Archive of Marcia's Musings August 27-September 1, 2002Sunday, September 1, 2002
Successful Day
We had an extremely successful day shopping yesterday! Okay, let me tell you a little something about our house and that'll fill you in on what we were shopping for yesterday. Our house is a two-story Colonial with a little over a third of the second floor being our master bedroom. We're using the same bed linens in our bedroom but, with it being an actual "master suite", it includes a bathroom inside of it (along with a full walk-in closet for me and another closet for Brian's clothes and shoes!). Now, my feeling is that when you have a bathroom inside of the master bedroom suite, you have to match the colors to the master bedroom colors SOOOOO, we bought new towels for the bathroom (a wonderful olive green that is very warm looking) and, hung the two smaller panels from the burlap curtains at the window in our bathroom.
The problem with this is that the burlap contrasted too much with the third towel (I use a separate towel for my hair) so I wanted to find a towel that was kinda gold in color and would match the burlap curtains better. That was not as easy as it sounded. I had a scrap of the burlap with me but trying to match it was virtually impossible and then, my shopping buddy found one that worked!! Yeah, pick up two of the towels and one out of four items was found!!
Next on the agenda for me was a set of four ramekins that we could use for the melted butter that would be served with lobster. That took a little wandering around to find but, we got those, too. Next were the lobster "crackers"-- not so easy. One woman at Macy's (another customer) suggested using the nutcrackers that you use on walnuts, etc. Well, that made perfect sense to me and you can find those at any grocery store so I wasn't concerned about being able to find those after that-- worst case, we'd find them at the grocery store. Okay, on to the last item on the list: A Banana Tree. A banana tree is used for "hanging" bananas so that they stay fresh longer-- when bananas lay down, they get ripe faster so a tree will help their "shelf life". Macy's didn't have one so out to the mall we went.
I glanced over and saw a dollar-store which are always great fun for me-- we went over to wander in and around and guess what they had? Lobster & Nut Crackers!!! I picked up for and wandered the rest of the store trying to find something else to buy. No joy, however so I paid for the crackers and on we went to the next store.
I always wear my diamond studs and they were due for a cleaning. There's a Kay Jewelers at this mall so I went in to get my earrings cleaned and checked. I noticed that there was a necklace on sale: round and baguette diamonds in a teardrop shape. It was gorgeous but, I don't make decisions like that without Brian cuz I never buy jewelry like that for myself. (Did I ever mention how grateful I am that someone invented cell phones?) I called Brian and he approved the purchase :>) so off I went with my new necklace. Pretty cool!!
Of course, that tainted me for the day: I felt guilty whenever I looked at buying something else that wasn't on my list of "items needed". As a result, I stuck to my list and, as a matter of fact, the last item in our search for the day was found at J.C. Penney: A Banana Tree!!
We found our way back home stopping at the seafood place to pick up four friends for dinner: four nearly 2-pound lobsters, that is! :>) They were delicious for dinner last night and we had yet another wonderful evening at home with our friends.
End of Drought??
There's been a drought on the east coast for several months but, today, it is raining-- a LOT. More than four inches in someplaces so the end of the drought could definitely be in sight!! The bad part is that it puts a damper on our plans for the day since it isn't much fun to drive around in the rain. We'll probably hang out here at the house for the most part-- we don't seem to be running out of conversational topics with our friends (not by any stretch of the imagination!!) so it'll be another nice, calm day here at the East Coast version of the Bilbrey Belfry.
*****
Well, you can't say I didn't post-- I guess this was a little longer than I had anticipated but, who knows what tomorrow brings?
If I don't talk with you later or tomorrow have a great holiday and I hope you're all having a wonderfully safe weekend! Have a nice day, afternoon, evening and night!
Saturday, August 31, 2002Shopping!!
Friday, August 30, 2002Arrived!!
Our guests have arrived and, after a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant, we came home to a nice chat outside in a comfortable environment. The heat wave, for the moment, has broken and there aren't a lot of mosquitoes outside (by comparison to Davenport, Iowa's recent population anyway) so it was a pleasant place to chat.
If I think of it, I'll put the tiki torches out before we have our "Lobsterfest" tomorrow night-- lobster are a whole lot cheaper (and bigger!) here than in California (well, DAH!!) so we've decided to have them for dinner tomorrow night. We'll pick them up at the local seafood distributor on our way home from the mall tomorrow-- SHOPPING?? Yes, shopping tomorrow at a mall I've never been to before-- should be tons-o-fun!!
I know this is short but short is better than nothing, right? Right!!
Have a great evening of your own!!
Thursday, August 29, 2002So What's Left to Talk About?
A better question might be: "What's been talked about?"-- that's a shorter list in the answer department, let me tell ya!!
I've made a list of things to catch you up on since before our move started and, as I go through them, I'll check them off and move on to the next item.
First and Foremost
There's our Dear Sally, of course. As I said in my description of her riding abilities, she has vastly improved. The longer we are from the trip in time, however, she seems to be building back to not being able to tolerate motion in the car. She was extremely good about being in the car-- didn't understand what was going on (you could tell by her expressions) with the driving and the hotels but she was wonderfully tolerant of us, even in excruciating heat.
Once we arrived at the house in Maryland, she became a little more settled but still couldn't figure out what it all meant. She doesn't like coming up the stairs: she can do it but (we think) it is painful for her as well as steep so, being an old, big dog, she has too much weight to carry up the stairs with her and thus, it makes it difficult. Well, it is quieter in our bedroom without her snoring and, when I come down in the morning (I'm usually the first downstairs), she is sometimes sleeping and sometimes awake but always at the bottom of the stairs waiting for us.
One little thing that she's started to do is be absolutely tickled that we sit "on her sofa" with her at night. We had a couple of old recliners that we "left behind" (with Goodwill Industries) in Sunnyvale. That leaves us the two futons to sit on in the living room, one of which was "hers" ever since she came to live with us. Do you remember when we told you that she didn't know how to cuddle? She's learned how and does it every night with one or both of us-- simply loves all the attention and petting she gets when we're on the sofa with her.
She's such a dear-- we really got lucky with her!
I think there are other pictures of her but I haven't had time to sort through them. Soon and when I do, I will post them of her. I've got one posted here of her sleeping in her "new" bed (its the one from my office at work in Sunnyvale). She's sooooo precious!!
My Knee
Well, its getting there. I obviously had fairly major surgery on it in May and, after standing on it virtually non-stop for more than a week before we left packing up the house and at least two weeks after unpacking the house, I am a bit sore. It is getting better however but I can feel the damage (the same cartilage damage) in my right knee. (I'm going to need surgery there in the next year, too.) At one point, I was using icepacks on both knees to relieve the pain of standing too long while I unpacking. Now that the vast majority of unpacking is finished, of course, it is much better.
Remember Cousin Barb?
She's getting married next weekend!!! She was "dating" a guy when she was in California for her visit last year. Now they are getting married!! Leon (her husband to be) is a really nice guy even if I've only "met" him over the phone. She's really happy and that's what counts-- that's really important in this world (and don't I know that?!?!?).
Voted "Best Commute"!!
When the guys from my office came to help with the unloading of the moving van, we fed them pizza for their efforts. It was then announced by one of our leading sales reps that it had been voted that I had the "Best Commute". I go a mile up the road, get on the freeway and two exits later, a total of 7 miles, I get off the freeway (on one of the longest off-ramps I've ever seen!) and drive to my office a few left turns away. It takes about 10-15 minutes in the morning and about 20 on the way home.
The amazing part to me is that it seems like we're in the middle of nowhere in this "little" town-- the town we live in is the 4th largest town in the state which is quite "big", I think. We are surrounded by trees-- everywhere-- on both sides of the freeway until about a mile away from the 495/95 Beltway. It is totally amazing how green it is here, even with a drought in the works out here.
No sooner back than . . .
. . . I'm going to take a little time off! Some people, huh? Well, not really-- I may put up a short post or two over the weekend but, as Brian has mentioned a couple of times, we're having our first house guests in this weekend!! It'll be so nice for them to have a "suite" of their own!! Anyway, I'll try to fit some kind of post in, between shopping trips and historic tours (we're going to head north to Annapolis-- we don't want to mess with D.C. on a national holiday!)
*****
Again, thanks for your patience during the "down" time that we experienced-- believe me, even _*I*_ missed not being online!Take care and thanks for stopping by-- as always, I'm so glad to have you all as a part of my life, no matter where you are geographically located.
Have a great evening!
Wednesday, August 28, 2002We are back . . .
Did you feel the collective sigh that I just heard? Wow!!
It has been a long time and it does feel good to be back however it is also a little overwhelming. What do I tell you about first? Well, let's see: from the corner of "Who Missed Marcia", Brian and I were both the lucky recipients of emails from Don Armstrong on a couple of instances that were absolutely hilarious:
Subject: Your adoring public ...
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 21:21:32 (EST)
From: Don Armstrong
To: Marcia Bilbrey
Your adoring public eagerly awaits your account of your recent travels, your new home, your --- news.
Best wishes,This, of course, is after we had arrived so he knew that we were here and, like many others, eagerly awaiting my take on our travels.
Don Armstrong.Sunday, there was yet another email from Don:
Subject: The crowd is getting restlessThen, last night, there was this message after my brief post below:
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 14:46:43 (EST)
From: Don Armstrong
To: Marcia Bilbrey
CC: Brian BilbreyThe crowd is getting restless. They surge aimlessly, and begin to mutter. The members of the police line begin to realise the potential for disaster here, if things don't go the right way, and quickly. Then someone begins a chant which is quickly taken up by the entire crowd:
"Dutchgirl! Dutchgirl! We want Marcia!"
"Dutchgirl! Dutchgirl! We want Marcia!"The crowd begins to move forward.
The police have called for reinforcements. Will they arrive in time? Will they even be necessary? Only one person can command the moment. Only one person can determine whether the mass of humanity will become a rioting mob, or a festive crowd.
What will she do?
================
Stay tuned for our next episode.
================
Regards,
Don Armstrong
Subject:Well, I had entertainment if nothing else during the weeks off-line for me. There probably was a way that I could've published but on a dial-up and not being completely computer-literate anymore, it would've been more hassle. Thanks to all of you who wrote emails-- it was appreciated and still is-- thanks!
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 12:19:44 (EST)
From: Don Armstrong
To: Marcia Bilbrey
CC: Brian Bilbrey
Silence.....
Silence.....
Then the crashing thunderous opening stanza of the "Allelujah chorus".
then...
Silence.....
Waiting is.
Don.
As it turns out, the break from posting here made me appreciate posting here. I don't have a huge amount of things to report right this second-- still too tired from the change of environment, change of time zone, change of lifestyle, etc.
BUT
I am back!!
My Overview of the Trip
Brian's reports to you daily weren't inaccurate with regard to the drive across country but there are two different perspectives to everything. I drafted the insert below a couple of weeks back, when hopes of getting internet access a whole lot quicker than we did were high.
We started out driving on the 31st at about 1:30 and got to Sacramento by about 4:30. It was extremely hot and I didn't dare run the air conditioning. I remember being a bit freaked by the traffic hoping it wasn't going to be that heavy all the way to Maryland-- I wouldn't make it if it were that bad! We had a wonderful evening with Barb and Mike and the kids, Alex and Robbie. It was great to spend soooo much time with them!So that was the drive-- there's been a ton of stuff happening since then, but frankly, I'm tired tonight and, asusual, there's always more to do. Someday soon, I hope to find time when I can do nothing-- it would be really nice.The next morning, we awoke at 6 and were on the road by 7:30 or so, driving eastward. The Sierras were beautiful, if a bit windy. According to her usual schedule, Sally tried to sleep through the morning but all of the winding roads didn't lend her much relief for that. She was able to adjust to the driving very well and, I think, she found herself surprised that she wasn't getting sick. We stopped a couple of times during the day but she wouldn't drink any water-- just wanted to keep going, I guess. By the time that we got to Salt Lake City, she was starting to climb through the bucket-seat armrest to the front seat-- I took that to be her implied "Get me outta here!" By the end of each day, she did that little trick so I figured that was her way of saying that she'd had enough of riding in the car.
When we were leaving Salt Lake City the next day, we headed into a little bit of rain along with the winding mountain roads. Lots of fun to pass motorhomes, buses, and tractor-trailers in wind and rain, let me tell ya! The foothills were rolling around us soon enough and we were through the worst of it, settling into Ogallalla, Nebraska the second night of our trip.
The next morning started out with the battery dead on my truck: we'd accidentally left the reading lights on in the cab and it ran down the battery. Someone reported it to the front desk and they called us (at 1am!!) but it was already too late. We started to drive out but, the truck was making a really bad noise so Brian put in some fuel enhancers thinking that was the cause of the problem and we started out to drive on into Nebraska and Iowa. Three or four hours later, at Lincoln, Nebraska, we stopped to get gas and the truck sounded even worse. After filling up the tanks of both vehicles, Brian saw a Chevrolet dealership across the street so we headed over there. He talked to the service people while I went across the street to pick up lunch for us. When I got back, he updated me sayng that the mechanics were out to lunch but would check it out and give us an estimate when they came back.
The quoted estimate came in at $925 for the flexplate-- we could drive it without fixing it but if it went completely out, it would blow the engine completely out soooooo, needless to say, it stayed behind. They helped us find a place to rent a car so that we could continue-- we had our stuff still driving to Maryland in a moving van so we had to get to Maryland before it arrived.
That afternoon (and evening) we drove on into Davenport, found our hotel but munched on cheese-n-crackers in our room rather than bothering with going out for dinner. The next morning, after mopping up the spilled coffee on the floor and me (the pot broke on the in-room coffee!), we went down to the lobby for our continental breakfast before leaving. We then drove from Davenport, Iowa, acrossing Illinois (during which time I called the Thompsons from my cell phone), Indiana (a state of many contrasts) and Ohio (evoking memories of a snowy drive to Beaver Falls, PA where my sister used to live) into Pennsylvania by about 70 miles. That hotel (a Holiday Inn) was the only hotel that we'd stopped in that didn't offer a continental breakfast! I was surprised at that but it was still nice to have room service for our dinner meal after checking into the room.
On Monday morning, we started out for the final leg of the drive: Maryland was "almost" within site!! We drove on into Maryland and virtually right up to the door of our house-- I had called the office one time to get directions so that I knew we were following the correct interstate highway. By 2pm, we had the vehicles unloaded and Sally totally confused-- again!
More to follow tomorrow night-- have a nice evening!
Tuesday, August 27, 2002Are we back?
I think we are . . .
. . . more to come!!
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