Old Friends

I met Marianne about ten years ago when we both worked for Holiday, a timeshare reseller.  She was gone in a year or so and I stayed for a total of 8.  But we remained friends, went to Mexico together a few times. She showed me around Cancun and the area all around there. She and I drove a little convertible VW bug all over Cacun, Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Puerto  Moreles, and much more. We drove to Chichen Itza and walked around the ruins, had lunch and drove home that night.

We thought we had plenty of gas but we ran out in the dark, on a freeway where there were no cars, stores, gas stations or ANYTHING!  We were in a top down Bug so we grabbed our stuff and started walking.  And walking. A bus stopped to pick us up finally and left us off on the exit to Cancun where we walked once again, to the policia station.  They drove us to where we had rented our car and they went with us to put gas in our bug.  The gas guage was obviously not working properly.

If that happened today it would be VERY dangerous.  I'm sure it was then too. But we really weren't that freaked out.  Marianne is much taller and stronger than I. I felt safe with her.

Marianne and me

We had a blast the whole trip and I also went to Puerto Vallarta with her to see a friend of ours from work get married.

She now lives on a sailboat with her boyfriend of many years and invited me and many of her friends to see her son who is home with his wife and twin daughters to visit. He went to Puerto Rico to study and work and he met a woman and married her 6 yrs ago and has twin daughters who will be 6 in a few months.

Andy with his wife Shelly and daughters Sheilly and Leilani...these girls are IDENTICAL

I had never met Shelly before.  I also met many of Marianne's friends who she worked with after she left Holiday, at Providence Hospital. Andy and his family fly home tonight. I had not seen Andy since he went to Puerto Rico.

Andy and Marianne

I met a little boy who was 4 and his mom and grandma was there. I showed him a pic on my phone of Lucy telling him she was the same age. He went "ooooohooo!"  This boy is FOUR! 

Everyone brought great food, the ribs were amazing! (That word from the Bachelor again).

Summer so far... Wanta buy a house?

I have reconnected with an old friend from 25 yrs ago or so, Leta.  She lives in her mom's house now that her mom is gone (as in deceased).  I live in Kirkland now too and it is about 3 miles to her house so it is easy and fun to get together with her.  I was invited to her place for the 4th and met her daughter, son in law and granddaughter Ava, who is also 4, born the same month as Lucy in January.  Hard to believe, but I had never met Leta's daughter before and still have not met her sister.  They did not live in the area when we knew each other in the mid 80's. 
Unfortunately Leta is moving to Wichita, Kansas as soon as she sells the house she is in now. She has already bought a house in Wichita so too late to talk her out of it. I do know that you can buy much more house in Kansas than you can here for the same amount of money.   She said she will have me over when she moves. Not the same as being able to see each other once or twice a week but that's life.

The house in Kirkland is up for sale. Anyone wanna buy a beautiful house? It has a gorgeous view of the mountains over the trees and you can even see Mt. Rainier when the mist clears.  Also a hot tub was on the downstairs deck which is covered.

The partially covered deck which held a hot tub until Leta took it out

Better view of covered hot tub area

LOOOONG deck all around back of house.

Mount Rainier on a clear day

The back of her home

Deck with reflections in window

I wish she would stay but I think she will at least be here for summer so I can love visiting her and her house for now.

Here are some pics of my time with my precious grandchildren Max, Lucy and Joseph.

Max loving his ride

Love that joyful smile!

Lucy on my laptop as usual on  "dress-up" sites

I got her to look up for a second, had to take a quick pic so blurry

A sweet smile from Joe (also blurry, no excuse)

I am reading Game of Thrones which is the first book in The Song of Fire and Ice series by George RR Martin. Game of Thrones is on HBO and all ten episodes have been aired. It is very good and very  addictive so if you can, check it out. There are 5 books, the last one, called Dance With Dragons, to be released very soon. So there will be 5 seasons of this HBO show at least. 

I was so glad to see Big Brother come back for the summer and it is looking like one of if not THE best Big Brother ever.  Evel Dick however is rumored to be leaving tonight and it will change the dynamics of the game hugely. I hate to see him go, he is a master at the game.  But I was so glad to see BB come back since I am so sick of the Bachelorette.

I seriously don't think Ashley who is the Bachelorette knows any of these men who are left well enough to take home to mama.  This is the home visits when the men introduce her to their families. Usually at this point you feel the Bachelor/ette knows the men well enough you can see a possible engagement. But on this season Ashley spent 4 or 5 weeks in the beginning obsessed with a guy who led her on but who had no interest in her whatsoever and made cruel comments about her on camera but out of her hearing.  It was painful to watch and she had only known him two weeks so we the viewing public could not understand how she could be so gone on this guy in such a short time. And why oh why could she not see what we did? 

Well, it is my view that any woman who has dated much at all has fallen for a guy who did not fall for her but led her on. It is a VERY painful experience but we did not have to experience it in front of several million people.   So I was sympathetic to Ashley but frustrated with the producers of the show who would let this go on and on and not show her the video clips of what this guy had said about her. They say they warned her but showing her would have got this nastiness all over with quickly, turning her swooning love into anger. 
As it turned out they gave this guy a free trip to Hong Kong and she got to question him and he was still very vague but she got the picture. Well, then she spent the week getting over that.  It takes longer than that to get over an emotionally painful breakup but she soldiered on.  And now we have a woman who really doesn't know any of these men very well yet is going home to meet their famlies. 
Well, let me say that this has been the worst Bachelorette season ever, the least satisfying. I don't see any possibility of her finding love at this point. But I wish her the best.

The host, Chris Harrison, interviewed the last woman who "won" the engagement on the last Bachelor, Emily.  Emily is a beautiful southern blonde and Chris asked her questions about why she and the Bachelor Brad had broken up....."What happened?"  Her answers were very vague non answers. We still have no clue why they broke up. She says they still love each other, still text each other often, so why can't they get it together? We have no clue. 
Could she be the next Bachelorette? Well, in my opinion she is not ready to move on yet. Maybe in a few months but she is obviously still involved emotionally with Brad.

Torchwood Miracle Day Season 4 is "amazing" (picked up this much overused word on the Bachelor yrs ago) although one of the new American cast members, Mehki Pfifer who plays a CIA guy who gets shot and does not die overacts a bit IMHO.  But Gwen Cooper kicks A$$ still and Captain Jack is still gorgeously handsome and comes to the rescue just in time.

Gwen is shooting a helicopter with her babe in arms. Granted this does not sound like a safe thing to do but she is inside her house shooting out the window.  Probably still not safe. But I have decided Gwen is my favorite hero in this show, sorry Capt Jack.

 True Blood is delivering too. I love So You Think You Can Dance, which Joe used to watch with me when he was younger.  So I am happy with summer TV mostly.

What have you been doing and watching this summer?

OUCH! Just helping a friend...

I helped a friend to a doctor's appointment for some minor surgery today.  I waited for her and took her home, was helping her into her house, standing on the doorstep at the door.  The door was locked. She motioned to go in through the garage so I steped away to do just that.....only I forgot that there were three steps and I fell right on my face....well, everything on my front BUT my face, thank goodness! My hand was clutching my car keys and I put them up to my chest automatically so when I fell my fist jammed into my chest.  The breath was knocked out of me.  I could not breathe for a full minute. And there was my friend Leta standing at the door waiting for me. She could hardly stand and needed to get inside. I could not move, could not breathe, both my palms on my hands were bleeding, my chest and knee was in pain. And I am thinking, "You have got to breathe and get Leta inside NOW!"  

Finally I got some breath in and managed to get up and get to the garage door and get around to the front door to open it for Leta. Then I had to help her with her pills she was to take, tell her all she was to do and not do, be sure the instructions were where she would remember, get her laid down on the couch with pillows (she was NOT to lie flat) and get her an ice pack for her face.

Then I looked at my own knee which I could feel was probably skinned a bit. There was a HUGE giant swollen area below my knee.  It looked like it really hurt badly but it just felt like a scrape. I figue it will hurt worse tomorrow.

And still I could not breathe well. So as soon as I could leave Leta I did so she could sleep and I could go home and take care of me.

I took a tylenol and vicoden for pain when I got home, got into comfy clothes and lay on my bed and turned on TV.  But still I could not breathe well and it hurt to lay down, it hurt to get up, and I worried if something might be wrong. So I called the nurse through my insurance company and she asked me a bunch of questions and said my lung may be partiallly collapsed and I should go to urgent care or to the hospital. She looked and found no urgent care around here so I went to Evergreen Hospital.  They put me in a wheelchair when they saw I could hardly walk and breathe at the same time.
Three hours later (thank goodness I took a book) the x-ray showed I did not have a collapsed lung or broken ribs and I was sent home with my own set of instructions.  The verdict: Chest Contusion. I think a contusion is a bruise?
Kinda funny when you think about it. I went to take my friend to the doctor for minor surgery and end up injuring myself and finding myself in the hosptial.

Summer is cool...but lots of new and returning TV

Summer here in the great northwest has been very cool, literally. We have had MAYBE three days at 70 or better.  It is a tease....we get one nice day and the next day we get 63 again.
 So time for summer TV!
I am sure I have missed some but these come to mind right away:

Breaking Bad: This one I am really looking forward to. His wife is in on the "family business" now and things get really dangerous.

Entourage: The final season of this great show, both funny and dramatic. Love Johnny Drama! And Ari and Vince and the gang.

So You Think You Can Dance: kind of the dancing American Idol. Young people whose families have sacrificed a lot in most cases, to let their child train in dance, getting the chance to make their dreams come true. The choreographed dances they do as couples for the first few weeks include funny as well as very emotional, sometimes making us all cry.

The Bachelorette:  Usually this is fun to see how silly the contestants act to vie for the Bachelor/ette's attention many romantic scenes as well, although there is a lot of  predictable "amazing!" and "I'm so glad you are all here!" and "this is so hard to let one of you go tonight."
There have been only three successful relationships that have lasted more than a couple months after the airing of the show. But still we romantics tune in.  This year, however, we have the third place bachelorette from last season's Bachelor.  Ashley was not my favorite then but when this season's Bachelorette began I was all ready to be positive and get behind her.

Ooohhhh, did that go downhill REALLY FAST!  This woman was warned before she began to tape the show by a friend texting her that there was a man named Bentley (so sick of hearing that name) who was not there for the "right reasons."  She said she was willing to go forth and give him a chance and hoped he wasn't too good looking to make it more difficult to let him go. So she meets this creep and I think she was the only woman in the world who thought he was "gorgeous". I thought he was smarmy looking.
Ashley fell for this guy in two weeks and by week 5 she is still obsessed with him. He chose to leave on his own week 3 because he did not feel anything for her and well, many other very cruel unflattering comments left this creep's mouth. Behind her back.  She begged him to stay. He said he had to leave for his daughter, he missed her so.  We all cringed and wondered why she couldn't see and know what we all did.

This is the WORST season of the Bachelorette ever. I have been on Chris Harrison's website every day and Ashley's also and 99.9% of all the comments there say the same and believe, as I do, that she should have been warned much more directly and shown the video of Big Jerk's unflattering cruel comments so she could turn her swoon into anger, tell him off and move on. What woman hasn't had to deal with a Big Jerk in her life? If you haven't you are lucky.

True Blood:  This one I cannot wait for,  starts again this summer and is about Vampires and Fairies and Werewolves.  No, not at all Twilight-ish.  It is as far from Twilight as you can get, and I am a Twilight fan and I love this one too, for different reasons.  Takes place in the south, a love affair ensues between Sookie, a blonde southern girl with attitude (who also finds out she is a fairy) and  Vampire Bill. (These two recenlty married in real life).  Vampires are "out" and about in the world, drinking Tru Blood in bars instead of beer. They don't feed on humans unless they are bad vampires. Last season we got Werewolves and this season we get witches I am told. Can't wait. Lots of hot southern accents and hot sex! Watch after kids are in bed. You can get past seasons ON Demand.

Big Brother:  This one is coming up soon, a bunch of frat boys and girls stuck in a house together for a couple months, trying to manipulate each other to stay in the house and win a quarter of a million dollars. Not a bad gig if you can get it.  Also lots of sex but not as good as vampires, fairies and werewolves.

Torchwood:  I have found out lately, in the last year or so that I am a SciFy fan. Totally. I have a Netflix membership and it allows streaming video to my laptop. So I watched movies that way for a while. Finally I figured out how to hook up my laptop via HDMI cord to my TV (Thanks, Devon) and have been watching that way.  I am totally addicted to all the Stargate shows and am now watching 5 seasons of Stargate: Atlantis for the second time. I already watched ten seasons of Stargate: SG-1 and  4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica. I love the Stargate series. It would be so cool to travel through a wormhole through the Stargate to other galaxies and planets and meet other humans and non-humans (not so exciting).  Instead of going to Hawaii for a vacation go through the Stargate and visit another world!

Anyway, Torchwood was one of the first sci-fi shows I found and it is about Captain Jack who came from another planet and cannot die. He found Gwen Cooper, a mere human, and her boyfriend, and he also found Ianto. He falls in lust with both of them. Yep, he is an equal opportunity lover. This was on BBC for years and now it is going to be on Starz and starts July 8th. I love Captain Jack, so sexy,  and can't wait! Unfortunately Ianto died last season but Bill Pullman will be in this new story. And it doesn't take place in Wales anymore. We shall see what Hollywood does with it.

Expedition Impossible: Starts tonight, by the makers of Survivor, so I have to check this one out. Looks kinda like combination of Amazing Race and Survivor.

Falling Skies:  Remember Noah Wylie from ER? He is now starring in this one.  This one is right in my wheelhouse....SCI-FY!!  Unpredictable unearthly things happen to real people that we care about. So far so good.

So if we never get summer sun and warm days we have lots of TV to watch. Bring it on!
What are you watching?

The new me...FINALLY

I was so excited to get my hair cut today!
For anyone who has seen me lately it had gotten pretty long and I have been wearing it up mostly because it is too warm on my neck and shoulders. 

My daughter-in-law Annie gave me a card to get my haircut at this salon in Bel-Square. She won it and since she has her sister Molly who is now in a new salon and they are going to visit her next week, she had no use for this card.  I was so excited when she gave it to ME! Yes, I did need my haircut and she came to my rescue.

THANK YOU ANNIE!

I thought I might get somethng new but I got pretty much what I have been wearing for a while but I like it, will be easy to care for.