Catch up blog

My fans are getting restless and several have been asking me to post. I'm not really sure if they are really fans or just want to know what is going on around here! I've just been feeling really lazy about posting recently. I guess it might be the chilly weather, since it has only been in the 40's and I don't like it at all. It is supposed to be 65 tomorrow and 67 on Friday, so maybe that will perk me up.

CUP's friend, Janine, was here and we had a wonderful visit with her. We talked a lot and laughed a lot! Mike, CUP, Janine, Alex, Hannah, Shauna, and I went to see Uncle Chuck's band play in Richmond on Saturday night. We had to pick Mikey up from the airport in Newport News (opposite direction from Richmond, of course) at 7 pm. We didn't end up getting to the airport until 7:20, due to problems with getting the seats back into the van. The band started at 9 pm, so we went straight there and got there just before they started. The bad part was that the restaurant/bar was completely full! Every table was taken and the server told us that they weren't expecting anyone to leave anytime soon, since they were all there to see the band. Great for the band, bad for us. The three little kids went to sit with their cousins, Cathy and Chas, but there was no where for the adults to sit. Since we hadn't had dinner and were starving by then, we decided to head down the street to one of my favorite restaurants, TGI Fridays. At first, I was really not happy and thrown off by the change in plans, but after we got to TGIF and got seated pretty quickly, I realized that it was for the best. It was relatively quiet in there and we got to sit and talk, with no kids around. That doesn't happen often! The food was really delicious (Yum!) and we had some great adult conversation.

After we finished eating, we headed back to see the band. When we got back, a few people had left and the band was still going to be playing for a little over an hour. We got a table right in front of the band (which I hated, more on that later!). It was nice to hear the band, but sort of sucked because we couldn't really talk anymore. Mike's sister, Roni, brought a birthday cake to celebrate Chuck's birthday, but I was too stuffed from TGIF to even taste it. It is rare that I pass up a cake offer! The kids were having a great time. They love to go there because they get to sit alone and be as silly and loud as they want and they don't bother anyone. Shauna got a little bored after a while, but that is to be expected. She was happy that its a sports bar and they have a ton of televisions in there and Sponge Bob was on, but she couldn't hear it. Next time she wants to bring Luke's PSP or her DS for when she gets bored. Her cousin, Chas, had his with him and he and Shauna are a lot alike!

I almost forgot to say why I didn't like sitting so close. No, it wasn't too loud. The singer is the reason I didn't want to sit close. He is the type that comes out in the audience and holds the microphone up to people to make them sing and he also sings to people. Being someone who doesn't like to be noticed, I HATE that. Okay, once Mike and I had really close seats at an Aerosmith concert and then still hot, Steven Tyler sang a chorus right to me, and I really liked that, but that was an exception to the rule! Anyway, the singer came up to me, took my hand and sang to me. I was so embarrassed, I have no clue what he was even singing. I just wanted to melt and make myself into a big puddle under the table. I told Alex about it later and he was really mad that he didn't see it! The funny part was that I had already sort of discussed this with Alex. I told him if the singer came up to me and tried to get me to sing, I was going to grab my pop and start drinking like crazy. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way!

After the band finished up, we headed home. Normally I hate the long ride home (an hour and 15 minutes or so), but this time it was fun and went by really quickly. We talked and laughed (a lot) all the way home. There were a lot of "that's what she saids", some goofy discussions and some serious discussions. It was probably the most laughing-type fun I've had in a long time.

On another, less interesting subject, I finally got my new washing machine! Yay! CUP, Steven and two of his housemates, Will and Chris came over to help move it in from the van. They started before CUP arrived and I had several moments of sheer terror as they were unwilling to wait and just ripped the extremely heavy washer out of the van, without a plan or anything. Steven couldn't help much because of his dog bite and so only Will and Chris were doing it. It started to slip out of Will's hands and they almost dropped it on the ground and all I could picture was $1018 flying out the window! Then they just whipped up the driveway and stairs with it, with no regard to being careful at all. It took at least 15 minutes after they were gone for my heart rate to get back to normal! I'm actually starting to feel anxious, just typing this up. Plus Steven was in rare form and kept yelling at me. All in all, they were only here for about 10 minutes, but it was 10 minutes too long for me! At least Chris and Will were nice to me. Chris asked me how I could stand having Steven live with me because he is so loud. In fact, he said his girlfriend had to get ear plugs now that they are living in the same house! I had to laugh because I never really noticed that he was loud, you have to be pretty loud in a large family setting, or you won't get heard above the din.