Up waaaay too early

And I have a long way to drive today. Grrr. Didn't get to sleep until late last night either. I think I am running on about 4 hours of sleep. Poop. That is not my favorite thing.

Yesterday was a pleasant day. I spent most of it putting copies of Diary of a Plate Addict together. Staples didn't have a stapler that they would use to staple my book. And I didn't see that spending $50 to buy a stapler and staples was a good idea. So I am going with binder clips again. Sigh.

I opened the toner I had bought and it was terrible! Hopefully the company will make good on it - I will have to look into that after I come back from Atlantic City, though. Unfortunately, I am now out of toner for my b&w workhorse printer. Which means no more copies printed out until a replacement cartridge appears on my doorstep. I ordered one from Amazon. Fingers crossed that it is here when we return.

The color printer ran out of black, so I replaced that cartridge. And now it tells me magenta is running low. Luckily I don't really have anything to print out just now - I still have a few front and back covers printed out waiting for innards.

Enough about that laborious task. Ok, one more little thing - it takes me about 20 minutes probably for each draft - not including putting the letter and envelope together. The first three are going out today, and if all signs are propitious, I will send out the rest next Monday. Yippee!

It was also mom's birthday! She opened her presents and was delighted to find candy, soap, hand cream, a sweater and a great mug! Oh and some sorting bins that I got her. Ever practical. Lucky her.

We also went to dinner at The Cobblestone. I was underwhelmed. Mom had a lobster tail risotto that was not her favorite dish on the planet. Note - no risotto for mom. And for someone used to fresh Maine lobster, the pathetic teeny tail that she got was just sad. My steak was much yummier. And we shared a crab cake for an appetizer. Oh, the place did give her a teeny chocolate souffle for dessert in honor of her birthday! That was good. It was surprisingly busy and our server was ok. Yes, I can be hypercritical about servers. And I can also give them considerable slack. This one needs some guidance.

All in all, pleasant!

Today, we drive to Atlantic City. A bit of trepidation, as I don't know how mom will fair. I guess we shall see. Keep tuned!

Pictures from May 10, 2011:


Mom's favorite birthday present - more sorting bins!


A look at the organized chaos of putting drafts of the book together!


Birthday dinner photo! Happy 81st Mom!!

I am going to put the rest of Mom's birthday pictures up on Facebook.