Yes, I'm still here

OK, all right, so it's been ages since I've posted. Just not a whole lot going on right now that's interesting enough to talk about.

Weird to think that this is my last week of freedom before starting work again. Ralph & I have been enjoying it immensely, and treated ourselves to an overnight trip to the San Diego area as a mini-vacation. We spent yesterday at the Wild Animal Park (which has in fact been renamed as "The San Diego Zoo Safari Park") and had a wonderful time. Being a weekday in the off-season, it was not at all crowded & we got some really good views of the animals. Lots of nests in the aviary, and several babies around including the little antelope amongst today's photos. At the time we took the picture, it was less than 2 hours old. I was particularly glad to see the elephants; they looked much healthier & happier than the one we saw at the LA County Zoo.


Today we went to the San Diego Botanical Gardens (formerly Quail Botanical Gardens) and spent a couple leisurely hours strolling the grounds. Very pleasant & relaxing. We got there shortly after they opened, so even with spending 2-1/2 hours there we were still able to hit the road before the traffic started to get heavy and made good time on the drive home.



All of today's pictures were taken at either the Safari Park or the Arboretum. We don't know the woman with the lorikeets on her; we just thought it made a nice photo & she gave us the OK to take her picture. The shots of us with our arms outstretched is to show our "wingspan" as compared to that of a California Condor. See, I am tiny and petite, smaller than a bird :-) Please ignore the fact that I have major hat hair in the photo.

A super Super Bowl Sunday

I haven't taken any new pictures lately, so y'all are treated to another view of the socks I posted last time. I still need to get a photo of the most recent pair that I finished.

Had a *very* busy weekend. Ralph had the day off on Friday so we did some puttering about, including a trip to the local nursery. We now have a very small vegetable garden consisting of two cauliflower plants, one each of three different kinds of lettuce, and a basil plant. We've also got a yellow tomato which still needs to be put into the ground. As we were planting the last lettuce, I stepped at the edge of the garden & my foot sank--gopher hole! Augh! We basically gave him a salad bar right outside his door. Ralph has put down some gopher bait & hopefully this will work.

We also got a call from Dad on Friday, and made arrangements to meet for dinner on Saturday. We all got together in the early afternoon (Lizard, The Boy & The Girl were also invited) & as usual yakked for quite a while. Dinner was at Outback Steakhouse where we got fantastic service. Bread was brought on a regular basis & water glasses were refilled without anyone having to ask. We tipped the waiter very well (more than 20%). The food was delicious, too. I had the BBQ Mixed Grill: a small serving of ribs, grilled chicken, three large coconut shrimp, and mashed potatoes. YUM! Then Ralph & I split a Cinnamon Oblivion for dessert.

Sunday morning brought a last-minute invitation to a Puppy Bowl party. It's like a Super Bowl party, only we watched Animal Planet instead. It didn't start until 2:00, which gave us time to whip up some of Ralph's famous homemade guacamole and a fresh steamed chocolate pudding. The hosts also provided a fine array of goodies including bacon-wrapped drumsticks & some fantastic Asiago cheese spread with ranch crackers.

Monday I went shopping for work clothes. I made the wonderful discovery of not one, but two shops in the local mall that carry business attire at reasonable prices. I got a blazer, three skirts, and a couple shirts. Oh, and a coat which I ended up bringing back yesterday for a larger size. It fit OK, but I realized if I had winter clothes on under it rather than the shorts & t-shirt I wore out shopping it would be just a little too snug. The only downside to the trips was the overly aggressive salespeople at the skin care kiosks. I passed several of them, and they are really pushy about trying to get you to sample their products. I generally had to tell them "No, thank you" at least six times before I could get away, and even then they look at you like you're the one being rude.

Yesterday I got assigned my "swapner" for the Pi Day Swap on Ravelry. Of course that meant I spent all afternoon online looking at potential items & placing an order or two (I'm not going to say what I looked at or what I got, since my blog can be accessed through Ravelry & I don't want to spoil the surprise). The swap box is supposed to contain yarn, a hand-crafted item, and some goodies/toys relating in some way to either pi or pie. I've already started on the hand-crafted item & have a few ideas regarding the pi/pie goodies. My swapner has requested no baked goods, which makes it easier as I don't have to try to figure out how to ship a pie to Utah :-)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Well, while the majority of the US is fighting snow & blizzards, we on the West Coast continue to have lovely weather. Ralph & I even did some gardening over the weekend, trimming trees, pulling out some dead plants & replacing them with live ones.

In other news, I got a job! I'll be working as an escrow administrator, and my new boss is none other than Mr. Boss Man himself. It'll be awesome working with him again. The job promises to be very busy & challenging, which I'm quite looking forward to. It starts at the end of the month so I've got some time to let it all sink in.

Today's photo: the socks that I finished a couple weeks ago. These are the ones from the pattern book my SIL bought me for Christmas. They are without a doubt the funkiest socks I ever made, but I love them. I'm thinking of entering them in the County Fair. The flash washed out the color a little bit in the photo but I think you can get a good idea of how they look.