Weekends Do That To A Person!!

Sometimes weekends are meant to be lazy, and that's exactly what's occurring this weekend!

Last night I finally sold off some more of Michael's electronic stereo items. I had placed them for sale on Facebook and was surprised to see the person who wanted to buy them was a high school classmate. He finally had the cash and swung by last night to pay and pick up.  Nice guy...face looked the same but he was definitely a rocker at heart.  Bleached blonde hair, fedora, and skinny jeans, all topped with a motorcycle jacket. Definite blast from the past!

Today has been a lazy day of napping, cooking, and movies.  I made a pasta salad, no bake cookies, and bbq pork is in the crockpot. Should have hit the gym but perhaps tomorrow.  My work days have been so incredibly busy that it's nice to take a breather on the weekend.

Cilantro and Steve

Oh it's Sunday night and Monday right around the corner!

Friday after work I drove to Tenino of all places to

meet up with some co-workers for dinner. Never been in Tenino before but on one side of the road was a pasture full of cows and on the other side was a herd of llamas. And those were the highlights!

We all met up at Don Juan's Kitchen, a small but authentic Mexican restaurant.  Yummy, from scratch tortilla chips, chunky guacamole, and a very tasty cucumber-cilantro margarita. Excellent meal with entertaining, and funny, friends made for a memorable evening.

Saturday after getting my nails done and picking up some groceries, I arrived home to find my Steve there!  So awesome to see each other after having been apart for over a month. He even brought me flowers along with smoked salmon for the boys. We spent the day together browsing at Bob's and Sportsman Warehouse before having an awesome dinner at Parker's in Castle Rock, which is now Steve's new favorite eatery.

And now it's not only Easter but Sunday night. Monday will be here too soon. I've been super busy at work but at least it's been rewarding.

Happy Easter and let's make this week memorable!!

Finding Friends When You Least Expect It

I've been slowly parting with some of Michael's household items, posting them on a For Sale site on Facebook. Today someone named JD asked about stereo equipment I had for sale. I noticed JD was friends with my brother. When we were texting we found out we went to high school together and grew up in the same neighborhood. I knew him as Jerry. We ended up talking on the phone and trading life stories. Such a small world!  And the best part is he's buying most of the items I have for sale.

Thoughts On Aging

You know you are getting older when:

Instead of popping some little pill to get high, your drug of choice is a blue pill called Gas X;

Staying up late no longer means 2am...it now means 10:30;

The thrill of trying a trendy color of eye shadow has been replaced with wrinkle-diminishing hopes for L'Oreal's new night-time cream;

Driving on a sunny day is overshadowed by all the hairs on your chin the blinding light has exposed in your driver-side vanity mirror;

Crest Whitening toothpaste has been replaced with Sensodyne;

Instead of praying that your period arrives, you are now praying that it will finally stop showing up;

Waking up early no longer means 7am. It now means waking at 2am, tossing and turning until falling back asleep right before the alarm sounds;

A memorable evening no longer means Friday night at the bar but instead a classic movie, tacos, and snuggling with your beau (or your dog);

When recapping the above classic movie to co-workers, they appear glassy-eyed and confused when you mention words like "Watergate", "Warren Beatty", or "Sally Field";

And finally, you can now truly relate to the phrase "Youth is wasted on the young."

Sometimes LIfe Gets In The Way of Writing!

Oh it's been awhile my poor little blog!  This diva has been busy kickin butt at work, stayin later hours, then arriving home to make dinner and relax before calling it a night!  I've also found time to read...books, not just magazines.  I read two more books written by Gillian Flynn, who wrote Gone Girl. I've now started reading Revolutionary Road...written in the '50's but became a movie with Decaprio and Winslet.

Sam has been keeping busy with landscaping the backyard...it is looking awesome!  He's been pruning, and trimming, and kickin butt on the design.

Jordan just spent the last few days in Disneyland with his buddies before starting a new job where I work.  It's a commute but he's talked his buddy into taking him until he saves up for a car.

Steve...well, for the last month he's been on an elusive search to find a cow elk to shoot so we've had more of a "by phone" relationship.  This weekend may be the one where we finally get to see each other in person!!

My view on the way to work this week!

Busy Life Makes For Minimal Blog!

Oh it's been a whirlwind of a week!  The big news is I received an awesome promotion at work!!  So exciting!  It's been great finally getting a chance to do more at work - different tasks and projects.  I'm back in my groove again!!!

Other than that, life has been good.  My evenings have been spent watching movies with Sam - Whiplash is awesome,  Birdman was intriguing, The Theory of Everything was entertaining, and Foxcatcher was a big old snooze!!!

That's it for now!  Short and sweet but this diva has been busy, busy, busy!!!

Valentine's and Smelt

It's been awhile since I've written on my blog!  It's not that I've been overly busy, just the creative spirit hasn't hit me lately.

This weekend Steve showed up Friday night with flowers and a Valentine card for me - sweet!  Saturday morning we rolled out of bed around 8am in order to go smelt dipping on the Cowlitz.  Only Sam's friend Jimmy was eager to go with us - the rest of the neighborhood boys declined the offer.

Due to the very infrequent occurrence of smelt dipping, my neighborhood by the river was packed!  I mean seriously over-run by the preponderance of feverish smelt dippers, cars, nets, and kids.  Our first stop was to cruise by Riverside Park, which was a no go due to massive traffic.  My friend Kim, who lives on the Cowlitz, allowed us to access the river from her house so we stopped there next.

Steve was very prepared to dip smelt while Jimmy and I were kind of along for the ride.  Jimmy and I traipsed our way along the brush (stumbling across a dead, petrified cat!) while Steve, dressed in his waders, went right into the current.  The Cowlitz was oozy and muddy; however, when Steve hollered for a bucket, Jimmy kicked off his tennis shoes and waded right into the river in his socks, bucket in hand.  It was very slow going - no fish or perhaps two fish with every dip of the net.

With a limited catch, we then made our way further south of the river to Gearhart Park.  Again, tons of people and it was a madhouse!!  Gathering our things, we didn't even make it to the riverbank due to the feedback we received from fellow dippers that results were the same as upriver.

Last but not least, we cruised to Castle Rock to test out the waters at Arlene's place.  Lovely spot right off the private boat launch.  Steve dipped his net and voila! Full net of smelt!  It took him about 10 minutes to get our limit of smelt!!  This has now become his favorite and best spot to dip smelt!  Our last place should have been our first place!!

The worst part of the smelt dip?  Following the completed netting, we (Jimmy, Arlene, a fellow netter, and me) watched as Steve pulled a female smelt from the bucket, massaged it's end quarter, and sucked out the fish roe to his mouth to eat.  Arrrrggg!!  Yuck!  I almost lost it!!  Apparently it tastes like Cream O'Wheat; if that's the case, eat Cream O'Wheat!!  Bleck!!!

Done with fishing, Steve treated us to Dutch Bros. coffee then a big breakfast at Stuffy's to not only celebrate smelt success but Valentine's Day.  Making our way home, it was nap time then we spent the evening watching war movies on Netflix.  It's was a very rewarding day!!