Further Adventures - Little Blue Bunny

(His name is Little Blue Bunny.  D says he is six years old.)    

Yesterday, Nutty Romomlia, celebrated her fifth birthday.  Little Blue Bunny wasn't going to give her a present.  She is just his little sister, after all.

But Nana found something that he could give her so he wrapped it up in aluminum foil.

Everyone wore stickers on their tummies (except Cuttlefish.  She hardly has a tummy.).  Nutty Romomlia was so excited.  D made an oreo cake and almost didn't have enough (imaginary) oreos to complete it.  Then she wrecked the icing and had to do it over.  Such drama for a small person birthday!

See the invisible cake?  It's on the green plate.  YUM!

The presents were wonderful; a pinecone, a wiggily head turtle, a huge noise maker, a box of crayons(!!) and a picture of stars!  Nutty Romomlia loved all of them.

Nutty and her presents and someone blue.

Little Blue Bunny had to wash up afterwards and that made him mad.  It WAS his turn to wash the dishes but there were so many of them.  Boy, he splashed and crashed and rattled those dishes clean.  And, then.... and then.... (DUM, DUM, DUMMMMM)

He left the (pretend) water faucet running - ON PURPOSE.  (D insisted that LBB did it on purpose.  The game had changed to Little-Blue-Bunny-Gets-In-Trouble-One-Last-Time, except even D realizes that it is never a "last" time.)

The (invisible) water overflowed the sink and soaked the floor and D slipped and slid and fell and couldn't get up.

Little Blue Bunny didn't even know about it.  He was off somewhere playing with his friends.

Nana had to help poor D who was now (pretend) cold and wet and sad and D had to huddle under a blanket while Nana made sure she was warm.

What a shock!  Nana called the water removal pros with their suctioning device and Little Blue Bunny got sucked up into the device!

Nana suggested that Little Blue Bunny be washed down the sewer - quite an adventure THAT would have been!- but D said No!.  LBB had to pay for making her wet and cold and possibly even sick.  So instead, the water was emptied into the sink and LBB climbed out, none the worse for wear.  Actually, he thought the whole thing was a riot!!

But NOT when Nana got hold of him.  Oh, he got such a talking to!  AND he got time-out.  AND he had to write D an apology.  AND he has to wash the dishes every night this week - WITHOUT overflowing the sink or breaking anything or making a mess.

Little Blue Bunny is sorry.  He's not sorry about the water overflowing, or the mess.  He's not at all sorry about the water suctioning pros - that was fun!  He's sorry that D got cold and wet and caught the (imaginary) sniffles.  Little Blue Bunny loves D.  She's his favorite "cousin" in the whole world.

Hmmm, what will happen to Little Blue Bunny today?

Things I've learned

Well, last week my Dad reached the grand old age of 90.  (Cheers deafen the blogger as she grins.)  And as oldest daughter and avid amateur party-planner, I took the helm and planned an awesome party for my Dad for last Saturday.  (I also had a ferocious head cold that evolved into an upper respiratory infection.  But, who cares about that?)

So, here are some things I learned in the process:
1.  Don't count on a 90-year-old to show up for his own party.  He did not show.  As a matter of fact, he ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery the very next day.  Some people will do anything to avoid a party!!!!
2.  You can add diacritical marks to a Pages document just by holding down a couple of keys.  I've already forgotten what those keys are but now that I know it can be done I will find the instructions.
3.  Those "Help" windows are actually helpful in many, many programs.
3a.  Use those "Help" windows.  Staring at a computer screen will not get the job done.
4.  The best ideas are hatched right before the party when there is no time to implement them.  For instance, Face Sudoku - thanks to my sister CG.  There are 9 siblings and 9 numbers in Sudoku.  Just substitute a different face for each number and there you go.
    OR, slide photo Bingo.  Make Bingo cards with photos from the event's slide show and everyone will be sure to watch the slide show very carefully.   (My family LOVES slide shows.  Our spouses - not so much!)

But, now, my Dad has another hurdle to overcome.  Just how he will get back to charging the net for a backhand return, I don't know.  He won't be playing tennis anytime soon.

5. The last thing I learned is this.  Time is finite.  Don't waste any of it.  90 years seems like a loooong time but it is never long enough if you love someone.

Dad's birthday

My Dad turns 90 in a couple of weeks.  That's 9 - 0.  10 x 9.  Lots of months, even more weeks, slews and slews of days and we won't even THINK about how many minutes he has lived.

We are throwing him a party on February 16th at 2 pm at his home parish's hall.  I can't wait.  It will be so much fun. 

Here's my Dad when he was a young man.

I wonder if he ever imagined what his life would hold.    He served as a medic, here in the States, married, had nine children, took in a couple of wonderful Cuban teens, built his own business, served as a deacon in the Church, saved someone's life when he was 84 or 85!  He helped everyone he met.  He is awesome, irascible, stubborn and incredibly kind.

Love you, Dad!

Happy Birthday, Mom

I parted with a big bag of fresh picked green beans and a copy of The Soldier's Wife by Margaret LeRoy today as I gave them to my Mom for her 85th birthday.  My Mom is a Mom among Moms.  I think she might stand 5 feet tall if she throws her shoulders back.  I'm about 5'5".  One of my brothers is 6'5".  Every one of my Mom's kids is taller than she is and we all were by the time we were 14.  Tiny as she is, my Mom is a wonder. She is, hands down, the sweetest, happiest person I know, even after bringing nine children into the world, making a home for two Cuban teens, and a couple of foster babies.

The bunch of us got together and gave Mom a Kindle for her birthday.  It was Mariane's idea, but she was urged to action by Heidi and our sister-in-law, Gail.  Mom is thrilled with this new gadget.  She is an old hand at Skypeing, since the youngest of the clan lives in Japan with his wife and two sons.  So, even though she bothers her sons, daughters and grandchildren for help in getting things done, there is no moss growing on my Mom technology wise.  Her cell phone is even nicer than mine!

I didn't forget my Dad today.  I took him my ARC of Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff. I want to read the book myself but I got caught up in Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli which is a slimmer book and has gotten a lot of attention in the enewsletters I read.  I am quite taken by memoirs of people who are younger than I.  Hmmm, just wait til they get to be MY age - or better yet, my mother's age.  They'll have stories to tell then.

At Story FUSION, this past Spring, there was an opportunity for people to record their life stories on DVD.  I think we called it Life Stories.  I was too busy being a volunteer. to take advantage of it.  Next year, I think I'm going to drag my Mom and Dad into the booth and get some of their tales down.  My Dad's a willing raconteur. Telemarketers should know better than to call him, because he will ask them how they feel about religion or politics and before you know it 20 minutes have passed.  He got a call from the Republican party - of which he is a member - while I was there one day and after waiting ten minutes for him to get off the phone I just waved good-bye and left.  He was still giving that man a piece of his mind.  It's a wonder he has any pieces left the way he hands them out left and right.

My Mom on the other hand has trouble getting a word in edgewise.  But as they grow older she has been speaking up.  "Oh we've heard that story a dozen times," she tells my Dad, not that any of us expect that it will make any difference.  And she says it with a smile and he rarely takes offense.

I once went to a talk on How to Be Happy.  There were seven rules and the first one was:  Have Happy Parents.  I got that rule down pat.  Happy Birthday, Mom.  Here's hoping you get to have a bunch more.