Tag: party

Belated Halloween Post

I’ve been meaning to get a Round Tuit to posting photos that I (and a few others) took at the Halloween party that my folks and I attended that night. And as I wait in the queue to get onto World of Warcrack (they just released a new expansion), I found the Tuit and it was, indeed, Round. So first photo is one of me and the camera outfit that I used for most of the photos. The theme of the party was 1920s/Great Gatsby and many of the attendees drezzed for the occasion. (As I’m not a fan of wearing dresses, I opted more for Marlene Dietrich in drag. She looked FINE in a suit or tux. Me… well, I’m cute at least. See?)

meandcam
Me and the camera that dad put together. He’s clever. 🙂

mumanddad
The party started at The Caroline, a restaurant in Troy. Here’s mom and dad entering the restaurant.

mumandme
Here’s mom and I at the restaurant.

groupshot
A group shot of the first of our group to arrive at the restaurant. Not all who attended the party at Tammy’s were able to come to the restaurant.

flappers
Some flappers at the Caroline.

champers
Now at Tammy’s, here’s dad getting the champagne bar ready. (Tammy also had a cocktail bar, a wine bar, and a cigar bar at the party. Though cigars were to be smoked outdoors.)

parents
Tammy’s front room had the perfect backdrop for 1920s style photos. Here’s my folks. I got many of the couples in front of this window.

dadandme
Awhile into the party and dad and I relax while one of the party-goers takes out photo.

mumwins
As the evening wore on, poker and pool were the entertainment. Here’s mom winning a hand!

poolshark
My dad, the pool shark.

actionshot
I was pleased when I saw that the camera captured the movement of the ball. Our host John shoots while two of the three Mikes at the party look on.

Ends & Odds

Actually had a weekend without any festivals. Kind of sad, but also good. The folks and I took the opportunity to do a Trader Joe’s run yesterday to get our usual assortment of chocolate and nuts and (for the folks) wine. Then last evening we went to a party at the Fisher’s. They had steaks and shrimp on the grill and we stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the company outside in the wonderful autumn evening.

Today I tried to be productive and was mostly successful. I got up late, but still finished laundry, did a bit more grocery shopping, baked a loaf of white bread (I think this is better than the prior batch, but still not quite what I’m looking for), and made some chicken and rice soup. I used brown rice in the soup, and I think that was ideal. It still has a bit of bite to it, despite the simmering time.

Things that I wanted to do but didn’t get around to include vacuuming floors and mopping the kitchen. And the poor kitties are on “old” food cuz I ordered their real food too late. It’ll probably show up tomorrow. Bad mommy!

Finally have the opportunity to sit & relax & read. But first I thought I’d post this entry. Lucy’s sitting beside me on the arm of the comfy chair. Since it’s gotten a bit chilly at night, she’s back to being my extra blanket at night. I like her using me as a full body pillow. 🙂

This week is the last week of the first quarter at school. Man, the year has flown by. I think I might be getting a better handle on the new chemistry course, but time will tell.

OK, back to relaxing. Ahhhhh.

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…

Happy New Year!

Well, judiang and I are resting up from our successful New Year’s Eve party. OK, so it was just us, my folks, and Amy & Rachel. But it was great fun. OK, so I forgot some things like, say, ice and, say, pop for folks other than me. But I had the ham cooked and was working on the mini-piggies-in-a-blanket when folks arrived. No matter, the folks brought lots of booze with ’em and their own drinks master: Amy.

We had supper and started mom’s (new) DVD of Trading Places. Once we finished eating, we sat and watched the movie to its end. When I started up Serenity, we ladies played Apples to Apples (which A&R gave to mom for Christmas) while dad tried to listen to the movie (unsuccessfully, from what I understand). I was in the lead for awhile, getting 5 cards. But then Rachel sped past me to the win.

Euchre was our next game of choice, but the movie ended and we had 5 minutes to go til midnight. So ABC came on and we Rocked our way to the New Year.

MERRY NEW YEAR!
(Beef Jerky Time!)

We finished the game of Euchre with Judi and I beating mom & Amy. (They say they let us win cuz it was now my birthday. Heh.) Folks then drifted off home and Judi and I cleaned up the place. The dishwasher is now going, Judi’s over in the chair on her laptop and I’m here on the sofa on mine.

2006 is dead and gone. Long live 2007! May it be a good year for everyone on my flist!

trinalin, party animal extraordinaire

Usually my most social time of the year is December, near the holidays. But things transpired that this weekend was also a big social weekend for me. Two nights in a row going to parties and tonight having Dinner & a Movie with my folks.

Friday night, our teacher’s association had a party to celebrate our first quarter. We were encouraged to bring games for play, so of course I brought Dutch Blitz. However, once folks got there, everyone just got into conversation groups and talked & ate the evening away. I was shocked when I finally looked at my watch to find it was nearly 11pm. It was quite nice, just chatting with folks I don’t get to see much during the school week. And yes, when teachers gather, they do talk about teaching. I noticed that we rarely discuss kids in particular, but we do talk about general trends that we notice. (For example, far too many parents these days are too busy being “best friends” with their kids rather than being parents. That makes working with some students difficult.) Thankfully, there are many other conversation topics that pop up too. So I didn’t get to teach anyone to play Dutch Blitz, but I still had a great time decompressing after the first quarter.

Saturday night was another teacher-filled night. Each year the Fisher’s have a Steak Grill party, and it happened to be the same weekend as our association party. The folks and I headed off to Gary & Marcia’s for good eats. Mom and I sat with Tammy, the art teacher, and my retired 2nd grade teacher, Jo. We had a lovely supper (great steaks – HUGE! Plus French Onion soup, salad, loads of wonderful bread, and baked potatoes). Mom brought a pumpkin cobbler, which was very popular (and tasty too). She’d had it before, but it was her first time making it. Dad was sitting with Gary and the Hoyings (my former government teacher who’s now at another school, and his wife) and having a lovely evening. It was nice seeing folks I don’t normally get to (like my former principal, Steve, the aforementioned Jo, and the Hoyings).

After two nights of being entertained at other people’s houses, I did my own entertaining here. When my folks and I shopped at Trader Joe’s two weeks ago, I bought some pesto, frozen artichoke hearts, and mozarella. I promised mom that I would make them pizza sometime and today was the day. I had purchased some Boboli crusts (one whole wheat, one regular) and Roma tomatoes last weekend. So I spread the pesto on the crusts, sliced the tomatoes thin and spread over the pesto, then sliced the artichoke hearts thinner and put them on top. Sliced mozzarella and shredded Asiago cheese went on top. When I opened the pesto, I knew we were in for a treat – it smelled just like fresh basil. Once again, Trader Joe’s wins the Internets!

When I have the folks over, I usually share one of my many DVD purchases with them. Tonight we watched Over the Hedge (which I hadn’t seen, but bought the day it came out). The folks brought salad around and I had several types of 100 calorie packs of snacks to choose from. The first pizza was done as soon as they arrived – yay me! We watched the movie and ate supper and were pleased with both. Best of all, I’ve got leftover pizza for two more meals. 🙂 Lucy let mom hold her when she came in, so she wins the Internets too! They were really interested in us when we first started eating, but then lost interest and fell asleep in various places.

So I survived a people-filled weekend. And I’ve got another one next weekend when the parental units and I head for a Jesus Seminar on the Road in Fort Wayne, IN. Hope it’s as fun as this weekend was!