Weekend RoundUp

For months I'd been looking forward to last night. It didn't go down as I'd pictured but it was still enjoyable, nonetheless. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Thursday night Dan and I went to the Verizon Center to enjoy our Wizards wallop the Cavs by 36 points in game 3 of the play-offs.

Friday we took Kevin to swim team practice and headed out for supper. We ended up at PF Changs at the Mall in Columbia and was told there was a 15-30 minute wait, but before we could even get to another restaurant to check their waiting time, my buzzer went off. Please remind me next time they are slow there if I'm in a hurry, because we almost didn't make it back to the pool to pick up Kevin in time.

Saturday was a qualifying swim meet for Special Olympics. Parents were strongly encouraged to help, so I reported for duty and got assigned the duty of race timer. Having something to do was much better than sitting with a book for six hours waiting for Kevin's events. I was between books anyway, so the job was good. Special Olympics doesn't use touch pads to determine times because some athletes don't do well with them so we used stopwatches, two or three times to a lane. The mean or median time, was used for each swimmer.

It was a long hot day, the temperature on the pool deck must have been close to 90° and I was exhausted by the end of the day from the heat. However, I had a good time cheering on all the athletes and getting to know the other parents. Kevin got assigned "my" lane twice so I got to use my "mom" voice to cheer and encourage him. He got a 5th in 50m Free, 1st in 25m Free, 2nd in 25m Back and his 4x25m relay team got a first, too.

Saturday night Fern and I went to see a local production of The Sound of Music, her friend was in the role of Brigita. Oh, but before that, I phoned in an order to a brand new Asian restaurant for carry-out over an hour before the show was to start. I was told my food would be ready in 35 minutes. I was pulling back into the driveway with food over an hour after I called. The food was good, but I'll wait for a couple weeks to call again so they can get the kinks worked out. I think they should have done a "soft opening" first, it was too much for them to handle like it was.

The play was very good, Fern was a little sad she didn't audition, she said it looked like a lot of fun.

Sunday, Kevin and I went to church and Dan went back downtown for game #4, 'Zards vs. the Cavs. The outcome wasn't as pleasant as it was Thursday, a loss by a three-pointer at the end. While he was gone, I tackled Kevin's room. I expected resistance, but he let me pick up the legos and letters on his floor. He usually would dump out anything I'd pick up but this time he just sat down and started putting the legos together. After a while he disappeared and I found him in my closet where his big supply lives. Come out of the closet, Kevin When I got the room done, he even let me vacuum, but he promptly dumped the bucket of letters out on the guest room floor. Oh well. I'm glad it wasn't my closet floor.

Fern asked if I'd take her to Target, she needed clothes. Sure, I needed light bulbs.

On the way home I reminded her she would be staying with Kevin, Dad and I would be going to a concert.

Who are you seeing?
The Proclaimers.
Really, can I go?

I've been looking forward to this concert for months, they don't come to the US very often. Dan was going as my guest, he's not the invested party. The Wizards just lost to the Cavs and I would bet he's now apathetic about going out. If she behaves, if she really wants to go, then why not?

You really want to go?
Yes.
OK, if your dad says yes and they let kids in at the club and your homework's done, you can go. Do I need any other escape routes, have I covered all possible outs? She squeals with delight.

When we get home, she asks permission and I tend to six! light bulbs that needed replacing.

The Birchmere in Alexandria is a general admission venue. When the box office opens at 5:00 they hand out line numbers, then at 6:00 they let people in in order to claim their seats. The shows start at 7:30. Dan never liked going early just to get a good seat, then wait for over two hours for the main act to take the stage, and it's about 30-40 minutes away, so we don't go there. Except on the rare occasion when The Proclaimers play there and not at "our" Ramshead Tavern on our side of town. It was my first visit to the Birchmere.

Fern and I left the house at 6:00 and managed to find very good seats, very close to the stage. We ordered supper and finished just in time for the opening act, Jeremy Fisher to start. She loved him, he's now the greatest thing since sliced bread. So, of course, I had to buy her his CD.

The Proclaimers took the stage sometime after 8:30, I forget to note the time or how long they played. They played a lot from their new CD and a lot of my favorites. The crowd whooped when they introduced familiar tunes, I was the only one who whooped when they introduced the title song from the CD. It was a fabulous show.



Fern liked the concert, she said The Proclaimers sounded better in person than on CDs, but she still liked the opening act better.

I inadvertently drove away with Kevin's backpack so he couldn't do his homework until I came home. Then he didn't go to sleep until well after 3:00 this morning. Sheesh.