Leaving on a jet plane

When we started dating and up until a few years ago, I thought it would be funny to have a son named Peter so we could be Peter, Paul, and Carrie.  Ha! Then I realized that Peter with our last name sounds a little dirty, especially when last name first.  So no more Peter, Paul, and Carrie.

I am going to Seattle this afternoon.  Paul is there because of work and he asked if I could come up there as well.  We've gone to Seattle once before for the annual conference Paul attends and I really enjoyed it.  It made me thankful for the funny inservice/parent conference/no students day today so that I was able to end the Book Fair on Thursday and leave this afternoon.  It is going to be a short trip since I do know when we'll be back again (Sunday evening about 7:30).

However, "laundry" is still on the To Do list:

We took advantage of early voting to do our civic duty today. Although there were reports of waits of 1.5-2 hours, we were in and out in 20 minutes or so.

Paul didn't want to complete more than the oval for president on a fairly long ballot so I was telling him the couple of bonds to vote for and a few other people that I like to vote for. Paul and I actually vote in different precincts because he is still registered at his parents' house and I'm registered at our house. He should probably change that at some point in time but hey, it's New Mexico. Anything goes. His brother is still on the voting register even though he hasn't lived in NM in 20 years. Since we aren't required to show I.D., we tease about Paul going back through the line as Alan. Not that he actually would. It's like pulling teeth just to get him to vote once. He's a wee bit (or a whole lot) cynical about the whole process. We were probably not supposed to be chatting while completing the ballot but again, it's New Mexico. Vote early, vote often.

I did make him leave me alone for the moment I was deciding on President (I completed the rest of the ballot first). I was honestly one of those "stupid" people who walked in undecided. In my opinion, I think both major party candidates have such glaring weaknesses in their positions that I wasn't sold on either one. I'm still not sold on them. So, I took a minute, said a little prayer and marked my ballot. In the end, it doesn't matter--I've been hanging around Paul long enough that his cynicism is rubbing off on me--but it's done and I've earned my right to complain for the next four years.

The week that was

Last week seemed a little frenetic between meetings and Paul leaving town and me leaving town and all the other stuff and work. I don't know if it really was that busy but it felt that way. And when I'd sit down to write about how busy it was, I'd end up being called away to do something else.

But here is a brief recap of what I've been doing since my last update:

1. Sunday/Monday: Not much out of the ordinary--church, chores around the house, work, etc.

2. Tuesday, I had to drive all the way across town (ended up being about 25 miles from my house) to attend an all-day inservice for librarians that started at 8:00 a.m. I had to leave the house at 7:10 to allow time for traffic and road construction and oh, hey, it was raining so one really gets to see the crazy that is ABQ driving (and I was going the opposite direction of traffic for much of the drive). It wasn't a bad day--I got to spend time with people I like and the sessions weren't useless which is always a plus--but it made me really appreciate my 12-minute commute.

On the way back across town, I stopped by Paul's work for a little bit or I wouldn't have seen him until about 9:30 that evening because of a JLA meeting I knew would be long (it was). When I got home after the meeting, Paul and I packed him for his trip to D.C. on Wednesday and got all his stuff laid out and ready to go so when he got home on Friday night, he could quickly repack since he left again on Saturday to go to California and from CA was heading to Denver on Tuesday. I won't have seen my husband for a week and a half when he finally gets home on Friday night and I only saw him for what seemed like five minutes in the days before he left on this trip.

3. Wednesday felt like it was a catch-up day from being out on Tuesday and getting ready to be gone part of Thursday. I just couldn't get everything going in the same direction nor could I motivate myself to be more interested in trying. When I finally packed my suitcase in order to have something to wear when I left town on Thursday, it was the oddest assortment of clothes. Like, I put in shirts I don't even particularly like but I couldn't get my brain to think of anything else to pack. It was also 10:30 at night before I started on this venture which accounts for some of the randomness.

4. Thursday, again nothing going in the same direction and no interest in making it happen. I realize I hadn't told a couple of teachers I'd be leaving midday so I had to cancel their trips to the library. I don't do that but for whatever reason, I hadn't written this absence on my calendar and so I just blissfully continued scheduling classes to come in. Thankfully the teachers were super-understanding and didn't mind my mistake.

When I got to the airport, I opted to park at the airport since it's still fairly cheap to park there ($6/day or so). The slot I'd pulled into was out of parking tickets so I had to yell back at the person who'd pulled in behind me so that we could back up and go to the next ticket slot. The lower two levels of the parking structure were closed off but there was no parking on the upper two levels so I wound my way down to the second level. I worried as I parked that something might happen to the Subaru and I didn't want to end up towed but that was really my only option. I wore my school lanyard with keys and ID into the airport and didn't realize until I got to security that I had these on still. Not really a problem but since I'm prone to losing my keys, I had to make a very conscientious motion to put them in my suitcase so I could make it both there and back with keys. I had a very disappointing wrap from the sandwich shop at the airport and I drank way too much Diet Coke and water while waiting and then on the airplane. Because I was next to the window, I didn't want to ask my rowmates to let me out and it made for a very painful landing. Needless to say, I was happy when I finally got off the plane and saw Donna waiting for me outside (after a much needed pit stop). We'd originally had plans to have dinner with my friend Steph but because her week sounded about like mine felt, we had to cancel those plans. This trip ended up with a couple of cancelled plans but I still had a lovely visit with Donna.

5. Friday, we had lunch in Dallas with my best friend from high school. Amy and I had drifted apart during college, intermittently kept in touch after Paul and I were married, and really got back in touch after our 10-year class reunion five years ago. We had a great visit talking about the old days and what's happening now and all that jazz.

When we left there, Donna and I planned to go to the Wisteria outlet store. I love the catalog and I wanted to see what the outlet was all about. We ended up taking a turn in the wrong direction but it was OK because we found ourselves at a rather nice consignment clothing store where I found these brand new Gianni Bini shoes for only $20:

The color doesn't show up great but those are bright pink with polka dots. One of the lovely men who works in the store was walking through as I was paying and declared that he "LOVE THE PINK SHOES!" Me, too, my friend. Me, too. Donna got some new Enzo Angiolini black loafers and a new moleskin jacket for next to nothing. It reminds met that I need to check out a consignment store that opened here in ABQ a year or so ago. . . .

We did make it to the Wisteria store with about 20 minutes to go before closing time. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without. Not that I didn't buy something (new candleholders that look like pinecones and some red felt Christmas ornaments). I wish I lived close enough to drop in from time to time to check the stock. I think it is one of those kind of places since it's pretty small. Unfortunately, our dinner plans with friends were cancelled but that didn't stop Donna and me from going ahead to Babe's for a fried chicken dinner. Good stuff but the downside is the smell just lingers in your clothes and hair for hours.

5. Saturday, the plan was to go to Allen to see my friends Karen and Chris and their daughters at their new house, eat a late breakfast, and watch the Tech/A&M game. We'd agreed to get to their house about 10:00. I love Karen dearly but she operates in her own space and time realm, one that doesn't really correspond with the rest of the world. Knowing this, I wasn't too worried when we left the house about 15 minutes later than originally planned to get to their house--Karen didn't mind either since she was out at garage sales. In fact, she got home about 10 minutes after we arrived and after chatting a bit, we found ourselves agreeing to go to one more garage sale with her. Then we went home where we were finally able to have a really late (like it was lunchtime) breakfast. Karen flitted around some more in Karen-world and then, since they'd recorded the Tech game, we were able to watch about half of one quarter before we needed to leave. Eh, well. I wish we could have seen more but Tech won and A&M didn't and that's all that matters. We left Chris and Karen's house about 1:45 to head to Grapevine to stop in at a chili cook-off that is organized by my friend Melissa's family's company. It was a little too hot to eat chili and since Karen had only just managed to feed us, we weren't too hungry for it anyway. Sadly (for us, Paul would be happy), we arrived just as the silent auction was ending but we wandered around for a bit and chatted with Melissa and her husband before taking off.

6. Sunday, my flight left at 7:40 which meant a very early wake-up call. Thankfully I was able to nap on the plane. That doesn't always happen--I'm not very good at sleeping in cars or on planes. On the flight to England and on our flight home from Hawaii, Paul plied me full of sleeping pills so I would possibly nap (I didn't sleep on the way home from England as I was un-drugged). On my way back to the parking structure, hoping I'd find my car where I'd left it, I saw one of the airport policemen on this handy thing--a three-wheeled Segway. Because it could be a bad thing to be chasing one of those horrible airport criminals and lose your balance on a regular Segway:
Thankfully, the Subaru was just as I'd left it and I was back home with a yummy breakfast burrito by 8:45 local time to a very annoyed cat (he voiced his displeasure for a good hour) and the Sunday paper. A neighbor who recently moved to Los Lunas (so I guess she's actually a former neighbor) hosted a luncheon at her new house so I spent most of the afternoon there. Funny that I live two houses from a couple of the people I spent most of the day chatting with but we never have that time to just chat during the week.

7. Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday--pretty much back to the daily grind as I get ready for Book Fair next week minus a Paul to spend time with in the evenings. Mostly that means I can watch junkie television without fear of persecution or a need to quickly change channels when he comes into the room. But I'll be glad when he's back home. I do miss him when he's gone.

Balloon Time

Paul and I went to the Balloon Fiesta yesterday morning. The Thursday and Friday launches are my favorites because the special shape balloons go up first and since I didn't have school yesterday, I'd told Paul I would probably go to the balloon field by myself (I was going to go with a friend but her husband had emergency gall bladder surgery earlier this week so she understandably bailed). Paul felt bad that I'd have to go by myself and since there have been quite a few weekends with him working, he took a few hours off in the morning to spend the time with me. We took along one of his coworkers who is new to town.

It was a lovely morning--warm enough that no heavy bundling was required with a bit of a breeze on the field. That breeze on the field meant higher winds aloft, apparently. The balloons never went up too high and were blowing pretty quickly to the north as soon as they launced. Sadly, there was one fatality as a result of a balloon crash. Looking through the pictures we took, I do have pictures of that particular balloon while it was inflating. Such a sad tragedy that all of us on the field were oblivious about having happened. Paul and I commented while we were watching the balloons that the winds were picking up on the field and we were surprised the officials had gone ahead with the Key Grab competition. We first heard of the crash when we got back to the car to head home about 8:45, leaving early so Paul and Will could head to work.

Because of the wind, I don't think as many balloons went up yesterday and the ones that did didn't hang around the field too long. It was harder to get good pictures of the balloons this year. Of course, I still managed to take about 75 pictures. Here is the first balloons of the morning inflating.
Just before lift-off.
The first balloons taking off. The balloon that crashed resulting in the fatality was the flat-top (it's a tetrahedron) balloon just in front of the Smokey Bear balloon (which, incidentally, was involved in a dramatic crash about four years ago when it got entangled in transmission towers and the pilot and two young passengers had to climb down the ladder).
Some of the special shape balloons start to take shape.
The Darth Vader balloon standing up. We tried to get closer but there was a mob of people near this one and the other shapes so we opted to stay to the edge of the balloons and the crowds.
Will and Paul
So, I asked Paul to take a picture of me, meaning, of course, me in front of the balloons. He was so please with himself when he took this one. @@

the "When Pigs Fly" balloon
The Killer Bee balloon appeared to be attacking the green thing balloon.
The bear balloon stands up.
"Gizzmo"--one of my favorite special shapes balloon
Out on the field with all the special shapes inflating.
The witch's house balloon.
The first time in three years that I managed to be on the correct side of the bees when they took off holding hands.
The "Darth Vader" balloon up in the air.
The Cathedral balloon was new this year.
Carmen Miranda
Watching the balloons all float away.
The start of the Key Grab competition
Watching the Key Grab competition.
After last year's whirlwind of visitors, the house was unusually quiet this year during the Fiesta. Paul's friend Jeff and his wife and daughter came into town for the balloons (which were cancelled this morning because of the high winds) but they stayed with their family. We saw them for dinner and visited yesterday.

Oh, and apparently, we really should have gone last Saturday to see the balloons. It seems a certain ABQ native was back in town, visiting the balloon fiesta with his family. Paul said there is no way I would have seen him in a crowd of 15,000 people but apparently, he doesn't understand the power of my Doogie-ometer.

In the mail

I have completed the online application and paid the $50 application fee. I have completed the SLIS application and written the required essay. I have sent the recommendation forms to the people who have agreed to put in a good word for me. I have sent requests for transcripts to be sent to UNT.

I don't know why I'm so nervous about sending in the application to graduate school but whenever I think about it, I want to throw up. Paul pointed out that 1) it doesn't mean I HAVE to go and 2) I might not even get in. Yeah. Thanks for the vote of confidence there on that last one, sweetie.

There are several things that will have to be done once I am accepted (I'm thinking more positively than my husband here). Because I already have an MA, I'll need to have the requirement for the GRE waived (UNM didn't require this test for the program I completed). I also will need to see about possibly having nine of my graduate hours transferred to the SLIS program. If I can do that, I'll only be required to take 27 hours rather than 36 hours and cuts down on the time and money. When I took graduate classes in the past, I was able to take six hours a semester without too much added stress. We'll see how it works out this time.

In the meantime, I need to stop thinking about it because it's making me queasy again.

A little slow on the uptake

At church today, Paul and I were giggling about one of the featured people during the choir's special song being named "Penny Whistle." We couldn't believe that someone would name their child that. But that's what it said: PersonOne Name, Penny Whistle.

About midway through the first verse, Paul looked over at me and we both started laughing at our stupidity. That's right. It wasn't Penny Whistle, the lady with the unfortunate moniker, but rather a pennywhistle, the small Irish tin whistle common in Celtic songs.

Perhaps it should have dawned on us since the title of the song was "Celtic Communion."

One of the few commerials I won't let Paul fast forward through

This one and the one with Neil Patrick Harris. I have no idea what he's even selling in the commerical but I still loves me some Doogie.

This is what I imagine Paul and his friends were like as little guys. And probably what any little guy we might have will be like as well.


(I can't find a better version and the version I saw tonight had a different ending tag but it still had the redhead doing his thing.)