shopping day

Yesterday Mom, my sister, D's mom (Giggy, pronounced like 'giggle' but with a 'y' instead of 'le') and myself had a 'girl's day out.' We didn't get our nails or hair done, but we did go shopping for about 5 hours. My brother went to hang out with a friend he'd made yesterday, a neighbor of my sister's.

First we stopped at a place called Cherokee Trading Post. Mom got a couple rings and I got a new knife, one more for my collection. Then we drove down the road to an outlet mall bigger than any I've ever seen. They have a shuttle to take people around to the other side of it. We must've gone to four different shoe stores, three clothes stores, a perfume store, not to mention Bath and Body Works. We finally had 'lunch' around 4 o'clock at The Chop House, a kind of steak 'n' grille with beef, chicken, and pork (both BBQ and not) but also soups, salads and sandwiches. They also had what they called an Orange Potato, a baked sweet potato. Mom got one with cinnamon butter. Oh, man was that good! I wish I'd gotten one.

When Giggy and my sister dropped us back at the room, we were so exhausted we didn't do much of anything else until bedtime. Now I know why I prefer to just go in a store, get what I want and leave. All-day shopping can tire a person out big time.

in Tennessee

This has to be quick because I'm going shopping with my mom, sister and the mom of my sister's beau, I'll call him D. Interestingly my sister is now being addressed by her middle name in order to avoid confusion with the family dog, funny how those things happen.

The trip down was uneventful, saw a lot of nice scenery (which my brother missed due to his Gameboy). A lot of rocks and trees, but cool to look at.

We didn't leave my mom's until almost 3 am, so we didn't get here until almost 10 at night, but D and my sister drove over to the hotel to greet us and try and figure out some stuff for us to do while we're here.

More to follow....

no more sick

I can finally take a deep breath without the fear of coughing up a lung and breathe through my nose well enough to sleep at night.

Mom, Matthew and I were planning to drive down to TN this Fri to see Nikki. Unfortunately, Mom recently got to doing her taxes and came to the (hopefully incorrect) conclusion that she somehow owes $4,000. It may be a transcription error, or it may be the result of her having to go exempt on quite a few paychecks way back to pay for the Philippines trip. So Mom said we'll have to postpone.