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April 29, 2005

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Would you believe it? I've been home for seven straight days! That's the first time that's happened since sometime late last summer! It's been great being home all week and getting back into my old routine. I've spent a couple of days out in the yard, trying to get rid of a winter's worth of weeds. It's hard work, but I enjoy it. There's a lot I miss about not being able to be here. For one thing, I sure did miss the beautiful sunsets. This one was Tuesday night.

We had our good friends Stan and Terrie come and spend the weekend with us, and they brought Terrie's mom, Ruth with them. I love cooking for company, and so I started with some slow-cooked homemade clam chowder. Then I went down to the local fishery and bought some crab. They cooked them for me at the fishery, but I had to clean them. I didn't know a thing about doing that, so I made a quick call to my son-in-law Jason, and he gave me the lowdown. What a job cleaning and cracking the shells. It was worth it because I made these yummy crab cakes for dinner. I also tried to duplicate the spiced shrimp that we had when we stayed at Stan and Terrie's place in Florida. They were OK, but not as good as the gulf shrimp we had down there in January. After dinner, we sat around and played Yahtzee all night.

After our guests left on Sunday, Dave and I went over to Nehalem to attend the final performance of "Everybody Loves Opal" that the local theater group was performing. We were glad we did, as it was really well done and very funny. We went to one of their performances last fall. It's "reader's theater", where the actors stand in front of the audience and read their parts. There's a lot of body language and acting in the performance, and once you get used to the fact that they're reading, it's a lot of fun.

I have been real dutiful about getting myself out of bed early (7:15 is early for me these days) and heading for my aerobics class. I was actually there three out of four times this week! I have been suffering with tendonitis in my right elbow but I have been dealing with the pain. I think it was either too much yard work, or cleaning all the windows around here. Whatever, I over did it, and my arm has been telling me about it, especially in the middle of water aerobics.

Wednesday our Garden Club took a field trip to the Oregon Garden. It is located over past Salem, so it was about a 2-1/2 hour ride. I got to the meeting place late, so all the good seats were gone and I went to the back of the bus. There were about 30 of us packed in this mini-bus and let me tell you; the road we took was real curvy! I think the bus driver was in a hurry; so sitting in the back of the bus was not a good idea! Most of us were pretty queasy by the time we got there and of course the first thing they wanted us to do was to eat our lunch! I don't think so! The gardens were beautiful, but we only had about an hour and a half to see everything and then it was back on the bus for our amusement ride back home. We were supposed to have arrived back by 5-ish but it was closer to 6 before we got home.

An overturned truck had lost its load of shrimp all over the highway just a mile from our place. Now, ordinarily I wouldn't mind the half-hour wait in traffic - stuff happens - but it was just a few days before at the very same spot that a log truck had dropped its load all over the highway. You would think the truckers would get the idea that it's a bad corner!! Not only that, I was expecting guests for dinner that night and I had to call them and have them come a little later. Is that what you call Murphy's Law?

We have been on "red alert" all week, waiting for a call from Lara telling us she is on the way to the hospital to deliver her baby. She is very pregnant and her due date is next Tuesday. She told me that if the baby doesn't come by next Thursday, they are going to have to evict her, no more "womb service". I think when I go into town today, I will pack my suitcase for a week's stay, just in case.

I know I promised a picture of the finished utility room, but it isn't quite finished yet! It seems my electrician bought the wrong color track for the new lighting, so he has to wait until he goes back to Portland and get it right! Dave has a lunch with some old radio buddies and a couple of races to announce...and of course a trip to the lighting store! I just have some general running around to do and if Lara (or rather, Miss Jaysa) cooperates, I may be home by Saturday night. But as I said, I'm packing for the week!