It just might work...

Last night I wrote down all the things that I would like to accomplish before heading to Maine a week from Tuesday. The list is not all inclusive - I am not putting down daily tasks like cooking and shopping and working at the Smith. And there might be a couple of things that I have forgotten to put on it - hopefully they will come to me before too long - anyway - here is the list:

Pills for mom
Car Looked at/Oil Change
Bike Rack
Bike Helmet
Laundry
Empty Out Orange Room
Clean Little Bathroom
Pay for laptop fixage
Give Card Back to Kelly
Pay Bills
Pack mom and me
Call Time Warner (ick) about speed boost
Vacuum my room
Look in dance studio and third floor for good chair

Most of these are easily doable with a little planning. Monday will be the day when I get the ball rolling on most of these. And here is where the little epiphany thing happened. Used to be, when I took my car to Dave's Garage to have it looked at, I would walk back to the house. And when I was called and told that the car was ready, I would walk back down. Not a big deal - maybe half an hour each way. Then I had my little aha moment. If I bought the car/bike rack before getting the car looked at, I could take the bike down to the car place on the bike rack - ride home and then ride back to the car place then carry the bike home on the rack. Win, win, win! Love those triple win things (which makes me think of horse racing and taking mom to the track again this summer - at least once - hopefully more frequently than that...) Anyway, that will knock three things off my list. Yay! And, while I am out and about, I will try to do some of the other errands on my list - get as many accomplished on Monday as I can. Yay!

Today, I plan to do some of the things around the house - oh, one I don't know if I want to add to the list or not - put the porch back together. It is a good day to do it - not much wind, pretty warm - that way, when I rinse the floor, it ought to dry quickly. Maybe I will wash the floor today and put the porch together tomorrow. One little problem is that mom's port-o-potty is in the doorway to the porch. Hmm. I will have to think on that one...

Ok, time to get started - I have been toiling away on this and a relationship post about what exactly I mean when I talk about relationships. But I gotta eat!

Pre Trip Day

Much of the day was spent getting ready for the trip.

One last load of laundry. And I forgot the jar of quarters at home. Luckily quarters are easy to manifest from the change machine. This has always been my favorite machine in a casino (though they are mostly gone now). I always feel like a winner when I put my money in and quarters tinkle and crash into the tray. Yay winning! While the clothes were washing themselves, I ran a couple errands downtown. Bank, where I chatted with a new summer teller whose name is a palindrome. I also got to see Tatiana from Leaf Kitchen! Next stop, the post office to stop the mail. I didn't realize that they only hold mail for 30 days. I wonder what one is supposed to do if one is gone for longer than 30 days. Hmm.

Back to the laundromat and successfully transferred the clothing to a dryer. Delicate mission, that. Ok, not really. I decided to just dry everything, rather than bringing some of mom's things back to be hung up. I just couldn't take the chance that things would dry in time to be packed. Not much to fold. :( I like to fold laundry. And no one exciting at the laundromat. Oh, took a walk around the mall to see what goings on were happening. The Peebles building is getting doner. And a something is opening up where the blockbuster used to be. Maybe it will be there when we get back from the trip. I feel like capitalizing that: THE TRIP.

Home, we had a visit from Justin again who listened to mom about her plants. I hope most of them survive. Good thing they aren't in my care! He also brought over a knife sharpener for us to carry to Mary G's house in Chicago. And he is bringing over some rose bush cuttings this morning for her as well. And I repacked some books on the hopeful thought that I will sell a bunch of them somehow while on the road. Anything is possible (most things are unlikely).

Next stop, Studio Salon for mom to get her chin waxed (I was thinking of getting my nose waxed, but I really like the little hairs on top of it...) and her toes tended to. I sat and vegetated while she was pampered. Sadly, the chin thing didn't work that well. I wonder why that is. But I think she had fun. I had decided that we would try a new restaurant for our last, for a while, Geneva dinner: Joe's Hots. I met Joe a long time ago at the Beautiful Beef and Brew. And people had been talking about it for a while, so I thought it would be a good idea to check it out. Glad I did. The food was good, mom had a great looking bacon cheeseburger and I had a pulled pork sandwich - we shared some onion rings and some baked beans - the prices were reasonable and the people were nice. Can't really beat that!

At home, we packed. First mom. It didn't take long. She kept wanting to take weird things, and I mostly acquiesced. I just hope that this morning isn't delayed tremendously by her asking where everything is and unpacking stuff to find things and wanting to take more. We have a long driving day ahead of us. Later in the evening, I packed my own stuff. As I remind her, though, we aren't going to be in the hinter lands - we can always resupply and fill in gaps in our packing on the road.

So, all done, all ready. Now, all I need to do is pack some food and clean out and pack the car. Easy Peasy! Still looking for people to visit on the way!

Peebles/Goody's getting closer to done!

Mom and Justin staring down a plant!

Pulled pork

Beans and Onion Rings

Mom's burger

Feeling Discombobulated

This too shall pass. I know that it will. Most things pass. Eventually.

Yesterday was a relax day. I really did almost nothing. I did go for a walk. And get Chinese food for dinner. And helped mom a bit with her packing. Oh, and looked at accommodations near Hood River. Eeek! Plan B will be in place there. The least expensive I saw was almost $200 a night. That isn't going to happen on our budget. I hate money. Which is probably why there are issues with it in my life. Glarg.

Speaking of money, it is bill paying time here at Chez Schoen-René. Nerp.

As for Flippety - I know I have some work to do but I just can't get my mind around doing it. Truth be told, I just don't want to do anything...

Paid the bills and I am feeling a bit better. Oh, and food helped too.

Getting ready for the big trip. Asking people if they want to be seen. So far, the response has been underwhelming. Which is not surprising. Sad, but not surprising. People fear commitment generally.  No one wants to say, "Hey, I will go out of my way in my tough existence to try and fit in a visit with you." Why should they?

Now it is time to pack. I can hardly wait...

Seen on Campus

Church that looks like a castle

$10 worth of Chinese food

Same food divvied up

More Errands

Mom went to get her hair done yesterday in advance of heading to the Reunion. They are so nice to her down there. Cindi (Cindy?) especially. She even gave mom a free blowdry. While mom was doing that, I went to the post office and had the mail held until Tuesday (Monday being a holiday and all). And stopped in at the Beautiful Beef and Brew. No Lorraine again. Apparently she has decided to stop working on Wednesdays. Without asking or mentioning it to me! Well, grrr. Christie was there, though, which was a pleasant surprise. Her last day is Saturday, which was an unpleasant surprise. Oh well. Life is that way sometimes.

Next, off to Rite-Aid to get mom her blood pressure medicine. We also couldn't find mom's toiletries travel container, so picked one up there. Had a nice interaction with my phavorite pharmacist. Sigh. Oh, and mom's medication was free! How awesome is that? I had forgotten that (since I only get it every three months...).

After errands we came back and did little. Mom was mostly packed, though later in the day we did some more packing. She wanted to add all sorts of things that were already packed. And wanted to carry all sorts of stuff in the car, from which I had to dissuade her as she won't only be in my car on the next leg of her travels. I got her pills together and started to pack myself. I also cleaned the kitchen decently and put out the garbage. Yay! Now, all I need to do is finish packing my own stuff, clean out the car, pack the car and we will be ready to head off into the sunrise. Well, East, at least. Wish us luck!

Mom at the Salon being attended by Cindy (Cindi?)

The yellow rose bush did great this year!

Pretty!

Packing

Mom and I spent part of the day yesterday getting her packed for the reunion and her visit with Juliet in Maine. After the trip to North Carolina in December of last year, I knew that I would have to get more involved this time around. I let her do as she thought was needed and then came back and helped her fill in what else would be helpful. Sigh. I tried to make it fun for her and to involve her a bit. I think she needs more socks in general. Maybe when I am out and about today - I am doing a laundry load and hitting the library and running a few other errands - I will stop in at Wal-Mart and find her some more socks. Lately, if a sock has a hole in it, I toss it. Oh where oh where is my darning egg and darning needle when I need them? Oh, right, I never had any. My mom used to darn socks for us. Long ago...

I also worked on Flippety a bit. Still looking for a few people to beta test - they need to be running at least iOS 5 on their iPhone - regardless of which phone it is. Though I think only 3g and better can run iOS5...And looking for someone silly enough to help me with graphics and such. I haven't started looking in earnest for someone yet. Oh, and I have decided, that as soon as I actually start working on my next project, I am going to document the whole thing. And I can't decide whether I want to do the mobile (as in the art piece that spins around) or a "quarters" game one. I can do the whole "document it" thing since I have a blog. Hmm, you probably already know that...

For dinner, I took leftovers from The Basin Pub and added some stuff. It is sad how few crowns there are in frozen broccoli. Oh well.

Mom actually made a mostly coherent list of things she wants to do and other things she wants to take with her on the trip! That is great! Sadly, I cannot convince her to also get her nails and feet done. Glarg.

Thank you Mary F for sending me that pdf file! Great information!

Dinner

Packing Problems

The problem with packing is that it always falls off...ok, that isn't really the problem with packing. It will take me about ten minutes, once I actually start to do it. I love traveling in the car. That way I can toss in anything that won't fit in my suitcase. I need sweaters or at least warm middle garments as Maine is going to be a few degrees colder than it is here. Instead of packing, or getting ready to go to class, I am typing a bit - I would like to post this before heading off into the Sunrise. Well, the sun will already be well up in the sky, but we will be heading East.

Yesterday we had breakfast for dinner. Yay! Scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon and French Toast. Yippee! And I played a lot. Sigh. Oh, then it was game night! And we played bridge! I think that Charles and James are getting the hang of it.

And I put the garbage out! I know, big news! That's what you all read this blog for, to know when I put the garbage out...

Ok, back from class and time to get cranking!

Photos from Sunday, November 20, 2011:

Skyrim is going with me to Maine...

So, not so appetizing looking - it was a yummy dinner, though!

Yay trash!

I was a bad teenage Buddhist

It wasn't quite 7 at one blow, but I was on a fly killing frenzy for part of the day. I seem to remember that mom had quite an infestation of flies last summer as well. I didn't do much about it last time as I was only around for 10 days or so - most of which were spent in Maine. It was not a pleasant thing, killing all those flies. Maybe 14 of them. Where they came from, I have no idea. It isn't like there are a lot of open windows for them to fly in from. Sigh. Bad Buddhist!

Packing was easy! I am taking four bags - one with clothes, one for the computer, one with books and a draft of Diary of a Plate Addict, one with shoes, Brian and Chuck, warm clothes and toiletries. Lots of bags but they are all small. I will probably have a picture of them all tomorrow.

Mom and I ate the rest of the leftovers from the refrigerator for lunch, so there shouldn't be anything too scary waiting for us when we return. Yippee!

Ernst and Betty did arrive about when they thought they would - always a good thing. We met them at the Ramada for dinner. A moderately expensive place, but the food is decent and there is a nice view of the lake. The Browns were already there when we arrived. A table for 8 that didn't seem at all crowded. Yippee! Mom had scallops, which I think she had when last we ate there - though I seem to recall that hers had something to do with chocolate last time. I had a steak salad, not wanting to get too much food. I still had leftovers (which I had as a midnight snack).

After dinner it was off to see a chamber music concert. Classical concerts are enjoyable, but for me they can be soporific. Good thing this one didn't cost anything. I did have my eyes closed for a good portion of it. Three pieces were presented - two Schubert and one by Greg Brown - one of the above mentioned Browns. The first two were classical and the third was definitely modern. Enjoyable, but not something I am going to rush to add to my iTunes playlist! :)

There were lots of locals at the concert. The Heatons, a Geneva Family for years, were well represented. They made my mom's day by reminding her that she had given Murray Heaton most of my father's old dress jackets after he died. Apparently one is still in good shape! I also ran into the mother of two kids who went to the Free School with me. She told me that both boys had died of cancer! They were 3 and 6 years younger than I am I think! Eeek! Ichiko and Popo. Very sad.

It is possible to meet very nice, attractive women in very random places and ways. Just saying.

Ok, really gotta go. We are heading towards Maine today!

Pictures from July 24, 2011:


Only three flies are visible in this picture, but there were lots that weren't in the shot! Most went to meet their maker and got an opportunity to move along the reincarnational path!


Betty and Ernst arrived at the Ramada just before we did.


Our dinner table.


A fuzzy picture of some of the musicians from the chamber music concert.

Welcome Follower 28

Hi Dana! Thank you for following! Scintillating blog, isn't it? :o)

I knew somewhere in the back of my brain - not the dinosaur part, but something a little higher functioning, that "blog" was short for Weblog. But had forgotten it in my fore-brain. See, reading is good for you. :)

Into the Woods last night was ok, not great. A wide range of talents which detracted from the good book and music. Sondheim is tough music generally. And it didn't help that the dimmer packs kept overheating and putting actors into shadow. The directing seemed good and the tech was decent. All in all, worth the $10 that we spent (each) to go see it.

The one major task on my plate for the day is packing. Which is why I like driving my car places, when I can. My packing can be a lot less exact. There is usually a place for last minute and bulky items. I can't, or haven't yet, decided whether or not to take my new sit-up pillow. Mostly I am just going to pack the same old stuff. Yippee!

The trip has morphed a bit. Originally I thought to stop in VT at a bunch of different, better known breweries. With the potential of actually doing a book about brewpubs, I decided to look for those along a northerly route to Maine instead. I found two along the correct trajectory which I am going to check out. One in NYS called Davidson Brothers and the other in VT called Long Trail Brewing. I am very excited.

I was letting the "fear" monster get the best of me regarding Diary of a Plate Addict. (By the way - if wouldn't be taken amiss if anyone wanted to "like" the Diary of a Plate Addict page on Facebook...) I just need to bull forward and get the thing done. It is, though, looking like it won't be until September that I will get the book printed and released. Sigh. Over the next week I hope to finish my go through of the book for edits. Get the bar code. And do some more plate pictures for Heather. All doable.

My thoughts on a beer game for the iPhone and iPad are progressing. Jeff, if you read this, I am going to need your expertise. I hope you will work for food. :) Also, what the heck is google+ - some sort of attempt by google to compete with Facebook? I signed up, but don't know what I am supposed to be doing with it...

Ernst and Betty are supposed to be arriving today. We shall see. Their room is prepared for their appearance, lest it occur.

Huh. When I woke up this morning, I didn't think that I would find 200 words in me. Silly bear.

Pictures from July 23, 2011:


Voila - the clean stove top thanks to mom!


Pretty sky!


The main drop for Into the Woods.

So much to do

And really, not so much. I have a list, which always helps me, and I am working the list. I still have a few things to cross off. Clean the car, refill water bottles, make bed. See, in little chunks, not so much. I am also going to do my best not to stress over miles traveled and the time I get on the road and things like that. No stress is the key to living a stress free life. :)

One thing I crossed off was travel food - picture to follow!