Saturday, Aug. 10

Wouldn't you know it, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom, and couldn't go back to sleep. Got up at 7 a.m. to get ready for a trip to another town to attend a birthday party for Hubbie's two-year-old great-granddaughter.

It was raining this morning, so I changed my mind about what to wear. I would have liked to wear crop pants and floral canvas shoes, but I wasn't about to wade water in those, so I ended up donning jeans and athletic shoes. Not very party-like, but more appropriate to the weather.

We were ready to get on the road around 8:30. Daughter was scheduled to come up and stay with her grandmother while we were gone, but she hadn't arrived by the time we left. I had advised her that she didn't need to rush to get here, because Mother would be fine for a few hours until she got here, as long as she didn't leave her house. Daughter works the graveyard shift, and she needed to sleep a while this morning before she attempted to drive.

We arrived in the other town around 10:30 a.m., and went first to the hobby store, where I bought several packs of blank cards, and a butterfly punch. Then we went to the warehouse store for supplies.

By now, it was nearly noon, so we went to an Italian restaurant for a soup/salad/bread sticks lunch. Service was very slow today. We were a little aggravated when our waitress met every demand of a group a couple of tables away, even though she'd ushered them to their seats after us.

I think she kept forgetting us, because we were seated at a table in a corner. It must be hard to see anyone seated there, because Hubbie's niece and husband walked right past us without noticing us. Of course, there's also the phenomenon that happens when folks reach our age whereby we become invisible.

At last, though, we got our food. All that remained was to wait endlessly for our check. Finally, the waitress brought it, and we paid a portion of the tab with a gift card I had. I wasn't sure how much remained on the card, but when the girl brought the receipts back she said "the card had $9.92 on it."

I thought she meant that was what was still left on it, though she didn't bring the card back. Hubbie chased her down and asked about it, and she came back to the table to explain that she meant that she had applied $9.92 to our tab, and we still owed a little over $5. Neither of us remember ever using that card before, but I guess we must have.

While we were at the restaurant, I called home and learned that daughter had arrived to be with Mother.

From the restaurant, we went to Hubbie's daughter's house, and then on to his grandson's house, which is just a few houses away from Daughter's.

About ten children and that many adults eventually arrived for the birthday party, scheduled from 2-4 p.m. I spent the whole time snapping pictures, at Daughter's request.

Great-Granddaughter got a world of gifts, of course, including a very expensive juvenile i-Pad from her father. The tablet is virtually indestructible, and he bought it so that the baby wouldn't be playing with the adult electronics.

The birthday cake consisted of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes iced as a whole and decorated in a "Monsters" motif. I guess this was because the two-year-old's favorite movie is "Monsters University."

The party began to wind down around 3 p.m., because various folks had other obligations for the afternoon, so we headed home, too.

Got back around 5:30. Daughter had potato soup heating on the stove, and muffins ready for the oven. We sat down to supper around 6 p.m.

Mother was ready to go home shortly afterward, so Hubbie accompanied her. Then we all watched TV until bedtime.

 Busy day, so I had no problem falling right to sleep.