Last bits of vacation
The final couple of travel days were not really all that interesting; what can one do in 9 hours in a car, with SO and dog, after all? We had lunch on Friday in Laramie, Wyoming, at a vegetarian cafe (Sweet Melissa) which was quite good, although I confess to some irk over it since my preference while driving long distances is for fast food. It's kind of the one time that I can feel semi-justified in eating fast food, for one thing, plus it's fast (duh) and doesn't necessitate leaving the dog in the car for long stretches. Therefore SO and I agreed that Saturday we'd do fast food for lunch, and it worked out fairly well since the weather was cool in Wyoming whereas in Kansas Saturday it was hot. We also went to a local bar & grill for dinner on Friday, where SO had walleye (fish) and I had steak (third of the trip, what a treat!).
Used the iPod successfully a couple of days, although I did not try plugging it into the car power adaptor, just ran it off the battery. The charger was having an interesting quirk, whereby I had to re-plug it into the wall in order to get it to actually charge the iPod (just setting the iPod into the already-plugged-in charger didn't work). Yesterday at home though it did work as it was supposed to. Weird. I guess I will just watch it and see what happens.
Saturday SO drove most of the day; I only drove the last couple of hours or so. We were both very ready to be home by then. Got in a little before 7 pm, unloaded, fed Juno, started unpacking, and brought in pepperoni pizza for dinner because there was no way I was up for cooking. I did take advantage of the near-emptiness of the fridge to both wipe down all the shelves and also toss some old condiments etc. - there was one thing in there that was purchased in 2003, I kid you not.
Sunday of course I had to do grocery shopping, since there was nothing in the house (except that SO had picked up some milk Saturday night when he brought in the pizza). Also started laundry, which was partially foiled because the circuit to the dryer had shorted out and smoke started coming from the connection outside. SO bought clothesline and hung up the two loads that had been washed, go him! I had already planned to go see PotC:OST and there was only one showing I could get to, so I couldn't help with the clothes-hanging.
Enjoyed the film mostly, although as I noted in a previous post I did very much miss some of the characters from the original three films, and there were some things in this one that made me a little o_O.
Sunday evening we went through the great pile of mail and I started catching up on financial stuff, hoo boy. Missed a couple of receipts (which I'll put in maybe tonight, or the next time I do that) but overall the damage wasn't too bad, considering that we purchased art and other mementos and had to buy new tires unexpectedly.
We had curry chicken, rice, Indian greens (leftover from pre-trip and frozen), and salad for dinner Sunday; chicken tacos last night, and blueberries. There's enough leftovers to take us through Thursday, so maybe I'll delve in the freezer and see if there's sausages or something.
It was kind of weird to come back to work. I'm still catching up with things, but since summer is slow it hasn't been too bad. I will finally be having meetings with staff for evaluations today and tomorrow. Hope those go well. We're also gearing up for a massive lost/missing book search this summer; it is supposed to be done every year but there's been some slippage, so this year we're trying to clear out a huge backlog and then get the records for the long-lost and unfindable items suppressed so they don't show in the public side of the catalog. It's not very helpful, and makes us look bad, when people look up items and the record shows up with the only copy marked as lost or missing. Better to have no result at all, since in either case they can then request we purchase it or request it through ILL.
I did finally post all the remaining requested drabbles/ficlets yesterday and today. Various fandoms, but they're all general in rating. Plus, I posted "We Have an Accord" (which
cruisedirector and I cowrote) properly in the fic comm - that one is adult, and long, so it's posted in four parts and the links below are to part 1.
Used the iPod successfully a couple of days, although I did not try plugging it into the car power adaptor, just ran it off the battery. The charger was having an interesting quirk, whereby I had to re-plug it into the wall in order to get it to actually charge the iPod (just setting the iPod into the already-plugged-in charger didn't work). Yesterday at home though it did work as it was supposed to. Weird. I guess I will just watch it and see what happens.
Saturday SO drove most of the day; I only drove the last couple of hours or so. We were both very ready to be home by then. Got in a little before 7 pm, unloaded, fed Juno, started unpacking, and brought in pepperoni pizza for dinner because there was no way I was up for cooking. I did take advantage of the near-emptiness of the fridge to both wipe down all the shelves and also toss some old condiments etc. - there was one thing in there that was purchased in 2003, I kid you not.
Sunday of course I had to do grocery shopping, since there was nothing in the house (except that SO had picked up some milk Saturday night when he brought in the pizza). Also started laundry, which was partially foiled because the circuit to the dryer had shorted out and smoke started coming from the connection outside. SO bought clothesline and hung up the two loads that had been washed, go him! I had already planned to go see PotC:OST and there was only one showing I could get to, so I couldn't help with the clothes-hanging.
Enjoyed the film mostly, although as I noted in a previous post I did very much miss some of the characters from the original three films, and there were some things in this one that made me a little o_O.
Sunday evening we went through the great pile of mail and I started catching up on financial stuff, hoo boy. Missed a couple of receipts (which I'll put in maybe tonight, or the next time I do that) but overall the damage wasn't too bad, considering that we purchased art and other mementos and had to buy new tires unexpectedly.
We had curry chicken, rice, Indian greens (leftover from pre-trip and frozen), and salad for dinner Sunday; chicken tacos last night, and blueberries. There's enough leftovers to take us through Thursday, so maybe I'll delve in the freezer and see if there's sausages or something.
It was kind of weird to come back to work. I'm still catching up with things, but since summer is slow it hasn't been too bad. I will finally be having meetings with staff for evaluations today and tomorrow. Hope those go well. We're also gearing up for a massive lost/missing book search this summer; it is supposed to be done every year but there's been some slippage, so this year we're trying to clear out a huge backlog and then get the records for the long-lost and unfindable items suppressed so they don't show in the public side of the catalog. It's not very helpful, and makes us look bad, when people look up items and the record shows up with the only copy marked as lost or missing. Better to have no result at all, since in either case they can then request we purchase it or request it through ILL.
I did finally post all the remaining requested drabbles/ficlets yesterday and today. Various fandoms, but they're all general in rating. Plus, I posted "We Have an Accord" (which
cruisedirector and I cowrote) properly in the fic comm - that one is adult, and long, so it's posted in four parts and the links below are to part 1.
- Refusal [HP, Harry/Severus]: Harry wants something, but he has to convince Severus first. Here at IJ.
- No Alternative [Swordspoint, Alec]: Alec has done his best to run from his past, but events have made it impossible. Here at IJ.
- Incognito [HP, Draco/Harry/Severus]: Draco is sure he knows the identity of the masked man at the Ministry's Holiday Ball. Here at IJ.
- The Headache Excuse [ST XI, Kirk/McCoy]: Lately Jim always seems to have a headache when Leonard makes certain suggestions. Here at IJ.
- Negotiations [HP, Draco/Harry]: Harry and Draco are moving in together. Here at IJ.
- We Have an Accord [PotC, Jack/Elizabeth/Hector/James/Will]: With the aid of the late Will Turner and James Norrington, Elizabeth Swann strikes a deal with Captains Sparrow and Barbossa for passage to the Fountain of Youth. Here at IJ.