Morning sweet nothings...

Alexe cuddled up to me in bed this morning, dressed in her gym clothes and headed out on her day off, and whispered in my ear, "remember, I could ALWAYS be fatter..."

Followed by a big self-satisfied grin and a tackle. :)

Family trip to the MS Gulf Coast

I love my family. They are so much fun to spend time with, to have adventures with, to spend our "family days" toodling about doing much or nothing. Each member is chock full of personality, Alexe is super excited/forward planning/tickled with what we're doing; Caspian is happy to be along, chortles when he snags the center of attention, and periodically likes to step away from tagging along and copying his sister to do his own thing; Annaliese is a party animal, up for anything and everything, insistent about doing doing doing, and then wants nothing more than to sit quietly, have a book read to her, or watch some cartoons, preferably with everyone else sitting around her to cuddle while she curls into a ball with her blanket.

So we took this troop, packed them into our old merc wagon, rolled all the windows down that still work, and headed 5.5 hours south to a rented house on the beach. That rented house turned out to be a re-purposed fema trailer (or mema trailer? the larger ones that were produced after the fema formaldehyde issues were uncovered,) in a collection of 10, about 200 yards off the beach. It was clean and well organized, convenient, and all things considered, served us very well. (Also, 119 per night.) (Another side note, boatie the little merc wagon did great, though it was pretty toasty without AC, and we got well over 30 miles to the gallon. Tank and a half there and back, 600+ miles.)

The afternoon we arrived we walked over to the beach, and first impressions were great. The sand was great, the water was clear, and it was ankle to knee deep for a hundred yards out. Little waves, very children friendly. 2 seconds after arriving Annaliese spotted something moving, and we caught a little crab in our fishing net. At the time this was awesome, but it turned out that Caspian registered "fish, bite!" from that little crab, and he wasn't happy getting back in the water until the morning we were leaving.

Annaliese is a fearless water child, jumping and splashing and "swimming" as best she could in such shallow water, or riding on our backs as we belly crawled through the shallows. Caspian was more of a watcher, staying just back of the surf line, and mumbling about phantom fish.

We purchased the requisite beach toys, and dug moats and built sand volcanoes and buried each other. The little ones made friends with some locals, played catch with us, etc. All around a very nice beach time. We tended to arrive at the beach around 8:30, after a very early morning, breakfast, and lounge time, and be done by 10:30, back for a leisurely lunch and nap, then back to the beach in the afternoon until dinner time. The kids shared a room and bed, which was adorable, they loved hiding in their closet, and were better behaved all around than they generally are, even at home.

May have something to do with age. Caspian will be 2 on Friday, is talking and seems much happier now that he can generally make himself understood. Annaliese can be reasoned with, and is usually very reasonable. She has developed a very strong southern drawl, it appeared a couple days ago, and I am hoping it passes like her week long stuttering phase did.

Alexe and the BTC treated us to some wonderful meals, we took a little drive through biloxi over to Ocean Springs, got some fresh custard, and then headed back to the beach; the whole adventure was relaxed, rejuvenating, and fun.

Home, laundry mostly done, house cleaned, car cleaned and the sand vacuumed out, and we're back into our routines.

Now, I have a little something to say about the Gulf, and the impact of the oil spill. The sand was lovely, if littered with particles of roof shingles etc. left over from Katrina. However, if you dig down at the water's edge, like you do when building a sand castle, you have about 3 to 6 inches before the sand turns black. This may be normal, perhaps iron content, so I took this in stride. The other result of digging into the sand is that it smells very strongly of sulfur right below the surface. Again, this may be normal, and I think it might be since the tap water also smelled slightly. But, if you leave a hole dug into the sand, the water that fills it has an oily sheen, and the water itself feels greasy.

There are tar balls scattered around, hard little small-fist sized nuggets of tar. They stuck to the bottom, and honestly didn't seem that offensive.

Walking in the surf, there were sections where the bottom was super greasy, a gray sludge that stuck to your toes.

Each morning the dead catfish population was very high. Every 5 feet or so dead fish ranging from 6 inches to 18 inches would be spread all the way down the beach. Again, this may be normal, but it wasn't pleasant, and seemed unusual.

After the first day at the beach the wind picked up, and the small waves turned into medium waves, which results in a rolling wave-break of black leaf particles, sticks, and the periodic piece of garbage. Again, this may be normal, but it was not pleasant.

So. We had a lovely time, the setting was pleasant, the company was unbeatable, and for a holiday weekend, the beaches were mostly empty, which we liked. (though I'd never gone to the beach so early each morning, which might have contributed.) The distance from home was very doable, no airports and a 6 hour drive was pretty easy on the kids.

The oil spill in the gulf was far more catastrophic, and merits far more mind space and action now and in the future, than any of us have given it.

Alexe will have pictures up soon, I'll either steal some for here, or reference them. Despite the adorable swim suits Alexe got for Annaliese and Caspian, nude-y-butts were plentiful.

Frigidaire fail

Our front loading washer stopped working 3 years in. After a bit of research, it turned out that the door locking switch stopped working, and after a bit of online research, we've found that this is a known issue. Frigidaire has designed a new part that doesn't break, and they're willing to sell it to their customers who already forked out for the whole washer for $65. For those who aren't able to disassemble their washing machine and replace the part themselves, the price tag is that much higher.

I sent them the following note expressing my disappointment at their poor product integrity, and you can see below the blank corporate non-answer they responded with. We've poured a fair amount into the Electrolux (parent company) coffers in the past 3 years, obviously that ends now.

Original Text

From:	do_not_reply@frigidaire.com.com
To:	web.other@electrolux.com
CC:
Sent:	01/28/11 18:58:19
Subject:	Customer Service Issues

Posted on 1/29/2011 12:58:19 AM
Message Type = Contact Webmaster

Model Number = gltf2940es3
Serial Number = xc64108833
Purchase Date = January 2008

Customer Information
Subject = Failed washing machine
Message = Very disappointed to have this front loading washer fail after 3 years. I have been installing frigidaire appliances in all of my apartments for the last 3 years since we were so pleased with our personal washer/dryer/stove and refrigerator purchased 3 years ago. Now the washer has failed (fast spin no longer functioning) and after some research I find this is a common failure, known of by Frigidaire, that has not been corrected, and is no longer supported by the company since the poorly designed part failed after the warranty period.I will no longer be a Frigidaire customer in the future. I only wish I had learned this before I had purchased the last 14 appliances, which I can only expect to fail in the near future.

WEB.OTHER@electrolux.com to me

show details Jan 29 (3 days ago)

Thank you for contacting Frigidaire.

We regret to hear that you are having difficulties with your laundry appliance. For the best assistance we recommend contacting an Authorized Service Technician that will be able to provide you with a full diagnosis and provide you with any repairs needed; for safety and liability reasons.

Unfortunately with a situation such as this, there are no troubleshooting steps or suggestions that we can instruct you to perform prior to contacting a provider.

You may visit www.frigidaire.com/servicelocator to find a Provider in your area to contact, or contact our Contact Center for further assistance, 1-888-203-1389.

Please provide the servicer the model/serial number and date of purchase. We show the unit is outside of warranty, so this will be an out of pocket expense, unless the unit is deemed defective or unrepairable. No matter the outcome we will need the technician to document his/her findings so we can accurately document your account and move further with any actions needed on this unit.

Should we be of any further assistance please feel free to contact us via web or 1-866-655-8391 for scheduling assistance, and questions.

Wedding Toast to Nicholas and Emily Cofrancesco.

If we’re lucky, we meet people that make our lives better.

The good times better.

The bad times… better than they could be.

I’ve been wallowing in memories of Nicholas as this wedding has approached, remembering the importance, the heart, the impact of this amazing man in my life over the past almost 20 years.

The innumerable wanderings of a shared youth spent in Vermont and NH.

West Leb, Hanover, Manchester (VT and NH), Chester, Weston, Claremont, Woodstock…

Cross country skiing in New York.

Mac World NY, taking rest breaks to set down the swag bags that were cutting into our fingers.

Boston, New Year’s eve, freezing on the wharf.

Wandering an abandoned theme park in Maryland.

Key West. Vegas. San Diego. San Fran. LA. Mississippi. Annapolis. Tahoe.DC.

And.

New Years, Maine, mourning the loss of my brother and raging at the world on a frozen beach. Nicholas, freezing with me, sharing my hurt, and tempering it with champagne, lobster, and artichokes.

And.

Walking on a beach with me and my future wife, the day after she and I shared our first kiss.

I rely on his heart, his perspective, his sense of wonder and incessant drive to find something interesting and fun to do. His willingness to be honest with me, when it’s easy, and not so easy, to share.

My life is and has been better because of him.

And he has found Emily.

Who I do not know as well, but know three important things about:

She makes the world taste better, she has one of the most beautiful, infectious smiles I have ever seen, and she makes Nicholas happy.

We are all better for having these two in our lives.

If you think of the impact they have had on your life, just imagine the amazing world they create for each other.

A toast, to the life Nicholas and Emily will share, and the joy they will radiate to each other and all of us.

rocking kids.

Caspian is walking around the house, hand on a wall still, but cruising. And climbing. Had to put all the little rocking chairs up, since every time we turn our backs he's standing up on them, holding the back, happily rocking back and forth. So at 1 he's great.

Annaliese, at 2.5, is doing arithmetic.

We have a program where, for peeing in the potty, she is rewarded with a gummy bear. For #2, she gets 2 gummy bears.

Yesterday she was explaining this to me, confirming the deal before she went to the bathroom, and a light went on. She said, "if I poop I get two gummy bears and if I pee I get one gummy bear. So if I poop and pee I get 3 gummy bears!"

That's not the deal, it's one or the other, but I was so tickled I agreed. :)

cool pictures of the store

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Rauch-Photography-Prints-Calendars-T-shirts/115625225132905#!/photo.php?pid=223671&id=115625225132905&fbid=126778884017539

Bored

Sitting on the porch on a gorgeous day, working on a laptop, and bored out of my mind.

A lot has happened since I last put anything up here. A trip to Vermont with the two little ones. Just me, and the two little ones. Was lovely, except for the stomach bug that kicked in on the flights north, (puking Annaliese on a puddle jumper) and proceeded to infect everyone we saw. Everyone. And outside of that the kids didn't sleep. Alexe had a lovely week at home decompressing from 2 years of motherhood.

I've been to Florida a couple times for work, Alexe is opening a grocery store May 1, we have another batch of 26 chicks, Caspian is crawling and the sweetest boy in the world, Annaliese is a whole person, full of charm and stories and songs and screams. The lettuce is up in the garden, we ate some home grown strawberries last week, it's spring and everything is growing and blooming and lovely, and I'm stuck in a chair on the porch.

With so much to do before the store opens, the fun stuff now that the floors are done and the lights are up. The assembling shelves and building produce displays and popping in windows and putting copper counter tops up. And the weather is perfect, blue and warm and gentle-wind.

And last week I had sinus surgery, to fix the issues that have had me with a bad sinus infection something like 4 times a year for the past 5 years, and the last bout lasting 5 months straight. And everything was going well, slowly but surely recuperating since the procedure on Tuesday, then I got up for 2 hours yesterday, and have felt like a drained noodle since.

As much as I like to tease alexe about how much she hates me being down and out, and how this negatively impacts her care-taking skills, (hard to nurse-made with a scowl of disapproval on your face,) the truth is I hate it too. Sitting still has almost no appeal for me. I like to do, possibly to an unhealthy degree as some have accused me of being addicted to doing lots and lots of stuff, and they may be right. I get pleasure out of accomplishing, and what most people seem to think of as work, I find really enjoyable. The moments after I finish something and still coast on the feelings of accomplishment are short; I move on to the next thing very quickly.

This may have to do with the time period in my life, the building phase, say, but it might also be a deeply ingrained character trait of me. A personality audit they just did on me at work-work says that's the case.

But it all means, today, that I'm sick of being a noodle, and I want up and out.

harumph.

oh, but I am very thankful I'm still alive.