Time Traveling

It has been a funny day, on several occasions.

We got up and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, bright and early, about 10:30. Well, OK, brunch then. Cracker Barrel was chockfull of people dying to browse their gift shop and eat sawmill gravy. [Is it just me or does anyone else find the word sawmill unappetizing?!]

So we headed across the street to Denny’s, where we were seated immediately. Within 15 minutes we were stuffing ourselves with pancakes, omlettes, etc. I even let the kids drink hot tea – that’s a holiday by definition, in our house.

When we were browsing the huge menu, Michael said he wanted the Grand Slam breakfast. Mother hastily said ”No, no, honey, that’s a lot of food, why that’s enough for a great big 400 lb. Man!”

Alesia piped up, “Or for ME!”

Alesia, at 115 lbs., can eat the rest of us under the table. She must be channeling serf ancestors. I mean, she can put away some groceries. We had Honey Baked ham tonight and she got ½ the package and put it on her plate. Mother and I both chided her for eating so much. I don’t know if it’s an orphanage behavior, or a teenager behavior. She only recently started doing it. Maybe Michael’s presence provoked it, or maybe it has to do with the H Pylori. I don’t know.

After breakfast, I let the kids watch TV for a while. They were so grouchy when we told them to cut off the TV’s I said “OK, that’s it, no more TV the rest of the day.” Both kids were downcast. I reminded them that their foul moods were part of the reason I hate TV watching.

My friend Brian took the kids to buy my Mother’s Day gift last week, and they chose well – with help, I am sure. Michael gave me a beautiful pair of earrings that look like antiques. Alesi chose a perfume for me by Estee Lauder called Beyond Paradise. The problem was, out of all the perfumes in the world, I absolutely HATE that one. My last boyfriend bought me a lot of it, and I always wore it for him. So the scent just catapults me back in time 4 years, to that time with him, and of course all those bittersweet memories. The kids had no idea of that, of course. I whispered to Mother and told her and she whispered back and told me to get over it already.

She’s right. I need to get over it. It’s ancient history. I have zero interest in ever dating anyone else, though. Not because I’m carrying a torch, oh no – just because. I have zero interest in dating, and I once had that as the primary purpose of my life. I think this is a more sane way to live. I just don’t need perfume time traveling nightmares…

The kids and I went to see Iron Man this afternoon. Excellent movie. Very entertaining. If I have time I’m going to write up a review. When we were coming out, Alesia remarked, “That movie was really tight.”

I was sort of flummoxed. I thought I was up on all my TeenSpeak. Apparently not. She snuck a look at me and smiled a little when she saw the expression on my face. “Well I thought it was bitchin’” I said. “And no, you can’t say that.”

Alesia tossed her hair. “Whatever,” she shot back. That means, you are so hopelessly lame, mom…

The wind was fierce when we got out of the movie. I mean, it was like gale force winds. If the sky hadn’t been clear blue I would have been frightened of tornadoes. I half expected to see a farmhouse fly by, and maybe a witch on a broomstick, shrieking with laughter.

When we got home, Mother told me that Bruce had managed to call from Baghdad. It must’ve been late at night when he called, around 3 p.m. our time. He told Mother he had had to wait several hours to get a call through, as all the guys were calling their mothers. Mom got very emotional on the phone and said she started to cry, so she hung up, hoping Bruce hadn’t heard it in her voice. I know she hates him being so far away.

The kids were pink-cheeked all day from the pool, despite the careful application of sunscreen yesterday. I forbade a visit today. I want them to love the pool, but I think two days in a row is a bit much, at first. They need to brown up a bit.

Back to work tomorrow. Two more weeks until vacation.

NOTE: I know everyone is probably tired of the ever-changing blog banner, but I have resigned myself to not being able to come up with something unique. I will stick with this one for the foreseeable future.