Small world

I went to Judy's Coffee & Crochet again this week.  I go for the company, to be social with a few woman from church, to touch base with a couple of friends.  The coffee place is just a mile and a half away, which makes it awfully convenient.

It's such a fun time. She's been wanting to get together a group for years; actually, she led one back when I first met her, held when and were Trevor and Kurt had their weekly chess club meetings.  But the crochet group only lasted a short time, as the chess club folded within a couple of months of her first group. She had originally intended this new group to just last for a month or so--but I can see it being a long term, ongoing group.  Wouldn't that be nice?!

There was a new woman there. I knew she was coming, as she'd posted on Facebook. I knew to keep an eye out for her. She sat down next to me, and I overheard someone ask her where she works.

Sarah: I work for Roanoke County Social Services.

Me: Hey, *I* work for Roanoke County Social Services!

(We're both looking at each other.)

Me: I work in eligibility.

Sarah: *I* work in eligibility.

Me: AH, I remember when you started! I saw your bio in the mail room!

There are about 40 of us on three floors, but Sarah and I have never seen each other before.  How weird is that?

Annnnd another week down!

It was wonderfully warm early in the week, and Trevor perfected iced coffee.  Can't wait to be drinking this during the summer!  He must have taken this photo with some cool effects (Lomo?), and it turned out better than anything I snapped.

On Monday, Trevor, Robert and I went to the community college to get information on its "mechatronics" program. We met with the director and coordinator for an hour.  It looked like a fantastic program, but none of the credits in the two year program transfer to state schools, so we've ruled it out.  The director was very kind with his words, complimenting Trevor on the questions he asked, and telling us that we were the most prepared and informed parents he'd met with in the several years the program has existed.  That made me happy--I've been so blessed by many friends who have always been quick to share advice and experiences!

Chipotle for lunch.  Robert talked on the phone in the parking lot, and despite his request for a veggie burrito, I ordered him steak.  Have to laugh at my complete absent mindedness.

I went to lunch Tuesday with a long time friend.  Vicky and I usually catch up during soccer season, but none of her kids are playing this time. There are some people I just love, and she's one of them. I was glad for the opportunity to share with her ways that she and her husband have really impacted us over the years. We barely knew them when Holly went to Peru, but Brett was one of the leaders, and that was good enough for us to send her along.  His words gave me peace the entire time she was gone:  "The safest place for your daughter is in the center of God's will."  That made all of the difference for me, took away all of my fears, let me sleep at night.  There have been several other things, typically small comments that they never knew would speak so loudly and stick with me.  As anti-social as I am, I had a wonderful time at lunch, stayed until the last possible minute, and look forward to doing it again . . . maybe next season.  ;)

The guys had  soccer practice on Tuesday evening.  Judy held a learn-to-knit class at the coffee shop a mile and a half down the road. I went but not to knit but to enjoy the company; a few women from church, including long time friend Peggy, and some new people.  And the coffee was good too.

Trevor reffed a couple of games, and a couple of others were rained out.

He and I continue to watch through seasons of Top Chef.  Holly and I are flying through Friends, almost to the end, and I'll be ready for something a bit more dramatic and intense again.

I cut Trev's hair and did a pretty darned good job.  I've come along way since nicking his ear when he was three, and after paying other people to do it for a couple of years, we've known that I can't do it worse.  Yet, at least.  It's worked out so well--he finds a picture or describes what he wants, I do it, and he cleans up the bathroom when we're done.  LOL.   And it's fast and free too.

Gathered up food for Holly's last two weeks of school.  She asked for crockpot tacos, and when I came home work to shred the meat, I found that I'd left the absorbent pad/packaging under the meat.  AGAIN.  UGHHHHHHHH.  How in the world do I do this? Soooo stupid sometimes.  :(

Friday night soccer games.  Had a conversation with another mom whose son has been accepted into the mechatronics program but won't be participating, as their concerns are identical to ours.  Nice to have that confirmation, both that the program looks so good but just is not for us.

Saturday up to NOVA.  Trevor was going to come but changed his mind.  He just hates all of that car time, and I don't blame him one bit.  It was rainy and drizzly when I left but cleared shortly.  Holly and I unloaded the food and packed a bunch of stuff into the car.  The great move out begins!

 lettuce, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, all ready to go

We went back to H Mart, the giant Asian grocery store to grab a few things.  Love that place!  Fantastic produce, great prices throughout the store.  We'll miss that over the summer, I know.  Q-Doba for lunch.  In another brainless move, I realized I'd left her pastrami, cheese, and package of deli buffalo chicken at home.  (It was not a good week for me.) Instead of the little mini-Walmart, we went to another with a deli--and it may be our new Walmart of choice. Stopped for Peruvian chicken for her to take home for dinner, and she treated me to Starbucks before I left.

Church on Sunday morning, picked up Kurt on the way home, and the boys hung out with pizza, those previously forgotten buffalo wings, and watched Real Madrid win at soccer.

 And that was the week.

This past week

My sad attempt at playing catch up for the last five weeks. Here's my recap for this week, along with some mostly relevant pictures from the week too.

Trevor reffed two games, and center reffed for RVHR.  He played soccer with friends on Thursday night, and the whole group of them went out to dinner afterwards.  He had a great time--first time he's really done anything like this.  They went to Alejandro's, and Trevor's new soccer jersey drew the attention of the waiters, haha.

Kota loves pillows and doesn't care if she uses the cat as a pillow. 

He doesn't seem to mind either.

Trev played his third soccer game of the season last night, and they tied.  So far, they are 2-0-1 and are barely hanging on to first place. This team they tied is right on their heels.  He switched teams this season, leaving the Rams after being on the team for 13 seasons.  I was proud of how he first began thinking of it last season, continued to consider it, and kept his thoughts about it pretty quiet until finally committing to the move just before registration.  He's thrilled to be playing with a large group of several of his friends (many of whom were part of the group that played and went out on Thursday night).

He took the ACT yesterday morning.  He was pretty calm and non-stressed all week, so good for him!  He's feeling good about how he did, and now it's just a matter of waiting for test results.  He'll likely take it again, because  he has time, and there's no real reason not to.

View from the church parking lot

I roasted a pork loin and then turned it into pork green chile.  Schroes came over, and Judy and I went off to play BINGO at church. 

It's a once-a-year fundraiser.  We had a blast, and I even won something--yay, me!  There were about 40 people there, eating food and playing, and $500 was raised for a youth group conference.

By the time we came back home, Robert had made burritos with the green pork chile, and we had rice and beans that I'd made earlier.

This morning, we went back to church.  Love, love, love this place.  Love the people, can't say that enough.  Rainy day, gray and drizzly.  Lounged at home, soup for dinner.  Great week. Great weekend.




  

Robert goes to Seattle

He left this afternoon.  Ten days, with Mike and Barb, going through as much of Jean's house as possible in preparation for an upcoming move to a retirement center.

Love our airport. 

It's about the size of the Sam's Club we had in Colorado Springs.

We came home, and I walked the dog while chatting with my sister on the phone.

Holly treated me and Trev to Starbucks.  We walked around the mall, where we looked at puppies.  We went to Petsmart to look at fish, but they were out (!!), so we looked at cats.  We went to Walmart, and Holly treated us to Chipotle, which we grabbed and came back home to eat dinner and watch tv.

Good end to a great weekend, except for the part about Robert being gone for ten days. I'm sure it's the longest we've been apart in, oh, 25 years, no kidding.

Daylight saving time weekend!

Definitely one of my weekends each year, even worth giving up an hour! And this year was a really, really great one.

Saturday.  Robert and Trevor went off to watch the RVHR basketball finals, where the Rams beat the Flames.  Jason met up with them there and came home with Trevor.  Robert went to the Tap House with the new pastor. I'm so glad they are friends.

Sunday.  Church with Robert.  Schroes were there, Charlie's first time, Erich came before going back to school, Judy, and Kurt.  Jim and Peg slid in 15 minutes late.  Dave Stein gave the message.  We'd heard him before at CCR, and it was not good.  This time was totally different, the spirit of God was moving in Dave, and he was wonderful. What an encouragement and blessing to see him AND to hear him.  Dave and Jen have said this is their "resting place," indicating their stay here is temporary.  I hope not.

Second week in a row we shut the sanctuary down just chatting. Judy invited Jim and Peg along for dinner.  They are a great friends match, which I am SO glad!  I'm too lazy, have no big desire to work on friendships much at this point in my life.  (How terrible does that sound?) Snagged a lemon chess cake, taking that for dessert later.

Came home and made pistachio torte for dessert later too. Warmer weather, getting rid of most of the snow.

To Schroes for dinner, joined of course by Jim and Peg. Such a nice time, and Charlie and Judy and Jim and Peg totally hit it off, just as I suspected.  A somewhat early night, thanks to the time change.

Look familiar? They do this a lot.

Just a great weekend. 

Break for Spring!

I went up to NOVA yesterday to pick up Holly.  Our street gets plowed quickly, which always surprises me--we are at the end of a cul-de-sac.  So getting out yesterday morning was no problem. It was gorgeous out, bright blue sky, with temps in the teens and frozen snow.

It was surreal to see the leftovers from yesterday's storm--the sides of the interstates were littered with overturned semis, a jack-knifed truck, and cars that had gone off the road. Quite unusual, there were also two accidents along the way. 

(I have been very surprised to have few delays for the past year and a half we've been making this drive.  Oh, wait! I spoke too soon.)

Such a beautiful campus with lovely, wooded grounds

A number of different things had us running a bit behind schedule, but not bad, all things considered, and we left school an hour later than I'd hoped. We took a nickel tour of Fairfax, trying to follow map directions to Wendy's, and we were off!

Holly had been terribly worried about her fish, and she'd transferred him into a smaller bowl, hoping he would get better.  She held his bowl in her lap in the car.  It was so sad, and he died on the way home.  :(  He's been such a sweet little fish, just a baby when she got him during Christmas break more than a year ago. It was really something to see him get bigger and full of color.  She babied him and had him quite nicely trained; he was always happy for human attention, and he was a perfect guy to share her room.

We had several, mostly unexplained, traffic slowdowns. It reminded me of Thanksgiving weekend, and it took us almost an hour longer to get home.

Pizza for dinner, followed by Amazing Race, continued episodes as Holly and I watch our way through Friends. Trevor made late night snacks of oatmeal for Holly and tortilla pizza for himself, Robert woke back up, and we all finally went to bed around 2 a.m.  And Spring Break begins!

Annnnd spring snow!

The snow melted overnight. After 16" of snow over the past two weeks, it was finally gone this morning. The rain that lasted all night washed it away, except for the roadsides and edges of driveways where snow had been shoveled. The rain today turned to snow. Quickly. It began snowing at 12:30, and I left work at 1, knowing it would be bad. It was already covering the cars. Temps hovered at 32, so I knew driving should be okay, but it was a slow drive home on the interstate. Better than sideroads, no doubt.

Turning onto Catawba.

Halfway down Catawba, cars were at a standstill.  I could tell it was just half a dozen cars or so ahead, and cars came by from the other direction.  After about five minutes, traffic began moving again, with no indication as to what had happened.

No one had been up or down my street for awhile.  Looking in my rear view mirror, I was leaving some pretty good tracks.

My car slipped at bit at the top of the hill/curve, but I was almost there.  I don't think I've driven on roads like this since Colorado, and I kept reminding myself that this was no different than driving my little Corolla SR-5, which was a wonderful little sled-car in the snow.

Home sweet home.

Four more inches on the ground.  Very wet, completely different than the past few weeks.  It stoppd a few hours later and already was easier to drive in, at least according to Robert.  Nice, because although it will drop another 20 degrees tonight, I'm planning to head out tomorrow morning to pick Holly up and bring her home for spring break.

Day out

Judy, Kurt, Trevor, and I cancelled our planned trip to Richmond due to the weather.  We stayed local and went to lunch at Trevor's and my favorite buffet.  Judy was able to eat her diet food, Trevor and I had sushi galore, and Kurt threw everything up in the parking lot afterwards. (He's been having stomach issues similar to what Holly used to have.)

As Judy and I chatted on, the boys pulled out their DSes. You need big pockets to hold these, plus a phone, is all I can say. 

Lighting is less than flattering, my flash was accidentally left on!  

They came back to our house for several hours, nice to hang out for the day.  Field trip will be rescheduled at a later date.

Chilly at work

7:30 a.m.  It's 55 degrees at my desk.  And it's dark too, because a year ago, there was a vote, and a majority-by-one determined that the florescent lights would not be turned on during the day.  It's like working in a dungeon, cold and dark.  So dreary.

 I plug in my little heater (thank you, Robert), and an hour later, it is 61 degrees.

By 10, it's reached 67.  Six more hours and I can go home!

At some point, I went up to the third floor. It's toasty warm up there, but the construction noise from the 4th and 5th floors was so awful that I preferred my freezing space.  At least I can hear on the phone.

In two weeks, we move up to the fourth floor.  But it's not being renovated. It has, however, had some demo work done.  And then the county Board of Supervisors decided that, although they'd approved the demo work, they were not prepared to approve the reno work.  So the demo'ed fourth floor is having what's left of the floor--concrete--finished for us.  They are replacing the walls that were taken down.

It's expected that we will move one more time after that, back to our original fifth floor. That was the only floor that was approved for renovation.  No time frame on that.

Meanwhile, the parking lot is going to be redone, repaved, relined.  There are new city rules that ultimately result in allowing fewer spaces than we have now.  While the parking lot is being made new, half of it will be unusable.  There is parking two blocks away that we are encouraged to use.  There will be half of the usual parking lot, and there is limited all day street parking.  I think I'll be okay, since I get there earlier than most people.

I was really hoping to not be here for the parking lot issues, but here I am.

Tuesday

Cold, but the blue sky and sunshine made all the difference.

Morning.

Afternoon.

The driveway 1/3 shoveled.

A day off of work for me!

So cold!

It's been bitter cold for days, and the weekend was super windy.

Snow today, hard and dry, lasting almost all day. It's only 15 degrees, it's too cold for snow!

We stayed in and stayed warm.  I had postponed my planned Valentine's dinner for Robert and made his new favorite pork green chile. He made scrambled egg burritos swimming in green chile for dinner.  To.die.for. 

Can't WAIT for spring!!!

Men Cook for Woman Valentine's Dinner

Robert slept in on Sunday. I had to leave the house early to pick up Trevor and Kurt. I was a little unsure what to expect after the weather last night, but the roads were fine (exceptions were the two abandoned cars that had slid off the road and were facing backwards).

Kurt came back over after church for the afternoon.

Robert and I dropped him off and headed out to the Men Cook for Women dinner. We had no idea what to expect. We knew men bring food, men cook steak and chicken. Women don't.

 The daytime view is lovely. Nighttime, breathtaking.

 Everything was sooooo nice!  This is an annual thing, and it's very organized. The tables were set up with white tablecloths and Valentine decorations scattered across.  Places were already set. There was another table with candles and flowers. 

People are so friendly here, which made me really brave. It's a small church, but because there are two services, there are a lot of people we don't know.  Both couples we met are also brand new. We've heard talk about all of the new people (which includes us). It's always funny when you assume someone else has been there a long time, and you find out they don't know anyone either!

 By the time the women were seated, places were set with filled salad plates and baked potatoes.  Men served drinks, other side dishes, and offered meat selections. 

It was so impressive! First the service--I've never had less than a buffet meal at a church before, ever.  And the food was fantastic!

When the meal was done, the men served dessert:  pina colada cake, pumpkin pie, and chocolate cupcakes that surprisingly tasted as delicious as they looked.

It was a really nice evening.  When we'd first arrived, we sat in the parking lot asking, why in the world did we sign up for this?  But it was fun, and we enjoyed meeting a few more people.  Hands down, this is the friendliest church we've ever been to.  Ever.

Valentine's Day!

Robert went up to Mason to take food to Holly.  It was super cold. He spent some time in her room fiddling with a few things (flowers!).  They made a trip to the grocery store and went to Q-Doba for lunch and even ran into Chipotle to get her dinner for later!

Before he left, he'd given me a sweet little flowering plant and my favorite chocolate orange sticks and Reese's.  Man after my own heart, exactly what I wanted (especially those orange sticks!).

I took Trevor over to Kurt's house to spend the night.

I cleaned house big time, including that pull-out-the-couch kind of vacuuming, and found an old pair of Robert's reading glasses, haha!  I've been wanting to train Kota to put her own toys away. I put them in her bed.  I don't think she liked that.  She looks so sad!

I realized she had her own idea of picking up--she moves them in front of the coffee table, exactly where I don't want them!

We had a few little snow squalls but weren't expecting any wild weather.
Robert called about 80 miles out, reporting white out conditions and fog. 

He called about 40 mins. later, after sliding on sheer ice in a curve, back and forth three times, going sideways down the interstate at 50 mph, and passing a car that had already bashed into the guardrail.  His only comment:  "I'm glad I know how to steer on ice."  Yes, we're glad about that too.

The snow squalls were patchy, even locally. We got practically nothing here, but a friend three miles away was snowed in.

It took Robert maybe half an hour longer to get home, but that was okay.  I am SO thankful that he went instead of me.

Light!!

My friend Cindy shared a picture of a new chandelier hung in her bedroom.

I coveted. I so rarely do that! I wanted a light like that.  I wanted THAT light.

This is our first home without lights in the bedroom ceilings.  Not really a big deal to me, except that the light switch by our door is connected to a small corner accent light that leaves me still in the dark.

So Robert spent hours upon hours over the past two months looking at possibilities. We read reviews after reviews. Did I like this? Like that? What size? We compared measurements to existing chandeliers we have, and we made a cardboard circle to put on our bedroom ceiling for perspective.

And we ended up finding THAT light and bought it with Christmas money.  (Thanks, Dad and Sherry!)

At first, every time we walked into the room, it was a complete shock to see it hanging from the ceiling.  But we liked it.  There's still no power to it. Robert will have to tap in to the walls and bring the power up into the ceiling.  Meanwhile, we can enjoy looking at it and imagining the light it will bring into the room.

The dog

I heard something down the hall and couldn't figure out if it was Robert (who I thought was in the shower) or if the cats were up to something.  It was coming from Trevor's room.

Trevor had left an open bag of Cheetos in his room.  Kota had found it, which was surprising, because I didn't realize she went into our rooms if no one was there.  She began eating Cheetos and got her head stuck in the bag.

I laughed until I cried, calling for Trevor to come see and take a picture.

Poor little dog!  I felt a little guilty that I laughed so hard at her, but her feelings didn't see to be hurt, and her breath smelled better than it usually does.

Saturday

Trevor had a ref recertification class for soccer, so he was out of the house early.

I picked him up at noon, and we went to Hibachi for lunch.  It's become kind of "our place."  It's not so much a favorite of Robert or Holly, but Trevor and I really enjoy going there.

We watched a bit of TV. We're currently watching both Top Chef and Survivor, so we juggle between those.

Our pastor put a last minute invite out on Facebook so Robert ended up meeting with him.  For beers. At a local brewery. As far as I know, Robert was the only one going. Hahaha.  He had a good time. It's only 5 minutes from our house, but he was gone for four hours.  I checked, and we're still allowed to go to church tomorrow.

I ran to Walmart and bought new sheets for Trevor, who tore a hole in them.  Last week, I'd had to buy Holly new school sheets for the same reason. So funny, I haven't bought sheets in a long time, so I guess they were due.

I tried to duplicate the cucumber wasabi sauce I had on tacos last week at Macado's (lunch with Judy).  Trevor had it with fish tonight.  It was okay, but I obviously have to work on it.

Oh, and the weather was nice.  High 50s.  Finally.  It won't last, but spring is coming!

Quick trip to GMU and the rest of the weekend

I made a quick trip up to Fairfax on Saturday.  It was a gorgeous drive, blue, sunny skies, except that it was 19 degrees outside.  Ha!  Holly and I had already planned to stay inside as much as possible. After we put away the food I'd brought up, we made our usual trip to Walmart.  We tried a new (to us) Chinese restaurant--unfortunately, it was not one that will go on our list of favorites. Holly described it as mall food. I think the mall food is better, although this was edible, and it certainly could have been worse.

I'm back up for Indian or Q-Doba next time.  :)

We went to the mall. We haven't been there in months, maybe not even since last spring.  I specifically wanted to get one thing from Sephora (which we don't have locally), and they were out of it!  Holly chose something else, and she had just enough on a gift card to cover the cost.  It worked out perfectly. We found available seats and sat down and chatted.

On the way back to school, we stopped at Chipotle so she would have something to take home for dinner.  She treated me to Starbucks on campus, where we surprisingly found a small table tucked into a corner.  We went back to her room, and she put on her new sheets (old ones tore).

I had an easy drive home, fueled by Coke, Cheetos, and pumpkin seeds.  I've relaxed a bit about night driving (that deer fear), and as has been the case for the past few trips, I drove the last hour in the dark.

As I walked in the door, Judy texted me that she and Charlie were at the new bar/restaurant down the road, so Robert and I went down to join them for a couple of hours.  Fun, fun!  We were at a little table in the packed bar with a loud UVA basketball on 5 giant screens. (It really was fun, we ignored the basketball, haha.)

Robert and I went to church yesterday morning. As much as we've church hoppped for the last almost-five years, this is the first time the pastor and other people have ever friended me on FB. We've been going there for two months, and we know people. Really awesome.  Talked with one of my new friends yesterday and found out they'd gone to "our" Calvary Chapel here for a year before leaving in August. BAHAHAHA!!  That's crazy!  We were both pretty, um, excited in our exclamations that, "Us Calvary Chapel people always find each other!"  A lot of truth in that, and I'll be laughing over this for a long time.)

Hung out for the rest of the day, made chicken wings in the crockpot, and watched part of the Superbowl. 

The end.

Dad and Sherry

My dad sent me this picture last week of him and Sherry.  Loved it!!

He's been telling me I need to get a few recent pics of Holly and Trevor.  Do I please my dad or incur the wrath of my kids?  Well, I have to live with them! The last best picture I have of them together was taken as they walked in front of me on Easter at the Lincoln Memorial.  LOL. There is less opportunity for those pictures now too, since they are not together as often as they used to be!  Love you, Dad, and I'll work on it.  :)

Back to school

I spent Saturday making sure Holly had enough food to take back with her. Robert fixed a few things for her too and helped clean out her fish tank.  Holly did last minute laundry, deciding what to take with her and packing up.

Robert loaded the car up, and we were out of the house nicely early--about 7:30!  Foolishly, I didn't check the weather report before we went.  Expecting it to hit 50 (which had been predicted earlier in the week), it was foggy and misty in DC, in the mid 30s.  Brrr!  I was not ready for that!

We borrowed a moving bin to get everything from the car to her room. Brilliant idea, and we'll have to do this again when there's a lot to carry in or out.  We moved everything in two simple trips, unpacked all of the cooler food and went to Walmart to finish up shopping.  We stopped at Chipotle to get her a burrito to eat for later, and then went to the McDonald's near campus for a quick lunch.

Parking at school is a giant pain.  You can only park by the buildings for 30 mins. at a time, and I'm terrified to go over after getting that parking ticket last year.  Parking in the garages in not convenient, and it's $3 an hour for the privilege to park!  Holly's used to racing around campus (on foot), but I'm not!  So we parked in the garage, tried to check out an unfamiliar classroom, and picked up a few books we're renting from the bookstore.  We went back to her room, where we hung a picture, and hung up clothes that she'd brought back.  Time to go get my car again, bring it close by and finish up a few more things in her room.

Easy drive home, but after McDonald's, and car food consisting of Good & Plenty, Coke, and pumpkin seeds, my stomach was blech.  Instead of the usual endlessly flipping radio stations to try to find something good, I had burned a couple of Skip Heitzig sermons on CD to listen to in the car.

It was a good day, a nice end to a great 5 week Christmas break.  It was wonderful having my girl back home. Spring break is just two months away, and I'm guessing this semester will fly just like second semester did last year.  Now to get back into the routine of regular life.

Finals nights of break

Robert made his long-famous chile rellanos for dinner before Holly left. There were extras that we packed up for her to take back.

Nope, I did not intentionally create the Mexican flag.