This year, like last, it was held at Duane's work. There is a huge kitchen in the chowhall, a decent sized dining area, a very, very large dayroom with an enormous TV. There was plenty of room for us to drag mattresses down from some of the old dormrooms, lay them out around the room and still have space for 7 or 8 spinning wheels!
The retreat-ers were told they could start showing up after 4. I was there a bit earlier, 2:30, and got some things set up and arranged. Then I waited and waited, and at about 5:30 I made Duane leave and said that I'd be okay by myself until the first person showed up.
So, supper was supposed to be at about 7, and didn't happen until after 8. No biggie. It was a Swiss Cheese and mushroom quiche. After the dishes were done and breakfast was prepped, we went into the dayroom and started spinning and watched a couple of movies. The last one we watched before we went to sleep was "Joe vs The Volcano" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The only thing I can say about that movie is... I want his luggage! Some of us didn't go to sleep until after 1.
Saturday morning, after breakfast, (oven baked apple french toast), we watched Judith McKensie McCuin's "Popular Wheel Mechanics." Great teaching tool! Then it was lunch. The video is only two hours, but with stops for questions and rewinds to get them answered... It was closer to 2:00 when lunch was over. Lunch was tacos. There was a choice of beef or shrimp, and there was enough for several tacos apiece.
The afternoon session brought the choice of chart reading or Judith Mc Mac's "The Gentle Art of Plying." I chose that one as I'm trying to get through a couple of bobbins of red angora from Flipper. The teacher for the chart class was also going to teach a beading class after supper, but some got a head start.
After supper, Chicken fettucine and garlic bread, and the beading class, we went back into the dayroom and spun and watched some TV and generally chatted and enjoyed each other's company. I don't know what time everyone else went to bed, but I told them where the light switch was located and they are bright women who figured out how to turn the TV and sound system off and went to sleep.
Sunday morning brought another breakfast, waffles with a sweetened cream cheese spread/drizzle and strawberries topped with whipped cream. (I had a spinach omelet)
It also brought clean-up. And carrying the mattresses back upstairs to the dorms. And vacuuming. But, it also brought watching "Popular Wheel Mechanics" again for those who didn't get to see it the day before. While they were doing that and spinning, I was making my bracelet!
It's made with black and "carnival" beads. I thought about making it with black and purple beads, but I thought these others would go with more things. They kind of change colors depending on how the light hits them.
Then, because we had been there long enough, it was time for lunch again... It was leftovers and there was plenty to eat for those who were still there.
I will admit that being on a strict diet this weekend sucked! I was so tempted by everything they had to eat... The only time, really that I didn't stick around was Saturday night when they were eating the pasta. It smelled so good and really took the shine off of my chicken with lettuce and tomato salad. There was a popcorn/peanut/m&m mix, chocolate cookies, snickerdoodles, and peeps, and, and, and.... My friend Connie is the best! She kept saying things like, "The cookies are stale," and "The chocolate has bugs," and "the strawberries taste kinda musty." "You wouldn't like it... it's really not that good," was said a lot, too. This coming from a woman who was breaking her diet for the weekend, working so hard to keep me from breaking mine!
On that note... let me bring you up to speed on this round... I'm down 42.6 pounds total from when I started this whole thing in January!!!
Oh, and for those who were wondering how we fared in France, I can say that I only gained about 4 pounds in that two weeks and most of it came off within two days of being home and drinking the proper amount of water daily. (I didn't drink all of my water everyday, because bathrooms were few and far between.) I will say this, though... in most of the restaurants, if you're a patron, the bathroom is free. So, I would make sure to order something before asking about the bathroom!
Okay, that's enough about my weekend. Sorry there were no pictures, but what happens at The Site, stays at The Site!
I will be posting more pictures from my trip soon!
Until then...
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