When Nature Laughs

Sorry for the lack of any posts on Sunday. I was still recuperating from Eldest’s party, which was a smashing success! One of the many things I did on Saturday was drive to a mall to pick up one of her friends, who lives waaaaaaaaaay out of town. And since it was early in the day, and it was still on the cool side, we decided to sit outside in the patio of the food court hall (it’s a hoity-toity mall). Anyway, Eldest and I are talking, and going through the rest of the itinerary, when suddenly she asks, “Mom, what kind of spider is that?”

And I turn around to see this:

Object in photo is larger than it appears.

I was pretty sure it was just a garden spider of some sort, and not deadly. But decided to seek some professional advice, and text Hubby:

Me: OMG!!! What kind of destroyer of worlds is this spider?? It’s four inches long!!

Hubby: It looks like a variant of either a garden spider or a banana spider. The body shape favors the garden spider. It’s a female.

Me: So I was right in calling it a “destroyer of worlds”.

Hubby: Yes…yes, you were.

Eldest had noticed that she was consuming something rather large, and wondered what it could be. I had thought it might be a bee, since the flowers are in bloom and bees are plentiful.

Then again, so are the hummingbirds… 😉

It’s Hot

It’s quite hot. Very hot. Africa hot.

The humidity doesn’t help either. Here in my corner of Hades, it’s a cool 86* degrees overcast, with 84% relative humidity. It’s also 8:30 AM.By noon, it will be about 97*, and the heat index will make it feel like 105*. And then in the afternoon, it will get hot…

I have a feeling I will be jumping the sprinklers today as I get the patio ready for Eldest’s party tomorrow.

Why couldn’t she have been born in springtime??

State of Panic

Yes, I am in a state of panic. Eldest’s Sweet Sixteen birthday is coming up, and she wants a party, but her lazy gene decided to act up, and we haven’t done any planning!! Ok, that’s not entirely true. I have made plans, but she has neither approved or disapproved of them. She sort of likes the cake design….. she sort of likes the menu…. she sort of likes everything.

She just can’t decide on the incidentals.

She did decide on a theme, though. We are going to have a Paint Party! I will have a canvas tarp set up outside on the fence, and her friends will be able to paint or write anything they like (as long as it passes muster with me).

Like this, only legible.

Of course, that means no dressing up, which every parent considers a total win. It also means they will leave through the side gate, and not through the house. One thing I am not sure about is whether or not to have party favors. It’s a tradition in Puerto Rico to do so at every type of party. I even gave favors at my wedding. But kids might consider that uncool, or something. If anyone has suggestions, let me know 😉

So, this weekend will be spent planning and screaming, and hopefully it will get done!!