Monday, December 06, 2004

As promised here’s a short recap of the weekend that was.

1. The cutest kids on the planet are CootieGirl and CootieBoy, of course. My niece is always very busy and hilarious to watch. She’s learning to talk and it was fun to hear her express herself, even if most of the time I didn’t understand what she was saying. She’s got this prancing walk that’s adorable - she’s very precocious. My nephew is starting to show his personality and he has a flirty smile that’s killer. I’m looking forward to seeing how he grows in the coming months.

2. Party prep vs babysitting: I’ll take cooking anyday of the week. G (Jaynee’s friend) and I were tasked with watching the kids while J&D finished the last minute food prep for the party. We had fun with the kids, but that is exhausting work! Both G and I were pooped well before the party started and we both konked out pretty quickly after the clean-up.

3. The party is always a good time. J&D have an eclectic group of friends and it’s interesting to see how everyone gels together. Of course, they’ve been giving this party for several years, so most of the people know each other by now. I know I enjoyed chatting with both of their next door neighbors as well as a couple from Manhattan. And of couse, A&A, whom I adore.

The whole thing about the party is the White Elephant gift exchange. With each year, the gifts get more and more creative. This year, I left with Trash Talking Mr. Patel. The favorite of the gifts was Humphrey the Humping Dog - crass, yes and funny with it.

4/5/6. The drive home was fine until G and I decided to stop for gas and food. G was following me along “the back way” - I don’t take the traditional I-95, NJ Turnpike route north. Instead, I take I-83 to I-78 across PA, it’s a few extra miles, but it’s the same time and it’s about $16-20 cheaper in tolls (there are no tolls).

On our way out of town, we stopped at A&A’s new house to take the tour. They’ve worked hard to paint and decorate - lots of work that paid off, it is beautiful. After the house tour, G and I hit the highway for home.

We stopped in Clinton, NJ for gas and food, turns out that there was no fast food on that exit, so we got back on the highway and stopped in Union for lunch. When we pulled into the McDonald’s to see about 15 cars in line for the drive-thru. We got there at about 12:20p - post-church lunch rush. So we parked and walked in. Thirty minutes later we walked out with our “to go” food. This was not a well-run McD’s and when I eventually ate my food it wasn’t that good. I suspect that in their rush to get food out to people, it wasn’t being cooked properly and hence my sick day at home today.

We pulled out of the McD’s, going in the only direction we could on the one way street. I didn’t worry too much, figuring we could make a u-turn. Not so. For about half a mile, we were faced with no left turn signs at every interection. I finally got to a square-like intersection, so we turned left and prepared to turn left again - I was thinking that would put us back in the direction we needed to go to get back to the highway. Not so. So we turned around and when we backtracked to the original road, I saw that the sign said we’d be heading west on Rt 22 if we had stayed on it. We turned there, I was certain we’d see a sign for how to get back on I-78 and if not, then at least we were heading in the right direction. Not so (the signage to I-78). I made a call to Dad for map/GPS assistance, but he wasn’t able to help at that time, so we continued on and eventually went through a toll plaza. I asked how to get to I-78 and the guy said we were just a few exits away. Good news, but sheesh. Poor G probably wondered what was going on at this point, but she hung with me throughout the whole thing.

We got back onto I-78 and the rest of the drive was uneventful, although I was disappointed that the Redskins’ game wasn’t on until 4pm. I was counting on listening to the game to stay awake. Instead I ended up eating my way home, so that may have added to my problems today, too. Eaten were a healthy combination of Ritz Sticks, Four Cheese Doritos (which are fantastic!), and Frosted Animal Crackers.

I got home in time for halftime of the Redskins game. After bring all my junk in and catching up with ECD and Nee, I parked in the big chair and snoozed through the rest of their win. Yay! Where did that team come from and will they stick around for the rest of the season, I wonder?

And that was the weekend.

Monday, October 13, 2003

I hope ya’ll have had a good Columbus Day weekend. Mine was busy, as expected.

On Saturday, we had a great time at Mom and Dad’s. It was so fun to see Mom’s best friend. The Cooties arrived at about 3pm and from that point on it was all about CootieGirl. Mom’s birthday dinner was pretty good and it was a good time just hanging out. The only bummer was the Red Sox loss.

Church was good yesterday. I talked with the gals in my small group that were there and all of them had family things going on yesterday. So I didn’t expect anyone to show up. I had planned a minimal thing to follow up from last week’s lesson because our youth pastor wants my group to meet with another group next week. So I didn’t want to do the next lesson yesterday and be out of sync with the other groups that only meet every other week. I really didn’t expect to have anyone show up, but at 5:05pm there was a knock on my door - and the one gal who showed up was one who wasn’t there last week. So the thing I had planned as follow up wasn’t that great since she wasn’t there last week for the lesson we did. It was awkward and I need to apologize to her for not being better prepared. I feel awful about it - especially since she’s a sharp kid and I know from conversations with her older brother and parents that she’s looking for some real depth in her small group. What really stinks is that the two times she’s come there wasn’t a full Bible study lesson planned. Ah, well…

After she left, I went over to my parents to babysit CootieGirl overnight with them while J & D were in Richmond for the wedding. I walked in with Annie and it was almost instant chaos - Cooper (the Cooties’ dog) is fascinated by Annie who can’t stand Cooper and barely tolerates his presence. The fact that he’s 2 and she’s 14 explains much of it - she’s just old. I was more worried about how jealous she would be when I’d be holding CootieGirl, which she was, but she was very gentle with the baby. And CootieGirl loves, loves, loves Annie (and Cooper). She has no fear of either animal even when they were snarling and barking like mad at each other. She would just giggle at them and reach to pet them.

She’s just the most adorable baby - so happy and easy to take care of. Even when she cries it’s sweet, she makes these mewling sounds and looks so pitiful, but she’s easy to appease. When she’s not sleeping she’s in constant motion, always moving. She loves to eat and is funny to watch, she’s completely focused on her bottle - once she sees it that’s all that exists for her. I had some good, quality cuddle time with her this morning while my mom did whatever it was she was doing around the house this morning. J & D arrived a little after 11am and shortly after we all headed to our respective homes.

It was a great family weekend.