Bad Blogger

Sorry for my absence.  I guess the funeral really took it out of me.

On the drive up, we passed through our old home town and took the “usual” route to Sedalia that I drove the summer between my junior and senior year in high school when I attended summer college.  It was weird to see how much was still the same, even after 20 years.  We even timed the trip so we could have dinner at our old family favorite, El Sambre.  That was *the* place to eat when we were kids, and I swear, it tasted and looked exactly the same as I remember.  Food was wonderful.

I made three passes through the copy edits for Dear Sir, I’m Yours on the drive.  Did you know I used “damn” on average once every four pages?  *dies* 

I even found the place where Mom’s car blew up on me and left me stranded alongside the road for three hours.  A farmer drove by and took me up to his house so I could call for help (this was the dark ages before cell phones).

In Marshall, we met up with all of That Man’s family for family night.  We haven’t seen most of his cousins since the last funeral (his uncle who passed away from cancer about 3-4 years ago).  Middle Monster made a new friend — That Man’s aunt who has horses.  She’s already begging us to take her to the family farm so she can meet the horses. 

We had a late night and a very early, stressful morning, but it was a lovely sunny spring day.  The service was nice, Grandma looked really good.  She was 90 years old with many great and great-great grandchildren present.  Afterwards, we went to a little country church (that Grandma and Grandpa had attended before their health prevented it) for an old-time potluck spread. 

Then the long drive home.  I slept most of the way and got a terrible crick in my neck.  I tried to read, but I just couldn’t stay awake.  I’ve been sort of out of it since, in “survive until Friday” mode.  However, this weekend isn’t going to be all sunshine and bunnies.  In fact, we plan to do some serious cleaning.  The monsters have agreed to clean and organize the basement, as well as give away a bunch of toys (to make room for new ones, obviously).  Not their idea of cleaning, which means pick up everything — dirty clothes, books, shoes, toys — and shove it into a container; Mom will be supervising.  As their reward, we plan to take them to the Hannah Montana movie.

It’s going to be a really, really long day.