Jun. 18: Currently

Listening

…to the bark bark barking of a neighborhood dog THAT ISN’T MINE. This might be a first.

…to the weird weather outside. It’s raining and hailing between brief sunny breaks. The sunny breaks don’t make noise, so it’s really only the rain and hail I can hear. Just thought I should clarify.

Loving

…these pictures of Lucy and Gilly at Bark for Life, a Relay for Life fundraiser we attended last weekend. They had a blast making new friends!

…that Sunshine has been in town for the past few days. She goes home tomorrow, and that means my next post will be from a mental hospital. Pretty sure.

Feeling

…excited and a little anxious about my work friend, Terri, who had a heart transplant yesterday. The surgery went well and her daughters have been great about posting updates to Facebook ever since she got the call Saturday night. They’re planning to take out her breathing tube today and then her real recovery can begin. Yay, Terri!

…like an idiot over one of our Father’s Day gifts for Victor. He recently got a new gas grill, so the kids and I decided his FD gifts would be grill-related. We found fun gadgets and tools, and I was especially excited about the bag of mesquite charcoal… because I’m a moron. Not sure what he’s going to do with that fancy charcoal ON HIS GAS GRILL.

…lonely without my wiggly Ollie.

Wanting

…to apologize to everyone who was in earshot of me at our party last Thursday. I think I was potty-mouthier than I realized. I was also, apparently, quite grabby. I am so very, very sorry to anyone I might have offended and promise to pay for your kids’ psychotherapy and the cost of cleaning my many grimy handprints off your clothes.

Needing

…to work up some motivation to reorganize my office. Not only do I have piles of papers to sort and general clean-up to do, I want to rearrange the furniture to make it a more usable space. It’s actually a very comfy room; I used to spend most of my time in there. When Lucy came to live with us, our upstairs was off limits to her, so I started hanging out in the family room to keep an eye on her. She doesn’t need constant supervision anymore, and I’m ready to move back upstairs… just waiting for that PUSH to get the reorganization project going.

Accomplishing

…more of the tasks toward readying our Relay for Life day-of-Relay fundraising project. Our team is going to sell lanyards and “lap beads,” which will help walkers track the number of laps they walk. When I started planning, I had no idea how many decisions were involved in these crazy things. I’m glad my mom was around this past weekend to help. She and I picked out fun beads to represent each lap and mile:

The lanyards have lobster clasps at the bottom, which can hold these additional charms we’ll have for sale:

All survivors will get one of these for their lanyard:

I’m excited about this fundraiser—I’ve read about lots of other Relays that have done lap beads and they’re crazy-popular. Many Relay teams double their fundraising on the day of Relay with this kind of thing. I just hope we’ll be able to cover our costs.

Enjoying

…Jack’s most recent fascination: making stop-motion videos on the iPad. He and Mack are upstairs right now, setting up another LEGO minifigures movie. It’s a tremendous time-waster, but I gotta admit, it’s pretty amazing to see the finished product.

…relative peace and quiet now that school is out. I like not having anything urgent to complete today—just laundry. Maybe a stab at some of the piles in my office. And a nap? Yes, a nap would be delightful.

sharing silly stuff

Later—

Jun. 15: Second annual last day of school blowout

Fifteen minutes after yesterday’s dismissal bell, bunches of us gathered at Tina’s and my houses for a last-day-of-school party that would go until almost midnight. I think we have the best friends EVER. What a blast.

I love these cocktail napkins

See that sweet girl Angie is hugging on the left?
She’s having to comfort her because I said a very naughty word.
I’m a bit of a potty-mouth drunk, but for realsies, I didn’t know she was there.
So sorry, Angie!

Two of  my best girls: Sunshine and Val

Tina’s bounce house is always a hit with the little peeps

Cindi and Sunshine do NOT look happy with whatever Olivia is telling them

Darby and Jim brought the testosterone

This should really have said “Adults Spilling Drinks”

Aw, this be my favorite boy and my favorite girl!

Tina and Jenn K

How much do I love this picture?
Julie L., me, Wendy, Theresa, Heather L.
We are feeling fiiiiiine.

 

Here are some things y’all left behind. Please claim them or I will.

 

I think Julie H. brought this cake vodka.
If it was left intentionally, THANK YOU!
If not, I’ll try not to drink too much of it before I have the chance to get it back to you.

 
The green bag says “Sharon Manuel” so I think it might belong to Sharon Manuel.

Annie’s?

 

This morning I went out in the driveway to survey the damage we wrought. It was a bit like viewing the wreckage of the Titanic, but-cept we lost far fewer third-class passengers in this chaos.

Oh, if this cocktail stirrer could speak, the tales it would tell…

Our recycle bin tells the real story, although it’s not even the whole truth:

Here are three very large, very empty bottles of vodka.
I’m embarrassed to say they were full when the party started.
Needless to say, I don’t feel super-great today.

 

We had a great time celebrating the last day of school, even though some very important people were missing from the party. I don’t remember a lot, but I’m pretty sure it was a good time. How lucky are me and Tina to know such amazing people???

Now, can anyone can tell me how to make the buzzing in my head stop?