Tall Ships!

Yay! My hopes weren't dashed after all. My folks decided to take me to see the ships in Duluth. We even went out to eat at red lobster. The ships were awesome. I wish we could have gotten closer though. Ma wouldn't pay the seventeen bucks to go on a tour so we just looked at the ships from the dock. If only we had known we could have done like those smart people and launched our own boat and gotten good pictures from the water. Still it was pretty cool.














We also saw something interesting in th parking lot. Be forwarned, I do not endorse this vehicle!


Even though we didn't walk far it was icky hot and I was tired. We stopped at sam's club for a bit and I napped on the way home. I napped some more on the couch when I got home. J is working hard on the pictures for out book. Hopefully they'll be ready in time for the next convention. Ma and maunta are busy googling old videos of sixties bands on ma's new computer. I left sharpe stranded in Copenhagen and I should get back to find out how he escapes. I'm sure it involves some gratuitus violence.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Dashed

Dyed my hair this morning. I think it turned out alright. I went into town and bought a book at the mall before going to babysit my cousins, which turned out not to be as bad as I thought it was going to be. I even got home in time to catch part of the twins' game on tv. Dad said he was going fishing tomorrow and ma says it's going to rain. My hopes of seeing the tall ships are being dashed. Dashed I tell you. Dashed. Well, at least I finished sharpe' trafalger and if the cover is anything to go by the next book should have some seafaring in it as well. Though reading about a ship in a book isn't nearly the same as seeing a real ship with your own two eyes. At least I have something to dream about tonight.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Grapevine

Did some more cleaning yesterday and finished reading another sharpe book. I was going to go for a walk today but Lucy was limping so I jumped rope in the living room instead. Poor beagly. Hope she gets better soon. Went into town this afternoon and got an application for the gas station. My recruiter told me I was for sure a linguist and would be leaving in December. The gal working the counter at subway already knew which was a little strange since I didn't even know her and I only found out and told the folks and grandfolks yesterday. I guess you never really notice how fast the small town grapevine works until you happen to the the subject of discussion. Ma gave me some cash to pick up ice cream in town. Mint. With whipped cream. I saw on the news that the tall ships are in Duluth. Maybe it's just the fact that the curret sharpe book I'm reading is trafalger and the epic sea battle but I'm just dying to go an see the ships. I've always been a fan of old fashioned sailing ships, I love horatio hornblower, and if I don't go see the ships now it might be years till I get another chance if ever. Mother says she doesn't want to drive in the traffic. Maybe I can convince dad to go. I remember he liked horatio when it was on tv. I guess I'll have to hope they see sense.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Spring Cleaning In July?

Went to town with mom today to pick up more packing boxes for the basement. We got twelve and we ran out. I even filled another tote with stuff from my nightstands. Slowly but surely we're getting the basement in order. At least all that box lifting is making up for some of that exercise I've been missing. I do wonder though, is it still spring cleaning if we waited till the middle of summer to get started?

- Posted from my iPhone.

Rasberries

Went to town with dad yesterday. We stopped at the shack to pick rasberries and then at the grocery store so dad could get pectin to make jam. We haven't had time to make any jam yet though.


I didn't go anywhere today. It was horribly hot out just like yesterday. I did manage to finish reading the second sharpe book, which was epic, and started on the third. Ma and I managed to get all those old books packed away and I got rid of two whole totes of knick knacks from my room. It's actually starting to seem possible that we might get the basement redone before I leave for basic, it's my closet I'm worried about.

- Posted from my iPhone.

New Table

I couldn't sleep so I woke up at five o'clock this morning. I laid in bed for half an hour, then got up and made some breakfast, then read a few chapters in my book, and then I went for a walk. When I got back at seven twenty I was bored so I went back to bed. I got up again three hours later when dad got home from the shack. I helped ma organize some books downstairs and then we all went to Duluth to pick up mom's new kitchen table from the Amish furniture place. The real reason I went was because I knew they'd have to stop for lunch and dinner and us broke unemployed recent college grads are always looking for free food. I really need to work on building some upper body strength though, I had a time of it helping haul the old table to the shed and getting the new one up the stairs. I was going to bed when ma started yacking at me to start packing up my "trinkets and dodads" in my room before I left for basic. So I filled a whole box of beanie babies to get her to go away. It wasn't so bad though, now all my glass stuff fits in my display cupboard and I found out I had a matching set of buddy and baby Mattie cats.





I still have a lot of other stuff to put away yet but maybe I can put it off till ma is done with her books. And she's been working on those books for a really long time.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Hitch A Ride

I forgot to post yesterday but when we were driving home from town a frog appeared out of nowhere on the side window of the truck. It was pretty unexpected. We did eventually pull over and let it go in the grass but we never did figure out how it got there. I wrote a poem called To Hitch A Ride that can be read on white fox: silver crow.

Hurray For Books

My sharpe books finally came today. Unfortunately I already started on a different book so I'll have to finish that before I can start on my new ones. Went to town with the folks. We stopped at the BL for lunch. It sure is nice after they rebuilt it after the fire. I did some more reading when I got home and watched a little tv. I talked to J and she wants me to come visit in august. We'll see. It woul be nice to get all this book stuff finalized.

- Posted from my iPhone.

New Hair

Went into town this morning for a haircut. All the colored bits are gone now. The gal who cut it said I would look cute in platnum blonde but she also said it would be high maintenance. I managed to get all the way to grandma's when dad called to make me turn around and go back to check his railcars. When I did get home I found that mom won the contest as he new laptop computer arrived in the mail. My books haven't come yet. I really hope they get here tomorrow. I finished readin The Light Fantastic. At least this one had a solid happy ending, none of that silly falling off the edge of the world stuff like the first one. Still, I want my sharpe books to get here like yesterday.

- Posted from my iPhone.

BLTs

Went for a walk with lucy yesterday and after I went into town with ma. We looke around the mall but didn't see anything worth getting so we went to target. We got a couple of storage totes and frapachinos at starbucks. We met silver crow for lunch at that new perkins they just built on the highway. It was alright. Silver crow came over to watch a movie. It stormed again last night. The night before it knocked out our Internet. Went for another walk with Lucy this morning. Watched tv and did some reading. Ma made BLTs for supper. So far I've managed to keep my room clean. My books haven't come in the mail yet. Ma ordered a new computer the sane day I ordered books and we have a contest to see which one gets here first. I hope my books win. I also decided to time myself and found that I can do 28 push ups in a minute and 40 sit ups in a minute. I know the minimum push up number is twenty seven but I forgot the sit ups. I think I passed it though.

- Posted from my iPhone.

So Over Fantasy

Went for a long walk this morning. I thought if I went early it wouldn't be so hot out but I was wrong. Even when I hit shady stretches they were filled with skeetos. Cleaned my room again today, finally got around to changing my sheets and blankets. It looks pretty nice. I went into town to see if the bookstore had the second sharpe book but they didn't. Said hi to aunt C. in the hall. I picked up a pizza on the way home from pizza hut and watched a few movies before finally deciding to order those sharpe books online. What with online discounts and free express shipping I think I got a pretty good deal and the books should arrive by the end of the week. Even though I have a lot of other books I haven't read yet I still can't wait for those sharpe books to get here. I think maybe I'm over fantasy for a while. Historical war fiction is totally my new favorite thing.

- Posted from my iPhone.

The Movie Didn't Have Tigers

I went for a short walk today with the beagle. There was this weird yellow dog who kept running away like he was scared. I finished reading Sharpe's Tiger. It was sort of funny how a lot of stuff from the book was similar to the last movie but the movie took place years after the book did, and there weren't any tigers in the movie. The book was excellent. I really hope I can get the next one soon, last time I was at the bookstore they didn't have it. Maybe I'll order it from barnes and noble online, as long as I paid for that member card I might as well use it to get the free shipping and twenty percent off discounts. I'll have to remind myself to check the site tomorrow. I also need to remember to wash my sheets. I keep meaning to but somehow I never get around to it.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Air Show

Went to the air show in Duluth today with the folks and one of dad's marine buddies. The planes were pretty cool. I had to meet up with my recruiter and all the other air force recruits and we were sworn in by the comander of the air force thunder birds right out in front of the whole crowd. I hope we get copies of the professional pictures they took because we were too far away from the crowd for dad's pictures to be very good. We stopped for lunch on the way home and ma stole an airshow poster off the restaurant bullitin board for me. She'd already bought me a thunderbirds visor at the show. I hung the poster up as soon as I got home. For spending most of the day standing around waiting I sure am exhausted, think I'll count some planes (or paratroopers) and go to bed early.


- Posted from my iPhone.

Death to Wasps!

Dad made me mow the lawn today. Funnily enough, I must have driven past that swingset five or six times, right next to it too, but it wasn't until after supper when I was chasing the cat and she ducked under it that I got stung by a wasp. I'd forgotten how much it hurt. At least wasps don't have detachable stingers although, knowing your attacker will die does have a certain appeal to it. Dad sprayed the nest but I'm still not going out there till I know for sure the're dead. My poor hand finally quit hurting, but now it's numb. I can't understand why those wackos into alternative medicine go to get bee stings on purpose for therapy. I think I'd rather run three miles, do sixty sit ups, and then do forty push ups. I don't know if my hand would let me do a push up now though. Death to wasps. At least bees polinate flowers and make honey, wasps serve no useful purpose. A painful death to wasps everywhere.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Zombie Romance

I haven't been on my computer in ages. I suppose since I'm not in school anymore I don't use it for research or papers and I can check my e-mail on my phone now so I hardly use it for that. I don't even need it to update my blog and I've been on facebook hiatus since I gave up on all those inane games. I suppose I thought the poor thing was missing me so this post is from my computer (shhh... nobody say anything about me wanting a new computer, I don't want charlie to feel bad, worse, you know). I  applied for another job today before going into town. I went with L.G. to see the new Sorcerer's Apprentice movie. It was really good. Ninety five percent of the reason I went was Nicholas Cage and the other five percent was the live action version of the mad mop scene from fantasia but the rest of the movie turned out to be really good as well. I went home without getting any pizza but that's ok becaue ma let me order a pizza  for supper anyway and that way she paid for it instead of me.

I finally broke down and watched the second twilight movie, even though I'm still a firm believer that the whole series is lame, poorly written, and doesn't even have any real vampires in it. Turns out the second movie was just Bella feeling suicidal because Edward left and Edward being suicidal because he thought she succeded when really she was saved by the werewolf. Basically melodramadic idiocy. All I can say is I was watching a very poor quality copy a friend burned me, the sound was off and the piture was fuzy and it skipped a lot, and the quality of the video was still better than the quality of the book, story, plot, characters, and movie acting combined. And don't tell me that story and plot are the same thing because the're not. I'm an English major, I should know. If only I wasn't so lazy, then I could wite my own vampire romance. Although, since vampires are so sickeningly popular these days, as are werewolves and wizards,  maybe I should move on to the next big thing and write a zombie romance novel. Seriously, at least then when people gagged reading it it wouldn't be becuase it was sappy or the writing sucked, it would be because some girl was swapping spit with a reanimated rotting corpse that lacks all voluntary bodily control and only exists to eat brains and do the bidding of an evil vodo priest intent on taking over the world. I'll sleep on it and start writing tomorrow.  (Man, I really wanted to put in a mean political joke in there about the vp, thank goodness I caught myself.)

Deep Dish Pizza

Went for a walk yesterday to test out the new shoes mom bought me the other day. I also went into town with K. We went to the mall and grabbed a bite to eat. After I got home I watched some tv and did a little reading. It rained all day today so I didn't get in any walks. I did do twenty minutes of stair steppers. Watched tv, did some reading, tried to make home made macaroni and cheese. It was ok. Not great but edible at least. I have a deep dish pizza craving but all the restaurants are too far away and closed. I think that's what I'll do tomorrow, get a deep dish pizza. I should probably apply for another few jobs as well.

- Posted from my iPhone.

It Was A Really Nice Jacket

I went with the folks to bring my sister back down to the cities for her flight yesterday. Everyone met at my auntie J.'s for pizza. I decided that the winking moose would make a great name for a pub and/or and signature drink, something blue with whipped cream and a mint in a martini glass. My friend J called to let me know that she has finished all the pictures for a black and white book. We could have a test copy ready by the end of the month. My sister wanted to stay at auntie J's but I went with m folks to aunt M's. We looked at old family photos for a while before bed. M made breakfast and we went over to auntie J's to get my sister, who was still sleeping. She also insisted we stop at the mall of America before the airport. I suppose I would have understood why she wanted to go there when we were already running an hour late if it wasn't for the fact that the store she wanted to go to was the same one we had just been a in Duluth two days ago. Anyway, after dropping her off at the airport and after some of dad's confusion with the gps we went to noodles for lunch. They have the best macaroni and cheese there. Then we hit the road. We stopped at the tanger outlet mall. I was goin to get this jacket from wilson's leather that was on sale for fifteen bucks but when I got back from looking in another store wilson's was closed for a delivery and dad insisted we couldn't wait for them to reopen. And it was a really nice jacket too. We made another stop somewhere at mcdonald's for supper before we made it home. I'm just so glad not to be moving anymore. For whatever reason I always feel queesy and jerked around when dad drives. I'd blame it on city trafic but most of the drive was long straight stretches of highway in the middle of nowhere. Oh well, no use complaining when I'm already home.

- Posted from my iPhone.

A Good Night's Sleep

Went into town with the folks today. My dad got some new hot pads and ma picked up a cat bed for grandma's cat, Patches is so ignored. Had a quick bite to eat off the arby's dollar menu. Dropped the cat bed off at grandma's on the way home. Dad decided to make smoked ribs for supper so I talked ma into taking me to arrowhead lake and I went swimming for half an hour. Then it was home, supper, tv and now bed. We have to bring Hannah back down to the cities tomorrow. Her plane leaves on the day after but she wants to visit family and the mall of America so we're going early and staying over a night. Ma was whining at me because I don't have lots of friends my own age and saying I should have joined more extra curricular groups. Seriously, all her friends she has now are years older than her so I don't see why she should be complaining about me. Besides, I'm not going to do stuff I don't like just so I can meet people. If I don't like doing stuff but do it anyway how likely is it that the people I meet who actually do like doing that stuff will be the sort of people I'd want to be friends with anyway? Whatever. I think finding a way to make some money and pay off my student loans is a bigger priority at the moment. That, and a good night's sleep.

- Posted from my iPhone.

Shadow Me

Went for a walk with Lucy this morning. Saw lot of black eyed Susans.


Went to grandma's again with ma to help clean more stuff. We threw out five big garbage bags this time and it still looks like we've hardly made any progress. At least the middle bedroom looks ok. I went for a walk on the trail out back of grandma's. I really liked the fact that the trail meandered through the tall pines so it was shaded. I saw the bones of some kind of large animal, possibly a dear.














It was a nice walk. I tried getting ahold of K when I got home but there was no answer. Too bad. I wanted to go to a movie. Dad made chilli for supper. I threw a whole trash bag of garbage out from my room. I have too much junk already and I haven't had nearly as long as grandma to accumulate it. Speaking of, the only thing I saved from the knick knack box was this funky candle holder. It makes for a nice before bed reading light.


- Posted from my iPhone.

Inconsistent Cover

Went into town with dad yesterday. We had lunch at that Mexican place downtown. We stopped at grandma's on the way back to check in. I watched some tv at home. I finally finished reading that lost fleet series. My only complaint is that on the cover of every book the main character is shown dressed in battle armor wielding a weapon on the surface of a planet during a battle. Having read all the books I can confidently say that the main character never set foot off his ship, during battle or otherwise, except at the very end of the last book when he went to the spaceport. At no point did he ever wear battle armor or wield a weapon. That might sound lame but trust me, despite being the exact opposite of the epic cover the book was actually better. I went to the Duluth mall with my sister today. She talked me into buying this purple and grey outfit on sale. I also got a couple books at barnes and noble. They rearranged everything in the store! I'm terribly annoyed with whoever decided to move stuff around. Now I'm going to have to memorize where everything is all over again, an since I'm not at school and can't stop in every week it will take me who knows how long. At least gander mountain hasn't changed much. Sure they moved the whole store but that was years ago. We stopped at the outback steakhouse for a late lunch. My sis insisted on paying since I had driven which was awfully nice of her. I started reading the blood of Ambrose when I got home. So far it's very good. It's proven to have a plethora of witty banter and the characters so far are quite entertaining. But then, I'm only on page eighty so well see.


- Posted from my iPhone.

Counting Sheep

Went with the folks to visit grandma in the hospital in Duluth. My brother and sister would have come but they ha other stuff already going on and besides sis was tired of spending all her vacation riding around in vehicles. I dropped sis off at B's in town then went with my folks and grandpa to the hospital. Grandma was doing so good she was able to come home that afternoon. I rode home with my aunt and uncle. L. G. wanted to do something when I got back so I took her to the mall and bought her some ice cream. Then I went home. Ma stayed the night at grandma and grandpa's. This morning I went over there to help clean the middle bedroom. We must have thrown out ten big garbage bags full of stuff and it still looks like it's full of junk. We took grandma to the double g to pick up garbage stickers. Ma decided to stay another night but I came home. I went out to maunta's at the lake. Went for a swim, watched a movie, said hi to all the kitties. On the way home at ten thirty I saw five dear, possibly six, one fox, and a horse. I suppose that's slightly more interesting than counting sheep.

-Posted from my iPhone

Bad Luck

Yesterday I went with my folks to the cities to pick up my sister. She had a run of bad luck when her plane was delayed, then took off and had to land, and then they put everyone up in a hotel and she was a day late. My dad decided to pay the five bucks so we could drive around the park, the one named after that fort, while we waited. I got a few pictures.








After we picked her up we stopped at a restaurant, they were out of my order but I got a free steak an crab meal out of the mix up, never did get those mashed potatoes though. Since it was late night and dark we saw a few fireworks out the car window as we were driving. Also, we wound up with a flat tire and had to change it on the way home. My sister was actually a big help. I got a pic of the tire after her and my dad got it off. Can you see the nail?


And on top of that grandma is in th hospital after suffering a mild stroke and a heart attack. We spent most of the fourth cleaning her kitchen with help from relatives. She should be released tomorrow and the folks are planning to go down to Duluth to pick her up. We don't know if there'll be room in the car for me to go. My other cousin O. on dad's side stopped by to visit as well. It's a shame about her politics, she's really ok to hang out with. I watched the Patriot on dvd when I got home. I was a little dissapointed there weren't more patriotic things on tv. The military channel had something but that was about it. Makes a person wonder doesn't it?

- Posted from my iPhone.

Mid Week

Monday was pretty boring. Didn't do anything worth blogging about. Tuesday I woke up early and packed a bag. Me and the folks drove down to the cities. We got to aunt M and uncle B.'s place early so we talked politics with M while we waited for B to get home from work. The game was awesome. We has really good seats, right behind home plate.


Not to mention span's record tying triple triples. Special thanks to the relatives for inviting us. We spent the night but came home right away on wednesday. I wound up taking a nap when I got home and going to bed early. Today I had two interviews, one for a hotel and one for an office. Unfortunately both were for night shifts. Watched some tv when I got home. Didn't do much else.

- Posted from my iPhone.