mike had some last night, too during the 20 minutes of Closing Ceremonies we could handle) and now the rest is frozen for when the weather dips into cooler territory.

Year 3 - Day 225 - August 12

As you drive around the island, there are a lot of matching houses. There used to be (and still are in some places) a zillion cape cods from the same era. Then our era (early 80's) of houses started going up on stilts. There are a whole bunch of one model, but there were only 2 of our model. I knew our house's twin was in Barnegat Light, but I didn't know where until we drove by it yesterday! (The one on the left.) The stairs to the lower deck are in a different spot but the rest is the same. 

They're painting the Surf City water towers a dark blue. Either that or they're going to be 2 toned and they are only painting the bottom...

Our house! Well, our old house. The new owners made the deck pretty. I'm thinking they spend more time there because they actually have flowers. 

Oh they made a new trash can holder too. They're currently putting in pretty pavers under the house and getting rid of some of the stones.

This house has looked like this FOREVER. "But they got new windows!" says Mike. Nope, those Anderson windows tags have been on since I was a child. They used to have a trailer in the side yard but that finally disappeared. There are also board games piled up in the bay window. So ugly.

This sign (and it's new sign friends on 95 throughout Harford county) have been driving me crazy, but I'm always driving alone so I can't snap a picture. Luckily Mike was driving today. They recently changed a lot of the signage on 95 in our area. Instead of using the names of areas that people just use in conversation, they switched to the real names of towns. (543 used to be Riverside but now it's officially Belcamp, etc) In addition, they added several "How Far Until I Get To..." signs. BUT THEY ARE ALL IN THE WRONG PLACE! All of the signs going southbound were put in a few miles off. If you do the math, they have 543 being exit 77 instead of exit 80. Every one. And one of the signs has a whole bunch of extra miles between two things. It's escaping me right now - it's either 543 and Bel Air or Bel Air and White Marsh. I don't get it. How hard is it to put the signs in the right place?!?!

Year 3 - Day 224 - August 11

Today we jumped in the car at 8am and went to Long Beach Island, NJ. I grew up going there and haven't been since the fall of 98, shortly before my parents sold the beach house. It was cloudy and drizzling for most of our ride, but as we approached the bridges and the shack, we saw blue sky!

Our first stop was bagels for lunch. The remnants of my salt bagel. They're the best. It's like permission to eat a hot pretzel for breakfast or lunch!

My favorite bagel shop on the island is Bageleddi's in Ship Bottom. I was terribly excited to find out they still had a good bagel selection at 11am. Sometimes the good flavors (you know, the salt ones) are gone by then. Whew. This was probably because every one was either coming or going from the island at this moment! (All the rentals go Saturday-Saturday)

After getting to the B&B, changing into our suits, picking up the beach badges and getting to the beach, the clouds rolled in once again. I honestly was never uncomfortable on the beach and Mike wasn't roasting, but it was breezy and not prime beach weather. We stayed for a couple hours and then headed back as the rain rolled in. While it rained, Mike went for a run. (I think he's nuts, but it's his favorite running conditions - breezy but not windy, not hot, rainy, and super flat!) I enjoyed the sugary treats and hot chocolate that the B&B had out for afternoon tea and watched Olympics. I find that far preferable to rainy exercise!

After dinner at Kubel's next to the B&B, we headed down the island to do the 2 things I really wanted to do. (Honestly, the beach was an extra. I can go to the beach anywhere. These were the things that make my beach vacations complete!) First we went to Flamingo Golf. There are flashier, prettier, harder courses around. But this one is my favorite. If you are careful, aim well, and time your shots, 16 of the holes are relatively easy. My brother & I used to go to the tournaments on Thursday mornings when we were little, and I got really good at this course. One day I got either 10 or 11 holes in one, and 7 of them were in a row! That was exciting for me because for years they had a record board up and the tournament record was 6 in a row. I broke it! We went and saw my name on the board. Of course this was the 80's or 90's so we didn't have a camera with us. THE NEXT WEEK SOMEONE GOT 8 IN A ROW. My short lived moments of fame. :) (At least in my head!) Now 7 and 8 are routine, but they start over every year. Today I only got 4 and I don't think any were in a row. Totally off my game. :)

After golf, we kept heading south the Beach Haven to enjoy a delicious elephant ear. They're a cinnamon, sugar, buttery pastry. So so good. They're about a foot across, maybe not quite that big, and you can go in to sugar shock if you try to eat the whole thing by yourself. (I speak from experience!) But it's so so so good.

On our way back to the car I had to check out the new "Surf Shack" at the waterslide park. It's a FlowRider, just like on cruise ships! I think it's wider than the ones on cruise ships though. Saturday night must be "people who know what they're doing" night because it was really fun to watch them and there were minimal wipe outs.

Year 3 - Day 223 - August 10

Last week we got a phone call from the fire department asking for money. Early on in their spiel, they asked if we had tested the smoke detectors lately. I told them we had, but as I thought about it I wasn't sure the last time I had done it. I asked Mike and he wasn't sure either. So I bought 9V batteries at the grocery store over the weekend. They've been sitting on the kitchen table as a reminder to get around to it. I figured it would be a good idea to change them regardless because I know we haven't done that since we've been here.

Then yesterday during that crazy lunchtime storm, a house nearby caught fire after being struck by lightning. Figured it was definitely time to make sure our smoke detector was is working order. So I dragged a chair over and pushed the button.

Nothing.

Eek! How long have we been living without a working battery??

Took it off to change the battery and learned that it was a hard wired one - AND THE WIRES WERE CUT.

That means that we have been without one SINCE WE MOVED IN. No wonder I couldn't remember when I last tested it. I know you're supposed to always test when the time changes, but it would appear that I did not do that. Stupid stupid stupid.

I seriously almost jumped in the car at that moment and drove to 24 hour Walmart. But I didn't. Mike got them today.

Oye vey.

The better news of today is that it's BBQ Festival day! Last year we waited in line for 45 minutes. This year we went at 4:30 (it opens at 4) and beat the crowds. We drove there, parked, walked, picked a stand, ordered, ate, walked around a little and left...and it only took an hour. That's what we are doing from now on!!! We skipped the all you can drink soda from the cowboy wagon, but saved some time. :)

Year 3 - Day 222 - August 9

We just started getting hit by an insane cloud burst/thunderstorm at lunch time! It's hard to see through the waterdrops on the glass, but the gutters are pouring overflow. It hasn't rained this hard for a long time. There's some insane lightning going on out there too. I am just hoping we don't lose power, because day 4 of no car plus no Internet could be painful!!

Year 3 - Day 221 - August 8

Another day without a car, and another day searching for things to do. (Yes, there are plenty of things I *could* do, but I don't wanna.) After moving the Duclaw glasses, I decided to actually put some pictures up. Us in Turkey & Egypt up top and us in Paris at the bottom.

Year 3 - Day 220 - August 7

If you look at yesterday's picture, you can see the preview of this. I'm carless today for the 2nd day in a row, and feeling bored. I honestly didn't do anything interesting today so I walked back over to the end table where I took yesterday's picture and turned the page. :)

This is her visual representation of our library. Alphabetical shelves, some people, and of course a SmartBoard. :)

Year 3 - Day 219 - August 6

Another bag from the end of the school year emptied and another end of the year gift. :)

Year 3 - Day 218 - August 5

It's "Breakfast at Wimbledon!" Except it's the Olympics. And Wimbledon is dressed up in purple and hot pink. And the players are not wearing all white. And there's more rock music and less bowing to the Queen. Since the grass is always a mess at the end of the regular Wimbledon tournament and it didn't have time to recover before the Olympics, it's going to take forever to get the lawns pretty again.

Year 3 - Day 217 - August 4

Remember these pencils? I found one in our house. When I was younger I thought they were so cool - but the lead disappeared quickly and as soon as you started popping it in the back to get a new lead, you were guaranteed to lose one and render the pencil useless. Not to mention needing a separate eraser! I seriously wonder where this came from...

Year 3 - Day 216 - August 3

As the cat has transitioned into a wet food only animal, he has become increasingly whiny. This is a big change because he was a pretty silent cat up until this point. He begs and begs for food, but he can no longer graze, so if we give him too much he gets sick. He's missing the logical part of his brain though, because he still begs and begs. He took it to a new level this week and began jumping up on the desk counter where (he thinks) the food is. (It's actually on the chair that pushes up on the counter, plus it's in cans!) He's spent the first 9 years of his life very well trained in this department - I saw him go up on top of the cabinets a couple times when he was young and bouncier but he got "no kitchen surfaces" trained pretty young. But today he went even further - when he didn't find what he wanted on the desk, he tried the top of the fridge. And then when I yelled, he leaped to the floor in one jump. Talk about a thud. Ouch.

Year 3 - Day 215 - August 2

I just realized I never did a picture of the other home improvement project my mom did while she was here. We did the kitchen and Mike's sink faucets last summer, so she did the powder room & my bathroom this year. Mike has to help with the strength part (getting the old screws/bolts undone with 25 years worth of corrosion) but then my mom does the rest. :) They're much nicer than the old ones with the plastic handles!

Year 3 - Day 214 - August 1

It's like Christmas morning! The size of computer memory never ceases to amaze me. My first college computer had a 2GB hard drive. 2GB! This one has 500GB and they gave us an external with another 500GB. Holy moly! I'm so lucky to work in a district that believes in keeping teachers up to date in the technology world. Every 4 years they lend us a brand spanking new computer and give us training on all the new "stuff" that's out there. It used to be more software based, but now it's more resource based. Either way, I'm happy to do the PD in exchange for the use of a new computer. And for a whole year, we get to be the club with the most recent version. :)