I’ve been up since 7, I just have coffee and a paper before posting. 
Hey y’all! I just finished eating peanut butter crackers for breakfast. I believe in eating all healthy and nutritious. I considered salsa and chips as a breakfast choice. The pbcs were washed down with a Diet Dr. Pepper. (Hi gotti!)
After I got all the boxes of mops to the FedEx place I went home. I jumped in the pool for a bit, til it started thundering. Then it rained a bunch, but no thunderboomers. That sort of went on around. The rain stayed for a while though, so that was good. Then, ACBG called and said he’d gotten a call from two of our friends wanting to know if we wanted to come over and eat bbq sammiches, hang out and stuff. So, we did. 'Twas fun. The rain cooled things down enough that it was actually pleasant out on their back porch, so that’s where we ended up hanging out. Oh, and we played Jenga. I like Jenga. Ok, I play it a little weird cause I get all excited when I make all the blocks fall, which means, according to the rules (dumb rules!), you lose. I think it’s fun to be the one to make all the blocks fall down, so in my world, I win.
I have two chocolate buttermilk custard pies baking. We are going to a dinner party tonight and the pies are by special request. Makes me proud. ACBG is making a crab dip to take as one of the appetizers. Have I mentioned before about a group of us who get together once a month for dinner? Everybody brings a dish. The host(s) prepare the main course and everybody else brings [del]hor’s deorvres, umm whordovers, umm horsovaries, umm[/del] appetizer, salad, sides, dessert etc. We do cocktails, followed by dinner, followed by general hangin’ around and socializing. I really enjoy this.
I am soooooo sleepy, I could fall back into bed right now.
I skimmed but don’t feel caught up yet, so I hope there’s no quiz here today, I’d flunk.
Football is back!!! yay! We went to the neighbor’s yesterday to watch the Bears game, drank a bunch o’beer and ate some burgers. I needed the break after a long, long, long, long week. Today I’m up for a little housekeeping, hopefully 20 more miles on my bike then in here to get some work-ish things out of the way.
I actually have to go into the office tomorrow, to print some things that I have to have for Monday. Printer there is faster, it’s about 100 pages and besides I have to be connected to the network to get to the things what need printing, so…
I don’t have mops. Am I lacking? 
I went to a yard sale this morning and lost my car keys. I spent an hour walking everywhere I had walked looking for them. I was almost in tears before I found them in a futon I hadn’t even looked at. I guess they fell off my pocket when I walked by it.
I was pretty good - bought a couple of stuffed animals for the Teddy Bear Toss we do every hockey season and a new basket for the cats. They like curling up in wicker baskets so when I see a cheap one that’s big enough I get it for them.
Tonight is BBQ ribs and a pool party at a friend’s house. I’m taking an ice cream cake - we’re going to sneak out into the barn and eat it all ourselves. She just got a new minature horse - a rescue from an old guy who was in jail for trying to shoot his son. Sad story - the guy had the horse, 15 dogs, a bunch of rabbits, geese, chickens and doves. He and his wife are in their 80’s and not in the best of health, and the son was trying to convince Dad to get rid of some of the animals. Dad didn’t take to the idea very well. The animals had not been cared for very well while Dad was in jail. His wife (who has diabetes and weighs about 80 lbs) finally called a rescue group to come get the animals. I am very glad there were no cats, or my friend would have talked me into taking at least one.
That’s all I got. Everyone have a great weekend!
Hi everbody!!! Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone?
I’ll have to catch up on the MMP later, but I wanted to check in and tell you about our vacation.
We left last Saturday morning at 5:00 am and arrived in Anaheim around noon on Saturday. As we drove by the exit for where **Bumba ** and Den Mum live I waved hello. At any rate, we drove over 800 miles that day and arrived in LA/Anaheim at noon on Sunday. We promptly got a reservation for a room (the room wasn’t ready) in a hotel and took a taxi to Disneyland where we walked and walked and walked and rode rides. The lines weren’t too terribly bad. It was HOT, though.
After spending several hours at Disneyland we decided to walk back to our hotel. The hotel was .53 miles from Disneyland. After the tortuous walk back, we decided to not stay in that hotel. We found a hotel right across the street from Disneyland. We checked in there. It was slightly more expensive than the first hotel, but we decided it would even out because we would save taxi fare.
Anyway, after checking in and dragging our luggage to our room we went BACK to Disneyland, where we had much fun, although it was HOT. We rode Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Wars Adventure, Indiana Jones Adventure, and many more. We stayed until closing, upon where we dragged our very tired bodies back to the hotel.
We woke up early Monday, got cleaned up, and went to breakfast. We did the same on Tuesday. After that, we walked back across the street to Disneyland and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and stood in line and stood in line, and stood in line, and rode many rides. We also went to California Adventures and rode the Tower of Terror and assorted other rides. We ended up getting to California Adventures kind of late, so we didn’t get to ride too many rides there. We saw the electrical parade which was very cool. Our poor tootsies were so very sore. I swear we walked hundreds of miles. It feels that way anyway.
On Wednesday, we went to Universal Studios and walked and walked and walked some more. This was after going to Disneyland for a short while again.
Universal Studios was fun, although not nearly as clean as Disneyland and California Adventures. We did some lame rides and had some very fun rides.
We went back to the hotel, slept and woke up and checked out for our drive down to San Diego. As we arrived in San Diego, I waved hello to scout and Ashes, Ashes. We spent the whole day at Seaworld and had a very nice time. The fun rides were Journey to Atlantis…well, I guess that was the only really fun ride. The others were meh or okay. We watched Shamu, petted some bat rays, watched a show, and did a few other things. We stayed until just about dark and headed north. We checked into a hotel north of San Diego, and woke up early Friday morning for our drive back north. We decided to forego the Zoo or Wildlife park because we wanted to have at least two days to relax before heading back to work.
At any rate, we took the coast highway all the way up to Monterey. It was very beautiful. We had originally planned to go all the way up to the Redwood Forest, but it took so long to go up the coast, we decided to cut back over to I-5. We arrived in Vallejo, CA around 10:00 pm and checked into a hotel. We woke up at four and continued our journey north. As we droved through Northern CA/Southern Oregon, I waved hello to Kallessa. I seem to remember her living somewhere around there (Ashland or thereabouts, I think).
We suffered through Portland area rush hour and arrived home around 8:00 pm last night.
We had a great time, although we are exhausted. We packed a ton into this last week. My poor car is covered with bug guts.
Later on, when we have connectivity on our other computer, I’ll try to post a few pictures of our trip.
We have some souveniers, to include two Jack Sparrow wigs and bandanas for the kids. They walked around Disneyland for nearly two days wearing them. Everyone was asking where we bought them.
All of the above, is just really a recap or overview of everything. I was SHOCKED! SHOCKED I tell you when I had to pay $3.69 per gallon for gas.
I think I’ll try to catch up on some of the pages now.
You know, if I could be guaranteed to have a little kid like Boo in Monsters, Inc., I might consider having children. She is such a happy, sweet little tyke.
Just popping in to say hi!
I’ve been totally taking it easy since yesterday when I called in sick. I’ve run out of energy this week. I have to get up off my butt and go to the store for dinner ingredients tonight. Stroganoff! Mmm.
Just had a big thunderboomer here with lots of rain. Looks like more on the way, so I’m guessin’ this could be a very stormy dinner party tonight. That’s ok though, cause we’re all civilized like and everybody lives indoors and all.
Welcome Home Taters! Glad your trip was fun. I’ve been to DisneyWorld, Universal and all that there stuff down in Flahrdy. I’m waaaaaay over it all now. Now that I’m a grumpy old bear I don’t do theme parks anymore. I still go to Wally*World though. 
Still glad y’all had a good time though.
Hi everyone! I’ve been lazing around, finished reading My Latest Grievance, took a nap, just went to Target to replenish my Sudafed supply and came out with chocolate for the office, crackers, milk and a copy of High Fidelity (hey, it was in the less than $10 DVD section…). Managed to keep it pretty cheap, though. Almost exactly $50.
Welcome back, Taters! Of course we missed you! Sounds like you had fun.
I’m totally with you on the kid thing, Mika. Boo is one of my favorite little kid characters.
Hope you’re feeling better, Rebo.
LiLi, my mother used to be a compulsive blackhead remover, oddly not with me and bro, but with her two youngest brothers (there are 20 years between them). I attack my own, but not those belonging to others.
Hi swampy andMBG and SCL and doggio. Did I miss anyone?
Just had some mac & cheese & fresh tomatoes. Now I’m sleepy again. Maybe I’ll take another nap.
GT
Hi gt! Have you been a ‘net surfin’ fool since you got your cable back?
Just a quick howdy to everybody. Ima go purty up for the dinner party. ACBG is heating up stuff for the crab dip, since it’s a hot dip and all. I’m letting him use one of my corning wear keep things warm carry thingies cause, well, I’m nice dammit!
Sounds like we have another thunderboomer on the way here. I’m lovin’ the rain and the cooler tempe. Why it’s a chilly 84 degrees here right now! I may need a sweater.
You’re spying on me, aren’t you? I was sure the curtains were enough to keep prying eyes out, but apparently not… 
So what goes in the crab dip?
Just watched High Fidelity and am considering watching something else. Also, I need to do some more laundry. Still coughing a bit more than I’d like, so I’m taking it easy. Need to do some garden stuff, but it’s waiting till tomorrow.
Back to lolling about.
GT
She’s just so sweet! I feel like crying every time he puts her back in her bed and she runs and opens the closet door - only to find nothing but her closet. And when he sticks his head back in later - Kitty!
I am exhausted but we got a lot done today. And a lot more stuff moved over. I am so relieved every time I think of this move compared to the last one. Last one was down two flights of narrow metal stairs with a 180 degree turn in the middle, then drive 15 miles to the new locale, then up one flight of stairs. This one is down one flight of carpeted stairs, drive 6 miles to the new locale, and the downstairs stuff then only goes up three steps. The upstairs stuff has to go up a flight of stairs, but since we’re in both floors, we don’t need to have it all in place before the move.
I am beat, though. I took my cucumber plant over and twined it around one of the posts in the back yard as it was taking over my balcony. Now it is wrapped around there and looks very pretty. There’s even a few tiny cukes on it. (Pot plants often make fruit later than their non-potted cousins.)
Took a shower, and that helped.
Whew! Home after an exhausting day afloat, and we never dropped our lines! I managed to fill a humongo garbage bag with all sorts of crap. I took down all the mildewed pictures that were nailed or screwed to the walls. I wiped down a lot of wood and fiberglass. I filled, then emptied the water tanks - ugh, did they ever stink! :eek:
When we stopped for lunch, I ran into Food Lion and got a bottle of bleach, and I divided it between the two water tanks, Then I filled them again, ran a little water to get bleach water in to all the water lines, then left it. Next time I go down, I’ll empty both tanks, then refill them and flush them out with clean water. If it still smells funky, I’ll do the bleach thing again.
I also found the correct canopy for the cockpit - it zips right to the dodger, so I installed it and it helped keep us cool. FCD started attacking the electrical mess, taking out a bunch of wires that weren’t attached to anything. He’s planning to rewire the entire boat and put in a new circuit breaker panel in a different place. The current one is in the galley - stupid place for it… He also disconnected the water heater - it’s not working. He’s going to remove it, and that’ll give us some more space in the engine room.
We quit around 4, and now we’re home relaxing. He’s going back tomorrow, but I’m staying home to do laundry and start glazing my pots. The first firing went well - yay! By the time we got home, the temp in the kiln was down to 289 degrees, so I opened it to let it finish cooling.
I’m pooped. I want chocolate. And a back rub. Is that asking too much?? <sigh>
Welcome back, Taters! You gonna get time off to recover from vacation??
Time to recover from vacation? Uh, not really. We did cut our trip short by one day, just we could get two days of rest in. I’m still very tired though. I haven’t done anything but take a shower and fixed our internet connection.
We ended up having to buy a new router. Ugh! But, both computers are up on the internet now, so I guess that’s a good thing.
FCM, as per usual, your activities wear me out and I’m just reading about them.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that the HOT weather must have affected some people in a not so positive way. We stood in line for It’s a Small World and were almost to the point of boarding. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties they had to close the ride. There was an Asian fellow there who became very upset at this and was giving one of the attendants hell over this. He was yelling at her saying, “I stand in line LONG time.! I want to go on ride!”. She kept telling him she couldn’t do anything about it, but he kept yelling at her. Mr. Taters and the kids heard the whole thing. They, of course, we’re rolling, because they decided to make up their own dialogue. Their dialogue went like this.
Asian tourist: I stand in line LONG time! I tired of BIG world! I want SMALL world!
There was more, but that’s all I can remember. They were speaking with a very poor accent. Maybe you had to be there.
Also, there was a pushing, yelling, and shoving match in the line for the Indiana Jones Adventure. One tourist wanted to take another outside and finish the argument. :rolleyes: Fortunately, everyone calmed down.
By the by, I did NOT want to go on the It’s a Small World ride. The hubby did. He insisted on partaking of the whole cheese factor involved in this. :rolleyes:
We met some interesting people from all over the states. I also heard conversations in German, Swedish, Korean, Japanese and Italian.
Fortunately, there was no illness incurred from any of the rides. My son came very close in “The Tower of Terror”. It’s a very Twighlight Zone ride where there are about sixteen of us seated in a big elevator. It whips up and down so fast that you need to hang on to your stuff. At one point, big doors open and you’re looking down at California Adventures. To be honest, a couple more whoopsies and I would have been sick too.
Once I can get over to the other computer, I’ll link some pictures we took of us and the sights.
I don’t mind cutesy stuff but that ride truly made me ill. I wanted to shoot all the little dollies. STOP SINGING THAT DAMN SONG!
For me, the bigger the roller coaster the better. Space Mountain, all those kinds of things. I don’t even mind upside-down ones. The only ones I refuse to go on are the Zipper, and backwards roller-coasters. Those actually go backwards, so you can’t see where you are going. Bleh.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I wanted to shoot them too, and I’m not usually a person prone to violence.
I like big roller coasters too, but I cannot handle the loop-de-loop stuff. Anything that messes with my center of gravity makes me very sick to my stomach. Usually to the point of blowing my chunks. I would love to be able to ride those things though.
I rode Space Mountain; TWICE. I can handle the backwards rides, for a short while.
I don’t go to amusement parks. I’m such a wuss that there will only be a few rides I’m willing to go on, so I don’t bother to go. Ever since I was tricked into going on something horrible at Six Flags in New Jersey… Just give me an inner tube so I can float around in a lake and I’ll be happy, although since I learned to actually swim, I do that, too.
I was so happy when I went to Disney land with my cousin and he wanted to go on every big ride!
Hey, Taters, first of all, I had N.O.T. today! I finally a) get to say it and b) remember to say it! Secondly, did you see the Johnny Depp Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? In it there is a bit where all the dollies and puppets sing just like in Small, Small World - and then,
They light on fire! Scene ends with bits falling and stuff.
After I went to Disneyland and they MADE me go through that horrid ride, I kept thinking of that.
Gha, my dad loved that ride, and when we were there when I was 13, we had to ride it over and over and over and over…
I was accomplisin’ stuff here today. I’m going to become a professional assembler of Ikea stuff. A nice shelving unit for the powder room, and a bench/cabinet for the laundry room. That’s the room we come into from the garage, so now we have a comfy place to kick off our shoes, and we can use the insode to store gloves and mittens and hats.
Now a shower and to the neighbor’s to sit and watch him burn logs in his lob-burny thing.
And drink beer.
I didn’t see the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory thing. Where was that? How did we miss it?
Gah! Quit torturing me with that Small World stuff. You’d think they’d update it with some snazzier effects and stuff. It looked the same as it did when I was 13. Same for the Safari Ride.
I have to cook some sort of dinner now. The problem is that there isn’t all that much to choose from. I really need to go to the grocery store, but I was (and still am) just so damn tired today. I actually fell asleep in the computer chair for awhile. My neck is killing me.