The Beef Stew Saga and Other News

No new car yet. I didn't like the interest rates, so I declined their offer. I am still on the hunt..........

I forgot about my Friday night stew. I love to make dinner in the crock pot. It's so convenient and easy. The kids can have a hearty meal before I even get home. My sister bought me one of those stew kits that comes with everything. The meat, vegatables and seasonings for a stew. (I really love those) I started it cooking Friday morning before I left for work.

By the time I got home Friday afternoon, The DQ had already been picked up by one of her friends. After watching TV for a little while, I decided to have some stew. I get my bowl and find the soup spoon and start spooning stew into my bowl. I very quickly become aware of the fact that my bowl has no meat in it. I scrape the bottom of the crock pot trying to get some meat. Nothing but soup and vegatables. I move my spoon to the other side of the crock pot. Nothing. Now I am feeling a little frustrated and wondering where the meat is. I dig around a little bit more and then have to accept the fact, that for some strange reason, the meat is gone out of my stew.

I realize that The DQ has in all liklihood, picked the meat out of the stew. She is a carnivorous creature. She loves her some meat. Steaks, hamburgers, chicken. She even loves turkey noodle soup. I however, do not like stew with only vegatables. Muttering to myself, I carry my bowl of vegatable meatless stew into the living room. I sit down and notice a bowl sitting on the coffee table. Guess what it is......no really, guess. OK, OK, it was a bowl with not. One. Single. Vegatable in it. There was no stew juice in it. There was only meat. That's right. The DQ had picked ALL the meat out of the stew. I couldn't believe it. She had eaten some of it, but what she hadn't eaten was sitting right there in that bowl.

She is hopeless. If I didn't make her, she would happily never eat another vegatable in her life. This is probably why she is getting breasts at the ripe old age of nine. All that meat she eats is probably full of growth hormones.

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I have a new dilemma I have never dealt with before. Sissy has a friend. Sissy's friend has a mother. An irresponsible mother. We will call this friend Diane. Diane came to spend the night a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen her in a while because she lives pretty far away. I met her mother halfway on Friday. On Sunday, Diane's mother stated that she didn't have gas money to me again. I was unable to drive her all the way home because I have one car broken, and one not running all that great.

Did she not realize on Friday that she was not going to have enough money to pick her daughter up? This left Diane to find someone on her own to meet us halfway. I was irritated but I didn't say anything to Diane, after all it wasn't her fault.

Superbowl weekend she came over again. We met on Friday once again. On Sunday, Diane's mother informed her that she had had a few drinks and wouldn't be able to pick her up. AGAIN.
I feel so bad for this girl. I can't even imagine what her home life must be like. I have heard bits and pieces, and from what I have seen, things are not good for this girl. The sad thing is she is really sweet and well mannered every time she stays at my house. She is a joy to have around.

This past weekend, Diane got a ride to drop her off at my house on Friday night. We didn't even have to meet anyone. She got to stay until Monday because the kids were out of school for President's Day. So yesterday it was the same song and dance. No one to meet us to drop her off. Sissy had to drive her all the way home. Which I think is 1 to 1 1/2 hours away. To make matters worse, Sissy got lost on the way home and missed curfew. (Not mine, the one the state imposed. In our state drivers who are under 18 must be off the streets by 11 pm).

As much I like having this girl around, we will NOT pick her up or drop her off anymore. Not only is it stressful to us, but it has to be stressful for Diane also. Not knowing whether or not she is going to have a way to get home or not. If she can get her own ride she can stay. Or if it is determined in advance that we will be picking her up and dropping her off.

Honestly, in all my years as a parent I have never had to deal with this sort of thing before. I want to say something comforting to Diane, but I don't know what to say. If I say the wrong thing I might insult her by saying something about her mother. I do know what it feels like to have an irresponsible parent. In all three cases I didn't say a whole lot. I just let sleeping dogs lie.
I wish I could adopt her.

My tax refund has been in pending status for eight days. I thought my strongly worded letter would somehow convince them to expedite my refund. Next time maybe I shouldn't make my threats so vague. Maybe next time I should say something like, "There will be serious consequences if you do not respond posthaste and forthwith".
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The most flattering thing happened to me on Friday. My sister Marlette called me. Our conversation went something like this:
Marlette: What's up with your blog?
Me: I posted last night.
Marlette: Oh, well I haven't checked in a couple of days. I didn't see anything new posted the last time I looked.

Someone is actually fiending for my next blog. I can't believe it. It's so exciting! Soon maybe I will have tens of readers. Surpassing my blog buddy HW, who has ones of readers(You know, as opposed to having thousands or hundreds of readers. Sorry for stealing that HW, but hey I plugged your blog!)