the luck o' the irish

i had high hopes for st. paddy's day. me and the boys started it off with lucky charms, of course. that's what all the irish lads eat back in ireland, it's ancient tradition. that went pretty well. at least ikey enjoyed eating only the marshmallows and throwing the rest of it on the floor.

next i got the boys bathed and dressed in their green garb to be sure nobody was to be pinched. soon after we're rushing out the door to take jonah to school, almost on time even. jonah's ready. check. where's ikey? he's in the corner playing with his little red fire engine...as i walk closer, do i smell...? closer...what's all over his hands?...closer...aw, man! ...one more bath and we're out the door, no longer even close to on time when we arrive at jonah's deserted school. not a kid in sight. i guess spring break isn't over yet for chandler. i should've read the newsletter ms. heidi sent home.

so we head back home, but we're out of gas. a quick stop at the gas station and we took care of that almost painlessly at $3.15 a gallon. since we're here, let's run the car through the car wash, the boys love to watch the spinning, spinning, spinning. so we pull through the u-shaped driveway, it costs $5 and i have 4 ones and some quarters. insert the 4 ones without any rejects and on to the quarters. jammed, but there's a button that says press for help. i press. nothing. i press again. nada. i can't go through the car wash, i don't want to attempt backing up the narrow u-shape driveway, so i press again just because. and one more time, because now i'm a little miffed. finally, i manage my way out of the car wash trap, not so painlessly. i could feel the eyes watching me and my face was hot. i go in to the cashier and say,
"so, the car wash machine's not taking quarters?"
"nope."
"nor is the call button working?"
"never has," says the incredibly helpful employee.
"you should really post that out there."
to compensate for my distress he let me wash my car for a dollar less.

back home now, joe will be home soon and i've got this clever little irish dinner planned. my mom used to make corned beef on st. patrick's day, but i didn't think the boys would eat it, so i was going to make an irish stew [that is the more traditional st. patrick's day dish on irish soil, as per martha stewart] with crusty irish soda bread, a pint of [limeade really (unfortunately)] stout and minty green ice cream for dessert. i started early this morning, browning the meat and getting it in the crock pot so it would be tender and ready just in time for an early evening dinner. it was a good thought, but apparently the crock pot decided to crap out on me today. [why not?] my meat was nicely browned and raw in the middle. *mmm* maybe the boys will have lucky charms for dinner, too. and me, just the stout.