November 7 and I've been in three states today.....

Remember yesterday's post where I was worrying about flying? Well, I had good reason to be worried because today I experienced terrifying turbulence in an airplane. I'm not talking a few bumps through the clouds. I'm talking so rough it was hard to read or hold my Kindle and it felt like a truck hit us midair. You know, if trucks flew. And went 600 miles an hour. My point is, I had to close my eyes, pray fervently, grip my jacket and take deep breaths, and I still could not quell my anxiety. When the plane landed I felt like my legs were jelly. Still taking deep breaths, I exited the plane but not before I heard the pilot say "Yeah, I'm new!" God help me.

And you know, yes, flying can be beautiful, like when you see the sun streaming over the clouds like this:

Or you see cool jet streams in the sky like this:

Or you see an awesome river reflecting the sun like this: 

But that turbulence will ruin it every time. It's like a bumpy car ride only when you reach for something to hold on to, you realize you are IN THE AIR and there's nothing between you and the ground, except AIR, and the whole reason you're feeling all these horrible, lurching, tipping, shaking, dropping moves is because of AIR. This is why I hate air travel. 

It was already dark by the time we got our rental car and headed to York, PA. Hey, did you know that York Peppermint Patties were first manufactured in York, PA in 1940? That's what it says on the placard in our bed and breakfast. And there are York Peppermint Patties lying in little dishes all over our rooms. Here's a little Wiki background for you: York Peppermint Patties were first manufactured by Henry Kessler of the York Cone Co. in York, PA. Many similar peppermint chocolate candies were in existence before the York Peppermint Pattie but what made these unique was that while others had a soft and gooey center, the York had a firm and crisp center. According to a former employee of the company, if the pattie didn't snap clean in half during test sampling, it was considered a second. And that's how you "Get the Sensation"!

Let's just talk about how weird this whole Airbnb thing is. Anyone can rent a room in their house to anyone else for whatever amount they want and they make all the rules. So, I found this place online and these people live in a regular neighborhood. We just drove up, found the house number, and knocked on the door. A nice lady answered, asked us to take off our shoes (and offered up house slippers which "are washed between each guest" - I declined). She showed us to our upstairs quarters. There's a main bedroom with a queen bed that looks like this:

Hi Jeff! 

Plus, there's an extra room for just spreading out or lounging in that looks like this: 

And it has these super cool built-in bunkbeds so if you were traveling with kids, it would be so fun! 

And we don't know these people AT ALL. They are perfect strangers and we're just sleeping in their house. We took showers in their house! We are going to eat breakfast in their house! How weird is that? Plus, I've seen enough episodes of "Criminal Minds" to know that this could be the perfect scenario to lure unsuspecting people to your house just to murder them and make them into mincemeat pies or something. I mean, except for the paper trail, it would be the perfect crime! At least there's a lock on the door so I guess I'll be able to sleep. The last Airbnb place we stayed in had its own separate entrance and was its own little apartment. This place is right inside this couple's home. What if WE are the murderers? These people are crazy to let complete strangers into their home. And yet, here I am. 

So, we asked for a suggestion for a dinner restaurant and they highly recommended a Mexican/Peruvian place nearby. I was already starving when the plane landed, and then it took an hour to get the rental car and another hour to get to York, so that by the time we arrived at the restaurant, I was beyond hangry. Not a typo. And can you believe THREE people cut in front of us in line to get their name on the list? I mean, I'm trying to be polite.....I'm a guest in Pennsylvania after all, but....HOW RUDE! So, the wait was 20-25 minutes. You can imagine how hungry I was by the time we got our table. It took forever for them to bring us chips and salsa. The chips were warm and freshly-cooked but the salsa was watery and disappointing. Not to worry, though, my margarita was divine! I was SO looking forward to trying a Peruvian dish but nearly every dish had tilapia (ew, disgusting fish), salmon (in PA? I don't think so - how fresh can that be?!) or shrimp (again, the coast is too far away - I only trust seafood when I'm actually close to the water). So, I went with Mexican. Mexican is easy, right? Hard to screw up. Wrong. I had the worst "vegetarian burrito" ever. It was a cold flour tortilla filled with beans and about half a bag of shredded lettuce. I think they forgot the cheese completely. I had a quarter-size dollop of sour cream on top with an olive slice for garnish. The "pico de gallo" it was to be served with was another mound of bagged lettuce with a few tomato dices in it. It had no flavor, except for that nasty "bagged lettuce" taste. I HATE bagged lettuce. Plus, they forgot the side of rice and beans. When I asked for it, I was given a flavorless sauce-sized plate of ick. Jeff had a decent Peruvian dish, but overall the dinner was horribly disappointing and I was mad because I was starving for hours and was really looking forward to a good dinner. Jeff tried to make up for it by taking me to Dairy Queen after but I was already full from the little I did eat of the nasty burrito, so I only ate a few bites of my treat. Bleh. 

Now it's 10:10 here and Jeff is snoring. Never mind it's 7:10 our time. I guess we'll get an early start tomorrow, which is good because it's pitch black here by 5 p.m. and we have a big agenda. 

P.S. I'm totally calling my doctor to have her call in a prescription for Xanax or something for the flight home. Seriously. I'm not kidding. I'm considering driving home. I hate airplanes. Please don't make me get on another one. 

Tuesday musings.........

Tuesday just seems like a good day to ruminate on things. I like that word. Ruminate. Anyway.....

The Midnight Truffle Blizzard at Dairy Queen does not contain actual truffles. I'm not sure what those little squares of chocolate are, but they are DEFINITELY not truffles, which makes me question truth in advertising. And now I have trust issues.

Today something amazing happened. A parent of a child in the kindergarten class I work in came up to me after school and, for no reason at all, offered me the use of her beautiful cabin for a week! She said she remembered us talking about our failed trip to Hawaii (in which Jeff had emergency back surgery, in which we had to cancel our plans the same day we booked the tickets, in which we received NO compensation from the travel insurance) and she thought it would be fun for me to plan another family getaway at her cabin. For FREE, y'all. That is some amazing generosity right there. She said it was for being a "wonderful educator." Oh, my goodness. Day made!

Arlie got a job today. She will be crafting pizzas at our FAVORITE pizza joint, Uncle Peteza's (for those of you local, seriously, SO GOOD). We are going to be so fat because how easy will it be to just have her bring home a pizza when I don't feel like cooking? Yikes.

I'm seriously excited about some upcoming trips - my blogging conference and some others. Still planning spring break, too. I think I would like to just travel from now on. So many places, so little time. And money. Sigh.

I really need to start a bucket list - an official list - but in the meantime, in the past couple of days, I've been thinking it would be really awesome to see a whale in the wild (because I've been reading about them showing up near here) and also see and/or photograph the Northern Lights (which have also been visible from my neck of the woods recently). But I read an issue of Outdoor Photographer and it was so confusing and overwhelming it made me want to cry and never be a professional photographer. Not that I wanted to be one.

I went to the dentist today and here's a thought I had: why do we have to have separate dental insurance? And, for that matter, vision insurance? Our teeth and our eyes are IN our heads and so our medical insurance should cover all of that stuff, right? So, why do I have to pay $400 for a nighttime mouth guard so I don't grind my teeth down so far that all I can eat is pudding? I've been avoiding it for years, but I wake up almost every night from grinding my teeth, so I really need one. But my insurance doesn't cover it. WHY NOT? So stupid.

I really did NOT want to work out today, but I forced myself to do the bare minimum (a 20 minute workout DVD) and then the kids brought me that damn Blizzard. I shared it with Jeff, though, so... half the calories. Still, my 20 minute workout probably burned like 36 calories, so I'm still deeply in debt with my fat cells. Fuckers. Worse, I agreed to attend a Zumba class tomorrow night. This is a problem because, 1. I don't dance, 2. I don't dance 'cause I got no rhythm, 3. I don't like working out in a crowded room of people because of numbers 1 and 2, and 4. I'm pretty sure the class is an hour long and that means I'll spend at least 40 minutes of that hour hoping I don't die. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Stay tuned.

Happy Tuesday!

Idiot!

Ok, I know my kids read this blog and I've really made it a point to try HARD not to disparage their dad (at least where they can hear/read/etc.) but tonight I was just so blown away by his behavior that I cannot let it go. Hayley filled out a job application at Dairy Queen (we were all there after Hannah's choir concert). I was proud of her - here's a kid who wants to take initiative and make some money. She's of age to work there, so why not? Her dad told her she should "get a job in a place with some class." Now, granted Dairy Queen is not the Ritz, but it's a J-O-B, something he should be looking for instead of dabbling in real estate and bitching about not having any money. No kidding - you don't get money unless you have a job that pays you an hourly rate. Oh, sure, real estate can have some big payouts, but please! In this market? HE should be applying to DQ! The fact that he would even put in Hayley's head that she is somehow "above" working at DQ is amazing to me. This coming from a man who is not fulfilling his child support obligations and is supposedly broke. I read recently that the average cost of raising a child through college today is $960 a month. Doug pays a fraction of that in child support - and that's for THREE kids. I'm sorry, but I feel that if you bring a child into this world, you are obligated to support them through adulthood. If I were on my own (and thank God I'm not and I hope my kids forever know how much Jeff does to make their lives so good), I would never be able to support my kids in this house, in this town. I would have to move, live in substandard housing, probably be on some sort of public assistance, and relying on family and friends to help me out in emergencies. Thank God I am not in that situation, but I cannot believe he can look in the mirror every morning and think he's actually doing right by his children. I say more power to Hayley for having the responsibility to want to make her own money, no matter where she works. We've all worked "substandard" jobs - it's how we get our start in life - we gotta start somewhere! Jeff's first job was at Jack in the Box. And he's making a decent salary now, and providing for a family of six. Nothing wrong with starting out in fast food! Telling a kid she's too good for a job will only set her up for ridiculous expectations and eventually, failure. Instilling a good work ethic and pride in a job well done, whether it's working at DQ or shoveling horse manure in a barn will take a person far further in life. Perhaps their dad should have spent some time shoveling shit, then he'd be eating some humble pie right now.