My birthday and stuff....
2003-10-15 at 1:42 p.m.
Whew...
What a busy couple of days. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! The day was reasonably adequate, considering ..
A) I turned 37, an age I have no business being and
B) It's the third anniversary of Tony's death. The bastard had 364 other days on which he could have died. He picks my birthday.
On a brighter note, Clay's CD went platinum in 17 hours!!! Way to go, Claymates! I had previously forgotten this, but I had preordered two copies of it many weeks ago. But in case that didn't fulfill my promise, I went out and picked up an extra copy. Just doing my part, you know. This CD is fantastic!! You think I'm saying that because it's Clay. Wellll, you're wrong. The music is awesome and perfectly suited to Clay's phenominal voice. My favorite cut, I think, is "Shine". It really is an extraordinary album. And yes, even if Clay was doing nothing more than reading his electric bill, I'd still find it incredible.
Yesterday was the trip to see the grandmother-from-hell. All in all, things didn't go too badly. Of all the days to have to be somewhere... the kids were sound asleep at 7:30am when I awoke and slept until I woke their lazy butts up at 8:30am. I could have slept in! We left the house a little later than I had planned, but I was able to make it up on the road. When I was preparing to leave, I realized that I didn't have my house keys. I had taken K's car the night before to do some shopping, so I figured I must have left them there. Great. K was in a meeting all morning and was unreachable. I had no spare key, so my only other choice was to leave the house unlocked while we were away. E was far more concerened about this than I was. I have very little in the way of valuables here.
We made the two hour drive in an hour and forty minutes. The kids were fine. They were content with their movie and toys to keep them occupied.
My mom was out in the yard as I pulled up. She had never seen my car so she and my aunts had to ooh and aah over it, naturally. She was thrilled to see her grandsons again. The kids were happy to see her, too and gave her a warm reception. For days, J had told me he didn't want to see grandma, so I was glad that he didn't tell her to "go piss up a rope" or something.
My grandmother was actually pleasant. She had never met J or G and was quite taken with them both. E is only about four inches shorter than she is at 4'10".
My cousin, Jon was there with his daughter Chloe, who's a few weeks older than G. She's speaking so clearly, it's hard to believe they're basically the same age.
My aunts went to fetch some McDonald's for everyone for lunch, while I chased my monsters through my grandmother's trailer. G got into grandma's bed and covered himself up as if to actually be interested in taking a nap (what a comedian) and scored even more points by posing for pictures with his "face", as we call it. It's a pucker combined with a shit-eatin' grin, if you can imagine that.
J, who had been outside with his cousin, fell in the mud and was drenched from head to toe. I had to put his clothes in the dryer. He had no problem running around with nothing but underwear in front of ten people he'd never met in his life.
My mom gave me some DVDs and a really pretty, soft nightshirt for my birthday. Granny thrust a bag in front of me and said, "Happy birthday. I got it at Dollar General." It too was a nightshirt and was actually pretty cute. Good thing I'm not a snob about dollar store merchandise. She gave the kids Halloween cards with $5 bills in them.
After we ate and visited for a bit, I wanted to head back home. It was kinda nice having "I left my house unlocked" upon which to fall, dontcha know.
I got home in an hour and seventeen minutes. Damn, I sound like a man, whose measure of masculinity is how much faster over the norm can he arrive at his destination. Normally, I'm not one to disobey posted speed laws (those of you who knew me before I had kids can stop laughing). Now that I'm old (shut up) and have three kids, I really am a careful driver, but shit... have you ever driven in central Missouri? I did between 85 and 90 most of the way. It's barren and desolate there's no reason in the world for going only 70. In fact, 70 is agonizingly slow when there's no one on the road for miles and nothing as far as the eye can see except fields.
K had to work at the grocery store last night. I hope this strike ends soon. The money is nice, but I hate having K gone every night of the week. It's taking its toll on me. In fact, I think I'll take a vacation. How about this weekend? Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll take a vacation! There. It's settled. California sounds good.
I'll write tomorrow about my latest trip to the podiatrist. Be on pins and needles, nnkay?
2.5 days until my vacation!!!
I'm wearing: capri jeans, blue and pink tie dyed shirt with jewels on it
I'm listening to: "Invisible" by Clay Aiken
I'm eating/drinking: diet coke and a breadstick from Fazoli's
Current weather conditions in St. Charles, MO: sunny, breezy and 65 degrees ~ PERFECT!