Every fall, the week of Thanksgiving, each class at Buena Vista Elementary prepares soup (veggies and chicken stock) and a fruit salad for the Fall Feast. The parents provide the ingredients, and the kids wash/peel/cut all the fruits/veggies. Some parents also make cornbread/muffins for the feast.

Today I volunteered in Zevan’s classroom to help the kids prepare for tomorrow’s Fall Feast. (last year, I volunteered in Zander’s class).

Another mom volunteered, and had her 3 older children with her to help as well. The kids washed, peeled and chopped up carrots, celery, potatoes for the soup. It was really cute.

Ms. Paula, Zevan’s teacher, asked Zevan if he wanted to peel first. He declined and went on his merry way to do other work.

So, she started out by having the preschoolers, who had not done this before, go first. Then the returning preschoolers. Then the kindergarteners.

Throughout the time I was there, Zevan would come over between works, and hold my hand for a minute.

Since we had so many volunteers, I didn’t really have a lot to do. So I got to watch things in the classroom. I even took pictures. Zevan spent a lot of time with the spindle rod box. I even took a video of him doing it. So cute!!!

Finally Zevan came over to chop stuff up. He got to chop up a potato with a wavy cutter. He really liked it. I have one at home, I should get him to use that one when we make stuff.

It was really cute. Just like in Ms. Catherine’s classroom, the kids are so polite and quiet and respectful in the classroom. It is just amazing to observe. Everyone just does their own thing.

After class, I went outside with him to recess. Zander was already out there playing with Pancho.

A day in the life of the Z-Boys…

So, I went to Runner’s World and got a new training schedule…

Which kind of messes up the Mon/Wed/Fri schedule that I was planning, but I guess I’ll just be flexible and follow it these last 8 weeks. I have been running an odd number of miles lately, running one mile longer than prescribed the last two weeks, and I’m planning a 15 mi (instead of 14) this week, but then I’ll follow the distance prescribed.

and still no sign of the adware. Whew! I wish I’d tried the System Restore first instead of losing 4 days of work. Sigh.

Okay, after it took 24 hours to back up my data to my new external hard drive and our other main PC, I was going to take the plunge and re-install Windows XP.

Then, from the research I’ve been doing, I decided to try one more thing before I did that.

I did a system restore from the day before I got hit with the adware.

I did it 2 hours ago. So far, so good.

Last night was so, so fun!

We started out at The Metropolitain for dinner. When I got there, Jen and Jess were already there, and had been at The Ritz beforehand. Shanyn was there, too, looking all pretty. I scoped out the little back room, and it looked like they were leaving soon, so I asked Kimball if we could have that spot when they left. Megan and May arrived next. We ordered drinks. Mmmm mmm mmm. I ordered May’s drink for her

Then our guest of honor, the birthday princess, Candy breezed in, fashionably late.

She got a drink, and we laughed and chatted while I kept my eye on the back room like a vulture ready to swoop down. Finally they left, and the staff cleaned off the table for us. We all headed over to the red room.

Tiffany called shortly after we settled in – she was on her way! Yay!!!

Candy opened her gifts and received all the things a woman should – gift certificate for massage, chocolate, artwork and more…

We were perusing the menu when Tiffany arrived – with a brand new sassy haircut! Many high pitched squeals of approval and hugs ensued.

The rest of the time there was a blur of eating, drinking, laughing, boobs and sex talk.

Doug and Kurt both called with kid issues, but after a brief bout of irritation after each call, we distracted ourselves with our girlfriends. And the food, drink and conversation.

And dessert

We had some issues with the bill because our waitress didn’t charge the cards as we asked her to, totally annoying.

May went home early, and the rest of us went over to Blondie’s for some drinks. And we danced! Jen, Jess and I got the party started, and after a while, everyone was on the dance floor.

We ran into an old friend who bought Candy and I shots of Tuaca. And we danced some more. Fun times!

The other girls started peeling off, and in the end, it was just me and Candy. We stopped by her car to freshen up, and then headed over to The Ritz. We hung out there and giggled and people-watched, slowly sobering up with our water and diet Cokes. Noting how young everyone was, and how that used to be us – SO long ago.

Ouch. That was painful.

I set out today after battling the stupid adware virus on my machine for a second full day. I needed to destress.

So I started out at 8:10 AM with a goal of running for 2 hours and 30 minutes. That should put me between 13-14 miles if I run the whole thing.

Candy called early on to say she couldn’t meet me, but May was going to meet me at Goose Gossage around 8:45 AM. I was going to be late getting there, but she could run south until she caught up with me.

So the first hour or so was fine. I took it slow. May caught up with me around 50 minutes. It was nice to have her company. We were at a good pace that we could both converse as we ran. After running for 1:22 heading north, we turned around and started running back towards my car. Which was okay. Although it was tempting to want to stop at May’s car and drive over to mine. I was definitely feeling it after 1:45. By 2 hours, I was doing everything I could not to just stop and walk. We reached the bridge near the railroad tracks at the north end of Monument Valley Park and slowed to a walk. It was 2:12. I said, well, I should at least run 3 more minutes until I reach 2:15 for a round number. We ran for 3 more minutes and then walked the rest of the way to the car. In total, I was on my feet for 2:41.

We stretched a bit, got in the car and headed downtown. We dropped off our climbing shoes for repair at Mt. Chalet Then we took a quick ride to Panino’s for lunch, gritty and dehydrated.

After lunch, I dropped May off and went over to Tech for Less to pick up an external hard drive to back up my data so I can wipe my machine clean and start over.

That’s what I’m working on now. Sigh. It’s been almost 2 hours and I’m still backing up data.

Not taken care of. A few hours later, it came back. I have removed it every 4-6 hours now.

So today I bought a new external hard drive. I am in the process of backing up ALL the data on my machine for work and websites and our photos and music. This is going to take many hours. I have about 70 GB of data to back up.

Then I will reformat my C drive and reinstall Windows XP. Yuck.