fossilfreak | Entries tagged with st. vincent de paul

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 595

26.3 miles

COLD!

334 recordings of 37 types. (Lots of movies, because TCM is really interesting right now). 70 CPD, 1 SVU (SO close to being done!) and 11 LMS. 24% clear.

(This is the stuff from Tuesday, Feb. 27th.)

Ash Wednesday being on Wednesday this year, I skipped getting ashes and instead did my stuff with the kids. Priorities! On my way down the hall in the early morning, I saw the map was skewed. One of the hooks had given way. I took the map down and replaced it later in the day. I wonder what happened... perhaps the cleaners bumped into it?

Padreic made a valentne for Mommy at Wee Wednesday and was so proud of it. He let me take care of it while he played at the Wng Ding exhibit, but otherwise he held it all the way home. He almost panicked when I took it while I was taking him out of the car, but was willing to hear me explain. He presented it with great pride and Bernadette was appropriately thrilled. Then he helped load the dishwasher.

I had nice valentines for the three and told Padreic his was the one with his name, and he picked it out. And was good about not taking the others. The big kids, too, enjoyed theirs, Joanna logically more than Gareth. (The school has an "all or none" policy about Valentines, so Joanna gave them out and Gareth didn't.)

And I drove home with the car seat. Fortunately, Bernadette didn't need it until Saturday, so I didn't have to take it back. This is good, because the freeway was a total disaster. I was going to get wine before I went home and had decided to get off on El Camino, fortunately. Hence, even though the Arden Way on-ramp was much busier than usual, I started over, and then one more lane to the El Camino exit, then, as things were really really slow... pretty well stopped in fact, one more to the exit only lane. Which was fortunate. As I glanced over on it, I saw traffic was completely stopped and the highway was empty, because there was an incident (suicide attempt?) on the overpass. I had heard on the radio there was an accident at Marconi, which is why I had thought things were so slow, but this was a surprise, and had developed about 5 minutes before I arrived there. They were telling people to get off on surface streets, but I was on the only possible way to do that. Lucky me. It only took me 45 minutes to do the normal 20 minute stretch.

I got the wine, got home, and waited impatiently for the time to go to Debby's. She'd asked me to a Valentine's day for widows, bring something red, so I brought red wine. The first time I went there, no one appeared to be home. I drove home to be positive I had the right time, then called... and she was there, apparently in the garage when I rang the doorbell. When I got back, another person was there and another person drove up, so I felt better. My wine went over well, and the food was great. A real disaster for low-carb, spaghetti (Debby had two sauces, but I didn't want to be the one among all the Catholics to remind everyone it was a day of abstinance, so my Ash Wednesday was a total failure!) and two fantastic desserts, but it was a delightful evening with a lot of talk, about widowhood and about other things. A nice Valentine's day after all.

Thursday, Pagan was in town (it was his birthday) but this would have been the only day I could see him and I really needed some time to wind down. I went out to the Retreat House and then came home to finish the jigsaw puzzle.(18 days of work since New Year's Day.) I also signed up for the triduum retreat.

It was really windy. Also, there are magpies building in the palm tree so I have to keep picking up so many sticks.

I took some stuff to St. Vincent de Paul, including my mom's rice cooker.

Friday was, of course, Renaissance. The morning documentary was about the Oscars, and gave me a lot of ideas of movies I would like to see. My Netflix queue somehow never gets smaller. In the Time Travel class, he had 3 short films. My favorite of the three was "Mi-Temps", and "La Jetee" was grim... and was the inspiration for the film we saw the next week, "Twelve Monkeys." I called Notre Dame High School in San Jose to RSVP for the Grandparent's day.

Oooh. Road Scholar is offering an Oberammergau Passion Play tour. When I mentioned it, Father Giltus at the Retreat House said he was possibly going to lead one. I would rather go with him instead of with a bunch of strangers, though the RS one also goes to Salzburg which would be nice. I've found out that I would lose $200 of the $500 deposit (it would be a transfer fee to another program, which I have planned anyway) if I signed up with RS then backed out. So I'm holding back for a short while. At least till the next credit card bill closes, because this month's is so huge I need to recoup a bit. (I paid for the Boxcar Children in full.)

Saturday I had a nice lunch at Marie Callendar's and met a Bob, new member of WPAC. Then Bernadette came by for the car seat, and I also gave her a ton of conditioner (because I kept getting it instead of shampoo) which she says Joanna can use, and fancy material for her costume-making friend.) Thence to Mass, because I had a great plan for Sunday.

Father Brown is Mr. Weasley?

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 585

(I started this book right after Rich died and if I'd held
to the 5 pages a dayI planned, I'd have been done in June 2012!)

4.3 miles

cool, partly cloudy

348 recordings of 48 types, 0 old SVU, 69 old CPD, 48 Last Man Standing. 24% clear.

I didn't mention on Thursday that I'd also done more on the jigsaw puzzle, day 8 so far, and I'd scratched off North America on the map Vince and Niki gave me. I slipped and got a tish of North Dakota, the upper peninsula of Michigan (I decided Detroit airport didn't count) and some of Nova Scotia, so obviously I have to go to those places to make it right.

Yesterday I had more errands. I reconfigured the car and took Joanna's car seat inside, to wait for when Padreic is big enough for it. I took stuff to St. Vincent de Paul, stopped at the church to request a Mass for Rich on February 4, and took a bag of books (mostly Nero Wolfes) to the library. I came back with an Aunt Dimity book I hadn't read. I just told Bernadette that I was sick of cosies, but hey.

I got back to work on the "books read" spreadsheet, and behold, I was two off last year, actually read 108 books!

Today I took the dog with me in the morning in the car. I was early for breakfast so walked him around the parking lot of the strip mall. He actually behaved well. Maybe I can take him for walks again, which I haven't done for over a year. Of course, I would still have to worry about other dogs, but it might work out. A pleasant breakfast, 32 people or so, and I had a steak skewer skillet. (For lunch I used my new griddle to make a proper grilled cheese sandwich. The way Rich used to make them. Yum.)

Then I went geocaching a bit: the first one I tried for the third time (2009 and 2013) and found it. I dunno how I missed it before. I also had spied a man with a Gonzaga sweatshirt so I commented... his son had gone to Jesuit and Gonzaga but quite a while after my kids. Then the second one was at a place I'd tried last year with Richard without luck, and again I had no luck today. Oh, well.

At home I started watching the current season of SVU, though I think I'm missing an episode. (Still 2 missing in season 18, too.) And I'm slowly getting through the madness of Big Cat Week and of my Christmas movie binge on TCM.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 547
166.1 miles

warm, windy

353 recordings of 31 types, 69 old SVU. 21% clear.

Terrible massacre in Las Vegas last night. I spent most of my usual news time watching old episodes of "Last Man Standing" because it's just the same thing over and over.

I also did some more on the jigsaw puzzle. It's taking a long time partly because I'm busy and partly because it's so hard. I got quite a few pieces in this time, day 17, and only moved a few that were wrong. Pity I don't read hieratic or Greek or hieroglyphics.

My bruise still hurts, of course, but it's getting better. It did hurt when I got into the car. I wish I had known it was worthless to try to drop off the doll chair at St. Vincent de Paul, because they aren't taking donations because of the upgrade... they're "full to the max" at the moment. I would have walked for the other errand, which was to get my prescriptions renewed... I had to talk to a human being because of the change of doctors.

I did the poop run today. Monday is always for kitty litter but I only do the dog poop every month or so.

And, while I was out there, I put some stuff away in the shed, and Pharaoh jumped in there and I thought he'd killed a squirrel, so I went in to the house to get a bag to dispose of the corpse. When I got back, the squirrel had escaped and was running back and forth in the shelves, with the dog running back and forth with it and knocking stuff off the shelves. I really have to get to this (Real Soon Now.)

I got quite a few pomegranates, which I'll share with the widows tomorrow. This tree has enough for me and for the squirrels. (And my pumpkin is still OK and growing.)

(I swear I'll get it. This one would have been completely up to date but I was having so much trouble with Flickr I changed browsers back to Chrome (yay! The black background has disappeared!) and it was sooooo late.)

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 547

162.0 miles

mild, getting warmer

359 recordings of 51 types, 74 old SVU. 15% clear.

Last Monday, the 18th, I went down to Elk Grove to help with Padreic so Bernadette could get some sorting done of all the stuff that's been shoved into the garage. Usually he undoes everything she does, but now that he's immobilized, it's easy. Or at least easier. I played with him and talked to him and occasionally helped Bernadette putting jigsaw puzzles together. She got a box of old toys ready for St. Vincent de Paul and I put it into my car to take in the next day.

I went to get the kids at school. Joanna's daily record was "consequence." "How come?" I asked, and she told me "It's too hard to explain." Then, on the way home, I decided to ask some security questions. "What's your address?" She knew that. "What's your phone number?" She didn't know that, so we started learning that. (She's still having trouble with the last 4 numbers. And because 916 is close to 911, she sometimes gets that mixed up.) "What's your mommy's name?" "Bernadette." "Bernadette what?" "Durbin." Then she and Gareth got into a discussion of middle names and Gareth said the last middle name was Yarnot, but she changed it. "Your name used to be Yarnot, too." "It still is." Joanna was amazed and horrified: "but you're in our family, why didn't you change it to Durbin?" I'm not sure she's forgiven me yet.

Tuesday I went to breakfast with the widows, then hurried home to wait for the screen guy, who was supposed to come between 11 and noon. I waited, waited, waited... about 3 I got a call from a Brandon, who would be out in 25 minutes. 20 or so minutes later, Ron called (the guy I was supposed to see) and he would be out in 25 minutes, and he'd taken over from Brandon. When they did get here, finally, it didn't take them long to actually FIX the screen, but the 5 hour wait was a bit much.

I was able to take the box to St. Vincent de Paul, and got a Hallowe'en costume (a zombie? dementor?) for half price, not badatall. They've completely redone the thrift shop, making it much more upscale.

When Vince called, this time I had a list so I didn't forget anything, for a change!

Wednesday, my day to go to Elk Grove! I took a Clifford the Big Red Dog book for Joanna to read to Padreic, and a couple of things for Bernadette. When I fetched the school kids, it was apparent that Joanna had had a Very Bad Day. Apparently she didn't want to do her workbook in the morning and defied the teacher, and had to call home. Mommy told her to mind, but she didn't. I forget what the second punishment was but the third was a talk to the principal. Bernadette says she is having a hard time adjusting to school where she actually has to WORK... since 1st grade was still pretty lenient. She argued with me "we can play in the park and walk home later". No. Further along I commented that her face was red, was she sunburnt? No. Were you crying? A nod.

They liked the skeleton marionette I'd brought as a demonstration, and they enjoyed Pinocchio. Then they were a bit surprised when I didn't go home. We were waiting for Rob, who of course was late, so Bernadette and I could take Padreic down to Tracy to meet up with my nephew Dan. (Child #15 of that generation as Padreic is of his generation!) We got down there about 5:35, 5 minutes later than I'd posited, met him, and walked over to the Squeeze Inn* where we spent almost 2 hours. Padreic had a good time, what with french fries and seeing the lights at night. He was really good.

*a Sacramento institution... the original one was on Diners, Driveins, and Dives early on, with its 10 seats and long lines. Rich and I made it to that one before the professional ADA lawyer shut them down, and now I had known about the four local restaurants, but apparently it's expanding quite a bit!

Dan has gotten a promotion within Amazon, which was why he was having training in Tracy. He also caught me up on his family and his aunt and uncle who were in Poland with his sister during the eclipse. I haven't seen him since 2009 when we were visiting in Pittsburgh and he was in school there.

I got home about 10 and Pharaoh was thrilled.

Thursday I walked over to the bank and moved the money I'd gotten from USAA when they closed out a California fund in my mutual funds, into the rolling-over CD. Actually, I didn't put the whole total in, but kept out $119.and some cents. (I actually missed on that $100, but it's not important.) I also found out where my loan is, and then at home did some checking on my accounts. I still have to pay for the windows, but I'm closing in on being where I was before I paid for Africa! And Ashland!

Then in the afternoon I went to the commissary and bought a LOT of groceries. It took pretty much 2 hours to buy it and wrap the freezer stuff and put everything away.

Some GD varmint got away with the squash I had netted up. If they take that pumpkin (about softball size now, the 25th) I will be furious. I have no idea how the pest got past the net.

Renaissance on Friday. My usual parking lot was full. However, I found a good place. The morning documentary was The Sharpe's War about rescuing Jews. I was sorry to learn that they ended up divorced. The discussion afterwards naturally wandered into how awful Trump is. I get really tired of living in California with all the received wisdom.

The movie was Project Almanac and it was thought provoking. The only actor I recognized was a kid from "The Goldbergs" but it was good.

In the evening I saw "The Old Musketeers" written by the Equity actor who founded the Chatauqua theater. I was really happy to see the geocachers, and Bill, with the pancreatic cancer, is looking pretty good, much better than I would have thought. The play was a farce about some old actors trying to re-create their glory days. Quite amusing.

My Saturday activity was unusual. It was a wedding between two WPAC people. I hadn't been all that enthusiastic, as I had heard Bonnie (the bride) about a year ago bemoaning "I'll never get married again." She'd met her second husband at WPAC and took care of him for 12 years. She had a memorial service for him at the WPAC office Then she had a boy friend Gayle, (who I didn't like), and was devastated when he died. She also had a memorial for him at the office. (That was the time I heard her comment.) Almost immediately, she took up with Robin (the groom) and judgmental me, I thought she really should learn to be happy with herself. However, after the wedding and more importantly after the reception, with all their friends, especially his, talking about how happy they were, I've mellowed. Maybe she had to have Anyone, but he in particular had to have HER.

Wow, they pulled out all the stops. It was as elaborate as Monica's wedding. In a Catholic church, with the Baptist preacher having some words as well. Alan (our former music director) was there, and I had a nice talk with him afterwards! Then the reception was huge, with a special path to the head table, a professional photographer, disc jockey, open bar, buffet, THREE cakes! It must have cost a fortune. My gift was a gift card at Trader Joes, on the theory that they probably didn't need anything. Marty (who was there with an astonishing hat) gave them a grill and says she thinks they got two at least.