Where was I? Oh, yeah. There was a wreck in the median with a fire truck blocking the inside lane around Heflin (just past the AL border). Then there was sporadic rain. Then there were several areas of construction, including one where it was down to one lane. That sucked. I ended up being 30 minutes late, but it wasn't a big deal. Scott and I just lounged around, played pool, and drank a couple beers waiting for Donna to get home from work. He's a beer connoisseur, so he gave me the pilsner/pale ale/lager explanation. We decided I should stick to lager.

We had dinner at a Thai place I found online as being veg-friendly, and it was delicious. I had a vegetable tofu stir fry. It was actually called baby corn mushroom something-or-other. So, no shortage of baby corn in this one, missleigh! As we were leaving, Jeff called my cell phone and said, "What does it mean when it..." talking about my PC. Oh, gods. What did you do to it? (It's been locking up periodically since the upgrade. I don't care. I'm not getting a new one until at least next year.)

Saturday we got up and had waffles. We then went shopping. Surprisingly, I could only find one tattoo magazine at Barnes & Noble. I got that, and a magazine called Self Defense for Women. So far, I'm impressed with it. There's been articles on organic vs. regular salt, meditation, domestic violence, and birth control methods. I haven't even gotten to the main articles. I also got the book Fast Food Nation. I think that will be a good companion book for You Don't Need Meat. (Though after reading Animal Liberation I needed a break, so now I'm reading Bag of Bones.) We went into some clothing store where I had seen a cute jean jacket-looking shirt I liked in the window. I get in there, and it's $88. I don't think so.

We went to lunch at Curry in a Hurry. It was awesome, and quite spicy. We then went to see 28 Days Later, and I enjoyed it immensely. Donna kept jumping out of her seat. She called me Scott Jr. as we were leaving the theater because I said "um, no" when she said it was time for a "sweet" movie. Scott cooked a mushroom pasta dish for dinner from a recipe he'd found in the newspaper. It was pretty good. Later we watched The Gift, which he had saved on TiVo. I've seen it, but it's an excellent movie that I didn't mind seeing again. That's about the time the headache started. I didn't sleep well while I was there. I usually don't. I would wake up around 2 or 3am, toss and turn until about 6, then decide to get up.

Sunday after breakfast, Scott mentioned that he was going to wash the cars. I asked if he minded if I washed mine, too. He said, "I'll do it!" I offered three times to help him with all three cars, and he kept telling me no. "Fine, I'm not offering again!" He even vacuumed the inside, cleaned the dash, and applied Rain X! I left there around 11:00 and headed to Dad's.

I got to Dad's around lunch time. Before lunch I had time to swim for a few minutes. Lunch was a pork roast with potatoes and carrots, lima beans, some sort of asparagus casserole, and rolls. Needless to say I had lima beans, rolls, and a few bites of that nasty casserole. It was some new recipe Barbara had found, and I didn't like it. She asked if I wanted some potatoes and carrots, and I told her, "Not if they were cooked with the roast." She first tried to tell me that the potatoes on top did not touch the meat or juices. Then she said she'd have baked me a potato had she known. I told her it was ok, no need to cater to me, I'll have enough to eat. (By the way, I did not take the vegetable broth to her. Scott had to use it in his recipe because we couldn't find any at Bruno's.) We then had pound cake, strawberries and "whippy cream."

After swimming for a while (well, I swam a lot and played around while they sat there or laid on floats), we got dressed and went to the flea market. Barb has her own booth there. We looked around there, and I found a couple cool little things. One was a small ceramic kitty, the other was a glass coaster with Sep 20, 1898 stamped into it. It looked sort of like the bottom of a coke bottle. Anyway, it was $1 and I liked it. We saw a few pieces of cobalt glass that I liked, but wasn't willing to pay that much for. I'd ask Barb if they were worth that, and usually she'd say yes (her being the antiques expert). As we got back to the front of the store and were about to leave, Dad said, "Go pick out a piece of cobalt and I'll buy it for you." I told him he didn't have to do that, I could live without a vase. But he did it anyway.

On the way back, Barb asked me if I ever carried the purse she gave me. I told her no. She asked why, and if I didn't like it. I told her it was too busy. She said to save it, she liked it. Oops! It's been sold at the consignment shop. Maybe she'll forget.

We then went to TCBY for some frozen yogurt (pound cake, then this. Think they're trying to fatten me up?), then driving around looking at the old houses in Anniston. This seems to be their custom, since they did it last time I visited. Barb once again showed me the house she loved. We then went to some old houses that were built in the '40s and are now owned by the high school. We parked in front of one that was made of stone and had copper gutters (but the downspouts had been stolen). We walked around a bit, but it looked to be "snakey". We found a clear path to the back patio, and one of the doors was open. Barb wanted to go in and rummage. I just looked in, and could see a crushed Bud Light can on the floor, tin tile ceilings, an old school desk, and rotten floors and walls. It's such a shame that they've let these houses deteriorate this way. It seems so obvious that they should sell them to someone with the money to restore them, making money for the school in the process. Such is politics. They usually don't make sense.

As I was putting my bag in my car, Dad stops me in the garage by his gun safe. "Let me give you something before you leave." I told him he didn't have to give me anything. He ended up giving me a Colt .357 revolver, "one of the best guns ever made." I'm not sure how old it is, but I think it's worth some money. I won't sell it, though. So, I guess I do get a weapon every time I leave there! Cool.

I showed it to Jeff when I got home, and he said, "You can't shoot that!" I said, "I can, too! And so what, it's mine." He's just jealous.

I'm sure I've left stuff out. Like me passing on to Scott Jeff's habit of saying "kee-YAH!" every time he sees a Kia (much to Donna's annoyance). I won a game of pool because Scott scratched on the 8 ball (though it was neck-and-neck). I felt ok in my new tankini, though I'm not sure about wearing it in front of Jeff's boss and all his work buddies. I felt bad for Donna's cat, Slinky, because I get the feeling she stays outside on the screened-in porch most of the time. They bring her in for a while every night, but still. Donna's apparently allergic, and Scott can't stand the cat hair and/or mess she supposedly makes. Oh, well.

Hmmm. Perhaps that time I got so mad in traffic, screaming until something popped behind my right eye may have been an indicator. I've gotten much better since then.

Oh, yeah. Did you see this? Huh? Did ya?

Ahhh. I need a cigarette. (Wait, I don't smoke!) That man is too hot.