rebecca_in_blue: (subtle sigh)
Mom, Ben, Adam, and I took a trip to Houston on Saturday, and unlike most trips anywhere with my family, it was actually enjoyable, even though it's a lot frickin' colder in Houston than it is here. Easily the best part was eating lunch at Star Pizza in the village. We had an appetizer of baked goat cheese with olive oil and tomato on bread, and I had pizza with mozerella, feta, and goat cheese. It was so good, when I finished, I pushed back my chair and said, "I pity everyone in the world who wasn't me while I was eating that meal." (Okay, writing about it was a mistake. I just ate dinner, but now I'm hungry again!)

After lunch, we went to the Chocolate Bar, Candylicious, and Half-Price Books. I hadn't bought anything at Half-Price in a long time, but on this visit I actually found some good stuff: a copy of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin with illustrations by Kate Greenaway (which I didn't buy, even though her pictures were awesome, because I already have that poem in at least one of my poetry anthologies, and I really only like the second half of it), and GK's Good Poems for Hard Times. I also found a copy of RLS's A Child's Garden of Verses, which I didn't buy because it wasn't a very good copy, but it reminded me of how much I want that book. Think I'll buy one online. 

After that we went to the movies and then out to dinner with Mark and Vickie. We ate at some seafood resteraunt, and even though I don't really like seafood, I did drink my first ever Shirley Temple! It was Sprite with cherry syrup -- very yummy and quite worthy of Shirley's name.

Things I will never like: The sound of dishes banging together. It's absolutely the worst sound in the world. When I wash dishes or put them in the cabinet, I always try to do it with finesse, not to make noise. My mom always did it as loudly as possible (and probably still does), to the point where I either had to leave the kitchen or grab the dishes from her and put them up myself. Words cannot describe how much I hate that noise.

rebecca_in_blue: (dozing off)

Well, Adam and I drove to Houston on Wednesday, and I finally found Roger's grave! The cemetery where he's buried is massive: over 45,000 graves! But it's very organized, divided into sections with each plot labeled and numbered, so finding his grave wasn't hard at all. I took some pictures and wanted to stay longer, like I usually do in cemeteries, but this one had almost no shade at all, and it was so hot that we soon left. Afterwards we browsed around some places and had dinner with Mark and Vickie at Prego's in the Village. I had goat cheese pizza, for the first time since I left France! It wasn't as good as what I ate in France, or what I would've eaten if we'd gone to Star Pizza instead, but I can't complain.

I made a super delicious cake as a welcome-home present for Sara. It was a double-layer yellow cake with chocolate icing, decorated with Reese's Pieces candies. It was really quite pretty and not hard to make at all. (I borrowed some excellent cake pans from Grandma. She bought them sometime during the 1950s. I was surprised she couldn't remember the exact year.) Perhaps I'll get into the habit of making cakes.

And now for some bad news. Instead of listening to the radio at work, we now have to listen to elevator muzak. It's awful; I told Tracey yesterday it reminded me of that joke on Family Guy: "You know that mediocre, generic sound you've been looking for? Well, listen to this!" And next week, we're expanding our store hours to ten. Boss Man said when he announced the news, "Corporate is making all the stores do this, but do not tell the customers! Maybe we can keep them from finding out." The back-to-school season is more hectic than ever, and they're saying this week will be even worse!

I would post pictures of the cemetery and my cake, but I'm too tired right now. In fact I've felt tired for days (on reason I haven't posted in a while). There's a sinkful of dirty dishes to wash, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow. This is Rebecca signing off, walking her dog, and going to bed.

rebecca_in_blue: (trembling hand)

For breakfast this morning I had a glass of orange juice and a bowl of Chex Mix with strawberry slices. The exact kind of breakfast you always see people eating in magazines. One of my goals is to eat more fruits and vegetables. It won't be hard because I eat so few of them now that eating one pretty much equates to eating more.

Good news: I'm OFF for EASTER! BWAHAHA! I'm going to spend it at my aunt's house, and I'm planning to cook Marlene's stuffing. I feel bad that I meant to cook it for Thanksgiving, then for Christmas, and followed through on neither.

Mom called me a few days ago and said that she and Adam are going to Houston in May. She asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes, but I've been flip-flopping on that ever since. So now I'm breaking it down.

Pro: Seeing Mark & Vickie. They're nice, cool people, I love their house, and I haven't seen them since before I went to France.
Flip Side: How much do I really want to see Mark & Vickie? Yes, they're nice, cool people, but they really don't even feel like family anymore. They just feel like nice, cool people I happen to know. And the reason I haven't seen them since before France is because they never came to visit me there like they said they would.

Pro: Seeing all the old Houston hangouts (the Chocolate Bar, Half-Priced Books, etc.)
Flip Side: Except for the Chocolate Bar and Candy Craze, those places really aren't worth going to Houston anymore. Half-Priced Book hardly holds the same thrill for me that it used to. I still like browsing, but I can't remember the last time I actually bought anything there. I miss seeing the foreign movies that you couldn't see anywhere else, but Mom doesn't really go to the movies like Dad used to, and even if we did see one, it probably wouldn't have a child actress in it. Besides, we'll be going to all the old Houston spots. We won't be going anywhere new, like a cemetery, maybe. I've never been to one in Houston. I'd like to go to the one where Roger is buried and find his grave.

Con: Mom's driving. There is no flip side to this one. Mom driving us there is the biggest reason I don't want to go. In the first place, she isn't a safe driver, and in the second, she plays the same CDs over and over and over (and we do not have the same taste in music) and she plays them loud. The last time I went to Houston with her (when I went to the French consulate to get my visa), I asked her to turn it down, she flat-out refused, and I had to spend the rest of the ride home with my fingers in my ears. And I was not being dramatic; it was just that loud. I know I won't enjoy one minute of the ride unless I can get myself some noise-cancellation headphones and possibly motion-sickness pills between now and then.

I don't know. I'll probably end up going. It's only for two days. But I don't know.

rebecca_in_blue: (dishevelled hair)

The drive from Mark and Vickie's house to the French Consulate was only about thirty minutes, but Mom and I left two hours before my appointment, because the Consulate won't see you if you're late, and appointments have to be made so far in advance that if I didn't get my visa today, I probably wouldn't get it in time to leave for France. I almost thought that I wouldn't get it today, because the photos on my forms weren't in the correct format. The clerk who told us this got into a very loud argument with Mom because he was being extremely rude and Mom wasn't listening to what he said. We ended up having to make a mad dash to a nearby drug store (we actually drove past the same department store where Mom bought her wedding dress over 30 years ago) so that I could take new passport photos and glue them onto my forms. Thankfully when we got back to the Consulate, the mean clerk was gone, replaced by a nice old French lady who processed all my paperwork and handed me my visa. What a relief.

While we were in Houston, and we ate dinner at Star Pizza -- their goat cheese is so delicious! -- where I hadn't been since Dad took me and Sara back in 2004. We actually sat in the same room that we did back then, because I remembered the poster of David Bowie on the wall. Sara had told me and Dad that one of his pupils was permanetly dilated, and Dad had gotten up and taken a closer look to see. We also visited Candyliscious (I still don't think it can compare to the Candyland Cottage & Ice Cream Shoppe in Rayne), where I bought a jump rope with detachable, candy-filled handles for Eva's birthday. I can't believe that she'll be 10-years-old.

I'm over halfway through with Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows. As of tomorrow, I will have made it last for three weeks.

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March 2013

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