Farewell Labor Day!

As you can see from the lack of writing on my blog, I've had a very busy holiday weekend.  To recap:

On Saturday, Michael and I did a little shopping, including 40% off the lowest marked price at Big 5, which resulted in new shoes for both Sam and Jordan ($12 a piece), Reebox shorts for $11.93, and a sweatsuit for $10.  We thought about cruising to the Oregon State Fair but decided to venture on to the Bonneville Dam Fish Hatchery and Multnomah Falls instead.  The weather was gorgeous and people were out in droves.  It was nice to take a break to hold hands, wander through the nature, and enjoy the scenic Columbia Gorge together. 

Before heading back to Gresham, we stopped at the Troutdale Outlet Mall, where I found a killer deal on two more Vans shoes for Sam along with 50% off the marked price Adidas jacket.  For these reasons Michael refers to me as the Clearance Queen!

Speaking of Michael, I had to endure one of the most embarassing moments of our courtship.  To start off with, I tend to use a lot of toilet paper.  I'm just one of those people where I must feel 100% clean after I use the restroom facilities.   Well, this excessive Angel Soft resulted in the toilet backing up at Michael's apartment.  Yikes!  I went to grab for the plunger and found a black, creased, plastic object shoved in the corner in his bathroom. Was this it?  It didn't look like any plunger for which I was familiar and it frankly scared me! Was it a tank snake?  A weapon of plumbing descruction?   I decided to verify the fact with Michael; when he confirmed, I then took care of the problem.  As they say, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger so my strength came from the frequent ribbing I received from Michael the rest of the weeekend about my little plunger issue!  This moment was right up there with the time we were spooning and I accidentally farted.  To die right there would have been a relief from my sheer embarrassment!

Sunday found me heading home in the afternoon where I kicked back and bonded with the boys, happy I didn't have to work the next day.  After sleeping in some (to me, 7am is sleeping in) I kicked a cleaning agenda into high gear.  Dusting, vacuuming, laundry, kitchen  - I even washed down all the kitchen cabinets, cleaned out a corner cupboard, which hadn't seen the light of day in years, then capped it all off by removing pots and pans then organizing so it would be easier to find a baking sheet or a frying pan or a stew pot! 

After my manic attack with Pine Sol, I took a shower before getting my nails filled at the mall.  The one problem?  The underwear I had on had kept rolling down my butt!  Surely you have experienced this type of thing, where the underwear is not fitting correctly and it slowly slides down one's derriere.  The only solution is to reach your hand down the back of your pants and yank the little devils up.  The  opportune moment to do this was as I was walking through JC Penney to my car.  I made a pit stop in the lingerie section (seemed appropriate) where I made the adjustment, worried that a security person would not think I was trying to abscond with a stolen bra by shoving them down my ass!  Unfortunately, this delicate maneuver ended up smearing one of my newly painted nails!  The good news was my underwear was back in place but the bad news was more than likelymy butt was adorned with pastel pink polish!

After picking up some groceries at Walmart, I zipped home then hit the road back to Gresham, determined to surprise Michael with my return.  And it worked!!  By chance my unexpected return came just at the moment he finished preparing dinner so it was perfect timing - surprise for him and dinner for me!

Yesterday was the last day in my four day holiday weekend.  After grocery shopping, we made our way to the Annual Legacy Transplant Picnic to celebrate Michael's 10-year kidney transplant anniversary.  Michael was transplant No. 176; there have now been almost 1,000 transplant recipients in the last ten years.  Lots of people, lots of food, and it was a good moment to count our blessings.

This morning it's back to the grind, although it's comforting there are only three days of work this week!!  School starts for Sam the Senior on Thursday, so my Labor Day weekend was a good send off to summer with an eye to fall.