The Weekend
Friday afternoon we had our quarterly Finance Town Hall get together. The one in November is always held in a nearby park. Great time for it, the weather is always amazing, and this time was no exception. I had some BBQ, played BINGO, painted a ceramic teddy bear, did the Cupid Shuffle and the Electric Slide, was amused by some people singing karaoke, and won movie tickets in a raffle.
While I was doing that, Casey and some friends got out of school and walked next door to their old middle school (which gets out 2 hours later than their high school) to hang out in the gifted classroom where they had spent 6-8 grade. While they were there, her friend Valerie fell down and dislocated her knee cap (OW). Apparently, it moved to the side of her leg (shudder). So Casey and Brianna rode with her as her dad took her to the ER.
Where she was supposed to be was helping her Girl Scout troop prepare for Saturday's yard sale, which was being done to raise money for their 2013 trip to England. So she got yelled at by her leader for missing that, and I'm a little torn in my feelings about that. Yes, they needed her to help out with sale prep, but her friend was in a lot of pain, and though I'm sure Casey's statements of "But she NEEDED me! She was in PAIN!" can partly be attributed to teen drama, I'm sure having a couple of friends with her to distract her and calm her down did help. Not to mention the fact that the leader had emailed about this Friday night prep on Thursday night and before that we didn't know she would be needed before Saturday. That is not uncommon for her, and I'm really over the last minute emails and her expecting everyone to jump and be free and come running (you know how busy my kid is... what are the odds she won't already have plans when you give 24 hours notice, via email, which btw she rarely even reads?). And anyway, this leader has a tendency to yell way too much. You never know what kind of mood she's going to be in, and too many times I've picked the kid up from some scouting activity and had her complain about how every time she turned around she was being yelled at about something else. But she's a big girl, so I'm letting her handle it and not getting involved at this point. She and Debbie have a lot of history because she's been with her since she was about 8 years old, so they definitely have kind of a mother/daughter thing of their own going on, and they do each care for the other quite a lot. The tough love thing is definitely getting a bit old, though. But she could quit if she wanted to, and chooses not to.
Friday evening I met up with April, Jeff, Rose and Tara at Howl at the Moon because April had won a party. Those parties are a great way to have a cheap evening out. I spent 4 whole dollars due to the free admission, free buffet and $1 drinks. Had an ok time, but was an old fuddy duddy and got home before 9.
Saturday was the aforementioned yard sale, and I had to wake Casey up at 6 AM for that (she sleeps through alarm clocks). Since Christine was going to be taking her there for me, the plan was to just wake her up and then go back to bed and sleep in. Here's how that went:
-6:00, alarm goes off and I tell her to get up. Hit snooze and go back to bed.
-6:09, alarm again. She's still in bed, so I go in there and tell her again to get up. She is awake, just not out of bed yet.
-I go back to bed and the dog immediately starts itching, so I have to get up, go downstairs and give her a benedryl.
-Back to bed, but I'm afraid to fall asleep because Casey is still in bed. I lie awake waiting until she finally stumbles out of bed and into the bathroom.
-The door knob on the door leading from the hall into the bathroom stopped working Friday. It doesn't catch for some reason, so she has to go through my room to get in there, and as she does so she grumbles at me about fixing the door.
-As soon as she goes in there I realize I have to use the bathroom, so I have to go downstairs and use that one. And then back to bed again.
-She finishes her shower and exits through my room again, grumbling some more about me needing to fix the door.
-Finally Christine rings the doorbell and she leaves, only to immediately start laying on the doorbell because she forgot something and the door was locked. I go down, let her in, go back to bed, and can't fall asleep so I finally give up.
So I took a shower, went out and got myself some breakfast because we had very little food in the house, paid some bills, and got groceries. While I was there I picked up a lunchable for Casey because she was supposed to bring her lunch and, like I said, no food in the house. I also grabbed a box of those 100 calorie snack packs and gave them to her, saying to feel free to share with the other girls. She ended up eating them all herself. 7 of them. OMG, the appetite and metabolism on that kid.
So I tried to fix the door knob. I took it apart, looked at it and went "What now?" and then decided to just put it back together and have someone else look at it later, but then I couldn't get it back together because I need someone to stand on the other side of the door and hold the knob so I can screw them back together again. Casey's been either not home or busy all weekend, so we're still knob-less.
Anyway, then I did some laundry, had some lunch, and watched a little TV, but I started to fall asleep in my chair, so I gave up and went to bed. Another attempt at sleep foiled, because 10 minutes later my mom called*, and 10 minutes after that, Casey called to say she was ready to be picked up (an hour earlier than planned).
Nap be damned, I picked her up and took her to get a birthday present for her friend. I've learned not to go with her for these shopping trips... she takes forever it's very frustrating, so I dropped her off at Claire's, went to another store to get the birthday card, and then sat in the car and read. For such a small store, I'm amazed at how long she was in there before finally emerging with a bracelet and necklace, wanting to also go to Kohl's to find a picture frame.
When we got home she had 2 whole hours to get ready for the birthday party (a quinceanera, which is a fancy sweet 15 party of hispanic culture), which involved a shower and getting dolled up in a dress, etc., printing a picture for the frame, wrapping the gifts, and writing a song she'd been meaning to write to perform for her friend at the party. She managed to do everything but the song in the end.
Once she was ready and waiting to be picked up (by Christine, I was going to bring the girls home later), I left and went to my parents' house to celebrate my cousin Robert's 20th wedding anniversary. Ate lots of good food, chatted, bla bla bla, the usual family gathering stuff.
I left at 10 and went straight to the party to pick the girls up. They'd had a blast, and Casey fell asleep in the car on the way home (can't blame her, what a long day). She brought home a balloon that has been freaking the dog out ever since.
Today we went to church and Perkins with my parents (I tried their new biscuit bakes and was not impressed). All day Casey had been repeatedly complaining about her cell phone charger and asking for a new one (it had pretty much completely stopped working), so even though I'm super broke, I don't want her to not have a cell phone (we don't have a home phone so she needs to be able to communicate, with me especially) so I went to Target and got her one. Didn't realize until I got home and she opened it that it was a car charger, not a wall one (I saw nothing on the package about it being for a car and you couldn't see what was inside... must have missed something there) so I had to go back and exchange it, but that turned out to be a good thing because the right one was $10 cheaper.
This evening, after Casey finally finished her homework, I dropped her off at Guitar Center to hang out with her friend Alejo for a little while and so he could teach her a little guitar, and then when she got home we watched the movie Stardust. I recently read the book and loved it (Neil Gaiman is the best), and the movie turned out to be great too. They changed a ton of details from the book to the movie, but both are very well done. I recommend watching the movie AND reading the book, they complement each other nicely.
*To ask if I'd gone to get a free shot for my dog. They'd seen something on the news about the shelter offering free shots that day and called to tell me. I called the clinic they were talking about and was told that they were not the ones offering the shots, and the person wasn't terribly helpful about who it actually was. Looked online and found nothing, except an article from the last time there were free shots offered, and it said cars were lined up down the street and the waiting room was busting at the seams. Yeah, I'm not bringing my nervous, unpredictable dog into a mess like that. No thanks. Thing is, she DOES need to get some shots right away because I'm boarding her while we're out of town for Thanksgiving, and I can't afford the shots (or the boarding, actually) so will need to rely on my parents for help, and of course they were all "Sure you didn't want to get the free shot, it's free to you anyway.", but seriously, I did try and even if I had been able to find out where the shots were and what I needed to bring, etc., I really don't know if Willow would have been able to handle the crowds. Plus she needs 2 shots and an exam (the free shot was one specific type), so I'd still have to take her to the vet anyway.
While I was doing that, Casey and some friends got out of school and walked next door to their old middle school (which gets out 2 hours later than their high school) to hang out in the gifted classroom where they had spent 6-8 grade. While they were there, her friend Valerie fell down and dislocated her knee cap (OW). Apparently, it moved to the side of her leg (shudder). So Casey and Brianna rode with her as her dad took her to the ER.
Where she was supposed to be was helping her Girl Scout troop prepare for Saturday's yard sale, which was being done to raise money for their 2013 trip to England. So she got yelled at by her leader for missing that, and I'm a little torn in my feelings about that. Yes, they needed her to help out with sale prep, but her friend was in a lot of pain, and though I'm sure Casey's statements of "But she NEEDED me! She was in PAIN!" can partly be attributed to teen drama, I'm sure having a couple of friends with her to distract her and calm her down did help. Not to mention the fact that the leader had emailed about this Friday night prep on Thursday night and before that we didn't know she would be needed before Saturday. That is not uncommon for her, and I'm really over the last minute emails and her expecting everyone to jump and be free and come running (you know how busy my kid is... what are the odds she won't already have plans when you give 24 hours notice, via email, which btw she rarely even reads?). And anyway, this leader has a tendency to yell way too much. You never know what kind of mood she's going to be in, and too many times I've picked the kid up from some scouting activity and had her complain about how every time she turned around she was being yelled at about something else. But she's a big girl, so I'm letting her handle it and not getting involved at this point. She and Debbie have a lot of history because she's been with her since she was about 8 years old, so they definitely have kind of a mother/daughter thing of their own going on, and they do each care for the other quite a lot. The tough love thing is definitely getting a bit old, though. But she could quit if she wanted to, and chooses not to.
Friday evening I met up with April, Jeff, Rose and Tara at Howl at the Moon because April had won a party. Those parties are a great way to have a cheap evening out. I spent 4 whole dollars due to the free admission, free buffet and $1 drinks. Had an ok time, but was an old fuddy duddy and got home before 9.
Saturday was the aforementioned yard sale, and I had to wake Casey up at 6 AM for that (she sleeps through alarm clocks). Since Christine was going to be taking her there for me, the plan was to just wake her up and then go back to bed and sleep in. Here's how that went:
-6:00, alarm goes off and I tell her to get up. Hit snooze and go back to bed.
-6:09, alarm again. She's still in bed, so I go in there and tell her again to get up. She is awake, just not out of bed yet.
-I go back to bed and the dog immediately starts itching, so I have to get up, go downstairs and give her a benedryl.
-Back to bed, but I'm afraid to fall asleep because Casey is still in bed. I lie awake waiting until she finally stumbles out of bed and into the bathroom.
-The door knob on the door leading from the hall into the bathroom stopped working Friday. It doesn't catch for some reason, so she has to go through my room to get in there, and as she does so she grumbles at me about fixing the door.
-As soon as she goes in there I realize I have to use the bathroom, so I have to go downstairs and use that one. And then back to bed again.
-She finishes her shower and exits through my room again, grumbling some more about me needing to fix the door.
-Finally Christine rings the doorbell and she leaves, only to immediately start laying on the doorbell because she forgot something and the door was locked. I go down, let her in, go back to bed, and can't fall asleep so I finally give up.
So I took a shower, went out and got myself some breakfast because we had very little food in the house, paid some bills, and got groceries. While I was there I picked up a lunchable for Casey because she was supposed to bring her lunch and, like I said, no food in the house. I also grabbed a box of those 100 calorie snack packs and gave them to her, saying to feel free to share with the other girls. She ended up eating them all herself. 7 of them. OMG, the appetite and metabolism on that kid.
So I tried to fix the door knob. I took it apart, looked at it and went "What now?" and then decided to just put it back together and have someone else look at it later, but then I couldn't get it back together because I need someone to stand on the other side of the door and hold the knob so I can screw them back together again. Casey's been either not home or busy all weekend, so we're still knob-less.
Anyway, then I did some laundry, had some lunch, and watched a little TV, but I started to fall asleep in my chair, so I gave up and went to bed. Another attempt at sleep foiled, because 10 minutes later my mom called*, and 10 minutes after that, Casey called to say she was ready to be picked up (an hour earlier than planned).
Nap be damned, I picked her up and took her to get a birthday present for her friend. I've learned not to go with her for these shopping trips... she takes forever it's very frustrating, so I dropped her off at Claire's, went to another store to get the birthday card, and then sat in the car and read. For such a small store, I'm amazed at how long she was in there before finally emerging with a bracelet and necklace, wanting to also go to Kohl's to find a picture frame.
When we got home she had 2 whole hours to get ready for the birthday party (a quinceanera, which is a fancy sweet 15 party of hispanic culture), which involved a shower and getting dolled up in a dress, etc., printing a picture for the frame, wrapping the gifts, and writing a song she'd been meaning to write to perform for her friend at the party. She managed to do everything but the song in the end.
Once she was ready and waiting to be picked up (by Christine, I was going to bring the girls home later), I left and went to my parents' house to celebrate my cousin Robert's 20th wedding anniversary. Ate lots of good food, chatted, bla bla bla, the usual family gathering stuff.
I left at 10 and went straight to the party to pick the girls up. They'd had a blast, and Casey fell asleep in the car on the way home (can't blame her, what a long day). She brought home a balloon that has been freaking the dog out ever since.
Today we went to church and Perkins with my parents (I tried their new biscuit bakes and was not impressed). All day Casey had been repeatedly complaining about her cell phone charger and asking for a new one (it had pretty much completely stopped working), so even though I'm super broke, I don't want her to not have a cell phone (we don't have a home phone so she needs to be able to communicate, with me especially) so I went to Target and got her one. Didn't realize until I got home and she opened it that it was a car charger, not a wall one (I saw nothing on the package about it being for a car and you couldn't see what was inside... must have missed something there) so I had to go back and exchange it, but that turned out to be a good thing because the right one was $10 cheaper.
This evening, after Casey finally finished her homework, I dropped her off at Guitar Center to hang out with her friend Alejo for a little while and so he could teach her a little guitar, and then when she got home we watched the movie Stardust. I recently read the book and loved it (Neil Gaiman is the best), and the movie turned out to be great too. They changed a ton of details from the book to the movie, but both are very well done. I recommend watching the movie AND reading the book, they complement each other nicely.
*To ask if I'd gone to get a free shot for my dog. They'd seen something on the news about the shelter offering free shots that day and called to tell me. I called the clinic they were talking about and was told that they were not the ones offering the shots, and the person wasn't terribly helpful about who it actually was. Looked online and found nothing, except an article from the last time there were free shots offered, and it said cars were lined up down the street and the waiting room was busting at the seams. Yeah, I'm not bringing my nervous, unpredictable dog into a mess like that. No thanks. Thing is, she DOES need to get some shots right away because I'm boarding her while we're out of town for Thanksgiving, and I can't afford the shots (or the boarding, actually) so will need to rely on my parents for help, and of course they were all "Sure you didn't want to get the free shot, it's free to you anyway.", but seriously, I did try and even if I had been able to find out where the shots were and what I needed to bring, etc., I really don't know if Willow would have been able to handle the crowds. Plus she needs 2 shots and an exam (the free shot was one specific type), so I'd still have to take her to the vet anyway.