Coldest Braves Game Ever - April 6, 2007

Family Lunch

White speaking to cousin Dickson several weeks ago about his job moving to Athens, he mentioned the family holiday thing I had 2 years ago and the fact that he couldn't attend because of work.  He sounded so down about not being able to come, I decided to host another one this year.  Today was the day.  In the past few months, I've become very relaxed about things.  A year ago, I would have made sure everything was perfect, the carpet cleaned enough to eat off of it, no clutter around, would have planned for any issues that may or may not arise, etc.  Maybe I've just learned to let those type of things go.  I didn't clean the carpets - even though they need it from the dogs tracking in red dirt from the back yard.  I left stuff stacked in their usual places.  Things happen.  In the past I always rolled with the punches because I was always prepared for anything that might come up.  I spent plenty of time planning ahead.  But hell, things happen, no matter how hard or long you plan.

I sent out invitations and didn't ask for RSVPs, so I didn't know who was coming.  Dickson was of course.  He seemed really excited to come over and see my house, talk about working at the University.  I asked for everyone to bring a side dish and their beverage of choice, as I never have anything drinkable in my fridge.  What turned up were great side dishes (Allie's mac & cheese, Colleen's potato casserole, Becky's potato salad, Miriam's sweet potato casserole), a bottle of diet mountain dew, a bottle of diet coke and some great desserts (Allie's chewies - just like our grandmother used to make, someone brought cookies, Dickson's brownies) to go along with the banana pudding Mama made.  Why do people bring items that they can't eat?  Dickson can't have any sort of caffeine, so he can't have chocolate.  Why didn't he bring something he could have enjoyed?  The same thing happened last week.  Someone who is gluten intolerant brought monkey bread.  I don't get it.  I'm glad that Joseph picked up a bottle of apple juice last night at the grocery store, otherwise the only other drink option was water.  I baked some chicken marinated in bbq sauce, orange marmalade, Worcestershire and lemon and plated some ham I had left over from brunch last week.  Joseph made some cornbread.

All in all, I think it was a good family gathering.  The usual talking happened between the sisters, with others hard pressed to get a word in edgewise.

Problem now - What to do with the 3 bags of trash - which is the result if you use toss away plates and cups - if you don't have trash pick up?

Friday Afternoon View

I'm Right on the Brink

And I don't know what to do about it.

Friday Afternoon View

Tuesday Night Dinner

Wal-Mart has the pizza crusts for $2.50 in the bakery section.  The rest came from my fridge:  prepared pesto, black olives, sliced red bell peppers and, of course, a lot of cheese.  Because without cheese, why bother?

Boots and Books

During the wait at Borders on Peachtree Monday night, the line to meet Ree Drummond / The Pioneer Woman wove through the, uhm, "interesting" section of computer programing.  Do you know how many aisles - aisles, not even shelves! - of computer programing books there are?  There are three.  3.  Tres.  I'm sorry, but that just 2.5 too many.

I'd had the event on my calendar for months and months. I was waffling on whether to go or not: shouldn't use the gas that I have left to do something that just isn't necessary; it'd take all night; what to do about feeding pups. I just said f**k it and figured I'd figure out the gas thing later and IM'd Katherine on Facebook to see if they'd feed the pups and let them out. Since she and Collin are the best neighbors ever, she said that they'd do it. Easy enough. Traffic down was wonderful, since there wasn't any.

I arrived just before 6:30 and by 10:30 I finally made it!  She is, of course, super nice.  I can't imagine what it's like to meet people and sign a gazillion books for over 6 hours. I was in no way at the end of the line, so I know that the event went past midnight.  I would estimate that there was 1K people there.  Mostly women, of course.  There were about 4 men. 

There were women there from Florida and North Carolina and Alabama.  Basically all of the southern states.  They were sleeping, playing cards, studying, watching I Love Lucy on their iPhones, reading, talking, knitting.  A GREAT place for watching people.  The thing is:  they were ALL wearing boots.  I was surrounded by books and boots.

Friend Cyndi was there.

As well as sister Betsy. 

 

I've never gone to a book signing before.  While I wouldn't call it fun, I'm glad I went. 

Trash vs. Recycling

Someone recently asked me to do a post on my trash can.  She thinks it's tiny and wonderful.  I think.  She laughed as she talked about it.  Uhm.  I'm going to think that she likes it.  This is it.  What can I say?  I live alone and I recycle as much as possible. 

Here are my recycle bins.  Please note that I don't usually have that many empty drug cartons around.  I've been sick this past week and went digging for drugs and, of course, they were all expired.