Tag: dad

A visit to the girls

The folks and I are visiting Amy & Rachel this week. It’s been a fun, albeit interesting, trip thus far.

Amy’s 15 year old cat (which she’d had for 9 years) had been very sick and not eating. She and Rachel made the difficult decision on Tuesday to call the traveling vet to have him put down. Very sad. So after the folks and I arrived on Wednesday, I stayed with the girls & the folks checked into their hotel room. The vet was supposed to get there at 4:30pm. So we were all sitting with Fruvous upstairs in their bedroom. But she called at 4 to say she wouldn’t be able to make it until 6:30. Gah.

The girls decided to nap, so they napped and Fuvous slept with them. (Very cute – I got a photo.) After a bit he decided to wander. He wound up downstairs by the back door, so the girls decided he should have some outdoor time. So we spent the next hour or so following Fruvous around the yard. He wound up in front of the house, just resting & watching people go by. Around 6, Rachel carried him back into the house and he decided to sit in the basement for a bit. The vet didn’t show up at 6:30, however.

Fru returned to the main floor after a bit, and eventually back up to their bedroom. The vet arrived shortly before 7:30. She apologized for the lateness and removed the housecall charge from their final bill. She was very respectful of Amy & Rachel and Fruvous. The process went by pretty painlessly for Fruvous and the girls. They got to say their farewells and pet him during the process. He was a good cat.

We decided to get out of the house, so Rachel drove us to mom & dad’s hotel to pick them up, then took us to the Birchwood Cafe for a late supper. I had the Heirloom Tomato BLT, which was very tasty. The folks were returned to the hotel and we girls headed home.

Yesterday, like today, I had a blueberry bagel w/ cream cheese and a glass of milk for breakfast. Then Amy dropped me off at the hotel on her way to work. I spent the day with the parental units, having a working lunch with one of dad’s friends from Westar where I pitched using Drupal for Westar’s website to make it more immediate & interactive. We ate at Brit’s Pub, where I had very tasty fish & chips.

Amy was done with work around 4:30 and picked us up soon after. We then spent the evening at their house, having wine time in the kitchen and ice cream on their back deck. A very fun night. The folks then took the bus back to the hotel (successfully, on their own!)

Today started out nicely, except that Rachel had to go to a meeting, then work on a cover letter & update her resume. The folks made it back to the house via bus (but had to wait over 40 minutes for said bus) and then Amy took us off to Grumpy’s where Summit Brewery was having a cask of their beer for folks to try. Not being a regular beer fan (unless it’s beer bread, beer soup, or beer batter), I had a Mike’s Hard Lemonade. But the other’s tried this triple fermented beer (a golden ale, I think they called it) and seemed to enjoy it. Rachel was able to join us afterward, eating a little something from each of our plates (we all had far too much food) and having the Summit beer. She then rode her bike on home to finish up her typing and we went to Home Depot for a new faucet and then to Magers & Quinn bookstore.

It wasn’t until we were nearly to the bookstore that Amy remembered the Uptown Art Fair. But she found a place to park despite all the people there and we went to the bookstore. I picked up two books and met the folks perusing the fair. We were all a bit tired and headed back home.

After some napping, Dad decided to start working on Amy’s shelves in the basement. Amy joined him soon after, then later Rachel bounded down the steps – only to miss the last step. She fell & twisted her ankle, badly. Poor Rachel! After awhile, she was well enough to scoot backward up the steps and Amy drove her to Urgent Care. So the folks and I worked on those shelves, getting them completed only to find out they STILL weren’t stable when built. Dad declared them unsafe, so we took them apart and have since recommended to Amy to take ’em back.

Mom and I made beer bread (which by the end of the evening we were calling Brother Bob’s buttless bitter bundt beer bread) which we wound up putting in a bundt pan when we couldn’t find a bread pan. Then we had wine time from last night’s leftovers. The girls got back from Urgent Care around 9pm and had some beer bread, cheese, and ice cream. Then the folks took the bus back to their hotel. The girls and I chatted some, deciding that despite the twisted ankle, we’d had a good day, and headed for bed.

Here’s hoping tomorrow will be less eventful.

Eventful Weekend

Today I was terribly unproductive. But I guess that’s OK, because I’ve been very productive of late. I was at school until 8:30pm on Thursday and managed to pretty much finish the moving, packing, and sorting that needed doing. Friday, we had our last day of school for the year and the last school day in the original building. I even had the kids do a lab! (Chromatography, using graduated cylinders I was selling at the auction. Heh.)

At quarter til 11am, the band marched through the halls (for the last time) collecting students as it went through all three floors. They led us all out to the front yard, where, in a sea of red (everyone got t-shirts for the day), we watched as the elementary kids filed out after us. Mr. McBride said a few words, we sang the alma mater (quietly since most kids don’t know the words – heck, I only know the first two lines and the last two lines…) and then we dismissed. The teachers then headed for Indian’s Pizza for lunch (courtesy of our principals – yay!) When I returned to the building, I finished the last of the packing & moving, taking my last cart down to the temporary storage before 1pm. Then I spend the rest of my teaching day staging equipment for the auction.

When the principals told us we could go, I headed home and got myself ready for the Relay for Life event. Mom’s workplace participates in this every May to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I had told her that I could actually join her for the first time (it never worked out in the past). Mom’s group, the UVMC Lab, treats it more like a Marathon than a Relay – they arrive at the start & stay til the end. And try to have someone walking at all times (not always that easy to do!) Dad fed us spaghetti and then mom and I raced off to the Miami County Fairgrounds to get cold and wet. (After all of our perfectly golden days, we had a cold front coming through that night).

I’ll tell the rest of the story in pictures…

The Survivors March
The Survivors March

Before the rest of us began the relay, they had the Survivors walk first. The number of purple shirts was substantial – our party was half purple & half white (or red in my case).
UVMC Lab
UVMC Lab

The UVMC Lab team. About half of this crew stayed the night.

Daisy Dude
Daisy Dude

UVMC Lab’s entry to the Miss Relay competition (where men dress up as ladies and wander the fairgrounds looking for donations) was Daisy Dude. (S)he won, hands down! (Collected $379 in under an hour!)
Daisy Dude, interviewed
Daisy Dude, interviewed

I couldn’t resist including this photo cuz you can see the belly fur in it. Heh.
Luminaria
Luminaria

At 9pm, they turned off the lights and we got to see the luminaria stretching through the hall. (The original shot was centered, but someone walked in front of me. I’d’ve left ’em in, but they were way blurry.) Also at 9pm was the torrential downpour so loud it drowned out the speakers. I was sooooo glad we were inside that building rather than in a tent!
2am
2am

We were only somewhat lively at 2am. The 5am shots were even less flattering than these. We had 2 UVMC Lab co-workers who saved us during the night. Around 1:30am was the McDonald’s run, then around 5:30am the Tim Horton’s run. Yay for co-workers willing to get up at weird hours to do our bidding!


Mom and I didn’t stay til noon like some of the UVMC Lab team. We had an auction to go to. So around 6am, mom drove us back to her place where we showered. Then we went to the UCC just down the street from my house where they had pancakes, sausage, and eggs for breakfast. Yum. Then on to the school. Mom found a bulletin board that would work great at her workplace, and I wanted to bid on my chalkboard. And since it was in better shape than mine at home, my office chair.

The auction began at 8am. We were there before 9am but they were only done with about 3 rooms. (They started on the 3rd floor.) Earlier in the week, Sam, one of the auctioneers, said his goal was to be down to the first floor by noon. And he actually did a pretty good job. By 12:30pm, he was down in my lab selling equipment. Dad had since joined us and he was having a great time talking to former students and friends. I called Amy to wish her a happy birthday and it was probably one of my loopier phone calls.

Many folks (including my sister) were VERY disappointed to find out we couldn’t sell the tables from my classroom. The Asbestos Abatement people said we couldn’t sell ’em cuz they contain asbestos. Although they aren’t dangerous to sit at & learn science, we have no guarantee that people won’t try sanding the tops to smooth out the gashes from years of graffiti and later suing the school for lung cancer… Still, there was a lot of stuff for sale. And thanks to someone writing the story on the chalkboard of me writing on the chalkboard when I was a little girl (and no, it wasn’t me or my folks who did this), no one bid against me on it. Got it for $5 (and probably could have gone down to $1, but I figured Sam needed to get something for all his work). Also got my chair for $5. 🙂 (Mom earlier had won the bulletin board for $1.)

After we got the boards down (thanks to some stranger for unscrewing my chalkboard support) and loaded up in dad’s truck, we went home. And by 5pm, I was in bed. Slept til 6am (with the occasional pee break). Felt excellent Sunday morning. So I decided to treat mom to lunch at Red Slobster. And figured we could shop for cruise clothes too. Got several outfits, a swimsuit cover-up, and new shoes. If I’m not used to the shoes by Saturday, they won’t come along. After I got home, I took a walk to the school and took photos of the aftermath. Anything that could be sold was sold (or will go down with the building). And when you look at the photos, I think you’ll be impressed…



Trash 80
Trash 80

Newton’s first computer – the TRS 80. And apparently no one bid for it. It was still there when I returned on Sunday to survey the damage.
Auctioning Lab Equipment
Auctioning Lab Equipment

Dad and I sorted all of the lab equipment into 3 groups: keep, sell, pitch. These folks are bidding on the “sell” stuff.
Aftermath
Aftermath

The day after the auction, the lab looked a lot emptier!

Aftermath - Extreme Edition
Aftermath – Extreme Edition

My room fared better than some… This one lost floor, ceiling, and walls! 🙂


This has been a good March!

Happy First Day of Spring! May your daylight equal your night time today!

I tried to tell the seniors that after the holidays, time was gonna FLY. They didn’t believe me then, but I think they are beginning to. March is just zipping by. Though the days may seem normal (or even slow) you quickly realize how fast the months themselves are flying.

So here we are just past mid-March and things have been especially good to the Short household.

Last Thursday, as I reported here, I turned in my Thesis. (Thanks to all you well-wishers! Being done has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders!) My adviser has reviewed it and pronounced it “overall in good shape.” After this weekend, I’ll make the changes which he suggested and get a better discussion section (most of what I’d put in Discussion should have gone in the Findings, apparently).

On Monday, mom and dad closed on their old home. Yay, they sold it! And on Wednesday, they closed on their new house. And then on Thursday, Amy drove into town!

I’m currently at the parentals’ house with Amy. I took yesterday off work in order to hang with the family. (She’s worth getting a sub for.) We’ve been having mucho fun. 🙂

Thursday, I got off work, did a bit more cleaning in my house (litter box, for example), then headed to Troy. Amy’s car (well, really Rachel’s car) was parked outside the house. Yay! Amy & Jason were there (she picked up Jason in Chicago and they drove down together). We took a walk around the neighborhood, then had supper. And then spent the evening playing games – Rummikub and Banagrams. Amy and Jason kicked butt.

Friday morning, Jason headed up to Shelby County to visit with his folks (in my car) and we headed to my house so Amy could look over the stuff she’ll be taking back with her. She sorted through her stuffed toys and we got 2 bags of stuffed toys to give to Good Will (and added a box of similar toys from my closet). Then we headed to Kent’s Wood Fired Steaks for lunch.

I’d told the folks last weekend that we needed to celebrate our recent successes and I wanted to take us all out for dinner. And we decided to wait til Amy was with us. So yesterday’s lunch was my treat. We all ordered steaks and an alcoholic beverage and the meal, as always, was lovely. Amy asked if she could contribute the tip, which I agreed to.

We popped into Kohl’s for a bit of shopping – Amy got gym shoes, I got travel PJs, and mom bought some outfits for our upcoming cruise (oh yea, we organized one of those this week too…) Then we dropped the stuffed critters at Good Will and headed home.

Amy filmed some old family photos with mom describing the people in the photos. And we discovered mom’s great at remembering uncles’ names, but aunts who married into the family, not so much. (I was just glad mom & dad had few siblings and thus Amy and I don’t have as many relatives to remember as they did.) We also went on another walk and this time got a couple of movies to watch from a Red Box in the Kroger’s behind their house.

Back at home, we watched Inglourious Basterds, which was a bizarre but entertaining (albeit icky at times) movie. Then we started Duplicity, but as people started to pass out due to exhaustion (or, rather, fall asleep), we decided to stop the movie and continue in the morning (or as it will turn out, afternoon, probably).

Today we’re off to Piqua for a little more shopping, then tonight we’ve invited mom’s brothers around for supper. Looks like neither may make it, but my cousin Patty ought to be able to. Tomorrow will be another game day with Aunt Becky and Deanna coming to play games, with Jason returning as well.

We know how to have fun in this family!

The Shorts win at Christmas Again!

My Christmas season is mostly all post Christmas this year. Christmas Day was just time for the kitties to open their stockings & me to open their present. They got cat toys in the stockings and a new water fountain and a new litter box mat as their present. They liked the cat toys and were “eh” about the other gifts.

Mom, Dad and I went to Tokyo Peking for lunch, and it was tasty, tasty. Our plan was then to go see Sherlock Holmes, but it was sold out when we got to the theater. No matter, we made plans to watch the 7pm showing. This was a good plan – we all enjoyed the flick.

The 26th was the Christmas party for mom’s side of the family. We had a nice time at my Aunt Charlene’s. Lots of good food, plenty of conversation, and seeing cousins I don’t get to see very often. The girls (first cousins, once removed) are all taller than me now (or nearly) and all pretty. I had picked up some wooden boxes for them then wood-burned designs on ’em and stained them. They all turned out nice. (Took photos and will post one of these days.) Had also baked some beer bread for the adult ladies present (aunts & first cousins). Returned home that night to do laundry (I’d stayed at mom & dad’s for Christmas night).

Yesterday, I got back to the folks early in the morning so that by 9am we could zip up north & east to meet with Amy & Rachel and Rachel’s dad (who was driving them there from his place in PA). The girls had picked a place that was about halfway between them and us. So we just had a two & a half hour drive or so. We left early so we got there early. We met at Troyer’s Dutch Heritage Restaurant (and gift shop). Good place to meet up & eat.

We all ordered the buffet, but alas, Rachel’s dad had to get back to PA for a party that he & Rachel’s mom were attending (along with their two exchange students). (Alas, Rachel’s mom wasn’t feeling well enough for the 5+ hour car ride, so we didn’t get to see her again.) The food was good, and then we headed back home.

After a short stop in Columbus so Amy could see her old apartment complex again, we got back on the road and then the snow began. Pretty much as soon as we got into Miami County, the snow started. And didn’t stop for many hours. We wound up with over 3″ of snow.

After a bit of a rest at the house, we loaded the car with gifts & cookies for dad’s side of the family. More gifts were exchanged (especially for my cousin, whose birthday was yesterday. I made sure to get her a present specifically for her b-day and wrap it in regular paper because it’s annoying to get birthday presents wrapped in holiday wrap. It’s an identity thing or something.)

As I’d mentioned, it was snowing. And the roads were pretty bad when we headed back to the house. But mom was driving (and she’s actually had to drive in crappy weather before, unlike me & dad who are teachers) and she got us home safely (and slowly). We then relaxed and watched the Da Vinci Code. And then bedtime.

Today was Christmas for us. Although none of us were late risers, we got started a bit late. After stockings and then breakfast, we started present opening. It was 9:58am. We go in order, starting with the youngest (Rachel). I passed out one present at a time, so we could savor the unwrapping. And there was a bit of a break midway. But at noon, we were finished. Mom had the most pressies (no surprise there!) but dad fared well too. And I made out like a bandit.

I am now the proud owner of Beatles Rock Band. And I also got a microphone, a guitar, and a drum set for the Wii. Sweet! Also got some DVDs (yay, the War Games!), a book, some CDs, and some nice clothes. Amy & Rachel also got me some herbs from their garden and a University of Minnesota sweat shirt (which is where Rachel is attending for her Masters degree).

Mom, Amy, Rachel and I went to Hothead Burritos for lunch, and picked up a Subway sub for dad. Now we’re vegging. Amy’s balancing her checkbook, Rachel’s on her laptop getting caught up on Facebook and e-mail, and I’m writing this.

Tomorrow, elsaf and judiang will arrive, for even more Christmas fun! So yay, Christmas!

Short Update

My thesis proposal was approved by my advisor and he only had a few corrections for me to make. Woohoo!

My sister arrived today!

My folks are moving this Saturday to their new house (hence Amy arriving today).

I’m taking tomorrow afternoon and all day Friday off to help with the move.

I’m working on a Soooper Seeekrit Project for mom & dad in honor of their move (though I’m a bit behind). I’ll describe it more later (after I’ve given it to ’em – mom reads this journal, you know…)

We had supper at Indian’s Pizza (the local pizza joint which is owned by my coworker) with mom’s brothers & their spouses and my cousin Patty. Fun night out for all!

Should be a fun (albeit busy) weekend!

Strawberry Festival 2009

On Friday, I had checked the times for the Strawberry Festival and for Sat & Sun, the booths were to open at 10am. So the folks and I decided that we’d go on Sunday when many folks would be in church. The plan, take one of the shuttle buses from the Meijer parking lot to the festival. The reality? Although the booths opened at 10am, the shuttle service didn’t start until 11am. Whoops! No matter, I drove us toward the festival and found parking at the old Hobart offices – just a short walk across the bridge to the levy where the festival is held. Though dad was a little disappointed he didn’t get to ride a school bus (that’s what they use for the shuttles), the convenience of the parking was worth it.

We got to the levy shortly before 10am, but many booths were already opened. We perused the various crafts and when we got to a booth selling strawberry smoothies, mom & I bought one to share. A few booths down, Panera was selling strawberry danishes (basically cheese danish with sliced strawberries on). A nice breakfast, IMO.

Once we’d been most of the way through the festival, we went down to the lower levy to buy the (now rather over-priced at $8 a dozen) strawberry donuts sold by the Troy Music Boosters. So I only bought a dozen donuts. My favorite lemon/strawberry shake up booth is on the lower levy, so I bought my shake up and we perused the booths there before heading back up.

Deciding what to have for lunch wasn’t easy – lost of wonderful choices. But the booth selling crawfish etouffee won my heart, stomach, and money. I also had to get the strawberry sushi. It was basically strawberry sashimi sliced onto sushi rice. 😉 Very tasty, actually. The folks got lunch as well and let me try their roasted corn on the cob & sammiches (grilled chicken for mom, BBQ beef for dad). Tasty.

I actually bought a few items – unsurprisingly foodstuff. I got some fudge-caramel sauce (for ice cream, etc) that was tasty, some jalapeño jelly (which wasn’t nearly as hot as the habeñero jelly they were also selling), and a huge bag of kettle corn. I’ve eaten about a third of the bag so far. Heh.

We got back to the car at noon, so it was a pretty successful day. We avoided most of the crowd by going early, had decent parking, and got out before it got too warm. We rock at Festivalling!

Beautiful Sunday Morning

It’s lovely out right now, likely to continue into a lovely day in the lower 70s°F. We’re down to the last week of school, but that doesn’t seem to make me any more caught up. Indeed, I sometimes feel even further behind. (The treasurer’s assistant assures me that “being caught up” is an illusion. I think she’s right.)

Still, I have moments of calm before the panic, and this is one of them. So I’ll take some time to write more about the Super Weekend of Fun that I had when my sister et al came in for Alumni.

As soon as I had nominated dad for the Newton Hall of Fame (I need to update that website with dad’s name), I called Amy to let her know and ostensibly pencil in the weekend of May 16th for coming to Ohio. It was another month or so until my superintendent informed me that not only was dad going to be inducted, he was the only inductee for the year. (They can induct up to 3 at one time each year.) I e-mailed Amy immediately and she began the process of getting herself & Rachel to Ohio for that weekend.

Later that evening, I told mom in secret about dad’s induction. Then it was just a matter of finding a way to get Amy & Rachel here and not letting the cat out of the bag. So one Saturday morning I told mom & dad some good news. “Amy & Rachel are going to come in for Alumni this year!” Dad was shocked, mom pretended to be. “Why?” “Well,” I explained with the excuse Amy & I had concocted, “It *is* the last Alumni in the old building. She wants to come & film in the old building with me giving a tour.” (That bit was true – we’d talked about it way back at Thanksgiving, IIRC.) So dad was no long suspicious, which was good.

Mom had some frequent flier miles laying around which she gave to the girls, so they were able to fly in for that weekend. They arrived late Wednesday night before Alumni weekend. Despite Thursday still being a work day for me, I had to come along for the pick up and chatted with folks in mom & dad’s kitchen until we all were too tired to continue. (It wasn’t too long after arriving – we were that tired.)

Dad wasn’t the only recipient of pre-planning for the weekend. Both Amy & Rachel have May birthdays, just 4 days apart from each other. And it happened to be Rachel’s 30th the day before they flew out. So Amy wanted a bit of a birthday surprise for Rachel, which I helped with. Since Rachel grew up on home-cooking from scratch, it stands to reason that her favorite birthday meal is… Kraft dinner, boiled wieners, and canned green beans. Heh. So that was planned for Thursday lunch. I walked home for that and it was quite yummy. I returned to work in my car, so that I could drive home to get back in time to meet an appraiser (part of my mortgage refinancing process). Once the appraisal was done, I returned to the parentals and we all headed off for more birthday evening fun.

We started by picking up the birthday cake for Rachel. She’s a wonderful scratch baker, but she does love store-bought cake. So I had ordered a cake from Kroger (grocery chain) which said “Happy 30th Rachel!” on it. I picked it up and hid it in the trunk (in case Rachel happened to look in there while we were shopping). Then the folks took us to the plot of land they are buying upon which their new house will be built. I took pictures of them by the “Sold” sign.

Next was shopping at Kohl’s. Turns out I was the only one who bought anything. (Well, mom bought a shirt which she later took back because it didn’t match the outfit she’d bought it for.) For supper, we went to Sakai, a Japanese bistro. We went to the hibachi side (mom’s first time having hibachi). We started out with sushi – crab salad sushi & California roll (which in this area is crab/fake crab, avocado, cucumber). Then we were entertained by Daniel San, our chef for the evening. The food was yummy and Daniel did a nice job. (I think he was younger than Rachel!)

We finished the evening with me & Amy working on her presentation for Friday. (She agreed to teach my Advanced Problems in Science class on grant-writing.) Then mom & dad & Rachel came over for cake & home made ice cream. (Another previously agreed plan was for me to make peanut butter ice cream, Rachel’s favorite.) We watched Gray’s Anatomy and had cake & ice cream. It was a great ending to a lovely day.

Well, time for me to go to church. Dad is preaching (actually, lecturing is probably a better term) about Evidence at the UU church in New Madison. If I didn’t dress up, I’d wear my “I [heart] Evidence” shirt. Heh.

Thinks

I’m nearly caught up with grading again. Always amazing how it seems to run away from me. But I stayed at work until after 5 yesterday grading tests that were beginning to smell they were so old. And I got a few other things graded today which had been molding. The trick is to now stay on top of things. (I think I should stop assigning round things since it’s harder to stay on top of round things than flat things…)

My latest DVD watching has been Into the Labyrinth. I loved this show as a kid and became a Ron Moody fan because of it. I always enjoyed the various “characters” he played in the series. It was a number of years later that I discovered that there was more than one season of the show. Thanks to the DVD set, I have begun watching season 2. Amazing to think that the visuals were even worse in season 2, but Ron still gets to dress in cool costumes, so I figure I’ll enjoy season 2. Season 3 doesn’t have him, but at least it still has Phil Church (one of the kids who help Moody’s character – and the cute one that I had a crush on as a kid). Oh, and Pamela Salem (Belor) will also be there to chew the scenery, so I’ll probably have fun with season 3.

One thing that I’ve decided is that it’s fun to watch early 80s British children’s television programming on a widescreen high def TV. Heh heh. (Almost seems a waste of all that high tech-ness, but I love the irony.)

I’ve been helping dad with some YouTube videos for Westar. So far I’ve edited two short excerpts and uploaded them, though I may have to work on the second one. The sound on it didn’t come out too well. Feel free to check out the clips. The first is of Elaine Pagels talking about the origin of Satan and the second (with the crappy sound) is Karen Armstrong talking about “what is religion?”

My superintendent had seen a neat animated clock on one of the other schools’ websites and asked if we’d be able to put a clock and/or weather thingy on our website. So I looked into finding standards compliant, handicapped accessible, ad-free (or non-obvious) solutions. And I think I got it. The clock is basically a live clock of your own PC rather than a world-time clock (those were all ad-laden that I could find). I found that Weather Underground had the least-obvious advertising weather stickie, so included that as well. (Their own page, like so many other weather pages, is chock-full o’ ads. If only the National Weather Service had widgets like that – they’re ad free.)

I’ve been busy and I hope to spend some quality time tomorrow working on college stuff. My task for tomorrow? Write about astrology and how it’s not a science. Should be fun. As per the assignment, I’m going to suggest feng shui as another example of a pseudo-science. (I love the Penn & Teller: BS episode on Feng Shui and bottled water.)

Happy New Year!

Hooray for 2009! Hooray for year 38!

We had a lovely time at Aunt Becky’s tonight ringing in the new year. Originally we were going to have the NYE party at my place (just the folks, judiang, Becky & me), but Becky’s son asked if she’d babysit Braden, the first grader. So Becky suggested having it at her place and inviting her granddaughters along to keep Braden occupied. Taylor (who just turned 12) came for the party – her younger sister opted to party with her mom instead.

So Judi and I brought lots of Chinese food from Tokyo Peking (which took longer than anticipated, so I was over half an hour late to my own party) to start off the festivities. After we snarfed down a goodly portion of food (there’s still LOTS left over – yum!) we cleared the table. Dad & Braden watched some DVDs Braden had brought. Taylor watched Mama Mia for the umpteenth time. And mom, Judi, Becky & I played pinochle. My winning streak finally died, but man, mom got a DOUBLE RUN. That was beautiful. I took a photo. We also played a game of Fluxx, which Becky & Mom disliked. Ah well. Then another game of Pinochle. (Mom & Becky won it as well.)


Mom’s double run!

Since Taylor has just turned 12, we decided that it was time for her to do the same right of passage that all of the Lowry women have done throughout the ages – we taught her how to play Shanghai Rum. Heh. We didn’t get all the way through the game (only completed to a run of five and 2 sets of 3) but I won with Taylor coming second. Not bad for her first time. And yay me!

Dad got the drinks ready for all – sparkling grape juice for the kids & me, brut for the adults. Braden decided he was drunk after drinking two glasses of sparkling grape. Heh. We then toasted the new year at midnight. Woohoo!

Last night & this afternoon, Judi and I saw our last two theatrical movies for 2008 – The Tale of Despereaux and Seven Pounds. Despereaux was lovely – wonderful animation, delightful story. Seven Pounds was hellishly teary. We weren’t expecting that. It was good, but I’ll admit that I’ll be getting a DVD when Despereaux comes out, but not when Seven Pounds does.

Later today, after we sleep, I’ll be watching my parade. I love it that those wonderful people in Pasadena put a parade on for me every year. Love ya, Pasadena!

The Holidays have been GOOD to me

I’ve been busy. Mom noted that I hadn’t updated my LJ since Christmas Eve. So while judiang‘s taking a short nap (to get rid of a suspected MSG headache), I’ll see if I can get caught up on my shenanigans.

Christmas Day: Amy called me at 7:30am to inform me that everyone was sitting around drinking coffee, but nothing else was happening. They would continue to do so until I got there. So I got ready and headed next door. They gave me a cup of hot cocoa (yummy) and when I was done, we went into the living room to open our stockings. Santa really likes us – he brings us stockings even though Amy & I are in our 30s and Rachel will soon be joining us. Heh.

After we examined our stocking goodies (nice things like 1GB flash drives & bath salts & socks were in ’em) we had breakfast. Amy & Dad made eggs & sausage, mom had baked a sour dough coffee cake. Everything was yummy.

It was now time to open presents. I handed out presents one or two at a time to folks and we went in order of youngest to oldest. It took a couple of hours and once again, we won at Christmas. 🙂 I got lots of nice things – Treehouse, Fluxx & Monty Python Fluxx from the girls (all Looney Labs games and mucho fun). Shirts, a nice outfit, Logitech wireless mouse, new barcode reader (my old one went kaput), books, and other things from the parental units. I got the girls a record player that hooks to a computer for ripping albums into MP3s. Mom got a JBL external speaker system for her new iPod Nano (well, new for her – it’s the 2nd gen I gave her for her birthday a few weeks ago). It’s red like her Nano & her Shuffle. 🙂 Dad got some books he’d asked for and some toys which he hadn’t. Heh.

We eventually had Christmas dinner – chicken casserole, green beans, cottage cheese, cranberry sauce (from the can), etc. It was very yummy as usual. Later we had apple pie & ice cream for dessert. (It was a free apple pie from Market Day. I’ve been lucky – this is the second free pie I’ve gotten from ’em. And like the first one, it was wonderful.) Mom, the girls, and I played Monty Python Fluxx and enjoyed ourselves. Rachel won the first game and I won the second. We switched to pinochle with me & Amy as partners. We kicked butt. Twice. Heh.

There was a lovely sunset that day, so I tried to get some photos of it. I haven’t downloaded ’em yet to see how they turned out. If they turned out OK, I’ll post ’em later. We spent the end of the evening planning for the Anderson gathering the following day.

Boxing Day: The plan was that Rachel and I would go to Kroger in the morning to get a few key items. I was called in the morning to say that we needed to head out even earlier than planned. No problemo. I headed next door and daddy made me an Egg McMikey sammich to-go. I took the last of the apple juice with me as my to-go beverage and Rachel drove us to Kroger. We got a number of things required, but not everything. So I recommended the Dollar Tree (which I needed to go to) for some things and Meijer for the rest. The only thing we were unable to find was a “live” centerpiece that was on sale. (Everything else Christmassy was on sale – even at the Dollar Tree.)

We got the house ready & food prepared. In lieu of an expensive “live” centerpiece, I trimmed a few pieces of mom’s holly shrubs to serve as decoration. A few bright red ornaments were added, too. It was minimal, which made it look rather nice. I also had a few things I was preparing for the dinner. I molded my cheeseball onto my tree-shaped plate. Made some Reuben dip. Baked some corndog minis.

When 2pm arrived, we all sat in the living room awaiting family. And they began to pop in. Surprisingly, Uncle Doug was first. Eventually, all of the Andersons were present – for the first time in years. Even my second cousin Eric and his boy (Little Eric) came. Yay! It was lovely to see everyone. Food was consumed, presents were exchanged, Apples to Apples was played. We had a nice day.

Folks were gone by 6:30, which is when we all collapsed. Heh. We cleaned up the place and vegged for the rest of the evening. Mom & I discovered that the frozen fruit dish she made was very tasty when mixed with vodka and Sprite.

Saturday: We shopped on Saturday. After a lunch of leftovers, we headed to Piqua for the mall. There were some exchanges made and new things purchased. I got a couple of small cutting sheets (about the size of a half sheet of paper and nearly as thin) and some silicone egg poachers. We did a booze run on the way home, too. Needed more gin, apparently. Heh.

Sunday: Our main task was to play pinochle and get mom’s card quota back up. (Amy & I still won. Then later, Rachel & I won.) We also played a couple of rounds of Treehouse. That evening, we reconvened at my house for “dinner & a movie.” Although I had originally planned to cook something, that would have required me going somewhere, which precluded playing cards. So we wound up ordering pizza from the local. We started off by watching Amy’s photos from Guatemala. Our first attempt at hooking her laptop up to my TV didn’t work, but putting the photos on CD and playing ’em in my DVD player did work. They looked gorgeous on my TV. Our movie for the evening was Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Monday: Our last day with the girls. *sniff* We went to Tipp City for a day of shopping & eating. Actually, we started out by eating. We went to Harrisons, a nice restaurant in Tipp. I had their French onion soup and their chicken salad sandwich on sourdough. I also had an amaretto sour. Tasty tasty. We then visited nearly all of the antique stores in Tipp looking for a broach for Rachel’s new purse. (Long story – maybe I’ll tell it some day.) We wound up with 3 good choices for it. Mom bought one of ’em, while Rachel bought the others.

Monday evening was a time of card playing (mom & I won) and the girls’ packing. We finished up the day by sitting around and watching the Rachel Maddow show. Heh.

Today: This morning, I set my alarm to get next door before 7:30am. The girls wanted to get off by 8am – they did pretty well & were on the road by 8:15am. I then spent time straightening up my house since my brain has been AWOL and I had confused the 30th with Wednesday. I thought Judi was arriving Wednesday, the 30th. Well, the 30th – but that’s Tuesday. Heh. And then my brain went even more AWOL while I explained to the folks that I was head out around 1:30 to pick up Judi, whose flight gets in at 12:58pm. *sigh* Thankfully they corrected me.

In further brain-fartness, I got confused at the airport and went in the wrong lane, thus missing out on parking. I went through the gauntlet again and parked. Judi managed to find me, somehow. And thankfully her luggage arrived as well. (Yay- she’s moving again!) We headed to the Bookery so we could get our DWMs and then to Jeet India for our Indian Fud. Yum. On the way home, I stopped at Kroger for a few essentials. A call to the folks got a few essentials for them as well. I wound up calling Judi, who was resting in the car, because I’d left my bags in the car & wondered if she’d bring some to me. She did. Yay!

We’ve got no real concrete plans for the rest of today. We might go see a movie. We might stay in. Tomorrow we head to Aunt Becky’s for cards & Chinese Fud. *slaps forehead* I forgot to see what sort of sparkling wine dad wanted for the toast tomorrow night. Well, either tonight or tomorrow, Judi and I will be oot & aboot again, so we could get some then. Hooray for the Holidays!