Crazy Easter Eggs

Those were our crazy easter eggs. The green one with the gold stars and the runic eye just left of center was one of mine. I had these little star stickers like teachers used to put on your paper when you were a kid. Then after I had dyed the egg, I'd peel off the sticker. I also had an ugly one and then my very first one was this one:

I had it for breakfast the next day. It was yummy, but I hated peeling it and destroying my "art."

My 50th Birthday Trip

After my great Sunday evening (The 17th) in North Carolina, I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Two of my high school buddies came over in the afternoon and they had not seen each other in quite a while also. We sat out on Loretta's patio in the sun all afternoon drinking beer and telling crazy stories and laughing. We also played some yard games like frisbee golf and a bean bag toss game. One of the guys had to get home and my other friend stayed to go out with us for dinner. It was fun.
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On Tuesday we flew to New York, got settled into our room and explored the neighborhood. We had dinner at a local pub and went back to the room to make it an early night.
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On Wednesday morning I actually got out of bed around 5:45 or so. I took my time getting ready and we headed over to Rockefeller Plaza. We saw Ben Stiller through the window being interviewed and then made our way to the outside crowd:
People around us who saw my sign were all, "Happy Birthday!" This next picture was taken just outside of there after we left the crowd area on our hunt for breakfast. You can see the studio lights through the window just on the upper left:

We found some breakfast and wandered around for some photo ops and saw the Letterman studio and then found a place with a full glass wall to sit and drink beers and watch the New Yorkers walk by. We eventually made it all the way back to our hotel. I was proud of myself - it was a long walk.

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After making some clothing adjustments for the air being colder on the water, we grabbed a cab to take us down to the pier for our boat ride. We stopped in for a beer at P.D. O'Hurley's after getting our boat tickets, then headed back to board the boat.

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The boat was not very crowded and I got a seat on top right on the rail. We loved looking at the views and then when I wanted a cigarette, we went looking for an unintrusive spot and found this nice spot on the back of the boat:

It was a large area and away from everyone so we stayed down there for the rest of the trip. The sun was coming a going and we caught the Statue of Liberty at a great moment when the sun came out and really loved all the great views of the city:

After the cruise, we had dinner in Ed's Chowder House and I had scallops and soup and everything was delicious and cost a million dollars, but I finished off my night at an Irish pub and drank all night for just $23. I think people were all buying my drinks because it was my birthday.

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On Thursday we took our time getting ready. We were a little tired from our very long Wednesday and decided to see Central Park the expensive lazy way:

Our driver was fun and informative and knew all sorts of histories about everything. The only walking we had to do was jump out for pictures like this one taken at the fountain used in the "Friends" opening montage:

And to get to The Boathouse for a beer:

Thursday night Loretta's friend from Yonkers came to our hotel. We visited for a bit then walked to Columbus Circle to catch the subway down to SoHo. We walked over to Little Italy to eat at a restaurant that the friend swore by. They served family style and everyone shaared all types of food, which was good, but the atmosphere and lighting were horrible. I would never have eaten there by choice. So then this friend wanted to go to a desert place and I was through with playing nice and gave Loretta some money for cab fare and gave her the address and I took a cab down to my favorite place from my 2007 trip, the Broome Street Bar. I was happy to be back at my place. I played all my favorite songs on the jukebox. They showed up some time later and we had more drinks and then took a cab back to the hotel and changed into fancy clothes. We wanted to try out the rooftop club, but as soon as we got in the door, I was deafened by the music and had to leave. I changed back into street clothes and hoofed it back down to my Irish pub. After a few beers I walked back and stopped for ice. (Our hotel did not have an ice machine and you had to order a bucket of ice and it was tiny!)

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Good Friday was just get up, pack, airport, although we did hang out in the hotel lounge for just a little bit. We took it easy at Loretta's that night and did some laundry.

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Saturday was so much fun! We went to a home improvement store and I got Loretta a neat little lamp and she bought a hand towel holder and toilet paper holder and I installed them in her half bath. We layed out the stuff for dyeing eggs, then my brother and his two sons came over. Except for Loretta, none of us knew what we were doing. We were doing all sorts of experiments with the eggs. I forgot to add the egg pictures and blogger won't let me insert pictures post facto, so I'll show those later. But we were all laughing. Then we all went out for Mexican food and Loretta took this great picture of my brother, my nephews and me:


It was a great ending to a wonderful week. When I got home on Sunday I was exhausted. I was still exhausted on Monday. On Tuesday I was finally able to resume being a productive human being. Maybe 50 is the cut off date for partying for a whole week. We'll see.

First Leg of the Trip

I've had a great evening with my Bestie. I've had North Carolina barbcued pork. I have so enjoyed seeing all the things she has done to her house since I was here last May. I watched the full moon rise in the east and listened to unfamiliar bird calls earlier in the evening. It was only my first day of my 50th birthday celebration week, and it was great. I hope every day this week is this good. Happy Birthday to me, indeed!

Getting Ready for the Birthday trip

It was weird seeing a week's worth of my vitamins and supplements all together. I was thinking, Man! That's a LOT of stuff! I don't really want to open a debate here about supplements. I don't take anything weird and every thing I take is for a particular purpose. I've gone a few days without before and I can feel a difference. My mom thinks the supplements and laughing all the time are what keep me alive and healthy, because I have very bad habits with all the beer and cigarettes and weird sleep schedules and whatnot.

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And besides, this post is not about which supplements I take, it's about getting ready for my trip. The reason I did the supplements already was to see if I needed to get any more while I am out later today. Ideally I want to do anything I need to do that requires leaving the house today because I want Saturday to be an IN day. I will have eight OUT days in a row and that's really pushing my limit. I imagine when I get back I won't leave the house until MOW day.

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I've made a nice quick reference guide of every place I want to go with addresses. And I wrote it on orange paper so it will be easy to find. I've already put a few things in my backpack like binoculars and camera battery charger. And made a list of everything that goes in the backpack. I still have a few little area maps to print, but I think I'm ready to pack on Saturday.

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I think I decided to do New York for my 50th birthday about two years ago. And now it's just days away. Time is funny like that. But after two years of waiting, I am ready to go.

Yuckymas, Ickymas

So there's a giant spider in there under a glass with two books on top, on our light colored carpet. We have not figured out the next step in this process.

Keeping My Fingers Crossed

I had to skip my Meals On Wheels delivery on Friday and spent all of Friday and Saturday sitting in a chair. I woke up Thursday with horrible knee pain and it got worse. On Sunday I was much better but I am babying my knee somewhat. I was really really worried it was some sort of permanent badness and my vacation might be ruined, but I think it's going to be okay. No more sitting all weird for me. From now on I will sit like a regular person and not with my knees all bent around funky. It was a yucky few days and I hope it is all behind me. I probably shouldn't keep my fingers crossed, though. I don't want that kind of pain in my fingers, too.

Just Under Two Weeks From Now...

I've been so busy planning my trip: looking at maps, studying the subway line, watching the weather, thinking about clothes and shoes and whatnot, that I sort of forgot that I will actually turn 50 in less than two weeks. It just hit me about 20 minutes ago. I feel like I should be somewhat dismayed about turning 50, but I'm not. As a matter of fact, after I started thinking about it, it just seemed funny as hell.

It just seems like I'm too silly to be 50. I guess I always thought of a 50 year old woman as a stately elegant being and I am certainly neither of those things. I feel like I should take a class or something to learn how to dress and behave like a 50 year old woman. "Age appropriate" has become a modern adjective for describing people and their clothes and I'm pretty sure I'm failing at those things.

I still like to wear jeans and tennis shoes and simple cotton tops and drink beer and play the jukebox and play pool and make goofy jokes and laugh out loud. Maybe when I'm 60 I'll start working on the stately and the elegant part. Or not. What's the rush?

All About Tuesday

A Birthday, A Milestone and A Win: It was My Sweetie's birthday. He came home from work early. He had decided that for his birthday he wanted to go the the Ranger's baseball game. As we were walking to the ballpark, I said, "Stand over there and turn around so I can take a picture for my blog."

When I started my blog in 2005, he said I was not to show his face. Well today, on his 44th birthday, almost 6 years since I started this blog, he didn't turn around. he said, "Go ahead and take the picture." We had really good seats. I thought our seats last year for the ALCS were good, but these were even better. This is the first pitch of the game:

On top of being at the ballpark and the pleasant weather, I happened to glance up and catch this really pretty little crescent moon:

Another semi-milestone is the picture below. I only wear my distance glasses at the movie theater and for baseball games. I forgot I had them on when I asked some guy to take our picture at the end of the game.:

It's weird to see myself with glasses. It was a great night, the Rangers won (and are currently undefeated) and I think My Sweetie had a great birthday. And now I don't have to hide him. Yay!

The Condensed Version (Maybe Not to You)

I mentioned that I took my truck in for repairs last Tuesday. I had planned to get it on Thursday because A) I didn't want to go out two days in a row and B) my daughter has Thursday off. Well, late Wednesday night I realized that I should just walk to the garage to pick up my truck because A) I was fast approaching my New York trip where I will be walking all over the place and B) I could really use the exercise. I am not kidding, but I had gotten maybe 5 blocks from my house and saw that the road started to go up as in UP, as in INCLINE and I thought, Okay, I'm going to call my daughter now to come and get me. And it was in the 80's and I was hot. And then I thought, Don't be such a wuss, give it a few more blocks. Let's make this little hill and see what happens.

I made it up the hill. I made a turn, I kept going. After I had made that turn and was keeping going, I realized I didn't even know if that road went through to the main road. I was hoping it did. I came upon some tall boy walking home from school and and asked "Does this road go through to Harwood?" He glanced away from me and I saw that he had earplugs from an ipod or something. So out loud for no reason, I said, "Okay, Thanks." And then I continued on. I saw that the road curved and at first I thought, Oh NO! Is this one of those circles? But then I saw a busy road and knew I was okay. A pair of high school kids passed across in front of me and I joined behind them and slowly increased the distance between us as their younger stronger legs pulled ahead. I kept chugging along and finally there it was: That tan building just up ahead was the place! I was so excited. I got there and crossed the parking lot and was ecstatic! "I made it," I cried! They all looked at me like I was insane. I explained that I had walked. They were all, "We would have picked you up." They didn't get it.

I pulled away expecting my truck to be all smooth and perfect, but it wasn't. It seemed to be doing the same thing - sputtering while at a stoplight. I needed to buy groceries, so I decided to do that and then call them the next day. Meanwhile I was all edorphinomized from my walk and stopped in at the bar next to the grocery store (yes! It reopened as something else!) and was all jubilant: Friday dawned, I woke up early thinking maybe I would get my truck inspected because the inspection sticker had expired while my truck was in the shop. I also called the garage and told them that my truck was still idling poorly and that I would have to bring it back when I had a chance. I ran a little behind for getting the inspection, but still got to Meals on Wheels early. They had changed my route a bit (not for the better) but still it all seemed okay because I had an early start. My 4th delivery was an apartment complex, so I turned off my truck. When I restarted it, the "Check Engine" light started flashing like crazy and then just stayed on. I was furious and called the garage. I yelled, "I took my truck in because the check engine light was on and and it was idling poorly and now it is doing both and yet I paid you guys $434!!" I was mad.

After I finished my MOW route, I went to lunch. I originally had great plans to have lunch at a place near the mall that has lobster bisque on Fridays and then I was going to hit the mall for some spring/summer shirts and birthday gifts for My Sweetie. But now that was all kaput. I ate lunch in the near vicinity and then took my truck back to the garage. I made them drive me home. They told me they had fired the guy that was supposed to have fixed my car. (I hope he doesn't have a family.)

When I was at lunch I had texted my daughter to see if she would take me shopping on Saturday for the shirts and birthday presents. (I didn't want to ask My Sweetie to drive me to buy his birthday presents.) She said "Sure!" Our plan was to start out at 3:30.

On Saturday, after lunch, I was going about my business of getting ready to go out when I got a text from my daughter saying she "didn't feel good" blah blah blah (hangover). So my plans were shot again. My Sweetie drove me to get my truck and when I told them I was going straight to get it inspected, they told me I had to drive it at least 10 miles since the battery had been disconnected. So I called the inspection place to ask about that and they said, "Ten? You need to drive it at least 50 miles to reset the codes before we can inspect it." I was all, FIFTY? Really? I don't drive 50 miles in two months and I can't drive around with an expired sticker. It was very annoying.

We finally decided on going to the mall and riding around. I got my shopping done and we put the 50 miles on the car. We did see some interesting stuff while we were on our mandatory ride. We saw a cowboy all dressed in white on a white horse on a busy road, some neat little country road areas and a Lamborghini:

And My Sweetie took my truck to get inspected Sunday morning. It passed of course. By the way, that "giant" walk I took to get my truck was 1.6 miles. That's pathetic. I mean I did walk it but it was tough. Time to get back on the treadmill. I don't even have two weeks left!

Gee Willikers

After my interesting Thursday, Friday went to hell and Saturday wasn't much better but I finally got my truck back and running right and they fired the mechanic who originally worked on it and I finally got my damn lobster bisque that I couldn't get on Friday because of having to take the truck back to the garage. Sunday has to be better.

too sleepy

I can't wait to post about my Thursday but I am very tired and I will need to downlaod some pics and whatnot. But I imagine you will find it amusing (laughing at me). I'll just say: Have a great Friday and a great weekend!