Tuesday 9/22, For dinner Eric wanted us to both do our own thing, but I think he ended up making something for the both of us, but don’t remember what. I didn’t take the dogs for a walk because I was lazy again. Watched BL and probably switched between Jay Leno and Seinfeld.

Monday 9/21, Peggy dropped a bomb on me at work and I stewed about it all week. Christopher is a fool if he goes through with this. I kept looking at a rattie / fox terrier online at the Tacoma HS and was so afraid they were going to put her down so I called to make sure and luckily she had a deposit on her, otherwise I would have been going down and getting that dog. It's nuts, I know. No walk for the dogs after work because I was being lazy. Eric made spaghetti with turkey then I ate m&ms on the couch. I went upstairs to watch GG and went to bed after watching a bit of the Jay Leno show. It's mildly funny.

Sunday 9/20, Eric made waffles for breakfast. I sat around for most of the morning and we took Castor for a walk around in the park because the school yard doesn't allow dogs. We hung at home and I looked at stuff online then went to see an open house over by the dmv, and it was ok, but nothing I'd want to buy. Yard was really big, busy street, weird garage conversion. Castor came with me and we went to the neighborhood I like and I found the other house with the similar floorplan to the one I put an offer in on. Back at home Kassie called and we discussed her pet portraits and death (in general) and my living trust and all that. I hung up after about an hour then Dad called and I discussed all that stuff with him too. I took Castor up the hill to go for a walk and called Kay-See who I haven't seen or talked to forever. I invited her over for dinner because Eric was making the curry dogs, but she couldn't. We talked anyway and Castor got a nice walk in. We went to the store and got corn on the cob and other veggies and did other shopping. Eric made dinner and we hung for the rest of the night and watched tv.

Saturday 9/19, It was a rainy morning and Eric slept in until 7 then got up. I stayed in bed longer and finally emerged and we decided after breakfast to take Castor down to the park to go in the lake. The park by my house no longer allows dogs - AT ALL. I was so pissed off. Then to the state park where dogs aren't allowed in the water which made me mad again and I was a real treat to be around, you can just ask Eric. I was so irritated so we went down to Peggy's, which is good because we still got to take him in the water but what a waste of time and gas. I mean really. We threw the ball for him for a half hour or so and he loved it. Back home and into the shower with him then I took one. We ended up being lazy for most of the day because we could. I don't remember most of it but I'm sure it was spent in front of the tv and just the two of us with the dogs. I didn't hear from Jess and we didn't go to the fair. We took the dogs up the hill to the other park and explored a bit, but it's not as nice as the other one. We stayed up late to watch SNL but the new ones haven't started yet.

Friday 9/18, I think I talked to Susan for a long time after work and made plans for the next week when she's off work. We had plans to do the Puyallup over the weekend but apparently no one wanted to go so I said forget it. Eric and I went to Costco and I got some nuts and M&Ms and looked at dog stuff and got some duck meat treats since they're on duck right now. We wandered for a long time and finally headed home, with a stop at PCC for ice cream and some feminine items for myself. I think I holed up in my room and Eric fell asleep on the couch watching some trippy program on local access. Upstairs to bed.

Thursday 9/17, Home after work and fed the dogs and showered and took off for Jessica's Dad's for dinner. It took us about an hour and 15. We toured around the yard when we got there with Jess then inside and had little appetizers and chatted in the living room and listed to a new singer Ken and Frank found. We had dinner and Eric talked a lot and I wanted to nudge him to be quiet for a while but didn't. Conversation didn't flow all that well and it just felt awkward for most of dinner. The food was really good though, and we finally left around 10:30. Jess was going to get back to me about the fair that weekend. We raced home and took the dogs out and went to bed.

Wednesday 9/16, Hakim wrote to everyone that dinner was going to be later because Josh's plane was coming in late, so Sos and Jake bailed but I was still in. At home I relaxed and looked at dogs online and found three I want: Lovey (7), Katie (8) and Doxie (2). Luckily since then two have been adopted. Josh called and said he was back on time and we could move dinner up to 7 so I called Sos but they had already eaten. I took off about 15 minutes later and had to sit in Mariners traffic for a while, but talked to Mom for a long time about Grandma and her stuff and AL. Found the place (Via Tribunali), went in, found Hakim, Carmen and Josh and started chatting. We ordered a couple pizzas, salads and foccacia and shared everything and it was the perfect amount. We talked about trips and work and relationships. It was fun and really laid back. Josh picked up the tab and they were going to go out but I headed home instead. Chatted with Eric, relaxed and went to bed.

Tuesday 9/15, Woke up way early to take dogs for a walk at the park; kind of dark and spooky at the park that early. I was going to be gone all day so I had to make sure they were going to be good. Had Bremerton meeting, met some interesting industry people. Mom and Dad got to my place early and let the dogs out and were waiting when I got there, along with Eric. I showed them all the new art and they think I'm becoming a crazy dog lady (I am – it’s ok though). I changed and we went to Szechuan Chef for Chinese and had a nice, and very filling, dinner. I told them about the bonus on the way home and we stopped at DQ for little treat. The funny guys were MIA. Back home and they needed to get going so we said bye and hugs and talked about seeing them in November. We took the dogs up the hill for a walk and it was a bit chilly. I watched BL upstairs and did online stuff then took the dogs out at 10, crawled into bed, talked to Eric for a bit, lights out.

Monday 9/14, Stopped at the pet store for more food and leopard print coat for Brizo and talked to Susan on the way home. I found Eric cleaning like a mad man (yay!) in preparation of my parents coming the next day. We got so much done. I organized bookshelves and cleaned stuff up, cleaned downstairs bathroom, hung several pictures and the paintings. He made the polenta dish I found in a mag for dinner and it was really good. We ate while watching tv, upstairs for GG, dogs out, and to bed.

Sunday 9/13, Got up and got gas, started on chores and cleaning, unpacking from Minnesota, etc. I called David Walega and confirmed time for meeting to pick up the paintings. During a break I took the dogs up for a walk and back home for more cleaning. I showered and dressed and heard from Eric and they arrived home shortly after (Chrystol and Sky). We sat and chatted and watched football. They stayed for a while then left and I went to BB&B and picked up some things and back home. I took a short nap and Eric woke me up to leave to meet David. Over to Skate King with Castor, met him, very nice, love the paintings and said bye. I went to the store and picked up some stir fry stuff and home where Eric whipped it up. Dinner was really good. We both laid around and didn't accomplish anything for the rest of the day. Went to bed early.

Saturday 9/12, Eric texted me at 7:50 about the dogs so then I was awake and laid there until 8:30 and woke Jessica up. Jack wanted coffee so we went to the Little Store and talked about body types and me vs Kassie. We walked around and found stuffed animals we wanted to get but they were too expensive. Day started breakfast and I had one pancake and some bacon and eggs and some of Jessica's cousins showed up and had breakfast too. I'm glad I didn't overeat. I hung outside for a while as Jess took a work related call. Neighbor, Beth, texted about the front doors so I called Sos to ask her to take the dogs out and also to leave the front door open. We got dressed and headed Kohl's where I got a bunch of stuff for under $100, yay! I got some good stuff for work and saved a lot but not as much as Jessica, her ratio was higher. We had fun shopping and laughing at clothes we'd picked out. Stopped at Safeway on the way back and got some food for Day and back to the house. We sat outside in our suits for a while (in the shade for me) with Carmen and her hot bf, Russ, ooh the muscles and tan-ness and hairless-ness, mmmm. Soon it was 3 so I packed up, said bye and headed home. I made good time and the dogs were very excited to see me. It was so hot. I called Sos about our walk and she told me to come over and then I hit my leg on the table and almost cried it hurt so bad, Sos thought I found pee on the floor. Over at her's we went on a short walk up to the park and Brizo was out of her element and I had to keep chasing her. We went back and talked to Jake about the fair, then home, made dinner for the dogs, reheated leftovers, settled down with Daniel Craig for an evening of James Bond and it was heaven. It was nice to have the house to myself. Dogs stayed upstairs with me and Brizo making a lot of noise in her sleep, first time I've heard it and it was hilarious. Perfect evening, went to bed by 11.

Friday 9/11, I hung at home for a while and didn't take the dogs for a walk but instead packed to go to Jess' and went to pick up some flowers for her and her mom, which Eric arranged. I took off a little before 7 and got to her house in a little over an hour. She was down at Billy's so Day and Sue walked me down until we ran into them on the little lane. We went and saw his place, really cute and cozy but needs some remodeling, but would be a totally fun project. Very compact with lots of character. We all meandered back to Day's and Jessica told me about her visit with Liz and all the interesting things there. Day made dinner and was ordering Billy to open all these cans of tomato sauce and she was spilling and throwing the sauce back in. We laughed, and the next day she didn't remember any of it. After dinner we went down to the fire and talked for a long time and Billy thinks I will still have kids and now Jessica gets annoyed for me. We went up and got ready for bed and Jack made a comment about us needing batteries as we were getting into bed; I laughed at the supreme inappropriateness of it all. Fell asleep by midnight.

Thursday 9/10, Went to the bank and got home around 5:30. Eric said he didn't want to cook so we made plans to go out. We laid on the bed for a long time looking at magazines and talking and laughing at Brizo teetering around on the bed. It was really beautiful out. I checked my email and the pet silhouettes are done and we took off to Chipotle for dinner. I was singing ridiculously to the Moondoggies EP and was super annoying Eric as we walked up by singing bee boo-py part. He kept grabbing me to get me to quit, and I just laughed maniacally. Dinner was good then home. I confirmed plans with Jess to stay at her Mom's on Friday night. Eric had done a lot of cleaning for me earlier. I hung in my room and looked at internet stuff, then downstairs for a while, then back up to shower and finish a magazine and asleep.

Wednesday 9/9, Off work a little early and went for a short one lap walk with the dogs then home and still beat Eric. He stopped by the gallery and picked up the painting for me, yay! I called Dad about a house and him, Mom and I went to look at it but it wasn't all that great. It has potential and has lots of sq ftg but I wasn't in love with it. We drove around and I showed them the house I wanted. Back home and Eric was cooking and I showed them the painting then we talked in the living room and they left soon after. Dinner was done late: porkchops and rice. We relaxed for the rest of the night then up and I finished Sunset and folded recipes that looked good.

Tuesday 9/8, I went to the pet store to get new food (turkey and rabbit with fish) and anti-anxiety meds for Castor. Eric and I hopped in the cars over to MI to drop off Grandpa's car and talked with Mom and Dad for a bit. Took the dogs to Luther Burbank and walked around and went in the little dog area and talked with a woman with a toy fox terrier then went to the NW side and sniffed around. We went home and had leftovers for dinner then I started cleaning house. I was annoyed by the pee smell on Brizo's canvas camper and had no help from Eric. I vacuumed, started laundry, cleaned the kitchen, my room and wrangled the dogs to go outside. I was exhausted and Eric asked if anything was wrong and I told that I was annoyed I couldn't get the camper clean. I was just frustrated in general. Went to bed after 10.

Monday 9/7, Up at 8 and started packing and went up to have some breakfast. We all sat around talking and Danielle came to pick Aubrie up and said bye to her then we got ready and finished packing. I brought my Humane Society pledge form up and everyone donated and I got $160, yay! We talked in the living room for a long time then headed out. The ride was fine and we stopped at Kawalski's for lunch and had fruit and a sandwich and sat outside in the sun and ate. Kass dropped us at the airport first so they could go to the mall with enough time. We got checked in and thank god for printing your boarding pass at home because that other line was a nightmare. Through security then walked around looking in shops and eventually to our gate and paged through a People. Boarded close to last and luckily the flight was only 3 hours, not 4, and I slept for part of it and got rid of some magazines during the rest of it. We landed, got our luggage quickly then set out to find the car, but had the wrong key, chaos ensued and Mom had to come out with another key then a giant bill because Kima parked in the hourly parking, jeez. Back to Mom's where the dogs were thrilled to see us and Castor couldn't wait to leave. We took Grandpa's car home so Mom wouldn't have to drive us. We relaxed at home and Eric made dinner while I went to the store. I did some cleaning and we relaxed. Ahh. Eric fell asleep at 8:30, me before 10. We were exhausted.

Sunday 9/6, We got a little earlier of a start on account of breakfast being prepared at Dick's. I woke up Alishia and Aubrie took Kassie. We tried to play with Tye who was being very shy with all of us. We hit the road and french toast and bacon were a-cookin. I ate too much bacon but it was sooo good. More of the same, lots of boating and sunshine, food, laughing with family and a gigantic snapping turtle found on the road and returned to the lake. Eric spent most of his weekend on the boat with Clint and making inappropriate jokes with Danny, big surprise. We went over to the beach and hung out and ordered Mark and Dick to pick up clams in the deep part and guided them in. Lots of fun and the day ended with a group of us around the table on the upper deck telling stories of how we met our significant others and how our parents met them. It was fun, though Kassie was over the top and mortifying Mom in front of Grandma and Papa. Dick gave everyone tshirts and pins from some wrestling event. We said bye to everyone because we'd be leaving in the morning. We went back to Clint's about 11:30 and Dylan fell asleep on my shoulder in the car and Aubrie and I annoyed everyone by asking for the window up, then down, then up again, etc. We thought we were hilarious. I didn't dally and got into bed pretty quickly.

Saturday 9/5, Eric got up at 7:00 and I was up by 8 and went upstairs to talk to Jodi while Eric went on a 6 mile run. I ate some breakfast and we chatted for a long time, which was nice. Tye wanted nothing to do with me, much to my dismay. He’s so big! Eventually everyone started getting moving and we left around 11 with Casey in tow. We stopped in town at the health food store then over to the Econo Foods for a few other things then to Dick's. Food was being served, of course, and we got right into it. We had maple bacon wrapped weenies with brown sugar baked on top – heaven. We went on the pontoon and Kelly and Mark were there and we cruised around the lake and Aubrie and Dylan went and sat on the huge chairs and we took pictures. We went back and found Grandma and Papa there so we loaded up on more food and set back out for another tour around the lake. Back on land Jackson kept bugging me to go on the golf cart with him so I took Dylan, Jackson and Kennedy for a short ride. All of us were wearing our custom shirts and we took pictures later in the evening. Celebrated Uncle Ron's birthday and I had a gigantic piece of cake and Ron and Larry both doubted I could eat it all but I did and we watched Aubrie’s video while we ate. It's kind of a blur now. We basically hung out and ate a lot then had a fire down by the water and listened to the brothers tell stories, like how Grandma drove the car into the lake and how Larry got side swiped while he was on a date with some chick. We left late, like midnight or something and watched tv in the basement with Aubrie and Alishia. Eric and Aubrie kept razzing each other and he was trying to do something to her and I thought she was faking the distress whining. Went to bed laaaate.

Friday 9/4, I slept in til 9ish and Eric was of course already up. He had wanted to leave by 9 for Minneapolis, but that didn't happen. I went in and ate breakfast with Larry, Rosemary and Eric and had a yummy cake-y donut. I showered and got ready and we headed out on 7. Remember to ALWAYS take 7 to and from Minneapolis! We got to the Mall of America in about 1.5 hours and started our wandering. First Nordstrom, tried on shoes, bought nothing, then H&M and got some sweaters. Eric found me and we wandered through the center with the rides and found a stand that sells airbrushed t-shirts and tanks and stuff so I picked out a design and colors and the American Apparel tank and ordered up four of them. We looked for lunch and went to Chipotle, our go-to apparently. We continued to wander and came across the Rack and I bought two pairs of shoes and one was really cheap, yay. Perfect for work. I talked to Kelly and made plans for dinner and let Kass know. We picked up the shirts and found our way out and then around the mall to the lot for the Express bus service to the fair. It took us over a half hour to get there. #1 state fair in the country. Puyallup is #3. We walked through and found some commemorative shirts then saw some sham wow guy making fart noises at a little kid into his microphone. We went in the cow barn, then the horse one. We got some lemonade then Eric got a corn on the cob we shared and soon we came across the cheese curds and those were delicious; way better than mozzarella sticks. We continued to wander hitting the DNR building and enjoyed people watching. I wanted to grab a cookie off the top of some lady’s bucket. It was getting late and we'd been there for a couple hours so we hit the "Miracle of Life" baby barn on the way out. Lots of animals being born - ish. We heard a guy talking about deep fried bacon. Covered in chocolate. The pigs were cute and the baby lambs. Too many people though, I feel bad for those animals. We headed out on bus and called Kassie when we got back to the car. We drove over and found Ciao Bella but were early so we explored and went to Herberger's and I couldn't stop saying the name and making it sound like the Muppets Chef. We looked around and I almost bought a coat. Headed out and met Kass and noticed the cute host. We stood in the bar talking until our table was ready. We sat there for about 15 then Kelly and Mark arrived. Dinner was really good and all great ingredients (caprese salad). We had a lot of fun talking and laughing. At 8 Aubrie called and had arrived so Eric and I took off for the airport and found her quickly. We found a McD's and she got a wrap and I got a sundae and she wanted a piece of the farm boy behind the counter. We typed in the coordinates and the stupid thing took us back on 12 which took us over 2.5 hours, ahhh, a nightmare! We were so cranky and impatient by the time we arrived and Derek had to help us because the stupid thing wouldn't even take us to the house and left us on the other side of the lake. Everyone was around the fire and we stayed only about 20 minutes or so then packed up the van and followed Derek to Clint's. Everyone was asleep and Casey and Dylan were camped out on the office floor and we all felt bad. Aubs took Dylan's room, Kassie and Sky in Casey's and me and Eric in the basement hunting room. Aubrie came down and watched tv for a while with us and finally went to bed after midnight.

Thursday 9/3, We woke up by 7 and got ready and had some breakfast and headed into the park and saw Bucky again and he had blood on his neck, so we were worried and decided to tell a park ranger on our way out. We drove around and looked at the magnificent views and stopped to take pictures and do a little exploring. We saw wild horses, more buffalo, prairie dog towns and petrified wood. It was so beautiful and I took lots of pictures. We drove through the park but didn't go on the hike Eric wanted to do. Back out and to Teddy Roosevelt's cabin for a tour. On the way we met a cute, tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed mid-westerner park ranger who told us it was rut and that's why the buffalo was probably injured and why he and the others were by themselves. We took the tour and Dad was an expert filling in the gaps for the tour guide. We went in and looked through the little museum and watched the movie. Back into town to look around and do a little shopping (new salt and pepper shakers!) while Dad took care of packing up the motorhome. Eric bought groceries then we met up with Dad and went to lunch at the Cowboy Cafe. I had soup again and shortly after we were on road. I read and Mom and I talked about her plan for Eric to make money from old barns. We had sandwiches on the road. A few hours out we put on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and laughed a lot. We made it to Uncle Dick's by 10 and Larry scared the shit out of us jumping in while we were still moving. We went inside and did introductions and hung out in the bar with Uncle Larry, Rosemary, Dick and Roxy until after 11. We went into the motorhome for bed and I ate too many chips and yogurt. Eric and I watched a Roseanne marathon for a while then went to sleep late.
Wednesday 9/2, We drove all day and eventually Mom took over and we were keeping our eyes open for a DQ and finally found one in a little town and just as we were driving by it Dad woke up from the back and yelled up to us, "You know you just passed a Dairy Queen!" and we all cracked up that his radar works even when he's sleeping. We found parking and walked over and that place was a mad house with a trainee having a hard time with it all. Eric had a stare down with an old cowboy. Dad got confused and went to put $10 on some guy's DQ card and we all laughed. Then Eric dissed him by saying only old people like butterscotch then I looked at Dad’s sundae, and back to Eric, and Mom lost it. Hilarious. Back on the road it was a long haul and I did some reading and I think took a long nap. We arrived in Medora by 7 or so and got situated before heading into town for a tour and dinner. We drove around and finally decided on Boots, the place we've always eaten when we go to Medora. The people watching was great and we watched group after group of drunk guys come in with their own beer and run into each other while reading the specials. I had soup and a surprisingly good gorgonzola and raspberry vinaigrette salad. After dinner we went to the park and drove around. The satellite radio was bumping and first was "Down Under" by Toto and it made me think of LPC then the next song was "Don't Forget About Me" and I instantly thought of Eric and was singing along, really feeling it, when all of a sudden we saw this giant furry thing as tall as a man on my and Mom's side of the car. I started freaking out, "Oh my God, drive, go, go, go!" because I thought it was a Sasquatch or bear or something, but really it was a buffalo, eating on the side of the road, all by his lonesome. We all laughed once we went by, but literally, if my hand was out the window I could have touched his head. Eric was like “I think he was pooping!” as we drove away. We drove a bit further then headed back and passed Bucky the buffalo again on our way out. At home we all got into bed and I read for a bit before going to bed.