Lewis & I went to the concert last Sat. night. The Police & Elvis Costello. Great show ! We were outside at Cricket Pavillion in the covered seats. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for an outdoor event. During one of Elvis Costello's songs, "Allison", Sting came out & sang it with him. I tried so hard to get some pictures with my phone, but that just isn't meant to happen. All the pictures came out like black & white blobs. And my phone takes pictures in color. We've been there in the past years during monsoon season with dust storms coming in & rain. It was actually pretty cool. But we are never going there in the summer again, we decided. Way too hot. Even with the misters on.
Before the concert we went to this new little Italian place Lewis read about recently. The reviews were good so we thought we'd try it. We always like to try restaurants on the other side of town if we're going to be there. I just can't remember what it's called right now. It's on Glendale & 58th Ave. Owned by this guy & his wife. His mom & dad work there too. Nice family place. You don't find those places very often. Everything seems to be a chain. It's really far from our house, but if we were on our way to Lewis's parents' house or to my sister's house, we might just go by there first (or after).
Lewis's parents came over yesterday (Sun.) because we are not going to see each other for several weeks. Sevilan will go to Virginia to stay with Jan (Lewis's brother) while Sam, Lewis & Alex are in Israel. Later on we went to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant for dinner. Just the 5 of us. Pretty good, if you like Greek food. Personally, I don't even like olives.
When everyone returns, Sam is going to have another hernia operation & then Sevilan is going to have her knees operated on.
A few nights ago we rented a movie which, to me, was just a waste of money. "Vacancy" with Luke Wilson & Kate Beckinsale. I highly recommend you do NOT watch that movie. Not only was it too violent for me, but it was extremely disturbing. I guess I never saw enough of the previews to know what I was getting into. So if you have a weak stomach, don't see it. I won't go into details because I know my 2 sisters are reading this & I know what kind of stuff they do NOT want to hear. Just trust me on this one. Very disturbing !
Speaking of movies, Lewis & Alex are now at the theatre watching the new Indiana Jones movie.
Well, another day has gone by without my iPod. Just this morning I went on the Apple site & tried everything again. Nothing has worked yet. I looked up the Apple stores & found one at 24th St & Camelback. I will have to take my iPod in there & let them do something to it. I'm tired of being without it.
On Saturday, Jonella & Lori & I had lunch at Grilled Expedition. We had a great time. Spent about 4 hours there. And even that wasn't enough time. Lori took my necklace home with her. She said she is a good untangler.
Mom is still on her Thelma & Louise road trip with her friend, Ruth. She sends post cards to all of us & calls Terri to let her know where they are & what they're doing. Sounds like she's having a really good time. My mom has always been a very fun person. I could never imagine her just sitting for any length of time.
This is Memorial Day. The computer guy came at 10:00 this morning to fix all 4 of our computers (again) & to make Alex's a little faster. We have told Alex about a zillion times if he wouldn't download that free crap all the time, he wouldn't mess up his computer. He still doesn't get it. And I know he'll do it again. The other computers just needed a "tune up." We told Alex if he messes up his computer again, it's just going to stay that way. Unfortunately, the computer guy didn't know how to do things with an iPod.
My baby boy graduates from 8th grade tomorrow night. I just don't know how the time went so quickly. I remember when he was born, people told me things like, "He'll be grown before you know it" & "Enjoy him while you can. He'll be grown up soon enough." I thought they were crazy for saying something like that to me. After all, I had just had a baby. But I'm telling you - - & you parents know this - - the term "in the blink of an eye" takes on a whole different meaning when you have kids. I close my eyes & he grows an inch. I close my eyes & he has a new occupation in mind for himself, etc. It continues. I have to reach way up to kiss him.
The boys just got home from the movie. I think I'll go find out how they liked it.
Okay, here's the scoop - - They said it was "okay" but the others are better.
Well, it's Tuesday now. May 27. Alex just graduated tonight from 8th grade. Nice, quick ceremony. Then he went to the dance. My baby at a school dance ! He never gets too excited about anything. He just goes with the flow. Came home with some kind of sparkly stuff all over his hair. Wouldn't tell us what it was from. He's kind of a private guy.
I'm sure taking my time with this blog. It's now June 1.
14 days away from Father's Day.
9 days away from Lewis's birthday.
Nicky should be showing up within the next couple of days. They might just get here about the time mom gets home.
Last night was our chavarah (temple group) night with the kids. We are a group of 16 friends -- 8 kids & 8 adults (4 families). Went bowling for a couple of hrs & then to dinner at an Israeli restaurant called Sabuddy. We've been to Sabuddy before. It's pretty good. A nice, homey little place.
Alex is at Bartlett Lake now with his friend, Josh & Josh's parents. They rent a covered pontoon & just float around for a few hours. I know I'm dating myself (again), but I remember going to Bartlett Lake when I was in high school - in the early 70's. It took a LONG time to get there. The road was unpaved for about the last 7 miles, & it was narrow & bumpy. That might have been why the lake seemed to be the cleanest of all the lakes around here. No boat oil floating on the surface. I haven't been there in years. I used to love it because it was also the warmest of the lakes. I gave Josh's mom 1 of my one-time use cameras & asked her to take pictures.
Lewis got home from tennis a little while ago & is now watching some sports thing on tv. Or that was his intention. I'm sure he's asleep in the chair. He gets up so early on Sundays so he can be at the courts by 7:00 a.m., then he comes home, showers, eats & pretends to watch something on tv while he falls asleep.
Tonight will be Lesson 2 in how to work all of the remote controls. I am also going to show Lewis how to use my new camera. He bought 2 extra memory cards (4 gig each) & an extra battery to use while 1 is charging. I copied his itinerary so I'll know where they are every day - - schedule & hotel phone numbers. He intended to get an international memory card, but someone told us it's easier to use an international calling card. But in doing that he felt he may need to use a pay phone if he's not at the hotel. I think he may still go with the memory card for his phone. I really don't expect to hear from them while they're gone. I have to check & see what the time difference is.
It's really hot today. I'm in the house with the ceiling fans on & I'm very warm. I feel like going swimming. It's only 10:45 a.m. now. The water would feel great.
Mom & her friend Ruth are still on their Thelma Louise trip. Terri said they are on their way back now. Just went through Indiana & stopped to see some old friends of ours. We don't really know when she'll be back because she doesn't like to have a schedule when she does her fun little trips - - just takes it day by day.
Then when she gets home she'll have to come up with some new project to start working on. The woman can't sit still. I just don't know how I'm her daughter. Maybe I'm adopted & they never told me. As we know, I am the queen of relaxing.
Lewis is taking the cell phone charger with him. I can't find the other one. I had it a while ago, but I don't know what happened to it. So I will probably have to get a new one. Also, that damn iPod is still not working. And I still haven't taken it to the iPod store. I am totally disgusted with it. I tried downloading some songs a few days ago, after I did all of the resetting again, & it downloaded 1 song. One song! How does that happen? It either works or it doesn't ! I WILL beat this thing.
This morning I opened up our favorite coffee -- Jamaican Blue Mountain. We discovered it when we were in Jamaica 10 yrs ago. I just opened a new bag this morning & accidentally spilled it on the kitchen floor. This is kind of expensive coffee. When it was finished I poured it into our cups but little brown things kept floating to the top of my cup. I realized I grabbed a dirty mug, so I had to pour it out & start all over with my sugar & cream. Just one of those mornings.
I told Lewis we are now out of Creamora. He said he was finished doing any grocery shopping until he returns, & then added "unless it's for rice." Ah, yes, the great rice hunt of 2008 is still on. I won't be surprised if he sends back packages of rice from Israel. He is a very serious man, & once he has his mind set on something, you can be assured it will happen.
This past Friday I was notified that I had won a "Hero of the Week" award from 1 of the departments in my office for what they considered "going above & beyond" the call of my regular duties & getting the IBM people off their butts to do some work for us. I just got fed up & went to the top of the food chain in IBM (whom we subcontract at American Express) & let him know of our ongoing problems with the IBM dept onsite. The very next day one of the guys was in my office telling me he was here to do everything I've been requesting for the past 6 wks - - all at once. So everyone's problems, installation of extra memory, installation of laptops, extra programs, etc., was all taken care of in a day. Finally. Now why couldn't they just do that without me having to communicate with their v-p?
My 35th high school reunion is coming up in a few months. I don't know the specifics yet, but I'm pretty sure I won't be going. It's hard enough thinking it's been 35 yrs since I've been 18 !
Time to go.
Hugs,
Candace
