Take me out to the ball game...

Our insurance folks took us to a River Cats game. They've got a suite! It's totally the best way ever to watch a baseball game. We had an air-conditioned room full of food and drinks, then were able to go out on our own private (shaded!) balcony to watch the game.

And the icing on the cake?: the River Cats beat Salt Lake City, 7 to 4.

Slots of fun!

For the first time in a long, long time, the slot machines were friendly to me! I actually left Reno with more money than I arrived with. Of course, we all do realize that ultimately ... The House Always Wins!

I think I might brave a Blackjack table next time. A very low limit one.

Most of the table games are a complete mystery to me.





We had dinner Friday evening at Louis' Basque Corner. It was delicious and delightful, and I highly recommend it!

Saturday night we had dinner at Sterling's and enjoyed it so much, we returned on Sunday for their Mothers' Day brunch.

Also saw FloorPlay on Saturday night. If you like watching ballroom dancing and enjoy performances with inhumanly crazy levels of energy, you'll love it, too!

C-Squared Do Disneyland

How cool to stumble upon the Dapper Dans - definitely on our Disneyland favorites list! We went to the music shop on Main Street to ask about getting one of their CDs, and had to paste really polite expressions on our faces as the lady there explained to us, quite long-windedly, that it's not always the same four people. Well, duh! I've only been seeing them since I was a little girl. They must have quite a painting in their attic...


Proof positive that we're at the happiest place on Earth!


Okay. It's a lousy picture. Great subject, though! The only thing better than enjoying Billy Hill and the Hillbillies is enjoying them over a couple of bowls of ice cream!


These garbage guys were absolute animals with drumsticks! Trash Can Trio.


Quick sidetrip to Arizona...

Our Cruise

Itinerary
1 Los Angeles
2 At Sea
3 At Sea
4 Acapulco - Noon to Midnight
5 Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa - 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM
6 Puerto Vallarta - 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
7 Cabo San Lucas - 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM
8 At Sea
9 Los Angeles 7:00 AM


Leaving the Port of Los Angeles - loved the tall ships!


I was amazed to see so much space on a ship.


Ships passing in the ... morning?


Can you believe it? Glass elevators on a cruise ship!?!


This is the ceiling above Gatsby's lounge, where we discovered champagne martinis (just add about a teaspoon of orange liqueur to your champagne - really excellent with Delicato's raspberry sparkling wine, by the way).


My little turtle buddy - took his picture from our mini-suite as we were entering the port in Acapulco.


Can you find all three divers in this photo?


Capilla de la Paz

View of the Fort of San Diego from our balcony.


A tender moment.




Zihuatanejo


Now I've seen everything. A single-wide VW bug.


Lost in translation...


Why we had to take tenders in to Puerto Vallarta...


ATVito Bandito!


First of two delightful margaritas - in hand-crafted souvenir mugs! Cups...whatever.


Ask me about our $183 bar tab. Not bloggable!


The sort of picture one just MUST get after four (or so) margaritas and a couple of shots of fine tequila.




"Let me explain you." It was so cute how a couple of tour guides used this phrase. Our guide for our trip to Todos Santos was surprised that we wanted to spend as much time as we did in the museum.

We can shop anytime, but how many chances does one have to see an original Frida Kahlo, I ask you?







Another shot one simply MUST get after having too many margaritas! (see Hotel California Bar sign, above)! This is the view from the toilet in the bus station restroom in Cabo San Lucas.


Another view from our balcony.


The last tender from Cabo. We ended up leaving a half hour late and one passenger short.


This was one of the funniest things I've seen in my life. The large man in the toga was our cruise director. I believe they called it "fountains," and they took turns artistically spitting streams of water at each other. All very straight faced and totally hilarious! I found a similar performance on youtube, for your enjoyment.


The ship was rocking and rolling so much our last evening, it was impossible to get a focused shot. No margaritas involved this time!


Our final (and cutest) towel critter.

Cruisin'

I'm leaving on my first ever cruise on Friday (unless the Jungle Cruise counts, in which case I've cruised lots of times!). Right now, I've got enough stuff together for about three cruises, so I'm trying to weed things down. Way down. I always pack too much. I think it runs in the family...

Speaking of the Jungle Cruise, Cat and I are planning a trip to Disneyland on Easter weekend. I know it's going to be crazy crowded, but we are the queens of the fast pass! I expect we'll just do one day there, since she's got a final Friday morning, and we'll be driving down after.

I'm saving all my PTO for our next trips. We'll be doing our annual week at "summer camp for adults" (Coco View in Honduras) in August, and Cat and I are going to Cape Cod for a week sometime in September. Lizzie's been there, but we haven't. We'll probably revisit some of the places we saw on our New England trip 12 years ago and also visit some of the places we missed. We may just take a bus or train or ferry or something to New York City. Who knows?

No more septic

For those who may have sentimental memories of it, the septic tank is gone.

The last wrap-up bit I've got to have taken care of is a leak in the backflow, so the water's not back on yet. I turned it on yesterday, and what my septic guy had described as a "small drip" is actually a steady stream of water. When we thought it was a small drip, my backflow guy and I decided to just wait to fix it until the annual inspection in May. It can't wait that long.

I found a place that makes fake rocks to go over plumbing. I'm probably going to get one to hide (and protect) the whole backflow assembly. Now that the fence is gone, there's nothing to keep it from being hit by a wayward car. Besides that, it's downright ugly.

Long Week

The problem with having had so many holidays in a row is one gets spoilt! I worked only three days each of the last two weeks, so having to work five days this week feels like forever. Is it Friday yet?

It's been a quiet week with no crises. I've been putting together the training schedule for the year. The biggest challenge there is coordinating with all the other events.

We're watching all the Harry Potter movies -- just finished the first one last night. Since there's not much going on on TV, thanks to the writers' strike, this is a pleasant alternative which should take us through a couple of months, anyway.

Outstanding Older Worker

In case you haven't heard: Bess was selected as New Mexico's Outstanding Older Worker for 2007.

Tummy Tuck Jeans

I just tried on a pair of Tummy Tuck Jeans, and they really do look good. Two things are holding me back from buying them, though:

1. The ones I tried on cost $100!!!
2. I've just gone down a size and am planning to go down another, so would rather wait until I've done so to even THINK about spending that much for jeans.

So I bought a couple of $30 pairs of another brand, instead. They're fine. Got colored ones (brown and dark brown), so they'll look dressier than blue for work. And a really adorable top.

Cat and I spent New Year's Eve in the city - just until around 4:30, or so. We walked to Fisherman's Wharf, had a divine lunch at Scoma's, then walked back to Macy's and shopped for an hour or two. We were feeling a bit punk, so didn't do our usual stroll up Lombard Street, and we also skipped Ghirardelli Square. As it was, we walked about 5.4 miles (I wore my pedometer). Cat found a COSMIC dress at Macy's. Which she bought. It was getting crazy crowded on Powell Street - like Disneyland in the summer - by the time we headed for BART.

What a difference ten years makes!

One drawback to going through old papers and stuff is all the cool distracting stuff one finds. I love this picture of the cousins. Lizzie 9, Alex 6, Gilbert 5, Catherine 4, Fallon 3. March 18, 1990.


Back row: Daddy Bob, Wayne, Brother Bob.
Front row: Kim, Nancy, Me (with Lizzie in the oven). August 24, 1980.

This must have been taken at Grace and Herschel's anniversary party. Who remembers the day I ate my brother, my husband, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law's brother under the table? I still remember their looks of amazement when I went back for thirds!

Happy December!

It's beginning to seem a bit like Christmas! I'm bothered by all the Christmas hype beginning before Halloween, even though I really do understand retailers trying to stretch the season as far as possible. It's called mixed feelings. I started playing my Christmas music at my desk today to get into the spirit. Once Thanksgiving ends, I'm ready to think Christmas.

Little Jem is so adorable. He tried to give his mother a "time out" a few nights ago. I guess he puts Lucy into timeout nightly. She absolutely loves him! I was worried about how she'd get along with him, but I guess she really needed her own little boy. He definitely loves having his own dog! He climbs all over her, and she just revels in the attention. He brushes her and tells his mom when she needs to go out. They have a terrific time together.

The whole sewer project is beginning to come together. I bought the permit yesterday (>$3800!!!) and delivered it to our contractor. We had a plumber look over the interior, and there are a few really weird things. The laundry area in the garage drains into the pipes under the shower in the corner bathroom. Which beats draining outside, which it used to do. We're going to have to have a 2" drain line put in, because that's totally not to code. It looks like there are pipes in place to actually bring the laundry into the end of the kitchen, instead. Jerm can put in a 220 line there - hey Jerm! How about just moving the 220 from the front bedroom into the laundry room? Does that make sense?

I don't remember how or why the kitchen sink begain draining outside. Did you know that thingy was made so one can access a clogged drain? It was never meant to actually be the drain. Once we're hooked to the sewer, I'll get our plumber to fix it properly.

Manna from Heaven?

This was totally freaky! Cat and I went to the laundry room at the apartment to (strangely enough!) do our laundry. Someone had left a bag of clothing, free for the taking on the counter. I said, "What a great idea!" Cat agreed.

Then we both did a double-take, and realized Jem could definitely use some new clothes. We'd just been talking earlier in the day about how all his pants are too short and how Alex needs to put his sizes up on the Christmas gift site.

So we snagged 'em. When we got back to the apartment, I looked closer and realized that the name "James" was written on the bag.

See what I mean by freaky?!

Why to avoid Elephant Bar

This totally stinks. Alex had a fourth interview scheduled this afternoon at the new Elephant Bar here in town.

Now, one would logically expect that a fourth interview meant she was being considered very seriously.

When she got to her interview, she was told that the last position had been filled this morning. Couldn't they at least have done her the courtesy of phoning her to cancel the interview? How hard would that have been?

How rude!


Yesterday: