Lazy Labor Day weekend (no Block Party, no parade)
This has been such a nice weekend. If I did anything, it's because I wanted to, not because I *had* to. And a lot of what I wanted to do was just spend time outside with my paper relaxing. Sitting in the sun, listening to whatever was happening outside, that puts me in a happy place.
I did some productive stuff, too. I'd planned on cleaning my bathroom this weekend, which stunned mom--you just did it! She said. Yes, a month ago; it could use it again. (Like, why would you protest someone cleaning, no matter how recently it had been done? Just let me clean, woman.) I also made lunch. This was partly related to the lone Meals on Wheels potato we had remaining, which was actually kind of small and sort of flat. I made a sort of skillet meal out of it, an onion, a green pepper, half a package of mushrooms (left over from Saturday's lunch), and five eggs, not to mention the spice packet from a package of little potatoes we neglected to eat. I think dad planted them to see if we'd grow any out in the yard. It turned out pretty well and my parents are always happy to eat what I cook. I also played catch-up with a few tasks that needed to get done, so that was great.
I also had a couple mom moments.
(Earlier in the morning; I'm just coming out of the bathroom)
Mom: Did you take a shower?
Me, clearly not clean: No, I flushed the toilet.
Mom: I thought I heard water!
(It turned out dad was likely watering around that time.)
(Later in the morning; I'm coming out of the bathroom again)
Mom: Did you take a shower?
Me, clearly still not clean: No, I flushed the toilet again.
Me: How exactly do you take your showers?
(Mind you, I hadn't showered since Friday--had she really looked at me, she'd have seen my hair was greasy)
When I *did* finally shower, I announced it to her; she went, I can tell, your hair is wet.
...And yet she thinks I've showered when my hair is definitely not wet. Whatever.
There were a few activities that in past Labor Days I would have participated in, but opted not to this year. One was the Block Party. We'd gone almost every year it was held since it started 15 years ago now, save for when my cousin got married in 2019, but this year they charged admission for adults 21+. This really bothered me. I totally understand if they're charging $5 for an alcohol wristband, but no; if you were over 21, you had to pay, regardless if you were drinking or not. Given that this activity had been free for over a decade, and I've gone to it some years and not been impressed by the food selections and not eaten anything, I wasn't looking at going. And, with the weather supposed to be in the low 90s, my parents weren't exactly looking forward to it either. Therefore, we stayed home. Dad did an experiment on my behalf, cooking up some buckwheat noodles, chicken, edamame, and peanut sauce. It turned out pretty well.
The other activity I skipped was today's Labor Day parade. I haven't done it since 2018, because like the Block Party, I didn't make it in 2019 thanks to the wedding, and then the pandemic precluded there being a parade in 2020 and 2021, and while there was a parade last year, the band did not participate for whatever reason (I suspect our now-former director wasn't up for it and just didn't want to say anything). A year later, said director was the grand marshall, and our new assistant took a march the old director had written and made a marching arrangement out of it, and that was the one piece we were to play today. I heard grumbling from other band members about that, since for past parades we've basically played the same 3-4 songs and we'd memorized them years ago. This band is not young. They can't read music and play while marching at the same time--their eyes are not that good. Lyres don't hold the music in the right place vision-wise. To have to sightread while marching could have spelled disaster. Well, I wasn't there; I wouldn't know. I hope all went well, but I feel no guilt in skipping it. I got to sleep in and do things that were useful to me. No regrets.
I did some productive stuff, too. I'd planned on cleaning my bathroom this weekend, which stunned mom--you just did it! She said. Yes, a month ago; it could use it again. (Like, why would you protest someone cleaning, no matter how recently it had been done? Just let me clean, woman.) I also made lunch. This was partly related to the lone Meals on Wheels potato we had remaining, which was actually kind of small and sort of flat. I made a sort of skillet meal out of it, an onion, a green pepper, half a package of mushrooms (left over from Saturday's lunch), and five eggs, not to mention the spice packet from a package of little potatoes we neglected to eat. I think dad planted them to see if we'd grow any out in the yard. It turned out pretty well and my parents are always happy to eat what I cook. I also played catch-up with a few tasks that needed to get done, so that was great.
I also had a couple mom moments.
(Earlier in the morning; I'm just coming out of the bathroom)
Mom: Did you take a shower?
Me, clearly not clean: No, I flushed the toilet.
Mom: I thought I heard water!
(It turned out dad was likely watering around that time.)
(Later in the morning; I'm coming out of the bathroom again)
Mom: Did you take a shower?
Me, clearly still not clean: No, I flushed the toilet again.
Me: How exactly do you take your showers?
(Mind you, I hadn't showered since Friday--had she really looked at me, she'd have seen my hair was greasy)
When I *did* finally shower, I announced it to her; she went, I can tell, your hair is wet.
...And yet she thinks I've showered when my hair is definitely not wet. Whatever.
There were a few activities that in past Labor Days I would have participated in, but opted not to this year. One was the Block Party. We'd gone almost every year it was held since it started 15 years ago now, save for when my cousin got married in 2019, but this year they charged admission for adults 21+. This really bothered me. I totally understand if they're charging $5 for an alcohol wristband, but no; if you were over 21, you had to pay, regardless if you were drinking or not. Given that this activity had been free for over a decade, and I've gone to it some years and not been impressed by the food selections and not eaten anything, I wasn't looking at going. And, with the weather supposed to be in the low 90s, my parents weren't exactly looking forward to it either. Therefore, we stayed home. Dad did an experiment on my behalf, cooking up some buckwheat noodles, chicken, edamame, and peanut sauce. It turned out pretty well.
The other activity I skipped was today's Labor Day parade. I haven't done it since 2018, because like the Block Party, I didn't make it in 2019 thanks to the wedding, and then the pandemic precluded there being a parade in 2020 and 2021, and while there was a parade last year, the band did not participate for whatever reason (I suspect our now-former director wasn't up for it and just didn't want to say anything). A year later, said director was the grand marshall, and our new assistant took a march the old director had written and made a marching arrangement out of it, and that was the one piece we were to play today. I heard grumbling from other band members about that, since for past parades we've basically played the same 3-4 songs and we'd memorized them years ago. This band is not young. They can't read music and play while marching at the same time--their eyes are not that good. Lyres don't hold the music in the right place vision-wise. To have to sightread while marching could have spelled disaster. Well, I wasn't there; I wouldn't know. I hope all went well, but I feel no guilt in skipping it. I got to sleep in and do things that were useful to me. No regrets.