We insisted that Mancub spend time with us. He called on Friday to say he wanted to spend the night at a friend's house, then tried to negotiate when we said "No", then tried to get us to explain why when we wouldn't budge. You would have thought he had never heard the word "No" before.
Something I've learned, and often still forget, is that you can't ask a teenage boy if he wants to do something, you have to say "we are going to...". Options sound great when one is reading books and thinking about how to be an awesome, progressive, nurturing parent. Reality, however, dictates a much less flexible hand. This is what we are doing. Get moving. Sounds harsh, but there usually is almost no fuss 10 minutes later, and usually smiles. Options lead directly to sullen.
With that in mind, we told him we were going back to Ikea. Ikea is the magic land where we have a second residency. We met our friend M~ there to have some meatballs and get a little help with the train of carts we used to get our latest booty. Now we have more boxes of things to put together scattered around our home.
Because that wasn't enough fun and wallet cleansing, we then went to Fry's, home of the North Korea-esque check out policy, where one employee introduces you to another employee who walks you and your purchases to yet another employee that takes you money and sends you to a final team of employees to check your receipt and purchases. Mancub got yet another wireless device that I don't understand and that still doesn't seem to correct his inablility to get on line, Papa Seed got an early birthday present in the form of a green iPod (we are now a three iPod household which we never saw coming three months ago when two of us were totally repulsed by the little things), and at the very last minute I grabbed a copy of Midnight Cowboy on DVD because it was dirt cheap, it is one of my all time favorite movies, I caught it out of the corner of my eye when the third North Korean Soldier was walking us to the counter, and damn it - I wanted a present too.
We are going to be riding the Poverty Train BIG TIME as soon as we reenter reality.
Front Yard Boys
The furry boys are getting settled in their new home. Baby Boy managed to open up a replacement cat door that we got to replace the one he destroyed (although we have yet to get a cat) and dragged a new Ikea Welcome Mat through it. Tore the mat in five places after less than 12 hours of welcoming folks to our home. I finally made a left instead of a right when I walked them on the trail behind our house, and WOW do we live in the most Magical Place On Earth. I still can not believe we live here. I can't believe it. As I was walking along the trail, that is dotted by homes several yards from the trail, and crosses wooden bridges and running water and hummingbirds fly above, I kept thinking to myself I am the most fortunate person on earth. It really is magical.
Baby Hops
Papa Seed managed to tackle several projects, including getting the Home Depot tool shed put together, getting the mountain of goods stacked outside down to a small hill, and planting the hops - giving them a little twine to get going on. Soon they will climb that wall and be huge. Then they will be beer. He did the same thing at the last house, and they thrived. All of this was done while sporting his new green iPod, which he is now fondly attached to, and there is yet another person in the house who now can't hear you when you talk to him.
Mancub invited a couple of his friends to come over to our house today (part of our deal the other night - invite them to our place). They ate candy and played video games and watched funny, vulgar videos on You Tube - which is soooo adolescent of them. Then we took the boys to the Taco Truck before driving them home.
Taco Truck
He got to show off having a Taco Truck in his neighborhood, and seemed quite pleased by sharing his new area of expertise with the kids from the other side of the tracks.
And now another week awaits with so much left to do.
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