Thursday, May 29, 2008

20th anniversary!

I'm not sure what the computer time will say it is, but to me, it's May 28.  It's our 20th anniversary today!  Since our Singapore trip was our official celebration, we just swapped cards and went out, as a family, to California Pizza Kitchen followed by Cold Stone Creamery.  Sound familiar?  Yeah, it's what we did for my birthday too.   Hard to beat a sure thing.

Today I took the boys to Global Village and we bought webkinz.  (I had a buy 2 get 1 free coupon that expires May 31)  I got my first lil'kinz.  It's a little pink pig and I named her Petunia.  Ryan got a Leopard Lizard and Jake got a Blue Rhino.  This makes 7 (yes SEVEN!) for each of them.  It's Webkinz mania in the Brock household.  The good news is that it's pushed Pokemon to the side, for a while at least.  It still pops up every now and again.  It's really funny, because my kids NEVER played with their stuffed animals.  Their friend Ricky is the catalyst.  Ricky just moved here last summer and he has always been into stuffed animals and had already had a nice collection of Webkinz.  He's a natural born leader.  My guys are totally followers.  I don't think that everyone should be a leader, but I do hope that my boys can and will stand their ground when it counts.  Ya know?  I pray about that a lot.

Anyway, I've been finding myself going on their webkinz account and doing the gardening, feeding them and putting them to bed.  LOL!  Now that I have my own pet, I can reallly get in there and fix things up.  He-he-he!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

What I've been reading lately...

I try to be a good mom.  I don't reach the mark very often, but I try.  I know that I can't control everything that goes into my boys' minds, so I do my best to be aware of what does.  So my reading, as of late, has been ruled by the books my boys read.  (aside from my daily Bible reading, which I've been doing a good job of keeping up with, I'm only 1 day behind!)  I like to order lots of books from the scholastic order forms that come home.  Here are a few that I have read:

Goosebumps: we got a box set and I read them all.  Entertaining, but very formulaic.  I like that he feels free to make the story wildly outlandish instead of trying to think of reasonable explanations.  I don't like that the parents are seen as unreasonable and uncaring to the children and the children are disobedient and bratty and obnoxious.  Oh well, they find it entertaining and it gets them to read.

Rascal: this is an oldie about a boy and a baby racoon that he takes and raises for about a year, set during The War.  It's autobiographical.  I LOVED THIS BOOK.  I want my boys to read this, I want them to love it as much as I did.  I want them to want to be as creative and industrious as the boy was.  (I want a racoon now)

Sounder: while this book is named after a dog, and the main character is a boy, it is NOT a book about a boy and his dog.  It is about a sharecropper family who hit upon hard times, harder than usual.  It is also a true story.  It is a beautiful book.  A beautiful book.  Not a beautiful story.  It's sad and depressing and tough, hopeful and hopeless.  I cried.  I want my boys to read this, but I don't think they could even come close to comprehending what it's about.  This is a book that came in a pack of Newbury Award winning books that I ordered and it was just sitting on the shelf.  Until we rented Old Yeller at the video store and the lady told us about the Sounder video, starring Cicily Tyson.  We haven't rented the video yet.  I'm debating whether they should read the book first.  That's usually my requirement.  But I wonder if the movie would provide the images they need to have in their minds to visualize while they are reading...

Peter and the Starcatchers:  this is the book I'm currently reading.  I'm pretty wild about it.  It's a nice thick book, part of a trilogy.  It's the prequel to Peter Pan.  Co-authored by Dave Barry.  It's an easy read, very fast paced and impossible to put down.  It's full of action and pirates (note my pirate on the side! isn't he cute!) and violence.  But the violence is not detailed.  For example, the British sailors embark the pirate ship to engage in battle and all the book says is that a few minutes into a bloody battle the captain realizes that they would never win.  So, you have the action without the gory detail.  Perfect for this mom.  I'm sure if a movie would be made of this book, it would be wraught with gore.  The book has no cursing - yes!  Even with hard core pirates.  Idjit is the worst I've read yet.  We bought this book Friday and Jake is on page 300-something!  This is very exciting to me.  He loves to read, but it's usually non-fiction.  I'm glad to know that he can follow a long story and not just bites of trivia.

And since there are 3 of us trying to read this book at the same time, I have a backup read.  Our National Geographic is here.  I'm on an article about the other Mexican border.   I know, most people reading it would be thinking about border policies and getting all riled up about politics and migrant workers and illegal immigrants.  Blech.  I don't think like that.  I hate politics.  I'm thinking about their plight and mission work and my heart reaches out to them.

Lahaina noon

Yesterday was a Lahaina noon day.  I'm sorry I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures.  This is the deal.  It's a day when the sun is directly overhead at noon, making your shadow the smallest ever, or non-existent if you are a flag pole.

We had fun yesterday.  The church had a picnic at Kailua Beach Park, complete with baptism in the ocean.  The skies were clear and beautiful and it was windy - I think it's always windy there.  The boys played in the sand.  A bunch of them were digging to china.  At the end, Ryan had thrown sand in Jake's face - where sand went up Jake's nose (thankfully not in his eyes) and Jake decided the best way to get the sand out was to stick his finger up there.  Hence the nose bleed.  Oy.  And  with his delicate nose, it requires a 10 minute steady pinch to get it to stop.  Good time to go home.

It was very crowded at the beach park.  Tons of people picnicing and grilling.  The water was just about as crowded, with kite surfers, wind surfers, paddle surfers, regular surfers, boogie boarders, kayakers, snorkelers - oh, and swimmers and frolickers.  Much too crowded for jellyfish or sharks.  I do believe the ocean level must have raised a few inches with all the bodies that entered it yesterday.  Even if just for a few hours.

Yesterday the cubscouts went out to the local veterans cemetary and put flags and leis on the grave markers.  I have pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

Gotta go shower.  My main task for today is to find a strapless bra or one that has those clear straps.  I have a retirement ceremony of a good friend to go to on Thursday and I've got the perfect skinny strap dress to wear.  Hopefully I'll find something without causing too much emotional distress.

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Monday, May 26, 2008

yummy recipe - southwestern salsa

I had the following dish today and it was yummy.  I wasn't aware it was a salsa until I saw the recipe name - so it's good even alone.  Very flavorful with lots of yummy spices.  The gal who made this is a Southern Living at Home consultant, and she said she didn't think this cookbook was in circulation any more.  I found the recipe online - so I feel free to share it with my friends.  I'm sure you can use cumin from your spice rack instead of toasting cumin seeds.  And you can probably cut back a little on the oil.  But at least it's olive oil.  :-)

Southwestern Salsa with corn and black beans   from the Ultimate Southern Living cookbook

Southwestern Salsa with Black Beans and Corn

This recipe requires a lot of chopping, but that's as hard as it gets.

11/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (151/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 red pepper, minced

1 small purple onion, minced (1 cup)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/3 cup lime juice (3 to 4 limes)

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Toast cumin seeds in a skillet over medium heat 1 to 2 minutes or until brown and fragrant, stirring often. Combine cumin seeds, black beans and remaining ingredients; toss well.

Cover and store in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Yield: 6 cups.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Recipe source: "The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook."

**edited journal to put in a better version of the recipe that doesn't include html code and isn't doubled!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

testing signature

Do you like it?  I just learned about this.  You can go to www.mylivesignature.com to generate your own free signature.  Now, to just figure out how to get the journal to add the signature automatically with every entry.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

another attempt at vog pictures

I'm like a pit bull.  *sigh*  Just bear with me. 

This morning I could see the mountains from my front door, however, it was cloudy.  So I snapped a shot anyway.  Good thing, because the clouds are gone but the mountains have disappeared again in a vog haze.

So here goes:

See mountains.  The dark area underneath the clouds, below the palms, yet above the house.  Way in the distance.  Yeah, those are mountains.  (side note: all those clouds and not a drop of rain - so typical.  The clouds have to be black and hanging right over you to rain)

Where did they go?  Was David Copperfield here?

We are now blaming this on the lack of trade winds, and now the east vent that has been continuously oozing lava has decided to add to the sulfur dioxide party.  That makes two vents spewing vog.  I think he just said the trades are coming back in a day or so.  Oh joy!   Maybe I can take yet another picture and PROVE there is a mountain range in our view.  LOL!

you know you're a parent when...

you've gone and done something to ruin it for the "youts".  You know how it goes.  An adult wears it, says it or plays it and it's ruined.  That's it, over and out.  Uncool.

Well, I did it today.  It's official!  I'm that parent.  And this is fair warning to all you parents because it will trickle down to your kids when the word gets out.

Skateboarding.  It's now a zit on the face of life.

This is how it happened.  Friday is the Fun Fair at school.  And they are collecting food donations.  So I bought a big bag of bagged chips and a cube of Diet Pepsi.  I refuse to drive to school - it's not green and all that.  We live less than .4 mile from the school.  So I have to figure how to tote that cube all the way to school.  I come up with the genius idea of putting it on the skateboard and one of my kids is supposed to ride it to school.  Well, my kids are not good skateboarders.  But we manage to get it there.  The part where I ruin it is when I tote the skateboard through the school - carrying it like I'm Tony Hawk or someone.  (are you impressed that I even know the name?  LOL!)  I don't even have to ride the thing to make it look dorky.

So there, you can blame me when the one wholesome after-school activity becomes taboo amongst your young'uns.  I'm truly sorry. 

Of course, now I'm going to have to use that 3/4 concrete backyard of ours to practice skateboarding and maybe even rollerblading.  Gotta dig those things out of some closet somewhere.  I so wanna be that girl in the Diet Coke commercials who's rollerskating with ease.  It looks so fun.  (I wanna be that skinny and pretty too!)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

what does the vog look like?

This is an attempt to show what a difference the vog makes here in Hawaii.  It's really hard to capture on film, especially if you don't have a "before" picture.

Here's the view from our front door.  You may not think anything of it, but there are the Koolau mountains that are supposed to be clearly seen in the background there.  Can't see them now, can you?  No, the hills you see are very close.  Like less than a mile away.  That's not what I'm talking about.  When this mess clears up I'll try to do another comparison.  This is really bad for tourism.

I think the next two pictures show more clearly the difference.  The first picture was taken in January, so the vog had started, but not really bad yet.  Look at Diamond head, pretty clear, huh?

Now look at Diamond Head.  Very hazy.  Vog.  This was taken yesterday.  We got a deep discount on the paddle boat rental - so that was a fun little splurge.  Yes, I am that pale.  I just don't tan.  Plus, I liberally apply SPF 50.  Us pasty folks need it.  :-)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

my husband rocks!

there was a bit of drama in the brock household yesterday.  I got a call from a bill collector!  The humiliation!!

So she sounds all nice on the phone, saying that we've been late in payments.  I'm not aware yet that she's not with the company concerned, and so I'm chatting and saying that I had noticed we hadn't been recieving bills, and my husband pays the bills, yadda yadda.  So it's got me a little upset and excited while she's talking and she tries to confirm my address and I'm really only half listening so I recognize that the numbers are right so I just assume the rest is right and tell her it's correct.  Confirm the phone numbers and then she asks me how I want to pay - check or credit card.  Now, I don't like doing business over the phone, and I like to see a detailed bill, since frankly she caught me off guard and I don't know how much we owe.  I want to see a bill and I want to confirm on my side how much we do owe.  So I ask her if they could send a bill to us.  She informs me that the company has been sending us bills and they haven't recieved a payment from us yet, so that doesn't work.  I catch that she refers to the company as them and not us. So I ask if she's a bill collector which she confirms.  Oh.  Ouch.

Well, I don't know how you are supposed to deal with bill collectors and I don't really know my rights, except that you can ask them to stop calling if they start harrassing you.  What I do know is that we WILL pay our bills, because that's who we are, but I was NOT going to be bullied into paying it over the phone.  I don't work that way.  So I told her that I wanted to discuss it with my DH because he's the bill payer.  I didn't know what was going on, so I needed to talk to him first.  She then told me that the sooner we pay, the better since the interest was accruing (a whopping $16 at that point) and they might could knocked SOME of that off if we paid soon.  I again inform her that I was going to talk to my DH about it and he would take care of it.  She signs off saying that I needed to talk to him as soon as possible and have him call her back. 

Humpf.  So I'm all a-tizzy.  I fire off a voice message to Gary, since I knew he was not in his office, but at a meeting.  Then I start digging through our financial paperwork.  Start stacking and organizing by date everything that had not been filed away yet.  I'm snapping at the kids.  I hate this.

I'm very much a rules follower, so this really had me upset.  Plus I was afraid of our credit rating and all that.  We hope to buy our first house in a few years and don't need our credit marred.  We are debt free.  This is an offense to me.

Gary comes home, not happy about the mess I made, but I got it all organized, shredded and filed.  He tells me he'll take care of it.  BTW, he confirmed that we have NOT recieved bills from the company lately.

This a.m. I fire off an email to him because I had forgotten to give him the bill collectors phone #.  He emails me back "done".  He called up the company and gave them our address and they took the bill back from the collection agency and are sending us a new bill.  Ta-da.  Simple.  Piece of cake.  He's so calm in a storm.  So level headed.  He's my rock.  I would have never thought of calling up the original company. 

Somebody in this family has to be calm.  Im about to go over and throttle my neighbor.  They got a set of drums this week.  He plays all the time.  He's homeschooled.  He's really good, so I'm thinking he has had to have had lessons "off campus" before getting this set.  But being good doesn't mean I want to hear it all the time.  This is the second time he's played today, and it won't be the last.  It's only 1:45.  He'll start up again when the boys are doing homework, and then again in the evening.  Yesterday was a double whammy because the neighbors behind us were playing music (bad music) loudly.  This is normally a very quiet neighborhood.  I think it's that way because we all have our windows open all the time and are very considerate for the most part.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

ratatouille - yum! review

Okay, ever since I saw the movie with the boys, I just HAD to make this dish.  And the boys were eager for me to do it, until they found out that the red in the dish was NOT pepperoni!  LOL!  But the recipe calls for ingredients that I don't normally keep on hand, namely, eggplant and squash.  Blech.

Finally, I bought some at the store.  I got the long, slender Japanese eggplant.  And I used the recipe found here: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/07/rat-a-too-ee-for-you-ee/  It's not the recipe developed for the movie, but an easier version with a cute go-along story.

So, in the making of the dish, a couple of comments.  The Japanese eggplant works really well because the size is similar to squash and zucchini and makes the whole layering thing nice.  I could not find a long narrow red pepper, so this was problematic.  Therefore I wasted time tearing off small pieces of my thinly sliced pepper to make it fit.  (yes, it would have gone faster to use a knife and cut a bunch at once, but I ran out of counter space as you'll see in the picture and ran out of clean cutting boards) Another note, using a mandolin makes this thing go very fast.  Please use the guard and make the effort to learn how to use it if you haven't before.  My thumb wishes I had, but that's an old story.  No fatalities with this dish.   Eggplant is too rubbery to be sliced by a mandolin (another reason to avoid this creepy plant - but I'm not being fair...).  Two more things: I didn't have a can of pureed tomatoes on hand so I pureed diced canned tomatoes, and I didn't have fresh thyme so I just sprinkled on the dried thyme I had in the spice rack. 

I even took pictures so you can see what it REALLY looks like!  If you go to the link above, it's really pretty.  Here's what mine looked like:

excuse the cluttered counter (pb and lime do not go in the dish - I'm just not a neat person) but you get an idea of what it looks like right after I finished layering the veggies.

this is what it looks like before I put it in the oven, after I've drizzled on the oil and seasoned it, but before the parchment.

fresh out of the oven - notice mine doesn't look as pretty as smitten kitchen's - but it looks like it came from a real home.

results:  (disclaimer, I've never eaten ratatouille before, so I don't know what it's supposed to taste like)

I got Ryan to take a bite - no comment.

Jake: it tastes better than you think it would

Gary: hey, that's not bad

me: yum!  you can't even taste the eggplant!  Can't wait to finish off the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  I think it's a really healthy dish, but high in sodium.  I've come to the conclusion that thinly slicing a disliked vegetable is a good thing.

This recipe is a keeper!!  That's pretty good for a vegetable dish in this household.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

like I said...

The vog made me do it!!

My apologies to Briege and all other cats.

However, I'm quite handy with the grill (usually, not mentioning the lamb jerky kabobs) and would have done the cat tastey justice.  LOL!

Oh, that's just awful of me!  For shame, for shame!  :-D

Friday, May 9, 2008

the vog defense

I barbequed the neighbor's cat - the vog made me do it.

I totalled our new car - the vog...

In the vortex, we have decided that the vog (sulfur dioxide spewing from Kilauea) is the root of all our problems.  A friend of a friend went to the doctor demanding every blood test known to man to find out what was wrong with her - he told her that he could tell her exactly what was wrong.  The sulfur dioxide.  My friends are suffering with sore throats, unusual tiredness, etc.  I've had a constant headache since returning from Singapore.  Vog.

Which is really strange, because a couple of weeks ago you could see it hanging over the land, but lately it's been so crystal clear and breezy.  I guess it's "silent but deadly".  LOL!  Okay, not so much LOL more muffled chuckle (my head hurts too much to laugh too big).

It's so much worse on the Big Island.  It's actually killing crops over there.  I shudder to think what it's doing to people.  And we thought lava was scarey!!

The last time I had daily headaches I was diagnosed with high blood pressure.  I've checked my bp and it's quite good.  My meds are working A-okay.  I'm trying not to take anything, which is really tough.  But that time when I had the daily headaches I took Tylenol every day (just one a day) and it really messed up my liver levels.    Quite a scare.  Easily attributable to the Tylenol though.  I don't want to do that again.   But I do pop advil on the worst days.  maybe I should opt for a low dose aspirin...

(BTW, I did not bbq the cat or total the car, but who knows what's going to happen today...)

Thursday, May 8, 2008

my birthday

(I guess I need to update my age on the sidebar)

My birthday was yesterday - the big 43.  I'm old, but that's beside the point.  At least my hair is temporarily not quite so gray.  LOL!  Anyway, my boys sang me happy birthday and gave me their cards.  Those musical cards.  Ryan's (the child who is still in the will) says: It's your birthday, so it's gotta be said - when it comes to mothers...  You da mom!  And the song is The Best by Tina Turner.  (you're simply the best, better than all the rest...)  Jake's card said: A long long time ago... You were born.  Played the Star Wars theme.  At least inside he wrote Happy Birthday!  I Love You!  That redeemed him a bit.

So I get those two cards, Gary gave me a card (non-musical and a bit silly) and then he hands me a bag - as in one of those white plastic grocery bags.  And says "excuse the wrapping".  What????  Gee thanks for the effort.  (this is why I wrap all the Christmas gifts) So I pull out the gift, which was a Bellows AFB t-shirt.  They bought it just this past weekend while they were camping.  Ahem.  (no comment)  And then my DH later says to me, "I have another gift for you tonight".  Great.  You think 3 cards and a t-shirt, last minute after-thought purchases, will do it?  What ever happened to romance?  I then inform them that we are going out to eat for supper because I'm not cooking on my birthday.  I didn't appreciate the surprised look on his face.

So, as you can tell, I'm working up the bitterness pretty good.  Got it stewing around in there.  Especially painful when I'm dripping sweat, vacuuming the house.  On top of that, I had made lamb kabobs for Ryan's 3rd grade class (international fest) - which really turned out to be burnt lamb jerky kabobs.  That REALLY hurt my heart.  I pride myself on being a good cook, and this was just awful.

DH comes home, changes clothes and we head to the car.  In the front seat was a PINK boogie board!!  (which I know was a purchase made that day, but I can forgive...)  Hot diggity dog!  Just what I wanted!  Then we head out to California Pizza Kitchen, followed up by Cold Stone Creamery!  YUMMY!

Ahhhhhhh.  Much better.  The bitterness slipped away with each creamy sweet bite.

No, romance can't be bought - but it sure doesn't hurt when MY wants are catered to once in a while.  :-)

(as I reread this, I'm sensing a connection between food and feeling good.... hmmmm - researchers, take note...)

Do I sound like a spoiled American?  Ugh.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Singapore pictures!! - Chinatown

Finally, some pictures. 

Tip: if a one-legged man offers to sell you a small pack of napkins for S$1 - buy it!!

Explanation of the ice cream.  This vendor sold ice cream from his little cart.  He would slice off a chunk of a carton of the ice cream of your choice - unpeal the cardboard and put two little wafers on the sides.  We had seen two girls buy the ice cream with colored bread, so we asked for that.  The rainbow looking bread was sweet.  So the bread gets wrapped around the slab of ice cream.  Ono!!  (which is hawaiian for delicious)

lost sighting and happy cinco de mayo!!

May is certainly the month of celebration in the Brock household.

Today is Cinco De Mayo, and Boy's Day.  I forgot all about Boy's Day.  The boys reminded me.  Ugh.

My MIL's birthday was yesterday.

MY birthday is Wednesday, my brother and his wife's birthdays are on Friday.  Mothers day is Sunday.

My SIL's and one of her daughter's birthdays are later this month.

Our 20th anniversary is on the 28th.

And then Memorial day.

Whew.

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Today I saw Desmond, brotha.  I was in spittin' distance from him.  We passed by each other walking in the opposite direction on a sidewalk.

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In the spirit of Cinco De Mayo, like a true Haole, I made tacos for supper.  Opened a can of refried beans and called it a meal.  As I was "cooking", I noticed an interesting recipe on the side of the refried beans can for soup.  It sounded so good.  It had the refried beans and chicken and Rotel tomatoes.  yum.  Nothing bad in there!  Very high in sodium.  I'm sure it can be reduced a little with intent.  I'm gonna try it, but it'll have to be after another grocery store trip.  Maybe next week.

Here's the recipe I found online.

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Tomatoes, refried beans, corn and chicken combine with chicken broth for a delightful soup.


Hands On:20 minutes
Total:20 minutes
Makes:6 servings (1-1/2 cups each)

Ingredients
  • 2 cans (10 oz each) Ro*Tel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, undrained
  • 2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth
  • 1 can (16 oz each) Rosarita No Fat Traditional Refried Beans
  • 1/2 cup drained canned whole kernel corn
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  •   Fried corn tortilla strips or chips and shredded Monterey Jack cheese, optional
Directions
  1. Combine undrained tomatoes and broth in medium saucepan. Stir in beans and corn; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  2. Add chicken; heat through. Serve topped with tortilla strips and cheese, if desired.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories 172 Sugars 3 g
Total fat 2 g Protein 20 g
Saturated fat 0 g Vitamin A 5%
Cholesterol 40 mg Vitamin C 4%
Sodium 1,160 mg Calcium 5%
Carbohydrate 18 g Iron 11%
Dietary fiber 5 g    

Monday, May 5, 2008

stephanie's wild weekend alone

Ha! 

Wild my heiny.  This will be a really boring diatribe detailing my weekend.

I got a little alone time this weekend.   The guys camped with the boy scouts - and I wasn't about to spend the night with the centipedes. 

I had all these great plans.  Which included working on the outdoor furniture and shampooing the carpet.  Didn't happen!

Me and another cubscout mom had plans to rent 27 dresses and eat at California Pizza Kitchen - even that didn't work out as planned.  She informed me that she was on the hunt for a karaoke version of God Bless the USA for her son to sing in a talent show - so I was game to tag along and help her search.  Zippo.  27 dresses was not available so we ended up renting the Jane Ausin Book Club - more thumbs down than thumbs up.  Do they really have to put in the "love" scenes?  Lame characters lacking in the morals department.  It would probably be better if I re-read the Jane Austin books.  Not my cup of tea.  I prolly should steer clear of the chick flicks.  Anyway, we were at the mall which is far away from the CPK so we ate at the IHOP.  That was okay.  Love my rooty tooty fresh and frooty blueberry pancakes.  Oh, and the karaoke thing?  The Borders gal reminded us that you can download music really cheap off the internet.  Ding, ding, ding!  How did I forget that?  Plus she needs only the one song.  Kudos to the Borders gal.

So that was friday night.  The movie was done by 9:30 and my friend left, but I still didn't manage to get to bed until midnight.  Hard to do that final goodnight when the spouse is gone.

Woke up at 5:30 on Saturday and headed out for a 10 mile walk.  It was great.  Got dressed and went downtown and signed up for the next Honolulu Marathon!!  Woot-woot!  Grabbed some Chinese food and my friend called me as I was shoveling down the last forkfuls of rice and offered to drive me to the campout.  Uh, I forgot to mention that Gary's car broke down Thursday on his way home from work - so I was carless for most of Friday.  I accepted my friend's offer even though I had a working car by that time.  with gas prices, you gotta carpool!  So that took until 8:30 pm.  Another wasted day.  I watch the last of the Chronicles of Narnia and folded laundry.  I dvr'd it for the boys - we are going to read the book together this summer then I'll let them watch it.

Then Sunday I went to church, grabbed some Quiznos for lunch and waited for the brood to come home.  I missed them.  And I accomplished absolutely nothing - except for signing up for the marathon.

Oh, I did catch Pride and Prejudice this afternoon.  A much better movie than the other that shall now remain nameless...