During the last couple weeks of the quarter, i posted like a mad genius. Then i seemingly dropped off the face of the planet.
Well, i found my way back, and here’s what I’ve been up to in the interim:
The end of my first week off and the first week of my break were spent, almost entirely, alone, at home, cleaning. Anna and fam were out of town, Briggs was at work, and I had promised myself that I would at least get the house BASICALLY clean before i began loafing, so I cleaned and cooked and did occasional yardwork, like a good little woman, with a couple minor exceptions:
Friday before last we had a second session of game at Becky M’s. I went into town with Briggs and, after getting a long-overdue lady-parts checkup (they are all still there), I mostly wandered around. Actually, I tried to walk from downtown to Bellevue, but once the area i was walking in became super ghetto, I decided that a bus might be a more sensible option. So, I turned around and headed back to town, with a brief stopover at the Humane Society to see the 
kitties and puppies, which lasted until the puppies made me so sad I had to leave. I found a bus downtown that would take me where I wanted to go (very exciting. I’m super bad at buses. and would have expected the word ‘buses’ to have another ‘s’, but spellcheck says no.) and, after getting dropped off about a block from Becky’s house, lounged on the grass with my laptop and an open WiFi connection until close enough to game time that I felt it was okay to drop in. I also discovered that the ‘picnic = ants’ trope is totally true when I left a bag containing a sandwich unattended on the grass for a couple hours.
The next day (Saturday the 19th) Briggs and I went to America’s Best so he could get an exam for contacts and I could get a new follow-up after my less than acceptable previous experience. I was, very specifically, supposed to see an optometrist OTHER than the jerk who had jerked me around before, and this information was supposedly noted on my chart. Well, I guess the other doctor, that I was supposed to see, wasn’t in that day, so the optometrist showed up to look at my eyes and, by golly, if it wasn’t the same guy I had seen before! And by golly if he didn’t brush me off just like before! (After I explained that, wearing my new glasses, i was still getting the same eyestrain headaches I had been getting before, he grudgingly agreed to alter my prescription, warning me that the change would be an ‘over correction, and I will start getting headaches.’) I fumed silently for a few minutes, then waited until he went in back and went to the front desk to complain. The technicians were super nice and helpful and had no problem surreptitiously nabbing my glasses out of his ‘out’ basket and scheduling me a new appointment with someone that absolutely would NOT be him. (He was also the one who examined Briggs, but of course he did just fine there. Briggs spent the rest of the day lording his perfect vision over me.)
We also visited Briggs’ sister’s family and I discovered that her 2-year old children already love coffee.
Other than that, though, the first week and a half was pretty much just cleaning and being alone. Oh, and attempting to 
fracture my kneecap on the walkway stones in our yard.
This week is Briggs vacation, AND the Asplundhs are back in town, so life has been a bit more exciting. At least a bit. Not too much ’cause we are kind of broke, but…heck, we’re used to that.
On Sunday, Briggs and I went on a hike as part of my continuing quest to reach the Allegheny river (I swear…it’s RIGHT THERE! Why can’t I GET THERE?!?!) and got rained on horribly after hiking through disgusting and stifling humidity. And, I am convinced, almost struck by lightening. Then Anna came and got us in her car and fed us ice cream with peaches.
Monday was Lynne’s birthday, and her goal was to have Anna and I do her hair, nails and makeup, and have kind of a girlie time. In the a.m., Anna picked up some hair dye and other girlie stuff, then, in the afternoon, I manicured and painted Lynne’s nails and put purple streaks in her hair, and painted her toenails, and helped her choose an outfit and did her makeup, the result of which was an 11 year old looking far too much on the verge of young adult not to bring a tear to her mom’s eye. Then, Briggs and I went on another quest for the elusive river (on a warmer day with MORE humidity), but there was a train in the way. We climbed over the train, but it was still in the way (just trust me here), so we went down the tracks the other way, and ended up where we had searched the previous day, then had to hike back home. And got rained on horribly. (And Anna was getting cows and unable to come get us this time.)
On Tuesday, I had my eye appointment with not Mr. Jerkface. My new optometrist was a blonde female who looked like she sort of belonged in a hospital drama show, or at least in Gyno or Pedes. She was super nice and did lots of tests (unlike Jerkface) and in the end concluded, ‘Gee, it looks like you need stronger contacts, which is what you have been saying all along! Lets get you some — we don’t have the special ones we want to try you on in, but we can give you the stronger prescription right now and see how the work.’ She even checked to find out if I had back-up glasses with me before taking my new ones away to get re-ground (unlike JF). I wore my new contacts all of yesterday afternoon and all of this afternoon and, aside from one incident with a contact loosing itself in the inside corner of my eye…the difference is incredible. My vision still isn’t perfect…especially for stuff like going on my computer…but it is SO much better than before. The real difference is that I don’t feel the the way I did with the last ones — before, my eyes were straining the whole time I was wearing contacts and by the time i took them off, my eyes were so tired I needed a nap. These, after an extended period, start to get a little scratchy and I take them out, but my eyes are relaxed and comfortable the whole time I’m wearing them. It’s MAGICAL.
Lessee…yesterday evening, we had Lynne’s birthday cake (there was an unavoidable delay) and i held anna’s new 
(super sweet) Dexter cow while Anna milked her.
Today…the weather was gorgeous (it was nice on Tuesday too) and we started the day going creek-walking with Anna and the kids. I got to go in water that wasn’t a shower for the first time in years. The creek was even respectably deep in a few places (waist deep or so) though not much or for long…mostly it was your average, predictable, calf-deep, rocky, treacherous, slippery creek, in which at least three of the children and I managed to maim ourselves slightly. It was totally worth it. (And i think that picture is a picture of the actual creek we walked at…though a less rocky portion.)
After the creek, we came home and hung around…I ate the other half of my breakfast bagel and goofed online, discovered too many interesting blogs, and then Briggs was all, ‘I downloaded the new episode of Futurama.’ and I was 
all, ‘Say WUT?!’, and he was all, nonchalantly, ‘Didn’t you know? Futurama is on again, on Comedy Central. The new episode just came out. Wanna watch it?’ and I was all, ‘HELLS yeah.’ So we did and it was awesome. Then I goofed online again until my brain started melting a little, and watched the first episode of my freshly downloaded Ouran High School Host Club! (Kristin and Heather, if either of you are reading this, you both 
need to watch this…adorable, silly, girly anime in the genre of Fruits Basket and BoF. Dan, if you are reading this and Becky Omega hasn’t watched it, she should too.) It was cute and silly and everything I wanted in a girlie anime. Then I was all, ‘Rei, you have not blogged in EVAR…or at least a couple weeks. All your devoted spammers will be wondering where you are and needing a new blog to post spam on. You can’t disappoint them. Also, you apparently can’t spell disappoint, even though you KNOW how it is spelled.’
And that brings us to here.
And now, I should try to figure out what to feed us for dinner. (I’ve done surprisingly well this week, considering staggering financial limitations, making such things as magical amazing tilapia and pesto chicken…but now I think I’m out of ideas and we may be eating ramen again.)
