The weekend

I'm really not sure what we did Friday. Seems like we had no plans and just had dinner (oh, I think I recreated the Totally Yummy Homemade Mac & Cheese I'd made for the "multicultural" dinner at G's school on Wednesday. (I just made 2 c of white sauce from Joy of Cooking and stirred in about 2 c of crumbled cheddar cheese--I'd bought slices but they crumbled well--and poured it over half a package of cooked macaroni noodles.)

I know I stayed up late reading the first half of our book-club book, Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice. Just as intriguing as the first time I read it, probably 20 yrs ago. And that G negotiated sleeping in my bed that night. He complained that he was having trouble falling asleep, and so of course was asleep 2 minutes later. Well maybe 1 minute.

Saturday, I slept as late as I could with him saying, "Mommy, it's wake-up time!" every 5 minutes. I decided this was the day we were going to dye our hair red. I got out G's red stuff and it turned out to be I.C.E. Spiker Colorz Styling Glue (I believe it was Paranoid Red). Yes, glue. Yes, just that sticky and dries just that hard. I kept putting it in; he kept asking for more. When I'd finally streaked his whole head and showed him how to look at the back of his head with two mirrors, I stopped with him, and started with me. I washed my hair over the tub, as I'd done his, and applied some of the Manic Panic I'd bought (in Vampire Red, and boy was that accurate!). I'd already carefully applied Vaseline to my forehead, having remembered that from some previous hair-coloring time (in college). I combed it through until foamy, as the directions say, and left it on for 15 mins, the least amount suggested. When I rinsed it out and let it dry a bit, it was a disappointing pink. So I got a new pair of gloves on, slathered more of it on, combed my heart out, and left it on, covered in saran wrap, for a full 30 minutes. That's more like it! It's not quite red but a very respectable jewely deep magenta. Yum! It's in two swaths on either side of my head. I rather like it. I'm tempted to do my whole head. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the colors....

At about noon, I started getting us ready for the 2:10 showing of Bridge To Terabethia at the Jack London. I made sure we both ate lunch, packed everything into this cool backpack/water carrier I got at Costco, we stopped at Albertson's for a candy run, and made it into the theater just before the movie started. Great movie but there was one part that was very hard for me to take. We both got to the end wanting more, more!

Then, having validated our parking ticket, we went over to Bed, Bath & Beyond to look for my latest wish, an extending bathroom mirror that flips over to magnify, in brass or any gold lookalike (why is this so hard?), and came out with a new, spongy bath mat. G spotted a weird egg thingy by the cash register: it either is or closely resembles a real hen's egg, and has one of those grows-to-twice-its-size-in-water things inside that's shaped like a chick. You put the whole thing in water (has 2 tiny pinholes in the bottom and 1 in the top), and the thing inside swells until the shell breaks, like a chick hatching. G decided he must have it, and at $2.99, I wasn't going to buy it. We went back to the car, where he had his purse, and with the allowance I owed him, he had enough. Back to the store we went, bought it, and then went across the street to Cost Plus. Let me just say they have a lot of toys these days (ostensibly for Easter). We emerged easily an hour later, having bought a couple of cool gift bags for Liz & Andrea's birthday presents (which they got tonight, so I can tell you that they're mugs with totally cute photos of Val on them).

Went home and I believe that's when G told me about the birthday party for a classmate on Sunday. I asked to see the invitation, and there was none to read. He knew the classmate's name, the park it was at, and the day. The time? He had no idea. I decided we'd stop by after church and see if we found anyone there. It's very close to our house, so checking back would be a non-issue. At about 12:30, there was one clear party group there, so I started across the field toward them. G stopped. "I don't think it's them," he said. Finally, he admitted to feeling shy and asked me to ask the group if it was the party. As we approached, he stood behind me. Yes, it was his classmate's party and was just underway. The kids happily descended on the playground, G included. I went home to get some sunscreen for both of us. I put it on, and checked in with the adults there, who were fine with me leaving him to run some errands. Realizing it was a beautiful day (and that I was sweating in my light sweater and jeans), I put on a short-sleeved shirt and shorts and pumped up the tires of my bike. Yippee! Went back to the park to
check in with G, who was now trying to launch a kite. Unfortunately, the park is surrounded by trees and there was only the lightest of breezes. A small kid went past my bike on his, and mine came crashing down. When I left, I found that I couldn't shift the rear derailleur at all. I now had a 3-speed bike, like the red one I grew up with.

I biked down to Park St and went to the store I'd been patronizing lately. Closed on Sundays. Arrgh. Went to the other bike shop, which was open for business. The guy was friendly if not terribly helpful. He said the shifting cable was getting caught up somewhere and that a tune-up would resolve it... but not today. He managed to force it to shift into a different gear, made me an appt. for a tune-up later that week, and off I went on my new and improved 3-speed wonder. I did my shopping at our shopping Centre (gag) and headed back to the park (G wasn't quite ready to go) and then home. Dropped off the bike, put the milk away, and leashed the dog to head out to the park and pick G up. Poor thing is getting old; she really dragged on the way home. It was a warmer day than usual, but still, it's like 5 blocks. I think if I managed to walk her every day, she'd do better in general. I'd love to manage to fit this in.

So tonight were the Red tryouts. I had red hair, a red-and-white jersey (with a hastily taped '7' on the back), and red Gatorade. I was ready... but fairly noncommittal. It was so hard not to make Red last time that I decided that this time, I'll be in Green, and if I make Red, it'll be a happy surprise. For now, Red tryouts are fun and a great time to see my compatriots in Green do great, and a nice opportunity to see my friends who are now in Red. (Turns out it was also a time to get warmer than I've been in a game maybe ever. After the game, I Superman'd onto the ice and lay there a while. I'm sure my face was the color of cherries. It was great fun, though. (shrug) We'll see.