An Atypical Week

Jordan called on Sunday night to find out what time I was picking them up on Monday. I had completely forgotten that Steph was going to be out-of-town this whole week. I keep telling everyone that they have to email me---you can't just say something to me in passing and expect me to remember it.

Anyway, I told her that I'd pick her up at 9:30. She wasn't happy about the early time, but, hey, I'm busy! I had an 8 a.m. doctor appt. and then was meeting Butch to drop my car off for repair. On the way to the girls, he dropped me at the grocery store. When he returned, Morgan wasn't in the car and Jordan had a friend. You just never know what you're going to get with the girls.

I put away the groceries, headed out to pick up the girls school books (last blog entry) and to meet my friend, Mary Jo for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. After that, I went for a manicure and got home about 2:30---to a mess in the kitchen. Jordan and Caitlyn were in the pool all day. Morgan called to say that she would be here around 7:30 p.m. I had a little time to rest before cooking supper. I had planned tacos, but Jordan said she didn't like tacos. Who doesn't like tacos? I had to go to plan "b". I pulled some pork chops out of the freezer and added corn on the cob, fried okra (homemade, I might add), and broccoli with cheese sauce.

By the time I finished cleaning up, it was about 6:45. I decided to lounge with my book in the jacuzzi. I got out at 7:15 to find that Morgan was already home, but Jordan and friend were now gone. I asked Butch where they went. He said he didn't know, but Caleb picked them up. She said she'd be home by curfew which is 11 p.m. She and Caitlyn ended up getting home at 8:30. All the girls went out to the pool. It wasn't long before we heard a lot of hoopla out there and realized that the boys had arrived. The boys left and the girls came in around 10:15.

Yesterday, we had the girls to ourselves all day with no friends. It was so much fun. They slept until 11 a.m. I made them breakfast and then we got in the pool for the afternoon. Butch even got in---this is really "big." You can just about count on one hand the number of times he's been in the pool in the 15 years we've lived here. It goes back to the fact that he cannot say "no" to the grandkids.

After the pool, we went school supply shopping. That was not a fun experience. It started off badly because Butch wanted to go to Walmart. Neither I nor the girls like Walmart. But since Butch plans to take the girls fishing on Friday, he needs to get them fishing licenses, so he thought we could kill two birds with one stone.

The fighting started just as soon as we got in the store. Morgan wanted her own cart so her stuff would not get mixed up with Jordan's. Earlier in the day, she asked Jordan if she had the list of school supplies they would need. Jordan said, "Morgan, we're in high school! They don't give you a list!" Now, in the store, Morgan didn't want to listen to Jordan as to what she needed. Both girls started throwing things in the basket. Butch was about to have a conniption fit. They seemed to just pick up any random things without considering prices or needs. It looked like he might stroke out, so I tried to get the girls calmed down. That didn't really work. It was a fast, frenetic shopping trip. The total was $267.00---which include a graphing calculator (required) for over $100. We had Mindy's old one, but of course, the required one now was a completely different model.

Our next stop was dinner at Chili's. On the way there, we realized that we completely forgot to get the fishing licenses. Turns out that was okay because the battery on the NEW boat was dead today. The joys of boat ownership. At least dinner was really good. When we got home, the girls took off with friends. Morgan spent the night out. Jordan came home around 10 and went straight to bed. It was nice to have a quiet evening.

It's the chaos and confusion of teenagers that I don't like---I've already been through it. Somehow, I feel more out of control this time around. I think it's because our girls "asked" us if they could do something where now we seem to be "told". Don't get me wrong. I know we could put a stop to this---and I'll continue to gripe and complain. But the bottom line is that we love having them around and get a charge out of knowing that they like to be with us. We'll take the mess that comes with that.