on the road again

If all goes according to plan, we should be leaving for NY right about when this posts. Cause we're crazy and are driving. But Ilya and Mercedes are driving with us too, so it should be fun. Well, maybe fun is stretching it, but hopefully it won't be as painful as when just the two of us drive. At least we can take turns with more people. Plus, we're leaving Tuesday night, driving for about 6 hours, then stopping for the night and driving the rest of the way Wednesday. Also, I was planning on photo shopping our 4 heads onto a picture of a clown car or something, but you know, I'm writing this Monday night and am tired. We just packed the car and I'm ready for bed. So just imagine how funny that picture would have been.

eyelid update

I think my eyelid issue is resolving. I woke up Saturday with eyelids so swollen I could only open my eyes about halfway. So I stopped using a bunch of different things for the weekend (like lotions, shampoo, stuff like that), and they've gotten much better. I'm going to slowly start re-using the things I stopped using and see if I can figure out what it was. So that's good news.

Saturday we also did something we very rarely do: we went shopping together! Not grocery shopping, we do that fairly regularly together, but clothes and other stuff shopping. And - the most unusual part - we bought Alfred a pair of jeans! The boy hates shopping for and trying on clothes, but he was bitten by the fashion bug so off we went. It was fun, actually. We looked at Christmas decorations too, Alfred wants to put up more lights this year. We thought about starting to put some up this weekend but decided to screw it. (I was going to put in a picture of our house decorated for Christmas in the past, but can't seem to find any. Too bad. Instead, here's a picture of tiny Ella feeding beer to a stuffed animal. It was taken at Christmas time. Good enough.)

I did manage to get over my cold this weekend, but have been stuffy all day today. It's getting a little ridiculous.

what's wrong with me?

First off, I'm forgetful. When I was little I once forgot to bring the present to my friend's birthday party, and the following year I forgot about her party entirely. Today after work when I got the mail I saw the recycling bin there, needing to be brought in, and by the time I got to the garage I forgot about it. I remember now, obviously, but I'm all comfy in my pj's and there's no way I'm going outside now. Also, I procrastinate. Although if I phrase it as I work well under pressure, it sounds more positive. I've gotten better about that over the last few years though, the museum has helped me. We get so busy that I can't put things off when we're not busy. I also used to be chronically late, by maybe 5 or 10 minutes, but I've gotten better about that too. Now I like to be a few minutes early, if possible. Now I just have to convert Alfred.

But I didn't actually intend to discuss my character traits. I meant what's wrong with me physically. Specifically, my eyelids. Lately I've been getting these weird patches of dry, red skin on my eyelids, and sometimes it itches. It always sucks. It's not a reaction to makeup or anything, because I never wear makeup at the museum. And I haven't changed any of my face wash or lotions or anything. Between my red eyelids, red nose from blowing it all day, and dry lips from the cold weather, I am not currently at my most attractive.

One last thing: I'm re-reading Gone With The Wind, and loving it. I wish I brought it home from work to read tonight. Guess I'll have to read the internets instead.

stupid weather

It got cold, and I got a cold. Figures. It hit me last night. I slept in an extra hour this morning instead of exercising and felt ok all day, then within the last hour or so I've been going downhill again. At least I felt ok at work, it sucks to be sick at work. Maybe if I get another good night of sleep I'll officially be better tomorrow. I'm also hoping that this means I won't get sick when we go to NY next week, because normally I do. And it sucks. So anyway, go here and look at some funny cakes. I'm going to bed.

sightseeing post

I had a nice productive afternoon at work, courtesy of a bottle of Dr. Pepper at 4pm. I should have a good time trying to get to sleep tonight. Hopefully I'll just crash in a little while. I want to try to get to work early-ish tomorrow, I have a couple of projects I need to finish by tomorrow afternoon.

So unfortunately I don't have anything to blog about today. Alfred wanted me to post a video of me shooting last weekend, I thought I had a good one of me but now I can't find it so never mind. I can't post a video of me not shooting well. So here are a few pictures from the summer we lived in DC. They were all taken from the top of the Washington Monument.

gettin' ready

We took a big step towards being ready for Christmas this year: we got a new grill!

The burners on our old grill were shot, so we haven't been able to grill for a couple of months now. It kind of sucks, we weren't able to use the grill for part of the summer, and we usually use it a lot. Luckily Alfred found a good deal on one, but unfortunately we had to put it together ourselves. But we're a good team. It went pretty smoothly, but made a big mess.

Look, my mom's in this picture with me.

Sadly, the inaugural meal on the new grill was sort of a disaster. We made beer can chicken, but left it on the grill way too long. It was all dried out and the skin was completely charred. Disappointing.

The rest of the weekend was rather uneventful. We sat around and relaxed, which was nice. We did clean the house a bit, so we weren't total bums at least. It got freaking cold this weekend. Last week it was in the 80's, today's high was supposed to be in the mid 60's. Sucks. In another day or 2 we'll both have colds. Then we'll go to NY for Thanksgiving and get colds again. Yay!

another reason living in FL is cool

After a quick dinner tonight we headed south to New Smyrna Beach, which is about 34 miles north of the Kennedy Space Center, to watch the shuttle launch. We got stuck in a bit of traffic, but ended up at the top of a bridge as the shuttle went up.

We just stopped in the middle of the bridge with a bunch of other cars and got out and watched the shuttle. It ended up working out really well, we had a great view.

You can still see the shuttle in this one as we're driving away, it's the light above and to the left of the moon.

And now, some videos:

lame post here

Yesterday I had a bunch of pictures and no words, today it's the opposite. I had kind of a stressful day at work, a couple of people were sort of difficult to work with and there was an issue with some lost money. This morning I dropped a bottle in the bathroom and it broke and made a huge mess, there's a huge mess in the kitchen that I don't want to deal with, and I was just sort of grumpy overall. Then we had a great dinner, we cleaned off some crud that was on my car, Alfred took the stupid sunroof visor off of my car, and I'm now having a kahlua and cream and getting ready to knit. So I'm better now. But not feeling inspired to blog. So here's a video. Oh yeah, and Mike and Alfred were really good at shooting skeet this weekend.

big weekend

So, in between all of the drinking this weekend (I think my body's going through alcohol withdrawal tonight), we took the rhino out and did some shootin.'


Good times. We kicked some serious fruit ass.




So, yeah. Drinking and shooting, that pretty much sums up this weekend. And eating. I'm not sure I'm going to weigh myself for awhile, I don't think I want to know.

Ok, I've been trying to upload a video for about half an hour now, and it's not working for some reason. I'll try to put it up tomorrow.

power hour: complete

Ok. I just completed a power hour, plus the rest of whatever beer I was on at that point. Alfred and Mike almost did a Century Club. Or they may have. I'm not entirely sure. We were just comparing bruises from shooting yesterday: Mike and I are in the clear (Cen****s don't bruise) but Alfred and Maureene have bruises on their right arms/shoulders from the rifle and/or shotgun. (I have to disguise our last name, in case a stalker finds us.) Michael is the worst drunk dialer in the world. My dad can attest to that. Mike called him, but he (dad) told me that I didn't sound drunk. Which means that apparently I can handle my liquor better than Michael. Ok, this has taken me quite some time to type, because I keep going back to correct spelling. I think I'm about done. By the way, both Maureene and I thought our respective gentlemen were gay upon first meeting them. Does that say something?

sneak peek

Just a little glimpse of what's to come in my post about the weekend. I don't know if I'll post tomorrow, since Mike is still here and I assume we'll be doing some drinking. Hopefully this will hold everyone over until I do a real post...

happy birthday, dad!

Yup, it's Big Guy's birthday today. I called him this afternoon and spent 10 minutes hearing about how one of the dogs bit the other, and so he was trying to take a picture for me so I could see what he (the dog) looked like. Apparently he looked like Rocky (as in Balboa). We also discussed politics, which is always interesting. We don't tend to agree on politics, my dad and I. But that's ok. He doesn't read this, I don't think, but happy birthday anyway, just in case.

I also forgot to mention that yesterday was both Lindsay's and Allison's anniversary. They got married the exact same day, just a few miles apart, 3 years ago. I don't have any pictures of them to post. Sorry.

We just got back from dinner, I joined Alfred house sitting tonight so he took me out to eat. We went to a Cuban place, and it was pretty fantastic. I learned that I love fried plantains with a passion that burns from the bottom of my heart. We got a bit of a late start because Alfred's car battery died, so I had to go pick him up at work and hold a flashlight (tough work) while he took out the battery. Stupid car. We're trying to figure out a plan now to get him back to his car tomorrow. I think he thinks I'm not listening and is getting annoyed. Sorry honey. Ok we have to go pick up a car from his parents. Peace out, girl scout.

it's the cheesiest

It's a good thing I'm married, cause otherwise I'd be a workaholic. Alfred's house sitting tonight, and I didn't get home until about quarter after 8. I'm just eating dinner right now, at about ten to nine. I'm having a nutritious meal of kraft mac and cheese. Unfortunately I somehow ended up with a box of spirals instead of the normal noodles. I don't know if I bought it in a fit of insanity, or if Alfred raided Katie's cabinets and found it there. If so, I can only assume she was insane at the time of purchase. Now I know kraft isn't exactly gourmet, but the regular noodles are lovely and delicious, while these spirals are crazy and unpleasant. Will that stop me from eating the entire box? Probably not. (edit: it didn't) But at least I have a nice big glass of chocolate milk to wash it down.

So we had a really busy day at work today, mainly because today was the first day we had tours at the new museum. I probably walked 2 miles today just going back and forth across the street. The opening permit was just issued from the city this week, just in time. The only program open there right now is the Indian, which looks awesome.



The new archaeological program will be open next week, because that's when the first one is booked, then I don't know when the rest will be ready. Hopefully by March, because that's when we have all 8 programs booked. I hope it all comes together in time, cause we just barely squeaked by for today.

yowza

I totally ran out of time to blog last night. I didn't get home from work until after 7, then I had to make dinner, empty the dishwasher, clean up the kitchen, wash a bunch of dishes, fold laundry, iron, and cut my nails. No time for blogging! See?

I made the same pumpkin sausage soup we made last weekend, but it was way better this time. We had another pretty awesome dinner tonight, I made Puerto Rican style chicken and beans. Then I decided to sit on my ass and watch SNL's election special from last night instead of cleaning the house, so luckily for everyone I can also blog.

We spent Halloween night at Ilya and Mercedes' house handing out candy to kids. There weren't a ton of kids, but there were enough to entertain me. I also got dressed up a bit. Apparently I looked kind of creepy.

Alfred dressed up as a toucan. It's hard to see in this picture, but at least it's a good shot of his beard. It's impressive, no? Mercedes was a lion and Ilya was an elephant.

As I was taking off my makeup, I realized that the blue around my eyes made it look like I had a black eye, and the red around my mouth looked like blood, so we had to take a picture of us simulating domestic abuse.

Saturday we took the rhino out to the land Max owns where we're going to go this weekend with Mike to shoot things. We had to scope things out and get the lay of the land. Then coming home that evening I got pulled over for having a headlight out. Damn pigs. Luckily he let me off with only a warning. This is the second time I've had a headlight out in my life, and both times I got pulled over. This time the light was out for only 1 day when I got pulled over. I bought a new one yesterday and put it in myself, and it actually worked, so I was pretty proud of myself. Max and Alfred also fixed a few other things on my car this weekend, it's nice to have working windshield wiper solution for a change.

Ok, back to tv. I'm excited about the election, but I don't think we'll actually find out who won tonight. Maybe tomorrow, if we're lucky. I hope it doesn't run on for days like the last couple. Exciting stuff!