Mother's Day 08

I've been a bit sour on parenthood lately. I see people with young children at Disneyland and I want to say, "Don't waste your time/money bringing your kids here so young. In 3 years they won't even remember it!"

Or watching "Jon and Kate plus 8", I want to weep for them in about 10 years. Having a teenager in the house is like living with the enemy. They've turned against you (as is their job to become independent), yet you're destined to live with them for a few more years.

I have to talk myself down from times like these, because I don't want to take it out on The Girl, who is still sweet, helpful and pleasant. I'm trying not to let my apathy take over. After all, maybe she will be nicer to us in her teen years than her brother.

Actually, I had a nice Mother's Day. Actually, it kindof started on Saturday, when I called my mom to make sure she'd gotten my present in the mail. That night I tried my hand at tortillas, and they turned out almost as good as Mom's. But the way they made the house smell transported me back in time, when I was a kid and our house often smelled that way. It smelled warm, like home.

I appreciate my Mom.











The Boy was nice enough to buy me a present, altho he declined to make me breakfast with his sister, as he had bought me a present, after all, and that should be enough. And I guess it was.

The Boy had to go to work early that day (9:30 am), so K and The Girl took me out for brunch to one of my favorite places. It wasn't as busy as I had feared, and we got there close enough to lunch to get my favorite combo (Jackie O salad and Portabella mini pizza). Yum!

Plus, Sunday is Farmer's Market day there, and I got to wander around and look at produce and other stuff to my heart's content. I saw an ex-coworker from Disney, and finally bought a copy of one of his watercolors.

Then we went home and I mostly got my way for most of the day. A few times I had to invoke the MOTHER'S DAY RULE, but mostly it was relaxing and a fun day. I recycled more pill boxes into art, but have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet. I found a good book in the library called Doodle Stitching, and I think I'm going to buy a copy to keep. It's got a good description of all the embroidery stitches in the beginning, which is a good reference.

For dinner, I asked K to make his best dish for me - chicken wings. We'd picked up some asparagus at the Farmers Market, and he sauted those in a little butter and olive oil. I've been reading the latest Barbara Kingsolver book, and had just read a chapter on asparagus. So far it seems like a good book, when it's not trying to make me feel guilty (tap water kills fish!)

K also bought two avacados on sale, so we had guacamole for an appetizer.

It was one of the most delicious meals ever. The wings were crispy and hot, the asparagus tender and nutty.

Yum!

Gas Miser

In the last few weeks, the price of gas lept up to over $4/gallon! Since then they've hovered around the high $3's, but the writing is on the wall. It now costs over $50 to fill my gas tank.

So lately I've become very stingy about using my car. I'm now cursing that my Girl has TWO soccer practices a week, which are only about 20 miles away. But hey, that's 40 miles round trip!

I went through a drive-through line the other day, and got really impatient that the service wasn't faster. Partly because I could see my order was ready on the counter when I pulled up, but the guy poured some drinks before getting to me. Don't they know that we're burning away money, waiting there in line?

Last weekend K wanted to take his car to the shop, to get his taillights fixed. He wanted me to drive with him, so I could bring him back. Then I'd have to drive him there again, to pick it up. Again, Burbank is only 15-20 miles away, but I told him that was too much gas. So he agreed to take it early on Monday, and just wait until it's finished.

Last week we took our dog to get groomed. Every year this time he seems to get a really itchy butt, so I was hoping a flea bath and a grooming procedure would help him out.
When I dropped him off, they said it would be 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Wow! But I didn't want to drive the 10 miles home, only to turn around and come back, so we puttered around and looked at some of the shops in the area. After about an hour, we were done, so I went back to check on the dog.

The dog was alone in a cage when we got back, looking utterly dejected. His head was down on his paws, and he looked sure we were never coming back. Then he heard the Girl and my voices, and he perked up and squinted at us. (I don't think he sees very well.) Then he recognized us, and barked at us to get him out of there.

So I went to the register to see if they knew where all the grooming people were. I guess they were on break, because soon the girl showed up (looking flustered) and said she still needed to clip his nails. After this we took him home.

But his butt still seems as itchy as ever, so I wonder if I didn't hurry the girl so much that she forgot some of the services I'd requested.

So already this gas saving kick is already causing a few problems.

Do you think it will be the end of drive-throughs?