Saturday, May 23, 2009

Saturday of Long Weekend

Last night I went to the Sun game...sat with Sharon for the last time...boo hoo... She is moving to Louisville this weekend. The Sun beat the Liberty and one of the rookies did really good. Amazing for her first game in the pros! Came home, wrote my article, posted it on the site and then crashed in bed...it was around half past 12.

I could not sleep....my knees were hurting, my legs were hurting...everything was hurting and I couldn't figure out why. Then I remembered that it might have something to do with the fact that I "jogged" a mile and a half in 10 minutes on the Wii! This morning I remembered that I didn't do my stretches after exercising...whenever I skip that step I hurt later.

Today I couldn't figure out why my rib cage and abdomen were sore. Finally remembered that I did the boxing game on the Wii yesterday also...probably used muscles that I haven't used in ages.

Oh well...no pain....

Went to get Terry at Green Airport this afternoon. Carol came with me. We had fun gabbing on the way up and once we picked up Terry, we really yacked...all the way back to Griswold. Took Terry to her son Jim's house in Lisbon, dropped her off after we got the tour of the house. I had Jessica, Terry's daughter-in-law, check out my hair. She is a hairdresser. She says it is good quality hair, no need for me to shave it down. She told me about a fellow hairdresser who had breast cancer who's hair came in fuzzy like mine is. She said that her friend's hair is still short, but it is curly now instead of fuzzy.

My hair grows longer every day. Sandy and I are amazed at how fast it is growing. You can almost see the difference from day to day, I swear. Sandy looked at my hair this morning and said she can see that it grew longer overnight.

It is very fuzzy and I love the way it feels. I keep rubbing it...I can't help it, I love it!

Oh, I saw Scott last night at the game. His friend John has had two season's tickets for ages now and Scott and another guy, Barry, take turns using the second ticket. Got to say hi to John too. He gave me a ticket to see the Huskies, years ago, when they were playing in the regional finals at the Hartford Civic Center--back in 2004, Diana's last games in Connecticut. I'll never forget that.

Scott looks good. He's thinking about retiring...went to the information session they had at UConn. I think he should do it...I recommend it to everyone. He will have no problem finding another job, if that's what he wants to do. I'm sure he'll enjoy the free time to play golf too.

Lots of folks have decisions to make. I say to all of them...go for it! Richard called yesterday---he's going to put his papers in...wise decision. I told him he and I need to go kayaking. I'm looking for kayaking buddies. I want to get out on the water.

Rocky continues to recuperate nicely. He insists on going up and down the stairs when you aren't watching. Silly dog. He and Bubbles are getting closer and closer to being best pals. She is getting used to him. They lie on my lap...he puts his head on her back. Yesterday they were kissing each other...so sweet.

Tomorrow night, Lynne, David, Linda and Ted are coming for dinner. I hope they are up for some Rock Band...I'm going to have Sandy bring it down from the spare room. So tomorrow I have to clean the house and then get the supper prepped for their arrival. We're going to eat good and have lots of fun! Too bad it's supposed to rain...I was hoping we could eat outdoors.

Damn, the Sox just lost again to the Mets...Pabs blew the save--gave up a two run homer in the ninth with two outs. They end up losing by one.

Monday Pixie will be coming up for dinner with us. Jean is coming too....and we've invited Carol and maybe Mark will join her. Sandy is going to make her famous swordfish. Yum Yum and Double YUM!

Now I'm going to enjoy the feeling of having a little doggie asleep on my lap.

Happy 30th Birthday Audrey!

Love you!

Nighty night

Friday, May 22, 2009

Friday--long weekend ahead

Feeling much, much better now! Crashed last night and woke up feeling energized. Did my Wii Fit--"ran" 10 minutes...did 1.555 miles! Not too bad! My Wii Fit age has dropped down to 51--it was 69 last time. I have a ways to go to get it back down in the 30-45 range.

Maria wants a full accounting of our purchases...I'll try.

First of all, we found a new shop in the same shopping center as Reny's...it's a discount clothing place--that has stuff from Coldwater Creek, Ocean Pacific, Lee, Minnetonka, etc.

I think it was closed when we went in January...the woman said "no, we're open all the time" but I doubt they were open when we went, Maria, Anne Marie and I would have been ALL OVER that place!

I got two long-sleeved "Life is good" jerseys. One has a jogger on it, the other has a golfer. I like the feel and fit of them. I also like having long sleeved tees--they are great for early morning and late afternoon-evening in the summer. The only other long sleeved tees I have is one UConn one with a rip in the seam and a Patriots shirt. Those shirts cost $10 each.

I got a jeans jacket with wild colors on the collar, cuffs and breast area. Sandy says "I can see you wearing that jacket." That was a whooping $22!

Then I found some great silk pedal pushers in a nice black on white pattern. Birgitta would love these...great for traveling and in her favorite colors. I think I paid $18 for those.

THEN I found some really nice brown tooled leather clogs (well...more like slide-ons) made by Minnetonka. They are interesting and different! $22

At Reny's I got a dutch oven for $40-comparable to ones I had been drooling over at Kohl's--KitchenAid--for $90...on sale. I got a "chicken frying" fry pan, with cover for $9.99. I got two black short sleeved tops...to go with the new white and black pedal pushers and other outfits--one for $3.99 and one for $5.99. I got a pair of Lee "comfort waist" jeans--I think that's what they are called--they have a wide elastic strip in the waist--size 10 petite.....$22.

I got a glass vinegar dispenser; a disposable sea salt grinder and another glass butter dish. All cheap.

Happy Maria? Jean got some great sweaters at both places and some odds and ends. She was very pleased with her purchases. Oh, she bought some very nice coffee mugs with bird pictures on them--very nice. Oh, and she got us a beautiful runner for the front hall.

We stopped at this Home Goods store that is right near Reny's....we weren't going to but we just went on a spur of the moment. Good thing we did. I found some new bath mats to replace our ancient blue mats. Sandy wandered over to the carpet section. She called us over to check them out. We found a beautiful area rug for the living room. Jean had told us about a month ago that she wanted to buy us a new rug for the living room for our birthday presents. We were supposed to go looking for the past few weeks and didn't. Good thing...I don't think we would have found anything this nice and this cheap if we had bought something around here.

Somehow we managed to fit all of our purchases into the car--along with our overnight bags. Sandy is great at packing things in--she got the carpet to fit, it stuck out through the front seats to rest on the console all the way home. Sandy packed herself in the back seat too....leaned her head against the carpet and went to sleep.

I wanted to go to the Maine Diner--but for some reason I thought it was on the road to Freeport from Ogunquit....we couldn't find it, I stopped at a gas station and asked an old guy about it...turns out it was 8 miles away in Wells! I didn't know that! I could have sworn it was down near where we got on 95 to go home.

So, the Maine Diner continues to be a quest of mine. We did go to the newly reopened and remodeled, Egg and I....and had great breakfasts. I love that place. This winter we were so nervous that they had closed for good...it looked abandoned. But no, they were remodeling. And it looks very nice. Great, fast service as usual....great food.

We had dinner at Jackie's Too....right on the water in Perkins Cove. Again, great meals...but I had the seafood alfredo and should have told them to cut the pasta in half. It was just too much. If I could have taken it "to-go" it would have been different...but I really couldn't take it "to-go."

When we left the place where we bought the carpet---oh...and the women who worked there were horrible....no customer friendly stuff going on there...Jean realized her cell phone was missing. Sandy called every place we ate/stayed in Ogunquit--no soap. Then she called the 99 Restaurant where we ate on the way up to Maine--sure enough, they had it. So the question of where we would eat lunch yesterday was resolved for us...we drove to Lowell and got the phone and another good meal at 99.

The ladies at the Home Goods shop. First I ask, "do you have soap dishes?" "Yeah in the back with the BATHROOM stuff" she says, very sarcastically. Okay....

Later, Jean brings all kinds of purchases up to the counter and the other woman says "I need you to take those off that counter, that's our workspace counter...we are limited in our workspace area." HELLO!!! How about YOU take it off the counter! It was the way they said things.

After she rang up the carpet, she announces in a loud voice, "That sale is FINAL!" How about asking before you ring it up, "do you understand that all carpet sales are final?" There was a sign saying that near the carpet. Instead, she announces that it's final....like they have just been successful in pulling one on us. Even Sandy said, "they are sadly lacking in the customer service department."

We had a wonderful time...the Meadowmere is beautiful in the Spring--have never been up there at this time of year before. The Roman Spa was just what we needed Wednesday night to relax after the trip up. It was nice sitting out in the sun first thing in the AM. Didn't see Jack, but Sandy did and I did talk with him on the phone.

We found a place that had great cheese--Mediterranean (feta, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic) which we bought, put on crackers and I added kalamata olives which we also bought. Jean bought a bottle of wine and I a little bit of that...not too much as I was driving.

The weather was wonderful...we walked on the beach at Ogunquit and at Wells...we went up to Kennebunk beach...looking for W Sr. Didn't see him. We enjoyed seeing all the wonderful houses and cottages in the area.

All in all...a wonderful time and we are talking about maybe returning in September--after Labor Day...Jack says they have great end of season sales.

A good time was had by all....but we were happy to come home to our puppies...who had been well-cared for by Jessica. It is such a relief to have her taking care of the pets. She enjoyed her stay here--so it all went well.

Tonight I'm off to the Sun game. Tomorrow should be a quiet day--Sunday Lynne and David and Linda and Ted are coming for dinner. Monday we rest.

Be Safe everyone....there are a lot of nuts out there on the road!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Home from Maine

I could have sworn I did a posting already this week...just looked and the last one was about Saturday! And so much INTERESTING stuff has happened! And I have FORGOTTEN it!

Just kidding. Monday I went to the Sun Media Day and left early....I got wiped out. I don't know what it was, but I got pooped fast. Maybe it's allergies...like now I have a headache just from taking a whiff of the miniature lilac bush outside by the garden pond.

Tuesday I went down to visit Mary Anne at Bridebrook---I picked up Diane at her house and brought her down with me. MAFO looks good, for someone with a broken leg! She looks healthier than we do...but a lot of that is the great tan she has from wintering in Florida. We look all pasty-faced and ill compared to her.

She has a great attitude...doesn't know yet how much damage was done and doesn't know what they will have to do to fix it. She broke her femur, above her knee replacement!

On Wednesday, we left mid-morning for Maine. Sandy slept a couple of hours before we left--so I drove. I ended up driving the whole way, did all the driving while we were up there and drove all the way back.

We took Jean up for her birthday. We stayed at the Meadowmere, our favorite place in Ogunquit. Jack got us a nice quiet room, right across from where Maria and I stayed in January.

We had a great time, ate some great food and made some great purchases.

I will write more about it tomorrow. I'm not feeling that good tonight...stomach is queasy, head is hurting and eyes are burning...it's a combination of being too tired and allergies.

So, I just took all my pills, I'll fall asleep soon, so I better toddle off to bed.

Nighty night!

One thing before I go....wasn't today just the most BEAUTIFUL DAY??? I loved it!

Nighty night....

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Big Week ahead

We had a good time at the Russell games yesterday. Bubbles wouldn't go into the tunnel at the "go-to-ground" event....she wanted to cut straight across and go directly to the rat! Suffice it to say, no ribbon for her.

Truman, on the other hand, went right into the tunnel, raced to the rat faster than he ever has in the past....and then turned around and came back...I think he wanted to take the short cut to the rat too!

Bub did pick up a ribbon (third place) for the "barn hunt"....they put a rat in a cylindrical container and hide it in between bales of hay..the dogs have to find it. She found it in three seconds! And she "found it" again as we were leaving and walking by the area....she tore a hole in the fence trying to get at it again!

That's my dog.

Rocky had a ball at the trial....he met lots of new people, including kids....a first for us...we have NEVER allowed strange people or children to pet our Russells...too risky. Rocky, on the other hand, loved it all...and they loved him. He even met new dogs and there was no shenanigans going on between them! UNBELIEVEABLE!

I sat up for a bit last night after I took my pills, watching the Sox...but did make it upstairs for 10:30. Sandy went up a lot earlier...as she had operated on only two hours of sleep all day.

I awoke in the middle of the night and either it was thundering somewhere in the 30 mile radius or the wind was blowing hard--because Lily was lying on top of me...panting so hard and shaking...the bed was shaking too. I managed to doze on and off under these conditions---I opened the bathroom door so Bubbles could go to her "safe room"....the walk-in closet. That kept her quiet. Not a peep out of the two boys--Truman and Rocky.

This morning Sandy came up to tell me she was going to take Rocky to Waterford, pick Taylor and Ryan up and take them out for lunch...it was 11:30!! I was shocked! But then I realized I have been doing this lately....sleeping until 11....this was the third day this week.

I have been busier--physically and maybe that accounts for why I am tired. I dunno. Will have to watch this.

Tomorrow I go to Media Day for the CT Sun....will get to see a bunch of players--including the ones they drafted this year. I'll take pictures and have to write some sort of article. If it comes out decent, I'll post a link here.

Tuesday I'll rest. Wednesday we leave for Maine--staying at the Meadowmere. Love that place! We'll do some shopping, eating and walking I'm sure. We are bringing Jean for her birthday. We'll come back later on Thursday...wish we could stay an extra day...but alas, it is not to be. Friday I have the Sun's first exhibition game, they host the Liberty at 7pm and then BAM! We are right back in basketball season! YAY!

I still have a craving for barbecue. I will have to go back to Jason's or to Russell's or maybe check out Chester's...I read a good review of their stuff. Have to find someone to go with me.

Now I'm going to recline, watch the Sox and doze a little...maybe dream a bit of barbecue.