Not a good start!

Last night I was calmly sitting on my couch with the pups watching my new fav "Orange is the new Black".  I heard a loud POP!  I went to investigate the sounds that seemed to come from the dining room...and THIS is what I found!

The patio door spontaneously shattered.  There was no projectile of any kind.  No evidence of a point of impact of any sort.

I FREAKED OUT.

A neighbor hung out with me until I calmed down a bit.  I made my usual calls to my brother and Matt and  then thought everything would be OK and I would get someone here to replace it first thing int he morning.   Not as easy as I had hoped!  By this morning the shattered glass began falling to the floor.  A little bit every few minutes.  YIKES!

Called several glass places, kept getting referred around and finally found WOODY's screen and glass company.  A local father/son business.  Patrick came right away and it took several hours with his shop vac but he finally got up 99% of the shattered 'safety' glass.  Both of us had cuts by the time it was over.

I called Milgard, the window people who can send someone to 'look' at it on August 2nd!  Really?  Not sooner?  All the glass was under the doors, in between the roller mechanisms and so everything had to be disassembled and put back together.

Patrick, along with Bruce - the property maintenance supervisor were awesome.

Olga was going to come and rescue the pups.  I am so worried about them getting their tender little paws cut up, but there's a huge sig alert on the 210 and she's stuck.

Can life PLEASE improve??  NO MORE DRAMA...brakes, tires, imploding glass doors $$$$$.

Comings and Goings

Early, early this morning Nathaniel took off for NY!  I was going to drive him to LAX, but wimped out and took him to the Fly Away - a very convenient 5 miles from home down Sherman Way!  I helped him fit everything he needs for the first several weeks, plus what he needs for his Oregon Smith Family vacation in one duffle, one suitcase and his backpack!  Pretty darn efficient packing I think!

He'll spend a few days at the Greenpoint YMCA and start his new job.  A few days later he'll fly back across country to meet up with all the Smiths for Grandpa's 90th birthday celebration.

He likes to travel on Virgin.

Tonight the girls arrive at LAX.  I had planned for them to catch the Fly Away shuttle but they get in at 11:35pm and the last shuttle departs at 11:30.  I could not see my way clear to drive to LAX at that hour so I hired a car service to collect them.  It will be fun for them to find someone waiting at the gate for them with "SMITH" on a sign they are holding!  I'll try to stay awake but most likely will be napping on the couch pretending to be awake when they come in!

The girls like to fly Jet Blue.

My plan for this 'quickie' visit with them is to let them sleep in tomorrow and take them to Cici's for brunch/lunch (I will have banana chocolate chip waffles).  I booked mani/pedi appointments for us at Polished for 3:45.  For the evening we will relax at home.  I've planned a nice dinner of filet mignon and lobster tails!!

We have lots to celebrate:  Nat's new job, Jordan's promotion, Meredith's new faculty position, Nat's move to NYC, the girls move into a new, bigger, beautiful apartment in Sunnyside, Queens.  It's a 1950's elevator building and they are on the fifth floor - no more 'walk-up' !! They have hard wood floors, lots of light, a newly remodeled kitchen and bathroom (with a TUB), space in the basement to store bikes with a washer/dryer in the building and space to rent a room to sweet Nat!

Getting Ready

"Operation:  Big Apple" is underway!  There is SO much transition going on for the kids these days.  Jordan and Meredith are hunting for bigger digs in NY while Nat is prepping for his big move to NY as well!  Meredith is meantime looking for a place to live in Lancaster, PA before the start of the academic year.  So many transitions, plans, changes, arrangement and coordination to be done that it is mind boggling.

Saturday found Nat and me in Culver City.  We started with an 'in-service' on how to put together a packing box followed by how to wrap breakable objects in bubble wrap and concluding with how to pack things in the box so they survive the trip and how to label the box!!

Nat was a really good sport and we were pretty efficient about getting his place sorted through and packed up.  Mom's garage will be the staging area for the move, storing boxes until he has an address and is settle enough for me to ship his things.  He will travel with two duffles of essentials - clothes, computer, etc.

Complicating all this even further is Grandpa Smith's 90th birthday celebration in Oregon in the middle of all this moving!!

Nat has sold his car and bike and a few pieces of furniture.  He will take very little with him and says that he is embracing a more 'zen' lifestyle.  Don't know what that means for a 'twenty something' living in NYC.  He will be renting a room in Jordan and Meredith's new apartment which will be great for all of them.  I will miss him greatly but am SO happy the three kids will be together!!

why oh why??

Why do these things seem to happen all at once?  I guess it's just life, but it can be as annoying as HELL!

• garage door breaks:  cost of repair?  $600 (Friday)
• routine car service turns out to be a major 60,000 miles tune up:  cost?  $400 (Saturday)
• other car news on Saturday - need new front and back tires and new front and back brakes:  cost?  $227 for front tires; $227 for rear tires; $725 for brakes (Car guy says I'm lucky.  Normally tires only last 30,000 miles.  ALL my driving has been freeway so I was able to double the life on them.  Guess I'm supposed to be grateful!!)
• airconditioner needs ducts cleaned out:  cost?  $150

O MY GOSH....where is all this money going to come from?  Guess that's why God created MasterCard and VISA!!

Dogs and Food

Some kind readers have recently remarked that I have become someone who blogs primarily about food and dogs!  That may be true, I realize.

So here's a short note about Food Trucks in LA.



Last Wednesday (the traditional night for Nat to come over to do his laundry and eat some home cooking) was 'mixed up a bit'.  I have been driving down Sherman Way the new 7 mile commute for just over 7 months now.  Usually I am thinking thoughts, listening to music or books and not really paying much attention to my surroundings, except - of course- for the cars and trucks and pedestrians around me.  I noticed an intriguing sign a few weeks ago and asked Nat to check it out with me.

Wednesdays from 5 - 9 there is a gathering of gourmet food trucks at a nearby hotel parking lot.  The sign also advertised beer, wine and music. So we headed out to see what it was like. We had fun - as we always manage to and really enjoyed the food.  Nat had some kind of wonderful looking burger with BBQ sauce, friend onion rings and not sure what else.  I sampled some samosas and vegetable curry - it was great!