Sunday Morning & Sunny...

...And when you're me, sunny is a very welcome thing!

The mandatory workweek never really happened like they said it was supposed to. I ended up not working any overtime on Thursday or Friday. On Friday the foreman came up to me and said something like, "I don't see your name on the list for working Saturday."
"No, you don't," I said.
"You can explain that to Phil then." He replied, trying his best to scare me into changing my mind. (I believe I already explained that Phil is the co-owner of the company.)
At any rate, there was no way I was going to work Saturday and I didn't feel that his statement even warranted a reply, so I just shrugged my shoulders and went about my business.

Right after I got home on Friday I got a call from Sarah. "Dad? My car won't start." Ha, here she's been driving to school for a whopping 4 days so far and has already managed to leave her lights on and drain her battery. I went up and gave her a jump start.

Teresa and I have been talking back and forth on the phone about her, and T is worried about her having too much freedom so to speak. I had to agree that we need to establish some limitations and such now that she has a car. We agreed that I would have Sarah over more often whether she wants to or not. If nothing else, it will get her out from under her boyfriend's watchful eye from time to time. She expressed concern about Sarah wanting to go to the Puyallup Fair. Legally, you're not supposed to have anyone else in your car for 6 months if you're a new driver. Well, except family anyway. Teresa lets her shuttle her boyfriend to and from school, but that's it. She felt that if she went to the Fair she would have a carload of kids and would get into trouble. I agreed that she was not going to drive to the fair. There were just too many things to go wrong there, not the least of which was even knowing how to get there and where to go. Anyway, when I went up and gave her the jump start her boyfriend was with her, and I used that opportunity to tell her (and of course him) that she was not going to be driving to the fair in her car. Surprisingly, she agreed. When I told Teresa about it a little later on the phone, I suggested that maybe Sarah was hoping for us to tell her she couldn't go... And that maybe her boyfriend would have pressured her and goaded her into driving them there and she didn't want to have to deal with it. After all, it's been proven that even though kids don't admit it, they sometimes want to be told no. They need guidelines and parameters.

Sarah spent the night with me on Friday, coming over at about 6:30. We barbecued burgers on the grill, and afterwards spent a couple hours watching slides from when I was in Italy. The following morning I had to sort of ease her out the door at about 11:00 because I was going down to Melinda's house for their "barn party." It was kind of different having Sarah drive over now that she has a license. Of course that also means she can just get into her car and drive home whenever she wants instead of me shuttling her there. I wonder if that will take some getting used to?

I rode the Harley down to Melinda's and stayed until about 10pm. It was an excellent gathering. Great food and great people, and the party actually took place in their new barn! She has the same giant horse she has had for years and years, but there is also a new horse, recently acquired for Melinda's granddaughter. She is 4 years old, and the cutest thing you ever saw. Melinda presented her with a brand new pink saddle and some other riding gear. You should have seen the smile on her face as she sat proudly atop the horse while Melinda led them around the grounds. Neither of them could get enough of it! I told Melinda and Danny that I've lived in houses that weren't as nice as that barn was. It even has a shower stall with hot and cold water in it!

I always go to Melinda's house with my toiletries and such with me in case I end up staying overnight, but usually happens, I went home. It was a pretty fast ride (70-80) most of the way, so it's good I never ran across any cops.

It felt good to wake up in my own bed though, and also good that I didn't have to dress like I did yesterday when I got up.