Administrivia: The Niece will be known as Nut1 and her sister, the artist formerly known as Lil’ Elvis, will be known as Nut2. Because, they are a couple of nuts.
Nut2 joined the sleepover club this weekend. She and her sister received t-shirts to commemorate the event. Going to sleep was the hardest part and I had to remember back to when Nut1 was first spending the night that part was the worst for her too. The better-half and I knew Nut2 was tired but she just wasn’t comfortable going to sleep. The four of us piled on the bed for awhile. We read a few stories and we snuggled, but there just wasn’t any sleeping. Nut1 tried pretend snoring, but that wasn’t convincing Nut2.
Finally, the grown-ups left the room and the two nuts got up once to ask me to turn on the radio (I picked disco). The second time we heard little feet I listened at the foot of the stairs but Nut1 took care of whatever issue had arisen. It was about 10pm when Nut1 came downstairs to hang out a little longer. I wasn’t sure she’d make it back downstairs, but I think that was a point of pride for her.
We spent about an hour star-gazing on the back steps. The sky was clear which made it perfect for identifying constellations. We also used the flashlight to see what animals were prowling about and we spotted a grey fox and a possum. At 11 we all agreed we had to go to bed.
Nut2 scared me out of my skin in the morning. I was about to get up and had just rolled over and there was her little face staring at me. I hadn’t heard her walk into the room. Her sister arrived shortly after and we did a pile on our bed for a few minutes until my bladder was tired of being sat on and I had to get up.
I think having Nut2 here with her sister until just after lunch was about as long as Nut2 can handle the sleepover at this point. That’s OK. I know we had to ease into Nut1 spending the night. Last night I realized Nut1 has been spending the night for about 5 years. Wow.
After they left, we quickly made the house ready for another wave of guests (in conjunction with the sleepover we also had a belated 40th birthday party for my sister so lots of folks were here this weekend) and in the time it took the better-half to go pick up his aunt and his mother, I realized how exhausted I was. I shouldn’t have sat in the recliner. It would have been better to stay in active mode.
The better-half accidentally forgot his mother’s medication so our second guests only stayed for a couple of hours. Although short, it was a pleasant visit. I sent the guests home with tubs of homemade ice cream as parting gifts. Not a bad trade. By leaving early they got way more more ice cream than if they’d stayed later.
Today, we’re taking it easy. Our weather has been wonderful the past few days but today it’s heating up to 100 and we have several more 100+ days in our future. If it would only rain, I think folks could stomach the high heat a little better knowing that we’d have a pay off of rain. As it is, we’re in drought mode around here. We can’t decide where the line is between letting the grass go dormant and making sure it doesn’t die completely. Too bad there’s not a little pop-up thing like you see in a Thanksgiving turkey to let us know when to water the yard.
