Wild and Work-Filled Weekend

The Friday gang


Well, the weekend just blew by. Friday we drove up to Orange County to visit an old friend. We went to Wahoo's for lunch then out for ice cream. Visited, talked, played, watched a little TV, received some hand-me-down clothes from her daughter Amy (just in time for school), made a 1 1/2 hour drive home in 2 1/2 hrs. We had our Friday pizza and watched the colorized version of the Shaggy Dog (1959). I know, it is an old movie, but what a great classic family film. It has the most famous mousketeer (at least for me) of all in it, Annette Funicello. There are tons of classic cars in it. It was the first ever Disney live action movie produced. How about a little nostalgia? About an hour into the film, my son asked me, "Mom, is this an old movie?" So that shows you how much it bothered the kids. E asleep sitting up on the couch. Imagine that!

Speaking of movies, Saturday morning, after a sunrise cubscout committee meeting, I went to have my hair done. I was talking to the hairstylist about her family and she mentioned her daughter homeschools because her (grand)daughter is an actress. So curious, I ask "What's her name?" and "Which movies did she play in?" She starts to rattle off a list of films. Envy, Dark Water, Aliens vs. Predator-Requiem, Call of the Wild (a G-movie not yet released). Her name is Ariel Gade and she is a child actress. I googled her when I got home, she even has her own fan site. How interesting...I guess I have a few movies to rent...


Bounce U kids

Saturday evening we attended a work party for V. It was at Bounce U. The local franchise is owned by V's coworker and her husband. Bounce places are always fun for the kids, but not so fun for the parents. We survived, and came home exhausted after three hours. Ho hum, pizza again.
In the car on the way to church today I got into a conversation with the kids about God. "If He made the whole world, did God make the buildings?" N.'s answer, "Yes, He made the people and they made the buildings for Him, so that means He made the buildings." I added, if He had made them himself, they would have been much nicer. E piped in about how "The jungle people made Him angry because they ate the berries He told them not to" and about how "He kicked them out of the garden and they had to grow their own fruits and vegetables-because they disobeyed" Any other mother would have used this moment to discuss creation, consequences, lying, etc. and here I am, what do I talk about? Hmmm...not to eat wild berries? I guess you could call that a Duh! moment. (I have them often.)

So during the church service they ask for volunteers for the children's ministry in the fall, and duh, guess who volunteers? (Not V) Ooooh I need to stop volunteering for things. While in the military service, didn't they teach me what the acronym NAVY means (Never Again Volunteer Yourself)? Or was it Never Avoid Volunteering Yourself? (It must have been the latter.)

The rest of today was spent in a whirlwind trotting from store to store, wasting money on back-to-school sales, trying to find dresses for the girls to wear to the wedding in Seattle (two weekends away) and a tie (Mervyns) for N. It seems everyone is having a great sale which ends today. Going, going, gone! But this is not the time of year to buy formal dresses. If you anticipate a dress-up event coming your way (Wedding, anyone?), best to buy children's dresses around the winter holidays or Easter, because it is slim-pickings the rest of the year. I was so desperate I almost went to the bridal store, but I decided to save us all some time and heartache and just buy a couple of special occasion dresses online. Thanks to my friend Kat, I got a 20% discount off my purchase. Welcome back, Kat! Just in time for the really hot weather. How come they send her all the Gymboree coupons? I never get any! Waaah! Now I'm the only one left to buy (wedding) clothes for.

I'd like to ask a favor. If you are reading this post, could you please say a prayer for my father? On Tuesday (at the National Naval Medical Center ) he is going to have a cardiac catheterization done with the possibility of a stent placement. I'd like him to make it through the procedure with no complications and hopefully no stent necessary. Miracles do happen, so please pray!