monkeymom's Diaryland Diary
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Cloud 666
It's been a long weekend, but a pretty good one.
Richard's parents arrived on Friday afternoon with Jeanette, and Rich and his dad went out to pick up pizza for dinner. They had just gotten back and put the pizza on the table when I remembered that we were supposed to work the concessions stand at the high school football game (because we're orchestra parents, lucky us) and we had to be there in 15 minutes!
So Jeanette was a good sport and she went with me to the game and worked in the HOT concession stand where the windows face West and the sun was beating in on us. It was miserable! Then Jeanette was asked to go out into the stands with 3 of the kids and sell candy and drinks - she is 21 now, so she was the adult supervisor, and she did that for the rest of the time. I can see where it could be kind of fun if it wasn't so stinking hot.
When we got home Rachel was there, and Rich's mom and dad had gone to the motel, so we ate some cold pizza and sat in the living room and talked. It was so nice to have both of the girls home!
On Saturday we went to Mt. Carroll, a tiny town about 45 minutes away because Kim had told Rich's parents that she wanted to ride a horse sometime, so Grandpa found a riding stable on the internet. Because you know, whatever the kids want, within reason, they get.
There were 4 white horses to ride at the stable, and it smelled like, umm, a stable, and I think we all got stable stuff on our shoes. There was an outrageously friendly beagle there, too, and Rich sat right down in the dirt and played with him while Kim had a brief riding lesson, and then the girls and Rich went for a ride.
Jeanette was last in the line on the trail ride because she was on a horse who was new and the other horses hadn't accepted him as one of the herd yet, or maybe they just hated his attitude, I don't know. As she got on the horse, the owner was telling her this, and said that she would ride at the end of the line, with him, Mr. Stableman, behind her, and Jeanette said, "Oh, so I get the naughty horse?" and he said no, no, it was a great horse, it just didn't get along with the other horses. Uh huh.
So then Rich's parents and I went to town to buy a disposable camera and scout out a restaurant for lunch. When we got back to the farm, we parked on the grass and rolled down the windows and just listened to the animals and the wind. It was nice, and the weather was great, not that awful humidity we've had, but cooler and just a beautiful day.
We heard voices coming down the hill and looked around and saw Jeanette, on foot, with Mr. Stableman riding along beside her, explaining that it's all in the rider, and that she needs to get a book called It's Not the Horse, to build her confidence. He had previously mentioned to a slightly nervous Rachel that she should read that book.
Harold and Bertha went over to meet them and Jeanette walked past them to where I was standing by the car and said in a low voice, "I had the fuckin' naughty horse!" which cracked me up, and then she explained that the horse kept trying to eat corn and finally it ran her up against a tree and knocked her off. She had hurt her knee and was already getting sore, poor thing.
The rest of the riders showed up a few minutes later and Mrs. Stableman was leading Jeanette's horse (who was named Cloud 6, but Jeanette called it Cloud 666). Kim had a great time and wanted to hang around longer but the rest of us wanted to go and eat and Jeanette just wanted to get out of there, so we went into town to find some lunch.
Lunch was in a little local place, full of local smokers. The place smelled like an ashtray, but the food was okay. As soon as we got home I had to change clothes because my shirt smelled like old cigarettes. Ugh.
Rachel and PBJ had been planning to go to a dance in Chicago that evening, so Jeanette went, too. Rachel drove and PBJ had a map, so no one got lost like when Rachel and I go somewhere. I took a nap after they left and then waited up until they got home at 3 to hear all about it. PBJ lives about 1/2 hour away and he and Jeanette were asleep in the car, so Rachel brought him back with them to sleep at our house. The other two went right to their beds, but Rachel stayed up to tell me all about the dance, so we didn't get to bed until almost 4.
When you stay up until 4 you feel tired and cranky in church the next day. We took naps in the afternoon.
Jeanette taught us to play Whist, since Kim refused to play Euchre with us, and we played cards until it was time for me to go to work.
Billy No-mates was at work installing something until 4 or so, and I had him for company. It was okay, not like last time he was here all night getting on my last nerve!
I slept until about 1 today and then we went to the Mexican restaurant because I wanted Rachel to explain to the waiter that she is living out of town at college now. He called her last week, and he doesn't speak enough English and I certainly don't speak any Spanish for me to explain that, and I didn't want it to be wierd and awkward when I go there to eat again because it's my favorite restaurant.
So we all went to lunch and he wasn't there! Darn! Well, Rich's parents were disappointed not to hear Rachel speak Spanish, so she struck up a conversation with the other waiter, first explaining that it was for the benefit of her grandparents. That made us very popular, and the other waiter was hanging around, too, and he called the waiter who is Rachel's amigo on the phone to tell him we were there, so he came in on his day off and Rachel explained about living out of town now. Then our waiters brought us a fancy desert that I don't know the name of, but it's the second time we've gotten it at that place because they love Rachel. Only I think this time we got it because one of the waiters liked Jeanette. Note to self: take the girls with me more often to get special attention from the waitstaff.
So Rachel left this afternoon, taking clean clothes back to school with her because I did many loads of laundry this weekend, and folded them, too, instead of letting them rest in baskets in the living room like I usually do. Jeanette is leaving with Rich's parents in the morning and I am so going to miss my girls! Good thing I still have Kim!
I had to hide the 23 day sweater this weekend as it is a surprise for Rachel, so now it's the 20 day sweater, as I lost 3 days of knitting time. I'm done with both sleeves and have about 4 inches of the body knitted, and this is the boring part, so I'm going to have to force myself to keep going. I'm hitting the wall! Must...keep...knitting...
11:25 p.m. - 2003-09-01
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