Now You Wear Your Skin Like Iron, Your Breath As Hard As Kerosene

I still haven't taken and new pics, so digging out some recycled ones. Coadster took this of me a couple of years ago.

Sooo, today I didn't really meet my week's goal, but that's okay. I don't feel badly about taking a day off. What did I do instead? Well, I ran right after work and it was pretty nice. I'm still encountering some treacherously icy sidewalks, but I am happy in the knowledge that their days are numbered.

I also finally went to Supper Club for the first time in forever. It was hard to weigh it. On the one hand, I wanted to stay home and get things done in the kitchen and finish reading America America (I'm so close to finishing it). The other hand held the promise of cheese fries and one of the couple's 4 month old little boy. Alone time - cheese fries and cute baby. Alone time - cheese fries and a cute baby. Today I sacrificed my alone time. Lucky for me, that baby was pretty damn cute and the cheese fries were, of course, amazing.

Now, that means I still have a little time to work in the kitchen and read before bed. Who says you can't have it all?...As long as you have it in very small increments, that is.

All the Things I Care About (Are Packed Into One Punch)

I'm out of recent pics, so I'm recycling this one from a couple of years ago.

Wednesday's are becoming nice reprieve nights for me. Coadster goes to her dad's and Stinky is gone most of the night at rec league basketball games and then to her youth group. There was a time, before I was so house poor, that I would meet a group of friends at different restaurants around town for Supper Club on Wednesdays, but I haven't done that for many, many months.

Lately, I'm probably most happy spending Wednesdays by myself, anyway. That might change if the weather ever gets better and I tire of hibernating. But right now, my solitary evenings are exactly what I need in the middle of the week. It feels weird to have even a few hours to do with whatever I want. Yes, I did some chores and worked for a bit on the kitchen, but I also want to make sure I give myself time to read and listen to music if I can. I've got about a hundred pages left in The Sun Also Rises. It's been a quick read and such great escapism. I can't imagine a life where people spend most of their days and nights drinking and socializing. I couldn't do that every day without it making me really, really unhappy, but it sure is fun to read about. It's funny how I don't remember that they drank so much when I read it in high school. And as much of a drunken misogynist as he was reported to be, Hemingway sure could write the hell out of a novel.

Of course, as soon as I finish it, I'm moving on to Cormac McCarthy's The Road. The only book I've read of his was Blood Meridian and if The Road is anything like that, it will be about the opposite of The Sun Also Rises. I'm sure I'll be ready for it after a hundred more pages of frivolity.

But I Don't Listen to her 'Cause My Head is Like a Sieve

Here is a sign I saw. Iowa City has a tendency to make weird, uptight rules for homeowners. Of course, those same homeowners usually aren't shy about voicing their disapproval. God, I love this town.

Okay, first and foremost I have to choose the Saturday Scavenger Hunt word this week. I haven't been very good at participating lately, so the least I can do is pick the word. I guess I'll choose....sign. Have we done that one yet? If so, let me know and I'll try again.

Kids, this week has been wonderful so far. Sure, the weather could have been better on Monday and Tuesday, but it has been so nice NOT to be crazy busy. I've been good about my hour a day cleaning project and I've had plenty of time to actually sit down and talk to the girls when we're not in the car driving somewhere.

We had a funny little conversation the other day. The girls were talking about being at their dad's house on Saturday night and how annoying some guy who lived next to them was being. He had lost his dog that night and I guess he just kept walking past their house, sobbing loudly and calling out the dog's name.

"Wait," I said. "Do you know if his dog was a Jack Russel Terrier?" The girls said it was. "Oh my god. That guy came up to me when I was walking home around midnight and asked me if I had seen his dog. Since I've heard that child molesters use that 'can you help me find my puppy' routine to steal kids, I assumed he was a creeper and ran away from him. Now, I feel kind of bad about it, but I didn't know..." Then my girls both laughed their asses off trying to imagine me running from some poor distraught dog owner.

Coadster is officially finally done with soccer. Her school lost at sub-state tonight. I think she's a little sad, but I told her we could play all the soccer she wanted in the lot behind our place. It's not as much fun now that she can kick my ass, but it sure wouldn't hurt me to work on my skillz.

Since it's obvious I'm being random tonight, I'll just keep it up. Tonight I went to the Sanctuary for supper club. I ordered the eggplant lasagna and it was really good. We had some new people show up too. I knew them both since they were Dubliners and one of them was Dexter of Degrees of Grey in Iowa City blog. They didn't know some of the other people, but I think everyone seemed to have a great time. Especially after we started talking about Cheech and Chong movies and trying to remember all the best stoner bits from them.

Tomorrow is the girls' last day of school and we all couldn't be happier about it. As usual, I'm taking the next two days off of work, so I'll have a four day weekend. Praise your deity of choice here. I can't wait. I just have to get through tomorrow. Hopefully, some high school kid will prank call me tomorrow like they did today. I picked up the phone and said "University of Blah blah admissions. How may I direct your call..." Then I heard someone crank up Kelis' "Milkshake" and a loud, booming, totally off-key male voice start singing along with it. Suddenly, a mom came on the other line and said, "Hello?" and I was instantly hung up on. Sweet.

And It's Alright, What I Can't Do

Well, kids. Things have calmed down today and I don't have a whole lot to say. Whew! Right? I did happen to bring my camera to work and took a couple of shots. On my way to work, I noticed that someone had placed a red plastic dinosaur in an overgrown yard. I think he looks really natural there.

Here is the bush in front of my office, heavy with flowers. It's almost unseemly, there are so many on there.

I still haven't really had time to work on the balance I was fantasizing about a few days ago. I have been able to run every day this week, and that's been wonderful. This evening my iPod chose to begin my run with Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" and end it with Elvis Costello's "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down". I liked the Elvis bookends.

Here are some twin pitchforks that I saw stuck in the ground on my walk downtown at lunch.

Tonight was the first time in forever that the girls spent mostly at their dad's house. I had to drive Stinky to basketball practice, but that was it. It felt weird but good to have entire an evening to myself.

I briefly met the supper club kids at the Hilltop for really cheap but delicious cheese fries. Of course, I didn't do much the rest of the evening, but I was finally able to live in my own little world and listen to my own music and hopefully get to bed at a halfway decent hour. Who knows? I may even get enough sleep to write a post that doesn't suck tomorrow. It's not likely, but it's possible.

I've Been Waiting for This Silence All Night Long

Here are some benches with caution tape across them. I guess sitting can be very dangerous.

A lot of stuff went down today:

1.) I got up and went to work. I had a little bit of a migraine hang-over so it took more energy than usual.

2.) After work I picked up Coadster from track practice and we went to Hy-Vee to pick out a boutonniere for her prom date. Neither one of us had ever done anything like that before, so we were happy that two of her friends worked there and could help us. Her friend M. thinks I'm great (probably because I'm not her mom) and loves giving me tons of shit. Her friend H. worked in the flower area and was very helpful.

M: I just ordered a flower for my date. I got him a gerber daisy (she meant gerbera) with a ribbon and some glitter.

Me: And you know how much high school boys love glitter...

M: What? Oh, I don't care if he likes it. I love glitter. Coadster, who are you taking to prom? (without waiting for an answer) Whoever it is, tell him if he hurts you, I'll kill him.

Coadster: I'm pretty sure we're just friends. And I'm also pretty sure he's gay, so you don't have to worry about him hurting me at all.

H: I love him. He's so much fun.

M: (after Coadster picked a white orchid with a silver ribbon for her date). You should also get glitter for his flower too. (Insert HUGE eye roll from Coadster here and finally directed at someone other than me) What?! You said you thought he was gay....

3.) After recovering from my high school girl conversation about prom dates and boutonnieres, I dropped Coadster at my house so she could do her homework, and I headed to the Hilltop for Supper Club and cheese fries dipped in Ranch dressing. Although I thought after the above exchange I really deserved a beer, I was migraine shy and went for a soda instead. Supper club was hilarious as usual, and I was actually able to speak to adults I had something in common with. That doesn't always happen during the week.

4.) At 7:30 I got home in time to take Coadster to fake bake. I have real issues with fake tans, but I do understand it's kind of important for her to try and even-out her ridiculous soccer tan made by wearing long socks and shin guards right before prom. Plus, she got a free introductory week.

5.) Stinky finally got home before I had to pick Coadster back up. She had track practice and then open gym for basketball, even though the season doesn't start until next Winter. By the time I got the girls to their dad's house, it was almost nine and I was pretty much brain dead. The crazy thing about it all, is that this was their dad's night to have them. I better rest up for tomorrow. There's no telling how busy I'll be when I don't have "time off".

You're Always Dancing Down the Street

I think this is the back of the Biology Building.

Hey, today was a good day and let me tell you why:

1.) The weather was amazing. It got into the 50's. I ran in shorts. I'm positive it will snow again this year, but I doubt we'll have to experience 20 below zero temps for the rest of the season. We are dangerously close to Spring and not a minute too soon.

2.) Along the same lines, I just got my gas and electric bill and it was $70 cheaper than last month. Just think of all the things I could do with 70 dollars.

3.) I went to supper club for the first time in a hundred million years and it was so fun. We talked a lot about movies and I got some great suggestions for films I apparently HAVE to see. The best thing was, that one of the couples who attend aren't able to have children, and decided to be foster parents for a while. Well, they were actually able to adopt a newborn they were fostering. She's is absolutely gorgeous and they are amazing parents. I almost got a little teary seeing their new family.

4.) After supper club, I met my friend S. at George's. A few years back, a guy we knew sold his life over the internet and wrote a book about it. Part of what he sold were experiences. At one point, he wanted to sell the experience of drinking a beer and eating a cheeseburger at George's with my friend S., but ebay won't let you sell people, so they had to nix that. I'm the lucky girl who got to drink a beer at George's with my friend S. while she ate a cheeseburger without having to bid on her. We had a great talk and laughed a lot.

5.) My iPod was so good to me on my run today. Here is what I can remember of the songs it played:

a) "My Best Friend's Girlfriend" - The Cars
b) "Yellow Moon" - The Neville Brothers
c) an East Indian song who's name I can't remember, but it's great to run to.
d) "Pressure Drop" - Toots and the Maytals
e) "Roll With Me Henry" - Etta James
f) "The Theme from Sanford and Son" - Quincy Jones
g) "Rock and Roll" - The Velvet Underground
h) "Magic Man" - Heart

Now, off to bed with me.

Everything Looks Worse in Black and White

So, I was just asked to pick the next Saturday Scavenger Hunt word. I think I'll choose, outside. Have we had that one yet? If so, let me know, and I'll try again.

I went to The Hilltop for supper club and it was really nice. With the holidays and everything, I haven't made it for a while now. I had a big plate of cheese fries and a pint of beer for $4.50. You really can't beat that with a stick, can you?

I'm going to try really hard to get as close to seven hours of sleep as I can tonight, so I'll make this quick.

You know how annoying I always am with my camera? Yeah. Well, I do feel sorry for my girls now and again. Stinky doesn't usually mind, but Coadster has never had much tolerance for it. Here's a little photo post showing her creative avoidance. The first shot was from Christmas Eve when she was all full of the holiday spirit and trying to humor me.

Here she's allowing it, but obviously completely over the whole experience. Maybe I wouldn't want to photograph her so badly, if she weren't so expressive. I blame her.

The rest of these were from one of Stinky's basketball games. The first one, she just puts her hood up and turns around. Nice and simple.

Here she's using gloves as a prop.

For this pic, Coadster is utilizing her fleece quite nicely, I think.

And finally, she resorts to the duck and cover. This is equally successful for both warding off your mom's aggressive picture taking and protecting yourself from a nuclear attack.

She really has become the master of photography avoidance. I'm sure she'll thank me once she's famous and being hounded by the paparazzi.

And I Warn You Now, The Velocity I'm Gathering Will Knock You Down

It looks as if I'm running out of photos to use for the blog. I'm such a wuss about the cold, that I don't get out like I was doing when it was warm and nice out.

Today after work was crazy busy. I thought about trying to run, but I didn't have a lot of time before supper club, so I wimped out. Instead I finally finished The Book Thief. I started and stopped reading that book for over a year. I'm not sure why, I liked it, it was just that I'd set it down and something would come up and then I'd forget I was reading it, and then I'd get back to it, and something else would come up...Anyway, now it has officially been read, and I may just go back to another novel, I've been the same thing with - White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. I also have George Saunder's CivilWarLand in Bad Decline to read. I guess I'll just have to see what kind of mood I'm in tomorrow.

We went to The Hilltop for cheese fries for Supper Club tonight. They were greasy, good and cheap. Just how I like 'em.

I got home in time to help Coadster get ready for her trip to Ames, Iowa tomorrow. She leaves school in the afternoon and will stay in a hotel with the other All-State kids until their concert on Saturday night. We all went to see her last year, but this year, her dad is the only one going. It's just not fair to make Stinky hang around for 12 hours on Saturday again.

It will be just me and Stinky for the next few days. It's weird to think that in a year and a half, it will be just me and Stinky wandering around our apartment all the time. I can't imagine it.

Both of these photos were taken on Halloween. I couldn't tell if this woman was wearing a costume or some kind of decorative hair ornamentation.

Tomorrow night should be another busy one. I'm going to try to run, make dinner and then take Stinky to basketball practice. While she's there, I'll meet some friends to watch the Steelers at The Vine until Stinky's done with practice. Then I'll stop by and do a cameo at the bowling alley for my friend John's birthday. I can't stay long, but I at least want to flip him a bunch of shit and make fun of him, so he knows I'm still his friend. It is his birthday after all.

I'm Waiting for a Daydream to Take Me Through the Morning

I saw this on my way to work the other day. I have no idea what the hell it's doing in front of the Newman Center.

Today was our office retreat thingy. We do it twice a year around the beginning of each semester. Sometimes they make us play games, and wear name tags, and talk about ourselves in front of the other co-workers. All of those things stress me out a little.

This semester was actually pretty cool. Our boss got up and thanked the hell out of us for rising (ha ha) to the occasion during the floods. It always sounds more impressive when they can tell you numbers, and he said we took at least an extra 1,000 phone calls in two days. Jeesh! It looks like I was cranky for a reason. Then we got to meet our new boss. They finally hired a provost about a month ago. This guy speaks four different languages and has about 9,231 different degrees, but he's completely down to earth.

Back in June when I was taking all those extra 100's of calls and everyone was pissed off at me; like I personally caused the flood, or made the policy they disagreed with, I would make all nicey nice with them. Then after I hung up the phone, I'd say to no one in particular, "As soon as the big bosses ask me what I think, I'll be sure to pass all that crap along..." And then my co-workers and I would all have a great guffaw at our own expense. But today at our little retreat thing, our new boss actually asked us what we thought. No. For real. We were all quiet for a minute, because we weren't sure if we were hearing him correctly.

His big questions were about attrition and diversity and how to curb alcohol abuse. We batted shit around and he left saying he would keep our answers in mind when he met with some of the bigwigs. Whatdya know?

The other part of our retreat was that we all went on a tour with a guide around our fine institution and then we got to eat in the dining halls. Which is way better than it sounds. The food is pretty good and like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want.

Tonight supper club was super kick-ass too. We went back to the Hilltop where my pint of beer and cheese fries still cost less than $5. My friend K. pointed out that my friend TRipple was in the bar and when I asked her what she was doing, she told me that our friend Jen was celebrating her birthday in the other part of the bar with our friend Gomez. I hadn't seen either one of them for a very long time. It was such a nice surprise.

Okay, I've had a busy, but really nice day and now I'm going to try to go to bed at a halfway decent hour, so that I won't get all sleep deprived and fuck up tomorrow.

This is Why Events Unnerve Me

Here is a picture of a guy cooking crabs on the Embarcadero.

Do you ever have that where you go through your day, and everything seems fine? You go to work, and things are pretty normal. Sure, you have to throw your newest rubberband ball at the guy who sits in the cubicle behind you because he's saying stupid things, but that turns out pretty great because you nail him in the forehead. But then later, when you're out with your friends and you start speaking, you realize that you're kind of in a mood.

Well, that's how it was for me today. Part of it was probably that I didn't run after work. It would be my seventh day in a row, and I'm trying to be better about taking breaks. I just wish there was another way to get that free high. I decided to take a quick nap instead. My friend T. called me around 6:45 or so to see if I'd give her a ride to supper club. Of course I would.

We went to Los Portales this week and it just sucked. The service was bad and then there was all this weird bullshit about trying to figure out our checks when we left. So, basically we decided that we wouldn't go back there anytime soon. We were all kind of in a strange space after how weird and pissy the guy running the register was to us.

Then my friend T. asked me if I wanted to hang out for a minute at her place. At first it was nice and we had a great talk, but then I kind of went on a little rant. I have no idea why either, because I was bitching about stuff from the past that I really didn't care about. Really. It was like I couldn't help it, and if there was any way I could have grabbed the words as they were spewing forth and shoved them back into my mouth, I would have. Of course, T. was wonderful and let me go on, but I felt bad about it later on. I just hope T. comes to me next time she's in a mood and wants to vent, because I will totally return the favor.

And When Your Hands Get Dirty, Nobody Knows You At All

Here is a picture of me with my face all different kinds of distorted in the fun house mirror at the arcade at Hyde Pier.

Seriously, I don't know what kind of bizarre juju is hanging over our town this year, but it's getting pretty ridiculous. At work this afternoon, I got a message that there was ANOTHER lock-down at my daughters' school and both of the other schools they went to when they were younger. Jaysus! We live in Iowa for Christ's sake.

This time it was because of this creepy professor in town. He was accused of groping co-eds for the promise of an A+ and was suspended from his job. All of that was weird enough, right? Well, then we started hearing all this other shit, but like how this usually goes, it's all partial knowledge and hearsay and supposition and on and on like that there.

What I could figure out from all of it, is that the creepy professor wrote a suicide note and took off with his high powered rifle. The authorities (whoever they are) found his car parked at upper Hickory Hill Park and then at some point decided to put all the schools nearest to the park on lock-down for about 15 minutes. I called my girls and told them to stay away from the park, which is just two blocks from where we live.

Some people were saying that they weren't sure if the girls who accused the professor were telling the truth. As far as I'm concerned, once you take off in your white Ford Bronco, or head to the park with your high powered rifle, it's pretty evident that there's something real going on.

Here is a picture of the girls in front of the Hilltop Tavern, when we used to live above it.

Tonight we met at The Hilltop Tavern for supper club and everyone there was still talking about all the drama at the park just down the street. There was supposedly a SWAT team combing Hickory Hill and I wondered how a 66 year old professor was able to elude them all these hours. Sure, we also talked about other stuff, like our weekends and about how excited we were for NFL football season to start, so we could spend our Sunday afternoons at The Vine eating wings and watching men beat the shit out of each other, but mostly we were trying to piece all the afternoon's events together.

A couple of us girlies went back to my friend K.'s house afterward to hang out on her back porch. K. lives right next to the cemetery and park, where the creepy professor was said to be lurking. At first we talked about how little we understood men and all agreed that if you asked a guy why he did the things he did, he'd likely just say, "I'on'tknow." My friend T. wished they came with a manual, but I'm sure guys could say the same thing about women...Or else they'd just write us all off as crazy and not care about exactly why we do what we do.

Then we saw a helicopter fly over, and K. texted someone who was a little more in the know, who told her that they were using ultraviolet (I wrote ultra violet here, but I meant infrared. I'm leaving the original as further evidence of my dorkiness) lights to look for what they thought was just a body at this point. Not long after that, we heard what sounded like a gunshot coming from the direction of the park. It was kind of eerie. I went home pretty soon thereafter, and while I'm writing this, I have no idea what happened to the creepy professor.

I'll update you when I know.

All of a Sudden That Ole Rain's Fallin' Down

Here is a picture of a guy carrying his bike up a bunch of stairs at the North Hall Parking Ramp.

Tonight was great, but by being so great, it meant that I had so much fun that I didn't leave myself much time to blog.

We went to someplace called Rick's for supper club. I had never been there before. It didn't have much ambiance, but it was okay in other ways. My friend K. texted me and told me that she and some other girls were at my beautiful friend S.'s house hanging out in the backyard and asked me if I wanted to stop by after I ate.

It was just starting to thunder when I got there. We moved the table and chairs into the garage, lit a bunch of candles and watched the rain, all safe in our shelter. My friend S.'s friend came over. He was so brave to hang out with a bunch of loud bawdy dames, and he not only held his own, but told some amazing stories. Very impressive. He was from the Southside of Chicago just like me, so I know he came by his shit talking honestly. Lord knows, I love a good story teller.

Tonight was one of those nights that just happened without any planning, and even though all that rain could mean very bad things for us in Iowa, we still respected the storm for its power and appreciated its beauty.

Bells Will Ring, the Sun Will Shine

Hey, here's another flower shot that Stinky took.

Sooo, tonight we're onto the usual Wednesday, it's late and I'm tired post. I went to Shakespeare's for supper club and it was great, as usual. Then I headed to the Dublin. My friend J. was there. She said she stopped down because she knew I came down on Wednesdays and we had a fun time and a great talk.It was the perfect mid-week break.

Now, for more wedding talk. I think Stinky and I are going to do a little shopping for something to wear for it tomorrow night. I have one dress that will do, but it's not exactly what I want. I thought I'd check out another store because my friend K. said she found really cute sun dresses for $17 and that sounds like exactly what I want. I'll let you know. I'm sure you're all just dying with anticipation.

The other thing is that I have an actual real live date for the wedding. Weird, I know. He's a boy who lives out of town, and he's coming down for the weekend, so it should be fun. The guys I know who are single and hang out at the bar, say they purposely don't bring dates to weddings because that's the best pick-up place ever. I've never met a guy at a wedding before, but I've known people who have. How about you, gentle readers. Have you ever met someone at a wedding? Inquiring minds want to know...

She Says Love is Not What She's After

Here is part of the campus in our town.

Okay, you guys. Apparently, I'm a total fucking idiot and now let me tell you why. I went to supper club with some fun kids at Los Portales and I was such a good girl. I ate food and only had one margarita with dinner.

I dropped my friend K. off at her place and thought I'd head to the Dublin Underground for one beer to see if my friend Libby was there. Luckily, she and her husband were both down there and my favorite bartender was working and some other guys who I think are tons of fun were hanging out too. It was such a great night and people kept buying me beers and when I wasn't keeping up, they bought me little chips which are like beer coupons that you hand in at a later date, so that was cool too.

Eventually, after much swearing and laughing so hard my eyes were tearing, Libby and her husband got smart and left. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't quite as smart and stayed with a bar full of drunk guys and talked about what they wanted from women. I actually love this conversation, because even at my advanced age, I have no clue. According to the drunk boys I spoke to, (and I have to believe them because you know drunk guys would never say anything they didn't mean) all men really want is to have great sex in a committed relationship. Which should make things so easy, because most women I know want that too. So, my question to you guys tonight is, how come it isn't so easy if both men and women seemingly want the same thing?

The other thing I talked to these guys about was honesty. Last Saturday this guy who I met down at the Dublin about a month ago and who lives in another state, was back. He came up to me the minute I walked in the bar and said something to the fact that one of the great things about Iowa City for women is that a lot of guys who used to live here come back to visit and so we can hook up with them, but we don't have to worry about them begging for a relationship. (because most guys are always trying to get women to commit, right? Uh, whatever) Then he said something about a guy I used to date who just happens to live in another state as well. When I asked him how he knew I dated that person, he said that I told him that. I knew for a fact that I didn't, so he probably did some asking around about me and someone else gave him that info. If he told me that, I'd be fine with it. If I was attracted to someone, I'd do my homework too.

The problem I had with him, was all the weird scheming and assuming he was doing. Because he knew who I dated, and that person lived in another town, he assumed that's what I wanted. Wrong. If he had said he wanted to hang out for a while and maybe make-out, I probably would have been into that. Hey, he was cute and fun. I just don't like all that conniving and game playing. The guys I talked to about this, were all kind of half-jokingly saying that it never occurred to them that they could get what they wanted by telling the truth. So, my other question for women is, would you rather a guy be honest about what he wanted, or would you rather he dress it up a bit?

Obviously, I was stupid to drink beer and then stay out late on a school night, but just so you don't think I'm a total loser, I will let you admire my restraint. One of the other bartenders came downstairs as I was leaving and was surprised I was still there. He told me he'd buy me a drink if I'd stay longer, but I actually showed some restraint and walked up those stairs and then came home and wrote this totally drunken, long winded blog post about relationships. You can go ahead and thank me later...Or not.

I Search for the Beat in This Dirty Town

I took this pic at the pool tournament. They just had tubs everywhere there.

So, my weekday life consists of going to soccer games or track meets almost every day. Since my ex doesn't have a working car, I also have to run the girls every single place they have to go. Which is fine. It's all part of having kids and stuff and I love going to their events. In fact, Stinky got voted athlete of the week at her junior high this week because she got first place in discus and third place in shot. But you want to know what else I love? I love Wednesday nights, because after 7, I have the evening to myself, that's what.

It may have been because the weather was so nice, but tonight was actually really wonderful. I picked up girls from their practices, then I ran for a bit and then dropped off girls at their dad's house. Finally, I went to Sam's Pizza for supper club. It was a little smaller group tonight, but all the people who ever come are wonderful, so it doesn't matter who shows and who doesn't.

After supper club, we stopped by my beautiful friend S's house for a cook out. Because it was so nice out, and also because it's supposed to be way colder and rainy tomorrow, our friend Rory and his fiance E. were also having a BBQ. The best thing about it, was that they only live two houses away from each other, so I got to make the rounds. S.'s cook out had young kids and they were all totally into having a dance party with me. Then I stopped by my friend Rory's BBQ and there were just really cool people there too. I've always loved my friend Libby's husband, R., but I didn't know him all that well. Tonight we started talking and realized that we had almost all the same friends. That's always been the weird thing about this town. I can know every person of a particular group of friends, but not have met that one guy for whatever reason.

Okay. As much as I hate to see it end, my free, fun, me night is over. Tomorrow it's back to driving and attending my kids' sporting events and grocery getting and all that cleaning that didn't magically get done while I was out this evening.

But Everybody Else is Overwhlemed By Indifference and the Promise of an Early Bed

Just so you know, my post has nothing to do with Scarface. I just found this amongst my other pics and I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I took it. I just think it's funny that I did.

This will be a mercifully short post. Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions in the last post. It gives me so many things to check out on the web now...You know, because I'm sure I couldn't find anything (cough, Youtube, cough) on my own to obsess over on the lovely internets.

Tonight, the girls were at their dad's house. Now that he's done with his play, I actually have a night or two during the week to myself. (at least after 7, that is) It's kind of nice not to have to hear about what girls in eighth grade are sluts and which boys are stupid players and who broke-up with who and blah and blah. Okay, it's not that my friends don't still talk about that stuff, it's just that with my girlfriends, I at least know who the sluts and the players are so I can join in.

Anyway, I met the supper club gang out for Mexican food and margaritas. It was great, and there was a new woman there who cracked me up and I was so glad I met her. Then I went to the Dublin for one beer with my friend K. and her boyfriend A. before I went home and they went to see the Mekons. I decided not to go to the show because it was late and expensive and the food and the couple of drinks were just enough and the promise of a halfway decent night's sleep was a little more alluring to me. Hey, maybe I am capable of being responsible every once in a while after all.