lack of activity = lack of posts

work. watch basketball. read Silverthorn. do laundry. sleep. repeat. hard to make something thrilling to post when your week consists of mainly that. so i'll delve backwards into last weekend i guess.

last Friday Loren's mother took off to go shopping or something, by my place, while i went to her place to pick up Loren after work. growlz. crashed out in my truck at her (deserted) place waiting for her; buzzed her a few times on her cell. eventually i got tired of waiting and headed home; intercepted her on the main drag and acquired my son....albeit with Phoenix and his friend James. someone had decided it would be a good night for them to have a sleepover, and since Loren was coming, my place was elected. nevermind the fact that neither of the other two boys had so much as a change of clothes, toothbrushes, or anything else that commonly accompanies kids bound for a sleepover...it happened. i was pretty grumpy about all my wasted time (and another wasted trip to Granite Falls) but managed to make it through the evening with the boys. i was thoroughly unprepared for company- not enough clean dishes (or food ready to prepare for that matter) for the additional bodies so i spent a little money i didn't have on some pizza. Loren sat with me and watched Enterprise (though in truth his mind was more than a little occupied with his latest issue of Nintendo Power). the other two boys were less than heroic in their efforts to keep the noise down, so i missed much of the dialogue. never considered myself much of a stick in the mud, but i have to admit that left my banana somewhat irked. they made their way outside for part of the show, and after the pizza showed up and they'd eaten, i sent them upstairs to play. Loren hung out with me. eventually all three young men retired to the den to watch The Demented Cartoon Movie (Loren for the umpteenth time- he's thoroughly impressed) and my weariness soon gave over to full fledged sleep on the couch, at the ripe old hour of 9:30pm. i woke sometime around 2:45am and found all three boys still up and about....not really surprising. i got them all ready to sleep, but Phoenix and James wouldn't stop joking around (Loren was more than ready to succumb to the sandman) so i separated the two younger boys, setting up Phoenix on the couch downstairs- that did the trick. sometime between 9:30 and 2:45, they managed to drink somewhere between 8 and 12 cans of pop and eat half a box of swiss cake rolls. boys will be boys i suppose. Loren only copped to one pop, and said he didn't eat any of the junk food. have to admit i was a little surprised he didn't try to stop them or wake me up during all that, but he's not the house police. i told him he was in charge earlier in the evening but i guess i'll have to wonder what he'd do if he actually wielded the authority, since he doesn't excercise the right. in any case, i believe Loren copped to his own part in the fridge raid truthfully, so the other two really binged.

in a parallel train of thought, Loren looked pretty well, though he occasionally sounded hoarse, for a boy who missed all but 1 day of school last week. have to admit i'm a little (maybe more than a little?) upset at his mother for letting him stay home when he was well enough to live it up all week while he missed school. Loren defended himself by telling me he really felt bad in the mornings but improved later in the days. i'm trying to help Loren bail water out of his dicey schoolwork boat and that wasn't exactly an example of his mom helping him patch leaks. really, missing a bunch of school over an itchy throat was the last thing he needed, when he just got on a bit of a roll. growlz. it's one thing if he's really sick (i'm not a sadist) but from talking to him on the phone it was obvious he wasn't feeling all that bad. i talked to him tonight on the phone and he told me he's finished all the work he missed except one thing. if that's true (and i'll only believe that when i see it, since he's been "wrong" answering that question many times at this point) i made him promise me that the remaining one would be done by tomorrow. i'll be inspecting his school notebook again Friday- hope he remembers that and takes care of business like i showed him; i'd hate to have to discipline him after he's been doing so well.

i intended to make it to Ethan's first soccer game on Saturday, but getting a late start and having company in the house nixed my plans in that regard. actually, if i'd had definite info on where and when the action was going to take place i'd probably have made a greater effort to get there. here's hoping i can get Loren out to the next one.

spent a little time lately cruising used book stores for the aforementioned book i'm reading, and managed to find all the books in the series (10 titles) scattered amongst half a dozen stores. it was a little more of an investment than i'd planned to make, but since i know i'll read through them, i'll count it as cheap entertainment and leave it at that. Loren started the first book in the series (Magician: Apprentice) and he's worked his way halfway through it. it's always khoul to see him take to a new book. he's got a bunch on his shelves he's never touched, but i've been guilty of that too, and he'll either get to reading them or not- they're not going anywhere. better too many books than too few, and i count it lucky he likes to read.

sunday i made it over to Mom and Dad's for Mother's Day; picked up Mom a bottle of wine. always nice to see the folks, and the trip south doubled as a chance to get to a used book store in the area. happily they had the very book i was looking for. didn't realize my nephews were visiting Gramma & Grampa until i let Chowder loose into the house and he barrelled right in and terrified Cole, who probably scared the crap outta Chowder with his awesome display of raw lung power. Ethan was a bit nervous but handled it very well. Cole eventually warmed up to the concept of "friendly dog" enough to view him with through the window as he hung out outside- where he spent the remainder of my visit. Cole asked me a little later what the thing hanging on the wall was (Dad's guitar) so i took it down and let him strum while i fingered chords- the boy's got rhythm- and Ethan joined in the fun. i played some myself, and Cole seemed to like the music, getting his groove on a lil' bit. eventually i put a little spin on the whole thing by singing a song about "my friend Chowder" and Cole seemed to appreciate that. Dad contributed to the lyrics, notably at one point where i'd sung my improvisation into a corner with a line like "and Chowder likes to eat..." (can you see where this is going?) of course Dad finished off the line "...little boys". i saw it coming and was sorely tempted to go there myself, but he beat me to the punch. Cole took it in stride, and immediately went back to the window to check out m'dog.

then it was back home for me, to watch the Sonics get absolutely Beat Down by the Spurs in game 1 of the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. ugly. very ugly. tonight they fared a little better but still couldn't manage a win, so they'll come home to play a couple (three?) down 2-0 going in. they've seriously got to step it up on defense if they hope to have a chance, and they're shooting's gotta average a lot higher than the high 30s they shot this game. didn't know the Spurs could run like that, but i missed most of the latter half of the season this year, so it's not surprising i didn't know what to expect from San Antonio.

ok that brings everything up to date and i'm officially out for now. --PEACE