Sleepy

It's only 7:46PM and I'm fighting falling asleep right here in my chair. Busy, busy day.

We spent the morning celebrating H's birthday - he had a perfect birthday breakfast - home made chocolate chip cookies and milk. We piddled around the house - realized around 11 AM that Costco isn't open tomorrow so J. made a very quick trip for our weekly rations. And to gas up the van. $4.01 per gallon. Oh my gosh. I can't get over it. It was $60. Thankfully, my last CBO class is this coming Friday which will drastically reduce the number of days my commute is more than 4 miles round trip. Glad for that. Good thing we're looking at buying another hybrid. More about that in a future post.

Anyway, we headed to Alameda for the party - it was fun. Though a bit awkward. We don't see these people much anymore - though there was a time in my life when I was there everyday, when the kids we were celebrating graduating from college were 20 years younger. It was great to see them and we enjoyed the visit. We went for a walk to the apartment I used to live in. A brief stroll down memory lane. My feet were killing me since I didn't exactly wear walking shoes.

I lived in Alameda from 1985 until 1989. These friends were like my family - they had 2 young children when I met them (the husband was a coworker of mine at Mervyn's). I would babysit for them a lot and I refused to let them pay me. They were good friends and I spent many, many evenings at their home, enjoying family dinners. Their third child, a daughter, was a 'surprise' - and I was honored to be present at her birth. Every Friday night, we'd spend the evening together watching Dallas and Falcon Crest. We'd get the kids in bed and then the three adults would pop popcorn, open some sodas and watch 2 hours of great TV. We did that FOR YEARS and to this day, whenever I see or hear the Dallas theme, I think of M. and S. and the great times I had with them.

The two daughters graduated from college - one from Cal State East Bay and the other from Cal Berkeley. They are all grown up - one of them has a 3 1/2 year old son that she's raised alone, while going to school full time and working. They are good kids. Nice family. Their mom, S., was my matron of honor. Hard to believe that was over 18 years ago. Their oldest child, a son, is getting married in a month. It was a bit hard to realize that we weren't invited to the wedding - but it's a son's wedding and that means the bride's parents are footing most of the bill, most likely, so guess that's to be expected. Still, it made me sad since seeing these kids get married is something I've been looking forward to for a long time. Hopefully, we can be there when the daughters get married.

We left the party about 2 hours after we arrived and headed back home. Stopped at Stoneridge Mall for H. to spend some of his birthday money and gift cards. Sadly, he only found one pair of shorts. He wanted shirts and shoes. Guess we'll be shopping more tomorrow.

I will be working tomorrow, all day. At least 6 hours and quite possibly 8. Much to do. Have several things I really need to make progress on so I'll hopefully sleep better.

I did manage to sleep until around 7:35 this morning. I woke up at 6:30 and just forced myself to go back to sleep. Which wasn't too hard. The weather has taken an odd turn towards 'cooler' so I pulled the covers up and snuggled in for a little more sleep. Would have really loved to sleep until 9 - just roll over and go back to sleep - but had a cake and cookies to bake. Maybe tomorrow will be a 9AM morning. THAT will be great.

It's been a Law and Order marathon day today! Oh, and I discovered hulu.com - so many TV shows you can watch right on your computer. It's great - Mary Tyler Moore, Lou Grant, Dick Van Dyke, etc. It's GREAT. J. discovered it a few weeks ago and looped me in. AND Law and Order is on hulu.com as well, so now I really CAN watch it 24/7 (which J. swears I do anyway).

Don't forget at 3PM tomorrow to stop whatever you are doing and take a moment of silence for those who have given their lives fighting for our freedom. I don't think our current war has anything to do with a fight for freedom, but I still want to acknowledge and thank those who are serving. To think that 'doing my job' would involve fighting in a war - I can't really fathom that level of commitment. I can't imagine it.

The letters from every branch of the armed forces continue to arrive weekly for B. Camouflage on the envelopes is a dead giveaway. I'm filing them. Somewhere.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Pray for our country and for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and all our men and women in the Armed Forces.