We've Got A Mission!

These are the notes I made after we feted Little Big Girl for her birthday last weekend.


Notes from a birthday party:


Holy Crap. This is the cake.




In case you are not familiar with The Little Einstein’s, this is what the cake was modeled on:




(Along with the Little Einsteins themselves.)

I’m just saying. The woman we have in this town who bakes cakes is a GENIUS.

And, for the record, the inside was amazing too. We demolished it.


The 30-minute planned craft took under 7 minutes.

On the other hand, the results were still pretty good:

(Insert pic here. Wait! There is no pic! What the heck?! I took pics! Maybe I took video? Stationary video of fifteen Conducing Wands made by five year olds? Genius!**)

Okay, forget the Actual Photo. We did this.

(Time for a little rant. There is NO MERCHANDISE for The Little Einstein's. I never thought I'd rant about such a thing. Surely this is due to two parties - let me guess - Disney and the crazy lady genius that createdBaby Einstein - fighting over merchandising rights. That is literally just a guess. But other than that there is no reason. The cake topper? The cups? The table cloth? Nada. In the meantime they both miss out on all the loot parents everywhere would spend on this. Because guess what? Next year it will be something else and we won't be buying Little Einstein's. So whose winning there?)

Anyway -

There were a lot of presents. All of them opened in record time.

There was a bouncy, and lots of jumping.

After the party is over, I start putting the food away. I bag the left-over chips before the left-over fruit. I only realize this as I’m bagging the chips and see the fruit still sitting there. Ha! Priorities!


For the record, I spent an evening and a half before the party getting up the spots in my carpet.

The pattern was such that you’d think my kids are allowed – nay, encouraged - to walk through the family room spraying their juice boxes out in front of them as they go. There were spots EVERYWHERE. Yet I swear to you I hardly let them carry drinks around the house at all. Possibly this is mud? I mean, if it were drinks or food wouldn’t there be some discernable pattern going towards and around the table? It’s a mystery.

(Did I mention our carpet is beige? Yes, beige. And WE put it in. Hint: next time your decorator-pal / childless friend says Eh, they won’t spill that much, just stay on top of it.....Think - Um, hardwood?)

In the end, forgetting the spots (and any mysterious new ones), I think our little girl feels officially feted, celebrated, and loved. Mission Completion!

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So I saw this today:




Take a good look. That's Miss Mexico there (THANKFULLY, not Miss NEW Mexico), in her proposed gown for the Miss Universe contest. And, right there - along with the bullet-holder belt - are pictures of people being hung! And someone facing a firing squad!

Now, granted, a team of some thiry designers chose the dress for her. Something about, represents Mexico's past, yaddayadda. And now there's this whole uproar and sane people in the country don't want her to wear it, etc.

But come on. At SOME POINT in the Miss Mexico to Miss Universe contest road, don't you say to yourself - couldn't she have said to herself - Hm. Dress with hangings and firing squads! Kind of macabre. Doesn't seem appropriate even. Kind of - actually - creepy and wrong. Thank you, thirty designer geniuses and whatnot, but because this would actually be going on my body - I DON'T THINK SO.

Just a thought.

(And what's up with those thirty designers? Are they so removed from the practical world that the sight of this made them think - Miss Universe Contest? I am baffled.)

And for more of the story: Miss Mexico modifies warlike dress

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First the anger. Then the sorrow.

First, there is anger.

I find so many places to put blame.

The school for not reacting strong enough - shutting down the campus, hunting down the killer, not letting things go on as usual until he was in custody after killing the first victim.

Were they afraid for their reputation? Hoping they can minimize the publicity damage with a little "personal relationship gone bad" spin?

Or were they just naive and couldn't believe this could happen? Again?

How about the gun lobby, the gun hobbiests, and the people who insist against all reason that "guns don't kill people." Oh, if only he had entered that room with a knife. Would so many be dead? Those Insisters being yet another instance of the flag of Corporate Greed being waved so heartily by the people - the average person thinking they have some skin in the fight - when really the Gun Lobby does nothing for them, other than take their money.

Society? Is it us? All of us? Why did no one notice this pissed-off guy? Did someone? Did people reach out and he was already too far gone?

How do we ever make sense of such a senseless act. Was it really just pure evil - someone let it into their lives?

I believe that about Col_umb*ne. When you look at the picture of the main guy - I first typed mean guy, how appropriate - I think you can see the evil in his eyes. (I refuse to put his name here.) Same with the leader of 911 - when you look at that picture. These people have passed over to another world already.

Is that what happened here - the only explanation?

My heart goes out to the loved ones of those killed and injured. I can only say, for all the ways in which we have failed you, we have all failed you - I am so sorry.

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Open your mouth, and your mother comes out

Apparently, I say the following things -


Get a move on
Hustle your bustle
Let's get crackin'


a lot.

If you ask me, I've never said these phrases at all. Ever.

But now I hear my kids saying them.

Little Big Girl is telling all her friends to hustle their bustle - you can imagine this goes over well with the five-year-old set. ("What does that mean?" "I don't know. But get a move on already!")

And Tiny Person woke up the other day, sat straight up, and said, Let's get crackin'!

Later that day, I said to Spousal, Where does she get that? (pause) Do I ever say that?

He laughed, and said: All. The. Time.

Huh. Maybe someone else is using all my mother's phrases on them. Because I don't remember saying them - at all.

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This kind of opportunity-taking will get me far in life

So! We went off on a little mini-vaca last week. It was my little girl's preschool spring break. I know, ridiculous, right? Like we'd plan a trip around spring break. From PRE-SCHOOL. But, we did.

So we met Spousal's parents in a little town half way between us, for a few days. A little town in New Mexico that caters to Texas tourists.

So you know what they have in that little town, because they cater to tourists from Texas? In addition to great BB-Q? Shopping. Loads and loads of great shopping.

And, as you may know, because I complain about it a LOT here, there is not much shopping in my little tiny science town. You know. That whole "Target is an hour away" thing. (Here. Here's our community website's retail page. Okay? Now, go get some clothes!)

(I'm kidding, of course. There IS more than that....)

Frankly, I'm not even much of a shopper. Perhaps those college summer stints in a large mall department store did me in. I'm not that into it. But, you know. Every now and again you need new clothes.

And now I have these small children who think that they should have something to wear too. Go figure.

ANYWAY. Perhaps it is because I am a little retail-deprived. Perhaps it is because I am a little - I don't know - visual stimuli-deprived. Perhaps it's because the thought of all that potential shopping did me in. I don't know what it was, but instead of acquiring any much-needed new vestiments, I got this:





That's right! For $7!

A ring SO EXPENSIVE that when I took it home that night, and a little rhinestone fell out, and I took it back the next day, and they laughed at the thought of fixing it, they just gave me a whole other one! Letting me keep the first as well! So I really got TWO for that $7! One without all it's fake stones!


It even comes complete with this:




(Displayed ever-so-nicely on the mini-Barbie stand!)


The adjustable back-band! That I haven't had since I was seven years old!

And - AND - here's the best part. I wore it to work today! And I liked it!


Please Gawd, somebody tell me that out there, in the rest of the world, gaudy, over-sized, sparkly rings are in style! Please!

(Oh, and by the way? I'm not going to be able to complain about retail deprivation forever. First, it passed! It passed! In the battle-du-jour around here, the voters voted in development. Of retail! Woo hoo! Oh, and....with all my grousing....it turns out there IS a store here that is amazing, and I bought two complete outfits there to defend myself try not to look like a complete doof with in Los Angeles, and they worked. (I think.) So silly me. You can come here and shop!)


In case there's any chance you think it is not as gaudy as I'm making it out to be, ha!:

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