Alesia had a babysitting job this morning
from 8-10 a.m., for some neighbors, so I got her up at 7. No sleeping late
around here.
I got Michael up [always a chore on
weekends] and we went to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed in my car, then to
the Emissions place. In certain counties here, one has to have the emissions on
the car checked every year, and send in the verification with the payment for
the car tag [ad velorum] tax. It’s a pain, but not as bad as in Tennessee,
where I had to go stand in line forever, every year.
Michael had his gameboy. When they were
checking the emissions on the car, the guy doing the testing walked by Michael
and said “Hey, man, how’s it going?” and Michael didn’t say a word. I hissed at
him “Michael Thompson you have to speak to someone when they address you!” He
hissed back “I didn’t feel like talking!”
When Michael got home I lectured him and
took away his gameboy for the rest of the day. There’s no excuse for bad
manners. He got a lecture about how his grandfather always spoke to everyone,
even the janitor or a homeless person on the street. Dad was always super
polite and friendly, and I want my kids to be that way.
We came home and loaded up Granny and her wheelchair in the Highlander, and headed for the mall. There is a photo place there and I wanted new photos of the kids together. It was a lot less expensive than Picture People, and I didn’t have to listen to the hard sales pitch. The results are not bad.
We also got Mother some books, wandered
around the dollar store, and ate lunch at the Crescent Moon Café. When we got
home, Mother said she was in a lot of pain, and we didn’t push her to do
anything else. She rested the rest of the day.
The kids went swimming in the mid afternoon.
It was sprinkling rain. When they came back we got a weird phenomena – lots of
thunder, a few sprinkles, but no real rain. Very frustrating. I will have to
water everything tomorrow if it doesn’t rain tonight.
We had dinner with my friend Brian and his
family - his sister and her family were visiting from Florida. It was so relaxed and pleasant. The kids had a good time, too. Brian
and his partner have a lovely deck on the back of the house, and it was really
nice to sit out there and chat, after a delicious meal. Besides fabulous
grilled burgers and hot dogs, Brian made homemade potato salad, and his baked
beans with pineapple and fried onions - which is wonderful - and some lemon cheesecake
squares.
After we came home, we watched “300” a
really strange film about the ancient Greek battle of Thermoplae. This was
based on a graphic novel. All the violence was stylized – everything was slow
motion, including the spattering blood. I found it really too gory, but the
kids enjoyed it.
Alesia has been sweet all day long – a
breakthrough. This, after I’ve made an appointment with a therapist for next
week. Oh well – one’s hair always looks best just before a haircut, I suppose.
