life in the land of oz

I suggested the kids go for a walk. Perhaps do some trespassing. Even offered a few good place they might enjoy. Being a practical mother I cautioned them about not getting picked up by the police, to cross streets carefully, and to not step on rusty nails. 

Once they were gone I laid down on my yoga mat and listened to the silence. The day was not going exactly as planned. 

I pause before offering this next detail because even I know there are somethings a grown-up shouldn't admit to...yeah, that would be a bad idea but I like bad ideas, here is the whole story...

I had 2 events this weekend that required funding: the gym meet on Saturday, check. And the gingerbread house party on Sunday, shit, forgot about that one and it was scheduled for my place. 

So early-ish Sunday morning, the day of the party I had headed to the store, well kind of I did. After little red sputtered to a shaky start in the driveway I decided let's try that again because going to the store is one thing, being able to come home is another. 

I pulled the key out of the ignition, noted I had started it with the gym key, doesn't matter, oh little red. I tired it again this time with the real key and nothing. 

No big deal. Since BC bought a truck it's sort of like a car lot around here. I simply climbed into the next car over which was the big red van. The van always starts but it also tends to never have a full tank. And as my luck would have it BC left it on empty. 

Despite my own mental objections to driving on empty I drove big red and the glowing low fuel light to the dollar store where I purchased 15 dollars worth of candy. This is where that not great for sharing detail shows up: that was my last 15 bucks.  

See one of BC's boys is/was due to deliver me some funds at some point yesterday. That math is pretty simple- he hasn't come. He will, he just hasn't yet.

It gets better. Me, the low fuel light, and a bag of candy came home just in time to discover that due to illness the party had to be canceled- dang. Knowing I just spend our last cash on candy (wow) I offered it to the kids. I mean what the hell anyway? 

Then strongly encouraged them to go find something fun to do, yes such as trespassing, or better we call it urban exploring. 

So that is why I was lying on my yoga mat listening, then laughing- (well, and the fact that I had turned my ankle kickboxing and standing had stopped being fun hours ago). And that was were I was when I looked up and saw that spider overhead on the ceiling. 

No BC, no kids, no way in hell I could leave it to live in my house or be the person who gets close enough to kill it.... I wondered if I got Beach's bird and taped it to a long stick and aim it's beak at the spider if it would eat it for me. I figured it might work but that I would most likely lose a finger during the taping phase of the plan- still I considered it for a long time.

I spent half an hour not being able to do anything but watch the spider before I finally sucked it up and killed it using a fly swatter. Which I then refused to pick up because it had touched the spider. 

The dead spider lay under it until the kids returned. Beach used a tissue and cleared the crime scene. It was a good hour before I allowed Beach who had touched the spider to touch me.  

By the end of the day, after having a discussion with my son about the dangers of siphoning gas from one car to another (him lecturing me not to do it) Beach and Sophie, who by that point had joined us, were eating a dinner of potato wedges and shooting orange jello, over, under, and through, the largest display of dollar store candy wrappers and cheap frosting while I argued to Jeff, Sophie's papa, that essentially potato wedges are the same as baked potatoes and baked potatoes are a meal....

He had come in the house laughing having already past little red in the driveway, hood up, battery charger connected. Luckily for me he was still laughing at my disaster when he left. "I'm around tomorrow, call me if you need me..." or did he say "when"?

Overall I think things are going pretty well.