Family matters

My week without Nichole and Poppy

Well, it’s been almost a week of me without Nichole and Poppy and boy am I ready to be back together. Heck, I was ready to be back together five minutes after I left Michigan in the wee hours of last Tuesday morning with Poppy still asleep and Nichole waving to me from the window. It has been quite a week — here’s a quick review for anyone who cares to read farther

Tuesday, December 5, 2006: Drove from St. Charles, Michigan to Washington DC through just about every weather type imaginable and stayed the night with my grandmother. We had a lovely dinner with my Aunt Anita, Uncle Troy and my cousin Austin.

Wednesday, December 6, 2006: Drove home to the Durham area, stopping along the way to keep from killing some of the horrible drivers on I-95. I really dislike that road. Went straight to lab and worked until 10:00 and fianlly went home to a very quiet house

Thursday, December 7, 2006: Woke up in the same very quiet house and had a very quiet breakfast. Worked all day, except the hour I took at 5:00 to attend a departmental Christmas party. Since I missed the food at the party, I stopped at Fosters Market on MLK boulevard here in Chapel Hill for dinner. Tres tasty. Went home and watched CSI and Shark while I wrapped some Christmas presents

Friday, December 8, 2006: A big day because I went to Target in Burlington after work and made some returns. Please don’t laugh — I really enjoy walking around Target. Had dinner at Moe’s and was unimpressed. Back home for more housework and bed

Saturday, December 9, 2006: Got up and enjoyed a nice temperate morning. Worked all afternoon adn then met my good friend Terry Roberts and we went to the UNC vs. High Point game together. Terry works for the sports information department and he got me a great seat in the Dean Dome for the slaughter that ensued. Lucky me — it was Roy Williams’ 500 victory. Anyway, I had dinner afterwards with Terry and my good friend Daniel Hooker from my days at WCU. All-in-all, a very nice day

Sunday, December 10, 2006: After a morning of work, I picked up Terry and we went to the UNC vs. WCU womens game at the fieldhouse. WCU played well considering the ability of UNC. The cool part was that I got to sit on press row and I was the halftime interview for the Catamount Sports Network (yes, that’s how hard up they were to fill dead air…). Spent the evening installing door locks in the kitchen so Poppy can’t toss trash all over the place or crack her head on pots and pans. I wrapped some more presents and watched the CBS Sunday evening lineup all the way from 60 minutes to Without a Trace. I fell asleep to the sounds of Hank Hill berating Bobby about being himself

Monday, December 11, 2006: …which brings us to today. Work, work, work, eat, work, work, work, eat, clean, sleep. And then it’ll be tomorrow!!!!!! I am so happy that tomorrow is the day Nichole and Poppy come home. I have missed them so much it’s hard to describe. But tomorrow they’re coming home and everything will be as it should be.

Y’all take care and enjoy your Monday. (I said “y’all” because I’m listening to Whiskytown right now and you can’t listen to them without saying “y’all” for at least an hour afterwards.)

Bandwagons

Friday Feast No. 121

Appetizer
Which language would you like to learn, and why?

    Spanish. We were at the health clinic with Poppy this summer, trying to get her shots, and a woman came in who didn’t speak English, and apparently no one on staff there spoke Spanish. The receptionist just sort of pointed at a stack of papers, and the woman looked so confused and upset. I wanted to help her, but I don’t speak Spanish, so I couldn’t. I bought a learn-to-speak-Spanish program a few months ago. It’s one of my 2007 Goals.

Soup
What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard or read so far this week?

    I watched “Scrubs” last night, so it was probably somewhere on there.

Salad
Which movie was so bad you couldn’t watch the whole thing?

    “Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby.” We went with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and father-in-law. My father-in-law walked out within the first 20 minutes. The rest of us followed pretty soon afterward. It was so disappointingly awful.

Main Course
If there were a holiday in your honor that didn’t use your actual name, what would it be called?

    I don’t know. Maybe Watch TV in Your Jammies While Indulding in an Ice Cream Sundae Day.

Dessert
Name one movie that is coming out soon that you would like to see

    The Will Smith one that I’m pretty sure will make me cry.

The Friday Feast is a weekly meme intended to “feed your mind by asking thought-provoking, mind-stimulating questions.”
….. the end …..

Bandwagons

Q & A

Beth at Diary of a Playgroup Dropout has been answering some Frequently Asked Questions this week. Today, she’s asking the questions. And I’m answering.

Did you ever have a really bad nickname? What was it? Ok, if you had a regular nickname that wasn’t really bad you can tell me that too, but all of us who had really bad nicknames will know forevermore that you aren’t really one of us.
My dad used to call me Punkydunk every now and then. I don’t think it was often enough to call it a “nickname,” though. From what I’ve been told, my maternal grandfather christianed me Nikki when I was a baby. And that’s what I was known as until I went to college. Some people still call me Nikki. You have to have special permission to do that, though.

Do you floss? Be honest.
I bought some little purple dinosaur flossing thingies, and I always feel better about myself when I actually remember to use them. Which is rarely.

Are you a dog person or a cat person?
Cats.

Are you fatter now than you were before you had kids, or do I have to hate you?
Almost exactly the same, I think. I don’t really remember. My weight flucuated quite a bit in the few years before we had Poppy.

How do you get that black gunk out of the grout in your shower?
Grout? That would imply that we had tile, right? Ha.

If you could put aside money and the fear of looking like a selfish, greedy greedy greedypants, what would you like to receive for the Upcoming Winter Holiday of Your Choice?
Rockford and I were just discussing this the other day. I chose a Nikon D70. Or a house.