California Trip - Day 2

June 21, 2011 - Tuesday (First Day of Summer) "The White Whale Debacle"

Stayed awake after 5:00 am; went to breakfast at 6:15. Miranda and Tim had left for the lounge car ab out 1-3 am and played games there (Megan left before that, being miffed by all the commotion and not being comfortable in her seat).


Stop in Oakland. Bob and his 2 nieces got off. Stop in San Jose. Tim looked like Snee and crashed. Megan read the chapter in "Thief' on Germany. THIS IS THE POINT AT WHICH WE RE-ARRANGED THE WHOLE TRIP TO AVOID TONS OF DRIVING. Cancelled plans to see Tim in Santa Rosa. Stop Paso Robles, San Louis Obispo.

We were now by the ocean in the fog. Tim liked the waves. At 4:00 pm we had the same lunch as yesterday - cheeseburgers without buns (they were pretty large as well as tasty). Went thru Santa Barbara. Saw pelicans and hawks. Oxnard stop. Simi Valley. Farms and tile roof houses. A long tunnel. Van Nuys stop. Nice houses. Lots of graffiti on walls. Doppler effect. Burbank - next to last. I finished (mostly) "Thief".

It was balmy at the Amtrak terminal in L.A. It was more like SeaTac than Amtrak - it seemed we had to lug our carry-ons a mile (and I was carrying 5 of the 9 - about 120 lbs.). We caught a cab out front after getting our 4 suitcases. Megan was exhausted from walking and just watched stuff. The cab ride from L.A. to Inglewood and the car rental took about 30 minutes and cost $60.00.

At Thrifty Car, we got a big white bus so as to hold all the luggage and Vicki. Megan got mad at me for pressuring her to get $200 worth of extra insurance, but the whale was $60,000 and I was afraid of deductibles. In driving it to the hotel, it was just too big to make turns (not knowing where the edges were), and it was too big to get into any of the stalls (like the Group Health Parking structure).

After installing the kids, Megan and I went back to exchange the bus. Things actually went pretty smoothly, tho I was freaking out that we were going to graze something. We got a smaller dark red (maroon) car (still big, but one that Megan was much happier with). We stopped at a 7-11 to get food for the kids.

Back at the hotel (we had a traffic light that skipped a cycle), everybody ate. Tim had somehow used all the washrags and face cloths in taking a shower. We had no paper towels or paper plates for the kids to eat their food on (room had microwave), but Batman's bag had sporks. Tim and Miranda were having horrid problems with their allergies, and both of them felt dizzy (so did I a bit; I think it's an EM field in the room.)

My comments:

When I went up to the lounge car in the middle of the night, I found an empty table and played solitaire. There was a group of youngish adults pontificating on the most ridiculous subjects and I was really glad I had my back to them as it allowed me to smile at some of the pompous statements they were making.

Tim joined me and we played Buckum for a while, and then Miranda joined us too and we played Fan Tan. She was pretty miffed that she didn't win any of the games. At 6:15 we went down to the dining car, as we figured a good breakfast would help.

The waiter managed to get our orders partially wrong, despite the care we took in explaining things to him. Most of the trip Bill asked for his potatoes, rice, bread (ie. carbs) to be replaced with cottage cheese or fresh fruit. Didn't work here. However, the food was adequate, and we returned to another long day of being jolted around on the train.

It was a real wrench to me to change our plans around to NOT go to Santa Rosa to join Tim and Maleen's family. To be quite honest, I did it more for Miranda than to spare myself the driving. I could tell that she wasn't going to be very happy cooped up in a car with Tim and Dad, and keeping her from having a melt-down was one of my major objectives for this trip. I have to admit that it took some pressure off of me, as well, to get us places that were long distances away from each other. It was nice to actually use my cell phone to call both Maleen and Tim to explain the change in plans to them. One of these days I'm going to have to learn how to use this thing.

I wish I could remember what brand and model the white whale was, but it was so big I had to be practically boosted up to get into the seat. It was very scary to drive (for me), and I just couldn't imagine steering that thing through all the places we were going. I was MUCH happier with the Ford Edge that we traded it for. It was only slightly bigger than the Hyundai that I drive at home, and held all our luggage (barely). Naturally we didn't get any kind of a price break for 'down-sizing', but I had already accepted that.
Our hotel didn't have any rooms on the ground floor - that was reserved for parking, a small jacuzzi, and tables to eat breakfast at. There weren't many parking places left by the time we got back with the new car, but I managed to inch into one of them. The pillars made it impossible for me to walk out the usual way and I had to go around the front of the car to the other side. However, I wasn't complaining. I can't count the number of times on our trip that Bill and I would look at each other and say "If we still had the whale, we wouldn't have been able to (park here, drive here, get through here, etc.)"

Since the train hadn't gotten in until after 9:00 pm, it was well after midnight by the time we finally went to bed. I knew we were going to sleep in the next morning!

California Trip - Day One

CALIFORNIA TRIP - DAY ONE

Bill kept a detailed journal on this trip, so I'm just going to type in what he wrote for each day - and then I'll add my own comments at the end.

June 20th, Monday "Thief in the Night: Things to Come"

Frantic last-minute preparations to leave. Got up at 7:00 am. Brett arrived 8 am. We left at 8:30. We had 4 bags (filled to the max) and 9 carry-ons (we were only allowed 8, so I combined 2 when boarding).

We got to the station at 9:00 am; had 1 1/2 hours till boarding. I read "Thief in the Night" book. 10 minutes before boarding we had to frantically fill out check tags for each bag. Once we walked out on the boarding walk, the train came within about 5 minutes and started off within 5 minutes. (Good thing I didn't go back to use the bathroom) There was only one other person on the lower level, so we were pretty much by ourselves (in the 1st 4 seats). The lots of room was for wheelchair people, so we had to be ready to move.


We missed seeing the Masters' house. We stopped briefly in Olympia, Centralia. Miranda read "Sorcerer's Son" to Tim, but he wanted to listen to his CD's (Tom Lehrer, Dr. Demento). Stopped in Longview/Kelso, Vancouver. Crossed over the Columbia River in Portland. More people got on at Portland. Somebody called to wish me Happy Father's Day, but it was a wrong number.

Salem stop next. By this time, lots of people were aboard. I spend a lot of time reading "Thief". Tim and Miranda were constantly on games. Megan did puzzle books. Lots of delays - switches & signals, passing train, maintenance. At dinner we went to the snack bar. They warmed up cheeseburgers and a pizza for us. Megan and I took the buns off and used some condiments. They were really good-tasting. Outside of that I only had 2 bars today, so I had a good diet day (not enuf water, tho).

I didn't realize the train would take so long; the others weren't happy with me for not taking a plane. I'm really learning a lot from "Thief", however. Megan is snoring (Oh, wait, that's Bob, the Native American with 2 granddaughters, one row back). Probably not going to be much sleep tonight as we're sleeping in seats. About 8 pm we saw snow outside (lots - we must have been high up). The leg rests were very uncomfortable.

- THE NIGHTMARE NIGHT -

It was Tim at his worst: playing DS all night (the incessant tapping), complaining, getting into the food bag all night, rearranging bags to try to sleep on the dirty floor, leaning hard against me, on and on. I only slept 2 hours (if that) and am now totally exhausted - with a toothache.


My comments:

While it was still light, the scenery was great. However, the train seats have a hard metal bar between them, and I am a bit too wide so I find myself sitting on the bar when I travel. Not very comfortable! I didn't get much sleep at all.

I really enjoyed talking with Bob, the Native American. His granddaughters (nieces?) were extremely attentive, although they were seated upstairs. The youngest one came down frequently to check on Bob and make sure he was OK. Nice girls. I talked with them about Disneyland and might have convinced Bob that he should take them there.

We did have more leg room by sitting in the front seats, but the drawback was no little tray to fold out to use. Before the train got too full, I moved back one seat to play cards. I'm really glad I brought the deck along, although I was sure sick of solitaire by the end of our trip!

It's probably a good thing that Tim brought both his Game Boy and his DS. He let Miranda borrow his DS to play Pokemon, and she monopolized it most of the trip. This actually worked out pretty well. The two of them sat together most of the time so Tim could give her tips on which Pokemon were worth catching and how to do it. This left Bill and me free to veg on the other side of the aisle.

Our conductor was really a hoot. He was a big guy, and obviously thought Tim and Miranda were brother and sister. After Miranda had gone upstairs to get something from the snack bar, he told us that he had 'kept his eye on her' to make sure she didn't get into trouble. He seemed quite surprised to find out that she's 34!

I think the most irritating thing was the constant intercom messages about the dining car and reservation times. Just as you were starting to drift off to sleep, you would hear "This is Timothy from the dining car. Please do NOT come to the dining car until we have called your reservation time. We are now seating all 1:00 pm reservations for lunch. I repeat, all 1:00 lunch reservations are now being seated." There were also intercom messages about the wine and cheese-tasting party for the sleeper car people. Oh - and the intercoms about the upcoming stops, although they did stop those in the middle of the night. I guess they went around and woke people up who were getting off.

I think a train trip for up to half a day would be great - but two days is way too long (especially if you don't have sleeper cars, which we couldn't afford). Even Bill has said that next time we should fly rather than taking the train (although he's actually pushing for us to drive instead).

Confessions of an Addict

No, I'm not addicted to drugs or alcohol. I don't frequent casinos or gambling halls. I don't chug cough syrup or overdose on prescription medicine. Those are 'hard' addictions. But there are other addictions that are called 'soft' addictions because they don't (in general) adversely affect your health. But they do eat up huge amounts of time and become compulsive.

I am a computer addict. I have suspected this for some time, but now it has crystalized into a certainty. I don't surf the Internet, or spend my time shopping on line (although I do buy things occasionally). I like playing games. In fact, when I'm home and not sleeping, I am usually in front of the computer.

Now, there is some justification for my playing games on the computer. I work graveyard shift five nights a week - with almost an hour commute in each direction. The money I earn from my job supports the entire family. I pay all the bills, handle the finances, do all the grocery shopping and cooking, and usually do the dishes as well. You would think I would be entitled to a little play time on the computer.

The operative word here is 'little'. When I sit down at my computer, I immediately start playing. Oh, I'll take a break to briefly check my emails, or pay a bill on-line, but most of the time I am glued to the screen taking my latest Guild Wars character on a quest, or solving puzzles.

Lately I have been neglecting things that I really need to get done in order to have more 'screen time'. My husband is really very patient about it, but I can occasionally feel waves of disapproval rolling off of him. He tends to reserve meals and bedtime for recreation, and spends the rest of his time frantically working. The fact that a lot of what he does seems a bit useless (in my opinion) is irrelevant. In his eyes he is NOT wasting time. I am. And I freely admit it.

They say that the first step to beaking an addiction is admitting you have one. I obviously can't stay totally away from the computer as I use it for financial reasons, but I think I'm going to have to get a timer and set limits on myself for playing. This will be a grave disappointment to my daughter and grandson - both of whom think of screen time as something equivalent to the Holy Grail. They are thrilled to see me doing what they love to do. It might appear to be some sort of justification for them.

Whew! I feel better getting that off my chest. It left me feeling a bit exhausted, so maybe I'll just relax and play a computer game for a little while . . .

Five little girls

My daughter is going to give birth to her fifth daughter sometime next March. Tentively the name of the new little one is going to be Pearl Lee. This inspired the following:

First June was born and we had lots of fun
For she is little girl number one

Then Robyn was born and we yelled "Yahoo!"
For she is little girl number two

Then Ivory was born and we shouted with glee,
For she is little girl number three

Then Daisy was born and we said "There's MORE?"
For she is little girl number four.

We hardly can wait for Pearl to arrive
For she is little girl number five.

There's June Michelle and Robyn Chalae
Ivory Elaine and Daisy Mae
Oops - Daisy GRACE, please pardon me
And now there will be little Pearl Lee.

Not in the same class as Shakespeare or Wordsworth, but it was fun to write.

With the best of Intentions

My husband is an organizer. There is nothing that delights his soul as much as pigeonholing things into separate and distinct categories. In our medicine closet we have items labeled "Strong pain relievers", "Medium pain relievers", and "Mild Pain Relievers". Our DVDs are in alphabetical order. Our books are in categories, and the fiction books are in alphabetical order (by author).
However, I came home this morning to find that his latest project is the kitchen. He has totally reorganized where all the foodstuffs are kept. He did this years ago and put all the things that I use on a daily basis so high up that I couldn't reach them. I had to reorganize everything. This time he feels that he has conquered that particular problem, and is very proud of what he has done.
I guess I appreciate all the time and effort he is putting in, but although my foodstuffs may not have been that well organized, at least I knew where to find everything. Now - it's going to be a hunt every time I need something. You see, my husband doesn't do any of the cooking.
Our house needs so much work - so many things that need to be gone through and gotten rid of, etc. I find myself a bit baffled on why he felt the kitchen needed to be tackled next. Maybe it's because he doesn't really want to go through HIS things. It's so much easier to organize other people's items.
Oh well, he means well . . .

Saying

While going through my cross-stitch patterns, I came across the following saying, and thought it was very funny. I thought I'd share it with you

WE. THE WILLING,
LED BY THE UNKNOWING,
ARE DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE
FOR THE UNGRATEFUL.
WE HAVE DONE SO MUCH
WITH SO LITTLE
FOR SO LONG,
WE ARE NOW QUALIFIED
TO DO ANYTHING
WITH NOTHING!

I can relate!

Winning isn't everything

This year has been a particularly good one for our family at the Puyallup Fair. My older daughter, Miranda, got a third place for her cross-stitch. My younger daughter, Maleen, got first place for her cross-stitch as well as 'best in division' and 'Grand Champion'. Pretty good, huh?
I didn't have a cross-stitch entry this year as I am still slaving away on the birth announcement for granddaughter number four. However, I felt a little empty not having something in the fair. I happened to notice that there was a contest for original recipes for Ghirardelli Chocolate and wondered if that would be something I could enter.
I have been making a lot of quiche lately, which leaves me with lots of egg whites. Therefore I have also been making a lot of meringue cookies. I thought I could probably come up with something chocolate and meringuey that wouldn't be too bad. And I was right.
I got rave reviews at home for my chocolate chip meringue cookies. I thought they were pretty good myself. They appear like hard meringue cookies, but they are really soft inside. I made a fresh batch Monday morning and went off to the fair in the afternoon, well armed with hope and a container full of cookies.
There were 31 entries and 3 judges. They divided them up into 10 per judge (well - 11 for one judge), and then each judge would choose their four favorite, and the other judges would sample them, and out of those 12 there would be three winners chosen. My cookies were in the group judged by the professional taster. The other two judges wrote food columns for various newspapers.
Miranda, Bill and I were all watching as she sampled my cookies, and she appeared to really like them. She smiled and laughed and made comments about them (but we were too far away to hear what she said). It took a long, long time for the judges to get through their entries, but we were full of hope when my cookies were one of the 12 taken up for the final judging.
This judging took a little longer than they thought it would because there was a tie for third place. Finally they announced the three winners, and I have to admit that I was quite disappointed than none of the three were me.
However, when Bill went up to retrieve the leftover cookies and the container, two of the three judges just raved over the cookies and how good they were. They said that it was hard to resist eating more of them, and that they are 'dangerous' cookies. My recipe was taken off and copied for the judges and the support staff. The support staff asked Bill if we would be willing to leave the rest of the cookies so they could have some too (since they hadn't taken part in the tasting). As far as we could see, nobody else was asked to leave extras.
It was taking so long to get our judging sheet back that I went up to join Bill just as the professional judge came back over to the table. She told me how much she loved the cookies and hinted that she would have given me first place if it had been up to her. She was also taking one of the cookies home with her!
When I finally got my judging sheet back I found that I had gotten 40 out of 40 points for taste and chocolateness; 15 out of 20 points for appearance; 30 out of 30 points for Originality and Creativity; and 10 out of 10 points for Ease of Preparation. Darn - if they had just looked a little prettier!
The judge's comments were "Very surprising soft center. Very tasty cookie. I loved every bite! Can I have another? Also love that you provided something gluten free!"
So I didn't win anything, but I have the knowledge that I created a quality cookie that was thoroughly and honestly enjoyed. And actually, that is the most important part. Although we signed a waiver saying that Ghirardelli officially owns the recipe now, I see no harm in sharing it. So if you are interested, here it is:

Heavenly Chocolate Meltaways

4 eggs white
dash salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 TB Da Vinci Gourmet White Chocolate Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 TB Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate
1 11.5 oz bag Ghiaradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheet with clean brown wrapping paper or aluminum foil.
In metal or glass bowl whip eggs whites until foamy. Add salt, vanilla and white chocolate syrup. Beat until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually while still beating. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Reduce mixer speed and add ground chocolate. Mix thoroughly.
Fold in chocolate chips. Drop the batter in teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. They do not spread to they can be placed fairly close to each other.
Place cookies in oven. Wait until the heat has returned to 375 degrees and then turn the oven off. Do not reopen the oven. Leave the cookies in the oven for at least 1 1/2 hours. (They can be left in as long as you want, actually)
Once removed from the oven, allow them to thoroughly cool before removing them carefully from the cookie sheet. Those that are not immediately devoured should be stored in an air-tight container.
Makes about 40 cookies.
Enjoy!