Laughs

 It was a day of getting ready to go, getting everything packed up. We are headed east to see Iris' ballet recital. 

I picked up some laces to teach her how to weave a simple bracelet. I was looking at some beads, but remembered that I'd gotten her a bag of UV detecting beads at Christmas (they turn colors in the sunlight). I gave my daughter in law a quick call to make sure she still had some of those. If not, I needed to buy some beads. I was assured that they were in a drawer, and that Iris was quite excited for me to get there. 

My daughter-in-law gets up before anyone in the house so that she can get her shower. Then she bustled down to the guest room to put the fresh bedding on the bed. She was moving quietly because the rest of the house was asleep, and she shut the door to keep any noise out of the hall. 

Iris woke up, and saw the light under the door in 'gramma's room' and charged in excitedly thinking that I'd gotten in early to surprise her. "She was SO disappointed..." 

That was sweet. 

Today, Mattie needed to do some grocery shopping, so I volunteered to take her down. Her sister Katie came with us too. I noticed that things were quite different last time. Levi was with us. The women were quiet, and when they did speak, they spoke in German to Levi and he translated to me.  It wasn't oppressive. I guess that's just the way they do things. But it was sure different from how it is when I've got a car load of ladies. 

Anyways, it was Katie and Mattie today. Mattie said, "I'll probably fill up the car." I said, "I'm just about used to that," and off we went. So as not to garner any ill will, our first stop was GoodWill. Fine by me. I found some cute dresses for the girls. I needed a knob for a cast iron dutch oven, and I've been unable to find what I was looking for. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me before, but I saw a box of pot lids. Nothing but pot lids. I found one with a knob that I liked and so I bought it, brought it home and unscrewed it from the lid and tossed the lid in the recycling. Voila.

They had two stores they needed to get to, and once that was done, they suggested Dairy Queen. I had my normal meal which is a FlameThrower and an unsweeted ice tea. They ordered their meals and we waited together. They called out our numbers and one by one we picked up our sandwiches and headed for a table. 

When I unwrapped my burger, I thought, "This doesn't look right. I've never seen a slice of onion on a Flamethrower." I checked my bag, and it was my order number. At about the same moment, I noticed Mattie's red face with a very strange expression. She was looking at the burger she had just taken a big bite of. 

I knew what happened immediately. I said, "Is that your burger?"

She said, "I don't sink so." 

I asked "Is it hot?"

She nodded. I laughed. "They mixed up our orders. They put my sandwich in your bag!"

She felt awful because she had taken a bite of it. "It's alright," I said. "You're not contagious or anything, right?" intending to cut out the part she'd taken a bite from. 

She looked quite shocked at that. I said, "It's not a big deal, really...unless..." I fixed her with a look. "Will I turn Amish if I eat this? Is Amish catching?" 

Laughing out loud is something that they don't do in public usually. Polite little giggles, but the ROFL LOL stuff is not something you'll catch Amish women doing. It was hilarious to watch them. Their eyes grew wide and they both simultaneously grabbed their paper napkins and held them tightly against their mouths, and rocked with laughter. 

In the end, I ended up taking the burger back, not because I was afraid to 'catch' Amish, but because there was nothing to cut the portion away with. Just straws and sundae spoons. I explained to the woman at the counter what had happened and they made me up a new sandwich right away. I looked back at Mattie and Katie and they were still rocking with their napkins tightly held against their mouths, laughing uproariously as quietly as they could.

I bought William a new pair of jeans while we were out. When he walked over after school, I had him try them on. They were too big. Honestly. The kid is so skinny. He's getting tall though, so now finding pants long enough that are not too big around the waist is a struggle. I headed out to the store with him and the jeans. He was outraged that I expected him to try the jeans on before we left the store. I said, "No. We need to make sure these are right." We were just passing the newly opened Dunkin' Donuts. I said, "Listen, humor me, and we'll stop on the way back and you can try Dunkin' Donuts." That quieted him down. 

3 pair of jeans later, we wound up going back to what we always buy, Wranglers, 12 slim. 

And when we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, we had the intention of getting a donut for William and for Grandpa too. Except that there was (I kid you not) ONE lone donut in the long display case. William quipped. "This should be Dunkin' Donut without the S, and when I buy this donut, it will be just "Dunkin'" I thought that was hilarious. The poor guy behind the counter just looked as if he'd had a very hard day. 

Post Script: Tim has never met a donut he didn't like and so he told William that they'd go back to Dunkin' Donuts after supper. The store was open. They didn't have any donuts. When the guy said they had one donut left, he meant they'd sold out. There were no more donuts in the store. I guess they must be pretty spesh, as far as donuts go. 

So, we will be gone for the weekend. I hope that you all have a good weekend. 

GZ, I'll be thinking of you.