148: saturday

what did y'all do this weekend??

the girls and i have been hanging out and enjoying ourselves real good down in our neck of the woods.

#2 Auntie had a good idea last week. she thought we girls (8 of us of varying ages) should have an girls-only outing. we were all very enthusiastic about the idea. we've done similar because most of our family has been girls until i was in my 20s. but i don't believe we've done an all girls family outing since i've been an adult.

#1 Auntie said we could do it at her house (the McMansion) and most of us agreed. i did notice that #2 Auntie didn't seem keen on that one. she likes to fish y'all and thought the lake would be a good place to make a picnic. and #1 Grannie was absent but we thought she'd go along with the majority vote cuz she usually does. 'specially when it's #1 Auntie's idea.

when we parted it was with the notion that the party would be at #1 Auntie's McM. we were only waiting to hear back on the date and time.

friday evening i got word from #2 Auntie that the party would be saturday, commencing with breakfast. #1 Auntie would do all the cooking since she offered to host (and she likes to cook). #2 Cousin (#1 Auntie's daughter) said we should arrive around 11 a.m. because no one thought #1 Cousin (me) could get up early enough to arrive sooner.

excuse me? back in the day, that woulda led to a lotta cussing y'all. today i deal with #1 Family differently for a lot of reasons.

so any way, #2 Auntie said we should call #1 Auntie to get all the details straight. in true #1 Family tradition, it never happened.

instead, i got up around 9 on saturday morning and began making phone calls. i called #1 Grannie, #1 Auntie, #2 Auntie, and #2 Cousin. i got #1 Grannie's answering machine. #1 Auntie's voice mail came on. #2 Auntie's phone was busy, and #2 Cousin didn't answer at all.

#2 Auntie called about an hour later and said she didn't think she was going because she and #1 Grannie had appointments to get their hair did. *sucking my teeth*

then she said #2 Cousin and her #1 (step) daughter needed a ride and could i pick them up? now i don't have nothing against carpooling or picking up my peoples, but we talking bout some big booties. #2 Cousin has her own ride. why they gotta be messing up my axles?!

i rang #2 Cousin again. still no answer. so i went back to minding mine.

by the time i get a call from #2 Cousin, it's after 10 a.m. she said if she and #1 Daughter could fit in my car, they'd ride with us. bet.

i told baby bliss and #3 Cousin to get ready then i scurried off to do the same.

we got to #2 Cousin's house by oh... 11 something. i thought they would be ready to go y'all. she and #1 Daughter were dressed but we had to wait. and wait. and wait.

finally we all piled in and headed for #1 Auntie's.

#2 Cousin knew a back road so we took that route. it was beautiful. we passed, meadows, cows, geese, farms... then i got to feeling sad cuz i know that in a few years time much of that beauty would be gone, replaced by civilization in the form of expensive/exclusive subdivisions and upscale strip malls.

any way...

#1 Auntie had a yummy spread ready for us. :-) we chowed down on grits, rosemary fried taters, veggie sausage, cinnamon rolls, and watermelon. we were gonna have eggs too but #1 Auntie forgot to buy some and we were too lazy to stop at the market on the way up.

during breakfast Auntie asked #3 Cousin about school. #3 Cousin said she doesn't like school much. too much cussing and fighting she said. sounds like a bar on friday night right y'all? naw, she's in elementary school.

we didn't get to cussing in school until i was in 9th grade, i know. i was too much of a lady (read: scairdy cat) to fight. i had a lotta mouth tho (as mentioned somewhere else in the blog) and it got me in plenty o' trouble with the bully girls. i never really got beat up but i recall an incident in the girl's locker room where a few chicks tried to jump me. (and one actually did jump on my back.) another time, a girl said she would get me after school. i tried to get away as soon as the bell rang but stupid me got my shoe caught under the fence on the way out. i saw Big Bully Girl coming around the corner and i knew my goose was cooked y'all. so i tried to pretend like she hadn't threatened to punch my grill out and asked her nicely if she could help me get my shoe back.

ahhhhh... the pleasant memories of 2nd grade...

any way, back to the tale of the hour.

then we all began reminiscing about school. two of us are still in elementary, one of us is in high school, two of us graduated high school at least 20 years ago, and #1 Auntie graduated in the latter days of peace and love beads.

it was kinda weird to hear how much school has changed thru the ages. made me feel old and withered. :-(

after all the grub was gone, we headed for the pool. #1 Auntie got in with baby bliss and #3 Cousin. #2 Cousin and #1 Daughter decided to sit it out with me but #1 Daughter changed her mind later. i had my laptop poolside but decided against checking for an unsecured wi-fi signal. i wanted to log on and blog but thought better of it. any way i was too busy taking pics and video-ing the pool people so #3 Cousin can have a nice CD/DVD to take home when her southern vacation ends.

when the family tired of the pool, we went back to #1 Auntie's for lunch. everyone got cleaned up then explored the outside of the McMansion while we waited for Auntie to whip up a tummy-yummy mid-day meal.

Auntie has a small closed in terrace off her kitchen and another bigger one that's accessible from her bedroom and the other side of the kitchen. it's a HUUUUUUGE patio. i believe it spans the length of the living room.

i imagined living in that big ole house with mr. bliss and baby bliss. it was a wonderful reverie for all of 2 minutes. that is just waaaaaaaay too much house for the 3 of us. and a house that big would only mean trouble in the form of in-laws thinking they could drop in for extended visits any ole time they felt like it. that includes my momma and them.

lunch was pasta with red sauce and veggies for them that could eat it. (i'm allergic to tomatoes.) i had a deeee-lish-us fruit salad. my gum was still in a bad state though so i could only chew on one side and the juice from some of the fruit was a bit acidic and stung. :-(

after lunch we hung around for a few hours longer than we should have due to a misunderstanding. we thought we heard Auntie say we were all invited to a function she was actually attending with her significant other. (and i'm pretty sure she said just what we thought we heard cuz Auntie was legendary for flunking out at the "pass it on" game when she was a kid.)

by the time she clarified the message, we were all tired and cranky and she and her man were dressed to hit the party circuit.

we ladies -- young and old -- said our goodbyes and dragged our lackluster booties to the car. we headed back to town with the little bit of energy we had left. on the way back in, #2 Cousin and i laughed about our faux pas which led to reminiscing about other crazy incidents that we'd been mixed up in together when we were in our teens and 20s.

i dropped #2 Cousin and #1 Daughter at their house then headed back home to crash.

as luck would have it, the chickadees got revved back up somehow and there was no sleep to be had in this house til the weeeeeeeeeeee hours.

all in all, it was a good day y'all. one of the best i'd had in a long time.

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