bowling for dollars
on saturday the agencies that i work for held a bowl-a-thon at the local bowling alley. it was our first effort and we brought in a good amount of money, so i guess you could call it a success. not that anything went wrong, things actually ran along pretty smoothly and everyone had a good time. but it could have been better. we had tried to get local businesses to sponsor consumer teams so that they could bowl and participate and not have to help fund their own programs. that didn't work so well. the family biz sponsored a team, as did a board member and our executive director. not one other business was interested in paying the low fee and getting some advertising out of it. the event itself was costing us nothing so we let the consumers bowl for free anyway. it was a good social experience for everyone. then there were the paying teams. for the most part, they were formed by people from work. some family and friends brought teams, as well. not a single team from outside in the community participated. it had been well advertised in the local paper - running two or three times a week prior to the event. granted, the timing could have been better. it's spring time in central new york, it was cinqo de mayo and derby day... but still. you'd think there would be people who just wanted to bowl on a saturday afternoon. apparently not. so much for community involvement and education. oh well, maybe it will be better next year. but then, i may not be volunteering for all of this fundraising crap next year.
so after working most of the lovely, sunny saturday in a dimly lit bowling alley (well, technically it was volunteering, but it felt like work) we went to the movies to see spidey 3. not a bad movie. didn't like dark spidey, but the suit rocked. and i didn't even recognize topher grace, but then i'm not really a fan. change the hairstyle and i'm lost, apparantly. i like alot of the movies adapted from comic books - the x men, batman, superman... but spidey just doesn't do it for me. it think it's the actor involved. tobey just doesn't do it for me. i know that peter is supposed to be the fumbling geek and all, but couldn't he be a cuter nerd? look at the old superman movies. christopher reeve was a hottie. batman has had any number of hotties in the lead role - christian bale being the best, but that's probably because batman begins was my favorite so far. nice and dark the way batman is supposed to be. and then there are any muber of hotties in the x men - jean luc picard among them. oh wait, that was his star trek character. i told you i was turning into a geek.
my landscaped yard is now pretty naked. we had taken out a garden, i guess you'd call it, of forsythia and some other ugly, annoying shrub last fall. i've got plans for reworking that bed as soon as my husband rototills it, which will hopefully be this weekend. we had a new roof put on shed this weekend and guy comes to me and asks how i feel about the bushes next to the shed. it would make disposing of the old roof easier if we could take them out. it would also make it easier to put new, nicer looking stones around the base of the shed. now, he knew i wasn't keen on the rose of sharon bushes that were there. i was just going to leave them for this year and see about putting in something new next year. anyway, the rose of sharon bushes are now gone and i have to come up with something to put along the side of the shed. maybe a trellis and some climbing roses? maybe some morning glories? they'd at least fill in pretty cheaply for this year, we'll have to see.
but wait, there's more nakedness. my brother-in-law calls at 7:00 on sunday morning. those of you who know me well, know how well this went over. he said he'd be at our house in half an hour to grind up the stumps we wanted taken out. said stumps were pretty much right under the bedroom window. ugh. so i was up and showered by 8:00 on sunday. in the morning. insane. so while he's there, guy has him take out the two bushes there were under the picture window. yet another project i was leaving for next year. i thought the one flower bed and some sort of plan for along the driveway were enough for this year. guess not. now i have two more areas to plan, buy stuff for and plant. ugh. and i want to get the stuff in the ground in the next few weeks. thinking i had time, i hadn't really given much thought to these areas. i know i want another fountain in front to replace the lame, cutesy one that's falling apart. i have a tendency to be very picky, though, and have yet to find anything that i like. guess it's time to step up the search. he's lucky that i love him and i like planting things. otherwise he would be so screwed, and not in a good way.
an saturday i got an invitation to his cousin's baby shower. oh, how i hate baby showers. especially for people i barely know. and it's saturday afternon of memorial day weekend. ugh. tucked in with the invitation is a note saying that they're having a party for his grandmother's 87th birthday the following afternoon. you've got to be kidding me. they want me to commit to two afternoons of the three i get for memorial day? yeah, that's going to happen. i'll send a gift to the shower on saturday (i'll even make something) and we'll stop in for a little while on sunday. i would think that would be enough. it's freaking memorial day weekend. i was hoping to have some quality time with my husband (who does not get a long weekend) and get some work done in the yard - especially since i have alot of ground to cover this year, literally!