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My Profile
Fairytales for a Practical Princess - 2008-11-30
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11:21 p.m. - 2008-08-17
What a nice weekend! Saturday I met some more of Mick's extended family. MIL's cousins, Gram's only niece and nephew. Um, yeah. I guess the kindest thing I can say here is that it's a mercy these people aren't given over to having large families. Batty Cousin Annie (aka: the Mad Giggler) never had youngins and her brother, Cousin George, has contented himself with marrying a woman who had kids of her own already. Thank goodness! Still it was nice to scoop up Gram and hie her off to MIL's house for an outing. Also nice was whipping up some goodies to bring to MIL's. The expected deviled eggs, of course. A peach crisp. Steamed asparagus. And a wicked good mozzarella and tomato salad in a zesty vinaigrette with marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts tossed in just because I had them handy. Everything was easy-peasy to make so I felt a bit embarrassed by all the raves and praise. The farmers' market makes it dead simple to put together snazzy eatables, all I do is sift through the bounty in the fridge, do a little chopping and stirring and POOF! Company-worthy food. Come winter and the end of market season and we'll be back to meatloaf and Rice-a-roni…zzzzzzz. I wish I could enjoy Mick's relatives more. Of course I am polite to them, but so far I haven't met anyone from Mick's extended clan who wasn't an absolute chore to make conversation with. Weird. The men are uniformly unpleasant and dull and counter all opening gambits with conversation killing sour thuds. The women are all nervous wrecks who stutter, backtrack and punctuate everything with awkward chuckles- distaff versions of Beavis and Butthead's "heh hehheh heh". Maybe if they got lubricated they'd be a bit more fun, but there is no booze EVER at the MIL's. So it was an afternoon of THUD! Heh hehheh heh. THUD! Heh heh…sheesh. But the food was good, I hugged on Gram a lot, the weather was nice for porch sitting, Wolf got to swim, and Mick was proud as a gander to introduce his glam woman and mannerly handsome stepson to his kin. Actually it was fun. Mick entered his VW so he was a participant instead of a spectator. The event was held right down the road from our house, no major travel involved. The car show was a fundraiser so all proceeds went to a worthier cause than the usual fleecing by some snotball car club sponsor whose raison d'erte is to give 'tude to other classic car owners and stand around in bitchy little clusters all day sniggering at this one's wrong hubcaps and that one's lousy paintjob. Way big fun was the penny social held in conjunction with the car show. More fundraising and a plain old fashioned hoot. I used to go to them all the time when I was a kid. Where else but at a penny social can one get a chance at winning the strangest assortment of garage sale treasures ever gathered under one roof? First comes the buying of the tickets and putting that first one into the door prize bucket. Then off to the tables! The perusal of the treasures! The anticipatory thrill of dropping your hopeful tickets in the collection cup next to each offering! The excitement of the drawing! "Puh-leeeeze call my number!" Then that magic moment when they do! And here comes the runner with your prize! A motley collection of paperback books! An insulated lunch bag! Really ugly Christmas decorations! WOW! All this for the low, low price of $2.00. I'm telling you, man, it does NOT get any better than an afternoon at a penny social. Mick, for a wonder, had never been to one before and surprised himself with how much he enjoyed it. Wolf was beside himself with glee over the adventure. Disappointed he didn't win the mega-cool pirate sword with the fake blood, but pretty darned pleased that he won his old mom a lovely tea set with roses on it. Afterwards as we staggered off to the car with all our loot we decided penny socials are our new thing and will be on the lookout for them from now on. Wolf and I headed home then but Mick stayed for the car judging. YES! His '57 won! 1st place in the Volkswagen class. Another trophy for the Oval. When he got home Mick had a happy few minutes rearranging to make room for this latest trophy amongst the dozens on the garage walls and then tenderly put his glossy car to bed. We got tidied up and met the folks at Aldo's for the usual Sunday dinner, and without the burden of the whack-o cousins who'd gone home last night, the conversation was lively and fun. My flounder was delish. Wolf picked out some excellent tunes on the juke. Mick gave his mother the wee snapping turtle he'd rescued from the road this afternoon and she was tickled to get a new critter for her backyard pond.
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