Getting Ready

Wednesday after posting, I watched the first of 1864 and then went out for an early dinner at Pizza Nova, down near the base on Harbor Drive. I had a lovely supreme 10", then realized that I really should watch my portion sizes much better than that. Back at home I started shining my new boots and listened  to the entire 8-part radio series of Dorthy Sayers's "Clouds of Witnesses" from Linda. Thanks Linda!!! It was great fun!

Thursday after class, I had a Chipotle bowl for lunch while I watched an episode of Poirot from the library, then I somehow got into looking up old computer games online. I found the wiki article about Prince of Persia (which we played to no end in the early '90s), and then a free demo of Swamp Gas... and I played Nerdoids for way too long. ;) Unfortunately, they've stopped selling the full version due to operating costs, so I can't play the state capitals or either of the two other arcade games. :(

After wasting all that time I remembered I needed to do my laundry before the day was done, so I started the first load. I started a frenzy of activity, going for a run at liberty station (I ran the first quarter mile in 2 minutes flat!) and finishing up with some sit-ups and push-ups. Cleaned up at the gym on base, and decided it would be a good time to pack up my bicycle (outside the door) and my helmet and pump from my locker as the gym is closing next week for renovation.

Back at home I suddenly had the urge to go through the mess of accumulated papers all over my room and throw out some and organize. When I was done I had gone down many memory lanes of the last year, threw out a stack of useless stuff, organized to my heart's content, and found that it was 9:40pm! I had forgotten about my laundry and dinner. lol! So I called my Darling for a good long talk before he comes tomorrow morning, and then finished up my laundry. Whew!

Jw

Lazy Afternoon

I've spent my whole afternoon at my computer. Been just a little tired I guess. After finding out that Season 2 of Agatha Christie's Poirot is not on Netflix, nor at the SD library, I settled for watching a 90 minute episode of Miss Marple (Murder at the Vicarage, 2004)... which was also a lot of fun. Since I had lunch at Noodles & Co, and brought home a bowl from Chipotle for dinner at the same time, there hasn't been anything I've needed to get up for. Isn't that awful? :) So I played a lot more minesweeper (because I got it into my head after I showed someone how to play it in class - on break), and now I've just finished the other film from the library... "Beyond the Sea" (2004, Kevin Spacey) which I loved.

Now what? I'm tired and it's only 6:45.
Jw

So Relaxed!

Yes, my whole bed was a pillow. I dreamed last night, but I don't remember a bit of it. Woke up for breakfast early with Dad and Tom before they headed out on their week-long fishing trip. Oooh! was it good! And then we just sat around and talked for a long time... then Meg and I went to her apartment to take a look at their new pet fish. We played backgammon and drank some tea as well.

Part of what we talked about back home was the wedding dress for September. Mom had gone to the store a while ago and picked out patterns she thought I'd like. And she did very well... We decided on a pattern, and later picked out fabric at Hancock's in Kirkland. It will be very fine! She already took my measurements and will bring a first try when they come to visit me the first week of July. :)

Otherwise, we had soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch... and Mom and I went out for dinner to our favorite restaurant. When we got home from that, we rested and watched the Washington Huskies get trounced in the Softball Semi-finals against Missouri. The World Series tournament is starting in OKC next week.

I've been rather tired all day, but loving it.

Jp

Relaxable Day

I ended up not going on that run a couple of the recruit guys were planning for today. I woke up with my period... a week early. With how emotional I'm feeling (you know you're in trouble when "aww" moments from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air almost make you cry), Mom thinks its the stress of everything. (yep, I agree)

So today was having a nice breakfast with everyone, watching the above-mentioned TV show with the FC, playing Phase 10 with the FC (finishing 2nd), having a dinner of fresh brook trout (that Dad caught on their trip this weekend) and corn-on-the-cob (that they bought at a market there), and then watching a very funny and endearing "Bachelor Mother" (1939, Ginger Rodgers, and a very young David Niven). What a hoot! I loved how she said upon getting fired in the beginning, "How hard is it for a girl to join the Navy?", when thinking of things she could do.

A day with the family is just what the doctor ordered.

Jp

Just Another Day

I kept myself very busy at work today... lots of things needed putting away and spiffing up. And I successfully stopped myself from eating any of the many leftover treats from yesterday. Had a quick lunch because my Dad needed to get back to a meeting before he took off for business trip to California this afternoon. Just a pit stop really... no time for even our usual Backgammon. So I really kept eating to a minimum :) A day of recovery :)

And Mom took off this morning to pick up her nativity collection from her friend at Mt. St. Helens (and won't be back until tomorrow) so directly after work, Meg told me to come over to Jason's house with them to share dinner and a fun evening together. Jason's Mom and family were in and out, but we had a lovely chicken stew to eat and then after everyone got back and after talking and such we sat down to a great game of Rummikub, which I won! :)

I went home around 9:30 and took care of Doggie-Boy. Other than that, I've been going through junk on/in my desk, as it had gotten out of control. I am happy to report that it is much better now. I don't have to dig to find a pen. :)

Oh, Jason gave me good advice tonight for visiting the Boston Navy Yard... with that and Linda's advice for Rhode Island, my plans are really coming together for that big New England trip... I think it will be fabulous! The trip will include a lot of naval and maritime history, as well as my original intent of hitting all the states and Revolutionary War sites in the north. It seems as if everything is falling into place! Truly, the Lord blesses me all the time!

Jp

What Day is it? Gameday!

Go Dawgs! (actually, that's how it really is spelled - no points taken)
We put the W in there to reference that we're from Washington... and our logo is a giant W. So today starts the 2009 season...
Good Night, and Good Luck! We've nowhere to go but up. :)

Thursday's practice ended up being just fine. We didn't do too much new stuff, since the only thing we had left to learn was the last drill for the last song. But yesterday... oh, dear, yesterday. I was so entirely worn out. And I slept in a bit and got to work even a little past our later start time... LOL! So when work was finally over, I just wanted to fall over. But I had lunch instead. And then Mom and I had a nice time reading and praying together. And then I checked email for the first time in a while (while at home) and then played Dad a game of Cribbage. Ooh boy, was I impatient with Dad counting all of his ridiculously good hands. He had pairs all the time, once a five card run, and a couple of times, hands with more than 12 points (6 points is a pretty good hand).

So after all that I lay down for about 10 minutes before I had to jump up and go to rehearsal again. But I put myself in a good mood by not caring if I got there on time (I needed to get some meat for dinner - in the form of a burger). So I did a quick drive through, and continued on to the U. When I got there, there were people charging 7 bucks to park where I usually do for 4... so because I wasn't there for the soccer game, the guy let me in for nothing (because my Husky Card was $0.50 short) - what a nice guy! I don't know if I would have made it in if there wasn't a soccer game! Thank the Lord for that! And so I got there pretty much on time anyway, because the traffic was light, and I ended up not being stressed. Yeah! And that was the last practice! (Well, except for the one today, before the fans get there. :) Oh, and because the Halftime show is all Jimmy Buffett songs, we're playing 'Cheeseburger In Paradise' and making:

for one of the 21 pages of charts we have for the show. I am luckily part of the meat. During 'Fins' we make a wave formation and a part of the band makes a big shark fin that goes after the cheerleaders. :) It's a fun time.

When I got home last night (and remembered that there was no new Monk) I went right in my room, put my horn and bag down on my disorganized and messy floor and crashed on my bed for an hour or two before my sister got home and I came out to visit for a moment.

This morning I slept in! And good thing too. Hmm, I've had breakfast, cleaned the bathroom, put all my junk away in my room, and shown my sister & company the Pigs Is Pigs movie after they read the story. LOL! Thanks for the links, Mike!

Jp

Corn, and Other Matters

Yesterday evening we had some wonderful news! My sister walked the dog with our friend Jason, and when they returned, they told us that they were going to start going steady! Wow!

And this morning, after sleeping in and getting breakfast, my parents returned from church and the store with some corn-on-the-cob for our lunch with the family this afternoon. And my sister and I reprised our husking roles... :) much to our satisfaction.

Dad had purchased a Cribbage game from Fred's yesterday, so we tried that out as well... and he beat me with an incredible hand at the end. We followed it up with Backgammon, and I won twice :)

Jp

What a Day!

Today I crawled out of bed just in time to make it to Jazzercise at 6am. This was my first Friday class in a long time, and I always love Mary's sessions! She's the teacher on Fridays. I got to work early, since Friday hours are 8am to Noon, and started by scanning my co-worker's data books. I finished my how-to guide that I was tasked to write this year that goes through and explains all my job functions in one of my departments, and my boss was impressed with the format I created for it. She paid me the ultimate compliment by asking me to proof-read her paper for her class she's taking (she's finishing up her bachelor's of business degree). I love helping out and I hope my comments helped her, although I only had about 15 minutes to give them. Work is fun when most of what I do is write... I'm going to miss working on my assignment, even if it was only a technical report. Anything is better than processing an already processed Usage Change Request.

When I got home, I ate a quick lunch and then my sister and I headed out for Carnation to ride our horses. We tacked up and went out for a short trail ride. Roo was wonderful with his new shoes, until he decided to hop around weird and hurt his back leg again. I think he pulled it when he does those little dances when he freaks himself out. Oh, Roo. We did some trotting and unexpected cantering, so that made things exciting. We also had an issue with standing still when I was re-mounting, but we got through it alright. I love riding out there! It makes me feel like a country girl for a little while at least. It is a nice respite from the city.

After we finished riding, we were invited into our friend's house for a few games of Nertz (Dutch Blitz, with regular decks), none of which I won, but some I did well on. I played the exact same number of cards as Susan did on several hands. That was a little extraordinary. When we finished, I took the opportunity to lay down on the couch for a moment while everyone else talked. I was wiped out, and I fell asleep for a while. It was most refreshing! When I woke up it was time to go home. We stopped at McDonald's on Redmond Ridge, and I had a Big'n Tasty, a small fry and a dollar side-salad. By the time we got home, I had just enough time to change my burnt-out headlight and take the dog for a walk before it was time to run over to the University for the first rally of the season.

Natalie, Erik and Alex were already there when I pulled into the Husky Union Building parking lot. It was a great revival of fun, as Natalie was wearing her t-shirt that I found for her in China, along with a bright purple wig. Oh my! What a good time was had by all! There were at least 15 mellophones there, including 4 of the 5 new rookies. I was able to meet them all, and it looks like they'll have a great section this year. They made very slight changes to some of the choreography this week during drills. Natalie said it was the hardest drills that she ever had, because this time they're not doing Band Day tomorrow, but doing a regular marching show for halftime instead. It sounded like it was intense! I can't wait to WATCH the halftime show for the first time in FIVE years. Ahhhh. I was also able to get my hands on a free parking pass for tomorrow, so that was nice too. The rally started at 8:45 and finished up at the regular spot in front of Suzzalo Library on Red Square at 10:20.

Beat the Sooners tomorrow!
Jp

Monk and other things

Well, I'd have to say that I enjoyed Monk! It was so well done, the way they handled Dr. Kroger's unexpected departure. They simply "told the truth" about what happened. It made it that much more believable and unexpectedly beautifully done. The only thing that I didn't like about the episode, was how Monk and Natalie didn't go for the bad guy's gun after he was out. I don't know how many times they've had the Captain rush in to save the day in the nick of time, but it's sort of a stretch to believe that it could happen the way they did it. Oh, well. The rest of the episode was stellar.

The rest of the day was pretty ho-hum. After work, I came home and played a fun, but extremely long game of Phase 10 with my bro, my dad and my sis. It went back and forth, but I came out on top by... 10 points. Which is just a lucky chance in a game like that. It was the first time we'd played this since the last time Meggan was here... like Christmas. For some reason, we usually only play when she's around... weird.

This time, on the way to housesitting, I went to the coin shop for the coin sheets and it was open! Meggan accompanied me, and we again, cough, went to HPB;I again found a CS Lewis book. We then went to the house and I practiced and she read.

In the evening, we all enjoyed some fresh raspberries on ice creme while we watched Monk together. Yey!

Jp