Lazy

It's a quiet Saturday evening and I am ALONE in the house - a rare and wondrous thing! H. and J. are in Hayward visiting J.'s brothers and family. We hosted pizza dinner last night as J.'s younger brother and his wife and kids made their way from Tulare to a 49'rs game. H. and J. are having dinner in Hayward and will be home in a few hours. B. had planned to go since visiting cousins is loads of fun, but he opted instead to go to a birthday party, primarily because his new 'friend' (who happens to be a girl) will be there. The two of them had a date last night and from all indications, it was a smashing success. So the chance to spend more time with her was the deciding factor in him opting out of the Hayward visit.

I am fixing a Trader Joe's dinner - mushroom risotto and birds nest tempura. What I want is loads of sushi - but that involves getting across town and since I have no makeup on what so ever, and have not left the house today (though I am showered and cleaned and dressed, albeit in appropriate Saturday attire of jeans and a sweatshirt - and am so excited that the weather is cool enough for me to need a sweatshirt today) but I am not presentable. That's the bad thing about working in the town you live in - you get 'seen' a lot and people know you. It's an odd feeling to think (whether they are or not) that people are trying to figure out where they know you from. Yes, I want to say, you may have seen me on the local cable access channel. No, that's not being famous, but it feels like it sometimes. I know how the 'stars' feel kind of - how you feel like you don't dare leave your house without being completely together, 'cuz the one time you run to the gas station for a quart of milk with no makeup and your hair not 'fixed', in grubby clothes, you will run into someone who will never forget they saw you looking like that. And, they will most likely share all that information with their friends. So I'd rather eat sushi but will eat what's here instead. Save $$, time and it will be good. [Just finished and it was yummy. Thankfully, we had paper plates 'cuz there's not a single clean plate in the kitchen cupboard. Dishwasher now running]. Started a load of laundry, too - the bathroom rug was in need of a washing so in it went.

Our shipment of Medifast arrived today, thank goodness, 'cuz we were getting kind of tired of eating pudding non-stop. Oh sure, it sounds great - pudding. PUDDING! All day, breakfast, lunch and dinner - but in reality, you get pretty darn tired of pudding. Especially J. who is far more disciplined about sticking to the program. He enjoyed a cup of beef stew for lunch and savored every bite - warm, filling, satisfying and NOT pudding.

On Wednesday, I attended a surprise wedding shower for N. at the college. It was great fun - visited with friends, saw the new 'remodeled' office I used to inhabit, including (now, after I've left) an office for my former position. It was great to see everyone and it was a fun afternoon! I felt homesick the minute I left, driving down the new drive past the vineyard and the new (and I think, ugly) houses. It's still 'home' to me.

Dani is whining incessantly. Since she hurt her back, she can't get up into her chair on her own. So we lift her up, now, and help her get all snugly and hope she'll quiet down. We have some stray cats hanging out in our backyard and it's making the dogs CRAZY. They are constantly on the alert and when the door is opened, they CHARGE outside, ready to do battle. Of course, the cats just head for the fence and hop over top effortlessly, leaving us with two hyped up dogs going crazy over the smells in their yard. It's nuts. And it goes on all day. Yesterday, when family was here, we put both dogs in their travel kennel out in the garage. They whined for a bit and then realized we weren't going to let them out so they quieted down. That's going to be an option, though it's pretty darn cold in there during the winter and hot in the summer, so it's not a permanent living space. Though it's tempting. She just jumped down from the chair for a cat check and is now whining AGAIN to get back up.

Tomorrow is church and errands. J. is playing at both services and H. is on 'slide' duty at the 11AM. So it will be 11AM for me, since I'm transporting H. there for his AV duties.

Time to go empty the dishwasher of the water that pools in the tops (bottoms) of the glasses. Then I think I'll read a good book - currently working on David Baldacci's "The Collectors".