Yes, things are now down to a dull roar. I’ve learned to function with 9 out of 10 fingers, it’s Saturday morning and I’m eating hot bread from the bread machine, so all must be right with the world. More or less.
So last weekend started Thursday, actually, and it was awesome. First was the telephone tag marathon with my sister. I don’t know why I thought she was coming Friday. But if I remember correctly, we both got to my house around the same time. I had to stay late because of tutoring, but it all worked out. Then we went to Dad’s where eventually we saw (in addition to Dad and Dottie) John, Lisa, Anthony, and Betty. The pictures from the weekend are below; I posted them a while ago.
Things we did included going to Sabino Canyon (where pics of Lisa, Betty, and Anthony were taken), lots of swimming (I’ll get back to that!), shopping, Halloween, chess … lots of good stuff.
This was the first time I’d been to Sabino since I moved back. It was … weird to point out that this spot of very dry sand here is where the water rushes down in the rainy season and creates a waterfall right there! I was using my father’s camera because mine still doesn’t work, but I also took some with my phone. I started taking pictures with my phone because I realized that my NaNoWriMo novel has all these regions/areas in it, but no desert region! What was I thinking? For the other regions I’d gone on-like and googled (for example) river scenery. Then I made a file with a bunch of those photos. I did that for various areas so that when the time came, they’d be helpful for describing or at least creating the right images in my mind. So I will take the desert photos from my phone and add them to that file, for desert scenery!
Another nice thing about going to Sabino was that it’s a walking experience, so there’s plenty of time to be alone with different people and talk to them. I got to find out how much Anthony has changed since summer and since I moved. It’s nice to see that he’s level-headed and focused (unlike our family at that age) and to hear his future plans.
Swimming for wimps: For some of us, water needs to be nice and warm to swim, and the air outside the water needs to be nice and warm. The water was chilly on Friday, but the air was nice enough and the sun was out, so I could stay in the sunny spots and then get in the hot tub when I got too cold. On Saturday, though, we didn’t get to the pool until the sun could no longer touch the water. I froze. Totally. I got in the hot tub a couple times and then just gave up on the whole thing. The kids had a blast, and I know if Sue’s family was here they would be in the water wondering what was wrong with me! They’ve had colder pool parties than this! I’m such a wimp! But I’m OK with my wimp-hood!
I had no intention of dressing up for Halloween. But as you can see in the pictures, I did end up dressing up just for a very brief period of trick-or-treating. We told Jemma that we’d be at her neighborhood’s pot luck party and then go trick-or-treating with them, but Dottie decided to cook supper instead so we missed that. We ended up going maybe half-way down the block and back again. I’m telling you — getting ready took longer than the trick-or-treating part! But Betty and Donna had fun, and I got pictures for the blog, so it was good. After trick-or-treating, we hung out at Buz’s for a while until Dottie was ready to go home. One fun thing was after a while of trick-or-treating, Betty and Jaeden started racing each other to doors to get there first and get to ring the bells. Poor Jaeden was too short to reach some of the doorbells!! It’s rough being three!
We went shopping a few times, including to book stores. Betty finished reading Twilight and had the second book at home. So I said I’d buy her the second one to read here if she gives it back to me when she’s done. Then I figured I might as well get the first one if I’m going to have the second one! It really is a decent book. The main character is a little annoying, but the story is interesting and moves right along. I ended up using it as an example in class. The students are supposed to be writing me a persuasive essay convincing me to read their favorite book or watch their favorite television show. So I make good and bad examples of reasons using Twilight.
I loved our reading time (once I had a decent book to read!). Library time, I think Betty calls it. We’d go stretch out on Dottie’s bed and read. The only hard part is there were so many people I wanted to spend time with and not enough time to go around. But that’s just how vacations always are anyway, no matter how long they last. And summer’s coming eventually!
Shopping rocks, of course. Betty and Donna have matching tee shirts, Betty and Lisa got some nice clothes, I loved the book store, etc. I didn’t look at clothes because I haven’t gotten out my cold weather clothes yet. I really have no clue what I have! I know what I have had various years, but not what I still have (as opposed to what I’ve given away).
I did manage to beat Anthony at chess, but that’s only because we were also watching Field of Dreams on television. Now I know! Next time we play chess, I’ll make sure a good movie is on!
