exhaustion; anniversary dinner

Work has been crazy busy for about three weeks now. These last two days I have sort of paid a price for that. I was so tired on Thursday night/Friday morning that I slept something like 14 hours. On Friday night/Saturday morning, I ended up sleeping something like 12 hours. And I still feel a bit tired. I am not sick and am not having my period, so this is just sheer physical exhaustion. Hopefully I can make it through another week of work; hopefully things will quiet down once the holidays are over.

Last night Dan and I did go to a very nice anniversary dinner at Main Street IX in Milan. I even wore a dress and gold fish net stockings and dress shoes for the occasion. The food was very very good - the appetizer was broccoli-cheddar fritters and it was great. I got a salad, very nice and fresh, and Dan for this wonderful Southwestern corn bisque. I had magnificently good lasagna and Dan had a prime rib with vegetables and wonderful mashed potatoes. We had the house pinot grigo, and it was very good. The restaurant itself was pleasant - we got a table for two in the front window - and the live music was very enjoyable. Very pleasant and tasty dinner, and I would be glad to eat there again anytime.

Today Dan and Steven and some of Steven's friends went up to Montrose for a wrestling tournament. Bill and I had a pleasant and quiet day at home.

Tags: Main Street IX

multicultural books

Most of the public universities in this part of the US (Great Lakes states) require their freshmen to take a 3 semester hour class in multiculturalism. My son, currently enrolled at Ball State University in Indiana, is no exception to that. Since I paid for his books (primarily, though not all- novels - for this particular class), I told him he had to bring them home at the end of the term so that I could read them.

These are the books his professor picked for the class he took (Honors 189 - Honors Symposium in Global Studies). Well, with the exception of one book, that he accidentally left behind in his dorm room, but he said was really weird and almost impossible to understand anyway - this is the list.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)
The Yacoubian Building by Alaa al Aswany (Egypt)
Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong (banned in its own country, Vietnam)
The Royal Ghosts by Samrat Upadhyay (Nepal)
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
Poems, Protest, and a Dream by Soy Juana Ines de la Cruz (written by a woman protesting for her right to intellectual pursuits in Mexico in the year 1691)
First They Killed my Father by Loung Ung (the memior of a woman who lost most of her family in Cambodia's Killing Fields when she was a child - this was required reading for every incoming Ball State University student this year)
The Analects by Confucius

He says I will most likely really like/love The Kite Runner.

wedding ANNIVERSARY

Today was our twenty first wedding anniversary.

Dan had to work days. I had to work afternoons. We did manage to meet for lunch at out favorite Chinese restaurant in Ann Arbor (where we had our first date way back in 1983). http://www.arborfood.com/cgi-bin/db.pl?q=x&t=ab.tpl&n=184

The restaurant is like a white washed cave, with a waterfall as you come in the front door. The food is good and spicy. We both got soup and spring rolls, and Dan got a shrimp dish, and I got a vegetable dish. We drank lots and lots of hot tea.

Luckily, the restaurant is right by the Jeep dealer. I had to take in the Jeep for an oil change. They found some things wrong with it, so in two Fridays I will take in for a whole day for repairs. Thank God for warranties, as I will only have to pay about $400.

After lunch, Dan went back to work and I had an hour or so free before I had to go to work. I went to Trader Joe's and bought cool food. Then I went to the bookstore. And then a coffee place for a hot chai latte, as the morning Mountain Dew and the lunch time tea was wearing off and I needed more caffeine.

Then work happened. This week has stunk, very busy. Tonight was typical of this week!

One more night to work, then I get two days off before working New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

On Friday, Dan and I will get our real anniversary date - going to a nice restaurant called Main Street IX in Milan, where we will hear live jazz as we dine.

http://www.mainstreet9.biz/

 

Tags: Sze Chuan West, Main Street IX

wedding anniversary gift list

This is a list I occasionally need, so thought I would keep a record of it. It is from the Chicago Public Library web site. I am sort of incredulous that any couple could be married for a hundred years, but...

	Traditional	Modern
1st	Paper	Clocks
2nd	Cotton	China
3rd	Leather	Crystal, Glass
4th	Linen (Silk)	Appliances
5th	Wood	Silverware
6th	Iron	Wood objects
7th	Wool (Copper)	Desk sets
8th	Bronze	Linens, Lace
9th	Pottery (China)	Leather goods
10th	Tin, Aluminum	Diamond
11th	Steel	Fashion jewelry
12th	Silk	Pearls, Colored gems
13th	Lace	Textiles, Furs
14th	Ivory	Gold jewelry
15th	Crystal	Watches
16th		Silver hollowware
17th		Furniture
18th		Porcelain
19th		Bronze
20th	China	Platinum
21st		Brass, Nickel
22nd		Copper
23rd		Silver plate
24th		Musical instruments
25th	Silver	Sterling silver
26th		Original pictures
27th		Sculpture
28th		Orchids
29th		New furniture
30th	Pearl	Diamond
31st		Timepieces
32nd		Conveyances (e.g., automobiles)
33rd		Amethyst
34th		Opal
35th	Coral (Jade)	Jade
36th		Bone china
37th		Alabaster
38th		Beryl, Tourmaline
39th		Lace
40th	Ruby	Ruby
41st		Land
42nd		Improved real estate
43rd		Travel
44th		Groceries
45th	Sapphire	Sapphire
46th		Original poetry tribute
47th		Books
48th		Optical goods (e.g., telescope, microscope)
49th		Luxuries, any kind
50th	Gold	Gold
55th	Emerald	Emerald
60th	Diamond	Diamond
75th	diamonds, diamondlike stones, gold
80th		Diamond, Pearl
85th		Diamond, Sapphire
90th		Diamond, Emerald
95th		Diamond, Ruby
100th		10-carat Diamond

Sources:  
  Anderson, Charles.  "The Exchange," RQ 25 (1985): 175.
  The World Almanac and Books of Facts. Mahwah, New Jersey: World   
    Almanac Books, 1997.
  World Book Encyclopedia, 1997 ed., s.v. "wedding anniversary."

Tags: wedding anniversary gift list

what planet are you from?

http://www.blogthings.com/whatplanetareyoufromquiz/

 

You Are From Venus

You love all forms of beauty. You love dressing up and anything luxurious. A social butterfly, you're incredibly popular and a great host. You're known for your fairness and affection. And as a frind to all. Careful though! You're desire to please may make you too willing to conform. Be yourself. Focus on what matters to you. You'll be all the more popular for it.

 

 

Which Hogwarts House do you Belong in ???

http://www.timidity.org/tests/sortinghat.html

Tags: sorting hat, Hogwarts

Christmas

The weather is behaving in a more normal fashion tonight. I drove home from work in a rain/snow mix. When I let the dog out to pee a few minutes ago, little ice balls were coming down. We are due to get about an inch of slush tonight.

Today was Christmas. Dan cooked us a good hearty breakfast, and then we opened our gifts. Steven loved his ipod nano. Bill loved his laptop. Dan seemed happy with most of his gifts. He gave me diamond jewelry, which makes me want to yell at him for the expense. He has been watching too much television and seen too many diamond jewelry commercials! A few books would have been just fine, at a fraction of the cost.  But he did it out of love, so I cannot yell at him. I even wore one of the necklaces to work tonight, to make him happy.

Work was surprisingly steady tonight for a major holiday. But sickness and injury do not go away just because it is Christmas. And those of us who work in hospitals must do our jobs so that unfortunate people who are sick or hurt at the holidays can get good and compassionate care.

   <--- hardworking nurse taking loving care of his/her patients on Christmas night - they are true angels!

Christmas Eve

Beautiful day - sunny and warm. Not normal Michigan December weather at all! I am not complaining, though.

We had a lovely family breakfast today. We made breakfast burritos, and they were delicious. Wonderful breakfast for Christmas Eve.

Dan and Bill both seemed to feel better today - or, at least, they were not so very grouchy.  I am about the same. Steven's cold seems to be a bit worse.

I went in to work, but it was quiet, so I took a couple of hours of vacation time and came home early, so I could spend a bit of time with Dan and the kids before they went to bed. I got home just in time to say good night to the kids, and make sure they took some cold medicine at bedtime to help them sleep despite the sinus drainage. Dan and I watched a Star Trek movie they were showing on television.

Given how little time we are having together this year due to work schedules, I am very glad to have that bit of time with everyone. A good use of the vacation time.

Looking at the clock, I see that it is actually now Christmas. So Merry Christmas to everyone out there! Hope you get to spend time with your loved ones! As everyone knows, that is the best gift life has to offer!

Saturday before Christmas

Today Steven and I were slightly sick, and Billy and Dan were really pretty ill. Dan unfortunately had to work today, and I have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we will not get a single same day off together for the holidays. And that sucks. And it sucks that Bill was running a fever all day and feeling awful. And it sucks that Dan was pretty darned sick, too.

 

But we still had a nice evening, despite some yelling between the two sick ones right at dinner time. We had a lovely make-your-own taco bar, and Dan made his family's fudge, too.

 

The main thing we did was watch Christmas shows and movies, though.

 

We started with Charlie Brown Christmas, which is the greatest holiday TV show ever.  We all love that one the very best.

 

Then we watched the film A Christmas Story, about a very imaginative little kid in northern Indiana who wants a BB gun more than anything in the world for a Christmas present. Very very cute and very very funny.

 

Next came the TV special that is a close second to Charlie Brown - the original animated Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

The song could be about my former friend! (Though it could be about anyone who treats other people reapeatedly rottenly, and never cares enough about the other person's pain to apologize.)

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.


You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.


You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.


I wouldn't touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.


You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile.
You haveall the tender sweetness
Of a sea sick crocodile.
Mr. Grinch.


Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the sea sick crocodile.


You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.


The three words that best describe you,
are, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."


You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. Grinch.


Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.


You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseas super-naus.
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.


You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool
sandwich
With arsenic sauce.
    

 

Then came George C. Scott in The Christmas Carol. That version ROCKS! The kids were both glued!

 

Finally came We're No Angels, an old classic Christmas film starring Humphrey Bogart as a convict on Devil's Island. I love that one, too.

Tags: Christmas movies, Christmas specials

Friday before Christmas

Yesterday I indulged in one of my hobbies and spent the day baking. I made Irish soda bread, gingerbread, double chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip swirl bread. Dan and the kids really enjoyed chowing down on fresh baked goods right out of the oven.

In the afternoon Dan and Bill and I headed into Ann Arbor to buy Bill a laptop computer for Christmas. It was cloudy and raining ,and we got to see a sky filled with angry clouds and huge rainbows. That was rather stunning and beautiful. I wish I had had a camera with me. Lots of people were stopping and taking pictures of the sky - it was that awe inspiring!

We got the laptop and a few grocery items and we all came home and crashed. The kids are both coming down with a cold, and Dan and I both have slightly upset tummies. Nothing a couple of days of rest will not take care of!

What the heck are these tag things AOL has added to our journals? Since our entries already have titles, is there any real reason to use the tags, too?

more about Meadow Brook

More about Meadow Brook:

The widow of one of the Dodge brothers (who happened to be an almost obscenely wealthy woman) and her second husband, a lumber baron (also quite well off financially) built a beautiful castle on some rolling land in Rochester, Michigan. They led happy lives filled with huge house parties, raising horses and dogs, and doing charity work.

Eventually they left the castle and all of its precious furnishings and art work and collections of rare books and other assorted small objects of great value to the state of Michigan. A major university was built in the back fields (Oakland University), a large outdoor concert venue for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was built in another of the fields, a professional theater company found a home, and the beautiful mansion itself was turned into a museum.

During the summer, the mansion's beautiful grounds and gardens are home to art fairs and classic car shows.

During the holidays, the old castle/mansion is decorated with countless lovely Christmas trees and decorations, and people come from far and wide to tour the house in its Christmas finery.

It is well worth the tour. The regular furnishings of the house are lovely - from jade tables in the bathrooms and the gold plumbing fixtures to the silk wall paper and stained glass windows. As the second husband was a lumber baron, the house is filled with wood - and some of it stunningly carved. And the curio cabinets are still filled - whether with French crystal pieces or collections of china and/or stone elephant statuettes.

Throw in the beautiful holiday decorations, and you could easily spend many happy hours there, seeing the lovely castle and all of its beautiful furnishings.

After leaving Meadow Brook, we went to Lake Orion, my home town. I had not been there for a few years, as I know few people there anymore. But what used to be the Orion House restaurant had been turned into a pleasant sports bar with fairly decent food, and we happily ate dinner there, before a country drive past numerous lakes to Clarkston.

Tags: Meadow Brook Hall

last night of the work week

Another night at work that kicked our butts. Another night of gift exchange, good food, and friendship. You gotta take the bad with the good in most areas of life, and tonight was certainly no exception to that.

One of the more unusual gifts I have thus far received was some goodies form the Calder Dairy. http://www.calderdairy.com/ This dairy is a Downriver legend, and I have never tried their stuff before. The eggnogg is as thick as paint, and totally delicious!!!

Now I will have two days off to spend time with the kids and Dan. We already have plans to watch our favorite, Charlie Brown Christmas tomorrow, and I will have fun baking. I plan on making - at the minimum- chocolate chip cookies and Irish soda bread. I will probably make muffins and chocolate chip coffee cake and corn bread and brownies either tomorrow or Saturday, too.

We are having strong rain tonight and tomorrow. We will have another couple of inches of rain. This has been one wet December - and nearly all of it in rain. This is the strangest Michigan winter I have ever experienced. No complaints though - I hate driving on icy roads!

I still have to talk about Meadow Brook and some other things more fully. Tomorrow perhaps I will commandeer the computer for awhile.

Tags: Calder Dairy

Entertainment News- Final 'Harry Potter' Title Announced - AOL News

Entertainment News- Final 'Harry Potter' Title Announced - AOL News :

those holidays- they are coming

Work is still horribly busy. It seems to get this way at the holidays more years than not. But we are doing our best to hang in there. Tonight we had a nice party, in fact. That was good. We needed that. Good food, gift exchange, friendship. All wonderful things.

The last three years the holidays have sucked serious butt for me. This year I am hanging in there pretty good and staying strong. I had one melt down yesterday and cried, thinking of my father being so sick and dying three years ago, and the way that former friend treated me and going into a major depression as a result two years ago. Last year I was still very upset about the latter, and wanting an apology and some sort of closure. This year has been good so far except for yesterday. But I had a couple of good cries and am feeling a lot better today.

I am so glad Dan took me to Meadow Brook last weekend. And visited my home town. That was good and lifted up my spirits.

Steven is working on a big report on Roman history this week. We are studying the history of the American West, just about done with astronomy, and reading The Odyssey. We will give him a couple of weeks off for the holidays after Friday.

Dan's business is so busy right now that he has Bill helping him full time since he came home. So he has been tired and grouchy, as he has lost touch with hard manual labor while in college.

Dan and the kids are going to California to visit his parents in January. Bill will be flying in and out from Indy; Dan and Steven from Detroit Metro. I am going to have the house to myself. I plan on working on my unfinished NaNoWriMo story those days.

 

 

ay yi yi

Work has been kicking my butt the last couple of nights. Well, the hospital usually is full and stressful right at the holidays...

Hopefully when I have a bit more energy, I can make a better post about Saturday, and catch up with family stuff, too!

rook Hall, Lake Oriona day from my childhood

http://www2.oakland.edu/oakland/ouportal/index.asp?item=3762&site=87

To see some of the things we saw today at Meadow Brook.

We had a wonderful day today. Went up to Rochester and toured Meadow Brook Hall, which was glorious with its Christmas decorations.

After that we drove over to my home town, Lake Orion, and had dinner. The drive was beautiful, passing by Paint Creek, and some of the lakes that stud the Lake Orion area.

Then we headed over to Clarkston before coming home.

It was really nice to see my old stomping grounds from my childhood, particularly with none of the baggage from that rotten childhood. It was great showing the kids how pretty northern Oakland County is, with its hills and streams and numerous lakes. It was great showing them Lake Orion, where I grew up and neighboring Rochester and Clarkston, with no baggage and no pain. Just beautiful places, and a nice place to eat dinner.

Time does heal -and it probably helps that things have changed enough to make them fairly different - but not enough to be completely unrecognizable.

It was a wonderful day. A happy day. One to remember. One filled with beauty.

Tags: Meadow Brook Hall, Lake Orion

star gazing party

Very busy week, both at home and at work. Tonight was the busiest night at work yet - and it looks like it will be a rough few days coming up, as we have some very sick patients right now.

Tonight there is a possibility of the northern lights, so Steven and I have stayed up late and are having a sky watching party in between mugs of hot chocolate. While there is no sign of the northern lights, we have been seeing lots of bright meteors. and I have been able to show him some of the easier to spot constellations like Orion. We are having fun. The weather is freakishly warm for Michigan in December and we are able to go out and be only a bit chilled with sweaters, but no heavy coats. We seem to be having a meteor shower tonight, and that is really cool.

The government is offering its employees dental and vision insurance for the first time this year. This week I signed up for both. Our wonderful dentist, Dr. Slade, passed away last month - tragically so, as he was still a young man. He was a good and compassionate dentist. But we did not go in as often as we should have, because it is expensive going to any dentist if you do not have insurance - much less four of you going in! So now, as soon as we find a new dentist, we will start having regular checkups. And I can get glasses, which I have been putting off for years because of the expense, and Dan can get his eyes checked, as he probably needs reading glasses. So all of this is good!

Bill is coming home tomorrow. It will be great to see the kiddo.

very nice long weekend

I have had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! Since this is the only time I get off this month (other than my usual days off from work), I am very glad that things have gone so well. Yes - that does mean that I work Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and New Year's. That happens sometime when you are a public servant. But we got our holiday schedule for next year, and while I will still be working the two "eves", I get both of the days off. And that will be very sweet and will make up for this year quite nicely.

On Friday Steven and I had a day out. We met Dan for lunch at Panera Bread, and spent most of the afternoon shopping. We got books and music, and I bought most of the gifts for my friends at work (just need to pick up some good beer for the two beer lovers and I will be all set).

On Saturday evening we went out for dinner. We had intended to go to this chocolate lounge (!!!!!!!!) I had heard about in Ann Arbor, but when we got there it was closed and there was a sign up that a Thai restaurant will be moving into that space. That made me cry! But we wandered around downtown Ann Arbor for awhile, and decided to eat in a microbrewery pub we have heard good things about. Steven and I had the macaroni & cheese, and that was very good after wandering around on a cold December evening.

Today the guys went to a wrestling tournament on the other side of Lansing. So I spent a lot of time with the pets, did a lot of laundry, took a bubble bath, and watched four - count them - four - movies, I also got the gifts for my coworkers wrapped up.

Now all I need to do is find my address book, and I can mail gifts to out of town family and friends. I cannot mail holiday cards until I find it, either. On the other hand, if I do not find it by Christmas, people will get nice things and cards for Valentine's Day instead!

I am very glad I had three days to relax. I needed that!

And my son will be home in five days, on Friday!

quiet day

When Steven got up today he wasn't feeling well. My first thought was that perhaps I did not get food poisoning after all, and he had whatever nasty bug I have had since Saturday. But it turned out that he was exhausted and dehydrated from some hard wrestling practices this week. A couple of sports drinks and a large meal and he was feeling a lot better. I, on the other hand, and still having problems.

Someone at work gave this bag of beautful clothes tonight. She got them from her church, and thought of me. The skirts and shirts are lovely, though the tops are a bit lower cut than the ones I usually wear. Dan will like that, though!

Quiet day at home, and I got all of Dan's gifts wrapped and under the tree. Quiet night at work, and someone loaned me a dvd and a video to watch. She likes old movies and the dvd is an old Hepburn movie called Desk Set. She said it is a very cute Christmas movie that initially does not seem like it will be a Christmas movie. The video is a newer movie I have not seen.

Tomorrow we are due for some more snow. Hopefully all will be well.

The picture above is of my parents in their cabin in north central Arkansas at the time of their fiftieth wedding anniversary in December, 1999. They have both passed away since that picture was taken. The dog belonged to my oldest sister, who was also in Arkansas for the celebration. His name was Carlito, and he has also since passed away.

 

first real snow of the winter; life is weird

Tonight we got our first real snow of the year - as in snow that actually sticks to the ground. Only an inch or so; enough to be very pretty and to make the roads a bit slick. I got to use my four wheel drive most of the way home, as the road crews had not cleared the roads very well yet. The Christmas lights are gloriously beautiful in the snow!

The weekend turned out to be weird. Dan took me out to that great restaurant on Friday and he was very sweet and romantic.He told me that he knows how rough the last three Christmases have been on me and that he wants to make this the best Christmas of my life.

Well, on Saturday afternoon I started to feel bad, and ended up as sick as you can get. I was up all night running to the bathroom every twenty minutes or so and my abdomen felt like a boxer had punched me. It was bad. It was really bad. I was still sick on Sunday - heck, I still ran to the bathroom off and on today, even though I made it into work tonight (I did not make it in on Sunday). Lordy, Lordy.

I felt really bad for Dan. He is this very practical and logical businessman - he has to make an effort to be romantic like that. And here I quite likely got food poisoning from that great restaurant. It does not seem to be something community acquired, or we would all three have gotten it. Food poisoning is the best guess at this point of time. Dan got a very light case (two trips to the bathroom) and he had eaten one bite of my food.

YUCK!

The holidays can only go up from here, though, right?

crazy weather and good friends

The weather has been absolutely insane the last few days. Wednesday night it started raining. All day Thursday and Thursday night it poured. We must have gotten 2-3 inches of rain. On Friday it rained and the wind was literally roaring. It sounded like a 747 jet buzzing low overhead. Today was cold, but simply gorgeous, with this glorious blue sky that just compelled you to go outside! Other area of the Midwest/Great Lakes had a horrible ice storm, huge snow dumps, and even some blizzard conditions. Supposedly that stuff came within a two hour drive to the west and northwest - but all we got was heavy rain and wind. And today was a lovely winter day.

Thursday my buddy Jim achieved perfection on his quest for making good pasties. He had tried before, and was never happy with the result. This time he had obtained a family recipe from a Yooper who works in anesthesiology. These babies turned out perfectly. Man, they were as good as any you could find in any pastie shop up in the U.P. He used equal parts of potatoes, onions, meat, and rutabagas, with salt and pepper as the only seasonings, and used premade refrigerated dough. Oh, they were perfect!

Yesterday afternoon, Steven and I listened to the wind roaring, drank hot chocolate, and watched good movies. It was a good afternoon.

And then Dan took me out to dinner at this really good Italian restaurant in Ann Arbor called the Palio. Downtown Ann Arbor was filled with groups of Christmas carollers and with small brass bands playing holiday music. It was a lovely evening, very charming. I loved it. I love the holidays!

When we got home we watched movies and relaxed, and had a peaceful night at home.