saturday

Well, I'll tell you. My house isn't as clean as it was a couple of weeks ago and the laundry has piled up. But the kids ate all week and Youngest went off, happily, on a weekend church retreat.
K taped Survivor for me on Thursday night while I went to Open School Night. It was a pretty typical meeting though I did learn that Middle is The Star of Senior Class. His film teacher is stunned by his talent and we beamed, together, while we talked about him. Youngest's teachers seem suitably impressed with him as he seems to be adjusting well to freshman year.

I watched Survivor last night and I do have notes...

We come in on day seven. The Fang tribe is running low on rice and Randy is pretty sure that it's because they are eating three meals a day. They argue about it and Randy and GC are at odds. Randy feels GC is "a cancer which must be excised." Dan wants the team to be more unified.

The Kota tribe is fishing and building alliances. It's hard to keep track of who's who as I don't know people's names yet but I did notice that Bob is wearing Crocs. I like Bob. Charlie annoys me and Sugar is sporting a heck of a bra. She and Ace have a "connection."

The first challenge is a reward challenge for comfort items. Ace suggests they not work too hard at it and save their strength for the immunity challenge later.
At the challenge, one member of each team must hang onto a pole while opposing team members try to pry them loose and drag them across a finish line. It's a scrappy challenge and though Ace proves to be very strong and Paloma very weak, and I notice that Jeff is wearing polyester, Fang win.
Chrystal is very emotional and Sugar is sent to Exile Island (which I don't think IS an island at all).
Jeff has seven lines in the whole show, in the whole series, and uses one of them when he says: Kota, I've got nothing for ya.

Fang celebrate their victory. They are feeling pretty good for the first time.
Kota feel like they have made a "strategic withdrawal" and aren't ashamed of their performance, but they do feel that Paloma gave up.

On Exile, Sugar chooses clues over comfort and surprises us with her bravery. She encounters elephants and ants and wades through murky water while telling us that this is difficult for her and that she is grieving the recent loss of her father. She finds one clue after another and trudges onward until she actually finds the hidden idol. She's very proud of herself.

After some gratuitous animal shots we are back at camp with Kota on day nine. Bob and Ace discuss who to vote out. Bob thinks Ace is protecting Sugar and Corinne discusses alliances with Bob.

At the Immunity Challenge Sugar returns and the teams must slide down a giant Slip and Slide, splash into a lake, swim for tiles and bring them back to shore where a teammate will solve a mathematical puzzle with them for a combination that opens a locked chest. Somehow the men have all changed into swim trunks and both teams have been watered down, for easier slipping I assume. Both teams take turns leading the competition right up until the math part of the contest. We think Bob will do well with the math but it turns out that Ken solves the puzzle after a couple of tries and so Fang win.
Kota will go to their first tribal council.

More animal shots (which have nothing to do with either team) bring us back to the Kota camp where Sugar tries to convince her team that she doesn't have the Idol. They believe her, for the most part. She goes paddling with Ace and tells him she has found it. They feel that Paloma should go with Kelly next but the rest of the team have other ideas. Some want Ace out as he is domineering. Paloma works on making the members of her team "crazy" and Corrine lobbies to vote Ace out.

It's all pretty cut and dried and, as we suspect, they vote Paloma out.
Even though Ace is annoying I like him. I think he could do well. Or be voted out next week (the team doesn't like him much).
What do I know?

I'm spending today making baskets for the second annual auction for APS Type 1 that my sister and brother-in-law run in honor of their son.
I'll be posting links in case anyone wants to make a donation to this very worthy and personal cause for us...and I'm taking tomorrow off.
Next week I'm bringing my camera to work! Yesterday, I walked around at lunch time and have lots of things to show you.
I survived week one.
Join me for reports of week two!