Category: Fun & Games

Summer Party & Being Excluded

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Yesterday (Sunday, July 15th) was our friend’s annual summer party. We met with our mutual friends (K, E, and S) for lunch beforehand at a place they suggested called Charkies which is really close to our house, and then arrived at our friend’s house around 3 when her party started. We wanted to get there earlier than we usually do because we couldn’t stay late to watch the fireworks because we needed to be home for Wookie who has developed a fear of them. Last year they, and thunderstorms, didn’t really phase her but now she paces and pants trying to get away from the noise. We’ve tried two different doses of Xanax which hasn’t worked so we just stick around so she’ll feel safe.

Things are also really busy for Joe right now at his job after his company was purchased by another much larger one and he was promoted, so he had to work the next day. He also worked Saturday from 3-midnight which really bummed me out especially because I found out Brother J and my mom went to Brother B’s house to visit. Granted, they didn’t stay long because my mom is too sensitive to everything, but considering she’s only come to my house twice in fourteen years and has already been to Brother B’s house 3+ times, it bugs me. When I mentioned that to Brother J he said “move closer” which aggravated me because while I am further away than Brother B, I’m an hour’s drive so it’s not like I’m across the country. It’s not my fault both my mom and Brother J refuse to drive on expressways. I understand being scared to drive them when the experience is new but you quickly adjust. Their problem is they refuse to even try, much like other things they are completely stubborn about. It’s really getting to me that every single holiday requires us going to my parents’ house vs them coming over to mine occasionally. Needless to say I ended up crying myself to sleep because I was feeling really unloved and lonely. Hanging out with friends Sunday kinda helped get me out of my funk at least so the weekend didn’t end on a low note.

Brother J Visits

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I took last week off from work because they are renovating the office which includes redoing the floors and installing new cubicles with much shorter walls (which I’m seriously dreading). I didn’t want to spend all week displaced so I decided to use some of my accumulated time off to hang out at home. Since I only work Tue-Thu and Wednesday was a holiday, I only needed to use two vacation days.

Monday (7/2) I went out to lunch with my friend C and cleaned the house Tuesday (7/3) to prepare for my Brother J to visit for a few days.

Wednesday (7/4) morning Joe and I drove to my parents house to pick up J. We stopped at Savers on the way back and then came home to start grilling some ribs we purchased at Costco over the weekend, as well as burgers. Wookie was thrilled to see J and was comfortable enough to let him rub her belly. It was really cute. She also would run over and lick his face at random times throughout the week. He’s become a lot more comfortable around her (he’s always been a bit fearful of dogs in general) which is nice because we might be able to have him dog-sit for us occasionally as long as we’re willing to do a bunch of driving since he’s not comfortable driving on expressways and taking side streets from his house to ours would take over two hours.

Anyway, here’s what we basically did the rest of the week:

Wednesday night – Watched Maximum Overdrive. I stayed up until midnight with Wookie until the fireworks stopped and she calmed down. Joe had to get to sleep since he had work the next day.

Thursday (7/5) – Joe at work. Called around to check on driveway progress, of which there was none even though this project was due to be completed on June 28th. Played Wii games (Mad World & Simpsons). Took J to Half Price Books and Chick-fil-A for lunch. Played Jeopardy & Song Quiz games on Alexa. Had baked spaghetti for dinner. Watched Dead Snow (so, so bad) and then Blockers (which was much better, but we had seen it before).

Friday (7/6) – Went to Taco bell for breakfast. Saw Antman and The Wasp at theater. Awesome movie! The trailer didn’t do it a lick of justice. Took Wookie for a walk at Armstrong park. Watched Pacific Rim: Uprising.

Saturday (7/7) – Joe made Waffles for breakfast. J and I played Wii (Donkey Kong and Raving Rabids, then Let’s Tap). We all went to McDonald’s for a late lunch, and then visited Brother B for an hour and a half before we dropped Brother J back at home.

Sunday (7/8) – Joe and I went on a morning bike ride at Armstrong park. After coming home and showering we ran to Kohl’s where I paid $3 for a pair of shorts since they gave me $15 in Kohl’s Cash. Then we did a little grocery shopping before coming home to relax.

Today (7/9) I’ve just been cleaning and calling around trying to find out when the hell our driveway apron is going to be filled with concrete. The village informed me that the concrete company had inspections scheduled but they were cancelled since they haven’t paid the village a re-inspection fee. I called the association and demanded to speak to the property manager (who never gets back to us when we call) and of course she wasn’t available. I was at least given her voicemail and left one for her that I am hoping she returns. I think at this point they need to fire these idiots and get someone else to finish the work. What a nightmare.

My boss texted me this morning to let me know the renovation at work is behind schedule so I’ll be sitting in a conference room tomorrow, and possibly Thursday, until our new cubicles are set up.

I like things neat and orderly and I have neither of those things at home or work so I’m feeling very stressed. On top of that my new glasses are too heavy and despite multiple trips back to the clinic to have the nose pads and temples adjusted, they are still hurting my face. I am going there today to have them put on the new silicone nose pads I ordered from Amazon as a last ditch effort. If that doesn’t work I’m going to have to pick out a different pair of frames which sucks because I really grew to like the ones my optician had chosen for me. They look much nicer on me than my old glasses. Too bad they aren’t comfortable, ugh!

Memorial Day Weekend

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Saturday (5/26) we hosted a game night with our friends B, C, and T. B&C are married and big Disney fans like we are so there was no shortage of conversation topics. Interestingly enough, Joe was having a convo with C and the same time I was speaking to B and we were essentially talking about the same stuff! I learned they watch the same podcast as I do of this couple who live in Florida and have season passes to all the Disney and Universal Parks. Too funny. The last time this group got together was in May 2013 so it’s been a long time! We had way too much food (veggie tray, chips, tortilla chips, frito dessert, and brownies) so half didn’t get touched. B&C brought a nice party tray with salami, cheese, and crackers plus an angel food cake. Will need to make a point not to go overboard when only inviting 3 people over next time! The evening was fun, though, even if we only played one game – Taboo – because we were talking too much. Everyone left a bit before midnight and the night flew by.

Sunday (5/27) – Joe washed our cars while I washed two welcome mats, then we organized some of the garage, and I organized the spare bedroom and moved perishables in there from the garage. We were dying from the heat after that and later in the evening we visited the pool which had just opened for the season the day before. Not to self – just before 6 pm is the perfect time for a swim because it’s not very crowded. We actually had the pool to ourselves at one point and this male ducking kept flying overhead. I made a joke how he was scoping out the pool and no sooner had we gotten out did he and his wife come flying into the area, landing in the pool. The lifeguard tried chasing them off but they refused to leave until some kids got in the pool.

Monday (5/28) – We got up early to beat the impending heat (it had been in the 90s for days) to scope out the location for a wedding I’ll be photographing on Saturday for a friend. I’m really not thrilled about doing it because people photography is not my jam but it’s low-key and I’ll make some extra money so at least there’s that.

Afterward we went to Savers where Joe got some shorts and I got a green tank top, a white tank top with green and purple pattern on it, and a Blackhawks t-shirt. We also went to Kohls and I ended up getting a pair of grey addidas running shoes, grey shorts, and two Marvel t-shirts – Deadpool and Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.

For lunch we ended up grilling a rack of pre-seasoned ribs we picked up from Costco on Sunday. They came out amazing and were only $10! So that might become a new Memorial Day tradition instead of burgers and hot dogs. I’m not a huge rib fan but these were so good I wouldn’t mind having them a few times a year, in fact.

Game Night & Easter Decorating

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Friday (3/16) evening we hosted a game night for our friends Joe met through a former job. Everyone came over at 6 pm but we didn’t start playing any games until almost 9 pm and with the alcohol some people couldn’t really concentrate to play adequately. So next time we need to play first, then sit around and chat. Don’t get me wrong, it was still fun, but I was bummed we didn’t get to play as many games as I would have liked.

Saturday (3/17) was St. Patrick’s Day so we made corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot. It came out delicious, as always! Wookie spent most of the day sleeping. I think she was exhausted from not napping at all the entire time our friends were over. Plus we took her to Petsmart and Petco to look for an Easter outfit now that we’ve figured out a way to put clothes on her without her trying to bite us (basically we only put them on when she’s getting ready to go for a walk so they have a positive association with them). They didn’t have anything, though, so we left empty handed.

We did grab some McDonald’s for lunch, though. They had a BOGO offer for the fish sandwiches and we needed our annual Shamrock shake. It was rather disappointing, however. I think I’d rather try a mint shake elsewhere in the future.

Sunday (3/18) we tried Taco Bell for breakfast and it was pretty decent. I tried three of their $1 menu items:

Sausage Flatbread Quesadilla
Hash Brown
Mini Skillet Bowl

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the first two, but really enjoyed the bowl. It was larger than I expected for the price. I would definitely get that again.

We ran some errands including stopping at Visionworks in the mall so I could pick out some glasses. I need new ones since I rarely wear my contacts lately thanks to my eyes always feeling too dry. Plus I’ve gotten to that age where I need reading glasses if I wear my contacts which defeats the purpose of contacts anyway. Ugh! I made an appointment to come back and have an eye exam first and then I will order the glasses. I made note of the two pair I’m interested in, however, and they are both kids frames because I have a very small head and adult glasses are too big and tend to slide down my nose.

Before leaving the mall we stopped inside the arcade and I spotted this huge Disney Tsum Tsum game. How cute!

We also went to Half Price Books since it was 50% off coupon day. Joe got two video games and I got a new board game called Split Decision.

Today (3/19) I had to get some blood drawn for some annual testing and afterwards went to Hobby Lobby to look at Easter decor. Two different Instagram accounts had these cute little carrots in their post and when I asked where they came from they directed me to Hobby Lobby. So I picked up one set but now am wishing I had gotten two since they were only $1.80 for a three-pack (normally $3) since the Easter stuff was 40% off. I’m contemplating driving back over there to get more but I am battling laziness at the moment. I also got a pink ceramic bunny for $3.59 (normally $6). I ended up rushing out of there when I realized I had left my phone in my car. At first I freaked out not knowing where my phone was at all, but one it dawned on me I had left it sitting under the radio (because I had used the navigation to find my way from the lab to the store), I got super anxious thinking someone would peek in the car, see the phone, and break in to steal it. It took forever for me to calm down after that. Yay, anxiety!

I also stopped at Michael’s and got a couple of things, one of which I’ve decided to take back – a bouquet of fake flowers – since it’s “shedding” little plastic pieces all over and annoying me. Plus Wookie will just eat them if they get on the floor so they aren’t worth keeping.

Once I got home I pulled all my Easter decor out and decorated the house. I have a bunch of things I’m going to get rid of that I never use that I put in a box in the garage which will make room for my newer pieces. Here’s how everything turned out:

The bunny on the left is from Hobby Lobby, the clear cake stand is from Target, the doily is from Michaels ($1.50 but got it for $0.75), the bunny is from Hallmark from many years ago, and I’m not sure where the larger bunny on the far right came from since I’ve had it so long.

The Easter sign is from the Target spot ($3) and the bunnies might be from Michaels but again, I’ve had them too long to remember.

The mantel photo above looks weird because I used the panorama function on my phone and it didn’t do the best job. I believe the tin cups are from the Target spot, the brown bunnies I’ve had for awhile, the gray bunnies are from Walmart, and the carrots are new from Hobby Lobby. The actual spacing between the grey and brown bunnies is wider than shown in the photo due to the strange perspective of the panorama.

The white planter is from Savers and the carrots are from the Target spot and were $3.

Solar Eclipse 2017

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We lucked out when I ended up buying the last two pairs of solar eclipse glasses after work on Thursday at the local Jewel. Those are the ones pictured below on the top. The bottom ones were sent to me by a friend. Unfortunately they didn’t arrive until later this afternoon so it was too late to use them.

Even though it was overcast here this morning/afternoon, I was able to spot the 86% covered sun with my special glasses (as was Joe at work) occasionally throughout the eclipse event as the clouds passed over the sun so I’m pretty happy about that. NASA was airing coverage of the eclipse on C-SPAN as well.

The landscapers kind of ruined the vibe when it got all dark with their loud equipment going, however, but whatever. It was cool but not so life-shattering that I feel like I missed out by not traveling to view it elsewhere. And hey, at least I didn’t get into any trouble unlike the last time I viewed an eclipse which was in high school. I ditched my algebra class to see it and when I admitted this to the attendance office I was suspended!

One thing I found interesting were the people who later complained that it was lame. Yes, it was, if you didn’t have the special glasses because the sun was still bright in the areas that didn’t have total coverage. See this photo of the eclipse I took? LOL