patience is a virtue...

And yins are being so nice. I PROMISE this week you'll get some stuffies pictures. I'm just not ready to wrangle with Blogger and posting pix this morning.

I wasn't even going to post, but then I went over to LC and read about her winning horse and her books only blog. Ah, books.

Books you must read:

Wind in the Willows. I finally read it at the ripe age of 23. My mom started reading it when I was six, but then she had to go on bed rest in a German hospital. (We were living in Bonn, at the time the German capital. Now it's Berlin.) So we had a Swedish au pair come take care of me, Anna Karin (her major was home ec and to finish it up, she had to spend some time with a family, cooking and taking care of general things, including children.) She read me Pippi Longstocking. I was talking about her yesterday because the first time I went on a water slide was in Sweden, when we went to visit Anna Karin. We went to a glass factory in the morning and a water park with slides in the afternoon. In my mind, the water park was at the glass factory, but in retrospect, I doubt it.

Oh, Kelly and I had a BLAST yesterday at Sandcastle. We had $15 tix that I snagged at the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. Here's today's challenge: the receptionist said I looked like an actress. She was in a movie with Whoopi Goldberg where both were lesbians and the chick I look like had AIDS. I did a cursory Google and IMDB search, but I promised Debbie I'd call her back when I figured out who I look like. She said I even smile like her and that the chick (my word) had won an Emmy recently.

Generally, I go for the cheap-o after 3pm tickets ($16.95) but since our tickets could be used anytime, we went to Pizzeria Uno's for lunch (my favorite restaurant). I know one of the managers at this particular one, he's the son of a friend and also went to the same college as Terzo (but Terzo was a senior and Mike was a frosh, so they never met.) I like Mike. He's a sweetie. He even gave us tips on the menu.

Sandcastle is a very compact park. I love that. When you ride the Lazy River, all the other rides are overhead and at certain spots you can rubberneck the body slide, a very daring ride. I can't remember the name. I remember I don't like that ride. There are two levels. One is a "3" and the other is a "4" (levels of intensity). Um, no. They are both a "5" in my book. Last year, Emily coaxed me to do the top level and I could have killed her when I reached the bottom. She just laughed. She's a daredevil, that Em. Luckily, Kelly agreed with me that the best rides were the tube rides.

Being a compact park, there really are only 5 adult rides, not including the wave pool and the Lazy River. I'd never done any ride more than once, but we did the Cliffhanger at least 3 times, and probably actually 5 times. We did the Blue Tubalooba twice: once in a double tube, once in single tubes. We agreed we liked it better in single tubes. I am a screamer. We also did the Tube Tower and the Thunder Run (I'm not double checking the names for this) twice and couldn't really tell the difference between them. We did the Lazy River once in single tubes, then I went and dozed in the chairs by the river while Dolphin Girl (oops, I mean Kelli) went for a spin in the Wave Pool. Just as I was waking up from my doze, she was walking over to me. We did some more rides and then did the Lazy River in a double tube (easier to carry on a conversation) and went around twice. It was at that time 10 til 7 (the park closed at 7) so we did one more run down Thunder Run and then went to get our stuff from the lockers. We were so proud that we didn't spend any money at the park, drinking water only from the water fountain!

I have not been that relaxed and satisfied at the end of a day for a VERY long time. It was wonderful. And longtime readers may remember that Kelly and I sometimes clash on the whole Catholic/Protestant thing (I met her when I was Catholic for a year and she got upset when I returned to my Protestant roots) and that did not come up at all yesterday. It was just girl talk about bathing suits and tatoos and piercings (other people's) and of course, relationships.

We went back to Uno's for dinner, where Kelly ordered dessert and I ordered an appetizer. We sat outside, facing the river and had the same waiter we'd had for lunch. Then we drove through Squirrel Hill and back to Highland Park. She was kind when she came up to my apartment to use the loo--she said, "at least it looks lived in." (She is a very neat person, and well, have you met me?)

She is also into cows and so at the beginning of the day, I gave her a tiny Chick-fil-a cow, leftover from when the Cow visited our library. She loved it. Um, she has a cow purse. But hey, it's really cute. And she has a beau that encourages it, so why not?

She left and I attempted to find where we were meeting for prayer (Tara's house, but I forgot the house number and I don't have her cell number) then thought to go to the North Hills to pick up a prescription and decided I just wanted to go home. So I called Mom and returned Sally's call--she wanted a babysitter for Wednesday morning or Friday evening. I could only offer her Saturday night, so she'll get back to me. We barter--she helps me with my finances or my apartment, and I watch her three lovlies so she and the H can go out. Her oldest is 12, middle is 10 and youngest is 6, so it's a pretty easy gig. No diapers, natch!

I may have poison ivy. I've never had it, so I'm not sure. It's a patch on my chest, so the only thing I can think is when I played Bocci ball on Sunday, it got on one of the balls and I touched my chest. It's not incredibly itchy, but I'll catch myself itching it and then I go wash my hands...

Well, it's long past breakfast and I've not done a single thing on today's list:

• prepare for Saturday's Homegrown Arts--I'm the artiste in residence...
• call for car inspection appointment (it expires today--shh, don't tell!)
• pick up Rx (when I go to work)
• buy more handsoap (ditto--I adore Tar-get)
• get card for Blackbird to Babelbabe (it's of a scooter...)
• get more contact solution
• not on the list: pick up my sandals from the shoe repair folks.
• etc.

I think I have laundry that needs to be flipped to the dryer too. I want my mommy!! Oh, and I betcha there are some bills that need paid...

Can't I just take another nap?