Saturday morning, Mal and I went to the park to meet a friend and play a while. It was getting HOT, but nice enough with a breeze and in the shade. By the time we got home at noonish, James was up and around and getting hungry. His idea was to head into town to pick up his med refill and find something to eat.
Mal wasn't having it. He begged James to stay home, but in the end, James said he needed to get out. Mal was devastated. James asked, "Do you want to go with me?" Mal did! Mal had James put the carseat into the "red car" and they ended up at Taco Cabana.
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| Photo credit: James |
They also went to Walgreen's and Eileen's Colossal Cookies, so it sounds like a cool day! Then when they got home, D wanted to get out with me, so we headed into Cedar Park. It was a nice time, even though of the three things we tried to do, none of them worked out exactly (one didn't work out twice), but D ended up with a new fidget spinner, so didn't walk away empty-handed.
We spent the evening playing with Mal in the back yard, fortunately after the sun was behind the trees and we could enjoy the shade. We've been here six months now, and I'm still captivated by our back yard.
Yesterday morning, Father's Day, I noticed an idyllic scene just as we were getting ready to head out to church: Mal was sitting in the big blue recliner with James, petting Aish. The cat usually jumps up whenever the toddler is around, but this time, she was being super chill. It was so cute that I grabbed my camera to memorialize this Father's Day moment.
And just as I did, Mal spilled the soda he was drinking, and realized that he wasn't going to be able to wear his beloved grey and blue shirt to church. So this is the moment I captured.
That's about as real as it gets, people. That's how our Father's Day started. A few minutes later, when Mal howled, "No, thank you!" about every option I offered as an alternative, I might have sworn a few times, angry at myself for "letting" him drink when he spills every single time, and frustrated that he'd been ready to leave more than half an hour early but I hadn't been... and wishing I had and that we could have just driven around.
But, it all ended fine and we got on different clothes, went to church, then met James at Qdoba for lunch. Father's Day food is more challenging when your guy is avoiding meat in order to avoid a gout attack. He got their veggie bowl, and I got a tropical shrimp taco (seasonal) then realized I was probably being a jerk for eating something he can't. I also got about 1/4 of a cup of diet Mello Yello before the Freestyle machine ran out. D'oh!
After lunch, we walked over to PetSmart. We usually get our cat food through Amazon Subscribe and Save, but it's not a perfectly-timed game. Sometimes, we get food before the old stuff runs out. This time, it wasn't going to happen. Approaching the door, I noticed on a chalkboard outside that if you texted "summer" to their number, you'd get a coupon. The coupon was for $10 off of $40 (and, sadly, the cat food we get is $46 a bag there)... OR $40 off of $100. So we ended up getting two bags of cat food and a box of litter for the same price we would have gotten just the two bags of food with Amazon (which is $10 cheaper per bag of food than PetSmart, barring sales and special coupons like this). Woo hoo!
James took Mal home and I swung by Walmart to pick up our groceries -- By the way, if you haven't tried Walmart Grocery pickup, you totally should. Pick out what you need online, prices the same as in the store, and they shop and bring it out to your car for you. It keeps the best part of Walmart (prices) and does away with the worst part of Walmart (shopping at Walmart). If you decide to do this for the first time, please click here and save us both $10!
The rest of the day, we hung out and played with Mal, including playing in the back yard quite a bit in the late afternoon. Dangggg, it's hot. But Mal was comfy, naked, and even managed to slide a few times after we got him a "magic carpet" (beach towel). I don't love privacy fences, but given Mal's proclivity to nudity, right now it's probably for the best.
For dinner, I made James "chicken" and waffles, using veggie protein tenders instead of chicken. It was delicious, and I think that substituting so much of our meat with non-meat has made zero difference to the teen. I don't care much whether we have meat or not, but I was concerned that we wouldn't have anything D wanted to eat. Mal also ate two tenders and an entire waffle, which is kind of a lot for him to consume in one sitting.
Also, miraculously, every single waffle of this batch turned out perfectly. Maybe it's because I used some whole wheat? I'll let you know next time I try it again.
This morning, Mal announced bright and early (before 9) that he wanted to go play in a ball pit. There's a place I've been meaning to take him, anyway, as a substitute for his beloved My Gym, but we just hadn't made it yet. So I ran and put on some clothes, decided my Monday chore could wait until we returned, and went back to get Mal ready. At this point, his tune was, "No way! Mal's very tired!" Sigh.
I got my chores done (cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms) and by then, Mal was less tired and eager to go. He got dressed, and we went to Little Land. They're preparing to open one closer to us, and when they do, I think we'll buy a membership. Mal loved it, and they had so much to do! In addition to the "gymmy" stuff, they also had a "fine motor skills" area with trains, puzzles, dress-up, puppet show, and a tiny grand piano that Mal banged on for probably 80x longer than anyone in that room wanted him to play it.
Then it all fell apart when, after about an hour, Mal discovered the baby area, meant for kids 18 months and under. There were fun things there, including an even tinier baby piano. I made him get out of that area because he was bowling over this sweet little crawler, and he was destroyed. "I want the baby piano!" It was so sad, and he couldn't calm down, not even to go sit and get a snack and some water. He tried, but just erupted in tears again at the injustice of being denied the use of the baby piano. So we left.
We needed to get some grocery staples, but I was starting to get hungry, so we went to Chick-fil-A. Mal went into the play area and was enjoying the other kids when it was reported that someone had peed in the play area, and they closed it down for like half an hour to clean and let the cleaner dry up.
Most of the kids left during that time, but we ate lunch and waited. There were a couple of 8-ish-year-olds standing there when the guy was checking to make sure the cleaner was dry, and one of them said, "I'd clean up pee if they paid me a million dollars." Man, the job market is going to be a rude awakening to him.
Mal played a bit longer, then was ready to go. It had started raining when we were inside, so we got to get wet, which is so much better than just being sweltering in the sun.
We went to 365 by Whole Foods and, in addition to the staples, I got six mochi. They have them individually, buffet-style, so we are getting to sample black sesame, matcha green tea, strawberry, coffee, red bean, and mango.
And we got rained on even more.
Oh! I was out of gas... literally OUT. I was planning to get some on the way home, and either the storm had messed up the railroad crossing on Whitestone or they were testing it. But whatever, the gate was down and lights were on, but there was no train. I was already cutting it close, so started to get nervous. Then the gates went up and the lights went out!
About three cars went through when the lights started up again. So this time, we waited a few minutes, while I debated whether it was better to leave car idling or turn it off and hope it restarted. Fortunately, we got to the gas station on time.
So that's our weekend and today. Not too much excitement, just our everyday life. And twenty years from now, I might want to remember what it was like.
Love your ordinary days.
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