Sunday, October 15, 2006

Red Lobster. . .or not. . .

Well today was my FIL's anniversary. . .of when he joined the Navy. Something like 66 years ago today! WOW! As usual he wanted to take us out to lunch, which for some reason causes a LOT of problems with my 5 ungrateful children! they all complain about where, do we have to go, not this place again, but I want to play with my friends instead. . .you name it they pull it. Well today, because of the anniversary, my FIL wanted to go to Red Lobster to celebrate. This sounded good to me! Sort of my last hurrah before my surgery and a place that none of the kids will complain about. So this morning as I made eggs for myself (and 3 of my other kids too!), I called the Red Lobster closest to us to see if they take reservations. And the one we normally go to is closed, so I call another one, that is further, but not too bad. They are open but do not take any reservations or even call ahead seating, so it is first come first serve.

So of course it is always hard to get everyone out of church in time to go home and get grandpa and go to a restarurant and get a decent seat with out a long wait. So we all rushed out of church and planned to meet at home to get grandpa then go get gas cause the van was practically on empty. We decided to wait on the gas and just go. Apparently my FIL told my husband that it did not have to be Red Lobster, just anywhere he can get shrimp. When I got into the van my husband tells me this and I am stumped. I do not have a clue what he would consider a good place to get shrimp, esp one that compare to Red Lobster. So we explain that we can go to where ever he wants and we dont mind driving to Red Lobster. He does not really say anything just throws his hands up. ARGH!! I hate having to decide something when I know there is the potential for him to get upset. Lets just say he is "set in his ways". Sometimes he can be very opinionated.

A little while later we arrive at RL and of course it is packed, afterall it is a Sunday afternoon, right? I go in to put our name in, followed by some of the kiddos. After I finally made my way through all the waiting people to put our name in, she tells me the wait is for 1 hour at least. As I turned around I shuffled the kids out too, cause I knew my FIL would not want to wait that long. Of course he did not. As we are leaving the restaurant a lady says to me, "He threw up." I looked at her like, huh?!?! She points to my youngest, who I am guiding out of the first lobby (you know between the 2 front doors), and repeats herself, "He just threw up.' Seemingly all at once I look at my son, who looks like he just threw up, right down to a dribble down the front of his sweatshirt, then at the lobby floor where a RL employee is putting napkins over what I presume is my sons "cookies", then back at the woman. Next I took off the offensive sweatshirt as we were (quickly) walking back to our van. We all pile into the van and my FIL says he wants to go to the Chinese buffet he sees next door. So we make our way over there, green little boy and all. When we got there I told my husband I was going to take our son to Kmart (it was in the same parking lot) and get him some medicine for his tummy. Even though the Kmart was close, my son no longer had a sweatshirt on and I did not want to make him walk feeling as bad as he was. A very short ride later we parked at the Kmart and I waited for my son to open his door before locking it. Apparently his arm was right where the lock is, cause he started screaming. I had pinched his arm in the lock when I locked the door. He climbed back in and over the driver seat to me and I carried him inside. Good thing he is a tiny 5 year old! I went and got the medicine for him and then some crackers and a new sweatshirt. I asked him if he wanted to go into the restaurant or just stay in the van. At first he said he wanted to stay in the van, then he changed his mind.

A few minutes later, after getting lots of sympathy (and some plastic bags!) from the Kmart cashier we arrived back at the buffet. He seemed like his normal perky self and we went inside with plans on eating white rice and maybe some noodles or other bland things. He ate some of that, and also ended up eating several chicken on a stick ( cooked in a teriaki sauce I think) and he even ordered a "Dr. Pibb". Everything seemed fine, I even got to eat some food. (it should be noted that he has had a recent history of feeling like this,esp when we were driving cross country. . .so this is not a new thing, just not usually when we are so close to home. . .) All of a sudden he says he thinks he needs to throw up and looks like it too! Remember this is a Sunday afternoon, and this place is packed. . .and HUGE. And where are we sitting? You guessed it all the way in the back corner, far from the bathroom, far from the front door and surrounded by families eating lunch. So I quickly asked my other son to go to the other side of the table so that I could scoot over closer to the wall to try to shield the other diners should anything "happen". The best thing I had to catch with was several napkins from the table. I tried to help my son and comfort him while at the same time looking for a way out that would not involve my son puking on or near other people eating their egg rolls. The front door might as well have been a mile away at this point! I asked my son if he thought he could make it to the van without throwing up. He said yes, so I grabbed my keys, my purse, his new sweatshirt and the napkins were at the ready, right near his face. We quickly left. No conversation, we just walked out. I think I might have told my husband "we are going to the van". I knew he realized that anyway and we did not have time for chit chat. . .or more tossing of cookies!

In the van my son was fine again and he saw my notebook from church and asked me if I had a pen. I gave him a pen and he wrote and drew for awhile. He has been fine ever since. No complaints before and none since. . . .

Our school has a 24 hour policy, if you throw up or have a fever you have to stay home until you have no fever or throw up for 24 hours. But given the fact that my son seems to have had this episode from car sickness and I have surgery to prepare for. . .he will be going to school! That is all I need,a sick kid on my last day to prepare for surgery. As it was I did not do much today. I had a migraine (still do). I did manage to make dinner, even though only my FIL, my youngest and myself bothered to eat. (the rest were asleep, out playing or over friends houses) Then he had to go to the grocery store, and so did I. When I got into the van I was met with a big E. We never did get gas earlier. So I filled up then went to the grocery store, then came home and put the stuff away, bathed the youngest, scrubbed my shower floor (gross textured finish. .argh), folded MOUNDS AND MOUNDS of clothes, washed more clothes, loaded and started the dishwasher, put the kids to bed, and then got a snack and came to blog. . . .

It is sad when going to the hospital to have a hysterectomy is like a vacation. . . .

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