I’m sitting in the three-season room of mom & dad’s cottage at the Lake. Alas, elsaf‘s already left for the weekend, but judiang‘s still here and getting ready for the day. (I think the day will entail the two of us being here at the Lake and doing squat. Sounds good to me!)

The weekend began on Thursday when Judi flew in from Chicago. I picked her up and drove us to Piqua (a bit norther than necessary to get to my house) for a late lunch. We went to El Sombrero. Tasty tasty! Then we popped into Home Depot so that I could return the bathtub drain which (despite the recommendation from the Home Depot bathroom lady) was the wrong size, plus a pair of bullnose corners which I didn’t need after all. Then we zipped over to the tile section and looked for 5 more matte bullnose tile for my shower area. (The contractor thought it would look better going from the floor to the ceiling, so I was half a foot off on both sides in what I had picked up.) They had 7, so I picked out the cleanest 5 and we headed to my house.

Judi got to see the progress in the bathroom. Thursday was pretty much plumber day, so it didn’t look a whole lot different at the end of the day as it looked at the beginning, but I did have a working tub (sans fixtures) AND shower (for the first time since the house was built). Yay! I sent Judi next door to mom & dad’s house to nap since there weren’t construction people banging on things. (Oh how Lucy & Linus would have loved for me to do the same for them! Poor kitties!)

While they were working and Judi was napping, I played a little World of Warcraft and then stuffed my bike in my car (since we were going bike riding at the Lake when Elsa arrived). When the contractors were done, I returned to the folks’ to pick up Judi and then ordered pizza for supper. I had a coupon for free delivery – yay!

As the folks headed over to my place, Judi and I walked over to the gas station to pick up some chips and some pop. However, when I got there, I realized I hadn’t brought my ATM card, I’d brought my credit card. Whoops! We walked back to find mom & dad watching HGTV on my big ass TV, I apologized, and then Judi and I walked back, this time with my card.

Once we had chips and pop and were back at my house, I received a call from Aunt Becky saying work suddenly had gotten busy and she’d be a little late. And not to wait for her to eat. (Dad called out “We won’t!” It is his sister after all. Heh.) The pizza arrived soon after the call, so we ate and watched HGTV and then Suzie Orman. I’d decided to order the new steak ‘n’ shroom pizza – Angus steak, mushrooms, onions, special sauce, cheese – and a deluxe. And for dessert, a peach dessert pizza. The pizzas were all nice and tasty.

When Becky arrived, I put Penn & Teller: Bullshit on and the girls and I got to playing Pinochle. We learned an important lesson – don’t let Judi bid during the first round. We started out 590 points in the hole thanks to her. Despite this setback and a few other dumb plays by both of us, we managed to beat Becky and Mom in the end.

After the game, Judi and I headed off to the Lake. We arrived after 11pm and immediately put the A/C on. Then we vegged in the three-season room which was cooler than the cottage. By the time we headed for bed, it was cool enough in the cottage.

We slept late and didn’t get off until nearly lunchtime, but rather than go to the grocery on empty stomaches, we stopped into the lunch/breakfast cafe Haus der Eleganz that’s across the street from Wagner’s. I ordered a vanilla steamer and a chocolate muffin. Judi had a double-shot hazelnut soy latte and a carrot muffin. It was tasty and Judi was absolutely delighted with the shop inside the cafe. (What, they don’t have those in Chicago?) She even took photos! Heh! We decided that we must have lunch there on Saturday with Elsa.

We picked up stuff at the grocery and returned home. After a bit, I made a fire and we roasted hot dogs. Tasty tasty! We vegged while waiting on Elsa’s arrival. And when she arrived, we hugged and she joined in the vegging.

For supper, I grilled corn on the cob and a marinated patio steak (as I’d done a couple weekends before for mom and dad) as well as pineapple. We sat out at the picnic table and had a very pleasant supper. We vegged at the fire for awhile until it was time for Meerkat Manor, which Elsa and Judi watch. We then watched some more Bullshit and eventually got off to bed.

I’m going to start the fire for lunch, so will post about yesterday later on.