Weekend Update #11...Authors, Dumpsters and a Movie Marathon

This weekend started a full day earlier...as our company gives us Good Friday off every year. I left work Thursday in a fairly good mood...despite the day being quite possibly the most boring day ever! :-)

I went home, fed the dogs, shot Rowan (one of our dogs is diabetic, and requires twice daily shots), changed clothes....then headed back towards work. Not TO work, but towards it. There is a Barnes and Nobles bookstore near work...and that is where Mot had spent the good part of his day.

We're bookstore junkies, but spending a whole day somewhere is still a bit much...and only happens for special occasions. In this case, a book signing. By one of our favorite authors....Missouri man, Jim Butcher. I read one of the series he writes....Mot reads them all. :-)

Anyway, Mot showed up at the store at 7:30 or so, to get in line for wristbands for the signing that night. He got #6...which was actually #1....as the people that got #1-5 actually picked him up at the airport. :-)

He went home...but then headed back for the store at about 2:30 or so. The event was scheduled to take place at 7:00 that night. First a Q&A session, then the signing.

I showed up at the store around 6:00, and stood with him...waiting. And, of course, if you know Mot, making friends of every stranger standing within earshot. He's such a social butterfly. Why he hangs out with me (the one who must give off an F-off attitude, because strangers rarely talk to her)....I will never know?!?!


(People starting to arrive for the signing.)

I'm really quite nice...and friendly....and all that fun stuff......but I'm the shyest person ever!!!

But anyway, back to the weekend. Butcher arrived on the scene promptly at 7:00 (or a little before) and the Q&A session began.

Holy hell!! He talked for maybe 30 minutes or so...and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face the entire time. We were standing right up front, and he's an awesome dude. Totally the kind of guy I would have hung out with in high school (and now, for that matter).

Fan: "Do you feel there is a tremendous amount of pressure trying to meet deadlines for your writing?"
Jim: "Pressure from deadlines? Nah. My editor calls me and says 'Jim, you have 4 weeks to finish that book. You're GOING to finish it in time, right Jim?' And I say 'Of course, editor lady, I'm almost done now.' And she says 'Good, because at 4 weeks and 1 day we send the ninjas.' And I say 'Oh....well then. No one wants to mess with the penguin ninjas.' "

I really wish I'd thought to either record his talk, or take notes. He had me rolling the whole time, and I can't, for the life of me, come up with examples of what he said. I'm such a nerd!! :-)



(The author, Jim Butcher.)


(Signing Mot's book.)

We went to Chili's for dinner after the signing, then home to bed. What a fun night!!!!

Friday am: Robin showed up at the house about 9:00 am, and we drove to my hometown to mom and dad's house...to pick up a wheel barrow. The project this weekend.....tackle the backyard if it's the last thing we do!!!!

We picked up the wheel barrow, then stopped at the diner for breakfast. We had no more than arrived back at my house, when the phone rang. The man with the dumpster had arrived.

I'd ordered a 9 yard dumpster for the next two weeks. When we moved in....we spent hours and hours and days and day and weeks and weeks working on the inside of the house. Virtually NO time has been spent working outside. And it's about friggin' time we started!!!

Robin heard what I was planning for the weekend and offered to help.

What can I say...she's either a really good friend...or a freak. Take your pick!

I mean, who else would offer to spend her day off from work to help do back breaking work in a yard that wasn't hers??? :-)

We started with a rubbish pile in the corner of the backyard. I'd call it a compost pile...but I really just think the lady that lived here before us was lazy...and blew all the leaves into corner, and didn't feel like bagging them up. For 8 years straight.

Since we've moved in, the pile has grown larger and larger....with branches, sticks, boards, and other misc rubbish we had no idea what to do with at the time. Mot is upset there wasn't a camera handy. Robin and I were literally inside the dumpster, on top of everything we'd loaded in....jumping up and down...trying to mash it down and make more room. :-)

The highlight of the day, though, was hands down the ugly tree thing removal. Yep, you heard me....we dug up this ugly tree like thing from the corner of the yard. Every year people tell me it's a lilac bush/tree thing. It's yet to bloom...and it's yet to look anything other than ugly.

So we removed it.

Slowly.

First we cut off all the branch like things.....then we started digging...and digging. We had saws out to go through roots. We broke a shovel.

When it finally came out of the ground, Robin held it above her head...dirt raining down in her hair...and screamed a war cry I'd never heard come from her mouth for as long as I've known her. My back was killing me, she'd gotten some debris permanently stuck in her eye, which now wouldn't stop watering....and we were whopping and hollering about getting this stupid tree thing out of the yard!!!

We called it quits then. :-)

I went inside, changed clothes, and watched TV the rest of the night.

Saturday am: Mot arrived home at 7:30 or so. We got showered, dressed, and headed out for breakfast. My allergies were killing me!!! I was sneezing, my nose was running....and my back hurt like nothing else. (probably more tree related, then allergies)

We ate breakfast, stopped at Walgreens for drugs, then came home. We caught up on all our DVR'd TV, and headed outside to work some more. (and all before lunch)

Mot and I tackled the other things that Robin and I hadn't gotten to. There's an old tether ball pole (near the tree/bush site) that needed removed. The people that put it in, were fond of their concrete. Really, really fond of it. 3 feet across, and 3 feet down fond. :-(

Then, we took out the old swing set. It's constructed with 5-6 inch galvanized pipe, welded together. It's still laying out there, but it's on it's side. We're having to borrow something from his dad to cut it up and such.

The final job was...well....it was...ummm....we'll call it the joys of being the parents of three dogs. Yes, when three dogs, live outside in your backyard for an entire winter....what do you think is left behind when the ground has finally thawed enough to take care of it??

That's right....poop. Lots and lots of it. You try to keep things as clean as you can....but when there's snow on the ground....and everything that hits the ground immediately freezes to it. Well....yeah.....there's one day in spring everyone hates. That was Saturday afternoon.

I took to the yard with a rake (it's easier to just rake the whole darned yard)...while Mot got out the riding lawn mower and the lawn sweeper. We actually make short work of it. (We've had these dogs for 10 years now, it's become a spring tradition. A really horrible, annoying, why do we own dogs again? tradition. :-)

When we finally called it a day, we went in...showered (again)...and waited for my parents to show up. Easter dinner (on Saturday) at Mot's folks was in the line up for the night.


(Mot and his folks in the kitchen.)


(Setting the table and pouring the wine.)


(My dad making friends with Bo, the dog.)

It was a wonderful night. Dinner was delicious, as always. The 7 of us (Mot, his folks and grandmother, my folks and I) sat around in their living room telling stories until about 10 pm.
Very nice night!!!!

Sunday am: I woke up, still miserable. Thinking it might be a cold, and not allergies. :-(

I've done nothing but watch movies all day. Imagine Me and You (the story of two woman, who meet and fall in love, even though one has just gotten married to a dude), Rachel Getting Married (a drama about a messed up chick and her family, after she gets out of rehab), and Just Friends (a goofy movie about a nerd in high school who grows up rich and gorgeous, and comes back home to get the girl he loved in high school - original, huh?)...then it was Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (boy meets girl, boys' gay band mates kidnap girls friend, love ensues)....Lucky Seven (girl's mom dies, gives her plan for her life, girl finds love)...and Saving Face (I can't tell you the story, because the movie was in Chinese, with no subtitles...but it did have something to do with two woman falling in love).

So far, it's been a romance movie day. Lesbian romance seems to be prevailing. I feel the need to either watch a comedy, or some action adventure now. Preferably nothing that makes me wish Mot wasn't at work today. Romances make me sappy. Ick! :-)

I thought I'd better sit down and start my weekend update....so that's where I am right now. Typing and throwing Jelly Bellys at my cat....because she's getting into things, and I don't feel like getting up to make her stop. Instead, I'll now be cleaning up jelly beans from my living room for weeks to come. :-) :-)



My plan for the rest of the day and evening?? Laundry I suppose. (sigh) More movies I'm sure. I keep thinking about trying to put the blinds up in the dining room...but just can't get myself talked into it. I would hate to leave Mot out of the fun!!! :-) :-)

Next up I think.....Burn After Reading. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Francss McDormand, John Malkovich, and Tilda Swinton to name a few. Synopsis: A disk containing CIA information ends up in the hands of gym employees. Sounds very comedy-like.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks!!! Talk to you later!