psst. check out the gym report!
Monday, Apr. 18, 2005, 7:30 PM

Damn! Another hectic weekend zips by!

I called my sister-in-law Saturday morning and got the details on the graduation dates, and we had a really nice chat. She's handling things pretty well, considering her personality. I figured she'd be having kittens over her baby's graduation, and her husband buying a Harley. But she seems to be taking it all in good stride, bless her.

Papa arrived about 12:30, and Spouse got home about one o'clock, after taking his motorcycle test-ride. We all sat on the porch and chatted, then I went in the house just in time to avoid the pack of wandering God-botherers that were roaming the neighborhood.

Heh. I Stuck Papa and Spouse having to get preached at. I could hear them yakking and yakking out there, so I finally went over to the front hall, slammed the door at them under the guise of going into the hall closet, and they got the hint and left.

Took Niece, Nephew, and their Grandpa to Russell�s Ribs in Elmwood Park for the kids� birthday treat Saturday afternoon, and then to the Mejier in Rolling Meadows so they could pick out some stuff to get with their birthday money. Nephew got a "Queen" double album, and Niece got yet another of the endless procession of "tweeny" movies to which she is addicted. I actually think it is kind of cool that Nephew likes Queen--I liked them a lot when I was fourteen, and now he does. He is so much my kind of kid. We like the same kind of movies, too.

Right now, I'm in the process of getting him hooked on Douglas Adams. I loaned him my omnibus edition of the "Hitch-Hiker" books, as well as my DVDs of the old TV series. He's getting to an age where I can loan him a lot of my books, and he understands and appreciates them. He's quite a reader, so he's always looking for something to get his nose into.

Once the kids heard that Grandpa was sleeping over, THEY wanted to sleep over as well. NOT so okay, I guess.

Except.

Grandpa wanted to spend more time with them, so he wheedled until we said yes. So we ended up hosting Grandpa's Sleepover Saturday Night. Whee.

Spouse got up early on Sunday morning to make breakfast--his fabulous pancakes, as well as sausage for Grandpa and bacon for the rest of us. He didn't actually get around to eating any himself. After cooking for almost two hours, he couldn't look a pancake in the eye, I guess.

Then we went to the home center and got the rest of the screen replacement materials, so Spouse could spend his afternoon finishing that job. I did laundry, made macaroni salad and sun tea, and puttered around picking up some of the mess the house party had left in its wake.

We cooked out last night--brats over charcoal. Amish Potato Salad, my homemade macaroni salad, and fresh iced tea with lemon to go with, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. And since I was having some severe trouble keeping my eyes open, I walked the dog and hit the sack early.

Speaking of which, I got my calls made, and the appointments set up:

04/21, 2:00 pm. The re-scheduled pap.

04/29, 1:30 pm. The prelim visit for the colonoscopy.
05/18, 3:30 pm The first visit to the new hand doctor. Who turns out to be NOT an ortho after all, but a plastic surgeon? I don't know--but he's the guy to see, per my GP. He's not in my PPO, though--so it's going to cost more.

I also had to call my old neurologist to arrange to pick up my file with the EMG results, so I can transfer them to the new Doc. Ain't we got fun? Damn, I hate going to the doctor.

Hell, Yeah! You read that right! Thanks to today being deemed our semi-annual "The Weather's Gorgeous; Take an Extra Hour for Lunch" day, by the CEO, I had plenty of time for a change. And I made good use of it. (Despite being fairly sick to my stomach earlier in the day. I had several rounds of bratwurst's revenge, or something.)