Eating My Way Through the Weekend

On Friday my dad happened to call right when I was in the middle of a slight meltdown, so he volunteered to take me out to lunch -- and he drove 60 miles each way to do it. (We met about 35 miles north of me.) Very touching, I must say. We sat in the restaurant for at least two (maybe two and a half) hours and just talked, and I left in a great mood. After we parted, I walked around the newly puddled shopping center (the rain had stopped while we were eating lunch) and bought chocolate truffles. Went home afterward and fell asleep early.

On Saturday, I puttered around the house and arranged to meet my youngest sister for breakfast on Sunday. Thought about seeing an Oscar-nominated movie, but never really got motivated enough to put on real clothes. ;^)

When Sunday morning arrived, I got up at 5:30 a.m., got myself ready and was out the door by about 6:30. Arrived in Orange County at the Costa Mesa Omelette Parlor at 8:00. She arrived at 8:30, having not believed that I would be on time. I'd already ordered, but she caught up and then surpassed me. What can I say? I'm a slow eater.

After breakfast (her surprise treat!), we went out to her car so I could see Woody, her dog. He'd just had some surgery on a dewclaw that had been torn when he was digging like a maniac for chipmunks. The nail was healing nicely and he was incredibly excited to see me. He's a Danish-Swedish Farmdog, bouncy like a Jack Russell, and runs around, bouncing off furniture and walls. Sis calls it "doing superstars." :-)

We decided to take the doggie to a nearby park to see Sis's friends play softball, and Woody rode with me, whining the whole way as we followed my sister's car to the field. Sis plays rugby, but likes to show support for her friends' sport (and has been known to try to recruit future rugby players there once in a while). We sat in the stands and petted others' doggies. Somone on a different team brought homemade ricotta cheesecake for a teammate's birthday and we sampled some of that. A mom and two Girl Scouts showed up later, pulling a wagon full of cookies for sale, and we supported the cause. It was shaping up to be quite a caloric weekend. The day was pretty bright; luckily I happened to have sunscreen in my purse, although I forgot to slather the skin exposed by my V-neck T-shirt (heh -- how alphabetical) and I got a V-shaped sunburn.

When the game was almost over, I wandered off to see Capote at a local theater, since I was in my old stomping grounds and knew the area. I planned to be home in time for the Academy Awards, so I figured I'd check out another of the films getting some press. I'd already seen "Transamerica" (fabulous) and some others, and I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, so off I went. Yep, the film was awesome, but I'm still sort of disturbed by the brief images of blood-spattered people and walls. *shudder*

I sped off for home as soon as the film was over, and arrived around 3:30. A homeless man was standing by the freeway exit and I was touched to see that he was wearing a short-sleeved, plaid shirt that looked like it could've come from my dad's closet. As luck would have it, I had to stop for a light at the bottom of the exit, and I was right next to the guy. I wanted to give him something, but I didn't have any cash on me. Then I remembered: McDonald's gift certificates. They were still in my purse after the kiddo received them from my parents for Valentine's Day. Seeing as I'd taken the kiddo to McDonald's a time or two in the past couple of weeks and forgotten to use the certificates, I had no qualms about giving them away to someone in need. I offered them to the guy and he was incredibly thankful -- so thankful that the light turned green and I held up traffic for a bit as I listened to him, thinking he probably doesn't get the luxury of being listened to very much, either. So many thing I take for granted...like eating and friendly conversation. Although I was glad he could use the certificates (he said), I felt like sort of a jerk as I drove a couple of blocks to pick up some goodies to enjoy while watching the Academy Awards. Ah well...I can't solve all the problems, I guess, but still...

Still revved up from the buckets of coffee I'd had at breakfast, I watched the Oscar broadcast and ran upstairs during commercials to look up info. on the Internet Movie Database. Nerdy, sure, but fun. Right when Reese Witherspoon won, my other sister called from the City of Brotherly Love (she's visiting friends) to say hello and I turned on the captions so I could read Reese's speech aloud to my sister, pretty much against her will. ;^)

And that's how I spent (ingested?) my weekend. Much-needed playtime. Now...back to business. The kiddo and I took a calorie-burning walk (I'm gonna need about fifty million of these to work off this weekend's indulgence alone) to the local school to pick up a kindergarten registration packet and peek through the windows. (School hours were over.) We chatted with the smiling lady in the office and met a couple of friendly fifth-grade teachers who were just leaving. The kiddo was shy at first but, like me, he can't resist a little conversation, and he warmed up without much ado. As we wandered the grounds, admired the artwork displayed on the classroom windows and took note of the after-school kids having circle time with two teachers on the playground, the kiddo decided that school sounds like a lot of fun.

In fact, on the way home, he told me one of the best things would be lunch: "Mommy, you can make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and maybe some cookies and put them in my lunchbox and I can bring them to school and maybe show the other kids what I have for lunch. Except maybe I should practice wiping my own face because I always get so messy when I eat peanut butter and jelly and I'll have to do it by myself at school, or maybe my teacher can help me if I miss a spot."

Yep, lunch is the big draw. That's my boy. ;^)