Some Fridays Are Better Than Others

I only had to work a half-day today, which was good.  I woke up this morning with an upset tummy and a nagging headache, which was bad.

On my way to work this morning, I heard "These Days" by the Foo Fighters on the radio, which was good.  Traffic was really terrible, which was bad.

My morning at work was relatively quiet, which was good.  My headache got worse, which was bad.

On the way home, I stopped at Cracker Barrel to pick up a take-out lunch I'd called in from the office before I left, which was good.  When I got there they couldn't find my order and I had to wait for them to fix it, which was bad.

I made another stop on the way home at Office Depot and found a nice little laptop stand at a reasonable price, which was good.  My headache continued to get worse, which was bad.

My last stop on the way home was at the post office, where I picked up a package containing my new laptop docking station, which was good.  Traffic downtown was really, really heavy, which was bad.

When I arrived home, my take-out lunch was still warm, which was good.  My headache was so bad by then that I was fairly nauseous, which was bad.

After lunch I hooked up the docking station, and it worked like a dream, which was good.  Right now I'm in the recliner with the laptop hooked into my large monitor, keying this entry on a wireless keyboard, all of which is good.

Yup, the good outweighs the bad.  It's a good, good Friday.

Hope yours is good, too!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I've found that one advantage of getting older is that I don't worry about birthdays. I'll be honest, I never did worry about them much. Only two birthdays ever bothered me:

• The day I turned 24 I cried all day long. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea! I think it had something to do with the fact that my life hadn't turned out quite like I'd planned (whose does??) and I was feeling a little overwhelmed.
• My 50th birthday bothered me more than I thought it would. I wasn't depressed, really, just mindful of the fact that I was crossing over that "half a century" mark. Ewww.

But since then, birthdays have come and gone. I've celebrated them, enjoyed them, and moved on with day-to-day living.

So how's my birthday been so far? Pretty dang good. I was given multiple gifts, cards and congratulatory e-mails at the office, and Mom called me at work (which she NEVER does!) to wish me a happy birthday. On Facebook I got lots of birthday greetings, which was really lovely.

I'd bought myself the Roomba the other day, so I considered that partially a birthday gift to myself and haven't bought myself anything else. By the way, I still ADORE my Roomba, who I now call "Spock" at the suggestion of a friend who is, like me, a fan of "The Big Bang Theory". It follows, of course, that the Roomba's dock is now "Spock's Dock". Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM a geek. *LOL*

I decided to throw dietary caution to the wind today in celebration of my birthday. For breakfast I stopped at Mickey D's for a country ham biscuit and a large coffee. Because I'm not used to eating so much for breakfast, I had a granola bar and Diet Coke for lunch. Why was I so relatively good for lunch? Because I'd already decided to really treat myself for dinner! :-) I called a local Cracker Barrel and asked them to prepare a take-out for me: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, okra, baby carrots and a biscuit. *drool* I'm never disappointed in Cracker Barrel's food, and they lived up to my usual expectations!

I thought I should treat myself to a dessert as well (after all, birthdays come but once a year, right?) so I bought something truly decadent: double chocolate fudge Coca-Cola cake. Yes, I'll probably hate myself tomorrow, but I'll deal with that another day. :-)

And so, friends, I've been looking at that piece of cake for awhile now, so I'll close this blog entry and settle into the recliner with my cake and the remote control. I received a copy of "The Big Lebowski" for my birthday and am going to watch it while sending myself into sugar-laden euphoria!

Have a great evening, everyone! The Dude abides. :-)

Vacation - Day 7

Wouldn't it be great if the work week zipped by at the same speed vacation weeks disappear? I'll try not to gripe, though, because it's been a really good week. In this post I'll tell you what I've done since my last blog update.

On Wednesday afternoon I went to visit my great-aunt Orpha. That's not a typo...her name is Orpha. Pretty neat, huh? She's my paternal grandfather's sister, and she's 99 years old. Isn't that just wonderful? She's bright and interesting, and I just love to talk to her. She crochets and knits (mostly crochet) and makes all kinds of wonderful things. We had a great afternoon, and when I left, she gave me a dishtowel that she'd crocheted a border onto and a couple of crocheted coasters. I really enjoyed my afternoon with her.

Yesterday I left home bright and early and went to Mom and Dad's house. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny. We left their house at 7:00 and went to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast (yum!), then headed for Pigeon Forge. I took a sock-knitting project along for the trip. I've always been notoriously susceptible to motion sickness and have never been able to read in the car. But for some weird reason, I'm able to knit while riding with no ill effect at all! Strange. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try it on two-lane road, but on interstate, I'm fine. It certainly helps pass the time, and I got a little over an hour's knitting done!

Our first stop was the Titanic museum. Like most Pigeon Forge attractions it's a little pricey to visit, but we spent over 2 hours in there enjoying the exhibits! We were there at the same time as a couple of school groups and a tour group of senior citizens, but the museum is so large and well-designed that we were still able to view all the displays at our leisure. It was a greally interesting attraction, and I'd recommend it if you're going to be in the area.

By the time we came out of the museum, we were ready for lunch and went to ... another Cracker Barrel! *LOL* When Mom asked if I'd mind going back to Cracker Barrel, I told her "Shoot, no, I can ALWAYS find something to eat at a Cracker Barrel!"

From there we went to one of the outlet malls where I found a few little things I needed on sale at the Coleman store. No, really they were LITTLE things....like $2 and under, honest! :-) Mom found a few things at Bon Worth, and we headed for Vanity Fair. By that time, I was beginning to run out of steam. I found a pair of slacks and a couple of blouses, then told Mom I was going to head back to the car where Daddy was waiting. (He's not a big shopper...*LOL*)

While we waited for her (she didn't take long), I knitted some more on my socks I'd taken along for the trip. When she finished shopping, we headed back home. I was tired, but it was a really great day.

On the agenda for today is nothing terribly exciting. I want to get my household drudgery out of the way today and will get my home desk chores done. Since I'm up early today, I hope to get everything finished in time to knit out on the balcony in the sunshine a good while this afternoon.

I have an appointment tomorrow mid-morning to have my hair trimmed, then will visit with Mom and Dad for a bit. Plans for Sunday? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I want to spend that whole day resting, knitting, and recharging my batteries for going back to work (ptui!) on Monday.

As for now, it's still too early to be making much noise doing housework (I'm a considerate apartment dweller), so I think I'll knit a bit.

Life is good. :-)