Superpaige's Pad

The Trials of a Busy Mom

Category: Bells (Page 4 of 7)

Tab Choir party

December 28, 2011 / / 3 Comments

Christmas party.

Every year, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir throws a big “company party”. I call it my work party, although technically, I don’t work for the choir, in that I don’t get paid. But, employee or not, it’s a great company party. We all gather at the Grand America Hotel. dressed up fancy.


Here we are in front of the giant gingerbread house. You can’t see, but I did my hair up all fancy in the back. I should have taken a picture of THAT.

The company is great. While there are over 1300 people at this party, we only really interact with our little table of 10. We sat with other bell people. You can’t really see Ryan’s name tag, but his name for the evening was “Sven Erickson”. I believe last year he was ‘Dirk’. I guess he just likes to change things up a bit.

Here’s our main course, which was chicken, steak, asparagus, and a little loaf of stuffing with sweet potatoes on top. Very fancy!

For dessert, there was a lemon pudding thing and a chocolate thing. Ryan had the lemon and I had the chocolate. Both were yummy, but mine was slightly better.

President Monson didn’t speak to us this year, but he was there, up at the head table. I tried to get a picture, but I was WAY on the side, and it didn’t turn out.

It’s such a nice evening and I feel so blessed to be able to associate with all the wonderful and talented people in this group.

We even checked out the FANCY new toy store at the Grand America hotel.
Here I am with Maurice the penguin.

As company parties go, it’s a good one.

Whew! What a week!

December 19, 2011 / / 4 Comments

This week was Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. with special guests Jane Seymore and Nathan Gunn. You can read an official review of the concert here.

In order to make the concert great, that required a busy week full of rehearsals, beginning with Tuesday night. The rehearsal part isn’t bad, it’s the GETTING there that is the problem.
Really, once I get there and have found a parking spot, the rest of the night is fun. I love hanging out with my bell choir friends, and it’s wonderful to be there and be a part of the amazing production that is put on.

This year, the amazing costume lady and her team decided to outfit the bell choir so that we fit more with the theme of the show. So we were in these outfits.

And even given our own “dressing room”, which was really just some curtains put up in an out of the way hallway, but we aren’t complaining.

So, do these outfits remind you of anything?

They do look quite star trek, don’t they? We heard from choir members, stage crew, even our own director, that yes, we looked kind of star trek, but we’re ok with that. On STAGE, with the whole group, we looked good.

Right?

I decided to embrace our trekiness, and Saturday, I had Cole help me make these little badges.
Can you see the little BOTS on the badge?

I was hoping that everyone would have a sense of humor and not think I was just crazy, but after dinner on Saturday, I brought out my little badges and suggested we take a group picture.
Everyone was on board. They LOVED their badges and we took lots of pictures.

Even a group shot!

We waled around with our badges on back stage and even showed Sue, the costume lady. She laughed and laughed. The official choir photographer came up to us and said, “I understand you got a group picture with those star trek badges on.” She wants a copy for the choir newsletter. So, I’d say they were well received.

We really did have a wonderful week. Jane Seymore said hi as she walked by, Nathan Gunn came by Sunday morning and said loudly,
“Good Morning, everyone.” They were both warm and gracious guests.

Saturday night four of us stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn, and it was wonderful not to have to make the one hour drive home, and then the one hour drive in the morning. Sunday morning’s Music and the Spoken word was exhausting after the whole week of concerts, but it was a special performance. Ryan brought the kids up and I met them afterward.

So, I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad I got to again experience the wonder and magic of the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert.

Summer-Week 2

June 19, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Is it the end of the week already?

What have we done?

Friday’s concert was wonderful.


It was sad to say goodbye to our retiring director, Tom Waldron. There’s a great article about the bells and Tom in the church news HERE.

Lagoon!–Saturday was Ryan’s company party at Lagoon, and we had a fun time there. I, of course, do not ride vomit inducing rides such as the ones that are plentiful at Lagoon. Instead, I took John around to the kiddie rides, and enjoyed visiting with my good friend Kimberly, who also avoids those icky rides. Ryan and the other kids had a fantastic time being turned upside down, thrown around in circles, and generally being bumped and jostled. And it’s SO much easier now that everyone has cell phones. I could just text them, ask them where they were and when they were coming to meet, and I didn’t feel abandoned when they went off for hours riding the sick rides and I was stuck waiting for them. The best part was that it was FREE.

Barbeque with friends– Cole had requested that we could have a get together with his old friends David and Sam. When they were little, we used to get them together a lot. Mostly because MY friends, Melinda and Michelle and Tina, wanted to get together. Those kids played so happily together! Well, time moves on and kids grow up. Schedules get packed, and it’s harder to get families together. But the stars aligned to get Melinda’s family and Michelle’s family together for a barbeque. It was lots of fun to get those boys together. David just graduated and is going to BYU in the fall, Cole and Sam will be seniors. Sam and Jesse stayed over that night and it was fun to have them here the next day.

Tennis lessons–Natalie finished up her tennis lessons, and she really enjoyed it. I don’t know if she mastered the sport, but she had a good time and learned some new skills and got some exercise.

Piano lessons–The kids are continuing piano over the summer, and since John is now reading like a champ, we decided it was time for him to start piano lessons. He was SO excited about starting his lessons, he got up early (well, let’s face it, he always gets up early) on the day of the lesson. After his lesson, he came home and PRACTICED his simple tunes. He is practicing EVERY day! I’m so thrilled that he’s thrilled.. Another 10 years of this and he’ll be a musician playing John Schmidt songs like his brother.

Swim–I have a certain child who is constantly asking if we can go swimming. Seriously. The first day temperatures crept above 65 degrees, she was bouncing home from school, asking if we could go swimming. I’ll admit it, I’m not a HUGE fan of the public pool, but since I don’t have a pool in my backyard, and I’m sadly not best friends with someone who does have a pool in their backyard, so the public pool it is. We had a fun time there on Wednesday, and then Natalie went with a friend on Saturday.

Visit the farm–I’m going to try to visit some aspect of Thanksgiving Point once a week, since we have the pass and all. This week we picked a not too hot day to visit the farm.

I only took the two youngest, since the other three were busy with youth activities. It was fun to see the grown up chickens and all the cute fluffy animals. Jenna and John enjoyed riding the ponies, and we had a carriage ride.

Youth Conference–Megan and Cole had Youth Conference Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They had a great time going down to Ephraim and attending the Manti pageant, among other fun things. I was just happy to have one half of the amazing duo of fighting, arguing sisters GONE for a couple of days. It’s kind of fun to only have three kids at home, and for that middle child to be the oldest. While they were gone, we went out to dinner (two kids cheaper!) at Mimi’s cafe and I took them out garage saleing on Saturday morning.

Ice Cream social–As it gets closer to Cinderella time, we had our annual Alpine Community Theater ice cream social. (Don’t you love the way this sticker adds a little class to the rusted old tailgate?)
All the ice cream you want to eat for only $1 per person, free entertainment, and the opportunity to buy tickets to the show for $2 less. It was a perfect night for it, too! Overcast, but not cold, and while the rain clouds threatened, there was no rain.

Father’s Day!–And today is Father’s day! Happy Father’s day, everyone! We made Ryan a scrumptious breakfast of scrambled eggs and waffles, and gave him the oh-so-extravagant gifts of new socks and a nice watch. We will have my parents and my sister’s family over for dinner tonight, so that will be fun.

That’s the week in review. Gosh, it’s no wonder I’m tired. I’ll have to have the kids read here when they inevitably complain or whine that we haven’t done anything fun all summer.

Spring Ring–or how I spent my Saturday

March 7, 2011 / / 2 Comments

My Saturday was spent with my bell choir peeps. Can I call them ‘peeps’? Sure, I can.

Every year the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers sponsors a Spring Ring, where bell choirs from all over the state come together for an all day ring session with a guest clinician. Our choir attends every other year, and this is my third time at this event. It’s usually held at a school, in the gym. Imagine if you will 19 bell choirs all set up together in one room, playing the same pieces. Amazing sound. There were 253 of us there.

I must admit I’ve had a little bit of a bad attitude about this before. It’s just such a long day. A LONG day of ringing bells. It’s killer on your feet, legs, back, shoulders, hands….well, it’s just very taxing. And I’m reminded that I’m not young anymore. Getting older every year, in fact.

But our guest clinician, Timothy Waugh, was really amazing. He was so positive and had a wonderful attitude. We weren’t just a whole bunch of choirs playing the same songs, but we were trying our best to tell stories in song. I learned a lot and it was a really good experience. Exhausting, but good.

Thankfully, we brought our own crew, who did all the unloading and loading for us. It’s a HUGE ordeal to move a bell choir of our size, with 7 octaves of bells, chimes in their big old cases, tables, pads, risers, etc. They have to transport all our stuff in a big semi that is rented for the day. We are lucky that way. At the end of the day, we performed a short concert. Four of the choirs performed solos (we were one of those solo performing groups) and we played all six of the songs we had worked on through the day. Although our solo could have gone better, the concert was fun.

After we put everything away and I changed out of my sparkley dress, I was hauling all my stuff out to the parking lot. I had my dress, my purse, a second pair of shoes, my water bottle, and my piece of carpet to stand on. I could barely hold on to all my stuff, and I wandered out to look for my car. Ahem. Excuse me–to look for RYAN’S car. I knew I had parked pretty close, but I couldn’t find it. I kept clicking the “unlock” button hoping the car would blink at me, but no such luck. Our director, Tom, walked by, and asked if I was lost. “I can’t find my car,” I said, feeling really stupid. He asked if I wanted to drive around a look for it, but I was pretty sure I could find it eventually. But then, after walking around some more, I still couldn’t find it. Another friend from the choir stopped and asked if I needed help. I must have looked rather forlorn in my exhausted state hauling all my gear. I took her up on her offer to drive around and look for it. It’s such a small car, and it’s dark grey–not a stand out color–so it’s easy to misplace it, right? Tom pulled around again and rolled down his window. “Are you sure you parked in this lot?” he said. Oh. There’s more than one lot? Hello! So my friend Serena drove me around to the other lot on the OTHER side of the school, and there it was. Our little grey car! I just walked out following everyone else, not realizing I was walking out the WRONG way. Ugh.

Once I found the car, I started to relax a little bit. I drove over to my sister’s house to give her a birthday present. My sister who is expecting a baby any day to add to her current houseful of kids. She is amazing. Her kids are all so cute and happy, and they all wanted to show me ALL their toys while their mom was trying to talk to me. I obviously don’t visit enough. It was nice to just sit and visit with her. Hopefully all will go well with this new baby and she will be born without problems. They are worried about her measuring small, so she has to go in for all kinds of tests. I think her poor old uterus is just tired and worn out!

By the time I got home, it was almost bed time for the kids. They took a break from their video game extravaganza to say hi to me, while I ate some dinner and then dragged myself up and flopped on the bed.

I turned on the tv and flipped some channels, and saw that they were playing Les Miserables on PBS. Amazing. I settled in, got some Kleenex, and watched the second half. In an attempt to avoid going to bed, the kids all wandered in, and climbed on my bed. “What is this?” they asked, “Who is that?” “Why is she crying?” Hey, I’m not here to give you a commentary, I thought. But I tried to explain it in simple terms, and they were soon enthralled, as well. It was such a nice moment. In my cozy bed, surrounded by my kids, trying to instill in them a love of all things musical. But then Ryan came in, scoffed at my viewing choice (he’s not a fan) and sent the kids to bed. It’s a good thing, because they really drag out those PBS pledge drive shows. But I kept watching, tears rolling down my cheeks. It’s just all so SAD. But the music is so beautiful! Even though Ryan doesn’t like the show, he was kind enough to set it to record the next showing, since I had missed the whole first half. He may be crotchety and not like musicals, but he knows me, and is sweet like that.

All in all a good day. Exhausting. I got zero Saturday jobs done, and neither did my family, but we’ll survive the mess, and I’ll remember the musical experience of the day.

—

Our Roadshow, by the way, will be performed tomorrow. I’m hoping I can get some good video and post a song or two to show you how incredible these kids are, and what a great show we’ve created. And then I will sigh a great big sigh of relief to let you all know that I have survived.

Christmas music–it’s not just for December (and a giveaway)

February 8, 2011 / / 6 Comments

Yes, I am listening to Christmas music in my car. Why not? There’s tons of fluffy snow out there and it’s below freezing. And I’m driving, so I have the right to chose any CD I want. Right? Not if you ask my kids. They think Christmas music should only be played from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Sure, if you are talking about the overplayed radio Christmas songs that every radio station plays the same exact version of over and over. On that, I agree. But when it’s a beautiful CD full of original arrangements, music from other lands, and the majestic sounds of an amazing orchestra and choir as well as the world renowned King’s Singers, that’s just not your everyday Christmas music. It deserves to be listened to all through the year. The King’s Singers voices singing beautiful Christmas music with the Choir is lovely and calming. Oh, and there are bells. Lots of bells.

Of all the concerts I have been blessed to perform in with the choir, the King’s Singers concert was my favorite so far. Every concert is amazing, and I can hardly believe I get to participate in these amazing concerts! But it is ok to have a favorite.

If you have never heard the King’s Singers singing “O Holy Night”, you have missed out, my friend. The heavenly sound of the mens’ voices blend perfectly with the orchestra and choir. It’s what I imagine Heaven sounds like. Seriously.

And since I’m in a giving mood today, if you do not have a copy of this Rejoice and be Merry CD, leave a comment here and I’ll randomly pick one comment to win this CD. Really. Because you should hear it for yourself. And because I’m nice that way. And if you don’t win, you can purchase this CD at Deseret Book.

Concert week

November 20, 2010 / / 1 Comment

It’s concert week this week.


That means a lot of rehearsal, a lot of time away from home, and a lot of stress. If you could heard the thoughts running through my head, most of them would be music. I go to bed with songs in my head, and I wake up to songs in my head. Or I wake up to counting those songs in my head. “One and two and three and four, five, six…” One of my bell choir friends said that she dreamed that her life was in 6/8 time and her daughter refused to come in on four. I know that makes no sense to most of you, but I thought it was funny and I totally understood where she was coming from.

We only have one performance this year, and that means one time to get everything right. Add to that pressure that we have people recording parts or all of the concert, and our director expects each song to be perfect. I know that I have the ability to play all the songs perfectly. While I may not have played every song perfectly without mistake, I have played every part of each song correctly at one time. If I could just edit together all of my BEST run throughs of each song, I’d have it all done perfectly. And it’s not just me, there are 29 of us all attempting our very best performances. Oh, and many of the songs we will be playing have been arranged by our director. No pressure or anything.

But I know that I have done everything I can do to prepare. We have rehearsed and rehearsed and I have put in my time. Now it’s a matter of being THERE, in the music, and not getting distracted during the performance. And praying. Lots of praying.

I LOVE playing bells, and the experience is absolutely wonderful. I treasure my association with my fellow choir members, and we work together to make the best music we can. But the pressure. It’s still there.

If you want a sample of one of the songs we will be playing, you can take a listen to this one right here. This song, Holiday for Strings, has given us our share of headaches and stress, that’s for sure. (Click on the link, then click on “listen”. Or, if you want to see the sheet music, you can click on “View”)

We will also be playing the Overture from the Nutcracker Suite. I just searched on you tube and found this absolutely AMAZING performance by a bell choir playing this song.

The choregraphy! 6 ringers all sharing and playing all those notes! WOW! Now I’m feeling like I can TOTALLY play our version of the song. At least I don’t have to do that!

On Sunday morning, our bell choir will also be performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. We will be playing two songs with the Choir and one song on our own. None of those songs are songs from the concert, by the way. Tune in if you can! My sister’s artwork will also be featured during the spoken word!

Amid this week of rehearsals and stress, last night was another BRIGHT spot of fun. My book club was meeting for their holiday dinner, and I had hoped that I could stop by after rehearsal and say hi and maybe sneak some yummy dessert. We were excused from rehearsal at about 8:30, and I hurried as fast as I could to my friend Melinda’s house, and made it there by 9. I was SO delighted that many of my book club friends were still there. I haven’t been able to attend our monthly book club meeting in several months, and I really missed my connection with these friends. Even though it was late, they fed me dinner, and it was FABULOUS! Butternut squash lasagna! Can you say Yummy? I knew I shouldn’t be snarfing dinner so late and so quickly, but it was all so yummy (and I really was hungry. I had only eaten a granola bar before rehearsal in anticipation of at least a yummy dessert later), and I was so happy to be with these friends. I am so lucky to have such wonderful and talented people in my life, and I bathed in the bright smiles and conversation with my friends.

I am truly blessed.

Ring a ding ding

October 22, 2010 / / 4 Comments

When Our Director, Tom, told us about the Advanced Ringers Workshop, it didn’t sound all that exciting. Another all day bell thing? Those are SO exhausting. But when he explained a little more in detail about what a great opportunity it would be and that he needed 13 of us to go, I considered it. Yes, that would mean sacrificing a few Saturday mornings for rehearsal and one entire Saturday, but when I looked at my schedule I saw that it was possible, so I volunteered.

Even though I have been ringing hand bells for over 5 years, I don’t consider myself an “advanced ringer” by any stretch of the imagination. I’m more of an “ok ringer who tries really hard to handle my own part and not mess everyone else up.” But I love playing, and I love our choir, so any time spent with them would not be wasted.

When we met for our first rehearsal, we had some interesting bell assignments. Everyone seemed to be just one note off from their familiar ringing spot. Instead of playing F and G, I was assigned E and F. That shift was harder than any of us thought it would be. Even though we are reading the notes right, the wrong hand would ring, out of habit. Then we would find ourselves looking at the bell in our hand with the look of “Bell, what’s up with that?” Maybe you know that look. But the music was fun, and challenging.

On October 9th, (my husband’s birthday)we met in Springville, and set up. I wondered who the friendly looking guy in the ponytail was. Oh, that’s Dr. William Payn! I didn’t know much about him, but if I’d had been prepared and looked up his bio, I would have been impressed. He’s been playing hand bells for longer than I have been alive! He plays, directs, composes, teaches… he does it all. He has a calm quiet countenance, and he directs like he loves the music. Even as we were playing his piece, “Psalm of Peace”, he was not critical or demanding, but positive and encouraging.

Throughout the day, Dr. Payn taught us techniques, tips, and tricks. He was hands on, and took the time to demonstrate what he was talking about. He was engaging and energetic. Even during the most difficult of passages, he was full of praise, applauding our efforts. It made me want to play even better. Yes, it was a long day. But even though we were tired, it was worth it. After we had worked the four pieces we had prepared, we sight read about 5 pieces. Some were new, some were more familiar. It was refreshing to just play those pieces as well as we could. Not rehearsing for a performance, but just to play. Sometimes we may forget that playing a song together should be a joyful experience.

I hope that everyone in attendance felt as involved as I did. I was on the front row, really close to Dr. Payn, but I think he brought us all in. The group was not huge, so we all had a chance for personal interaction. Dr. Payn even sat among us at lunch, answering questions, laughing and talking. And lunch. Did I mention that lunch was GREAT! A variety of sandwiches, fruit and salads—it was all so yummy. Thanks, Karen for the super lunch and the nice snacks.

When the workshop was over, I felt like I was leaving a better ringer than I had come. The instruction and the day full of ringing together made that happen. Yes, my back was aching and I was feeling my age, but I was happy. If felt good to be with fellow ringers who were there not to compete or to perform for each other, but to learn together. Thank you, Dr. Payn, and thank you to all those in AGEHR XI who put this workshop together. The only thing missing was a “I rang bells with Dr. Payn” t-shirt.

This is an article I wrote for my director about our experience. It’s probably not all that interesting to the general public, but I thought I would post it here just to share what I’ve been doing the last month.

Whatchu been up to, there?

June 14, 2010 / / 4 Comments

My posts have been a little bit sparse here lately. That doesn’t mean there’s been nothing going on, it means we’ve had so much going on I haven’t had the energy to compose a string of words into a coherent sentence.

But it’s summer, Paige, the time to relax. What have you been doing?

Cough, cough. Well, for one thing, last week was concert week. So that meant four trips and about 15 hours in Salt Lake for costume fittings and rehearsal and a concert. Our concert was Friday night.

I’m pleased with how we did, although we tend to make brand new and different mistakes during a concert. Nerves, I guess. I don’t know if we are trying so hard to watch the director and smile that we lose track of which measure we are on, or what, but I heard from several people that they made mistakes in places where they have NEVER made a mistake before. That’s frustrating, because we really want the songs to sound the very best that they can, and we only have one chance to get it right.

But I am generally pleased with our efforts.

Ryan and the family did not come. Yes, he was out of town this week, but he was so kind to arrange his travel into one REALLY LONG day instead of being gone for two days, so he was back by Friday. But it was the Father’s and Son’s campout! John was so excited he wanted to pack his bags on Tuesday or Wednesday. But Friday loomed cloudy and threatened of rain. By the time I went to pick up Natalie from her week at Clearcreek camp at 3:00, it was POURING RAIN. I was seriously wet and my curly hair was no longer curly. When I got home and it was still raining, I was worried about how wet my sons and their father would be on this campout. But I didn’t have to worry about that anymore, because we got a phone call telling us that they had canceled the campout. John was very disappointed, but Ryan was relieved. I mentioned that they could now come to my concert, but since it was so late and we hadn’t planned on that or made arrangements for a babysitter, he decided to just take all the kids somewhere and miss the concert. He has been to every single other concert we’ve done in 5 years, so it’s not like he’s unsupportive.

And when I wasn’t at rehearsal for the concert this week, I was at rehearsal for the Wizard of Oz.
I know, I know. I said that there was NO WAY I could fit a play into my schedule and that I was way too busy this year to do Community Theater. But I’m going to make it work anyway. No, I didn’t get the part I was going for, but I do get to play an Apple Tree, which makes me excited. I’m also an Oz beautician. My lovely daughter Natalie is playing a munchkin. It’s fun. Fun, that is, except for these darn dance rehearsals that go on FOREVER. Oh, I’m so not a dancer, but I’m trying. This week we rehearsed Thursday night and Saturday morning for one large dance scene. Thursday night I went home and my feet ached SO BAD from four hours of learning this dance. Seriously. Four hours. Thankfully, there was yoga on Friday morning so I could stretch and hopefully help those muscles to not freak out on me. Saturday we rehearsed that same dance number again. And again. And again. Not four hours worth, but enough to hopefully learn it.

Besides these wonderful experiences in the arts, I’ve been trying to keep the kids happy. We went to summer movies, softball games (when they weren’t rained out), made cookies, and played with friends. This week we’ve got a Scout camp, more softball games, a trip to the library, summer movies, and maybe some miniature golf at Boondocks.

How’s your summer shaping up? Busy? Relaxing? Vacation? Well, whatever you are doing, I hope you are enjoying spending time with your kids and family!

Eyebrows?

April 3, 2009 / / 5 Comments

Last night I dreamed about plucking my eyebrows.

Seriously? Eyebrow plucking?

We had a wonderful Relief Society Activity last night. The games went well, the get to know you activity was fun, the food was delicious, and it all went well. I think everyone had a good time. Our first activity! And we made it through.

So, maybe the eyebrow plucking dream was the signal to me to relax for a minute, before the next big thing. You think?

And I have to give a shout out to my dear husband. He is a fabulous support. This week I was gone three nights out of five, all for church functions. And next week–well, next week is a concert week, and that means I’ll be gone Tues, Wed, Thursday nights for rehearsals, concert on Friday, and Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday morning. And he will be here to hold down the fort. He jokes about it, when we have busy weeks like this. We communicate by emails and notes, and then check in at night when I get home. I’m so grateful that I have his support. I couldn’t be in the Relief Society presidency OR the Bells on Temple Square without his understanding and willingness to help out.

So for today, I will catch up on some things that need to get done, get ready for Megan’s birthday tomorrow, watch my sister’s kids, and get those tweezers out. Because I really DO need to tweeze those eyebrows.

Dear Applebee’s

December 31, 2008 / / 8 Comments

Congratulations to you. You must be doing something right if people are willing to put up with the lousy treatment, and to actually pay you for it. You have a really great marketing team, I guess.

On Monday, it was my birthday. We had a bunch of gift cards to chose from, and I let my kids decide where we should go out to eat. They chose Applebee’s. We have had fun and good food there in the past, so we went for it. It must have been “gift card Monday” –you know, that first Monday after Christmas when everyone goes out to eat to use up their giftcards– for when we arrived at 6:30, it was already very crowded and we were told we would have a 30 -35 minute wait. We weighed our options and decided that 30 minutes was manageable, and we squeeeezed into the already tight lobby area, to wait it out.

Now 30 minutes may not seem so long to you and me, or to my husband who started reading a book on his PDA, but to a small child (or even a big one) 30 minutes in a very confined space with nothing to do is like an eternity. I tried to cheer them up and make it a little more fun when they were whining and complaining. “Remember when we were at Disneyland and we waited all that time in line to ride the new Finding Nemo ride? That was a longer wait than this, and it was raining? Remember?”
Only grumbling from the masses.
“Or for Tower of Terror. That was kind of a long line, right?” I tried lamely to continue.
“That was a short line, mom.”
Tough crowd. Well, never mind, then.

About 40 minutes into our 30 minute wait, I searched my purse for some kind of food for the poor kids, who were REALLY hungry by this time. All I had were Altoids, which don’t do much for the hunger. I encouraged the kids to stretch their legs and go for a little walk to the bathroom. My five year old had really had it by this time, and he looked at me with all the menace he could muster and said, “WHY DID YOU BRING ME HERE?!” I tried to tell him that I had wanted to go to Olive Garden and YOU KIDS were the ones who voted on Applebees, but really, what’s the point. I sat on the floor and held him in my lap and tried to comfort him. “Do you want to hear a story?” I asked.
“No, I want some food!”

I lost track of how many “How much longer”s it was before they finally allowed us to sit, but by 7:30 we were squished into a too tight booth. We are a family of seven people, and the only thing they had for us was a four person booth. No WAY were they going to let us have a larger table, because it was still SO crowded. There was some arguing over where everyone was to sit, and some changing sides. Since there were no chairs and no hooks to hang our coats, and I wasn’t about to put my wool coat on the floor, I held my coat on my lap, hoping there was nothing gross or disgusting on the bottom of the table.

Soon our sweet but frazzled waitress was there to take our drink orders. The poor thing was so busy with so many tables to wait, I really did feel bad for her. It only took a few minutes for the kids’ root beers to arrive, but she didn’t have the chocolate milk for the other two. She said she’d be “right back” with it. We ordered our dinners and tried to have some fun while waiting. I mean, we were finally sitting down, right? But my youngest two kids still didn’t have drinks, and after 15 more minutes, we finally managed to stop our sprinting waitress and ask about the chocolate milks. She gave us a confused look and said, “I got those out, didn’t I? I’m so sorry! I’ll get you those in just a minute.” I again felt bad for her, and wondered if I could just walk over and get some drinks myself to save her the trouble. But soon someone else brought two kid size chocolate milk, which helped placate the hungry little ones for a little while, at least.

To kill some time, somehow we got on the subject of weird things you can do with your face. We had a fun contest to see who could wiggle their ears, roll their tongue, raise one eyebrow, flare their nostrils, etc. Soon we were all laughing and having fun, although still hungry and squished.

The people sitting in the booth behind us had had enough. I kept hearing remarks like, “This is ridiculous! We’ve been here TWO hours!” I think they were a couple with a two year old and another mom with a two or three year old. They had been pacing the restaurant, trying to keep the hungry kids happy. Finally they left in a huff. “We’ll go to McDonalds!” they said to the kids. I didn’t blame them for leaving, really. How long can you expect a hungry two year old to behave? I felt a little bad for the waitress when they brought out their food a few minutes after they had left. But I wondered what they had ordered and who was going to eat that food.

We had reached the point of EXTREME hunger by the time they brought our food. But imagine my little boy’s face when he was handed his plate of Kraft macaroni and cheese, but no fork. His sister was SO lucky–she had ordered a hamburger and could eat it without silverware, but here he was, without even so much as a french fry to scoop up his mac and cheese. I’m not joking when I say it took us 5 more minutes to track someone down who could give us the precious silverware. And they weren’t going to give us more than we REALLY needed, either. “Oh,” said the server, “how many of you need silverware?” Well, all of us, wouldn’t you think? But no, they only had enough silverware for the people who actually NEEDED their fork, and couldn’t just pick up their food. Forget napkins for everyone. I usually like to ask for extra napkins, since we do have a bunch of kids, and I’m a fan of napkins, myself. But I wasn’t going to mention that to the waitress or server–if I could even find one.

After we finally had food AND silverware and were all devouring it like hungry hyenas, the waitress came by to ask if the food was all right. She hadn’t wanted to stop by BEFORE. Probably because she was scared we might just eat her. I’m sure she’s seen her share of hungry people before, and she knows to avoid them, if possible. My husband reminded her that it was my birthday and asked if they did anything to celebrate birthdays. “Sure!” she said. I have to say that my trio platter was delicious and filling. The kids enjoyed their burgers, although my son’s “Frito chili burger” had chili but no fritos. Oh well, just eat it, we had told him. My husband’s steak was good, and the macaroni and cheese was…well, just like the macaroni and cheese that we make at home, but it only costs me 50 cents for the whole box, instead of $2.99 for a plate of it.

Then it arrived–the Birthday Freebie! The coveted brownie, ice cream covered creations that the whole family can take a bit of, and …what? What’s this? A shot glass filled with ice cream and hot fudge? And one spoon. “Usually we have the waiters come and sing for birthdays,” apologized our poor waitress, “but they are all too busy. So… Happy Birthday.”

Oh, the disappointment. It’s my birthday, for heaven’s sake. I’ve waited 365 days to be treated like someone special, and this is the free dessert you bring? We all took a bite (with the one spoon. One of the lucky ones who had a fork used their fork) and the “special dessert” was gone in seconds.

Check, please.

Now, Applebee’s–I know you can’t pack any more people into your restaurant. You’ve tried. I know it’s not your fault that everyone and their dog decided to “eat good in the neighborhood” that night. I understand.
But when a family goes out to eat, and is willing to part with over 50 of our hard earned dollars, they expect to be treated better than mere cattle. May I suggest you call in a few more waiters or maybe another cook so that people aren’t waiting over an hour for their food. Or maybe give the kids some crackers or a basket of bread to nosh on while they are waiting. A little bit goes a long way to assuage the hungry and the grumpy. And your birthday treatment? Well, let’s just say that when my precious one day a year, right after Christmas birthday comes around again, I won’t be spending it with you.

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