December 31, 2009 10:12 p.m.

December 31, 2009 7:51 p.m.

Remember the Y2K "crisis"? A lot of people made an awful lot of money over that fear- mongering. And that night came and went -- nearly without a hitch -- all over the world. The lights stayed on. Not just in places like the US where billions of dollars were spent to prevent a catastrophe, but even in countries on the other side of the world, countries that had no money to spend on the "issue". I shall never forget it. Y2K has forever changed the way I view the world, the mass media, and the "crisis of the day". It has taught me that, if you get old enough, and hold on to memories of times past, pretty soon you won't believe anything they tell you. Did you notice how, beginning with the very next day, nobody on television or in the papers had anything to say about it all? It was all simply forgotten and never talked about again.

Back in those days, Yours Truly (Breezy Point Mom) was a Senior Electrical Engineer with responsible charge over design projects throughout the high voltage transmission and distribution systems at the House of Mouse (remember that place we camped a few weeks ago?). The property containing the House of Mouse is approximately twice the size of Manh*ttan Island, and consumes electrical power equivalent to a medium-sized city.

For eighteen months, one of my responsibilities was to test equipment related to electrical power distribution across the property, all to reassure upper management that everything was "Y2K Compliant", that is, it would continue to function normally after crossing that momentous time threshold into the year 2000.


Of course, this task came in addition to all my other project responsibilities. It was a sort of... uh .... added blessing in my professional life.


Most of the work associated with testing all the equipment required me to work through the night. Company policy forbade us engineers from testing equipment during theme park opening hours, when a mistake could take down power for thousands of visitors. So Y2K required me to continue working regular days, interspersed with many nights, as needed, at various times, over the course of 18 months. I was never able to get into a routine of either days or nights. It was often two nights followed by two days, etc.


To top it all off, all of the salaried employees where I worked were required to spend the big Y2K night on the property "manning" all of the high voltage substations serving all of the visitor venues, including four theme parks, many hotels, and a shopping mecca. If the power system came crashing down over the crowds, we were supposed to come to the rescue and restore power manually.

Oh, and did I mention that over a million visitors were expected to be on the property that night?


For you see, even thought the world was waiting with bated breath to see if the world would come to a crashing anarchic end, the House of Mouse was not concerned. They were not planning to be "closed" that night due of concern for public safety. In fact, they were throwing a really big party to ring in the new year. They had such confidence in us ... in little old me... just imagine.


So as I was saying, we salaried folks manned the stations, not just engineers and electricians, but all professionals and the operations departments for all systems - solid waste, waste water, reclaimed water, mechanical systems, as well as electrical. Also, administrative assistants and all office and business support personnel who were salaried were required to be on site, driving around the property, supplying foodstuffs to all us more technically-oriented folks. This included two of my best friends, who were able to visit me briefly that night before moving on to another substation.


What about Self-Reliant Man, you may ask? Where was he throughout all this excitement? Unfortunately, he was not permitted, due to legal (and insurance) reasons, to share this wonderful night with me at the substation, and he stayed home (50 miles away) and went to bed.


So while the world was ringing in the new year (decade? century? millennium?) I was sitting in a swivel chair beside a Formica topped table with a two way radio sitting atop it, shooting the breeze with three electricians. Yup. I'll never forget it.


And when midnight struck, we heard all the fireworks outside, but had to stay inside and wait for orders in case the end of the world as we knew it happened.


And then we had to stay there until 7 a.m., per planned procedure, in case all the equipment took time to recognize that it was supposed to fail. Only it didn't. And at 2 a.m., I received a cell phone call from the manager of electrical operations. His voice over the phone sounded so relieved that I could almost envision tears in his eyes. He said since all was well, I was permitted to go home, and Happy New Year. Poor guy. He must have aged ten years during that last quarter of 1999. All for a hoax.

Fast forward to now. I sure am glad that I am now a stay at home homeschooling violin mom of two, spending my New Year's Eve playing Jenga and Pay Day and watching the movie "Scrooge". I wouldn't trade my new life for anything.

Happy New Year to all my dear bloggy friends! We made it ten years past the end of the world.

FOR TODAY... December 28, 2009 5:14 p.m.

Outside my window... very windy and crystal clear blue sky, Spanish moss blowing diagonally beneath the oak trees, and heading for a low temperature of 37 degrees overnight tonight. This is a respectable temperature, indeed, for where we live. Brrrr....

I am thinking and praying... giving thanks for the blessed year our family has had, and seeking mercy and blessing from the Lord for those we know and love who have had a difficult year.

I am thankful for... peace and contentment in our family during this Christmas season.

I am wearing... hiking shoes, Levis jeans, a plum colored henley shirt, and an olive drab fleece pullover. In other words, my trademark outfit for when the house is chilly (< 70 degrees).

I am remembering... how my kind next door neighbor sewed and personalized Christmas stockings for all four of us a few years ago. I will always think of her when we hang them up.

I am going... this week to see two best friends, and their children, if all works out as I hope.

I am reading... I am David by Ann Holm, a book I recommended to Little Son, who enjoyed it very much. Now I am intrigued by it, so I am reading it myself. I also hope to begin the Bible-in-a-year plan this Friday. We are between family read-aloud books, but will begin The House of Sixty Fathers, by Meindert DeJong, shortly.

I am hoping... that my husband is able to return home a little earlier than usual each day he is at work this week. He expects fewer people at the office this week. And maybe..... just maybe...... he will be in the mood to build a fire in the fireplace this evening???

On my mind... a dental crown in my mouth, top front and center, that I am afraid will fail soon. I have only had the crown a year, but I don't think the tooth holding it in is going to stay. Long story.... Maybe I am going to need a bridge, or an implant, in the not too distant future. I hope not.

From the learning rooms... just one more week of "summer break" is left. Little Son is gearing up to begin Calvert's Fifth Grade next Monday, and Baby Girl will continue with Calvert's Second Grade. I hope to neaten and organize the learning room before it all begins again.

Noticing that... for some reason I am more keenly aware of the short daytime hours than I have ever been. Nevertheless, it truly is my favorite time of the year.


From the kitchen... leftover Sicilian pizza - yummm!

Around the house... I am trying to make the best use of the free time I have this week to organize closets and cabinets to accommodate new Christmas gifts, as well as find items that can be passed along. I actually love this task..

One of my favorite things... sitting in my chair while a fire blazes in the fireplace, and surrounded by the multi-colored glow of the Christmas lights on the mantle, around the doorways, on the tree, and around the window seat. Also, the smell of evergreen that accompanies the fresh wreath on the inside of my front door.

From my picture journal...

To participate in this meme, please visit The Simple Woman's Daybook here.

December 26, 2009 9:45 p.m.
Well I cannot remember when we have had a happier, more satisfying Christmas season (and day). In fact, all of us, particularly the children, fell into bed at the end of the day full of contentment and happiness.

Our Christmas Eve featured a candlelight service, "lessons and carols" at church, where the children sang "Gloria Christus Natus Est" like angels. I did not take any photos at church so you will have to take on faith that it was lovely.

Once home, we had eggnog and snacks.













Candy canes, cookies and letters were left out for Santa Claus. Little Son left a small light on for him, and advised him to turn it off when before leaving.








Then the children were nestled all snug in their beds.




Around 7:00 a.m. there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.




Impatient children were kneeling by the chimney, with care. Could it be that the stockings were bulging?













To our shock and amazement, Baby Girl discovered an elf hiding under the sofa.















After opening and spreading stocking stuffers all over the hearth,










a hearty breakfast was enjoyed, French toast for all.












At first the family room looked pretty good.
Neat enough to take a photo of the children in front of the tree.














But four hours later, the room looked....oh.... just a little bit different!













This was the year that Baby Girl and Little Son both did their own Christmas shopping, for their parents, and for each other. And they used their own hard earned cash to pay for the items (at least part of the cost). In this way, Self-Reliant Man received a special type of shaver and a hiking pole, I received a battery-operated foot massager and a violet shirt, Little Son received a water bottle and some Matchbox cars, and Baby Girl received a battery-operated hamster in a ball.

Thanks to the Eezy-Bake oven, we now have a baker in our home.












Also, thanks to Viv-tar, we have a new digital photographer. Watch out world!















During the mid-afternoon, we dressed up and got in the car for a one hour drive to the town of Celebration. A Spanish - Cuban restaurant, named Col*mbia, has a long standing tradition of serving up a great Christmas dinner.





The entire family enjoyed the traditional "American" Christmas dinner of Baked Virginia Ham, except myself -- I chose the traditional Cuban Christmas dinner of "Lechon Asado" (marinated roast pork) served with mojo (sauce), yuca (root) , moros y cristianos (rice and beans) and platanos moduros (plantains). Sooo good!!



After dinner, we decided to walk around the town of Celebration to see the sights.

Floridians are great braggers about not having any snow in the winter, but give some of them a chance to pretend, and they will seize it. Here is one form of Florida snow dished out on Mark*t Street in Celebration.




Sheesh.... pathetic!








Dusk arrived as we were walking the streets of Celebration. There are many beautiful and quaint style homes here, and many were decorated (although not as many as I expected). Here are just a few..




































All of the homes in Celebration are less than 10-15 years old. Celebration was developed by the Mouse House Company in the early 1990s. The homes are quite expensive for their size. Sadly, we noticed as we walked around that there were some homes that had been abandoned by their owners; others were already for sale. The recession has definitely affected this community.






After night arrived, we enjoyed another Florida "snowfall" on Market Street.










Christmas Day ended with us back home, having a relaxing evening, until the children finally announced that they were ready for sleep.

A good year, a happy Christmas, and a healthy, happy family.

God Blessed us, everyone!


UPDATE: Self-Reliant Man presented me with yet another present today... after a day's hard work, he demonstrated to me that he has repaired our garage door opener, at a cost of under $30. I am very happy about this, as our opener had been broken for so long that I forgot we ever had one. Way to go, Self-Reliant Man!

December 23, 2009 4:13 p.m.

December 19, 2009 11:40 p.m.

Now I hinted at something in the last post that I will expand upon here. Those of you who visit the Mouse House and stay in a hotel are really missing something by not camping. The Mouse House Campground can be a vacation all by itself, even if you don't set foot inside the theme parks. This campground also attracts a very interesting subculture of people, especially around Christmastime, our favorite time to visit the Mouse House. There are many campers (especially RVers, as in "snowbird" types who head to our state for all the winter months) that go all out when it comes to decorating their campsites for Christmas and Hanukkah. just click on any picture to see it up close and in detail.

These folks reserve their sites months in advance, and stay for several weeks at a time.


They do have a lot of fun. It is a sort of .. retirement hobby of theirs.


I have never witnessed anything like this at any campground except this one.


You wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it for yourself.


That's why I am showing you here.


And it is a lot of fun just walking around, day or night, checking out their decorations.


Even their golf carts are decorated to the max.


How about that kind of camping?
What fun!!!

December 19, 2009 (11:11 p.m.)

I am so sorry to those of you who faithfully check my blog, but I have not had a block of time to write a post about last week's campin' trip at the Mouse House Campground. The weeks has been so filled with Christmassy things to do! But I figured for now that the best thing to do was to tell it all with pictures. So here goes. In the interest of time, and of reader interest, this post is gonna be light on words and heavy on photos.

When we went campin' we did some........

waitin' (for the bus, often)
huggin' (and smilin')
observin'
beachcombin'
listenin'
viewin'
snapshootin'
snowin' (or at least bein' snowed on)
fishin'
hotel trottin' (ain't the Gr*nd Fl*ridian purdy?)
boomin'
Christmas decoratin' (a feeble effort, I know)
and explorin': (other campers' Christmas decorations -- see next post)