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Entry tags:
October Memories, Looming Storm
Sunday's hat: the buffalo hat!! There was only one left so I snatched it and wore it all night. Not excited AT ALL.
Sales were abysmal because it rained for the entire night. It's supposed to rain from now until Milton hits.
Monday. Jameson's alarm went off at 8 because he's got Jollywood rehearsals in the mornings all week. He's very excited and nervous :) I'm happy for him and sorry that he's got to kick it off with a cold.
I'm feeling better...I have steps that I take when I think a virus is after me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but this time it seems to have worked temporarily.
Monday was a day off for me but I have so much to do that it didn't feel like one. It was 72 degrees out which was a blessing. I savored the feeling of "chilly air" on my skin as I brought the bananas inside. Then:
- Laundry
- Running the dishwasher
- Subsequent folding of laundry and putting away of dishes
- Planning dinner
- Breakfast and two hours of transcription
- Lunch and to the grocery for dinner ingredients
Since this hurricane is now a Cat 5 I used that as a psychological excuse to drive all the way to Whole Paycheck and get some of my favorite treats. They have a new flavor of Koia: matcha latte! Maybe it's dumb to buy perishable stuff right before a storm like this, but oh well.
Back home I decided to once again skip practicing so I could focus on transcription and prepping dinner. I made Chicago dog salad: pretty much all the toppings on a Chicago dog but mixed together in a big bowl with romaine and coleslaw mix, like a salad. Then I cooked the hot dogs in slices and mixed them in too. Instead of buns we sometimes use russet potato skins, which I roast in the oven with celery salt and black pepper. Turned out very good.
Jameson got home and immediately had to do his online teaching work, so I delayed dinner and did more transcription.
After dinner we discussed what to do about the hurricane.
The tough thing is that it's a Cat 5 now, but it's "probably going to" weaken to a Cat 3 by landfall. Probably.
We agreed we'll have to wait and see what happens with the forecast.
If it looks like it's going to hit as a Cat 4 or 5, we'll throw some things in our cars (we decided to drive separately to have double vehicles and double gas and more room for stuff) and GTFO. We'd aim for North Carolina; my aunt lives there and I have good friends there who would take us in. Jameson's brother lives in Georgia, but he has kids and also didn't offer to host us.
Right now, though, we're not planning to evacuate. We've stocked up on food and snacks, water and toilet paper. We're charging our battery packs, bringing anything loose on the deck into the garage, and filling our tanks with gas (I forgot to get gas so will have to do it tomorrow morning.) We're packing small "flee-bags" in case we can't take our time packing.
...I think that's all we can do.
Meanwhile, I still have to work at the hat shop tomorrow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday morning I was up early to go get gas, and was glad I did.
There is a run on gas stations even here in Orlando. I had to queue up, which I've never had to do around here, and wait my turn to top off my tank. But now it's done and one less thing to worry about.
Jameson had rehearsal again this morning, and as he was leaving we conferred again about whether we need anything and what needs doing. The main thing today is picking up anything we think we will need + moving stuff from the deck to the garage.
We shared the first ripe home-grown banana as well. It's so cute! Very sweet, sweeter than store-bought, and the texture is a little more...dense, I guess? But it was quite delicious and definitely a success. Hooray, after 3+ years of cultivating I've successfully grown bananas!!!
They are ripening extremely quickly, so we will just have to eat them as little snacks and I'll freeze some if we don't lose power.
After Jameson left I moved my plants and the outdoor furniture cushions to the garage, and pushed the wicker furniture up against the wall instead of the screens. It took all of 10 minutes.
I drove to CVS for quick oats and candy corn and two extra jugs of water "just in case."
Not necessities at this point but oats can conveniently be eaten just by soaking in water, and you can never have too much water around anyway. It was chaos out there. The CVS was out of propane, gas stations were running out of gas.
Back home I checked our battery supplies, packed my dinner for work, and dusted.
Practiced some of the Disney Christmas music, then finished my transcription job although it took forever because I was constantly interrupted by alerts, texts, calls, and messages from family, friends, the government, and workplaces about the hurricane. I am grateful that there are people concerned for our wellbeing!
But the result was that I felt very scatterbrained and flustered for most of the day, like I should be doing something but kept getting pulled away to receive updates or reassure loved ones.
In fact, I was so flustered today that I forgot it was the anniversary of my dad's death (this also means that my mom's death anniversary is tomorrow.) But my sister Kate remembered. And she sent me a beautiful, thoughtful package which arrived today:
She and our stepmom were able to have a lovely fall outing recently, plus it was the Bloomsburg Fair, and she wanted me to have a taste of our traditional autumn in Central Pennsylvania :)
This is
- decorative squash and corn
- A fresh apple from Rohrbach's Orchard
- Buckwheat honey and apple butter made locally
- Caramel apple and whoopie pie from Rohrbach's
- Apple pie filling made and canned by my stepmom
- A painted wooden decoration from my nephew Declan <3
- Honey sticks and a Cow Tale candy
- Hard ginger candies, which they know I love
- Roasting chestnuts (I've never roasted chestnuts before!!)
- Cloves (the container has holes in it, so this is meant to be for scenting the room)
In addition, several big sheets of locally-made beef and venison jerky from the Bloomsburg Fair!!
I've already eaten some and it's fantastic. Nothing beats homemade.
There was also a large Ziplock full of leaves, acorns, and nut shells, direct from trees in our hometown.
I was so incredibly touched by this. I mean...it really IS my hometown's autumn, in a box!
When I was still a toddler, my mother and I would go for walks and collect all sorts of little nature-things.
In the fall we'd find pretty leaves, and press them between the pages of books.
As soon as I saw the leaves from my sister, I remembered something.
This is a book I've had since before I could read.
And my mom and I used it to press leaves.
That's right...this leaf was pressed in 1987.
I texted my sister, told her about the book, and sent her pictures of me adding her new leaves to the book.
Alongside our mother's leaves, pressed so long ago.
Doing this today, on the day my dad died and a day before my mom died.
On the day before we're hit with a hurricane.
I will remember this.
And then it was time for work.
Today's hat:
We recently got these knitted cloches in, and I was very interested in this deep teal color. Lucky me, my shirt matches almost perfectly! Not that anyone noticed or cared. The few customers that we did have seemed more interested in Disney's hurricane prep than in hats. Interestingly (and perhaps reassuringly) most people in the Springs were refugees from Tampa. This means that people believe it's safer here; that they can ride out the storm here.
I hope they're right.
We closed the store 1/2 hour early.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday I was up early to review and send my transcription job. I'm very pleased to find fewer and fewer errors with each job I submit.
Turned it in nice and early and alerted my supervisors that I might be unreachable in coming days.
In order to keep this post short, and have it up before we lose power, I think I'll end it here.
This week, because of the hurricane, I'll do some "Live From The Shit Show" posts, so that I can just update whenever I have power and also not have one long gigantic post that no one will read because no one reads any more.
Here we go. Stay safe y'all!
Sales were abysmal because it rained for the entire night. It's supposed to rain from now until Milton hits.
Monday. Jameson's alarm went off at 8 because he's got Jollywood rehearsals in the mornings all week. He's very excited and nervous :) I'm happy for him and sorry that he's got to kick it off with a cold.
I'm feeling better...I have steps that I take when I think a virus is after me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but this time it seems to have worked temporarily.
Monday was a day off for me but I have so much to do that it didn't feel like one. It was 72 degrees out which was a blessing. I savored the feeling of "chilly air" on my skin as I brought the bananas inside. Then:
- Laundry
- Running the dishwasher
- Subsequent folding of laundry and putting away of dishes
- Planning dinner
- Breakfast and two hours of transcription
- Lunch and to the grocery for dinner ingredients
Since this hurricane is now a Cat 5 I used that as a psychological excuse to drive all the way to Whole Paycheck and get some of my favorite treats. They have a new flavor of Koia: matcha latte! Maybe it's dumb to buy perishable stuff right before a storm like this, but oh well.
Back home I decided to once again skip practicing so I could focus on transcription and prepping dinner. I made Chicago dog salad: pretty much all the toppings on a Chicago dog but mixed together in a big bowl with romaine and coleslaw mix, like a salad. Then I cooked the hot dogs in slices and mixed them in too. Instead of buns we sometimes use russet potato skins, which I roast in the oven with celery salt and black pepper. Turned out very good.
Jameson got home and immediately had to do his online teaching work, so I delayed dinner and did more transcription.
After dinner we discussed what to do about the hurricane.
The tough thing is that it's a Cat 5 now, but it's "probably going to" weaken to a Cat 3 by landfall. Probably.
We agreed we'll have to wait and see what happens with the forecast.
If it looks like it's going to hit as a Cat 4 or 5, we'll throw some things in our cars (we decided to drive separately to have double vehicles and double gas and more room for stuff) and GTFO. We'd aim for North Carolina; my aunt lives there and I have good friends there who would take us in. Jameson's brother lives in Georgia, but he has kids and also didn't offer to host us.
Right now, though, we're not planning to evacuate. We've stocked up on food and snacks, water and toilet paper. We're charging our battery packs, bringing anything loose on the deck into the garage, and filling our tanks with gas (I forgot to get gas so will have to do it tomorrow morning.) We're packing small "flee-bags" in case we can't take our time packing.
...I think that's all we can do.
Meanwhile, I still have to work at the hat shop tomorrow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday morning I was up early to go get gas, and was glad I did.
There is a run on gas stations even here in Orlando. I had to queue up, which I've never had to do around here, and wait my turn to top off my tank. But now it's done and one less thing to worry about.
Jameson had rehearsal again this morning, and as he was leaving we conferred again about whether we need anything and what needs doing. The main thing today is picking up anything we think we will need + moving stuff from the deck to the garage.
We shared the first ripe home-grown banana as well. It's so cute! Very sweet, sweeter than store-bought, and the texture is a little more...dense, I guess? But it was quite delicious and definitely a success. Hooray, after 3+ years of cultivating I've successfully grown bananas!!!
They are ripening extremely quickly, so we will just have to eat them as little snacks and I'll freeze some if we don't lose power.
After Jameson left I moved my plants and the outdoor furniture cushions to the garage, and pushed the wicker furniture up against the wall instead of the screens. It took all of 10 minutes.
I drove to CVS for quick oats and candy corn and two extra jugs of water "just in case."
Not necessities at this point but oats can conveniently be eaten just by soaking in water, and you can never have too much water around anyway. It was chaos out there. The CVS was out of propane, gas stations were running out of gas.
Back home I checked our battery supplies, packed my dinner for work, and dusted.
Practiced some of the Disney Christmas music, then finished my transcription job although it took forever because I was constantly interrupted by alerts, texts, calls, and messages from family, friends, the government, and workplaces about the hurricane. I am grateful that there are people concerned for our wellbeing!
But the result was that I felt very scatterbrained and flustered for most of the day, like I should be doing something but kept getting pulled away to receive updates or reassure loved ones.
In fact, I was so flustered today that I forgot it was the anniversary of my dad's death (this also means that my mom's death anniversary is tomorrow.) But my sister Kate remembered. And she sent me a beautiful, thoughtful package which arrived today:
She and our stepmom were able to have a lovely fall outing recently, plus it was the Bloomsburg Fair, and she wanted me to have a taste of our traditional autumn in Central Pennsylvania :)
This is
- decorative squash and corn
- A fresh apple from Rohrbach's Orchard
- Buckwheat honey and apple butter made locally
- Caramel apple and whoopie pie from Rohrbach's
- Apple pie filling made and canned by my stepmom
- A painted wooden decoration from my nephew Declan <3
- Honey sticks and a Cow Tale candy
- Hard ginger candies, which they know I love
- Roasting chestnuts (I've never roasted chestnuts before!!)
- Cloves (the container has holes in it, so this is meant to be for scenting the room)
In addition, several big sheets of locally-made beef and venison jerky from the Bloomsburg Fair!!
I've already eaten some and it's fantastic. Nothing beats homemade.
There was also a large Ziplock full of leaves, acorns, and nut shells, direct from trees in our hometown.
I was so incredibly touched by this. I mean...it really IS my hometown's autumn, in a box!
When I was still a toddler, my mother and I would go for walks and collect all sorts of little nature-things.
In the fall we'd find pretty leaves, and press them between the pages of books.
As soon as I saw the leaves from my sister, I remembered something.
This is a book I've had since before I could read.
And my mom and I used it to press leaves.
That's right...this leaf was pressed in 1987.
I texted my sister, told her about the book, and sent her pictures of me adding her new leaves to the book.
Alongside our mother's leaves, pressed so long ago.
Doing this today, on the day my dad died and a day before my mom died.
On the day before we're hit with a hurricane.
I will remember this.
And then it was time for work.
Today's hat:
We recently got these knitted cloches in, and I was very interested in this deep teal color. Lucky me, my shirt matches almost perfectly! Not that anyone noticed or cared. The few customers that we did have seemed more interested in Disney's hurricane prep than in hats. Interestingly (and perhaps reassuringly) most people in the Springs were refugees from Tampa. This means that people believe it's safer here; that they can ride out the storm here.
I hope they're right.
We closed the store 1/2 hour early.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday I was up early to review and send my transcription job. I'm very pleased to find fewer and fewer errors with each job I submit.
Turned it in nice and early and alerted my supervisors that I might be unreachable in coming days.
In order to keep this post short, and have it up before we lose power, I think I'll end it here.
This week, because of the hurricane, I'll do some "Live From The Shit Show" posts, so that I can just update whenever I have power and also not have one long gigantic post that no one will read because no one reads any more.
Here we go. Stay safe y'all!