mysterylady36

My bail is $480

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:59:53 GMT

Just read the 'offense' and if you've done it, you
owe that fine. Keep going until you've read each 'offense' and added up
your total fine. Title your bulletin 'My Bail is $........' You don't
have to confess your answers, just the amount of your fine.

1) Smoked pot -- $10

2) Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk --$50

3) Cheated on your significant other -- $10

4) Been in love with two people or more at the same time -- $50

5) Said you love someone but didn't mean it -- $25

6) Went streaking -- $5

7) Went streaking in broad daylight -- $15

8) Kissed a co-worker-- $ 20

9) Kissed your boss --$50

10) Been arrested -- $5

11) Spent time in jail -- $15

12) Peed in the pool -- $5

13) Played spin the bottle -- $5

14) Done something you regret -- $20

15) Slept with your best friend -- $20

16) Been in love with a stripper -- $20

17) Went skinny dipping -- $5

18) Been slapped-- $5

19) Slapped someone-- $5

20) Beat up someone -- $20

21) Been jumped -- $10

22) Ever had sex at church -- $25

23) Dated someone you met online -- $25

24) Cheated on test -- $50

25) Vandalized something -- $20

26) Slept with someone in your parents' bed -- $100

27) Crossed dressed -- $10

28) Given money to stripper -- $25

29) Flirted with an officer to get out of a ticket-- $30

30) Been in love with a stripper -- $20

31) Kissed some one who's name you didn't know --$10

32) Hit on some one of the same sex while at work-- $15

33) Ever drive drunk -- $20

34) Used toys while having sex -- $30

35) Got drunk, passed out and don't remember the night before -- $20

36) Had sex in a pool -- $20

37) Masturbated -- $10

38) Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close friend --$20

39) Done oral -- $5

40) Got oral -- $5

41) Done / got oral in a car while it was moving-- $25

42) Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next to you-- $40

43) Stole something -- $10

44) Slept with someone who has been in jail -- $25

45) Made a dirty home video -- $15

46) Plan on making a dirty home video in the near future --$30

47) Had a threesome -- $50

48) Had sex in a public place-- $20

49) Been in the same room while someone was having sex -- $25

50) Stole something worth more than a hundred dollars --$20

51) Had sex with someone 10 years older -- $20

52) Kissed a teacher while you were still a student--$25

53) Lied to your mate -- $5

54) Lied to your mate about the sex being good -- $25

Exciting contest news!

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:25:37 GMT

I don't know how many people have heard of the website zootoo.com. I hadn't heard of it before a few weeks ago. It's kind of like facebook or myspace, but with a pet theme.  They are having a Shelter Makeover contest and the winning shelter will get a million dollars. Our community has a shelter that is in desperate need of help. The Central Missouri Humane Society serves the Central Missouri area (go figure!) and is the shelter where I adopted Scooter almost 5 years ago.

Anyway, there has been an increase in puppy mill busts in our area with the latest one being reported on the news last night.  Our shelter has taken in several hundred dogs from that one closure alone. They have had to add intake fees, increase adoption fees, as well as close to the public a couple of days a week to try to make ends meet.  The Columbia, MO city government hasn't been willing or able to increase what they pay the shelter for housing the animals that the city animal control picks up and it has just been a huge mess. The shelter needs more space and money to continue to help the animals.

Enter a couple of 7th grade girls from the local Catholic School who volunteer at the shelter.  They heard about the contest and approached the staff at the shelter about it. Apparently the staff tried to enter the contest last year and didn't get very far.  They are so overwhelmed with everyday operations that they didn't have time to really try to take it on again this year.  The girls took it into their own hands and it has been amazing. When they started their campaign the Central Missouri Humane Society was in 859th place. My hairdresser, who recently lost her cat to a car accident, mentioned the contest to me over the weekened and encouraged me to sign up and help, which I did. At that point CMHS was in 25th place. On Wednesday of this week when this article ran in the paper http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/feb/18/teens-talk-up-shelter-makeover/ CMHS had moved up to 25th place. Yesterday CMHS moved up to 13th and today it is at 10th place. We just have to stay in the top 20 for 21 more days to move on to the next phase of the contest which is a site visit.

I am just amazed at what these kids have accomplished and am proud to have had a (very) small part in making this happen.  If anyone reading this doesn't have a shelter in the competition and would like to help, please register at zootoo.com and choose the Central Missouri Humane Society in Columbia, MO as your shelter.

What a day!

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:23:37 GMT

I was supposed to have a hair appointment this morning, but Crystal called to see if we could move it to tomorrow afternoon. She isn't feeling well and has had a crappy week (her cat was run over on Wednesday), so I don't mind much.

Since I was up and ready to go anyway, I decided to run errands. I put gas in the car and then headed to the post office to mail some books out that I had promised to a few people. From the time I fed the meter to when I walked out of the post office, it was 4 minutes. Now that is service on a Saturday morning at the main post office in Columbia! The guy that helped me was even in a great mood.

I decided to head out to Artichoke Annie's to see what was out there. I have been hearing a lot about this antique mall outside of Columbia and wanted to see if it was as good as people have said. I was pretty pleased. There was a lot of neat stuff to look at and I ended up buying a few skeleton keys for my collection.

The next stop wasn't so pleasant. Why is Wal-Mart so vile??? They are supposed to have everything, but they don't. I had the hardest time finding things in there and ended up just giving up. I'm sorry, Mountain Dew should not be that difficult to find in a place like that. Thankfully that is the first time I have been in there since probably November. I usually manage to avoid it because I can get most of what I need and want by using Dollar General, Walgreen's, and my local grocery store.

I dropped some books off at the local library and now I am home. It's just me and Scooter for awhile. Chris left yesterday to visit his sister in Memphis and interview for jobs. Keep your fingers crossed that Tuesday goes well. I will be kind of sad to see him go, but he obviously isn't making much headway on getting his shit together around here, so maybe a complete change will be the trick.

Now a little bit of housework and I can enjoy the rest of my day and evening catching up on my soap opera.

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:38:57 GMT

New Year's Eve was a pretty low key event for me. Just like I like it. After work several co-workers and Chris and I met up at Trops, a local hangout that serves big slushy drinks. The next stop was G & D for a steak and baked potato. We were home by 10:00. I rang in the new year on line playing fish wrangler on facebook. I'm such a kid sometimes!

Slept in today, played online, watched Space Chimps. Tomorrow it is back to work, but at least it will be a quiet day.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:32:51 GMT

I've decided to post the list of books that I have read so far in 2008.  I started with a goal of at least a book a week, which I thought was reasonable considering that I have 2 jobs.  One more book and I will have met my goal of 52 for the year. Not that that will stop me!

1. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
2. Dragon Stew - Domenic Diciacca
3. Zits - Jerry Scott & Jim Borgmann
4. A Lifetime of Secrets - Frank Warren
5. Latter End - Patricia Wentworth
6. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
7. Sudden Prey - John Sandford
8. Bitter Business - Gina Hartzmark
9. Plum Lucky - Janet Evanovich
10. Honeymoon with Murder - Carolyn G. Hart
11. Killer Dreams - Iris Johansen
12. murder in Foggy Bottom - Margaret Truman
13. Strangers In Death - J. D. Robb
14. The Expected One - Kathleen McGowan
15.  The pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
16. Flight - Jan Burke
17. Killer Heat - Linda Fairstein
18. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
19. Open House - Elizabeth Berg
20. Judas Child - Carol O'Connell
21. The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg
22. Rhoda - Ellen Gilchrist
23. The Destiny of Nathalie "X" - William Boyd
24. Everywhere That Mary Went - Lisa Scottloline
25. Final Appeal - Lisa Scottoline
26. Past Lives, Future Choices - Maritha Pottenger
27. Running from the Law - Lisa Scottoline
28. Death on Demand - Carolyn G. Hart
29. Legal Tender - Lisa Scottoline
30. Rough Justice - Lisa Scottoline
31. Blood Brothers - Nora Roberts
32. Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
33. A Little Class on Murder - Carolyn G. Hart
34. mistaken Identity - Lisa Scottoline
35.  Moment of Truth - Lisa Scottoline
36 I'm the Vampire, That's Why - Michelle Bardsley
37. Wishbones - Carolyn Haines
38. The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe - Donald H. Wolfe
39. Happiness Sold Separately - Lolly Winston
40. Dead Wrong - Mariah Stewart
41. Mortal Fear - Greg Iles
42. The Whistling Season - Ivan Doig
43.  The Hollow - Nora Roberts
44. All I Need Is You - Johanna Lindsey
45. That Camden Summer - LaVyrle Spencer
46.  The Vendetta Defense - Lisa Scottoline
47. The Girl Who Died Twice - Natalie Robins
48. The Tattooed Map - Barbara Hodgson
49. Missing Pieces - Joy Fielding
50. After Midnight - Merline Lovelace
51. Salvation in Death - J. D. Robb

It's kind of fun to go back through this list and remember the reasons I picked some of the books. A few are the latest books from some of my favorite authors and I borrowed them from the library because I couldn't wait for them to come out in paperback. One of them, The Whistling Season, was the One Read selection for our community this year. Many of the books are ones that I received from other bookcrossers.  I have been trying to go through and read the ones that I have had the longest so I can pass them on. And of course it is obvious that Lisa Scottoline has become one of my new favorites and I am trying to catch up with all of her past books.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:28:38 GMT

Gas is only $1.89/gallon in my area. I remember when I thought that was outrageous. Now I am excited it is so low. Isn't that sad?

I'm being stalked!

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:14:39 GMT

I will be so happy when the election is over. I feel like I am being stalked by the politicians in the area. Every time I leave the house, I come home to messages on the voice mail. It wouldn't bother me so much if it was actually someone calling, but they are the automated calls that drive me crazy.

The only saving grace is that one of our senators got a DWI last year after causing a 3 car accident. He refused to take a breathalyzer test and one of his employees got into a struggle at the hospital with the person taking his blood for testing. It's been a big mess and I have lost a lot of respect for him, but at least the calls from his opponents are amusing. One was a call inviting us to attend the party celebrating the 1 year anniversary of his DWI and mentioned that he knows how to party and the booze would be flowing. At least I got a chuckle out of that one!

Interesting day

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:27:09 GMT

Tonight Barak Obama is going to be speaking on the University of Missouri campus. I work right across the street from the part of campus where he will be tonight and it is a zoo. When I got here this morning they already had tents set up and were working to fence off the area. Around 1:00 several of us went out to lunch and they had several streets blocked off and there was already a line forming for people wanting to get in. They are saying that Obama will take the stage sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 PM. Thank goodness it is a nice day, but I still wouldn't want to sit out there for 9 hours waiting to get into something like that.

I generally work until 6:00 or 6:30, but tonight I am leaving no later than 5:30. Probably 5:00 if the rumors are true that the secret service is going to clear us out at 5:00. It is going to be a nightmare just trying to get off of campus tonight.

Children's Miracle Network

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:51:25 GMT

Today and the rest of the week our local radio stations are doing a radiothon for the Children's Miracle Network. I am always a sucker for things that involve kids and earlier in the week when they announced the radiothon I decided to make a donation.

So as I was driving to work I was listening to the stories and telling myself to remember to call in when I got to work to make the donation. As soon as they talked about the little baby in the NICU at the University of Missouri Hospital who is 960 grams I immediately thought of Matthew and Nathan, Alrescate's boys. I pulled the car over and got the cell phone out and did the donation right then so I wouldn't forget.

So, if anyone else out there is in an area where they raise money for the Children's Miracle Network, please think of making a donation.

Thank you and end of commercial!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:33:49 GMT

Well, I had a rather dramatic start to my morning. I was drying my hair with the blow dryer and I heard a high pitched noise followed by a "POW" and flames shooting out of the back end of the dryer. I managed to get it shut off and unplugged pretty quick and didn't even burn any hair. I looked for my travel hair dryer to finish the job, but I must have loaned it to someone because I never found it.

I definitely had a reason for the bad hair day that I had!

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:10:36 GMT

Yesterday I got my very first pedicure ever. And it was wonderful! They had these really great massage chairs to sit in and I could have stayed there all day. And even though I was prepared for the "sanding of my feet", I am way more ticklish than I thought I was. I almost jumped out of the chair a couple of times. The friends that were with me laughed, but they did the same thing so I got to laugh at them.

We had a fun day because Jamie (one of my co-workers) hadn't had her hair cut in years and she was ready for a change. We had a girl's day at the mall and we all pitched in and paid for her hair color and she paid for the cut and style. She donated about 12" of hair to the Locks of Love program and has a whole new look. She claims to not be a girly girl, but she couldn't quit looking in the mirror and playing with her hair!

I also bought 3 new pairs of shoes (one pair of sandles specifically to show off my pink toenail polish!) and motivated a couple of others to purchase a few pairs as well.

The boss decided that to celebrate Jamie's 102 pound weight loss and her new hair style she should have a new outfit. We picked it out and made her try it on and she looked fabulous. She tends to still wear some of her old clothes that are way too big and she was shocked by the size she was able to fit into. The look on her husband's face was priceless when we dropped her off!

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:50:44 GMT

Last weekend was my annual girl's weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. We stayed in a different condo than we usually do because by the time we got our act together our usual one was already rented. I really liked the layout of the condo we stayed in this year better than the other one, but there was no community bookshelf to leave my bookcrossing books on.

We had a pretty good time, but it was so incredibly hot that I couldn't stand to even be in the swimming pool very long. The water was cool and refreshing, but the humidity was so horrible that it was hard to breathe. I also was looking forward to sitting outside on the screened in porch and reading, but even with the ceiling fans going it was too hot.

I have vacation from work next week. On Monday we take Ricky and drop him off at college. Actually it will be an all day thing because of orientation and stuff, but it is still going to be strange to leave him behind.

The only other real plans I have is that Chris and I are going to the State Fair. I haven't been for a few years, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try some traditional deep fried fair food just so I can say I did. We have also talked about touring the cattle barns and all the exhibits. Pretty much everything except the rides. I think I've finally outgrown that stage in my life.

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:30:03 GMT

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Holiday Weekend

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:09:01 GMT

I have had a very nice and relaxing holiday weekend. After work on Thursday evening I had a hair appointment and then met some co-workers for a drink. Then we headed back to campus to see a performance of Cabaret. This was the first time I have ever seen this show and they did a very nice job of it. I have heard though that it was much tamer than some versions. I'm okay with that. I really didn't need to see any naked women. The young lady that played Sally Bowles reminded me of Dana Delaney and boy could she belt out the songs!

I've spent a lot of time reading and kept the television off more than it was on. I also did a college shopping trip and picked up some sheets and towels and other essentials for Ricky. He is going to have to take a break from his social life for a few hours and go with me to pick out his comforter and some kind of a storage system pretty soon.

Scooter survived the fireworks pretty well. I never noticed him getting too upset with them before, but this year he was shaking. I even had to go and stand out in the yard with him a couple of times while he did his business because he wasn't going off the porch without me.

I've also spent some time going through things and getting rid of stuff that I don't need. A couple of weeks ago I met with some of the cousins and we went through grandma's house. I came out of it with a couple of quilts, pictures, and old postcards, but it was really disturbing to go through someone's stuff after they are gone. I don't want someone to have to go through all this junk I have accumulated for no good reason and wonder why. I'm a packrat and I am trying to recover from it! I still have a long way to go though.

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:21:37 GMT

We are in Topeka, KS right now. R is in a soccer tournament and I practically had to armwrestle him to borrow his laptop for awhile! The noon game didn't go so well. They played a good team and lost 3-2. R had a goal and an assist and should have had a second goal, but they called him offsides. I don't know how that could be since he had the ball and dribbled it past 4 defenders, but oh well. I did hear the coach from the other team talking to some of his parents after the game and he said they got lucky because that goal should have counted.

The weather is really nice. It is in the low 80's with a nice breeze. Much better than the tournament in Waterloo, IA a few weeks ago which got rained out after they played only 1 game!

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:49:30 GMT

I had an interesting evening last night. After work I was sitting on the back deck reading my book and I heard a little girl's voice yelling "Oliver come back here!". I looked up and there was this little brown and black mop of a dog streaking through the backyard with the little girl chasing behind. She said, "Sorry" as she passed and headed into the front yard. I heard a car coming down the street and more yelling and then it sounded like the little girl was crying and heading away from the house. I went inside and put shoes on and went to the front yard to investigate. No little girl, but Oliver was at the edge of the yard doing his business. I got a piece of cheese (Scooter's favorite treat) and lured him to the middle of the yard and grabbed him. He sniffed the cheese, but didn't seem interested in eating it, so Scooter got a treat for nothing. I walked down the street toward the house that I thought Oliver lived in and sure enough, the little girl that had been chasing him came out the front door crying. I guess she had gone back home to get help.

After returning home I was sitting outside on the front porch with Scooter when I smelled natural gas. A call to the gas company provided a very nice technician who came out and investigated, found, and fixed a gas leak at the meter. I felt extremely guilty interrupting his supper (he explained that he was out with his wife when the call came in and it took a little longer than usual to get back to his house to get the truck and then to my house), but he was very very nice about it and really didn't seem to mind. I hope his wife was as understanding.

I am headed off to see Sex and the City in a little bit. Chris promised a few weeks ago that he would go with me to see this movie and then hasn't said anything else about it. I decided to go this afternoon with or without him. He says he's going, but we will see.

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:55:33 GMT

Whenever I have been involved with home improvements over the years, something always goes wrong. I have learned now that it is best to hire someone than get the family involved. So, I had all the windows in my house replaced this week. Everything seemed to go smoothly yesterday afternoon with the delivery and they actually got all but 3 windows put in. I used to have a big picture window in the living room with 2 smaller windows on the sides. The smaller windows never got opened because the curtains would block any air flow and the picture window didn't open. I decided to go with 3 windows of the same size that all open for that spot and I really enjoyed being able to have a breeze in the house last evening.

Then it was time to go to bed and I discovered what went wrong. While they were installing the windows in my bedroom, someone stepped on the controls to my heated mattress pad and turned it on high! I had to turn it off, pull the blankets off, and point a fan at it for a little while before it had cooled down to a comfortable level for sleeping.

They came back this morning and installed the other windows, capped the outside, and put the air conditioners back in the windows. I love my new windows!

Like this was any surprise!

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 04:10:10 GMT

<center><table width="300px" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border: 1px #000000 solid; color: #000000;background-color: #ffffff;"><tr><td><img src="http://www.magatsu.net/maritaltest/wife.jpg" width="72"height="72"></td><td>-7As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure)<a href="http://www.magatsu.net/maritaltest/">Take the test!</a></td></tr></table></center>

Well, I have no idea what went wrong with this, but it basically says that I suck as a 1930's wife. -7!

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:09:58 GMT

I should be on a train to Chicago right now for the Printer's Row Book Fair, but that trip was cancelled. Between the stuff going on at work and Ricky playing in a soccer tournament in Waterloo, IA this weekend, it just wasn't a good idea. I worked until 7:30 Monday through Wednesday this week and shortened my vacation time from 6 days to 3, but oh well. I have to be grateful that I have a job and that we have a wonderful new boss that is at least recognizing all the extra effort we are all putting in these day.

The soccer tournament actually sounds interesting. They call it the Moonlight Classic and the first game Ricky's team plays is 7:30 at night. Then they have another one at midnight. We'll see if I can stay up that late! I didn't do so well at the all night graduation party a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, that's right, my kid graduated from high school on May 24th. Their valadictorian gave a wonderful speech to the class and even read from a Dr. Seuss book that she remembered from their kindergarten days. That was the only time I cried. They had 6 kids from the graduating class performing special music and that was really nice too. 2 of the girls did a duet from Wicked that I thought was great. The all night party was a hit too. I went for awhile and took some pictures of the kids doing things like the bungee run and obstacle course, but I left at 2:00 AM because I was tired. I'm sure my son was glad to see me leave at that point. All the seniors that stayed the entire time walked out with a prize. Ricky scored a really nice fishing rod, reel, tackle box, and a $50 gas card. After seeing all the prize packages I had to track down the mom that put it all together and tell her what a wonderful job she did. She took a week off from work and did all the shopping. The stuff that she got that would be appropriate for dorm rooms (towels, rugs, lamps, etc.) were all color coordinated. She told me she was actually sick of spending money, which she thought she would never say!

Well, off to make sure I have enough books to read on the car trip!

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:04:50 GMT

The top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf. (At my house, if they're on the shelf, I intend to read them. Shelf space is to precious to waste on show-off books.) Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish, strike through what you couldn't stand.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment (shelf)
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
~~Life of Pi: a novel~~
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary (shelf)
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad (shelf)
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books (shelf)
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian: a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible: a novel (shelf)
Angels & Demons
1984 (shelf)
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (shelf)
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels
Les Misérables (shelf)
The Corrections (shelf)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes: a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
~~A Confederacy of Dunces~~
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five (shelf)
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake: a novel
Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road (shelf)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down (shelf)
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood (shelf)
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:59:44 GMT

Tonight is my baby's senior prom. He once again chose a white tux, but it seems to work for him. I just got back from the girlfriend's house where we took their pictures and now they are off to an Italian Restaurant. Hopefully the girlfriend remembered her Tide Bleach Pen because I am expecting a disaster!

So tonight I have a rare night alone in my house and I plan to fully enjoy it.

I also need to start on the plans for my trip to Chicago. I have recruited a couple of friends and we are going to go to the Printer's Row Book Fair in June! We are going to come in on Amtrak probably on Thursday night June 5th and then leave on Monday June 9th so we will have some extra time to explore. So if anyone has any recommendations on a place to stay or some place we just shouldn't miss, please let me know. It has been several years since I have had the opportunity to visit Chicago. Also, if anyone from Chicago that is on my friend's list wants to meet up at some point that weekend, that would be fun. My travelling companions are book lovers, but not Bookcrossers, but I like them anyway!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:44:17 GMT

I'm enjoying the posts and pictures from the convention in London. I hope there are more to come.

I spent my weekend at soccer games. R's team played in a tournament this weekend. Saturday was miserably cold and rainy at times. They played at 9:00 AM and lost 0-2. They are definitely not a morning team! Then they won their second game Saturday afternoon. Score was 2-0. I also stayed and watched some teams play that have younger brothers and sisters of R's friends. By the time I got home I was cold, wet, and miserable. The problem was that I listened to the weather report that said it was supposed to warm up in the afternoon. I was not dressed appropriately and it never warmed up. Thank goodness I always carry a few blankets in the trunk of my car!

Sunday was much better. R's team played at 1:30 so I got to sleep in and then head out into the sunshine for the game. It was a pretty rough game, but they won 5-0. R had 3 of the goals and that put them over the top so they won the gold medal.

Sunday night is bowling night for me. I have really enjoyed this league for the most part, but not so much tonight. One of the guys on the team we bowled against tonight apparently spent the better part of the day on the golf course and was extremely drunk when he got to the bowling alley. So drunk that he fell down and twisted his knee during teh warming up period. He sat at the table and whined and made rude comments about other bowlers and it was very unpleasant. His wife finally came and picked him up. I was so angry and distracted while he was there that I bowled 88 for both of my first 2 games. My average is 101, so I was really bowling bad. I'm not sure what happened in the third game because I managed to get 4 strikes in a row and ended up with a 184. I never thought I would get a score like that ever, so I am pretty pleased with that part.

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:35:51 GMT

I'm typing this from my new computer! The old one was horribly slow on the internet and will be retired to word processing only. I'm thrilled that the new one got here so quick. I ordered it on-line Monday night and it arrived today. Now I can follow all the London convention stuff this weekend without too many headaches. Although I am still sad that I couldn't make the trip myself....

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:36:37 GMT

We got some really good news this weekend. Ricky is getting a soccer scholarship that will cover a little over half of the costs of college! The really great thing about this is that it actually has him excited about going to college. We've had lots of ups and downs with high school and there were days when I never thought he would consider going beyond high school. Now he will be in college and playing the sport that he loves and he will be close enough that I will still get to see most of his games. I'm having a little more trouble with the thought of letting go than I imagined. Now we just have to make it through the rest of the school year.

Other aspects of life also have their challenges. We have a new boss at work and she is great, but way more organized than anyone I have ever worked for before. I am hoping to learn from her, but it is a little intimidating.

Chris moved in. Chris moved out. Chris moved back in.

Another really good thing that is going on right now is that I am really enjoying spending time with some new kids in my life. One of my friends from high school moved back recently and has 2 little girls, a 4 year old and a 5 month old, and it is fun to be around little kids. The 4 year old is amazingly smart and funny and says some of the most outrageous things sometimes. Her uncle has been an interesting influence on her! The 5 month old is at that wonderful stage where she is smiling and interacting and just being really really cute. The only negative is that I don't have as much time to spend with them as I would like.

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:19:55 GMT

I haven't had much going on so far. I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home with Scooter which was nice for a change. Then I went to Jeff's house for the traditional New Year's Day Buffet. This year instead of playing Trivial Pursuit we watched Mizzou beat the Razorbacks! We did manage to get in a few rounds of Taboo before we all went home.

I've been back to work this week and I am fighting off this cold my mother has tried to give me. So far I seem to be fairly successful with only my throat hurting in the evening and dealing with sinus stuff all day.

The boy plays basketball tomorrow at 11:30 AM at Mizzou Arena. Every year the Show Me State Games host a shoot-out as a fund raiser. They invite a lot of the local high school teams to play and some of the matchups for the bigger high schools pull in teams that they would never play during the regular schedule. I am dreading going just because of the cold, but it will be neat to see the boys play on the college court.