Journal Entry

It was a long weekend and busy, so there is much to report on. I promise there won't be much complaining this time, though. It was a thoroughly pleasant weekend.

Well, okay, not Friday, but I won't complain too much. Ask me sometime if you want the long version of the story (apparently it takes about thirty minutes -- I learned that at the gym on Saturday), but for now I'll just say that Friday was my RDO, and I spent the entire day (until, say, 5:00 or so) doing three projects.

I installed new faucet handles on the troublesome bathtub faucet (that seven-minute job took up the bulk of the day), I replaced the door handles on our garage side door and the creepy little room on the back of the house (with nice, new, functioning and lockable knobs), and I replaced the much-damaged blade on our lawnmower. I also spent some time cleaning out the underside of the mower while I was down there, but that still amounts to one job.

Anyway, it was all stuff that needed doing, and I got a day's worth of projects done for under thirty bucks, so I feel pretty good about it, now. I also managed to work in a trip to the gym, in that same timeframe.

Before that, on Thursday night, D-- brought over some chicken from Buffalo Wild Wings, and we all watched TV and ate wings. We also played some MarioKart, and at some point in the mix, T-- decided she wanted to throw a party Saturday night. Seemed like a good plan to me, so she sent out some invitations.

Then, Friday night, we went out to Freddy's for dinner and then headed home to watch whatever Thursday night shows had been preempted by MarioKart. Overall, after the long day's work, Friday night was relatively quiet.

Saturday morning, T-- got up early and took AB to the gym, because they were offering an aerobics class she was interested in. Unfortunately, when she got there (and our gym is over twenty minutes away), she learned that the babysitter was sick, and the computers were down so they hadn't been able to contact a substitute. So T-- turned around and came home. She wasn't as upset about it as I would have been.

I didn't go with her, though, because I needed to help D-- with his car. He dropped it off at the dealership, and I gave him a ride home. We had some pizza from Mazzio's, and played some more MarioKart until he got a call from the dealership and it was time for me to drive him back.

That was the first time I went out driving immediately after playing MarioKart. I kept trying to hop and drift on long turns. It was an utterly bizarre experience.

After that, he watched AB for us while T-- did some shopping for the party. I ran up to Byron's to get the liquor (tequila and triple sec), and then I hit the gym since I hadn't made it in in the morning.

When six o'clock rolled around, K-- and N-- and Toby and Gwyn all showed up, and they came bearing food. T-- had decided she wanted it to be a Diez de Mayo Fiesta (since, if you'll recall, I ended up sleeping through Cinco de Mayo so we didn't do anything to celebrate). She made enchiladas, I made salsa, and we had some excellent margaritas.

I got to show Toby my game for the first time, and we all played some MarioKart, and later in the evening I threw in Hogfather -- a movie version of a Pratchett novel -- and it was far better than I expected it to be. Not that I have anything against the novel (far from it), but I've never before had reason to be impressed with BBC production values....

The movie is pretty much a scene-for-scene rendition of the book, though, and every character and every scene is pretty much spot on to how they're described (and shown, when illustrations are present). I was rather amazed by that.

Anyway, as I said, it's scene-for-scene, so it clocks in at over three hours. We only watched about half of it Saturday night.

Sunday morning, of course, was Mother's Day. We went to church, and then had lunch at Jason's Deli (T--'s choice), and invited along one of the ladies from church who often looks after AB, and whose children all live too far away to come into town for the holiday.

Then we went back to the house, and I watched the second half of the movie while T-- fell asleep on the couch. Just as the credits rolled, she woke up and asked me to rewind it, so I started the second half over for her. About that time, K-- called asking if I could bring him some tools, so I let her watch the rest of the movie while I ran that little errand.

I'd also offered to take her to see an exhibit at the Museum of Art downtown, but between her nap and my errand, there wasn't really time. She said she wasn't too disappointed -- I'd just have to take her another time. I said that wouldn't be a problem, and presented her Mother's Day gift: a family membership to the Museum of Art.

I'd gotten her a membership to the Philbrook when we lived in Tulsa, but she was working full time then, and didn't really have anyone to go with her. Now, she has a lot more liberty during the hours the museum is open, and a lot more friends around who can go with her. I think she'll really be able to enjoy it.

So, yeah, that gift was a hit. After I got back from K--'s, we went grocery shopping for some stuff for the week, and then grabbed Taco Bell on the way home. We had D-- meet us with the rest of season two of Lost, and watched some of that and then SNL: The Best of Alec Baldwin. It was a pretty fun evening. All told, it was a pretty fun weekend.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff