Birthday Weekend

Ceil's birthday weekend. Thursday: picked up Ceil's new pink Schwinn yesterday. Didn't take them long to put it together. Store must not have been busy. Went to bed at halftime of the Falcons/Bucs. Tired after staying up for the Game Seven finish. I only watched a little football. Glanced in on Oklahoma/Iowa State. Only ISU can make maroon or maroon unis look good. We did the Wheel, Jeopardy, Timeless, Chicago Med thing, but I was on my laptop as well.

Friday night we went to see Finding Dory at The Picture Show. Very good. Filled up on popcorn. Got home and watched the end of two movies: Jersey Girl and The Notebook. Matthew got a job at the Whole Foods in East Cobb.

Since late Friday I've been compiling a list of movies I've liked. Every time I would think of another one I would write it down. I'm not really into movies as much as I used to be. One year when I was single I averaged watching one movie a day, between the theater and TV. Jack Reacher was rated PG13. But R rated movies 10-20 years ago are now rated PG13. These days not even cartoons are rated G.

C, M, and I drove over to Athens on Saturday. Picked up Anna and attended an artist's demonstration of screen printing fabric. Anna showed us two of her classrooms: fabric dying and jewelry/metalcrafting. More interesting than an English classroom. Ate lunch at the Big City Bread Company. Made it home in time for the GA/KY game.

After the game I wanted to watch Saturday Night Live to see David Ross and the other Cubs. A few weeks ago I'd watched 30 minutes when Tom Hanks hosted. It was the first time I'd watched SNL in years, and it wasn't too bad. This time they went out of their way to be crude in every skit. The Cubs skit was crude, so I went to bed. Later I saw where they'd sang the Cubs fight song as a barbershop quartet with Bill Murray.

After church we stopped by Perimeter Mall. While Ceil shopped I grabbed a meat pie snack. Spicy, so I drank half the Coke I'd gotten for Ceil. Also had time to delete over a thousand emails. Wanted to take a nap. Should've walked around the mall, but the white leather Nike sneakers I was wearing weren't comfortable. Saw a "vintage" Ford pickup with Dagwood Bumstead on the side, for sale for $18,000.00. I passed.

Met M at Moxie Burger for C's birthday lunch. Ate outside. Didn't get home until 4 pm. Since it was her birthday she got to watch one of her favorite movies, the one about college glee clubs.

Second time in 22 years that the creek behind our house has dried up. I went down and cleaned out all the sticks on the creek bed so it would flow better. Too many leaves to see evidence of freshwater mollusks. It had been a few years since I'd been down to the creek. Later we pulled our winter clothes out of the attic. As we were finishing I heard someone knocking on the door. C's friend Nancy brought cupcakes.

Later I drove C to Publix for school supplies. Good plan by Claire and Andrew to not turn back the clocks all day, then get the kids to go to bed an hour early. After the busy weekend I was ready to go to bed at 10 pm.

Focus group Monday night, on catering. Six women plus me and a 30 year old single guy. Single lacrosse coach ordered healthy, except for the Chickfila nuggets. Mother of one baked her own desserts. Tall older lady quipped "everyone likes potatoes." Older black lady organized meals for 50, and admitted to sometimes passing off restaurant fare as her own (I said I could never get away with that). All the older ladies enjoyed hearing the single guy's exploits – fantasy football drafts and such. He and I laughed at the lady who couldn't remember where she's ordered all the alcohol. Also a younger pregnant girl who agreed with what everyone else said. All eight of us were unanimous in our love for Chickfila food and good service.

The focus group met on the 16th floor of an office building next to the Galleria, across from SunTrust Field. We could hear Air Force C130 cargo planes from Dobbins buzzing by, flying loops on maneuvers. Possibly preparing for post-election rioting and martial law. Guess I shouldn't joke about it.

Got home before ten. M was at a concert at the Masquerade. C was going to bed. The Voice was going off. I watched Last Man Standing. Interesting Christmas tree decorating episode about the family accepting the debt-ridden agnostic fiancé, who finally relented to a church wedding since we was joining the family tribe/community. Previously he'd wanted a "non-traditional" small wedding in the woods, with music from an obscure Aborigine musical instrument. Tim Allen said since the instrument had been in use for thousands of years, "that was as traditional as you could get."

Meatloaf at Taqueria? Sounds good. Reminds me, Ceil cooked beef stew. She always puts in lots of potatoes, even sweet potatoes, which I pick around. Guess I should've included some of the sweet potatoes.

I have felt like I've had a little bug since Sunday night. Felt better Tuesday morning.

Listening to Mark Twain's book "Innocents Abroad." Very good. I like his style and subtle wit.