Yeah, but it was all worth it when you were in the middle of eating all that food, wasn't it KaeEll? LOL!! I had weird dreams last night too, and I wasn't even at The Keg with y'all. We had crab cakes, corn on the cob, and salad...

Today IS Arizona Daughter's 21st birthday, but we haven't heard from her yet. It's still early out there. I was awakened this morning by an angry squirrel, and it MAY be that same one that I ousted a year or so ago from our soffit! The thing was on the part of our roof that's directly over the master bedroom. The darned squirrel was stomping around, and bitching at the top of its little squirrel lungs. Essentially screaming, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore", and then giving the world its middle claw. This went on for about 45 minutes!

Then Lucy started to bark at something that she was seeing out the back window. After all of that, there was no going back to sleep.

But I have spring fever so badly I can hardly stand it, and I'm seeing the beginnings of a yellow blush on the forsythia, which only enhances my sense of anticipation. YAY!!







-- Edited by Moore ideas at 11:40, 2009-03-08

I'm sorry to hear that about your friend's delivery.

On the other hand, having delivered a 10 lb, 7 oz, 22-1/2 inch long baby boy (without benefit of C-section), I can actually say that he was my fastest and easiest delivery. Go figure!!

Here are some pics from today. The first is that darn light with the mystery rivet, then Vanessa skiing and the snack afterwards. it was brisk but invigorating! I'm ready for a sit in front of the fire and a glass of sumthin'.

KaeEll, Vanessa is precious. She's so PRETTY!!

As for that piece from the light, it's a wonderful example of how we all frequently forget to look UP... LOL.

I'd say that AD had a good night, celebrating her birthday. She and a group of girlfriends had planned to go out (Shelly, you probably know about Mill Street in Tempe), and had timed it so that they would be at their first stop at midnight. Although they were at the door a few minutes short of March 8th, the bouncer let them in anyway, and told our daughter "Happy Birthday". One of her friends had brought her a birthday crown to wear.

I'm attaching a couple of pictures. In one of them, she's being given some drink to taste, and as you can tell, she didn't like it!

They went to a second place that's essentially a piano bar, and she had a great time celebrating with her friends! Her boyfriend didn't come because he didn't want to hang out with a bunch of girls (and they'd already spent the entire day together at a baseball game, and he took her to dinner), but her ex-boyfriend (remember Bryce??) tagged along, and is the person who took all of the pictures.

Aww, yes I am very familiar with Mill Ave. I don't know if I ever went drinking there. Before I joined the Navy I was too young to drink and after I got out I wasn't really so much of a bar hopper.

And that Piano bar is an awesome place. Lots of fun. Glad to hear that she had a great time.

And Jojo I am glad that I am not the only one confused about the cars...Jolene loves what she calls her nummies car, I believe its Kyle Busch's car. She knows nothing about nascar only that the car has M&M's on it. Vinnie is a Newman fan, and even his car is different, and after I bought him that nice jacket for Christmas last year.

I wonder if the girl whose drink he sipped out of drank any of the drink? Were her troubles as bad as Nick's? How scary.

Interesting that you should say that about the ruffie, KaeEll. I actually cautioned AD about that very thing a couple of hours before she left for the celebration. She's very careful, though, and she assured me that she was quite aware of the danger. She also assured me that the girls, as a group, watch out for each other.

Bryce was with them too, which was good.

As for the tiara, I don't think she's worn one of those on her birthday since she was about six! LOL... Somehow, one of the girls thought it would be appropriate, and provided it. They had a good time, and really enjoyed the second location (piano bar). AD told me that she and her pals were in a group, laughing, etc., when some absolute HUNK of a guy walked up to them, and was SO gorgeous that all conversation came to an abrupt halt while all of the girls just stared at this guy. He told AD "Happy Birthday". She said "Thank you." He asked, "Does this mean I can kiss you??" She said, "No, it doesn't..." He smiled, grabbed her anyway, and gave her a big smooch. Then he left.

I think that she was left rather breathless!!

Yes we like Kyle. He's 22, he's an honors student in the Business School, and still carries a 4.0, and has been offered an internship with Grainger this summer. (At least I THINK it was Grainger. Pretty sure.) Anyway, he's the only intern who's going to be handling their supply chain which is a HUGE responsibility. Oh yeah, and he's polite, and wears traditional clothing, not pants that hang below his underwear! He's also told AD that he would do just about anything for her...

In any case, she said that it was probably a good thing that Kyle wasn't there to witness the kiss because he wouldn't have taken kindly to it! She did tell him about it later, though, and since it was over and done, he didn't get upset about it.

(KaeEll, I just read your email, and that is VERY scary about the ruffie. I'll remind AD again.)

I agree! I'm going to forward the article...

I don't think the girlfriends hired this guy because their jaws apparently dropped too, when he walked over to them! All conversation stopped.

Too funny...

It's funny -- all this talk of drinking and celebrating the 21st birthday; you'd think my kids are all just chomping at the bit to guzzle down the booze. Not so. With AD, it's a matter of convenience, mostly related to her love of cooking. She loves to grocery shop, and try fancy recipes, and it's been really frustrating for her to need a little wine for a sauce, etc., and realize that she doesn't have any. And can't buy any! At least not conveniently.

Our son (who was 24 in November) doesn't drink at all. He's a bit like my mother was; it's not a moral pronouncement on drinking, he just doesn't especially like the taste of alcohol. Neither did mother, but don't even think of taking her coffee from her! Our son doesn't drink coffee either, but has to have his rootbeer. LOL. He drank a little red wine when he was in Italy (his junior year at boarding school, during spring break) because he felt that (1) it was the polite thing to do in the various private homes where they often ate, and (2) it was part of the culture. More than that, I think that he saw too many friends "get stupid" when he was in school and college, and he never quite wanted to put himself in that position.

Our oldest daughter (NC-D) was 25 last July, and she doesn't drink much either, mostly because she knows she doesn't have much capacity for it. She loves a little Khalua occasionally, just before bedtime, or a little Amaretto and cream as a nightcap. She'll have a little Champagne on special occasions, or maybe a little wine, but not much, and not often. Loren, her significant other, is very much into boutique brewery beer, but our daughter doesn't especially like beer.

Arizona Daughter mostly just wanted to get the darned 21 thing behind her so that she wouldn't have to think about it anymore, not because she wants to booze it up. Not that she CAN'T party on occasion, or hasn't, but that's not the priority. She's looked 21 years old for a long time, and was embarrassed on a couple of occasions when she was with Kyle (22), and turned away from clubs. He, of course, was used to being over 21, and would frequently forget that our daughter wasn't, so he'd set out for one of his usual places, not remembering that our daughter wouldn't be let in. It was humiliating for her to be turned away, especially when she wasn't even particularly interested in having anything to drink anyway. She just wanted to go out with her boyfriend, and have a meal...

I know that she's looking forward to the next time she's home, and we all go out to dinner. She can have herself a little glass of wine with us, and not have to think about it. I remember a couple of years ago when I was down in NC, and my oldest daughter and I went out for dinner, just the two of us. It was so lovely to sit in a restaurant with my adult daughter, have a little wine together, and some good food. As adults, and a bit like girlfriends. Really nice... I look forward to doing that with AD too!

But the FUNNY thing was that happened to AD was that she and Kyle went to a liquor store on Sunday afternoon. AD wanted to buy some orange juice and Champagne to take to a friend's house, for Mimosas. Wherever they were, the ID is scanned as soon as you enter the store, and then you shop. So, she and Kyle picked out whatever they wanted, and went up to check out. Kyle, being a gentleman, offered to buy our daughter's stuff. She said, "Are you KIDDING me??? This is the first time I can officially do this. You can buy the orange juice for me, if you want to, but I'M buying the Champagne!" And so she did.

The receipt that printed out said "Happy Birthday" on it!





-- Edited by Moore ideas at 18:10, 2009-03-09