early.celebration.yay!

My birthday's coming up on Saturday. It's the big two.eight. Today was my first official mini pre-birthday celebration. I took my little pals to the public gardens for the typical "picnic/swan boats/run around and get your energy out" type of day. My sister is babysitting this week for *g* and they came down with us. We did the same thing last year, but it was actually on my birthday, and *j* made me a cake and brought the whole thing down there. It was a special treat:) So today we finished our lunch, and she busts out a tupperware of cupcakes! An early birthday treat- there's not much I like better! She made them at a friend's house who didn't have any cupcake pans, so she put the paper cups on a cookie sheet. The result was very creatively shaped cupcakes! We all enjoyed them, as you can see in this picture of *e*.

retro.games

My brother *b* and I saved up forever to buy a Nintendo when we were kids. My dad drove us to several different stores to find a bundle (the unit plus Mario bros.) for a nice price. We ended up in NH since it's only 30 mins from my parent's house and they don't have tax there. We got this thing home and were addicted to it for quite some time despite my mom's time limits and forced outside time. When I won the game for the first time, I think we high-fived. I was now as cool (or almost as cool) as the cool kids on the bus who had beat the game some time ago.
Our little brother *k* would get a full blown workout playing nintendo. He used to reenact the movements of Mario or Luigi, and could be seen jumping continuously while jerking to the right or left. His pre-adolescent Mickey Mouse voice also came into play when he was particularly excited. When his time ran out, he was sweating like a grown-man after running a marathon; I'm not sure why my mom felt he needed to go outside to get exercise.

jumpy.jump.jump

Don't you remember being a kid and jumping around in those inflatable bouncy castles at fairs? I remember taking my shoes off and jumping for as long as the ticket collector would let me. I'd invariably end up falling over and getting stepped on, but that was part of the fun! Today I went to the yearly combined birthday party for my little friends, and they had a "jumpy" there. Actually- they've had one every year for the past three parties. It's a much easier form of entertainment for 4-8 year olds than other party gigs since they can pretty much do everything themselves. The best part of this is that there's no time limit (except for when the rental place comes to pick it up again); the kids can stay in as long as they want. And they do. As usual, I was strongly encouraged (forced) by the youngsters to bounce around for a while. It was a much more strenuous workout than I'm use to. I had to take a break every few minutes during which the kids all tried to bounce me up and down. All this led me to wonder why children really do have so much more energy than adults. I remember having grown-ups comment on how much energy my siblings and I had as children, and thinking that they were crazy. I never noticed a difference energy-wise, I just figured that they were old, and therefore did old-people stuff. I never considered the fact that they may be interested in running around more, but just wore themselves out faster. Now I realize that I do the same thing to kids; I ask them how they got so much energy, and why they're not immediately asleep at bedtime. I'll have to look into research done on this front.

we.*heart*.katamari

I picked up a new playstation game the other day- We *heart* Katamari. I played the original version in October and loved it, but it was on my brothers projection tv screen, and I felt incredibly motion sick in a very short period of time. Since my television isn't nearly as large, and I was looking for some fun, I thought I'd give it another try. This game is incredibly entertaining. The concept seems so simple it's almost silly- you're a little prince guy who rolls a ball (katamari) around different places which rolls up objects increasing in size as the katamari grows. So you start off being able to roll up little things- paperclips or matchbooks, and eventually can roll up people, buildings, etc. The idea is to get the katamari as big as possible and then the "king" puts the katamari into the universe to create planets, stardust or satellites. The part of this game that appeals to me the most is the cleaning-up aspect. I tend to be a bit anal about clutter and messiness, so pushing a ball around and rolling up as many things as possible is very satisfying. It's like free therapy.

fun.fabric

While reading one of my many favorite magazines, I came across an add for this site. It's pretty much a dream come true for me since I am crafty, yet not willing to drive much further than my local Joann's for fabric (and while they do have fun patterns sometimes, you have to search your wazoo off to find them). Here are some of my favorites from the quick look I just took;








I guess that I like blue more than I thought! Now I just have to figure out what to make with this new found bounty. And I have to plan a crafty day soon. Any interest?

cake.a.lake

Finally!!! Blogspot's been fickle the past few days, and I haven't been able to get on and update. While I'm okay with missing a day here and there, I'm really let down when the blogs I read aren't updated regularly. (Ahem..my brother's friend *ll* who, I might add, he still links to even though he specifically states that he's "starting to trim this list only to those who regularly update, because it was getting really long." Mmm.hmm) I like to keep them coming without writing pure gibberish. (If I start going down this road, please let me know and I'll limit my entries in favor of more quality control!)

So..I can't remember what I was going to write about yesterday, but today I'm going to write about my new career. Some of you may be under the impression that I'm applying to grad school for my masters in statistics. Well, I hate to break it to you this way, but I've found my calling. I am going to be a cake decorator. I will, of course, require the assistance of two small girls. I feel that this will be a positive direction for me (and one that does NOT require the mastering of multivariable calculus!) because it incorporates many of the qualities which I find rewarding in any task; it is creative, the time between beginning and completing is limited, the final product is tangible and quite satisfying, and I have access to free labor! Here is a picture of my first try. Quite "wedding-cake-esque," no?

gym.clothes

Here's a good dream I had not long ago.

I went to the gym, and one of the trainers (who organizes all the challenges) told me that I had won the most recent challenge, and that she had nominated me for tlc's What Not to Wear. According to her, I had been secretly filmed for 2 weeks. I was confused. Wasn't this supposed to be a surprise? Weren't Stacy and Clinton supposed to show up and embarrass me in front of lots of people? The trainer said that I'd have to act surprised when they arrived with the cameras. I was so excited about this (it's been a real-life dream of mine to get on that show), and yet at the same time, I knew that I was dreaming. Surely enough, I woke up and was sad to realize that Stacy and Clinton weren't going to show up and give me $5000 to hand myself over "body, mind, and wardrobe."


Feel free to jump in here if you're familiar with dream analysis. There are several things wrong with this dream, but what bothers me most is this; how on earth could the trainer have nominated me when she's only seen me in gym clothes? How could she know how truly wrong my clothing choices are when I'm just wearing t-shirts, gym pants/shorts, and sneakers? I realize that there are those people who spend a small fortune on athletic gear, but really...that just tells me they have way too much money. In fact, I think that I dress nicer than many others who show up to work-out. My former gym buddy *tm* once saw a woman working out in her underwear and nylons. When she told me this, I thought the woman must have been wearing some sort of leotard (in the '80s style as I've seen others wear), but *tm* insisted that this woman was wearing underwear- like she had gone to work, stopped at the gym on the way home only to realize that she didn't have a change of clothes, and just whipped of her skirt and worked out anyway. Unbelievable.


**By the way. Anyone who is interested in nominating me for the show in real-life; you're more than welcome (in fact encouraged) to do so. I'll even arrange for you to have unlimited access to my sad closet, and will pretend to know nothing about it when filming begins!

happy.birthday

Today is *kc's* birthday. Happy birthday *kc*!! I used to babysit for her when she was a kid. Once when she wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing, I told her I'd give her a wedgie if she didn't start listening. She didn't, and I picked her up by her underwear. They ripped. It was pretty darn funny. Last year for her birthday, I bought her some Sesame Street underwear from Target. You know the ones- they're boyshort type with a little elmo or bigbird on the front. I tried to find a pair to link to, but had no luck. Anyway- it was pretty funny.

what.am.i?

Does anyone know what kind of plant this is? I just got it, but it didn't have any info with it and I don't want to kill it. The only label it had was really the price tag, and it just said tropical foliage. My mom thought it was some sort of succulant (which it does kind of look like in the photo) but it's not. The leaves are flat and thin, not thick like succulant leaves are. Whoever responds correctly first, wins!

can.you.say.

...pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? I can.

The Red Sox were off tonight, and there was nothing to watch, so I switched on the Spelling Bee on ABC while I finished folding laundry. Now I'm the first person to make fun of these shows- after all, how interesting can it be to watch a bunch of nerdy kids spell words I've never even heard of. Strangely enough, I found myself completely drawn in to this show. I felt an attachment to the girl who was booted out, only to be brought back in when the judges realized that she had spelt the word correctly. She didn't win the whole thing, but she made the final three (all of whom were girls). I even liked the nerdy boy who was predicted to win. His favorite word is the same one that my own brother used to flaunt at age 7; pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. I'm proud to say that I can pronounce this word (after just a little coaching from *b*). With this new interest in spelling bees, I may just go see that movie "Akeelah and the Bee" which I previously thought would be stupid. I'll let you know what I think.