I Speak With the Tongue of a Thousand White-Hot Lies!

Spent Saturday at Islands of Adventure to celebrate jkason's birthday.

I haven’t ever thought of myself as a Harry Potter geek, and yet I was all goofy as we walked into Hogsmeade, and did a little geeky dance of joy when we saw Hagrid’s cottage. (FANG WAS BARKING, OKAY? DO NOT JUDGE ME!)

My parents took the boyo to Magic Kingdom for the day, so I didn’t have to have Mom-guilt. I did miss him a lot, though—like, even more than I usually do when he’s not around. It hit the Lovely Husband, too; we spent a lot of time saying, "Oh, Z would love this," or "Z would hate that."

Said Z and I spent Sunday afternoon comparing stories and plotting out what sort of wands we want (even though the wand chooses the wizard and all that; I figure if the Sorting Hat takes requests, so can the good people at Ollivander’s) when we eventually go as a family to Universal.

My other trip highlights include the Spider-Man ride, which was awesome; the Jurassic Park ride (always go on rides with people who are willing to play along); and riding the Dudley Do-Right flume ride in the rain while swearing a lot and making bad 50 Shades of Grey jokes. Because we are very immature.

It was also lovely to stay up late talking about musicals and revenge tragedy and general gossip with Jason. That was probably my favorite thing. Dinner at Tu Tu Tango (art on the walls, dancers, artists painting, and so. much. food.) with three of my favorite people was a pretty close second.

Oh, and …

Z told me today that when he got off the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride, he said a bad word. The ‘h’ word.

Then he paused, and said, “Well, actually it was the ‘b-h’ word.” Longer pause as he waited for the adults to figure it out. ”You know,” he said, “Ron says it.”

Wait. “‘Bloody hell’? You said ‘bloody hell’?”

"That’s the one, yeah!"

Today I took the boy to the beach after school, which was a fun surprise for him. It hit me suddenly last week that there are only two more weeks left of the semester, and once we get back from Disney, I'm working afternoons through to evenings four days a week, and until late afternoon on Fridays. There just aren't going to be days like this anymore, really, so I decided to take advantage.

There were lots of tiny fish surrounding our feet, and the water was cold; we dug holes and squirted each other with water guns, and then had lunch at the beach shack place. It was nice.

I'm super psyched because next week is kindergarten orientation! And I get to go! Awesome timing! Scott and I, after hearing more about the school, decided to take Z off the waiting list for the other school--I find it irritating that he was automatically put on the thing in the first place, though I can see how it would be easier for the school assignment office--because he's getting used to the idea of this particular school, and we'll have orientation soon, and I don't want to switch things up on him in this year where so many things are changing around him.

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing the school with Z, and meeting the teachers, and asking some of the questions we didn't know to ask back when we started these tours.

Saturday was the boyo's birthday party--I invited something like a dozen kids, expecting half of them to not come, and we wound up with nearly all of them, plus some extra sibs. This is why you have parties at the playground, gang. Miss T and Miss L, my almost nieces, were there, which was great--Z loves playing with L, and T is really good with him. We had a pinata that Scott had to beat the hell out of to break--all the kids got two whacks each--and a giant Spongebob cake that I ended up cutting, feeling trapped in a weird dream where the cake never ended and I was slowly being devoured by frosting.

I really dig some of Z's friends from VPK, and I'm sad he won't be with them next year. :(

We then had an after-party with David and Jason and the girls, and I tried to figure out where the damn gifts were going to go. In the end, I bought a new bookshelf (for $16!) and between that and my mad skillz, I got it all organized.

Other than all of this, I have been grading, reading and trying to do revisions. Also yoga and walking, because I haven't had a chance to do my bike maintenance. Eventually, though, the bike will be maintained and I will be riding again.

I've been a little too obsessed with Glee lately, which I blame on a distinct lack of other TV. I need to figure out when Sherlock starts on PBS. Speaking of Glee, though, I'll say that last week's episode was ... fine. It didn't thrill me, but I didn't hate it. My conviction, thanks to Guiding Light, that Matt Bomer is always a serial killer, made it more entertaining on the whole. And my favorite line: "Oh, Blaine, you have to, you're both so handsome and good." Also, Blaine jumping on the piano. Poor Blaine. :) I'm also worried about Quinn and Artie, because one or the other of them is wrong, and it's going to suck for whoever it is.

And that, my friends, is my boring life. I suppose it could be worse.

Jason and David took us to see Sucker Punch as my birthday present (well, and they also got me the new Pokemon game) today ...

... Okay, this movie is in the same eye-candy, wacky plot that may or may not hold together but who cares it's cracktastic genre as Repo! The Genetic Opera, 300, and Sin City. In fact, take those movies, add a tiny dash of Girl, Interrupted as directed by Tim Burton, swirl in about half a cup of Moulin Rouge and some steampunk, then add a tablespoon of Lord of the Rings, and you have now created Sucker Punch.

It was fun. But kind of not. But then, very much so. I would not call it good, exactly; it was highly entertaining and really pretty to look at. I wish the dialogue had been better, but otherwise I have no issues. I even enjoyed the plot holes.

Also, at my mother's, I saw just enough of How to Train Your Dragon that I want to watch the whole thing now. I asked the Zweeble how it ended, and he gave me a pretty decent run-down, but I still want to see it.

Happy birthday, frankiemouse!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday, dracoangelica! Hope it's a good one.

At roughly this time two years ago, I was having a minor breakdown. Why? Because I'd gone to the OB for a routine appointment that morning, and was now awaiting my turn in the OR for an emergency C-section. Well, semi-emergency would probably be more accurate, since I got bumped back for someone else's more-of-an-emergency C-section and every doctor and nurse I saw had assured me that the baby was going to be just fine.

Holy cow that was a crazy-ass day. Around 4 that afternoon, I had thought, I kid you not, I am dealing with this way too well ... okay, I'll just reserve the right to have a breakdown later on.

And so, in the middle of Friends (the one where the guys go on the ride-along and they hear what they think is gunfire, and Joey covers Ross to protect the sandwiches), I started to cry.

Two and a half hours later, give or take, a grinning** OB held up my purply-gray, slimy, healthy baby gorilla (who is currently watching Lawrence Welk re-runs on PBS and complaining bitterly about it being Couch Time), and I didn't cry. I smiled (and probably gasped in awe, I am unclear on that point).

Today he said, about the ice cream cake my mother got him, "Thank you Grammie and GeeGee, for my cake!" And he spelled out his name when he saw it on the cake.

So Happy 2nd Birthday, Zweeble. I love you, monkey. Or baby kitten. Or baby hippo. Whatever animal you've decided to be today. :)


**Okay, yes, he wore a mask, but he sure seemed like he was grinning.

But first:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, takarosa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazingly, we still have power! Even more amazingly, we still have satellite TV!

Fay never got to hurricane status, so it's just a really strong tropical storm instead of a weak hurricane. It came in south of us and is moving slowly, so it's dumping a lot of rain everywhere. The winds aren't as bad as they could be, but they're still pretty strong. Apparently the worst of the weather is yet to come for us and points northward.

Still, barely worth the hurricane shutters. Though the three of us were so tired after all the prep work last night that we all slept like rocks until 8, when my mother called. (Well, two rocks and, for a couple of hours, a squirmy rock fish, but still.)

So everything is closed, and there's no way I want to drive in the mess outside, anyway, so ... I have no idea what we're going to do today. I feel like I've been going and going lately without a break, so I think I will just not do anything. Play with the kid, read, bum around. Then get back to the grind tomorrow.