Weekend Update

I really ought to write immediately following anything blog-worthy to make up for the dull blogs (Today I worked. The end.). But let me go back a few days.

Friday morning, I waited for a computer guy to stop by to fix an annoying problem I’m having. (I get a message–A network cable is unplugged–even though it is not.) However, he telephoned instead to tell me that he couldn’t make it. Some lame excuse about having to take someone to the hospital instead. (I kid. I totally understand that.)

So that meant I was awake and dressed and in my right mind. I did my boys a big favor, went to the video game store to buy a game. While there, I had the most brilliant idea. I rented “Kung Fu Panda.”

My brilliant plan was this: Convince my 6-year old daughter that instead of going to the PTA-sponsored viewing of “Kung Fu Panda,” we could buy a television (to replace the dead one. . . we’ve been watching t.v. in the living room on a 19-inch portable t.v. for a few months now), snuggle up and watch it at home. With popcorn! And candy! On the couch!

When I picked her up from school, I unveiled my brilliant plan. Without pause, she rejected it. “But I will sit on the couch the whole time with you and watch it!” I said. “But I want to watch it with my friends,” she argued. And so my brilliant plan was kaput.

However, we still drove to Wal-Mart to get a television set. I decided the time was right. Also, I had $250.

Have you had to shop for television sets lately? Oh. My. They are gigantic and expensive and fancy-schmancy. Wal-Mart was practically the only place to sell a (relatively) cheap, old-fashioned set.

Luckily for me, the enormous box holding the very heavy television set was right at cart level, stacked on another television box, sitting in the middle of an aisle. It was a fairly simple matter to slide it from the stack onto my cart. I steered it to the check-stand, refused help and loaded it into the back of my van by myself. ROAR! I am Woman.

The boys helped me bring it inside and I hooked it up. I cannot tell you how much joy my old-fashioned 27-inch television gives me. Modern technology, who needs it?

All the same, when I finished working at 6 p.m., my daughter and I drove to the school for a viewing of “Kung Fu Panda.” She found a spot for her mat on the floor next to her friend. I tucked a chair into a little cubby-hole on the side of the multi-purpose room.

You might have heard me complain about theater-going movie-viewers before. (Oh, time and time again, if only I weren’t so lazy I’d find examples and link them.)

Oh, what fun. Kids prancing around. Mothers yelling. Kids squealing. Popcorn everywhere. Adults chatting out loud. Kids walking back and forth, around and around. “Mom, can I get a drink?” “Mom, can i go to the bathroom?” “Mom, can I have more popcorn?” “Mom, can I get a sucker?” “Mom, I need to go to the bathroom again.” The kid in front of me popped three paper bags. His parents were too busy talking to shush any of their hoodlums.

And I thought to myself (I AM A GRINCH), I’d better win something to make this worth my while. I’D BETTER IF THE UNIVERSE KNOWS WHAT’S GOOD FOR IT!

The third number that was called was mine! We won a $20 gift card to a DVD site, something about the PTA, I can’t remember. BUT WE WON.

We were home at 8:30 p.m., I had to work at 9 p.m., but hey, I earned Good Mom brownie points (which may be negated by my pre-event whining) and then I won a prize.

* * *

Saturday morning our big old van wouldn’t start. (Diagnosis: bad starter.)

I went to a movie (“Rachel Gets Married,” have you seen it?) and thrift stores.

Today, I went to church alone (husband had to work) and then to a meeting afterward.

We planted daffodils and tulips when I got home. I discovered the hyacinth (that I bought as a flowering plant at Easter last spring and plopped into a pot) is starting to grow. Our seasons are so mixed up here in the Pacific Northwest. (What do you think would happen if I brought it inside now? Would it continue to grow and bloom sooner rather than later?)

And now. . . another week begins. Before I know it, the daffodils will bloom!