Memorial weekend

There is no better time to nap then during a holiday weekend when many flee the city to their destinations of choice. Folks leaving means you wake up Saturday to less traffic, less people, and less noise. It's a quiet solitude that is rare for a city with over a million inhabitants, not including those who trek into the downtown area to partake of all the cool downtown activities during a normal it's-almost-summer weekend.

Unfortunately, we were not able to do too much napping what with our list of chores to complete. Darr spent Saturday and Sunday over at his dad's house helping his pop prepare for an upcoming move (his dad just bought a new house). He also took Olive (a.k.a. the dog car) through DEQ for new tags and over to Les Schwab for a new tire (one was punctured past the point of return when Darr introduced Olive to a curb). I spent Saturday cleaning out our storage unit - where I discovered mold, gross - and catching up on regular to-do items like laundry and vacuuming. For me, Sunday was an abysmally slow day spent at the baby boutique, where fewer customers than normal traipsed through the door to browse. Not buy, browse. With my laptop and a dvd from the Dead Like Me series, I was just able to stave off total boredom.

Monday we woke up late, consumed a large breakfast, and killed time until we headed out to Brother Nick and Megan's for barbecue. Beauty the wonder dog was excited to see her cousin Autzen, who is already closing in on 45 lbs and loves to jump on her head, back, paws, tail, and any other dog part in general to share his exuberance at her appearance in his backyard. We heard Brother Nick got up early in the morning to prepare the potato salad, which he made from scratch, and get the ribs on the grill. (We thank you.) My food fear kept me from trying the potato salad, Darr tells me it was great, but I did try the ribs even after hearing that mustard was an ingredient. Mustard. Mus-tard. I don't do condiments, people. But I couldn't go over to my brother's house for the first time for dinner and not eat the man's food. In one move, Brother Nick got me to consume something Darr has been trying for over a decade to get me to taste. My conclusion? The barbecue sauce was good, tangy and sweet balanced with salty smokiness. After a rousing boxing match on their new Nintendo Wii - Darr totally kicked ass - we had some chocolate cake, chatted for a bit, and then headed home.