On the Game, Seasonal Change, and Names

I was very excited about seeing the first Duke game of the season. I took my shower and put on my first T-shirt of the season - I only wear my Duke T-shirts for games - and was ready for a blow out. Well OMG. The game started and we could not hit a shot. I was shocked at 0 for 5. I did not expect to see 0 for 7. We not only could not score but never got an offensive board. It was starting to make me crazy. Finally on the 8th miss, we got a put back by our freshman McRoberts to finally score at the 16:18 mark. I kept waiting to see what I call "some Duke Basketball." We only made 3 3-point shots the whole game. Not only that but J.J. Redick missed TWO free throws. This guy was a 93.8% free throw shooter last year. Like My Sweetie said, better to have a game like this now than later. No shit. It got better but it was never great. We did win 64-47. I guess I just expected more. The next game in this tournament is Wednesday, so I guess we will have to record Lost on our crappy VCR.

Today was the changing of the sheets. I always wash the sheets on Mondays. Today I washed and put away the bright white "spring/summer" sheets and put the sage green "fall/winter" sheets on the bed. I like change. Well predictable change i guess. Seasonal change. Like "the changing of the shoes," although we've had so many warm days, I'm still wearing one pair of my summer shoes a lot. I did put the others away and my poor cold weather shoes are just waiting patiently for their turn to go out.

The song "Jackie Blue" is playing and it made me realize that no one names their daughter Jackie anymore. There was a whole slew of them in my grade and the next couple of grades down. I guess since they were all born in 61 and later they were probably named after Jackie Kennedy. It's weird how names come and go. My Mom's age group was drowning in Helens, Bettys, and Shirleys. My name didn't become popular until the 80's. I never even met another person with my name until I was 17, although there was one actress on TV with my name. There were several in my daughter's class. I guess my Mom was just ahead of her time. Guys names have changed too, but not as sharply. I mean from my youth to now. From my Mom's era though it's a whole different story. Not a lot of Harolds, Howards or Walters walking the halls of our country's elementary schools right now. But then again we're not seeing a lot of Jerrys, Marks, Bills or Jays either. Those were very common names for boys my age. I think someone should name their kid Howard. That would be cool. Or hell, have a boy and a girl and name them Howard and Jackie. At least you'd be able to find them in a crowd.

Sundays Come and Go so Quickly

This computer (I have a Mac in another corner of the room) sits in the far northwest corner of the house. Something was making a lot of racket over my head. It was pretty loud, so I thought it was in the attic. I poked the ceiling and got no scurrying response. Plus being in the very corner, means little or no space right there. I don't know roofing terminology, but the roof slopes to the corners from all four sides. So, I grabbed a flashlight and went into the backyard, wondering if I was going to see a smallish escaped lion or something pacing up there. There was nothing. I only heard a slight sound after I came back and now, nothing. My bad, there it goes again. What the hell is it? Squirrels sleep someplace at nigh,t right? I know we have possums, but I don't think they are roof dwellers. I suppose it could be a raccoon. Do they climb trees? There IS a tree right there, so anything that climbs trees could get there easily. I guess I'll never know.

I had a lazy day. Got up, had a Taco Bueno lunch, laid on the couch and watched (and occasionally nodded off to) Meet the Fockers. It wasn't bad, but nothing really stood out to me to remember (like a scene from The Simpsons tonight did). Just as The Fockers ended Kim called. This is the same Kim from this post: "Love, What does it mean?" She is my friend Jeanette's little sister. I love talking to Kim on the phone. She is actually living in the town where we met, although she has lived other places in between. We always make each other laugh. Two years ago, Thanksgiving weekend, she joined Lolo and me for one of our Vegas trips. It was her first time. She was fun. That following April, I flew back to N.C. and Lolo and I drove down to Goldsboro for her wedding reception. That was a fun party weekend. Like a regular crazy fun wedding weekend without the wedding part. The last time we had talked she had told me a hilarious story about her daughter and an expression she had used and I told her that My Sweetie and I have already started using it. I've been trying to get her to come for a visit for ages now. It's strange being friends with someone I've known since I was 11, but I guess other people do it all the time. Especially people who don't move a lot.

After my phone call, I started my roast and we watched The Deep. MS had never seen it before. Although I have seen it many times it had been a while and I had forgotten some details. But it sure has almost every movie cliche. The directing was so, I don't know, predictable? In that they may just as well have put Pop-Up Video type balloons saying things like "this guy's gonna betray you!" and "Watch for something to jump out HERE!" Oh well, it was great to see Robert Shaw being, well just being Robert Shaw - almost the same character he played in Jaws, but then The Deep and Jaws were written by the same person.

Kate (my daughter) had e-mailed me about dinner and I had plenty for three so I said "Come on down!" Okay I didn't say exactly that. She also said she has Wednesday off and will definitely drive me for Meals on Wheels. Woo-hoo! During and after dinner we watched those Saturday Night Live specials and they brought back a lot of memories. With the exception of my freshman year in college, I have pretty much seen nearly every episode of SNL since the very first show. Oh and my roast was delicious.

After Kate left, we watched WSOP on ESPN2. I get so tense just watching these strangers play poker on TV, I believe if I were in an actual tournament my heart would burst. When I play in a casino, I always play limit. The cheapest limit there is. They really are two very different games and I will admit I wouldn't have a clue how to play no limit. I mean I watch Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo, so I have a CLUE, I just don't think I'd enjoy it all. Limit I can play. If you're ever playing hold'em on Yahoo late at night (or as some people call it, early in the morning), I play as "Thebeerisforme."

Oh that moment on The Simpsons tonight that really got me? The Simpsons are going for a fun day at a beach carnival type place which is just being torn down to build condos. Two demolition guys are about to push the plunger thing to dynamite a small building that says, "Knock over the bottles, win a stuffed bear." The whole thing explodes, bears fly around, the dust settles and the 3 milk bottles are still perfectly stacked in their little triangle shape. THEN they (the demo guys) start hitting at the bottle stack with iron sledgehammers and it's just "clank, clank" and the bottles don't move. That really hit my funny bone. I must have laughed for 4 minutes straight.

Random thought of the day: The only indoor plant I can grow and not kill over a period of time is the Pothos (or Lucky Ivy). If this plant is so tough why have I never ever seen it growing in the wild? And I've been to Hawaii!

Late Saturday Night (Okay Early Sunday Morning)

I finally talked to Jeanette the other day. After she trained in Houston with FEMA (I'm just guessing here because I forgot to ask, so I'm just assuming it was FEMA) she was dispatched to New Orleans. So I didn't get to see her and she will NOT be here for Thanksgiving. The cell reception in New Orleans is insane, we got disconnected every couple of minutes. One time I asked her "So is he your boyfriend's son or stepson?" then there was a click and a man said (in a suggestive tone), "I don't know. Which one would you prefer?" So after about 3 or 4 call backs I gave up. She said she had been staying in a tent with about 100 people but after her boyfriend trained in Irving, Texas, he showed up and now they are living in his camper. I can't wait to hear the whole story.

I also talked to my Mom and Step-dad today. I didn't get to wish him a happy birthday yesterday (Friday), so I was calling to do that. I asked him about his birthday and he said there was a large crowd at a seafood restaurant. All of his surviving brothers and sisters and his son were there. I was so happy for him I got teary-eyed. For years now the only people he had to celebrate with were my Mom, my husband at the time, myself and my daughter. It must have been quite a big birthday for him. He told me it was the last one he was going to have. I said "Birthday or birthday party?" Thank goodness he meant party. They are leaving Monday to head back this way. It's weird how we can go weeks without seeing each other, but when my Mom is out of town, I miss her like crazy. Mom also told me about her dinner with my brother, his wife, and my two nephews. I'm not going to go into that because I haven't addressed my brother thing yet (or his wife). At least I don't think I have, I'll have to go back over my posts. Man is THAT a story. A LOT of stories.

Lisa, my sister-in-law came over around 10:40 tonight. She's almost telling the same stories with the ex-husband/visitation/wicked step-mother stuff that I already lived through many years ago. I wish I could have offered her some advice, but in reality, it's just a situation that's out of your hands. All that stuff went away for me three years ago when my daughter turned 18. YAY! With a capital YAY!! Poor Lisa, she has a LONG time to go. But she had a good time here. We are fun and goofy people to be around and make you forget your troubles.

If you are at all interested in behind the scenes movie making stuff, this site is killer:

Take a Peek at the Superman Returns Video Blog

I watched it all last night and was spellbound. I know some people don't want to "peek behind the curtain," but I love to know how everything works.

Totally random thought of the day: I think it would be funny for a woman my age to say "Don't make me get all menopause on your ass." I hope I get a chance to use that some day. Maybe I should make T-shirts!

Too Much Time on Their Hands

Okay this is really weird:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/zestyping/97476.html

Although I can't see any practical purpose, it is kinda cool.

It's Veteran's Day

See if you can outsmart your foot.

You can't!!!

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor andmake clockwise circles with it.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your righthand. Your foot will change direction!!!

I thought that thing was hilarious. It's also funny watching someone else try it.

MOW went fine. Nothing about my route was different, but the other drivers were there because the food van was late and they said there were only 3 routes, so maybe they actually opened up a new area. The weirdest thing that happened was a squirrel ran out into the street toward the car in front of me and I thought he was a goner, but it actully looked liked he bounced off the car tire and then ran back onto the grass. It was hard to even figure out what I had just seen. Another weird thing is that nearly everyone in Texas speeds. Well at least here in the metroplex. But there is this one stretch of this one road, that everyone goes way under. The speed limit is 40 there and people always drive 35 or lower. I can't figure it out. The first couple of times I thought it was just my bad luck, but after 4 or 5 times, I've realized it's just something weird that can't be explained.

Italliani's was really nice again. Chris, the magician "taught" me a trick. I emphasize the word because, although he showed me, explained everything, and showed me again, it was pretty much the same as watching a guy build a platform bed on HGTV and then thinking you can build one too. I worked and worked at it but I still can't do it. It was very frustrating. The food was great as usual, and everyone was very friendly. It's nice to have a new fun place to hang out.

This is something cool I found out about on Wil (the Star Trek Guy) Wheaton's website:
http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=9352&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=336&iSubCat=571&iProductID=9352
I think I HAVE to have one.

Nothing much else to say. Happy Veteran's Day. (Salutes.) And Happy Birthday to my Step-dad. And he was a Marine.

Jail Tales: PART I

I've been in jail twice. It's nothing to brag about or be proud of but it makes for amusing life experiences, not to mention funny stories. At the end of the summer in 1980 my Mom and I were not getting along very well. I decided it was time to go back to N.C. to live with my Dad for a while. I had spent that whole summer clubbing and dancing and was of course hit by the harsh reality that was Durham, North Carolina. I finally found one dance club. My friend Chief said he would take me. I forget the name of the club. For some reason, we took my Dad's Thunderbird. The Thunderbird of that era was a huge car like a Lincoln Continental, not the small sexy sports car from American Graffitti.

Chief always had speed. Black Beauties. I wasn't a speed freak or anything. I was one of those social/party/casual drug users. Anyway Chief had some speed. And I took one. And then later another one. And here I need to backtrack about something else.

That whole summer in Texas, I worked by day as a groundskeeper at my parents' country club. Almost every night I went out with Karl. On Monday nights we went to a drive-in movie, and Tuesday through Saturday we went dancing. Sometimes we saw a movie. (Actually this is the guy that turned me onto Star Wars when he practically forced me to see Return of the Jedi. Yay Karl!) Well at some point I misplaced my driver's license. Instead of just going to get a replacement, which would be the logical thing to do, we decided to save time and Karl gave me an old license that had belonged to his sister. We looked enough alike that I never had a problem with it.

Okay so here it is a few months later. I had the fake I.D. and I was partying at this club in Durham. At closing time, it seemed pretty obvious that Chief was in no shape to drive. The only problem was I really didn't know my way around Durham. Except for driving to work and to school, two years earlier, I was usually a passenger. So we're going along fine and we come up on a light, which is green, and Chief says "Turn left!!!" I start to turn left and he says, "No Wait!! Not here!! The next light!!!!" Well some cops saw this wonderful manuever and pulled us. I did not pass my street test.

We get to the station and they gave me some jail garb. I remember thinking it looked like a McDonald's uniform. I am sent into a small restroom to change. I decided I needed to hang onto my money. Remember this was 1980 and all the movies in the past 10 years portrayed cops as crooks. So I stuffed my cash in my panties and put on my McDonald's uniform. The trickiest part was my one phone call.

I didn't want to call my Dad because I was booked under a false name, so I called my old high school boyfriend. Since a cop was standing next to me, I used the name on the false license, because I knew he would recognize my voice. It went something like this:
Me: Hi HSB! This is "Linda" (the name on the license), I'm in some trouble.
HSB: Oh shit, did you get a DUI?
Me: Uhm, yes, this is "Linda Smith" Remember Linda Smith?
(My biggest concern at this point is they would come to post my bail and not remember my "name." And yeah at this point I should have just fessed up to the cops. For some reason I thought the false I.D. thing was worse than the DUI. And according to the report, I WAS drunk.) Anyway he figured it out, and I told them to come and get me in the morning.

So now I went to the jail part of jail. The part with bars. And criminals. The only thing I remember about that night was that the regulars don't like being awakened at 3:30 in the morning. Oh, and that sleep is not so good on a one inch pad on a metal shelf, in a scary jail, when you're drunk, and you've taken some speed. Yeah, that's not good sleep.

I wake up (or come to) the next morning because someone is shaking me and telling me it's time for breakfast. So I'm not hungry (did I mention the speed?) and become very popular as I give away everything but the orange juice. The eating section is a communal area of metal picnic tables outside of the sleeping cell area. But now I'm totally paranoid about the money hidden in my panties. What was I thinking? was what I was thinking. After I drank my orange juice, I went back into my cell to lie down on my metal slab.

The #1 pastime in jail is to ask, "What are you in for?" I had told my story 3 or 4 times already about how I was driving "JUST FINE" and Chief made me swerve with his bad directions. Well as I was lying on my slab, I heard a woman say she had been there longer than anyone. She was asked how long and why. She said "Two months. I found out my man be cheating on me and I went crazy. I had some scissors in my hand and I stabbed him with them scissors." Someone asked, "Is he in the hospital?" She said, "No, honey, he dead." I can still hear those words in my head today. No, Honey, he dead.

Well, finally "Jingle Bells" - that's what they call the lady with all the keys - came to get me. She brought my clothes in a brown (grocery type) paper sack. One of my cell mates grabbed the sack and pulled out one of my beloved red suede 3-inch heels (remember I had been at a club) and said, "Where's the other one? I'm taking these." I looked through the bag, but the other shoe was not there. She didn't believe me and snatched the bag from me. The shoe still wasn't there. Then she threw the shoe at me and said, "You're lucky the other one's not here!" I got dressed and walked out barefoot carrying the one red shoe. My HSB was waiting for me.

Some Rare Ranting

I'm usually not much of a ranter, and I'm not even sure that's a word, but I thought I'd do this one ranty (still not a word) post. I read this in the IMDB news:

Paltrow Replaces Hurley
Gwyneth Paltrow is replacing British actress Elizabeth Hurley as the face of Estee Lauder perfumes. Hurley, 40, has been the face of the luxury cosmetic brand since 1995 and will continue in her role as spokesmodel. But the lucrative fragrance contract has been passed to Paltrow in a bid to help the company "vamp up its image and make it more sexy." A spokesperson says, "Gwyneth is new and a bit more exciting." Celebrated photographer Mario Testino has shot a high profile advertising campaign starring the Shallow Hal actress.

Okay, Gwyneth Paltrow is neither sexy, new, nor exciting. I know she has a huge fan base from Shakespeare in Love, and I'll admit I did not see it, but watching the trailers of her singing karaoke with Huey Lewis in Duets made me gag. She has one expression: lifted eyebrows like a scared and lost waif, and one look: scared and lost waif. That one dress that she wore to the oscars that showed her sad little boobs was nasty:

I'll never understand A: What her fans see and B: What Estee Lauder was thinking. Actually it might be interesting to see if the magic of lighting and air brushing can make her look decent. And that's all I have to say about Gwyneth Paltrow.

Another actor I do not like is John Heard. All through the 90's he harassed, stalked and hit Melissa Leo, the mother of his son. And according to the article below it went on for years. He was charged and I believe convicted and got the proverbial wrist slap. Most of the story is here:

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/1670/index3.html and starts about 3 paragraphs down. But people keep hiring him. It makes me sick. He was just on "Numb3rs" Friday night. There was a funny moment though when he appeared on screen. My Sweetie immediately turned to look at me, waiting for a reaction.

I'm ranted out now. I'm very excited that the first televised Duke basketball game is one week from tonight. Woo Hoo! Also I finally got my library cleaned up from all the mess of having to return a lamp. I still can't understand why I couldn't fit all the styrofoam peanuts that came out of the box back into the box. Did they grow? Do they expand? The Lamps Plus people were very nice about the return, so if you want a lamp, I highly recommend them.

Food Stuff: Bisquick has a new recipe on the back of their box for chicken fingers. They were great. I'm a very good cook but have never had a lot of luck with boneless, skinless breasts. I overcook them or something. They are always dry and tough. This recipe is error proof. The only thing is it calls for 3 breasts. I used 2 large and it was A LOT. I guess they mean 3 small breasts. Also if you've ever used the oven fried chicken recipe (which is now printed inside the Bisquick box) add a little cinnamon, garlic powder and onion powder and it almost tastes like KFC. It took me years to figure out that cinnamon was that special oomph in KFC chicken.

I apologize for any glaring typos, but the spell-checker on my blog is cursed and does weird things. I expect it has something to do with our pop-up blocker.

Fun Wednesday! Now with Brand New Socks!

Correction: In my post from last Wednesday http://geewits.blogspot.com/2005/10/good-wednesday.html, I incorrectly stated that Italianni's was a small chain owned by the TGIF (Friday's) people. They dismantled the chain 3 years ago and the lone Italianni's in Hurst, TX is now privately owned.

Meals on Wheels was pretty much uneventful except for the note attached to my route sheet saying that they were adding a route and to look for changes next week. "Adding a route" basically means adding a driver. This usually means I will have less people. I had 11 today. On the other hand it may not affect me at all. I just hope they don't remove me from the people I've had for 5 years. I've had several route changes over the years, some were bad and some were GREAT, but I've always had those 2 original ladies since the day I started. Oh, and one of my very regular regulars was not on the list. Sometimes that just means they called ahead because they had a doctor appointment. But usually if someone stays off the list 3 or 4 times in a row, I never see them again. I only know of two that have died for sure, but I'm sure several others probably have. Some were moved into nursing homes, and some were just injured and recovered - like a lady I had in one of those halos. Those things are funky wicked looking.

Well my decision to make Italianni's my new Wednesday lunch destination was probably the best idea I've had in a very long time. Their web site won't be winning any awards (http://www.italiannis.us/) but man is it a great place to hang out. I met the owner (that's how I found out it was a private company) and he was cute and really nice. You can tell by the workers' interactions with him that he is a great boss. The cool bartender from last week is named Bobby and is married to a really pretty girl that was hosting and also waitresses at night. I discussed movies with one of the waiters who became my bartender at 4:00 - Brent. I sat between a friend of the bartender and an off duty waiter and we all talked about goofy/funny stuff. I even told my new Texas redneck joke. Everyone there was SO friendly. Another waiter, an exotic looking guy with a ponytail did some David Blaine type card tricks/sleight of hand stuff that completely blew me away. And I was watching his hands and those cards like a HAWK!

(Me watching magician's hands)

I didn't catch that guy's name but he was really good. One guy said he had seen him levitate a table. Apparently he only works at the restaurant a couple of days a week and does magic on the weekends. And I got to see it for free!The off duty waiter's name was Paul and he had lived in Maui for a year. I was there last year and My Sweetie grew up there in his elementary school years so it was fun to talk about Hawaii stuff. And a cute little waitress guessed my age as 33. I laughed so hard, she tried again and said, "Thirty-eight?" I said, "You are going to be mentioned on my blog tonight!" It was a great afternoon. And hell, I haven't even mentioned the food yet. I had Italian sausage ravioli and it was exquisite. Everything made fresh from scratch, and those lovely tender pillows of yum were bathed in a killer white sauce. Did I say how delicious it was? I could probably eat that every Wednesday. I told them all that I was afraid that after having such a wonderful afternoon that I might be let down next Wednesday and they said, "No, it will be just like today." Wow. It was like dinner and a show with a party. I can't wait til next Wednesday!

Tonight we watched Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It is by far the best of the prequel trilogy. I really love the last 20 minutes or so. It's fascinating how much Ewan McGregor sounds like Alec Guinness. Oh I also talked to my Mom again today. We talked yesterday and they are at Surf City, N.C. for the week. A childhood friend of my brother is the editor of the Jacksonville Daily News which is not only just 20 minutes away, but they also have a house at the beach there so I called his wife and they are all going to get together. I mean I just saw Elliot at my Dad's memorial service 7 years ago, but he and my Mom have not seen each other in probably 32 years. Boy will they be surprised! I can't wait to hear about it. And I'm so jealous of all the fresh seafood and North Carolina barbecue she is eating. I asked her to freeze some barbecue for me. Yum, I can't wait til they get back.

Well, that was my fun Wednesday. Oh yeah and I got to wear brand new socks and panties. Life is good.

Some Things That Amused Me

I LOVE Herman

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I saw a commercial today for a little kids' dance video, it showed all these little kids dancing in front of a TV set with some sort of cards or mats on the floor to learn some steps. In a little disclaimer at the bottom of the screen it said, "TV and DVD player not included." I'm glad they cleared that up. I guess that means the five children ARE included.

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Have you ever had a bad Karma laugh? We were watching My Name is Earl tonight (which if you haven't seen yet, you should really make a point to catch), and a commercial for the 10:00 news came on. The line was "And a woman runs over an auto mechanic after he gives her her bill." I burst out laughing and could not stop. I felt bad about someone getting hurt but I could not stop laughing.

The story is here: http://www.nbc5i.com/news/5228558/detail.html

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We were watching Nova, and the narrator said something about, "...longstanding tribal rivalries..." and I was going to tell My Sweetie that I bet he couldn't say "tribal rivalries" 3 times fast, but I found out that I can't say it once. For some reason "rivalries" turns into "robberies."

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My father-in-law sent me some hilarious one-liners:

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>Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

>A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

>Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

>"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common? " Well, "It's Not Unusual."

>Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

>An invisible man married an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

>I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

>A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

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And this is a joke my Mom sent:

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A couple, both rednecks from Lufkin, Texas, had 9 children.

They went to the Doctor to see about getting the husband "fixed."

The Doctor asked why, after 9 children, would they choose to do this?

The husband replied that they had read a recent article, that one out of 10 children born in the United States was Mexican, and they didn't want a Mexican baby,

because neither of them could speak Spanish.

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I was playing poker last night on Yahoo and this girl started messaging me. I usually just let people think I'm a man, so the horny guys don't get all flirty. Well I was gonna just brush her off but she was VERY persistent so I finally had to tell her I was a woman. Later I was in another room and I decided to go out for a smoke. I typed "Time for my 4 minute break so the warden can check to see what I've been doing." I thought it was really funny. I was laughing and laughing. When I got back I found I had been booted from the room.

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I'm looking forward to Meal on Wheels tomorrow because I get to wear new panties and new socks. I really love all my new socks. As rarely as I go out it will take me a while to get to wear them all. Also, I'm going to make Italliani's my new Wednesday lunch place. I can probably eat Italian food every Wednesday for at least a year. Or until I get a crappy bartender.

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I thought my spell checker was broken and then realized "Ahmal" was on here 3 times.

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Wendigo! (and why is my return not working today - how annoying!)

Weekend Plus One Hour

I didn't sleep well Friday night and that's odd for me. Generally my only sleeping complaint is that I sleep so solidly I don't roll around much and can wake up stiff. But Friday night was horrible. It went like this: Start to doze off, jerk awake and thrash about into a new position. For 5 hours, after which I just gave up, got up and snuggled on the couch and watched a bunch of movies. I did get a one hour nap from about 2:00 to 3:00 that afternoon. It was during The Clearing, a Robert Redford movie. Very nappable. Of course after all that, I slept like a board Saturday night and woke up all stiff. Well stiff as a board I guess. The funniest part was the left side of my hair looked just like when I first styled it Saturday afternoon and the right side of my hair looked like crazy town.

Saturday afternoon we hit the Super Target and actually knocked 3 people off of our Christmas list. For my youngest nephew, we bought this really cute rug with roads and things on it that comes with a truck. They had one that was a bowling set and I said, "I want that one!" In their market area they had a stuffed orange roughy (two to a package) that we tried and it was really good. The instructions said to put them in a greased baking dish and cover with foil. I put them both in the release foil with some butter. Very yummy. This afternoon we got our spiderwebs up on the porch and all over the bushes by the front door. Unfortunately we both felt poorly. Apparently the high front was pushed out by a low front and we both always feel that pressure change stuff. It just makes our heads feel weird. Also I made a killer breakfast and ate too much. I very very rarely eat too much and I sure remember why. It will probably be another 8 years before I overeat again. And I'm hoping I remember not to do it that day.

So last night I changed some of the clocks back after My Sweetie went to bed. I used to watch The Newlywed Game a lot. I always thought most of the people were stupid, but I know we would never match if they asked "How many clocks would you say you have in your house?" We have A LOT of clocks. We even have clocks in both bathrooms. There are even clocks in the library and entryway - which are 2 I have not changed yet, but possibly did not change last time and may therefore be correct. I'm surprised I haven't put a clock in the garage. Or the cat's room. I should put a cuckoo clock in the cat's room. That would be funny.

I'm one of those people that thinks about weird stuff a lot. So Saturday night while we were setting up the telescope to look at Mars, I asked (and not for the first time) "Where do squirrels sleep?" and My Sweetie said, "At the Holiday Inn." That really cracked me up. But now I know. I also have a question for all of those "Intelligent Design" people that think we were all created like the Bible says and believe that Charles Darwin was a heretic. My question is this: How "intelligent" is a design of a creature than can live to be 100 years old, but the teeth start failing at 35? Seriously, if God created us in his image, his teeth must be awful. I have 3 freaking crowns. I hate teeth stuff. And dentists. And whatever that guy is called that does the root canals. I really hate that guy, although I couldn't pick him out of a line-up. (Cop: Ma'am, which of these guys assaulted your mouth? Me: I have no idea, I pretty much blocked the whole traumatic experience out of my mind.)

And now for stuff that had nothing to do with my weekend:
I tried a new drink Wednesday at Italliani's. It was called an Oatmeal Cookie. Man was it yummy. Don't quote me here but I think it was (and I don't know how to spell this) Goldschlager, Bailey's and a dash of half-n-half. I'm a beer drinker but will throw in one flavorful drink from time to time and my daughter told me about this one. If you get a chance, check it out. Also Red-headed Sluts are really good. It's Jaeger, Peach Schnapps and cranberry juice. Actually, I should not have mentioned the ingredients. I find that people have preconceived notions so I usually just ask them to try the drink before I tell them what's in it. People are funny like that. My Sweetie said he did not like Dijon mustard or horseradish, yet he loves my sandwiches (dijon) and my homemade cocktail sauce (lots of horseradish). Basically my rule is, if it smells okay taste it. If it doesn't smell good, don't put it in your mouth. Of course that makes you wonder how people originally tried broccoli and cabbage. Or chicken for that matter. I mean live chickens STINK. I wonder how that all came about?

I just realized how late it is. Tomorrow is Halloween! Lots to do. Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun

Last year I discovered the spiderwebs and I made the coolest creepiest spiderweb canopy for my front porch. I also draped the bushes leading up to the front porch. I'm going to do that again tomorrow but I'm going to add something cool. A couple of years ago I made a headless stuffed man. The crafty part was the neck part. I somehow was able to shape this foam stuff to look like a neck. In the middle I put the white cap from a Colgate shaving cream travel size can. This looks like the spine bone sticking out. Then I painted blood pouring out. I haven't used it in several years but just came up with a variation. I'm just going to stuff the shirt with the neck thing and put it right in front of the bushes by the front door. I'll surround it with leaves. The look will be a headless ghoul pulling itself out of the ground. All I have are green clear rubber gloves, but I'll fill them with water and paint red nails for the hands. Maybe I'll put enough leaves around them so they are not so obvious. If it looks cool, I'll take a picture. I'm looking forward to doing the webs. That was fun last year.

I don't know if I posted this already, but last year I was so tickled when I heard a lady walking up and the kids were all saying stuff and she said to another lady, "This lady always does something special." I don't go all out. I just dress up and do my front porch - which is very small - hardly worthy of being called a porch. Also, the entry to my library is right by the front door, so I can leap out right at the door in my costume. I'm going to be a witch/hag again this year, but I'm going to change it up a little. Two years ago I was the Cat in the Hat and for some crazy reason I spoke in Suess rhyme to everyone. I don't know where that was coming from. It just kept coming out of my mouth.

About 10 years ago, I sat out on the front porch (I had a real serious sized porch back then) in my belly-dancing costume, with lots of veils around me. I put my bowling ball under a glittery veil and told each group I was going to read their fortune in my crystal ball. I'd peak under the veil and tell them I knew their future: They would soon be receiving candy! Then I'd whip out the candy (hidden under the table). It was corny as hell and got old to me really fast but the kids loved it. Well now I'm so worked up, I want to go study all my Halloween stuff.

Happy Halloween!

Good Wednesday

I left out a funny part of my Vegas trip with my daughter. When I travel and am going to sleep alone, I always take a stuffed animal to sleep with. I usually take Geoffrey, a small tiger, but on this particular trip, I took my pony. I DID name him once but forgot what it was and now I just call him Pony. Well you know the usual hotel room set up: two double beds with a nightstand between. So Pony was on my bed. Over the course of our trip Kate brought two different guys up to our room. Near the end of our trip she told me that both guys assumed the bed with the pony was HER bed. One guy was from Scotland and the other was from Ireland. So when she told me I said, "Did they say, 'Your mother sleeps with a poh-nee?'" She burst out laughing and said, "That is the worst accent ever!!!" She won't let me forget it.

As I was getting ready this morning, I seriously thought Kate wasn't going to show up, but she cruised in just as I was brushing my teeth - that's always the last thing I do before I leave the house. I knew it was going to be a fun day when half-way to the church (where we pick up the food) she said, "Does your mother sleep with a poh-nee?" The meal was a taco thing but I was short 5 "salads" and 4 tortillas so I had to do a lot of explaining and juggling. It was okay though and no one was mad. We had 12 people, but only 9 stops so it went pretty quickly. I told Kate I was tired of Bennigans now that the cool bartenders are gone, so we went to Italianni's. If you've never been to one they are really nice. Not "really nice" like really expensive, just nice in a decor/atmosphere/yummy food way. They are actually owned by the TGIF people. We sat at the bar and our bartender was very amusing. I always like THAT.

As we were leaving, I thought I could combine two stops into one. I needed butter, buttermilk and spiderwebs. We went to Super Target and just when I was about to give up on the spiderwebs, Kate dug some out of the bottom of a bin. It was so cool. Like magic. Then we went to The Plant Shed and picked out some killer pumpkins. When we got home we gathered all our knives and giant spoons and that thing used to pound meat and went out on the deck. I HATE the gutting of the pumpkin. Weirdly, Kate said that was her favorite part. Anyway we had a good ole time and no one had to go to the emergency room. (Yes that happened a couple of years ago to Lolo when we were carving pumpkins here.)

Kate left, I watched my soap on DVR, Sweetie got home and as usual I had my Wednesday nap. But that was cool because we had a date night planned for the Movie Tavern and the movie started at 9:00. About 8:15 MS woke me up. I brushed my teeth and drank a beer. We got to the Movie Tavern and no one was in the theater. About 5 minutes later one other couple came in. I had super nachos, MS ordered pizza and we split an order of fried dill pickles. Yum. Movie food. Did I mentioned that we went to the Movie TAVERN? Yes, a full bar and full service. Basically they took a regular movie theater, removed every other row of seats, and installed a wooden bar. I LOVE the movie tavern. I think I had 4 beers. And I laughed my ass off! It was the Wallace and Grommit movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312004/
The whole theater - all 4 of us - were laughing the whole time. And I'm a person who laughs when most people don't - but in theaters, for some reason, (laugh peer pressure?) when I laugh, people will laugh along with me.

Anyway, I had a great day. I found my pumpkin picture from last year. This pumpkin is different and has a beard, but I like them both.

pumpkin 2004 

Moods and Stuff

I guess everyone has heard the expression "Free-floating Anxiety." I get that sometimes and as soon as I recognize it I can talk myself out of it. But what I've never heard of, yet experience as much is a "Free-floating Good Mood." Have you ever gotten one of those? You just randomly feel really good, like your endocrine system for no apparent reason has decided to send out a flood of seratonin or endorphins or whatever it is that makes you feel good. I LOVE when I get those. I've been in one for about 2 hours now. At first I thought it was the music on the radio. Then I realized it's just one of those random waves of "feel good." I wish I could bottle this.

I got an e-mail from my Mom late tonight saying that she is in Meridian, Mississippi. (I was gonna use the postal abbreviation but I never get those M states right. Is it MS or MI?) At any rate, it was quite odd because A) she did not even mention they were leaving and B) the last time I asked if they had set a date to leave yet, she said that my step-dad had just gotten another contract. I was surprised. They have a HUGE truck which pulls a camper thing called a 5th Wheel, that when parked has these pull-out rooms which turn it into quite a large dwelling. They took their dog AND their cat. I think it's cool they take their cat. I mean EVERYONE takes their dog all over, but how many people take their cat? (I wonder what that cat thinks when those extra rooms are sliding in and out?) They are on their way to N.C. They, like me, are from N.C. and are going to visit family. Every time they go, they come back early and say, "I hated it, why did we go, we couldn't wait to get back to Texas!" Then 8 months later, they plan another trip. It's like they have no memory. It's funny.

I finally got a short e-mail from Jeanette in Houston. It didn't say much, just that she was going to call. She said she took the Disaster Class on Friday. I can't wait to talk to her to find out what is going on. Lolo turns 30 on Friday. I got her package out in the mail today. I wish I could have been with her for this, but that didn't work out.

Oh a funky thing happened late Saturday night. Lisa, my sister-in-law came by to watch Saturday Night Live with us. (SNL was boring, it was Catherine Zeta-Jones, so we ended up looking at Saturn through my 5" telescope.) Anyway, she walked in with this killer shirt on. I told her I loved it, she told me where she got it. Then about an hour later she asked if I had a long-sleeved T-shirt. I said, sure, why? She said, "Give me that to wear home and I'll give you this shirt." I was flummoxed. So I gace her the T-shirt - to keep as I have never worn it - and she gave me the cool shirt. Also I set her up with a kick-ass halloween outfit. She had never gone to a halloween party because she didn't get into the costume thing. Her husband went the last 2 years (without her) to his friends annual party, so she wanted to go this year. I set her up with full Flapper gear. I think she'll make a great flapper.

I think tomorrow I'll talk about Rosa Parks.

I Was Robbed

My favorite month has always been October. Well as an adult anyway. It was probably December or June when I was a kid. But October in this part of Texas has always been the one month you could count on for perfect weather. The summer months are insanely hot and winter months are hell if you're someone who likes to lay out your clothes the night before work. Because on any given winter day it might be 30, it might be 40, or 50 or 60. You never really knew until you woke up and watched the weather. Or it might drop or raise 20 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. When I worked, I always kept an emergency jacket in the car. Well, October was always the one month I could count on.

Until this year.

I really feel like I've been robbed of something precious. How do you rail against mother nature? There's nothing to be done about it. It's not fair though. Our hot summer lasted all the way into the 3rd week of October and with maybe 2 days of fairly nice weather -BOOM: 58 degrees and drizzly. It sucks when you switch your thermostat from A/C to Heat with no real break of just fans and windows open. I know intellectually that it's ridiculous to rant about something over which you have absolutely no control, but still...

Well, the good news is they are forecasting 69 degrees and sunny for Wednesday. If that's the case, I will enjoy my day out, and when I get home, I will open the windows. My daughter is going to drive me for Meals on Wheels Wednesday and then we are going to buy and carve pumpkins. I carve a good pumpkin. I'll post a picture of last year's pumpkin this week.

We finally got a cover for our spa today and that's timing because this cold snap will probably cause the leaves to literally rain down. No more skimming - yay! I guess covering the spa, turning on the heat and lugging out the humidifiers are the sure signs of the turn of the seasons. I just wasn't ready for it yet. I feel discombobulated from not having my normal October transition. Oh well, like I said, there's nothing I can do about it. Except pick a new favorite month. Maybe April.

State Fair and....

I haven't really been in the mood to blog this week, because I was so crabby from the quitting smoking thing. I feel better now. Tuesday My Sweetie took a half day off and we went to the Texas State Fair. MS and I go every year, but we're very odd about it. We only do a few things. We usually only stay a few hours. We were there 3 hours Tuesday. We get there, we get coupons, I get a beer. Then we wander through the midway and point at all the rides we will never ride and say "Aw, hell no!" Then MS grabs something hideous to eat - this time was a fried twinkie. I grabbed a sausage on a stick. I took about 6 bites and tossed it into the garbage can teaming with bees. (That's going to be some nasty honey they make from what they were getting in there.) Then I stop at the darts & balloons booth, plunk down $5 for 3 darts, take out all 3 balloons and get a smallish stuffed animal and pin it to my belt loop. Next we head out of the midway to the creative arts building.

I love the crafts pavilion. I used to go just to see the photography, but now I look at everything. The quilts are my second favorite thing, but I even look at the canned items. I like to argue in my head with the judges. "How on earth is THIS quilt better than that quilt?" But as I have no earthly idea how quilts are assembled - and I'm guessing the judges do - I'm sure they knew what they were doing. Now with the photography, that's different. I took photography in college AND I know what looks good, so some of their choices just baffled me. I was going to enter a photo last year but after printing out the rules and reading all 7 pages three times, my lazy brain took over and was like, "Well maybe next year." The trouble was I wanted to submit a panoramic shot of a New Orleans cemetery and the rules didn't seem to apply to that size. At least as far as I could tell. Oh and did I mention the creative arts building is air-conditioned? Oh, wait, did I mention it was 93 degrees? And that 93 was the regular air temperature. I'd guess the temperature coming off of the asphalt at the fair was slightly warmer. Slightly? Hah! It was HOT.

And when I get hot at the fair, I take a beer break and get a frozen peach Bellini, park my butt on a bench in the Pan American arena and watch dogs perform. I love those sheep dogs. The show we saw wasn't the normal sheep dogs with sheep. This show was sheep dogs and one Australian cattle dog doing cool Frisbee-related tricks. Those dogs always impress the hell out of me. I could never have a dog like that. I don't think I could get out of bed every day knowing my dog was smarter than me. After the dog show we walked along that exhibit near the petting zoo part. Each cage has something mundane: cats, dogs, ducks, bunnies. So at each cage I act like it's something I've never seen before. "DUCKS! Look Honey! DUCKS!" That's why I only ever have the one peach Bellini. So I go to grab another beer and decide on tamales. The guys says "steamed or fried?" Well, steamed, I say. Then I walk around for the next 20 minutes going, "What the hell is a fried tamale?" I've lived in Texas since 1979, and I have absolutely no recollection of a fried tamale. So then I'm thinking, "Hmmmm, well they did fry that twinkie." So maybe frying is just an option for any food item. Maybe next year I'll try a fried barbecue sandwich.

I was gonna say that was all we did, but I remember we went to the auto show. My Sweetie fell in love with the Saturn sports car that comes out in 2006 or whatever. It's here if you're into that sort of thing: http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/futurevehicles/sky_hi/index.jsp I said "Yeah that would make a lot of sense if we both drove 2 seaters." I mean my Ranger has those pretend seats in the back of the cab, but I can't picture anyone ever fitting on one except maybe Mary-Kate Olsen and I most likely will never offer her a ride. Anyway, that's about all we did. We caught a little bit of rush hour traffic but were home around 5:15. I went straight to my recliner and crashed for a good hour and a half. Then as Tuesday sucks for TV - except for My Name is Earl, which is hilarious, we watched the the first 4 episodes of the first season of the Sopranos. That's about it for Tuesday.

Wednesday - Meals on Wheels was fairly uneventful except the food was different and it smelled really good. They had pork barbecue with the sides of black-eyed peas and cabbage and it came with a hamburger bun so you could make a pork barbecue sandwich. Pork barbecue sandwiches are a staple in North Carolina. It made me a little homesick. Not so much for the state, but for the state's pork barbecue. My one client was so happy to see me. When I told her I'd be back in 2 weeks, she thought I had said I'd be gone for the next 2 weeks. She's so sweet. Well then Bennigan's was boring. I had this young girl bartender. I pretty much ate and left. I was debating whether or not to get one more beer when this hideous regular and her mother came in. It was a sign. Oh I did get an e-mail from Jeanette. She's a licensed home inspector and has been sent to the gulf coast to inspect the damaged homes and said she would call me from Houston Thursday - which is legally today I guess. I'm hoping maybe we can meet in Austin when she's done. Her e-mail was vague and I will know more tomorrow (today). I hope.

Top 15 Movies in the Past 15 Years

This was on IMDB today http://www.imdb.com/features/15thanniversary/staff

It made me want to make my own list.

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
2. The Usual Suspects (1995)
3. Groundhog Day (1993)
4. Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
5. Silence of the Lambs (1991)
6. L.A. Confidential (1997)
7. Gladiator (2000)
8. The Sixth Sense (1999)
9. The Fugitive (1993)
10. Unforgiven (1992)
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
12. Schindler's List (1993)
13. Pirates of the Caribbean:The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
14. Magnolia (1999)
15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

The best thing about these lists are they make you think. I actually laughed out loud at some of the IMDB staff picks. I'm sure you will roll your eyes at some of my picks. I was going to go into what my criteria was, but then realized I had no scientific criteria. It was just basically how much I enjoyed the movie and how many times I'd be willing to watch it. I felt bad about leaving out some good stuff like Dude Where's My Car, and The Spy Who Shagged Me but they just didn't seem to fit on the list. Have fun with your own list!

Adios Smoking - I Hope I Don't Get Fat

I hadn't mentioned this before, but I was sick as a dog from this cold I'd had. I'm not a doctor person but was doing a follow-up from something else and said, "While I'm here can you listen to my left lung?" It had been aching for almost a week. Well, the guy freaked out and sent me for a chest x-ray, which kinda freaked me out. He said my lungs were bad and I actually showed early signs of emphysema. Now that's a little odd to me, because I've only smoked for 9 years and not even all in a row. But I figured neither the x-ray, nor the doctor would lie.

I grew up in North Carolina and pretty much EVERYBODY smoked. My Dad was in the tobacco business for more than 12 years and my brother did summer tobacco farming from the time he was 13. Tobacco was a NC thing. My parents smoked and my brother "came out" as a smoker at 15. For some reason I never picked it up. I did the occasional experiment at ages 12 and 14, but it just never caught on with me. I did start smoking pot in about the middle of my junior year of high school, but I was done with that by about February of my freshman year in college. I just didn't like the coughing and hacking. It didn't seem lady like.

In 1995, I got the job I always dreamed of. Not only was it the job of my dreams, but I was coming from a job that SUCKED. I grew up watching the Mary Tyler Moore show and always wanted to work downtown in a tall building. I had had some temp jobs in some of the tallest buildings in Dallas, but as a temp, you don't really belong there. This particular job was on the 16th floor of a famous building in downtown Fort Worth. I was thrilled!

It was pretty clear right away who the "cool people" were. They were also the smokers. I would join them on their smoke breaks just to hang out and that led to bumming an occasional smoke. Well somehow that led to my smoking in bars, which through some unnatural progression led to my becoming a smoker of clove cigarettes. I enjoyed the cloves at the time, but they tend to fill your lungs with clove oil. I guess around 2002 I had that constant yucky hack (it's not very lady like) and decided to quit. My Sweetie also decided to quit. I quit for about a year, but would smoke some of Lolo's Camels when we vacationed. I was fine with that, but discovered My Sweetie was secret smoking. I said "That's silly! Let's just smoke!" I do not like secrets. So here we are. He had been wanting to quit for a while and my doctor scared me, so I had my last cigarette Friday afternoon at the Las Vegas airport.

And by last cigarette, I mean the last one I've had to date. I'm not one of those all or none AA type people. I am through being a smoker, but if I feel like it I will have an occasional smoke. I'm actually looking forward to clearing my system of nicotine and having that rare smoke that gives you that fun little rush. My biggest fear is gaining weight. I think it will be fun to keep up with all this here. Wish me luck!

My Last Time in Vegas/My Daughter's first

Yeah it was not my week for gambling. I had some good wins but wasn't playing smart at first. Then when I decided to play smart at poker I just had bad luck. Or I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. Either way, I still had a very amusing and interesting trip. We got there Monday about 4:00 pm. That's close to check-in time, so we sat at the Nile Bar for at least an hour and a half. Kate met a guy from Scotland that she thought was really sweet. Finally we got to our room and changed clothes, then went back downstairs and had dinner, then for some reason, we walked over to Mandalay Bay. After all the times I've stayed at the Luxor, I've never done that. I do NOT with a capital NOT recommend Mandalay Bay. Well for their bar anyway. It was all hip hop guys and hookers. It was fascinating but creepy. We finally met some normal people and they told US that we looked like the only normal people in the bar. Kate left before I did and I was so buzzed I got lost walking back to the Luxor. I guess I went to bed around 4:00 and when I woke up once around 7:00 Kate was not back yet.

Well she finally showed up some time after that. Okay so now it's Tuesday. Kate NEVER left the room on Tuesday. She was totally wiped. She stayed in bed from around 8:30 in the morning Tuesday until noon or so on Wednesday. So Tuesday I spent the whole day by myself, except not. I've actually gone to Vegas before by myself so that wasn't the problem. The problem was the guy from Scotland "that fancied my daughter" found me wherever I was and just sat down with me like we were old friends. Well okay that wasn't really the problem. The true problem was his accent was really, really taxing my brain. I didn't go to Vegas to work on accent interpretation or recognition or whatever it's called. I went to Vegas to drink a lot, tell goofy stories and try to get laughs. Don't get me wrong, he was a very nice guy, just very hard to understand. Plus basically, he was just hanging out with me waiting for my daughter to show up. At some point I met this really cool lady named Lisa. We chatted for a bit and I found out it was her last night and she had not been to the Star Trek bar at the LV Hilton, so we took a cab over there. Unfortunately, the bar was closed (YES in VEGAS! WTF!), so we stopped at the Bellagio for drinks. We chatted our butts off. I love when people ask me for advice.

So Wednesday morning I wake up and Kate is sitting on the side of her bed just looking at me. At this point she has slept about 25 hours or so. She says "I'm well rested!" Well duh! So we ordered food, got ready and went to the Rio for that fun sky show. A clown jumped over the rail to the bar where we were sitting and put on a personal mime show for us. The creepy part was he kissed each of my fingers individually and all I wanted to do was wash my hands. Also I had a perfect left-handed bead catch. That was cool. I'm not even left-handed. Then we went to Paris. I seriously recommend going to Napoleon's for happy hour. You get a plate of different French rolls filled with meats with sides of mustards and horseradish. It comes with your drink. Plus it's a classic club (as in old style gentleman's/library decor) with a really good piano player. Wonderful atmosphere and the (free) food was great!

I don't really remember much about Wednesday night after we got back to the Luxor. I remember watching the band at Neffertiti's, I remember seeing John (the Scottish guy) in his kilt - he'd given his mother away at a wedding that day. I think I may have had a nap. Yes I did, I remember now. I'm guessing I napped from 8 to 11 or something like that. Then I started all over. Oh yeah, then I played poker. After losing my max for the night at Poker, for some reason I stopped by the Craps table and picked up $57, then went back to poker. Yeah that was dumb. I should have taken that $57 and just gone back to the bar. It was a fun table though. The last thing about Wednesday night was I ended up in a crowd of about 10 people (4 from Ireland, 2 from England, a guy that could be the stand-in for Hurley from "Lost," my daughter, her Scottish friend and myself) in the Nefertitti lounge all around 2 tiny tables and we were the only people in the room. Until 9:30 in the morning. It was just one of those things.

I woke up Thursday around 2:30 and felt rested even though when I did the math later I was coming off of 5 hours sleep after being awake around 20 hours before that. We ordered food, got ready and headed out to the Star Trek bar. It was fun, we got to meet two different Klingons and take a picture. We stopped by the Bellagio but the crowd was insane and I started to feel panicky so we got the hell out of there. After that we were back at the Nefertitti, watching the band. I went to bed by 3:00, Kate came in around 7:00 and was miserable all day. It was all I could do to get her out of the room. Then our plane was delayed. Poor thing. When we finally got on the plane, it was half empty and she got to stretch out and sleep on the whole flight home. Oh and I had my last cigarette at the Las Vegas airport.

Walk Like an Egyptian

I had a very unusual weekend. I had unexpected visitors at 3:00 am both nights. Friday night it was my sister-in-law. She had had a horrible day culminating with a fight with her husband and came over to spend the night. She called to tell me she was on the way and I had to work like a madman to get my guest room into usable condition. I was just finishing up when she pulled up. So I had a very late night. After lunch Saturday, I napped until 5:00. Saturday night just before 3:00 am, I heard a tiny voice and couldn't figure out where it was coming from and was turning the volume knob on my computer speakers when a face appeared in the window right beside me. It was my daughter. She said she was too excited about Vegas to go home and go to bed and wanted to have some beers with me. I think she left around 5:30. I got up around noon and was ready to leave around 3:00. We went to the mall near my husband's mom's house and I found some jeans. Then we ran over to her house to pick up that purse I was borrowing from my sister-in-law, and visit with My Sweetie's grandmother who is wintering here. She summers in Michigan. Yeah I'm not really the type to use seasons as verbs but I thought it would just be easier to type it that way.

On the way home we stopped for some Mexican food. I got home and spent about 40 minutes trying to find something to wear for our "nightclub night." I'm more of a pub person, so I don't have a lot of nightclub clothes. Also I'm very into wearing "age appropriate" clothes because when I see women my age wearing 20-something's clothes it - I'm not sure how to describe it - I don't know, grosses me out I guess. There's something pathetic about it. I mean I guess it's okay if that's your job, like Heather Locklear, who's my age. But sometimes she just looks like an aging rock whore. Anyway, I modeled a couple of outfits for My Sweetie. By the time we agreed on something it was 9:00. I sat down to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. Then I told MS that I just had to take a nap before I resumed packing. He woke me at 10:00 and by 11:00 I was as packed as I could be. The only thing I have left to do tonight is transfer purse stuff over to my backpack. I brought all of that out here so MS could go to bed. So I guess I'm about ready to go to Vegas.

If you're going to be in Vegas this week, stop by the Nile bar at the Luxor and I'll buy you a drink. (Every time I go that song "Walk like an Egyptian" gets stuck in my head. I'm sure I'm not the only person that happens to.) Hopefully I'll have some interesting things to blog next weekend from this trip. And I hope to kick some ass at poker!