HOME IMPROVEMENTS

Yesterday hubby and I (but mostly hubby) finally hung a new ceiling fan in our bedroom. Installation took a long time, but it looks great and is a vast improvement over the undersized white one we used to have in there.

The white one, by the way, is going to be hung in the breakfast room soon. And by "soon," I mean "hopefully before Easter." That's just the way things work around the Pley household. Best laid plans and all that...

I've been on a Christmas decorating spree since last week. Most of the indoor stuff is done, including hanging a stocking for the pooch, as this is her first Christmas with the family. I just hope Santa remembers pack some bones in his sack. Doggie toys do not go over well around here, as our furbaby immediately destroys any that pass through our doorway. She has even eaten a tire. What a goober.

Yesterday I hung the outdoor wreath and put lights on two bushes that sit on either side of the front porch. It's simple, but looks really nice. I am not a fan of the big inflatable stuff; I'm all about pine garland and plaid bows and the like. Although I did see a VERY cute "ice cube snowman" at Lowe's this morning. If it wasn't forty bucks, it might have found its way into my cart.

Today my mission is to finish setting up the Christmas stuff, then clean and vacuum the house a bit. All the beautiful decor seems a little out of place when I put it on dusty furniture. I think my Dyson needs to come out of the closet and enjoy the scenery for awhile.

Ho ho ho, y'all!

PLEY'S 2nd ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BAKING DAY
Sent this email to dad, his S.O., and my siblings this morning. Man, do I love the holidays!

Hey, everyone! It's about that time again, and here's the plan for this year:

DATE - Tuesday, December 12th
TIME - 9:00 a.m. (or however early you want to get here) until whenever
PLACE - Pley's kitchen
ACTIVITY - Baking Christmas goodies

Feel free to bring your own recipes, or you can use some of mine. I've got a ton of cookbooks, from Better Homes & Gardens to Grandma Deanie's old family cookbook.

I also have a brand-new KitchenAid stand mixer that I'm dying to use. And yes, I'll share. I have two baking sheets but four oven racks (two ovens), so if you want to bring an extra baking sheet, that would be fine.

I have lots of mixing bowls and spoons.

I also have plenty of brown sugar and white sugar, and will be purchasing more baking soda and baking powder, so if your recipes call for those, please save your money. What I do recommend you bring is something on which to take your goodies home. Since I switched over to the stack-n-store system, I'm no longer overrun with extra Tupperware! ;)

We'll have Christmas music on the stereo, the tree will be lit, and of course there will be coffee and/or hot chocolate to drink. Hope to see you all here!

Love,
Pley

NOT THANKFUL

My beloved Longhorns lost today in a suckass game against the Aggies. Way to let us down, UT.

I AM THANKFUL FOR...

1. The good health of my family (knock on wood)
2. Mom's old Home Interiors nativity scene, even though it no longer has its original sheep
3. The replacement sheep I bought on ebay (after K broke the original one), which arrived with a broken ear but still fits in nicely with the rest of the set
4. The Saturn, which continues to chug along after almost a dozen years
5. The red sweater I'm wearing today, which my mother-in-law gave me as a hand-me-down
6. Our digital camera, which was one of the better purchases I've ever made
7. My sister Tnk, whose recovery continues to amaze me and make me cry at the same time
8. My EMT-sis, whose knowledge of emergency medicine is impressive and strangely comforting
9. My brother Tree, who graduates from the police academy next week and about whom I am already worrying
10. My brother in Oklahoma, who is going through marital problems right now but continues to be an incredible dad to his two sons
11. My in-laws, who graciously gave up our Thanksgiving Day celebration this year so that we could celebrate my great-grandmother's 98th birthday with her today
12. My friend Mary, who despite losing her 4-year-old son a dozen years ago, has somehow gone on with her life and prospered
13. My friend Jenn, whom I love like a sister and I don't get to see nearly enough of
14. All my scrapbooking buddies, who make me laugh while helping me get things accomplished at the same time
15. And last but certainly not least, my wonderful husband of 16+ years, without whom I would not be the person I am today. I love you, M.

DECORATING DAY

The kids are out of school for the holiday, so today we decided to get a jump start on Christmas decorating. The tree is up and lit, the stockings are hung, two nativity scenes and a village have been put out, and the bathroom towels have holly and/or Santa on them now.

Still lots more to do - for example, I've gotta get garland around all the banisters, STAT - but we've made a great start.

Tomorrow we're heading to my great-grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. It's also her 98th birthday...and I just realized I have no gift for her. Dang.

Gotta run.

THE ONE FOR EVIL AMY

Let me preface this post by saying that in my 39 years of living, I have encountered only ONE intelligent female radio personality. Her name was Shelby Sweeney, and Houston lost a really good one when she left us. In my experience, most female DJs rely on their perky personalities and ability to laugh at every.single.thing their male counterparts say in order to keep their jobs. Honestly, I would prefer listening to trash-talking males than to bubble-headed bleach blondes in the morning.

So this morning, a local radio station was having a Battle of the Sexes contest, in which a man and woman answer questions for prizes.

The bobblehead female DJ, when introducing the contestants, says "Today's female contestant is Maria, who is a stay-at-home mom. Maria has a part-time job working with computers, so she's one of the smart ones."

The male DJ, to his great credit, replies "But she is at home with three children, so her full-time job is not an easy one."

Bobblehead responds, "Yes, but at least she doesn't have to report to a boss."

You ignorant bitch. Do you honestly think that at-home moms with small children have it easy? I don't know a single sahm who hasn't wanted, at least once, the chance to dress up and go to work and get paid and have lunch with grownups.

And what does "she's one of the smart ones" mean? If you're implying that most at-home moms are stupid, here's a newsflash for you: Some of the stupidest people I know have college degrees and jobs. I think you know who I'm talking about.

THE ANSWER IS: ANN-MARGRET

The Ann-Margret reference in my previous post is from the 90's TV show "Wings" which starred Tim Daly, Steven Weber, and Crystal Bernard.

A recap of the episode entitled "Sports and Leisure": After a fishing trip is ruined by Roy, the gang uninvites him to the Trivial Pursuit party at Helen's. Angry at them initially, he nevertheless accepts their re-invitation to the party and decides to be nice and try to fit in. But his new resolve is foiled by his game partner, Lowell. Lowell has played Trivial Pursuit once before, and his only memory of it is that one of the answers is "Ann-Margret." Therefore, he answers every single question with "Ann-Margret." Except for one - on the last question Lowell and Roy were posed with, the answer actually WAS Ann-Margret, but this time Lowell gave a different name.

Pez, is it what you were thinking? :)

FAMILY THANKSGIVING & GROCERIES

Today we (my side of the family, that is) had our annual Not-On-Thanksgiving-Day Thanksgiving dinner. Tnk hosted it at her house, which was really nice. As I suspected, I strongly felt Mom's presence throughout the afternoon, and I think Tnk did, too. She got choked up during the prayer. I completely understood.

My contribution to the dinner was pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and dump cake - all homemade. And root beer - not homemade - for the kids. All four were big hits amongst the diners.

When we finished eating, my dad decided to clear up Tnk's backyard a bit. He grabbed some old wood we'd stashed outside and started a bonfire. Fortunately for Tnk, her house is in a subdivision with no deed restrictions. Weird, definitely; against the law, nope. The fire grew with more and more wood, and eventually we even tossed the old patio furniture into the flames. Thirty years has that furniture existed, but it was high time it was put out to pasture. Burning the pieces was a little sad for me, though, as I have fond memories of hanging out on that furniture during childhood summers when we'd take breaks from the pool. (Tnk had the pool filled in last year, as the maintenance had become overwhelming.) So farewell, old and decrepit patio furniture. You won't be forgotten.

Moving on...

After bonfire, we played Trivial Pursuit, 90's Edition, which I had picked up for $4.98 at Target earlier this year. It was different from your usual Trivial Pursuit game, but still pretty difficult. We even had a couple of "Ann-Margret" guesses tossed in for good measure, even though that was never the correct answer. (If anyone doesn't get the Ann-Margret joke, let me know.) I won the game, with a little help from Tnk and hubby. Okay, a LOT of help. Hey, I told you the game was hard!

We left Tnk's just after 5:30, which is really REALLY early for one of our family gatherings to end. But it's Sunday and the kids have school and hubby has work tomorrow, so it's good that we came on home. We even had time to fit in a little America's Funniest Videos, which is a Sunday night guilty pleasure in this house.

---

Forgot to mention my trip to Kroger this morning. I purchased 55 items, including but not limited to: a frozen turkey, a bag of dog food, two dozen Eggsland's Best eggs, six cans of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, three cans of Pillsbury crescent rolls, four bags of Goldfish, five bags of pasta, two bags of Clementine oranges, and a bunch of other groceries. Shelf price was $93.02, but after my coupons, I paid only $34.38! MAN, I love the Grocery Game. :)

LET'S CALL THIS "THE ONE ABOUT TARGET"

Woke up this morning to the sound of the dog's collar jingling at 6:50 a.m. That's really too early to get up on a Saturday, but I did it since hubby is the one who gets up and lets her out about 99% of the time, and I figured I owed him one.

Turns out it was good that Bailey had awakened me early, as I had to make a run to Target to take advantage of their sales and coupons. If you ever shop Target, you should definitely avail yourselves of their coupons - go to www.target.com, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you'll find a link to their current coupon deals, which are typically fantastic. Keep in mind that you can stack coupons on many of the deals, too, which makes their prices even lower.

Quick "stacking" tip: Most stores will allow you to use two coupons on one item, provided that one of them is a manufacturer's coupon and the other is a store coupon. You can easily tell which is which by looking at the top of the coupon. Oh, and for the record, all the Target coupons on their website are store coupons, so if you happen to have a manufacturer's coupon for, say, Diet Coke, you can use both and get sodas really cheaply.

Today I purchased 18 items (including four 12-packs of soda, three packs of cheese, two bottles of salsa, three bags of chips, one set of Glade Trios candles, and several other items) and had 19 coupons (stacked two on the candles). The shelf price for everything I bought was $44.73. After my coupons, I paid $19.75.

Love me some Tarjay.

UNDER THE WIRE

Just woke up from a doze on the sofa and realized it's 11:33 p.m. CST, and I had not yet blogged today. Better hurry.

Today was Girl Scouts, where we worked on our Safety Patch. My EMTsis took good care of us and pretty much ran the meeting. She brought the local training ambulance to the house and went over safety measures. She also had a really cool machine that allowed the girls to "call" 911 and practice giving their names and addresses to a recorded-but-very-real-sounding voice. I wish I could remember what this machine is called...I'm going to find out and will post it here soon.

Part two of the meeting involved making fire escape maps. My sister had drawn up a simple floorplan of my house and had the girls draw colored lines to the nearest exits (of which my home has three). She even drew in a "fire" in the kitchen and told the girls to be sure and avoid it when they were drawing the lines. For example, they had to draw a red line from the breakfast nook to the nearest exit, a yellow line from the living room to the nearest exit, etc., but since they had to avoid the fire in the kitchen, it took a little more thought than simple A-to-B line drawing. Clever, sis.

The girls also made bookmarks that said "911 - Police, Fire, Ambulance" on them. I wish we'd had time for everyone to write down their addresses on the back, as several of the girls don't know theirs. Moms - please make sure your kids know their own addresses and phone numbers ASAP. You just never know when they will need that information.

Lastly, EMTsis took the girls outside and told them, "On the count of three, all of your clothes are on fire. Show me what you should do." On three, all eight girls hit the ground and did the right thing - Stop, Drop, and Roll. Yay for my troop!

After all the activities, the girls were allowed to tour the ambulance, where they could touch the oxygen masks, lie on the stretcher, and basically lay their hands on anything they saw (no drugs or needles are ever stocked on the training ambulance, so they were perfectly safe). In a big finale, EMTsis turned on the lights and sirens and gave the girls an earful. It was the perfect end to a really fun meeting!

HATH HELL FROZEN OVER?

Must be holiday time, because the car is in the shop again. Initial quote: $448. Plus tax. Plus some other charges, I'm sure, as I have not paid it yet, and we all know how car "estimates" go.

I'm tired of car repairs, particularly since the Saturn will be twelve years old in January, and currently has about 175,000 miles on it. We've been coasting by with no car payments for the past year or so, but reliable transportation is more important, so I predict car shopping soon.

---

Well, what do you know. The repair shop just called and said that since they didn't have to replace the fuel filter, the cost dropped to $370. That has never happened. I'm too stunned to keep typing...

THIS'LL BE SHORT AND SWEET

I am not feeling at all well this evening. I am experiencing intermittent stabbing pains in my right ear, and I am unbelievably tired. It's the I-can-barely-hold-my-eyes-open-as-I-type-this kind of tired. That's pretty serious for 7:39 p.m., especially since my normal bedtime is around 10:30 or 11:00 on weeknights.

Quick recap of the day:

Worked on Tnk's house today - we took up the nasty lineoleum in the den, finished painting the exterior of the closets and the new drywall around the French doors, and shopped for supplies at Lowe's. We were only moderately successful in our shopping trip, as the paint guy couldn't match the sample we brought him; the door guy could not find an appropriate threshold nor a ball bearing in all of the store; and the cashier didn't know how to look up UPC codes on unmarked items (namely the threshold, which was going to be too big anyway so Tnk told them to just keep it).

Tree was kind enough to bring us lunch from Wendy's. I had a cup of chili, which was really good since I was already starting to feel sick. Plus it was cold outside, so the warmth of the cup felt really good.

I told Tnk I'd help her again tomorrow, but I probably won't be able to. One, I am coming down with something, and two, it looks like the Saturn has one foot in the grave (again). Hubby called on his way home and said that he kept having to shift it into neutral so it wouldn't die at stoplights. Yay, happy fun car shopping.

Off to bed now. Nighty-night.

BACK TO WORK AT TNK'S PLACE

Today the siblings and I worked on Tnk's house for the first time since her accident back in March. I'd forgotten how intensive manual labor can be - what a workout!

Actually, it wasn't that bad. Today I painted the storage room and the closet walls and doors outside that room. It's amazing what a coat of paint can do for a grimy, fingerprinty door. We're nowhere near done with the work on that room, but between my paint job and her window cleaning, it already looks a hundred times better.

Tnk's handyman Mike was there today, too. His job was to cut a 4' x 7' hole in the wall between the living room and the den (formerly known as "the garage," which was enclosed sometime in the '70s). In the hole, Mike is installing French doors. I had to leave before he put the doors up, but even with a gaping rectangle where the wall used to be, both rooms look about twice as spacious as they did before.

The reason for all this work right now is that Tnk is hosting our family Thanksgiving feast at her house this Sunday. I think it will be a fun yet slightly melancholy day: Tnk's house is the same one we grew up in, and the one our mother was living in when she passed away. I know that her presence will be strongly felt.

Tomorrow I'm going back to help out a little more. I know Mom would love all the upgrades we've done on the house; just wish she could be here to see them.

NEW FORMAT

Hello, all! What do you think of the new digs? I miss you guys on my sidebar, but never fear - I will fix my blog up to be just as linky as ever.

Not much to report for today. I did have lunch with my youngest brother (Tree) and Tnk today. I almost never see Tree anymore, so it was a real pleasure to visit for awhile. He is about to graduate from the Houston Police Academy (what is it with my siblings and their law-enforcement yens?) so he and Tnk naturally had lots to talk about. While I love a good story - and they ARE good stories, LOL - I couldn't help but feel a little left out. I have zero excitement in my own life at the moment. Oh, who am I kidding? I have zero excitement in my own life pretty consistently.

Yes, the kids and hubby are great. But I can't top a story about an 80-year-old woman in a bikini being arrested for drunk driving. Not every day, anyway.

Better get dinner started. Whoo, hold me back.

THE MEN IN ORANGE

First of all, let's have a moment of silence for the men in burnt orange, the University of Texas Longhorns, who lost to Kansas State 45-42 last night in a nailbiter. K State injured our quarterback in the first drive, and with our inexperienced backup taking his place, UT had little chance to pull it out. [cue Taps playing softly in the background...]

In soccer news, today is the day! This afternoon the Houston Dynamo vie for the title of MLS Champions against the New England Revolution (Beth, Zach will totally know what I'm talking about :). Thousands of Houstonians have made the trek to the Frisco, Texas, Pizza Hut park to watch the game. We were almost among them, but decided to stay home and watch the game for free on TV. (Plug: ABC network, 2:30 p.m. CST. Tune in and cheer for the orange team!)

In order to send some good mojo their way, our family is having an "orange" party. We're all wearing Dynamo and/or orange shirts, we spread out an orange blanket to cover the couch, and we're partaking of orange foods and beverages. Among the latter:

Oranges
Carrots
Squash soup
Sweet potatoes
Grilled cheese sandwiches made with cheddar, which is closer to orange than American cheese
Cheetos
Nacho-flavor Goldfish
Chips and queso (close to orange, right?)
Orange Fanta for the kids
Diet Sunkist for the adults

Oops, game's about to start. Go Dynamo!

Edited at 5:34 p.m. CST - THEY DID IT! THE DYNAMO WON THE MLS CUP! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THUS QUOTH THE VICHY, "NEVERMORE"

To all who asked how Pey's party went, let me just lay it out there for ya: No more slumber parties at my house. Well, none that include one particular friend of Pey's. Just for fun, let's call her Brat. Brat is nine years old.

She started off the evening by walking into my house for the first time and approaching K, who was playing his guitar. I thought she'd say something like "cool, you play guitar!" Instead, we heard, "My aunt plays better than you do."

Thinking I must have misheard her, I sat there with my mouth open. Then she turns to me and says, "Really, my aunt DOES play waaay better than he does."

K later told me that he really wanted to say "wanna bet?" but he held back. I totally would have given him a pass for saying that.

Other fun with Brat:

1. At my friend's house (where we were scrapbooking), Brat was constantly running all around the house, despite the fact that she'd been told to stop because, among other things, Laura's baby was sleeping. I even caught her looking under door jambs to see what was behind closed doors.

2. After eating pizza, I told all the girls they needed to wash their hands so that they wouldn't get grease on their scrapbooks and pictures. Here's how that conversation played out:

Brat (whining): I don't neeeeed to.
Me: Yes, you do.
Brat (smearing pizza grease on her jeans): NoooOOOooo. I don't either.
Me: Get into the bathroom and wash your hands.
Brat: (stomps and grunts all the way to the bathroom) I'm just going to use water.
Me (sighing heavily): No, you're going to use soap.
Brat: I don't need it.
Me: Yes, you do.

At this point, she stops responding and just rinses her hands off, looking in the mirror and nonchalantly glancing toward the door to see if I'm still there. Knowing that the minute I turn my back she'll try to get away without using soap, I fold my arms, lean against the door, and just stare at her. Eventually I have to tell her again to get some soap, which she finally does. This process took nearly five full minutes.

3. Laura had borrowed a chocolate fountain for last night's crop, which was a big hit with everyone there. I took the girls into the kitchen so they could get some, and I handed them each a small plate. Three of my girls took a few marshmallows and strawberries, but Brat grabbed a big bunch of everything and then announced, "I need MORE chocolate." Then she stuck her plate under the fountain. OMG, what a mess - and a waste of chocolate. I gathered everyone up, let them eat what they had, then told them that was it for the evening. At this point it was nearly 9:00 anyway, and the last thing they needed was more sugar.

4. As it turns out, Brat is one of those sneaky-type girls (I hate that personality trait). Several times throughout the evening, she'd slip from her chair and disappear. I always found her in the kitchen dipping into the fountain again, even though I'd told her no more. She knew what she was doing was wrong, because she'd jump every time she saw me. I herded her back into the living room to work on her scrapbook time after time. (At one point, Laura noticed that I was getting frustrated and quietly offered me a beer. I graciously declined, as I figured "Pey's mom drinks!" would be the story that would get back to Brat's mom.)

5. Near the end of the evening, Brat started chasing Laura's two beautiful dogs around the house. She'd been told repeatedly to stop running, and as I sternly told her to get back to her chair, Laura, quite frustrated by this point, said "You need to go sit on the couch NOW." Now two adults were disciplining Brat, so she complied. She went to the sofa and laid down and went to sleep.

6. Only, no, she didn't. She faked being asleep. About ten minutes later, we had packed up and were ready to leave, and Brat wouldn't get up. She even did the heavy-breathing thing to try and fake us out. I leaned over and sat her up, and she flopped her head to one side, still "sleeping." Then I quietly said, "Well, if you're sleeping, I'll just take you home instead of to my house." Magically, her eyes popped open and she grinned and said, "I want to go to your house."

Darn.

The rest of the night was a blur to me because I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. We put all the girls down on sleeping bags in the living room and rented "Garfield II", and I set myself up a little bed on the sofa (much to Brat's chagrin - which is scary, now that I think about it). I was awakened a few times during the night, but this morning was wonderful because Brat's mom called two hours before everyone was supposed to leave and said that they needed to pick her up early. Oh heavenly bliss.

The other girls, by the way, were terrific. Pey has told everyone that she had a "great" birthday. She is very proud of her scrapbook, and even though I know I'm biased, I have to agree that it's beautiful.

This afternoon I (jokingly) asked Pey if she wanted to have Brat over to spend the night again tonight. She rolled her eyes, sighed, and said "No way." I think she was just as frustrated (and maybe a little embarrassed) as I was over Brat's antics last night.

Some good news - During K's soccer game today, he scored TWO goals! That's the first time he's ever scored a goal during a game, and we couldn't be prouder of him. I wish everyone could have seen the grin on his face; it was awesome.

I think I'll go take that nap now. I have a feeling that the fatigue I feel from last night is going to stay with me for a few days.

FRIDAY NEWS

Pey's birthday party starts in about two hours, when the other three girls arrive and we head out to the birthday crop.

Kim's son, Trey, is out of his coma, but has apparently lost the ability to speak. He's had two MRIs, and another is scheduled. Please continue to pray for the family.

Not much else going on right now. I'll post more tomorrow, if I survive the slumber party tonight, that is! :)

IF YOU'RE A PRAYING PERSON, PLEASE READ THIS

My "amazing" Target finds mean nothing (see post below).

You guys may remember my sister Tnk and her near-fatal accident from earlier this year. She went through several surgeries and months of agonizing physical therapy, but I am happy to report that she is back at work on the police force and doing well.

Tnk made some good friends over the past few months, particularly with her physical therapist, Kimberly. Kim was with her through the whole ordeal, and pushed Tnk hard to get her hands working properly. The fact that Tnk made an almost perfect score on her shooting recertification was in no small part due to Kim's help and support. I had the privilege of meeting her when I'd take Tnk to and from PT.

Two days ago, Kim's 8-year-old son was hit by a speeding car. He was crossing the street near his home - in a 15 mph zone - when a woman doing 50 mph ran over him.

He has been in pediatric intensive care in a coma ever since the accident.

My heart is breaking for this family. They are a wonderful group of people, and they need our prayers.

Thank you.

TAR-JAY RULES

At least, their clearance sales do. I went there this morning because I was a doofus three months ago. Allow me to elaborate...

Sometime back in August or so, I was browsing Target's clearance racks and came across an electronic journal which was marked down from $24.99 to $6.98. Thinking this would be something cool for Pey, I picked it up.

When I went to wrap it the other day, I flipped the box over and read the back: "For use with FLY pentop computer." We-elll, I knew I didn't have one of those lying around, so I google'd it. Imagine my surprise when Amazon.com told me it would cost $125.

Yeah, that's gonna happen.

I knew that Target wouldn't feel obligated to take back the journal that they'd clearanced three months ago, so I resigned myself to getting back into ebay and trying to sell it for Christmas. I really didn't want to do that, but there was just no way I was going to drop a C-note now because I jumped the gun then.

Then glorious, glorious Target, unbeknownst to itself, came to my rescue. Today I was again browsing the clearance racks, as apparently I am wont to do, and I came across a FLY pentop computer, complete with charging stand. I could hardly believe my eyes as I beheld the lone remaining box. This $129.99 set had been marked down to - are you ready for this? - $31.98.

I swept the box up in my arms and placed it gently into my cart. My spirits were soaring, and I'm pretty sure Snow White's little birds were aflitter about my shoulders, too.

Pey will get her journal after all. Thank you, Target, for making a little girl's birthday happier, and making her mommy look a little less doofish today.

BIRTHDAY FESTIVITIES

Tomorrow my baby is turning 9 years old. I think I'll reserve my freak-out for when she hits double-digits. For now, I'm just glad to still have kids in elementary school. That makes me feel young.

Today I went shopping with my MIL. We were on a mission to pick up some gifts for the birthday girl. Pey has been keeping a wishlist in a spiral-bound notebook, so we didn't have much trouble knowing what she wants. The only problem was choosing from the hundreds of things on the list. Her list is five single-spaced pages, plus about a half-dozen sticky notes inside the front cover. The funniest thing on her list: her cousin El, whose mother is selfishly not allowing me to have her. But she is letting me borrow El this weekend for Pey's party, so that will have to suffice.

Speaking of party, Pey is going to have a good one. Her two best friends, plus El, plus Pey, natch, will be there. My friend Laura, who is a Creative Memories consultant, is hosting a scrapbooking crop for the girls. Pey is pretty excited about it! All the girls need to bring with them are about 40 pictures each, and Laura will be there to guide them through setting up their pages and journaling. She's even going to let them use all her tools. It's going to cost me around a hundred dollars for supplies, but the four girls will get to be creative and have some really cool albums to take home with them at the end of the night.

Only they're not going home that night. Pey's having a slumber party after the crop, so now the question is, where is everyone going to sleep? IF they sleep, that is.

Now I've got to get busy straightening up the house. Tomorrow is Pey's actual birthday, and we're having the grandparents over for dinner and presents. Friday = crop. Man, I've got a lot to do. Toodles!