Busy Weekend -- and Some Peace and Quiet!!

We had a busy weekend this weekend! It was our fourth wedding anniversary on Friday, and we celebrated by going out to a fancy dinner! It was actually interesting what happened, because I ended up having a meeting on Friday night at work (yeah I know; sucky time, eh?) and I didn't leave work until 7pm. By the time we arrived at the restaurant we wanted to go to, it was 7:40pm, and there was a 45 minute wait. Forty-five minutes! For the love of peanut butter, that's absolutely ridiculous! We were s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g by then. We decided to go by this relatively new place that is all fancy-schmancy, and they had no line. But it's a beautiful place in a relatively new hotel they renovated a couple of years ago. Cloth napkins and table clothes and everything!

Unfortunately, our waiter was at the end of his shift, and he was very anxious to go home, and we were his last table. So he could have cared less whether or not we had good service. It was marginal at best. But oh well, we had a great time and some yummy food.

We didn't get to bed until 10:30 (fine for me, but late for Bill!) and we were planning on going to my folks's house the next day. We got up, packed and left the house about 9:15 or so to make the 3-1/2 hour drive up to Etna. It was a nice day and a beautiful drive up there. We stopped in Yreka for some lunch at the Black Bear Diner. The county fair was in town, so even at 1:30 in the afternoon, the restaurant was crowded!! We had to stand in line for the bathrooms (well, I did; for some reason the women's room always has a line. What's that about?!? It never fails to amaze me that restaurants will have a single-toilet bathroom for the women. I mean, gimme a break). LOL

Anyway, we rolled into Etna about 2:30 or so and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with my parents. They are doing well, and very active and healthy despite being on the cusp of their 80s. I hope I'm like that when I'm their age! We got to watch the deer that come into their yard on a regular basis. Etna is a little town in a mountain valley, and they have a deer family that "live" on their property. I guess you could say the deer let my parents live on their property! LOL It was a lot of fun to watch them, and I kicked myself all weekend for forgetting my camera.

There was a mama deer, two "teenage" bucks with little furry antlers forming on their foreheads. Also there were two fawns, just under a year old. They looked like Bambi. Fortunately, there is no hunter around to kill Bambi's mother! LOL They are tame enough that you can walk past them without making them run off; however if you head in their direction, they take off as fast as they can! But if you ignore them and walk past them without making any sudden movements, they will just lie in the grass and watch you very carefully.

That evening, after dinner, my Aunt Wanda, Uncle Al and cousin Dan came over for dessert, since they also live in Etna. We had a really nice visit. Both my parents and my aunt and uncle gave us anniversary gifts and cards. It was really nice!

We went to bed about 10:30 that evening, and the guest bed at my parents house is REALLY hard! But we were tired and went right to sleep. We both woke up a lot, but that probably had more to do with being in a strange place than anything else. Okay, yeah, the bed is extremely uncomfortable! (Sorry, Mom!). But it was worth it.

The next morning, we got up when we felt like it, and ate a leisurely breakfast. We had fruit slush, which is a wonderful concoction that my mom makes, and it is a tradition. Somehow it wouldn't be coming home without having fruit slush for breakfast! Dad watched golf on TV and Bill read the paper. I read my book after Mom and I cleaned up the kitchen. We just kind of relaxed the rest of the morning. We met the Kieps (my aunt and uncle and cousin) down at the local restaurant and we all had lunch together before Bill and I took off for home. We probably didn't leave Etna until about 1:30, and since we had had a lot of soda with lunch, and we stopped in Yreka at McDonald's for some soda on the way home, which meant I needed several potty stops! Ah, the joys of getting older . . . . NOT LOL

Anyway, it was a pleasant, uneventful drive home. We got home about 5:00 or so, we unpacked, did some laundry, and relaxed. We got hungry but there wasn't any food in the house, so I went to Raley's and got some chef's salads and fresh baked french bread, which was a yummy, refreshing meal. We fell into bed exhausted, but glad that we had such a fun and busy weekend.

Oh, and the peace and quiet that I referred to above? Well, remember my last post, when our upstairs neighbors came back on August 1st? They were here a few days, just enough to wreck havoc, and they're off again! I don't think the local university starts for a week or two, so they must be off on some partying adventure until it's time to buckle down. Actually, I don't give a flying monkey what they're doing; all I know is that it is very peaceful and quiet upstairs again!!! I know it won't last, so I am trying to enjoy it all I can. I loooooooove it right now. The TV is off, the dishwasher is done with its cycle, and it is q-u-i-e-t. Ahhhhhhhhh. I know it won't last, but I am savoring it for all its worth.

Dream house and our weekend

We ended up having a really nice weekend this weekend. I'm tired this evening for some reason, but it was nice.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the open house for the St. Jude dream home they're giving away. We signed up for a $5,000 Ashley Furniture giveaway while we were there. Oh that house is SO GORGEOUS!! Unfortunately my camera batteries pooped out on me before I could get pics of everything, but here are a few of the pics. It is absolutely gorgeous and the cabinetry and fixtures are exactly what I'd pick if I could.

Here's a pic of the fireplace and the built in bookcases in the living room. They're cherry wood and absolutely beautiful.


This is the hall bathroom and downstairs bedroom.


This is the postage stamp backyard. Easy maintainance!


This is the master bedroom.


Then we went out to breakfast and then ran a couple of errands. I got a new beautiful bedspread at Penney's for the guest room, since the other one we had was really worn out.

Then we came back home and got things ready for Mom and Dad coming. I cleaned the hall bathroom and Bill did some laundry and cleaned the kitchen for me.

My folks got here about 2:30pm and we had a nice visit. When I told them about the dream home, they wanted to go see it, so we drove over there and walked through it again. I sure hope we win it. Wouldn't that be something?!? Wow.

When we came back, we drove by the apartments that burned in March and showed them the reconstruction, then came back to our apt. About 5:30, we headed over to the place where the play and dinner were being held. It was really fun and the food was good. My folks enjoyed themselves and so did Bill.

We came back home and then Mark came over and visited for a bit, then probably 10:00 or so Mark left and everyone headed for bed. This morning, we got up and Scott, Mark and Candice and we all went out for breakfast at Country Waffle. It was fun! Mom and Dad wanted to get a car charger for their cell phone, so we all went over to Best Buy after breakfast. Then Mom and Dad left for home after that -- probably around noon or so. Bill and I came home, and he laid out by the pool and I took a nap. Then he took a nap and I ran some errands.

Bill has cooked burgers for dinner, so I need to go. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Random weirdness . . .

You know how sometimes, a word gets stuck in your head, and the more you say it in your head or see it written, the more it doesn't seem like a real word? Does that happen to anyone else? Or am I really strange? Perhaps those are two totally separate questions -- maybe I am totally strange, but other people do the word thing, too? Hee!

Anyway, today for some reason the word "weird" got stuck in my head. Weird, weird, weird, weird weird. Weird is a weird word. So to speak. So I had to look it up in the dictionary and this is what they said:

1 : of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the supernatural : magical
2 : of strange or extraordinary character : odd fantastic
— weird·ly adverb
— weird·ness noun
Synonyms: weird, eerie, uncanny, mean, mysteriously strange, or fantastic. Weird may imply an unearthly or supernatural strangeness or it may stress queerness or oddness . Eerie suggests an uneasy or fearful consciousness that mysterious and malign powers are at work . Uncanny implies disquieting strangeness or mysteriousness .

It just gets weirder. Like this post.

The good news? It's FRIDAY!!!!

Happy Weekend, everyone! Try not to be too weird.