Vacation 2009 Day 01
I was up this morning at 9:30 due to being up so late last night. My mom had been up for a while and I ended up talking with her because I didn't get to the night before. While I was talking Bo came out of the bedroom to tell me I had a missed call on my cell phone. I didn't recognize the number but figured they would call back (knowing it was from this local area code).
I was just getting ready to get into the shower when they called back. As I suspected it was Debby calling to see if we could meet up today. She wasn't going to need to visit her parents and offered to come into town for lunch. I told her that was great.
I got ready for the day and then spent time on the computer catching up to my apps on Facebook. (I know I am an addict and it's kind of sad) Anyway I have my laptop set up in what is my old room, on a desk in front of a window that looks out on the driveway. I kept jumping out of my seat every so often to see if Debby had arrived yet. I joked with Bo that I wasn't going to need to run today because I was going to get all of my exercise just from getting up and down. :D
I finally decided to give it a rest and walk to the kitchen. When I got to the living room my mom told me that Debby had just pulled in. It figures that just after I give up on looking for her to drive up…she arrives. _^_
She joined me in the room where I had my computer and we talked while I finished up some things I was working on. Then we headed out to lunch. I suggested Michaels on the Lake since she hadn't been there before and it's a nice enough place to have stuff that even she could eat.
We got there and the place looked pretty empty so we were surprised when they said it would be about 5 minutes before they could seat us. Apparently they were really slow in the morning and sent some people home…then got a huge rush and had to catch up. It still took more than 15 minutes for them to get us a table. I asked for a seat in the atrium and they gave us a seat looking out at the balcony despite all the empty seats in the atrium. _~_
Thanks to that 15 minutes spent waiting around I had already decided what I wanted for food. By the time we were seated we got our drinks and were able to place our lunch order right away. My daughter also talked me into an appetizer of Artichoke dip and like a sucker I agreed. -_- It was good though. :D
Lunch was good. I had an Alaskan Beer Battered Halibut and my daughter had fettuccini. Debby and James also seemed to enjoy their food. I really do like the restaurant. However, as nice as the cloth napkins are once they are used that's it. I guess I could have asked for another one after I had to clean up a small bit of sauce that spilled, but still it's not quite the same. One thing that did impress me about the waitress was how quickly she picked up on my no straws policy. I usually don't tell waiters or waitresses this and just remove them. By the third drink she was bringing them without the straws. ^_^
We had a really good time visiting and soon enough it was 3pm. So we headed back to the house. When we arrived mom informed me that dad was resting so we went back in to the room where we were before (my former bedroom) and visited for a while longer. Around 4pm Debby and James headed back home.
When they left I spent some more time online and walked around taking a few picture of things around here. First of all is the giant terra cotta statue of my dad sitting out front. Actually it's a replica of the actual Chinese terra cotta statues with the face modeled after my dad. It's really kind of disconcerting because I always think there's a person standing in the window outside. -_- Likewise I took a picture of the miniature version that resides in the living room. It also has the face modeled after my dad. This one has a removable head though so you can change it's position (I don't know why).
I also got a picture of my mom's new car, a Chrysler 300C. She commented that it had a Hemi engine but then wondered why the gas mileage went down. -_- It is nice though. They still have the 300M as well as a plethora of other cars so it's really starting to look like a car lot outside. Last but not least I got a picture of the pool. ^_^
After downloading them on the computer and adjusting the pictures a bit it was time to head out to Wal Mart with my mom. This sees to be an almost daily ritual for her and she asked me to come along. I really hate Wal Mart but tag along because they ask. It's also about the only place to shop in this town (other than Hastings). Suffice to say there isn't anything to really say about this trip other than that I picked up two more pencil cases for carrying stuff in (one for my bracelets and one for some stuff I take to work).
When we got back mom worked on finishing up dinner. As seems to be tradition here in ML they didn't get dinner done until about 8:45. I really don't like eating that late but what can you do when it's not your place. -_- We did have Stroganoff though so it was an awesome dinner! :D
During dinner we sat in the living room. My daughter had been watching Terminator 2 so we watched the end of that. Then my dad picked Law and Order (naturally) and I couldn't finish dinner fast enough. My dad also has an annoying habit of pausing the show whenever someone gets up. So when I finally finished dinner I told him not to pause it because I wasn't coming back. -_-
The rest of the plans for the evening were to go to see Harry Potter 6 at the theater. That was a little over half an hour from the time I left the living room (around 9:20) and I needed something to do to fill my time. I wanted to lay down and rest because I was tired but I knew I wouldn't get back up again if I did (my normal bed time is 9pm and so I am up way too late already and had to make it through at least 3 more hours!). I got on the computer for a little bit but I had been online already so much that day that there was nothing to do but fix the laptop and that was going to take more than the half hour I had left before we left. So I started writing out my journal for the day and then walked around the house to keep myself awake.
The time to leave actually came pretty quickly and we (my mom, Bo and I) were out in the car ready to go before my dad knew we were waiting. ^_^ We got to the theater and my dad picked up the tickets. On our way in I noticed a poster for a movie called something Woodstock. It was pretty eye catching with all the 60s psycadellic colors and all but what really caught my eye was that I picked Demitri Martin out of the massive group of people shown at the bottom of the poster. I was surprised that he was going to be in a movie and that out of the whole poster that's what caught my attention. :D
The movie was good but felt rushed (probably mostly for those who have read the books). Some of my friend have lamented that they don't show Snape's memories or talk much about the titled Half Blood Prince, but I think it works for the movies purposes. By approaching it from that view I found it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I was, however, very disappointed in their coverage of Harry and Jinny's kiss and them actually getting together. It's almost like it was shoved aside as not being important. -_- Also the Felix Felicitous… was supposed to be liquid gold, but I guess they did what they could for the movie.
When we left the theater ours was the last car in the parking lot. It was WAY too late to be out by now and I was looking forward to coming home and going to bed. Naturally that didn't stop me from gravitating towards the computer to write more on my journal entry for the day. By the time I headed to bed it was 1:30am. _~_ I don't think I can keep that up!!
I was just getting ready to get into the shower when they called back. As I suspected it was Debby calling to see if we could meet up today. She wasn't going to need to visit her parents and offered to come into town for lunch. I told her that was great.
I got ready for the day and then spent time on the computer catching up to my apps on Facebook. (I know I am an addict and it's kind of sad) Anyway I have my laptop set up in what is my old room, on a desk in front of a window that looks out on the driveway. I kept jumping out of my seat every so often to see if Debby had arrived yet. I joked with Bo that I wasn't going to need to run today because I was going to get all of my exercise just from getting up and down. :D
I finally decided to give it a rest and walk to the kitchen. When I got to the living room my mom told me that Debby had just pulled in. It figures that just after I give up on looking for her to drive up…she arrives. _^_
She joined me in the room where I had my computer and we talked while I finished up some things I was working on. Then we headed out to lunch. I suggested Michaels on the Lake since she hadn't been there before and it's a nice enough place to have stuff that even she could eat.
We got there and the place looked pretty empty so we were surprised when they said it would be about 5 minutes before they could seat us. Apparently they were really slow in the morning and sent some people home…then got a huge rush and had to catch up. It still took more than 15 minutes for them to get us a table. I asked for a seat in the atrium and they gave us a seat looking out at the balcony despite all the empty seats in the atrium. _~_
Thanks to that 15 minutes spent waiting around I had already decided what I wanted for food. By the time we were seated we got our drinks and were able to place our lunch order right away. My daughter also talked me into an appetizer of Artichoke dip and like a sucker I agreed. -_- It was good though. :D
Lunch was good. I had an Alaskan Beer Battered Halibut and my daughter had fettuccini. Debby and James also seemed to enjoy their food. I really do like the restaurant. However, as nice as the cloth napkins are once they are used that's it. I guess I could have asked for another one after I had to clean up a small bit of sauce that spilled, but still it's not quite the same. One thing that did impress me about the waitress was how quickly she picked up on my no straws policy. I usually don't tell waiters or waitresses this and just remove them. By the third drink she was bringing them without the straws. ^_^
We had a really good time visiting and soon enough it was 3pm. So we headed back to the house. When we arrived mom informed me that dad was resting so we went back in to the room where we were before (my former bedroom) and visited for a while longer. Around 4pm Debby and James headed back home.
When they left I spent some more time online and walked around taking a few picture of things around here. First of all is the giant terra cotta statue of my dad sitting out front. Actually it's a replica of the actual Chinese terra cotta statues with the face modeled after my dad. It's really kind of disconcerting because I always think there's a person standing in the window outside. -_- Likewise I took a picture of the miniature version that resides in the living room. It also has the face modeled after my dad. This one has a removable head though so you can change it's position (I don't know why).
I also got a picture of my mom's new car, a Chrysler 300C. She commented that it had a Hemi engine but then wondered why the gas mileage went down. -_- It is nice though. They still have the 300M as well as a plethora of other cars so it's really starting to look like a car lot outside. Last but not least I got a picture of the pool. ^_^
After downloading them on the computer and adjusting the pictures a bit it was time to head out to Wal Mart with my mom. This sees to be an almost daily ritual for her and she asked me to come along. I really hate Wal Mart but tag along because they ask. It's also about the only place to shop in this town (other than Hastings). Suffice to say there isn't anything to really say about this trip other than that I picked up two more pencil cases for carrying stuff in (one for my bracelets and one for some stuff I take to work).
When we got back mom worked on finishing up dinner. As seems to be tradition here in ML they didn't get dinner done until about 8:45. I really don't like eating that late but what can you do when it's not your place. -_- We did have Stroganoff though so it was an awesome dinner! :D
During dinner we sat in the living room. My daughter had been watching Terminator 2 so we watched the end of that. Then my dad picked Law and Order (naturally) and I couldn't finish dinner fast enough. My dad also has an annoying habit of pausing the show whenever someone gets up. So when I finally finished dinner I told him not to pause it because I wasn't coming back. -_-
The rest of the plans for the evening were to go to see Harry Potter 6 at the theater. That was a little over half an hour from the time I left the living room (around 9:20) and I needed something to do to fill my time. I wanted to lay down and rest because I was tired but I knew I wouldn't get back up again if I did (my normal bed time is 9pm and so I am up way too late already and had to make it through at least 3 more hours!). I got on the computer for a little bit but I had been online already so much that day that there was nothing to do but fix the laptop and that was going to take more than the half hour I had left before we left. So I started writing out my journal for the day and then walked around the house to keep myself awake.
The time to leave actually came pretty quickly and we (my mom, Bo and I) were out in the car ready to go before my dad knew we were waiting. ^_^ We got to the theater and my dad picked up the tickets. On our way in I noticed a poster for a movie called something Woodstock. It was pretty eye catching with all the 60s psycadellic colors and all but what really caught my eye was that I picked Demitri Martin out of the massive group of people shown at the bottom of the poster. I was surprised that he was going to be in a movie and that out of the whole poster that's what caught my attention. :D
The movie was good but felt rushed (probably mostly for those who have read the books). Some of my friend have lamented that they don't show Snape's memories or talk much about the titled Half Blood Prince, but I think it works for the movies purposes. By approaching it from that view I found it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I was, however, very disappointed in their coverage of Harry and Jinny's kiss and them actually getting together. It's almost like it was shoved aside as not being important. -_- Also the Felix Felicitous… was supposed to be liquid gold, but I guess they did what they could for the movie.
When we left the theater ours was the last car in the parking lot. It was WAY too late to be out by now and I was looking forward to coming home and going to bed. Naturally that didn't stop me from gravitating towards the computer to write more on my journal entry for the day. By the time I headed to bed it was 1:30am. _~_ I don't think I can keep that up!!