Sunday was a fun-filled day in the sun and my skin proves it. R&T recently bought a pool – shallow enough for the visiting three year old to stand in but big enough to fit seven adults and a teenager comfortably having a water gun fight. To celebrate the purchase, they had a holiday-style cookout. Burgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill, potato salad and coleslaw recipes competed for side dish space, ice cream packed the freezer and beer filled coolers. Couples and kids showed up to play in swimsuits and the day lasted forever.

The Bald One and I determined that we now need to designate a beach/pool bag. While we knew what we needed for the pool, we don’t seem to have it in a central location. As we were walking out, the cooler of beer & jug of iced tea in the car, both of us started to remember the stupid little things you realize you don’t have usually as your feet hit the sand. Where did we leave the sunscreen from last season? Oh – should we grab saline solution for your contacts? My hat is by the door, can you grab it since you’re right there? Finally, we had our bag of clothes/towels/gear and off we went.

We arrived to chaos. There were people everywhere – an unusual event for R&T, as somehow everyone ends up in different places and is either late or nonexistent at most of their last-minute-ish shindigs. We had a few water gun fights, hilarious moments watching the 3yo on the slip’n’slide and general cavorting in the sun. The burgers were a highly fought-over dish, where the Bald One stole more than his fair share claiming he wouldn’t be around for the second round because of work…then managed to eat two more later that night after his return. The coleslaw, I’m told, was the usual expected excellence and the potato salad I know was fabulous. Red velvet cupcakes were out to celebrate a birthday, but nobody was targeted for bad singing.

Later, after many of the folks packed up and went home, the remaining die-hards took naps or relaxed in a shady spot. I finished off another book and enjoyed just being able to sit in the sun for a bit. After naptime, we all jumped back in the pool, enjoying the ability to be submerged up to one’s neck and having a conversation. As the skies grew dark and the temperature dropped with the impending storm, we moved inside for another round of food and hilarious television. The hour being rather late, we finally headed home twelve hours after we left.

Despite my sunburnt shoulders arguing with me, I’d class it as a satisfactory day.

Eno08Prediction

Originally uploaded by Rae Z

Today is the last day of June, which means that Eno is right around the corner.

This weekend was toasty, up in the mid 90s, and steamy until the rains came through late Sunday. I figured it was a warm up and checked The Weather Channel today for the bad news. Granted, it’s Monday and things change daily…but that looks like the coolest forecast I have ever seen for the Eno. The only downside is the rain.

But I’ve already got my base-burn on, so hopefully I won’t show up next Monday with lobster-red skin.

I don’t have many weeks where I get to the end and truly appreciate the weekend. This week has made me really look forward to two days where I can sit and do not much. And I don’t even have a show to make me long for the weekend more.

This week began with a two half-day meetings and an interview candidate. The half day meetings were for the big guys in our group to put their heads together and get a theory for the rest of this year and start looking at next year. Hard as it is to believe, July is next week. Other than setting these meeting up, I really don’t have much to do with it. The interview was also fairly easy, as the materials for it were distributed on time and everyone knew where to go. The rest of the week had nothing officially scheduled for it as we worked on the notes from the first test round of the new database toy.

Monday included an impromptu show & tell of the new toy to the guys. They had some great feedback and the notes were passed on to the developers, who had questions and I had answers. Tuesday was a little more of the same followed by starting to hunt down a hotel in Vegas. Who knew September was such a hot time in Vegas? The rest of the week is really a blur between finding a hotel, getting some administrative work done and fixing broken things. Yesterday when I got home, I just sat in the chair and stared into space after starting the dinner process. The Bald One took a look at me and finished.

The thing is, I don’t understand why I’m so exhausted. There’s no call for it. Granted, I know I haven’t had much in the way of down time at work as we’re heavy in to the growing season now…but I am used to working and running a show and not being this tired. Just thank goodness I can sleep in tomorrow. I’ve got a social fun thing planned midday and have no asperations past getting my house clean again. If I’m really doing well, I might get some weeds pulled and figure out what to do with the large porkchunk in my freezer. The Bald One’ll be home for dinner and we can probably go be social in the evening. Then it will be Sunday for yardwork and laundry before relaxing with mojitos in our friends’ pool and sleep.

Before four more days to do it all over again.

Nikolai moved to the Carolinas and is bunking with the Bald One and I until his apartment was found and ready for him to call his. This means that when I get home, my television is set to one of two things - the Wii or the History Channel. Neither bothers me, just amuses me. He does get home way before the Bald One and I make it out of the Park, so he has the run of the entertainment.

Between Nikolai and the Bald One, there have been almost all the tracks in Mario Kart and almost all of the pieces of the LEGO Indiana Jones have been opened up for fun. The crazy-fun part of having Nikolai around is we’re getting a bit of an edjumacashun. He flips on the History Channel any time things can’t be found to entertain him. We’ve learned about subs, boats, all manner of weaponry and the most amusing episode - the making of Wonder Bread. (Side note: Americans eat a lot of white bread.)

I won’t say that this hasn’t been interesting. I’ve been amused at finding what can be found on television, as the Bald One and I are usually too busy to watch anything but our usual shows and get caught up on our Netflix list. I don’t think I even knew we got the History Channel until Nikolai came to stay. It’s also nice to know that our Wii is a great source of entertainment, as the two boys will often double team the games and clear levels in the blink of an eye.

I’ve also discovered that our guest room isn’t that bad. I wouldn’t say it would be more than a week’s stay for normal people, but the futon is apparently comfortable to sleep on, and the room isn’t unbearable. Once the cat-tortured love seat has been removed, the place will be fairly cat free. Nikolai is even allergic and is doing remarkably well between the allergen reduced bedroom and the Dyson-vacuumed household.

But I’ll be happy come Fourth of July has come and gone. I’ll have another Eno under my belt, my house back to just two humans and two days to vacation.

First off, let me start by saying it is a pain waking up at 6am when everyone in your house is sound asleep and will be for the next several hours. Equally complicated when you know you got to bed way later than you wanted to the previous evening and had enjoyed a touch of alcohol.

Eventually I did get up and to the RBC Center for the shuttle parking. I completely failed at meeting up with my coworker, who’s team I was on for the fundraising and to do this thing. Once on site, I managed to score a bite of breakfast bar & a soda-like tea which served as breakfast before finding the registration tables to get my shirt and my number. After a quick-change I ran into a theater-person I know sitting in one of the lifeguard towers to help people find their way through the sprawling campus of vendors. I did wander quite a bit while waiting for my event to start and trying to find my coworker. The wandering included getting this year’s scarf from Ford’s Warriors, having a bit of bagel from Panera and seeing all kinds of free stuff. The really great score came from one of the local news channels - sunscreen. This is why I shouldn’t do events first thing in the morning!

After trying to unsuccessfully hunt down my coworker, I gave up and lined up for my event. I decided to do the Open 5K, even though she switched to the Open 1mile. One of the coolest moments was being in that starting pack when we’re all told to go and watching the people flow out on to Hillsborough. The joggers weave through the people walking and the strollers bob through the crowds as we all set off on our way. I was using my geek-toy and stepped off to AC/DC’s Back in Black - a great choice for starting!

Throughout the course were these little stops where residents had put up signs cheering us on. A few houses were out to clap, another had the kids out with super soakers. There were two official water stops in the course and one run by residents. One of the cute things was a house that in the last half-mile had those tall flower water sprinklers set up in a row on their sidewalk.

Then it was all over. I looked appropriately fried for having been walking for an hour. After consuming my orange and two bottles of water, I wandered off to the shuttles back and downed two more bottles before shuttling back, finding my car and blissfully pulling in to Caribou for an Iced Chai Latte and my dry shirt - not to mention a real bathroom. Once home, I cooled off and showered before hitting the Farmer’s Market with Nikolai for lunch at the NC Seafood stand.

PS: In case anyone is curious - this is what my race looks like according to the geek-toy.

PPS: I did make my goal (YEAH!). If anyone still was interested in making a donation, the website is set to take donations through the end of the month. My page is here.

A mouse killer dwells here. I can’t tell you which of my four heathens is responsible, but the clues point to one suspect - the chubby one.

You wouldn’t think that a twenty pound cat with a head the size of a vidallia onion would be capable of capturing a fleet footed mouse, but she has done it once already. She toyed with her victim until a scream startled her into releasing her prey. Watch her now slowly pad around our home and stare at you with the most innocent eyes. But I swear - she kills.

Last night, the Bald One and I were seduced away to our friends’ home with the lure of pulled pork for dinner and a slip’n’slide to play upon. The slide appeared to be hilarious and resulted in a bruise or two while the kiddie pool decorated in monkeys was quite comfortable to sit in. After the sun went down and the bugs came out, we all ventured in for conversation and shredded pig. The conversation wound down as the hour grew late and we returned home.

As I ventured off to our room, I saw what appeared to be a destroyed tampon. Being the only female in the house and knowing that I’ve taken out the garbage in the past month, I wasn’t sure how that was possible. Without looking closer, I knew what it had to be. Ducking into the bathroom, ostensibly to hang the swimsuits and remove my contacts, I begged for the Bald One to remove the carcass before I would open the door. He did, then fed them despite someone already having a light snack. All ate heartily and we went off to bed.

But I slept a little uneasily, knowing one of our domesticated animals was a murderer.

Tonight, i’m sitting in the dark and listening to On Agate Hill, a Lee Smith novel. I’m not sure it is something I would pick up on my own, but it is interesting enough.

This weekend and next I’m running lights and being that stage manager type person for the visiting artists. The show is one woman telling the significant parts accompanied by a musician on dulcimer and occasionally banjo. It reminds me a little of Silver River, but really only as far as it is one woman performing something slightly depressing. But it is six performances and ninety minutes.

I really do enjoy shows like this though. They’re usually fairly simple in and out and the folks who perform are easy going once they know they’re in good hands.

And I get to be distracted while my husband is off meeting rock stars in hotel bars.

Part of the iMac shopping trip netted the Bald One a new Classic iPod, which freed the Nano up for my enjoyment. I did buy one small thing for myself on that trip - the Nike+ sensor toy. I also bought new tennis shoes recently to go with my efforts to de-flab my butt get in shape and attempt to not die the Komen Race. By pure dumb luck, the shoes that I liked and fit the best? Nike+ shoes. Which means my shoes have the nifty hidey-hole for the silly sensor. Score!

Being the great and fabulous wife I am, I didn’t push the Bald One to surrender his Nano immediately last weekend, so I’ve been waiting patiently. This morning, the battery finally started to die on the Nano, which meant he had to bring it in, charge it up and go OR actually set up his new toy. He opted for the latter and I finally got to play with my +toys.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to set everything up - first the nano, then the +toys. But after a brief visit with friends and to buy pretty sparkly things, I got my walk on.

Yes, walk. I’m woefully out of shape and do not have the proper restraints to run. Or even jog. One lap around my neighborhood clocks in around a mile, but I’m not quite calibrated correctly yet…so it added about a fifth to my length. This means I couldn’t pass my high school gym class right now (where we had to do a mile in less than 12 minutes). But I’ll get there. And I have a perky little chick voice cheering me on over my tunes.

After, I did log on to the site, upload my information and then realize I spent more time setting up and tracking my exercise than I did actually exercising. Hopefully that changes. But it does make me a geek.

I won’t tell if you won’t…I’m using the Bald One’s iMac to post.

I wanted to see if I could do some very basic navigation on his toy without him being around to either complain that I was playing with his toy or be whined at about using it at all. So he’s at work and I wanted to quick check my reader that I didn’t get through before my battery on my laptop died this morning and to do a little post.

His toy is very cool, so far. He’s in love with it and playing on a computer. He’s excited about plugging in his guitars and recording riffs that he has bouncing in his head. And I’m excited for him finally getting this creative outlet out somewhere. The other exciting feature is that it has necessitated a cleanup in his office that has made the place very clean and shiny and bright and I actually feel comfortable being in here for more than sixty seconds.

Okay, I just discovered Safari has tabbed browsing. *love*

Why I’m really upstairs on this gorgeous day is I’m waiting for my yard to finish drying out and the sun to dip low enough I won’t bake when I’m working outside. Instead, I’m getting the Purple Room ready for my allergic friends to be able to crash in there. This means dusting the shelves on tippy top, moving the bookcase and desk around a bit so they’re in better positions to have the new (to us) couch that is being delivered in that room. The couch is actually a futon of full size bed proportions and should happily sleep the ex-Bostonian until he finds local digs to match his new local to us job. After that, the room will still remain an allergen free zone so that our lovely friends can occasionally crash there when the need arises. And it will be pretty. I think.

No more goofing off - dust is calling my name…

My heart is filled with sadness. This morning I ate the last of the cheese biscuits from brunch this past weekend. It was quite delicious and fabulous and I enjoyed every crummy morsel as I drove to my monthly back-crunching. This was washed down with coffee and then I was told I was perfectly timed with my visit. Being straightened out made everything a nice start to my day.