tim and lisa cocking

I’ve kind of kept it under wraps that I’m in a band. I’m pretty geeked (that is to say I’m right chuffed for all you England readers). Anyway, I’m playing keys as well as a bunch of other instruments with The OaKs. We’ve been getting good press coverage in several indy music blogs and getting a bit of college radio play as well.

Today there was a nice story in the Orlando Sentinel about the band and a show we have this week at the Anti Pop music festival here in Orlando. The story has a couple of factual errors (I don’t play harmonica!) but then every story has a couple of errors.

I’ll post some pictures from the show later this week if I get any.

I’ve never read or seen Lemony Snicket, but “A Series of Unfortunate Events” would certainly describe my day today. The girls have actually been really good, especially considering the circumstances.

I went grocery shopping with the kids today. They promised to be good, knowing that a cookie at Publix would await them at the end if they behaved. So the plan was, first a quick stop at Walgreens, then on to Sam’s Club on Orange Blossom Trail (OBT) near the 528 and Florida Turnpike, then to Publix, then home again. We left a little before 10:30. I thought we’d be back in time for a late lunch, or maybe get lunch out and then be back for naps.

The stop at Walgreens was no problem–in and out, girls behaved fine. Next stop, Sam’s. I screwed up at the confusing 528/OBT/Turnpike interchange and ended up on the ramp to the turnpike. I had to make a split second decision: north or south? I went south, knowing that there wasn’t an exit to the north until after I-4, plus there was no toll to get on southbound. The next exit turned out to be over 5 miles away, Osceola Parkway. Not great, but at least it’s not Miami. We were all in good spirits, though, and I kept telling the girls it was an adventure. I told them maybe we’d get ice cream later if they could still be really good.

So after the extra mileage we finally get to Sam’s. The girls are still being great. I do my shopping pretty quickly: chicken, milk, frozen salmon, waffles, frozen beans, cheese and a few other things. By now it’s nearly noon so we had a pizza lunch there, which the girls loved. I thought about running the groceries out to the car before eating and putting them in the cooler bags, but I decided it would be no worse to keep them in a/c for a few extra minutes than to put them in hot cooler bags and leave them in a hot car for that time.

So we finished our pizza and headed to the car. And there in the car, on the seat, were my keys. Yes, I locked them in the car, something I haven’t done in many years. Too bad I hadn’t gone out before eating, we could have been waiting for help while we ate. Oh well. I told the girls that our adventure was continuing. We went back in and I called AAA. When I asked the dispatcher how long it would be, she said that the system was showing 90 minutes. Yikes. I told her I had 3 little kids and a cartload of groceries, and she said she’d make a note on the call.

I decided to get them some ice cream to help pass the time while we waited. I set the girls down at a table (where I could keep an eye on them) while I got in line. As I watched, Ellie went to sit down on the bench and went over backwards, hitting her head on the bench behind her. I ran over, picked her up and checked her head. She was fine–I didn’t feel a lump or anything, but she was hysterical (she’s really tired by this point). After some ice to distract, and a nice woman offering to hold it on her head while I went back in line, I got their ice cream for them and everyone was happy again.

During this time the AAA driver called saying he thought he’d be there in under 30 minutes. Yay! But my cartload of food is getting pretty warm now. I tried to see about getting it put into a cooler, but couldn’t get any help at the customer service counter and went back to the kids at their table. The the AAA guy called again to say he was stopped by a stalled train. He was turning around to go another way, but it would be a bit longer. Great.

I loaded the girls into the cart with the food, ice cream and all, and went back to the service counter to see about getting the cart into a cooler again. (On the way, Micah dropped her ice cream and burst into tears. Fortunately she only lost a little, most stayed in the cup, so I was able to give it back to her and she was okay with that.) It took asking two different people before I got someone who said he said he would take care of it, and did. He took my cart to the cooler, I loaded the girls into an empty cart (still with their ice cream) and went outside to wait for AAA.

It was only a few more minutes before the guy came–what a relief. I got the kids loaded in and drove back up to the store to get my cart of groceries back. It took close to 5 minutes for someone to figure out what I was talking about and bring them out to me, but I finally got them loaded up and headed for home. The girls were disappointed that we couldn’t go to Publix now (no cookies), but accepted it like good little troupers. But the ride home was uneventful, and the food all still felt cool when I put it away, so hopefully it will be okay. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go and finish my shopping, though. At least we’ve got some leftovers we can eat tonight.

On the bright side, last night I went to a Jazzercise class and then out to dinner with a couple of friends, Kristina (who we trick or treated with) and Ingrid. It’s so great to finally be meeting some people. They’re both on staff with Crusade and both live in the neighborhood. Kristina and Dave and their two girls transferred here from Colorado, where Dave had been working in the regional office. Ingrid and her family are new, mid-career staff with three kids, just like us. We both were really excited to find someone in the exact same situation, who really understands what it’s like to raise support mid-career with three kids!

Here’s hoping for a normal day tomorrow!

Yes, there actually are seasons down here. Fall has been beautiful. The temps are lower–in the low 80s–the humidity is lower, we can even have the windows open. It’s pretty weird, though. Here it is, November, and I bought some annuals today! I got a couple of pots with impatiens, New Guinea impatiens, dianthus and begonias. Yes, fall is the time to get the annuals out down here, and you get the color from them for the winter. Most of the familiar annuals we know up north can’t take the summer heat down here. It’s also time for people to put in vegetable gardens now.

Another weird thing down here is that people and/or stores seem to be somewhat deluded about the climate. Starting in August, I couldn’t find shorts for the girls in stores. They were putting out jeans, sweaters, long sleeved shirts, all the typical fall, back to school clothes. For Michigan, maybe! Here, the temps generally stay in the high 80s or low 90s until October. We went to a “fall festival” to get some pumpkins a week or so before Halloween. There were record high temps that day–it was 90 something degrees. Last week I saw hats and mittens at Wal-Mart. I don’t know where people think they’re going to wear them, unless they’re going to the ice skating rink or up north.

One thing I am greatly lamenting is the lack of resale shops. I used to frequent kids’ resale and consignment shops when we lived in Royal Oak. There were 3 or 4 that I liked to go to. Some were a bit of a drive, maybe 20 minutes. Down here, I have yet to find any that are remotely close (am I allowed to put those two words together?). I think there’s one in St. Cloud, which is about a 35 minute drive. There are a couple in Altamonte, which is at least 45 minutes. But what I’m really missing right now are the mom2mom sales. Those things are like Mecca for a thrifty mom! It seems that they simply do not exist down here, more’s the pity. I found one thing that’s sort of like a m2m–but it’s a privately-run, for-profit deal that they do just twice a year. It’s done like a consignment shop–you price and drop off your stuff, they sell it and give you a percentage of the selling price. But it’s in Deltona! That’s over an hour away!

But honestly, I really haven’t had many complaints about our new home. We do love Florida and are so thankful that God called us here.