so be stealing that Six Flags t-shirt when I can fit into it), but that leaves NINETEEN new shirts. And most of them with matching shorts. And some dresses. And all this after I took the child to Wal-Mart (oh, shut UP. Wal-Mart clothes are PERFECTLY FINE SO SHUT THE HELL UP) and bought her an ass load of new shorts to go with her 2,349 t-shirts.
And then Monday the spud started 7th grade, and we walked to the end of the street, and the ladies standing there with their little kiddies said "Oh! I think that was her bus that went by just a minute ago!" And I sighed and looked at the spud and said "Let’s just walk to the school, it’ll only take a few minutes." So we started walking, and as we walked, we saw a small crowd of middle school-aged kids standing around as if waiting for a bus, and I said "Oh, I bet that was the high school bus that went by, not the middle school bus. We’d better walk back to the end of our street so the bus driver will know to stop there each day." We walked back to the end of our street and were discussing with the mothers standing there the bus that had gone by, and had just determined that that had been the high school bus ("I don’t know, the older kids all look alike to me! I can’t tell if they’re in high school or middle school!" Thanks, Helpful McDumbass.) when I looked to my right and saw the spud’s bus (right number and all) come out of a nearby street and turn AWAY from us to pick up the crowd of kids down the road, and then continued on with nary a look in our direction.
"Sheeit," I said. "Let’s get the Jeep and I’ll drive you." On the way to the middle school, I said "Just get on the right number bus this afternoon, and get off where he picked up all those kids and walk home." I repeated this several times, because the spud is generally pretty quiet and you’re not sure what’s sinking in and what isn’t.
After I exercised and showered and chatted with my mother, we went off to the mall. I need a new comforter for my bed (YES I DO, Fred!) and wanted company while I looked. I didn’t find anything I liked (I’ll be checking out Bed, Bath and Beyond when it opens in a few weeks), but while we were in JC Penney, we found a cat canister set that I just loved, it was so funny-looking, and I dithered about buying it even though it was on sale. I had just about decided to buy it when my mother said "I could buy it for you for a Christmas present!"
You’d better believe I jumped on that. "Yeah, you could!" So she bought me not only the canister set:
(it’s in 3 sections, ain’t it cute?!), but also the matching salt and pepper set:
I love them, they’re so cute and goofy-looking! And you know how much I love things that are cute and goofy-looking…
She told me that I had to put them away until Christmas, and when I just said "Okay, I will!", she changed her tune and told me I didn’t have to wait. Hee! She also took me out to lunch. Have I ever mentioned that my affections can be bought?
The spud’s school lets out at 3. Since it was raining, we took the Jeep and parked by where all the kids had been waiting, and around 3:15, here came the bus. It stopped and one child got off.
That child was not the spud. But we could see the spud on the bus, and were frantically waving to her.
"Where the hell’s she GOING?" I said, then pulled out behind the bus, deciding maybe she hadn’t recognized the street. We followed the bus around several streets and out of the subdivision onto a main road. We thought perhaps she was going to just ride back to the school, or maybe she’d forgotten we moved. Anything’s possible with the spud! But then the bus pulled back into the subdivision and stopped at the end of our road, where she got off.
The bus driver asked her, when she got on the bus, where she needed to be dropped off, and she’d told him.
Oh.
And speaking of the spud, she had her hair cut the day before she flew home:
It’s pretty cute, and also easier for her to take care of. Like her mother, she doesn’t usually fuss with her hair.
Monday evening, the spud started getting all kinds of weepy, I’m sure because my mother was going to be leaving soon. Tuesday morning, she said her stomach hurt, and I first told her she could stay home, and then changed my mind and told her she was going to school. She boo-hooed all over the place, but there was just no way she was staying home on the second day of school when she obviously wasn’t really sick.
Yeah I know, mean mommy. Oddly, the school didn’t call to have me come pick her up ’cause she was sick, either.
We didn’t do much Tuesday, except run to the grocery store for a few things (we’ve been going through milk like it’s going out of style) and the drugstore, then my mother FORCED me to let her take me out to lunch. Of course I let her; after all, it’s only polite to let your guests do what they’d like when they’re visiting…
I actually checked the spud out of school to go to the airport with us this morning. My mom’s flight was at 11, and they started boarding at 10:30. We were going to hang around to watch the plane take off, but what’s the point? It’s not like she knew whether we were watching or not, so we left. I dropped the spud off at school, ran a few errands, and came home to have the house to myself for the first time since Friday. And to do laundry.
The excitement never stops around here, no sir…]]>
08/15/2001