I apologize to myself and to my readers for my prolonged absense! Last week was busy week, followed by a busy weekend, and promises to only get busier. Forest is scheduled to work about 70 hours this week because his dad is out of town, and there's no one else to run the Store. He's stressing out, because he has piles of work to do, and long days to do them in, and already the chocolate machine is broken down. I have tech week this week, which means that every day I am going from work to pick Kirstin up, then heading for Bath to rehearse, and not getting back until later than I would like.
The worst part is that it means that I'm not seeing as much of Forest as I'm used to. We both really stress out when we miss each other. It's a homesick sort of feeling, and I despise it. At this time in my life, I need to be with my sweety. He feels the same way.
It's also a rough week because taekwondo is my usual stress-busting activity, and I can't go this week because I have to rehearse instead. That really sucks, out loud.
So rather than let myself go completely nuts, I took a little time out this week. Saturday I cleaned up and organized our house, so that it isn't stressing me out at all. Monday I relaxed and played games and was at home when Kirstin got home from school, which always makes me feel good. Today I had the pest inspector coming out to give our house the all-clear for our new mortgage, and rather than getting stressed about it, I took time to chill out at home. It was nice.
And I don't feel stressed at all.
Granted, I have a big pile of things building up on my desk that I need to do, but it's nothing I have to have by Friday, and I'm prioritizing them lower than my own sanity. Just as it should be.
Let's see, what else has been going on? Saturday night I ended up going with Tiff to visit Reagan and Yeffy at her mom's house. That was pretty fun! Reagan's dad has this great baritone voice, and her mom is so casual and friendly, I think that would be a great family to be related to. They also have a cute ancient doggie named Duff, and Reagan's neice Clarissa was there. Babies are always entertaining.
After that, I ended up closing the Store with Forest, and then we had some of Forest's friends over for my semi-birthday party. We dumped about a thousand Leggos (I'm not kidding, there were two ten-gallon buckets) out on our living room floor, bullshitted with each other, and built things. Vicki and I made a castle, while James, Will, Darcy and Forest made spaceships and ICBM's to blow our castle up. It was lots of fun. James got me a really cool Cheapass Game called 'Save Dr. Lucky'. I was really suprised! I didn't figure anyone knew it was my birthday. Forest got me a Playstation, and Darcy got me the Next Tetris for it, which is completely addictive. We also have Tekken, which is a martial arts game, and The Fifth Element game, which is just plain HARD.
Forest (that sneaky fellow) also got me that jacket I was drooling over at Hudson's last month. It's really pretty, kind of a dark irridescent green. It's cut close through the ribs, and goes down around my hips to flare out a bit and reach almost to my knees. It fits me perfectly, and is incredibly comfortable and soft. I haven't seen something I wanted to much but restrained myself from buying in a long time. Forest says he went back and bought it the next day, and has been hiding it in his drawer ever since. What a sneaky-butt.
Kirstin sent me an emailed postcard for my birthday. That's a first! It was pretty cool, though. She wrote me a very nice little note, which said I was 'The sweetest mom on the whole Earth." She also said I was very special and she loves me very much. It was really nice.
Saturday morning rolled around, and it was rainy, and Forest and I were TIRED. We had stayed up until nearly 2 AM playing games and joking around with Darcy and Josh. Somehow we dragged ourselves to the shower, and then out the door and to the Store.
After dropping him off, I went to the 'going out of business' sale at a shop in Okemos, and got all the plates, utensils, and napkins for our wedding reception. The plates and utensils are white, and I got dark purple napkins which I hope will go with the pansies in the boquets. I paid an insanely small amount of money for them, and got more than enough. I think we'll have about 160 guests, but I got 250 plates and napkins, 200 of each utensil, and 200 dessert napkins. At the prices I was paying I could get extras and still be under budget. I figure that way I can deal with second helpings and spills with relative grace.
After shopping, I went to the Store to work, and discovered that in the rain, business had died. There was a nice storm moving through the area, and though we stayed until 5 PM, Forest and I had fewer than a dozen customers all day. The highlight of the afternoon was when Forest's grandma and cousin visited, and brought KFC food for us in celebration of my birthday. It hit the spot, and I was grateful! She also brought me a cake and a card. Forest's grandma is great.
After a day of no business, we decided to cut our losses, and closed early. My mom, Karen, Jim, and Sam met us at Texas Roadhouse for dinner shortly thereafter. It was really wierd. People eat peanuts in there and then throw the shells on the floor, just like at the Peanut Barrel; except that they are playing country music and there are stuffed heads of animals on the rough-hewn timber-panelled walls.
Their rolls, however, are GREAT. They are served with cinnamon-butter just like the Pretzel Bell used to have, and they are hot, soft, and sweet. Very very tasty. Forest also ordered is a 48-ounce raspberry margarita. It was ENORMOUS. We threw a few straws in there and shared sips around the table, but the margarita (and underlying tequila) determined that we would not go immediately home as we had planned. Forest and I were both a bit too tipsy for that. We had a good time with my folks, and Karen had a classic line:
Karen: "This margarita is good. What's in there that gives it that 'tequila'-ey flavor?"
Forest & I simultaneously: "Tequila!"
It doesn't sound that funny now, but it was hilarious at the time. That could have had something to do with the huge vat of alcoholic ice we were swilling.
My mom baked me a cake, just like she used to do when I was little. It's cherry chip with pink icing. Isn't that sweet?
We ended up going straight to the movie theatre, since it was only a short walk from the restaurant, and we knew we'd be able to dry up there. We were a few minutes late for 'Nurse Betty' so we decided to see 'Highlander: Endgame' instead. Big mistake. That movie was really really depressing. It was also rather scattered and poorly directed, and dark, and they decided that it would be a good idea to have the ranting of the bad guy take up 75 percent of the screen-time in the film. After his second 5-minute-long, repetitive, circuitous monologue, Forest and I were both wishing we'd just been late to 'Nurse Betty'.
We also don't like what they did to the 'Highlander' characters, and we're going to pretend we never saw it so we never have to be depressed by it again. It was pretty bad.
Getting home at about 11:30 PM, we weren't eager for sleep, since the movie had depressed us. Instead we sliced into my mom's cake, and started to play Tetris on the Playstation. I've discovered that Tetris is addictive, and that one can stare at it and lose time for hours. We were both seeing Tetris peices when we fell asleep that night.
Monday's rehearsal went really well. We have an unexpected audience on Thursday, but that's no problem; we were ready to perform a week ago. We'll be fine. I think they will enjoy it very much.
And that's all she wrote, ladies and gentlemen.
