caerula's Diaryland Diary

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weekend survival skills

So, not only did I survive five days in the psych ward (more on that later, really), I also survived a nine-year-old�s birthday weekend extravaganza.

Friday: Appt. w/ shrink, then run to Target with Mom to pick up extra treat bags and things. Treat bags are sold in packs of eight. Most of the treat stuff is sold in packs of six. We had twelve children, including the cousins coming for the continuing extravaganza the next day.

Blue and YMB at the house supposedly getting ready and getting the stuff together to take over to A Major Pizza/Game Place (hey, they aren�t giving me in any money � in fact I think they overcharged us, but anyway), while Mom and I go back to her place where we finish wrapping presents and I try to assemble treat bags, making sure that Every Single Bag contains the Exact Same Items. Very Important.

The Major Pizza Place does have a nice system where when you come in with a kid, your hands are stamped and you can�t leave with a kid whose stamp does not match yours. So the adults are fairly free to sit and chat (over the loud dancing mouse music and screaming and stuff) without worrying where the kids have gotten to. Which is nice. The kids all had a great time, YMB got some of the stuff he really wanted and some money too, always good, and we were all exhausted, so it was a really good thing we could leave the cleaning up to others). I also discovered what must be The Worst Job in the World (tm), working the ticket counter at one of those places. All the kids want stuff they don�t have enough tickets for, and it takes forever for them to decide anything. I would surely strangle a child under those circumstances.

Saturday: Blue worked Friday night, after all that. And then since Saturday was the actual birthday day, stayed up long enough for us to have waffles with YMB. But then he needed to sleep as much as he could before the relatives descended. So I tried to get some cleaning up done, clean up YMB, listen to him whine about being bored (�you got a ton of new stuff last night. Go Find Something To DO�). He was Unhappy because I still made him do chores on his birthday. He was hyped waiting for grandparents to get there. He spent most of the morning in Make One More Move Buddy mood.

Mark got up around two and I immediately delegated power; I still had presents to wrap, for cripes sake. Finally, finally, relatives arrived, presents were unwrapped, cake was eaten, YMB fell several time on the skateboard so kindly provided by Blue�s parents (I swear they have a life insurance policy out on that kid). We all went out to see if he broke any bones or what, but being grownups, started looking at the lawn and the trees and deciding what was gonna live and what just wasn�t gonna make it. YMB got upset bc the grown-ups were outside admiring my flower garden, talking about the lawn and the trees and what was a weed and what was a flower, and unloading some mulch that FIL kindly brought over for us (the flowers look much happier now, btw). He went pouting inside, wandered back out a few minutes later to inform us that we weren�t paying enough attention to him and his stuff, at which time he was informed that he had lots of outside stuff to play with and if he wanted to bring it outside, someone would most likely play with him, but no, he�d rather pout. So he went back inside and started to together some model from some Japanese cartoon (also not paying me any money to endorse their products), and oh, blah blah. Got everyone out around eightish, and totally collapsed.

The Dementors picked YMB up yesterday for their three weeks with him, but not until 6, so he was antsy all day and wanting to play with all his new stuff but couldn�t decide what to play with first, blah blah. Before 2 pm (while Blue was still sleeping, of course), we played Star Wars Life (instead of babies and money, you end up choosing either the Force or the Sith, I don�t know), played backgammon, made a knight AND a dragon with sculpey clay (kindly provided by my mom, who would NEVER let US have that kind of stuff, etc.), wrote thank you notes (he was not happy about that. Example note before I started supervising: "Dear Grandma: Thank you for the money. I like money." And he didn�t understand why that wasn�t quite appropriate, since it was true. Which come to think of it is a good point, but still.

After Blue got up they went down to the pool, finally open, and I took a nap, then Minnie and EB came by with their puppy � nearly as big as Sophie now � and YMB ran off extra energy with the dogs, fortunately. Then the Dementors showed up, right on time � only Grandma Dementor came to the door, Papa Dementor stayed in the car, and we had to ask her twice to come in while YMB got his stuff together (hey, we�re not paying AC for the outdoors, you know). YMB was very affectionate with us upon leaving, as he has been all week, so that was good � usually he�s kind of stand-offish when they�re around.

And so he�s gone for three weeks. The peace and quiet this morning is rather surreal. Nice for now, I think it�s good timing for us Blue and I to get some things straightened out before YMB gets back, although I will start missing him soon. And another thing � YMB needs glasses, discovered during his yearly checkup last week. He�s actually pretty hyped about this, since more of our family wear them than don�t, including his dad. So before school starts in the fall, have to take care of that. Got his final report card, and discovered that he will have the same teacher for 4th grade last year that I had what, 20 years ago, for 3rd grade. I hope she�s as good as I remember.

Talked to Natalieeeee and QueenV last night � hadn�t talked to the Queen in nearly two weeks, and she was only getting filtered through messages about why we weren�t coming and that I was in the hospital. Much entertained her with stories of my roommate, which I probably shouldn't post here, patient privacy and all. And it seems I have to come up with a better nickname for Mr 3rd date, since he�s now like Mr. 9th or 10th date, Mr. Why don�t You stay the Night. They�ve been dating three whole months, which is her longest relationship in years, literally. I must say, I�m not much for predicting the future, but I do have a feeling that this might me The One. I mean, the Queen a) does not talk about sex and b) does not get gushy, and she was doing both last night. Not that she�s had sex with him (which I�m sure she�d be thrilled about my announcing her, expect that she doesn�t know about this because she would think it creepy), but he told her, apparently, that he was really attracted to the fact that she knows her limits, knows her body, and knows when to stop. Apparently that�s a big thing for guys, since apparently they�re pretty much just thinking �Hey, a boob! I�m touching a Boob! This might never happen again!� (confirmation, anyone?)

So here I am up early � sleeping much better since the change in meds, although I�m waking up in the night some. I got up and got dressed this morning, which is an improvement, I�d been staying in my pj�s until at least noon, which definitely cuts down on my productivity. I feel more energized this morning than I have in ages. So that�s good. Now I just have to figure out what to do with myself. Bored already. Not good.

And one last comment: Do. Not. Like. Matt. Lauer�s. New Haircut. Matt, head�s up. It�s just making the balding more obvious, not less. Sorry.

9:14 a.m. - July 01, 2002

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