Home » Diary Home » 27 January 2003 Diary Page

Barbara Fritchman Thompson
Email Barbara

Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 27 January 2003

Latest Update: Sunday, 27 April 2003 08:37

Monday, 27 January 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

I was so tired of looking at my nasty floors that I decided to vacuum and then mop the kitchen, den, foyer, hall, bathroom, and Bob's office. As I finished vacuuming each floor I then mopped it before moving on to the next room. It is almost pointless to dot with all the snow and mud tracked in between us and the dogs but I must could not look at them another day. 

After lunch I worked pretty much all afternoon in my office sending out e-mails, catching up on list mail, and reading journal pages. As I mentioned Sunday, I finished reading the first of two books I am reviewing, Joanne Fluke's Lemon Meringue Pie Murder. This is the fourth in her series featuring Hannah Sweden, manager of the Cookie Jar bakery shop in Lake Eden, MN. Her books are cozy's similar in style and characters to Jill Churchhill, Leslie Meier, and Melissa Cleary. Hannah seems to be always finding dead bodies and getting involved in solving the crime much to the chagrin of the local law enforcement officer Mike.. In this case one who happens to have a big crush on Hannah. Also vying for her affections is Norman, the local dentist. Several years prior to this book, Norman and Hannah entered a house plans contest. Now, Norman has bought an old house owned by a local drug store clerk Rhonda who inherited it from her mother. When Norman and Hannah along with Hannah's mom, a local antique dealer, go out to look at the house the Friday evening of the closing they discover more than the priceless antique furniture and china...On the table is one of Hannah's famous lemon meringue pies with only one slice eaten along with two dinners of which only one had been consumed. When Hannah's mother goes downstairs to explore she finds Rhonda's body half buried in the basement. As Hannah finds herself once again trying to solve a murder she finds herself eventually winding up in cold storage. 

I have an appointment to get my hair cut this afternoon so I will only be able to work until 1:30. Tonight is Body Pump night at the gym. Another busy Monday to launch the week. 

It warmed up to a balmy 40 degrees yesterday. Then turned cold again over night. Have a great week.

[Top]

Tuesday, 28 January 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

It is another busy day for me today. After I get off work at 2 I will stop and visit Lenore on the way home. Tonight I have Friends of the Library Annual meeting. I need to fix an early dinner to give me time to stop at the store to pick up drinks and ice and get to the library by 6 o'clock to start setting up.

We have a three piece chamber group who will be providing our evening's entertainment. While they take their break  after 45 minutes or so of playing the Board will hold a short business meeting followed by another set of music. The group is a subset of musicians who play for the Winston-Salem Community Orchestra. Last year we did Celtic so I thought this year we would classical.

Hopefully we will pull in some new members. I am stepping down as president and taking the vice presidency. I felt like with the new job and all the other stuff I have going on I could not be president although my term was supposed to run another year. Our VP said he would take it for one year for me.

We still have snow on the ground. It was very cold yesterday but it supposed to start warming up by tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for a decent weekend so my dad and I can get out and hit some golf balls.

[Top]

Wednesday, 29 January 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

I got home from the library at 9:00 pm last night. Of course the dogs needed some attention before I could do anything. After I gave them some attention it was time for their last time out followed by some reading time in bed. 

I did not get a chance to stop and visit with Lenore on the way home from work but instead came straight home. I am trying to nail down a research project contract with someone who found my contact information on the AIIP web site. We have had a phone conversation and exchanged e-mail over the weekend. He called me this morning while I was at work. Bob told him I would be home by 3 if he wanted to call me back. Rather than take a chance on getting tied up at the nursing home I came straight home to wait for his call and get my reports ready for the meeting. 

Bob had bacon and eggs for dinner and I fixed a peanut butter and bacon sandwich before dashing off to the library to get things set up for the meeting.

This afternoon I am coming straight home to get some other loose ends tidied. 

[Top]

Thursday, 30 January 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Let me tell you folks, I am a busy little beaver these days! In addition to my part time job, volunteering to do the book reviews, CBCR stuff, Friends stuff, and my journal/web pages I am now negotiating/ trying to land a very big research project. Plus gym classes and visiting Lenore. 

Oh, and did I mentioned I helped design the AIIP post card to be mailed out for the annual meeting. I actually threw that together in about half and hour or so but I feel like I have been tied to a keyboard ten hours a day since Sunday. 

Poor Malcolm, it has really cut into his play time. But, once I get a few of these small projects out of the way and get caught up on a few things I will have everything back in hand. 

So, I shall cut this post short for tonight.

Today I will work until 2 pm and again come straight home. Spinning class at 5:30 so it will be any early dinner.

[Top]

Friday, 31 January 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Gosh, is it already the last day of January already! Where did this month go?

About the only good thing I can say about yesterday is the temperature hovered right around 34 degrees all day keeping us from getting a whopper of an ice/snow storm. Instead, we just had a cold, windy day. It seems like every Thursday we get some type of precipitation to ruin the weekend. As things stand now it is to be a little warmer and the snow should be mostly melted off.

As far as the rest of the day, SPFFFFF! It seems nothing wanted to go right all day. Remember that post card I said I was working on for AIIP. Well, that turned into a mess with too many people trying to direct the show. I finally handed it off to someone else to finish. Oh, the big project. Nope, rejected my contract proposal after spending half an hour on the phone with me Wednesday afternoon. I spent all Thursday afternoon dealing with e-mail, etc that has been backed up in my inbox/folders. I started dinner too late to have time to help Bob walk the dogs before I needed to be at the gym for my 5:30 spin class. Blah, blah, blah.

Oh well, life goes on doesn't it. Amidst all this busy stuff I am still reading. I picked up a new author/series last week for Bob which I am now reading by Graham Thomas. All the titles start with Malice, the first one being Malice In The Highlands. Chief  Chief Superintendent of New Scotland Yard arrives for his annual vacation away from work and family to salmon fish the River Spey  located in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. On the very day he arrives the reclusive owner of the nearby Castle Glyn Estate turns up dead. Powell gets roped into the investigation unofficially at first but later under the directive of Scotland Yard.

Thomas's books are serious yet well written mysteries. I enjoyed meeting all the characters who turned up in the book as well as the descriptions of the countryside. The plot was not a dead giveaway, at least to me. I finished the first one Wednesday night and decided to read the next one in the series that we have. The library did not have the second one so I am jumping the third one, Malice on the Moors. If you like Dorothy Simpson you will like the Graham Thomas mysteries.

[Top]

Saturday, 1 February 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

Happy Saturday to everyone. It is still very wet, cold, and drizzly here in the Triad. Yesterday when I got home from work I took the dogs for a nice walk around the block rather than doing out usual front yard soccer ball game. After checking my mail and catching up on journal pages I spent an hour or so working on my jigsaw puzzle before dinner.

Last night we watched the second episode of the Midsomer Murders we taped on A & E. Then it was off to bed to read until I could no longer hole my eyes open.

This morning we have Cardio Combo at the gym followed by the Lenore visit. When I get home I need to give Bob a haircut and do a quick vacuum/dusting job since I am playing golf tomorrow morning. Guess I better go. The dogs need to go for a quick out before I head for gym. Have a great weekend.

 

[Top]

Sunday, 2 February 2003

[Last Week] [Monday] [Tuesday] [Wednesday] [Thursday] [Friday] [Saturday] [Sunday] [Next Week]

First off all my thoughts go out to all the families of the astronauts on board the Columbia. When I came out of the aerobics room heading toward the locker room  at 10:00 am this morning I noticed the words Breaking News on one of the televisions that hangs from the ceiling in front of the treadmills. I do not wear my glasses when I do my classes because I perspire too much. Therefore the only thing I could read were those words. I asked a lady standing there what the news was and she told me. After I changed out of my shorts and t-shirt I headed on over to visit Lenore and watched the news while visiting with her. By the time I got home for lunch they were pretty much rehashing the same story since they had not had time to locate any of the debris from the wreckage.

Bob and I watched Fox News while we ate lunch then turned it off. I started vacuuming the house but my vacuum cleaner started acting up. It kept cutting off on me. I checked all the obvious places both on the machine and the cords but could not find anything wrong. I finally pulled out the instruction booklet which advised to let it cool down for an hour. I put it away and had Bob bring up the little hand held Dirt Devil so I could at least get the worst of the dog hair up off the floor. 

After I took my shower I ended up spending about two hours at my computer doing various things. Around five o'clock we left to pick up Lenore a Happy Meal from McDonald's on the way over to visit and then went out to dinner at the little diner.

I am trying this post about 7 pm. As soon as we walk the dogs we are going over to Steve Childers' house to view Saturn and Jupiter through the grab and go Refractor for a couple of hours.

This morning I am playing golf with my dad, finally. It is to be close to sixty degrees today. If my front yard is anything to go by I am sure it will be wet and mucky but at least we can get out there and get some practice in.

 

[Top]

 

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Barbara Fritchman Thompson. All Rights Reserved.