Friday night fun

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In the Strathconn household, we don’t always go wild on the weekends.  Tonight we ate at the Chelsea and now we are doing our “parallel play” thing both on our laptops watching CSI/Without a Trace.

I don’t have anything interesting to tell.  This afternoon was parent/teacher conferences, but I only had 2.  Neither of them terribly productive.  One parent is too overbearing and pushy with her kids.  The other couple is too stupid to help their child.  I have 3 more on Monday.

Last night when I was getting in bed T looked rather sheepish laying there.  I asked him what was up.  He told me his legs had felt a little chapped so he rubbed some moisturizer on them.  Then he put on his pajamas and climbed into bed.  When he got into the bed his thighs “squished together making a cool mint sandwich with his dangly bits as the filling”.  And that’s when I walked in.  I fell over on the bed laughing and said, “I am so blogging that.”  I’ll bet he could do an ad for them.

Random fact: I once rubbed my husband’s (afore mentioned) Gold Bond Medicated Lotion on my bum and was convinced that people could see the cool tingling sensation I was feeling.

Sunday Night Blues

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Blue #1: I forgot to post on Saturday. I couldn’t even make it 3 days without forgetting to post!

Blue #2: I have to go to work tomorrow.

Blue #3: It is getting cold.

Blue #4: We forgot to set our clock back so I got up earlier than I needed to.

Blue #4.5: I was still late for Sunday School.

Blue #5: I can’t get my Joomla site to work on my school’s new hosting.

This weekend went by too fast. Friday we went shopping and out to dinner.

Saturday night we performed in a Murder Mystery. It was the Italian themed story and I played the 21 year old daughter (only 9 years too old) and our friend Jay Man played my 25 year old brother (only 7 years too young). Lord S played our father’s twin brother and Best Lady played his girlfriend. It was at a nice restaurant hosted by a local church. The audience was really great and very enthusiastic. We all knew a few people in the audience, which is a little different for us. The audience members I interacted with asked great questions and made really good guesses. It was not as great as the night we performed at the country club where they bought us drinks and had a water gun fight.

Today, not only did we have time trouble, but I had Sunday School, church and then I was in charge of coffee hour with two other great CE members (they don’t read this, but I love them both!). For the first time in weeks all my Sunday schoolers and my helper showed up. We had a decent lesson about Zaccheus and talked about they would do if someone famous showed up in our town and invited themselves over. Then we did a crossword review of the parables we’ve read. I knit my way through church, although this week’s sermon was really great. Coffee hour did not go smoothly, but everyone seemed satisfied. I washed dishes and had really nice conversation.

The afternoon is a blur. I tried to figure out what to do with all the pictures we’ve scanned for MFP’s 100th year scrapbook (more details later) because my MIL and I planned to work on it this evening. I also promised to run lines with a friend who is in A Doll House. I nearly fell alseep several times. The evening was spent with MIL looking at the photos we have scanned and cropping them while T watched the Patriots come from behind to stay undefeated!

Now I am watching the start of this season’s Amazing Race.

Random fact: My parents owned a small country store when I was a kid.  18 years later people still say they wish my parents owned it.

Friday night fun

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So a big night for the Lord and Lady is going to big town across the river.  We had dinner at Olive Garden and then I spent a bunch of money at Michaels.  Now we are nearly falling asleep listening to Pottercast and using our laptops.  I was just about to head for bed when I realized I hadn’t posted today.

Nothing really interesting to write about today.  Literacy went well.  My students (all 5 of them) are really great and I enjoy my 90 minutes with them.  They are one of the best groups (although not the brightest) I have ever had.  4 boys and a girl, sweet, earnest, and interested in learning.  We don’t do a lot of different activities, but we work really hard at what we are learning.

Random fact: I chew my cuticles.

National Blog Posting Month

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nablo07120×240.jpgI want to get back into my blog writing, so what better time to kick it off with National Blog Posting Month. I am never very good at following through with things I start, but I am going to try. This year my New Year’s resolution was to try harder, so I am going to try harder to post every day.

I am also updating my blog look, but I am not ready to reveal the new look. I wanted something a little more personal than this theme, as pretty as it is. I have been working on customizing a theme that is pretty plain and should be easier to read than the last one.

I would like to say I have been busy lately, but mostly I have just been boring. T and I spent a lovely week at Star Island in August. I started back to school at the end of August and then we spent a weekend with his family. In September we did a weekend of Murder Mystery dinners for our theater company and T auditioned for two shows for next spring (and got roles in each). In October we went to Boston for a night to see WICKED! and spend some time checking out the city.

Random fact about me: I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 20.

Painting

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I have spent more time painting over the last 2 weeks than ever in my life. I’ve been helping paint the set for Shakespeare and today I started painting the inside of our new bathroom closet. It was 800 degrees in that room. I also only got it partially done, because I had to fill some holes. I still have to paint that wall and the ceiling. And then more of the bathroom, but that is another day. Now I have an appointment. No more painting for me.

A little bit of quiet time

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I would say I haven’t had anything to blog about, and that’s why I have been quiet, but really I have just been too busy.

I turned 31 on May 16. Not a big deal, just something I did. Last year, I blogged 30 things about me in the 30 days leading to my 30th birthday. It was fun. It was hard. It was lost in the great blog disaster of 2007. There have been several celebrations for this event.

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Mother’s Day weekend we stayed with Gramma Matriarch. She lives in Schenectady, New York. There was a full house and lots of food. On Saturday night we had Key Lime Pie and they all sang Happy Birthday. (celebration 1)

P1010203.JPG Sunday night was Chinese with my parents, my sister and her fiance (this parenthetical statement originally contained a negative comment about my sister’s fiance, I have taken it down). It was joint Mother’s day birthday dinner. There was no singing, but there were lots of cards. My mom dropped a little box off at my door the next day with a pair of very small star earrings. They are some sort of diamond like stone and very sparkly. I have had them in my ears ever since. (celebration 2)

Tuesday we headed south to Hadley, Mass for dinner with Best Lady, my sister and her fiance. We ate at a cute place I had heard about for years called All Fired Up. I took some pictures there but it was dark. You choose the meats and veggies you want and they cook it up for you. It is like those Japanese cook at the table places, but here you hand them a bowl of stuff and they cook it on a huge grill-thing with everyone else’s. We had a good time and stayed out very late. After dinner we went back to BL’s and played with her cats. Good times. (celebration 3)

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On my actual birthday my darling husband hid cards in various places around the house. He also did silly sweet things like put the toothpaste on my toothbrush for me. He didn’t finish the bathroom or buy me anything, but he did some nice things for me.

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I got great gifts from my awesome mother-in-law and my fabulous mother. MIL made me a little card game kit. She bought a little Finding Nemo (my favorite kid movie) lunchbox and filled it with 2 decks of cards, notepads, tiny pencils and card holders. She wrote on the card that I had mentioned I wanted to take our game with us to Star and she thought it was a great idea. My fabu mom got me cute little star earrings. She admitted that she got them at TJ Maxx on my birthday, but I still love them. Maybe even more since I know they weren’t expensive. I have worn them every day since.

Sunday night blues

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This was such a busy weekend I can’t believe I am still awake.

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This morning we went to several stores to get more supplies. We picked up a little plastic greenhouse, so I can start marigolds on the porch, and paint chips, to decide what color we want to paint the house, at the small town hardware store. Then we headed to a garden center to get topsoil and hummus. Struck out on the hummus, but got some potting gloves and edging. Back to yesterday’s greenhouse, still no hummus, but found some gorgeous flower pots. Downtown again for a table cloth and some Crocs. I wanted brown ones to work in the garden in. My pinks ones get dirty too fast.

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After spending all afternoon yesterday getting the front yard garden ready we finally got to plant today. Lord S finished straightening out the line and I planted pansies. Lots of pansies. And Alyssum. I filled 2 flower pots, a strawberry pot, 2 wooden buckets, a pair of boots and a little girl shoe. You will have to wait until tomorrow for the pictures though.

Because while I was outside planting my friends arrived to scrapbook. It was planned, but we shopped for so long this morning we didn’t have much of the afternoon to plant. We still have a lot more space to plant in the front yard garden, but it is looking better than grass. I would really like a garden like you seen in Great Britain, but I am not sure that is ever in the cards. Right now I would settle for one that doesn’t look like crap.

{more pictures to follow}

Gardening

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My Pansy mosaicToday we are planting pansies. We bought a handful at the grocery store and then went to a greenhouse/farmstand and bought a dozen more 6 packs. I don’t know where they are all going to go, but we are going to plant them today!

Yesterday we worked on the front yard. We are expanding a flower bed that was created when we cut down a ginormous pine tree. Eventually our whole front yard might be garden. That could be interesting.

We stayed last night to see the whole show. It was so not worth it. But I got a bunch of knitting done. Sometimes our company does not pick the best shows.

Today the tile man is back. He is mudding some seams and then will finish tiling shower. Hopefully he will be able to be here all day and he will finish the job. Not that it is his fault, we have been hiring him whenever he can work. T-10 days until my birthday. Will I be able to shower in there that morning?

Thursday Things – AM edition

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This has been a crazy, but nice week. I’ve had something nearly every day after school and then in the evening too! G!rls @n the R*n is going really well and the girls are having a great time. This week we did lessons on listening and gossiping. They are two of my favorite lessons (not that I am good at either of them) with really fun activities. We are coming up on the big run and the next two weeks we will have practice runs. I can hardly believe we only have 2 weeks left.

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Tuesday we had our first outside dinner of the summer. We ate at Top of the Hill Grill. T got a bean burrito and I got a quesadilla. We watched the evening go by, which included a waterskier on the Retreat Meadows. It was a great start to our summer dining.

P1000601.JPGP1000595.JPGLater I went to my friends’ house to watch Idol. I don’t watch Idol, but it was a chance to hang out with friends and a baby! I brought the little guy (3) two Mr. Potato Head accessory kits – Safari and King Spud. He had fun putting together new combinations of his dress up tuber (a “big brother” gift from another of our friends). Even the big boys had fun with it. P1000542.JPGI brought 7 Mason-Dixon bibs I’ve been working on for months. We also drank and gossiped and gigggled. Idol wasn’t so bad, but I don’t think I will start watching it myself. I really thought Phil Stacey did a great job and I was sorry to read (after searching this morning) that he has been kicked off.

Wednesday was board meeting night and then LOST. It was a wicked great episode.

Today is just Thursday. Staff meeting, rehearsal, Grey’s.