My 2nd-choice bike would be a 60s CB450 (“Black Bomber,” the first Honda twin), and there’s one on eBay ending today that’s local, but that looks like it’s going to get kinda pricey. Thing is, if I still want one of these a few years from now, it’ll be even more expensive and I’ll be like those guys that could have bought a Ferrari 250GTO for $5k back in the day, feeling sick every time I see one. :smack:
Do you know how many chances I had to buy an Austin Healy MKIII for $100?
And Johnny, everyone has a mother. Somehow, some way, what you are doing today has made her very happy.
Drove up the Columbia Gorge Friday afternoon, spent the night at a campground. Saturday morning we hooked up with a group of people for a Gorge geology tour. Ten fucking hours of anticlines, synclines, folds, basalt flows, landslides and the like. It was supposed to be a mild day, but temps zoomed into the 90s, so we sweltered while this guy yammered on and on as we staggered about in the brutal sun, while the buzzards wheeled overhead waiting for somebody to fall behind. A miserable yet informative day. We had planned to spend another night in the campground but said ‘fuck it’ and headed home. The Bataan Death March was a walk in the park by comparison. Okay, maybe not.
Yesterday, we slept in - husband was supposed to go do a job but he wasn’t feeling well so we’ll go next weekend. Then we got up around 12:30, went and got cigarettes and a Tribune, and came home and watched America’s Test Kitchen, an hour of The Rifleman, then 2 hours of Shark Tank that we recorded Friday night, and watched NASCAR. Ate a pizza, he went to bed, and I followed around 2:00 AM after watching Psych.
He woke me up this morning around 10 with hot tea in bed, wished me a happy Mother’s Day, we got ready, went to Arlington to bet on some horses, went to the liquor store to get beer (for us) and wine (for me), got cigarettes, then went to the bar for a few hours to hang out with some of our friends - one of the couples had their new baby (2 weeks old) with them - so that was wonderful! 
Are now home, and watching TV (and checking race results on Equibase) - he’s going to grill some smoked sausage and kielbasa, and I’ll make the Shells and Cheese (Velveeta - yes. We are THOSE people.) Then he’ll go up to sleep, I’ll stay down here and watch TV and work for awhile, and then it will be tomorrow.
My son called me, my daughter texted me (I GET TO MEET HER IN JULY!!! FOR REAL - SHE HAS THE TICKETS! SQUEEEE!), my step son has yet to be heard from, my dog is trying to get into my lap and all and all it’s been a WONDERFUL weekend!
I’m truly, truly thankful.
Geez - I just realized - where we saw our friends was what we call “the bar” - it is a RESTAURANT that also has a bar. The parents weren’t drinking, they were just meeting up with a group of us for lunch - the place has great food - but it’s also the bar we hang out at. I don’t want people freaking out that they were in a “bar” with a newborn. Just so nobody gets all upset.
I went to yoga yesterday. Then I did some art selling on the sidewalk. Later grabbed a couple of slices of pizza (mmm, eggplant and basil). Then in the evening I listened to some cool tunes with my new Spotify account.
This morning I did some more selling. Business wasn’t as brisk as I had hoped, but it was a good day nonetheless. One of my more interesting customers was a guy wearing a big crown. I called him “Your Highness” and he was pleased. Came home around 3:00 and mowed my front and backyard. Discovered I have wild strawberries and then tried to get one of the cats to try one. She refused.
Now I’m trying to reach my mother by phone. I’ve been trying for the past ten minutes. I’m going to give up soon and then go to the grocery store.
The hamsters ate my first post… Mom had to work today so we’re going to lunch next weekend. Boyfriend is out of town for a 3-gun competition. I’ve had the whole weekend to myself.
Yesterday I finished my finals for the double-booked school session from hell. Then I cleaned house, did laundry, ironed my work pants, and made beef stew in the crockpot. Yum.
Today I went to Walmart, I figured it wouldn’t be too crowded since everyone would still be at church or taking Mom out to brunch. I got my annuals for my patio pots but I won’t plant them until later this week because we have freeze warnings for tonight. They’ll be easier to cover up or bring inside if they’re not in the pots. Then I started my schoolwork for my next class and made pizza dough in my bread machine.
Yesterday we worked on the soon to be garden and tried to get rid of a bunch of poplar suckers in our yard. Took the dog for a walk to Starbucks, did some laundry. Then we went to dinner theatre with my parents in law, SIL and her husband. The show was Chicago - pretty good.
This morning we were up at 5 am to go volunteer at the Mother’s Day run. We were bike leads for the wheelchair athletes (to warn people they were coming and clear a path). Went and picked up a Mother’s Day gift for my MIL, grabbed groceries, and then had MIL and FIL over for a late lunch. Right about now I need a nap though!
I saw Iron Man yesterday afternoon, then took my Mom out for dinner, to beat the Sunday rush. Of course, I invited her to the movie, too, but she wasn’t interested.
I had hoped to get some gardening in, too, but the weather yesterday and today was pretty miserable.
We hosted a birthday celebration for my father-in-law yesterday - nothing fancy, I just made his favorite dishes and we had a family dinner. He and my brother-in-law left around 5 and our household cleaned up and then sat around all evening, which is my idea of a perfect Saturday night.
My mother and mother-in-law both died three years ago (my mother on Mother’s Day, actually), so I suddenly became the only game in town for the day. That makes me not terribly enthusiastic about celebrating, since I used to really enjoy planning events with my brother and my husband for our moms. We’re having a pretty low-key day, but it’s just what I like.
Just got back from an afternoon with my mother and grandmother. I took them out for lunch and went shopping with them after. The highlight of my day while shopping for bras with my 92 year old grandmother and mom, was grams telling the clerk “I got no tits left !!!” That part of her brain that stops her from saying things in public most people wouldn’t normally say has been deteriorating for some time now. But it all made us laugh.
Spent the day in Frankenmuth eating the best chicken I’ve ever had. Came home, covered my baby tomato plants, then eased into evening relaxation mode.
mmm
I migrated.
1000 km Oshawa to Jonquière. Train, visit friends, train, train, youth hostel, bus, and now I’m here.
I’m waiting to hear back for sure within the next hour or so, but from verbal agreements, it certainly appears that I’ve purchased a condo/townhouse this weekend. It’s absurdly overpriced, in that real estate in the Boston area is ridiculous all the way across; that said, it was by far the cheapest of the places we looked at, and at the current interest rates and market conditions it’s a virtual guarantee to beat out paying rent for the 5 years or so that we intend to stay in the area. It’s an upgrade over where we’re living now, the payments will be well within what we can afford with our income, and it’s overall a fair price.
I just can’t help but think that in my hometown, that amount of money would have quite literally gotten us a mansion. Oh well, location!
Took Nyquil, finished a box of tissues, didn’t take Nyquil, drank two gin and tonics, made waffles and bacon for breakfast pasta for lunch sticky wings for dinner reheated waffles for breakfast and reheated pasta for lunch, was taken out for dinner, sat on the back deck eating apples and cheese with my daughter, went to Michaels and Joann’s, tried to make a necklace and found out I didn’t have the cord for it thus the craft store visits, changed two poopy diapers, gave a bath, took two showers myself, coaxed the royal head into pigtails twice, bought gas, made faces at the strange smell the washing machine is emitting, pulled crabgrass and dandelions, read bedtime stories, looked for dollie and froggie AGAIN, crawled under the crib to plug in the monitor, listened to Transformers, uploaded vintage family pictures to Facebook, called my mom, ground my teeth because five tops I ordered are the wrong size, deadheaded petunias and pansies, read Slaughterhouse Five, watched a documentary about the Apollo missions, and went to bed before ten for the fourth and fifth consecutive nights.
Yesterday I turned my former employers in to the Labor Board for non-payment of wages. About $1,600 worth of wages. Then I went out in the garden and busted sod and pulled weeds until I was too tired to be angry.
Today I spent some time getting documentation in order for things like applying for unemployment benefits, the spouse and I re-examined our budget and tried to find where we can cut further, and then I went to the grocery store with $15 and tried to stretch it as far as I could. Then I went out in the garden and busted sod, pulled weeds, and rebuilt the brick firepit until I was too tired to be angry. Then I came back inside, threw dinner together, and watched TV for a bit. Then I called my dad and updated him on everything and he told me not to feel bad for asking for help and he’d send me a check so we can pay the rest of this month’s bills.
Mom’s been dead for awhile, and I don’t have kids myself. So I am coming to hate Mother’s Day as people around here insist on wishing me a happy mom’s day and asking me what my non-existent kids did for me, and pushing flowers into my hand, and otherwise reminding me of what I don’t have. And I’m supposed to smile and be nice but this year, between financial devastation, being unable to get my spouse anything for his birthday due to lack of funds, and yeah, mom still being dead I probably should have stayed home.
Upon reflection, the weekend sort of sucked. Although the garden is starting to look much improved.
Friday-My usual Friday ritual, drink a shitload of beer while doing the dishes, laundry, house cleaning stuff that accumulated all week. Start out with the News Hour and PBS programming playing throughout the house and then music blasting.
Saturday-hangover induced lethargy until about noon. Listen to public radio until 2:00pm. Paid bills. Shower and set out to find the bush Mom requested for MDay. No luck. Did all my shopping for the week. About 6:30 pm the wind died out so I built a big fire in the back yard and drank more beer, grilled kabobs and listened to the local public radio music programs, then drug the portable TV out by the fire and watched SNL.
Sunday-Woke up about 9:00am, watched all the Sunday morning political shows. Showered, headed out to Mom’s house, cooked dinner for her and my brother, planted some plants I got her, came home and walked the dog and watched 60 Minutes, then Fox’s Sunday lineup.
Yesterday, I went the animal shelter where I run a program socializing and training pit bulls. It’s not my usual day to go, but I had a new volunteer joining the Saturday team and I wanted to be there to introduce everyone and then I was going to go. Well, Lola, one of my dogs is in quarantine for kennel stress. She’s super smart and can climb out of her kennel (6ft walls - top 3 ft are chain link). The kennels in quarantine have tops on them, but she’s not doing well. So I ended up talking with the animal care techs about her situation, then the chief animal control officer needed to talk to me, then my new volunteer offered to foster Lola, so I ended up staying the whole time and then helping her get acquainted with the fostering process. So that was good, but I was there like 2 hrs longer than expected.
Home to shower and then drive out to my mom’s to spend the afternoon/evening with her. Thankfully she “gets” my work with the dogs and was not upset I was going to be a couple hours late. My present to her was a bunch of lettuce (three kinds!) from my garden. She never wants things, but she loved the home grown produce. So that was a nice evening.
This morning was Ok. I mostly dislike days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, but I endure. The other day, I told my kid all I wanted was my car cleaned (no need to spend money!) and it was met with “Do I have to clean the inside, too?” So in the end my suggestion for an easy, cheap present turned into me giving him another chore to do. <sigh - teenagers>
This afternoon was great, though. My best friend from high school and I spent a couple hours at the rifle range (yeah, we took our kids and husbands, too, though we debated that when we were making plans). We also made plans to spend at least one night a month together at the pistol range (only $5 range fee!).
This evening we had pizza from my favorite place. A rare treat for me, and not the kid’s favorite so we rarely get it. We all watched last night’s Doctor Who together.
Saturday I worked. Usually Saturdays are ten-hour alone shifts, but being the holiday and all, my boss and I worked together. She was busy before I got there, and then we were dead for a couple hours, and then everyone remembered Mother’s Day and came out and shopped. We were completely and utterly slammed, me working production and ringing the register, and my boss on the floor selling and writing up work orders and sometimes ringing so I could finish up orders. Once again, like on Friday, my boss expressed amazement that I hold everything together so well on my end of the job. Dang her, I ran the place practically by myself for six months, including Christmas, while she was out on medical leave! We’ve worked together twelve years! She sees me do this every busy holiday! But I know she values and appreciates me. Just don’t act so surprised!
Got home quite late, and since my Internet is out until I can pay the bill I couldn’t Skype with my SO so we texted and then I went to bed. Got up Sunday morning and fought with cats about nail trimming, then decided to wear something dressy for church so had to shave my legs and put on stockings and a dress. Got downstairs and realized it was really chilly out and I could only find dressy sandals. Shivered all through church…why do hot flashes not come when you need them? Sat with my brother and niece because Mom didn’t want to go to church. Worried that the dress showed too much cleavage for sitting right in front of minister, but then realized the usher was showing way more than me. Hugged a friend for her daughter in England, hugged and chatted with two good friends, googled things in the pews with my niece. Then I went to work, where there were three of us today and a bunch of last-minute gift buyers. Stayed late to finish the promo set, came home and grabbed a pizza on the way for dinner with Mom, came upstairs and talked to my kids, my sister, my brother, my SO. Looked through pictures trying to find one my daughter wanted. Posted a few to Facebook. Then crawled into bed with my phone and ended up here.
I’ve been hanging out in Zion NP. Saturday we went up to check out Petroglyph Canyon and hiked up to an area with a bunch of water pockets filled with singing/mating frogs. On the way back down to our hotel we saw a flock of bighorns.
Sunday we hiked Angels Landing and met an 81-year old guy who was headed for the summit for the 46th time-with a goal of 50 times before his next b-day. We later found out he was the owner of Battista’s Hole in the Wall-a landmark Rat Pack-era diner in Las Vegas.