Myself

As I danced through the best weekend ever, I didn't think about how lucky I was not to have cancer.  I didn't think about how un-tired or un-sore I felt.  I didn't think about how I should be appreciating and savoring every moment.  I was my normal (which is arguably abnormal), active self.  I simply rocked my weekend.  I'll spotlight a daily highlight below.

Ian had organized a man's camping weekend and Lori took the girls, so Friday night I had the house All To Myself.  This was, in a word, fantastic.  Some people might have watched movies til 3 a.m. or invited friends over, but not this girl.  I rearranged my house.  Well, not the whole house, but those quadrants occupied by 2- and 3-year-old squatters.  In preparation for my Big Night In, Ian took down Eleanor's crib.  As you'll recall she turned 2 two weeks ago, and she actually hasn't slept in the crib for 6 months or so.  So I converted the crib room to an upstairs toy room.  The downstairs toy room was minimized and optimized.  A donation pile was created.  A good time was had by all.  Epilogue:  the girls love their upstairs toy room, and the parents love the banishment of small or overly vocal toys to the upstairs.

The girls and I went to visit Aunt Jacque for the weekend.  Anna watched the girls for a few hours while Aunt Jacque and I went to a day spa.  Oh my goodness, we all had such a great time.  The girls were delighted by Anna in the life-sized doll house in their backyard.  Meanwhile, Aunt Jacque and I had  full-body massages, exfoliation, and sea weed wraps.  We went to the beauty school in town and thus got an excellent package deal.  I had never experienced either of the latter two services, and both were...interesting.  The problem with the exfoliation was that it was awfully close to painful.  In contrast, the sea weed wrap was divinely soothing and moisturizing.  The problem with the sea weed wrap didn't manifest until about 20 minutes after we had left the salon.  We picked up 11-year-old Brielle and she immediately pinched her nose at us.  Closer olfactory investigation revealed that our skin emanated a stink like a dog that had swam in the ocean yesterday and wasn't quite dry yet.  Oh man, it was a hard-core stink.  But it was all part of the experience.  I'd definitely do it again, I'd just bring some perfume along next time.  The best part of all was having a date with Aunt Jacque.  Everyone needs an Aunt Jacque.   

On the way home, we stopped by to visit the triplets and company.  I know, they live in Columbia, but they were in the area visiting family this weekend.  It's only been a month since I've seen them, but they all have new tricks.  Lucy is walking, Eva is talking, and Alex is tipping over things three times his height.  The best part is that I think they remember us Allens.  Well, at least a little bit.  The girls and I got tons of smiles and even a few cuddles.  Ooo I just love the triplets!  

I put an exclamation point on the weekend when at nine o'clock on Sunday night I baked a beet cake.  That's right you heard me.  Indeed, 1) it was awfully late for baking, 2) it was awfully hot for baking, and 3) I baked beets into a cake.  The cake is topped with cream cheese frosting; the fact of this cake really speaks to the power of cream cheese frosting.  

Welcome back, hbomb.