So, we drove to the new home décor store in town and wandered the (messy) endless aisles. Wrapping paper was 50% off; I got some with lamas on it, wearing Christmas lights on their backs. Oh, and we bought this super cool Mr. Clean toilet plunger/brush combo for our bathroom. No more carrying dripping ick down the hallway between cleanings!
So far I think we're killing it on this whole NYE thing! Lol :)
Buck, wisely called for reservations at the restaurant at which we'd decided we wanted to eat . . . but they only took "call ahead seating." Uhhh . . . this secured, not a reservation mind you, but call ahead seating, we finished looking at pillows and overpriced furniture, and found a few organization things for our pots and pans situation (and it IS a situation) in the kitchen. The nice lady with no teeth who did not fit the "vibe" of the place gave me a January birthday in her computer system so I could get a 10% off coupon faster :) I never give my real birthday online anyway, so I was fine with this.
It turned out that we still had time to stop by another store (I won't name names :) because it's the only place I can buy my Sparkling Ice water in bulk--and it was on instant rebate, bonus! We also bought the frozen rolls we like that only seem to be sold there. The $15 splurge was a new blanket for the basement. It's cold down here, and we have a homemade quilt and a Christmas-prize blanket from a work event (both older than most of our children) that all six of us try to get to first. For my small group gift exchange, I found a super soft, fluffy, cuddly blanket for like $12. Why I didn't get one for myself, IDK. However, when said small group friend had sick kids and did not show up for the gift exchange, I seriously considered keeping her gift and trying to find her something else :) Buck said, "Just buy that soft blanket, right there for you." Oh, okay! That actually makes sense, and I don't have to dip into my new llama wrapping paper for a rewrap ;)
We arrived at the restaurant earlier than we intended, but for those who didn't have "call ahead seating" the wait was well over 1.5 hours (at 5 p.m.!) There were people storming out the door when they found out how long the wait was, and the poor hostess lady couldn't do anything about that. When we were seated about 40 minutes later (we arrived pretty early, as I said), the hostess lady said they'd had a wait since 3 p.m.! Whoa! Buck and I enjoyed our steak and potatoes (sweet for me) dinner, and then decided we had room for Starbucks--especially because we had Christmas gift cards with us :)
I think it was before seven when we arrived home and pajamaed it up. I started texting the children, who were oblivious to my checking in on them for hours. My friend S sent me updates and pictures . . . video games, baking, board games, movies, and of course, Caelan knitting (she was trying to finish the blanket the friend she was visiting had ordered--she was even working on it in school the other day!)
Because we were already in our pajamas and really didn't want to leave the house for a Redbox, Buck and I rented a movie from Direct TV Cinema--$5.99 was pretty steep for not even being in HD, and the movie was awful (The House with the Clock in Its Walls). I would NOT recommend it. Very spiritually yucky. We figured Jack Black would be funny, ummm, well, he had his moments, but so not my jam. We also watched football, and tried to understand the bits and pieces of music acts and revelry depicted in the New Year's Eve celebrations on TV. We might be old, but I was not impressed. We also missed the ball drop because we were watching Lin-Manuel Miranda talk about Mary Poppins Returns on a rerun of Jimmy Fallon's show. Oops!
The apartments up the road made sure we knew it was midnight, by lighting off some minor fireworks. This put Chauncey into a state of panic and required closeness. The whole house, literally the entire house, empty except for the corner of the couch Buck and I were sitting upon . . . and there was the dog too. Seriously :)I'm told the Crew stayed up until 1:30 a.m. and then mostly (not Caelan) awoke by 7:30. Mr. M flipped pancakes for them to catch in the kitchen for breakfast (their favorite staying at the M's house tradition), and they were still there for pizza at noon!
(My interpretation of Graysen's face in the midnight picture was that he didn't like the Sparkling Cider, lol :)
When the kids arrived home, they all just settled back into their books and online story writing groups and I read one of the King Arthur books I haven't gotten to yet since last year. Pretty chill, pretty quiet, but I'm pretty okay with that :)
ADDENDUM: Chauncey has caught onto the pattern of "packing." When the bags and suitcases, pillows and sleeping bags appear in the living room, he knows he's either getting ditched or going on an adventure. He watched the kids' stuff piling up, but he didn't get called for a solo adventure in "dad's car," so he figured he was invited to the upcoming party. When the kids grabbed their gear and headed for the van, he did his usual joyful leap from house to garage . . . and almost face-planted into the closed van door. Buck said, "No, you're not going," and sent the dog back in the house. Chauncey again sprang for the door (he's not really a springer, he's usually very chill). Again, Buck sent him back inside. Poor dog, he'd never seen the combo of bags in the van, but *you're not invited* before. I think he was pretty happy when Buck and I came home not too long after. He kind of scowled at us though, like, "Aren't you forgetting something?" Then he would sit at the end of the hall and bark at the kids' rooms, like, "Yeah, remember the people who go in here? Where are they?!" Funny what creatures of habit and order animals can be :)
1 comment:
It's amazing how intuitive the dogs can be. Poor Chauncey, he missed all his kids!! Looks like they had a lot of fun though!
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