Venting

Maybe, just maybe, today could be chalked up to the worst day in my life lately. Not the whole day, but 4 1/2 hrs of horribleness that have left me so drained, I want to stick my head in a bucket of sand.

Daniel's co-worker was throwing a company picnic. There have been a couple of these over the past 5 years that we've been married, but they've always been hosted by the company owner at his house, and a pretty decent picnic to relax at. So, of course we signed up to go to this one.

The picnic was scheduled to start at noon, and everyone was supposed to bring a side dish. So yesterday I slaved away and made a big 9x13 of scalloped potatoes to take, and took great pains to heat it up this morning so it would be good and hot when we arrived at noon.

And I'm so brain fried... here's the picnic in little blips.

We arrived shortly after noon time. The host was on his way home from picking up not one, but TWO kegs of beer. We knew there would probably be alcohol at the picnic, but didn't have any idea it was going to be that open, or that much. I think we were the only ones that didn't constantly have a cup of the stuff in our hands. I was so glad they had bottled water, and Daniel survived on Pepsi. I felt like we were at a slosh party.

The time was getting later and later, and they were just sitting around huffing and puffing on cigarettes and drinking beer. No mention of food, no indication there was even going to be food. And it was SOOOOO HOOOOOOOT. Like, blazing hot. And we were outside. I tried to sit in the shade, but even the shade was miserable. I don't know how the other people could stand it, but I guess if your focus is on the beer, you're probably not thinking about eating or how hot it is.

EVERYONE was smoking. I did't really know these people anyway, but it seemed that we were the only "sane" people there. The company owner, Daniel's boss, and the office manager didn't come. Can't say I blame them. It really irritated me that everyone congratulated me/us on our pregnancy, then didn't bat an eye at sitting right there at the table with me, smoking ciggarette after ciggarette, smoke going every which way, most of the time right at my face no matter where I was sitting. Oh, it was so gross.

And then the language. Oh. my. goodness. Everthing and everyone that was talked about had at least 1 four-letter adjective thrown in the sentence, if not more. I shouldn't be, but I was really appalled. The women (women - not ladies) weren't any better. It bothered me because a: I am a lady, and b: there were little kids there!! It was so disgusting. I heard more bad language in those couple hours today than I think I've heard over my entire lifetime. It was gross. I think if Baby Bremner had been born, I would've packed our stuff up and left within the first 10 minutes.

About 1:30 I was so hungry I was afraid I was going to be sick, so I dug a couple Tbsp. of rice krispies out of my pocketbook that were leftover from Morning Sickness Days and gobbled them down. Shortly after that Daniel (thankfully!!) asked if there was anything to nibble on. The hostess said something to the effect of being so into her beer that she hadn't thought about it. I guess if you're filling yourself with beer and nicotine, you don't have much brain power left to think that your guests might not have had lunch yet. She brought out some chips and I tried to be polite and not eat the whole bowl full in one bite, but they didn't last long.

Finally, about 3-ish the host fired up the grill, and the burgers and hotdogs were done about 4. I had not eaten since my bowl of cereal at 10:00. I don't know what or how those people did it.

As soon as we were done eating I started pestering Daniel to leave, and we left about 5. By that time I had a headache from the cigarette smoke, the heat and I'm sure the fowl language. Not to mention feeling ill from going 4 hours later than planned before eating lunch.

Here's what I'd planned to do today: Go to the picnic, eat, socialize enough to be polite and come home. Then put several pots of tomatoes on to cook; and make and can a bunch of tomato sauce. There has been no way I've been able to even muster up brain power to even begin to think about it. Thus, what I've gotten done today has been: NOTHING. My tomatoes will probably be 1/2 rotten by Monday, but I just do not have it in me to do anything. I might even ask Daniel to make something for supper.

I still feel like everytime I inhale I can smell cigarette smoke. And I pray that the Lord washes all that fowl language right out of my mind and I never think about it.

Morals of the story:

A: DON'T SMOKE AROUND A PREGNANT LADY.

B: DON'T USE FILTHY LANGUAGE AROUND A LADY.

C: When your picnic starts at "NOON" - have the FOOD READY TO EAT AT NOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gaaaa, I feel like I need to take a pressure washer to my nose, sinuses and lungs to get the smoke out of me, and then use it on my brain to wash out all the filthy language that went in my ears today. I really do not ever want to be in that kind of situation again. I've already decided that if there's any more company picnics, I will not be attending them unless they are held at the owner's house, or someone's house that I KNOW is of reputable character. These people weren't this bad at the other picnics.

And if you haven't picked up on it yet, we are not drinkers, smokers, or fowl language users. So if you come around here, please refrain from all three. I will think better of you for it.

P.S. Daniel did say on the way home that he's really glad he doesn't work with any of those people on a regular basis. He is a service tech so he spends most of his time on his own. I must say I'm really glad, too. And, another thing, the company owner is a professing Christian, so Daniel really does work for a great company.

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For some reason, all day today (Sunday) I kept thinking "you know, I bet I spelled "foul" the wrong way... Sure 'nuff, I spelled it "fowl". I wasn't talking about bird language, but I'm going to leave it. Yes, I know the difference. Under normal circumstances with my brain firing on all cylinders I would spell it correctly.