Ah, my dogs are barkin'. I was on my feet all day preparing for the baby party tonight. My posture has always been slightly lordotic, too, so my lower back is achy, as well. But it was all worth it. The party was a blast and the food was tasty. I made my yummy Chinese chicken salad (Bev, you may like this one--let me know if you want the recipe. It's quite lowfat.) for dinner. We also had some typical appetizers--spinach dip and bread, carrots and ranch dip, and cream cheese topped with spicy onion relish with crackers. The dessert was fun. I made a 3-layer lemon pie that was really, really delicious. Evil and delicious. It was a pie I saw made on FoodTV so I immediately downloaded the recipe so I could use it for an event such as this. Since it's so rich (*lots* of cream cheese), a small slice will do. It's certainly not something I'd make regularly but it's a nice recipe for a special occasion. Like that lime-coconut pie recipe Cherri gave me.

The game we played was a relay. Everyone divided up into 2 teams then drew numbers to get in order. From there, they had to do 8 things to finish the race. One of the things was to change the diaper on a baby doll but as a surprise, I smeared refried beans all over the doll butt before diapering it so when the diapers were opened, there was a collective "ewwww!" throughout the house. It was so realistic! And funny, too. Another funny part was when they had to run out to the car, get the umbrella stroller out of the trunk while holding the baby and the diaper bag, pop open the stroller and then run to the mailbox and back and stow the stroller again. One of the women doing it was wearing high(ish) heals so it was extra funny. But truly, I think the funniest thing was when each team had to do ring-around-the-rosie and then patty-cake. It was like Kindermusic on Speed or something. I nearly peed my pants watching that. Oh gosh, it was funny.

After the party, a small smattering of us, including the celebrants, hung around and chatted for about 2 hours. It was just great. That's always my favorite part of a party--when most of the people are gone and the few stragglers sit around and yak it up. I just love that.

Marcus of the I-need-to-be-only-9%-body-fat contingent was here. I think he's actually starting to look too skinny. I think he looked better about a month ago. Maybe I'm crazy but I just don't like that sunken chest look.

I did take about a 20 minute snooze this afternoon around 2:30 and was awakened by the sound of my cat falling off the back of the couch into the window blinds. It was a big noise as she struggled to right herself and get out of that spot and it startled me. It was pretty funny, though.

Joey was so sweet and cooperative in helping me set up for the party--putting out the plates and cups and crackers and candy dishes. She loved helping me and getting to taste all the candy and the crackers and everything. It was cute. She was very well-behaved during the party, too. I just love that I can trust her not to tear the back of the house apart during a party or make a lot of noise or do things that require intervention. It's a good place to be. When she was tired, she put her jammies on and came out to tell me she wanted to go to bed. I talked to her a little while and told her how much I appreciated her help today and her good attitude and her good behavior. It was nice. I have such a great daughter.

It's a quarter to midnight so I think I'll get myself off to bed. I'm going to be really tired tomorrow if I don't.

Later...

--L