Monday, March 31, 2008

A wand'ring minstrel, I . . .

As expected, I spent the day at home today (until I went to Karen's for dinner & non-edifying television). Unfortunately I didn't make it outside to enjoy the GORGEOUS weather (although I still have digging and planting to do in the garden), but I was quite busy with indoor stuff.

I realized the other day that I currently have no jeans in my wardrobe rotation. I have a denim skirt and two (differing weight) denim jackets that I sometimes wear, but no actual denim trousers. This is largely because I have a couple of pairs that need to be mended, and my sewing machine was out of commission until fairly recently. Also, I hate shopping and in any case am too cheap to buy new ones.

I am still working on what my aesthetic will be when I'm playing shows as "Miss Lynn," and I thought it might be neat to have some jeans all covered in fun patches. So that is one of the things I worked on today.

I'm not sure exactly how long I've had these jeans, but I'm quite sure I bought them in the 90's.


All the patches I've put on at this point are "functional" ones, which is to say that they cover up actual (sometimes gaping) holes. Depending on how far I decide to take this, I may eventually add purely decorative ones, as well. However, if you look closely at the picture below, you can see that the purple teddy bear doesn't even completely cover the worn part of the jeans under it.


If you look closely at *this* picture, you can see that this is not the first time these particular jeans have been patched--the heart and the brown floral pattern both overlap a previous denim patch. Remember that thing about my being cheap and hating shopping? Yeah, I wasn't kidding on either count.


There are two more of these flowers on the back that are cut from leftover fabric from a dress I made. Actually, it is the same dress I wore to the Fusion benefit on Saturday night.


Well, after doing all that patching, I decided not to wear these jeans to the birthday party I am performing at tomorrow. I think I am going to wear my denim overalls, instead (which, as you might expect, are also patched.) Unlike the jeans, I know exactly how long I've had the overalls--since my freshman year in college. I'll let you do the math.

Spring officially started a little more than a week ago, but today felt like the first real spring day to me because my nose won't stop running. Bleh. Time to break out the decongestant.

Guess that's it for today. Thanks for everyone who visited the Miss Lynn blog (I just improved the color scheme a little while ago for easier readability) and signed up for the mailing list. If you haven't yet, please do! More hijinks tomorrow.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Centennial

This is my 100th post! Wherever does the time go?

I suppose I could go ahead and post those Fusion photos now, but it is getting late and I crave sleep. Not that I did a lot today--I did lead music for the kids at church, go to the library (in my awesome new slippers!) to pick up my holds, and finish the song I've been working on for the past few weeks, but apart from that I have been fairly sedentary. However, unless I get an extremely last-minute babysitting job tomorrow, I will be at home during the day tomorrow. Which means I'll be able to get some much-needed cleaning and stuff done around here, and also that I will hopefully get a blog post written when I'm not so tired.

In the meantime, if you're looking for some content, you can check out my other blog-in-progress at misslynn.com. If you do, be sure to let me know what you think. And sign up for the Miss Lynn mailing list (mostly so I can test out whether or not it works)!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

My friends are really cheesy

I got my taxes about 98% done today--I discovered part-way through that I am missing one 1099-INT form from my bank in New Jersey. This is entirely my fault, since I never updated my address with them when I moved last year. Anyway, it will have to wait for Monday to be resolved. In the meantime, I think I did just about everything else on my return, so once I get that little bit of missing data, it should be all ready to file.

This afternoon, I headed over to the Gilberts' for some beer-drinking and cheese-making. We made two batches of mozzarella (2 gallons of milk, yielding approximately 24 oz. of cheese), and they were SO GOOD. I actually had my camera out in the car, but I hadn't thought to bring it in and it was raining like Elizabeth I outside the whole time I was there. So sadly, there are no pictures of our efforts.

From there I went over to Trish's, where we hung out for a while and then got ready to attend FUSION '08, a benefit for the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation founded by our dear friend Heather. I had packed all my clothes, makeup, shoes, etc. in a big blue IKEA bag so that I didn't have to make the trip back home in between. It worked out pretty well, as I didn't forget anything that I needed.

It was such a great event! I have some pictures, but since it's nearing midnight and I am signed up to lead the kids' music at church tomorrow, I don't want to take the time right now to upload them and all. So that will have to wait for tomorrow. Also, maybe I can get some of the pictures Lindsay took so that any interested parties can see *me* all dressed up in my finery.

Hope that wherever you are, you're having a great weekend. Try and stay warm and dry.

Friday, March 28, 2008

A Parliament of Owls

I just learned today (on Webkinz!) that the collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament. It's not really pertinent to anything in today's post, but it is completely pertinent to awesomeness.

So, yeah, I went to the "Sons of Lwala" fundraiser/premiere last night and it was great! I didn't even mind sitting in the last row of the balcony (i.e. as far away from the stage as is possible in TPAC's Jackson Hall). This is approximately what the stage looked like from my seat. All other photos of on-stage happenings were taken with considerable zoom-age.


I got to sit two seats down from Jessie! Here she is *with* flash (as opposed to the shot I shared last night without).


The legendary David Van Buskirk tried to ruin this picture by putting his hand up, but I was too quick for him! BWAH-HAH-HAH!


Our emcee for the evening was former Senator Bill Frist. Little known fact: he is an M.D.! (That is a joke.) This is actually the clearest picture I got of him with the super-telephoto.

"Sons" was scored by Nashville's own Jars of Clay, who also performed their song "Prisoner of Hope" from the film. Well, it was *sort of* Jars of Clay. Guitarist Steve Mason was Down Under, which I didn't realize until the band took the stage with an unidentified female personage in his stead. I thought it was kind of weird that no one mentioned the substitution.



After the film, there were some remarks from the two titular "Sons," Fred and Milton Ochieng'. They're so swell. And they looked very handsome in their tuxes.

At the end of the event, people loitered around the lobby at TPAC for a long time. There were a lot of them. I'm not such a big fan of crowds.



There's Jessie again, faithfully staffing the Blood:Water Mission information table. Go, girl!


BEN ELLIS!!! (He's not really grumpy, he's just trying to spot me after hearing me yodel his name across the crowd.)


Hooray for the Kendigs!


"Sons of Lwala" director/producer/writer/narrator, Barry Simmons. (The pretty blond lady in the foreground is his girlfriend, Amy.)


I wasn't really trying for a picture of Aaron's chewing gum, but oh well.


Things were winding down, and where was Jessie? Still dutifully at her post, of course!


BWM director Jena Lee Nardella. This coming Sunday will be her 3 month wedding anniversary . . . where did the time go?



Believe it or not, I will be playing dress-up again tomorrow night! That will make three times in the same week--four if you count Sunday twice (morning for church, evening for "Enchanted"). Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share from that after the fact.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Too late for a real post

At the last minute, I unexpectedly ended up attending the "Sons of Lwala" premiere tonight, plus the Blood:Water reception that preceded it. It was a lovely evening and I have lots of photos to share, but I need to be up in less than seven hours and I haven't taken my makeup off or removed my contacts or brushed my teeth or anything yet. So all those tidbits will have to wait until tomorrow.

To tide you over, here's one picture of Jessie, my photographic muse of the night:


She talks so loud you can SEE IT!!! Just kidding. She's actually reasonably quiet.

DVB and I are searching for a word that means "simultaneously excellent and horrifying"(aka "real good" + "real bad"). Suggestions are welcome. We discovered this need before my realization, a few hours later, that such a word would be the perfect thing to describe the discovery that I appear very briefly (and very sans cosmetics) in "Sons of Lwala." Whee!/Bleaugh!

More coming your way in fewer than 24 hours!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Not that it's a competition . . .

. . . but if it were, our NFG would win.

It was so terrific to see so many folks from our neighborhood fellowship group come out to the Basement tonight to see Kelleigh play. And she was so good! WOW. I am still trying to funnel my mind back in through my ear after she blew it out with her awesomeness.

Speaking of awesomeness, some of us met up for coffee at Starbuck's before the show. Trish, Chad, Heather H. and I came up with a number of ideas for future NFG activities, so I thought I should start a list here to keep track of them all. It's over at the right here on the blog.

In other news, I am trying to find a supplier of temporary tattoo paper. That is to say, I am seeking specialty paper one can use in an inkjet printer to make custom temporary tattoos. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

This is taking me way too long to write, plus I still have to write the list of NFG ideas, so this is it for me--g'night!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

This Space Left Intentionally Blank

I would rather read other people's blogs than write my own tonight. Not that it was a bad day--it was a very good day, full of creamy goodness with chunks of delight and smothered in a rich sauce of unmerited blessing. Also, there were some labored metaphors.

Things got off to a rocky start as I had difficulty extracting myself from bed, and then hit traffic congestion as soon as I got on the highway. I got to Dave's about 15 minutes late, but we still got a good just-short-of-3-hours of work in before I had to run down to Franklin for babysitting duty. I am very excited about the beginnings of our recording project together, and I think he is, as well. Our schedules are going to prevent us doing any more work for another week or so, but perhaps at some point I will have a couple sound clips to post?

Emme and Rees were a lot of fun, as always. We also got to see Brynn and Brody, who live across the alley and for whom I have sat on numerous occasions. Good times in the backyard on a sunny day--this is the stuff childhood is made of.

After that, I headed up Hillsboro Road right into the heart of Green Hills for book club. Harold and the Purple Crayon and One Hundred Years of Solitude? Yes, please! Two weeks from tonight I am hosting BC here at the house, and I have to figure out some literary cuisine to whip up for the occasion. So far, I am making nine pies.

I think I can catch up on my sleep if I fall asleep right . . . NOW! Oh, drat.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Bonus

Now that it is officially no longer Lent, I guess I'm off the hook as far as having to post here every day. Technically I guess I was off the hook yesterday, but how could I not show you pictures of our "Enchanted" party? And that magnificent pineapple-y ham?

Today, fortunately or not, I have nothing like as newsworthy to report. So I suppose the fact that I have decided to post something could be seen as sort of a post-Easter bonus. On the other hand, I'm sort of feeling like every day, before or after the Resurrection, is a bonus--I mean, we are none of us entitled to waking up another day, no matter what we let ourselves believe. Any day there is to blog about is a gift with goodness in it, even if the particular goodness doesn't seem particularly blog-worthy.

Here's what's rattling around in my brain this evening . . . kind of a mental spring cleaning, if you will:

- trying to figure out how to create an e-mail list using an HTML form here on the blog (will I have to import a Perl script? And if so, is that compatible with Blogger?)

- my need to catch up on much-needed sleep before my busy week

- packing a lunch to eat in the car tomorrow in between being in the studio with DS from 9-12 and babysitting in Franklin from 1-5:30 (not to mention book club starting at 6:30)

- the fact that I need to make some more progress in One Hundred Years of Solitude without dozing off (not a reflection on Señor Garcia Marquez)

- running the vacuum over all the glitter currently on the carpet (not actually doing it, mind you, just thinking about it)

- knowing that, after the checks I deposited today have cleared, there will be enough money in my account to pay the mortgage when it comes due next week, but wondering about my other outstanding bills (and I don't mean that in the sense of "awesome!" either)

- debating whether to watch a show online, or just go to bed now and hope to sleep for 10 hours

Since I feel incapable of making a decision at this point, I think I'm going to prepare myself to go to bed and then curl up with the laptop in the dark. If I actually fall asleep (and don't push the computer out onto the floor, whoops), so much the better. Happy Monday!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

One Enchanted Day

Happy Easter, y'all! Lots of pictures today. Let's get right to 'em!

After church, I headed over to Heather's for some fine Easter dinner. I made glazed carrots.


Brenda made potato casserole AKA miracle potatoes. OH MY GOSH they were so good.


Heather prepared this magnificent ham . . . look how pretty it is! She's very skilled at presentation.


Everyone is so excited about eating . . .



Twenty minutes later, everyone is stuffed and falling over in diabetic comas.


Brenda also made two desserts, both of which looked AMAZING. I didn't get a picture of the coconut cake, but this is a s'mores dessert with a graham cracker crust, which is baked and on top of which chocolate chips are melted, and then covered with mini marshmallows. It saddens me to report that I had to leave (to get ready for the next phase of the day) before dessert was served.

After Heather's, I rushed home to bake brownies and get ready for "Enchanted" night at Trish's! This is the event for which I spent much of yesterday in preparation. 'Cause some of us were coming to watch the Disney movie in costume . . . here we are in our glory!


See how my evil magic is so much more powerful than Heather's good magic? That's why it stays aloft, while hers is just limp. BWAH HAH HAH.


Fresh fruit is an important part of any diet (unless you're sensitive to fructose like Jenny G.)


I built five wands total with knitting needles, plastic eggs, styrofoam, glitter and Mod Podge yesterday, but we really only used the two of them from which "magic" was actually emanating. And one of the styrofoam ones got damaged in transit. But you never know when you might need a magic wand, so I'll certainly hold on to them.

Rumor has it that there is another "Enchanted" party scheduled for a few weeks from now, so we may get the chance to do it all over again! Sweet. Hopefully, next time we can arrange for Heather to put birds in her hair (and not, as was suggested, Peeps).

He is risen, indeed! And I am tired, indeed, so off to beddy bye for me.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Where the magic happens

Big goings on for tomorrow, which meant big prep going on today! I made a whole lot of stuff, but I'd rather wait to show it all in use rather than in construction. So for now, you'll just have to take my word about how exciting it all is.

Oh okay, here's ONE picture of work in progress . . . make sure you have your Depends handy:


Thrilling, huh?

Since I'm not going to show you things I made today, here are the things I made (and mentioned, but had not yet photographed) yesterday. This is the sheath for a sword I made upon request of Jonah G. He wanted to make sure I knew it was a TOY sword.


I didn't want Jonah's sister to feel left out, so this is a little Barbie boa I made for Livi:


I don't have any Barbies around to model it, but it seemed like the kind of thing that Lilly would like.


By the way, my mom checked and that flower in my front yard is definitely not a crocus. She suspects it is a hyacinth.

Well, I better fall asleep before midnight, or the Easter Bunny might not come . . . good night!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Sprung!

Wow, it was an unbelievably nice day here. Sorry, people who are still experiencing snow where you are--but it was.

Look, there are flowers growing in my flower bed! I think it's some kind of crocus? Or maybe not?


I took advantage of the nice weather by spending a good part of the afternoon digging outside in preparation for the garden. The patch on the left is slightly longer and about twice as wide as it was when I started, and this progress took me TWO HOURS of digging. Pathetic.


Part of the reason it took so long was the need to excavate so much debris from underground (see February 25,"Backyarcheology". This photo shows the pile of large rocks and other assorted randomness I dug up.


When I first pulled this chunk out of the ground, I thought it was concrete (which I've found in the past.) But apparently, this is a piece of granite? It's kind of hard to tell in the bright late-afternoon sunlight of this picture.


An almost-intact ceramic light fixture. Anybody need one? I could always rinse it off with the hose and run it through the dishwasher.


Apart from digging, I ran and hung out two loads of laundry; went grocery shopping (the lame Nolensville Road Kroger does not have Ralston cereal, but I'm not giving up--I think the place I saw it may have been East Nashville's Turnip Truck); made Jonah G's birthday gift and a little gift for his sister, Livi; and ate the last of Sunday's ham and sweet potatoes for dinner. The net effect of all those things is to leave me plum tuckered out. So for now I bid you adieu, and Happy Spring!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

New methodology

As I go about my day, I frequently think of notable or humorous things to post on here, or at the very least to rant about. The problem is, since I usually don't post anything until right before I go to bed, I'm usually too tired to remember what any of them are anymore. Clearly, this is problematic. But so far, I can't come up with a superior means of remembering these thoughts until the end of the day. When I have them, I am usually doing something which would preclude writing myself a little note on the topic--such as driving, or today when I was hanging laundry out on the line. See, I can remember that I thought of something that I wanted to talk about while I was doing the wash, but I just can't remember what it actually WAS.

I did finish a song I've been working on today, so that was productive. I am almost finished with that sweater I mentioned yesterday, and probably could have finished it while I was babysitting this evening, but somewhere during the 2nd On Demand "Party of Five" episode, I decided I was too tired and put it away for the night.

Oh, I *did* stop off at Hobby Lobby while I was in Franklin this afternoon for the supplies needed for our upcoming "Enchanted" extravaganza! It is going to be awesome. But I don't want to spoil anything in advance, because I think the photos are going to be worth waiting for.

Guess that's it for this evening. Tonight's word of advice: Make sure you have your cell phone with you before you leave your evening babysitting job 25 minutes away from home (fortunately I had only gotten about 5 minutes away when I discovered the need to return for mine.)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Spencer for Hire

Okay, I know that this is kind of supposed to be the OysterGirl knitting blog and not-so-much the Miss Lynn music blog, but let's face it. I'm just me. One day, I hope to have the MissLynn.com website up and running (including actual *gasp* CONTENT), but that day is not today. So for right now, I guess this is the one source for all your Lynn-related news, be it fibrous, musical, or otherwise.

I'm making progress on the latest toddler-sized sweater I'm working on, but the really exciting news of today is that I sat down with David Spencer, a local singer/songwriter/producer with whom I connected through our mutual friends Michael and Jenny. He has worked with kids and on kids' music before, and M&J thought that he might be a good fit to produce some songs for me. Well, having met with him, I highly agree with their assessment. Dave and I will likely start work as early as next week!

I am extremely excited about the opportunity for this collaboration and what may come out of it. As things progress, I will try and keep you posted on what we're doing!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Reason for gratitude

I got paid to fly a kite today. By some standards, I didn't get paid very much--but then again, by others, I made more than some people in our world will get this whole week for a whole lot more toil.

Tonight, I have plenty to eat. What's more than that, I have some mighty fine things to eat, like leftover pork roast and macaroni & cheese.

As I am writing this, some friends are heading over to my house for no reason other than to hang out and knit. This means I have the ability to write, something to write about, a computer to write on, friends to come over and a home to share with them.

At one point this afternoon, the aforementioned kite got caught in a rosebush which ended up taking a pretty good chunk out of one of my fingers. This (barring very unforeseen circumstances) is the closest thing to a medical crisis I will have to deal with today.

Tomorrow I will probably--most likely--forget to be grateful for these and the countless other small and large blessings in my life. But today, if only for a moment, I realize how completely drowned my life is in undeserved goodness. And so for all these things and for the very fleeting awareness of them, I give thanks.

Monday, March 17, 2008

For the Zoë fans . . .

I don't know what to write today . . . I babysat in Franklin for some awesome kids, came home and conked out for a couple of hours (although I didn't actually fall asleep, boo). I kind of feel like I am around sick-ish children so much that my body is constantly fighting off bugs. Or maybe I am just rationalizing my constantly feeling like I need to sleep.

Hannah came by and we went over to Calypso for dinner, which was marv. Then I came back, took a turn on Scrabulous, otherwise futzed around on Facebook and now I'm here.

Kristen sent me a picture of Zoë wearing her hooded scarf the other day. It fits! Here is the proof.


More of the same tomorrow. Don't stay up all night waiting for the riveting details, loyal readers!

One final postscript to Sunday dinner: I neglected to mention Scott's and Jonathan's contributions to the festivities. Thanks for your thoughtfulness and generosity, gentlemen!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

(Palm) Sunday dinner

Hard to believe, but another post-church Sunday dinner has come and gone. Once again, it was a lovely time with too much food (although maybe not as WAY too much as anticipated?) On the menu was ham, sweet potatoes, mac-n-cheese, green bean casserole (a la Trish), fruit salad (made by Liz), dinner rolls and beverages (courtesy of Sarah), corn pudding and chocolate-chocolate-chocolate (thanks, Heather!) And let's not forget those Thin Mints, also from Trish. Mmmmmmmmm.

As previously mentioned, I spent much of yesterday getting ready to have folks over today. Some of this morning before I went to church, too. Dad put up the display shelves for my salt & pepper shakers when they were here last month, but I hadn't put them out until I was preparing for today. Here they are in all their glory!



I also finally got some of my pictures hung up. My tribute to Nashville:


The pictures were hung and the food was cooked, so the only thing left was the peeps! I don't know why Adrienne does this in every picture.


You can't really tell, but the tablecloths I have are no longer adequate for the newly extended, super pimped-out dining table. I may need to buy some appropriate fabric at Joann's or something.


I think the final count was 16? It's all kind of a blur. In any case, I believe I need to get some more folding chairs.

The only sadness was the loss of my black ladle, which served valiantly for many years before finally succumbing to entropy this afternoon. In other words, the handle broke off. Rest in peace, little ladle.


I am very tempted to take a nap at this point, but since Karen and I are supposed to hang out as usual tonight, I will try and push through. I need to be up somewhat early tomorrow morning to be out in West Franklin by 9:00, so it can't be too late of a late night.

Thanks to all my friends who came over to eat today, and most especially those who contributed yumminess to the festivities! In spite of my current fatigue, I'm looking forward to doing it again in six weeks or so.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

DANGIT!!!

Does it still count as a Lenten discipline if it is done begrudgingly? Once again, I am all ready to go to bed, and when I went to shut down my computer for the night, I remembered that I hadn't posted anything today. Phooey! As anticipated, I spent much of the day cooking and cleaning. There was an unanticipated break for lunch with M.R. Ward at Baja Burrito, which we apparently timed perfectly between the early and late lunch rushes. Mmmmm fish tacos mmmmmm.

I just realized that I don't think I ever had dinner. Whoops. Hopefully I won't wake up hungry in the night.

Seeing as I have crockpots of ham and sweet potatoes to turn on in 8.5 hours and still have to vacuum and set up the tables for tomorrow's dinner, this is going to be it for tonight. Here's hoping I fall asleep immediately.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Go Eph Babysitting!

(Today's title is an extremely obscure reference that I don't expect a single reader of this blog to understand. But I'm too tired to think of something else that amuses me.)

I just wrote about two paragraphs about how I don't often meet families like the one I sat for today, who like me were educated at a small college in the northeast and understand that context. And then I hit some random combination of keys that made said paragraphs vanish. PHOOEY.

Well, in a few minutes I'm going to try and stay awake through "Transformers," after which I'll stop trying and surrender to exhaustion. It has been a good, but long, week. Tomorrow I have lots of cooking and cleaning to do in preparation for Sunday's dinner. So this is it for me--hope you have had an equally good (if long) week and a lovely weekend.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Random Thursday

No particular unifying theme for today . . . went to babysit as usual, came home as usual, watched LOST as usual. Oh, it was recycling day, which only comes once a month. Whoo-hoo! Anyway, here is a random assortment of information.

I finally finished that sweater I have been mentioning for the past four days! Sheesh. Here is a bad photo of it.


I bought a table today! Actually, I guess I bought it a couple of days ago. I gave Scott a blank check and asked him to get it for me when he went to work at Office Depot. Here's the picture from their website (I haven't actually unwrapped mine yet):


Because it happened to be on sale and Scott got his employee discount, I saved over $10! This is great news, because I am cheap! BIG thanks to Scott and Katie Sue! This table will come in very handy for this week's Sunday dinner and many future events here at the Casa de Lynn.

You may be familiar with those cellophane bowl covers which I fondly refer to as "shower caps." They're a circle of flexible plastic with elastic around the edge. What you may not realize is that a real shower cap, designed (ostensibly) for use on the human head, will cover a 9X13" pan! I discovered this when there were (improbably) some PBRKT left after we kicked it last night.


This particular shower cap came courtesy of Brett and Caren's wedding. Well, the hotel we stayed in, anyway. All I can say is, some people must have exceptionally strong necks to support what I can only assume are massive craniums (crania?)

Finally, since it is Thursday and I haven't made too much mention of LOST in a while, I thought I would share this delightful little video for any other fans out there. It made me laugh out loud. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Thanks for killing my soul, Chad . . .

(It's not like I was using it anyway.)

I hosted the NFGers for Kickin' It Game Night at the Casa this evening. We were all prepared to Nerts, but Chad also brought Sequence and Dirty Marbles, which is a game his family plays a lot, and very competitively.

Well, it didn't take us long to find out why they call the game "dirty." It works a lot like "Sorry" or "Trouble," (although without, as I pointed out, benefit of pop-o-matic technology) in that each player has her own starting and ending points, and you send other players back to start by landing on them. UNLIKE "Sorry," which at least has a veneer of politeness, "Dirty Marbles" is accompanied by a spirit of brutal conquest. The game started out with Trish and Heather disputing which of them is the least competitive (I pointed out later that it is actually me, since I didn't even enter into their debate, heh heh), but it didn't take long for Chad's testosterone to take us all under its spell.

We played for about 90 minutes before Trish had to bow out, as she is a lark and it was approaching her bedtime. Because the game is played in pairs, Chad then took over for Trish in absentia. We were all getting confused, until Chad made the logical choice to switch chairs each time he was playing for Trish, and back to his original chair for himself. As you can imagine, hilarity ensued.

He put in a valiant effort, but Heather and I were triumphant! Here (mostly for Trish's benefit) is the final board just as we won.


Awesome.

And we already have a plan for Kickin' It in two weeks! We're having "Enchanted" night at Trish's, when we will be watching the Disney movie, and everyone will be encouraged to come as their favorite fairy tale prince or princess, or evil witch. My mind reels at the possibilities.

Still haven't finished that latest sweater, but maybe tomorrow? I'm going to try and go to bed soon and maybe catch up on some of the sleep of which I have been deprived recently.