So, then, The Weekend...

Which was more or less like the three days I was off, with the exception that we had Chinese takeout on Friday evening in celebration of Miss Reba's birthday. Poor girl--we usually get to go out to dinner and a movie, but with little sick kids, that just didn't pan out. But, the greatest gift (at least from my point of view) is that she sure is one fine looking 43 year old! It never ceases to amaze me when we run into these horrible looking old women she says she graduated from high school with. Just a tip, girls--no drinking, no smoking, no running around works pretty well, and is a darned sight cheaper than botox and detox.

Anyway, Saturday was laundry day, and I managed to break free long enough to go get my hair cut after it had reached near Kim Jong Il levels of poofiness. As always, my instructions were for "my hair, just shorter," but this time I tried to get the girl to cut the back a bit more so as not to be burdened with a proto-mullet a week later. I thought at first she was going to shave me like a Jarhead, but it wound up looking okay. Of course, it's a WHOLE lot colder on my scalp now.

Got back and ran a few errands and found that my old friend Franklin was still alive. I figured with all the subzero weather that the new battery I bought not too long ago would be dead, but after several stabs at the gas pedal, he cranked right up. Got back from those duties, and found that Oldest Daughter still had not finished her homework.

Three days, some of it done, most of it not. Of all the buttons she can push on my great Keyboard of Rage, being deliberately ignorant and lazy are the two that set me off like nothing else I can imagine or describe. I can understand not knowing something; but I cannot understand the complete unwillingness to know it when the opportunity comes along. Especially when it's someone who is smart. She is very smart, but was so completely devoid of motivation to do one particular part of her assignment (a persuasive outline and letter), that even after I threw a fit and vowed not to help her one single bit more, and was then persuaded by the tender pleadings of my wife to help dictate out a short outline of what she needed, EVEN THEN she would not take the simple step of WRITING IT DOWN HERSELF!! Grr. And aargh. Midnight last night, and she was still expending tremendous effort to resist doing what she KNEW to be the right thing. One part of it was finishing off a couple of paragraphs her teacher had started--"Well, I just don't agree with her, and I don't know what to write." ::blink::blink:: "IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU AGREE WITH HER!!" Great jumping monkeys. Maybe she'll grow out of this.

Anyway, got the kids all scrubbed and starched Saturday night, then Sunday I stayed home with Middle Girl while Reba and the other kids went to church. We finished folding clothes and watched the rest of Lawrence of Arabia on DVD, then Sunday night Reba stayed home and I went, which means that I missed everything that went on on the Super Bowl until about 4 minutes into the third quarter. Man alive, the Raiders stank up the joint. That's about the extent of my commentary--I was so disinterested in the outcome that I just couldn't settle in for all the nuance and stats. Other than I think it's very nice that John Madden is still able to work despite having been lobotomized by a chimp with a rusty spoon. And I think Caddy is dead. Well, been dead for a while, but it seems no one can bring themselves to shut off the ventilator. Sorry, but the XLR is no '48 Coupe de Ville, and I think the vapid "Break Through" ad campaigns appeal only to people who don't really like cars. Blech.

That's about it--it sure was a long, five days.
posted by Terry at 1:03:00 PM