A full summer weekend

Yesterday a co-worker asked me, “Did you have a good weekend?”

I automatically said yes, but then I started thinking about it. And you know what? I really did.

Annalyn stayed with my parents for a couple days, so I was a free woman on Friday night. Yesterday was Smitty’s birthday, so we planned a night on the town.

Of course, our “night on the town” usually includes Chinese take-out, a rented movie, brownies from a box and some good, old-fashioned Facebook stalking.

This time was different. We went to dinner and managed to stuff ourselves, even though we both ordered salads. (That may or may not have been the second course after chips and queso.) As we walked back to the car, we saw that we’d missed our early movie window.

I said, tentatively, “I know it’s hot, but we could go to First Fridays. You know, downtown with all the art exhibits. Although it’s hot . . .”

Strangely, Smitty thought that sounded like a good idea. [I should point out here that Smitty’s parents didn’t have air conditioning – or hardly ever turned it on or something – when she was growing up. So she’s more accustomed to ridiculous 95-degree days, even when they come in June. In other words, she doesn’t sweat like a linebacker. Unlike me.]

So, for once in our middle-aged lives, we drove ourselves all the way downtown on a Friday night. We managed to find a parking space and started making our way toward the crowd.

As we were walking up the street, I said something to the effect of, “Look at us. We’re cool.”

Smitty said I was not allowed to say that again.

We ran into an old friend [who said that her mom reads my blog and tells her every time I mention her!], checked out some great and not-so-great art and music, and eventually made our way back to the car. And its air conditioning.

Then we continued to buck our same-old, same-old Friday night habits and went to a late movie. Because Smitty loves Gerard Butler (or as his friends – and Smitty – call him, Gerry), we saw Bounty Hunter.

It was not good. But we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Finally, we called it a night, tired and pleased with our adventurous selves. Yes, I’m calling an art fair and late movie “adventurous.”

[Happy birthday, Smitty. You might have seen this coming from a mile away, but I’m so glad to have a friend like you, someone I know like the back of my hand.]

Saturday was eventful in its own way. Mark and I went to my parents’ house for a Work Day. My mom had the idea that before summer gets too hot, we should take turns working together on some of the pesky projects that just require extra help.

So, without going to bed after working all night, Mark helped my dad with a bunch of yard work. [Side note: Summer has already gotten too hot.] And I helped my mom clean out and organize her cedar chest and part of the basement.

Athough “helped” is probably generous. More accurate would be “kept her company and took three boxes of stuff home with me.”

And, oh yeah, suggested my daughter take her nap on the antique couch in the basement instead of her bed upstairs. Which resulted in an antique couch with baby pee on it. *sigh*

After we made our way home, Mark slept for half a day and then we all spent a few hours vegging on the couch. Unfortunately, this means that we missed church. But after three episodes of TLC's Moving Up, naptime and a trip to the grocery store, we were all feeling pretty refreshed.

Just in time for a BBQ with our small group. I know it’s a cliché to talk about great food and even better fellowship, but what can I say? That’s what we had!

Scott, our host, is an award-winning BBQ-er – and that’s no small feat in Kansas City! And everybody else chipped in with some great dishes, too. For my part, I made Jessie at Vanderbilt Wife’s “magically delicious” corn dip.

We somehow managed to get all the kids and husbands on the deck, so the four of us girls got to eat in relative peace and quiet, visiting and catching up. Then, as soon as we were close to being finished eating, the kids stripped down to their swimsuits and headed to the pool.

On Sunday night, we went to bed tired, covered in bug bites and wondering when we’ll EVER catch up on laundry. But if you asked me again if I had a good weekend, I could only answer one way: Yes, yes, I did.

Did you have a good weekend?

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Week Recap: Positive Polly vs. Negative Nelly

As I was driving home from work on Friday, I started thinking about all the ways my week had been crummy. But even though it had, in fact, been a terrible week in some way, I had a hard time not also thinking about the good parts of my week.

[Who is this positive-thinking woman, and where did she come from? Weird!]

Don’t worry. My rose-colored glasses aren’t totally clouding my vision. I can still tell you about all the crazy things that happened last week. But I’ve just got to mix in the good stuff, too.

So, here are 10 [completely random and unrelated] things that have happened in the last week. We’ll see who comes out ahead: Positive Polly or Negative Nelly.

1. Last week, I was miserable at work. And, it’s possible I made my co-workers miserable while I was at it. Thanks to a huge, mundane project that took longer than I anticipated, I became even further behind on another huge, mundane project that’s taken longer than I anticipated. By Friday, I was on the verge of tears, both frustrated with the job and with myself for not getting it all done. Quitting time both could not come fast enough – and came way too fast!
2. One of our local radio stations has gone through several changes over the past couple years, after being one of the city’s classic rock stations for years. (Maybe decades, but I’m not going to look it up now.) Last week, the station became Gen-X Radio, playing retro, grunge, hip hop and hair bands. You know, music from the 90s – the stuff us Gen-X-ers like. At least I do. (And yes, I consider myself Gen X. Don’t get me started. I did a ridiculous amount of research and debate on this very topic with a former co-worker. And I won.)
3. Several girls from my church organized a huge, multi-family garage sale last weekend. Because my cousins and I trade hand-me-downs like my husband used to trade baseball cards (I don’t know. I tried to be clever, and that’s all I came up with.), I don’t have boxes of children’s clothes to get rid of. And because we’re probably not finished having children, I can only pass on so many baby things. So when I somehow ended up making $70 (and that’s after buying several fall outfits for Annalyn), I was thrilled!
4. I was not thrilled, however, to pay $150 to the plumber. It’s too bad they don’t have some sort of frequent customer club. We’d be getting discounts left and right. Instead, I got busted for putting a few “potty wipes” down the toilet during our recent potty training adventures. Guess what I won’t be doing anymore!
5. I didn’t edit my Losing It post to tell you the big news, but I’m telling you now: I was down 3.4 lbs on Friday! Woo-hoo!! Considering the two – count ‘em, TWO – packages of Oreos that have called my house their home over the past week, I’m not predicting a repeat performance this week. But, I’m still trying…
6. When I shared ice cream with Annalyn last week, I actually thought, “Good thing she’s not sick!” Um, yeah. She was. And now I am, too. The cough and scratchy throat started on Thursday and by the time I made it to bed on Saturday, I felt like death. Or at least, an upper respiratory infection. I actually stayed home from work yesterday. It was either that – or listen to my co-workers say after every cough, “You should go home!”
7. The reason I got to bed late on Saturday? A girls night, that’s why. I spent the evening reminiscing and laughing with girls who I’ve known forever. I love them so much, and it’s always good to catch up.
8. Remember the plumbing problem I mentioned up there? Well, before our washing machine overflowed, our fridge started leaking. The very same night. Thankfully, Mark is handy, and he’s already fixed it.
9. Mark got a job transfer a few weeks ago, and now he’s working nights. It’s been hard to adjust – for all of us. The weirdest adjustment? Not being able to call him during the day. I say “weird,” because it’s not like I need to ask him important questions at all hours of my work day. But it’s nice to be able to call him…just in case I have some of those important questions, you know?
10. Even though I can’t call Mark during the day – because he’s sleeping, if I didn’t make that clear and I don’t think I did – it’s been so great to have him home in the evenings. Annalyn can play with him, while I cook dinner. Then we can eat dinner together and do the bedtime routine together and sometimes even watch TV together. Like we’re a normal family or something. It’s good.

Well, I thought Positive Polly and Negative Nelly were going to have a tie. But now that I’ve written about my week, I think that Polly has eked out a win with Mark fixing the fridge in #8. So, it turns out I had a pretty good week. What about you?

This post will be linked to OhAmanda's Top Ten Tuesday.


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Like Glee . . . kind of.

Is this week half over already? I still haven't recovered from my weekend!

Last Thursday, Annalyn flew to Nashville with my parents, and I flew to meet them on Friday. We were all there to support my brother, who accompanies a high school show choir that was competing in a national competition at the Grand Ole Opry.

Think Glee meets real life. Kind of.

(If you add miles of walking in work shoes, because you didn't bring tennis shoes; hauling a 2-year-old in the 80th percentile for weight on about half those miles; missing most the choir performances due to a cranky little girl; and sleeping with said girl, who happened to believe the full-size bed was all hers. I'm just saying.)

Reportedly, Annalyn was awesome on the flight down. And I won't make you wait to find out: she was pretty good on the flight back, too. She was definitely a squirmy, tired toddler. But, thanks to several (yes, several) bags of berry Yogos, three laps to climb over and a mommy who can recite her favorite books from heart, we had no 45-minute screaming fits. So I call that a success.

And the weather in Nashville? It was beautiful. The whole Opryland complex was covered in blooming flowers like this:

Unfortunately, Annalyn's cold - and the chaos of travel and the constraints of a quiet, dark auditorium - brought us some of this, too:

On the bright side, though, my brother's choir was AWESOME. And they got Best Combo of the whole competition. That means "best band," which is his part. So, you know, we were a little proud.

I know we're mid-week now . . . but how was YOUR weekend?

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Wha’ happened?

Where does the weekend go?

Last Thursday was what the kids call a no good, awful, terrible, very bad day. Or however that goes. And so Friday found me in a bad mood, too.

Funny how starting your day with a crying hangover can do that to a person.

So despite signing up for Weight Watchers over my lunch break, I was all for some comfort food when Smitty came over for dinner that night.

I have to say we didn’t do as much damage as we may have possibly done in the past. But I’m not saying it was pretty, either.

I’m not sure if it was the Chinese food (mmmm…crab rangoon…mmmm), the chocolate chip cookies or the company – I’m KIDDING. Of course it was the company. And the crab rangoon. – but Friday evening was just what I needed.

And Saturday didn’t hurt, either. While Mark and Annalyn went to my parents’ house to help fix siding and play (guess who got to do what), I spent the day scrapbooking with some friends.

There’s something about those friends – I just love them. Maybe it’s because they read my blog. (Except Kris. Everyone say hello to Kris, who I believe is joining us today.) Or maybe it’s just because they get me. They’re my type of people. I might even be tempted to call them my peeps.

Tempted, I said. Let’s not go crazy.

As usual, we talked about everything under the sun, from husbands to kids to jobs to the scrapbooks we were working on to movies to TV. You know – the important stuff.

Actually, my favorite line of the whole day came from a discussion about the ever-important television and, in particular, my favorite new show, Glee. (By the way, you can see my review of Glee’s first episode at Blissfully Domestic.)

Heather and I were discussing how part of what makes us love the show is our background in high school choirs. And Melanie said: “Wait, what? You mean your school had a singing and dancing group??”

Oh, I laughed. Of course, with those girls, I laughed all day anyway. We had a good time.

Sunday morning brought a bad back for Mark (as you may have guessed, he was at my parents to work, not to play), choir – and spending time with my choir friends – for me, and a fine display of bipolar emotions from Annalyn.

How that girl can go from crying her head off like it’s the end of the world to the best, happiest, cutest mood I’ve ever seen is a mystery.

Because you know she does not get that from me.

(Perhaps I should take this moment to tell you my second favorite line from Saturday. Heather said – and I’m not even sure what brought this on – “Mary, you do have a flair for the dramatic.”)

Who – me?

Anyway. Annalyn also practically licked a bowl of ice cream that she shared with her father and completely peed through the bloomers she wore under her dress. I bought some store brand salsa at Price Chopper that was a huge hit at tonight’s no-study Bible study. Mark helped a friend fix his lawn mower, and now he’s gone to pick up our pizza (for tomorrow I start counting points. For real.).

All in all, a good couple of days. So where did your weekend go?

(And super smart extra credit bonus points to anyone who can tell me what hilarious movie the title of this post is from.)