Lollygagging

Tates is the ultimate combination of my sister and me. She doesn't like getting up in the morning if she hadn't fallen asleep before 8:30 the night before and after she does get up she just lollygags until I want to go crazy. My parental units can attest to the fact that our weekday mornings (and Sunday mornings) were bad. I would lay in bed until I was either physically removed or threatened with something bad enough to make me move. I hated getting up and getting ready for school. School was not my friend. My sister would get up and happily get ready. She was always up way before me, but since we shared a room I was privy to all her morning routine: Her annoying alarm would go off way before I needed to roll out...she would hit the snooze and I knew I had the sound of that annoying thing to look forward to again. She would hit the snooze until she absolutely had to get up (why would you do that? why not just set the first alarm to go off at the last possible moment?) Anyway, she would then get up and get a shower. I would be blissfully off to sleep again until she got done and came back in the room. She would thoughtfully chunk a large pillow sham at my face so that the light didn't blind me...sham to the face was a much better alternative. I would groan and pull the pillow over my face. She would then proceed to spray on her deodorant that filled the room with powdery, choking perfume. I would go from under the pillow sham cowering away from the blinding light to choking and gasping looking for fresh air anywhere. After deodorant and clothes were donned she would move to the vanity for her morning make-up and hair routine. Yes, I was still in bed and yes, momma was yelling at me between bangs in the kitchen to "GET UP RIGHT NOW!" I stayed in bed. Yang would sit at the vanity in our room to do her face and hair. She would sit there on that dang bench, creak, creak, creaking until I almost lost it, I would almost get up, almost.

Daddy would eventually come in, if he were home, and pull off my covers or do the light switch on and off until I couldn't tolerate all the interruptions any more. By that time Yang had moved to the breakfast table and I was just getting up to get dressed. She would sit and linger over her breakfast until momma would go crazy. One time she brought her breakfast back to our room (a piece of cheese toast) and I wanted just a taste of the melted cheese. As I grabbed for just a pinch of cheese the whole slice came off and being the twerp I am I downed the whole thing, leaving Yang with a piece of bread toasted just on the outer rims- white hole where cheese had been. I was never forgiven for that one.

Yang would finish her breakfast (finally) and move back to our room to fix her hair. I was usually fixing my hair at the same time. (See I could do all that catching up while she ate her breakfast- I don't know why I needed to get up so early :) Anyway- I would fix my hair or get my mom to help me. Yang would stack her 3 story high bangs- usually while we all waited in the car, honking and beeping like mad men. Glen was irritated because he hated being late, I was irritated because I hated going to school, Yang was irritated because we were honking at her, and Page was just chilling in the back probably sedated by all the cold cereal he had just consumed. Even after all those mornings we still came out best of friends (by the END of the day). I don't know how my parents survived it. Actually, I do, there was a lot of Dr. Pepper and diet coke involved.