CALORIC SKYSCRAPER

Sky High Mud Pie @ M.ontana's. Two 13 year-old girls devoured this monster...I think my waist expanded just watching it!!! A great time was had by all at Sugah Pie's birthday dinner. She loves her camera -- just before she opened her gift, she commented with a smirk that the box was too small for a bed. I told her it was an inflatable bed : )

As if my baby turning 13 didn't jolt me enough, the next day she had her HIGH SCHOOL tour...and then today, Sweet Pea had her GRAD photos done!!! *whimper* I didn't plan this out well at all. Yes, I know...suck it up, Buttercup. Well, dontcha know I did just that? Yesterday, I took Sweet Pea to the salon to get beautified. Jules did a great job...a rich, chocolate base colour with caramel and deep honey streaks. She trimmed the ends and added some layers. It looks amazing!! She's been flouncing around like one of those nauseating models in a shampoo commercial ever since. Oh man, Sugah Pie and I are a wee bit jealous.

Home re-decorating has resumed. The main floor bedroom was given a secret 48-hour makeover while Manimal was still in the hospital...I wanted him to have a comforting place to recuperate. When Elvis stopped by, he called it a sanctuary. Exactly what I was trying to achieve : ) I purchased everything in a whirlwind 1-hour trip at WalMart and the kids did all the work. Amazing job...they really stepped up. Sweet Pea and Scooter painted the living room a few weekends ago and the kitchen has been done. SupahStah finished painting the dining room last night. I'm planning on putting new hardware on the cupboards, and I need to haul my tush over to Sears and pick up the new curtains for the living room. I am VERY pleased with the results. What's that, you say? You sense an ulterior motive? Heh. Isn't there always one? I'm trying to inspire Manimal to lay the ceramic tile (that's sat in the front hall cupboard since March) before Christmas. Well, it's too difficult for him to do right now, but I'm hoping he'll hire someone to get it done. Finally.

Manimal's doing well, but he still gets very tired more easily than he expects and is blindsided when he has an emotional reaction. Halloween would have been his dad's birthday...the first one since he passed away. We had a few very touchy moments that night. At the restaurant for Sugah Pie's birthday, he was returning from the restroom and saw someone he'd walked past noticed the bulge under his shirt from the colostomy bag. I wanted to cry for him...he was mortified and really did his best to shake it off. No matter how determined he is to keep a great attitude, it's one of those things that hits him when he least expects it. Having your sense of normalcy stolen away really sucks. Yesterday, he picked up the copy of his emergency room file. Cost him $120. Interesting reading. Okay, it wasn't interesting. It was upsetting as hell, all over again. I've got to deal with the fact that it's going to keep upsetting us until something has been done about it. Maybe when the docs are in Lawyerman's hands, I can let it go a bit. *shrug*

On a nicer note, I picked up Manimama's Christmas present today. Check, check....just lookie at all the checks on my list! Heehee.