Driving into Denver, where there are many billboards for Mexican restaurants –
Lloyd: “See that? ‘El Ranchero’? That’s Spanish for ‘the Ranchero’.”
Lauren: “Thanks for being so bilingual.”
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Luxurious Extravagance
We stopped at a mall and Lloyd complained that he wanted some new socks. I don’t know what his problem is – after the bat bug incident I threw out all but three pairs of white socks, and honestly, how many pairs of socks does one person need?? Doesn’t he know that you really don’t need many clothes at all?
But, no, he wouldn’t listen to reason. I had bought him a three-pack at Wal-Greens when Beth bought Goggles for her children, but those weren’t fancy enough for him. He bought fancy socks at the mall, and then another one because it was fifty percent off. So now he has fifteen pairs of socks! That is outrageous!!
Lloyd says that if he was a rich man, he would wear a new pair of socks every day and then give the old socks away. (I hope he would clean them first.)
Harry Potterites
We are in Lincoln for a hotel night with the Royuks, and when Beth and I walked downtown to get some goggles for her kids to use in the pool, we passed by a wonderfully long line of kids (and adults) waiting for the midnight showing of Harry Potter. Many were in full garb, and I have to say – it warms my heart to see geeks show devotion to something near and dear to them. Long, long ago a bunch of us sat in line all afternoon for Episode One of Star Wars. Hindsight tells us we didn’t need to, but it was fun all the same.
By the way, Hilton Hotels, I am a little annoyed at your lack of honest, free wireless. As I sit here, late at night in an empty lobby, re-typing this entire post because the first, much-wittier draft is lost to the ether because the ‘free’ wireless in the room is about as strong as a one-winged butterfly, I am irritable. And sleepy.
Tara’s Candy Store
Beth, Tara and Tim came over for a while and then Beth had to go for a bit to meet with a prospective student. Brad and Lloyd entertained the kids by building a wondrous fort. (Lloyd was supposed to write about the fort, but he fell asleep early. Feel free to criticize his fort as a favor to me – punishing him for not taking on more post-writing duties.)
After reading about Brad’s buttermints, I decided that making some would be a good way to pass some time. We vaguely followed a couple of recipes so it didn’t end up very ‘butterminty’, but we ended up with some edible play dough, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.
Note: If you ever decide to make some mints and use a mold, follow the actual recipe. The candy needs to be very crumbly so it will come out of the mold. Or, just roll the blobs in sugar and have children eat them. Whatever works.
I’m an excellent driver.
Lloyd and I zipped into Lincoln for some quick errands, and I made a few mistakes while driving.
First, we went to his school and I chose a nice shady spot to park. When we left a half-hour later, the car had rolled out into the sun since I forgot to put it in gear. Oops. Luckily there were no other cars in the lot.
Later, we were leaving the Best Buy parking lot and while I was in the middle of telling a gripping story Lloyd made some weird yell. I maintain that he was saying “Ahhhh!” but he says he was yelling, “Honk!”. I did see some sort of movement out of my right eye. I honked and pulled forward – dragging our car across the bumper of the van that had just hit us. (I didn’t hear anything, what with my gripping story and all.) We got out to look at the damage, which was hardly worth interrupting my story. Lloyd and the other guy just looked at each other and shared that each of their cars were over 10 years old, shook hands, and we all drove away.
I forgot what my story was about. Dang. It was pretty gripping.
Life Lesson Learned
Gather ’round, kids, while I teach you a valuable life lesson: When the milk on your cereal tastes funny, don’t try to power through finishing the bowl. Toss that stuff out and make someone take you to McDonald’s for a McMuffin, or you’ll be sorry later.
Today was my third official day off, and I spent most of it in intestinal distress. Booooo…….
That’s all. How was your Tuesday?