Tag: elsa

The continuing story…

Yesterday, when elsaf and I finished watching The Bucket List, I woke up napping-judiang and the two of us walked to Taste of Chicago, armed with a large purse and a package of Saran Wrap. We had a to-go order from Elsa which the bag and cellophane were for. Once Judi and I had gotten and eaten our wares, we picked up items for Elsa and wrapped and stuffed ’em in the bag.

My Taste things for Friday were as follows:

  • Las Tablas – empanada

  • Harry Carey’s – chocolate chip cookie

  • Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs – rib tips

  • Abbey Pub – fish

  • Vermillion – mango cumin-dusted fries with chutney

  • The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine – sesame beef on a stick

  • Canaday Le Chocolatier – mascarpone gelato

  • Franco’s Ristorante – lemon Italian ice

Today’s fare was a little less satisfying than Wednesday’s. The empanada was a little plain. The barbecue sauce on the rib tips was more ketchup than anything. The fish from Abbey Pub could have easily been from Van de Kamp’s. But I liked the fries – they tasted like samosa in a convenient fry shape. The gelato place had issues – first you had to wait forever in one line to deliver your tickets, then they gave you a colored stick and you waited in another line for your ice cream. And they were out of pistachio, which was my first choice. But I’d also been interested in the mascarpone ice cream, so that was OK. It was quite tasty, too.

Once back at the apartment, Elsa got to eat her late lunch. We then decided we’d have pizza delivered for supper. And I decided that, after the long walk, I wanted to go swimming to drop my core body temp a little. So, off to the pool I went. It was chilly, but not as chilly as the first night we swam. And it was very refreshing. I was only there for about half an hour, but it was what I needed.

Judi wanted more strawberry shortcake for supper’s dessert, but we needed strawberries. I talked her into trying peach shortcake since we’d have to go to the grocery anyway. Of course, when I say “we” it turns out it was “me.” They gave me a list of things to get and off I went with Judi’s wobbly grocery cart. As I was walking off to the grocery, I thought of how nice it is where Judi’s at that she’s got all these neat places to walk to. My town is so small, there’s not a whole lot of places to walk to. But Judi has quite a variety of walking experiences. One more reason to visit friends!

I peeled (??? we never peel ’em at home!) and sliced the peaches for peach shortcake, then got a conscripted cutting board (Judi didn’t know what the thing was, but we used it as a cutting board) out for the Gouda cheese and Toasted crackers we then snacked on. We sat and chatted while waiting for the pizza delivery.

Pizza was from Connie’s Pizza. We ordered the special (sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms) in a deep dish crust. Judi was disappointed because they didn’t do the deep dish the right way (crust too thick) but it was tasty and satisfying. We put No Country for Old Men on while we ate and wondered just what the movie was about. I think we were all rather perplexed by the end of it. Still, the scene in the boot shop after the anti-hero returns from Mexico was laugh out loud funny. We also ate peach shortcake with ice cream (regular store-bought vanilla) while the movie played. Afterwards, Elsa and I watched the Edwardian Supersizers episode (the pilot for the series).

Unfortunately, although Elsa started out the day feeling better than she’d felt in a couple of days, she was feeling worse by the end. 🙁 Indeed, when she woke up this morning around 6am, she decided there was no way she could drive home. Judi got up around 6:30am and I followed 15 minutes later. We discussed several options. She finally decided on flying home today and flying back next weekend in order to drive her car back. She only took her essentials on the flight, so nothing had to be carried or checked. I paid for the cab ride to Midway because I didn’t want to drive there and back again in Elsa’s car in Chicago (a very unfamiliar place for me to drive). Judi got a wheelchair for her once we arrived and we walked with her and her chair pusher until she was outside security. We just received a text from her that she’s on the plane. Her bro will pick her up upon arrival.

It’s a shame she got to feeling so poorly once she was here. We did have a good time despite the troubles, but I know she would MUCH prefer to have NOT had the troubles. (Pain is really a bitch.) Get to feeling better, Elsa!

On our way back from the airport (using the El this time – less than 1/10 of the cost of getting there) we stopped at The Bongo Room for brunch. We both ordered the BLT Benedict – an eggs Benedict with applewood smoked bacon, spinach, and a tomato basil hollandaise sauce (though they were out of tomato) and hashbrowns. I also ordered a hot chocolate. It was very yummy! And we both preferred it without the tomato.

Judi’s now napping and I think I’ll do the same when I’m done with this post. Our plan is to get to Navy Pier for a late supper and fireworks watching. Perhaps we’ll catch a movie today too. Wall-E sounds like a good ‘un.

Interesting Times

OK, so yesterday didn’t go completely as planned. But I think we managed to make a good day out of what started out as a crappy day.

Poor elsaf had fallen on Saturday and has been nursing two rather large bruises while on vacation here. They ached when she moved, but she was able to function, able to walk to Taste of Chicago, able to cook us a magnificent meal. However, late Wednesday (1:30am Thursday in all actuality) she complained about some muscle cramping around where her chest bruise was. We’re talking honking great pain muscle cramping. We were hoping it would go away after awhile, but it never did. So around 2:30am, judiang called 911 and had an ambulance come. (Indeed both an ambulance and a fire truck came.)

Judi left with Elsa and the ambulance and I stayed with Lance. I couldn’t sleep at this point, so I watched FoodTV until it switched over to infomercials. Then I played Bejeweled 2 on my cell phone. Judi kept me up to speed with various text messages. EKG fine; x-rays fine; other than the bruise, Elsa’s healthy; etc. Then Judi called to tell me pack a bag for Elsa. Oh, and I’d be driving us back to the hospital in Elsa’s car. I asked her about getting Elsa’s car keys (people who don’t drive don’t often think about necessities like car keys, heh) so Judi returned to Elsa’s room to get ’em.

Eventually, Judi showed up. I had my purse and Elsa’s bag and yet… Elsa was right behind Judi. The threat of either Judi or I driving her car encouraged Elsa to check herself out. Heh. They had her on a heavy dose of Vicodin, so she was feeling little pain. Judi still had to finish her cases, which she did and then headed off to work. It was around 5am by this time. I finally fell asleep, but I had my cell phone set to wake me at 8am. Someone had to pick up Elsa’s prescription in the morning, and I figured Judi would be too sleepy to do it.

Turns out I was right. When 8am came around, I popped into Judi’s room to encounter Dead Asleep Judi. Don’t think you can wake her… 🙂 So I showered and stuff and returned to Dead Asleep Judi and managed to get her awake enough to find out (a) where the nearest drug store was and (b) which of Judi’s keys was to her front door. Then I headed off to Walgreens. And I was a block away when I realized that, although I had Elsa’s driver’s license, money, and HMO card (she gave ’em to me – I didn’t take ’em!) I didn’t have her prescription – whoops! I returned to the apartment, picked up the prescription, then headed back out.

The pharmacist was a nice fellow. He wanted to make sure that Elsa was able to take Vicodin since it’s a codeine derivative and she’s allergic to codeine. So I called Judi’s cell phone – no response. Then her home phone – no response. Home phone again, then Elsa answered. Awwwwwww. I felt bad for getting Elsa up, but she assured me that she’ll be able to take the Vicodin – she’d had it the night before without any allergic reactions. The pharmacist needed to find out of the HMO would co-pay the prescription, so I walked across the street to Jewel and bought some donuts. Then I returned to get the prescription, popped into Starbucks for a hazelnut soy latte for Judi, hot tea for Elsa, and a vanilla steamer for me.

Elsa was sitting at the table when I got back and Judi was still asleep. When she woke up (around noon) it was my turn to sleep. I slept for a couple of hours, then Judi and I went off to the grocery in order to get supplies for our surprise supper for Elsa. On our way back to the apartment, we picked up sandwiches at Jimmy Johns for a late lunch.

We spent a relaxing afternoon goofing off. Then Judi and I picked up a few rental movies from the kiosk in her apartment complex’s market. (National Treasure 2, The Bucket List, and No Country for Old Men.) We also headed off to Target and then her new Best Buy store (on the other side of the Long Ass Bridge) looking for a Logitech Harmony Remote. Although she was sorely temped by the $420 model, I talked her into the $99 one (which is sufficient for nearly anyone’s needs).

Judi and I made supper – Judi made fried catfish from scratch, I made everything else. Heh. (Well, everything I made was pretty easy – either nuking or a short cooking time.) So, for supper, we started with a nice salad with bleu cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, an appetizer of baked crab cakes, fried catfish, Bob Evans mashed taters, green beans, and strawberry shortcake with Bailey’s Irish Cream ice cream. I think we did a very nice job – we’re no Elsa, but we dun good.

At 9pm, we turned on WGN to watch the Grant Park fireworks. Despite the cinematography sucking a few times, the fireworks were very cool. And if we looked behind us, we could see them reflected in the building behind us. Also, the booms we heard were from the live fireworks rather than from the telly. Heh.

We finished out the day with National Treasure 2. It was silly and fun. I was entertained. 🙂

We all slept pretty well last night. This morning, after Judi got up, I made French toast for breakfast. Elsa and I are now watching The Bucket List. Not sure what Judi’s doing. Later, Judi and I may go to Taste to get us eats and some stuff for Elsa as well. Regardless of what we do, I know we’ll have a good time, despite any other Interesting things happening. 🙂

Tasty Tasty Taste!

Food, glorious food! I think one of the most important things in going on vacation is all of the wonderful FOOD you get to have. And one of the best things about going on vacation with judiang and elsaf is that they’re as much Foodies as I am. So, we know how to have a good time AND eat lots of good food.

This morning, we started out by going off to Whole Foods, an organic grocery (seriously, there’s, like, carbon compounds EVERYWHERE there!) It was HUGE. And pretty impressive. Elsa was looking for ingredients for the phenomenal meal she was planning for us. So ingredients we bought. Judi, meanwhile, was nearly comatose with caffeine deprivation, so I sent her off to get herself coffee and me a vanilla steamer. She returned awhile later, perkier and with a hazelnut steamer. (OK, so she missed the word “vanilla” but the steamer was very yummy.) Apparently, she was looking all over for the Starbucks that she knew was in the shopping plaza, only to later discover she was standing in front of it. Now *that’s* what I call caffeine deprivation!

Once we bundled the groceries into the car, we drove back over the Long Ass Bridge (ah, I remember alryssa, tiger5, Judi and I walking over that once – I so much prefer driving) to return to Judi’s place. Then we walked over to the Taste of Chicago. Yum! (Although we don’t go over any Long Ass Bridges, it’s still something of a Long Ass Walk, but it’s still a lot closer than many people going to the Taste had to travel.)

So, with my handy Taste of Chicago booklet in hand, I shall rattle off the good things I sampled there (everything I bought was a “taste” portion):

  • Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt – beignet

  • A Natural Harvest – tamale

  • The Breakfast Club – bite of Elsa’s tamale

  • Tamarind – Taiwan Shining Noodles

  • Kasia’s Deli – pierogies

  • Arya Bhavan – samosa

  • Wow Bao – a Kung Pao bao (steamed dumpling with kung pao filling)

  • BJ’s Market & Bakery – bite of Judi’s mustard fried catfish and bite of Judi & Elsa’s peach cobbler

  • Bobtail Ice Cream Company – chocolate – dipped ice cream cake on a stick (which was ENORMOUS for a sample-size. I’d be afraid to see the regular sized one!)

To save Judi and Elsa having to walk too much, I did most of the food gathering, but the advantage there is having bites of what I’d bring them to eat. Heh. Tomorrow we hope to tackle the other side of the taste – there’s at least 7 things I want to try tomorrow.

The walk back from Taste was warm (and long). So I told the girls that I wanted to go swimming. Elsa agreed and then we talked Judi into at least putting on her suit in case the water was warmer today. So we got in the pool (this time full of people, especially kids) and agreed that it was, indeed, warmer than last night. We stayed for over an hour in the pool and then sat on the lounge chairs for a bit longer drying off. It was very refreshing!

When we returned to the apartment, Elsa started working on supper, starting with the ice cream. Judi and I went to the market at her apartment complex to get a few needed items while Elsa cooked. It’s a cute little market which actually had everything that we needed (including lemons and batteries – and yes, you can make a battery from a lemon, but they don’t usually fit inside of garage door openers or radios).

I set the table (with Judi correcting me the whole time) and Elsa plated the dishes. The salad was heirloom tomato, fennel, tarragon, and bleu cheese with vinaigrette. I’m not a big tomato eater, but I enjoyed the salad. The main course was pork chops with brandied peaches, potato souffle, and broccoli with lemon. Oh my, the pork chops were wonderful! And the brandied peaches – yum! I enjoyed the potato souffle too and ate most of my broccoli. 🙂 Dessert was the christening of Judi’s ice cream maker (which Elsa had given her at Christmas) – Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream. Yum! I’d forced Judi to buy me a Lindt milk chocolate bar at the market, so I topped the ice cream with a square of that in each – yummy.

Elsa and I watched the end of the Navy Pier fireworks from their reflection in the apartments across the way – that was pretty neat. I have suggested to Judi that she & I go on Saturday to see them up close & personal. She agreed. 🙂 We’re now vegging on laptops while Judi works on cases for her job. Poor thing! Tomorrow, more Taste, some fireworks, and more fun!

Chicago 2008

It’s not yet 8am CDT and elsaf and I are already up. judiang‘s still a snoozin’. Guess it’s early for her. (Us Eastern time people, however, know it’s a decent “get up” time.)

Elsa and I have, once again, invaded Judi’s place in order to celebrate the Fourth of July properly – with Taste of Chicago and Grant Park fireworks. So yesterday, Elsa drove over from Michigan and I flew in from Ohio. Elsa arrived first (shortly before I boarded my plane), so she & Judi picked me up at the airport. After we left the parking garage, both of our GPS systems (both using Garmin software) told Elsa to go back into another parking garage in order to leave the airport! First Garmin has a deal with the Holland Tunnel, now it has a deal with O’Hare parking? Thankfully, the fellow at the gate believed us when we told him our GPS led us astray. No $2 for you, Garmin!

Once we left that second garage, Garmin behaved herself and got us to Judi’s place with little fuss. (Though Judi had a few suggestions for an easier trek to her place.) Once we got to Judi’s place, I dumped my bags and, although it wasn’t yet 5pm, we walked over to Judi’s favorite Thai place (in reality, a place with lots of types of Asian food) for supper. Turns out I was the only one who’d had lunch that day. (Quiznos at the Columbus airport.)

The place, Ma & I, was a very short walk from Judi’s apartment. And it’s across the street from the Marble Slab Creamery. In the warmer months (like now) they can open up the side wall to the street. So it’s like eating in an outside cafe, but you’re inside. 🙂 Judi and I both ordered pad thai (mine with shrimp, hers with chicken) and Elsa had lad nar. We also ordered some sushi – I got the ebi-Q maki (shrimp roll with cucumber salad, apparently) and the girls ordered sake maki (salmon roll). A very tasty supper all around.

When asked if we wanted dessert, Elsa deferred to Judi while I was trying not to be too obvious with my hand motions pointing to Marble Slab. But Judi had also come to that conclusion – we’d forgo dessert at Ma & I and head across the street for ice cream. Yum!

Marble Slab Creamery is like Cold Stone Creamery in our area. They’ll happily moosh up your ice cream choices with various nut and/or candy thingies. Or you can do as I do and go moosh-free with multiple flavors. They had coconut ice cream! Yay! I’d not had coconut ice cream since I was in Italy. So I got that and a double chocolate ice cream in a cup. Very tasty!

We walked back to Judi’s place while munching away at our ice cream delights. Then we vegged out for awhile, trying to get our various internet appliances onto Judi’s wireless router. (We had a password issue, which I managed to resolve – by typing a new password into her router.) Once we were well rested, however, it was time for the POOL!

We donned bathing suits and towels and things and headed to Judi’s private pool. Well, it’s not a private pool, but there’s rarely ever anyone in it when we’re there. And we were the only ones there most of the hour we were swimming (well, swimming’s too strong a word – playing in the water’s better). The water was very cold, but we all eventually got down to our necks. Some of us quicker than others. (Judi’s of the opinion that I should be a polar bear. Heh. I don’t think so!)

As it started to get dark outside, we finally braved the winds and got out of the pool. The towel felt so nice and warm when we got out. 🙂 We returned to Judi’s apartment and played with Judi’s crappy internet connection, watched BBC America and Food TV, and eventually went to bed. Today, Judi’s internet connection seems to be doing better that it was last night.

Well, Elsa’s just about done in the bathroom, so I guess I should get ready for the day. I believe the plan is going to the Taste for lunch (hopefully before it rains) and then having Elsa cook us a glorious supper. More details later. 🙂

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!

The First Lazing at the Lake for 2008

Ah, the sun is getting lower in the sky, the song birds are saying “night night!’ to each other, the geese are going “honk honk” as they pass each other on the Lake. Yup, it’s Memorial Day weekend at the Lake, 2008.

judiang‘s sleeping in the 3-season room. I’m sitting out by the fire (a very nice one I must say) typing on this. And poor elsaf is driving here from Detroit. She just can’t seem to buy a break today. Her intent was to arrive around 4pm. But we’ve received 2 e-mails and a text message, each stating yet another delay. Poor dear. She last figured 9:30pm. Hopefully that time will stand.

Judi arrived at the airport around 10:30 this morning and my folks picked her up. Since we’re into the last 10 days of school, by contract I wasn’t able to take a personal day even though, with the seniors gone, I don’t have students in the afternoon. Not a problem, since the folks were willing to help out, things went just fine.

They dropped Judi off at the school around 11 and I immediately showed off my Airliner tablet and the SmartBoard software. She was truly impressed and got a few lessons on optics. (She now knows the difference between diffraction and refraction.) I also showed her the current design plans for the new school building and my own plans for my chemistry classroom/lab. Then I drug her around the school so she could see some of the folks she went to Italy with. We couldn’t find Marcia, but she saw Jacki, John, Tammy, and Marcia’s hubby Gary (who gave her a big hug). We had a turkey sub from Indian’s Pizza (Jeff’s wife delivers to us every other Friday), some Munchies, apple slices and Pepsi. Tasty tasty. Then I drove Judi to my home, fixed her dessert (Betty Crocker’s new 150 calorie microwave brownies – very very yummy! Especially with whipped cream.)

I returned to work after I got Judi all nicely tucked up on the sofa. My brain was pretty much fried by then, so I helped out in the office moving boxes and stuff so they wouldn’t be in the hallway during graduation. It wasn’t until 2:30 that MJ remembered there was a calligraphy job she needed doing for the valedictorians. No matter, I grabbed my calligraphy kit and was done with the certificates in time to leave around 3. (We have 6 valedictorians this year. Out of a class of around 45-50. Before people shout “grade inflation” I’ll tell you this: 19 of the students are receiving various scholarships from universities – the total amount offered to those 19 kids is nearly $840,000. Eight hundred and friggin’ forty bucks! Sheesh, I wanted to get $160,000 to give ’em just to round it up to an even million.)

When I got home, I read the two e-mails from Elsa describing her late start and late arrival. So I didn’t rush us out the door as I had originally intended. Still, we got to the lake by 5pm, where upon I got the fresh fruit cleaned up (strawberries, peaches, blueberries) and made us amaretto sours.

Around 6pm, I started prepping for supper. I was going to surprise the girls with marinated shrimp on the grill. Well, Judi was surprised. Elsa will have to wait til she gets here to be surprised. And there’s shrimp left over which I can grill tomorrow for Elsa. I also had veggies to grill and some focaccia bread for the side. The veggies I bought were yellow squash, vidalia onion, red pepper, turnips (well, why not?), button ‘shrooms and shitake ‘shrooms (another new grillee for me), and marinated artichoke hearts. I skewered the shrimp & artichoke hearts and grilled the veggies in our vegging grilling bowl. The turnips and shitake mushrooms were a good idea. I’ll be grilling them again! I had also bought pineapple for grilling, but forgot to prep it, so we’ll have it later this weekend.

The shrimp and veggies were very tasty and I’ll have to make that shrimp marinade again. (It was garlic, rosemary, salt, and olive oil.) Indeed, I think I’ll probably use that marinade on other things.

So after I cleaned up the kitchen, I decided to get the fire going again and go sit outside. And that’s what I’m doing. Yay for my folks’ cottage at the Lake!

Spring Break ’08!

Although I had today off (being Good Friday and all that jazz) I didn’t feel like I’d started Spring Break until just a few minutes ago when I finally finished the third Data Analysis Exercise for my stats class. But it’s turned in, my proposal for my statistics final project is turned in (though originally I turned in a StarOffice file instead of Word document – whoops!) and I can now think a bit more about Spring Breaking!

I did sleep in today (well, til 8am – went to bed at the usual time last night since I was so tired) and talked dad in to buying Chinese Buffet for my lunch today. We also had a short stop at Walmart after lunch. But for the most part I’ve been in my library working on statistics. I’d been putting it off to get teaching stuff done last week and this week. The third quarter ended yesterday, so I’ve been trying to get caught up on grading. However, I have all of the quarter exams to grade and several retests for chemistry to grade (I had an Amnesty Day since some of the test scores this quarter were pretty low on average – I blame all the days off due to weather – or maybe lousy teaching, heh). Hopefully I’ll actually do them rather than let them sit there until Sunday night of next week. Heh. (One of my seniors predicted that and I suspect he’ll be right, procrastinator that I am.)

Anyway, back to statistics. I actually like doing the Data Analysis Exercises – number crunching has always been good to me. Indeed, I understand the exercises more than I understand the reading assignments. Well, at least I can use the tools to do the exercises and maybe understand what the numbers mean once they’re crunched. StarOffice Calc has been a godsend to me (as MS Exel would have been had I had it installed on any of my computers, which I don’t – ha!) but so have some nice websites which do statistical calculations which Calc can’t do. OpenEpi has been wonderful for ANOVA and t-test results. And today I found an Effect Size Calculator to calculate Cohen’s d. Joy joy. 🙂

I usually like to visit judiang during Spring Break since it always falls close to her birthday, but with my college work (much of which needs completed this next week) calling to me, I’m having to bow out of the visit. 🙁 Judi’s making me feel guilty, which she doesn’t need to since I already feel guilty. But all that guilt will probably result in a nice present for her, so she wins in the long run. Heh. Anyhoo, I’m sure she and elsaf will have a lovely time, if Elsa’s able to make it up there.

Tomorrow morning I’ll use one of my 15-day City of Heroin cards I got for Christmas to start up the addiction again. My only concern is that the game will completely sap my break such that I don’t get my college stuff done. I shall try to be strong. However, I’m itching so much to play again that I’ve got to do it. 🙂 I’ve already decided that the first toon I play will be my archer on the Freedom server – Pointed Stick. 🙂 Those 15 days have to last me until the end of the semester (April 28th or so) when I use the 30-day retail code for World of Warcrack. Ah, I’ve missed my little Elf and Dwarf hunters. (Not hunters of elves and dwarves, but hunters who are elven and dwarven.)

If I can tear myself away from CoH long enough tomorrow, I also intend to go to Fairborn for my Indian Fud/DWM run. Should be a nice day, even if the weather isn’t nice. (Of course, if the weather is really crappy, I’ll go to Fairborn another day of Spring Break.) Other plans for the break include FINALLY cleaning out closets and getting stuff together to take to auction, cleaning the house completely, reading, doing more college work, hanging out with the kitties, and whatever else I happen to think of doing. 🙂 Should be fun!

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…

Busy Times over the Holidays

I’ll begin by stating ditto what Judi said.

judiang has been picking on me because I haven’t been posting enough about the holidays. The fact of the matter is that I’m too zonked by the end of the day to post much of anything. I’ve been a busy little beaver since Dec 21st, the last day of school.

The food poisoning or whatever it was helped to keep me from overeating throughout the early festivities. Indeed, my first day to eat normally was Thursday the 27th.

Here’s a run down of my holiday thus far:

  • Friday Dec 21: Last day of work until 2008!

  • Saturday Dec 22: Amy & Rachel arrive in the evening (I spend most of the day cleaning the house.)

  • Sunday Dec 23: We do some shopping and see The Golden Compass. (Only Rachel and I have read the book thus far)

  • Monday Dec 24: Christmas Eve! I spent some time working on Amy’s laptop trying to get it to run at the speed it should. I backed up their files onto my PC so they could at least wipe the laptop if needed (but it might not need it now). Amy & I fixed haystacks (taco salads) for folks for supper and we watched Ocean’s 13 and had supper. The girls spent Christmas Eve night with me.

  • Tuesday Dec 25: Christmas! After a difficult night of little sleep, the girls and I headed next door to mom & dad’s for Christmas. We first opened our stockings, then had breakfast (I might have those two reversed) and then spent 2 hours opening presents. It was lots of fun! After some resting in the afternoon, we went to dad’s sister’s house for Christmas with the rest of the Shorts. It was fun to see the little kids enjoying their many presents. 🙂

  • Wednesday Dec 26: It was mom’s time to play hostess. She made Grandma Anderson’s noodles, mashed potatoes, ham (from MarketDay), sweet potatoes, asparagus, and other stuff for dinner. Amy made garlic green beans. I baked some Bob Evans rolls (and due to a miscount, had to pick up some more rolls from Bob Evans) and made a cheeseball (one of two – the other went to the Short’s the night before). And then we waited for mom’s brothers and their families. As was expected, they were late. Heh. But folks showed, ate, chatted, hugged, etc. It was a very fun day. And we all collapsed when they left.

  • Thursday Dec 27: Our last day with the girls. We spent it playing cards and chatting and eating leftovers. Then I drove everyone to the airport (since they had Wine Time right before it was time to go) and we said buh-bye to the girls and wished them a safe flight.

  • Friday Dec 28: No rest for the wicked – Judi and elsaf were to arrive. Although Elsa got off late, she still made it before I had to leave to pick up Judi. Indeed, as the ditto above states, she didn’t arrive in Ohio until after 10pm (she was supposed to arrive at 1pm) AND we had to drive to Columbus to get her. If we’d known her luggage (with presents) wasn’t flying with her, we might have just said “Nah…” 😉

  • Saturday Dec 29: A very full day indeed. Elsa made us French toast & sausage, we went to the airport for Judi’s luggage (yay, presents!), we headed to Fairborn for the Bookery and used bookstore (made $3 on some used books I had brought along) and Indian Fud. I had originally planned to take them to the Air Force Museum, but we decided to shop instead. Mall time then time at Bed Bath & Beyond and finally Sweeney Todd. After the movie, I drove us to Clifton Mill for the beautiful Christmas lights. Then back to Troy for a late supper at Ruby Tuesday (we were the last ones there). Back home, we watched the Doctor Who Xmas special and then opened presents. Whew!

  • Sunday Dec 30: Today. I’m exhausted after thinking about yesterday. Today we had French Toast and sausage again. Elsa and I then went to Kohl’s where Elsa bought me some nice flannel sheets for my birthday. Then on to Meijer for some more groceries we needed. Finally back home where Elsa cooked up a nice lunch of pineapple chicken rice. Then we put in a new door handle for the den door – thanks to some advice and tools from dad, we were successful with only a little bit of scuffing of the door (that’s visible – just barely). Elsa also made us a lovely supper of beer cheese soup and crepe suzettes – yummy! I took some photos of the burning crepes which I hope to post later. We watched Shrek 3 during lunch and Bend it Like Beckham after supper. We also watched A Wish for Wings that Worked (that Judi gave me for Xmas), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (do I really have to say which version?) and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And now I’m zonked.