The Other Patty

Since the Rusty/Rachel incident I have been craving a fight. Another chance to smack down. But this time, bigger and badder than before. How awful, right? I blame it on the "Other Patty." Which is what I have come to call her. (or me- when I am not really myself) For instance, Rachel brought us over a loaf of Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread from Great Harvest to apologize and fix the bridge she friggin tore apart. Ken was home and accepted it and said thanks and was all sweet about it. When I got home he showed it to me and was all smiles and I said in this dark voice, "Throw it away-she probably poisoned it." WHAT?!!? Where did that come from? I love bread! Carbs. Carbs. Carbs. Here is my neighbor trying to be sweet and apologize and I am swearing at her silently in my head and visualizing eggs splattering on her front door. "Other Patty" be good!

Last night Ken and I were at Walmart. I had to get the oil changed in my car. So we're there and the guy takes all our information and then says it's going to be 40 minutes. "40 minutes?!" Uh-oh.... I feel "Other Patty" coming up. "Other Patty" looks around and sees that there are no other cars there, there are mechanics everywhere smoking their cigs. "What's going to take so long?" Ken grabs my hand.... he must sense "Other Patty" too. The mechanic, Barry says we have another car in there and there are only 2 mechanics working. I take in a breath and am ready to go off on the facts that I bet there is more than one lift in there and maybe if he cracked the whip a little and got those 3 mechanics to do something traffic could get moving a little quicker.... but Ken. Bless his heart. Says, "See you then" to Barry and we go into Walmart. Now. Normally if you have to run into Walmart for one thing you're in there for an hour and don't even know. But last night- GOSH! We were there for an hour and 20 minutes waiting for my dumb car and couldn't think of things we wanted to look at. "Other Patty" doesn't like being bored. She went back to the tire place like 5 times and drummed her fingers on the counter. When the car finally was done- Barry came and talked to Ken (clearing avoiding me) about the tires on my car. Apparently, they're pretty bad. He said they were below legal limits. Yikes. (BIKES! Mr. Colson rocks my world.) He gave us a receipt with a checklist of everything they did. "Other Patty" got a hold of it. And flipped out. "Yeah right they washed the windshield." "Vacuum carpet? Ah- no. Turn around- we're going back." Sweet Ken just grins and bears it and tells me to calm down and act normal. He doesn't get that it IS normal for "Other Patty." She's bad. She laid on her horn and gave someone the bird on the way to work this morning because they wouldn't let her pass. Jerk. Also, if you have any suggestions on what to call "Other Patty" let us know. I don't like her disgracing my good name.

Friday Night- Date Night

Ken and I go on a date night every Friday. Sometimes we go to dinner- sometimes we go to the movies. There are times we go bowling or out with friends and there are times when our date night is phones off, leftovers, and Talladega Nights (which we have seen over 100 times.) This past Friday night was the best date night we have had in a while! We babysat Ben and Karlenn's kids for them while they went on a date night. I was so excited all day I couldn't wait for them to go. And then like a half hour before I got really super nervous. They might not like me. I'm not that fun. What if I get mad? We don't have any kid toys. What are we going to do? Ken calmed me down and told me I had a pretty good imagination. I stood my post at the window waiting for them to come.

I had a blast! At first, it was a little awkward. I haven't been around kids that aren't family in 7 or 8 years probably. I was rusty. They have 3 kids. Dylan, Sadie, and Micah. Micah is the baby and Ken said he'd be in charge of the baby. (baby-hogger) He did not let go of that baby the whole time! I didn't even get to hold him! But that was okay because I was partying with Dylan and Sadie! They have incredible ideas and imaginations and love to talk. The hardest part was listening to both of them at the same time and trying to give responses.

Rusty was no help whatsoever. Our original plan was Ken and Rusty could read in the back room and I'd have the kids in the kitchen. But Rusty would not have of that. He wanted to be in the action. But Rusty, bless his heart, forgets that he towers over small children. And although he wouldn't hurt them he can traumatize them for life. So I "locked" Dylan and Sadie in the kitchen (not really Karlenn I just closed both doors and warned them about what would happen if they came out) and released the hound. Who ran and jumped and barked around the coffee table 5 or 6 times before plummeting down the steps to his play area. I locked (literally) him downstairs and the night went smoothly. I came up to the kitchen and Dylan and Sadie just stared at me all wide eyed and spooked. Dylan spoke first. He's a big dog. Yes, he is.

We had drawing contests, made a big animal poster, played with Tonka trucks, played Beauty and the Beast, learned how to catch popcorn in our mouths, made a fort, sampled cookies, made a golf ball noise tube, and heck- I had a good time.

I'd have them back anytime!

This is the fort we made in the living room. You can unfold the canopy for more privacy.

We have a Kennywood arrow on our fridge (you Pittsburghers know what that is). Intermittently throughout the night Dylan would go in, change the direction, and get this silly smile on his face. I asked him what that was all about. He smiled even bigger! "You see, you come here and change the arrow, (changes arrow) and that is where Rusty has to go! Downstairs (change arrow), upstairs (change arrow), upside down!" The laughter was uncontrollable then. He got such a kick out of it- but wasn't so into posing for the picture.

Sweet Sadie. I have "magnetic" paper dolls. It's Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Sadie was so good! She's sit there and make new outfits and then bring it over to show me it was a "gweeen dwess." She also was very proud of her Hannah Montana T-shirt. And ought to be!

NETFLIX

Me and Ken signed up for Netflix roughly 3 weeks ago. We love to watch movies and hate to bring them back. We were basically handing our life savings over to Hastings. Enough of that! The Fosters introduced us to RedBox which was the coolest thing ever, or so we thought. The one at the Albertsons on 17th is SO slow! And there are always people there with 100 screaming kids! I have no problem with kids. I love kids! I want kids! But-when they are putting their sticky grimy hands all over the RedBox stand because their mother won't give them any attention- oooo! It gets to me! But maybe I'll understand that more when I am a beloved mother. Anyway- it took awhile but I convinced Ken to sign up for Netflix. We got the $13.99 a month plan. 2 movies at a time- unlimited rentals per month- and unlimited movie watching from your computer. It's AWESOME! I love getting those bright red envelopes in my mailbox. It really is like the commercials. Where the characters are waiting for you. Oh, I love it! Except me and Ken are total addicts and can't control ourselves. So we started with 2 movies. And thought we'll watch one, put it in the mail, watch the next one the next night, put it in the mail and by then we'll have a new one. Wrong! We gorge. Watch 2 in a night and then sit and look at each other like- what do we do now? We don't have a NetFlix? Sad. However, we'll get on schedule! AND I highly recommend this service to everyone. Especially people who hate going to the video store. The selection really is incredible! We've got all seasons of Seinfeld waiting in line to come visit us. Yippee! Also- there are plans as cheap as 8.99 a month. I can't think of a reason NOT to have Netflix. In closing, if anyone knows how the Netflix factory works let me know. I like to imagine that they have a worker just for me and Ken. And everytime we send in our movie request our little NetFlix elf smiles and shakes his little elf head as if he just KNEW we would pick that movie. (But that can't be it.)