I've been staying up way too late the last couple of nights, and am exhausted. I'm posting this picture, although it's not very clear, of a shot glass AK sent me. You can't read it, but it says Watkins Glen on it, it's from a National Forest in NY that Terri was at for some reason or another. TY TY TY AK!!!!!

Here's the new tile on the main floor of my building. I stood with the front door open and took a close up picture to try to give a better idea of what the pattern is. I'm calling it a sort of "sandstone" look.

Here's what the whole floor looks like, and yes it really is about that dark in person. Good thing the side walls stayed white, or it would be REALLY dark in the hall.

Here's a close-up of the new carpeting the put on the stairs and the landings on floors 2 and 3. It has rows of blue and green weaved together, and rows of tan and maroon weaved together. The colors match what they did with the walls, but to me it's just too dark for an aparment building that has one little window by the door on the first floor, and three windows directly above the door that you can't even reach from the landings. I'll try to take a picture of those to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. And of course, with the tile on the first floor now, every time the door closes it echos in the hall area, which I knew it would do when they decided to put tile in. Even with the carpet on the stairs and landings, it's not enough to absorb the noise from the door closing. Now if they would just add one more light in the parking lot like I mentioned they should do...

I FINISHED HARRY POTTER!!!!! OMG IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! I can't wait for the whole series to be released in September as a complete set. Only $195, all in hardback and they come in a trunk!

Now I can go finish the other book I have that needs to be returned to the library tomorrow, First Into Nagasaki by George Weller.

Supposed to be 83F tomorrow (Tuesday). Guess I should dress for winter again so I don't freeze at work. Been busy messing with winamp the last couple nights. I have pictures to post from this past weekend, hopefully I'll get to them in tomorrow, because in a few more days I will have the new Harry Potter book, and will be on a deadline to get it read and returned to the library.

Have a great day/night/today/tomorrow, whatever it is when you read this.

This is my last racing picture, I promise, lol.

One of the men at Track Time handed me this picture and a marker, so I could have Bill sign it. Just so you know I'm not making him up!

On the way back from my adventure in the car, we went past this sign as we were looking for some Longhorns. I was told that the owner of this property often enforces the sign with a shotgun, lmao. And we didn't see the Longhorns, they weren't out by the road. :-( I did see a few on the drive to Michigan, messed me up good to see Longhorns there. Thought I went the wrong way and was in Texas instead, lmao

Thanks Kerry, for reminding me that I have a program on my computer to edit pictures! Here's the picture of me in the car with Bill Eversole.


And here's a picture of a car that Jamie McMurray drove before he switched race teams.

Yup, that's me! If you aren't familiar with NASCAR or racing, I'm sitting in a former stock car that is now used for driving school and ride-alongs at a place called Track Time. I got the surprise of my life this weekend in Michigan. The friend I was visiting set it up with her step-mom, who knows the guy who runs Track Time, and he used to drive in the ARCA series, which is two levels below the top-tier of the Nextel Cup series.

I'm really disappointed the pictures came out so dark. They looked much better on the camera! I also have one of Bill Eversole, the driver/owner of Track Time, standing next to the car with me in it.

This is a Kasey Kahne car, a display version of the car he drives in the Nextel Cup Series.

This is a Busch Series car (the level between ARCA and Nextel Cup), currently driven by Greg Biffle, but I think this car has the signature of a different driver on it. If you look closely, just above the window opening is a yellow squiggly line. In person, it's actually the driver's signature.

Here's the guys loading up the Kasey Kahne car to take it to an event in Akron, OH. You can't see him that well, but that's Bill Eversole by the drivers side. He even signed a photo for me!

It takes three of them to push it up into the trailer, then they secure it in place with locking cinch straps to keep it from moving forward or backward.

I picked up a brochure, and next time I go to Michigan, I'm going to sign up for the 3 lap ride-along, it's only $99! I would get to sit in a real race car and go around Michigan International Speedway for three laps! OMG, how cool is that???

Just a couple photos that will have to hold you over until next week. I'm heading to Michigan in the morning and won't be back until late afternoon on Monday. These two pictures are looking down from my balcony, at a couple chipmunks that live under the patio below me. The guys above me were eating Ritz crackers, and dropped several down to the ground. The next day, I went outside and saw the chipmunks nibbling on them. So I came back inside, grabbed my camera, and took a couple photos of them, lol. Bet they had full bellies after eating all that!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but along with the "fantastic" paint job on the doors and walls, the carpeting is also being replaced. The main floor of each building will be tile, with the stairs, 2nd floor, and 3rd floor remaining carpeted. This picture is of the main floor after the carpeting had been ripped out. The dark part at the bottom is a mat that used to sit just inside the door, for you to stand on when you came in with wet/dirty feet, I guess to protect the carpeting. It also subbed as a door stop when you needed it held open for long periods of time. The tile has now been laid and grouted. Now if we would just have a sunny afternoon, I could take a picture of it. It looks to be more of a "sandstone" pattern, as opposed to my bathroom tile which looks more marble like.

I forgot to post this picture when I mentioned the trip to the Memphis Art Museum. It was about 95F outside, but I wanted to take a moment before going in to get a picture of the outside. I thought it was an interestingly shaped building. Plus there are the three statues on the outside. I'm not sure what they are of, like I said, it was very hot, and we didn't want to stand outside in the sun for very long. Of course, once we were inside, it was quite cold, and I ended up being eager to get back out into the heat. I know, museums need to keep it cool to protect the art. But this was a spur of the moment decision, so I didn't have the opportunity to change into pants and bring a jacket.

Where was I? Ah yes, the excitement of Memphis.

Turns out Saturday was the most interesting day of the weekend, lol. Sunday, Cathy got up early and went into work for a few hours before church to write up all the medical charts she didn't get to on Friday. She wanted to do it before she forgot everything, which I think was a pretty good idea, lol. So I got to sleep in, sort of. I just needed to be ready to go by 9:15, so we could make the 30 minute drive to church in time for 10am service.

She attends a church called Fellowship Memphis, held at a local college. I don't think it's any specific denomination, at least that I could tell. They have a band and some singers up on stage, and that lasts for maybe the first 30 minutes or so. There are three pastors that rotate and take turns with the weekly message. This week, however, they had a guest speaker. He was very good, his message was about "complacency." Part way through, they have everyone say hello and introduce themselves to the people around them. Seated in front of us was a nice looking "young" man (probably mid 20's?) from Little Rock, Arkansas who was a friend of the guest speaker. When I told him I was from Chicago, he started asking me questions about it, lol. He asked me to name one good thing and one bad thing about Chicago. The bad was easy, it was the good thing I had a hard time with, there are so many! LMAO. My answers were...bad was the traffic, good was the food, museums, (didn't want to say nightlife because after all, we WERE in church, lmao). He seemed satisfied with my answers, lol. Then at the end, before we left, as we were shaking hands goodbye, he asked me to name one thing to see in Chicago that most people don't know about. First thing that popped into my mind was a place I didn't even know about until May when Kerry and Michael were here...The Historical Museum of Chicago. I told him it was the perfect place to go to get a complete overview of the entire history of Chicago, and everything that has happened in and influenced the city.

After church it was almost lunchtime, so we stopped at a little deli nearby, bought sandwiches, and headed over to a nearby park to eat outside. The rain had stopped and it hadn't quite gotten super hot yet. Then we headed to borders, just to wander around and look at books. I had no intention of buying any books, and I was successful in walking out without making a purchase. Cathy however, discovered a nice little paperback that she started reading, then decided to buy. It was about Corrie Ten Boom, a young woman who entered the prison camps in Germany to try to help the Jewish prisoners. It sounded like a good book. I tried looking for it at my Borders once I was home, but didn't know exactly where she found it, and after an unsuccesful search in their database, gave up.

The only other thing Cathy thought I might be interested in, was going back downtown so she could show me "mud island." It's an area along the riverfront that have some very nice houses, sort of a private little community, but we were able to drive around in it looking at the houses. We also parked and walked along the river's edge, to a bench that was in the shade so we could sit, relax and just talk for a bit. A very relaxing afternoon.

Another reason to come downtown, was the other bbq restaurant she wanted to take me to was supposed to be downtown. That turned out to be an adventure. Since she's only been in Memphis for about 6 months, Cathy's still learning her way around. She thought she knew what street the restaurant was on, but after driving around for over 30 minutes, she gave up and declared she must not have remembered the address correctly. So we headed to an alternate location, same family chain, further out of the downtown area, more on the way home. Unfortunately, we got the bottom of the barrel ribs, mine didn't have a lot of meat on them, and there was a lot of gristle. But the flavor was good, lol. The restaurant is called Neely's, we went to the first location listed in the link, on Mt. Moriah. We had been driving around trying to find the Jefferson location, and finally gave up.

The interesting part of the story, is that Neely's is owned and run by the nephews of Jim Neely, who owns and runs Jim Neely's Interstate Bar-B-Que. There's a lot of competition in Memphis as to which is better. Cathy has tried both and her opinion is that Neely's has a better tasting sauce, so that's where we went. Too bad I was disappointed with the quality of meat. Would have been interesting to have the two side-by-side and done my own taste test, lol.

After the rib dinner, Cathy and I went back to her place and we very quickly crashed, as it would be an early morning for both of us. She was going to work, and I was packing up and heading home. The drive home was longer than the drive down, I was more tired, for some reason, and had to stop at a rest area just to close my eyes for a few minutes to rest. I also had rain for about an hour as soon as I crossed into Illinois. I was so exhausted when I got home, I had to sit and relax for a bit before I could even think about unpacking, lol.

All in all, a very nice trip! I'm so glad I went. Cathy and I both agreed that 18 years is WAY too long to go between visits. Sorry there aren't more pictures, but there just wasn't anything interesting to take pictures of.

My day is not starting out too good. With the sunshine I sent to Ladystyx, I now get all the rain! We need it, so it's not all bad. But most of the lightning and thunder came when I would have "wanted" to go to bed last night. I decided to stay up for a while, to see if it would eventually let up enough to allow me to fall asleep. Finally, about 1:30AM, the storm let up enough for me to try to get to sleep.

As I was turning out the lights to head to bed, the guys in the building across from me, decided to come out onto their balcony and start talking very loudly, laughing, having a good time. Since my windows were still open, I could hear them very well. I went to bed anyway, hoping I could block them out, or they'd go back inside, and I'd get to sleep quickly. Fortunately, they weren't out that long, and I was able to fall asleep.

It only lasted about 2 hours. They came back onto the balcony about 3:40AM and were talking and laughing so loudly, they woke me up! I was having none of that. In my nighshirt (that went down to my knees) I went out onto my balcony and hollared over at them to please keep it down, people are trying to sleep. At first they were sort of rude, like why should they have to keep it quiet, and who was I to ask them to do it. But my mission was accomplished, they were quiet and I was able to get back to sleep. Until about 6:10AM.

That's when the guy started mowing the grass of the fairway outside my building. With him going back and forth, lengthwise, cutting the whole fairway, there was no way I could block him out on my own. I had to resort to tougher methods. Closing my bedroom window and turning on the fan portion of my a/c would work. Ah, sweet bliss, I was able to fall asleep AGAIN. Until my alarm went off at 9:30 to complete my intended eight hour sleep cycle.

Needless to say I'm not feeling that rested after being woken up from a sound sleep TWICE. I might need a nap before heading out for what I hope will be fireworks tonight.

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!

Update at 10:08AM. If my alarm hadn't woken me up at 9:30, I'd be up by now anyway, I forgot about the parade that started at 10 today and goes through the neighborhood behind my building. Of course, they are running their sirens to let everyone know what they sound like and to know they are there. It's bad enough here, I can't imagine if it was right outside my house.

Scroll down and read the earlier entries first.

Here's a shot of the sign outside BB King's when we were leaving. Each letter would light up individually, and I learned that I had to wait for it all to be lit before taking the picture, or you wouldn't see a thing, lol. The live band was very good. We stayed for one set, had some chicken fingers, had someone take our picture, I had a shot so I could keep the shotglass, and we made our way back to the car. Getting out of the city was the hard part, lol. The streets are all one way, and with many of them blocked off, you really have to know where you're going to get back to the highways, lol. Eventually we did, and arrived back at Cathy's apartment safe and sound. We both crashed right away, because Cathy was getting up about 6AM to go into work for a couple hours to get charts done, coming back to pick me up to go to church. A full and fun day!

Scroll down and read the earlier entry first, lol.

Here's a shot of Beale Street before it got dark. They barricade it off so no cars can drive down it, so people walk basically wherever they want, lol. Lots of stores and restaurants, but mostly clubs to hear live music. There was a group of gymnasts right outside BB Kings, who had a large group of onlookers cirlcing them. As we walked up Beale Street, there was a four-man group on the sidewalk playing, and just as we stopped to listen, they started up with Sweet Home Chicago. Of COURSE I had to tip them and tell them I was from Chicago, lol.

The continuing adventures of Denise...

Saturday morning dawned early for both myself and Cathy. She had a hair appointment, and I learned that I was in for a day at a spa. Cathy felt bad about abandoning me for her weekly hair appointment, so she wanted me to be treated and pampered Saturday morning.

She dropped me off at the spa for a full-body massage, a vichy shower, a facial and a manicure. For those not familiar with a vichy shower, click the link for a picture. You lay on a bed with a pad, they rub a sea-salt and oil mixture all over your body then rinse you off. A true vichy shower has the top thing with the shower heads spray the water all over you. But since I can't lay on my stomach, she used the hand sprayer to rinse me off. Your skin feels so soft and smooth when you're done. And after the full body massage, I was RE-LAXED!

Then it was time for the facial. All sorts of stuff massaged into my face, wiped off, a hot towel over my eyes, a hot steam to clean out my nasal passages, I think I could have fallen asleep in there given a few more minutes, lol.

I then got dressed, went downstairs and had my manicure done. I asked the girl to suprise me, I didn't want to pick the same old neutral color I would always look for. What did she pick? A very very pale pink, very neutral color, lmao. I think she hadn't been doing it long. I had some really nice nails and she trimmed them all down so they didn't even reach my finger tips. And I don't like my nails squared off the way she did it. But oh well, they'll grow back, lol.

About the time I was finishing the manicure, Cathy showed up with her hair done for the week, and we went to eat some RIBS! We went to a place called Corky's for some dry rub bbq ribs. OMG were they GOOD!!! I've never had the dry rub before, and it was so tasty, and you don't have as much as a mess like with the wet ribs. You still have messy fingers, just not so bad. We each got a 1/2 slab, with beans and cole slaw, and neither one of us could finish it all.

Afterwards, we went to a local art museum, where we saw some very interesting art pieces that really grabbed our attention. Before going downtown for the night, we went back to Cathy's to change into long pants and rest for a bit. I napped on the couch for maybe an hour, changed into slacks, and we headed to Beale Street for some blues!