#216 In which our hero continues his tale.

My madcap week, continued.

FRIDAY GET-TOGETHER

I returned from New York, then had guests on Friday. Here’s the thing… my sisters and I planned on throwing a surprise birthday party for Mom (more on that in a later post). We wanted it to be a real surprise, but that quickly proved unworkable because we kids live all over the place (I’m the nearest in Cleveland, my oldest sister is the farthest, living in Austria) and had to at least let Mom know that we were going to be there on a specific weekend so she wouldn’t plan anything else.

So, Mom’s house quickly filled up with my sisters and their husbands and their kids. About 20 people, all told. Now, Mom doesn’t have a big house, and there’s no way it was meant to hold that many people, especially when six of them are rambunctious kids. Anyway, my youngest sister (who’s still five years older than me--I’m the baby) wanted to drive up to see my house being that she hadn’t been here since we moved. There was talk about her driving up on her way back to Wisconsin, but I said, “Hey! Why doesn’t everyone just come up on Friday before the party?” I was thinking that it would give Mom a break, and all those kids could spend some time tearing up my house, instead of Mom’s.

Of course, what I hadn’t expected was that I would be in a different state for the preceding two days.

Anyway, The Scientist was a real champ and cleaned the house beforehand. Thanks, honey. Everyone descended on the house, I grilled a bunch of hotdogs and brats, and actually got to spend a little bit of time talking with my sisters. I was afraid that it would rain and we wouldn’t be able to get outside… but what actually happened was that it was 90 degrees and humid, so no-one went outside anyway. But, other than a few cupcake crumbs in the carpet, a good time was had by all.

Also, my in-laws were in town. They were actually there to attend Mom’s party (which was very nice of them, I thought) but while there, my father-in-law planned some yard work in the back; things that would hopefully help the flooding problem we have.

So, I have no problem with that. Matter of fact, he brought some tools that made my life a lot easier. In fact, there was only one problem with that Saturday morning, and it’s name was sangria.

The Scientist was discussing Friday’s party with a co-worker when this friendly co-worker says, “Hey, I have an extra box of wine. Would you like it for your party?” Naturally, The Scientist accepted because, y’know, free booze. But, friendly co-worker doesn’t just bring a box of wine, she makes it into sangria, so “it’ll stretch further.”

Wow. That’s a friendly co-worker.

Anyway, long story short, this fucking sangria kicks my ass. It tastes like Kool-Aid and goes down way too easy. Flash forward to 7 am the next day, when I hear my father-in-law running power tools in the back yard. Ugh.

I get dressed and stumble out there. The easier part of the work is already done by the time I get out there, all that’s left is digging the ditch.

Now, in all fairness, this wasn’t a huge job. And shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, except for the fact that my mouth is full of cotton and evil elves are trying to chisel their way out of my skull. But, I dug a ditch, shoveled dirt, moved dirt, and planted grass… all under the watchful eye of my father-in-law. Here’s hoping it helps with the drainage issues.

NEXT: More family! And lies I told to my mother!

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