My Birthday Weekend and Other "Disasters"

Nothing says Happy Birthday like waking up at 3 in the morning and feeling sick to your stomach.  It should have been a warning to me of things to come, like exploding pens, but other than not feeling well, I was oblivious to what the long weekend held me for.

My birthday fell on a Friday and I had taken the day off.  It was also the day of my son's school's music in the parks program.  A day long program that includes 4 instrumental band and 2 vocal competitions and ends at an amusement park.  My husband has chaperoned for the past 3 years and this year I decided as it fell on my birthday that I would take the day off and tag along.  My son had other ideas.  No chaperoning; no tagging along.

Now maybe I could have overridden his declaration.  Maybe I should have.  But after much discussion; both my husband and I decided that if he didn't want us along; we wouldn't go.  As it happened, my parents are in the process of moving full time into their "summer" home at the shore and over the past few months I've been helping to clean out the house that I grew up in and move certain items down to the shore.  (This alone is its own blog post and one for another time.)  Since we weren't going on the trip, we could spend that time transporting stuff from one location to another.  My plan was to get up at 4 (not much earlier than I usually do), but my brain/body had other ideas, so 3 it was.  I had to get my son up by 4:30 and out the door by 4:50.  Do you have any idea how much fun it is getting a teen out of bed at that hour?  And then making sure he had a change of clothes? (Dressed in black pants, white button down for the competition portion; shorts, t and sneakers for later in the day at Dorney Park.)  Forcing him to take suntan lotion (which he never used), a bathing suit (again never used despite doing activities in Wild Water Kingdom) and a towel.  Making sure he had his trumpet and lunch.  (Breakfast was delivered for a nominal fee by https://www.bluehippocoffee.com  -- the BEST $10 I have spent in a long time.  Thank you!)  He grudgingly gave me a (forced) kiss before getting into a friend's car (this dad was allowed to chaperone).

Once he was gone, hubby and I immediately got into our vehicle; which we had pre-packed the night before and headed south.  I have to say that the Garden State Parkway is much more pleasant to drive on in the early morning hours; even if you are feeling sick to your stomach.  (Which is why I was so happy that hubby came along with me; I made him keep talking to me and try to take my mind off of "things.")  The light traffic made the commute so much easier and even with stops to get a newspaper and coffee/breakfast for hubby (I didn't even want coffee; which tells you how crappy I felt), we still managed to pull into my parent's driveway by 6:30ish.  (And would have been even earlier if Dunkin' hadn't been so busy!)

We spent part of the morning unpacking the car and "relocating" items as well as bringing home some items (for delivery to our local thrift shop).  I did manage to go for a walk (once I felt better) and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine.  However, it being a Friday in June, we knew we should not stay too long.  We had a nice lunch before heading back North;  this time the traffic was not as kind.  (No surprise there.)

Spent the afternoon doing some cleaning and general work around the house.  I was exhausted, but every time I tried to lay down and rest my brain would kick back into action and run a million miles an hour.  I did get in a 10 minute nap, but that was about it.

Hubby offered to take me out to eat for my birthday, but neither of us was really feeling it.  We just wanted to go to bed.  But we still had to wait for the boy to get home.  Bus didn't pull into the school until after 9.  And then there was dirty laundry to contend with! Sigh...

You'd think I'd sleep in on a Saturday morning.  You'd be wrong.  My son and I had a living history event from 10-5.  I was awake by 5 and we were dressed in our civil war garb and on the road by 9:15. It was a beautiful (but long) day, only marred by the fact that traffic in OUR town was diverted (due to another event) and trying not to get killed crossing the street to get to and from the event in Morristown.  (There is a reason why it is called SPEEDwell Avenue.)  It was a fun, but tiring day. It probably would not have been so tiring if it weren't for the fact that the day before was so exhausting.

Again, hubby offered to take me out to dinner, but I instead opted for fast food, figuring that it would be easier.  WRONG.  It was anything but fast.  Let this be a lesson to me.  After a long day, the one thing you don't want is to sit in the car and wait for fast food that takes over 15 minutes to get to you.

You'd think I'd sleep in on a Saturday morning.  You'd be wrong.  My son and I had a living history event from 10-5.  I was awake by 5 and we were dressed in our civil war garb and on the road by 9:15. It was a beautiful (but long) day, only marred by the fact that traffic in OUR town was diverted (due to another event) and trying not to get killed crossing the street to get to and from the event in Morristown.  (There is a reason why it is called SPEEDwell Avenue.)  It was a fun, but tiring day. It probably would not have been so tiring if it weren't for the fact that the day before was so exhausting.

Again, hubby offered to take me out to dinner, but I instead opted for fast food, figuring that it would be easier.  WRONG.  It was anything but fast.  Let this be a lesson to me.  After a long day, the one thing you don't want is to sit in the car and wait for fast food that takes over 15 minutes to get to you.

So you probably think I'd sleep in after 2 busy days, but you'd be wrong.  On Sunday, I woke at 4:30 (which is my "usual" weekday get up time) and there was no falling back asleep.  To take advantage of the day, I did my daily walk and took some time to have some coffee before heading to church.  To be honest, it was such a nice day, I would have liked to have skipped the church bit and just relaxed in the sun with a good book, but my son was being recognized as "graduating" from 8th grade as well as being commissioned for a youth service trip this summer, so it was a must do.

I COULD have taken a break after that but I am an obsessive and crazy lady! (If you've been following this blog for a while you already know that!)  I decided to do some more cleaning of my parents’ house since Monday is trash day. (And Wednesday is bulky items day; so you KNOW what I'll be doing Tuesday night.) I filled their trash can, 4 giant bag trash bags and somehow managed to cut my finger on the screen door before throwing in the towel (at least for now.)

Meanwhile, somewhere in the neighborhood, someone (or some restaurant nearby) was grilling steak.  Every time I stepped outside I could smell it and my mouth started to water.  Despite it being nearly five on a Sunday evening, I decided to run to the local Shoprite and have a dinner of steak and fresh corn.  What was I thinking, right?  Well, I clearly wasn't thinking because EVERYONE knows that supermarkets on the weekends are crazytown and late in the day...well...at least I made it home in one piece!

But here's the true disaster of the weekend...

I put a pot of water on to boil.  Hubby started the broiler and gets the steak going.  I set the table and pour myself a glass of wine (but not too much because the Tony Awards started at 8 and I wanted to stay up and watch the whole thing).  I was out in the living room when I heard a loud pop/bang.  Hubby was in the kitchen and couldn't figure out what happened, but there is a pool/puddle of black stuff on the floor and dripping down the pantry door.  He's thinking something in the pantry exploded, but I can't see anything amiss...other than the gooey stuff.

Then I suddenly what has happened.  On the side of the oven we have several clip magnets.  Some of them hold potholders and oven mitts.  Some of them are just there.  And then there is a magnetic metal basket which holds several dry erase markers.  Somehow, the basket has inched its way up from the towards the back of the oven (where it would not be hot) up to the front by the oven door. (But still on the side.)  And I see smoke.  I grab an oven mitt and pull it off.  Ink is dripping all over the place, so I grab a dishtowel too and take it outside.  Obviously, it had gotten so hot that one of the pens exploded (I found bits on the floor in the kitchen and in the dining room.)  What a MESS!  (Exploded dry erase markers are messier than you might think!)  

But then while cleaning this mess up, I notice that a small bottle of vanilla extract in the pantry has fallen over and is dripping down the INSIDE of the pantry door.  While vanilla extract may smell nice it can be quite sticky and difficult to clean; especially if it's leaked down a rack that is hanging on the door.

Do I need to say that I had more than one glass of wine after all this?  And that as a result I didn't make it all the way through the Tony Awards?  (Although I got pretty close...by the time I crashed I knew that "Hadestown" was going to walk away with it.)

This was NOT the weekend I had envisioned and it ALMOST made me happy to see Monday roll around.  (Well not quite happy.)  The weekend was messy and exhausting...maybe the work week will be more restful?  (What AM I saying?)

Well, one can always hope.