So, it was a pretty great weekend. And not because we did something spectacular, but because of a lot of little things that added up to......everything.
Jeff was gone all week to San Diego for a conference and to visit his mom, grandma and aunt, plus other family members. He also did some "honey-do" stuff around his mom's house, managed to get in a little surfing, and visited a friend. So, having him come home Saturday night was highly anticipated. Except his plane was delayed and he arrived three hours late. At midnight. But, that paled in comparison to having him home, snuggled up next to me in our bed with clean sheets, talking till 3 a.m. That was pretty cool.
Harrison and Arlie had their state thespian festival this weekend. We always go to watch their performances, so, in anticipation, I booked an Airbnb place a few months back. Hotel rooms are hard to come by with that many visitors in a small college town, so I was being proactive. But then Jeff's trip came up and so I figured I'd take Hannah with me. But then Hannah had movie plans with friends so I asked Hayley to come. And she and Megan decided to take the time off work and come with me. I messaged the Airbnb to make sure they could accommodate the extra person and was assured they could.
When we arrived, Harrison's one-act play was about to start so we went to that first (it was great!) and then drove by the Airbnb place. It didn't have great curb appeal and was on a street with unkempt homes and yards, but I figured it was an older neighborhood so no big deal. But later, when we went to check in, the home was cluttered, not very clean and the basement bedroom was a little creepy. The host didn't seem ready for us at all, stopping to move clutter on our way through the house, and telling us the towels were still in the dryer - it was 5:30 p.m. so it seemed she just wasn't very together on the whole thing. She also remarked a couple of times that she "hasn't done this" before so we wondered if it was the first time she'd rented out a room - except her reviews were glowing and it appeared she'd been in the business quite some time. It was very confusing and her demeanor was odd - her pants were unzipped, her shirt was gaping and her belly was showing, and she appeared confused. I could tell the girls were horrified and I didn't feel comfortable sleeping there. We didn't check in, claiming we were going out for a while, and I started thinking up excuses of why we couldn't stay there. I could tell her one of the kids got sick and we had to go home. But, in the end, I decided to be honest and just tell her the truth. She didn't make any excuses and quickly offered a refund. I'm still scratching my head about the whole experience but since we had nothing but great experiences in our past Airbnb stays, I decided to just chalk this one up as our first bad experience. I'm glad we live only an hour and a half away and were able to drive home for the night.
Since Hayley and Megan were planning to be away overnight, they decided to spend the night at my house. We arrived home, made food, and watched a movie with Rylie and Hannah. We laughed and had a great time, capping the evening by singing old John Lithgow tunes from a kids' tape the girls used to listen to all the time when they were little. I'm sure Rylie and Megan thought we were nuts, but it was hilarious and we laughed and laughed. That was pretty cool.
Saturday morning Hayley made breakfast after we all slept in a ridiculously long time. I spent some time de-cluttering, giving tons of stuff away and cleaning in anticipation of Jeff's arrival home. It was great to get rid of things and get all the laundry done, even if my back was killing me for some reason. It was just nice to be home and have time to get things done so that next week doesn't feel overwhelming. Pretty cool.
Sunday morning, we slept in a ridiculously long time again. Jeff puttered around the house doing projects while I went shopping, both for food for the week and Easter bunny stuff since I won't be around later in the week to do that. I think I left my car lights on because I came out of a store to a dead battery, but thanks to my husband, I had a portable starter with me and jump-started the car by myself in just a few minutes. Instead of being in a bad mood because of the inconvenience, I was just happy I had this important tool at the ready and I didn't have to call and bother anyone to rescue me! I managed to get everything ready for Easter, and Jeff is going to cook a nice meal. Arlie had a "date" that she invited over for dinner and we had a taco bar and watched a movie, capped off by homemade peanut butter/chocolate bars. While I was making the dessert, the kids were talking. laughing, braiding each other's hair and it was just.......nice. I love being home and hanging out with my family. The previous week was SO busy - I was gone till 10 p.m. or later nearly every night and with Jeff out of town as well, I had to call on the kids to take care of some things like dinner - Hannah "adulted" quite well and made a couple of nice dinners and even bought treats for St. Patrick's day.
So, yeah. I love weekends. I don't care if we do anything special or fun, I just love being home, even if it means doing some chores, or cooking, because it's not rushed. The rest of the week is a blur of activity and rushing, and the weekend is the exact opposite. It's pretty cool. Weekends are everything!
