Week in Review
-Thursday we saw Wicked for the 2nd time. It was breath-taking. We were both in absolute heaven the whole time, with goosebumps from the incredible talent of the cast. Defying Gravity brought tears to my eyes, and Casey said she hadn't realized she was holding her breath. We didn't have seats together, but it turned out the balcony we were sitting in had a lot of empty seats, so we ended up sitting together and even moved closer to the center.
It was a nice night in general because first we went to Sharon's house, where her roommate Ana and Debbie also were, and Sharon cooked a roast and Debbie brought ice cream cake, and then we all piled into my mom's van (which I'd borrowed), picked up Sharon's sister and headed to the theater, where we got to park right by the entrance thanks to Debbie's disabled parking hangtag (which was such a luxury! Parking downtown is a HUGE hassle). We didn't get home until midnight so we were tired the next day, but it was absolutely worth it.
-I finished reading a great book called The Hunger Games and am anxiously awaiting the sequel, which I ordered from the library. Casey's Geography class has been reading it and doing reenactments and she was telling me about it, which got me curious. It's a fascinating story that takes place in the future, after North America has been destroyed by various natural disasters, and out of the ashes has risen a new Capital. In order to show their power over the districts they oversee, they force each of them to send 2 teenagers into The Hunger Games every year, where they have to fight to the death. It's all broadcast on the most evil reality show ever. Apparently they are going to make a movie, which I think would be great. The book was hard to put down. I normally only read on my breaks at work, but found myself bringing this book home every night (and reading it as I walked to my car) because I had to know what happened next.
-Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent. This is Casey's first year observing the food restrictions (no meat on Fridays and no snacks on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, you don't technically have to participate until you are 14). She did fine. Actually, too fine. When I picked her up for mass that evening she told me she'd had nothing to eat all day but a cookie. I told her this isn't a FAST fast. She knew that, but apparently she spent her lunch break trying to replace her lost ID and didn't have time to eat. And since I had told her no snacks (not knowing she'd had no lunch), she didn't eat anything at home either. So by the time we left mass and headed to Cracker Barrel with my parents, the poor kid was ravenous and scarfed down some catfish skewers even though she hates fish. Anyway, back to mass - our priest is from the Philippines and has a funny accent, so every time he said "ashes" it sounded like "asses". So it was hard not to laugh when he said things like "As we prepare to place asses on our foreheads".
-We got our annual raises this week at work, and I went up about 60 cents an hour, which is pretty good compared to previous years. Every little bit helps. Hard to say how much more that will end up being per week (after taxes, etc) because this check had a couple of hours of overtime in it. So I'll have a better idea next Friday.
-Friday morning I had a pest control guy come out because I thought I might have termites. He says no, it looks more like water damages. I think part of my roof needs to be replaced or patched up. Joy. But it was a nice morning. I still got up early and took Casey to school, and then I had a couple of hours before the guy was supposed to come (window was 9-11), so I had some time to do a little laundry, pay bills and have some peace before going in to work. It was a short day though, since, as usual, I was over on my time (but I kind of did that on purpose knowing I'd be in late). I worked 11-5.
Today I reluctantly missed out on sleeping in so I could take Casey and 2 friends to Universal. I'm pretty annoyed because neither of their parents are willing to bring them home later. Why should I have to make the trip twice? Especially for Alejo, who I gave one of my comp tickets to. I'm driving him there AND getting him in for free, and his father can't be bothered to pick him up? WTF? Plus I'm going there later for the Foreigner concert, so that would be 3 trips to Universal in one day (about 25 miles each time), at these crazy high gas prices. Well, now my mom is going to pick them up for me because otherwise they'd have to leave early so I could get back in time for the concert (they can't stay for that because the ticket I gave Alejo is only good for the other park, which closes early). She shouldn't have to though. Whatever. I can't wait until she gets her license next year and I can stop driving her and her friends around. Of course, unless I miraculously come up with money to get her a car, we'll probably still be in the same boat.
But, Foreigner tonight! Yay.
It was a nice night in general because first we went to Sharon's house, where her roommate Ana and Debbie also were, and Sharon cooked a roast and Debbie brought ice cream cake, and then we all piled into my mom's van (which I'd borrowed), picked up Sharon's sister and headed to the theater, where we got to park right by the entrance thanks to Debbie's disabled parking hangtag (which was such a luxury! Parking downtown is a HUGE hassle). We didn't get home until midnight so we were tired the next day, but it was absolutely worth it.
-I finished reading a great book called The Hunger Games and am anxiously awaiting the sequel, which I ordered from the library. Casey's Geography class has been reading it and doing reenactments and she was telling me about it, which got me curious. It's a fascinating story that takes place in the future, after North America has been destroyed by various natural disasters, and out of the ashes has risen a new Capital. In order to show their power over the districts they oversee, they force each of them to send 2 teenagers into The Hunger Games every year, where they have to fight to the death. It's all broadcast on the most evil reality show ever. Apparently they are going to make a movie, which I think would be great. The book was hard to put down. I normally only read on my breaks at work, but found myself bringing this book home every night (and reading it as I walked to my car) because I had to know what happened next.
-Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent. This is Casey's first year observing the food restrictions (no meat on Fridays and no snacks on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, you don't technically have to participate until you are 14). She did fine. Actually, too fine. When I picked her up for mass that evening she told me she'd had nothing to eat all day but a cookie. I told her this isn't a FAST fast. She knew that, but apparently she spent her lunch break trying to replace her lost ID and didn't have time to eat. And since I had told her no snacks (not knowing she'd had no lunch), she didn't eat anything at home either. So by the time we left mass and headed to Cracker Barrel with my parents, the poor kid was ravenous and scarfed down some catfish skewers even though she hates fish. Anyway, back to mass - our priest is from the Philippines and has a funny accent, so every time he said "ashes" it sounded like "asses". So it was hard not to laugh when he said things like "As we prepare to place asses on our foreheads".
-We got our annual raises this week at work, and I went up about 60 cents an hour, which is pretty good compared to previous years. Every little bit helps. Hard to say how much more that will end up being per week (after taxes, etc) because this check had a couple of hours of overtime in it. So I'll have a better idea next Friday.
-Friday morning I had a pest control guy come out because I thought I might have termites. He says no, it looks more like water damages. I think part of my roof needs to be replaced or patched up. Joy. But it was a nice morning. I still got up early and took Casey to school, and then I had a couple of hours before the guy was supposed to come (window was 9-11), so I had some time to do a little laundry, pay bills and have some peace before going in to work. It was a short day though, since, as usual, I was over on my time (but I kind of did that on purpose knowing I'd be in late). I worked 11-5.
Today I reluctantly missed out on sleeping in so I could take Casey and 2 friends to Universal. I'm pretty annoyed because neither of their parents are willing to bring them home later. Why should I have to make the trip twice? Especially for Alejo, who I gave one of my comp tickets to. I'm driving him there AND getting him in for free, and his father can't be bothered to pick him up? WTF? Plus I'm going there later for the Foreigner concert, so that would be 3 trips to Universal in one day (about 25 miles each time), at these crazy high gas prices. Well, now my mom is going to pick them up for me because otherwise they'd have to leave early so I could get back in time for the concert (they can't stay for that because the ticket I gave Alejo is only good for the other park, which closes early). She shouldn't have to though. Whatever. I can't wait until she gets her license next year and I can stop driving her and her friends around. Of course, unless I miraculously come up with money to get her a car, we'll probably still be in the same boat.
But, Foreigner tonight! Yay.