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I have the honor of being interviewed Five Questions by Mrs. Shelley of Shelleyness fame.
1) Everyone knows people who break into your home and steal stuff are the worst kind of scum.
If your burglars are caught and you get to be the one who dishes out their sentence, what
punishment(s) would you come up with?
Well if you would have asked me that night, I would have told you that I wished I had been there to catch them, so I could spray them with pepper spray and kick them in the dink. But now some time has gone by and I really do think it was just kids. They crawled into a pretty small window and stole our change jar. It makes me think they have a pretty crappy life and karma will probably take care of them. When I was a teeneager, I hung out with some pretty shady kids. Maybe it's my own karma, as well.
But next time, I break their balls.
As far as dishing out the sentence.... hmmm.... maybe some yard work. Till the pool and replace it with non-nuclear soil. Remove the wood fence between our & Sylvia's house.
Oh! I know! Replace all of our crappy 1950's windows with good windows! With real screens! And that open up instead of prop out!
Oh and maybe wash my car, too.
2) You don't have a dog. Are you ever tempted by any of them at your Dad's shelter? (Is your heart made out of STEEL, girl?)
When Sean & I went to the animal shelter in Las Vegas to get a kitten, Sean had to lead me out of there because I was crying and I couldn't handle it. Twelve years later Sean & I went back to visit Las Vegas with Jon, and my Dad & Kay took us to the brand new No Kill Animal Shelter in Las Vegas, which they helped build, and I was still led out of there crying. I'm not good with animal shelters. But Dogtown Shelter is like this giant farm - built from scratch on acreage. Each dog run is bigger than our house times three (and we have a decent sized house). The building is air-conditioned in the summer, and has heat AND heated floors in the winter - even heated floors extending outside. Their indoor "cages" are the size of a full matress and they can all have access to each others "cages" or to the outdoors, at all times. The dogs are matched up by their personalities so they can have fun hanging out together. And Dad spends his day talking to them and training them and playing fetch with them, grooming them, and gardening all over the shelter (hostas and rosebushes, mainly).
Take, for instance, these pictures:
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| These are the newest dogs (Danny and Rose) at the shelter, Dad and Kay just rescued them this week. They take pictures right away and send them to me for the site. Now I ask you, does this look like some dogs who were just put into an animal shelter? | |
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See
all their play space? Some of the dogs are at the end of the fence
`cuz they see (my step-brother) Todd standing on top of the barn taking this picture. |
3) Name your favorite three possessions.
First thought was my husband, my family, and my husband's family. But I'm not sure if that counts. They should be inanimate if I'm claiming them as possessions. My Honda Civic. 137k miles and needs work. I love that car. It's been good to me across the country and back. A couple times. My KitchenAid stand mixer. Makes me feel like I can do something in the kitchen that makes people happy. Before this confidence, it was all Sean all the time in all the kitchen glory. Now I make Sean his Dad's (brand) oatmeal cookies and he kisses me. My black Christmas tree and ornaments, although everything is starting to look a bit rough. Our house even though it's a rental (especially the screened-in patio that Sean & Shane built). A hardcover of Pearl by Tabitha King. A poem from my Dad. My glasses before they broke and I had to glue them. I really don't have many exceptional possessions that are inanimate. My favorite things are Sean and my friends and my cousins and my whole family and my cats and my pretty tank full of mediocre, cheap fish. I'm a simple gal.
4) Do you have a favorite cat? Why is s/he your favorite? If you don't have a favorite, describe what you like (or don't like) about each.
Every cat is my favorite for different reasons. If I want to chat I have Dominique. For a buddy and a protector I have Hobbes. For snuggle action I have Jalen. All three of them seem to enjoy parties - I'm proud that I have outgoing cats.
Dominique can't stand still if you pet her - she has to pace back and forth doing the swoop-dee-do with her tail. She talks a lot. She barks at me when I put away laundry (or even just stand by the closet) because she wants me to put her on the top shelf. She has much more hair than necessary.
Hobbes - well, he's Hobbes. Siamesey. Talks a lot. The most personality you could imagine but also takes everything personal. He will pee in the bed if we are gone for more that one day and nobody stops by. He doesn't like messes - things sitting on the floor, the blankets piled on the bed. He fetches - including some embarassing things in the bathroom garbage can. He is stompy when he jumps up on the bed. He growls when someone knocks on the door.
Jalen is a lemon and I wish he could be healthy, but he was feral when I found him 11 years ago and I should just be glad he's still alive. He has no teeth and asthma and panic attacks and man, he snores SO LOUD. But he just wants to be held like a baby and have his belly rubbed and purr. And drool.
5) What's your favorite story to hear Sean tell about you?
This was the hardest question to answer - I even called Sean asking for help on this one. Some aren't repeatable on this site since it's so public, and others are just simple things I hear him discuss a lot. We have more little stories than one big tale that's repeated often.
I hear him explain how we got together a lot, since people usually ask that, especially when they find out that's he's Canadian and I'm American. It's pretty boring, though - we met while working at Major Video on Rainbow and Sahara the fall of 1988, then we started carpooling to school at UNLV.
He also tells the story of the Pepsi at our wedding. After the ceremony I was craving a Pepsi, so I made my uncle Tim and his boys go find a store to get me a Pepsi. We were posed for a picture when he brought the Pepsi down the aisle and I chugged, then passed it down the line, then it came back to me and I chugged the rest of the can. Then, I belched the most perfect, deep, echoing belch in the church's beautiful acoustic architecture. Trudy took a picture the second after that moment, and it's on the wedding page.
He likes to tell people about the time I slammed my head into the table. Sean, Joe and I were playing cards at my grandparent's lakehouse winter 1995 and we were sitting at this big old wood table. I dropped a card by my foot, face up, and in my panic to pick it up before they saw it, I flung down to pick it up. But the table was right before my face and apparently I didn't calculate that. Sean and Joe didn't know that I had dropped a card - so all they know was that we were playing cards and suddenly I slam my head directly down onto the table at full force. It hurt so bad. Sean and Joe just looked at me in shocked silence.
There has got to be more but they are all just little quips - some snappy comeback or funny thing I said that day. I like to hear him talk about my family - he really likes both sides of my family and it shows when he talks about them.
My favorite story to hear him say about himself:
When he was a teenager he was at his Dad's (Randy) and there was some sort of short in the refrigerator - somethimes when you touched it you'd get a shock. But in mid sentence while talking to his Dad in the kitchen, he was touching the stove, then grabbed the refrigerator handle, while speaking. Whatever he was saying became "Agugugugugugugugugu" and his father realized he was being electrocuted. Sean only remembers that he couldn't move and couldn't stop making that sound. His father took a flying leap at Sean and they both ended up on the kitchen floor. Sean doesn't remember his father ever taking drugs, but that night Randy took a few 222's (Codeine painkillers) and passed out soon after that.
Hmmm... maybe I should interview Sean....?
Thanks, Shelley!
If you would like to be interviewed by me, let me know.
Here are THE RULES:
1. write me an e-mail saying you want to be interviewed. Ideally, you'll have a website where you will post your answers, because that's how it works.
2. I'll pick 5 e-mails, then ask those people five questions.
3. you'll update your website with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. you'll include this explanation.
5. you'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
I'll be really impressed if I find five people in Blogaslovakia that haven't been interviewed yet!
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P.S. Radiohead concert tonight! Nyahh-nyaah.
08-28-03
 Johnston Architects |
 Me & Marc |
What
a great birthday! The gang at Johnston Architects took me out for lunch, and I mean for reals - the bosses were away and they sprung for it with their own money. We went to the Ram and loaded up on major hamburgers, and Rashmi ordered a veggie burger and they brought it to her with bacon on it. (Even when she got there she asked "what do you have that's vegetarian?" but I guess that wasn't enough information for them. Why would anyone ever order a veggie burger with bacon on it?) After work I came home to Sean busy in the kitchen, and he told me that Julie and Tim were on their way (they were in Portland - here for business). |
 Dinner on the patio |
Sure enough, once he was deposited into the flowerbed, Tim said "That's a housespider. He'll be back." And yep, once that guy hit the ground, he made a U-turn and started booking it towards our front door. I just can't kill him. But at least maybe next time I see him, I won't be so alarmed.
Clara and Mike came over for the first time and we got to meet them, which was great! It's kinda a long story, but there's this thing every year called the Greenwood Phinney Art Walk, and every year I just LOVE the posters, and I've always wanted the past five years' posters framed for my house. So I looked up the company who makes them to inquire about the posters. Turns out they have a great site, and obviously a fun sense of humor as well, and in the about section, they mention their intern here from Germany. So while I'm e-mailing one of the owners about the posters, I ask "How's your German intern? Is she still there?" thinking it would be cool to have a dinner with her and my Germans. Blah blah blah ANYway some e-mails and phone calls and she and her boyfriend Mike were over for last nights dinner. Cool, huh? I love making friends from the internet. Real friends, not just internet friends.
Dinner was that same pasta Sean made for me the night of the surgery (I requested that he make it again), and really good garlic challah bread (see Tim, above, digging into it), and asparagus, and the Germans brought two salads, while the new German brought a bottle of wine, and Jon brought the groceries we ran out of and another bottle of wine. Plus I had that Texas Chocolate Cake. It was lovely.
 One candle was enough |
 Love |
 Looking at Mars |
I taped my goggles to my head and followed.
Why wasn't Joe here? I never found out.
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08-27-03
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This guy was on the wall by the front door when I woke up yesterday morning. It's hard to tell from the picture, but trust me, he's really big. Really. I opened the front door and kindly asked him to leave. He didn't. So I grabbed Hobbes and held him over my head right up against the spider and he looked down at me and said "What?! Are you crazy??" and I set him back down. Then I held Dominique over my head and she looked about a foot above the spider, and a foot to the right of the spider, and said "Why are you holding me over your head?" so I set her down. Jalen? Forget it. Even if I could heft his portly, boneless body over my head, he wouldn't care anyway. I've never seen him eat a bug or a spider in our eleven years, which makes sense, since that was probably the majority of his diet during the first years of his feral life. He's had enough insects, thank you. So there the spider sat. All day. And I said to the cats numerous times that day "What are we PAYING you for?!?" |
| Sean got home that afternoon and I pointed him out. He made some sort of eeeewwwwuugggghhh sound and said "I can see his EYES. I looked him in the EYES" and he skittered away shaking his arms out. Sean's not good with spiders. I'm fine with spiders, but this guy was way too big to grab in a paper towel and throw outside. So there he sat some more. Joe came over later that night, so I pointed him out to Joe. Joe said "Whoa - that's a big ass spider" and continued to stand there and look at it for a minute, then walked away. Unfortunately around 11 pm we realized that the spider was no longer there. And we can't find him. I even checked the fish tank, thinking maybe he had been scoping my fish all day, but no, he wasn't in the fish tank. (Although that would have been very entertaining - at least if the fish won.) |  |
Famous birthdays today:
Jon Siebles (Eve 6)
Mase
Tony Kanal (No Doubt)
Yolanda Adams
Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols)
Alex Lifeson (Rush)
Jeff Cook (Alabama)
Daryl Dragon (Captain & Tennille) (YES!)
Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) (YES!)
Me
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08-25-03
I typed it all out and now I'm tired. My Lasik surgery page is finally done.
I think I'm baking myself a birthday cake tomorrow. Because I have the time, so why not? I have a family recipe, but this is pretty close. Also, I bought a bunch of beads (while in Vancouver) to make some necklaces, and it looks like tomorrow could be a crafty day. I need Not Martha to come over and help me - she just moved to Seattle (yay!) and if anyone's crafty, it's that girl!
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Tonight
Sean made mexican lasagna and he actually used ingredients from our
garden - jalapeno, tomato, cilantro, and onions. Not much, but just
enough for us. I really wish he could open his own restaurant - he
talks about it all the time. He's always watching the Food Network.
We've both worked in the restaurant industry for years and I think
we could do it. * sigh * His lasagna was so good he crawled onto the table when he was finished and practically passed out. He was full. Notice Jalen looking at him, concerned. |
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eyes did better today - this morning was my first experience with
my eyes being really tired since it was my first morning having to
wake up for work. Since I wear those stupid cups over my eyes to sleep,
and I happen to sleep on my face, I had these dorky lines around my
eyes until about lunchtime. Most of my flu symptoms are gone except my sinuses are clogged - and that could have something to do with all the drops I am putting into my eyes. .... So I should be ready for the next party Wednesday night. Another day another party. |
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08-23-03
I'm home from Lasik eye surgery. Things are hazy but I can see 20/20. I still need to heal - my eyes are still sore. I will post pictures and the story tomorrow if it doesn't hurt to look at the screen....
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08-21-03
Flu. Really bad.
Walked right out of work. Hardly even said good-bye - I was afraid I would pass out on the way home. I slept for two hours and then Sean came home and took care of me. My temperature went up to 102.something and I watched really, really great (read: horrible and dated) music videos from 1987 on BET (Rick James & Smokey Robinson, Mtume, Roger, Ralph Tresvant) while high on my fever overnight. I woke up feeling much better, but I'm still too annoyed to face the world. A few people pissed me off a few different ways yesterday so it's best that I stay in bed and continue to watch TV. Perhaps Cait & I somehow synched while she was here.
No comments tonight, thanks.
08-19-03
We miss you too, Caitlin.
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Our
internet is down most of the time. I hope I have a connection long
enough to post this. I'm working on Sarah's site, my Dad's site, and re-making the Cats Cast page. Besides this and laundry, I have no plans until Sean comes home and Joe comes over, then we can play Settlers. Today I found this picture that you see on the left. In the bottom right corner is our change jar. The one that was stolen. The $25 canadian was where you see the CD - just on the corner of our dresser. We miss that change jar. We have nowhere to put our change. You can't use a vase or its too fragile (and as Sean pointed out, too embarassing to take walk into the store with a pretty vase full of change). It needs to be big and strong. With our old change jar, you could drop change from standing height and it would go in (large opening) and you wouldn't worry about it cracking. You wouldn't stub your toe on it because it was round and smooth. It had a history. Look at the old paint on the rim. It was a workhorse. It was in our 100 year-old house in London, Ontario. It was a special change jar. Robbers! Keep the change! We just want our change jar back. • link P.S. If I don't have an internet connection tomorrow, Happy Birthday Dad! |
Pictures from our party! (edited 08-21-03)
08-17-03
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Sean
& I were both pooped Friday evening. The Germans brought a giant
salad and Caitlin & Darryl showed up from Pike Market with loads
of food and off they went. It ended up being a pretty major dinner
and the guests did all the work (I believe this is my talent). Even
more talented is Joe, who waltzed in just minutes before we sat down
to eat. The guy's a genius. Dinner was salad and bread, whole stuffed tilapia, sesame ginger green beans, pasta with onion cream sauce, and fruit. I love my friends. |
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After
dinner Caitlin suggested fake White Russians made with store-bought
(bottled) Frappuccinos and vodka and as soon as she described them,
I had my keys in my hand. After a quick run to the store, Darryl mixed our drinks while we taught Caitlin how to play Settlers, then she proceeded to beat us two games in a row. Saturday was our party. Today I woke up with a cigarette hangover (yuck) and Sean cleaned up from the party while I edited 90 pictures from the past few days. This weekend felt like a whole week. |
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I am SO very happy I could finally meet her in person.
Sean and I came home after dinner and everything felt so still and quiet, like our house was finally resting.
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SEATTLE BLOGGERS!
We are having a party Saturday August 16th (while Caitlin and Darryl are here!)
Send me your e-mail and website and I'll get you on the Evite.
If I like ya.
08-14-03
Joe had Fire Training with the Coast Guard and I made this page so Jean could see the pictures.
More later....
(Demeter now has candles and bath stuff. Hold me back.)
| 08-13-03 Last night was Alexandra's birthday party and it was a very nice time. We got her a salad spinner and some other kitchen knick-knacks (or "schnick-schnack" in German). Sean couldn't make it because he was picking out his Fantasy Football team (very important). I met Ann and Pete, who I look forward to hanging out with some more. Hopefully they can make it to our party Saturday. Also Happy Birthday to Alison and my Aunt Alene tomorrow. And a heads up to the rest of you - I'm 33 on the 27th and my Amazon Wishlist can be found on my Links page. Thank you. Today Jon is going to his Grandfather's funeral. Regards to the Boyce family. We're sorry Jon & Marc. It's a crazy month for everybody in our group of friends, it seems. On a lighter note, did I tell you Jean from Alaska comes back at the end of this month? Well now I did. And it's fun to see Joe so happy. • link |
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08-09-03
Those rat bastards took our change jar. Probably $100 in there. If I would have noticed it that night, I would have parked my ass at QFC just waiting for them to use the Coinstar machine. Sean walks in the door (yes, he's home) from Vancouver, sets his stuff down, and asks where the change jar is.
And did you notice that just one post earlier I threatened anyone who broke into my house?
Joe came over last night to babysit me and I was tanked on three weak gin & tonics (I rarely drink, so when I do, I'm bombed by two drinks). He overslept for his duty on his ship this morning - I feel bad.
I have cabin fever from guarding my house all weekend. I actually went to Classmates to look through the hundreds of names of people I don't remember. This afternoon I feel asleep and dreamt I cut small holes into a banana to put my contacts in it (foreboding surgery dream?). I've read every blog. I ate a weeks worth of peanut butter cookies.
Weeks worth. Does that have an apostrophe? If it's inanimate, it doesn't, right? I have an English degree, don't I? Yes. I do. I remember now.
I re-made my Wedding Page since I lost the most recent edition. That will make three times that I've made my wedding page. And consider this sucker isn't finished - I gotta find all the good pictures I added and add them again. Sheesh.
Caitlin's trip pictures are here, by the way. Her visit with me is at the bottom of the page.
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08-08-03
Someone broke into my house
 Not fun to come home to |
 Caitlin & Jalen |
They followed me home and we got there around 11. Sean had left for Vancouver earlier that evening. When I walked in, I found what you see above (but the window was propped all the way open) - the broken screen and kicked over cushion. Right away I checked all the computers, and everything was there. I went to my office to check that computer, and that's when I found our back sliding glass door wide open. Once I was out on the patio, I saw that the other sliding glass door was open (leading to the pool area). And there was Hobbes, meowing.
Caitlin and Darryl checked the house and yard right away, while I scanned the interior of the house and my unmoved belongings. Once they returned they said "You should call the police." And I called Sean first anyway. I said "The house was broken into blah blah blah.....I'm scared. I'm alone here all weekend." And he said "Call Joe and have him stay with you." And there I was on the phone with a giant question mark over my head. He's two and a half hours away and he has his car.
The police didn't come to take a report until 2 a.m. I slept briefly this morning, called Ray to come in to work late, and couldn't fall back asleep. I called my Grandma and she talked me down, and I took pictures of everything of worth in our house (computers and CD's. That's it) and burned some CD's with important documents. What else can I do? I can't guard my house all day, and even if I do lock all the windows (the living room window pictured above was unlocked and propped open with the screen bolted to the wall) they could just smash a window instead. I'm just angry and want to feel protected and comforted, but instead I feel like a nuisance.
Caitlin and Darryl left for Portland this morning. I feel terrible that this was their Seattle experience. They are just such a riot and we got home and the mood got somber fast. Plus their sleep was interrupted hours later by the police crawling around in the room they were sleeping in.
I need to sleep and I don't want to leave my house, but it looks like I'm SOL for Saturday night, since Joe has duty and... forget it.
Yes I am very, very angry.
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08-07-03
Woo Hoo! Patio Potluck Party! What a Hoot! What a Blast! We can't contain our excitement!
 Smooth |
 Woo. |
 Woo. |
 Woo. |
Chris
made smoothies, I made a big honkin salad (which will last me all
weekend), Rashmi made rice & curry, Marc "made" mandarin
noodles, William brought pasta salad and beverages and plates. It was roasting hot, but still a nice diversion for a Wednesday. An hour later we went out for ice cream. It just couldn't be more thrilling working in the field of architecture. |
 Woo. |
 Billable Hour |
I think I will go make some cookies now. We ate all the Peanut Butter and Hugs, so I'll make more of those, plus some oatmeal cookies for Sean to take on his trip to Vancouver.
Regarding my new non-vegetarian diet: Last night Sean said "Maybe we should eat some vegetables sometime." I dug into my burrito and said "Look! Lettuce!"
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08-06-03
Yesterday was our Neighborhood Block Party. It was a RAGER.
 Proper. |
My
cheese dip wasn't all that. I was disappointed. But we saved face at the
last minute by throwing together a batch of Grandma Culver's Peanut Butter
Chocolate Kiss cookies, and all was right with the neighborhood again.
Sean & I live across the street from a "home." It's a home for the mentally handicapped, and there are actually great benefits to this. Due to their staffing, there is always somebody awake at that house. It's comforting to know that if I scream, we have George on one side of our house and Luis across the street, to bust a move on |
Another benefit: the Bookmobile!
Anyhoo, this home doesn't have many residents - it's just the size of a normal house. I bring this up because they stopped by the neighborhood party and it created this 15 minute whirlwind. "See my glasses?" "Why don't you have a seat." "Hot dog?" "You want a hot dog?" "See my glasses?" "Doggie!" "Okay, let's sit down." "See my glasses?" ( x 5 )
They came. They conquered. They split, minutes later, full of hot dog goodness.
Then, it finally, FINALLY rained! After shutting down the party, a couple neighbors came over to my place so we could continue our talk and polish off all of the wine. Many hours later, with my neighbors properly tanked and walking home, I made the salad (recipe stolen from Kolja & Alexandra) for today's work party. Who's dumb idea was this? (Oh. Yeah.)
The rain had finally steadied when we finally got to bed, but a couple hours later (I was still awake from my one cup of coffee hours earlier) I heard that really cool thunder that starts miles south of you and ends miles north of you. And keep in mind that Seattle has maybe one good thunderstorm every... couple years? Plus we're having this horrible drought. So there I was laying there with a smile on my face, listening to the thunder travel with a long rumble across the sky. But then it cracked. REALLY loud. Hobbes darted off the bed and the room flashed full of bright lightning and Sean bolted from a dead sleep saying "WHAT WAS THAT?!" It was that good of a storm.
Caitlin and Darryl get here tomorrow ("hide your sons!") and it's like my first day of kindergarten. New friends! I can show them my toys! They will like me! We will play! With vodka and food and cigarettes!
Okay, maybe not so much like kindergarten.
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(Happy Birthday, Susan. Sorry I missed it!)
08-04-03
| 100
Years of Flight Party page! And so begins our PACKED August ahead of us. Visitors, parties, possibly my surgery in Vancouver.... The month started off with a bang, as I received my Tuppermail of homemade chocolate chip cookies from The Choppa. Jean paid us a visit from Juneau, Alaska to spend a few precious days with Joe. They are a story that needs to be told, perhaps a book, only time will tell. But for now I will say that they dated for a MONTH when they were 15, then saw each other only a few times over the next nine years, lost each other for a few years more, reunited via e-mail last fall, and it now looks like their fate has challenged time (14 years!), and won. It was so great seeing them together - as if they were never apart. We also taught Jean how to play Settlers, so she's now an official member of our family. |
 Tuppermail! Genius! |
Sean and I used to live on that block - the apartment that was set on fire in the middle of the night. Yeah, that one. There's just too many giant apartment complexes in that area - and the ever crime-inviting AM/PM on the corner. It's like it's inevitable. I don't miss our phase in life living down there. Someday - I mean it - I will write about the fire. But it will take a long time so I haven't written it all out yet. But it's still in my memory as fresh as yesterday.
Back to the happy present, okay? The party (see link above) at Emily's parent's house was great as always (they have this party every year). We were graced with a visit from Cyndi and Jeff who were in town from Vegas for the weekend, and Sean joined us after nightfall (he had to work Saturday). Just see the page.
Yesterday we did not much, and there was much rejoicing.
This week, you ask?
Tonight - Late Happy Hour with the Germans, plus two other visiting Germans. Make dip for Neighborhood Block Party.
Tuesday - Pre-Surgery eye exam, logo design for communications company, web design for Scott's renovation company, attend Neighborhood Block Party. Make salad for Potluck Patio Party.
Wednesday - Potluck Patio Party at Johnston Architects, for no reason, except I thought it was time for a work party.
Thursday - more web work during the day, Styro and Darryl arrive at Six Arms to meet the gang, Xtreme Socializing will follow over the next few days, as they are staying with us!
I'll know more about this weekend sometime closer to... this weekend.
Best wishes to my cousin Scott, who never sees this site, but he's trying to get a teaching job and he has numerous interviews coming up, and a difficult decision to follow, so everyone send warm, fuzzy thoughts.
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