Ramble

Well, it's been almost a week since my last update (if you can call it that) and therefore I reserve the right to ramble in any direction. Consider yourself warned.

Over the weekend we had as close to 'Indian Summer' as we're going to get--two days of weather in the 70's neighborhood and actual sunshine. Saturday we got out by volunteering with Voices for Silent Disasters, putting up posters in businesses along Alberta. We made up for the drive to SE with a nice walk on the Last Thursday strip. The business owners were one and all, very welcoming and supportive. We got posters in windows I didn't think we would which just proves my motto--if you don't ask, the answer's always no.

On our way back to our starting point, we happened upon a cool classic car parked in a field on Alberta. After our tour was over, we headed back to the Lucky Lab to take advantage of Gordon's generous offer to buy us lunch and had a great visit as well.

Then it was home to do a couple of hours work on the garage. The pile of "things to get rid of" has been building all summer. We used our new bike trailer to make a few trips to the Goodwill, conveniently located around the corner. We just took turns riding my bike rather than switch the trailer back and forth, which left the receiving employee at Goodwill pretty confused.

Saturday night we actually left the house and went to a friend's to watch on-demand episodes of season three Weeds. We got through six episodes and things just get wackier with each passing episode. We still have a bunch of watching to do, but fortunately, I have a key and an open invitation. What could be better?

Sunday we continued the outdoor theme, heading over to a birthday party at Old Wives Tale for my former roommate, and new seven year old, Logan. Logan was far more interested in playing with his friends in the playroom than talking to us, but fortunately, his mom was a bit more social.

After that we headed further south, enjoying the fall colors as we traveled on our way to Cold Stone Creamery. Jess got a gift certificate for her birthday and this gorgeous day seemed like the perfect 'now or not until spring' opportunity. I used to be a cake batter purist, spurning the mix-ins and relishing the smooth, unadulterated creaminess of the unsullied dish. However, I've changed my tune and I went back a successful flavor from a previous visit, titled, 'All Lovin' No Oven.' Start with cake batter ice cream, add cookie dough, fudge and whip cream. And since it was 'free' for me, I threw in some Oreos for good measure. I took my time and made every bite count.

My therapist will be thrilled to learn that on Monday I finally got some of that acupuncture she's been gently suggesting for the past three months. As part of my barter with friends and ex roomies C & D, I got what I like to call the "double feature." Acupuncture and massage, back to back. I was having a lazy day and couldn't be bothered to change out of my jammies, so I drove to my appointment.

C got a hold of me and started in asking me about how my mood has been (crappy), how I've been sleeping, (not so great) etc. She took my pulses and made a 'tsk tsk' sound as she reached for her box of needles. "You're going to be seeing me for a while," she informed me. "We have so much work to do today..."

And with that, she proceeded to pincushion the entire length of my spine. She says that my organs are stressed and my ability to deal with people is low (no kidding!). She said I was like a shaken up soda can and the points she was picking would open me up and relieve some pressure. She also did something new that involved putting a sponge-like substance I think she called Moxy, on the various points and lighting them on fire with an incense stick. I'm either very trusting or very desperate. Probably a bit of both. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. I lay there letting the needles work their magic. She said I'd be done when the points around my skin didn't look red any more. It took a while. After that she flipped me over and did points on my feet, legs and head to relieve some stress.

She said my Yin is very low. I'm all Yang. I'm so Yang, I'm Christina. I got herbs to help strengthen my Yin and a meditation to help calm my brain before bedtime. I go back on Monday.

Then it was over to the room next door so D could work her magic. We always start out chatting and catching up a little but usually about halfway through I go into Zen mode and just relish being pampered. By the time she was done, my brain had actually turned off--I had no thoughts. I can't remember the last time that happened (please no jokes from the peanut gallery :).

It was a shame then, that I had to go out Monday evening and ruin all that lovely body work by playing our final softball game. This was a make up for one of our two rained out games the previous weeks. I actually called Mo to see if I could get out of it, but she said she needed me. The sound of the wind howling at high speed outside the patio window did not make the prospect any more pleasant.

But like most things that involve going outside in less than ideal weather, it wasn't as bad as I feared. Once I got warmed up, I even ditched my extra layer. A few sprinkles fell on our heads, but we had mostly dry weather with no serious wind gusts, although we were quick to blame any sketchy pitching on the wind. I ended up having a great time and to make it even better, we not only won the game, but completely shut out the other team. Take that with your fancy uniforms!

It's true that the other team sucked *really* hard--not even the guys could hit--but it's also true that we played the best we ever have and made hardly any errors. I had my best hit of the season--a satisfying smack that sent the ball sailing right over the second baseman's head--and also managed to sneak to first on a nicked ball that barely made it halfway to the pitcher. The guy who batted after me hit it so far, I had to run three bases at once. Probably why my legs hurt... Tim went ahead and hit a home run and had Liz barely scooting fast enough ahead of him. I caught a pop fly (my first) and got two other outs at second and first (not in the same play). The final score was something like 14/0. I'm glad we finally won one. It made the unreasonable soreness in my legs (it's only an hour game!), a bit more bearable.

Tuesday was a blur of school and house cleaning. I went on cat puke patrol, vacuumed the whole house and started laundry. We're getting ready for the Chuck invasion. Jess's dad is coming for a visit Friday-Tuesday. In addition to getting the house ready, I'm trying to get caught up on school work so I can help absorb the talking. We're hoping to get him and my dad together and see who talks more.

Wednesday my LRBC date canceled so I took it as a sign to get some more homework done, after spending the morning on a bit more cleaning. While I worked, Jess went tornado on the house, cleaning all three bathrooms and scrubbing the kitchen to a high shine. I was also scheduled to go ride horses Wednesday night but that was rescheduled as well. Peanut's owner had some concerns about me riding him in 3 team penning since we're both new to the sport. Totally understandable, but I was bummed I wouldn't get to ride him since he and I both love to run. I'll go at the end of the month and ride Ryo or Handsome--if I can get them to listen. Instead Jess and I ran some errands by bike and got hailed on briefly outside of Fred Meyer.

The rest of the week/end will be finishing my first major assignment in E-Commerce class and keeping Chuck entertained.