Sunny, nice day today. I went to church, took a nap, ate leftover terryaki and got pushed into loading up the car and going to the Orting trail for a bike ride. We rode for 10 miles and only made it just past the 2nd trail head, so we can definately work our way up to longer rides. I am getting better. 10 miles made my legs slightly wobbly. But I have gotten more and more milage each ride (ok, so my first ride was 2 miles, so it's easy to improve) I could actually maybe do this biking thing...

Gabbie got engaged today. Finally. I never actually thought it would happen. Ring and everything. I figured they would indefinitely go on living together. But they are engaged. Evidently there is a funny story. I will hear it when Alissa gets home.

I spent most of the day at church today. It was nice. Nothing too eventful. Everyone seemed to be excited to see me. Or thankful that I was no longer stuck in the bathroom puking like I was last week. Everyone also seemed to know that puking was going on last week. I need to talk to Heidi about over-sharing of details. I also made them brownies, so that could add to the excited-to-see-me attitude. They all seemed quite impressed with my brownies. I tried to pass the praise on to my good brownie-making friend, Betty. But they were still impressed. Except a couple people that seemed a little snobbish about the box-brownies. Really. I bake bread, I make pies, I have made my own stinking bagels, brownies are not worth making from scratch because there is no difference. Why make them from scratch when no one could tell and you don't like them better?

I also had teryaki for dinner. It was tasty, and I met the funniest little girl who was waiting for her food. I think the parents were slightly annoyed that I was talking to their child, but who cares? she was cute. Kindergarten. Missing a tooth. Thought I was the funniest person ever when I complained about not having the tooth fairy visit me in a long time. She says that is because all of my teeth are grown ups now. She only has two teeth that are grown ups. She knows two dance moves. Neither works in sandles. Evidently they are very cool moves in her big tap dance shoes. Her name is Rachel.

book

I started reading a book last night. As of now, I haven't determined (I'm only on page 47 and the first 20 pages were located in imaginiary-Circle, MT) whether it is set in fake-Baker or fake-Broadus. Or a combination of the two. Size wise the town is Baker. But if you take the Highway she says you are in Broadus. It is amusing. My favorite part so far was that in a town of 1800 (approximate Baker-size) this guy somehow won the state triple A football championship. There is NO triple A school ANYWHERE in the state of Montana, let alone in a town of 1800 (all but 500 or so of the citizens of the town would have to be in high school, and while it sometimes feels like that in eastern montana where the most important thing is high school football, there are actually adults and younger children too.) I also appreciate that she can see the Mission Mountains in the distance as she is driving EAST from Billings. Which surprises me, as I am fairly certain those were the mountains we drove by heading NORTH from MISSOULA towards Flathead (but I could be slightly off... My geography isn't amazing) I just don't remember seeing a whole lot of mountains in general in my skyline when headed east from Billings. Possibly in the rearview mirror. But not even a whole lot there. Alissa says I should stop reading it because it will drive me nuts. I am having to much amusement though. And it makes me think of all of the other books I have read and how much I am sure I don't notice about details that are off because I didn't live where they were set. Write a book in Florida, I will have no clue that you are discribing in great detail things that aren't actually possible.

Better Day...

It is Friday. Yesterday the only exciting things (or remotely worth mentioning, not notable by any means) that happened were I got a Charlie Horse at 4:00 am that didn't let me go back to sleep or let up until sometime during the night. Yes, I at bananas, I drank much water, I massaged it, I stood on my step and stretched it, I tried walking, I tried elevating, maybe something helped because there is only the lingering "I used to be cramped and painful" feeling left in the muscle.

And I found khaki capris. finally. that is exciting to me. keep me a little cool during the next two months when I cant exactly wear a skirt and teach kindergarteners... but pants are just too warm...

And I stopped by Taco Time on the way home. I got the world's most under qualified to be working fast food employee ever. My order cost me $8.08. I handed him $6 in cash and then 6 quarters, 4 dimes, 3 nickels, and 3 pennies. It took him a full 3 minutes to count what I gave him. He was sure I had just handed him $7.18. I convinced him it was the right amount of money and asked for ketchup and one of the little plastic cups to put it in. He launches in to this spiel that 8 bags of ketchup is the perfect amount to fit in the little dish, and did I want him to open them for me and put them in? He gives me my ketchup (I declined his offer) and stares at me like "why are you still sitting here, leave, I am behind and backed up" I ask for my bag of food. He can't find it. He goes and gets a new bag of food after finding out what I ordered. and checking what it cost, so that I didn't try to rip him off or something. I was at the drive through window for over 15 minutes. Not in the drive through line. At the window. Luckily I was not in a hurry. Or I would have been annoyed, rather than amused.

And today is Friday, which means I have a very full, exhausting day, but when I get home I can crash, and everyone knows I crash Friday nights (exciting young adult that I am) so they don't bug me. and Katherine will be at work, and Alissa may or may not be home depending on what she gets taken care of today in the canceling bills and making arrangements and getting all that stuff taken care of that she needs to. So I could have the house to myself, which could be quite nice. Not that I will do anything at all.

Today sucked

I hate when you just have the gut feeling that something bad is happening. I had this uneasiness all day. I was short and grumpy with the kids, and had decided that I was going to go into my bedroom and hide for the evening cause I just didn't want to be around people. I walked in to find all of my plans changed. Alissa's dad passed away today. He just didn't wake up this morning. Another friend found a lump in her breast today. It was just one of those days... there is nothing more you can say.

The joys and challenges of teaching

I love it when I have moments when kids really "get it." I was doing this rhythm piece with hand drums and bongos and clapping and then they all stop and one kid gets to improvise solo on the conga. My one 4th grade class was totally getting it today. (well after I had to switch Donny and Zach to the hardest group--they put themselves in the easiest part... and then tried to whine when I switched them... wrong-o.) they actually had kids to lead each group, and were taking turns on the conga, all did fine, until Donny gets up there and goes to town and does probably a 2 minute conga solo that was pretty amazingly intricate, especially for a 4th grader. the rest of the class has these dumbstruck looks on their faces, and then when it is the next person's turn they totally get the "ok, we've got to step it up..." attitude. SO MUCH FUN. so we started some more drum circle stuff with them, cause they can totally do it. They are one of my classes that was totally into the Jewish folk songs and dances last week, I have been having so much fun with them, and I have yet to throw any activity that Donny and Zach don't ace at them, it is a little tricky to find a balance of something that pushes those two, keeps Tyler, Austin, and Joe moving continually or they get out of control, is not to fast paced for Ricky or he gets lost, continually has some special part for Nikki to lead or she cops an attitude, and Jaron and Malik with special medical conditions can physically do...

But I am finally starting to see the students who totally excel, the ones who fail are always evident, but there are definitely students rising above...

I also cleaned the kitchen and rode 5.5 miles on the bike before tired legs and rain turned us home today. now I am tired, time for a little american idol and dancing with the stars and heading to bed so i maybe actually wake up for bible study this week.

quite the day

I went on a 7.5 mile bike ride today(my longest of the year, gotta work up slowly...) I could have gone longer, but Alissa wants to go tomorrow too... if i push too hard today, there will be no going tomorrow... then i came home and washed my car. I hate washing cars. I need a husband or a 10 year old son or something to make wash my car... that and make my bed. if i never had to wash my car or make my bed I would be a happy woman.

truce

I think my stomach and I have reached a truce. At least I certainly hope we have as I decided to go to work today. It let me eat my normal breakfast, exciting though a plain bagel and coffee are. I brought soup for lunch to keep it happy. Maybe by dinner I will venture out of the soup/toast/crackers/applesauce diet? I have an exciting evening of nothing planned and so I hope that I am able to rest so I can hopefully do school and a bike ride tomorrow.

I also realized yesterday that if alissa and i are making a quilt for sarah and mark we had better get cracking. And we have a duvet cover to repair for ashley and justin (their mother-in-law made it and didn't finish it, now it is un-raveling, we need to use the "forger" on it...) so many projects, so little motivation to actually finish them... maybe this summer?

and i saw an add for a night nurse for these people's baby on craig's list. part 2 of a 3 part nanny team, $25 an hour from 9pm to 6am to watch their kid sleep. really, out of control. they also have a day nanny from 7 to 4 that makes $50K and someone for evenings and weekends. CRAZY!!!! why have a child if you are only spending from 6-7am with them?

a little better

so... exciting day... i attempted to get ready to go to church. I was successful, so I went. I came home, drank chicken broth, slept, watched happy feet with alissa and ran a few errands.

I am getting closer to committing to riding the Courage. I bought a water bottle holder for my bike, and bike gloves, and a little bag thing to hold keys and such when on a ride. I had to buy Men's Large gloves. That was a little depressing. the largest women's gloves didn't even fit on my hand. But our friend Michelle at least expressed interest in training rides with us (and we will get her to join on the big adventure) and Rebecca says she will come down from Alaska to join us (well she says if I do it, she will, I think she is just going along for the joy of laughing at Katie's prissyness in the outdoors, luckily it is in the Cascades rather than the Olympics, so not quite the slug factor...) anyone else want to come?

I think I will make it to school tomorrow. We have two wonderful more weeks of WASLing. Oh fun, oh joy... and luckily I have much "planning time" on mondays (translated "if i feel like crap, i can hide under my desk for most of the day without anyone noticing")

My plan for today: Run to the store, drink some coffee, take a nice ride on my bike, maybe at Point Defiance, get ready, run a couple errands, go to church.

Reality today: Wake up, an episode that I won't describe, took some drugs Alissa gave me to calm my tummy, slept, watched a movie (freedom writers--really good, I cried), got a couple dozen cheerios down dry, slept, watched 1/2 of last week's lost, slept, watched some more lost, am drinking chicken broth, have great plans of a piece of toast if I am still cool to eat when Alissa gets home from the store, maybe another movie or something, or more sleep?

She done it

Last night we did the Spirit of Washington Murder Mystery Dinner Train. Alissa (suprise) was one of the criminals. It was fun. Good food, strange to eat on a train, the mystery thing was entertaining. Gabbie and Bryan were less into it. A little embarrassed.

Now today, I'm sick, I hope it wasn't my food, but it has been a fun morning in my tummy...

Friday

Yesterday morning I almost had myself convinced that it was friday. But it wasn't. That is sad to realize...

Also yesterday, Alissa bought a new bike (I guess we are going to have to start training) and a bike rack (so we can drive to places and have more interesting rides) I think if it is sunny (or just not raining heavily) we have some biking fun slotted for Saturday morning.

Then we went for a walk.

Then we went to BBQ with Alissa's crazy work friends. We laughed, we had a great time, we got the worst service ever... we got kicked out of the restaurant when the door closed--but not really our fault because we got there at 7:30 and didn't get our bill till after 10... SLOW!!! and ignoring us, but still... great BBQ... we then talked for a while in the parking lot and didn't get till bed till midnight, this morning was WAY to early.

Today I have a full day (9 classes, no planning) then I have to run home and dress up (out of jeans at least) and then we are going out for Alissa's birthday again. and somehow in the course of that I may not get my story for this week written and posted on the church website because I also have to make soup for lunch today.... and I didn't go grocery shopping last night--oops....

WASL Week

Here is the summary: Kids are crazy, I am grumpy. Fun week huh? I have had 5th graders rolling around on the ground, totally standard in a class of 1st graders--a little out of place in 5th... There are kids getting in fights. We had one girl get suspended from her bus, not tell her mom, hide from the bus the next day, walk to school and then make up a story about this guy abducting her when she was late. They were about to have to make a police report (she was saying details down to the make/model of his car and a detailed physical description) when they somehow found out she was making the whole thing up to get out of trouble for not telling her mom about the suspension.

But tonight Alissa's work friends are coming over. We are going to let them experience honey from a ladder with us. So that's a highlight. I think Ashley is bringing cocktails in exchange for use of the "forger"--translated "serger" I figure she is not touching the thing if she thinks it's a forger-there is a big blade on it. Especially not if there are cocktails involved, somehow sergers and cocktails shouldn't be combined. I guess I also get to meet this Lisa girl who we have made very loud scrubs for and she lives up in the boonies without indoor plumbing and is loud and crazy and wild and fun. We have also made scrubs for Ashley-that's how she knew about the "forger"--she and her husband moved here after Katrina from New Orleans and I guess being a new nurse and frugal due to loosing all of their possessions under 20 feet of water... she doesn't have many scrubs and didn't have any cute ones. We help. I don't know who else is coming, but it should be fun. They dump honey from a ladder, what else do you need?

Tomorrow is also exciting, but it is a surprise for Alissa's birthday with Gabbie and Monica and Brian, so I will talk about that later.

I am still pondering the Courage thing. 172 miles seems like a long way... and I don't have to decide till Alissa finds out if she can get it off from work... Advice from school: Tim says: "that will be painful in the girl parts--you can come hike 100+ miles with us around Mt. Rainier instead" Elisabeth: "I would never consider it, but my husband would say go for it" Roy: "that is a great idea if you want to feel like you are sawing yourself in half."

decisions

So, I am trying to decide... Ride the Courage? Don't ride the Courage?

Negatives: It would be 172 miles on my bike in three days. Up the Cascade Mountains. I would have to raise at least $400 dollars. It is again, UP the mountains!

Positives: I would be forced to get in better shape. $400 minimum would go to fighting child abuse. They have massages every evening you can get. If you get UP the mountain, you do get to go DOWN the mountain too... It would be fun once I got over the absolute exhaustion. I do have the summer to train if I do it. Alissa is doing it so we could train together.

Thoughts?

He asked, She agreed

So, Sarah and Mark are finally engaged! Yeah, finally. So now that dress I bought is officially a bridesmaid dress. All I've got to say is people better not forget my birthday in the slew of wedding plans :) they are getting married three days after.

(how did he ask, you might ask) Mark took her up on the roof of the church to ask (cute idea, didn't quite think through the climbing the access ladder in a dress and heels part of the plan.) then his band served them dinner in one of the rooms in the church and serenaded them while they ate. then they went home, she made his lunch for tomorrow and called me.

In other news, Katherine came home last night, and TALKED to Alissa and I while eating her meal (a side salad from red robin) in front of us. It really should not be shocking to you that your roommate a) came home, b) ate, c) talked to people. But she has also watched tv with me twice this week as well, and came in my room one night after I was in bed when she got home to say goodnight, I don't know what is going on...

Oh, and today begins the great fun of WASL testing. I am trying to prepare myself for crazy, used all restraint up on testing kids! It is not going well, can I stay in bed today?

Will he pop the question?

So, Sarah, Mark and I started out the morning with me visiting their other church with them (of course, Sarah thought this was a spur of the moment thing, I think mark first asked me in February, however...) Mark sneaks out to "use the bathroom" during worship, Sarah leans over and complains about his inability to hold it. He has plans after church so leaves with Doug, and then we chat and go out to her car. She is SHOCKED to see an envelope on her seat. She opens it, she finds out I am in on this, she tells me where to look for MY envelope which has directions in it, I give them out one at a time so she only knows the next street to turn on as Sarah and I go to lunch and the restaurant the three of us ate at the day they met. The room they first danced together in, and her parent's home. then we had free time for her to get ready for an evening out. and I gave her directions over the phone to get back down to the church where he has dinner waiting for them, and I heard a rumor of dancing on the roof of the church, and if he doesn't propose WHY NOT!!!! they already have booked and planned their entire wedding and honeymoon. I will update when I know for sure they are "officially" engaged.

Oh happy day!

I know I talk about honey from a ladder alot. It is one of my favorite things in life. I don't know why, I am not a particularly big fan of honey, but I think something changes when it is dropped onto your table from the top of the ladder. The only problem with honey from a ladder is driving an hour for the singular purpose of watching someone drop honey onto your table.

Today was a great day. Alissa and I made a wonderful new discovery! Someone at the hospital mentioned a place that has honey from a ladder. And it was less than a mile from our house, so we drove all around looking for it and didn't find the place, but found a different place and were so hungry for BBQ, we were willing to go for it, whether we got sick from trying a new spot or not, (and it looked a bit shady)

so we go in and poke our head through the window, which ends up being the kitchen, not where the greeter (who was nowhere to be found) was hiding out. the cook guy yelled across the restaurant to find her, and when she got there it was going to be a 30 minute wait, but we could eat in the "lounge." (for purposes of this description, "lounge" could be defined as "seedy bar with an excessive number of dart boards, the entire class of Mount Tahoma High School from 1982--not joking, they literally kept showing up and realizing they went to school together in a very loud, drunk fashion, and a pool table positioned just so that every time the giant man playing pool aimed he would almost bump into alissa's chair and come inches from beaning her in the head with his cue, and his opponant was playing with a broken arm in a cast and kept jumping balls off the table, and i was sure one would land in our food.)

So, we eat in the "lounge" and the waitress (who was obviously new, confused, slow, and very sweet) eventually brought us menus, and low and behold MILE HIGH HONEY for the cornbread! so i go out because, being the brilliant person I am, I doubt they will bring the ladder into the bar and drop the honey onto the table, so I was going to see if we could get a table after all, because what is BBQ without honey from a ladder? But the nice waitress said she couldn't do it for us (she hasn't hit the bowl YET--I think that is why she is in the "lounge") but for us, she would find someone to do it, so before we even ordered, we had a bowl full of honey dropped onto our table in the middle of the bar.

We have an excellent meal of BBQ (Alissa has rib tips, I have chicken. I ate a 1/4 of a chicken. I am full. I have another 1/4 of a chicken in the fridge. It was EXCELLENT food. Except for the mashed potatoes. They sucked. But then really, who cares, you order a baked potato next time. The only reason I didn't get one tonight is that i didn't want a baked potato that was as big as my head. By the time we had eaten, the waitress forgot her rag on our table as she went to wipe down another table, we didn't care, we had dirty hands and commandeered the rag (looked clean) washed our sticky hands, and waited for the poor girl to figure out the system to ring our orders, one of the cooks was now playing pool, they asked if we enjoyed our food. we said yes, but we liked the honey more. The cook said, come back any time, I will always find someone to bring the ladder to where ever you are :) we like their willingness to do the ladder. I guess they will also let you sign the ladder if you let them drop it into a bowl on your head :) they told us all about how they USED to be the place we were originally looking for but there was some sort of difficulty with the IRS... So the guy went under but someone else bought it, changed the name, and rescued the four cooks from fast food hell(who have been there together since the 70s) and re-opened it less than two months ago. so, no wonder the wait staff was slow and the food came super fast, the cooks could do this in their sleep and there is not an experienced waitress in the place.

So, all in all, it was a wonderful find, everyone needs to experience our new favorite place. it has character! and good food! Alissa and I even decided our new workout plan for the summer is going to be walk to BBQ, buy a piece of cornbread for $1.75, watch them drop the honey, and walk home (to replace last summer's walk to starbucks plan--walk a mile, drink starbucks while you walk home) I think both plans may (if we are lucky) come out neutral on the whole calorie-burning thing. We should maybe consider working out without involving food or coffee. but that is no fun...

crazy day

I am glad it is Saturday. It is 9:30 in the morning and the entire day stretches in front of me with an exciting agenda of not sleeping (so I can sleep at night, I have had a little napping problem this week, a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon doesn't lead to a full night's sleep) and being quiet (so Alissa can get a full night's sleep). I don't know what I will do but it will probably involve a pillow, the couch, and a movie :) good day!

I was at Blockbuster last night picking up some movies to keep me entertained today when the lady in front of me in line convinced me she was crazy. She had a bet with her cousin that Blockbuster would have the Flight of the Navigator for rent. They didn't, so instead of losing the bet, she purchased a copy, (they did have it for sale) and convinced the crazy blockbuster boys to put it in a blockbuster case, barcode it, and make it look like a rental. I just laughed.

I won't tell you about the latest sewing project. it is a little bit morbid, and for Alissa's work, I am not sure exactly how to go about making it, so that will be an adventure, i think we need board cut to size and stuff so may have to go to home depot this week and play dumb blonde girl to get them to cut it to size for me :) always so effective... I may have to sand it myself, but I DO have that level of skill...

Lost with Clueless...

I watched Lost with Katherine last night. It was the first good, annoying, royally confusing episode in a long time. I was confused. Which means Katherine, who has difficulty following a re-run of Friends... you get the picture. I managed not to laugh. This seems like an achievement to me. I don't think many people could watch one episode three seasons into that show and get it... The questions... I tried to patiently explain--on the commercials--understanding that the likelihood of her getting what I was saying was nil. If only I knew what was going on inside that head of hers.

One of the school buses at a neighboring school got rear-ended by a semi today. I had a moment of panic when Alissa woke up from my after school nap to tell me. She didn't know what school it was or how bad the injuries were. She was actually even more panicked because she would have to see any of the traumas cause she was on her way to work. It turns out that there were just 5 minor injuries. So, that is good...

super-speed crochet

Yesterday evening I realized I didn't have a boy-appropriate blankie in my box for the baby shower that was today (lucky thing we had it today, Margie started suspecting she was pregnant about two months ago. went to the dr. a the beginning of March, figuring she was 2-3 months along. He said, more like 5-6. Then the next day she had an ultrasound which determined the due date was actually May 4th! But then over spring break they decided to move it up again and it is now April 27th, which is good because the WASL is over the 26th so she can finish that... if they don't move it up any farther. She has known for sure she was pregnant for barely over a month and is due in two weeks. CRAZY!) So, I spent all last night crocheting (big needle) and a little more while I was drinking my coffee, and during a meeting before school, and on my lunch, and in all the 5 minute breaks between each of my classes and miracle! finished it just before the shower when school got out.

Everyone was ever so impressed... I think, if i was really impressive, I would plan a little farther in advance.

the weather is crazy... sun. sleet. hail. slush.hail. rain. clouds. torrential downpour. sun. hail. repeat. we had hail up to a half inch when the kids were running to the bus.

I am tired of keeping secrets. two more to keep. by the end of the month I may be free of keeping other people's secrets.

Happy Easter.

Exciting day. I woke up way too early, drank coffee, headed to church, drank more coffee, did my production thing, and got a new stalker. Just when I think I have finally driven off the last one (really harmless, don't worry, just followed me around a little like a puppy.) This one is a little more aggressive in his efforts to chat. He follows, interrupts conversations, and asks me (forcefully) how I am doing every 1/2 hour or so. He seems to be annoyed when I give a monosyllabic response and continue in the conversation he interrupted.

(for those who may be curious, we did have a total of 4000 people saturday and sunday at church--that's a LOT of people)

Then we went to Alissa's grandma's for dinner. They had veggies, dip, gorganzola/cranberry dip, crackers, chips, shrimp, and warm mexican-y dip. Alissa and I had to hunt for the egg candy. Then we had dinner. Ham, a turkey roast just for me (aren't I special), potato casserole, cooked carrots, corn (for both me and Hannah--I never get to go there without getting corn), fruit salad, and sparkeling cider. Wrap it all up with chocolate eclair dessert (i think you layer graham crackers and a pudding mixture, and top it with chocolate icing--actually tastes remarkably eclair-y.) My stummy is very full and my eyes are very sleepy.

Now I get to sleep and be ready to go back to work in the morning. Breaks are so lovely, but going back to work is hard!

I guess I need to apologize. Not only did I feel miserable and sniffly all week, evidently I managed to now make everyone else miserable and sniffly as well. Oh, well, I will just blame it on some kid at school...

I am exhausted right now. We had two Easter Saturday services tonight. You may think "who goes to saturday night church on Easter? It's kinda a sunday kind of holiday..." but 2000 people decided to. 2000 people is our normal total weekend attendance. We had that tonight. So, I am tired :) But it is amazing.

fun...

Thursday, I did a couple interviews for the church website. Then I went out with Alissa and work friends, again for her birthday. Mexican food followed by karaoke. Lots of fun.

Then today Emily called and she, Alissa, and I were going to go walk Ruston Way. Then Emily decided she needed coffee and who am I to argue with coffee, so we set off to Tully's since we only get to go there when there is an excuse to go somewhere near downtown. We get into Tullys and Emily remembers that she hasn't eaten and Emily is crazy-hyper when she has coffee with no food, so we set of walking in downtown Tacoma to find food. We find the Quiznos INSIDE the OTHER Tullys down the street. So we eat sandwiches and walk BACK to the first Tullys to get coffee (needed a little break between feedings, I guess) before heading down to Ruston. We had a nice walk, and then I realized that I was going to be late to meet with someone for another interview (getting a ton of them done, so I can take it easy for a while) so Alissa dropped me off at church and then when she picked me up, she said we were on our way to Federal Way to the christian bookstore where she got a $100 easter gift card from her birth mom. All of this to say it was a full, fun, random day and I didn't get home to eat my fried knephla till after 10.

Now we're watching a lame movie.

Good friend

Today was Alissa's birthday. Being the nice friend I am I took her to a movie. We saw Blades of Glory. I even bought popcorn. I was not expecting too much, after all, it IS Will Farrell, but we laughed. A lot. It was actually quite amusing. The number of figure skaters in a movie which pretty brutally made fun of figure skating was great. And it was surprisingly sparse on tasteless gay jokes.

Then, being an even nicer friend, I took her to Red Lobster. And let her get the crab. Which meant I was forced to get dessert while I patiently waited for her to crack each leg painstakingly. She only gets to order crab with me once a year, I am patient, but not THAT patient. So not only did I get to eat salmon (always a good thing) but they accidentally put two portions of salmon in my bag so I get salmon tomorrow too... And I got a caramel apple pie/tart thing. (while I felt a little bit bad having dessert when Alissa wasn't, she couldn't eat any of the desserts anyway, and she got lobster-artichoke dip...)

And because we went to an early movie, we are home in time to watch someone get booted from American Idol and see Lost.

It's up

Ok, I am tired, yet can't go to bed because my sheets are in the dryer. It's a problem, and I know when they are done I will have no energy at all to finish making it, but it will feel soooo good to sleep in my own bed, in clean sheets, in my new frame, that is so nice and replaced the old frame which is now leaning on the futon cause I can't figure out how to take it apart. I think man-strength and beating on it and maybe kicking it is involved because I certainly couldn't manage to get the thing apart or folded or anything like that. It seems solid. but there must be a way...

Anyway, thank you Daddy for the beautiful bedframe, it fits and looks quite nice. Do you notice how badly the bedside table goes with it... :( if only I had one that matched :)

Also, please ignore the messiness... it goes with trying to put together a bed and not cleaning the whole room first. And the fact I didn't post photos with a lovely quilt, obviously due to me being sitting here waiting for the sheets to dry, there is no quilt on the bed...

I'm home

For all of the people who were annoyed that I hadn't posted in a few days even though I was in the same room as you were in, I am home. Dropped off safely by Chelsea and Layden (who talked quite happily with only a few second interruption to jam his hammer as far down his throat as he could get it the whole way here, he also was having lots of fun playing the "uh-oh" game with his gullible cousin)

Now I am home, Alissa is asleep, I have much laundry I could be doing, a bed to set up, and very little motivation to do anything, which is good because... I can't do any of my noisy tasks at the moment anyway. It is possible that I may work up some motivation after she wakes up, but unlikely. Hopefully I drum up some by tomorrow, and think of something wonderful to do for Alissa's birthday.