when mom is out of town.

For as long as I can remember, my house had always functioned differently whenever Mom was out of town. (Actually, I don't think it functioned at all. That could be why she rarely left.) When Mom was out for the day/whatever, Dad would be in charge. All of us kids would just kinda grin and bite our tongues as Dad did what he thought was best for us. Here are some of my favorites:

• for dinner he once melted cheese over rice
• when doing my hair, we would use an entire tube of gel and slick every single strand back into a wicked-tight ponytail. Sometimes, it was so tight that it felt as if my eyes were pulled back and my nationality had changed.
• he always replayed the funny part of a movie over and over and over and over and over again until the humor died.
• then, he'd rent the movie mentioned above the following weekend just to watch the same part over and over and over and over and over... (this still happens, btw!)

And here are some of his 'habits' that are going on this week:

• washing the kitchen counters with Windex
• making lemonade by: pealing & chopping lemons into teeny tiny pieces and mashing them into a pitcher filled with 94085439853 scoops of sugar. So much for a lemon squeezer!
• turning up the radio until the house thuds just to listen to his favorite song during dinner time - then, leaving it blasting while the of radio program continues in the midst of dinner with us yelling at each other across the table
• washing dishes by hand. We have a dishwasher.

Sometimes I just have to laugh. He is so set in his ways. Oh, I love my Dad!

D.