Sorry for the long break between posts…it was a busy weekend. I’ll do my best to catch you up on happenings in Hammond River over the last little while:
1. Popcorn. Jim, Anna and I finally got to see The King’s Speech last weekend. We loved it! It had sharp writing, pathos, and humour all in one p-p-p-package! Helena Bonham Carter was particularly good as the Queen. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, please go…you’ll be glad you did! While we were enjoying ourselves in the company of civilized adults, Hope and her friend, Gabrielle, were down the hall in another theatre, watching the premiere of the Justin Bieber movie, Never Say Never, with two or three hundred screaming tweens (I felt sorry for the theatre employees who had to clean up afterwards). I did appreciate Bieber’s impression of Obama when he was a guest on Conan the other night…it was bang-on!
Hope with her idol outside the theatre...photo by Jim...
2. Puddin’ Pop. For new readers of my blog, “Puddin’ Pop” is what I call my 17-month-old granddaughter, Elise. On Friday, I was called upon to babysit while Kaylee and Scott went to Moncton to see the Great Big Sea concert I gave Kaylee the tickets for at Christmas time. Despite the fact that I have three children and two stepchildren, I don’t consider myself “the mommy type” and was a little nervous about spending several hours alone with no backup “Aunties” to help care for my Puddin’ Pop. Kaylee took pity on me, and prestuffed the liners in the cloth diapers (which I’ve never used…they’re a lot fancier and more expensive than they used to be…velcro and liners and snaps, oh my!). Jim dropped me off at Kaylee and Scott’s on the way to work. The first thing we noticed was that Scott had shaved off his beard (yay…I like beards on certain people…my son-in-law is not one of them!). He was all ready for those questions at work like “Where’s your beard?” He saved the clippings in a Ziploc bag, so he could pull it out and say, “Right here!” All together now: “EWWWWW!”
Elise and her bearded Daddy at Christmas time...
Kaylee gave me detailed instructions about when and how much to feed my granddaughter (the milk with the cow on the pitcher was for Elise), and when she went to bed. She showed me the gold-plated baby toothpaste ($4 for a tiny tube). Scott showed me how to get Netflix on the Wii (they only have 21 channels on the TV)…seeing the blank look on my face, he wrote it down. Kaylee put the baby down for a nap about 11:30, and she and Scott left shortly after that, almost forgetting the sushi they’d bought to eat for supper.
Puddin’ Pop woke up a couple of hours later. The next five hours is a blur of activity: trying to get her to eat something besides grapes and baby banana rusks, chasing her down the hallway when she tried to “escape” to her room, watching “Barney” on Netflix, reading stories (Elise recognizes her letters already – she is also learning sign language), and taking the lid on and off the wooden block container (over and over and over again). By 6:30, one of us was ready to crash…I put Elise to bed too, after putting the triple-stuffed nighttime diaper on her.
"Whatchoo talkin' about, Gramma?"
I went back into the living room and turned on Cake Boss…on one of the episodes, the bakery had run out of sugar…how ludicrous is that? Puddin’ Pop took a while to settle down, but she seemed happy to talk to herself in her crib. I was ready to go to sleep by 10:00 p.m. I changed into my jammies, and curled up (or more accurately, “doubled up”) on the loveseat. Kaylee had suggested I bring our air mattress, but I was afraid her cats would poke a hole in it. I woke up in the middle of the night with one of the cats’ faces peering intently into mine…Yoko is the one that races you down the hall to the bathroom to get a drink if you’re foolish enough to turn the faucet on for her (I’m not that gullible!). Cats aren’t nearly as good at cleaning up under high chairs as dogs are either…
About 8 a.m. the next morning, Scott brought Elise in to change her diaper. “Hi, Sweetie,” I called, as they went by. The response was considerably more masculine and mature-sounding than my granddaughter: “Hi!” answered my smartass son-in-law. After we had breakfast, and the kids told me about the concert (uncomfortable seating, the “yelling yahoo” sitting beside them, etc.), they drove me home. I stayed in my jammies for the rest of the day…I was exhausted!
3. Provisions for the Privileged. Jim, Hope and I went to Costco yesterday. We left Anna at home, because I didn’t feel like spending $200 in one go. We needed acetaminophen, and their price was far less than the drug stores (I remembered afterwards that we also needed allergy meds…oops!). As we were going in, Jim flashed his member’s card at the doorperson. Hope asked, “Do you have to show your card?”
“Yes,” I replied. “They don’t let just anybody into Costco!” It was at that point that I realized just how “lucky” I am to be one of the families they admit to the home of the biggest jars of olives you’ll ever see…three years ago when I was a single mom, I couldn’t have afforded the membership fee. My parents certainly would never have been able to swing it when I was a kid either.
I don’t enjoy going to Costco…it represents the kind of greed and consumerism I hate, and it’s a cold experience to shop there. Nonetheless, I spent $55, and picked up a few bargains on essentials. While we waited in the checkout line, Hope wondered why the clerks didn’t have a microphone to call on when they needed something, instead of just yelling out? Why indeed? She was also surprised that we didn’t get bags to put our purchases in. I explained that that’s how they were able to offer such low prices…no frills!
I would like it if I got a warm and fuzzy feeling shopping at Costco, but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen…
4. Bonus: Hope-ism of the Week. When Hope brought me a form to fill out for cheerleading, I asked her why she didn’t do it herself…she knew all the information. “My messing’s writey!” she replied. She’s also left-handed…
Herding Cats in Hammond River 