At home last night, Jack came downstairs and went to sleep inside the cat scratching post tunnel thingy! So funny.
We were up late last night, so we slept late this morning. It still wasn't enough, and I was bleary-eyed for quite a while. Let me tell you, blear looks really hot on fat people.
I made my way downstairs where Rob was feeding the kids, and set to work sewing the panels of my stripey blanket together. I got about halfway through the first seam when I remembered Rob needed to finish his LensCrafter's shop for his new eyeglasses, ie, pick them up so I could do the pick-up section of the report. And there was no food in the house and he'd be right nearby, so I wanted him to go to Panera, too. Yum, yum.
Shortly after he left, Stephanie called me to say she and Tim were on their way over for our Day O' Fun. Rut-ro, Raggy! I was still in a nightgown, Rob was out, and the kids were in various states of undress. But we quickly got our bathing suits on, just in time for Stim (their name together, see) to come a-knockin'.
I kept on seaming my blanket while we waited for Rob, and then I gobbled down my brunch while he got ready for the pool. Mmm, mmm, Panera. Good stuff, man. We shared some cookies with Stim and the kids, and then scrambled to get our pool necessities together. You can't just go to a pool these days. Of course, there must be towels - five. Then there must be "some scream," no matter what time of day or how short or long your visit. And most importantly, there have to be pool toys for each child. We ended up bringing all the blow-up toy prizes from our night at Motor World last weekend.
The pool water was frrrreeeeeeeezing. Rob barely made it into the pool at all. No meat on his bones. The rest of us managed to acclimate just fine. We didn't have any water wings (must put those on the shopping list), so Chloë clung steadfastly to the wall as she played with Stim and her school friends. Jack and Sophie were in and out, in and out, cold and hot, up and down. Little monkeys, they are. It was a good time. The adult swims were very much welcome, as the neighborhood kids were there in abundance and got quite rambunctious. Can't tell you how many times I was pushed and shoved with a baby in my arms. Don't like that. Not a bit.
After a while, we left and came back to our house, where everyone changed and showered and dressed. Oh. Ask me what's the worst that could happen? I'll tell you: Being allergic to the pool, my oasis in the summer months. But not just allergic. Full-body-welt highly allergic. The hives were huge and angry, and my face swelled up, and it was all very uncomfortable and unattractive. Once in the house, I chugged some four or five Benadryls and waited for the ugliness to depart. The ugliness caused by chlorine, anyhow. It took a while, but I'm back to "normal" now. I use that term loosely.
Then Steph and I took Jack to the grocery store for some dinner needs: Dog food for Lily's sup, and sangria, green beans, linguine, strawberries and Italian bread for ours. Jack picked out a new car (I'd promised him a few days ago for something), and I picked up some Cottonelle wipes four our tushies. I love those things. No more TP for me!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Rob was peeling and cooking up some shrimp scampi to go atop our linguini. Linguine or linguini? I'm too lazy to go look at the box right now. When we arrived, he set to work boiling water for the pasta while I sliced up the strawberries for our dessert. Those things were almost as big as my hand, look:
Ginormalous!
The kids (and Rob) kept buggering me for some berries, but I threatened them with my knife and kept the thieves at bay. (Not really, put down the phone.)
Then I remembered I didn't have any whipping cream for the strawberry shortcake, so Stim took Sophie back to the store for some heavy cream and, oh, yeah, can you pick up some more Bisquick too?
Dinner was excellent, and we all ate our fill. Even the kids did pretty well with no complaining, other than Jack repeatedly tell us he didn't want his shrimp even though no one was making him. I should have bought more than one loaf of the bread, though; it was awesome. I had two glasses of wine and got quite inebriated, and Stephanie soon joined me so we could be silly together. And we were. I said a lot of dumb stuff and giggled at myself.
We went back to the living room to rest our bellies and let the kids play while I tried to show Steph briefly how to crochet. She did a stitch or two and looks like she's going to be an easy student, so we'll have to sit down together soon and do it fo' real. I had finished seaming up the second seam earlier and was working on the edging of my stripey blanket. We were also running back and forth, Steph and I, to the kitchen so I could show her how I make the biscuits (big tongue stuck out to Stephanie-Canada!). It was a lot of back and forth. I got a little dizzy. Remember, I was drunk. (Hey, let's call a spade a spade. I wanted to say 'a worm a worm' just there. I don't know why.)
Um, so, what else...
The shortcake (biscuits :P) were finished, finally, so everyone regrouped in the kitchen to down some strawberries. It wasn't our usual shortcake: I'd added more sugar to the biscuits than usual, and I didn't have milk so I used some of the heavy cream in them. And Rob whipped the cream and some sugar together instead of using the canned stuff. It was so-o-o good. We all scarfed it down pretty well. I never get tired of strawberries. Maybe I should think of some new things to do with them? I don't know, if it ain't broke...
Rob made Tim give Jack his growth hormone shot after that, so he'll be able to do it while we're in Europe. It went as well as expected. Jacky cried, and it's sad, so I showed Steph how much he's grown since taking the shots for the past almost-two years, versus no growth over the previous two. They'll be fine. I'm sure of it.
Drunken self-portrait of Stephanie
Rob and Tim, overjoyed about sticking little boys butt's with sharp needles
Stim left shortly after that, and the kids went to bed, so I finished up my single crochet edging. I have two more rounds of single crochet to do, and all those ends to sew in, but for the most part, it'd finished! Yippee! I've only been at it for a few months, off and on of course. It's cotton and really heavy. I'm loving the colors together. Steph really liked it, too, and she called it funky. I think. Now she wants one. A day after I told Rob I was never going to make another one of those again (it was my third). Haha! But of course I will, if she wants.
I fell asleep under my new allergy-free blanket right after that, from the effects of the pool and too much good food and fun times with our friends. Very comfy. I love it!
Fin.
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