mellicious | The weekend that was (Reply)

I gave snippets of "what I did this weekend" in the Saturday post, and none at all yesterday. So forthwith, a weekend report.

Saturday we went to my Mom's, as usual, with stops at Fry's and Jason's Deli on the way. Rob wanted to go by Fry's but he didn't want to go before lunch. However, nobody was exactly starving to death and I knew how much trouble I have prying him out of Fry's every time we go there, so I figured it'd be easier if he was hungry (also, it's on the wrong side of the freeway coming back and in a place where crossing is not at all easy), and it was, a bit. I still had to say, "Look, I'm going to check out, you'll be along in a minute, right?" before he would get the hint. He seems to think he has to look at each. individual. title. in the horror section, and there are, I dunno, maybe a thousand or so. A lot. It's still the fastest we've ever gotten out, anyway. No wonder we only go in there a couple of times a year.

We finished cleaning out the closet under the stairs (aka the Closet That Will Not Die) at my mom's house - for some reason, I was laboring under the delusion that we had gotten all the boxes out and all that was back there was some large items (ski clothes, an oil painting, that kind of thing). Those were there, but there were several more boxes behind that. A couple of them were full of Christmas decorations - particularly the big stuff that went on her mantle, and most of that went in the Goodwill boxes since we don't have a mantle and thus don't really have any place to display such things. A few things I may take to the relatives to see if they want them. (There are a couple of items which I think would be especially prized, which I may wrap up and give to people as Christmas gifts. I think that would go over well.) My mom had a big collection of nutcrackers, which she started when they went to Germany 20 years or so ago, and which got added to over the years - you know how it goes, once people know you collect something they buy more of them for you! I didn't want to keep them all - some of them frankly give me the creeps - but we picked out a few of the smaller ones we liked, plus one big heavy one marked "Made in the German Democratic Republic" and we are keeping those. Most of the rest of the big ones were marked "Made in China" and the quality was about what you'd expect from that. I of course sent them all to Goodwill and now I'm going to be wondering if I've given some child lead poisoning.

(Am I the only one around here old enough remember when it was things marked "Made in Japan" that were considered poor quality? You don't see much that's made in Japan any more, unless it's electronics. And with electronics, it's "Made in the USA" that you probably ought to worry about!)

There was also one more box full of papers, which I just did not have the intestinal fortitude to tackle. I will have to do that one next week. My grandfather's death certificate was in an envelope towards the top of the box, to give you an idea of the kind of papers we're talking about.

I have been thinking that we were almost through having to go up to Clear Lake every week to go to Mom's house, but I'm pretty sure I was premature on that. I think that next we are going to be going to Home Depot every weekend to buy stuff for the guy doing the remodeling, and then to Mom's to deliver the goods! At least, near as I understand it that's how the process is going to work. I have to go buy the flooring and the paint and so forth, and then he just does the actual work. So I foresee that being the next stage, starting maybe after Christmas. I have no idea how long that will take, although I'm hoping we can get the house up for sale in the early spring.

I feel like I was unproductive yesterday, although I repotted plants, for goodness sake, and worked on getting the money stuff up to date. For a Sunday that ought to be enough, right? I brought a begonia home from Mom's house, because it was practically the only pot plant that survived the Summer of Neglect - after all, nobody's been living in that house since sometime in March. We had a rainy year, anyway, and I suspect Art watered sometimes when he was over. I never could remember to. The plants in the ground are fine, and in fact are starting to run wild and probably need cutting back, in some cases. The potted plants didn't make it, though, except for this one begonia that seemed to be thriving. Begonias and I don't have a particularly successful history, but I'll give it a try. I haven't seen any snails on the back porch, and I think they caused the demise of the last begonia I had, so maybe there's hope.

I had to go to Wal-Mart to buy potting soil, and while I was there I bought a Norfolk pine. I've always sort of wanted one. They had pretty good sized ones in the garden center for $7 and change and I couldn't resist. It came with some pretty decent-looking Christmas decorations, too. ( I am helpless in the face of Christmas junk.) It doesn't freeze often here, so Norfolk pines can get pretty big if you're careful with them. There used to be a giant one planted in somebody's yard somewhere in Galveston, although I'm not sure I've seen it since the White Christmas - which I guess was three years ago now. That was a truly hard freeze and I think a lot of palms and other delicate stuff died. I'm not sure we've had a hard freeze since then, though. I don't think we had one last year, at least, although there were a few days that were close.

We had a few cool days last week - speaking of weather - and then it warmed up again, but there's supposed to be a front coming through Wednesday night and it's supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend. Which just reinforces my desire to stay home. (Although I have cracked as far as considering the possibility of going shopping at some point. But not Friday.)

I'm still playing GuildWars, just in somewhat smaller doses.

columbina has deserted me (although he says it's not a permanent desertion) and I go slower without him, but I keep on going. This weekend I have been running my ritualist around doing various things. I would like to get her some cool armor, but she is a long way from the place where you get the kind I have in mind, so I mostly worked on that. (For Col's benefit - I did both Consulate Docks and Venta Cemetery by myself with no problems. I think it was the first time I've done either of them without another human along, but I've done both of them enough times that I didn't really have any serious concerns about it. And - of course - it's Ancient Armor I want to get for Gia.) I also decided to get her some new armor for the interim, because I was seriously tired of what she had. I may be posting armor pictures later! I found a set of moderately-priced armor which she hadn't had before, so getting that - and dyeing it and adding runes and so forth - occupied me for a good while on Saturday night.