Cards with the girls
I keep saying I went out on Friday night; here you go. I had worked late that day since we had several work things going on, and people needed stuff, and it just took forever to get through it, and then someone ended up leaving early, meaning I had to stay since no one else was there aside from the intern and the boss' cousin. Neither can be left alone. (Said coworker told me, yeah, I figured you wouldn't be getting out of here on time. True. But still.) And THEN, at 5:01 when the intern had clocked out and technically the business was closed, here comes my boss wanting to add stuff to what someone was taking to their work thing, saying this was something the intern could do. Uh, yeah. She wants to go home and I don't blame her. So I ended up staying until 5:20 all told, and I thought to check my email, and good thing I did--Avery had asked about dinner, since we got pizza last time, and I had to say I wouldn't be eating pizza (it's a Lent thing) and I'd eat before I'd get there. We were to meet at Rita's at 7, and her house isn't too far from where I work, so I just hung out in the break room until I needed to go.
Avery arrived just after I did and we walked into the house together. For the first time since I've been going, Rita only had two dogs--hers. She's always had either a friend's dog or a foster dog the other times I've visited. Avery had let Rita know the deal about pizza, and since she's Catholic, it stood to figure that she would understand my not being able to eat it. But it led to a funny conversation. Okay, so you can't eat pizza…can you have cupcakes? (Her husband manages properties, and one is a bakery. We've had their cupcakes before. They're really good.) Actually…no, sorry. And where is your husband? Well, he insisted we needed pop, so he went out to get some; can you have that? Actually…no, I can't have that, either! It led into a discussion of what she and some of her family members were doing for Lent--two of her kids were in the family room, so they talked about stuff; the other two were at youth group--and it turns out they don't normally talk about it, but given the situation, there you go. I ended up just having a mug of water with these ice cubes, and the cubes were HUGE, which is why it made me laugh when she later offered up another ice cube, and I went, I'm fine. When Evie and her daughter arrived, it turns out they're not Catholic (neither is Avery), so we discussed a little bit about Lent as well. Later, when Rita was playing music, she thought she was playing something I'd recognize…and I didn't. It was a church hymn. Yeah…I actually don't go to church. She was cool with that. But it was pretty interesting all told.
Being within 10 days of Valentine's Day, Avery gifted us with these cute little packages of those little candy hearts. I should get a picture of mine, since I can't eat it for a while. I'm guessing she probably made some for her students, too. Evie probably got there around 7:30, and after she and her daughter ate, we got started. And even though we've played this a couple times already, she and I still can't remember everything--me especially, given that last week was a brain drain. You'd think I'd never played before. And there was one round we'd had to start over completely because Evie had clarified, we're trying to get four of a kind, yes? And she got told, yes, four of a kind, except it was actually four in a *row*, and both of us were doing that, so when Avery and Rita put down cards, we went, wait a minute… In Liverpool Rummy, a group of three is always the same kind; a group of four is always a run. Well, I know that now. That was also the round I'd dealt, as I was kidding with Avery about the hands she was dealing and saying she wasn't shuffling them that well (likely because Rita went out VERY quickly the round before); I let her deal all the rest and didn't say anything more. Yeah, I did not do that well and joked I was gunning for the highest score. Guess what! I did it. I did win one round, at least, but it wasn't enough. I'd also thought it was the last hand, the one where you have to set every card in your hand down at once and cannot discard. If I'd needed to, I could have discarded and been fine, but they decided it didn't matter…and then played one more round. I honestly thought there were just six rounds so I'm still confused as to how we played a seventh, but it's fine. We finished before 10 and that's all I cared about, since I had to get up in the morning. (I was in my car by 10:05. My timing worked out. Sweet.)
The funny moment came with the bird. Her cage is in their front room, which is down the hall from the kitchen. When Rita pulled out her phone to play music (mostly Beatles), the bird started chirping loudly. Rita had her daughter let the bird out, and she flew over, landed on the table, walked over to the speaker on the phone, and started singing at it. It was adorable. Aw, I miss having a bird. And, someone said something that reminded me of "Oh, Where Is My Hairbrush?" from Veggie Tales, so Rita played that for us. I really only know the chorus, but it's pretty funny, and it's kid-friendly. Well, except for the whole cucumber in a towel part.
Avery arrived just after I did and we walked into the house together. For the first time since I've been going, Rita only had two dogs--hers. She's always had either a friend's dog or a foster dog the other times I've visited. Avery had let Rita know the deal about pizza, and since she's Catholic, it stood to figure that she would understand my not being able to eat it. But it led to a funny conversation. Okay, so you can't eat pizza…can you have cupcakes? (Her husband manages properties, and one is a bakery. We've had their cupcakes before. They're really good.) Actually…no, sorry. And where is your husband? Well, he insisted we needed pop, so he went out to get some; can you have that? Actually…no, I can't have that, either! It led into a discussion of what she and some of her family members were doing for Lent--two of her kids were in the family room, so they talked about stuff; the other two were at youth group--and it turns out they don't normally talk about it, but given the situation, there you go. I ended up just having a mug of water with these ice cubes, and the cubes were HUGE, which is why it made me laugh when she later offered up another ice cube, and I went, I'm fine. When Evie and her daughter arrived, it turns out they're not Catholic (neither is Avery), so we discussed a little bit about Lent as well. Later, when Rita was playing music, she thought she was playing something I'd recognize…and I didn't. It was a church hymn. Yeah…I actually don't go to church. She was cool with that. But it was pretty interesting all told.
Being within 10 days of Valentine's Day, Avery gifted us with these cute little packages of those little candy hearts. I should get a picture of mine, since I can't eat it for a while. I'm guessing she probably made some for her students, too. Evie probably got there around 7:30, and after she and her daughter ate, we got started. And even though we've played this a couple times already, she and I still can't remember everything--me especially, given that last week was a brain drain. You'd think I'd never played before. And there was one round we'd had to start over completely because Evie had clarified, we're trying to get four of a kind, yes? And she got told, yes, four of a kind, except it was actually four in a *row*, and both of us were doing that, so when Avery and Rita put down cards, we went, wait a minute… In Liverpool Rummy, a group of three is always the same kind; a group of four is always a run. Well, I know that now. That was also the round I'd dealt, as I was kidding with Avery about the hands she was dealing and saying she wasn't shuffling them that well (likely because Rita went out VERY quickly the round before); I let her deal all the rest and didn't say anything more. Yeah, I did not do that well and joked I was gunning for the highest score. Guess what! I did it. I did win one round, at least, but it wasn't enough. I'd also thought it was the last hand, the one where you have to set every card in your hand down at once and cannot discard. If I'd needed to, I could have discarded and been fine, but they decided it didn't matter…and then played one more round. I honestly thought there were just six rounds so I'm still confused as to how we played a seventh, but it's fine. We finished before 10 and that's all I cared about, since I had to get up in the morning. (I was in my car by 10:05. My timing worked out. Sweet.)
The funny moment came with the bird. Her cage is in their front room, which is down the hall from the kitchen. When Rita pulled out her phone to play music (mostly Beatles), the bird started chirping loudly. Rita had her daughter let the bird out, and she flew over, landed on the table, walked over to the speaker on the phone, and started singing at it. It was adorable. Aw, I miss having a bird. And, someone said something that reminded me of "Oh, Where Is My Hairbrush?" from Veggie Tales, so Rita played that for us. I really only know the chorus, but it's pretty funny, and it's kid-friendly. Well, except for the whole cucumber in a towel part.