Adventure Day #28: Forgetfulness, Cleanliness, & Spontaneity

 

Yesterday was not intended to be Adventure Day.  But I woke up to a voicemail from Fish that told me it was to be Adventure Day.  Just cuz.  So...I made it so.  And it was COLD!  Fuzzy socks were a must.  Changing from PJ shorts to PJ pants was a must.  Busting out the long full-length robe was a must.  It felt like low forties outside for temps!  And it WAS low forties outside!  I thought that I lived in Texas where it doesn't get cold.  Update:  I do live in Texas.  But it still gets cold!

 

But yeah, having a seemingly wide-open day before me, I decided a lil spontaneity would be a good twist for my week to get started with...until I looked at the clock.  Egad, it was 11:30am!  Still hell-bent on making an Adventure Day of my Sunday, I hopped out of bed and...well, I guess THEN I put all of the layers on that I described above (woo for saying things out of order!).  I had quite a bit to get accomplished for the day, and I had already felt like I slept through half of it!  (Although to be honest, I hadn't gone to bed until 4am the previous 'night,' so I was pretty justified in my wake-up time).

 

Before I even touched the breakfast foods upon entering the kitchen, my heart rose a lil bit.  Why, you ask?  Because of the sight before me, perched on the kitchen counter, taunting me.  Yesterday I bought the above kitchen appliances for a total of TWELVE DOLLARS!  Yes, TWELVE DOLLARS!  Thanks to the lovely HEB coupons I saw advertised (it does pay off to read those ads in the mail!), I got a low-quality hand blender AND a low-quality food processor for a mere TWELVE DOLLARS!  That was a bargain that I couldn't pass up, and I hadn't had the chance to put them away the night before...so there they were left, sitting on the kitchen counter to be used (...or put away, I suppose...)

But don't worry, I DID eventually avert my gaze and get myself some breakfast grub.  (Although I couldn't bring myself to do anything with the unopened boxes quite yet.) 

I cozied down in the dining room with my cocoa-cinnamon-oatmeal smoothie and my cup of hazelnut truffle tea and read a bit of Blink, this month's book club book.  I seem to be either very easily distracted or else I'm a much slower reader than I used to be when I was younger because every book I try to read these days takes me a LONG time to finish (or make any progress in).  I guess I also tend to multi-task when reading anything, too, so that might be a considerable factor.

 

Oh hey--look at the awesome view I have from the dining room table!  Outside on the patio is Herbert Hubert (aka Herb Hub), who chills out there and the shining sun was beaming down, too.  A good morning brunch if I do say so myself!

And then I decided it was in the PM already, and I should get dressed for the day.  Seemed like a good idea considering I had to go pick up my van from its resting place the night before and then host a dinner party that evening (more on both of those later).  But it sure was hard deciding what to wear on this Sunday!  Coolness in the air but a guaranteed Texas sun to make an appearance...I felt that the outfit was adequate enough in the end.

 

Ya know how 'cleanliness' is mentioned in the post title?  (Definitely there for a reason).  I spent a good 1.5+ hours sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, and scrubbing down the kitchen.  Felt SO good to have a clean apartment!  (Look at those clean floors!)

Oh, and then there was the van-retrieval...  Yeah, the night before figuring out the bus system back to the orginal starting point where I parked my van was pretty much a fail at 2am...so I took the bus straight back to my apartment instead.  Which meant that Sunday had to involve me getting my van, and Brooks was kind enough to drive myself, Geoff, and George all the way North to get the vehicles.  (Morning drive of shame?  Tehe, something like that.)  I programmed the GPS to take me back South again to my apartment and didn't think about the lovely traffic that we passed on our way out...that was lovely.  Ah well, all part of the Adventure, right?!

 

I GOT MAIL!  Yup, I checked the good ol mailbox slot when I returned home and there was a slim lil package in there waiting for me!  I had ordered a certain Christmas present for someone...but I can't say who!  (I'm thinking ahead on these things--I'm excited for the holidays this year already!)

 

I really truly am skipping around in the re-telling of this Adventure Day...  Ok, so I guess I vacuumed AFTER I got my van.  Whatever, it was a big part of my day, haha.  I typically HATE vacuuming, but I have this nifty lil mini-vac that is just my size and makes it not as much as a chore as a typical vacuum.  (And there really isn't all THAT much space for me to vacuum in the first place...I mean, I live in an apartment!)

It then came to be time to prep for the dinner party!  (Rush-rush-rush!)  And the only way I cook these days is with the laptop on the kitchen counter, Spotify playing some cooking jams, and a recipe pulled up in the background so that I don't mess up the meal.  Tonight's jams were Bruno Mars and Hot Chelle Rae.  Tonight's menu:  Four-color Stir Fry and focaccia.

 

^^^

And there it is!  Stir-fry leftovers!  And that isn't even all of it!  I was generous and shared with Matt and Alissa, too.  (I have lots of food and should really learn to share more, haha).

 

And what did I do after the dinner guests left?!  I baked of course!  HAD to use the new hand mixer!  And I needed myself some dessert!  So--time to make some chocolate chip banana bread!

Trivia question:  What is Ali's favorite part of baking?  (Hint:  Look at the pic to the right!)  Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love to bake...and I LOVE to 'clean' the beaters/mixing spoon/bowl when I'm done!  But shhh!  There may or may not have been raw egg in that batter...  (I've got to be immune at this point!)

But the rest of my Adventure Day is absent of pictures.  I am saddest to say that the 'forgetfulness' reference in the title is because I didn't wear the Adventure Shoes at all.  They weren't even incorporated in my day ever.  So sad.  I shall try harder next week.  But hey, I hope you enjoyed my fun-filled Sunday.  And I hope even more that you stick around and pop in again for next week's Adventure!

 

 

 

 

Adventure #27: Not a Day But Worth Sharing All the Same

I have no pictures to post here.  Just a tidbit to say that yes, yesterday was Adventure Day.  I wore the shoes all day.  I intended to distract myself by capturing my day and not thinking about dropping Fish off at the airport that morning.  I failed.  Not necessarily a bad thing--I think I would have been overwhelmed with taking pictures, catching up on work, and being preoccupied with my emotions.  However, trust that the shoes were worn and experienced my down times right there with me.  My friends and co-workers helped to cheer me up.  Fish texted me when he could, left me a voicemail, and Skyped me that night.  But it was hard.  And if you'd like a more uplifting account of my past few days/week, check out my Facebook album.  It is full of photos from my extended weekend here in Austin with Fish.  Maybe it will help you realize why it was so hard dropping him off and parting our ways for quite a few weeks.  Ah well, it'll go by fast, and I do know that we are lucky to be able to communicate as often as we do with the technology available to us.  I'm also lucky to have such an awesome position with nonprofit work at College Forward.  Here I go, head first into the work and passion that I enjoy with college students.  It's why I'm here.  I'm making it worth it.  And I'm meeting inspiring people who confirm that the worth is in more than one area of my experience.

 

Week 27 is done.  Week 28 will be more photo-filled, entertaining, and uplifting.  Until then...

Adventure #26: An Absence of 'Happy,' An Abundance of Anticipation

Adventure Day is a Thursday again.  A day of extreme waiting, anticipation, excitement.  In reviewing the pics, not a lot of smiles though.  However, at this point, I'm more than giddy with excitement, since the writing of this entry is occuring only hours before I'm to pick Fish up from the airport.  He's in the air right now.  Flying to see ME all the way from Michigan!  AND it's Friday!  AND I don't have any responsibilities (Americorps-related) until TUESDAY!  (Whoa--the exclamation marks and caps kind of took over for a minute.)  But yeah, to the left is my disgruntled wake-up state of my room:  a mess of a bed and a laundry basked of clothes to take care of (freshly laundered the night before).  And for the record, the left-most laundry basket has a permanent state of existence at the foot of my bed.  Tis the 'jackets/coats storage space.'  Don't judge.

Wow did I have a lot of stuff to carry into work yesterday!  Yup, I managed to haul ALL of that to the apartment from the day before (campus visit day was Wednesday, and I drove, which means I got the STUFF).  It was...an interesting transport process, haha.

 

The immediate plan for my morning was to eat breakfast.  I was hungrier than usual (I played the 'am I hungry right before bed?' game the night before and opted for 'not.')  So breakfast was prepped, and right as I sat down to begin nomming the foods--my phone!  It rang, and I knew exactly who it would be!  See, Fish had promised a call because I had a very important (and very expected) question to ask him.  We had been counting down to him arriving in Austin by counting how many 'sleeps' remained until he'd be here.  And with that call I shortly got around to ask him:  "Fish, how many more sleeps?"  The answer?  "One."  Actually, he refused to answer it that way at first.  He phrased it:  "Let's just say that I'll be there tomorrow."  Phrasing is everything.  And I was VERY pleased with the way that sounded on my bright and early Thursday!

BUT...it was off to being productive for me, since I had until 10:20 to do stuff before I had to depart with my carpool to the CoFo office.  Next order of business:  Get dressed! 

When uploading the pics for today's blog post, I realized how sad I look in a lot of my pictures.  It's either that I was especially wanting my Fish to be here finally...or I was frustrated with trying to get an 'ok' picture and merely wasn't thinking about smiling.  (A better camera in my future would be AWESOME!  Earlier in the week I actually was Facebook chatting one of my collegians who is in a photography class, and she was giving me all kinds of pointers in buying a new camera--exciting stuff!)

 

So are ya curious what kept me so busy prior to work?  Prepping for Fish's arrival, of course!  I wanted minimal laundry to deal with while he's here, so I had washed/dried the night before--and that means folding for the morning!  The mass of clothes to the left had covered my dressers by the time I was done.  Pretty impressive (or at least I thought so). 

And then it was 'hurry-rush-around-like-a-crazy-person' time because I get so caught up in what I'm doing that I underestimate the amount of time I need to actually be ready to get out the door.  I had painted my nails RIGHT before leaving, too, so this added a bit of pressure to the departure activities.

But hey--look--I made it!  That's my feet enclosed safe and sound by the infamous Adventure shoes.  It was an interesting excursion getting myself down three flights of windimg stairs to actually get myself IN Luigi's car, but I managed (go me!).  I actually had to throw stuff in his trunk!  (...struggle...)  Ah well, we can just say that I was feeling pretty relieved by the time I actually wedged myself into the backseat.  It was go time!

Remember when I said that I frantically painted my nails?  Well it was true and above is the proof.  During the beginning part of the car ride I spent my time trying to get a picture of the crappy job I did on my nails.  And then I realized that my camera sucks, so you can't even see the details of the paint.  Then I changed my goal and tried to get a pic of my nails looking good.  (Haha, must be one or the other.)

 

So one thing among all of that STUFF that I had to bring to work was leftover muffins that I had baked from the campus visit the day before.  I decided that I would be generous and share them with the office friends (first come, first serve of course!).  My method was to pretty much just hand them out as I saw people pass by me or give them away if people asked.  The last two muffins (they were all pumpkin chocolate chip by the way) were sitting next to me on a shelf by my desk for actually quite a long time!  No worries though, by the end of the day I got hungry enough to eat one, and Matt was treated to the final one.

But you know what was SO AWESOME about returning to my desk after having been gone for a day?  I had MAIL sitting there waiting for me!  Yup, two Completion Agreements (contracts for collegians to sign stating that they agree to be in the College Forward program) and some YWCA brochures that I had requested the week prior.  Mail is awesome always, and it just goes to show that 'a watch pot doesn't boil.'  (I had been waiting for these Completion Agreements for awhile!)

With my day trucking along, I found myself extra-busy with playing catch-up to complete student contacts from the day prior, following up with students, and contacting students.  What kept me going?  The playlist that Fish had mailed me a few weeks earlier.  I usually keep it at work, and today was one of the days where I allowed myself to listen to the cd in its entirety.  (Oh hey--do you like my background?  I miss my pup Duncan soooo much!)

 

So here's a little office story for you:  me bringing PUMPKIN chocolate chip muffins meant that fellow Completion Coach Trevor HAD to have one.  (He had previously claimed that he hates all things pumpkin.  I had accepted the challenge to change that.)  The problem:  he wasn't at work!  For the whole work day!  I found out that he had his own campus visit that day at Concordia University, so I simply put his muffin on his desk.  The next problem:  Matt and Chee-Ia were eyeing his muffin!  Eventually, Matt came clean and delivered me the poor muffin, saving it from their ogling eyes and salivating mouths.  I gladly took little muffin and put him in a cleaned-out container from the CoFo kitchen to keep him safe (and fresh!) until Trevor could eat it.  (See my cute note above, too!)  The final problem:  I won't be there to witness Trevor trying the muffin!  I must know that this happened and that hungry little gremlins (ahem...Chee-Ia/Matt...) hadn't been allowed to eat it!  We'll see, I guess...although I did get a victory with Brooks eating a muffin and actually enjoying it!  (He was another one on the 'I-Hate-Pumpkin' train.  What a sad, sad train to be on.)

 

The above is a random piece of paper that I decided I would share.  Haha, just kidding, I saw some significance in it, so THAT'S why I decided to share (duh).  The YWCA brochures mailed to me were accompanied by a letter.  (Yup, I finally got around to opening the mail at some point.)  What appeared to be a simple form letter at first turned out to be a personalized letter from the woman who I'm guessing I had spoken with over the phone the week before.  Hopefully you can read the words ending the letter clearly enough.  Nothing groundbreaking, but I totally appreciate little things like that--brightened my day, and I decided I'd save it and tape it to the side of the cube shelves next to my desk.  A good little bit of motivation to read every now and then.

 

It had been a long day of work (however brief I may have made it seem).  A long day, yes, but it still went by pretty quickly, and I was kept busy throughout the whole day--just the way I like it.  I did have an unfortunate ending to the work day because nothing seemed to be going right:  I deleted student files that I had to go back and re-download, I had to re-start my computer because it was giving me attitude, I knocked over my water bottle and it got dangerously close to spilling all over my computer, AND I retrieved filing cabinet keys in mangers' office to then unlock cabinet in back room to then discover student doesn't have a file to then go to copy room to make a file to then put file in back room in filing cabinet to then realize that keys aren't in my pocket...and I had to then go back to retrace my steps (all the way back to the copy room) to then find them on the work table to then go back to the back room to lock the filing cabinet and return those keys to the managers' office.  Whew!  Longest.  Sentence.  Ever.  (Followed by four of the shortest sentences ever.  Because I can do that in my blog.)



 

 

Blurry picture?!  Yes and no.  Kind of purposefully blurry.  It was taken from the backseat of Luigi's car (I seem to occupy myself during carpool-time by taking pictures.  I'm so weird.)  I was especially intrigued by the sky and how dark it was already at only 7:15PM.  If you look carefully in the above pic, you can see that we are about entering the bridge that we drove over on the way home every day.  It's just a little bridge, but it can be tricky going from the left lane to the right lane on such a narrow, busy bridge.  (Our next turn is to the right, and it's immediately after we get off the bridge.  No worries, I've learned how to maneuver the bridge when I drive the carpool buddies home.)

 

Hey look--it's that darkening sky again!  A sunset in the distance.  And I swear that off camera it looked even darker and more contrastive.  Just take my word for it.

Did I mention that I was EXCITED at the end of this work day?  Don't get me wrong, I love working at CoFo (...or is it volunteering?...  Eh, whatever!).  It's just that four days IN A ROW off work is something to look forward to!  It had been awhile since we've had a work vacation/break, and I was ready to face my four-day weekend head on!  (Pretty sure I heard some jealousy in others' voices as I said my good-byes, though.  Oh well, we're all guaranteed ten days off throughout our term of service--and two of mine had arrived!)  Part of my excitement was my determination to keep myself busy until 11AM the next morning when I get to pick up Fish.  Part of that plan was to go to yoga at 8:30 that night...which didn't really go as planned.  There was a special event at a partnering yoga studio, but I'd never been there before...and my GPS doesn't do any kind of updates, so it couldn't locate the studio.  Turns out the class was super-full, so my friend/co-worker Stephanie just met me at our usual studio, and we went to the 8:45PM 'sweaty candlit yoga' class.  My thoughts:  the instructor was too drill-seargent-y.  (That is now a word by the way.  Anything can become a word if you hyphenate it.)  It was the most intense yoga class of my life (the sweating really plays a key role) and possibly one of the most intense workouts I've ever done.  I definitely prefer the more calming flow style that I'd been going to on Saturday afternoons during other weeks, but I guess it was nice to do something really active after a day of sitting at my desk for eight hours.   I just really really REALLY needed to shower after class AND clean my yoga mats really well.  (I use two for the extra padding.)  Oh, and if you don't know how to clean a yoga mat, you should ask me some time.  I wouldn't want you to ruin yours...or be stuck with a stinky mat!

 

The pic to the left is super out of order (I kinda rambled after posting the previous pic and got ahead of myself and am too lazy to mess with layout and move it).  I just thought it would be a good idea to capture the second half of my dinner, which was eaten furiously in my rush to get to yoga on time.  Since buying food for myself, I hadn't had any veggie burgers, but with the rush of dinner, I only had time to microwave one quick (with some yummy bbq sauce on the side).  Pretty sure my steamed broccoli took up the majority of my dinner time, but whatever, it was tasty.

So yeah, yoga was tiring, and I got showered/ready to relax pretty quickly after returning home.  But I was HUNGRY again already!  My usual nightly apple/tea combo was eaten AND I had a treat!  Ever had refrigerated oatmeal?  It's so good!  You prep it hours before, let it sit in the fridge, then give it a stir/shake and enjoy!  The sitting-in-the-fridge process soaks the oats until they are soft and yummy.  And the best way to make it is as I do--by stirring everything up in an empty-but-not-clean peanut butter or Nutella jar.  That night it was Nutella.  Unfortunately I had done quite a job of eating every bit of Nutella before making the oatmeal concoction, so there wasn't much Nutella flavoring left for the oatmeal.  Ah well, that's what the brown sugar/chocolate chips/Greek yogurt/milk is for!

I kind of felt bad because everything after work took sooo long, and I had every intent of Skyping Fish ONE LAST TIME before he'd be here!  I did get to Skype him for awhile, but he'd been waiting around for me, I think, and he had to wake up at four or five in the morning to leave for his flight.  It was a good Skype chat though and got me excited to finally see his face in person after not having seen him since JULY!  (That realization--the length of time we'd gone without seeing each other--fully hit me yesterday.  I guess it's a good thing it hit me so soon to him coming here because it made me really miss him more.)  But that was my Adventure Day.  I really wasn't all that tired, believe it or not, after Fish got off Skype and headed to bed.  I did a few things around my room as far as tidying up a bit, but managed to get in bed and fall asleep at some point.  Week 26 has come and gone...and soon to be an exciting Week 27 to be shared with all.  Happy Weekend, dear readers!

 

 

Adventure #25: Adventuring Through a Thursday

 

The overhead light in my bedroom is too bright.  And if you disagree, then consider it a conditionally 'too bright' of a light.  It is 'too bright' when I wake up in the morning, and it is still dark outside.  Especially when I accidentally set my Monday/Wednesday/Friday alarm for a Thursday.  For shame!  Yep, went back to bed after THAT wake-up.

 

Eventually, it was finally time to get out of bed...and time to MAKE my bed.  Yes, I still make my bed.  Typically not so neatly as this, but this quilt in particular looks best when the bed is made and smoothed out and in order (yes, I get a bit obsessive-compulsive with this quilt, haha).  For some reason making my bed each morning is just enough physical activity and mental effort to get me going each morning.

 

So I got going (finally...I mean, this WAS attempt number two, after all).  My dresser looked a bit chaotic, but it had been a chaotic week.  And the chaos of Adventure Day had barely even begun!  Time for Ali P. to Carpe Diem!

 

But wait!  there are two particularly interesting items perched on my dresser on this Thursday morning...  To the left is my harmonica!  Ah yes, the precious instrument of which I can poorly play when provided playing instructions right in front of me--and for familiar songs only.  And what about the picture to the right?  EARRINGS!  Basically my favorite piece of jewelry.  Much time and deliberation occurs each day as I ready myself with the accessories I deem most necessary...and most matching my outfit.

And what's this?!  NOT the Adventure Shoes?!  I must admit that I was VERY close to not wearing the Adventure Shoes on this Adventure Day.  The brown heels were calling, as was the brown-toned outfit I was wearing and the thought of people asking me (as usual...) 'Why are you so dressed up?".  But I fought those thoughts and made a last-minute decision to...wait, I can't spoil the surprise!

BREAKFAST TIME!!!  Hmmm...what can I possibly make with the above ingredients?  How about PB&J oatmeal?!  Ok!



This is peanutbutter.  It just looks so gooey and good in the jar!

 

End result is the oatmeal to the left!  Why is it 'PB & J oatmeal,' you ask?  It's my own naming convention, actually.  Mostly because the peanutbuttery goodness plus the raisins and the creamy milk makes it taste like a hot mushed up PB & J.  You know you want to try it... and you should!

But as you can see, I'm STILL reading the Poisonwood Bible.  Considering my slow, sporadic reading pace,  I actually haven't done too horribly at getting through it, but I won't be finished by the 'discussion deadline.'  (Yes, I like single quotes in this post.  Whatever.)  The only good thing about me not finishing on time is the fact that I can't make it to the group discussion anyway.  I guess that goes with the territory of us not having picked out a discussion date until everyone was almost done reading the book (and had already made plans...)  Ah well, there will be plenty more months with plenty more books.  And I WILL finish this book!  (Especially by the time it's due back at the library!) 

 

The storyline of the book is told in different perspectives by each of the female characters.  My favorite is Adah (One of her chapters is highlighted in the picture above.)  She keeps me plugging away and reading through the book.

 

 

The good thing about it being Tuesday was that I had plenty of time to get ready and somewhat relax before I head out to work.  I spend a lot of my time at the computer (fortunately or unfortunately), and I decided to open the vertical blinds to my window on this special occastion.  Interesting view of the parking lot, as you see.  (It looks weird because it's a picture taken through a screen.)

 

 

Eventually, it was go time!  Go time for work!  Time to throw the Adventure Shoes on my feet and scoot out the door to meet my carpool for the day.

 

 Wait--WHAT?  RAIN?!  NOT OK.  But as you can see, I got to wait for my ride under a carport.  So I survived.  Without much misery or complaining.  (And though you can't tell by this photo, the rain was coming down HARD!  Pretty insane stuff for the short amount of time it lasted).

 

Ok, so it's been established by this point that I hate rain.  But the day was still ok.  Besides, the lil chicks on my paper lunch sack are adorable!  (I even got a compliment on it!)  Too bad paper lunch sacks aren't waterproof...it may have suffered a little water damage walking to the car... 

 

Hey, you know what was cool to see when coming into the office right away?  Jaclyn (one of my fellow Texas State Completion Coaches) had her birthday on Adventure Day and got this giant Edible Arrangements birthday bouquet from her mom.  I guess she doesn't like cake, so Edible Arrangements are what she prefers.  They are so impressive looking, and the 'cake' at the bottom looks delicious!  Unfortunately Miz Jaclyn couldn't fit it in the fridge, so she kept it out on her desk (a beautiful sight to see, though!) and ended up leaving halfway through the day anyway, so all was good.

So what was I up to when I actually got to work?  I remember trying to lock down some cool prizes for the winners of the last campus visit contest.  We had talked with each of the program managers about giving them CoFo mugs...and Adventure Day was the perfect day for them to actually be tracked down!  Mugs/prizes reserved!  Yay!

 



 

I guess below looks like real work, too--and I'd definitely have to say that it is!  Making student contacts!  On the agenda for Adventure Day work days and EVERY work day!  Gotta stay in touch with those collegians and help them every way I can!

 

 

On Adventure Day, my Secret Pal struck!  He/she made his/her firsst 'appearance' by having someone else drop off a Triscuit box with an interesting letter/note of sorts and a giant bag of chips.  I was very unsure of this bag of chips...  Stay tuned to see what happens to them!

 

And at some point, my stomach rumbled and it was lunchtime.  Does the below salad look good?  It tasted good!  It was actually leftover from the Team ABC potluck that was held Monday night.  I should really getting around to posting this pic and a caption/recipe to my Foodie Files Facebook photo album...



 

Ooo...yum!  Look below!  More lunch!  I had whipped up an egg with sun-dried tomatoes, blue cheese, greek yogurt, and chives/seasonings.  Was pretty delicious!

 

 

Wow, and the shapes picture looks really weird and distorted--I swear it didn't look that way earlier.  What it actually is, is a great pun that was in the weekly email I sent out to my students.  And that is probably why the picture is distorted--because I took a picture of a computer screen (genius, I know).

 

 

Hey.  Random tidbit about my office space:  The temperature fluctuates.  Often.  So I use my SALP retreat blanket sporadically/often as I feel necessary.  I 've even loaned it out before.  Because it's necessary.  And soft.  And one of the best blankets ever!

 

 

With a little over two hours left in my workday and me in the midst of contacting students via text (which I do on my personal cell), I came to the realization that my phone had only ONE BAR LEFT!  *gasp*

 

But do you want the good news?  It didn't end up dying at all that day.  (Thank you cell battery, for holding out til the end!)

 

 

Hey, remember those chips that I referenced earlier?  Well, I promised that they'd return--and boy did they!  I don't typically eat chips (for whatever reason), but....I ate the WHOLE bag!  There were at least four servings in that bag of chips!  And this is after my lunch and my afternoon snack!  (But one must remember that I work until 7pm on Tuesdays/Thursdays, so hunger hit about 5pm).

 

Eventually, I did make it home via carpool and went to have fun-times at the Drex-fest house.  Chatted a bit, laughed a bit, you know.  Home-time was pretty late for my weeknight standards, but I didn't care.  I Skyped Fish anyway and ate food (because I was hungry again....obviously).

 

 

But by the time everything was said and done, I was TIRED.  Do I look like I was tired?  Because I was.  Fish says he can tell when I am.  Hmmm...  Well, I definitely had a good sleep last night and was rested enough to tackle my Friday.  Fridays really are holidays.  Believe it.