Fun With Food – Adopted Joy

After the craziest Saturday in memory, with both Paul and I splitting the driving between:

getting up early to get Ellie out the door by 6:35am for an away volleyball game, only to find out after her ride had been confirmed that she wasn’t feeling up to going, and having to cancel the ride
Getting Natalie and friend over to GCU by 7am to check in for their SAT exams
Getting Jordan to GCC by 10am for his 2 Saturday classes
Picking up Natalie and Friend at 11am after their exams
Taking Natalie and Friend along with us on our Satur-date to Chipotle, then dropping off Friend before going home
Getting Ruben to a very far-flung West Valley park to attend the birthday party of one of his classmates, which I hear was an absolutely HUGE affair, and where Paul had to suffer hanging out with all the moms while the kids played
Picking up Jordan from GCC on the way to
Getting Alyssa to Castle’s & Coasters at 3pm to play for a few hours in celebration of HER friend’s birthday
Picking up Alyssa at 9pm instead of the previously planned 8pm with the caveat that she would owe me a very cooperative photo shoot in exchange for the extra hour of fun
Taking Jeff, who was riding along for the pickup, to first one Church’s Chicken, and then another, after the first one did not have spicy chicken. (But the second one did)
and finally, watching an episode of Ludwig with Jeff, because that is what we do. We watch fun mysteries together…

… our Sunday was relatively boring. I mean, apart from what Paul discovered upon waking up. After putting in his usual first-thing-in-the-morning load of laundry, and then going to Dunkn’ Donuts to get the kids Sunday Breakfast, he came back to find that the washing machine pump has gone out. Our machine is only 4.5 years old, and should not have fizzled this quickly, but he puts it down to having made the fatal error of purchasing an LG last time around. Before we left for church he had found a GE at Lowes that could be delivered as soon as Tuesday (or Monday if he wanted to pay an extra $40, which he was not in the mood to do), and purchased it.

But yes, aside from that it was a relatively boring morning… other than the fact that Ruben could not find anything to wear, and ended up in pants that were too big, without a belt on, and a button down shirt that I have never seen before and was at least 4 sizes too large, complete with sleeves hanging down 6 inches beyond his fingertips, and failing to find his shoes, he ended up wearing his Crocs, which were at least black and matched the socks he found that matched each other AND were the right size (thank you Lord for small mercies)…

And so it was that we made it to church on time, even a little early and therefore were able to find a “short row” which is shortened to make room for wheelchairs, which I’ve been needing lately on Sundays… only it seemed that a short row is too short for the 8 of us that needed seating, even with me in my own chair at the end, so Paul had to sit in the row behind. I was pleased that he wisely positioned himself behind the siblings most likely to need admonishing, which lessened the likelihood of such a need.

After mass we trekked over to Grandma’s house and had the most relaxing time together, and enjoyed some Papa John’s pizza and fruit for our repast. In the few minutes I had to pack up before leaving the house in the morning I had cleverly thought to bring my macro lens. I was hoping to get some better photos of Grandma’s Desert Bird of Paradise flowers — only to arrive and find out the landscapers had pruned it back to a veritable stump. I was dejected, but then went about finding things to experiment on inside – mostly food, but I got a few other shots as well. I do love what I’m learning these days – just ask anyone, I can always find a way to incorporate my enthusiasm into almost any conversation. 😀