A conversation with the husband:
me: Guess what I just set our luggage-lock combination to! It’s three numbers.
the husband: 4-21
me: Oh?
the husband: <sensing the danger>
me: And … what happened on 4-21?
the husband: <thinking> My mom was born.
me: hmm. That’s not the combination.
the husband: When did we get married again?
Guess he’s not gonna get to wear any clean clothes on our trip …
August 9th,2009
life |
3 Comments
I finally worked up the courage yesterday to order two slices of swiss cheese at the deli counter. We don’t eat a lot of swiss cheese, and when we do, it’s only in small amounts. Like two slices.
Usually, I just buy the smallest package I can find, and throw it out once it’s been in the fridge awhile. (But with the intention of finding something else to eat it in. Usually.)
So, when I decided I wanted chicken cordon bleu this week, I knew I’d need some swiss. But, you know, only two slices. On account of I’m only cooking for myself and the husband.
And so I took the plunge, and after the slight embarrassment of ordering a quarter pound of ham, I asked for 2 slices of swiss cheese. The lady at the counter did just as I asked, and 52 cents later, I was the proud owner of precisely the amount of cheese I needed.
July 21st,2009
food |
3 Comments
Since I know y’all are dying to hear about our exploits in Oklahoma, here they are!
The husband’s father lives in a little bitty Oklahoma town. The kind of place that you have a long drive ahead of you AFTER you fly as close as you can get.
Our flight itself was uneventful, but when we landed in Dallas, the husband and I started hearing a chorus of ‘Michael Jackson? Michael Jackson!’ murmured throughout the plane. As we turned on our phones to consult the internetz about the king of pop, we were quite shocked to learn of his sudden death.
But, anyway, you might be wondering why we flew to Dallas if we were going to Oklahoma. And that would be because it was the cheapest-closest flight I could find to Broken Bow, OK.
We got our rental car, and drove to Broken Bow (but not without a pit-stop at Sonic!) On our way, I chatted with the sister-in-law on the phone, and found out she was ambushing us with a family portrait the next day. A great idea, I had to admit, as it was rare that the 5 of us (father, daughter, granddaughter, son, daughter-in-law) would actually be in the same place at the same time, but I hadn’t even packed makeup for the trip. Or a nice shirt!
When we rolled into town, it was late, so we found our room at the Microtel Inn and checked in. It was very basic, but it was clean. Definitely worth checking out, if you ever find yourself needing a room in Broken Bow.
The next morning, the rest of the family met us at our hotel, and we all crammed into the rental car for a trip to Texarkana for the pictures. There was a slight issue with missing seat belts in the backseat, but luckily I have long, skinny arms, so I remedied that. We stopped for breakfast at a great little place (wish I could remember the name, for future reference …), and headed on our way.
We had an appointment at the Arkansas Wal-Mart, so we headed to the Arkansas half of Texarkana to be memorialized. We were a little early, so I headed to the makeup aisle in an attempt to purtify myself. I bought a product from about all the major players (Maybelline, Almay, Covergirl and … Bonne Bell … shut up! They do make makeup! Oh wait, not for grown ups? Drat …) and made myself up in the bathroom.
The father-in-law used up his quarters buying the girls tiny ‘hello kitties’ out of a vending machine, and the boy a tiny farm animal. (The husband doesn’t know this, but his little pony is now tucked away in my ‘tiny trinket’ box that I use to hold my smashed pennies and collected shells and rocks. Oops, I guess he knows now …)
Unfortunately, the photo ladies had just gotten a new camera that morning, since their old camera had broken the previous day. And they didn’t know how to use it. So, could we please wait until they figured it out?
The father-in-law had wandered away during the new-camera fiasco, and the husband found him at the airbrushed-t-shirt ’store’ next to the portrait studio. Having a t-shirt made. With a bare-bottomed little cowboy. For the husband, of course! Once we caught him, he let the girls pick out their own airbrush designs (I got a ’super girl’ logo!), and then we headed back to the portrait studio. They had given up, and made us an appointment at the Texas Wal-mart. So we headed to the Texas half of Texarkana for our pictures.
We made it to the other Texarkana Wal-mart, got our pictures taken, selected the photo package, and were finally ready for lunch.
Long John Silver’s! They sure know how to do fast food in Oklahoma. Er, Arkansas. Er Texas. Wherever we were at that point …
We headed back to Broken Bow and relaxed in the father-in-law’s wonderfully air conditioned house. Because in June, it is HOT in Oklahohoma-Arkansas-Texas. Really hot. The kind of hot that I don’t like. We caught some Michael Jackson on tv, because, well, that’s all that was on that weekend. Even in Oklahoma. 
We discussed going to Transformers and opted against it, and found out it was too late for Bingo. So we headed to the Oaks Steak House, and I had the best french dip sandwich I have ever had. Not that I’m an expert on such things, I can almost count all the french dip sandwiches I’ve eaten in my life, but it was good. And so cheap! I guess you don’t have to charge an arm and a leg for your food when you aren’t paying through the nose for your rent. The rest of the family had chicken fried steak. (Except for the niece, who had a baked potato. Being 6 definitely has its perks! There are no rules on what you have to eat for dinner.)
We watched Taken back at the father-in-law’s house, then the husband and I had to call it a night.
The next morning, we breakfasted in the hotel (cereal and bagels! breakfast of champions), then met up with the rest of the family and headed down to Broken Bow Lake for some horseback riding.
First, we rode the train. Which is meant for little people, but given that it was really HOT, it was nice to be moving fast enough to feel a breeze. Then we caught lunch in the park; the rest of the family got grilled ham & cheese, while I had a dang good slice of dang good pie. (Pineapple and pecans, how can you say no to that?)
The girls went on the horseback ride, and I have to say, I am way too bony to enjoy horseback riding. It was my first horseback ride, and may very well be my last. Unless they make padded saddles, I could get on board with that …
We then headed over to one of the aunt’s houses, who was having a pool party. (Because it was HOT, have I mentioned that?) I met some aunts and uncles and cousins, and had a second lunch (or perhaps a real lunch …) of good, southern potluck-style cooking. We all opted to chill out in the air-conditioned inside - well, all except the niece; what 6-year-old can turn down a pool?
After the big family reunion, it was unfortunately time for the husband and I to head back. We had a room near the Dallas airport that evening, since our flight left the following morning.
We caught dinner at Whataburger on our drive back (yummy stuff, I promise!), and then checked into the Holiday Inn.
Our room was HUGE. Like as big as some apartments I’ve lived in. And it was new, and luxuriantly appointed. The nicest Holiday Inn I’ve ever stayed at for sure. (DFW South Holiday Inn, FWIW.) And for the same price as our Microtel Inn, go figure. Cushy carpet, fluffy towels, flatscreen tv, leather sofa. I considered moving there. And then I remembered I missed my cats. /sigh
We made it back to Virginia safely, and it was nice to be back in civilization. But, I have to say, it was also nice to be reminded that you can survive just fine without being plugged in all the time. Cell phones and the interwebz aren’t quite as vital to life as, say, oxygen.
(I know this post is long, but the husband has long-term memory problems when it comes to remembering trips he’s been on, so I wanted to capture the details for him. So when he forgets, he can just read about it, and be all ‘Oh yeah! That WAS a good time!’ You know, instead of having to take my word for it. Because sometimes my word turns out a little more in my favor than his …)
Since the dad is worried about whether or not I’m still alive, I just thought I’d post to say Oklahoma was better than I expected, Berkeley Springs was great, and I’ve been knitting like crazy. I think I’m seriously addicted …. Anybody want some women’s size medium wool socks?
(To the sister: I’ve got some fun socks that are shaping up to be a women’s small, I think, after I get them washed. So those will likely be heading your way.)
Depending on my mood in the coming days, I may or may not expound on the trips mentioned above. I feel like I should give Berkeley Springs a proper review, as google analytics tells me that no less than 8 people have found my site by googling for ‘Berkeley Springs’. That almost overtakes ‘cowgirl pants’ as the all-time search-term winner.
The husband and I are preparing for a long-overdue trip to Oklahoma to visit his father. And not only is it Oklahoma, it appears to be in the middle-of-nowhere, OK.
The Sprint coverage map says that we won’t get any coverage at all - not even roaming. So that rules out being able to check my email via phone …
Transformers comes out this weekend, so the husband thought we might treat his family to the show. Fandango claims there are no theaters around; movietickets.com couldn’t find anything within 40 miles. Luckily, a google maps search came up with a theater in the next town over, just 10 miles away - one that isn’t hooked up to the likes of fandango or movietickets.com. Looks like we’ll actually have to drive to the theater to buy our tickets. I have to admit, though, I do like the sound of $5.50 for an adult ticket.
When booking our stay through Travelocity, we had two options. A little googling led me to a couple of b&bs - and abundant camping!
It will be quite a shock to our systems, but it’ll be nice to unplug for awhile. Perhaps without our faces looking down at our email on our phones, we’ll be able to watch the skies for visitors from another world.
June 24th,2009
travel |
3 Comments
The husband and I have been thinking about replacing the basement furniture for months, but we just hadn’t gotten around to doing the research. (You know, dragging the husband into furniture stores.)
So this weekend, I was doing a little sofa research on my laptop, whilst sitting on our decrepit sofa, and I ran across the coolest. couch. ever. And even though it was 8 pm on a Friday night, I told the husband that we were going to Havertys. Immediately!
me: LOOK at this couch! You can turn it into anything you want! <Me shoving my laptop in his face while he’s trying to play wow.>
the husband: Wait … just a … I’m fighting off 8 …. ok, now what am I looking at?
me: it’s a sectional! but you can turn it into whatever you want!
the husband: Um, it says it’s 6 pieces … isn’t that a little bit much?
me: no, each piece is just like one chair, so that’s only 6 seats. Or less, depending on how you put it all together.
the husband: hmm. I see.
me: So let’s go! I want to see it!
the husband: But … we’re watching a movie …
me: You’re playing wow and I’m surfing the internet. Tivo the movie! We can ‘finish’ it when we get back. It’s not like it’s that good …
the husband: Can’t we go tomorrow? It’ll still be there tomorrow …
me: But did you SEE it? I want to go sit on it!!
the husband: <sigh> Ok, let me finish killing this guy, then we can go.
And so we screeched into the furniture store shortly before closing time, and we sat on the modular sectional. And we chatted with Reba, who took measurements for us, showed us their other sectionals, and didn’t rush us.
Saturday morning, we looked at some sectionals at Macy’s and at the Lazy Boy store, and the husband conceded that the first sofa was the best option. So we went back to see our friend Reba, and we made the purchase.
It’ll be here in just a couple of days; and then just look at all the fun we can have!
I love traveling. To anywhere. Especially if it’s somewhere I’ve never been.
The husband loves … making me happy! And so this year will be quite the year of travel.
We started off the year with a trip to New York in February to see the husband’s other woman. April brought a weekend trip to Gettysburg, even though it is just over an hour away. (If you do a ghost tour, skip the Farnworth house tour; also, be sure to get some fries at Hunt’s Battlefield Fries. And if you buy the CD audio-tour of the battlefield, the directions are really good up until about stop 12 … so pay attention!)
May took us to Texas, where we hit several of the hot-spots with the husband’s family: NASA in Houston (which is awesome, I got to sit in old mission control!), a UT graduation ceremony, caverns outside of San Antonio, the Alamo, the river walk, dinner with the husband’s bff, and Schlitterbahn. And all of that in 5 days!
June will take us to Oklahoma, to see the husband’s father. It’s a long overdue visit, and I’ll get to cross Oklahoma off my list of ’states-I’ve-never-been-to’.
July is my spa trip, and at the end of the month we’ll be heading back to New York. Amtrak is having a fare sale, so we snagged cheap train tickets. And we finally cashed in our Holiday Inn points, so we’ll be enjoying a free stay. And with the show tickets the husband got for his birthday, it’ll make for a fun - and surprisingly cheap! - trip to the big city.
August is Leavenworth to visit my family. Not that they live there, but the dad decided we should have a family reunion some place fun. We’ll be there during the theater festival, and the mom has purchased tickets for us all to just about every play available - so we’ll be doing what we all enjoy best: sitting around …
August also brings us to Pennsylvania to see Taylor Swift.
And September is Italy!
October is still up in the air, but is tentatively local trips to Winchester and/or Charlottesville. Ooh, or the renn fest!
November will find us back in the west with a trip to LA to visit my good friend Mal. Maybe. If he decides he can make it.
And December is just chilling for our very first Christmas at home. Followed by a trip to Disneyworld to ring in the new year. If there’s any travel money left. And if I can convince the husband …
June 12th,2009
travel |
4 Comments
The husband and I are going to Italy to celebrate our 5th anniversary! I just put down the deposit on our trip. And I know our anniversary was like 2 months ago, but as the husband can attest, that won’t dissuade me.
This will be our first fully-guided tour. The last time I went to Europe, I winged everything - but at that time, I had more time and less money. So with less time and more money, we’ll be enjoying a trip where we don’t have to worry about anything after we get ourselves on the plane.
There will be somebody to pick us up from the airport. A giant bus will pick us up every morning and take us to our destinations. All of our entrance tickets will already have been purchased. We’ll get to stand in the ‘group tour’ lines and bypass the long entrance lines. We’ll have English tours arranged for us everywhere we go. And we’ll have a guide with us the whole trip who can help us find husband-friendly eateries! (You know, McDonalds …)
We don’t leave till September, but I can hardly wait! Hmmm, I think I’m going to need some new luggage …
June 12th,2009
travel |
3 Comments
I’ve been dreaming about a spa retreat for months now, and I’ve been saving my allowance. (No, seriously, the husband and I get an ‘allowance’ - that way we don’t feel guilty when we buy silly little - or big - things that are purely for our own enjoyment. It works pretty well for us.)
After doing some research, I finally booked a trip to Berkeley Springs, WV. It is less than 2 hours away, and it is, well, pretty cheap. I expect it to be a ‘quaint’ and ‘rustic’ trip - not quite the 5-star pampering I first imagined in a spa retreat - but I think it’ll be a nice break. You know, from my hectic life of … working 8 hours a day. With no kids. And minimal housework (that’s what cleaning ladies are for!) And plenty of free time to knit and stuff. But, whatever. Even the spoiled deserve some, uh, spoiling …
The 4th of July holiday is soon arriving, and that is when my solo adventure starts. I’ve booked a ‘charming’ room in a B&B, complete with ‘gourmet’ breakfasts and an ‘opulent’ dinner. And don’t forget the claw-foot tub! I’ve booked a mani/pedi at tripadvisor’s second rated Berkeley Springs spa. And I’ve booked a half spa day at tripadvisor’s highest rated spa.
All for the same price as a day at a spa in northern Virginia. Plus, I get several blocks of cute shops to spend (what remains of my) allowance in!
Happy 4th, everyone!
When I was in college, I found a fun little online survey that purported to tell the future of my body. I plugged in the numbers, answered the questions (’mostly sedentary’), and got my results. It had a big warning for me: If I did not change my eating and/or exercise habits, by the time I was 40, I would weigh 140 pounds.
I considered it for a second and decided that at 5′6″, 140 pounds was a perfectly reasonable weight. It is at the top of the so-called recommended weight chart limit, but it IS within the recommended limit. I was perfectly ok with leaving behind my closet of size 2’s and 4’s and building a wardrobe of double-digit sizes.
I’m now halfway there - both in time and in weight. It seems the survey was right on track for me. What I had not considered, however, was that I might not put the weight on evenly. The lower half of my body is now perfectly at home in a size 10. And yet, the upper half of my body has not changed much. I can still make out my rib cage. And so my options are to either start having my clothing custom-made … or to trim down my lower half. (The husband suggested a third option, but having surgery to, um, enhance the parts that have not kept up seems a little extreme.)
I dug out an exercise book I bought a few years back, and decided to see if it held up to what it promised. It classifies people into different body types (hourglass, cone, ruler, spoon) and has an exercise regimen for each of them. I found the ’spoon’ workout, and got to work. (I so prefer the idea of being a ’spoon’ to being a ‘pear’ - even though both are bottom heavy, a pear just seems more sluggish and doomed to its fate. Spoons are much more sleek.)
I took my measurements so that I would be able to track my progress. Two weeks in, I had lost half an inch in my hips. And nothing anywhere else. Half an inch is still progress, so it didn’t dissuade me - and two weeks isn’t much time.
I just hit the 4 week mark and re-measured. Since I started, I have dropped an inch in my hips, half an inch in each thigh, and half an inch in my waist. And, thankfully, nuthin’ up top.
So, 4 weeks in with 2 and a half inches lost in the exact places I want them gone - that sounds pretty good to me. I don’t expect to lose a whole lot more - maybe another 2 or 3 inches total - but that’ll be enough to trim my lower half back down into the single-digits. (Which wouldn’t be necessary if I was capable of putting on weight anywhere other than my butt …)
So if you’re looking to Escape Your Shape, the entirely too excitable Edward Jackowski might just be onto something.
May 6th,2009
life |
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