OK, not free forever, but for the evening.
The kid is staying with his friends and so I'm staying down at my country estate...mansion...house...apartment...trailer.
I don't know if I have food there so I'm eating peanut butter cups at the office to get me through the night. OK OK. I'm eating peanut butter cups because I LIKE peanut butter cups.
And I am week.
Anyway. We may have the childcare issue sorted out. Pray for success! (or smudge, or vibe or whatever you hippies do). The court staff are working on it now.
So, can I just say (sorry Angela to bring this back to the simplicity/frugality issue) that I'm pleased that my frugal ways mean that I have the $$ and wherewithall in other ways to go to Iowa and help. As much as I've been frustrated by other factors limiting my ability to just go there and help, the money is not an issue. Of course I'm not going to waste it on a plane ticket that costs twice as much as driving and makes me determine the exact length of my trip ahead of time. I'm still not going to waste money to go help. That would be stupid. Just saying I'm glad that I have the savings to say "I'm getting in the car and going." And that I can be self supporting while I do it.
I've been away from the midwest for a while so maybe my gentle readers could tell me what the appropriate "sorry your house filled with poop-water" hostess gift is. I'm thinking smoked salmon.
Get THIS. My sister was staying with her boss during the last crest of the flood (another coming saturday). Pam works all day at the folks' house and I'm sure helping other people because that how she is. THEN she feels guilty staying with her boss so Pam cooks them dinner and leaves it there.
Cooking is also therapeutic for her. We all have our therapeutic activities and because we are midwesterners, they are practical. Pam cooks. Fred mows lawns or snow blows according to season. I do laundry. Stan does major things like getting a camper for them to live in. Sher cleans. This must be why my house is messy, but the laundry is done. Pam's house is messy, but you'll have a fabulous meal and a cocktail. Sher's house is clean and the lawn lovely. Stan's house...well he has 2 in the works since he's building a cabin. HEY! Stan must do housing. When Cousin Johnny couldn't live in his house anymore, Stan got the trailer arranged and installed. He's building a cabin on the pond (he built) by his house. And now he's getting housing for Fred and Sher. Stan must do housing in a crisis. We're practically our own emergency response team (you'll have food, shelter, clean clothes and bedding, and the lawn will be well groomed).
I'm also trying something new tonight...I'm going to hear a band at a bar. Bars are loud and stinky and I hate them, but I already need a shower and to wash my hair so I'll just do that when I get back tonight. We'll see if baking soda can get bar stank out of my hair. I hope I have some clean clothes to wear tomorrow. But since I love laundry I bet I do.
The bar is in Plummer and is mostly famous for the fights in the parking lot. The parking lot is the street. Cool. I hope something very "west side story street fight" happens but that I'm not involved. I'm going with a woman from work. We keep trying to get together for something so I want to take the opportunity. She's cool and very nice.
I'll let you know how it goes.
3 comments:
That bar stank you speak of is one of my favorite smells (my dad calls it "beer dust") because it smells like my grandma's house (actually the side porch where we played with the empty Bud cans--crashing toy cars and trucks through can pyramids. It's also where the garbage can where they dumped the ashtrays was. . .) Hope the band was good and that you enjoyed your night of being child-less! (and that you witnessed, but were not involved in, a brawl of some sort)
don't pick on me for cooking. I was tired and confused.
Hey Jill and Pam (and Stan),
You sound like amazing children to me, and even if your folks can't vocalize it right now, having you there and helping must be a tremendous comfort. OK, this is going to sound terrible, but I think it is funny in a macabre kind of way, and the Wagner girls seem to have a sick sense of humor. When my Dad died, I was the only kid who wasn't able to be there (the one @#$#@-ing ice storm of the year and it was that weekend). I was very, very upset about this and thought I was a horrible kid. My brother Steve, apparently, told everyone that he was going to tell me that right before Dad died, he opened his eyes and uttered the following before going to that great euchre tourney in the sky:
"Why isn't your sister here?"
My dad didn't say this, of course, but even in hard times, we try to use humor. I know that humor is also one of the Wagner family traits. Jill, travel safely once you get the "all clear" to go, and Pam, I think you have lovely manners. What did you cook the boss's family? Angela
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