Day 272- Leaving early makes work better.

Ran down to Gene Juarez to get my forgotten earring. Did some shopping for various birthdays at Northgate Mall.

Had dinner at Jai Thai with Angie to celebrate her first day at her new job. She seemed well.

Came home and watched some TV.

Read more Story of Forgetting.

Day 271- Recovery.

Puttered around the house.

Had dinner with Dan, Katie, Steve, Eric, and Mebbie.

Slept well.

Day 270- Bosom-rific Party!

Met Mebbie for a blow out at Gene Juarez school. ($8!) Forgot my earring there.

Ran back to the hotel and frantically prepared. Drove Mon's grandparents to the church and handled the florist.

Tied bows to the candles and watched the photographers snap away.

Walked with Rachel, Jackie, and Scott to Plaid Pantry for Gardetto's, sour gummi worms, and Dr. Pepper (i.e. "breakfast").

Sat with Dan and Katie. The ceremony was brief and very pretty.

Took off out of there with Mebs and rushed to the reception site and got the guest book materials prepared. Had a nice time.

Cleaned up and Mebbie I headed through terrible traffic to Yummy House for dinner with Dani and Keely. Got back to my car and headed up to Paul's 40th Jamboree. Rode along with some folk to get Rock Band 2 from Wal-mart. No luck.

Had cake and nearly napped while Deuce shot stuff on the X-Box.

Came home and immediately passed out. bosom

Day 269- Enjoy your fungi ladies!

Left work early and met up with the girls in the U District to get manicures with Mon and the wedding party. The place was a dump and I refused to get my toes done in those yucky wells with the yucky tools.

Snagged Mebbie and did some shopping at Alderwood Mall. Got my hair cut. I was happy.

Picked up cupcakes at Trophy. Delicious.

Dropped Mebbie off and returned home to frantically prepare for the wedding.

Day 268- Two millimeters from the edge and counting.

Dealt with more BS at work and am becoming increasingly frustrated.

Had dinner at CPK in Northgate with the family for Jessica's birthday. It was nice.

Ran home and Jim and I set out for The Spotted Cow in Everett to get Paul some birthday ice cream.

Chatted a little while.

Came home and tidied, put away laundry, and got prepared for the weekend.

Read some comics.

Day 267 - So tired.

Blew off water aerobics. Dropped by the comic book store, then Best Buy (to buy presents for Jess and Mariah) and picked up two new CDs (The Gossip & Cold War Kids).

Wrapped presents and got out cards and signed them while watching Mystery!. Worked on some affidavits for work while watching Primeval.

Watched episode 3 of John Adams with Jim and started to snooze towards the end.

Attempted a few more pages of The Story of Forgetting.

Day 266- Like a spent tube of toothpaste.

Went into work extra early for irritating meeting.

Dealt with whiners all damn day.

Had dinner at Tona's with the Grandparents.

Dropped a walker off at Mon's for her grandpa to use at her wedding Saturday.

Cleaned paint nonsense out of the tub and watched TV with Jim.

Day 265- I'm going to burn this whole place down. Mostly Kidding.

All broke loose at work while I was gone and I told my boss I was going to quite and then burn the whole damn place down. Nobody ever believes my threats. I should work on being more menacing.

Steve wrecked his car and was murr. So we were then both murr.

Had dinner with Steve and Addy. Returned home and chatted with Jim. Steve and Addy left and we caught a disk of Weeds.

Read more of The Story of Forgetting.

Day 264

Made a huge mess shutting the window and breaking a drinking glass in a mousetrap-esque crazy chain reaction.

Cleaned up bathroom somewhat. Vacuumed up the broken glass. Cleaned hurriedly.

Had lunch with dad and Marilyn at Ipanema. Walked around down town and the market. They bought me a nice handbag and expensive perfume about which I had very mixed feelings.

Had a pretty good time, considering.

Went to family Sunday dinner (Freezer dinner night). Paul dropped huckleberries by and joined us for dinner.

Watched some TV and read more of The Story of Forgetting. Very poetically written, but not engrossing as of yet.

Day 263

Helped Jim paint his room and finished off the bathroom.

Grabbed a grinder and headed over to Dan and Katie's. Watched the kids while they were out. Played with play-doh, pretended to be puppies, played Cheater, then Matt went to bed. Emma and I read and then she went to bed too.

Watched 48 hours mystery after I finished Gang Leader for a Day and Entertainment Weekly. So stupid; watching true crime at night in strange houses.

Dan and Katie came home early and we got to chatting till quite late.

Went home and started The Story of Forgetting.

Day 262

Dropped Mon at the hair-dresser's and went to Amber's place. Checked out her art and then walked over to her school. It was pretty neat.

While Amber was in class I went to Starbucks and read Gang Leader for a Day on the patio and had a cinnamon roll. It was very nice out.

Went to 23rd and did some shopping. Bought stationary. Had chocolates at Moonstruck and Reuben sandwiches at Kornblatt's. Drove back to her place through historic neighborhoods. I should go back down again while the weather is good and do some sight seeing.

Fought traffic out to Multnomah Falls. Had a nice dinner with Monica and Fran. Headed back to Seattle. Dropped off Mon.

Came home and crashed.

I felt very murrrrr today.

Day 261

Picked up Monica in terrible traffic and raced down to Portland to have her final bridal gown fitting. Went pretty well.

Did some shopping (bought adorable undies).

Went by Jen's classroom, which was adorable. Left Mon with Jen.

Met dad, Marilyn, and Marilyn's step mother for dinner at The Stagecoach Saloon. It was interesting. Trooped all over hell and gone with Marilyn's extremely intoxicated mother. Eventually took Dad and Marilyn to the airport so they could rent a car and not stay with Marilyn's extremely intoxicated step mother.

Picked up Mon and headed to Fran's.

Read more Gang Leader for a Day.

Felt sorry for self.

Day 260

Very busy day at work. Of course there is a crisis right before I'm taking some time off. This is how this works.

Came home and packed. Painted a lot more of the bathroom.

Read more Gang Leader for a Day.

Day 259

Busy day at work preparing to be down in Portland Thursday and Friday. Picked up my new orthodics.

Worked on painting the bathroom. Had teriyaki with Addy and Jim and watched the first disk of the first season of Mad Men. So good!

Read more Gang Leader for a Day.

Today was busy but good.

Day 258

Packed up from dog-sitting and returned home to get more painting done. Hung out with Czabrina, went shopping and had dinner at Nordstrom Cafe.

Have to sleep on couch due to paint fumes. Not thrilled.

Watched some TV with Jim.

Started reading Gang Leader for a Day. Very good.

Day 257

Went to the Evergreen State Fair with Ferretnick and Hotness. Had a great time and a LOT of fried food. Bought nifty lotion.

Had dinner with Angie at Ixtapa. I'm pitiful and miss her already and it hasn't even been one work day yet.

Watched Psych at the dog-sitting house.

Got a little more painting in.

Finished Pillars of the Earth.

Day 256

Woke up nice and early and bought paint. Got first and some second coats on some of the walls. painting is stinky and exhausting, more so when it is your walls being painted.

Read more Pillars of the Earth. Finally picking up storywise.

Day 255

Very busy day. Moved into Gargoyle Toe's cube. Missed my appt to pick up my orthotics. Started dog sitting for Riley and Sammi, and ran home to let them out before joining the girls at Claim Jumper to celebrate Angie's last day at work. Relaxed at dogsitting house.

Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 254

Gargoyle Toe's last day. Pretty busy at work and I was stoked to get out of there, especially with GT being weirdly emotional.

Read more Pillars.

Day 253

Went to work early to help out with a project. Left early.

Read more Pillars. Read some comics.

Day 252

Dropped by The Stop. Had dinner with Paul and Jim at Billy McHales. Had a nice conversation after with Paul.

Watched some TV. Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 251

I have no idea what I did this day.... If I was hanging out with you, let me know. Sorry about the sucking and whatnot.

Day 250

Ran around collecting things for Gargoyle Toe's retirement shindig. Attended shindig. Made small talk and felt very mature.

Came home and witnessed a hit and run. Then chased down the runner and turned her in to the police like the stool pigeon I am.

Laid around exhaustedly and watched TV.

Had an annoying conversation with Grandma in which there was much repetition and no excitement about my Kitchen Aid. *sigh*

Watched Dexter and the season finale of Venture Bros. [Hey, make more episodes so I can have a story arc. A whole one. KTHX]

Read more Pillars of the Earth. Guess what. The bad things in the book, there are now more of those type things. This is the most depressing book ever. It would be cool if a good thing would happen. Please. I'll finish this because Stephanie said it was good. But isn't real life dismal enough?

Day 249

Cleaned house. Drove Rachel out to Mon’s in-laws for her bridal shower, which was only sort of awful.

Dropped by Everett Mall then went to my awesome b-day BBQ. Had pizza instead of BBQ. The Jasons, Paul, Jim, George, 2.0 + new lady, Todd + Stephanie, Tom + Hotness, the Columbo’s, and Rachel in attendance. I got a host of awesome stuff including a musical toothbrush and a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Was very shocked at the awesomeness of the Kitchen Aid. Almost speechless.

Read more Pillars of the Earth. Stayed up way too late.

Today was very damp, but pretty much awesome.

Day 248

Made breakfast with Jim. Jim and I picked up Sean and the Jasons and helped Paul move his stuff back into the house. Had lunch at Roundtable.

Dropped Sean off. Tidied the house. Jim and I went out shopping and he bought a nice bedroom set.

Picked up Czar and went to game night at The Stop and saw the debut of Kirby Krackle.

Dropped Czar off at home.

Day 247

Had lunch with Mon, Katie, and the kids.

Frosted the cake in a hurry and scurried to Kieran's b-day BBQ at Lynn's. Lynn, Michael, Diane, Kevin, Angie, Melody, Jack, and Leni in attendance.

Picked up Jim and went game night at the Sluss' with Steve and Addy. Very nice.

Today was busy but good.

Day 246

Baked a yellow cake with blueberries for Kieran’s b-day BBQ.

Splashed around in water aerobics with Jill and Sheena.

Attempted to tidy.

Read comics.

Day 245

Returned bin to Freddy's and got new bins. Ran by Target to buy Mon's wedding presents. Stopped in at The Stop to say hey and ended having dinner with Jim and Paul.

Came home and destroyed the damn house by trying to go through my stuff and get rid of things/put them in plastic bins for storage. Watched Primeval and Dexter with Jim.

Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 244

Fetched Czabrina and went to Brix for dinner and cocktails. We went to Fred Meyer to find printer paper and found that plastic bins were on sale. Had a run-in with a crazy.

Went to Staples for paper, then over to Café Ladro for coffee and cookies.

Back to Czabrina’s to chat.

Made a huge mess of my room, then went to bed feeling ill. Reflux was out of control and made it impossible to sleep.

Day 243

Super hard to get out of bed an hour early. Helped with a huge meeting. Pulled a muscle in my ass. This was not good.

Steve fetched me from home and we had dinner at Zak’s in Ballard, and then had coffee and cupcakes at Cupcake Royale. Very sad to learn Sweet Posie’s hours have become even more stupid.

Helped Steve with his haircut and checked in on Addy.

Watched Primeval with Jim. I am on the fence about this show.

Ridiculous heartburn today. My own stupid fault.

Day 242

Packed up and left the dogsitting house. Returned home and ate a big breakfast. Watched TMNT:FF, DS, CR, and a British mystery. Made dark chocolate raspberry ice cream (from The Perfect Scoop.) Delicious but very rich.

Had pasta at FSD, all present and Frank was over as well. Came home and watched John Adams with Jim and had ice cream

Stayed up far too late reading Pillars of the Earth.

Day 241

Got up early and met Kim down at the farmers market in Edmonds. She showed me my birthday present, a Dalek cross stitch. Genius. Bought berries and cherries. Dropped in at Starbucks and headed home to make blueberry buttermilk pancakes with Jim. Froze the remaining berries.

Watched TV and finished The Red Paperclip.

Blew off my tenth HS reunion, because I'm a jerk.

Had dinner and went to bed. Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 240

Met up with Melody for a super pj fun night. Rented In Bruges (good, but could have liked more funny) and dropped in at the liquor store. Bought tequila, blueberry vodka, and Starbucks liquer (all in mini bottles). Was tempted by, but ultimately did not buy any Patron. Had dinner at a Chinese place in Woodway. It was pretty good.

Watched the movie and drank heavily. FYI- Blueberry vodka is delicious.

At 11:30 two ambulances pulled up next door to the dogsitting house. I was worried and they did ultimately take someone away. Without their lights and with no urgency. This seemed ominous.

Pretty much a nice way to end the week. (Let the dog sleep on the bed tho, and in hindsight this was a mistake. Oh well. Having one's spleen trampled is not the worst fate.)

Day 239

Watched Colbert Report and Daily Show whilst sipping delicious strawberry Crush.

Checked my slug traps. It was a blood (slime?) bath. GROSS.

Ran to Alderwood Mall with the roomy to check out some furniture and dropped in at Coach for some leather cleaner and conditioner. (Guess what I’m doing this weekend! Good times.)

Also went to Cost Plus (bought candy) then Target for new plastic bins. I only need ohhhhhhh, 8 or 9 more.

Checked in on George at The Stop to pick up Walking Dead. SO GOOD.

Had yummy Ixtapa for dinner.

Repacked my crafting boxes and secret gift stash box into bins. Chatted with Paul. Watched a few more episodes of Californacation. Which has me actually giving a damn. I am very excited to watch the last 2 episodes of the season.

Read more Red Paperclip yadda yadda. Really intend to finish it tonight, Saturday at the latest and then get back to Pillars of the Earth, which was also starting to warm up nicely.

Day 238

Ran to Walgreens (didn't have what I wanted), then Safeway (made a huge mess), Joann's (alienated an elderly lady). Then blew off going to the comic book store as I was too scared to put my friends in danger by lurking about with my bad ju ju.

Watched Daily Show/Colbert Report (Mostly. Getting tired of the campaign that will not die.) then sewed up the Plush bean bag chair liner while watching Californication (which took a while to get interesting. It was all Mulder banging chicks for like 4 episodes before something happened of interest.)

Forgot to mention that I started reading One Red Paperclip yesterday and read some more today. It is fine. I hope to finish it tomorrow and return it to my aunt so I can complete the numerous books in my to read pile.

Spoke with Mother and it looks like Canada says she's eh O.K. to become a citizen next month. Very exciting. (That pun would be more awesome if more than 3 people read this blog. Three readers: that joke was for you. My gift. Free of charge.)

Day 237

Watched the Daily Show and Colbert Report. Went to the Seattle Premium Outlet Stores with Jim, Jason, and Deuce. Picked up some Barefoot Contessa coconut cake mix and a gift for someone else. Had snacks at Bob's.

Read and crashed.

Day 236

Scarfed leftovers and watched Venture Bros.

Met with Jeremy, Andrew, Andy, Jennifer and Chris at DBS. (Apparently 80’s Night.)

Chatted with the roommate and crashed.

Day 235

Had cinnamon rolls for breakfast then headed over to Ballard for some shopping. Had lunch at Snoose Junction with Czar, Czabrina, and Ron. (Snoose Junction took forever and their pizza was not very good.)

Ran to the grocery store to load up on Swedish Fish, Pop Tarts and PB Captain Crunch for Mom.

Had Auntie and Mel’s Birthday celebration (with pot roast and ice cream cake). Played a few games.

Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 234

After a frustrating phone conversation I met with Mom and Grandma at Café Ladro in Bothell and then Mom and I drove out to La Conner. We had lunch at Calico Cupboard (and picked up cinnamon rolls for later) and then went shopping in town. I picked up a few gifts and we made it back to the car before it started raining.

Ran over to Alderwood Mall and looked for a new skirt for Mom, but her heart wasn’t in it so we returned home.

Later we met with Steve and Addy for dinner at Taste of India. Afterwards Mom and I watched Broken Flowers, which was very good.

Day 233

Went shopping with Jim and had dinner at Spaghetti Factory. (Yay spumoni!)

Found a new tower entertainment center-y thing and watched Jim put it together. Finished up Ultraviolet (the BBC series, which should have been a long running series, darn it).

Read some comics.

Day 232

Had to work at the branch office stupid early this morning. Stupid working in the field.

Met up with Steve and ran around looking for Halloween costumes and birthday gifts and didn't have a ton of luck.

We had really great dinner at Las Margaritas, then sat around at Richmond Beach. Finally we went back to visit with Addy and had root beer floats with Falanna and the kids.

Read some comics.

Today was a good day.

Day 231

Left work a tad early and picked Czar up for a comic book adventure. Met up with a bunch of folks at The Stop. Had dinner with Ferretnick, Hotness, Jim, Czar and George at Red Robin. Ron and Czabrina met us there and everyone came back to our place to chat and whatnot.

Read some comics.

Day 230

Picked up Sean and did some shopping for presents. Had Panda. Watched some TV. Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Today was a good day.

Day 229

Work at branch office at 7:20. Not so much with the fun. Especially since I got no sleep on account of how comfortable my bed is. Oh bed, bed, bed, bed, bed. And yet no sleep.

Came home and watched some TV. Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 228

4:30 am, a squirrel attacked my uncle. Delicious revenge.

Drove home and mostly slept.

Went with Mel and Jess to pick up Thai. Ate Thai with the fam. Returned home for laundry and TV.

Day 227

Got up at the ass crack of dawn to drive 3 hours (one of which was on a dangerous unpaved curvy cliff side road) to go on a jet boat trip. Auntie has nerves of steel.

Jet Boat Trip Summary:

Eavesdropped on moron ranger who knows nothing, while waiting for the very late boat.

Sat on nice boat and saw bald eagles and mountain goats.

Had delicious lunch.

Got on other boat.

Passed wreck of other boat.

Saw dam.

Started really cold raining.

Then hailing.

Thought angry ungrateful thoughts.

Went through very cold rapids.

More mean thoughts.

Drove to Dog Bark Park Hotel.

Drove back to Hells Gate State Park.

Shorter Summary:

It was Hell's Gate.

Had pizza.

Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 226

Brad's back went out, so the rest of us took a beautiful scenic drive out to the Emerald Creek Garnet Area. We traveled up and up and up and entered what is called the Palouse. It was like finding the Teletubby land there at the top of the world. It was gorgeous. If you have to live up at 7% grade 25 mile road in BFE nowhere, at least you can leave in verdant weirdly regularly hilled countryside. But I don't think that they have a grocery store.

We dug buckets of dirt and screened them for star garnets, and I found a few. It was kind of crowded and pretty hot. And full of rednecks. Anyway, we had lunch at the campground and Auntie was so excited at the old water pump.

On the way home we stopped at a produce store in Moscow for ice cream. I had blackberry swirl and it was AMAZING. Best ice cream of the trip.

Played board games and made a weird photo tableau with my Santos.

Started Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. It is pretty good so far.

Day 225

Had breakfast at Waffles and More with everyone. It was pretty good. Afterwards Auntie had an official quiz from the audio guide and Brad and Grandpa won (makes sense since, as drivers, they are not allowed to sleep on the drive). Grandma, Roy, and Olivia left (semi-huffily, one day early).

Auntie and I went to do laundry. We lost 3 socks but got yummy frozen yogurt. Then we looked around for the movie theater and found Shopko. It was exciting because they had Santos, small plastic saints in eggs from the quarter machines (now fifty cents, thanks inflation). I got a pope and monk. Go team pope!

Watched Pitch Black and finished I Capture the Castle.

Day 224

Melanie's Birthday

Spent most of the day traveling. Traveled to Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston. Very pretty ride along side the river, tracing the Lewis and Clark Expedition's trail. Auntie set up us with a nice audio guide to central Idaho. Mostly I slept though it.

Read some I Capture the Castle and played boardgames.

Day 223

Drove out to Gem Mountain to pan for sapphires. It was really fun. With Sturgis being so close there were quite a few bikers and I of course got to chatting with a couple. They told me about where all the good rock hunts are.

I found a good number of sapphires including a rare red sapphire and a somewhat sizable cuttable flawless sapphire.

Afterwards we loaded up and headed to Phillipsburg to have lunch at an old fashioned soda fountain where I tried a cherry phosphate, which was sour and delicious, and a so-so pasty.

We took a stroll around town and I bought some candy at the Candy Palace. Grandma bought some antiques. Then we got some ice cream. I got “Moose Moss” which was mint with a fudge ribbon and mint chocolate cups. Phillipsburg was adorable. If I had to live in BFE nowhere that would be a nice little place.

Played some games and read more I Capture the Castle.

Day 222

Woke up early and drove out to Bannack State Park to hunt for quartz crystals at Crystal Park.

The ride was gorgeous but it was ridiculously hot. Crystal Park was really odd with numerous holes of varying sizes all around. I mostly worked in a large hole in the shade with Auntie. After a while she got up to run to the restroom. As I dug I felt someone sneak up behind me ruu their fingers up my back as though it was an enormous spider. Knowing it was Sean I refused to turn around. Then the skittering sensation traveled up my back and off of my tank top and onto my bare flesh. Suddenly I realized that Sean's hands are bigger and don't have tiny claws. I reared up in fright and a squirrel (chipmunk??) came running off of my back and off into the brush. I am now convinced that I have hantavirus. Or maybe monkeypox, only time will tell. Or perhaps I have Squirrel Back. Ok, fine. I made that one up.

Started I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Absolutely charming.

Day 221

Spent most of the day driving into Montana from BC. The border guards took my grandma's prized houseplant. (teehee) The scenery was gorgeous. I forgot how beautiful parts of Montana are.

Finished What is the What.

Day 220

Woke up early and headed out to Rock Candy Mountain for a Rock Candy Safari. I made the error of riding out on the cliff side path with my grandfather who has ADD and basically almost got us all killed. Her ran off the road twice. My life, short and mostly filled with cake flashed before my eyes.

We took a fairly lengthy path up to the mine and it was pretty exhausting. While there I dug for Fluorite, Barite, and more. I got some very lovely samples, some for display and some for jewelry making.

Afterwards Auntie and I dropped everyone off and headed to the laundry. We did some laundry and snuck over to get homemade ice cream across the street. I had coffee flavor and it was good.

Read more What is the What. Played some boardgames.

Day 219

Got up early and snuck down to Winthrop for breakfast with my Uncle and Grandpa. Delicious. Picked up fresh baked cinnamon rolls for the others.

Loaded up the car and traveled to Republic to dig for nifty fossils. It was very hot, but we all found at least one good fossil. I found two different kinds of leaves.

Set out for Grand Forks, BC. At the border the guards seized from my grandparents:

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Peaches

1 50 pound (?) bag of dog food

2 garbage bags of dog food

Some beef.

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but my grandmother’s righteous indignation= hilarious.

Set up camp and headed to the hotel to enjoy their “world famous borscht”. I have no idea why this was famous. Perhaps famous for being bland. I also had some so-so perogies.

Started What is the What by Dave Eggers which is very very good.

Day 218

My face hurts.

Got up early and picked up McDonald’s breakfast for the fam. Loaded up the RV and headed out. Met up with Grandparents and cousins (who were 2- TWO- hours late, who does that?) in Marysville and I switched RVs to ride up the dusty trail to Pearrgyn Lake which is essentially in ass-nowhere central Washington. Along the way we stopped in a few scenic locals and hiked around.

After dinner and cake (Lemon Cake!) at the lake Grandma, Auntie, Olivia, and I traveled back into the little tourist town of Winthrop to do a little sight-seeing and shopping.

Day 217

Went to work. It sucked and my face hurt.

Ran errands, including comic shopping and completion of packing.

Watched some TV.

Day 216

Woke up at 5:30 to get ready for 7 am root canal. Thought there would be traffic so I left an hour to get there but it took about 15 minutes, so I sat at Starbucks and read National Geographic. Had a root canal… for THREE HOURS. Apparently my tooth roots grow sort of together at the end, like a “Y” and that is a problem.

Took a bunch of ibuprofen and watched trash tv in my nest while tearing recipes out of back issues of Bon Appétit and Gourmet. Read comics and napped. Read Bigfoot; I Not Dead.

Beau dropped by to see Jim.

Had DQ with Jim, then watched the new Batman animation movie thing. Very good. Then watched Wanna Bet (shrug), Wipeout, and I Survived a Japanese Gameshow.

Felt sorry for me. Read comics, fell asleep.

My face hurts. Today sucks.

Day 215

Had combo birthday lunch with Lynn at Chantrelle’s.

Ran to Walgreen’s and the bank. Came home and made dinner and hideously burned my hand. Laid down in bed with ice-back, took ibuprofen for the headache I’d had all damn day and promptly feel asleep. It was 7 pm.

Woke up at 11 and brushed my teeth and turned out the light.

Day 214

Fed the dog and hustled down to Chris’ place. Picked up Jen and her friend Steve and went to the Microsoft Company Picnic. It was really fun. We ate lots of good food and enjoyed watching the many many children going nuts for pony rides and giant inflatable toys. Steve taught a little boy to golf (adorable) and Jen had an epic squirt gun battle while the boys played volley ball. We also played bingo and Jen won, then I won too.

It was a really nice picnic.

After that I went to my uncle’s for FSD- Birthday edition. Had chicken parm and salmon and of course a DQ cake. (yay!) Then we opened presents and I got really neat kitchen utensils from my auntie and uncle and the neatest mouse from my cousins.

The girls went home and then we watched Persepolis. It was pretty good.

Returned home and puttered then watched Venture Bros. and Best Week Ever.

Very good day. Except I got sunburned. Which did not hurt, but is irritating.

Day 213

Cleaned up my dogsitting house and took the dog on a pretty good walk. Returned to my place to do laundry and start packing. Visited with the roommate.

Returned to the dogsitting house and had one last lengthy walk with Theo. Then I had to meet Angie to swap out some dogsitting keys, and so we met at DQ. I invited Paul to join since he loves DQ. He and I had treats then fed my other dogsitting dog. Afterwards we ran up to Everett Mall to visit with George and watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (which was stunning). Had a quick bite then I ran to the airport to fetch Lynn. I pulled up just has she got outside, which was quite lucky as traffic was a mess.

Dropped Lynn off at her place, returned to dogsitting house and read some NG.

Day 212

Fed and walked the dog, then headed home to prepare for The Dark Knight’s 12 am IMAX showing. Drove down to Seattle Center with Paul, George, Mel and Jim. Found great parking and arrived at the line to find that Jim and Jason were first in line. Hung out for a while and got great seats. The IMAX experience was great, but I couldn’t help but feel that it detracted from the movie. Which was also long. But I liked it.

Read and crashed out near to 4 am.

Day 211

Addy had an appointment at my office this morning and met me at the door with presents.

I got presents periodically throughout the day, which greatly improved work. I got some fantastic books and a Big Beef action figure.

Had lunch at the good Greek place with my boss.

After work I fed and walked the dog and tended to the plants.

Then I met with Jim, Steve, Kim, Dan, Katie, Czar, Ron, Czabrina, Addy, Jeannine, Mike and Andy at Grinders. Afterwards we retired to Scott’s for cocktails. Steve got me a cookie cutter in the shape of the classic Starship Enterprise.

We finished up pretty early so my roommate and I caught Best Week Ever and Venture Bros before I returned to the dogsitting house.

I spoke with Brad, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa, Monica, and Mebbie.

Today was a magnificent day.

Day 210

After work, fed and walked the dog.

Had my first water aerobics class with Sheena. She brought her friend Jill who was really cool. I really enjoyed the class and our instructors were adorable high school students. Could not stop laughing.

Went home and showered and watched TV with the roommate.

Today was a very satisfying day.

Day 209

Spent the majority of the day shopping at various random stores. Jim was successful in his shopping as was I.

I bought:

Tuxedo style Kangaroos for $20 bucks.

Green Lodis Bubble Clutch for half price.

Bright orange wool coat for $34. (Which is much nicer than the orange pea coat I had been contemplating at the thrift store for nearly the same price.)

Deep turquoise shirt.

Then we met up with Joe and Suze (now officially nick-named- with a Z!) at the Emerald Queen Casino to try out for (them, not me. I’m a wuss.) Wheel of Fortune. Don’t think that they made it, but there is still a chance. Had a tasty dinner at Harmon’s (?) local pub.

Called my mother and had painful convo.

Read comics.

Day 208

Extreme gastrointestinal distress all morning and got NOTHING accomplished at work.

Felt somewhat better in the afternoon and met with Monica and her florist to discuss wedding arrangements.

Ran to the store for Pepto and was perversely tempted by a TJ’s Vegetarian pizza. Downed the whole pizza. (Not as impressive as it sounds.)

Watched reruns of ST:TNG on TV while napping periodically and feeling sorry for myself.

Day 207

Met up with Grandma and Brad at his place. Had an awkward family meeting.

Went down to Shoreline for Great Great Uncle Dewey’s 80^th Birthday. It was good.

Brad and I then watched Theremin (so-so, but interesting biography of the inventor of the electronic instrument) and The Air I Breathe (great film in 4 vignettes, very effecting).

At some point during the few hours I was away from the house, one of the kitties I’m sitting scratched the hell out of the recliner in the family room. This is very annoying as they had full bowls of food and water and a clean litter box. (Note: this is why I do not own cats. Also no butt cheeks. Gross.)

Also there was a spider inside the dishwasher. Spider INSIDE THE DISHWASHER. This phenomenon of spiders in household appliances is very upsetting.

Read more comics.

Day 206

Had breakfast with Jim at Voula’s. Helped Paul finish his walls. His parents, Jason, Jim, and Brad all showed up and pitched in.

Had dinner with Paul then caught Hellboy 2 with a bunch of Comic Stop folks. Diane and Kevin serendipitously showed up too. Hellboy was great!

Read more comics.

Day 205

Fed and walked the dog, met with George and Jim at our place and fetched 2.0. Met Elwood at Serious Pie, but walked down to an Italian place instead.

Watched the Sub-Pop Comedy show. There were several comedians there, but Patton Oswalt was far and away the funniest. Eugene Mirman was also there and very funny (especially extemporaneously) but most of his material I had heard before.

Read comics.

Day 204

Took the dog on a long long walk. He was feeling overly energetic and sniffing every little thing and dragging me all over.

Went down to Rialto in Fremont for Czabrina/Czarina’s birthday dinner. Had a very nice time. Czabrina gave me an early gift of lovely ear rings and I Captured the Castle, which I have been meaning to read for some time.

Read a few more comics.

Talked to Steve.

Day 203

Ran to my place to do some tidying. Visited with the roomy.

Walked the dog and watered then headed over to my uncles house for pasta and weird autobiographical art house films about crazy people.

Read some more random comics.

Day 202

Walked the dog. Came home and made biscuits and chicken fried steak for dinner. Watched a bunch of TV with the roommate. (Venture Bros, Best Week Ever, Wipeout, Robot Chicken, and I Survived a Japanese Game Show.) The roommate bought and installed a ridiculous fancy microwave. Robots will take over the Earth, it is certain.

My vegetables are all sprouting and I’m pleased as punch. Soon there will be all manner of delicious things to eat. Yay!

Day 201

Walked the dog. Ran to Ballard with Steve to check out Sweet Posie’s famous red velvet cupcakes, but they were closed. So we hoofed it over to Cupcake Royale instead.

Picked up chow on the way and headed home to BBQ. Delicious. It was nice to see Addy.

Returned to Theo's and read some comics from my Bermuda Triangle style pile.

Day 200

Woke up in extreme arm pain. Dog walking was a bit uncomfortable.

Had breakfast at Julia’s in Cap Hill with Josh and then dropped in at the aquarium to see the remodel. (Very pretty but not very useful/interesting.) Had some time on our hands still so we headed up to SAM to check out the Impressionists collection. Pretty good. I’m not much of a Monet fan, but they had some good stuff (including Degas, one of my favorites.)

Had ice cream.

Watered the plants and walked the dog.

Went home and watched the first disk of the BBC mini-series, Ultraviolet with Jim. I really like it and think it probably could have gone beyond a mini-series. (Although the end may not allow for that I suppose.)

Day 199

Picked up Sean and helped Paul and his parents paint his condo. My arms are quite tired.

Had dinner at Samurai Noodles with Kim and then went to the M’s game (against Detroit). Beard Papa’s is opening a location at Uwajimaya and had cream puffs for sale at the stadium.

Recap of game:
Ate cream puff.
Ate second cream puff.
Losing kind of badly thus falling asleep.
Had Dr. Pepper.
Scored a home run.
Kim caught a ball.
Garlic fries.
Scored another home run for the win.

Today was a satisfying day.

Day 198

Caught Hancock with Jim, Deuce, and Paul. Hancock was fine.

Had lunch at Qdoba. Then Deuce and I saw Wanted as well. Very good movie.

Frosted my cake and scurried up to George’s for a BBQ. Had a nice time.

Day 197

Made a cake for the BBQ on the 4^th. Watched TV with Jim. Wipeout may be the best show in the history of TV.

Had dinner at Dan & Katie’s. It was great to visit with them again.

Today was a good day.

Day 196

Left work early on account of my face hurting. Jim and I loitered at The Stop then had dinner with 2.0 at Red Robbin.

Finished The Nocturnals. Beautiful art, but it was very hard to follow. Read a few more comics.

Day 195

Had partial root canal. Took pain killers. Had left overs.

Steve visited and killed spiders.

Puked.

Finished Th1rte3n, which was pretty good.

Read more about it on my less boring blog.

Today = Not good.

Day 194

Holy Crap. I totally don’t remember at all. I read some comics from last week. Watched some TV. I guess that was it.

Day 193

Got up early, walked Theo and dropped by cat-sitting house to water plants and feed Smoky. Had breakfast at the diner with Paul and ran to get some new paint samples. Ran to Kieran’s to get new containers for my patio. Swung by Fred Meyer’s to pick up some soil and herb plants.

Stopped for a slurpy at 7-11 and got the annoying mating dance action from some dude. (Whose girlfriend was there.) (And rough looking.)

Planted:

Radishes

Cucumbers (one for pickling and one for tzatziki)

Peppers

Bell Peppers (Yes, I am an optimist.)

Basil

Sage

Rosemary

Slurpy was melted in the ricockulous heat before I had anything planted at all.

Had Chinese food at FSD.

Watered all the plants at Theo's and took a nice short walk as it was hot as hell.

Watched disc 1 of season 3 of Weeds. Read more Th1rte3n.

Had the vapors from the heat.

Day 192

Got up early and cleaned my cat sitting house. Ran back to my place and devoured toast and watched some Colbert Report. Paul came over and helped me move my footboard out to my grandma’s shed (it was just very big for such a small room).

Had lunch at Tona’s and ice cream at DQ and retired to Paul’s to examine paint colors. I am experiencing high levels of anxiety regarding these paint colors as the colors I have chosen coordinate with Paul’s art and furniture The colors others have suggested are nice too. The issue is that Paul has a lovely collection of comic book art which has a very bright primary pallet and I think that painting his house in smoky greens etc. would not present the art well.

Meh.

Ran to dog sitting house and walked Theo. Paul dropped me back at my place and I ran a few errands and then headed to poker night at The Stop. Josh joined the group and we split into three groups with one staying to play games, one going to see Wanted, and the group of Kim, Josh, and Paul and I going to Wall-E. SO FANTASTIC!

Chatted with Josh and returned to Theo’s to crash.

Day 191

Coworker who is leaving took a bunch of us out to lunch. Had some delicious pie.

Happy Hour with the coworkers at Las Brisas in Edmonds after work. Pretty warm outside.

Went to the cat sitting house and watched Bones with Smoky who was super cuddly.

I'm convinced my reflux is back. As I was supposed to attend a wine tasting party and instead stayed home murring on the couch with stomach pain.

Day 190

Took exploratory journey to Double D Meats in Mountlake Terrace with Brad to inspect their uhm… meat. Pretty awesome and great prices. I'm looking forward to exploring further in the future.

Had grilled steaks and started Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (but left in the middle as it was kind of … not boring, but just not very compelling and a little too clearly going to end badly).

Dropped Sean off at Shank’s. Refreshed my manicure and watched Bones. Fell asleep on the couch at 10ish. (Because I am old.)

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Steve.

Day 189

Brought cake to the stop and a bunch of folks including Hotness & Ferritnick were around to eat some Happy Wednesday Cake. It was good times.

Had dinner at a new Mexican place with Paul. Worked on picking paints to match Paul’s art and furnishings. Then watched SNL featuring Big Beef.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Steve and Grandma.

Today was a good day.

Day 188

Work was stressful, as I did not take the ridiculous over-precaution that I usually take and did not prevent an irritating problem. This year’s review was spectacular and in order to retain my star status, I need to pretend to have god-like omniscience. Oh well. Demi-god it is.

Had dinner with the cake girls and then had our final cake class. All of us were having a hard time with our roses and the final cake situation was not ideal, but we finished and are excited to move on to new cooking challenges.

And the margaritas that followed at Diane’s. Delicious.

Read some Th1rte3n.

Day 187

Completed bedroom reorganization-palooza. Watched some Bones. Frosted the cake that I complete Sunday.

Spoke with Burke and Steve.

Read more Th1rte3n. My god, I am taking forever to finish this book. Although I would finish it faster if I read more than 5 pages a night…..

Day 186

Went shopping all day with Addy for clothes to wear to her sister’s wedding. Experienced a repeat of Friday’s PIN debacle at Target. Grrrrrr. I guess I'll call the bank tomorrow.

Helped roll appetizer rolls for a coworker’s retirement party.

Had Indian Night at FSD. I made “starlight” yellow cake with chocolate frosting from the new Betty Crocker cookbook. Neither were good at all. I was not impressed in the slightest. But the family was simply happy to eat cake.

Watched The Savages, which was well made and somewhat compelling, but very lacking in the screen play department.

Watched an episode of Bones and read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Steve.

Day 185

Watched cartoons. Returned to my house and worked on culling my comic collection and separating unread items into piles by title and in order. My floor: covered in comic piles. But it has to get worse before it can get better… right?

Picked Rachel (so good to see her) up at the airport and went to the Thai-ger Room for an early dinner. Had dessert at Trophy Cupcakes. Walked Green Lake with Rachel, Scott, and Jackie. Met Maya, Jon, and Sarah for cocktails (2 over 2 hours) at the Green Lake Bar and Grill. Had a really good time.

Returned to cat sitting house at midnight. Sober and fine. Read some more Th1rte3n. Went to bed at 12:30.

Woke up at 3:30 and ran to the bathroom and hurled for four hours straight. I am guessing it was food poisoning (or my reflux is back again?), as I had only two cocktails. I cannot speculate as to what caused this, but suffice it to say, it sucked a lot. Tired, confused, hurly Quiana was convinced it was Salmonella and that hideous illness was coming.

Wished for death. Brushed teeth furiously. Assigned blame.

Day 184

Left work early for margaritas at Sarah S.’s house with Angie.

Had my haircut.

Had dinner with Steve and Addy. Had weird PIN incident (reader rejected my pin- pretty certain that I didn’t misremember a number I’ve used for almost 6 years… just saying), just put it through as credit.

Loitered at 7-11, like old Cuban men. Tried giant chewy nerds (yucko).

Saw Harold and Kumar.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Mom.

Day 183

Ran to cat sitting house to meet with owners. Car failed to start on the first try. Started on the second try, but of course I was convinced that I would have to spend this weekend signing away another 4 years of debt on a new (to me) car. (End result: 6 total additional years of debt instead of 2. AND consumer debt/student loans after age of 30. NO THANKS.)

Bought neat portable hands-free speaker phone (Parrot brand) from Circuit City. It is really handy and I can use it in the car or while I’m cooking.

Worked on organizing my closet into a more effective space.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Watched Bones.

Spoke with Steve, Grandma, and Burke.

Day 182

Went (meaning: was stupidly tricked into going) to the end of the year celebration/annual turnover "going away" party at the boss's boss's house. Was there forever!

Came home and organized my pile of recipes. Got Chinese take-out and watched National Treasure 2 (which was very funny and while absolutely not believable at all ever in any way, I enjoyed to an embarrassing extent.)

Read some Th1rte3n and crashed.

Day 181

Stayed at work late and consumed a salad for dinner. I was extremely full.

Went to cake class and was let out early. Was ravenous and ate half a grapefruit and some chips.

Watched Venture Bros. and Robot Chicken with the roommate. Fell asleep watching a show called 30 Days (I think). Pretty good. It's not the show's fault, it is the roommate (I think).

Read a little NG and passed out.

Day 180

Had a dental appointment. Dealt with a huge project at work and went home to take pain killers and suffer. Ate half a brownie, 1 piece of chocolate, and an ice cream sundae cone. No idea why.

Watched Bones and organized my old papers.

Watched The Golden Compass with Jim. Meh.

Day 179

Watched some SNL with Jim over breakfast. Caught The Happening matinee, went home disgruntled and tidied.

Went to Brad & Cynthia’s for a Father’s Day BBQ and laundry fest. Watched Indiana Jones, then brought Mariah home. Packed up laundry and hauled it home.

Read more Nocturnals.

Day 178

Slept in and missed all of Skunk Fu and most of Viva Pinata. Made poached egg whites, coffee and English muffins, while watching Spectacular Spiderman.

Met with Grandma and Olivia at Country Village and did some shopping. Bought an apron. Then Mariah and Meagan met us at the tea house for lunch.

Met Steve at my house and ran to let Sammi and Riley out. Got Slurpies on the way to Lynn and Michael’s for Theo’s birthday party. Very entertaining.

Ran back to the house and picked up the cheesecake and left, but then returned to grab Jim’s cell phone. Went to George’s for Mary Ann’s birthday party. BBQ was consumed, presents were opened, and while the others played games, we loitered in George’s office talking about nothing at all.

Left quite late and returned home to continue reading Nocturnals.

Today was a very good day.

Day 177

Took a half day and went shopping for furniture with Jim in Everett. Jim thinks he may have found the table.

Dropped by the store then made tacos for dinner for Steve and Addy. Baked a cheesecake while watching TIVO'd Cartoon Network.

Read some more Nocturnals.

Day 176

Met a new neighbor, Peggy. Seems a little weird. Lucky me.

Got together the items needed for cheesecake.

Tidied and read some Nocturnals.

Day 175

Met a new neighbor, Krissy, when she asked us to help her put together her son's big wheel. Took a long time. She seemed nice (by which I mean she also despises the awful neighborhood brats).

Got take out teriyaki. Watched some TV.

Day 174

Work is CRAZY.

Had dinner with Angie and Barb. Attended cake class. Still not thrilled. Less cat pee odor = less learning?

Came home and chatted with Jim.

Spoke with Jason B. and Burke.

I'm super stressed about work right now, but I am keeping it together. Go team me!

Day 173

Had a TON of work to do.

Came home and prepared my cake (and frostings) for cake class. Watched Venture Brothers and Best Week Ever with Jim.

Puttered.

Read more Th1rte3n.