Sunday Offerings

Tikki, the Ice Breaker

We had a great day yesterday. If you're not on a diet that is...

Wonderful Daughter and I went to the dollar store and spent way too much on glow bracelets, sparklers and glow sticks. We were on our way to Movie in the Park again.

WD's Estrogen Crew came over for a steak dinner and then we headed over to the park. Too bad we didn't take the address with us, instead relying on my sketchy memory. After driving around for 20 minutes, we came back to the condo and got my laptop only to discover it was less than 8 blocks from my place and we had driven within a block of it twice.

Duh.

The bad news was, I didn't get a chance to visit with the friend I'd arranged to meet there. The good news was, it was dusky enough to hand out the glowing booty right away and the kids had a ball. In addition to WD's two boys, there were 3 more boys and one cute, chubby little baby girl. We were able to light up the kids and pass a few bracelets around to others (and dogs).

The sparklers wouldn't light again...sheesh. We only got two to light up so there were disappointed kids in that regard. I sent home the packages of sparklers with them, Hopefully they'll have more success.

The great news was, there was an indoor bathroom so no sanitizing wipes or flashlights were needed!

In addition to the 5 of us adults, Gordon and Penelope were there, their daughter in law, Kelly with her 2 kids, some new friends, Duane and Lisa and their 2. We had a ball.

Hopefully we can get to one more showing before it gets too cold to sit out there. My mother in law is is Saskatchewan right now, but I know she'd love to go again at least one more time.

In addition to special coffee for the adults, we had tiger brownies, mini eclairs, peach fuzzy navels, no wait, they were called fuzzy peaches, Kernels gourmet popcorn, diet Pepsi and lots of other goodies (baddies). I was pretty good. I split an eclair with Tikki and had one brownie.

Tikki was a big hit, since he is still dyed pink and the Breast Cancer folk were there doing some fund raising. Several of the ladies commented on his pink hair and wanted photos of him.

(Kelly won a nice prize basket from them.) I love taking my pink poodle out and about. He opens the door to very nice conversations with fellow dog lovers... Others steer clear of me, since I've clearly lost my marbles.

We had a ball, the movie "Up" was great for all ages and I was left much more encouraged.

I have a great group of friends.

WD's E.Crew are the greatest gals ever and she is blessed to have them in her life. They spoil her boys rotten. They need some spoiling after everything they've been through with the divorce and all.

It came out during dinner conversation when WD puts the boys to bed, the E. Crew goes to where ever in the house they can hear the giggling the clearest and have fits of giggles themselves. Then, they make friendly bets with each other as to how long until WD comes in the bedroom to threaten separation, spankings, bodily injury and other dire consequences if the boys don't quiet down and go to sleep.

The boys know, other than separation, it just ain't gonna happen so the giggling starts as soon as WD walks back down the hall. The Estrogen Crew find this all hilarious. ...Did I mention they are childless?

I love that they enjoy the little guys so much. It's such a good arrangement all around. I feel like I have two new daughters. Who are definitely less sassy than WD!

So, I feel I'm pulled right out of the latest funk. I need to focus on my hand-made family and stop giving the biological misfits any space in my head.

How`s your weekend going?

Movie In The Park

Late post tonight...or is it morning? Just got home.



I was extremely good at the funeral luncheon. Everything looked delicious and the table must have been 30 feet long. It was crammed full of delicious appetizers, cold cut platters and veggie trays. Michelle made her sister promise not to let them serve little sandwiches if she ever had a funeral and there wasn't one sandwich there.



We had a chance to visit with old friends we hadn't seen in years and catch up on all the news. Thanks to my little pill, I got through the whole thing and only cried at appropriate moments. "Better living through chemistry" I always say. Michelle's mom read a poem she had written and it just tore your heart out. This was a very close family and they are taking it real hard. Not that death is ever easy, but she was only 42.



Tonight, Wonderful Daughter, MIL and I took the little boys to Movie in the Park to see Monsters versus Aliens. It's great family fun with a bounce house, miniature golf putting, temporary tattoo parlor, hula-hoop contests, guitar hero contests and a cheesy magician. It's always held near a playground and the kids have an absolute ball.

MIL and I hit the dollar store earlier this week and bought glow in the dark bracelets, necklaces and finger flashlights, I mean "lasers". We also bought a zillion sparklers with the intention of handing them out to all the kids who come to these things. Unfortunately, I accidentally packed the nearly empty BBQ lighter and we couldn't even get one of the sparklers lit.

But, the glow in the dark stuff was handy for keeping an eye on the little guys. We made necklaces and put a finger flashlight on it so all we had to do was turn our head to see where they were instead of going over every few minutes. And it sure was nice to have a small light when visiting the porta potty. Would have been even nicer to have hand sanitizer but we'll be better prepared next time. We handed out a few bracelets and necklaces to children around us and even made a necklace for the cute little Shih Tzu beside us. His person was thrilled.

JC had a great time on the playground, particularly the slide. Wonderful Daughter and I played train with him going down the slide. Then, later he fell asleep on my lap. He's getting so big, it was bittersweet to hold him knowing this might be the last summer he does that.

Shortly after the movie began, there was a scene where the heroine is smacking the heck out of Dr. Cockroach. Suddenly there was a loud "Pop" which I thought was part of the movie. Just as I thought, "Wow, great sound quality" the screen deflated in on itself. It turns out, because there are small leaks in the inflatable screen, they have to reinflate it every 15 minutes or so.

This time, (to the relief of the rest of the crew) the boss was manning the pump and he didn't get back to turn off the pump quickly enough. It tore an 18 foot long hole in the top of the screen. Dom just started wailing when it happened and everyone turned to look at us. I guess overly emotional crying at inappropriate times runs in the family. Fortunately, the movie people had their storage place nearby so within 30 minutes they had a new screen up and the movie back on.

On the way home, we asked Dom what was the best part of the movie. He announced it was when the screen blew up.

I guess it's just a matter of perspective.

After a tough couple days, I'm going to get my rear in gear tomorrow. I've been working on changing my perspective too.