Whew!

We had such a busy day today. It was one of those where when you leave one place, it's only to head to the next place. Frankly, I hate days like that, but what are you gonna do, ya know?

This morning, Grace tried a karate class. She's mentioned being interested in it and a new place was offering 2 free classes to try it out, so we gave it a whirl. She really liked it, so I think we'll sign her up for it and see how she does. Hell, I'm just glad because it gets me out of going to gymnastics. I was so sick and tired of the woman that owns the gym. So it's all good, I say. LOL!

So we left there and had to head to the house of a classmate of Grace's last year. Her best friend, J. J moved to Michigan right at the end of last school year, so Grace hasn't seen her since then. They were back in town this weekend to pack up the rest of their house and move for good. So as much as I didn't want to go, I knew I had to. Grace still talks about how much she misses J., so I knew she'd be excited (I didn't tell her where we were going). I ended up having a good time because some other classmates' moms were there and ALL of them smoked. I tend not to ever smoke in front of people I don't know well (especially women) because I don't want anyone judging me. When I saw one woman (who I seriously thought would never smoke) light one up, I actually said out loud, "Thank GOD you smoke!" LOL! That's kind of sad, isn't it?

Anyway, here are the girls hanging out together and having fun. Cute little children, aren't they?

So anyway, then we left there and headed home only long enough to pick up Steve and then we went to Steve's cousin's surprise 30th birthday party. They had it at a big park/playground type place which was great for the kids, but sucked for the moms because it was hard keeping track of the kids -- especially if you have multiple children.

So anyway, the second we get there, Grace and Hannah ran off to play with my nephews, who were being watched by my SIL and my MIL. I'm like, "Cool. I'll quick inhale some food, chug a beer, and then go play with the kids."

I swear to god, we were there FIFTEEN minutes tops when I look up and see Grace is absolutely soaked from the chest down. What... the... hell? Apparently, since my somewhat "spirited" (nice way of saying out-of-control) nephew decided to walk into the stream to "catch tadpoles," it was OK for Grace too. Um, do you think perhaps you could ask me next time before allowing my child to do that? The truth is, I didn't really that she got wet because I had an extra set of clothing in the car for her, but they didn't know that.

So anyway, I told Grace that she was NOT to go back down near the stream without an adult. (You couldn't see the stream from where we all were.) I swear to god, less than 3 minutes later, I say, "Steve -- where the hell is Grace?" So I walk down to the stream, and there are her and Gunnar (my nephew) waist high in the middle of the damn stream with not an adult in sight. Son of a b*tch!!! So I reamed both of them out for going down without an adult and threatened Grace with bodily harm if it happened again. Dear god, that was less than an hour into the party. [grumble grumble.]

So anyway, about an hour and a half after we got there, my SIL, BIL & two nephews left. It then dawned on me that she hadn't really said hello and mumbled a goodbye, causing me to wonder if she was all pissed at me about something again. Then I realized that I really don't give a shit. LOL! But seriously, I swear to god I think she's mad at me. This is the girl who didn't speak to me for TWO YEARS when I first met Steve (for no reason what-so-ever), so she could possibly snap at any moment. LOL!

Then I wondered if she was pissed because she was sort of half-assed watching her 2-year-old son and Hannah for about 20 minutes while I ate. But I don't really care if she was. I'm always the only one watching the kids/disciplining the kids/cleaning up after the kids on holidays and at gatherings, and it's about damn time that she took her fucking turn. Right? RIGHT?!?! Yeah.

So um, anyway, we were there for several more hours until I finally dragged Steve and the girls to the damn car to come home. I'd pretty much had my fill of socializing, parties, and being the designated driver and I was done.

So we came home, and within 30-minutes, this is what I found on the couch...

I guess it was a rough day for everybody, huh? LOL!