Henna, Birthdays and Balloons

The weekend was filled with party, party, party. My eldest had her very first slumber party and she was too thrilled. We spent Thursday after work cleaning the house from top to bottom. Friday afternoon was filled with the same. Hubby went to buy the junk food for the kids to feast on all night, along with the next morning's breakfast items. I went out and picked up the pizzas and movies. Here is what I rented (in case you're wondering what to use for a little girl's sleepover):

1. Mama Mia
2. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
3. The Cheetah Girls
4. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

For goody bags home, I put in lots of dollar store items: Girlie stickers (the stickers were of high-heels, make-up, tiaras, clothes, etc...), lip gloss, bubble gum, a notepad with a girlie slogan (Drama Queen, Rock Star, Chicks Rule, etc...), a matching magnetic pen with the same slogan, and Lee press-on nails. I think they were happy.

The girls arrived fairly close to start time, with only our relative only able to stay for the party, only. They ate pizza, listened to scary stories while they ate, and drank strawberry lemonade from plastic wine goblets. Afterward, we sang happy birthday, blew out the candles and opened presents. From mom and dad, she got the first season of the Brady Bunch, crystal earrings, a karaoke disc and a new mp3 player to replace her broken one. From the guests, a host of make-up and girlie items.

After opening presents, they went downstairs and did the karaoke thing for a bit, even getting my sister in the mix. Once that was done, they popped in a movie, ate more junk and played twister. By 11:00pm, we told them that winding down time had to start, since we wanted to sleep. They obliged and we didn't hear much from them...until the eldest came to the door telling us one of the parents was on the way.

Well, one of the children happened to be allergic to animals. Why the parent didn't say anything when he dropped her off (and, very clearly saw our dogs) or why the child didn't say anything, I'll never know. We also had plenty of antihistamines that I could have given her, had someone let me talk to the child's mother. In any case, the child went home at 12:30pm. I was so tired.

The departing child left us with only one guest, which made dealing with clean up and everything else that much easier. The child was happy and so was the Babe. After everyone left, I took care of me by coloring my hair...with Henna.

I purchased all natural Henna (we're talking the pulverized plant) and mixed it with lemon juice. Added this to my hair then let it "cook" for about 2.5 hours. My hair was a flame. I'm supposed to see darkening and changes over the next three days and have seen a bit already. Hubby loves it. I think it will look great with my braids, come September.

Sunday was the last day of the balloon festival. It was amazing! We got there in time for the launch (7ish) and ate the buffet breakfast. We were high up in the mountains, so we dressed for the occasion. I would never have thought 39 would be the temp on an August day. Woo wee, it was cold! The air was crisp and smelled of fall. It made me so happy to smell fall, but no where near thrilled to lose feeling in my fingers.

A fun-filled weekend and a happy 9th birthday to my eldest child.

Finding Happiness

I'm having a hard time with this, again. There's so much going on at work and home. Life has become very uneventful and boring. I need something to look forward to. My trip to Nashville isn't or a couple of months and the weekends just don't last long enough. Can't take vacation time (gotta save it for Christmas). What to do? How do you take a vacation from yourself without actually going anywhere?

Do I Have to?

School is starting up soon and I'm actually very happy about it. It gets one raggedy child out of my house, which is a God-send, and gives the younger one her power-over-the-house back. It's the homework that I'm not looking forward to. Her homework becomes my homework (overseeing, instructing and assisting). They don't tell you that when you become a parent, you become a back-up to the teacher, too. I guess, with my own mother, I just figured she was doing her job (my mother, for a time, was a school-teacher). I am not looking forward to more multiplication drills, basic geometry, projects, and book reports. Okay, maybe book reports. Those are kind of fun.

Dance and gymnastics will also begin at the end of the month. They'll be busy and I'll be broke. There's no happy medium, yet. One day, the eldest will have a job and will be able to fund some of her own activities. I keep telling myself that the day will come but, truth be told, I'll probably continue to help sponsor this kid till her teen years. I'd rather she fret about her studies and homework than money. She'll have her whole life to fret over money.

Hubby and I are feeling a little restless. I feel it from both of us, but I'm not sure how we're going to get past it. There's so much to do and never enough time. Sometimes, it's our finances that hold us back and sometimes, it's life and all that it throws at us. I need my plumbing fixed, my kitchen redone, tile in the bathrooms, a new dining room table, my carpet extracted, paint down the stairwell, all of our photos hung up. The list just goes on and on. We try to set-up projects yearly and we do okay, but not as well as we could.