Tag: dad

A weekend celebration

Ah yes, it does feel good to be done with my classes for a month. Yesterday, we had two things to celebrate – the semester ending and mom’s birthday. So I headed next door midmorning so that we could head up to Piqua for shopping & a nice lunch.

Elder-Beerman was having doorbuster sales until 1pm, so that was our first destination. Although I didn’t get anything, the folks had some successful purchases. By the time we were done, we were all suitably hungry. Mom chose Red Slobster for lunch. Tasty tasty! We got their coconut fried shrimp appetizer and drinks (amaretto sour for me). Then when we ordered our main courses, we all picked shrimp again. Heh. I got their shrimp linguine. We’d decided while there to stop at Kroger on the way home for cake & ice cream (and other essentials).

We returned to the mall where Beerman is and did some more shopping. (I again managed to not spend anything. Go me!) Then we headed to Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts for craft supplies. Alas, they had no glass bottles like I need for my Xmas gips this year, but they had some cookie decorating stuff that I wanted (and was on sale). So I picked that up and some itty bitty plastic bags (also for the Xmas gips). At Kroger, I bought the cake & ice cream for mom. Then we headed to KMart for the last few items on dad’s list. By this time we were all ready to be done. Thankfully, we were. Heh.

Once we were settled back home, it was time for mom to open presents. She got a GPS unit from herself and dad. (Wasn’t she thoughtful?) It’s a Garmin Nuvi 350. It’s really cute! She got some ’round the neck headphones by Jensen, a power plug for iPods, and a regifted iPod Nano 2nd generation (Product Red) from me. I thought it would match her Product Red iPod Shuffle that she got for Mother’s Day. 🙂 (Well, when the new iPod Nano came out with PURPLE, I had to upgrade…) I then worked a bit on her PC getting some playlists onto her iTunes (grrrr, I do hate iTunes) while dad got the cake & ice cream ready. It was very tasty.

When I got home, I resubscribed to World of Warcraft and revisited my little toons. Although I prefer City of Heroes, it is also fun to play WoW. (I’ll resub to CoH Tuesday or so which will let that subscription go until classes begin.)

Today’s Grand Adventure spawned in part because of yesterday’s failed trip to Jo-Ann’s. When I asked a store person about glass bottles, she admitted they didn’t have any, but (in a quieter voice, looking around to make sure no one was watching) she suggested that I try Crafts2000 in Springfield. When talking with my Aunt Becky last night, she recommended Crafts2000 too. So I put Crafts2000 into my plans for the day.

I played WoW until 11am, then called Crafts2000 (since they were open finally) to see if they did have glass bottles – colorless with stoppers or screw caps. The lady there was pretty sure & directed me to someone on the floor who concurred. 4 aisles of glassware, they said. So after I got my hair cut, I headed off to Springfield.

Wow – they weren’t kidding. They had just what I was looking for and then some. Square bottles, oval bottles, round bottles – and all $1 each! 12″ tall, nice & thin. Even a funny looking one (which I’m not sure will work with my plans, but we’ll see.) I will eventually show off what I’m doing with these bottles, but as there are recipients of them who read this list, I shall refrain for now.

There really isn’t a lot of nice eating places in that end of Springfield, so I headed to the Upper Valley Mall (which I’d not been to in years) and wound up eating at the Chinese place there. Mmmm, Mall Chinese Food – in a class by itself. General Tso’s (should have gotten the bourbon chicken) and orange chicken and lo mein. Plus some crab rangoon (the nicely sweet type – yummy). I was able to finish reading Jane Eyre (which I have on my phone) while there.

After finishing my perusal of the mall (they STILL have 2 bookstores there – yay! B.Dalton & Walden), I returned to the parking lot, set my phone to direct me to the Piqua Mall (AKA Miami Valley Center Mall), and headed off to see a movie.

The Cinemark Theater at the Piqua Mall has moved out of the mall proper and, on Friday, opened in their new location just outside of the mall. I decided to watch Delgo cuz I figured it’s not something likely to be crowded (it wasn’t) and that ought to be seen on the big screen (and can likely be missed as a DVD purchase). I enjoyed it – lots of fun eye candy – despite the pedestrian plot. If you do go see it, stay til after the credits. Heck, simply reading the credits was a hoot.

I returned home after the movie, invited myself next door for more cake & ice cream, and am now back home & typing this up. Tomorrow starts the last week of school for 2008. Should be a nice week. Maybe I’ll get the house decorated this week. 🙂

Thanksgiving

It’s lovely having a day set aside to be thankful. I try to be thankful every day, but for the days when I’m too busy or too frazzled or too sleepy or too sick, having a day like Thanksgiving helps to make up for those days.

Amy decided that she’d make a Thanksgiving Dinner for us this year once the folks and I invited ourselves around. (Well, we couldn’t resist the reasonable flight prices to Minneapolis, so we asked if they’d be willing to host us – they were!) So last night, mom baked a pumpkin pie and an apple pie (I peeled the apples). I made my “famous” Thanksgiving cheeseball. Amy prepped things for today.

This morning, Amy roasted a Heritage chicken, roasted chopped root vegetables (potatoes (Yukon, purple & red), sweet potatoes, yams (we learned this year there *is* a difference between sweet potatoes & yams), carrots, beets, onion, garlic, etc), cranberry & mushroom dressing, kale, green beans, and gravy (with Hefeweizen beer). Rachel baked some lovely (and sweet) corn bread. And dad carved the chicken.

Things were ready at 2:30pm and we ate a wonderful meal. And then ate a bit more. We still haven’t had dessert but will probably do that (and play games) after nap time. Which is what is going on now.

I’m grateful that my sister & Rachel have a lovely house which they can host us for dinner. I love that my family gets along very well and is fairly low key. I miss my kitties and hope they are having a nice Thanksgiving day. Hope you all (folks in friend’s list land) are having a nice time and that you have a lovely weekend.

Family Holiday

Well, I’m in Minneapolis in Amy & Rachel’s den (it’s changed around a little since I was here last month). Mom’s reading. Dad & Amy are ready to go off grocery shopping & stuff. Poor Rachel’s at work (at the co-op we’ll be grocery shopping in). Just thought I’d type up a short “Here I Am!” post before we all head off to be productive. I’ll get more details of our family gathering for the holiday when we’ve done more family gathering for the holiday. Heh.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Horror of Horrors!

No, my house hasn’t been invaded by ghoulies & ghosties in honor of Halloween – instead my main PC’s power supply went kaput yesterday. And college is overwhelming me this week.

But before I go there, I shall post a photo of me in my Halloween costume this year. (Yesterday was dress up day at school.)


The Good Grade Fairy (she’s on strike, so earn your own good grades!)

I had fun making that costume (the shirt says “The Good Grade Fairy”). Most people got it, too. Heh. The A-wand was something dad & I made together. He soldered the A and drilled the hole into the wood dowel that was the wand. I wrapped the A in red yarn and glued it into the wand. Then covered the wand base with purple duct tape. Basically, I wanted an excuse to buy fairy wings and The Good Grade Fairy was that excuse. 🙂

So, yesterday I get home from work and when I get into my den, I notice my main PC wasn’t on. In fact, my music server isn’t on either. I power up the music server and it starts just fine, however powering up my main PC gets nada. I did all the tricks I could think of, but no go on the PSU. Well, bummer.

I headed next door & asked the parentals if the power was off at our end of town today (it wasn’t off at the school any). Dad said that they had replaced a telephone pole and the power was indeed out for an hour & a half. That’s when my PCs went off unexpectedly. “So, anyone up for an emergency run to Staples?” I asked. (No nearby PC repair shops, but thankfully the Staples in Troy has PSUs and some other useful computer parts.)

Dad thought that sounded like a good idea. He said he should look at PC prices and maybe laptops for mom. Mom of course perked up and asked to come along too. We didn’t have long to be out & about however since it was after 4pm and Beggar’s Night began at 6pm.

I found a 500W Antec PSU that’s supposedly “cooler, quieter, greener” (than what, I dunno – it didn’t say). After I bought it, mom was standing in the aisle looking dejected. Didn’t we come to look at laptops for her? Heh. So we returned to the laptop area where she saw a purty HP for $700. It’s a 17″ widescreen which has a proper number pad on it. She also found a case that would fit it. (It’s probably no heavier than the 6 year old Dell she’s been using.)

We returned home where I straightened up the house a bit before my vast numbers of Trick or Treaters would start showing up. Then I nuked some soup and put Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on while I waited for the hordes.

I thought that I might actually get a few more kids this year than last because one of the main streets in town was torn up due to road work. However, I only got about 15 kids! I usually get 40-some kids (though one year got over 70 kids). I asked around at work today (only a teacher work-day, so no kids) and I wasn’t the only one getting few kids last night.

After 8pm, I returned to mom & dad’s to help them with a few Vista issues. I wound up staying past 10pm working on the thing. It’s very purty and the only thing it’s being truly stubborn on is in installing the Minolta printers. That particular printer is a few years old now so dad’s thinking maybe getting the $100 Brother wireless laser one of these days.

So I never got around to installing my power supply last night. Work today, as I mentioned already, was just us teachers. I had two groups of chemistry kids in my lab filming their Periodic Table Videos (one group putting alkali metals into water and the other group using the lab to be a mad scientists lair. They got every beaker, flask, and test tube out of their chemistry drawers, put colored water in all, then added dry ice that they’d brought with ’em. I think these videos are going to be a blast this year). I went to Indian’s Pizza for lunch and tried their spaghetti & meatball. Tasty! I didn’t get the quarter exams graded, but I got a lot of other stuff accomplished.

Our teacher’s association has a social committee this year and they have come up with several social events. Today we had such an event – after work, going to Applebee’s for half-price appetizers (and booze) and fellowship. It was quite fun – we were there a good two hours.

When I got home, I FINALLY put my new PSU into my PC. It wasn’t easy at first, but when I finally got it jiggled in properly, it worked just fine. Indeed, I am typing this from my main PC. Yay!

After I finished that, I returned to mom & dad’s to work more on mom’s laptop. And now I’m home to play on my own computer. 🙂

In other news, this weekend I’m going to have to batten down the hatches on my college work. What I really need this week is a “spring break.” I haven’t worked one jot on one course this week (the one which requires near daily output) and haven’t read any of the material for the other course. With the quarter exams to grade this weekend as well, I’m going to be a very busy trina. Blech. Still, it will start out nice cuz it’s pancake day at the UCC tomorrow and the folks are buying my pancakes. Here’s hoping that gets me nicely productive for the weekend.

A Busy September 30th

Today, for the Shorts, was a busy day. I shall begin with the least exciting and move up.

  • I just got back from presenting the school website at our school board meeting. People there said I did a good job on the presentation – I haven’t a clue, myself. 🙂 I’ve been working on the website, in earnest, for a year now. I’ve very proud of it – it’s standards compliant and handicapped accessible. The new teacher web pages which we can do through FirstClass (our e-mail program) are also standards compliant, which thrills me. And the teachers are making really nice pages. (I showed mine (boring) and 3 other teacher’s pages (not boring) to the board.)

  • Mom and Dad flew out to California today for a month in Santa Rosa. They volunteer for the Westar Institute from time to time – this time for a month. The fall meeting will be in a few week’s time and mom & dad help out with the preparation there and in a few other areas. And they also get to enjoy the fabulous restaurants in the area. I think the only complaint they have is that the condo they stay in doesn’t have a comfy chair. (We should dispatch the Spanish Inquisition, perhaps?)

  • And the most important thing to happen today to the Short family… My little sister bought a house! Yay! Today, she and Rachel closed on their house purchase. They now own a mortgage! And a house to go with it! I’m really excited for them. And I’ll be flying out mid-October to help them with unpacking, cleaning the old joint, setting up electronics, and just about anything else they want me to do. Amy thinks there might even still be some autumn foliage for me to gawp at then. Yay!

Speaking of autumn, it appears to have arrived today. Yay! My two walnut trees in the back have some distinctly yellow leaves. We have a nice blustery wind bringing us some cooler weather, too. Autumn is my favorite season, so it’s nice to see it start up in earnest.

Anyhoo, I’m sleepy and going to head off to read a bit before bed. Busy days make me tired. 🙂

Summer Festivals are Go!

Well, B-WISER is done and I think everyone had a great time. I know that I did. I love B-WISER week because at the end of it my jaws are sore from all of the laughing. We teachers know how to have a great time.

Saturday, I headed off to Mom & Dad’s place at the Lake to give dad the rest of his birthday present (he received the main part – an 8″ Calphalon chef’s knife the Saturday before his birthday). At the Toyrifix toy store near Wooster, I got us both metal spud guns. (I’d seen the plastic ones before, but this is the first time they’d had the olde fashioned metal ones.) He was pleased. 🙂

It was threatening rain that day, but we decided to go to the Country Festival in Maria Stein for lunch. It worked out quite nicely for us at first. It started raining a little as we made our way from the car to the first tent, but once we got into the dry, the rain ceased. It actually was nice festival weather – only little rain spurts and pleasant temperatures.

I started off with a caramel apple. Mom let me have a bite of her corn dog, too. I opted for a brat with kraut (and mustard and onion) and a few sips of dad’s cola. Then I got us some fries from another booth and managed to dump half a bottle of vinegar on it – whoops! Once I poured the extra vinegar off, the fries were pretty tasty. We decided to check out the craft booths before deciding on dessert.

I was dismayed to see the number of charlatans hocking magnets, hematite, and aromatherapy shit. But the magnet and hematite people gave me information fliers which I intend to debunk in my new science course this year. Yay! There were neat things to look at (and some dips and sauces to taste), but we all refrained from buying anything.

For dessert we went to a trailer selling funnel cakes, elephant ears, sugar waffles, and deep fried Oreos. Dad bought us a funnel cake and an order of deep fried Oreos (our first time for them). It was then that things got interesting weather-wise. From our side of the trailer we saw the rain come closer. The lady on the other side of the trailer zipped over to our side – she was wet before the rain got to our side. We managed to stay in the lee of the overhang from the trailer and didn’t get wet. One of the ladies working in the booth had to zip out to get the bubble gum dispenser and remove the hanging signs. She was nearly soaked when she got back in.

When we got our fried stuff, it was still raining hard, so we munched a bit while standing at the trailer (still nearly all dry) and chatted with the ladies working the booth. The funnel cake was the best we’d ever had (I suspect it’s because she got distracted by the oncoming storm and it fried longer than it should – heh). It was very crunchy and still chewy inside. The fried Oreos were not what I was expecting. They were soft, for one thing. And they were VERY tasty. Guess I’ll have to tried a fried Mars bar someday. 😉

The rain slowed enough to let us race to the car. We were quite surprised by how little rain had gotten on us. That trailer was just in the right place to shade us from the storm. We returned to the Lake where the rain eventually stopped and the sun came out to give us a very beautiful day at the Lake.

Supper was steak for me & mom, and sausage for dad. Plus green beans and potatoes. It was quite yummy. I took my requisite nap on the sofa as well. Then it was time to head home. After all, I had a date to watch episode 12 of Doctor Who with the girls. 🙂

Tomorrow I fly off to Chicago to stay at judiang‘s place. elsaf is also coming, so I know the three of us will have a blast.

OMGWTFBBQ!

Ah, sitting in the dark in the three season room with my fellow geeks as the Raccoon Family Chorus sings in the background. It doesn’t get much better than this! Oh wait, the geese are adding to the warbling chorus – I guess it does get better. 🙂

Today’s biggest priority was elsaf making her barbecue country spare ribs. We had few other plans for the day, so most of it was spent here at the cottage enjoying the beautiful weather and the wonderful wildlife.

I slept in the 3-season room again last night, this time in dad’s chair. And it was quite a good sleep except for the Raccoon Family Massacre that took place at 3am (well, there wasn’t a massacre, but the sheer amount of screaming that the little suckers did made it sound that way) and the Goose & Gander sing-along around 6 in the morning. Apart from those times, I slept until around 8am.

Although Elsa and I got up at decent times (and even judiang woke up & got up at a reasonable time!) breakfast was a little late due to Elsa being distracted by a nice entry she was writing for DailyKos. But once she was done, she made us French toast and sausage. Mmmmm!

We rested and geeked until around 1pm when it was time for lunch (despite not being all that hungry for it). We picked up a grilling basket at the hardware store in Minster (Elsa needed two for the ribs and the folks only had one) and then went to Casadores in New Bremen. Elsa and I ordered lunch and gave a little to Judi so that she wouldn’t get hungry before suppertime. (She said she wasn’t hungry, but we fed her anyway – we’re cruel that way.) We picked up ice cream for the ala mode to our dessert for supper before we returned to the cottage.

While Judi and I read and rested, Elsa worked on her BBQ ribs and potato salad. The parental units showed up after a bit and brought the Market Day apple pie which I’d received as a free gift for my last order. (I thought it would be perfect for this weekend.) I started baking it right away.

More resting, reading, and chatting and even Elsa had some time to relax after a bit. But suppertime was looming, so I got to work on the fire for the grilling. Then I finished the lunch prep and set the table for supper while Elsa basted and then grilled the ribs.

Supper was wonderful. We all love that Elsa loves to cook. 🙂 She used the broth from the ribs to make a Japanese-inspired soup, which we started with. Then we had the ribs and potato salad. There was leftover foccacia bread and sour dough bread as sides as well. And I cut up the peaches we still had left and served them with a little sugar (and some fruit fresh) with a few blueberries for garnish. It was a lovely supper and photos from it are below the bird photos.

I shooed Elsa and the folks off to sit by the fire while Judi washed dishes and I dried & put them away. She’s a fast dish washer, but it still took us awhile to get everything cleaned up. Then we joined everyone at the fire for chatting and photo-taking. It was quite pleasant.

After a bit, Judi started muttering “pie! PIE!” so it was time to serve the pie. I was very pleased with the pie – when I cut it, it flaked just like an apple pie should. I served it with the ice cream and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Judi gave it a 9 out of 10. I said since it was free, it deserved a 10 out of 10. 🙂

More musing by the fire, and then some singing. We’re not as well-versed in camp songs as my sister or Rachel, so that petered out eventually. But then the baby raccoons started coming out of their tree and came over to see us. Elsa and dad took photos and Elsa’s posted some of the photos to her journal.

The folks headed off home and Judi and I tended the fire a bit longer. But then it was time to come inside and geek, so that’s what we’re doing.


Duckling Formation
Duckling Formation

The little ducklings swim toward the shore in a deceptively random “duckling formation.”
My Two Dads
My Two Dads

2 guys and a gal and their six ducklings. “Uncle Steve” is just like another father to these little ones.
Duck, Duck, Goose
Duck, Duck, Goose

Or in this case, “Goose, Goose, Duck.” It’s shame that, despite hanging out “together,” the geese all sit in the sun together and the ducks all sit in the shade together. So much for integration!
Mmmm, ribs!
Mmmm, ribs!

Elsa’s barbecued country spare ribs and potato salad. Yummy!
Pie!
Pie!

Pie are square. No, pie are round, cake are square!


Super Saturday!

Today was a busy day. And a great day too. After a night of little sleep (turns out the airbed for the cottage now leaks, so I wound up sleeping on the uncomfortable lounge chair in the 3-season room last night), I snoozed a bit on the sofa and got up around 8:15am. elsaf got up then too and started preparing her new electric griddle for making us pancakes for breakfast. After my shower, I nipped off to Wagner’s to get ice for the pop cooler and a shower poof for judiang. I returned around 9 to find our breakfast chef had disappeared mid-prep. (The plates were lovingly decorated with sliced strawberry garnish, but no pancakes were made yet.) Elsa was off in the shower. Heh.

Once she was showered, we woke up Judi with promise of blueberry pancakes and she, too, got all cleaned up for the day. My goal was to be on the road by 10:30am, and we managed it, even with me cleaning up the breakfast dishes. The goal was to head south to the Bookery so Judi could get her Doctor Who magazines, we could have Indian Fud, and watch Indiana Jones (at $7.25 for a matinée – gah! Gimme my $4 matinées from Piqua & Troy.) We accomplished the goal and included a stop at a used bookstore where I bought more Terry Brooks’ Landover novels and a stop at BestBuy where I bought dad the wireless mouse he wanted and decided to get one for myself. I’ll be interested to see if I use it much – I’ve become pretty used to my trackpad on my laptop.

We enjoyed the movie – it’s silly fun with some edge-of-your-seat action and really crappy science. But it played up to its silly science and was an enjoyable 2 hours. (I’ll still prefer the third movie because I loved the interplay between Ford and Connery.) Several of the trailers were entertaining too. I think we all agreed that Hancock will be our 4th of July movie when we’re in Chicago (where I’ll be wishing I was paying that $7.25 matinée price of today).

When we got back to the Lake, our guests for the evening were already here and enjoying nachos with salsa and guacamole. Aunt Becky and Deanna had come up for supper and to play cards. Mom and dad were also here for supper and cards (dad to avoid them, mom to play them). Even my Uncle Dean showed up for supper. I got to work on making the burger patties. Dad had already started a fire, so once the burgers were made, I could start grilling them and the hot dogs. I also grilled the leftover shrimp so that Elsa could have some – indeed, anyone that wanted to try the shrimp was able to. And it was just as delicious today as yesterday. Go shrimp!

My hostess skills are constantly improving thanks to these Memorial Day weekend gatherings. However, I didn’t remember tomato and, to my uncle Dean’s dismay, deviled eggs. However, I doubt that deviled eggs will ever be part of my hostessing repertoire. Never liked the suckers, even though they’re pretty to look at. Thanks to the brownies that Becky brought and the sugar cookies and no bake cookies that I’d bought, we had plenty of sweet stuff. Everyone got their fill and then some.

After supper it was time for some Shanghai Rum. Elsa isn’t much for card playing, but she condescended to join us for the game. She picked up the rudiments to the game quickly, but Judi had smelled victory early on and fought hard for the final win of the game. Becky decided that we’d have to have a rematch later this summer when Judi deigns to visit again. Heh.

Folks headed out once the game was done and Judi cleaned the dishes with me drying them. She’s now slowly downing an amaretto sour while playing World of Warcrack on her laptop. Elsa’s also working on her laptop (and most likely NOT playing World of Warcrack). I’m writing this.

Tomorrow is Relax Day. Our only real task is to make supper – with Elsa making barbecued country ribs and sour cream potato salad. I’ll be baking an apple pie (from frozen) for dessert. Should be another fun & food filled day tomorrow!

Anniversary Celebration

Today was mom & dad’s 40th Anniversary! I wasn’t around 40 years ago when they got married, but I was around today, so I took them out for a nice dinner at the restaurant of their choosing. (Yesterday I gave ’em a dozen roses courtesy of the Lion’s Club selling ’em at school through their Leo Club.)

Mom wanted to try out The Caroline, a new restaurant that’s where Taggart’s used to be (a fairly well-known restaurant in Troy, OH). I like a grand adventure, so I agreed to take ’em there. Although they lost my reservation, it wasn’t really needed and we were seated right away. We got a friendly waitress who did a nice job serving us. For an appetizer we had shrimp cocktail. We all had side salads (I had the Caesar salad), then our main courses came out. Mom got the prime rib, which was the day’s special. It was very juicy and tasty. Dad ordered their house steak (and he got it medium, which was a shock). I ordered their chipotle pork chop with spiced apples – tasty but I should have gotten medium rather than medium well – was just a bit dry. I also had the lyonaisse potatoes as my side – basically fried taters cooked with onions. Then, though we were pretty stuffed, we split their three layer chocolate cake. Very very moist and tasty!

It was a very pleasant evening out and we enjoyed ourselves and our food. Happy 40th Anniversary Mom & Dad! Here’s to 40 more! 🙂

A good start!

So far 2008 is looking good. Sure, we’re only 3 days in, but my family and friends have helped, once again, transition from one year into the next, from one age into the next.

When I last updated my journal with something other than well-wishes for the new year, I got caught up to December 30th. Things have calmed down since then.

For New Year’s Eve, we got up at a decent hour in order to get elsaf off to a good start back home. judiang and I led Elsa & her car to Bob Evans in Troy for a nice breakfast. Then we hugged Elsa and bid her happy driving. And one of these days I’ll mail her the items she accidentally left at my place. Whoops!

I made a stop at Meijer on the way home for some supplies. Judi slept in the car, which is just as well as I sort of got caught up in the 50% off sales of Christmas items. I bought some snowman paper plates & napkins for my NYE gathering, plus a tree for next year (this year’s will be trash when I take it down – it’s fallen far too many times to be viable). When I returned home, both Judi and I napped. I had some chicken salad for lunch and then picked up the place. At quarter til 6 I ordered pizzas from the local joint with favorite toppings for all. The folks arrived a bit after 6pm and Aunt Becky at 6:30. The pizzas arrived between them.

While we munched on pizza, we watched that classic family favorite Murder by Death. Although it was very familiar to (and loved by) dad and I, the others were less familiar with it, but we all enjoyed it. Plenty of laughter all around. After the movie, we ladies gathered around the dining room table to play pinochle. I put Hot Fuzz on for dad to enjoy (which he did) while we 4 were playing cards. I had warned Judi to bone up on her pinochle skills before coming, but she didn’t, so we lost the first game. (Heh heh – not entirely true. Both Judi and me making bids we couldn’t cover is what made us lose the first game). In the second game, however, I wound up getting a double run, which I’d never seen before in my life. Wow – 1500 meld points! Crappy hands for the rest of the game meant that we lost that game as well, but wow, a double run!

After Hot Fuzz was over, dad switched over to regular TV and when there were 10 minutes left of 2007, we switched to Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year. We counted down with the folks of NYC and cheered, drank, and in the case of mom & dad, kissed the new year in. Dad took his champagne back home with him while we ladies finished our second pinochle game. At 12:16, my sister called to wish me a Happy Birthday (I was born 16 minutes after midnight) from Minnesota. She sang, along with the Bemidjii Chorus, Happy Birthday. (She said there was even a piano accompaniment, but alas, I couldn’t hear it.) 🙂

Mom and Becky left once the game was over and Judi and I straightened up just enough to get us through the night. I then headed off to bed.

I slept in until just before 10. Just in time to put on HGTV’s Making of the Rose Parade special. Halfway through that, I got dressed and washed my hair. While I was doing that, Lucy made my bed. Wow! (Well, when I returned to the room, she was looking smug and the bed was made, so it must have been her!) Judi, meanwhile, had put the sofa bed up, so I was able to plonk down with milk and chocolate donettes when the Rose Parade started. Yay – I watched the entire parade without interruption. It was wonderful.

Meanwhile, mom was busy slaving away in her kitchen making pork & kraut for the new year. We came over around 1:30 and I helped make the mashed potatoes. The four of us then had a lovely New Years Day meal. (In the Andersons, it was always a tradition to have pork & kraut as Good Luck for the New Year. When I was small, I didn’t like the meal. But at some point in my life, I realized that sauerkraut was a good thing. It’s the perfect birthday meal, IMO.)

After lunch, we had cheesecake cupcakes (mine with a burning candle in it). I made a wish & blew out the candle. Then mom gave me the present from her & dad. Yay! Money for a kik step stool from Demco! (I ordered it later that day – hunter green. Should be arriving tomorrow – woot!)

The rest of the day was a day of rest. We both napped, then I cleaned up the place a bit more. Then we returned to mom’s for some game playing. We played a few of mom’s new games. Swipe was more a matter of luck than anything else. But we all liked Phase 10 Dice, which was a cross between Yatzee and Shanghai Rum. We ate lots of my homemade Chex mix while playing.

Then Judi and I braved the blowing & drifting snow to get to Cold Stone Creamery for my birthday ice cream. (I’d had cake, now I needed ice cream!) I ordered the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, but with dark chocolate rather than regular. Judi, who got sugar cream with coconut mixed in, bought my ice cream for me. Awww! Thanks sweetie!

Back home to the warmth of the house. It was Movie Time. We started by watching Wings of Desire (which, like Murder by Death, was a Christmas present from Amy). I’ve been a Peter Falk fan for years, and Wings of Desire was a flick I’d been meaning to see for quite some time. Thanks to Amy, I’ve now seen it. It’s a very sweet film, and Falk is great in it. 🙂

After that, I had the urge to watch Brazil (the Director’s cut). I’ve had the DVD in my collection awhile, but just hadn’t gotten around to watching it. We got it about halfway done when we both decided it was bedtime.

The next morning, mom called to say I should open the back door. I did that and she showed up with some coffee cake for both of us and some coffee & creamer for Judi. Yay for moms! I ate my coffee cake and watched the rest of Brazil.

We were slow moving that day, but around 1, Judi got all packed up and we headed off to Sakai for a nice Japanese lunch. Then I drove her to the Dayton airport and dropped her off. I was home before she’d gotten through to her gate, I believe. Heh. But the flight was only slightly delayed and she got home at a decent hour. Meanwhile, I decided to continue my movie kick and watched Hair, another flick I’d not seen in years. Then I decided I’d watch some Penn & Teller’s Bullshit (a gift from hergrace – yay Steph – thanks a billion!). I wound up watching all 5 episodes on the first disc. Whoops! (It was getting to the “just one more…” point.)

Today I got a bit of cleaning done and got 3 more episodes of Bullshit watched. The folks invited me to join them on a shopping trip to Sam’s Club and then to Gander Mountain. It was a fun trip (with many pairs of socks purchased) made all the more fun when we got lost trying to go from Sam’s Club to Gander Mountain. (24 minutes after we started on the trek, we drove behind Sam’s Club again…)

Now I’m busy downloading the patches for World of Warcrack (which Judi gave me for my birthday – evil evil woman!). I’ve got 10 days to try it, then 30 days from the retail box. They might not be consecutive – I haven’t decided yet. Classes start January 16th…