Weepy Day

Yep, was one of those mornings. Tapered off during the day. Hope it sticks.

Nothing Too Exciting To Report

Been sick -- bad cold? sinus infection? -- something like that. Had some sad days. Jan. 26 was four months since "the event". Planned a retirement reception for someone at work. Tried to sew a blouse sans pattern. Ripped it all apart and will start over. Gave the cat a bath. Sometimes there's just not blogworthy stuff to report. And sometimes I just don't feel like talking.

One Of The Craziest Things I've Ever Heard

Today, two co-workers came to my office and asked if they could jump out of an airplane. I'm thinking, "Why the heck are they asking me?" and agreed, "Sure,why not?" Then they said they wanted to jump out of a plane for me. "Wha?"

Yep, they called it Jump for Judy. More later. (This is crazy!)

This Weekend

Throughout The Weekend
Talk about peeling a BIG potato! I dealt with getting Gene's clothes out of the house this weekend. Man, that really hurt.

Monday, Jan. 16, 2006
Took bags of Gene's clothes in town to wash before donating them. Happened to be this nice lady washing clothes that was willing to take a lot of them for her brother-in-law, husband, and brother. Made me feel better to actually give them to someone instead of just dropping bags off in a bin somewhere. The remainder are bagged up but just haven't gotten them into the car yet. Those are destined for some unnoteworthy bin somewhere.

Watched the Golden Globe awards in the evening without hearing the disgruntled Gene grumbling about the "tv awards season". Einstein didn't have much to say about it one way or another. Here's a picture of him looking cute.

Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006
On Sunday morning, drove over and went to church with Dad. He took me out to eat after. The best part was getting to see Deb and Ronnie who just happened to be in town and eating there, too.

When I left for college, the Deb was still in high school. Being the best friend, she continued to spend the night at my house since my folks came to love her like their own. One of the most memorable letters I ever got in college was from her when I was a freshman -- "I'm spending the night with Aunt Nettie and Uncle Eddis. I'm sitting in your bed while I'm writing this. I'm feeding Spanky M&M's. Is there a limit? I don't want him puking all over me." Talk about homesick -- the best friend you left behind feeding your dog your M&M's!


Dad & Deb at the restaurant.
As you can see, there's a lot of love going on between these two!
(Deb previously mentioned here: Saturday, September 03, 2005/A Good Birthday)

Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006
Sorted clothes and cried -- a bunch.

Not The Greatest Day

Kind of down day. Don't know for a fact, but maybe it has something to do with yesterday being the anniversary of mine and Gene's first date. I don't think so but some people are convinced that those anniversaries affect you subconciously. Dunno.

Belated Christmas Movie

We were going to see a movie together before Christmas, but there were just too many things going on -- so we went to see The Chronicles of Narnia LINK when everyone got back in town. I always have a great time with these guys.


At The Cinema!
(l to r) Jordan, Agent Soledad, Lila, Blake, KimG, Ericka


Popcorn Poses
Ask for crazy poses and 50% will stick out their tongue with popcorn stuck to it. Okay, I did it, too, but there's no picture to prove it.


During The Movie

This Weekend

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2006

KimH & Ryan

Today, I enjoyed the pleasure of having lunch with KimH and Ryan. It's been a while since I've seen them and it is always a treat when I do. They seem to be doing very well. Kim has completed her Master's and Ryan starts his next week.

After lunch, I spent way too long in Lowe's. I picked up some things to do some closet organizing with -- but kept avoiding going home to work on it. There were still things of Gene's hanging up. But I did make it home eventually and his clothes are not hanging up anymore. Haven't actually done much with them but at least they're not hanging up. Still have a couple of drawers to unload, too. Let me tell you -- it's not fun!

Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006
Took my car in for the 30,000 mile maintenance. I've had it about 14 months. After that long wait, I went to the mall and got a haircut and hunted for bargains.

Some Recent Photos

Dad on January 1, 2006
His eighty-eighth New Years Day!


Einstein. He looks cold!


Gene's Nieces and Nephew, Christmas Eve 2005
(l. to r. Starr, Aunt Dammit, Sean, Celeste, Laura.
We wish Michael & Patrick could have made it, too!)


Gene's Greats, Christmas Eve 2005
Great nieces (l. to r. Karen, Mary Jane, Kayla)
and great nephew (Stone), Christmas Eve 2005


My last visit to Barrie's. (Clockwise beginning upper right: Marylynn looking lovely; Matt & Owen looking at tornado clips on the computer; Cade sharing her yummy treat with Mommy; Cindy Lou Hoo!)

Wendy's Is The One With Issues

Today, VickiB and I walked over to Wendy's for lunch. She asked for a combo and the assistant manager strongly suggested she not get the fries because they were waiting on the truck to come in and they would then have fresh oil. She said they just wouldn't be as good as they should be. Too bad Vicki didn't want one of the other sides although she settled on one. Then she asked for sauce for her chicken strips -- you guessed it. They were out! So she ended up with some Honey Mustard salad dressing. And, they got someone's order wrong and it was some shy, timid person that works there and the assistant manager had her voice-volume turned up so that the cooks in the back could hear all about it from where she stood at the fartherest-most table. Hmmm -- I look forward to South Paw opening back up next week!

Because Of My Tomato Issues

Today at Wendy's, I ordered a Chicken BLT Salad -- with tomatoes.

I Miss My Best Friend

I miss the witty repartee, knowing there was someone always on my side in a fight, having him brag on my accomplishments, our inside jokes, his smell, quoting movies, his encyclopedic knowledge of historical and ubiquitous minutia, and using words like largesse and minutia in everyday household chatter.

Issues With Tomatoes

Apparantly, I have tomato issues. KimG and I were joined by Andres at Wendy's. I bit into my Spicey Chicken Sandwich and it was sans tomato. So I went to ask if they were out. The "can do" manager pointed out that she had put up signs up all over (There were two, one on each door -- and very, very wordy -- they looked like essays! Going out the door, I did notice "Tomatoes" and "Hurricane Katrina" bolded but didn't have time to read the whole thing!) and saying they only added tomatoes if requested. But she wrapped up 5 or 6 slices for me and noted that since I was a "regular" she should have asked. I took my bumper crop of tomatoes to my table, and put on as many as would fit and enjoyed my improved sandwich.

But you know how at Sonic they do the equivalent of the "Water Torture" by coming by at disgustingly frequent intervals to see if you could possibly need another packet of catsup? Reminiscent of that, the Wendy's assistant manager then came by to check on things. Instead of saying something like, "Are ya'll doing alright?" -- she said, and said just a wee bit pedantically, "Other than your -- tomato issue, is everything okay now?" I don't know why, but it really struck me as hysterically funny that she conceived of me as someone who has issues with tomatoes! Who knows, maybe she is a psychology student working her way through the program. She may think the next person who freaks out about mayo touching their lettuce has a complex!

After all the special attention and having way more tomatoes than I could use, I made sure to hide the leftover slices among the trash so as not to be pegged as one of the wasteful. And the three of us had great fun the rest of the afternoon talking about tomato issues and making an issue about all sorts of other things.

I Survived The Holidays

Spent New Years Eve/Day with Dad and Martha. Enjoyed it.