Where have I been all my life?

Have any of you ever been to a Dim Sum restaurant? I know that may sound odd but I had never been to one in all my (dang) 55 years of age. Until a few days ago.

My son, Mitch, did some research and found this place in Chinatown, Seattle.

It got great reviews and so we decided to make it one of our stops for the day in Seattle. Good Move Mitch, good move.

We get there and the wait time is around 20 minutes. People were congregating outside and inside the waiting area. Me? I decided to go shopping. 

Down the street, down an alley and into some hole in the wall place that had great bargains.

 What? I can't shop while I wait? Hah! Watch me~ This guys' shop had $3 and $5 boxes outside filled with all kinds of cloth asian wind sox fish, satchels, totes, and, heck.....we had to go thru them all just to see what wonders awaited us! When I went inside, it was my kind of heaven. Mass knick knacks EVERYWHERE. There were more of the cloth fish I love in every color and size imaginable. Chinese dolls, flags, more satchels, tassels galore....I cannot even begin to tell you all it had. It was all crammed into a tiny shop that barely let two people stand side by side. Heaven. You all know me and my brain and color. Anyway...I am drifting. On the way out, I saw he has put a new box out.What?!? Filled with vintage wooden blocks! Oh man, I am soooo coming back after lunch. Wooden blocks go for 3-5 dollars apiece on etsy and his price was 25 cents each. Oh yeah. I WILL be back. So, back to Harbor City Dim Sum. 

We get back there and they call our name. A woman shows us to our table. Mike and Tomas decided to use the restroom. ( bear with me here, I am not getting personal for the heck of it). Within seconds of them getting up, a woman comes to the table with this cart FILLED with bowls of food . " you want this? or this? or this?" Excuse me, ...what? Mitch asks her what she has and she tells us "shrimp balls , hum Bao ( small buns of dough filled with barbeque pork) white rice with a beef mixture inside"...Uhm , yes please! She proceeds to set them all down on the table and walks away. Enter Mike and Tomas....to a table filled with food. What just happened here? Did we just sit down 15 seconds ago and now we have tons of food in front of us? Yes. Yes we did.. 

How cool is THAT?!?

And  it was so delicious, every bit of it. When one woman would leave our table, another would come by right behind her, with her cart of  more choices of dim sum. It was amazing. I felt like we were just coming off food stamps and had won the lottery. "yes please, ok, we'll take that, yes please" There were so many selections  to choose from and I was still in a whirlwind about the whole "sit down and food is on your table in 5 seconds or less" deal. Where has the place been all my life? Oh that's right, I don't get out much.

( I would be amiss if I did not tell you about their green beans. Fresh green beans sauteed in garlic. Not just garlic salt, or garlic bits but slices of garlic that tasted like they had been dipped in sugar and deep fried. THEN, sauteed with the green beans. Oh. My. Goodness. Nick and I may have dipped our hum bao into the residue of garlic slices when the green beans were done. Annnd I may have slapped the waiters hands who tried to take said plate away . It was an innocent mistake on his part, the green beans were gone, after all. )

The saddest part of this meal? The end. Because the women were still coming around and there was much more food to be had! More to be eaten! And I missed the dessert cart  while I was dipping my hum bao into the garlic deliciousness! Come back!!! I need whatever that layered orange and white dessert was!

 And of course, everyone was ready to get on with the day before she had a chance to come back." No, I do not want more shrimp balls ( pieces of shrimp mixed with a honey sauce and then deep fried, sighhh) or ginger pork dim sum....I want that orange and white dessert thingie!" I gave in to this groups demands of "let's go...we can get you something at Uwajimaya's"......Amateurs... how did they know if this Asian market would even HAVE what I wanted? 

Good thing for them I still anticipated going back to that hole in the wall shop to rummage thru the box of vintage blocks.

 Which I did. And got what I wanted. So I guess that makes up for lack of dessert.

I guess.

And if you ever come to visit me? Plan on going to Harbor City Dim Sum. Because the prices were so reasonable. the 5 of us ate a ton of food for 60 dollars, including tip. Amazing.

Day Four~ The meltdowns continue....this time they are Breanne's.

Day Four ends our time at Disney World. When I was told by Danny how big it actually was, I heard him, but I just didn't HEAR him. I can't begin to tell you the size of this place. I was also told that there is no way you can see it all in 5-7 days, much less 4. Now I know why. Danny kept track our our steps and we averaged around 12-15 thousand a day. A day! I swear I wanted to rip that watch off his arm at one point in time.

We began our day by sleeping in. Yessss. Then we packed and hit the road looking for souvenir shops for requests  friends had made. This took awhile Because everyone knows, no man wants to go souvenir shopping. Ever. 

Now, when we left FOR this trip, I drove. I have a hard time being a passenger in the back seat of any vehicle. I get antsy. And twitchy. And want to crawl out of my skin by the first hour. And grouchy. (See the first three reasons.)

 So, when I drive, I am totally comfortable and there is no reason for meds. Reason enough for me.

 Put one more man in the mix on the way home and you have two males that:

A. want to drive

B. Want to sit up front because the back seat is too crowded ( duh)

Neither of these equations was working for me. So I quietly took my husband aside and told him that if He didn't drive or I didn't drive, I would go apesh*t crazy. Now, one would think that would get the message across, right? Wrong.

"Why don't you drive Danny and we'll  take turns?"

NOOOOOOOOO! Was no one listening to me?  I anticipated going insane. And then was forced to take some meds. 

When we drove down, Breanne and I noticed some great produce farms/stands and an awesome plantation that sold antiques and fruit and veggies and I'll bet every wonderful thing under the sun! "We will stop THERE on the way home" we said.

Yeah, no. My husband had the bright idea of cutting off time on the trip home by rerouting us another way home. What? You want to do What? You want to get home at 10 pm versus 11 pm, why? What on earth could possibly make a difference on one hour?  And this is the reason traveling without men is so much easier.

Picture Breanne and I pouting in the back seat. Now picture Breanne and I and Zailey squished like sardines in the back seat. Welcome to my life for the next 7 hours. 

On our way, we notice a 7-11. Hallelujah!  Georgia  and Alabama have no 7-11's anywhere. Breanne is craving a coke slurpee. We stop. The coke slurpee machine is not working. Oh man, this trip already smells like doom.

We see one more 7-11 down the road. Do we stop? Nooooooooo. ( "we didn't think you were serious about wanting a coke slurpee!") Remember, this is a pregnant woman who cannot keep anything down and has lost 13 pounds. Humor her and give her a damn slurpee!

We see TWO more 7-11's. STOP already! Did they? NO!

I quote: " Wouldn't it be funny is these were the last two 7-11's we see on the way home?" I'll give you a hint~ they were.

So now we have a disgruntled pregnant woman, a 55 year old twitching woman  and a small child in the backseat. Good times.

Cue the rain. Yep. You knew it was coming. We saw a fruit stand that had Indian River fruit; a hybrid orange that is supposed to be super sweet, Let's stop!!! So we did and  we were disappointed in what they had to offer. Not that alligators heads are bad or anything....just not on my "want" list today. Or any day.

Back in the car. More sulking.

We had more torrential downpour for the rest of the journey home. When we got to the border of Florida and Georgia, to my right I saw....can it be......the plantation we wanted to go to?!!! Yes!!! it was!

Yes! 

We drove by.

 That does it. No more men on any more road trips. Period. We. Are. Done.

Like this vacation.

Day Three....Disney's Hollywood Studios

Day three....Hollywood Studios, Orlando.

Have you ever anticipated something so badly that you could barely sleep the night before? Yeah. That was not me. When they woke me up to get ready for day three....I wanted someone to give me some blue juice. Put me down.
 I don't wanna wallllllk anymorrrrre!
Don't make me goooooo!
 Oh fine.....So we get to Hollywood studios with a kajillion other people when it opened. That's right, pretty sure I counted every one of them. So we decide to go left when everyone else is going right...less crowded streets that way. The theme is a backlot studio....prop streets with prop houses. Only, this park did not thrill me in the design. Seemed a little, uhm, lacking. ( there's always a critic somewhere)
We get to the first thing we wanted to do, only to find it wasn't open yet. Whaaaat? is THAT all about?
Studio Backlot tour....a demo of how they make the movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc etc. So we move on. To wander the streets aimlessly
 Do we have a map? Well, yes of course we do.
 Can we find what we want? Of course not!
Finally~ We get to "honey I shrunk the kids set adventure", thinking we were going to have an adventure!!! No. Just a big playground that makes you feel like an ant. With screaming running children. Moving right along.
Cue the rain. AGAIN.  We bypass the Muppets...they don't really thrill us.  The rain comes down harder. We find refuge in an Italian Restaurant. Sweet. The wait if 45 minutes if you don't have a reservation. We don't. After much deliberation....we decide to sit it out and wait. (Transalation: Colleen is not going out there to wander aimlessly to find another eatery to discover we have to wait there, as well. Nu uh. No way. We wait here.) The rain becomes a monsoon complete with thunder and lightening. We eat, and then reluctantly head out into it. Complete with ponchos. The rain comes down harder. Now, let me explain something here. It's not like when it rains in Washington and the temperature goes down a little. Nope. It stays at a lovely 93 degrees and when you have that hood over your head, the clear poncho steams up and makes things even more enjoyable. If you love a sauna.
So picture thousands of people in their ponchos, looking for a ride that isn't closed . They close all the outdoor rides in inclement weather. Wussies.
Now picture you bumping into said people over and over again, while trying to navigate a park in the pouring down rain. You getting the picture?
We find Beauty and the beast and duck in. Yesss. Out of the rain and into the enclosure equipped with bleachers. For my broken tailbone. ( I broke it years ago but the ramifications are still with me.....why wouldn't they be?) So I sit in misery trying to look happy. I don't think I was fooling anyone.
It's over and we are trying to figure out which rides we can go on .......the one we wanted to do reeeeeeal bad was Toy Story. So we walk a thousand miles to that attraction. To find the wait is 2 hours and 30 minutes. And the fast pass is closed. Of course it is. Well crud, scratch that. We wander around, trying to find cast  members to trade our pins with.....( the one thing we enjoyed doing!) and wait out the weather. By the time it stopped, we decided we had enough. Time to call it a day. Please.
I really can't even tell you what time we got back or what we did for dinner because I think I blacked it all out!
I KNEW we should have gone to Epcot.
Stay tuned for day four......( hint....men backseat driving, only in the front seat)

Day Two....the meltdown continues....

Day two of Disneyworld!

You know, the park so dang HUGE you can take a ferry from the parking lot to get to Magic Kingdom! No kidding!! This is it ~

We decided that we would spend 9 am until around 2:30 at Magic Kingdom and go back to the resort to swim and rest. Then we would head back for the fireworks and electrical light parade. Sound like a good plan? yeah, we thought so too. So off we went. To walk another 10 thousand miles. Actually, Danny had a watch that counted his steps and it said we clocked in around 12 thousand steps. Which, in actuality, means 15 thousand for me and my small stubby legs. My feet were going to fall off. No lie. So we went on the Jungle cruise, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Zay met some of the fairies, and then topped it off with Splash Mountain. All in 90 degree , 90 percent humidity weather. Oh, the joy. Did I mention the children meltdowns?

 Because we were privy to more of those as well. I waited with Breanne while Mike, Danny and Zay went on Splash mountain. She was trying to get a good spot to catch them on camera as they came down the waterfall and I was trying to find a spot to discreetly die. I had Danny's military backpack with me and set it down beside me. Which, apparently, was a direct call to two children to come and hop over it over and over again. At the 4th hop, I very quietly said to the boy ~ " if you come anywhere near this again, I will push you down". I did. Do not doubt a very tired, hurting 55 year old woman. The look of horror on his face was my reward.

We get back to the hotel ( after we walk a thousand miles to get OUT of the park, to get ON the ferry, to get OFF the ferry , to walk back to our car in the parking lot, to drive back to the resort, which is next door, but took us almost 30 minutes to get there) and it starts to pour down rain. I mean POUR. Which left us no choice but to nap. So be it.

We wake up and head into Orlando to go to the Cheesecake Factory. Why, you ask? Because Breanne has not been to one in almost 3 years and is dying for some lettuce wraps and grilled artichoke. Ok, so am I. Those things are delicious. Annnnd one tends to cater to a pregnant woman who cannot keep any food down whatsoever. Poor girl.

After that delicious meal, I decide we should head back to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. People are lining the streets getting themselves a choice spot for the light parade. I have to tell you, those fireworks were amazing. I have never seen a better show. Seriously. Have. Not.

 And then cue the rain. Yep. More rain. We try to wait it out by shopping in the gift stores, which my mind totally appreciates the layouts and graphics and colors and displays and.....well, you get the point. Then we hear the announcement. The parade has been cancelled.  Dang it!! This rain is getting on my last nerve! We walk back to the car , covered in ponchos. I looked like a drowned rat...second day in a row. Praying I wouldn't see anyone point at me and say " didn't we see that awful looking woman yesterday at Animal Kingdom mom?" 

And day three will not disappoint you either.

Not the Happiest Place on Earth....

Welcome to Disney World! Where you can fit three cities into~ or more. I have never been , so I was excited and a little apprehensive to go. For those of you who know me well, my fibromyalgia worried me. How was I going to be able to keep up with/not drag down anyone? The place is so huge I was very worried about this.
It took me 7 hours to drive there from Breanne's home and it was pretty cool to drive into, I have to admit. And I was told it was huge, I just had no idea. You can look at a pamphlet map all you want, it's never going to give you an accurate picture. We picked up Michael at the Orlando airport that evening and our vacation officially began!

Our first day at Animal Kingdom: Our hotel bus took us there and told us where they would be on the hour, for our return back. Great. Onward. To the masses of people in 90 something degree temperature, felt like 100 percent humidity. Oh no. I was exhausted before we even got into the gate. We were able to catch an indoor show of "it's a bugs life" and that was enjoyable. But back out to the heat. Breanne was not able to go on a majority of rides due to jarring and bumping and liabilities so I kept her company. Meaning I  used that time to re-coup from the thousands of miles we walked to get to that ride. Yes, I said thousands. It felt like it. Roll in the horrible rainy, hot, thunder and lightening weather. Rides shut down. People get soaked and run into the shops to buy ponchos. Not me. By this time, I look like  a drowned rat and I figured, eh.....no one's going to see me again...what the h*ll. The thing is...you walk forever to get to your ride, then wait forever to ride your ride. And in the meantime, you witness the most spectacular melt downs you have ever seen! I am talking SCREAMING children (not just crying, but directed AT the parents) full fledged  out and out flailing of limbs and eyes closed meltdown~ Wow. Not a pretty sight. And I am talking about the parents taking this. What the heck? Every meltdown I saw...the parents did absolutely nothing. At. All.  THAT should have been a show there......
At the end of our day, we headed back to where the bus said it would be. No bus. For about 35 minutes. Still no bus. So I called the resort. And the lady told me we had to take the monorail back. Uhm, there is no monorail there, so....... She also told me it was not possible that the bus took us straight there and dropped us off. Okaaaaay. In the meantime, Michael made friends with a group of Argentinian cheerleaders. They wanted volunteers to cheer with them and, yeah, my husband went willingly. Why was I not surprised? By this time, I am totally soaked to the bone, weary and just wanted to lie down. And not on a bus bench. Waiting for a bus that never came. Cue the Taxi cab. Back to the resort to recoup. Stay tuned as we begin another day at the most magical place on earth tomorrow.

"Ain't we got no upbringin?"

 The internet can be a wonderful thing.
Can be.
It can enlighten you, educate you and amaze you with articles, photographs and knowledge.
And then, it can wipe ALL that clean with a few comments from people who post on links.
I happened to notice that a friend commented on a recent photo of Kim Kardashian in a dress that looks a lot like my moms curtains, back in the day. The comments? Here are a few:

"All u hoes talkin shit wish that you looked half as good as she does... wish yall was havn kanyes baby... and wish yall could pull wearing something like that. Fat? Where? That bitch is helllaaa fine. While yall talking shit about her waistin your time.. shes posted up in a big ass mansion... eating her pregnant ass off... Laughing at yall... cus at the end of the... she is THAT bitch !!!!!!!"

"All yall bitches who got babies were fat as phuck too... And all you niggas broker than these bitches... I ain't ridin Kim and Kanye... I just don't hate on people... Yall bitches did that same shit wit Beyonce when she was preggo and was the first hoes that bought her album and now yall trynna get yalls body like hers... That's why half yall broke as shit now... Facebook paparazzi bitches... And when I say "bitches", I mean you niggas too..."

 "i dnt mind her big besides being prego but damn kim every big or prego gal knows that was a Fail! turtle neck and gloves WHAT THE FUK????? REALLY????????? that niga is just too into himself he gotta be like . bitch aint gona lok better then me...."

 Seriously people? I have sooooo many issues with this, it's not even funny!
When I hear men refer to women as "bitches", I cringe. Since when did this become an acceptable slang for woman? Does no one see how this slang damages a woman in so many ways? How demeaning. And yet, I hear women say it all the time to each other in a "fond" way. I may have made some jokes about it as well in my past but lately, I apologize for ever having done so. Not acceptable. This will not elevate women. No.No.No.

And the N word? I cannot even bring myself to type it! It was THE racist word when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's and now it is used so flippantly today. At what point when this was first bandied around did someone hearing it , not look up and say "WHAT?" And pardon my ignorance, but why is it acceptable for one black man to say it about another black man? WHY?
If you ask me, (and I know you did not but this is my blog and you are along for the ride, sooo)
I feel this is in fact, enslaving ( for lack of a better word) them and keeping them in a place they are so struggling to get out of. Is it just lack of education? People want to be respected and treated fairly and yet, these words are handed out a million times a day. How can someone rise above when they are covered with this crap?
There will always be slang...and it usually con notates a fondness or love for someone in a comical and or humorous way.
 These words....they do not.

And last but not least...the spelling! The short abbreviations, the mis-spellings, the bingo-speak ( before=B4)
Are these people that much in a hurry that they have to shorten everything? Or speak in Bingo? Or Walmart-ese?  Half the time, I get exhausted trying to figure out what they are trying to say!
I , myself, am all about how I present myself.
Obviously, I am not in good company.

Answers...I want them

I, like the rest of the world,. have been immersed in the Boston Bombing. The loss of lives, the videos, the interviews. The horror for those people. The summaries of the lives lost...the photos, the interviews. Such a senseless loss.
Then the process of identifying the bombers blows thu the internet.
When their photos hit the facebook  posts, I knew it was a matter of time. This had to be the most publicized search ever. You just knew someone knew them.
And then late last night, I saw the killing of the MIT policeman and the hijacking of the Mercedes SUV. Something was coming, I thought to myself.

My mind is reeling right now. I have a headache that I don't know if it's self imposed.
I have been watching the news since 6:30 this morning.
I have so many questions.
What happened to these young men who were/are the bombers in the Boston Marathon? And I don't mean in the physical sense. That much is obvious.
The information on who they are.. one a med student and the other a wanna be USA Olympic boxer, such aspirations......what happened? What would make them plant those bombs? Were they paid to?
And then to continue from the bombing to point blank shooting and killing an officer? And then to let the owner of the SUV go at a gas station...why? (Does he realize how lucky he is?)
Did someone "get " to them? Influence them? How they are being described by friends and coaches is not conducive to what they did. It just makes no sense.
So now we have one brother shot and killed and the other on the run.
The police are searching each home, door to door. Can you imagine being held in lockdown and having the police scan thru your home? I can't help but think that the 19 year old that is in hiding must be deciding whether he is going to die or come out alive. His adored brother is dead, he must feel he has nothing to live for. And that scares me for the safety of the Police and Agents  going door to door. So volatile. This WILL play out, and waiting for it is stressful.

And then the mother in me feels for the mother of these boys. What a horror for her to live through. Her husband left for Russia because he is dying of a brain tumor. So she has lost her husband, one son and another son soon. Whatever comes of this,  If he should come out alive, he is lost to her anyway.
The interview with their uncle was so moving to me. You could feel his anger and disgust. And his love for living here. He did a wonderful job, considering his life was turned upside down less than 24 hours before.
It just goes to prove to you that life can flip on you in a minute.
All the speculation on the news and the internet....did the russian mafia wrap themselves around these boys?
My mind just wants answers. To try to make some sense of all this horror.
And it's not done yet.

Will we ever be able to look at another again without wondering what lies within?