Mmmmmm.....drippy butter.

Someone asked me today where I had been on the blog, but I really haven't been anywhere.....er, I've been everywhere. I last blogged on April 14th. On April 15th, my inlaws arrived and stayed until the 18th. My parents arrived the 19th, I went home with them and my two animals on the 22nd and came home yesterday. So, CLEARLY, I've been busy.

Get this - when my in-laws were here? I had to take both cars to be inspected. Okay, I jumped up volunteering to take both cars to be inspected. Know why? Because I got to ride around in those cars ALL BY MYSELF. And? AND? Mike's car failed inspection, so I got to take it to the mechanic for a repair that took an hour and a half! An hour and a half of joyous book reading and TV watching! ALONE! Did you hear that? Okay, so I was totally watching COPS and sitting on a plastic chair, but I was by myself. With a vampire book! And COPS! Squeeee! It was awesome.

Let's see....I got a sinus infection and spent the week hacking and snorting. In order to avoid riding in the car on my birthday, I decided to head homeward with my parents the day before. This involved me sitting squashed between two rather large carseats in the back of my parents' car for.....oh, six hours or so. That's six hours with my shoulders somewhere up around my ears, Pigpen snoring in my right ear and Piglet asking 90 bajillion questions in my left ear. The next day, I got to go to the CVS Minute Clinic (a big thumbs up for that service, by the way) and spend an hour or so getting antibiotics. On my birthday....woowoo!

But! I had to get better because we were headed back to Raleigh. Mike had a big Nerd Fest for a work deal and I was there to eat. Also, to see old friends, but mainly for the eating. My friend and I had been planning this great Raleigh Eat-a-Thon for months, as we often yearn for old restaurants we used to frequent. I'm too proud to tell you how many restaurants I graced that day, but by careful planning and pacing, I managed to not get overly full and enjoy all of my old favorites, the best one being 42nd Street Oyster Bar. There is not a way to go wrong by bellying up to the bar, ordering a draft beer and a peck of oysters and sucking them down one by one dipped in butter, slopped on a cracker and topped with cocktail sauce and horseradish. Mmmmmmm....my mouth is watering from the memory. And the hushpuppies! Oh, the hushpuppies. Sweet, crispy, and buttery fried. YUM.

The boys were relatively good for my parents and we headed home yesterday. Mike was conducting business at a feverish, somewhat manic pace on his Blackberry while I was driving and I learned (or noticed, perhaps) for the first time that he gestures theatrically and with great gusto when he's on the phone. I mean, even air quotes! I bet the trucker driving beside us could interpret his end of the conversation. If we ever get involved in a game of charades, he is SO my partner. I mean, you think you know a person! Twelve years and I never knew this about him.

Whew. That was what you missed in a nutshell. I should be around some more this week. I will be preparing for the yard sale on Saturday, which is basically a massive heap of mess in my basement floor right now, so I've got a lot of work to do.