Long Time, No Write

It's been ages. Wow - I'm really failing at this whole blog thing! At first I don't update, because I have nothing to write about. Now that I'm starting to do things to write about, I don't write because I'm too lazy. So ... here I am, and I don't remember what all I've done since the last time I wrote. I guess I can start with last weekend.

Saturday, we had a small family picnic. K and her son, A, were out visiting friends, so we all got together at a park out by Dad's. Let's see -- there was Dad and J, The Kids, Sis and Rafe, K and A, and myself. We had some really yummy ham, homemade potato salad, Hawaiian rolls, and brownies. Oh, and homemade lemonade, too. I think everyone had fun.

Sunday was club day at the bar, and they were having a "craft fair, rummage sale". Duh had to stay inside the bar for and do club registration stuff, so BK and I sat out at her Tupperware table. There wasn't a big crowd of customers, but we did get her a booking for a T-ware party. I guess, all-in-all, it was a success since she got the booking ...

This past weekend was the Paradise Dance Festival. I had so much fun! Had to make 6 trays of baked pasta last Thursday (2 w/meat sauce, 2 w/o meat, and 2 chicken/broccoli Alfredo). I met Happy at the hotel at about 11:00 on Friday, since I was scheduled to help set up & serve lunch at noon. Well, the other volunteer already had the stuff set up, so I really didn't have much to do. "Serving" the meals basically consists of staying in the hospitality suite and making sure that things are replenished as needed. It's really nice, because people just come in as they get a break, so there's usually someone in the suite at all times, and everyone is very friendly. (We don't provide meals for EVERYone in attendance, just the Pros, Judges, and volunteers). After lunch clean up I was free until time to set up dinner, and again, the other lady had it all done early. Duh, Happy, BK and I ate dinner at the hotel bar ($10 for a cheeseburger and fries - but it was really, really good).

Saturday was a bit busier, and we didn't quite stick to our work schedule. Got up at 6:00 to get breakfast set up, served, cleaned up. As we were cleaning up from breakfast, we were also setting up lunch (the pasta). I was supposed to have free time during lunch, but Duh and BK got called away to help set up the carnival area, so I stayed to take care of the food. After lunch, I went and helped with the rest of the carnival set-up, we hung out at the carnival (off the clock) for a couple hours and then started the tear-down. Since we didn't have adequate lighting, we were allowed to just put the stuff into the trailer and leave the EZ-ups until Sunday.

And then there was yesterday. Breakfast, lunch ... and clean up. Complete clean up -- everything out of the hospitality suite, festival registration, ball room and judges room. We couldn't start on most of it until after 5:00, because the rooms were still in use. But, I was home before 8:00, which was good ...

So - I came home exhausted but feeling really good about the weekend. Everyone was so nice, and so appreciative of the work we were doing ... makes you feel good when people rave over the job you've done.

and there may or may not have been a bit of flirting ...

The Last Week

Let's see ... the last week or so. Spending time on the job search (yuck!) and housework. I really need to start going through some of the storage tubs of stuff and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. I should also sort books ... but I'm not sure I'll be getting to that any time soon.

Went to a small "1st Annual" Renaissance Faire with Duh and Happy on Saturday. Other than it being rather hot out, it was a really nice day. I borrowed an outfit from Duh ... wasn't completely "period" but I think I looked ok. There weren't a lot of vendors, but they stuff they were selling was really nice. There were a couple booths that we spent a lot of time at ... the vendors were so much fun to talk to! I was going to buy a tankard (because it felt silly to walk around carrying the plastic Budweiser cup) but the ones we were looking at were pewter - and expensive. Happy bought Duh a really pretty pewter necklace. And a tankard for me. Yeah, I couldn't believe it, either.

Met a couple of Happy's friends from when he used to work the Faire; spent most of the day hanging out at the Mariners Guild. Had an absolute blast - great conversation, lots of laughs, and even tried a couple of micro-brew beers that were really good. It was a lot of fun watching Happy, too, because he was "in character", which meant he was a little bawdier than he normally would be.

Post 601

Just realized, this is post #601. Yes, I know ... it would have made more sense to "commemorate" post #600. And I would have, had I known at the time that it was, indeed, a "memorable" post. Not that the post itself was all that great, of course ... but you know what I mean.

It's been another long time since I posted anything. Not a whole lot to write about, as usual. Let's see what I can remember ...

Yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day, and Sis and Rafe had a pirate-themed party. She had a pretty good turn-out, I think, although I know she was disappointed that there weren't more people there. Not many of us dressed up, either ... well, maybe about half of us. I borrowed some stuff from Duh. I'd post a picture, but -- nobody took any. Well, The Boy took one of me, while I was sitting on the couch. It doesn't show off the costume, of course. LM from work was able to make it, and Duh and Happy were there. Food was good, conversation was fun ... had a really good time.

Last Thursday was the first night for Survivor: Samoa. I'm not so sure about the person I picked ... he's a rocket scientist (really, he is) but ... when the first part of the first challenge was swimming, he Left His Jeans On. Yeah, swimming in wet, heavy denim. Not the smartest move he could have made; the other guy swam faster, and my guy (John) was exhausted at the end of the lap. Then, in the immunity challenge, when he had to run ... he took the jeans off. Of course, they were probably stiff and uncomfortable from being in the ocean.

One of the guys on the show this season is really evil. I mean, not "I hate Coach" evil, or Jonny Fairplay evil ... he is just ... mean and nasty and needs to leave. So, of course, he's going to be on the show for a long time. Some of his more "endearing" acts? First night in camp, he drank/dumped out all the water in the canteens, and burned some of the socks that were hanging by the fire to dry. Yeah -- his own tribe members' socks and water.

Anyway, Sis' team won the reward challenge (fire) and my team won immunity, so the score is:
Sis $.50
Me $.50

Last Sunday, I went to Social Club with Duh and Happy. The theme for the day was "The Fifties", so I borrowed a poodle skirt from Duh. I know, I know -- I have no "themed" clothes, and she has a bunch, so I borrow hers. Anyway, this skirt was floor-length and made of felt. Let's just say I was miserably hot the entire day. Had a good time; and Happy paid for my membership as a belated birthday present. I objected, because they had already given me stuff for my birthday, but he said that the other gifts were from Duh, this was from him. Nice, huh?

Anyway, I think that's about it for now ... we now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

The Week

Let's see ... gonna have to dredge up stuff from the memory banks, so there probably won't be much to read, but let's see if I can go through some of the past week ....

We'll start with Tuesday. The Girl and I met with Sis and one of her co-workers (DW) for lunch at El Torito. I've been hearing about DW for quite some time; Sis thinks we have a lot in common and that we'd get along well, so I'm glad I finally had the chance to meet her. And yes, I think we did get along well! Puttered around the apartment for a while after that and then went to meet The Girl and LM (from where I used to work) for tacos. The Boy didn't join us, because he was out getting footage of the fires. Unfortunately, I was a little late getting to Buffalo Inn ... as I was backing out of my parking place, one of the neighbors tried to drive around my vehicle, and I hit the back quarter panel of her car. Not much visual damage to Henry, which is good; nobody was hurt, which is even better. Her car has more damage but the insurance will cover it. What pisses me off is that the insurance company says I'm 100% at fault, since I was backing out. However, I know for a fact that I looked very carefully (I always do) and backed out really slowly. I don't know how fast she was driving, but she said that she saw my vehicle moving and "tried to swerve". I'm pretty sure she was going too fast for the parking lot, but I also know it won't do any good to protest.

Don't remember what I did on Wednesday, so there must not be anything worth mentioning ...

Thursday started out with laundry, packing, and going to the grocery store. From there, I headed out to Bonelli Park for the BIDSC camping trip. I think I got there around 1:30 or so. Happy was watching a movie in the trailer, so I read and relaxed for a while. We went over to socialize with a few other people that had also arrived early. Had dinner after BK and Duh got there and did some more socializing. What was really nice is that I'd already met all the first arrivers on other occasions (the NASCAR parties), so I felt comfortable with them.

Friday was spent setting up "camp" (Duh likes to put out lots of decorations and homey touches when she's going to be camping for a few days) and socializing. As the day went on, more of our group arrived. We had 10 campsites for the motorhomes, and there were a couple of tents set up alongside them. Friday night was also "party night" as people got set up and started rewinding from their workday.

I was a bit anti-social on Saturday, because even though I'd stayed under the shade ALL DAY on Friday, I got a little bit of sunburn on my arms/upper chest and didn't want to overdo it. I went visiting for a little while, but spent a lot of the day in Duh's motorhome. We had a group bbq for dinner, which was a lot of fun (BYOM and a side dish).

The Social Club picnic was Sunday, and we had a lot of additional people show up for the picnic. I think there was a total of about 50 people for the afternoon, and again - everyone was really nice and friendly and I think "a good time was had by all". There was a food competition, and they gave Duh an "honorable mention" for best appetizer (I don't remember which one it was - she brought stuffed mushrooms, which were delicious; and a Monte-Cristo sandwich kind of thing which was even better than the mushrooms. We ended up staying up pretty late on Sunday night, just talking and joking and having fun. Maybe a little bit of drinking was going on, too ...

What was really nice, though, is that everyone treated me like I'd been part of the group forever. In fact, one of the guys started picking on me right from the beginning (which you know is always fun, when people like you enough to pick on you). And at one point, I told him he really needed to have more respect for his elders. He argued with me on that, saying that I'm not older than he is so it doesn't apply. I asked him his age (I knew he was younger, because Duh said that he and his wife were the "kids" of the group); when he said 48, I asked him how old he thought I am. I felt really good when he said 47 .... and he looked surprised when I told him my real age. (In fact, earlier in the day, one of the ladies was surprised that I'm older than Duh, even though it's only 2-1/2 months).

Anyway, yesterday was spent packing up and coming back home. And apologizing to the cat ....

Unemployment Wk 1 Day 4

I'm not really going to discuss unemployment or job searching or anything like that, but I didn't have any other ideas for a title for this post. My cat has eaten most of the plant that had been on my desk (and doing very well, thank you) at work; she was kind enough to ... purge ... a bit of it onto my beige carpet today.

Had a couple emails from former co-workers, expressing the wish that I was still working there ...

Last night, I joined Duh, Happy, and 17 of their friends for dinner at a tappanyaki restaurant. Had a great time; food was yummy and I had enough to bring home for today's lunch.

Received my yarn from France today ... it is SO gorgeous. The Boy seems to think I'll be knitting him a boat cover out of it ... he should know that you can't make boat covers out of sock yarn. And no, I won't be knitting him any socks, either.

Huh, that's about it, I guess ... except that it is 3 WEEKS UNTIL SURVIVOR!