I Still Need Coconut Husk Planter Inserts

The weekend was lovely! 

Friday night I went to Wal-Mart and ended up getting the weirdest assortment of stuff ever to be assembled in one cart.  I got hot dog buns, toilet cleaner, a black t-shirt, kitty litter, fish food, a shower curtain liner, light bulbs, 3 plastic divided plates, 5 plastic planters, hair color, shampoo, and I still couldn’t find the coconut husk planter fillers I was looking for.  Arg.  Anyway, the weather was amazing.  It was the perfect weather to roll down all the windows and blast the cheesy 80s music.  Someone next to me agreed because while I was blasting Walk Like an Egyptian, the guy in the car next to me was blasting Pour Some Sugar on Me.  We are dorks.

I stayed up LATE Friday night.  Bob got home from hanging with the guys a little after midnight.  When he came in, I was completely sucked in to a Discovery Channel show about the man who lived with wolves.  Bob rolled in and got sucked in as well.  It seems this guy was working with wolves somehow when a mother wolf rejected her three pups.  So he took it upon himself to teach these little baby wolves how to grow up to be actual, real wolves.  There is nothing cuter than a teeny tiny wolf pup howling with all its little teeny tiny mite.  This guy was amazing in his ability to “talk” with the wolves.  They considered him their Alpha and it wasn’t really challenged at all until he had to go away for 2 weeks.  When he came back, one of the now full grown wolves had assumed Alpha status so this guy had to some in and be all submissive and stuff.  They could have killed him and yet never did. It probably helps that he raised them from newborns.  Still, it was a fascinating show.

I woke up earlier than I wanted on Saturday.  Still, I made it a productive morning by getting my hair cut, making a run to Goodwill, and filling my tank with gas.  When I got home, I threw open all the windows and sliders to let in the sweet summer warmth we were experiencing.  The cats were in heaven!  When Bob got up, I went out onto the patio and organized it for spring planting season.  I also put up a small amount of fencing on the bottom of our balcony railing to better keep the cats contained.  I ran out after one section but have not been able to find the same stuff for the rest of the railing, so I’m not sure what will to do about the rest.

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent getting ready for our favorite MDA fundraising event, the Black and Blue Ball.  We left our place at 6 and had plans to meet friends at the check in desk by 6:30.  Except we were late because I passed our exit and then couldn’t find parking right away.  Still, when we got there, our friends were no where to be found.  We meandered and mingled a bit.  I took pictures, got a temporary tattoo, and a martini.  About the time we thought to use our cell phone to call our friends, they called us.  They said they were at the place where we said to meet but they couldn’t find us.  Since we were standing right there, I asked them if they were at the lobby of the River Centre.  Ohhhhh, no.  They were in the lobby of River Place.  We were in St. Paul and they were in Minneapolis.  D’oh!  They said they would hightail it and meet us as soon as possible.  They made it JUST in time for dinner.

The Black and Blue Ball was so much fun.  There was a really eclectic group of people in attendance.  At one table there was a bunch of Hell’s Angels, another table featured executives from a local broadcasting giant, another had a Harley Davidson motorcycle club, another had execs from a local waste management company, and yet another held family and friends of those afflicted with MD.  There was a free martini bar, free temporary tattoos, a silent auction, mingling with roller derby girls, and lots of Harley Davidsons.  Dinner consisted of chicken, new potatoes, and green beans.  Dessert was yummy cheesecake.  The live auction featured a Harley, a puppy, a trip, and a giant playhouse among other things.  The evening ended with the awesome music stylings of GB Leighton.  SO! MUCH! FUN!  Bob kept worrying about the Hell’s Angels being there.  He kept saying it would just take one wrong look from someone to start a brawl and he hoped that didn’t happen.  It didn’t.  Sometimes you can take the boy out of the Northside but you can’t take the Northside out of the boy.

I will say that apparently I have aged overnight.  Bob and I danced for several songs and I felt great.  Yet, when I got up the next morning, I was so sore, I could barely move.  My calves, my back, my neck, and my feet felt as though they’d been rolled under a steamroller.  I also had a giant blister on the pad of my left foot (Which is still there and is still painful).  When did I become such a crone?  Since when can I not spend a night dancing and wake up free of pain?  Anyway, it was fun and I really recommend this fundraiser to anyone looking for a good cause and a good time.  Check out my Flickr badge for photos from the event.  As I drove home from the ball, AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds was playing on the radio and it seemed like the most appropriate song after partying with the Harleys and Hell’s Angels.  Heh.

Yesterday started out so beautiful.  I drove to a local greenhouse to see if they had anything I could use in my patio planters.  They did, but I’m not sure it is what I am looking for.  However, the flowers at the greenhouse were so beautiful and the sun so bright and the weather so warm, it took all my strength and will power NOT to buy flowers and go home and plant them.  I cannot wait until Mother’s Day weekend so I can finally beautify our patio with flowers.  Yay!

While yesterday started out beautiful, it did not end on such a high note.  At about two, the wind picked up to such a startling level, our cats freaked out.  Two of them hid, while the other two walked around with that startled puffy tail cats get when they are scared.  I had to close all the windows and sliders because the wind was so strong; it was blowing things around our apartment.  Then the rain started.  It rained pretty much the rest of the day.  The combination of wind and rain took out our satellite signal, but since I had stuff on tape, I was not too upset.  It also gave me time to upload all my photos from the night before without distraction.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend full of fun, friends, fundraising, and flora.