Status

1. Conference paper is now at 19 pages. I still need to transcribe interviews (ugh) and sort through notes to write my analysis section. That could be annoying.
2. Holiday is going well. Have bought something like four new t-shirts, plus some awesome wicking, high tech long johns. I am sick of freezing my ta-ta’s off at the old man’s football games. I had bought shirt earlier in the week (a purple camo one) and liked it so much that I ended up getting a brown camo one, a black one, and a t-necked green one. Woot!
3. We have spent a fortune on this vacation. Yesterday, we bought a new piece of “art” to hang above our fireplace. The faux Blue Dog will be moving to our “library” once we redo it this summer.
4. The dinners have been awesome. Rachel Ray rocks! Last night, we went to the Brown Dog and dropped $160 on a meal. That is easily the most expensive meal that I have ever had in my life. Of course, we had a $32 bottle of wine to start, then another couple of glasses, plus a cheese plate and our desserts. The coach had a steak that rivaled the one he had in France a few years ago and I had a duck quesadella (which I am sure that I just mis-spelled). The whole meal was drool-worthy.
5. The Grandmother is alive and snug as a bug in her old WPA-built home. The senior services around here really rock. She’s received a new refrigerator and they are about to buy her a new furnance — and redo her bathroom. Geez, could someone come and redo my bathroom?
6. Snow has melted. {Sigh}
7. The Dog has been so good this trip. I think he likes being an Only Critter. The condo staff has made quite the fuss over him. The Old Dog, who is staying at the evil in-laws (sorry, Coach!) is going to be quite jealous.
8. Bought three bottles of wine to take home with us. One is a port to give to the cat-sitter. One is a Riesling for us. One was a $22 half/split (Is that right? It’s an itsy-bitsy bottle) that I’ll keep for myself. We also bought two “growlers” of beer to give away as Xmas presents. Good grief – hopefully, we don’t get pulled over with all that booze in the car.

And now I must return to the room to work on the conference paper. The Coach is down at the laundramat because we are out of socks and undies. This afternoon, we’re going to do one final shopping run, then eat at Chair 6 (another Rachel Ray place) and go to the Grandmother’s place. We’re taking her to dinner tonight somewhere in the boonies. Our favorite restaurant over there closed Friday for the winter, so finding another place could be interesting. Ah well.