Well this journal entry was a long time in coming. My energy has fluctuated greatly over the past week. O.K., so let's jump back in time to May 31st.
Christy and Kate had made it in around Midnight on the 31st and we talked for a little while and then went to bed. Chris and I woke up at about 7:30 a.m. so we could get ready for our trip back to Turlock. We decided not to hit W. Hollywood, so we began our journey at 9:00 a.m. We made pretty good time and got into Turlock at 4:00 p.m. Dad and Tricia were at work. Mom was the only one home. We visited with my family for the rest of the evening and went to bed around 10 p.m. We slept on a fold out couch in the livingroom. It was the first time Chris and I were officially allowed to sleep together under my parents' roof. We didn't get much sleep because the dogs kept coming up and licking our faces or crawling into bed with us.
Saturday, June 1st, we woke around 8 o'clock after Missy (one of my aunt's dogs)came to visit. She crawled onto the bed and started to jump around and wanted to play. So Chris and I just decided to get out of bed. By this point, my allergies were already in full effect and I couldn't breath through my nose the entire time. Next time we go for a visit, I will be bringing tons of allergy medicine. Chris and I took Mom out for breakfast at McDonalds. After that, she let us borrow her car so that we could go visit Chris' family. Chris' brother, Zach, graduated from Cal State Stanislaus with a bachelors in Economics. We were there for hours. It was great seeing them all again and this time it felt as if I were a little bit more accepted. Chris' niece, Abbott, was absolutely adorable. Zach was handsome as usual. Allison was her usually comic self. And of course, there was Mackenzie. She is definitely developing into her own person. Chris extended to invitation for all of them to come down. So, eventually, they'll be visiting us in our own home. That should be interesting. After that, Chris and I headed back to my parents' place. I called my sister Sheri and asked her to come over so that I could meet my new niece, Ashley, and see my nephew Austin. They came over and my niece was just as adorable as Abbott. Austin is growing up nicely. Sheri informed me that Austin would like to a witch. Actually, she said warlock, but I'll forgive her her ignorance in the terminology. I don't believe she knows that I am a witch, but nonetheless, I'm excited to hear that about my nephew. After Sheri, Austin, and Ashley had left, we had dinner. Mom had made ribs. Then, we went to visit Tricia at Jessie's place. Jessie is a guy that she takes care of. He has Cerebral Palsy. He only lives about 3 blocks aways from my parents' place. He is a nice guy and Tricia does an incredible job with him. I'm just amazed how easily she can understand him. She obviously has a gift and I'm so glad she's using it. Chris and I then took Mom to work so that we could use her car for the night. We went to the new Target, Ross, and T.J. Maxx that they have in town. We were trying to find swim trunks because tomorrow we're supposed to go swimming at the Coleman's place, where my Dad security guards. We ended up finding something and then headed back to my family's place so we could spend some time with Dad. We hung out with Dad while watching T.V. for about an hour then Dad had to go to bed. So Chris and I went back out and went to their one and only Starbucks. By the time we were done soaking in the strange flucutuation of energy that Turlock and Starbucks seem to create, it was time to pick up Mom from work. Once we were home, it was bedtime. Once again, it wasn't very restful. Next time, we'll either have to get a hotel room or sleep in the tower.
Sunday is Tricia's only day off. She got home at 10:30 a.m. It was also my mom's day off. Tricia, Mom, Jimmy, Chris, and I headed to Modesto to where Dad stands guard, the Coleman's. The Coleman's are part of the Gallo family. When we arrived, Dad gave us the 50 cent tour of their mansion. Wow! What a gorgeous and huge place. After the tour, we went swimming in their pool. I ended up scraping my chin at the bottom of the pool and it started to bleed. The scrape turned out not to be too serious, so I continued swimming. By 4, we headed home because Jimmy wanted to catch the Lakers and Kings game. Dad came home from work and watched the game with Jimmy. Even Chris started to watch the game, but not with the urgency that Dad and Jimmy did. They watched as if the fate of the known Universe was dependant on the outcome. I worked on my cross-stitch during this cosmic battle. We had steak for dinner. Everybody ended up going to bed about 9:30. Chris and I stayed up and watched Queer as Folk at 10:00, after which we went outside and talked for awhile. We also had wonderful sex that night, but don't ask me for details, 'cause I'm not tellin'.
The next morning after another restless night, we went to breakfast with Sheri and Jason (my new brother in law). Jason is Ashley's father and him and Sheri were married on April 1, 2002. Jason is a strangely attractive fellow who has the dry humor that only a son of ministers can have. His mother and father are both Christian ministers. Which means, I need to keep my guard up for Austin and Ashley's sake. I don't need them to guilt them into making decision they don't want to make. After breakfast at Denny's, Chris and I got to spend a couple more hours with Mom and then it was time to catch the train. The train was about 15 minutes late into Denair, but that's not surprising. It's always late. We caught the connecting bus from Bakersfield and made it into L.A. with plenty of time to catch the train heading for Fullerton. We reached our home at 8:30 p.m. Oh it felt so good to be home. Chris and I were both thoroughly exhausted by the trip and slept like babies.
I woke up at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and got ready for work. I was still very tired, but had to go in. All in all Tuesday past in a daze. I submitted my Sacred Mists First Degree final. I still haven't gotten it back yet. I haven't talked to L since I've returned because my energy has been so outta whack since the trip. I plan on calling her this evening, if I'm up to it.
Chris and I are attempting to quit smoking again. We want to try and knock down our credit card debt with the money we'll save, which will be $2,688 a year. So far, I'm doing o.k. I'm going on day 4 and while yes I've smoked some; I haven't bought a pack for myself and definitely haven't smoked nearly as much as I normally do. I've only had 5 cigarettes over the past 3 1/2 days. Chris isn't doing as well, but he does have a lot of added stress to contend with from work with his promotion. He also has been smoking longer so it will be tougher for him.
All in all, I'm still pretty drained but I'm getting back to fine. I hope you all have an excellent week!