Friday, King of days...

various updates:

• so a week or so ago, i "won" a huge stack of patio bricks from freecycle.com. i won!! i won!! i've been trying to snag some bricks for a long long time, and i guess patience and perseverance pay off because dammit if i didn't get them in the end. i ended up with about 220 bricks, which took two trips in my car, because i feared for the heath of my suspension (and tires) if i took them all in one load. i stashed the bricks under the deck to tempt the folks who wander the alley stealing my stuff... then i started digging. and digging. and digging. i knew that our yard was composed mostly of rocks, broken glass, chunks of brick, and trash - all held together by a little dirt. i knew all this, but i didn't realize how difficult the digging would be until i began. yowza. it was hard work, and took several tries before i got down 4" or so. i should have dug deeper, and i should have leveled it out more. but i declared that i wanted a more "natural" patio so i quit and moved on to the next steps: cloth, sand, then bricks. after the hard part (digging) was over, the weed-proofing cloth layer took... oh, say about 5 minutes. the sand took a few more minutes, because i did a little smoothing and tamping. then the bricks! aside from the hellish beginning (digging), the rest of the patio took about 2 hours to complete. yahoo! i am waiting for a few more bricks to make the path from the deck steps. but at least this is a start. once i locate the camera charger, i will put up some pictures.

• i just bought two new swimsuits online! a blue retro two-piece and a brown ruffled one-piece. they should arrive next week. that give me plenty of time - 2 weeks - to make sure they actually fit before the brown family vacation at the beach. unfortunately, i have to ship them to the office. i'll have some 'splaining to do, and hopefully there will be no forced fashion shows.
  

• scott's brother, kevin, is visiting from arizona this weekend... i have no idea what the plans for entertainment are, but i hope they aren't much. i am tired of running around.
  

• speaking of running, this is going to be the Big Weekend for me to try my hand at running again. i used to do it so often, and so well. maybe not "well," as those who have witness my pitiful form can vouch for... but i want to try it again.

• duchess had a check-up yesterday, and is doing much better. she has gained a half of a pound, and her thyroid levels (whatever that means) are getting closer to normal. she'll be 19 in july, and we will throw a big party for her if she makes it. that's pretty old for a tiny little tabby cat.

• enough is enough. i need to go back to doing real work.