Well it’s almost 11:00 p.m. here and I am a little wound up because we just got home about an hour ago from a soccer game. Caroline’s team had a makeup game from an earlier rain out and it ended up being scheduled for Tuesday night. This was a big one because the outcome had a direct effect on how her team would finish in the rankings. They were behind by one point with thirty seconds left when Caroline scored a goal to tie the game. I honestly think I blacked out for a minute.
I realize in some sports a tie isn’t necessarily a victory, but it was what we needed to keep our ranking and so it felt like a win. And my heart is still racing just a little bit from that moment.
In fact, when we came home I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Caroline because she was starving and then she showered and got in bed. I decided a peanut butter and jelly sandwich actually sounded pretty good because I never really ate dinner. So I made myself one, sat down on the couch and started to text Gulley but instead Facetimed my friend Kelly. I hung up quickly because nobody really wants to be Facetimed at 10:30 at night or really ever, but Kelly Facetimed me back because I’ve been helping her pick out some outfits for a Bible study taping she’s doing and she figured I was calling about that.
Anyway, I started laughing so hard with Kelly about me Facetiming her that I walked off and left my peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the coffee table, only to walk back in the room a few minutes later to discover Piper licking her lips very suspiciously and my sandwich conspicuously missing.
The point is Piper and Caroline now both believe this was one of the best nights ever.
And I had to make myself another sandwich.
It had already been a pretty full day even before the soccer game. Caroline had the writing portion of the STAAR test at school so I had to get her up a little earlier than usual, plus pack a bag of snacks because apparently bags of snacks are crucial to the test-taking process and I don’t want to let my child and the state of Texas education down with a failure to provide enough Cheez-its for maximum performance.
After that I spent time editing some writing I’ve been working on for the new book before it was time to go get my hair cut and colored because PRIORITIES. Once my grays were freshly covered, I met P at Nordstrom to try and find him some new jeans.
I believe we all need a moment of silence to process this.
It’s like my personal version of The Hunger Games.
Jean shopping for P used to be so easy. I’d go in Gap, buy a couple of pairs of men’s jeans and he’d wear them. But at some point in the last ten years, men’s fashion designers decided men needed as many jean options as women. And now, as God is my witness, I had to search through stacks of jeans with names like “The Slimmy”, “Straight Luxe Performance” and “Federal-Transcend Cut” in shades of “Alpha blue”, “Deep Well”, and “Fade Out Dirty” to find a few measly options for P that were the closest thing I could find to “PLAIN AMERICAN BLUE JEANS FOR MEN IN THEIR FORTIES”. At one point I handed him a pair of True Religion jeans with super tricky pockets just to see what he would do and he dropped them like a hot potato.
And I forgot that P never goes shopping and therefore doesn’t know all the shopping rules. So when he went to carry the jeans I’d found for him to try into the dressing room, the salesgirl asked how many items he had and he responded with, “Do I not look honest?” Eventually, he found two pairs of jeans we both liked and a pair of gray chinos. It felt like such a victory that I immediately had him follow me to my alterations lady so he could get them hemmed before he knew what hit him.
After that we went our separate ways because he had to go check on some job sites and I had to go to HEB because we had somehow run out of food again. But after the jean shopping expedition, the aisles of HEB seemed pretty mild in comparison.
So that’s what’s going on around here. And now I really need to make myself head to bed although part of me is beyond tempted to watch the new OJ Simpson American Crime Story episode. My saving grace may be that I know how it ends. And it’s not good, Marcia.
Oh! One other quick note in case you missed it last week and have plans to go to Antique Week in Round Top over the next few days. I’ll be signing books at the Junk Gypsies store from 1-3 p.m. this Friday. And I’ll be doing a whole lot of shopping before that. Would so love to see you there if you’re around!