Home Time Things

I have officially settled back into my life and gone and announced my return to my various friend groups. I was trying to hide away and pretend I wasn't back yet but someone caught me. Now that Ari and Jared are gone, I've had to up my personableness with my second-string friends so that I don't end up crawling back into my antisocial cave. I really like my second string friends - they're all just so much cooler than me. I find them somewhat intimidating. Also, I'm usually the only girl around, which I don't mind, but when you hang out with big groups of dudes, you talk less about things you hate and you have to up your quick wittedness. It's an exhausting job.

In family news, I made them play Monopoly.

It was right when I had gotten home and I wanted to play Shanghai but Ellen couldn't stomach it and somehow found Monopoly to be less offensive. Now here's the thing, when Chris Union plays Monopoly it becomes an entirely different game. It's not a slow-paced game of family fun. It's a battle. It's serious. There is no time to waste when there is property to be developed. Dad has memorized the price of each property and the rent with one or two houses. Before your dice even stops rolling he blurts out "Marvin Gardins. $280. Wanna buy it?"

He anticipates each and every move and comes up with schemes to swipe your own properties out from underneath you. We decided it was time to expose Chris to this and still, Dad held nothing back. 

"Rolled a nine? That's Kentucky Ave. Ellen owns it. You owe her $18. Mom, it's your turn."

And the game continues on in this fashion. Really, Dad plays this game alone. We are there simply to roll the dice for our turn. I imagine that to him this is a "fun" version of what he does everyday. Buying, fixing, and selling houses. What's he like in real life Monopoly? 

You'll notice in the picture that I owned both Boardwalk and Park Place, each with a little house. You'd think I'd be doing good. Ten minutes later Dad owned it all and I was left with nothing. 

So while they played, I made a peach cobbler. 

While for the time being I'm postponing acquiring a morning job, I now spend my afternoons as Finn's official chauffer.

He's a cute little dickens with a very busy schedule. I pick him up from school at 3:00 and then we go to art or guitar or whatever that day's lesson is. He get's a bit cranky when he's tired, as do I, and he also suffers from hangriness. I make sure he has bag of snacks for the ride but sometimes he just sleeps. I try my best to entertain him but I get very little feedback. He's a relatively serious kid who finds no humor in anything I say. I'm coming up with comedy gold over here and I just get blank stares in return. Like I'm the foolish one. He's back there strapped into a plastic bucket and I'M the foolish one. "Listen kid, the Honbon's would love this stuff!"

"The what?" he says with one eyebrow raised. 

He does laugh at my voices and accents but I'm afraid that's the only thing that's worked a smirk onto the kid's face. 

You just wait Finn. I'll turn you.