Bourbon & Cider

 Hi Friend!

 Started the week off with a little power outage, and I got to break out my religious, yet un-scented, candles to add to my already glowing bath and body works display.  Then on Wednesday I got a surprise visit from Zach and Fran for dinner (in which they brought me dinner – I don’t want anyone thinking they were silly enough to think I had dinner magically available.) On Thursday, we had a delightful party at work.  I dressed as Ted Lasso, and then when it was time to paint pumpkins, I made sure it was in theme.  I thought there was simply no way I would win the contest because it was my first time painting a pumpkin, but I was delighted to be wrong!  We also played a game where you had to guess what spooky character you were, and let me tell you it took me forever.  A real person, related to a book, an American, who had never killed anyone or was in government.  You might have already figured it out faster than I did, b/c it was Edgar Allen Poe. 

 

I then skedaddled home to pick up Percy and get to the airport. 

 

Me: I’m doing a last-minute, quick trip like the old days to see if I can still do it without exhausting myself.

Lucas: The old days?  You did a last-minute weekend trip to Vegas in March!

Me: Well, that doesn’t count. (and I was technically younger then.)

 

I started a new series, the plated prisoner, on my way to NY and was done with the 4 books, 4 days later, on Monday night.  I have a problem.  And also, I was very stressed out to find out that it ends on a total cliff-hanger and there are two more books that haven’t come out yet.  A point I yelled at Marissa for, early on Tuesday morning, and then paused long enough to say hi and meet her mother, saying, “I don’t always yell at her in the morning, I promise.” 

 

 Maureen picked me up bright and early, and then I tried to get a quick cat nap before getting some work done.  She came over shortly after because she had some trouble with her oven.  Namely, she put some meatballs in the oven, and then the oven, of it’s own accord locked.  And then decided starting to “Clean” and things started smoking, but then it went to “Cool” so she decided to go next door.  But apparently, that’s when things started getting really smokey and Pat had to try to pull the oven out from the wall to disconnect to power.

 

Mo: I went to the other house because the oven said he was “cool!”

Pat: He wasn’t cool.

Mo: Oh look you can see inside!

(You know, because it was on fire, and this was interesting b/c the light hadn’t working in quite some time.)

 

Then, Mo went back down to pick up James, Kevin’s Godfather, from the airport, and then we all had dinner at my parents’ house.  When Mo when to pick up the pizza, Pat yelled to her to close the back (trunk) door, but she didn’t hear him and suddenly a packed car started spilling out.  And now that I’m writing it all out, Mo had quite a long, crazy day.  Which might explain what happened next.  After hanging out for a couple hours outside, my dad not saying anything, he decides to bring up the earlier incident with the car door… Mo’s response was a flat out F*ck You, followed by James saying, “A lot has changed up on the hill.  I don’t remember the language being so colorful in Jefferson Valley when I lived here.”

 

Other amusing stories of the night:

 

Mo was saying that there is a quarter inch gap between the two walls in her classroom, and every day this kid would randomly put his face up to the gap and scream, and Mo would tell him to stop screaming at the wall, but he’d keep doing it.  Until one day, she handed the kids bestie a straw and some water and told him precisely what she could NOT do to a student.  So the next time the kid went to scream, he got a face full of water, and while he was spurting, Mo was saying, “I told you to stop screaming at the wall.”

 

And then Stacey said that while all the kids in her class were taking a test, she happened to see a big ass bug, so she yelled at a student, mid-exam, “Oh my god, run, Lynette!! Get out of here!”

 

The following day we were up early, getting ready to watch Kevin play at SUNY Maritime.  I walked into the house and jokingly said to James, “You’re wearing blue? What if that’s the Coast Guard colors!?” Not knowing a single thing about the coast guard.  He immediately became defensive and put on another long sleeved maroon shirt over the blue shirt.  2 minutes later, Pat was like, “How many layers are you wearing? You’re going to overheat!”  So, James is definitely glad he came to visit.  Then we took pictures with all of us using mugs adorned with our adorable Godson, Kevin (#79).

 

 

 Mo went ALL out on the tailgating spread, and Kevin had 6 of his Aunts and Uncles there, and the game was a real thrill ride, where there were canons and push-ups and Maritime won with 3 seconds on the clock when the Coast Guard missed a field goal. Also, I discovered the delight that is Bourbon and Apple Cider.  YUM. 

 

As we were cleaning up the table, Mo says, “We can’t throw out the tomatoes because I grew them, so they were like 95 dollars, or 17 dollars for each cherry tomato.”

 

James: I just talked to Kevin. Good Job, Maureen.  He didn’t just come out like that, that was a lot of work you put in there.  ❤

 

Just as we were about to get into the car, Pat was using a bungie cord to tie up the back trailer, and it snapped back and hit him in the eye.  So, I drove home.  There was some discussion on if Pat was going to go to the party later, and shock from the backseat when he said he wasn’t going, you know because of the bungie cord to the eyeball, and the full on swelling shut of said eye.  We got home, and then ten minutes later, I was driving us to a Halloween Party and Mel and Bennett’s. That’s when Mo started making fun of me that I was so concerned about Pat’s eye, and then I had to explain once again that I shouldn’t be made fun of for CARING.  But honestly, I think this might be a losing battle.   Mo said she got us matching costumes in diff colors.  I imagined M&M's but this was way cooler. We're spooky neon skeletons! 

 

The following morning, I made Mo & Frita playtest a game with me, and then before I knew it, I was getting ready for the airport. 

 

Frita: Are you going to get your treat before you leave? Unless you don’t think it’ll get through customs.  You could get hijacked.  I guess they don’t do that anymore.  They used to hijack planes all the time.  God, your daughter doesn’t have any sense of history. 

Me (uncontrollably giggling): I’ll take a treat on my way out, but I’m taking the dollar, too. 

 

You’ll all be pleased to know that I’m still capable of last minute, quick trips to NY, but I did wake up at 5:30 this morning full of energy, and THAT certainly didn’t used to happen in the good old days. 

 

Love you, Mean it.