It was Teri's birthday on Thursday.

It was Teri's birthday on Thursday. Teri hates it how I plan. Sometimes it is a disaster, other times like Thursday it works out really nice.
At the beginning of the week I stop in ShopRite to get a few items for her birthday cake. It is a recipe she gave me a year ago I didn't make. So I thought it would be a belated, but nice surprise cake. I get the ingredients and a purchase a bottle of rum. I go over to ShopRite to buy  cards. One for her birthday, the second for our anniversary. I buy one other thing and the bill is almost twenty dollars. I look at the receipt and the cards were eight and nine dollars each, And Hallmark lais off my mother a dozen years ago charging that kind of money for a piece of paper. So of course when it is time for presents, I forget about the card in my door of my car. 
My mom has offered to make the cake. Lately I've been burning or ruining everything I cook, so I took her up on it. Everything is falling into place nicely.
Sometime last week or earlier this week Teri says she is in the mood for Paella. With the COVID-19 virus restaurants are only doing take out. So I get this marvelous idea to buy paella from the restaurant call Sangria's that she loves. I stop into the restaurant the day before and ask them about Paella. They say it will feed about two people and each dish is $25,00 plus tax. I order two, but the next morning Teri's training kicks in and I order a third one. It is better to have too much then not enough. I was afraid people would stop eating if it looked like there wasn't enough. It didn't happen. We didn't even

open the third.
During the day I get texts of offers of help from the girls. Elena is chosen to pick up her Aunt from work, so she will be here on time. Nastia offers to come with me to pick up the food. I pull up to the house and Nastia gets in. We get to my mom's to get the cake first. Nastia is told to stay a good ten feet away from her grammy and no hugging. We get the cake and head for Sangria's. Nancy was told to be at the house at 6:15. Nastia and I go into the restaurant, it is empty. Several tables where people should be seated have bags of food on them. I tell them we are here to pick up our food. A few minutes after they bring the food out to us.It is about 6:25. I text Elena so she can meet us outside to help with the food. The paella is fresh off the heat and the bottoms of the bag of food are so hot it burns our hand as we place it in the trunk. I think if I don't hurry Nastia will drop the food because it is so hot. She is a trooper and deals with the heat putting the food in the trunk.  NY State has relaxed alcohol purchasing for restaurants so I was also able to buy a quart of sangria. I almost bought two quarts. Elena and Nancy are outside and pitch in to bring the food inside. The

Elena's gift to her Mom

aroma of paella fills the dining room. Teri doesn't know what is for dinner she smells the aroma and tells us how good it smells. It is going to be a good meal. Two trays are put on the table and the third is put in the oven on a low temperature to keep warm. It becomes quickly apparent that we will not need the third one. Everyone fills there dishes before the food gets cold. There is chicken, shrimp, mussels, clams and a mound of rice. Nastia digs into the mussels with Teri and Nancy. I take several spoonfuls of rice with chicken and shrimp. It becomes quickly apparent that Elena is not enjoying the food. I warm up a leftover steak for her. It is very thick (those COSTCO steaks) that the middle is cold. She doesn't care and eats it. The sangria doesn't go as quickly as I thought it would. Nancy has a glass, Nastia a taste and maybe Elena did too. I stayed with beer and Teri only had two glasses. I guess stories of her eating chips off the table after drinking Sangria on an empty stomach several years ago put a damper on her drinking. With all this COVID-19 going around what else is there to do. We bring out the cake and I forget to turn on the camera and there is only a ten second video of it. Then presents are opened and thoughts of Dairy Queen ice cream are never bought up. The night ends early when Elena brings Nancy home. Clear up is quick with most dishes going in the dishwasher. Food tins going into the recycle bins. It was a nice night and Teri thanked me several times that night. It was fun.





















          




















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COVID-19 week maybe two of....? oh and it's a Friday.

As the title says it is Friday. and it is early in the COVID-19 virus whatever, pandemic,COVID flu cycle. Call it what you want just don't Trump it and call it the Chinese virus, you remember that thing he ignored for months.
Give me one moment while I step down off my soap box. At  moments like these I realize how high it can get.
Again as I started it is Friday March 27th. I went to work Teri worked from home and the girls slept in until they got up and went to work. Teri is working from the attic and I will try to make it a nicer place to work from this weekend. Nastia worked from about 3 until 8. Elena worked from sometime in the afternoon until 8, but she didn't get home until about 9. When asked, she came up with this cock and bull story about her thinking she was working until nine, but she then says she left work at 8 and driving home a friend. That is code for Dakota. After getting home late and answering enough of Teri's questions she heads upstairs ignoring the last and maybe the most telling question. What it was I forget it was so important. It must of been so important because I went upstairs to ask Elena to come down and answer it. That was when I smelled the pot/weed. It was slight, but I was pissed. I ask her again to come down stairs. I'd been drinking raspberry vodka and lemonade and when I do I get a little mean and my short temper gets shorter. I manage to say nothing until my temper was better controlled. Elena double talks, slides around and out right ignores questions that want to probe into why she was an hour late and caused me to write this column instead of the one about Teri's birthday yesterday.
Several hours later I can only guess what went on earlier. She has been told during COVID-19 to not drive people home. She must feel sorry for Dakota and can't say no to her when she asks for a ride (when will one of them get a friend who drives?!! AND has a car!!) Dakota lit up a joint, you know a bone, a....oh Jesus I've run out of them already. I used to know a thousand names for what people called it when you smoke grass/pot/weed. That name is getting too long. I don't think she smoked and Teri handled it that way. I tried to be a peaceful voice when my inner voice wasn't yelling liar, what really happened! I'm glad no one could hear that voice tonight except me. I don't think she lied. And I write that with a light unsure touch of the keyboard. I'd really like to believe her. She did come forward with the pot/weed/grass for the brownies, but we've been on her case since then and maybe she is closing the book so we don't know what is happening. She's good at that. If she doesn't want you to know usually you won't. I'm sure I'll be writing about this can of worms again. It ain't going away.