Friday

Reba was supposed to swing by Target on her way to her mom and dad’s house to pick up presents and cards and such. Sorta cutting it close as far as timeliness goes, I suppose, but we’ve been busy, believe it or not. I decided to stop in on my way, too, just to see if she might still be there, and sure enough, her car was right there on the end of the aisle. I walked in and almost immediately spotted her walking toward the cards. Unfortunately, she is very hard to sneak up on, so I didn’t get to sidle up behind her and give her a little pinch.

Probably just as well.

She had gathered up some cards and some polo shirts for her dad. Funniest thing--he always HAS to have shirts with pockets for the bundle of pens he always carries, and then Sunday I saw this comic strip. Apparently, the need for writing implements becomes much more important as the years go on.

Off then to see if we could find some brake fluid--her car has had a flickering brake light for several days now, indicating it was time to add some juice to the reservoir. Once again, Target proves itself to be an extreme disappointment. They have an auto section, full of all sorts of chintzy auto related stuff, and even some of the various motivational fluids cars require, but NO BRAKE FLUID. It’s just little bottles, so it's not like it would take up too much of their precious shelf space, and the stuff is pretty darned important as cars go (or stop, as the case may be), but there was none to be found. I suppose they won’t carry it until Phillipe Stark or Michael Graves comes up with a cleverly overdesigned decanter or something. ::sigh::

Next thing was to wander over to the home furnishings aisle to see if we could find a small bookcase to hold that big stack at the top of the stairs. Hard to find exactly what we like, but there was this one for 70 bucks that looked about right. The online ad calls it “tall and stately.” I’m not so sure--I think anything described as “tall” ought of necessity to be taller than me. And stately is not something I usually ascribe to something made out of particle board. Oh well. We left it there for the time being, because we had to get going.

Got to Grandmom’s and Pop’s, settled in for a bit to watch cartoons with the kids, and helped Rebecca fix the border of the jigsaw puzzle she had decided to put together--several pieces were out of sequence, creating a rather more difficult assembly process than was strictly required.

Supper of baked chicken and salad and broccoli, then CAKE! Yea! Only I could just have a little piece. Aw. Cleaned up a bit, then plopped in the floor with Reba and Middle Girl to work on the jigsaw puzzle some more. Round about nine, I had to call a halt to the festivities, seeing as how there was still a great deal left to do at the house to finish cleaning it up. Borrowed up the card tables and chairs we needed and headed home. Unloaded tables and chairs, really wishing the kids, for once, had not been so helpful. Sent them on off to bed, and then set in to finish cleaning the kitchen table off and sweeping the floor.

Eww. Little children are sure messy.

Swept and wondered how I was ever going to get the floor cleaned. Discussed possible seating arrangements for Sunday, prearranged some of the stuff on the counter for the get-together to insure proper food service flow--plates and napkins to the left of the stove, future meat location on the stove, buns to the right of the stove, future condiment area, future chips-and-dip area to the left of the sink, future drink area to the right of the sink. Still had to make a run to the store sometime--best bet was Saturday after the trip to Northport. Still had to cut grass--best bet was Saturday after the trip to Northport. Still had to mop the filthy floor--best bet was Saturday after the trip to Northport. Still had to find time to do laundry--best bet was Saturday after the trip to Northport.

I suppose you can all guess what the next post will be about--the Saturday trip to Northport!

posted by Terry at 10:57:00 AM