*crickets chirp*

Howdy.

I just realized this morning that it's been ages since I last blogged. Well, maybe not ages, but several days, to be sure.

What have I been up to? Mostly the reading fair. This is our first big school project, and I wish I could say it would be our last - trying to do something like this with my strong-willed daughter is not easy! It's hard to strike a balance between telling her that her ideas won't work (i.e., painting an entire tri-fold project board with a small watercolor brush) and letting this be her project.

If I didn't have my Cricut, I'd probably be institutionalized by now. That thing has been a life saver!

I also experienced another first this week: my first hockey game! And I was on the clock! It wasn't NHL or anything - more like the Central Hockey League - but it was a hockey game, all the same. The team is based in the county just north of here, and they sponsored a morning game field trip event. No fewer than 8,400 screaming kids, each with his or her own folded paper noisemaker - it was mass chaos and confusion!

I was told that two groups from our county would be there, but I couldn't find them. I was doing well to find my place, after wandering around the civic center forever, and traipsing up to the team's office, and finally breaking down and calling my office mate to ask her to find the invitation email giving me instructions and read it to me.

Yes, I had instructions. No, I didn't take them with me. Yes, I'm a well-prepared reporter!

I finally found what I think was the right spot - no one was really sure - in the team's corporate suite. It wasn't half as nice as it sounds. The game was three hours long, and all they had for food was a bowl of fruit, a platter of donuts (which I stayed far away from, naturally), a bowl of fruit juice bottles, and an airpot of mediocre coffee. Where was the catered buffet I'd heard that private suites had? I expected much more. Hmph.

But cold - Lord almighty, it was cold! Even that far from the ice, my feet were starting to get numb by the time the third period started. And you hockey fans out there, I'm wondering, are all those fights staged? Because about 10 minutes into the first period, I looked down to see some guy on the ice, his face mask thrown asunder, and another player on top of him beating the tar out of him.

Once the kids got a whiff of that action, every time two players looked at each other cross-eyed they were trying to egg on a fight. It was like the school cafeteria, only without a principal to break it up.

(Well, I guess there was a ref on the ice to break up the players. And there was a penalty box, which would be kind of like in school suspension. But, whatever.)

Now, we're in the midst of a snow day, only without any snow! There was some sleet here in town (and light snowfall in the county) but the roads seem pretty clear. They actually seemed pretty clear at 6:30 a.m. when the decision was made to close, but again, whatever. Anna Marie came to work with me for a few hours, and then Aunt Manda came to our house for lunch and is staying with her.

(Maybe they'll get some work done on that reading fair project! crosses fingers and toes)

I guess not all the roads are clear though, or at least closer to the church, because I just got a text message that service was canceled. At least we'll have more time to finish up the *coughreadingfairprojectcough* which is due in the morning.

(Did I mention that there's a reading fair, and that I'm well sick of working on it?)

Try to stay warm, y'all, and send some good reading fair vibes my way. I sure need it!

I saw the light at the end of the tunnel

And it was connected with a speeding train.

(Oh, for the record, Heather won the iPod. Which is cool. I already have one, so I guess I was being a bit greedy in hoping for an iPod touch.)

(It couldn't have happened to a nicer person, though!)

(Unless, of course, that person was me.)

Anyway - I got home Friday night, and Jason informed me that we had a catering job on Saturday.

(Jason had also hung the chandelier that my brother had faux-finish spraypainted on Monday! Yay!)

And, those two facts together somehow meant that we had to make a trip to the next county, to look for tiny lampshades to put atop the lights in the chandelier.

(He had spied the tiny lampshades here in town, but there were only six of them and we needed eight. Just so you know.)

We went to no fewer than eight stores Friday night. No tiny lampshades, except those which were "out of my budget" (as I tell Anna Marie when something's just too dang expensive.)

(My budget = the cheapest I can possibly find something, by the way.)

Saturday, we went to another two stores, where we found a few to add to those we ended up buying down here. So now, tiny lampshades inhabit my dining area.

Pictures? You want pictures? Well, then, you're going to have to wait for another post, my friend!

So, Saturday was super-busy too, and Sunday - well, let's just say that we left home about 9:00 a.m. and returned about 8:30 p.m.

And just when I thought I might have a few minutes to catch my breath, I realize that I have another special section due in two days, and the magazine still isn't sent to the printer yet.

Good thing I had that second round of coffee at lunch today.

Back on the grid

Oh, gentle readers, how I've missed the internet!

We weren't stranded on a desert island for three days - nay, we were in a gilded, posh hotel.

That charged 12 bucks a day for internet. No Wi-Fi. Ethernet cables available from the vending machine for $10.

(That being said, Jason had brought an ethernet cable. He just didn't want to spring for access. He checked his email on his phone.)

I guess it was worse for him than it was for me, since I was in seminars part of the time.

We had a pretty good trip down Thursday. We arrived in Biloxi around 6:30, found the hotel, and checked in. We were all famished by that point, so we decided to grab dinner before unloading the car.

Oh.my.goodness. Usher was performing there Thursday night, in a charity show at the pool, and there was a line near the bank of elevators that led to our rooms, snaking around the corner and taking up a good bit of the hallway into the mall.

And what those girls weren't wearing would fill a book. I saw a pregnant girl with little-to-nothing on and a MIXED DRINK standing in the line! Did she not remember that it was probably that behavior that got her into that shape in the first place?

When we returned from dinner (and a trip through Biloxi where we kept going down dark streets that dead-ended in water) it took us 30 minutes in the parking garage to find a space. Apparently, all the Usher fans thought their $10 ticket entitled them to the same spaces that we paid $300 for.

I was soothed to sleep by the sound of the folks in the room next door yelling at each other. Thank God for ear plugs.

Saturday morning I had to get myself ready, and Anna Marie. She was leaving for Press Camp at 8:00 a.m.

I didn't see her again until 9:00 p.m. She went to two parks, the beach, Chuck E. Cheese's, and the movies, where she saw Kung Fu Panda.

And, as you can see from this photo, was not ready to go to bed when we got to the room, even after all that.



(Yes, this is where she slept, in two pushed-together chairs. They were comfy, and kept her animals from falling off the side, and she didn't seem to mind. Here, she's watching a movie on the laptop, which is what Jason spent most of Friday doing in the absence of suitable internet.)

We listened to the governor talk for an hour about Medicaid, and get corrected in front of everyone by his wife. We ate lunch next to the pool, and I thought how intimidating it must be to come to work in a two-piece bathing suit every day, like the waitresses did.

After lunch, I donned my new suit and lay by the pool for an hour or so. The weather was beautiful, and it was very relaxing.

Friday's dinner was divine, as was Saturday's lunch, when we had fillet mignon, rare. I won one award, a third place for best editorial page. I'm a little disappointed, since I won more last year. But my publisher has already informed me that if I don't get a first place next year (and we're notified of the first places ahead of time, so we can get PDFs of the winning entries in for publication) that I'm not going.

And Anna Marie has already informed me that I must get a first place next year, so she can return to Press Camp.

I'll have to write a whole nother entry about our return trip. And we won't even talk about how my eating went. And when I show a major gain on Thursday, I'm chalking it up to water retention.

Yep, denial is no longer a river in Egypt.

I only regret that I didn't get to take more pictures, but I was so tired Friday afternoon during our free time that I just lay in the bed and watched television.

And that's one of the best part of the trip - the freedom to do nothing for a few hours.

Official Thursday Weigh-In

I'm not believing it.

I lost a pound this week, despite my "friend" showing up.

How'd that happen? I mean, really. That's counterintuitive.

So, my weight is 152.5 this week.

And about that debate, set for tonight - I got a call (actually two calls, one from the college where the debate was going to be and one from a candidate's campaign manager) that the event had been canceled. The father of one of the two candidates had a massive stroke this morning, and is in critical condition.

A little disappointing, but totally understandable that he'd be at the hospital with his dad and not down here trading verbal jabs with his opponent.

Oh, and one more thing - I've started using Twitter now. I know - next I'll be getting a MySpace page!

Anyway, I can thank Linda for my latest addiction. Come on over and find us - so far, I just have Linda and Heather to stalk!

(I'm listed as Melz98. Just plain "melz" was already taken. Hmph.)

Apparently they have me confused with someone who knows a thing or three.

Oh, it won't be long until they find out the ugly truth.

To what do I refer?

Why, the invitation I received via email this morning to be a "questioner" at a debate later this week!

Me! Asking questions! Of two guys in a runoff for a U.S. Senate seat nomination!

What on earth are they thinking?

All day long, between wondering what in the world I'll wear, I've surmised that I must look better on paper - because I really don't think I'm qualified for this.

(Yes, they're going to supply me with the questions to ask, but I'll also get to ask a couple of "local interest.")

I think I'll have to find some old Saturday Night Live clips, like from the last Presidential debate, to study in preparation.

And, so help me, if someone says "strategery" Thursday night, I think I'll pass out.

(P.S. - this is yet another instance where I've also been thinking, Man, am I ever glad I lost that weight and won't be the biggest person in the room anymore!)