Category Archives: Life

The Sunday Salon: A Little Cooking, a lot of Shopping and a Birthday!

Boy's 12th Bday

Come on kid, crack a smile. No? Oh well.

So yesterday was The Boy’s 12th birthday and yes, there are three candles on his cake. It’s supposed to represent 1 and 2 for 12, as I did not have 12 candles. You have to be creative when you are not Martha Stewart.

We had a splendid day. We took The Boy for a really nice lunch and then we went back-to-school shopping, which he actually enjoys because he’s loves getting new stuff. School starts in about 2 weeks for us which I cannot even believe. As for gifts…he got some of the things he wanted and a few things he needed but you know how that goes.

Oh, and the cake was probably the best chocolate cake I ever made. Yum!

Sunday Salon Button

Although I am done with shopping for clothes and shoes (everything was purchased on sale!) I need to hit the office supply store for the rest of the stuff they’ll need. I don’t know about you but I could get lost in an office supply store. I love office supplies. New pads of paper, pretty pens, calendars…I get so excited over calendars. Sigh. So we’ll be doing a bit more shopping for that stuff.

I am making Chile Verde for dinner. I don’t use a recipe really so I can’t share it but it’s simmering away for later. In case you are unfamiliar with what it is, it’s basically meat that simmers in a green chile sauce. We’ll have it stuffed into whole grain tortillas along with some Mexican rice. It should be tasty.

As for reading, I finished Labor Day for a book tour in August. Boy, was it good! I’ll save my thoughts for the review but I was pleasantly surprised by it and I am still thinking about it.

I am still reading The Stand. It’s not that I don’t have time to read it. I’ve BEEN reading but good lord, on the Kindle it feels as if I am not making any progress so it’s hard to judge how much I am reading in one sitting. Apparently, not enough.

The next book that I plan to read off my summer reading list if probably going to be Coming Up for Air. Not sure yet.

I may also start One Day since I got it in the mail yesterday and everyone is talking about it.

At some point I must start my book club book, The Lacuna but I have no desire to read it right now. I am in a weird, funky reading place. I think I am already gearing up for the end of summer, which is really a shame. It flew by and I am already getting Christmas catalogs and Halloween emails from Disney.

Hope you are enjoying the day. It’s nice here, not too hot but I am fighting a bit of a sore throat so I am taking some extra C and drinking some vitamin drinks just to be safe. Who wants to be sick in the dead of summer? Not me.

Let the Vacation from the Vacation Begin

Yosemite 2010

We just got back from vacation. We were supposed to spend a week in Yosemite, but we ran into a few problems:

Our first night there, we had to change rooms at midnight because the entire building was taken up by this one family and they were out and about and partying in the meadow, beating conga drums, kids running all over hell…I was not happy! This is Yosemite people!! Peace and quiet is what it’s all about…not your freakin’ conga playing. We called the front office and there was one other room available about two buildings over, so we packed up everything and changed rooms.

It was unusually warm and our room had no AC. None of the rooms in Yosemite have AC. The National Park does not allow it. This meant that our room was 94 degrees, as measured by the thermostat. NOT comfortable. We’ve been to Yosemite in the summer before and never had a problem with the heat. We couldn’t open the windows because they didn’t have screens and the bugs were HUGE. I don’t think I could have been more depressed after that first night there.

We used DEET-free bug spray and were we all eaten alive by the mosquitoes on our first day there. Then, because I have so many allergy issues anyway, I had an allergic reaction to the bites so I was swollen all over. From there on out, we used the fully-leaded DEET-filled spray but the damage was done.

E & E Yosemite Falls

We stayed for three days but I was so swollen and hot, that I just couldn’t take it anymore. I fired-up the laptop, found me a hotspot and booked us a room in San Francisco!

Pier 39 San Francisco

San Francisco was gorgeous!! It was about 70 degrees and our cheapie Comfort Inn room was actually quite nice and in a perfect location. We hit all the sights and had a blast!! We dined on chowda, seafood and I even got my Vietnamese noodle fix. We had a great time. As you know from my 100 things post, I am a huge planner so making these last minute plans is so not me, but I am so glad I did. I would have been miserable if we had stayed in Yosemite.

Book Passage

I managed find a bookstore too. This is Book Passage, located at the end of the Ferry building. I knew of the store from Facebook, so it was neat to visit it in person.

E at Book Passage

I didn’t buy anything though since I had just loaded up my Kindle. The Girl was working me for a puppet though. A puppet!! She’s surrounded by those luscious books and a puppet is what catches her eye. I said, “No,” in case you’re interested.

Book Passage - The Bestseller's Table

Because of all the chaos at the beginning of the vacation, I didn’t get to read more than a few chapters. Once in Frisco, I didn’t get to read at all because we were zipping all over town and never had any down time.

After many vacations I’ve learned that a few days after a vacation, can really make a difference so I asked for some additional days off.  Sort of a “vacation from the vacation.” This way, I can put things back in order, upload the pics, do a little reading and ease back into my week. There’s nothing worse than having to go back to work right after a vacation. I shudder at the thought of it.

So…I haven’t been around too much but hopefully I’ll make-up for that over the next couple of days. Hope you all had a good week and thank you for all the comments to my 100 things post. I tried to respond to as many of them as I could (from my phone), but I wasn’t always successful.

It feels good to be home! I will post the rest of the photos on Facebook for those that are interested.