water, auction, and batting eyelashes

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Water: on Saturday the girls and I went to see The Nutcracker. Maggie wanted to see her friends in it and Abby and I were interested as well. So we headed to NOCCA which is about a 20 minute drive from here, down by the river. We enjoyed the show and Maggie was able to giver her friends their flowers after the school. Then the problems started. It has been raining, and was pouring by the time we left. Maggie had thought ahead to bring in the umbrella, so I made a run for the car, stepping in a 2 inch puddle with both feet along the way. Sigh. Got to the car and went back to get the girls. So we headed home. I don't like to take the interstate when I have an alternate route, especially in the rain, so we headed back home the way we'd come. Unfortunately, that entailed MANY spots of standing water. Our first "stopping point" occurred about 6 miles from home where we stopped on a crossover on a street median. Sat there for about 30 minutes, called Tom (who helpfully gave us the weather conditions at home!), check the radar from my phone, and came up with our first detour -- braving the interstate. Made it onto the freeway and to our exit without any problems. Then we encountered another delay -- only about 2 miles from home this time, but the direct street to our house was blocked by police cars. So we took another detour and got a bit closer. Then had another spot where the standing water was over the curbs, almost covering the neutral grounds. Another detour, then we headed home. We got within 4 blocks and absolutely could not go any further. At this point Maggie and I lost it and started to cry, which, of course, set Abby off. FINALLY (about 20 minutes later) I saw a sedan pass thru and figured he was lower to the ground than I was so we headed the rest of the way home. 2 hours after leaving the ballet. One of Maggie's friends mom's called me and asked if we'd gotten home -- they live on the next block and didn't get home until 9:30pm. The director of the ballet school's husband successfully flooded her car. So I suppose we didn't have it too bad!

Auction: Sunday was a much nicer day, despite more rain. We got to see how high the water had risen all over, and marvel (at least I did!) on the water still standing in people's yards. WOW! Church and football (go Saints!) followed. Headed to a re-scheduled piano lesson after football and then home where Abby had an idea to hold an art auction in our house. So we did. It was quite fun! I managed to sell some of my art from my class, Abby and Maggie sold some of theirs as well. I think Abby both spent and earned the most money! The art went for between 10 cents and 4 dollars. Hilarious. And I was able to let my art teacher know that I was now a marketable artist (ha ha!).

Batting eyelashes: Yesterday (Wednesday) I was quizzing Maggie over her science for her exam. For some reason I batted my eyelashes. She tried and couldn't do so. So I asked her how she expected to flirt with boys when she couldn't even bat her lashes. So she used her fingers to move her eyelids. Then Abby came downstairs and was able to bat her lashes. So Maggie kept trying and it just got to be (stupidly) more and more funny, to the point where we were laughing hysterically. Maggie looked more like she had sand under her lashes than that she was flirting. It went downhill from there when I asked her how she expected to flirt with boys. She decided that she'd make faces at them. And the faces she was making would NOT be successful. In any event, it made for an enjoyable time together!

In other news, tonight we're taking Tom to see the Transiberian Orchestra for his Christmas gift. Should be fun. He was able to pick the girls up from school at noon (early dismissal) so I could participate in my last art class in its entirety (she actually liked my painting!).

In any event, those are the highlights from this week! Have a safe and wonderful weekend......