Darkness & Uncertainty

I hate living in darkness. That is why we bought this house, because of the gazillion windows. I like light. I hate living in a cave. Those gazillion windows turn into a major pain in Danny's ass around this time of year. He just shuttered them all up yesterday. And I tell you, it's not an easy task.

He finished 98% by himself, but fortunately his friend came by after work to help with the last, and hardest one on the second floor.

So now I am living in a cave. Darkness depresses me and makes me sleepy all the time. Even after the storm, we will be in semi-darkness till November. We only take off some of the 1st floor shutters until the season is over.

I still have not been able to fuel up my car. The lines have been outrageous plus many stations ran out of gas. I still have to bring in our furniture from outside. And to add to my pain, Danny is officially on duty. So the girls and I will be riding it out alone. Not a very happy camper to say the least.

Well, I better go watch the next advisory.

And so it begins.......

Another reason for my wanting to leave S. Florida!

The price we pay to live n paradise is getting higher & higher every year. I don't think that I want to live in "paradise" anymore.

We leave to NYC in 17 days according to the counter. Although this storm is predicted for Wed. or Thurs of this week, there better not be another one when we leave. Or while we are gone for that matter. I wouldn't be able to deal with the stress of the girls being here with my mom.

This stupid laptop keeps skipping 'G's' and I have to go back and add them when I am done. If some thing just doesn't sound right, I may have missed one. So just add a "G" somewhere and it should make sense. :) OK, otta o et some breakfast! ;)

Early to rise & late to bed makes Lissy not healthy,cranky & dead!

It seems like my boobs are in a race with the bags under my eyes to see which one reaches my knees first! I have not gotten a good night's sleep in 2 weeks. I am exhausted! I was up at 5AM today. Lack of sleep plus trying to put this trip together is killing me! Too bad we are not going to a nice relaxing place. Like Hawaii maybe. :) Our trip is turning out to be 7 days of non-stop action. I think that I may be trying to cram too much into one week. Plus now Danny wants to take a day to visit family.

I am trying to find tickets to Wicked. I refuse to pay $300 plus for a ticket though. So we'll see if my plan works out. Sorry, can't tell you, or I might just jinx myself. Almost everything else is set though. I have all my reservations less one day. That day we may just be sleeping in the streets since I can't find anything for that night. I also have ordered my NY Pass, and I hope to be able to do enough to get my $$ worth. Niagara Falls is completetly done too. Hotel & show tickets. Just need the Falls tickets when we get there. The Canadian $$ exchange was confusing me a bit but hopefully I've got it. Too bad the US$ isn't as strong as i was a few yrs ago, we are practically 1 to 1 almost.

Have I mentioned how much I hate FPL? And while I'm at it the insurance companies too. Our electric bill was $480 this month! We used slightly less kws than last yr. at this time and we are paying about $140 more. The insurance company not only raised our premium by $1700 but they are covering less! Highway robbery! Between that and the cost of gas, soon we will be living by candlelight in a tent and get around on scooters. There will be a major rise in bankruptcies soon, I guarantee it. I really can't wait to get out of here! We need to find a place where there are nice people, no hurricanes and preferably with a nice ocean view! :)

Fashion Week

So after some research, it seems like one of the reasons why the hotels are so expensive is because it's Fashion Week. You would think if that were the reason that since this event is planned way in advance, that there would be little or no availability. In actuallity, everything seems wide open. Maybe, just maybe, they are trying to keep us riff raff away from the fashion people! This last minute planning is giving me a headache. As of right now, until I change my mind again, it seems like we will be flying into Laguardia then immediately going to JFK to fly to Buffalo. From Buffalo we rent a car and drive to Ontario where we will stay for 3 nights to visit Niagara Falls. Then we fly back to JFK for 4 nts in NYC. HAve to figure out the logistics first.

Holy High Prices Batman!

I have been looking around for a place to stay in NYC. I was so proud of myself for finding that airfare so darn cheap. Danny was a happy camper as well. Now I have hit my first road bump. Hotels are big $$$$$ for the week that we are going. I'm finding rates of $450 plus per night! I expected high but not this high! To sleep, because that is all we need the room for, it's not like we stay in there all day an veg!
Even my all time favorite Priceline is not cooperating for that week. There is no way that we can pay upwards of 3K to sleep for 7 days. We just got back from our California trip and my Amex is still recovering!

I will keep looking. Heck, I have all the time in the world right?????

Spontaneity

OMG! I got an email from Spirit Airline last night about their 16th Anniversary sale. I played around and found a roundtrip flight to NYC for Danny & me for a total of $105!!!!! Before I realized what I was doing I hit "purchase now". Soooooooo, we are going to NYC on Sept.13th for 7 days! I just realized the dates that I booked. Sept. 13th, just 2 days after the 5th anniversary of 9-11. What was I thinkin?? Actually, I wasn't. It was a spur of the moment thing. I have always wanted to visit NYC. But with my fear of flying thing, I had never been able to. But with the airlines on high alert and the anniversary being that week, I know my nerves will be a wreck. So, let the anxiety attacks begin!!!!!

I have less than a month to plan this trip. I like to have lots & lots of time to reasearch so lets see how this turns out. I have my reservations about Spirit Air. I don't know anyone who has flown with them so I haven't gotten any reviews. But it's only $105!!!

Well, I'm off to research! Any hints, tips & ideas are more than welcomed!!!

I am weak!

I had a Diet Coke today :( I have absolutely no willpower! Good thing is, I only had one and I did drink a ton of water. I spent most of the day peeing too, so that proves it! I did ok on the food too, like I said that part doesn't bother me much. Now for my sweets. I went and bought the 100 calorie packs of Chips Ahoy, not bad... not bad at all. It definitely calms the cravings. I also bought some WW mini lemon cake thingies (which I'll try tomorrow) & some honey graham sticks. I also have sugar free jello.

Danny will be home tomorrow and he is the #1 deterrent of any diet I try. He also needs to lose weight but won't even try. We should both go on that show The Biggest Loser or maybe make it easy on both of us and go on Extreme Makeover. It's going to take me forever to lose what I gained in such a shoort time. Anyhoo, I also have been on my treadmill and have been doing that Windsor Pilates tape. 20 minute workout, now that's my kind of workout! My abs hurt like crazy. I hope that's a good thing. Although it actually hurts quite a bit around the incision from my hysterectomy.

Better get my jiggly butt to bed, early morning again tomorrow.

I want cake!

Today was the first day of my supposed diet. I did quite well too. I had my 8+ glasses of water plus not even one Diet Coke. I am seriously addicted. I wonder if there is rehab for Diet Coke Junkies? Lets see how long this lasts. I can live without food but I definately cannot live without cake (or any kind of sweets). I'm going to buy those 100 calorie packs of cookies and see how I do with those.
My head hurts and I'm sure that it's from Diet Coke withdrawls!

School started today! Hooray!! Problem is that it is my turn to take them to school tomorrow. Danny says that it was a nightmare this morning. Ugh! Not only do I have to wake up early but I also have to deal with traffic. It's not only the traffic though. I'm sure that it would not be so bad if not for the rude parents who feel that they are above everyone else so they don't make the line. Instead they either stop in the middle of a four lane road and let their kids off right there or they pull up to the front of the line & cut in. That is one of my pet peeves. And unfortunately it's not only a school problem.

I must get to bed early today, have to be up by 6:20.

Lack of sleep makes me very, very cranky!

The neighbors were having a party last night. We have parties all the time too. Difference is, that we tend to be a bit more considerate. We lower or turn off the music at midnight. The music stopped at around 1AM so I went to sleep. Half hour later they blasted it again and didn't stop till a little after 4 freaking 30 in the morning!!! Then to add insult to injury their stupid dogs start barking hysterically (as ALWAYS!) at 6AM. Soooo, I get up with the worst migraine in history and I'm bitchy as hell.

Tomorrow is the 1st day of school, so the girls will probably be up super early in the morning. I'm glad that school is starting but I am dreading the early mornings!

For my family's sake, I hope to get rid of this headache (and this mood) soon. If not, they may just see my head spinning in circles a la excorcist!

Air Travel

As many of you know, I just recently got up the nerve to get on a plane. Actually, my first ever flight was almost exactly10 months ago. Now we have something else to worry about. Me being the chicken shit that I am, who knows when I will fly again. Although, when I first got on that 1st plane, I had decided that I was not going to let fear rule my life. I (and no one really) don't know how long I've got. I could drop dead tomorrow. Maybe I should just concentrate on planning our next trip and not even think about any of those damn terrorists!

Now for my views on the new airline restrictions. It amazes me how many people are complaining about the restrictions that are put in place to help protect us. These are the same people that will probably be complaining if something were to happen. Scratch that. They probably won't be around to complain. Sure, it may take us more time to get to and from our destination. But the point is that we get there. Alive & in one piece. Hearing what the actual plan was, is pretty scary. Simultaneously blowing up 10 planes. I will take the extra time it takes to try to avoid this anytime!

No liquids, No gels, No lotions.....No Problem! Safe flight & safe landing = Happy Me!

More Money

I totally HATE being the one to pay the bills! I rather not know what is going out of our bank account and at what rate! Geez, our electric bill came in at $435 this month!!! FPL increased rates by 60% and they still want to increase it more. Soon we will be living by candlelight and campfire! UGH!!! This year will be an expensive one too. Between this being Kat's senior year and everything that goes with it, Kari gets her class ring, plus we have to figure out the cost of college. Before you know it we may have to turn our home into a B&B to earn some money!

Anyone want to share some winning lottery numbers???

Not much of an update....

I keep forgetting to update my blog. Maybe it's because I have absolutely nothing to write about. School finally starts next week and hopefully everything will go back to normal. Starting with my sleep pattern. I've been falling asleep at about 2AM then I don't wake up till about 11. I haven't woken up at that time since college! I also want to get back to my regular excercise routine. I have totally slacked off this summer, and it shows.

Here is my purple mosaic with the disclosure that I didn't take a single one of these fabulous pictures!