Birthday parties

I love birthday parties. In my family, growing up, we could have birthday parties up until 3rd grade (i'm not entirely sure why, but we were pretty poor and I think money had a lot to do with it. that, and a houseful of lots of kids made my mom nervous....which, on a sidenote, is weird because there are 4 kids in my family). Anyway, I managed to have a birthday party every year up until my senior year of high school. I would always plan it (the games, the food, the time), and then I'd use some of my birthday money to fund it (Aldi's was good to me), and every year in April I'd start getting excited, planning my birthday party (which wouldn't be until June, but i love to plan).
Well, now that i'm 27, people just don't make as big a deal over my birthday as they used to. It's okay. I'm slowly adjusting. But the fun side is I have kids! And they have birthdays!
Josh - my 4 year old - has a birthday 10 days after Christmas, and my goal is to have the general idea as to what we're doing at least by mid-December so that I can enjoy the last half of the Christmas season without birthday anxiety. Now that I'm back in school, I'd love to have this hammered out by the end of November, so if any of you have any ideas I'd sure take them!
Josh has changed his mind about what kind of party to have every month since his birthday last January, but I think he's settled on bowling. He would like to have a bowling party. I checked the bowling alley rates for having a birthday party there and it is highway robbery. Chuck E Cheese is cheaper than they are. Now, I've been collecting free bowling coupons from The Tony's pizza boxes for about 6 months now (when josh first mentioned bowling), and I'm trying to figure out a way to do a bowling party inexpensively without making it look like i did it inexpensively. (I debated buying those $5 bowling kits from walmart and just setting up my own bowling alley in my church's youth room...i haven't ruled out the idea)....But any ideas? Anyone? I'll take them all!

The No S Diet

For about 2 days I thought about doing my research paper on self-image, and focusing on various influences of self-image, but after requesting about 30 books on diets, self-image, confidence and self-esteem from my local library (oh, to have a picture of the face of the librarian checking me out. you could tell she wasn't sure if i needed an intervention of some sort) I decided to stick with my original topic. And now i have about 30 books on diets, self-image, confidence and self-esteem sitting around my house. The other day i picked one up that was short - "The No-S Diet" and gave the intro a read. Basically, the premise of this diet is to eat No Sweets, No Snacks, and No Second helpings on any days that do not begin with S (so really, you are can only eat sweets, seconds and snacks on saturday and sunday. oh! and special days, like birthdays. but no. you can not make wednesday a special day just to get around the rule. i checked). What tickled me was that after reading this claim in the intro, the writer pretty much said that was all we'd need to read and the only reason he wrote the rest of the book was for doubters who needed to have those rules spelled out ("what about holidays that coincide together? fast food? soda?, etc). Well, I decided to give it a try. I'm on day 5 of this No S plan, and it's hard to say how I'm feeling so far. I was sick all weekend and didn't even feel like eating, but I ate me a butterfinger just because i knew once i started feeling better i wouldn't be able to eat it until next weekend (this is why i usually fail at diets). But yesterday and today are going pretty well...when i eat, i make sure to take enough food to fill me up w/o over indulging knowing i won't be able to snack later. and i'm actually staying full. it's a weird feeling! instead of sitting in class dreaming of what to eat, i'm finding time to dream of other things. =) But, thanksgiving in next week and we'll see how I do then.

follow that smell

There is a dirty diaper hiding somewhere in my car. I know it's there. You can't deny its existence because anytime you open the door, a waft of definite stink hits you right in the face. That being said, I just can't find the diaper. Seriously, I feel like I have torn my car apart trying to locate said diaper. Under seats. Over seats. Behind seats. Today it struck me that maybe my husband planted a diaper somewhere in the car to inspire me to clean it out - on the one hand, it's worked. My car is cleaner. But on the other hand, it smells like a public restroom. So gross.