Weekend Wrap-up

I feel a little silly doing a wrap-up today.  We had a very low-key weekend.

Friday night CH & I watched "Bridesmaids".  I laughed through most of it; CH didn't think it was very funny.

Saturday morning, CH surprised me with a caramel macchiato (with soy...just the way I like it!) from Starbucks.  He took Laika for their weekly trek to PetSmart, and stopped by Starbucks on the way home.

There was an RV Show about 45 minutes away from us, so we decided to go and just look.  One of my sisters & her husband bought one of the smaller RVs the day before, so we were able to go in and look at theirs.  There are some really nice ones out there, but to me, it's not camping if you have one of those big ones.  I could see selling the house and just taking off in one of those, but definitely not weekend (or even week) camping.  Going to the show confirmed that we made the right decision with our little camper.

I get to sleep inside, off of the ground (with air conditioning and heat if needed!), but still spend a lot of time outside.
When we got home, CH blew out the camper with the leaf blower, we wiped down the counter, and I mopped out the floor.  It took about 30 minutes.  We still had everything from the camper in our garage, so we got the benches set back up and the cushions back on them.  I cleaned out our "kitchen totes" and reorganized them, so we'll be ready to go camping when we have another nice weekend.

Saturday football was a huge bust:  Peyton (who is like a god around these parts) and the Broncos lost a heartbreaker, and then the Packers (one of the players is from the Small Town) lost.  I don't really even care who plays in the Superbowl now.

Sunday was spent cleaning up the house and finishing up laundry.  We went to Mexican (our usual Sunday night dinner) and then went home & waited for Downton Abbey.  I managed to catch some  Real Housewives of Atlanta before DA came on.

With temps reaching 70 over the weekend, it looks like there are no chances of snow this week.  So, one full work week, then a Monday off!  One of the teachers mentioned that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting that we'll get snow in Feb.  Gosh, I hope they're right...we have no days off in Feb.  How in the world do you people with "real jobs" do it?

Friday Fragments

~  It's Friday!  Can I get a "woot-woot"?

~  I completely forgot to mention what happened to me when I went to Crane Point when we were in the Keys.  Apparently not many people take the time to visit, because the place was just about empty when I was there.   I started walking along the trails (all alone, nobody was around me), and I heard something.  My first thought was that it was an iguana, so I bent down and took a look.  Nope, no iguana, but it was a raccoon.  I thought, "cool, a raccoon".  That thought was followed by, "Oh, no...a raccoon...in the middle of the day!"  I started walking away from it pretty quickly, until I came up on a couple.  I told them what happened, and stuck by them for a few minutes.  Then, I ran into another couple who were behind me.  The woman said they didn't see the raccoon, so I figured it had gone on its way.  She mentioned that the raccoon was on "Key Time", so it was probably okay.  As I walked through most of the trails, I was alone.  Which was fine until I imagined alligators in the mangroves.  Kind of spooky.

~  We had an incident at one of my schools yesterday.  Nothing major; just a stranger near the playground.  Our SRO wasn't at school, but another policeman was "Johnny on the spot" within minutes.  It was a harmless incident, but it's nice to know that it was taken care of quickly.  

~  Flute choir practice started back up last night.  Last semester we practiced every other week for 3 hours; this time we're practicing every week for 2 hours.  We are minus the high schooler this semester.  We really had a pretty good practice.  One of the ladies is highly allergic to perfumes, so I have to remember not to put on any lotion on Thursdays.  Apparently I'm going to have to get some fragrance-free detergent for my clothes.  I couldn't smell anything on my shirt, but she could. And, I had been wearing the shirt all day.  I feel bad, but I don't know what else to do.

~  I hadn't heard "Baby Got Back" in a loooong time, but we heard it at least a couple of times on New Year's Eve, and once on the trip back.  Then, I heard it again yesterday morning on the way to work.  When it comes on, I just have to start shaking my booty like Cameron Diaz in "Charlie's Angels":  (start around 25" and it lasts until 48")

~  I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend.  Hope everyone has a good one!

Reading Challenge 2012

Whew!  I made it!  I set a goal of 20 books for myself for last year, and I made it by the skin of my teeth.  That 17-18 hour ride down to The Keys definitely helped.

As I look over the books I read, I have a few favorites.

Angel on Board (EJ Thornton) was the most thought provoking book I read.  This book made sense to me; even now I will stop and thank my guardian angel for things I took for granted before I read it.  Coincidences?  I think not.

Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery):  What a classic!  I just happened to read it right before I saw a local group perform the play.  I can't believe I hadn't read this before.  I also read Anne of Avonlea, but I guess I forgot to add that book in the challenge.

A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness) was recommended to me by YS.  He had to read it over the summer.  It was a dark book, but well worth the read.  A little boy's mother is sick with cancer, and the monster holds his real fear, one that he has to face in the end.  If you read it, make sure you have tissues for the ending.  The idea for the book was passed on to the author, since she was dying of cancer.  Even though the book was written for the middle school age child, it is well worth the read.  If you have most of a day to read, read this book.  It could easily be read in one day, if you don't have anything more pressing.

Wicked and Son of a Witch (Gregory Maguire):  I will never see "The Wizard of Oz" in the same way again.  It took me a while to get through Wicked, but it was a good read.  Dark and a bit depressing at times, that's probably why it took me a while to get through it.  I haven't seen the Musical...yet.

The Hunger Games Trilogy (Suzanne Collins):  I wanted to read these before the movies came out, and I'm glad I did.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of the books.  I had an extremely hard time putting them down.  I definitely think it helped to read the first book before the movie; there were a few things they had to leave out, so it was good to have the background.

I've decided to up my goal for this year to 25 books.  I've already completed 1 (thanks to the drive home!), and have started 2 more.  I think I can, I think I can!

Do you have any books that you read that you can recommend?