A Gift

*You might need Kleenex.

Well, you probably all know that today is my birthday.  Wooohooo 42~  41 and all the yuck that went with it is OVER!  ( I hope) 

So anyway, I didn't think I would post anything today, and I'm pushing it with time, but wanted to share something that happened while it's still fresh in my mind.  Oh for crying out loud, I just realized I left it in the car!  Talk amongst yourselves for a minute........

Ok.  Every year on our birthdays' my Mom would tell us the story of the day we were born.  It drove me bonkers.  "I know Mom, I KNOW."  Even as an adult she would call and wish me a Happy Birthday and then the story.  My birth wasn't a dramatic event, unlike both my brother and my sister.  Just a regular old easy delivery.  She would tell me that I was a good baby, most of the time I didn't cry, when I woke up I would sing to myself in my crib.  It always ended with, you were born on a beautiful September day, but two weeks later we had to drive you half a block to church for your baptism, in a snow storm.  I would honestly give back a year of my life if I could hear that story from her own lips just one more time.  Or to hear my Dad joke about how I was born two weeks after their wedding date.  (two years and two weeks)  Birthdays now are definitely missing something.

I had my "sad" moment earlier in the day, then put that stuff back where it belongs and took off to my sisters house to play with the dogs, do laundry, and wait for her to get back from an appointment to take me to birthday lunch.  When I got out of the car and came around to get out my laundry I found this.

They call this flower an "Indian Paintbrush" probably renamed now to be more politically correct. :)  However, that's what my Grandma Lenihan called it, and that's what I will always call it.  I remember our car trips and how she would always point them out.  They are plentiful in the summer on the side of highway 53.  I would pick her bunches whenever I could find them around the neighborhood.  When the landlord doesn't have the grass cut for a month at a time I will pick some from the yard here, but they don't grow in the fall.  I stopped dead when I saw it right there in my normal walking path.  There were no others in the yard.  Just this one lone flower.

You believe what you want, but I firmly believe that sometimes people who have gone before us are allowed to do something small to reach back and remind us that they are still there, still loving us and watching over us.  I have had it happen too many times to think otherwise, and will keep that flower for the rest of my own days on this earth.  Thank you Grandma, I love you too.

Year 41

I thought I'd like to write a blog about the year that was.  Now, as I'm staring at the "blank page" I'm thinking, not so much.  It sucked.  Rocks.  Big time.  Once again my mettle was tested, and I came out on top, but I already know these things about myself.  The steel rod that my spine has become, not by choice, was bent just about to the breaking point, yet here I am.  It took a very, very long time this time around, but here I am.

Stronger...... no doubt.
Wiser......probably.
More jaded......is that possible?

Sometimes, like Pollyanna, I try to play the glad game.  There are positive things that happen every day, even if it's just that you have one more day to see the sunset, the stars, the moon.  During this year I have had the chance to reconnect with a couple of very special people, and to spend more time just having fun and enjoying life with my friends than I have in years.

I have learned a couple of things about myself that actually surprised me, but those would fall into the "private" category. (I KNOW, can you believe I don't tell you everything?  With the stuff I do tell, can you imagine what I leave out?)  Anyway, I will tell you the most important thing I've come to find out.  I can do this on my own, and I love being on my own.  Just about my entire life has been centered around some man and what they think, plan, do, like, etc, etc, at nausium.   I've finally reached the point where I have been truly able to shift my thinking to focus on myself first.  That doesn't mean I don't date, I do on occasion.  I have a few really close male friends too, nice guys who are actually managing to show me a different side to men than I'm used to seeing.

The best part of year 41?  That one falls into the "I'm not telling" catagory, but it has something to do with bees. :)  That and remembering that you can always find the positive, if you look hard enough, and THAT my friends is what you need to focus on!

Pass the Soap

My Mom was a big soap opera fan.  She and my Aunt Pat would watch, and discuss "The Guiding Light" just about every day.  Mom also watched "As the World Turns", so I grew up watching both of them.  Somewhere in my pre-teen years I picked up "Young and the Restless" and then "Bold and the Beautiful" when it came along.  Of course, I've always been a full time working girl, so no time to watch the soaps, unless I was home sick.  Fortunately you can catch them once every few months and still be current.

 A few years back I would be stuck watching "All My Children" during my break at work.  Traci would always get to the tv before me, so I would make endless fun of the characters......... until Dr. David Hayward appeared!

Now, I am no fan of the character and his evil ways, but for pete sake, HE IS LUJACK! They killed him off of "Guiding Light" years before, and I sobbed my heart out.  I couldn't believe it, there he was, waltzing into my lunch break!  So I started paying attention.  Then they gave him a family......... and Leo came along.  (Josh Duhamel...... Fergie's husband for those of you who live under a rock.......or maybe you know him from the Transformer movies.) Of course they killed him off, but somehow he returned for the finale.  I'll have to ask some friends about how all that came to be.

Here he is!  A gal I work with, April, took the afternoon off on Friday to watch the last episode with her Mom.  We gave her a hard time about it, but it's sweet.  She said the episode wasn't very good, and I'm not surprised.  I caught the show right after I heard they were canceling it, and I could see why!  The writing was really awful, and more of the same recycled plot lines.  I wonder how many times Zach was missing over the years and declaired dead?

Anyway, when I checked my facebook on my phone after work I had this picture and a message from April to have a good weekend.  I was so surprised I almost dropped the phone, and I'm sure a teenage shriek escaped out of my mouth before I could stop it.  Kind of like when I saw George Clooney on the cover of Parade in the Sunday paper this morning.........  ahhh, George.....

Off topic again.  Anyway, the point is that it's sad.  When "The Guiding Light" ended last year I felt the loss of my Mom all over again.  It was something we watched together and shared.  "All My Children" didn't sting as much, but I will miss catching up with them when I happen to be home.  For a couple of years I did have Soap Net, and would watch a few evenings a week.  I wonder where Doctor David Hayward  (LUJACK) will end up next?  Vincent Irizzary, I had to think hard, but I believe that's his name.  Tall, dark, twisted, and handsome.  Right up my alley!  Hmmm....I see that he's on facebook...... I feel a new "like" coming up! 

 

When September Ends

This is one of those therapy blogs where I just have some stuff festering that I need to get rid of. 

I love the song by Green Day, "Wake Me Up When September Ends".  I'm listening to it as I write this in fact, so feel free to hum along.  I mentioned in a former blog that this is my favorite time of year, but that really only goes to about mid month.  It's more about the weather and the changing seasons because actually it's a tough time of year for me. 

I find that most men I know have a time of year where they should just disappear for a week or two.  It would be kinder to the rest of the world, especially those of us trapped in a relationship with them. :)  Women tend to deal with these things better, it isn't a slam on men, it's just the way it is.  It's what we do.  We roll with it, move on, we deal.  Those around us don't suffer for what we've lost in life. We take a moment here and there to remember, but we live our lives, and if I didn't tell you, you would never, ever know.

September is always difficult.  On one hand I love the changing seasons, I love how excited the little ones are at the beginning of 4K.  They are the big kids now!  Starting the new year of pre-school, my own nieces and nephews sports things, annual rummage sale, the crisp in the air, waiting for the leaves to turn.  On the other hand, and it's a big other hand, This month holds my parents wedding anniversary, ( It's an odd time to miss them so much, but I'm odd.) Wally's birthday, and the day that he died.  The middle of September was when my life began a downward spiral last year, leaving carnage through December.  It's hard for me to look back at where I was a year ago. I sort of see myself as walking along with a puzzled look, feeling that something isn't quite right,  just about to unknowingly step off of a cliff.

I have ten days to go in September.  I don't do a countdown, but I know this because my birthday also happens to be the last day of September.  I'm not one of those women who dreads their birthday, or lies about their age.  I have lived the heck out of most of my forty-one years on this earth.  Good, bad, and in between.  I can not wait to leave forty-one in the past.  There have been moments, but it has not been kind for the most part.  Forty two just has to be better.  Pretty please?  *sigh*

Ten days to go.  Why I think it will make anything better I don't know, but for some reason I do.  It's kind of like New Years I guess.  Shrug off the old and start anew.   I've done a lot of growing in the past few months, and while I'm still not where I'd like to be with one thing in particular (banging head on the desk), I definitely feel better.

 ♫ As my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost, wake me up, when September ends. ♫

Pimped Out

News Flash: Ernie is NOT gay.  I could write a whole blog about how you parents have ruined Sesame Street, but that one will have to wait for another day.  Don't you people have enough to do with your full time jobs and your two point five children?  Anyway.......

Today was the annual "East End Fun Days" where they have miles of rummage sales running down fifth street in Superior.  I have an irritating cold with a barking cough, but I still headed over to Lisa's garage at eight a.m. to sit out with her and sell our wares.  I didn't realize that I was going to be part of the deal!

All was going well, lots of folks coming and going, got to see Wally's sister Shelley, which is always nice.  I see her every year at the sale, and it's always right around his birthday (tomorrow) which seems fitting.  So I am sitting there innocently, (that's how it always starts) bagging up peoples items, talking with Lisa, and waiting for Melanie, Kerri, and Shelly to come and entertain us with whatever treasure's they've found.  One year we held a costume contest, and Shelly won when she appeared in a sumo suit.  I won this year, and I didn't even have a costume..........

All of the sudden, THIS comes parading in the doorway.    Lisa and I were quite impressed.  Ernie in a prom dress ranked right up with the best cosutmes the girls have ever come up with.  We discuss asking if we could take his picture, and Lisa took a chance.  "Can we take your picture?"  "Sure, for a kiss." came the reply from within the Ernie mask.  "Ok," returned Lisa "She'll give you one."  What?  Wait a minute here!

So Lisa takes the pic, and I think "It's o.k.  I am a pretty good sport, if he's serious I'll give him a big peck on the cheek. "  Ernie comes on over, whips up his mask, and I am looking at Anthony Michael Hall from all those 80's movies, a little most muscular, with acne.  He was probably twenty.  I stand up to kiss his cheek and he plants a big kiss square on my mouth.  Yes.  He did.

I'm sure my eyes were wide open with shock, and while not a deep, romantic kiss, he held it long enough. blah.  Then he puts the Ernie mask back on and says to his buddy "I almost slipped her a little tounge." to which I replied "I hope you enjoy my cold."

Violated by a muppet.  What next?

Remembering

I feel like I should post something to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  I have no story to tell, no actual connection to anything that happened on that day.  I, like most Americans, just watched in horror on the television while events unfolded.  I held my loved ones a little tighter and felt that awful thing in the pit of my stomach.......vulnerability.  Something I had never felt before. 

When the first tower fell I was just getting to work. We were trying to figure out what was going on, but had all the little ones there so had to keep it under control.  The teachers took turns going into the kitchen where the TV was on.  I walked in to check on things just in time to watch the second tower collapse.  Like many others my mind couldn't even comprehend what it was seeing.  My boss started crying, keening "the people, my God, the people" over and over again, and I couldn't understand what she meant.  I just stood there staring at it, in shock and disbelief.  That people were inside those towers was too much overload I guess.  It started to sink in, but I couldn't lose it, I had children to return to.  Little ones who certainly couldn't grasp what was going on, and at that age shouldn't have to.

Upon returning to the classroom I let Lisa, who was my assistant then, go and watch for a bit.  When she came back we were standing talking up front away from the children playing, and heard a loud noise approaching the building.  We both looked toward the window with terror on our faces. (basement so we couldn't see)  It was just the huge lawnmower, the drivable kind, that the college uses to cut the lawn.  Silly, and stupid, and absolutely terrifying in that moment.  We both breathed a sigh of relief and then moved on with the day.  So many others were unable to do the same.

Something else comes to mind, something that happened a few days later.  The kids were building block towers (four year olds) and one of them was crashing a toy plane into them.  I lost it.  "I never, EVER, want to see you playing that game again!  Do you understand me???"  Then I walked out quickly before the tears started.  I know I came back and we talked about it, but I can't remember what I said to them.  Something more appropriate I'm sure.

What I took away from that time was not the vulnerability, although I felt it for a long time.  It was the true sense of "one nation" that came over all of us shortly after the attacks.  When we look back and remember, as we should, I hope that we recall that part of it too. 

God Bless America

Candy Corn Nightmare

What is it about me that brings out the creepers, and more importantly why do they have to touch me???  This time Lisa got it too, and I was snickering to myself while in the middle of composing a text to Officer Dave about the new drink I was trying.  Then I got it three times worse.  Ah, Karma.

Now, this gentleman has some issue.  I don't think it's developmental, maybe a stroke, or C.P., or it could be a rough time with drugs.  The way he holds himself and walks gave that part away immediately.  I certainly wouldn't pick on the disabled.  When you add in very drunk and touching me, well then you get written about.   I saw him come out for a smoke numerous times, and just had a bad feeling something was going to happen.

We were finished with our drinks and the deep fried mushroom appetizer, (it's ok, but nothing to write about) just sitting enjoying the nice evening and talking about our individual weeks and individual plans for the rest of the evening.  Minding our own beezwax, dressed appropriately, neither of us inviting anyone into our personal space, that's for sure.  I got a text from Dave, so read it and started to respond when I noticed the aforementioned gentleman weaving his way toward Lisa. *snicker*  He grabbed her hand and said good-bye to her, something about having a good time, and that she's pretty.  I don't know, I was texting and snickering.  Then he kissed her hand, and I snickered some more.  She was polite and played along, and I thought that was it.  My ammunition for when she teases me about the old man incident.  Oh, I was so wrong.

Then he steps right up to me and holds out his hand, as if to shake hands, so of course I stop the text and shake his hand.  One hand in his, my phone gripped in the other.  He holds my hand, and will not let go.  I can tell something isn't "right" with him so I am very polite.  "What's your name?"  It's Scott.  He still wont let go.  "Look, she wont let go of my hand.  She wants me!"  He nods toward Lisa, "You were nice, but she is CUTE!"  He's still grabbing my hand.  Grinning at me with chew stuck in his teeth.  He says good bye, so I think it's over, and I've made it through pretty unscathed.  Yeah, I know better.

So Scott takes a couple of steps to pass me, then stops and says "Oh you have such cute little ears." Then he proceeds to start rubbing my left ear.  Lisa is practically laughing out loud.  Then some comment about my nose and he tweaked that a few times.  (insert any really bad words you like here) I laughed good naturedly and then thank God he moved on.  Why?????   ARG!

My sister in law, Elise, says " Because it's good luck to rub the head of a dwarf."  Very funny Mrs.  You wont know how, you wont know when, but I'll be paying you back for that one!

In closing, I once again implore drunk men everywhere to KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELVES!  I know I'm little, I know my ears are cute, I know I have some other nice assets.  It doesn't give you the right to get into my space!  I think Lisa and I continued our conversation for a few minutes, then she couldn't stand it anymore and brought out the candy corn hand sanitizer.  I borrowed some, and yes I put it on my ear and my nose too. :)  Smelled too yummy, it was time to leave the bar!  Heaven knows what else would have happened. 

Had a nice dinner with Steve, salmon on the grill rocks!  Watched "Due Date" which should have been MUCH better than it was.  Home by 8:30, in bed asleep before 11:00.  Yep, summer must be over. :)

Hamstrings and Salmon

TGIF!  This Friday will be starting off with Happy Hour as usual, (at Keyport) but then things are going to go a little more low key.  First of all I pulled my right hamstring, and on occasion it hurts like an s.o.b.  I almost said s.o.b. when I went to sit on the floor with the kids at nap time.  The son part came out, then I clamped my mouth shut.  The spiderman ice pack came in handy!  Lisa wanted to go to the Spartan game again, but I just don't think I can manage sitting on the bleachers.  Ouch!  Beautiful night for it though, and  this is probably our last summer weekend if the long range forecast is to be believed.  That little weather man who irritates me said the "s" word a few days ago.  Someone should arrest him, it isn't even the middle of September!

That's right, it isn't the middle of the month.  Today is September ninth.  My Mother in Law would have been ninety-one today.  After an hour or so out on the deck at Keyport I'm going to head a block over and have salmon on the grill with Steve.  I didn't feel right leaving him to his own devices today.  I've been down this road.......more times than I wish to dwell on, and I know how hard all of the "firsts" are.  We would usually have Ruth over for a birthday bbq, because for some reason her birthday was always hot as hell. One year it even hit 100.  Today it's in the 80's.  She would request spice cake for dessert, but that's not happening tonight.  She's really the only one who was partial to it.  I can eat a piece, but that's it.  Steve would always complain because it wasn't chocolate.  When it's your birthday, YOU get to pick the dessert.  Thems the rules around my castle.

So we'll get together to celebrate her life, instead of mourning her loss.  Although we do that too.  I still have a very little bit of the lemon sherbet that I bought for Ruth and I to share a few days before she passed away.  I just can't bring myself to toss it out yet.  That's not usually how I operate, although  I'm not psycho like my own mother, she cleared the house of all Dad's things before he was in the ground.  When I moved out you would never have known I spent seventeen years in that house.  Steve's family is the opposite.  We were cleaning out both his Dad's and Mom's things because Ruth couldn't bear to part with them, even ten years later.  I think I fall somewhere in the middle.  It needs to be done, and I handle it in a timely manner.  Although, I must say, when I end a relationship everything goes so that I don't have to look at it.  I have a treasure box where I allow myself to hold on to ONE thing.  It's an odd collection.  There's a sweatshirt string, a quarter, a bolt, some art,  but I know who they belonged to and why they are there.

My home though is filled with things passed down to me by the women in my family who are no longer here.  Mostly prior to their deaths, and I treasure, and use every piece.  Including a decorative pillow of Ruth's that I snagged for my bed, and a basket of flowers she had that I always liked.  It sits proudly on my living room end table.  My brothers found my Grandma's cane and gave it to me as a gag gift for Christmas a couple of years back.  I loved it!  I have it displayed, and Caitlin always plays with it (she's odd) when she's here, which I allow.  Things are meant to be used and loved.  Another thing taught to me by those same women.  When the kids are here nothing is off limits if they are gentle.  So far everything has remained in one piece.  Although I did freak out when Caitlin started monkeying with the cat toys I have placed with Misty and Pepper's ashes........

Wow did this blog ramble off into territory I hadn't planned on.  Well, that's the way of it with me, especially in September.   Enjoy your Friday night!  I plan to.  Drinks with friends, then a great salmon dinner not cooked by me!  Even if I have to sit on an ice pack......

The Hole Story

This is a true story.  Names have been changed to protect the people who are going to probably get sued.  Well, I hope they do anyway, they should.

Once upon a time a lovely Queen (grin) saved herself (Little girls please note that there was in no way a Prince involved.) from the dungeon and settled in a lovely...uh....apartcastle.  Now three other families also had lodgings in this apartcastle.  In the first dwelling lived a jester, in the second a Maid and her two children, the third belonged to two lovely maidens, and the fourth is where our Queen took up residence.

Within each of these dwellings there were two large air intake vents right in the floor.  One in the drawing room, and one in the bedchamber.  These were covered by a flimsy lattice made of wood.  The Queen, in fear of the royal cats falling through, blocked the first with a large plant, and the former with a chest full of treasure. (or winter hats, mitts, scarves.....)  At the first royal audience with the Maid in number two these grates were discussed, as the Maid did not have a cover over the one in her own bedchamber, thus had a large hole in the floor.  She had taken this up with the evil Duke of Landlord, but in the five years that the Queen had dwelled in the apartcastle nothing had been done to fix the problem.  The Maid finally covered the hole with a babygate.

Some valuble pictures were lost down the hole several years ago, but the Duke wouldn't budge.  A hamster was lost down the hole a couple years back, and the Duke still wouldn't budge.  Then....the MAID fell into the open hole, her leg becoming firmly stuck.  When her paniced daughter came to find the Queen, it was to no avail, her ladyship was out riding. (or stuck late at work) All the King's horses and all the kings men (13 to be exact) were called in, and had to cut the poor Maid free from her prison!

The Maid was sent to the apothecary to be leeched.(X-rays)  The Queen had an audience with her Mother, and the Duke had better get his act together quickly!  AND That is the Hole Story!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

My favorite season, no question about it, is fall!  I love the crisp days and cool nights, the colors, the smells, the food!  Battening up the hatches and tightening down the sails for winter.  Even those cold, rainy, dreary 30mph wind off the lake days don't bother me, unless that is all our fall turns out to be, and sometimes that does happen.  That sucks.  I even don't mind raking. (She says sitting in her apartment where she doesn't have to.) Really, if you need help give me a call, a rake, and some good coffee.  I'm your girl!  Disclaimer: I have an ipod and I will sing and dance in your yard.  I can't help it.

Although fall is my favorite season, right now, the time between summer giving up and fall taking over is my "Most Wonderful Time of the Year."  The hot sun can't help but give up to cooler nights, and some can get downright crisp.  There's a snap in the air in the morning, and although the leaves are still green, you just know it's coming.  Geese have been flocking up for a couple of weeks now, and soon we'll see the smaller birds gathering.  The garden is giving as fast as you can pick, and the anticipation of apple cider, and apple crisp dances on the edge of my mind.  Enjoying the last of the lemonade vodka drinks, knowing I'll be switching to the coffee/baileys/whiskey/kahlua drinks soon.

Just thinking about it makes me long for fall.  Trading the tank tops for sweaters, capri's turn into jeans.  Snuggling into my favorite sweats when I get home from work.  Hot bubble baths and a good book.  Bring it on!!

Friday Night Lights

The happy hour world tour is winding down for the summer.  We have found our new home at Keyport, and were even called "regulars" and were given a very nice discount because we chose to keep coming back!  Very nice, and very unexpected!  Although the hee-haw music (country) was getting to be a little much out on the deck.  It's the jukebox music, so I must remember to bring some cash for the jukebox next time!  Dang hillbillies.....  I still think my x neighbors hang out on the deck there, but it is pretty entertaining.  I tried the shrimp and it was fab!!

After Happy Hour, Lisa, Jon and I made our way over to the football field to watch the local high school team (Superior Spartans) play football.  They haven't done very well in the last several years, but this year started out at 2-0 so far.  This week was against Eau Claire North, who are traditionally pretty tough.  It was a great game, right down to the end, and we won!!  Lisa's daughter Em is a fire twirler, so we got to see her twirl her baton during halftime.  The girls did a great job too.  That's the first time I've gotten to see Em twirl the fire......geez, I remember when she was too little to hold a baton.... *sigh*

Ashlyn was also at the game, and we met up after the halftime performance.  I was going to buy her some Spartan wear for her bday present, but the shop had closed up.  It went something like this.

Me:  Stop texting me Ash, I'm here.
Ash:  Hi Auntie, they're closed.  Oh, these are my friends.
Me:  (feeling really old) Hi Girls
Ash: stares at me, probably waiting for me to do something embarrassing
Me:  Is it uncool to hug your Aunt?
Ash: No! (big hug)  I love you.
Me: I love you
Ash: Shows me the I love you sign.
Me: Show it back as I walk away.   Then I couldn't resist.  I LOVE YOU!  DON'T TALK TO BOYS!

It was a fun night.  A nostalgic night.  Looking out over the field as the sun set, watching the lights come on down Belknap.  A big bright half moon over the scoreboard.  How many junior and senior high nights did I sit cheering in those stands?  Listening to the band, and the dude on the p.a. announcing everything.  The crappy speakers for the halftime music, that are probably the same crappy speakers that they had back in "my day".  Hearing the sound of hundreds of feet stomping on those metal bleachers, and feeling them shake underneath me.  Oh, and watching the younger kids play football in the field behind the end zone.  They are the kids of the kids who were doing that when I was watching as a teen!

 I don't usually go to Spartan games, they bring back too many memories of times gone by, and of someone lost to me forever.  I rarely talk about him, and I've never blogged about him.  It's too overwhelming for me to dwell on or deal with most of the time.  Coincidentally he died on Labor Day, which is in a few days, so it probably stung a little more than it would have otherwise.  I saw the jersey 24, and for the last two quarters of the game, I allowed myself to remember, to embrace it, and give thanks for it.  Like Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

To Friday Night Lights, to young love, and to you Wally.  HSA  I miss you. ♥

The Rest

The vacation story was rudely interrupted by the birthday of Ashlyn.  Sorry about that!  Now it's almost been a week since my vacation so I'll have to think about the highlights.

Lets see, we went to the aquarium, then ate at

I sat outside while the other girls did some shopping here.  NO I couldn't bring myself to go in.

We shopped while we waited for our names to be called at the Rainforest Cafe.  Then we hung around the gift shop.  Here's Kate, hanging around.

We decided to split the appetizer platter, and then order a "Volcano" for dessert.  It's brownie and ice cream, and whipped cream.  Here it is!

This is what we did to it!  It was very sad that we had to waste a section of brownie, but we were SO FULL!  We just needed a fourth to finish it up.

After that we wandered purposefully up to the second floor of the mall.  Have I ever mentioned that I am terrified of escalators?  I always feel like I'm going to fall.  We had to have gone up/down 10 at least.  I always make myself do it, but man I hate it.  Anyway, we went to find the store "Marbles" where our cousin Natalie "works."  It's a brain store full of games, and I put the parenthesis around "works" because she does an awful lot of playing at her job!  I walk up to the store and I see her playing "rock, paper, scissors" with another employee and some customers.  I peek around the register and surprised her with "Nice to see you hard at work Natalie!"  The look on her face was priceless.  Picked up something cool for The Artist Formerly Known as Pablo for Christmas.

After that we decided to call it a day.  The mall used to have a lot of really cool stores to browse through, but it seems like they are mostly clothing stores now.  Steve and I could easily hang out there for a whole day and not get bored.  The drive back through the cities was gorgeous at sunset, tried to capture it with the camera, but it didn't turn out well.  We also saw the coolest "angel" coming out of the clouds.  I tried several times to get it with the phone cam, but it was just too dark. 

Upon arriving home I kicked Vicki and Katy's butt's at Meg's Mythology trivia contest.  Even with Meghan trying to cheat and help her mother win.  Then the kids were off to bed and the three of us ended our night on the deck, visiting and hottubbing under a clear, crisp, starry sky.

Me, Vicki, Kate

We headed home about noon on Sunday.  It was an amazingly fun time, and I hope it doesn't take six years to do it again!!