Friday Coffee Klatch!

[lhall]

Good Morning Klatchers & Lurkers!

Well, we've got another busy weekend.

This morning Mariel are going to the school to help with reading for the last time. Then we need to go to the grocery store & the vets (for more food). After that we've got to go to BJ's to get Ginger's frames replaced (again). She broke her glasses yesterday, and I hope the breakage protection is good for more than one pair. We've already replaced them once. GRRR!!! Then, Ginger has to walk home from school because Mariel and I promised Miss Angela (the crossing guard) that we would bring back the leftover popcicles from last Friday. Angela gives them out if the weather is warm.

This afternoon Grammie & Gramps are picking up the girls. Al's company has an Annual Meeting/Luncheon tomorrow, then we've got a softball game, and out for Mexican. Sunday we've got to pick up the girls.

The weather should be beautiful again today.

Leigh

[Robyn1007]

Good morning Leigh!

Well, I am checking in for my last klatch from Virginia! I will spend my weekend packing, today continues to be just packing boxes and such and then tomorrow morning my pod will arrive and I will begin packing that. It will be picked up Monday to be shipped across the country.

Tonight I am meeting friends/co-workers from my old job for drinks and dinner. We're going to Cosi because we can make s'mores at the table! :D I think we might hit a movie too. Sunday I am going to hang out with my best girlfriend here, we'll probably just order pizza and watch tv. She is still in denial that I am going so it will be a tough goodbye.

Tuesday I hit the road! I'll be driving across on I-70 so I'll wave at any of you that I might be passing and then join next weeks klatch from Colorado.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Robyn

[lhall]

Robyn,

I hope the goodbye with your best friend goes well. Be careful on that long drive. My dad says the Dr. told him to take at least 15 minute break every 3-4 hours when he's out driving by himself. I think that's good adivce.

Leigh

[Robyn1007]

Hi Leigh,

That's a good tip and I do tend to do pretty close to that since I have a smaller car with a smaller gas tank I tend to need to fill up a bit more often. Also, because of the cat, I need to get out, let him stretch every once in awhile. I am taking a bunch of books on cd so that makes the drive much easier.

Robyn

[lhall]

Robyn,

That's good to hear. When my Dad's galavanting across the country he's in his motorhome. While it doesn't get good gas mileage (about 8 miles/gallon) it has a huge tank so he doesn't have to stop and fill up often. Which I guess is good.....I think the cost of filling that thing up too often could give someone a heartattack! :rolleyes:

Leigh

[Escher]

Ola, Klatchers!

I'll saddle up to the bar and order a Double Espresso with a Jolt to wash it down.

You see, I've decided I simply have too many things going on in my life.

In addition to work and the commute, This weekend I'm trying to write my brother's PCT website, spend quality time with my munchkins, visit my inlaws, go shopping (likely 2-3 times:rolleyes: ) with my wife, meet my friends for our Saturday night card games, study for my Microsoft Certification exams, fix the kitchen cabinet, unclog the kitchen drain, mow our lawn (why does it always seem to get so much larger in the summer) and, oh yeah, have enough energy left over to "bring it" in the bedroom.

<<sigh>>

I am very, very dubious I will be able to complete that whole list.
Nevertheless, as of 5pm today, I'll make my Quixotian charge in the attempt...

[Robyn1007]

Yikes, Escher, that's a lot of stuff to get done!

[SueK]

Good morning guys!

Robyn - have a safe trip to CO and enjoy the last weekend in VA. Once you're settled in CO, let us know how things went!

Leigh - have fun with Al this weekend!

Escher - that's a pretty ambitious weekend you have planned - hope you get everything accomplished.

Sara should have a fun day today. One of the teachers at her school is becoming a U.S. citizen today. The 3rd and 4th graders are being bused to the courthouse to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Not much planned for this weekend. I have a massage scheduled tomorrow morning and then my friend is coming over to look at baby clothes. She has a little girl a year younger than Sam. I want to start getting rid of the baby clothes and told her to have first shot at whatever she wants.

My mom is just getting back from OH today so on Sunday we'll celebrate a belated Mother's Day.

Have a great weekend everyone!

[lindrusso]

Hello everyone. :)

Leigh - Enjoy your kid-free time and the weather. :)

Robyn - Good luck on your move and trip - that's quite a drive!

Escher - Good luck with that list!

Sue - I remember parting with my sons' baby clothes - I also had a friend come over and go through our things. It was kind of jolting to see her son later wearing some of the clothes. How can clothes be so sentimental???

Tomorrow we have baseball practice at 9 and my other son tests for his red stripe (he's a blue belt) in Tae Kwon Do at 10, so it will be a fairly busy morning, but nothing after that. Unless I decide to attend a scrapbook workshop - I really need to, but I hate going to them on Saturday nights. However, if the weather goes as predicted, the baseball may get rained out.

As for today, I was supposed to go grocery shopping this morning before work, but I think I'll take Bailey for a walk - it's not raining yet and I may not get to take him out tomorrow if it rains all day.

I submitted my letter applying for the job of secretary at our school yesterday. I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing, but the extra money (paltry though it is) would be nice. Still, if someone else got the position instead of me, I can't say I'd be too terribly disappointed, as long as it was someone I liked working with. So, we'll see how all of that goes......

Guess I'd better get some breakfast........

Alysha

[Gracie]

Originally posted by Robyn1007
tomorrow morning my pod will arrive

Your what???!!!??? :D Robyn have a very safe journey. I have never heard of making your own s'mores at a restaurant. That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to hearing about your journey. I forget if you've already found a place to live. And how do you get the cat to stretch out during pit stops? Is s/he on a leash?

Leigh - once again I am jealous of your weather as once again we are having a wet weekend. This is 5 in a row (but I'm not counting! :D ) and the nice days during the week are getting awful by comparison. Erin wanted me to buy the big case of Pop Ices last week but I told her not until pool season.

Escher - what a list! If we weren't having rain, I'd have a list like that too.

Sue - that's a great experience for Sara. It's really nice of the teacher to include the kids.

The High School band is having their Pasadena/Rose Bowl fundraising yard sale tomorrow. Erin will be in HS next year so she's included. I have a ton of stuff for her to sell - mostly a bunch of what I call "loser items" :D which are my Ebay items that don't seem to sell. Not that they're bad things, I have tons of cool Red Sox and Patriots T shirts, kids books, other esoteric cool T shirts and some things from the house that I can't really sell on Ebay because they'd be a pain in the neck to ship like her old rollerblades. We have to be there at 6:30 am to set up then she wants me to stay with her for some of the time. I'm anxious to walk around and see what others have, too - always looking for things to sell.

My boss gave me 2 tickets to the Boston Pops Orchestra Sunday afternoon so Erin and I will go to that. Andy didn't have any interest in going and I only got 2 anyway.

Loren

[Robyn1007]

Originally posted by Gracie


Your what???!!!??? :D Robyn have a very safe journey. I have never heard of making your own s'mores at a restaurant. That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to hearing about your journey. I forget if you've already found a place to live. And how do you get the cat to stretch out during pit stops? Is s/he on a leash?



Have you ever seen those storage pods that people will sometimes have around businesses? That's what I'm talking about. They'll drop it, I load my stuff into it and they pick it up and move it across the country. They'll then store it for me for up to 3 months. I don't have a place yet but am scheduled to look at 2 places within the first couple of days that I get there.

My cat goes on a harness and leash set up for a couple of reasons. It helps when we stop so he can walk a bit (though he won't do much, to many scary noises) and while in the car he gets leashed to the passenger side door so that when I get in and out of the car at gas stations and such he can't sneak out behind me and cause major problems. If I try to leave him in his cage, he will meow at me for the full 3 days and I can't handle that!

I was lucky enough to see the Boston Pops perform on 4th of July of 1994 and would love to see them again, enjoy!

Sue, how cool is that to see a teacher get her citizenship!

Lindrusso, I hope that things work out with the job, however you want that to be.

Robyn

who really doesn't want to get up and start packing again.....

[Gracie]

I've never seen a storage pod - thank you for clearing that up! :D I admit to thinking about the Invasion of the Body Snatchers... :o

I know what you mean about constant meowing. When we brought our Bengal home from the breeders, it was a 2-hour drive and she meowed indignantly for the entire time! But that was only 2 hours!!

Alysha - if you are having lousy weather this weekend then we are sure not to miss it here. Good luck, I think!!!, with the job application. Erin did karate when she was younger and I was really amazed at how much it taught the kids about respect and self-discipline.

Here is a link to pictures of Erin from the celebrity dress-up party (http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=2126832368) last weekend. She was supposed to be Roxie from Chicago. The kids had a blast. Several were actually recognizable, like the brother and sister that came as Sonny and Cher, and we had George Bush and Tommy Chong. Others that were Misha Barton and Sienna Miller were less recognizable.

Loren

[linsleyd]

First of all, Escher you crack me up!

Leigh, have good weekend; enjoy your time with Al.

Robyn, be safe and careful on your trip. The book on cd is a great idea, it's what saved me when I was commuting for 3 hours a day!

Sue, have a good weekend and that's neat that Sara's class gets to see a swearing in ceremony!

Loren, I would love to see the Boston Pops, enjoy!

Alysha, good luck with the job, I think.:) Anything new on the house?

Well, our weekend is already up in the air! Our realtor just got back from vacation (how dare she do that when we're looking for a house :D ) so we're trying to have her set up appointments for us. If we don't look at anything tonight we might run up to my hometown to see my Gram and brother. My Granpa was put in a nursing home last week after being in the hospital and they think he may stay there. He was getting too much for my 90 year old gram to take care of.
Other than that my friend is graduating from Immaculata this weekend so we'll catch up with her for either dinner Sat night or brunch on Sunday.
Everyone please think good thoughts on us finding a home, DH and I have about had it with MIL. Not a good thing!

[lindrusso]

Loren - Hope you get some good weather soon. I get so frustrated when the weekends are all lousy like that! We've had very nice weather for the most part this spring, even if it did snow in April and even if we did see snow pellets (I thought it was hail) in May! :D

I know I sound confusing on the job thing! I do want it or I wouldn't have applied for it, but it's been over 10 years since I've worked fulltime, so between that and not having my summers with the boys, I may have a hard time adjusting. :) To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't mind not ever working again, but my oldest is only 7 years away from college and a second income would be nice to help save for that, etc.

I must also admit that part of the reason I'm applying for this job is because of Chuck's health problems. Everything is fine at the moment, but with cancer you know you can NEVER take good health for granted. This job could never support the boys and I if we lost Chuck's income, but it at least gives me something to put on a resume, it would at least give me health benefits if I needed them, and I would also be pretty much on my boys' schedule (as far a snow days and vacation days during the school year, plus I'd be off at 3:30, etc.). I think it's this reason that Chuck really wanted me to apply, though he did not push me into it at all.

Bottom line - I've been spoiled rotten staying home with the boys for so long! :D

Well, the rain is moving in faster than I thought and I hear thunder, so I don't know that I'll get Bailey out after all!

Alysha :)

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by linsleyd
Alysha, good luck with the job, I think.:) Anything new on the house?

Hi Linsley. :)

Nothing new with the house other than we have dropped the price in hopes of getting it to move. We have one more month to sell this thing, but the market seems pretty darned slow - there are SO many houses for sale. I have all the houses in our neighborhood bookmarked on Realtor.com so that I can watch and see what is selling, and I think only one house has sold so far (from what I heard through the grapevine).

Good luck with house hunting. Sounds like we are having just the opposite problems! Most of all, good luck with MIL! ;)

Alysha :)

[Kayaksoup]

Good Morning everyone! I survived all of my midterm exams, and I actually have Saturday off. Its a good week:D Tonight we are having a little shindig -- a combo belated birthday for me and a happy new job for my friend. We are going to this wonderful italian restaurant called Ciprianos. Its a little hole in the wall place where you can get a food served family style, big litre bottles of wine and the owner is known to break into operatic singing. Then we are going to the Legion to play shuffleboard:p Just have to make it through the rest of today....

Robyn, good luck with your roadtrip! I hope your birthday was good yesterday.
Linsley, thinking a house-finding thoughts here.
Loren, the celebrity dress-up party sounds like a fun idea. Of course, I was surprised to see Erin wearing what looks like my grad dress:p -- I went a little non-traditional.
Alysha, I hope it goes well with your son's test. Do you find scrapbook workshops to be worthwhile? I just finished my first scrapbook page, and while I am proud of it, I can tell it looks terribly amature-ish. I could probably use a littel professional guidance...
Hi to Sue, Escher, and Leigh!

[Laura]

Good morning Klatchers,

I am drinking some mix of coffee that I bought at the store with :eek: powdered creamer. I knew I didn't have any milk, but didn't realize that my favorite low carb vanilla creamer had about two drops in it. I blame DD as she has been drinking coffee of late to get her through her Honors English class. I keep telling her that you can't start reading Dante's Inferno at 9:30 p.m., but what do I know. :rolleyes:

This weekend DS has an outdoor swim meet. Usually the older kids swim in the afternoon, but because its outdoors they switched it. I am debating about having him go though because he has been fighting a cold and he can't afford to miss any school.


Robyn Have a safe drive. Mon/Tues are going to summer like here. I posted my unavailable dates on the Colorado Klatch thread, if you want to check that out.

Leigh, enjoy your kidless time. I never seem to take full advantage of the times the kids are up with their dad.

Alysha, I hope your house sells soon. I hope the best turns out with the job, the hours do sound good though. I am thinking about applying for a new job within my company, but I know probably a zillion other people are as well, and I am missing one key qualification.

Loren, Erin looked great in that picture; what a fun party that must have been. Sorry that you are getting rain again for the weekend.

Linsley, good luck with the househunting, that must be difficult in that market and having to deal with MIL on top of it all.

Sue, enjoy your massage. I would love to add that to my splurge list, but I usually only get them when someone else buys one for me.

Escher, wow, what a busy weekend. I really have been enjoying your brother's journal.

Well, work calls, but I will check in later.

Hello to anyone I missed.

Laura

[lhall]

Wow, it's been a busy morning.

I got a silk flower arrangement for all my help in Ginger's class. They flowers even have fake water drops & water in the vase. It's very pretty. Mariel also go to visit the Treasure Box for being such a well behaved Honorary First Grader. :D One thing I've enjoyed about being home this year is being able to help out in the class. Mariel also did the best ever writing her name. She got all the letters in the right order, and even did a lower case I. I've been working on teaching her all capital letters first. Ginger's teacher says she writes her name better than some beginning first graders do.

Alysha,
What you say about wanting the job just in case makes sense. It's got to be hard on Chuck too. I hope things work out well for you. Good luck to your son on his Tae Kwon Do test too.

Linda,
I'm glad you've got a day off. Have fun at the resturant, it sounds nice.

Loren,
The dress is great & Erin is beautiful, but I can see why she was worried about bending over. :D :D Have fun at the concert.

I'm being stingy, and have yet to turn on the AC. Yesterday afternoon it was 78 in the house, but that's the warmest it's gotten. It's supposed to cool off some this weekend. Although, our power bills should be lower this year since we have a brand new (more efficient) unit outside now.

Robyn,
I used to let my cats out of the box on car trips for the same reason. Vlad is part siamise, and definately has the meow. Most times he would either sit in my lap, or under the front edge of my seat.

Linsley,
Good luck house hunting. I must say, I couldn't live with MIL/FIL, but that's as much them is because BIL & family live in the same house. BIL is not an easy person to like/get along with.

Escher,
Wow, you do have a busy weekend! What MCSE exam are you taking. Al did that a few years ago, but he's still got one test to take/pass for the MCDBA.

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by Kayaksoup
Do you find scrapbook workshops to be worthwhile? I just finished my first scrapbook page, and while I am proud of it, I can tell it looks terribly amature-ish. I could probably use a littel professional guidance...

Hi Linda. :)

That Italian restaurant sounds wonderful. Congrats on getting through midterms. As scary as going back to work FT is, midterms would be scarier. :D

I like the workshops because it gets me out of the house and focused on what I'm going. Just like if I want a really good workout, I need to haul my butt to the gym - I get too distracted at home. I do Creative Memories albums, so these workshops are hosted by consultants - it's nice to be able to shop as you do pages. CM provides idea books for page ideas - I find these very, very useful.

You don't have to do CM to go to workshops, though. Most scrapbook stores host workshops too - and again, you can shop as you work - dangerous, but also very handy.

Well, the rain seems to be skirting around us, so I think I'll chance it and take Bailey out. Maybe we'll just circle the block a few times so that we can be close to home if it does start to pour or storm on us.

Alysha :)

[Kayaksoup]

Thanks for your reply, Alysha. I just found out that my friend's mom runs a business called Heartwarming Expressions or something like that which sells scrapbooking stickers and layouts. I think I will ask her to make a reccomendation for a good resource in my area. I just discovered that there is a HUGE store in my general area, but it is still a long way from me as I don't have a car.

[Robyn1007]

Originally posted by lhall


Robyn,
I used to let my cats out of the box on car trips for the same reason. Vlad is part siamise, and definately has the meow. Most times he would either sit in my lap, or under the front edge of my seat.



Yep, Milo is part siamese too and has that notorious meow. Most vets look at him and say he is probably part siamese (he is all white) and then he meows and the are sure of it! He'll spend time on my lap but I won't let him under my seat, I've heard horror stories of cats getting under foot while driving and making a driver be unable to push the brake pedal in causing an accident.

Wow, spring is definitely here, everyone is so busy!

[tbb113]

Quick drive by posting before I get to work.

Not much planned this weekend. Tonight is the "V" dinner at Va de Vi (http://www.va-de-vi-bistro.com/). Tomorrow is errands and Sunday I'm kicking back at home and doing nothing :) Alex is hoping to have some friends over in the afternoon to play Dungeons and Dragons so maybe I'll bake cookies as a treat for them.

The weather here has FINALLY turned seasonal. But there are rumors of more rain next week. I would really like a spring before summer but I don't think its happening this year.

[lhall]

Originally posted by Robyn1007
Yep, Milo is part siamese too and has that notorious meow. Most vets look at him and say he is probably part siamese (he is all white) and then he meows and the are sure of it! He'll spend time on my lap but I won't let him under my seat, I've heard horror stories of cats getting under foot while driving and making a driver be unable to push the brake pedal in causing an accident.



LOL! Vlad is all black, but you can see the Siamese in the shape of his face as well as his meow. Actually, he was very good about being under the seat. He was always under/behind my legs, and part way under the seat. I never had him get near the pedals.

Tyra,
I'm glad you're having some nice weather. D&D, huh? I think I still have a box of that stuff somewhere. I've also playtested some Role Playing Games. :D :D :D

Well, BJ's did have Ginger's frames in stock so we were able to get her new glasses. Thank goodness for "breakage protection plans" as this is the second time we've replaced the frames at no cost. It's almost time to go meet Ginger walking home from school.

Leigh

[tbb113]

Alex tried to play D&D in 4th or 5th grade but the games had really no strategy (more just find the goal and kill the people). For the last two years he has been going to a Role-Playing Workshop (http://roleplay-workshop.com) during the school year and summer for camp. Hopefully now that they are 7th and 8th graders, the game master will actually have a story :)

Glad to hear that you could replace Ginger's frames for free. I didn't start wearing glasses until I was in 4th grade and I only lost one pair in 7th grade PE (They got stuck in the locker where no-one could find them). Months later they re-appeared :rolleyes:

[Robyn1007]

Yeah, Milo has the shape and face too but not quite as distinct.

[colleency]

Good morning/afternoon all!

I'm incredibly sleepy this morning, as Shawn was out until 2:30 last night volunteering for a charity screening of Star Wars. Because of his broken leg, someone had to carry his stuff into the house, and all the noise woke me up.

Leigh, bummer about the new glasses, but that's pretty neat about Mariel's writing skill!

Robyn, I thought body snatchers when I read you post, too! Good luck on the move, and I hope you enjoy the drive. It's good that you have a companion, even if he can't help with the driving.

Escher, don't forget sleep in that schedule! And don't feel guilty if you don't get everything done. None of us are superheroes.

Sue, massage...mmmmm.

((Alysha)) Good luck with the job! It sounds like just the thing to ease you back into the job force and give you that extra feeling of security.

Loren, I hope Erin makes it out here for the Rose Parade! My high school was too small for the band to participate, and I could walk to the Rose Bowl from my high school. Does John Williams still conduct the Boston Pops? We always try to catch him when he appears at the Hollywood Bowl.

Linsley, sending good thoughts your way about the house hunting. I can't imagine living with any of my relatives.

Linda, congratulations on the midterms! I've never played shuffleboard. We stick to croquet and bocce.

Laura, I hope your DS gets well quickly.

Tyra, that small plates place looks great. I *love* small plates and teas and tiny foods. I was thinking that when it comes time for Alex to go to college, he might want to consider which school has a good science fiction club, so he can continue with his hobbies. UCLA's club does LARPs constantly.

This weekend I have to pick up my dad from the airport, take Shawn to do some more Star Wars stuff, go to a cocktail party (black tie optional), and help a friend out with a reading of the screenplay he wrote.

I really want to get some sewing in too. I promised myself that I would finish all my Civil War era underwear before the end of this semester, and I haven't even started on my petticoat yet. I won't be able to go to the ball in June now, so at least I don't have the pressure of finishing my whole ball gown in a month, although the outer wear should take a lot less time than sewing my hoops has taken.

[Gracie]

Tyra - the restaurant sounds wonderful. What are you going to do once you've eaten at a "Z" place? Are there any restaurants that have names that start with numbers? ;)

Colleen - how did your synopsis go for the Queen Mary thing? I've been thinking of you and Shawn with all the Star Wars stuff going on. Erin will make it to the Rose Bowl no matter what. It'll be our HS's 2nd time going. They went 5 years ago and were fortunate to raise what seemed like zillions of dollars from corporate sponsorship because everyone was so excited. Now, companies are not so quick to give money - it's almost a been-there-done-that attitude so the kids will really have to work hard to shave money off the per-child cost which right now is $1600. I wanted to go too, not as an official parent chaperone, but to at least be there. I have not decided if I'll go.

Loren

[tbb113]

Loren:
We start the alphabet over. This is the second time through and only duplicated a few places. I think the group might disband as well though. I normally break for summer and with Michael playing Varsity (games at 7pm) I won't be able to be at a Friday dinner until December. So, the group will have 3 choices, disband, change the night to either Saturday or Sunday or meet without me. Truthfully, at this point any one of the three options are okay with me.

I have two more dinners planned. One is either Xenia (Italian) or Yan's (Chinese) and then either Zheng-Long (Pan Asian) or Zio Fraedo's (Italian). The "W" is seafood (Walnut Creek Yacht Club).

And, yes, there were restaurants that start with numbers (301 Bistro) but it went out of business. :p

[colleency]

Loren, I actually got some great research done on the Queen Mary, but I didn't end up having to do the actual synopsis, because the president of the club was on a cruise. I discovered that, much like today, people didn't wear anything "special" on a transatlantic crossing. They wore their regular clothes and heavy coats, because it's cold out there. :) But I did end up revising my time period from 1870-1935 to 1905-1940, which will be a much more manageable time period.

If you make it out to the Rose Bowl, we'll have to see if you have time to do a lunch or something. Good luck with all the fundraising. $1600 is a lot!