Is It Halloween?

We Got A Dozen +1

Did you miss National Donut Day?

Sugary Hearts All Day Long

 To stick with more current and immediate events, yesterday was Valentine's Day, and hearts were frigin everywhere.

 Hearts hanging from the ceiling

Hearts on the griddle

I don't think we ate anything not heart-shaped that day. French toast for breakfast, donuts for lunch (I know, right!) and then jello for dessert. 

Yuula made me this card

And then passed this one off as her own, too

There's that nasty jello

I guess this is something we do with jello now

He might as well learn what kind of family he's been born into sooner than later

You Can Get Yourself Cleaned

Hi.

We are here. Still alive. Actually warm this morning as I'm writing you all from inside the loving arms of our local YMCA, where we are taking full advantage of their running hot water, mounted metal boxes full of heated airs and proximity to a Dunkin Donuts. Today is completely up in the air as our main goal is to stay out of the cold house, putz about town, all the while not spending any money and use as little gas as possible because apparently there is some sort of fuel crisis here as all of North Jersey has flocked here in a desperate attempt to drain every last drop from our stations. Another trick is attempting to to find a way to charge our electronics, our last gasp to stay connected with the outside world, but apparently that is on the top of everyone else's mind in the region and outlets have never seemed so endangered. Last night we managed to watch a DVD on the perfectly timed new laptop, Safety Not Guaranteed. It was nice and schmalzty. Enough to take our minds off the fire burning out at our feet. Oh, we've been sleeping in the dining room on the mattresses from the guest bedroom. And drinking wine out of dirty glasses. Word is we'll be back on the grid by the weekend. Or Monday. Or Wednesday. We're not even sure what today is so...

There's lots to catch everyone up on, and we have managed to continue photographing the whole experience. But for now, the girls have just stumbled out of the showers. They look brand new. Another adventure begins. We have a different definition of "adventure" than most people. 

Dresses Down, Flowers Found

Another day off where it's just gonna rain all day. On good advice we came to take care of a few indoor errands that needed to be run on the weekend, but why not beat the crowds and save a Saturday. Indeed. Main goal: Girls need dresses. This is an intense and potentially drawn out situation. We better get going. Of course by the time we arrived at our only decent shopping mall everyone was hungry for lunch.

I no longer will eat anything but the tilapia trio.

Yuula found other uses for the menu.

Distractions continued when Laura spotted the Verizon store and remembered how much she wants/needs/covets a new phone. I kept Yuula distracted with my accessories.

Onto baby shops where finding a dress proved to be far more daunting than expected, but the girls were up for the challenge.

After relative success and failure in the Lehigh Valley we headed back up north to see above some flowerage. A quick rest stop at Unclaimed Freight to try out some couches gave us pause, but the rookie at DD gave us two coffees sans sugar so that got our goats. A switch to the sleepytime playlist gave Yuula a quick nap while coasted up to the Pocono Commons.

Then it was on.

She's a good helper.

Came home with a good mix of lovely petals and pearls. Plus Yuula got her dress(es) and in the 11th hour Laura found her outfit(s). But don't worry about me. I bought a new pair of shades.

I call them shades.

Then we danced.

They Never Have Coffee Rolls!

Outof habit, I stop each day on the way to teach at the Dunkin D'nuts and order a hot tea and a coffee roll. But they never have coffee rolls. Like, ever. I think they know me as the "crazy coffee roll guy who never gets his coffee roll". Today to my surprise, when I pulled up the dude, who always has to let me down, smiled and handed me a coffee roll. I wanted to kiss him. Maybe I did.



I didn't even really want one. It's just habit.