Tuesday, March 17, 2009

House Guest

Well, it was two weekends ago, but I finally am going to take the time to write about it! We had a guest, a friend we met on the internet, and he stayed for 4 days and we all survived! He had just gotten home from a 7 month cruise deployment in the navy and had a couple of weeks vacation. I kept in contact with him while he was away, and when he said he didn't know what to do I told him he could come and visit us if he wanted. He accepted for whatever reason. Temporary insanity or something.

I picked him up at the airport on Thursday. I was supposed to get him and Jeff at the same time, but Jeff was delayed on his job and didn't get to come home until Friday.

The very first thing we had to do was go to the baggage claim people because it seems they lost his bag. He wasn't overly thrilled with them losing his bag, but they would deliver it to my house later that evening, so there wasn't really anything we could do.

His name is Kenny, and he fit right into our crazy house. Conor took to him immediately and started asking him to play video games with him. He bugged him just like he would any other person who walked in the door.

He and Allie have a lot of the same music tastes, and she also got to play with his new phone he just got. I think she and Chrissy used it more in one night than he did all weekend.

We had a lot of fun while he was here. We didn't really go out a lot, other than Saturday night, but somehow managed to entertain him anyway.

On our way home from the airport on Thursday, we went grocery shopping. Because Kenny wanted to make us some tacos, and he wanted to go with us to get the ingredients. Apparently I can't be trusted to get the correct ingredients.

After the shopping we went home where I prepared a meal of ... breakfast. It was kinda late to start anything time consuming, and after all the running around and shopping... it's just what everyone wanted. Can't really go wrong with bacon and eggs, and I attempted to make a gravy with the bacon grease, but it didn't turn out too well.

That was when I found out what a liar Kenny is. Because he said it was good. I have taste buds, you know? I found it very ... frustrating that he was so agreeable. If I gave him options? His response was, "I don't care, whatever you want." Sheesh. I worked the weekend to break him of this agreeability (is that even a word? I'm sure spell check will reject it...). We made a small amount of progress by the time he left.

Friday morning, I got the kids off to school and let him sleep in. When I heard him in the shower, I fixed him breakfast... French Toast and sausage. I think. It's been a couple of weeks, ya know? I'm old and don't remember insignificant stuff like that. Or the significant stuff for that matter. ;)
I said, "Would you like OJ, Milk, Chocolate Milk, or something else to drink?"

He said, "It doesn't matter, whatever." !!!!!!! I forced him to make a decision on that one. But then... later he said he doesn't really eat breakfast. So ate it, even though he didn't want it.

We went and picked Jeff up from the airport, who wasn't in the best mood after an uncomfortably long flight from Pheonix, but after ranting and raving and scaring Kenny for life talking about it for the entire ride home a little bit, he relaxed.

We dropped Jeff off at home so he could relax a bit, and went to pick up the rest of the kids. By the time we got home from getting Conor and Ceara, Jeff had fallen asleep, so we let him rest while we decided on dinner.

So, Kenny made us tacos for dinner. He made the chips and taco shells himself - and they were great. I made a chocolate sheet cake for dessert - so we were all in the kitchen listening to music and cooking. It was a lot of fun. Allie's friend Chrissy spent the night with us as well, and they forced him to watch a chick flick, because...well, that's what teenage girls do. I would have made them put something else in, but I figured it was his punishment for being so agreeable. Heh. So, we watched Georgia Rule. Not exactly a romantic comedy... and not exactly something that a guy wants to watch.

Saturday, for lunch, we had Marion's Piazza - because it is definitely a Dayton thing, and it is SO GOOD. It was a beautiful day. The whole weekend he was here was pretty nice.

I had decided to make a new recipe for dinner on Saturday night, and I got a late start to it, so by the time it was actually done, it was time for us to leave. Kenny and the kids had time to eat it, though. He said it was good, but I didn't trust his opinion by that time and made Ceara eat some and tell me. I tried a small bite, and it was OK, but not spectacular. I had told Ceara earlier that day that it was probably dumb to try new recipes out on guests... but hey. It looked good. Oh, well, he survived. ;) But I sure did have a lot of leftovers.

Jeff and I took him to a local comedy club Saturday night and afterwards we went out and shot some pool. The comedian was great - we were laughing all night! It has been a while since I've played pool, but I didn't do too badly. I even won one of the 4 games we played. Although, Kenny was a little blind because the one pair of contacts he brought were torn. Yet he still managed to beat me 3 times. I guess that doesn't say much for my ability! lol I just need practice, dang it. I want a pool table at my house...

On Sunday, he got exposed to my family at Sunday dinner. Dinner was at my aunt's house on that Sunday because... well, because she does that every once in a while to give Grandma a break from cooking. Also, it was her grandson's birthday.

He did better than some others who have gone, we can be an overwhelming bunch. He was quiet, but he did participate in the conversation a little bit. I tried to get him to go through the food line with me (we all just line up and go through the kitchen filling our plates) but he said, "I'll wait til everyone else is done." He soon figured out that it wasn't really going to die down for a while, so he did finally go through and get some food. We sat around and talked for a bit, then I took him on a drive through my hometown. That took all of 5 seconds and we went home.

We got home and some of the neighborhood kids came over and played the Wii a bit. I believe it was very entertaining for him - laughing at the kids who were doing the hula hoop and ski jumps. It is funny to watch. I tried to tease him into getting on the board and doing the hula hoop, but he refused to embarass himself in front of everyone. I know he went home and ordered one for himself so he could do the hula hoop, too. ;)

I made Chicken and Noodles for dinner, and was planning an apple cake as well, for dessert. I had to run Jeff to get his rental car, so I started on it when I got back. I asked Allie to peel some apples for me, and Kenny said he would help too... and OMGosh, neither one of them know how to peel apples. It was comical watching them chip away at the apple's skin. Ceara joined in too, and I think she paid attention when I showed them how to peel apples before, so she was doing slightly better. I just left them to do it however they could.

They ended up peeling too many, so after I got the apple cake in the oven, I put together a pie with the remaining apples.

It was an uneventful night, Allie and Kenny listened to music while I cooked and cleaned up, Ceara had gone to her mom's for school the next day, and Conor was playing the Nintendo. We all just kinda hung out - the kids had school the next day, and Kenny was flying home the following morning as well. He started opening up a bit about what he really thought about some things... which was good! lol

So, Monday morning everyone went off to school and I took Kenny to the airport. That would be AFTER I froze him to death the night before because someone (and I don't know who!) opened the windows on Sunday because it was nice, and someone forgot to close the window in the bedroom NEXT to the one he was staying in, and it got really cold that night. He didn't want to wake me up to get him another blanket... and I forgot to show him where the extras were - right inside the closet of the bedroom he was in.

He said he had a good time and would like to come back sometime, but that he will drive the next time so he's not trapped there with the crazy people, and just come for a short weekend. He may have been just being polite... but I do think he had fun while he was here. We loved having him, and everyone had a good time while he was here.

One of the reasons he came in the first place was to have some home cooked food. I'm not sure I did so well in that area, because even though he said he liked stuff... I don't think he really did. He did like the crash hot potatoes, though. He might have liked the chocolate sheet cake, but... I'm not really sure on the desserts. He didn't eat whole pieces of any of the desserts. He claimed to be full or something, but said it was delicious. Same thing for the apple pie. And the apple cake. He took a small apple cake home with him, but... he could have done that out of politeness and dumped it in the airport trash before his plane took off. Hmmmmm. I mean really? How could you not like Chocolate Sheet Cake? I could understand the apple stuff, he might not be an apple person. But... *sigh* Jeff would say he's an alien if he doesn't like chocolate.

Guess we'll see if he really comes back for another visit. Once he gets more comfortable with us he will feel OK saying, "I don't like this."

He did give me a bit of honesty and said he didn't love the corn casserole... which, you know... is every one's favorite thing ever when I make it for other people. He said it was "OK" but not his favorite. So with that comment, I question his taste in general!

I'm sure I will get a comment on this post from him when he reads it - although not in the comment section! He will just email me. :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another one of K's famous apple pies? YUM!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like everyone had a great time! You are such a generous hostess I'm surprised he ever left!