Birthday happenings

My husband's birthday was yesterday. He turned 36. We started the day with lunch with his parents. After lunch, we took our hard drive to another computer place in town. We both were hoping that this place could get our files off the old hard drive. The owner of the computer store took our hard drive and plugged it in to his computer. He was able to open the hard drive, but he said nothing was on it. After a couple of minutes, he switched from the recovery drive to the hard drive and all of our files appeared on his screen. I was so happy that all of our information, music and photos weren't lost. The computer guy told us that we should buy an external hard drive so he could copy all of the info from our hard drive to it. And so we could keep it as a back up hard drive. My husband and I drove across town to a store and bought one. We drove back to the computer store and the guy said it would take a couple of hours to copy all of the files over and he would call us when it was ready.

When we got back home, I wrote a message on my husband's birthday card and gave him his gifts. I got him a Visa check card and gift certificates to a sports and home improvement store in town. He liked all of his gifts. He should have. That is what he told me he wanted. I also bought him a birthday cake and a turtle cheesecake. We had a piece of cake each before dinner. Around 6 p.m., the computer place called and said we could pick up our hard drives. We drove back over the the computer place, picked them up and headed down to Toledo, Ohio for my husband's birthday dinner.

Before dinner, we stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond to see if we could find a new silverware tray that we liked. After looking at all the BB & Y had, we didn't like any of them. The only things we bought were new hand soap dispensers for the kitchen and bathroom. For his birthday dinner, my husband picked Shorty's. They serve BBQ, steaks and burgers. For dinner, my husband ordered a 1/3 rack of ribs and I ordered a sirloin steak. It was very good and filling.

My husband's birthday turned out to be a good day. We had some great food, we got all of our files off our old hard drive and backed up on an external hard drive and I got to spend the entire day with my husband on his birthday.

Mike

Happy Birthday.

The second photo is still my favorite photo that I have taken of my husband.

Books read in 2010

Read two books this week. Both books were under 300 pages, that made them very fast reads. Recently, I read a biography about the mystery writer Agatha Christie. Last time I was at the library, I picked up three of her books. I'm really enjoying reading them.


Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story, C. David Heymann
Fletch, Too, Gregory Mcdonald
American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy, C. David Heymann
Tis Herself: An Autobiography, Maureen O'Hara and John Nicoletti
A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, C. David Heymann
John F. Kennedy, President, Hugh Sidey
Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery, Norman Mailer
First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1789-1961, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1961-1990, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Real Life at the White House: 200 years of daily life at America's famous residence, John Whitcomb
Amelia Earhart, Tanya Lee Stone
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
Hungry, Crystal Reen with Marjorie Ingall
Harry S. Truman, Robert Dallek
The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King, James Patterson
Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane
Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie, Richard Hack
Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, Stacy A. Cordery
Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie
From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy, Nellie Connally & Mickey Herskowitz

Currently Reading: After the Funeral, Agatha Christie
Up Next: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie

Miles run in 2010

I'm really pleased at how my running is coming along this year. It is only April and I have already topped 600 miles run for the year. I know my consistent running has helped me improve my 5K race time. I hope to improve with every race I have, a 5K, 10K and the half marathon.

I know it is time to buy new shoes. I bought a new pair back in January. They have over 500 miles on them. I will stop by the local running store tomorrow and look at some shoes.

2004: 95
2005: 123.6
2006: 158.4
2007: 145.5
2008: 319.5
2009: 301.3
2010: 601.6

Random things

Our kitchen remodel is still going on. Things are still scattered all over the house. But there is good news. My husband started hanging drywall yesterday. I helped him hang a piece today and he is so close to having all of the walls done. Hopefully later, the ceiling can be screwed into place. When that is done, the cabinets can be moved into place. I missed being able to walk into the kitchen and look in the cabinets. It is so hard to find anything in totes.

It was official yesterday, I have lost 35 pounds so far this year. Recently, people have been coming up to me to ask if I have lost weight. It feels really good that other people are noticing. I have to admit it is probably hard for people to see my progress. I'm still wearing my baggy clothes. When I lose all the weight that I want to, then I will reward myself with new clothes.

My next 5K is Saturday. My goal is to lower my time again. It would be super sweet to finish in 28 minutes. If I don't, I can always try at my next race.

Books read in 2010

Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story, C. David Heymann
Fletch, Too, Gregory Mcdonald
American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy, C. David Heymann
Tis Herself: An Autobiography, Maureen O'Hara and John Nicoletti
A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, C. David Heymann
John F. Kennedy, President, Hugh Sidey
Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery, Norman Mailer
First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1789-1961, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1961-1990, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Real Life at the White House: 200 years of daily life at America's famous residence, John Whitcomb
Amelia Earhart, Tanya Lee Stone
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
Hungry, Crystal Reen with Marjorie Ingall
Harry S. Truman, Robert Dallek
The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King, James Patterson
Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane
Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie, Richard Hack
Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, Stacy A. Cordery

Currently Reading: Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie
Up Next: From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy, Nellie Connally & Mickey Herskowitz

New record

I ran my best 5K races to date on Sunday. I finished in 29:46.60. I couldn't believe my time passing the first mile, it was 9:10. Holy cow. That is fast for me. I decided to keep that pace up for the next mile. I kept it up and crossed the two mile mark around 18 minutes. The final mile, my pace did slow. When that happened, a couple of runners passed me. With about a half mile to go, I picked up my pace. In that final half mile, I passed two of the runners that passed me. I was thrilled that one of the runners I passed was a man. Usually, I'm the one getting passed at the end of a race.

I'm very happy with my improved time. I know that the time I ran today was because of the weight that I've lost this year. I can't wait to see what my times will be like when I lose more weight and get down to the weight I want to be.

Computers & kitchens

We got our computer back Monday. Too bad its dead. Everything on it died. My husband and I bought a new computer that night. It was thrilling to have a computer and the Internet at the house again. And it is so fast. Later this week, we have to take our new computer tower and old computer tower to the computer place so they can transfer all of our files. We were told that to transfer the files shouldn't take more then a couple of hours. I can handle the computer being gone for a couple of hours.

The kitchen is gutted. Things from the kitchen are scattered all over the house. Making lunch today was awkward. We don't have any counters, so I made our sandwiches on a work bench. It felt very weird. I guess it will feel weird for another week. The cabinets are being delivered next Monday. It should take my husband a day or two to install them.

Books read in 2010

Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story, C. David Heymann
Fletch, Too, Gregory Mcdonald
American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy, C. David Heymann
Tis Herself: An Autobiography, Maureen O'Hara and John Nicoletti
A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, C. David Heymann
John F. Kennedy, President, Hugh Sidey
Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery, Norman Mailer
First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1789-1961, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1961-1990, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Real Life at the White House: 200 years of daily life at America's famous residence, John Whitcomb
Amelia Earhart, Tanya Lee Stone
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
Hungry, Crystal Reen with Marjorie Ingall
Harry S. Truman, Robert Dallek
The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King, James Patterson
Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane
Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie, Richard Hack

Currently Reading: Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, Stacy A. Cordery

Up Next: Library trip

Random things

My house is in the middle of another remodel. This time it is the kitchen. Besides the kitchen, my husband is also re-doing the floor in the dining room. There are objects all over the house. Old kitchen cabinets are laying all over the floor and kitchen table. My dining room and entryway feel like a maze. I have to be careful walking or I'll bang my foot, leg or any other body part on cabinets and flooring. My husband said that today he is going to start taking down the old dry wall. That is going to be a mess. All of the mess will be worth it. In a few short weeks, the mess will be gone and we will have a brand new kitchen. I always enjoy the results of my husband's work, but I hate the process leading up to it. I can't stand things being out of place. Yeah, I'm weird.

Our computer has had problems since Wednesday. It has been at the computer repair place since Thursday. I'm pretty bummed about the computer being gone. I work on it everyday and of course use the Internet. I hope the computer will be finished today so when can get it back. I miss it.

I was so happy to step on the scale Friday. The scale let me know that I finally lost 30 pounds. I really wanted to be at that weight on April 1, but I was only 9 days off. This past week, two co-workers have approached me to ask if I have lost weight. They said they noticed my face was smaller and were curious. I can't tell my face is smaller. Its nice when other people notice it.

I stepped on the scale Sunday and I was happy to see that I was down another two pounds. That puts my total up to 32 pounds lost this year. One of my goals was to fit into a dress that I wore in my engagement photos from 1999. I've been trying on the dress every time I reached the 10 pound mark. I tried on the dress yesterday again. It fit! I was able to zip up the dress with no problems! It made me very happy. It has always been my favorite dress and I would love to wear it again somewhere.

Dad

John Wayne Clark
April 10, 1942 - August 15, 1998

Thinking of you on your birthday. Happy 68th birthday.

I used this poem last year on his birthday. I thought it was appropriate to use again.

"We Lost a father with a heart of gold"

We lost a father with a heart of gold,

How much we miss him can never be told,

He shared our trouble and helped us along,

If we follow his footsteps we can never go wrong.

We miss you from your fireside chair,

Your loving smile and gentle air,

Your vacant place no one can fill,

We miss you father and always will.

He was a father so very rare,

Content in his home and always there,

On earth he toiled, in heaven he rests

God bless you father, you were one of the best.

Each time I look at your picture,

You seem to smile and say,

Don't be sad but courage take,

And love each other for my sake.

Random things

I didn't watch the national championship game Monday between Duke Blue Devils and Butler Bulldogs. It was on too late for me. I know I'm old when I say 9:21 p.m. is too late for me. I read about the game Tuesday morning. I would have much rather watched it live. I did watch the game Tuesday on the CBS College Sports Network. Something I noticed after the game, all of the camera shots were of the losing team Butler Bulldogs. Yes. I get it that a small university made it to the final and could have won the game on a last second shot. But dang, show some celebration from the national champions. Since I didn't watch the game live, was the trophy presentation shown? Just curious.

Our house is in the midst of another renovation project. My husband and I have been in our house for nine years and the kitchen is the last room to receive an update. He has already taken down drywall and some of the linoleum flooring. Along with re-doing the kitchen, he ripped up the floor in the dining room. He will be putting down a new hardwood floor in the kitchen and dining room. I believe next week all of the cabinets will be coming down. The new cabinets are supposed to be delivered April 19 and I really hope they will be. I can't stand things being out of order and clutter. It makes me very cranky.

My husband informed me this morning that there could be a problem with our computer. He was playing a game on it this morning and it went into a power save by itself. He tried rebooting, got it started and it went into a power save again. He said he was going to try to fix it before going to bed. If that fails to work, it has to be fixed. I hope he got it working because being without a computer and Internet at home is awful. At least it is for me.

Books read in 2010

Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story, C. David Heymann
Fletch, Too, Gregory Mcdonald
American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy, C. David Heymann
Tis Herself: An Autobiography, Maureen O'Hara and John Nicoletti
A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, C. David Heymann
John F. Kennedy, President, Hugh Sidey
Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery, Norman Mailer
First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1789-1961, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
The Saga of the Presidents Wives and Their Power 1961-1990, Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Real Life at the White House: 200 years of daily life at America's famous residence, John Whitcomb
Amelia Earhart, Tanya Lee Stone
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
Hungry, Crystal Reen with Marjorie Ingall
Harry S. Truman, Robert Dallek
The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King, James Patterson
Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane

Currently Reading: Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie, Richard Hack
Up Next: Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, Stacy A. Cordery

Weekend update

I was happy to get my car back Friday. What I wasn't too happy about was the price tag. But I shouldn't complain. This is the first time in five years that I had major work done on it. I did notice something Sunday while driving to my Mom's for Easter. I've had a nice Pilot Dr. Grip pen in my car for about two years. I really like those pens because they write in extreme cold weather. I keep it in the center console with my CDs and Sharpie markers. I noticed it was missing Sunday. The people at the car place stole my pen! That didn't make me very happy. I also had a Bic pen mixed in with the Sharpie's, but they didn't take the 99 cent pen. They took my nice pen. After leaving my Mom's, I stopped at the store to buy a new one. It cost me $6.00. Next time I get my car serviced, I'm taking my nice pen out of the car.

My husband and I went to the Toledo Museum of Art Saturday afternoon. We went to see Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks in the Canaday Gallery. Stunning photography. It was nice to see so many of his famous prints up close and learn the stories behind them. Beautiful exhibition.

We had tickets to see Wicked that night at the Stranahan Theatre. The performance was wonderful. I enjoyed seeing it again. What I didn't enjoy was how hot it was inside. Mainly during the second act, I was using my playbill as a fan. The other thing that made me mad was the two high school girls sitting behind us. They talked throughout the entire show. That isn't even the worst part. They also sang along to most of the songs. I really wanted to turn around and tell them to shut up. My husband didn't pay almost $70 a ticket for us to hear high school girls sing songs terribly.

Party Down

I was watching a movie on Encore yesterday and I saw a commercial for the show Party Down on the STARZ network. I never even heard for the show but the commercial looked interesting. I went to Netflix to see if they had the DVDs of the show available. They did. The DVDs are being released next Tuesday. I noticed that Season 1 of Party Down were streaming online on Netflix. I watched the first two episodes. I found the shows enjoyable and funny. Jane Lynch is in the show, only for Season 1, and she is incredible. I need to find time this weekend to watch the rest of Season 1. Once I finish with those, I will be out of the loop. Sadly, I don't get the STARZ network. I will have to wait until they are streaming online or rent the DVDs to see Season 2 which starts later this month. Boo.

Party Down trailer:

In the shop

I took my car in today to get the brakes fixed. I was told that I would receive a call after my car was inspected for an estimate and to give the go-ahead to fix my car.

I received the phone call when I was running. I was told that all four brake pads needed to be replaced. I was expecting that. I've had my car for five years. It was due. Then I was told about some other brake parts needed to replaced, all four of them, whatever they were. Also that I needed two new rear tires and my transmission line needed to be replaced because it is leaking. Great.

I was happy that I remembered to bring the coupons that the car place sent to me in the mail a while ago. With those coupons, I saved $40. Which is nice. The bad part is all of the parts and work will cost just below $800 and I don't get my car back until Friday. They are waiting on a part that will arrive tomorrow. So for the time being, I have a loaner car. It is decent. It is a Pontiac Grand Am. I had one before I bought my Grand Prix. It feels so weird to drive a different car. Good thing I only need it to drive to work in the morning and back to the car place when my car is finished.