Weekend Intelligence: Fathers' Day Weekend

For the most part, it was a pretty lazy weekend. Just being able to relax a bit made for a nice weekend. The jello shots helped. :P Colin's departure to El Paso, and all the craziness that entailed added a little bit of excitement to the mix. So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights.

We spent the better part of Friday night packing and preparing Colin for his trip in the morning. To help him focus and learn what he needs to have when he packs, I had him think of all the things he uses in a normal week. We got him all packed and ready to go, with all his books and games and the documents he'd need being an unaccompanied minor in his carry on. In between packing and cleaning, I made up a few batches of jello shots for the weekend. Called it an early night after the packing frenzy abated...

...Only to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning. There just happened to be a lot that needed to happen before noon, including being at the airport to see Colin off. The vehicles needed gas, recycling was full and ready to get turned in, travel check deposited, mail needed to be picked up from the post office and breakfast needed to get gotten. >.>; This means, for efficiency, I woke up at a quarter to 8, got ready for the day and did all the running around done before 10. At least that made the rest of the morning smoother.

When we got to the airport, we found that Southwest has a new policy for allowing non-boarding people past checkpoint. There can be only one. That means that either D or I would be able to go with his to the gate, and the other would stay behind and mind Clara. D kinda got the jump on me with the "not it." -.- So I stayed in the airport departures lobby with Clara as she terrorized the stores. I got us a bag of Bugles to keep her distracted, which I somewhat masterfully got to last a whole half hour. Eventually she got tired of them and started climbing on the benches. I was keeping an eye on her when some random guy walked by and pointed at her. I acknowledged that I was keeping an eye on her when he said, "She's gonna take a nose-dive. Worst dad ever."

O.O WTF? First of all, that was completely out of line to be said to a complete stranger. Second: my daughter gives circus acrobats a run for their money. She's constantly climbing on something and then jumping off in some crazy, tumbling fashion. She's just so rambunctiously rough-and-tumble. It doesn't always end pretty, but it almost always ends with a grinning, ecstatically screeching toddler. So, you don't know me and don't know my daughter. You're not from Sparta. So STFU.

After the airport craziness, we hit the Walmart craziness. Just needed to get all the provisions for the next week. With Colin out of town, we're able to pick up dinners that we like, but normally can't get without a barrage of complaints and requests for corn dogs. We got stir fry with egg rolls. We got fajita and quesadilla fixings. We got Pringles and we don't have to hide them to make them last for the week. Once we got home, I went to HEB (for all the non-Texans, that's like a HyVee or Albertsons or Giant Eagle) to pick up some things that the WalMart close by doesn't seem to ever carry. In particular, D's water-based leg wax, some wine coolers for the jello shots and a peppermint patty. So I'm carrying these things while standing in line at the self-checkout, when I'm approached by some guy wearing a wife beater and his buddy. The guy asks me what time "the game" starts. I said I had no idea, to which he looked me up and down briefly and said, "Didn't think you would," while his buddy started snickering.

At this point, I did what any self-respecting, stable, young, happily married, father-of-two would do in the same situation: I winked at him. -.^ The looks on their faces were priceless, and it got them to leave their spot in search of safer territory. I mean, c'mon... You really feel like more of a man by pulling those shenanigans in the grocery store? Even worse, you really feel so threatened that you jet from your place in line to get away? How old are you, 12? Gotta love homophobes. You're not from Sparta, either. So STFU.

D and I spent the rest of the evening trying out the jello shots and gaming. They were more potent than I remember them. Then again, it had been about five years since the last time I had them. o.O Sure felt it the next morning, though... We did a whole lot of nothing on Sunday. Which was nice. I needed a day to just sit and relax. Played with Clara a little bit before nap time. She was getting up on my computer chair, so I spun it around with her on it, and then she'd jump down and try to walk. LOL. Watched Heathers from our Blockbuster queue. For Fathers' Day, we went out to dinner at Sushi Zushi for some Gyoza, Miso Shiru, Salmon and Crab Philadelphia Rolls and some really good Beef Yakisoba. We called folks, wishing our dads happy fathers' day and Clara got on the webcam and acted all cute for my parents.

Finished the night off in game. After several years of dedication, Snibe finally finished his relic, and we were all there to watch. Delia told us he was excited stupid over the whole thing; couldn't believe it was actually done. After an LS photo op, he proceeded to run around the low level grotto and obliterate weak mobs with his new toy. ;P 'Grats, man, you worked hard for it, earned it and we're all proud of you, but if you leave, we will track you down... :D

So much on the docket this week. With Colin out of the house, and the messes he leaves in his wake out with him, it's a prime time to clean the house. Especially his room. We need to go through that hole and really get rid of some stuff. Most of the stuff in there, he doesn't even use. It's more like how a hamster uses litter than a child uses toys in there. So we're getting rid of it, and all his clothing that's too small and any other Ghosts from Christmas Past and yesteryear. While we're at it, we can also clean up the loft and vacuum and really detail clean some areas of the house that haven't been cleaned since we moved in because it was impractical to do so with Colin around. I say all of this, knowing full well we'll probably run out of steam half way through, but I can dream, can't I?