![Me and Grandpa [365portraits: 145]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2431/3569320563_1e4e63bf7e.jpg)
I could listen to Grandpa’s stories and memories for hours on end, and it’s hard to imagine they’re finally over. Like all my other grandparents—I was so fortunate to have such wonderful parents of my parents—I will miss him very, very much.
Category Archives: Family
Grammy
Grammy, thank you for your love, your sweetness, your warmth, and your always upbeat attitude. I’m going to miss you so very, very much.
Lemon Bars and Chlorine
This was a nice weekend, over all. On the downside, Charlie’s been coming down with a bad cold (or something) and spent all Sunday out of commission. Which meant, of course, that he got to avoid the craziness of a family holiday dinner.
The dinner was, needless to say, ultra-delicious. My mom’s side of the family is populated with great cooks and the food we had this year was no exception; ham, scalloped potatoes, carrot souffle, scalloped pineapple, green beans, asparagus, and probably something else that I’m blanking on. Plus three desserts; banana pudding, a carrot cake, and lemon bars that I’d made and brought with me.
The bars turned out pretty good overall. Next time I need to make sure I really push all of the crust out nice and flat; it was a little high at one end and those bars had to get thrown out because they were almost all crust and no lemon. Also, I need to buy a lemon zester before I make this again because using a cheese grater is a real pain in the butt. Still, overall, they were good. (Jim, I’ll edit in the recipe under a jump when I get home tonight.)
This morning I finally got off of my butt and went lap swimming for the first time in approximately 20 years. So yes, I did indeed survive. If my counting was correct (and it may very well not be) I swam 20 laps (or 40 lengths) of the pool, which comes out to 1000 meters. With little rest breaks between each lap, mind you, with which to confer with Julie and Laura. It was a nice time, although I clearly need to get some goggles because everything is now a tiny bit blurry. Also, need to find my rubber flip-flops. It’s been a while since I’ve had to do the whole shower-at-the-gym routine. (My current gym is all of 5 minutes away, my old gym was a 2 minute walk around the corner.)
I’d originally wanted to use this spring to tackle a triathlon, but missing Philly back in November put a hold on that. But I might give one of the mini-triathlons from Tri It Now a stab. If I get the bike serviced I am pretty sure I could handle that right now with no problem. (Famous last words, I’m sure. I can hear Moose cackling at my naivety.) In the meantime, though, I just need to keep at it. Practice makes better…
Not So Smart, Sometimes
I went to the gym this morning, even though I was a little tired because of not being able to initially fall asleep last night. But I need to get back on track, especially if I’m going to run the Potomac River Run marathon in May. The end result is that when I got into the office I was a little sleepy.
Which is, of course, the best time to buy gifts online for your younger sister’s birthday. She had asked for a gift card from Lowe’s, and I went online and ordered it to be sent to her. Except, well, in my head I somehow decided that where she was really wanting a giftcard was from Kohl’s.
Lowe’s, Kohl’s, what’s the difference, right? They both have four letters, and then a possessive.
Yeah, not so much. I just left Suzanne a message to just send me back the Kohl’s card (I tried to cancel the order but cannot do so, hmph) and I’ll in the meanwhile send her a Lowe’s card as well as the rest of her gifts. Guess I’ll be doing some Kohl’s shopping next month!
Thankful for Cuteness
Weddings
Confession time: I love weddings.
Good weddings mean that everyone has a great time as you celebrate the love between two people. Bad weddings… well, they provide great story fodder for years to come. But yeah, I really love going to weddings, especially when I’ve known the people for years. Saturday was my cousin Allison’s wedding to her boyfriend Joe, and it was a great time; lots of relatives came down for it, and it was fantastic to see so many of them. I really get a kick out of how fast we all slide back into conversations and running jokes like it’s been minutes (instead of months or years) since we’ve all seen each other.
I’m not sure which was the funniest part of the wedding—when me and some of my cousins had a “model fierce-off” (no, you do not get to see the photos, they outnumber me and will skin me alive), or when Allison gave up all pretense of tossing the bouquet over her shoulder and instead turned around and whipped it right at her sister. Who knew Allison had such a good fastball pitch?
I also got to break out the new camera and take a few pictures, which was… well… unsurprisingly fun.
