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Yes, we wheeled out the grill, even though the sun wasn't the brightest thing around and the wind was whistling through bare-bones trees. We had barbecued chicken breasts, garlic mashed potatoes, and corn. We didn't try out the Frontera grilling sauce, as I want to have more taste-buds back on board before I use it. I discovered a great and terrible disaster: yes, we were out of decent barbecue sauce. No Bulls-Eye of any shade, flavor, or size. The Jim Beam honey barbecue was down to less than a shot glass worth, and even Justin's private stock of Sweet Baby Ray's was down to half of that. Budget barbecue sauce did exist, however, and we used a bottle of that - actually had decent quality, given its price, and it held together much better than Kraft stuff. The garlic mashed potatoes were a complete - and welcome! - surprise when I started bringing the first chicken in. Deb had said she would do potatoes and corn, so I was expecting that, but then she decided to do the extra bit and garlicify 'em, which is to say, deliciousify them.
Signed Rachel up for soccer (starting in August) this morning, Justin didn't want to play. Deb also attempted - once again - to get the soda cans to a particular place and time for a Lions Club (I think?) program where they count cans and Rachel gets points towards purchasing books. Once again, they were a no-show. However, at the soccer sign up, she ran into the PTO president, who will mention the problem to the Principal and see what can be done. Meanwhile, we have at least three very full, very large garbage bags of cans in our basement.
Headed down to the valley to pick up a case for the new computer. The old one fit easily in my grandfather's briefcase, but that allowed it to rattle around (possibly contributing to the death of one laptop.) This new one has a 17" wide screen, barely fit, and really was probably too expensive to risk in a non-protective case. Besides, I can expense the case.
So. Road trip! Slight misstep starting out - literally. Told Brandon to stay on the porch, and the little tyke made a beeline for the yard, which was unfortunate, because there's a step down he forgot about. Smack! Face down. On a square of slate, no less. Nice line across his forehead. Almost matches the large blackish blotch on Justin's nose (which, coincidentally, fell off this evening.)
We headed South, with Deb at the wheel. I had no definite destination in mind - maybe the mall, maybe JC Penney's, then Deb suggested Staples, so that became our first stop. Barely in the door, I glanced to the left and saw some bags in an aisle. Most were for 15", a few for 15.5" and I started to wonder whether we would be successful. All the way down the end, before the travel gadgets section, there were two different kinds of cases for 17" laptops. Justin was there to help me evaluate them, and we finally decided on a Swiss Army Knife one, because it was a single color and that color was black and a few actual functional reasons as well.
On the way home, we stopped off once more, and added toothpaste, shampoo, socks (for me and Justin,) underwear (for me,) shoes (for Brandon and Rachel,) and some garden seeds (Rachel picked out some veggies, and I grabbed a packet each of jalapeno, habanero, and cheyenne peppers for Deb.) After catching our breath - and that still takes me some time, at times - we started supper, but I already mentioned those details!
Sidenote: Brandon really enjoys his Thomas the Tank sneakers - when asked, moments ago, to give me a hug, he decided to kiss one of his shoes instead. Oh well. I lose out. At least Mount Saint Helens started its eruption - lots of cool percussion!
Signed Rachel up for soccer (starting in August) this morning, Justin didn't want to play. Deb also attempted - once again - to get the soda cans to a particular place and time for a Lions Club (I think?) program where they count cans and Rachel gets points towards purchasing books. Once again, they were a no-show. However, at the soccer sign up, she ran into the PTO president, who will mention the problem to the Principal and see what can be done. Meanwhile, we have at least three very full, very large garbage bags of cans in our basement.
Headed down to the valley to pick up a case for the new computer. The old one fit easily in my grandfather's briefcase, but that allowed it to rattle around (possibly contributing to the death of one laptop.) This new one has a 17" wide screen, barely fit, and really was probably too expensive to risk in a non-protective case. Besides, I can expense the case.
So. Road trip! Slight misstep starting out - literally. Told Brandon to stay on the porch, and the little tyke made a beeline for the yard, which was unfortunate, because there's a step down he forgot about. Smack! Face down. On a square of slate, no less. Nice line across his forehead. Almost matches the large blackish blotch on Justin's nose (which, coincidentally, fell off this evening.)
We headed South, with Deb at the wheel. I had no definite destination in mind - maybe the mall, maybe JC Penney's, then Deb suggested Staples, so that became our first stop. Barely in the door, I glanced to the left and saw some bags in an aisle. Most were for 15", a few for 15.5" and I started to wonder whether we would be successful. All the way down the end, before the travel gadgets section, there were two different kinds of cases for 17" laptops. Justin was there to help me evaluate them, and we finally decided on a Swiss Army Knife one, because it was a single color and that color was black and a few actual functional reasons as well.
On the way home, we stopped off once more, and added toothpaste, shampoo, socks (for me and Justin,) underwear (for me,) shoes (for Brandon and Rachel,) and some garden seeds (Rachel picked out some veggies, and I grabbed a packet each of jalapeno, habanero, and cheyenne peppers for Deb.) After catching our breath - and that still takes me some time, at times - we started supper, but I already mentioned those details!
Sidenote: Brandon really enjoys his Thomas the Tank sneakers - when asked, moments ago, to give me a hug, he decided to kiss one of his shoes instead. Oh well. I lose out. At least Mount Saint Helens started its eruption - lots of cool percussion!
