& The Case Of The Missing Mum

Finally, after Nandos and Bee's bloody foot, when I did get home (only a little bit late) there was nobody waiting outside (whew!). Here's when the "Case of the Missing Mum" began- for me, anyway. Barely 5 minutes after my sister came home, I got a call from Uncle S. who had left 2 messages on our answering machine already. He asked, out of the blue, "Are Afi & Big Man at your house yet?" (Afi and Big Man being our 2 little cousins)
I was left baffled, stumbling over my words... "Erm- uh... In our House? No..."
Eventually, he filled me in on the minor details. Evidently, parents had gone with Aunty S., Fuzzy & Squishy to buy their new car, and instructions were left for Afi & Big Man to walk over to our place. So off I went a-sprinting to look for the lost Afi & BigMan... couldn't find them. Came back home for my mobile, was just about to go sprinting out again, when in they hopped, skipped and ran... (whew! no.2) This is when business of feeding & entertaining the munchkins began.

Next person to come was Dagz (if I remember correctly), followed shortly by me Dad. Meanwhile Uncle S. had called to check that at least 2 of his munchkins were safe and sound- boy, was I glad to be able to give an answer in the positive! Unfortunately, positivity didn't last all that long. By this time, darkness was threatening to take over and hail night-time... yet Aunty S., Mum, Fuzzy & Squishy remained unaccounted for. Dad was beginning to pace back and forth with either cordless or mobile in his hand. They (Mum &co.) were lost... out there... somewhere unfamiliar... with no clue which way led home.

I must have inherited my map-reading skills from someone, and now, I have no doubt that it was me Mum's genes that were handed down to me (as far as map reaing is concerned). In short, to Flynn and her Mum, maps may as well be written in Gaelic, for all we understand from 'em. I, for one, couldn't tell you my left from my right if your life depended on it! So, it's understandable that my Dad was... stressing (to put it mildly) when he found out that Aunty S. and Mum were lost with 2 crawlers in the back.
Don't imagine that me Dad was the only one calling Aunty S every 5 minutes- Uncle S. was probably just as off-his-mind with worry! If it wasn't me Dad giving them left/right instructions, it was me Uncle calling to check if they were home yet.
Around 6:30PM, Dad finally told them to pull up in a corner of a street and wait 'til he came to guide them back home. Off he went, with Dagz to read the signs & street names & maps & so forth (Dagz has a natural talent for map reading). Aunty S. & Mum had somehow managed to end up in unchartered territory... even for my Dad. Yipes!

Meanwhile, Ash called to ask if she could get a ride, since it was really dark, and she needed to get home from Uni. I coudln't help it, I blurted out something like: "Sorry, the car's not here. Mum & Aunty S. are lost!"
She panicked (you all know her fragile heart condition- remember those palpitations of Ash's heart, Emu?). "WHAT?!! What do you mean she's lost?!?!"
So I explained all the details to her, and she calmed down... only a little. On her way over to our house, she met Uncle S. who also decided to come over to our place... just to see how things were going. (By this time, there were plenty of people popping in and out of our place). Uncle S. asked a million questions, Ash asked a million more, the munchinks demanded my attention and Flynn needed three heads and 10 arms to keep up!

7PM: Mum, Aunty S., Fuzzy & Squishy finally got home, also safe and sound (WHEW! no.3) with the story of how they lost their way & and what happend. That's another very long tale, which I have neither time, nor energy to tell. As for today, Saturday... let's just say it was another looooong day with Salsa, Mumta, Smarty, Buri & Zaki (five little kids, who needed constant care & attention)... and Afi who slept over for the night, and might just do so again tonight. The day involved everything from going to the park, petting the neighbourhood (stray??) cat, watching Home Alone 1, to changing diapers, feeding munchkins and trying to maintain a semblance of order in my (trashed) room (which looks as though Cyclone Tracy had a field day in it!) Maybe I should go clean it up?

Oh man, Flynn's arms have never felt so sore and useless... so it's goodnight until sometime in the (near?) future.