It turns out, oddly enough, that they were watcing a college football game on one of our local channels. The Dad was at the gym, so I know he wasn't paying them to let him watch the "boys in blue" beat the "boys in white" - as described by The Daughters when I caught them watching the big game.
It also turns out that they were not watching the college football game as much as they were trying to learn new cheerleading moves from the college cheerleaders. (It's a good thing The Dad was at the gym... his daughters as cheerleaders would have sent him on a three-day bender for sure!)
I returned to the kitchen and cooked some more. (The salsa jar doesn't open itself, people!) Daughter 2 frantically rounded the corner into the kitchen. "Momma," she said breathlessly, "There's a storm coming. It says so on the TV!" This is the number one reason I support sattelite TV - The Daughters' limited access to weather during the tail end of tornado season!
Not one to panic and ever looking for teachable moments, I said, "Does it say 'watch' or 'warning'?"
Daughter 2 raced out of the kitchen then raced back in, "Watch, Momma. It says watch."
"Well then," I comforted her, "Watch just means the weather people are watching for a storm. If it says warning, then it means they are warning us that a storm is coming. Now run along and learn some more cheerleading moves; Momma wants to eat chips and salsa without sharing." OK - I probably didn't say that last sentence, but I sure as heck thought it!
No sooner had I just dribbled salsa on my chest than Daughter 2 ran into the kitchen yet again, "Warning, Momma! It says warning now!" She, who normally doesn't get excited by the storms, was beyond frantic. Then we heard a clap of thunder in the distance and Daughter 2 grabbed onto my waist and cried, "Here it comes!"
"Wait!" I said, "Storms don't bother you! Why are you so upset!"
"Momma," she said her little voice quaking, "I've never been in this kind of storm!"
I limped into the living room, dragging Daughter 2 on my left hip, wondering just what kind of storm she had never been in. Frantically, she pointed to the corner of the TV screen and said, "See, Momma? Right there it says, 'T-Storm Warning'. What are we going to do?"
"It doesn't look like it will be that bad."
"It won't? But it will storm, right?" she fretted even more.
"Well, yeah."
"The who will clean it up?" she questioned.
"Clean up what? It's not going to be that big of a storm."
"So, we'll just leave the tomatoes out there to rot?" she persisted
"What? We don't have a garden. We don't have tomatoes."
"Well not now, but what about after the storm?" Clearly, my baby had taken to drinking as part of her college cheerleading training.
"What about after the storm?" I asked
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| Would you like ranch with that late summer storm? |
I snorted in my best Mother-of-the-Year snort, "Tomato storm?"
"Look" she practically shrieked while pointing to the TV, "What else could the T stand for?"
"Thunder?" I offered.
"Ohhhhhh..." she nodded, "That does make more sense."
God bless my little organic, living-off-the-land, future cheerleader! I'd hate to see what she'd be like if she thought the T stood for Tractors or Turkeys or Testicles!!
