Aug. 8: Big ol’ milestone

My husband celebrated his 50th birthday a couple weeks ago. Fifty! Fiiiiiifteeeeeeee! I am married to a very old man.

I had planned on throwing a monster-huge party for him, but then came The Summer of The Broken Ankle; I feel absolutely useless in this cast. For a while I thought we’d still have a party, just a couple months late. Victor kept reminding me it was no big deal, but I say that’s just ridiculous—you can’t let a 50th birthday go by unpartied for! The subject came up again two weeks ago and we both kinda decided to just plan a last-minute thing and hope our nearest and dearest could make it.

And most of them did. Yay! We got together last Sunday in honor of the elderly guy who lives in my house.

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Sonya and Victor

Dina, Vic, and Val = The Trio of Pure Spectacularness™

Theresa, Tina, Dina, and me

Blaine can almost do a pushup with Val sitting on him!
I love the crowd of kids around them, in complete awe of Blaine’s strength.
(That’s what he thinks, anyway.)

Two of my neighbor-friends, Cristina and Trudy. Ring pops!

Randy, Jim, and Jeremy.
I have no idea what they’re doing, but I see the tequila is still sealed...

Cassie’s got her hands in the air like she just don’t care.
Is Tina sleeping?

 
The kids lined up chairs all across the street and waited for a car
to come so they could blow horns at it.
Good thing our street’s not busy; they got tired of waiting and gave up.
<cough> Idiots! <cough>

My BFF April couldn’t join the festivities, but her mom did!
Pat and Darlene are friends from college. (I love that.)
I think they’re talking about how they can’t possibly have children 50 years old.

Theresa, Dina, Val
(I love these girls so much)

Some o’ the kids.

More kids.
Randy’s still barely taller than Blaine (who sooo looks like Dina in this pic, BTW).
Jack is a dork.
Mack is blurry.

 
Happy recent 20th anniversary to Randy and Dina!
She got a gorgeous rock, sure, but Cassie’s got the real ‘spensive bling.

 
I asked guests to write out an answer to this question, and
the slips of paper are saved in a jar that we’ll treasure forever.
Or at least until Victor goes senile and forgets his name.

The cupcake picks were colorful and sarcastic and fun.
We also had big jars of candy with pun-ny signs and DIY goodie bags:
“thirty sucks” (lollipops)
“forty blows” (gumballs)
“fifty rocks” (chocolate rock candy)
“kiss middle age goodbye” (Hershey’s Kisses)
“treasure your youth” (candy necklaces, ring pops, gold chocolate coins, etc.)
I hate puns, but I do love cute birthday party décor and excuses to have candy.

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I was thrilled to have a great turnout of our family and friends in honor of Vic’s big birthday. The kids were a surprisingly lot of help in getting things ready, and so were several other cool peeps. Extra-special thanks to:

• Kristen and Matt, who helped with the last few prep duties and, most importantly, figured out how to use the automatic corkscrew. The people who were happy about that were REALLY happy about that.
• Sonya, Chris, Julianne, and Jacob, who made the trip from Issaquah. It wouldn’t have been the same to celebrate Vic without them.
• Darlene, who brought homemade goodies. She always makes such good stuff—it’s, like, almost too pretty to eat.
• Dawn, who said she’d bring delicious treats as long as I didn’t give her credit but guess what? I’m totally doing it anyway. Thanks, Dawn! I’m so appreciative of your bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers that I’m not posting the pic of you and the potato salad.
• Alec (our nephew), who gave up a chunk of his weekend to attend and represent his part of the family. It was nice to have him with us.
• Mother Mary. She couldn’t actually be at the party, but she happily shared purchases from across the state line.
• Cristina, who let us borrow important party supplies.
• All the people who brought refreshing bottled beverages. We have a few parties’ worth in leftovers—there’s an FYI that ought to get us on a guest list or two.
• Val, who took most of these photos.
• Nikki, Mack, Lauren, and Phoebe, who helped Katie and Jack decorate and do last-minute setup.
• Everyone who was super-sweet to Maya. This was her first big group, and we were pleased to see her do so well.

Party guests whose true identity I shall protect to the grave until someone asks me who it was:

• The person who lost track of her kid. Like, it was midnight and we were yelling up and down the street. Because I lost my kid too.
• The person who stood in front of the open freezer for five minutes looking for ice. She couldn’t quite focus on the tiny 20-pound bags at eye level until her son pointed them out to her. And then she looked at him lovingly and said, “Thank you. I love ice.”
• The person who forgot her shoes at our house. How does a person leave a party barefoot? Maybe after you’ve stared at 40 pounds of ice for five minutes…
• Friends and family who wanted to be at the party but couldn’t make it, as well as the friends and family who didn’t want to be at the party but came anyway.

 

Here’s what the kitchen floor looked like the next morning.
It was so, so disgusting.
I blame the kids, their soda, and whoever opened the tequila.

 

As I’ve cleaned up and put away party supplies this week, I’ve taken extra care not to destroy any of the age-specific stuff—we’ll need it again in four short years when it’s time to celebrate me turning the big 5-0. Yikes. Really, that is all I have to say about being so close to 50: YIKES.

But congrats to YOU on making it to 50, Victor! And thanks for giving us a reason to party.

Sep. 27: One silly phone call

Day #27 of our blog challenge. We’re almost done! Today’s prompt:

Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

It would be easy/quick to respond to this one with “the day I found out I had cancer,” but that’s obvious and not very fun. Instead, I’m going to grab a moment from a long, long time ago. I’ve probably told this story here already, but YOU dig around in 13 years of archives and figger it out. Here goes:

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Freshman year at Walla Walla College, if you were in the student photo directory, you got a prank call from me and April. It was our thing; we were dorks who thought we were super fun to talk to. And pre-caller ID days, we could be anonymous. Wait, read that word again, but in a sing-song voice: AAAA-NOOOON-Y-MOOOOUS!! Much better. Prank phone calls were the best, Jerry; the best! Not a single WWC student was off-limits when it came to our favorite evening activity.

I knew a senior named Victor Manullang; I had met him four years earlier when he was a college freshman and on a date with my sister. I was a high school freshman (read: complete moron). I remember teasing him a lot, asking WHAT ON EARTH was he a history major for because THAT’S SO STUPID and THAT’S SO BORING and WHAT CAN YOU EVEN DO WITH THAT MAJOR and I wouldn’t stop because, in case you missed it, I was 14 and stupid. So, when I got to WWC as a freshman and saw that Victor was a fellow student, I wasn’t exactly excited about revealing my identity as that bratty girl—not that he’d remember anyway. (Right?) I avoided him. I was afraid he would try to talk to me, and that would mean he remembered me from four years earlier and that would not be a good thing. If you were 18 once, you get how completely humiliating that would have felt—now, though, it seems insanely silly.

One night I came to April’s dorm room and found she and her roommate passing the phone back and forth, laughing hysterically. April whispered that they had called our friend Kevin’s room and were talking to his roommate. I wanted in on that action, of course, and grabbed the phone. I started talking and flirting and doing all the stuff we usually did on our prank calls, and I don’t know how it hit me, but suddenly I realized who Kevin’s roommate was: I was talking to Victor Manullang. I stifled a scream and tossed the phone to April, and I don’t remember what happened next, but April said my name so I slammed the phone down.

(Kids, that was a thing back then, slamming a phone down. It’s sad you can’t do that anymore, it really is.)

I screamed at April WHY DID YOU SAY MY NAME, HE’S GONNA KNOW IT WAS US! and she screamed back WHY DID YOU THROW THE PHONE AT ME? and who knows what else but a lot of things I’m sure and then I remembered that Kevin’s (and Victor’s) room was directly across the courtyard from April’s and he could probably totally see us so I screamed again and ran for the light switch and we sat there in the silent dark and I don’t know what we were waiting for, but we were definitely hoping that that was the end of our prank phone call (to that number) for the night and then…

THE.

PHONE.

RANG.

He knew it was us. There was a lot of chaotic screaming and blaming and cursing and I turned the lights back on and I don’t remember what happened after that. Maybe we answered the phone and pretended we were asleep, that we’d been asleep for hours and knew nothing about any random anonymous callers. Maybe I forced April to answer and pretend she had acted alone. I don’t remember the details, but I know that we were caught and it felt like it might just be the worst thing that had ever happened in the history of ever.

Oh, but then. THEN! At lunch in the cafeteria the next day, Kevin and Victor set their trays down and sat directly across from me and April. They were both grinning ear-to-ear. There was a lot of embarrassed chuckling and non-meeting of the eyes. They wouldn’t stop smiling; they *might* have been proud to get attention from freshman girls. We eventually felt less uncomfortable and actually had a conversation. And then the next time they saw us in the cafeteria they sat with us again. And the next time, and the next time…

And, slowly, Victor and I became friends. Yes, he remembered me being that teasing know-it-all from long ago, but it was okay. The two of us hung out when neither was dating someone else. He moved to Ohio for a few years, and we wrote letters and talked on the phone. He got a job in Portland around the same time I graduated and moved back home, and we were each other’s dates for stuff when everyone else said ‘no.’ We watched TV together over the phone. We went to movies and concerts and ball games and plays and new restaurants. We vacationed with friends in Las Vegas and L.A.

But we weren’t dating. That would come later, when both of us gave up on someone better coming along and he cut off that awful mullet. It took 14 years from when we first met, ten from when we first became friends, and just.like.that, we lived happily ever after.

I didn’t realize at the time that the ridiculous prank phone call had changed the direction of my life, but whenever I look back on that night, I feel genuinely glad for my freshman immaturity.

 

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If you’re a blogger and want to do our blog challenge with us, let me know and I’ll send you our list! Otherwise, tune in here (and on Sherilee’s happy little blog) every day in September.

April 29: Month in review

Here’s my review of April 2012.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• We did that belated anniversary celebration mini-vacation. Such fun.
• Victor was honored for 20 years of work at the hospital at their annual awards banquet. I played the proud wife one who was thankful for a regular paycheck.
• This weekend Victor’s with former classmates in Seattle for their 30th high school reunion. He was out until 1am last night, so either they were having a really great time together or he forgot where he was staying and drove around for hours crying about how old he is.
• There were lots of celebrations at school in April. The volunteer appreciation dinner was my favorite.
• It wasn’t for a special occasion, but it was definitely a special day when Sherilee came to Portland earlier this month. We caught up over shopping and lunch at Gustav’s—the only thing that would’ve made it better was more time. Possibly more fondue.
• Happy anniversary to Eric and Kim F’n Wick! Today marks one year since their royal wedding.

Gifts I gave and/or received this month:

• The kids got chocolate bunnies on Easter. The Easter Bunny has gotten really lazy.
• My dear friend Stephanie gave us a gift bag of goodies last week. We love her!

Books I read this month:

• The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Loved it.
• The Beginner’s Goodbye, by Anne Tyler. Better than her last few novels.
• Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir), by Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess). You’ll pee yourself.
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), by Mindy Kaling (Kelly on The Office). Meh.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• Jack and I saw Titanic on the 100th anniversary of the collision. We went over to Bridgeport to see it in IMAX and 3D, which made it better than I expected (doesn’t it seem like old movies that are reformatted into 3D are not usually improved all that much?). He’s been asking lots of questions ever since. Grandpa Curt would be proud—as far back as I can remember, Dad was fascinated with the ship; when it was finally found in 1985, he got me interested in it too.
• Is Smash the best thing on TV, or what?
• This past week’s Community is a must-see if you’re a Law & Order fan.
• Both the east- and west-coast live versions of 30 Rock were LOL-funny.

New recipes or restaurants I tried:

Nothing remarkable.

Special or unusual purchases I made:

Can’t think of any. Wait, does deliciously addictive hard pear cider count for “special or unusual”? If it does, then ignore my first answer.

This month’s disappointments:

• Reality is sinking in: my BFF is moving far, far away. If not for special drugs, I don’t know how I’d get through it.
• Not so much disappointing as sad, my grandma passed away on April 20.

My accomplishments:

I didn’t kill a single person. Month ain’t over yet, though.

Anything else noteworthy:

• Katie went to Outdoor School this past week. She sounded so much like me when she described the experience—she talked about the uncomfortable, smelly parts as much as the super-fun memory-making parts. My Outdoor School experience 30 years ago wasn’t a total suck-fest, but it wasn’t nonstop cool, either.
• I’ve been surprised at how many people aren’t familiar with the concept of Outdoor School—is this really just an Oregon thing???
• Last month I whined about the horrible weather. This month I have to show off the beautiful blooms in our front yard:

That’s it, doods.

Mar. 1: Bits o’ nothing

I have never understood why people say “rabbit rabbit” on the first day of the month. I’m pretty sure no one knows why they do it and they’re all too embarrassed to admit it. But we in the Pacific Northwest woke up to a winter wonderland this morning, and I LOL’d when I saw my friend Melodie had FB-posted “snowshoe rabbit snowshoe rabbit.”

Funny.

(I still don’t get it, though.)

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Yesterday I pointed to a guy crossing the street in front of us and said to Victor, “You should get a sweater like that.” Right away he was all NO WAY, I HATE SWEATERS, THEY’RE TOO TIGHT, THEY’RE TOO HOT, THEY’RE TOO TIGHT, AND THEY’RE ALSO TOO HOT.

And it went on like that for a good 15 minutes. I swear, his voice went up at least one octave.

Geez.

I shall never bring up the topic of sweaters again.

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The PTO received a brochure from the Oregon Area Jewish Committee that listed and explained all the Jewish holy days. I find this useful because…

1. I never know when they are.
2. I never know what they mean.
3. Those two things make me seem ignorant and insensitive.
4. I am ignorant and insensitive—there’s no “seem” about it.

…so I read it over and then quizzed Jack, “Hey, do you know what Yom Kippur is?”

“Um… Chinese food?”

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You know what show is more amusing than I expect it to be? Cougar Town. I am not joking about that—it really is LOL-worthy.

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On March 1, 1961, John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps. Makes all I’ve accomplished so far today seem trivial.

Day ain’t over yet.

BUT I’m pretty sure anything I do accomplish today won’t come be Peace Corps-y. Nowadays getting through one day without the puppy chewing up something we treasure is a success.

There we Manullangs go with the over-achieving again.

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You know what I hate? When you buy something and the clerk doesn’t take that plastic security thingie off it and you have to go back to the store with the item and even with your receipt, you still feel like a thief. That.

This has happened to us twice in the past five days, once with a large, heavy and awkward item. What a pain in the ass. Makes you wonder why they even put those plastic security thingies on stuff. They obviously don’t set off alarms.

I wonder if I can buy one of the plastic security thingie remover thingies on eBay. I totally should.

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My new Sonicare is awesome. Added bonus: it’s a great ring cleaner. My rings are always gunked up with hand sanitizer goo, and this sparkles them right up.

That, my friends, is the very definition of spit shine.

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I’m off to start my day, forming Peace Corps ‘n stuff. I hope you contribute to society today too.

Jul. 14: Ice ice baby

I’m icing my knee right now. I tripped over a chair this evening and fell. There are three huge purple lumps on the side of my leg and it hurts a LOT. Oh, and I have to walk about 926 miles this weekend. Good timing, huh?

This is just one more time I’ve injured myself before something important.

1. In 2001, I was a week away from my first trip to Europe when I broke my foot. I was also five months pregnant. These two things allowed us to board every flight early, so it wasn’t the worst.
2. A couple years ago I fell in the garage and landed on my chin. When I opened my eyes and saw a bunch of little white things in front of me, my first thought was that I broke all my teeth. My second thought was that I wouldn’t be able to go to the David Sedaris reading that night. My third thought was that those white things were fertilizer bits and maybe our garage needs to be swept better. I made it to David Sedaris—I know you were worried.
3. Two weeks after the chin thing, I fell again, but this time I caught my eyelid on the armoire latch on the way down. Hi-laaaarious, right? I was on some powerful drugs and one side of my forehead was still swollen, but I made it to Rent two days later anyway.

It sucks to hurt oneself before one is expected to be physically active and/or seen in public. But if one is hurt while doing something of which one can be proud, one would not be quite so embarrassed to tell one’s true account of how one was hurt.

(Speaking of hurt… it hurts to write all that “one” stuff. No more.)

I don’t get hurt playing sports because I avoid playing sports. Not once have I hurt myself saving puppies from a backyard well. I’ve rarely been injured chasing angry honey badgers out of school carnivals. I’ve never been called to rescue wheelchair-bound children from a burning orphanage, but if I ever am, there’s no doubt I’ll get out alive and well.

My most serious injuries have all happened inside my home.

The only thing that makes sense is that my husband is trying to kill me but he totally sucks at it.

Jun. 19: Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there! Today especially, I’m grateful to my husband for being the good dad he is to our kids, and I feel fortunate to have a kind and loving father-in-law. This holiday is different now that my own dad is gone, but there are still plenty of special people to honor, so we celebrate BIG in our house. Like, soooo big: today Vic is doing laundry, I’m organizing my office, and the kids are playing outside. Yep, we go ca-razy.

It’s never easy to shop for Father’s Day gifts and cards for Vic, because most of the stereotypical dad things just don’t fit him. He doesn’t wear ties or play golf (regularly) or fight for the remote or work in the garage or fix cars or use excessive amounts of duct tape (my dad did ALL of those things). Victor does, however, work in the yard a lot and the kids always veer toward garden stuff when we shop for him. I try to discourage them because the time he spends in the yard is not exactly joyful to him; new garden tools are something he buys only when he absolutely must.

Instead, Katie and Jack chose to make this candy card/poster for Vic. They proudly presented it to him this morning:

Before they started writing and gluing, I helped them compose the note and asked which candy they wanted next to their names. Katie shouted “Smartie!” at exactly the same time Jack shouted, “Airhead!” That was a lot easier than I expected. Don’t say our kids don’t know themselves.

Grilling for dinner. Yum.

Feb. 20: Chats with Jen and Vic

This is a real and mostly factual account of conversations between me and my husband in the last 24 hours.

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Victor walks into the room, drinking coffee.

Jen: I want coffee! Where’s my coffee?

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Jen: Close your eyes.

Victor: OK. (closes his eyes)

Jen: Now don’t open them, no matter what I do.

Victor laughs.

Jen: And don’t laugh.

Victor tries to frown. He fails. Jen proceeds to stick her fingers in Victor’s ears, nose, and mouth. Victor keeps his eyes closed, but he laughs.

Jen: You are not following the rules!

Victor tries to stop laughing. Apparently it’s hard to stop laughing when someone’s fingers are in your mouth, and he keeps laughing.

Jen: (gives up) Whatev.

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Jen: If you had a superpower, what would it be?

Vic: I would fly.

Jen: FLY? That’s so stupid! How does that help anything? What’s so super about being able to fly?

Vic: Well, what would would your superpower be?

Jen: I’d be invisible and I’d follow you to work to listen to you tell your coworkers what a screechy wench of a wife I am, and then you’d feel terrible because you’d know that I know what you say about me.

Vic: You better not cough.

Jen: I think the power of complete silence comes with the power of invisibility. You wouldn’t be able to hear me when I’m lurking around you.

Vic: Hm. Would you be naked?

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Vic: Really, please get your fingers out of my mouth.

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Jen: Jack just came in here and farted and then left. I blame you.

Victor: How is that my fault? I wasn’t even in here.

Jen: You’re teaching him how to be a boy like you. I want him to be a boy like me.

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Jen: Where’s my coffee?

Victor obediently gets Jen a cup of coffee, with equal parts creamer and spit. He says the spit part’s not true, but Jen knows better. Still, coffee’s coffee.

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Jen: You have grey beard hairs.

Victor: You married an old man.

Jen: I bet Zac Efron doesn’t have grey beard hairs.

Victor: I bet Zac Efron’s mom is younger than you.

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Jen and Vic are watching the latest episode of Portlandia together.

Victor: I don’t get why…

Jen: Quiet! Here’s one of the Joel McHale commercials!

Vic: His hair looks weird, like he’s been sleeping on it. It looks like mine.

Victor takes off his cap to show flat, greasy, disgusting hair.

Jen: No. He’s dreamy. He’s a hipster, but the good kind. Look, he’s crying about his prom date. It makes me love him more.

Vic: Pfft. He has bedhead. You don’t think I’m sexy with bedhead.

Jen: Please put your cap back on.

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And… scene. 

Feb. 23: Thirteen happy years

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. I still feel lucky every day that I got to marry Victor, someone who makes me laugh so much and so often, someone who is more patient with me than I deserve, someone who has probably had pa-lenty of regrets in the past 13 years. Ha ha, Pal! Too bad—you’re stuck with me now!

When we first got married, every night seemed like a slumber party. I couldn’t believe that I got to hang out with my best friend every night! I kept waiting for that feeling to wear off, but it still hasn’t. Laying next to each other, talking and giggling until we fall asleep… it’s the best. Sure, the excessive snoring has frequently made me question my love for him, but once my middle-of-the-night murderous rage has dissipated, I usually love him again by morning. Sometimes noon-ish.

It’s in the past year, as we’ve gotten answers for my ongoing health issues, that I’ve come to see exactly how strong my husband is, and what a perfect partner he is for me as we walk through my cancer fight together. I’m so thankful for all he does. He’s a good guy. I’m a lucky girl.

Two of the many, many snaps from our wedding reception:

And here’s my favorite picture from February 23, 1997:

Happy anniversary, honey! Here’s to many more happy years together! I love you best.

Oct. 13: Coffee break post

Yesterday was practically non-stop excitement. Well, busy-ness, anyway. I felt like I barely had a moment to breathe or nap or watch a short SVU marathon. Days like that kinda suck. Actually, it wasn’t awful awful; there was fun stuff going on but it wore me out. That’s why you’re getting a bulleted list today, and FYI, it’s only as long as my coffee mug is deep.

• I had lunch with my mom yesterday. This time she didn’t climb any fences, but she did get lost trying to find us on the hospital campus EVEN THOUGH WE WERE RIGHT WHERE WE SAID WE’D BE. What are we gonna do with her, people? As Vic said, “She’s teaching our nurses and she can’t find her way down the stairs?” Fortunately, she’s not teaching geography. We had a nice lunch together when we finally connected. Maybe Loveliest Lori will drive up north to join us next time???
• I went back to work after lunch and there was too much to do so I’m going in again this morning. Another department requested some work too, and I don’t know if I’ll get to all of that today so I’ll probably have to work more tomorrow. Not complaining, not complaining! I didn’t work much last month so this is making up for some of that.
• Tomorrow the PTO is hosting a “Donuts with Dad” thing at the school. Kids will bring their dads and I betcha can’t guess what they’ll eat! Random Sunshine™ and I are plotting to hide at least one box of Krispy Kremes to devour later on our own, when no one’s around to see. Oink.
• Last night a bunch of bookstores did launch parties for the newest “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book. Katie and Jack went, and both took their new books to school today to show off. I very, very, very much like to see Jack so excited about books. I haven’t read any of the Wimpy Kids, but they’re awfully popular so I assume they’re full of fart jokes.
• Over the weekend we planted tulip, daffodil, and crocus bulbs in the front yard. And when I say “we,” I actually mean “Vic,” because I don’t dare injure my back any further by working in the yard. I just pointed and said, “Here’s good” a whole bunch of times. The black-eyed Susans are still flowering wildly, but once they’re gone I think the yard will be bloom-less until the crocuses peek through next winter/spring. Bummer.
• Here’s a question for you gardening/landscaping types: do you mark where you plant bulbs? And if you do, what do you use for markers?
• Another one: is cat poop a good fertilizer? I sure hope so, because Millie seemed to think all the holes Vic dug in the yard were just for her.
• Victor is looking into starting his own blog. I think it’s just to get back at me. Promise me you won’t read it—it’ll be full of lies and things that make me look bad. What do you wanna bet he calls it “Stuff Vic Yells Back”?
• This Sunday Vic and Ted are taking Wellington to a Seahawks game. I don’t know about Ted, but Vic hasn’t been in the new stadium yet—it’s not even really new anymore—so he’s looking forward to seeing it for himself. As much as I hate football and care not even a little bit for Seattle’s crappy team, I do love the look of Qwest Field, especially how it’s a similar style to Safeco Field right next door, and how it’s changed the skyline. Seattle’s a beautiful city.
• Birthdays! Two important birthdays are being celebrated today! Jim Jordan, April’s husband, is 40-something, and Erin, my niece(ish) is um, younger. Twenty-eight? I think she’s 28. Best wishes to both of you from all of us! Many smooches.
• You’ve heard of FML, right? Here’s a new one: My Life is Average, or MLIA. Cute.

Coffee’s gone. Gotta get to work.

Oct. 5: Monday a.m. quickie

Gotta million things to do today. Just some update-y tidbits:

• The Fun Run on Saturday morning turned out to be really, really Fun with a capital F. It was cold, but never rained and we had a good turnout. Some of the kids went all out on the school spirit thing—we even had face painters. I knew what Katie’s reaction would be because it was the same as mine: “That’s kinda creepy.” But one of the face-painted girls won a big ol’ feast at California Pizza Kitchen for best school spirit, so who’s laughing with her mouth full of pizza now, hm?
• My favorite moment while manning the water station was when a guy stopped at the table, took a cup of water, and said, “Oh good, I can rest for a bit. Good time for a smoke break too!” I found out later it was Sunshine’s father-in-law. Funny guy. Gotta love the mental picture of smoking while running a 5k.
• My second favorite moment while manning the water station was when a guy who was running shirtless yelled “GIMMEE ALL YOU GOT, RIGHT HERE!” as he ran toward us. Victor tossed two glasses of water at him, but was too close, and it all splashed right back on Vic. The guy hollered, “Thanks!” and kept going. At least he was refreshed. For the rest of the day I teased Vic because he got Naked Sweaty Dude’s B.O. all over him.
• Yes, I’m kind of a meanie wife.
• Wellington and Darlene are gone for a couple weeks, so we don’t have one of our lovely days/nights off for a while. I’m not whining. I appreciate their help so much, but we do kinda get used to it and miss them when they’re off traveling somewhere. Retired people… when do I get to be one?
• Today is my friend Christina’s big day. Happy birthday, young thang! I hope your celebration got more fun after your birthday flu shot, because that’s a really sucky gift.
• I worked on our Christmas CD a little yesterday. I chuckle while I promise it’s gonna be a good one this year, oh yes.
• Buncha PTO duties today. Work tomorrow. Bye.