The Rest of Mah Weekend
Yey, new holiday Willow/Oz icon! Thanks xrobnx for referring me to the LJ with the awesome Buffy icons!
Anyway, the weekend -
Saturday: after dropping Casey off at the birthday party, I spent the afternoon coloring my hair (and Willow's, as it turns out. I got a little drop on her somehow, and she has a little red spot on her shoulder, heh heh, whoops), taking a shower, doing some laundry, putting away dishes, sweeping, and cleaning up the kitchen counter and the table. Oh, and I got caught up on Dirty Sexy Money while I worked. That is a really interesting show.
Then I went to Jean's party. It was pretty nice. Aside from me and Jean, there was Beth, Renee and Trizonna. Small turnout, but it was okay... it's always great to see those girls. Trizonna can TALK like you wouldn't believe, but she's really funny and entertaining, so it's okay. Scott (Jean's husband) made a pretty dumb comment. He had taken the kids out of the house since it was a ladies only party, and when he got back Trizonna had left. Jean told Scott she'd invited Trizonna and her husband and kids over sometime, and Scott turns to us and goes "Yes, we have taught our kids to not see the color of someone's skin and treat everyone the same" or something (Triz is black). Well, bully for you, dude. Who feels the need to point that out to everyone? Scott is my friend too, but he always says stupid crap like that, and I'm like WTF? Whatever. I know he means well, the dork.
Anyway, we did have a good time... we drank some wine, chit chatted, and watched this video of Jeff Dunham. That guys is freaking funny. "I kill you!", ha ha. Anyway, we also did a chinese gift exchange. I ended up with a pretty snowflake candle holder and a "Christmas Eve" scented candle. Nice!
I picked Casey up and we were home by around 10. I let her stay up a little bit because I know I don't like to get home and immediately go to bed. She got to bed at a little after 11, and I wasn't far behind.
Sunday: Casey was the grouchiest grouch to ever grouch that morning when we went to church. Not only did she go to bed late, but as it turns out, she ended up reading in bed for who knows how long. She told me she'd planned on just reading a chapter, but got hooked and ended up staying up late reading. Gah. I guess I'm glad she's finally starting to read more, but still. Also, I think she's allergic to church, because she was in a perfectly fine mood for the rest of the day.
After church we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed home just long enough to change and print out directions, and then we went to meet up with Melanie, Bana, Disha, John and his wife at the ice skating rink. I regretted ever agreeing to go because it just turned out to be such a hectic weekend, it would have been nice to be home for at least a little bit and get some things done. But since I'd told Casey we were going, I kept my word and took her. I didn't end up skating because she forgot to bring socks, so I gave her mine. She was all "I can't believe you forgot to bring my socks!", and I reminded her that while it would have been nice of me to remind her or grab them for her (and I would have if I'd thought of it), it was ultimately her responsibility to bring HER things, and she was 11 years old for goodness sake. Jeez. But still, I hadn't been all that interested in skating anyway (I probably would have ended up on my butt at some point) and she was near tears, so it made a lot more sense for her to be the one getting the one pair of socks we had between us. She had a good time skating with the girls. I sat and watched, had some hot chocolate and chatted with Mel when she got tired of skating. So it wasn't too bad.
When we got home, I started working on decorating the house. However, all I managed to do was bring everything in from the shed and put the tree up (sans decorations so far), because then we had to leave again to meet Josh. We went with him to the Magic Kingdom, where we rode Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and then we went and watched the castle lighting ceremony. It was so cute... the Disney characters were debating about how to decorate the castle for the holidays, and then they brought out Cinderella to decide (it's her place, after all!). And then the fairy godmother used her magic to light it up. It was SO beautiful. Picture to come at the end of the post.
After that, we headed over to MGM and rode Tower of Terror. This was a big deal for Casey. She is a thrill ride junkie... the faster the better. She loves coasters and all of that, but she's had a little trouble warming up to the free-fall types of rides. When she was 4, Josh took her on Tower of Terror (I wasn't there... just the two of them had gone to the parks together) and it scared the hell out of her. She vowed never to ride it again. Last night was the first time she finally agreed to try it, and she liked it. I knew she would. I had been telling her all along that something that's scary when you're 4 is not going to be as bad when you're older. She did scream like she was being murdered on the ride, though. It was actually pretty funny... I nearly had an asthma attack from laughing and at her and screaming myself. I actually did have to use my inhaler when we got off.
We had waited in line for TOT for like 45 minutes, so by the time we got out, we only had time to do one more thing before they closed. Casey wanted to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster, but I insisted on seeing the lights instead, as that was the entire reason we'd made these plans to begin with. Come on, we can ride coasters anytime! This is our holiday tradition! So yeah, we went and saw the Spectacle of Lights, and they were amazing as always. I found this youtube video of it in case you want to see it. There are a bunch on there if you just do a search for it. It is very, very cool. They even make it snow, although it's more like soap suds that get in your hair and go up your nose. But still, it's a nice idea. LOL
ETA: I meant to give Casey credit for actually speaking to Josh last night. She's typically very quiet around adults who aren't me, and with him it's the worst - usually to the point of being rude. They were total buds when we were dating and living together, but have since grown apart because now we only see him 3 or 4 times a year. So when we DO see him, Casey usually snubs him big time and I always have to get on her case about it. However, last night she was being all kinds of happy and chatty, asking him questions and everything (engaging HIM in conversation is huge, especially when in the past she has completely ignored direct questions he asked her). I told her later that I was really pleased with her behavior. Anyway, I wanted to give her credit here, and also have it down for purposes of maybe tracking this kind of thing (is this a result of growing up, or did she just happen to be in a good mood at the time?)
Josh dropped us off at my car at around 8:30 and we were starved, since we hadn't eaten since Cracker Barrel, which was at like 10:30 that morning. So we scarfed some Mickey Dees on the way home. And then Casey suddenly remembered a project she had due today. ACK. She was like "I'm almost done... all I have to do is type it up, so it should be quick". Right. We got home at a little after 9 and she worked on that thing until almost midnight. And THEN the printer wouldn't work. I sent her to bed and spent the next hour trying to get it to work. I had unplugged the cable the other day to plug in her new digital camera, and I thought you could just plug it back in and it would work fine. No. It wanted me to reinstall the software. So I find it and install it, only to realize it's for a printer we used to have. So I dug out the right software, installed it, and still couldn't get it to work, and then when I did the settings were all wrong. ERG. So yeah, I finally got it working, printed her paper, and got to bed at 1 AM. And by the way, all that time I was working on the printer, Willow decided to go into super annoying mode again. She whined, pulled videos off the shelves, stole things (at one point she was running around with baby Jesus from our stuffed nativity set... EVIL, I tell you! LOL), etc. I wanted to throw her out the window.
On top of that, while Casey was still working on her paper, I had Willow in my lap, and I looked at her ear and saw a tick on it. EW. I think she probably got it when she was being boarded at the vet over the Thanksgiving holiday. I didn't really know what to do about it (I have heard you are supposed to burn them, which makes them let go, but I didn't want to hurt Willow or have her bite me because I was, you know, setting fire to her ear) and it was too late to call anyone, so I just waited until this morning to deal with it. I called the vet and the lady said to just pull it off. I have heard you shouldn't do that because you'll end up leaving the head in there (eck), but she was like no, it's fine... just pull it off. So I tried, but it was holding on tight and I was hurting Willow by pulling on her ear. So I grabbed some finger nail clippers and cut it off. So of course, the head is still stuck to her ear. I talked to my mom, and she said to just leave it. She said that if she was going to get lyme disease, she probably already has it (thanks for the optimism), and the worst that can happen now is her ear gets infected. If that happens, I can go to the vet, but no sense spending money on a visit if there aren't really any problems yet. Hopefully it will just fall off. Ew, that's so disgusting. Ticks. Blech.
Anyway, with such a crazy weekend, I didn't get much done at home. Tonight I plan to cook more of those chicken nuggets for dinner, and then go out for some groceries and finish the laundry and the decorating. SIGH. Christmas shopping? What? I have done none of that.
Oh, by the way. Who saw Desperate Housewives last night??? Holy crap, it was awesome and intense! (EDIT: Warning, there are spoilers in the comments!)
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
My new hair color. Slightly different than before. I likey.
Casey ice skating with John, his wife, Bana and Disha
Cinderella's castle. OMG, breath-taking. You shoulda seen it in person. SIGH.
MGM Lights
Anyway, the weekend -
Saturday: after dropping Casey off at the birthday party, I spent the afternoon coloring my hair (and Willow's, as it turns out. I got a little drop on her somehow, and she has a little red spot on her shoulder, heh heh, whoops), taking a shower, doing some laundry, putting away dishes, sweeping, and cleaning up the kitchen counter and the table. Oh, and I got caught up on Dirty Sexy Money while I worked. That is a really interesting show.
Then I went to Jean's party. It was pretty nice. Aside from me and Jean, there was Beth, Renee and Trizonna. Small turnout, but it was okay... it's always great to see those girls. Trizonna can TALK like you wouldn't believe, but she's really funny and entertaining, so it's okay. Scott (Jean's husband) made a pretty dumb comment. He had taken the kids out of the house since it was a ladies only party, and when he got back Trizonna had left. Jean told Scott she'd invited Trizonna and her husband and kids over sometime, and Scott turns to us and goes "Yes, we have taught our kids to not see the color of someone's skin and treat everyone the same" or something (Triz is black). Well, bully for you, dude. Who feels the need to point that out to everyone? Scott is my friend too, but he always says stupid crap like that, and I'm like WTF? Whatever. I know he means well, the dork.
Anyway, we did have a good time... we drank some wine, chit chatted, and watched this video of Jeff Dunham. That guys is freaking funny. "I kill you!", ha ha. Anyway, we also did a chinese gift exchange. I ended up with a pretty snowflake candle holder and a "Christmas Eve" scented candle. Nice!
I picked Casey up and we were home by around 10. I let her stay up a little bit because I know I don't like to get home and immediately go to bed. She got to bed at a little after 11, and I wasn't far behind.
Sunday: Casey was the grouchiest grouch to ever grouch that morning when we went to church. Not only did she go to bed late, but as it turns out, she ended up reading in bed for who knows how long. She told me she'd planned on just reading a chapter, but got hooked and ended up staying up late reading. Gah. I guess I'm glad she's finally starting to read more, but still. Also, I think she's allergic to church, because she was in a perfectly fine mood for the rest of the day.
After church we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed home just long enough to change and print out directions, and then we went to meet up with Melanie, Bana, Disha, John and his wife at the ice skating rink. I regretted ever agreeing to go because it just turned out to be such a hectic weekend, it would have been nice to be home for at least a little bit and get some things done. But since I'd told Casey we were going, I kept my word and took her. I didn't end up skating because she forgot to bring socks, so I gave her mine. She was all "I can't believe you forgot to bring my socks!", and I reminded her that while it would have been nice of me to remind her or grab them for her (and I would have if I'd thought of it), it was ultimately her responsibility to bring HER things, and she was 11 years old for goodness sake. Jeez. But still, I hadn't been all that interested in skating anyway (I probably would have ended up on my butt at some point) and she was near tears, so it made a lot more sense for her to be the one getting the one pair of socks we had between us. She had a good time skating with the girls. I sat and watched, had some hot chocolate and chatted with Mel when she got tired of skating. So it wasn't too bad.
When we got home, I started working on decorating the house. However, all I managed to do was bring everything in from the shed and put the tree up (sans decorations so far), because then we had to leave again to meet Josh. We went with him to the Magic Kingdom, where we rode Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and then we went and watched the castle lighting ceremony. It was so cute... the Disney characters were debating about how to decorate the castle for the holidays, and then they brought out Cinderella to decide (it's her place, after all!). And then the fairy godmother used her magic to light it up. It was SO beautiful. Picture to come at the end of the post.
After that, we headed over to MGM and rode Tower of Terror. This was a big deal for Casey. She is a thrill ride junkie... the faster the better. She loves coasters and all of that, but she's had a little trouble warming up to the free-fall types of rides. When she was 4, Josh took her on Tower of Terror (I wasn't there... just the two of them had gone to the parks together) and it scared the hell out of her. She vowed never to ride it again. Last night was the first time she finally agreed to try it, and she liked it. I knew she would. I had been telling her all along that something that's scary when you're 4 is not going to be as bad when you're older. She did scream like she was being murdered on the ride, though. It was actually pretty funny... I nearly had an asthma attack from laughing and at her and screaming myself. I actually did have to use my inhaler when we got off.
We had waited in line for TOT for like 45 minutes, so by the time we got out, we only had time to do one more thing before they closed. Casey wanted to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster, but I insisted on seeing the lights instead, as that was the entire reason we'd made these plans to begin with. Come on, we can ride coasters anytime! This is our holiday tradition! So yeah, we went and saw the Spectacle of Lights, and they were amazing as always. I found this youtube video of it in case you want to see it. There are a bunch on there if you just do a search for it. It is very, very cool. They even make it snow, although it's more like soap suds that get in your hair and go up your nose. But still, it's a nice idea. LOL
ETA: I meant to give Casey credit for actually speaking to Josh last night. She's typically very quiet around adults who aren't me, and with him it's the worst - usually to the point of being rude. They were total buds when we were dating and living together, but have since grown apart because now we only see him 3 or 4 times a year. So when we DO see him, Casey usually snubs him big time and I always have to get on her case about it. However, last night she was being all kinds of happy and chatty, asking him questions and everything (engaging HIM in conversation is huge, especially when in the past she has completely ignored direct questions he asked her). I told her later that I was really pleased with her behavior. Anyway, I wanted to give her credit here, and also have it down for purposes of maybe tracking this kind of thing (is this a result of growing up, or did she just happen to be in a good mood at the time?)
Josh dropped us off at my car at around 8:30 and we were starved, since we hadn't eaten since Cracker Barrel, which was at like 10:30 that morning. So we scarfed some Mickey Dees on the way home. And then Casey suddenly remembered a project she had due today. ACK. She was like "I'm almost done... all I have to do is type it up, so it should be quick". Right. We got home at a little after 9 and she worked on that thing until almost midnight. And THEN the printer wouldn't work. I sent her to bed and spent the next hour trying to get it to work. I had unplugged the cable the other day to plug in her new digital camera, and I thought you could just plug it back in and it would work fine. No. It wanted me to reinstall the software. So I find it and install it, only to realize it's for a printer we used to have. So I dug out the right software, installed it, and still couldn't get it to work, and then when I did the settings were all wrong. ERG. So yeah, I finally got it working, printed her paper, and got to bed at 1 AM. And by the way, all that time I was working on the printer, Willow decided to go into super annoying mode again. She whined, pulled videos off the shelves, stole things (at one point she was running around with baby Jesus from our stuffed nativity set... EVIL, I tell you! LOL), etc. I wanted to throw her out the window.
On top of that, while Casey was still working on her paper, I had Willow in my lap, and I looked at her ear and saw a tick on it. EW. I think she probably got it when she was being boarded at the vet over the Thanksgiving holiday. I didn't really know what to do about it (I have heard you are supposed to burn them, which makes them let go, but I didn't want to hurt Willow or have her bite me because I was, you know, setting fire to her ear) and it was too late to call anyone, so I just waited until this morning to deal with it. I called the vet and the lady said to just pull it off. I have heard you shouldn't do that because you'll end up leaving the head in there (eck), but she was like no, it's fine... just pull it off. So I tried, but it was holding on tight and I was hurting Willow by pulling on her ear. So I grabbed some finger nail clippers and cut it off. So of course, the head is still stuck to her ear. I talked to my mom, and she said to just leave it. She said that if she was going to get lyme disease, she probably already has it (thanks for the optimism), and the worst that can happen now is her ear gets infected. If that happens, I can go to the vet, but no sense spending money on a visit if there aren't really any problems yet. Hopefully it will just fall off. Ew, that's so disgusting. Ticks. Blech.
Anyway, with such a crazy weekend, I didn't get much done at home. Tonight I plan to cook more of those chicken nuggets for dinner, and then go out for some groceries and finish the laundry and the decorating. SIGH. Christmas shopping? What? I have done none of that.
Oh, by the way. Who saw Desperate Housewives last night??? Holy crap, it was awesome and intense! (EDIT: Warning, there are spoilers in the comments!)
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.
My new hair color. Slightly different than before. I likey.
Casey ice skating with John, his wife, Bana and Disha
Cinderella's castle. OMG, breath-taking. You shoulda seen it in person. SIGH.
MGM Lights