birthdays and dates

Every time I go home for a visit I envision lots of time to read and blog. There are always people around to watch AB so I assume it will pretty much be a mini vacation. I was there for two weeks and I only blogged once. I wanted to finish my 300 page book but I'm only reached page 86. I'm achieving my goals at every turn!

We had a wonderful visit. 

Grandma's 88th birthday party went well. Annabelle now understands what a party is and she's talking nonstop about her Pooh Bear party in March. Believe it or not, Grandma wasn't the oldest party-goer. Aunt Peg was there in all of her 105 year old glory. ONE HUNDRED FIVE. She's so spry she didn't even need a wheelchair. She just pulled out her walker and off she went. I hope I look half as good when I'm 70. Or 50. My gray hair is coming in at such an alarming rate I'm afraid soon people will think I'm 100.

Mom drove back with us and last night she babysat while we went on a date. We went to the movies to see Sisters. It was such a waste of $20. I'm fine with some off-color content but this made me want to wash my brain out with soap. We left thirty minutes in. I'd like to point out that this means we've made great strides in our relationship. In days of yore neither of us would have said anything in case the other was enjoying the show. This time all I could think was I didn't want to waste the one time we have a babysitter on a stupid movie. We hightailed it out of there (I resisted the urge to shout "take note of us and our good morals!" as we left) and walked around the mall for a while. 

We stopped at Lush so I could pick up a birthday gift. The smell of the store almost knocked me over. Last time/my first visit there the sales lady reached up and tucked in the tag on my shirt. Then she asked me what type of hair I had and I said, "The dark kind." I WANTED THE FLOOR TO SWALLOW ME WHOLE. Needless to say I haven't been in a rush to return to the store. All I needed this time was a bath bomb. I didn't need soap that looked like a unicorn horn or a green macaroon. The sales lady descended on my like a fly to honey. Did I want to look at the gift sets? Would I like to try the cocoa lotion? Did I want the soap wrapped in a scarf made from 100% recycled plastic bottles? Did I want to purchase some lip balm? Am I signed up for the Lush newsletter? I didn't think I'd make it out of there alive. An hour later I was still trying to wipe the oily lotion sample off my hands. 

Now that we're home it's back to the usual activities of grocery shopping, cleaning the bathroom and picking teddy grahams up off the floor. I've also spent some quality time watching The Bachelor. It's important to have balance in life.