Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to psychic_serpent and mizzlaurajean!

And I do believe I missed mentioning scott_lynch several days back. Happy belated birthday to Scott.

I passed the test

and now I have my brown stripe belt. The next one is the big one--brown belt.

It was a very abbreviated test, since it was a makeup test. No sparring, no self-defense. But I really gave it my all, and I did the form from memory, even though technically I don't have to do that until my next test. I worked really hard, lots of intensity, and I was pretty pleased with myself when the test was done. And, thank heavens, I managed to scrape out of my memory the meaning of the name of my form when pazlazuli asked me--"Begin the Mission"--so I avoided embarrassment that way.

Aside: Fiona is on her way back from Mexico and we'll go pick her up this afternoon.

I cannot believe this

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS.

My brand new cell phone just died. I've had it less than a month.

No cell phone, no computer.

AAAARRRRGGHHHHH!

She's here, she's home!

Mexico was awesome.

She had a fantastic time. My sisters said she worked extremely hard. She did construction and painted and helped served meals. She danced salsa for five hours at La Quinceañera celebration, which was OMG SO MUCH FUN. About seven people got food poisoning but she didn't. She has a new hematite necklace she got in San Antonio. She just had her first shower since last Tuesday. The orphans kept stealing her flip flops to show her they liked her. A bunch of people brought guitars, and she has fallen in love with the Beatles' music, especially "Twist and Shout," which the kids demanded to hear at least twice a day. She made a bunch of people lose The Game. She said she felt she could communicate so much better in Spanish with the kids this year than last year. She really liked the heat down in Mexico, after she got acclimated the first day. Siestas are a really good idea.

It is so wonderful to have her home.

We're taking Fiona's 15th birthday portrait tomorrow

Maybe there is something magical about the Quinceañera celebration. Because we went to Target and looked at girls' dresses and they were all wrong. Too little girly, and she's too developed and/or tall for most of them.

So today, for the first time, Fiona bought a dress from the Women's department.

( Here's the dress! It looks even more stunning on her )

Of course, I'll post the pictures once we get them back.

We MUST have a poltergeist in the house

The buffet door broke and hit Delia on the head. Fortunately, no blood was involved. But now we can't close it.

The silverware drawer also broke this week and now is hanging half open. Can't be closed all the way.

What next????

(Don't answer that.)

Robin Hobb warns would-be authors against the insidious evils of LiveJournal

Maybe my life is a living example of what she's talking about here.

It's funny.

But I wince.