Tag: spring break

The End of Spring Break

Ah, this has been a wonderful Spring Break. I’m sad it’s over, but it’s been an excellent restorative.

Did most of what I wanted to do over the break. Gamed some, read some, cleaned some, shopped some, ate some.

Wednesday, I had dad around and he fixed my back door lock and we got the “family heirloom” back up to snuff. This was the corner cupboard which was most likely NOT built by my grandfather or great grandfather. Probably built in the 1920s by a cabinet maker, dad suspects, rather than a furniture maker. It’s made of walnut and had some water (and cat) damage from when it was at Granny’s house (later Aunt Becky’s house). Dad had brought around most of his solvents and much of his furniture restoring equipment, but it turned out alcohol and a little bit of Old English polish was enough to get it looking good. (And today I painted the inside of the cabinet to cover the odd paint job that was in it.)

So now I have a corner cabinet which is displaying another “family heirloom” – a set of Depression Glass that my great Aunt Alma left to me a few years back. It’s nice to finally have that out to be seen instead of stored in my kitchen cupboards. (The bottom half of the corner cabinet has more storage space, too, so I’ve got my crock pot there for now – with probably more items joining it.)

Thursday was a fun evening out with my folks and friends (formerly from work – now all retired with only me still working). We had half-priced appetizers and drinks at the bar, then moved to the dining area for supper. I had 2 dirty girl scout martinis (chocolate & mint – yum!), shrimp tempura (and a bit of dad’s pizza appetizer and one of mom’s shrimp coctails), and a lovely salad for supper. The Caroline is a nice place to eat out with friends.

I spent the night with the folks (hence 2 drinks instead of one), and the following morning mom and I went off to her water aerobics class at the Lincoln Center. It was nice to get into the pool again. Got to meet the ladies in her class and exercise a bit. We returned home for a shower, then moved onto a WeightWatchers meeting. When our workplace one ends, I’ll probably join this one. Lots of people there, which was good to see.

I went to Brukner Nature Center several times over Spring Break. I’m not sure I could have asked for nicer weather for Spring Break. Heck, today it got to the lower 70sF. (And today was one of the few days I couldn’t get out for a decent walk – go figure!)

I finished my Spring Break as I do many of my Sundays – doing laundry, baking bread, cleaning the kitchen. I also painted the interior of the corner cabinet, cleaned the Depression Glass, and after the paint was dry, put the dishes into the cabinet.

But now it’s bedtime, so I’m off to sleep. Tomorrow school begins anew, with only 8 weeks to go! (Good grief!) Summer will be here before we know it!

Spring Break 2013!

Today is the first day of Spring Break for us this year. And we’re off until April 8, so yay for a week and a day off! I don’t have any travel plans for the week, which will be nice. As much as I love to travel, it’s nice to have some time spent at home, too.

I also have nothing big planned for the break. I hope to read some, game some, walk some, shop some, clean some, and eat some. And already have done all of those today (bar the reading – which will be remedied soon enough, and the cleaning – which will be… well, there’s always Sunday). I headed off to see the folks for lunch today and we went to Lincoln Square. I had a BLT club and fries. The club was very yummy, the fries were simply OK. Then the folks and I walked to the grocery. (OK, so it wasn’t swanky shopping or anything, but it was shopping!)

Tomorrow we’re having Easter dinner at Aunt Becky’s with the promise of cards before dinner. I’m bringing the relish tray (AKA crudités) and a cheeseball (cream cheese & hot pepper jelly mixed together). I might bring brownies too if I wind up baking some tonight. Heh.

The weather was beautiful today. A few clouds, blue skies, high 40s/low 50s (˚F), so I went for another walk after supper. Tomorrow should be equally lovely, so I hope to walk a bit before we’re off to Becky’s.

March has been a good month for me and the folks. Last weekend we had a lovely time exploring new businesses in Troy. We visited the new bulk food store in the downtown, then had lunch at Mojos, a new bar (where O’Brian’s used to be). After an unsuccessful venture to Kohl’s (not a new biz), we finished off at the new cupcake store (Brittney’s Cakes) that’s run by neighbors of my folks. The cupcakes are quite tasty!

In the last bit o’ news of the Treen, I’m still doing WeightWatchers and my weight is slowly going down. Mom’s just rejoined WW and when our workplace WW ends, I intend to join mom’s WW group. (Might go there next Friday since we won’t be meeting Tuesday!)

I hope you all are doing as well as I’ve been (and if you aren’t, *hugs* to you) and may the odds be ever in your favor! (Oh wait, where did that spring from?)

Spring Break – Wheeeeee!

With the temperatures dropped back into the upper 30s, lower 40s (deg F), you can tell it’s time for Spring Break! Not sure which day the ice storm is scheduled for, but I hope it’s not Wednesday or Saturday when I’m going to fly to/from Chicago!

Because my break has begun, I decided to resubscribe to World of Warcrack using my last 60-day card. *sniff* And when it expires, summer will be nearly here, so I may decide to pay some moolah and resub again for a few months. I’ll know after the 60-days if that’s a good idea or a bad one. (And then if I decide it’s a bad one, I’ll have to talk myself out of resubbing, heh.)

Before I head off to Chicago to visit judiang for her birthday (with elsaf joining us on Friday), I’ve got a couple of other things planned. On Monday, a landscape designer will meet with me to discuss landscaping the front of my house with Ohio Native Plants. And it looks like Tuesday will be the day for the folks and I to invade Ikea. Yay!

Other than those things, I have little planned. I want to play some WoW and some CoH (still on the year subscription there, but I’ve not been overplaying, which is nice.) I wouldn’t mind catching a movie or two if there’s anything playing nearby that I want to see. I really REALLY need to get my screen windows out and have the screens replaced (Linus can be a devil on screens, despite the Soft Paws). I really REALLY need to do a good Spring Cleaning of this place. Oh, and tomorrow is Laundry Day.

Definitely exciting things going on here! Heh.

S H O P P I N G

I’ve spent most of my Spring Break working on things that have been lingering in my house/college work/etc. Although there’s still a lot more I wanted to get done, I’m pleased with some of my progress.

But for me, Spring Break just isn’t Spring Break unless I go SHOPPING. I was hoping to get doon sooth to Ikea (a good hour and 20 minute drive) this spring break and today wound up being the day. The original plan was me, mom & dad. But alas, dad has caught the cold that mother got when she flew down to Florida last week. Mom was mostly recovered, so she drove the two of us down to West Chester (that’s south of Dayton, but north of Cincinnati) with my phone telling us where to go. And it got us there just fine.

This Ikea is fairly new and still has the New Store look to it. We arrived right at noon. Which was good, cuz we were both hungry for lunch. I got the Swedish meatballs with gravy & lingonberry preserves along with smashed tators. There was also a fizzy peach drink which I picked up. Mom decided on their veggie wrap and the garlic tomato soup and some of that peach fizzy drink. We agreed we’d get dessert after shopping.

If you’ve not been to an Ikea – well, it’s an adventure. We started putting little things in our bag as we wandered. Mom checked out kitchen cabinets and their arrangements, I just liked looking at the neat-o furniture. We tried out a few sofas and were impressed with the comfort. I got to see the TV stand I’d been eying on their website. I decided I’d get it and we even found some nice green boxes which would fit on it. (It’s not going to be a TV stand, it’s going under my picture window as a set of shelves.)

After we picked up the very heavy TV stand and purchased everything, we dumped it all into mom’s car then returned to the store for dessert. I got the chocolate cake (which elsaf would hate – it’s basically layers of chocolate mousse separated by oreo cookie crumbs) – it was delish! Mom got the almond cake, which was also lovely. So lovely we decided to pick one up in the little Swedish food shop. And a few other items.

The little dessert (and coffee for mom) perked us up enough we were game to finally see Jungle Jim’s. Aunt Becky has sung its praises before. And it was indeed impressive. It’s like a Trader Joe’s x 3 plus a regular grocery. We had a nice time in there, despite the fact that we were getting sore feet/legs/etc from all the walking about. They even had pork pies – so I had to get one. The prices were pretty reasonable as well. All the stuff that I got and it was under $40. Oh, and when we finished shopping, it was 6pm. So we shopped for 6 hours straight (with a few times eating and/or driving to the other store).

We had a long drive home which is when the sun finally decided to come out. Indeed, the closer we got to home, the sunnier it got. Heh. I ate my pork pie and had some salt & pepper potato chips left over from Christmas when A&R were in town. Mom and I finally finished ’em. I think the pork pie had more meat in it than the ones I’d always buy at Harrod’s in London. Heh.

Two more days left of Spring Break. I’ll probably go back into productive mode tomorrow. (Well, I’d better! For one thing, I want to put my new TV stand together and stuff books & things on it.) But today was a nice break from productivity.

Spring Break, Boo-Yah!

Well, I’m on Spring Break now – woohoo! And after I get back from watching Doctor Who with the parentals, it is my goal to stay up playing CoX until I can’t stand it anymore. And tomorrow I hope to do some mahoosive spring cleaning in my house. And Wednesday, I’m off to elsaf‘s so that on Thursday, the two of us can drive to judiang‘s. Should be fun, regardless of what Mother Nature throws at me. 🙂