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Is it weird that I like braiding pull and peel licorice? I find it nearly irresistible. Ooh! Food I can play with!

(I'm thinking that this will be a day of many small updates-- or maybe of a few big ones-- as I've got two five year olds running around the house and am feeling tired and a little spaced out.)

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Sunday, our clothing exchange met. It's a group of local families with small kids who meet twice a year to swap clothes. We're getting to the point where we're not likely to get much from it, but it's been a big help the last couple of years. Well, apart from the fact that Delia decided to wear only dresses starting last summer. She wouldn't even wear jumpers this winter (she would in the summer since she considered them just normal sundresses). We had to buy those.

The families in the group have been aging, though, and the exchange currently has more clothes for small kids than it has kids to wear them. The organizers are going to be posting to the local parenting Yahoo list, looking for families interested in joining, girls size 3T and under and boys size 2T and under. If new families can't be found, the organizers will try to find some place willing to take donations.

This time, we got about three pairs of size five shorts, a few nightgowns, a couple of t-shirts and a lot of underwear. There was some winter stuff in Delia's size, but I didn't want to take it and store it. Delia can still wear last year's shorts and t-shirts. The shirts may not last the summer as they're just the right length now, but she also doesn't wear those much. The shorts are a better prospect for lasting as, even if she gets taller, they should still fit her skinny frame. She's been given a lot of new dresses by various relatives. Assuming it gets warm enough for sundresses and that we're careful about sunscreen, she should be clothed for the summer. Well, unless she suddenly rejects dresses...

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I just sent out about twenty BookMooch packages. I have another ten books in queue that I've delayed until the beginning of June. One moocher objected to the delay and informed me that she'll be canceling. I don't object to her canceling, but I will admit to being a little surprised that she feels so urgent about a three year old romance novel. Still, no problem for me. There are a bunch of other people who have it wishlisted, and no one else is giving it away right now.

I have another twenty or thirty books that I want to put up on BookMooch (probably a lot more than that once I look downstairs again). I'm delaying putting them up, though, in order to limit the number of packages I need to send all at once. Then again, if I post them all at once, maybe I'll increase the number of people asking for multiple books. I'd rather send two or more at once. It's cheaper.

There's one book I need to haul up from the basement to weigh. My guess is that it's a couple of pounds, and I have to decide whether or not I'm willing to send it to Australia. Knowing the weight would be a starting point both for my decision and for negotiating with the person who wants it. She says she's willing to wait, willing to mooch additional books or pay extra points if I ask it of her. I'm willing to send the book, in theory, but I don't want to go much over $3 per point I get.

I'm also feeling little hurry to get more BookMooch points right now as I have more than 100. Things that I want simply don't come up that often (though, when they do, there're often several all at once). Plus, I'm not reading very rapidly. Half the books I'm getting rid of right now are things I haven't read, things I got on BookMooch, thinking that I would reading them.

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Delia turned five over the weekend. Scott and I are both kind of amazed that she's that old. It doesn't seem possible. Of course, we also only have hazy memories of what life was like before she came along. She's too embedded in our lives for us to have much sense of life without her. I hope we get to keep her for a very long and happy life.

The birthday meant, though, that Scott and I started running on Thursday and still haven't really had a chance to stop. Friday was Delia's 'pre-school' birthday. We brought in snacks for the class, and everybody sang Happy Birthday to her.

The snacks were supposed to be easy. The class was 'Mud Day,' so dirt cups seemed in order. Those aren't too hard to make, just messy and a pain to transport. Except that I failed to notice that the cool whip was in 12 oz. packages rather than 8 oz. packages. All the other ingredients except the milk were in the right amounts straight out of the package, so I just didn't think to look. That meant that I had half again as much cool whip as I did anything else, and that the pudding mixture was very light gray. I added cocoa powder and a little powdered sugar until the mix was the right color.

We garnished the dirt cups with sour, neon gummy worms (all Scott could find) and kind of bizarre looking flowers made from pull and peel red licorice. We froze the dirt cups overnight so that they could sit out on the counter at pre-school for the hour and a half before the kids ate them without risking going bad. That meant that I had to wait to put the garnishes on until they'd thawed. I worked on shelving books in the library while waiting for the dirt cups to thaw a little.

One little girl refused to eat the dirt cup, only eating the garnishes. When her mother asked about it, she said that she didn't want to eat *dirt*. I asked her if she really thought I'd feed her real dirt, she said no, and her mother explained that it was pudding and Oreos. I think she might have eaten it if we had called it 'pudding and Oreos.' Maybe. Still, it made me laugh a little.

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After pre-school, I baked the cake. Strawberry cake with strawberry icing and strawberry ice cream. Yes, there is a theme. I'd hoped to get to bed early, but Delia kept popping out of her room, wanting to know what was going on. We weren't able to start wrapping presents until after ten.

We gave her a Land's End backpack (I got it as an overstock for $15), a Backyardigans DVD, a Winnie-the-Pooh cookbook (used from BookMooch), a beach towel, a multi-colored cape and a Disney videotape (picked up at a sale and which I haven't tested and have a great terror won't work). A local toy store was having a warehouse sale on Saturday, and Scott took her to that. I rather thought it was overkill, but he was worried that we weren't giving her anything *fun*. She got a toy iron, a Bob the Builder play-dough (called 'builder dough' in the set. Delia was kind of disappointed to open it and find play-dough) and an electronic device of some sort that's meant to play music that she can sing to. (Scott admits that the last was his idea. She wasn't interested. I'll bear that in mind when I get cranky about the stupid thing. I already want to destroy it.)

We had the party on Saturday. Delia had said that she wanted a Backyardigans party and that Mission to Mars was her favorite episode, so we scavenged big boxes (one dryer box and two boxes from someone's new play structure) that Scott built into a spaceship. He painted it white (not very thoroughly) with the intention that the kids could draw on the outside.

We both spent all week terrified that it would rain on Saturday and that the spaceship would be useless. It wouldn't fit in the house without the removal of furniture. Plus, we'd invited ten girls and had no idea how many would say yes. (We knew for sure that two would say no, both cousins, one due to a dance recital and the other due to distance.) We ended up with four guests (and an older brother), and that was about right.

It only rained a little and for a short time. That happened right at the point that we were wanting to herd the kids inside for cake anyway, so it helped us. After the food was gone and the presents opened, the kids went outside for a little longer and then went home with their goody bags.

The spaceship got more decoration on the inside than on the outside. The sun was directly overhead for part of the proceedings, and it was cooler inside than outside. Some of the stickers ended up outside, but almost all of the drawing (except that done by Scott) was inside.

I spent a lot of the first part of the party blowing bubbles for the girls to chase. We got lucky. The little bottles we got (just some party store brand) produced lots and lots of bubbles. Even the kids could expect half a dozen bubbles at a time. They wanted me to blow bubbles in through the window of the spaceship, and I did for a little while, but it was hard on my knees to kneel in the grass, so I gave up on it.

I'd say that the big hits, as far as presents go, are the backpack, some large fairy coloring posters, a Disney paperdoll puppet theater (from my father), a little fairy paperdoll castle and the iron. The iron and the backpack surprise me a bit. I was afraid that the backpack would be too practical for her, but she seems to be taking it as a sign that she's growing up. The iron... I have no idea. I'm not sure she's ever seen one in use. She must have because she has a clear idea of how to pretend to use an iron. I just don't know where she picked it up.

After the party, we took Delia out to dinner. We tried to avoid Applebee's as Scott and I both have trouble finding palatable options on the menu, but we ran into what looked to be a big prom crowd when we tried Red Lobster, so Applebee's got our business. Delia walked right in and announced that it was her birthday and that she had turned five. She got a lot of enthusiastic response, and they gave her a free sundae later. The waitstaff also sang her a birthday song. She glowed with pleasure at the attention. That alone was worth the rest of the meal.

Delia now has a library card. She's very, very proud of it. She's been telling people about it and showing it to people since she got it on Sunday. She won't let me put it in my wallet, either. I've told her that, if she loses it, she won't get another until she turns six. Right now, she's keeping it in her new backpack.

I could have gotten her a library card the day after she was born. I set her fifth birthday as a kind of arbitrary target point. She won't be going to the library alone for a few years yet, so her having her own card is kind of irrelevant, but she's pleased with it. The new self check out stations make it easy for her to use the card, too, as the ones in the kids' room are at her height.

(no subject)

I'm tired. The last two weekends have been taken up with family stuff, and the next two will be, too. I hate May sometimes. Starting with Mother's Day and ending some time in mid-June, there's something going on with Scott's family pretty much every weekend. I like my in-laws, but I also like having a chance to sleep, to read and to hang out with people who aren't them. May also isn't helped by all of the pre-school related stuff going on as the school year winds down. This is when things have to be tidied up, when summer arrangements have to be made and so on.

I'm just tired.

I'm tired enough that, when Scott's asking what I want for my birthday, I can't think of anything. I have a list of things that are nice in theory but that I don't really want right now. I don't have energy for reading books or watching DVDs if I get new ones. (I know. I log a lot of them, but those are the ones that I don't have to work at very hard. I have time for more. I just can't manage them otherwise.) I don't even really want gift certificates right now. The idea of trying to go shopping for books or yarn is exhausting.

That scares me a little. Book shopping is what I used to do when I was depressed. I didn't need to buy anything necessarily (though I often did). Just being around the books helped me feel better. I'm afraid that this might be a symptom of depression. I don't think I'm depressed so much as exhausted, but I'm not sure I'd know. Well, maybe I'll have a better feel for it after the three day headache is gone. Those tend to skew my perceptions a lot.

I'm afraid that Scott's family will give me decorative junk or jewelry or other clutter. I feel bad about getting rid of it (or, like one Christmas present-- a large snow globe Nativity scene with a metal, windup, musical base-- I have no idea how to get rid of it without throwing it out. Anybody local want that?). I can't ask them for dresses or bras because both are too expensive. Plus, Scott's parents won't order anything online. They're afraid that Bad Things will happen.

DVD logging

( Amelie )

( Angelic Layer 1-4 )

( Batman the Animated Series 1.1-1.2 )

( Chevalier D'Eon 21-24 )

( Condor Hero 6-10 )

( Curse of the Golden Flower )

( Eloise at the Plaza )

( Fantastic Children 1-10 )

( Justice League Unlimited 2.1-2.13 )

( Kurau Phantom Memory 17-24 )

( Monk 5.1-5.10 )

( My-HiME 5-8 )