Everybody jump around...
Saturday was the famed Bouncy House Party. I'll have to get pics from someone else, because I didn't take any. Mostly because I'm lame and never think to do things like that while they're happening. Partly because I'm lazy and I like to let other people take care of it for me.
Saturday dawned too early with the animules wanting attention, and me suddenly remembering I had the cable guy coming to do things to the phone, and they could be here as early as, oh, 15 minutes ago! Crap! Up! Clothes on! And - can't take the dog to the dog park until the cable guy is here and gone. Dang. So start the cleaning! Erg. So tired. But I cleaned, and the cable guy got here about 845, and was here only an hour or so, and then I took the dog to the dog park, and then I came home and cleaned some more, and then I had to Wash My Hair, which is an ordeal, let me tell you. (You girls with long hair will understand.) And then I had to clean some more. And then when I was just about done with everything except the patio, J called to say that she would be there in 10, the bouncy house guy showed up to set up the bouncy house, and J's boyfriend, his brother, and another friend showed up at almost the same time. So I put the boys to work clearing the patio of debris and moving crap around, and ran and poured bleach into the toilet and swiped a rag around so it was basically sanitary, and then we stood around awkwardly trying to make conversation and watched Mingus be a crazy freak. In fact, that happened a lot all day, because I didn't know a lot of the peoppe, and I was unable to arrange to have Mingus gone for the party. There were plans, but they fell through.
So the bouncy house, she got set up. The boys tried to decorate the kitchen and living room with streamers and balloons, but they were pathetic. So I did it. I mean, if you need impromtu sudden streamer decorating, I'm your girl. It might not be fancy and Martha Stewart would laugh, but darn if I can't do white trash festive on teh fly. (Christmas lights optional)
It was cold outside, but not raining, and the boucny house was particularly red, blue, rockety, and bouncy. The younguns (and by younguns I mean under 30) went in right away, after setting up the "food." The "food" was candy, chex mix and cheerio mix, cookies (my contribution), spray candy (which is truly frightening, and I refused to try it on the grounds that it might kill me just from the concept alone), and the drinks were either Hi-C juice squirty things, or Rainier Beer. On the concept that if you're going to do an 8 year old's bday party for adults, you should make it that kind of party. But with beer. I felt a little sick, actually. And I only had two Laffy Taffy's and a half a cookie and one Hi-C. Ew. Never again on the drink. The Laffy Taffys i have to indulge in from time to time. But I manfully did not have any Nerds, even though I love them. I had to have a banana, actually, just from the sugar smell in the room alone making me woozy. And I *did* eat lunch earlier. But still - sugar shock just from being in the kitchen. We'd borrowed
bridget_coila's iPod stereo thing, and she and
bhagwanxboogied to it while the younguns were bouncing. I like having a wide-open kitchen that way. Good for boogie-ing.
J came in and said "You have to try this! It's fantastic!" So I jumped in the bouncy house with J. Wow. It's a house, and it is bouncy. It was pretty big, actually. 15' by 15' is a darn big house of bouncy. There were giggles and shrieks, because I'm such a girl. And then we tried to do our modern combination in it, which was pretty amusing. "Wait, what came next? Ok, pretty sure you're not supposed to fall there." and throwing ourselves around, doing moves that we dubbed "Things not to try on a Marley floor." Bouncy houses are good for falling. Then we were tired. So very tired. I R Old. The 20-something boy quotient kept going for quite some time. Scary, scary young boys trying to out-jump one another, flipping and crazy stunts. I had to leave the bouncy house. Too much young testosterone going on in there.
I had to keep Mingus for most of the party. I tried having him in a neighbor's back yard, but he was a brat and I had to go get him again. So I kept him on his leash in the house, and he was unhappy and hyper and confused the whole time. He wanted more than anything to go in the backyard. He was not as afraid of the bouncy house as I thought he would be. But I still wasn't about to let him roam free out there while it was up. No peeing on the bouncy house, I'm pretty sure is a rule. ANd he so would.
But everyone was pretty understanding about him. Then one of my friends held him while I went back into the bouncy house for a time with
bridget_coilaand
mistymarshall. We were just as silly, but felt old immediately. "JUmping, jumping, jumping, laughing, squealing, ok, i'm tired now. Sitting. Panting." Bridget did some Judo throws on us, and I think she did something to my shoulder, because the next day, wow, that hurt. We had slightly naughty conversations in the bouncy house. ie: Misty had lain back after falling and said, "I wanna make out in the bouncy house." And I just looked at her, and couldn't help myself. "I"m sorry, hon, I'm just too tired right now. Maybe later." I love it when I surprise people with the impromptu blue. She totally didn't take me up on the later, btw. And I had *feathers* for that. (See
mikigarrison 's blog for pics. )
Then everyone was pretty much done, because even though some of the people there were only 21 (I felt very old), we were none of us 8, and so we eventually became too tired. I believe the 21 and only slightly older crowd became too drunk, actually. Rainier Beer will do it, if you have enough of it. And looking into my recycle bin later, there was kind of a lot. When the bouncy house guy came to take it away, no one even got up to look but me, and that was so I could let Mingus in the back yard. We sat around in my living room and chatted, and I held Mingus' leash and just kind of vegged to the talking going on around me. Not a great hostess that day, I'm afraid. But it wasn't truly my party, so I guess that's OK. J had a good time, and so apparently did everyone else, and I didn't spend the whole party nervously asking "Does anyone need anything? Drinks? Cheese? Knives with which to spread cheese? Should I run to the store?" So that's good. Better when I can host a party I'm not really hosting that way.
After that, J and her crew cleaned up for me (So Nice!) and thanked me and left about 7, and then I got things together for an impromptu costume and drove down to Tacoma with Bridge and
bhagwanxfor another party, this one a Halloween one. (see above for the pics again.) Then we came home, and there was much sleeping. And Sunday I spent in a coma, in my robe, watching "So You Think You Can Dance" reruns on tv. I felt like my brain had been taken out, shaken, and put back upside down. I did eat some real food that day. But apparently not enough of it. And it was a hard week last week. And my shoulder still hurts, Bridget. Seriously, make sure I warm up next time we're doing Judo throws. Because ow.
But it was fun. :D
Saturday dawned too early with the animules wanting attention, and me suddenly remembering I had the cable guy coming to do things to the phone, and they could be here as early as, oh, 15 minutes ago! Crap! Up! Clothes on! And - can't take the dog to the dog park until the cable guy is here and gone. Dang. So start the cleaning! Erg. So tired. But I cleaned, and the cable guy got here about 845, and was here only an hour or so, and then I took the dog to the dog park, and then I came home and cleaned some more, and then I had to Wash My Hair, which is an ordeal, let me tell you. (You girls with long hair will understand.) And then I had to clean some more. And then when I was just about done with everything except the patio, J called to say that she would be there in 10, the bouncy house guy showed up to set up the bouncy house, and J's boyfriend, his brother, and another friend showed up at almost the same time. So I put the boys to work clearing the patio of debris and moving crap around, and ran and poured bleach into the toilet and swiped a rag around so it was basically sanitary, and then we stood around awkwardly trying to make conversation and watched Mingus be a crazy freak. In fact, that happened a lot all day, because I didn't know a lot of the peoppe, and I was unable to arrange to have Mingus gone for the party. There were plans, but they fell through.
So the bouncy house, she got set up. The boys tried to decorate the kitchen and living room with streamers and balloons, but they were pathetic. So I did it. I mean, if you need impromtu sudden streamer decorating, I'm your girl. It might not be fancy and Martha Stewart would laugh, but darn if I can't do white trash festive on teh fly. (Christmas lights optional)
It was cold outside, but not raining, and the boucny house was particularly red, blue, rockety, and bouncy. The younguns (and by younguns I mean under 30) went in right away, after setting up the "food." The "food" was candy, chex mix and cheerio mix, cookies (my contribution), spray candy (which is truly frightening, and I refused to try it on the grounds that it might kill me just from the concept alone), and the drinks were either Hi-C juice squirty things, or Rainier Beer. On the concept that if you're going to do an 8 year old's bday party for adults, you should make it that kind of party. But with beer. I felt a little sick, actually. And I only had two Laffy Taffy's and a half a cookie and one Hi-C. Ew. Never again on the drink. The Laffy Taffys i have to indulge in from time to time. But I manfully did not have any Nerds, even though I love them. I had to have a banana, actually, just from the sugar smell in the room alone making me woozy. And I *did* eat lunch earlier. But still - sugar shock just from being in the kitchen. We'd borrowed
bridget_coila's iPod stereo thing, and she and
bhagwanxboogied to it while the younguns were bouncing. I like having a wide-open kitchen that way. Good for boogie-ing.
J came in and said "You have to try this! It's fantastic!" So I jumped in the bouncy house with J. Wow. It's a house, and it is bouncy. It was pretty big, actually. 15' by 15' is a darn big house of bouncy. There were giggles and shrieks, because I'm such a girl. And then we tried to do our modern combination in it, which was pretty amusing. "Wait, what came next? Ok, pretty sure you're not supposed to fall there." and throwing ourselves around, doing moves that we dubbed "Things not to try on a Marley floor." Bouncy houses are good for falling. Then we were tired. So very tired. I R Old. The 20-something boy quotient kept going for quite some time. Scary, scary young boys trying to out-jump one another, flipping and crazy stunts. I had to leave the bouncy house. Too much young testosterone going on in there.
I had to keep Mingus for most of the party. I tried having him in a neighbor's back yard, but he was a brat and I had to go get him again. So I kept him on his leash in the house, and he was unhappy and hyper and confused the whole time. He wanted more than anything to go in the backyard. He was not as afraid of the bouncy house as I thought he would be. But I still wasn't about to let him roam free out there while it was up. No peeing on the bouncy house, I'm pretty sure is a rule. ANd he so would.
But everyone was pretty understanding about him. Then one of my friends held him while I went back into the bouncy house for a time with
bridget_coilaand
mistymarshall. We were just as silly, but felt old immediately. "JUmping, jumping, jumping, laughing, squealing, ok, i'm tired now. Sitting. Panting." Bridget did some Judo throws on us, and I think she did something to my shoulder, because the next day, wow, that hurt. We had slightly naughty conversations in the bouncy house. ie: Misty had lain back after falling and said, "I wanna make out in the bouncy house." And I just looked at her, and couldn't help myself. "I"m sorry, hon, I'm just too tired right now. Maybe later." I love it when I surprise people with the impromptu blue. She totally didn't take me up on the later, btw. And I had *feathers* for that. (See
mikigarrison 's blog for pics. )
Then everyone was pretty much done, because even though some of the people there were only 21 (I felt very old), we were none of us 8, and so we eventually became too tired. I believe the 21 and only slightly older crowd became too drunk, actually. Rainier Beer will do it, if you have enough of it. And looking into my recycle bin later, there was kind of a lot. When the bouncy house guy came to take it away, no one even got up to look but me, and that was so I could let Mingus in the back yard. We sat around in my living room and chatted, and I held Mingus' leash and just kind of vegged to the talking going on around me. Not a great hostess that day, I'm afraid. But it wasn't truly my party, so I guess that's OK. J had a good time, and so apparently did everyone else, and I didn't spend the whole party nervously asking "Does anyone need anything? Drinks? Cheese? Knives with which to spread cheese? Should I run to the store?" So that's good. Better when I can host a party I'm not really hosting that way.
After that, J and her crew cleaned up for me (So Nice!) and thanked me and left about 7, and then I got things together for an impromptu costume and drove down to Tacoma with Bridge and
bhagwanxfor another party, this one a Halloween one. (see above for the pics again.) Then we came home, and there was much sleeping. And Sunday I spent in a coma, in my robe, watching "So You Think You Can Dance" reruns on tv. I felt like my brain had been taken out, shaken, and put back upside down. I did eat some real food that day. But apparently not enough of it. And it was a hard week last week. And my shoulder still hurts, Bridget. Seriously, make sure I warm up next time we're doing Judo throws. Because ow.
But it was fun. :D