Thursday (3/12th leading up to St. Pat's weekend) -
9:00 pm - Curly decides she's gonna join the party bus for Grand Rapids. I was excited she decided to join us, because her high school friends suck.
Curly was a big piece of the weekend childcare puzzle. Time to pivot.
10:00 pm - I went to bed early. My gut kept me up. Reg came home from a friend's, saw me up late, and agreed to drive Rae to school in the morning. I went to sleep at 2 am.
Guess how much I miss Mr. Helpful?
Friday - Nana's 84th birthday. Coach flew to Delaware early morning to teach a class.
7:25 am - Reg drove Rae, even though I was up early. I did strength workout, pulled out the soda bread ingredients.
8:44 am - walked with my new friend at the health club. Rae could hang out at her house Saturday for a few hours.
10:00 am - I baked Irish soda bread, and hopped in the shower. The bread wasn't done when I wanted to go to 11:30 mass with Reg. I texted him "I'll be late."
While I was in the shower, he'd come home from his workout and his 5th visit to the grocery store that week. Nothing says it's Soda Bread Season like a panic 'Need butter and buttermilk' text.
Why did he switch cars after the grocery drop off - and MORE IMPORTANTLY why did he drive off in the minivan with the Tex fob?
11:35 am - with the bread out of the oven, I managed to get GW around the stranded minivan on the driveway.
Guess how no fob impacted my 'already late' status?
1:00 pm - Delivered soda bread for Nana's bday with Reg and Curly. Then I napped for 15 minutes.
Late afternoon - I made two 7 layer taco dips. One for Grand Rapids. One for Reg to serve at his St. Pat's gathering in our basement. I loaded my crockpot with dinner for Sat night and then delivered plates of soda bread to friends.
7:15 pm - Picked Mini up from O'Hare. Her spring break was an immersion week, not a mission trip, in New Mexico. (I'd mislabeled it) They spent time with indigenous people on reservations learning about school systems, the challenges they face, etc.
She would've been compelled to stay with the group and take a bus back to South Bend from O'Hare, exception made for neighbor Mike's funeral.
8:30 pm - Mini and I stopped by my folks' house on our way home.
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| My green and a few dressy offerings. |
9:30 - 10:45 pm - I watched part of a movie with Mini and Curly.
Have you seen Chef? Really good, but I still haven't finished it - which might speak to Mini's 'finish it tonight or else' rule. She was an angry elf when Curly and I opted to go to bed mid-movie.
10:50 pm - plugged in the crockpot. It cooked all night, so I could snag some dinner before our road trip.
Saturday: Kay and I had to leave at 7:10 am for science fair. I set my alarm for 7:05.
6:20 am - Kay's alarm went off forEVAH. She was already downstairs when I went in the girls' room to turn it off.
Guess who was not happy to be woken up 45 minutes early?
7:10 am - switched crock pot to warm, and drove Kay.
7:25 am - Tank texted: "Taking train home, arriving at 11:18." We'd be at the funeral, so no one could pick him up from train.
In a moment of clarity: We're outnumbered cars to people almost 2:1, so Reg and I could leave a car at the station for Tank.
7:50 am - I got home. Reg and his friends were in the basement, because Curly, Mini, and Rae were still sleeping. He'd made them waffles and someone brought a coffee cake. Breakfast before the FREEZING downtown parade.
I couldn't wrap my brain around a parade, but I was racing off to MI for a party, so who am I to throw stones?
Me (hollering down the stairs to the small crowd): We need to leave in 2 min, so we can drop a car off for Tank.
Reg's group took a train to the parade last year. The trains were already full by the time they got to our station, some didn't stop. They waited forever. This year they wanted me to drive them to a station farther west, so they'd be assured of getting a spot on a train.
8:07 am - I corralled Reg's crew into the minivan. Reg drove Tex.
Me (to his friends): Reg knows, but I'm telling you. Reg needs to be home by 3:30 for his sisters. And he can't be overly tipsy.
The crowd: Yep, sure thing.
*****
Conclusion next time - if you're interested. I don't know - maybe I should classify this post as 'seemed like a good idea at the time'. Now that I've written it - it's so long. *sigh* Sorry. Thanks for hanging in there. Can you predict what goes slightly askew? Do your people get angry if you don't finish a movie in one sitting?
Oh, no! I can bet on what happened. Very busy day!
ReplyDeleteWe can break movies into chunks- it's how I get my kids to watch classics. 45 minutes at a time - they can stand it.
mbmom11 - The only snafu was predicable but not horrible, thank goodness. It was a whirlwind of a weekend. Coach and I are so prone to fall asleep during movies, we used to choose whichever movie was shorter. Ha.
DeleteMy prediction is that the crockpot was never turned off and the food burned?
ReplyDeleteBijoux - Oh, good guess. That did not happen. The crockpot was not only turned off, but the leftovers were stored in the fridge. ;)
DeleteUm... oof! This is a LOT going on! I hope Bijoux's prediction is not correct (although... I could see that happening.)
ReplyDeleteOops... published that comment before I was done. I'll be waiting to hear how this all turned out- you've got a lot of moving parts here! And you're going on not a lot of sleep. Yes, I would also be annoyed at being woken up 45 minutes early!!!
ReplyDeleteJenny - Bijoux's prediction did not happen. The crockpot meal was eaten and the leftovers were put in the fridge. Yes, lots of moving parts. I had to stay tuned into my list of what is happening when. The alarm thing really ticked me off. She's technically not allowed out of her room until I'm awake, which wouldn't have worked on the science fair day - but there was no need for her to set her alarm for almost an hour before had to leave. Everything was ready to go. She showers at night. Get dressed, eat breakfast, get in the car. I did feel rested - I think I slept like a rock, but I would've embraced even more sleep.
DeleteThis is probably a stupid question and maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet this morning for the world to make sense, but how do you transfer the car keys to the person picking up the car when you leave it at the train station? Does Tank keep a spare key for all your vehicles, so that he can take whichever one is left for him? Is there some kind of key holding kiosk at the station?
ReplyDeleteJenny in WV - That is not a stupid question and you are not alone. We left the key fob in the car. I know, I know. This is not ideal, but it was a sunny morning in a town without a high crime rate - not in the inner city but out in the burbs. Tank was coming out less than 2 hours later, so the chances of someone hopping in and testing to see if it would start, etc. weren't likely. We do not have a spare set of keys or fob for ANY of our 5 cars. We inherited Dad's car with only one set of keys. The rest of the keys and fobs were lost compliments of Reg. Life with only 5% of a verbal memory has it's challenges.
DeleteIt's what we do too- living in small town with a small station ( and very old cars!), it works. Nothing attractive about our car or its contents ( nothing but a kleenex box and McDonald's napkins) to attract attention.
Deletembmom11 - I'm laughing at the kleenex box and mcd's napkins. The inside of our old cars leave nothing to be desired. Ha ha ha.
DeleteHow do you leave the car at the station? Where do you put the key? I have so many questions about logistics. Oh, ha! I just realized Jenny in WV asked the same question. WE OBVIOUSLY NEED TO KNOW.
ReplyDeleteEngie - Yep, it makes sense that the where did you put the key question popped up here. We don't drop a car off very often, but the station near our home isn't a dangerous city. I admit it was a bit of a roll of the dice but since the window was so small under 2 hours - I wasn't really worried about it. He left the fob in the glove box or something. I'd probably not have left a car with a key in it downtown. Also, we aren't driving fancy cars that are attracting much attention. I might be done driving GW, because it died on me the other day - or threatened to die on me the other day, but that car? We could leave the key in the ignition and would probably get no takers. ;)
DeleteChef is a great movie. One of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteThat's a LOT of moving parts! I hope everything worked out.
Kara - When Mini started the movie, I was still organizing the fridge so that the things I wanted to pack the next day were all on the same shelf, etc. So I wasn't sitting in the family room - I was putzing around the kitchen, half listening. I probably also was running upstairs to change laundry. I think I'll watch it from the start with Coach the next time he wants to watch something. Think of the time we'll save if we have something already picked out.
DeleteIt was a chaotic day for sure. Everything did work out - minus a few snafus.
That is a lot of logistical challenges in a short span of time. Yikes! I am glad Reg was so helpful when he was home on spring break. I can see why you missed him!
ReplyDeleteLisa - You aren't wrong. I felt so very smart and non-brain-foggy when I realized that leaving a car at the train station would fix one of the day's challenges. I was so glad when Reg made his train. Me deciding to leave early to drop a car off was all well and good, but corralling a group of breakfast eating college kids who were socializing in the basement was another story. I didn't want to shout GET IN THE CAR NOW as I would've if it were just my kids.
DeleteReg is a lifesaver. I'm hoping he'll be here this summer, but he might need to put in hours at college in order to keep his basketball manager job.
Wow! That’s a lot of balls to juggle!!
ReplyDeletePat - It was quite the juggling act and only a few balls were dropped, everything worked out . . . eventually.
DeleteWhew! What a whirlwind! Of course you sorted everything out and landed on your feet - probably doing an Irish jig!
ReplyDeleteMichelle - I love the tie in to the jig. Well played. Coach's former office manager used to tell us that she wanted a live feed from inside our car when we took long road trips to national parks. I think this particular weekend would've been worth watching. There was a shit ton going on. I didn't even mention how I busted Kay for contraband in the MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING. OMG, how I managed not to go off the deep end, well- I just don't even know. The timing was perfect for the lesson that needed to be learned though so there wasn't much I had to think about.
DeleteI'm frazzled just reading this. TOO MANY MOVING PARTS for this girl. The first things to go for me, when I'm overly busy, are working out and cooking for others. YOU ARE CRAY CRAY!
ReplyDeleteHappy belated birthday to your Mama!
I hope beyond all hope that Reg made it home for the girls!
Suz - I am not gonna lie - it was a little cray cray. Sometimes this girl gets her mind set, and well . . . I go with it. Fortunately, everything fell into place and it all worked out. I'm way too cheap to eat on the road. It took me minutes to load my crockpot and then cooking it overnight - easy peasie.
DeleteAw, thank you for the birthday wishes.