Recap of the Week

Sunday was pretty much a regular Sunday, except for lunch. We went out to eat with the Clarksons at Poncho's Mexican Buffet. The food was actually pretty good for a buffet, I thought. Far superior to La Hacienda (known not-so-affectionately as La Puke-iola) in Andrews. So the food and the fellowship made for a very enjoyable lunch. But there's a catch. (Isn't there always?) There is a strange little Mexican man who walks around the restaurant with a guitar singing to the poor, innocent patrons. He walks up to your table and hands you a two page list of songs that he can perform and lets you pick which one you'd like to hear. He then performs (it is QUITE a performance) the requested tune and graciously stands around waiting for a "tip" before honing in on the victims at the next table. It wouldn't be so bad really, but the song selection is sooooo bizarre. You'd think in a setting like this it would be nothing but "La Cucaracha" or maybe "La Bamba." Both of those are on page two. But the entire first page is nothing but WHITE music. From the 50's primarily. Sister Shanda requested Johnny B. Goode. FEWJIAEWFHEEHEHIEHEVBVNMCI!!!! I say that only because I have NO IDEA what to say about it! This dude grabs his guitar, bends his knees to 90 degree angles, sways like a drunken sailor in high gear, and dives into a song head first. I've never seen anything quite like it. Actually, I still haven't seen anything like it because I couldn't bear to watch. I was sooooo embarrassed! Even right now--just thinking about it--I'm getting that same queasy feeling in my gut. I did derive great pleasure, however, from watching Joe. He is his mother's son and was at least as embarrassed as I was, so it was quite entertaining to see his reactions to the entire ordeal. As if one song wasn't enough, James then requested, "You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog." Again, SADRFKJIEVNWIHDVVIDVIDAVVDKSV!!!!! The guy actually does an Elvis IMPERSONATION--with a hyper-hip thing going that looks like he might hurt himself! It was twice as embarrassing as the first song. I kept my face buried in my napkin throughout most of it so the man wouldn't see me laughing and crying so hard I was about to die. James kept telling me to LOOK at him--that I was "missing it." I simply said, "I CAN'T!!!" through my tears and occasionally stole a glance over at Joe. The guy didn't seem to speak much English and it really didn't sound like he spoke very good Spanish either. It really confused me, then I started looking at him (after he was done singing and I was able to) and realized that I think he's Korean!!! At least partially. They've got a short little Korean dude walking around singing songs in English and Spanish--neither of which he speaks! HA! And you can tell it in his songs, too, because half of what he sings is just a bunch of mushed up growls to cover up the words he doesn't know. And no matter WHAT he's singing, somewhere in the middle of the song he inserts one of those long "r" rolling sounds that you'd hear the Mariachi band do and follow up with an "Aye-yi-yi-yi!" It's crazy!!! And to prove that his English is not the greatest... Today the kids were talking about it and Katie said, "I really liked the second song he did--that one, There Ain't Nothing Like a Groundhog!" Ha! Ha! Ha! I laughed almost as hard as I did that day at the restaurant!

Monday was much less eventful, thank goodness. The kids had done school on Saturday to earn the day off on Monday so we could make a day of it in town. We went to Hobby Lobby first and made good on their 50% sale, coming home with a fall wreath and garland that I really, really like. Also some knick-knacks for scrapbook stuff. I never use 'em, but they were on clearance for just pennies. I like to collect the supplies. ;-)

We went to the thrift store and--possibly for the first time ever--left without buying anything at all. Maybe we've already bought all of the good stuff. Or maybe we've just been so successful there in recent months that we just didn't NEED anything this time. Whatever! We went to the mall and looked at Christopher & Banks. Lots of really cute stuff right now, but nothing I couldn't live without. (At least at those prices--I always wait for the clearance rack!)

We had a gift card for the Olive Garden, so we enjoyed a fantastically spectacular lunch for only about $10. :-) I LOVE THAT!!!

Came home that night and cracked open the boxes of fall decorations and went to work. :-) It's so fun to go seasonal! Along with some things in the main part of the house, I also decorated the mantle in the den (though we're waiting for my mantle clock to come back from the shop to complete it) and I LOVE my new wreath and garland in there. So pretty.

Yesterday was library day. We hadn't been there since before the big trip and our books were way past due and our kids were going nuts for new books. So we just took our time there and enjoyed picking out a whole slew of NEW books and being ever so grateful that there are no late fees around here. :-)

We came home to find James dishing up Frito pie for lunch. Yum! After that I got busy changing all of the sheets and putting the new blankets from James' Mom on all of the beds. They're super nice and cushy and everybody loves them. I worked on laundry throughout the afternoon while Sam practiced his alphabet, Katie worked forever writing and re-writing those memory verses she cheated on last week (just two more days of that now) and Joe spent ALL DAY LONG working on his school. No kidding. Bedtime is 8:30. It was 8:32 when he finished up his final page. He's down to just one school book and I had told him he's starting into his new books on October 1st and he had until then to complete the one remaining book. It meant he had to do 13 pages yesterday and 13 today. It sounds like a lot until you remember that he usually does 2 or 3 pages of 5 or 6 different subjects in a day! It's not that the work is too hard for him, it's just that he is soooooo easily distracted and doesn't have the gumption to JUST DO IT. I didn't have time to fight it out with him yesterday and try to "motivate" him, so I just kept him sitting there all day until he finished it with only very minimal breaks--maybe an hour or an hour and a half TOTAL between 1 o'clock and 8:30. WHAT A CRAZY KID!!! And he had all these brand new library books he was DYING to get to, but couldn't until school was done. But he'd taken so long that when he finally did finish it was time to get his pj's on, brush his teeth, and go to bed! It's his own fault, but still... don't tell my Dad. ;-)

Once I got the kids to bed last night I stayed up and I really and truly DID get a-a-a-a-a-all of the ironing done. Wa-Hoo!!! It's about time and SUCH a relief. Actually, I didn't get it ALL done last night because there were two of Katie's dresses that were hanging elsewhere that I had missed. And a couple of pillow cases that I found in the dryer this morning. But I did those first thing this morning so either way, I'M DONE! :-)

The kids have worked on school today and I cleaned up the house some and then spent a good long while cleaning (BLEAGH--I hate it, it's SO NASTY!!!) and taping off the fireplace in the living room and all walls, ceilings, etc. surrounding it so James could paint it tonight. It takes SOOOOO long to tape everything off for a project like that! I don't know that I would call it an impressive tape job... but thorough! ;-)

The reason it has to be taped off so thoroughly is because this particular kind of spray paint creates a dust that travels all throughout the house and settles on everything, even in adjoining rooms. Nasty stuff--and potentially destructive to rugs, carpet, upholstery... So I created a little cocoon for James to crawl into and keep all of the dust and powder and fumes to himself. He was about to DIE after a few minutes and emerged coughing and spewing black dust, so he masked himself before continuing.

In the end (oh, wait, we haven't gotten to the end yet--he ran out of paint and will have to finish up tomorrow!), this is what his "white" shirt looked like. Just from all the powder!!! Crazy.

Joe actually did manage to finish up that school book today so all three kids thought it reason enough to celebrate. They kept inviting me to the party. Once I arrived I was a little surprised. There sat Joe on his throne, barking orders to his secretary Katie and to Sam, his German interpreter.

I never could figure out why the party was being translated into German, but Sam did his best to translate everything and he actually sounded pretty convincing most of the time! Ha! Still, I'd had about all I could take of the whole King Joe thing, so I told them to put all of that silly stuff away and I'd just let them watch a show to celebrate instead. Joe picked Tom & Jerry and they enjoyed their popcorn and cartoons better than the royal party they had tried to have.

After they went to bed I got my desk all cleaned off and things sorted out. That feels good. And now I've rambled on my blog long enough to make up for that itty-bitty post from last night. ;-)

In conclusion, here is a puzzle that Katie and Sam made the other day. Sam drew Larry and Kate drew Pa Grape and Mr. Lunt. I thought it was pretty good! I think it is presently in an envelope on it's way to one of the Smith kids.