it may take more than 40 days, or 4

(Hear ye, hear ye: When taking a break from blogging - what a silly word - never, ever promise to be superwitty when you return. Shoot for the middle.)

It was an act of Providence, Lexi being a good hour away when I started combing through her room, lest I lose my lenten mind and choke my little hoarder. Wait. Did I say comb? I meant to say shovel. We helped a lot of people at Goodwill this weekend.

We broke away from the painting, repairing, and excavation for Happy Hour down by the river Saturday night and after waiting a while to snag a seat, we feasted on delicious bar food. A couple plopped down next to us, with two little tagalogs, preschoolers.

And because I was a motherless mother that night, I wasn't thrilled about their arrival, but I exercised some understanding - I have my kids with me all the time, so what's a few more over cocktails.

I must be parenting wrong because I don't start dinner out with a rousing, "Are you ready to raise a little hell?" Greg and I shot each other a look, because who in their right mind encourages the devil in their offspring? Ours find it on their own, thank you very much.

Soon, the boys were spitting ice through a straw across the table and IdiotAdultMan looked all surprised like when his glass broke, and lager dripped in his lap. (I'd like to take a moment of silence to think of the waitstaff.)

*****


I drove out to get my kids yesterday, listening to Water for Elephants on CD. They implied they wanted to live there, their lips saying just that. They have fruit trees, and acreage, and a Wii. How can I compete?

But I eventually pried them away and the four-day weekend came to a close.

I think this vacation thing could stick.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Glad you two could come and have a burger with us this weekend.

Mason and Miss Lexi can never marry. They would never get rid of anything. The boy has a box he keeps candy wrappers in.

Keep that vacation time at the Grandparents an ongoing tradition, lets say, once a month?

-Stu
How very lovely!

All our weekends away tend to be traumatic for some reason. We've get to have a good one.

We shall keep plugging away at it though, oh yes we shall.
Mrs. G. said…
I'm glad it was fun and restorative. Welcome back!
Anonymous said…
omg, what sort of nightmare customers was that family????

I bet they left a lousy tip, too.

Grrr...

Glad to hear your kids had a nice weekend!

I also need to shovel out my daughter's room; it is the single most embarassing (for the messiness) spot in my house!
Daisy said…
That is hilarious -- I love the shoveling analogy. I have a few of those myself. Even as I type, I'm glancing over at the 5x3x2 area of dirty laundry that's accumulated in oh....four days. :-(

Glad you had some alone time with hubby this weekend. Time without kids is glorious.
Daisy said…
PS: I gave you my email in another comment on my blog. I goofed on the homepage! ;-)
Anonymous said…
Oh. My. God. It's bad enough for parents to ignore outrageous misbehavior when they're in public places with their kids, but to encourage it?

As for Water for Elephants, I listened to that on CD, too, and thought the narrators did an amazing job. I can still recall the older gentleman's voice when I think about it.
stephanie said…
I'm so happy for your productive time this past weekend. Thanks for sharing part of it with us!

I hope we run into the crazy family when we're all out together; we could start a parenting rumble.
katydidnot said…
i took a moment, not to pray for the waitstaff, but to savor the image of idiotadultmale in wet pants. that's good stuff.
david mcmahon said…
Some blokes would say that's the lap of luxury, the spilled beer. (Not me, because I don't drink)

Hope all of you enjoyed your long weekend, with or without acreage!

Where's the picture of the repairman?!!!!
Daryl said…
I know this sounds mean but you just reinforced my belief that children of a certain age should not go to restaurants especially with moronic parents .. sigh .. on the other hand I loved your post!
Sandi McBride said…
What I miss most about my kids being, well, kids...we no longer travel in the same vehicle...or in the same circles for that matter. But what I like about my kids being full grown goats, I can lose my temper with them when they do something perfectly assinine.(yeah, spelling...but didn't really want to say ass...opps...and they don't burst into tears and run to their grandma for validation!
Great post...by the way, David sent me...
Sandi
Melanie said…
Welcome back!

Oh, how I long for the day when both children can be shipped of to Nan and Pop's for a weekend...

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