The past few days I’ve been running around almost non-stop. Thus, the gap with no new posts. Friday afternoon we went out to lunch after church and then after the baby’s nap, Camille and I drove Calvin out to play paintball with friends from school. It’s about 30 minutes away from our house and no one had been there before and we didn’t have an address to put in the GPS. So my wonderful, directionally gifted husband looked on Google Earth and found the general area where it was supposed to be, zoomed in close and took his best guess at which patch of land might be a paintball place and put those coordinates in the GPS for me. He didn’t take Calvin himself because he works with the youth group on Friday nights (he’s been even busier than I’ve been lately).
So the 3 of us bravely set out into the great unknown to find this paintball place. I was a little nervous about finding it — positive I would be driving around in circles. As we approached the end of our route the voice said, “In .2 miles turn left into destination” and we started looking around for signs of paintball. And then we spotted it: Hallelujah! As we turned into the parking lot, we were escorted by these words, “arriving at your destination.” No joke. He had mapped the exact coordinates — even down to the correct driveway.
From there I was supposed to go to the mall and kill time with Camille for a few hours. Easy, right? Somehow I managed to pick the wrong shopping center from the list in the GPS so it took me way the heck out somewhere that I had never been before and eventually I knew I wasn’t going the right way, but by that time I decided to just go with it. Then I pulled up and it looked sort of like the middle eastern version of Eastmont mall and all the guys on the street were staring at the white girl (see? totally Eastmont!) so I decided to pick a new destination. Lesson learned: GPSs aren’t idiot-proof.
Yesterday was another day of running around. In the morning was the fabric store and the grocery store. Then I had to race off to have lunch with the boys at school. They invited me to eat with them and it sounds all nice and sweet until you understand that Saturdays are Dairy Queen days, but the Elementary School students can’t buy ice cream. It’s only for the MS/HS students/teachers/staff/parents . . . ah ha! Yep, they just use me for ice cream.
Then home to work on sewing some costumes for the Fall Festival on Wednesday (big Halloween party). Carter is dressing up as Dread Pirate Roberts (Princess Bride). He wanted to be a “bandit,” but what he described as a bandit “black fabric over my face” sounded like a Ninja to me. He kept insisting “it’s a pirate, but on land” so we found a compromise with Dread Pirate Roberts.
Caleb is going to be a Tae Kwon Do black belt, which means I only had to sew the belt. However he came home from school wanting to be a werewolf or a vampire even though I had already finished his belt. He wasn’t happy when I told him that he couldn’t change his costume and while I was cleaning the kitchen he found the black fabric that I purchased for DPR and decided he could make himself a vampire costume. With my scissors.
In between lunch and Project Runway: Halloween Episode, Josh and I headed back to school to watch the Elementary School talent show. None of the boys were in it, but they wanted us to come watch it with them. Of course they didn’t sit with us, or hardly talk to us, but Josh and I drank cappuccinos and watched the show so it was almost like a date. Except for the squirming toddler on our laps.
Today is easy until after school. Then we have a parent conference with one of Calvin’s teachers, the boys have after-school activities of watercolor (Carter) and gardening (Caleb) and then we have to run Caleb to a birthday party. Which reminds me that I have to run out and buy a birthday present now, because the stores all close between 1 and 4 or 5 around here. Not for anything special — it’s just a daily “siesta.” Open in the morning, open late at night, closed all afternoon. It’s already 11 so I need to hurry before they close!
