Ye Gods - when I last posted, it was just past halfway through the month. Now...it's month's end. YEESH!
What the heck have I been doing???
Well...as I let you know in my Thursday Thirteen on June 19th, I was off to California that day, to participate in all-day meetings on the 20th. The meetings, by the way, were awesome. Well worth the stress of a last minute trip that just happened to butt up to a personal trip.
I got home just after 1 AM on the 21st - Saturday. I headed to bed quickly and was back up at 4 AM to check in for our flight to Philadelphia (non-revvers have to check in 4 hours prior to flight time) and then showered to get myself awake. After dumping my bag from my CA trip and hurriedly repacking for PA, we were ready to go to the airport.
My husband had spent Friday working on the flooring project in our upstairs bedrooms, and I'm not sure who was more tired that Saturday morning - me, with two 3+ hour flights within the prior 36 hours, or him, with many hours spent on his knees, laying and nailing and such.
We arrived in PA and spent much of Saturday afternoon visiting with relatives, before getting to my mom's house in time for a late dinner that evening. The next few days - we actually extended our trip by a day - were spent packing things from her house to ship down to our own (thank God for FedEx and having a discount with them as an airline employee - we shipped 330 pounds o'stuff!) and working on home improvement projects for her around the house.
While up there, I got to spend time each day with my Dad at the nursing home. I usually went around mealtimes, so I could feed him, giving me up close and personal time and giving the aide a break. On the last day, he actually responded with one-word answers to direct questions - yes, no, maybe, etc. The day before, he responded to my husband several times with nods or by trying to reach for something from the table. It's not much, I guess, but it's better than nothing! Had we been able to stay two days longer, we would have been able to share his 75th birthday with him, but we had to head back to Texas. I tacked my card to him up next to his bed so he could hopefully see it and shared a treat of yogurt with him one night after dinner. On his actual birthday, Mom took him down a chocolate milkshake and called from her cell phone so he could at least hear my voice. It breaks my heart to see him in his current condition - a condition I know will last the rest of his life, however long that may be - but I was so glad to get to spend time with him while there.
We got back to our own home just after 9 AM on Thursday, June 26th and I banged through a quick shower before heading to may office, where the rest of my day was consumed by meetings. Mind you, I'd been up since 8 AM (eastern) the prior day! We'd spent all of Wednesday trying to solve a plumbing issue, and by the time we got done after midnight, there was only time to turn around and pack quickly before leaving for the airport just after 2 AM to make a 6 AM flight. (Philadelphia is 2 hours from my mom's house and we still had to return our rental.)
On Friday, I had another full day of work (passed my second review successfully on my major project - yay!!!) and then came home to change before heading back out to see the Philadelphia Phillies play the Texas Rangers. Yep - went by myself. I suspect no one would actually enjoy my company while I'm rooting on the Phils. They lost - boo - but it was a great game.
Yesterday was swiftly filled with several shopping trips for gifts, household stuff, and computer stuff, and then stops at one friend's pool party and another friend's baby shower.
And that brings us to today!
So now you know where I've been the past 11 days - how about you? Anything exciting going on in the blogosphere? Are you frustrated with me, yet, that I haven't actually announced my much-hurrahed BIG NEWS?
Never fear. I have a couple posts to get done this afternoon that'll help pay the bills and then...yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's true...I will have my BIG NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT up for first thing tomorrow morning. It's actually partially pre-written already!
Stay tuned...
Thursday Thirteen #18
**I apologize, in advance, if I don't get around to visit some of you until late late tonight or even late late tomorrow. I have a full day at the office and then am flying to San Jose and having dinner with a friend before checking into my hotel. I'll be at the SJC airport coaching a few groups throughout the day on Friday and will arrive back home in Texas around 9 PM, where I'll turn around and pack to go to PA for 4 day. So...if I'm not around, you know why!**
Thursday Thirteen: 13 Favorites by Billy Joel
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Thursday Thirteen: 13 Favorites by Billy Joel
- She's Got a Way | iTunes | Preview
- Piano Man | iTunes | Preview
- Only the Good Die Young | iTunes | Preview
- The Longest Time | iTunes | Preview
- Allentown | iTunes | Preview
- Keeping the Faith | iTunes | Preview
- We Didn't Start the Fire | iTunes | Preview
- The Entertainer | iTunes | Preview
- All About Soul | iTunes | Preview
- This is the Time | iTunes | Preview
- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant | iTunes | Preview
- River of Dreams | iTunes | Preview
- Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel) | iTunes | Preview
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Our 1-Day Vacation to KY
in:
Travel
I promised you ages and ages ago that I'd posted a blip about our wild and crazy 1-day getaway to Louisville, KY. As always, life got the best of me, and I never got that post up! So...at long last...here we go with our photojournal!
On Saturday, May 31st, Chris and I voluntarily set our alarm clock for 5 AM and sprang out of bed to shower before heading to the airport with nothing more than my purse and his wallet. Oh - and our boarding passes, of course!
After a short ride on a little American Eagle jet, we landed in Louisville, Kentucky - home to FAR more than just bluegrass!
We collected our rental car and using "Lola", our GPS, we browsed local attractions to determine where to head. We got as far as Walgreen's.
Ok, I was hungry, so we stopped in and loaded up on snacks for the day. The locals were...less than helpful. They suggested that we go to the mall when we asked about attractions. Um, no.
Hopping back in the car, "Lola" directed us down to the waterfront of the Ohio River, which separates Kentucky from Indiana. PRETTY!
Don't we look like we're having fun? We walked around the park for about an hour and a half.
While we were there, we watched a reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllly long train make it's way into KY from IN.
After wandering and walking and sitting for awhile to enjoy a nice little swing in the trees, we headed off towards downtown, stopping along the way to capture this funny sign:
Look! We stopped to pose again! We put the IN in Indiana, which is to our backs.
I distract easily, and we had to pause before moving on. De Plane! De Plane!
As we continued to amble our way downtown, we came across the Belle of Louisville, which takes passengers out into the river for meals and parties. What a neat ship!
Our journey took us to the beginning of Fourth Street, where we caught the Trolley, to take us down to the restaurant and shopping area.
Like tourist areas in many towns, we were immediately greeted with...
We resumed our walking journey (I think we covered about 5 miles, total, that day) and visited cute stores along the way...before coming to the local Visitors Center, where Chris got up close and personal with the Colonel.
We were in Louisville, not Cincinnati, but I had to think about Ron White when we passed by Skyline Chili.
After lunch, we headed back down to the waterfront, making our way slowly back to the rental car. More bridges! More Belle!
We got back in our car and went off in search of more sights to see. Shortly, we came across Louisville Slugger field - pretty neat!
Intrigued, we went off in search of the Louisville Slugger Factory.
Since we were right on the board, we decided to hop (ok, drive) over the river to visit the Indiana towns of Jeffersonville and Clarksville.
We turned down the road paralleling the river, and quickly came upon the CUTEST little ice cream shop around - so of course, we stopped and enjoyed!
We wanted down to the Indiana side of the Ohio waterfront, mindful of signs that warned us to run quickly if a loud horn sounded. Looking at the dam on the river, we understood that the water would probably beat us back to the road if that ever actually happened.
We retreated to a park down the road and snapped a picture of the Louisville skyline - both with and without ourselves as models.
We jumped back into the car and headed back across the river to Kentucky.
After consulting with "Lola", we headed to the most famous horse racing track in America - wish Dad could have been with us to see!
We weren't willing to pay $10 just to pull in the parking lot, so we instead captured one more picture (hey, I like my company!) and headed off to our next destination.
Apparently, Thomas Edison once lived in Louisville, KY. For like six minutes. But, by God, there's a house dedicated to him there.
Our time in Louisville dwindled swiftly and we headed back to the airport for our flight home. Alas - we were offered First Class. Why is that a bad thing? Well, as an employee, I and my companions have to be in business dress to ride up front. Our nomadic day had dictated jeans and sneaks instead of khakis and loafers...so we gave up our premium seats (luckily, a pair of soldiers got them) and road back in steerage class.
Faced with going home or enjoying one last meal out, we headed into Fort Worth once we were back in Texas, where I got to treat Chris to his first trip to Joe Garcia's, a most excellent Mexican restaurant/bar near the Stockyards. After a 45-minute wait for a table (tiring after a long day spent walking) and a scrumptious meal, we finally called it a night.
What a fun mini-vacation! Hope you enjoyed following along!
On Saturday, May 31st, Chris and I voluntarily set our alarm clock for 5 AM and sprang out of bed to shower before heading to the airport with nothing more than my purse and his wallet. Oh - and our boarding passes, of course!
After a short ride on a little American Eagle jet, we landed in Louisville, Kentucky - home to FAR more than just bluegrass!
We collected our rental car and using "Lola", our GPS, we browsed local attractions to determine where to head. We got as far as Walgreen's.
Ok, I was hungry, so we stopped in and loaded up on snacks for the day. The locals were...less than helpful. They suggested that we go to the mall when we asked about attractions. Um, no.
Hopping back in the car, "Lola" directed us down to the waterfront of the Ohio River, which separates Kentucky from Indiana. PRETTY!
Don't we look like we're having fun? We walked around the park for about an hour and a half.
While we were there, we watched a reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaalllllly long train make it's way into KY from IN.
After wandering and walking and sitting for awhile to enjoy a nice little swing in the trees, we headed off towards downtown, stopping along the way to capture this funny sign:
Look! We stopped to pose again! We put the IN in Indiana, which is to our backs.
I distract easily, and we had to pause before moving on. De Plane! De Plane!
As we continued to amble our way downtown, we came across the Belle of Louisville, which takes passengers out into the river for meals and parties. What a neat ship!
Our journey took us to the beginning of Fourth Street, where we caught the Trolley, to take us down to the restaurant and shopping area.
Like tourist areas in many towns, we were immediately greeted with...
We resumed our walking journey (I think we covered about 5 miles, total, that day) and visited cute stores along the way...before coming to the local Visitors Center, where Chris got up close and personal with the Colonel.
We were in Louisville, not Cincinnati, but I had to think about Ron White when we passed by Skyline Chili.
After lunch, we headed back down to the waterfront, making our way slowly back to the rental car. More bridges! More Belle!
We got back in our car and went off in search of more sights to see. Shortly, we came across Louisville Slugger field - pretty neat!
Intrigued, we went off in search of the Louisville Slugger Factory.
Since we were right on the board, we decided to hop (ok, drive) over the river to visit the Indiana towns of Jeffersonville and Clarksville.
We turned down the road paralleling the river, and quickly came upon the CUTEST little ice cream shop around - so of course, we stopped and enjoyed!
We wanted down to the Indiana side of the Ohio waterfront, mindful of signs that warned us to run quickly if a loud horn sounded. Looking at the dam on the river, we understood that the water would probably beat us back to the road if that ever actually happened.
We retreated to a park down the road and snapped a picture of the Louisville skyline - both with and without ourselves as models.
We jumped back into the car and headed back across the river to Kentucky.
After consulting with "Lola", we headed to the most famous horse racing track in America - wish Dad could have been with us to see!
We weren't willing to pay $10 just to pull in the parking lot, so we instead captured one more picture (hey, I like my company!) and headed off to our next destination.
Apparently, Thomas Edison once lived in Louisville, KY. For like six minutes. But, by God, there's a house dedicated to him there.
Our time in Louisville dwindled swiftly and we headed back to the airport for our flight home. Alas - we were offered First Class. Why is that a bad thing? Well, as an employee, I and my companions have to be in business dress to ride up front. Our nomadic day had dictated jeans and sneaks instead of khakis and loafers...so we gave up our premium seats (luckily, a pair of soldiers got them) and road back in steerage class.
Faced with going home or enjoying one last meal out, we headed into Fort Worth once we were back in Texas, where I got to treat Chris to his first trip to Joe Garcia's, a most excellent Mexican restaurant/bar near the Stockyards. After a 45-minute wait for a table (tiring after a long day spent walking) and a scrumptious meal, we finally called it a night.
What a fun mini-vacation! Hope you enjoyed following along!
Weekend Recap and Goals 06/16
in:
Goals
,
Weekend Wrap-Up
Oy! I grandly overestimated what actual "free" time I'd have this past week and so goals? HA!
Let's see...my weekend, first.
It started a bit early, on Friday. I'd had a very busy work week (see below) and so my boss suggested I work from home on Friday. That gave me the ability to "sleep in" for an extra HOUR (that would normally be spent getting ready for work and commuting) and then I simply worked my email and organized some project files until midafternoon. Yahoo for working from the couch!
On Saturday, we had a lazy sort of day, rising late and heading to the Waffle House for nourishment before heading home for an agonizing afternoon of...relaxing. I've already shared with you my fun times spent with Glenn Miller on Saturday night, and after that, I spent time strategizing a few writing and other work plans before heading to bed fairly late.
On Sunday, I got an awesome present: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the NASCAR race in Michigan. This was his FIRST WIN since May 6, 2006 - which was, incidentally, the day I got married! Since I had a silly reception (ha!) to attend that evening, I missed seeing that win - and so even though this week's win was due to a wreck during a green/white finish, I'm enjoying the heck out of it! We also got a lot of work done around the house on Sunday - finished tearing apart the last upstairs bedroom in order to lay hardwood. We have a deadline: our niece arrives July 1st for her month-long summer stay, and currently, none of the three upstairs bedrooms is able to accomodate a guest. Time to get crackin'!
As for the rest of last week, let's see: I spent Monday in project mode, getting ready for the rest of the week and not leaving my office until 8 PM; I spent Tuesday in San Jose and had the awesome privilege of flying home in First Class!; I spent Wednesday and Thursday delivering all-day training to new internal consultants, not arriving home each night until fairly late; and that brings us back to Friday.
So yeah...whew! Fast week! This week will go by quickly, as well...I'm in the office today, tomorrow and Wednesday and then leave to go back to San Jose just after lunch on Thursday, returning home Friday evening. Then, on Saturday, we fly out to spend a few days in PA and won't be home until next Wednesday morning. Ye Gods, where is June going? Just four days after that, Chris leaves to fly to Calgary to pick up our niece and fly her back two days later. OH MY GOD. I need an extra week to be inserted into this month!
Goals for this week:
Let's see...my weekend, first.
It started a bit early, on Friday. I'd had a very busy work week (see below) and so my boss suggested I work from home on Friday. That gave me the ability to "sleep in" for an extra HOUR (that would normally be spent getting ready for work and commuting) and then I simply worked my email and organized some project files until midafternoon. Yahoo for working from the couch!
On Saturday, we had a lazy sort of day, rising late and heading to the Waffle House for nourishment before heading home for an agonizing afternoon of...relaxing. I've already shared with you my fun times spent with Glenn Miller on Saturday night, and after that, I spent time strategizing a few writing and other work plans before heading to bed fairly late.
On Sunday, I got an awesome present: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the NASCAR race in Michigan. This was his FIRST WIN since May 6, 2006 - which was, incidentally, the day I got married! Since I had a silly reception (ha!) to attend that evening, I missed seeing that win - and so even though this week's win was due to a wreck during a green/white finish, I'm enjoying the heck out of it! We also got a lot of work done around the house on Sunday - finished tearing apart the last upstairs bedroom in order to lay hardwood. We have a deadline: our niece arrives July 1st for her month-long summer stay, and currently, none of the three upstairs bedrooms is able to accomodate a guest. Time to get crackin'!
As for the rest of last week, let's see: I spent Monday in project mode, getting ready for the rest of the week and not leaving my office until 8 PM; I spent Tuesday in San Jose and had the awesome privilege of flying home in First Class!; I spent Wednesday and Thursday delivering all-day training to new internal consultants, not arriving home each night until fairly late; and that brings us back to Friday.
So yeah...whew! Fast week! This week will go by quickly, as well...I'm in the office today, tomorrow and Wednesday and then leave to go back to San Jose just after lunch on Thursday, returning home Friday evening. Then, on Saturday, we fly out to spend a few days in PA and won't be home until next Wednesday morning. Ye Gods, where is June going? Just four days after that, Chris leaves to fly to Calgary to pick up our niece and fly her back two days later. OH MY GOD. I need an extra week to be inserted into this month!
Goals for this week:
- Maintain sanity.
- Give feedback for the latest draft of a work in my critique group - yeah, I'm way behind on this. I'm going to aim to do this from the hotel Thursday night, if I can't get to it beforehand.
- Finish short story - didn't happen last week. Used plane time as sleep time. But I have ELEVEN hours of plane time coming up later this week, so between that and train time for work, it ought to get done, and leave me with the last week of the month to revise, edit, and enter my contest.
I think that's all I can conceivably manage for this week - what's everyone else up to?
Date Night with Glenn
in:
Life
Just had to share my Saturday evening plans with ya'll.
I'm sitting home on my couch, enjoying chips and dip (my favorite snack) and watching a Glenn Miller special on KERA (PBS). Does life get any better than this?
Seriously, if you could hear this special (you don't really need to watch - the magic is in the music) you'd understand why Big Bang is my favorite genre of music.
My plans for the rest of the evening include writing, writing and more writing. And now, since I've been inspired, I'll be doing all of it with my Glenn Miller CDs alternating in the background.
Life is good!
Happy Saturday!
I'm sitting home on my couch, enjoying chips and dip (my favorite snack) and watching a Glenn Miller special on KERA (PBS). Does life get any better than this?
Seriously, if you could hear this special (you don't really need to watch - the magic is in the music) you'd understand why Big Bang is my favorite genre of music.
My plans for the rest of the evening include writing, writing and more writing. And now, since I've been inspired, I'll be doing all of it with my Glenn Miller CDs alternating in the background.
Life is good!
Happy Saturday!
