cooked

Today was a PD Day. More specifically, it is the Manitoba Provincial in-service day. So every educator in the Province is supposed to attend sessions in Brandon or Winnipeg (and I presume other central locations, but I don't know where).

It also means that every child in the province has the day off. And, wouldn't you know it, we needed a few things from Brandon today. Specifically, building materials. I needed to hit another store on the North Hill to finish up some shopping for next month. We didn't have to do much. Which was a bonus - there was no parking at WalMart today. And Canadian Tire apparently was a write off too.

So, we took off at a leisurely pace this morning, stopping to drop off some tires to be repaired. We went to Brandon, bought our stuff (Home Depot - no crowds. Where I was - well, I walked around for a while until I could actually shop - too busy.) And realized that we had finished too early for the tires to be done. So we went for lunch at a busy restaurant and then left town.

On the way home, Dale's dad phoned. Grandpa and grandma had been looking after my nephews (four of them) as both parents were in Winnipeg at sessions. And Grandma had fallen sick. Like, in bed sick. So, of course, we offered to take the boys to our place and have them play for a while.

Okay. No problem. Grandpa dropped the boys off about 2:30 or so, said he'd be back in an hour to pick them up. Kids played outside.

I fed them brownies and lemonade at 3:30.

The kids all decided to go in 'cause it was getting dark at 4:30. That's when the phone rang - grandma was asking if we could come and pick up the pork chops she had thawed for supper and maybe keep the boys. Grandpa was sick.

So, Dale went over, and the eldest brother went too. He picked up all of the overnight stuff - it didn't seem fair to anyone to leave the kids with sick grandparents when we could put them up. And I started peeling potatoes. We pulled out the big pots, put a leaf in the table and sat down to a rather nice (if chatty) meal.

Just as we're sitting down, the phone rings again. It's my other sister-in-law. She had promised her little guy that he could play with the boys today when she got home. And he would have been devastated had he not been able to. So, by 7:30 tonight, my house was romper room. Seven children, aged 4-10, in various states of hyper, in my basement.

I was debating whether I should have had my painkiller tonight - restaurant food (and trying to make a good show of eating my supper) did not really agree with me. But, my sister & brother in law are going to stop by to check in when they get home from Winnipeg. They have to sleep at grandma's - or they can have our couch. I'd best not take the pill that will knock me out for 12 hours if more people are coming. And I have six kids to feed for breakfast.

Unfortunately, my wine is in the cold room downstairs. Beside four sleeping boys, behind a lego castle. I think I'll have to send Dale to fetch that. I'm just cooked.