The Tubby Awards.
Yes, I went, and yes, it was fun. I was glad to see everyone again, and in many ways it was as if I'd never been gone. Everyone was very understanding of my year-long absence, and they even gave me the "We miss you on stage" award, which was needlessly thoughtful of them. I chowed down on wonderful food, and the only downside of the evening was that we had to move the picnic indoors due to a swarm of mosquitoes in the park. I'm happy to see the guild growing so fast and doing so well. I'm also happy to see that Andy and Shelly have gone from being beginners on the fringes to being right in the center of that great group of people. The guild needs people like them.
After the tubbies.
Forest closed the Store, and we went home, to watch the rest of Entrapment. It was an okay movie; not overly inspiring, not underly so. At least I didn't see the ending coming.
Friday morning.
I took part of the day off to take Leeloo to the vet for stitch removal. I hoped this would make her a little more friendly toward Eilonwy. It wasn't nearly the ordeal I thought it would be, so I ended up mowing the lawn, too! Extra productivity is always a plus.
Friday night.
Forest came home from work feeling ill. He had been retching, the poor dear, and was positively miserable. I ended up making him stay home while I visited Bill and Kathy, who had a housefull of sick kids. Happily, I haven't managed to come down with any of these things yet, and hopefully I won't. Yuck. We had a nice light dinner, and Bill filled me in on his latest work challenges. It looks like he needs to position himself a bit to defend his telecommuting abilities. I'm definitely behind him in that department. It's been great having him around when Kirstin gets home from school.
When I got home, Forest insisted that he *had* to get out of the house, so we loaded into the car and went to see Shaft. By the time we got out of the movie, he was feeling a lot better, and looking a bit less pale. I think food helped. Shaft is a GREAT movie! We both really enjoyed it. Go see it; I promise you'll like it.
After that, we headed back to my mom's house, where we were housesitting, soaked in the hot tub, and went to bed. Housesitting for my mom is great, because I get all of the hot soaks I can stand while I'm there. I also get to play the piano whenever I want, and get my Golden Retriever fix for the year. My mom also always has real food in her refrigerator, and begs us to eat whatever we want. To top it off, she has a trampoline in the back yard, a beautiful property in the country, a bonfire pit, a fireplace, a pool table, and satellite TV. It's pretty much a spa getaway as far as I'm concerned.
Saturday.
For some reason morning came very early, and I drove Forest to our house to change and check on the cats, and he took off for work. I spent most of the morning taking care of my mom's dog, a hour sitting in the hot tub reading a book, and most of the afternoon playing the piano. I love to sightread Sonatas, and my mom has a great pile of them. I was a happy camper.
Forest called, and asked if I'd come in and train at the Store, so that I could open with him on Sunday. I was glad to be useful, so I headed in to Lansing to learn how to make a proper Tate's Freeze ice cream cone.
It's harder than you might think. Getting the right weight is difficult. All 4 flavors have their own personalities, and the twist one is downright spiteful. Now I know why they call it "big ugly". I also learned how to make sundaes, shakes, and other fun stuff... I must have gone through 2 pounds of ice cream just practicing. Yeech.
Later, we played pool with Ross and Forest's dad, and I actually did reasonably well! I attribute it to playing the piano all day. It makes me think more clearly. Either that or I picked the lucky cue stick or something. I have never been good at pool.
Then we went to Forest's friend's house to play Feng Shui, then to another of his friends' house for her birthday party. It was nearly 4 AM by the time we got to my mom's and into bed. Forest had still not been feeling well most of the day, and was breathless to the point where he didn't feel at all cuddly. Happily, in the morning, he felt much better, and made up for it!
Sunday.
We barely got up in time to go to Lansing and open the Store. We were fairly busy most of the afternoon, and I managed to not spill any ice cream on any customers. I think I spent as much time cleaning up after myself as I did making desserts, but that's not as bad as it could be. I also have the consolation of actually getting paid for this! A little extra money helps, especially since I got it doing something I rather enjoyed. When people are going to get an ice cream cone with all their kids they tend to be in a good mood. It's contagious. I also enjoy working with real things, which are sticky, have definite scents, are three-dimensional, and brightly colored. I spend most of my 40 weekly working hours in front of a computer screen. It just isn't the same as working with objects in the real world.
At 5 I left the Store to run some errands. I grabbed Father's Day cards for Sam and my Dad, and a large print crossword book for Forest's dad. Kirstin had already gotten Forest a gift (the best of Queen CD set), but I also got him a card and a dozen pretty white roses. It's sweet how touched he is by little gestures like that. Aww. I picked Kirstin up from her grandparents' house, and she had an earache. Poor munchkin laid down in the van and slept most of the afternoon away. I took her back to my mom's, and made a nice cool dinner of salad and devilled eggs, and some Children's Tylenol. These things seemed to perk her up quite a bit, and she and I stayed up for quite some time playing the piano and singing.
When Forest came in, we tucked Kirstin in, grabbed our books, and plunked in the hot tub for a couple of hours. We soaked until we were limp spaghetti noodles, head to toe. I've never seen Forest so relaxed. He's in heaven in a tub anyway, much less a big comfy one.
Monday.
Morning came way too early again, and we stumbled our way out of bed slowly. I decided that since Forest had the whole day off, and Kirstin did, too, that I would take the day off from work and get her earache checked out... and spend some quality time besides.
We ended up spending the morning cleaning up my mom's house for her, then the afternoon swimming at the health club. Their outdoor pool has a diving board, so Forest and I took turns doing various dives (both) and flips (him). It was sunny and beautiful outside, and well worth the time off work. Kirstin splashed around in the shallow end, and though she staunchly refused to try swimming, she played with the other kids and enjoyed it. Forest's mom and cousin Tina joined in, too. We all actually got a little sun, but no burns! How lovely.
I realized that one of the reasons I enjoy my life with Forest so much is that he has a liberating effect on me. I can't really understand the idea of another person 'tying me down'. Forest lets me loose; inspires me to do things I ordinarily wouldn't have done. I must have climbed in and out of that deep and and jumped off that diving board dozens of times, belly-smackers included. Before I was with Forest, I never did that... even though I really enjoy swimming, I knew I was never a good diver, so I didn't care to do it.
With him it doesn't matter if I'm good at something or not, we still have fun doing it together. It's a great thing. I really really love my honey. He's just so much the right man for me, its inconceivable!!
(You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you're thinking it means...)
Bill and Kathy met up with Kirstin in Lansing, thus allowing Forest and I to head straight to taekwondo without a lot of extra driving. We even had time to grab some carbs, pencils, and Forest's coffee before class. We didn't work out terribly hard, probably because Forest was as tired as I was after a day of climbing in and out of the pool. Still, we worked up a sweat, and got a lot of forms repetition in. I think I'm almost ready for my midterm, which is next Wednesday, and the tournament this Saturday.
Here I sit, on Tuesday, catching up on the rest of my life. My mom was really happy that we had done such a nice job housesitting, and the dog was actually happy to see her, rather than crying for a day at having been deserted. I was glad my mom was pleased; it's not something I've done a lot in my life, but something I've always aspired to do.
I feel good about that. Actually, I feel good about a lot of things. My life is going very well at the moment, and I'm happier than I can ever remember being. My personal life is so good that it defies all reason. When people ask me how things are going, I'm tempted to fire off a glowing hour and a half at them on how wonderful they are. I feel like in some small way, my life is coming together. I'm really getting my shit together, and it feels good. Part of it is that I've grown as a person, and I'm happy about that. A lot of it, though, is that Forest empowers me; it's easier to get shit together when you're supported, secure, and loved.
I guess that's enough beaming for the moment. I'll try to get my head out of the clouds for gaming tonight, but for now I'm happy to dream about my sweety and how much I love him.
He really is my knight in shining armor, in the figurative sense. He loves me, he liberates me, he gives me strength to do the things I need to do.
My god I love that man.
