March 4

Friday – I often think my office is so messy because I am so busy but I honestly can’t stand the thought of going on vacation and leaving it like this because I really can’t stand the thought of coming back to such a mess. So my goal between now and then is to whittle away at this mess and get all the paper sorted, and then organized, filed and/or tossed. Let’s see how that goes.

I'm ashamed to say this is my messy desk. And even though it's not working real well for me; will I do something about it.

It was a cold and rainy and very dreary day. I picked up take out at Imperial Palace after work and it was just OK. I hadn’t gone there for quite awhile and I remember it being better than it was tonight. Oh well, if not good, at least we got a lot of just so-so food.

Worked on my paper to finalize and hit submit – it’s probably my least favorite topic of the whole semester and I’ve got the A so I’m a little apathetic about the effort. I considered (just for a second or two) not doing it at all but couldn’t be that lazy or disrespectful of the class.

March 3

Thursday -Another surprise when I came home – a package for me. I opened it up and a very slick looking wrapped package in orange and blue from Eric. Inside – a very cool and stylish Kindle cover. Now I won’t have to worry when I take it along to San Francisco. Love it – thanks Eric!

Why it's wrapped in U of I colors!

My very cool Kindle cover - love it, love it, love it!

March 2

Wednesday – Going into work in the morning I looked up and saw this – and happened to have a camera for a quick photo. Another busy day at work again, although the details (now 5 days later) are lost. I did go to Zumba after work and went home to a yummy supper of waffles and eggs. Working on my last paper for Art History but struggling a bit. Is it burnout or is it that the difference between Modernism and Post-Modernism is just not that clear to me. Maybe a little of both!

Looking up on the way into work.

March 1

Tuesday – Another busy day at work, another night of bringing work home but I did make good progress on a large brochure project that has been getting shoved to the back burner. It was down to “do or die” time.

The appointments continue as I had an eye check-up after work. I’ve been taking my glasses off to use the computer at work because I couldn’t do the awkward head tilt to get the glasses at the correct position for eight hours a day without serious neck pain at the end of the day. I picked out some new frames for all the time use, and ordered single vision lenses to put in my old frames for computer use.

What I want is prescription sunglasses which I may treat myself too sometime soon. I’ve wanted them for about 3 years now. So I will just economize for awhile (no more shopping weekends) and save up some money and order them.

The good news was that I won a massage from Chiroworks for my excellent estimating skills. I’ll be using that sometime soon!

I'm a winner! And the heavy breathing massage thearapist is gone!

February 28

Monday – How can February be over already? It was brutal at times weather-wise but still it seems to have flown by. Down to 18 days until San Francisco trip; I’m getting excited!

I had a dentist appointment in the a.m. Clean, shiny and cavity-free teeth are such a joy! Really busy at work and when I got into work I had two urgent work projects and one urgent Leslie request for financial info. A little stressful start to the day. It seemed like the day was constant interruptions so I brought some work home in an effort to catch up or at least  try and maintain. It helped a little.

Paul’s been hungry for jambalaya so I made it for dinner but used hotter than normal sausage. He said it cleared out his sinuses (good) but also was going to require Tums (not so good). Guess I better stick to the regular the next time. We have lots of leftovers so I may be eating it every day for a week unless he decides he can handle it.

Ending February with spicy jambalaya. um, um, good!

February 27

Sunday – Got up early enough to take one more review of my paper and fix the things that turned up on Turn It In. We went to Sue’s for dinner for a February birthday celebration. I made lasagna and took that out. Lots of good food and a good time had by all. Jamie was excited about her DS game, and hopefully excited about the book once she got her fill of the new game.

Happy 9th Birthday Jamie!

With a little help from Justin

And the DS game was quite a hit

We were home by late afternoon, and I was trying to get online and had some computer issues with the router. I called the help line and after 15 frustrating minutes of help the problem was not resolved but a while later it did start working again. I get very nervous when the help desk is telling me to make changes to the settings on my computer. I guess I don’t trust the unknown voice on the line to help me undo, undo, undo, if the need arises.

It was OSCAR NIGHT. I tried to talk Sue into coming in to watch them at my house, but she was too smart to fall for that and the reality of having to go out in the cold at 10:30 to go home. It was a pretty predictable outcome and in fact one of my 5 ballots at the Lindo had all the correct answers so I hope to hear from them that I won a pair of free tickets, if not free tickets for a whole year. Sue also thought she was a winner – I think there is probably a glut of them.

Feburary 26

Saturday – We were all up pretty early although I was up the earliest and worked on my paper while Kathy and Leslie slept in. After a quick breakfast, we decided to jump in the hot tub for awhile to warm up. The only bad thing was getting in the cold elevator when returning to the room. After checking out, we did a little more shopping and then did a mad dash through Meijers for a few necessities. We thought about going to Ko Fusion downtown for sushi, but Leslie didn’t really know where it was, so instead we went to a new restaurant in front of Meijers called Oishi. Guess we all just liked saying the name. (Update: found out from co-worker who spent a year in Japan, that Oishi means “delicious”).

Lunch was very good and super affordable so we plan to go back. Sad to say, then it was time to take Leslie back to her apartment and hit the happy trail towards home. All was good in the beginning as I was driving north and tuning into the blues on the radio. About 40 miles south of Rockford the mist turned icy and I slowed down. Leslie would have been doing a lot of counting if she had been along to see how many cars were passing me. Anyway, slow and steady didn’t win the race but it got me home safely, so I was happy about that. And happy to be home.

Lunch time

February 25

Friday – Yes – the question was finally answered – I was able to head to Champaign to see Leslie today. The forecast for 1-3 inches of snow didn’t happen in northwest Illinois, and by the time I left Freeport at 11, the roads were good in the middle of the state where it did happen. Made it to Champaign around 3 p.m., and met up with Kathy at Kohls where we did some shopping. I picked up a fabulous new scarf with my Kohls bucks, and then a few more things too – a pair of jeans for San Francisco, a t-shirt to go with the scarf, and a bracelet. I blame Kathy for sucking me into the jewelry area.

After shopping, we checked into the hotel, and then went to pick up Leslie from work. I am not meant to drive in areas of dense foot and vehicular traffic as I am a little dense myself when it comes to driving. Kathy and Leslie were willing to offer up front- and back-seat advice and reviews of my abilities.

Anyway we went back to the hotel and had “unhappy” hour. It was happy because we had lots of snacky foods: cheese and sausage, foccacia bread, fruit, crackers, and unhappy because we had “Middle Sister” wine and no wine opener. I thought of it, but then I though Kathy’s bringing the wine, for sure she’ll bring the wine opener!

We decided to go see the movie UnKnown (what is it Leslie) at 7 and go to dinner later. We had just enough time for a side trip to Goodwill (score 2 wine glasses for Leslie, a feather hat (which started to molt on the way home), and a green jacket for me. Then a quick stop at the Dollar Tree for a wine opener and off to the show. My fears of a crowded theater were totally ungrounded. The movie was good, certainly an ending that none of us saw coming in any way, shape or form. I think Kathy liked it the most, but Leslie liked it too. The unexpected ending made it better, but anytime bad guys are involved there is always assorted maiming and torturing and death, and those who know me, know how I feel about that. After the movie we went to Borders until they closed at 10. We had decided to ditch the idea of dinner and instead just have dessert as no one was super hungry. So we stopped at Meiers and bought treats from the bakery area. They were absolute just OK – not fabulous but satisfied our sweet tooth. And yes, we did eventually open the wine and watch late night TV.

Chilling in the hotel.

February 24

Thursday – I’m writing this on Sunday, and even though it was only three days ago I don’t think Thursday was very memorable – because I have no details of the day. I know I went to work, and when I opened my drawer I thought – I love pencil top erasers and had my point and shoot camera along so Voila!

February Love - pencil top erasers!

Other than that – I am almost certain that I worked on my paper most of the night but I’m struggling with the presidential years. Most likely I need to find some additional information from another website in order to get new inspiration. Yeah, that must be it!

February 23

Wednesday – Hump day. Weather was better, driving was fine in the morning. Busy at work and skipped health club at noon, but went to Zumba after work. Trying to make it through the readings for Art History today – still 20 pages to go. Trying to get through a class in 8 weeks gets a bit tedious after awhile, even if you like the subject. I don’t know how college kids do 4,5-or 6 classes at a time and keep up. So much reading puts me to sleep. Paul did a good job with supper – brats on the grill were done perfectly and tasty, tasty fried potatoes were a very delicious meal. Worked on my Grant paper in the evening. Kinda slow going tonight. I need to get through the Presidential years and write about the portrait and I am already on page 7 of a paper that only needs to be 4-5 pages. I should have picked a less noteworthy president. But I am learning a lot about Grant and it makes me want to visit his home in Galena again.

From last night the question is: who drank all this? Makes you wonder which sister is leading the other astray.