laura705

Well, back at work today after 8 vacation days and two weekends.  I’m glad I went through some of my work e-mail late last week and deleted some garbage and filed some of the usual stuff.  Of course, there’s more to go through, but people are leaving me alone for now, so that’s good.

What follows is mostly me droning on about my orthotics/shoe shopping woes, and downloading photos from my camera, so don’t expect anything exciting, lol.

The weekend was okay.  I had a 10 am hair appt on Saturday and I actually slept until 9:30, so it was rush rush to get there on time.  I ate lunch afterwards and then took doggy for a walk.  It was actually a pretty nice day.  I started the walk wearing my jeans jacket and quickly took it off and tied around my waist.  Between the walking and the sun, I was warm. 

Later I went to a shoe store sort of like the other one I went to that helps fit “problem feet” and spent another crazy amount for a single pair of shoes.  They didn’t have the color I wanted in the size I needed, so they are on order.  The employee was very helpful, but I’m not sure if I can continue to buy from places with expensive shoes like that.  I’m finding that the expensive athletic shoes I bought from the other store don’t feel good since I put my custom orthotics in them.  The guy from the 2^nd store thinks I didn’t really need a wide width shoe (since the mesh has a lot of give) and suggested I snug up the shoes with a cheapie insole placed under the orthotic.  He also listened to my comments about my orthotics and suggested going back to the podiatrist and having them adjusted.  I hate the trial and error nature of this process, but what else can be done?  I’m actually looking forward to picking up the new shoes when they come in because the shoe store is near a couple of outlet stores I want to stop at… One of them is Land’s End, and btw, Tawnya, you can return LE catalog orders to LE outlets, but I’m not sure about returning them to Sears stores. 

Saturday night I took a pass on the small family b-day party bf attended for our friend who just had her big 50^th b-day party a couple weeks ago.  I just wanted an evening to myself.  I recorded several tv shows and watched those and also did the cutting of the fabric for my pillow cover.

Sunday started chilly, but at least was nice and sunny.  I looked through the newspapers all morning, then unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher.  I also scrubbed the kitchen sink, something bf never does.  After that I took a long dog walk.  My athletic shoes are still not comfortable for my “bunion foot”, even w/ the original mfr’s insole in the shoe under my orthotic.  I’m going to remove my custom orthotic and put in the drugstore arch insert and see if that helps.  I think the metatarsal support and the arch area of my custom inserts are not properly placed and therefore aren’t giving me support where my foot needs it.

Bf and I went to lunch, and I had such a chill, all I wanted to do was bake in the sun.  So back at home we sat in the sun with our books for a while, and after the sun went behind the trees we read some more inside and I had some hot tea.  After a while I went to the spare room and sewed my new pillow cover.  It turned out nicely.  I took before and after photos.  Now I just need to download my photos…  I tried doing that last week, but I was getting an error about the source or destination file being full.  I can still take photos, so it’s not my camera’s memory card that’s full.  I think our Picasa software may have some kind of limit to the number of photos it can hold in its albums.  Just did a quick google on that and it appears there are limits.  Sigh.  Now I need to make sure all the photos I have in Picasa albums are saved to my own directories on our computer’s hard drive and then delete them from the Picasa albums.  Then I want to download all my photos on my camera’s memory card and make sure that they’re saved on my computer hard drive, and (finally) I will totally wipe clean my memory card and not keep photos on there if I’ve already downloaded them.  Anyway, I will post my pillow photos at some point. 

And since I’ve sorta gotten onto the topic of organizing – on Saturday (while watching tv) I finished going through the old bank statements.  Now I have a bunch of other paperwork in the office to purge and organize.  I’ve decided that I prefer to do this in short sessions, like on the train, so I will continue taking small stacks with me in my backpack. 

Well, nothing special going on today or tonight.  Tonight I think I’ll go to the gym or do a workout in the basement and/or a dog walk.  Depends on the car situation.  Tomorrow is movie night, and the movie might be “Post Grad”, which stars the girl who played the daughter in Gilmore Girls and also Michael Keaton.  That’s all for now.  It’s lunch time and I didn’t bring a lunch from home.  Not sure what I want to eat.  I will, however, bring my book club book with me.  It’s due tomorrow and I have almost 200 pages left to read.   

Last post was Wed.  I haven’t been doing much the past couple days.  Wed.  I did do another Body Electric workout.  After that…I dunno.  It’s been crummy and rainy the past two days and today is yucky too.  And chilly.  My feet are cold, and I’m wearing socks and have a fleece throw over my legs and feet. 

I’m sort of glad we didn’t waste the money on our getaway, given that the crummy weather would have us staying indoors most of the time.  I have, however, managed to take the dog out for walks the past two days in between showers.  On Wed. bf and I went out for a late lunch and then visited his mum in the hospital.  She was herself and seemed fine, but was staying another night and awaiting more test results.  (She’s back home now, and the docs didn’t find any problems w/ the heart. They are attributing the chest pain and high BP to muscle spasms.  ??)   Can’t recall the rest of Wed. except we got a call that our friends had their baby that evening. 

Thursday I puttered the morning away with tv and who knows what.  Bf went to the noon funeral service and post-service lunch for his friend’s mother.  In the meantime, I touched up the paint in the DR - bf had spackled spots where we’d removed drapery rods and other spots a long while back, but had never gone back to sand or paint.  There was also some poorly painted spots I touched up.  We’re both poor painters.  The imperfections on the walls don’t help matters either.   Except for some spots that I decided to re-spackle and finish “another day”, I finished that and ate some lunch.  I started on my pillow cover sewing project when bf got home. 

We went to visit our friends and their new baby at the hospital.  Everyone is doing well, thankfully.  The hardest part is yet to come.  Lots of visitors present, including the grandparents, both sides of which asked bf and I when we were having a baby.  Ha ha.  I joked that we had our dog baby and that was enough.  I really wanted to say, hey people, I’m 45 years old  - I’m not having a baby.  But I didn’t say that, I just decided to enjoy the fact that they still thought we were young enough, and not one of those freaky old women who have babies when they’re 60 or men who father them when they’re 70+.  Rest of evening was dinner out and tv at home. 

Getting to be late morning here.  I’ve been having very leisurely mornings the past several days, and I’m split between (1) enjoying reading my book, drinking my tea and otherwise enjoying the leisure and (2) feeling like times a-wasting and why am I spending the morning in my pj’s doing virtually nothing?  But it’s rainy and crappy out and I have no urge to do anything outdoorish.  I keep saying I should get out and shop for the new bath and shower stuff, and, sigh, shop for shoes, but somehow I never get around to it.  (These vacation days seem to fly by at warp speed you know.)  I consider my online shopping for the dog stuff, my Lands End stuff, and the measly pair of khakis from Kohl’s to be an achievement of sorts for me, LOL.  BTW, the Lands End stuff is all keepers.  Sheesh, I could actually start wearing all those long sleeve tops today given the weather! 

But maybe I’ll actually do some more shopping today.  I was also supposed to get together with my friend for dinner and a movie or something tonight, but I don’t know now.  I haven’t talked to her, even to acknowlege her message on Monday about her ex’s/my bf’s friend’s mother’s death and related arrangements.  I’m sort of ambivalent about getting together - want to do something with myself, but sort of half hoping that she’ll postpone - after all, she had to take yesterday off work to attend the funeral service.   I feel sorry her son didn’t get more time w/ his paternal grandmother. 

Okay, I’m just rambling on.  I think I’ll publish this and then shower  - if for nothing more than to get my feet warm - and then get out for a dogwalk.  Oh, feeling guilty for being such a slug and eating out so much so I’ll do another Body Electric workout. 

Well, another change in plans.  A phone call today at about 7 am from bf’s sister - bf’s mother went to the hosp.  early early this morning w/ chest pains and elevated blood pressure.  Thankfully, the tests came out clean.  Bf thinks it’s stress related.  I just hope the prospect of dogsitting didn’t bring this on!  She’s dogsat for us before and loves our dog, so I hope that wasn’t it!  As for our getaway - it’s off.  Bf’s mom obviously can’t dogsit for us now.  Our other option is bf’s friend who is now on kidney dialysis due to his worsening diabetes situation and he’s in no condition to do this. 

I’m not as broken up as I could be about this change because it’s a rainy day today and I think tomorrow is supposed to be too, and our getaway spot wasn’t all that far away, so it’d probably be much the same up there.  Bf phoned the inn and cancelled our reservation, luckily without any penalty fee.  Also on the bright side is that last night bf did some cleaning in anticipation of his mum staying over - got caught up on the dishes, actually scrubbed the tub/shower, and washed a load of towels.  He also put a pork roast that he had thawed into the crockpot.  Today we’ll have pulled bbq pork for lunch or dinner.  Yum.

My day yesterday was very nice.  I downloaded picnic photos from my camera and sent them to my brother’s friend, and he sent some back to me.  He’s going to make an album for my mother with those photos and a lot of photos he had of my brother and his friends from his late teens and 20’s that none of the family ever really saw, so that’ll be really nice for my mother. 

I got a late start, but at about noon I finally got on the road to the museum and gardens I wanted to see, Cantigny (in west suburban Wheaton, IL).  I arrived in time for a guided tour of the mansion/museum.  Always very interesting to me to see historic homes, especially those of the rich and powerful!  The tour ended at 2:30, but the restaurant where I planned to eat lunch closed at 2 pm, so I had to settle for a turkey sandwich from the coffee bar.  After that I toured the gardens.  It was just a lovely day, and the gardens were beautiful.  I took a jillion photos and I’m anxious to download them to the computer.  I’ll post some tomorrow. 

Because I didn’t eat enough, I started feeling crummy shortly after getting home.  We ate out (yet again) and then stopped at the market to pick up a couple things to have in the house for bf’s mother.  Back at home, I took some ibuprofen, washed up for bed and pretty much went straight to bed to watch tv.  I think I was tired out from muscle fatigue from Monday’s workout and all the strolling around the gardens.  I dozed off after about 1/2 hour and finally got up to brush my teeth shortly after 10 and then went back to sleep. 

I woke up after our early phone call this morning and decided to stay up.  I updated my checkbook and read through some newspaper articles my mom had sent me about the Extreme Makeover project they did in her area.  Very interesting and heartwarming to read about all the volunteers and donors.  That show will air in October. 

No firm plans for today.  I need a shower, but I think I’ll do a Body Electric workout in the basement first.  Otherwise, I think I’ll download those photos and maybe start my pillow cover project.  Oh, I received my Lands’ End order yesterday.  I ordered some overstock items - five tops, all long-sleeved.  Two cotton v-neck sweaters, one v-neck t-shirt, two turtlenecks that actually unbutton at the neck to become and open-collared shirt.  I have to try all of them on and see how they look and fit.  We also received the order for doggy yesterday and he is enjoying his new squeaky toy.  I’m not sure if he’s broken in his new bacon flavored nylabone yet.  I also ordered him a pet pillow, and it’ll be interesting to see if he actually uses it.  

Well, I’m going to publish this and get off the laptop - my lap is getting warm - and get dressed and do my workout.  A shower will feel nice.  If bf hadn’t been scrubbing the shower last night I would’ve showered off the sunscreen last night.  Have a good day everyone. 

Really had to think about what day it was.  On vacation they all run together. 

Most of yesterday I was still in a sour mood about our lack of getaway plans and lack of interest in them by certain parties.  I puttered around for a bit in the morning - did a couple loads of laundry, did one Body Electric workout, showered -  and then got dressed and took doggy for a walk.  During the walk I turned on my phone and promptly got a sound that meant I had a voicemail.  My friend left a message that that her ex’s mother had passed away and to let me bf know, since her ex and bf were good childhood friends. 

So we’ll be going to a wake this week.  The mother had moved to Milwaukee, and there will be a wake there on Wed. and a service back here on Thurs.  We’ve decided to change our getaway plans (however nebulous they were) and go to Milwaukee for the servce and then stay at a resort area that’s about halfway between Milw. and home.  We’ve gone there before and have decided to stay at the same inn we stayed at before.  That’s actually made me more relaxed - the familiarity and not having to find a good place to stay.  I was stressed about that when we were going to the other place, which was unfamiliar to either of us.

Anyway, after the dog walk, we had leftovers for lunch and then made a quick trip to Walmart.  I was thinking of going to Bed Bath and Beyond to shop for a new bathroom shower curtain & accessories, but it was such a nice day that I decided to just go home.  Then bf went in the yard and started with his phone calls, and knowing I’d get no peace and quiet, I decided to drive to the forest preserve.  But I forgot my water and then couldn’t remember the exact entrance location for the spot I wanted to go to (it’s a huge preserve area with several entrances), and so I drove around a bit and finally gave up.  At least it was a nice drive. 

I ended up at Hobby Lobby near the house and bought the cord for the welting on my pillow cover.  After that I went to Kohl’s next door and bought a new pair of khakis.  I was trying to find other stuff to add up to $50 so I could get my $10 Kohl’s cash, lol, but nothing else jumped out at me - no other clothes, bath stuff, throw rugs, etc.  I’m a pathetic shopper, and maybe that’s a good thing, for the most part.  Except that I spent a lot of time there. 

I got home and we had pizza for dinner.  Food and exercise have been very much off track.  Need to get back on track. 

Today I downloaded photos from my camera to the computer and e-mailed some from the picnic to one of my brother’s friends.  I also have some photos of stuff I’ve sewed.  Heres’ some: 

Wish I knew how to post the photos as a link.  Anyway, the first photo shows two ottomans, the left one as purchased secondhand, and the right showing the ottoman cover.  The second photo is my silly little paperback book cover, and the 3rd is my pj pants (sorry Tawnya, I’m both a horrible model AND photographer, so there’s no way I could photograph myself modeling these!).  After making the pj pants, I’m sort of underwhelmed.  I had the fabric forever and thought it was 100% cotton, but having worn them a few days, I think it might be a blend.  And I’m not sure I’m thrilled with how full the legs are. 

Okay, today we’re touring a historic house and garden in a suburb west of us, so I better get moving.  Need to bring my camera for that!

My vacation time to date:

Tues eve. - movie - Julie & Julia

Wed. :  am - reading;  aft. - purch’d & set up tv, lunch, sewing proj.; eve - dinner w/ HS friend

Thurs - am - sewing; aft - lunch w/ movie gals; aft. - took old tv/vcr to recycling, groc. shopping; rest of day - ??

Fri - am - ??; aft - boiled eggs for deviled eggs for Sat. picnic and ??;  eve - memorial service, game night

Sat. - am - prepped eggs for deviled eggs; aft. & eve - memorial “picnic” as SIL’s sister’s house

Sunday - nothing much - weeding, reading, puttering

I think I left off on Friday morning.  Friday I didn’t do much at all until the memorial service in the evening.  We dropped off the tv and vcr for recycling and went grocery shopping.  We had lunch, but I don’t recall where or when or what.  In the evening, we were only at the memorial service about 90 min., and it was fine.  Bf’s mom, aunt, sis, BIL and niece attended as well, which was very nice of them.  The priest’s service was pretty good.  The photo montage shown on a tv screen was nice.  I saw many photos of my brother I’d never seen. 

Game night was alright.  My neighbor was there for a change, which was nice.  Two of the book club women who are very close friends were acting very over the top -  to the point of annoying  so it wasn’t the best time I’ve ever had, but it was generally fun.  Things started to break up around midnight, and I finally left around 12:30.  I got home and stayed up even later watching tv w/ bf.  I got to bed late. 

Unfortunately, I woke up too early Saturday morning for such a late bedtime.  I never did get back to sleep after that, so I did some reading and prepped the boiled eggs for making the deviled eggs.  When it was time to get ready for the picnic, I took a shower and felt pretty good.  Bf actually made the deviled eggs, using mayo, mustard and a bit of this and that for flavoring.  They were fine.  I’ve decided, having made them twice, that they are a pain in the neck to prepare and I probably won’t bother with them very often. 

The picnic, which was catered and so wasn’t really a picnic per se, was fine.  It was a cool, cloudy, breezy day, but it didn’t rain, so most people spent the afternoon and early evening outdoors.  The devilled eggs went quickly.   At 7 pm, many went indoors to watch the preseason football game (my brother and his buddies were/are football fans).  It was the kin of day I’m sure my brother would have enjoyed.  I wasn’t thrilled that bf’s friend came over to our house that day without much advance warning and ended up coming with us to the picnic.  Not that my SIL would have minded, just that I knew that it would become something of a drinking fest for them, which actually didn’t stand out because it became something of a drinking fest for a lot of the guests (my brother’s friends, my nephews, and others).  I stopped after 2 glasses of wine.  We got home at about 9 pm -ish, with me driving.  I immediately got ready for bed because my 4-5 hours of sleep the night before had caught up w/ me. 

Apparently bf and his friend stayed up long enough to decide to try and move a big heavy tv we had in the basement so they could use the karaoke software.  Yes, I said “try”.  Today, bf showed me a big nasty scrape on his leg and told me they had dropped the tv and broke it.  I’m so ticked.  This was a perfectly fine, if somewhat old, Sony Trinitron that we’d planned to use in our basement “wreck” room.  Now it’s broken.  I haven’t surveyed the damage, but I assume there’s no question that it’s broken.  So these two idiots, already drunk before we arrived home, had proceeded to continue drinking and then decided to move a large heavy tv.  What imbeciles.  And so today, they also told me that the friend, who is broke and unemployed and trying to sell his big flat panel tv to make money, would sell us his tv and stand for a reduced price.  I didn’t respond one way or another, because I wouldn’t have been nice.  My feeling right now is that we don’t watch tv down there now, and are unlikely to, and that I’m not going to waste money on a tv for down there.  In fact, it can continue to be the wreck that it is.  Bf has suggested removing the paneling and drywall the walls, installing carpet it and using it for tv, music, etc.  I’m sure bf pictured it as a man cave of sorts where he could have his friends over for darts, movies, etc.  Oh well.  Not a high priority for me, so it isn’t happening.  Oh, and the friend asked if he could stay over another night.  I wanted to say no, but I just responded “As long as you don’t break anything.” 

Sigh.  So I’m p.o.’d about this tv thing, and now I’m questioning if I even feel like going w/ bf on our little getaway.  Bf has spent no time looking into lodging or at anything else and I sense a general lack on interest.  Quite frankly, I’m thinking of other things I can spend the money on.  Maybe a stay at a spa for myself, or buying myself something nice.  I dunno.  I have no qualms about taking a trip on my own, but I don’t think I’d particularly enjoy myself.  I guess I need to admit that bf’s lukewarm feelings have made me very unexcited about this little getaway as well.  Maybe we should just save the money and skip it. 

Today I slept til about 9:30 and didn’t do much.  Some weeding in the yard, a dog walk, some reading - that’s about it.  It’s been a gorgeous day, but I haven’t done much with it.  In a generally morose mood and now I feel guilty about sort of wasting a nice summer day and a day off to boot (although not a vacation day).  Sigh. 

Well, I’ve rambled on enough.  I think I will publish and then do some sewing before our “guest” takes over the sewing/guest room.  I believe I will let them watch whatever they want on the tv in the LR and I’ll sew, read and/or watch the bedroom tv. 

Vacation day #3.  Has started off cool and gloomy, but now some sun is peeking through - yay!

Tues night started off my vacay w/ the movie Julie & Julia.  Very cute and enjoyable.  Meryl Streep is just so talented!  We might make Julie Powell’s book a book club selection in the future.

Wed.  was very relaxed.  Morning was reading and don’t remember what else.  Afternoon we bought a tv off craigslist to replace our bedroom tv, which went kaput a week ago.  Oh the dusty fun removing the old tv and putting the replacement on our “hospital tv wall bracket”.  Lunch was half of a large burger, eaten on the restaurant’s outdoor patio because the weather was nice.  Clouds came in and it was pouring when I drove to meet my HS friend for dinner later that day.  Since alfresco dining at our 1st choice place was out (and the indoor seating is nothing special at all), I let B. choose the place and we had Italian.  Usually I go for pasta, but I’ve had pasta several times recently, so I ended up w/ the appetizer size risotto - delish - w/ lamb and mushrooms in it.  Nice meal and conversation.

Thursday morning I finished the hems on my pj pants, so they are done.  My next pair will be ajusted to be  a bit longer in the crotch.  This pair is comfy enough, but a smidge more room would be good.  I’ll try to get a photo posted sometime.  I also have taken up two more sewing projects, both simple.  One is a new cover for a round pillow that currently has a floral pattern that matched an old comforter set I no longer have.  I still want the pillow.  The cover will consist of two circles, a strip of fabric that joins the two going around the circumference, and there will be piping/welting between the seams.  It will be a solid neutral, using leftover fabric from two ottoman covers I made a couple years ago. 

My other project is the reworking of an old pair of crazy pants bf’s mom handed off to me years ago that I hung onto just because I liked the fabric.  Besides being very out of fashion, they never really fit me right.  I cut off the elastic part around the ankles a while back, and yesterday I finally removed the heavy duty elastic waist (very wide and four rows of stitching all around) it.  All that elastic made the waist entirely too tight and it would always try to creep up to the smallest part of my waist, but since they were too short in the crotch (okay, I must be a bit long-waisted), that didn’t make for a comfortable fit.  However, there’s plenty of room in the hips and so I figured there would be plenty of fabric to adjust the fit once I removed the wide elastic around the waist.  And I was right.  I pressed the fabric flat (well, almost flat), and folded over a narrower casing for the new elatic waist.  The casing is pinned and ready to stitch.  Good amount of work for something I’ll wear  pulling weeds, lol.   But it keeps my hands busy. 

After all the stitch removal, I was running late for lunch w/ some of the movie gals.  We went to a sushi/seafood buffet in the big mall not too far from the house.  They’ve been there many times, and I finally got to try it.  I like it.  I didn’t venture into any raw sushi (not my cup of tea), but the other rolls and hot dishes were good.  I want to take bf back there sometime.  Afterwords I stopped at walmart for the elastic for my “new” pedal pushers and picked up a burrito from Chipotle for bf (feeling guilty about leaving bf at home while I eat wonderful meals w/ friends).  The afternoon was a dog walk and some reading in the yard.  Dinner was soup and salad. 

Right now I’m in my robe w/ the hood up and socks on my feet sitting w/ the laptop in the 3 season room, drinking hot tea.  No real plan for today, but I want to do some sewing and drop the old tv off for recycling.  Also need to do some grocery shopping.  And we still need to book lodging for next week’s mini-getway.  This evening is the in-town memorial service for my brother.  Not looking forward to that, but it can’t be more difficult than the out of town service was back in April.  Just can’t.  After that I’m going to game night at a movie gal’s house.  I am looking forward to that.  I’ve been excused from bringing a snack to that, but I need to make an appetizer for tomorrow’s picnic, so I might make a double batch of something.  Shaping up to be a busy day and yikes, it’s10:30 already, so I better get moving. 

Happy Friday everyone!

Not much to report since yesterday’s post was late.  I went home and stayed home because bf had the car.  I immediately changed into pj’s, which disappointed the dog because I think he wanted a walk.  But I was lazy and rain was threatening, so I just watched some tv and did some floor exercises  - crunches, side crunches, leg exercises, some wimpy pushups and that was about it.  Dinner was crackers w/ chive cream cheese.  I don’t know why, but that’s what I had. 

I watched that Diva show (if for nothing else than the couple of cute guy characters) and during commercials, started to cut up a watermelon I bought on Sunday.  Back in front of the tv, I heard the dog whining in the kitchen (again), but this time it was because he was waiting for some watermelon.  He loves it!  So once I had half of it cut into chunks, I gave him some in his bowl. 

After Diva, I ended up watching a show about hoarders on A&E.  It’s a real sickness for these people.  One woman in Milwaukee hoarded food to the point where she had rotting food all over her house - it was not pleasant to see, and I can’t even imagine how bad it must have smelled to the people who came to help her - a clinical psychologist researching hoarders and an organizing company.  The other people featured was a couple who feared losing their kids because of the state of their house - the wife had a shopping addiction and the man was a hoarder.  I’m something of a pack rat when it comes to paper, and I admit to a couple piles of newspapers, but just seeing that show makes me grateful not to have an illness like that.   Clutter drives me nuts, actually.  Bf and I have been very interested in how our friends are doing at cleaning out their packed condo because their baby is due at the end of the month and the place was a hazard with stuff everywhere.  Reportedly the place has been sufficiently emptied, but I feel bad for the hubby’s mother because I have a feeling they stored the excess at her house  - where they already had stuff stored.  I should talk - not sure what we’d do if not for our basement! 

Okay, I better get back to it. I have one major thing I want to finish before I go off for a week and a half, and I should be able to finish that this afternoon.  Otherwise, it’s cleaning up loose ends.  It’s nice that the boss is out today. 

I missed posting Thursday and Friday because I was crazy busy at work doing the 2^nd and 3^rd big projects I’ve had this summer.  Thursday dinner was a torta at our local taqueria, half pork, half chorizo w/ egg – bf and I shared w/ each other.  I should have just eaten half because I ate a good amount of chips and salsa.

Friday evening was nothing much.  Dinner was leftover pizza.  Bf was cranky over a work tech issue he was experiencing.  One of these days I need to come home ranting and raving about some work problem and see how he likes hearing it.  He’s lucky I’m usually wound down by the time I get off the train. 

Saturday I felt pretty crummy most of the day – just tired, and that heavy lung feeling persists.  Later than we should have, we finally left the house to buy the gifts for the 50^th b-day party that night (massage GC) and the grad party the next day (massage GC and a restaurant GC).  We were planning to have a quick lunch after the shopping, and then bf switched up the plans and I ended up just dropping him off at the party location to help his friends with setup, and they’d get sandwiches to go.  I finished some shopping at Walmart and had a Stouffer’s pot pie for lunch.  Finally.  I was hungry and was getting a headache, so I also took some ibuprofen.  Afterwards I took doggy for a walk, got ready for the party, fed doggy and headed over there.  I’m glad I felt better by then. 

The party was nice and I think the b-day girl was surprised, even though her uncle just happened to walk out of the party room just as she and her dh came into the entry of the facility (they were meeting us in the bar area for a free drinks party bf had won – our ploy for getting her there).  So she was like “I think I just saw Uncle so and so.”  Anyway, even if she had suspicions then, she (claims she) was still sort of unsure, and if not, at least it was a surprise ’til that point.  The party was nice.  In addition to the usual food and drinks, there was good cake (for a change) and karaoke, which was fun. 

Sunday I was tired and I wasn’t in the mood to do anything, but I got myself dressed and out the door in the morning to buy the red onion I forgot to buy the day before.  I also bought not one, but two, doughnuts for myself.  When I walked into the shop (private mom & pop place), I told the woman behind the counter I wanted 3 (bf wanted an apple fritter, which he still hasn’t eaten and so I’m sure it’s good and stale by now).  A woman sitting at a table said in sort of an obnoxious way “Go ahead and get a dozen.”  That was sort of weird.  Maybe I should have bought a dozen and given her the 9 I didn’t want.

I went home and made my cucumber salad.  I showered and shaved and re-painted my toe nails.  Of course it poured just as we left the house and rained quite a bit.  It stopped eventually and people got in the pool at bf’s sister’s house, but by then it actually had cooled off quite a bit and the number and rowdiness of the people in the pool made me decide not to go in.  I had a good time, and was able to avoid the jerky brother and SIL.   A very pleasant surprise was that bf’s niece and her baby stayed in town to come to the party.  I also had a good time because someone asked for my cucumber salad recipe.  And a couple people remarked that they liked my hair and the way it had gone all wavy because of the humidity, lol. 

We stayed quite a while and when I got home I was very tired, but I stayed up to eat dinner and watch some tv.   

I enjoyed both events this weekend, but I don’t like when I have stuff going on both days of the weekend.  I didn’t do laundry (good thing I did a couple loads during the week) and I didn’t have enough “me time”.  Unfortunately, next weekend is almost the same, except it won’t really matter because I’ll be taking vacation days. Yippeee!

Tomorrow the boss is out of the office (yesssss!), and it’s my last day in the office until 8/31!!!   Tuesday night is movie night, Wed.  I might be going to lunch w/ some of the movie and book club gals, and then I have tentative plans for dinner with one of my HS friends.  Friday the in-town memorial service for my brother for friends and family who didn’t travel to the out of town service in April.  Saturday is a picnic in honor of my brother.  The following week bf and I will go out of town for 2-3 days just to get away, and I also have started a list of stuff I want/need to do.  Unfortunately there’s stuff like “touch up DR paint” on the list.  But I’ve also committed to not returning to work wearing the same sorry outfits, so some shopping is in order. 

Okay, need to post, visit the restroom and catch the train. 

Yay, hump day.  I like short weeks.  :)  I am working on the 3rd big project of the summer and it’s going okay.  I should be done by Friday.  Project 2, with which I was 95% done requires some changes now and I’m meeting w/ the boss late this afternoon.  Boo.

My 3-day weekend was alright.  Saturday we went to the reopened Walmart - it’ll be very convenient to be able to pick up groceries and all the other stuff in one stop.  The party was fine.  Very low key, and only 9 of us.  It was rather hot and humid, but breezy.  I was surprised we ended up staying out in the yard, but if you were just sitting with a cold drink, the breeze made it nice.  The breeze helped w/ the mosquitos too, though I’m sure the weeks of very dry weather in our area also helped. (Our Mosquito Magnet has been disconnected for 2 weeks - don’t ask.)   Anyway, I ended up w/ only 2 mosquito bites  - but they’re right in the middle of my back. 

Unfortunately, I’m having another lung episode.  I didn’t do any strenuous exercise, indoors or out, but I was outdoors a lot on Saturday and then I had some lung congestion and wheeziness on Sunday.  Still feeling the effects today.  I might make an appointment w/ my allergist.  Like my other allergy symptoms, they seem to appear/worsen on the weekends when I’m not cooped up in an office all day, so I think this is similar. 

On Sunday and Monday I didn’t do much. Oh, Sunday I spent time outside watering the veggie garden, some stuff in the backyard and the shrubs in front.  Like imbeciles, I think we’ve killed 3 of the 6 new things we planted out front because of not watering enough the past few weeks.  Duh.  Maybe we should just toss the money out the window.  I did some sewing both days.  Can’t recall anything special. 

Sunday was a “family gathering” on bf’s side of the family because bf’s niece and her baby were in town.  We weren’t invited - it was being hosted by the brother & SIL whom we no longer tolerate.  We were disappointed to not see bf’s niece and grandnephew, but that’s about it.  Bf’s mother asked if the niece and baby could get together again as she was still in town for a few more days (and so we could also see her), but her dad said she needed to spend the rest of the time studying while he helped w/ the baby.  Whatever.  I could go on, but I won’t.  We’ll get out to see her sometime in the fall, I hope. 

I’m looking forward to time off.  We have tentative plans to go to an artsy/beach spot about 3 hours from us, but we need to make lodging arrangements.  In the meantime, I have the rest of this week and two days next week to get through.  I feel like my e-mail is totally out of hand and me workspace is still a major disaster. 

This weekend we have two parties to attend - a 50th b-day party for a friend on Sat. and bf’s sister’s graduation party (the one who graduated from nursing school).  For the grad party, I expect the jerky brother & SIL will be there.  I shouldn’t waste my time dwelling on what jerks they are, but I somehow can’t help thinking about how satisfying it would be for them to be the victims of an accidental spill of a giant cup of red koolaid on one or both of them.  No gifts purchased yet for either person.  The 50th will probably be gag gifts.  The grad gift I have decided will be a spa certificate.  I tried to locate a store that sells medical uniforms, accessories, etc., but there really aren’t any chains around here for that, so forget it. 

Last night we saw the movie (500) Days of Summer.  I really enjoyed it.  Afterwards, I went to pick up my book club book from the library (The Time Traveler’s Wife).  Nothing planned tonight.  Gym should be on my schedule, but I’m just not in the mood.  I will definitely do a dog walk after work because it’s a gorgeous day.   

Food and exercise have been junky and nil respectively.  We have leftover munchies sitting around from the party.  Ugh.  Need to get rid of those.  I took some leftover smoked cheddar kettle korn to the movie last night.  A giant bag of Doritos is sitting unopened atop the fridge.  It will be going to the 50th b-day party or the grad party this weekend.  It MUST.

In general, feeling very morose about life in general.  I read an article about the company where my friend is working.  They are selling their Chicago operations.  Last year her house burns down and now this.  What else can I complain about, since I’ve started?  Oh, this week is TOM, so I will retain all the liquids I consume the next several days.  And I have an ingrown toenail.  Lovely. 

Okay I’m rambling, and this entry alone is probably longer than three day’s entries so I better just publish it and get on with the rest of the day.  Three more hours. 

TGIF. TGIF!!  TGIF!!!

Yesterday was an okay workday.  Went to the farmers market and bought some new potatoes and green beans to go w/ the tilapia for dinner.   I need to get to the downtown markets because I just can’t seem to make it to our town’s Sunday morning one.  And the downtown ones are huge with a lot more vendors.

I went to the gym last night, but only as a cover for also buying bf his b-day gift.  So my workout was about 25 min. of strength training.  Better than nothing. 

Bf made dinner.  Steamed green beans, boiled potatoes and sauteed tilapia w/ some spices on it.  Linda, you are right about bf - his choices are rarely healthy or light.  He doesn’t have a weight problem so it’s not on his radar.   So it’s got to be up to me to be more assertive about what we (I) eat and how it’s prepared.  Like the fish could have been grilled on the GF grill, poached, microwaved, or baked.  I drank a lot of water last night and was up for bathroom trips at least 3 times. 

Tonight we’ll probably eat out for bf’s bday.  Tomorrow I will get to the gym for a morning class.  It’ll be hot and humid tomorrow.  Maybe I should join the “older-than-me” crowd for an aquacise class.  I’d like to spend some time in bf’s sister’s pool, but they are out of town and I doubt bf asked them if it would be okay (like I wanted him to), so even if she was fine with it like I think she would be, the pool might be all locked up.  In which case I’ll probably hibernate inside with the AC and work on my sewing or do something else nice and cool.  Our remodeled Wal-mart finally reopened on Wed. and I’d like to see it and have some stuff to buy there, but it’ll probably be a major zoo, so I guess I’ll avoid it.  There’s always much needed shoe and clothes shopping. 

In the evening, friends are coming over for a low key party.  I suppose it’ll move indoors if it’s still hot at night. 

Nothing planned for Sunday.  The best part is that I just told boss I want to take a vacation day on Monday and she was fine with it.  :)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  It’s almost here!!