Tag: family

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!

Buh Bye 2009! Hola 2010!

Can you believe it? I’m 39 today! Pretty nifty.

This has been a very busy holiday. Been having a great time with my family and with elsaf and judiang.

Have seen Avatar and it was pretty amazing. I was a little nauseous afterward, but not enough to prevent my enjoyment. (I’ll probably not watch it in 3D again.)

We had a party last night at mom & dad’s clubhouse. Mucho fun and Judi was quite impressed. Declared it superior to the one in her apartment complex.

Currently watching the Rose Parade (nice of those folks in Pasadena to put on a parade for my birthday every year!) while cooking dinner. Pork and kraut are cooking in the oven, taters are boiling on the stove (to be mashed later), beer bread warming on the stove top. The folks, Amy, and Rachel will be coming around 1pm. Judi’s snoozing while I exclaim about neat floats. Elsa, alas, is driving home. She has to work later tonight.

After lunch, we’ll play with the Wii. Should be fun. (Beatles Rock Band is mucho fun!)

Oooooh! Bootiful float going by. Dragon! Got the International award.

Should get back to paying attention to the parade.

BTW, question for any Rock Band fans out there: Is there any way to get multiple nicknames in the game? Right now, when we pick instruments, they all say “trinalin1,” “trinalin2,” etc.

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!

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!

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. 🙂

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.

It’s a (TMI) Christmas!

So anyhoo, Friday was our last day of school. And thanks to something I ate during the school day, I wound up having a bout of food poisoning. I was already grumbly in the tummy when I headed for bed, and it got worse from there. I won’t go into much more detail, but I’ll just say this: It’s a Very Very Gassy Christmas!

Anyhoo, I am recuperating quite nicely. The girls (Amy & Rachel) arrived safely last night. We spent a lovely day (well, apart from the TMI above) today. This evening we watched Charade. It’s one of mom & dad’s favorite movies, and yet Amy & I had never seen it. I found it enjoyable, but A&R pronounced it “silly.” Heh, that’s probably why I liked it.

BTW, tomorrow’s Christmas Eve! Woohoo!

JSOR & eating

Mom, dad and I went to another Jesus Seminar on the Road this weekend. The hyperbolic paraboloid UU church that we’ve been to before was hosting another JSOR. Hal Taussig and Kathleen Corley were the guest speakers. Kathleen is the first female Fellow of the Jesus Seminar that I’ve met. They spent a lot of time on the session focusing on 1st century eating & burial habits. That sounds rather uninteresting, but it turned out to be quite fascinating. The biggest thing to get your mind around is that everyone at the “supper clubs” were reclining. Oddly enough, you never see depictions of the Last Supper with everyone reclining.

After the Friday evening session, the folks and I went out for “second supper” with Richard, the pastor at the UU church my folks and I sometimes attend. Dad ordered Nachos Nuevos thinking “huevos” and wondering what nachoes with eggs on would be like. (Actually, he knew it wasn’t eggs, he just couldn’t remember what nuevo meant.) We’d had supper at Applebees before the session and second supper at Applebees was a nice idea. I was able to order the dessert shooter I’d been eying at supper time. Plus we got 10% off thanks to our hotel room cards.

We attended most of the Saturday workshops, and dad did a “Come to Jesus (Seminar)” speech after lunch. But then we had to leave early in order to reach Englewood by 5pm. My uncle Bob (mom’s second older brother) is turning 70 on Halloween, so his wife decided we should have a surprise birthday party for him at Tumbleweed’s (a steak restaurant). Both of Bob’s kids were able to come – Rob (and his wife Mele) from Virginia, and Shelly (and her girls, Mallory & Brooke) from Indiana. Bob & mom’s other brother, Doug, and his wife & kids were also able to attend.

Despite the long drive, we managed to arrive at the restaurant first. Rob & Mele arrived next, followed shortly by Doug, Charlene & Patty. We got ourselves seated & drinks ordered and waited for the birthday boy to arrive. We had also informed the waiter & waitress taking our orders that we had a birthday celebration taking place. Eventually Madeline & Bob arrived and we all shouted “Surprise!” much to the amusement of other eaters.

I sat at the end of the table with Shelly and her girls and Patty. I remembered the days when we cousins, along with my sister, would stay at Grandma & Grandpa’s for weekends. We didn’t get to spend as much time with Shelly since she was a bit older (Patty’s only 6 months my senior) and lived further away. But we did have some times together.

The food was good and Madeline brought a cream puff cake for the dessert. She even had enough slices for our waiter & waitress. Mele took loads of photos (she’s the only one who remembered to bring a camera in to the restaurant) and there were many cell phones snapping shots as well. It was a fun family gathering and I’m sure Bob won’t be forgetting his 70th birthday celebration. 🙂

(Of course, after all the family hugging & sharing, I realized on the ride home that my throat was starting to get sore. I hope I didn’t infect anyone! Today I’ve mostly been sleeping and/or medicated. And it’s time for me to take more Nyquil & head for bed. Here’s hoping today’s recovery day has helped to kick the cold to the curb.)

The End of Summer

Although Summer isn’t over in the Northern Hemisphere until mid September, for all intent & purposes in the US, it ends this coming Monday, our Labor Day. For me, Summer ended two Wednesdays ago when school began. But that hasn’t stopped me from having some End of Summer Fun this weekend.

Amy (my sister) and Rachel (her partner) arrived in Ohio on Thursday morning. I didn’t get to see them until I got home from work, but when I did, I gave ’em both big hugs. I hadn’t seen ’em since January. We took a nice walk in town and just outside of town heading down to the river. And for old times’ sake, we played a game of Pooh Sticks. Amy won, or so she claims. 😉 We agreed that it’s a lot harder to play Pooh Sticks on the “new” bridge than it was on the old one. It’s so hard to see over the edge.

We popped in to Indians Pizza on the way home and Rachel decided that maybe some ice cream before pizza was in order. None of us had our money with us, so we agreed to get ice cream cones on the walk home with the pizzas when we went to pick them up. We returned home to wait for Becky & Deanna’s arrival.

The goal was to play cards & eat pizza. But after our long walk, the girls and I were hungry for pizza already. With some discussion, we came up with what to order. A large deluxe, a large sausage pizza, half with green olives, and a small BLT pizza. Yes, you read that right – Bacon Lettuce & Tomato pizza. I’d heard rave reviews from it at lunch, so I wanted to try it. Others were willing to try it as well.

When the pizzas were ready, the girls and I walked back to Indians Pizza, this time with money. Rachel also ordered a Buckeye Classic ice cream cone and I got a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. The Buckeye Classic is peanut butter ice cream with little candy buckeyes and chocolate swirls. Of course, since we had ice cream cones in hand, that left Amy to carry the pizzas…

The pizzas were a hit, even the BLT pizza, which is basically a bacon & cheese pizza that, after baking, gets some mayo squeezed onto it, then is topped with lettuce and tomato. After we had our fill, dad retired to his little nest and we ladies sat around the kitchen table for playing Shanghai Rum. Amy sat out of the playing of the game, but she kept score and stayed in the conversation. Although we ran out of time before finishing all of the rounds, we had a lovely time. Mom won with me coming second. Becky, for a change, lost.

Friday was another work day for me, but as soon as I was able to leave, I did. There was a box of food on my kitchen table and a note on my counter. I was to take the food on the table plus some bags of perishables from the fridge and head for the lake with clothes enough for 3 days. This I did and I got to the lake around 5pm.

Mom’s brother Doug and his family were supposed to be joining us for supper, and they made it eventually. Dad grilled burgers & dogs and Aunt Charlene brought “wheels” (which was one of Grandma Anderson’s big family recipes – basically wheel-shaped macaroni with a milk & butter sauce). The wheels were good, as was the rest of the food. My cousin Gregg and his wife arrived even later, but we were glad they could make it. Amy hadn’t met his wife yet and Rachel hadn’t met either.

We spent the evening chatting & laughing and eventually we all gathered around the fire for more chatting, laughing, and singing. It was a very pleasant evening.

The main reasons the girls are in the area was that their friend was getting married and having a bit reception/party for friends. So Saturday was the day Amy & Rachel headed to Cincinnati for the wedding reception. They were picked up by another pair of friends who were coming down from Toledo. (They originated, like A&R, from the Twin Cities, but also like A&R, were visiting family while in Ohio.)

Once they were on their way, the folks and I headed off to the Piqua Heritage Festival. The past few years I’ve missed out on the festival because I’ve either been up in Detroit with judiang and elsaf or hanging out with A&R at home. So it was nice to get back to the festival. Although the crafts and recreations are neat, I mostly go for the food. I had a peach smoothie, crawfish etouffe, Moose Tracks ice cream, and a lemon shake up. I also bought a loaf of sour dough bread and some kettle corn popcorn for munching on at the Lake.

After a short hop at home to pick up a few essentials, we returned to the Lake where we’ve been relaxing ever since. The girls will be returning around 3pm and we’ve agreed we’ll let them grill supper. I wonder if they’re amenable to that… 😉 Belay that – they have just arrived! Woohoot!

This has been a very pleasant End of the Summer. Let’s hope The Start of Autumn is just as pleasant!