I Survived!

I got almost everything on my list accomplished, though not necessarily in the order I set out. The party was a smashing success, in my opinion. The guests included:

The Early Birds

• Elizabeth: She arrived at 12:00 p.m. and helped me finish up the preparations. She ran the sweeper for me (bless her) and blew up all the balloons. She also acted as co-hostess for the party. She rocks. Incidentally, she bought me the Black Eyed Peas Toothy Tunes toothbrush, which I have enjoyed using emensely.


• Mom, Dad, & Grandma Jean: They arrived at about 1:20 p.m. with the salad, ice, the cake, some fruit punch, and gifts, gifts, gifts! By the time they got here, though, we were ready to go.



• Uncle Charlie: Arrived at about 1:45 p.m. cheerful and chilled as ever.


• Aunt Kim & Uncle Tony: Arrived at about 1:50 p.m. from Warren, Ohio. Remarked upon some idiot they saw on the way over who out mowing his lawn while the snow tumbled from the sky.

The Normal People:

• Rachel & Bailey: Arrived at about 2:00 p.m. Rachel had the beginnings of a migrain and wore her sunglasses for most of the party. Baily, 9, helped ride herd on the children.


• Wally, Ms. Snap, Taylor, Christopher, Zacharu, and Stone: Arrived at about 2:10 p.m. The kids took off downstairs and the fun seriously began.


• Doc: Arrived at about 2:30 p.m. He was on his lunch break.


• Quinn & Joe (Rachel's son and husband, respectively): Arrived at about 4:00 p.m. Quinn, 13, had ball practice and his dad, Joe, is the Assistant Coach. No, they did not play outside, nor did they play a game. They just practiced at an indoor facility.

Including Riley, Lucy, and me, the total attendance was 21 people! The adults hung out in my living room while the kids entertained themselves in the basement. They had a blast making beaded neclaces, even the boys. I bought sports-themed beads as well for them specifically.

The donkey pinata was a success. Riley dealt the death blow, knocking the head clean off the body, which left us with a paper mache donkey head hanging from the garage door opener. Plus, the candy compartment was still in tact. So, Chris and I ripped the body asunder and candy flew everywhere! The kids scrambled to pick it up and stuff their Reese's mini peanut butter cups, Dum-Dum suckers, and iridescent rubber lizards and frogs into their goody bags. The whole scene was festive and macabre.

The pizza and salad were excellent. We had cake and presents. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Most everyone had left by 5:30 p.m. and we had food left over. Elizabeth and I fell in a heap afterwards and were killing time until bedtime, when we could begin seriously to drink.

We had a great Easter and Riley used some of her birthday money to take me to see The Last Mimzy, which was fantastic! Maybe it's because I haven't gone to the movies for nearly a year, but I was blown away by the story, the effects, the sentiments and the appearance of my favorite actor of the moment, Rainn Wilson:

So, it's back to work for me. I'm glad to return to routine, frankly.

I'll leave you with some Dwisdom:


Whenever I’m about to do something, I think “would an idiot do that?” and if they would, I do not do that thing.


I love Dwight Schrute.