Well, it has been an exhausting week around here.
Wednesday
night Audrey & John arrived about 9 pm. We all met for dinner
at the local Carlos O'Kelly's. Before heading there, I got a text from
Diane asking if her boyfriend could join us - he usually works evenings
with Friday & Saturday nights off, but he had taken a personal
day from work. I feel like it is presuming too much to say that he did
it so that he could meet her sister & bil, but it sure seems
like that was the plan. And I think it went fairly well. Audrey was a
bit frustrated that Diane hasn't even mentioned that she is dating Jeff
to Audrey & then he was at a family gathering where she was
tired the entire time. I am glad they met, but can see Audrey's point
since this isn't the first time this has happened. Anyway, evidently
Eddie & Erica were on the outs, so she didn't join us, but he
finally did arrive just before 10 pm - he called, so we ordered for him
& the entire meal was gone within 10 minutes of him arriving -
not sure he tasted it at all!
Audrey had asked Erica to
cut & color her hair while she was here, but Erica only had an
appointment available at 3:30 on Thursday - so they decided that after
our dinner, we would meet at the salon and she would cut Audrey hair
& put in the highlights, then Audrey rinsed them out here at
home. John decided to go with us so that he could see Erica and watch
what happened. Audrey asked me to go - so I did. We finally settled
down to sleep a bit about 2-3 am.
Up at 5:30 am, but
fell back to sleep & didn't wake up until 7:30 am - so plans
didn't work out for Audrey to get Don to go for coffee with her before
he went to work so that she could spend some time with him. But John
got up & headed out for his dentist appointment scheduled for 9
am - eveidently they put Audrey first, but he took the 9 am appointment
time & then she was there to take the 10 am time slot. After
John's, he headed to Wichita to shadow the head of the rotation
department at the hospital there that he is looking at as one of his
options for his rotation in 2010 (he really liked what he saw!). Audrey
came back home after her appointment and we chatted a bit, then decided
to go to lunch at Lone Star where we both had a salad (helped make up
some for the mexican food the night before and all the chips &
salsa we consumed while waiting for everyone to arrive - I had met
Diane, the grandkids & Jeff there at 8 pm - so was there for
over 2 hours total myself). Then we decided to head to Wichita where we
were t meet the photographer from their wedding 4 years ago and pick up
the pictures Audrey had finally managed to order on one of her visits
home. Turns out the law office that she works in is in the same
shopping center as the restaurant we were meeting John & their
friend Omar at for dinner. After several drives back & forth
while we tried to find the law office, we finally found it, John was
finished & followed us, so they both were able to chat with her
(she just loves them & talks all the time about how easy they
were to work with and how beautiful their wedding was).
Omar
went to West Point with John and then lived across the hallway from
them before they bought their house while still in Highland Falls, NY.
So there was a lot of catching up for them all to do. I was enjoying
just being with them & so was pretty quiet - which Audrey has
commented on several times, but I told her I don't get a lot of adult
conversation in my life where I can just sit & relax!
Headed
back home about 9 pm, with a quick stop at Wal-mart in Wichita (after a
search online, I found that Crest Pro Health toothpaste has a cinnamon
flavored one that is also for sensitive teeth - so I was searching for
it & found it!). A & J hit the road headed back
to Kirksville, MO just 24 hours after arriving in Hutchinson. I was so
tired already, but couldn't really sleep until I knew they were home,
so dozed off & on while waiting for the text that arrived about
2:30 am - then slept until 6 am before getting up to get ready for the
day at work. Had not worked Thursday since R was kind enough to give
me the day off without me even really asking - I had asked to leave
early to drive A to Wichita.
D had been talking about having a birthday party for A since A's
9th birthday on February 5th. But since A wanted to have a trip to
the bigger zoo in Wichita for her party, it needed to be a day with a
good weather forecast. So it had been postponed a few times. Thursday
night, I texted her while driving back from Wichita, to see if she had
firmed up the plans yet. Got the message Friday morning after arriving
at work, that yes, she had & that yes, she wanted me to bake
& decorate the cake, if I still could. Since the party supply
store that I get all my colorings & such from would be closed by
the time I got off work and wouldn't re-open until 10 am Saturday with
an 11 am party time - it wasn't in the options to get anything that I
didn't already have at home - so I thought about it off & on all
day at work. Trying to figure out something I could do for her cake
that wouldn't require anything other than a trip to the grocery store
for eggs & such to bake the cake & that she still would
like. Then about 1-2 pm it hit me - she likes to machine knit with me!
She has a couple of knitting machines that are kept here at my house.
One of which is a pink & purple Singer. So I realized that if I
did a little cutting of cake pieces, I could duplicate it pretty good
and make a knitting machine cake for her. I think it turned out well
and even though while I was at the grocery store, she called and was
asking me to do horses & dogs on the cake, I think she liked it
(we explained that I couldn't get the necessary materials to do the
horses & dogs before her party). I was so tired on Friday that I
baked the various pieces I would be using, but set the alarm early
& got up to do the actual decorating Saturday morning.
At
11 am Saturday, we all met at the South Hutchinson McDonald's (so D,
who had to be at work at 4 pm, could be there for at least part of the
party). D had decided that instead of arranging a birthday party at
the zoo itself, she would take the kids out to eat first, have cake
& then go to the zoo, while buying a 1 year family membership
which would allow them all to go more times this year for just the cost
of gas & maybe eats - which was cheaper than a party there would
have been. So about 1 pm, we headed out to Wichita - T &
C driving with me, A & her friend J driving
with D & J (J's girls couldn't make it since they had
plans with their mother - her birthday maybe). I had to be back here by
5:30 pm, so knew I would have to leave earlier than everyone else to be
back on time. We made it most of the way through the zoo before I had
to leave - left the barnyard area until last since it usually take a lot
of time for some reason & then I think they were taking the
kids out for dinner before heading back.
I made it back
to the house about 5:15 pm, so could get the dogs out to do their
business before heading down to help with pre-bout physicals before the
boxing show started. Good thing too - the nurse who normally does them
evidently couldn't be there & one of the Golden Gloves officials
wife, who is retired, did them, but she wasn't feeling well - so she
was counting on me being there - I organize the passbooks - getting them
matched together according to the order the fights are to go in
& pairing them with their opponent, etc. I also write in the
readings she gives me & since I used to work as not only a CNA,
but a CMA, I am familiar with the format that needs to be used and some
who might volunteer just aren't - so it takes more time to bring them up
to speed. Plus, I have been helping out this way for about 2-3 years
now.
I did stay to see all the fights this time - even
though I was tired! Got home about 10:30 last night and sat down to
drink a glass of wine (which A & J had brought me - a
red wine that is kind of sweet and it is formulated to allow it to be
chilled - something I like) - didn't even finish the entire glass before
I fell asleep on the couch. Woke up at 8 am & Don still wasn't
home - he had worked a 16 hour shift.
So now it is
Sunday & I am trying to decide if I just want to rest today or
if I want to go for a long walk before going to my cardio kickboxing
class this afternoon. I am leaning really hard towards the former!
Original comments:
2 comments:
to decorate the house with, so after pizza, cake & ice cream
one of the kids had started bouncing a balloon around that then became
almost a game of keep away with multiple balloons & nearly
everyone participating. So everyone got some exercise from that 1
little pack of balloons.
(Trying to see if this will work - I did see a glimpse of the posts that were missing!)