Self Absorbed and In a mood

Have sat down at the computer every day thinking "I have done something kind of interesting today I should blog about it" then the next thing that comes into my brain is "Blechhhh, don't feel like it"

Well it is raining cats and dogs here and I have a free period of silence so here goes.

I got a fair amount of stuff done over break. I had a wonderful lunch with two of my good friends that I have lost touch with. We went to a semi upscale place to dine that is also a dinner theater. I ordered the Chicken Ceasar Wrap which sounded great. The waitress asked if I wanted them to remove the anchovies. I had never really had anchovies so I said what the heck leave them in. That was a bad choice. I knew they would be salty, but I was not prepared for the overpowering fishy taste that permeated the entire wrap. I hauled the little suckers out and unwrapped my wrap and choked down the salad and chicken, but it tasted pretty awful. Now I know.

the coffee was wonderful though and the other girls salads looked fabulous and they raved about them. We got a tour of the theater too which was fun and then went to Culvers for desert. It was a lovely day.

I finally got my forms finished for the last two rug shows. One wanted a picture of the artist making the art. I am not warped up right now so Puck and I faked a picture. I clamped a finished rug to the loom and held a shuttle with some rags hanging off it. I tried to look serious and artistic. If they look close they will see it is a fake, but the state of my studio should convince them that I am a real artist.

I had to take my sewing machine to the shop... it was overheating. I am rather lost without it. They just called to say it is finished so I will pick it up monday

We are headed up to River Falls tomorrow to see Maddie's play. She talked us into taking her boyfriend up with us so that should be interesting. I don't think he is too excited about spending 10 hours with us either. I need to find a good book on tape to listen to

She said the previews went well. We have a nice crowd of friends and relatives who will be seeing the play on Saturday and we are going to stay with our friends Bill and Vicki. They are always fun. We also hope to haul back home as much stuff as we can from her dorm. They get out of school on the 16th of May and it would be nice to be a lot lighter than when we brought her up.

She already is talking about paring down the amount of crap she will bring up next year. She signed up for classes and is taking 18 credits. I hope she can handle that much. She will probably be fine.

Over the break we watched a ton of movies that we borrowed from the library
The first two Bourne movies (fun fun fun)
Mullholland Drive (watched it twice, think I have got it)
Tristam Shandy (weird)
My Own Private Idaho (have to watch that again)
Once (watched it twice, liked it better the second time)
Ned Kelly (fun and sad... when we were in Hong Kong I sat in with the band at Ned Kelly's Last Stand. It was good to learn the story)
Fur (now that was one odd film, but I enjoyed it)
American Splendor (I enjoyed that one very much)
The Fountain (really really stupid film)
Ushpizin (I enjoyed it, but Puck did not, It is hard to read the paper and read subtitles)

Puck and I went to see "Forgetting Sara Marshall" and loved it... I have not laughed so hard in a long time.

Otherwise life is pretty much worrying about who will lose their job here that might be interested in mine and Puck job hunting with little success. He has managed to do a great deal of yard work and seems to have found something he really likes to do. Yippee!!

catching up

Finally we are on spring break. very very late, but hopefully will be earlier next year.

Thursday we did an all school field trip to Kiva sports in Madison... Great big athletic warehouse where the kids could play football, soccer, basketball, dodge ball and softball. There were also some inflatable things that were silly. The closest I come to sports is wearing my baseball earrings so I brought a chair and a book (Teacherman by Frank Court).

I did supervise the inflatable which called for kids to knock each other off pedestals with big foamy things. It was a long day. Puck was called in to sub and his group was off at the skateboard park in Janesville. They had one chipped tooth and Puck apparently felt peer pressured to skateboard and took a spectacular fall down one of the ramps.

He is still in pain. I told him they were not his peers LOL so he should not have listened to them. He had fun though

Today he got called to work taking down the Jeopardy set at the Kohl center in Madison. He had called this guy to work that kind of thing and the guy finally called back and hired him on the spot. He said it was hard work but he signed up to go back and work the Blue Man Group so hopefully he can get his back working again before then.

I spent the day cleaning my studio. Still lots to go, but it is getting better. The basement is almost dry. We had a lot of rain lately.

otherwise I am just sitting around resting and sleeping in.

ok now how long has it been?

I think the worst thing that has happened is my sighting of the first robin of spring. It was about three weeks ago and I had just been to the doctor getting blood drawn. I pulled into the school parking lot and there it was.. the first robin of spring lying dead with it's little legs in the air right before the front door... sheesh what an omen!

Not a whole heck of a lot going on in my world.... We went to my Sister's for Easter the Saturday before and just about an hour after dinner I started to get abdominal cramps... thought it was just gas or something, but I was pretty uncomfortable... I was not too sociable either.

The kids had a good time hunting for eggs even though there was still a foot of snow on the ground and they had to do the hunt indoors. It was nice to get a chance to visit and see my sister's rats too. What little sweeties they are.

We left there at about 4:00 and drove to River Falls, well actually Hudson where we had reserved a hotel room to spend the night then take Maddie back to her dorm since she had to be in school on Monday already and we were 2 hours closer at my sister's house.

I had given Maddie some odd Easter presents ... a couple mouse pins and a whole bag of pointed school scissors that some teacher was dumping. I knew she would love them and I was right :) We had gone shopping for art supplies and I bought her a portfolio too to start collecting her work.

any how back to the drive ... my pain was getting worse and by the time we got to the hotel I could barely walk. I laid down on the bed and that felt better, but I couldn't use the pool or hot tub. Puck and Maddie went swimming and tubbing and I just lay on the bed moaning and groaning... then heading for the bathroom.

in the morning it was still bad so we drove Maddie back to her dorm and I slowly made my way up to her room and lay on the bed for a couple hours while she and Puck went out for Easter lunch.

Puck had to drive all the way home and I felt every bump. I went straight to bed and was home sick for the following two days. I have not been that ill in many years and it was awful... I started to feel better after four days, but was not really up to snuff until a couple days ago. The doctor just had me stay on a bland diet and said to wait it out.

Maddie came down for the high school play. How she talked Matt into driving 5 hours to see a play here I will never know They must be very good friends :). He is a good guy. The play was ok, but the lighting sucked big time.

Maddie went back to school last Sunday. I finally finished caning the stinky chair and was ever so happy to have it done. It darn near killed me. I hope the next one that comes in is a piece of cake.

Speaking of cake it was my turn to make lunch for today and I made my famous cheesecake. I have never made it for anyone at school so I was a little nervous. It is a wonderful recipe, but most of the people at school are used to graham cracker crusts and strawberry condiments. It is my opinion that any cheesecake worth it's salt should be unadulterated.

While I was making the crust the director of the musical stopped by and asked if I would be interested in costuming the musical next year. I was a brave girl and finally said no!. I finished the cheesecake and then put together my chicken salad.

I was a little afraid I had not cooked the pasta shells long enough, but they softened up nicely overnight. I had peeled and sectioned two bags of grapefruit too so it was a nice lunch and people seemed to like it. I am such a panic when it comes to that kind of stuff and it is a relief to have it done. I am not much of a cook, but I am a good baker :)


I guess that gets it all caught up. Only had a little flooding in the basement when we had out big rain so keep your fingers crossed.