Take Me Out to the Ball Game

So our trip to PA this past weekend was a good one.   We arrived at my son's apartment around 1 pm on Saturday.  What?  It's all clean!  His girlfriend, we later found out, had spent two solid hours that morning cleaning, sanitizing, and organizing.  From what she tells us, he had not done any cleaning for quite some time, and she couldn't bear the thought of our spending the night there with it in such a state.  What a sweetheart -- and how DOES she put up with his slob-like existence?  It's a good thing she still lives at home and her exposure is short-lived and sporadic.  It was good chatting with her again too.  She filled me in on her nursing program that's under way at Duquesne.  One year to go, and she'll be ready to launch.

We had dinner with them Saturday night and bought tickets to see the 9:40 showing of Elysium at a local theater.  Very strange movie...!  One-third of the way through the movie, something happened to the sound and they had to stop the movie to attempt troubleshooting.  After about ten minutes and no success, management ended up giving all the patrons refunds and free tickets to see another movie. We gave our tickets to my son and his GF, since we don't live there and they would make better use of the freebies.  We headed back to his apartment to hang out and watch more movies.  But they chose the typical high-paced action thriller, and I decided to hibernate off by myself and read his August issue of Muscle Fitness Magazine featuring Hugh Jackman as "Wolverine" on the cover.  Yep.  I was convinced that would keep me happily preoccupied for a while.  

He has air conditioning in his apartment, but only downstairs, the kitchen/family room area.  Upstairs?  Not.  And that is where the small, windowless bathroom and the two bedrooms are.  His bedroom has a window fan in the window which he claims keeps him sufficiently comfortable while sleeping at night.  I would have thought he'd have saved some of his money to buy a window AC for the upstairs after two full months of summer heat and humidity.  But he's tight as the bark on a tree, and he seems to like living the minimalist lifestyle, boasting that questionable, austere bachelor reputation.  Keep it simple.  That's his motto.

Of course, that's fine for him, but not much fun for us when we come to visit.  I planned ahead and snagged a decent-sized turbo fan at 25% off at a local Rite Aide to take with us.  We had purchased a Coleman queen-sized air mattress for his second bedroom.  Although it's better than sleeping on the floor, I still did not get much rest Saturday night, both from the lack of AC (hey, I'm peri-menopausal!) and from bouncing (rolling) around on the air mattress every time I wanted to reposition.  When dawn hit, I was more than ready to get up and at it.  Now.  Where's the coffee?

His coffee pot is sad.  Very sad.  I made a half pot of coffee to start me off while everyone else was still sleeping.  Eager for that first sip, I was sorely disappointed that it was actually not very hot.  Note to self:  He needs a new coffee pot.  As I took a look around, I began seeing many other things that he was in need of, and I began making a list of things to buy him for Christmas for his apartment.  Women are far more aware of the details.  And this woman NEVER takes them for granted. 

We made it to the Pirates game, excited from the energy of the fans, the sounds, the smells, the people, the food.  I love watching live professional baseball.  My youngest son is a Cardinals fan, so that made the rivalry between him and his brother a bit more engaging.  Me?  I was rooting for the Pirates, along with my son and his GF.  My husband was ambivalent.  The Cardinals ended up wiping out the Pirates, and my son was overjoyed, rubbing it in his brother's face at every chance.  I drank two Bud Lites while at the game, and only indulged in two of my son's monstrous bucket of wings, trying to stick to my diet and save most of my calories and carbs on dinner after the game.  It didn't bother me much that the Pirates were losing.  I was having fun people watching (my, are there some weirdos out there!) and just hanging out with my family.  There was a nice breeze most of the game, and we had loads of fun.  I managed to snap a couple shots of "Cutch" at bat.  There's just something sexy about that hair...

We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  Colton loves that place and we don't have one where we live.  We always take him to eat at Joe's while vacationing on Marco Island, but he didn't go to Marco this year, and getting to eat with the family at Joe's in Pittsburgh made up for it.  I had two Ultras -- that comes to four, I'm counting -- along with my grilled shrimp and steamed veggie dinner.  Safe choice?  Yet beer is SO filling!  I'm mostly a red wine woman, but I'd already started with beer at the game the fun, laid-back atmosphere at Joe's seemed to shout BEER.  A total of four beers over the course of six hours... eh, not so bad.

We had to drive home Sunday night because my son had a JV football game at 10:00 the next morning, and we'd have to be up early for the game to allow for travel time.  It was a long drive home, not having much rest the two nights before, and needless to say I was exhausted when I arrived home.  And that fatigue intensified the following day.  It was an exhaustion that cleverly masquerades as hunger and cravings when I am not on my toes and ready to fight it.  And I wasn't.  And I gave in.  Nosiree, I was NOT a good girl on my diet on Monday.  I did manage to get in a two-hour, much needed afternoon nap.  I was feeling more and more like a slug as the day wore on.

No worries, and no regrets.  It was a fun-filled and happy weekend overall, visiting with my son and his girlfriend in PA.  Happy times, good food, laughter, memories.

And now life resumes...back to normal...and fall is only days away.