Wake and bake... it's Pie Day at The Stewarts!

Saturday marked a much-anticipated event at our household: Linda's Annual Pie Baking Day. This is the day that Linda gets together with Aunt Susan -- and (sometimes) Aunt Veronica -- to bake pies... and drink wine... but I'm not sure which task takes priority. NOTE TO MY GRANDMAS: Linda did not have any wine this year, so you need not worry about Claire's food supply! This year, we were lucky enough to have Veronica join in the fun. It seems that Pecan and Sweet Potato were the flavors-of-the-day. I begged for a liver-peanut butter pie, but no such luck. Claire even helped out by holding the measuring spoon, but she didn't last real long before she tired out.
While the ladies baked pies -- and I laid smack dab in the middle of the kitchen floor -- Stew was outside raking leaves. I got the feeling that Stew was not enjoying himself, but he managed to create several large piles (of leaves) in the front yard by day's end. Then on Sunday morning, when a neighborhood entrepreneur knocked on the door offering to bag up the huge piles of leaves in the front yard, Stew's mood changed from uber-grouch to that of giddy little school girl (or something like that). Despite his 10+ years of sales experience, including several negotiations training seminars, Stew wound up paying the shifty 12 year old kid $16 for a $10 job. Here's a transcript from the negotiations that would un-curl Trump's hairpiece:
Stew: You want to rake these leaves, huh? How much?
Kid: Ten dollars.
Stew: I don't know... the leaves are already in piles... how about five?
Kid: Man, that's a lot of leaves... ten dollars.
Stew: How 'bout seven?
Kid: (shaking his head side-to-side) Ten.
Stew: You drive a hard bargain... ten it is. You're hired! (in Stew's best Trump voice)
Feeling like a chump for having counter-offered at $5, Stew wound up tipping $6 extra. Stew rationalized, "I was willing to pay $20 so, the way I see it, my negotiating skills saved me four bucks." The kid was overheard later telling a neighbor, "that guy's an idiot."
After witnessing Stew's sales negotiating prowess firsthand, Veronica headed back to Fargo in disgust... but not before posing for a photo with Claire and me!