Weekend - The Ramble

This has been an interesting weekend. YL15 finally turned 15 on Saturday. We had an Anime Sleepover Party for her. Half a dozenish of her friends showed up, some with their Anime DVDs, bearing gifts and hugs and sleeping bags. There was sushi, Yu Gi Oh matches, Anime movies, pillow fights, lots of Rock Band, and giggles until 2 AM when I finally sent them all off to bed.

I'm actually more than a little surprised that we managed to pull off the birthday party on less than $100. YL15 chose everything for the party. She did not want decorations at all. The cake and sushi were from Costco. We picked up tons of fresh vegetables, some lipton vegetable soup mix, and some ranch dressing mix to make a veggie tray with homemade ranch dip and spinach dip for the dinner buffet. We also picked up the fruit for a fruit salad for breakfast (uh... $11.50 for 2/3 of a bowl of fruit salad at Kroger? ... no way). Since when do teenagers want veggie trays and fruit salad? But, hey... I'll take it!

The gas bill came over the weekend. I did a Happy Dance that it was under $100 (we have $150 budgeted), paid the bill and sent a snowflake to the IRS for the difference. I did a little research, and although the bill was less than expected, I'm alarmed at how quickly the natural gas prices are going up. The price went up by $0.45 per BTU in the last year. That's up by 34% in one year. Thank goodness we've been doing our part to reduce usage.

The best part of the weekend for me was Sunday. We spent most of the day, sitting on the front porch sipping coffee (and later in the day just water or soda), listening to the rain, reading the Sunday paper and chatting. I'm not so much the "just sit and relax" type of person, but I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I finished my book and listened to Wes talk politics with my sister. We all smiled and shared a moment that only adults can share when we heard the pillow fight and giggling fits break out in the living room full of teenaged girls. All Sundays should be so perfect.