So, Friday was the Prom, right? Here was the plan: I switched working days so I could have Friday off and Hubband left work early in the afternoon. Came home, threw some clothes on, gathered Little Boy from school. We'll meet the limo at Big Boy's house at 5:30, do the appropriate picture taking and all will be on their way.

Uh....nuh-uh. That's not how it turned out at all.

We did show up at Big Boy's house about 5:15. That much went as planned. His mom and her fiance had set up a little snack and beverage thing, which was really nice. She and I ended up killing the better part of two bottles of wine over the evening. Hubband was there with the video camera. Big Boy looked so, so handsome - as if he were a nervous groom. (Hubband has some lovely footage of me talking to Big Boy and looking as if I'm about to burst into tears from the awe of him.)

But I digress.

So, Big Boy's grandparents are there and the couple going with them shows up and now it's getting on 5:30 and The Girl has still not gotten home from the hair dresser's.

Which is fine because the limo's not here yet, either.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

More wine and conversation. Hubband is now on the phone in the bathroom trying to converse with the limo company. The Girl arrives - looking so incredibly gorgeous! And her parents follow so I finally get to meet them. Now we're all sitting around waiting on the limo.

Turns out the limo driver had bad directions and went East on M-59 when she should have gone West. She's now at least an hour away. Hubband is in the bathroom using all manner of profanity, since he made these arrangements 3 months in advance and has confirmed them 3 times since.

We ended up sending the kids in Big Boy's Dodge Durango (much nicer than any of our cars!) with the plans that the limo would meet them at the prom (near where she was right then) and Big Boy's mom and fiance would go pick up his car. Then, at least they'd get a ride home in the limo.

Everyone disbursed and we headed off to dinner. Cell phone rings and it's the Ex saying the limo company had just called and said they couldn't pick up the kids without an imprint of the credit card! When she had tried to reason with him he had hung up on her. I called the "gentleman" back and he was, indeed, the rudest of individuals. He was treating us like we were the ones screwing someone over!

I said, "Sir. You need to be quiet and let me speak. Otherwise, you driver has wasted everyone's time and you don't make a dime! I'm trying to discuss with you a way in which to make this a win-win for the remainder of the evening, but if you'd rather keep talking instead of listening, I'll forget about it."

He decided to listen while I described the new plan: Have the limo driver meet us at the original destination. She'll get her card swipe and she can drive the Ex and her fiance to the Prom to pick up the car and then the limo will wait to pick up the kids.

This plan seemed acceptable to everyone so we drove through and got a Happy Meal for the Little Boy on our way back to the Ex's. It took about an hour for the limo to actually show up. The driver shows me the directions she got - she's totally blameless in the situation. She gets the imprint and starts her limo driver thing.

Since we had the limo and a few hours to kill, we decided to use it wisely. We - Hubband, his Ex, her fiance, Little Boy and myself - decided since we were all planning to go out to eat anyway, that we would go out together. We dropped Little Boy with his Grandma at our house and headed to our favorite restaurant. The hostess (who used to be a neighbor of the Ex) was brought up short by all of us standing there together. Quite amusing, including the part where I hit the glass of water with the menu, sending two full glasses of ice water into the Ex's lap! (Swear, I didn't mean it! Swear!).

We had a nice time, laughing and talking about Big Boy. As Hubband and I discussed, it's rare that we all sit down and talk for more than a few minutes. We found out some things about The Girl that we hadn't known. (And I'm not so sure I needed to know!) We discussed what we thought about Big Boy's college years. Hubband got a chance to catch up on old family history and we got a chance to really get to know the fiance.

After dinner, the limo dropped us back at their house to pick up our truck and then headed them off to the Prom.

I hear from Assistant Principal, who took Hubband to a Fury game last night, that Big Boy seemed to be having a great time.

And, no, we did not pay full price!

In other news:

Feeling kind of bovine as I continue to stuff my face as a way to reduce stress. Not working very well. Countdown to party is 7 days.

Going out to dinner today to celebrate our anniversary with Grandma. The actual day isn't until Thursday, but we'll be far too busy to care by then. It will be 11 years. Happy, happy ones lately.

The weather is crap. It's currently sunshiney and 23 degrees!!!!! Mental. At least my flowers seem to have taken it well. Looking forward, the weather on the weekend looks nice, but I won't get my hopes up.

Must go shower now. "Buffy" on in an hour!