Paying the Price

I paid the price for the fun I had yesterday.  You'd think that sitting in a tube riding down a river for five hours wouldn't be that exhausting or physically demanding.  Well, you don't just ride, you have to paddle with your arms from time to time to steer around rocks and to catch up to others.  I'm a magnet for big rocks in the river.  I hit one pretty hard with my butt while going over some small rapids.  On the plus side, I didn't get sun burned.  I put on plenty of sunscreen before we started and had a small tube that I took with me in a waterproof case and I reapplied it throughout the trip.  We went to dinner when we finished and I was so hungry I ate every single bit on my plate and it was a rather large piece of chicken fried chicken with fries and corn.  Matt and I stopped at a store on the way home to pick up some tylenol since we were so sore.  This morning I was feeling stiff and puffy.  My eyes did not appreciate wearing contacts yesterday.  I laid around until I was hungry around noon.  I ran to Sonic for a burger.  I felt a little more alive after eating so I've been working on word lists this afternoon.  I need to go to the store but I may wait until tomorrow.  I think today is just going to be a lazy day with some naps involved.

Going tubing tomorrow

A Scrabble friend of ours invited us to go tubing with her tomorrow at the Frio river.  Matt has a doctor's appointment in the morning, but we will head over there in the afternoon.  I have to see if I can still fit into my swimsuit and find my water shoes.  I went tubing for the first time two summers ago in the Comal river in New Braunfels.  It was fun, but I got sunburned pretty bad.  I put sunscreen on, but I should have taken some with me so I could keep applying it.

My cousin Rob took Matt out for a boy's movie this afternoon with Rob's son.  His wife and two daughters stayed here and we watched the second Harry Potter movie.  I'm glad I have family in town, but sometimes doing things with company can be exhausting.  I guess it's because I'm so much of an introvert.  I need my alone/down time.

I've been actively working on my online Scrabble study cards.  I've found several that have already been created by others, but need some editing because the list is slightly different (probably a Collins or British) word list than the NASPA (North American Scrabble Players Assoc.) word list.  I'm hoping that by going through all the words that some of them will sink in.  I worked on my three to four hooks (letters you add to a three letter word to make a four letter word such as ban + d = band) the other night and I was surprised at how many I knew.  There are some unusual words I've learned from that list like "waah", "kbar", and "udon".

I'm going to head back up to the Panhandle on Saturday.  It will be a quick trip to take care of some bank stuff in person and to see a few friends.  Of course I'll have to have my beloved Taco Villa and a donut stop donut.

Just three more weeks

I only have three more weeks of summer vacation.  Boy time goes by fast.  I've read a few books, studied some Scrabble words, watched some t.v. and rested a lot.  I haven't done a lick of cleaning.  I'll probably do that next week so I can start school with a clean house.  I especially need to clean out my closet.

I slept in this morning and then headed out a little after noon to take care of my craving for Tacos.  I went to Taco Cabana and got the Mexican Plate (enchilada, taco, double rice since I don't like beans) with a drink and an extra taco.  It was filling and hit the spot.  After that, I went to Home Depot to get some spray paint for my Scrabble racks.  I then went to Best Buy to pick up some ink for my printer.  I have more word lists I want to print and start working on.  Finally I went to Walmart and got some glitter spray for the racks.  I put the first coat on the racks and am waiting for them to dry outside.  It's pretty hot today so it shouldn't take long.  I've been goofing off online for a bit, but I think I'll start working on some Scrabble stuff shortly.

Matt was on the news this morning.  Here's the link if you want to watch the story:
http://bit.ly/1VaoJ13

I think we are going out to a district library social this evening.  The problem is that it's kind of far away across town.  I hate trying to go across town in rush hour traffic.

Celebrating One Year Together

Matt and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary.  Time seems to fly when you marry the right person.  I didn't know that the traditional first anniversary gift was paper, but I guess I did well by buying him the new Stephen King book that he's been wanting to read.  He is going to get me the new Harper Lee book when it comes out tomorrow.  He also got me a $20 lottery ticket and I won $100 on it.  I spent a good portion of it today by going to Hobby Lobby and getting stuff to decorate my new Scrabble board and then going to Ross for Less for some new clothes.

Last night we went to a nice restaurant for dinner.  It was expensive, but not as bad as some of the places we've been to.  The service was great and it was a nice atmosphere.  The food was excellent as well.  I had a rib-eye steak with garlic mashed potatoes.  Matt had venison and quail.

So I played in a Scrabble tournament in Austin on Saturday.  I have yet to do well in an Austin tournament.  I was seeded 4th and came in 6th winning 3 games and losing 4.  I did bingo out in 3 games but one of them wasn't enough points to surpass my opponent.  I would have won that game if I had challenged a word that I let go.  After the tournament, I met my friend Brent for dinner.  It was great to be able to see him.

I need to start studying again this week.  I really need to nail down all the three letter words and work on some of the important fours.  My summer is quickly coming to a close.  I'll be heading back to Canyon in about two weeks for a couple of days and then shortly after that will be our trip to Reno for Scrabble nationals.  We'll get back late Wednesday on August 5 and then I report back to work on Monday, August 10.  Where has the time gone?

Scrabble Studying

I've been trying to focus on studying Scrabble stuff but it's not easy.  I did go to the library earlier this week which helped.  I've been making old fashioned study cards with index cards, but I'm also creating online study cards using a program called Quizlet.  I'm hoping the dual card making will lead to more retention.  There's just a whole lot of words I have never used before and have no idea what they mean like "fyke", "kapu", "hwyl", "ekka", or "eruv".  I'm probably not nearly ready enough for nationals, but I'm more prepared than I was two years ago.  This year's section is much smaller though - half the size, in fact.  When I went in 2013 I was ranked 81st out of 95.  I ended up being 61st out of 95 at the end of the tournament.  This year there are only 46 entered in my division and I'm currently ranked 30th.  I don't know if that is good or bad.  I'm expected to win at least 15 out of 31 games.  That's what I won last time.  I hope I do slightly better, but a good portion of it is the luck of the draw.  I may study my bingo stems, but if I draw all vowels, it isn't going to help.

I think I'm going to go play in a tournament in Austin this weekend.  Hopefully it will help me prepare for nationals.  I'll try to take stock of what I need to focus on and then get back to studying.  Of course I should also be focusing on cleaning out the garage and doing the other things I had planned.  I'm still waiting on my cousin to come get a bunch of stuff he left here.  His family just moved into a house down here and has been leaving stuff here each trip they've made before they finally got the keys to their house.  His van then had to go in the shop because the radiator broke after being towed.  Oh well, it has given me an excuse not to clean.