The Rebel Housewife

Too much happened Monday to save for a weekly Twitter digest. It all started fairly normal and routine...

9:41 AM:
Monday: no camps this week (2@home) & 14yo son coming home from month away Weds! Planning 2 July (4th&18th) bdays & family vacation-beach?!

9:45 AM:
Dog grooming: rec from lady walking her dog at Piedmont Park this am (nice haircut!)(on dog): Canine Showcase@Ansley. Mutt cut, what we need

And then I got a phone call from hubby at work:

11:52 AM:
ATLANTA parking deck collapse at 5th & Spring...looking for news. Hubby is fine - that's his building at Georgia Tech/Tech Square - ATDC.

12:40 PM:
Collapsed deck at 5th & Spring - middle section fell in. Rumor is car hit a support beam-- twitter pic from hubby

1:28 PM:
ATLANTA - Best coverage so far of partial parking deck collapse at 5th & Spring w/pics: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19892813/detail.html
[The story has been updated, as of Tuesday PM, with subsequent developments. In the early stages, they had the best first pictures of the parking deck from the outside, which didn't look like much, but you could see the pile-up of smashed cars sticking out of the bottom level.]

1:43 PM [unrelated, but of interest when I was searching news sources on Twitter!]:
ATLANTA - RT @11AliveNews Looking For Something To Do This Fourth of July Weekend? http://tinyurl.com/lkhy9z - See you at Centennial Park!

1:56 PM:
ATLANTA - 2pm: No injuries. Nice: "Employees from Cheetah are handing out water and fruit to emergency crews, according to witnesses."
Previous tweet source: http://bit.ly/TbzHv
2:00 PM:
Ya'll know the Cheetah is infamous strip joint-directly across from partially collapsed parking deck. Glad they're taking care of the boys...

8:35 PM Jun 29th from Twitterrific in reply to mustangmelatl:
@mustangmelatl parking deck all closed up for days, with everybody's cars still in it, crushed or not! Our office:1 crushed; 5 stuck; 3 walk

Quite an eventful day in the ATL! Fortunately, happy to see reports today: NO deaths or injuries, property damage only (and plenty of it). This is the parking deck attached by a walkway to (not underneath) my husband's office building at 5th & Spring in Midtown Atlanta. He had just returned from an offsite meeting and literally moments before (I know: DRAMA, but true!), walked out of the parking deck before the section collapsed.

Our car was not smashed or trapped in the mess - he walks to/from work or I chauffeur him the two miles to the office, as we only have one car, the previously mentioned crappy 2006 Jeep Commander that we would trade for a Chevy Tahoe in a heartbeat - you know, IF we could find a new car dealer to actually sell a new car right now: Chevy? Toyota? Come to think about it, if our crappy Jeep had been smashed in the collapse...damnit!

It will be a mess down there for quite some time, as they remove cars and analyze what happened, hopefully to rebuild the parking deck - safer, stronger, better! Parking and traffic in Midtown Atlanta off the 10th Street Exit is now worse.than.ever.

Saturday:
1) How does Twitterific know who is 'Nearby' me on that source feature (just discovered on iPhone)? Kinda creepy...

2) @mustangmelatl so far I have wasted entire AM snooping on Nearby - fascinating. Lots of hungover ppl waking up. Must stop:turnitoff. Can't!!

3) DH brought home TIME Mag (June 15, 2009) for Twitter-obsessed woman. Check cover: TIME Mag: June 15, 2009.

Monday:
1) Happy Monday! Working on big project: database/iPhone app. Still trying to figure out life after 40. Not so easy sometimes, but mostly good.

2) I might have inadvertently opened up can of spam/scam on my Twitter, out there researching around. More info if I have clean up to do--
3) And who wants 19k+ Twitter followers if they are not interested in the community, only signed up for return follows? I can't keep up w/19k!
4) Oh man, I've messed up my rebelupdate Twitter and I can't UNfollow - accidentally brought in followers I don't want - no bizopps, thank you!

Tuesday:
1) Better 2day. Great article on Oprah.com: Stay in Control of Your Mind. Gotta luv O

2) How long does it take to drive from Atlanta to NYC, quick trip straight-thru?
[Answer, thanks to @funkidivagirl: 16 hours]
[Was contemplating a one-way RV rental from Camping World, but couldn't put it together fast enough for July 4th weekend. Still working on the plan...]
[Will probably end up staying home - TBD]

3) Big News ATL: Piedmont Park THE GREEN CONCERT LIVE Aug. 15, 2009. Announcement & details tomorrow, sure to sell out. Info link in next tweet:
4) Piedmont Park THE GREEN CONCERT LIVE Aug. 15th: Early info & pre-sale: www.PiedmontPark.org

Wednesday:
1) Just fixin to betch about temp dog park at Piedmont Park (sucks!), home to find out Park has redeemed itself in other ways: see next Tweet!
2) RT @piedmontpark: Sir Paul McCartney plays The Green Concert at Piedmont Park on August 15! www.PiedmontPark.org for more info!

3) re: Jon & Kate (enough already!). 20+ years married advice, best resource. Dr. Ellen: Light Your Fire.
[Love her!]

Thursday:
1) Tasty Turkey Chili (Publix recipe) last nite - YUM: Tasty Turkey Chili Recipe.
2) WARNING on the Tasty Turkey Chili: Calls for MILD tomatoes & green chilis. DO NOT UPGRADE to HOT tomatoes w/habaneros. From experience.

Friday:
1) RIP Farrah & Michael J - angels & demons. He definitely had his, all that talent on the flipside. Live, Love & Laugh each and every day.

2) Interesting article in USA Today:
Businesses use Twitter to communicate with customers

3) TGIF! HOT day in ATL today. Reading THE SOUND & THE FURY by Faulkner for book group, SparkNotes alongside. Gawd, is hard to follow! Weekend!

Addendum to yesterday's Recession Family Travel Tips:

We family road-tripped to Concord/Charlotte, NC just after school got out in May with three primary missions:

1) Gem mining in Hiddenite, NC - for our 8yo ADHD Phenom, who is an extreme rockhound and avid collector (of rocks)(in our 6th floor condo).

2) Geocaching in the NC outback - for our 14yo Puberty Angst Boy, who is an expert-level geocacher and lives to go search out the hidden treasures stashed all over the place by the high-tech scavenger hunt crowd.

3) Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC - for our 43yo NASCAR Enthusiast.
Not only did we get to visit and tour the racetrack (and gift shop!) in our continuing quest to visit (someday!) all of the active NASCAR Sprint Cup Racetracks (and bring home the tshirts!)...the Charlotte area is the cradle of NASCAR: 80% of Sprint Cup drivers call the area home, and most of the major teams have their shops within an hour's drive of Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is actually in Concord/Cabarrus County. We stopped by the Hendrick Motorsports Complex (drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mark Martin!) and drove The Dale Trail (stomping grounds of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.) in nearby Kannapolis.

As far as the girls, 11yo Drama Queen and myself, we enjoyed the gem mining, the geocaching and Daddy's continuing NASCAR obsession. We also enjoyed the Discover Mills Mall, near the hotel, home to a NASCAR Speedpark - "the home of full-throttle fun for everyone!" While the boys raced go-carts and mini-cars, we got our ears pierced...and no, while I was tempted in the cradle of NASCAR, with all of this going on, I did not get the NASCAR earrings, not #14, not #19, not #55. How could I possibly decide and commit to just one of my favorite drivers?!

As we search and re-search to find a fun, unique, AFFORDABLE family-of-five vacation plan for July 4th, preferably on a nice, quiet beach somewhere within a six- to eight-hour drive from Atlanta...[June 24th: no luck yet]

Recession Family Travel Tips

from our trip to Concord/Charlotte, NC - May 2009

1) Hotels.com & the iPhone - Awesome!

We'd never been to the Charlotte area to stay overnight, so we didn't know what our options were, as far as accommodations. We were traveling last-minute (as usual), and we didn't want to risk an online reservation commitment sight-unseen and drive up to find a better option right next door, or down the street - closer to where we might want to be, if we knew where we wanted to be, ya know?

Hotels.com was the trip saver this time, since we were able to research online ahead of time and then compare prices and hotel information on the iPhone as we were driving around. When we decided upon the Wingate Inn by Wyndham, we walked in to inquire about the rate, but it turns out they couldn't offer the low rate and special advertised sale on Hotels.com. We sat down on the couch in the lobby to make the reservation on the iPhone, and the desk attendant called us over within three minutes, as soon as the reservation popped up on his computer. Great savings and convenience!

2) Gem Mining v. Amusement Park - Nature is Best!

We spent an amazing afternoon somewhere in the outback of North Carolina, an hour north of Charlotte, mining for gems at The Emerald Hollow Mine in Hiddenite, NC. It was an offbeat tourist-trap kind of operation out in the woods, but it was an afternoon spent with the kids wading down a winding creek through the forest, screening for gems and interesting rocks, and then panning for treasure from buckets of dirt ("ore") in the sluiceway.

It was absolutely gorgeous and peaceful, easy and (relatively) cheap, too - a whole bucket of souvenirs included! The entire family had a great time. When we were at the amusement park the next day, standing in long lines, getting sun burns, losing children and emptying our pockets ($$$) at every opportunity, Dear Hubby and I reflected on the wonderful day spent at the creek. In comparison...we would have rather mined again!

3) Amusement Parks after 4pm - The only way to go!

When we were there in May, the Regular General Admission price (ages 3 - 61) at CaroWinds Amusement & Water Park was almost $50 per ticket: $250 for a family of five. The Twilight Ticket - valid after 4pm - was half that, and the park was open until 10pm. We decided, given the heat during the day, our family vacation budget (limited) and our capacity as a family to endure 12 hours straight in the heat and crowds of an amusement park - not to mention the expense of a full day of meals and snacks - we went after 4pm.

It was fun and we did enjoy our time there, in spite of losing children, incredibly long lines right up until closing and a really, really gross dinner of old hamburgers and pizza...still, we did have that conversation about our gem mining experience in the cool mountains the day before.

4) Downtime Entertainment - Camp Mommy Tip #1

Always, always carry a deck of cards or a game of UNO (UNO H2O is perfect, wet or dry conditions) for waiting with kids - perfect in restaurants while you are waiting for the food to arrive and at Rest Stops and other occasions when it's too hot or inappropriate to run around like wild animals let loose on the unsuspecting public...

5) Auto Travel & Fast Food Options

I don't know why we didn't figure this out sooner, after 15 years as parents, but it is far better to pack a picnic basket and a cooler with healthy snacks and drinks for the trip, and stop at Rest Areas along the way than smorgasbord along with Fast Food and gas station Quicki Marts.

Admittedly, when the kids were younger, we'd map our route from McDonald's Playland to the next McD's Play Place along the route, but now that they are older, picnic and potty stops at the Rest Areas are the way to go, to limit calories and sugar intake, as well as the chance to get everybody out of the car to stretch, run around, geocache and gather travel brochures, discount coupons and maps in the Welcome Center. Plus, the potties tend to be a whole lot cleaner.

Camp Mommy Tip #1: Take a deck of playing cards with you, everywhere.
This will definitely be added to the Camp Mommy Summer Essentials lists (of stuff to schlep around). The kids will play cards together, anytime, anywhere, and it's a wonderful thing, almost magical, how they'll settle in and play quietly together. (Well, until the youngest starts losing, and the older ones start rubbing it in and aggravating him, just for the entertainment of it.) Current favorite games are Blackjack, Spit and "Tree Falls On Your Neighbor," which is a variation of an old classic, "Screw Your Neighbor." I'll see if I can round up the directions for play.

I came across the best little book a couple of years ago that we go to all the time for new card games and ideas. It's awesome, and small enough to carry around --
highly recommended:

The Book of Cards for Kids
By Gail MacColl

That little book gets us through slow restaurant service, long car trips, family game night, waiting rooms and a ton of other places and situations where chaos might otherwise reign...