Friday nights are jazz nights this month at Merton Abbey Mills. While anoiit helps to bring in a bit more money for the cafe, it does mean we spend our Friday nights working instead of vegging out at home recovering from the week. Usually it means I give the odd moment of help and spend the rest of the time on the computer or with whatever book I’m reading, get a free dinner that I don’t have to cook and drag the boy home when he’s too hyper with tiredness.
This week the mother in law was away and the husband was going to be on his own. As it’s not an ideal situation I begrudgingly agreed to help out. And watch the boy at the same time. Yeah, not an easy night by any standards. There was rescue in sight mid-way through the evening as one of his friends arrived for him to play with and we had a few tantrums towards the end of the night as tiredness got the better of him but overall he was quite well behaved. The highlight of the husband’s night was the two very drunk guys that paid for burger and chips yet never came back to collect. You can’t argue with burger and chips that someone else as good as buys you. The highlight of my night was finally making it home and collapsing. Next time I vow to wear trainers. Work shoes really aren’t built for spending five hours on your feet.
We did movies this weekend. We don’t tend to watch a lot anymore, favouring TV instead. Ok, maybe I should re-phrase that. I don’t tend to watch a lot anymore. The boy has his favourites (some recent Disney ones and the Harry Potter series) and it seems that the husband will watch any old crap and one star Z-list starring movies are found before I’ve even made it all the way up the stairs to bed.
On Saturday night we settled in with Orphan. Posters over phoneboxes in the City had me intrigued. I checked out the trailer online and it seemed sufficiently creepy for a watching, and that’s what we did.
I won’t go into too much detail about the film, as it’ll just ruin it for those of you who want to see it but still haven’t managed to. We made our guesses as to what would happen and where deaths would occur, and although we were on the right track, we were totally wrong about numbers. Neither of us guessed the real plot twist though. Suffice it to say the film had us rather freaked out (although never scared) and it was definitely worth watching.
Sunday morning the boy and I trekked across to Kingston to see the new Eddie Murphy film, Imagine That. I’d scored free tickets through See Film Firstafter having heard mention of the site and that particular ticket giveaway on one of the BlogHer feeds. Never one to turn down free stuff, I figured it would be a cheap morning out and make a difference to spending the entire morning in our pyjamas. Hey, that’s what Sundays are for, right?
Well cheap it was not. £8.05 for a small popcorn, bag of fruit pastilles and a fruit shoot. Luckily I’d remembered to bring a bottle of water with me otherwise that would have tipped the cost over the £10 mark. Still, it kicked the massive cinema popcorn craving I’ve been having for the last three weeks. Then there’s the small matter of £6.10 for a measly two hours and ten minutes parking. That’ll be the last time I venture into Kingston then.
We may have missed the first ten minutes of the film because we were slightly late. Being an advance screening there were no ads (which I was kind of depending on as I broke just about every traffic law imaginable rushing over there). Even so, we managed to catch up quite quickly.
The film itself was one of those ones that you watch on a weekend afternoon because there really is nothing else on. The kind that you can get up and make a cup of tea in the middle of and still not really have missed anything. The boy started rapidly losing interest towards the middle and I knew how he felt. The only thing that stopped me leaving there and then was that £8.05 we’d spent on food and the 90p per 20 minute car park charge I was paying. At least if I was going to foot the bill for that one, we could sit out the film. His interest did pick up a bit towards the end with quite a few amusing moments and he at least stopped asking if we could go home now. I totally understand where he was coming from: I mean how many five year olds can understand that a kid’s imaginary friends are fuelling their dad’s winning streak on the stockmarkets. I don’t think at five I would have had a clue what the stockmarkets were.
In an effort to keep the boy quiet until the end, I’d stupidly bribed him with a trip to either McDonalds or Burger King. Hey, it’s cheaper than a toy but a toy would’ve been that easier to get hold of! He decided McDonalds wouldn’t do and could I find a Burger King? No. I managed to convince him that we’d find one on the way home, knowing full well that the nearest one was probably the drive through just the other side of our house. Of course, by the time we were half way home he was fast asleep in the back of the car.
Not daring to break that promise Being the kind mother I am, I stopped at the drive through and grabbed the boy’s meal whilst he was still asleep, and only woke him up when I parked up at the hub. He wasn’t impressed at the thought of waking up and getting out of the car and protested at walking the few metres from the car park to the nearest chair, but once he caught sight of the GI Joe toy inside that paper bag he was happy.
As for me, I’d intended to grab some lunch there and sit with my book for the afternoon. I was going to be a nice afternoon: the sun, a good book and some juice. What more could a girl want? How about not to end up working after I’d finished my lunch? That’s right, the rush started and I was dragged in. It didn’t help that every time the husband took an order he’d start to flap. He certainly needs the influence of more organised people in there. So much for my afternoon curled up with my book. Once I’d started (just after 2), I didn’t stop until almost 6. Not bad for a cafe that’s supposed to close at 5 on a Sunday. It was worth it. It was the best day the cafe’s had so far and I think it’s definitely brought up his confidence. As for me; all I got was sore feet and an aching back.
Once we got home, I settled in front of the TV to do my nails and the boy found his friends out front so we were happy. In the hope that we could ship him off to bed early I got the husband to sort the boy’s tea.
He wanted pizza apparently, and as we had none in the freezer, the husband decided he’s just make some from scratch. Keep an eye on Urbanvox for the instructional video. You can watch him make a mess of the base as he runs out of flour. Mess is the perfect description, especially after I refused to help him remove half of the mix from his hands. No way I was getting that messy!
I’d brought back some feijoada from the hub and as the pizza was cooking, so was that. The boy came back in and when we asked him which he wanted, he launched into a huge, tired crying fest because actually what he’d meant to say was spaghetti. Eventually I managed to convince him that eating a mix of rice and beans and daddy’s home made pizza was the way to go, and we sat down at the table together for the first time in months (we’re not slobs (or at least we don’t let the boy be), we just don’t east at the same time. The pizza wasn’t bad, but the base was rather stodgy. Could’ve done with more flour!
Eventually I crawled up to bed leaving the boy downstairs watching Harry Potter yet again. It’s great – I’m being outlasted at bed time by a five year old.
Three words sister: “candle both ends”. And having a bun in the oven doing all that – I’d be like the walking wounded.
You have stamina: a good trait! I have to look after just one person – me, myself and I – but I still get exhausted.
.-= Milo said Superheroes! =-.
Glowstars Reply:
August 10th, 2009 at 23:05
It’s amazing what motherhood does to you – I always wondered why the mother seemed to just keep on working and working – now I know why!
I’m tired just from reading all that!
Look after yourself and don’t be overdoing things.
Glowstars Reply:
August 10th, 2009 at 23:06
I’m tird too – although it’s only really hit me since writing that!