Who's Leg Do I Hafta Hump?

A Mother's Day Haiku From the Cats:

Nice lady pets us.

Scoops the poop out of our box.

We call her mommy.

It was a delightful Mother's Day weekend, in spite of a minor change of plans. Sophie was supposed to join us (by us, I mean Kenny's family) for a noon lunch and chit-chat. She called me on THURSDAY and told me she was going to be too tired to make it on Sunday. Same old shit I have to contend with every time we make plans with her, so I just let her do what she wanted with no arguing about it. She was all set to go, until she found out we'd be having lunch at a restaurant, which would cost - wait for it .......... MONEY!! Not even HER money, Kenny and I were treating. But whatever, so she didn't go. It's a minor annoyance, because I had ordered a birthday cake for her at a bakery which would have been on the way to her house, and now I didn't want to drive all that way to pick it up to not have her there to celebrate. So I called the bakery, told 'em to keep it in the fridge and I imagine I'll go pick it up Tuesday after work and take it out to her, which is her actual birthday anyway. But still a whole upset of plans.

I had noon reservations at Bucca de Beppo in Strongsville for the clan. I was a little apprehensive that it would be too "trendy/modern" for Marge & Stanley's liking, seeing as they normally gravitate towards simpler fare ala Wendy's and Hometown Buffet. But it was all going to be different today, I wanted something out of the norm and "special." Plus, I had to choose by who had reservations available, so this was the pick. I was happily surprised that Marge especially loved the meal, she proclaimed it the best lasagna she's ever eaten and was more than happy to have a container full of leftovers. We had Chicken Marsala, Spaghetti with Meatballs and Lasagna - more than enough food to feed five people, but we wanted to provide a nice variety. It's a good thing Sophie didn't come, she would have had a heart attack had she seen the bill - let's just say we scared the hell outta $200. But hey, it was no time to be skrimpy with the family that gives so much to us.

We ended the afternoon with a visit at Marge & Stanley's house, before we headed home just a short while ago. Kenny went back that way and to his mother's house, she has the electronic capabilities to turn a record into a DVD, and he wants her to do that with the soundtrack from Fletch that he has on vinyl. He wanted me to go with him, but then we had a discussion about the Sunday Night Rules of when I like to be settling down in the house for the night, so he went on his own. I'm supposed to be doing laundry and dishes, gearing up for the week, but here I sit doing a much more fun - albeit unproductive - task.

I'm delighted to discover that my best "girlfriend" Rob is home from his Disney Cruise Vacation - hooray for me!! I missed him while he was gone! His website is partially updated and I spent a good portion of my designated clothes-washing time catching up on his fun. What's not to love about a cruise? It's just the best fun I've ever had on vacation. Can't wait for my 14-day extravaganza in the Fall.

A trip to Chicago is in the plans for this week, am going for a work thing. Should be fun, I've never "done" Chicago, and while we won't be there long enough to really do 'er up right, a few of the folks from Creative and I have a plan to paint the town at least mauve, even if we don't make it to a full-out saturated red. Kenny and I were going to turn it into an impromptu weekend getaway, but airfare for him alone was going to be over $600, not to mention the expense of a hotel in the heart of the action. A simple weekend would have been close to $2000, with part of my expenses paid! That's a 7-day cruise, we said "No" to that idea and instead I'll stick to the work agenda, zipping in on Thursday and out on Friday. Maybe we'll make a night in Chicago feel like a weekend, if we do it up right.

It was a really fast week, they do seem to get faster as you age. I had two days of Competitive Shopping bookending the week, so I had an early Monday and Friday. I spent a few of the evenings at the gym, getting reacquainted with the Pilates Reformer and the ellipital machines, and had golf on Thursday at Valleaire. I had a pretty good game, not my best, but some good shots in there. All-in-all, a fun time.

Friday night K & I stayed in, we were supposed to go see a Honky Tonk Heroes show at the House of Blues, but it started too early for me to be happy about it (7 p.m.) so we opted out. I just couldn't gear up for more driving, I had been driving all over Creation for the Comp Shopping for work, and I needed a break from the roads. We ended up watching movies on HBO, The Astronaut Farmer and Dreamgirls. I stopped paying attention by the time Dreamgirls was wrapping up, it was just FAR too long of a movie. I was done. In fact, at one point Kenny said Jennifer Hudson looked like "Aunt Jemima" (she had on a shapeless frock and a headkerchief) and I said, "She does. Wanna make some pancakes?" So I went to make banana-pecan pancakes rather than watch the end of the movie. And that wrapped up the first week of the diet contest I'm in at work: banana pecan pancakes at 11 p.m. at night. It's really no wonder I only lost .2 lbs last week. But I guess it's something :) I did, however, work part of my ass off at the gym on Saturday. To which I'm sure I gained it all right back at Bucca today. Ah, well. Yin & Yang.

That's as interesting as I am for this week. I'm off to make clean underwear happen so I have something to wear in Chicago this week.

Peace and kiss the ones you love (which is why I've kissed Twinkle incessently this weekend). By the way, his eye must have stopped bother him, he's stopped winking. Whew, I was worried!