Lis and I have a day out!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Lis and I went on an Owl Homes tour.

Since we were broke and trying to kill a lot of time, we toured each home extensively.

We even took pictures to see which homes we looked best in.

These are those pictures.

All of the Owl Homes master bathrooms can accommodate two people at a time.

Three, if two people get in the shower together.

As an added bonus, there are seats in the showers.

Lis really, really had to go to the bathroom in this house.

I decided to take a bath while she was doing her business.

Lis was really tired, touring all those homes, so she decided to take a nap.

After a while, all the houses began to look the same to me.

It also could have been because I was a little tipsy.

Makin' sure those damned kids stay the fuck off my lawn.

Another house, another bathroom.

This bathroom, however, had a fireplace AND wine in it.

We decided this was the house for us.

So, I kicked off my shoes and sat down to read a book.

Lis, on the other hand, took a nap in the chair.

Then, after we decided we couldn't afford our new dream home, we went clothes shopping.

Lis found her perfect dream dress in a second hand store.

We ended the night at Sprague's, where Lis celebrated her birthday.

Too bad Lis's birthday isn't until June.

Giving up.

So, this little 60 in 60 thing isn't going to be finished. I haven't baked since the 19th of October, and that's fine by me. Life has been a little more than baking recently. So: I'm giving up on 60 in 60. Which is fine. I don't feel I've left myself down and I don't feel that I'm any less of a person because I didn't complete this. I had some fun, and I made a ton of great cookies. I also helped Bona Responds raise almost $250.

What have I been doing recently then, if not baking?

My brother turned 30 on the 20th. There was a party. I made cupcakes and a cake. Both were delicious. Then I got sick. Deathly ill, waking the boyfriend sick. The next day I did some theatre work at St. Bonaventure University. I ended up turning the houselights up and down for Michael Cooper. I also spent 20 minutes of each show being creeped out by a giant baby head. I did that for two days, then on Friday I spent the day with my friend, Lis. Since we're both ultra-broke, unemployed, former SAC employees, we spent the day walking around various shops, turning in out pop cans (nickels, FTW!), and looking at Owl Homes.

Owl Homes, for those not in the know, are pre-manufactured homes. Apparently, you choose one by going on a lot and looking through all the model homes and then deciding which one you like best. Some are even decorated so you can see their potential. Most of them have awesome kitchen islands installed. All of them have enough shower space for two people. One of them has a fireplace in the bathroom.

In the bathroom!

Since then I've watched a lot of television, and sat around on the couch a lot.

Sunday, on the other hand, is going to start a whole new challenge. (Well, I've done part of it before.) Sunday, I officially begin my 6th year of NaNoWriMo. It'll also be my first NaNoWriMo as Municipal Liaison (ML). If you don't know, being a ML is a big, huge, awesome responsibility. I'm, officially, in charge of herding cats, basically. All the other NaNoWriMo writers that go to write-ins and post questions on the forums and need pep talks. I'm in charge of them. Making sure they play nice, making sure they have all the answers they need to write, and making sure that they have all the pep they can handle - plus some!

Oh, and I also have to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Well, it's 6am, that last paragraph didn't make sense, and my cats (the fur kind) need petting. Also, this post should have pictures, lots and lots of pictures. At least two of them should have bathrooms involved and at least one of them should have a bathroom fire place. There was even going to be a picture of me wearing a very large headset. But, alas, the laptop won't reconize the memory card from the camera.

Here, have a picture of puppies instead:

The sun didn't melt me!

The river near our pavilion.

Wednesday was the day of our "First Hopefully-Annual SAC People Picnic" at State Park.  I spent the morning cooking pies (two of which didn't melt), then I spent the afternoon outside..in the sun.  (I would add "with normal people," but these were SAC people, and they're not normal.)  

Timmy making a spork, because I told him to use the open silverware first.

(I didn't know there weren't any forks left!!)

Chef Hippie showing even hippies can double fist.

Brother making Gram's PBR Kielbasa.

The sun stayed out most of the afternoon and it was actually a semi-pleasant day filled with food and fun.  The park was quiet, except for us, and the sights were beautiful.

Our "SAC Height" badmitton net (we were missing a pole).

Mmmm...beer kielbasa.

Believe it or not, I took this while in a moving vehicle.

What do I do after spending a day outside?  I spent that evening, and most of the next two days in bed, alternating between napping and catching up on television shows.  Once, the curtains blew open and I was bathed in bright, bright sunlight.  I screamed so loud my neighbor yelled to the window to see what was wrong.  I replied, "The sun.. it burns!" He laughed and continued his yard work.

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And can you believe, while I was outside, a waitress was arrested for shooting a customer that threw a waffle at her? What is the world coming to where wait staff can't let off some steam on their less-desierable customers?

Happy Birthday, Ma!

I have quite a few people that I call "mom."  First, there is my real mom, who currently lives in a different time zone and I haven't seen in over a year.  We talk on the phone once or twice a month, when I get bored.  She gave birth to me and I love her, but I need a mom close to home.  That's where Noreen and Laurie come in.  Noreen is my newest mom-type person.  She's a busser at the SAC, like Laurie, and she became my mother one day when she kissed my boo-boo and made it all better.  She's a lot of fun because she acts just like one of us drunken kids.

Laurie, as I mentioned earlier, is my close-to-home mom.  When I first started at the SAC in September '07, I got real close to her daughter, Lis (a hostess at the time), and there were a lot of jokes that when her son, D.J., came home I should date him.   Thus, she became my mother-in-law turned mother/friend.  (I never did date her son, by the way.)  Her whole family refers to me as "Laurie's step-daughter" and her youngest, Brooke, always tells people that she has three sisters, Lis, Erin (whom I've never met), and me.  She's been there when I needed a mom-figure and I love her for it.

Last year, Lis and I started a tradition of taking Ma and Brooke to Friendly's around Mother's Day/Ma's birthday.  This year, we pulled Brooke out of school and continued the tradition - with pictures. (You can click to make 'em near-lifesize!)

Lis and me, you can't tell, but I'm being kicked under 

the table by Brooke in this picture.

Brooke and Ma.  The picture was supposed to be just

 Ma, but then Brooke snuck in right before I took it.

Brooke wanted to take a picture of Lis.

It still amazes me that Brooke's kid's 

sundae is bigger than our adult sundaes.