Weekend

On Friday Emma texted me:  Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?

It was as shocking as if one of my boys had texted wondering if I wanted to go to a craft store with them.

The girl hates to shop.

I said yes.  Of course I did.

Also Friday night, Adam and I went on a recliner quest.  I decided to upgrade my arrangement in my office.  Turns out I'm not just a Goldilocks where my bed is concerned, also my chair.  

We got separated in Costco, and I gave him very precise and helpful directions to find me.

Then he texted our children this:

How did he not know where the sharpies usually are?

I love being with Adam.  We came home and watched the Great British Baking Show which is about the best thing that could happen to me on a Friday night.

Saturday I met up with Emma at Walmart in Fort Union.  She needed a vacuum and a file box for choir music.

A guy stopped us to ask where the garbage cans were, including some expletives because he was frustrated about not being able to find them.  I pointed him in the direction of my best guess and I told Emma to get ready because the older she gets, the more people will ask her for help at a store.  I get stopped for questions about which cereal to buy, to identify vegetables and which pineapple to pick.

(I give them my grandma's advice on pineapple picking.)

We found a vacuum and I showed her the file crate that every teacher I know has in spades.

We went to lunch and ordered the exact same thing.  I told her about the berry agua fresca I had added to my Diet Coke with brilliant results at Chipotle the night before.  She told me she had also eaten at Chipotle and we had ordered the exact same thing (except she had put the watermelon limeade in her Diet Coke).  She is very much her dad's girl, but sometimes she's mine.

We went to the Fashion Place mall and she bought a cute dress and cardigan.  

Again, I can't tell you how shocking this was for me:  Emma shopping and not under duress.

We wandered a bit more and then I headed home.

Adam and Mark had gone to Costco to pick up the recliner that was the winner.  They assembled it and set it up and I'm perched in it right now.  

I am a fan.

Sunday morning I changed clocks.  I can't really sleep in anymore so I get no delight in the time falling back like I used to when I was a teenager.

After church-family history-choir practice (I'm no good at it, I go in solidarity to Emma), I got things sorted for Sunday dinner.  I made a gluten free cake and then Mark's pump had gone haywire, his blood sugar was way high and he didn't end up coming.  We enjoyed our time with Emma and our bonus kids and Liberty and Nikki took some food back to Mark which was very kind of them.

This morning I woke up an hour early.  Experience tells me I'll adjust.  

Grateful Friday

 Oh Halloween.  You exhaust me!

My mother was 100% accurate that I did not indeed sit back and relax during the party.  The parents who came to help were wonderful--I've never had such a great crew--but I still felt like I was juggling flaming torches.

By the end of the day, my floor was covered in popcorn (room parents always think the popcorn in a clear glove would be a fun activity--it always makes such a mess!), the students were amped up with excitement or desolate because they'd lost part of their costume or overheated because of their layers.

I let everyone go 5 minutes early.  We all needed it.

What I feel grateful about is my school.  Halloween endears these people to me (they are already endeared to me--it endears them further).

The teachers had a theme of cartoons.

This was in the office and I want it to stay there forever.

Every team was pictured on a different TV along with cereal and milk.

(Sadly the kids have no idea about Saturday morning cartoons.)

My team dressed as characters from It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown:

Here's most of the staff--some weren't there yet, or busy elsewhere.

I love these people and working at this school!

Also, I'm grateful Adam and I have landed on a great life hack.  We went to Costco last night.  It was empty.  There were employees waiting idle at the check stands.  I love being where the people aren't, especially after Halloween at school.