monkeybard | Weekend Review

Friday
We got our new washing machine. It's super water- and energy-efficient and I'm all Donna Reed about it. :D

Saturday
Met up with the SIL, her hubby, and their child to walk around the lake. Said child is about two-and-a-half. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate toddler energy? Fortunately a) it was outside so the energy had somewhere to go, and b) she's not my problem. She's a good kid, I suppose, but afraid of nothing and thrilled to go running towards every puppy (I can relate) and baby (I cannot) she sees. Oy. Fucking. Vey. The adventure reaffirmed what I have always known: I am not and should never be a parent.

After a fabu lunch at Agua Verde, I spent most of the day on the sofa reading The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. Nearly done. Should be able to finish it in the next couple of days. Very good so far. Fun!

Got a call from

belfrynotes that he and

ravenzanne had extra tickets to the Storm pre-season game. Even though we'd never been to a Storm game, and even though I'd not been to a professional basketball game since 1977, we declined because we already had plans. We later discovered that said plans actually took place the weekned before. D'oh! Fortunately the tickets were still available because, DUDE!, how cool was it?! Ravenzanne and I watched the first half of the game from the court. Yes, I said from the court. Two of the tix they had belonged to a friend of hers who has a season ticket priority rating in the single digits, so his seats are in the front row. Cushy seats they were, too. ;D At half-time, we swapped with Belfrynotes and NordicBoy up in the 14th row. Still great seats, but far enough away that it was really a very different game, if you know what I mean. Now, if courtside seats and the fact that we won the game weren't cool enough... As we were swapping, I heard my name shouted from several more rows up. It turned out to be my good friend Mela from college whom I've not seen in years. She, by an even more convoulted set of circumstances, had tickets from a friend of a friend that just happened to be in the same section as both sets of tix we were using. OMFG, no? And also totally awesome!

Sunday
NordicBoy and I walked up to the nearest bakery/cafe for lattes and scones only to discover that their bakery case was wiped out by Mother's Day brunchers. So we simply extended out walk to the store. Just as we were headed back, the mist turned to rain, for which we were not appropriately dressed. We sheltered in a bus stop and ate our scones there. It was a nice little picnic. ;)

Got a call from Sanafi saying that for her first Mother's Day Technocrat gave her the gift of The Day Off. He also gave her a gorgeous bracelet, but that's just bling. She and I spent about 3.5-4 hours shopping for new clothes for her so she wouldn't feel "like a schlub." We had great success and found some really cool stuff before she needed to go of to the manicure/facial appt. her man had made for her at Gene Juarez. He's a good guy, that Technocrat. He's also no fool. ;)

Made a super yummy dinner of potstickers (frozen, not from scratch) and Rama Chicken (from scratch) and watch Cranford in HD on PBS. It was filmin in Lacock when we were there, so I've been waiting a year to see the final results. It's really good! Some tear-jerk scenes and some scenes that made me laugh out loud. Really very enjoyable.

Tonight I'm totally looking forward to the premier of the new season of American Gladiators! I've figured out that "Rocket" (Evan, who won last season) has replaced "Mayhem". Jet (Monica, who won last season) is one of two new female gladiators. The other is Phoenix. I figured out that "Fury" is gone, but I cannot remember the name of the African-American woman who is also gone. Despite the fact that it's entirely unimportant in the grand scheme of anything, it's bugging the crap outta me that I can't think of it. Ah well. I expect I'll live. ;)