Weekend

8/20/12

Weekend

If you noticed, then you saw that I wasn't "here" yesterday.  Nope.  I had a weekend of being Grandma which definitely slows down my writing ability among other things.  Benjamin et al came on Saturday to spend the weekend so that Jeff and Scott could help Andy move a generator he just bought from Craigslist.  "Jennies" (or at least whole house Jennies") are huge, heavy burdensome beasties and while it doesn't a village to move one - it does take a family!

My job on Saturday was to prepare dinner for a number of folks and time yet to be known.  A cook's challenge no doubt.  I made spaghetti (lots) and had it ready at the normal dinner time which in our house is 6:00. Saturday night we ate in shifts - those that were at the house at 6:00 ate first; followed by the second wave an hour later.  Mom's spaghetti was a huge hit and was just as well received as "tovers" (leftovers to the rest of you) on Sunday - again in shifts.

Sunday after lunch Stacey and I took Benjamin to an art studio at Rio.  There you can do ceramics, mosaics, glass fusing or acrylic painting.  We opted for acrylic painting because that doesn't have to be re fired and is instant gratification - after you finish the painting.

I picked out a sensible and small trinket box of which I have no particular need; but, give me enough time and I'll think of something.  Benjamin on the other hand chose a two piece Cinderella-type princess.  He actually started on the bottom of the dress nicely - pink then a bit of red which combined with purple and yellow ends up being a murky hard-to-describe brown color.  Stacey did the top portion of the princess and as always did a beautiful job.  Benjamin's skirt became the "skirt of many colors" and that's just about where his interest began to lag.  Luckily, the owner of the store popped popcorn and Stacey gave him the cellphone and while the ladies painted, Benjamin snacked and played games.

There is a reason I don't paint often - I'm just not very good at it.  My little box was painted bright green with yellow stumpy feet and an orange top with a purple knob.  I know it sounds dreadful but it actually turned out well (color wise).  I painted the feet yellow which I thought would be a nice contrast to the green but then I got the yellow on part of the green and when I went back to green to fix it managed to get that on the yellow.  So I did the next best thing - I sort of "swirled" the two colors until I came up with a unique yellow/green set of feet.

I had the same problem with the top.  The orange was magnificent and yet when I went to paint the top purple, managed to get purple on orange and vice versa.  At some point, you just have to leave it alone.  This was just a box - four squares - nothing intricate.  I used a big brush and it should have been child's play and would have taken no time at all to finish except for having to go back to repaint what I'd already done!  The end result after being sprayed with acrylic and sprinkled with a light amount of glitter is really pretty cute.  

As Benjamin had lost interest in the princess I took over and tried to cover the brown with red and pink.  I managed to cover it but not well in all areas.  Between Stacey and I we managed to finish the princess with the top half (hers) looking better than the bottom half (mine); but again sprayed with acrylic and sprinkled with glitter - she looks pretty good.

We took Benjamin to Target to get him a backpack for starting "big boy" preschool next month.  I was able to pick out a lovely backpack that lights up when you walk - and, it of course, turned out to be a bit pricey!  We wandered the toy aisle as grandmothers and grandchildren are wont to do - and Benjamin was in a complete panic because he couldn't find anything!  Let me clarify - he couldn't find anything under forty dollars.  I told him that Pop-Pop would probably not think a $40.00+ toy was a necessary expense even on a rainy day.  We settled on a small Lego set and a Scooby-Doo movie.  By the way, the movie was terrible even by my standards; but Benjamin seemed to like it.  I sent the movie home with him last night and told Stacey and Andy that they didn't need to return it to my house anytime soon.

Stacey and Andy went out for dinner with Scott and his wife and Jeff and I stayed home and babysat.  The three of us "watched" more or less the movie while we also piled cars, trucks and planes inside an old race track leftover toy from my boys.  The race track if it was in perfect condition and with all its pieces would sell for hundreds of dollars on Ebay - and since it doesn't it provides enough entertainment for another generation who doesn't yet notice the missing pieces.

After the good-byes which are never easy for Benjamin and myself, although we did better last night, Jeff and I returned to the really quiet house, tidied up a bit, popped popcorn and retired to the sofa to watch a bit of tv before declaring ourselves exhausted.

Even after a pretty good night's rest still pretty tired this morning so hopefully nothing major will be necessary at work today.  Who knows if it's quiet perhaps I can even leave work early and sneak in a nap!  Here's hoping.

Have a great Monday.

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance.  They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life.  And, most importantly, cookies.  ~Rudolph Giuliani

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