I have not been able to get to the blog for days. GRRR!! Either the Internet isn't working, the power is out, or I am just too busy or grumpy to do so! We ran out of cistern water this weekend so now we are paying for every drop the truck delivered on Saturday. Steve is watching me wash dishes to make sure I am not using too much water while I rinse them and I didn't get all of the conditioner out of my hair last night. We had to bring our laundry in to to be done for us. I am praying for rain! I will be so glad to be back on the Mainland where running water is a "given" - not a luxury!

We watched most of the Master's Tournament this weekend, except for when the power went our yesterday, during the last round - of course. I was hoping Freddy Couples would win but I was okay with Mickelson too. I can't believe I am watching golf! I have never swung a club in my life, but Steve loves to watch it and he is in control of the remote.

A trip to Kmart and to get the mail on Saturday was interesting. We actually got mail! The guy who owns the private mail box place got it all sorted finally. It was like Christmas to get all the catalogs and magazines at once - window shopping overload!! Speaking of Christmas - I also received the Christmas present my foreign exchange daughter sent from Finland! The stop to get gas was interesting when the cop in front of us drove away with the nozzle still in his SUV. Luckily the hose pulled free and gas didn't spew everywhere. No one seemed too upset - other than me envisioning someone lighting a match. He just moved to another gas pump so why was he driving away to begin with? The highlight of the excursion was KMart. The photo machine was working for the first time in months so I was able to drop off a film. And, they even had the Oreo thins I love. It is amazing what can delight a woman who lives on an island! :-) I was literally bouncing on the way out to the car!

While the power was out yesterday I did finish Todd Strasser's Battle Drift, part of the Drift X trilogy. I hadn't read the first one, Slide or Die, but I was fine with the references to what probably happened to the main character, Kennin, in the first one. He is one interesting half Asian teen who loves to drift - speeding until the car slides between traction and no traction. Not something I want to do, but I love cars so I did enjoy this gearhead type book with a Hispanic girl being the one who built the car to drift. This is not high quality literature, but it certainly will get those car guys to read a novel - most likely all three. I was a bit irritated with the abrupt ending, as the reader doesn't get to find out what happens in the race until the third book, Sidewayz Glory. Strasser is a car guy himself so I am sure he had fun writing this series with a gearhead audience in mind.

I am brain dead after a day of writing a final exam and grading. I got up early and made sure I was dressed and out in the livingroom, waiting for the phone guy to get here. No such luck. The fax machine in the printer rings, but the phones don't work. Doesn't help any that the cell phones don't work here at the apartment. Oh the joys of island life. Doesn't work well when you are trying to live the hectic life of a Mainlander with the problems of island service. What did we do before the days of email, faxes, cell phones, pagers, etc.? Well, probably enjoyed a more relaxing life! Cell phones are a way of life down here. Even our elementary kids carry them around. The ear buds are on 1/2 the people you see on the street and even the checkers in the store. You never know who they are talking to. Okay - enough for now. I am going to veg and work on the new grandbaby's cross stitched quilt.