Weekend Recap

That was the busiest weekend in a long time.

On Saturday we went to Bank of America and officially closed our accounts.  $5 fee to use our debit cards?  No thanks.  The President of the company telling us that Bank of America "has a right to make a profit"?  No you don't.  We've changed banks and moved on to bigger and better things.

In the process we learned that if a charge is under dispute and the account the charge is attached to is closed, the company the complaint is made against CAN REOPEN THE CLOSED ACCOUNT without the owner of the account's consent.  Apparently, one of our newly closed accounts is going to be reopened without our permission today so we have to re-close the account.  Buh Bye, Bank of America.

From there we went to piano lessons and karate class, and did a lot of cleaning around the house and raking in the yard.  Then it was off to Mike and Tammy's daughter's fifth birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  The reservation was for 12 people.  The staff tried to seat us in two booths.  As in, separately.  The punch line is that the two separate booths were next to two adjoining six seat tables.  Umm... can we have the table please so that our group can actually... ya know... be a group?  Thaaanks.

After that we went home and met up with Jen, who had been at work, and did some Thanksgiving supply shopping.  While out we stopped at a craft store and the kids picked up a couple of paint by number sets.  Talk about a hit!  It's almost all my step son has talked about ever since.  They both are having fun working on their paintings.

On Sunday morning we had the Dead Relatives Tour 2011.  We all went to the cemetery to visit the graves of my mother's parents, and my father's mother, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousin.  After the visit we all go out to lunch together.  I tried very hard to explain to the kids that this event is a happy occasion where we all spend time together and focus on the happy memories.  My step daughter is having a tough time with the concept of death these days.  I'm not sure where that came from, but she's had a couple of upset moments.  She was fine yesterday though.  My step son could not get enough information about my relatives.  He asked a thousand questions.  He was fascinated with everything, especially my father's uncle Jimmy, and my uncle Johnny.  Mostly because I've talked to him about both of them.  We have a couple of pieces of furniture that once belonged to Jimmy, and both kids have some memories of their mom and I going to Johnny's wake and funeral.  Of course, after going to great lengths to explain how it was a happy occasion, there was a moment when my step son was asking why some graves have flags, and I was explaining what it meant, I told him that when Uncle Jimmy was buried two soldiers presented a US flag to Uncle Johnny and how proud we were and just lost it.  Both kids were quick to give life saving hugs though and I felt better.

Lunch was so much fun.  The niece and nephews are so cute it's unreal.  Both babies had moments when they absolutely cut the rest of us up, and the older kids were so much fun.  The only negative was my brother having a migraine.  Last year my cousin's son had a migraine and had to leave the table and sit in the car.  This year it was my brother.  I hope this does not become a trend.  The only thing missing, now that I think of it, was the guy who normally comes around making balloon animals and doing magic tricks.

Finally last night it was time to play some music.  We were singer free, but we managed to muddle through a few things.  We're going to do it again next Sunday, and this time we have specific songs to work on, and we may have a singer trying out too.  It was so much fun, but I was worried about Jen and the kids being stuck in the house while we were making all of that noise.  I tried to prepare them for the volume, and I guess I over did it a little.  They were all surprised by how "quiet" we were.  The kids enjoyed the whole experience.  Especially my step son.  Jen told me he was rocking out the whole time.  He snuck down the stairs a couple of times to watch too.  It was cool to see him enjoying it so much.  This morning he was talking up a storm about how he wants to learn to play the guitar and the drums.  He's awesome, that little man.  Both kids have also volunteered to join the band as singers or keyboard players.  It might be tough to get a bar gig with an 8 and 10 year old in the band, but maybe it will be worth it.

The whole weekend was great, and it's all thanks to Jen and the kids.  They make my life so much fun.  I love them all very much!