uff-da
I'm so tired! It's been a busy and fun last few days.
Saturday we got a bunch of snow, and wind. I went to play at the SCSU basketball games, and actually had fun. During the halftime of the women's game, this guy from the football team was out in the middle of the court doing a dance. Then the two girls who danced during the sports band's Blues Brothers show at a football game, Cyndi and Chelsea, went and joined him. Then a bunch more of us eventually went too. He did it again for the second game, and so a bunch of us plus Blizzard the SCSU Husky mascot joined him right away and we recorded it. It was fun. ^_^
When I got back from that a lot of snow had blown into the parking lot in front of my garage and I couldn't make the car go straight to go in. So I decided to park in the open part instead but got stuck, so I had to get Shane to help me shovel the snow away from the tires and push it into place for the night.
Oh, and the night before that the neighbors below me were making all kinds of noise all night again; it sounded like yelling and slamming doors and I kept waking up from it. Finally I called the cops on them; there were at least six people, and I saw four leave in a car while I was waiting for the cop to show up. This was around 4 am. When the cop got there there were still at least two people in the apartment; he went to talk to them and they said they didn't live there and refused to show him their IDs. (I know this because I was listening at the door to that hallway. XD) I don't know what happened then but they did it some more after he left. I was going to complain to the managers the next day but they weren't in the office either. >:(
ANYWAY. By Sunday morning it stopped snowing and blowing much; I-94 was actually pretty clean all the way but the closer we got into the cities and to the airport, the worse it got. But we made it OK, and I got a text from Gabe saying the Metrodome collapsed! Shane and I hadn't heard about it yet at that time. But Gabe's plane arrived on time, and so we dropped off his stuff in the car, and then we took the Light Rail train downtown to see the Metrodome. It was so funny to see his reaction to the cold and the snow, and walking on it and everything. And it was about 0*F that day. XD Then we went to the Mall of America; we went to Underwater Adventures, the aquarium where you walk through a tunnel under it and the fish swim over you from one side to the other. I hadn't been to it before; it was pretty cool. We also did the behind-the-scenes tour. What was funny about that was when they showed us the kitchen where they prepare the food for the fish one lady didn't want to go in because of the smell. Pansy! XD Then we bummed around some more and went through Nickelodeon Universe and got our picture taken with Spongebob. (Gabe and I both love Spongebob. XD) We went to a music store and some other stores and got ice cream and then Barnes and Noble. Then we took the Light Rail back to the airport and drove back here and just hung out, since we weren't able to go to the Ozzy Osbourne concert. But he gave us the tickets anyway so we just have to find a third person to go with to the show in January. Rob Halford from Judas Priest was going to be the opening act, but now it's going to be Slash. I was all excited to see Halford, but that will be cool too.
And Gabe finally got to meet Ozzy the cat and made friends with him right away. ^_^
Monday I fixed us all breakfast, and then we drove around a bit; Gabe wanted to get a face mask-neck scarf thing and so we took him to Mills Fleet Farm. We also went to Menards and looked at floor tile because he is getting ideas and looking at different things for our offices at the studio and he wanted my opinion on some colors and stuffs. We also talked to Rebecca, one of my old coworkers there who I hadn't seen in a while. We went to a couple of music stores downtown, and then we went to Space Aliens and ate. Then we came back here and worked on some music for a while. We worked on Boure'e for a while; it needs some work but it sounded great and it was just nice to have someone play it with me so I could hear it with guitar for once. ^_^ I had found out Ace Bar and Grill on the other side of town had a lutefisk buffet on Monday nights, so we were going to go eat there because Gabe was set on eating lutefisk when he was here. By the time we got there it was all gone though, and it wasn't even six o'clock yet! That sucked, but we decided to go to the Indian restaurant instead. Then we went to the municipal band Christmas concert. When we got there they were already into the concert, which was my fault because I thought it started at 7:30 but they had started at 7. But it wasn't our fault we had to drive around and wait longer to eat dinner. Anyway after the concert we talked to Maggie, and Jackie and Murphy and some other people. Maggie gave us some scarves that she had knitted with different funky yarns; that was cool. ^_^ Murphy was trying to talk me into going to the band social/party next Monday. Ehhh, I dunno. I said I'd think about it. After that we came back here and hung out some more and watched Religulous.
After the boys left that night and I had just gotten into bed, the fire alarms started going off, right at midnight. I threw on jeans and a sweatshirt over my pjs, boots and my coat and went downstairs to see what was going on. Someone on the first floor had been cooking burgers on the stove, they said, and forgotten them so there was lots of smoke. We had to wait for the fire dept. to come and shut the alarms off. The last time that happened someone somehow managed to burn some Vicks Vapo-rub on the stove. Yeah, people in my building are idiots. 9_9 Anyway I went back up and calmed Ozzy down and went back to bed.
Yesterday when I got up and let Ozzy out of his room, he kept meowing at me and wouldn't shut up. Finally I went to look in his room and he had dumped most of the water out of his bowl during the night and wouldn't leave me alone until I filled it. He's some cat, Ozzy is. XD
I picked Gabe up at the hotel and then we went to the store I used to work at because I needed to get a few things to make chili. We talked to Paula, one of the decorators I worked with for quite a while. We also decided to buy some lutefisk and cook it ourselves so we got some of that as well, and some lefse-a Scandanavian tortilla-like thing made from potatoes. We also got some pepper cheese and some other random things. Then we went to Target and got eggnog because they were out of the kind I wanted at the other store.
Then we drove to Paynesville to meet my mom in town for lunch. She was excited to meet him, so it was cool. After that we went out to the farm for a while and we played with Nefi and the other kitties in the barn, and then my mom showed him all the horses and all their names, and the tractors and everything. I thought it was kind of funny, but he enjoyed it. ^_^ As we were coming back through Paynesville on a whim I decided to see if Marlys was home, since I had told her all about Gabe and my trip to New Orleans I knew she'd like to meet him too. (She's my grandma's cousin on my dad's side of the family.) She gave us Russian tea and rosettes and krumkakke, some other Scandanavian goodies. ^_^ She sent more of those with us and some homemade caramel popcorn.
We went to see if Glen was in his office at the university, but he wasn't. So we came back here and got started on the chili. Once that was going I made the cream sauce for the lutefisk, and cooked the lutefisk itself in the microwave the way Marlys had told me. I think I did it right? I'm not really sure, since I'd never eaten it before either. XD It was pretty nasty; it wasn't the taste, or the smell--it does have a very strong fishy odor that seems to get worse the more you cook it--but the texture that got me. It's true what they say--it's like fish jello. I couldn't finish mine; I didn't puke, but my stomach got the WTF??? feeling. Even Ozzy didn't want it!! XD Gabe was video recording all this on his phone for YouTube so it will be funny to see how it turns out. I think I would like it more if it were firmer, the way fish normally is and not like...jellyfish. XD
And so we stuffed our faces and drank wine and eggnog and were merry; and because he had never read or seen any of them before we watched the first Harry Potter movie and part of the second one before Gabe fell asleep. Not out of boredom, but because he hadn't gotten much sleep the last few days on account of his daughters being sick (they had the flu) and traveling and whatnot, so I couldn't really blame him.
Today, we just hung out here this morning. We went to the new sushi place that just opened a few months ago for lunch; I had never eaten sushi before either but it was really good. I had some roll with crabmeat, avocados and cream cheese. They got ones with raw tuna and salmon, and Gabe got one with eel but I wasn't brave enough to try that one. XD The weird thing is with the raw fish you can't even tell what fish it is because it doesn't have a distinct flavor. I'd eat it again though. So then we drove him back to the airport; we went in the shop while Gabe went to check in, and I got two books that looked good--Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, and Life by Keith Richards, which I've been dying to read. So far it's good. ^_^
Anyway, it was sad to say goodbye to Gabe again, but of course I'll see him again in a few months. The lease on the studio starts Jan. 30 I think he said so he'll be moving and working on the building then. I'll go down for a little while again; I want to go during Pirate Week at the end of March, before I actually move there. ^_^
He kept saying how I sound so Minnesotan, but I don't think I do at all, I sound normal! :P Everyone asked Gabe how he liked the cold weather, and he said it was great!! Me, I don't get it. *shakes head* XD
Shane and I went to this place where he gets all his telescope equipment from, and then drove back. I made broccoli-bacon-cheese soup with what was left of the cream sauce I made for the lutefisk. OMG I have so much food around here right now! Which is good, but most of it is stuff that's not good for me. XD
Tomorrow I go back to work; it was a vacation for us too but all that company and cooking and entertaining and visiting wiped me out. I'm going to call it an early night.
Saturday we got a bunch of snow, and wind. I went to play at the SCSU basketball games, and actually had fun. During the halftime of the women's game, this guy from the football team was out in the middle of the court doing a dance. Then the two girls who danced during the sports band's Blues Brothers show at a football game, Cyndi and Chelsea, went and joined him. Then a bunch more of us eventually went too. He did it again for the second game, and so a bunch of us plus Blizzard the SCSU Husky mascot joined him right away and we recorded it. It was fun. ^_^
When I got back from that a lot of snow had blown into the parking lot in front of my garage and I couldn't make the car go straight to go in. So I decided to park in the open part instead but got stuck, so I had to get Shane to help me shovel the snow away from the tires and push it into place for the night.
Oh, and the night before that the neighbors below me were making all kinds of noise all night again; it sounded like yelling and slamming doors and I kept waking up from it. Finally I called the cops on them; there were at least six people, and I saw four leave in a car while I was waiting for the cop to show up. This was around 4 am. When the cop got there there were still at least two people in the apartment; he went to talk to them and they said they didn't live there and refused to show him their IDs. (I know this because I was listening at the door to that hallway. XD) I don't know what happened then but they did it some more after he left. I was going to complain to the managers the next day but they weren't in the office either. >:(
ANYWAY. By Sunday morning it stopped snowing and blowing much; I-94 was actually pretty clean all the way but the closer we got into the cities and to the airport, the worse it got. But we made it OK, and I got a text from Gabe saying the Metrodome collapsed! Shane and I hadn't heard about it yet at that time. But Gabe's plane arrived on time, and so we dropped off his stuff in the car, and then we took the Light Rail train downtown to see the Metrodome. It was so funny to see his reaction to the cold and the snow, and walking on it and everything. And it was about 0*F that day. XD Then we went to the Mall of America; we went to Underwater Adventures, the aquarium where you walk through a tunnel under it and the fish swim over you from one side to the other. I hadn't been to it before; it was pretty cool. We also did the behind-the-scenes tour. What was funny about that was when they showed us the kitchen where they prepare the food for the fish one lady didn't want to go in because of the smell. Pansy! XD Then we bummed around some more and went through Nickelodeon Universe and got our picture taken with Spongebob. (Gabe and I both love Spongebob. XD) We went to a music store and some other stores and got ice cream and then Barnes and Noble. Then we took the Light Rail back to the airport and drove back here and just hung out, since we weren't able to go to the Ozzy Osbourne concert. But he gave us the tickets anyway so we just have to find a third person to go with to the show in January. Rob Halford from Judas Priest was going to be the opening act, but now it's going to be Slash. I was all excited to see Halford, but that will be cool too.
And Gabe finally got to meet Ozzy the cat and made friends with him right away. ^_^
Monday I fixed us all breakfast, and then we drove around a bit; Gabe wanted to get a face mask-neck scarf thing and so we took him to Mills Fleet Farm. We also went to Menards and looked at floor tile because he is getting ideas and looking at different things for our offices at the studio and he wanted my opinion on some colors and stuffs. We also talked to Rebecca, one of my old coworkers there who I hadn't seen in a while. We went to a couple of music stores downtown, and then we went to Space Aliens and ate. Then we came back here and worked on some music for a while. We worked on Boure'e for a while; it needs some work but it sounded great and it was just nice to have someone play it with me so I could hear it with guitar for once. ^_^ I had found out Ace Bar and Grill on the other side of town had a lutefisk buffet on Monday nights, so we were going to go eat there because Gabe was set on eating lutefisk when he was here. By the time we got there it was all gone though, and it wasn't even six o'clock yet! That sucked, but we decided to go to the Indian restaurant instead. Then we went to the municipal band Christmas concert. When we got there they were already into the concert, which was my fault because I thought it started at 7:30 but they had started at 7. But it wasn't our fault we had to drive around and wait longer to eat dinner. Anyway after the concert we talked to Maggie, and Jackie and Murphy and some other people. Maggie gave us some scarves that she had knitted with different funky yarns; that was cool. ^_^ Murphy was trying to talk me into going to the band social/party next Monday. Ehhh, I dunno. I said I'd think about it. After that we came back here and hung out some more and watched Religulous.
After the boys left that night and I had just gotten into bed, the fire alarms started going off, right at midnight. I threw on jeans and a sweatshirt over my pjs, boots and my coat and went downstairs to see what was going on. Someone on the first floor had been cooking burgers on the stove, they said, and forgotten them so there was lots of smoke. We had to wait for the fire dept. to come and shut the alarms off. The last time that happened someone somehow managed to burn some Vicks Vapo-rub on the stove. Yeah, people in my building are idiots. 9_9 Anyway I went back up and calmed Ozzy down and went back to bed.
Yesterday when I got up and let Ozzy out of his room, he kept meowing at me and wouldn't shut up. Finally I went to look in his room and he had dumped most of the water out of his bowl during the night and wouldn't leave me alone until I filled it. He's some cat, Ozzy is. XD
I picked Gabe up at the hotel and then we went to the store I used to work at because I needed to get a few things to make chili. We talked to Paula, one of the decorators I worked with for quite a while. We also decided to buy some lutefisk and cook it ourselves so we got some of that as well, and some lefse-a Scandanavian tortilla-like thing made from potatoes. We also got some pepper cheese and some other random things. Then we went to Target and got eggnog because they were out of the kind I wanted at the other store.
Then we drove to Paynesville to meet my mom in town for lunch. She was excited to meet him, so it was cool. After that we went out to the farm for a while and we played with Nefi and the other kitties in the barn, and then my mom showed him all the horses and all their names, and the tractors and everything. I thought it was kind of funny, but he enjoyed it. ^_^ As we were coming back through Paynesville on a whim I decided to see if Marlys was home, since I had told her all about Gabe and my trip to New Orleans I knew she'd like to meet him too. (She's my grandma's cousin on my dad's side of the family.) She gave us Russian tea and rosettes and krumkakke, some other Scandanavian goodies. ^_^ She sent more of those with us and some homemade caramel popcorn.
We went to see if Glen was in his office at the university, but he wasn't. So we came back here and got started on the chili. Once that was going I made the cream sauce for the lutefisk, and cooked the lutefisk itself in the microwave the way Marlys had told me. I think I did it right? I'm not really sure, since I'd never eaten it before either. XD It was pretty nasty; it wasn't the taste, or the smell--it does have a very strong fishy odor that seems to get worse the more you cook it--but the texture that got me. It's true what they say--it's like fish jello. I couldn't finish mine; I didn't puke, but my stomach got the WTF??? feeling. Even Ozzy didn't want it!! XD Gabe was video recording all this on his phone for YouTube so it will be funny to see how it turns out. I think I would like it more if it were firmer, the way fish normally is and not like...jellyfish. XD
And so we stuffed our faces and drank wine and eggnog and were merry; and because he had never read or seen any of them before we watched the first Harry Potter movie and part of the second one before Gabe fell asleep. Not out of boredom, but because he hadn't gotten much sleep the last few days on account of his daughters being sick (they had the flu) and traveling and whatnot, so I couldn't really blame him.
Today, we just hung out here this morning. We went to the new sushi place that just opened a few months ago for lunch; I had never eaten sushi before either but it was really good. I had some roll with crabmeat, avocados and cream cheese. They got ones with raw tuna and salmon, and Gabe got one with eel but I wasn't brave enough to try that one. XD The weird thing is with the raw fish you can't even tell what fish it is because it doesn't have a distinct flavor. I'd eat it again though. So then we drove him back to the airport; we went in the shop while Gabe went to check in, and I got two books that looked good--Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, and Life by Keith Richards, which I've been dying to read. So far it's good. ^_^
Anyway, it was sad to say goodbye to Gabe again, but of course I'll see him again in a few months. The lease on the studio starts Jan. 30 I think he said so he'll be moving and working on the building then. I'll go down for a little while again; I want to go during Pirate Week at the end of March, before I actually move there. ^_^
He kept saying how I sound so Minnesotan, but I don't think I do at all, I sound normal! :P Everyone asked Gabe how he liked the cold weather, and he said it was great!! Me, I don't get it. *shakes head* XD
Shane and I went to this place where he gets all his telescope equipment from, and then drove back. I made broccoli-bacon-cheese soup with what was left of the cream sauce I made for the lutefisk. OMG I have so much food around here right now! Which is good, but most of it is stuff that's not good for me. XD
Tomorrow I go back to work; it was a vacation for us too but all that company and cooking and entertaining and visiting wiped me out. I'm going to call it an early night.