Oh Holidays
As if I weren't always running low enough on time and money, the holidays had to come along. So tired. I want to go to bed but the one load of laundry I've had time to do this weekend needs to go in the dryer first. The past few days have been a blur of trying to get as much crap done as possible while also catering to Casey's whims, but I'll try and remember what went down...
Wednesday we went to McWells, where her dad plays his music and there is trivia, so Casey could try to sell some Girl Scout candy to the bar patrons. She did pretty decent, pulled in about $50, some of which came from the triva dude himself. He wants to buy all the salsa mix we have left, so I have asked her Girl Scout leader to give me whatever she's got and I'll get it to him on another day. Cool. She brought Jessica and Alejo to keep her company. I couldn't get any of my friends to come along, but Alejo's father decided to hang around and I was happy to have some adult company. We sat at a separate table next to the kids, but participated in the trivia game when we knew answers. The kids named our team Honey Mustard, and we did not even almost win. But it was fun.
So, Casey got hit on while we were there. I watched the whole thing go down, torn between yelling "She's only 14 you perve, walk away!" and sitting back and watching it all go down. I chose the latter, and actually found it kind of amusing. He asked her what she was drinking, all playful and flirty, and she said Sprite. He was all "Sprite? Why...." and then I watched the realization dawn on his face and he said "Wait. You're not 21 are you?" He could not leave the table fast enough when she told him her actual age, and then apparently after we'd left her dad was relaying the story and the guy was like "Oh shit, that was me." and then he was all apologetic, like he was afraid Bing would kill him. He's lucky we both had a good sense of humor about it. Turned out the guy was a 23 yo fireman. Cute too. But he hits on 14 year olds, so that's not good. Beer goggles can really be a problem sometimes.
Thursday her piano lesson was cancelled and she decided to hang out at Guitar Center with Alejo instead. Her dad joined her there so they could look at keyboards because she would like to get a nicer one. They agreed on a particular one she'd been eyeing for a while, but it's a bit pricey so he said it would have to be for her birthday in April instead of for Christmas.
Friday we had dinner with the family at Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate my Aunt Ann's 84th birthday, and then we all went back to her house for cake. Casey wanted to go to moonlight bowling with some friends and it just so happened that it was right by my aunt's house, so I dropped her off there later on, and then another mom broght her home after midnight, when I was already asleep.
Saturday I slept a little later than I probably should have (9-ish), and then started panicking when I realized how much I still need to do to get ready for Christmas. I started putting together a to do list, balanced my checkbook and took care of some bills, and then woke Casey up around 1. She immediately started talking about all these great ideas she'd just come up with for games to play at her party, and she needed supplies, etc. The party that was taking place in about 6 hours. So I started freaking out even more because my already full to do list and low bank account balance were now being threatened by her last minute plans, but I'm too nice and I didn't want her party to be boring, so I took her to the store and let her get $50 worth of supplies for the games (which her step-mom Jae graciously offered to reimburse me for later, as she was the one throwing the party. I accepted. I've learned from being broke for my whole adult life to never turn down offers of money).
Oh, and before we went to the store I had my mom come over and take our picture in front of the Christmas tree so we'd have something to put in the cards I'll eventually be sending out. I'll have to post the pic we ended up with at some point. I'm too tired to deal with Photobucket right now. Anyway, the thing that sucked was, every picture where Willow is looking at the camera, she has crazy glowy green eyes. The red eye removal tool does nothing to them, so I had to go with the one pic where she's not looking at the camera. Oh well.
So then the whole time my mom was at the house, I had her in one ear talking about how I needed to clean up the back porch because we needed to get someone to come look at the ceiling in the shed (which, btw, I discovered had caved in due to some kind of leak. Yay home ownership) because she was not having someone come to the house with it looking like that, and Casey in the other ear, still going on and on about all the stuff she needs for these great party games she wants to play. And I can feel myself going into overload, and all I want at that point is a glass of wine and some peace, but I push on anyway.
So we went to the store and got all her stuff, and I tried to also get some of the things I needed, but I didn't manage to get much, and then she wanted to go to the band concert at her school, so I dropped her off and then realized my gas tank was on the E and I still needed to get laundry detergent, so I stopped at the gas station and Walgreens, and then went home and threw a pair of jeans she just HAD to wear to the party in the washing machine and started gathering all the things we needed for the party. Had to run out and get a gift bag big enough for the teddy bear we'd bought for the gift exchange, started working on the pictures for the Christmas cards (which my mom had just emailed me), and then Casey was ready to be picked up and we went straight to the party, which Jae and her dad had offered to throw for her and her friends. We went to work putting together gift bags until the guests started arriving. The party went very well, despite the fact that only 14 kids showed up (which I think is a good number anyway, but she'd expected 50) and all but 6 of those didn't get there until 9 PM. There'd been a second band concert that she hadn't known about when we picked a date, and most of her friends are in band, so they had to wait and come after they were finished there. But once the gang arrived, they had a great time. Simon the trivia guy (the one that likes salsa mix) came by and ran a game for the kids and then Casey went about all the games she'd organized. She's very good at the whole party planning thing, despite waiting until the last minute to do it. During the party I stayed warm by one of the fire pits (outdoor party, kind of chilly out) and chatted with the few adults that were in attendance - Briana's mom June, Alejo's mom Connie, and Dani, a friend of Bing and Jae's. The party didn't end until around 2 AM, at which point Casey and I went home and collapsed into bed.
I woke up at 11:30 today and was pretty surprised when I looked at the clock. Got my butt up and spent the next 4 hours shopping, for groceries and Christmas gifts. I still have a lot more gifts to buy, but I ran out of money, so the rest will have to be done next week. Got home at nearly 4 and found Casey still asleep. Jeez. So I told her to get up because we had church in an hour, and we were a little bit late by the time we both took showers and got over there (my parents weren't with us for a change because they had plans that day and had gone to mass while we were at the party). She didn't have time to eat anything except some chips and half a Snickers bar before we left, so she started feeling light headed during mass. Not wanting to repeat what happened at the chiropractor's office, I hit a drive thru after mass and got her some fries to tide her over for the time being. Stopped at my parents' house to pick up some stuff, and then went back to the church for a meeting RE the ski trip she's going on next month. At home I made some Shake N Bake chicken and noodles for dinner, and then took Casey to Alejo's house (his name comes up a lot, doesn't it?) because she needed his help with one of her assignments. And she'd left some stuff at her dad's house so I was going to go get it then, but I haven't been able to get ahold of Jae at all, and I guess Bing is busy or something, so she's just going to have to wait till tomorrow to get it. Didn't want to drive all the way there without making sure they were home first.
I've managed to do the tiniest bit of laundry tonight (some towels and one load of clothes, which will stay in the dryer for now), and I ordered those pics from Walgreens. Now it's almost midnight and I have to be up in less than 6 hours, so I better go. Tomorrow there will be work, a Girl Scout meeting I have to stay for to talk about cookie sales (even though I've been doing it for at least 5 years), getting that stuff from Casey's dad's house, stopping at the store for a couple of things I forgot, picking up those pictures, and trying to finish the laundry. Not sure when I'm going to finish Christmas shopping, send out cards, wrap gifts or finish decorating. Gah.
Wednesday we went to McWells, where her dad plays his music and there is trivia, so Casey could try to sell some Girl Scout candy to the bar patrons. She did pretty decent, pulled in about $50, some of which came from the triva dude himself. He wants to buy all the salsa mix we have left, so I have asked her Girl Scout leader to give me whatever she's got and I'll get it to him on another day. Cool. She brought Jessica and Alejo to keep her company. I couldn't get any of my friends to come along, but Alejo's father decided to hang around and I was happy to have some adult company. We sat at a separate table next to the kids, but participated in the trivia game when we knew answers. The kids named our team Honey Mustard, and we did not even almost win. But it was fun.
So, Casey got hit on while we were there. I watched the whole thing go down, torn between yelling "She's only 14 you perve, walk away!" and sitting back and watching it all go down. I chose the latter, and actually found it kind of amusing. He asked her what she was drinking, all playful and flirty, and she said Sprite. He was all "Sprite? Why...." and then I watched the realization dawn on his face and he said "Wait. You're not 21 are you?" He could not leave the table fast enough when she told him her actual age, and then apparently after we'd left her dad was relaying the story and the guy was like "Oh shit, that was me." and then he was all apologetic, like he was afraid Bing would kill him. He's lucky we both had a good sense of humor about it. Turned out the guy was a 23 yo fireman. Cute too. But he hits on 14 year olds, so that's not good. Beer goggles can really be a problem sometimes.
Thursday her piano lesson was cancelled and she decided to hang out at Guitar Center with Alejo instead. Her dad joined her there so they could look at keyboards because she would like to get a nicer one. They agreed on a particular one she'd been eyeing for a while, but it's a bit pricey so he said it would have to be for her birthday in April instead of for Christmas.
Friday we had dinner with the family at Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate my Aunt Ann's 84th birthday, and then we all went back to her house for cake. Casey wanted to go to moonlight bowling with some friends and it just so happened that it was right by my aunt's house, so I dropped her off there later on, and then another mom broght her home after midnight, when I was already asleep.
Saturday I slept a little later than I probably should have (9-ish), and then started panicking when I realized how much I still need to do to get ready for Christmas. I started putting together a to do list, balanced my checkbook and took care of some bills, and then woke Casey up around 1. She immediately started talking about all these great ideas she'd just come up with for games to play at her party, and she needed supplies, etc. The party that was taking place in about 6 hours. So I started freaking out even more because my already full to do list and low bank account balance were now being threatened by her last minute plans, but I'm too nice and I didn't want her party to be boring, so I took her to the store and let her get $50 worth of supplies for the games (which her step-mom Jae graciously offered to reimburse me for later, as she was the one throwing the party. I accepted. I've learned from being broke for my whole adult life to never turn down offers of money).
Oh, and before we went to the store I had my mom come over and take our picture in front of the Christmas tree so we'd have something to put in the cards I'll eventually be sending out. I'll have to post the pic we ended up with at some point. I'm too tired to deal with Photobucket right now. Anyway, the thing that sucked was, every picture where Willow is looking at the camera, she has crazy glowy green eyes. The red eye removal tool does nothing to them, so I had to go with the one pic where she's not looking at the camera. Oh well.
So then the whole time my mom was at the house, I had her in one ear talking about how I needed to clean up the back porch because we needed to get someone to come look at the ceiling in the shed (which, btw, I discovered had caved in due to some kind of leak. Yay home ownership) because she was not having someone come to the house with it looking like that, and Casey in the other ear, still going on and on about all the stuff she needs for these great party games she wants to play. And I can feel myself going into overload, and all I want at that point is a glass of wine and some peace, but I push on anyway.
So we went to the store and got all her stuff, and I tried to also get some of the things I needed, but I didn't manage to get much, and then she wanted to go to the band concert at her school, so I dropped her off and then realized my gas tank was on the E and I still needed to get laundry detergent, so I stopped at the gas station and Walgreens, and then went home and threw a pair of jeans she just HAD to wear to the party in the washing machine and started gathering all the things we needed for the party. Had to run out and get a gift bag big enough for the teddy bear we'd bought for the gift exchange, started working on the pictures for the Christmas cards (which my mom had just emailed me), and then Casey was ready to be picked up and we went straight to the party, which Jae and her dad had offered to throw for her and her friends. We went to work putting together gift bags until the guests started arriving. The party went very well, despite the fact that only 14 kids showed up (which I think is a good number anyway, but she'd expected 50) and all but 6 of those didn't get there until 9 PM. There'd been a second band concert that she hadn't known about when we picked a date, and most of her friends are in band, so they had to wait and come after they were finished there. But once the gang arrived, they had a great time. Simon the trivia guy (the one that likes salsa mix) came by and ran a game for the kids and then Casey went about all the games she'd organized. She's very good at the whole party planning thing, despite waiting until the last minute to do it. During the party I stayed warm by one of the fire pits (outdoor party, kind of chilly out) and chatted with the few adults that were in attendance - Briana's mom June, Alejo's mom Connie, and Dani, a friend of Bing and Jae's. The party didn't end until around 2 AM, at which point Casey and I went home and collapsed into bed.
I woke up at 11:30 today and was pretty surprised when I looked at the clock. Got my butt up and spent the next 4 hours shopping, for groceries and Christmas gifts. I still have a lot more gifts to buy, but I ran out of money, so the rest will have to be done next week. Got home at nearly 4 and found Casey still asleep. Jeez. So I told her to get up because we had church in an hour, and we were a little bit late by the time we both took showers and got over there (my parents weren't with us for a change because they had plans that day and had gone to mass while we were at the party). She didn't have time to eat anything except some chips and half a Snickers bar before we left, so she started feeling light headed during mass. Not wanting to repeat what happened at the chiropractor's office, I hit a drive thru after mass and got her some fries to tide her over for the time being. Stopped at my parents' house to pick up some stuff, and then went back to the church for a meeting RE the ski trip she's going on next month. At home I made some Shake N Bake chicken and noodles for dinner, and then took Casey to Alejo's house (his name comes up a lot, doesn't it?) because she needed his help with one of her assignments. And she'd left some stuff at her dad's house so I was going to go get it then, but I haven't been able to get ahold of Jae at all, and I guess Bing is busy or something, so she's just going to have to wait till tomorrow to get it. Didn't want to drive all the way there without making sure they were home first.
I've managed to do the tiniest bit of laundry tonight (some towels and one load of clothes, which will stay in the dryer for now), and I ordered those pics from Walgreens. Now it's almost midnight and I have to be up in less than 6 hours, so I better go. Tomorrow there will be work, a Girl Scout meeting I have to stay for to talk about cookie sales (even though I've been doing it for at least 5 years), getting that stuff from Casey's dad's house, stopping at the store for a couple of things I forgot, picking up those pictures, and trying to finish the laundry. Not sure when I'm going to finish Christmas shopping, send out cards, wrap gifts or finish decorating. Gah.