Bitchy Brownie Moms, Sean Connery & one really sweet moment

It's been quite a week. Getting back to work after being off for 10 calendar days was painful. It wasn't that I didn't want to be there (one of my more freaky traits is that I actually like to work) it was just that I couldn't get to the backlog because of some really great stuff we did and it just seemed like the opportunities kept growing.

I'm pretty sure my sunny disposition got rather cloudy as each day passed by busier than the next. After buckling down yesterday and getting through most of the backlog, though, I think I can actually accomplish "real" work tomorrow and in a better mood, too!

Among the byproducts of a busy work week (both for me AND Jeff) was that we totally forgot that she had a big Brownie field trip Friday. I ran off to work early and Jeff dropped her off at school as usual. Around 5:45 p.m., I was working hard on giving a guy at the Today Show reason to have Angie on next week. The potential "get" (wish me luck) was landed by my colleague and friend Jackie really late in the day, so Brooke (another colleague) and I were working with Jackie to supply him with enough great stuff that would convince him to have her on.

I'd had to ask Jeff to pick up Alison (usually my job). At 5:45 or so, he calls, slightly panic-stricken that he couldn't find her at the school. "She's not been checked in to After Care and none of the other 1st grade girls are here either," he said.

I think I may have cursed as I immediately realized that it was the trip to Bounce Planet and I was supposed to have had her keep her car seat for the trip. I'd paid early, but the car seat was key. Plus, they weren't to return back until 6:30, so Jeff hadn't needed to rush. No worries on his end though, he went home, changed, probably checked on a game and went back to get her.

Here's where it gets bitchy.

He apologized profusely when the Brownie moms showed up and explained that we'd been unusually busy. One of them -- and I don't know which one -- says to him that we'd created quite an imposition and liability in taking her along without the car seat. He apologized again and said he just hadn't know about it.

"I guess you didn't see any of the 6 e-mails we sent, either," she sneered.

Now we all know that Jeff is a kinder, gentler soul than me. Had it been me in the parking lot I think I would have smacked her hard. But he apologized again and collects Alison. I get home and get the story -- and then see that Alison has what looks to be the beginnings of a shiner under her right eye. "What happened there," kiddo?" I ask.

"Oh, P.S.," she said, "One of the teenagers punched me." "P.S." has become part of Alison's every paragraph. She'll be rattling on and want to add something, so she'll say, "P.S. blah blah blah." Or sometimes, she'll just toss out a one liner, started by, "P.S."

I wasn't so much charmed by the "P.S." this time as enraged by what had followed it. Yeah. One or more of the Brownie moms brought older kids along on the field trip and one of them was in a hurry. He tells Ali to get out of his way and he punched her in the face when she didn't move fast enough for him!

It's all I can do to not call up each of the Brownie Moms until I found the bitch who spawned that kid and then didn't tell us about what had happened when we picked her up. (OK JEFF picked her up.) And no, there was no intervention, no punishment for the punk, either.

This posting may be saving Alison's Brownie career and keeping me from jail. I'm still so mad!

Anyone have an idea for what I should do? Ignoring it seems so........mature.

Anyway, we got through Friday night and spent most of Saturday shopping. We ran into John and Helen at Costco -- who we hadn't seen in ages -- and arranged for Helen to come over to play. I was going to the Gathering of the Goddesses and Jeff and Ali were on their own. While I was drinking (WAY too much) with Tina Noel, John and Jeff were sampling wines and having steak while the girls played.

The Goddesses event is one of the funnest events of the year. It's a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood, but it's also an event supported by a lot of the folks from the O'Bannon and Kernan administrations. So it's kind of old home week. Glenn Lawrence blocked for Tina and me when the ladies room line got too long. And Janet McCabe introduced us to Sean Connery.

It wasn't really Sean Connery, but it was a guy she works with who people think looks and sounds like the actor. She dared us to approach him later and ask whether he was SC, and of course we did. It was silly. But fun. Had I not been slightly tipsy, I would swear that he thought we were serious for about 15 seconds.

At some point during the evening, John was looking for Helen, who was no where to be found. Jeff stopped Alison as Helen came around behind him and said, "Hey! John's looking for his daughter -- can you help find her?"

John and Lisa (Helen's mom) are engaged, but not yet married, and he has two daughters of his own. He was watching Helen while Lisa was on a weekend trip, and it's clear that he and Helen adore each other.

Helen's face when she hear Jeff describe her as John's "daughter" was priceless. And John looked pretty pleased as well. It was a really sweet moment.

P.S. I still hate the Brownies.