Saturday, August 23, 2008

My Not-So-Quiet Night

Both of the girls were supposed to babysit tonight. B and I were looking forward to a quiet night at home. We bought steaks to grill on the new grill and were going to watch the Olympics. We were talking about how our family life is reaching a new phase, where the girls have their own social lives and we'll be left on our own more and more. (Not that I'm complaining -- it's been 13+ long years since we've enjoyed that lifestyle!)

Then M's babysitting job was cancelled. Oh well ... No romantic evening, but still a quiet night at home. Then she went to the swim club ... Quiet night for just the two of us was back on! Then B got called to work, so he left to drive to Baltimore. Oh well. Quiet night with the house all to myself! Yipppeeee! I poured a glass of wine and settled in to finish reading my book (Loving Frank by Nancy Horan - I'm reviewing it as a potential candiate for my book club.)

Then it all fell to pieces. M called from the swim club and asked if "they" could come back to the house with her and watch a movie. Who is "they", I ask? Three girls and two boys ... FIVE friends. And two of them are boys. EEEK! I am not ready for this!

I laid down some ground rules - they have to stay downstairs in the family room. No coming up into my office/playroom to play Wii, or going into any bedrooms. No "purple" (boys=blue, girls=pink, contact between boy+girl=purple!)

So much for my quiet evening at home. I'm now banished to my room, although I will make occasional "passthroughs" to check on the scene. And I will keep a listening ear on the family room. If it gets toooo quiet, that's not a good sign either! Too bad we got rid of our baby monitor -- it would come in handy for eavesdropping right about now!

(The worst part is when L finds out that M had a little party get-together while she was babysitting. You'll be able to hear the outrage five states away!)

Update at 9:00 pm: Another friend is on her way.......

5 comments:

Leeann said...

AGH!!!

OMG! New life phase alert! New life phase alert!

Actually, it's great that they have friends to do stuff with and that your home is the place they want to go to. A sign of you doing a great job!

And the "No purple" rule? LOVE IT. Did you make that up? I am Soooooo stealing that as a rule.

What movie are they watching?

Leeann
niccofive.blogspot.com

Cindi said...

The baby monitor...GREAT idea! Too bad you don't still have it.

You just can't be too careful with pre-teens and teenagers, so whatever gives you a little advantage is wonderful.

Pamela Fierro said...

They watched "21" - the movie about the college kids that learn to count cards and go to Las Vegas. (They ordered it from On-Demand)
The "No Purple" rule is something that they always say at youth group functions at church. Frankly, I think "purple" is the last thing on their minds, but you never know what's on boys' minds!
Afterwards, M said, "Why did you keep coming in? You don't have to check on us!" I told her that I trusted her to have friends over and act appropriately, and she needed to trust me to provide a safe, supervised, age-appropriate environment.
They made a huge mess with popcorn everywhere, but one boy did help clean up a bit, and then M vacuumed everything else up.

Anonymous said...

a friend with kids older than mine gave me the hint to put snacks in small bowls. Then, you have to keep going in to refill them and can check out the scene w/o being too obvious!

Pamela Fierro said...

Love that suggestion Melissa! I should have done that instead of making a giant bowl of popcorn. That probably would have cut way down on the amount of popcorn that ended up all over the floor, too! What a mess!