I heard that distinctive "I'm going to barf now" sound from my big cat, and rather than be sympathetic, I grabbed him and threw him into the kitchen so he'd hurl on the linoleum and not my carpet (which I spent $300 cleaning and re-stretching a couple of months ago). I think this makes me evil. He doesn't seem to mind so much though since he's curled up at my feet again.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

It's good to get home, I guess, but it sure was a good trip too. We were afraid at first that things might suck, but they didn't. We ended up having a great time. I was going to try to do a day by day recap, but I'm not sure if that makes the most sense or not. And since we didn't get home until 2 AM, I can't swear this is going to be completely coherent, but I'll give it a shot.

We got up well before the crack of dawn on Friday so we could drive to Austin and get to our plane. We're both from families who were habitually early to everything, and that seems to have rubbed off on us. So, even though we could've slept another hour, probably, we were up and out the door by about 3:00 AM. But that meant we were in San Francisco by 8:00 AM local time. Got to our hotel to drop off our bags around 9:00, but they already had a room ready, so we were able to get in and settle just a bit before starting our adventures.

We spent most of Friday wandering around the city, getting the feel for riding the buses and trolleys (SF has a fantastic municipal transit system, and we made good use of it while we were there). I had totally planned to take advantage of the fact that SF Muni is linked into Google Maps so we could use my phone to figure bus routes. But, idiot that I am, I left my phone in the Jeep at the airport in Austin. So, fat lot of good that did us. But a good old map seemed to work just fine and was pretty easy to figure out.

We went over to the de Young museum, but it would've been 8 hours or so before we could've gotten in to see the King Tut exhibit, so we just went up into the observation tower and looked out over the city some. Went back down to Fisherman's Wharf and then to the Ferry Building for a bit. Had a sandwich on traditional SF sourdough at Boudin on the wharf. I'd swear we ate about 10 lbs. of sourdough while we were there, and brought about that much home with us. It was delicious though. And we got some melt-in-your-mouth nectarines at the farmers' market at the Ferry Building that were wonderful.

Friday night we went to the Astros/Giants game. We were seated in the left field bleachers, section 138. Which just turns out to be where the most rabid season ticket holders sit. They had jerseys with their section number on the back! They ribbed us, but were actually pretty nice and friendly and visited with us during the games. Since we seemed to know a lot about baseball and weren't completely obnoxious, they decided we were okay. It didn't hurt that they drubbed us 13-0 that game. It was awful. We ended up leaving in about the 7th inning because we'd been up about 20 hours or so at that point, and watching us get beat so badly just wasn't much fun.

When we woke up Saturday, we decided we'd take the ferry to Sausalito and have some seafood there. Which would've been great, but our ferry was dead. We waited for about an hour to see if they fixed it, but when the guy went on with a crowbar, we gave up for a while and decided we'd catch a later one. We did end up catching the one at 2:00 and had a beautiful, quiet ride across San Francisco bay. Got there and had some delicious seafood and a perfect view of the city across the bay from our table. Big G had petrale sole and I had some spicy crab cakes that were absolutely delicious.

Sunday was Big G's birthday. We knew we had game tickets for the afternoon, but didn't really have any other plans, so we just started wandering. We walked around the Union Square area a bit. Not to shop, just to look around. Nothing was open yet anyway. Ended up at Yerba Buena Gardens and had a hot cup of coffee there. The SF Museum of Modern Art is across the street from Yerba Buena, and they were having a Georgia O'Keefe/Ansel Adams exhibit, so we went. It was fabulous. We spent a couple of hours there looking around. Ended up getting prints of the two pictures that were used to advertise the exhibition and bought the book too so we could show it to the monkeys (and whomever else might like to see it).

From MoMA, we went to the game. The Big Unit (Randy Johnson) was pitching for SF. We sat in the midst of our new Section138 buddies again. But this time we won! At the end of the game, Tony, the obvious leader of the crew, shook Big G's hand and wished him a happy birthday. It was perfect ball game weather, sunny but cool and breezy too, and two of the three home runs the Astros hit were hit directly into our section. Exciting game. And if we could only win one that weekend, I'm glad it was the one on Big G's birthday.

After the game, we ate at House of NanKing. Delicious Chinese food. We ate pork egg rolls, sesame chicken, and crackling beef. They were all fantastic, and we could see why the place was busy the whole time we were there.

Monday, we took a Gray Line bus tour down Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Monterey and Carmel. It was easier than renting a car, and we didn't have to try to decide who got to drive and who got to see the scenery. It was very possibly the most beautiful drive I've ever been on. We also went down part of the 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach. That's what this photo is from. We left about 9 AM and didn't get back until almost 9 PM, but felt like the day was very well spent. Again, absolutely gorgeous weather, so it was perfect for sight-seeing.

And Tuesday we just sort of hung out until it was time to catch the plane home. Lots of wandering around, looking at the city, which I thought was fun. San Francisco is a great city for walking and looking around.

And somewhere in there, we went up to Coit Tower. I can't remember for sure if it was Friday or Saturday now, but the view was spectacular. The walk down the hill was rough on our knees though, so we didn't go back up to see it again.

That's all I can remember right now, and the monkeys are starving for some lunch, so I better go feed them. More later when I have time.

The Astros-Padres game is paused right now. Rain delay? Nope. Lightning? Nope. Bees. There are bees in left field. Lots and lots of bees. And the Padres left fielder is not going out there. I wonder if there's a beekeeper at the game. Bizarre.

I hope there are no bees at the games in San Francisco this weekend.

I am SO ready for vacation. Counting down the days now. Soon, I'll be counting down the hours.

Had birthday parties all weekend. Ate too much, but it was fun to be with family and celebrate the lives of those we love.

Finished my stupid CPE requirements so I could renew my CPA license. I hate accounting. And its stupid licensing fees.

Still no bites on the house. Soon, I hope. Still have my fingers crossed. Still keeping everything neat and clean. If nothing else, I'll be in the habit of keeping everything picked up and cleaned up, so I guess that's good.

Have to go get ready for work now. Didn't get enough done yesterday (because of the stupid CPE requirements), so I need to get a lot done today.

Is it time for vacation yet?

My little brother is turning 40 in a few days, so we're having a "surprise" party for him on Saturday. He found out about it somehow, so not only is it no longer a surprise, he actually has to help cook the hamburgers. Little G had to remind me this morning, "Mom, we need to go to Target today and get Uncle J an inappropriate card." I owe him. You should see the one he gave me for MY birthday.

In other news, someone is coming to look at the house at 11:00 today. I am firmly resolved not to get my hopes up, but I can't help praying anyway that maybe this one will be the one.

My really busy couple of work weeks wrap up today. I still have lots to do and could have another two or three really heavy weeks if I want them, but at least I have vacation on the way next week too. We've had a really good time in training this week though. There were a couple of times I was afraid the big boss was going to come in and tell us we were having altogether too much fun to be learning anything. Except that we have solved a couple of pressing work issues as exercises during the class. So it's all good.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

And I'm almost embarrassed by how funny I thought it was. I laughed like crazy. But I think I laughed even harder when we saw my brother and he quoted all the good lines again. We were laughing about it all afternoon and my mom and dad asked if they should go see it. Big G, J, and I all yelled, "NO!!!" Somehow, I don't think they'd find it nearly as funny as we did.

It has been a busy week. I've got lots of irons in the fire at work. Lots. Which is good, but it means that by Thursday evening, I had put in my full week plus three and a half hours. I still have at least four more to do today. That's good though. Since I work part time and hourly, I get no benefits at all, and the extra time will help cover the days I'm going to be off in a couple of weeks.

Next week will be about 10 extra hours too since I'm teaching a training class in the office every day. It's good to get paid though.

And I had to compliment the kids yesterday. Poor guys had to go up to the office with me. They took their books and sat in the break room reading while I had meetings out the wazoo. The big boss went in to get his coffee and ended up telling one of my co-workers that he wished his children were as well-behaved as mine. (I'm sure they are too....) Anyway, I thanked them and told them how much their good behavior helped me be able to keep the job and work the way they let me work (mostly from home, and on the honor system with my hours). And I bought L a pack of YuGiOh cards and Little G a lemonade and a Nestle's Crunch on the way home.

I didn't realize it, but I guess I was worn out too. We flopped down to watch the Astros/Rangers game, and apparently I was sound asleep by 8:00. Little G had to come and wake me up to tuck her in at 9:00. I went back to sleep pretty quickly after that I think and had a really good night's rest.

I am really looking forward to vacation.

I am uber-happy with the way this shawl came out. It's the Forest Canopy pattern by Susan Pierce Lawrence. I loved everything about this project. The yarn was Mas-Acero by Brooks Farm Yarn (that woman can dye yarn like nobody's business). It's wool, silk, and viscose, so it has beautiful sheen and drape. The pattern was easy to memorize and cart around to work on, but never got boring. I could easily see myself making several of these in different weights and types of yarn and in different colors.

I loved the yarn so much I was tempted to sell (or at least rent) my children so I could buy enough to make a whole sweater.

There are more pictures than you'd ever care to see on my Flickr account. Just click this one and it'll take you there.

Someone came and looked at the house on Tuesday. They liked it and may look again on Saturday. I don't want to get my hopes up, of course, but I can't seem to help it. Please, if you're so inclined, send house-selling prayers or vibes or whatever.

The landscapers finally came after a month of begging, and now I wish they hadn't. They shredded the plants. They didn't trim them. It made me cry to see them looking so pitiful after they were so lush. And they didn't mulch anything. Now I have to call and see if they're coming back or if I have to do all that myself. Which I think maybe I need to do at this point since I'm not sure I'll ever let them near my stuff again.

My little kitty got spayed on Tuesday. She was seriously out of it the first evening and pretty tired most of yesterday too, but as of this morning, she seems back to her old self. Stitches out maybe next Friday.

And that's all I know. I'm going to go pick music for Sunday's service now.

ETA: I finally finished my shawl last night. I'll try to wet block it this morning and maybe it'll be ready for pictures this afternoon.

Friday night, when Big G got here, he gave me "birthday eve" roses and a card...one of those talking ones that had Timmy from South Park on it. I'm still laughing, and I yelled "TIMMY" at everyone this weekend. Saturday, we decided that we'd go to Houston for the day. We went in the Jeep with the top down (PERFECT weather for it). When we got there, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts and looked at the painting and sculpture sections for three or four hours. I'm always amazed that we don't get kicked out of museums for talking (and often laughing) too much. Especially in the more modern art sections. Still, it was very cool.

After the museum, we were starving, so we headed into downtown near Minute Maid Park. We had gotten tickets online that morning to go to the Astros game, so we thought we'd just go eat somewhere near the park and then go on into the game so we could walk around and I could see the whole stadium. Well, apparently everything closes at 3:00 downtown and we got there at 3:15! So, we just had a nice walk around and then ate barbecue at the stadium when the doors opened at 4:00. And G got me my very own Astros jersey (maybe I'll post pictures later), the kind that I've always wanted but would've felt guilty spending that much money on. This after he'd already given me a gorgeous James Avery butterfly necklace before we left home. The game was fun. We didn't win, but Hunter Pence did hit a two run homer in the first inning, so that was cool. And we tried to figure out where we should sit next time to increase our chances of catching a foul ball. We thought we were in a pretty good spot (one section over from first base, 30 rows up), but we didn't get one this time. We did laugh at the guy behind us who talked NON-STOP the entire game. He wasn't obnoxious or anything, just made us giggle a lot. And we sat on the same row as what we think was a Pakistani family. They were sweet and wanted to share their popcorn with us. Fun day. We got home after midnight, so we needed naps on Sunday.

And Sunday morning, the pastor preached a sermon that, for reasons I won't go into here, made me cry. I hope people heard what he was saying.

Anyway, it was a great weekend all around. And tonight my parents and grandma and brother are coming up for supper, so I get to have even more birthday. And I think the monkeys want to buy me ice cream sometime. I think I'll make them wait until Tuesday so it can last even longer.

It's all good.

Finally, finally finished this one. Not sure I'm happy about the fit though. The neckline is too wide, even though I went with mods to make it smaller. If I were to do it again (which I won't because, ye gods, it's a helluva lot of 1x1 ribbing), I'd do another round of decreases before adding the collar band. I can tell I'm going to be uncomfortable wearing it because it might fall off my shoulders.

Pattern: Tempting II from Knitty.com (I'm too lazy to do links today)

Yarn: Rowan Calmer, about 4 balls.

Needles: KnitPicks Options, size 8.

Mods: I shamelessly stole the neckline mods from knittinfun on Ravelry. Knit one round, K2tog, next round, then did a 5 stitch 1x1 collar with no flappy bits.

We did end up going to see Night at the Museum. Silly, but cute movie. The kids liked it a lot, and we got to use our comfy chairs and enjoy the beautiful weather. It's fun to watch a movie under the stars.

And I am so very spoiled. Big G cooked supper on Saturday night. Pork loin, mushrooms, onion, and garlic marinated and simmered in red wine for hours and served over noodles. Mmmm...thank goodness there are leftovers so I can have some more. He helped me make shrimp and broccoli stir fry on Sunday night too. Also delicious. Tonight, we're trying homemade enchiladas. It's not something either of us have ever tried, because honestly, you can get great enchiladas around here pretty much on every other street corner, but the recipe sounds good, so we're going to try it.

We had a combined church service on Sunday. The attendance wasn't too great. I think most people took the opportunity to go somewhere for the weekend. Had the choir not had two songs to sing, I think we would've taken the weekend off too. We did a setting of the liturgy that no one really knows very well. I guess it went okay, but I really can't stand the ELW (the new service book we have). It's about as user-unfriendly as you can get. There are 10 liturgical settings, but none of them seem to be complete. You have to flip back and forth between the liturgy and the hymns, and sometimes, even between settings (for example, setting 10 doesn't have a Communion response, so you have to use setting 1's). It's a pain in the butt. And not just for the congregation. The pianist has to use two humongous books, and flip back and forth through all of them. I'm glad I didn't have to play it. If we ever go to a full ELW service all the time, I'm not sure what I'll do. I don't think I could be involved in the music anymore. I just don't know. I really pray that's not what we decide to do.

No bites on the house yet. Guess that's normal. It's a busy week around here. Graduation at the area high schools, summer stuff getting started....lots going on. Still have my fingers crossed. Still praying for patience and that whole "in His time" thing. It's all good.

Better get busy. Lots to do today, as usual.

The movies are the new Night at the Museum and Star Trek. I don't know if we can stay up late enough for a double feature or not (especially since it's about 35 miles away), but we might try. When I mentioned what the movies were, Little G started running around the house yelling, "Night at the Museum! Night at the Museum!" I guess she really wants to see it.

Big G and I got some really great lounge chairs we're dying to try out too, so they'll be good for watching the movies. I actually put mine in the living room the other night while we were watching a DVD. I think I could sleep in it. When we were looking at them at Target, they only had one, so while we were waiting for a clerk to check the stockroom, I sat in the one they had. About 10 people walked by me, and they all smiled and said something like, "Wow, that looks really comfortable." I said, "Yep. I'm taking this one home. For sure."

Last night was fun. Big G kept the monkeys while I went to book club (we shouldn't even really call it that....usually only about half of us have read the book, and we just spend the time visiting instead). They had a great time. Went to Target and looked at toys, went to Sonic for supper, and then they watched X-Men. Even Little G thought it was a cool movie. And I got to visit with the gals, and Sam said she could help me fix my mistake in the shawl I'm making. Woo hoo!

Life is good.

They've been very helpful about keeping things picked up and neat. Keeping their rooms clean. Their beds made. Not leaving stuff out in the living room. Right now, Little G is dust-mopping her floor and dusting her furniture. L will do his when he gets out of the shower.

Haven't had any lookers at the house yet, but it only hit MLS and the realtor's websites on Saturday, so that's okay. Still have my hopes up that things will move relatively quickly. Regardless, it'll happen at the "right" time, so it's all good.

I am going to have to mow tomorrow. Keeping things clean inside is one thing, but the neighbors both mowed their yards in the past couple of days, which made mine suddenly look shaggy. It's not. But compared to theirs, it looks like it. Wish they understood that St. Augustine grows a whole lot better if you let it be a little longer. Oh well. Mowing is good exercise. And the weather is really nice right now. So I should just get out there and enjoy it.

Not much else going on, I guess. Just the usual. I have girls' night (we call it book club, but since half of us probably didn't get the book read, it may not really qualify as such) tonight, so the monkeys and Big G are going to hang out here and watch X-Men on DVD.

Better get to work. My mom's up here taking care of my niece and nephew for a day or two, so we're going to take lunch over there and visit for a few minutes before I go into the office this afternoon.

Just what a holiday weekend should be. Nice and relaxing. We went to the Round Rock Express game Friday night with Mom and Dad. We lost, but it was still fun to go. It's such a good ball park, and their seats are excellent, so you can see everything. There's probably not a bad seat in the stadium, but theirs are really good.

Saturday, we went to see Dance Flick. Totally silly and over the top, just like you'd expect from the Wayans family, but it made us laugh out loud several times. Especially since the whole movie reminded us of the past couple of weeks' South Park episodes. After the movie, we went bowling. I totally suck, but it was fun too. When I bowled in a league, I averaged about 145 or so, but that's been a long time, and I am seriously out of practice. Still. Fun.

We watched a couple of movies here too. One was The Departed. Very good, but I needed a comedy after that.

And Monday evening, G's boys came over for supper. We had that Jalfrezi recipe that I like so much and G made curry rice. It was delicious. And the visit was fun too. The guys have the same sense of humor G does, so it was fun to talk to them. But the weirdest thing was that all three of them sound exactly alike. It was like hearing G's voice from everyone... :)

Hope y'all had a good weekend too.