It was loads of fun, but I needed to go back to work to get some rest

This was a wonderfully busy but exhausting weekend!

I took Thursday off to finish getting ready  for all my Bs and Cs.  It all went smoothly until I had to go to the grocery store.  I got the huge amount of food we would need to feed four millenials and headed out, thinking I had a couple of hours still to finish things like flowers for their rooms, etc.  I loaded the trunk, slammed it shut and THEN realized my bag (with keys, phone, wallet, and knitting) was in the trunk.  Back into the store where a very nice clerk and customer were able to help me with the AAA number and a phone.  They told me it would be at least 45 minutes.  I tried not to think too much about my perishables in the trunk in the hot sun, bought a book with some cash from my pocket and settled down to wait (leaned against the concrete building in a thin strip of shade.)  It only took 20 minutes for the truck to arrive – yeah!  And about a minute for him to get the door open so I could pop the trunk.  A little frightening how easy that was for him, actually.   I went straight home, and was pleased the cold things were still cold!

I felt that anxiety warranted a swim in the pool, so I took a quick dip, then did the last of the chores and had a few minutes to sit and knit before the girls arrived.

My two travelers made it late Thursday afternoon, after a long day in the car with pet fish, rabbit, and all necessary gear.  We got them unloaded, got Denny the bunny settled in the guest room with his mom, and relaxed over some yummy lasagna.

Then it was game on – board games!  They both forgot rule number 1 (I win) and beat me soundly.  We kept at it until after midnight, but I just couldn’t win!

Friday we loafed a bit in the morning, all slow starters, and then after breakfast, we headed out to see Mom.  Because Step dad B was just out of rehab following knee surgery, they could not come to us, which the girls would have preferred, since this meant another few hours in the car.  But they were good sports, and gram and grands were very happy to see each other, even for a short visit.

And it meant I got to go to Mom’s LYS, where I got a feeling for color and style the girls like and then I booted them out to the Grasshopper Shop so I could do some serious shopping.

I got yarn for their Christmas presents, and some pretty fiber – had a lot more yarn and fiber in my basket, but I did some serious editing of the basket when I found this book!

So beautiful in person, I had to have it. I also was thrilled to have the shop give me a couple of free patterns with purchase, one of which is perfect for handspun yarn!  The other is an ingenious little number that may bore me to tears knitting it (a stockinette tube in lace weight!) but makes such a  cool garment, I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

We stopped for Chinese takeout on the way home, and then got to work on door decorations.  Niece B is an RA, and she wanted to make bunny name tags.   So A, C and I cut them out of scrapbook paper while B traced them as fast as she could.  We added googly eyes and cotton ball tails, and soon there were roughly 50 of them laid out on the dining room table.  I say soon, but really, I went to bed after cutting out a dozen, and that is what I found in the morning.  🙂

Saturday, the other B and C joined us and the kids taught us to play Cards Against Humanity.  What a crazy game that is?  It was so funny, but so dark.  We agreed that it is fun to play once in a while but that it would not be good for us to play too often.

That game wrapped up just as late lunch was ready – roast chicken and all the Thanksgiving trimmings – not because we love Thanksgiving, but because they all eat different things and with that spread, I knew they could all find food to fill their bellies.

Then we played a game of Guillotine (why am I just noticing that these board games are dark?) and the 4 kids went off to do a little local shopping at the Big Chicken Barn (used books and antiques.)  When they returned, we played Mille Bourne and ate cake, before the day visitors headed out for home.

Meanwhile the bunny wasn’t feeling well, so niece B hung in her room very upset and worried, and none of us knew quite what to do for him.  I think all the traveling and changes were catching up with him, but apparently bunnies can get sick and die very quickly, so we were worried.

Sunday morning, he seemed a little bit better, he was eating.  But Sunday was a travel day for everyone – and a complicated one at that!  We loaded B and all her animals and their gear into her car, loaded most of the stuff she had stored with us for the summer into our cars, and we all headed up to Husson, where we were meeting up with her mom and grandma and a van also full of necessary items for school.  They had traveled up from CT that day.  We gathered outside the dorm, which OF COURSE was not actually open.  B had to move temporarily into a different dorm room because her dorm’s remodeling wasn’t yet complete. However, we were thrilled that they let us move most of her stuff into a different room on her floor, so she only needed her animals and their gear and a few basics to get her through the week.  It was crazy humid and hot, and her dorm has no elevators, so we hauled stuff up to the 6th floor, over the construction debris, past the workmen (on a Sunday, they were busting to get it done!) and stored it in a room that was ready.  Her room will be quite small this year, I hope the bunny gear fits into it!  She got the bunny settled in the temporary room, and he seemed OK, but I know he will be glad to settle into their regular room later this week. And we all celebrated that this was the last time we would have to haul her gear up those stairs!  Next move is down and out, and it will be the last one!Yeah!

Then we said good bye to them all, C went with her Mom and Gram to start the trip home (she goes to school on Friday in PA), A went off to work for a couple of hours, and I went home to start the clearing up!

I made a trip to the dump, finished the breakfast dishes, and got the laundry started before I cried UNCLE and sat with my knitting.  I was SO TEMPTED to go to bed, but I knew I would be down for the count if I did that, and the weekend activities weren’t quite over!

Our friend Crimson Crow came over at around 5, and she and I went to the Alamo theater for a viewing of the Sound of Music.  I have not seen it in a theater since it came out, and I was 6.  It was AMAZING!  Yes, it is sappy.  Yes, we all knew the lines and music by heart (except Crimson Crow, who had NEVER SEEN IT! Not sure what rock she lived under for the past 50 years.) but it is still a good movie, and so much better on the huge screen!

We saw a woman I know who was there with her family, and she told a funny story – when she saw it first, as a little kid, she fell asleep right after the wedding.  So for years, she thought it was a pretty little love story.  We joked about the whole other story that happens after the wedding, and how surprised she was when she finally saw it on TV years later.

Anyway, Crimson Crow really enjoyed it, and kept being surprised when songs she knew popped up – she never knew where they were from.  As she said, she had only seen part of it, she would start to watch it on TV, but it never kept her interest “beyond that twirling thing on the mountain”  and didn’t she laugh when she realized that was the opening scene.

So that was the finishing touch to a fun but exhausting weekend.  You know when I got home, I crashed into bed, and was rudely woken by the Monday morning alarm not 5 minutes later.  🙂

Bunny update: she took him to the vet, he really is sick. Apparently bunnies have to eat all the time, and he wasn’t so she has to force feed him food and meds. She is a bit stressed as you might imagine. This bunny is her therapy animal and he has made a huge difference in her life already. Not sure how things will go for if she loses him right now.