Stuck in IN

We were supposed to drive to Maryland tonight but cannot because of the snowstorms on the east coast. This is a bummer because we would truly like to be there and not here. I think we'll try to drive Sunday night but it all depends on the roads I guess.

This has been a funky week. It opened with an allegedly drunk guy allegedly driving with a suspended license hitting our Toyota parked on the street Sunday night while I was watching the Obama/Oprah Christmas thing. He had to stop because it messed up one of his wheels, and the cops arrived almost instantaneously somehow. He was arrested and our car is undriveable; he allegedly has no insurance, so I think we're up a creek. Luckily it is our crappy "second car" and not the one we actually use everyday, but we do use it and will need it - or another second car - next semester. The rest of the week saw Lilah staying home from school Wednesday with a cold and being sent home on Thursday for coughing too much, and we had a truly terrible Thursday with Aviva sick and miserable as well. No sleep for nearly two nights. Both are better by now but the crud has been passed on to us. My head is pounding and the dozens of Christmas cookies already consumed are making me sluggish and unable to focus on the tasks at hand (trying to finish the Household book, grading a VERY late student paper, and making an index for the Women book). Blech.

And now we can't get out of town because of the weather. At least it's only flurrying here, so we can do whatever we want in the meantime. This morning, between frequent Lilah meltdowns, we continued making Christmas crafts for the family. Tonight, depending on behavior, we'll go to the 4H grounds to see their low-tech light display and visit Santa and the hilarious Christmas displays from yesteryear in the barn. Fun ....

Tears over Cairo

A giant map of Africa came to the library. I'm not sure what inspired this meltdown over Egypt.

Purple Santa

Shades of Lilah past were seen this past Friday, when Vi was placed upon Purple Santa's lap at a UE party. Lilah got close enough to the most genial Santa imaginable to snatch a candy cane, but that was it. Vi wasn't feeling it at all. Thanks K for taking this picture!

Tofurky Time

After years of talking about it, we finally prepared a Tofurky Vegetarian Roast for Thanksgiving. I love turkey, and usually eat it during the holiday season, but I had a horrible and vivid dream a year ago after eating a lot of turkey while pregnant and seeing part of Palin's interview in front of the turkey slaughter on TV. Since then, no turkey. So L and I went to Elberts last week and found a Tufurky, on sale even!

It only took an hour and a half to bake, and came stuffed with wild rice stuffing. Meanwhile, I made sweet potatoes (with pineapple and a few marshallows, as the pilgrims would have enjoyed them), roasted potatoes, rolls, sauerkraut, gravy, cranberries with ginger, pumpkin pie, etc. The loaf looked like this after carving (those are onions):

Here is my plate. Yes, I'm on the sofa, as V was crabby (see feet) and needed a snack before she would attempt the Tofurky. It was very good!

Even L ate some, and the whole thing was gone within 24 hours (it serves 5 according to the box). Maybe we'll do this again at Christmas.

peanut butter

all aboard!

We recently returned from a trip to New Orleans; we traveled by train! We picked up The City of New Orleans from Chicago in Centralia, IL at 12:25 am. Of course I or the online booking thing screwed up the tickets and they were dated the day before, so our "Family Bedroom" sleeping car was occupied and we were stuck in a "Deluxe" room instead. It could have been much worse; luckily the sleeping cars were pretty empty and there was no problem finding us a room. The deluxe room had a bathroom but was still pretty tight; L refused to sleep on the upper bunk when we boarded the train and settled down for the night but loved playing up there the next morning.

We had two meals on the way down and one on the way back. The dining car was pretty cool and the food was actually not too bad. Plenty of pickles to go 'round.

The quarters were cramped, but there weren't so many passengers, so Vivi and Lilah could roam around in the halls. Clearly, someone was ready for a nap by early afternoon.

Success!

Here is the bayou or something as photographed at moderate speed. No gators were spotted.

We arrived at 3:30 the next afternoon and spent the following four days in New Orleans (details forthcoming).

The return home. The station in New Orleans was lost in time. Because we were first class passengers, we were welcome in the Magnolia Room, which boasted coffee, entertainment, etc. Well, we walked in and then walked straight out and into the neighboring Subway because the Magnolia Room was REALLY lost in time - it looked a 70s rumpus room, minus the smoke (but not the smell) and full of people with a TV blasting and coffee simmering in a pot. The murals in the spacious station were really nice.

Mark, our steward on both trips, photographed our happy family about to board the northbound train.

The family bedroom on the ride back was much better. It didn't take long for Vivi to crash that afternoon, and the girls both slept from about 9-4:30, when we arrived in Centralia, IL.

Overall, I recommend it. The sleeping car is an absolute must if there are kids involved, though.

a fine fall day