Cute Macy Stories
2004-03-01, 11:53 a.m.

Once again a productive morning. Got my marketing plans pretty much all ironed out and ready to meet with the consultant. Along with my questions. For which she is charging me a bundle.

On Saturday I took my niece to see �Catch That Kid.� It was pretty good. I think it�s a 4-star if you�re under 12 and a 2.5-3 star for us grownups. *I* wanted to see �Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen� but Macy vetoed it. This is her yearly birthday outing. When she was 5, I took her to McDonald�s (haute cuisine for the pre-school set) and then at the movies she had twizzlers and Hawaiian punch. On the way home, she puked in my car. After which, she looked at me and said, �Just so you know, you shouldn�t give me McDonald�s and movie treats. I�m gonna puke.� Yeah, so now she tells me. This time, celebrating the big 1-0, she didn�t puke. And we had much more sophisticated food � the Olive Garden where she had spaghetti and meatballs along with a few etiquette lessons. Put your napkin in your lap, do not eat your meatballs like they are Popsicles, don�t belch in the restaurant. That sort of thing. I told her when she burped that she should cover her mouth and do so discreetly if she needed to and couldn�t wait. In response to which she had 2 responses: What does discreetly mean? was the first. When I told her she asked me if I read the dictionary or something. Then, when I told her we don�t burp in public, she said, �But you wanted to KISS me in public!� Twerp. All in all, a good time was had by all.

PJH has bronchitis and has been sick all weekend. We fought about things and also had some nice quiet times and chats. I think it�s good that we�re arguing about things in some ways. At least we�re talking about them. She was so miserable and sick and tense that I, in typical Barbara style, gave her a pedicure! You should have seen my butch girlfriend enjoying that! First, I had her soak her feet in a massager dealie that I have, then dip them in paraffin wax and wrap hot towels around them. After that, I polished her toenails (much to her disgust) then massaged lotion into her feet. She fell sound asleep. Mission accomplished! She didn�t even wake up when I got her up to move her off the chair and into bed. Only just enough to actually walk.

On Sunday, we had dinner with my father�s family. It was weird, yet nice. I�ve been invited to birthday parties, band concerts, family reunions and all manner of other things. Benji cooked for us and we looked at family photos. We watched Kindergarten Cop on their enormous television (like 52�!) and chatted. Benji�s daughter, Natalie, was there, too, and cute as could be. Very polite and articulate for a 5-year old. Shoot. More manners than many adults I know! We took Nanette flowers, which she really liked. I am so grateful to her for her graciousness and kindness after what had to be a huge shock. Thank God I was born before Ben and she met and not during their marriage. That�s all I have to say.