Yes we have no hot water todaaaaay...and the Friday Feast

Boy howdy, has it been an interesting time at our house. They are building out a field close to the house and hit a gas main, the gas rushing out was so large of an amount that it sounded like a jet engine. The main road right next to our neighborhood was shut down and all traffic was being re-directed by emergency vehicles through our neighborhood. We had fire engines parked directly across the street from the house and up until probably 11:30 last night, emergency workers were ringing the bell to let us know that they were going into our back yard. Our backyard is the largest in the neighborhood; therefore it has the telephone and cable boxes in it and the most accessible gas meter. They had to switch out our regular meter with one of their "special" meters that monitored the main directly.

Let me tell you something...all of our heating is gas powered. Water, stove, furnace. Needless to say there was no heat for hot water. We were able to use what was left in the tank, but once that was gone, oh, so sorry, freezing cold showers for you! Thankfully there is no shortage of food joints around the house and we have a microwave. Also a good thing is that it was not really cold last night either. It was in the mid-50's so quilts were just fine!

There is no eta as to when it will be fixed. Of course there isn't. SIGH! The house and garage reek of gas, or really the chemical they put in gas so that people know when there is a leak. We were assured that it is NOT leaking, just a smelly after effect of the major leak before they could cap it.

So, on that wonderful note...here is the Friday Feast for today.

Appetizer
Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?
I have a scar on my left foot directly under my 4th toe. When I was at a summer camp between 4th and 5th grade, I was in the art area. They had a fridge that held gallon size glass containers of water to drink and we were not allowed to touch them. Well, one girl figured she would do it anyway and took it out, but b/c of the heat and humidity, condensation formed very quickly and the glass jar fell from her hands and hit the concrete floor. Unknown to me a piece of the glass flew and sliced my foot wide open. I didn't feel it and I didn't even know anything was wrong until the kids started gasping and pointing and one of the counselors started making a fuss. I looked down and blood was just flowing freely – well, gushing with every step I took. I looked back on the floor and there were little puddles of blood everywhere I had stepped. I decided that I needed to call my mom so I blithely headed out the door – still no pain though now I was aware of the warm, sticky blood covering my foot with every step I took on it. I tried walking down the hill to the office but one of the counselors came and got me and carried me back, under my protestations, I might add. It wasn't until I was told on the way to the emergency center that I would have to have stitches that the pain finally came rushing in and it HIT with a vengeance. The absolute WORST part was getting the shot to numb the are DIRECTLY into the raw skin of the cut. I am a needle-phobe and the thought of a needle coming near me was more horrifying to me than the extent of the injury itself. The doctor told me that if the cut had gone even a millimeter deeper it would have severed several tendons in my foot and I would have had to have surgery to repair the damage, not to mention physical therapy. Yeah, doc. Great bedside manner there, scaring the cr@p out of a kid.

Soup
What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?
My daughter. Really she is a miracle in more than just the usual way. When I got pregnant I had been on birth control for 10 years, had not skipped any, had not been sick and taken antibiotics, absolutely nothing to make it fail. After she was born I went through several tests and found out that I have a big hormonal imbalance that I'd had since high school that makes it incredibly difficult to get pregnant since instead of ovulating regularly, I only do it about 3-4 times a year. So that, couple with the birth control, the doctors and nurses themselves called Emily a miracle child. She truly is my most wonderful miracle!

Salad
Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.
I think probably Nancy Grace. I know she used to be a prosecutor and she had a 100% win record but the way she conducts interviews with some people really gets on my VERY last nerve.

Main Course
What was a funny word you said as a child (such as "pasketti" for "spaghetti")?
I can't think of one. Nothing comes to mind anyway, though if it does I will revise my answer here.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.
I have always thought racism was disgusting and something that only those who were truly ignorant did AND I have always thought being politically correct for every stinking thing was stupid and a way to run our society into the ground in order to "appease" everyone's sensitivities. When I was young my best friend was a black girl who lived in the house across from me and my mom still remembers to this day when I was four and she was six or seven taking us to Dunkin' Donuts and some rednecks in there staring at us and one of them spitting and saying something ignorant and stupid about how he thought that "Them damn n-----s ought to learn their place and stop trying to mix with the white folk." Oh my mom was absolutely livid but she was not about to cause a scene in front of us. She was, after all, a woman with two small children with her and they were at least 4-5 large redneck country bums. She always taught me that it's not the color of the skin on the outside, but who they are inside that matters and that's the same thing I teach to my daughter. Racism just plain sucks.

I got some great questions that I will be answering sometime this weekend. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Ask Nic this week! Come back and check out the answers.