Y'All Know I Should Be Taking A Nap Right Now...

As I was up late last night with storms that blew through the area last night. Ever since I lived in OK & TX, I can't go to sleep until I know there is no "danger" in the area. One of my worst fears is not waking up in time to get to safety. Now that I live in Washington and get "river" effects on storms that blow through here, I am really aware of it. Call me wimpy - I don't care!

Anyway, so it's been a busy-crazy week this week, as usual. The weather has been fabulous too, though still haven't gotten to the golf range...still need to do that soon! Work has been about the same and we are getting busy. But I was able to give out more "Job Trainer" T-shirts and more people are being trained, so that's good. I also got to swim 4 nights this week, so I was hurting this weekend. One of my assistants on Weds has major Senior-itis and quit on me, so two of us will be coaching on Weds and I think I'm going to help with Pre-Comp swim too. It's an extra $6.50 a week!

This weekend was Roadtrip 2.0 with Cherie & Bill from work. This time Lisa joined us too, so it was fun. We went to a chocolate store about 30 miles south of Lebanon Mo called "Grandpa Joe's Chocolates". The chocolate was amazing and their samples were actual pieces, not just little bits!

The next stop was a little place called Little House Inn where we all had burgers and homemade fries and onion rings. A very close 2nd to Du Kum Inn in Sullivan!

Our last stop was at Laura Ingalls Wilder's house in Mansfield, MO. So I totally remember reading the books in like 4th or 5th grade and absolutely loved them. For some reason I had no idea that she had lived in MO for so long! The house was really neat - there was some really ingenuitive thoughts put into the design of this house. There was a giant pass through between the kitchen and dining room, so she didn't have to walk back & forth. There were storage boxes under the window seats in the kitchen, they added on to the house to accommodate the refridgerator and the counter tops were "Laura Height" as she was only 4'11". The rest of the house was absolutely beautiful too, as there were many exposed beams and picture windows.

There was also a 2nd house, that was only "discovered" in 2000 that they lived in too, which was really neat too. It was called Rock House and it was a mail order house from Sears that was custom. Again, lots of really neat features, such as drawers in the closets, built in "cubbies" in the walls and beautiful heavy solid wood doors. It was really cool to see and was more impressive than I thought it would be. If I have an opportunity to have daughters or nieces and they read the books, we will have to go back! (Yep, got a "tacky magnet" for my collection too!)

After that, we were going to go to some of the wineries in the area, but the one had a "Sorry, Out of Wine" sign on it and we couldn't find the other one. It actually worked out well, as we got home around 6 and the storms blew right through the area were were at about 7, so we would have been caught in the storms. We are talking about winery trips for RT 3.0...so stay tuned!

I did get some knitting done in the car. I opted for a "no brainer" project this trip, as we were going to be driving on some windy roads. The project this trip was a Sophie Bag out of Cascade Quatro #9439, which is a blue/green/purple wool. This is actually the first yarn I bought when I went shopping that first day with Anna & Robin, to actually work this pattern. It's rather funny to think I've done so many other projects, but still hadn't worked my first project yet! I really like this knit, as it is easy and it's quick. And it's a cute spring/Fall bag, so I'll use it, or I know who I'll give it to. I am still working on my Irish Hiking Scarf too, but it's not a good car trip project... Here they are, as of now:


So, on the dating scene....Yep, still out there. (I'm going to have to talk in code though, as my blog has been discovered...) Anyway, I had my dinner date last Saturday night at a really cool place in Eureka, called TJ Samuels.(He even picked me up AND brought me a beautiful white rose, that's still alive!) The food was wonderful and we sat out on the covered patio by the fireplace and talked until closing. (Are you sensing a theme here yet?) He came out on Weds night after swim team and swam with me for a little bit at the Y. It was fun to hang out and I got to give some pointers on his freestyle stroke...I'm thinking that he's going to feel the same when we play golf...waiting for me to take my 3 strokes to equal his first hit off the tee! Actually we are going to dinner tonight after practice, so that should be fun. I think I'm going to take off Friday to hang out in Dogtown with him and probably see my sister who just rented a house down there. I did talk to another guy from eHarmony Friday night for a little bit, but don't know if I'll hear from him again. Still really enjoying the attention and meeting new people.

Ok, I'm not really a HUGE basketball fan, but I LOVE the NCAA tournament. (Nope, TU is NOT going to make it this year...) My friend Jill sent me an invitation to join the pool to benefit the Foundation for her late husband, Mark Munsell. Should be fun to participate and will hopefully raise lots of money for a great cause. The pool is still open until Thursday, 30 min before tip-off of the first game, so please join if you are interested. You only compete against the others who join through there, so your odds are pretty good. It's only $10 and it's a great donation and some good entertainment too! (Ok, so I'm already talking some "smack" about the tourney...can y'all tell that I work with all guys that only talk sports, cars/trucks & boats?? I can at least talk a good game!)

I have to be at practice in an hour....should I nap for 30 minutes or knit and watch Championship basketball games.... Hmmmmm...