Song Lyric of the Day:
If ever again / A greeting i send to you / Short and sweet, to the soul I intend
Dandy Warhols / “We Used to Be Friends”
8:17AM.
Good luck to my boy, Rich, today. He’s on site doing freelance work for a client. I know he’ll knock ’em dead.
Now, back to work for me…
8:24AM.
I’ve found my morning work soundtrack–it’s on VH1 Classic. Turns out they actually give videos. Imagine that. Johnny Cash’s “Delia’s Gone” is playing right now. It’s beautifully filmed in black and white, perfectly suited to the haunting, melancholy lyrics.
Uh oh. A Bob Dylan video just came on. Time to turn on the closed captions.
10:47AM.
Work is slow today, so I’m going to meet Mom for lunch at Chili’s at noon. Tomorrow night, Samantha and I are going to Big Ed’s Pizza (mmm… pizza) in Oak Ridge for dinner. That’s the nice thing about being home again–seeing my family more than twice a year. I’m planning on visiting Vanessa, her fiancé, Ken, and Brent in Clarksville the last weekend in September or the first weekend in October. I look forward to giving Vanessa wedding planning tips and maybe going to Nashville to go shopping with her. I do have a DSW Shoe Warehouse coupon to use…
Rich and I are still recovering from being social over the long Labor Day weekend. To start, Friday night I met my parents, Samantha, and Samantha’s fiancé, Shawn, at Johnny Carino’s Italian Restaurant for Samantha’s 25th birthday dinner. Rich would have liked to have been there, but had a prior obligation in the art community–he’s got a show to plan. We had a good time together, and I enjoyed getting to talk to Shawn, since I hadn’t really gotten to talk to him the week before at Vanessa’s birthday dinner. After dinner, I came home where Rich promptly dug into my dinner leftovers (Johnny’s Skilletini) and a piece of birthday cake, and we settled in to watch our newest Netflix arrival, The Ring Two.
Nothing really stands out about Saturday other than calling family and friends to invite them to a cookout at our house on Sunday; gas prices also played into our decision to stay in if possible. You would think that since Rich and I stayed in, we would have spent Saturday cleaning the house so we’d have less work to do Sunday before the cookout, but we didn’t. We’re lazy that way.
After busting our butts to clean the house Sunday morning, our cookout started around 3PM. My parents made it, as did my father-in-law, Doug, Samantha, and Shawn. We grilled some ribs that Dad prepared, and I made an islander cheese ball with crackers and spicy deviled eggs for appetizers. I also prepared a couple of ranchburgers for Samantha. With the exception of Samantha, we all also had either hot dogs or brats. I think Rich and I met our weekly quota of red meat in just the one afternoon. I lost count of how many Cokes I had (thanks, Papa Doug!). We did miss seeing some of our family and friends who couldn’t make it, as we had a couple of invitees sidelined by illness and others who opted not to drive into town thanks to inflated gas prices. All in all, though, we had a great time with those who made it. Rich even got to introduce Dad, Papa Doug, and Shawn to our Puerto Rico game. I enjoyed showing Mom and Samantha some of my recent black and white photos, taken during our trip to the mountains recently, and giving Samantha wedding planning pointers.
Sunday evening, Rich and I decided on some alone time so we could both just unwind after a busy, busy day. I went on a cleaning bender Monday, organizing areas in our house that desperately needed it. It felt great to restore order to our bedroom and to the dining room. That, combined with our cleaning spree on Sunday, have left our house looking the best it’s looked in ages. Here’s hoping it lasts!
Thanks again for having us!! The chesse and eggs were yummy! As well as the burger. See you tomorrow.
Yep, I’ll never get the whole Bob Dylan thing. He always just sounds plain awful to me.
How are the cats holding up since your move?
Had fun last night..thanks for being such a great sis!
Pattie, I’m still sort of under the weather. How are you doing? Fall is not a kind time of year for me between allergies, asthma and the sleep disorders. I loved reading about the cookout party you had, but it also made me miserable to hear about what I missed.
What are you doing about the job situation?
Whenever I’m awake, be it day or night, I’m making a couple quick quilts for the displaced gulf coast people. And we made a donation to the Red Cross through the credit union that was matched by ORNL. You just feel like you want to do so much more! Supposedly some people are staying at the family life center down at our church. I’ve not heard how many. It’s a designated Red Cross Shelter.
I wrote you and Rich a note to send with Doug to the cookout, but he forgot to take it. I hope you guys can come over soon to look over my next ‘family style’ garage sale, the kind I had before we moved.
Oh, I don’t think I’ve seen you since Samantha was engaged. Congratulations to big sis! That will keep the family busy. Have they said what kind of ceremony they will have and where?
All for tonight. If I can figure out a time when I’m awake at the right time, I’d like to take you to lunch. I’ll surprise you one day and get you out of that house. Love you, momma carol