Nicole suggested we go on a walk tonight after dinner. I had come home while it was still day light. It was 82 degrees. So we took a walk to the apartments next door. Swung on a bench swing together as the sun set. Snuck back into our complex by walking over a fallen tree that crosses the creek dividing the townhouses and the apartments.
Kathy and I went out for dinner at the Rusty Nail. Then we saw Ghost. A great Valentine’s day movie. Ted watched the kids for us.
The warm temperatures of February are now giving way to brisk winds. There are snow flurries in Buckhead. The weathermen are very excited. They’ve lost the spotlight ever since the military began censoring the Saudi weather forecasts.
Had my second inteview with Sales Technologies today. Met with Bob Rushmore (he wasn’t as big as his name) and his boss, Jerry Edwards. I felt like the interview went well with Bob. Jerry was an overly congenial southern gentleman. I kept expecting a killer question as he would look pensively out the window between my responses.
He yawned a few times and sent me on my way. He did say I had enlightened him on a few things. Kathy thought that was good. I hoped that I hadn’t enlightened him as to why he shouldn’t let me be hired.
When I came home, Laurie was here to look at the house. She seems very interested. Her fiancé and she will come back this weekend.
Several toes and fingers crossed. Makes it hard to type.
Taught Nicole how to subtract with a calculator tonight. She wanted to know how to minus things. After discovering that the difference in our ages is 21, she went on and on discovering how old she would be when I was 65, 88, and 99. She started taking guesses before seeing the results. I think she may have a good head for math.
I used the Department of Motor Vehicles as my excuse to leave early today. Hate doing that. If Sales Technologies wants me to come back for a third time, it will have to be at night or on a Saturday.
Kathy worked today. The Marriott job is getting less lucrative. She thinks it has to do with the war and the recession. Tips are about half what she has earned in the past.
Lisa from Sales Technologies called tonight to have me come in and talk to the higher ups. Scheduled it for 4 pm Tuesday. I thought I should just go ahead and tell Vickie. Kathy says no. Instead, she is going to go to the mall and call me at 3 pm to come get her because her car is dead.
I just happen to have jumper cables in my trunk from having a dead car because I left my lights on after driving out of the dark, sub-terranian parking deck at Lenox where I had my first interview with Sales Technologies. So I guess it is a fitting ruse.
Nicole suggested that I tell Vickie that I had a sick stomache.
“That would be lying,” I quickly pointed out, thinking Kathy’s plan is probably worse.
Nicole thought about it then shared her solution, hoping it would help. “You could eat some almonds and then you really would have a sick stomache.”
There are tricky women in my house.
Friday night Kathy and I went over to Alice and Bennett’s for dinner club. Others in attendance were Elizabeth and Harrison, Nancy and Ted, Shelly and Ken, Stephanie and Frank with Lauren. Carol and Bob missed because they had checked into the hospital to have Eric.
The dinner was unusual. Supposedly it had food groups from all countries in the world including: fritos, rice, chillie, tomatoes, lettuce, walnuts, olives, cheese, raisins, and a hot sauce. It was good.
Kathy provided a delicious chewy brownies covered with fudge sauce.
Much of the discussion centered around old times, the war (specifically Rick), Carol and Bob, and Iraq jokes.
Bennett gave me a tour of my old house. He has the shower ripped out to bare wood and slats. It’s interesting to see the skeleton of something that was once so familiar. I asked him why he had a chainsaw in the shower. He said Alice told him he had to keep it out of the kitchen. I guess with guests coming over…
We scraped our plates into a 10 gallon white industrial bucket. Anything organic would go into this bucket and was due to be added to the compose heap that was cooking in the back yard.
At the end of the night, Kathy, Nancy, Ted, and I went over to Northlake Medical Center to check up on Carol and Bob. Nancy thought it would be ok. She was mistaken. Actually, I suspect she was lying.
We found Carol and Bob walking the halls. Carol was having strong contractions and had to squat down why we were there. Bob was nursing a cup of water. He asked me if I had brought him a beer.
Carol was obviously under a lot of duress. Turns out she had told mom she didn’t want anyone to come over at all. We hadn’t gotten the message.
But she was still Carol under the grimaces and had her humor. I really felt for her. The best I could do was pat her on the back. I was afraid to hug her. I wanted to help somehow. I’m still trying to make up for the time that I didn’t stop Brian McGinnity hitting her. Or the time that I tipped her over as I pulled her in the wagon behind my bike and gave her a bump on the head. But I knew that the best I could do was leave. I felt helpless. I was glad she had Bob there. I even shook his hand and told him so.
Eric arrived 30 minutes later at 1:01 am on 2/2. Bob called us (we were awake) and told us the good news. I asked Bob if he had been there.
“Sure I was! I got to hold a leg!”
I need to ask him about that some time.
I’m very proud of my little sister.
I need to tell her that some time.
The four of us and Ted went up to Hi-Fi Buys to strike a deal on a couple of Sony D11 portable CD players. $129.95 at Service Merchandise, but SM didn’t have them in stock and wouldn’t for a while. In America, when you’re ready to buy, you don’t want to have to wait.
The SM retail price was $149.95. Hi-Fi Buy’s retail price was $200 with a retail price of $149.95. The salesmen at Hi-Fi Buys must get paid more. We asked if they could come down on that price. It was closing time. The salesman ran into the back to talk to some unknown authority and came back with a $142 price.
We got two.
When I came home last night from work I found a mountain of black eletrical tape wadded up on the ironing board. Just before dinner I asked who had gotten into Dad’s black tape. I added quickly that I didn’t want to hear anyone say, “I didn’t.” I just wanted the person who did it to say “I did Dad.”
Danny took a couple of very small steps forward with a look of concern on his face. He was wearing his cowboy hat, carrying his gun, and wearing a black mask with Nicole’s Halloween cape.
“Who did?” I asked looking around the room.
A little hand raised up from under the cape. The hand did its best not to be noticed, hiding next to Danny’s cheek.
Kathy cracked up. Then she told about his project of dragging the rocking chair over to the steps, wrapping up a cross bar with tape, unrolling the tape to the top of the stairs, and wrapping a leg of the ironing board.
“Why did you want to tie the rocking chair and ironing board together?” I asked Danny.
“I wanted to make a tunnel.”
Kathy, between laughs, told Danny that he had done a good thing to tell the truth.
I’m still out a whole roll of electrical tape. It’s very hard to raise children with a mother who can’t control her laughter.
Back to work after a long vacation. Things were very quiet and cold there. Need a space heater to keep my feet warm.
Kathy is mad at me because I asked about going out with the guys on Friday night. I called Teddy back and told him that Friday wouldn’t be a good night because it is Kathy and my only weekend night. I think she thinks I’m going, though.
I don’t know that she cares about being with me so much on that particular night. It’s just the thought of me going out having fun with the guys while she sits at home with the kids makes her spit nails. So we’ll sit at home together Friday with the kids, and there’s a chance that she’ll be talking to me by then.
Going out with the guys isn’t such a big deal. I’d much rather do something with Kathy. She just spits nails too fast.
I could tell I was in trouble when I got home. She didn’t look at me, and she was playing Chinese Checkers, Cowboys and Indians, and building puzzles with the kids. All in my first 30 minutes of being home. And she was using her extra friendly voice with them. This is important to contrast the silent voice she was using with me.
I told Teddy that I was booked up through most of 1991 and possibly the rest of the nineties. Actually, I think when Kathy starts working, things will improve. We will have a whole weekend together. We won’t feel so guilty about spending some money to go out more often. That way if I want to go out with the guys once or twice a year, it won’t be the same amount of times that Kathy and I have gone out for the year. That could be the heart of the matter. You shouldn’t go out more with the guys that you do with your girl.
Kids are in bed, and things are kind of quiet and cold at home tonight, too.
9:33:14 PM
Today Nicole said that sometimes she doesn’t have a very good remembory. She can’t remember why she said that.
But to disprove that, she will now write the list of 26 things we took to Six Flags almost two weeks ago:
I’m going to Six Flags and I’m taking…
apple beaper choclete dog elephant fiary grandad hamper igloo julie kathy lollipop money news paper orange pilgam qutip rug sand truck unicorn van whistle xeilphone yo-yo zebra
The Cyclone – By Nicole:
7:13:08 PM
Danny’s wish list (dictated):
Batman Helmet and not hurt my head.
He-Man Sword.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt and pants and mask and nose and this and this (bracelets) and two swords.
Peterpan suit.
Tie.
Jacket.
Dick Tracy hat.
Cowboy boots.
Cowboy socks.
Cowboy pretend gun and go-ups (blow-ups or caps.)
Cowboy holster and belt.
A boat.
Nicole’s wish list:
little miss make- up.
jewlry box.
western fun barbie van.
