We may be floating down the road soon, but we are ok!

Thank you to everyone for checking on us! The rain has been going on for almost a week and is not slated to stop for a few more days.

There were several areas that had 2-3 feet of water in a matter of 30 minutes today. I was listening to NPR on my way to work and they reported on the amount of rain as its coming down and coming down, slowing down and stopping traffic, that it’s really bad in Boulder, streets are flooded, lights are out, they evacuated the university!

I messaged DCM to check to see if the office was open, he decided to chance it and half way to work, he got an email that the office was closed, the electrical room, which is on the bottom level of the parking deck was under FIVE FEET of water! And that was at 7:45 am! The email also mentioned that Noah was at the office with transportation!

As of 3:00, the office would be closed until further notice, should be alright by next week, fingers crossed! The picture below shows you where the packing deck is, where DCM parks, well, normally where he parks!

It’s interesting how different areas are being affected so differently. I was in Denver today and it was raining, but not too heavily, traffic was better getting into Denver today than it was yesterday. Coming home, the road were fine heading out of Denver, didn’t run into any standing water like they were mentioning on the road signs and it didn’t rain much. It also held off for about an hour while we were ale to get to the grocery store and it’s been raining steadily ever since. Kind of weird to get rained on IN the parking deck!

There have been evacuations and people trying to get to higher ground and sadly, to date, there are two people who have lost their lives due to the floods and my heart and thoughts go out to their families. Thankfully, more people than not, are heading warnings and staying home.

Now, while I am thankful for the National Weather Service warnings, I’m not sure I need an update every ten minutes, even though it feels like every 30 seconds! We were watching a movie, it was continually interrupted and as JS said, it feels like our cell phones have been hijacked by The National Weather Service via Verizon, I have gotten multiple warnings every few minutes.

I just want to reassure everyone that we, personally, are fine, we are weathering the storm, as they say and we are doing our best to stay, literally high and dry.

Hopefully our flights will be able to take off tomorrow!

Yeah, about that…

I have to tell you, there are so many times I’ve thought about writing a post about something, maybe something that happened to me during the day that I want to tell you about, maybe to tell you or maybe to get something off my chest.

Unfortunately, even though I want to tell you, say it out loud so it’s out of my head and on paper, so to speak, I can’t say exactly what I’m feeling on some subjects because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and who wants to do that? Intentionally.

So here I sit with lots to say and no one to say them too, I know it seems a little weird to me, you may be comfortable and say what’s really on my mind. (Might shock you even!)

So then, all I’ll say at this time is goodnight and I meant to say it to everyone!

Tonight we participated in a time honored tradition, that American past time, a baseball game. We went to a Colorado Rockies game!

About a month ago, DCM got a subscription to the Denver Post. Along with the subscription, came a sheet of coupons, and who doesn’t love coupons? Here’s the thing, he signed up for the paper in mid July, take a guess when they expired, hmmm…

Included with the coupons and subscription was a voucher for two tickets to a Colorado Rockies game. I found a Rockies Dugout at the mall, there are a lot of locations that you can get tickets out, wahoo. You can guess where the seats were located, as they were free.

We left in plenty of time, not sure what the traffic would be like, no traffic, so it only took about 25 minutes to get there. We went into the stadium, took the escalator up, found our seats, then it was time to find food, we were starvin’! The vegetarian options, along with everything else and more options, were back down on the first level, stairs thank you, so down we went.

CKM, you would have been in heaven, gluten free options everywhere!

Veggie burger, that was for me, shocker! I don’t have a problem paying $5 for a veggie burger, they a good size, same a I make at home or get in a restaurant, I do have a problem paying that much for a veggie dog when they are pretty small. You can get a foot long or bratwurst, that’s worth the price.

So, veggie burger and bottle of water for me, bratwurst and a coke in a souvenir cup for DCM, and fries to share.

Back up the escalator, just in time for the national anthem, it was very nice, then to find our row, sat in the middle, we took a little liberty with that, pretty much over first base. We enjoy dinner, there’s nothing like a burger or dog at a baseball game.

The weather as beautiful, not too hot, a nice breeze every once in a while, great view of the mountains in the distance. When you looked across the field, there was a very nice area that looked like a mini woods with trees and a pond and when there was a home run, water feature shooting up, very cool. This was also where the pitchers warmed up, how cool is that!

The stadium was pretty empty at the start of the game, oh, they were playing the Cincinnati Reds, sorry! By the end of the fourth inning, it was pretty in full the lower levels and more and more people joined us up top. One thing I noticed, most of the people who were there were fans, in one form of Rockies apparel or another and now, thanks to DCM, I was too, with my new Rockies hat, thank you!

Now, DCM and I are not baseball fans, we enjoy going to a game, there is a crackle and feel in the air, a hum and of course, nothing like the food and snacks you get there! We discussed it and agreed that we probably wouldn’t stay to the end of the game, DCM said we’d try to make it to the fifth inning.

The fourth inning had some excitement in it, there were double and triple plays and four runs home, wahoo! It lasted quite a while, the other innings didn’t go on as long.

Before the excitement, I said “I don’t think I’ll make it to the seventh inning stretch” his response…”I said we’d try to make it to the fifth inning!”

At the end of the fourth inning, we looked at each other and said yup, so off we went. Down the stairs, back to the car, funny thing about that, we parked in a trendy area and apparently free, on the street parking is rare, a girl in an SUV asked if we were parked there and were we leaving, so she followed us, we walked as quickly as we could, but she followed us, it was a little like being stalked!

Got into the beetle bug, dropped the top and headed home. Cross one item off the Colorado to do list, going to a Rockies game!

How old am I? How old do you think I am?

I had so many other things I wanted to talk to you about tonight but here we are.

Today I had to return something at the mall, I got sidelined by one of those kiosk people, you know, please come over, let me touch your hair, moisturizer your skin, you know.

I normally don’t even talk to those people. I remember be out to dinner with KH and TS, we were at the mall, on our way to see JV at her job at Coach and someone pulled me over to talk about a hair straightener, I’m not even sure how they got me to talk to them. The next thing I know, this person had pulled my hair out of its pony tail and started straightening my hair. The look on my face frightened my friends, they thought steam was going to come out of my ears! I managed to get away without anyone getting hurt.

The moisturizer guy tried to talk me into the $125 ball of something with gold in it. Who knows what it was, I wasn’t buying it, his lines or the product.

As I was walking away, he asked if I was younger than him, I asked how hold he was, 34, he thought I was 32. No, I am not that gullible, it’s still nice to hear. We all know that I am a bit older than that and I’m good with it. I do look younger than my age, all the women in my family n my moms side always look young, well into their 90s, good genes.

Now, coming full circle back to my opening thought stream, how old am I or do they think I am?

When I got the mail today, I had an envelope for Neptune Society…I could win a free pre-paid cremation! As well as information on cremation. This was not just junk mail, well it is, but it was addressed to me personally, my name and address! What? The letter inside had my name n the greeting!!

There was information about the benefits of cremation, the economics and an entry form to win a free cremation!

So, in conclusion…how old do they think I am?

http://www.neptunesociety.com/

No, I am not a Home Shopping Network fan or junkie, I think I’ve seen anything on the HSN twice in my life and for about 30 seconds to a minute max.

When I was in college, I got a job at a specialty food store, Lloyd’s of Long Island in West Hampton Village. I called it an upscale deli once and got hit on the back of the head, I learned my lesson.
I remember being exhausted when I got home every night, I think I even fell asleep in my food at the dinner table one night!

I know my parents didn’t think I would go back, but I ended up working there for all four years of college, even after it was sold and became Paula’s. It was quite an experience, catering to the rich, the very rich and sometimes the famous. I got to make sandwiches for Paul McCartney, I served Marvin Hamlisch and Glynis Johns, you know, the mom from Mary Poppins! just to name a few, yes, I just name dropped!

We had a cappuccino machine with a plethora of flavored coffees, I was a “barista” before there were baristas! For someone that doesn’t even like the smell of coffee, I could make a mean cappuccino! Hot or cold, you name it, I could make it!

As we were catering to the wealthy, we had high dollar prices, $9 for a pound of tuna salad, $28 for a pound of shrimp salad, but along with the high dollar prices, we had really good food! I know it was good because I ate it and after a few days of being in the case, it was either take it home or throw it away, guess who’s family ate well during the summer!

I really liked working there and loved the owners M & D, aunt and niece. They took a chance on me and I’m not even sure they thought I would come back the next year, but I did and our relationship got stronger, enough that they gave me more and more responsibility, I was honored. Eventually, I was the one who worked solo during the week, with one or both of them, we would do inventory, rearrange, cook, just have a good time.

I remember when M met her husband, he was a tall, handsome biker with a great mustache and used to say “Cool Beans”, I hadn’t heard that before and use it still to this day, and then when her son was born… what a doll baby.

D had the cutest little boy, J. I babysat a few times, most memorable? His ‘noo-noos’ with butter, that would be noodles for those of you not in the know. I would make it and he would take the pat of butter and put the whole thing in his mouth, I got wise fast!

Ok, now, I’ve told you when I was in college, you’ve figured out how old I am. Let’s just say, this was early 1990s, how old do you think I feel thinking about those kids?

The cool thing is that Lloyd was the matriarch’s maiden name and everyone in the family, male and female, had the middle name of Lloyd, except for one of the grandkids, who’s first name was Lloyd, isn’t that an awesome tradition?

There are so many memories, most of them good, that I have from that time, I will definitely treasure those memories. I know some of you are shocked, but I still have a Lloyd’s of Long Island tshirt or two, so does my dad!

One of the businesses that was next door was the high end jewelry store, Joan Boyce, Fine Jewelry. Joan and her husband Allen (I know I use initials, but if you go to the site and look at the gallery, you’ll see his name) were always very nice to me. When it was lunchtime, I would bring what they ordered and mine and then sit in the back of the store or on the stairs in the showroom and have lunch, I was kind of hiding out until it was time to go back to work, I was able to get thirty minutes of quiet, anyone who works in the food industry knows how precious that is.
http://www.joanboyce.com/

Not to worry friends, I am tying this all together, and here it comes!

I was flipping through the channel guide and I saw a name that I knew and immediately flipped it on because I had to know if it was the same person and it was! She hadn’t changed or aged a bit!

I was surprised by what she was selling, well, not completely surprised, but it wasn’t what I thought she would be on there for. When I knew her, way back when, she was selling high end jewelry in a very high end town, West Hampton Beach, NY. I thought she would be selling her jewelry, but she was actually selling velour track suits and a few other things, not my taste, but I did check it out for a minute. She was as vibrant and boisterous and I remember, I expected nothing less! After looking her up on Google, she has HSNs for jewelry and shoes, there you go.

Seeing her and hearing her voice brought back so many memories.

http://westhamptonbeach.org/community-links/