Friday, March 19, 2010

A Famtastic Week

This past week has been pretty awesome. I've been falling asleep at night with a smile on my face for a change!

It all started last week. My cousin, who is in fifth grade, was having a birthday party. The party entertainment fell through so my aunt called me to see if I would mind being the fortune teller for the party. I happily accepted because it sounded fun and I was getting paid. So, I got to figure out a costume and props then the party was Friday. I didn't know what to expect going in besides about a dozen fifth grade girls. I donned my scarf, jewelry and whipped out the tarot deck. I had a blast and the girls were all really great. Guess what? The generation gap isn't so huge - the girls still played MASH, plus paper fortune tellers, and did gimp. It was also nice to see that my cousin has a good group of friends. Later in the evening, I might have discovered why I recognize the fifth grade games. They were discussing how old their parents are amongst each other. Guess what? Mom and dad are all my age!

Last Saturday, I had a really great visit with my cousin and her baby. Her son is growing so fast! He's four months and definitely has his own personality. My cousin and I had a great visit talking about life plus some really great laughs. I'm psyched that she's thinking of moving to Quincy. When baby got fussy, I brought out my teddy bear (who I have had since I was 1) and did a little puppet show for him. Man, he LOVED it! It was so cute seeing him smile and giggle. He also likes pictures of babies. God, I love kids... Speaking of, another cousin gave birth yesterday to a healthy boy! Yup, this is a fertile time for the fam.

Tuesday and Wednesday I visited my brother in Holyoke. Tuesday was old home day when we lunched in Amherst and drove through Umass. I got carded when I ordered a beer and it was such a compliment! We encountered a couple new campus buildings at Umass. One I nicknamed "The Death Star" because of all the black metal and glass is a new integrated science building. There is also another gorgeous building for studio arts which is designed to fit into campus architecture and has natural light galore, unlike a concrete piano with no windows... Yup, I remember my first week at Umass getting a tour where the guide told us that there is always construction on campus. It's nice to see that in 15 years that hasn't changed! Tuesday evening, I was introduced to the video game God of War 3 by my brother's roommate. I was totally geeking out watching a roommate play since it's all about Greek mythology and Mt Olympus. Plus, it is awesomely gory - I got to see a centaur be eviscerated.

Wednesday, we went to the flagship Yankee Candle store in South Deerfield where I took advantage of the $1 votive sale. I have to say, whoever designs their sea related scents is so completely off it's ridiculous. I don't know, maybe there is a sea where gallons of flowers float but it ain't the Atlantic I know! I tend to be a big fan of any citrus scent. It's also fun to figure out scents of the weirdly named candles like Cottage Breeze or Beautiful Day. Midsummer's Night smells like a man's cologne so I've called it the Man Candle for years. They have a new one called Greenhouse (I think) that smells lush and AMAZING! Clean Cotton just smells like Tide.

So this week has been a nice distraction from still being unemployed and having my unemployment benefits held up - again (no bennies for 3 weeks).

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