Weekend Recap Part 1

We had another one of those weekends that just won’t fit into one blog posting. Jessica and her boyfriend came to visit for a few days and we packed our days with fun. We started the long weekend on Thursday night with a bonfire and some marshmallow roasting. Jess and Cory had a marshmallow roasting contest. I ate 2 marshmallows, the rest of the gang ate about 4, and then Peanut managed to sneak away and eat the entire rest of the bag. I hope she got a good tummy ache after that move.


On Friday night we did something that I never dreamed I would ever get Karlo to do. We all went to a country line dancing bar in Rhode Island. What a hoot. Karlo got so excited, he even dressed the part. OK, not really, but he had fun stealing and sporting our friend’s cowboy hat.

I know these next pictures are horrendous, but I just HAD to document the fact that Karlo was actually

1. on the dance floor
2. smiling
3. facing the right way

I was so proud of him and the fact that he gave it a shot. It didn’t go so well, but he was a good sport about it. He happily did his favorite Latin dance step and just kept turning with the rest of the crowd. Jess and Cory, on the other hand, did amazingly well for their first time line dancing.


Cory got into the cowboy spirit too, but I still can’t explain the earrings . . .

On Saturday we had a leisurely day filled with some biking and lounging around the house. I think Karlo dreamed of this day for a long time . . . a bike ride with his daughter. It was so nice to bike – just for the fun of it, instead of for the sport of it.


Later that day we went out for ice cream, followed by dinner. I really screwed up with that one and got the order all wrong. Oh well. From dinner we headed to Foxwoods for the most amazing show. For two people that don’t like casinos we’ve been to Foxwoods 3 times in 2 months and had a GREAT time each time. This show was called Legends and it was a group of impersonators doing Garth Brooks, Elton John, Bette Middler, Gwen Stephanie, and Michael Jackson. It was simply outstanding. I still can’t get over the guy that played Michael Jackson. I truly feel like I saw the King of Pop himself. This show is running at Foxwoods for at least a month. I highly recommend going to check it out. We loved it.

Please stay tuned for Part 2 of the Weekend of Fun.

Random Observations

We’ve lived in our ‘new’ digs in Eastford for two years already, but I’m still making interesting observations about the place. For instance, when we contemplating buying the house, Karlo went on and on about the quality of the house construction. He made a big deal over the great insulation. Well, this doesn’t really mean much to me. After all, insulation is not something that I can see and I didn’t really have a good handle on what the numbers meant. I got the notion that this house would be warmer than our previous house and perhaps my hair wouldn’t blow in the wind – indoors. Then this past weekend I learned a little more about insulation. We went to buy some for the Love Shack. We got some R13 pink stuff, mostly because it was the cheapest and came in the smallest bundle. That is when Karlo gave me a lesson on what the different numbers meant and he explained that R13 was pathetic and most houses have insulation in the 20s or 30s. It wasn’t until later in the week when the temps finally hit the balmy upper 80s or even 90. We heard coworkers complaining about not having AC at home and I just assume that I was not affected by the heat because I just plain like the heat. But the next day I made a point to check our digital thermostat at home and after the second day near 90, the house was a bit warmer than the day before, but was still only 78 degrees (likely the number that our AC would be set at if we had it). Suddenly I started to feel the appreciation for our R48 insulation. Now I get it!

Another observation came last night as I was driving to go to my first Salsa Fit class. Well actually, I had two observations. The first one being that it was fun to get out at night. As much as I always say that I hate leaving the house and usually dread it when I have to, I really had fun going out . . . driving my own car and cranking the tunes. I know this sounds very simple, but I almost never get to drive (Karlo likes being in control), I LOVE driving my car, and Karlo and I almost always drive in silence. For some reason he has an aversion to music in the car. So just going out for a drive was a big event for me.

The second observation while on the road was a bit depressing. Last night I headed East of Eastford and you know what it’s like when you’re driving say up in Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine . . . when you can’t find any stations that come in without static . . . and then when you do they are either playing country music or oldies? Do you know how annoying that is? Well, that’s exactly what it’s like when you head East of Eastford. My 60 minutes of glory behind the wheel of my MINI all alone and I couldn’t get one song (from this decade) to play through without losing reception. Where was my iPod when I needed it?

Alone Time

My shopping trip to Big Y yesterday was exciting, not only because I won all those coins, but because I went there to stock up for my 'bachelorette week.' I had to buy myself some frozen dinners to get through a few days alone this week. I was actually looking forward to reverting back to the good ole days when I ate those things every night. And after eating dinner tonight I simply can not believe I used to actually like those things. Yuck. I'm thinking that Healthy Choice must have actually got heathy because it tasted terrible. I may have to resort to a different plan for tomorrow. Cereal and ice cream sound much more appetizing.

I amused myself for most of this evening with crafty things. My latest diversion is playing with clay. Since I made the investment in a kiln I figured I should get my money's worth out of it. Last weekend I bought this. Well actually two of these:

The smallest amount the pottery store would sell me was 50 lbs. I figure that should do me for the rest of my life. I never worked with clay before so this has been an interesting couple of days. I very quickly learned what not to do, but I'm still struggling to figure out the proper methods of working clay. So far I made a few pieces that may someday become pendents and earrings. It's a long process. First you cut out, mold, and shape your parts. Then you let them sit for a few days to dry out. The letting sit process has proved to be the hardest part. I can't seem to just let them sit there. I insist on going back to fiddle with them and I've already broken a quarter of the pieces. Grrrrrr. So tonight I made a few more and I'm going to force myself to not touch them until it's time to put them in the kiln for their first firing. The first firing is called the bisque fire and that will harden them up and get them ready for glazing. Then the fun really starts. From there I can decorate them with colors and refire for the final efffect. Hopefully I'll have some before and after pictures for you. Here's the before, but I already broke some of these . . .

Stay tuned next week for the "Afters."

I am Offically Boring

On the ride home from work this afternoon it occurred to me that I forgot to blog again today. I seem to be on a roll where I never find time to think about my blog during the work day. I have to blame my recent video project. It really has me sucked in. So in the car I tried to think about what I could say on my blog and that's when it hit me that I'm starting to lead a boring a life. I never used to run out of stories to tell. In fact I would normally have a back log of stories just waiting to be told. But now I'm officially boring.

And this just seals the deal . . . We stopped at Big Y for a our super exciting grocery shopping trip and at the checkout I won, not one silver coin, but two. And not just two silver coins, but a gold one too. That's right . . . a GOLD coin. In my entire Big Y shopping history I never scored a gold coin! I was so excited, walking out of the store, clicking my chips as if I was in the casino playing a high stakes table. And that is when it really hit me that I need to be shot. This was indeed the highlight of my day. I can't even believe I'm sharing this publicly. Just shoot me now! But please bury me with my precious gold coin.

Numb Tongue

I went to the dentist this afternoon at 4 o'clock to get a filling. I got three shots of Novocaine and the doctor told me that I should be able to eat at 6:30. We timed our dinner to perfectly coincide with my face numbness subsiding and paddled our way out to the middle of Bigelow Hollow with our picnic dinner. Right at 6:30 Karlo declared it 'time to eat.' Well, my mouth wasn't even close to being ready. I was still a mess. My dinner consisted of a series of Golden Grahams inserted into the left side of my mouth, one at a time. I had a nice peanut butter bagel just waiting for me and it was torture not to be able to eat it. To take my mind of the torture I took a few photos while sitting in the kayak.

And at 7:30 I still couldn't eat my bagel so I used the time to muck with the photos. Now it's 8:00 and I think the numbness is finally gone. Yeah. Time for bagel!

I’ve Been Distracted

I just realized that I haven’t been thinking about my blog as often as I normally do. I think this is because I’m distracted at work. I’m actually distracted by my work. I am completely consumed with a new video project and I’m lovin’ every minute of it. I can’t believe how much fun I’m having building and editing videos on the Mac. It’s to the point where I can’t wait to get to work to pick up where I left off the day before. I was actually disappointed last night when I brought my laptop home and realized that I couldn’t play with my video because the files were on an external hard drive still in my office. And here I am complaining that Karlo always has his head on work. Yikes!

To make matters worse I was up most of the night last night not feeling well. My first problem was a mysterious huge ‘thing’ that appeared on my leg after our hike in the woods. I was contemplating taking a picture of this thing last night, but then I realized that if I showed it, it would be highly unlikely that Tina would ever come to the woods of Eastford again. I have no idea what the heck bit me, but this thing hurts like crazy. And the big red swollen ring around the very painful center made me worry about ticks and Lyme disease. But this thing is unlike any tick issue I’ve ever seen.

So when I woke up with a stomach ache at 2 am I started to wonder about this bite and if the suspected poison in my system was causing me to feel sick. My mind was going on and on, making sleep impossible. I decided that thinking about work was better than worrying about my bite so I spent the next several hours laying in bed, editing videos in my mind. I feel like I already worked a full day and I’m now ready for a nap.

Way Back Hair

I was just looking in the mirror in disguest. It just dawned on me what I forgot to do this past weekend . . . dye my hair. Now I'm trying to decide if I can wait until next weekend. I have to say, of all the age-related things I've encountered so far the gray hair is the worst. I guess that's because it's a constant battle that you can never win, nor ever keep up with. So in honor of the days when I never had to think about buying hair color, or when I'd find the time to do the dye job, I'm posting some pictures of me (and some of my peeps) in my glory days of stress-free hair . . . And I still can't believe that I ever had long curly hair!