^-^







Ah, I miss vacation already...

I am so not going to want to get up at 4:45 tomorrow...

Welcome Sunny Sunshine and Angel An!

I missed the phone calls at 10:30 this morning, but YAY!  Two more nieces to add to my collection!  And to carry on my tradition, I hereby nickname them Ushi and Inamiboshi.  ^-^

I now have a Neko (Rat) called Phooka or Nezumi, a Neko (Cat/Rabbit) called Neko (since her mother is Usagi), a Hebi (Snake) called Hebi or Snake, an Uma (Horse) called Uma or Waterhorse, and two Ushi (Ox/Cow) called Ushi and Inamiboshi.  So far, only the two older girls are called by their nicknames with any regularity, but the tradition must go on, hahaha.

Congratulations to Ninja Mistress and Marathon Man!

Edited
Edited 2 - 211009 08:40
Edited 3 - 28OCT09 21:21

Raya
2 Baltic Avenues (Brown)
Pacific Avenue (Green)
North Carolina Avenue (Green)
Marvin Gardens (Yellow)
Connecticut Avenue (Light Blue)
Park Place (Dark Blue)
Reading Railroad

Ree
Baltic Avenues (Brown)
Reading Railroad
B&O Railroad
Illinois Avenue (Red)
Indiana Avenue (Red)
North Carolina Avenue (Green)
Pacific Avenue (Green)
Marvin Gardens (Yellow)

Raya J
Baltic Avenue (Brown)
Atlantic Avenue (Yellow)
Indiana Avenue (Red)
Illinois Avenue (Red)
New York Avenue (Orange)
B&O Railroad
Reading Railroad

And I think we may have a B&O Railroad at home.

I don't want to think about the number of calories I am about to consume. It is probably my limit for the day, all in one large sized meal. *sigh* We only ate so-so on the road, but I don't think I gained too much weight from that. This on the other hand...

^-^

Mata ne!

PS - Oooo, we just need one more yellow. I hate that. I always end up needing just one more yellow &/or orange &/or red. Hahaha... With Ventnor Avenue, J and I (and whoever joins us with the third piece) could split $25k. Not bad. *looks at missing street name* Ventnor? I don't remember a Ventnor. Ventura, yes, but not Ventnor. Something seems odd there...

Ooo, if we find Mediteranean Avenue to go with one of our Baltics, we could get $50. ^-^

*rolls eyes laughingly*  Twos.  Why do I always end up with twos?  Two railroads, two reds, two greens, two yellows...

Does no one else (other than Ree) want to play with me?  Ree can't.  *Gives sister a stern look.*  You have the pieces above.  Be happy, ne?  If you can't afford it, you can't afford it.  ^-^

*points to icon*

At about 7:00 last night, I stepped back through my own door and into Real Life once more. *sigh* ^-^ Vacation was fun, if a bit tiring. Poor J came down with a head cold at the very end, but he was a trooper and kept insisting that we go and do things. I took about 500 pictures and short videos on my digital camera so I have a lot to sort through before I make a post, hahaha. I looked at them last night, and even though I was there and saw it with my own eyes I keep thinking some of them look like they were Photoshopped by an overzealous balloon-loving child.

Off to grab my accumulated mail, grab some lunch, and get back to work. Oddly, I'm not as tired as I thought I would be... I'm just not in the mood to work. Not so out of the mood that I'm protesting and kicking and screaming, just not in the mood to get started on any of the projects I need to work on today. ^-^

At some point, I will make an effort to catch up on my friend's page. *gulp* And then, post a summary of vacation, review stories for Ree and Senium, etc., and go from there. Have a great day, minna!

Mata ne!

Still alive. Having lots of fun. The Fiesta was as unbelievably amazing as the Grand Canyon when I saw it years ago. Very exhausting with early mornings and late nights, though. It almost felt like I was at 'CON!

Yesterday was a scratch at the Fiesta, walking around the Balloon Museum, and shopping in Old Town. Today is taking the Sandia Tramway up the mountain and hiking. Tomorrow is going to the Petroglyph park and maybe a Pueblo if we have time. And Wednesday is travel home. Bleh. Thursday is work, and Friday is work with a chance of snow. Saturday is fix the stupid drain which still is not working and is worse than ever. *wry smile* Welcome home...

Gotta run to breakfast so we can get out there and exhaust ourselves again today! Everyone have fun! ^-^ And don't get flooded out with the additional rain...

edited in italics

Good morning, all!

A quick jot as I'm waiting to check in for our flight tomorrow. Then it's off to the chiropractor, work, a hair cut, and finally vacation!

Life is very busy right now, as you probably guessed. I'm trying to exercise one to two hours per day in addition to work, so that is choking up any time not spent with J. But honestly, the real reason I'm not in here so much lately is that I just don't want to look at a computer after I leave work. I stare at the darn thing all day. The thought of looking at it again, no matter how much I like you guys, in the one to two hours I have before bed is just not appealing. A-hahaha... That sounded a bit insulting, didn't it? Sorry. I do like you guys. I really do. It's the computer I have issues with... ^-^'''.

I am getting the itch to write a little again, though, so that may change. Plus, it's autumn now with winter right around the corner. There's a chance that the weekends will slow down enough to let me get on and enjoy. Haha, of course, right now, they are occupied with playing with smoothies (thanks to Vay's challenge) and cooking, but you never know.

Speaking of cooking, I really need to get these tomatoes cooked off. *sigh* Alas, I got up later than I wanted to this morning (darn body clock is changing before the official US clock as usual), so I don't have time. I guess I'll cook it overnight and freeze them in the morning. I'd hate to lose the 16-20 tomatoes we managed to steal from the blight. 4-5 tomatoes a plant isn't too bad, I guess. Given the blight.

I hope life is going well for all. Tomorrow, J and I will be flying off to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta!!! and J's birthday. We plan to take lots of pictures and run ourselves ragged, hahaha. Hopefully, I'll have some to share in a week or so.

Ja ne!

PS - Want to know how busy I am? I haven't read the final chapter (2?) of TRC yet! Gaaaaaaaa....

A quick jot as I race out the door to go to Spinning. (I'm tired. I don' wanna...)

Here's what Ree and our family have been dealing with this week. Our parents used to live on Cindy many years ago, but I can't quite place the intersection. I think it was between them and the main road.



Geesh. And I thought the washout near J's grandmother this past July was bad... Well, it was on the same scale, I guess. Much more impressive in person.

Faith, I hope you and yours are doing well, too. I don't think it's as bad over by you, but I'm really not hearing too much on the radio so I don't know.

*sigh* And now, off to class. Ja ne!

Last post and then I really, really do need to get to work. -_-

xXxHoLiC update for Ree and Starsea. Looks like maybe it won't be ending this year after all? Hmmmm...

Barbie Girl by Aqua is a very, very addictive song. How could I have possibly forgotten it in the past 12 years? It's been stuck going 'round and 'round in my brain since I heard it Friday night. Aaaaaahhhhh! Someone make it stop!

*rubs her sore back and goes back to work for one more hour*

http://community.livejournal.com/bentolunch/3912695.html

Laundry, Raya. Laundry... Wearing socks to work my not be quite so critical when you're female and can get away with stockings and flats (and freezing feet), but underwear? In a Fortune 500 company? Is kinda important. And more comfortable than going without.

^-^

And to get back off of a TMI topic...

TRC will end THIS MONTH! I was right. This is definitely the last arc. And a short arc it will be, too. Two chapters long, though the last chapter will be 30 pages, so the size of a double chapter. *smile* Yeah! Haha, though I wish all of those people hung up on the Vampire Twins story line would use their brains. Um... Seishirou, Kamui, Fuma, and Subaru are not main characters in TRC... Their AU story is not TRC... Their story does not need to be resolved in order for TRC to be complete. Really... If they are truly that interesting and popular, they will be back and maybe you will see a resolution. I tend to think not, and especially not before X is continued and ended.

*gets down off of soapbox* Word is also that xXxHoLiC will end at the end of this year, too. Odd, I thought it would end before TRC, but maybe because it is being drug out so long. Haha, I guess at a once a month release, it only has three or so chapters left, too.

*frowns* I hope we get a little better resolution on FWR and his motivations. Something just doesn't seem right about his treatment in the last TRC chapter. Though, it makes one of my suspicions seem a little more true, hahaha.

Okay, now I really am going downstairs. Ja ne, minna!

Okay, I'm working so I'll keep this pretty brief. And yes, I really am working. I was just going onto the internet to look something up when I saw this on the general Yahoo! page.

Obama goes back to school - Yahoo! News

Oh my word, people. Get a life. I bet if you look way, way, way back in your old school notes, you will find almost the exact same questions in your reading comprehension exercises. And not just in Language Arts, but in science, and social studies, too.

Just because the White House has presented this, in my opinion, standard looking set of questions as work activity for the kids to go with Obama's speech, it does not mean that they are trying to brainwash or indoctrinate the kids. *rolls eyes* When did your average adult become so ridiculously crazy?

-----

On a compeletel separate note and tompic, there's a helicopter flying very low over our building complex. I hope it's not Mercy Flight... It's too pretty a day for someone to have such a terrible need. I suppose it could be someone taking pictures...

And now, back to work. Cue ringing phone, hahaha.

What type of bread to make... Any suggestions from the peanut gallery? I'm already making one loaf of seeded dark rye (from a box), two loaves of molasses oatmeal wheat (from a cookbook recipe), and two loaves of white (from Vay's recipe). Haha, before you all look at me like I'm crazy, most of this is going to be frozen before the final rise for future baking during the week when I run out of both bread and time. I think I'd like two more loaves, though, and I don't know what to make.

*pauses to glare at TaraBlue* There is too a disc in there. You've even written to it before. Why do you refuse to see it now? You see other discs...

*sigh* I guess rewritable DVDs aren't so rewritable. Only half of them seem to work more than once, even with erasure and reformatting. Darn. Oh well. Hopefully, I can get through a full, complete backup this time. *laughs in disbelief* Right. Well, it is a hope.

Another hope: That I get to do some writing tomorrow. Today was supposed to be bread, housecleaning, and bills day so that I could veg and write tomorrow on my wonderful day off, but... J was here until about 1, and I was still deciding what bread to make and... things got started late. Which means that either bills or housekeeping will have to be done tomorrow, which means writing may not get done after all. *soft sigh* We'll see. I may postpone housework yet again, though I really shouldn't given all that needs to be done. The cats and I are shedding, so the rabbit sized dust bunnies are building up quickly. *smile*

Off to peruse bread recipes for inspiration. Ja ne!

Hmmm...

Monday: Spinning at 5:30-6:30 pm
Power Yoga (?) at 6:30-7:30 pm

Tuesday: Zumba at 5:30-6:30 pm
Tai Chi at 7:00-8:30 pm (drive to NE Y) Bleh.

Wednesday: Spinning at 5:30-6:30 pm
CardioBlast at 6:30-7:30 pm?

Thursday: Zumba at 5:30-6:30 pm
Pilates at 6:30-7:15 pm
Choir practice 7:30-9:00 pm Double Bleh.

Friday: Strength and Tone at 11:30-12:15 pm (lunch hour)
Spinning at 5:30-6:30 pm on non-chiropractor nights

Am I nuts or what? *sigh* Why is it to be healthy you have to have cardio 3-5 times per week and strength training at least twice? And flexibility/stretching work? *pout*

Speaking of flexibility, I am really interested in the new flexibility/stretching class that they are going to offer. Alas, it is a later class, and I think it's on Tuesday or Thursday night. Tuesday is the only day now that I can take Tai Chi, and Thursday is choir so... Guess that's out.

Of course, if I were really crazy, I'd change some of those spinning classes to 6:30-7:30 AM MWF and take the morning 6:30-7:30 Yoga class, too. Honestly, it's tempting. I hate losing sleep (read: I hate getting up in the mornings), but to get my evenings free... Oh, it's tempting. But I would have to do it consistently to get into a routine. On the other hand, the couple of times I did manage to get into a pre-work workout routine, I liked it. Bears some thought. But not during the winter. Unless it's a really light winter. I just can't see getting up extra early to shovel snow before going to work out. Bad enough going out in the freezing dark cold. Brrr!

We have rain today, and I have a headache. *sigh* And more work that I need to do. I am going to give up and use a vacation day either Friday or Monday. I'd like to wait until Monday for several reasons, but I'm wondering if I'll even make it to Friday. I'm feeling that worn out. *sigh*

Monday would be nice because I'd be tempted to do all this stuff on Friday that would make it non-restful. Like go to Zumba at 9:00 am, then over to work for the Strength and Tone class at 11:30 and lunch with J after that. And then there's the chiropractor appointment at 5:30... On Monday, all I would have would be Zumba in the morning to tempt me, and that's not so bad. Not as much running around. And I'm planning to take a half day on Friday the 4th to drive to PA to see UL & AR whom I haven't visited in multiple years. Bad, bad niece. I used to go 2-3 times per year. Hopefully, they'll remember what I look like and forgive me (hahaha). Anyway, so if I took Monday off, it'd be less stressful, and it'd be an even shorter week. That would be so good... Unless I ended up stressing at work trying to play catchup before I left. But right now, I think it would take some serious stuff to jerk the stress level up that high. Too much on my plate. I like a steady full plate, but I have always had difficulties with multiple high priorities and it isn't getting any better.

And now, I'd better quit goofing off and get back to work. Time to do timesheets (blech) and an expense report before getting back to work on those multiple high priorities. And deciding whether or not to do a makeup workout session at lunch. Hmmm....

Maybe when I take that vacation day, I can do a better update posting. In the meantime, hugs to Faith and Senium, a rope to Ree (strung between the walls of the chasm about three inches above water level for a nice resting spot), early birthday wishes to Whistlingwolf, and off I go!

Random update: My work sink, where the sump pump and the washing machine currently discharge to, is draining very slowly. J has put some penetrating oil on the clean out plugs because they are impossible to move, and plans were to work on it this weekend. Alas, the rains came yesterday... Or rather, the typhoons came last night. Okay, okay, maybe they were just tropical storms... out of Canada. Anyway, it dumped a lot of rain... And I had a fun time trying to keep the basement from flooding. Interrupted my dinner, it did. And that's the dinner I was trying to eat about 9:30 pm. *sigh*

Add to that, the sump pump was acting up, and I had a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, I was downstairs when the high level went off. And the rains had nearly stopped so I was able to somehow keep up with the water. The floor got wet and slippery, but no floods.

I tried to connect the pump back to the original pipe going out of the house, but we had modified the connector and it didn't fit anymore. Then, I tried using duct tape to make it fit, but... No. Too much spray around the edges. Looked like a broken pipe. So, that didn't work. Then, I opened up the hole in the side of the house where the discharge used to go to the gutter drain many, many years ago. The thought was to get the flexible hose out of the house and let the water drain down the drive. No good. The hose OD (outside diameter) was the same size as the hole ID (inside diameter). It would have taken more time or patience than I had to make it work. So, I had to set everything up to go back to the sink once more and change the actuation level on the pump so that the crock didn't get as full (i.e., not as much water per pumpout going to the sink). That worked, thank heavens. Of course, while I was going through all this, I was bailing the sump out. And again, thank heavens the rains lightened up and didn't get bad again. I finally got to finish my dinner about 11:00. *half smile*

Interesting Health Factoid: Which is why I came in here even though I should be working. *smile*

"Without exercise, adults lose about five pounds of muscle every decade, beginning at age 30. With no change in diet, this equals a weight gain of two and a half pounds every year. Since she doesn’t exercise, this means Jane would have to eat less every year to maintain her weight. In fact, by the time she turns 40 she would have to cut out about one day’s worth of food each week to keep from gaining weight."

In-ter-esting. Better get into a routine, all you twenty somethings. Believe me, it's easier to maintain than to fight your way back. Haha, and better get those kids started before they get to college so that they maintain good habits. Or at least have a fighting chance.

Off to finish being unproductive so I can finally get to work. What? It's Friday. Health and Fitness updates in the morning are now part of the routine. That's my excuse (ignores the 1/4 sinus tablet and 1 Motrin running through her veins), and I'm sticking to it. Hahaha...

Have a good day, all!

*imagine a plane scrolling these lovely letters into the sky*  ^-^

Happy Birthday, Flyboy!

Haha, just remember to invert them so they are white letters on a beautiful summer sky blue background!

And now, running off to Tai Chi.  Busy, busy, busy bee. 

*gives Senium a quick sisterly hug before logging off*

Sorry guys. I've been around, sorta, but haven't had time to do more than read and think of comments. I still need to watch the videos that Senium uploaded for me, comment on several posts, and make a nice long entry.

But, I'm at work and I'm trying to stay focused, so this quick update will have to do. Getting it out of my mind so I can concentrate, hahaha.

1) Vayleen's Smoothie Challenge update: Drats. I had a pretty good idea, but after some more investigation I think it falls under milkshake rather than smoothie. *amused smile* J tells me that since it has milk and a banana in it, I can still call it a smoothie, but we'll see. It still needs some tweaking, too. Last night was the first go 'round with it, and it came out a bit too liquidy for me. Needs to be thicker. And I have to come up with an alternative flavor for Ree and I, I think. ^-^ Coffee is okay, but I wouldn't call it the best. Hmmm... Wonder if oatmeal would blend well with it. That would certainly thicken it up. Or the graham crackers. I forgot those...

2) Ree's sm_monthly - Venus Challenge update: Someday, I will find time to write when the computer isn't being a pain. *smile* I have ideas for about 1/4-1/2 of the month, it's just getting them down! *grin* Legs will probably be a KnS excerpt with Ken and Minako. And he keeps nudging me that since it's her month he should be able to be introduced.... *frowns at OC* Dynamite was claimed by Forever Young Minako. You can fight with her about whether or not it would be better for the great Blow Up Disney scene in the KnS prequel. Personally, I think it's stretching it, but we could work something out... Argue with her. *plugs her ears to the OC's tantalizing whispers*

3) Weekend update: Spent Saturday doing laundry, dishes, and reading instead of paying bills and vacuuming/sweeping. Delightful. ^-^ Cantored 7 pm, then went to J's house for dinner. Went to the Erie County Fair on Sunday (which is larger than some state fairs!) and spent the whole day walking around in the heat and making J drink liquids. (Yay! We finally got some summer weather!!) SPF50 prevented much of a tan in addition to a sunburn (alas), but all in all a good time. And I got to hear a little of Brooks and Dunn. And see them, too, from a long way away. ^-^ Forget the first song we heard (I knew it), but then they went into My Maria. They left the stage after that and we started walking back towards the car even though I suspected they'd be called back for (another?) encore, and sure enough they were. I got to hear the end of A Brand New Man and the first verse of Boot Scootin' Boogie. ^-^ I would have loved to have seen the whole concert, but a) I didn't realize that was the night they were going to be there so I didn't get tickets, and b) it would have chewed up a lot of our Fair browsing time. I would probably have had to gone back, hahaha. There are somethings that just have to be done every year, like the barns, the Grange, and the Woodworker's building. So, I'm happy to have gotten what I did.

4) Zumba Monday night, chilling with J and playing with my milkshake smoothie last night... More chilling with J tonight. Probably bills tomorrow night (I really need to get those done) after Tai Chi, and who knows what on Friday night. Don't know of any plans this weekend other than church. Next weekend is some boat races and maybe a festival in the local artsy neighborhood. We really need to get our plans set for New Mexico in October, too...

And that's it for now. ^-^ Time to get back to work.

This is an article I think a LOT of people need to see. And no, it has nothing to do with politics, global warming, religion, abortion, or similar controversial topics. It has to do with health and wellness. And fitness and weight.

One really interesting fact was the death rate given in the second paragraph of the Fitness=Longevity section. Those people who depend on genetics or diets only, beware. Those people who work and work and never loose an ounce, do not despair.

If I get any complaints about copyrights and such... I apologize in advance. I'm not making any money off of this. I just think it makes an incredibly important point that most people miss.

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Fat and Fit?
Regular exercise greatly reduces your health risks, even if you're overweight.
by Steven Blair

Most people think that you can tell if someone's fit, active and healthy just by looking at them. It's not true!

Fit, healthy people come in all sizes and shapes. The same is true of unhealthy people. I know several thin people who are unfit and have serious health problems.


Weight Isn't Everything
How is it possible to be fat and fit? Quite simple. You may have the genetic predisposition to be "stocky," yet you engage in regular exercise. A colleague once asked a 5' 4", 200-lb. woman how she viewed her weight despite routinely devoting an hour a day to vigorous exercise. She replied, "I used to weigh 100 pounds more than I do now." In terms of her health, that's a tremendous difference.

I often tell people that I was short, fat and bald when I started running, but that after running nearly every day for more than 30 years and covering about 70,000 miles...I am still short, fat, and bald. But I suspect I'm in much better shape than I'd be if I didn't run.


Fitness = Longevity
For much of my career, I've tracked a large group of patients from the Cooper Clinic. Each individual received a medical examination upon entering the study, including measurements of height, weight, body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness. We have followed these patients over the years to see who gets sick, who stays healthy, who lives and who dies. The results are fascinating.

Our follow-up has shown that the death rate for women and men who are thin but unfit is at least twice as high as their obese counterparts who are fit. In fact, across every category of body composition, unfit individuals have a much higher death rate than those who are fit. Fitness appears to provide protection against early mortality no matter how much you weigh.


Defining Fitness
Being fit, as defined in our study, does not require high-level athletic training. It means meeting the consensus public recommendation of a cumulative 30 minutes of moderate intensity daily activity, such as walking. Doing more brings additional health benefits. Overall, our data show about 50% lower mortality in the moderately fit as compared with the low fit; highly fit individuals lower their risk another 10 - 15%.

Another interesting finding: Many people classified as obese by current standards actually have a good health profile. We see that as many as 40% of obese individuals have normal cholesterol and blood pressure, do not smoke and are physically fit.

Anyone who struggles with their weight should take this as good news. My recommendation is to focus on good health habits, no matter what number you see on the scale. Give fruits, vegetables and whole grains a major place in your daily diet. Be moderate about fat and alcohol. Don't smoke. Work on managing stress. Perhaps most important, get out of your chair and start moving for at least 30 minutes every day.

Steven Blair is a professor at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. He is one of the few individuals outside the U.S. Public Health Service to be awarded the Surgeon General's Medallion.

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Thus ends my public service announcement. I shall now go back to trying to be productive in my work day. :)

Have a great day, all!

I couldn't find any pictures of the washed out road in Eden that J's grandmother and sister live on. Alas. He told me that a whole section of the road lost its bed... It looked like a ribbon of asphalt hanging in the air. Fortunately, what his father told him was that the other side of the road, closer to where they live, the road seems pretty steady and just had some debris on it. So, sounds like they should be able to get in and out soon. Just, everybody but me has to take the long way around to see them, hahaha.

But, I did take some pictures of the rose J gave me. ^-^ I didn't do anything but resize them, so I apologize in advance for the poor quality.

( A rose that smells soooo sweeeet... )

Three different views just for fun. And to show off the little bit of red/orange left on one petal. Most of it is yellow now. ^-^

Ja ne!

*smile*

I'm still fighting some blues, but J came over on Saturday and that helped. Funny... His mere presence is enough to calm and soothe me and make me feel better. I was probably going through withdrawal on top of PMS, hahaha. At least I didn't quite make it down to blacks.

Haha, someone was happy I finally left work on Friday night. *grin* As I was leaving, someone began shooting off fireworks in the park across the street. I got to see several pretty ones before getting in the car and driving to Wendy's for dinner.

I went to bed about 11:00 or so, and was up by 7:30-8:00. Took the cats down to PetSmart and got their nails trimmed. Set up an appointment to get Leander groomed in September (those darn mats are back and bad as ever). Went on a fruitless search in Target and Walmart for a tub of apricot scrub. *sigh* Looks like the tubs have been discontinued. All I can find are the tubes which don't hold nearly as much.

Stopped at Panera and got some bagels for breakfast (one for me for Saturday, and one each for J and I for Sunday). Dropped the cats and the car off at the house, then grabbed my bike and rode up to the post office for my accumulated mail. Stopped at the grocery store on the way home for fixin's for two recipes that I wanted to try. Got home and made an Italian cooked creme recipe and a homemade gelatin jello for dessert that night, and a mock-tuna salad mix for sandwiches. Cleaned up the kitchen, watched TV for a couple of hours while I ate lunch (dumb depressing movies), then laid down at 4:00 for a nap until J got there at 4:30. ^-^

My day brightened up a bit after he got there. We went to Fat Bob's for dinner (barbeque), then went home and had the creme and jello and a few blueberries for topping. Yum! The creme never set. Ah well. I'll have to try it again with more gelatin in it. I'm not sure if it was the almond milk substitution, or if I didn't heat the mixture hot/long enough. *smile* More playtime!

Got up late on Sunday and lazed around. Was a bad girl and skipped Mass. Spent most of the day trying to get TaraBlue backed up again. *sigh* I decided to do a whole backup again, and it keeps messing up. I'm ready to scream. It takes so long, and then it fails? So frustrating. But while it was backing up, I started watching Macross 7. I'm up to episode 8 now, I think. Pretty good, though I hope Max and Miriya get back together again. *sad frown* They're a canon OTP. They can't break up! *pout* Especially not after being together for 35 years or so. Come on! *smile* I did watch the Dynamite OVA before starting the series... 1 & 2 before I went on travel (while trying to back up TaraBlue) and 3 & 4 yesterday.

Bad, bad storms last night. I came through without any damage, but J's grandmother has been having some problems. Last week, they had so much rain that it washed across the road and left a bunch of dirt and debris in her yard. No house or structure damage, thank heavens. That was the yard work that I thought J would be doing Friday: cleanup.

He and his father were going to work on it yesterday, but no sooner did he get there than the rain started falling. They saw another flood trying to start... Water half-way across the road in front of his grandmother's house. Haha, he was joking that it was a good thing it was a double yellow line, or the water would have crossed it. And then we got more heavy rain last night. When I woke up this morning, I heard on the radio that her road was closed. Sounds like they got hit again. His sister lives just up the street from her and is in the affected area, too. Fun. I don't know if he came in today or not. Probably. But he'll probably be down there all week trying to clean up. I'll probably hear tonight how bad it got. I kinda hope it was just water this time, but I doubt it. It didn't get into the houses or knock anything vital down. I assume that, of course, because no one called them in the middle of the night last night.

And just for fun, we're supposed to get more of the same weather again today. Joy! I debated working at home just in case the power went out, but I'm here in the office. I decided I'd wait until the storms rolled through, and then check to see if I can find out where the power outages are either by radio or on-line. If all else fails, I guess I'll go home and check.

And for a quick update, that took a lot of time, hahaha. But, that's my weekend. Here's hoping we all continue to be lucky and not have any real storm damage!

Have a good day, all!

PS - Oh! Oh! I almost forgot. *grin* J gave me a flower Saturday. A rose. Hand picked from his own rose bushes. *happy smile* This is the man who does not like cut flowers (because they don't last). He hasn't given me flowers of any kind in a while. And yet, Saturday, when I really needed a pick-me-up to keep the blacks at bay, he gave me a rose. A pretty red/yellow/orange rosebud with a beautiful scent. That is opening! It was almost in full bloom this morning. *sighs happily as she goes back to work thinking of her pretty flower*

Leaving work now. I was a good girl and put in about 4 hours of productive overtime. ^-^ But now, my head and neck are not happy with me, and my stomach is joining in with their chorus so I guess I shall give in to them and go home.

Guess that was a bit long for a tweet, huh. Hahaha...