Well, here it is... the much-hyped prom dress! And as you can see, one happy 16-year-old as well. After much fruitless searching, I broke down yesterday and ordered a new camera cable from Kodak, the arrival of which I am expecting on Monday. Christian came out this morning carrying a suspiciously familiar cord which he had apparently found in his toybox. Ahhhh, the well-oiled machine I call home.

It is my week for doctor's appointments... I took Brittany to the dermatologist. In walks a doctor with a big mole on the end of his nose. Now, as a many-moled person myself, I am not typically one to poke fun at another's pigmentation problems, however if I were a medical professional with the power to make these little matters disappear, you can bet the house that they'd be gone. It so reminded me of that scene in "Uncle Buck" where John Candy visits his niece's principal and seeing a huge mole on her face mistakenly introduces himself as "Buck Melanoma!"

Yesterday I took David to the orthodontist. He got his braces off! The whole office staff clapped and cheered for him and gave him balloons and a bag of candy, specifically all the things he was not supposed to eat the past two years! I thought it was kind of neat and of course made him pose for a couple of pictures. As I was driving home however, I got to thinking about the $4000 I have paid them over the previous 24 months, and wasn't quite as impressed with their generosity. Oh well, the teeth look great, and I think the neon green glow-in-the-dark retainer will be a nice change of pace for him. I made the receptionist go over the cost of replacement retainers with him, just so he'd know how much he will have to save if he loses these costly bits of plastic!

I am happy to report that I have been eating healthy all morning! Much to my delight, I found a doctor's endorsement on the back of the Baked Lay's bag, with the recommendation to 'indulge sensibly!', so I have been a good patient and obeyed doctor's orders. I feel healthier already!

TTFN!

We have a prom dress. Alas, I was not victorious in "Operation: Ebay" however I was correct in my hunch that a dress (and not one on the clearance rack) would call to her. It was the fourth dress she tried on and nothing else would do after that. It didn't prevent our browsing through four more stores and the trying on of countless dresses, none of which could hold a candle to "it." I have a lovely picture of it, however I've misplaced the cord to transfer my photos from the camera to the computer, so you will just have to form a mental image. We had much debate between us as to the color of the dress... Brittany was insisting on lemony-lime, while I felt it was more of a mucous color (I was still pulling for the ebay dress at this point mind you!) The fella at David's Bridal clarified things for us... apparently the term for its hue is "kiwi!" It is fluffy and fouffy and shiney and just everything that a 16-year-old girl could ask for. She loves it, she loves us for letting her get it, and she's even been calling us mommy and daddy since. Jeff came home from work a couple days after the purchase to find Brittany sitting in the recliner watching TV... in 'the dress.' Suffice it to say, she likes it a great deal!

We went to a Jeremy Camp concert tonight. It was very good and I enjoyed it immensely, however it made me feel old because my favorite songs were definitely the ones he did without the drums and electric guitars. This was mainly because I couldn't hear the words on the loud ones. I remember my mother complaining about that, and thinking it was because she was old. Of course, best as I can recollect, she was probably about my age or thereabouts! (I regretfully admit as well, that more and more I find myself going into the teeney-bopper stores with Brittany, and finding that 'loud rock music' gives me a headache--another flashback from my youth!) It was definitely interesting to compare Brittany's impressions of the concert with my own. The kids stood in line after the concert to get his autograph on their t-shirts. I of course stood with my camera waiting to capture a memory. I thought... "now there is a nice young man, he looks like a kind young fella. He could use a haircut" while Brittany thought... "he's hot! I am not washing this hand he shook ever again." The hot thought didn't come close to passing through my mind, although I did admire his earring! Seriously, I did enjoy him a lot. I had started listening to his music right around the time that Jeff's dad got sick, and there is one song of his in particular that I really associate with the comfort that the Lord gave to me at that time.

It is insanely cold here this weekend. We bought some groceries before the concert, and upon our return to the car, our milk was frozen! I am planning on dreaming of the tropics tonight! Maybe a nice sunny beach, warm sand, me with a lovely fruity drink in my hand. And of course, I'll be skinny!

TTFN!

We have some new rules in our home. Jeff decided he was tired of all the teasing and bickering going on and was going to put an end to it once and for all. He is giving each family member (yes, I ashamedly admit that we have included ourselves in this endeavor!) $5 worth of quarters to start the week. Each time someone is caught in anything smacking of a tease they must fork over a quarter into the shoebox. At the end of each week the person with the most remaining quarters wins the shoebox booty! We decided to duct tape the box closed to prevent a loss of quarters. We started a "Cruise Fund" with our quarters about a year ago, but sadly enough we all raided it so often that when David counted our haul a month or so ago, we had about $2 in pennies left! I am thoroughly enjoying the whole thing. Usually it is I who come up with these disciplinary gimmicks. Alas, I am also the one who gets mocked without mercy when they fail. Just ask my kids about the "Sock Rules" sometime....

Well... guess who was down to $4.25 about 3 hours into day 1. Yes.... me! I am quite ashamed of myself. I have fallen into an unacceptable habit of sarcasm it seems. Yes, it's true, as hard as it is to believe. I think however, I might benefit from some clarification between teasing and simple parental observations. For example, should a mere observation that my daughter has a blemish on her face that closely resembles a hindu bindi cost me a quarter? I am considering just throwing my quarters into the shoebox and hoping Jeff wins, since what's his is mine...

Today is the much-hyped prom dress trip. I am sure upon our return, I will have much to tell. I may well have made some progress on my ebay campaign.

TTFN!

The stomach flu has blown through the Graves family, leaving only Brittany unscathed. Oh, how I hate the stomach flu. It is perhaps my most dreaded common ailment. Forget the perhaps, it definitely is. Infact, I am getting nauseous just thinking about it...

We used our down time wisely, viewing the first 8 epidoses of 24--Season 1, and Batman Begins thrown in for Christian. I must admit, I am now hooked and do not think I could possibly watch this series one week at a time. We now have to wait for Netflix to deliver the next episodes and I'm suprisingly and pathetically anxious for them to arrive. This whole Netflix thing was a Christmas present for Jeff. If truth be told (and it must) I had alterior motives, thinking if he had an endless supply of movies to watch, it would certainly give me a few more scrapbooking hours. I was thoughtful in my duplicity however, also gifting him with a DVD player for the bedroom (where coincidence would have it, my scrapbooking desk is located) so we could be in the same room, each enjoying our own hobby, yet still free to interact and gaze adoringly at each other occasionally. I am finding however, that I am becoming a movie junkie. I am also discovering that Jeff has been right all these years when he's insisted he has much better taste in picking movies. He let me sneak one of my choices into the queue. It was horrifically dumb, while his choices have all been quite good.

The prom dress saga continues with a rescheduled trip on Tuesday. I resourcefully located a handful of very lovely, yet affordable dresses on ebay (new with tags, mind you!) however, this was not well received by the child. It is not so much that she minds the idea herself, granted the dress has not previously been worn by a stranger, it is simply that when asked "Where did you get your dress?" she cannot bear the thought of answering "Ebay!" Somehow buying her prom dress on ebay doesn't fit into her whole idea of what the prom experience should be. I am hoping our little excursion will fulfill the need for "an experience!"

I am hoping that our little bout with the flu will ironically prove to inspire us back onto our diets. Hopefully the next time I post, I will happily report that we're going gangbusters and those unsightly pounds will be melting like buttah!

TTFN!