Family, fun, and fatigue...

Hi Stephen,

How are you?  I hope your week has been a good one.  Is that album of yours DONE YET?!  Am I starting to sound like a broken record, asking about your new record?!  Ah well, I am not the ONLY person who is waiting for this, you know.  A few million OTHERS are also eager to hear it too.  But, as with all you do, Mr. Perfectionist, just take your time and make it the art that you love most, and I'm sure we will survive a few more weeks....(months, not so much)....but weeks, okay....we'll allow that!!

I'm going to be busy weed whacking....my least favorite outdoor hobby....but this yard of ours is huge and it needs it.  I just wish we'd get more rain.  I don't like pulling weeds, either, I'd rather whack 'em.  Yeah, I know, I know, they grow back, the dang things.  I'd rather be like you, and pick up the phone (HA!!! Or have somebody ELSE pick up the phone FOR YOU), and hire a landscaper to come do it.  But some of us aren't that lucky, ya slob, so we have to do it ourselves.  (You KNOW I love you dearly, so the word "slob" is a term of endearment, silly).  Ya bonehead.  GRIN!!

Anyway, I also have some food to prepare and get ready...gonna have family here all weekend long, and it's going to be crazy.  My sister brags that she is "the family alcoholic"-----exaggerating, actually---but I had to go buy her some Miller Light....(I never drank beer before, so I have no clue about it).  Then I had to get groceries to make polish roses...I love those things...and homemade potato salad, and deviled eggs, and homemade chicken salad, to go with the cookout we're having tomorrow night.  The chicken salad is for lunch, (on croissants, the ONLY way to eat chicken salad if you ask me), and the rest is for the cookout, when we'll have Pete, my mom, me, my sister, her husband Steve, her son Josh and her other son Mason, along with Lisa, Rob, and Pete's grandsons Christopher and Cameron.  I think I'm also going to get Florence so that she can come and visit with everybody awhile.

Tomorrow evening Pete is performing in his play "Bye Bye Birdie," and some of us will be going to that as well, though I don't think Florence will be.  She'll probably be very tired out from visiting.

After that shin-dig is over, the rest of the weekend is easy.  Saturday we're all going to ride the trolley up the side of the mountain (like all the steel workers used to do), to look out over the whole city of Pittsburgh, (there is also a museum up there), and then we'll take the kids to the Carnegie Science Museum.  Then my sister, her hubby and Josh are all going to see Dave Matthews Band (their favorite), since we bought the tickets for them for Steve's and Josh's birthdays.  Lisa and Rob and the 2 boys will be driving back to NY, so all we'll have is Mason here with us.  I can do some clean up around the house on Saturday evening, and then Sunday my sister and her family are heading back to Michigan around noon or so.

Sunday afternoon, though, my mom's brother and his girlfriend will be arriving to stay until Thursday!  So it's going to be a rather busy time.  After that, I can breathe again.

I would love to invite you to come too, but I'm sure you're busy with other stuff....like an ALBUM....ahem....(ain't I a stinker)?!   WINK!!

But with you, dear Stephen, there is always an open invitation, any time.  You're welcome to drop in whenever the mood strikes.  I'll be here.  No big whoop.

Pete told me about the San Diego Comic Con that recently happened, and about some 50 year old woman who waited in line since Sunday to see the stars of Twilight---but somebody decided to turn the line of people around, so she was near the END of it, rather than at the very beginning, and she got upset and started to run across the street to get to the front again, but was hit and killed by a car.  Now THAT is ridiculous.  All for what?  To see a bunch of 20-something idiots on some lame-ass t.v. show about wimpy vampires?  (cue Grandpa from the Munsters to laugh his evil laugh).....now THAT was a real vampire.  And Bella Lugosi, let's not forget him!!!  These young actors and this whole show just cannot compare to the originals.

I told Pete that even if it were YOU I was going to see, I wouldn't wait in line FIVE DAYS!!!  (Okay, I'd wait two, MAX).  And if some idiot decided to move the line around to screw me over like that, you can bet your life that some HEADS WOULD ROLL.

That's just plain unbelievably stupid of the Comic Convention people to NOT sell passes ahead of time for a certain amount of people to attend it, rather than make everybody wait in line for DAYS...and end up getting killed.  You would THINK somebody somewhere would change that.  Promise me, Stephen, if you decide to have a meet and greet or something, you allow people to purchase a pass for it AHEAD OF TIME, or only allow so many---hell, hand pick 'em from the audience if you want to----but don't make people wait in line for hours like that.  Oh, and don't forget, the Stage A&E venue here in Pittsburgh sucks hairy sweaty balls, so skip that one completely and just go to the Consol Center instead.  Just a tip from yer ole buddy Beck!!

Bye for now, you sweet gorgeous man you.  I hope you have a great weekend!   SMOOCH!!

Love, Rebecca