I really need to get moving on the Winter Bingo Bucket List. Janet only has a couple more squares to go. Here latest (and hardest) square was to "follow a diet for a week." At first, she tried to get away with just dieting for 7 different days, but I told her they had to be in a row. So, she finally finished and I think she looks great. The hardest part for her was avoiding all the junk food floating around at Violet's volleyball tournaments (which seem to be every week). And BTW, congratulations to Pearl who just celebrated her first birthday.
I did manage to check off "have lunch with friends" this week when I went on a tour of the Molly Brown House with the Senior Center. The food was served in the format of a formal tea, just like Molly Brown would have served when she lived in the house. The first course was scones and fruit, the second was a variety of sandwiches, and the third was an assortment of desserts. Molly Brown is most known for surviving the Titanic and advocating for women's rights, especially the right to vote. We found out from our tour guide that her real name was Margaret (no one ever called her Molly), but when producers made her story into a musical back in the 30's, the Unsinkable Molly Brown sounded more festive than the Unsinkable Margaret Brown.
The house itself was very impressive and extremely ornate, not surprising since Margaret Brown's husband discovered one of the largest gold strikes during the Gold Rush. The house reminded me a lot of our Central West End house sharing many of the same features and antique furnishings. Most of the original houses along Millionaire's Row in Denver have been torn down, but luckily this house was saved. Unfortunately, when I looked out the windows, all you could see was a giant parking garage across the street.
Charlie got a haircut this week. I felt a little bad for him, because it's still chilly outside. But as you can see in the before picture, he was getting really scruffy. I think he's a lot cuter in the before picture, but when his hair is this long, it gets really tangled and picks up every stray bit of grass on his walks.
I started another reading challenge this week. I actually belong to 3 different library systems: Aurora, Arapahoe County, and Douglas County. The new challenge (on the right) is through the Douglas County system. They require reading 12 books in 12 different categories, but you can do it in any order. The nice thing about their website is they give you staff suggestions, which saves you having to hunt something up in the card catalog. Both the Aurora challenge and the Douglas County challenge throw your name into a hat for a prize drawing when you finish, but I like the potential prize in the Aurora challenge better - an iPad versus a restaurant gift certificate. I haven't been all that impressed with the restaurants in Denver.
