Mayday! Mayday!

1.) I took Isaac to school and this little girl named Jayonna (that's not how she spells it, but that is how it sounds) turned around and started winking at him and throwing him coy looks. WINKING at him! I'm so not ready for this. When I picked him up on Thursday evening, he was playing with Jayonna. They were wearing dress-up clothes and having a wedding. He assures me they were not marrying each other, though. I think they must have been guests. She did not want him to leave and kept asking him to go with her to get a sheet? Or maybe a sheep? Out of the garden? I just couldn't understand what she was saying. I asked if he could do it on Friday and she said "Maybe Wednesday..." She's adorable. He knows the pretty girls.

2.) It is raining, it's pouring and in spite of the fact that it is an old wives' tale, I do think I have caught a cold from being out there in the wet all morning. But, I had stuff to do.

3.) I went to Target and got some stuff. I went to Party America and got 3 more whistle pops and 3 more packs of pop rocks so I can have a goody bag for each invited kid. I was worried about just doing the bags for kids who have RSVP'd and not having enough if we get some unexpected guests. Goody bag contents: a pencil, a wind-up robot, a tiny can of Play-doh, a mini kaliedescope, a "finger" skateboard, a noise-maker, a package of pop rocks and a whistle pop. I went to Michael's and discovered they have WAAAAY more cake and canding making/decorating supplies than Hobby Lobby. I got some stuff. I went to Reasor's, I got...more stuff.

4.) Between Target and Party America. My mom called me. Now T is doing well enough to stay home alone and Mom has gone back to work. Their financial problems are about as bad as they can get. Sometimes I think Mom is the one losing it, not T. She won't be at Isaac's birthday party tomorrow. That's OK. Between not having gas money, not wanting to leave T alone and the flood waters...she needs to stay home. Isaac probably won't notice his Nana isn't there, but we're not mentioning it to him unless/until he asks, because he will probably get emotional about it.

5.) I went home and baked a cake. And the cake came out of the pan just fine! Yay! I followed directions to a "t." While the cake was cooling, I made the "Eva-pops". (Wall-E theme on the party, if you haven't seen the movie, Eve (or Eva) is Wall-E's friend). I had seen the pops online. A mom made hers out of crumbled up cake mixed with icing, then dipped in white chocolate. I thought Rice Krispie treats would work just as well.

I was wrong. Let's just leave it at that. I bit the heads off a few failures and felt a little better.

6.) I iced the cake in white, as per instructions. So far, so good. I moved onto start decorating and discovered this bad boy was a giant pain in the ass. I was not well organized. I didn't have the right tips. I couldn't see where I needed to be putting things and I was frustrated and stressed out and increasingly covered in icing. I smelled like buttercream all day. I was NOT having fun. This was supposed to be FUN. So, I cleaned up, changed clothes and went for a manicure and pedicure. Oh, but BEFORE that, I stopped by the bakery down the street and bought a very generic sheet cake. I'll pop the Wall-E figurine/candle on there and no one will care. The cake will taste just as good (maybe better) and I'm not going crazy or bathing in buttercream. Sure, I spent some money on the pan, the colors, the icings, etc. But I can return everything I didn't use and maybe I can sell the pan on Craigslist. Whatever.

7.) I went home and started cleaning up the kitchen. I put a deli pizza in the oven, directly on the rack as I have done many, many times before. Pat and Isaac did a great job cleaning the living room and putting clothes away. I began to take the pizza out of the oven by sliding a cookie sheet underneath it and pulling forward, as I have done MANY, MANY times before. But instead of sliding forward, the pizza tilted backwards and fried itself to the back wall of the oven. Melted cheese and sauce slide down and stuck to the bottom burners. It took all the strength I had left not to drop an F-bomb.

8.) Oh yeah, we are back to Pat having NO time off for our anniversary.

9.) Ever wonder why you even try in the first place?

10.) Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow it is someone else's turn to walk under the dark cloud.