I finished The Help last night around 11:30. It was excellent, as was expected. Today I stopped by a Redbox and rented the movie and watched it when I got home from work. I liked it fairly well, but as per usual, the book was better. I can't think of any book/movie combo that I prefer the movie to the book off the top of my head. Books are always better for me, because things are just so much neater in my imagination than people can make them in movies. That and they last longer. I like being able to spend a few days with a story, as opposed to 2 hours. But never the less, I enjoyed the movie.

I got out my rain boots to wear to work tomorrow. All that slushy nastiness that's all over is too much for my winter boots. It'll soak right through, and if there's one thing I hate it's wet socks that I can't change out of. Riley, who loves the snow, is not a fan of this much either. He does his business real quick like, and hops right back in the door. He's snuggled up next to me on the couch on my blanket. He's so cute, but of course if I try to take a picture he'll get up and look at me like "What?". Animals. I tell ya.

Next Thursday Avery's class is going to the bowling alley for a field trip. I took a half day at work so I could come too. I am not going to bowl, since there is no need for a group of children to see me curse at the bowling alley... ;) I'm just so bad at it. But I try to go to Avery's field trips whenever possible because I know some day she won't want me to anymore. I don't even want to think about that!

I wish it was still the weekend. Avery and I had a good time. She is still coughing, but not really feeling blah and sick like she was Thursday so we got a lot done. Saturday we went out to the farm for both sessions of therapy and she did her lessons during my normally scheduled one. She rode Duchess again and Elle and her mom Autumn helped with her lesson since we had some snafoos to take care of during therapy. Avery has a lot of fun playing with Elle and they want to do a sleepover sometime. I'm fine with that, as long as it's not here. I don't know if I can handle another sleepover for quite some time after the last one. Two girls that are the same age bickering/playing and repeat is not my idea of a fun weekend.

I finished watching the second season of Vampire Diaries. Now I'm all caught up on my shows and don't have any more to watch. I'm looking for a new series but haven't really found anything yet. In the mean time I've just been reading more. Right now I'm on The Help by Kathryn Stockett and then I'll watch the movie. I'm waiting for our coats to finish drying so I can go to bed. I'm just so tired today. I've been blowing my nose often, but not really felt sick but when I went to the gym today I didn't have the energy to do the class. I stayed for a little over half of it, but then I just couldn't do it any more. Hopefully by getting enough rest and drinking a lot of water I can stop whatever sickness it is before it's fully here.

Oh one cute thing Avery said the other day; I was telling her that I was writing down the date and time of her spring music program for Tim and she asked if he was coming. I said I'm not sure, but I'm sure he would if he has the time. She said "I know you'll be there, because you always come for me". It's true. =) And I'm glad she knows it.

A day off with Avery since she had to leave school with a fever yesterday. They aren't allowed to go back until 24 hours after their fever breaks and she was at 103 last night. She was pretty miserable at Grandma's but after a bath was feeling a bit better and went to bed around 9. I was thinking she'd sleep for ages since she was sick and stayed up later, but come 7:30 she was awake and ready to watch some cartoons. I obliged and continued to sleep until 9. ;)

I rented Dolphin Tale from Redbox the other day and we watched it before lunch. It was really good. It reminded me of Free Willy from when I was little. This was a true story about a dolphin named Winter and she lives in Florida. I was thinking the other day that I should start planning a trip to Disney World so maybe we could swing by and see Winter too! I have to say I'd probably be just as excited to go see her as Avery would.

I had to stop by Costco today to see if I could get a new phone or get mine fixed since it picked up the new habit of turning itself off when it feels like it. So we also got the newest Fancy Nancy book: The Mermaid Ballet. Target was an expensive venture as we got Puss in Boots (which we're watching now; hilarious), Petz Bunny bunch game for her DS, and some other less exciting items. Oh a frozen PF Changs meal which I thought was awesome but Avery was less than thrilled with. It resulted in me eating pretty much the whole thing, along with her little apple blueberry pie that she didn't like either. My pants are getting snug again...

I love cookies. It's true. I like shopping for the ingredients, making, and baking them. The best part of course is eating them whether it's pre or post baking. There is a batch of Easter M&M cookies in the oven right now. So its 8:43...seems like cookie time to me. Avery concurs; she's up "late" because she has tomorrow and Tuesday off school.

Today we went to the Shoreview Community Center indoor playground with Stef and the girls. They enjoyed themselves thoroughly and after a huge lunch at Applebees were thoroughly exhausted. We stopped back by the apartment and picked up Riley and then went to their house to play some more. Riley and Scooter (their daschund) got along quite well and they both snoozed on the couch with me while the girls played. We came back home at dinner and watched Barbie a Perfect Christmas. I had to take back my Redbox movies from last night with Lorna (Abduction and Hangover 2) so we went to Festival and then next door to Target for Avery to finish off her birthday money. She got another Bizu bracelet/pet kit, Meadow the lite sprite (half off!) and a Fancy Nancy bead kit (also half off). She has about $3 left on her gift card and then $20 cash. I ended up paying for some but she's all squared away on birthday money now.

She's currently playing with her bag of string from Grandma Robin's. She calls all the scraps her "knick knacks" and it is a huge offense to throw them away. The piles of knots she made are various animals. It's amazing how much time has gone into tying knots and playing with this string.

Riley wants me to go to bed, so I guess I'll make this quick. (Demanding little dog!!) This morning I got Avery up with promises of Valentines goodies at the kitchen table. She was tired because she was up at least 4 times last night asking to sleep with me. She's slept with me the last 3 days, so I told her I needed a night to myself, to you know, actually sleep. Anyway she was tired this morning, but she happily opened her Valentine and other gifts. It took her awhile to finish her oatmeal, as is the trend on days that she's excited for. I got her off to school, and headed to work.

I picked her up from Friendship Connection a little early so we'd have more time at home for her to play before dance. This turned out to be the wrong choice. She was in tears because she didn't have long enough to play. So for the second time now, she was mad at me for picking her up early. By the time we made the 2 minute drive home she was okay, but geez she's going to give me a complex. I suppose I should be glad she likes Friendship that much.

So we got home and went over the bag of Valentines she got at school. I was allowed to have some cheddar blasted goldfish from Austin. Delicious indeed. I decided we needed IHOP for dinner so we hurried out there before dance. I got an iced coffee that left my stomach a little less than happy, but I'm glad to say I've made a full recovery. ;)

Avery has told me numerous times now she doesn't want to do dance anymore. That she just wants to stay home, and on dance nights she's too tired. I told her she had to finish out the year, and that we could talk about it again later. She has fun at dance, and she loves the recital, but getting her to the practices is always a challenge. So I'm debating the merits of keeping her in it, or letting her quit. She has wanted to try gymnastics but I've said no because she already has horseback riding, swimming, and dance. So maybe she could try that if she quits dance? I don't know. I guess we'll see how it all works out.

I dislike making people cry, even if it's because I was nice to them. Last night my neighbor Roxanne brought food and cake slices people had given her and she told me she couldn't eat it all by herself, and that Bill was gone now. I said thanks and told her if she needed anything to come over. Today I got a card and a basket of flowers that you let grow and bloom indoors until it is warmer and then you transfer them outside. She loves flowers, last summer she filled her whole patio with hanging baskets and stands, and pots on the ground, everywhere. So I was hoping that would be something she wouldn't have to eat, or eventually throw away. Avery gave her a little pink and white bear that says "Love" on it for Valentines day.

Avery's very excited for Valentines day. She filled out her Valentines on her own this year and taped the Jolly Rancher suckers to them herself as well. Her class is going to have a party. I got her a Valentines activity book from Hallmark and a box of chocolates from there along with her Valentine and a mini La La Loopsy doll. I told her to stay in bed tonight if she wanted her treats tomorrow. Haha. The last 3 nights she's snuck into bed with me at who knows what time. I'll wake up around 5 and there she is, heating up the bed and curled around my side.

So while I'm thinking of it, I wanted to mention how cute and funny this is. When Avery watches Kipper (on PBS Sprout, a British show) she starts adding a British accent to some of her words. She doesn't even notice it, and it's hilarious. It's like when I've been hanging out with Lorna, eventually I say a thing or two like her and I'm like jeez I'm such a conformist!

Anyway today was fantastically laid back. We slept till about 8:30 and then I talked to Cheri about the temperature and status of lessons/therapy (canceled). So all of a sudden I had a almost entirely free day. I needed to stop by the Blue Fox bar and grill to pick up necklaces my friend Camille had made for the silent auction tomorrow so we decided to get some burgers there. Turns out they have excellent fries. Then we went to Target to use Avery's gift card she got from her cousin for her birthday. We moseyed through the store and she chose a set of 50 fine tip Crayola markers, a Junie B Jones Valentines book, and a Biscuit book she can read on her own. We looked at all sorts of toys and in the end when I asked her to choose the one she wanted out of all of them, she said that she only wanted the books and markers. =) She's 7!!
So after Target we went to Toys R Us and she opted not to use any of her cash, and go to the library to get more books.

Pretty amazing girly I have. The rest of the day was spent reading, watching some shows, playing on the computer, and making lip gloss. It appears to be easy, but dealing with lip gloss base is never a clean, non-gooey process. Ugh. We ended up with 2 containers, and the rest will be made at a later date. Avery gave me one of them, but I'm not entirely sure I want to put the stuff on my lips. Or anywhere really. Hehe.

Things I've learned about/with Geronimo:
-He likes to be picked up like a dog or cat, not a bunny (meaning scooped up, not scruffed)
-He thinks me talking on the phone near him is unacceptable and will stomp constantly (mom can attest to this)
-The small cat litter box I got for him as a secondary box is a bit to high and when he jumps out he makes a giant mess
-He doesn't enjoy being in the bathroom while I take a shower (which is how I discovered the last point)

See I put him in the bathroom with me because he has been on cage-arrest since the peed on my books. I felt bad about him being in there so much, but I need to retrain him on his litterbox skills. It appears that I gave him too much freedom, too soon. So now we're going back and taking baby steps. In order to do this I need to order some gates to block off the kitchen, which will be his first free roam area. Once he can master the litter box while being out in the kitchen, and messes are easy to clean up, then we can move on to other rooms. But until I get the gates, he's on house arrest. Makes sense no? Anyway, the bathroom was a bad choice. Moving on.

-He loves to hop right up to other animals to investigate. This usually ticks off Majik or Riley, but Geronimo seems to quite enjoy the interaction. Fearless bun!
-He will pick the cauliflower out of a mix of it with broccoli. It's okay, I think it's gross, and stinky, too.
-His belly and underside of his tail is all white. You don't get to see it often, except when he's grooming himself. It's cute!

There's more, but this post is probably boring to everyone but me. So now I'll go to bed. =)

After a bit of internet research I have decided that Geronimo lost his litter box way due to a bit too much unsupervised freedom. We're going to go back and start over, which seems to be the obvious answer. I "tried" before, but he was too obnoxious when he slammed his teeth over the bars and yanked on his cage until I gave up and let him out in the middle of the night. Well not tonight Mr Bunny! Your cage is going in the living room for the night, and will be moved back to my room in the morning. Then we will have limited, supervised romp time, only in my room, later in the day. Baby steps...*sigh*. Animals I tell ya!

I'm watching Smash but finding myself not really caring. I've played games on facebook, and made chai and ate scones so I'm not sure if I'll spend next Monday watching it. Anyway today Avery and I put together her Polly Pocket water slide from Daisy and Mikai. I put a little water in the pool and it was fun to watch her totally engrossed playing with it. I have a cute picture I will post later.

Geronimo is still on my sh*t list but he's hard to be mad at. Fricking cute bunny. He stands on my feet when I open the treat drawer until I give him a yogurt chip. Ridiculous. I'm waiting to put the books back until I have some plexiglass to put in front of the bookshelves to prevent further damage and doom. I'm making him spend more time in his cage so he can reacquaint himself with his litter box. There's also a new one in the living room that I put some of his poop in so he get's the idea. We'll see how it goes.

Looks like its time for bed and a book.

I am so fricking angry right now I could scream. I haven't had peace since yesterday morning, this one was filled with bickering and arguing of two 7 year olds that have been together too long, and when I finally take Tierney home, I get back to my Twilight books and collector dvds, the Host paperback, and the Hunger Games trilogy all wrecked by Geronimo and his urine. I forgave him for some stupid dvds, but this I am 100% furious about. He is going to spend the day in his cage regardless of all the cage bar banging and loud fussing he does about being in it. UGHHHH I AM MAD!!!

Chuck E Cheese is a lesson in patience. I think I failed. However I'm fairly sure Avery was pleased with the day so we can call it a success. This morning flew by and before I knew it we had to go to Costco to pick up the cake and head out to West St. Paul for the party. We got there a little early, so I swung by the Starbucks on the corner, where they gave me the wrong drink and because it took so long to get in the first place, I didn't have time to turn around and go fix. Anyway, we got there and it was a zoo. The party planner that was included with the fee of the party was working on numerous groups besides ours, and we ended up with hungry kids, and parents. It was pretty unstructured and the kids ran amok. I wanted to run away. I refrained. Barely.

After a visit from Chuck E., cake, presents, and more games we finally stumbled back out into the real world. I got the correct drink from Starbucks and we went home with Tierney as well. They spent the rest of the day playing and alternately fighting over dumb stuff. Thank god I didn't have twins. Two 7 year olds are enough to drive me to drink. They're finally in bed now. Tierney is a asleep but Avery is finding every reason under the sun to get up.

Yesterday (the official birthday) I picked Ave up from school and she opened a few presents before we went to Osaka at 5:30 for dinner. We were there until almost 8. It was a drawn out process that involved a lot of waiting and mistakes. But once again, Avery went home happy so it's all okay. She opened more presents when we got home and we had cupcakes from Cupcake. Our selections were mocha, chai tea, lemon sunshine, have a nice day, tree hugger, and the June Cleaver. Check out their website and take a look at the beautiful cupcakes!

Tomorrow after lunch when I drop Tierney off, and Avery goes to Tim's this is what I have planned: a nap, followed by leisurely sipping coffee and reading. Bliss.

Today I changed the reservation for the birthday party to the final tally of 11 kids. Right now this is what the plan looks like for the next few days. Tomorrow we're going to pick up cupcakes for Avery to take to her class on Friday. We will also pick up special cupcakes from Cupcake, or whatever cake Avery decides she wants. Friday I took the day off after 3 so I can pick her up from school and then we'll head home for a few presents before meeting Mom and Dad at Osaka for dinner. Then we'll come back to the apartment for cake/cupcakes and presents. Saturday morning we'll pick up the cake at Costco for the birthday party and head out there for 11:45. After the party Tierney will be spending the night. And that is the plan. We'll see how it all pans out.

Oh the rash/hive issue on Avery's legs resolved itself, exactly as I had hoped! How often does that happen? I am still curious what the issue was though. Her inhaler seems to be working well for the coughing/constant cold type symptoms that she had before. She has 4 more refills on her inhaler so that will get us through May. I can get her on my insurance in June (July? I forget) so hopefully the doctor will just okay those few extra months of refills before she sees him again. I still haven't gotten the bill for the allergy testing and visit to the specialist. I'm not complaining, I don't want it! I'm sure it won't be pretty.