what a crap weekend

first off, i'd like to go ahead and add alan rickman to my top 5. i'm not completely sure of the entire line up, but he's on it. i'm feeling "restrained british romance" this week and he sums it up nicely.

the good:

i got a neat henna tattoo (mehndi) this weekend at the fair from the "south asian businesses of schaumburg" table. kate got 2. hers are cool, but i made her put them places that can be covered for a photoshoot, whereas mine is right on my hand. this association had the BEST float in the parade. you could hear it coming for blocks and was super high energy, gorgeous costumes, drums and dancing. i think we should go to india for a girls trip. it'll be like a bollywood movie.

hit the labor day sale at filene's. got 2 dresses for kate (one will have to be returned because she hates the jewels on it, which i thought she would love. brat), a cute little orange blazer/jacket thing for me, 9 assorted pairs of socks, a green sweater (the long kind like a jacket), and the cutest cutest cutest lounge/sweat pants for me. all for under $50.

now. for the REST of the crap that filled my weekend.

the bad:

jay and molly came with their 2 kids. logan will be 5 in november. he throws temper tantrums. no, really. like a 2 year old. molly doesn't feed him anything but gatorade (she calls it 'blue juice') and power bars (called 'cookie bars'). kid is pasty and small, i presume from not getting enough actual food. the only thing i saw him eat all weekend was cheese pizza and tomato soup. she told me twice this weekend that his preschool teacher thinks he's ready for kindergarten. kid can't read a sound and throws temper tantrums so either molly's high or the educational system in iowa has really low standards.

lucas, is cute and fat and eats everything that i put in his mouth. i got in trouble for giving him popcorn (i bit off the kernel part and gave him the "poof" on top), angel food cake, and blueberries. molly also would not let me give him corn cut off the cob, croutons, blueberry muffins (guess what were $2 a pint at the farmer's market friday), tomatoes, cocoa puffs, or a grilled hot dog cut into cubes. he's 10 months old and still eating pureed baby food. he's got 8 teeth. unfortunately, he also has carrot red hair. i can't tell if that's going to darken or not......

the ugly:

maggie calls saturday night. at 11:30pm. that can't be good.

"your dad had a little fall. he's being airlifted to a hospital in springfield."

so here's what happened. my dad was moving a patio table down a flight of stairs. for anyone who hasn't been to my dad's, the stairs are slightly less steep than a ladder and considerable more slippery because they're painted wood. so he's taking a table down the exterior stairs from the front door down to the lower balcony. he falls OFF the lower balcony at the bottom of the stairs, presumably with a little momentum. maggie was at work. the neighbor got irritated by my dad's dog barking his head off and saw my dad laying in the gravel under the balcony and called 911. good dog.

the diagnosis on saturday at the tiny hospital in camdenton is broken back, collapsed lung, broken ribs. they morpine him up, stick in a ventilator, and fly him to a real hospital in springfield. i wake up jay and tell him. we figure he's probably going to die and we're trying to coordinate transportation to springfield via des moines.

sunday the diagnosis is unclear. springfield decides he doesn't have a collapsed lung after all. but they add broken toe to the list.

monday, they decide surgery isn't necessary, but a back brace for at least several months is. they took him off the ventilator. monday is also the day maggie gives my dear dad an ultimatum. shape up or she's leaving. oh, did i mention his blood alcohol was twice the legal limit, to say nothing of the pharmacy of chemicals he takes on a regular basis?

i don't know why the hell she's still there.