Today is the big birthday party. Tons to be done before the party actually starts. The house is still in a condition where it looks like we are still attempting to move in.
Bennie worked all morning on getting the cabinets resized in the kitchen so that the refrigerator, which thus far has been sitting in the center of the kitchen, could fit into its place. While he was working on that, the girls went out shopping for much of the morning.
Bennie getting the fridge put into place (and the water hooked up to it as well) really makes a difference in the house. We knew that it would but after living with it for a week we kind of got used to having it in the middle of the kitchen and really forgot how large the kitchen actually was. Now seeing a fridge in place for the first time the house looks so much better and the kitchen is usable for the first time. That alone makes us feel much, much better about the house.
The house is slowly coming together. I had tons of work to do today and tried to mix working from the laptop sitting on the bar with running around the house to get things ready for the party. I can’t wait until I have an office set up so that I can work from a chair rather than having to do absolutely everything while standing at the bar. It is really taking a toll on my feet and back. The house sits on a concrete slab so the floor feels fine at first but fatigues you a lot pretty quickly.
We managed to get the house into ship shape just before the first guests, Andy and Miranda, arrived from Austin. By the time that they arrived the house was really starting to look like we actually live here. There are no boxes stacked anywhere and the kitchen is all put away. Furniture is out and usable. It’s amazing. I’m looking forward to actually living in the house now! The garage, of course, is a complete disaster.
The party went well. Liesl had a great time being the center of attention. We had a really good turn out. The house was packed. Lots of kids taking advantage of the back yard as well. I think most of them have spent more time out there than I have at this point.
Speaking of the back yard, we have now been in the house for almost two weeks and the contractor that was supposed to be here on day one to remove the playground hasn’t even shown up yet! It’s like pulling teeth to get things done around here.
Everyone commented on how healthy Oreo is looking these days and on how crazy our electrical issues are in the house. No one has ever seen a house in such bad electrical shape. That doesn’t keep us from feeling nervous.
For her birthday, Liesl had Dora decorated cupcakes.
It took Liesl a minute to realize that it was her birthday that was being celebrated. She had a lot of fun eating her cupcake and opening her presents, though. She got tons of really cool stuff. She is a very spoiled child. 🙂
One thing that Liesl received is bristle blocks! I couldn’t believe it when I saw them. I had bristle blocks when I was Liesl’s age and I played with them a lot. Seeing them really brought back some memories.
One thing that occurred to me is that Liesl is one of the first kids who will grow up playing with the same toys, to any significant degree, as her parents. I realize that this was true historically, that toys remained relatively unchanged generation to generation. But in the last few hundred years this has not been the case and I am not aware of any toy, at least any of any significance, of mine that my parents would also have had.
Liesl, however, already plays with bristle block, megablocks and Care Bears and is familiar with things like My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake. She will be getting Legos soon. She might even end up playing with Transformers. This is a major change in childhood behaviour, I think. Many of my childhood toys would fit right in with Liesl’s today.
The party did not go too late, but boy were we exhausted when it was all over. We did some cleaning, we meaning mostly Francesca. I went to bed around nine thirty as I was so tired. After not too long Dominica went to bed as well.
I started watching, via Netflix, the original 1978 series of Battlestar Galactica, which, other than the pilot movie which I have on DVD, I have not seen since it was on reruns around 1979-1980. I suspect that I saw it when it was released (I’m assuming that it was) to promote the second run of the show in 1980 with the altered cast that did not last long at all. Boy does watching this bring back memories. It is amazing how close this show is to Buck Rogers which was also made by the same producer. Very similar shows.